December 28, 2025 • 25 mins
It's an End of the Year Round Up! But rather than list a bunch of shit we've already talked about, we're dumping all the topics and recommendations that slipped through the cracks.
00:00 Introduction and Yearly Roundup Overview
03:06 Pen Pals from Around the World
07:30 Podcast Recommendations
12:09 Television Recommendations
16:09 Boardwalk Empire
23:21 Final Recommendations and Conclusion
Father Malone
patreon.com/FatherMalone
FatherMalone71@gmail.com
Movie Oubliette
https://movieoubliette.com/
Journey Through Sci-Fi
https://www.journeythroughscifi.com/
Holodeck Divas
https://open.spotify.com/show/3hWtWeB3zQ8AxUDONBIraV?si=5d8f594a6c004a55
Tower 4
https://www.7lamb.com/audiodramas/tower-4
Marvel vs Marvel
https://marvelversusmarvel.podbean.com/
I Regress
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01rs2vl/episodes/guide
00:00 Introduction and Yearly Roundup Overview
03:06 Pen Pals from Around the World
07:30 Podcast Recommendations
12:09 Television Recommendations
16:09 Boardwalk Empire
23:21 Final Recommendations and Conclusion
Father Malone
patreon.com/FatherMalone
FatherMalone71@gmail.com
Movie Oubliette
https://movieoubliette.com/
Journey Through Sci-Fi
https://www.journeythroughscifi.com/
Holodeck Divas
https://open.spotify.com/show/3hWtWeB3zQ8AxUDONBIraV?si=5d8f594a6c004a55
Tower 4
https://www.7lamb.com/audiodramas/tower-4
Marvel vs Marvel
https://marvelversusmarvel.podbean.com/
I Regress
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01rs2vl/episodes/guide
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Welcome back to Father Malone's yearly round up. I'm Father
Malone and the baby new year to my old man time.
Sitting beside me is miss Ripley Jean. Did you have
a good Christmas? Monkeyy ousa? This is the yearly round up,
But that might be misleading. I'm not counting down to
a goddamn thing. I figure, if you've been listening, you
know what I liked, and I kind of hate putting
(00:57):
everything enjoyable into a thunderdome type tournament to battle for
the top honor of what my fucking opinion. No, Instead,
this is more of a trying to mention everything that
I didn't fully cover over the past twelve months. So
rather than a big old review of the latest blockbuster,
this will be more of capsule reviews of stuff from
all the media. But I suppose I should apologize for
(01:19):
not covering more current and contemporary fair of Late Never,
cry Wolf and Batman returns, whoo, getting them clicks and
getting them likes. When I got into podcasting, it was
because there were so many fucking idiots doing it, just
ill informed and poorly produced. That hasn't changed, but I
was spurred on from the boredom of all these snark
(01:40):
and ironic dissection going on. Look, I'm no stranger to
a bitter evaluation of a movie's weaknesses, but it's not
my goal. I know that means I lack a certain
amount of journalistic integrity as far as criticism goes, because
you're really supposed to watch everything that comes out. But
then no one's paying me to do this, so I'll
watch whatever I god damn please. And while you shouldn't
judge a book by its cover, I can say with
(02:01):
absolute certainty that any review I gave of the latest
Avatar movie is going to be negative. I sat through
the two previous films and they did nothing for me.
Actually that's not true. They are a fucking marvel of
filmmaking and just further evidence of what a cinema animal
James Cameron has always been. He's the one filmmaker that
I'm positive can do everyone's job on set. He's famous
(02:22):
for his temper, but I think he's the only one
who should get a pass. If he's telling you your
boom mic skills suck, he's probably right. Nevertheless, those movies
are the equivalent of a theme park ride. To me,
imagine a total retrofit of It's a Small World, where
all the figures are now totally photorealistic and they're leaping
over your boat and they're splashing in the water beside you.
(02:43):
It'd be incredibly impressive and you'd still be on It's
a Small World. Life is short and money is tight,
so you'll forgive me for not running out and seeing
that one. For y'all. I am more than willing to
give something a shot based on a recommendation, though, So
if there's something out there currently I'm missing out on,
you can drop me on at father Malone seven to
one at gmail dot com. The link is in the
(03:03):
show notes. There's gonna be a lot in the show
notes today. If you do write in, you're probably gonna
get an introduction by mailman Mike, like this pal from
a row Well. First, Jason Jeffers writes in and says,
just listen to your Dark Age of Disney and the
(03:24):
Charles Martin Smith story was wonderful. I went to a
small con last month and David Naughton was there and
Midnight Madness was one of the posters he had for sale.
I went with Hot Dog the movie. He was very
friendly and we talked to Seinfeld and as you'll appreciate
his Twilight Zone eighty five episode, Oh Man, you went
with Hot Dog the Movie over Midnight Madness. Good choice.
(03:44):
I would have done the same. Hont Dog the Movie
is wildly underrated. It's what I used to call a
guilty pleasure until I gave up the concept of having
guilty pleasures. I hope you offered David Nottt and the
Doctor Pepper. Actually, I hope he offered you one. And
Shane Mackie wrote in to say, I'm sure the holidays
may seem a little melancholy for you nowadays, but I
(04:04):
just wanted to send my best for you and your
pet family. Thanks for the work you do on the
podcast made me decide to want Star Trek four with
the Wife last night. Well that's an excellent choice, obviously
a side of the fact that we still don't know
the fate of Maltz. I'm glad you had a good holiday.
I hope everyone had a good holiday. You know. I
mentioned one of my rules when it came to podcasting
(04:25):
that I was trying to be positive, but one of
the things I was trying to avoid was autobiography that
kind of got me nuts when it came to other
film criticism shows that I had heard popular shows that
I had heard. I do not need all the intimate
details of someone's childhood to understand their opinion of the
latest Fast and the Furious film. This show's existence the
weekly roundup absolutely obliterates my own little rule there. This
(04:47):
show is nearly one hundred percent subjective and totally frank
with facts about myself. But I feel like I'm following
the spirit of the law here because what got me
so turned off about hearing it in most other shows
is that it seems to become the Criticis you spend
an hour hearing about a movie or show strictly through
the lens of how it blew their young mind. I
hope I'm using any autobiographical details as background before getting
(05:09):
to actual thoughtful criticism, which is a long winded way
of saying, I'm still a bit low to just talk
about myself here, but since you asked to be totally honest,
it was the worst Christmas ever. Melancholy is the word
you used, and that's perfect. It's not screaming pain, and
it's not a void, just a persistent gnawing that clouds
(05:30):
over everything. I'm no stranger to grief. I've lost family members,
friends and dear, dear loved ones, and there's a pattern
and a process that you go through each time. But
this is different. My wife and I were inseparable. We
lived together, work together, travel together. She was my best friend,
and our tastes were so similar that it was kind
(05:51):
of scary. Thus, every movie and TV show and song
and piece of art that I used to turn to
for comfort are all now tainted. Even that song tainted
love both versions, and I'm talking about soft selling Gloria Jones,
fuck Marilyn Manson, that sex pest creep. So while half
of my brain is screaming to watch Emma Daughter's jug
band Christmas and that's going to make everything all right,
(06:12):
the other half rightly argued that there are better uses
for my time than crying for forty five minutes straight.
I do that way too much already. I'm just broken.
Thank God for Ripley here, no joke. She is my
fucking lighthouse. And you guys, you listeners and doing this show,
you know all of that is great now, if you'll
excuse me for ranting a second about podcasting, But I'm
(06:33):
baffled by the trend of podcasts on video Three dudes
and a neon sign of their horrible AI generated logo.
These are entirely different forms of media. I'm on the radio.
You don't need to see me speaking into the mic.
Why would you, It's weird. If I was going to
do a TV show, it would be a visual thing.
HB and I actually attempted a video podcast years ago,
(06:54):
and it was a fuckload of work and nobody watched.
Maybe because we focused on Banetchack, a pretty obscure seventies
detective show that nobody remembers and it is really hard
to track down. Actually, no, we will write society is
to blame. To that end. I mentioned Grave Mood Rings
a few episodes back. It's on YouTube and they've got
their own website. That is a perfect example. That is
(07:15):
a TV show that you should watch. It's written and
produced and filmed and edited. Or you know, you can
watch Ed and Captain Goomba and El Guapo as they
fall out of their chairs over their own hilarity. Oh boy,
try to stay positive, Yes, positivity. I wanted to recommend
some other podcasts I've been listening to this year. Obviously,
go check out my co host HP shows Night Mister
(07:36):
Walter is a taxi podcast, and his music show Noise Jockeys.
Also check out co host Mike White's The Projection Booth
and You're stupid if you're not listening to A Year
and Horror with Paul Waller, not Weller. Paul Waller, not Weller, Paul.
If you're listening, you should know that exactly zero people
in the States know who Paul Weller is. I think
if you were to mention his name, people would think
(07:57):
you're talking about the guy who played RoboCop. Okay, so
here are some other shows you should be listening to immediately.
Movie Ubliet not only a great show, but a fun title.
Say it with me. Movie Ubliette a term we all
know thanks to Labyrinth. An ubliet is a dungeon prison,
and that's where the films that you choose to forget
have been consigned, and where hosts Dan in Australia and
(08:19):
Conrad in the UK decide whether they should be set
free or banished to the ubliet forever. The show is
incredibly informative and thoughtful, and they are clearly good friends,
which believe it or not. Can be a detriment on
some shows, but here it doesn't bog anything down. In fact,
it enriches it and they cover everything you love. Trust
me movie Ubliette. Oh, I'm gonna be positive again in
(08:40):
a minute. What's with the trend of chitchat that goes
on at the top of shows? Now that shit spread
like a virus where they just kind of improv for
two or three minutes, basically telling you everything you're about
to hear, unless there's a topic that we're not privy
to that you need to clarif so we'll better understand
the following conversation. Shut the fuck up, inane padding man.
Every time I tune into a show to listen to
(09:02):
an interview, now I check the time and I see
how much is past an hour. So if it's like
an hour and twenty minutes, I start at twenty minutes. Surprise,
that's where the interview begins. Anyway, staying positive. My criteria
for listening to a podcast are generally one of two things.
Knowledge or entertainment. Got to be one or the other.
Rarely do those come together, but that is exactly what
(09:23):
happens for Marvel fans. I know that's specific, but these
guys cover all of Marvel, not just the MCU. Check
out Marvel versus Marvel, another UK import Rob and Will.
These two motherfuckers know their shit. Every iteration of every character,
every bizarre plot point you'd forgotten or chosen to forget,
they know, and more importantly, they deliver it all in
(09:43):
a fun and palatable way. And I should point out
that they cover more than Marvel. They go where they
want to. It's never not a good show. Don't be
hamstrung by the title track. People. Oh my gosh, HB
and I are treking right now. So I've been submerged
in the ocean of star trek podcasts out there, and
there are a a lot of really good ones, and
most of those fall into the knowledgeable category. But the
(10:04):
most knowledgeable and equally fun show I've found is hollow
Deck and Diva's incredibly fun that features Steph a woman
and Chris a gay man. Those are their descriptions as
they look into all things track. Speaking of track, listen up, nerds.
I need two things. If you're in contact with this person,
hit me up. All this is gonna be in the
show notes. I need a star Trek cons player, I
(10:25):
particularly committed one if possible. I want to get their
perspective on an upcoming episode, and I need somebody who
appreciates the television series Lower Decks. If that cons player
is a Lower Necks fan, all the better, because I
don't get that show. I'm trying mightily. I finished the
first season and I have laughed at zero times. I
think there were more laughs than the original Star Trek
(10:46):
of the animated series. For less specific sci fi, check
out a show called Journey through sci Fi. I don't
understand why all of the podcasts I'm listening are from
the UK, but anyway, Journey through sci Fi takes a
season to examine everything sent from a specific subgenre. So
they've done time travel and space opera and dystopia, and
they are currently working their way through mad science. Those
(11:08):
are the film criticism pods i'd steer you toward. But
what about fiction? Well, I'm glad you asked. Tower four
is about to start its fourth season. This is a
fantastic audio drama about fire lookouts in a remote section
of the US where nothing good is going on in
those woods. I'm gonna say something here, and I'm not
damning it. It is a mystery box podcast, half Lost,
(11:30):
half Jeremiah Johnson, and it's smartly written, and the production
values are a cut above, and the voice cast is excellent.
If you want to hear one of the funniest fucking
shows ever, it's called I Regress. It is a BBC
show god Man the English and it stars Matt Berry.
You know Laslow from in What We Do in the
Shadows New York City. He plays a completely psychotic hypnotherapist
(11:52):
who mesmerizes his patients and it attempted to spelling their
phobias by putting them through the most insane exposure therapy nine.
There are little fifteen minute morsels and I laughed out
loud literally every single time. It's like Doctor Katz if
Jonathan Katz was a sociopath. All right now, in the
arena of television, and in the spirit of staying positive,
(12:12):
I will say this about Stranger Things. It remains a
remarkable evocation of the works of Stephen King. This season
in particular has picked up the Dark Tower vibe and
is running with it, which is lovely. But let me
say this, five seasons. If Stephen King were actually writing this,
we'd be in the last five hundred pages or so
of his yellow page sized book, and the majority of
(12:35):
the characters would already be long dead. You know it.
Who's your favorite character? They died three seasons ago. I
know there's been an announced body count, and by the
time you're hearing this you may have already seen it.
But you can kill everyone now it's the finale. The
stakes are actually really low. Also, five minutes talking for
five minutes in front of a doorway that leads you
(12:57):
from the dark Crystal Town you're stuck in back to
your friends and family. You know you can walk and
talk at the same time, right, Duffer Brothers. Let those
ladies just you know, go through the door. And in
other Stephen King television news, I watched all of it.
Welcome to Derry. All the precocious kids from Night Gallery
and Twilight Zone and Dark Side have found their new home.
(13:18):
So this show takes place in nineteen sixty two in Derry,
which is somehow now the locus of all things King
and not Castle Rock. That makes sense to anyone. I mean,
they had a clown, but who gives a shit? Kujo
is in Castle Rock. Johnny Smith solves a serial killer
case in the Dead Zone in the town of Castle Rock.
Those stand by Me kids, they live in castle Rock.
(13:39):
The Dark Half the Sun Dog, Needful Things You Know
It takes place in Derry, DreamCatcher Insomnia. Who cares this
show is just a remake of it, But because it's
a full season of television In Stephen King pioneered the
literary shared universe, they pull in other characters from other
King novels. The big one here is Dick hallerin The
Cook from the Shining. He's a psychic being used by
(14:01):
the US military to track down whatever it is that
brought Pennywise to Earth and or what's keeping it here.
In the same army situation is pilot Leroy Hanlon, who's
Mike Hanlon's grandfather. Lots of connections to it, including Bill
Scarsgard as Pennywise himself. There are some good ideas here
in some of the early episodes deliver a great level
of creep, but once we start getting answers, it all
(14:22):
seems so fucking ridiculous. In the level of gore and
mayhem at the hands of Pennywise feel kind of like
a response to Terrifier, like it's trying to reclaim a Crown,
and I think it hurts the show. We do get
a kind of origin story for Pennywise, but I think
that'll be fleshed out in future seasons. For as much
as I did not enjoy this season virtually at all,
(14:42):
the show has hinted that the next few seasons will
each be sent twenty seven years prior, as is this
cycle of Pennywise's appearances, and it did float. No pun
intended the intriguing premise that the events depicted at the
end of the feature film it weren't the destruction of
Pennywise at all, but in fact it's creation and we're
seeing it now grow in power as it travels back
(15:04):
through time. There, look, I ended on a positive and
before I continue with television, I'm sure I mentioned I
played the Jedi Outcast this year, which was fucking awesome.
I'm still playing Mad Max because I love it so
much that I just want to take my time, and
given that it's an open sandbox of that wasteland, I
find myself just driving around and fucking up war boys.
But the game. I am currently completely obsessed with Indiana
(15:26):
Jones and of the Great Circle. Another fucking terrible title
for Doctor Jones, but oh the game. Ultimately it's just
a bunch of simple puzzle solving and a bunch of
fetch quests and the cutscenes go on forever. But it's
first person and the guy doing Harrison Ford is fucking
spot on. And when you punch Nazis, and yes you
will punch a lot of fucking Nazis, it comes with
(15:49):
those beautiful ben Bert sound effects layered in. Here's some punching,
Here's a pistol. This is supposed to be a you
know you love it? How about some whip. I had
(16:09):
mentioned that I had traded my mad Men obsession for
Boardwalk Empire, and I also threatened to take you along
with me. Well you're in luck because between weekly roundups,
I absolutely binged the entire series so you won't have
to hear a play by play. However, Shamalan twist, this
episode is actually about Boardwalk Empire suckers. Here is why
(16:29):
you actually need to watch it. It's not for Nuckie Thompson,
played so fucking spectacularly by Steve Buscemi, or is it
the history of Atlantic City, which is admittedly fascinating. Nor
will I recommend it for Stephen Graham's spellbinding performance as
a young Alphonse Capone, or Jack Houston's heartbreaking turn as
World War One veteran Richard Harrow, who wears a paper
(16:50):
mache mask over half of his literally war torn face.
Now I'm recommending the series for a b plot that
runs throughout the entire show. Turns out, One Empire is
a pretty goddamn factual account of the creation of the syndicate.
I'm sure you've all heard of the Black Sox scandal,
when a handful of Chicago White Sox players conspired to
throw the nineteen nineteen World series. The man behind the
(17:12):
fix was a New York at gambler and kingpin named
Arnold Rothstein, and that whole scandal is worth a look
In another great film, that's the one by John Sales
Eight Men Out. In that Rothstein is played by Christopher Lloyd.
Here he's played by Michael Stoolbarg, who was the lead
in the Coen Brothers retelling of The Book of Job.
A serious man, and if that's too intellectual for you,
(17:33):
he's the rival surgeon at the beginning of Doctor Strange,
the one who ends up completely fucked up after the
blip in Multiverse of madness. Rothstein had a protege. His
name was Meyer Lansky, and Meyer Lansky is why you
need to watch Boardwalk Empire. He's a minor character throughout
all five seasons, but his place on the stage of
organized crime cannot be overestimated. He's played by Anatol Yusef,
(17:56):
a royal Shakespearean fella who's been working since he was
a kid. Appeared in Aliens, The Director's Cut and Batman
eighty nine. As a kid, he didn't have any lines
or anything. Anyway, He's magnificent as Meyer, showing a real
icy reserve even when he's completely out of control. You'll
see what I mean. Meyer Lansky, when he was a kid,
like eleven years old, ran the Bugs and Meyer Gang,
(18:18):
a small cadre of street hoods committing minor scams and robberies.
The Bugs of Bugs and Meyer is his best friend
Benjamin Bugsy Siegel, a man who I owe a deep
debt to considering I'm recording this in a town that
shouldn't exist but does thanks to that crazy Fox vision
of a gambling oasis in the desert. Lansky had a
gambler's brain and could calculate odds like a motherfucker, making
(18:40):
him an ideal choice to partner up with for a
rising Sicilian named Charlie Luciano. You see where this is going.
Luciano and Lanski absolutely thrived under Rothstein until his death
in nineteen twenty eight. I say death. He was shot
and killed for a gambling debt of three hundred and
twenty thousand dollars that he refused to pay because he
claimed the game in which he lost it was rigged. Ps.
(19:02):
He was right, it was a rigged game. But we
are not here to morrow, ar. We are here to
celebrate the birth of the syndicate. Luciano and Lansky recognized
that the national tribalism that ruled organized crime was a
total funck and hindrance to actually making money. Italians are
shooting up the Iris, who are shooting up the Jews
to what end? Along come lucky in Lansky. Hey, how
(19:22):
about we slice the bread before we sell it? And
suddenly there's free passage and codes of conduct established nationwide.
During World War Two, Lansky and Luciano worked with the
US military to keep New York Harbor free from sabotage,
employing their soldiers as security. A favor of the US
government would repay a few decades later by deporting Luciano.
But it was the events before the war that made
(19:43):
me fall in love with Lansky, particularly the day of
April twentieth, nineteen thirty eight. Around that time, there had
been a lot of parading and rallying by the German
American Nazi Party on the streets of New York. When
asked by Judge Nathan Pearlman if Lansky knew of anyone
who might be interested in punching some Nazis, Lansky was
to have said, you understand, we can do better than punch,
(20:04):
and that they did. Lansky and fourteen compatriots descended on
a Yorkville Nazi rally and fucking decimated them, beating them
with baseball bats and throwing them out of windows. Defenestration.
There's your vocabulary word for the day. To defenestrate is
to throw someone out of a window. After that night,
groups of anti Nazi Jewish Yangsters popped up all over
(20:25):
the minute Men in New Jersey and in Chicago. Jake
Greasy Thumbguzik recruited Jewish boxers to terrorize Nazi members, and
they worked out of a boxing gym like a secret layer.
Is it any surprise Superman was created by a couple
of Jewish fellas. One of those Chicago boxers, by the way,
was Jacob Rubinstein. He eventually moved to Dallas and changed
(20:45):
his name to Jack Ruby. Lansky has been portrayed by
dozens of actors in dozens of productions over the years.
James Woods's character in Once Upon a Time in America
is a thinly veiled Lanski. As is Hymen Roth, the
overall Baddie and Godfather Part two Trayo Lansky saw and
was said to have commented, they could have made me
more sympathetic. Ben Kingsley gave an excellent performance as the
(21:07):
actual Meyer Lansky in Warren Bati's Bugsy Go jerkis Soda.
That's one of my favorite kiss off lines of all time.
Patrick Dempsey played Meyer Lansky in That Young Gun's attempt
at gangsterism Mobsters. Hey, if you want to see exactly
what didn't happen with this outfit, check out that bullshit.
Maybe we should cover that in more depth, just for
its sheer fucking stupidity. HP. I'm lighting up the Bancheck symbol.
(21:30):
We might need to rally around mobsters. All of these performances.
By the way, all of these portrayals, from excellent to excrement,
pale beside the character and situations dramatized on Boardwalk Empire. Hell,
if you don't want to invest the time in the
whole series, just watch the Lansky episodes. Listen. I realize
it's weird to have a favorite gangster. Gang Land goons
(21:51):
are mostly just that, fucking dummies and psychopaths. You wouldn't
piss on if they were on fire. But respect must
be paid for the levels of ingenuity and god damned
American grit that went into some of those criminal enterprises
over the years. And all of my respect goes to
meyer Lansky. He was the greatest gangster who ever lived.
That's not hyperbole, and I say it with authority. Because
(22:14):
meyer Lansky retired, he died in his home at age eighty.
Nobody came for him, nobody tried to keep him tethered.
He just said I'm done and that was that. In
other HBO period piece television, and this one definitely crosses
over with Boardwalk Empire thanks to its cast, you could
do worse than check out the four episode mini series
Death by Lightning, a show that reminded me of just
(22:36):
how woefully deficient my working knowledge of American history truly. Is.
Michael Shannon, who starred as a disgraced Treasury agent on
Boardwalk Empire, plays James Garfield, who unwittingly and really unexpectedly
becomes the Republican candidate for president in eighteen eighty, drawing
the eye of Roscoe Conkling, who ran the New York
Custom House and therefore held the national purse strings played
(22:58):
by Shay Wiggham, who surprise plays Sheriff Eli Thompson, younger
brother of Nuki on Boardwalk Empire, Death by Lightning chronicles
the whirlwind of politicking and backstabbing and mental disorder that
played into the events of garfield assassination. It also paints
the portrait of a really decent man and a tragedy
of what we were denied. I guess Stephen Sondheim was
(23:19):
onto something with that musical. I'm gonna end everything on
another positive recommendation. Wise, if you want to watch a
Stephen King themed TV show, watch Castle Rock. It's Stephen
King without the nostalgia, which is the fucking DNA of
stranger things and welcome to Derry. Hey, remember these fun memories,
Remember how these situations made you feel, which is crazy
because nostalgia exists to comfort and horror exists to fuck
(23:42):
you up. Castle Rock got two seasons, and yes they're
tainted with the jj Abrams imprint, but don't let that
dissuade you. He had nothing to do with it. In
season two gave us a young Annie Wilkes played by
Lizzie Kaplan and its fucking breath taking, and season two
has Paul Sparks from Boardwalk Empire. Is Ace Merrill, Remember Ace?
He for Sutherland played him in stand By Me, and
(24:03):
Ace's dad is played by Andy Dufrayne himself Tim Robbins
as Pop Merrill, not Andy Dufrayne. I just want to
clarify that in fact, so you don't think I'm steering
you wrong. Skip the first season. It's all about a
figure of absolute evil that appears and has to be
dealt with, and it's very, very multiverse. Season two, nearly
entirely separate, is way more Stephen King, and it's one
of the best King adjacent things I've ever seen, including
(24:26):
nods toward facilitating the evil that draws Barlow and Straker
to the nearby town of Salem's Lot. Now go read
Salem's Lot listen. It has been an incredible year here
at midnight viewing and we want to thank you all
from young miss Ripley Jean and myself Marry New Year,
(25:00):
and
Welcome back to Father Malone's yearly round up. I'm Father
Malone and the baby new year to my old man time.
Sitting beside me is miss Ripley Jean. Did you have
a good Christmas? Monkeyy ousa? This is the yearly round up,
But that might be misleading. I'm not counting down to
a goddamn thing. I figure, if you've been listening, you
know what I liked, and I kind of hate putting
(00:57):
everything enjoyable into a thunderdome type tournament to battle for
the top honor of what my fucking opinion. No, Instead,
this is more of a trying to mention everything that
I didn't fully cover over the past twelve months. So
rather than a big old review of the latest blockbuster,
this will be more of capsule reviews of stuff from
all the media. But I suppose I should apologize for
(01:19):
not covering more current and contemporary fair of Late Never,
cry Wolf and Batman returns, whoo, getting them clicks and
getting them likes. When I got into podcasting, it was
because there were so many fucking idiots doing it, just
ill informed and poorly produced. That hasn't changed, but I
was spurred on from the boredom of all these snark
(01:40):
and ironic dissection going on. Look, I'm no stranger to
a bitter evaluation of a movie's weaknesses, but it's not
my goal. I know that means I lack a certain
amount of journalistic integrity as far as criticism goes, because
you're really supposed to watch everything that comes out. But
then no one's paying me to do this, so I'll
watch whatever I god damn please. And while you shouldn't
judge a book by its cover, I can say with
(02:01):
absolute certainty that any review I gave of the latest
Avatar movie is going to be negative. I sat through
the two previous films and they did nothing for me.
Actually that's not true. They are a fucking marvel of
filmmaking and just further evidence of what a cinema animal
James Cameron has always been. He's the one filmmaker that
I'm positive can do everyone's job on set. He's famous
(02:22):
for his temper, but I think he's the only one
who should get a pass. If he's telling you your
boom mic skills suck, he's probably right. Nevertheless, those movies
are the equivalent of a theme park ride. To me,
imagine a total retrofit of It's a Small World, where
all the figures are now totally photorealistic and they're leaping
over your boat and they're splashing in the water beside you.
(02:43):
It'd be incredibly impressive and you'd still be on It's
a Small World. Life is short and money is tight,
so you'll forgive me for not running out and seeing
that one. For y'all. I am more than willing to
give something a shot based on a recommendation, though, So
if there's something out there currently I'm missing out on,
you can drop me on at father Malone seven to
one at gmail dot com. The link is in the
(03:03):
show notes. There's gonna be a lot in the show
notes today. If you do write in, you're probably gonna
get an introduction by mailman Mike, like this pal from
a row Well. First, Jason Jeffers writes in and says,
just listen to your Dark Age of Disney and the
(03:24):
Charles Martin Smith story was wonderful. I went to a
small con last month and David Naughton was there and
Midnight Madness was one of the posters he had for sale.
I went with Hot Dog the movie. He was very
friendly and we talked to Seinfeld and as you'll appreciate
his Twilight Zone eighty five episode, Oh Man, you went
with Hot Dog the Movie over Midnight Madness. Good choice.
(03:44):
I would have done the same. Hont Dog the Movie
is wildly underrated. It's what I used to call a
guilty pleasure until I gave up the concept of having
guilty pleasures. I hope you offered David Nottt and the
Doctor Pepper. Actually, I hope he offered you one. And
Shane Mackie wrote in to say, I'm sure the holidays
may seem a little melancholy for you nowadays, but I
(04:04):
just wanted to send my best for you and your
pet family. Thanks for the work you do on the
podcast made me decide to want Star Trek four with
the Wife last night. Well that's an excellent choice, obviously
a side of the fact that we still don't know
the fate of Maltz. I'm glad you had a good holiday.
I hope everyone had a good holiday. You know. I
mentioned one of my rules when it came to podcasting
(04:25):
that I was trying to be positive, but one of
the things I was trying to avoid was autobiography that
kind of got me nuts when it came to other
film criticism shows that I had heard popular shows that
I had heard. I do not need all the intimate
details of someone's childhood to understand their opinion of the
latest Fast and the Furious film. This show's existence the
weekly roundup absolutely obliterates my own little rule there. This
(04:47):
show is nearly one hundred percent subjective and totally frank
with facts about myself. But I feel like I'm following
the spirit of the law here because what got me
so turned off about hearing it in most other shows
is that it seems to become the Criticis you spend
an hour hearing about a movie or show strictly through
the lens of how it blew their young mind. I
hope I'm using any autobiographical details as background before getting
(05:09):
to actual thoughtful criticism, which is a long winded way
of saying, I'm still a bit low to just talk
about myself here, but since you asked to be totally honest,
it was the worst Christmas ever. Melancholy is the word
you used, and that's perfect. It's not screaming pain, and
it's not a void, just a persistent gnawing that clouds
(05:30):
over everything. I'm no stranger to grief. I've lost family members,
friends and dear, dear loved ones, and there's a pattern
and a process that you go through each time. But
this is different. My wife and I were inseparable. We
lived together, work together, travel together. She was my best friend,
and our tastes were so similar that it was kind
(05:51):
of scary. Thus, every movie and TV show and song
and piece of art that I used to turn to
for comfort are all now tainted. Even that song tainted
love both versions, and I'm talking about soft selling Gloria Jones,
fuck Marilyn Manson, that sex pest creep. So while half
of my brain is screaming to watch Emma Daughter's jug
band Christmas and that's going to make everything all right,
(06:12):
the other half rightly argued that there are better uses
for my time than crying for forty five minutes straight.
I do that way too much already. I'm just broken.
Thank God for Ripley here, no joke. She is my
fucking lighthouse. And you guys, you listeners and doing this show,
you know all of that is great now, if you'll
excuse me for ranting a second about podcasting, But I'm
(06:33):
baffled by the trend of podcasts on video Three dudes
and a neon sign of their horrible AI generated logo.
These are entirely different forms of media. I'm on the radio.
You don't need to see me speaking into the mic.
Why would you, It's weird. If I was going to
do a TV show, it would be a visual thing.
HB and I actually attempted a video podcast years ago,
(06:54):
and it was a fuckload of work and nobody watched.
Maybe because we focused on Banetchack, a pretty obscure seventies
detective show that nobody remembers and it is really hard
to track down. Actually, no, we will write society is
to blame. To that end. I mentioned Grave Mood Rings
a few episodes back. It's on YouTube and they've got
their own website. That is a perfect example. That is
(07:15):
a TV show that you should watch. It's written and
produced and filmed and edited. Or you know, you can
watch Ed and Captain Goomba and El Guapo as they
fall out of their chairs over their own hilarity. Oh boy,
try to stay positive, Yes, positivity. I wanted to recommend
some other podcasts I've been listening to this year. Obviously,
go check out my co host HP shows Night Mister
(07:36):
Walter is a taxi podcast, and his music show Noise Jockeys.
Also check out co host Mike White's The Projection Booth
and You're stupid if you're not listening to A Year
and Horror with Paul Waller, not Weller. Paul Waller, not Weller, Paul.
If you're listening, you should know that exactly zero people
in the States know who Paul Weller is. I think
if you were to mention his name, people would think
(07:57):
you're talking about the guy who played RoboCop. Okay, so
here are some other shows you should be listening to immediately.
Movie Ubliet not only a great show, but a fun title.
Say it with me. Movie Ubliette a term we all
know thanks to Labyrinth. An ubliet is a dungeon prison,
and that's where the films that you choose to forget
have been consigned, and where hosts Dan in Australia and
(08:19):
Conrad in the UK decide whether they should be set
free or banished to the ubliet forever. The show is
incredibly informative and thoughtful, and they are clearly good friends,
which believe it or not. Can be a detriment on
some shows, but here it doesn't bog anything down. In fact,
it enriches it and they cover everything you love. Trust
me movie Ubliette. Oh, I'm gonna be positive again in
(08:40):
a minute. What's with the trend of chitchat that goes
on at the top of shows? Now that shit spread
like a virus where they just kind of improv for
two or three minutes, basically telling you everything you're about
to hear, unless there's a topic that we're not privy
to that you need to clarif so we'll better understand
the following conversation. Shut the fuck up, inane padding man.
Every time I tune into a show to listen to
(09:02):
an interview, now I check the time and I see
how much is past an hour. So if it's like
an hour and twenty minutes, I start at twenty minutes. Surprise,
that's where the interview begins. Anyway, staying positive. My criteria
for listening to a podcast are generally one of two things.
Knowledge or entertainment. Got to be one or the other.
Rarely do those come together, but that is exactly what
(09:23):
happens for Marvel fans. I know that's specific, but these
guys cover all of Marvel, not just the MCU. Check
out Marvel versus Marvel, another UK import Rob and Will.
These two motherfuckers know their shit. Every iteration of every character,
every bizarre plot point you'd forgotten or chosen to forget,
they know, and more importantly, they deliver it all in
(09:43):
a fun and palatable way. And I should point out
that they cover more than Marvel. They go where they
want to. It's never not a good show. Don't be
hamstrung by the title track. People. Oh my gosh, HB
and I are treking right now. So I've been submerged
in the ocean of star trek podcasts out there, and
there are a a lot of really good ones, and
most of those fall into the knowledgeable category. But the
(10:04):
most knowledgeable and equally fun show I've found is hollow
Deck and Diva's incredibly fun that features Steph a woman
and Chris a gay man. Those are their descriptions as
they look into all things track. Speaking of track, listen up, nerds.
I need two things. If you're in contact with this person,
hit me up. All this is gonna be in the
show notes. I need a star Trek cons player, I
(10:25):
particularly committed one if possible. I want to get their
perspective on an upcoming episode, and I need somebody who
appreciates the television series Lower Decks. If that cons player
is a Lower Necks fan, all the better, because I
don't get that show. I'm trying mightily. I finished the
first season and I have laughed at zero times. I
think there were more laughs than the original Star Trek
(10:46):
of the animated series. For less specific sci fi, check
out a show called Journey through sci Fi. I don't
understand why all of the podcasts I'm listening are from
the UK, but anyway, Journey through sci Fi takes a
season to examine everything sent from a specific subgenre. So
they've done time travel and space opera and dystopia, and
they are currently working their way through mad science. Those
(11:08):
are the film criticism pods i'd steer you toward. But
what about fiction? Well, I'm glad you asked. Tower four
is about to start its fourth season. This is a
fantastic audio drama about fire lookouts in a remote section
of the US where nothing good is going on in
those woods. I'm gonna say something here, and I'm not
damning it. It is a mystery box podcast, half Lost,
(11:30):
half Jeremiah Johnson, and it's smartly written, and the production
values are a cut above, and the voice cast is excellent.
If you want to hear one of the funniest fucking
shows ever, it's called I Regress. It is a BBC
show god Man the English and it stars Matt Berry.
You know Laslow from in What We Do in the
Shadows New York City. He plays a completely psychotic hypnotherapist
(11:52):
who mesmerizes his patients and it attempted to spelling their
phobias by putting them through the most insane exposure therapy nine.
There are little fifteen minute morsels and I laughed out
loud literally every single time. It's like Doctor Katz if
Jonathan Katz was a sociopath. All right now, in the
arena of television, and in the spirit of staying positive,
(12:12):
I will say this about Stranger Things. It remains a
remarkable evocation of the works of Stephen King. This season
in particular has picked up the Dark Tower vibe and
is running with it, which is lovely. But let me
say this, five seasons. If Stephen King were actually writing this,
we'd be in the last five hundred pages or so
of his yellow page sized book, and the majority of
(12:35):
the characters would already be long dead. You know it.
Who's your favorite character? They died three seasons ago. I
know there's been an announced body count, and by the
time you're hearing this you may have already seen it.
But you can kill everyone now it's the finale. The
stakes are actually really low. Also, five minutes talking for
five minutes in front of a doorway that leads you
(12:57):
from the dark Crystal Town you're stuck in back to
your friends and family. You know you can walk and
talk at the same time, right, Duffer Brothers. Let those
ladies just you know, go through the door. And in
other Stephen King television news, I watched all of it.
Welcome to Derry. All the precocious kids from Night Gallery
and Twilight Zone and Dark Side have found their new home.
(13:18):
So this show takes place in nineteen sixty two in Derry,
which is somehow now the locus of all things King
and not Castle Rock. That makes sense to anyone. I mean,
they had a clown, but who gives a shit? Kujo
is in Castle Rock. Johnny Smith solves a serial killer
case in the Dead Zone in the town of Castle Rock.
Those stand by Me kids, they live in castle Rock.
(13:39):
The Dark Half the Sun Dog, Needful Things You Know
It takes place in Derry, DreamCatcher Insomnia. Who cares this
show is just a remake of it, But because it's
a full season of television In Stephen King pioneered the
literary shared universe, they pull in other characters from other
King novels. The big one here is Dick hallerin The
Cook from the Shining. He's a psychic being used by
(14:01):
the US military to track down whatever it is that
brought Pennywise to Earth and or what's keeping it here.
In the same army situation is pilot Leroy Hanlon, who's
Mike Hanlon's grandfather. Lots of connections to it, including Bill
Scarsgard as Pennywise himself. There are some good ideas here
in some of the early episodes deliver a great level
of creep, but once we start getting answers, it all
(14:22):
seems so fucking ridiculous. In the level of gore and
mayhem at the hands of Pennywise feel kind of like
a response to Terrifier, like it's trying to reclaim a Crown,
and I think it hurts the show. We do get
a kind of origin story for Pennywise, but I think
that'll be fleshed out in future seasons. For as much
as I did not enjoy this season virtually at all,
(14:42):
the show has hinted that the next few seasons will
each be sent twenty seven years prior, as is this
cycle of Pennywise's appearances, and it did float. No pun
intended the intriguing premise that the events depicted at the
end of the feature film it weren't the destruction of
Pennywise at all, but in fact it's creation and we're
seeing it now grow in power as it travels back
(15:04):
through time. There, look, I ended on a positive and
before I continue with television, I'm sure I mentioned I
played the Jedi Outcast this year, which was fucking awesome.
I'm still playing Mad Max because I love it so
much that I just want to take my time, and
given that it's an open sandbox of that wasteland, I
find myself just driving around and fucking up war boys.
But the game. I am currently completely obsessed with Indiana
(15:26):
Jones and of the Great Circle. Another fucking terrible title
for Doctor Jones, but oh the game. Ultimately it's just
a bunch of simple puzzle solving and a bunch of
fetch quests and the cutscenes go on forever. But it's
first person and the guy doing Harrison Ford is fucking
spot on. And when you punch Nazis, and yes you
will punch a lot of fucking Nazis, it comes with
(15:49):
those beautiful ben Bert sound effects layered in. Here's some punching,
Here's a pistol. This is supposed to be a you
know you love it? How about some whip. I had
(16:09):
mentioned that I had traded my mad Men obsession for
Boardwalk Empire, and I also threatened to take you along
with me. Well you're in luck because between weekly roundups,
I absolutely binged the entire series so you won't have
to hear a play by play. However, Shamalan twist, this
episode is actually about Boardwalk Empire suckers. Here is why
(16:29):
you actually need to watch it. It's not for Nuckie Thompson,
played so fucking spectacularly by Steve Buscemi, or is it
the history of Atlantic City, which is admittedly fascinating. Nor
will I recommend it for Stephen Graham's spellbinding performance as
a young Alphonse Capone, or Jack Houston's heartbreaking turn as
World War One veteran Richard Harrow, who wears a paper
(16:50):
mache mask over half of his literally war torn face.
Now I'm recommending the series for a b plot that
runs throughout the entire show. Turns out, One Empire is
a pretty goddamn factual account of the creation of the syndicate.
I'm sure you've all heard of the Black Sox scandal,
when a handful of Chicago White Sox players conspired to
throw the nineteen nineteen World series. The man behind the
(17:12):
fix was a New York at gambler and kingpin named
Arnold Rothstein, and that whole scandal is worth a look
In another great film, that's the one by John Sales
Eight Men Out. In that Rothstein is played by Christopher Lloyd.
Here he's played by Michael Stoolbarg, who was the lead
in the Coen Brothers retelling of The Book of Job.
A serious man, and if that's too intellectual for you,
(17:33):
he's the rival surgeon at the beginning of Doctor Strange,
the one who ends up completely fucked up after the
blip in Multiverse of madness. Rothstein had a protege. His
name was Meyer Lansky, and Meyer Lansky is why you
need to watch Boardwalk Empire. He's a minor character throughout
all five seasons, but his place on the stage of
organized crime cannot be overestimated. He's played by Anatol Yusef,
(17:56):
a royal Shakespearean fella who's been working since he was
a kid. Appeared in Aliens, The Director's Cut and Batman
eighty nine. As a kid, he didn't have any lines
or anything. Anyway, He's magnificent as Meyer, showing a real
icy reserve even when he's completely out of control. You'll
see what I mean. Meyer Lansky, when he was a kid,
like eleven years old, ran the Bugs and Meyer Gang,
(18:18):
a small cadre of street hoods committing minor scams and robberies.
The Bugs of Bugs and Meyer is his best friend
Benjamin Bugsy Siegel, a man who I owe a deep
debt to considering I'm recording this in a town that
shouldn't exist but does thanks to that crazy Fox vision
of a gambling oasis in the desert. Lansky had a
gambler's brain and could calculate odds like a motherfucker, making
(18:40):
him an ideal choice to partner up with for a
rising Sicilian named Charlie Luciano. You see where this is going.
Luciano and Lanski absolutely thrived under Rothstein until his death
in nineteen twenty eight. I say death. He was shot
and killed for a gambling debt of three hundred and
twenty thousand dollars that he refused to pay because he
claimed the game in which he lost it was rigged. Ps.
(19:02):
He was right, it was a rigged game. But we
are not here to morrow, ar. We are here to
celebrate the birth of the syndicate. Luciano and Lansky recognized
that the national tribalism that ruled organized crime was a
total funck and hindrance to actually making money. Italians are
shooting up the Iris, who are shooting up the Jews
to what end? Along come lucky in Lansky. Hey, how
(19:22):
about we slice the bread before we sell it? And
suddenly there's free passage and codes of conduct established nationwide.
During World War Two, Lansky and Luciano worked with the
US military to keep New York Harbor free from sabotage,
employing their soldiers as security. A favor of the US
government would repay a few decades later by deporting Luciano.
But it was the events before the war that made
(19:43):
me fall in love with Lansky, particularly the day of
April twentieth, nineteen thirty eight. Around that time, there had
been a lot of parading and rallying by the German
American Nazi Party on the streets of New York. When
asked by Judge Nathan Pearlman if Lansky knew of anyone
who might be interested in punching some Nazis, Lansky was
to have said, you understand, we can do better than punch,
(20:04):
and that they did. Lansky and fourteen compatriots descended on
a Yorkville Nazi rally and fucking decimated them, beating them
with baseball bats and throwing them out of windows. Defenestration.
There's your vocabulary word for the day. To defenestrate is
to throw someone out of a window. After that night,
groups of anti Nazi Jewish Yangsters popped up all over
(20:25):
the minute Men in New Jersey and in Chicago. Jake
Greasy Thumbguzik recruited Jewish boxers to terrorize Nazi members, and
they worked out of a boxing gym like a secret layer.
Is it any surprise Superman was created by a couple
of Jewish fellas. One of those Chicago boxers, by the way,
was Jacob Rubinstein. He eventually moved to Dallas and changed
(20:45):
his name to Jack Ruby. Lansky has been portrayed by
dozens of actors in dozens of productions over the years.
James Woods's character in Once Upon a Time in America
is a thinly veiled Lanski. As is Hymen Roth, the
overall Baddie and Godfather Part two Trayo Lansky saw and
was said to have commented, they could have made me
more sympathetic. Ben Kingsley gave an excellent performance as the
(21:07):
actual Meyer Lansky in Warren Bati's Bugsy Go jerkis Soda.
That's one of my favorite kiss off lines of all time.
Patrick Dempsey played Meyer Lansky in That Young Gun's attempt
at gangsterism Mobsters. Hey, if you want to see exactly
what didn't happen with this outfit, check out that bullshit.
Maybe we should cover that in more depth, just for
its sheer fucking stupidity. HP. I'm lighting up the Bancheck symbol.
(21:30):
We might need to rally around mobsters. All of these performances.
By the way, all of these portrayals, from excellent to excrement,
pale beside the character and situations dramatized on Boardwalk Empire. Hell,
if you don't want to invest the time in the
whole series, just watch the Lansky episodes. Listen. I realize
it's weird to have a favorite gangster. Gang Land goons
(21:51):
are mostly just that, fucking dummies and psychopaths. You wouldn't
piss on if they were on fire. But respect must
be paid for the levels of ingenuity and god damned
American grit that went into some of those criminal enterprises
over the years. And all of my respect goes to
meyer Lansky. He was the greatest gangster who ever lived.
That's not hyperbole, and I say it with authority. Because
(22:14):
meyer Lansky retired, he died in his home at age eighty.
Nobody came for him, nobody tried to keep him tethered.
He just said I'm done and that was that. In
other HBO period piece television, and this one definitely crosses
over with Boardwalk Empire thanks to its cast, you could
do worse than check out the four episode mini series
Death by Lightning, a show that reminded me of just
(22:36):
how woefully deficient my working knowledge of American history truly. Is.
Michael Shannon, who starred as a disgraced Treasury agent on
Boardwalk Empire, plays James Garfield, who unwittingly and really unexpectedly
becomes the Republican candidate for president in eighteen eighty, drawing
the eye of Roscoe Conkling, who ran the New York
Custom House and therefore held the national purse strings played
(22:58):
by Shay Wiggham, who surprise plays Sheriff Eli Thompson, younger
brother of Nuki on Boardwalk Empire, Death by Lightning chronicles
the whirlwind of politicking and backstabbing and mental disorder that
played into the events of garfield assassination. It also paints
the portrait of a really decent man and a tragedy
of what we were denied. I guess Stephen Sondheim was
(23:19):
onto something with that musical. I'm gonna end everything on
another positive recommendation. Wise, if you want to watch a
Stephen King themed TV show, watch Castle Rock. It's Stephen
King without the nostalgia, which is the fucking DNA of
stranger things and welcome to Derry. Hey, remember these fun memories,
Remember how these situations made you feel, which is crazy
because nostalgia exists to comfort and horror exists to fuck
(23:42):
you up. Castle Rock got two seasons, and yes they're
tainted with the jj Abrams imprint, but don't let that
dissuade you. He had nothing to do with it. In
season two gave us a young Annie Wilkes played by
Lizzie Kaplan and its fucking breath taking, and season two
has Paul Sparks from Boardwalk Empire. Is Ace Merrill, Remember Ace?
He for Sutherland played him in stand By Me, and
(24:03):
Ace's dad is played by Andy Dufrayne himself Tim Robbins
as Pop Merrill, not Andy Dufrayne. I just want to
clarify that in fact, so you don't think I'm steering
you wrong. Skip the first season. It's all about a
figure of absolute evil that appears and has to be
dealt with, and it's very, very multiverse. Season two, nearly
entirely separate, is way more Stephen King, and it's one
of the best King adjacent things I've ever seen, including
(24:26):
nods toward facilitating the evil that draws Barlow and Straker
to the nearby town of Salem's Lot. Now go read
Salem's Lot listen. It has been an incredible year here
at midnight viewing and we want to thank you all
from young miss Ripley Jean and myself Marry New Year,
(25:00):
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