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PODCAST

Mary Versus the Movies

Sure, the 1980s were a great decade for film. But have you seen all of them? No, neither has Mary. In fact, some pretty big films passed her by, what with being in kindergarten at the time: A Nightmare on Elm Street, Moonstruck, My Neighbor Totoro... So it"s time to fix that. Artwork, opening and closing themes by Dennis Lingg Produced and edited by Mary Jones

tv & film film reviews

All Episodes

47:30

Episode 130 - Liquid Sky (1982)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2024/02/02

New York's hottest club is Liquid Sky. This club has everything: heroin, David Bowie impersonators, aliens, necrophelia, shrimp, cocaine, a Fairlight CMI synthesizer, Germans, murder, and anorgasmia. (A UFO causes havoc in the New York downtown art scene, where sex and drugs mix together with casual cruelty and sometimes murder. It's pretty cool.) Starring Anne Carlisle, Paula E. Sheppard, Susan Doukas, and Otto von Wernherr. Written by Slava Tsukerman, Nina V. Kerova, and Anne Carlisle. Directed

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37:02

Episode 129 - Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2024/01/26

It's a cyberpunk body-horror story of sex and violence, shot through with the kind of late 1980s indie movie aesthetics that we seriously miss, sitting somewhere between David Lynch and MTV. Starring Shinya Tsukamoto, Tomorowo Taguchi, and Kei Fujiwara. Written and directed by Shinya Tsukamoto.

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05:33

Hollywood Avalon - Episode 10 - The Green Knight

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2024/01/20

David Lowrey’s rewriting of the medieval poem Sir Gawaine and the Green Knight is well-acted, and has some lovely art direction, it ultimately misses the mark in several ways: the CGI is murky, the crucial section at Sir Bertilak’s castle is truncated, and the ending is muddled at best. The poem having an ambiguous meaning is fine—you can debate whether it’s a celebration of chivalry, an elegy for it, or even a satire of it—but to leave the ending as ambiguous here as it is robs the film of any real

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52:30

Episode 128 - Misery (1990)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2024/01/19

Toxic fandom by way of Stephen King, with one of the most famous torture scenes in cinema. Look, our fans are great, and we're gonna keep saying that, please put down the hammer. Starring James Caan, Kathy Bates, Richard Farnsworth, Frances Sternhagen, and Lauren Bacall. Written by William Goldman and directed by Rob Reiner.

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45:57

Episode 127 - Matinee (1993)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2024/01/12

Joe Dante's love letter to the midcentury monster movie, nestled in a comedy about a William Castle-type director promoting a film in the Florida Keys during the Cuban Missile Crisis, is a deliriously silly movie that feels made for Mary and Dennis. Starring John Goodman, Cathy Moriarty, Simon Fenton, Omri Katz, Lisa Jakub, Kellie Martin, Jesse Lee Soffer, James Villemarie, Robert Picardo, John Sayles, and of course Dick Miller. Written by Charles S. Haas and Jerico Stone, and directed by Joe

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01:02:13

Episode 126 - Diner (1982)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2023/12/29

Barry Levinson’s first film, set in that quiet week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, is a surprisingly smart examination of young men and relationships, and why people should (or shouldn’t) get married. It’s nostalgic without being overly sentimental, looking back at 1959 not as some golden age of youth, but simply another, earlier time, and not that different from 1982 (and really not that different from 2023, except for the increasing lack of diners in this country, something we get into in

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01:00:55

Episode 125 - The Dead (1987)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2023/12/22

John Huston's final film is a surprisingly warm adaptation of James Joyce's short story about a Twelfth Night Christmas party that shows the cracks in a marriage, opening up questions about love, identity, and how well we can truly know one another. Starring Anjelica Huston, Donal McCann, Helena Carroll, Cathleen Delany, Dan O'Herlihy, Donal Donnelly, Séan McClory, and Colm Meaney. Directed by John Huston and written by Tony Huston.

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37:53

Episode 124 - The Leprechauns' Christmas Gold (1981)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2023/12/08

Rankin-Bass are responsible for several classics, from The Hobbit and The Last Unicorn to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Santa Claus is Comin' to Town. This is not one of them. No, it's twee Stage Irish nonsense with Americans doing terrible accents, and a complete misunderstanding what a banshee (bean sí) is. Also, apparently St. Patrick is a leprechaun. Whatever. Starring Art Carney, Peggy Cass, Bob McFadden, Ken Jennings (not that Ken Jennings), and Christine Mitchell. Written by Romeo

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06:25

Hollywood Avalon episode 9 - Four Bugs Bunny Cartoons

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2023/12/01

We're surveying a selection of Bugs Bunny cartoons, all with a medieval theme, some of which are explicitly Arthurian. The earliest, "Knights Must Fall", is a pretty generic burlesque of Bugs Bunny versus a powerful knight, but draws some inspiration from A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, especially in Bugs's use of locomotives and whatnot. "Knight Mare Hare" is a pretty unfocused take on Connecticut Yankee, complete with framing device, and while it's not a particularly tight

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01:15:15

Episode 123 - The Big Chill (1983)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2023/12/01

Two hours of upper-middle-class naval-gazing? A poison pill of nostaliga? An exericize in self-loathing? A critique of ex-hippies who sold out? Or an attempt at excusing "going straight" and embracing being a yuppie? Maybe it's all those things. Or maybe that's putting too much weight to put on a movie that's mostly a small drama about people coming together after a friend's suicide. Starring Kevin Cline, Glenn Close, William Hurt, Tom Berenger, Jeff Goldblum, Mary Kay Place, Meg Tilly, JoBeth

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01:02:08

Episode 122 - Red Dawn (1984)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2023/11/17

A right-wing paranoid fantasy where a Cuban-Russian communist invasion is defeated by child soldiers in Colorado should be a lot more fun than this incoherent slog of a movie. Politics aside, this movie just isn't very good, with interchangable characters and a plot that feels stitched together from boys' adventure magazines and John Bircher rags. How did the man who made Conan the Barbarian make something so... un-fun? Starring Patrick Swayze, C. Thomas Howell, Lea Thompson, Charlie Sheen, Jennifer

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59:36

Episode 121 - The Day After (1983)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2023/11/10

A dark and sober look at the consequences of a nuclear war between the US and USSR, full of panic and confusion, and surprisingly light on sensationalism, released at the height of the Cold War. Still one of the highest-rated tv programs of all time, and possibly influential enough to get Reagan to come to the table for armament talks. Starring Jason Robards, JoBeth Williams, John Cullum, Steve Guttenberg, John Lithgow, Amy Madigan, and William Allen Young. Directed by Nicholas Meyer and written by

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07:02

Hollywood Avalon episode 8 - King Arthur (2004)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2023/11/07

Well, here we go--a movie which boldly asks "what if we took the Arthur legend and made it Dances with Wolves meets the atheism subreddit?" Starring Clive Owen, Keira Knightley, Stellan Skarsgard, Mads Mikkelsen, Ioan Gruffudd, and Ray Winstone. Directed by Antoine Fuqua. Written by Dave Franzoni. To hear the entire episode, join the Mary Versus the Movies patreon for $3/month to hear this and the entire series Hollywood Avalon: https://www.patreon.com/maryvsmovies.

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54:54

Episode 120 - Ruthless People (1986)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2023/11/03

The Spandex King of L.A. is delighted when his wife is kidnapped by two bumbling criminals, less so when he's blackmailed by two even more incompent criminals. It's "The Ransom of Red Chief" in high 1980s Memphis-Milano decor. Starring Danny DeVito, Bette Midler, Judge Reinhold, Helen Slater, Anita Morris, and Bill Pullman. Directed by Jim Abrams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker. Written by Dale Launer.

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01:11:41

Episode 119 - Re-Animator (1985)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2023/10/27

Loosely based on an H.P. Lovecraft novella and produced by the maker of Society, Re-Animator is the gory, gross, graphic, and goofy parody of Frankenstein that spawned a horror-comedy franchise. After a screening at the gallery/studio Space 1026, we interviewed Bruce (@gumball_eyes), the curator for the film series Space Melt, and talked about the film, exhibitions, and why it's fun to watch movies with people. Starring Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Abbott, Barbara Crampton, David Gale, and Robert Sampson

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01:36:14

Episode 118 - Waxwork (1988)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2023/10/19

We bring back writer Alana Phelan (@hellolibrarian) to talk about the horror-comedy Waxwork, which features the great David Warner doing his best Vincent Price impression as the villainous owner of a waxwork museum, and a group of college students as his victims. Starring Zach Galligan, Deborah Foreman, Michelle Johnson, David Warner, Dana Ashbrook, and Patrick Macnee. Written and directed by Anthony Hickox.

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57:26

Episode 117 - The Lair of the White Worm (1988)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2023/10/06

This adaptation of a Bram Stoker novel is a campy bit of folk horror about a villainous pagan priestess who feeds the unsuspecting to the subterranean serpent she worships, and the hapless villagers who battle her, including a young archaeologist, a pair of sisters whose parents are missing, and the foppish local lord. It’s a Ken Russell film, so naturally it’s a subtle piece. Loosely based on the English legend of the Lambton Worm, it's a silly, smutty, absurdist bit of gothic comedy in the vein

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10:10

Hollywood Avalon episode 7 - King Arthur Was a...

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2023/09/30

We jump back to the 1940s for a little British war-time musical about a nerd who is joins the army, is tricked into thinking he's found Excalibur, and decides to capture Nazis using it in a real "Dumbo's feather" situation. It's slight, silly, and mostly harmless. This is a preview of the episode, part of our series Hollywood Avalon, a podcast dedicated to Arthurian film; to hear the entire episode, join the Mary Versus the Movies patreon for $3/month to hear this and the entire series Hollywood

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01:02:30

Episode 116 - Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2023/09/29

An Indiana electrician encounters a UFO and goes insane, a baby is abducted by aliens, and scienists have a battle of the bands against a spaceship. Steven Spielberg's follow-up to the massive success of Jaws turns out to be a blueprint for the rest of his filmography: the dissolution of the nuclear family through parental abandonment; strong religous themes and yearning; aliens and horror; the difficulty of communication. Even specific scenes we find in later films first show up here. It's a

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01:25:36

Episode 115 - 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2023/09/24

This sequel to Stanley Kubrick's visionary masterpiece 2001: a Space Odyssey is a frustrating, uneven, but ultimately enjoyable and well-done science fiction film that is more about the need for world peace and space exploration than Kubrick's grappling with the mystery of consciousness and what it means to be human. Not the groundbreaking weirdness of its famous predecessor, but still worth seeing. Starring Roy Scheider, Helen Mirren, John Lithgow, Bob Balaban, Keir Dullea, and Elya Baskin. Written

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242 results

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