The fifteenth episode of our podcast, Paul and Storm Talk About Some Stuff for Five to Ten Minutes (On Average), is now online.
In this episode: we avoid fractions; blasphemy and near-blasphemy as Storm describes the Great Miracle; a new euphemism is born, as well as a truism; comfort movies and guilty pleasures are discussed; and Tom Hanks haunts the second half of the show.
Audience participation alert! Please post a comment telling us of your favorite “comfort movies” and/or “guilty pleasure movies.”
Featured post-show song: “Fat Sam’s Grand Slam” – Bugsy Malone: Original Soundtrack Recording
Show #015: Manna from Heaven (Some content NSFW)
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38 Comments
My comfort movie is 1776. I know that’s seriously dorky, but we always used to watch that in my house as a kid.
It was only when I watched it as an adult, though, that I realized just how much raunchy humor is in that movie! I mean, the dance scene to “He Plays the Violin” – Adams is totally staring at Martha Jefferson’s chest! He moves to take her into dance position, but then just stops and stares at her chest (ok, so it’s kind of at eye level, but still)…what other filmmaker would portray John Adams and Ben Franklin as two slightly dirty old men?
Holy Crap, Phantom Tollbooth! I was just thinking about that book! It was one of my favorites growing up.
And, guilty pleasure movie would definitely be You’ve Got Mail. I don’t know why. I generally don’t like romantic comedies, but I find Tom Hanks infinitely entertaining and, come one, it’s got Dave Chappelle! Who couldn’t love that?
I carry my comfort movies on my iPod, so I can catch them at a moment’s need.
Almost Famous
The Big Lebowski
Dazed & Confused
Donnie Darko
Fight Club
Mallrats
24 Hour Party People
I might have more now that I think about it, I guess I did choose more music-oriented movies for the iPod. One of my problems is that I chose the 160gig iPod which I later discovered to my dismay matches the size of my hard drive so at the moment I can never fill the iPod…
I agree with Paul concerning the Alastair Sim version of “A Christmas Carol”…my favorite holiday movie of all time (on the flip side, I cannot stand “It’s A Wonderful Life”, but as you said “To each his own”).
Comfort movies include:
— anything featuring both William Powell and Myrna Loy (if I have to choose one, then it’s “The Thin Man”)
— the Universal Horror movies (just one, Lon Chaney’s “Phantom of the Opera”)
— the Hammer Horror movies (just one, “Dracula, Prince of Darkness”)
— Nosferatu (the Murnau version…yes, I like B&W films)
— Black Sunday (mmmm, Barbara Steele)
…I could go on, but I’ll stop there.
Guilty pleasures…has to be “Plan 9 From Outer Space” (along with most of the movies published by Something Weird Video…schlock rules!!!)
OK, if I go with the true meaning of Guilty Pleasure then I have to pick a movie that I’m almost ashamed to say that I like. And I’ll go you one better. I’ll give you a trilogy by a guilty pleasure actor: Patrick Swayze!
Road House
Red Dawn
Point Break
Face it. The Swayzinator is the most versatile of our time! Name another actor with such a kick-ass trilogy of Guy Movies and then who can also back that up with a trilogy of Chick Flicks, those being
Ghost
Dirty Dancing
To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar
Behold!!!! The power of Swayze.
Ohhhh, and comfort movies
Patton
The Great Escape
12 Angry Men
Glengarry Glenross
I have a lot of movies I do that with. But most often (when I had cable) the movies were the Austin Powers flicks.
NFL coach that left Elvis tickets: Jerry Glanville. He later claimed that he did it once and the story gained a life of his own.
Comfort movie: Scrooged. I don’t know why, since the original nor any similar scenario gets to me … but I always choke up a little when the kid says the Tiny Tim part.
Guilty Pleasure Movies:
Dune
Contact
Moulin Rouge
Comfort Movies:
Serendipity
The Majestic
The Truman Show
Stranger Than Fiction
I concur with Storm on the Coen Brothers movies– particularly their comedies. Unfortunately they have to chop up The Big Lebowski whenever they show it on cable, but I’ll stick around for a couple of minutes if it’s on TV, then get tired of the Bowdlerizing and pop in the DVD.
I also concur with Paul on the BBC miniseries version of Pride and Prejudice. I’ve almost got the thing memorized by now. If it makes you feel any manlier, Paul, my brother is an infantryman in the Marines, and as such is a walking blob of testosterone, and he liked Pride and Prejudice, too.
Other comfort movies… anything MST3K, The Jerk, Drop Dead Gorgeous, Chocolat, The Muppet Movie, Harvey, The Princess Bride, The Blues Brothers, Three Amigos, and The Man with Two Brains.
“Guilty” pleasures… comic book movies and other brainless action flicks, Labyrinth, sports movies (Remember the Titans, Hoosiers, A League of Their Own, The Replacements, Major League) or movies with fairly impressive dancing (Center Stage, White Christmas).
I really don’t think you should step up the Wheaton/McCartney Watch efforts, I think its brilliant the way it is. The whole point is that you do nothing but mention it on the podcast, to see how far-reaching the podcast has become!
Perhaps you do need to mention on alternating podcasts a bit more detail on what it is, in case someone who could pass it on starts tuning in now and doesn’t know what the point is.
Ya know like “Still nothing on Wheaton Watch or McCartney Watch. For those who are just tuning in, this is where we wait to see if somehow Wil Wheaton or Paul McCartney will acknowledge our existence, as previously experimented with during Felicia Day Watch. Speaking of which its now XX days since Acknowledgement Day”
Also, I vote we bring back the Acknowledgement Day count too, see how I slipped that in there?
And bring back half minions too I say (sure, I’m lobbying for my own half-minion, can you blame me?)
As for comfort movies, my secret shame is that my comfort movies are pretty much any cheesy girly awful movie, like Legally Blonde or the Princess Diaries. There’s no one particular one, I just like any of those girl meets boy, boy likes girl, girl dislikes boy for some reason, boy sets out to woo girl, eventually girl falls for boy, girl and boy have whirlwind montage of romantic dates, boy turns out to be a rat, girl yells at boy and sends him packing, boy turns up at the crucial cliff-hanging moment right at the end and makes terribly cheesy speech, girl forgives boy and they get married while the credits roll.
Whenever one is on tv my husband groans because he knows he’s going to be subjected to the squees of delight when they kiss at the end!
While I agree with the choice of the Sim’s “A Christmas Carol,” I have a few others on my list:
Moonstruck, Any “Thin Man” movie, The Song of Bernadette (I really can’t explain that one, other than to say it induces some sort of hypnotic state) and if I may add a mini-series, I’d choose The Thorn Birds. Not much beats Barbara Stanwyck growling at a drenched, bare-chested Richard Chamberlain,”Kiss me Ralph, kiss me like a lovah!!!”
How could you have not read the Phantom Tollbooth?
“A full commitment is what the way I’m thinking of.” CommentRoll’d.
The manna thing was not entertaining. I was shouting “BORING!” throughout.
I don’t care about how long these shows are, just keep them interesting. The manna thing was the low point of the show. That being said
Comfort movies:
Remember the Titans
Flipping Channels Have to See it:
Mostly anything Adam Sandler – Happy Gilmore, Billy Madison, Waterboy, Wedding Singer
and I agree with Storm about Forrest Gump
The Coneheads
Death to Smoochy
Whoa, and props for the Bugsy Malone.
I honestly don’t really know what you mean by guilty pleasure. If I like something I am not ashamed of it! I spend way too much time on the internet to watch TV, and I don’t have cable, so I don’t just come across movies to watch. But it was a yearly ritual to watch The Wizard of Oz when I was a kid.
Comfort movies would have to be favorites from teenhood, like The Princess Bride, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Little Shop of Horrors.
That Thing You Do! is one of my very favorite movies! The reason you love it: that moment when their song comes on the radio, and they all hear it and run to the appliance store and jump around for joy! That was some contagious happiness. Also, the whole Beatlesque feel was very charming for this Beatle fan. And Steve Zahn was awesome in that movie. The music rocks too! The whole thing is just awesome. Make sure you watch the whole thing one day, Storm.
I felt all warm and fuzzy inside when I realized you guys used my topic! Wow, you do read the comments. 😉
First – have to concur with Storm on Galaxy Quest — that’s definitely one of my comfort movies. (Funny trivia aside: I just discovered recently that the geeky kid, Brandon — the one who helps the crew — was played by the actor who is now best known as the “Mac guy” from the John Hodgman Mac/PC ads. Wow, what a difference 9 years makes!)
Others:
– The Princess Bride
– Bend It Like Beckham (don’t know why, as I hate sports in general, but I love this movie)
– Romantic comedies (While You Were Sleeping, When Harry Met Sally, Music and Lyrics, etc…some of which also fall under “guilty pleasures”)
– Anything from Pixar (and I don’t count them as guilty pleasures; they may be “kids’ movies”, but part of the reason they’re so popular is they’re written to appeal to adults as well as kids)
Guilty pleasures (the ones I only watch when I’m alone in the house):
– Cheesy ’80s flicks that I watched over and over in high school (Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Top Gun, Dirty Dancing, etc.)
– Disney (non-Pixar) kid flicks (Freaky Friday, The Parent Trap, Pollyanna)
– Fifty First Dates (guilty pleasure because I hate Adam Sandler in general, but I do like this one movie of his…possibly because I like Drew Barrymore)
I don’t think there are any movies that I will always watch to the end if I happen to catch them on TV. I’ll watch a few minutes, but in general if it’s something I will watch over and over, I have it on DVD, so I figure I can just pop it in whenever.
Also – Persephone, they’re not talking about Wil Wheaton (who actually does know about Paul and Storm — I believe there are even pictures of them together) but Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy, Angel, Firefly, and the upcoming midseason replacement Dollhouse.
Oh, and your RSS feed is *still* not working. 🙁
Paul is a Pride and Prejudice fan?? Be still my heart! 🙂 That’s probably my number one comfort movie, and is definitely one of my favorite books, too. I was lucky enough to teach it in a British Lit class a few years ago and I included the BBC mini-series as part of the unit. Not a bad way to spend class time, if you ask me.
Galaxy Quest is one of my big comfort movies, too. My husband and I quote this movie far more often than you’d probably think is possible. (“Miners not minors” and “Look around – see if you can construct some sort of rudimentary lathe” are favorites.)
Other comfort movies:
-The Lord of the Rings trilogy
-O Brother, Where Art Thou?
-Tommy Boy
-National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
Guilty Pleasure movies:
-All romantic comedies (Love Actually, You’ve Got Mail, Never Been Kissed, etc)
-Mean Girls and other movies like it (But I can excuse this as doing research on the angst my students experience every day 😉 )
-Despite the face that I know I shouldn’t, if I’m flipping the channels, I can’t seem to help watching anything with Nicolas Cage (particularly his really bad movies like Zandalee and The Wicker Man)
Comfort movies:
-The Princess Bride (I could prolly quote the entire movie right now. Number one fav movie ever made).
-Little Shop of Horrors – Thanks for reminding me of this…They played it every Thanksgiving Day on WPIX for years. Marching band/homecoming game in the AM then home to Little Shop, it was a tradition in my house. Yes, I’m weird, shut up.
-Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the original) This movie has grown on me over the years as I’ve realized just how truly twisted it is. Plus, they always play it on TV around Easter, which is near my b-day so that makes for one very happy Ann.
-Any Rankin-Bass Christmas special(‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, The Year Without a Santa Claus, Nestor The Long-Eared Christmas Donkey, etc.) I will *still* run home from work to see these.
Guilty pleasure movies:
Aw man, these are going to be pretty bad so be forewarned:
-any really really really bad disaster movies. Especially if they were produced on a $25 budget or end up on the SciFi Channel on a sunday afternoon. ‘Volcano’ has been my recent one. Can’t rule out The Towering Inferno or even The Poseidon Adventure. The worse, the better.
-Really bad marital arts films. I have seen Bloodsport and Best of the Best more times than I would really care to admit. I think it’s a hold over from my own martial arts days. Please don’t judge me.
Kill Bill Vol.1 is steadily becoming a “gotta watch it if its on” movie. Mostly for the crazy 88s/ O-Ren Ishii fights: Pure awesome.
‘Round these parts we call your “miracle mana-making moment” a Flawless Victory.
I’d like to add a lot of Robin Williams movies to my comfort movie list – like Patch Adams and Bicentennial Man.
I love the puppet shows! My roommates and I watch them together whenever a new one comes out.
The puppet brings me great joy, and doing your math is part of my minion-y duties… as soon as I get a minion picture up. Those skills have to go somewhere, right?
Casino – I believe this may be the last film that Martin Scorse’s mom is in. She is awesome in that film.
The Betty Broderick Story – A Life Time Women’s tv movie. This is my guilty pleasure movie.
Any Thin Man Movie
Glengarry Glen Ross – The dialogue is so great. It is a guilty pleasure
Time Bandits – I dole this out.
A Christmas Story
Rebecca
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
I will agree on the Alastair Sim’s Christmas Carol that is is a must see every year.
Bleakhouse – Diana Rigg version
Guilty Pleasures:
– The Princess Bride
Comfort Movies:
– What About Bob?
I first saw this movie on television while my dad was in the hospital. It’s a funny and underrated, plus it’s set on (despite not being filmed at) New Hampshire’s Lake Winnipesaukee, which was near where my family used to go on vacation.
– A Christmas Story
I’m young enough for Christmas to still have meant something to me when they first started showing it 24 hours straight. Watching it brings back all sorts of warm memories of Christmas Eve anticipation. I have to catch it at least once every December.
– Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
When I was five, this was the only Star Trek movie I was allowed to watch. By no coincidence, this was also the only Star Trek related thing we had, so I watched it until the VHS tape wore out.
Comfort movies:
Meet The Robinsons
The Emporer’s New Groove
The Incredibles
O Brother Where Art Thou
Musicals – The Producers, Chicago, Shock Treatment, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
Transformers: The Movie (the 1986 animated film, not Michael Bay’s steaming pile of crap)
Clerks: The Animated Series: Uncensored DVDs
Anything starring the Muppets
Liar Liar
Clue
Brain Donors (a Zucker brothers movie starring John Turturro that only I remember)
And every movie referenced in the following song:
http://www.thefump.com/lyrics.php?id=1099
And as far as the 25 Days of Newman is concerned, if you really want to get Joss Whedon’s attention, then you must do one for “SERENITY”! That would be shiny as hell. 🙂
Hm. Well, I tried to separate two separate lists of guilty pleasures versus comfort movies, but then I realized that I can’t always make distinction.
–The Princess Bride. I found out the other day that one of my coworkers had never seen this film, and that was when it occurred to me I had a distinct memory in my distant past of quoting it to a fellow first-grader. This movie is in my soul.
–Singing in the Rain: This is the one I absolutely stop everything to watch when it comes on TV. I know most of the songs. It depresses me for weeks after that I can’t tapdance. I love this movie.
–The Shawshank Redemption–STICK WITH ME ON THIS. I know it’s not a comfortable movie, ok? I KNOW. But I’ve seen it a fair million times, could quote it at any given Shawshank-emergency, find something else entirely amazing about it any time I see it, and have to see it every 16 months or so.
–Labyrinth. The thing that makes this a guilty pleasure is that it’s not a childhood memory–I didn’t see this until a few months ago. I don’t understand why not. Totally the missing link of my whole childhood. Brian Froud, Jim Henson, Terry Jones, and David Bowie? AT THE SAME TIME? Clearly the perfect film.
–Newsies. Definitely a guilty pleasure, again because I didn’t see it until I was advanced beyond childhood, but also because you can’t watch Christian Bale and Bill Pullman singing and dancing without feeling this isn’t something you should tell people about.
–Spirited Away. If you haven’t seen this movie, I forgive you. If you’ve seen it and didn’t find it all that special, I will hunt you down and make your life a misery.
–When Harry Met Sally. Best. Quotes. Ever.
–The Muppet Christmas Carol. Up until Patrick Stewart’s version, it was the most literarily accurate adaptation of the story. Also, I’ve been accused of humming it in June. I choose not to comment.
–Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, and Death Proof: I refuse to watch them on TV. I don’t want to start in the middle, and I don’t want to miss any of the violence. No one is allowed in the house when I watch any of these. It is a sacred experience. And I particularly think that Quentin Tarantino’s one great failing was to not have Randy Newman Theme Songs.
–And I agree about anything with Tom Hanks. Topping the list would be Forrest Gump, You’ve Got Mail, and The Green Mile.
Ok. I think I’m done.
My comfort movie trifecta:
– Highlander
– The Princess Bride
– Joe Versus the Volcano
Of those, Joe is definitely the most comforting of the three. It’s silly, but it has a very life-affirming message that never fails to lift me out of a blue mood.
Fun Galaxy Quest/Comic-Con trivia: My husband may have been the person to start the “Rock!” chant tradition. It all started with the masquerade back in the early 90s. I’m telling the story badly (I wasn’t there), but it basically had to do with a guy who used a rock as a prop in his masquerade presentation. At some point, the rock was left on stage for an extended period, and the crowd was getting restless, so my husband started chanting “Rock! Rock! Rock!” and soon the entire audience of several thousand joined in. He fully admits it’s possible that several people may have initiated the chant simultaneously. Still a good story. 🙂
P.S. The Joe Versus the Volcano soundtrack is awesome. It includes Sixteen Tons performed by Eric Burdon, Mas Que Nada performed by Sergio Mendez & Brazil 66, Old Man River performed by Ray Charles, I Cover the Waterfront performed by the Ink Spots, and other great songs. The score by Georges Delerue is also excellent and filled with leitmotifs like a Wagnerian opera. 😀
My comfort movie is Bladerunner.I used to put the movie on at night, with the sound system speakers under my bed, and just let the droning sound of the city and the music carry me off to sleep. Until of course the part where Deckard shoots Priss and she screams for a whole minute. I just hoped to be in deep enough sleep at that point not to wake up.
Great Luke Ski: YES, great idea (doing SERENITY as part of the 25 days of Newman)! What about it, Paul and Storm??
I worked in a movie theater in 1981 that showed Raiders of the Lost Ark for 5 weeks, then moved it to another theater where I helped out for 4 weeks, then back to my theater for another 5 weeks. Bottom line: I watched Raiders 130 times back when that meant something. It’s still a movie I must watch to the end if I catch it on TV. All 3 Back to the Future films are also required watching.
I’d like to second The Muppet Christmas Carol, didn’t expect to see it here in the comments, but it’s something that I feel I have to watch every year, at Christmas.
In regards to your request to find out our comfort movies, I was at work this afternoon and flipping through on the tv, i noticed Patch Adams. It was only about 10 minutes in, so I sat there and watched the rest of it. I made the guy I was working with sit there and watch it with me, just because. He told me it was the best movie he’d seen in a long time, so it affirmed my belief that it can comfort anyone watching it.
As far as guilty pleasures, it’s not necessarily a movie, per se, but more of a style of music, and a band. Funk, and “Love Hurts” by Nazareth. It doesn’t matter if either of them are on, I feel like Cartman from South Park when he hears “Come Sail Away” by Styx. I have to listen to all of the song.
Huh. I don’t think anyone has mentioned Star Wars, which is supposed to be the ultimate favorite movie (the original, of course), but many many have mentioned The Princess Bride.
Princess Bride FTW!
Thanks for putting me right Tina! I knew it was one of them! :feels dumb:
Looking over my lists, I’m realizing that I have the cinematic taste of a 12-year-old girl. Guess I’m not as cool as all of you! :X
Comfort movies: (some aren’t movies)
Gilmore Girls (any season, on DVD)- I put this on if there’s nothing on TV. It makes me temporarily wittier but slightly ruder.
Happy Feet
Gone with the Wind
Phantom of the Opera – I used to put this on when I went to sleep and it looped over and over throughout the night. Weirdly, it made me feel safer if I was home alone.
Bend it Like Beckham
Hairspray
Rent
Guilty pleasures:
Project Runway
Footloose
Any of the original 5 Nicktoons series (except Ren & Stimpy – yuck!) or Nickelodeon shows from the late 80s/ early 90s
What Women Want – love the scene where Mel Gibson is trying to put on pantyhose!
Sleeping Beauty (Disney version)
Alice in Wonderland (Disney version)
Percephene – I think we’re about even, seeing as I spelled your name wrong that first time. 😉
Comfort films:
* Chocolat
* Princess Bride (Who am I to buck the trend? 🙂 )
* the original Star Wars trilogy — and I mean original, not even the remastered ones from ’98
* Stargate
* Buffy the Vampire Slayer
* Heathers
* Newsies
* holiday bonus: White Christmas
Guilty pleasures:
* the Mighty Ducks films
* 10 Things I Hate About You
* Save the Last Dance (Why am I so ashamed of Julia Stiles?)
* Center Stage
* Dodgeball
Comfort movies:
MST3K the Movie
A Christmas Story
Grosse Pointe Blank
Guilty Pleasures:
Flash Gordon
Superman 3
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