The Flop House

Hallie joins the Flop House gang once more, to discuss random topics selected by YOU, the listeners! Subscribe to our  NEWSLETTER, “Flop Secrets ! Go to  factormeals.com/flop50off and use code flop50off to get 50% off, plus FREE shipping on your first box.  Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinflop

Robbie Williams is a chimp. That's not an insult, just an accurate description of Better Man , from the director of past Flop House subject, The Greatest Showman . This one's the rare FH movie that was a critical success while being a financial flop -- will we agree with the critics? Oh, and we buried the lede: HALLIE 'S BACK! Wikipedia page for Better Man Recommended in this episode: Dan:  Ninja...

We're joined by longtime friend of the show (but first time on mic!) Alejandro Arbona , a 20-year veteran of comics editing and a comics writer himself, to discuss everyone's favorite extravagantly-perverse Italian thriller genre -- GIALLO. We discuss what defines a giallo and differentiates it from other sub-genres (and the slasher films it helped inspire), and then Alejandro runs us through a li...

We flashback to discuss a movie that was much-requested when it was first released, but just didn't fit into our schedule -- Jerry Seinfeld's baffling paean to the Pop Tart, Unfrosted , a film that throws an astounding cavalcade of comedy talent at ideas that seem (apologies) a bit undercooked. Also, we were blessed by the rare in-studio presence of our beloved producer, Alex Smith, who hadn't act...

While we were all fortunate enough to record in-person, Stuart filled Dan and Elliott with booze and forced them to do celebrity "impressions." It's either our most fun episode or our most embarrassing! Or both! Subscribe to our  NEWSLETTER, “Flop Secrets !” Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinflop

What's the deal with Netflix's The Electric State ? Well, for one thing we know that IT'S ELECTRIC... boogie woogie woogie. But also, it's a movie arguing for the primacy of real-life connection that feels utterly algorithmically designed, what with its Chris Pratts and Millies Bobby Brown and cute robot pals, and it cost... $320 million?? That can't be right. There must be a smudge on these accou...

Elliott puts on his greasy overalls to look under the filmic hood, as we figure out what makes a good "robot movie," ask why Heartbeeps was a bad one, and see if we can pull out the robot defibrillator to restore its cinematic heartbeep. Subscribe to our  NEWSLETTER, “Flop Secrets !” Go to Squarespace.com for a free trial, and when you’re ready to launch, go to  www.squarespace.com/FLOP  to save 1...

We tie a bow around Max Fun Drive 2025 and our “Movies Without Spider-Man” series with (?) Paul Schrader's (?) magnum opus, Heartbeeps . It's the classic tale of a guy robot and a girl robot in love and also there's a bad stand-up comic robot and a mean cop robot and a baby robot and Andy Kaufman does one of the world's most irritating voices and what the fuck is this thing? Wikipedia page for Hea...

“Movies Without Spider-Man” Max Fun drive continues (please consider  supporting our show !) with the thrilling (?) conclusion (??) of the Venom saga -- Venom: The Last Dance, the touching story of a boy and the black sentient goo he wears on his body that sometimes eats people's heads. There's one more week of Max Fun Drive —  check out our event calendar ! Wikipedia page for Venom: The Last Danc...

Dan reveals a WEIRD and possibly EXTREMELY COMPLEX FOR HIM TO PUT TOGETHER stretch goal for this year's Max Fun Drive! Become a supporting member of Maximum Fun and help keep our show going and independent by visiting maximumfun.org/join today! Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinflop

Here's a little taste of what's awaiting Max Fun members in the member bonus feed -- an all-new roleplaying adventure from gamemaster Stuart! In this edition, Dan, Elliott, and fan favorite guest Zhubin Parang play beachfront restaurant staff, on the first night of summer, trying to make it through a busy shift... but CHAOS is on the menu! If you'd like to listen to this, a whole heck of a lot of...

It’s not MaxFunDrive without a wild kickoff spectacular! Former real-life VJ and host of MTV's Spring Break 1999, Dave Holmes, takes your favorite MaxFun hosts through some wacky ‘90s- and Spring Break-themed mini games!! Featuring: Dave Holmes, Jeremy Bent, Oscar Montoya, Dimitry Pompée, Tom Lum, Ellen Weatherford, Alex Schmidt, Brenda Snell, Drea Clark, Alonso Duralde, Dan McCoy, Jordan Morris,...

We start out our special "Films Without Spider-Man" theme month (in honor of Max Fun Drive -- please consider supporting our show !) with one of the more ostentatiously-Spider-Man-free films of last year: Kraven the Hunter . C'mon, Kraven, we KNOW you guys know one another--remember that last hunt? Just swallow your pride and phone Spidey to drop by! We're cravin' it! We're doing a ton of extra st...

We welcome one of the godfathers of bad movie culture, Harry Medved, of the seminal books "The Fifty Worst Films of All Time" and " The Golden Turkey Awards ," and discuss his PBS show "Locationland" where he and comedian Dana Gould visited the filming sites for Plan 9 From Outer Space ! And we also spend a little time talking to Locationland producer Harry Pallenberg about his father's work with...

Wow! The first new Star Trek movie in eight years! What's that you say? Oh. TV movie? And it's less a "movie" and more a "we were going to develop a new series and that fell through so we made it a one-off, 90 minute thing?" Huh. Well, Star Trek: Section 31 may not be a "movie" in the same way we've used that word for most of its existence, but it was still a good excuse to hang out with our frien...

The Goofmaster returns to quiz Stuart and Elliott about some IMDb "Goofs" from 1980's movies that didn't live up to the standards of viewers with enough free time to log movie goofs on IMDb. There’s been SO MUCH DEMAND for FlopTV that — you know what? — we’re going to leave episodes up for an extra two weeks, so that late buyers can still have the time to check out the shows (and that means one la...

A lot of stuff happened... HERE . Well. Not that much stuff, actually. Like, six couples lived here. Most of them were pretty boring. But at one point there were dinosaurs! That's pretty cool, right? Anyway, enjoy our discussion of the latest installment in Robert Zemeckis's inexplicable slide from "can do no wrong" to "can do ... wrong!" There’s been SO MUCH DEMAND for FlopTV that — you know what...

Following a couple of failed "Dark Universe" attempts, Stuart leads a brainstorming session to explore how his co-hosts might revitalize the Universal Monsters. You can still see FlopTV thru the end of February -- tickets here ! And while you’re clicking on stuff, subscribe to our  NEWSLETTER, “Flop Secrets !” Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.o...

Harold and the Purple Crayon is a lovely, enduring children's classic (if you've never encountered it, have Steve Buscemi read it to you !) -- did Hollywood treat it with gentleness and respect, when they decided to use it as the jumping-off point for the movie " Harold and the Purple Crayon ?" The answer may not surprise you! The LIVE tapings of season 2 of FlopTV end TONIGHT with TMNT II: The Se...

Elliott completes a loose trilogy of minisodes -- one per Peach -- all about the changing of the year. His take? What New Year's resolution would you make on behalf of various franchises? The final episode of season 2 of FlopTV debuts in one week, but your ticket gets you access thru February! Full line-up/tickets here ! And while you’re clicking on stuff, subscribe to our  NEWSLETTER, “Flop Secre...

For our first full episode recorded and released in 2025, we wanted to start things off with a bang, so we watched the sequel to a love-it-or-hate-it film, except this time around most non-John Waters/Quentin Tarantino folks seemed to just hate it. That's right, it's the further adventures of that notorious clown prince of stair dancing, the Jokester, in... Joker: Folie à Deux , the film that got...

Dan looks forward to the year ahead, and asks the rest of the Flop House gang which of 2025's cinematic offerings float their cineaste boats. We’re in season 2 of FlopTV! Tune in for individual episodes, or get a price break with a season pass!  Full line-up/tickets here ! And while you’re clicking on stuff, subscribe to our  NEWSLETTER, “Flop Secrets !” Help support this show and unlock bonus con...

As we all recover from our New Year's hangovers, enjoy this, the second of our two live shows from last May's "Saint Audio Podcast Festival" in Oxford, England. We discuss Spice World , a film we also had the privilege of introducing at The Ultimate Picture Palace , for a screening the evening before, and -- honestly? The movie was a total blast. We hope you have fun listening to the love fest. We...

As New Year's approaches, and we say goodbye to 2024, Stuart takes us on a gamified tour through the year in movies. We’re in season 2 of FlopTV! Tune in for individual episodes, or get a price break with a season pass!  Full line-up/tickets here ! And while you’re clicking on stuff, subscribe to our  NEWSLETTER, “Flop Secrets !” Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at...

We discuss Borderlands , a video game movie that got delayed for several years, with extensive reshoots where an uncredited director took over for Eli Roth -- but it's probably okay, right? It's not like that sentence has at least five red flags in it... We’re in season 2 of FlopTV! Pop in for individual episodes, or get a price break with a season pass! Peruse the  full line-up and/or get tickets...