Endnotes and digressions from
the latest show:
* Sonny’s eulogy for Red Eye is really quite lovely. You can read it
here.
* For me, the “cable classics” category is pretty much defined by the old
TNT New Classics series: Clear and Present Danger, Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, Crimson Tide, Shawshank Redemption.
I cannot believe I forgot to mention The Quick and the Dead, which might be my favorite trash Western of all time. As
Sonny says, it is stuffed with a ridiculous amount of talent and the whole winds up becoming much more than the sum of its parts. It’s a movie that’s nigh on impossible to turn off.
* Vic mentioned an old Mad TV sketch on Pax TV syndicating an episode of The Sopranos. I hadn’t seen it before, but it is gold. Really funny. Treat yourself to the full two and a half minutes
here.
* One thing I didn’t get to mention during the show is that I would argue that, as a class, “beloved cable classics” are better movies than Best Picture Oscar winners. Or, at least Best Picture winners from the last 30 years.
* If you’re wondering why we spent ten minutes talking about Michael Caine, well . . . so am I. But if nothing else it gave us an excuse to bring up this amazing bit from The Trip where Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon do
dueling Michael Caine impressions. It’s amazing.
But not, perhaps, as amazing as
this clip of Michael Caine impersonating himself.
Buckle up, Frisco. It’s that good.
* Also, here’s
Sonny’s interview with Caine from back in 2009. You really get a sense of how pleased he was to be talking with Sonny. (Though Sonny’s recreation of the interview during the show is pretty awesome.)
* As a sign of how deeply Caine is enmeshed with the culture, he’s one of a tiny thimbleful of actors to have inspired a legit pop song:
“My Name Is Michael Caine,” by Madness. (Bree Sharp’s “David Duchovny” and the Gorillaz’s “Clint Eastwood” are the only other ones I can think of off the top of my head.)
* If you’re into Star Blazers, you absolutely must
check out Jose Galvan’s collection of toys, including a water pistol in the shape of the space battleship Argo.
* So we had a small fight on the show about whether or not Vic read Aaron Birch’s email last week. It turns out that we were both kind of right: Vic read the email, but credited it not to Aaron, but to his wife. In case you’re into One Punch Man, here it is in full:
* Finally, Sonny mentioned the Thor short, which is basically
The Office: Asgard Edition. It’s cute, if you’re into this sort of thing.
* As always, you can download the episode here and subscribe to the Substandard on iTunes or on Google Play.
Leave us a five-star review on iTunes. (Even though, if we’re being honest with each other, we didn’t really deserve it this week.)
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