425: The Chase [1994] Movie Discussion

The A-plot of The Chase is a weird romance happening during a car chase between a criminal and his hostage. The B-plot is a chaotically comical satire of the absurd world of television news starring various rock stars and porn actors. Guess which plot we liked best. We can’t help but keep taking weird side roads in our journey with The Chase and talk about so many other films, but we do get to discuss some of the important questions: how do we keep watching films with the Red Hot Chilli Peppers in, how do we stop looking at Henry Rollins’ neck and why is dancing to the Village People always our favourate thing in a movie?

424: Deja Vu [2006] Movie Discussion

Not many films have the chutzpah to just change from a police procedural drama to a semi sci-fi tech thriller and then to a fully fledged time travel movie two thirds of the way in, but Deja Vu certainly does have the gumption to attempt it. It’s safe to say none of us at SFFCH were really expecting this from a Tony Scott movie and are left suitably baffled and intrigued. Does the unexpected turn do it for the Spoiler Filled crew or are we left in a tangled web of logic and paradoxes? Tune in to find out.

423: The Man With The Golden Arm [1955] Movie Discussion

We’re not terribly familiar with Frank Sinatra’s acting career here at SFFCH despite him being in a surprising amount of films. We wanted to see if he could hold his own in something which wasn’t a musical or a cheeky-chappy comedy and we think we’ve found the least likely film from the 50s to star one of the most famous singers on the planet. The Man With Golden Arm is a surprisingly hard-hitting and intimate portrayal of drugs, addiction and recovery from 1955 and, fair play to him, ol’ Frankie certainly did hold his own in a film including: a better class of drug dealer, allowing someone to practice drums in your tiny apartment, lovingly kept scrapbooks of fatal accidents and lot more of us not understanding gambling at all.

422: Damsel [2018] Movie Discussion

Robert Pattinson had a bit of a shaky start to his career with all that sparkly vampire nonsense, but we here at SFFCH have stuck with him over the years and you could even, maybe, sort of call us fans. Despite making some unique choices in roles, Damsel, a blackly comic Western, seemed like a particularly quirky film that caught our attention and definitely gave us a few surprises. Up for discussion this time: Robert Pattinson’s masturbation period, where did the barrel-wearing hobo stereotype even come from, dead bodies urinating and dynamite-strapped priests on small horses.

421: 7 Psychopaths [2012] Movie Discussion

Yeah, we get it, it’s about the film script called 7 Psychopaths, it’s not about 7 actual psychopaths. It’s about storytelling and the creative process and how we glorify violence and bad people in fiction, but we can’t help but feel a little cheated by the misleading title. To be fair, we only needed the 3 psychopaths anyways (well, 4 I guess, Tom Waits gets a pass too). We’re not quite sure how to feel about this Martin McDonagh unconventional comedy, we love the performances, but can’t help but find a few holes here and there.

420: Arsenic and Old Lace [1944] Movie Discussion

Frank Capra is regarded as one of the best and most popular film directors of all time so we thought it might be worth our while to check out Arsenic and Old Lace, a black screwball comedy from 1944. As is seemingly always the case when we tackle a classic film or the work of legendary filmmaker here at SFFCH, we find the film a little divisive. Who finds the film a work of genius comedy and who thinks it’s just plain dumb? Tune in to find out! (At least we can all agree that mental illness jokes have dated quite badly)

419: Truck Turner [1974] Movie Discussion

We descend into the world of LA-based bounty hunters this week as we plow through 1974’s blaxploitation film Truck Turner. It has everything you want from a classic blaxploitation: a ruggedly handsome protagonist, pimps and hoes, hit-men, bar fights, chases, intimidation and a funky soundtrack as well as plenty of stuff you didn’t need (but love anyways) like: constant reminders our hero smells like cat piss, rituals of a pimp funeral, sneakily getting your girlfriend arrested for her own protection, Nichelle Nichols being unhinged and singing your own love song over your own love scene.

418: Redline [2009] Movie Discussion

We missed our ride home and are stranded in Japan again this week, so we hunker down with our old friend, anime movies, to pass the time. This week, we become the bewildered passengers of the wild, adrenaline-fueled ride that is Redline, a high-octane, sci-fi, racing movie that contains some impressively drawn and chaotic animation, a thumping soundtrack and so many weird and wonderful alien creatures that we have no more adjectives left to describe.

417: Suwīto Hōmu a.k.a. Sweet Home [1989] Movie Dicussion

An obscure Japanese film that (roundabout-ly?) inspired one of the most popular horror video game franchises understandably has Jamie salivating this week on SFFCH. Indeed, everyone sees the potential that Sweet Home emanates and after watching it we truly think we have found something unique for a supernatural Japanese Horror film: boring-ness. Though there is still plenty of general lunacy for us to tackle, including: possessions, glass-bending musical interludes, fantastically protracted people-melting effects, an insanely fun monster puppet and realising that it all boils down to dead babies in these types of films.

416: Witchfinder General [1968] Movie Discussion

It’s finally time to scrutinize and interrogate our first Vincent Price film and it’s one where he, as a 50-something year old man, is playing a real historical figure in his 20s. Movie magic, aye?! Fair play to him though, it’s a cracking performance. We all thought Witchfinder General was going to be a campy horror/thriller à la Hammer Horror movies and other Vincent Price B-Movies, but we are (pleasantly?) surprised by how grounded and unflinching a portrayal of this insane time period it is. So come and listen to our discussion where: no-one can remember the word ‘cavalier’, someone describes the film as ‘an hour and a half of screaming’, we realise everyone in the English Civil War were just right bellends and we appreciate the plethora of fashionable buckles and doilies.