48. Being There (1979)

Howard Berger and Marshall Julius have a brilliant new book out called 'Making Monsters: Inside Stories From The Creators of Hollywood's Most Iconic Creatures'.  It's an indispensable oral history and visually spectacular compendium of Hollywood history and personal reflections from the industry's pre-eminent special make-up effects artisans, and actors and directors who appreciate the work of these specialized craftspeople. Howard is a co-founder of legendary Hollywood special make-up effects and creature design company KNB EFX Group, a company with more than 800 film and television credits that's been in the business of making movie magic for almost 40 years. Marshall Julius is a writer and reviewer who describes himself as a veteran nerd with a boundless enthusiasm for everything you love and a collector of plastic things. Marshall is the author of 'Action! The Action Movie A-Z', 'Vintage Geek', and, with Howard Berger, 'Masters of Makeup Effects'. Our conversation covered the changes facing the industry, the particulars of putting together such a labor-of-love book (their second collaboration), and, of course, some great inside stories from the making of some of your favorite films. Here's the book website. Buy the book. Follow Marshall Julius on IG About KNB EFX Group

9 Sep 1h 24min

David Cronenberg's 'Videodrome' remains a shockingly prescient vision of the world we're living in now: technology overlords using computerized developments for their own nefarious means...except in the case of 1983 Toronto, personal enrichment isn't the end game: elimination of the freaks and geeks is. Featuring a tour-de-force performance from James Woods and an impressive commitment to allowing viewers to experience the unfolding story as it happens to Woods' Max Renn, the film also has a hauntingly simple and utterly perfect score by frequent Cronenberg collaborator  Howard Shore. Videodrome Trailer

3 Sep 58min

I recently learned of the senseless death of a friend from elementary school—someone I hadn’t seen in over forty years.  His name was Joe Kane.   The news reached across all that time and unexpectedly unlocked a reservoir of childhood emotions I didn’t even know I was still carrying.   Letting those feelings out left me feeling connected to Joe's spirit and to the memory of his kindness, a quality that many have remembered and commented on after hearing this tragic news. And in that connection, I came to a better, if bittersweet, understanding of this period in my own life, of the odd and destabilizing duality of growing up in an alcoholic household and how the magical resilience and essential fragility of childhood continues to co-exist within us, bringing us together and apart and together again, if we're lucky.    A lot of this episode draws from comments on a couple threads on my personal Facebook page which I've made public.   This episode is an expanded version of an essay I wrote in my newsletter about Joe's death. You can read it here if you'd like.   Here's the article that started all this.   And here's the link to the GoFundMe for Joe's funeral expenses and to benefit the Beth-El Center

24 Aug 58min

Here's the next episode in a little courtroom-drama jag I've been on; it's about the second of screenwriter Steven Zaillian's three directorial efforts, 'A Civil Action', from Zaillian's adaptation of the best-selling Jonathan Harr nonfiction book of the same name. Like 'The Rainmaker', 'A Civil Action' provides a large roster of fantastic actors opportunities to deliver amazing portrayals that rely as much on non-verbal communication as they do the words written by Zaillian. IMO this makes Zaillian an impressive director, because what writer would willingly NOT want to hear more of his own words coming from the actors mouths.   The Onion thread on X Sydney Pollack scene from 'A Civil Action' Sydney Pollack in Woody Allen's 'Husbands and Wives' Sydney Pollack in 'Eyes Wide Shut' Sydney Pollack in 'Tootsie' Sydney Pollack on Stanley Kubrick

12 Aug 1h 23min

Dead & Company's 60th Anniversary three-show stand is an opportunity to talk about about the living history that the band's music represents, the ongoing and still-vital multi-generational pull of the concerts, which drew about 175,000 people, and the fascinating real-time challenge represented by sitting in with the band.  Using Sturgill Simpson and Trey Anastasio as examples of how players find a space for their instrument to occupy in the band's sonic tapestry, I dive into the sink-or-swim weirdness of entering this telepathic onstage space and speculate on what could be next for the band and the songs. You can watch the first songs of all the nights here on YouTube. Subscribe to my [indistinct chatter] newsletter, where I jot down musings, recommendations, and random thoughts. Check out nugs.net for the streaming 4K videos of the Dead & Co Golden Gate and other shows. Vertex Effects 'The Guitarist Behind' Series is fantastic. This is the Wendy Melvoin one referenced in the episode. Other favorite are the Michael Thompson, Darryl Stuermer, Tim May, Ray Parker, Jr, Dean Parks, and Eddie Martinez.

5 Aug 1h 15min

In 1996, Francis Ford Coppola needed the money. He was coming off a run of films that included The Godfather Part III, Bram Stoker's Dracula, and Jack.  His critical and box office results were at a career nadir. So he agreed to direct an adaptation of the John Grisham bestseller 'The Rainmaker' for Paramount.  He wouldn't direct another film for 10 years.  And he'd make only four more, including the epic disaster 'Megalopolis'. Curious then that 'The Rainmaker' is a superlative example of a courtroom thriller, a  big-business-versus-the-little-guy movie that features fantastic performances from a large cast of total pros; a film that deserves to be considered among Coppola's best, and maybe a film whose constraints brought out the best in a filmmaker not know for personal or professional restraint.

2 Aug 1h 17min

Well, it's come to this. Was it curiosity? Was is discovery? A sense of completism?   Oxygen deprivation? Whatever it was, I've now watched '2010: The Year We Make Contact' and I leave it for you to decide whether I'm any better for it.

1 Juli 50min

We've come to the end...or is it the beginning?  This is part 4 of my series of episodes about the emotional and intellectual contact Stanley Kubrick made between movie-goers and his epic science-fiction film of 1968. Here's the amazing mashup between Pink Floyd's 'Echoes' and the final sequence of 2001. Please sign up for my newsletter if you haven't; it's free and filled with random recommendations based on what I'm reading, watching and listening to on a given week. Some of it podcast-adjacent and some totally unrelated.

26 Juni 57min