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112: “I’m Rooting For The Crocodile” – Anaconda, Lake Placid & Deep Blue Sea

Oh, you thought we were done talking about all the creepy-crawlies that go bump in the night, that slither in wait hoping to swallow you whole, and that can somehow turn on a gas oven using a dorsal fin? Hardly! In this dazzling, toothsome, and scaly finale to When We Were Young’s ‘90s Creature Feature extravaganza, Chris and Seth revisit three more hit movies that represent the monstrous tail end of this genre’s heyday.

First, they were pretty sure the end was near when their boat sank in the jungles of the Amazon River and they were nearly swallowed whole by an immense ANACONDA (1997), but they were saved at the last moment by a documentary film crew led by JLo, Ice Cube, and an indecipherable but legendary Jon Voight.

Hoping to find respite and relief in the calm waters of LAKE PLACID (1999), they instead found Betty White raising a world-record killer crocodile, and Bridget Fonda, Bill Pullman, and Oliver Platt competing to see who’d had the most severed heads flung at them.

Finally, in one last desperate attempt to get away from it all, Seth and Chris took a trip and a dip in the DEEP BLUE SEA (1999) heading to an underwater scientific research station at the forefront of Alzheimer’s research – but the three resident bioengineered mega-sharks who also lived there immediately crashed their party and proceeded to flood them out! These giganto makos had the gall to eat Seth’s parrot, and one of these cunning sharks nearly got Chris too – until he took all his clothes off and electrocuted it. Dazed and shocked to have made it out alive, our hosts have sworn never to leave dry land or violate the Harvard Compact ever again.

Grab your swimsuits as we revisit the waterlogged beasts of the latter days of Hollywood’s creature features in what is by far the wettest episode of WHEN WE WERE YOUNG yet. Follow When We Were Young on Twitter and Instagram at @WWWYshow, on Facebook at Facebook.com/WWWYShow and email episode suggestions to wwwyshow@gmail.com. Don’t forget to subscribe and review us on Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts (or wherever you get your podcasts) so more folks check out the show!

Help us defray the costs of creating this show, which include recording remotely, purchasing movies/shows/music to review, delivery food to eat our feelings, and producing & editing in-house at the MFP Studio in Los Angeles, California by donating to our Patreon account at patreon.com/WhenWeWereYoung

111: “Put ‘Em On The Endangered Species List” – Tremors, Arachnophobia & Congo

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the ’90s, an elite team of podcasters has been selected to journey deep into the jungle, dive deep into the ocean, and dig deep underground to locate some of the deadliest predators ever known to moviedom.

Two of cinema’s greatest auteurs made creature features that have gone down as classics – Hitchcock’s THE BIRDS in the ’60s and Spielberg’s Jaws in the ’70s. In their wake, however, the genre known as “nature horror” took a steep downhill turn into low-budget schlock, and sadly creature features became an endangered species.

But for a brief, beautiful window during the 1990s, movies about hungry, hungry critters great and small came roaring back! The genre flirted with becoming mainstream again, nabbing bigger budgets, bigger stars, and monster-sized box office receipts (in some cases).

So welcome to Part One of our ’90s Creature Sexa-Feature! (“Sex” as in “six.” Get your mind out of the gutter – there might be alligators down there!) In this episode, we unearth 1990’s TREMORS, which features Kevin Bacon and Reba McEntire pole-vaulting away from giant worms, then direct all eight of our eyes toward the shrieking spiders of ARACHNOPHOBIA (from that same year), which still has the power to scare at least one of our hosts off his tuffet. Finally, we go bananas for the killer gorillas of CONGO (1995), which features Tim Curry, Laura Linney, and a host of others giving performances that are almost as big as the lost diamonds of Zinj.

Pour yourself a green drop drink and pack up that sesame cake, because we’re hunting down and rounding up the very finest big screen animal attacks of the 90s! (Survival not guaranteed.)

Follow When We Were Young on Twitter and Instagram at @WWWYshow, on Facebook at Facebook.com/WWWYShow and email episode suggestions to wwwyshow@gmail.com. Don’t forget to subscribe and review us on Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts (or wherever you get your podcasts) so more folks check out the show!

Help us defray the costs of creating this show, which include recording remotely, purchasing movies/shows/music to review, delivery food to eat our feelings, and producing & editing in-house at the MFP Studio in Los Angeles, California by donating to our Patreon account at patreon.com/WhenWeWereYoung

109: “The Most Fully Developed Human The World Has Ever Seen” – Twins

Arnold Schwarzenegger became world famous in the 1980s as the jacked-up star of macho blockbusters like CONAN THE BARBARIAN, PREDATOR, COMMANDO, and THE TERMINATOR. But in the late 80s and early 90s, he teamed up with GHOSTBUSTERS director Ivan Reitman for a trio of family-friendly comedies, starting with 1988’s TWINS. Schwarzenegger’s comic chemistry with Danny DeVito drove this broad, fairly inexpensive studio comedy to rake in over $200 million and become the fifth-biggest earner at the box office that year, proving Arnold’s ability to draw big crowds outside the action genre and paving the way for several more seminal turns in blockbuster comedies.

In this episode of the podcast, we look back at Arnold’s austere Austrian childhood and the 1977 documentary PUMPING IRON, which chronicles the bodybuilding championships that first catapulted him to worldwide renown (and also chronicles his orgasmic workouts). Then, we check back in on TWINS and see whether this beloved 80s comedy still has us laughing for two. (One blue line means we didn’t like the movie. Two blue lines means we did.)

So join us for the conception of our “Schwarzepreggers” lineup and see if Ahnuld’s comic chops have held up as well as that hulking body — or if he should’ve just stuck to his day jobs as world-class athlete, popular governor, and unparalleled action hero instead. Along the way, we discuss Schwarzenegger’s big screen sex appeal (or lack thereof?), marvel at his unique combination of himbo charm and tireless ambition, ogle his out-of-this-world physique, and debate whether Arnold can still tickle our funnybones as effortlessly as he could break all of our other bones.

Follow When We Were Young on Twitter and Instagram at @WWWYshow, on Facebook at Facebook.com/WWWYShow and email episode suggestions to wwwyshow@gmail.com. Don’t forget to subscribe and review us on Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts (or wherever you get your podcasts) so more folks check out the show!

Help us defray the costs of creating this show, which include recording remotely, purchasing movies/shows/music to review, delivery food to eat our feelings, and producing & editing in-house at the MFP Studio in Los Angeles, California by donating to our Patreon account at patreon.com/WhenWeWereYoung

107: “I’ll Be Right Here” – E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial

You know the score. You know the quotes. You know the poster. Forty years ago, a wrinkly alien with a magic touch waddled into moviegoers’ hearts and made E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL one of the most beloved family films ever made. Steven Spielberg’s alien opus surpassed STAR WARS as the #1 film of all time and remained the biggest hit in a decade that also saw the release of GHOSTBUSTERS, BACK TO THE FUTURE, the INDIANA JONES trilogy, and BATMAN. It also delighted critics and audiences alike, spawning toys, video games, and one of Universal Studios’ most memorable rides. In short, E.T. was everywhere in the 80s. 

In this episode of the podcast, When We Were Young takes you back to Spielberg’s childhood, chronicling his rise from suburban nerd to world’s most popular filmmaker. Then we chat about CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, Spielberg’s first foray to the friendly skies, which offers a surprisingly dark vision of one man’s life-shattering obsession with the unknown. Then it’s on to “the Summer of Spielberg,” when both E.T. and the Spielberg-shepherded POLTERGEIST entered theaters in June 1982, each becoming instant classics of suburban childhood interrupted by paranormal events.

What is it like coming back to such a monumental movie as adults? Are we still over the moon for this film, or merely silhouetted against it? Grab a bag of Reese’s Pieces and join us for an episode that’s well worth phoning home about!

Follow When We Were Young on Twitter and Instagram at @WWWYshow, on Facebook at Facebook.com/WWWYShow and email episode suggestions to wwwyshow@gmail.com. Don’t forget to subscribe and review us on Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts (or wherever you get your podcasts) so more folks check out the show!

Help us defray the costs of creating this show, which include recording remotely, purchasing movies/shows/music to review, delivery food to eat our feelings, and producing & editing in-house at the MFP Studio in Los Angeles, California by donating to our Patreon account at patreon.com/WhenWeWereYoung

104: “I’m Gonna Get Medieval On Your Ass” – Pulp Fiction

McDonalds, TV pilots, Elvis, and foot massages – just the usual topics of conversation between gangsters, drug users, hitmen, and criminals, at least in Quentin Tarantino’s world. The release of the writer/director’s heavily-lauded PULP FICTION in 1994 was a groundbreaking moment for both Tarantino and movies, and its pop culture-obsessed characters and narrative-jumbling structure influenced the next decade or so of cinema (for better or worse).

Do Pulp Fiction’s accolades remain as bright and shiny as whatever’s in that briefcase? Or are we right in striking down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger? Join us for an expletive-filled adventure back to the ’90s – seriously, make the kiddos cover their ears for this one.

This is Part 2 of our Tarantino-thon! Listen to Part 1 where we revisited NATURAL BORN KILLERS and RESERVOIR DOGS here: https://themfp.org/wwwy-103-naturalbornkillers/

Follow When We Were Young on Twitter and Instagram at @WWWYshow, on Facebook at Facebook.com/WWWYShow and email episode suggestions to wwwyshow@gmail.com. Don’t forget to subscribe and review us on Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts (or wherever you get your podcasts) so more folks check out the show!

Help us defray the costs of creating this show, which include recording remotely, purchasing movies/shows/music to review, delivery food to eat our feelings, and producing & editing in-house at the MFP Studio in Los Angeles, California by donating to our Patreon account at patreon.com/WhenWeWereYoung

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