The Unbreakable Movie Chain

BONUS: 2024 Preview

Ho ho ho! We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Now that the festivities are out of the way, it’s time to pull the Movie Chain crystal ball out of the attic, and gaze upon the wonders that 2024 promises to inflict upon the movie-going public. Turns out there’s a lot to get excited for, including new offerings from Bong Joon-Ho, Jonathan Glazer and Yorgos Lanthimos.

But first we have to cut a path through a thicket of sequels, prequels, reboots, spin-offs and other cash-ins from the Franchise Nightmare Universe. We do just that, so you know what to look out for in the new year!

 

“I don’t think there’s a more try-hard actor in Hollywood than Ryan Reynolds.” - Ed

“He’s somehow been allowed to make another feast of antisemitism… I have nothing but contempt for that movie.” - Ed

“At least there was a handy child planted in the first film that they could use as a grown-up.” - Gould

 

CONTENT WARNING – A lot of potentially controversial opinions in this episode. Including on Ryan Reynolds, Planet of the Apes, Mel Gibson and many others. Come at us.

SPOILER WARNING – Here’s a spoiler… 2024 will feature a lot of films you’ve basically already seen.

 

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Email - moviechain@outlook.com
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Letterboxd - themoviechain

Barton Fink (1991)

Checking in? This episode we're feeling the heat and peeling back the wallpaper to take a look at the Coen Brothers' early masterpiece, Barton Fink. What's in the box? It may look like a long one, but the last 15 minutes of this ep are dedicated to a spoilery Saltburn stand-off.

 

Also:

Napoleon, The Peasants and some tough truths about 2001: A Space Odyssey.

 

"The Common Man is a choir of Fishmongers" - Gould

"That's what his job is, is to suffer" - Ed

"I'll just be a writer then. Rather than a WRITER" - Ed

 

Link

Mulholland Drive 🔗Barton Fink

Nightmarish depictions of Hollywood

 

CONTENT WARNING – Brief allusions to murder

SPOILER WARNING – Potential spoilers for Se7en and The Sixth Sense, but it could be one of those "if you know, you know" things.

 

Please do like, follow and review.

Also, we’d love to hear from you, get in touch via any of the following channels:

Email - moviechain@outlook.com
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Mulholland Drive (2001)

"Howdy!" We’ve cleaned off the Alabama mud from our last time out, and we’re heading to the bright lights of The City of Angels to take in David Lynch’s fevered Hollywood nightmare, Mulholland Drive. Armed with Lynch’s own clues/red herrings. Informed by the wild theories of internet obsessives. We do our very best to get to the bottom of this enigmatic puzzle box of a movie… one that placed 8^th on the BFI’s greatest movies of all time. Featuring – ominous conversations, unexplained keys, crippling identity crises and a sinister cowboy.

 

“Notice the coffee cup… which one? There are so many! Ashtrays! Ashtrays!!!” -Ed

“It’s a bit of an escape room of a film.” - Gould

“That’s Billy Ray Cyrus, yeah, whose acting is as authentic as his music.” - Ed

 

Also

Anatomy of a Fall, Dream Scenario, The Lost Daughter and A Clockwork Orange

How long is too long for a film to be?

Ed, unsurprisingly struggles with the synopsis, Gould cuts to the chase.

 

Link

My Cousin Vinny 🔗 Mulholland Drive

Cinematographer Peter Deming

 

CONTENT WARNING – Could be triggering for actors. Also brief references to suicide and sexual assault.

SPOILER WARNING – We’re getting better at this, no big spoilers

 

Please do like, follow and review.

Also, we’d love to hear from you, get in touch via any of the following channels:

Email - moviechain@outlook.com
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My Cousin Vinny (1992)

Welcome to Alabama, land of guns, grits and the electric chair. Don’t accidentally confess to any murders while you’re here, or it’s death row for you... and if you don’t have a fast-talking New York lawyer for a cousin, you’re a goner. That’s the predicament we find ourselves in this week as we take a look at cult 90s courtroom comedy My Cousin Vinny. Featuring mud, inappropriate courtroom attire and Barry off Friends!

 

Also:

• The Exorcist, The Shining, American Werewolf in London and other Halloween treats
• Gould’s Shocktober Challenge roundup
• Charlton Heston… actor?

 

“What is a grit?” - Gould

“Is it a punch? It doesn’t look like a punch. The sound effect is definitely a punch.” - Ed

“The more we’re talking about it, the more I love this film.” - Gould

 

Link

Pet Sematary 🔗My Cousin Vinny

Fred Gwynne as Jud Crandall to Fred Gwynne as Judge Chamberlain Haller

 

CONTENT WARNING – Should be fine here

SPOILER WARNING – Don’t think we dropped any major clangers this week

 

Please do like, follow and review.

Also, we’d love to hear from you, get in touch via any of the following channels:

Email - moviechain@outlook.com
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Pet Sematary (1989)

Sometimes dead is better. For this week’s episode we’re continuing our dalliance with the undead as we peak from behind our hands (at least, the more squeamish of us did) at the 1989 version of Stephen King’s most horrifying novel… Pet Sematary. Featuring terrible parenting, inevitable roadkill and the most adorable zombie in cinema history.

Also

• Killers of the Flower Moon
• The joys of film festivals
• Gould has an idea for a cosy mystery

“The cat comes back with big yellow eyes, which means it’s evil now.” - Ed

“The pet sematary looks like a Halloween display outside someone’s house.” - Gould

“It’s basically anti-truck propaganda.” - Ed

 

Link:

Frankenstein 🔗 Pet Sematary

The raising of the dead

 

CONTENT WARNING – Can’t talk about this movie without talking about untimely death of all varieties, so we do. We try to keep it light, though.

SPOILER WARNING – One of us drops a spoiler for The Da Vinci Code. The other has never seen it.

 

Please do like, follow and get in touch via any of the following channels:

Email - moviechain@outlook.com
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BONUS: Top 10 Movie Monsters

What’s your favourite movie monster? This week we’re shamelessly jumping on the Halloween bandwagon to bring you a special bonus episode… counting down our all time favourite movie monsters. Will we agree on what constitutes a monster? Gould can barely agree with herself!

 

Also

• Which actor pops up no fewer than three times during this discussion?
• Gould has a bet with herself.
• Confusion over aliens and inter-dimensional entities

 

“I think you’ve set yourself some bonkers criteria.” - Ed

“He is so charismatic… he’s very, very sexy!” - Gould

“The thing that gets me most, is the noise.” - Ed

 

 

CONTENT WARNING – Some scary monster noises… ooooh

SPOILER WARNING – Ed dropped some Lord of the Rings spoilers, the damn fool.

 

 

Please do like, follow and get in touch via any of the following channels:

Email - moviechain@outlook.com
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Twitter / X - @moviechainpod
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Frankenstein (1931)

It’s alive!! This week we’re getting down and dirty with the resurrection men to retrieve bodies for reanimation, then sitting back to watch the horror unfold in James Whale’s 1931 adaptation of Frankenstein. We all know that Frankenstein’s the doctor and his creation’s the creature, right? But which one’s the monster? We try to untangle this conundrum while examining the film as an early example of queer cinema, before tackling the real burning question… why on earth did they rename him Henry???

Also

• Gould somehow found time in her Shocktober challenge to catch up with a comedy classic

• Saltburn, The Lesson and The Creator

• The relentless movie factory that was the studio system blows our minds

“Even some of the most respected publications say Frankenstein and are referring to the monster” - Gould

“It’s interesting how we’ve moved on, because I wouldn’t have a problem showing this movie to anyone over the age of about eight.” - Ed

“It made me cry. And you know how I don’t like to feel my feelings.” - Gould

Link:

Jurassic Park 🔗 Frankenstein.
John Hammond’s hubristic desire to play God to Henry Frankenstein’s identical hubris.

CONTENT WARNING – The film deals with death and resurrection, including the death of a child. We also touch on director James Whale’s suicide.

SPOILER WARNING – Bride of Frankenstein

 

Please do like, follow and get in touch via any of the following channels:

Email - moviechain@outlook.com
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BONUS: Big Summer Roundup

What did you watch this summer? We’ve been on our holidays and we came back with so much to talk about that we decided to put our highlights (and lowlights) in a special bonus episode. Kicking off with a long overdue discussion of the summer’s biggest hits, Barbie and Oppenheimer, we then take a whistlestop tour of the best, the worst, and the weirdest films we watched over the summer. Featuring subway breakdowns, comedy familicide, shuttlecock football.

“There was a brief period in the middle where I was quite cross with the film.” - Gould

“It kind of revels and glorifies something really quite awful… what a thoroughly depressing movie.” - Ed

“I cannot tell you how surprised I am to discover I loved this film as much as I did,” - Gould

CONTENT WARNING – Nothing to worry about here.

SPOILER WARNING – Spoilers for Barbie, Oppenheimer, Football Factory, A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Please do like, follow and get in touch via any of the following channels:

Email - moviechain@outlook.com
Instagram - @unbreakablemoviechain
Twitter / X - @moviechainpod
Facebook - The Unbreakable Movie Chain
TikTok - @moviechainpod