Two Geeks And A Git Classic Movie Reviews

For our second episode spotlighting the work of actor Kevin Kline, we turn to his dramatic work in a film that will tug at your heart in a way few others have! Directed by Irwin Winkler, 2001's "Life As A House" follows George Monroe, an architectural model-builder whose usefulness is ending thanks to computer modeling. He is divorced and his ex-wife, Robin Kimball (Kristin Scott Thomas) has remarried and lives with husband Peter (Jamey Sheridan), George's estranged son Sam (Hayden Christensen), and two younger children from her second marriage. After George loses his job and finds out he has terminal cancer, he resolves to tear down his eyesore of a home and build his dream house in the four months he has left. He shanghais Sam into moving in with him for the summer to help him in his efforts. Next door is an ex-girlfriend of George's, Colleen Beck (Mary Steenburgen) and her daughter Alyssa (Jena Malone). Across the street is George's nemesis, angry neighbor David Dokos (Sam Robards), who tries several times

This episode begins our pairing saluting the incredible work of actor Kevin Kline! Drama, comedy, thriller, musical, there's not a genre he can't master and turn in an incredible performance time and time again. And so, we're focusing on two extremes for these two episodes. First up: Comedy! Directed by Frank Oz, 1997's "In and Out" tells the tory of small-town English teacher and drama instructor Howard Brackett (Kline), who is engaged to be married to long-time fiance Emily Montgomery (Joan Cusack). Howard's family, including father Frank (Wilford Brimley), mother Berniece (Debby Reynolds), and brother Walter (Gregory Jbara) are in full support as well! But when alumnus Cameron Drake (Matt Dillon) wins an Academy Award for Best Actor, during his acceptance speech, he thanks Howard personally and announces to the world that Howard is gay. The problem is... Howard isn't gay. Or is he? This announcement turns his world upside down, pitting him against entertainment reporter Peter Malloy (Tom Selleck WITHOUT hi

The second film in our fantasy pairing comes from acclaimed director Ridley Scott, and also features the first appearance of an actor we've all come to know and love! In 1985's "Legend," a beautiful young maiden named Lily (Mia Sara in her first cinematic role) is in love with Jack (Tom Cruise), a young man living in the wilds of the forest. He, too, is besotted with Lily, and decides to show her his most closely-guarded secret: The existence of two unicorns. Against his advice, Lily touches one of them, distracting it long enough for a monstrous goblin named Blix (Alice Playten), who is an emissary of a demon known only as Darkness (Tim Curry) to carve the horn from one of the Unicorns, killing it, and plunging the world into eternal winter. Jack then meets several forest-dwellers, including the Gump (David Bennent), Brown Tom (Cork Hubbert), and Screwball (played by the legendary Billy Barty) who agree to help Jack find the horn and bring it back to the light. Along the way, Lily is kidnapped, the other Uni

For our first full pairing of the new year, we're going to take a turn to the fantastic... literally! Two epic fantasy films from the 1980s are our focus this time around, starting with the debut cinematic performance of Peter MacNicol in director Matthew Robbins' take on a favorite fantasy beast in 1981's "Dragonslayer!" Master sorcerer Ulrich (Ralph Richardson) and his apprentice Galen (MacNicol) receive a group of townspeople from nearby Urland, led by Valerian (Caitlin Clark) who beseech them to rid their kingdom of Vermithrax, a dragon. The King, Casiodrus Rex (Peter Eyre) has made a deal with the beast to sacrifice a virgin maiden twice yearly in exchange for being allowed to live undisturbed. Valerian firmly believes this must stop, and has come in search of another solution. Tyrian (John Hallam), the vile captain of the King's guard, has followed Valerian's group, and challenges Ulrich to prove himself an actual sorcerer. Ulrich invites Tyrian to stab him, claiming it will cause him no harm, but Ulric

Our second film celebrating the holidays is a new take on a classic tale - Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol!" This time around, however, it's made up of a whole lot of muppets! Directed by Brian Henson, Jim Henson's son, "The Muppet Christmas Carol" was the first film produced by Henson studios after Jim's death. Starring Sir Michael Caine as Ebenezer Scrooge, a miser who experiences several other-worldly visitations, all with the sole purpose of redeeming his immortal soul and setting him on the path to his best life. Also featuring the voices of Dave Boelz (The Great Gonzo and others), Steve Whitmire (Rizzo the Rat, Kermit the Frog, and others), Frank Oz (Miss Piggy, Fozzy the Bear, Sam Eagle, Animal, and others), Jerry Nelson, David Rudman, Don Austen, Robert Tygner, Karen Prell, William Todd-Jones, Jessica Fox, and co-starring Steven Mackintosh, Meredith Braun, and Robin Weaver! Plus, the trio acknowledge which genre of film they've underserved throughout the podcast, which they're going to rectify in

It's our annual holiday pairing here on the podcast, and this year we stumbled on two that we were surprised we'd missed until now! First up, a John Hughes classic that tells the tale of harried parents of a large family who head off to Paris, France for a vacation! Unfortunately, they forgot something rather important back at their house... and that sets up a holiday classic that was the most successful comedy in history until just this year (2023!) Directed by Chris Columbus, from a John Hughes screenplay, 1990's "Home Alone" made Macaulay Culkin a household name and cemented the names "Harry" and "Marv" in the annals of inept burglars forever. Starring Culkin as Kevin McCallister, the youngest of a large family. His father, Peter (John Heard) and his mother, Kate (Catherine O'Hara) have arranged for the entire family, along with an uncle, aunt, and cousins, to go overseas for Christmas. Unfortunately, after a blow-up between Kevin and the rest of his family, he is inadvertently left behind. Meanwhile, a pa

The second film in our pairing of musical versions of the story of Jesus Christ came out only three months after "Godspell," but tells the story in a very different way. Presented as a rock opera, with only sung lines throughout, director Normal Jewison's "Jesus Christ Superstar" is also set in modern times, but seems to shift back and forth, with a more period-telling interspersed with objects and themes from present-day throughout. This time, the same basic elements from the first film are, instead, told from the point-of-view of Judas Iscariot (Carl Anderson), one of the followers of Jesus Christ (Ted Neely), who believes that Jesus has begun to believe his own hype to the detriment of those who follow him, those who believe in him, and those who he should be helping more than he is. Judas questions Jesus' attachment to Mary Magdalene (Yvonne Elliman), while the other disciples continue to defend Jesus. The film also stars Barry Dennenn as Pontius Pilate, Larry Marshall as Simon Zealotes, Josh Mostel as Ki

As we cruise into the holiday season, it felt like an appropriate time to look at movie musicals about the life of Jesus Christ as told in the bible. We begin this pairing with a unique telling of the gospels, set in (at the time) modern New York City. Directed by David Greene, "Godspell" begins with John the Baptist (David Haskell) calling together a group of individuals to leave their normal lives behind and begin following Jesus (Victor Garber, in his film debut). The story contains many parables, including "The Good Samaritan," told in narrated pantomime, dance, and choreographed numbers, with the cast costumed and made-up in a way that has had many critics throughout the years considering the cast presented as classic 70s flower children. The film features several songs, including "Prepare Ye (The Way Of The Lord)," "Turn Back, O Man," "Beautiful City," and the best-known song from the film, "Day By Day." Also starring Lynn Thigpen, Katie Hanley, Merrell Jackson, Joanne Jonas, Robin Lamont, Gilmer McCorm

Our second film moves ahead 12 years, and we're making an exception to our "10 years old" rule to bring you one of the most successful R-rated superhero film in history! Directed by Tim Miller, 2016's "Deadpool" introduced the world to smart-mouthed mercenary Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds, who also served as co-producer). Wade spends his time in a merc bar run by Weasel (T.J. Miller), where he meets working girl Vanessa (Morena Baccarin). After a year-long romance, Wade is diagnosed with terminal cancer and decides to offer himself up for medical experiments that will, supposedly, cure him. After many painful procedures, he is, in fact, cured by a newly-achieved regeneration ability, but it also left him horribly scarred from head-to-toe. He then decides to seek out those who performed the experiments on him, Ajax (Ed Skrein) and force them to cure him. Along the way, he is both thwarted and assisted by X-Men Colossus (voiced by Stefan Kapicic) and Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand). Also starring Ka

It's back to the world of superheroes for this pairing, but superheroes unlike the ones most people think of when they hear the term. We're focusing on the outliers, the scorned, the anti-heroes, and looking at two heroes that stretch the definition of the term. First off, genius director Guilllermo del Toro brings us the story of an creature accidentally allowed to enter our dimension after a Nazi experiment goes wrong. In 2004's "Hellboy," a team led by Trevor "Brom" Bruttenholm (John Hurt), whose roster includes a creature known only as Hellboy (Ron Perlman) is a react squad when ever anything other-worldly threatens humanity. With his friend Abe Sapien (body-acted by Doug Jones but voiced by David Hyde Pierce) and his ex-girlfriend Liz Sherman (Selma Blair), this team of misfits tackle the threats normal humans are unable to handle. But when an enemy from World War II resurfaces, it's replicating monsters, historic villains, and Nazis who threaten the entire world, and only the team from the Bureau of Par

The second film in our pairing of thrillers from master director David Fincher comes only two years after his acclaimed debut with "Se7en." This time, it's a reality-twisting mind-bender of an experience as we watch someone come unstuck from his personal reality in 1997's "The Game." The story follows Nicholas Van Orton (Michael Douglas), a successful investment banker who has everything... except a life outside of work. When his younger brother, Conrad (Sean Penn) requests they have dinner together, he informs Nicholas that he's purchased him a special birthday present: A session of "The Game" from a company called Consumer Recreation Services, or CRS. After Nicholas spends his birthday alone, he decides to go in and go through the evaulation process to see if he's a suitable candidate. The next day, he's informed by telephone that he was not found suitable for CRS's targeted game. Immediately after receiving the call, Nicholas' life starts to twist and turn, with so many turns he becomes unclear what is rea

For the next two weeks, we're diving head-first into the Thriller genre, with two films from one of the recognized masters of the type, David Fincher! First up, it's a story of serial killing and sin in a very specific way, as a killer finds people guilty of committing the seven deadly sins: Pride, Envy, Sloth, Gluttony, Lust, Wrath, and Greed. Veteran police investigator, Detective Somerset (Morgan Freeman) is just one week away from retirement, and he is assigned a new partner for that last week, a hotshot young investigator from out-of-town, Detective Mills (Brad Pitt). They discover the obese body of a man who was literally forced to eat until he died. This begins a sequence of events that reveals the theme of this particular serial killer's mission, as well as revealing several other bodies that represent other deadly sins. The film also stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Kevin Spacey, R. Lee Ermey, and the late Richard Roundtree in a tense story that incorporates enough horror tropes to render it a chilling thrille

Our second horror film that spawned a franchise comes to us from 1984. Directed by (now) horror master Wes Craven, "A Nightmare on Elm Street" spins the tale of a vengeful spirit returned to take his revenge on the children of the people who killed him. Fred Kreuger (Robert Englund) was a serial killer of children who got off on a technicality, which caused the parents in town to take matters into their own hands. Somehow, years later, Freddie has returned as a dream specter, targeting the children of those who killed him. Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp), her boyfriend Glen Lantz (Johnny Depp in a very early role), and her friend Tina Gray (Amanda Wyss) discover that they've all been having the same dream of a dirty, disfigured man in a tattered red and green-striped sweater, who has knife-tipped gloves. Shortly thereafter, one of the girls is killed in a truly horrific manner and, while her boyfriend Rod Lane (Jsu Garcia) is blamed for it, Nancy believes something far more sinister and macabre is happeni

For our yearly Halloween pairing, this time we're looking at two films that started very long-lived horror franchises! First up, from the mind of John Carpenter, who directed, co-write, and scored this independent film, it's the debut cinematic performance from Jamie Lee Curtis, 1978's "Halloween!" Co-written with Carpenter's then-girlfriend Debra Hill, this film introduced us to the unstoppable evil that is serial killer Michael Myers. Top billing is given to veteran actor Donald Pleasence who portrays Dr. Sam Loomis, Michael's long-time psychiatrist and the only person in the film who, at least initially, knows just how dangerous Michael is! Upon his escape from the sanitariam where he's been a patient for 15 years after he killed his sister on Halloween in 1963, Dr. Loomis heads back to Haddenfield, Illinois, Michael's hometown, where he tries to raise the alarm. Meanwhile, Michael has returned and has fixed on Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) who, with her friends Annie (Nancy Kyles) and Lynda (P.J. Soles

The second film in our salute to the late Alan Arkin is the one that netted Arkin an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor (it also took the award for Best Original Screenplay)! Directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valarie Faris, 2006's "Little Miss Sunshine" chronicles a road-trip from New Mexico to California with what is, perhaps, the most dysfunctional family ever captured on celluloid. Young beauty-pageant contestant Olive (Abigail Breslin) has become the winner of a local pageant for Little Miss Sunshine thanks to a disqualification, and needs to get to the final competition in California. Accompanied by her would-be motivational speaker father, Richard (Greg Kinnear), her mother Sheryl (Toni Collette), her brother Dwayne (Paul Dano) who has taken a vow of silence, her previously-suicidal uncle Frank (Steve Carrell), and her well-meaning but out-of-touch grandfather Edwin (Arkin), the group sets off in a VW Microbus for the competition. They face repeated obstacles and setbacks along the way, but arrive in

This pairing salutes actor Alan Arkin, who passed away on June 29th of 2023. We begin with the film based on a Joseph Heller novel that now sits on several banned book lists. Directed by Mike Nichols and adapted for the screen by Buck Henry, 1970's "Catch-22" examines the absurdity of war in a truly satirical fashion. The film stars Arkin as Captain Yossarian, a B-52 bombardier who has grown completely disillusioned with the war against the Germans and the Japanese and is trying to get grounded. He no longer trusts his commanding officers, and begins observing the truly insane actions of those supposedly "in charge." The film feature a cornucopia of Hollywood stars, including Martin Balsam, Richard Benjamin, singer Art Garfunkel, Jack Gilford, Buck Henry, Bob Newhart, Anthony Perkins, Paula Prentiss, Martin Sheen, Jon Voight, Bob Balaban, Norman Fell, Charles Grodin, Austin Pendleton, and Orson Welles! The film gathered so many World War II bombers, it features the largest private air force ever assembled, an

Part two of our look at how the social upheavals of the 1950s influenced Hollywood cinema, we move ahead to 1956 and a film that plumbs the depths of that society's xenophobia! Directed by Don Siegel, "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" tells the story of Dr. Miles J. Bennell (Kevin McCarthy), a physician who returns from a medical convention to his small town and discovers strange goings-on: People convinced their loved ones are not who they used to be, patients booking appointments and, the next day, canceling claiming they're feeling much better, and seemingly dead bodies with incomplete features appearing in various homes across town. After reuniting with his former love Becky Driscoll (Dana Wynter), Dr. Bennell is called to the home of two friends, Jack (King Donovan) and Teddy (Carolyn Jones) Belicec, who show him a body that has some resemblance to Jack. Through a series of investigations, Dr. Bennell and Becky discover that the threat is much more severe than even they anticipated, and they set about try

The 1950s, as a decade, was tumultuous in its own way, and that never appeared in cinema more strongly than in the science fiction and horror films of that time! With that in mind, we offer, for your listening pleasure, a pairing of films from those years which are more than they seem! First up, from 1951, a film that speaks to American's concern about the impact of the growing reliance on atomic power, both as an energy source and in our weapons. Directed by Robert Wise, in 1951's "The Day the Earth Stood Still," a visitor from outer space descends on Washington DC, and from it steps a figure who identifies himself as Klaatu (Michael Rennie). He is accompanied by a giant robot named Gort (Lock Martin), and informs those gathered that he will speak his mission only to the assembled leaders of all the nations of earth. After a misunderstanding which results in Klaatu being shot and captured, he escapes to wander among the people of the city. He meets Helen Benson (Patricia Neal) and her son Bobby (Billy Gray),

The the second film in our 80s teen comedies pairing, we turn to an early appearance of the actor who would go on to become a sex symbol on "Grey's Anatomy," Patrick Dempsey! In 1987's "Can't Buy Me Love," directed by Steve Rash, Dempsey plays Ronald Miller, a geek with aspirations to join the popular crowd. When his next-door neighbor (and long-time crush) Cindy Mancini (Amanda Peterson) ruins her mother's suede outfit (which she was wearing without permission), Ronald seizes the opportunity to make a deal with her: In exchange for spending $1000 on a new suede outfit to replace the ruined one, Cindy has to pretend to be Ronald's girlfriend for a month. He believes this will catapult him into the popular crowd. Cindy agrees and the experiment begins, with Ronald gaining in popularity and Cindy coming to see who he really is... and liking what she sees. Of course, the movie has several twists as most teen comedies do, and a couple moral lessons thrown in for good measure, but everything works out for the best

This pairing revolves around 80s teen comedies, but we begin with the one that has held up the best through the years, the one that today's high school and college-age students are still watching! The year was 1985, and the undisputed king of teen comedies was John Hughes. For this film, he put together a group of five young actors in a story about a single Saturday in high school detention and called it "The Breakfast Club." Starring Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy, Anthony Michael Hall, Paul Gleason, and John Kapelos, the film chronicles what happened the day a beauty queen, a jock, a burn-out, a geek, and a basket case were forced to spend the day together. Through antagonism, mockery, tolerance, revelation, and confession, the five kids from different cliches and walks of life overcome their prejudices and find a way to come together and truly understand each other! This is THE film that the majority of today's students choose when given all of the films of the 1980s to write a pa