The MacGuffin

Yes, an empty chair in Florida commands him to tell Barack Obama to perform unspeakable acts on himself. Yes, he crankily told a vast Superbowl audience that it’s only halftime in America. Bill Hader does a hilarious imitation of him on Saturday Night Live, and at this point more of us want to think of him as the cranky old bastard in Gran Torino than the essence of cool he was as The Man With No Name. But honestly, Clint Eastwood is one of the last truly grand old Hollywood screen icons. And when he appears in a movie, it’s worth at least taking notice. He is capable of creating indelible film moments, and for that, some of us will always love him on screen.

Spencer is joined by Allen Almachar.

Topics include: A look back at Crypticon and Secret Movie Night, catching up with SIFF, previewing Fernando Mereilles’s next project, making predictions for the Robocop remake, and checking out some current Kickstarter projects.

Kickstarter projects featured:
-Batman: Puppet Master
-Citizen Heroes
-Fat Kid Rules the World
-HENRYK
-Writer / Waitress

Spencer interviews director Matthew Lillard from Fat Kid Rules the World at SXSW 2012.

This segment is also available on Stitcher, iTunes and YouTube. The audio version can be downloaded directly from here.

Spencer interviews actors Billy Campbell, Matt O’Leary, and Jacob Wysocki from Fat Kid Rules the World at SXSW 2012.

This segment is also available on Stitcher, iTunes and YouTube. The audio version can be downloaded directly from here.

Also, be sure to check out our review of Fat Kid Rules the World from SXSW.

Matthew Lillard is a talented actor who is unfortunately often overlooked. Despite a long career, he hasn’t received many opportunities to be the lead in a film, at least in part because he is known for playing over the top characters. It is hard to not think of some of the misses he has been involved with, most notably Scooby-Doo, but I would argue that he is usually the best parts of those films (his portrayal of Shaggy was certainly the best part of that film). Occasionally he has received an opportunity like SLC Punk—a project that has a lot more heart than people give it credit for—and he has proven that he can handle subtly and nuance.

I think most Alexander Payne movies are good, but I have a hard time talking myself into liking them. In fact, the better they are, the less I enjoy them. I can see that Sideways is a good movie, but I find everyone in it repellant, and there is no emotional resonance for me. Election is the same way; it’s a really well made film, and I don’t care about the characters at all. I appreciate that Payne is a real director who makes films for adults who like to think about things, but appreciation and enjoyment are not the same thing. His new film, The Descendants, is pretty flawed, but I was able to connect to this film in a way that I never have with any of his others.

Every Saturday night The Tomb of Terror opens, unleashing reviews of the obscure and the classic in horror cinema.

The early 90s were possibly the worst time ever to be a horror fan. The genre’s success throughout the 80s was carried by the popularity of the slasher film, most notably the Friday the 13^th, Halloween, and Nightmare on Elm Street series. By the time 1990 rolled around, those series were all near the bottom of the barrel and the entire genre seemed to die with them. There were still good horror films to be had in the first six years of the decade, but they weren’t very successful commercially. This all changed in 1996 with the release of Scream. The film reinvented the horror genre, and the slasher subgenre, specifically. It did so with a great admiration for films of the past and a great sense of fun throughout.

The MacGuffin team discuss David Gordon Green in honor of the release of Your Highness, look back at the Scream series before the release of Scream 4, and give their DVD picks of the week.

Without a Paddle – Four friends grew up together and have pretty different personalities. Once, they’re older they’ve gone their separate ways. One of them dies and they all come back to Oregon for the funeral. They go find their old tree house and there’s a box with what amounts to a treasure map inside that Billy left them shortly before he died. So they owe it to Billy to follow the map and find the treasure.