Optimism Vaccine

When inspiration fails to strike, the siren’s call of our unwatched physical media shelves beckons. Recently restored by Vinegar Syndrome, the OV gang examines a pair of early 90s actioners that co-star the indomitable Cynthia Rothrock in tales of broken familial bonds and illegal sports car smuggling. If our criminal justice system were to ever fail, rest easy, because a shape-shifting supercop o...

THIS WEEK: Man to Man with Dean Learner (2006), Submarine (2010), The Double (2013) I bet you saw the title of this episode and thought "Damn, the OV boys got Ayoade on the pod?" Boy, wouldn't that be great? But you should know better. This week, we're talking Ayoade's contribution to the world of film and television + maybe taking a brief aside to educate Miros on what Jeff Dunham's puppets mean...

THIS WEEK: Garth Marenghi's Darkplace (2004), A Gun for George (2011), The Snipist (2012), Smutch (2016), Possum (2018) Here at Optimism Vaccine, we've always loved the great tragedies: King Lear, The Poseidon Adventure, Superman 2. The greatest tragedy of all though is the lack of widespread respect and admiration for the work of writer, director and actor, Mathew Holness. Support Optimism Vaccin...

THIS WEEK: Who's Minding the Store? (1963), The Ladies Man (1961), Smorgasbord A.K.A. Cracking Up (1983) Jerry Lewis was the king of comedy and the only person named Jerry Lewis who didn't marry his 13-year-old cousin in 1958. He was also a cinematic pioneer and by the end of his career, a broken (but still hilarious) unchained lunatic.

Question: What do severed heads, secret stashes of marijuana, and Wings Hauser have in common? They are all featured in Tough Guys Don’t Dance, the film adaptation of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Norman Mailer’s murder mystery novel of the same name. What was once widely known as one of the first internet video memes has since been lovingly restored by Vinegar Syndrome, in all of its incomprehens...

We've got a detour from our usual film-centric content (and acceptable recording fidelity) for a very special episode. Stephen and Steve return to Discourse From The Big Chair after two years of slowly losing their minds during a global pandemic because a new Tears for Fears album is just weeks away. We've gushed about our favorite Tears For Fears songs and listened to what it sounds like when the...

2021 was a great year for roller skating ninjas, wholesome paternal love and people named Ryusuke Hamaguchi. Join us as we talk about the best films of 2021 and once again try to convince you to watch Me You Madness . THIS WEEK: New York Ninja (2021), Me You Madness (2021), Pig (2021), Titane (2021), The Worst Person in the World (2021), Drive My Car (2021), Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (2021), Re...

OV pours one out for comedic genius/movie anti-star, Norm MacDonald, and beloved sitcom dad/penguin voice, Bob Saget THIS WEEK: Dirty Work (1998), Screwed (2000), Half Baked (1998) Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/optimismvaccine

What exactly is a wife guy and why have they sacrificed their Hollywood careers (and a few film studios) to honor their ladies? The OV boys investigate the wife guy phenomenon to get to the bottom of how Renny Harlin bankrupted Carolco Pictures for love and John Derek avoided prison. THIS WEEK: Cutthroat Island (1995), Swept Away (2002), Bolero (1984) Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon: https://w...

After years of grinding Jake's soul into dust by making him watch a cornucopia of trash every week, we're finally giving you the episode of his dreams: David Lynch's (unofficial) Los Angeles trilogy. Join us as we gush about one of the greatest living American Filmmakers and try to determine if Robert Forester modeled his life after his character in Lost Highway . THIS WEEK: Lost Highway (1997), M...

The Bebop crew goes after a bounty that leads them deep into space in search of an ancient chess master, while the Woolong Club crew gives you the history of Cowboy Bebop on home video and the game of chess. Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/optimismvaccine

We're celebrating the holidays the only way we know how to: A critical reassessment of Dario Argento's most maligned (and recent) films. Tune in for a giallo that isn't a giallo (just an Adrian Brody lawsuit), a Suspiria sequel, and Dario's take on a mid-90s FMV aesthetic applied to a classic horror story. THIS WEEK: Mother of Tears (2007), Giallo (2009), Dracula 3D (2012) Support Optimism Vaccine...

The moment you start dipping your toes into the murky waters of Italian horror cinema, everyone will tell you the same thing: "Dario Argento is great! Just don't watch anything after Opera !" But what if those dweebs were wrong? What if Argento was still making good films well into the 00s? Or maybe they're actually all shit. There's only one way to find out. THIS WEEK: Sleepless (2001), The Card...

Mario Bava, Sergio Martino, and Lucio Fulci built their legacies by creating some of the most beloved giallo and horror films of all time. But, like most of their Italian contemporaries, they were willing to take on just about any genre if a studio was willing to offer up a meager budget. So what happens when they make Spaghetti Westerns? THIS WEEK: Roy Colt & Winchester Jack (1970), Mannaja:...

It's been nearly 25 years since the original Cowboy Bebop first helped you convince your friends that anime wasn't just horny cartoons about tentacles and robots. So what do you do with a cool cultural artifact that has stood the test of time? Why grind it up into weeb sausage and barf it back up as a live action Netflix series, of course! Thank god Christopher L. Yost is finally giving the Jon Ch...

Shawn and Jack are off living their lives, leaving us scrambling to give our listeners something to be thankful for this week. Steve supplied the turkey: Unidentified with Demi Lovato, a vapid reality show in which products of the Mickey Mouse Club seek to commune with extra-terrestrial life. Whether your brain has been poisoned by Disney or colloidal silver, you're sure to enjoy our tumble into t...

After three long years, your favorite Cowboy Bebop podcast/OV spinoff series, Woolong Club, is BACK! On this episode: Spike and Jet's partnership is on the rocks, as a melancholy Faye makes a mysterious friend on the Callisto, and the sinister Vicious makes his long awaited return! Listen to the rest of Woolong Club: https://player.captivate.fm/collection/6e4352c8-9d44-488f-8b26-eea6f0657295 Supp...

From small town Texas stripper to geriatric billionaire's wife, reality TV pioneer and denim spokeswoman, Anna Nicole Smith exemplified the American Dream in the 90s. She may have never broken into Hollywood completely during her short life, but ANS did leave us with a handful of DTV action films where she starred alongside notable thespians like Joanie "Chyna" Laurer and Joey "Not John" Travolta....

A few years, multiple delays, and several explosions in the company of exotic women later, Jake and Jack have finally reached the finish line. It's time for the final Daniel Craig bond film and the final For Your Ears Only (for now), No Time to Die.  Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/optimismvaccine

Eric Marsh of The Gauntlet Podcast joins us as we wrap up our annual October dalliance with the macabre. This week we're taking a stroll through that old, crowded, grungy cesspool New York City, where the pizza lacks structural integrity and the blood of topless sunbathers rains down from the sky. Fuck Rudy Giuliani. This is Larry Cohen's town. THIS WEEK: It's Alive (1974), God Told Me To (1976),...

We've dug through the ditches and burned through the witches and slammed Shawn Glinis into the wild world of Rob Zombie horror films. We're joined by author, critic, and Rob Zombie superfan, Mike Thorn, to discuss Zombie's unique oeuvre and impact on the cinematic landscape. THIS WEEK: House of 1000 Corpses (2003), The Devil's Rejects (2005), and The Lords of Salem (2012) Support Optimism Vaccine...

The Shawn Glinis 2021 Halloween Spooktacular marches on with four adaptations (maybe interpretations? films inspired by? Vague recollections of something someone read once?) of Edgar Allan Poe's classic short story, The Black Cat . Prepare to be thrilled by horror titans like Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff! Chilled by maniacal Italian cat puppets and Jeffrey Combs' southern accent! And deeply confu...

SHAWN GLINIS SPOOKTOBER 2021 kicks off with a pair of eccentric Lamberto Bava splatter flicks, Demons and Demons 2 . We also take an ill-advised swerve into trying to figure out how many Demons sequels there are, which coincidently is a great way to track the trajectory of the Italian film industry from the mid-80s to mid-90s. At least it gives us a great excuse to talk about Michele Soavi's brill...

If a bipedal ape kills in the forest and no one has a GoPro, was a crime ever committed? Can great apes even be punished for capital crimes? Why won't Jack just acknowledge his love of Chicago's premiere retro-themed diner, Ed Debevic's? In case it isn't abundantly clear, we watched a pair of found footage sasquatch films to finally dip our toes into the rich and rewarding world of Bigfoot Cinema....

There was a time when Jack proudly declared that he would never watch another Steven Paul movie ever again. That lasted roughly a week. For our final Bond-adjacent podcast before No Time To Die , we're watching the classic direct-to-video Steven and Stuart Paul penned, Corey Haim classic, The Double 0 Kid . Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/optimismvaccine