The Projectors

Black Christmas (1974)

It’s THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR and we’re dropping some offbeat fare for Christmas and today’s discussion is much more influential to certain films you might be more likely to watch around Halloween. “Billy” the phone creep might not be as prolific as Freddy, Jason or Michael Myers but he certainly stands out and he’s very creative even if you have no idea who he is. It’s a Christmastime sorority slasher classic that spawned an entire horror sub-genre. We’re talking Bob Clark’s “BLACK CHRISTMAS” starring Margot Kidder, Olivia Hussey, Andrea Martin and John Saxon. What’s with these horrible (but great) obscene phone calls? Where are my sorority friends disappearing to? Why is my boyfriend so angry and bad at piano? These are important questions. If only someone checked the attic. Ah well. It’s Billy’s world and we’re just yuletiding in it.
Here’s that AV Club Margot Kidder interview. RIP Queen: https://www.avclub.com/random-roles-margot-kidder-1798215851
 
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The Holdovers (2023)

(MILDLY SPOILER-FREE, NO SIGNIFICANT DETAILS)
IT’S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR and I think it’s obvious what this month’s overarching theme will be and it might get a little offbeat but on Wednesdays (at least) we will be going to the movies for our picks and it looks like there is a lot of good looking flicks to be seen. Although…”Wonka”??? Not sure if we want to contribute to the “Fantastic Beasts” version of the Roald Dahl-verse and the new Aquaman looks like even more of a video game cut scene than the first one did though anything featuring an Octopus playing drums automatically gets an additional half point. To get our theater selections started off on the right foot we set out for an actual Christmas movie and we happened to have caught it in 35mm at our local independent movie theater. We’re discussing Alexander Payne’s brand new “70’s” movie “The Holdovers” starring Paul Giamatti, Da’Vine Joy Randolph & Dominic Sessa. An unlikable and over academic prep school professor must keep ward of a troublesome and emotionally isolated student during Christmas break while in the company of the school cook who is mourning the loss of a son. Thankfully, this wry story of solitude isn’t some overtly saccharine dramatic piece. It’s sweetness feels more realistic. How does Alexander Payne’s latest hold up? Let us tell you all about it (WITH NO SIGNIFICANT DETAILS) unless you’re some sort of penis cancer in human form.
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White Christmas (1954)

It’s what they call THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR and for our vintage Monday picks we’re going straight for the Christmas Classic Heavy Hitters and no better place to start than with a little Irving Berlin. Bing Crosby stops beating his son long enough to star in the Michael Curtiz holiday musical “WHITE CHRISTMAS” from 1954. It also stars Danny Kaye, the enjoyable Rosemary Clooney and the talented Vera-Ellen. This movie is about a two star general who is the greatest human ever and the celebration of love and honor and yuletide through singing and dancing. Complete with that bit where the characters misunderstand to cause friction between them. We all love that shit right? It should be in everything. Quentin Tarantino should start doing that in his stuff. With montages of the characters being sad while a Taylor Swift song plays. Also, would you wash your hair with snow? Maybe some folks have to. Rosemary Clooney seems to enjoy it. Either you watched this with your Grandma or you are Grandma. Thanks for hanging out with us, Grandma.
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Deep Red (1975)

It’s THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR! At least that’s what they tell me. We’ve coasted out of COMFORT FOOD and now we’re full blown into the Christmas season and why not get it started with…MURDER! It’s a bloody scene one Christmas Day. We see a Christmas tree. A decorated table. We hear screams. We see stabbing in the shadows. A knife falls to the floor. A children’s feet step into frame. What the hell happened here? Are all Italian Christmases like this? It’s time to solve some serial murders and who better than a pianist to get the job done. We’re discussing Dario Argento’s classic Italian slasher film “DEEP RED” from 1975 starring David Hemmings and Daria Nicolodi with proggy jams by Giorgio Gaslini & Goblin. The streets are running a very bright red. A killer is on the loose and they’re very good at making mechanical dolls. Also they’re playing children’s music when they kill. They like to stick to a theme. It’s like a Batman villain from the 40s. How does it all connect with that terrifying Christmas Day? Sit through it and then hear us tell the tale shock by shock. They’re trying to kill me, yeah?
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The Last Picture Show (1971)

Just before we get into the meat of the Christmas season we’re gifting you early with a movie talk every day this week and let’s close out a very COMFORT FOOD theme November with one of the most well regarded films about a small town that ever was. In Anarene, nothing really changes and we’ve all know plenty of Jacys and Duanes and Sonnys so some of the ups and downs in the 1971 film “The Last Picture Show” might be familiar to you. Directed by Peter Bogdanovich and co-written by Larry McMurtry who wrote the original novel. Filmed in Larry McMurty’s home town of Archer Texas and launching several careers like Cybill Shepherd, Jeff Bridges and Timothy Bottoms and redefining the careers of others like Ben Johnson, Ellen Burstyn and Cloris Leachman. A straight shooting movie with no overflowing saccharine (well, maybe a dash) and not much animosity (well, maybe some). Small town flicks don’t get much better than this. Which person in this movie is the most like you? Don’t say Sam the Lion. There’s not enough of those guys out there. You’re probably a Billy. That’s not meant to be an insult. Billy is the most innocent. Just be the Billy and stay out of traffic, ok?
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Forrest Gump (1994)

For November’s theme of COMFORT FOOD we’re revisiting movies of our youth and analyzing inspirational features featuring actors portraying characters with intellectual disabilities and it all culminates into this particular discussion which covers both bases quite nicely. The 1994 Robert Zemeckis film “Forrest Gump” starring Tom Hanks was a huge hit that landed a best picture Academy Award. It’s an inspirational piece bookended by a feather that features a simple (dumb) man living an extraordinary life that he recounts to folks sitting on a park bench and nobody seems to recognize him despite the fact that he’s an All-American college football player, a Medal of Honor winner, an international Ping Pong superstar, the owner of a very successful shrimping boat business and a guy that ran coast to coast for three years very publicly. He also gets laid only one time to a girl with AIDS but doesn’t get it but he does get to raise the AIDS baby all by himself. I gotta remember to go easy on Jenny. She had a horrible childhood. She should have been in that room with Forrest inventing dances for Elvis. This movie still kind of hits even if it’s even cheesier than you might recall. Funny for, perhaps, some unintentional reasons. He dropped the dime on Watergate, y’know?
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Role Models (2008)

For November’s theme of COMFORT FOOD we wanted to try and keep it clean. We didn’t even come close. Every episode says “fuck” at least 12 times. So many “shits”. There’s always a “cunt” popping up randomly. Revisiting and discussing films that meant a lot to our childhood just reminded as that we were also crude as children. So let’s get crude with a movie that actually meant a lot early in Bob and Angela’s relationship. For years, whenever they would travel and stay in a hotel, they would randomly turn on the hotel room cable and inevitably find the 2008 comedy “Role Models” directed by David Wain and starring Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott amongst several other comedy stalwarts of the day. They couldn’t possibly watch anything else once they discovered that “Role Models” was on. Maybe it passed you by? On the surface, it seems indistinguishable from several comedies throughout the 2000s. While there are tropes, we feel that this one stands out pleasantly. These types of comedies have quietly faded from the current movie theater landscape. People might claim “woke” is to blame but the reality is that those brands of comedies just got very stale. They were beat into the ground. All the quirky jokes are in superhero and fantasy movies now and that’s also starting to feel quite stale. The future of comedy at the movies has yet to really reveal itself and it will have to be something fresh and unique to catch the spark again. Anyway…”Role Models” is kinda funny. Check it out.
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Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)

We’re dropping an episode every weekday this week to send off November’s theme of COMFORT FOOD and coast right into our Christmas selections. We start the week with Bob’s last nostalgia selection and there is truly none more nostalgic for a young Bob Sham than this ode to cartoon history in the form of a noir romp in the 1988 Robert Zemeckis film “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” starring Bob Hoskins and Christopher Lloyd with the vocal talents of Charles Fleischer and Kathleen Turner featuring animation by Richard Williams. Big credit goes to Steven Spielberg as well who used his weight to actually get Warner Bros characters, as well as a few other cartoon properties, onto a Disney production. Seeing characters like Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Betty Boop and Woody Woodpecker on the same project together was mind blowing to our young minds. The original character of Roger Rabbit was pretty great too but no cartoon character stood out of the pack quite like Jessica Rabbit. We were all horned up for this cartoon character at the time and she has never quite left our brains. Much of our nostalgia picks have been interpreted a little bit different in our adult minds but there’s something about “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” that still hits us as strong as it ever did. That poor shoe. Goddamn, Judge Doom was scary as fuck. 
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What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)

For November’s theme of COMFORT FOOD we’re discussing the heartfelt fare of our moviegoing past as well as the sweet inspiration that is often found in movies where actors are portraying characters with intellectual disabilities. This discussion kinda goes both ways but we won’t say it’s overtly sweet. It may actually be one of the better portrayals of the sincerity and depression of a small town in the United States. Gilbert Grape? What’s eating him? Everything. He’s played by Johnny Depp and his brother,Arnie, is intensely played by a young Leonardo DiCaprio and this character is easily our most mentally challenged of the month. Not much to clown here but the focus doesn’t sit solely on DiCaprio’s shoulders as there is a good cast and story surrounding him. A big difference from our other “challenged” discussions. Once again, Europeans explain our culture to us in Lasse Hallstrom’s 1993 melancholy “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” and it stars a mess of talented people not the least of which being Darlene Cates who was cast after going on the Sally show and talking about her extreme weight gain and how she hadn’t left the house in 5 years. Hear us tell of it and learn about the Elmer Fudd effect. We can teach you so much. Just give your mind over to us.
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Thanksgiving (2023)

((NO SPOILERS)) - HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Stay home tonight. You don’t need a 50% off waffle maker. If your job is making you work on Thanksgiving then quit. Even if you work at a movie theater. You have our blessing. Thanksgiving is about being with family and eating too much and then falling asleep in front of the Lions game for an hour and then getting up and eating more. Be thankful for us because we’re giving you a special holiday drop that you probably won’t have time to see or hear until the following weekend. We’re thankful for this movie we’re discussing, the fresh-ass Eli Roth slasher gore-fest “Thanksgiving” in which a mysterious killer known as “John Carver” tears ass through Plymouth, Massachusetts one year after a horrid Black Friday incident shook the town to it’s core. Thanksgiving is Bob’s favorite holiday and make no bones about it, he was completely in support of the actions of John Carver. 100%. These people should have taken Thanksgiving much more seriously. We’re just thankful that John Carver is out there fighting back against the War on Thanksgiving. The villain here is Black Friday and people who put up their Christmas lights too early. You’ll fucking get yours. That’s a promise. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
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