Fire up that 156k modem, crack open a Crystal Pepsi and get the VCR ready, because we’re about to pick The Most 90s Movie Ever! Enjoy our arbitrary and wholly unscientific attempt to find the movie that singularly defines a decade known mostly for grunge, the internet bubble, and a white Bronco.  Yup, we’ve got tons of electronic & alternative soundtrack music, rollerblading, obsolete “new” tech, reverse-irony, terrible blockbusters, and some overly obvious product placement in a show about an era people only think they remember - the 1990s!  

 | 0:00 - Intros
 | 5:20 - The Great
 | 7:28 - Star Trek Picard
 | 17:40 - The Pentaverate
 | 24:40 - Down With Love
 | 27:11 - Moulin Rouge!
 | 32:00 - The Most 90’s Movie Ever

Episode 223 - The Most 90s Movie Ever

Pump Up the Volume is a view of the 90s encased in amber, when the kids were all angry and had no idea what to do about it. It comes from a long line of movies about kids who don’t get what their place in life is, but… you know, In the 90s. With a brilliant soundtrack, a prescience of what social media would become, Christian Slater as Christian Slater, and of course, Samantha Mathis’ boobs, Pump Up the Volume is a view of disaffected youth in America. Again. But… you know, In the 90s! We give our take on this semi-forgotten film, plus everything we’ve been watching and listening to this week in our Peabody Award winning segment, “The Fresh Shit.” Talk hard.

 | 0:00 - Intros
 | 3:10 - The Righteous Gem Stones (HBO)
 | 10:30 - Plebs
 | 11:58 - Better Call Saul
 | 17:30 - Severance (Apple TV)
 | 19:50 - Bottle Rocket
 | 23:30 - Nightmare Alley
 | 27:05 - Pump Up The Volume (1990)

Episode 224 - Pump Up The Volume

Influential director John Woo made a name for himself in the late-80s with classically iconic Hong Kong gun-fu cinema like The Killer. Then he emigrated to Hollywood in the early 90s and proceeded to make five generically terrible actioners (Broken Arrow, MI-2, etc), and one bona-fide bat$h!t crazy classic (Face-Off). In short. Hollywood had no clue what to do with his distinctive style and his American output is a damn travesty of wasted opportunity. So what happened? Let's discuss!

 | 0:00 - Intros
 | 3:10 - Cruel World Festival (Bauhaus / English Beat / Missing Persons / PiL / DEVO / Psychedelic Furs / Blondie / Violent Femmes / The Damned)
 | 23:35 - Professor Brian Cox - Horizons: A 21st Century Space Odyssey
 | 30:40 - John Woo vs. Hollywood

Episode 225 - John Woo Vs. Hollywood

Hey, it’s another show about another movie about more disaffected youth… only this time it’s Punk!  SLC Punk, to be specific.  This late 90’s indie cult movie chronicles what appears to be the only two punk rockers living in heavily religious Salt Lake City, Utah, circa 1985. While the semi-autobiographical film is light on story, it more than makes up for it with a boisterous aesthetic that DGAF… Which is kind of punk? Forget that it hews too closely to similar, more culturally significant films like Trainspotting and Quadrophenia about angry youth subcultures that feel trapped in existential crisis. But the lead performance by Matthew Lillard is very solid, and the soundtrack is a great Punk Rock 101 introduction. But does it hold up all these years later? 

 | 0:00 - Intros
 | 3:30 - Coca Cola Starlight and other sodas
 | 7:06 - Russian Doll
 | 10:15 - Ozark
 | 17:34 - The Adam Project
 | 18:50 - Bullsh*t
 | 20:25 - The Pentaverate
 | 22:22 - The Kids in the Hall
 | 30:20 - SLC Punk!

Episode 226 - SLC Punk!

You want some good advice? Well, whatever you do don’t take it from your favorite movie! You’re likely to get a broken nose, a broken heart, or worse. The stories we tell ourselves led us to all manner of dumbassery. The MagHuge podcast crew is here to set you straight.

For actual good advice, here’s Dave’s Garage with an explanation of and solution to the Microsoft Office zero-day exploit: https://youtu.be/gmP8AtmVr0o

 | 0:00 - Intros
 | 3:45 - Public Service Announcement (Microsoft Zero Day vulnerability)
 | 5:15 - Grand Theft Auto Online
 | 7:15 - Under The Banner of Heaven
 | 11:20 - Pistol
 | 15:55 - Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore
 | 19:25 - The Northman
 | 22:20 - Obi Wan Kenobi
 | 30:40 - Garbage and Tears for Fears (live)
 | 34:00 - Top Gun Maverick
 | 42:00 - Lies the Movies Told Us

Episode 227 - Lies The Movies Told Us

Set the Wayback Machine to 1982 as we revisit a sword & sorcery cult classic that is about to turn 40 years old and isn't Conan - The Beastmaster!  Because you really can’t go wrong with a movie about Dr. Doolittle in a loincloth talking to animals like nobody’s business and twirling a sword around his head with flair.  The Beastmaster was not a huge hit at the box office, but like many films in the 80s it eventually found an audience… mostly because it aired on cable TV 5 times a week for like 10 years. Happy 40th Anniversary to forgotten classic - The Beastmaster!

 | 0:00 - Intros
 | 3:50 - This Week’s Billboard Top 5 Songs
 | 11:30 - Pistol
 | 16:00 - Shoresy
 | 17:10 - Obi Wan Kenobi
 | 21:15 - Not E3 and The Plucky Squire
 | 23:30 - Come From Away
 | 27:00 - The Beastmaster

Episode 228 - The Beastmaster: 40th Anniversary

The world is utter garbage and everything is horrible. Here’s a show about a movie to take your mind off of the hopeless hellscape that is your life today, if only for a short while. 
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon is another movie from the early 2000s that somehow Brian hadn’t seen yet. We talk about it. Also this week, Elvis and Ben Folds!

 | 0:00 - Intros
 | 3:00 - Elvis (2022)
 | 13:20 - not watching Jurassic World or Lightyear, but somehow Maria Menunos is everywhere
 | 15:30 - The Pentaverate
 | 17:10 - Ben Folds - In Actual Person Live For Real Tour
 | 22:55 - Scoob!
 | 29:50 - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Episode 229 - Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon

If you don’t know who Devo is, you probably do know their song, “Whip It.” Devo’s following is enormous, and they’ve been legendary for years. Still, “Whip It” is what would be on their tomb stone. (If bands were buried.) This show is about those songs, the ones that outshine their creators. This isn’t the same as one-hit-wonders - those are songs that are big, and the people who sang them just go away. They don’t have any following or career to speak of. This show is going to be about figuring out the rules of a “Whip It.”

 | 0:00 - Intros
 | 4:35 - No Time To Die (2021) [SPOILERS]
 | 13:00 - Thor Love and Thunder (2022)
 | 17:20 - Ms. Marvel
 | 18:55 - Stranger Things 4
 | 28:20 - Whip It Bands

Episode 230 - Whip Its - Songs Bigger Than The Bands That Made Them

Back in 1978, mega-star Burt Reynolds and director Hal Needham followed up their enormous success of Smokey and the Bandit with a simple ode to the Hollywood Stuntman called Hooper.  And we dare you not to get pulled in by its frothy, effervescent charm in a virtually plotless romp that follows Reynolds as the titular hero performing ever-crazier gags for the movie-within-a-movie “The Spy Who Laughed at Danger.”  Basically, this is yet another excuse for Reynolds to have some fun with his friends and co-stars (Sally Field, Jan Michael Vincent and Brian Keith) and he is at his breezy best here. Coming it at #6 at the 1978 box office, this one went on to play non-stop on HBO and is a cornerstone of the MagHuge crew’s arrested development!

 | 0:00 - Intros
 | 2:45 - Rejected
 | 5:57 - Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
 | 17:30 - Only Murders In The Building
 | 21:10 - The MaryTyler Moore Show
 | 24:25 - RRR
 | 30:15 - The Lion King (Touring)
 | 38:20 - Hooper (1978)

Episode 231 - Burt Reynolds Is Hooper

In 1977, Mel Brooks was on one helluva roll with classic film parodies like Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein.  But rather than talk about those, instead we’re gonna revisit his riff on Hitchcock called High Anxiety.  While it has some good bits - because Mel Brooks - this is one where the worm started to turn for his particular brand.  And we aren’t entirely sure why.  High Anxiety just hasn’t held up as well compared to his earlier work, and that’s our dumb thesis. Enjoy! 

High anxiety, it's always the same.
Ooh-XIETY, It's you that I blame.
It's very clear to me, I've got to give in. 
High anxiety…You win.

 | 0:00 - Intros
 | 3:04 - The Gray Man (2022)
 | 11:10 - Discovery, Warner Bros., HBO Max
 | 17:35 - Prey (2022)
 | 23:20 - Marcel The Shell With Shoes On (2022)
 | 27:05 - Neon White
 | 29:15 - High Anxiety (1977)

New tracks tagged #underdogpods