The Movies That Made Only Us

Ep 29 — Explorers

The brothers revisit Explorers (1985), an E.T.-craze Joe Dante movie that affected Max in some big ways. Pop culture references, child actors, and goofy aliens all come into the mix.

Ep 28 — CJ7

Max and Nathan walk down memory lane with CJ7 (2008), a Chinese family film about a boy and his alien buddy. But it's also about kung fu bullies, the "HIGH-TECH" toy industry, and generational class struggle. Oh, and also machine gun poops.

Ep 27 — Black Hole

In a post Star Wars Hollywood, Disney combined their best minds together to make their response: a B movie version of 2001: A Space Odyssey that features a mad scientist, Anthony Perkins, and cartoony robot sidekicks with funny accents. Not to mention the otherworldly horrors of the edge of existence. Nathan takes a trip down memory lane with Black Hole (1979).

Ep 26 — Christmas Holiday Special: Jack Frost

The classic Christmas story: kid has deadbeat dad, deadbeat dad dies, kid blows magical harmonica, deadbeat dad becomes snow man, snow man dad mooches off of kid and calls it "redemption". Max and Nathan revisit Jack Frost (1998), and along the way they explore magic snow man semantics, debate whether or not Michael Keaton is a good actor, and ask the most important question of all...is snow dad really better than no dad?

Ep 25 — Thanksgiving Special: Squanto

Thanksgiving: a day of thankfulness, family, and love. But it's origins are much more complicated, and linked to horrifying events. There's no one better to explore the nuance and delicate nature of that story than a team of Disney exec producers in the 90's and Mandy Patinkin.