This week the Cinema Toast Crunch crew watch and discuss the 1982 remake of Cat People starring Nastassja Kinski and Malcolm McDowell. Will they feel it's a purr-fect treat or that it belongs in the litter box? In addition to the regular new release news for home video and theaters, the younger Garvis and Kayla talk about Zoombies and The Peanuts Movie.
It's another listener request as the Cinema Toast Crunch crew watch David Lynch's version of Frank Herbert's Dune. Will the film be a cool drink of water or a sand worm infested slog through the desert? The crew also discusses new releases and a few videos they watched recently. The elder Garvis talks about Central State and What We Do In The Shadows while Garvis, the son, and Kayla discuss Mockingjay Pt 2 and Fox's first attempt at the Fantastic Four franchise from 2005.
Lions and... well, just lions. Oh my! This week the Cinema Toast Crunch crew feasts on the lions versus tourists extravaganza, Prey. Will it be a tasty treat or the cause of some severe gastric distress? There's also the new release news you've come to expect and some discussion of Journey 2 The Mysterious Island, Blood Sombrero, and Captain America: Civil War.
Sometimes you have a pretty good idea of what you're getting into when you watch a film... and then there's Helldriver. This week the CTC crew try to make sense out of Yoshihiro Nishimura's Helldriver without the use of mind altering aids. There's also our usual coverage of new releases on home video and in theaters, and Garvis 3 and Kayla discuss The Visit and the recent Fantastic Four reboot which they watched on DVD last week.
A special retro edition for May The 4th. In a show from Thanksgiving of 2015 the CTC crew awaits the launch of Star Wars The Force Awakens by watching a selection of Star Wars shorts. Starting with Hardware Wars and running through Troops, Pitching Lucas, George Lucas In Love, American Jedi, and R2D2 Beneath The Dome, the crew watches and discusses a variety of the best Star Wars shorts the Internet and Garvis' DVD collection have to offer.
It's another flashback episode as we continue to port our earliest episodes over to the new host. This time it's Kayla's first turn up at bat as she chooses Breakfast At Tiffany's for our viewing pleasure. The edges are still a little rough, but the show is shaping up to the format we have today.
It's a bonus episode as we re-release our earlier episodes. This was our second episode and it featured Paul the comedy about an alien trying to get home but with way more weed smoking than E.T. This was only our second episode so be kind as there were still some rough edges to work out.
This week the Cinema Toast Crunch crew discuss an obscure George Romero film about knights on motorcycles. In addition we talk about the new releases on home video and out in theaters.
The Cinema Toast Crunch crew are joined this week by Shawn to discuss Kevin Smith's walrus horror comedy, Tusk. Also new releases and a discussion of the documentary Maplethorpe: Look At The Pictures.
For her choice, Kayla decided to unleash Hidalgo upon the rest of the Cinema Toast Crunch crew. Two hours plus about a horse and a swordless Viggo Mortenson in Arabia, would the guys make it through this film without falling asleep? Also the regular rundown of new releases for home video and in theaters.
The Cinema Toast Crunch crew discuss Mike Judge's satire about the dumbing down of America, Idiocracy. It's a light week for new releases, but there's one heavyweight on the Blu-ray release front.
Last night we watched S.O.B. and the resulting podcast felt a little sub par to my mind. I absolutely love this movie and to watch Garvis and Kayla both dosing off during it because of room temperature issues left me so flummoxed that I couldn't concentrate very well on my own thoughts. I decided to take a look back at my blog from 2010 (365 Days of DVDs found at www.garvis2.wordpress.com) and see if I had reviewed S.O.B. on there. To my delight I found that I had on July 8, 2010 to be exact. So what did I have to say about it 6 years ago during my last viewing? Keep in mind my rating system then was 1 to 4 stars, not the current 5 stars we use on Cinema Toast Crunch.
I saw S.O.B. at the Plaza East Cinemas when it first came out. It was at that point the funniest film I had ever seen. It’s easily still in my top 5. S.O.B. was different from most other comedies I had seen. The humor was dark slapstick with some of the most wonderfully quotable dialogue. It was silly and incredibly intelligent at the same time, often in the same scene. I was reminded of the special type of humor found in this film when I decided to pop it in the DVD player on Wednesday.
I know the film’s every twist and turn. I can quote much of the script from memory. Yet there was this moment where Stuart Margolin quietly walks in while Julie Andrews as Sally Miles is playing the piano and very casually informs her that her husband, producer/director Felix Farmer (played by the hilarious Richard Mulligan) has just tried to kill himself. The line is not inherently funny, but the delivery of the line as pure matter of factness, nothing out of the ordinary made me crack up even after multiple viewings.
S.O.B. is another one of those films where there is not a bad performance in the entire motion picture. In addition to Mulligan there are hilarious performances from Robert Preston as the doctor and Robert Webber as the press agent. When the two of them are on screen together there is hardly a scene that can fail to produce a laugh or at least a smile. William Holden as Cully, an old friend in the business that is called in to keep an eye on Felix as he recovers from his suicide attempt after the failure of his latest film, os the perfect straight man. Holden helps keep the film grounded without stamping on the comedy. His role could have very easily sank the film if he had played it too over the top or too serious, but Holden walks the razor’s edge with the precision of a high wire performer and delivers what should have been an Oscar winning performance. Sadly he wasn’t even nominated. Apparently Hollywood doesn’t like having people make fun of its vanity.
Watching S.O.B. right after watching Network provides an interesting comparison. Network satirized network television and television news but with an orderly flow of carefully paced dialogue. S.O.B. is a satire of the motion picture business, but the dialogue is delivered in rapid fire volleys. A perfect example is the scene where Robert Preston refers to another character as a “nervous Jew” and Robert Webber fires back while pacing and indicating himself , “That’s not a nervous Jew. This is a nervous Jew.” Preston’s doctor doesn’t miss a beat before remarking, “Funny, you don’t look nervous.” It’s such a multi-layered joke and the physical nervousness of Webber’s character coupled with Preston’s relaxed calmness just makes it comedy gold.
S.O.B. was famous for Julie Andrews topless scene. A situation that is mirrored in the movie itself as Andrews character is described as Peter Pan and America’s G-rated sweetheart. The fact that the topless scene in Night Wind, the film within the film, is for all intents and purposes totally gratuitous is another case of a multi-layered joke. Since the scene is not truly necessary to Night Wind, it could also be argued that the scene is gratuitous to S.O.B. as well. However since the point of the scene is the fact that it is a shock effect scene designed to sell tickets masquerading as an important and integral element of the film, its inclusion in S.O.B. is valid and necessary. This is the wonderful complexity of S.O.B.
Once again S.O.B. held up remarkably well and easily rates the same 4 stars I would have given it on first viewing. I hadn’t seen it for several years and watching it again brought back many a fond memory.
One of the elder Garvis' favorite films is on tap this week as the Cinema Toast Crunch crew watch and discuss Blake Edwards' S.O.B. from 1981. Plus new release news for theaters, Blu-ray and DVD and a spoiler free discussion of Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice which everyone here saw at the theater last week.
This week's show is a listener request, The People Under The Stairs. The Cinema Toast Crunch crew watch and talk about this lesser known Wes Craven film from 1991. As always the new releases on Blu-ray, DVD and in theaters leads to some off topic discussions, and the on topic discussion leads to a word or two about spoilers. Warning our featured discussions always contain spoilers.
Happy Saint Patrick's Day as the Cinema Toast Crunch crew watch Leprechaun from 1993. Will they find it magically delicious or tragically atrocious?
Plus new release news for theaters, Blu-ray and DVD.
A film that may test the generation gap as the Cinema Toast Crunch crew watch Lazer Team from Rooster Teeth on You Tube Red. Also a discussion of Zootopia which two of the crew saw this week and a few words about Karim Movies' The Iron Man, a DVD that the elder Garvis picked up at a pawn shop despite the case and disc having no title or film description. All this and the latest news on new releases at the theater and on Blu-ray and DVD.
This week the Cinema Toast Crunch crew takes a look at 1985's The Last Dragon from producer Berry Gordy. It's Kung Fu, Blaxploitation, dancing and music in the cult classic. Is this movie the coolest? Sho'Nuff. Plus what's new in theaters and what just came out on Blu-ray, DVD and 4K Ultra HD.
The Cinema Toast Crunch crew give their predictions for who will win the big awards at the 88th Annual Academy Awards before watching the live event and returning to give their thoughts and see how they did.
The Cinema Toast Crunch crew finish up our month long look at Oscar winning Best Pictures with Casablanca. Plus new releases on DVD, Blu-ray, and at the theater.
The Cinema Toast Crunch crew watch and discuss the David Lean epic Lawrence of Arabia. Our awards talk looks at the recent WGA and BAFTA winners. Plus the crew all took some time since the last episode to catch Deadpool at the theater. Hear what they thought of this new release. All of this plus new releases on Blu-ray and DVD and what's new in theaters.
The Cinema Toast Crunch crew looks at Ridley Scott's Gladiator from 2000 as Oscar month continues. Plus a look at what's new on Blu-ray and DVD as well as new releases in theaters this week.