After The Hype

This week we've got quite the tearjerker for you...if you are into that sort of thing. Unfortunately we were not. That's right folks, we're reviewing Beaches as part of our Bette Midler retrospective. Apologies in advance if you loved or find close attachment to this particular piece of cinema, but we didn't connect on any level. Sure, Bette Midler is great. She's always great. Heck, her play about "Otto Titsling" is amazing.  Even the set design slaps. It's just not enough. As always, we had fun working through what worked and what didn't and hope you'll join us on this journey...to the beach.

After another delay (life, eh?) we're back with another exciting episode of Behind the Hype. We're moving on from our lackluster horror b-sides month to something completely different in the best way. This month it's all about Bette Midler. To kick off her awesome filmography we've got the film "Ruthless People," which was quite a blast but definitely flew under some of our radars. Join us to hear about this darkly comedic film and then go check it out as well. You'll be glad you did.

This week we wrap up our month of "Horror B-Sides" with John Carpenter's Ghost of Mars. Okay, cards on the table. When we first thought about doing a month of movies like this, we were hoping to find some hidden gems or uncover some inexplicable blind spots. That was not the case and it's clear to see why this film - and the others that came before it - are considered "b-sides." There's stuff to like in this movie, don't get us wrong. It's just...well...you'll have to listen for yourselves.

Growing tired of our lackluster choices so far this month, we here at Behind the Hype decided to try out a different horror filmmaker's b-sides to see if we might be able to turn this ship around. We chose Sam Raimi's "The Gift," which unfortunately was nowhere near as good as we had hoped and featured almost nothing that we could recognize as a Raimi'ism. It wasn't completely terrible and had some interesting bright spots, but it's certainly an odd duck in our month of odd duck films.

A creature feature with human-sized bugs eating people in subways seems like it was tailor-made for the talents of Guillermo Del Toro, but alas, that is not what we got. Mimic should have been so much better than it was, but its parts did not work together to create a cohesive whole. We break down all the things that didn't work, and point out some of the Del Toro staples that could have been so much more if...well...there had been so much more.

After a bit of a forced hiatus, we're back and excited to take a deep dive into what we think will be an awesome month of films. The theme is Horror B-Sides, and what that means is we're discussing some of the most famous horror directors and their "not-so-popular" fare. This week it's Wes Craven and his Voodoo Zombie Horror Film "The Serpent and the Rainbow." Is it a long-forgotten treasure or should it be dusted into oblivion and buried alive? Join us to find out.

This week on our show we brought in everyone's favorite "Zombie Dog" Matt Dykes to talk about the next film in our Richard Donner retrospective: "Lethal Weapon 2." We had a lot to talk about with this one, from the shoddy police work on display to the scene stealing/chewing Joe Pesci to the very nebulous villains hiding behind their diplomatic immunity. Fun film and equally fun conversation so let's get right to it.

For many of the millennial persuasion, Richard Donner is the guy who directed Superman, which in turn introduced us to the great Christopher Reeve.  Due to a lot of bullshit that is well-documented elsewhere, he was removed from the sequel and Richard Lester was brought in to take his place as director. That version of the film is the version we all grew up with and for the most part loved. And then The Donner Cut came along and gave us insight into what could have been and the results are...also very damn good. We go into all of this and more so let's not waste another minute.

Richard Donner had quite the film career in his lifetime and we wanted to honor that by spending a month reflecting on some of his best films (and one film he got to re-edit after it was cruelly taken away from him). We kick things off with his first critical and commercial breakthrough, "The Omen," starring Gregory Peck as a diplomat / ambassador whose son may or may not be (but totally is) the Antichrist. It's a well-paced horror film that never overstays its welcome, and it manages to pepper a few shocking kills throughout its runtime. That's not to say the film is without its share of flaws, and we go into those as well. An overall compelling start to our month honoring the late Richard Donner.

Ending our month of Jackie Chan is the film "Rush Hour," which totally doesn't hold up after all these years and is a bit of a frustrating watch. Probably would have been better to go with something like "The Foreigner" or literally anything else in his filmography. That said, there were a few things that we liked and it brought about a great wrap up discussion about the actor and just how diverse his body of work is.

Our Jackie Chan retrospective resumes with the absolutely goofball "Rumble in the Bronx," and we mean that in the most positive way possible. Sure, the plot is awful, but you're not watching one of these for the plot. You are? Really? Anyway, the action is top notch and thoroughly exciting and the third act is absolutely hilarious, if nonsensical. You owe it to yourself to check out this movie (and our episode on it) if you haven't.

This week we continue our month on Jackie Chan with the film that fans consider to be one of his best: Police Story. Chan himself also considers it to be one of his best in terms of action and stunts, and the film itself launched many sequels. We have a bit more nuanced of a take on the film, finding some of the plotting to be ridiculous and a frustrating distraction from the truly great action scenes. Specifically, we take some umbrage with the court scenes and the appalling acceptance of shady evidence. We have a lot of fun getting into the particulars of this fun movie so hit that play button and join us for a look behind the hype of Jackie Chan's Police Story.

We're back from our hiatus and ready to jump into some serious discussion about a super serious actor who only makes super serious films. Just kidding. It's Jackie Chan month and we're kicking off perhaps our most fun month yet talking about the hilarious and wonderfully choreographed Drunken Master. What's perhaps the most impressive is how on point Chan's comedic timing is and how much charisma he exudes onscreen. If you haven't watched it yet stop what you're doing, watch it, and then join us.

We end our month of "Snyder Cuts" with THE Snyder Cut. That's right, we're talking about Zack Snyder's Justice League, which had the unfortunate task of building an entire league of superheroes in 4 hours and somehow did it better than anyone could have possibly imagined. Naturally, we had to have an extra-long podcast to discuss how this all happened and why this film is proof positive that the world has been wrong about Zack Snyder. And naturally, we had to bring Matt "Zombie Dog" Dykes back to help. Guys, let's talk about some Justice League!

It's a bird! It's a plane. No, it's our deep dive into Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice: Ultimate Edition. BvS is the film that really kicked the anti-Snyder sentiment into high gear, and we try to grapple with why that is while pointing out that the movie in its extended form is actually quite good. The acting is top notch, and the re-inserted scenes with Clark give him a story arc and explain just why things happen the way they happen. Don't believe the hype on this one...the movie is actually good. Let's talk about it, shall we?Special thanks to Matt "Zombie Dog" Dykes for joining us to talk about the film. 

This week on the show we're continuing our deep dive into the "Snyder Cuts" by looking at a film that could have really used a longer cut - Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'hoole. As you watch the film you can see why Zack Snyder directed this. Beautiful landscapes, vivid characters, punchy pop songs - it's all there! The big problem is that it's an adaptation of a popular children's book series, and like with most of these things, the problems stem from trying to cram as much stuff in as short a runtime as possible. Still enjoyable? Find out in the episode!

This week we're taking a look at perhaps one of the most hated films in the Zack Snyder filmography: Sucker Punch. It's been dismissed as exploitative, and has been derided for its depiction of women. It also features more special effects, explosions, and those darn slow-mo shots people keep making fun of all the time online. So, what if we told you that the Extended Cut solves most, if not all of those problems, and that maybe some of those problems were but projections of an already biased audience? Let's get into it, shall we?

Here at Behind the Hype we've decided that it's time to take a deep dive into one of the more divisive filmmakers out there today: Zack Snyder. People either love his work or hate it, and no matter where you fall on that spectrum you can't deny that he is a visionary filmmaker. We're going to be discussing his "Snyder Cuts" this month, starting this week with his "director's cut" of Dawn of the Dead. The DC isn't all that much longer than the theatrical version and it doesn't significantly change the quality of the movie, but it's an indicator of what's to come for this filmmaker and hopefully gives some insight into how he approaches his films. Special shoutout to James Gunn, who wrote the film and paired so well with Snyder. Seriously, they should work together again.

While we're sad to bring our month of Showa Era Godzilla films to a close, we're glad we picked Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla as our last film to discuss. It's got ape-like aliens trying to conquer earth, interpol agents disguised as muckraking journalists, a musical number, and a monster named King Caesar who helps Godzilla kick the ever-loving ish out of the titular villain. Try not to grin like a goof-ball at any given moment. We dare you.Also in this episode we discuss plans for next month. Here's a hint: Director's Cuts.

The next film in our month of Showa Era Godzilla films is Destroy All Monsters, which features all your favorite monsters and then some as they terrorize all the major cities of the world. But what has caused them to go on such a unified rampage? Aliens. That's right, an all-women race of aliens called the Kilaaks have bent all the monsters to their will and it's up to a fearless space captain to set things right. To say that this film is a blast is a bit of an understatement. It may not be as uniquely humorous as Son of Godzilla, but it's still a great time at the movies.