FH Mini 138 - In the Pantheon

[0:00] Hey, everyone, and welcome to the Flophouse.

[0:05] This is a Flophouse Mini.

[0:08] What is that you say to yourself?

[0:10] Because you're confused.

[0:11] You're confused and alone.

[0:13] The Flophouse normally is a podcast where we talk about bad movies, but every other

[0:18] week we go a little off model.

[0:21] We do what we like, mostly still movie-related because, you know, there's a brand.

[0:28] In this case, I am in charge, but it is inspired by our guest, Sean Malin, who wrote the podcast

[0:37] Pantheon.

[0:38] I'm holding it up for the camera that we have here, but not that you see 101 podcasts that

[0:43] change how we listen, which, you know, risks people scoffing at it by including the Flophouse

[0:51] in that 101.

[0:52] We're the one, right?

[0:53] Yeah.

[0:54] We're the one.

[0:55] We just made it.

[0:57] So we're honored.

[0:58] Welcome, Sean.

[0:59] Thank you.

[1:00] Yeah, I'll face whatever challenges shall come our way from that.

[1:06] It was worth it, well worth it.

[1:10] So no one but me knows what we're actually doing today, which is the way that we enjoy

[1:16] playing these minis, sort of springing things on one another.

[1:21] And I know that Sean has said that this book, the podcast Pantheon, was sort of inspired

[1:28] by the review books of yesteryear that attempted to set or start conversations about what the

[1:33] canonical works in various media are, like Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Album Guide,

[1:40] etc.

[1:41] And it got me thinking about lists in general, the big lists of canonical films.

[1:48] And so for this, I'm going to run through some of the big lists in film criticism, some

[1:54] of the titles found there, and because we're iconoclasts here at the Flophouse, I'm going

[1:59] to have us discuss which title, if we had to pick, if we had to, which title we would

[2:04] kick off these lists, we would boot into the outer darkness.

[2:10] And I'm going to start off with-

[2:11] We'll be judge, jury, and executioner.

[2:14] That's right.

[2:15] Okay, I can do that.

[2:16] I'm going to start off with, now don't worry, you're going to hear the number 100.

[2:21] I'm not going to do all 100 movies.

[2:24] Oh, okay.

[2:25] It's going to be the top five.

[2:26] You think we can't handle it?

[2:27] Go for it.

[2:28] Let's do this.

[2:29] Dan does like it when a movie stretches a bit super long for comedy's sake, so maybe

[2:32] he would do it.

[2:33] He did.

[2:34] I mean, I think he referred to, in our previous episode, the egg dying sequence in An Easter

[2:39] Bunny Puppy as his pick for tour de force sequence of the year, even though it wasn't

[2:44] even a new movie.

[2:45] Yeah.

[2:46] Yeah.

[2:47] No, this is, of course, AFI's 100 years, 100 movies list, one of the sort of lists

[2:54] that was sort of put out in the world to drum up interest in the movies in general.

[2:58] AFI stands for Alien Amp Farm Institute.

[3:01] What?

[3:02] Yeah, that first A is really doing double duty.

[3:06] It's two different A's, two different words.

[3:08] Yeah.

[3:09] I see.

[3:10] You just pronounce it once.

[3:11] Yeah.

[3:12] No, of course-

[3:13] It's actually ALF Financial Instruments.

[3:16] These are new, innovative financial instruments that Wall Street is playing with that are

[3:19] based around ALF, that lovable alien, Gordon Shumway from Mailman.

[3:23] ALF is back again, can't get rid of him.

[3:27] Lock up your cats, everybody.

[3:28] ALF is back.

[3:29] He's hungry for cinema.

[3:30] Yeah.

[3:31] Why haven't they done an ALF reboot yet, guys?

[3:32] They've done two, I think.

[3:33] They've done several ALF reboots.

[3:34] Really?

[3:35] Yeah.

[3:36] They tried to make them into a talk show.

[3:37] That's true.

[3:38] Yeah.

[3:39] Yeah.

[3:40] Yeah.

[3:41] Yeah.

[3:42] Yeah.

[3:43] Thank you.

[3:44] Yeah.

[3:45] Get the Disney team that did The Lion King and everything on there.

[3:48] Yeah.

[3:49] But do shot for shot remakes.

[3:50] I don't need new content.

[3:51] I was thinking like a Mufasa, like an ALF Mufasa.

[3:52] Okay.

[3:53] Origin story.

[3:54] To be honest, Mufasa would have been a much better movie if ALF had played Mufasa in that

[3:55] movie.

[3:56] Yeah.

[3:57] Or if he's riding Mufasa around for a while, he's like, I'm your best friend, right, Mufasa?

[3:58] Hey!

[3:59] Timon and Fumba, nice to meet you.

[4:00] Wait, I've got something here.

[4:01] What?

[4:02] What?

[4:03] What?

[4:04] What?

[4:05] What?

[4:06] What?

[4:07] What?

[4:08] What?

[4:09] What?

[4:10] What?

[4:11] What?

[4:12] What?

[4:13] What?

[4:14] What?

[4:15] What?

[4:16] What?

[4:17] What?

[4:18] What?

[4:19] What?

[4:20] What?

[4:21] What?

[4:22] Yeah.

[4:23] I've got something here.

[4:24] Alphasa.

[4:25] Yeah.

[4:26] Alphasa.

[4:27] Yeah.

[4:28] Okay.

[4:29] Alfa Romeo, which is of course, the Italian ALF.

[4:30] Oh boy.

[4:31] This is of course, the American Film Institute.

[4:32] Never mind.

[4:33] So the ALF stuff was not relevant at all.

[4:34] I'm sure we can cut off, yeah.

[4:35] Alex, if you do, I'll be so mad.

[4:36] ALFics.

[4:37] What if ALF was our producer, Alex?

[4:39] That would be also very fun.

[4:40] Although, I would, again, have to keep my cats far away.

[4:43] Yeah.

[4:44] 100 years, 100 movies.

[4:45] The top five on that list.

[4:46] But he doesn't actually ever eat a cat, right?

[4:47] So it's like-

[4:48] He throws it a lot.

[4:49] No, he kills.

[4:50] It's all smoke, no fire, right?

[4:51] He kills these cats off camera.

[4:52] He kills cats?

[4:53] There's a lot of blood.

[4:54] Man, I just don't remember that well, I guess.

[4:55] And it gets all caked into his fur, and then Willie has to shampoo him in the tub.

[4:56] Yeah.

[4:57] That's why he and Willie are so close, right?

[4:58] It's because Willie's seen everything.

[4:59] No.

[5:00] No.

[5:01] No.

[5:02] No.

[5:03] No.

[5:04] No.

[5:05] No.

[5:06] No.

[5:07] No.

[5:08] No.

[5:09] Yeah, no.

[5:10] He's seen everything.

[5:11] Yeah, exactly.

[5:12] Willie, you've got to help me hide the evidence.

[5:13] Okay.

[5:14] So they're less close than bound together by blood.

[5:15] Yeah, exactly.

[5:16] Okay.

[5:17] Well, anyway...

[5:18] Knowing what I know about you, you've got to help me.

[5:20] So, wait.

[5:23] Willie also has done something horrible?

[5:25] Yeah.

[5:26] How else do you think he got wrapped up in this web of seduction and deceit?

[5:30] Yeah, he's gone through Willie's laptop.

[5:31] Come on.

[5:32] So what we've got here at the top.

[5:34] We've got-

[5:35] I've got pictures, Willie.

[5:36] I've got pictures.

[5:37] Yeah.

[5:38] Jesus Christ.

[5:39] We've got Citizen Kane, The Godfather, Casablanca, Raging Bull, and Singing in the Rain.

[5:49] You can stop there.

[5:50] Just knock them all off.

[5:51] Who cares?

[5:52] Just get rid of them.

[5:53] So tell me this movie.

[5:54] And so what are we doing, Dan?

[5:55] We're going to knock one off?

[5:57] We're going to knock one off.

[5:58] Not because we don't like it, but because I said it's a...

[6:01] Name these movies again.

[6:03] Citizen Kane.

[6:04] You got it.

[6:05] The Godfather.

[6:07] Casablanca.

[6:08] Sure.

[6:09] Love it.

[6:10] Raging Bull.

[6:11] That guy was so ragey.

[6:12] And Singing in the Rain.

[6:13] It was so rainy.

[6:14] Who's going to go first?

[6:15] Or are we discussing this?

[6:16] You know, I came up with this infernal plan.

[6:17] I'm ready to, you know, court some ridicule.

[6:21] Okay.

[6:22] He's jumping in front of some bullets here.

[6:23] Because I've got my answer too.

[6:24] But if you want to go first, Dan, I'm happy to let you go.

[6:26] Obviously, they're all great movies.

[6:27] I'm not saying that any of them are not.

[6:29] I've never been, despite being a male of a certain age, I've never been a Godfather guy.

[6:35] I'm like, yeah, okay.

[6:36] The Godfather.

[6:37] Isn't that the way?

[6:38] Like, maybe I just don't...

[6:39] Hmm?

[6:40] You have a problem with the length?

[6:42] Is that what Elliot was saying earlier?

[6:43] No, it's not the...

[6:45] I just, like, I don't feel the same, like, romance about the Mafia.

[6:50] Like, I understand that it's the...

[6:51] Dan doesn't understand the concept of family, you know?

[6:53] I understand that it's a metaphor for, like, what it takes to get ahead in America, sort

[6:59] of.

[7:00] But, I don't know.

[7:01] I'm surprised.

[7:02] As mom movies go, I've always been a good fellas guy, so...

[7:05] So, I'm surprised, because for me, the one that I would knock off of that list is a different

[7:09] Italian-American director from the 60s, 70s, New Hollywood era, and that is Raging Bull,

[7:16] I think is a beautifully made movie.

[7:18] It's always left me a little cold.

[7:19] When I finish it, I'm like, I don't know what the purpose is of telling that story.

[7:23] Like, I don't know what...

[7:25] I feel that guy's rage, and his pain, and his frustration, and the downfall, and everything,

[7:30] but I'm always like, this seems like the story of, like, an asshole, who is not...

[7:37] Whereas Godfather, to me, is about trying to...

[7:40] Is it about how America operates, about avoiding the sins of the past, and the things you have

[7:44] to do to protect your family, but they also drag you down, and consequences.

[7:48] I find Godfather to be such a beautiful movie.

[7:50] It's so...

[7:51] It's interesting.

[7:52] But, we can disagree.

[7:53] That's fine.

[7:54] Sometimes movies can just be about a character, and also a type of character.

[7:57] I think Raging Bull is illuminating about someone who feels so many emotions, but feels

[8:05] them on, like, sort of an almost animal level, and does not have the skills to do anything

[8:12] positive with them.

[8:14] Because, you know, I think it's a great movie.

[8:17] It was part of...

[8:18] Listeners will know that it did appear in my top 10 meat on film movies, for the part

[8:22] where his wife burns his steak, and he gets mad.

[8:26] Yeah.

[8:27] What about you guys?

[8:28] Sean?

[8:29] Stuart?

[8:30] What do you think?

[8:31] Yeah.

[8:32] I mean, I'm just going to chime in with Elliot.

[8:33] I would say, of those, I think I have the least affection for Raging Bull.

[8:37] And also, similar to something Dan mentioned earlier, about how Goodfellas is, for him,

[8:41] the mafia movie.

[8:42] I feel like it's really hard not to look at the rest of Scorsese's film career, and see

[8:50] films that I have a deeper connection with.

[8:52] Yes.

[8:53] I agree.

[8:54] If you had put Goodfellas in that list, Dan, the list you put together, while you were

[8:57] working at the AFI.

[8:58] Not me.

[8:59] At the Alien and Farm Institute.

[9:01] I think Goodfellas still would have been the movie that I would have pushed off the list,

[9:04] but I think it would have been much harder for me than Raging Bull.

[9:08] Yeah.

[9:09] That's interesting.

[9:10] The gap seems so wide between Raging Bull and Goodfellas to me.

[9:13] I see them with such...

[9:16] I love Raging Bull, and I like Goodfellas a lot.

[9:20] But I hate to...

[9:25] Am I allowed to say that Singing in the Rain is like...

[9:27] I love Singing in the Rain.

[9:28] I love all of them.

[9:29] But am I allowed to say that it's just like soft shit?

[9:32] Like the other...

[9:33] You're allowed to say it.

[9:34] You're wrong.

[9:35] I'm not the intense guy, but I'm like...

[9:36] You can say anything you want.

[9:37] Those four other movies, I'm like, whoa, those are like hardcore, and then I'm like Singing

[9:40] in the Rain.

[9:41] Oh, nice.

[9:42] Three of those.

[9:43] You make an interesting point.

[9:44] I think that in terms of criticism, and in terms of scholarship, the hard and the grim

[9:48] often gets elevated over the joyful.

[9:51] And I think what Singing in the Rain does is so beautiful and so hard to pull off, which

[9:56] is such a joy all the way through, the same way that...

[10:00] There's no it baffles me that Wizard of Oz is not in that top five

[10:04] When I think Wizard of Oz is maybe the most amazing movie that ever got me

[10:07] It's so beautiful and it's so like magical and the fact that it is now the number one attraction at the sphere

[10:13] I don't know exactly how to feel about that

[10:15] But I feel kind of happy about it, even though they mangled that movie to make it that way

[10:18] but that I think the it's very easy to be like

[10:21] raging bulls the inner torment of a man and it's easy to

[10:25] Kind of push aside seeing the rain because it is ultimately kind of like fluff in a way like

[10:31] The the fact that it's about this like traumatic moment in movie production history when a lot of people's

[10:37] Livelihoods disappeared as silent in the sound but it's done in like a real fun way

[10:41] Real fun way and the best part of it is really do just dancing in the rain and singing there like this the title of

[10:46] The movie pays off that guy does sing in the rain, you know

[10:49] But I think that's a really good point like it's so I feel like I am I'm so

[10:54] like I experience like rage and sadness in films that like

[11:00] Moments of genuine joy are so rare that I like cling to them

[11:04] whether it's like the moment in what was that hustlers when usher shows up at the strip club and they like all run out there and

[11:11] I'm like, I feel like I could punch a hole through God right now

[11:14] But also like it Stewart made the

[11:17] This motion earlier and when I see movies about movies

[11:20] I'm like, that's what I think of immediately like I love singing in the rain and I love being shown it in film class

[11:26] But I'm also like how many times do I have to see?

[11:28] Movies that celebrate the art of movies before I'm like who gives a fiddly fuck like who it doesn't matter

[11:34] Yeah

[11:36] At home and also me who was looking away what motion was this

[11:45] It's the classic jerking off a horse a monkey motion. Yeah monkeys also love that motion. Yeah

[11:53] Okay. Well, you know, sorry raging bull you got the most votes you're out of here

[11:58] Okay

[12:00] It's now no longer a movie and it gets thrown away forever. Yeah, no one's allowed to watch it and I

[12:06] Want to reiterate you've been canceled raging bull for us. Not like no one quite as much a couple of us

[12:11] I want to reiterate for our listeners that this is a completely silly exercise that these are all great movies

[12:17] And I'm just doing this that we're putting together for Lars

[12:21] Guys, I just pulled up just watch and it says raging bull isn't available anywhere. Wow. No, we've already

[12:27] With today's streaming licensing things, it wouldn't surprise me if at some point raging bull was just unavailable somewhere

[12:33] Yeah, you'd be like this movie. No one can see it. They'd be like, sorry

[12:36] The company decided it was a better tax benefit to just never show it to anyone ever again

[12:40] I mean like as I've mentioned this before but for the longest time to live and die in LA wasn't available digitally anywhere until like

[12:46] Amazon just put it on prize and it was like, oh my god, I can't watch this. I can't watch this

[12:51] To live and die in LA wasn't available digitally anywhere until like Amazon just put it on prime and I'm like, uh,

[12:58] Thank you. I guess yes

[13:00] The only way to like get it back is to put David Sazloff in it and then

[13:05] Man, that's what they didn't it. Uh, it's not what they did with with they did it with Wizard of Oz for this

[13:13] He's incredible in it amazing performance. Yeah. Yeah. He's the tin man now. Yeah

[13:18] Sticking with the AFI. There's another list here that I think it's just gonna be a hundred years 100 laughs. Yes

[13:24] Wait, it is. Wait, did they put did they put David Sazloff at like the beginning like a Michael Eisner or like when that Pixar

[13:30] Guy's like, hey, here's a Miyazaki movie and I'm like, yeah, just show me the movie. I don't need to see you

[13:35] No, it's not like an introduction

[13:36] I think they use computers to insert him and the guy who owns the sphere into the background of a scene, you know

[13:41] Weird, which you know what whatever that's the that's the smallest thing

[13:45] That's the smallest thing I don't like space jam where the droogs are like

[13:50] Baby, Jane are just watching this basketball game loving it

[13:53] I think the thing that bothers me less about the sphere mangling of Wizard of Oz where they cut it down and they change the

[13:59] Framing stuff. Is that like you can only see it at the sphere. It's not like it's not like

[14:04] George Lucas where he's like boom. There's no one version of Star Wars now, and it's not as good

[14:08] It's like a you're not gonna it's not like you're gonna buy a DVD of Wizard of Oz. It's gonna be the sphere version

[14:12] Yeah, it's extremely easy to avoid this version of this movie. Can you buy the sphere version?

[14:18] Well, you can buy the movie sphere and you can edit the scenes in with the movie Wizard of Oz cool

[14:22] So Dustin Hoffman is dreaming everything in Oz. Hey speaking of Dustin Hoffman 100 years 100 laughs

[14:27] Don't you do not off the list right off the bat?

[14:31] Kick it off that list right now. Okay

[14:35] we got

[14:37] Some like it hot. Uh-huh. Oh, you know what? I was too quick to jump on tootsie. Maybe I don't know

[14:42] See, uh, how is it? Wait? Is this the wait? What numbers of these in the list?

[14:45] These are the top two so the top two are funniest thing in the world is yes is drag

[14:51] Oh, I can't trust anything on this list. Dr. Strangelove or how I stopped learning learn how I learned to stop worrying

[14:59] Bomb a movie. I love that. I don't find very funny. Yeah

[15:02] Yeah, but you don't have to judge it on the yeah, it's only 100 laughs. That's the list man

[15:08] We're talking about what movie we want to get

[15:14] We guarantee you one laugh for movie and support where George C Scott falls down because he's so excited Annie Hall and

[15:21] Duck soup. Those are the top five there Elliot. You've already started talking

[15:25] So we get to throw them all out or we just throw it but what throw them all out?

[15:31] There's I will say this is a tough one for I shouldn't you know what Dan and Sean Stewart

[15:36] I apologize that I'm monopolizing the one on this one

[15:38] I just assumed Tootsie would be on there and I got mad but some like it hot

[15:42] one of my less favorite Billy Wilder movies and I love Billy Wilder and

[15:46] He has such funnier movies and it's it's amazing to me. The top two movies are both drag movies. That's really fun

[15:52] I saw I saw the recent stage production of some like it hot and

[15:57] It was really fun. I'm gonna jump in here and say it was a modernized

[16:01] Here's what I'll say about some like it hot. Actually, I would push off to a seat some like it hot

[16:04] I have with it is it is

[16:06] Timed for watching with a theatrical audience and so there are pauses in the rhythm of the movie that really slow it down when you're watching

[16:13] It at home, but which work I'm sure very well in a in a theatrical setting because I know they were literally like that whole scene

[16:18] Where he like Jack Lemmon says joke and then dances with maracas

[16:21] They were doing that partly because they're like people are gonna laugh

[16:23] We need to give them room to laugh. And so it probably works better with an audience Elliot. I want to say that I

[16:29] share your general

[16:31] Ness about both some like it hot and tootsie

[16:34] But I would push tootsie off as well because there's stuff in some like it hot though

[16:38] I find funny mostly the Cary Grant approach. That's what I thought you're gonna say. Yeah, Tony curse is Jack Cary Grant person

[16:44] I mean, there's funny stuff in it. Marilyn Monroe's really good in it. You know what? So I'm like it hot

[16:48] I don't I wouldn't put it at number one, right but

[16:52] Tootsie is a movie. I find just I don't like it at all, you know

[16:55] It's not even the number one Billy Wilder, which is strange

[16:57] but like I have to lose it because I worked at the Hotel Del in Coronado Island and they used to have

[17:03] Like you the employees would walk under a little

[17:07] Hallway that had wires hundreds and hundreds of wires completely open and dangling over your head. You just thought you were gonna die

[17:15] Fire so I'm gonna lose it cuz it's like triggering. Oh, yeah. Otherwise, I love the movie

[17:22] Yeah, I mean I would probably say

[17:24] Tootsie for me. I think of the movies listed. That's the one I like the least

[17:29] All right

[17:31] Clearly, I think

[17:33] Duck soup. Anyhow, let's not get into a controversy about it and dr. Strange lover

[17:37] I think we're all better movies than than the first two on those lists, but Tootsie is the only one

[17:41] I remember it was like a few years ago

[17:42] My wife and I were like, you know

[17:44] We haven't watched Tootsie in a long time and I'm like that was the one my professors always told me if you want to write

[17:49] Classic comedy watch Tootsie and we watch it not one laugh the entire time

[17:53] Raise lines, I guess but it was just the way he treats Terry Gar is so mean and I know it's supposed to be like

[17:59] Oh, he learned to be a better man

[18:00] But it's like he's still pretty bad, dude at the end and just inexcusable

[18:04] President from people who kidnapped him

[18:07] Let's say

[18:09] Was that he's a bad, dude. Yeah. Oh, yeah

[18:14] Was that the plot of Tootsie too was that he was gonna have to get in drag again to save the president from kidnappers

[18:19] um, let us move on to

[18:22] The sight and sound list here. We're gonna get into some interesting

[18:26] Trouble because like there are a couple movies here at the top that I haven't seen but the sight and sound list and I'm

[18:33] I'm both not good with French pronunciation just despite having

[18:39] Taken it for years and I'm not gonna try and do the numbers in French, but we've got up top. We got John Dillman

[18:46] 23

[18:47] Quad to commence

[18:49] 1080 Bruxelles, I don't know vertigo he pronounced it perfectly. Thank you vertigo

[18:57] citizen Kane

[18:58] Tokyo story and in the mood for love and I I have never seen either John Dillman or in the mood for love

[19:06] Oh, wow in the mood for love rocks. I believe it's a there's a 4k

[19:11] restoration in

[19:14] Rep screenings now, I'd like to go ahead and do it John Dillman's great to what tell me again

[19:18] What are the all the John Dillman talking Murray?

[19:21] vertigo

[19:22] Kane Tokyo story and in the mood for love

[19:27] I'm gonna toss myself off a bridge instead of kill any of these. I love these movies. What a great list sight and sound

[19:33] I'm like, wow really bringing it out. Yeah, that's really that's the hardest one of the three so far. I think I agree

[19:39] That's a great list

[19:40] Whatever movie I toss off I'm gonna feel bad about I think I've only seen

[19:44] Vertigo citizen Kane and in the mood for love. I've never seen Tokyo story or John Dillman. So I can't I'm not gonna throw out movies

[19:50] I've never seen

[19:52] So that's really tough. I don't know which one to pick

[19:56] Yeah, they all rock so hard. I feel bad about

[20:00] it I think I might throw off Tokyo Story because there are Ozu movies that I like

[20:06] a little more than Tokyo Story but not doesn't not because Tokyo Story is not

[20:11] great you know. Yeah I mean I think the idea is that for the most part these

[20:15] lists are going to be challenging to pick. The 100 years 100 laughs one was

[20:20] pretty easy. Yeah that was pretty easy. If we're gonna force ourselves I you know like

[20:25] Stuart I'm not comfortable tossing something off I haven't seen so of what

[20:28] I've seen using your rubric there Elliot there are Hitchcock movies I like

[20:34] more than Vertigo so I guess I gotta get rid of Vertigo. I was gonna say of the

[20:38] three on that list that I've seen I think the one I have like the least

[20:42] connection to is Citizen Kane so I mean it's not a bad movie obviously but I

[20:47] like Vertigo and In the Mood for Love more. Yeah I feel this this this one was

[20:51] a hard one Sight and Sound hurt us by forcing us to do this. Wait a minute

[20:54] Sight and Sound didn't force us it was Dan that forced us to do this. I'm the insidious game master here. He's the torture

[20:59] torture. Painful I yeah I think I'm just gonna get rid of I like all these

[21:04] movies very much and I like them equally I'm gonna gonna have to get rid of

[21:08] Vertigo just as like another punishment for the Brits for all they've done to us

[21:12] the pain. Very good point when they taxed our tea that was rough. That pissed me off. It's hard for me to toss Vertigo because I love that movie so much. It's so incredible. So good that's it that's a tough one that's those are all

[21:27] good movies yeah I would recommend any of them unless you do want to sit and

[21:31] watch a woman cut a potato up for a while in which case G Dillman is really

[21:34] the only option you have. Yeah right before we take a short break I'm gonna

[21:39] do another equally important equally respected list and of course it is the

[21:45] list of nominees for the Oscars stand-up and cheer moment. Did they only do that the one year? Once. And everyone made so much fun of them they stopped immediately. That's so lame that they didn't just do it again. Do you think they're like this

[22:01] didn't it happen the same year as Will Smith slapped Chris Rock are they like

[22:05] doing a false equivalency there? Like a false correlation? I don't remember. I

[22:10] don't I don't remember I don't think so I think the problem was that the next year

[22:13] there were no movies where people stood up and cheered so just nothing was

[22:16] eligible for the prize. A bunch of ushers were like don't do that and I'm like oh right we

[22:19] shouldn't do that. Yeah the ushers were like don't do that. Yeah the ushers went to the hustlers and people were like yeah yeah. Yeah they said yeah because that's one of his fucking songs. That's his song yeah. So of course of course we all

[22:31] remember we all remember what's on this list. For the audience we should of course mention they they might have forgotten that when Flash entered the Speed Force that was a big stand-up and cheer moment. I don't remember any of the others. We've got Spider-Man No Way Home, the Spider-Man team-up, then we're just talking about the movies but of course I'll tell you what the moments are. The Matrix Neo-Dodging Bullets, Dreamgirls

[23:01] and I am telling you I'm not leaving or going. You were cheering so hard you

[23:07] couldn't even hear the lyrics. I couldn't hear the lyrics. Avengers Endgame, Avengers

[23:12] Assemble and of course the winner Zack Snyder's Justice League, Flash enters the

[23:18] Speed Force. I feel like when that happened in the theater Dan you stood up

[23:21] so fast you got a headache and passed out. I thought I had entered the Speed Force.

[23:25] And you the popcorn bucket that was on your lap fell off of you and so you

[23:28] were just passed out covered in popcorn yeah. Yeah with a rapidly deflating

[23:32] powder. Sticking through the bottom of the popcorn bucket. Not that rapidly deflating. Dan was alone in the

[23:39] theater that's the strange thing yeah. Stuart made himself laugh so much that he put his head down. That was my own Santa Ventura moment. Crazy how divorced these are from like what the Oscars

[23:51] actually awarded. The only one that they care about is Dreamgirls like what are they trying to prove?

[23:55] Yeah I mean the other ones are all like yeah they're all just like yeah this

[24:01] movie made a bunch of movies. I mean it feels like it is there I remember when

[24:04] um around the time that the like that I think Dark Knight was not nominated for

[24:10] Best Picture or whatever where people were like what is this they never

[24:13] nominate the movies that people care about and so this I think was their

[24:16] ability they're being like well we're gonna give some kind of BS award I mean

[24:20] they're all the Oscars are BS awards we're gonna give some BS award for like

[24:23] big popcorn movies but they can't all be just superhero action movies so we

[24:28] got to put something from Dreamgirls on there but also they're like all from

[24:31] different years right like it's such a it's such a weird it's a weird idea for

[24:35] them to do it feels very like they didn't put a lot of work into it. Okay so

[24:39] we got to pick one to kick off yeah man probably the fucking one the Speed

[24:45] Force one because all the other ones there's you could legitimately say

[24:55] people did have a strong reaction in the theater just doesn't usually stand up

[24:59] and cheer it was like whoa or like I remember seeing Dreamgirls in the

[25:02] theater and people loved there was applause in the theater after I'm not

[25:05] going yeah and they but I didn't see I didn't see Justice League in the

[25:09] theaters but I have to assume people were not like if there's any moment even

[25:13] that they were cheering that it was not necessarily entering the speed like it

[25:15] feels like I just picked a random is the credits it was the credits at the

[25:18] end they're like oh it's over finally well all those Avengers are coming out

[25:23] at the end of it Avengers of the game people were cheering and people were

[25:26] going crazy which I thought was funny also because it's like you guys know

[25:29] this was planned ahead of time right this is not it's not happening

[25:32] spontaneously right now I'm not sure they did know that some people out we

[25:37] get escorted out yeah he's like cuz this is a live stream right from what

[25:42] Avengers headquarters well let's take a short break and then we'll be back with

[25:48] more of this useless exercise hey it's to the subway train hey guess what sue I

[26:02] just inherited a game show and I have to continue it because there are people out

[26:07] there who like to curl up into a ball and listen to it yeah it's a podcast

[26:12] where listeners submit game show ideas for others to play on air well it is in

[26:18] fact the dumber the better right right it's called dr. game show some curled up

[26:23] balls consider it a tradition while others call it a train wreck no not you

[26:28] sue it's dr. game show if you're the sort that likes to listen to people

[26:33] competing for refrigerator magnets then curl up into a ball and listen to dr.

[26:37] game show every other Wednesday maximum fun org are you a five-star baddie if

[26:44] you answered yes then black people love Paramore is the podcast for you

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[27:04] episode we dissect one pop culture topic that mainstream media doesn't

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[27:24] you get your podcasts hey Flophouse listeners if you live in the Chicago

[27:31] area and have no plans for the evening of Sunday November 16 we have added a

[27:37] late show a late live show after our first show sold out we will be talking

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[27:49] options the show's at Sleeping Village at 930 p.m. and if you go to the events

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[28:48] now back to the show and we are back and of course we are kicking off

[28:56] movies off of lists of top films because why not what better thing can we

[29:04] do on this Saturday afternoon when we're recording this and the next esteemed list

[29:10] that we'll be talking about is of course Elliot Kalin's top four on Letterboxd

[29:17] what do we got here we got the taking of Pelham one two three seen it this is the

[29:22] the recent one right nope nope the original one we have shadow of a doubt the Alfred

[29:30] Hitchcock picture the miracle of Morgan's Creek by Preston Sturges and closely watched trains a

[29:38] gem of the Czech new wave I'm told the shining jewel in the crown of the Czech new wave yeah

[29:44] Wow fireman's ball attacked fireman's balls great fireman's balls great it's no closely

[29:49] watched trains so what do we got here yeah just like looking on that list I think I've

[29:55] only seen one of the four movies taking a Pelham one two three so I'm gonna kick that one off

[30:00] Because I want to see the others.

[30:01] Okay, that's fair.

[30:02] That's fair.

[30:03] Because I trust Elliot's opinion.

[30:05] And if you put these other movies on

[30:06] there, they got to be great.

[30:07] And I don't want to kick him off

[30:08] before I see him.

[30:10] Like all right thinking people and

[30:12] New Yorkers in particular,

[30:14] I love Taking a Pelham 1, 2, 3.

[30:16] I love Hitchcock in general.

[30:18] I love Shadow of a Doubt.

[30:19] I also love Preston Sturgess, but

[30:21] Miracle of Morgan's Creek is not

[30:23] one of my favorites.

[30:25] So I have to go with that one like

[30:27] least two or three Sturgess movies.

[30:30] I like when he got on the Lady Eve.

[30:32] No, thank you.

[30:34] Hey, we can disagree on this.

[30:35] I mean, I like the Lady Eve, but

[30:36] I still like it as much.

[30:37] So I'll tell you what I've also

[30:38] never seen the Sturgess film.

[30:41] And it's interesting because like

[30:44] these are I like this top four just

[30:47] because they're not the first movies

[30:49] I would think of for any of

[30:50] the filmmakers that you've chosen.

[30:52] But like, I don't know.

[30:54] Yeah, I like Stewart's criteria.

[30:57] Let's just eliminate the one,

[30:58] you know, if you've seen it, take it off.

[31:00] So I also have to lose Pelham,

[31:02] even though I watched it recently for

[31:04] the first time during COVID.

[31:06] And it's a pretty unbelievable movie,

[31:08] I do have to say.

[31:09] But it's dead to me.

[31:12] I mean, I hate it.

[31:13] Canceled, canceled.

[31:14] Yeah, Elliot, which is just put a bullet

[31:17] in the back of his head.

[31:17] Yeah.

[31:18] Which of your film children

[31:19] do you like the least?

[31:21] So I think that's one for you.

[31:22] The thing that I think is the saving

[31:24] grace of this list is that I'm not

[31:26] saying these are the greatest

[31:27] movies ever made.

[31:29] And I'm not saying that these

[31:30] are the top, top movies,

[31:31] but these are my favorite movies.

[31:32] And but I actually I think I'm

[31:34] going to have to read.

[31:35] I haven't been on Letterboxd

[31:36] in so long because my life does not

[31:37] give me time to do recreational things.

[31:40] Too busy.

[31:41] Too busy.

[31:42] Yeah, to be too busy.

[31:44] And I think I honestly,

[31:47] I might have to take off

[31:49] closely watch Trains because lately,

[31:52] I think because it was that I'm

[31:53] thinking about Wizard of Oz, the sphere,

[31:54] I've been thinking about how much

[31:56] I love the Wizard of Oz and like

[31:57] how special that movie is to me.

[31:58] And I'm I it should be on that list

[32:00] in my I might even bump it up

[32:02] a little bit to and bump

[32:03] some of the other movies down,

[32:04] like taking them on duty.

[32:05] That's always going to be

[32:06] the number one spot.

[32:08] Shadow of a doubt.

[32:09] I just love it particularly.

[32:10] And it has a it's it was shot

[32:13] in the town kind of next

[32:14] over from my wife's hometown.

[32:16] So I've been to a lot of the site,

[32:17] set the places that it was shot.

[32:19] And I'm really excited about that.

[32:20] But also Miracle in Morgan's Creek.

[32:23] That was the second

[32:24] Sturgis movie I ever saw.

[32:25] My grandmother took me to see

[32:27] a double billet film form

[32:28] years and years ago of

[32:29] Unfaithfully Yours

[32:30] and Miracle in Morgan's Creek.

[32:31] And I think this is pretty good.

[32:32] But seeing Miracle in Morgan's Creek,

[32:33] I'm like, I don't think

[32:35] I'd ever seen an old movie that

[32:37] silly, you know, in some ways.

[32:40] But closely watch Trains, I love.

[32:41] But I think I might have to take it off

[32:43] and slot Wizard of Oz in that slot

[32:45] and then put CWT right afterwards.

[32:47] You know, OK.

[32:50] Well, I'm not going to, you know,

[32:52] I'm not going to let myself

[32:53] get off the hook.

[32:54] The next list is Dan McCoy's

[32:57] top four on Letterboxd.

[32:58] Uh-oh.

[32:59] So we got here.

[33:01] Bikini Car Wash Company.

[33:02] Manual in space.

[33:06] It's got everything.

[33:06] It's got a manual.

[33:07] It's got space.

[33:08] What more do you want?

[33:10] Manual's got to be in something.

[33:11] Why not space?

[33:14] Them's the rules.

[33:16] North by Northwest.

[33:18] Animal Crackers,

[33:19] the Marx Brothers picture,

[33:21] the third man and the thing,

[33:24] John Carpenter's the thing.

[33:27] It's a good list.

[33:28] It's tough.

[33:28] It's a toughy.

[33:30] I'll go last on this one

[33:31] just because it's my own.

[33:32] Can you repeat them?

[33:33] Do the four again?

[33:35] North by Northwest

[33:36] for Hitchcock's film.

[33:38] Animal Crackers with the Marx Brothers,

[33:40] the third man and the thing.

[33:46] I guess I guess if you're going to

[33:47] if I'm going to have to pick

[33:48] because I think these are all great,

[33:50] but I would I guess I just am

[33:53] not the biggest Marx Brothers fan.

[33:56] And so I would probably put.

[33:59] Animal Crackers of those four,

[34:00] I, you know, again,

[34:03] I think it's good.

[34:04] Yeah.

[34:07] Thank you, Stuart,

[34:08] for being very thoughtful

[34:09] about my feelings.

[34:10] No, but I mean, just in general,

[34:11] like, I don't know.

[34:13] I know I don't care about your feelings.

[34:14] I'm just as important.

[34:15] Yeah, I mean, I do care.

[34:17] You know, in the third man,

[34:19] when they go up in the big

[34:21] it's like, what is it like?

[34:23] The Ferris wheel.

[34:25] And it's a it's really high up.

[34:28] That scared me.

[34:28] So I'm taking that one out.

[34:30] The zither is super annoying, too.

[34:32] Like, I love that.

[34:34] Wow. Shots fired.

[34:35] You introduce a zither into your score.

[34:38] I can't. I don't know.

[34:40] And his name is Lime.

[34:41] That's a fruit.

[34:42] That's messed up, man.

[34:45] You have to find random criteria

[34:47] if you can't do it.

[34:48] Otherwise, I can't.

[34:50] At the merit of these films,

[34:51] it's a perfect list.

[34:52] I can't really do.

[34:53] Animal Crackers is a snack

[34:55] that I don't like that much.

[34:57] Exactly.

[35:00] I think it's going to be.

[35:01] This is a tough one

[35:02] because it's a very good list.

[35:03] I think I would either push off.

[35:05] I think it's going to have to be

[35:06] North by Northwest

[35:07] under the criteria of

[35:09] not my favorite Hitchcock.

[35:10] A wonderful movie,

[35:12] but not my favorite of his.

[35:14] Whereas the thing,

[35:15] although the thing is not

[35:16] my favorite John Carpenter movie,

[35:18] it's his best movie.

[35:19] But what's your favorite

[35:21] in the mouth of madness,

[35:22] which is not his best,

[35:23] but which I just I love

[35:24] how much weird stuff

[35:25] is crammed into that movie

[35:26] and how the movie like at the end,

[35:28] there's like two fake endings

[35:30] because it's almost like the movie

[35:31] is like, wait, wait, wait, wait.

[35:33] I got more movie to show you.

[35:34] I got more stuff to throw at you.

[35:35] But what if this is it?

[35:37] You know, but the yeah,

[35:40] so I think now I think I'll

[35:43] unfortunately push off

[35:44] North by Northwest,

[35:44] if only because also

[35:45] we've talked about Hitchcock

[35:47] before in other lists.

[35:47] We got Vertigo on one list.

[35:48] We got Shadowed Down on mine.

[35:50] And the thing feels

[35:51] like a real newcomer, you know?

[35:53] Yeah, and it's so well done.

[35:54] You know, it's got such a great score.

[35:56] It's almost as good

[35:56] a score as the third man.

[35:59] The thing is probably

[36:00] the only one on that list.

[36:02] The thing is the only one on that list

[36:03] that Roger Ebert was like stinker.

[36:08] Elliot also said he also said

[36:09] like Blue Velvet was a stinker.

[36:10] You know, he created a graduate.

[36:13] Had to apologize for knocking

[36:14] the Simon and Garfunkel

[36:15] score for the graduate.

[36:17] He literally wrote in his review

[36:19] like these songs are immemorable.

[36:20] Like that's exactly

[36:21] the word I would use.

[36:25] Elliot, I would like to thank you

[36:26] for pointing the way for me,

[36:28] where, as you say,

[36:29] these are favorite movies,

[36:32] not necessarily the best movies.

[36:34] And so even though it is arguably

[36:37] the best movie on my list,

[36:40] I have the least personal

[36:43] sentimental affection

[36:44] for the third man.

[36:45] So I guess I'll have to lose that.

[36:47] I love that.

[36:48] That's when I used to watch a lot

[36:49] when I was like a teenager.

[36:50] It's an amazing movie.

[36:52] Yeah, I'm curious.

[36:56] Do you just find Animal Crackers

[36:58] the funniest of the bunch?

[36:59] It's my vote for the funniest.

[37:02] And I remember, you know,

[37:06] at the Daily Show,

[37:07] I was like writing.

[37:09] You were loudly lambasted

[37:11] for loving Animal Crackers.

[37:12] No, no, I was writing

[37:14] a Larry Wilmore piece

[37:15] with Jason Ross.

[37:17] Jason, of course,

[37:18] was mostly writing it

[37:19] because he was more senior

[37:21] to me by far.

[37:22] That's what it's like

[37:23] when you're working with Jason Ross.

[37:24] This is a writer that,

[37:25] this is a comedy writer who,

[37:28] I would say to people sometimes

[37:29] that writing with him

[37:29] was a little bit like

[37:30] going on a long car ride

[37:31] with your dad,

[37:32] where he's just kind of

[37:33] silently writing it

[37:34] and every now and then

[37:35] you say something

[37:35] and you kind of see

[37:36] if he's going to react to it or not.

[37:37] No, a great guy.

[37:38] I love him and he's a great writer.

[37:40] But, you know,

[37:41] Larry is a student of comedy

[37:43] and loves the Marx Brothers.

[37:45] And the, you know,

[37:47] the most bonding that occurred

[37:48] was me saying that,

[37:49] oh, I love Animal Crackers.

[37:50] He's like, yes, yes,

[37:51] that's my favorite one.

[37:52] It's got the most good bits,

[37:53] you know, so no higher authority

[37:56] than Larry Wilmore also agrees.

[37:58] He knows what he's talking about.

[38:00] I would disagree,

[38:01] but he knows what he's talking about.

[38:03] I think the funniest one is H Feathers.

[38:09] You don't have enough time

[38:10] to say the horse.

[38:15] Well, I did a little research

[38:16] on our guests.

[38:18] I don't know if his top four

[38:20] is up to date.

[38:21] I was worried about this.

[38:22] Yeah, Sean Malin's top four

[38:23] on Letterboxd.

[38:24] We've got Being There.

[38:27] We've got Being John Malkovich.

[38:29] We have the Unbearable Lightness

[38:31] of Being, so the Being Trilogy.

[38:33] What's going on with all the beings?

[38:34] And then Mr. Being.

[38:36] And then the Pleasure of Being Robbed.

[38:39] It's a gag.

[38:39] I mean, I mess with my Letterboxd,

[38:42] my top four all the time,

[38:43] because, you know,

[38:43] I'm a professional working critic.

[38:45] I'm not going to give free shit

[38:47] to Letterboxd.

[38:48] That's just dumb thoughts that I have.

[38:50] I don't put professional shit there.

[38:53] So I mess around all the time.

[38:55] I used to have the American thing,

[38:58] you know, American Pie,

[38:59] American Made, blah, blah, blah.

[39:02] Those are definitely not my top four.

[39:04] I just thought they were four funny movies

[39:06] to represent a wide swath of things.

[39:09] I do like all four of those movies.

[39:10] But we are locked in.

[39:11] We are locked in.

[39:13] We've got to eliminate one.

[39:14] Wait, which one's Being There?

[39:16] Being There is Peter Sellers.

[39:18] Right.

[39:19] It's a Hal Ashby movie.

[39:20] And honestly, that's my pick for what I would.

[39:23] I haven't seen the last one.

[39:25] Mentioned the Pleasure of Being Robbed.

[39:27] But what's that?

[39:28] I.

[39:29] Yeah, it's a movie.

[39:30] It's a super early movie

[39:32] around the same era as Daddy Long Legs.

[39:35] And I would immediately eliminate that

[39:36] because it's a good movie.

[39:38] But yeah, I mean, it's very.

[39:40] It was made cheaply.

[39:41] It's got a kind of intensity to it.

[39:44] You know, it didn't change film history.

[39:45] It opened up the Safdies to what they are,

[39:47] but it's not.

[39:49] It's like an hour and a half tummy ache type movie.

[39:52] I mean, that's what their other movies are.

[39:54] I just think it's funny when you say tummy ache.

[39:56] That kind of thing.

[39:57] It's very like hardcore, gritty New York shit.

[40:00] Yeah.

[40:01] Okay.

[40:02] Well, I'll trust you on that, but I haven't seen it.

[40:04] So I'm going to go with being there, which I always found a little facile in its satire,

[40:09] a little 70s, like, oh, look at this, you know, take down the I'm showing how society

[40:17] is really.

[40:18] I don't know.

[40:19] I love I love that.

[40:20] I love that.

[40:21] You're like mad at a movie for going.

[40:22] Look at this.

[40:23] It's like most of it.

[40:24] Most of the experience of movies.

[40:25] Look, I'm like, hey, like I said, they're books for your eyes.

[40:29] Yeah.

[40:30] I'm going to have to I'm going to have to kick off being John Malkovich because I find

[40:33] it John Cusack's ponytail unpleasant, although, again, I'll tell the story every time I talk

[40:40] about this movie.

[40:41] I took my mom to see that in the theater.

[40:44] And this was back when my mom was drinking.

[40:46] So she was a lot of fun.

[40:47] And she fell asleep in the middle of the movie.

[40:51] Before that, though, when he first got to that office, that's, you know, in the what

[40:55] thirty through three and a half or whatever.

[40:58] My mom loudly said to the entire theater, what a terrible place to work.

[41:03] And I'm like, mom, you're not wrong.

[41:05] And then she fell asleep and then woke up during the final chase.

[41:08] And I'm like, I wonder what you think is happening.

[41:12] This is that reminds me of when the same grandmother that took me to the Preston Sturgis movies,

[41:16] we went to see the movie Courage Under Fire when that came out.

[41:18] And around the time that one of the characters commit suicide by driving straight into a

[41:22] train because he's so ashamed of what happened in the mission where where Meg Ryan's character

[41:26] is killed.

[41:27] My grandmother just turns to me very loudly, goes, this is a very serious movie.

[41:31] It's like, what did you expect, grandma, do you think was a comedy called Courage Under

[41:36] Fire?

[41:37] Oh, family.

[41:38] Yeah.

[41:39] I'm going to.

[41:40] Who are you?

[41:41] What do you think?

[41:42] You already shot.

[41:43] Sean picked Pleasure Being Robbed.

[41:44] Yeah.

[41:45] Oh, I'm going to go.

[41:46] I'm going to follow your lead, Sean.

[41:47] I'm also going to say The Pleasure Being Robbed.

[41:50] It's good.

[41:51] It's I've never seen The Unbearable Lightness of Being.

[41:53] Maybe I'll see it at some point, so I can't kick it off according to the made up rules

[41:57] that we have.

[41:59] And those are personal rules.

[42:00] You can make up any rule you want for your own.

[42:02] Oh, and I'll kick them all off.

[42:03] But movies I like Take Compelling 1, 2, 3.

[42:06] Shadow of a doubt.

[42:07] Yeah.

[42:08] But being there for all that Dan doesn't like it, I really love.

[42:11] And being John Malkovich, I really love.

[42:12] That was that was one that hit me really hard when I was a freshman in college, when it

[42:16] first came out.

[42:17] And it was just very exciting.

[42:19] And it felt like, oh, I'm seeing it felt for the first time, like I'm seeing the new

[42:23] movies of the of what like my generation of moviegoers are going to be really excited

[42:28] about.

[42:30] And it's not Magnolia, the other movie that came out, I think the same year where someone

[42:34] I knew went and saw it like 10 times in the theater because he couldn't get enough of

[42:38] it.

[42:39] I'm like, that's not the one for me being John Malkovich one for me.

[42:41] But being there, I really love there's a there's a I think it's I think it does hit that satirical

[42:45] point.

[42:46] I find it very beautiful at the end.

[42:48] But, you know, Dan, you can you can poopoo it because of all the great movies you've

[42:52] made.

[42:53] Oh, wait a second.

[42:54] Oh, what's this?

[42:55] Oh, man.

[42:56] He's got you there, Dan.

[42:57] All right.

[42:58] All right.

[42:59] Lock him up.

[43:00] Give me several million dollars and I'll make a movie to prove you wrong.

[43:02] All right.

[43:03] You're on.

[43:04] Oh, I got Sean.

[43:05] Do you have several million dollars on this now?

[43:07] I do.

[43:08] And I'm happy to loan them out to you guys.

[43:10] That'd be great.

[43:12] Well, if Stewart didn't see where this was headed already, he's also sitting right next

[43:16] to me.

[43:17] So he can literally see.

[43:18] Oh, Stewart.

[43:19] Oh, no.

[43:20] The Iconoclast that Stewart is only when they came for Elliot Kalin and the sight and sound

[43:23] list.

[43:24] I said nothing to Stewart, the being an Iconoclast, of course, only has three movies on his top

[43:32] four.

[43:33] And those movies are forced him to pick a fourth movie, Castle Freak, head of the family

[43:40] and the Invisible Maniac.

[43:41] Now, I just want to say, you know, we've talked about movies being kind of our favorites,

[43:48] but I think in this case, I've chosen what I would say objectively are the best movies

[43:51] for me.

[43:52] I don't think I've seen any of the three.

[43:55] What are they?

[43:56] Oh, yeah.

[43:57] Castle Freak.

[44:00] For Castle Freak, head of the family and the Invisible Maniac.

[44:03] Now, for listeners who have joined us relatively recently and don't get the bit, this was for

[44:10] a long time the holy trinity of Stewart's movies, films that he would recommend over

[44:16] and over again.

[44:17] During the recommendation segments of the podcast, I would recommend these movies every

[44:21] other week, rotating specifically, I recommended Castle Freak and was talking about how the

[44:27] titular freak rips his own ding dong off and then people start writing letters into me

[44:32] and then people were tweeting at the director, Stewart Gordon, and he was like, no, that

[44:35] didn't happen.

[44:36] It was a real mess, but I still think I'm right.

[44:39] So it was, you know, it was often a fallback, I think, when you maybe forgot that you were

[44:44] going to have to recommend something and hadn't seen something or, or I just thought

[44:49] it would be funny to do.

[44:50] Yeah.

[44:51] Yeah.

[44:52] RIP Stewart Gordon.

[44:53] Yeah.

[44:54] RIP to a master.

[44:55] I feel like the height of this, the height of this bit was when someone tweeted at him,

[44:59] did the did the Castle Freak rip his own ding dong off and Stewart Gordon just tweeted back,

[45:03] no.

[45:04] But also, if you went on Amazon and looked up any of these movies, it would say customers

[45:08] have also purchased Head of the Family and Invisible Maniac.

[45:11] So people are really getting these.

[45:13] Flophouse influence.

[45:14] Yeah.

[45:15] Yeah.

[45:16] Never before has somebody crushed me with two letters before.

[45:19] Yeah.

[45:20] Stewart Gordon just saying no.

[45:22] But on the upside, you eventually got to meet Giorgio the Castle Freak when we hosted

[45:26] Jonathan Fuller.

[45:27] Yeah.

[45:28] Castle Freak screening at Alamo Yonkers.

[45:29] And it's weird.

[45:30] The glossy, the eight by ten glossy he signed.

[45:33] It did say I ripped it off myself.

[45:35] So I don't know.

[45:36] I guess that's canon.

[45:37] I guess the glossies are canon now.

[45:40] Yeah.

[45:41] Who do we believe?

[45:42] The director of Invisible Maniac or the glossy?

[45:44] Yeah.

[45:45] Of these films, while it is fun to talk about, there's more assault in the Invisible Maniac.

[45:52] So I guess I'm going to get rid of that one.

[45:54] I mean, they're all they're all full of assault.

[45:57] These are not there's there's not movies that have respect for the human body or the female

[46:00] body in the way that perhaps we would like to believe we have.

[46:03] But again, they're movies, you know, they're meant to horrify.

[46:06] And I guess Invisible Maniac is more is more to titillate, I guess.

[46:09] But yeah.

[46:10] Sort of horrify.

[46:12] Yeah.

[46:13] So I think they're all good.

[46:17] I left one off for a reason because there can only be three.

[46:21] I would say of those three, all jokes aside, I would say, yeah, I mean, I feel like the

[46:26] Invisible Maniac, though it does feature a guy being killed with a submarine sandwich

[46:31] and another guy being killed with a Mario stomp on the head.

[46:36] I would say the Invisible Maniac has the most gross stuff in it.

[46:40] Well, I think it's also kind of the weakest of the three.

[46:43] Like Head of the Family, I think it's a very silly movie that is kind of it's that like

[46:46] fun in a way, a full moon kind of way.

[46:49] And I think Castle Freak's great because it's a Stuart Gordon movie.

[46:51] I'm going to add Citizen Kane since we've seen it on a bunch of lists and then take

[46:55] it off of here.

[46:56] Thank you.

[46:57] Thank you.

[46:58] Just to put Orson in his place fully.

[47:00] Yeah.

[47:01] He's had it too easy for too long.

[47:02] That's what I've been.

[47:03] Yeah.

[47:04] If anyone had an easy time.

[47:05] Well, I guess.

[47:10] But good news for Orson.

[47:11] This made me.

[47:12] This made me mad the other day.

[47:13] They go.

[47:14] This company is like as an AI experiment.

[47:15] We're going to have it recreate the Magnificent Ambersons.

[47:18] I'm like, come on.

[47:19] Don't do it.

[47:20] We say the last 45 minutes of the Magnificent Ambersons, they're going to put into a large

[47:24] language learning model and see what it spits out.

[47:27] It's just going to be a very large Orson Welles like late in his life.

[47:31] Yeah.

[47:32] It's going to be 45 minutes and I'm talking about wine, French wines and yeah, but that

[47:37] made me very mad.

[47:38] The.

[47:39] But, you know, which one am I going to take off this list?

[47:44] That was a smooth move, adding a movie and then taking it off.

[47:47] That really sidestepped.

[47:48] That was that was very clever.

[47:50] That was outsmart a demon in a folktale.

[47:52] Clever.

[47:53] Yeah.

[47:54] I didn't know we were recording with John Constantine.

[48:02] I might remove even though Invisible Maniac, I think, has some is a little more questionable.

[48:08] I might remove head of the family just for variety.

[48:12] You're going to mess with the head, then you say I am going to mess with the head and see

[48:15] if I don't mess with the head.

[48:16] That's the one thing you're not supposed to do.

[48:18] Oh, no, I did it.

[48:20] Well, that was the end of my silliness, Sean.

[48:24] Before we sign off, is there something is there more you want to say about the podcast

[48:28] or anything?

[48:29] I didn't really give you.

[48:30] Does anybody on your show know that you're in the book?

[48:34] Do they know that you guys earned your spot by being one of the most important podcasts

[48:38] ever released?

[48:39] We.

[48:40] Yeah.

[48:41] I've done a little promotion.

[48:43] Yeah.

[48:44] Please do.

[48:46] We're getting better at owning our successes.

[48:48] Yes.

[48:49] Yeah.

[48:50] It's taken a lot of therapy for me to do the same.

[48:52] Like the book is coming out and I have to be like, oh, yes, I'm proud of what I've done.

[48:56] But I don't know.

[48:57] I mean, you the three of you are in the book.

[49:00] You say shit in it that you've never said on the air.

[49:02] There's exclusives in their exclusive Stuart Wellington, some full color and photos of

[49:09] us.

[49:10] There's a photo.

[49:11] You're early, too, right?

[49:13] You're like.

[49:14] I think you I think because you put it in order of best.

[49:16] So we're number one or two.

[49:17] Right.

[49:18] I like that.

[49:19] Yeah.

[49:20] And I was I was joking about how I was talking about how it kind of starts off like, you

[49:24] know, this podcast started off with some questionable stuff, but then it got good.

[49:28] But one's only true, though.

[49:30] But honestly, like if anyone's coming to our podcast, they probably should know that.

[49:33] Like maybe don't start at the very beginning.

[49:35] No.

[49:36] Start once we got good at doing it.

[49:38] So I don't know.

[49:39] Three.

[49:40] Yeah.

[49:41] I think I love the podcast because I heard that stuff.

[49:42] I'd like watch the growth.

[49:44] You know, people can do what they want, but you should at least embrace the fact that.

[49:49] In this book, you are among the funniest chapters, I mean, like the chapter is funny, like it's

[49:57] just enjoyable to read.

[50:00] as good as an episode, but I think if people like you,

[50:03] they'll giggle, and you don't get that

[50:06] in a lot of books now.

[50:07] They're all very like, you know, everything's so serious.

[50:11] Yeah, but also, like, I mean, I, you know,

[50:14] as a podcast listener, I respect the editorial voice

[50:21] of the, like, the ones that I'm familiar with,

[50:24] I'm like, yeah, yeah, these are good podcasts,

[50:26] so I'm excited to then use it as it's intended to be used

[50:31] and be like, I'll check out some of these other things

[50:33] that I don't know about.

[50:34] It's also quite an honor just flipping through,

[50:37] seeing some of the other shows on there,

[50:39] because there's some really great podcasts in this book.

[50:42] Were there, did you, were there any interviews

[50:44] that you really wanted to do, but weren't able to do?

[50:47] Like, were you like, I wanna talk to Obama,

[50:49] and he's like, no way.

[50:51] Tons, yeah, and in a second edition

[50:54] or expanded edition in success,

[50:55] we have a lot more that we would add to this,

[50:57] like 101 plus another 101,

[51:01] because there's so many amazing podcasts out there.

[51:03] Not that there wasn't like a big selection process,

[51:06] you know, it took months and months and months

[51:07] to whittle down, but yeah, there were a lot of people

[51:10] who were just not available or chose not to participate,

[51:15] and I basically said, fuck you, you're dead to me.

[51:18] Yeah, take him off the list, yeah.

[51:21] Yeah, you're not the canon.

[51:23] No, yes, there were people that I wanted to talk to,

[51:26] and it just didn't happen on time.

[51:27] You know, we, you have a schedule to publish, so.

[51:31] Was there anyone that you were surprised

[51:33] that you were able to interview,

[51:34] anybody who you were like, oh, I wanna interview?

[51:36] Oh, sure, yeah, I mean, Conan O'Brien

[51:40] is amazing in the book.

[51:42] That's pretty great.

[51:43] He wrote pages of material for the book.

[51:45] I'm like, why, why?

[51:47] Yeah, the office lady,

[51:52] I thought were gonna be impossible to reach

[51:54] because they're so like world famous,

[51:57] you know, even before their podcast,

[51:58] but they were really helpful,

[51:59] and they talk about like eating cheese in the book,

[52:02] like their whole schedule is mentioned.

[52:03] That was pretty great.

[52:05] That's awesome.

[52:06] And then there are people who are like,

[52:08] you know, pseudonymous people like Marlo Mack,

[52:11] who has the podcast How to Be a Girl.

[52:12] Like Marlo doesn't give a lot of interviews

[52:14] to protect her daughter who's trans,

[52:18] but she agreed to speak with me, you know,

[52:20] over email, pseudonymously, but still pretty rare.

[52:24] That was cool.

[52:24] You guys were pretty accessible, I have to say.

[52:27] It was not hard.

[52:28] Yeah, we're neither.

[52:29] It wasn't that hard.

[52:30] Which is not as impressive, nor as surprising.

[52:33] We were running after you like, hey, hey, hey, hey.

[52:37] But you are all pseudonymous, which I think is weird.

[52:39] People don't know.

[52:40] Yeah, they don't know.

[52:41] These are characters we play.

[52:42] All the details we get about our real lives

[52:44] are completely fabricated, yeah, yeah.

[52:46] No, it's amazing.

[52:46] Dan doesn't even have any cats.

[52:49] Oh my God, really?

[52:50] You guys were so nice to be in the book,

[52:52] and max fun for providing all the licenses and stuff.

[52:55] Like, it's just awesome.

[52:56] I was so excited,

[52:57] and I've been listening to you guys for a decade.

[53:01] It was fun, it was nice.

[53:03] You were easy to work with, it was simple.

[53:06] And you have a couple of book launch events coming up.

[53:11] There's gonna be one next week.

[53:13] Yeah, I don't think this is gonna be out in time.

[53:15] Do we know when it's coming out, Dan?

[53:17] Let me, I was not prepared for this.

[53:20] I'll figure it out, I should have been.

[53:22] I don't think Sean's surprised

[53:24] that we weren't prepared to know offhand

[53:26] what to expect.

[53:27] I believe this should be coming out on October 4th.

[53:32] Yeah, okay, so if you're listening to it on October 4th,

[53:35] we have an event at Book Passage in San Francisco.

[53:37] We're gonna have a bunch of famous podcasters.

[53:39] Glenn Washington from Snap, Judgment, and Spook

[53:41] will be there.

[53:42] The Ear Hustle folks, Erlon Woods and Nigel Poor,

[53:45] and then Vanessa Lowe of Nocturne.

[53:47] Oh, it's gonna be an amazing event at Book Passage,

[53:50] 3 p.m. in San Francisco.

[53:52] And then in Austin, I'll be at Book People,

[53:56] which is really exciting.

[53:57] That's my old hometown bookstore.

[54:00] And then in November, I'll be at the Miami Book Fair

[54:04] with Dan Lebitard and Stu Gotts

[54:07] from The Dan Lebitard Show with Stu Gotts,

[54:08] if you can believe that.

[54:11] Yeah, there'll be events all over.

[54:12] And I'm sure the four of us will do something

[54:15] down the line as well.

[54:16] I don't know when or where,

[54:17] but we'll have virtual events

[54:19] all throughout the end of the year

[54:19] and then early into next year.

[54:21] And of course, if and when the book does well,

[54:25] maybe there'll be a second thing

[54:26] and there'll be more.

[54:27] Yeah, like the movie version.

[54:29] We'll play ourselves.

[54:30] Yeah, sure.

[54:31] I do think there should be a film adaptation or five.

[54:36] Yep, I think so.

[54:37] Let's figure it out.

[54:38] It's a big book.

[54:40] Yes.

[54:41] At least get to a third one

[54:41] so you can do the podcast pan three on.

[54:45] Oh, wonderful.

[54:48] Yes.

[54:49] You know, I'm available for writing a copy.

[54:52] We need to write a title.

[54:54] For putting numbers.

[54:55] We'll get a room together.

[54:56] Yeah.

[54:58] We're gonna have to put a number in this title,

[55:00] but nobody knows how to do it.

[55:01] One guy.

[55:02] One guy with a rhyming dictionary.

[55:05] Knows how to do what you mean.

[55:09] By the way, Dan,

[55:11] you can cut all of this promotional shit out.

[55:13] I just wanted you to like celebrate the fact

[55:14] that you're in the book.

[55:15] Oh, no, no, no.

[55:17] No, we'll keep it in and double it.

[55:19] We know how the game is played.

[55:20] We know how to scratch backs.

[55:22] Yeah, yeah.

[55:24] Yes, that's what it is.

[55:26] No, no.

[55:27] We listen to back scratch fever.

[55:28] Yeah.

[55:28] It's because we're deeply honored by being in the book.

[55:31] And we wanna say thank you to Sean

[55:34] for joining us for the silliness.

[55:36] We wanna say thank you for putting us in the book

[55:39] in such great company.

[55:42] And as long as we're thanking people and entities,

[55:45] let's thank our network, Maximum Fun.

[55:48] Go to maximumfun.org.

[55:49] So we're thanking entities,

[55:50] let's thank Cthulhu of the Elder Gods.

[55:52] Oh, Jill from Species.

[55:54] I'll mention that like there are other

[55:57] MaxFun podcasts in the book.

[55:59] Bullseye is one that I know I'm forgetting another,

[56:01] at least that's in there.

[56:04] Query with Cameron Esposito is also in there.

[56:06] Oh, awesome.

[56:08] So thank you to our network.

[56:09] Check out the other great podcasts,

[56:11] including ones in the podcast Pantheon.

[56:14] And thank you to Alex Smith, our producer,

[56:16] who goes by the name HowlDotty on the internet.

[56:19] Check his work out as well.

[56:21] But for now, that's the end of this show.

[56:24] For the Flop House podcast, I've been Dan McCoy.

[56:28] I've been Stuart Wellington.

[56:29] I've been Elliot Kalin.

[56:31] And we were joined by.

[56:32] Sean Malin.

[56:39] Maximum Fun.

[56:42] A worker-owned network.

[56:43] Of artists-owned shows.

[56:45] Supported.

[56:46] Directly.

[56:46] By you.

FH Mini 138 - In the Pantheon

Transcript

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