Fabulous Film & Friends

Gino Caputi

5.0 (7)
Visual Arts
Updated Weekly

A podcast for the true cineaste. This podcast examines the impact great or memorable films have on us both personally and culturally. If you've ever bonded with someone or joined a lively discussion circle based on your love of cinema, this is the podcast for you.

Sep 7

Season Finale: The INSIDE SCOOP on TO LIVE AND DIE IN LA with Robert Yeoman's AC, VANCE PIPER! (Ep. 127)

Send us Fan Mail This week on Fabulous Film & Friends, have we got a treat for you! We’re talking 1985’s To Live and Die in L.A., directed by the legendary William Friedkin and starring William Petersen, Willem Dafoe, John Pankow, Darlanne Fluegel, Debra Feuer, John Turturro, and Dean Stockwell. And if you look closely, you’ll notice Gary Cole as a credit-card-forging stooge. But he was not listed in the credits of the movie. Speaking of not listed in the credits, joining me today is a guest we haven’t had on the Triple F since 2022, Cinematographer, AC, Handyman, Grandpa and all-around terrific friend and colleague, the one and only Vance Piper. Before we hit the freeway driving the wrong way doing 90, the synopsis: In To Live and Die in LA, Richard Chance, a cocky, take-no-prisoners, rule-flouting Secret Service agent vows to take down Rick Masters, a dangerous counterfeiter, after the artist-turned-forger kills his partner. Chance drags Vukovich, a by-the-book colleague into the hunt that quickly stops looking like law enforcement and starts increasingly appearing like a personal vendetta crossing the line into the criminal. Masters’ trail runs through fake money, small time hoods, big time power players and dirty deals within a gritty and hauntingly unforgettable Los Angeles of the mid 1980’s. What secrets will we uncover about the making of this beguiling film? Find out! Watch the video podcast on Youtube: https://youtu.be/cUam9z6g2fk
Aug 31

Garfield is STILL the BEST SPIDEY: Amazing Spider-Man 1 & 2 Reviewed - Ep. 126

Send us Fan Mail This week on Fabulous Film & Friends we still have a touch of spider mania after reviewing Brand New Day, so we’re swinging full-time into what I consider the best Spider-Man films, we’re talking 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man and the 2014 sequel The Amazing Spider-Man 2, both directed by Marc Webb and starring Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Sally Field, and Denis Leary, with Martin Sheen and Rhys Ifans rounding out the cast in the first movie with the addition of Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, and Paul Giamatti in the second. Before I begin, I have a bit of a super villain-ish monlogue to rant at y’all. As a lifelong Spidey fan, I hated the Raimi /Maguire films, while the rest of the world flocked to them and gushed, so I felt alone in preferring the second film. When I first saw ASM 2 in 2014 I argued it was the best representation of the character to date, then I bought the blue ray disc and noticed every awkward story beat and flaw on the rewatch, and quietly forgot about it… until I put it on again recently and was inspired all over again because of Garfield, Stone and Field’s human and believable takes, as well as with that red-hot swinging web action. Turns out there’s a vocal chunk of fans online feel the same way, so let’s dig into both movies and figure out why this version still has such a fierce little cult. My guest today is the always dependable Professor Joe Fields, a reminder, Joe’s not only a college teacher, author and deep thinker, he’s the nephew of the owner of one of the flagship comic book shops in the San Francisco Bay area and country at large. So he knows his comic book crap. Before we take a three-story leap up towards the heights of Spidey-dom, the synopes: In the The Amazing Spider-Man, loner, skateboarding smart kid and high-schooler Peter Parker investigates the mysterious disappearance of his parents and ends up bitten by a genetically altered spider at Oscorp, gaining superhuman abilities. As he learns to control his new powers he becomes Spider-Man, then must stop his father’s former partner, a one-armed scientist Dr. Curtis Connors, aka The Lizard, from unleashing a serum that threatens to turn the entire Big Apple into a city of lizards. Along the way Pete falls for classmate Gwen Stacy, the daughter of Police Captain George Stacey, while grappling with the cost of responsibility. Two years later, in the Amazing Spider-Man 2 Peter has just graduated high school and is operating full-time as Spider-Man, who has now become as big a NY institution as the Naked Cowboy, balancing daily street-level heroics with his on-again, off-again relationship with Gwen Stacy. Oscorp’s secrets continue to surface as a series of accidents creates new threats: Electro, a former employee who gains electrical powers; Harry Osborn, Peter’s childhood friend whose search for a cure turns him into the Green Goblin; as well as the armored Rhino. As Peter confronts these villains a larger conspiracy surrounding his parents and Oscorp grows increasingly clear. Are these the best Spider-Man adventures to be put on the silver screen? Find out! Watch the video podcast on Youtube: https://youtu.be/aqr8Nmpmiqs
Aug 14

EPIC Mixed Bags: The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day Ep. #125

Send us Fan Mail Mid-2026: it was a Tom Holland and Zendaya summer and now we’re left in its wake, pondering two of the year’s most anticipated cinematic spectacles starring those marvelous newlyweds and their intensely motor-mouthed friend Jon Bernthal where each film was tasked with living up to enormous hopes and sky-high expectations and we’re wondering if those impossible expectations were met. We’re talking about Christopher Nolan’s IMAX epic, The Odyssey starring Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Zendaya, Jon Bernthal, John Leguizamo, Samantha Morton, and Charlize Theron. And Sony Marvel’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which came out two weeks after The Odyssey, directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and starring Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Jon Bernthal, Sadie Sink and Mark Ruffalo. My guests today are series regulars Roseanne Caputi, Dr. David Johnson DMD, and after nearly a year-long hiatus from the Triple F, Professor Joe Field, Before we remove our critical inhibitors, the synopses: In The Odyssey, Troy has fallen, and a battle-weary king Odysseus sets sail for home — only to be thrown into a decade-long nightmare of cyclops, sirens, giants, gods, and spells, every sojourn testing how far a man will go to see his family again. Back in Ithaca, Odysseus’ wife Penelope and his son Telemachus fight a losing battle against the suitors who have overrun their palace, as the two desperately cling to the idea that Odysseus will one day finally return. In Spider-Man: Brand New Day, it’s been four years after the world forgot Peter Parker ever existed, and he swings through New York as Spider-Man full-time with no one left who knows his identity. Stressed induced loneliness cause his Spider-Powers to accelerate and he seeks the help of both Bruce Banner aka The Hulk and Frank Castle aka the Punisher to keep his powers under control and to keep the city safe as a terrifying new force arrives — a threat so powerful and so personal it may be the greatest foe Spider-Man has ever faced. Do these films speak to each other on a deeper level — or are they simply two big summer movies that happened to star the same people? Find out! Watch the vido podcast on Youtube: https://youtu.be/9s-kY8IIGnQ
Jul 12

BANNED! 80's Teen Comedies Podcast from 2021!

Send us Fan Mail Hello, my good and, fabulous friends who love film, In our recent Obsession/Backrooms episode, my guests and I mentioned an unpublished 2021 podcast where we skewered the 80’s teen comedies, Porky’s, Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Risky Business. Lo’ these five years later, I thought it would be prudent and pertinent to finally publish the episode. Back in 2021 when my sister and Dr. Johnson recorded the podcast, I had this notion that I should be more egalitarian and show all sides of a movie debate. And as mentioned in the Obsession Backroooms podcast, I had a nagging feeling I was letting my generation down or betraying it by beating up on three beloved classics. And I didn’t want to come across as overly negative. But in the five years since this podcast was recorded and scrapped. I've realized that that horse has long left the barn. So here it is: the third podcast we ever recorded. Please excuse the terrible sound. And brace yourselves. See to the video podcast on Youtube
Jul 10

Obsession & Backrooms: A Gen X Perspective - Ep. #123

Send us Fan Mail Is Gen Z CRAZY? Join the discush on the FFF FB page https://www.facebook.com/groups/fabulousfilmandfriends On this episode of Fabulous Film & Friends, we’re going to do our darndest to find out, dissecting and disseminating two massive low-budget 2026 horror hits from Social Media influencers turned A-list directors starting with internet sensation Curry Barker’s 2026 Obsession starring Michael Johnston, Inde Navarrette, Cooper Tomlinson, Megan Lawless and Andy Richter and following up with younger and leaner internet sensation Kane Parsons’ 2026 smash Backrooms starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, Finn Bennett Lukita Maxwell and Mark Duplass. My guests today are my lil’ sis and enthusiastic part-time man-hater, Roseanne Caputi and everyone’s favorite guy-guy, jiujitsu expert. quick draw and friendly neighborhood dentist, Dr. David Johnson, DMD. Before we get to screaming and shouting and throwing our popcorn buckets at the screen, the synopses: Obsession follows a progression of terrifying events when, young, awkward and emotionally guarded Bear buys a mysterious One Wish Willow trinket and wishes his longtime crush and coworker Nikki will love him more than anyone else. The wish is granted, leading to escalating trials that affect Bear, Nikki, and their entire generation. Be Careful What You Wish For!” In Backrooms, Clark, a frustrated divorcee and furniture store owner, who has long ago given up his dreams of being an architect and designers discovers a strange doorway in his failing store’s basement leading into the Backrooms a series of yellow rooms stacked with random furniture that scream corporate retailers worst nightmare. Clark’s therapist Mary enters the dimension to find him and becomes sucked into a world and psyche she could never imagine. Are these smash indie films finally bucking tired Hollywood tropes or are they simply the latest in bandwagon jumping, finger pointing cash grabs, beating up on pitiful, stressed out men while heaping undue praise on cruel heartless women? Or are these films actually saying something deeper?” Find out! Watch the video podcast on Youtube: https://youtu.be/njgKjmS97Wg
Jul 2

Genius or CHARLATAN? Weird Al's UHF & Weird: The Al Yankovic Story - Ep. #122

Send us Fan Mail Is Weird Al Yankovic a sublime genius or just a pushy dork? '' Join the conversation on facebook.com/groups/fabulousfilmandfriends On our 122nd episode of the Triple FFF, you magnificent maniacs and fiendish friends of folly, we’re cranking up the crazy as we pay tribute to the madcap, manic, musical mayhem of one accordion-attacking, parody-packing, pop-culture-slapping sultan of silly: Weird Al Yankovic! We’re diving headfirst into Weird Al’s two triumphant tales of tuneful tumultuousness: 1989’s UHF, directed by Jay Levey and starring Weird Al himself along with David Bowe, Michael Richards, Anthony Geary, Victoria Jackson, Fran Drescher, THE Billy Barty, and Kevin McCarthy! Then 2022’s Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, directed by Eric Appel and starring Daniel Radcliffe, Evan Rachel Wood, Rainn Wilson, Julianne Nicholson, Toby Huss, Spencer Treat Clark, Arturo Castro, Jack Black, and a cavalcade of blink-and-you’ll-miss-’em cameos! Returning to their command posts after an extended shore leave are my indispensable id and superego — little sis and Big League Slugger Roseanne Caputi and that master of vicious visual vocal vocabulary and virtuoso ventriloquism … Gordon Alex Robertson! Before we light the torches, grab the machetes, and go toolin’ through the tombs of tomfoolery the synopses: UHF tells the story of George Newman, a hapless dreamer who can’t keep a job, until he inherits a rundown used cable TV station. When his wildly weird ideas for the local access channel start catching fire with the audience, rival station owner R.J. Fletcher will stop at nothing to shut them down and destroy George’s dreams forever. Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is a musical biopic loosely based on the life of song parodist Al Yankovic —chronicle of his rise, his fall, and his fantastically funny love affairs of a serious talent. So, you wonderful weirdos… are these two wildly wacky wonders actually works of warped genius? Find out! Watch the video podcast on Youtube: https://youtu.be/SO32NL9Wg9M
Jun 16

2026 BLOCKBUSTER BLAHS: The Mandalorian & Grogu and Masters of the Universe I Ep. # 121

Send us Fan Mail Gen X? Is it time to hang it up in Hollywood? Follow FF&F on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/fabulousfilmandfriends Welcome to our 121st episode of the Triple FFF and our early summer confab about two big Hollywood tentpole entries that crashed and burned miserably at the box office in the wake of Gen Z’s love affair with indie influencer horror to the point where Gen X has to face the facts and realize our day of IP dominance is over, we’re talking about 2026’s Star Wars: The Mandalorian & Grogu directed by Jon Favreau and starring Pedro Pascal, Martin Scorcese, Jeremy Allen White and Sigourney Weaver along with Masters of The Universe, directed by Travis Knight and starring Nicholas Galitzine, Camila Mendez, Idris Elba, Alison Brie, Morena Baccarin, James Purefoy, Charlotte Riley and Jared Leto. Back again for more is Mr. 80’s Showbiz Trivia himself, Dr. David Johnson, DMD. Before we let these critical fists fly in a flurry of thunder punches, the synopses: In The Mandalorian and Grogu, ace bounty hunter Din Djarin and his adorable little green pal Grogu team up with the New Republic for a dangerous mission: deliver Rotta the Hutt, the kidnapped son of Jabba the Hutt, back to his ruthless gangster relatives known only as the Twins. In exchange, the Republic will get critical intel on the whereabouts of several high-ranking Imperial loyalists, still on the run. In Masters of the Universe, the evil Skeletor seizes control of the planet Eternia and enslaves Prince Adam’s royal parents, forcing the young noble into exile on Earth. Stuck living as a regular human in a soul-crushing and emasculating human resources job for a nameless corporation, Adam quietly yearns for the adventure and heroics he was born for. When Eternian warrior princess Teela shows up on Earth chased by Skeletor’s mindless henchman Beast Man, Adam finally gets his chance — he returns home with Teela to confront Skeletor and the forces of darkness and to claim his destiny as the most powerful being in the universe… He-Man. Are these two phenomenal failures actually fabulous? Find out! Watch the video podcast on Youtube: https://youtu.be/7DcNzDMNfko
Jun 12

LONELY LIL' SPACEMEN: The Martian & Project Hail Mary - Ep. #120

Send us Fan Mail Boy, it sucks to be stranded in space! On this 120th episode of the Triple FFF we’re going to chip away at the rock solid box office pairing of Author Andy Weir and screenwriter Drew Goddard as we discuss their two sci fi smash hits, 2015’s The Martian directed by Ridley Scott and starring Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Kristen Wiig, Michael Peña, Sean Bean, Kate Mara, Sebastian Stan, MacKenzie Davis, Donald Glover, and Jeff Daniels along with 2026’s Project Hail Mary directed by Phil Lord & Christopher Miller starring Ryan Gosling, Sandra Hüller and James Ortiz as the lovable and wacky alien Rocky. Returning to the show to discuss these crowd-pleasing and visually spectacular space epics is none other than Dr. David Johnson, DMD, whom I’ve called upon as a secret weapon in the last three films we’ve discussed because they were squarely in his wheelhouse: dancing and strutting his stuff with Michael, putting on a tough fit with Prada 1 & 2 and now his biggest passion and strength, HARD SCIENCE. Before we drift into deep space, the synopses: In the Martian, astronaut Mark Watney is impaled and presumed dead during a wicked Martian storm which causes his crew of astronaut/explorers to launch an emergency evacuation. Alive, wounded and alone on Mars Watney must use science, engineering, and endurance to survive long enough for Earth to mount an impossible rescue mission. In Project Hail Mary, Ryland Grace, a lone astronaut suffering from memory loss, awakens aboard a spacecraft on a desperate deep-space mission and gradually discovers he is humanity’s last hope against a cosmic extinction event. Along the way, he encounters an alien astronaut from another species sent on a similar mission to protect its own civilization. Can the two work together to save their respective planets? Are these films fabulous or fails? Find out! Watch the podcast on Youtube: https://youtu.be/KqQbMzJx6wY

5

out of 5

7 Ratings

A podcast for the true cineaste. This podcast examines the impact great or memorable films have on us both personally and culturally. If you've ever bonded with someone or joined a lively discussion circle based on your love of cinema, this is the podcast for you.

Creator

Gino Caputi
Years Active

2021 - 2026
Episodes

127
Rating

Explicit
Copyright

© 2026 Fabulous Film & Friends
Show Website

Fabulous Film & Friends