The Flop House - FH Mini 153 - Tops and Flops

Episode Date: July 4, 2026

Stuart takes us on a tour of several significant movie directors, asking Dan and Elliott to guess which of their works are top rated on IMDb and which ones take the bottom slot, and discussing whether the rankings are justified. Subscribe to our NEWSLETTER, “Flop Secrets! It’s the best way to keep up on all things Flop House! Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinflop

Hey, it's me, Stuart Wellington on the Flop House podcast, and we are doing another Flop House Mini, and I'm joined by my co-hosts. Introduce yourself, fellas. Dan McCoy. Elliot Charles Kalan, the second. Now, welcome back to the inaugural episode of a new Flop House mini segment.

Right. Welcome back to the Enogamous. I already got them all twisted up. With another classic Stuart Brayette. Brain teaser. But to get back to the original... Another Stuart brain attack. We're ready for it.

So brain teasers aside, let's get back to the meat of this. And that is, coming back to the inaugural episode of a new flop house mini format. That's right. We are at, this is called tops and flops. That's right. We are talking about tops and flops. A baseball card company. You're probably thinking we're talking about baseball, baseball.

All these balls have been based. We got to put in redress this thing. I messed it all up. Start it over. Get those balls some hymns. Yeah, we're not talking about, when you hear tops and flops, you're probably thinking of baseball cards and flip flops. We are not talking about that.

We are, again, talking about a rare thing here on the flop house, which is movies. Normally on the flop house minis, we talk about whatever. But here on this specific club. Yeah, you're right. Okay, fine. Undercut, my initial point, we are going to be talking about movies. we are going to be talking about the best movies by communal decision and the worst movies by communal decision by various directors.

Now those ratings are going to be based on IMBB. Now I would ask my two... I am BB. I am BB8, baby. I wish Iambbb.com. That's more like four Bs right there. I wish IMBB.com was just a website where you just go and there's a picture of B8 and he just says,

BB8, baby. Wonderful. Guys, I feel like our fucking curse is that we can't not talk about Star Wars. Yeah. I don't understand it. Save me from this. Okay. So the idea is that we are going to be talking about different filmmakers.

In this inaugural episode, I have selected a couple of directors. And we're going to look at the IMDB rankings. And we're going to look at the one that is considered the best. by the ranking system and we're going to be looking at the worst by the ranking system. Now this collection of directors I have chosen by

I tried to pick a little bit of a diverse crowd a crowd but it is still limited by directors who I believe there's a good chance we have seen most of some of their movies it's also affected by my own personal taste yeah and also

Veritia Lovah, all of them okay great cool and keeping in mind that the ranking systems is from IMDB users so it's you know It'll be wild. Grino salt. Grainosol, yep.

So we are, I would ask my co-host. Grainosol sounds like a DC supervillain from the 1950s. It's like, oh, all my clothes are so crispy and weird. In collaboration with the granosalt company, they're like, this is a limited time character. Okay, so we are, I would ask my co-host to not use IMDB at the same time, just to preserve some of the excitement on this. So what we're going to do is. Yeah. We're going to list the filmmaker.

We're going to mention, you know, kind of guess it what the top one is, kind of guess it what the bottom one is. And then we'll kind of discuss whether or not either of those choices are what we expected or what we think should be or what might be influencing that. So the first one, he has a big movie out now as of time of recording. That is Mr. Steven Spielberg. And fellas, give me two seconds here. It's called Disclosure Day.

It's about aliens sexually harassing Michael Douglas. That actually tracks. I'm just going to be using the old internet here. So we are using this by, nope. Yep, by Wi-Fi, which stands for wireless, wireless fidelity, wireless fire exit. Wireless fire exit. Sorry. I expected this to be a-vying for Stewart.

I expected this to go much faster. and now I'm going slower. Wi-Fi stands for Will it function? Impossible. And refine. Okay, so what do we think is the number one movie, the top movie? Show me Sugar Land Express?

I'm going to guess Jaws. There's a chance it is Schindler's list, but I'm going to say Jaws. I'm going to say E.T. It is, it is Schindler's list with a whopping 9.0.0. Oh, Jaws isn't even in the top five. Well, that is wild.

E.T. is also not in the top five. That is also wild. The top five are a problem with IMDV. Top five is Schindler's List, saving Private Ryan, Raiders of Lost Ark, Jurassic Park, and Indiana Jones in the Last Crusade, which I would argue is probably, like, I feel like the first four I can see the argument. You can make an argument that Last Crusade has better than E.T., Jaws, close encounters, no way. Seems wild. Yeah.

I would say the Fableman's is better than Last Crusade in my mind, you know. Mm-hmm. Now, what do you think? His lowest rating one is one I have not seen or heard of. I have a strong guess for that. Oh, not heard of. Well, I'm going to guess. Ridge of spies?

Always, because I feel like something like Hook has too many millennial fans, you know, Ready Player 1 has too many nerd fans. I'm going to say, always. I'm going to say it is the TV movie he did before duel that I can't remember the name of Devil's something. Is it called Firelight?

Oh, Firelight. That's like a short. Firelight isn't that one made as a kid? The firelight here is listed as two hours and 20 minutes. Really? Isn't it like... Because I set it to, the criteria was set to movies. I believe that's a same. student film, though, isn't it?

I thought so too. Nonetheless, okay. So ignoring that. So it is, it's for 1964. That's the movie he made when he was a teenager. Yeah, yeah. The one above that would be 1941. This is, okay.

According to Wikipedia, only three minutes and 40 seconds of the footage of firelight has been made public. Okay. So I could see why it would have a bad rating. Yes. Although, he's talked about this. On a budget of $500, he made $501 at the box office. So even then, there you go. They get his money back, Blockbuster.

So what's the movie then? When you take out Firelight, what's the bottom one? 1941. Okay. That's another one I would have guessed, yeah, because it's... Yeah. Always is in the bottom five. Along with Twilight's on the movie, the BFG,

and Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull. I forgot he made the BFG. I never saw that. I never saw Ready Player 1 either. I've never seen it. When you become an old man director, you either take a long time between... Ready Player 1 is straight in the middle here.

Yeah. When you're an old man director, you either take a lot of... Lincoln. Okay. You either take a lot of time to make movies or you just churn him out. And I feel like Spielberg has been in a churning him out section of his career. Yeah.

Well, I mean, he always, though, like, it's like he's setting something up while he's got, he's got like five things going on and then whatever's ready to go. Yeah, I feel like the War of the World's movie is ranked fairly low. I like that movie a lot. I like that movie a lot. I think it's good. The only thing I don't like is that there's no universe where I believe. Tom Cruise is like a longshoreman.

Yeah. Too pretty. Sugar Land Express is pretty low. It's a great movie, though. It's just low because people haven't seen it. I think there's going to be, I mean, the movies, I'm amazed that E.T. is not higher up, but the movie, it makes sense to me that the lower movies are the ones that are more about people

and less about spectacle, you know, based on the IMDB voting audience, you know? Where's, where's, where's, where's, where's, where's, where's, where's, where, where's, where, where's, where, where's, where, where, where's, where, where, I just lost it. Bridges Spice was straight in the middle. Okay, what about the paper? Or the post? Sorry, the post. Also, like, low to mid. Okay.

Do you have, now, do you have a personal, I mean, I think when we guessed, we had our, were you guys guessing with your heart or with your brain on these? I was trying to do a little bit of both. I do think E.T. is the movie of his that is the most magical to me. But also, like, I was like, there's a lot of 80s kids probably voting on IMDB. I would think E.T. would be, that it's not the top five is astounding to me. Yeah. Yeah, E.T. is certainly, I would not argue with someone who put that at the top.

Like, I like Jaws and Raiders the most, but E.T. has such magic to it. And I feel like E.T. is, if you were going to say to me, what is the, show me a movie that Stephen Spielberg made that nobody else would make that well or that way. And E.T. is the movie that I, maybe E.T. or close encounters are the ones that I would show where I'd be like, it's hard for me to imagine somebody else's. making these movies the same way he does and as well as he does, those specific movies, just because he has such a connection to the material, you know. And I feel like people have tried to recreate the magic of E.T. Yeah, I just watched Mac and me again recently.

They got pretty close. Well, that's, that's, you've just undercut my point here. I was going to say nobody's come close to matching it, but clearly Mac and me. I showed another Stuart Raffle movie for my bad movie night pick recently, because when we had Alonzo on the show, he just like offhandedly mentioned like a couple of things. We was like, oh, you know, like we,

I went and saw after last season because sometimes you hear through the grapevine, like something's really special and he like tossed off the title standing ovation and I looked it up. I'm like, oh, from the director of Mac and me, sold in the room. Sight unseen.

I'll program this and it was a big hit. If you're looking for a bad movie. We're going to move on to our next director and that is director, it's a Coppola, Sophia Coppola. Oh. Nine features here. That's a, you know, I feel like enough to have a, that's a solid career there. You can have a middle in that.

What do you say is the number one Sophia Coppola movie? What's the top? Lost in translation. Yeah, I'm still going to guess lost in translation. Got in one. Banged it out. By a decent margin. I'd say IMDB viewers.

IMD voters, they like Bill Murray. They like seeing Scarlet Johansans's butt, you know, what else? What is they going to choose? Yeah. Followed a little closely by the Virgin suicides. A little bit of a gap. We got Marie Antoinette. What do you think the bottom is?

I'm guessing the bling ring. You are 100% correct. I was going to say the beguiled, but the bling ring is even lower, huh? Yeah, bling ring is at a 5.6. I feel like people like... I actually haven't seen it. I've never seen it either. I feel like, I guess that one because it's the one that people like, I think

forget was. even her, uh, which isn't a good sign for like the support behind it. Oh yeah. I feel like, I feel like I feel like I still haven't seen the Sophia Coppola Beguiled, but I do love the original.

Yeah. Dan, have you seen it? I feel like that's, I mean, I'm shocked that all, if all three of us have not. I have, yeah,

I've only seen the original. And I'm shocked I haven't seen it because I love Sophia Coppola. I think I've seen all of her other movies except for the bling ring. And the Beguiled. And the Beguiled, yeah. Yeah, I should see it.

I think, I think, I think I just never got around. It was just one of those ones where, like, I just didn't want to see it so badly that I made a point of seeing it, you know, and I forgot about it until now. But I love that original so much, yeah.

I mean, it also speaks to her earlier work seems to have to be, like, rated a little bit higher. Do you think that's common with an indie filmmaker? Because I feel like maybe that's unfair for me to call her an indie filmmaker, but I feel like her movies at least have the feel of an indie movie. I mean, I think that's common with many filmmakers. I think with indie filmmakers also,

often the first movies they make are the ones that they're excited about, like the ones that they have to get made, you know, and so that's what they do. But often with a lot of filmmakers... And they often have to fight to get it made in a way that they might not later on. And also they're new, they're bursting with ideas.

Often they're younger and they can really apply their whole self to the movie because they don't have other responsibilities. And I feel like every director's career, for the most part, has ups and downs that is often more dependent on their life outside, of their work, then we on the outside outside really have a sense of, you know. But I think with a lot of filmmakers, when they're young and new, it's like the excitement

of what they're doing comes through and then they kind of settle into it. But then you've got filmmakers where they start out not knowing what they're doing and then they become master's. Yeah. I mean, I think it's also true that like even if someone puts out work of pretty consistent quality, there's a tendency among audiences to be like, oh, I'm excited by like a thing when it's new. And then if someone has a style, they're like, well, I'm tired of that style, even if it's still good, if it's still good work. Well, you can see what, like, the Acting Academy Awards, there's often like people at the beginnings of their career and it's exciting that they're being discovered or people at the very ends of their career where it's like you've rediscovered how important this person is after years of taking them for granted.

And I think it's the same way with art in general when people are mass art that way, you know. It's why it's exciting when like someone in the middle of like a pretty consistent career just does something very different that pays off, you know. Because you're like, whoa, I didn't know they had it in them. Oh, okay. What's this all about? Our next director, the top will actually surprise you based on some of what we've already said. But this, in honor of the Knicks victory last night, the New York Knicks. Spikely?

We're doing Spikely. Yep. The unofficial mascot of the New York Knicks. I saw a like an Instagram video after one of the wins recently where it was just like a crowd of people standing around a car with Spike Lee like out of the sunroof. Everyone's just cheering. What would you say...

Our next king. Now, what would you say the top movie on Spike Lee's film? I'm guessing that do the right thing might be too political for some of the voters on IMDB and thus inside man might slip in. I'm going to say maybe Malcolm X. While both of those are ranked fairly high, do the right thing is very high,

but is the third on the list. But I would probably second, actually. The number one is, I guess, even though I sort of it to movie, is David Burns, American Utopia. I was like, right before you said, I'm like, I wonder if that slipped in just because people are like, well, what a great concert movie. I haven't seen it. How is it? Oh, it's wonderful.

It's like, I was lucky enough to see the show when it was on Broadway. Like, as soon as it was announced, I'm like, well, I'm sure this is going to be expensive, but this is the thing that I need to see, David Byrne doing a, and it was wonderful. And the, yeah, the documentary version of it is, is excellent. But it is just a great concert movie. like it is less a Spike Lee movie Yeah But I mean Spike Lee joint is the technical term

We've talked I mean we've talked about Spike Lee Specifically talking about inside man before And there are moments in his career Where he's just like I can do the craft I can just do the basic craft As good as anyone else There are moments when he's like

Let me just show you that like We talked about this before that Let me show you The movies I make I make them because that's the way I want to make a movie and that's the movie I want to make, I could easily make a movie that's a more mainstream movie and be as good as anyone has ever made a movie. He's an amazing filmmaker. He's just got such a natural, like, craft knowledge. Like, he's a brilliant artist. Like, he's got, he's so

good at what he does and he puts so much thought and intention into everything he does, which is funny when he makes a movie that's kind of a mess, it's because he's like, yeah, this is the movie I'm making. I'm making a mess. And, but like, inside man shows, he's like, I can, I can do, I can do control if that's what you want, but that's not what I want, you know. So what would we say IMDV voters like the least from his filmography? This is tough because I feel like he is a brilliant. Crooklyn? Yeah.

I feel like that was really reclaimed. Then I'm going to guess Red Hook Summer. Yeah, maybe something like that. Crooklyn is much higher. What's the, I'm just, I'm trying to guess ones that are like, like, Girl 6 is pretty low. I'm trying to guess ones that are like smaller movies because I feel like IMDB does not do a great job of recognizing the worth in smaller movies.

What was the one? He also has 36 credits. Yeah, that's the thing. He's got so many movies. Is it the remake of Ganjin Hess was like The Blood of Jesus or whatever it was? You are correct. That's his lowest.

All right. Almost nobody saw that. Yeah. Some of his lowest movies are his, effectively his remakes, whether it's highest to lowest and the old boy remake. I forgot he did that.

Chirac is kind of low. School days is pretty low. Girl 6's Red Hook Summer. But then, like, in the middle, you have things like Mo Better Blues, Summer of Sam, bamboozled. Part of looking through this is also being reminded of, like, oh, yeah, he's got this huge film, MacVry. I still have never seen 25th hour, a movie that... I haven't either. It's very hard to find.

It keeps being mentioned as, like, the quintessential, like, post-September 11th movie. Yeah, I didn't see it when it came out because the commercials made it look very boring and that I've heard nothing but good things about it, but it's one that each time I try to find it online somewhere, I should just watch it illegally, I guess, but when I try to find it streaming somewhere, like it's just not available, it's not as readily available

as a lot of the movies. Elliot, we here at the flop house believe firmly in streaming services getting their piece of everything. Streaming service property rights. The middleman must get their dollar, you know. I saw that movie at the time and I loved it. I think it's one, It is like a great movie.

I personally find this idea of it being like, the quintessential, you know, post-9-11 movie, like, a little overstated. I mean, it was not built as that. And then they added some stuff that, like, gave it more of that flavor, you know, after the tragedies happened. But, but, like, I don't know. Maybe if I saw it today, I would feel differently. Whereas you think the quintessential post-9-11 movie is Spider-Man?

This is New York. You mess with one of us. You mess with all of us. Yeah. That spirit went away after a while. Well, I mean, it's back. The Knicks. It's back.

Yeah. That's true. Yeah. Yeah. And also, like, his tops are a lot of the things that I feel like are going to be more of his, his, like, larger audience. The ones where he seems to be making something for, like, a larger audience. Things like Malcolm X, Black Klansman, that features friend of the podcast.

Ashley Atkinson. Yeah, good movie. It's really good movie. So we're going to go now from Spike Lee to Angley. I thought he was going to say Spike Jones. We went to Angley. You got to change it real quick. So who do we think is going to be, what do we think is going to be Angley's best move? I'm guessing. Top movie. Crashing tiger, hidden dragon. It's tied.

I would guess that would work back mountain. but Oh man Brokeback Mount's so fucking good Well where's the wedding banquet Because the wedding banquet I think is my favorite His

His uh There's a tie for number one And one of those is Cratching Tiger Hidden Dragon And the other one is the Hulk Wait it's just Hulk Give me Eric Banna Is the Hulk

Is it Life of Pie Is that the other one? It's Life of Pie I still haven't seen it either There's a tiger in it right There's a tiger It's one of those movies Or is there

Wink That's a good point Yeah, it's one of those movies where I like cannot bring myself. I'm like, I'll just go see this kid and this tiger in a boat for like forever. I don't know. I don't know, guys. Yeah, and it'll, I mean, I understand. Like, I hear it looks beautiful.

I've heard it's beautiful. One and best director, right? I feel like it looked really fakes to me in a way that was like. I mean, like artificial is fine as far as I'm concerned. But there's a-art official you draw the line at. There's a digital fakingness I have a harder time with. I'm sorry, Todd Azir. I think we all feel that.

I grew up with a certain... That's the thing. We're all 80s kids, so we would rather see a fake puppet than a fake computer thing. Yeah. What was... That's just what we grew up with?

What was Engle's breakthrough movie? Eat, Drink Man Woman, probably, right? Yeah, I think so. I mean, he was... That was the one, I think, that got him like a bigger mainstream audience, yeah. Can I guess the... The bottom is a tie.

Is it Billy Lynn's long halftime walk? Is it... That is close, but it's not. Is it ride with the devil? No. Is it smoke or blue in the face? Wait, did you do that one? No, that's not him.

That's Wayne Wang, I think. That's Wayne Wang. Sorry, I sound very racist now. You're incredibly racist. Okay. So the bottom two is Hulk. And the other is a movie we covered here on the flop house. Oh, did Gemini Man?

Gemini Man. Oh, I totally forgot that he did that. Just like my Gemini Dan here, born in June. And then a little bit. a little bit of a gap before Billy Lynn's long half-time walk. Then we have a ride with the devil, taking woodstock, pushing hands. And then we get to the ice storm,

which I think deserves better than that. Yeah. Yeah. And also... They can only... When you've got... He's a great director, when you've got so many good movies, they can all be at the top. He does have a lot of good movies. Most of his filmography is above seven, which is pretty good.

Yeah. And I'm just going to say it too. Dan, you may be a racist, but Wayne Wang also has a lot of great movies. Uh-huh. Lust, Caution cautions on there. I'm a big fan of Lus Caution. Oh, I never saw Lest Caution. It took me a while because I'm like, wait, there's an NC17 version out there. I need to track that thing down.

The only ones on streaming is the R-rated and that's not for me. Because I'm a maniac that feels like I need to see. Like, I'm like, I won't be experiencing the full thing. And it's also like a two and a half hour movie and I'm like, well, I'm not going to watch it twice. I also have never seen

his sense and sensibility. It's very good. It's very, very good. That I think is, you could say that that is up there with the Pride and Prejudice miniseries and Clueless as like the best adaptations of Jane Austen's work into film and television, you know. It's really good. It's really good. It's really good. doing stories about people who aren't,

do not have the tools to accurately convey their, they're, like, roiling turmoil inside of their, like, their, like, staid facade. That's a good way to talk, that's a good way to describe it, yeah. So, of course, we're going from Spike Lee to Angley to Mightly. Wow. I mean, spelled differently. Yeah.

Mike Lee, but yeah, it's spelled differently. Okay, so he's a classic goofster here. Real. Classic funny man. I have to say, I mean, there's some very funny movies that he did. There's a lot of Mike Lee that I haven't seen. He's a blind spot for me. The few I've seen I like so much, but I'm also like, oh, I got to be emotionally ready for this one.

I mean, like, if it's naked, sure, but if it's, I mean, like, topsy-turvy or happy-go-lucky. I was like, I don't know what mindset. I got to be in to watch this. but it is not what I'm in right now. You know, yeah. I feel like naked reminds me too much of like, I am stuck at the bar talking to this nightmare of a person. Okay, so 15 movies in his filmography.

What do we think number one is? What's the tops? I'm going to guess just because I think it's the biggest name, Secrets and Lies. That's what I would guess also, yeah. You got you slam dunked it there, dude. Secrets and Lies with a bit of a gap before Vera Drake. Oh, I never saw Vera Drake. I have no idea what her deal is.

But that's kind of notable just because... You never will know, Dan. I won't tell you. I must know about Vera Drake. I simply must. Vier Drake is definitely like a mid-career movie. Is what, Sir, what are you going to say? That's kind of a mid-career movie for him coming out in 2004.

Do we have a guess what the low one would be? I'm going to guess it's something you did for television, like a TV movie that hasn't made it to the U.S. I feel like the things that are going to be lower in his filmography I may not even be familiar with. I mean, I do feel like I know a lot of them, but... That's that guy with the... Who has sex with the pig.

Yeah, so... That actor, yeah, from men. So his bottoms are two mics don't make a right, but that is a... He just does a segment there. And then he also directed a... a movie called Peterloo. I never heard of that.

Mr. Turner. Mr. Turner's at the bottom? Yeah. That movie's great. That one I never saw. That's one about the painter. That low is still a decent score. That's a 6.8.

Okay. It's still fairly low. I haven't seen it. What's the deal of Mr. Turner? It's about Turner. The painter. The English painter who, he did a lot of atmospheric effects in his landscapes.

Yeah. Landscapes. And when I was... I mean, I guess the character... of Mr. Turner is kind of unpleasant to spend time with, but... They tried to soften him with Mr. Hooch, but it didn't look, yeah. Yeah.

When I was 13, my grandmother... Mike Lee's Turner and Hooch would be way sadder. It would be much sadder. So it would all take place after Hooch dies. When I was 13, my grandmother took me and my sister and my cousin to England, because we're all turning 13. We went to the National Gallery because my grandmother was like, you have to see the turners.

You have to see the clouds and the skies in the Turner paintings. And I remember it making no... impact on me whatsoever. And so maybe I got to watch the movie. I can see that making no impact on you at that age. We just went to Chicago fairly recently for a live show. I mean, and by that, I mean, within the last few months. And I went to the art museum there in Chicago. And they had a bunch of Turner paintings. And I was, you know, I thought that were gorgeous. And I, you know, as someone who has like amateurist amateurist

You can't even say the word An amateur painter Myself I was astounded at the effects that he could get I couldn't even imagine I gotta watch that movie now So I can find out

How he did it I gotta see the Clouds is what I'm looking for Yeah clouds Okay dude Dust in the air You know all the stuff Yeah

Okay so we're going from The What kind of the How would we describe the works of Mike Lee? Like, realistic, improvisational, you know, character-based? I feel, I guess not necessarily harsh, but I feel like there's a starkness to them.

Yeah, yeah. So we're moving from that to something a little more punchy and fun. We're going to talk about director Catherine Bigelow. Sure. Catherine Bigelow. So let's, we got a, let me just pull this up real quick. The top one's either going to be, what, Hurt Locker or Point Break? No, that's not what I'm looking for.

Yeah, there we go. Okay, so number one, what do you think? Hurt Locker or point break, yeah. Yeah, I think that that's probably true, one of those. It's a pretty tight grouping here, actually. Near Dark better be pretty high up. Well, for most of them, it's a pretty tight grouping. Number one is the Hurt Locker, just barely edging out.

Zero Dark 30. Oh. Oh, I would say a much lower movie than Hurt Locker or Point Break. But Point Break is actually tied with, for third place, tied with Detroit. A movie I have no. I'm surprised Detroit is that I have. Yeah. But again, these are specifically Detroit and also Zero Dark 30 are kind of later, at least more current in her career.

Those are post-Hurt Locker, yeah. Pretty solid guess, I think, for, like, for, I think so, too. I'm going to say loveless. I was also going to say loveless. Very close, but not the bottom. Oh, really? The bottom by 0.2 points.

Not strange days, is it? Blue steel. That is. That makes sense. Dutty. Crazy. That makes sense, I guess. I mean, it makes sense, but it is like, maybe it's because you have to, like, get

into the wackiness of it. Yeah. Yeah, that is not a movie. But you get, like, Clancy Brown's ass in it. Who doesn't want that? That should get a couple of points. I don't think that movie exists in reality as we know it, and I think people expect it to.

Oh, yeah. I'm surprised it's not Loveless because Lovelace is such a, is like, is also like such a, like, such a, like, a, is also like such a, like, it's not a movie that invites you in in any way, you know? I've never seen it. What's, what's the deal there? Wilm Defoe? Yeah, he's a biker and he rides into a small town in the, what, 50s or 60s,

and it's like a lot of hanging out in this town. You know, and then a bad stuff. secret comes out in town and you know it's a i only know it by reputation but it's my impression that's like closer to an art film from her than the other it definitely feels much more like a like a student film or an independent film because especially compared to her later work it feels much more like someone who's trying to make an almost like a trying to make like a david lynch type movie but without the weirdness yeah but it plays some of the same kind of like 50s you know iconography and stuff like that so the upper half we have movies like

Point break, obviously great. We also have Strange Days, which is, it's nice to see that that is... I was right that was going to be down at the bottom, yeah. Yeah. And it's, from what I can tell, that's still really hard to get a hold of, right? Has it not, is it like not streaming anywhere or something? I feel like, for a while it was hard to see. I do know that it was hard to see on streaming for a long time.

I have, like, a disc of it somewhere, so... Actually, according to the internet, it might be on Hulu, which means it would be on Disney Plus. Oh, wow. So it must be much easier to get to, yeah. Real turnaround for strange days. Yeah. Like when I'm done watching, I don't know, the Mandalorian and Grogu, I'll pop on strange days to... I like science fiction.

What's this? I like Tom Seismore. Tom Seismore acting totally normal? It's a normal wig. Yeah. I mean, I feel like the through line for Disney Plus is Angela Bassett having an amazing set of shoulders. It comes between that movie and... the...

Black Panther. Most people talk about her arms, but you could talk about her shoulders too. Yeah. I feel like... What's love got to do with it is on Hulu. Yeah, see?

Which means it's probably on Disney Plus. What's Love got to do with it is like one of the only musician biopics I like. I still haven't seen it. It's like a vilified genre for me. Everything is like, what's love got to do with it

and walk hard? Those are the only two. I mean, walk the line is I think is a, is a pretty good movie. It's a pretty solid movie. I like Walcard Moore. I mean, they're not doing the same thing.

It's okay. That's not really a biopic. What are you talking about? Stewart's been a big fan of Dewey Cox for years. Lives his music. When's he's going to put out another album, he keeps asking. I do have to point out in the bottom half here we have, Near Dark is like straight in the middle.

That should be much higher up. Bottom half is K-19, the Widow Maker. What's the deal there? It's kind of boring, I remember. Yeah, that's respectful. Is it like a Tom Clancy? It's a submarine movie. It's not a...

No, it's based on an actual incident in Russia. I don't know much about it. I tried to watch it because I'm like, what? Catherine Bigelow did a Harrison Ford submarine movie? I'll love this. And it was very, very boring, as far as I recall. I mean, I feel like the pro... I guess with a title like K-19, The Widowmaker,

that's either going to be like... It's either going to be a really awesome, like, wrestler or something. Or it's too complicated of a title, I would say. So, Catherine Bigelow, any through line here, how would we describe Catherine Bigelow's... Tough. Real tough. I mean, I feel like she, with movies like Blue Steel

and especially Point Break, kind of set a look and a feel for action movies that was then, like, adopted by guys like Michael Bay. Yeah, yeah, well, for sure. A more heightened intense sort of vibe, but like maybe isn't 100% based in reality, but it has a lot of kinetic energy. But I feel like there's something, I like the way that her stuff isn't connected to reality

as opposed to like, I feel like a Jerry Bruckheimer or something or a Michael Bay type thing. Well, she's always, I think when she's working in that heightened reality, it's great, but she's done a couple of like true life movies or movies trying to present true life. And I think there it's a, it's a, it's a mismatch for me. Like zero dark 30 is a mismatch.

Because it's like we don't live in the world that that movie says we live in. You know, it's like a... It's the action movie thing of like, well, you need to torture people, of course. And but it's like, oh, I don't... This is a weird... This is not the subject matter

that I think is right for that, you know? Yes. And where there's something about like a movie like point break where we are to believe that these, you know, like surfing bank robbers, that this... that we are like thrust into this world

and we're like, we buy that we are in this heightened strange universe. As soon as they're surfing bank robbers, you're like, well, this is going to be a, this is not the real world that we exist in. But when it's something like the Hurt Locker, I think you get people walking away from it being like, well, that's what bomb disposal units are like

in Afghanistan or Iraq. Is they just, it's three guys who just kind of cowboy around having adventures when that's not reality. You know, it's a, I think when she's, when she's blurring the line between reality and the reality, I don't like it as much.

But when it's patently unreal, when it's about a bunch of vampires tool around the country, I love that. Or Ron Silver, who becomes addicted to guns. Exactly. Okay, so... This is what I've been missing.

So we're gonna move over from Catherine Bigelow to, I think, one of... Catherine's... Mulalow. We're moving over to, I would say, one of the patron saint, not patron saints, but one of the Mount Rushmore of

Flop House directors that I think we all love and can get behind Mr. John Carpenter. We all love this arsable old man who wants to play video games and smoke weed and cash checks based on cash checks from remakes of his work. What do we think is IMDB users top John Carpenter movie of his 18 movies? I imagine it's either the thing or Big Trouble Little China, maybe my guess. Or possibly Halloween, but I'm betting. Nah, I don't think it's Halloween. The thing. You guys are both right.

It's the thing is number one, followed by Halloween. Oh, I'm surprised Halloween's that high yet. And in the bottom, I don't think these are going to be shockers. How many ghosts and what planet are they from? I personally like the ward a little bit more than I like what the children of the dam. Village of the Dam. Village of the Dam. But I'm going to guess that the Ward made it to the bottom.

Yeah, the bottom is Ghost of Mars. That's what I really. A sizable margin. And then above, the Ghost of Mars is below five, which is pretty rough. Yeah. The ward is the second to the bottom.

Village of the Dam is third from the bottom. And then right above that, Escape from L.A. A movie that I think has gotten a little bit of a, I like Escape from L. I think it's, I think people who didn't realize, I think there are a lot of people who saw Escape from New York

did not realize it is partly a joke movie. and then saw a skate from L.A. and thought it was a huge... I mean, also saw a skip in LA years later when he came out and thought it was a huge... Like, they thought it was a Gremlin's Gremlins 2 type thing. But when you watch those movies together, you're like, these movies fit together pretty well. Like, they don't...

They're not that different from each other. Yeah. The fact that he has to avoid death by shooting 10 baskets in a row is kind of silly. I find it kind of nutty that... Silly. What? He's shooting baskets.

That's true. Do you not see how the... Nick's just brought the city together. Thank you. Not L.A. They brought a different city together. Yeah. This is really dating.

This is going to come out of like a month after we, yeah. No, I'm really surprised that Ghost of Mars is the absolute bottom one because I will say that like... I actually haven't watched it. That movie's not great, but it has more John Carpenter vibes, like, which is what you want than some of the other. It is the most famously bad of his movies. So I think it might be a matter of more people see. It's being it and voting for that. Exactly. Whereas the ward can slip by

because people just don't know it that well. Village of the Damned, people probably forget that he made that. I assume in the mouth of madness is in the middle when it should be towards the top. It is, yeah, it's like top middle. Where's memoirs of an invisible man? That's right what is slightly above escape from L.A. is memoirs and an invisible man,

a movie that I have a soft spot for. I do too. I think if it was not Chevy Chase, that movie. would be thought better of, yeah. And right above that is vampires and Darkstar with a tie. Vampires has some okay stuff in it. Dark Star is much better than Vampire.

Yeah, but Dark Star way higher. Yeah, well, but again, but also Darkstar gets kind of boring in the middle, you know. And right above, I mean, there's, right above that is Prince of Darkness, which is one of my top five. That's one of my face. It's so, it's so cool and weird and, like, specifically John Carpentery.

So Starman must be pretty high up, right? Nope, it's fairly low, like low middle. It's below in the mouth of madness along with Escape from New York. I mean, a lot of, like, I feel like there's a big mix of them in there. I mean, also a certain... The tops are the thing, Halloween, assault on precinct 13, and they live, and then big trouble in all time. The thing is also like, when you've got a really good filmography, movies just have... There's only so many slots, so a movie has to get...

It can't be like, there's a 10-way tie for fourth place. Yes. I do think it's kind of funny that the tide for fourth place is they live and big trouble in Little China. Two movies that feel very spiritually. Yes. Yeah, very soon. He's operating the same register, let's say. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh, man. What, what bangers. And both featuring gentlemen with very cool haircuts. I was at one of my bars for Pride yesterday, and I had a guy tell me my hair looked very Kurt Russell. And I was like, that is by design, sir. Thank you. But yeah, I think we can all say... You're like I've always loved Captain Ron.

Yeah. So... Oh, Captain, my Captain, Stuart says. How would we describe the works of John Carpenter in a few sentences? Well, he has, like, elegant, widescreen, like, framings of things. He, I don't know, like, a lot of it is vibes. Like, he's a very... I mean, he provides those vibes with his synthesizer's score.

Yeah. Like, he, like, defined a certain 80s feel? I would say, um, not elevated genre, but, um, like, perfected is too far, but, like, clarified genre. Like, his movies take genre types of stories and clarifies what's best about them and tosses away the stuff you don't need as much. So it's not, you, when you say elevated, it makes it sound like, you like, the person feels ashamed to be working in this genre. And so they're trying to make it seem like a more.

year movie, whereas what he does is he's like, what's the best version of this story that I'm telling that is a genre story? How do I get those genre thrills across in a way that becomes elegant and beautiful because I'm doing it so well, basically? Like, that's the thing to me, is the thing is like, I'm going to do a science fiction thriller

and it is not a, I'm not doing it by trying to, like, art up a B movie, instead I'm trying to do what's the best version of this movie, you know? Yeah, he also was, like, so specifically, like a Western fan that you see that like a lot of his movies are like westerns under the surface. He never made a Western though, right? I know.

I mean, like vampires. Vampires are the claims. Kind of like a Western, but again, it's a vampire movie. It's not a, yeah. It's less of a Western than Billy the Kid meets Dracula, you know, I think. But I feel like there's, I think there's also something about the idea of like not making a Western means that he can like lean into the almost exploitative thrills of a Western movie without

risking any like, you know, cowboys versus Indians or something, bullshit. Okay. I'm sorry, guys, it's Billy the Kid versus Dracula. I should have known that they would fight each other. They would not disqualified. Yeah, yeah. Jesse James met Frankenstein's daughter.

No. Now, what did Bella Gosey do with a broken gorilla? It wasn't good. It was not good. It was like that Black Mirror episode story was talking about. Hey, Max, fun, listeners. me, Jackie Cashin, I have a podcast with Lori Kilmartin. Say hi, Lori. Hi, Jacqueline. Hi, MaxFund listeners.

But a very formal. We have a podcast and it's about stand-of-comedy and how much we love it and how much we dislike some of it. So listen to that podcast. It's called The Jackie and Lori Show. We drop new episodes every Wednesday that gives us plenty of time to decompress from our comedy weekends and discuss things with sane, level heads. No, it doesn't. If you are a woman our age or a man our age. Or you know what? Any person of any age. I think you'll enjoy your podcast. Jackie and Lori Show on maximum fun.org.

Bye. Are you a celebrity? Are you searching for meaning, connection, and a little levity these days? Hi, Uncle Melanjiani, actor, writer, and yes, a celebrity too. And I've got four words for you. Bullseye with Jesse Thorne.

Are you tired of junkets? Red carpets, sick of the endless spicy snacks you have to eat. Do you want to connect with someone who gets your work and laugh with you a little? Join me, Andre 3000, Tom Hanks, Tina Faye, and many more and become a guest on Bullseye with Jesse Thorn. From NPR and Maximum Fun. Hey, folks, the Flop House is brought to you today by Squarespace. Squarespace is the number one service platform for getting you online. You are on the internet.

We are all on the internet. But are you on it in a meaningful way? Do you perhaps need to be able to represent your small business, your personal work, etc., in a way where you can have services that charge money, set up invoicing, all of those professional things? you want to seem like a professional person, but you don't have the coding experience. Or even be one. You can be a professional person without needing all of the various coding experience or design experience

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is now available in audiobook form. Let's say you don't want to read it with your eyes. Let's say you want to listen to my mellifluous tones as they read the book to you while you do other things. Now you can do just that. Joke farming, the audiobook as read by me, the author, but I didn't read it that way,

is available wherever you can buy and download audiobooks. Please do buy it, listen to it, share it. It is all of my joke writing wisdom in one place for you, and I hope you enjoy. We have three left in my list here. We're going to the realms of comedy with director Star. I mean, I think we all know him best as one of the actors in beloved movie Ski Patrol. That is director Paul Fieg, who has a number of movies under his belt. Paul Fieg.

You got to put bridesmaids up at the top, I'm guessing. Yeah, I'm guessing that's right at the top. 20 movies. Really? I think I can name four of them. Yeah. Just because of the people who vote on IMDP, I'm going to put Ghostbusters at the bottom,

even though I don't think it deserves. Oh, I'm going to guess unaccompanied minors, but were we right about bridesmaids at the top? You guys are wrong about bridesmaids. Okay. But not by much. It's a fairly close group. The spy? I was going to spy also.

Spy is number two, which is... A simple favor. Spy? Simple favor is actually, yeah, it's kind of in the middle there. Is Ghostbusters number one? Ghostbusters is number three. Wow. Tied with bridesmaids, which I'm kind of surprised by.

Surprised by? Yeah. Number one is a movie called I Am David. Oh, wow. A 12-year-old boy escapes from a Bulgarian communist concentration camp and sets out on a journey to reach Denmark. No, thank you. Not necessarily.

No, thank you, Mr. Feig. I don't need it. This was his directorial debut, apparently. I don't know this movie at all. Yeah. But then Spy's movie that, I mean, it taught the world that Jason Statham can be pretty fucking funny.

I think the world knew that. Other than his other, his barely serious action movie. that he was... But I mean, like, I feel like at this... I mean, there was a stone-facedness with no nary a wink at the camera and a lot of his other stuff. The housemaid, pretty good,

a house-made and simple favor, which is like, I do kind of like his, like, pivot to, like, kind of sexy thrillers. Yeah, light trash. I enjoy it. Light trash. We also, of course, get... Unaccompanied minors is low,

but not the bottom. The bottom is... another simple favor. Oh, yeah. Well, not that good. Not that good at all. We briefly talked about doing it for the Flop House and then the time passed. And then, but we do have, we do have a little movie that was featured on the Flop House last Christmas, last Christmas director.

Which is one of the ones we liked the most. Yeah, yeah. I forgot he did that one. Paul Figg is someone who, he's made so many movies and yet I've seen not a lot of them. And I feel like I forget most of them. Actually, I said 20 movies. He only has 13 movies. But 7 in upcoming.

But like 13 movies is like you're a filmmaker. You're a director. Like you're a professional director. You know. I mean, he is a, I mean, when it comes to modern comedy directors, there aren't that many directors who have a name like Paul Fieg. That's true. Like you have like Adam McKay and Paul Figue.

And like Judd Apatow. Yeah. Chud Apatow. That's about it. All favorites of mine, as we will, as we know. But, I mean, one thing about Paul Figue is, again, like, we've talked about, like, the light trash. But I like his light trash has, like, an element of edge, like, both those movies, like, both a simple favor and, uh, the housemaid have, like, an edge to them that I'm, I was surprised by it from a director. He's known mainly for comedies.

Yeah. Almost so that it's hard to kind of, I mean, there's a, there's a, there's a, you could say that he's like a workman-like director. He puts out a lot of different types of things. But can you see any like through line with his work? Strong female characters. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there's a sense of humor even to the, like the, like the thriller stuff.

Like, I mean, Simple Favor is much more overtly comic. Housemade is more in the realm of like knowing camp. But like there is a certain. Amanda Safreid, oh, what a performance from that one. Yeah. No, but there's like a there's a knowingness. There's like a tongue and cheek to even like the serious stuff, I would say. But yeah, no, it's harder to point to directors' trademarks, as they used to call them.

I think on the AV club. I think he is not a, he is not a prior. He doesn't prioritize the visual in the way that many directors do, which I think makes it harder to find those trademarks, you know. For our next director, we're going to move on to. nominated often for Best Director, Mr. Guillermo del Toro. Oh.

What do we think is number one? William of the Bull. Is tops? I'm going to say Pans Labyrinth. Oh, that's probably shape of water. Yeah, just for variety, I'm going to say shape of water. It is Pans Labyrinth. Shaped Water is up there, but not.

Pans Labyrinth is pretty well in a way. I think that's his best movie. I would agree with that. Number two is a bit of a surprise, but I appreciate it is his Pinocchio, which I really loved. Yeah, that's a very special movie. That is a movie where like Charlene and I watched it

and then immediately started watching it again. That and Devil's Backbone are my two personal favorites. Oh, I love Devil's Backbone so much. That and Pans Laver are my two favorites. Look, if it's a movie that is, the title is P, Vowel, N as the start of it, it's going to be good. It's going to be good.

What do we think is his bottoms here? I'm going to guess Crimson Peak. Yeah, that's what I guess too. It's low, but it's not the bottom. Is it Nightmare Alley? Nope, that's right in the middle there. Hellboy 2? Probably not, right?

Hellboy 2 somehow 0.1 point higher than Hellboy, which is weird. No, I don't know. I buy that. I buy that. I don't. I guess it leans into the most icely canteena feel of, Yes. And it's a little bit less silly than the first Hellboy movie. Could be a function of obscurity. Like, maybe it's Kronos.

Is it Kronos? Kronos is third from the bottom. Pacific Rim. It's Mimic, guys. Mimic. You know, I saw. That's a serviceable movie. Mimic is fine.

Yeah. I mean, I saw. Yeah, I feel like he, I don't, I wouldn't say he has a, like, a true stinker in his. I saw the director's cut of Mimick. a rep screening at Nighthawk. And I'm like, hey, this is pretty good. Like, I don't know what was changed, but I enjoyed it much more than I remember. I wonder if it does more with, so this, I, before that movie came out, I was familiar with the short

story it's based on Mimic because it was in the book 100 creepy creature stories that I got Barnes Noble when Barnes & Noble put out like a young Elliott like instabai. I still have it. It's a great book. It's got a lot of great stories in it that I think of all the time. But mimic, like, the whole purpose of that story is, oh, this guy has died. And when they find his body, they realize he's actually a giant insect who is made to look like a person, that he's evolved to look like a person. So they get away.

And at the end of it, they open up like a trunk and all these tiny little, these insects that look like tiny people fly away. And then someone thinks they see a chimney opens its eyes and follows after them and starts eating them. And you're left with this idea of like, how many of these naturally occurring creatures that we just don't see? because they're camouflages as artificial things or people. And I feel like the movie throws away that idea pretty early and it just becomes big roaches. No, it's not a major, even in the version I saw, it wasn't a major point.

But the version I saw was a little meaner, I think. Uh-huh. There was an attack on children that I'm like, oh, my God. I didn't think this would be... I mean, that is something about, especially his early stuff, is there's this feeling of like, well, the kids aren't safe. Yeah, it's a hard world. It's a very hard world when you're in a Deltoro.

Yeah, Kronos is kind of low on there, which is kind of a bummer. I like that one. That's too bad. That's a good one, yeah. Blade 2 is right near the bottom. And I think that is, it is a silly movie, but I feel like it is, it, like, captured the, like, visceral thrills of a superhero movie in a way that I don't think we'd really gotten at that point. And so I think that's a little bit of an unfair knock. Yeah.

And also the mouse look like crazy vagina than Thomas. Yeah, come on, of course. Vampire mouse. Was that where those Guy Davis designs? They must have been, right? They must have been. Yeah. Yeah, but Del Toro, I feel like he makes Guy Davis artwork come to life.

Yeah. He is a fantastical storyteller. He is a storyteller who likes to deal in like dark kind of fairy tales. he there's obviously a lot of passion both like like strong emotion in his work um gothic you're looking for themes

yeah uh yeah no it was sort of a intricate design I mean clearly his love of the genre love of horror like just sort of manifests and let me put sort of a melange of like these

this imagery on screen. So guys, we are to our final filmmaker of the night. We are going to be talking about Mr. David Lynch. David Lynch. Davy Lee, Lynch. Davy Lee Roth. Ging me two seconds while I...

Give me two seconds. Give me two seconds, Mr. While I look up, IMD. What am I going to guess his lowest movie is? Oh, I have a pretty... Inland Empire? Yeah, I would say inland empire. I'm going to guess number one is like...

The most difficult one. Yeah. And number one I would guess is, I don't know, Blue Velvet maybe, Mulholland Drive? I think these days, Mulholland Drive will be the consensus. But I could see Blue Velvet. I feel like sometimes there's a movie, maybe it's not the way it used to be. There used to be a time when I feel like the movie that people would say was the best of a director was just the best known movie.

It was like, oh, well, that's their signature movie. So, of course, that's the best one, you know. And that has changed a little bit, maybe. I think you'll be surprised by the top. Inland Empire. The Elephant Man. The Elephant Man. Okay, interesting.

No, I could see that. This most mainstream movie, I guess, other than the straight story. Although, actually, in some ways, the Elephant Man is more mainstream than the straight story, to be honest, yeah. And then we, number two would be Mulhorn Drive. Yeah. I think it's a great movie. Followed closely by it.

blue velvet. The bottoms are Dune. I forgot about Dune. I got to admit, but at the same time, like, I am surprised

because I feel like it picked up its cult, you know, in a way that, like, England Empire is just, like, long and difficult.

A lot of people, like, I guess Dan acted like he had something to say, but when he opened his mouth, all that came out was a bunch of gibberish.

Guess he forgot about Dune. Anyway, so I didn't forget about Dune, but I also thought, I also thought that it's had this kind of like reappraisal by fans. I still think his, I still think his Dune is not very good. There's stuff I like in it, but it is, I rewatched it recently and I was like, this is still not very good.

But I'm surprised that's a certain reappraisal with the, the newer Dune films, that there's like this appreciation for this like odd duck, weird or, like, in some ways more colorful science fiction take on it that also isn't, you know, it doesn't all work. But like, it's kind of fun, it's fun to see. the other thing, you know what I mean? Yeah. I think so.

More than the like sci-fi channel original mini-series that is like kind of crazy looking and has like the weirdest CD-ROM special effects. I never saw those. I know there are some Dune fans that really love them. Yeah. My parents were big fans of it because they liked that it was, I guess, close to the book for them. I will say, but...

I will say, but... So Dune is the lowest one? Dune is the lowest. Then I feel like it's a matter of like, that's either, that feels to me like Dune fans of the new, or fans the new movie being like,

this other one sucks. Give it low ones. Like, there's such a, there's always a battle going on behind the scenes. Fans were against it from a pretty early point, right? Yes.

I mean, it's a, it just is not a satisfying, telling of that story. And it makes some big changes that, I'll say, the book was an epic and disarray, whatever it's called, the book about the making of that Dune.

There were things in it were, like, oh, okay, this aspect of it makes more sense to me now. Like the weirding modules that allow them to use their voices to blow them. But when you read the book, you're like, there's nothing. There's nothing like that in the book. Like, it's just not a, it's taking, it's really kind of dumbing down concepts in the, in the book quite a bit. The new movies do that too to a certain extent, but just in a, in a more, it looks cool.

Like, it looks more sophisticated, you know. And those, those movies also have a little more space in time to breathe and develop concept. Yes, that's second half of that. David Lynch June is real hard where it's just like, and then this happened and they went over here. This character died.

Oh, no. It really feels like a guy saw the movie and is just filling you in on what happens. Yeah, it's pretty great. Thank you, Ellie. You reminded me to go to my Libby app

and see if a masterpiece in disarray was available for me to check out immediately on ebook, and it is. Oh, I mean, I'd lend you my copy if we lived on the same coast. Above that, we have Inland Empire and Eraserhead

and Wild at Heart tied near the bottom as well. Really? Yep. That surprises me. Okay. Do we agree with these? Do you have a personal favorite that might be, that isn't represented? Do you feel like the Elephant Man is his best film or your difference between a favorite or the best? I don't think the Elephant Man is his best. I think it's very good. I think it's a very good movie, but it's like a, it's just, it's hard because it's so straightforward. Like it's so straightforward. And when you want David Lynch, you want something a little little different.

No, I like Mulholland Drive. I like a racerhead. I actually like Lost Highway quite a bit. Lost Highway is fairly high up here, which is kind of impressive because it is like, I feel like when it came out, it was both like, oh, this is pretty weird, but also like, it isn't, but it isn't like as good as blue velvet, right?

I think it's another one where it like, I think there's a rediscovery when you start to understand what the person is trying to do in the movie, I guess. It's just amazing to me that Lost Highway was like, That was a major feature release that year. And it's such a weird movie. And it's like that was advertised on the back of comic books. Like it was everywhere.

Like you just think about like there was a time when Lost Highway was like, yep, well, of course we're going wide with this. This is of course a nationwide release. It's amazing. The same way that they, I was talking to. They're like, kids love eyebrowless Robert Blake. I was just the fact like, yeah, well, halfway through the movie. Bill Pullman on a saxophone, sure.

But like, of course, halfway the movie, one character turns into a different character. and we're not really going to bother explaining it that much. But I was talking to my friend Jonah Ray recently about how there's something about David Lynch, there's something about how a racerhead is such a strange movie. And yet, if you walked into a video store in America, it was very likely there would be a copy of that movie there. And just the reach David Lynch had

for someone who's making such strange work. And it's almost like he shot the moon and his work was so strange that Normies were interested into it. We're interested in it. Like, it's a, he really, I have to tell you, it really lucked out when Mel Brooks hired him to direct the alpha man. And then it was like, yep, he's in. Okay, everybody.

Yeah. And part of it is also like he brought a, he brought sex into, he brought sex into it and he also brought violence. And I think that those things kind of helped sell it. Yes, that's true. It made people be like, oh, there's naked people on this. But also like. That has been, for decades, that has been the key to getting people

to watch artsy or movies is to put nudity in it. Yeah. But the, I mean, we've talked about this before, I think, at one of our live shows, but the idea that, like, for us nerd, like, for us, like, kind of weird nerd kids who weren't entirely satisfied with what pop culture was offering us,

being able to walk into, like, I don't know, a fucking Hastings Superstore and be like, oh, I can buy, like, the Twin Peaks box set. Yeah. can, like, I have access to this, filmmakers, like, most of the movies from this guy, in

any store in, like, the Midwest is crazy. Yeah. And, like, I feel like that's, that's, that's, that, in a pre-internet time, that was such an essential lifeline for people to feel seen and be able to, like, feel that there's a bigger, artier world out there

and be excited about movies. Yeah. Okay, so that was a fun little trip. I hope you guys had fun talking about, Top movie. Top and Flops. Yeah, Firewalk with me is your top. No, no, it's not the top, no.

Topps and Flops. Thank you, Stuart, for making us think a little bit differently about these directors, you know. Yeah. In the direction, we're going in this mini. So I'm in Cher Wellington. This is a mini episode of the Flop House podcast. It is we are on the Maximum Fun Network. There's plenty of great shows that are both fun and informative.

Check them out. If you like this show, there's probably another show for you. This show is produced by Alexander Smith. He goes by Howold Daugty on the Internet. You can find them on Twitch, various other social media platforms. You can buy some music on band camp. He is the best, and he makes us sound great. Put some filters on that. Put some filters on that. Yeah. For the Flop House, I've been Stuart Wellington. I've been Dan McCoy. I've been Ellie Kalin and remain so to this day. See ya.

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