Berri's Couch

Well as we have finished this journey it is time to look back on where we've been, and speculate on where we should go. Which is just a fancy way of saying now that we've discussed movies that have come and gone we start to elevator pitch stories of yore that we want to see given a media treatment and the vibes we want it to come with.

If the best thing about your film is the trees you may want to go back and rewrite your script. Two films both based on the same story, both intent on reinvention but one is iconic and left a lasting impact on it's medium and the other is whatever the opposite of iconic is.

Awkward sibling movies. Well one is an awkward movie and the other definitely has sibling characters in it. Which form tells the tale better an artsy pseudo horror or dumb action fun witch hunting? Are they even telling the same tale? Let's find out who if anyone is willing to deal with wet sugar and ants.

The first epic poem in English and yet it has a storied history of hot garbage adaptations. Despite the veritable feast we have brought it down to two different adaptations that do share a single thread of similarity. A surprising gem is found and an over textured pile of slop is also here.

This labour of getting explanations and love is something else. The tale of Hercules (Heracles for all you pedantic Greek mythos kids) and his labours has codified itself for a long time in our myths and histories if media but when things change how does he fare. How does the story of the demigod and his labours hold up against the Hydra that is......cinematic re-telling's.

A cute title for a long running problem that instead of going away seems to have just reinvented itself and tried to hide away. The handling of sexuality and sex in media aimed at, and featuring character who are meant to be, teens. Hiding away under the guise of non explicitness we try to unravel the preoccupation media seems to have with teens and their bodies.

The eternal struggle when just writing a teenager let alone a piece of media that revolves around them and their struggles. As the world around the teen changes in both expectations and responsibilities how well does our media reflect this? Spoiler alert! Not that well.

Last time on the podcast we discussed the titular teenager and now we discuss Canadian teens forced to entertain a slowly devolving war criminal on fake reality TV, while another set of teens act as mallrats even though the concept was already outdated by the early 2000's.

Icon of the 90's, low energy monarch, and definer of teenage experiences. We begin this month of teen media with the one who began our understanding of what growing up could be. How does it hold up? Does she still ring true with her words? Or does this just sit on the shelf as a relic of bygone times?

We found out we have not been seeing Matthew at his full power when he acts. As a businessman and player at table top games he is unleashed to mayhaps not even his full power, sit back and get ready to hear us discuss his latest ventures.

Kill the wabbit! Kill the wabbit! Okay now getting serious, a movie based on a simple video game with a lore more twisted than contortionists playing twister and yet it still is watchable and arguably good. Yes it exists! Provided you're willing to deal with child death, endings that are rushed and the world's worst office fan.

A situationship of movie that spawned a repeated hiring job for one actor? More likely than you think. Or at least it happened here with a film that is inconsistent in tone and quality but at least nailed a single character so well the actor in question transitioned into becoming the voice of a character that has existed since the 60's.

Iconic, history writing, and industry defining. These words describe both the movie and performances in the often replicated never duplicated Scream. But while there will be many discussions of how this film works on its own but we are willing to argue how this film's twist only works thanks to 1 actor's performance in particular.

We're starting another month of actor appreciation with this ........ iconic? For lack of a better word cult classic film from the mid 90's. The film that the 90's made, forgot and then thrifted to different audiences but it's greatest achievement other than somehow becoming more watchable with age, is that it's the earliest film credit of (That I can easily get a copy of), the man of the month, M...

Now how does a show manage to have us care about side characters we've never heard of like Shining Knight and his code of honour and make us a laugh out loud because of them turning adults into children. Both ends of the super hero spectrum are presented in this show but did they really manage to make both work?

This is the best Batman and we will not be taking questions at this time. But what exactly makes this rendition voiced by the incomparable Kevin Conroy the best? We break it down beat by shining character beat and delve into the greatest bat themed detective put to screen.

For a character that is seemingly easy to present to the masses why does the ball get dropped so frequently? Especially when the best example is drawn, written and crafted out that all you have to do is follow the example set forth by this series. We will be showing exactly how well done this outing of the character is and why it is free of most sins that plague Wonder Woman adaptations.

Longer than average episode but we have opinions and Superman deserves to be talked about and given proper representation. So using the best Superman (animated Justice League and Unlimited) we will through and show who this character is and why this show was, and is, the best DC outing for all of its heroes.

Birds, emotions, things that are not human reducing us to emotional messes. Pixar shorts are BACK! We're out of the weakest shorts and back to prime Pixar but these one's are less known is that due to not being as memorable or something else?

Another batch of shorts with stories of justified revenge, the pains of creative endeavours when you can't work the same as your peers, propaganda for a rival company, and the terrors of living inanimate objects in an otherwise regular city. Now we see how Pixar continues as a company with a well established reputation and if they can continue moving upwards or if there is a downturn at any point.

The next set of shorts are up for discussion we see through the release that take us form Bug's Life to Ratatouille. We see old men engaging in illegal gambling, children extorting creatives and the truest horrors of all....nakedness and driving tests.

An episode dedicated to the shorts before the main features? No only the first of a series of episodes cataloguing the rise of the Pixar shorts and the highs, lows and terrors they inflicted upon people. These have left their marks for better and in one particular case worse.

Laika's first foray into production as themselves. This film defined them in the popular consciousness for better or worse, how does it stand up after all this time? Could they have done better? What fingerprints that later come to define the company can be found here? All this and a serious discussion about fictional houses in this episode.

So how does Laika do on a contract job for a auteur that can at times forget that film needs a story and can't coast by on visuals alone. Is this a good merging of creators or is it better that death parts this union quickly.

The magnum opus of Laika productions but is it without flaws? Is stop motion a viable medium for samurai stories? Is origami a valid form of ques marker? All the questions asked and answered as we look at Kubo.