Mixed Bag

65 - Cruel Intentions

69

(nice)

(OK so technically we're only on 65 episodes because of some reuploads and a promo ep for Apocalypse Songs but Podbean told us it was 69 and we recorded a whole episode about 69, so you're getting episode 69)

It's time for some late 90s Cruel Intentions, babyyyy.

64 - Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion

Its birthday season for two of our hosts (Cassandra and Matt) so what better way to reflect back over the years than a film that does that very thing in its storytelling.

It's time for the 1997 Romy and Michele's High School Reunion starring Lisa Kudrow, Mira Sorvino Janeane Garofalo and Alan Cumming.

Two not-too-bright party girls reinvent themselves for their high school reunion. Armed with a borrowed Jaguar, new clothes and the story of their success as the inventors of Post-It notes, Romy and Michele descend on their alma mater, but their façade crumbles quickly.

A flop on its release, Romy and Michele has been reappraised over the years. But will the host find this film like meeting an old friend or will it be a high school reunion; awkward, weird and smelling of desperation. 

Photoshop by Cassandra.

Links referred to in video:

Trailer for Romy and Michele

Gift of the Gab video, pre glow-up:

63 - House of Gucci

🗑️ IT'S TIME TO TAKE OUT THE TRASH 🗑️

It's finally here, the episode that'll make you go Gaga, House of Gucci (Ridley Scott, 2021).

We wanted to start 2022 with a bang and what better way than a tale of betrayal, decadence, revenge, and ultimately...murder.

We don't consider ourselves a particularly ethical podcast so we didn't hold back. Can anyone wake up Jeremy Irons? What is Jared Leto doing? Is Gaga getting an Oscar nomination?

Find out if this is a Belle or a Biff in our first 2022 Mixed Bag.

Photoshop by Cassandra Tse.

62- Home Alone 3 with Lucas Neal

It's (just after) the most wonderful time of the year!

That's right, we're just finishing up the tail end of the silly season and so it's time for our yearly tradition of reviewing a Christmas film with friend of the pod, Lucas Neal.

This year, he's chosen something a little controversial: Home Alone 3 which follows a new kid, eight-year-old Alex (played by Alex D. Linz). Our guest has thrown down the controversial gauntlet that this is the best Home Alone (!) Can this sacrilege be backed up? Who is this new kid? Is this film even set during Christmas?!

Have a listen and you'll find out what this is the perfect pick for this release schedule. Be sure to listen to get a pretty thorough unpacking of Home Sweet Home Alone too which recently dropped on Disney+. Thanks to Lucas for another great ep and Happy Holidays Baguette, we'll be back for some HOUSE OF GUCCI in the new year!

61 - Anastasia

Born from a real life tragedy, this 1997 faux-Disney musical is a wild ride of strong liberties to Russian history, complete with a magical Rasputin with a deranged Christopher Lloyd.

Does the charm of Meg Ryan and John Cusack shine through the stilted rotoscoping or should we say do svidanya to Anastasia and her conmen buddies?

The last of our personal picks, before we get to our Christmas tradition, some random guest we've never met...? 

60 - Basic Instinct

A police detective is in charge of the investigation of a brutal murder, in which a beautiful and seductive woman could be involved.

It's the lurid, erotic neo-noir Basic Instinct.

Dropped in 1922, this box office smash made Sharon Stone into a star and perpetuated some pretty tired and problematic gay and bisexual narratives. Likes are you've heard about THE scene but is the film itself any good?

Join Matt, Cass and James for the second of their personal picks and see if this is sizzling or simply snooze.

59 - The Phantom of the Opera

Here's there... the Phantom of the Opera! (2004)

🌹🥀

When camp bat-nipple director Joel Schumacher joined forces with the exceedingly OTT Andrew Lloyd Webber, it should've been a match made in heaven. And yet, The 2004 version of Phantom of the Opera is in some camps despised and most definitely mixed. What about Gerard Butler and Emmy Rossum didn't do it for audiences? And can the combined forces of Simon Callow, Ciaran Hinds and Minnie Driver lift this charisma vaccuum?

Join us as we resume our personal picks and find out why this movie resonated with James as a young 'un and if it still weaved its magic in 2021 on him, Matt and Cass...

58 - Hocus Pocus

Whether you're wrapping up your Halloween and emerging from your candy slumber or set to celebrate it tonight, Halloween reaches far and wide and the spooky season has got to Mixed Bag.

That's why we've popped on the 1993 children's classic Hocus Pocus, directed by Kenny Ortega, who joined the third-timers for directors on Mixed Bag. Not a great accomplishment but we love having you here, Kenny!

After 300 years of slumber, three sister witches are accidentally resurrected in Salem on Halloween night, and it is up to three kids and their newfound feline friend to put an end to the witches’ reign of terror once and for all.

Join hosts Cassandra, Matthew and James as they meet the Sanderson sisters (played by Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy) and discover whether this film is a trick or treat and, more importantly, why is this children's film so goddamn horny?!

 

57 - A Dangerous Method

Folks, we have reached our final night... with Knightley.

The film that spawned this miniseries, the feature presentation that makes most use of Keira Knightley's... advantages. Namely, one. Her chin.

David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method.

You may have seen the infamous clip featuring body horror levels of chin acting (link here if you haven't) but how does the film stack up?

Seduced by the challenge of an impossible case, the driven Dr. Carl Jung takes the unbalanced yet beautiful Sabina Spielrein as his patient. Jung’s weapon is the method of his master, the renowned Sigmund Freud. Both men fall under Sabina’s spell.

Join us the for final Five Nights with Knightley and be sure to hear our definitive chin ranking in Chins and Outs.

Note: We discuss the latest James Bond, No Time To Die in this episode. Timecodes:

6:11 Bond Spoilers Start

22:03 Bond Spoilers finish.

 

56 - The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

Hello Boys!

It's time to get Sugar Plum Sweet and dive into the magical world of The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (2018). Our penultimate night with Knightley and our most recent Keira flick, Nutcracker4Realms is adapted from the 1892 two-act ballet which has some of the sickest classical earworms you've ever come across.

Will the trio find Keira's Sugar Plum Fairy sumptuous or sickly sweet and do chins still hold sway in these realms? Tune in to find out.