The Magnificently Huge Podcast Magnificently Huge Podcast

Episode 286 - Children of Men

Children of Men (2006) is one of the finest dystopian future movies ever committed to film… that no one seems to remember. Which is weird, because it has one of Clive Owen’s best hangdog performances, and a supporting cast (Julianne Moore, Michael Caine & Chiwetel Ejiofor) that most movies would kill for. Plus, Alfonso Cuarón directed some of the most amazing “single-shot” action sequences of all time in what should have been a sure-fire classic of speculative fiction. Instead, this very prescient story about the world falling apart at the seams came and went with a shrug from most. Which is a damn shame, because this movie packs a real wallop. Do yourself a favor and watch it, then listen to this very special podcast!

8:20 - Lies of P
15:55 - Quiz Lady (2023)
21:10 - For All Mankind (Apple+)
26:10 - A Haunting in Venice (2023)
28:40 - Hogan’s Heroes
33:40 - Children of Men (2006)

Say you’re so rich and popular that you can just make a movie with all your most famous friends and make yourself look cool. Turns out that Frank Sinatra did it in 1960, and so did George Clooney in 2001. It turns out that both times the movie was named “Ocean’s Eleven!” It must be nice. For our part, we spoil more MCU stuff and hang out with a big fun hang-out movie. Hang out with us!

5:40 - Starfield (Xbox)
11:55 - Loki (Disney+)
17:30 - The Marvels (2023)
28:30 - Steven Seagal movies (Above the Law, Marked for Death, Out for Justice)
38 :55 - Ocean’s 11 (2001)

Spider Baby - the 1967 “cult classic” that you’ve probably never heard of. As always, we watch it for you, so you don’t have to!

4:15 - Invasion (Apple TV+)
7:45 - One Cut of the Dead
15:25 - Band of Brothers
20:05 - How To with John Wilson / Nathan For You
23:35 - No Hard Feelings (2023)
28:45 - Spider Baby (1967)

You can watch Spider Baby on the internet archive here: https://archive.org/details/sinistercinema_spiderbaby

Among the notable horror icons of the 80s that spawned endless sequels of varying quality, few are as weird as the phenomenon of Chucky - the child’s doll possessed by the spirit of a psychopathic serial killer who dabbles in voodoo. First arriving in 1988, Child’s Play was a modest success that was buoyed by an interesting concept and some first-rate practical effects work that helped propel it into the Horror Hall of Fame. But is it still any good? We haven’t seen the sequels, but decided to catch up with the original to see if it still holds up. Please enjoy our look back at Child’s Play. Chuck You!

7:30 - Local Portland bands: NSynced, Faux B-52s
13:20 - Violent Femmes (live)
16:30 - Totally Killer (Amazon)
21:00 - Our Flag Means Death (Season 2, Max)
22:50 - Moonlighting (now on Hulu)
(28:44 title sequence gets discussed)
32:30 - Child’s Play (1988)

While Scream and Wes Craven’s New Nightmare brought meta to the horror genre earlier, 2011’s The Cabin In The Woods brings a fresh new perspective to the well worn dead teenager film. If we want to get really meta about it, we can talk about how the scariest and most disturbing things about it are related to Joss Whedon, but really that’s just lazy comedy. Anyway, it’s October, so crank up the scary movies!

6:15 - P!nk (live)
11:45 - Tina the musical (touring)
15:30 - high school Aliens musical
16:40 - NHL is back (Stompin’ Tom)
17:15 - Only Murders in the Building (Hulu, Season 3)
21:00 - Sub Pop (Green River, Butthole Surfers, Sleater-Kinney)
23:40 - Some More News (youtube) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZ28knLt5Rs
27:55 - The Fall of the House of Usher (Netflix)
31:00 - Roger Waters The Dark Side of the Moon Redux
35:23 - The Cabin in the Woods (2011) [SPOILER WARNING]

This week, we break down the career of David Cronenberg in three acts. The thing is, there’s little you can say about David Cronenberg that makes sense. He’s a filmmaker who makes horror films, kinda. He has a preoccupation with body horror, sort of. Really he’s interested in people’s obsessions - what we can’t do without, even if we won’t admit it to ourselves. I think. It’s tough to say - like all great artists, he defies simple explanation. So of course, we’re going to try.

04:45 - Zombie Houses and The Ugliest House In America
12:45 - The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (Netflix)
18:50 - M*A*S*H*
20:15 - Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (Book)
22:42 - The Troop (Book)
24:55 - Bottom (BBC)
27:55 - David Cronenberg