The Arts Hole

Burlesque

Musical superstars Cher and Christina Aguilera team up for a gritty tale of addiction, revenge and corporate greed in this hard hitting, edge-of-your-seat thriller from 2008. We're just kidding; it's glittery and fabulous and there are lots of campy dance numbers. It's also, as Luke is forced to admit, better than you might expect. 
 
Recorded in 2020.
 
SHOW NOTES: 
Todd in the Shadows video essay on Burlesque - https://youtu.be/3tItp0JA_wU 

Tango & Cash

 Released in December of 1989, "Tango & Cash" was the last and most eighties of the eighties action movie trend. We do our best to explain a complex and meaningless plot, and try to fix a film that is at once brilliant and terrible in equal measure. 
 Originally recorded 2020.
 
SHOW NOTES:
The scene in Jackie Chan's Police Story that VERY loosely inspired this movie's opening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFo_NjgwJbQ 
Bea mentioned the Bechdel test, which is a way of watching scripted media to see how sexist it is. In order to pass the Bechdel test, two women who have named characters need to have a conversation about something, and that something can't be a man. A staggering number of films, plays and TV shows can't manage this. 
 
Gun Boot!   https://youtu.be/K6r5vGVmEM0?t=49 

The Conjuring

 Based on a movie based on a book based on a true story that was made up, "The Conjuring" is the latest iteration of the "Amityville Horror" legend. In this case, it's the story of a family who move into a haunted house. If that doesn't sound very original or interesting, maybe trust that instinct... 
 
SHOW NOTES:
 
The surprisingly sweet "Poltergay" : https://www.amazon.com/Poltergay-English-Subtitled-Julie-Depardieu/dp/B00KV89C8W 
 
The surprisingly harrowing Ryan Reynolds comedy "The Voices" : https://www.amazon.com/Voices-Ryan-Reynolds/dp/B00T9DFQCQ  
 
A more skeptical take on the Amityville "haunting" : https://www.oxygen.com/martinis-murder/amityville-horror-hoax-the-true-crime-story-behind-lutz-family-famous-haunted-house 
 
 

Black History Month Special

Because October is not all Pumpkins and fun sized Mars Bars, we wanted to honour Black History Month. Luke suggested getting a black guest, Bea pointed out that this gig in unpaid and that two white people asking someone black to work for free might have some awkward precedents. Instead, this week we take a quick tour through some of our favourite contemporary pieces of Black Art. 
 
 
SHOW NOTES: 
 
Akala's Oxford Union Lecture: https://youtu.be/WUtAxUQjwB4 
 
Black Dynamite: https://youtu.be/96Y24a0cyCE 
 
"Trouble in Mind" at the National Theatre: https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/trouble-in-mind 
 
Related to "Bad Hair", the great David Bowie asking some awkward questions during an MTV interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZGiVzIr8Qg 
 
Our friend Adam makes very cool furniture out of old, broken instruments over at: https://www.facebook.com/brokenneckrg/  
 
Seeing White Podcast: https://www.sceneonradio.org/seeing-white/ 
 
Our favourite black cultural commentators: 
 
The Nod Podcast: https://gimletmedia.com/shows/the-nod 
F.D. Signifier: https://www.youtube.com/c/FDSignifire 
Shanspeare: https://www.youtube.com/c/Shanspeare 
Khadija Mbowe: https://www.youtube.com/c/KhadijaMbowe 

Masters & Disasters: Alien (1979) vs Alien: Covenant (2017)

 Second in our series about related projects, one which succeeds and one which doesn't. In this episode, it's Luke's pick, and he is comparing Ridley Scott's seminal 1979 sci-fi horror "Alien" with Ridley Scott's wanky 2017 prequel "Alien: Covenant."
 
SHOW NOTES:
The crew of "Covenant" dressed as they think appropriate for first contact with an unknown world: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/on-and-off-the-avenue/a-workwear-jacket-worthy-of-drake-and-alien-covenant The "plot" of the first Alien prequel, "Prometheus" : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeoP0V8yNVQ 
Cinema Sins is just as annoyed as Luke was: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBGECC5U09Q 
The "chestburster" scene from the original "Alien," complete with Ash (Ian Holm) staring longingly after the creature: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPQ7om598OM 
 
In space, no one can hear you play the fucking recorder: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skppRyDy2Ng 

Jennifer‘s Body

 In 2009, movie studios took a gamble on the controversial idea that Megan Fox was attractive - which became their whole marketing strategy for a film that's actually a feminist-inflected horror comedy about a possessed cheerleader. Post #MeToo, the film has finally found an audience, but does it have the teeth of, say, "Teeth" ? Does it have the flavour of "Ginger Snaps" ? Is Megan Fox a "Promising Young Woman" ? ...Alright, we'll stop... 
 
SHOW NOTES: 
 
Teeth (2007) https://youtu.be/g8HbLQy2_cI 
Ginger Snaps (2000) https://youtu.be/lRXT1J0kqdY 
The Take essay on Jennifer's Body & the female gaze https://youtu.be/X7Twg8rG2HI 
Our brand new MySpace page! www.myspace.com/theartsholepod 

The Mummy (2017)

Ancient, malevolent, desiccated human remains with eerie power (Tom Cruise) get into a fight with some Egyptian chick. This was the movie that launched and then immediately sank Universal's "Dark Universe" project, for reasons that are painfully clear on screen. SHOW NOTES: 
Variety article on the problems with leaving a film under Cruise control: https://variety.com/2017/film/news/the-mummy-meltdown-tom-cruise-1202465742/ 
The original, "too big to fail" launch of the Dark Universe, containing the iconic picture in which all actors in the project are absolutely, definitely in the same room as one another: https://www.ign.com/articles/2017/05/22/dark-universe-announced-as-universal-monsters-shared-universe-depp-bardem-condon-and-elfman-confirmed 

Masters & Disasters: The Wicker Man (1973) vs The Wicker Man (2006)

 First of a series comparing one great piece of work with a related, terrible piece of work. In this case, 1973's cult classic Brit Horror "The Wicker Man" versus 2006's shit horror "The Wicker Man," with Nicolas FREAKIN' CAGE! Oooooh. OOOOooooOOOh AAAAHHH! I'm a sexy cat...Show Notes: Worst of The Wicker Man: https://youtu.be/e6i2WRreARo Nicolas Cage explained: https://youtu.be/F1XCUo_Uu8M 

Horror Top Ten(s)

 In the spirit of celebrating the good as well as bashing the bad, and in the run up to Halloween, we take a break from criticising to talk about some of the scary movies that we love. Ten films each, plus wild cards and honourable mentions and, if we're honest, probably a fair bit of bending the rules and outright cheating. 

Ghostbusters

Now that the sexist battleground has quietened, we take a look at the 2016 all-girl Ghostbusters reboot, not to be confused with the upcoming all-children reboot, and presumably far ahead of 2025's inevitable all-dog effort, or Ghostbusters Vs. Predator, or whatever else they're going to do to resurrect a franchise that should probably be left to decay in peace...