Season Ten Episode Guide

Episode 213: Hell Comes to Frogtown

Cold Open:
Watching movies with Craig’s son Lorenzo
The unintentional Cinema Immersion Tank (Disney’s Legend of Sleepy Hollow)

Gift:
Origami Frog

Craig’s Background LP:
Johnny Cash “Mean as Hell”

Show Notes
• Matt and Craig are still masked due to the COVID pandemic
• The Frogtown dvd was sent in by a viewer
• Craig pronounces “origami” in a weird way
• Craig demonstrates Spanish frog sounds
• The movie starts out badly before it even begins with a typo on the dvd menu: “Strat Movie”
• Matt continues to mis-identify macguffins
• “Basically, nothing has happened… to Sam’s genitals… that he likes…yet.”
• “The S&M Boondoggle” a classic bit of cinematic subterfuge
• Matt references a popular rural Wisconsin gentlemen’s club
• “I like the way it stratted, and I loved the way it fnished.” (sic)

Seen It:
Da Five Bloods
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Dr. No
Frost/Nixon

Closing Credits:
The Frogtown/Scarface connection

Ernesto Stinger:
“Shut your hoooooollle!”

Episode 214: Marriage Italian Style

Cold Open:
The death of Christopher Plummer
The malevolent charm of Baron Von Trapp

Gift:
Pocket Bocce Ball game

Craig’s Background LP:
Madonna “True Blue”

Show Notes
• The longest-running tradition in the show’s history continues: watching a romantic movie for Valentine’s Day
• Craig has specific hopes about his inevitable meeting with Satan
• Craig juggles
• Craig tortures Matt with the repeated sounds of a toddler defecating into a bowl
• Matt coins the word “Sombredy” (a somber comedy)
• Matt has a questionable proficiency with “fishing parlance”
• Craig and Matt recall the 60’s/70’s television show “Love American Style” (along with a rendition of the theme song)
• “He wants to eat his cake and not have it”
• Craig and Matt chart out the course between Italian Neo-Realism and the Fonz.
• Matt proposes the alternate title “Palm Springs Eternal” for the movie Palm Springs
• Matt is silently irritated by a dropped pen

Seen It:
(Theme: Romance)
The Shop Around the Corner
Love, Actually
Bound
Palm Springs

Closing Credits:
An Americanized version of the song “The Monastery of Santa Chiara”

Ernesto Stinger:
(a toddler defecating into a bowl)

Episode 215: Rumblefish

Cold Open:
A viewer question: the most important qualities of a “good movie”
Pacing, dialogue and “immersiveness”

Gift:
Barbed wire temporary tattoos

Craig’s Background LP:
The Police “Outlandos D’Amour”

Show Notes
• Matt announces a “phased reopening” of mask removal in the basement: masks are removed during the couch movie synopses (proving that both hosts still have chins).
• The second appearances of Mickey Rourke, Dennis Hopper and Nicolas Cage on the show
• “Chris Penn is the personification of a sweaty handshake.”
• Craig identifies with Rusty James as someone who grew up in a cool older brother’s shadow.
• Craig and Matt don’t know how to spell or say the names of America’s finest Italian-American directors
• Matt calls The Trial of the Chicago 7 “lawyer porn”
• Matt gives Craig the challenge of picking the next movie, with the bonus challenge of giving the show something it “needs,” to fill in a gap—genre, actor, director, what have you—that remains untouched by the Basement.

Seen It
Mank
The Trial of the Chicago 7
The Lovebirds
Soul

Closing Credits:
A symphony of “motorcycle boy”

Ernesto Stinger:
“Says he’s gonna kill you, Rusty James.”

Episode 216: Godzilla

Cold Open:
Fake documentaries vs. “staged” documentaries
A look back at ten years in the basement

Gift:
Japanese food (wasabi peas and udon noodles)

Craig’s Background LP:
Cheap Trick “Live at Budokan”

Show Notes
• Craig has chosen this movie for Matt’s birthday
• Craig keeps up his tradition of calling the couch “big” instead of “old”
• “Resting frownface”
• Good director choices for a potential Godzilla reboot: Edgar Wright and Robert Rodriguez. Bad choices: Lynn Ramsay and Mike Leigh.
• The Midnight Sky is another example of “Sigh Fi”

Seen It:
Tenet
I’m Thinking of Ending Things
The Midnight Sky
The Gentlemen

Closing Credits:
Godzilla taunts his attackers

Ernesto Stinger:
(Godzilla noises)

Episode 217: Season of the Witch

Cold Open:
Pictures at a Revolution by Mark Harris
Matt’s new obsession with Doctor Dolittle

Gift:
Paas deluxe Easter egg coloring kit

Craig’s Background LP:
Donovan “Sunshine Superman”

Show Notes
• Matt and Craig finally take off the masks. There is only an oblique mention of it on the couch before the movie. Later on they celebrate with glasses of wine for mask-free mouths.
• Matt fills us in on the pagan inspiration of Easter traditions and estrogen, while Craig reflects paternal holiday frustration
• Hall-of-famer “America’s Caveman” Ron Perlman finally makes his second appearance on the show. Hall-of-famer Christopher Lee makes a record-breaking 7th appearance.
• The DVD was sent in by a viewer, along with all of the DVDs talked about in Seen It
• Matt is hit in the breast by a Kit Kat bar
• Craig makes an extremely local reference, which Matt predicts will be cut. It is not.
• Matt and Craig mind meld and bring back the “give me the chicken” comment from Season 1
• Claire Foy: “Notorious lard-ass”
• Matt describes the experience of watching the sitcom The Big Bang Theory
• Craig does fancy snapping

Seen It:
(Theme: Nicolas Cage)
Red Rock West
The Weather Man
Vampire’s Kiss
Wild at Heart

Closing Credits:
Matt doesn’t know what a “fortnight” is

Ernesto Stinger:
“You’ll be buying tonight, my friend.”

Episode 218: The Great Gabbo

Cold Open:
Oscars 2021
Re-casting Borat and re-titling Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Gift:
Cubio magic trick

Craig’s Background LP:
Albert Brooks “Comedy Minus One”

Show Notes
• We continue filling in “The Unbroken Line” (watching at least one movie from each year, 1927 until “now-ish”). After this movie (1929), there will be only one year left (1952) and then the line will be complete.
• The face of Christ appears on a unitard
• Craig observes that Erich von Stroheim was eternally 58 years old.
• Craig reveals his childhood dreams of ventriloquism

Seen It:
(Theme: Oscars 2021)
Nomadland
Promising Young Woman
Hillbilly Elegy
The Father

Closing Credits:
Craig embodies a 1920s tourist in New York

Ernesto Stinger:
(singing) “Ha ha ha, hee hee hee, ho ho ho I’m laughing!”

Episode 219: The Picture of Dorian Gray

Cold Open:
Craig hates on the movie Mank (again)
“A crime against humanity”

Gift:
Seagram’s Gin Red Snapper drinking glass

Craig’s Background LP:
Elvis Costello and the Attractions “This Year’s Model”

Show Notes
• Craig, in a very strange mood, displays his “oddities”.
• “I’m a 19th Century dandy, while here you are as a cut-rate lumberjack!”
• The third appearance of Angela Lansbury on the show
• Craig interrupts Matt by dropping a DVD case
• Cedric Hardwicke and Edward Woodward have “similarly weird names”
• Matt sings the praises of gin Bloody Marys
• Matt’s steam of consciousness muttering about the intro becomes the intro. Craig responds by singing the DVD screen transition music.
• Matt brings up “undigested potato” again
• Matt really wants a character to have drowned in the Thames
• Matt quotes “Mr. Sardonicus”
• Matt really oversells the “half past a monkey’s ass” joke
• The Oscars discussion was done before the Oscars aired, so some ADR trickery is used to address certain things that happened during the big show
• Craig quotes Sir Mix-a-lot

Seen It:
(Theme: More Oscars)
Sound of Metal
Minari
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Judas and the Black Messiah

Closing Credits:
Sybil Vane’s mother talks about her acting days

Ernesto Stinger:
(sings) “Goodbye little yellow bird…”

Episode 220: Crooklyn

Cold Open:
Complaining about the Oscars
No clips

Gift:
Promotional bank (Citizen’s Savings Bank, Sac City Iowa)

Craig’s Background LP:
Curtis Mayfield “Roots”

Show Notes
• Matt recalls a missed opportunity to see Crooklyn from decades ago
• Craig ‘s gift is defective in multiple ways
• The second appearance of Delroy Lindo on the show
• Matt makes a borderline tasteless “Radio Raheem” joke
• Craig and Matt, two non sports fans, make a surprising number of New York Knicks jokes
• Matt and Craig are sharply divided in their opinions of the movie. “I think this movie pushed a lot of your good buttons and it pushed a lot of my bad buttons”.
• Craig and Matt mind meld about favorite childhood games, and have a hard time recalling the rules to “Ghost in the Graveyard”
• Craig is a snob about Kick the Can
• Craig reveals his son’s knock-knock joke technique
• Matt takes issue with Raymond Burr’s dye-job in Rear Window
• Craig confuses Grace Kelly and Gene Kelly

Seen It:
Mandy
Breaking Away
The Man Who Came to Dinner
Rear Window

Closing Credits:
A low-energy rendition of James Brown’s “Soul Power”

Ernesto Stinger:
“Soooooouuuuuuulllll Train!”

Episode 221: House Party

Cold Open:
Matt determines the “sweet spot” for the perfect basement movie
Matt recalls a crude joke from Craig’s past

Gift:
Scottish Country Dancing book

Craig’s Background LP:
Dance the Cool Jerk with the Capitols

Show Notes
• Matt gives a brief overview of the career of director Reginald Hudlin
• Craig’s gift opening is interrupted by Matt’s phone
• “We’re gonna give you a non-Newtonian beatdown!”
• Matt once again mis-identifies a MacGuffin
• Matt drops a Baby Cookie quote
• Matt doesn’t understand the structure of Kid’s hairdo
• Matt identifies actual Scottish Country dancing in the film
• The guys recall their first experiences removing a bra (from a lady)
• The guys break down the sonorous poetry of the term “Snot Locker”
• Matt recalls a hoity-toity college party at the Dean’s house
• Matt recalls the strange circumstances of seeing Us in the movie theater with friends
• Matt vaguely alludes to an inside joke with Tona

Seen It:
(Theme: Black Cinema)
One Night in Miami
Lover’s Rock
Story of a 3-Day Pass
Us

Closing Credits:
Matt asserts the depth of his character, in addition to his physical assets. Craig refutes this claim.

Ernesto Stinger:
“I don’t wanna hear no got-damned Public Enema ‘round here!”

Episode 222: Gulliver’s Travels

Cold Open:
“Bop ‘Til You Drop”
Tona’s familial connection to David Fincher and Rick Springfield

Gift:
Plesiosaurus cardboard model

Craig’s Background LP:
“All Singing, All Dancing” – (Warner Brothers compilation)

Show Notes
• Matt is wearing his PJs (which Craig calls “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest cosplay”)
• Second appearance of composer Leo Robin on the show
• The sound of Gulliver’s voice prompts the return of the Gregory Peck impersonation
• Craig continually mocks Gulliver’s first name (“Lemuel!”)

Seen It:
The Blues Brothers
Ride the Pink Horse
Vast of Night
Blue Velvet

Closing Credits:
Matt exerts weird authority on the couch

Ernesto Stinger:
“My…my…my!”

Episode 223: Memories

Cold Open:
Miller’s Crossing on Blu-ray
Matt makes dubious claims about the picture clarity of Blu-ray

Gift:
Chocolate Pocky

Craig’s Background LP:
Rush “Hemispheres”

Show Notes
• Matt and Craig start the show with strange hand movements
• The second appearances of Satoshi Kon and basement hall-of-famer Katsuhiro Otomo
• Matt suffers a brief case of short-term amnesia
• “If you have the right idiot, he’ll just dodge all of the bullets and destroy the world.”
• The frustration of the long tracking shot
• Craig attempts to come up with a better title for Memories
• All of the Seen It movies were sent to the PO box by viewers
• Matt watched Kiki’s Delivery Service as a double feature with Mike Nichols’ Carnal Knowledge
• Matt mistakenly claims that there will be three sci-fi movies in July. There are only two.

Seen It:
(Theme: Anime)
Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro
Perfect Blue
The Boy and the Beast
Kiki’s Delivery Service

Closing Credits:
Craig has false memories

Ernesto Stinger:
(Dramatic music)

Episode 224: The Green Slime

Cold Open:
Matt tells a dumb joke
Musings about the George Burns comedy “Oh God”

Gift:
Monster science growing alien

Craig’s Background LP:
REM “Green”

Show Notes
• The first episode of Sci-Fi July, with appropriately spacey music and title graphics
• In the cold open and intro, Matt is slightly out of focus
• Matt reveals that he had chosen The Green Slime for the show before the DVD was sent in to the PO box, and that that would happen again later this season
• Craig and Matt both labor under the misconception that Dr. Halvorson has a German accent. They conclude that even though he doesn’t, he should.
• Matt is interrupted by a fortuitously timed chime from his phone
• Matt comes up with some unimpressive anagrams for the title of the movie
• A Lost Highway poster falls off of the wall during a discussion of actor Richard Jaeckel, prompting Matt to believe that the dead actor’s ghost is in the basement
• Matt muses on the slippery mystery of inspiration

Seen It:
(Theme: At the Theater)
The Hateful Eight
The Thin Red Line
Secretary
License to Kill

Closing Credits:
Scenes from Sick Bay

Ernesto Stinger:
(singing) “Green Sliiiiiiiiimme!”

Episode 225: Planet of the Vampires

Cold Open:
Movie pet peeves
“Enhance the image!”

Gift:
Professor Noggin’s outer space card game

Craig’s Background LP:
Beat Happening s/t

Show Notes
• Matt’s pet peeve is Craig’s beloved pet
• The second movie of Sci-Fi July
• Variety’s Complete Science Fiction reviews has some odd things to say about the movie
• Craig does a very half-assed rendition of the Beastie Boys song “Body Movin’”
• Matt irritates Craig with a poorly timed sneeze
• Matt likes to shorten “technology names”
• Matt explains the “Schufftan process” special effects shot
• Craig tells a story about how Star Wars cured his fear of diving boards and “made him a man”

Seen It:
(Theme: Star Wars)
The Empire Strikes Back
Return of the Jedi
The Phantom Menace
Star Wars Holiday Special

Closing Credits:
Observations of strange lights

Ernesto Stinger:
“The gravitational force is increasing rapidly!”

Episode 226: Hackers

Cold Open:
Movie premises that are “too good”
The movie ‘Yesterday’

Gift:
IQ Twist puzzle

Craig’s Background LP:
Kraftwerk “Computer World”

Show Notes
• Matt always mixes up Danny Boyle and Guy Ritchie. Craig mixes up Christopher Nolan and David Fincher
• Matt delights in the humiliation of Ed Sheeran
• Craig was three weeks too old to see Hackers back in the day
• Matthew Lillard “the Picasso of insufferability” makes a return appearance on the show, as does Penn Jillette and Laurence Mason
• Craig hated Hackers and also hates the word “olio”
• Matt and Craig ponder the word “pissant” and brainstorm potential hacker handles

Seen It:
(Theme: M.C.U.)
Iron Man 3
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Thor: The Dark World
Avengers: Infinity War

Closing Credits:
Matt lambastes a “weenie” hacker

Ernesto Stinger:
“Hack the planet!

Episode 227: Dillinger

Cold Open:
A re-watching of Midnight Run
Matt re-enacts a scene

Gift:
Stick-on mustaches

Craig’s Background LP:
The Harder They Come OST

Show Notes
• Matt reveals that Dillinger is the other dvd that “magically” appeared in the PO box, after he had already picked it for the show
• The tradition of choosing a film from 1973 at least once every season (the year of Matt and Craig’s birth) continues
• The third appearance for hall of famer Warren Oates and voice actor Paul Frees. The second for Richard Dreyfuss.
• Matt claims that he refers to Pretty Boy Floyd as “P.B.F.”
• Matt recalls his visits to the northern Wisconsin gangster landmark, Little Bohemia
• Craig unintentionally begins to sing the Pixies song “Where is My Mind”
• Matt asserts that The Heartbreak Kid is a better movie than The Graduate

Seen It:
Judgment at Nuremberg
Memories of Murder
The Nutty Professor (1963)
The Heartbreak Kid (1973)

Closing Credits:
Matt and Craig mock Pretty Boy Floyd

Ernesto Stinger:
“Don’t shoot G-man, please!”

Episode 228: Death to Smoochy

Cold Open:
The original Scarface
Matt mistakes Boris Karloff for Bela Lugosi

Gift:
Sugar Bear doll

Craig’s Background LP:
Blue Oyster Cult “Some Enchanted Evening”

Show Notes
• “Carface” is Matt’s nickname for Pixar’s Cars franchise
• Matt claims that Paul Muni’s given name is “Paul Municipal”
• The second appearances of Robin Williams, Danny DeVito and Vincent Schiavelli on the show
• Matt continually berates Jon Stewart about his bad haircut
• Matt calls the penis-shaped cookie “Dicks Ahoy”
• Craig reveals his bizarre bovine children’s show alter ego. Matt calls it “Charlie Kaufman-esque”
• Matt delivers a long seven-point diatribe against Doctor Dolittle
• Off camera, Tona cracks up at “two ton lead turds”
• Fran Neuhaus shows up once again in Seen It

Seen It:
Doctor Dolittle (1967)
Visions of Light
In Cold Blood
Another Round

Closing Credits:
Craig and Matt perform a Harvey Fierstein skit

Ernesto Stinger:
“My balls…they’re on fire!”

Episode 229: Suburbia

Cold Open:
Matt’s new web series: “Denzel Washington Reads a Book”
In college, Craig wished he had Denzel’s face and Mikhail Baryshnikov’s physique

Gift:
Mice prank

Craig’s Background LP:
Devo “Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo.”

Show Notes
• The second appearance of Penelope Spheeris and third appearance of Flea on the show
• Craig uses “Punk Rock mathematics”
• Matt makes multiple vague references to singer Clarence “Frogman” Henry
• Craig and Matt are sharply divided on the subject of pickled eggs
• “Vigilantics”
• Matt went into this movie thinking it was a comedy (it is very much not)
• Craig calls The Intruder “The Music Man for racists”

Seen It:
(Theme: Mail Crate)
The Intruder
The Castle
The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming
The Last Starfighter

Closing Credits:
Craig pretends to actually be at a loud punk rock concert

Ernesto Stinger:
“Watch out for the dogs…”

Episode 230: The Curse of Frankenstein

Cold Open:
The C-Pap machine: a universal cinematic symbol for a weak and ineffectual man
Craig hopes to never have to see a doctor about his snoring, “’Cause that’s how they get ya.”

Gift:
Operation Game pen

Craig’s Background LP:
Shock Treatment OST

Show Notes
• Matt imagines an eight-ended Dr. Seussian C-Pap machine. “It’s C-Pap-tapulous!”
• The first of three horror movies for the month of October. Appropriately, Matt’s intro is interrupted by a mysterious noise from upstairs
• The second appearance of Terence Fisher and Peter Cushing on the show. Christopher Lee makes a record-smashing eighth appearance.
• Matt is woefully unprepared to deal with fainting spells
• Matt reveals that the Operation pen has been sitting in the cabinet for the entire length of the show’s existence
• Matt has a fainting spell
• The boys have way too much fun with the word “gibbet”
• At the mention of “take a look at those hands” Matt resists the temptation to quote The Talking Heads song “Born Under Punches”. He later relents at a second mention of looking at hands
• Tona contributes a riff about “shitty backpacks of yore”
• Craig and Matt briefly re-enact a scene from a Simpsons Treehouse of Horror episode

Seen It:
(Theme: Horror)
Island of Lost Souls
Psycho
One Cut of the Dead
Magic

Closing Credits:
More about gibbets and Matt misidentifies a country

Ernesto Stinger:
(Scream)

Episode 231: Night of the Lepus

Cold Open:
Ideal Halloween double features
Craig thinks that the movie Midsommar has a happy ending

Gift:
It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown Yahtzee

Craig’s Background LP:
Steve Martin “Wild and Crazy Guy”

Show Notes
• The second horror movie of October, with appropriate spooky theme and title graphics
• The movie features two different actors who played the chief medical officer on Star Trek: DeForest Kelly and Mark Piper
• Matt consults the Variety Sci-fi review guide for a blurb on Night of the Lepus
• The mention of the name “Billy” causes Matt to act strangely
• Craig misses out on a Watership Down reference because he has never read the book. Later he admits this and gets defensive about it. Later, Matt obliges Craig’s request for a Watership Down joke and Craig mocks him for it.
• The presence of bats in a cave causes an appearance by Ray Milland and his bat tormentor from The Lost Weekend
• Matt yet again mentions the dog treat Snausages and then wonders if they are still made and if the majority of the audience even knows what he’s talking about
• Tona makes an erroneous claim that the murderous rabbits have yet to act aggressively
• Matt calls Night of the Lepus “a monster procedural”
• Craig and Matt tell stories from childhood relating to rabbits and spontaneously appearing in the local newspaper
• Craig unwittingly comes up with an alternate title for the film Maximum Overdrive (“Danger Trucks”)
• Matt tasks Craig with choosing the final scary movie for October

Seen It:
(Theme: Seen It Read It – Stephen King)
Pet Sematary (2019)
Graveyard Shift
The Langoliers
Firestarter

Closing Credits:
Matt admires the suaveness of DeForest Kelly

Ernesto Stinger:
(Scream)

Episode 132: I Know What You Did Last Summer

Cold Open:
Halloween Costumes!
Craig dresses as Rusty James from Rumblefish and Matt as a green slime from the film of the same name

Gift:
None (see note)

Craig’s Background LP:
Donna Summer “I Remember Yesterday”

Show Notes
• Matt forgets about the opening credits
• The third and final horror movie for October, chosen by Craig, with appropriate music and titles
• Tona designed and built the slime costume
• Craig forgot to get Matt a gift for this episode. He frantically searches his pockets for cash and ends up giving Matt his car (keys).
• Craig continues (incorrectly) saying “big leather couch” instead of “old leather couch”
• Matt refuses to pronounce Ryan Phillippe’s silly sounding last name, referring to him as “Ryan P”
• “They think it was suicide, but it was ‘we-icide’.”
• The name “Billy” once again provokes weirdness from Matt
• Two of the featured films in Seen It were sent in to the PO Box by viewers
• Matt and Craig end the episode with an inter-species rumble

Seen It:
(Theme: Horror)
The Abominable Dr. Phibes
Matango (Attack of the Mushroom People)
The Old Dark House
Island of Terror

Closing Credits:
A madrigal (“I’ve Got No More Notes (on the movie)”)

Ernesto Stinger:
“You little shit-stick, Mayberry, ass-reject!”

Episode 133: Rancho Notorious

Cold Open:
Code 46 and the very cool bad idea
The distraction of celebrity karaoke

Gift:
Glow in the dark ring toss

Craig’s Background LP:
Marty Robbins “Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs”

Show Notes
• Craig claims to avoid movies with numbers in the title
• “The unbroken line” is completed – the show has featured at least one movie from the beginning of the modern cinema era (1927) to “now-ish” (currently 2016). Rancho Notorious represents 1952, the final year needed to complete the line.
• Matt calls the movie “Duran Duran’s favorite western”. Craig points out that the western film Rio Bravo is also a possibility.
• Rancho Notorious had been benched from the 2020 season because of COVID
• Craig yells “I want my opera house!” in Spanish
• The mention of Bat Masterson evokes a visit from Ray Milland and his bat

Seen It:
Pain and Glory
Extra Ordinary
The United States Vs. Billie Holiday
The Lady from Shanghai

Closing Credits:
Matt makes a few Jerry Maguire jokes

Ernesto Stinger:
“Hey, they’re all getting’ drunk over at the Dipper!”

Episode 234: Ninotchka

Cold Open:
At long last, Craig and Matt go to the theater and watch a movie: The French Dispatch
Wes Anderson’s Batman

Gift:
A miniature reproduction of Da Vinci’s The Last Supper

Craig’s Background LP:
Roxy Music “Manifesto”

Show Notes
• Matt reveals the hidden theme of November: Hollywood Legends Month
• The second appearance of Bela Lugosi on our show
• Matt claims that Greta Garbo was going to attend his high school graduation in 1990 (a full year before that event actually happened)
• Matt misidentifies the painter of The Last Supper as Michaelangelo
• Matt is exasperated because Craig can’t count in Russian
• Krezhnev, the Russian mystery man, finally makes an appropriately Russian appearance on the show
• Craig is confused by a reference to a deep cut from the band The Police
• Craig recounts a real life NYC Garbo spotting by a friend in the 1960s
• Craig doesn’t like champagne

Seen It:
(Theme: The Military)
A Few Good Men
I Was a Male War Bride
La Grande Illusion
Mr. Roberts

Closing Credits:
The buildup to a murder that doesn’t happen

Ernesto Stinger:
“Who am I to cost the Russian people seven cows!”

Episode 235: Quintet

Cold Open:
Once Upon a Time…In Hollywood: the novel
Craig edits Tarantino

Gift:
Christmas-themed pinball toy

Craig’s Background LP:
Dire Straits s/t

Show Notes
• Matt reads a cat magazine
• Craig pays musical tribute to the late Stephen Sondheim
• The second appearance on the show for Bibi Andersson and Paul Newman
• Matt consults the Variety Science Fiction Guide for a blurb on Quintet
• Matt brings up Snausages again
• Craig references Tough Guys Don’t Dance with “You got no woooomb!”
• “She went from ‘Smiles of a Summer Night’ to ‘Cries of a Winter Fright’”
• Matt identifies the game in the film as an early example of LARPing

Seen It:
Key Largo
Carnal Knowledge
Disappearance at Clifton Hill
The French Dispatch

Closing Credits:
Craig mishears a word and runs with it

Ernesto Stinger:
“It is feeling the heat of the adrenaline!”

Episode 236: Mary Pickford shorts (“America’s Sweetheart”)

Cold Open:
Matt’s siblings spoiled entire movies for him as a child
Craig, in his youth told an adult the plot of Raiders of the Lost Ark in “coolness chronology”

Gift:
A Mad Look at Old Movies paperback

Craig’s Background LP:
Neil Young “Decade”

Show Notes
• This episode is bookended by different Raiders of the Lost Ark discussions
• Our 2021 end of the year Megasode, featuring the year in review, new hall of fame members and all of the usual end of the year stuff
• Craig’s favorite movie of the year: Crooklyn. Least favorite: Night of the Lepus. Matt’s favorite and least favorite are the same film: Quintet.
• Matt comes up with a good term paper topic for a Woman’s Studies course
• Craig makes an extremely dubious claim that Greta Garbo is the female Adam Sandler
• The plan is to watch two short films featuring silent film star Mary Pickford. The boys are stymied in their attempt to view the 1910 short “An Arcadian Maid” due to false advertising on the dvd box. Instead, they watch “Getting Even” from 1909.
• The third D.W. Griffith short watched on the show
• The short “Artful Kate” is successfully viewed
• Craig and Matt welcome the new members of the Welcome to the Basement Hall of Fame: Penelope Spheeris, Delroy Lindo, Angela Lansbury, Nicolas Cage, Mario Bava, Bibi Andersson. New in the non-human category: “Singing”.
• The final Seen It of the year, as per tradition, is a beloved movie classic and Matt and Craig only discuss what’s bad about it

Seen It:
The Dig
Rome, Open City
The Prom
Raiders of the Lost Ark

Closing Credits:
A look at what happens behind the scenes in the basement after Matt says “cut”

Ernesto Stinger:
(Craig’s voice) “I am going to Cuba.”