Episode 161 - ENCINO MAN

Hey bud-dy! We return to a time when hair metal and surfer slang ruled the earth as we unearth all the early '90s artifacts of Encino Man. The film is a finely preserved specimen from a fascinating evolutionary period in the teen comedy genre, epitomized by Pauly Shore's colorful verbiage and Brendan Fraser's lunkhead charm.

We find our missing link in first-time guest and lifelong Valley resident Jose Santos, who teaches us how to properly wheeze the juice of this movie's corny Cali vibes. Oooow!

Encino Man (1992)
Directed by Les Mayfield
Produced by George Zaloom
Written by Shawn Schepps
Starring Sean Astin, Brendan Fraser, Megan Ward, Michael DeLuise, Robin Tunney, Mariette Hartley, Richard Masur, and Pauly Shore

Episode 86 - THE MUMMY RETURNS

Believe it or not, there was a time when The Mummy franchise felt like the second coming of Indiana Jones. Or so a teenage action junkie was likely to think, circa the summer of 2001, when The Mummy Returns announced its presence as a bigger, faster, and louder version of its hit predecessor.

But where gains are made through massive visual effects and breakneck pacing, something else (Retro chic style? Tongue-in-cheek humor?) is inevitably de-emphasized, or perhaps even lost. Put on your pith helmet and find out The Mummy Returns avoids the curse of sequel excess!

The Mummy Returns (2001)

Written and directed by Stephen Sommers

Produced by Sean Daniel and James Jacks

Starring Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, Arnold Vosloo, John Hannah, Oded Fehr, Patricia Velasquez, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Freddie Boath, and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson

Episode 25 - GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE

If God were to create a man in the image of a Saturday morning cartoon, it's highly likely that he would look like Brendan Fraser: a hulking, manically expressive dervish with a megawatt grin.  There are many ways a live-action remake of Jay Ward's George of the Jungle could fail; the only way it works, however, is with someone as committed and sincere as Fraser at the center of it all.

George of the Jungle pulls out all the stops in an effort to elicit laughs, rapidly transitioning from broad slapstick to broad fish-out-of-water comedy to broad meta-jokes (courtesy of the wry narrator that was a hallmark of all Ward's cartoons).  And keeping everything afloat is Fraser, whose own performance is a stunt on par with the various tricks, both animal and human, that fill in the gaps between each of the movie's shameless yet lovingly rendered gags.

George of the Jungle (1997)

Directed by Sam Weisman

Produced by David Hoberman, Jordan Kerner, and Jon Avnet

Written by Dana Olsen and Audrey Wells

Based on George of the Jungle by Jay Ward and Bill Scott

Starring Brendan Fraser, Leslie Mann, Thomas Haden Church, Richard Roundtree, Holland Taylor, and John Cleese

Correction: In this episode we refer to Jungle 2 Jungle's release date being in July 1997.  It was actually released in theaters in March 1997.  Turns out we were the only ones obsessed with "Jungle Month" tie-ins.