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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

30:36

Episode 42 - Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2022/01/21

We watched Steven Soderbergh's breakthrough indie hit, and came away appreciating it as a fairly standard drama that dances around some ideas around intimacy, while not really surprising us much with its content--the title is far more salacious than the film itself.

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56:13

Episode 41 - Slacker (1990)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2022/01/14

This episode could've been two hours, because holy cow does Richard Linklater's breakthrough indie comedy provoke a lot of thought about the nature of work, generational angst, conspiratorial thinking, religion and pop culture, and whether withdrawing in disgust is not the same as apathy. For Dennis this was a trip down memory lane into his own Gen X youth, for Mary this was a real excavation of a lot of ideas, all wrapped up in a funny, thoughtful package. Also, yeah, getting the "explicit" tag

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33:10

Episode 40 - Down by Law (1986)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2022/01/07

Jim Jarmusch's Neo-noir-beatnik-comedy is a favorite film of Dennis's, and a staple of the 1980s indie film scene, so it's time for Mary to finally sit down and watch. Silly, stylized, and warm, "sad and beautiful" as one character says, it stars Tom Waits, John Lurie, and Roberto Benigni as three men stuck in a Louisiana jail for accidental crimes who try to find a way to live with each other.

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49:18

Episode 39 - Fanny and Alexander (1982)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2021/12/31

Our month of Christmas-themed movies wraps up with Ingmar Bergman's Fanny and Alexander, a lushly-filmed, sometimes dark, deeply-moving family drama about a brother and sister whose lives fall apart when their father dies and their mother remarries. With allusions to Hamlet and Charles Dickens, it's a heavy one, but then, some of the best Christmas stories are.

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38:43

Episode 38 - A Smoky Mountain Christmas (1986)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2021/12/24

It's an old-fashioned Christmas in the Smoky Mountains when Dolly Parton runs away from L.A. and ends up running afoul of a sleazy sheriff, a jealous witch, seven orphan, and Lee Majors as a a mountain man named Mountain Dan. It's a cornball affair, but very Christmassy.

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56:56

Episode 37 - Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2021/12/17

Our Christmas-themed month continues with this not-exactly-Christmasy Japanese World War II movie starring David Bowie and set in a POW camp. However, this film about repressed desires, honor, toxic masculinity, and regret carries some potent themes, even if it's light on conventional Yuletide joy.

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31:10

Episode 36 - John Denver and the Muppets, a Christmas...

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2021/12/10

We're bending the rules a little here to bring you an early Muppets Christmas special, and one of the few Mary's never seen. Make some cocoa, curl up by the fire, and listen to us talk about the Muppets, John Denver, Jimmy Carter, vaudeville, Jack Benny, Old Time Radio, whether God has a wife, and more.

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41:05

Episode 35 - Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (1987)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2021/11/24

It's a Thanksgiving Miracle--we thought we'd seen this movie, but it turns out we hadn't, and now we know why it's a holiday classic. Is it John Hughes' best film? Maybe! Does it contain one of the funniest scenes in comedy? Arguably! And has travel in America actually gotten worse since the mid-1980s? DEFINITELY. So join Steve Martin, John Candy, and Mary and Dennis as we hit the road in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.

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01:01:20

Episode 34 - Something Wild (1986)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2021/11/19

It's an episode of unbridled enthusiasm as we take on Jonathan Demme's romantic-screwball-comedy-meets-domestic-crime-drama Something Wild, starring Melanie Griffith, Jeff Daniels, and Ray Liotta, and littered with music from David Byrne, John Cale, Laurie Anderson, and a memorable appearance by New Jersey's post-punk legends The Feelies playing a high school reunion. We fell in love with this movie before it was even over.

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30:46

Episode 33 - Whoops Apocalypse (1986)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2021/11/12

This British satire is half a good movie and half a ham-handed play for an American audience unfamiliar with the tv series this was based on. The part of the film that posits the prime minister of the UK is a dangerous madman is a not-bad homage to Doctor Strangelove, while the American plot involving Michael Richards as a master-of-disguise terrorist is pretty dire. But at least the movie features a deadpan Peter Cook, Alexei Sayle in a Hawaiian shirt, and Rik Mayal destroying a wax museum.

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37:08

Episode 32 - Angel Heart (1987)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2021/11/04

This is the notorious film that got Lisa Bonet thrown off The Cosby Show. Initially rated X for a scene that honestly is pretty tame by today's standards, it's a fascinating blend of noir and horror, starring Mickey Rourke as a private eye collecting on a debt for the Devil, played by Robert De Niro. It has some sketchy racial and religious elements, but overall is a stylish head-scratcher.

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28:04

Episode 31 - Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2021/10/29

Halloween month comes to a close with this very silly movie that takes horror hostess Elvira from the boob tube to the big screen. It ain't high art, but it's a lot of fun.

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37:33

Episode 30 - An American Werewolf in London (1981)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2021/10/22

In what is sure to become a Halloween tradition for us, we watch the comedy-horror film An American Werewolf in London and absolutely fall in love with it. Part gothic horror, part romance, part buddy-comedy, this is the second film we've watched from John Landis, and easily one of the best films for the podcast.

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55:25

Episode 29 - A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2021/10/15

Spooky Month continues with our special guest, author and relationships specialist Alana Phelan (@hellolibrarian)! We sit down with Alana to watch the first Nightmare on Elm Street film. Will this be as quippy as we expect? Does the Simpsons parody spoil the ending? And just how is he killing these kids in their sleep? Find out on our latest episode.

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42:57

Episode 28 - The Witches of Eastwick (1987)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2021/10/08

Kicking off October's Spooky Month, it's The Witches of Eastwick, a comedy where Jack Nicholson's greasy ponytail is somehow able to pull down a harem that includes Cher, Susan Sarandon, and Michelle Pfeiffer. Directed by George Miller, who has one of the oddest filmographies for a guy with only nine feature films, and based on a novel by John Updike. It's a romp of a movie, so light some candles, pour some wine, and pull out your spellbooks for this.

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39:31

Episode 27 - Real Genius (1985)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2021/10/01

We wrap up Back To School month with 1986's Real Genius. It's a PG Animal House meets War Games in this comedy about college students building a weapon for their professor only to realize the horror of what they're actually doing. Lightly satirical, with Val Kilmer as a Looney Tunes protagonist up against a William Atherton at his most arrogant. This movie was a really fun surprise for Mary, while confirming for Dennis that this is a better film than he remembered.

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41:27

Episode 26 - Hoosiers (1986)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2021/09/24

Folks, we had some problems with Hoosiers. Will this be the episode that loses us listeners? Probably!

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55:53

Episode 25 - Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2021/09/17

We went into this fearing a sleazy teensploitation skin flick; instead, it's funny, frank look at young people surviving high school and learning about sex and relationships, all set to a killer early 1980s soundtrack. It's also a real "hey, it's that guy!" kind of film, from new stars like Jennifer Jason Leigh, Sean Penn, and Forest Whittaker, to character actors like Vincent Schiavelli, to the first film for Nicholas Cage. It was a real surprise, and one of the best movies we've seen yet for the

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37:48

Episode 24 - ¡Three Amigos! (1986)

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2021/08/27

We're back with another Steve Martin film, this time his homage to the singing cowboy pictures of from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Unfortunately, he's working with John Landis on the backside of his directing heights, and we end up with a slightly-bloated mess, and that's even before tackling the sketchy themes of the movie. Still, it has some great music from co-writer (?!) Randy Newman. And with that, Season 1 of MVM comes to an end! We are on a brief hiatus, and will be back in a week or

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41:55

Episode 23 - Sword of the Valiant (The Legend of Sir...

Mary Versus the Movies ·

2021/08/20

Timed to coincide with the current film The Green Knight, this episode has readings in Middle English, an increasingly-irate Mary expounding on the meanderings of medieval literature, and some truly terrible music. Medieval literature and Arthuriana is very much Mary's wheelhouse, so buckle in, and avoid any Sean Connerys you see carrying an axe.

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