165 – I Know Who Killed Me

A Sphynx cat wearing a blue collar at the top of a staircase. It has very prominent testicles.
this is the most important shot in the movie

Jen is defeated by the ostensible low point of Lindsay Lohan’s onscreen career, I Know Who Killed Me, while Tim cuts right through the Gordian knot that is the movie’s storyline. Also Jen vents her disappointment over a director she actually likes(?), sorta.

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Someone actually tracked down the screenwriter, Jeff Hammond, and got him to open up a little about the production: 

I avoided reading most of the reviews; however, it was impossible not to be aware of the negative consensus. I forced myself to read the ones that mentioned me by name (linked from Google notifications). That made for a handful of ugly reads. It’s a difficult thing for a writer to be accused in print of being tone-deaf. 

His account is interesting, but there’s no revelatory info about the “themes” or “story,” because these things are about as one-dimensional as you might have guessed.

Charles Bramesco also made a case in the Guardian for the movie. You can probably chalk that up to personal preference more than a love of great cinema.

159 – Blonde

Ana de Armas as Marilyn Monroe in Andrew Dominik's Blonde (2022)

Jen and Tim welcome returning guest Darren Herczeg to go to bat for an almost universally loathed Netflix feature, Blonde. Naturally, the trio revel in the film’s grotesque and overt misogyny while twirling their mustaches.

Hear the whole episode at our Patreon!

Jessica Kiang’s review of Blonde over at Film Comment sums up the critical reaction well:

Dominik’s film is a technical marvel, but it’s cold and not a little sinister. It’s also an utterly heartless hoodwink.

There’s no word on whether or not the French documentary that revealed the identity of Marilyn’s biological father will screen in the US. However, according to Variety, an English-language version exists and has been sold to international distributors.

Darren previously appeared on the show to talk about the film Michael Mann refuses to talk about, The Keep!

143 – Wet Hot American Summer

Key art for Wet Hot American Summer (2001)

Jen and Tim fight to a standstill over a comedy that flopped in theaters, Wet Hot American Summer.

Hear the whole thing over at our Patreon!

Tim incorrectly identifies co-writer Michael Showalter as director. It was David Wain, not that Tim gives a fuck.

The five episodes of sketch comedy show The State produced by MTV have been preserved on the Internet Archive! 

The children’s TV special Jen struggled to name is The Night Dracula Saved the World, aka The Halloween That Almost Wasn’t. We highly recommend the Rifftrax version! 

For more Angry Tim, try our episode on True Stories!

135 – It!

Deceptive promo art for It! (1967)
This monster isn’t actually in the film, I just thought the art was sick

Have You Seen…All Possible Worlds?! Tim and Jen team up with Josh and Brian of The Worst of All Possible Worlds podcast to discuss a wretchedly stupid British horror film starring Roddy McDowall called It! No, not that one. This one came out in 1967 and involves a golem that looks like a wet trash bag.

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Listen to The Worst of All Possible Worlds wherever you listen to us, or at their website! 

Atlas Obscura has an article about the Metropolitan Museum forgeries evoked in the film. 

Dennis Bartok and Jeff Joseph’s A Thousand Cuts: The Bizarre Underground World of Collectors and Dealers Who Saved the Movies is a fascinating read about the days of analog movie bootlegging, a must for any film buff. Read an excerpt about the Roddy McDowall film piracy case over at ScreenAnarchy (you can also buy the book directly from University Press of Mississippi). And yes, to answer Josh’s question from the episode, the MPAA (now the MPA) was one of the driving forces behind the crackdown as a proxy for the major film studios.

The documentary Jen failed to remember the name of is Recorder, which is the story of an activist named Marion Stokes who obsessively taped the news 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and thus amassed a library of 70,000 cassettes.

For a discussion of a much, MUCH better ersatz Hammer film, try our episode about Horror Express!

042 – Romeo & Romeo

Jen and Tim welcome a mysterious podcast newbie to praise a magnificent work of queer cinema to the skies: Romeo & Romeo. We’re not kidding, you need to watch this movie, and how fortuitous that it’s on YouTube!

No seriously, you absolutely have to watch this movie. Here’s a clip:

For more outsider cinema, why not try our episode on Canadian horror classic Things?

013 – The Paul Lynde Halloween Special

Paul Lynde hosting the Paul Lynde Halloween Special (1976)
before stan culture was a thing, adult women stanned Paul Lynde

Jen and guest Paul Jay discuss a true relic of the 70s: the Paul Lynde Halloween Special! [Toccata and Fugue sting; ghoulish scream]

You can watch the whole goddamn thing at the Internet Archive, if you want to see Roz “Pinky Tuscadero” Kelly flirting with Paul Lynde’s chest wig.

Paul also joined us to pick over the weird auteur project, The Wizard of Speed and Time!