Load Bearing Beams

Louisiana got hit with a historic winter storm and the state shut down. Your pals Laci and Matt have cabin fever and are furious as they haven't been able to go anywhere or do anything all week, including podcasting. So here's their apology and update on the schedule. We will return in one week with our episode about Baby Boom (1988).  If you are shaking from withdrawal because it's Friday and you need your fix, you can just go to our Patreon and become a subscriber, and then you'll have a handful of brand-new episodes to tide you over until next week. https://patreon.com/loadbearingbeams  Thank you for your support of our podcast! Okay we love you goodbyeeeee. 

Get over here to this podcast about Mortal Kombat (1995). We’re revisiting this movie, even after having already covered it on episode 76, because that episode was less than 30 minutes long. And respect must be paid! Director Paul W.S. Anderson knows exactly what kind of movie he’s making here, and the scuzzy mid-’90s vibes are immaculate!   Now, is this movie basically just you watching the video game, but in movie form? Well, yes. But that’s what you bought the ticket for!   Bonus video: We spin the wheel and select the winner of our Listener Choice Lottery™ . Watch it on our Twitter, BlueSky, Instagram, or TikTok.   Next week: Baby Boom (1988)   Subscribe to our Patreon, Load Bearing Beams: Collector's Edition for $5 a month to get two extra episodes! patreon.com/loadbearingbeams    Time stamps: 00:07: 02— Our personal histories with Mortal Kombat 00:11:18 — History segment: The history of the Mortal Kombat franchise; the making of the 1995 movie under director Paul

This is a preview from the Patreon-exclusive bonus episode where Laci and Matt give their spoiler-filled thoughts, analysis, theories, etc. about the terrific Apple TV+ series Severance. Get the full episode by subscribing to Load Bearing Beams: Collector's Edition on Patreon for $5 a month: https://www.patreon.com/c/loadbearingbeams 

What if there was a romantic comedy where you were rooting for the evil “other woman” but you didn’t know it? Well, Hollywood boldly went there in 1997 with My Best Friend’s Wedding. And what a charming evil woman we have as our protagonist here, in Jules (Julia Roberts). She’s an utter delight, as is Kimmy (Cameron Diaz). The only stretch here is that either would find anything appealing about this dimwitted drip named Michael (Dermot Mulroney).   Director P.J. Hogan called My Best Friend’s Wedding “a romantic comedy that wasn’t very romantic.” And it is very impressive to see how well the movie balances its many tensions—to have Julia Roberts, the lead, be someone the audience roots for, but not too much; to have her rival Cameron Diaz be able to hold her own against Roberts but not steal the show; and to have the dullard male lead not seem like an oblivious jerk.   Well, it worked. This movie rules. We both loved it. But we need to make fun of stuff, so we do a lot of bad impressions and ask

Friend of the Show Caleb Hogan finally forgives us for our thoughts on Nacho Libre and makes his long-awaited return to the program. And he’s brought us a fascinating movie: The 2014 Zac Efron/Miles Teller/Michael B. Jordan/ rom-com That Awkward Moment. 2014 feels like it was 1,000 years ago, doesn’t it, folks?   Bonus video: We talk about movies we think will serve in the future as great time capsules for the early 2020s. Watch it on YouTube: https://youtu.be/NMdQ7APGN7w    Next week: My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997)   Subscribe to our Patreon, Load Bearing Beams: Collector's Edition for $5 a month to get two extra episodes! patreon.com/loadbearingbeams    Time stamps: 00:03:57 — Our personal histories with That Awkward Moment 00:12:24 — History segment: Brief overview of the careers of Zac Efron, Michael B. Jordan, and Miles Teller 00:32:29 — In-depth movie discussion 01:46:21 — Final thoughts and star ratings   Artwork by Laci Roth.   Music by Rural Route Nine. Lis

Hello friends. Please enjoy this sample from our brand-new premium episode about Get Out (2017). But to hear it in full, you gotta join our Patreon, a.k.a., Load Bearing Beams: Collector's Edition.  Here's where you can do that: https://bit.ly/4a1hpB2  Our next regular episode will be out in two days. It's about That Awkward Moment (2014), featuring our friend, returning guest Caleb Hogan.  Happy New Year! We love you, bye!

In this special bonus episode, you'll join Laci, Matt, and their guest Jay (a.k.a. Cinema Coconut) as they answer completely sincere, totally-not-fabricated questions about that pesky thing we call love. And, in case you haven't heard, love actually IS all around us, if you just take the time to look. It's in the love an aging pop star has for his manager. The love a bored supervisor has for meddling in the lives of his employees. The love a prime minister has for watching his subjects at the airport. Happy holidays! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Thank you for making this the best year Load Bearing Beams has ever had. Follow Jay on TikTok (@cinema_coconut), YouTube, (https://www.youtube.com/@CinemaCoconut), and Letterboxd (https://letterboxd.com/J_koala/). Subscribe to Load Bearing Beams: Collector's Edition, our brand-new Patreon endeavor. Get two bonus episodes for $5 a month! - https://www.patreon.com/loadbearingbeams  Next week: January 1, 2025 - Episode 142 (Patreon only) — Get Out (2017) January 3

Ho ho ho and ruff ruff ruff. Scott “The Tool Man” Calvin (Tim Allen) is cursed with hideous Christmas powers and finds himself turning into the eternal sprite of winter. He has only 11 months to get his affairs in order before he leaves Earthrealm behind. Can he patch things up with his estranged son Charlie (Eric Lloyd) before it’s too late? And does he need to watch his back or the elves who work for him will arrange a quiet coup, i.e., drug him and cause him to slip off a roof, like his predecessor?   For the final regular episode of Load Bearing Beams of 2024, we’re joined by an outstanding guest: Movie Talk With Brock. Please check him out on TikTok, YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram.    Bonus video: Laci, Matt, and Brock each name a Christmas movie from the past five years they think is destined to be an all-time Christmas classic. Watch it on our Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, or BlueSky.   Next episode: We will return on January 3, 2025, with an episode about That Awkward Mome

When Matt falls onto the train tracks, Laci hops down to rescue him, but they both get hit by a train, and now they’re podcasting from the afterlife. The first movie up in this Afterworld Era is While You Were Sleeping (1995), the Sandra Bullock imposter/coma/Christmas rom-com classic.   How great is it seeing star-making, lightning-in-a-bottle performances like Bullock’s performance here? How great is this Chicago-at-Christmastime establishing shot footage, complete with extras falling down? How great is it to know that if Laci or Matt realized the other had been lying about their identity for 15 years, they would get over it pretty quickly.   ALSO: We’re launching a Patreon in January! Subscribe for $5/month to Load Bearing Beams: Collector’s Edition for two bonus episodes per month!   Bonus video: While You Were Sleeping inspired two bonus videos! Favorite mistaken identity movies: Watch on Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok. Favorite Chicago movies: Watch on Twitter, Instagram, or

Matt’s brother Elliott returns to the show to help Matt and Laci cover Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. It’s 104 minutes of trying to figure out if Kevin McAllister (Macaulay Culkin) is cinema’s greatest sociopath. This movie is a beloved classic to many thirtysomething adults in America, but it is a mess. Shouldn’t the whole movie have taken place at the hotel? Also, adult Kevin McAllister is definitely a masculinity influencer, isn’t he?   Check out Elliott’s gallery The Front in New Orleans, Louisiana, with gallery hours on Saturdays and Sundays from 12 - 5 p.m. Learn more at https://nolafront.org/. Follow Elliott on Instagram @elliott_ross_stokes.    Bonus video: We talk about our favorite New York movies. Watch it on our Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok.   Next week: While You Were Sleeping (1995)   Time stamps: 00:04:29 — Our personal histories with Home Alone 2 00:14:18 — History segment: The development, production, and reception of Home Alone and the quick turnaround for t

Gobble gobble. As previously announced, we have taken the week off. We shall return in one week with an episode about Home Alone 2: Lost in New York with returning guest Elliott Stokes. Thank you for your support of Load Bearing Beams. We love you, you're very special. We have for you here a selection of some of our favorite social media videos that are usually adjacent to the episode of the week. You can catch these in real time by following us on Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok. Time stamps: 01:38 — What movie tattoo would we get? 07:03 — What movies legitimately scare us? 14:07 — What movies do we think are misunderstood? 17:25 — Which movie dystopias do we think wouldn't be so bad? 21:03 — The Trailer Line Challenge 25:43 — Who are our favorite teachers from movies? 31:05 — Which movie properties would we like to see in theme parks? 35:02 — Who are our favorite fictional movie presidents? 38:06 — What are our favorite movies about magic? 41:22 — Who are our favorite villains from superhero movies? Hey! Al

Smash Trivia John of Smash Trivia Presents: The Gamma Analysis podcast (listen to it on Spotify; follow him on TikTok @smashtrivia) joins us to go over Spider-Man (2002). Director Sam Raimi brought his signature vision and energy to the project and kinda shifted the movie industry into a completely different direction for the next two decades. But how does it hold up as a movie?   Bonus video: We talk about our favorite villains from superhero movies. Watch it on our Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok.   Next week: We’re taking a week off for Thanksgiving. We’ll be back on December 6, 2024 with an episode about Home Alone 2 (1992) featuring special guest Elliott Stokes, returning to the show for the first time since 2018!    Time stamps: 00:02:44 — Our personal histories with Spider-Man (the character) and Spider-Man (the movie)  00:15:04 — History segment: The origins of Spider-Man with Steve Ditko and Stan Lee; development of Spider-Man projects at Sony Pictures over the years

Isaiah, Kevin, and Trevor from the great podcast The Reel For Real join Laci and Matt to go through Quentin Tarantino’s classic Pulp Fiction. The five have come together to explain what this movie’s “actually” about: friendship.   Please support The Reel For Real by subscribing to their podcast on Spotify (https://bit.ly/4ftLevU) or Apple Podcast (https://bit.ly/3ZhFzUl), and following them on TikTok (@TheReelForRealPodcast), YouTube (@thereelforrealpodcast6), or Instagram (@thereel_forreal).   Next week: Spider-Man (2002) with special guest Smash Trivia John!    Time stamps: 00:07:48 — Our personal histories with Quentin Tarantino and Pulp Fiction  00:23:47 — History segment: The career of Quentin Tarantino, the development of Pulp Fiction, and brief overviews of the careers of John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson 00:42:57 — In-depth movie discussion 01:52:35 — Final thoughts and star ratings   Sources: Down and Dirty Pictures by Peter Biksind, 2004 -  https://amzn.to/4eH

We open the book and read from Jim Carroll’s many basketball diaries to find out about his life on the streets with Mickey, Pedro, and Neutron. What a time these little scamps had! Yelling at old ladies, knocking hot dogs out of children’s hands, and barfing on the guy who would later play Big Pussy on The Sopranos.   Oh, but they weren’t all happy days. No, there are dark times ahead for young Jim (Leonardo DiCaprio), and we talk all about it.   Bonus video: We talk about our favorite teachers from movies. Watch it on our Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok.   Next week: Pulp Fiction (1994) with The Reel For Real podcast!    Time stamps: 00:04:40 — Our personal histories with The Basketball Diaries 00:13:05 — History segment: Jim Carroll’s real life and Basketball Diaries; production of this movie and the casting of Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Wahlberg  00:31:15 — In-depth movie discussion 01:16:29 — Final thoughts and star ratings   Sources: "Off the Rim" by Thomas Mallon |

Folks, we have an election on our hands. The most important of our lifetimes, many are saying. We are talking, of course, about the battle for the president of Carver High School’s Student Government Association. In one corner, it’s beloved football star Paul Metzler (Chris Klein). In another corner, it’s that do-gooding Tracy Flick (Reese Witherspoon). And in a third corner, it’s Tammy Metzler (Jessica Campbell), who just wants to burn it all down.   Stuck in the middle of all of this is one of cinema’s great pathetic losers, Mr. Jim McAllister (Matthew Broderick), an ordinary guy who just wants to drink Pepsi and watch his porno tapes, but that pesky election keeps calling to him.   This movie rocks and rolls and owns and bones.   Bonus video: We talk about our favorite fictional presidents from movies. Watch it on our Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok.   Next week: The Basketball Diaries (1995)   Time stamps: 00:01:31 — American presidential election predictions, AND the story of

We call upon the guardians of the watchtowers to aid us on our journey through the Tunney/Balk teenage witch classic The Craft (1996). This is the second time Load Bearing Beams has covered this movie. On the fourth episode of the podcast (all the way back in 2017), Laci and Matt made endless fun of it, but this time, they’re making endless fun with it, because, you guys, it’s a fun little movie!   Bonus video: We talk about our favorite movies about magic, whatever that means. Watch it on our Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok.   Next week: Election (1999)   Time stamps: 00:05:07 — Our personal histories with The Craft 00:15:44 — History segment: Development of The Craft under producer Douglas Wick, screenwriter Peter Filardi, and director Andrew Fleming; casting, production, and legacy of the movie 00:38:30 — In-depth movie discussion 01:32:32 — Final thoughts and star ratings   Sources: “Relax, It's Only Magic: An Oral History Of 'The Craft'” by Matthew Jacobs and

Friend of the Show JT the Talking Head (@jt_pettry & @mastersofmatinee on TikTok) on TikTok, Masters of Matinee podcast) has brought us one of the most gonzo horror sequels of all time: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986). Director Tobe Hooper finally returned to his iconic characters 12 years after the original, and he made it into a classic all on its own, while taking a dramatic tonal swerve right into comedy, hijinks, and even more political and social commentary. This movie rules.   Next week: The Craft (1996)   Time stamps: 00:04:27 — Our personal histories with the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise 00:16:40 — History segment: The history of Texas; brief career overview of director Tobe Hooper 00:31:51 — In-depth movie discussion 01:42:09 — Final thoughts and star ratings   Sources: Cinemaphagy: On the Psychedelic Classical Form of Tobe Hooper by Scout Tafoya (2021) - https://amzn.to/4dKBYlu  “America’s Future Is Texas” by Lawrence Wright | The New Yorker (20

You need to stay away from the light! Or do you? What is light anyway? What is truth, what is meaning, what is words? We try getting to the bottom of all of this by discussing the 2001 ghost movie The Others.   Nicole Kidman is Grace, a young mother who seems to have misplaced her marbles. She’s alone in an enormous house with two little moppet children who can’t go into the light because of an illness [citation needed]. For some reason, she still needs to open the curtains every day and pretend like everything’s okay. Grace, we’re here to tell you: surrender. Keep those curtains closed. Don’t bother cleaning. Adopt the darkness, like Bane. You’ll be happier.   Anyway, this movie rules, and it’s a great contrast from last week’s bloody meta mess movie, Scream.   Bonus video: We play The Trailer Challenge(™), where we recall lines from trailers of long ago that stick in our craw, then watch the trailers to see if we’re remembering them correctly. Watch it on our Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok

What’s your favorite Screamy movie? Is it Scream (1996)? Is it Scream (2022)? Or is it one of the numbered Screams?   Well, we’re talking about the one that started it all, the first movie to ever acknowledge that other movies exist*: Wes Craven’s 1996 film Scream!   *not true   Is Neve Campbell, who is indeed good in the movie, doing a little too much “face business” in this film? Is Principal Henry Winkler a little too enthusiastic with those scissors? And what kind of journalist is Gale Weathers, anyway?   Bonus video: We discuss the horror movies that actually, legitimately scare us. Which movies scare you? Watch and weigh in on our Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok.   Next week: The Others (2001)   Time stamps: 00:01:58 — Our personal histories with Scream 00:15:32 — History segment: Postmodernism; screenwriter Kevin Williamson sells his script, originally called Scary Movie; career overview of director Wes Craven; brief career overview of Neve Campbell 00:47:03 —

We take a look at what appears to be a “boob comedy” from the year 2000: Road Trip, directed by Todd Phillips, who makes Joker movies now.   It’s the heartwarming story of Josh (Breckin Meyer), a Boring Guy who cheats on his girlfriend but doesn’t mean it. Josh and his pals E.L. (Seann William Scott), Rubin (Paulo Costanzo), and Kyle (D.J. Qualls) do the only thing that make sense: They head across the country on a road trip to keep Boring Guy Josh’s girlfriend from finding out about his betrayal.   And, you know what, this movie’s pretty okay! But we try to figure out why Todd Phillips says he’s not allowed to make movies like Road Trip anymore because of Woke.   Also, we try to get to the bottom of Tom Green.   Bonus video: We talk about our favorite road trips from movies. Watch it on our Twitter (https://bit.ly/4ejg3TC), Instagram (https://bit.ly/3BiT24y), or TikTok (https://bit.ly/4gHLAjv). Next week: Scream (1996)   Time stamps: 00:05:37 — Our personal histories with Road