Gesamtlänge aller Episoden: 18 days 6 hours 46 minutes
It's hard out there for an obscenely rich lady with unchecked power and limitless resources. Sometimes you just need to make an utterly tone-deaf film and call it Music. Sometimes you make your main character autistic. Sometimes you research the role by passively watching I Am Sam while you refresh your Twitter feed, or whatever, and consulting a hate group. Normal stuff. Wouldn't you know it, people got pissed off at Music before it was even released...
When Albert Pyun's Cyborg was ripped away from him by the studio he did what any self-respecting auteur would do: Re-cut the original film and make his own unofficial sequels. Sure, they're all bogged down by small budgets that can't support Albert's big ideas, but c'mon! Pyun gave us a robot cowboy wuxia and an Eastern European riff on Yojimbo...
The occasionally great, always ambitious, frequently derided films of Albert Pyun have been a mainstay of late-night premium cable and dusty video store shelves for decades. But who is the man behind the only good sequel to Kickboxer and the best Captain America movie? Justin Decloux, author of Radioactive Dreams: The Cinema of Albert Pyun, joins us as we explore Pyun's wild filmography and one-of-a-kind cinematic voice. It's time to get Pyun-pilled, baby...
We're officially squashing all rumors that we antagonize our listeners and never listen to feedback by doing a very special request episode. That's right, we're men of the people. And what do the people want? CROCODILE DUNDEE! Join us on a journey of self-discovery as we learn about America's obsession with Australia, Paul Hogan's Oscar nomination, Mick Dundee's weird sexual hang-ups, and how we ended up with Larry David-esque Crocodile Dundee movie in 2020...
We watched the entire Cyborg trilogy and determined that it's better than any franchise without a villain named after a guitar and a Kato Kaelin cameo. You also get a big dollop of brooding Jean-Claude Van Damme AND Jack Palance's mouth. Impossible to go wrong here. You would think watching a film franchise called CYBORG would lead to a few more cyborgs on screen though. Cyborg Week is officially canceled at Optimism Vaccine. These are goddamn androids.
Fantasy isn't just your favorite mid-90s Mariah Carey song. It's the place where D&D nerd storytelling collides head-on with oiled-up beefcakes. For this episode, we're digging into the gorgeous new 4K release of Don Coscarelli's Beastmaster from Vinegar Syndrome. We're also getting way too deep into He-Man lore and proving once and for all that Lucio Fulci can do anything if you give him a bucket of fake blood and a fog machine...
Our odyssey into the bizarre corners of pseudo-pornography comes to a close with one of the best (and one of the worst) films we've watched yet. Is a horned up version of The Muppets Take Manhatten enough to finally break the will of Adam Miros? Will a dozen naked French men in the woods drive Jack's wife to smother him with a pillow in his sleep? Possibly! THIS WEEK: Let My Puppets Come (1976), Liberté (2019), and The Telephone Book (1971)
What could possibly be better than starting off 2021 with a big juicy batch of porn flicks? More importantly, why are the OV wives saying "you can't hang out with Steve anymore"? Join us as we do a very serious investigation of the concept of smut without smut and destroy the fabric of reality by watching the blooper reel from Final Flesh. Stuff your underpants full of pasta, grab a toilet muffin, and get ready for the apocalypse (or divorce papers)...
What's the best way to gain insight into the soul of America? By watching a pair of revered genre classics from Cannon Films, of course. Special guest Colin Tanner joins us as we end the year breaking down cinema's ultimate conservative power fantasies and attempt to pin down the source of Charles Bronson's sexy grandpa energy (Pall Malls and Kessler?). THIS WEEK: Joe (1970) and Death Wish 3 (1985)
We're getting into the holiday spirit with our old yuletide pals: unbathed Mel Gibson and Kirk Cameron the irredeemable sewer chud! Plus, we check out an underappreciated French genre gem that begs the question "What if Home Alone had an R rating?" Crank up the Bonnie Tyler record, baby. Christmas has never been more festive. THIS WEEK: Saving Christmas (2014), Fatman (2020), and Deadly Games: Dial Code Santa Claus (1989)