By Sam
We start off episode five with an added intro to show support for those protesting the murder of George Floyd, as well as for those advocating for change and against racism. I listed off a number of bail funds you can donate to if you want to help the protesters, which are also posted on our Instagram account @the_podcast_in_the_woods, but you can also find bail funds linked by state on the Community Justice Exchange’s website at https://www.communityjusticeexchange.org/nbfn-directory .
I would also recommend reading Zyahna Bryant’s opinion article in Teen Vogue titled “Beyond the Hashtag: How to Take Anti-Racist Action in Your Life” about how to get educated on systematic racism, as well as other anti-racist actions you can take. The link can be found here: https://www.teenvogue.com/story/beyond-the-hashtag-how-to-take-anti-racist-action .
“The Secret of NIMH” (1982) (Rated G; 1 hour 22 minutes; Categories: Animation, Adventure, Drama)
Josh deviates from his usual horror movies for a dose of nostalgia with “The Secret of NMH,” a 1982 animated movie directed and written by Don Bluth. Other writers of the movie include John Pomeroy, Gary Goldman, and Will Finn.
Before we jump into talking about “The Secret of NIMH,” we touch quickly on the movie “Brain Damage,” which we watched as part of “The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs” on the Shudder app. While I’ve been desensitized to a number of the horror movies Josh has shown me, Joe Bob Briggs has found new movies to test me! Including the bathroom scene in “Brain Damage” where an alien crawls into a guy’s head and the guy ends up popping his head open trying to get the alien out – while the alien was real, this scene was actually a hallucination this guy was having, but I will continue to be scarred for life.
But onto the first movie for this week! “The Secrete of NIMH” is an animated movie is a dose of fantasy mixed with science fiction as we follow Mrs. Brisby (Elizabeth Hartman), a field mouse on a quest. Mrs. Brisby has a sick son with pneumonia who can’t be moved, but Mrs. Brisby needs to move her family before the field gets plowed. She befriends a rather annoying, but harmless crow named Jeremy (Dom DeLuise) as she seeks help from a number of creatures, including the Great Owl, the farm’s rats living in the rose bush, and Nicodemus, the leader of the rats.
Josh talks about how this is a childhood cult classic, especially for anybody who was a child in the 80s, like Josh, while I am a 90s kids. Josh also said this movie is a “traumatic” movie for a six-year-old, while I think that was hyping it up a little. Josh remembers going to see it in theaters, and even though “The Secret of NIMH” didn’t do well at the box office, but the movie got a cult following.
“There’s been so much death and destruction,” Josh said about his choice to veer off this week. “Now we’ll just have cartoon death.”
Josh then talks Don Bluth and his history working on other animated movies, including Disney movies, like “Sleeping Beauty” and “Pete’s Dragon.” His last movie with Disney was “The Fox and the Hound,” uncredited.
Don Bluth went to animate video games, like Dragon Slayer, and Josh recalls what it was like having a “full-blown cartoon we can play” back in the time of Pac-Man.
There were some surprising child voice actors in the moving, including Wil Wheaton (we may go on a mini “Star Trek” tangent here) and Shannon Doherty.
In talking about this movie, I was a little annoyed at how the quest, at first, was Mrs. Brisby going to different creatures and those creatures just pointing her to someone else, all the while Nicodemus watched through a magical mirror or portal until she finally got to him. I felt like that made the beginning a little slow.
We also discuss the clumsy Jeremy the crow, who is “a lot.” Animated movies had not yet perfected the quirky side character as Jeremy is kind of more of a nuisance than amusing.
We eventually get to the rats, and I was curious about how the rats and the mice weren’t more connected, especially since Mrs. Brisby’s belated mouse husband John Brisby helped the rats. I also hate that Mrs. Brisby doesn’t get her own first name, but oh well, being “Mrs. John Brisby” connects her to her husband John Brisby, a name that prompts the rats to help her.
Once she gets to the rats, she meets a number of the rats – like Justin and Jenner – who show her around the rose bush, where the rats are using electricity from the farm to power their little world in the bush. We finally make it to Nicodemus, and while the rats agree to help Mrs. Brisby, some of the rats are also preparing to stage a coup.
After finding out what the secret of NIMH is, we also find out how Mrs. Brisby becomes the mouse mother of the century, activating a special amulet to save her kids!
“Last Holiday” (2006) (Rated PG-13, 1 hours and 52 minutes)
“Last Holiday” (2006) is a romantic comedy film directed by Wayne Wang and written by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman. This movie is also on the new HBO Max!
Queen Latifah is Georgia Byrd, a sales associate working at a Sears-type of store called Kragen’s Department Store in New Orleans. She also gives cooking demonstrations, and her dream job is to own her own restaurant.
After going in for a CAT scan after an accident at the store, she finds out she has a fatal brain tumor. The only procedure that could possibly save her also gets rejected by her insurance, so she decides to go on a once-in-a-lifetime adventure to make the most of the rest of her life.
This is the original “Treat yourself!” movie! Georgia doesn’t want to waste another minute as an unappreciated, underpaid sales associate. She goes on her dream vacation to the Grandhotel Pupp in the spa city of Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic. It does seem like a random type of vacation, but it’s a super fancy hotel where her favorite chef, Chef Didier, is at, since Georgia is an aspiring chef.
One of my favorite parts of the movie is when she cashes her bonds and 401K to pay for this trip, and the person she is getting her money from at the bank asks what she plans to do with it, asking if she plans to invest or anything. And Georgia says, “Nope. I’m going to blow it.”
Throughout this little journey at her favorite hotel, she also goes from being a meek character to adventurous. One of my other favorite parts is the shopping montage where she gets all new outfits. You have to have a good shopping montage in a movie about changing your life.
Also while Georgia is at the Grandhotel Pupp, she runs into Matthew Kragen (Timothy Hutton), the owner of the chain of department stores she works for, as well as his mistress Ms. Burn (Alicia Witt) and a couple of (fictional) congressmen, Senator Dillings (Giancarlo Esposito) and Congressman Stewart (Michael Nouri).
Kragen, Ms. Burns, and Dillings became interested in who Georgia Byrd is, and since she’s spending money left and right, they start thinking she’s a wealthy business woman. They get attached to Georgia, who is just trying to make the most of the rest of her life – which includes shopping, base-jumping, snow-boarding, and extravagant dinners – and they end up following her around. Kragen also gets jealous of Georgia for all of the attention Georgia is getting, and he pays one of the service maids to go through Georgia’s things to find out who she is.
While this movie is super adorable and fun, one of my biggest complaints about the movie is that Georgia spends the majority of this movie with these people – Kragen, Ms. Burns, Dillings – who are kind of horrible people, instead of pursuing her love interest, Sean Williams, played by LL Cool J. Sean also worked at the department store with Georgia.
Sean does go investigate why Georgia stopped coming to work, finding out through a scrapbook – where Georgia cut out pictures of their faces and glued them onto a bride and groom from a magazine photo – that Georgia had a crush on him. This then inspires him to chase after Georgia, following her to the Czech Republic.
Josh comments on the social commentary of the movie about wealth inequality, as well as how Georgia connects with the service people at the hotel by showing them mutual respect and treating them like they are people.
All of these people at this hotel are just as beat down as Georgia was at the department store, Josh points out, and Georgia doesn’t put up with these rich people like Kragen and Ms. Burns mistreating the employees, like when Ms. Burns starts snapping at a masseuse in the spa. Georgia gets up and puts Ms. Burns in her place. (And if you’re wondering why I keep referring to Ms. Burns as Ms. Burns, it’s because she and Dillings did not get first names.) This movie also contrasts the service workers, who are the most likable characters in the movie, with the wealthy compatriots of Kragen, who all just sort of suck.
Overall, it’s a fun, sweet movie that also works to humanize service workers (with possibly even a sub-layer about wealth inequality). Find us on Spotify (or visit Anchor.fm/Samandjosh to find other apps) to hear more about what we have to say!
The Podcast in the Woods 