Happy holidays from Buddy, Chad, and Jeff! It's the first of our "Twisted Christmas" pairing and it starts with 1988's Bill Murray-led "Scrooged." Directed by Richard Donner, and starring Murray, Karen Allen, John Forsythe, Bobcat Goldthwait, David Johansen, Carol Kane, and Robert Mitchum, this is a modern re-telling of the story of Scrooge, but this time with a lot of laughs to go along with the normal pathos-filled morality tale! It's a practical-effects smorgasbord combined with a delightfully creepy-yet-christmas-y score by Danny Elfman and some top-notch acting performances that combines to be the gift everyone wants for their holiday season (even if someone doesn't quite agree)!
Part 2 of our look at radio personality biopics takes a radically different turn from our first! Petey Greene (Don Cheadle), an ex-convict, charms his way onto WOL, the number one rhythm and blues station in Washington, DC with the help of program director Dewey Hughes (Chiwetel Ejiofor) in 2007's "Talk To Me!" It's rough at first, and tempers fly, but after a devastating turn of events on the national scene, Greene demonstrates his true talent and brings DC through a dark and dangerous night! Directed by Kasi Lemmons, and co-starring Taraji P. Henson, Mike Epps, Cedric the Entertainer, and Martin Sheen, this film demonstrates how radio, and the right person at the right time, can unite a community for all the right reasons! Plus, discover what two "twisted" films the crew has picked out for their holiday episodes!
This pairing is all about radio personality biopics, and we're starting with perhaps the most well-known radio personality of all time, the self-proclaimed "King of Media," Howard Stern, the the 1997 film based on his book of the same name, "Private Parts!" Directe by Betty Thomas, and starting Mary McCormack, Paul Giamatti, Allison Janney, and, as themselves, Fred Norris, Robin Quivers, and Howard Stern! This is an inside look into the history and evolution of one of the most notorious radio personalities of the 20th and 21st centuries, even if some of it is a bit of hollywood magic rather than the actual truth. But it shows that the Stern we all know and love (or hate) from on-air is only a character, a personality that he puts on to do his shows, and that he is subtly but substantially different "in real life!"
The second of our look at improvised mockumentaries about music moves forward almost 20 years, to 2003's "A Mighty Wind!" If Christopher Guest and crew had a brilliant idea in "This is Spinal Tap," they'd perfected it with this movie! Directed by Guest, and co-written by Guest and Eugene Levy, this film takes place just after a giant in the Folk industry has passed away, and his children decide to stage a reunion of some of the biggest groups he helped along as a tribute. The film co-stars Mary Gross, Harry Shearer, Michael McKean, Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Bob Balaban, Jane Lynch, John Michael Higgins, Parker Posey, Jim Piddock, Don Lake, Ed Begley Jr., Larry Miller, and Jennifer Coolidge. The New Main Street Singers, the Folksmen, and Mitch and Mickey, along with some baggage and more than a few personal issues, join the tribute concert. Along the way, we learn a lot about the groups (and in a couple of cases, probably too much), and watch through the concert itself. Hilarious, full of original music that both pokes fun at, and serves as an homage to, folk music of the 50s and 60s, this is an absolutely fantastic film, full of subtle (and not-so-subtle) humor, great music, and an outstanding acting job by Eugene Levy! Plus, the the trio returns to one of their non-film-but-still-media loves for the next pairing!
It's improvised mockumentaries about music for this week's pairing, starting with the directorial debut of Rob Reiner, the film co-written by Reiner, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer, the ultimate send-up of rock mockumentaries, 1984's "This is Spinal Tap!" Starring Guest, McKean, and Shearer as the three members of "the loudest band in rock," this film follows the intrepid-yet-inept heavy metal trio through their comeback tour, touting the release of their new album "Smell the Glove." Featuring the additional talents of Bruno Kirby, Ed Gegley Jr., Fran Drescher, Patrick Macnee, Dana Carvy, Billy Crystal, Howard Hessman, Paul Shaffer, Fred Willard, and Angelica Huston, this film was the prototype for mockumentaries-to-come, establishing a genre that Guest and company have been successfully mining ever since!
Happy holidays from Buddy, Chad, and Jeff! It's the first of our "Twisted Christmas" pairing and it starts with 1988's Bill Murray-led "Scrooged." Directed by Richard Donner, and starring Murray, Karen Allen, John Forsythe, Bobcat Goldthwait, David Johansen, Carol Kane, and Robert Mitchum, this is a modern re-telling of the story of Scrooge, but this time with a lot of laughs to go along with the normal pathos-filled morality tale! It's a practical-effects smorgasbord combined with a delightfully creepy-yet-christmas-y score by Danny Elfman and some top-notch acting performances that combines to be the gift everyone wants for their holiday season (even if someone doesn't quite agree)! 
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