The Latecomers

Episode Notes This week we return to our roots with David Lynch’s Blue Velvet from 1986. Baby McLaughlin and baby Dern take us into Lumberton where we listen to W-O-O-D on the radio and find ears in fields. This movie must come with trigger warnings, but determining what those might be is a tricky situation – definitely sexual assault and drug use.  It’s the best Lynch experience so far and it is...

Episode Notes This week, we take on the oldest movie Amity has ever seen – 1923’s classic Safety Last! Known for it’s iconic images of Harold Lloyd hanging from a clock several stories above the ground, we dissect how this man – Harold Lloyd the character – got himself into this mess. But it’s pretty clear this may be a parable how lying only brings trouble – unless you are superhumanly skilled at...

Episode Notes This week, we discuss Joel and Ethan Cohen’s first film, Blood Simple. A cuckolded bar owner pays a sweaty PI to off his wife and her lover and then goes fishing. Nothing goes smoothly from there and everyone you think is dead probably isn’t – until they are. Country noir brings us multiple twists and turns and some beautiful images from clearly promising film makers.     Recommendat...

Episode Notes Keanu – Bullock – Hopper – Ruck – Daniels – Morton. We have a party on a bus this week and it’s all you’ve ever wanted. We watched #99 on AFI’s list of thrills: 1994’s Speed. Keanu is a cop, Sandy Bullock is a bus passenger, and Dennis Hopper is a madman with a desire for somewhere north of three million dollars. Jan de Bont’s directorial debut with explosions that keep escalating, t...

Episode Notes It’s a whole new world this week as we embark on our sixth season: watching the AFI 100 Thrills List . First up, one of the oldest movies Amity has ever watched – Robin Hood. Errol Flynn! Olivia de Havilland! Shadow swordplay! Glitter! This film has it all. We talk about what makes a “thrilling” movie, how horses should have won awards, the magic of color shifting fabric, and how we...

Episode Notes We continue discussing our favorites – from film performance to WTF moment this week as we do our final wrap on the adaptations of Stephen King. Then we introduce our sixth season theme – Thrill Seekers! Join us for the fun!   Next up: The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)   Email us at latecomers@gmail.com Twitter: @latecomerspod Find Amity @ www.amityarmstrong.com and @AmityArmstrong...

Episode Notes This week we are giving some performers and programs their flowers as we discuss our bests from best King cameo to best television series that we have watched this season. We have a lot to talk about and many favorites to review and we aren’t in a hurry to move on from Mr. King and his universe, so we are splitting the awards in half – this week we focus mostly on television and our...

Episode Notes It’s our last Stephen King Recap – for the foreseeable future, and a promising start comes to a somewhat lackluster finish. We talk about the final battle, the final decision, and the final row into the sea. We put what may be more thought into Charles Boone’s decisions than he did. It’s certainly an ending.   Recommendations: Lost In Space (Netflix); Spiderman No Way Home (Theaters)...

Episode Notes Fresh off our holiday hiatus we discuss the penultimate episode of Chapelwaite, which is also our penultimate Stephen King consumption episode. While not much happens in the episode – because we are prepping for the finale over here – much happens in our discussion. We spend some time dissecting prime time television and Amity yawns her way through the telling of the plot, what there...

Episode Notes In a sleepy episode, we discuss the Chapelwaite episode “Hold The Night” wherein our intrepid hero is surrounded by people who aren’t up for the challenge. We have a heart broken minister, a heart broken constable, a nervous nanny, and some kids who shouldn’t be allowed to act independently. After last week’s triumph, there was only one way this could go – and that’s all downhill. Ne...

Episode Notes This week things are popping off! We watched episode 7 of 2021’s Chapelwaite and it’s getting tense at the estate. Realities are setting in that all of our male characters have made terrible mistakes. While we have acknowledged Rebecca’s lies and Ms. Cloris’ deceptions, this week the constable’s overzealousness, the minister’s wandering eye and Charles’ birthright all come to a head...

Episode Notes Charles starts out the episode in turmoil and it only gets worse. We get another well placed flashback (this time it confirms something we already thought instead of giving us fully new information) and then right into the heartbreak of the loss of a child. This week on Chapelwaite, we lose a daughter, lose a wife, then gain a daughter, and gain a wife? Preachers’ Corners is in dire...

Episode Notes We travel this week to the namesake of the origin story of the miniseries we are watching – which is a long winded way to say this week on Chapelwaite, we travel to Jerusalem’s Lot. In the past, it’s a murder town, while in the present it’s even worse. Less death but more human capri-suns walking around. Charles is given an offer he cannot refuse. Meanwhile our constable is losing hi...

Episode Notes Welcome to our 200th episode! We are excited to bring you a mostly regular show with a little baby celebration at the top. But soon enough we get into the meat of this episode wherein it is confirmed that there ARE vampires in Preacher’s Corners – and maybe even more in Jerusalem’s Lot where are hero has been bidden. Loa is tempted by her first cousin twice removed (once by a generat...

Episode Notes The mysteries deepen and the fear gets more visceral this week in Episode 3 of 2021’s Chapelwaite. The worms are coming from inside the brain, but also from inside the walls and inside the fruit. Really, worms are coming from everywhere and that’s the least of our hero’s problems as he is accosted in his home by an angry mob. The town is solidifying against the Boones and it appears...

Episode Notes The plot continues to be front and center in episode 2 of Chapelwaite as we get a birth, a death, and a wandering corpse. Shades of The Scarlett Letter come to the forefront with a cheating pastor and a disfigured baby. Girls who don’t understand quarantine are doomed to fail it while towns who are unable to overcome will be overrun. Finally, we learn the age old lesson that racists...

Episode Notes It’s a whole new world that we have maybe seen before! We are embarking on the 2021 adaptation of “Jerusalem’s Lot” called Chapelwaite. Starring Adrien Brody and Emily Hampshire and set over a hundred years before the versions of Salems’ Lot we have already visited, this is a rich and moody and gasp plotty gothic horror. So far its mostly questions and intros but we have high hopes....

Episode Notes Here we are at the end – episode 8 of 2021’s Lisey’s Story – and if you thought we were clear of the child abuse, I have bad news for you. Lisey and Jim are in Booya Moon and it’s time for him to make his final stand – by declaring his importance to a people monster, something that appears to be a personification pain. It doesn’t go well, and Booya Moon can’t even be useful with hidi...

Episode Notes We get some answers here in the penultimate episode of the series, “No Light, No Spark,” – what happened to Scott? Well, we get one answer. Lisey and her sisters continue to make bad choices as the devolve to their juvenile selves. Jim Dooley is full of bad faith and impotent rage which gets him the upper hand for a bit. We tear apart Lisey’s decision making and hear much cat input....

Episode Notes Amanda’s awake and we are so thrilled to see her. This week we relish some sister bonding as Lisey is able to help Amanda and Darla starts believing in – well, something anyway. Jim is lurking but he’s now up against a sister murder pact and that’s a tough win any way you slice it. We only got about 8 hours of progress, but since it’s likely the last two episodes are going to encompa...

Episode Notes This week we got 40 minutes of child torture, 10 minutes of Lisey mad at her husband, 2 minutes of Jim and Dashmeil talking past each other, and not a partridge or a pear tree to be found. We talk through the episode quick but it leads to some discussions of wigs and in media res and some great recs for the week. We’re over half way through and maybe we’ll get some kind of light next...

Episode Notes As we guessed last week, things pop off this week – in the form of some torture of our heroine. We discuss the influence and loveliness of Clive Barker, the taxing nature of solving a mystery of a fantasy, the state of our antagonist, and how memory even works in this story. We are a bit more engaged and looking forward to more momentum (fingers crossed).   Recommendations: Equinox (...

Episode Notes We are still patiently waiting this week for the plot to pop off. More flashbacks, bad supervision both past and present, the trouble with publicly funded security, a soupçon of  arson and a treasure trove of oreos punctuate the third episode of Lisey’s Story. No dead birds this week, but we do get some pretty heinous abuse from Scott’s dad and a lovely comingling of memory – a sweet...

Episode Notes We get further into the puzzle of Lisey’s Story this week. We are confronted with childhood desires for boyfriends and gold and decent parents and adult desires for forgiveness. We learn a bit more about Lisey and Scott and their history while falling further into the depths of Jim Dooley/Dandy. Keep your pet corvids close and your wives closer, because he’s here to take out either o...

Episode Notes Fresh new story hot off the presses – we are starting Lisey’s Story – a 2021 adaptation from AppleTV+. Julianne Moore is our eponymous heroine, Clive Owen is her deceased husband, Joan Allen and Jennifer Jason Leigh are her troubled sisters, Ron Cephas Jones is the professor after her treasure, and Dane DeHaan is the weapon he chooses to use. So far so beautiful as we are learning ho...