Tinseltown - The Holiday Movie Podcast

Amanda and AAl of The Death of Podcasts once more join the Mayor to review a Thin Man movie! This one takes place on New Year's Eve, and involves an old lady lounge singer, a thankfully non-stereotyped Chinese restaurateur, and Jimmy James Stewart himself!

Cartoonsman Nathan LaJeunesse joins the Mayor to talk about a cartoon! But not just any cartoon, it's ARTHUR CHRISTMAS! Yes, the one movie that was unilaterally given gold canon status, which means this is one where your boys are free to goof off, gush over a perfect movie, and make veiled references to the unsettling fanart we found while googling one of the characters.

The Mayor and Who Else But Chant MacLeod take a look at "The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus", something off of L. Frank Baum's B-roll. And Rankin Bass's... I don't know, R-roll.

The Mayor and his father, a James Bond fan of some long standing, take a look at the only James Bond movie with a Christmas setting, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service". It's a movie that takes some pretty bold moves with the franchise, all of which they hastily undid next time. Oops.

Jon Siregar joins the Mayor for a look at "Scrooge", the classic-ass-classic 1951 adaptation of A Christmas Carol, starring Alastair Sim. It's the movie that dares to ask: "What if, like, the ENTIRE movie was the Christmas Past bit?

Guest month officially begins as Lisa Kopitsky of The Film Reroll joins the Mayor to look at Terry Zwigoff's 2003 black comedy "Bad Santa". The Mayor distracts himself with his favorite Stallone movie, Lisa is driven to distraction by the concept of luminaries, and both of us feel great shame at trying to work out the worst euphemism for sex ever.

It's time for our second annual Post Atomic Horror special, where PAH hosts AAl and Maggie join PAH guests The Mayor and Flonk to review a Star Trek-adjacent Christmas movie! This time around, it's Hallmark's 1999 version of A Christmas Carol, starring Patrick Stewart. Join us as Flonk relates to Scrooge over their relatives, the mayor gets defensive about his ukulele, and we all learn the intrigu...

Robbie, Colleen, Anton, Justin, Flonk, AND the Mayor are all here for this one, debating which two movies should be struck from the New Holiday Canon, and which one should be elevated to Gold Status.

Emily stops by to help the Mayor close out the 34th Street marathon by looking at the 1994 big flashy remake starring Mara Wilson, who's great. Surely the rest of the movie will rise to meet her? Would that it were so simple.

This week it's the Mayor, Anton, Colleen, Robbie, AND Justin, taking a look at a reeeeeeal 70s-ass Miracle on 34th Street. Just... Just REAL 70s. This is the first version of the story Justin has ever seen!

On this EXTREMELY special 100th episode spooktacular, Brian, Colleen, Anton, and Robbie become the first people in WHO KNOWS how long to see the exceptionally rare 1959 made-for-TV version of Miracle on 34th St, starring Ed Wynn and Orson Bean.

Anton joins the mayor for a look at the aggressively abridged 1955 TV version of Miracle on 34th Street, which features Hans Conreid, Whit Bissell, and in the role of Extra Crazy Santa, Thomas Mitchell.

Welcome to the 34th Street Marathon! Due to scheduling difficulties, the Mayor was forced by circumstance to do the first SOLO EPISODE in a long time! It's time to get full up on bad sandwich and rant about Disney! Who apparently heard my ranting and has since removed their name from this movie!

I mixed up my schedule, and the 34th Street Marathon doesn't start for another week, so I'm putting up our emergency episode! See, a while back, Flonk and I decided to bank an episode in case of just such an occasion, so y'all finally gets to hear about Bone Alone. It certainly is a Movie To Watch Dog.

Justin cashes in his "Jack and Jill" chip and decides to bring the Mayor on a trip down memory lane, as they return to their high school days of being junior cinema snobs with "La citie des enfants perdus"("The City of Lost Children", an oppressively whimsical science fiction horror noir from the director of "Amelie".

Robbie and the Mayor almost review "The Preacher's Wife", but then remember the remake rules and do "The Bishop's Wife" instead, encountering along the way magic wine bottles, Joe Pesci, the studio system, and Time Racists. Also, this is probably the most profane episode we've ever done where it's actually a good movie. So that's something.

That couple of misfits, the Mayor and David, look at "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and ask that most vital question: Why the hell can't the little dummy be a dentist? 

To celebrate our new recording setup, the Mayor and Courtney do whatever the opposite of dodging a bullet is, as we forego watching a holiday classic created by many talented people in favor of watching another stupid Nutcracker movie.

SOUND NOTE: Once again, the audio started cutting out in this one, mostly at the end. But I now have a much better recording setup, so the problems caused by this rickety old laptop should be at an end. Having found our copy of Nativity 2, but not wanting to watch it, Flonk and the Mayor once again do a live randomizing hail mary, and wind up with "Rare Exports"

The swear filter is off for this one, as Justin and the Mayor RAPIDLY descend into madness after watching "Jack and Jill", a Thanksgiving/Hanukkah/New Year's family flick featuring a number of cameos that have not aged great. TO SAY THE LEAST.

SOUND ERROR NOTE: About nine minutes in, there's some dead air, and then about 15 minutes of me narrating over myself. Apparently the tracks downloaded a little wonky in Audacity, and I don't have the original edit to fix, so... yeah. Sorry about that one. The Mayor and Anton take another trip to the seemingly always mediocre world of holiday slasher films with "New Year's Evil", which at least ha...

The Mayor and Colleen go west this time for maybe the most tenuously Christmas-connected movie we've ever done, and that's saying a lot.

The randomizer gave the Mayor and Emily one of them 90s family dramas, and they don't feel like watching it, so it's time to exercise the Remake Prerogative and watch the remake of Silent Night, Deadly Night. Only this time, it's just called "Silent Night". To be cooooool.

David and the Mayor stare deeply into the eyes of "Free Birds", a Thanksgiving movie about... Oh, but that would be telling.

The Mayor and Robbie plot out/confess to several petty crimes as we discuss the mostly (intentionally?) unfunny Harold Ramis pulp/noir crime caper "The Ice Harvest". Spoiler: No one harvests any ice in this movie.