We dedicate this pairing to how difficult it seems to be to successfully adapt a Stephen King story for the big screen! We've chosen two examples of when it's been done right, starting with the Stanley Kubrick-directed horror classic, 1980's "The Shining!" Based on the King novel with a screenplay written by Kubrick and Diane Johnson, this film is a tour de force of how to make a movie audiences will love and the author will hate. The film stars Jack Nicholson as writer Jack Torrence. He's looking for a job while he's working on his novel and chooses winter caretaker of the Overlook Hotel in Colorado. He travels there with his wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and his son Danny (Danny Lloyd). There, they meet Dick Hallorann (Scatman Crothers), who immediately connects with Danny on the basis of their shared psychic gift. He warns Danny that the Overlook is a place he must be careful in, and it turns out to be prophecy as the hotel reveals its ghostly spirits, along with the alcoholic variety as well, as it begins to warp Jack from a devoted family man into a homicidal maniac! One of the films most likely to be found on any top horror list anywhere!

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The second film in our pairing celebrating the great city of Chicago is a true American classic, and absolutely deserving of being included on this podcast! From the last film, we move ahead six years to 1986 and the John Hughes-directed hit film that is "Ferris Bueller's Day Off!" The story follows young Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick) as he attempts to finagle his 9th sickday during his senior year of high school. After rousting his somewhat hypocondriacal friend Cameron Frye (Alan Ruck) and convincing him to come over, they hatch a scheme to spring Ferris' girlfriend Sloane Peterson (the stunning Mia Sara) from class. They run afoul, however, of the Dean of Students Ed Rooney and his somewhat vapid secretary Grace (Edie McClurg). The charming trickster and his friends navigate the Chicago landscape throughout the day, dodging repeated attempts by Rooney to catch him. This film is beloved by people of all generations and the topic of frequent questions as to why we haven't reviewed it yet, so we are fixing that now! Plus, the trio reveal which Stephen King books-made-films they've chosen for the next pairing!

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This pairing is unlike any we've done before: It's a geographical pairing, with films set in and around the great city of Chicago, Illinois! First up, one of the few successful films to spin off from a Saturday Night Live skit. Directed by the amazing John Landis, John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd star as (respectively) Joliet Jake and Elwood Blues, otherwise known as the Blues Brothers. When the orphanage they grew up in is threatened by a tax bill it can't pay, the duo head out on a "mission from god" to reunite their old band and gig their way to five thousand dollars! Along the way they meet up with many different police officers, and a group of Illinois nazis, as they try to make it to the Palace Hotel Ballroom and play their show! This film features amazing music throughout from R&B artists famous for their skill and talent, along with the original Blues Brothers band from SNL as well!

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The second film in our "Psychedelic 70s Animation" pairing moves ahead four years from the last, to 1977, and features the work of underground animator extraordinaire Ralph Bakshi and his film "Wizards!" In a post-apocalyptic world, magic and technology co-exists, although technology is forbidden as it caused the destruction of the world once already. A pair of brothers, born to a fairy queen, face off against each other, as one embraces nature and magic while the other seeks power in technology and stumbles upon relics of the old world: Nazi propaganda! He uses it to rally his troops like never before and to lay siege to the peaceful magical kingdoms. Only the good brother, along with a (mostly) fairy princess and an elven warrior, along with a former assassin turned helper, seek to find the leader of the mutants and put a stop to the war once and for all! A true classic, and a final confrontation like no other in cinematic history! Plus, the trio discuss which American city is the focus of their next pairing!

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