September 26, 2014

Episode 6 - LITTLE GIANTS


How prescient is Little Giants?  It's a movie about a ragtag peewee football team that eerily touches on several hot-button topics in the college and pro game: scurrilous recruiting, the glorification of hostile masculinity, and the spread offense.  It's no wonder it would essentially be remade six years later, with adults, as The Replacements.

How dated is Little Giants?  It's got concussion jokes.  It mercilessly makes fun of the fat kid.  Every camcorder in the film is only slightly smaller than a ghettoblaster.  It assumes the audience still recognizes John Madden as an actual football coach.

All this, plus the complexities of Icebox as a ‘90s feminist icon, in this week’s episode.


Little Giants (1994)
Directed by Duwayne Dunham
Produced by Arne Schmidt
Written by James Ferguson & Robert Shallcross and Tommy Swerdlow & Michael Goldberg
Starring Rick Moranis, Ed O'Neill, Shawna Waldron, and Devon Sawa

September 12, 2014

Episode 5 - NOW AND THEN


Is it possible to be nostalgic for an older form of nostalgia?

Watching Now and Then is like cracking open a dog-eared Judy Blume novel. This week Cam and Eric take a look at the 1970-centric film, a coming-of-age period piece from a time before #tbt, when historical texture went a little farther than golden oldies on the soundtrack and “the feels” were referred to as “emotions.”  And the stellar performances from several young actresses - as prelude for some rather idiosyncratic careers - only adds to the time capsule vibe.  Groovy.



Now and Then (1995)
Directed by Lesli Linka Glatter
Produced by Suzanne Todd and Demi Moore
Written by I. Marlene King
Starring Gaby Hoffman, Thora Birch, Christina Ricci, Ashleigh Aston Moore, Rosie O’Donnell, Melanie Griffith, Rita Wilson, and Demi Moore