This pairing is Sci-Fi Comedy/Parody Films, and we're starting with one from the master, Mel Brooks, and his send-up of the Sci-Fi genre (and Star Wars in particular), 1987's Spaceballs! Starring Bill Pullman, John Candy, Rick Moranis, Daphne Zuniga, Dick Van Patten, George Wyner, Joan Rivers, and (of course), Mel Brooks, this film is an oddity in that it would actually work as a decent adventure film if you took the comedy out, but leaving the comedy in makes it a masterpiece! Borrowing from Star Wars, Star Trek, Alien, and countless other sci-fi classics, it makes fun of them all in a way that doesn't demean or lessen the originals! It's so tender and clearly affectionate in its fun-poking that George Lucas blessed the film with assistance and even a little footage donation!
Legendary Hollywood director Blake Edwards gives us our second film for our "Race Around the World" pairing with 1965's epic race-comecy, "The Great Race!" Directed by Edwards, and written by Arthur A. Ross and Edwards, this film follows The Great Lesley (Tony Curtis), a hero all in white, who proposes to stage, and win, a race from New York westward to Paris! Accompanied by his driver and mechanic Hezekiah (Keenen Wynn), he is continually crossed by two different types of opponents. The first, in what may be his greatest comedy role ever, is the evil Professor Fate, played with perfect wit and abandon by Jack Lemmon, who is accompanied by his henchman Maximillian (Peter Falk). The other opponent, however, proves to be equally distracting: A suffragette newspaper reporter who has entered the race to report on it from within, one Maggie DuBois (Natalie Wood). Will Lesley win? If not, who is the cause? A great road comedy, as great as its name implies! Plus, Buddy, Chad, and Jeff reveal which two Sci-Fi comedies will be their next pairing!
It's our "Race Around the World" pairing for the next two episodes, starting with the globetrotting Jules Verne story first put on film in 1956! "Around the World in 80 Days," directed by Michael Anderson and starring David Niven, Mexican superstar Cantinflas, Shirley MacLaine, Robert Newton, and featuring a veritable cavalcade of cameos, follows English gentleman's gentleman, Phileas Fogg (Niven), and his manservant, Passepartout (Cantinflas) as they accept a wager that one could travel around the world in but 80 days during the latter half of the 19th century. Along the way they run afoul of a Scotland Yard Inspector (Newton) and pick up a damsel in distress, the Indian princess Aouda, who accompanies them on the rest of their voyage. With a score by Victor Young, this Academy Award-winning film embodies the best of the "epic" films of the 50s and early 60s!
Our second film by writer/director M.Night Shyamalan is one that flew under the radar for many, and thus came out with few expectations. It surpassed all of them, however, and more, and turned in a truly unique superhero film unlike any other we've seen on the big screen, even today! Security guard David Dunn (Bruce Willis) is the lone survivor of a train crash, who reunites with his estranged wife Audrey (Robin Wright) and his devoted son Joseph (Spencer Treat Clark). He then finds he has gained the attention of art gallery owner and anthropological theorist Elija Price (Samuel L. Jackson) who suggests that David's survival may not have been a fluke, but an indication that he's at the upper end of the curve of what we define as "human." Again written and directed by Shyamalan, shot by Eduardo Serra, and also scored by the genius that is James Newton Howard, this film has a look and feel that is unlike any other superhero film you've ever seen, and treats it with more seriousness as well! For this film also, the trio have chosen to do a spoiler-free review and release the spoilers as a separate supplemental episode, so listen to this, watch the movie, and then listen to the supplement! Also, the trio talk about the two globe-trotting classic films they'll be reviewing next!
SPOILERS AHEAD! The trio are, once again, splitting their review into two parts, to preserve the integrity of the viewing experience for those who haven't seen "Unbreakable" yet! This is a supplement to the previous episode (139A) and contains only the discussion of the ending of the film!
This pairing is Sci-Fi Comedy/Parody Films, and we're starting with one from the master, Mel Brooks, and his send-up of the Sci-Fi genre (and Star Wars in particular), 1987's Spaceballs! Starring Bill Pullman, John Candy, Rick Moranis, Daphne Zuniga, Dick Van Patten, George Wyner, Joan Rivers, and (of course), Mel Brooks, this film is an oddity in that it would actually work as a decent adventure film if you took the comedy out, but leaving the comedy in makes it a masterpiece! Borrowing from Star Wars, Star Trek, Alien, and countless other sci-fi classics, it makes fun of them all in a way that doesn't demean or lessen the originals! It's so tender and clearly affectionate in its fun-poking that George Lucas blessed the film with assistance and even a little footage donation! 
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