Feel free to let us know what you think in the comments, obviously keep in mind why we’re doing this.  Ultimately it’s a good thing and we will let you know what’s happening when we’ve carefully looked at what we’re doing.

Remember you can check out our other blogs:

Also please feel free to have a chat on Facebook and or Twitter.

Lee.

How cool.

Sigh.

Also on the podcast Lee and Dan discuss the flogging of blogs, cabbagedan.com, quityourdayjob.com.au and fantasymoviepodcast.com for example.

You can possibly still enter the Amazon competition, depending on when you’re ...]]> After taking advantage of a technical problem last week and having a week off Lee and Dan are back this week with the last of the 90′s Batman films.  Some would suggest that Batman and Robin is the worst of all the Batman films, some would suggest that it’s the worst film of all time and Lee and Dan have entered this murky world to bring you their thoughts on the matter.

How cool.

Sigh.

Also on the podcast Lee and Dan discuss the flogging of blogs, cabbagedan.com, quityourdayjob.com.au and fantasymoviepodcast.com for example.

You can possibly still enter the Amazon competition, depending on when you’re reading this.

Lee wants to either:

1. live on the International Space Station
2. join a semi secret organisation, that will give him a ring but won’t ask him to participate (a funny little hat would be welcomed as well).

To make any sense of this you will just need to listen to the podcast:

Support the podcast by buying crap you don’t need!

After the stunning success of last episode’s flogging of the pointy asian inspired Batman thing this week Lee and Dan are once again selling out by telling you to buy something else!

This week’s very useful item is a bullet proof clipboard.

Yup.

Bulletproof Body Armor Clipboard

Good Midmoclubbers DO NOT shoot guns at each other.

Next week:

After thirteen seconds of discussion Lee and Dan are throwing their combined might behind a push for Bill and Ted 3 by watching Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey instead of Catwoman.

Excellent.

Would you like a £50 Amazon voucher? (or a $79 US voucher or $76 Aus voucher – not that Australia has amazon – but $76 will pay for a lot of postage).

What, you would? well alrighty then – here’s how you could get one.

The nice people over at ETS, a company that perform employee surveys for companies, have given us a £50 amazon voucher to give away to one of the listeners to the midmoclub.

Oh yes, none of our cheap badges this time people, this time we’re giving away cold hard cash.

All you need ...]]> Hey you. Yes you.

Would you like a £50 Amazon voucher? (or a $79 US voucher or $76 Aus voucher – not that Australia has amazon – but $76 will pay for a lot of postage).

What, you would? well alrighty then – here’s how you could get one.

The nice people over at ETS, a company that perform employee surveys for companies, have given us a £50 amazon voucher to give away to one of the listeners to the midmoclub.

Oh yes, none of our cheap badges this time people, this time we’re giving away cold hard cash.

All you need to do to get your hands on the filthy lucre is to leave a comment on this post naming a movie with an emotion in the title. For example Happy Feet, Happy Gilmore, 12 Angry Men etc (no, you can’t have any of those ones now you cheating ragbag).

If there is more than one entry (and i hope there will be otherwise this contest is going to be really embarrassing for us) then all the entrants names will be put into a hat and a winner will be chosen at random.

I was going to wait until our iTunes problem is fixed to run the contest so we could lure in some new listeners, but that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen any time soon. Damn you iTunes! DAMN YOU!

One entry per person please. The contest is international so you can enter wherever you live in the world. The closing date is the 1st of May 2012

May the odds be in your favour.

Is this a turn for the better?

Will Lee and Dan fall in love with the Schumacher Batmobile?  Three things are sure, apparently chicks dig the car, blacklight paint poses a huge problem to the peace in Gotham City and you’re going to have to listen to the podcast to find out what the boys thought.

Apart from Batman Forever Lee and Dan chat about such issues as:

William Shatner wearing a Ghostbusters proton pack. Does it get any more Lee Sargent than that?

A while ago I subjected myself to watching Ghost Rider 2: Spirit of Vengeance 3D, purely for the schadenfreude-like pleasure of knowing Ian wasn’t able to as it wasn’t released in Australia yet.

Well, now Ian has seen the movie and has demanded very ...]]> Listeners to the podcast will know that I have a long held belief that Ghost Rider is the worst movie in the history of all time. They may also know that I have a long running battle regarding this point with long term listener Ian Marshman (or Ian “poo head” Bogman as I secretly call him).

Well, now Ian has seen the movie and has demanded very kindly agreed to write a response to my original post. So without further ado, take it away Ian!

———————

I am a huge fan of the Ghost Rider comics from Marvel Entertainment, and have been ever since I picked up my first issue in 1992. Sure, it’s not for everyone and I respect that, but this character speaks to me in a way that no other’s do, and even though Marvel have treated him really badly from time to time, I still buy and read everything that becomes available because there is always at least one element of each issue that I like.

As Dan has told you all, I like the 1st Ghost Rider film. I’ve copped a lot of flack over that, especially from Dan, but that’s OK because everyone is entitled to their own opinion, no matter how deranged. In Dan’s case, I put it down to the cold English weather freezing the part of his brain that controls good judgement. I mean, he looked into buying solar panels for goodness sake. In England. Where the sun comes out, what, 4 weeks a year?

When I heard another Ghost Rider film was being made, and especially when I saw the trailers, I became hopeful that it would really kick ass. And when Dan started bagging it, I was determined to see it, know he was absolutely wrong, and then write a post of my own that would make his beg for my mercy.

So sure was I that I was going to love it, I made the following choices:

1. I saw it on my Birthday
2. I went to a cinema that charged $21
3. I paid another $10 for movie food
4. I convinced a long-time friend of mine to pay $21 to see it with me. My wife refused to go.

So we went and watched the film, and when it was over, I apologised to my friend and gave him back his $21.

This film is a disgrace! I was dumbstruck in how terrible it was and also ashamed at how much that misleading trailer sucked me in. The storyline made no sense at all, the performances from all the actors was a dog’s breakfast (especially you Mr. Cage) and the on-screen portrayal of the Ghost Rider was infuriating. I was convinced that Dan was delusional based on his incorrect opinions of the first film, but now I have to sit down and eat 2 humble pies.

You were right Dan. I’m sorry I doubted you.

Needless to say, I am now treating this film the same way I treat the sequels to The Matrix: “There is no movie”.

So after watching the 1989 Tim Burton Batman film some time ago Lee and Dan pushed ahead into the second Burton Batman film Batman Returns.

Due to this past life I get quite a few emails from PR companies trying to pimp their stuff. There was a time when I refused all of these, wishing to maintain the purity of my blog.

However, that turned out to be a battle I ...]]> As many of you are aware, in past life I used to be a parent blogger. In fact at one point I held the dubious honour of being classified as the UK’s number 1 parent blogger according to the Tots 100 list. Oh yes, I used to be a contender people.

Due to this past life I get quite a few emails from PR companies trying to pimp their stuff. There was a time when I refused all of these, wishing to maintain the purity of my blog.

However, that turned out to be a battle I couldn’t win. These days my daddy blog’s integrity has gone out of the window and I’ve become more mercenary than Deadpool.

There is a point to this I promise.

Earlier this week I got an email from a PR person offering me a review copy of Alvin and the Chipmonks 3: Chipwrecked to take a look at. They even sent me the “hook” of a report of some event on Blackpool beach in order to sweeten the deal. See:

Ahem.

The interesting thing is that at no point was I even remotely tempted to accept the free DVD.

And that’s not because of some kind of high minded “I’m not having that rubbish in my house” type sentiment.

Yes, the film is probably utter pants, and I’d never choose to watch it independently. But my kids loved the first two movies (Alvin and the Chipmonks and it’s “squeakquel”) and would no doubt enjoy the third one too.

No, the reason I didn’t want it is because quite honestly I don’t really want to own any DVDs.

There was a time that I was an avid movie collector. I used to take pride in my shelving units full of videos, books, and graphic novels, and to some extent defined myself by them. I fell into that “I am what I own” mentality that plagues so many of us pop culture geeks fall into.

But slowly over the years I’ve gradually sold/lost/given away most of my stuff. As it stands we currently have about two meters worth of DVDs/Blurays (both kid’s stuff and grown up’s), another half a meter or so of Xbox and Wii games, and a couple of shelves worth of books – which are mostly reference or non fiction (plus a ton of kids books upstairs admittedly).

For a while I felt guilty about this. I bought into the fallacy that the amount of books you owned somehow reflected your intelligence. That you could not be considered a Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan unless you had all the boxed sets. That there was some virtue in owning DVD’s of classic movies that you had already seen and were unlikely to ever take the shrink wrap off.

I believed that buying crap actually satisfied some unseen need in me.

But you know what – that’s bullshit.

The thing is, we are living in a time where you don’t actually need to buy your media any more. Even if you rule out illegal methods of obtaining music, TV shows, an movies (which I presently do incidentally), there is still enough streaming stuff on Netflix, Lovefilm, Spotify, iPlayer, and the like to keep a geek like happy for years. Sure, there are some things that aren’t available – but that’s what my Lovefilm postal account is for.

Netflix costs me about £6 a month, Lovefiilm another £5 and Spotify £5. That’s about the price of a new movie release on DVD. Considering how much our family use them, that’s incredibly good value. Despite these services’ limitations I now have access to far more stuff than I could have ever afforded in a million years previously.

I know many people say they like to “own the box”. And I understand that, I really do. But, speaking for myself, that need to own the object was generated from an insecure desire to define myself by external things rather than any actual intrinsic value of the DVD box sitting on my shelf.

Don’t get me wrong, I still have those insecure desires to define myself. There isn’t a person alive on the earth that doesn’t. But as I’ve gotten older my sense of self has become more complex and diverse. Also, perhaps more interestingly, the online world has allowed me to pin my flag to various masts virtually instead of physically (i.e. gomiso.com and the midmoclub podcast).

Is this a good thing? I think so. Although some would argue that the sense of self I’ve developed using my internet persona is just as shallow as one developed by the act of owning my old Star Wars VHS videos..

But good thing or not, I’m pretty sure that there are a hell of a lot of people who are undergoing the same metamorphosis as myself. And it’s certainly something that the entertainment industry is going to have to adapt to as the sales of physical media continues to dry up. The times they are a’changing.

So what do you think? Are you moving away from needing to own stuff, or will the claw your Dr Who Special edition DVD boxed sets from your cold dead hands? Let us know in the comments.

Bravo Mr Alan Salkilld, bravo.

Yes this week the boys are travelling back to the 1966 Adam West version of Batman.

Also Dan is a little hyped up as he is now fallen off the wagon and is now back drinking Diet Coke.

Lee said I’m only allowed to post one picture of my new baby on the blog, and after much thought and deliberation I’ve decided that I’m just too childish to let this pun go unused.

I’m very much looking forward to watching the real The Legend of Korra, and based on the trailers I’ve seen I have high hopes for it becoming my favorite new TV show.

If there is anyone reading this who hasn’t seen it’s predecessor, Avatar: The Last Airbender (the cartoon, not the film) then I suggest you stop what you’re doing and go and seek it ...]]>

Lee said I’m only allowed to post one picture of my new baby on the blog, and after much thought and deliberation I’ve decided that I’m just too childish to let this pun go unused.

I’m very much looking forward to watching the real The Legend of Korra, and based on the trailers I’ve seen I have high hopes for it becoming my favorite new TV show.

If there is anyone reading this who hasn’t seen it’s predecessor, Avatar: The Last Airbender (the cartoon, not the film) then I suggest you stop what you’re doing and go and seek it out this very instant. You’ll not regret it.

Unfortunately the UK version of Netflix is nowhere near as good as the the US version. It costs the same amount (if not a little more – £5.99 a month) but has far fewer movies and TV shows available to watch. To be frank it’s not really worth the cash (much like ...]]> Recently the US company Netflix expanded it’s video on demand service into the the United Kingdom. This was great news and is providing much needed competition to the Amazon owned DVD and streaming company Lovefilm (who happen to be one of our sponsors – Hi Lovefilm!).

Unfortunately the UK version of Netflix is nowhere near as good as the the US version. It costs the same amount (if not a little more – £5.99 a month) but has far fewer movies and TV shows available to watch. To be frank it’s not really worth the cash (much like Lovefilm’s streaming service – sorry Lovefilm).

HOWEVER

Netflix is a little quirky in that it’s membership operates on a global rather than national scale. And so loopholes exist.

Basically Netflix detects where you are geographically and allows you access to that particular area’s version of the Netflix service.

So if I took my iPad on holiday with me to America I would be able to access the US version of the Netflix service using my normal login and password, even though I joined the service in the UK and pay my Netflix subscription in UK pounds rather than US dollars.

This means that if you found a way to make Netflix think you are using their service in America (even though you were still at home in rainy England, Scotland, Wales, or wherever) then you will be able to access the US version of the service instead of the substandard UK version.

So how can you do this?

Well, the method I’ve come accross is by using a service called Unblock-US. This somehow tricks Netflix into thinking that your computer (or iPad, xBox, PS3, or whatever) is actually in America rather than your grotty spare room in Woverhampton.

The setup is relatively straight forward – you can either change a few settings on your PC/Mac (and so can consume Netflix just from your computer), or you can change some settings on your internet router (so anything connected to the net can use it – like a Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, iPad, iPhone, or one of those internet connected fridges that you bought at the 2004 ideal home exhibition).

Unblock-US is not free – it costs $4.99 a month. And you also still have to pay your Netflix subscription fee on top of that. And if you want to watch Netflix on your Xbox you have to be a member of Xbox Live too (so it all adds up)

I have no idea is this is legal. I suspect that, like region free DVD players, it’s currently a rather grey area – but I’m not basing that on anything other than a hunch.

I’m certainly not advocating you doing it. It’s almost certainly against the terms and conditions of Netflix, so I’m guessing there is a risk of having your membership terminated if you are caught.

But saying that, if you do chose to use Unblock-us.com I’d argue that you are definitely being more ethically sound than downloading stuff from torrent sites like pirate bay. After all, You aren’t stealing anything. You are paying for the content you are consuming, and you’re paying at a rate that’s both been agreed by the copyright holders and that will result in money finding its way into their hands.

In my mind it’s a bit like sneaking into a better seat in the theatre because you’ve noticed it’s empty. Sure, strictly speaking you may not be allowed to sit there; but you paid your price of admission dammit and it’s not going to make a difference to the rest of the audience.

How about you? Do you feel that using sites like Unblock-us are morally wrong? Let us know in the comments.

(I should point out that there are no affiliate links in this post, nor has anyone sponsored it. Which is a shame as I quite fancy buying a Calvin and Hobbs anthology but can’t justify spending money i’ve actually earned)

Yes we are watching the 1960s Batman film next week.

Yes it contains the awesome Batboat.

Dan also reveals why babies look like Winston Churchill (in case you were wondering). They also discuss:

- 10: Space Cowboy from Battle Beyond the Stars. - 09: Captain Lone Starr from Spaceballs. - 08: Joseph Korso from Titan A.E. - 07: Flynn Rider from Tangled. - 06: Slippery Jim DiGriz from Stainless Steel Rat

Now that I look back on it, there are a few ones there that are a tad tenuous. Still, that’s all in the past now – this post is where ...]]> This is part two of my top ten list of Han Solo rip offs. You can find more details about my first five choices here, but here’s a quick recap for those who weren’t paying attention:

- 10: Space Cowboy from Battle Beyond the Stars.
- 09: Captain Lone Starr from Spaceballs.
- 08: Joseph Korso from Titan A.E.
- 07: Flynn Rider from Tangled.
- 06: Slippery Jim DiGriz from Stainless Steel Rat

Now that I look back on it, there are a few ones there that are a tad tenuous. Still, that’s all in the past now – this post is where all the real gold really lies. Honestly.

So without any further ado, here’s the next five scruffy looking nerf herders:

5. Madmartigan: Willow

“Ooh, I’m really scared. No! Don’t! There’s a- a peck here with an acorn pointed at me!”

Typical George Lucas, ripping off his own ideas from earlier successes. This time he’s even stealing the whole plot of the film! Talk about creatively stunted.

I never realised it back in my youth, but when you start thinking about it the entire of Willow is a glaringly obvious Star Wars rip off right from the get go.

Not that I’m complaining mind you, Willow is a great movie and Val Kilmer is an excellent Han Solo clone.

I’m reluctant to go into much detail about Madmartigan as Lee hasn’t seen this film yet and we’re going to be discussing it in the near future on the podcast (and you know how Lee feels about spoilers). Suffice to say the moment when Madmartigan gets frozen in carbonate and the princess calls his spaceship a hunk of junk is an absolute classic.

4. Lando Calrissian: Empire Strikes Back

“This deal is getting worse all the time!”

Typical George Lucas, ripping off his own ideas from earlier successes. This time he’s even bloody ripping it off within the same film! Talk about incestuous.

Lando is cool though. Not as cool as Han, but then again few are. He’s certainly cooler than Luke (stupid farmboys).

He even looks good behind the wheel of the Millennium Falcon although I never thought much of his jowly looking Chewbacca replacement. I just get the feeling he’d get slobber all over the dashboard.

But most impressive of all is that Lando manages to successfully pull of wearing a cape. That’s no easy feat let me tell you. Just try wearing one to the pub on a Friday night and see what happens. Sure, Han’s waistcoat is a pretty gutsy fashion move in some circles; but a waistcoat can’t be slung over a lamp post and used to strangle you.

3. Indiana Jones: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

“Fortune and glory, kid. Fortune and glory.”

Typical George Lucas, ripping off his own ideas from earlier successes. This time he’s even bloody using the same actor! Talk about blatant!

While Indy is arguably a more nuanced character than Han, there’s no mistaking that same sardonic moral greyness at his core – particularly in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. At that point Dr Jones was very much the cash focused mercenary that Han was at the beginning of Star Wars. Then, like Solo, over the course of the trilogy Indy becomes an increasingly moral being as a result of his experiences.

To be honest I’d be hard pressed to say who I prefer – Indiana Jones or Han Solo. Han has the advantage of not being soiled by one of Lucas’ patented crappy modern follow ups (thank goodness Han Solo never appeared in any of the Star wars prequels). However, as I say, I feel that Indy is a more developed character somehow. A tricky one.

2. Captain James T Kirk: Star Trek

“Oh relax, cupcake, it was a joke.”

Look, I’ll be honest with you – I’ve actually forgotten who was originally going to be my number two on this list. I wrote it all down alongside the first part of this post, but I can’t find the damn file. I’ve a vague feeling it was someone animated but I can’t be sure.

However, as I was searching google trying to prompt my idiot brain into remembering, Chris Pine’s James T Kirk’s name kept popping up . Apparently Pine drew inspiration from Han Solo when he was preparing to play Kirk.

And now that I know that I think I can actually see it. Kirk has that same grumpy “oh crap, what do I have to deal with now” humour to him and the same roguish wit.

I’m now a little nervous as I’m unsure if Lee will be stroking his chin and nodding sagely at that opinion, or if he’ll be flinging his computer monitor at the wall in a fit of rage.

I think I’ll move on to my number one.

1. Malcolm Reynolds: Firefly

Come a day there won’t be room for naughty men like us to slip about at all. This job goes south, there well may not be another. So here is us, on the raggedy edge. Don’t push me, and I won’t push you.

Of course Malcolm Reynolds had to be the top of this list. In fact there really was no other option. Mal’s a rogue, a smuggler, and outlaw, and a rebel against a controlling state. A reluctant hero who man who loves his ship almost as much as life itself.

I’ve said it before elsewhere, but Mal Reynolds is the only person who’s ever out Han Solo’ed Han Solo. He is just bloody awesome.

Mal’s defining moment in my view was during the movie Serenity when he first meets The Operative He checks he’s unarmed, then promptly attempts to shoot him (Mal shoots first,obviously). I tried to find it on youtube but couldn’t so this compilation wil have to do:

For a long time I mourned the loss of Firefly and hoped one day it’d return. But I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s best left as it is. You just know that if it came back it would have far too much expectation heaped on it which it would never be able to meet. Then the show would be soured for everyone.

Let’s just keep our memories of it as they are now – shiny.

———————————

So that’s my list of top ten Han Solo rip offs. Do you agree, disagree, have alternative suggestions? Let me know in the comments.

Also, a midmoclub badge and sticker will go to the first person who is able to prompt me to remember who the one I’ve forgotten is. That’s going to bloody keep me awake tonight.

This is me performing what Mr Myagi himself describes as “the most difficult move in karate”. Yes, I’m that much of a badass people. There is no defence against the Crane Stance. None.

Anyone who sends in their own photo of themselves performing the Crane Stance wins their very own midmoclub badge drawn by Mr Lee Sargent and crafted (possibly) by the woman from Bis who sung the theme tune to the Powder Puff Girls. It doesn’t get much more exciting than that.

But wait! IT DOES GET MORE EXCITING THAN THAT!!

Because as well as the badge ...]]>

This is me performing what Mr Myagi himself describes as “the most difficult move in karate”. Yes, I’m that much of a badass people. There is no defence against the Crane Stance. None.

Anyone who sends in their own photo of themselves performing the Crane Stance wins their very own midmoclub badge drawn by Mr Lee Sargent and crafted (possibly) by the woman from Bis who sung the theme tune to the Powder Puff Girls. It doesn’t get much more exciting than that.

But wait! IT DOES GET MORE EXCITING THAN THAT!!

Because as well as the badge you will also win a Midmoclub sticker!!! Blimey Charlie!!! There are almost not enough exclamation marks in the entire world to express how exciting that is!!!!!!! !!!! !!

!!

So what are you waiting for? Get out there and get a photo taken and then post them over on the midmoclub facebook page for us all to admire. If you are not a member of the Facebook page then WHY NOT?? Get with the program Daddy-O.

There’s a different energy this week as the boys podcasted under the shadow of Dan’s wife being in labour.

Yes that’s right.

Dan’s wife was in labour in the other room.

Husband of the year.

Lee and Dan also discuss:

Not that that’s a problem really. If you’re going to rip off a film you might as well make it a good one. And anyway, its not like there was much original about Star Wars in the first place.

One of the most successful, and therefore most frequently stolen, aspect of Star Wars is the character of Han Solo.

Once you start thinking about it you’ll find that Han starts turning ...]]> It struck me the other day how many of the movies we’ve been watching on the midmoclub recently have contained poorly disguised Star Wars rip offs.

Not that that’s a problem really. If you’re going to rip off a film you might as well make it a good one. And anyway, its not like there was much original about Star Wars in the first place.

One of the most successful, and therefore most frequently stolen, aspect of Star Wars is the character of Han Solo.

Once you start thinking about it you’ll find that Han starts turning up in all sorts of places. That scruffy looking nerf herder gets everywhere. Being the type of person who enjoys doing such things I thought I’d write a top ten list about it. Because that’s just the way I roll baby.

Here we go:

10. Space Cowboy: Battle Beyond the Stars

“Howdy, Gelt. I’m from Earth. Know where that is?”

A kind of cross between Han Solo and Rubber Duck from Convoy, George Peppard’s portrayal of Space Cowboy in the 1980 movie Battle Beyond the Stars was one of the more enjoyable features of that train wreck of a film.

Despite the fact that Lee and I only recorded a podcast on the movie last month I can’t actually remember that much about Battle Beyond the Stars. This is not necessarily a bad thing however. No doubt my brain’s healing mechanism is trying to cope with the trauma.

I do remember Peppard’s cowboy hat, boots, and cool trucker space ship interior however. Yea-haa!

9. Captain Lone Starr: Spaceballs

“Well, what have we got here? Will you look at her? Those flashing eyes, those flushed cheeks, those trembling lips. You know something Princess? You are *ugly* when you’re angry.”

I strongly suspect that Mel Brooks’ Star Wars spoof Spaceballs is one of those films that’s a hell of a lot better when you see it when you’re fourteen than when you do and you’re thirty six. I know Lee ran a feature for a while over on his blog when he attempted to make his way through the Spaceballs spin-off animated series. Rather predictably it all ended in bitter tears of remorse and regret.

Captain Lone Starr was Brooks’ comedy version of Han Solo and was played by the interminably smug Bill Pullman. Interestingly enough there was no real form of Luke Skywalker type character in the movie, which goes a long way to comment on the successfulness of Luke as the primary hero. Stupid farm boys.

8. Joseph Korso: Titan A.E.

“You’re not gonna shoot me, kid”

This is the second entry in quick succession for Bill Pullman. However this time he’s in animated form so you don’t have to look at his self satisfied puffy little face (I’m not overly keen on Pullman,can you tell?).

Despite what Lee may think, Titan A.E. is actually a rather good film, and to his credit Pullman pulls off a pretty decent Han Solo impression here. Ably helped by a writing team that included Joss Whedon of course.

The character of Joe Korso replicates that delicious moral greyness that Han Solo had, yet with the satisfaction of the right choices being made in the end. Great stuff.

7. Flynn Rider: Tangled

“I know not who you are, nor how I came to find you, but may I just say… Hi. How ya doin’?”

A dubious one really as Tangled‘s Flynn Rider doesn’t really have the right level of cynical world weariness that marks out a truly great Han Solo clone.

However in other ways he fits the mold perfectly – He’s a swashbuckling charismatic rogue and thief who begins the movie in-it-for-the-money, but who’s morals get the better of him by the end.

He even has a hairy sidekick (granted it’s a horse rather than a rookie, but beggars can’t be choosers.

Plus he falls in love with a princess, that’s got to count for something.

6. Slippery Jim DiGriz: Stainless Steel Rat

“You’re a criminal,” I muttered through clenched teeth, and spat on a NO SPITTING sign.

Hey, look at me! I’m getting all literary! Slippery Jim DiGriz is the main character in the Stainless Steel Rat books by acclaimed science fiction writer Harry Harrison. As well as winning a number of industry awards and accolades, the Stainless Steel Rat series wins the Dan Hughes award for funniest SF/Fantasy books of all time.

Admittedly Slippery Jim is more of a con man than a smuggler,and far more competent than Han will ever be. and his first appearance was in the 1960s which sort of quashes any claims that Harrison was stealing from Lucas.

Nevertheless, like Solo, Slippery Jim DiGriz is a reluctant hero co-opted into doing good by forces outside his control. But as much as he superficially rails against it he secretly knows he’s a better fit on the side of good rather than evil.

——————-

And that’s it for today. Come back soon for part two of my list of top ten Han Solo rip offs. Same bat-time, same bat channel (well, maybe not same bat-time).

Any guesses as to who’ll make the top five? Disagree with any I’ve listed so far? Let me know in the comments.

[Edit - you can now see the top five on the second post in this series here]

In this case Dan didn’t dislike the film, at all, which despite our on-air bluster is perfectly acceptable and it should be noted that everyone’s opinion is equally valid. I feel I justified why I didn’t like the film in the podcast however I think ...]]> A common thread that’s been coming up from listeners to the Titan AE podcast is that the film didn’t deserve the very low rating that I gave the film. Granted it’s not often that a film cops such a low score, it’s usually reserved for films that both Dan and I have been severely burnt over.

In this case Dan didn’t dislike the film, at all, which despite our on-air bluster is perfectly acceptable and it should be noted that everyone’s opinion is equally valid. I feel I justified why I didn’t like the film in the podcast however I think it might be an opportunity for me to chat about how a film can get a one.

Also I don’t think it was my giving Titan AE a low score that’s the issue here either, I think it’s more the extreme aspect and the surprise that I reached right into the back of my bag and pulled out a one which in this arena is the nuclear option.

The science behind the ten point rating system that Dan and I agreed on is more of an art than a science, in that there is absolutely no scientific method behind it in any shape of form. One thing to remember though is that the scores don’t related to others given when comparing to each other at all and on any given day the scores would probably differ, in fact they differ by the hour sometimes.

So how the hell do I come up with a one?

Well first off the technical quality of the film has very little to do with the score, I can watch a competently put together film that could be considered successful in its ambition to tell a story in a certain way and still prefer a film knocked together by kids in their backyard. The reason being is that the score has everything to do with me and less to do with the film.

I’ll score a film on things such as how it makes me feel, what I take from the film and does the film inspire me at all. And the thing about me is that given such random elements as my mood, what I had for lunch, who I’m watching with and the fickle thing I call an attention span the experience that I might have will influence that score.

So as we’ve mentioned before on the podcast a five from me generally means that I was unmoved. The film is neutral. A ten is good, on a scale that means that I’m probably trying to work out how to form a religion around the teachings of the film. The controversial one means that I disliked my entire experience around the film, that I derived little to no inspiration from it and as long as I live I probably will never seek this film out ever again.

This has of course all the accuracy of a blind goat hogtied in the bottom of an apple barrel listening to the best of Motley Crue with a crossbow made out of breadsticks.

So why score at all?

Well hopefully over time and many many visits to the Midmoclub podcast you’ll get a feel for what I like or dislike, this will help guide you around films that we might share a liking for or for that matter a disliking. The opposite is also true, if you love films that I seem to hate then you might be encouraged to watch Cannonball Run or Titan AE and all I can say is good luck with that.

This might smack of defensiveness, it’s truly not, I thought it might be interesting to share with you guys some of my inner workings on how I pass judgement on these films. Dan may have another process, it’s probably flawed as some of his choices seem suspect at best.

What’s a film that you hate that no one else seems to? Let us know in the comments!!

I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m a little jealous of him. How come HE gets to have a Magnum PI hat and I don’t? Why can’t I have a Star Trek tricorder too? And why is it he gets to play Indiana Jones whenever he wants?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hI3YYVdBfwA

Well I’ll ...]]> As those who listen to the Midnight Movie Club podcast will already know, my co-host Lee has a large collection of movie prop replicas. Over the couple of years we’ve been recording together he’s thrilled me with tails of his Thor hammer, Captain America shield, and Ghostbusters PKE meter among others.

I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m a little jealous of him. How come HE gets to have a Magnum PI hat and I don’t? Why can’t I have a Star Trek tricorder too? And why is it he gets to play Indiana Jones whenever he wants?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hI3YYVdBfwA

Well I’ll tell why he’s got all those wonderful toys. Its because he doesn’t have any children to support, that’s why. I can just see him now, rolling around on his piles of cash like Scrooge McDuck while I’m sat here sipping weak cabbage broth huddling round a candle to try and keep warm. Bah.

Still, I’d not be without my children for the world. All it means is that I have to be a little more creative when it comes to my pop culture prop replicas.

Ever since watching Krull for the podcast I’ve been hankering to own a replica of the movie’s signature weapon – the glaive:

Unfortunately when I rang Toys-R-Us to ask if they had one in stock they said no. What’s more they even refused to order one in for me! No doubt the staff were keeping them all for themselves. I did have a quick look on ebay, but the only ones there were custom hand made affairs which were well out of my price range (although not Lee “Money Bags” Sargent’s I suspect).

But I wasn’t going to let a few knock-backs get in my way. I’m made of sterner stuff. I decided to make my own glaive. And, even if I do say so myself, I’m pretty damn pleased with what I came up with.

I thought that other people might want build their own glaive too so I’m helpfully including instructions.

First assemble the raw materials:

• a frisbee (here I’m using a Cars one Evan got at a birthday party, but any Disney/Pixar one will do)
• some duct tape
• assorted knives

Now carefully tape the knives onto the frisbee, ensuring the pointed ends face outwards like so:

And that’s all there is to it! Amazingly easy considering the high quality of the end product!

And the kids love it too! Both of mine are out in the garden throwing it to each other as I type. I can hear their screams of excitement all the way from the house!

I do appreciate that some people haven’t the time or the skills required to make something like this – so I am willing to undertake commission pieces for a reasonable fee. Use the contact form above to ask for a quote and shipping prices.

Such moments of good fortune are not to be taken lightly. I needed to make sure that the ticket was used to its absolute maximum capacity. I didn’t want to waste it on some crappy badly made movie that’d leave me with a hollow feeling of regret and dissatisfaction.

So I went to see Ghost Rider 3D: Spirit of Vengeance

This may surprise you. Its no secret to anyone who listens to the podcast that I am not a big fan of the first Ghost Rider movie. ...]]> Yesterday I was given a voucher for a free cinema ticket.

Such moments of good fortune are not to be taken lightly. I needed to make sure that the ticket was used to its absolute maximum capacity. I didn’t want to waste it on some crappy badly made movie that’d leave me with a hollow feeling of regret and dissatisfaction.

So I went to see Ghost Rider 3D: Spirit of Vengeance

This may surprise you. Its no secret to anyone who listens to the podcast that I am not a big fan of the first Ghost Rider movie. In fact I’ve repeatedly gone on record as saying that it is the worst movie in the history of the world (actually that’s not true – that particular honour goes to Cutthroat Island).

However by using my free ticket on Ghost Rider 3D I was getting far more than entrance to some stupid movie. Oh yes. I was getting to torment Ian Marshman. And that my friends is something more valuable than any price you’d care to place on it.

For those who don’t know, Ian is a regular listener to the midmoclub podcast. In fact he’s one of our A+ elite level listeners (yup, we rank and grade our listeners). Both Lee and I really appreciate the support, enthusiasm, and encouragement that we’ve received from him over the past few years and the midmoclub is a more vibrant place for his involvement.

Of course that doesn’t stop us taking every single opportunity to burn the little bugger.

And fortunately its petty easy to burn Ian. It seems that when he was a little kid one of the corks hanging down from the brim of his hat must have got jammed really hard in his ear. In all my 10 years of psychiatric nursing I’ve never seen a case of cork related organic brain disfunction quite so tragic. It appears that this childhood accident has left Ian without the ability to differentiate good movies from atrocious ones.

The strange thing is that it only effects his taste in movies. His ability to identify quality in other forms of media, such as podcasts, but he is just simply unable to tell if a movie is worth watch or a huge pile of steaming horse dung.

Sad. Very, very sad.

Ian likes the first Ghost Rider movie. In fact he likes it so much that he’s even changed his Facebook homepage image to an advert for Ghost Rider 3D. He has even said that the new Ghost Rider movie is his most anticipated film of the year.

Madness.

But unfortunately for Ian Ghostrider 3D isn’t actually out yet in Australia. However Ghost rider 3D is actually currently out in England. And I’ve been to see it and he hasn’t. Oh yeah.

I even posted about it on Facebook:

So the big question is, was Ghost Rider 3D: Spirit of Vengeance any good?

No, of course it wasn’t. In fact it was bloody awful. The first Ghost Rider movie felt like the entire thing had been written by a thirteen year old boy. The sequel however felt more like it had been written by a fourteen year old. Or maybe at a push fourteen and a half.

And the really sad thing is that this isn’t even an improvement. At least the thirteen year old boy who wrote the first movie had some sort of integrity. You could tell that he truly believed the bilge he was spewing was awesome, rad, and cool beans daddy-o (that is how thirteen year olds speak these days in case you were interested).

The fourteen year old idiot that wrote Ghost Rider 3D: Spirit of Vengeance however was tuned in enough to realise that there is a certain type of audience that enjoyed the first movie ironically. He could tell they liked the unintentional campy crapness of it. And so he decided to try to replicate that sensibility in the sequel. However the problem is that he didn’t have anywhere near the skills to actually pull that trick off, and as a result the whole film just sunk into a stinky morass of half knowing hammy awfulness.

The only saving grace is Idris Elba, who manages to pull a vaguely charismatic and interesting character out of the wreckage. However his faint awesomeness is far overshadowed by Nicolas Cage’s truly dreadful combination of overacting, woodenness, and fake sincerity – a mixture of traits which up to now I’d actually thought impossible. And as for the Johnny Witworth playing the villain – my shoelaces have more menace than him.

This is not a good film people. Stay away.

No doubt Ian will love it.

I’ve tried reading fantasy novels too but much to my lovely wife’s disgust I can’t make it through one of those giant books only to face the knowledge that I’ve got 32 more to work through. But that’s not to say I’ve never watched a fantasy movie (by which I mean sword and sorcery type films) and present for your enjoyment my top five fantasy films:

Yeah I think I liked the middle Lord of the Rings film the most, there was that cool battle and I liked ...]]> Fantasy films aren’t really my bag actually.

I’ve tried reading fantasy novels too but much to my lovely wife’s disgust I can’t make it through one of those giant books only to face the knowledge that I’ve got 32 more to work through. But that’s not to say I’ve never watched a fantasy movie (by which I mean sword and sorcery type films) and present for your enjoyment my top five fantasy films:

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Yeah I think I liked the middle Lord of the Rings film the most, there was that cool battle and I liked a lot of the set pieces in this one (note that I didn’t wuss out and just select the whole series). I think they probably do merge together in my head but this one stands out for some reason.

Dragonheart

Every time I watch this film I am a blubbering mess by the end, I don’t what it is.  Bloody dragon.

How to Train Your Dragon

Speaking of dragons the animated ones in this film are almost perfect, some of the sequences are better than any life action film.

Clash of the Titans

Original.  I’m team Bubo. This film conjures up really good memories about the wonder of the cinema and I still love the stop motion work, whenever it’s on television I always watch.

Conan the Barbarian

Sure it’s not the greatest film but I add it on here because it’s iconic.  It’s iconic and it spawned one of the best uses of YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBGOQ7SsJrw

So what are your favourite fantasy films (as defined by my narrow view)?

Dan suffers greatly as he tries to define the term “fantasy film” and Kasey and Lee turn on him. Then Lee tries to get cheap psychiatric advice using Watchmen as a cover. Kasey has been playing Skyrim and ...]]> This week the podcast is all about fantasy, unicorns, cyclops, LARPs, renaissance fairs and a little science fiction thrown in for good measure (or confusion depending on your point of view) as the Midnight Movie Club welcomes special guest host Kasey Thacker of the Fantasy Movie Podcast to lend her expertise.  This week the team are watching the 1983 fantasy science fiction epic cult favourite Krull.

Dan suffers greatly as he tries to define the term “fantasy film” and Kasey and Lee turn on him. Then Lee tries to get cheap psychiatric advice using Watchmen as a cover. Kasey has been playing Skyrim and watching anime.

They also discuss the following trailers:

• Knights of Badassdom
• Snow White and the Huntsman
• Mirror Mirror
• Unicorn City

It’s always exciting when we have a guest in the Midmoclub offices especially one who appeals to the younger generation that Dan and Lee can’t relate to so check out this weeks podcast:

If you need further convincing of Kasey’s fantasy geek cred behold:

Join just Lee and Dan next week as they watch the animated film Titan AE.

Remember if you would prefer to listen to more Kasey go out and check out the Fantasy Movie Podcast (of course you could always listen to both)

Instead they’ll be posted on Sunday over on the Facebook page and then here Monday morning. With a few strips in the bag already we’ll run double posts this and next week and the week after which will bring us in line.  That ...]]> The decision has been made to bring the new release of Ensign Dave strips closer to the release date on the blog, about twelve hours difference to be exact.  Whilst we still want to reward the Facebook friends with early ensign Dave goodness we also think that running them so far behind was a little silly as well.

Instead they’ll be posted on Sunday over on the Facebook page and then here Monday morning. With a few strips in the bag already we’ll run double posts this and next week and the week after which will bring us in line.  That is of course if you guys are still interested in the strip?  I’ve had a chat with Dan about it being slightly derivative of what we do here on the Midnight Movie Club but Ensign Dave did get his start here in the first place.  Dan is supportive but I’m aware that this will probably run a limited life span here, unless it’s still entertaining you lot in which case we’ll keep pushing ahead.

Of course there was no new strip on Facebook this week because I have a depressing case of manflu and I also began reading The Hunger Games and it has completely knocked my socks off.

I assume there is some sort of rostering system going on for the holodeck which has got to suck for the non bridge crew who just need it to take the misery out of their dull days and then Picard and Data are always in there stuffing it up somehow.

I wonder if the popular culture juggernaut Star Wars existing in the Star Trek universe?

Let us know in the comments if you still want to see new Dave!

Not that I read any of the older Daredevil stuff either. As I ...]]> Frank Miller is arguably the best known and most respected artist to work on the Daredevil comic book. His massively influential run during the early 80′s is often held up as being the defining version of The Man Without Fear. He set the tone for a dark and gritty Daredevil and subsequent writers followed where he left off. I hear Mark Waid has lightened things up a bit recently, but I haven’t actually read any of the current books so I couldn’t really say.

Not that I read any of the older Daredevil stuff either. As I mentioned on the podcast I never really ventured into those waters during my comic book reading years. The main reason for this is that I’ve always associated Daredevil with Miller, and to be honest I’ve always thought Miller is a bit crap.

Controversial I know. In fact there was a time that I would have kept this dark secret to myself for fear of ridicule and castigation by the comic book elite. These days however, with his get-off-my-lawn rants Frank Miller’s standing has gone down significantly with the comic reading public, and it’s now safe to come out of the closet.

Maybe.

I don’t dislike Frank Miller because of his mad ramblings on his blog however. I dislike him because of his art.

Lets face it guys, the man can’t draw comic books.

Sure, he makes some impressive pieces of graphic art. As stand-alone pieces many of his images are absolutely stunning. But comics? No. Sorry. He’s not up to it.

I mean look at this:

Yes – it looks atmospheric and striking. But when you try to actually read Sin City as a narrative story it’s like trying to see one of those bloody magic eye pictures. You have to stare at each page for twenty minutes to work out what’s happening. It might look impressive, but it’s also going to give you a migraine.

Here’s another one:

Batman looks like the Joker has stuck a bicycle pump down his pants and inflated him to resemble someone in one of those fake sumo suits. Yes, I get he’s meant to be older and a bit out of condition, but Miller’s insistance on style over coherence is both self indulgent and pompous.

THIS is how you draw a comic book damnit!:

Man I miss the Giffen & DeMatteis JLA.

Now I realise that I’m swimming against the tide here. Most serious comic book geeks consider Miller to be one of the most significant heavy hitters in the industry. Along with Alan Moore and perhaps Neil Gaimen he’s also one of the few to gather respect out of the confines of the industry too.

But really guys, are we sure there isn’t a spot of emperors new clothes going on here? Guys? Guys?

Guys?

That last one in particular confuses me. “Trite” I can understand, even if I don’t agree with it. But antiseptic? Really? An antimicrobial substance that’s applied to living tissue/skin to reduce the policy ...]]> As we mentioned on the podcast there is quite a bit of hatred pointed at the Daredevil film by the movie geek community. A quick scan of Amazon reviews (of the directors cut) threw up the following quotes that I doubt will be appearing on the poster any time soon:

• “Worst movie ever”
• “Utter utter pants!!”
• “Very very bad… a gigantic piece of crap“
• “Antiseptic and trite“

That last one in particular confuses me. “Trite” I can understand, even if I don’t agree with it. But antiseptic? Really? An antimicrobial substance that’s applied to living tissue/skin to reduce the policy of infection, sepsis or putrefaction?

I give that review one star out of five for its irrelevance and haberdashery.

I get that people don’t like Daredevil. Especially the theatrical version. But “worst film ever”?

John Lennon was once asked by an interviewer if Ringo was the best drummer in the world. “No” he replied “He’s not even the best drummer in The Beatles”

Here are five superhero movies worse than Daredevil:

Batman and Robin

This film is awful on so many more levels than “the Batsuit has nipples”. But…. the Batsuit has nipples.

Batman and Robin killed the Batman franchise stone dead for eight years. Saying that, without it would we have had the Nolan reboot?

Spider-Man 3

Controversial I know. But the reason I think that Spider-Man 3 deserves it’s place in this list is that Spider-Man 1 & 2 were so-damned-good. There was no gradual drop off in quality like with Batman in order to prepare us for the eventual disappointment of a crappy movie. No, it went from great, to fantastic, to sucky emo Peter Parker dancing.

You broke my heart Spider-Man 3. You broke my heart.

Xmen: The Last Stand

Don’t kill off Cyclops. It’s not big, and it’s not clever. And while you are at it, don’t kill off 90% of the other characters too.

Also, just because Halle Berry demands more screen time doesn’t mean you should give it to her. Storm is boring. Sorry, but she is.

Catwoman

It’s virtually impossible to comprehend the thinking behind the producers of this travesty. Like with Batman and Robin, the costume alone is bad enough. It seems the traditional Catwoman sexy catsuit not being anywhere near as slutty or impractical for movie going audiences. We need outfits that would be seen as too provocative at a lap dancing club apparently.

However even if you ignore the slut-suit it’s the plot and the unnecessary and confusing alterations to the Catwoman mythology that really transform this movie into the abomination that it is.

Bad filmakers. Bad! Go sit in the corner and think about what you did.

Ghost Rider

Enough said.

———–

Agree, disagree, want to share a recipe for Gooseberry Crumble? Let us know in the comments.

My relatively limited exposure to the Daredevil comics has given me the impression that Daredevil’s faith plays a large part in the character as well as the iconology of the series. Indeed the image of Daredevil clinging to a large cross on ...]]> So I forgot to discuss something in yesterday’s podcast about the comic book film Daredevil that I really wanted to touch on, fortunately since Dan and I are now embracing the blogging side of thing I still get the chance to chat about the religious nature of the Daredevil character which I do think bears a little more examination.

My relatively limited exposure to the Daredevil comics has given me the impression that Daredevil’s faith plays a large part in the character as well as the iconology of the series. Indeed the image of Daredevil clinging to a large cross on the top of the church was replicated for the film.

Whilst not Catholic myself I do find this aspect of the character to be quite fascinating and I find myself wondering about the theological leanings of other characters. Particularly when so many would seem to contradict a church view of the universe (Superman is an alien for instance).

To be honest the only other character I can think of who is open around their faith is probably Thor, for obvious reasons I guess.

I’m also not calling for more openly religious characters either, the same way that I’m not calling for more openly gay characters. If a character feels naturally inclined towards a disposition then I say go for it for story sake. Not to check a box and pat yourselves on the back for how fashionable you are.

So I like the Daredevil having this dance with committing to his faith outright (as I believe is implied by the film). He has to work outside of the system which in this case also means the institution of the church.

I did wonder however if Bullseye’s stigmata towards the finale of the film was not a little heavy handed in the imagery? Although the character that they built in the film would certainly be open to the overly dramatic particularly in a church.

So can you guys think of any other religious characters in comic books?

Do you feel faith is undervalued or under represented in the comic book industry?

The third attempt is what you can hear today and we’re pretty happy with the ...]]> It’s been a while since Lee and Dan have had a real disaster podcast on their hands but this week’s may just qualify as one. The end result was a bit of a struggle as Dan’s laptop deleted the makings of one of the funniest and thought provoking podcasts yet.  On top of that Lee’s computer refused to record the backup so they lost it all. Then on the second run something else went wrong and a much more mediocre podcast was thrown to the side.

The third attempt is what you can hear today and we’re pretty happy with the job Dan has done putting it together.

In the podcast the boys discuss amongst other things the trailers of:

• The Bourne Legacy
• God Bless America
• The Amazing Spider-man
• Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

The boys also discuss the sheer volume of money that Apple has, why Dan is starting to dislike them and Lee’s irration distrust of people with various states of side-burns or lack of and teens.

None of this will make sense until you listen to the podcast.

Yes, that means listen to the podcast now!!

See now that wasn’t so bad now was it?

Next week Lee, Dan AND Kasey will be watching Krull.

Now go ahead and debate in the comments how much better 1960′s Batman is than Nolan Dark Knight!!!

But as you are probably aware if you want to see these strips first then you’ve got to head on over ...]]> Last week there was no new Ensign Dave because essentially I forgot, but my insensitivity is your win because there’s two Ensign Dave strips coming at you this week. I’m actually considering bringing the release times much closer together so there is only a couple of days difference rather than three whole weeks, I just have to work out a way to stop these posts showing up on Facebook and Twitter so as not to over saturate the social feeds.

But as you are probably aware if you want to see these strips first then you’ve got to head on over to the Midnight Movie Club Facebook page, whilst you are there you could always Like us and why not spread the word of Ensign Dave by throwing a couple of shares or tweets his way?

On to the Dave strips!

So there we have it, the introduction of possibly one of the worst continuing slaps in the face to Ensign Dave, his training, his capabilities and his loyalty: the Chief Medical Officer’s son, Wesley Crusher.  More importantly the first appearance of Wesley Crusher’s godawful jumper.

It has to be frustrating for all the staff of the Enterprise who never get to go along to away missions and then Wesley Crusher gets chosen (a lot) and then he screws it up for everyone.  Also I firmly believe Worf would pull some it’s my Klingon heritage rubbish to make sure he still gets pudding. I also want to point out that in an alternative timeline Dave did get to beam down to the planet and actually meets the love of his life, but this doesn’t happen in the main timeline thanks to Crusher (appropriate name).

This could be the center piece of your Wesley Crusher fan alter:

The movie was ok. Nothing special, but watchable. The Rock was charismatic as always, Michael Caine was in it for the pay check but likeable, and I’m always fond of Luiz Guzman’s particular brand of sidekicks.

The highlight of course is that at one point The Rock plays a ukulele. As Mr Johnson himself points out – it takes a big man to play a tiny guitar.

But what was really interesting was something that I’d also noticed when we went to see The Muppets last week. It seems that short ...]]> I took my son to see Journey 2: The Mysterious Island yesterday.

The movie was ok. Nothing special, but watchable. The Rock was charismatic as always, Michael Caine was in it for the pay check but likeable, and I’m always fond of Luiz Guzman’s particular brand of sidekicks.

The highlight of course is that at one point The Rock plays a ukulele. As Mr Johnson himself points out – it takes a big man to play a tiny guitar.

But what was really interesting was something that I’d also noticed when we went to see The Muppets last week. It seems that short films before the main feature are making a comeback.

Pixar of course have been doing it for years. All their movies have had short animations preceding them. The Muppets of course is also a Disney film (and even has a Toy Story Pixar short), and so it can be argued that they were just continuing the company policy. But Journey 2: The Mysterious Island wasn’t Disney – it as distributed by Warner Brothers, but it too had a short – a Daffy Duck cartoon.

Actually now I think of it Yogi Bear back in 2010 had a Road Runner cartoon before it too.

I’m a big fan of this trend. I’m just about old enough to remember the tail end of short films before the main feature back in the 80s, and have always felt a little sad that they died out. I think that they can act as a sort of warm up act for the film. But more interestingly I think they have the potential to be a sort of experimental test bed where studios can put ideas and characters in front of audiences and see if they stick.

The beauty of this is that if the short film fails then people aren’t going to really care. They only had to sit through five to ten minutes of it and the main feature will be the main focus of their cinema experience anyhow. But if the short film hits the mark it will become another marketing tool for the main movie, and perhaps even encourage the studios to move the concept up to the big leagues.

And I don’t think short films should just be confined to family movies either – all genre’s could benefit. You could have had a Hawkeye short before the Thor movie for example. That would have been far more awesome than some stupid post end credit stinger.

What do you think? Are short films before the main feature something that should be encouraged? Let us know in the comments.

Dan and myself have been discussing the future of the podcast recently with all the life events and stuff going on around us.  Fortunately there’s no debate whatsoever, we’ll keep doing this until we don’t enjoy it or when someone offers us a big bag of sweaty cash to stop (the cash does not need to be sweaty). So in these discussions we’ve plotted out all the exciting things that ...]]> If you do visit the blog rather than subscribe through iTunes or reading these updates in your RSS you’ll notice a giant difference in the way the blog is set out.

Dan and myself have been discussing the future of the podcast recently with all the life events and stuff going on around us.  Fortunately there’s no debate whatsoever, we’ll keep doing this until we don’t enjoy it or when someone offers us a big bag of sweaty cash to stop (the cash does not need to be sweaty). So in these discussions we’ve plotted out all the exciting things that we want to do in here and one of them was to revisit the blog design.

As much as our Facebook and Twitter interactions are completely blowing our minds with their awesomeness we are both old school bloggers at heart and want to start using this site more than it currently is.

I don’t want to go too much into our plans but it’s going to be cool.

You’ll see with the new theme that there are spots that still need to be sanded and painted over (the logo for instance) and a lot of the posts need to be retagged and cleaned up slightly. This work will take a couple of weeks but ultimately I believe that it’s worth it. One of the big changes is the featured section in the middle with the three latest podcasts displayed.  The podcast itself remains the most important aspect of the site and so I felt that this really showcased the episodes. Blog posts like this one will appear on the home page now but under the main attraction.

You’ll also see that with the new five star ratings that you can get an idea of what Dan and my combined feelings towards the films in question is.  This score has to be rounded to the closest half star and averaged out from our out of ten ratings in the podcast, those won’t change.

So it’s a bit of a change and as with anything in the end if it doesn’t deliver a decent experience or it creates too much trouble we’ll look at redesigning again but I do ask that everyone give it a chance!

Let us know what you think (I know I’m going to regret that invitation)

Still all is not lost as we were able to churn out a filler show, cobbled together from odds and sods found on youtube, my hard drive, and the faintly gooey crevice down the back of my sofa.

Oh yes, we certainly know how to treat you right here at the midmoclub.

Anyhow – here’s the podcast:

Make sure you leave a comment either here or ...]]> There is no regular podcast this week as during the time we usually record the show Lee was having his teeth pulled out and I was at work trying not to let my boss catch me browsing Reddit.

Still all is not lost as we were able to churn out a filler show, cobbled together from odds and sods found on youtube, my hard drive, and the faintly gooey crevice down the back of my sofa.

Oh yes, we certainly know how to treat you right here at the midmoclub.

Anyhow – here’s the podcast:

Make sure you leave a comment either here or over at the Facebook Page giving us your best guesses at the trailers we played.

Come back next week when we will be talking about the movie Daredevil (directors cut)

Obviously the boy’s pure professionalism was enough to get them through, especially as they’ve long anticipated and planned for situations like this. You may have thought that the midmoclub’s previously shambolic nature was a result of Lee and Dan’s incompetence. But no! It was all an intricate plan to reduce your expectations to a point where you’ll basically accept any old claptrap.

And let’s face it – it’s worked.

Suckers.

Trailers discussed this week:

I’m not sure we can stress the importance of Riker growing a beard in this strip.

It’s very important.

Also you may have noticed that the strip has been moved to Monday (Aussie time) instead of Sunday, that’s because we post the brand new strip on Facebook on Sundays and they were overlapping.  If you want to see the latest strip head on over to the multi billion dollar Facebook page for the Midnight Movie Club and “like” us.  You’ll also get to see the impressive shark film conversations and poor Star Wars puns!

Of course if Facebook just isn’t your ...]]>

I’m not sure we can stress the importance of Riker growing a beard in this strip.

It’s very important.

Also you may have noticed that the strip has been moved to Monday (Aussie time) instead of Sunday, that’s because we post the brand new strip on Facebook on Sundays and they were overlapping.  If you want to see the latest strip head on over to the multi billion dollar Facebook page for the Midnight Movie Club and “like” us.  You’ll also get to see the impressive shark film conversations and poor Star Wars puns!

Of course if Facebook just isn’t your thing then be back here next Monday for the next exciting instalment!!

Why not support Riker’s beard by buying a t-shirt? (Lee takes an XL in case anyone was wondering…)

And so begins the age old rivalry between Worf and Dave.  Of course rivalry makes it seem like there was actual competition and Worf actually knowing who Dave was…

Remember you can always skip ahead to the new Dave strips over on the Midnight Movie Club Facebook page!

Hey you could eat what Ensign Dave eats:

The boys discuss the history of having your teeth pulled out and the horror of the student dentist, as well as a discourse on hookers and your obsession with all things Frankenhooker.

The trailers that Lee made Dan watch this week:

Lee and Dan also comment on SOPA, Netflix in the UK and celebrity spotting.

Apologies for the quality of the sound, Dan is very ...]]> A drug addled Lee with toothache joins Dan for the giant, Huge, MASSIVE 100th episode featuring the all time classic and favourite of Lee (and apparently all of you) Big Trouble in Little China!

The boys discuss the history of having your teeth pulled out and the horror of the student dentist, as well as a discourse on hookers and your obsession with all things Frankenhooker.

The trailers that Lee made Dan watch this week:

• Wrath of the Titans
• Act of Valor
• Haywire
• Red Tails

Lee and Dan also comment on SOPA, Netflix in the UK and celebrity spotting.

Apologies for the quality of the sound, Dan is very loud and Lee is very quiet… Dan is overcompensating for something:

So what do you think of the podcast, did any of the hosts have an extraordinarily wrong opinion??

Let us know in the comments and come back next week for Supergirl!!!

Ensign Dave is a cartoon strip that we’re featuring on the Midnight Movie Club Facebook page. He’s a character that was borne of the Star Trek podcasts as we realised that someone always seemed to get screwed out of a job when Worf came onboard.

Each week we’ll feature a strip here on the Midmoclub blog so our non Facebook using friends can still revel in the crushing disappointment of Dave’s life but if you want to see the newest without waiting head on over and like our page on Facebook!

Drink the drink that soothes Ensign Dave at the ...]]>

Ensign Dave is a cartoon strip that we’re featuring on the Midnight Movie Club Facebook page. He’s a character that was borne of the Star Trek podcasts as we realised that someone always seemed to get screwed out of a job when Worf came onboard.

Each week we’ll feature a strip here on the Midmoclub blog so our non Facebook using friends can still revel in the crushing disappointment of Dave’s life but if you want to see the newest without waiting head on over and like our page on Facebook!

Drink the drink that soothes Ensign Dave at the end of a disappointing shift:

Dan regrets this decision.

Will we have a new sulk on our hands to rival the likes of Wrath of Khan or The Sure Thing?

Maybe. (Actually I already know the answer as I have already heard the podcast).

As well as Battle Beyond the Stars Dan and Lee discus the greatness (perhaps this is stretching the definition) of the following trailers:

The boys also discuss their thoughts on the ...]]> In order to ease everyone back into the brave new non-Star Trek Midnight Movie Club world Lee and Dan decided to stay in the realm of science fiction.

Dan regrets this decision.

Will we have a new sulk on our hands to rival the likes of Wrath of Khan or The Sure Thing?

Maybe. (Actually I already know the answer as I have already heard the podcast).

As well as Battle Beyond the Stars Dan and Lee discus the greatness (perhaps this is stretching the definition) of the following trailers:

• Slave Girls
• Yor: The Hunter from the Future
• G.I. Joe: Retaliation

The boys also discuss their thoughts on the new DC logo, the fact that The Avengers is going to be told from Captain America’s perspective, which movie makes Lee cry every time, lack of Benji on the podcast and foreign films.

Next week it’s the big 100 episode as we’re watching Big Trouble in Little China.

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAYY!!!!!

Fair warning this is a long podcast, possibly the longest that Dan’s bladder or Lee’s remarkably limited attention span has permitted. All we can suggest is that you skip out on work, hide out in your local school’s storage attic, pace out your sandwiches (you have a ...]]> All good things must come to an end, even Star Trek movie marathons. We’ve laughed, Dan cried, Lee questioned if it was a good idea in the first place (he’s totally convinced it was) but in the end it has all built up to this last installment featuring the J.J. Abrams helmed Star Trek.

Fair warning this is a long podcast, possibly the longest that Dan’s bladder or Lee’s remarkably limited attention span has permitted. All we can suggest is that you skip out on work, hide out in your local school’s storage attic, pace out your sandwiches (you have a long way to go) and enjoy…

In case you still need convincing Dan and Lee are also discussing Lego, Girl’s Lego, Bratz, Storm Troopers, the new Star Trek  casting, Lord of the Rings, Mexican eBay, wrestling masks and the following trailers:

• The Hunger Games
• MIB3
• The Avengers
• John Carter of Mars
• The Expendables 2

Wow that’s a lot of podcast, almost too much gingerbread.

Join the boys as next week they watch Battle Beyond the Stars.

Lee and Dan are back this week and are talking about the final Star Trek: The Next Generation film Nemesis.

Nemesis was a box office and critical disaster so after so many hours of Star Trek films how does the film shape up to their expectations?

This week in geek Lee and Dan discuss the following trailers:

They also chat briefly about Batman Arkham City and the very exciting weight loss challenge going on in the Midmoclub labs!

So what did you guys think of Star Trek Nemesis?  Was it really as bad as people have said? ...]]> Happy 2012 everyone!

Lee and Dan are back this week and are talking about the final Star Trek: The Next Generation film Nemesis.

Nemesis was a box office and critical disaster so after so many hours of Star Trek films how does the film shape up to their expectations?

This week in geek Lee and Dan discuss the following trailers:

• The Dark Knight Rises
• The Hobbit
• Prometheus
• The Grey

They also chat briefly about Batman Arkham City and the very exciting weight loss challenge going on in the Midmoclub labs!

So what did you guys think of Star Trek Nemesis?  Was it really as bad as people have said?  Do you think there ever will be another Next Generation film? How was your New Years?? Did you do anything geeky?!? Do you think there are too many questions??!?

Join us next week as we watch Star Trek (the reboot one!!).

This week we’re reviewing that classic yuletide movie Star Trek: Insurrection. You know – that one where Santa goes missing and so Ryker and Picard save Christmas by reversing the polarity of the Jeffries Tubes in order to use the Enterprise to deliver all the presents to the girls and boys.

OK, maybe not.

Due to poor planning and general lack of management we didn’t actually get round to watching a Christmas film this week, and so Star Trek: Insurrection is as good as you are going to get I’m afraid.

There are a some ...]]> Hurrah it’s the Midnight Movie Club Podcast Christmas special!!!!

This week we’re reviewing that classic yuletide movie Star Trek: Insurrection. You know – that one where Santa goes missing and so Ryker and Picard save Christmas by reversing the polarity of the Jeffries Tubes in order to use the Enterprise to deliver all the presents to the girls and boys.

OK, maybe not.

Due to poor planning and general lack of management we didn’t actually get round to watching a Christmas film this week, and so Star Trek: Insurrection is as good as you are going to get I’m afraid.

There are a some sleigh bells at the beginning of the show however.

So all that’s left to do is wish everyone a Merry Christmas from us here at the Midnight Movie Club. We hope you have a great one.

Here’s the podcast:

We’re unlikely to put out a podcast next week, but we should be able to manage one in the gap between Christmas and the New Year. If all goes to plan we’ll be watching Star Trek: Nemesis we’ll see you then.

Oh and remember – for all your Slaithwaite and Colne Valley Events and News why not visit Dan’s new blog – Slawit.org. You know it makes sense.

Lee is back from his holiday (although why he bothered going at all is beyond me as he already lives abroad) and so the boys managed to bash out yet another sparkling episode of the podcast. You truly are blessed.

This week we’re talking about :

We also hurl abuse at our friends at The Scuttercast and MASH 4077 podcast, because that’s just the way we roll.

Oh yeah, we talk about Star Trek: Generations a bit too.

Join us next week when ...]]>  

Lee is back from his holiday (although why he bothered going at all is beyond me as he already lives abroad) and so the boys managed to bash out yet another sparkling episode of the podcast. You truly are blessed.

This week we’re talking about :

• Themed theme parks
• Full Metal Alchemist
• Lee liking Star Wars Episode I more than Ghostbusters
• And a load of other things that I can’t remember.

We also hurl abuse at our friends at The Scuttercast and MASH 4077 podcast, because that’s just the way we roll.

Oh yeah, we talk about Star Trek: Generations a bit too.

Join us next week when we’re going to be cracking on with our Star Trek marathon and watching Star Trek: First Contact.

Well, either that or Dan forgot he hadn’t uploaded it yet

In week in geek this episode we talk about Steven Spielberg, the differences between home theatre and the cinema going experience, and why woodpeckers don’t get brain damage when they bore holes in trees.

We then spend some time talking about the rather excellent 1992 movie The Mighty Ducks starring Emilio Estevez, ...]]> This podcast was recorded quite a while ago, but due to our extensive quality control policies and procedures it was held back while our team of production assistants worked 24 hours a day to hone and sculpt it to perfection.

Well, either that or Dan forgot he hadn’t uploaded it yet

In week in geek this episode we talk about Steven Spielberg, the differences between home theatre and the cinema going experience, and why woodpeckers don’t get brain damage when they bore holes in trees.

We then spend some time talking about the rather excellent 1992 movie The Mighty Ducks starring Emilio Estevez, Joshua Jackson, and Joss Ackland.

But after that things take a dark turn. A very dark turn.

Be warned.

It doesn’t look like there will be a podcast next week, as Lee is on holiday and it’s not likely the boys will have chance to record. Service should return to normal the week after however.

No really.

More awesome than ninjas riding jet-skies with flame throwers.

The single best podcast that any human being has ever had drift down upon their eardrums.

And then tragedy struck.

Horrible awful miserable tragedy.

Dan’s computer died and the podcast of glory was lost forever.

The boys tried to recapture the previous wonder and joy but alas the podcast you will now listen to is no good.

Yup, the normal standard.

Sorry.

Also sorry for the movie this week…

Next week Lee and Dan continue the trend of not watching the planned films and watching Dawson’s Creek alumni films…

The ...]]> This week Lee and Dan recorded the greatest podcast ever produced by anyone anywhere.

No really.

More awesome than ninjas riding jet-skies with flame throwers.

The single best podcast that any human being has ever had drift down upon their eardrums.

And then tragedy struck.

Horrible awful miserable tragedy.

Dan’s computer died and the podcast of glory was lost forever.

The boys tried to recapture the previous wonder and joy but alas the podcast you will now listen to is no good.

Yup, the normal standard.

Sorry.

Also sorry for the movie this week…

Next week Lee and Dan continue the trend of not watching the planned films and watching Dawson’s Creek alumni films…

The Mighty Ducks!

You can apparently watch it now right there on YouTube (which doesn’t sound right to us but you know…)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czdOpucyuVQ

Bet that video disappears soon, see you all next week!

Over the next few weeks I’m going to be pointing out a few podcasts that I personally enjoy. Both Lee and I feel that the world of podcasting should be a supportive community rather than a competitive marketplace, and one of the ways we can support other shows ...]]> A couple of weeks ago over on our Facebook group the magnificently bearded Andrew Baker asked us if there was any other podcasts we could recommend. Lee’s pretty notorious for not listening to many other shows, but I’m a certified podcast addict and am more than happy to throw around a few suggestions.

Over the next few weeks I’m going to be pointing out a few podcasts that I personally enjoy. Both Lee and I feel that the world of podcasting should be a supportive community rather than a competitive marketplace, and one of the ways we can support other shows is by pointing our rather amazing audience towards them too.

So here’s my first two recommendations:

Fulltime Casual

Both Ian and I mentioned the Fulltime Casual podcast over on the Facebook page. This Australian podcast is hosted by Peter Wells and Justin Gibson, who have been friends for many years judging by the easygoing chemistry between the two.

The show focuses on all the usual geeky pursuits – TV, film, and general popular culture. But the guys stand a little taller than the rest by virtue of their reasoned and interesting reviews, easy wit, and general laid back attitude – not for them is the rabid fanboyism of many pop culture based shows.

Fulltime Casual isn’t the most regularly updated podcast out there, and isn’t one I particularly rely on to get all my geeky news. But they have pointed me in the direction of a number of now-loved movies and TV shows

You can find Fulltime Casual at www.fulltimecasual.com or go directly to their iTunes page.

The Ink Panthers Show

I’m not sure if I’ve ever mentioned it on the Midnight Movie Club, but by far my favourite comic book writer/artist is a chap called Alex Robinson. He is best known for his fantastic Box Office Poison indy comic series, the graphic novel of which I’ve bought multiple times in order to give them as gifts. I even gave Lee a copy a year or two ago.

Alex has also done other comics too, all of which have my sincere recommendation. The guy really is one of the finest comic creators out there.

Alex and his friend and fellow comic creator Mike Dawson put out a weekly-ish show called The Ink Panters Show. I’ve yet to check out Mikes comics, but i’ve been meaning to for ages (in fact – there – I just ordered his book Troop 142 from amazon now). The show does skirt round the world of indy comic artists, but is wide ranging in it’s topics and extremely accessible to all and is possibly the funniest show I listen to. I certainly leap on each and every episode as it comes out. It’s podcasting at it’s absolute bloody finest. Seriously, you need to check it out.

You can find the podcast on its webpage, or alternatively find it on iTunes.

———–

And that’ll do for this week I think. I listen to a lot of good shows and hopefully aim to point out some more for you over the five or six weeks or so. Certainly i’ll be including all the podcasting friends of the show so don’t start getting your knickers in a twist (I’m looking at the Casta La Vista guys here – those boys are so needy).

Let me know your own podcasting recommendations. I’m always in the market for finding some new shows.

That being said Dan has let Lee get carried away and the boys watched the film The Big Bang.

You wanted to say Theory at the end of that didn’t you?

This week in week of geek:

Not that I’m bitter or anything *grumble mutter grumble*

Anyhow, on this weeks podcast we take a look at what the poll has exposed as the most popular Star Trek movie amongst Midnight Movie Club members – Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

So what do we think? Well you’ll have to listen and find ...]]> Today’s podcast is slightly late as I was a bit tied up preparing for an interview for a job. An interview for a job that I ended up not getting. So if you want to blame someone, blame the interview panel, not me.

Not that I’m bitter or anything *grumble mutter grumble*

Anyhow, on this weeks podcast we take a look at what the poll has exposed as the most popular Star Trek movie amongst Midnight Movie Club members – Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

So what do we think? Well you’ll have to listen and find out.

Next week we’ll be breaking with all midmoclub traditions and reviewing a movie from 2011 – The Big Bang staring Antonio Banderas, Sienna Guilory, and Thomas Kretschmann.

Yes, I know, we’re as excited about this as you are.

This week Lee and Dan watched Fright Night as it’s been remade and that’s the “other” movie marathon they are doing in between Star Trek films.

This week amongst other things Lee and Dan discuss:

In this week’s week of geek there is:

No punches are pulled.

But before they get to the movie there is of course the week in geek:

Join ...]]> In the continuing quest to alienate our listeners Lee and Dan are watching fan favourite Planet of the Apes and it’s not pretty folks.

No punches are pulled.

But before they get to the movie there is of course the week in geek:

• Lee had a migraine before recording this… ummm no real pop culture reference but he does bang on about it
• The further adventures of Jones
• There’s a language barrier problem
• Dan’s cheating at Portal but Lee justifies it for him
• Lee versus the zombies… from behind the couch… flinching
• Lee’s been reading the comic book series The Boys
• Lee’s also been watching Star Wars on blu-ray

Join us next week as things take a turn for the worse as Lee and Dan visit the Final Frontier in Star Trek V which is considered by many as the worst.  Lee does warn that he’s a Star Trek V apologist.

But boy oh boy do we have a corker for you this week!

And ...]]> Dan’s stepping in and taking over podcast publishing duties this week, so you’re getting the podcast three or four hours earlier than usual. Unless of course you were expecting a podcast last week – in which case you’re getting it one hundred and sixty four hours late. That’s just the way Dan rolls I’m afraid.

But boy oh boy do we have a corker for you this week!

• THRILL at Dan dicing with death
• MARVEL at Lee’s amazing psychic skills
• BOO at Dylans’ dastardly behaviour on the Facebook group.
• GASP in amazement at the brand new perky promo for the Fantasy Movie Podcast

And we talk about the Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. The one with the whales and the nuclear wessles. Hurrah!

It’s all going on here people! The Midnight Movie Club Podcast: the most exciting podcast on the internet*

Join us next week when we’re watching Planet of the Apes.

_{*may not be true}

On the week of geek:

This week in Week of Geek:

The week in geek features:

The beginning of the Midnight Movie Club’s massive Star Trek marathon beginning with the 1979 film Star Trek: The Motion Picture, well actually the 2001 version of the film that had minor special effects added as well as a different edit (although it is just as long as the original version – just ask Dan!).

This week in Week of Geek:

Since the boys have featured Jean Claude Van Damme punching out a snake in Hard Target we all thought it only fair that Steven Seagal get a run on the podcast and when asked the office could only think of Under Siege 2 so they went with the lessor known Under Siege.

There is!!!

YAAAAAY!!!!

Except…

…not really.

Just a quick Three of the Best featuring our very own Lee!!!

So what are your three favourite films of all time?

Join us next week as we chat about Under Siege.

In this week of geek Lee and Dan discuss:

Now it should be noted that if you really ...]]> What an amazing run of films that Lee and Dan have been watching with the amazing Indiana Jones trilogy but all good things must come to an end and that end is Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

In this week of geek Lee and Dan discuss:

• Shittiness and Batman
• Jean-Paul Valley: the replacement Batman
• Dan is an early un-adopter of Google+
• X-Men First Class
• The live action Star Blazers film Space Battleship Yamato
• Transformers 3 and Dan’s advice on how to watch it
• Lee highlights how much he doesn’t want to pay to watch Transformers 3

Now it should be noted that if you really love Indiana Jones 4 we at the Midnight Movie Club are very happy for you and don’t wish to take any of your enjoyment of said film away however you may find this podcast unsettling.  Perhaps you should go listen to the other Indy podcasts again or of course come back next week!

On to the podcast:

Next week we’ve been given the heads up that there will be no Under Siege podcast until the following week but there will be a filler of some sort (we cannot guarantee quality though)

Vent in the comments over your Indy 4 rage!!!

This week Lee and Dan finish what they started by completing the Indiana Jones trilogy…

What?

Another one…?

That doesn’t sound right.

In week of geek Dan and Lee discuss:

This week the nice people over at the LAMBcast once again agreed to let Dan come over and bring down the tone of their show. And he’s talking about moustaches – one of the midmoclub’s favorite topics.

So why not head over and listen to Dan ...]]> Hey you! Yes you! Have you been missing the Three of the Best segment? Are you pining for arbitrary lists of movies made by people with far too much time on their hands? Well why not head over to the LAMBcast, the official podcast of the Large Association of Movie Blogs.

This week the nice people over at the LAMBcast once again agreed to let Dan come over and bring down the tone of their show. And he’s talking about moustaches – one of the midmoclub’s favorite topics.

So why not head over and listen to Dan try miserably to hold his own against movie blogging luminary such as Dylan from Man I Love Films, Nick from Random Ramblings of a Demented Doorknob, Sam from Duke and the Movies, and friend of the show Courtney (aka CS) from Big Thoughts from a Small Mind.

You can here the podcast here: LAMBcast #75: Roll Your Own Top

In week of geek Dan and Lee discuss:

The end result you’ll have to judge for yourself!

In week of geek Dan and Lee discussed:

In week of geek Lee and Dan discuss:

The film this week is of course the ...]]> This week laziness defines the new structure of the Midnight Movie Club as we enter a bold new period of the club of the sameness just shuffled around.

In week of geek Lee and Dan discuss:

• Y: The Last Man – the brilliance of the series and our take on the end
• The slowest Harry Potter film marathon ever and how Lee is unimpressed by JK Rowling
• Pottermore (Lee predicts it as a fizzer)
• Some of Dan’s thoughts on Green Lantern and how Australia doesn’t get to see it for ages
• 2D tickets outselling 3D tickets – 3D Graph

The film this week is of course the Kevin Costner film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.

Lee watched the Blu-ray special edition and Dan watched the theatrical release.

A quick note about the sound quality, Dan feels that the sound levels had some trouble this week and apologises.

Lee didn’t notice any problems.

Next week: Dan and Lee are watching Raiders of the Lost Ark

Let us know what you thought of the podcast in the comments and remember you can use your Facebook login below the comments!

But if you are desperate for a quick fix of movie podcasting goodness then why not check out Dan’s appearance over on the LAMBcast where he and a plethora of movie blogging glitterati are discussing X-Men: First Class.

So, if you want to hear Dan giving his views on the film, as well as him alienating 90% of the LAMB community by his dismissive attitude towards Citizen Kane, you can ...]]> There’s no midmoclub podcast this week, although we’ll be back next week with avengence watching Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (or Robin Hood: Prince of Tides as Lee knows it).

But if you are desperate for a quick fix of movie podcasting goodness then why not check out Dan’s appearance over on the LAMBcast where he and a plethora of movie blogging glitterati are discussing X-Men: First Class.

So, if you want to hear Dan giving his views on the film, as well as him alienating 90% of the LAMB community by his dismissive attitude towards Citizen Kane, you can go listen here:

X-Men First Class LAMBcast

Many thanks to Dylan from Man I Love Films, James from Cinema Sights, Rachel from Rachel’s Reel Reviews, and fellow LAMBcast newbie Sam from Duke and the Movies for putting up with Dan.

This weeks three of the best was provided by Claire from Moon in the Gutter, and very good it was too (despite the fact she blatantly cheated). You can also find Claire on twitter as @merialc.

No podcast next week, and very possibly the week after that, as we take a little break to have a think about ...]]> On this week’s podcast Lee and Dan are taking a look at the 1980 movie Caddyshack, starring Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, Bill Murray, and a bunch of other people that we’ve never heard of before – but one of them was in Tron.

This weeks three of the best was provided by Claire from Moon in the Gutter, and very good it was too (despite the fact she blatantly cheated). You can also find Claire on twitter as @merialc.

No podcast next week, and very possibly the week after that, as we take a little break to have a think about if/how we need to change the podcast at all due to Dan’s new job and Lee’s paucity of time. We will be back shortly however so stay tuned.

Anyhow, here’s this weeks podcast:

If you have any comments, suggestions, or feedback on the podcast in general, and what you would like to see/not to see going forward then mention them in the comments. I should point out though – we know you don’t like the Star Trek bit (and it’s likely not to return).

To be honest I’ve only just finished editing the podcast and I still can’t remember what we talked about. I’m pretty sure that we were unpleasant about Chris O’Donnel, showed our ignorance of classic French Literature, and spent some time discussing Lego Batman. Something like that anyway.

Lee is far better at writing these show notes, which is annoying as he doesn’t even bother listening to the podcast. Unfortunately due to ...]]> This week Lee and I are watching the 1993 film The Three Musketeers staring Charlie Sheen, Kiefer Sutherland, Oliver Platt, Chris O’Donnell, Tim Curry and Rebecca DeMornay.

To be honest I’ve only just finished editing the podcast and I still can’t remember what we talked about. I’m pretty sure that we were unpleasant about Chris O’Donnel, showed our ignorance of classic French Literature, and spent some time discussing Lego Batman. Something like that anyway.

Lee is far better at writing these show notes, which is annoying as he doesn’t even bother listening to the podcast. Unfortunately due to my general slackness I ended up editing the episode right at the last minute, so as punishment it’s down to me to write the accompanying post.

I’m the bloody Igor of this partnership. It’s a disgrace. “All for one” my arse.

Anyway – I do remember that the marvelous Jeff from Caddickisms did a stirling job of a Three of Best for us on this episode. Jeff’s also recently jumped on twitter, so you should all go follow him @Caddickisms

Here we go:

No podcast next week as we take our regular mid-season break. But we’ll be back the week after with Caddyshack.

When you get unpaid interns to do all the office admin work then you get exactly what you pay for.

Actually it’s just one of those weeks where Dan and I haven’t been able to line up our times and so we never actually got a chance to watch and talk about The Three Musketeers though rest assured next week we will be back swashbuckling our way through another podcast.

In the meantime why not wrap your ears around a super extended Week in Geek as Dan and I chat about everything wrong in comics and some other pop ...]]> What can you say?

When you get unpaid interns to do all the office admin work then you get exactly what you pay for.

Actually it’s just one of those weeks where Dan and I haven’t been able to line up our times and so we never actually got a chance to watch and talk about The Three Musketeers though rest assured next week we will be back swashbuckling our way through another podcast.

In the meantime why not wrap your ears around a super extended Week in Geek as Dan and I chat about everything wrong in comics and some other pop culture thingos:

So next we’ll be back, leave us a comment in the comments below and shed your own light on the subject of The Avengers or defend Green Lantern!

PS I have no idea what Dan was doing with those songs

“A movie this unspeakably awful can make an audience a little crazy. You want to throw things, yell at the actors, beg them to stop.” is the way some dude from Rolling Stone described it.

Yes that’s right.

Lee and Dan are watching the Bruce Willis comedy caper Hudson Hawk.

Is it as bad as they say it is?  Do Lee and Dan remember it correctly?  Will you learn how to recover from temporal narcosis? Will this podcast give you temporal narcosis?

Listen to find out!!!

Big thanks to Phil for providing his Three of the Best!

Next ...]]> It won the Razzie Award for:

• Worst director
• Worst screenplay
• Worst picture

“A movie this unspeakably awful can make an audience a little crazy. You want to throw things, yell at the actors, beg them to stop.” is the way some dude from Rolling Stone described it.

Yes that’s right.

Lee and Dan are watching the Bruce Willis comedy caper Hudson Hawk.

Is it as bad as they say it is?  Do Lee and Dan remember it correctly?  Will you learn how to recover from temporal narcosis? Will this podcast give you temporal narcosis?

Listen to find out!!!

Big thanks to Phil for providing his Three of the Best!

Next week Lee and Dan are doing a filler episode!!! So no movie next week but plenty of geeky talking bits!!!

Tell us what you think of Hudson Hawk or if you’ve managed to avoid temporal narcosis thanks to this podcast!!

Also this sentence will end with many exclamation marks much like the last two!!!

In the film Speed 2 Cruise Control Sandra Bullock starred as Annie Porter, a woman who has been lied to by her SWAT team boyfriend Jason Patric and trapped an out-of-control luxury cruise liner whose navigation computers have been reprogrammed by a computer hacker (Willem Dafoe) setting the ship on a collision course with an oil tanker.

The week Lee and Dan are watching the lessor known prequel to this film: Speed.

Now according to Lee the films Speed, Speed 2 and Citizen Kane all share something in common: none of these films were watched by Lee in the last week. Yes, that’s right it’s only one ...]]>

In the film Speed 2 Cruise Control Sandra Bullock starred as Annie Porter, a woman who has been lied to by her SWAT team boyfriend Jason Patric and trapped an out-of-control luxury cruise liner whose navigation computers have been reprogrammed by a computer hacker (Willem Dafoe) setting the ship on a collision course with an oil tanker.

The week Lee and Dan are watching the lessor known prequel to this film: Speed.

Now according to Lee the films Speed, Speed 2 and Citizen Kane all share something in common: none of these films were watched by Lee in the last week. Yes, that’s right it’s only one week into the new season and already Lee hasn’t watched the film. But to cover up Dan does discuss the weather, it’s all very exciting.

To be fair Lee did watch the movie about a month or so ago in high definition, although he now wishes he’d watch it on his iPad on the bus which would have been completely meta had Dan not pointed out that most of the film takes place off the bus..

Anyway this week Dan and Lee are watching the 1994 action thriller Speed staring Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock and Dennis Hopper.

Enjoy!

Once again it’s a big thank you to Kasey of The Fantasy Movie Podcast for actually being on Three of the Best this week!

Next week Lee and Dan are catching the Bruce Willis comedy Hudson Hawk!

In the meantime why not share your own thoughts or somebody else’s in the comments!?  Dan prints every single one of them up and hangs them on his wall!!

It’s an all new season of the Midnight Movie Club and Lee and Dan are fresh off their break from the podcast and are ready to the films that keep you bleary eyed at work the next morning after staying up too late on a school night!

In fact they have purposely only been watching brand new films of the highest quality just to keep themselves fresh and ready to dive into the vault to dig up the sometimes less than fresh films of the past!

The first film on the agenda is the 1984 science fiction “thriller” Runaway. It stars Tom Selleck, Tom ...]]> We’re back!!

It’s an all new season of the Midnight Movie Club and Lee and Dan are fresh off their break from the podcast and are ready to the films that keep you bleary eyed at work the next morning after staying up too late on a school night!

In fact they have purposely only been watching brand new films of the highest quality just to keep themselves fresh and ready to dive into the vault to dig up the sometimes less than fresh films of the past!

The first film on the agenda is the 1984 science fiction “thriller” Runaway.
It stars Tom Selleck, Tom Selleck’s moustache, Kirstie Alley and Gene Simmons… yes THAT Gene Simmons.

So you have Magnum PI, Saavik, the bass player from KISS and hat box sized homicidal robots plus it’s all directed and written by the dude who wrote Jurassic Park, how can this film be anything but awesome?!?!

Have a listen and see if it lives up to all of its promise:

A huge thank you to Kasey of The Fantasy Movie Podcast for almost being on Three of the Best and for providing the voice for our brand new intro!!!

Join Lee and Dan next week as they catch the bus and watch Speed!

Are you going to track this film down?  Have you already seen it?!?

Let us know what you thought in the comments!!

Absence makes you lot forget about us and wander off to other podcasts.

We at the Midmoclub Institute are well aware of this which is why we are serving up this tasty reminder that we are back next week with all new podcasts!!!

Don’t be afraid to openly weep at the sweet sounds of Dan and Lee’s voices and the knowledge that this time next week you’ll be once again held in the warm embrace of the Midnight Movie Club podcast.

You can leave comments now declaring your love and/or bragging about picking all of the ...]]> Absence does not make the heart grow fonder.

Absence makes you lot forget about us and wander off to other podcasts.

We at the Midmoclub Institute are well aware of this which is why we are serving up this tasty reminder that we are back next week with all new podcasts!!!

Don’t be afraid to openly weep at the sweet sounds of Dan and Lee’s voices and the knowledge that this time next week you’ll be once again held in the warm embrace of the Midnight Movie Club podcast.

You can leave comments now declaring your love and/or bragging about picking all of the films.

This time he’s over on friend of the show Jeff’s brand new podcast TIDBABSH. And a lot of fun it is too.

So why not head over there and give it a listen. Go on, you know it makes sense.

Okay enough chit chat go listen to ...]]> Whilst Lee and Dan are finishing sunning themselves and generally lazing around watching films made within the last ten years during their break we thought we’d treat you to a special episode of the Midnight Movie Club.  Dan and Lee invited the Chris’s from the podcast Casta La Vista over for a cup of tea and a bit of a chat around the 1984 comedy adventure film Romancing the Stone. The film was directed by Robert Zemeckis and stars Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito and was followed up with a sequel called The Jewel of the Nile.

Okay enough chit chat go listen to the podcast you’ve been hanging to listen to!

Sigh.

There now, wasn’t that worth it!?

Only another week without the boys and then season three of the Midnight Movie Club kicks off!!!

Big thanks to the Casta La Vista boys and you should add them to your listening selection (here’s one to ease you in… starring Lee and Dan!!)

Be back in two weeks or be… ummm absent… ummm you know, from the podcast…

Damnit.

Then after a few more moons the guys over at Geek Tragedy finally overcame some technical difficulties and posted the podcast on their site.

And now, approximately seven years after it was actually recorded, we are getting round to telling you it exists.

OK, the news covered by the show is now a bit out of date. Lee is no longer excited about the pre production rumors surrounding Superman IV: The Quest for Peace nor is he speculating about ...]]> Many moons ago Lee guest co-hosted over at the Geek Tragedy Podcast while regular host Kyle was away at a Cannonball Run convention.

Then after a few more moons the guys over at Geek Tragedy finally overcame some technical difficulties and posted the podcast on their site.

And now, approximately seven years after it was actually recorded, we are getting round to telling you it exists.

OK, the news covered by the show is now a bit out of date. Lee is no longer excited about the pre production rumors surrounding Superman IV: The Quest for Peace nor is he speculating about a Manequin prequel. Still, its well worth a listen and you can do so here.

Also Lee is mentioned in the latest Casta La Vista Podcast and a question set by Dan is put to one of the biggest names in podcasting, Jimmy Pardo, over on Podcast Squared. But nether Lee or Dan actually appear on those shows, so they can’t be that good can they.

The Midnight Movie Club will be back with a special bonus episode featuring those reprobates from the Casta La Vista podcast next week.

Now as this is the finale episode there is a remarkable amount of silliness going on and you are not promised a completely coherent podcast like the boys usually serve up…

…well you know.

A big thanks to Andrew of the podcast Podcast Squared for taking part in the ...]]> Put away your Xander, ignore your Willow and hide your Giles and Spike CDs because this week Dan and Lee are watching the original Buffy The Vampire Slayer film for their Season Two finale!  This is the 1992 Fran Rubel Kuzui directed film starring Kirsty Swanson and Luke Perry that came before the acclaimed television series.

Now as this is the finale episode there is a remarkable amount of silliness going on and you are not promised a completely coherent podcast like the boys usually serve up…

…well you know.

A big thanks to Andrew of the podcast Podcast Squared for taking part in the Three of the Best.

So the boys are riding off into the sunset for a well earned break, Lee is apparently excited to watch movies made within the last 10 years and Dan is building himself a Blue Beetle costume during his holiday*.

What does this mean for you though?!?

Well if you can just hang on for a week the boys are joining the Casta La Vista boys in another amazing crossover as they come together to celebrate the film Romancing the Stone.

So that’s not next week, but the week after and then you have to wait another week and then Lee and Dan will be back with season 3… or it may be the week after… or ummm ahhhhhhhh

Yay holidays!!!

Share your thoughts or your hopes and dreams in the comments!

*May be a lie.

Oh, and excuse us while we claim-my-podcast-in-podbean{scid-bWlkbW9jbHVi-ecid}

Today they boys are guest co-hosting over at the fantastic movie news and reviews podcast Casta La Vista.

The show includes all the latest cinema news as well as reviews of Battle: LA, Company Men, and Submarine. Plus DVD reviews and a Anchorman quiz. It doesn’t get much better than this people.

Why not head over and have a listen.

Now there is a strong language warning for this episode as it would have been essentially impossible to discuss this film in any other way.

A ...]]> Yup this week Dan and Lee are stealing themselves a camper van, taking hostages and making for the border because this week they are watching the 1996 Robert Rodriguez horror romp From Dusk Till Dawn.  Starring George Clooney and (who wrote the screenplay) plus a whole host of Rodriguez and Tarantino regulars this film is a double sided coin that possibly can’t be considered horror simply because it didn’t keep Dan behind the couch for very long.

Now there is a strong language warning for this episode as it would have been essentially impossible to discuss this film in any other way.

A big thanks this week to CS for sharing his Three of the Best, you can check out his blog at Big thoughts from a small mind.

Next week on the podcast Lee and Dan are sticking with the vampire theme for their season finale and watching the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer film. There is also going to be a bunch of silliness.

Share your thoughts in the comments!!

This week Lee and Dan are interviewed over on Andrew Johnstone’s excellent podcast review show Podcast Squared.

Why not head over and have a listen.

Take a chance on me (That’s all I ask of you honey) Take a chance on me

Yes that’s right this week Lee and Dan are watching the 1993 John Woo action ...]]>

If you change your mind, I’m the first in line
Honey I’m still free
Take a chance on me
If you need me, let me know, gonna be around
If you’ve got no place to go, if you’re feeling down
If you’re all alone when the pretty birds have flown
Honey I’m still free
Take a chance on me
Gonna do my very best and it ain’t no lie
If you put me to the test, if you let me try

Take a chance on me
(That’s all I ask of you honey)
Take a chance on me

Yes that’s right this week Lee and Dan are watching the 1993 John Woo action film Hard Target. Starring Jean-Claude Van Damme as Chance Boudreaux (see what we did there?!?!… fine whatevs).

It’s a pretty awesome podcast this week so stop gawking at the scary ABBA song lines and listen to the podcast!!

Big thanks to Alex this week for taking part in our Three of the Best! Check out his blog “Do it Anyway”.

Now next week is possibly the first horror film (there must have been another… maybe Jaws) on the podcast, if you listen carefully you can hear Dan shaking in his boots already!! Lee and Dan are checking out From Dusk Till Dawn!!

It won’t though so you might as well just give in to the punishment and listen to the podcast:

Many thanks go to Matt Cavendish… no, wait… Caverstone… no, that’s not right… Caverhill! That’s it Caverhill! Many thanks to Matt Caverhill from the blog Culture Kills…wait, I mean ...]]> Grab your helmet, lawgiver and your lawmaster and bring justice to unruly masses because this week Lee and Dan are visiting the mean streets of Mega City 1 in the 1995 film adaptation of Judge Dredd. Alternatively you can simply hide within a food dispensing robot and hope it all goes away.

It won’t though so you might as well just give in to the punishment and listen to the podcast:

Many thanks go to Matt Cavendish… no, wait… Caverstone… no, that’s not right… Caverhill! That’s it Caverhill! Many thanks to Matt Caverhill from the blog Culture Kills…wait, I mean cutlery for such a sterling job on both Week in Geek and Three of the Best. Thanks man.

Join us next week when we’ll be watching the 1993 Jean-Claude Van Damme movie, Hard Target.

But don’t get me wrong, it has it’s charms. It draws the eye nicely to the focus of the poster, and I have nostalgic affection for the little pictures of the cast lining the bottom.

And although I think that the fully grown Audrey II is more memorable, there is no denying the baby cabbage ...]]> While there is nothing especially bad about this poster for the 1986 musical Little Shop of Horrors, I wouldn’t say it is particularly iconic. In fact it really misses a trick by not showing the man eating plant Audrey II in it’s full glory.

But don’t get me wrong, it has it’s charms. It draws the eye nicely to the focus of the poster, and I have nostalgic affection for the little pictures of the cast lining the bottom.

And although I think that the fully grown Audrey II is more memorable, there is no denying the baby cabbage version is rather cute.

However what I really love about this poster is the title. The childish, almost innocent font of the words “Little Shop” and the campy retro blood dripping “Horrors” is fantastic. It also pops right out of the poster, working well against the subdued brown tones of the background.

The Litte Shop of Horrors logo is an image that really sums up the feel of the movie, and one that’s replicated on posters for amateur productions of the musical all over the world. Great stuff.

If you’ve seen Top Gun then you know the soundtrack, it’s one of those happy alignments that happen ...]]> I think we have a new contender for most iconic soundtrack featured on the Soundtrack Saturday weekly feature and it be Top Gun.  When Jeff suggested the soundtrack on Facebook I immediately thought to myself “duh” of course.  I had a copy of the Top Gun soundtrack when I was younger, I may have an old CD copy of it floating around though I haven’t seen it for a long time and may be making it up but it’s such a popular soundtrack.

If you’ve seen Top Gun then you know the soundtrack, it’s one of those happy alignments that happen when a soundtrack so perfectly fits and encapsulates a film and a time in space which Top Gun does.  Danger Zone whilst often parodied or used jokingly (most notably for me right now in the animated series Archer) it’s perfect for this film.

Now I can’t embed the soundtrack because the Grooveshark plugin has become a bit of a pain in the arse and was disrupting the WordPress method of putting images into a post so I’ve disabled it for the time being until I can get it to work without making all the red lights flash and pushing the needle into the danger zone (see what I did there) so I’m going to raid the YopuTube cupboard for some Top Gun soundtrack lovin:

I would be interested in hearing if anyone has a better way aside from Grooveshark for me to embed music into the blog, either use the contact form or a comment below.

More importantly though share your own memories about the Top Gun soundtrack!! Love it? Hate it? Never heard of it?!?!

Of course if you are a woman then just reverse the previous sentence and leave your no good man at home whilst you forge an amazing career that he will covet.

Yeah we’re not going to lie to you, this week’s 1983 Michael Keaton comedy Mr. Mom has seen better days but ...]]> This week you need to get fired from your job, be married to a smart intelligent woman who can become the sole breadwinner leaving you some sort of self worth crisis because this week Dan and Lee are visiting the no man’s land of stay at home parenting and watching Mr. Mom.

Of course if you are a woman then just reverse the previous sentence and leave your no good man at home whilst you forge an amazing career that he will covet.

Yeah we’re not going to lie to you, this week’s 1983 Michael Keaton comedy Mr. Mom has seen better days but Lee and Dan get quite self righteous and indignant on your behalf and the whole podcast is worth sitting through if only for the last minute so dig in and stick with it!!

A big thank you goes to Ian Marshman for highlighting the deficiencies in Lee’s puppet movie watching and of course being a part of this week’s Three of the Best!

And of course if you want to go over and torment those Geek Tragedy guys for their appalling lack of taste then you can do so here.

Next week Lee and Dan are watching the 1995 comic book adaptation starring Sylvester Stallone Judge Dredd, apparently he has some knowledge of the law…

It’s a shame that the next generation of film goers don’t really have the same landmark shifts in film that we growing up got to experience.  Whilst I was too young to see Superman: The Movie when it first came out and enjoy the hype that surrounded the film i have an appreciation from my childhood of how groundbreaking Superman was. The effects don’t hold up so well today but back in 1978 people were blown away by a man flying captured on film.

And that’s what this poster is all about.

The simple statement that we ...]]> You’ll believe a man can fly.

It’s a shame that the next generation of film goers don’t really have the same landmark shifts in film that we growing up got to experience.  Whilst I was too young to see Superman: The Movie when it first came out and enjoy the hype that surrounded the film i have an appreciation from my childhood of how groundbreaking Superman was. The effects don’t hold up so well today but back in 1978 people were blown away by a man flying captured on film.

And that’s what this poster is all about.

The simple statement that we are going to show you something that you’ve only ever been able to read about in comic books.  I love the simplicity of combining the motion blur, logo and the sky.  I think it wouldn’t have worked so well if they had done the same as Batman would years later with just the logo.  There’s something larger about the imagery than just the Superman symbol which is powerful and iconic all on its own.

I think when I was first becoming more appreciative of the artwork that goes into these posters that the Superman one always felt awkward or unbalanced (remember even as a young man I had a remarkable affinity for symbolism, minimalism and icons)  but I’ve since grown a deeper appreciation for what the poster actually delivers and embodies.

The poster’s artist is Bob Peak who I can assure you I will be featuring a lot more of his work in the coming months!!

So does this poster capture the magic that is Superman: The Movie?

Although I do have to admit that the Mortal Kombat suffers the same fate as some of most beloved 80s comedies, the first half ...]]> Personally I have a soft spot for the 1995 Mortal Kombat film, in my own opinion it’s actually a reasonable adaptation of a game that doesn’t really have that much on screen story to begin with.  One of the aspects of the film that for me elevates it above say your Double Dragon or your Street Fighter is the soundtrack which has spent a lot of time on rotation in my house whilst I cage fight downstairs.

Although I do have to admit that the Mortal Kombat suffers the same fate as some of most beloved 80s comedies, the first half of the CD is fantastic and the second half feels like a second, not so crash hot beast. MK is a hybrid soundtrack, the first half is techno and ambient electronic groove music whilst the second half is more heavy metal/thrash which sometimes I don’t mind listening to but more often than not I’ll skip altogether and jump straight to track 15 which is the probably the best known track from the CD, certainly a popular one in gyms I imagine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMf40daefsI

I kind of like the Utah Saints take on the track though at the same time, it’s a good edition to the CD because you’re guaranteed to want to hear the main track more than once and this gives a nice alternative take on the track.

What do you guys think of the soundtrack?

Instead they went for this subtle but brooding backlit image of a priest arriving at the door of the MacNeil family.

I’m not sure if the priest is supposed to be Father Merrin or Father Karras, but to be honest it doesn’t really matter.

The Exorcist is arguably one of the finest horror movies ever made, and certainly was one of the most profitable. For a while it even was the top ...]]> The designer behind the Exorcist poster could have very easily gone for a shock image of Linda Blaire in full upchuck mode or some other tacky exploitative photo.

Instead they went for this subtle but brooding backlit image of a priest arriving at the door of the MacNeil family.

I’m not sure if the priest is supposed to be Father Merrin or Father Karras, but to be honest it doesn’t really matter.

The Exorcist is arguably one of the finest horror movies ever made, and certainly was one of the most profitable. For a while it even was the top grossing movie of all time, until Jaws came along and blew it’s record out of the water.

Now I’m not saying that the poster is actually responsible for that, but it certainly can’t of hurt. And it’s undeniable that it’s become one of those instantly recognisable (and often parodied) pop culture icons.

Yes that’s right Lee and Dan venture out into suburbia to mix it up with the military tragics, the irresponsible teens (who are responsibly painting their house so… umm never mind) and of course the local freak fest family who never mow their lawn and only have sardines and pretzels!  The boys are watching the 1989 black comedy starring Tom Hanks “The ‘Burbs”.

All sorts of disaster conspired against Dan and Lee in bringing the podcast to you this week but here it is!

A big thanks also to John from the blog Going Gently ...]]> Don’t look now but Walter’s dog is taking another dump on your lawn!

Yes that’s right Lee and Dan venture out into suburbia to mix it up with the military tragics, the irresponsible teens (who are responsibly painting their house so… umm never mind) and of course the local freak fest family who never mow their lawn and only have sardines and pretzels!  The boys are watching the 1989 black comedy starring Tom Hanks “The ‘Burbs”.

All sorts of disaster conspired against Dan and Lee in bringing the podcast to you this week but here it is!

A big thanks also to John from the blog Going Gently for being part of the podcast with his Three of the Best.

Next week Lee and Dan are taking a break despite advertising that they’d be talking about Mr Mom.  Be back here in two weeks where they actually will be talking about the Michael Keaton film Mr Mom!

It perfectly captures the era that this film was set in and in itself is an impressive work of art.  Interestingly the poster was pulled in the UK market in favour of the more tradition one that drew more attention to the cast which includes Timothy Dalton. ...]]> I can’t say that I cared all too much for the film The Rocketeer, it’s been a while but I think it failed to capture the adventure that it really should’ve.  That being said I absolutely love the character design which is showcased in John Mattos’ wonderful art deco style poster for the film.

It perfectly captures the era that this film was set in and in itself is an impressive work of art.  Interestingly the poster was pulled in the UK market in favour of the more tradition one that drew more attention to the cast which includes Timothy Dalton.  There was also concern with a couple of other sketches produced because they were worried that people would think of it as an animated feature.  I’d love to see some of those other sketches.

The problem with this poster is that it’s too good for the film, it promises way more fun than the film ultimately delivers which is a real shame because I want to see the film that’s in that poster!

So are there any Rocketeer fans out there who want to defend the film?  Any Art Deco fans who want to praise the poster?  Let us know in the comments!!

So yes I know what I’m doing when ...]]> I’ve always been a fan of orchestral soundtracks ever since I bought my very first one which for the record was Danny Elfman’s Batman score.  The unpleasant teenager behind the counter asked me if I was aware that it was only the score and not the Prince album. Actually in fairness she probably wasn’t unpleasant and was no doubt trying to save me a bit of disappointment.  To be honest I hadn’t actually considered what “score” meant but after listening to it for the first time on my cassette tape walkman a lifelong love affair with film scores began.

So yes I know what I’m doing when I am featuring a CD that doesn’t have any actual “songs” on it.

Of course that being said The Last Starfighter actually does have a couple of 80′s tracks on it in addition to the musical score, a surprise to me the other day because for some reason I’d blocked it out, previous ipod installations must have seen me leave those songs off to focus purely on the score.

Now Dan and I have reviewed The Last Starfighter in the past so you possibly already know that this is one of my favourite science fiction films of all time.  The concept is simple, the execution well done and the music is downright heroic. Which is probably why I love the soundtrack so much, it may not be as recognisable as say Star Wars or Star Trek but once you know it, the music is forever ingrained as the Starfighter theme.  The theme captures that essence of the adventurous spirit of 80s young adult adventure scifi films. These themes are some of the richest ones heard in cinema, music that seeks to invoke wonderment, excitement and probably escapism.

Craig Safan has achieved something that I think is becoming harder and harder which is develop a theme that is intrinsically tied to the property.  John Williams is the absolute master of this with his Superman, Star Wars and Jurassic Park themes (actually 99% of his themes tend to be pure icon) but it’s always a treat to discover another artist producing soundtracks on the same level which The Last Starfighter certainly does.

As with a lot of these kinds of soundtracks there are at least two versions, the copy I have is the 1987 release that also contains the songs: Never Crossed my Mind and Incommunicado both written by Craig Safan and performed by Cliff Magness.  The second soundtrack released in 1996 apparently has an expanded score and does not feature the two 80′s style songs.

I unfortunately could only get a hold of the one track from the film on Grooveshark but it’s probably the best of them anyway.  Have a listen and let me know what you think in the comments!

This is of course the second film in the Michael Keaton extravaganza and it’s not a bad podcast to boot.  We’ve got Erin from the blog The Fierce Beagle sharing her Three ...]]> Okay grab your pimp hat, roll up some tissue for muscles and get ready to cook some bad scrambled eggs in your undies because this week Lee and Dan are visiting the shenanigans of the 1982 Ron Howard directed comedy Night Shift.  Starring Batman, the Fonz and the first lady from Cheers this is a comedy that combines all the things that the Midmo Club love: morgues, pimps and Michael Keaton.

This is of course the second film in the Michael Keaton extravaganza and it’s not a bad podcast to boot.  We’ve got Erin from the blog The Fierce Beagle sharing her Three of the best and there’s a chance Dan and Lee mock Tim Burton for a good half hour.  Sprinkle an old worn Aquaman t-shirt up for grabs and what are you waiting for?!?!

Let us know the answer to the trivia question in the comments or just tell us what you thought of the movie or podcast!

As always you check out the trailer on the Midnight Movie Club Facebook page so you should also pop over there and be sure to like us and share us!

Join Lee and Dan next week as they watch the Tom Hanks classic The ‘Burbs

Most movies struggle to come up with just one iconic image. ET managed to present us with two.

Not only that, but the bicycle image lives on in contemporary films as the logo of Spielberg’s production company, Amblin.

I suppose to fully conform to the rules of Movie Poster Monday I should really pick just one of the posters as the focus of this post. But to be honest I really struggle to pick a winner, so I’m going to risk Lee’s wrath and choose both of them

These truly are excellent posters. Both depict pivotal and iconic moments in ...]]>

Most movies struggle to come up with just one iconic image. ET managed to present us with two.

Not only that, but the bicycle image lives on in contemporary films as the logo of Spielberg’s production company, Amblin.

I suppose to fully conform to the rules of Movie Poster Monday I should really pick just one of the posters as the focus of this post. But to be honest I really struggle to pick a winner, so I’m going to risk Lee’s wrath and choose both of them

These truly are excellent posters. Both depict pivotal and iconic moments in the film, they communicate the tender and wondrous nature of the story and characters, and they both manage to intrigue without giving too much away. All with just one image. Fantastic stuff.

The internet was quite a while off.

But then a friend ...]]> There is little contest over what film has my heart, it’s always been Ghostbusters ever since I saw it in the cinemas when I was only six years old.  Naturally the novel of the film became worn through as I read it several times a year and eventually I discovered the soundtrack.  Back then it was really hard to come by a soundtrack, my parents weren’t into music that much and money was tight enough that tapes or LPs were a luxury that at the time I wasn’t really into anyway.

The internet was quite a while off.

But then a friend of mine went overseas and picked up both the Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters 2 soundtracks on tape, dodgy tape because it cut off the songs at the end of each side.  I still anticipate the break point in Air Supply’s I can Wait Forever.  But for several years that was the only copy I had and I made good use of it!

There’s some confusion over the ultimate edition of the Ghostbusters soundtrack as apparently there were bonus tracks on some editions including Disco Inferno (which is in the background at Louise’s dinner party – I assume he got the album quite cheap somewhere!).  But I grew up without Disco Inferno on the soundtrack and it’s an unwelcome edition now for me.

Tracklisting

1. Ghostbusters – Ray Parker Jr. [4:06]
2. Cleanin’ Up The Town – The Bus Boys [2:59]
3. Savin’ The Day – Alessi [3:24]
4. In The Name Of Love – Thompson Twins [3:20]
5. I Can Wait Forever – Air Supply [5:09]
6. Hot Night – Laura Branigan [3:23]
7. Magic – Mick Smiley [4:21]
8. Main Title Theme (Ghostbusters) – Elmer Bernstein [3:01]
9. Dana’s Theme – Elmer Bernstein [3:32]
10. Ghostbusters (Instrumental) – Ray Parker Jr. [4:48]

I managed to get the full soundtrack below:

Now there was some more slight problems with the synopsis book… again and Lee sacrifices his contribution to Week in Geek to bring you more words of wisdom from Wonder Woman in the workplace (or more conveniently known as WoWfWWitW).  We explore why ...]]> Get ready to fry up some huge pancakes, threaten a vice principal, sharpen your hatchet and avoid working in your girlfriend’s tyre company because Lee and Dan are watching some Uncle Buck.  Well not “some”… they’re watching all of the 1989 John Hughes comedy which stars John Candy and a young (do we remember him in other way) Macaulay Culkin.

Now there was some more slight problems with the synopsis book… again and Lee sacrifices his contribution to Week in Geek to bring you more words of wisdom from Wonder Woman in the workplace (or more conveniently known as WoWfWWitW).  We explore why Dan doesn’t have success in his life and the mystery of herringbone.

So come in, pull up a nice big comfy chair and enjoy the podcast, well tolerate it anyway (at least they’re not blathering about hovercrafts)

We’d also like to thank Scott from the Scifi Diner podcast on the Three of the Best segment and if you’d like to come on the show drop us a line.

As always you check out the trailer on the Midnight Movie Club Facebook page so you should also pop over there and be sure to like us and share us!

Join Lee and Dan next week as they watch the Michael Keaton prostitution / morgue film (how often do you get to write that?!?) Night Shift

What I find interesting about the Batman Returns poster personally is that when it was released I don’t believe I cared for it.  I think it was the third poster to be released for the movie and the main poster was ...]]> Whilst we are having a little bit of a Michael Keaton’fest this month that’s not why I’ve included the Batman Returns poster in Movie Poster Monday.  I was actually reminded of it a couple of weeks back as I wrote about the Gremlins poster and realised that the “trio” poster for Batman Returns was by the same artist John Alvin.

What I find interesting about the Batman Returns poster personally is that when it was released I don’t believe I cared for it.  I think it was the third poster to be released for the movie and the main poster was a homage to the original Batman poster featuring just the bat symbol, only this time it was in snow to match the tone of the film.  When this poster was released I didn’t really understand why they would bother.  It certainly wasn’t very epic.

I’ve since warmed to the poster, over the years I’ve actually come to really like it if only that it stands out in my mind.  The poster actually is made up of three posters, kind of, the Catwoman and Penguin poses are off the character posters and whilst there is a Batman standalone character sheet he’s at more of an angle so they must have felt the composite needed him to be face on.

I think all of the Batman Returns posters do a great job of capturing the feel of the film whilst maintaining the simplicity of the first poster that I love.  I’ve included some of the other posters below.

Which is your favourite?

So like his other films John Carpenter was very hands on ...]]> I don’t think it’s any great secret that one of my favourite films of all time is the John Carpenter masterpiece Big Trouble in Little China.  Now the thing a lot of people don’t realise when it comes to John Carpenter films is that the dude likes to write the music for his films and will perform it.  Classic soundtracks such as Halloween and Escape from New York capture the feel of the films perfectly in no small part thanks to John Carpenter envisaging everything he wants from his film.

So like his other films John Carpenter was very hands on for the soundtrack of Big Trouble in Little China and it only adds to the Carpenter feel of the film.  I’m not 100% certain but I can’t recall any other films he performed lyrics for the music like he did here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D03E9kUTTtQ

Yes that’s right, the main singer there is none other than John Carpenter himself!

The CDs are pretty scarce on the ground unfortunately, my impression is that I have an actual copy in my collection somewhere but it’s equally likely that I’m confusing the Escape from New York soundtrack and that the copy I have is borrowed from my cousin Larry.  iTunes doesn’t carry the music either except for a couple of tracks on compilations.

Here’s the track listing for those of you keeping score at home, this is of the original soundtrack, not the re-release:

1. Coup de Villes — “Big Trouble in Little China” 3:13
2. “Pork Chop Express” 3:40
3. “The Alley” 2:00
4. “Here Come the Storms” 2:20
5. “Lo Pan’s Domain” 4:30
6. “Escape from Wing Kong” 8:00
7. “Into the Spirit Path” 7:07
8. “The Great Arcade” 10:00
9. “The Final Escape” 4:47
10. Coup de Villes — “Big Trouble in Little China” -Reprise- (3:08)

Couldn’t track down too many of the tracks I’m afraid and on eBay you’re looking anywhere from $30 to $65.

The reason for the confusion around the name is that in Australia this film is called Working Class Man which makes no sense apart from the singer of the song Working Class ...]]> Grease up your monkey wrench and slap on your overalls because this week Lee and Dan are donning their blue collars, rolling up their sleeves and trying their very hardest to accept that other cultures have different ways of doing things and that’s okay.  Yes Dan and Lee are watching the 1986 Michael Keaton comedy Working Class Man… ummm ahem I mean Gung Ho directed by Richie Cunningham himself Mr. Ron Howard.

The reason for the confusion around the name is that in Australia this film is called Working Class Man which makes no sense apart from the singer of the song Working Class Man is an Australian rocker named Jimmy Barnes and the song is featured in the end credits. Apparently the marketing department suspected that Australians will go to films in the vague hope that they’ll hear the title track song at some point throughout the film.

This week most of the kinks have been worked out of the extraordinarily professional segments and finally the book By the editors of Consumer Guide and Jay A Brown Rating the Movies for home video, tv, and cable New and Revised with over 3500 movies makes an appearance.

If that doesn’t thrill you into listening to the podcast then… ummm errrrr please listen to the podcast (Dan will be your best friend):

There now, see how much better that feels, next time don’t make us beg you to listen! Now you’ve got to make your way down to the comments and leave us some, go on, you can do it!

The Midmoclub would like to thank Whit Honea for taking part in our Three of the Best segment, if you’re intrigued by him then visit his site or stalk… ummm follow him on Twitter.

If you’d like to be in the Three of the Best segment then just head on over to the contact us page and drop us a line!

Remember too that if you want to see the trailer you can pop on over to the Midnight Movie Club Facebook page and have a watch there.  Why not throw us a like and some shares whilst there!!?

Finally be back here this time next week as Lee and Dan watch the John Hughes John Candy comedy Uncle Buck!