Altered States

Can it be that the first Ken Russell movie we're covering is ALTERED STATES? I guess we're holding our Ken Russells close to our chest. Enjoy the episode covering Russell's most mainstream movie from 1980: ALTERED STATES.

It makes sense to have nudity in a werewolf movie. Is the full-frontal particularly good? NO! Is this one of the best werewold movies? Definitely not! But the film has a cute dog named Thor and it made Laura cry. So, let’s watch it anyway!Don’t worry, Thor survives.

We picked this up as a blind buy at the most recent Barnes & Noble Kino Lorber sale, and it didn't disappoint! This is our first foray into Pat Rocco's work, and arguably, his most accessible. Definitely looking forward to getting into the rest of his catalogue.But for NOW, let's dive into his 1974 feature DRIFTER! 

It's football season, so let's get back into the locker room and slap each other with towels. We're covering Oliver Stone's ANY GIVEN SUNDAY. 

SUPER TROOPERS was an indie comedy gem back in 2001, and since then, it has produced two sequels. Some might say one is better than the rest, but we'll leave that to you. Maple syrup, liters of cola, weddings, boners, snake bites, and many many bottles of Molson later, it's time for SUPER TROOPERS.

Only one thing drew us to pick this film, and his name is Sam Neill. The late, great Sam is in this film, and even though he's not the MAIN subject, we like it nonetheless. Well, kind of. Enjoy our chat about SIRENS! 

After enjoying The Dreamers for the last episode, we really did think that we needed something more…GAY. And we found it. And it’s great. Rotting in the Sun (2023), directed by Sebastián Silva, is funny, thrilling, and has a LOT of full-frontal male nudity. So much so that I don’t think we even cover it all during this episode.

THE DREAMERS seemed surprisingly embraced after the incredibly problematic experience of LAST TANGO IN PARIS (which we cover in brief but will tackle at a later date). It’s a really well-made piece of filmmaking, which marks the film debut of Eva Green (discounting her uncredited appearance in Haneke’s THE PIANO TEACHER) alongside Michael Pitt and Louis Garrel playing the other young “dreamers” in this ménage à trois. There’s some stuff in this movie that, if we went into it now, we would easily get censored. But what do you expect from a filmmaker who studied under the likes of Paolo Pasolini? 

DRIB. “The true story about a fake energy drink” is how this is described. Kristoffer Borgli’s screaming feature debut is about the viral star and the attempts of an ad agency to make them the spokesperson for an energy drink company. Does it sound too outlandish to be true? Whether it’s real or not, that doesn’t really matter.  DRIB.

Bob Geldof didn’t like Mondays. Garfield didn’t like Mondays. We’re all out here living for the weekend…or so I have been told. And that is what this film really is: a bunch of eventful weekends spliced together in cinematic form. MONDAY is a 2020 drama romance film starring Sebastian Stan and Denise Gough, directed by Argyris Papadimitropoulos, set in beautiful Greece. You get your laughs. You get your tears. You get your inevitable high-octane police chase. Oh! And watch out for those pebbles…