045 Goldfinger

Auric Goldfinger (not to be confused with half-brother Agric Silverfinger or his developmentally challenged cousin Plumbic Leadfinger) conspires to ruin the financial world by once and for all taking the U.S. off the gold standard. Despite the ambiguous motivations of its characters, Goldfinger codifies the formula for all future Bond films. Sean Connery has long been regarded as the "best Bond", with this being the "best Bond film," although it must be said that Matt believes the one-off Lazenby film On Her Majesty's Secret Service is perhaps a little overlooked... just sayin'.

Download: 045 Goldfinger

044 Pee Wee's Big Adventure

Ha ha! ... he he he he I know you are, but what am I? A more tangential podcast than usual, Matt and Mark push the limit this week to review Tim Burton's directorial debut, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure starring Pee-Wee Herman (Paul Reubens) as himself... sort of. Besides the prepubescent smart aleck quirks of its main character, there's not much meat on the bones of this silly Saturday morning styled film. Like most skit comedy spin-offs, Pee-Wee is an extrapolated stage bit that has its moments, but few too many unfortunately.

Download: 044 Pee Wee's Big Adventure

043 Evil Dead 2

You're going down. This week we review the horror-comedy classic Evil Dead 2 by Sam Raimi, starring B-movie titan Bruce Campbell. Having seen the first Evil Dead, Mark fills Matt in on the complex back story of the original, without which, the viewer would be much like the protagonist Ash, merely a babe in the wickedly malevolent woods. Like an 80 minute live action Robot-Chicken episode, Evil Dead 2 is a late night stoner's paradise of gore, slapstick, and absurdity, a cult classic if there ever was one.

Download: 043 Evil Dead 2

042 Jacob's Ladder by Adrian Lyne

Take a ride down the ladder! A drug induced hallucination of a dying mind or a transcendent spiritual epiphany? Matt and Mark have slightly different takes on whether or not it matters in Adrian Lyne's disturbing Jacob's Ladder, released in 1990. Tim Robbins as Jacob Singer gives an evocative and melancholy performance in this unique psychological film about the dying process; like death itself, it is not easy to watch. Worthy of note is Lyne's use of "thalidomide" inspired visuals and body-horror to create the film's demonic imagery.

Download: 042 Jacob's Ladder

041 Clerks by Kevin Smith

Welcome to Dante's Inferno (actually more like Dante's Purgatory), a state of early twenties Gen-X career/life dislocation summed up by Kevin Smith's lead character in his directorial debut Clerks, released in 1994. Matt pines for a Kevin Smith filmography that was never destined to be, while Mark embraces the Kev Smith career of the here and now. Clerks exemplifies Smith's talent for conversation, and as a result, has pioneered the podcast format of which Matt and Mark are merely standing on the hockey jersey'd shoulders of giants.

Download: 041 Clerks