DAC Episode 364: The Lost Boys (1987)

/

the epitome of a dead lion

It’s the start of what we call Spooky Season in the Destroy All Culture house. To start, Adam and Aidan watched 1987’s The Lost Boys, a movie that launched the careers of Kiefer Sutherland and Jason Patric, as well as instilling the notion of the Coreys as a kind of ‘80s pop gestalt entity. Topics discussed include: Lost Boys as a foundational ‘80s text; the time Aidan went to a Tina Turner concert and saw the oiled-up saxophone guy; the pleasures of seeing Dianne Weist and Edward Herrmann in a movie largely aimed at teens; and whether the whole bit with the Coreys worked.

Adam’s take: Edward Herrmann’s vampire character actually survived this movie and ended up moving to Star’s Hollow.

Aidan’s take: the Surf Nazis did not die in this movie. Instead, they were sent to a post-apocalyptic future where they ruled the wasteland (until they died).

Note: during the podcast, Aidan wonders aloud about the identity of the punk girl who’s briefly seen kissing a rat in the opening montage. According to the 80’s Movie Rewind, the woman is named Carrie Stevens, a regular on the San Cruz punk scene. The rat was named “Rat-rat”.

DAC Episode 363: Erin Brockovich (2000)

/

Welcome to Part Two of our MoviesThat Happen to Star Aaron Eckhart miniseries (MTHtSAE II). Can you picture Aaron Eckhart as a gruff-but-loveable biker? Casting director Margery Simkin and director Stephen Soderbergh sure could! Throw a bandana and some muttonchops on that chiseled face and ta-da: movie magic?

Fortunately for America, Eckhart’s character is not the focus of Erin Brockovich. Instead, we follow Julia Roberts as Brockovich, a working-class single mother who stands up to the stuffy corporate lawyers (yay!) and the obese woman at her workplace (yeah?) and the snippy Black woman at her workplace (uh…) as she bravely fights for a settlement on behalf of victims of corporate pollution (yay again!). Of course, many of the plaintiffs received only a pittance, which is not mentioned in the movie (okay). On the other hand, we get to watch Brockovich being handed a cheque for two million dollars at the end (ffs).

Honestly, this was an exhausting watch, an antiquated bit of proto-girlboss biopic-ery void of tension or dramatic movement after the opening twenty minutes. Soderbergh seems to know this, occasionally building out moments that challenge the protagonist, only to drop it in favour of the next sassy retort or deeply unpleasant insult delivered by a righteous Roberts who loves punching down just as much as up. Brockovich is the only real character in a world of ciphers and foils, and the few characters who assert any agency eventually leave. On the plus side, Roberts and Finney deliver great performances. And there’s that one guy who looks like the most 2000s Mighty Mighty Bosstones fan of all time. We see you.

DAC Episode 362 - The Core (2003)

/

Look, this is what happens when you let the earth’s magnetic field get out of hand

[Morning at the Destroy All Culture house. Aidan is mumbling in his sleep, his forehead beaded with sweat, his eyeballs swivelling back and forth beneath closed lids. Adam enters.]

ADAM: Aidan, are you okay? What are you saying?

AIDAN: cuh… cuh… orrrre…

ADAM: What’s that? Caw-hor?

AIDAN: cuhhhh…. orrrre…

ADAM: Cuh-or?

AIDAN: Core… core…

ADAM: Core?

[Aidan’s eyelid flip up, his eyes glowing with the fire of Earth’s depths]

AIDAN: Core… core. Core! Core! Core!

ADAM: Core! Core! Core!

ADAM AND AIDAN: CORE! CORE! CORE!

AIDAN: You know, we should talk about 2004’s The Core, starring Aaron Eckhart, Hilary Swank, Stanley Tucci, Delroy Lindo, Richard Jenkins and even DJ Qualls.

ADAM: I’ll go put on some coffee.