1-Week Rental: A Movie Podcast

Load Bearing Beams is no more. Say hello to 1-Week Rental! Honestly, it's pretty much the same show. We've just been trying to find a better way to explain what our show is, and we've realized (based on listener feedback and our own feelings on the matter) that what we do well is dive into a movie in terms of both unpacking its history and then analyzing and discussing how well it works as a movie. And since we do this with a different movie each week, you can think of it like we're renting a movie from the video store and getting to keep it for a week. You remember that, right? You'd watch it over and over, and you'd become a temporary expert on it, before saying goodbye to it, maybe forever. The show is largely staying the same, but we are going to try to make the episodes slightly shorter and we are doing away with the lengthy preambles that begin each episode before we get to the history segment. Thank you for your support of Load Bearing Beams, and here's to at least eight years with 1-Week Rental!

Content warning: We talk about child abuse as part of our discussion of both the 1980s "Satanic Panic" craze in the history section, and extensively in the discussion of the movie itself. Laci Goth and Matt Chokes hop on their bicycles and rush home in time to see American Bandstand on the TV set while scarfing down mayonnaise sandwiches and whole milk. That's right, we're talking It! No, not the hit movie from 2017, but the made-for-TV miniseries from 1990 that traumatized a generation. Next week: We check in to the Overlook hotel and dive deep into The Shining (1980)! Subscribe to our Patreon, Load Bearing Beams: Collector's Edition for $5 a month to get two extra episodes! https://patreon.com/loadbearingbeams Time stamps: Stephen King's ItItIt Sources: https://yhoo.it/4nZHwyjhttps://apple.co/4ng0jEyhttps://bit.ly/3KXXHOchttps://bit.ly/4hlGiex Artwork by Laci Roth. Music by Rural Route Nine. Listen to their album The Joy of Averages on Spotify (https://bit.ly/48WBtUa), Apple Music (https://bit.ly/3Q6kOVC), or YouTube (https://bit.ly/3MbU6tC). Songs by Rural Route Nine in this episode: https://youtu.be/ZHudVTCkrQYhttps://youtu.be/-acMutUf8IMhttps://youtu.be/xrzz8_2Mqkghttps://youtu.be/k7wlxTGGEIQ Follow the show! @LoadBearingPod@MattStokes9@LRothConcepts@loadbearingbeams@loadbearingbeams@load.bearing.beams@mattstokes9@loadbearinglaci@mattstokes9@loadbearingbeams.bsky.social

Laci Goth, Matt Chokes, and Cemetery Joshua pay a visit to The Cabin In The Woods, where things are not quite as they seem. We get the feeling somebody's watching us, and pumping chemicals into our scalps to make us stupider and hornier than we usually are, and suddenly we're tossing around the old pigskin and vroom-vrooming on our dirtbikes. What's going on???? Next week: We revisit Derry, Maine by talking about Stephen King's It (the 1990 TV movie starring Tim Curry as Pennywise the Dancing Clown)! Subscribe to our Patreon, Load Bearing Beams: Collector's Edition for $5 a month to get two extra episodes! https://patreon.com/loadbearingbeams Time stamps: Cabin in the WoodsCabinCabin in the Woods Sources: https://bit.ly/48sW7xxhttps://bit.ly/4qdFhsIhttps://bit.ly/3W7Wmql Follow Cinematic Joshua! https://www.tiktok.com/@cinematicjoshuahttps://www.youtube.com/@ratedawesomeshowhttps://www.instagram.com/ratedawesomeshow/ Artwork by Laci Roth. Music by Rural Route Nine. Listen to their album The Joy of Averages on Spotify (https://bit.ly/48WBtUa), Apple Music (https://bit.ly/3Q6kOVC), or YouTube (https://bit.ly/3MbU6tC). Songs by Rural Route Nine in this episode: https://youtu.be/ZHudVTCkrQYhttps://youtu.be/-acMutUf8IMhttps://youtu.be/xrzz8_2Mqkghttps://youtu.be/k7wlxTGGEIQ Follow the show! @LoadBearingPod@MattStokes9@LRothConcepts@loadbearingbeams@loadbearingbeams@load.bearing.beams@mattstokes9@loadbearinglaci@mattstokes9@loadbearingbeams.bsky.social

Laci Goth and Matt Chokes welcome their friends Tiera (@SpookyT on TikTok) and Derek (@HFK on TikTok) join the show to play the game of Saw. We all have varying degrees of affection for this franchise, and we get into the long history of its development under James Wan and Leigh Whannell first in Australia and then in Hollywood, and the major series it spawned. Then we go through the movie at length, wondering, at the end of the day, what exactly Jigsaw is trying to teach us. Follow Tiera and Derek’s filmmaking on YouTube: Elevated Cryptid Productions (https://youtube.com/@elevatedcryptidproductions) Next week: The Cabin in the Woods (2012) with Cinematic Joshua! Bonus video: Matt talks about Rob Zombie’s Halloween (2007) for 20 minutes https://youtu.be/8OhZW4AImYU Subscribe to our Patreon, Load Bearing Beams: Collector's Edition for $5 a month to get two extra episodes! https://patreon.com/loadbearingbeams Time stamps: Sources: https://bit.ly/46ytbmshttps://bit.ly/4pLGUO9 Artwork by Laci Roth. Music by Rural Route Nine. Listen to their album The Joy of Averages on Spotify (https://bit.ly/48WBtUa), Apple Music (https://bit.ly/3Q6kOVC), or YouTube (https://bit.ly/3MbU6tC). Songs by Rural Route Nine in this episode: https://youtu.be/ZHudVTCkrQYhttps://youtu.be/-acMutUf8IMhttps://youtu.be/xrzz8_2Mqkghttps://youtu.be/k7wlxTGGEIQ Follow the show! @LoadBearingPod@MattStokes9@LRothConcepts@loadbearingbeams@loadbearingbeams@load.bearing.beams@mattstokes9@loadbearinglaci@mattstokes9@loadbearingbeams.bsky.social

We had some scheduling snafus that caused the delay of our Saw episode, so our schedule is getting pushed back a week. Luckily, we had this beautiful podcast about 28 Years Later set to release on the Patreon later this month, and instead, we’re putting it out for free for all the fine folks out there. Matt and Kota have a very spoiler-filled discussion about Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later. Like all zombie movies, it’s not actually about zombies, it’s about…. Well, it’s about a lot of stuff. This is a meaty, hefty movie. Not unlike what the Alpha carries around with him. Next week: Saw with HFK & Spooky T! Bonus video: Matt reviews the 1980s Disney movie The Great Mouse Detective and wonders if it’s secretly the best Disney movie of the era https://youtu.be/PpWYKmU1KuQ Subscribe to our Patreon, Load Bearing Beams: Collector's Edition for $5 a month to get two extra episodes! https://patreon.com/loadbearingbeams Time stamps: 00:05:35 — Opening thoughts on 28 Years Later00:10:07 — Mini-history segment on the careers of Danny Boyle and Alex Garland00:23:45 — Movie discussion01:52:20 — Final thoughts and star ratings Follow ScreenTimeKota: TikTok: @screentimekotaInstagram: @screen_time_kota YouTube: @ScreenTimeKotaFacebook: @ScreenTimeKota Artwork by Laci Roth. Music by Rural Route Nine. Listen to their album The Joy of Averages on Spotify (https://bit.ly/48WBtUa), Apple Music (https://bit.ly/3Q6kOVC), or YouTube (https://bit.ly/3MbU6tC).

Laci and Matt revisit Interview With The Vampire (1994), a movie the podcast covered back in 2018, in the Old Testament days. Much more care and attention is given this time, because there’s so much to love… and so much to be confused by. Has a movie ever been dragged down so much by its whiny-baby lead character as this movie is by Louis (Brad Pitt)? Rather than spending eternity partying with his good buddy Lestat (Tom Cruise), he just putters around and around, moaning and complaining like some unholy combination of Charlie Brown and Eeyore. And rest assured, he will tell you, at length, about how conflicted he feels about the whole “vampire” thing. So get ready. Other than that, the movie’s a blast. Tom Cruise is wonderful, Kirsten Dunst gives an all-time great kid performance, and the Stan Winston makeup can’t be beat. Next week: We read from the book of Saw (2004) with our friends HFK and Spooky T! Out now on the Patreon: Matt and Austin Proctor from the Frightmares podcast discuss David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive https://bit.ly/3VCImop Time stamps: Interview with the Vampire Sources: https://bit.ly/3Wf0ODHhttps://bit.ly/4n1ycJjhttps://bit.ly/3IL8BWNhttps://amzn.to/4nXlxrBhttps://lat.ms/4q2W4yShttps://bit.ly/3W2P4Et Artwork by Laci Roth. Music by Rural Route Nine. Listen to their album The Joy of Averages on Spotify (https://bit.ly/48WBtUa), Apple Music (https://bit.ly/3Q6kOVC), or YouTube (https://bit.ly/3MbU6tC). Songs by Rural Route Nine in this episode: https://youtu.be/ZHudVTCkrQYhttps://youtu.be/-acMutUf8IMhttps://youtu.be/xrzz8_2Mqkghttps://youtu.be/k7wlxTGGEIQ Follow the show! @LoadBearingPod@MattStokes9@LRothConcepts@loadbearingbeams@load.bearing.beams@mattstokes9@loadbearinglaci@mattstokes9@loadbearingbeams.bsky.social

In the origin story of Michael Myers, the slasher killer from the legendary Halloween series of horror films, young Michael sees his sister….. Wait, what? Oh, this is Dennis the Menace? In which a little slingshot punk from the 1950s rides around on a tricycle in 1993 and torments an innocent old man? And you're telling me it’s not about Michael Myers, it was just directed by the man who originally played Michael Myers in John Carpenter’s Halloween (Nick “The Shape” Castle)? Gotcha. I see where the confusion started. Unregardless, here is our long-awaited discussion of the 1993 Dennis the Menace starring Walter Mathau as Mr. Wilson and Christopher Lloyd as a hobo killer who rides the rails and skins children alive, even though we never get to actually see that. And this was written and produced by John Hughes, during his “Let’s just do Home Alone again and again and again” period. Laci loves it, Matt does not, so this is the two-hour therapy session that results. Next week: Our October Extravaganza begins with Interview with the Vampire (1994)! Bonus video: Matt and Laci reveal their blindspots from the IMBD Top 250 movies of all time list - https://youtube.com/shorts/_wTbG4t4NEo Out now on the Patreon: Matt, Wade, and Patrick dive deep into Nickelodeon’s Doug, discussing its history and reviewing the episodes “Doug Can’t Dance” and “Doug’s Garage Band.” https://bit.ly/3KdBuvg Time stamps: Dennis the MenaceDennis the MenaceDennis the MenaceDennis the Menace Source: https://bit.ly/4niObDH Artwork by Laci Roth. Music by Rural Route Nine. Listen to their album The Joy of Averages on Spotify (https://bit.ly/48WBtUa), Apple Music (https://bit.ly/3Q6kOVC), or YouTube (https://bit.ly/3MbU6tC). Songs by Rural Route Nine in this episode: https://youtu.be/ZHudVTCkrQYhttps://youtu.be/-acMutUf8IMhttps://youtu.be/xrzz8_2Mqkghttps://youtu.be/k7wlxTGGEIQ Follow the show! @LoadBearingPod@MattStokes9@LRothConcepts@loadbearingbeams@load.bearing.beams@mattstokes9@loadbearinglaci@mattstokes9@loadbearingbeams.bsky.social

Matt has assembled his friends Wade Hymel and Patrick Perot to do a deep dive into Nickelodeon's Doug—specifically, the episodes "Doug Can't Dance" and "Doug's Garage Band." In this free preview from the longer premium episode (available on Patreon: https://bit.ly/47U3oGh), Matt, Wade, and Patrick explore the long history of the TV show and of Doug himself, both before, during, and after his show on Nickelodeon. Created by Jim Jinkins, Doug is a show that looks great, sounds even better, and its humor and sensibilities have aged beautifully. We chart the history of Doug himself—his long pre-series life as a character Jinkins used an avatar for himself to process his world; as a pitchman for Florida grapefruit juice and the USA TV network; and then as the star of one of the three original Nicktoons. Then, in a very unique situation, Doug switched networks and was given a mild retooling to make it more radical and extreme for the late '90s as part of Disney's One Saturday Morning lineup of children's programming on ABC. Catch the full episode on Patreon: Source: "You Don't Know Doug" by Mathew Klickstein | Vulture (2012) - https://bit.ly/3VYrR5Z

The year is 2000. You are a 12-year-old boy. You spend your days watching Total Request Live and hoping they’ll man up and play “Stellar” by Incubus. You spend an inordinate amount of time choosing the coolest song lyrics to leave as your AOL Instant Messenger away message. And you head out to the cinematorium to see three women kick ass in Charlie’s Angels. You like it a lot, but you have difficulty explaining why. Well, revisiting it 25 years later, it’s actually pretty easy to see why: It’s kind of just a straightforward, fun, slightly silly action movie. In Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu, and Cameron Diaz, you have three extremely likable and charismatic performances. And, in the biggest shocker of all, the much-maligned McG is able to direct some fairly competent action sequences. Who knew? Next week: Dennis the Menace (1993) Bonus videos: https://youtu.be/SHSZcQFWPGghttps://youtu.be/mnmMebh9ZT0https://youtu.be/uKIbcx0sqFY Time stamps: Sources: https://bit.ly/41Jk5jShttps://bit.ly/467UW3Dhttps://bit.ly/46hMOOlhttps://bit.ly/3JROC93https://bit.ly/46lwSL0https://bit.ly/4geLO1Phttps://nyti.ms/3Ihons9 Artwork by Laci Roth. Music by Rural Route Nine. Listen to their album The Joy of Averages on Spotify (https://bit.ly/48WBtUa), Apple Music (https://bit.ly/3Q6kOVC), or YouTube (https://bit.ly/3MbU6tC). Songs by Rural Route Nine in this episode: https://youtu.be/ZHudVTCkrQYhttps://youtu.be/-acMutUf8IMhttps://youtu.be/xrzz8_2Mqkghttps://youtu.be/k7wlxTGGEIQ Follow the show! @LoadBearingPod@MattStokes9@LRothConcepts@loadbearingbeams@load.bearing.beams@mattstokes9@loadbearinglaci@mattstokes9@loadbearingbeams.bsky.social

They thought they were making a movie that would save the environment and destroy extractive industries. Instead, they made a generation of millennials horny as hell for cartoon trees. FernGully: The Last Rainforest is a fascinating mid-budget animated film that presents a mighty counterweight to the Disney behemoth of the early 1990s: Modest in scope, budget-level pop songs, and an anti-capitalist message Disney would never allow (unless James Cameron does it). And it’s not a great movie, but it’s very good, and the animation is extremely impressive. And everyone jokes that Avatar lifts the story of FernGully…. But man, it really seems like Avatar has seen FernGully. Or maybe it’s just that there are so few anti-capitalist movies made by Hollywood studios that the few that exist all seem to resemble each other. Also: Seriously you guys, there is some legitimately horny stuff going on in this movie. Avatar also seems inspired by that part. Next week: Charlie’s Angels (2000) Bonus video: Matt reviews the 1980s Yugoslavian animated film The Elm-Chanted Forest. Watch it on YouTube: https://youtu.be/pzK6CiMUMxM Subscribe to our Patreon, Load Bearing Beams: Collector's Edition for $5 a month to get two extra episodes! https://patreon.com/loadbearingbeams Time stamps: 00:02:23 — Welcome to “season three” of Load Bearing Beams00:05:50 — Opening thoughts on FernGully00:21:32 — History segment: Producer Wayne Young and his wife Diana steward the FernGully project; animation lifer Bill Kroyer directs; Robin Williams’s hiring creates a feud with Disney and Jeffrey Katzenberg00:39:27 — Movie discussion01:17:42 — Final thoughts and star ratings Sources: "FernGully at 25: How an Upstart Disney Rival Created a Millennial Silent Spring" by Chantel Tattoli | Vanity Fair (2017) - https://bit.ly/4m3oZj9 "Ferngully an enchantment" by Jamie Portman | The Calgary Herald (1992) - https://bit.ly/3JKjxnM "Robin Williams's Change of Life" by Jesse Kornbluth | New York Magazine (1993) - https://bit.ly/4gbu8UQ “Technological Threat” (Bill Kroyer’s 1988 animated short) - https://youtu.be/t-IbidkpD74 Artwork by Laci Roth. Music by Rural Route Nine. Listen to their album The Joy of Averages on Spotify (https://bit.ly/48WBtUa), Apple Music (https://bit.ly/3Q6kOVC), or YouTube (https://bit.ly/3MbU6tC). Songs by Rural Route Nine in this episode: “Your Ambition” - https://youtu.be/ZHudVTCkrQY “Winston-Salem” - https://youtu.be/-acMutUf8IM “Snake Drama” - https://youtu.be/xrzz8_2Mqkg “The Bible Towers of Bluebonnet” - https://youtu.be/k7wlxTGGEIQ Follow the show! Twitter: @LoadBearingPod | @MattStokes9 | @LRothConceptsInstagram: @loadbearingbeamsTikTok: @load.bearing.beams | @mattstokes9 Letterboxd: @loadbearinglaci | @mattstokes9 Bluesky: @loadbearingbeams.bsky.social

We weren’t expecting this miniseries on Dwayne Johnson to be so relevant, but as he debuted his “new look” at the Venice Film Festival and began his awards season campaign, Laci and Matt react to the news of the week and unpack his public comments. Johnson reflected on his own career with many of the thoughts we’ve had as we’ve gone through his filmography. Is he sincere about it, or just being a good politician trying to win an award? Does he mean it when he says he was ready to pivot to “serious acting” or he was forced to by having so many consecutive box office failures? And is Emily Blunt really his best friend? Does it matter? We take the new information and give our concluding thoughts on the acting career of The Rock, and then rank the nine movies we covered during the summer. And then, we answer some mailbag questions, including: Fuck/Marry/Kill: The duck who shows her tits in Howard the Duck, tiny Dwayne Johnson in Tooth Fairy, and the Thanksgiving turkey from Spider-Man?What relationship from any movie sums up our relationship?Is there a movie that strikes both of us in such a way that we connect over it?What are some underrated movie sequels?What makes us passionate about movies and TV?What movie makes us fight? The Summer of Rock is our summer 2025 miniseries covering the movie career of Dwayne Johnson through nine movies, presented in chronological order. Starting with his attempt at crossing over from the world of wrestling, The Rock’s career got off to a bumpy start before finally taking off in the 2010s. But it wasn’t long before the bumps returned, and we’ll be telling the story for you all summer long! Next week: FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992). Bonus video: Matt does a deep dive into Tower of Terror (1997), the made-for-TV movie starring Steve Guttenberg and Kirsten Dunst and based on the Disney theme park ride English-language: https://youtu.be/kQf9FbCcbn4 Subscribe to our Patreon, Load Bearing Beams: Collector's Edition for $5 a month to get two extra episodes! https://patreon.com/loadbearingbeams Time stamps: 01:00 — Dwayne Johnson at the Venice Film Festival34:38 — Ranking the Summer of Rock movies37:02 — Mailbag Sources: “Dwayne Johnson Gets Choked Up Discussing ‘The Smashing Machine’ in Venice” by Patrick Brzeski | The Hollywood Reporter (2025) - https://bit.ly/487IeV4 "Dwayne Johnson Uncontrollably Sobs as ‘The Smashing Machine’ Gets 15-Minute Venice Standing Ovation and Generates Oscar Buzz" by Rebecca Rubin & Ramin Setoodeh | Variety (2025) - https://bit.ly/466fCsG Artwork by Laci Roth. Music by Rural Route Nine. Listen to their album The Joy of Averages on Spotify (https://bit.ly/48WBtUa), Apple Music (https://bit.ly/3Q6kOVC), or YouTube (https://bit.ly/3MbU6tC). "Summer of Rock" theme song credits: Words and music by Matt Stokes Engineered, mixed, and mastered by TJ Barends | Bare Sounds

This is the end, beautiful friends. We conclude the Summer of Rock with the much-better-than-I-remembered Jungle Cruise, a movie we abruptly pivoted to covering after trying to watch Black Adam and giving up out of boredom. We cover the history of movies based on theme parks, the rocky production of Jungle Cruise, its unfortunate failure at the box office, and then we go through the movie itself, trying to figure out if this is one of The Rock’s better late-career performances or if he’s being carried entirely by Emily Blunt. The Summer of Rock is our summer 2025 miniseries covering the movie career of Dwayne Johnson through nine movies, presented in chronological order. Starting with his attempt at crossing over from the world of wrestling, The Rock’s career got off to a bumpy start before finally taking off in the 2010s. But it wasn’t long before the bumps returned, and we’ll be telling the story for you all summer long! Next week: We’ll have a shorter bonus episode to wrap up the Summer of Rock, and we’ll answer a few mailbag questions. Our next proper episode will be September 12, 2025, about FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992). Bonus video: Matt does a deep dive into Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland, the 1989 English-language anime: https://youtu.be/nkFqlLFebn8 Subscribe to our Patreon, Load Bearing Beams: Collector's Edition for $5 a month to get two extra episodes! https://patreon.com/loadbearingbeams Time stamps: Sources: https://bit.ly/3UPda4Whttps://bit.ly/47R1iH9 Artwork by Laci Roth. Music by Rural Route Nine. Listen to their album The Joy of Averages on Spotify (https://bit.ly/48WBtUa), Apple Music (https://bit.ly/3Q6kOVC), or YouTube (https://bit.ly/3MbU6tC). Songs by Rural Route Nine in this episode: “Summer of Rock” - https://youtu.be/dvRY72jNIEE “Winston-Salem” - https://youtu.be/-acMutUf8IM “Snake Drama” - https://youtu.be/xrzz8_2Mqkg “The Bible Towers of Bluebonnet” - https://youtu.be/k7wlxTGGEIQ "Summer of Rock" theme song credits: Follow Wade on Instagram: @wadealready Follow TJ on Instagram: @baresoundstwitaj Follow the show!

They went and made a dang spin-off to the Fast & Furious franchise, and it made a ton of money, and there's no chance it'll ever get a sequel because no one liked it. Especially not Matt. Matt is utterly miserable talking about Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019), but Laci's able to help him get through it by diving in to all the messy drama surrounding Dwayne Johnson's feud with Vin Diesel that led to Luke Hobbs getting exiled from the main Fast & Furious series of movies. Next week: Black Adam (2022) The Summer of Rock is our summer 2025 miniseries covering the movie career of Dwayne Johnson through nine movies, presented in chronological order. Starting with his attempt at crossing over from the world of wrestling, The Rock’s career got off to a bumpy start before finally taking off in the 2010s. But it wasn’t long before the bumps returned, and we’ll be telling the story for you all summer long! Subscribe to our Patreon, Load Bearing Beams: Collector's Edition for $5 a month to get two extra episodes! — patreon.com/loadbearingbeams Time stamps: 00:02:20 — General thoughts on how The Rock is evolving, his chemistry with Jason Statham, and broad reactions to Hobbs & Shaw 00:22:10 — History segment, part 1: Career overview of Jason Statham and director David Leitch 00:31:30 — History segment, part 2: The feud between The Rock and Vin Diesel 01:03:35 — In-depth movie discussion 02:13:40 — Final thoughts and star ratings Sources: “Inside The Rock and Vin Diesel's 'Fast 8' Feud: 'Tension Has Been Building for Months,' Says Source” by Mike Miller | People (2016) - https://bit.ly/4lB8SJg “Vin Diesel talks Rock feud: 'In my house, he's Uncle Dwayne'” by Bryan Alexander | USA Today (2017) - https://bit.ly/4lB9Ntc “Vin Diesel Is 53 and Still Shifting Up” by Ryan D'Agostino | Men’s Health (2021) - https://bit.ly/4lx5fUv “Dwayne Johnson Lets Down His Guard” by Chris Heath | Vanity Fair (2021) - https://bit.ly/45qy3rI “Dwayne Johnson reflects on his record-breaking year, becoming the tequila king and whether he’ll run for the White House” by Chloe Melas | CNN (2021) - https://cnn.it/4mIWwj2 Artwork by Laci Roth. Music by Rural Route Nine. Listen to their album The Joy of Averages on Spotify (https://bit.ly/48WBtUa), Apple Music (https://bit.ly/3Q6kOVC), or YouTube (https://bit.ly/3MbU6tC). Songs by Rural Route Nine in this episode: “Summer of Rock” - https://youtu.be/dvRY72jNIEE “Winston-Salem” - https://youtu.be/-acMutUf8IM “Snake Drama” - https://youtu.be/xrzz8_2Mqkg “The Bible Towers of Bluebonnet” - https://youtu.be/k7wlxTGGEIQ "Summer of Rock" theme song credits: Words and music by Matt Stokes Engineered, mixed, and mastered by TJ Barends | Bare Sounds Personnel: TJ Barends - backing vocals Wade Hymel - drums/guitar/backing vocals Laci Roth - vocals Matt Stokes - vocals/guitar/bass Follow Wade on Instagram: @wadealready Follow TJ on Instagram: @baresoundstwitaj Follow the show! Twitter: @LoadBearingPod | @MattStokes9 | @LRothConcepts Instagram: @loadbearingbeams TikTok: @load.bearing.beams | @mattstokes9 Letterboxd: @loadbearinglaci | @mattstokes9 Bluesky: @loadbearingbeams.bsky.social

There were big expectations in 2017 for the Baywatch movie. 21 Jump Street had shown that raunchy, irreverent takes on cheesy '80s and '90s TV shows could earn bofo box office, and with the dual star power of Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron, it looked as if Baywatch couldn't miss. But critics hated it and the movie was a flop at the box office, canceling Paramount’s big plans for a Baywatch Cinematic Universe. So, what happened? And is the movie really as bad as its reputation? What does this movie think it is? Is it a raunchy R-rated comedy that wants to mock its source material? Or is it a loving tribute to the most-watched series in the world in the 1990s? It’s… kind of neither. Does The Rock make any sense in the lead role of Lieutenant Mitch Buchanan, or has he fully entered the “most boring actor in every movie he’s in” portion of his career? Why does the movie suddenly start working as a surprisingly functional comedy when The Rock inexplicably disappears from the movie for 25 minutes and Efron takes over as the lead? Join Laci, Matt, and our official Zac Efron correspondent Caleb for a spirited debate about a movie we’re actually pretty divided on. Plus a deep dive into the history of Baywatch and an in-depth look at Dwayne Johnson’s extended business empire. The Summer of Rock is our summer 2025 miniseries covering the movie career of Dwayne Johnson through nine movies, presented in chronological order. Starting with his attempt at crossing over from the world of wrestling, The Rock’s career got off to a bumpy start before finally taking off in the 2010s. But it wasn’t long before the bumps returned, and we’ll be telling the story for you all summer long! Bonus video: Matt takes us through movies (like Baywatch) that explicitly promise a sequel and then never end up getting a sequel: https://youtu.be/2pUm5aHkssE Subscribe to our Patreon, Load Bearing Beams: Collector's Edition for $5 a month to get two extra episodes! https://patreon.com/loadbearingbeams Time stamps: 00:04:03 — Our personal histories with Baywatch the TV series AND the movie 00:17:55 — History segment, part 1: The creation of Baywatch (the TV series), and its unlikely rise to become the most-watched show in the world 00:30:30 — History segment, part 2: The production of Baywatch (the movie) under director Seth Gordon 00:47:45 — History segment, part 3: An in-depth look at Dwayne Johnson’s business empire, insatiable appetite to own the world, potential presidential ambitions, and relationship with Vince McMahon 01:11:20 — Discussing the 2017 Baywatch movie at length 02:41:10 — Final thoughts and star ratings Sources: https://bit.ly/3JdxLgyhttps://bit.ly/45qy3rIhttps://bit.ly/41yxmePhttps://bit.ly/45gTDjT)https://bit.ly/4fyTaNbhttps://bit.ly/40Y00WMhttps://bit.ly/412Na9Ghttps://bit.ly/3UpMUhahttps://bit.ly/4mnSP2Dhttps://bit.ly/3Jy86PK Artwork by Laci Roth. Music by Rural Route Nine. Listen to their album The Joy of Averages on Spotify (https://bit.ly/48WBtUa), Apple Music (https://bit.ly/3Q6kOVC), or YouTube (https://bit.ly/3MbU6tC). Songs by Rural Route Nine in this episode: “Summer of Rock” - https://youtu.be/dvRY72jNIEE “Winston-Salem” - https://youtu.be/-acMutUf8IM “Snake Drama” - https://youtu.be/xrzz8_2Mqkg “The Bible Towers of Bluebonnet” - https://youtu.be/k7wlxTGGEIQ "Summer of Rock" theme song credits: Words and music by Matt Stokes Engineered, mixed, and mastered by TJ Barends | Bare Sounds Personnel: TJ Barends - backing vocals Wade Hymel - drums/guitar/backing vocals Laci Roth - vocals Matt Stokes - vocals/guitar/bass Follow Wade on Instagram: @wadealready Follow TJ on Instagram: @baresoundstwitaj Follow the show! Twitter: @LoadBearingPod | @MattStokes9 | @LRothConcepts Instagram: @loadbearingbeams TikTok: @load.bearing.beams | @mattstokes9 Letterboxd: @loadbearinglaci | @mattstokes9 Bluesky: @loadbearingbeams.bsky.social

We're off for the week but here's an extensive chunk from our premium episode to tide you over till then. It's a spoiler-filled discussion of The Fantastic Four: First Steps with our guests Neophyte Reviews and Screentime Kota. The Summer of Rock resumes in one week with an episode about Baywatch (2017)! Another MCU movie has arrived, and Matt’s being a real Ebeneezer Scrooge about it. Neophyte Reviews and Screen Time Kota join the show to try to convince him not to be such a grump and to welcome things like light and joy into his heart. And so, we have for you a spoiler-filled discussion of Matt Shakman’s THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS, in which an angry mob tries to steal a baby. (Matt’s on the mob’s side.) Meanwhile, Kota fills several chalkboards with equations to demonstrate the multiverses upon multiverse contained within this movie, and Neo explains the most powerful being in all of existence: Franklin. Follow Neophyte Reviews: TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@neophyte_reviews Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/neophyte_reviews/ YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@neophyte_reviews Follow Screen Time Kota: TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@screentimekota Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/screen_time_kota/ YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@ScreenTimeKota

Sony made a sequel to Jumanji, that sad Robin Williams movie from the ‘90s, 22 years later? And it made a billion dollars? And everyone liked it?? It’s true. And as a result, every time a movie studio makes a questionable legacy sequel this is why. They’re telling themselves: “It worked with Jumanji.” It’s why Disney is putting out a Tron movie this year. Well, the thing is, the movie needs to be good! And Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle IS good. It’s a very likable and winning comedy. It’s just kind of a lackluster blockbuster. But what a fun cast! The Rock is once again able to have fun playing a guy who feels very awkward looking like The Rock. Kevin Hart is very funny, Karen Gillan kicks ass, and Jack Black gives maybe his best ever performance. Nick Jonas is also here. And this movie has us asking the big questions. What makes you you and me me? Are our personalities completely predetermined? Do NPCs have a right to privacy? If you’re popular in high school, will you be popular for the rest of your life? And are dicks just the tits of the man? There’s also an unexpected 10-minute Blade Runner digression. The Summer of Rock is our summer 2025 miniseries covering the movie career of Dwayne Johnson through nine movies, presented in chronological order. Starting with his attempt at crossing over from the world of wrestling, The Rock’s career got off to a bumpy start before finally taking off in the 2010s. But it wasn’t long before the bumps returned, and we’ll be telling the story for you all summer long! Subscribe to our Patreon, Load Bearing Beams: Collector's Edition for $5 a month to get two extra episodes! patreon.com/loadbearingbeams Time stamps: 00:02:45 — Our personal histories with Jumanji and its haphazard franchise 00:15:25 — History segment: Jumanji the book by Chris Van Allsburg; the original Joe Johnston movie starring Robin Williams; and the long path to the 2017 sequel directed by Jake Kasdan 00:33:00 — In-depth movie discussion 01:43:30 — Final thoughts and star ratings Sources: “How Producer Matt Tolmach & Sony Revived The ‘Jumanji’ Franchise 22 Years After The Original” by Anthony D’Alessandro | Deadline (2017) - https://bit.ly/472moSn “Jumanji Overtakes Spider-Man as Sony's Biggest Domestic Box Office Release Ever” by Michael Domanico | IGN (2018) - https://bit.ly/4l5htUm Artwork by Laci Roth. Music by Rural Route Nine. Listen to their album The Joy of Averages on Spotify (https://bit.ly/48WBtUa), Apple Music (https://bit.ly/3Q6kOVC), or YouTube (https://bit.ly/3MbU6tC). Songs by Rural Route Nine in this episode: “Summer of Rock” - https://youtu.be/dvRY72jNIEE “Winston-Salem” - https://youtu.be/-acMutUf8IM “Snake Drama” - https://youtu.be/xrzz8_2Mqkg “The Bible Towers of Bluebonnet” - https://youtu.be/k7wlxTGGEIQ "Summer of Rock" theme song credits: Words and music by Matt Stokes Engineered, mixed, and mastered by TJ Barends | Bare Sounds Personnel: TJ Barends - backing vocals Wade Hymel - drums/guitar/backing vocals Laci Roth - vocals Matt Stokes - vocals/guitar/bass Follow Wade on Instagram: @wadealready Follow TJ on Instagram: @baresoundstwitaj Follow the show! Twitter: @LoadBearingPod | @MattStokes9 | @LRothConcepts Instagram: @loadbearingbeams TikTok: @load.bearing.beams | @mattstokes9 Letterboxd: @loadbearinglaci | @mattstokes9 Bluesky: @loadbearingbeams.bsky.social

Pain & Gain is Michael Bay’s magnum opus, a razor-sharp dissection of the American id. This movie has it all: Con artistry, prosperity gospel, and drugs, drugs, drugs! It also features career-best performances of Dwayne Johnson, Mark Wahlberg, and Anthony Mackie, and it’s easily Bay’s best movie. Indeed, it’s a look at an alternate career for Johnson where he could play interesting, complicated, vulnerable characters like he does in this movie. Instead, he made a bunch of movies with big cars and/or gorillas. Still, Pain & Gain is an absolute blast and we had a great time breaking it down, marveling at how much fun it is and how well it predicted what America would feel like in 2025. Next week: Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) The Summer of Rock is our summer 2025 miniseries covering the movie career of Dwayne Johnson through nine movies, presented in chronological order. Starting with his attempt at crossing over from the world of wrestling, The Rock’s career got off to a bumpy start before finally taking off in the 2010s. But it wasn’t long before the bumps returned, and we’ll be telling the story for you all summer long! Bonus video: Families in movies are always eating breakfast together, but nobody in real life actually does that, right? https://youtu.be/DwJNZkJ_SzA Subscribe to our Patreon, Load Bearing Beams: Collector's Edition for $5 a month to get two extra episodes! patreon.com/loadbearingbeams Time stamps: 00:12:07 — Our personal histories with Pain & Gain and Michael Bay 00:27:08 — History segment: The Rock returns to WWE from 2011-2013 for two matches against John Cena; Michael Bay’s relationship with the American military; the real-life Sun Gym Gang 00:42:43 — In-depth movie discussion 01:51:42 — Final thoughts and star ratings Sources: “Pain & Gain” by Pete Collins | The Miami New Times (1999) - https://bit.ly/4f1U30B “Pain & Gain: Where the Real-Life Sun Gym Gang Characters Are Now” by Francisco Alvarado | The Miami New Times (2013) - https://bit.ly/4kQFmyQ “‘Pain & Gain’ killers spared from death by Miami juries. They’ll still spend life in prison” by Charles Rabin | The Miami Herald (2024) - https://bit.ly/44Z5ukX “MICHAEL BAY - Understanding A True American Auteur (PART 1)” by Patrick H. Willems | YouTube (2019) - https://youtu.be/pyx7YRU4trs?si=y6YVZjRKXzld8ipA “MICHAEL BAY - Understanding A True American Auteur (PART 2)” by Patrick H. Willems | YouTube (2019) - https://youtu.be/kzzO14E-NLg?si=YYq1-nCEaT2_AGVl Artwork by Laci Roth. Music by Rural Route Nine. Listen to their album The Joy of Averages on Spotify (https://bit.ly/48WBtUa), Apple Music (https://bit.ly/3Q6kOVC), or YouTube (https://bit.ly/3MbU6tC). Songs by Rural Route Nine in this episode: “Summer of Rock” - https://youtu.be/dvRY72jNIEE “Winston-Salem” - https://youtu.be/-acMutUf8IM “Snake Drama” - https://youtu.be/xrzz8_2Mqkg “The Bible Towers of Bluebonnet” - https://youtu.be/k7wlxTGGEIQ "Summer of Rock" theme song credits: Words and music by Matt Stokes Engineered, mixed, and mastered by TJ Barends | Bare Sounds Personnel: TJ Barends - backing vocals Wade Hymel - drums/guitar/backing vocals Laci Roth - vocals Matt Stokes - vocals/guitar/bass Follow Wade on Instagram: @wadealready Follow TJ on Instagram: @baresoundstwitaj Follow the show! Twitter: @LoadBearingPod | @MattStokes9 | @LRothConcepts Instagram: @loadbearingbeams TikTok: @load.bearing.beams | @mattstokes9 Letterboxd: @loadbearinglaci | @mattstokes9 Bluesky: @loadbearingbeams.bsky.social

Time stamps: 00:14:24 — Our personal histories with the Fast & Furious franchise 00:30:55 — History segment: The history of the Fast & Furious franchise; director Justin Lin; on the weekend of Fast Five’s release, Dwayne Johnson Tweets the news that Osama bin Laden has been killed 00:49:55 — In-depth movie discussion 02:02:15 — Final thoughts and star ratings Laci and Matt hop in a go-fast car and head for Rio de Janeiro to join up with Dominic Torreto (Vin Diesel), Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker), and their whole extended family, as they attempt the heist of the century. All while trying to evade federal agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson), the deadliest agent you’ll find in Hillary Clinton’s State Department. We discover how fascinating Vin Diesel is for Laci, who has had startlingly little exposure to the man of the vast empire he controls. We try to figure out what it is he does well… because it’s hard to say what it is, there’s just something about him. Honestly, that’s true for Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, and Tyrese Gibson as well. It’s not that they’re captivating actors. They just have a certain quality that you can’t help but love. We also get into the history of the Fast & Furious series and the strange journey it took to becoming a Star Wars-level international blockbuster franchise. Next week: Pain & Gain (2013) The Summer of Rock is our summer 2025 miniseries covering the movie career of Dwayne Johnson through nine movies, presented in chronological order. Starting with his attempt at crossing over from the world of wrestling, The Rock’s career got off to a bumpy start before finally taking off in the 2010s. But it wasn’t long before the bumps returned, and we’ll be telling the story for you all summer long! Bonus video: Matt reviews Planet 51 (2009), the bonkers science fiction family film that was Dwayne Johnson’s first animated movie: https://youtu.be/-lG6Gnwe1GY?si=0gOccnMr7Pev3PPd Subscribe to our Patreon, Load Bearing Beams: Collector's Edition for $5 a month to get extra episodes! patreon.com/loadbearingbeams Sources: “'Fast Five' Will Transition Franchise From Street Racing To Future Full Of Heist Action” by Nikki Finke | Deadline (2011) - https://bit.ly/4kqBbtm “How Paul Walker nearly quit the ‘Furious’ franchise” by Amy Kaufman | Los Angeles Times (2015) - https://lat.ms/4kpmqH6 “The remarkable evolution of the Fast and Furious movie franchise” by Zach Harper | CBS Sports (2015) - https://bit.ly/3IaSYHF Artwork by Laci Roth. Music by Rural Route Nine. Listen to their album The Joy of Averages on Spotify (https://bit.ly/48WBtUa), Apple Music (https://bit.ly/3Q6kOVC), or YouTube (https://bit.ly/3MbU6tC). Songs by Rural Route Nine in this episode: “Summer of Rock” - https://youtu.be/dvRY72jNIEE “Winston-Salem” - https://youtu.be/-acMutUf8IM “Snake Drama” - https://youtu.be/xrzz8_2Mqkg “The Bible Towers of Bluebonnet” - https://youtu.be/k7wlxTGGEIQ "Summer of Rock" theme song credits: Words and music by Matt Stokes Engineered, mixed, and mastered by TJ Barends | Bare Sounds Personnel: TJ Barends - backing vocals Wade Hymel - drums/guitar/backing vocals Laci Roth - vocals Matt Stokes - vocals/guitar/bass Follow Wade on Instagram: @wadealready Follow TJ on Instagram: @baresoundstwitaj Follow the show! Twitter: @LoadBearingPod | @MattStokes9 | @LRothConcepts Instagram: @loadbearingbeams TikTok: @load.bearing.beams | @mattstokes9 Letterboxd: @loadbearinglaci | @mattstokes9 Bluesky: @loadbearingbeams.bsky.social

It is with heavy hearts that we have to push back our release schedule one week. Actually, no, our hearts are light and full of joy. A new baby has been added to House Stokes in the form of past guest Elliott (from the Home Alone 2 episode) and his lovely wife having a baby. Said baby was just very inconsiderate in arriving at precisely the time we were set to record our Fast Five episode. So, it'll be here in a week. All will be well. In the meantime, we're flashing back to last summer when it was the Summer of Spielberg, and we're giving you one of our most popular episodes, the Jurassic Park episode featuring AJ and Kristie from the In Love With Horror podcast. The Summer of Spielberg continues as Laci and Matt were able to buckle their seatbelts in time for their helicopter to land on Isla Nublar, where they meet up with AJ & Kristie from the In Love With Horror podcast to talk about Jurassic Park (1993). The four team up for a rollicking podcast so good it’ll have you shouting “Hello John!” at total strangers. First of all, this famous action/horror/sci-fi/disaster epic has like 50 incredible lines of dialogue! So we just spend some time saying these lines at each other. But eventually we get into it, talking about the history of Michael Crichton’s novel and its adaptation by Steven Spielberg. Then we take a close look at the movie, wondering just how bad of a boss John Hammond must be and what exactly is the nature of his relationship with Ian Malcolm. Also, apparently John Hammond was originally intended to sing a song explaining how Jurassic Park works? Instead they did the Mr. DNA thing, but we would love to hear that song. Who knows... maybe we will. Please check out the great In Love With Horror podcast on Apple Podcast (https://apple.co/4b80RX2), Spotify (https://bit.ly/3KYfbXe), or YouTube (https://bit.ly/4btwtqp), and support them on Patreon (https://bit.ly/3VV0jzy). Watch this episode in full: https://youtu.be/o2RueFt2rC8 Time stamps: 00:09:41 — Our histories with Jurassic Park 00:30:05 — History segment: Career overview of Jurassic Park author Michael Crichton; overview of Spielberg’s career since 1982; and a brief overview of the production of the movie 00:48:16 — In-depth movie discussion 01:13:14 — John Hammond's deleted musical number 01:54:35 — Final thoughts and star ratings Artwork by Laci Roth. Music by Rural Route Nine. Listen to their album The Joy of Averages on Spotify (https://bit.ly/48WBtUa), Apple Music (https://bit.ly/3Q6kOVC), or YouTube (https://bit.ly/3MbU6tC). Songs by Rural Route Nine in this episode: “Summer of Spielberg” - https://youtu.be/yglAqqLEaoI “Winston-Salem” - https://youtu.be/-acMutUf8IM “Snake Drama” - https://youtu.be/xrzz8_2Mqkg “The Bible Towers of Bluebonnet” - https://youtu.be/k7wlxTGGEIQ “Summer of Spielberg” theme song credits: Words and music written by Matt Stokes Performed by Wade Hymel (drums/guitar), Laci Roth (vocals), and Matt Stokes (vocals/guitar/bass) Produced by TJ Barends, Wade Hymel, and Matt Stokes Engineered and mixed by TJ Barends at Bare Sounds Studio in Ponchatoula, Louisiana Sources: Steven Spielberg: A Biography by Joseph McBride - https://amzn.to/3xzYOx1 “'Jurassic Park' screenwriter David Koepp reveals the origin of the film's most quoted line” - by Tom Butler | Yahoo! Entertainment (2019) - https://yhoo.it/3VySSwv

Hey folks, we're off this week, but we'll be back next week with our Fast Five episode, as the Summer of Rock rolls on! In the meantime, enjoy some samplings from the additional bonus material available on our YouTube channel (https://youtube.com/@loadbearingbeamspod). Time stamps: 1:30 — Top-Five Jurassic Park Movies (excluding Jurassic Park) 9:06 — Revisiting Gareth Edwards's Godzilla (2014)