It's possibly our most-favorite (and most-referenced) movie, and we're going to try our butts off to convince ourselves and y'all that it's maybe a chick flick. We're talking about Heathers.
Joining us for this intellectual croquet match is Phil Gonzales of Deep in Bear Country: A Berenstain Bearcast, It's Del Toro Time!, and Klickitcast: A Beverly Cleary Podcast. Phil uses his podcasting expertise -- and general ability to f*** with the eagles -- to help us pull this high school black comedy apart, and to keep us on track by reminding us that we gotta motor if we're gonna be ready to publish this episode in 2018.
Happy Heathersdays, FiLM Buffs.
Happy Holidays to all, and to all a -- hey wow, we published an episode; I can scarcely believe it!
We've wanted to talk about The Family Stone for as long as we've had this platform, so when Elle Riccardi -- of Handbook Podcast; Flying Machine's own Short, Colorful and Loud; and our episode on The Wedding Planner -- asked if we'd ever considered covering The Family Stone, we shouted, "OMG, yes!!" so loud that we knocked her off her feet from 1000 or so miles away.
And similarly, on a dozenth-ish viewing, The Family Stone knocked us off our feet, and we step all over ourselves trying to explain our love for this not-completely-unproblematic holiday movie.
Merry Christmas and stuff, from our smug family to yours.
If you woke up today thinking, I would like to hear Helen, Valerie, and Amy talk even more about John Hughes' Some Kind of Wonderful, than wow, are you lucky!
But hey, let's all take a minute to remember how lucky we are if we woke up today at all. I love you!
"I think it's hip that you paint. I think it's hip that I drum. And it's perfect that we're friends." - Watts
Listeners, we think it's hip that you listen. We think it's hip that we FINALLY released this episode. And it's perfect that we all LOVE Some Kind of Wonderful.
After years of friendship, we finally courted Amy Pascal. We didn't paint her portrait, or take her to the Hollywood Bowl, or spend our college savings on her, but we did ask her to reschedule with us at least a half dozen times so you know her love is true. Amy Pascal is our kind of WONDERFUL and we learn more about this film talking to her than we've learned in any of our gazillionty viewings.
Find more from Amy Pascal at http://theamypascale.com and on Twitter & Facebook.
Just in time for the end of Daylight Saving Time, we bring you our last spoopy Halloween chick flick offering -- Hocus Pocus, a.k.a. Vanessa Hudgens's Rocky Horror Picture Show.
FiLM threepeat all-stars Bette Midler and Sarah Jessica Parker put a spell on you in 1993, and we attempt to do the same for 90 minutes, here in 2018. So come, listener, let us take you away, into a land of enchantment or whatever. Happy 25th birthday, Hocus Pocus, and happy Halloween, listeners!
We're Mad-Ern-Hel, and we're not going to take [not having covered Death Becomes Her] anymore!
Yes, the queens of youth and beauty you know and tolerate are finally tackling the queens of youth and beauty you know and love, and we (re)watched 1992's Death Becomes Her, in which Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn seriously put at least one of the Fs in "BFF."
A couple of corrections:
- Zelda from Pet Sematary has spinal meningitis, not scoliosis.
- We talk briefly about "Kevin Williams" style dialog. We are actually referring to Kevin Williamson, creator of Dawson's Creek and writer of Scream.
We don't have a guest this time, but we give massive shout-outs to our sweethearts Ryan and Ariel, who got married last week. If you click all of these links, you'll find all of Ryan's many shows:
http://flyingmachine.network/divisiveissues
http://flyingmachine.network/oops_politics
http://frondsradio.com/
http://wgirny.libsyn.com/
We've assembled the team, we've got the know-how, we've rented the disc from Redbox, and we're ready to blow this thing wide open.
Fearless leader of the Flying Machine network and Ocean's [Numeral] fanboy Malcolm Nygard is back to talk with us about the 2018 female-fronted heist movie and whether (Danny Ocean's) sisters are really doin' it for themselves. And by "doin'," I mean stealing, and by "it," I mean tens of millions of dollars' worth of jewels.
You can hear more from Malcolm on the Flying Machine Content Channel.
What do Batman, E from Entourage, Rachel Green, Black Widow, the Hangover guy, Officer Hopps, the Mac, and Academy Award-winning actor Jennifer Connelly have in common?
They are all in this movie that we're just not that into, spoilers! 😉
The long-anticipated cross-over episode is here! Okay, it's not technically a cross-over, maybe it's just an episode we've been dying* to do with a guest we've been dying to have.
Lawrence Kasdan's 1999 Mumford offers no exception to deception and this entire character-driven comedy/drama/maybe chick-flick(?) hinges on one man's lie. Here to help us interrogate this movie is the mayor of Liar City and my** best friend, Brian Flanagan.
Prepare for more conflict in the episode than the movie. Sisters Helen and Valerie, wait for it, have strong and different opinions about this film!?!?! WHAT!?!?!
Helen describes Dr. Mumford as a "lovable fraud" and Valerie applauds him for demonstrating that generally, the nicest thing you can do for someone is listen to them.
☝🏻That's a suggestion folks, you should listen to us 😉
*No podcasters actually died during or for this episode
** Who's that girl? It's Jess Valerie!
Are you looking for 💌 Binder Boys with Helen LaStar on Best Acquaintances?
Watch 👀 our Dirty Dancing progress bar ▁▂▃▅
Two years ago we talked about Dirty Dancing.
One year ago a dear listener emailed us to request we cover Dirty Dancing's 2004 sequel.
And just one week ago we finally watched Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights and got together to talk about it.
This is that talk. You'll be happy to know --- it's less than four hours.
Beloved friend/superfan/Jane Austen correspondent Tracy Tanoff joins us for the not-so-heavily contested debate of whether Havana Nights should get the illustrious Houseman Trophy 🏆 -- and if we should rename it the "Miller Trophy," after our Havana heroine Katey Miller (spoiler-hint: yeah nah).
We truly missed you and to prove it, we are serenading you with these handpicked* 21 ABBA songs. Podcast legend and Ghost of Girlfriends Past survivor, Nick Wood, joins us to dish and dance and jive. Seriously guys, we were having the time of our lives. Dig in, you dancing queen!
*by Catherine Johnson
🎧 Hear more from Nick at Stranger Still podcast & Limited Cell: A Generational Hanna-Barbera review show
To close out Pride month, we are appropriately proud to bring you something a little bit different. Not so much chick, not so much flick -- we wanted to spotlight a new queer web series currently streaming on Amazon, After Forever.
Joining us for the entire discussion is costar of the series Mitchell Anderson, known also as the founder of Atlanta's great MetroFresh restaurant, Ross Werkman on Party of Five, and one of the sexiest TV doctors of the last 20 years (People, 2005), among other things.
We were delighted and honored to have Mitchell on to talk about this great short series, his experience as an out actor in the television industry, and yes, his favorite chick flicks. Easily one of the sexiest podcast guests of the last 20 years (Falling in Love Montage, 2018).
Watch or learn more about After Forever: http://afterforevertheseries.com.
Buy Mitchell's book, Food & Thought: http://metrofreshatl.com/midtown/store/
It's listener's choice this time as we delve into the bi-curious indie rom-com Kissing Jessica Stein.
Super-fan/friend Lauren DeBlasi (of upcoming podcasts TBD and also TBD!) joins us as we joyfully unpack Jessica Stein's considerable baggage. We think she's a very nice girl.
We go for an almost very traditional rom-com for the second week of Pride month, 2005's Imagine Me & You. And who's better to discuss this movie with us than the very people who first suggested it, one year ago? We've got our second fiance(e) guest pairing, gay best friends of the show, Allyson and Mariela!
We had a gay old time, and we hope you do too. You know, we want you to be happy. More than anything else, we want to be the cause of happiness in you.
Thank you for your patience with our release delays this month, and our apologies for the audio issues in this episode.
And if you're in Aurora, IL on June 17th, join Allyson and Mariela for Aurora's first ever pride!
2! 4! 6! 8! No more Matt McConaughate!
8! 6! 4! 2! Love for LGBTQ(+)!
Happy Pride, FiLM buffs!
Queer stories have been neglected in our chosen genre and on our podcast for way too long; it's time to parade them out and put them in the spotlight they deserve. And this is just the beginning.
For the first of our four Pride month entries, we're talking about cult favorite But I'm a Cheerleader with our old friends Kat (whom you might remember from our Fifty Shades of Grey episode) and Whitney (whom you will likely eventually remember from our upcoming-on-date-TBD The Notebook episode). We talk about some pretty gay shit.
Welcome to our NOT AN EPISODE episode of I Feel Pretty!
We had the great privilege of being invited to discuss this film with the cast of The Feminine Mistake Podcast.
On the Feminine Mistake Podcast with Nicole, Sarah, and Hillary, we were able to be a part of a much richer and deeper discussion.
Every week, The Feminine Mistake Podcast and a guest take a critical look at how woman have been portrayed in film and television. Nicole, Sarah, and Hillary lead us through a discussion of the film, introduce some hot facts, and measure how the film holds up to the scrutiny of the Bechdel test and other litmuses for on-screen representation. One of my favorite segments is Nervous Breakdowns where guests and hosts read bad, misogynist casting breakdowns.
Find The Feminine Mistake Podcast on Facebook, Twitter, iTunes, and their production channel Critical Crop Top
Here are direct links to the episodes, in case you feel pretty and lazy 😉
Ep. 310 Dish Hands
Ep. 311 Never a Salad
As you know, all month long in June, Falling in Love Montage will be releasing weekly episodes for Pride Month with our first episode out later this week. Thank you for your patience as we move slightly behind schedule. We truly can't wait to share this next episode and hope you look forward to it too.
Well, folks, we did it.
You did it!
It's done.
We collectively watched Matthew McConaughey's least enjoyable movies (highly subjective statement, depending) and we survived. We just kept living — exactly as McConaughey dictated.
We planned a wedding, we moved out of Mom and Dad's house, we visited the past and glimpsed the future, and now we are on one last treasure hunt — searching for GOLD!
Yes, you guessed it, Fool's Gold!
Joining us on this bestests of quests is the bestests of guests and co-host of Stranger Still podcast, Jon Biegen. Jon will pirate your heart like he has ours and you'll probably want to drop anchor at his harbor here and here.
And, if you're observing, Happy McMorial Day! 💪
Congratulations! If you listen to this episode, or even glance at it, you are three quarters through McConauMay. This would normally be a sad event but, having just watched Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, we're feeling a little raw (maybe even hostile) right now.
The only thing that can rectify this mood is the company of our spectacular guest, Nick Wood.
Nick is a newcomer to our production and podcast network Flying Machine but an oldcomer to his hilarious and inquisitive podcast, Stranger Still, which he hosts with fellow spectacular human, Jon Biegen. You can also catch Nick yucking it up with his Dad on Limited Cell- A Generational Hanna-Barbera cartoon review show.
Please enjoy this episode as Helen, Valerie, and Nick single-handedly ruin his incredible wife's Mother's Day. There's some humor in here and hopefully a bit of a catharsis too.
Just Keep Living!
It's McConaunaMay part II, or as we're calling it (for some reason*) McConaunaMother's Day.
In order to get enough wind in our sails to dissect 2006's Failure to Launch, we had to beg Ryan Healey, of Tales from the Static podcast to watch this film with us.
OR — was it the other way around?
You'll never know (unless you listen to this episode) which is, btw, just as charming as our guest (i.e., hella charming).
*Because it's Mother's Day and we love Kathy Bates, that's why.
Welcome to Matthew McConauMAY!
Every Monday in May, Falling in Love Montage is covering an early 21st-century Romantic Comedy starring Matthew McConaughey.
This week we break the cardinal rule of Wedding Planning and fall in love with our guest, Elle Riccardi. She knows a thing or two about weddings and even more about jigsaw puzzles.
Join us as we try to piece together this puzzle of a movie.
✨Also, if you stick around for the very beginning (and why wouldn't you?) you'll hear some really big news! ✨
And if you stick around until the end (thank you) you'll learn that Helen and Valerie are month-long guests on one of their favorite podcasts, The Feminine Mistake Podcast, hosted by Hillary, Sarah, and Nicole.
Find them (and follow them) on iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud or start listening to this awesome discussion of I Feel Pretty by clicking right here!
We're back from our "Spring Break" and we have a question to ask you. You ready? Okay, what's better than two sisters on a podcast talking about a super awesome movie?
Oh, so I heard one of you say a million dollars and now that I'm getting into this I'm realizing there is probably more than one answer.
Okay, so yes, that is correct. BUT the answer I was looking for is THREE SISTERS talking about a really awesome movie!
Helen and Valerie's sister, Tara, join them to talk about 1990's Mermaids 🧜♀️.
Please welcome us in joining Tara and wishing Helen a very happy (belated) Birthday!
*update*
We have replaced this episode with a "louder" version. Please redownload if you were having difficulties hearing the last one.
Thank you!
Batter up!
Hear that call!
The time has come
for Helen and Valerie
to discuss the Penny Marshall classic A League of Their Own.
Friend to the podcast Jan poked us until we put her choices to a vote, and our beloved listeners voted overwhelmingly to hear about everyone's favorite chick sports flick. Expect some more fan picks and Jan picks in the future.
We bumble our way through the plot, objectify David Strathairn, talk to a Matt, and make too many puns. So it's just like every other episode, really. And to think we were intimidated by the material.
P.S. Art Garfunkel
We're back in black and we're back in black comedy. Joining us all the way from six hours in the future (c/o Germany) is Juha Heikkilä, esteemed guest, friend, and winner of a recent(ish) Facebook group caption contest.
Juha can be found guesting on podcasts and occasionally tweeting. If you're dedicated, you can find his super secret archive of film blogs. We're still looking.👀
Our hero Juha resurrected us after the recent event that was Unleashed and gave us hope and light when he chose this exquisite, exceptional, and peerless film.
Thank you, Juha! 🙌
We didn't know what to call this clip episode.
It's winter, technically, but remember we are in Georgia, USA and while it was 35° today, it was 90° last week.
Also, the movies we clipped are from last spring so...
...while we're busy figuring it out, please enjoy these outtakes from—like I just said—last spring.
***edit***
Around 26:21 I incorrectly reference a letter as unsent. Ladies and gents, the letter in question was in fact sent via email.
Thank you, that is all.
If you're looking for Jet Li, you won't find him here. For some reason or another, we talk about Finn Taylor's 2016 comedy fantasy, Unleashed. It's your basic wish fulfillment flick with a generous layer of problematic events. But hey, Kate Micucci, right?
It's currently streaming on Netflix but be very careful with what you do with that information.
We also spend some extra time talking with a Matt, and this time—we have very similar feelings about the movie.