Load Bearing Beams

The fifties, baby. We're taking a look at 1998's Pleasantville, which takes a look at a 1950s America that never was, and always will be. This movie, marketed as a comedy, is actually a pretty serious look at fascism, oppression, and forced conformity, and would it surprise you to hear its message is still relevant today? We thought we were past all of that! Want to watch our show on YouTube? Head to https://www.youtube.com/@loadbearingbeamspod to watch new, full video episodes every week. Artwork by Laci Roth. Music by Rural Route Nine (https://open.spotify.com/album/3oj7ZSGqfnZTtTlXa1fyeo?si=fZxDj8ZWT-2SpxhTUIdxow).

The nineties, baby. We're getting into it over Romy & Michele's High School Reunion (1997), which sees Lisa Kudrow and Mira Sorvino as the attractive women version of Beavis and Butt-Head trying to persuade their former high school classmates that they invented Post-Its. But beneath this sweet and pleasant comedy lurks something far more sinister. Is this actually a toxic, co-dependant friendship that's imprisoning both Romy and Michele? Would their lives be better if they actually stayed split up after their Tucson road trip? And why would anybody ever want to go to their high school reunion? Content warning: We discuss the sexual abuse allegations against both Woody Allen and Harvey Weinstein. Much of the history we cover in this episode is sourced from Vogue's 2022 oral history of "Romy & Michele's High School Reunion" by Keaton Bell, which you can read here: https://www.vogue.com/article/an-oral-history-of-romy-and-micheles-high-school-reunion Want to watch our show on YouTube? Head to https://www.youtube.com/@loadbearingbeamspod to watch new, full video episodes every week. Artwork by Laci Roth. Music by Rural Route Nine (https://open.spotify.com/album/3oj7ZSGqfnZTtTlXa1fyeo?si=fZxDj8ZWT-2SpxhTUIdxow).

Come on down to our podcast and have yourself a time. Laci and Matt have a long conversation about the 1999 Trey Parker-helmed South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. We go step by step through the movie and its history, as well as the larger history of the South Park TV series and how our relationships with it have changed over time. It's not easy spinning an animated show off into a big screen movie—you have to appeal to existing fans while bringing in new ones, and tell a story worthy of a big budget and an extended running time. So, does this movie pull it off? We compare it to The Simpsons Movie, Beavis & Butt-Head Do America, and The Bob's Burgers Movie to see how it well it holds up. Hey, we have a full video version of this episode up on YouTube. https://youtu.be/gedWc8El0Ig?si=e4zk7bw7LjoSeKQc

Hey folks, we planned on having a new episode out today, but the summer is kicking our asses and we are basically punting on the rest of it. Our tentative plan is to resume a new-episode-every-week schedule once school starts and we get more schedule flexibility. So, August 18. Thanks for sticking with us, we've really enjoyed doing the new episodes this year and want to do more of them.

We're in the midst of our Summer of Calamities but we only have a month or so left of it. So this is an off week for Load Bearing Beams, but we'll be back on Friday, July 21, 2023. It'll be a Matt movie episode, and he's currently choosing between two different late-1990s movies based on popular animated television shows: The Rugrats Movie and South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut. Basically the same movie. Here then is our schedule for the next month: Friday, July 21, 2023 - Episode 86 Friday, July 28, 2023 - Episode 87 Friday, August 4, 2023 - Episode 88 Friday, August 11, 2023 - no new episode

Laci and Matt discuss 1996's divorced women picture The First Wives Club, where Diane Keaton, Bette Midler, and Goldie Hawn rekindle their college-era friendship and then something something get back at all of the world's scummy ex-husbands? We're not sure either, but this is a rollicking good time discussing this really funny '90s hit. A lot of time is spent debating how the closing musical number makes each of us feel. Want to watch this episode? Head over to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@loadbearingbeams2747 Artwork by Laci Roth. Music by Rural Route Nine (Wade Hymel and Matt Stokes). Listen to their album The Joy of Averages on Spotify: https://bit.ly/42vff7s

George Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a man who just wants to fly around in big jet airliners and accrue miles, but will his heart get in the way?? Find out with us as we discuss Up In the Air (2009), director Jason Reitman's follow-up to his massive hit Juno (2007). This movie packs a lot of stuff in, and we address it all—how it feels to get fired, why Laci hates George Clooney's stupid face, and what's the deal with the food they're serving up there. Want to watch this episode? Head over to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@loadbearingbeams2747 Artwork by Laci Roth. Music by Rural Route Nine (Wade Hymel and Matt Stokes). Listen to their album The Joy of Averages on Spotify: https://bit.ly/42vff7s

Join us, dear listeners, at the Whistle Stop Cafe, where Idgy, Ninny, Buddy, Grady, Little Buddy, Smokey, Big George and all your best pals are waiting to cook you up a plate of Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), a tale of southern-fried romance and deadly train accidents. In a wide-ranging, free-wheeling, railroad-riding discussion, Laci and Matt unpack this movie and the many questions it raises. Why does Jessica Tandy harass strangers at the nursing home? What about Mary-Louise Parker's pill-addled energy in this movie do we find so appealing? And how is Kathy Bates's character Evelyn like Jigsaw from the SAW movies? Want to watch this episode? Head over to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@loadbearingbeams2747 Catch our most recent video episode, on Lake Placid: https://youtu.be/zX7UsWfTDgI Artwork by Laci Roth. Music by Rural Route Nine (Wade Hymel and Matt Stokes). Listen to their album The Joy of Averages on Spotify: https://bit.ly/42vff7s

Hey folks! Load Bearing Beams here with an update for you: We'll be back with a brand-new, full-length episode in one week (June 23, 2023). That episode will be on the film Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), so get ready now by watching it. The schedule through the rest of our season will then be as follows: June 23 — Episode 83: Fried Green Tomatoes (1991) June 30 — Episode 84: Pearl Harbor (2001) July 7 — Episode 85 July 14 — Off-week July 21 — Episode 86 July 28 — Episode 87 August 4 — Episode 88

We unpack Matt's lifelong fear of crocodilians by taking a look at 1999's big budget B-movie spectacular, Lake Placid. Is this schlocky special effects extravaganza just a Jurassic Park ripoff, or a sly commentary on the genre with a brilliant cast (Bridget Fonda, Brendan Gleeson, Oliver Platt, Bill Pullman, and Betty White) operating at the top of their game interacting with a killer croc made by a master of practical creature effects (Stan Winston) and directed by a guy (Steve Miner) who seems to know what he's doing? Spoiler: It's the latter. This movie RULES. We were as surprised as you will be. Want to watch this episode? Head over to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@loadbearingbeams2747 Catch our most recent video episode, on Howard Stern's Private Parts: https://youtu.be/vift8VSjRsM Artwork by Laci Roth. Music by Rural Route Nine (Wade Hymel and Matt Stokes). Listen to their album The Joy of Averages on Spotify: https://bit.ly/42vff7s

Laci picked the Howard Stern movie Private Parts (1997) for this episode, so we thoroughly discuss this odd but very charming film and try to figure out what it's really trying to say. Laci unpacks her history with Howard Stern, which literally involves her listening to his show in class via large headphones hidden by a hoodie. And Matt goes on a too-long solliloquy about his favorite radio show, the Dan Le Batard Show, and how it parallels Howard Stern's show. Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/vift8VSjRsM Artwork by Laci Roth. Music by Rural Route Nine (Wade Hymel and Matt Stokes). Listen to their album The Joy of Averages on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/3oj7ZSGqfnZTtTlXa1fyeo?si=OaGVYO8bSGagHzf-fOVABQ

The other members of Matt's band Rural Route Nine join the show for a classic two-movie Load Bearing Beams therapy session. Wade Hymel triumphantly returns to the show to convince the gang of the merits of the 2000 Ben Stiller/Robert DeNiro comedy Meet the Parents, while Patrick Perot presents The Blair Witch Project (1999) for consideration. We discuss the history of found footage horror movies, being fooled into thinking The Blair Witch Project was real back in 1999, whether it's possible to make any sense of the Blair Witch lore, and whether any good horror movies were made in the 2000s. That plus an extensive discussion of the obscure low-budget Meet the Parents from 1992 on which the Ben Stiller film was based, the smokiness of Blythe Danner, and why this movie really should have been a romantic comedy about Greg Focker and Jack Byrnes falling in love with each other. Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/VemICqDy70A Rural Route Nine has an album out! You can listen to the whole thing on Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/album/3oj7ZSGqfnZTtTlXa1fyeo?si=gb6jmXNDQaOAKwgCMmUPPg) and on YouTube (https://open.spotify.com/album/3oj7ZSGqfnZTtTlXa1fyeo?si=78Ru_JYaTACs-mbnohoV-w). Time stamps: 0:03:30 — The Blair Witch Project 0:39:08 — Meet the Parents 1:24:32 — "Your Ambition" by Rural Route Nine Artwork by Laci Roth. Music by Rural Route Nine.

(Do keep in mind that this podcast is rated R for utterly filthy language.) Well hi there, partner. Load Bearing Beams is back for season 2 with a long and free-wheeling discussion of Grease 2 (1982). This famously bad (but maybe it's not so bad?) sequel to the 1978 smash was an enormous flop upon release, but it has built quite a cult following over the years. We break it down, plus talk extensively about the first Grease movie and the different versions of the stage musical that preceded it. Plus we get to the bottom of whether the T-Birds and Pink Ladies in either of these movies actually like each other, and what Michael Carrington (Maxwell Caulfield) is really up to down in that bomb shelter. Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/6DRCIWgRdHw Artwork by Laci Roth. Music by Rural Route Nine (Wade Hymel and Matt Stokes). Listen to their album The Joy of Averages on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/3oj7ZSGqfnZTtTlXa1fyeo?si=OaGVYO8bSGagHzf-fOVABQ

Is this the most forgotten movie we've ever covered? Probably. But if you don't listen to this episode, we'll make fun of you, dweeb.

Laci and Matt unpack the movie and music career of Will Smith, the biggest movie star of his generation, and the notorious disaster that is 1999's Wild Wild West. Is this movie really the calamity everyone says it is? Listen to find out.

We prepare to enter the tournament that is the 1995 adaptation of Mortal Kombat. Time stamps: Mortal Kombat

Call in the Insane Clown Posse, because this episode is twisted. Please forgive the audio issues on this one. :(

It's Roth v. Stokes in this episode. The gloves are off. Fisticuffs. A brawl for all. A royal rumble. Malice at the Palace. We got a donnybrook on our hand, folks, because Laci thinks the Roland Emmerich-Matthew Broderick Godzilla (1998) is the worst movie Load Bearing Beams has ever covered, while Matt thinks it is merely bad. Who will prevail? Matt's brother Elliott and sister Maggie stop by eventually (at the 1 hour, 4 minutes mark) to help settle the whole ordeal. Other topics covered include: Godzilla Independence DayGodzilla Godzilla Godzilla

Elvis was a hero to Laci, but he never meant s*!@ to Matt. When your two hosts first started dating, Laci asked Matt a fundamental question: "Are you an Elvis person, or a Beatles person?" Matt thought it was a nonsensical question. What kind of person would choose Elvis over the Beatles? His future wife, that's who! And so. We were going to pick an Elvis Presley movie for this episode and use it as a springboard to talk about Elvis in general, and see if Laci could persuade Matt to warm up to him. But, after watching a four-hour documentary on the man and doing a deep dive into his music, we decided to skip the feature film and just talk about Elvis. You'll love this episode so tender, you will! The discussion covers: Elvis Presley: The Searcher allegations against Marilyn Manson

A very cranky Matt and Laci discuss the 2009 man-playin'-God thriller Splice. Topics covered include: TV vs. movies, bioethics, children, parenting, Koko the gorilla, plus an extensive breakdown of this movie's opening credits.