Episode 167: Recorded LIVE at Michigan ComicCon in Detroit, Michigan! Supernatural action comedy number two comes to us from just six months after Big Trouble in Little China, and was actually offered to Big Trouble director John Carpenter, but he turned it down to make his film. Instead, they turned to director Michael Ritchie (who would go on to direct "Fletch") to helm Murphy's fifth leading role in "The Golden Child!" Murphy plays Chandler Jarrell, a finder of lost children, who is approached by Kee Nang (Charlotte Lewis in her first film role) who asks his help in finding a very special lost child. As the hunt proceeds, things get stranger, including a brush with the sinister Sardo Numspa (Charles Dance), a supernatural entity who captures the golden child, forcing a direct confrontation between himself and Jarrell. This film also features three actors who were also in Big Trouble: Victor Wong, James Hong, and Peter Kwong. Plus, the trio reveal what two films with truly disturbing endings they're going to be reviewing next!
Episode 166: Recorded LIVE at Michigan ComicCon in Detroit, Michigan! It's action comedies with a supernatural twist for this pairing, starting with the first of two films, both from 1986! In "Big Trouble in Little China," we discuss director John Carpenter's 9th feature film outing, and his fourth time working with leading man Kurt Russell, who plays sidekick Jack Burton! Did we say sidekick? Yes, because the actual hero of the film, story-wise, is Dennis Dun as Wang Chi! This duo find themselves enmeshed in a battle to save two young women, lawyer Gracie Law (Kim Cattrall) and Miao Yin (Suzee Pai) from the evil clutches of David Lo Pan (James Hong), an ancient sorcerer with an obsession for women with green eyes! Add in a reporter, a local business owner, a Chinatown tour guide, and a trio of elementally-charged fighters known simply as the Three Storms, and you have a rollicking supernatural adventure film like no other! Then, throw in the fact that Kurt Russel is absolutely playing against type, and you get a modern classic that could only have come from the mind of John Carpenter!
Episode 165: The second in our classic comedy pairing of Marx Brothers films advances the timeline two years (and one studio) in 1935's "A Night At the Opera!" Directed by Sam Wood, and ghost-directed by Edmund Goulding (of "Nightmare Alley" fame, see Episode 162), this film was the first to feature only Groucho, Chico, and Harpo, since Zeppo had decided to leave acting for a more lucrative career as an agent. In his place, as the romantic lead, Allan Jones plays a chorus tenor in the Opera, madly in love with Kitty Carlisle's Rosa (she returns his love as well). Attempting to get between the lovers is Walter Woolf King, playing the selfish and arrogant Rudolfo Lassparri. Add to this Sig Ruman's wonderful Herman Gottlieb, the head of the New York Opera Company. Add to this story some of the funniest may have the best Groucho-Margaret Dumont interplay, and you have an operatic comedy like no other! This one is Jeff's favorite! Plus, the trio discuss their first public appearance at Michigan ComicCon (August 16-18), as well as what two supernatural action-comedies they'll be reviewing life from their booth (#663)!
Episode 164: This week it's the first classic comedy film in our Marx Brothers pairing! We go back to 1933 and the surreal romp known as "Duck Soup!" Directed by Leo McCarey and starring the fab-foursome of comedy, Groucho, Chico, Harpo, and Zeppo Marx, the film also features Raquel Torres, Louis Calhern, and the woman who became the perfect foil to Groucho's charms every... single... time... the wonderful Margaret Dumont! The story follows Otis P. Driftwood (Groucho) who becomes the leader of a small country called Freedonia. Inevitably, they end up at war with a neighboring country, although the hijinks that get them there are ingenius. While a bit short on plot, this film isn't short on laughs, or music (although not in the traditional Marx-Brothers-way), and shows off some of the best interplay between Grouch and Margaret Dumont in any film! This one is Buddy's favorite!
Episode 163: The second film in our pairing around the title of "Geek" as suggested by listner Bill Mukalian, we move up 38 years from the last film and look at what "geek" meant in the 80s with the John Hughes film "Weird Science!" Written (in only two days) and directed by Hughes, the film stars Anthony Michael Hall, Kelly LeBrock, Ilan Mitchell-Smith, Bill Paxton, Syzanne Snyder, Judie Aronson, Robert Downey Jr. Robert Rusler, Vernon Wells, and Britt Leach! This is an 80s sex-comedy take on the Frankenstein story, with two hapless computer geeks accidentally creating a demi-goddess (named Lisa) who decides to, instead of being the sex-toy the boys intended her to be, turn the lads into something vaguely resembling decent young adults. The film is hectic, total fantasy, and features a very well-known title song by Danny Elfman and Oingo Boingo! Plus the trio discuss which two classic comedies (both by the same comic team) they'll be pairing together for the next two episodes!
Episode 167: Recorded LIVE at Michigan ComicCon in Detroit, Michigan! Supernatural action comedy number two comes to us from just six months after Big Trouble in Little China, and was actually offered to Big Trouble director John Carpenter, but he turned it down to make his film. Instead, they turned to director Michael Ritchie (who would go on to direct "Fletch") to helm Murphy's fifth leading role in "The Golden Child!" Murphy plays Chandler Jarrell, a finder of lost children, who is approached by Kee Nang (Charlotte Lewis in her first film role) who asks his help in finding a very special lost child. As the hunt proceeds, things get stranger, including a brush with the sinister Sardo Numspa (Charles Dance), a supernatural entity who captures the golden child, forcing a direct confrontation between himself and Jarrell. This film also features three actors who were also in Big Trouble: Victor Wong, James Hong, and Peter Kwong. Plus, the trio reveal what two films with truly disturbing endings they're going to be reviewing next! 
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