Tag: musical

202 – Aladdin

I spent three wishes to make sure I wouldn’t have to watch this.

Tim wisely stays far away while Jen hosts the lovable Worst of All Possible Worlds boys to chat about the worst of all possible musicals, Aladdin from 1990. Yes, it’s not the animated version, but it does involve Disney. Listen if you don’t believe us!

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The moribund website of the Prince Street Players remains online, in case you want to do a deeper dive on the organization responsible for this mess.

Behold the “I Want to be Ninja” lady, but be prepared to apologize to your Asian friends. And yes, she does appear to be milking her dubious viral fame.

Regarding the Barry Bostwick-featuring commercial Jen mentioned, Brian made up a Pepsi product, and Jen believed him! The commercial actually presented Pepsi Twist, with lemon.

Check out Tim’s Myst linking book set, and follow him on Instagram to see more of his amazing Lego creations!

201 – Earth Girls Are Easy

Rule 1: be Jeff Goldblum. Rule 2: don’t not be Jeff Goldblum.

Jen and Tim debate just how much he actually likes movie musicals during their discussion of a mutual fave, the musical comedy Earth Girls Are Easy.

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According to her own website, writer and actress Julie Brown is currently working on Earth Girls Are Easy…the musical version! Maybe even Tim will deign to see it!

Vanity Fair covered Angelyne in 2022, post-Hollywood Reporter exposé. According to the article, the producers of the Angelyne miniseries paid their subject for her life rights, although she declined a producer credit.

For more Julian Temple, enjoy the longform music video he directed for David Bowie, Jazzin’ For Blue Jean. 

170 – Cats on Park Avenue

A cat on a skateboard from Cats on Park Avenue (1989)
mrow!!

Tim and Jen scratch their heads over a Japanese musical that’s positively infested with cats, Cats on Park Avenue. It has nothing to do with New York or the musical Cats.

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Complex has the story on how Disney literally killed five golden retriever puppies while making Snow Buddies, a direct-to-video follow-up to Air Bud.

Marty Stouffer became popular with his Wild America series on PBS. A few of his ex-employees alleged that he staged many scenes in the show, which he denied.

You can watch the scene from Sledge Hammer! that Tim mentioned, and after that you can watch the whole series on YouTube, because it’s right there and it’s a great show!

For more musical madness, try our episode on the Dr. Seuss-penned The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T!

167 – The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T

Tommy Rettig in The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T (1953)

Jen and Tim talk about a truly weird musical fantasia from the mind of beloved children’s author Dr. Seuss— The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.

Hear the whole episode at our Patreon and get access to more than 80 other bonus episodes!

So much of this episode wouldn’t exist without the superlative work of Seuss biographer Brian Jay Jones. His book Becoming Dr. Seuss: Theodor Geisl and the Making of an American Imagination highlights Geisl’s creativity and enduring legacy in popular literature. Jones talked in depth about the life of Dr. Seuss on the Our American Stories podcast (listen to our show first though lol).

The charming animated short Gerald McBoing-Boing may be viewed on YouTube.

Jen mentioned the Australian child murderer (and worse) Mr. Cruel— see the legitimately terrifying police sketch of the suspect at Wikipedia, but don’t say we didn’t warn you.

And yes, we highly recommend that calendar Rifftrax short we mentioned, whether you like to laugh, or if you’re just genuinely confused about how to use a calendar!

094 – True Stories

David Byrne drives an open-top convertible in True Stories (1986)
A pioneering work in autistic cinema

Tim returns to chug the haterade as we discuss David Byrne’s vision! It’s True Stories from 1986! Jen weakly defends the movie but she’s no match for Tim’s anti-twee vitriol!

David Byrne talks about being on the spectrum in a live Q&A.

For another movie that Tim despised, try our episode on sci-fantasy misfire Krull!

068 – Breaking Glass

Tim and Jen argue about cult rock movie Breaking Glass in a surprisingly contentious episode!

Breaking Glass star Hazel O’Connor did a revealing interview with Music Republic Magazine in 2017. As it turns out, she earned nothing from her movie role, sadly.

For more cult 80s cinema, listen to our episode on Weird Al Yankovic’s lone feature, UHF.

065 – Broken

From the Broken movie by Nine Inch Nails, a black and white medium shot of someone restrained in head-to-toe latex and with a pipe going into their mouth, from which little jets of water are leaking

Tim takes charge in order to bend your ear, and Jen’s, about Trent Reznor’s cute little home movie, Broken! That Nine Inch Nails soundtrack still goes the fuck off, by the way.

Watch the Broken movie at the Internet Archive, or you can hunt on the official Nine Inch Nails website for it!

For another movie that was formative to young angry Tim, here’s our episode on The Lawnmower Man!

036 – Lost Horizon

Tim wouldn’t be caught dead watching the musical version of Lost Horizon from 1973, so Jen entices friend of the show Darren Herzceg to visit Shangri-La!

Here are a few of the links mentioned in the show, for enthusiasts (mostly Jen):

Ken Anderson’s discussion of the film

DVD Talk review which includes some memories of the film as screened during the original run in Westwood in 1973

And don’t miss the often-exquisite Bacharach/David soundtrack

For more of Darren, check out our episode on David Cronenberg’s Crash!

019 – Aria

Jen and Darren revisit a misfired art film from 1987, Aria! It’s an omnibus film with segments directed by giants of the industry like Godard and Altman and genteel hacks like…Bruce Beresford. Who the hell is Bruce Beresford?

Watch the trailer for Aria:

If you’re REALLY curious, you can watch the whole film on Tubi.

For more Darren, listen to our episode on Prince’s Under the Cherry Moon!