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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

55:44

Episode 62 - Mystery Train (1989)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2022/06/24

Jim Jarmusch's anthology film set in Memphis clears up a mystery for Mary, and Dennis is very excited to revisit this indie film which stars, among others, Joe Strummer, Steve Buscemi, and Screamin' Jay Hawkins. We talk about the declining American Empire, racial strife, and some of the worst motels we've ever stayed at.

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47:32

Episode 61 - Peggy Sue Got Married (1986)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2022/06/17

Round 3 of our Cage Match is this Francis Ford Coppola time travel comedy starring Kathleen Turner as a woman who wakes up as her teenage self in 1960 and has to decide whether she wants to stay with her future ex-husband, played by Nicolas Cage.

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43:20

Episode 60 - Vampire's Kiss (1988)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2022/06/10

Round 2 of our Cage Match brings us a very dark... comedy? about a yuppie who thinks he's a vampire, resulting in one of Nicholas Cage's strangest performances. We talk about American Psycho, whether it's OK to eat bugs, and the erotic potential of hot yogurt. Look, it's a very odd movie.

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49:52

Episode 59 - Birdy (1984)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2022/06/03

This week is Round 1 in our Cage Match, wherein Nicholas Cage and Matthew Modine are two Philly kids who get sent to Vietnam and come back severely damaged. Mary talks a little too much about Cage's abs, way too much about the city of Philadelphia, and possibly not enough about birds.

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39:57

Episode 58 - The Cannonball Run (1981)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2022/05/20

This movie is bad, it plays into dumb racial stereotypes, it's crude, it features Burt Reynolds and Dom DeLuise drugging and kidnapping Farrah Fawcett for laughs, Jackie Chan is mostly wasted, and Dean Martin looks like he's about to die. But it's nowhere near the worst movie we've seen, and has a sort of obnoxious charm.

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33:36

Episode 57 - The Toy (1982)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2022/05/13

Get ready for 30 minutes of incohate rage as Mary and Dennis endure a movie about a rich white child buying a poor black man and forcing him to be his friend. Fun for the whole family. Starring Richard Pryor, Jackie Gleason, and Ned Beatty, and directed by Richard Donner.

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43:33

Episode 56 - Tampopo (1985)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2022/05/06

This week we have a special guest, our good friend, the librarian Kate Eckert (@katoukate), to talk about the Japanese comedy Tampopo, a "ramen western" about a young widow and the truck driver who helps her become an expert ramen chef. We talk about food, sex, and old women who can't stop squeezing the merchandise.

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01:18:19

Episode 55 - The Long Good Friday (1980)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2022/04/28

This classic British gangster film is also a meditation on capitalism, crime, and the death of the British Empire. And weird as hell to watch post-Brexit. Featuring stunning performances from Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren, this film is easily one of the best we've seen for the show. Some come and listen to us talk about the IRA, gay mobsters, and how Remington Steel was not great.

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01:13:37

Episode 54 - Romancing the Stone (1984)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2022/04/15

We really enjoyed this romantic jungle adventure starring Kathleen Turner, Michael Douglass, and Danny DeVito--so much so, that this episode went on a little long. But when you're dealing with a surprise Robert Zemeckis film, that's gonna happen.

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50:17

Episode 53 - UHF (1989)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2022/04/08

Mary had studiously avoided this Weird Al vehicle, convinced that his brand of parody music--not her thing at all--would turn her off to this movie. Is she right? Or is this a beloved cult movie that ultimately wins her over? Tune in as we talk about the nature of music in humor, the lost world of local television, and Dennis's History of America in the 20th century.

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40:07

Episode 52 - Vibes (1988)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2022/04/01

We were excited for this psychic comedy starring Jeff Goldblume, Cyndi Lauper, and Peter Falk, but folks, the vibes were bad.

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44:56

Episode 51 - The Fox and the Hound (1981)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2022/03/24

Mary is finally sitting down to the only pre-1990s Disney film she's never seen. We talk about 1970s rural entertainment, the sad state of Disney Pictures at the time, and whether Mickey Rooney should've been cast at all.

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32:56

Episode 50 - Strange Brew (1983)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2022/03/18

It's our first anniversary, and to celebrate, we're watching the Canadian comedy Strange Brew, starring Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas as Bob and Doug McKenzie, the breakout characters from SCTV, who end up as the Rosenkrantz and Gildenstern of a sinister plot to take over the Elsinor Brewery.

en

46:05

Episode 49 - Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2022/03/11

There's several things to like in this comedy about a man down on his luck who ends up living with a rich family in Beverly Hills, but there's also something sour that doesn't sit right with us. We talk remakes, Venice Beach, jerk dogs, the problems with Whiggish History, and whether this house is a polycule.

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40:38

Episode 48 - Beverly Hills Cop (1984)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2022/03/04

This Eddie Murphy action-comedy about a Detroit detective navigating the wealthy enclave of Beverly Hills while investigating a friend's murder is an absolute blast. Come for the discussion of art market money laundering, stay for the ranting about Glenn Frey.

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45:28

Episode 47 - The Last Emperor (1987)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2022/02/25

Part II of "Hey, which is this, Empire of the Sun or The Last Emperor?" concludes with Bernardo Bertolucci's epic biography of the last emperor of China, who wasn't exactly a great argument for the institution of monarchy.

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58:35

Episode 46 - Empire of the Sun (1987)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2022/02/18

Part 1 of "Wait, which movie is Empire of the Sun and which is The Last Emperor?" in which we watch Steven Spielberg's epic about a very young Christian Bale living out the worst possible version of Home Alone in Japanese-occupied Shanghai.

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41:54

Episode 45 - Ladyhawke (1985)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2022/02/11

We were surprised by how much we enjoyed Richard Donner's medieval fantasy about a knight who spends his night as a wolf and a lady who spends her days as a hawk. We just wish the music was very, very differernt.

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32:40

Episode 44 - The Hitcher (1986)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2022/02/04

Things get very silly when Dennis tries to get Mary to watch this Rutger Hauer film that he loved as a kid.

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41:56

Episode 43 - Polyester (1981)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2022/01/28

"Indie Month" closes with a look at John Waters' breakthrough film Polyester, an homage to the "women's films" of the 1950s. We talk about kitsch, the suburbs, and Mary gets to gloat.

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242 results

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