Creating the Ultimate Summer Movie Festival

This is Batgirl and you're listening to the Geekcast

Radio Network. Hello and welcome to episode 138

of The Cinema Geeks. I am one of your Cinema

Geeks optimists solo and joining me today is

movie revolt Dan. Hey, how's it going? Not too

bad, and that is it for the Cinema Geeks this

week. So Amanda is off doing her, I guess, networking

duties as she's at that theater as we're recording,

getting ready for a guest appearance on another

podcast. And Matt's had a pretty busy week, so

he's taking this one off too. So it's just Dan

and myself. Dan, it's been a while since it was

just the two of us on a Cinema Geeks record.

Yeah, it's been quite some time. Maybe the last

time we did it was Tarantino retrospective. Yeah.

Back when. I think so. So Dan and I are here

because we want to have an episode this week

and we thought what better than to deal with

the fact that we are in the middle of the summer

blockbuster season. So Dan, is it just me or

did that mean something more like a decade ago

than it does now? I think so because I think

back in the day like like you only got these

blockbusters during the summer but now the summer

like starts in April and you also have like really

big franchise films and November and around Christmas

so it doesn't seem to be as packed as it once

was but I don't know if that's just my maybe

playing tricks on me yeah it seems like Memories

are a weird thing, but it seems like when I was

a kid I remember that there was like the You

know the holiday season where you had like movies

coming out around Memorial Day You know fourth

of July that type of you know the summer blockbuster

season I guess and then I remember that there

was always you know a handful of films that would

come out You know in the holiday season like

in the Christmas December that time period because

I always remember family members trying to decide

Which movie they were gonna go to you know together?

Christmases or Thanksgiving or somewhere around

that line so those are like the two time periods

that I remember as a kid that movies were talked

about and we're kind of like in the You know

everybody's mind as far as which ones were being

released during that time and like you said now

it seems like it's a it's you know nine ten months

out of the year you know what I mean, and then

you have like You get that rush of award type

films coming out in December And then it seems

like your only time off sometimes is January

and maybe February, but even then You might get

a couple gems in there too nowadays. Yeah, I

think there's some benefits and you know, it

there's some good things about the way it was

but I do you know, it's It's weird when we have

like a couple weeks for and you're like, wow,

there's a two weeks around There's not like one

good summer movie coming out. It's kind of disappointing.

It's it's like wrestling you go from only having

like, you know WrestleMania and whatever summer

slam and and then you go to the point where there's

a pay -per -view every month yeah exactly it's

like the oversaturation or something but I'm

not complaining because I love going to see movies

so bring them all year round I don't need you

know months and months off in between it I like

you said it's even hard enough when there's a

couple weeks off where there's nothing good so

so why don't you tell tell them what we're gonna

be doing today and give them idea of what they're

about to listen to as we try to compete against

each other in a way Yeah, so basically with the

idea of summer and the fact that so many movies

we haven't gotten the chance to talk about, but

we thought thinking about those past days and

what summers can be, we thought what if we tried

to craft our own summer festival? I know for

a lot of people around my area, for example,

there's a lot of summer things going on where

they have movies playing. different parks and

things of that nature, drive -ins, which will

have a number of movies playing. My local drive

-in does a thing that's dust till dawn where

it's like five movies in a row that you watch

from the moment the sun goes down until it comes

up. And so we kind of took all of those ideas

and we're kind of basically trying to construct

the ultimate summer list by looking at the main

genres of sci -fi, fantasy, action adventure,

comedy, family. horror, thriller, and action,

and I forget what. That's all five. That's all

five. That's, I can count. So we're all gonna,

we're gonna basically pick a movie to represent

each genre that's been released in the summertime

from the 1970s, really when the summer season

really began until today. And we're gonna try

to have the best representation we can and make

the most exciting lineup. And then you'll have

the opportunity to vote to see who actually picked.

the best lineup, which one would you go to? If

you had the opportunity to go see Kevin's showcase

or my showcase, which one would you be more likely

to actually go to? I think it is kind of fitting

because both summertime is number one Always

known for summer blockbusters, but I think too,

you know, that is the time for festivals You

have a lot of different film festivals going

on in the summer. I know just around my neck

of the woods We just had the Chicago Film Critics

Festival We're about to have the 70 millimeter

film festival, you know at the Music Box Theater

in Chicago So it's a lot, you know a lot of good

times nice weather brings on festivals of all

kinds not just film related so we're both basically

creating our own little showcase our own festival

and you to choose which one you want to attend.

And like I said, we only get one pick from each

of those five genres. And we're covering, you

know, about a little over 40 to 50 years worth

of films. So Dan, before we get into the actual

picks, how was this trying to narrow it down

and come up with your possible selections if

I don't steal any of them? Exactly. That's the

key. It's challenging because it's, in a way,

by having more options, it makes it harder. And

you try to want to give variety in there, too,

because you don't want to all pick from the same

director or the same decade. And the idea is

you're trying to appeal to the widest audience

possible. So it does get difficult. And yeah,

I'll just do five Marvel movies, but maybe that

doesn't make the most sense. Because you can

argue, I guess, some of them fit in different

categories. But yeah, it's a lot harder when

you try to just narrow it down by the end. So,

who's gonna go first and what genre are we gonna

tackle first? Why don't you go first and you

choose the genre and then I'll go next round

and I'll choose the genre. Alright, sounds good.

I am... I'll go action -adventure first. I think

that's the one I have the least amount of options

for, for some reason, which is very weird because

it's summer blockbuster season, so that seems

to be, you know, action -adventure, like, prime

time, but I only have a couple on my list, so

I'm gonna go with that one first, and for my

action -adventure film, I mean, is there any

question? How about a little film that came out

in July? of 1988. It was July 15th, 1988, the

release of Die Hard into theaters. So for my

action adventure, I don't know if it gets any

better than Die Hard, so I have to get that one

out of the way. Interesting, when you say, when

you, that's funny because you're saying that,

you know, it's the obvious choice when you talk

about action adventure. I was like, oh, are you

going to go with my choice? Because it's also

from the 80s, but not from that year and from

a different director. It's to me the ultimate

action adventure film. And that is Raiders of

the Lost Ark. So it's got currently a 94 % on

Rotten Tomatoes, obviously starring Harrison

Ford and directed by Steven Spielberg. Like I

said, to me, it's the setting the bar of Action

Adventure. It is such an amazing movie and still

really holds up today. Some of the stunts, the

special effects are pretty amazing. There's even,

I know there's that documentary Raiders where

they're It's about kids who try to recreate the

movie at home and actually do a pretty decent

job of it. This was a huge movie at the time

and he really kind of launched Harrison Ford

in showing that he could be more than Han Solo.

I figure it's a good movie to get the excitement

going. I'm sure a lot of applause, Blake. You

just walk out of that movie pumped up. That's

that's mine. That's why I went with that for

an action adventure. That is two heavy hitters

there with Die Hard and Raiders of the Lost Ark.

I mean obviously you don't not gonna get too

many complaints about either of those films.

Dan, that makes me think though like these are

these were summer blockbusters in you know in

the 80s and then I look back at the last like

two to three years of summer blockbusters and

man have we had anything? even remotely as good

as those two films we just talked about? Man,

that's a good question. It's hard to say. I don't

think so. Not in the last two to three years.

It's hard because we're getting a lot of very

similar movies where though they were two very

distinct by themselves type of films. I mean,

there are some that I don't want to say because

it may... be chosen, but I do think there are

movies that have come out in the summer that

maybe have not been the biggest hits recently

that will actually be more and more respected

as years come on. That's true. That can definitely

be a possibility. All right, so we start with

Die Hard and Rangers of the Lost Ark. That means

it's your turn to decide what genre we go to

next. Well, I'm going to go with the genre I

had the most difficulty with because it's not

a genre I know a huge amount about, and that's

the horror thriller category. All right, and

I mean you don't necessarily I think when you

take summer think horror we are seeing some horror

movies I know recently they come at night recent

came out this this past year and we do get Some

some summer movies here and there even think

but rich was released in the summer I forget

but there have been some Some more successful

than others and they don't they don't just relegate

those to October sweet As we mentioned, I think

we ended up I think we get more horror movies

in January than any other month but I'm gonna

go with you know to me one of the greatest it's

kind of cheating because I'm going with some

really major movies but hey that's what we're

trying to get the most people people to come

going with another major all -time great with

Alien from 1979 which I honestly didn't realize

came out in the summer until I was doing this

list Yeah, directed by Ridley Scott, of course,

starring Sonora Scourney Weaver as Ripley and

It to me is it is horror. It is horror in the

best ways possible, because it gets there eventually.

It's not attempting really to scare at the beginning,

but it's gradual. And I know we've seen a lot

of attempts at this franchise recently, maybe

less successful than others, though I like Prometheus.

But I have not seen the most recent remake. But

I'm going to go with the original, where it all

started. And I think it really holds up today.

And I think even for a modern audience, they

would really appreciate it even if they've never

seen it before. So that's why I went for Horror

Thriller. But what did you go with? Yeah, Alien

was one of the first, it started the summer that

year, I think in 1979, because it was a very

late May release. So I mean, that was how you

kicked off your summer back then. And Dan, I

think this is a testament to the fact that you

and I are not horror aficionados because I only

had like Had a few more like wait on the list,

but I basically had three options for this one

and you just picked one of them And one of my

other options is too close to yours, so I was

like alien aliens over My third choice, so I'm

gonna go with the third choice because otherwise

my festival is gonna seem too much like yours

So I'm also gonna go back into the 70s for the

first time and a June release back in 1975 Think

maybe one of the godfathers of this genre in

a way I'm going jaws so jaws from June 20th 1975

I think that's you know, it's to this genre almost

what godfather is to the you know the mob genre

or things like that i just i think a lot of films

since then have kind of drawn upon what happened

and what occurred what they were able to take

from jaws so and come on nobody ever says anything

bad about it i do need to re -watch this a couple

more times because i haven't seen it a very limited

number of times um but you can't go wrong with

jaws so I think you have a little bit of horror

there, you have a little bit of thriller, and

like many horror films, it spawns a whole franchise

of them, so there's obviously multiple entrants

into that franchise as well, so surprised that

they haven't tried to go back to Jaws in the

last little bit, especially with all the shark

hubbub that we get every year, you know, with

Shark Week and different things like that, they

somewhat left Jaws alone, so... I guess we got

a few similar type of films. We get the Shallows

last year, which I guess is a similar idea, but

hey, they're all imitators and they're not replicating

what we got with Jaws in 1975. Yeah, I mean a

lot of people say it was the first ever summer

blockbuster So it certainly belongs on unless

it was on it was I was thinking about picking

it as well But I already already went to Spielberg

so I didn't want to make it to Spielberg fest

So I think you arguably could do this entire

thing with just Spielberg movies. I think that'd

be quite easy So yeah, I did I've recently watched

that a few times but specifically when it was

going through all Spielberg's movies running

reviews on them and it is it's a great film and

it's funny because you mentioned the sequels,

but I think a lot of people Don't even know their

sequels like I feel like they've been forgotten

by a good number of people that they even exist

So and I think it is funny they like we haven't

seen a reboot, but we haven't seen well I should

say we haven't seen many of Spielberg's movies

kind of revisited, but then crystal skull exists

Alright, I think for my next one, I am going

to go to the sci -fi fantasy genre. Not because

this one's hard, I guess, but just because I

have one that I don't necessarily want to be

stolen. Man, this is like the gold mine here

when you go to summer blockbusters and sci -fi

fantasy because there's so many to choose from.

So many truly classic films, iconic franchise

films or just a lot of Spielberg stuff and different

things. So I was almost actually thinking of

putting one of the Indiana Jones films in here,

but I went a different route. I'm going to go

for my sci -fi fantasy film into the year of

1985. So another 80s. So I guess two 80s and

one 70s. so far but I'm gonna go to July 3rd

1985 for Back to the Future because I love that

film I love that franchise and to me that is

like what I want in the science fiction film

you know I mean not that there's anything wrong

with the more serious you know Dealing with some

heavy issues and stuff like that, but this is

just a good old fun like when I think of summer

blockbuster I'm gonna think of more of a science

fiction film like back to the future that also

has a good deal of comedy and just a good time

at the theater where you can just have fun with

a You know your whole family basically, but it's

science fiction and fantasy, so I'm picking it

in this genre Yeah, I mean can't go wrong with

Back to the Future. I'm assuming you go on with

the first one, right? Yes. Back to the Future

from 1985. I really like the second movie. The

third one has problems, but Back to the Future

2 I think is nearly as good as the first maybe.

I don't know. Some people may disagree with that.

But yeah, also I'm great. To me, Back to the

Future just personifies what it means to be fun

in a theater. It's just like... Ultimately, we'll

be watchable movie. So that fits with summer

blockbuster because that's what you're looking

for when you do that You're looking for the fun

films For sure, and I guess mine for this like

wasn't wasn't fun, but I'm also like trying to

think about I don't just want all 80s films I

don't want just 70s. I do want some some current

stuff but I wanted to get something current that

maybe not enough people have watched. And when

you talked about, you know, is there a movie

as good as Raiders of the Lost Ark? And I don't

know if this was as good as Raiders of the Lost

Ark, but it was, I think, a trillion times better

than I ever expected going into it. And that's,

well, it depends on who you talk to, but it's

Edge of Tomorrow or Live, Die, Revise. I think

the one, like I said, a lot of people need to

see this, I haven't. It's a movie that really

benefits from me watching with the kind of Groundhog

Day plot line. And it's Tom Cruise. I think he

is one of the perennial summer movie people with

all the different franchises he's been in. So

I figured I wanted to get one of his movies in

here someplace. And I think this... This movie,

I think I've liked more and more. The more I

think about it, the more I go back to it. And

I think it might stand up as one of the best

summer movies that we've had in the last few

years. It's just, it's so well directed. It's

great action. Great. I love how they kind of

flip the head of, you know, the typical archetype

when it comes to the Tom Cruise character. Emily

Blunt's fantastic in it as well. Amazing special

effects. I'm like crazy insane. Actions at pieces

and you know, it works really well. I know they've

been talking about a sequel I don't know how

I can do a sequel. I am I'm fine if they never

do one I think it holds up on its own. I don't

think you need to go any further but that wasn't

where I'm going for science for a For sci -fi.

Yeah, I think that's a great pick. I think again

like you're saying the not enough people have

given this film a chance yet or and I think it

also came at a time where the Nobody was expecting

that film to be good. I don't think. I think

a lot of people just kind of went in with either

zero expectations or maybe even some negative

expectations because there had been quite a few

films of that ilk that had come out there in

that last three to four years leading up to that

that maybe were a little bit disappointing. So

I think people were maybe... Judging this one

based on previous films and didn't go see it

and I agree with you like I saw it in the theater

I loved it. I've seen it since then, you know

on video and loved it even more and It does grow

on you each and every time and I think it is

very well crafted very well put together From

the writers from the directors everybody involved

there and like you said Emily Blunt man that

I didn't really know who she was or didn't take

her as serious before this. So that was kind

of like a coming out party for me, for her. And

Tom Cruise, he's one of those two that was kind

of immersed in a bunch of films that were kind

of hit or miss. And I think this one was a big

hit. So I like that one as part of your sci -fi.

I think we should be talking trash more so about

each other's array for competing. I think we're

being way too kind. I'm saving that for the end.

OK. Alright, so we went into our horror thrillers,

we went into our action -adventures, we went

into our sci -fi, I guess. We're kind of going

through this quickly. So maybe, let's go with

family films next, because that's tough, because

it's challenging to find a good family film.

There's so much garbage family films. qualifies

as family I don't know how you categorize this

if you included different things or not but I

I did kind of since we don't have an animated

category I did think hey I'm gonna go animated

here and thinking okay what's one of the what's

a family animated film that does appeal to a

hugely wide audience and I thought maybe Toy

Story but that didn't really come out in the

summer from what I could see and thought of in

other Pixar movies and there's some really great

Pixar movies but you know there's some that I'm

like I don't know if they're gonna work for kids

as much as they do for adults but one of them

that I think that does work for kids does work

for adults is also really a great film one of

still remains one of Pixar's best films and that's

Finding Nemo. I went with that again staying

with the summer theme In a way dealing with fish

in the ocean and things of that nature. So it's

I think it's a really good summer moving it in

that end Like I said, it does appeal to our audience.

It's just a really well -crafted film. I actually

just we watched this we got it through or Disney

movie pack thing, whatever you want to call it,

movie club. And it was a very long time since

I watched it for the first time. And I was just

like, wow, I don't think I even appreciated it

as much as I did. And I'm like, well, this is

such a well -crafted, well -told story. And it's

Pixar at its best. Fighting Dory, not so much,

but fighting Nemo, pretty amazing. So that's

why I went for it for my family film. I like

it. I was so tempted to go animated here because

I was like family and one of the first things

I think of when you're a kid is watching animated

films and stuff like that so I very much thought

about it but I'm like that's that's what I always

do when it comes to this category so I'm like

I have to avoid it and there was a couple films

that just bounced off the page at me when I'm

thinking family and I think I would be I feel

bad because I have a lot of 80s picks but I I

would be hypocritical if I didn't go with this

film I own clothing that has this film on it

like three shirts that has this film represented

on it and I think it is fun we I showed it to

my niece and nephew you know probably like three

four years ago when they were both under the

age of probably 10 or 12 and and they liked it

and this was you know decades after it aired

so I Gotta go with Goonies for Family 1985 June

7th was the release date. I just can't think

of anything else That's more fun for just all

ages when it comes to like a family film because

I think there's some elements that you know adults

can get and there's a lot of elements that the

kids would like. There's all kinds of fun gadgets

and gizmos and it is an adventure. So you kind

of get that summer fun going on as well. A lot

of young stars in it, some that had found success,

some that didn't, but I just I love Goonies and

it's just iconic. So I had to go with Goonies.

I was very tempted to go with E .T. or an animated

film, but in the end I have to be true to myself

and go with Goonies. Interesting. Goonies never

die. Good. See, I feel like there's like a big

contingent that is like anti -goonies. There's

a very big anti -goonies contingent out there

that are saying it's overrated and not very good.

And it's interesting that you say that your nieces

and nephews did really enjoy it because I do

wonder that because it is very much an 80s movie

and in a lot of ways. But it's I do think and

you know, it's certainly it's you talk about

the clothing and it is. It's so popular. I remember

when I worked at Macy's and there would be so

many Goonie shirts and stuff like that. It's

just one of those movies that just... I've always

wondered why... like iconography that still exists

like hey you guys and everything you know so

yeah i always wondered why like that movie out

of so many 80s movies gets the most treatment

when it comes to i don't know if it's just because

of the logo with the skull and different stuff

like that or what it is but for some reason like

that is a go -to film when it comes to like the

pop culture clothing and the shirts and the stuff

like that yeah i don't get it but Whatever, you

don't see like much like honey. I shrunk the

kids is like, you know Like they were around

the same type of gremlins like you don't even

get that many gremlin shirts, do you? I haven't

seen one You can't we can't worry about the midnight

So that means we're down to one more category

which it just leaves us with comedy I am so torn

on what to do with comedy because I picked way

too many 80s films and I had an 80s comedy at

the top of my list here too but I want to go

with something a little bit more recent so I'm

gonna switch it up and go with my second choice

which is from the decade of the 2000s and I'm

gonna go with um I'm so tempted because there

was two films that came out in July one in 2005

and one in 2008 that I still think are two of

the best all -around comedies um that we got

in that entire decade and one comes just like

straight on comedy not like you know a drama

that's funny or you know what I mean like some

of it seems like every year it's tending I'm

tending more to go with a film that's not necessarily

a hundred percent comedy as my favorite comedy

of the year and but back then these were these

were a hundred percent comedies I'm gonna go

a step brothers from July 25th 2008 just out

doing wedding crashers a little bit for me so

I just think it's a it's Two hilarious individuals

allowing or being allowed to just do themselves

And and do their own thing and I thought it was

hilarious watching them play off of each other

I can watch it a number of different times. Like

I said, I think it's one of the funniest Funniest

films of the the 2000 decade. So I'm going with

stepbrothers. I think it's endless endlessly

quotable It was very iconic at the time and talked

about and I think it still holds up for me at

least so that's my comedy pick It's interesting

good. I felt like when that came out it was kind

of I don't know pan But it was just like whatever

but it's it's grown in so much. I feel it's I

hear it referenced all the time and I I you know,

I was hesitant to go to it cuz I'm like I like

I like, you know FRL and John C. Reilly but it

was like there was like the eighth movie they

did together I'm like, I don't know if I could

really see them in another movie, but I think

arguably it's their best so Interesting. I do

think it is a certain sense of humor so something

that I love people just like reject Will Ferrell

I think Will Ferrell can be he can be kind of

annoying but he can also be really funny especially

with John C. Reilly who is funny and whatever

he wants to be so Absolutely. Yeah, it might

not be something all -around comedy that just

everybody's gonna appreciate but I had to get

out of the 80s and that's my way out Well, are

you getting out of the 80s? I want to go back

in the 80s. I purposely like that that was the

one thing i'm like there's so many great 80s

summer comedies there's so many places you can

go to airplane to actually you know natural loopholes

vacation it does seem like the perfect you know

list things for this but i feel like that's almost

kind of rides the line of family film as well

um but and i i gotta go with it i thought it'd

be chosen by now for because it could fit into

a lot of the different categories i thought someone

would take it but since you haven't i will go

ahead and take ghostbusters as my comedy You

know, it's Bill Murray, one of the greatest comedies

ever, genre mashups ever made. It's got some,

you know, again, you talked about a movie that

you still see everywhere. And I know I don't

even want to get into the most recent remake

or what have you, but the original film I think

is pretty fantastic. I still think it's hilarious,

a lot to do with Bill Murray and Harold Ramis

and Dan Ackward back when he was still funny.

So. Yeah, it's it's Ghostbusters. It's I think

I know there's there was like a pushback a few

years ago and people like it's not as good as

people say it is I don't know I still think it's

a great movie, but what are you gonna do? Yeah,

I agree and Dan, it was written down on my sheet

of paper. I had Stepbrothers, Wedding Crashers,

National Lampoon's Vacation, and Ghostbusters

is my four that I was trying to choose between.

I was very tempted to go with National Lampoon's

Vacation just because of the vacation theme and

the summer theme like you mentioned, but I was

definitely highly considering Ghostbusters. Interesting.

What films were you considering that you weren't

able to fit into your genres before we recap?

or five films? See, I kind of stayed away from

superhero movies. I thought about adding them,

but like Dark Knight, Guardians of the Galaxy

were ones I thought about adding. Other Pixar

films, Toy Story 3, I really wanted to fit Mad

Max in there, but I ended up going with Raiders.

I was going back and forth between those two,

but that's why I went more modern with my science

fiction pick, because I thought that would fit

a little bit better. For Family, I also almost

went Parenthood. um but that it's also like a

movie i don't know if it's really a family film

per se so it uh and it it's kind of it's more

of a dramedy and so it couldn't really fit in

into any specific category animal house i thought

about but i don't i'm not the hugest fan of it

so i'd be lying um and the most recent i was

also thinking about the most recent uh star trek

film the reboot the not the the first one and

i love that movie i think it's I think that's

a really, in a way, it's kind of getting forgotten

with all the other additional sequels, but I

still really enjoy the first JJ from Star Trek.

Yeah, absolutely. I had a few too that I didn't

mention already. Obviously I mentioned, you know,

Vacation and Ghostbusters, which didn't pick

for comedy, and ET, which I didn't pick for family.

Action Adventure I was also thinking Speed from

94 to try to get a 90s film in there, but ultimately

had to go with Die Hard. And I didn't have really

any other horror thriller picks as we talked

about, so I was glad that Aliens and Jaws were...

I was afraid that you were gonna go, you know,

maybe Jaws with a horror and then pick Alien

as like a sci -fi fantasy and then I was gonna

have no picks for a horror thriller so I was

glad that worked out. I did have a couple other

options for sci -fi fantasy Terminator 2 Judgment

Day from 91 or Jurassic Park from 93. I think

those both fit the bill pretty well as summer

blockbusters but ultimately had to go with the

fun back to the future picks. So why don't you

recap your festival? What is it gonna look like

if someone's interested in buying a ticket? So

yeah, I'm thinking of like how will this open?

I feel like you always start with the family

film right first So I'm gonna go start with that

of Finding Nemo, you know, but let the kids have

their fun. Enjoy it So and then I think after

that you still want something that's somewhat

family -friendly. So that's what I would do go

into breeders I think you can I think most ages

can appreciate that Then you know you had your

action adventure Contrast that with A nice comedy

where you need a little comedic break, I think,

and then that's when Ghostbusters would drop.

You know, have your fun in comedy a little bit

lighter, then get into Aliens. Alien, I should

say, because that's the movie I picked. And then

the end of the show, starting with the most,

ending with the most recent film, I'd go with

Edge of Tomorrow. I think it'd be interesting

seeing Alien and Edge of Tomorrow back to back,

just different takes on science fiction. And

that way you kind of, and on a lighter note,

I think it's not super light, but it's at least

I think more of the adventure. I don't think

you would want to end with Alien and be scared

that you're going to be chased by a xenomorph

the entire time. So anyways, basically. I have

Alien, Finding Nemo, Readers of the Lost Ark,

Edge of Tomorrow, and lastly, Ghostbusters. Alright,

I think I was going to start the same way you

did it with the family friendly film just in

case the kids are only going to be there for

the first part. I don't know. So I'm starting

with Goonies. I think after that we got to get

the pulse going a little bit. So I'm going to

go right to Die Hard and get the kind of that

action adventure, get everybody excited for the

rest of the trip. And then after that, I'll go

ahead and go into Step Brothers. I guess I'm

going back and forth trying to, you know, lighten

it up and then make it more intense. And then

the final two, kind of the grand finale, I'm

going to go. Jaws first and then just so you're

not scared going home I'm going to end with Back

to the Future. It's kind of the mea culpa of

the whole festival with the celebratory Back

to the Future finale. So yeah Goonies Die Hard,

Step Brothers, Jaws and Back to the Future. So

your your your festival is gonna end with a gigantic

to be continued sign Yeah, because I want to

come to want them to come back when I do my second

festival with back to the future too as the first

Look at your list is a little bit interesting

because I you know I thought I had like a slam

dunk with diehard and then you pulled out Raiders

of the Lost Heart which I had seen and for some

reason I didn't put down on my list there was

Indiana Jones and Star Wars I Forgot the fact

that there was a Star Wars film that came out

in the summer Yeah Yeah, it's just so cemented

in my mind that those are December releases or

November December releases but there's been some

that have come out in the summer so I was tempted

to go with Indiana Jones or Star Wars and then

I just completely like either forgot or kind

of like put it aside as like that's All my whole

festival is gonna be those films Yeah, yeah,

I didn't want to do a go -to obvious. I mean

I went pretty obvious with alien and Raiders

I'm like and I could throw Star Wars in there,

but I was like I want at least a little bit Maybe

something you know that wouldn't be considered

the biggest fanboy and so but yeah I sure some

people are like no one picks Star Wars. That

seems ridiculous Well, you know, this is the

inaugural summer film festival that we're throwing

on here, so we can't just use all of our bullets,

right, you know, in the first one. So you'll

have to go to the website and vote on which festival

you would want to attend. If you can only attend

one, they're going on at the same time, folks.

Same day. same time you can't attend both so

you have to decide which one you're going to

go to and I think we're going to show them across

the street from each other so you can like see

the lines forming at each festival and get jealous

or you know have to like ramp up the excitement

for it get on your social media and tell people

to get down down to wherever this is being held

so go to the website www .geekcastradio .com

and find the episode post we will have the poll

within the episode post there and you can vote

there on which festival you wouldn't more like

to attend Dan thinking back just a little bit

I guess in some final thoughts maybe as we're

talking about the summer blockbuster I kind of

made one little quick dig I guess at more recent

times but looking back at these last couple years

what are the standouts do you think what what

kind of films that have come out in the summer

these last you know two three years do you think

are most Maybe worthy of being in a list like

this maybe someday or our most reflective of

times of old where we had these, you know big

summer blockbusters and then that was the kind

of the Excitement for the whole year was was

going to be those summer blockbusters Which any

films that we've gotten here in the last, you

know, three four or five years that you think

stand out Three four five years. Ah, that's a

good question. I mean my mind I'm trying to think

of when Avengers came out because it's like the

first movie that they kind of go my mind goes

to would be the Avengers or Inception I think

is up there you know that's I think people forget

that was a summer film but I think that you know

it may be on the line more of an alien or something

like that that is not a little heavier than than

your specific summer affair Man, that's a good

question. I know recently, at least the last

couple years, everybody's been dogging on the

blockbusters. Last year we had things like Warcraft

and the Independence Day resurgence film. you

know, we had the Ghostbusters reboot, we had

a Star Trek sequel, you know what I mean? Like

we had a lot of stuff, the Jason Bourne film,

which actually a lot of more people were anticipating

that didn't turn out so well. And you know, even

when you go back to the year before or some of

those other years where you have like the Transformers

fair or the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I don't

know if those both came out in the summer, but

Transformers usually does. So, you know, a lot

of films that people have kind of... label the

summer as more so failures or the blockbusters

have been the failures of the year. Do you think

that's accurate given those films? I think we've

had some bad years. I think like one of the best

summers, if we're just looking at kind of the

most recent years was like 2014. If you look

at some of the movies that came out that summer,

it guardians the galaxy, which is great. And

I think the movies, and I should have even considered

some of these, were the Apes films done or the

Planet of the Apes? Absolutely. I think that

would be one that people I think is Even though

it's a remake, I think it's arguably better than

all the other Apes films up to this point. X

-Men is a future past. Again, there's been a

lot of X -Men movies, but that to me still is

one of the best. So I think they are there. It's

hard to enter tomorrow. As I mentioned, that

was in 2014 as well. So I think we've had a good

year here and there when you look back on it.

But I don't know if we're having the all -time

greats, at least looking at 2016, 2015, nothing

really. I think we've had some really, we're

seeing a little bit more some of the better,

like straight out out of Compton, I think of

last year, or two years ago, that came out during

kind of the summer period, if I'm not mistaken,

and that's not your typical summer film. So I

think we're seeing like, a larger variety of

movies come out during the summer, depending

on what your classification of summer when it

begins or not. I mean, like Winter Soldier, for

example, that came out in like April, so I don't

think that would necessarily count. Yeah, I think

it seems like a couple of these years are just

not good. 2013 we had The Lone Ranger, we had

Also with the Lone Ranger R .I .P .D., the Wolverine.

So I mean, yeah, there's been quite a few bad

ones here and there. We did have Pacific Rim

that year that came out in July. I know some

people are higher on that film and some people

like to rip on that, but that was a summer blockbuster

back in 2013. But I don't know if we'll ever

quite get back to... You know kind of that that

thought process that we use when we when we think

of things like you know The original Independence

Day, which we didn't bring up kind of I guess

in the conversation That's kind of a prototypical

summer blockbuster when people think about it

You know Jurassic Park the Terminators aliens

back to the future those films that we talked

about Because like you said number one it is

will spread out pretty far. You know the whole

year type thing and the combination of it just

seems like a time right now where this is the

time where everybody has to throw out stuff that's

already connected to a franchise or a series

or you know what I mean it has to be that known

property it seems like when it's coming out in

the summer the turtles the transformers the pirates

movies you know that type of thing so I don't

know will we ever get back to that or will it

just become a year -long thing where we get stuff

hidden missed and a lot of strategy these days

goes into when you're going to release a film

You don't want them all to be packed into June

and July because then you all have to compete

against each other So I don't know if we'll ever

quite get back to what we used to have Yeah,

and I think usually when you have a Marvel movie

come out and it's like alright Studios wait at

least like two to three weeks for that to be

out and then before they like release their next

big thing because they don't want You know, they

don't want to like have that hitting into their

opening wing again because it's all about the

opening weekend so they try to Positioned movies

to the point where there's nothing within it

for a period of time Like you you rarely see

major movies open on up on the same weekend when

it does It's it's pretty big like thinking of

the weekend that recording this the movie biggest

movies are cars 3 and What the book of Henry

which is this like a kind of a indie drama speaking

of? So there's not like that in itself that you

don't really have, you know, you have cars, which

obviously is more of the family audience, I guess,

but there's no big, I say like action, science

fiction, fantasy movie coming out this, you think

it'd be a perfect opportunity to release something

like that. But instead, you know, people are

basically will go see Wonder Woman again, or

for the first time, if you're me, because I'm

like the person on earth who has not seen Wonder

Woman yet. So I apologize, but I just haven't

had the opportunity. So I think that's what you're,

what we ended up getting. I can't think of the

next really big, we have Spider -Man coming up

in a few weeks and then. Yeah, and I think like

every. Let's say, maybe five years or so, you

get a really good summer. But I also think August

tends to get some better movies than it used

to. August used to be an awful dumping month,

but Guardians came out in the summer. Suicide

Squad came out in the summer too, so maybe that's

not true. Kim came out in August too, so maybe

that killed that. Super size squad also like

cleaned up because it was like the only thing

coming out of August So I think we'll see more

and more movies released in August and then used

to be So it's yeah, I think I think release dates

don't matter as much anymore. It's just It's

not a time of year, it's just what else is being

released around that time that really matters

more. Right, like think about even, you know,

Christmas time now that there's a Star Wars film

coming out every Christmas. You get, you know,

it's like that and then you get some award caliber,

you know, Oscar bait type films. You're not gonna

get a bunch more blockbusters coming out around

Christmas because people are gonna stay away

from that. I think the one thing that you can

expect every summer is there is gonna be at least

one big animated film every summer. that seems

to be something that's immune to all this other

stuff because they don't have to compete with

the same type of audience or the same movie going

crowd so they aren't going to compete against

each other a ton so you're not going to see a

bunch like a big group of them but we seem to

at least get that one big animated film every

summer so I guess that is somewhat immune to

these other things that we've been talking about

Yeah, I mean there's we usually get a Pixar film

typically I think what we didn't or Sometimes

sometimes they take a year off or sometimes the

Pixar film. I think this year's Pixar film Well,

we get to this year weirdly enough because we

have cars and then we get their apology for cars

three cocoa yeah in november it's like we gotta

do one for them like disney wants the merchandise

i know i have a two -year -old they love cars

they just they just love them i get why they

do it i understand it it pays the bills probably

um but yeah and then what we get i think i think

we get more and more animated movies ever because

i i feel like you know we have despicable me

3 right that franchise won't one end i feel like

there's other animated movies coming out too

um so yeah i think and we're getting a lot more

i think just in general yeah instead of like

you know you look back at like past years if

we were doing this you know you have like one

maybe two a year that you would be able to talk

about now it seems like within this last decade

or so it's like five a year you know if you don't

have at least a slate of four to six good animated

titles or at least big names it's like what's

going on is it off year for all the studios or

what's going on here and And I think too what

we've lost with that we instead of now we've

animated films But I feel like when we were growing

up or at least was we had a lot of those like

kid Kid like movies that were that have involved

kids like I'm thinking of like all the sports

film movies from the Sandlot to the Mighty Ducks

They have like although I don't I don't feel

like I see a lot of that like heavyweights I

saw on Netflix every day. I was be watching that

I Well, I was looking at a lot of the movies

that come out. I mean, there's like one or two

like diary The Diary of the Wimpy Kid or whatever,

but there are very few, I feel like, family films

anymore. When doing this category, I was looking

at the family films that have come out in the

last 10 or so years like that. The genre has

really dried up in the sense of it's just animated

and that's in some really bad, like, Hallmark

movies or some My Dog Skip. Yeah, so like that

down. I don't know why that that's happening

because I feel like those movies did well Um,

but we don't get those anymore Yeah, if you think

about it, like you said all the sandlots or like

all the different baseball films like angels

in the outfield rookie of the year those types

of things You know, I talked about goonies. Obviously

you had like I know home alone was more of a

christmas film But I mean we had a lot of films

with with you know kid uh main characters or

a group of kids um and i can't think of that

many either besides the few like we've got a

couple like disney channel type shows that have

that have had a movie about them or something

like that but it doesn't seem like the the big

hits that they were once upon a time so i don't

know if that's uh just a product of times or

if they they feel like there's not an audience

but you're right it seems like instead we have

all these animated films coming at us left and

right so uh interesting how the summer has changed

over the years for Sure. Anything else, Dan,

that you wanted to talk about as far as summer

or final thoughts as far as the blockbuster season?

Anything you're still looking forward to this

summer blockbuster season? Oh, yeah. My most

anticipated movie still hasn't come out yet with

War for the Planet of the Apes. So I'm super

stoked for that still. And I'm actually, so that's

kind of what I'm hoping. I'm really hoping Spider

-Man Homecoming is good. I don't know what to

think of it just because it's Sony still there

in the background that worries me and then their

plans for what they want to do scare me a little

bit. Um, but, and I still want to see Wonder

Woman. See, I've heard great things. I have not.

So, uh, I don't know. How about you? Anything

you're still looking forward to? I mean, I think

obviously with War for the Planet of the Apes,

that was my number two most anticipated film

of the year. You're number one. So, uh, been

waiting for that one. And every time I see a

trailer, I have the same reaction. I'm just...

as excited or if not more excited. Amanda's worried

because she thinks she's going to be very sad

during that film. She doesn't like to see any

of the deaths that sometimes happen to different

characters and a good chance with the war for

a Planet of the Apes that we're going to see

some of that. So she's worried she's going to

be a blubbery mess. But yeah, I'm still very

much excited for that. I know she's looking forward

to Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.

Luke Passan. I'm not as high on that one. I'm

hopeful for Spider -Man Homecoming, like you

mentioned, and then kind of getting into the

the first part of August and the last part of

summer. We have the Dark Tower coming out, which

I've, you know, I've heard people excited and

heard people not excited, but I'm still looking

forward to seeing the Idris Elba on screen, so

hopefully it's not a train wreck. So I think

those are probably the biggest ones, you know,

at least talk about them. animated films Another

one coming out still yet this summer the emoji

movie because that thing It's it's interesting

seeing people interviewed for that movie that

are in it They all seem kind of like I can't

believe I'm in this movie It's like they lost

a bet and that and they somehow they had to do

a voice for it or yeah Or they're just like it's

like who why not just Patrick Stewart is doing

a voice for the emoji. It's just crazy I guess

they know that there's a paycheck when it comes

to those animated films. So you'll have to let

us know what you think about summer films, the

tradition of a summer blockbuster. Is it a thing

of the past? Is it something that still exists?

We just gotta sift through some other crap to

get to it. What else are you excited for this

summer? Let us know all those things by interacting

with us on Twitter. The show handle there is

at CinemaGeekCast. You can also interact with

us individually. My Twitter handle is at OptimusSolo.

Dan, what's yours? I'm at Movie Revolt. and of

course we have a couple series still going on

we have one episode one movie left in the Miyazaki

Spotlight so we still have to talk about Wind

Rises which will be coming very soon and then

of course we'll wrap up the entire Hayao Miyazaki

Spotlight where trudging forward in the video

game spotlight as well we'll have next out for

that series will be the Dead or Alive film so

it'll be interesting to get everybody's take

on that one and we have a couple episodes left

going to our top 100 films of all time so we're

getting to the nitty -gritty on that list as

well next time Matt and Amanda will be back to

join us in those various spotlights definitely

keep an eye out for those episodes when they

drop alright that is it for us for this week

tune in next week for another chance to listen

to Let's see how it works.