John Cusack re-teams with writer-director Savage Steve Holland in 1986's One Crazy Summer, the companion film to the cult classic Better Off Dead. Demi Moore, Bobcat Goldthwaite, Joel Murray, Curtis Armstrong, and Jeremy Piven co-star.
Posts filed under Sean's Collection
Episode 26: AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON
Sean unwraps a "new" VHS copy of 1981's An American Werewolf in London and tries to explain to Lyndsey why John Landis' gory travelogue is a perfect werewolf film.
Episode 21: MAJOR LEAGUE
As a new baseball season begins, Sean picks the 1989 underdog sports romp Major League, starring Tom Berenger, Charlie Sheen, Wesley Snipes, Rene Russo, Corbin Bernsen, and Dennis Haysbert.
Talking points: The Hunter Pence episode of Fuller House. Building a bad team. A stalker romance. Moneyball. Baseball as a form of community. Buy it/rent it/tape over it. The fall of kids sports movies. Turtles.
Episode 19: INVASION OF THE SAUCER MEN
In honor of Leap Day, we're leaping back in time to the fifties with Sean's pick, the 1957 sci-fi B-movie bonanza Invasion of the Saucer Men, about a group of dumb teenagers, dumb con men, and dumb army dudes running afoul of some equally dumb bulb-headed aliens.
Talking points: Happy Leap Day! The cover. American International Pictures. Lover’s Point. Bug-eyed aliens. Artie as an unreliable narrator. Alcoholic subtext. Uncomfortable rape humor. Why drive with your headlights off? A sleepy protagonist. Alien vs. bull. Incompetent cops. Buy it/rent it/tape over it. John Hughes.
Episode 17: CHILD'S PLAY
Horror enthusiast Sean picks his well-worn VHS copy of Child’s Play, starring Catherine Hicks, Chris Sarandon, Alex Vincent, and Brad Dourif as the infamous killer doll Chucky.
Talking points: Renting Child’s Play 2 as a child. Confusing franchise titles. Rambo. The slasher boom of the 80’s. A solid slasher series. Visit MGM on the web! Good Guy dolls and Turbo Man. Brad Dourif as Charles Lee Ray. Nobody believes the kid. Chris Sarandon’s frustrating car ride. Batteries included. Alex Vincent is a solid child actor. Voodoo. Messy breakfast. A slasher movie weirdly aimed at kids. Child’s Play. Child’s Play 3. Bride of Chucky. Seed of Chucky. Curse of Chucky. Buy it/rent it/tape over it. Tom Hanks.
Episode 14: DIE HARD
Christmas is here, so we're breaking out the egg nog and putting Santa hats on dead European terrorists as we watch Sean's holiday favorite, Die Hard, starring Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Bonnie Bedelia, Alexander Gudonov, Reginald VelJohnson, Robert Davi, and William Atherton.
Talking points: Violence brings the family together. Die Hard as the perfect Christmas movie. The Fly II is gross. A Fish Called Wanda. The perfect action movie? John McClane as the mortal hero. The Die Hard legacy. Simple but effective. Alternate casting. The shirt color change. Limo vs. ambulance. The rose bushes. The balance of grimness and humor. Running on glass. Economic storytelling. Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber. Memorable henchmen. Sgt. Al Powell. The sequels. Argyle. Late 80's tech. The media as a villain. Holly McClane as a believable hero. Ellis. Blowing up the roof. The music. Christmas trappings. Buy it/rent it/tape over it. Die Hard drinking game. Chloe Schildhause.
Episode 11: LICENCE TO KILL
In celebration of the release of the new James Bond film Spectre, Sean selects his favorite 007 tape: Licence to Kill, starring Timothy Dalton as Bond, Robert Davi as Sanchez, Carey Lowell as Pam Bouvier, Talisa Soto as Lupe, and Benicio Del Toro as Dario.
Talking points: Happy 007 November. Lyndsey’s experience with Ian Fleming's Bond, James Bond. Sean Connery. George Lazenby. Roger Moore. Our man Timothy Dalton. John Cleese Schweppes commercial. A dark and unusual Bond movie. The Bond girls. The cold open. The villains. A messy revenge plot. Does it feel like a Bond film? The violence. The Gladys Knight song. The water skiing sequence. Tanker truck chase. A few flaws. Evaluating Dalton. Pierce Brosnan and the Daniel Craig era. You don’t have to be English to play Bond. Buy it/rent it/tape over it. Dinosaurs.
