Philadelphia: Pride, Prejudice & Peak Performances

Philadelphia: Pride, Prejudice & Peak Performances

For Pride month we’re looking back at a key, tragic moment in LGBT+ history, the AIDS crisis, and watching Jonathan Demme’s Oscar-winning legal drama, Philadelphia.  Molly and Chloe enter the court with Best Actor-winner Tom Hanks and his maverick lawyer Denzel Washington, and give their verdicts on the film’s representation of gay men, homophobia and early 90s attitudes towards HIV-positive people, and how the directing style veers from formal to movingly surreal. Plus we bang the gavel on the movie’s most 90s details and award some of the best moments, and present some films to watch next - from queer rep onscreen to against-the-odds legal dramas. The quote at the start is from David Ansen’s 1993 review [https://www.newsweek.com/tis-not-jolly-season-190784] in Newsweek. We also reference Roger Ebert’s review [https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/philadelphia-1994]. ‘Philadelphia [https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/features/philadelphia-un-packaging-hollywood-aids-drama]: un-packaging the Hollywood AIDS drama’ by Amy Taubin for Sight and Sound.  Follow us on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/total90srecall/]: @total90srecall Check out the other films we recommended on Letterboxd [https://letterboxd.com/total90srecall/] Got an episode suggestion? Email us: total90srecall@gmail.com Find all our links here [https://lnk.bio/Total90sRecall]! ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

10 Things I Hate About You: The Taming of the Dude

Can you ever just be, like, whelmed? We’re asking this and more as we sit down with 1999’s 10 Things I Hate About You. Set up the decks, hook up some speakers, and get ready to crash a future MBA’s cheese and wine party. Molly and Chloe welcome actor, writer and audio producer, Steph MacGaraidh to run riot grrrl through this Shakespeare-inspired high school rom com. We discuss the casting of relative unknowns Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger, the 90s soundtrack, and how the screenwriters Karen McCullah and Kirsten Smith infuse the script with Shakespearean wit, romance and visual gags, while dialling up the feminist empowerment.  Plus we crown our favourite moments (that song and dance number! Ms Perky’s sexy novels!) and perform odes to the film’s most 90s details. All this, and some recommendations for further watching that you won’t hate, not even a little bit, not even at all. Find Steph on the ’gram here [https://www.instagram.com/mac_ga_rae/] and check out this page [https://www.instagram.com/offtherailsmusical/] for details on her musical, Off the Rails [https://playpiepint.com/whats-on/event/off-the-rails/]. The quote at the start is from Peter Bradshaw’s 1999 review [https://www.theguardian.com/film/1999/jul/09/3] in the Guardian. Gil Junger discussing [https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CNAjEzUBERE] casting a young Heath Ledger. Read about the 1967 Franco Zeffirelli adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew, starring Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor here [https://www.bdcmuseum.org.uk/news/taylor-and-burton-in-the-taming-of-the-shrew-by-dr-jennifer-barnes/]. Watch the documentary about the 1978 production of Shrew, starring Meryl Streep and Raul Julia at the Delacorte, New York, here [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH9FsjtBLSI]. The specific sexy scene Steph mentions is in this clip [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8KT-u2dTY8]. Emily Temple’s essay [https://lithub.com/the-life-changing-magic-of-10-things-i-hate-about-you/] for Literary Hub, ‘The Life-Changing Magic of 10 Things I Hate About You’ Kat’s reading list [https://theopiatemagazine.com/2022/04/01/the-literary-nods-of-10-things-i-hate-about-you/] on the Opiate (including The Bell Jar, natch). Far Out discusses [https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/shakespearean-sounds-the-brilliance-of-the-10-things-i-hate-about-you-soundtrack/] the best of the 10 Things soundtrack. Follow us on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/total90srecall/]: @total90srecall Check out the other films we recommended on Letterboxd [https://letterboxd.com/total90srecall/] Got an episode suggestion? Email us: total90srecall@gmail.com Find all our links here [https://lnk.bio/Total90sRecall]! ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

GoldenEye: Brosnan, Bond Girls & Bombshells

Bond is bungee jumping onto our screens as we rewatch 1995’s GOLDENEYE, the first of the series with Pearce Brosnan as the gadget-loving superspy and all-round ladies’ man. Arm your T-55 tank and reload your Walther PPK, we’re on a new mission. Molly and Chloe are shaken and stirred by the fabulous casting of Brosnan, Sean Bean, Judi Dench, Alan Cumming and Izabella Scorupco, though we have a particular love for Famke Janssen’s outrageously camp performance as baddy Bond girl, Xenia Onatopp. You could say she’s Xenia Overthetop. We talk post-Cold War politics, innuendo, action scenes, 90s CGI, Tina Turner, and whether Dench’s M is right that Bond is a ‘sexist, misogynist dinosaur’.  Plus we target our most 90s moments (hacking! Minnie Driver!), assign some awards to best outfit and most catastrophic scene plus line up some top class recommendations for future spy thriller viewing. The quote at the start is from James Berardinelli’s 1995 review [https://www.reelviews.net/reelviews/goldeneye] for Reelviews Classic FM’s rating of all the Bond themes [https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/periods-genres/film-tv/james-bond-title-themes-ranked/] Follow us on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/total90srecall/]: @total90srecall Check out the other films we recommended on Letterboxd [https://letterboxd.com/total90srecall/] Got an episode suggestion? Email us: total90srecall@gmail.com Find all our links here [https://lnk.bio/Total90sRecall]! ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Apollo 13: Exploding Tanks, Courageous Yanks & Tom Hanks

Houston, we have a problem. For our 13th episode, we’re launching into a discussion of Ron Howard’s true-life space adventure, APOLLO 13. Fasten your helmet and head to the launchpad, we have lift-off. Molly and Chloe crunch the numbers on this adventure blockbuster based on astronaut Jim Lovell’s memoir about the ill-fated 1970 NASA mission to the moon. We talk superstition, space shuttles, seventies fashion and scientific calculus, and what makes Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise, Kevin Bacon and Ed Harris’s performances so believable. Plus we weigh up the film’s authenticity: while its commitment to replica sets and antigravity filming in the ‘vomit comet’ had even Buzz Aldrin fooled, there’s still something missing from Mission Control… Finally, we calculate the funniest line and best 70s spectacles for our awards section, play a quick round of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon and make some out-of-this-world recommendations for what to watch next. Correction! The seamstress we mentioned who made the Apollo spacesuits was called Hazel Fellows. Learn about her here [https://womenshistory.si.edu/blog/hazel-fellows-and-women-who-made-apollo-spacesuits]. Janet Maslin’s original 1995 review [https://www.nytimes.com/1995/06/30/movies/film-review-apollo-13-a-movie-for-the-fourth-of-july.html] for the New York Times An article [https://blog.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/how-apollo-13-was-made/] featuring behind-the-scenes footage of the anti-gravity shoots An interview [https://blogs.loc.gov/now-see-hear/2025/04/behind-the-scenes-of-apollo-13-with-ron-howard/] with Ron Howard to mark the film’s 25th anniversary Follow us on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/total90srecall/]: @total90srecall Check out the other films we recommended on Letterboxd [https://letterboxd.com/total90srecall/] Got an episode suggestion? Email us: total90srecall@gmail.com Find all our links here [https://lnk.bio/Total90sRecall]! ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

L.A. Confidential: Crooked Cops, Twisty Plots & Noir Shocks

We’re off the record, on the QT, and very hush-hush as we discuss Curtis Hanson’s 1997 Oscar-winning adaptation of L.A. CONFIDENTIAL. Rev up your 1952 Mercury and smile for the paparazzi, cos we’re heading on down to take a closer look. Molly and Chloe wind through this complex detective thriller based on James Ellroy’s novel, mapping out the starry cast, including Kim Basinger, Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce. We give the movie’s themes of violence and public image a shakedown and consider how well it has aged since the late 90s (or not). Plus we reflect on what it means to watch a Hollywood film with problematic stars such as Kevin Spacey in a post-Me Too age.  Finally, we deal out some medals and make some top-class recommendations of what to watch next. Little correction! The Veronica Lake film mentioned is This Gun For Hire (1942). The quote at the start is from this 1997 interview [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZs-SI3Qh_o] with Russell Crowe. Cinematographer Dante Spinotti’s inspiration, Robert Frank’s The Americans [https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2024/nov/20/robert-frank-the-americans-in-pictures-photo-book]. Claire Dederer’s essay [https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2017/11/20/art-monstrous-men/] ‘What Do We Do with the Art of Monstrous Men?’ for the Paris Review. Follow us on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/total90srecall/]: @total90srecall Check out the other films we recommended on Letterboxd [https://letterboxd.com/total90srecall/] Got an episode suggestion? Email us: total90srecall@gmail.com Find all our links here [https://lnk.bio/Total90sRecall]! ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.