Midweek Mention Episodes

THE THING is John Carpenter's 1982 horror masterpiece, combining a simple but sensational premise with some of the most incredible special effects ever devised from legendary prosthetic makeup designer Rob Bottin. Crash landing on earth over 100,000 years ago, an unknowable alien entity has lain dormant in Antarctica until unfrozen by a doomed scientific team. It's unique ability is to precisely mimic any life it comes in contact with and this ingeniously paranoid idea sees the audience in the ...

The first thing we needed to get straight is whether it's pronounced "plaid" or "plaid" and then with that debate settled we move on to discuss the 1982 Steve Martin parody of and homage to Film Noir DEAD MEN DON'T WEAR PLAID. When physicist and part time cheese enthusiast John Hay Forrest dies in a suspicious car accident, his daughter Juliet (Rachel Ward) hires private eye Rigby Reardon to investigate his death, unwittingly setting them both on a path towards cheese obsessed nazis hell bent o...

This weeks Midweek Mention was chosen by Dan and sees his love affair with sports movies continuing with 1999's MYSTERY, ALASKA. Rusell Crowe stars as Justin Beiber (near enough) : sheriff and captain of the local ice hockey team in the tiny fictional town that gives the film its name. When a Sports Illustrated article is published about the towns open pond style skating it attracts the interests of the NHL and an exhibition game between the New York Rangers and the local community is arranged,...

THE MAGICIAN (2005) is an Australian mockumentary written, directed by and starring Scott Ryan as Ray Shoesmith, an amoral hitman who allows film student Max to document his life. Across three disparate stories we come to understand but never sympathise with the calculating, violent and dangerous Ray, but what puts this film head and shoulders above movies treading a similar path is a truly memorable performance from our charismatic lead as well as a 'so black even light can't escape' style sens...

Complete guff says Sidey but with TOP GUN's sequel TOP GUN COLON MAVERICK due out on May 27th, Peter thinks this supposed '80's classic is due a re-watch. Hot shot pilot Tom Cruise competes to be crowned the best at the elite flying school of the US Navy. The movie frames rival aerial ace Iceman (Val Kilmer) as the bad guy, someone who had it in for Maverick from the start, but every time he confronts him he’s completely justified: concerned about Mavericks flashy flying style, his repeated diso...

MULHOLLAND DRIVE is director David Lynch's 2001 surrealist Hollywood noir masterpiece. Made as a pilot for a tv show that never happened, is it more than a series of barely connected parts with extra bits of weirdness thrown in for weirds sake? Multiple think pieces and online theories would vehemently disagree with that assessment but even if that disconnected peculiarity is all there is, that's still a lot to enjoy. Funny and violent and creepy but without conventional story-telling, this is p...

It's a typical day in the life of Dr. Buckaroo Banzai; having completed a particularly tricky brain surgery and successfully piloted his Jetcar to test the "Oscillation Overthruster", a device he designed that allows objects to pass through solid matter, he finds himself drawn into an intergalactic conflict between warring alien species, the Red and Black Lectroids. With his nemesis Dr Emilio Lizardo having broken free from the Trenton Home for the Criminally Insane hellbent on securing the Over...

Can you really call yourself a fan of cinema if you haven't seen the 1962 David Lean classic LAWRENCE OF ARABIA? Yes of course you can, but at least one of the dads hadn't seen it before, so the question is has that mistake been rectified? This sprawling near 4 hour epic sees up and comer Peter O'Toole star as T.E. Lawrence in a story based on his life. Stationed in Cairo during World War I, a stranger in a strange land, Lawrence successfully united and led the diverse, often warring, Arab trib...

Ed Harris's passion project POLLOCK (2000) chronicles the life of the abstract expressionist painter Jackson Pollock. Underneath the fascinating character study of an alcoholic, bi-polar artistic genius, this is a love story at its core. Pollock's wife, an influential artist in her own right Lee Krasner, was instrumental in establishing his genius motivated by a recognition of his dazzling talent but more importantly because she knows that is when Pollock is at his most fulfilled. At times vibra...

On it's release Blue Velvet (1986) caused a bit of a stir. Initially shown at the Montréal World Film Festival in August 1986, and at the Toronto Festival of Festivals, the film received both a chorus of boos and cheers. So pretty standard film festival reactions then! The movie contains some very graphic and shocking scenes of violence and a performance from Dennis Hopper than will live long in the memory. The Dads try to make some sense of it all, and leave with heightened anticipation for o...

GHOST was a smash-hit 1990 supernatural romantic thriller that created an iconic and often parodied pottery scene which holds up surprisingly well. The story sees Patrick Swayze's Sam Wheat, an investment banker, struggling to articulate his feelings to his very much adored girlfriend artist Molly (Demi Moore). When Sam is murdered in a mugging gone wrong his spirit stays behind to help protect and warn Molly that this act of violence was not as random as it first seems. Bruce Joel Rubin's excel...

Director Frank Marshall (ARACHNAPHOBIA) brings us the true story of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571. The Fairchild FH-227D was carrying a rugby team and various related friends and family when it crashed into the Andes mountains in October 1972. A compelling true survival story with impressive location photography and awe inspiring scenery, time has been cruel on this as it all too often has the feel of a soap opera despite the decent acting talent involved which includes Ethan Hawke, Josh Hamilt...

1999 saw the release of this absolute gem, starring Richard Farnsworth and directed by David Lynch. The Straight Story is the biographical tale of Alvin Straight and his journey to meet and reconcile with his older brother who lives two states across the USA. The difficulty for Alvin.... he can't drive and has failing health to contend with. So Alvin undertakes this journey on his trusty lawnmower, setting off on a near 400km journey. This is the first of three DAVID LYNCH movies that we'll be...

We could do with a laugh, so we raided Howie's DVD collection and got down with BREWSTER'S MILLIONS. Turns out that this was originally a book, and this is only one adaptation of the text amongst thousands of others. The film's director, Walter Hill said that the reason he made the movie was "to improve his bank account and success quotient". Nice.

Fasten your seatbelts and watch the in flight safety demonstration as we take to the air for mid-90s action dross Executive Decision. We're mentioned Kurt Russell a few times on recent episodes, so it was jolly decent of Reegs to nominate this "classic" for us this week. Tune in for some fascinating trivia.... and information on where you could have acquired a prop from the movie in 2016. Fingers on the pulse as always!

Join us for this weeks Midweek Mention as we follow legendary rock band Spinal Tap, on the cusp of releasing their 15th album in 17 years and about to start their comeback tour. Director Marty DiBergi provides a peak behind the curtain at the real life machinations of one of Englands loudest bands. We also prove it's hard to find interesting things to say about this fantastic movie other than repeating some of the brilliantly improvised dialogue and explaining the jokes that even those people w...

CB4 is a fictional gangster rap group and the subject of this 1993 mocumentary. This movie was uncharted territory for Reegs and Sidey. For Pete this was one of those tricky films. You remember it being brilliant, but you're unsure whether the movie will stand up to scrutiny all these years down the line. Can the dads come to a unanimous consensus over a film for once? Who knows?!

We're breaking the first two rules of Fight Club this week as we talk about the very thing you're not supposed to talk about. Fight Club was released in 1999, directed by David Fincher and polarised critics and audiences alike. We've revisited it to see how it holds up after all these years. Let us know what you thought of this one. You can reach us on Twitter - @dads_film or our website - baddadsfilm.com

I believe that Stand By Me is Stephen King's favourite adaptation of his own writing. High praise indeed, but just what did the Dads think of the supposed "classic".

Generally regarded as the goriest movie ever made... We watched Braindead. From the guy who made the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The same guy. Unbelievable!!

The Da Vinci Code is a book. I've never read it, but I recall seeing lots of copies in airport shops back when we were able to travel. Well, the book was a hit, so the Hollywood execs had the thing made into a movie. Tom Hanks is in it and so is Gandalf. Must be an odd couple, buddy, road trip movie I guess.

Inspired by Peter Andre's mistaken feeling that Sidey hates Robin Williams, we revisited The Fisher King. The film tells the story of a radio shock jock who tries to find redemption by helping a man whose life he inadvertently shattered. We also get to see Robin Williams penis. So something for everyone in this movie really.

Avid fan of the show, Jamie Cairns nominated The Boondock Saints. This gem was released in 1999 by writer/director Troy Duffy. All round good egg Harvey Weinstein was so taken with the concept that he gave Mr Duffy one hell of the deal to make this picture. However, the demon drink took hold and there was trouble behind the scenes. We drill down on all the shenanigans, and also find out of this is a movie we'd recommend. Tune in to find out...

Dan was let loose to nominate this week. Long time listeners may have heard Dan mention this movie a few times down the years. We watched LET IT RIDE (1989). A movie starring a fella whose name we couldn't agree how to pronounce. Dan makes some outrageous claims on the merits of the movie, while the rest of us struggle to reconcile the movie's message against the actual toll that gambling addiction takes on people. It really was a lot of fun!