In this episode, we have the time of our lives as we discuss the 1987 smash hit "Dirty Dancing." It's a fun flick about a 17-year-old girl who raises money for a botched abortion, learns to dance and loses her virginity to a small-time male prostitute, but the gigolo has awesome hair and a six-pack, so it all works out well in the end.
Jennifer Grey plays Frances "Baby" Houseman, a wannabe do-gooder whose main method of enacting change in the world appears to be begging her daddy for help while simultaneously treating him like garbage.
Patrick Swayze plays Johnny Castle, a gentile who works as a dance instructor at a summer resort that is specifically all-Jewish, but he is somehow hurt and surprised when he is treated like an outsider. He also manages to paint himself as a victim when he voluntarily has sex with wealthy women for money.
Jerry Orbach plays Dr. Jake Houseman, a nice-seeming physician who makes the mistake of bringing his two spoiled teenage daughters on vacation with him to a resort in upstate New York. Throughout the film, his awful girls do every possible thing they can think of to abuse him and break his will to live.
Join us as we discuss how this movie seems to give up on being a period piece halfway through; as we argue with each other about if the '50s music in this is good or not; and as we come to realize that the final sequence of the film may be a dream sequence.
Tell us what you think by chatting with us (@filmsnuff) on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, or by shooting us an email over at mailbag@filmsnuff.com.
This episode is sponsored by HomeWreckr.
Visit our website at https://www.filmsnuff.com.
The 2018 Best Picture winner, "The Shape of Water" was labeled "a fairy tale for troubled times" by its director, Guillermo del Toro. Coincidentally, the unanimous acclaim that the movie received despite its total lack of substance is reminiscent of another fairy tale, "The Emperor's New Clothes." Del Toro is a poor man's Tim Burton who repeatedly employs the same trick of blending together macabre yet magical scenarios that take place in the past, wide-eyed ingénues and heavy-handed musical scores. They should have been honest and just titled this movie what it is, "Edward Webbed Fingers."
Sally Hawkins plays Elisa Esposito, a mute janitor who works in a top secret facility and lives a life of quiet desperation until she meets and falls in love with her soulmate, a slimy fish creature. She also has a vague backstory about being found as a baby abandoned near some water as well as some symmetrical scaring on both sides of her neck that looks a lot like gills, so we’re supposed to think that she's part sea creature or something.
Richard Jenkins plays Giles, Elisa's neighbor who was recently fired from his job as a commercial artist after his alcoholism started to interfere with his work. Giles's character arc is driven by his failed attempts to get his job back and the fact that he is a closeted homosexual who gets rejected when he tries to makes a move on the proprietor of a local Jell-O pie restaurant. After experiencing these defeats, he's willing to risk it all so that Elisa can save her fish creature lover.
Michael Shannon plays Colonel Richard Strickland, a psychopath bent on torturing and killing anyone who gets in the way of him advancing the misguided goals of the American Government. After swapping out prohibition with the Cold War, it's clear that Guillermo del Toro instructed Shannon to play the exact same character that he played on "Boardwalk Empire."
Octavia Spencer plays Zelda Fuller, a talkative janitor who works alongside mute Elisa at the top secret facility. Throughout the film, her incessant complaints about her ne'er-do-well husband's shortcomings are supposed to provide comic relief.
Michael Stuhlbarg plays Dr. Robert Hoffstetler (a.k.a. Dimitri Mosenkov), a scientist and secret Russian spy. After he discovers that the fish creature possesses human-level intelligence, he decides to disregard his orders to kill it and instead helps Elisa free it from the evil Americans before getting vivisected.
Doug Jones plays a slimy disgusting sea creature with a hidden retractable penis.
Join us as we discuss the sick history of Kellogg's cornflakes, the strange legality of bestiality in the United States, and the double-life Jim constantly tries to hide from his wife.
Tell us what you think by chatting with us (@filmsnuff) on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, or by shooting us an email over at mailbag@filmsnuff.com.
This episode is sponsored by Modern McCarthyism.
Visit our website at https://www.filmsnuff.com.
Carpe diem! It's time to sneak out of the dormitory at your elite all-boys prep school and go to the old Indian cave to read poetry into the wee hours of the morning. The 1989 film "Dead Poets Society" won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for showing its audience that life isn't worth living unless you are fiercely pursuing the things you are passionate about regardless of the consequences.
Robin Williams plays John Keating (no relation to one of this show's hosts), an irreverent young English teacher who returns to the stodgy school that he once attended in order sow the seeds of discontent amongst his students, but somehow he is surprised and hurt when the administration isn't happy with what he's doing.
Robert Sean Leonard plays Neil Perry, an unstable and brittle-spirited student who has a desire to pursue acting against his tyrannical father's wishes. After being inspired by his teacher to follow his dreams, Neil's quest to become his own man spins wildly out of control and ultimately ends tragically in a self-inflicted bullet to the ol' noggin.
Ethan Hawke plays Todd Anderson, a timid student who lives in the shadow of his illustrious older brother. With a little help from his friends and his favorite teacher, Todd is able to break out of his shell and tap into his limitless hidden potential like some sort of Tony Robbins seminar attendee.
Josh Charles plays Knox Overstreet, a horny student who misconstrues his teacher’s instruction to seize the day as permission for him to creepily obsess over the girl he is pursuing to the point where he eventually sexually assaults her while she is passed out.
Gale Hansen plays Charlie Dalton (a.k.a Nuwanda), a fun-loving student who is the only character in the film to actually embody the carpe diem attitude. Also, he's the only character who doesn't turn on John Keating and become a rat fink after the school administration applies the slightest pressure.
Join us as we discuss how and why Keating & Jim were both permanently kicked out of one of their high school classes, our speculation that the Robin Williams character in this is basically a cult leader, and how Jim was once on a high school wrestling team with a future Playboy Playmate.
Tell us what you think by chatting with us (@filmsnuff) on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, or by shooting us an email over at mailbag@filmsnuff.com.
This episode is sponsored by Build-A-Relationship.
Visit our website at https://www.filmsnuff.com.
For the second year in a row, we fired up the mics immediately after watching the Oscars ceremony and will give you our take on what we witnessed. We also figure out who got the most categories correct (and settle our wager), discuss Jimmy Kimmel’s hosting, some of the speeches, and our favorite and most-hated moments from the broadcast.
Follow along by visiting filmsnuff.com/2018OscarNoms, where we have provided a list of the nominations in the order we read them.
As always, follow the show on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Visit our website at https://www.filmsnuff.com.