Episode 241 - HEAVYWEIGHTS

An unlikely hotbed of comedic talent, the family-friendly (for the '90s) Heavyweights tickles the funny bone and tugs on the heartstrings as it deliriously subverts live-action Disney tropes.

Are you ready for the best damn podcast of your life? Jake Beal certainly is -- and he's here to help us become skinny winners as we master the Perkis System together.

Heavyweights (1995)
Directed by Steven Brill
Written by Judd Apatow and Steven Brill
Starring Aaron Schwartz, Tom McGowan, Shaun Weiss, Kenan Thompson, Paul Feig, Tom Hodges, Leah Lail, and Ben Stiller

Episode 217 - THE PHANTOM

The Summer of Serials comes to a rousing conclusion with The Phantom, in which a bemused beefcake is surrounded by campy and/or deadpan scene partners gobbling up the exotic scenery. This underrated swashbuckling adventure capped the '90s revival of pulp heroes, and also sowed the seeds of the truly global big-budget superhero productions that were yet to come.

Jake Beal helps us Slam Evil!™ as we unravel the mysteries of the Ghost Who Walks. Hang on to your skintight purple bodysuits, listeners, because this one is un-be-liev-ableeeeee!

The Phantom (1996)
Directed by Simon Wincer
Written by Jeffrey Boam
Based on characters created by Lee Falk
Starring Billy Zane, Treat Williams, Kristy Swanson, James Remar, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, and Patrick McGoohan

Episode 208 - NATIONAL LAMPOON'S CHRISTMAS VACATION

It's that time...Christmastime is here...and we're saying hip hip hooray to the holiday hijinks of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. No yuletide tradition is safe from the film's combination of sardonic wit and slapstick hysteria, creating the perfect storm of holiday stress that feels exhaustingly relatable to this day.

But don't despair - there's still plenty of genuine Christmas spirit too! Our buddy Jake Beal returns to offer his perspective on the highs and lows of all our cherished holiday rituals. Hallelujah! Holy shit! Where's the Tylenol?

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)
Directed by Jeremiah Chechik
Written by John Hughes
Starring Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo, Juliette Lewis, Johnny Galecki, John Randolph, Diane Ladd, E.G. Marshall, Doris Roberts, William Hickey, Mae Questel, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Brian Doyle-Murray, and Randy Quaid

Episode 181 - TWISTER

How many roads must an estranged couple walk down before you can call them groundbreaking tornado researchers? The answer, my friends, is blowin' in the high-concept thrills of Twister, a kinetic upscaling of classic Hollywood disaster flicks that's constantly driving forward like an unstoppable force of nature.

We go storm chasing with our good friend, the inimitable Jake Beal, who shares his Midwestern roots and teaches us all the right strategies for appreciating the well-crafted bombast of a prototypical '90s blockbuster. It's the wonder of nature, baby!

Twister (1996)
Directed by Jan de Bont
Written by Michael Crichton and Anne-Marie Martin
Starring Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton, Jami Gertz, Cary Elwes, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Alan Ruck, Jeremy Davies, Sean Whalen, Joey Slotnick, Todd Field, Scott Thomson, Wendle Josepher, Zach Grenier, and Lois Smith

Episode 152 - ROCKO'S MODERN LIFE

Years before "adult" became a verb, Rocko's Modern Life tried to warn us what was in store outside the bubble of childhood. Younger viewers tuning in to laugh at funny talking animals were surreptitiously served a reality check in tidy 10-minute segments. The cartoon's surreal slapstick punctured the perceived glamour of the grown-up world, while also taking aim at the excesses and absurdities of...well, modern life.

Jake Beal returns in this episode of Conglom-O proportions, as we raise Heck in our raucous appreciation of a Nicktoon that was well ahead of its time. This'll be a hoot!

Rocko's Modern Life (1993-1996)
Created by Joe Murray

Episodes featured in this podcast:

"To Heck and Back" (aired 10/10/93)
"Rocko's Happy Sack" (aired 11/21/93)
"Kiss Me, I'm Foreign" (aired 12/4/94)
"Wacky Delly" (aired 1/26/96)
"Zanzibar" (aired 4/21/96)
"Closet Clown" (aired 7/16/96)

Episode 142 - THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST

The Passion of the Christ was a massive gamble in every sense: a movie in a dead genre, performed in a dead language, portraying a feature-length death march. It only made a truckload of money and launched a new wave of faith-based films aimed at the audience that turned an adaptation of Christian gospels and devotional writings into a global phenomenon.

Our favorite disciple, Jake Beal, arrives just in time for Easter and takes us to (Sunday) school as we examine The Passion's complex legacy as religious theater, epic cinema, and cultural touchstone.  It is accomplished!

The Passion of the Christ (2004)
Directed by Mel Gibson
Produced by Bruce Davey, Mel Gibson, and Stephen McEveety
Written by Mel Gibson and Benedict Fitzgerald
Starring Jim Caviezel, Maia Morgenstern, Francesco De Vito, Luca Lionello, Christo Jivkov, Rosalinda Celentano, Mattia Sbragia, Hristo Shopov, and Monica Bellucci

Episode 119 - CON AIR

The high concept of Con Air plays like a perfect card of Bruckheimer bingo: an unassailable tragic hero, oodles of massive explosions, and a preternaturally calm Nicolas Cage. But there's a lot more going on in this orchestrated mayhem, thanks to a deep bench of character actors and an infinitely quotable script that's dripping with sarcasm.

Jake Beal makes a garrulous WWWW debut that touches on everything from sound design to criminal psychology to dueling country music sirens. Don't miss this episode, because we're going to show you that God does exist.

Be sure to check out more of Jake's cinematic deep dives on his blog, The Mentaculus!

Con Air (1997)
Directed by Simon West
Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer
Written by Scott Rosenberg
Starring Nicolas Cage, John Cusack, John Malkovich, Ving Rhames, Colm Meaney, Danny Trejo, M.C. Gainey, Dave Chappelle, Mykelti Williamson, Rachel Ticotin, Monica Potter, and Steve Buscemi