Consider the Reagan, Episode 5 - Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

The top men of Wrong With Authority (James, Kit, and Daniel) consider the classic Spielberg/Lucas/Ford Reagan-era pastiche/adventurefest which introduced the iconic, failure-prone, whip-wielding, treasure-hunting, snake-hating, Nazi-slaughtering, ambivalent-about-Arabs, and possibly-guilty-of-statutary-rape Dr Indiana Jones, rollicking around in a universe in which all myths seem to be simultaneously true.  Get yourself and your Nepalese drinking buddies set up, close your eyes, and let the wrath of Yahweh engulf your enemies as you...  and I'm bored now.  But you won't be if you listen to this episode.  It's so good it'll melt your face off.

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Consider the Reagan, Episode 4 - Die Hard (1988)

Daniel the barefoot American must battle a team of eurotrash terrorists (i.e. Jack and Kit) in order to restore proper US values (but definitely no Japanese ones) in this, the latest in our series of commentaries on the Reganite cinema that shaped a generation or two.

Also, we're joined (briefly) by a very special guest.

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Show Notes

Main Topic: Die Hard (1988), with special guest Sharon, Kit's wife. Introductions. Dogme 95. Oscar talk. Has Sharon seen Robocop? Logos. Aspect ratio talk. Daniel gets things wrong. Establishments. White dudes talkin' about race awkwardly. John McTiernan is a creep? Touchscreen technology. Not Bruce Willis and the sequel to Commando. Cocaine. Trumpism metaphor. Sartorial talk. Passage of time. Recommending Wikipedia. Alan Rickman. Heist movie. Character development through action. Kit laughs at Preacher Rickman. Mitt Romney. "I read the article in Forbes." Sympathy for the capitalist. The threat of Japan. Filthy Jack. Playback settings. Genghis Khan tortures Mel Gibson. United Colors of Terrorism. Glasses and handball. Bruce Willis's Voyage of Pain. Manliness and Personal Protective Equipment. No PTSD. Not ripped. Everything is a satire. Rae Dawn Chong reference. Not by the book. Property rights. Miserable. Escalation, literally and figuratively. The black characters live. Doctor Who and Tango and Cash. Confined spaces. Just impossible enough. Air vents. Peter Weir tangent. Official shitkickers. Arnie's not funny. McClaine would have the best Twitter ever. Meeting. Media. Spousal abuse and fashion. McClaine needs a friend. Ready for prime time. Chicken Run reference. "I think we've found Donald Trump in this story." Vast audience. Not a cop, but a Man. Glib Theo, murderer. Is that Viggo the Carpathian? Opening an elevator with a fire axe. Terminator 2 reference. Howie Mandel reference. More cocaine. "I can handle this Eurotrash." Hans Gruber is not the greatest villain. "You know they'll kill you, right?" Ticking all the boxes. Galactica reference, Bane reference. Tucker. Bill O'Reilly hair. Johnson and Johnson, no relation. Robert Davi. Bill Clay and hypercompetence. Pre-VHS editing. Male bondage. Brokeback Mountain reference. Physically versus socially possible. "No, the other one." Sam Harris reference. "You mercilessly accept your wife's career!" Vietnam. Collateral damage. Mythbusters. Aesthetic shift. Cellophane. Al Powell's viagra. Worldbuilding. Lost Daniel. Wrapping Up.

Consider the Reagan, Episode 3 - Ghostbusters (1984)

Continuing our series of commentaries on movies that came out during the Reagan administration, Daniel, Kit, and Jack sit down to watch the original Ghostbusters from 1984.

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Consider the Reagan, Episode 2 - Blade Runner (1982)

Continuing our series of commentaries on movies that came out during the Reagan administration, Daniel and Jack sit down to watch original Blade Runner (and then chat a bit about the sequel).

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Show notes: Main Topic: Blade Runner. With Jack Graham and Daniel Harper. Introductions and the obligatory Trump reference. Our histories with the film. Commentary begins at 10:23. Distinctive logo. Ridley Scott: complete bastard. Odd names. Daniel makes an Asimov reference. The plusses and minuses of opening crawls. Industrial sublime. Skipping the Voight-Kampf. Not the brightest Nexus-6, not the brightest Blade Runner. Dick joke. William Gibson. Japanification. 80s special effects. Racial slur. Noir voiceover. The Six Deadly Words. Tortured fan. Non-developed characters. Replicant personalities. Chemistry. A no-Deckard Blade Runner. Novel vs film and ethical philosophy vs cardboard characterization. Visually influential. Retro-futurism. Kipple. Freezing. Delicate Rutger. Frank Lloyd Wright? Impenetrable apartment. "These must be people!" Leaning into cliches. Daryl Hannah. Pris and JF. Deckard's photos. Huge in university. Tick-tick-tick-tick-tick. Ethnic stereotypes. Phone booths and phone calls. Implied sex show. Biblical metaphor. An actual detective. Diana Cassidy's performance. Streetwear. Outmatched in combat. Quiet. Used future in Our World. Jupiter orbit. Fashion choices. Gaff. Limp-wristed slap. Booze and relationships. Ford's star power turned on low. Assault. Reverse Mirror. Broken biology. Another more interesting story. Human images. Oversignified chess. Owls. Tyrell the CEO. Father fucker. Science is real. Gore. Bradbury. Pointless sequences. Ineffective police. Clever Pris. Shoe leather. Worse ways to die. Life force leaving the body. Twenty-three minutes of climax. Why is Deckard doing this? Psychopathic Roy. Human or boogeyman? Growth at the end. Leonine. Sky. Watch him die. Is Gaff a replicant? What are the stakes? Critical. Broken aesthetics. Happy endings. Wrapping Up, and moving on to 2049 at 2:07:50. Some ambition. Clever Force Awakens. Describing the plot. Evil Blind Genius Things. Relations between replicants and holograms. Interrupted by a dog. Narrative. Joi/K/Mariette love scene. Sexualized subservient images. Heuristic. Open relationship problems. Iron Man moment. Bond villain Jared Leto. Old Deckard. Lived history. Off-topic onto JJ Abrams. Underwhelming. A second Asimov reference. Wrapping Up.

Consider the Reagan, Episode 1

At long last, here is the first episode of a new strand of 'Wrong With Authority', in which we (sadly we were Murphyless this time, but we expect to be fully Jamesed-up in future episodes) record commentaries on the movies that shaped and misshaped us, movies released between the first inaugurations of Ronald Reagan and George Bush the Elder.

This is 80s pop culture we're talking about pilgrim, so expect sickness.

This time, we mcfly backwards and forwards through time in a shitty car to discover that the deep psychological structure of America's understanding of its own history is best viewed through the prism of the oedipus complex. 

Who'd have motherfucking thought it?

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