Nighthawks' Podcast

Way back when, most of us watched a movie that scared us - but maybe at the wrong times, and about the wrong things. Then we read a story that scared us - or maybe it just filled us with premature angst? Then, someone buried that movie where the earth was sour, and now, we have a chance to watch a resurrected movie that will scare us some more…. OR WILL IT?

This episode, we took that little game we sometimes play - “Should it be remade” - and turn it into a comprehensive game of Should It Have Been Made and Also Should it Have Been Remade as we talk all things Pet Semetary (including that odd spelling).

We’re comparing the (very) 1989 release of Pet Semetary to its shiny new cousin...and that means scary kid talk, scary sister talk, scary kitty talk, with some bonus book talk, and a whole lot of Fred Gwynne love.

By the time we’re done pitting these differing adaptations against each other, the scorecard may just surprise you.

We also delve, once more, into the filmability of stephen King - a man with so many book-to-film adaptations under his belt you can basically build any resume you choose for him.

Also, we’re doing what we can to bring attention to our friends at Watchtower Coffee and Comics and their plan to relocate their space - you can check that out at:

https://bit.ly/2JmQJBd

In 2014 a woman facing insurmountable odds in the American legal system, published a telling memoir about the most elite poker game to hit either the East or West coasts.

Molly Bloom published Molly’s Game, about her stellar achievements in the world of (mostly) legitimate underground poker. Molly’s book named some names of the many Hollywood heavy swingers that used to sit around Molly’s poker table, pulling in million dollar pots.

After the book was released, Molly’s journey continued, and the story, including the publishing of the book, was adapted into a movie, directed by Aaron Sorkin.

Make sense?

Molly’s Game isn’t a movie that fits into an easy category for a quick sell. But it is an interesting story, about a fascinating person, who did some impressive things, and faces daunting adversity. On top of that you have Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, and Michael Cera filling out the cast.

The boys in the cafe sit down for a hand of liar’s poker as they discuss both the book and the movie.

Speaking of conversations at cafes involving books and movies, our friends at the Watchtower Cafe in Salt Lake City, Utah are moving and looking to be better than ever. The boys discuss this in the episode, and the Watchtower Kickstarter can be found here:

https://bit.ly/2W1yqrk

If you can, please consider donating or sharing the campaign.

This is the end...
My beautiful friend...
After 11 years, Disney/Marvel takes its victory lap, bringing a huge amount of closure to a franchise that spans over 20 films since 2008.

As is discussed in the episode, the twists and turns of Endgame come early in the film, and there's not much granular discussion to be had about the film, without spoilers.

That being said, the Nighthawks take the opportunity to discuss their reactions to the film without any spoilers, the state of the Marvel franchise, and a hot take about the dateability of Seth Rogen.

For those of you who have seen the film, there is an audible warning, and then the Nighthawks will talk about the film spoilers and all. Again, no spoilers at the beginning, audible warning, spoilers at the back half of the episode.

Was the great Marvel gambit (heh) worth it?

What do you think?

It's a Marvel prequel. Although the boys call it the first, in the episode, it's not.

Where Captain America: The First Avenger took us back to World War II, Captain Marvel: The First Female Lead Marvel Hero Movie takes us back to Operation Desert Storm.

Not that the Middle Eastern conflict plays heavily into the story of Carol Danvers and her fantastic super powers, but the setting of the early 90s is important.

Captain Marvel manages to evoke a nostalgia for a largely untapped 90s market, while also managing to cater to a largely untapped female market.

While it can be a disservice to call this "A Female Superhero Movie" as an assignment of genre, we do feel that it's a Superhero Movie that very much deals with female identity in modern society, and serves as an allegory for the fight for women's rights.

The political angles on this have some Marvel fans ruffling their feathers, but...

Get used to it. Captain Marvel is blazing a trail, and the Nighthawks think this is just one example of many more inclusive movies to come.

Happy New Year to all of the listeners of the Nighthawks Podcast.

As the slow march of time slowly ticks over an arbitrary number assigned by men to account for revolutions around the sun, the boys decide to join in the festivities with a movie that starts with a New Year's Eve Celebration.

According to the mythology of The Poseidon Adventure, just after midnight on New Years Eve, a rogue wave struck and capsized the SS Poseidon, as it was on its final voyage.

Stuck on the boat is a handful of survivors led by a rebellious preacher (Gene Hackman), with backup from the immortal Shelly Winters, Ernest Borgnine, Red Buttons, Carol Lynley, and Jack Albertson.

It's a disaster tale of survival and thrills as the midnight hour brings calamity to The Poseidon Adventure.

You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's the signpost up ahead—your next stop, the Twilight Z-Ho-Ho-Ho-ne!

It is the holiday season, and as many people, both secular and spiritual, gather for feasts and get-togethers, the Nighthawks serve up something special.

Leaving the realm of cinemas for a short story told on a small screen, the Nighthawks Diner passes into the 5th dimension, as Matt and Trevor discuss an episode of the classic anthology series, The Twilight Zone.

Grist for discussion in this episode is Night of the Meek, a Christmas-based episode for the 'Zone, starring Art Carney as a down-and-out drunk of a department store Santa. Think if Miracle on 34th Street ended up being about the drunk Santa at the beginning, then he falls into some Tim Allen Santa Clause action.

Spiritually based holidays in the modern age, holiday based programming, and the grander phenomenon of The Twilight Zone, are all served up with a side of spiral ham and a glass of egg nogg. Kick back, stoke the Yule Log, and give us a listen after you finish arguing with your sister about Die Hard.

Our last episode was full of characters. Main characters, side characters, comic relief characters, live characters, dead characters, even weird child characters.

We decided this time out, we’d go for something a little more bottled up.
A little more nocturnal. You might say we’re putting the podcast on … Cruise control.

We’re watching the 2004, Michael Mann helmed Tom Cruise/Jamie Foxx vehicle Collateral, the story of a cab driver with big dreams, a hitman with a long list, and a dark night in LA.

It’s a game of cat and mouse as cab driver Max (Fox) tries to avoid ending up dead or in prison after the tightly-wound hitman Vincent (Cruise) shanghais Max into being his driver for a series of hits.

We picked Collateral because we think it’s a cool thriller with a lot of well stylized action, great banter, and a rooted- yet surreal- sense of place.

Despite all this, Collateral is a little bit forgotten - in that respect, you could say it’s a cousin to another one of Cruise’s out of franchise efforts, 2014’s Edge of Tomorrow.

So buckle your seat belts, get some In and Out from the drive through, and get ready to...Cruise...through LA.

The holidays are upon us, and many U.S. Americans are smack dab in the middle of having just had an awkward meal with their families and gearing up for another one, less than a month later.

At least during the holidays it's an event we can plan for. We know there will be food, we know there will be arguing over politics, we know that at the end of the day we can gather around the warm glow of the television for a shot at a parade or a football game and renew our bonds with each other. What really is the pits, is when you have these family gatherings unplanned, and with a lot of stress involved.

The Nighthawks podcast salutes the awkward family gatherings surrounding the holidays with an awkward family gathering at a funeral.

Rip Torn plays the deceased, Piper Laurie his suicidal widow, Hank Azaria his failed actor son, Ray Romano his perverted lawyer son, Debra Winger his bigoted daughter, and Kelley Preston as the daughter who is gearing up for a same-sex wedding in 2004.

Add to that Zooey Deschanel as a manic pixie dream girl who is simultaneously trying to juggle her horrible family and her left-it-at-a-weird place summer romance.

Eulogy is the lone film credit for writer/director Michael Clancy, and it was not well received among critics at the time. Well, Matt and Trevor are critics NOW, and they say that the critics of 2004 were totally unfair. Are they right? You be the judge.

Look, folks. Vote.

That's the takeaway, here. That's all we want you to do, is just exercise your right, should that be something you possess.

We acknowledge that some of our listeners may not be eligible. We know that some of our listeners don't live in the United States of America. Some people who hear this episode, won't do so until some far flung date well after the election at hand is long decided.

There's stuff for those people too. Matt and Trevor take a dive into The Purge franchise, examining the third movie in the series- The Purge: Election Year. Not only do the Nighthawks apply their usual compliments of Nighthawks gravy, as they talk about the movies and what they mean to them. But the boys also use the occasion to examine political allegory in artistic works, and its place in society.

Also, it doesn't hurt that this is a movie where Frank Grillo kicks quite a lot of ass.

But more than any of that, just vote.

The Nighthawks cafe turns the special Monstoberfest neon sign off, for another year, but if we're going to go out, we're taking the rest of the world with us.

Nothing is sacred as the Matt an Trevor take a deep bite of Orson Welles' legendary radio broadcast, that panicked an entire nation!

Or... did it?

It is the 80th Anniversary of the Halloween Eve broadcast that would go down in infamy, and propel its director into putting together the (arguably) greatest American film ever made.

From the people who brought you Citizen Kane (Orson Welles), Casablanca (Howard Koch), and Psycho (Bernard Hermann serves as Welles' orchestra leader). Assembled talent that would become synonymous with "Hollywood," first took their stab at terrifying a nation wirelessly.

Just how successful were they?

A download of the original War of the Worlds broadcast is available from Archive.org.

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