the Most Excellent 80s Movies Podcast

Podcaster Pete Wright joins Krissy and Nathan for 1985's Dow Chemical-funded disaster.Krissy Lenz and Nathan Blackwell dig into why this 1985 Frankenstein spoof never finds its footing—a satire with no real target, hotel scenes lit for daylight instead of night, and editing so loose the jokes never land. Guest Pete Wright, of TruStory FM's "Sitting in the Dark," walks through the film's stranger-than-fiction backstory: it exists because Dow Chemical couldn't get its money out of Yugoslavia. Plus, a pre-"Seinfeld" Michael Richards, Carol Kane stealing every scene she's in, and the audition story from Geena Davis's memoir that changes how you watch it. The Most Excellent 80s Movies is Krissy Lenz and Nathan Blackwell's episode-by-episode look back at the movies of the 1980s.Links: Full Show Notes and Resources · Become a member
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Returning guest Eric Weir joins Krissy and Nathan for David Cronenberg's "The Fly" (1986)—the tragic, Oscar-winning body-horror classic that turned Jeff Goldblum into Brundlefly. They dig into the deleted "monkey-cat" scene that never made the cut, the alternate ending the studio scrapped, and why the film's doomed romance hits harder than its gore. Plus, hear their picks for further viewing.The Most Excellent 80s Movies is Krissy Lenz and Nathan Blackwell's episode-by-episode look back at the movies of the 1980s.Links: Full Show Notes and Resources | Become a member
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On The Most Excellent 80s Movies, two con men agree the French Riviera isn't big enough for both of them, betting fifty thousand dollars on who can swindle an American heiress first. Krissy, Nathan, and guest Andy Nelson of The Next Reel Film Podcast dig into Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), pitting Michael Caine's cultivated con-man charm against Steve Martin's scrappier, pity-driven hustle. They trade casting trivia, single out Glenne Headly's performance as the movie's secret weapon, and ask whether the whole thing still holds up decades later. Fair warning: they get into the ending in some detail.Full episode and resources
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Guest photographer/filmmaker Aaron Kes joins Krissy and Nathan for "Amadeus," the Oscar-sweeping tale of Mozart's genius told through Salieri's jealousy.Krissy Lenz and Nathan Blackwell dig into why "Amadeus" tells Mozart's story through the eyes of the man who wanted to destroy him. They talk through the film's refusal to play by music-biopic rules, its all-American-accent Vienna, and whether an Oscar movie really needs three hours to earn its stripes. Guest Aaron Kes, a photographer and filmmaker who volunteers with the Phoenix Film Festival, brings a fresh eye to a movie he'd avoided for years.The Most Excellent 80s Movies is Krissy Lenz and Nathan Blackwell's episode-by-episode look back at the movies of the 1980s.Full show notes and resources: https://trustory.fm/80smovies/amadeus-1984/Become a member: https://trustory.fm/join/
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A Very Texas Kind of Trouble: The Gang Sits Down with Blood SimpleWelcome to this episode of The Most Excellent 80s Movies Show. Hosts Krissy Lenz and Nathan Blackwell welcome special guest Shannon Mauck of the Neighborhood Comedy Theatre to dig into Blood Simple (1984), the lean, sweaty debut that first put the Coen brothers on the map.The trio wrestles with a familiar question: does a stripped-down, low-budget noir like this still land the same way decades later, or is its reputation doing some of the work now? Krissy and Nathan compare expectations to the actual experience of sitting with the film’s slow-burn dread, while Shannon brings a comedian’s eye to just how deadpan and bleak it all plays.From there the talk turns to texture over plot: performances, the way silence carries so much weight, quotable lines, and the unmistakably “very 80s” grain of a shoestring production that still feels like a blueprint.It’s a warm hangout even while the movie stays cold-blooded, with Shannon supplying plenty of surprise laughs along the way. Consider this one spoiler-light and premise-level only.TruStory FM | Membership (early, ad-free access + bonus content): Join | Socials: Facebook | Instagram | Bluesky | Learn more about the hosts: Neighborhood Comedy Theatre | Squishy StudiosIf you’d seen this movie cold, with no context at all, what genre would you have guessed you were watching?
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