Drive-in Saturdays

A nice long episode for your long weekend, assuming you are in a country that is having a long weekend! Join us this week for a discussion of two superhero movies that together epitomise the 'Elderly Superhero Comes Out Of Retirement In A Grimdark Dystopian Future' subgenre. Patron request Logan is probably the most critically acclaimed superhero film ever made. DKR is an adaptation of Frank Miller's iconic Batman story, indisputably one of the most influential modern superhero comics. Buckle up, folks, because boy howdy are we gonna get Inside Baseball tonight. Menu: - I think we forgot to do this segment for DKR - Which seems fair I bet Batman forgets to eat often - Stale chips from a gas station off the highway - Big Daddy's Cookies Music: - Drive In Saturday, David Bowie - Acceptable In The 80s, Calvin Harris - Forgive Us We're Canadian, The Arrogant Worms - All My Rowdy Friends Have Settled Down, Hank Williams Jr. - Hurt, Johnny Cash

Feels good to be back! In case you missed our recent announcement, Drive In Saturdays is moving to every three weeks instead of every two weeks for the foreseeable future. See you then! In this episode, originally recorded approx. three months ago, we discuss two big-budget Disney animated features about Indigenous youth recovering their cultural history, 2017's Coco and 2016's Moana. Join us for our usual digressions about Diana Wynne Jones; thoughts on Moana as it relates to the Disney Princess canon; the importance of non-violent conflict resolution in kids' media; an Una O'Connor Award candidate seemingly designed purely for Saoirse's benefit; and a WHOLE LOT of capital-F Feelings. Menu: Churros Tamales Caramel flan Sugar skulls Several different coconut dishes Chicken Crab This week's Interstitial Music all comes from the soundtracks of the two films, with the exception of our theme which is, as ever, by David Bowie.

Our brief podcasting break is over and here we are with patron request Billy Elliot, paired with a personal favourite of ours, Pride, set during the same events! This one has a lot of Very Serious Talk About Queerness, Labour, Identity Politics, and Leftist Organising, but also our regular amount of nonsense, including a peek at the rural vegetarian struggle, my refusal to accept that there's a real actual human dance choreographer named Peter Darling, and the all-important question, 'What if Toni Collette were here?' Menu: Welsh rarebit Potato leek soup Bara brith Heinz beans Yorkshire tea Music: David Bowie, Drive In Saturday and Let's Dance  Tom Robinson Band, Glad To Be Gay Joan Baez and Mimi Farina, Bread and Roses T. Rex, Children of the Revolution Johnny Cash, Dark As A Dungeon

This week we watched the greatest film of the 20th century, and also Citizen Kane. Unreliable narrators! Fictionalised biopics that made their subjects really mad! Flashbacks! Non-murder mysteries! The passage of time! The price of wealth and fame! Pieces so personal to their directors that even Saoirse has to acknowledge auteurist readings! Join us as we discuss the overall Drive In Saturdays philosophy; The Queer Youth Experience; Dorian's dad, fashion icon; what counts as an effects shot; our new dream job; why Watchmen is not a gateway comic; Una O'Connor as the aptly-named Ms. Not Appearing In This Film; YA novel The Hate U Give; and what Saoirse and Kesha have in common. Music: - David Bowie, Drive In Saturday and Velvet Goldmine - Shudder To Think, The Ballad of Maxwell Demon - Grant Lee Buffalo, The Whole Shebang - Olivia Newton John, Xanadu - The White Stripes, The Union Forever Menu: - I believe we forgot to do this for the VG segment but I humbly suggest champagne and edible glitter - 4th of July t

This week we chose to pair patron selection and weird mess Stigmata with Kevin Smith's Dogma, made in the same year and handling similar themes and subject matter in a completely different tone and genre. Join us as we expolore the intersection between Catholic and Goth; find the correct past tense of the verb 'to glide'; ramble on about Neil Gaiman some more; pitch an academic paper on homosociality in the works of Kevin Smith; threaten ourselves with the idea of watching the Constantine movie; learn what Saoirse still remembers from kids' books about unexplained phenomena; and conclude once and for all that film... is bad. Menu: - Communion wine - Italian bread with olive oil and vinegar - Ritz crackers - Tequila shots - Burgers  

Concluding Wonder Woman month with two woman-directed films from 2017, Patty Jenkins' superhero/war epic Wonder Woman and Angela Robinson's period romance Professor Marston and the Wonder Women. Join us as we enter Deep Comics Nerd Territory, discussing such topics as the inappropriate Christian framing of Wonder Woman; the prevalence of wood alcohol poisoning; how and why the comics industry is fucked; the queer female gaze; some books we read once; whether men should be banned from making superheroine movies; films linking subtextual queer desire with tragedy; and the oft-forgotten and unfortunately-named Wonder Woman artist Harry Peter. Music: - David Bowie, Drive In Saturday - Tina Guo, Wonder Woman Theme - Green Day, She's A Rebel - Olivia Newton-John, Culture Shock - Etta James, It's A Man's Man's Man's World Menu: - Pierogies - Cabbage Rolls - English Breakfast Tea - German Beer - Whiskey from an Erlenmeyer flask

Most of you are probably familiar with Lynda Carter's Wonder Woman, at least by reputation even if you haven't seen her show. But did you know that there was a completely different Wonder Woman movie/TV show pilot that aired just one year earlier? Join us as we compare these two Wonders Woman; meet our new favourite character, Angela; get ourselves into a bit of a continuity pickle trying to talk about Wonder Woman's character history; consider the possibility that Diana hooked up with the wrong Steve; shop for jackets; and discuss the problems many writers have with Wonder Woman's supporting cast. Note: We recorded this episode like a day or two before it was announced that Cheetah would, in fact, be in the upcoming Wonder Woman 2. Menu:   A full Mediterranean-style buffet, especially stuffed grape leaves. Music: - Drive In Saturdays, David Bowie - Donkey Riding, Great Big Sea - Wonder Woman Theme, The New South Bay Orchestra, - Titanium, David Guetta ft. Sia - I Am Woman, Helen Reddy

This week we compare two accounts of the same historical event (the Mercury rocket program) told from very different points of view, 1983's astronaut-focused Cold War propaganda piece The Right Stuff and 2016's Hidden Figures, the previously-untold story of the Black female mathematicians working behind the scenes. Join us as we discuss why we personally aren't going to space; pitch a sequel to Snakes On A Plane starring Jeff Goldblum; discover maybe our favourite special effects mechanism ever; trap ourselves in an unfortunate digression about urine; and complain about one of our least-favourite bumper sticker slogans. Music: - David Bowie, Drive In Saturday & Space Oddity - Tom Lehrer, That's Mathematics! - Peggy Seeger, Gonna Be An Engineer - Janelle Monae, Cold War Menu: - Hot dogs - Astronaut ice cream

This week we watched our second patron-requested film and first non-English-language release, Train to Busan, which we paired with Snowpiercer, the other internationally-successful South Korean genre film about a train! This one was loads of fun to record but I edited it in a bit of a daze so I don't have notes to make a proper teaser post like I usually do. Music: - Drive In Saturday, David Bowie - This Train, Big Bill Broonzy - To Morrow, The Muppet Country Trio - This Train, Joni Mitchell - Big Steel Rain, Gordon Lightfoot Menu: - Boiled eggs - Sushi - Neither insects nor babies

Thanks to our wonderful supporters on Patreon we're able to bring you this bonus episode where we talk about what's most likely to win Academy Awards, which winners would make us personally happiest, and most importantly, what we're wearing to the Fantasy Oscars! Dorian's two potential dresses: Saoirse's dress:

This week we watched Henry Selick's James and the Giant Peach and Steven Spielberg's The BFG, one of which we liked significantly more than the other. We spend a fair amount of time discussing Roald Dahl's shitty politics, so if knowing how imperialist/racist/antisemitic a beloved childhood icon is is likely to upset you, skip this one. If you can stomach that, come learn about our new favourite game show; an idea for Dorian's third podcast; skeleton duck pirates; digressions about various other children's authors who we like better as people; and Saoirse's sordid past as The Big Tim Burton Fan.   Menu: - Fusili with kale pesto - Tuna salad - Peach cobbler - Full English breakfast - Cucumber sandwiches - Imported green cream soda   Music: - David Bowie, Drive In Saturdays - James and the Giant Peach OST, My Name Is James & That's The Life - Ben Wright/Into the Woods OBC, Giants In The Sky - Buffy Ste. Marie, The Dream Tree - Matilda Original London Cast, Revolting Children

Sorry to get this out a bit later than usual, I spent most of the last two days emotionally compromised by figure skating. This week marks our first-ever patron-requested film, Ravenous, suggested by our friend Laura (who you may recall from the Newsies episode this fall), which we decided to pair with our personal favourite piece of media about 1840s cannibalism, Sweeney Todd. That's right, we're talking about Sondheim on purpose this time. Join us for as we discuss a surprisingly not-terrible use of Native folklore; why Saoirse is banned from film school; the versatility of cannibalism as a metaphor; a pitch for a George Romero film; and the dehumanising effects of capitalism.     Menu: - Stew, Unfortunately - Meat Pie, But You Feel Very Bad About It Interstitial Music: - Drive In Saturday, David Bowie - Timothy, The Buoys - Let's Go Kill That Bastard, Damon Albarn & Michael Nyman - Poor Thing; Epiphany; & A Little Priest, Angela Lansbury & George Hearn

In what is going to be an annual tradition, the first episode of the calendar year delves into our favourite wellspring of tacky nonsense: TV movies about figure skating! This year's offerings both feature appearances by the elite of '80s and '90s figure skaters... And ghosts. Snowden On Ice follows Kate, a young single mother whose dead grandfather possesses a snowman and gives her the courage to return to the ice; while Ice Angel features Matt, a hockey player who dies and gets reincarnated as elite figure skater Sarah. One of these films is probably about a skating-based cult, and the other is almost about a lesbian with amnesia. Menu: - Maple snow - Protein shakes - Cheap beer Interstitial Music - David Bowie, Drive In Saturday - Snowden On Ice soundtrack, The Zamboni Man - Snowden On Ice soundtrack, Practice And Practice - The Eurythmics, There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart) - Joni Mitchell, River

It was Dorian's birthday last week, so with that in mind, we chose to dive into the well of Broadway-to-screen adaptations with Carmen Jones and The Wiz. Join us for even more digressions about theatre than usual; another entry on the Bad Boyfriend list; demanding justice for Cindy Lou; musings on Oz as Americana; and your hosts once again being unnerved and alarmed by the existence of California. In between recording this episode and posting it, we reached our first Patreon goal! Starting in the new year we will be recording short monthly bonus episodes; more on that in two weeks. Thanks for your support, everyone! Menu: - Peach cobbler - Champagne - Something rose flavoured  - Hot dog from a street vendor   Interstitial Music: - Drive In Saturday, David Bowie - Dat Love/Habanera, Marilyn Horne - Stan' Up An' Fight/Toreador Song, Marvin Hayes - Ease On Down The Road, Michael Jackson and Diana Ross - Emerald City/Red, Green, Gold, The Wiz Chorus - Leontyne Price, Habanera

This week, we're paying tribute to Guillermo Del Toro's The Shape Of Water (one of our most-anticipated films of 2017) by exploring its clear film antecedents, 1954's The Creature From The Black Lagoon and 1984's Splash. Join us as we discuss birds; the unfathomable horror that lives next door to me; sometimes-unsung hero Millicent Patrick; how geologists eat; being stressed out by fictional credit card debt; some truly incredible ideas for fantasy romances; the changing role of science in media through the decades; and Tom Hanks's true hidden name. Menu: - Rock candy - Fish that you don't bother to check what the mercury levels are - Lobster  - Fresh fruit Interstitial Music: - David Bowie, Drive In Saturday - Anna Aaron, Sea Monsters - Lord Melody, Creature From The Black Lagoon - Bobby Darin, Splish Splash - Rita Coolidge, Love Came For Me  - Jodi Benson, Part Of Your World

This week we watched two roughly contemporary iconic sci-fi films, lynchpins of what were to become huge franchises, 1979's Alien and 1980's Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back! Join us for serious discussions of genre boundaries; bad space pedagogy; robots full of fettuccine alfredo; horses played backwards;the Alien franchise's inability to pick a genre and stick with it; a lot of enthusing about design work in both films; and gushing about stop motion animated features while watching live action films again. Menu: - Space granola - Fettuccine alfredo - Sad oatmeal - Astronaut ice cream Interstitial music: - David Bowie, Drive In Saturday - Jerry Goldsmith, Alien (Main Title) - Britney Spears, Alien - John Williams, Imperial March - Kesha, Spaceship - Peggy Seeger, Space Girl ***note: I try to keep the interstitial music to approx. 30 second clips but if you're not familiar with this song please look it up because I love it***    

This week marks the return of our two most prolific Friends Of The Show, Rock'n'Roll Highschool producer Roger Corman and High School Musical director/choreographer Kenny Ortega, which tells you a lot about the sort of films we're drawn to. Join us for a look at Rock'n'Roll Highschool's unusual production history; an introduction to the Most Boring Man Alive; Saoirse talking about Sue Snell from Carrie at even the slightest provocation; the relative accuracy of High School Musical's Teen Fashions; accidentally writing a Gordon Korman novel; our usual helping of weird crossover fanfiction premises; and the most important question: What if the musical Kelsi wrote was High School Musical itself? Menu: - Pizza - Creme Brûlée - Look, sometimes the choices are just really obvious, okay Interstitial Music: - David Bowie, Drive-In Saturday - P.J. Soles, Rock And Roll Highschool - The Ramones, I Want You Around - High School Musical Cast, Stick to the Status Quo & We're All In This Together - Bowling For Soup, Hig

Continuing our spooky Hallowe'en month, this week we watched some movies about witches: Hocus Pocus, directed by Kenny Ortega and starring Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, and Sarah Jessica Parker; and The Witches of Eastwick, directed by George Miller and starring Cher, Susan Sarandon, and Michelle Pfeiffer. Join us for a hypothetical vampire cult; some life-changing revelations about Batman Returns; a new entry on the Worst Movie Boyfriend list;  an inability to call the Eastwick cast by character names instead of actor names; a tangent about worldbuilding in Diana Wynne Jones novels; and waxing rhapsodic about stop motion animation while covering two live action films. Menu:  - Halloween candy - Witches fingers - Soup - Seafood - Cherry pie - Zucchini cake   Interstitial music: - David Bowie, Drive-In Saturday - Nina Simone, I Put A Spell On You - Donovan, Season of the Witch - FM, Magic (In Your Eyes) - The Eagles, Witchy Woman Sorry for the delay everybody! The migraine I had on Saturday returned today with a

We finally return to the creature-feature we promised way back in July, with 1955's It Came From Beneath The Sea and 1961's Creature From The Haunted Sea. Join us for our very first Ray Harryhausen episode; musing on the difference between pacing a film for home vs theatrical viewings; vitally important earrings-related headcanons; ways the theatrical cut of Haunted Sea was even less coherent than the print we watched; an incredible fact about composer Fred Katz; a look behind the curtain at the Roger Corman filmmaking process; and the answer to that all-important question: What happens if we switch the protagonists from our two films?   Menu: - Takoyaki - Lobster - Rice and beans - Mango   Music: David Bowie, Drive In Saturdays The Beatles, Octopus’ Garden Samuel E. Wright, Under the Sea The Who,  Drowning Angela Lansbury, By The Sea The Waterboys, This Is The Sea

This week we had fun with two Christopher Guest mockumentaries from around the turn of the millennium with a huge amount of overlap in cast and creative crew, 2000's Best In Show and 2003's A Mighty Wind.  Menu: - Nervous popcorn - Canapés - Those weird gourmet dog biscuits that are designed to be shared between dog and human - A buffet table full of spaghetti - Alcohol and cigarettes Interstitial music: - David Bowie, Drive In Saturday - Catherine O'Hara and Eugene Levy, God Loves a Terrier - Bruce McCulloch/The Kids In The Hall, The Terrier Song - A Mighty Wind cast, There's A Mighty Wind Blowing -Catherine O'Hara and Eugene Levy, A Kiss At The End of the Rainbow