This week, we're busting out the slammer and potentially wishing we were back in it depending on who you ask, as we team up with the canary-clad copper to take down a star-studded mob in a wildly stylish and outlandishly conceived blockbuster starring a charming old man incapable of doing action scenes, that's been seemingly buried in the Disney vault in the years since. It's 1990's Dick Tracy, directed and produced by Warren Beatty, and starring Beatty, Madonna, Al Pacino, Glenne Headly, Charlie Korsmo, Mandy Patinkin, Dustin Hoffman, Seymour Cassel, William Forsythe, Charles Durning, Dick Van Dyke, Paul Sorvino, James Caan, Kathy Bates and Catherine O'Hara. Most of these stars are unrecognizeable under the monstrous makeup required to make them look like their vintage crime comic strip counterparts, but Pacino made enough of an impression with a wildly comedic take on his typical mobster persona that he netted an Oscar nom for Best Supporting Actor, losing to Joe Pesci for GoodFellas. While Beatty is at least a decade too old to be proper fit as the movie's lead, it's his ambition behind the camera that makes the movie such a curiosity all these years later, as the film is either an enchanting dreamscape filled with unsolvable How Did They Do That movie magic puzzles, or a steaming pile of neon-drenched puke depending on which of our two hosts you ask. But that's okay, as we have some heated disagreement this week that is maybe the closest we've yet come to vintage Siskel & Ebert kinda stuff. Plus: We've both been to the theater and are happy to sound off on Ryan Coogler's latest as JMo and Hayley both greatly enjoyed Sinners in the cinema, and Justin's got a bonus theatrical field report on Drop, the latest from Happy Death Day director Christopher Landon.
If you'd like to watch Dick Tracy before listening along to our conversation, good luck finding a physical copy, and Disney will seemingly never stream this thing on Disney+ -- possibly for rights reasons to avoid paying anything more to Warren Beatty, or possibly because they are cowards who are ashamed of the fun movie they made. Either way, it's tough to find outside of renting it on YouTube.
Other works discussed in this episode include Creed, Fruitvale Station, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Puss In Boots: The Last Wish, Mad Max: Fury Road, Loki, The Accountant, The Perfect Storm, Bridge of Spies, War Horse, The Adventures of Tintin, Red Eye, Trap, Reign of Fire, Surrogates, The Expendables 2, The Last Boy Scout, Princess Mononoke, Hook, This Is The Tom Green Documentary, Cutthroat Island, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, G20, The Silence of the Lambs, Longlegs, Resident Orca, Avatar: The Way of Water, Blackfish, Batman ('89), Batman Returns, Batman Forever, Batman & Robin, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, X-Men, Blade, The Shadow, The Phantom, The Rocketeer, Darkman, Speed Racer, Furiosa, Challengers and Sin City, among others.
We'll be back (more than likely) next week, with another special in-theaters spectacular, as 100+ episodes after we covered the original film, it is tax season once again and we're back for more Ben Affleck and Jon Bernthal in The Accountant 2. So look for that next Friday, and until then we'll see you at the movies!!
