Gremlins & The Snowman

BDFR - Gremlins

Reegs:   Welcome to bad. Dad's film, review movies, films, the pictures features flicks, talkies, the silver screen, cinema motion, picture matinees. Yes, those are some of the words I looked up in an online thesaurus to describe the movies, which are the things we review on this podcast.

Specifically, we're reviewing those movies. We missed well bringing up our kids and because we have to watch the utter dreck, our kids enjoy. We're reviewing those things too. Content warning. This podcast is recommended for mature audiences. Only if you're immature, you will probably still like it, or maybe even prefer it.

This episode contains adult situations, graphic violence, and even some profanity. Golly, gosh, this week we're shaking things up a little. Dan has been unexpectedly struck down with herpes, but we are fortunate to be joined by a very special guest

 Podcast legend and sleeper wire mainstay. Adam,

Adam: Hey, how's it going, everybody? Thank you so much.

Reegs: thank you. Come in on now, just a quick pimp for sleeper. Why sleep away was the very first NFL fantasy football podcast centered around charity and is a real Titan of the podcasting world. we also have Sidey and how we on this week show Howie a man who wants accidentally donated to a charity and definitely won't be making that same mistake again.

Howie: He's such a shitbag. It was a cozy site. Nice. I'm sat in the fucking loft. You got, obviously the podcast listeners can't see this, but I'm sat amongst boxes of old clothes. I'm not going to jumble sale. I'm like a charity shop. I said, I'm sad. I've got no insulation up here. Have you got anyone?

Got a violin they can play to do dub over the top of this speech.

Sidey: smallest one.

Howie: Yeah, well, the smallest one, but yeah. Hi there. Hi everybody. yeah. Thanks for the intro. Great. I can't give a fuck about films this week. I want to talk to Adam about this fucking NFL stuff, right? Cause some of us play, Football fantasy football with it's been with the daily Telegraph, I think is the big one over here.

And that's soccer in U S terms obviously. And it involves me picking 11 players at the start of the season, probably clicking random as well, and then leaving it. And then I'll read the season, make some subs, cause some blokes broke his leg and that's it. I've been looking at this NFL fantasy football league stuff.

You do. My God, you've got to put some commitment in.

Adam: no.

Howie: is like, this is serious stuff I looked at. I think dynasty leagues, where it played continues on from the year here, after my quilt, this is a proper commitment. This isn't just like me pissing about open. I've got five quid. When at the end that I've put to one of the guys in the office, that's running it.

This is serious stuff, man. I didn't really realize it. So obviously. Connected up with you and, and your podcast. I just kind of looked into it. I was like, I cannot believe that the levels, this, this ticks every box for Americans and statistics and numbers. I'm afraid

Adam: Oh, it, it does. It takes them all.

Howie: the data.

You

Adam: Yeah, we're we're all over. I mean, we, we are partnered with a company called sleeper and they bring out alerts. And if those alerts are three minutes faster than the second. Fastest alert. You'll be able to grab that player before somebody else does with an injury. So, I mean, it gets Grilly grandular you got vampire leagues.

You've got no bench leagues. You've got dynasty leagues. You've got snake drafts. You've got redrafts. I mean, you've got it all with fantasy football. There is so much out there and it's what millions and millions of dollars. So of course.

Howie: you got to really realize on this side of the landscape. Quite our big, it is for us. The only. Lincoln to NFL. We've got, it's a guy called Christian Wade, who I'm a big rugby fan. And so Christian Wade plays a got, see, this is the thing. This is for offline chat. I don't understand what the hell happened.

His scores on his Debby for Buffalo bills and then gets cut.

Reegs: Buffalo bills. Wasn't that the name of the bad guy in the silence of the lamps movie?

Adam: Oh, I've never seen silence of the lambs.

Howie: Oh, Oh fuck. Right. Fuck it. You've got to watch that.

Adam: Thank you. Yeah, that's what my wife keeps telling me. That's what she keeps telling me. You got to watch it? No. Okay.

Sidey: of the old time grades.

Adam: Yeah. I mean, of course I, I feel like I've already know what's going to happen, so it's, I've, it's been around in pop culture enough, so.

Reegs: What have we got coming up on this week's show society.

Sidey: we kind of had a bit of a mixed bag of nominations or we just pluck things out or random didn't we? So we're going to talk about  memorable movie injuries. that should be interesting.

And then we nomination for a movie was gremlins because how we, and Adam had never seen it.

Reegs: I find this totally bizarre that you know, guys in there, I don't know how old you are, Adam, but in their forties, say may not have seen this movie, especially people who consider themselves to be movie fans. I find it totally incredible. You guys haven't seen this.

Howie: I think it's due to the rating because at the time, which we can talk

Sidey: Oh, it was 15. Was there. Anyway, we'll get into that. When we talk about the film and kids stall war of the Christmas period, the snowman. So we're getting to all that shortly.

Adam: It was good. It's a great song.

Howie: That's exactly it. When I

Sidey: But did we have a top five to finish off from last week?

Reegs: we do, but we didn't have a single nomination. So he really captured the imagination of the listeners there. what I can say though, is that people have. Cottoned on to this week's one already, because we've had three or four nominations on Twitter and the same again on Facebook as well.

Sidey: Yeah. It's a good one. I think people just gravitate towards death and injury and misery more than a bike. I remember what last week was.

Reegs: films, we wish we hadn't revisited any films that you wish you hadn't seen again, Adam.

Adam: So, you know, funny just yesterday. I, this occurred to me when I turned on the league of extraordinary gentlemen, I, I really wanted it to be good. You know, I just wanted it to be good and then turning it on it. It's hard to follow so many different, so many different things, but the bad guy dressed up, like, you know, maybe something you would design in your garage.

And then the, the invisible man with the white matte face paint, that's like over its base some of the time and not over his face, the rest of the time. And ah, it, it could have been so good at so much potential,

Sidey: Yeah, it's a shame because the graphic novel was really ready to go to.

Adam: that's what I've heard. I've heard. It's really

Sidey: another Alan Moore, disappointing film

Howie: well, some of the special, some of the special effects are flipping terrible, though on the, when they're on the Nautilus, wherever the captain Nemo ship. Yeah. And it's like, it's not moving. be, and, and, and they're firing into the distance and the, just the horizon and all the sea in front of it.

Isn't moving and you've got God, could you have not just bothered. It was supposed to run into, sort of load sequels. It was supposed to be their version of the Avengers type of thing. No, the characters.

Sidey: Yeah, there was a flop

Reegs: Well, that's a good nomination though. We'll take that to complete our, top five. You hadn't, you wished you hadn't revisited.

Sidey: Okay. Already a big hit with our audience. We're going to talk about memorable movie injuries. He wants to set the ball rolling on this one,

Howie: Can I say, can I start and be rude even

Reegs: no, go for it.

Howie: Right. I'll go for, in the film, actually, this could actually follow in last week's category, unbreakable with Bruce Willis. when Mr. Glass, Samuel L. Jackson falls down the

Reegs: Oh,

Howie: yeah. And he's got brittle bone syndrome and everything snaps and breaks and you hear it and it's emphasized.

With the fact that he's called Mr. Glass. And then you see the next shot of him in a wheelchair with various pins running through his arms and his reconstructed limbs. But you just think, how are anything to do with broken legs broken? Oh, Oh

Sidey: got a few of those.

Reegs: That's a good one. How he died. Cause I do remember wincing at that scene. Yeah.

Howie: And it's inevitable. It's super slow. him lit, lit. It's super slow as he goes towards the edge of the, I think it's subway steps or something

Reegs: Yeah, that's right.

Howie: So I'll, I'll open up with that one.

 Reegs: I have Monte Python and the Holy grail, the black Knight. he gets all of his limbs cut off one by one. It's just a flesh wound. Yeah. He doesn't want to deny anything, you know, he doesn't want to stop him from fighting. Yeah. I'll bite. You I'll bite you. Yeah. Fantastic. And it's made even better because there's blood spurting.

Absolutely everywhere. it's an absolute classic. There's some pretty hideous injuries.

Adam: that's a great, that's a great nomination. When I first heard you guys say this, I thought you meant injuries. That happened on movie sets.

Sidey: I've got some of those too.

Howie: yeah. I was going to say this quite a few of those. Yeah.

Adam: So I looked up, one that I, I looked up that I thought was bad-ass and could, could work for both Linda Hamilton. did you guys see this one where she hurt her knees? She, because she had to keep falling down during that one scene with the, the janitor. So when it came time to actually hit the janitor with a broomstick, she full on whack the shit out of the janitor with the broomstick, because he kept making her have to do the scene over and over again and just approve what a bad-ass Linda Hamilton is.

She lost her part of her hearing. In that scene in the elevator, we're on a switch nigga was firing that gun.

Reegs: Yeah, that's right. Yeah.

Adam: that baddest bitch on the planet. Linda Hamilton.

Howie: Yes.

Reegs: are you? You spent quite a long time on your knees over the years. any, you know,

Howie: Yeah, cause yeah. Cause, well, I have to go to that level to talk to you. So when I level you fucking midget,

Sidey: I've got one that's, it's very personal to me. it's Jeff Goldblum as not the injured party, but the one causing the injury. It's the fly,

Reegs: Oh, the arm wrestler.

Sidey: is. I've I rewatched it again today just to remind

Howie: No, no,

Sidey: horrendous and I didn't have exactly the same. I didn't have the bone break injury, but I did have an arm wrestling injury where my, my bicep was ripped off my arm.

Reegs: and you've still got a really horrible scar on your arm. Haven't

Sidey: got a great thing scar. Yeah, not for that. It's just still doesn't sit right. My bicep.

Adam: Whoa, that is not the arm I expected to seek new. Flex that again. Let me see that. Let me see those guns. Damn. Look at you. The flower and the

Sidey: Yeah, it's got coloring in on there, but yeah, the, the bicep

Howie: sprouts.

Sidey: it got reattached, but it has never been the same sense. And so when I think of, arm wrestling injuries like that, it's obviously, brings it all back, even though I was very, very good at the

Howie: Oh, well, you didn't feel any pain.

Sidey: No, it didn't.

Howie: Good man. Good

Adam: So, is it common for large bearded men to have tattoos all over their body? Is this a Jersey

Howie: Side he's in the accuser. He goes to lots of onsens.

Sidey: only got the arm, but you never know. It might, might get some more like, another, another station, the bright, expensive.

Howie: Yes. And, big waiting times. And,

Adam: Cool.

Howie: I'll stick with Jeff Goldbloom because now we're on the topic of that. There is another injury, which is when his finger fingernail comes off in the fly.

Reegs: Oh, yeah.

Howie: for me, I know it's, it's not really an injury, but it's more, it's, it's a, it's a, it's an event that's caused by the incident of him trying to teleport, but it is gross when that nail comes off and the squirting, if you've ever hit your finger with a hammer as well, and the nails come off.

Oh look the one that I was, Going to go for specifically was in total recall. Now we kind of reviewed this. Now this might not count because there is a death at the end of it, almost where there is. it's when, Michaeline side's character Richter gets his arms ripped off by the lift.

So on he's got hold of his hands and the lift just snaps him off. And he plummets to, an inevitable alien atmosphere

Sidey: confirmed Carol, I suppose. So we could

Howie: there's no confirmed kill, but

Sidey: Yeah, he's on a stretcher somewhere and resuscitated.

Howie: Yeah, but it's, it's, it's really, really gross. And I still think about that. I always still think about that for some reason when we're in a left.

Sidey: an ADI just sort of casually just toss these arms over this side.

Reegs: See you at the party, Victor.

Howie: Brilliant

Reegs: Vince Vega, Mr. Blonde, cutting off that cops area in reservoir dogs, just for the

Adam: Yes. Yes, absolutely.

Reegs: it's pretty Savage. It's almost worse because he's tied up and, you know, he just says to him straight away. Yeah. I'm not going to bullshit you. All right. I don't give a fuck about what you're going to tell me.

I'm just going to talk to you just for the laws. So, yeah, pretty horrible. similarly graphic, hot shorts apart, Rowan Atkinson's Dexter gets his shoelaces tied together. that's it, that's the extent of the torture.

Adam: Okay.

Reegs: Tapa Harley played memorably by Charlie sheen says, not those bastards, but, one, I was going to nominate which sort of straddles the line of, of fiction.

In fact, is jackass number two. one of the stunts has Bama. Garah who I think is now dead. Isn't he?

Sidey: no, he's not. No, it was, it was Ryan Dunn

Howie: Yeah.

Reegs: that's right. Ryan Dunn. he has a, penis shaped iron, branded on his ass. and then later on memorably in the movie, the crew shows the branded ass cheeks to his parents. and they are of course.

Adam: spectacular.

Howie: I always used to laugh at jackass when they did the atomic wedgie. those

Reegs: That was an amazing, yeah.

Howie: it had its time. It was funny. And I look back and go, geez, crikey.

Sidey: funny. I know what you're talking about. It's still

Howie: Yeah.

Adam: I had reservoir dogs. I also had misery.

Howie: Oh God.

Adam: The, the hammer to the feet that are against the cinder was like a block. Oh

Sidey: She puts a block in between his ankles. And then

Howie: that.

Reegs: She's telling him this horrific story about how these to hobble people from diamond, it's different in the book. I think in the book, she actually, she. Completely chops his feet off, and then cauterizes the stumps with the blow torch. But I actually think it's worse in the film that they're just sort of broken and hanging there.

Yeah. It's horrible. And having sort of quite memorably broken a leg in a, quite a horrible fashion a few years ago, I still feel quite squeaky about that scene.

Adam: This was in those French mosh pits. Right?

Reegs: No, this was actually on, my university graduation night. I managed to sort of step off some steps, sideways and fall quite horribly. yeah. Yeah, that's a cheery story. Isn't it?

Adam: talking about hobbled feet, re misery misery is the, that one was bad, but I think that the worst one. Was American history acts. Have you

Howie: yeah.

Adam: the teeth? Yeah. So now I was trying to talk with my buddies about this and we were trying to figure this out. Are we talking injuries or death?

Because

Reegs: I never know.

Adam: that would probably kill you.

Howie: Yeah. It, it, it must do surely.

Adam: I mean, right. If you smash their head with their teeth against a curb, you're. You're drilling the, the entire curve into their skull.

Howie: Do you think this is one for MythBusters week on miss busters?

Reegs: I don't know. I kind of always assumed that that would kill him, but I don't know. Sid, you looked not convinced.

Sidey: way I, I stayed there, he survived it,

Adam: Oh, really?

Howie: bro. Dislocate

Sidey: which, which makes it better for our list. Cause that's a really good one.

Howie: that is a, is a really good oil.

Adam: I don't want to argue with the guy with the entire sleeve arm tattoo that flexes. So I will agree with you.

Sidey: I'm going to go with, it's another leg injury, but this is Rose McGowan in planet terror. As cherry, she, she has a leg torn off in a zombie attack, but rather than cry, moan about it. at first she has the stump, attached to an old table leg, which she uses to smash Quentin Tarantino in the face.

And then, and then stab him in the eye. And then once the table legs gone, she attacks a modified M four car by an assault rifle with M two Oh three grenade launcher to the stump and just generally kicks ass. It's fucking brilliant.

Reegs: That is making the best of a bad situation. Isn't it?

Sidey: got to get on with life. You know, it's a lesson

Reegs: good one. That is a good one.

Howie: I'm going to now reference a film that I thought I would never go near in my lifetime, but was forced to, because of this fucking podcast and that's mid-summer,

Sidey: I was thinking about this one as well.

Howie: and, and I don't know if you've had a chance to watch this, or you, you know, that myself and Dan are not horror aficionados or any form of.

Para malt peril, and both of us are crying. but we watch Midsummer and there is a scene where the village elders, once they reach an age, jump off a granite cliff in front of the assembled villages, headfirst, and they plummet mainly to their death. One of them jumps. And dies. The second one jumps and doesn't quite die.

And you see quite graphically that they've kind of slammed from about 50 feet up onto a ground. It plinths. And there's a lot of limb sticking out of bones snapped and, and then to finish them off the L the, the rest of the village go, Oh, we got finished them off. And they sledgehammer through the head.

Sidey: so they've got this giant ceremonial hammer up and

Howie: Yeah. And it's all very, like, matter of fact and Oh, it's for the best it's for the best, but when they hit that slab, Oh my God. And he, he lays there and kind of makes up and it's just off. God said, why are you making me watch this Regal?

Reegs: Good one. Yeah.

Sidey: Some of the injury stands because it didn't kill him. Although he did die from it, separate from the separate is okay. Yeah. I like that. I was thinking about whether to normalize that or not. but I didn't want to think too long and a lot about Midsummer cause it was so,

Reegs: I suppose somewhat topically is we've sort of vaguely Christmas theme tonight got diehard, that after noticing that John McClane is walking around with no shoes on, Alan Rickman orders, his men to shoot the glass in a gunfight. And of course he runs across broken glass on bare feet.

And it, you know, it's the same. If you've got kids, then you've probably stepped on Lego. And you will spend the rest of your life. Limping as John McClain does the rest of the film.

Howie: Yeah. I always now think of whenever you sort of walk around barefoot, you do think of diehard. My feet

Sidey: I like that one. Cause it's, it's not often that the, the villains, so I use any sort of intelligence than it is for they've, you know, they use that situation to the advantage, to, to take out the good in it was, I thought it was quite rare that you actually see them do that rather than just aimlessly firing machine guns around.

And it was good.

Adam: just watch that movie again. Maybe two or three days ago. With the wife, we were hanging out watching it. And Alan Rickman, you could just see the development of that, of that person as a character. Like they cast Alan Rickman to be Alan Rickman in movies later on. So if you could see it in this, in this movie, he was just so good.

He was so good.

Howie: they try to extend it out in diehard three with Jeremy irons, simple assignments, and then it

Reegs: Yeah. So his brother.

Howie: Yeah. It doesn't really work.

Adam: So you were talking about, about glass. What about where Leo smashes his hand onto the table during Django the glass gets cut into his hand and he keeps shooting the scene as he's picking real glass out of his real bloody hand, and then ends that scene with the fist where the blood is dripping through the.

Whatever it is. He wrapped around his hand, some kind of cloth and, and that's how it ends. And that was not part of the scene. Then he just kept going in character.

Sidey: Yeah, it was quite a long seat as well.

Reegs: a great choice. That one, because it all adds to the menace in the scene. And then of course, when you realize that it wasn't a special effect, it was something that happened and they just kept on rolling. You re you know, you realize what a terrific performance it is from Leo. yeah, I like that one.

Howie: Do you reckon when the cameras stopped? He literally went off. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. He's

Sidey: on, go on link to that then. Well, LinkedIn, it's a similar sort of injury, which is Brad Pitt and seven. He, he put his hand through a window, and cause severe. Yeah. I don't know if that bit made it the, the actual injury onto this screen, but, it caused severe tendon damage to his hand. And that's why a lot of the film is wearing a sling and a, his arm backed up.

There's a real, onset, snafu that caused him to, they had to check, you know, alter the film because of it.

Reegs: didn't know that that's a good one.

Adam: I got a, I got a couple more that I, that are probably my top. These are my top three. So the first one, it's a little bit cheating. It's not a movie it's TV show,

Howie: That's

Adam: but , it's what caused us to stop watching the walking dead. And that's when Glenn gets hit on the head with, what's the name of that? the Barb wire loose seal and his eye goes

Reegs: Oh, man. That's horrible.

Adam: his brain ends up smashing down the backside of his, that was just.

Awful. We watched that we turned off walking dead. We have not watched it since, and we are the better for it.

Sidey: lots of people did the same.

Adam: Oh, you're like, ah, you killed our avatar. We're done.

Reegs: I did end up turning it off, but only because it just went completely shit. Really boring. It had been boring for a while, but, yeah,

Howie: seasons hit is

Reegs: God, I think must be on about nine or 10 now

Adam: Is it still going?

Sidey: I think they've announced that it is finishing, but they just started another spinoff series, which is. So of, I

Reegs: it's like kids isn't it it's like walking dead, but like Netflix sort of kid's version. Yeah.

Adam: just the

Reegs: thing I really liked though. Is that, the actual graphic novel, it's really good that it, the, the original, series, they just ended it without telling anybody they were going to end it. It was sort of like in the middle of a big storyline and, it was a really interesting way for them to just finish what had been one of the longest running graphic novels of ever.

Yeah.

Howie: I was going to go for the most horrific old injuries in any film, this will win. Something about Mary, the Frank and the

Adam: absolutely.

Howie: that is not only is there a physical element to this, but there is the psychological humiliation elements of every fucking person who happens to be nearby and all emergency services.

And the parade as he comes out of the house afterwards is like, how the hell did you get the Frank above the beans? And it's just fucking hell.

Reegs: ACE that like half a second up that you get of the zipper with the kind of, whatever it is, the

Adam: whatever that is. Yeah.

Reegs: Protruding through. Yeah.

Howie: And Ben still has to be fenced Ben his face when he does it. It's just, it's the whole thing. It's horrific. yeah. So, I'll, I'll go for the, go, go, go for the, the, the pure, the pure idle idiocy injury from

Reegs: I liked that one. obviously in 1980 fours, the karate kid. the evil karate instructor, what's his name? Crease orders. One of his students to break Daniel's leg. which does he do? I don't know, but obviously misdemeanor Aggie sets the injury and he fights his bullying, nemesis, Williams ABCA, AKA, Johnny.

Sidey: Johnny was the wronged party in this whole thing. Cobra, Kai has taught us that.

Adam: absolutely.

Reegs: What a terrific series Cobra Kai is as

Howie: seen it.

Sidey: for

Adam: Do you see the new trailer? Yeah, I just saw it.

Sidey: fucking looks awesome.

Reegs: Yeah, it does. It does. I can't believe that show is just way better than it has any right to be.

Howie: it's my Christmas viewing. That's going to be.

Reegs: Yeah.

Adam: I met, Williams ABCA actually. Yeah, he was here at some kind of con right. Him and Hacksaw, Jim Duggan and Jay from Jay and silent Bob. This is, you know, 10 years ago. So you could see the type of people there that were, they were pulling from. But, yeah, I met him. I took a picture with him posted on Facebook.

I was like way to make it to the big time. so.

Reegs: he a nice guy

Adam: He was, he was a nice guy, but you could tell yo, this, this was his life at the, at this time, he, he was the guy who showed up and took pictures with people at cons. Now, you know, now he's back in

Sidey: in a big time.

Adam: Yeah. So very cool. absolutely. And chosen, chosen is going to be back.

I'm looking forward to seeing chosen and the new Cobra, Kai series.

Did you see that at the very end where he said, he said at the end of the trailer, he said something like, has Mr. Miyagi taught you everything that you were supposed to learn?

Reegs: Oh, well, yeah, I did see that, but who is that

Adam: bald, that's the guy from, Okinawa, the guy that he fought that he almost killed where he would like use the drum technique.

Reegs: Oh, yeah.

Sidey: in Israel, I kind that night, but she was super hot.

Adam: Right.

Reegs: that's amazing. Yeah. I didn't make the connection. That's brilliant.

Adam: Yeah. Chosen great name.

Sidey: I can, Chuck another nomination out there. how about Lacy? Who was the evil Nazi Gestapo guy, major, top tote. he picks up the medallion artifact, famous Ben in the flames and, Sears

Howie: the hand.

Adam: Oh yeah. Good.

Sidey: which we later see as he does a Z Kyle to, as he entered the tent. and it's.

Just another burning Nazi is always good to say.

Howie: this will be lost on Adam, but he looks very much like, our current, whatever. UK politicians, Michael Gove, say that's unfortunately lost on you, but he's like the chance of, I think he's the Dutchie chancellor or something. Let me do it. But the government major UK government, Boris Johnson's right.

Ad man. He's a jerk-off as well. I was just gonna, just before I forget, th there's a film friend of your people, regs, Mel Gibson, have you seen payback?

Reegs: Yeah is a torture scene. Isn't

Howie: Where he gets his bare feet hits with hammers on concrete floor. you don't really see it that much,

Reegs: can walk that off.

Howie: just wear flip flops for the rest of your life, with your web to feet.

Adam: what about a Braveheart

Howie: Oh yeah. But yeah.

Adam: gets, where he gets it all the way up.

Howie: Yeah, hung drawn quarter, isn't it or something is that w w we've got, I think we've talked about something like this before, where we weren't quite sure what the exact terms were, but he basically it's gutted and his bowels pulled out. Doesn't he, while he's shouting freedom,

Sidey: is that the, what do you mean at him?

Adam: Yeah, there was probably several in that movie. Now I think about it.

Sidey: It's not a good way to go. Let us put it that way.

Howie: it's not, it's not how you would have wanted to go.

Reegs: I always thought in the matrix revolutions that Neo is commendably indifferent to the fact that his eyes have been burned out, which is a pretty Savage injury. but the one I was going to nominate was 127 hours, which is a Danny Boyle movie about the real life mountain climber, Aaron Ralston. played by James Franco.

Now, obviously this is a true story that when hiking in Utah, he dislodges a Boulder climbing, a narrow Canyon and ends up with his right arm pinned under the Boulder. I really liked this movie for it's sort of no, man is an Island type fable element to it. And the. Typically interesting Danny Boyle music choices, including bill with his lovely day.

and the incredible use of Sigur ROS, his festival in the euphoric moments when he's freed himself. But obviously the scene I'm referencing is when Aaron has to use his own weight as talk to break the bones in his arm, then cut the damn thing off.

Adam: a Swiss army

Howie: yeah.

Reegs: yeah,

Howie: incredibly unsharp objects.

Reegs: yeah.

Sidey: things that we've spoken about so far that are just injuries that happened in the film, but this is the. The injury. That is the film, you know, that we've all gone to see this film just to see this, you know? the whole point of the film. We're all here. It's like going to watch formula one. You're that's the crash, film, your head to see his arm coming off of me.

And that's the whole point

Reegs: And you get teased a few times in it. There's memorably in the opening scenes. There's a lingering shot of a Swiss army knife in Rolston's cupboard. And you know, it's teased a few times. I really liked that film actually.

Sidey: I do as well. I've only seen it once about my G, but I really enjoyed it. And the way you can enjoy someone cutting their

Howie: Yeah, I really enjoyed watching him savagely cut his hacky sand off like a blind butcher.

Adam: he's a motivational speaker now, him and, what's the guy's name? Mike willing Elmer, the blind man who hiked Everest. They go on speaking tours together and they were speaking at the university. I was at.

Howie: all right.

Sidey: Yeah, I bet it's quite, motivating. I can imagine that'd be quite inspirational.

Howie: Inspire you to get a sharp bloody knife.

Adam: inspire you not to go mountain

Sidey: Yeah.

Reegs: Yeah.

Sidey: how

Howie: start?

Sidey: Got it. How about, Peter Weller in, Robocop

Reegs: Oh man.

Howie: was going to

Sidey: he's here sent on a fool's errand to track down and currents Boetticher and his, his drug gang. And, he comes off a little bit, the worst for wear when he's discovered by them. let's just say they refer him up a little bit.

Reegs: That scene is like burned into my brain where he's getting shot repeatedly. It's horrible.

Sidey: I was dead young when I saw

Howie: Yeah, I think it's another one of those gateway films.

Sidey: yeah, it was a, you know, an 18, an absolute sir. I did, and I must've been 11, 12, something like that when I saw it.

Reegs: yeah. Too young.

Adam: this movie until I was in my twenties.

Sidey: brutally violent. I mean, one of the most part of the things I've still ever seen on film, you know, awful.

Brilliant.

Howie: I've only have you guys seen black rain with Michael Douglas?

Adam: I seen the poster

Howie: Yeah. See, this

Adam: looks like a bad-ass on the

Howie: Yeah. See, this is one that I might recommend to the chapters to watch for a mid-week review at some point. it's with, Oh, I've forgotten his name. Is there an ocean's 11 next someone? Oh no. Ah, fuck. Anyway.

Michael Douglas. And it's about the Japanese triads and there's a guy called Sato Saito, and he has to prove his loyalty to local Yakuza by chopping off his little finger with a knife. And it's hard. It's just, it's, it's a sign of, proving yourself. You're, you're, you're doing anything for the cause and it's very graphic.

And when he cuts off his little finger, that's where Michael Douglas kind of. Does a bust and a right on the place. And there's a fight where he goes to punch him and he punches with this finger that's wrapped in. And it's and you can just see his face it's proper. Oh. And then he pulls his hand back and I think Douglas then crushes it with his hand as well.

But yeah, black rains are really, really good film. It's it's it's got your non favorite cake capture in it Sidey,

Sidey: Oh God really.

Howie: Yeah. but yeah. Andy Garcia, that's it. Andy, go see a pleaser unlikable character. Which is quite

Reegs: That's quite rare, isn't it? Yeah.

Howie: really like it's yeah. He's called Nick. That's the name?

I was.

Sidey: Likable untouchables.

 Howie: Oh yeah. Good point.,

Adam: one of the movies I thought had the best torture scene was clockwork orange.

Sidey: Oh yeah,

Adam: You know, that the, the parts where he's got his eyes peeled back with the, with the metal objects and the guy kept coming in and dropping those eyedrops.

Reegs: Yup. Yup.

Adam: That's a, that's a real eye doctor that was really worried that he would really lose his vision in that scene.

Sidey: Gabriel likes to do a couple of takes of these things

Reegs: Yeah.

Sidey: and, his, his eyes were scratched to fuck. They really damaged him.

Adam: Yeah, that's crazy. But, I, one more, I just got one more, that I thought was great and that was a Homer Simpson falling down the Springfield

Reegs: Oh, yes. That's a great shout.

Howie: answer on the way back up as well.

Adam: Okay.

Howie: And then back on the way down again. Yeah.

Adam: Okay.

Reegs: death becomes her featuring, Goldie horn and your favorite Meryl Streep's ID, using CGI. That was really highly ambitious for the early nineties. In fact, won an Academy award for best visual effects. It's a story of two murderous vanity corrupted women who cling to their beauty past the point of their own deaths and drink and magic.

Patient that restores their youth and makes them immortal, but not in vulnerable. So you end up with, I think, Goldie Hawn ends up with a giant hole through the middle of a tour. So, Streep ends up with her neck on backwards. She says at one point I can see my own ass, even at the end of the movie, when they fall down the stairs and break into several pieces and their severed heads are lying next to each other.

They're talking about where they parked the car. and, and, and the end of the movie is set like 40 years after the sort of climax of the film. So you can just basically just rotting, corpses, patched together with paint and glue. so yeah, fun times.

Howie: Yeah.

Sidey: Cool. I got a couple more real ones. Halle, Berry and gossip. Robert Downey Jr. Has a scene where he's supposed to restrain her. he twisted her arm and it broke Robert Downey Jr. Actually heard the sound of it. Pop, production had to be postponed for eight weeks while the arm healed, but they remained good friends to this day.

Reegs: I haven't seen that movie.

Sidey: Daryl Hannah in blade runner. She chipped her elbow and still has a scar following an accident on set. running away in the rain, she put her elbow through a car window, I think. some not real ones though. This is a movie that we've kind of mentioned before, but it's never been nominated.

I think Ryan Gosling in the nice guys when Russell Crowe goes around to deliver the message to him. they have a bit of a fight and eventually has gotten pinned down. CRO says, when you talk to your doctor, you tell him you've got a spiral fracture of the less radius it goes inside. And then you just bang, just snatch this up and you hear that noise and the Yelp, another arm injury that makes me cringe.

And then another movie that we we spoke just last week about was make a gun. OJ Simpson has the, the initial. bust of a jokes guy where he's shot burns has his leg in a bad trap. Nearly drowns is

Howie: Window slam as well.

Sidey: Yeah. And wet paint. Of course

Adam: always a winner to nominate OJ Simpson, always a winner.

Have you guys seen the cell with Jennifer Lopez

Reegs: I have, yeah, that's a strange movie.

Adam: where they're hanging by the fish hooks? Do you remember this scene?

Reegs: Yeah. With the they've got hooks in their back. Haven't they?

Adam: Yeah. Yeah. Oh, ouch.

Howie: Yeah, there's a similar one. So that in, it's an old cow, I think it's an all cowboy one. I vaguely remember it. Someone at work mentioned it to me today. it's called a man called horse and it's, I think it's when he goes to the, the, Indian settlement. And he has hooked in order to prove his allegiance to the tribe.

They put hooks through his nipples and spin him out of the totem pole.

Adam: no.

Howie: It's horrific. And I remember it being like a Western that was on, like on a sort of a Saturday afternoon on our sort of BBC channel two or something. Well, I'll just start, I'm watching me. Dad's going, Oh, help. Don't know if this should really be on.

But grim 

Reegs: I've just got two, two more, I think, the 1999 Japanese horror movie directed by Takeshi MI K audition. It's about a widower ioma whose son suggests he should find a new wife interviewing or auditioning. several women, including Assami OAM, is a bit of a sexist pig, but he probably doesn't deserve the final moments of this movie where an unhinged Assami tortures him by putting needles in the poor guy's eyes, tapping them in very slowly, then cutting his feet off with a sore.

Howie: what the fuck are you watching? Stuff like this?

Reegs: It's a really good movie. It's a really good movie. And in 12 monkeys, Cole, which is another movie that I really like, removes his own teeth with a stolen knife in front of, another guy. And it's an interesting subversion because you think he's going to torture the other guy. And then he obviously takes out his own teeth because he thinks that, the, the future people can track him through time. Mm, any more for anymore.

 

Sidey: I got an honorable mention, for jaws, the opening scene with a good looking girl in the, in the se tied a kind of, I think it was maybe just something as basic as a couple of ropes around her to get the thrashing around effect of, of the shock. Buying, and nothing, they nearly broke our back.

It was very, seriously, they really damaged that quite severely. so that was another real one that made it into the actual film. but that's it for me.

Adam: honorable mention you. You got to mention, Jackie Chan, whenever you're mentioning it, just injuries in general, real and a fake

Sidey: How's Nicole in his head from one of the police,

Adam: I think he has holes all over it. He's like David Blaine with, All the holes and he's got all over his

Reegs: Some of the credit scenes where you see the stunts going wrong that are just breathtakingly awful.

Adam: Yeah. Yeah. You know, he was in enter the dragon

Reegs: Yes. Yep.

Adam: Yeah. For like two seconds.

Awesome.

Sidey: get this down to a top four?

Reegs: do that.

Sidey: Adam, what do you want to put in?

Adam: Oh man. so we'll go one, my one at a time, I would say misery would be my top

Sidey: Yeah, that's a good

Reegs: great choice. I'm torn between a couple. Yeah, I'm really torn between reservoir dogs, diehard. And, but I'm going to go for Monty Python and the Holy grail I'm going to go for the black Knight has to be done

Sidey: What you got.

Howie: I'll go for something about Mary, the Frank and the beans.

Sidey: I'm going to go for Rose, McGowan and planet terror because she turns the injury and to her advantage is a

Reegs: light that like that.

 

Sidey: Well, this week's movie came about because of the shocking revelation that a couple of us hadn't seen gremlins. So we said we watched gremlins. It does put it outside of our usual, timeframe, but fuck it is, it's a Christmas movie.

Howie: it is, it

Sidey: apt for this time of year.

Howie: I'll let my kids watch it with me. And my kids are eight and 10 and they,

Reegs: I feel like that was a mistake.

Howie: I

Sidey: I did think about letting my daughter watch it. I have to say, bye. I didn't buy. I still think, I think I might let her watch it. They was all right.

Howie: I don't get what, so I obviously looked into it and I saw the Ferrara about the fact that at the time of release, this was 15, it was seen as an absolute devil film. people were horrified by it and like, I watched it, my kids and our. There was one scene that I felt I actually, I actually quickly pressed the fast forward bit.

Cause I guessed it and then the rest of it, I'll just let them watch. And that was the scene involving the, scientist

Sidey: Oh

Reegs: that is the bit that when I was a kid, utterly terrified me, but should we get to that bit when we do the

Howie: yeah, but, yeah, that's

Sidey: same. The, I think I would not like my daughter too. To listen to, it has been Phoebe Cates talks about that, but we'll get into that

Reegs: Yeah. Okay. Now does anybody, and if you have looked this up then, don't speak now, but does anybody want to have any kind of guests at when this movie was released? It was obviously 1984 was, but any kind of guests at what, what part of the year?

Sidey: I won't speak.

Adam: you would, you would assume in December, wouldn't

Reegs: you would assume that, but it was June the eighth wisdom.

Sidey: same day as Ghostbusters.

Reegs: Indeed. What a day that was. but yeah, I feel that this is genuinely a Christmas movie.

Sidey: Well, I, I was on Twitter as I tend to do, and there was a post from someone, a tweet and it said they were talking about diehards, but the same applies. And they said, claiming that diehard is a Christmas movie is toxic masculinity

Adam: Oh,

Reegs: Right. Okay. What's the argument.

Sidey: without that, just sadness, a fucking action

Adam: that's the whole argument.

Howie: Yeah.

Sidey: this is, this is the criteria for something being , Christmas movie, it's set at Christmas.

That's it? That's all you need. I mean, otherwise what you need a fucking film of people opening their Christmas presents fuck off This is a Christmas film. That's. The only thing it needs is a setting of Christmas. The end

Howie: The thing my kids picked up on this is a obvious one, but, the kids picked up on it ship. So Kara, my, let Les said, well, my oldest daughter, even, she said, It's all snow and everything, but you couldn't see, people's breaths. And she goes, it's clearly been filmed in the summer.

Sidey: breasts.

Howie: The breath, the breath, the breasts.

Yeah. You couldn't see anyone's breasts as an 11 year old girl. I'm really unhappy about

Sidey: fast times at Ridgemont high. If you want to do that for fabricators.

Howie: Phoebe Cates. Yeah.

Reegs: Or gremlins too, because you get the transsexual gremlin.

Sidey: Oh yeah, you do.

Reegs: Yeah.

Adam: This was definitely filmed in Los Angeles. As a matter of fact, I looked this up and this was filmed, in the same spot that Hill Valley was. So did you guys see this, that, that,

Reegs: had no idea.

Adam: So.

Sidey: that at the time, but I, when I was watching it again for this, I did think this looks a lot like the square from back to the future. So I looked it up and it was, but the whole film, I thought just looked like the most clearly filmed on a lot

Reegs: Yes.

Sidey: have it, nothing about it. It's real to me.

Adam: my, my last trip to Los Angeles, I went to universal studios. And you can do the lot tour at universal

Reegs: Yeah. Yeah.

Adam: when I was going on that tour, they were filming the Grinch and Jim Carrey was filming. And, the tram driver told this story about how, when they were filming Whoville is right next to the Bates motel.

Reegs: brilliant.

Adam: that Jim Carrey, one time. Came out in a hood and a fake knife out of the Bates motel and jumped into the back of the tram and started scaring all the passengers of the tram and then jumped off. And so you could take this tram and they'll take you through Hill Valley. And I think that the, the Avenue is wisteria lane because that's just right up the right up the street from Hill Valley and the back lot of universal studios.

Howie: Yeah. It's a quality tool though.

Adam: Yeah, definitely do the, do the tour. If

Reegs: I've been on that. Yeah, it is really good. Yeah.

Adam: King Kong and the earthquake and

Reegs: yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. the movie opens with a sort of voiceover from Randall Peltz, a full-time crappy inventor. that really kind of sets the tone for the movie, which is one of, sort of. Fable types story telling, you know, there's no suggestion in, in many ways that this is taking place in a real universe.

Anyway, he's kind of led down the stairs, searching for Christmas presents for his son, Billy too. probably one place. You wouldn't go at the moment, a Chinese market, and amongst the bats and pangolin ones, he finds. If he finds, he finds, gizmo the Mogwai

Sidey: Is Cantonese for

Adam: Is it really?

Reegs: well, there you go, Adam, you can. Yeah.

Adam: yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, I know. wait, what's a gray light. Gray light is white devil and that's what they call foreigners who come to the mainland of China. They go on gray line. So there you go.

Reegs: the no, Mr. Wing doesn't want to sell the creature to Randall, but his grandson, so of

Howie: needs the cash.

Reegs: needs

Sidey: Hey, so sold him. Behind his back didn't they just, I think he was just going to pocket the money. you know, which is a bit underhand

Howie: this. So this start to this reminded me very much of big trouble in little China.

Sidey: yeah, yeah. It had that feel about it.

Howie: from this

Reegs: Oh, one little bit of movie trivia, you know, the sort of broken down car that's in the very first shot. It's an AMC gremlin.

Adam: Oh, nice.

Reegs: can I, it would be, the grandson secretly sells the Maguire to Mr. Pelt, sir. And then gives him three important rules that must never be broken. Do not expose the Maguire to light, especially sunlight, which will kill it.

Don't let it come in contact with water and above all.

Howie: don't take this balls.

Adam: definitely. Definitely.

Reegs: that's rule number four, rule number three, never feed it after midnight. Now I, I always think the rules are really so important and it becomes clear that they are very important, these rules, why wouldn't he tell him about the consequences? It's not just don't get him wet. It's don't get him wet because you'll have a proliferation of these beings in your house. It's not just don't feed them after midnight. It's, don't feed them after midnight or you'll create a race of killing machines. I feel like that's added information that's needed.

Sidey: well, the, the, the sunlight one was added because it's just easier to film them at night. That that was why that was brought in.

Reegs: wasn't ready.

Adam: Yeah. Yeah. You could do a lot of tricks with shadows and darkness. Yeah, that makes sense. I,

Reegs: just think if you didn't get it.

Adam: Well, I didn't, here's what I didn't get. We're all dads here. Would you give your kid a toy that had these rules attached to it ever?

Reegs: Yeah. to be honest, after the weekend we've had giving my kid a sort of apocalyptic homicidal monster just seems like a really good idea, but, yeah, in general, I do understand the point you're making at him. Yeah.

Adam: So why I don't get it.

Sidey: Benny was older than my, kids. He kind of seemed like a, mid twenties. I don't know. He was like living at home

Reegs: Okay.

Howie: working at a bank

Sidey: work at the base. It's like a bit of a slacker

Reegs: best friend seemed to be an 11 year old boy, which would be

Sidey: odd. Wasn't it? It was pre famed Corey Feldman.

Reegs: yes.

Adam: could have stalled the show if you'd given them more lines,

Reegs: And hadn't hidden them in a tree for half of the movie.

Adam: right.

Reegs: so anyway,

Sidey: shock horror.

Reegs: Shakara. Yes.

Sidey: don't, they don't really abate all those frills today.

Adam: Yeah.

Reegs: No. And really within about the first two seconds of the, of the mock being at home, they've already like blinded it with light. then the twatty friend, spills some water from some paints on him.

Sidey: Really fucking reckless that

Reegs: Yeah. Which of course, results in, Asexual reproduction, which is basically it's the same way you had your children, isn't it Howie?

Howie: Yeah, no.

Adam: Okay.

Howie: my, I bought mine at shop.

Reegs: Yeah,

Howie: lot of pick and mix, you know,

Reegs: I think he is. If you'd had just sprayed the liquid all over the back of the other one, then I wouldn't be in this position. This place.

Sidey: when they do break the rules, then, and they get them wet, is it then that they will always be mischievous. Versions of Mogwai

Howie: like inbreeding in it.

Sidey: because how, how did gizmo ever come to be? And he was nice, whereas every other is just a pain in the ass or just an absolute homicidal maniac.

Reegs: always took it as like, you know, when, back in the eighties, if you ever like, you'd get a video, you'd rent it wherever. And it had the little tabs on the top and you'd put some sellotape over the top of it so that you could record it. But the quality of the recording is never quite as good as the original.

And that's what I thought was happening with the mug wise.

Adam: so. In the book, the Maguire were an artificial life form designed by an alien race to be ambassadors of peace through the cosmos they were sent out before it was learned that things were highly unstable and select few were left on earth. They lived long peaceful lives until they chose to exchange that for short, exciting lives as gremlins. They instinctively know what happens if they eat after midnight. So both Stripe and gizmo made a conscious decision, although opposite ones.

Reegs: idea. There was such a developed a law behind it,

Sidey: Yeah. In

Reegs: yeah, you definitely get the feeling that gives me refuses the food doesn't eat. Cause they get offered some chicken.

Adam: yeah.

Sidey: Stripe in his cronies they've they've knackered the clock so that Betty doesn't realize that it's past midnight, but the point, and this is the, the thing that everyone raises about this film is that it's always past midnight. it's, it's always, no matter what time of day, it's always past midnight.

Reegs: but this, this whole thing is memorably taken down in gremlins too. Isn't it? which I really liked that movie as well. I always understood it to mean. To one of two things, either the hour between 12 and one or between 12 and sunrise,

Sidey: was, I shaved it means nighttime. Yeah, but it's not stipulated.

Reegs: not, it's not.

Sidey: we got the parents from judge Reinhold, was meant to be, I think, a much bigger part, but, I guess in, most of it ended up on the cutting room floor because he's only really in it for one sort of, bit of bullying.

Reegs: He's introduced as this yuppie twat, and you're waiting for him to get his comeuppance and it never really happens.

Sidey: I think what happened to him, he was terrorized by some gremlins and was seen in the bank fault. and he basically lost his marbles and got insane, but that never made it into the final version of the movie.

Reegs: I have to say as well, you do get freaked out by judge Ryan hold's appearance, because I know what that guy does when he's in a movie with Phoebe Cates and doesn't think anyone is watching him. and, yeah.

Sidey: Good. Would you have done any different,

Reegs: man. I've seen that scene a few times.

Sidey: Phoebe Cates? She is. I think she's an absolute babe and she great amiss when, cause Billy or w what's the guy's name? Zach.

Reegs: Galligan gut.

Sidey: was pretty much an unknown. and, but it was during the, the casting, they were doing some tests, Siemens or whatever. and Spielberg really liked the tear them together because it looked like, Zack was actually love with her, you know, he'd he'd, he was, there was real chemistry, probably more from him projected towards her.

So that lives, the reason that he was cast this because. He, he really hit it off with Phoebe case, which I would imagine it would be fairly easy to

Reegs: Yeah. So Billy takes, one of the Maguire to his former science teacher, Mr. Hanson, which is a bit you were talking about earlier, how he, anybody recognize Mr. Hanson? He was, and just bear with me two seconds while I find the actor's

Adam: I was sure though, that he was a science teacher, because there were so many vials on his desk. They made it very clear his job was silenced.

Howie: at pens in his pocket. White

Adam: Right, right.

Reegs: yeah, that was Glynn Turman. Who played Clarence Royce from the wire? The mayor. Oh, do you, haven't seen the wire

Sidey: Yeah.

Reegs: Yeah. Played the mayor. Yeah.  also this movie features another, Sort of cameo amazing appearance or that's better in retrospect, the cops that we see later, the younger one was Jonathan Banks, who is that fantastic character actor who played Mike Erwin trout in breaking bad.

Sidey: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I did recognize him. there, the scene where the science class is in session, they're watching a short film about a heart beating and there's this. Actual teaching going on. That is actually a real science film at that particular one was directed by Frank Capra.

Reegs: really who, of course they, they there's a lot. I mean, obviously the, the town is called Kingston falls is almost the same as Bedford falls.

Sidey: there's those, it's a wonderful life does actually appear in the film as well. So he's, he's, he's in it. He's done it twice, which is a

Reegs: Hmm. Interesting. In fact, there's full of cameos. This film, Spielberg himself is in it. Robby, the robot is in it even the time machine from, I forget the name of the movie. Oh no, that's right. The time machine, is in the background of one of the shots.

Sidey: then it disappears. Doesn't

Reegs: and then it disappears. Yeah. yes. So there is a scene where simultaneously, as Billy accidentally feeds his Mogwai, and starts them turning into the titular gremlins, the, science teacher sort of negligently leaves a sandwich out.

At two in the morning for the Maguire to eat. And then when it comes back and I still remember from my childhood, the terrifying thing of the teacher reaching under the desk, trying to attempt the whatever it's changed into with a chocolate bar. I'm not sure what kind of chocolate bar it was, but was it a Snickers?

I do like a Snickers. but yeah, that really scared me. What was that guy doing?

Adam: you're not you when you're hungry.

Reegs: That's true.

Howie: This is the thing. So, my kids genuine apart from the scene that we'll get to. All through this, my kids were laughing. They thought it was hilarious. So I wonder if it's a case of, has this film lost its scary touch to the current audience? Are we scared a bit because we

Reegs: Maybe your kids just are Percy's late year.

Howie: as probably the case,

Adam: Cut. There you go.

Howie: my kids, dare. They have been watching too many, too many is more than anything. More than one of the investigators that we slated last week, they gave it a second chance and they are hammering that series.

Reegs: Oh, how wonderful.

Howie: there, luckily a second series of Hilda has come out, so that's sort of way to up.

Yeah. That's quite good. But yeah, but I'm just wondering if, if you guys did see, let your kids watch it or anything like that, what, what their thoughts would be on it? Because I think that that level of puppetry, because they see things like baby Yoder

Adam: yeah, this, I'm with you. I'm with you. I, cause I'd never saw this when I was a kid. So seeing it now, I, I thought the gizmo was, a little higher class. Teddy Ruxpin.

Howie: Yes. Yeah. Oh my God. Teddy Ruxpin. Geez, Louise.

Adam: So, you know, I mean, this, it just seemed like a toy that you would sell at a kiosk in the mall. You know, that guy that flies his helicopter and he's always getting too close to everybody. That guy would sell a gizmo type character today in the mall. And maybe it would be like a two for one. Maybe you get a gizmo and a dinosaur or something, you know, for 10 bucks or something, it just.

The, the level of animatronics, the level of special effects just wasn't there. Wasn't it. Wasn't frightening to

Reegs: maybe not frightening, but I thought the special effects still really hold up. And I love the fact that it's all done practically. And I think it's really, you know, you know, for a fact, if they made Gremlin's three, now it would all be CGI and it

Adam: making one. They're making a TV series.

Sidey: Did you read how they, the first attempt at doing a gremlin?

Reegs: Yeah. Yeah.

Sidey: they tried to do, you know, the salary well done. They got, they tried it with a spider monkey

Howie: Oh, my God.

Sidey: they said I got, like, and I'm gonna try to remember the spider monkey and they put, Gremlin's head on it. Right. I fucking lost It went on a rabbit page destroyed, the director's office and shit everywhere. and so they were like, yeah, this isn't going to work, but they did have, they had lots of trouble with the, with the models of Adam Metronics. They cost a fortune to make,

Reegs: Yeah.

Sidey: point that everyone's car was checked at the end of each day's shoot to make sure no one had nicked anything.

Adam: Yeah. I read that too, where Corey Feldman had, grabbed some further to show his classmates that he was in the movie and they were like, what? We don't give a shit about your firm You're at a what? All right. Take your finger and go put it somewhere else.

Howie: Cause I'm baby Yoda at the minute. And the Mandalorian is a mix of animatronics, but real life puppetry as well. So I don't think it would go full CGI based on the success that they've had with the Mandalorian style,

Sidey: Hey, it doesn't move around too, too much. So does

Howie: No. Yeah. I suppose guess

Reegs: think there's quite a lot of similarity of design between the Mogwai and baby Yoder, actually.

Sidey: Yeah, there is.

Adam: yeah.

Howie: They just dipped him in and green paint. So I use the same one.

Sidey: So there's a few other characters not going about it in the film. And one we've not mentioned is Mrs. Deagle. this sort of Scrooge type character that's, running around the town, just being generally bitchy about everything and kicking people out of their houses and just. Seems to have all the money in the town, whatever.

Now it's a struggling. she, yeah, she made, she mentioned that she's desperate for some reason to kill, the dog. and generally just setting herself up to be the big bitch that, you know, something's going to happen to her.

Howie: badge.

Sidey: yeah, she does die. It's wonderful.

Adam: you know, in the, in the book, they, the gremlins lob off the mother's head and they eat. The family dog

Reegs: Oh, wow. Doc.

Adam: have been a bit of a darker take.

Reegs: but in this one, memorably, the mother who is the first, I think, recipient of the Gremlin's reign of terror, they put on, do you see what I see? Which sounds really chilling when it's coming here. And then she has a sort of, one, a standoff with them in the kitchen and she kills

Sidey: she is, yeah, she kicks ass.

Howie: like that. I liked the fact that she wasn't some just screaming female. Nobody. She gives it loads.

Adam: Yeah, my wife was very happy about that. She got for completely forgotten that there was one bad bitch as a mother. She was like, yeah, yeah.

Sidey: one in one in the blender, one in the microwave, 

Reegs: she stops one with a kitchen knife.  she sprays a load of like flea spray in its eyes.

Sidey: right. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. She is. She's hardcore.

Reegs: she's an absolute, yeah. Gremlin, samurai.

Sidey: But what happens then is we're left with Stripe, the ringleader, and he manages to escape and jumps into the local swimming pool. causes a whole army of gremlins to rampage through the town.

Reegs: I do love that scene where you see one and then two, and then just hundreds, maybe even thousands of them coming over the Hill

Sidey: yeah, it's fantastic.

Reegs: to engage

Sidey: where the sort of the mischief and the, the, the colony is really escalates there. and as we've mentioned, Mrs. Deagle, they see one of them. She, she comes down the stairs on a stair lift and then you see a gremlin just sort of mess around with the worry on that.

Reegs: well, she has to go outside too, because the doorbell rings and they're outside caroling, which is just amazing.

Adam: I was, I was going to ask, can you guys about this? Have you ever had, even before the pandemic, I realized now probably not, but. Have you ever had Christmas carolers come to your door?

Reegs: I figured that was something that happened in America. Adam, you're going to tell me it's not.

Adam: Can't remember that ever really happening? I think it was always, it's a bit strange to go up to a stranger's door and start singing.

Reegs: Yeah.

Howie: I stopped in to us once when we lived in the UK. we lived in England cause we used to run a restaurant, so they'd come sing outside the restaurant. But as he said, it's just a strange one. Just rocking up someone's house and tip your hat to get some change and start singing terribly. She did any time of the Ash and you really don't just do it at Christmas.

Adam: I just started singing ballads,

Howie: Pull out, pull out a Taylor Swift, you know, anything,  just go for it.

Reegs: Mrs. Deagle, doesn't respond particularly well to the caroling. So she gets back in her chair.

Sidey: wrapped up a little bit

Reegs: a little, yeah,

Sidey: and she is catapulted at great speed up through the stairs and out of the top floor, window.

Reegs: it's fantastic. Isn't

Adam: I was trying to figure out is that possible? Would that trajectory actually work? And I, I think it would, I think if you had the window right above the stairs, you could, you could

Howie: make you make it.

Sidey: I think so. I

Reegs: Fair, two 50 CT engine on it.

Sidey: Play off to someone who's just been horrid. Her entire, parents throughout the film to date has been, you know, been a real bitch and she really gets a great death others, but as the, as the police are, so just pulling up to the gas, they just see a get launched out of the window.

Slander. It was brilliant.

Adam: this is just the worst police. I mean just the worst police ever.

Sidey: th th they were getting pissed up in the police station, but they,

Reegs: was Christmas Eve.

Sidey: yeah,

Howie: so much not being your defense in front of a police tribunal. Well, I was, yeah, it was Christmas Eve. I felt it was, it was good to get into the spirit. He gets pissed before I rested someone.

Adam: Now if your whole town has been invaded by gremlins, I mean, you know, you've got other problems.

Howie: Yeah. You got to go with it. It reminds me a bit of Shaun of the dead at this point where everything was on the rampage.

Sidey: well, we CA we cut to the local bar there when

Reegs: It's amazing.

Sidey: Kate's working and she's been

Reegs: She's doing what you would do, and that is serving the Gremlin's drinks and light their cigarettes.

Adam: there are so many questions I have about this theme

Howie: did that? Yeah,

Sidey: Yeah, it's just getting into pure comedy mode at this point. and she's just applying them with booze. and, and like you say, one of them has got about 10 cigarettes on the go she's like the cigarettes at which point she realizes there's a Polaroid. did she gets a phone call? Doesn't she. and then, so she gets the, the camera and she starts taking photos, obviously the flash, disorientate the

Adam: but she's been lighting their cigarettes with a

Sidey: weird. Isn't it it's

Reegs: giving them popcorn. I did anybody look at this and think back in the day, I probably would have enjoyed going out for drinks with the gremlins because they looked like they were Farden man looked.

Sidey: It was, there was quite a range of just outright murder to just like. Being a bit laddish and cutting out for bays.

Reegs: Hi, jinx

Sidey: a, it was a wide spectrum of, of

Reegs: behavior. Yeah.

Howie: like basically a rugby tour. For me, it felt like

Adam: right,

Howie: all it missed was people pissing on someone and we'd have been there. You know, if we were to wear it like a Brown chinos and club shirts, the gremlins would have fit right in.

Sidey: this, this part of the film as well. The main talking point is for me, it's like she escaped from the bar with all the booze and the gremlins and what have you. And then while she's hiding out with Billy, we game, get this story from nowhere.

Reegs: Hey, it's amazing. Isn't it?

Sidey: About why she hates Christmas and it's it's so in Congress that the rest of the film,

Reegs: Well, she's already hinted at this earlier because she S she trots out an amazing line at Christmas time, where most people are opening presents. There are plenty of others opening their wrists, which is when I used to like, trotting out at

Adam: amazing line.

Reegs: work. But yeah, so she does reveal her personal trauma. So ID.

Sidey: yeah, her dad had gone missing. On Christmas Eve. And I wasn't seen and say, they're, they're just assuming that he's done a runner. And then several days later, was it because of a smell it's discovered that he'd actually dressed up as father Christmas and tried to climb down the chimney to surprise them with presence, but it's fallen and broken his neck and been wedged basically in, in the chimney of the family

Adam: the serious fuck. They're like,

Howie: a public health film.

Adam: This just goes to show you that our parents' generation is the worst parents. Of every generation ever. How do you in the fuck? Do you get the idea that going down the chimney is a good idea? Like where, how does that connect in your brain?

Howie: Can you imagine doing that now, Joe, to

Adam: No, not at all. I cannot imagine doing that.

Howie: know we've had the chimney flume done. It's been relayed. It's safe. I'm going to squeeze my slightly less ample framed down there. Don't don't worry about it. It will be funny much in the kid. Like, imagine if you did get down there,

Reegs: But you guys who haven't seen this movie, you cannot have seen this story coming.

Adam: Oh, no, I have, no, I had no, when this story came, I thought, is this the same movie I might still watching. Gremlin's what just happened, girl, interrupted as what I thought had been flipped on.

Sidey: it was really weird to go from that scene in the bar, which is pretty much just out and out comedy to her, then her, this really harrowing story about like she hates Christmas. And I think that's why it works so well for me, I thought was

Reegs: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Adam: I don't even know what to say. This story was utter nonsense. I listened to it and thought this, this might be the most unbelievable thing in the whole movie.

Sidey: Yeah, my message was like, what the fuck is going on?

Reegs: the Gremlin's aware that daylight is coming pile into the movie theater to watch snow white in the service. Cool. which then continues the mayhem, memorably, the entire audience singing along hi-ho hi-ho it's off to work. We go, and then to cut a long story short, Billy fills the whole place with, gas and then blows them all up.

Adam: no funny. I was thinking where have I seen that before? I'd seen that in another movie somewhere before, and when I was watching this, I realized where I had seen it before. There's another director, I think who did this Quintin.

Reegs: Inglorious

Adam: Inglorious bastards. That's right. That's right. I've seen this before.

That's right. I'd seen him before.

Reegs: so you think all the gremlins have been killed, but unfortunately the leader. Stripe.

Sidey: he, yeah, he nipped over the road to get more sweets or candy. Cause they're all out. They didn't at all. so he escaped this explosion. and then he was going to do her brother, I guess, to find some more water where he could jump in and create another gremlins army. Right.

Reegs:  it leads to a kind of memorable showdown, between. Billy and Stripe, he comes at him with a chain saw, across Bo He was, yeah. Yeah. He really was.

Sidey: left gizmo with. Kate. And it told them to go and find, switch the lights on while he tried to distract Stripe, but basically Stripe just was going to kill him. It was pretty close to being gamed over for bedding.

the real heroic moment where the real hero of the film. Is gizmo we get this great sequence of him, a little radio controlled car, upping the cute factor.  we, we made a big deal about saying how we hadn't seen this and I'd never seen it, but I've totally forgotten most of the stuff happening in STEM.

It's so long since I've seen it. I had completely forgotten about gizmo the pink car. I'd

Reegs: It's amazing any, even says something like move worth, worth as he's driving past at the dog, which is just brilliant. anyway, yes, gizmo ends up saving the day by, driving full speed off of a shovel into a flowerpot and then opening the, sunlight. Just as the, Stripe is about to jump into a fountain.

And then there's a really disgusting death scene for Stripe who kind of ends up looking like a sort of half cooked chicken carcass as the sunlight hits him. it's really quite grim.

Sidey: you get there? Is he dead jump shock moment as well

Reegs: Yeah. Yeah.

Sidey: himself out of the fountain. Is it just a skeleton at the end? And then just melts onto the floor.

Adam: did that scare you when you were a kid, when you were a kid, were you still being scared of jump scares at that point?

Reegs: Oh

Sidey: of now.

Adam: Cause it it's standard procedure. Now I was just kind of expecting it to happen.

Howie: in terms of the deaths, Adam, have you seen gremlins too as well? I did like a bit of a double bill over a couple of days with it, with my

Adam: I have not. I've heard that, the whole Colgan does a really good job

Howie: Yeah. Yeah.

Adam: that's what I know

Howie: Oscar, Oscar levels, pure acting. Mike, I enjoyed gremlins too way more than gremlins one. And I think the goal was, I think they must've been, we've been able to either up the budget or that more experienced with what they were working with, some of the deaths in gremlins to a brilliant and some of the creatures and all that changes through the

Reegs: yeah.

Howie: DNA syrup story storyline, which my kids picked out with immediately.

But, yeah, I th th the, the it's worth seeing the second one, it's definitely worse than the second one. Right. It's a bit more comedic as well. I think which is obviously the first one is, but the second one's got way more in.

Sidey: at the end of ILD, I missed a wing. From Chinatown,

Reegs: Just rocks up.

Sidey: scolds them for not being responsible pet owners basically. And they didn't follow the rules. And presumably he's already, bollocked his grandson for selling the thing

Howie: Yeah.

Reegs: Yeah, I, yeah, I think it's a bit difficult and I've got to be careful that I go, don't come off as like Beardy's xenophobic and racist here. So I'll just put that, that, but when you're. Own society has a habit of finding wonderful creatures, and then cooking and eating them or grinding them up for medicines or aphrodisiacs.

I think you have to be slightly circumspect in accusing another race of not really understanding or you know, that you get on your high horse about gizmo watching television. That that would be my take on the end.

Sidey: There's probably some truth in that. Yeah. But it does, it does leave it with a or maybe belly will be okay to, to have a gizmo, you know,

Reegs: even though he broke all the rules within about 20 minutes of having him

Sidey: Marie caused the whole fucking thing in the first place. go on

Reegs: was just going to say it's kind of difficult to ignore. The eighties subtext of this, which I never really noticed or paid any attention to when I was a kid or even in my teens, but about the fact that is, is about. Something foreign and exotic coming over and destroying everything in, in an American town.

It's, it's really, it's like difficult to ignore that whole perspective when you watch gremlins as a 40 year old and the whole threat of the East coming in to destroy, small town America.

Sidey: Yeah, definitely.

Adam: Yeah, no, I, I remember when I was younger Chinatown, cause I'm I'm right by San Francisco. So Chinatown San Francisco's quite large. And, I remember it being just a, a different place. You could go there and you can get Ninja stars. You know, you could get a switchblade. If you went to Chinatown, they would have illegal fireworks, you know, and as a 12 year old, this sounds awesome.

But I mean, you're just scratching the surface of the things that kids can get. I can't imagine what it would be like as an adult to go to Chinatown. You'd be like, Oh, they eat, you know, bat wings. That's very strange. so I'm sure that there would just be all, all sorts of that. And there was a lot of uncertainty, you know, around what Chinatown sold, with their herbal medicine, you know, shark, fin soup, all that, people just didn't understand at the time.

So yeah, definitely this, this bred into a lot of fears that Americans at least had at the time of what was going on in the Chinese market.

Reegs: Yeah, exactly. Yeah, absolutely.

Sidey: do you think they didn't handle it very sensitively then? Or are they just a product of its time that it

Reegs: I think probably the latter. And I think you see it through a different lens now.

Adam: well, this came out around the same time that temple of doom came out. Right.

Howie: yeah.

Adam: they come out around the same time and these are both Spielbergs and I'm, I just watched temple of doom for the first time. Also about two months ago. I'd never seen

Sidey: Oh, ready.

Adam: Yeah.

Sidey: you should have dose today again.

Adam: And, and I'm, I realized that Spielberg just.

Didn't really have his pulse on the didn't really have his hand on the future. He had his hand on what was currently happening. Like I was watching that and seeing Harrison Ford walk through a tribe of very dark people as they worshiped him for bringing back this, this thing. And he stood there like Jesus, and I thought there is no way you could get away with this today in a movie, you know, the white savior coming to save the

Sidey: full of really clumsy

Adam: Yes. So I think the same thing goes on with gremlins too, where, you know, they just, their product of their time.

Sidey: I think these days they probably just have it being from outer space or something like that, rather than, specific geographical locations that, point to some, maybe some,

Howie: clumsy stereotypes. Yeah.

Sidey: stuff like that. But, is it, you know, films like this they're either Soviet or, or just fiery stuff, wasn't it?

 Adam: I also read that the, the MOG, why are the evolutionary step necessary, and created by the earth stopped harvesting its natural resources. So gremlins, like the ones we see in the movie, wouldn't be able to survive in, let's say a desert where like resources are scarce and mother earth is fine, but where resources they're being wasted and squandered like a movie theater or the mall, the gremlins flourish, actually an evolutionary step in order to stop us.

It's from wasting mother or resource.

Reegs: I liked that I liked that.

Sidey: and the budget for this was 11 mil. It seems kind of low. Maybe. I dunno. Pretty obvious one, this, but do you think it was a winner or a loser at the box office?

Reegs: This was a winner.

Sidey: Yeah, I made 154 mil. So a decent, a decent retail on that 11 million investment on this one. 

Reegs: you think it's weird that no one batted an eye, when Billy's dad bought him an intelligent tool using creature for Christmas, basically, you know, he can read any, can you use tools? He can communicate his Sapient. So it's basically slavery.

Sidey: I just thought it was strange that no one said, what is this? What is this creature? That's. Never been documented in any scientific way ever. and that's never raised at all. It's just accepted that this whole new species uncovered in the shop.

Howie: bypass Darwin's entire research.

Sidey: should we wrap it up? All right then, how are you as it was your first time watching this? Why are you not entertained?

Howie: I was. Don't for me though, was it's not the, it's not a showstopper of eighties films. I'm afraid, but I did enjoy it.

Sidey: Yeah, I know what you mean, Adam. What about you where you're not entertained?

Adam: you know, I can, understand why my parents didn't let me see this as a child. And this is just something else that they were wrong about This movie was just not, not frightening. It was just fine. I, I don't, I thought it was a six out of 10. Maybe it's seven. Didn't really have the nostalgia factor for me than it has for you guys.

Sidey: Yeah, that's true. What about you? You know, it's time.

Reegs: Yeah, there's really no way to clap Safari or categorize this movie. It's dark and crazy and twisted, inventive. And it's kind of too mean-spirited to be a Christmas, a kid's film, but it's not really intense enough to be a, higher rated adults' movie. I really, really liked it works as like a, a fairy tale.

and it's sort of gateway to horror. Yeah. Although it is difficult not to see the Gremlin's as an insidious foreign influence, painting a picture as town of white people. So there's that troubling bit to it, but yeah, no, I loved it. Loved it.

Sidey: for me, I did think it had it dated quite badly. I know you said it's still stood up raised, but I thought there was various parts of it that I thought would age quite badly. I really didn't believe the town had told us the same thing. It just looked like a, You know, a film studio set up to me, but, a lot of the stuff that actually happened in the film I'd forgotten about.

So although I had this nostalgic vibe, it's still story-wise was quite fresh for me just because I'd forgotten most of it. So I really enjoyed it. And plus Phoebe case when

 

Howie: Sidey kids choice.

Sidey: Kid's choice this week. It's a classic. This is the certainly for us Brits. This is something that seems to be on every Christmas time. It's the snowman,

Reegs: Had you ever seen this before? Adam has this permeated, the culture site ghost in, in that side of the Atlantic.

Adam: so I didn't think I had seen it until I heard  and then I realized, Oh, I've seen this shit before. So yeah, it's, it's definitely permeated.

Howie: Yeah, it kind of hits us every Christmas, with a, with a bang.

Sidey: so I did watch this one with my daughter.   and let's just say that it wasn't, a sure-fire hit for her to get that out of the way right away. But. Essentially, this is the kind of ubiquitous  Christmas time story of boy. No man wakes up the next day. And I know it's just in the middle of the night.

It wasn't, it wakes up at midnight and the snowman had come to life. Or was he in some sort of mushroom reduced hallucination? We don't know. It was never fully explained, but. It goes on a kind of noisy and annoying adventure with this fucking snowman.

Reegs: general vibe here.

Adam: Yeah. Yeah. I'm, I'm surprised. I mean, this wasn't that long enough to hate it that much.

Sidey: I think just seen it quite a lot. I just didn't find it that believable. And I didn't really understand. He brought the thing into the house and just

Howie: Yeah.

Adam: Okay.

Sidey: although there was no, there was no. It's so it's, it's a silent, effectively, it's a silent feature. with some music there's no, there's no dialogue in it, but he brings the snowman into the GAF and he just, it seemed to me like they would have been making a fucking shitload of noise.

I would have woke up his parents and I just thought what you're doing, just go outside, fuck it about. And you know, and the Simpsons,

Reegs: I always thought it was weird that they were worried about because they are worried about cause the stone man sneezes when they're inside and he's like, sh don't wait the old days up, but then he goes and writes a fucking motorbike.

Sidey: Yeah. And they just cook it about the house, just dancing around and make it, it would've made a load more noise than one sneeze, but I guess,

Reegs: Yeah. Your bright side. It's shit. I had never really.

Howie: it's it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a weird one. The, the animation, pencil drawings. Is it Raymond bricks? The story, is it? yeah. I remember at the time, so it must've been mid eighties when that first came out. it being quite. Yeah. I remember as a kid watching it and it, it was when you're very young and it's very easy, magical.

It does take a lot of Christmas is definitely around it's happening. Oh my God, father Christmas and all this shit. And you guys, especially living in Jersey at that age, couldn't have seen many white Christmases, whereas, Kind of where I was in the UK. You did see snow and all that sort of significance of it.

But now when you watch it, I think my kids are at an age where they thought it was quite nice to see, and it just was it now it's like it's in the backgrounds and they've kind of lost that innocence, I believe. But yeah. That's not to say that they don't appreciate that style of animation because the one that I think you'd like your kids to watch is, Raymond Briggs, his father Christmas, which is all about what father Christmas gets up to leading up to Christmas where he goes on holiday around the world.

And it's quite funny. And he's real.

Sidey: dirty, old pervert or

Howie: He is, he is, he goes to France. He goes

Sidey: Oh, there you go. Say no more.

Howie: It's proper.

Reegs: To the mosh pit in St. Marlow,

Howie: Yeah, that's the one. And, and he's a real grumpy bastard. You get some stroke, he goes, gambling loses all his money

Reegs: he's got big red nose, father Christmas. So he obviously likes a drink. Doesn't he?

Well that,

Sidey: hound.

Howie: It's pretty sound. Yeah, he's a booze hand in this. but yeah, rakes, you've got the pretty, the youngest kids are they watched the snowman.

Reegs: We have watched it. We watched it last year. They went up for it this year, although they wanted to watch the sequel, the snowman and the snow dog, which is equally as bleak as a, this one. Oh,

Howie: Show him where the wind blows. That's a good one.

Reegs: I mean, yeah, we should probably get to the point. So they have these hi-jinks, they fly over the South downs, towards the coast, they continue through an Arctic landscape into the Aurora Borealis.

They join a party of snowman.

Sidey: Well, that's why we got the famous song. Isn't it? That

Reegs: we get the song which was by

Howie: Jones.

Reegs: now. It was a no Peter or tea it's everybody gets that one wrong. I set you up for that. Howie. Sorry about that.

Howie: all know he did, you know, but he didn't, he's not in the film as a, he just did the recording and the record.

Sidey: no, they did the single, the single came out in 1985 and that was the one that was sung by Allah Jones. And that one is an absolute banger. It fucking goes off. My dad used to say that I look like at a Jones. I think he was just disappointed that I had no talent for

Adam: you said Alex, Alex Jones. That's

Sidey: He was

Adam: okay.

Reegs: Alex Alex Jones.

Adam: is a bit of a different character and I don't want to say you look like him. I've seen the tattoo, but the beard.

Howie: Yeah. Well,

Reegs: Info Wars,

Howie: Yeah. The, so Alec Jones is now a religious TV presenter for the BBC, but I think a couple of years back, he got done for inappropriate behavior, which obviously takes every yeah.

Reegs: well operation new tree stuff.

Howie: Well, it was, I think it was a boisterous behavior towards members of staff at the BBC.

So I dunno how boisterous a

Sidey: I a song in 1995,

Reegs: Yeah, fuck you.

Sidey: in that. What a prick.

Reegs: anyway, th yeah, so on, the, the snowman and James, return home and on Christmas day, the following morning. The boy wakes up to find that the snowman has met, leaving just his accoutrements and then it, it ends with the boy sort of kneeling by this. No man's remains holding his scarf and mourning, mourning his loss.

Raymond breaks, was it ease, cheery fucker. Isn't he? I mean, everything is about death with Raymond Briggs.

Howie: something's wrong. Someone's wronged him in

Reegs: Well, he, he said, I think he was profoundly affected by the death of his parents. he said in an interview, I don't have happy endings. I create what seems natural and inevitable. The snowman melts. My parents died, animals, die, flowers, dies, everything does. There's nothing gloomy about it. It's a fact of life and it is really melancholy.

but it's got that message.

Adam: that guy,

Howie: yeah.

Reegs: think, you know, but the overall message I try and take, from it, which is a kind of Christmassy messages. Appreciate your happy moments while you can, because they don't last forever.

Howie: fuck it. We're really dragging it down. So dial

Adam: That's not a Christmas. Anything.

Howie: Here's your Turkey could be a last one. You

Adam: that's a eulogy. That's something you say at awake,

Howie: that see your bitchery

Adam: like in

Howie: Simon always said, think of tomorrow. Cause it won't happen.

Adam: enjoy life because death is inevitable.

Reegs: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Yeah. But you get that forced cheerfulness that you get in most Christmas things, and this doesn't have that it's kind of, you know,

Sidey: have a cameo cameo from father Christmas.

Adam: it does have cameo from Santa Claus. Yes, it does.

Reegs: I missed

Sidey: yeah. When they go to the snowman orgy, and then it all parts and

Howie: The dogging

Sidey: there in the middle of being off

Adam: there was one female snowman, Mike, two year old. Wanted to point that out. She kept saying mommy snowman. She thought that the snowman was all offs father.

Sidey: Oh,

Howie: Oh yeah. From

Adam: that all that all worked out

Reegs: wait, how did we know that it was a snow women? Did it have boobs or what's

Adam: it had a dress and a,

Howie: a new niche

Adam: hat. And

Reegs: okay. Well, but that's not enough these days, is it? I mean, that could have just been somebody expressing themselves.

Adam: yeah, with, with the way that this writer.

my kids loved it. My, I had my five-year-old tell me what it meant in Mandarin and I, my two year old had to tell me about Zoloft father. So, you know, before I cracked the whip, I make sure that they, get their education on.

Howie: get jazz ASCO. Cause I still at the magic age. That's nice. So they they're, they're not, they're not scarred by our parents. Like me making their kids watch gremlins to early age. Yeah.

Sidey: we were watching something else, which was. Coming to the end of that. And I said, Oh, we got to watch the snowman next because we were doing it on the podcast. so my thought was really enthused. She was like, Oh, can we watch snowmen? I could watch stamina. And after about five minutes, she was like, how long has left? is there, is there much? And it's like, yeah, you still got 20 minutes of this. so she did, I don't know what it was. Cause I thought that, It had all the, the elements, all the ingredients to be a bit of a Christmas hit for her. But it just didn't. I think, like you said, how he, maybe just the style of it, the fact that there was no dialogue for her to latch onto it, didn't really resonate with her.

And I was sort of worried as well, knowing how it ended that I've got it. You know, it's going to end on this real. point of, basically a death, and w it was right for bedtime. And sometimes, you know, you get that sort of thing where they got bad enough that they take away, trying to get him to sleep after seeing that.

And, but she just didn't really like it. And so it didn't, she wasn't fussed really.

Howie: I think it's the dialogue thing. Sorry, what? You've just hit it on the head there. I think children, certain that what they're, what, they're, what they've given, what they're shown now. So story driven, but there's with, with actual explanations, everything's explained, whereas the

Reegs: Yeah, but

Howie: lets your own beliefs.

Reegs: Well, we'll leave. There's like no words in about the first 45 minutes of that movie.

Howie: Yeah.

Reegs: done through animation. It's just amazing.

Sidey: I think maybe the star was a bit old fashioned for her and she's used to stuff being a bit more. media a bit brighter and more vivid. This was, I was going to say before that seed in the Simpsons where Homer says, is this cartoon going out live well, th this, this seemed like it could have got out live.

It was so shoddy, Sabine. I just scribbled a fucking page

Howie: You just imagine someone

Sidey: yeah, let's just that kind of put a Pat on the side and, you know, shake it in really quickly. It was like that the version that you watched did it have David Berry at the start.

Reegs: no, but I have seen it.

Sidey: it did, or the one, and I had no fucking idea and I thought maybe the misses or put something in my food.

And I was like, what the fuck?

Howie: Yeah. Yeah.

Sidey: I stopped? And I thought, Oh, this is this, isn't it. This is the wrong thing. and I skipped forward a few messes. I don't know. It's and then it turns out there's three there's, three intros. There's the original. Obviously it was just go straight into it. Then there's the David Bay one.

And then there's a male Smith, his father Christmas.

Adam: How do you, how do you say his name?

Sidey: Are we talking about?

Adam: It's David Bowie. I thought it was David Bowie. Is this a British thing?

Sidey: It's a Bowie knife. Isn't it? That

Reegs: I think I see David Bowie

Sidey: you don't lie. You have a break

Howie: You don't

Sidey: like him, so you

Reegs: I didn't say I don't like him. I just don't think he's the God that everybody else thinks he is

Adam: Great. And what was the legend? No labyrinth,

Reegs: Yeah. He's good in all the things that everybody knows, but. That's it?

Adam: I thought it, I thought this, this, I thought the Stoneman was great, but I tried it on my kids liked it. I thought it was adorable. What can I say? Ah, shit. Sorry.

Reegs: No, I really liked it as

Sidey: I think I would hit hold in higher esteem if my daughter had latched onto it and really liked it. Cause then we would have had something. The I watched as a kid that I liked Ben and that she likes, you know, like a multi-generational sort of thing. But, it just, it just passed that by really, it was, I was surprised.

I really thought, that this was be something, especially with the whole Christmas thing I'm watching at Christmas time, she would have really latched onto it. But no, it just, it was a

Howie: try. We try with the Raymond Briggs father Christmas one. She might like that. Cause it's actually got a bit of story chat and stuff in it, and it's quite funny. It's a bit grumpy.

  Sidey: it was a channel four thing. So there's no, there's no budget or anything to talk about, really high metrics or the answer to that though. So people do love it. It's, it's a consistent, hair. Every, every Christmas, this is, wheeled out and enjoyed. But for today, rigs, were you not entertained?

Reegs: yeah, I, I really like this. I think there's something really appealing about the lack of perfection in the, animation style. And I liked the tone and I think it's the sort of thing that I'm liking more and more as I get older and older. So, yeah. Beautiful.

Sidey: Adam a United stand.

Adam: yeah, for me, the simpler, the story, the better, the less I have to think about it because my brain has, working less and less as I get older. So if you, if you've really dumbed down the story, I'm going to enjoy it even more. probably probably why I didn't like gremlin so much just too advanced for me.

Reegs: Yeah.

Sidey: are you? What about yourself?

Howie: Oh, go for a sentiments or, yeah. It's all right. It's okay. It, you can't tarnish what was something that was magical when you were very little and obviously, yeah, nowadays. there are, perhaps you, you see the things that we've talked about and, I think there's probably other things that will get you into the Christmas spirit.

Sidey: For me, I, it has served me well down the years, but I'm obviously a little bit past it now. and, for whatever reason, my daughter wasn't taken with it either. So bit of a misfire for us, but there's millions of millions of people who love this and enjoy it. So I am clearly in the minority.

 

Well, that is it for another week, Adam. Thank you so, so much for joining us again. You're a top man and absolute Jen. It's always a pleasure to have you join us for one of our chats.

Adam: Yep. Yep. Any time, somebody doesn't feel like making it feel free to give me a call and, you know, I'll, I'll jump on and be a poor replacement.

Sidey: good, man. Good luck with the rest of the NFL, fantasy football

Adam: Two weeks left. Yeah, it's over good luck. And everybody's going through their championships.

Sidey: well, how come is that activity left?

Adam: So the fantasy season, only goes until week 16.

Sidey: Okay.

Adam: the regular season goes week 17, and then you have, you know, playoffs and Superbowl, but fantasy football doesn't go the full time.

Sidey: I won't have to worry about the Niners in the post-season this year.

Adam: You don't have to worry about the Niners for several years.

Sidey: Hang over, hang over after last year, sad times. we're going to do some nominations for next week, sometime during the week. So we don't know what we're going to be doing next week, but this I think is obviously our Christmas episode. So we can just avoid any more Christmasy nonsense in our, film watching future.

all that remains is to say, Sidey is signing out

Howie: how many goodbye?

Adam: Oh shit.

Sidey: Say goodbye.

Adam: Goodbye.