There is only one thing better than a podcast that focuses on Rocky #1-3... and that is a podcast that finished the job and focuses on Rocky #4-6 (plus the upcoming Creed!)!!!!! Jokes aside, while Rocky 5 and 6 are often looked down upon as the low point of the series, Rocky 4 is almost ALWAYS highlighted as the BEST film of the bunch since the original. So we spend most of the episode discussing that one as well as the other two films left in the series. We also talk about Rocky in other mediums and what to expect from the franchise in the future! A great sequel to a retrospective about one of the greatest film franchises of all time. Join Jedi Rob, Alex Berg and Mike D as we make one more trip up the proverbial 'staircase'....
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The Rocky franchise is one that is very near and dear to our hearts here at CCD, so with the newest installment of Creed about to hit theaters we thought now would be a great time to break down the series as a whole in our classic "CCD Retrospective" way. In the first half of the massive retrospective we discuss the first three films in the series and what it is about the character of Rocky Balboa that makes EVERYBODY love him so much! Most might not remember but the first film is set right around Thanksgiving, so it is the perfect time of year to dive head first into what very well may be the greatest sports movie franchise of all time. Join Jedi Rob, Mike D and for the first time Alex Berg as we chat up the Italian Stallion!
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When Marvel decided to partner up with Netflix to produce original content I immediately was intrigued by the characters they were choosing to go with. They planned on Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist for individual series... and then culminating in a Defenders movie. This is ambitious. I mean, almost everyone knows who the Hulk or Captain America is. But these guys? After Daredevil the list is relegated to really know obscure comic characters. But the inclusion of Jones was an eye brow raiser for me. I had loved the Brian Michael Bendis run in the early 2000s and the idea of a super powered private eye who doesn't want anyone to know she is "special" appeals to me. So I waited with patience... but all of that patience went out the window when Daredevil came out and I saw just how AMAZING it could be! So we made it our mission to watch ALL 13 EPISODES and have a special podcast reviewing the whole series! Join Jedi Rob, the lovely and talented Mrs. Alicia Gomes, Mike D, and for the first time young master James West (comic aficionado and former Marvel employee) into The CCD Nerd Cave to talk all thing Jessica Jones! Please subscribe, download, listen, and SHARE with your friends and fam alike! Make Mine MARVEL!
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The Deadman, The Phenom...The Undertaker. The greatest of all time?....Arguably. Completely unique, logic defying and influential beyond measure? Without a doubt. In celebration of a quarter century of The Lord of Darkness, Cultural Compulsive Disorder pays tribute with a look back at this legendary career, and maybe a hint of what may lie in the future...
If you want to check out some great Wrestling themed art (including Mr. Paul Bearer above), head over to Erle Tompkins website and order some stuff... tell em CCD sent ya!
If You Like _______, Then You Should Watch _____ is a new column that will be appearing here on CCD.NYC weekly. Whenever people try recommending a movie to someone they instantly go with the line: "It's like ____ meets ____". It is the easiest way to convince someone to watch a new film... appeal to their basic sense of past movies they have seen and might have liked. It usually works too, since people like to compare & contrast things they are going to do with things they have already done. So in order to broaden your horizons and open you to some new films, we will use that model to help you discover some celluloid gold.
Ben Stiller is a comedic genius. There... I said it. It is not like my statement should be so blasphemous; he has been in comedy gems like Zoolander, There's Something About Mary, Dodge Ball, Tropic Thunder and Mystery Men. Yet there are some folks out there who would make the assertion that Stiller is unfunny. How? I mean... come on. The guy is amazing. The fact that he is also a writer/director/producer on these products as well as the star? Well that makes the case even stronger. But there are tons of people out there who just don't enjoy his brand of humor. I have a theory as to why: His characters often make people uncomfortable. He puts his characters through the emotional ringer by constantly being involved in cringe worthy scenes... and that is when I think Stiller is at his best. He sells the "all this bad stuff can't happen to one guy" card so well, and he becomes the lovable loser that you have to root for (even if you are discretely laughing at him as he has horrible things affect his life). That is certainly not for everyone...
Hook. Line. Sinker
Two of the common theme that Stiller has in his movies are: 1) His character's quests for love and 2) The ridiculous encounters with the love interests family/friends that he must endure to cement this relationship. It is in almost every single one of Stiller's films... the guy is always on the path of true love, and boy does he encounter his fair share of bumps! Add in his terrific talent for playing an "oddball" who is just a bit out of the norm, and you have the recipe for disaster playing out right in front of you. Out of all the movies that we have seen with Stiller that follow this trope (Along Came Polly, There Is Something About Mary, etc) the one where he is put through the ringer the most has to be Meet The Parents. And that is why it is probably one of Stiller's most recognizable and celebrated roles.
Two sides...
Meet The Parents came out in 2000 and was directed by the hot young comedic talent Jay Roach. Roach was coming off the success of the first two Austin Powers movies and was riding high, and he picked this movie to continue his comedic ascension. Most people do not know it but this movie is actually a REMAKE of a 1991 independent film of the same name. After casting Ben Stiller in the role of Greg "Gaylord" Focker (originally written with Jim Carrey in mind) and Robert DeNiro in the role of his future father in law Jack Byrnes the film was set up to deliver comedic goodness. It certainly does not disappoint. Focker wants to propose to his love Pam, but right as he is about to execute the perfect proposal she gets a phone call from her sister Debbie. Debbie gives her the news that SHE just got engaged... and Pam goes on and on about how great it was that her sister's fiance Bob asked her dad permission. Focker, in typical "I have to please everyone" Stiller fashion, decides to table his engagement until they make the journey to NYC for Debbie & Bob's wedding so that he can consult with his father in law first and make Pam happy. Unfortunately, life and a series of unforgettable events get in the way.
Jinxy Cat is in the circle of trust...
From the first scene on the airplane to NY Stiller does a great job coming off as paranoid and nervous about what he is about to do. He is not only proposing... but proposing to a woman in Pam (played by the sexy Teri Polo) who is way out of his league. She digs him. and you can see that Stiller is still unclear as to WHY this is all happening. Hence his need for everything to go perfect. From the moment he meets his father in law, played perfectly straight by De Niro, there is an uneasy tension that occurs and makes you feel like Greg will not be fully accepted into the Byrnes family. Jack pokes fun at Greg being a nurse, and continues to act stand off-ish in relation to his daughters boyfriend, which in turn triggers Greg to try even HARDER to win Jack over. These efforts lead to some unforgettable comedic scenes (the polygraph scene will forever be one of my favorite comedic scenes in movie history) that actually move Greg FURTHER away from his prospective new family as his actions cause problems and tension making it hard to like him. Greg gets the distinct feeling that something is up with Jack, and discovers that he is not an unsuspecting dad who is over-protective of his daughter but in fact a CIA operative that just recently retired and is applying all of his spy tricks on Greg in an effort to test his mettle (and possibly drive him away from Pam should he not prove to be a worthy boyfriend).
Greg telling his cat milking story from his days in Motown...
When you look back at the film, the thing that makes it so hard to watch is because you genuinely feel BAD for Greg. In the beginning we get the impression that in Chicago Greg is a confident nurse doing well in life with a hot girlfriend and everything is roses for him. But we find out (been in latter sequels) that Greg had a pretty rough life of being picked on and teased, and was always taking Ls in life. After overcoming all that, he just want to get married and continue down this path of life with Pam. This would almost validate him conquering any demons he had in his closet about his past that was filled with unpopularity and ridicule. But Jack ain't having that... not with his baby girl. Which brings us to the second common thread in Stiller's movies, the interactions he has with his lovers family/friends and how inappropriate they can be. He gets portrayed as a drug user, breaks Debbie's nose when competing to hard in a pool volleyball game, messes up the family blessing at dinner by uttering the lyrics to a song from musical instead of an actual prayer, gets caught in a lie about milking cats for food on his families farm in Detroit, destroys a family urn containing Pam's grandmothers ashes with a cork while making a champagne toast, paints a cat to resemble the family cat Mr. Jinx that he lost and tries to pass it off as the real one, burns down an alter that was created for Bob & Debbie's wedding... and that is just A SMALL AMOUNT of things that happen to him. You can't help but feel bad for Stiller while at the same time understanding why all the members of Pam's family are beginning to HATE him. None more so than Jack, who is the one person Greg is desperately trying to please.
Which brings me to our choice for the column this week, The Heartbreak Kid from 2007. The Heartbreak Kid has a lot in common with Meet The Parents, much more than just Ben Stiller. First of all, it is also a REMAKE of a previous film. The original Heartbreak Kid starred Charles Grodin (in the same role that Stiller portrays) and a hopelessly young & beautiful Cybill Sheppard (the role played by Michelle Monaghan). It was a very funny movie, and holds up in its own right (the first Meet The Parents does not in my humble opinion). The directors of the 2007 movie are the Farrelly Brothers, who like Jay Roach were famous for comedic gems like Dumb and Dumber and There's Something About Mary. And in this film we get to see Stiller both in search of true love and having wild interactions with all the side characters in pursuit of it.
Him? Huh?
Stiller plays Eddie, a sporting goods salesman who is successful in business but not in his personal life. Eddie is unfulfilled, and kind of yearns for companionship. He witnesses the purse of a beautiful young woman get snatched and tries to chase down the thief. He fails... but he is introduced to Lila (the stunning Malin Ackerman), who is very grateful that anyone would intervene on her behalf so bravely. They begin to date, and things are going great. Lila gets word from her job that she is about to be relocated to Holland. She rants about how it is unfair that her company ships unmarried workers all over the world but will allow married workers to remain in Cali. This gives Eddie an idea, and upon consulting his dad (played by Stiller's real life dad Jerry Stiller) and his best friend (the awesome Rob Corddry) he decides to pop the question to Lila despite only dating her for a short period of time. They get married, and head out on a road trip to Cabo in Mexico for their honeymoon.
Immediately things take a turn for the worse. Lila is not the innocent girl that Eddie thinks he married. In fact, she is quite the opposite. She is obnoxious on the ride down, singing loudly and bothering the mild mannered Eddie every chance she gets. When they get there she makes Eddie participate in some intense sexual activities and shows off a wild side that Eddie was unaware of. She also is extremely stubborn, and refuses to wear sunblock even though Eddie recommends it. After receiving a 1st degree sunburn, Lila has a huge fight with Eddie where she reveals lots of details about the real her including past drug usage and the truth about her job. Eddie is pissed, and storms off while Lila is confined to the room with her sunburn. While out at a bar, Eddie meets Miranda who is on vacation with her family from Mississippi.
You said you wanted to get SAVAGE...
He immediately feels a connection with her and uses the fact that his actual wife is stuck up in the honeymoon suite sunburned to spend time with his new object of affection Miranda. Everyone in Miranda's family accepts Eddie, except her cousin Martin (played by the hysterical Danny McBride) who suspects Eddie is up to something. Martin occupies the role of DeNiro as the guy trying to break Stiller. Instead of the family giving him issues and causing crazy situations (like in Meet the Parents), this time the tense situations occur to the juggling act Eddie is performing while trying to court Miranda and keep Lila unsuspecting. It all blows up in his face, with everyone finding out about each other. And that is where the real fun starts. The reveal that Eddie is married is the best scene in the movie, and makes me cry laughing every time. Now stuck in Mexico, Eddie must find a way to rekindle what he had with Miranda once again.
Why don't the just call you BEAU????
The characters of Greg & Eddie are quite similar even though their relationship issues might be different. They are both everyday guys who are in relationships with women that they feel are stepping down to be with them... and since they feel that way they struggle to try and do everything "perfect" in the hope that these wonderful women will stick around and stay with them. But the more they try to do things to IMPROVE their standings in the eyes of their significant others and their families, the worse the situation gets for them. Both also force hilarious comedic scenes in the interim, which make both films a worthy watch even though it has been so long since their respective releases. If you enjoy the laughs and tension of the classic that is Meet the Parents, then The Heartbreak Kid is right up you alley!
Thinking back on all the wrestlers that have come and gone through the years, there are very few that have had the impact that Undertaker has had. Over his 25 year career he has been one of the most dominant forces in the WWF/E and people who root for good guys AND bad guys alike love the big dead bastard. With the 2015 Survivor Series on the horizon (he made his premiere at the 1990 Survivor Series), we decided to enlist some heavy hitters in the wrestling world to celebrate the career of such an icon. Jedi Rob is joined by Steve Resk, founder of the first unpredictable card game The Supershow & wrestler Eric Draven, the definition of Authority & Sexiness in the CCD Nerd Cave and make podcast magic! All hail the Dead Man...
If you want to check out some great Wrestling themed art (including the Undertaker piece above), head over to Erle Tompkins website and order some stuff... tell em CCD sent ya!
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You are bound to have lots of great moments with anything that has run as long as the Bond franchise... but with something that has had this many installments than you are also likely to have some dud moments as well. Always looking to present a fair and balanced analysis over the material we discuss, Jedi Rob is back with Poppa Martin & Alicia Gomes in the CCD Nerd Cave to discuss the biggest blunders, plot holes and terrible characters of the Bond franchise throughout the years. Even though the Bond franchise has had some magical moments, these stinkers make us love it just as much. You would be surprised... some peoples FAVORITE moments come from the bad stuff!
If you missed it, check out our review of Spectre here and our Best Moments in Bond History here.
Follow the CCD Podcast Instagram & Facebook... it's tons of nerdy fun!!!
If You Like _______, Then You Should Watch _____ is a new column that will be appearing here on CCD.NYC weekly. Whenever people try recommending a movie to someone they instantly go with the line: "It's like ____ meets ____". It is the easiest way to convince someone to watch a new film... appeal to their basic sense of past movies they have seen and might have liked. It usually works too, since people like to compare & contrast things they are going to do with things they have already done. So in order to broaden your horizons and open you to some new films, we will use that model to help you discover some celluloid gold.
Dario Argento is an Italian filmmaker that has been making films for over 40 years. He has made many types of films, but he is mostly known for his horror contributions. He is also specifically known for making "giallo" films... this is a sub-genre of books & films that originated in Italy. The books & films are usually thrillers that combine traditional criminal elements with some intrigue and occasional supernatural subtext. They are named for the 'giallo' (yellow) color of the labels that were used to denote these types of books in post fascist Italy. While Argento is justifiably well regarded as a Master of Horror, his work in the giallo genre is where he truly does his best work. That is why I am making the case for The Bird With The Crystal Plumage by using the more well known Argento film Suspiria.
A callback to his 1st film Plumage in a scene from Suspiria
Let me start off by saying that I know that Suspiria and The Bird with the Crystal Plumage are two VERY different films, but the common thread that they share is the genius filmmaker that is Argento. Suspiria is widely regarded as Argento's best film and is easily his most known work... even though it was only the 7th film he ever directed. The visuals are insanely beautiful, and the sounds of the film are some of the most iconic in-film music ever. While all of these things are true, this is what makes The Bird With the Crystal Plumage even more amazing. Plumage was Argento's directorial debut. He only had one year of experience in the film making biz, as he was the co-screenwriter on the classic spaghetti western Sergio Leone film 'Once Upon A Time In The West' in 1969/ In 1970 he decided to get behind the camera and direct his own script... and the result is an underrated classic.
House Ad for Suspiria
When people talk about why they love Suspiria so much they often cite two things: 1) the visuals and 2) the score. When you get the look and the sound of a film so perfect that people are calling you a genius on BOTH accounts you really knocked it out of the park. So it is not so crazy that Suspiria is the first Argento film people want to recommend to anyone they can. Lets take a look at those two aspects of The Bird With the Crystal Plumage and you will see why I think so highly of it.
Red Hallway, Stain Glass Windows... NBD!
When it comes to visuals, there are very few films in the HISTORY of cinema that are as revered as Suspiria. Even people who don't like the horror genre would have to give the visuals in Suspiria credit as being beautifully shot. The colors in the film are extremely contrasting, as it constantly goes from rainy/dark to vibrant/colorful from shot to shot. Rooms painted bright red, stain glass windows... you name it and Argento finds a way to accentuate the colors and make them stand out. I am a firm believer in the fact that this is why the film resonates so well with viewers whether they realize it or not. The colors draw you in... especially the blood that appears at key points in the film.
Funny... I Never Saw You Hangin' Around Here Before!
The highlight of this has to be the infamous "hanging" scene, which starts with a switchblade being stabbed directly into a victims heart and ends with her body crashing through a stain glass ceiling where she is then strung up on a noose. The body dangles from the telephone wire, blood smeared on the victim's face and her white nightgown as the bright red walls provide a backdrop. Pretty much a perfect scene. That is probably one of the reasons why the film currently has a 95% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Fun Fact: The killer's gloved hands in Plumage are none other then Argento himself!
The Bird With the Crystal Plumage might not be a visually beautiful as Suspiria, but you certainly see the early markings of the auteur making appearances throughout the film. We see the birth of Argento's "Killer's Eye View" in this film. This is a technique that Argento (and many other directors) use in which the camera doubles for the view from the eyes of the killer. This makes for creepy visuals, and put you in the body of the murderer as they commit their crimes. We also see a pair of black gloves that the killer wears throughout, and the shots of his hands holding different types of murder weapons (a straight razor, knife, club, etc) in anticipation of the deaths to come.
Creepy ass statue party!
Once again blood is highlighted, but in my opinion it is "how" the blood gets on the screen. This comes in some brutal first person murder scenes. The exterior shots are highlighted in this one as well, with Argento using an awesome selection of scenery to compliment his directorial debut. Though it is very early in his film making career, Argento already had a knack for capturing images in a way that would certainly make viewing one of his films enjoyable.
The second aspect to Argento's films that tend to stick out are the scores. Suspiria has one of the most highly regarded scores in film history, the synth rock masterpiece that comes to us courtesy of Italian band Goblin. Goblin have been frequent collaborators with Argento over the years, starting with the classic Deep Red. But before Argento found his future musical partners, he still was able to "score" a high powered composer to hammer out the music for Plumage (see what I did there? Score... score... eh, forget it!). While working on Once Upon A Time In The West with Sergio Leone, Argento met fellow Italian, legendary film composer Enrico Morricone. Morricone would go on to score HUGE Hollywood films like The Untouchables, State of Grace, Django Unchained, Wolf and The Thing. But first he would team up with Argento for some giallo gold... not only did he do The Bird With the Crystal Plumage, but he also did Cat o' Nine Tales and Four Fly's on Gray Velvet alongside the director.
Out of the three, I prefer Plumage (even though all three are bad ass scores). The music really brings out the frantic crime noir feel of the film, and fits perfect in the 70s time frame that the show takes place in. It is a real throwback, and makes the experience that much better. It is pretty cool when you can see a legend work, but The Bird With the Crystal Plumage provides you with insight on not one but TWO legends (Argento & Morricone) at the dawn of their fruitful careers.
Menacing... one of the most intense shots of the movie!
All in all, I have to be honest and say that I personally like Suspiria better than Plumage. I would be lying if I said different. But if I really wanted to put someone on to a solid Argento film that they probably have never heard of, if they already saw Suspiria then The Bird With the Crystal Plumage is where I would go. The films may be quite different in their final forms, but have a lot in common at the root level. You know you want to catch the giallo bug... what are you waiting for?
James Bond has been a character that has spawned 12 original novels by creator Ian Fleming and 24 feature films (26 if you count the non Eon pictures projects) over its 60 year history. The series is the 3rd highest grossing film franchise ever (1st if you adjust for inflation) and has made over 6 Billion dollars during its long run. When you have a character and story that is told over that long a period of time there are bound to be some great moments, as well as some down moments. So instead of doing our typical retrospective, we decided to highlight those ups and downs in a two part podcast. First up we have the best moments of Bond. This podcast features host Jedi Rob alongside his dad Poppa Martin and the lovely Mrs. Alicia Gomes. They hit on most of the classic Bond moments, so make sure you give it a shot....
Tune back in a couple of days for the Worst of Bond Episode that will be coming your way shortly!
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