Episode 47 - The Last Emperor (1987)

FromMary Versus the Movies

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Episode 47 - The Last Emperor (1987)

FromMary Versus the Movies

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Length:

45 minutes

Released:

Feb 25, 2022

Format:

Podcast episode

Description

Part II of "Hey, which is this, Empire of the Sun or The Last Emperor?" concludes with Bernardo Bertolucci's epic biography of the last emperor of China, who wasn't exactly a great argument for the institution of monarchy.

Released:

Feb 25, 2022

Format:

Podcast episode

Titles in the series (100)

Sure, the 1980s were a great decade for film. But have you seen all of them? No, neither has Mary. In fact, some pretty big films passed her by, what with being in kindergarten at the time: A Nightmare on Elm Street, Moonstruck, My Neighbor Totoro... So it's time to fix that. Artwork, opening and closing themes by Dennis Lingg Produced and edited by Mary Jones

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Episode 2 - Predator (1987): Mary muscles her way into Predator, and Dennis reminisces about the late, great premium cable channel PRISM. Also, choppers are gotten to. by Mary Versus the Movies
27 min listen
Episode 6 - Maximum Overdrive (1986): Even Stephen King, who wrote and directed it, admits Maximum Overdrive is the worst film connected to his body of work. Do Mary and Dennis think he's right? Well, yeah, but only because Mary can't remember anything about the TV movie The Langoliers.... by Mary Versus the Movies
31 min listen
Episode 28 - The Witches of Eastwick (1987): Kicking off October's Spooky Month, it's The Witches of Eastwick, a comedy where Jack Nicholson's greasy ponytail is somehow able to pull down a harem that includes Cher, Susan Sarandon, and Michelle Pfeiffer. Directed by George Miller, who has one of... by Mary Versus the Movies
43 min listen
Episode 16 - Xanadu (1980): We went into 1980's Xanadu thinking "this is gonna be a bad movie", and folks, we were both very right and very wrong. Is the acting wooden? Is the plot almost too simple? Is the directing middling at best? Yes, yes, and yes. But is the music great?... by Mary Versus the Movies
32 min listen
Episode 22 - True Stories (1986): David Byrne's mockumentary about a small Texas town, starring John Goodman, was a fun surprise--Dennis called it "Koyaanisqatsi as a comedy", and to Mary was a marriage of Wes Anderson and The Church of the SubGenius. by Mary Versus the Movies
43 min listen
Episode 9 - Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982): As an homage to film noir and classic Hollywood, this movie was built for Mary. As a Steve Martin-Carl Reiner comedy, it was built for Dennis. Two great tastes are pretty tasty together in the 1982 film that mixes and matches films from all over the... by Mary Versus the Movies
38 min listen
Episode 1 - 9 to 5 (1980): In our first episode, Mary and Dennis tackle the 1980 workplace farce 9 to 5, starring Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton, and Dabney Coleman. It's a story of sex, revenge, and the power of collective action. It also completely missed Mary growing... by Mary Versus the Movies
32 min listen
Episode 11 - Honky Tonk Freeway (1981): We didn't know what to expect with this obscure comedy from 1981; little did we know we had on our hands one of the biggest bombs in film history. A friend of the show called it "Nashville meets Cannonball Run", and she wasn't wrong. Is it good? Is it... by Mary Versus the Movies
42 min listen
Episode 3 - Moonstruck (1987): Did Cher totally deserve an Oscar for her performance? Is Nic Cage's performance turned to 11? Should Danny Aiello just stay in Sicily? Is this the best movie we've covered so far? Does the moon really hit your eye like a big pizza pie? The answers to... by Mary Versus the Movies
34 min listen
Episode 4 - Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (1985): Even though she grew up watching the show, this is Mary's first time seeing Tim Burton's first film, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. Does its child-like star irritate, or is he the heir to Bugs Bunny? How much do we miss Phil Hartman? And just how many times... by Mary Versus the Movies
37 min listen
Episode 14 - My Neighbor Totoro (1988): Things get personal on this episode, which is a little shaggier than most. What happens when Mary decides to watch the beloved children's film My Neighbor Totoro, written and directed by the great Hayao Miyazaki, and is reminded of painful childhood... by Mary Versus the Movies
35 min listen
Episode 20 - Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn (1983): This space-western that never goes into space, starring nobody in particular, and featuring all the crisp cinematography of an episode of Airwolf, is easily the worst film we've watched for this podcast. There's a lot of spleen-venting in this... by Mary Versus the Movies
31 min listen
Episode 12 - Outland (1981): Sean Connery is a marshal investigating a rash of suicides in a space mining colony in this somewhat obscure 1981 sci fi film. Mary was pleasantly surprised by this story of corruption described as "High Noon in Space". Is this one of Connery's best... by Mary Versus the Movies
35 min listen
Episode 13 - The Thing (1982): We go a little long on this one, but come on, it's John Carpenter's The Thing, one of the greatest sci-fi horror films of the last 50 years. The story of men stationed in Antarctica, trying to figure out which one of them is a shape-shifting alien, is... by Mary Versus the Movies
44 min listen
Episode 10 - Fitzcarraldo (1982): We were left pretty astonished by Werner Herzog's epic adventure film about the world most reckless opera fan. by Mary Versus the Movies
47 min listen
Episode 7 - Desperately Seeking Susan (1985): Who knew this screwball comedy starring Rosanna Arquette, Aiden Quinn, Mark Blum, and most famously Madonna, would turn out to be a real gem of a movie? Definitely not Mary and Dennis, who were pleasantly surprised. Sit back, dream of a different... by Mary Versus the Movies
31 min listen
Episode 18 - The Apple (1980): It's MTV meets Brave New World meets Rocky Horror meets the Bible in this 1980 musical extravaganza that we still can't make up our minds about, because wow, that ending really took us right out of it. And yet... we like it? We found so much to talk... by Mary Versus the Movies
51 min listen
Episode 19 - Johnny Dangerously (1984): This Amy Heckerling comedy starring Michael Keaton was a favorite film of Dennis's when he was younger--will it hold up to his own memories? Or will Mary be unable to see what's so funny about this gangster parody? by Mary Versus the Movies
32 min listen
Episode 21 - Mystic Pizza (1988): "They don't make 'em like that anymore" is a very tired sentiment, but it's been a while since we've seen a movie in theaters about working class girls coming of age, and this is a good one. Come for the dissing of Connecticut's pizza, stay for the... by Mary Versus the Movies
32 min listen
Episode 23 - Sword of the Valiant (The Legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight) (1984): Timed to coincide with the current film The Green Knight, this episode has readings in Middle English, an increasingly-irate Mary expounding on the meanderings of medieval literature, and some truly terrible music. Medieval literature and Arthuriana... by Mary Versus the Movies
42 min listen
Episode 5 - Road House (1989): What is there to say? One of the most famous "bad movies" ever made, and somehow Mary has never seen it, not even while flipping channels on cable, which is where everyone else encountered the Patrick Swayze masterpiece, which flopped in theaters. by Mary Versus the Movies
35 min listen
Episode 8 - Dune (1984): We really don't know what to make of David Lynch's space-opera adaptation of Frank Herbert's cult sci-fi novel Dune. As critic Nathan Rabin would ask, is it a Failure, Fiasco or Secret Success? Too long? Too short? And why in the world was Sting cast?... by Mary Versus the Movies
47 min listen
Episode 29 - A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984): Spooky Month continues with our special guest, author and relationships specialist Alana Phelan (@hellolibrarian)! We sit down with Alana to watch the first Nightmare on Elm Street film. Will this be as quippy as we expect? Does the Simpsons parody... by Mary Versus the Movies
55 min listen
Episode 17 - Shag (1988): We had mixed feelings about this forgotten coming-of-age story set in 1963 Myrtle Beach, SC. The film is enjoyable, but a combination of Southern Pride and 1980s sexual politics left us a little unmoored. CW: talking about an attempted sexual... by Mary Versus the Movies
36 min listen
Episode 27 - Real Genius (1985): We wrap up Back To School month with 1986's Real Genius. It's a PG Animal House meets War Games in this comedy about college students building a weapon for their professor only to realize the horror of what they're actually doing. Lightly satirical,... by Mary Versus the Movies
40 min listen
Episode 24 - ¡Three Amigos! (1986): We're back with another Steve Martin film, this time his homage to the singing cowboy pictures of from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Unfortunately, he's working with John Landis on the backside of his directing heights, and we end up with a... by Mary Versus the Movies
38 min listen
Episode 37 - Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983): Our Christmas-themed month continues with this not-exactly-Christmasy Japanese World War II movie starring David Bowie and set in a POW camp. However, this film about repressed desires, honor, toxic masculinity, and regret carries some potent themes,... by Mary Versus the Movies
57 min listen
Episode 25 - Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982): We went into this fearing a sleazy teensploitation skin flick; instead, it's funny, frank look at young people surviving high school and learning about sex and relationships, all set to a killer early 1980s soundtrack. It's also a real "hey, it's that... by Mary Versus the Movies
56 min listen
Episode 42 - Sex, Lies, and Videotape: We watched Steven Soderbergh's breakthrough indie hit, and came away appreciating it as a fairly standard drama that dances around some ideas around intimacy, while not really surprising us much with its content--the title is far more salacious than... by Mary Versus the Movies
31 min listen
Episode 32 - Angel Heart (1987): This is the notorious film that got Lisa Bonet thrown off The Cosby Show. Initially rated X for a scene that honestly is pretty tame by today's standards, it's a fascinating blend of noir and horror, starring Mickey Rourke as a private eye collecting... by Mary Versus the Movies
37 min listen

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Episode 141 - D.A.R.Y.L. (1985): A mysterous boy is adopted by a couple and soon shows himself to be unnervingly perfect. Is he really a robot? Maybe even a secret military project? Yeah, of course he is, this is the 1980s. It's not great. Starring Barret Oliver, Michael McKean, and... by Mary Versus the Movies
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Episode 140 - Dream a Little Dream (1989): We welcome back Alana Phelan to the show to talk about a Corey Feldman-Corey Haim fantasy with weirdo philosopher Jason Robards inhabiting Feldman's body as he tries to romance Meredith Salinger. It's a very weird movie loved by this weeks' guest.... by Mary Versus the Movies
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Episode 139 - Dragnet (1987): Dan Ackroyd's misguided take on the copaganda classic Dragnet was a huge disappointment when Dennis saw it in theaters back in 1987. Does his opinion hold up? Or is the film even worse than he remembers? Should he have talked Mary out of covering this... by Mary Versus the Movies
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Hollywood Avalon, episode 12 - Camelot, Part I (1960/1981): We start the first of a two-part series examining the musical Camelot, the Broadway hit based on T.H. White’s The Once and Future King, which I recently re-read in preparation. For part one, we look at both the original cast recording from... by Mary Versus the Movies
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Episode 137 - The Last Unicorn (1982): The Rankin-Bass adaptation of Peter S. Beagle's fairy tale about the last unicorn in the world and the small band of humans who help her is a melancholy story gorgeously animated by the Japanese studio Topcraft. This was a favorite movie of Mary's as... by Mary Versus the Movies
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Episode 135 - The Great Muppet Caper (1981) with special guest Zach Woliner: We kick off "Dennis versus the movies" month with a viewing of the second Muppet movie, The Great Muppet Caper, in which the Muppets go to England and get tangled up with Charles Grodin and a jewel heist. Joining us is our special guest, Zach Woliner,... by Mary Versus the Movies
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Episode 132 - My Beautiful Launderette (1985): Omar, a young Brit from a Pakistani family, and his boyfriend Johnny, a former skinhead, attempt to open the nicest laundromat in London while tackling issues of family, race, class, sex, crime, and Thatcher-era austerity. Starring Saeed Jaffrey,... by Mary Versus the Movies
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Episode 47 - The Last Emperor (1987)

Episode 47 - The Last Emperor (1987)

Description

Titles in the series (100)

More Episodes from Mary Versus the Movies