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This pairing was seeded by a request from one of our Patreon supporters, Flat Doug, who asked us to look back at this first film. Directed by Dino De Laurentiis, and written by James Ashmore Creelman, Ruth Rose, and Merian C. Cooper, 1976's "King Kong" was a record-setting special effects marvel, and the first big-budget re-imagining of the original 1933 classic! The film follows Petrox oil executive Fred Wilson (Charles Grodin) who, along with his scientific advisor Bagley (Rene Auberjonois), are headed for a mysterious fog-shrouded island in search of oil. Just before their ship departs, however, a paleontologist named Jack Prescott (Jeff Bridges) sneaks on board, convinced that there's more than oil to be found at their destination. Along the way, they find a young woman named Dwan (Jessica Lange, in her first film role) unconscious abort a raft, drifting in the ocean. After rescuing her, she joins the expedition to Skull Island. When the company arrives, however, they discover that Prescott was right, and that something even bigger than a massive oil depository to be found on the island! Also starring John Randolph, Julius Harris, and Jack O'Halloran!

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The second film in this pairing moves from one kind of theater to another very different kind! In 2000, Christopher Guest moved from small-town community theater to national-level canine showmanship in "Best In Show!" Exploring the world of dog shows, we meet the owners of the dogs who will be competing in the Mayflower Kennel Club Dog Show in Philidelphia. Gerry (Eugene Levy) and Cookie (Catherine O'Hara) Fleck, from Florida, bring their Norwich terrier, Winky. Meg (Parker Posey) and Hamilton (Michael Hitchcock) Swan arrive escorting their weimaraner, Beatrice. Arriving with his Bloodhound, Hubert, Harlan Pepper (Christopher Guest) arrives with high hopes. And Sheri Ann Cabot (Jennifer Coolidge), trophy wife and dog-show enthusiast, bring along both dog trainer Christy Cummings (Jane Lynch) and her standard poodle, Rhapsody in White. And Scott Donlan (John Michael Higgins) and Stephen Vandorhoof (Michael McKean) accompany their Shih Tzu, Miss Agnes. Along the way, we see the extremes these dog show parents are willing to go to in order to try and insure a win for their pet. Also starring Bob Balaban, Larry Miller, Ed Begley Jr., Fred Willard, and Jim Piddock! And at the end of the episode, the trio reveals what listener request informed the final pairing of the first batch of 2025!

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For this pairing we return to the genius that is Christopher Guest and two of his films we've yet to do on this podcast... until now! Directed by Guest and written with Eugene Levy, 1996's "Waiting for Guffman" is a somewhat twisted love-letter to the trials and tribulations of participating in community theater. Eccentric writer, director, and actor Corky St. Clair (Christopher Guest) is in charge of the Blaine, Missouri sesquicentennial celebration's closing event - an original stage musical which celebrates the history of the town entitled "Red, White, and Blaine!" The cast is made up of a few of the town's community theater regulars: Ron (Fred Willard) and Sheila (Catherine O'Hara) Albertson, a pair of married travel agents, and Libby Mae Brown (Parker Posey), a young and enthusiastic Dairy Queen employee. Corky also casts newcomers Johnny Savage (Matt Keesler), a mechanic who's never been on the stage, and Dr. Allen Pearl (Eugene Levy), a local dentist who has finally worked up the nerve to audition for a show. He also manages to convince Clifford Wooley (Lewis Arquette), long-time resident and now-retired taxidermist, to serve as the show's narrator. But when the cast hears that Mort Guffman, a legitimate Broadway producer, is coming to see their production, the tension gets turned up from high to extreme! Also starring Larry Miller, David Cross, Bob Balaban, and Brian Doyle-Murray!

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The second film in our pairing pedantically entitled "Uncomfortably Prescient Dystopian Science Fiction" moves ahead 40 years from the first. Directed by Mike Judge and written by Judge and Etan Cohen, 2006's "Idiocracy" looks at an army experiment in suspended animation that, thanks to its director being arrested, goes on much longer than expected! Test subjects Joe Bauers (Luke Wilson) and Rita (Maya Rudolph), two average people who were supposed to awaken a year after going to sleep, end up waking after 500 years into a world gone dumb, due to the fact that the uneducated have been procreating 100 times faster than their intelligent brethren! Joe awakens and meets his future lawyer, Frito (Dax Shepard) and a stoned doctor (Justin Long) before being arrested. In prison, Joe is given an IQ test, and is determined to be the smarted man in the world! Joe is taken to the White House where President Comacho (Terry Crews) makes him the Secretary of the Interior and gives him the job of fixing all of the nation's problems. After reuniting with Rita, Joe and Frito attempt to start repairing the world by figuring out why none of the nation's crops aren't growing! Also starring Patrick Fischler, Darlene Hunt, and Thomas Haden Church, the film from 2006 plays more like a future documentary than a comedy, especially when looked at in 2025! Plus, the trio reveal which Christopher Guest films will populate the next pairing on the podcast!

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