Adjust Your Tracking

It's the end of the summer so Adjust Your Tracking is looking back and summarizing this years biggest releases in the BIG SUMMER BLOCKBUSTER BONANZA 2023! This is really just a loose chat about this summer cinema releases, running down our favourites, and some misses, before chatting about what we hope to keep recording soon and release new episodes. Follow us on: Twitter: @adjustyrtrack & Instagram: @betterfeelingfilms

We're back with an old friend this week, as we take on James Whale's 1932 horror farce 'The Old Dark House'. We ramble on as usual about some, at time of recording, new releases before heading on to explore this camp masterpiece. Follow us on: Twitter: @adjustyrtrack & Instagram: @betterfeelingfilms

As if by magic the podcast returns. Continuing on the 1930s we look at Fritz Lang's masterpiece M, starring the iconic Peter Lorre. We recorded this far ago in December 2022, so be prepared to hear us ramble on about stuff from a while ago before we get into the original German serial killer movie. Follow us on: Twitter: @adjustyrtrack & Instagram: @betterfeelingfilms

It's a Christmas Miracle! Like the best BBC shows we are back for a Christmas special. We talk some new releases with Avatar: The Way of Water and Violent Night before getting into our main event Christmas Evil (1980) otherwise known as You Better Watch Out, written and directed by Lewis Jackson and starring Brandon Maggart. The plot involves a very man who has suffered a childhood trauma whose obsession with Santa Clause leads him to go on a rampage, judging who has been naughty or who has been nice. It's another one to add to our depressing Christmas movies list, and John Water's favourite Christmas movie too! Follow us on: Twitter: @adjustyrtrack & Instagram: @betterfeelingfilms

We're back! And it's new miniseries time on the podcast, as we go well outside of our comfort zone into the 1930s. We start with the war movie to end all war movies, Lewis Milestone's anti-war film All Quiet on the Western Front. It was the first movie to ever win Best Director and Best Film at the academy awards and made only 11 years after the end of World War I painted a sympathetic picture of the German troops as they struggle to survive and maintain their humanity on the front lines. Before getting into the main movie we spend quite a bit at the start of this episode catching up on new releases; Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers, Jackass 4.5, Everything Everywhere All at Once, The Orange Years: The Nickelodeon Story, Happening, and Metal Lords. Follow us on: Twitter: @adjustyrtrack & Instagram: @betterfeelingfilms

It's been a while but we are back again! We took the opportunity of the new release of The Batman to do a catch-up episode, tying up our favourite movies from 2021 and then delving into the new iteration of everyone's favourite caped crusader. It stars Robert Pattinson as Batman alongside Zoë Kravitz, Paul Dano, Jeffrey Wright, John Turturro, Peter Sarsgaard, Andy Serkis, and Colin Farrell. The plot involves Batman, who has been fighting crime in Gotham City for two years, uncover corruption while pursuing the Riddler (Dano), a serial killer who targets Gotham's elite. Keep a watch of your podcast feed as we will be getting back into our regular series in the near future. Follow us on: Twitter: @adjustyrtrack & Instagram: @betterfeelingfilms

It's a Christmas Miracle! We are back for a special Christmas episode where we catch up after our long break talk about about new releases and do a deep dive on Spider-Man: No Way Home (100% spoiler warnings!), being the biggest movie of the year feels right for us to concentrate on. We then cautiously step into the 1930s by watching the Christmas classic 'Babes in Toyland' staring comedy legends Laurel and Hardy (discussion starts around 1h15m). The movie, based on the 1903 operetta, introduces Ollie Dee and Stanley Dum who try to borrow money from their employer, the toymaker, to pay off the mortgage on Mother Peep’s shoe and keep it and Little Bo Peep from the clutches of the evil Barnaby. A movie that none of us expected to end in a siege. Follow us on: Twitter: @adjustyrtrack & Instagram: @betterfeelingfilms

Strap on your proton pack and ready those traps because today we welcome in the much anticipated fourth film in the Ghostbusters franchise. Sadly Liam is away today, but Ollie is joined by two of his good friends - AYT regular James Raynor and newcomer - Robert Kenyon. We talk about our history with the series, how it has impacted our lives, what makes the first film so special, the sequels, the games and the action figures all before we get into the nitty gritty of Ghostbusters Afterlife. Is this podcast more nostalgia driven than Ghostbusters Afterlife? We will let you be the judge of that. *Hey Flat top! Just heads up, this episode is full of spoilers* Follow us on: Twitter: @adjustyrtrack & Instagram: @betterfeelingfilms

Join us for the second part of our two Halloween specials for Spooktober! As we go back to the origins of Hollywood horror and tackle the King of the Universal Monster Movies; Frankenstein and the following sequel Bride of Frankenstein. Both directed by James Whale, who can be thought of as a early auteur for horror and Hollywood expressionism. We talk about how Universal got into making horror, how Frankenstein got adapted, how the Heys code impacted the two movies and how Whale's identity and that of his actors contributed to those movies and have been read over the years as Queer cinema. All this and more on Adjust Your Tracking! Follow us on: Twitter: @adjustyrtrack & Instagram: @betterfeelingfilms

Join us for the first part of our two Halloween specials for Spooktober! Frank Henenlotter made his name with exploitation horror movie Basket Case and would follow this up with the story of Brian, an average New York city guy who becomes dependent on an evil, disembodied parasitic brain named Aylmer. Who eats brains to supply Brian with an hallucinogenic drug. It's psychedelic, detestable, and hysterical. And a must watch. We also talk a lot about new releases particularly news from the DC Fandome and Bond. All this and more on Adjust Your Tracking! Follow us on: Twitter: @adjustyrtrack & Instagram: @betterfeelingfilms

It's our decade round up episode, the Trackies! Where we give out awards for the films we watched on this miniseries and as always we are joined by our friend Brandon Kahn to chat about what we learnt from this selection of films, the 80s in films and what we liked best. Also we announce our next miniseries. Follow us on: Twitter: @adjustyrtrack & Instagram: @betterfeelingfilms

Set in a dystopian 2019, Akira tells the story of Kaneda, a leader of a biker gang whose childhood friend, Tetsuo, acquires incredible telekinetic abilities after a motorcycle accident, eventually threatening an entire military complex amid chaos and rebellion in the sprawling futuristic metropolis of Neo-Tokyo. Katsuhiro Otomo's magnum opus Akira was released to international acclaim in 1988, not only was it a spectacular example of animated film, quite beyond anything that had been produced at the time, but it was the first Japanese anime that had been released uncut and unedited outside of Japan. It rightly took America and Europe by storm and issued an awakening of Japanese animation. All this and more on Adjust Your Tracking! Follow us on: Twitter: @adjustyrtrack & Instagram: @betterfeelingfilms

The Great Lord Hidetora Ichimonji (Tatsuya Nakadai) decides to abdicate and divide his domain amongst his three sons; Taro (Akira Terao), Jiro (Jinpachi Nezu), and Saburo (Daisuke Ryu) but there is no peace between the brothers as full war breaks out shattering the Empire that he built. Now the great Lord wanders his shattered Empire a broken man, but soon all of his past atrocities will come back top haunt him. Ran (1985) in a large part is the culmination of Akira Kurosawa's long career, and it would be his last epic that is as majestic as it is massive. A true masterpiece, and a profound examination of humanity and war. We also talk about Dear Evan Hansen, The Guilty and Escape Room: Tournament of Champions. Follow us on: Twitter: @adjustyrtrack & Instagram: @betterfeelingfilms

In 1989 Spike Lee wrote and directed Do The Right Thing which, to this day is celebrated as one of the great American movies and at the time the biggest movie ever made by a black director. It tells the story of a Brooklyn neighbourhood during a heatwave, where rising tensions explodes after Buggin' Out (Giancarlo Esposito) becomes upset that the neighbourhood Pizza shop, run by Sal (Danny Aiello), who doesn't display any black actors on his wall of fame and refuses to change it. The wall becomes a symbol of racism and hate to other people in the neighbourhood, and tensions rise. It's a film that is as relevant today as it was in the 80s, a timeless classic. We also discuss new releases The Green Knight, Malignant, and Shang Chi. All this and more on Adjust Your Tracking! Follow us on: Twitter: @adjustyrtrack & Instagram: @betterfeelingfilms

Iconic Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar had his biggest international success in 1988 with this screwball black comedy that almost defies genre classification, it tells the story of Pepa (Carmen Maura) who resolves to kill herself with a batch of sleeping-pill-laced gazpacho after her lover Ivan (Fernando Guillén) leaves her. However, she is interrupted by groups of different people from her life including Ivan's son from a previous relationship (Antonio Banderas), his fiancee Marissa (Rossy de Palma) and a Shiite terrorist cell who have been secretly holding her best friend Candela (María Barranco) hostage all whilst being pursued by her loves ex (Julieta Serrano) - who all add to the chaotic web of events. We also discuss new releases Annette and CODA. All this and more on Adjust Your Tracking! Follow us on: Twitter: @adjustyrtrack & Instagram: @betterfeelingfilms

Natalie Gardner, who has portrayed Cher on screen, joins us this week to discuss the movie that finally earnt Cher her Oscar. Moonstruck, directed by Norman Jewison, explores romance and love in all of it's complicated aspects based around a New York Italian-American family, where Loterra (Cher) accepts a marriage proposal from her boyfriend, Johnny, but then she finds herself falling for his younger brother, Ronny (Nic Cage) who couldn't be more different to his brother and has the allure and promise of bringing passion back to her life. Also starring Olympia Dukakis, Vincent Gardenia, Danny Aiello, John Mahoney and Feodor Chaliapin. We also discuss some new releases we've been watching; Old and The Suicide Squad. All this and more on Adjust Your Tracking! Follow us on: Twitter: @adjustyrtrack & Instagram: @betterfeelingfilms

It's big studio blockbuster comedy this week on Adjust Your Tracking. Zucker, Abrahams, Zucker were the most successful comedy directors/writers in the 1980s, with Airplane!, Police Squad, and Top Secret they made a name for themselves for creating wild fast slapstick spoof films that resonated with audiences. The would make one last film as a trio and they swapped spoof for much more standard farce in a film they did not write. Ruthless People stars Danny DeVito and Bette Midler, the story involves a couple who kidnap their ex-boss's wife to get revenge and extort money from him. However, they soon realize he was planning to kill her himself and does not want her back. Meanwhile, the boss's mistress is trying to blackmail him assuming that he did carry out his planned murder. We also talk some new releases with Black Widow, Fear Street Series, Space Jam: A New Legacy, Masters of the Universe: Revelation. All this and more on Adjust Your Tracking! Follow us on: Twitter: @adjustyrtrack & Instagram: @betterfeelingfilms

Agnès Varda has been known as the mother of the French New Wave, and is amongst the most important and celebrated filmmakers ever. In 1985 she released what would be her most successful film, Vagabond, where Mona, played by Sandrine Bonnaire, is a young drifter who is found dead in a ditch in rural southern France. The movies plays out in a series of flashbacks and semi-documentary style 'interviews', which recount the last few weeks of Mona's life from the stories of the people she interacted with. A powerful movie which explores what liberty there is in pure freedom, and the ways in which people implant their own prejudice upon the perceived unwanted elements of society. Not only that but we also talk about In the Heights, The Tomorrow War, Fear Street, Loki, Zappa and more! Follow us on: Twitter: @adjustyrtrack & Instagram: @betterfeelingfilms

Liam is busy, so Ollie asked James Raynor to sit in to talk about one of the more bizarre films of the 1980s - Repo Man, the debut film of director Alex Cox, a satirical science fiction black comedy starring Harry Dean Stanton and Emilo Estiveze. It follows a group of repo men who get caught up in the pursuit of a mysterious Chevrolet Malibu that might be connected to extra-terrestrials. Set in LA with a Punk Rock soundtrack the film is anything but conventional. While the film didn't fair well at the box office, it did receive great critical acclaim and eventually gained wide spread cult classic status. We also talk School of Rock, The Brady Bunch Movie, Short Term 12, Phantom of the Opera (1943), Tremors, The Psycho Sequels and 90s John Woo. All this and more on Adjust Your Tracking! Follow us on: Twitter: @adjustyrtrack & Instagram: @betterfeelingfilms

This week we are joined by Sean and Frank from the long running Film Junk Podcast, and are looking back at Walter Hills 1984 neo-noir cult classic - Streets of Fire . When Raven Shaddock, the a leader of a biker gang steals rock singer Ellen Aim, it's up to her ex-boyfriend Tom Cody and a small band of mercenaries to go an get her back. Starring Michael Pare, Diane Lane, Rick Moranis, Amy Madigan and Willem Dafoe. The film, which promised to be "A Rock & Roll Fable" bombed at the box office but slowly became a cult hit. We also take a look at Prince's 1984 film Purple Rain to compare these two rock musicals of 1984. All this and more on Adjust Your Tracking! Follow us on: Twitter: @adjustyrtrack & Instagram: @betterfeelingfilms