Movie Meltdown

Movie Meltdown - Episode 479 This week we are joined by semi-regular cast member... and at this point, a member of the Meltdown family - DOUG JONES!! And this week Doug joins us for our Sofa Theater discussion of Waking Ned Devine. And while we realize both the guest and the cast seem to crash through people's boundaries, we also address… Count Orlok, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Better Things, What We Do in the Shadows, the AFI awards, Guillermo del Toro, Star Trek: Discovery, Mira and Paul Sorvino, the Hallmark Channel, The Shape of Water, Christina Ricci, coming up with a caper, The Candy Shop, the tubby blue guys… with weird white wigs, Ann B. Davis, squeezing faces, movies with rubber monsters in them don't often make it to a 13 nomination night at the Oscars, I've never seen a surge like this last year ever before, being a criminal mastermind, Mimic 3, you’re just not watching it right, it should inspire whatever you need that day, thriving in life, snitches get… thrown into the ocean, I’ll be your Joan

Movie Meltdown - Episode 478  The "Super Series" is back as we come out of our post-snap hiatus to discuss Captain Marvel. And as we begin to wonder if ever we were somehow involved in “the Budapest thing”, we also mention… Grendel's insatiable, X-Men: Dark Phoenix, Aquaman, Spider-Man: Far from Home, SHAZAM!, Venom, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Legion, Kingpin, Idris Elba, Street Fighter 2, the Tesseract Cube, Guardians of the Galaxy, Samuel L. Jackson, all those Kirby illustrations done in full scope, it's all absolutes, keep your omega villains omega, James Gunn's 'The Suicide Squad', the finger snap is everywhere in culture now, watch out for time vortexes, listening to vinyl, creating his own mythos, Bag of Holding, Brie Larson, I think there is a total difference to comic book movies, The Killing Joke, my head just exploded I’m like… man, I don't know what's going on now, Cushing's disease, Daredevil, I'm too grown to like accept this scene, snarky and dry, maybe that's their

Movie Meltdown - Episode 477 This week we ask the question - can you turn any “property” into a theme park attraction? And as we realize that this is all an interesting psychological experiment - being conducted on us, we also cover... Newt Scamander, Idiocracy, The Wire, The Warriors, James Cameron, hey look it's a wild Gabor, Back to the Future: Part 2, a symbol of corrupt pseudo justice, Bring ‘em Back Alive and Tales of the Gold Monkey, The Journey: Absolution, they are transported to another realm because of solar eclipse occurred, he goes above and beyond filmmaking, the magical British Jack Hanna, I don’t care for his things, but I like him, that was a funny moment when I established myself as an idiot American, Isaac spoke to me, it just looks like Land of the Lost with a little extra money, Benedict Cumberbatch, how many weird pop stars did they create out of 80's soap opera dudes, I love my therapist... he died, so now I've got Marc Maron, it gets my entire mouth envolved, what Nargles look like, I

Movie Meltdown - Episode 476 It's the annual award ceremony of The Meltdown Awards! Listen as we discuss all the nominees and announce the winners from the 2018 films and performances voted on by our listeners! And as we make use of our dollhouse sensibility, we also bring up… unnecessary creepy smiles, it hits the nail on just so many heads, it's very hermetically sealed, this is one of those times… when everybody meets in the same spot, they're still kind of unpacking whatever kind of weirdness is going on in that guy, it’s mostly electronic, an impressive feat in filmmaking if nothing else, now she's in so many things and I'm never let down, it’s kind of like this master class in editing, that was like the only time in a theater in this last year, where everyone was like ‘Oh f***!!’, this thing could have been a huge mess but they kept it together, it really helped him make his name as a director, I feel like that was a very 90s haircut for that character, devoid of humanity, it's the classiest of all meat

Movie Meltdown - Episode 475 This week we start off talking about the current convention culture and how artists fit into that situation - or don’t... and eventually, we end up discussing the differences in the generations and how that all affects the future of the world. This conversation runs the gamut! And as we start to realize that fandom is all relative, we also address… The Commuter, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, a convincing Irish accent, Tonks from Harry Potter, Ron Howard, we have so much information coming our way that we're all on autopilot, a short in stature Melkor carrying a red American Heart Association tote, that level of greed and Industry does not go away, your weird physical idea of yourself, who uses a pager where's my flip phone, old men action stars, it's the fault of the way we consume media, what was the song that was playing when that kid saw that lawn mower that was eating that guy, Ready Player One, rebooting Bozo, Liam Neeson, I presume it is IOS friendly, the glorious Wonder Woman

Movie Meltdown - Episode 474 (For our Patreon "Horror Club") This week the horror club reconvenes to discuss André Øvredal's 2016 film The Autopsy of Jane Doe starring Brian Cox, Emile Hirsch and Olwen Kelly. And as we realize we are all living in a shared horror universe, we also mention… Blumhouse Productions, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Jimsonweed, The Shining, I get that that's a weird thing to find in somebody's basement, an old-timey narrator telling us about an animal’s adventure, morbid yet squeamish, Happy Death Day, within the confines of horror movies and cop dramas that's kind of how it works, Bewitched, infinite loop, you're shoving your head somewhere you don't need to be put in your head right now, the logistics of how things are going down, drugs ‘n Voodoo s’all you need, slow build, mottled face appears, putting peanut butter on a lion’s lips, I have no mercy... I don't care... just kill people, when the cat growled, interior not matching the exterior, Jabberjaw: the Movie, once you ge

Movie Meltdown - Episode 473 This week the Meltdown Gang decides to hang out and discusses some of the things they've watched lately. And while we plan our upcoming puppet musical, we also cover… Bad Times at the El Royale, Russian Doll, Green Room, Revenge, Labyrinth, Hail, Caesar!, Another Day, Another Time, John Cusack, picking apart old horror tropes, King Arthur and the knights of the round table, Catherine O'Hara, it’s very seamless the way they Incorporated all together, Patrick Stewart, bought some foam a couple of weeks ago, all these hidden things that you were supposed to have caught but maybe didn't, David Bowie, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, painful self-surgical scene, Eugene Levy, you are a genius… and a madman, love of old Hollywood, there’s a lot of speech comedy, Channing Tatum, some of the most gnarly bloody movie deaths I’ve seen in a while, Coralie Fargeat, The Dark Crystal, it's like really fun... despite being like super violent, Natasha Lyonne and just a lot of Schitt's Creek. “It is a ni

Attack of the Killer Soundtrack 55 This week we are joined once again by composer Erich Stem as we play and discuss all the 2018 Oscar nominees for Best Original Song and Best Original Score.  And while we try to decide how many tracks feature stand-alone-ish-ness, we also bring up… Wynton Marsalis, grooves, chord progressions and sound effects, a different artistic purpose, Hans Zimmer is actually the kind of person that he studied, reminiscent of past songwriting styles, the background music to an Ambien commercial, stuttering racists, no style no finesse definitely no subtlety, The Shape of Water, Harvard rap groups, something that is separate from the crowd, Philip Glass, Quincy Jones, that big Hollywood influence coming out, it's hard to say when you talk about original music and you're actually orchestrating the music of a prior composer, The Weeknd, James Bond, a composer with a jazz background versus a composer with a classical background, using traditional instruments, a relic of a bygone musical per

Movie Meltdown - Episode 472 This week we return to our annual series The People Who Died… as we pay tribute to just some of the celebrities we lost in 2018. Including some personal stories of our own interactions with a few of the dearly departed. And while we wonder if we’ll be considered a phenomenon had the lasting effect on generations of people, we also address… the wheelchair in Forrest Gump, Eighth Grade, The Henson Studios, Anjelica Huston, they recreated that corner of the street from police photographs, playing a permutation of the same roll, it’s as much a history lesson and a performance, we'll have these weird little moments of serendipity in life, he's not the kind of guy would let a little thing like a typhoon and stop him from making his movie, everybody’s Grandpa,William Peter Blatty, editing that was unconventional for that era, the next Exorcist, if you’re not here… you’re material, an architect who helps restore old churches, felt pressured into doing the scene, The Prestige, there's so m

Movie Meltdown - Episode 471 This week we kick things off with special guest J. Todd Anderson, the man who has been drawing storyboards for EVERY Coen Brothers movie since Raising Arizona! Then the Meltdown Gang sits down to discuss the most recent outing from the Coen Brothers - The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. While we ourselves realize we might be as eloquent and well-spoken as an Elizabethan backwoods guy, we also mention… the Cleveland Browns, wedding cakes, Tom Waits, Superman with George Reeves, an unsung, amazing actor, straight out of Looney Tunes, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Alfred Hitchcock, this is how he led a nation, Liam Neeson, 8mm, George Clooney, the book goes out to all the keys, Grimm's Fairy Tales, Tim Blake Nelson, Gene Autry, 90% heavy breathing and groaning, death in every form is just out to get everybody, James Franco, they're very specific and all I have to do is draw and get it right, Stephen Root, the Evil Dead camera effect, the specter of death is hanging over all of us,  Brendan Glee

Movie Meltdown - Episode 470 This week the Meltdown Gang gets together to create an audio culinary dish made of stacked layers of movie geekdom. Listen as we add layer after layer of geeky content... like a good lasagna. And eventually, we'll discuss a very specific - "bad lasagna". And while we fight off nazis and vampires, we also cover… The Predator, Derry Girls, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, Leave No Trace, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Clue, Red Eye, The Drive-in Movie Channel, The Howling Man, Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey, R.L. Stine, hiding in the abbey, sit down giant Pikachu, have another chili dog, six or seven other people tied to chairs with similar cuts on their arms, has opened up a whole new world of possibilities to keep me from doing real things, we have the VHS, a weird fake spider book, Christopher Plummer is... fine, the old traditional scrolling through all the streaming apps, a peoples-worth of remains, Rachel McAdams, during the Depression these two brothers moved to town, it's prob

Movie Meltdown - Episode 469 (For our Patreon "Horror Club") This week the Meltketeer Horror Club reconvenes to discuss the 2018 psychological horror film Delirium starring Topher Grace, Patricia Clarkson and Genesis Rodriguez.   And while we realize all we really want is Fruity Pebbles delivered to our doorstep, we also bring up… Shutter Island, Sunset Boulevard, bringing in outside contractors, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, such an obtuse bad guy, It's a Wonderful Life, a tongue in a jar, the Home Alone sequel, Venom, nobody was there really, how long had those been there… who’s using them, trend filmmaking, never trust an indoor pool, does she have no concern for her own well-being, your dad’s a serial killer… but your brother’s also a serial killer, making mix CDs, build your own torture chamber, split personality, Black Klansman, how many sets of handcuffs are we walking around with, that guy from Dear John, being a super sweet psycho, the asylum had a really nice gym, a dog riding around on an electric scoo

Movie Meltdown - Episode 468  This week we return to our epic sci-fi conversation that started in last week's episode. And as we realize we are immersed in a 70’s cinematic, futuristic nightmare, we also address... Nomi Sunrider, Battlestar Galactica, people vanishing all around the ship, The City & the City, The Avengers movies, Ewan Mcgregor, this creature that lives in a desert, classical understanding of what penance is, an inability of people to communicate with each other, Paul Bettany, I've got a completely different point of view that is coming from a different set of facts that you haven't heard, where a lot of Christian saints went, when they went to evangelize the country, Alec Guinness, Master Thon, it’s about believing in people, freely letting go of the past, Star Trek: Discovery, having loads and loads of corporate cash, a contentious conflicted vision, but they want to tie it in to all the threads that really don’t matter, The Orville, you’re bringing that to the movie, it’s about believin

Movie Meltdown - Episode 467 This week we dive headfirst into a sci-fi conversation that geeks from any galaxy will appreciate. And as we realize we’re changing the future... one rivet at a time, we also mention… crawling around the Jefferies tubes, watching the forums, Stone Mountain, Georgia, I’m surprised you got that sentence out before you were killed, Kurtzman Trek, dawn throws back the night, at the core of Hell Lucifer is the one enduring the most suffering, in the end, it had my first role-playing game books, my first CDs and my first tapes… like actual video, VHS tapes - were all in this one location, J.J. Abrams, today wasn't going to be won with strength or with force of arms today was going to be won the way I won it… it was through the force… it was through showing people the light that was already present, Rian Johnson, there’s a faith, hope and love thing going on there, I gotta go beat up this bounty hunter over here, Donald Glover, everyone in that movie is trapped in a nightmare of one kind

Movie Meltdown - Episode 466 This week we break away from our regular coverage of Louisville Supercon for a “very special episode” with actor and filmmaker Andre Gower. Listen as Andre talks about growing up in the entertainment industry. How he ended up in Monster Squad... with a role that should have changed his life (eventually- it did). And the amazing fan reaction and support over the years that lead him to direct his film Wolfman’s Got Nards: A Documentary. And while we get into a heated debate about which is better - The Towering Inferno or The Poseidon Adventure, we also cover… Fred Dekker, Tiger Beat, a shark-octopus, Mr. Holland's Opus, everybody’s toast, get off my interwebs, Alfonso Ribeiro, "reality" "stars", we saw It on opening weekend, Ashley Bank, I would never ask you to be in my movie, how many brands own all those outlets, T.J. Hooker’s son, that’s super unfair for a ten-year-old, I was sitting there eating lunch and he was across the street walking into a Trader Joe's with Stephen King Ru

Movie Meltdown - Episode 465  This week we are coming to you “live” from Louisville Supercon as we talk with a quartet of sci-fi legends. Join us as we talk with Sam Jones (Flash Gordon), Ricou Browning (The Creature from the Black Lagoon), Patricia Quinn (The Rocky Horror Picture Show) and John Wesley Shipp (The Flash). In this Meltdown-verse crossover event, we join forces with George Buehler (The WBKI FANatic), to discuss our other interactions with guests like… Kevin Conroy, Alice Cooper, Loren Lester, Diane Pershing, Charles Martinet, Lloyd Kaufman, Kane, Sergeant Slaughter, Theodore Long and at least one of us inspired Booker T and changed his life. (Or at least his lunch.) And while we realize that being a hoarder sometimes comes in handy, we also bring up… Mask of the Phantasm, Thunderball, Ming the Merciless, Space Jam, Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park, the life of Edward Fudge, watching him on the Muppets, The Burien Flyers, Cowboy Bebop, you’ve influenced royalty, 97% of every actor or actress, y

Movie Meltdown - Episode 464 (For our Patreon "Horror Club") On this week's exclusive episode, we kick off the new Meltketeer Horror Club with Olaf De Fleur's Netflix film Malevolent starring Florence Pugh.   And as we realize, even if we sew our own mouths shut, we would still address… Buster Keaton, Dogs… the Series, The Birdcage, very clean torture aprons, what are your rules for ghost in this universe, Peter Bogdanovich, sickly and basement weird, hitting certain notes because it had to, if you dress a certain way you're going to see some freaky sh-t, we needed someone to die first, don’t take in random children, she had to mimic her seizures, the creation of his art is above his personal safety, it just feels, or looks - like a Netflix movie, let’s mess with it and see what happens, Mike Nichols, not to lump all Scandinavian thrillers into one basket, I wanted that Scottish Grandpa rage, it seems like a Vice documentary… but then there’s this beautiful Husky-mix, Herb Baumeister territory and little girl

Movie Meltdown - Episode 463  This week we welcome Dr. Ann Hall, Chair Comparative Humanities at University of Louisville, who not only teaches about film, but has also been a movie fan pretty much her whole life. So together we embark on our usual conversational trajectory as we bounce around from topics like… the old Hollywood publicity machine to favorite holiday movies. We also address the role of women in film in general to more specifically - the role of women in horror films. Plus a lot of other random discussions along the way. And before we’re done, someone in the cast tells us how - this one time... they met Bill Murray. And as we all leisurely lounge in a bathtub full of milk, we also mention… the Hays code, Tex Avery cartoons, Cecil B. DeMille, Turn of the Screw, Florence Lawrence, Rosemary's Baby, associated with the lowbrow medium… like film, Sigourney Weaver, celebrity magazines, she began as a flapper, It's a Wonderful Life, clean up her act, Miracle at St. Anna, babysitters, spectacle vs. sto

Movie Meltdown - Episode 462 This week we discuss the 2018 Netflix release Apostle, a period piece that is arguably a horror film about religion or at least religious cults. The film stars Dan Stevens, Lucy Boynton, Michael Sheen and was written and directed by Gareth Evans. And as we take turns poking each other with sticks, we also cover… Suspiria, Haunting of Hill House, Riverdale, Twig Head, an unexpected cave exposition, be prepared you guys… do some planning, they turned up the creepy and the weirdness factor, there are some things I wish they’d elaborate on more, do you pay extra for a cave creature encounter, the sister, unapologetically diving into almost night time soap level of drama, our female characters, look at each other sometimes with weird cryptic gazes, the people in the bags, wasting blood, I feel like there's a lot about this movie that was... unexpected, the mangler, forcing your religion down another culture’s throat, putting on a headlamp, is this cult any different then what you were

Movie Meltdown - Episode 461  As theaters are continually flooded with familiar titles and on-going series, we discuss the way that audiences see this process and potentially some alternate perspectives on the subject. And while we set the bar a little higher for ourselves, we also bring up… A Star Is Born, Suspiria, Halloween, A Simple Favor, BoJack Horseman, Our Town, Blumhouse Productions, Pet Sematary, honor the original, Roger Corman, painters, American culture, Mark of the Vampire, and the whole thing could unravel at any second, Cigarette Burns, David Gordon Green, The Blob, super gnarly and ridiculous and awesome, Alien, Alfred Hitchcock, a passive experience, creative impulses, Clueless, with a new approach to material, the attachment to TV, Paul Feig, reinterpriding plays, Gus Van Sant, they had not sanded off the edges on this new CG thing, lifting scenes or beats, Rotten Tomatoes, Drop Dead Fred, John Carpenter, Big Mouth, J.J. Abrams, a cash-in for the studios, that’s kind of not how art works, I