Load Bearing Beams

This one's a jazz set, a lazy river. Let the conversation take you where it's gonna take you, ya know?  Topics covered: Waterparks Whether or not talking about food is interesting The merits of the Foo Fighters The TV show The Crown  The merits of a system of government wherein the head of state and head of government are separated 

Another of Laci's faves is a cult classic from the '90s: 1999's Jawbreaker, the tale of three popular girls who accidentally murder their friend and then clumsily cover it up while also navigating the minefield that is high school. But about half of this episode is Matt explaining why he is disgusted by candy and how hard it was for him to watch this movie given the prominence of the titular Jawbreaker. 

Deploy your cowcatcher and join Laci and Matt as they unpack Buster Keaton's action-comedy classic, The General (1927). Often considered the greatest of all silent films, it is undoubtedly an impressive technical achievement... but can the jaded and cynical people of today enjoy a movie like this 100 years later after it was made? Listen and find out. 

Your favorite podcast hosts who are married to each other and talk about movies that they loved when younger but haven't seen in a long time and are concerned might not hold up to the scrutiny and cynicism that is aging return to discuss the classic 1994 comedy Dumb and Dumber.  Matt's distaste for 1990s Jim Carrey has been well explored on this show, but will he be won over this time around? Or will Laci have to eat a headless parakeet and admit that the film just isn't very good? You could cut the tension with a knife, folks. 

Laci and Matt unpack the movie Network (1976), a movie that predicted that one day, the television news would be kind of silly. Can you even imagine? 

Laci and Matt didn't watch a proper Load Bearing Beams movie for this episode, so they instead reflect on all the TV and movies they've been watching recently: Munich, The Post, JFK, Nixon, Spotlight, The Simpsons, Futurama, Disenchantment, I Know That Voice, High Score   PLUS: Two separate stories about being scammed A story about Laci's appearance at a meeting of the New Orleans Historical Landmark Commission Laci has a fantasy wherein she talks her way out of a mental institution. Matt's favorite and least favorite movies that Laci has picked, and Laci names her favorite and least favorite movies that Matt has picked for the show

Are you ready to get twisted? Wicked? Witch-tisted? Some of those? Then grab your woz-blomkers and fiz-tizzlers and mouse-growsers and dog droppings and catch this quintessential "child's horror" film, 1990's The Witches. 

I've heard of a doll, but a killer doll??!!  We examine 1988's Child's Play, the debut entry in the eternal Chucky franchise about an expensive doll inhabited by the spirit of a voodoo-practicing serial killer. 

It's the movie that broke Matt Stokes: 1994's "family" "comedy" Clifford, in which a man in his mid-thirties, Martin Short, plays a 10-year-old boy. Can you imagine??? Matt and Laci have a fierce argument over this cult classic. 

Hey people, our new episode about the movie Clifford (the one where Martin Short plays a child) will be out on Monday (Aug. 3). Until then, enjoy this classic from the archives. 

Laci and Matt examine the great screwball comedy My Man Godfrey (1936), a film in which Carole Lombard gives what Matt calls one of the great comedic performances in the history of film. Is he right, or is he just a snooty snobby snob who pretends to like old things? If you don't like old movies, we also have a lengthy discussion of whether or not Maggie Simpson is a character, and how she would rank among the great Simpsons characters if so. That discussion can be found at minute 49. 

Come on down south—to the Bayou, mayhaps?—to open the book and learn about the Ya-Yas and their many divine secrets in Laci's movie of the week: 2002's Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. 

The Beams are back in town to discuss James Cameron's sci-fi/action classic, Terminator 2: Judgment Day. And the first Terminator movie too. Topics addressed: Whether or not free will is a thing Laci is distracted by Sarah Connor not wearing a bra Problems with time travel The inevitable invention of an artificial superintelligence that destroys us all Whether you can be on your phone while watching a movie  A scary thing that happened to Laci and Matt's kid Whether Edward Furlong is good If you can't change your own universe via time travel, but you can create alternate universes that spring from the events you influence, should you care?   

Travel back with us to 1998. Your guides? The Two Eds... Norton and Furlong, of course! They're your stars of American History X! Exclamation points will make this episode seem more fun than it is! 

The Beams household turns its eye toward Joe Dante's 1998 action-toy picture Small Soldiers. This podcast addresses a number of questions, including: How many times do you have to hear a song before you can judge its quality? With Disney re-theming Splash Mountain to tell the story of The Princess and the Frog rather than Song of the South, what other Disney-owned intellectual properties would you like to see represented in the theme parks? What's Joe Dante's deal? Why does he love creatures so much?  All that, plus Matt explains how Small Soldiers predicted the Iraq War.

Laci chose Serial Mom, a 1994 movie directed by John Waters and starring Kathleen Turner as a mom who's also *record scratch* a serial killer?? We won't beat around the bush: This movie rules! And so does this episode, because we discuss: The algorithms are getting better by the day Matt's troublesome relationship with food Suburbia? More like, Conformia!  Remember video stores? Celebrity murder trials ...AND MORE!

Matt accidentally opens an evil, cursed book, unleashing a plague upon the Beams household in the form of The Mummy Returns. The only way to undo the curse is to thoroughly discuss the 2001 film starring Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz. They discuss the history of the Mummy franchise, from its roots in the Universal Monster movies of the 1930s, to the mid-budget action pictures of the '90s and '00s, to the ill-fated Dark Universe of 2017. But it all comes back to one widely disliked sequel that Matt watched repeatedly as a youth and, to his surprise, still loves.  This episode references a video essay about The Mummy by YouTuber Josh Keefe: https://youtu.be/jajqS_f9ZXQ It also quotes extensively from, "What Ever Happened to Brendan Fraser," a GQ article from 2018 by Zach Baron. Read that article here: https://bit.ly/2Yougcg PLEASE support organizations (such as Color Of Change) that fight against racial injustice and police brutality. #blacklivesmatter

Please contribute to causes that advance social justice, especially in the place you live. We are proud to support New Orleans Safety and Freedom Fund, which is providing bail relief to people arrested right now for protesting police brutality. #blacklivesmatter Load Bearing Beams will resume its regular schedule with an episode about The Mummy Returns (2001) next Friday (06.12.2020).

Laci and Matt get sucked into a tangent universe, where they have to discuss Richard Kelly's 2001 time travel/prep school thrillerdrama Donnie Darko. Who is Donnie Darko, and why is he so dark? Plus, lots of discussion about time travel, dyslexia, and dads laughing at inappropriate times.

By a listener's suggestion, Laci and Matt discuss 1988's animated/live-action/neo-noir PG-rated sex comedy Who Framed Roger Rabbit. The whole gamut of topics is covered, including: 1) Roger Rabbit's star power (Is Roger Rabbit supposed to be as famous and popular within the reality of the film as Bugs Bunny was in our reality? And if so, how popular was Bugs himself within the Roger-verse?) 2) Kids' ability to just watch movies and not need to have everything explained to them 3) Animators don't get the credit they deserve 4) The bizarre cultural artifact that is Cool World and animated movies that look like kids' movies but are actually aimed at adults 5) Matt has a controversial take on how great a movie this is All that and much more!  Also, this video essay by Patrick (H) Willems is mentioned in the episode, and is highly recommended: https://youtu.be/JKe8qCzPdkI