Load Bearing Beams

Enjoy nine free minutes from our Patreon-exclusive episode about the pilot of the American Office. Hear the full thing by subscribing at https://patreon.com/loadbearingbeams for $5/month. Matt and Wade go through the pilot episode of the American Office. They compare their personal fandoms of the show and how deep their knowledge runs, and then briefly discuss how the show was adapted from the British series created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, its rocky first season and slow ascent into a megahit, and its lasting cultural legacy. And as for the pilot itself, which is generally not well regarded, Matt is surprised at how solid it is, how good a job it does at setting up the series, and how fully formed the main characters already are. The Office was created by Ricky Gervais & Stephen Merchant, and developed by Greg Daniels. It stars Steve Carell, Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, and Jenna Fischer The pilot is directed by Ken Kwapis & written by Greg Daniels (adapted from a teleplay by Rick

Hoppy Easter. We're taking the week off but don't want to leave you hopping. So here's our eggsipode about The Truman Show, in its entirety, previously available only to our Patreon subscribers. We'll be back next week with an all-new episode about Sister Act 2. 

We welcome Hal (@shestructured on Letterboxd) and Craig (@gentlemanbaby on Letterboxd) from the Red Rose Film Club podcast to cover American Psycho (2000), the Wall Street horror/comedy starring Christian Bale as Patrick "Justin" Bateman. This movie’s got a lot going on, folks. And we get to it all—we determine who has the best business card, we explain why you wouldn’t want Christian Bale as your co-worker at Whataburger, we try to figure out what’s going on with Justin Theroux’s hair, and we marvel at Patrick Bateman’s chainsaw math. Also, is American Psycho Jared Leto’s villain origin story?   But more than anything, we're trying to identify what exactly Patrick Bateman represents. Is he the embodiment of toxic masculinity? A victim of America’s addiction to competition and consumption above all else? A misunderstood baby boy? An iconic slasher villain? What if our answer was…. Yes?   Next week:  We are the nation’s top fun-havers, so we’re taking the week off for Spring Break. We'll unlock o

We bid a tearful farewell to our favorite actor, Gene Hackman, by discussing his hilarious evil Lex Luthor in Superman (1978). Richard Donner started the whole superhero movie idea with this film, but we won’t hold that against him. How electric are Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder? How great does this movie look? And why are so many children getting smacked by their mothers?     Bonus video: We each give our most contrarian film opinion. Watch it on our Twitter, BlueSky, Instagram, or TikTok.   Next week: American Psycho (2000) with the Red Rose Film Club podcast   Subscribe to our Patreon, Load Bearing Beams: Collector's Edition for $5 a month to get two extra episodes! patreon.com/loadbearingbeams    Time stamps: 00:01:16 — Our personal histories with Superman  00:09:40 — History segment: A very brief history of Superman (the character); development of Superman (the movie); career overview of director Richard Donner; career overview of star Christopher Reeve 00:3

Enjoy 12 minutes from our Patreon-only bonus episode about The Royal Tenenbaums!  Subscribe to Load Bearing Beams: Collector's Edition for $5/month at https://patreon.com/loadbearingbeams  

Laci and Matt head to Palm Beach, Florida, to con some rich geriatrics out of their money with their best pals, Sigourney Weaver and Jennifer Love Hewitt. That’s right, it’s the perfectly cromulent 2001 crime-comedy Heartbreakers, brought to you by director David Mirkin (showrunner of seasons 5 and 6 of The Simpsons, and director of previous episode Romy & Michele’s High School Reunion).    Bonus video:  Most awkward experience seeing a movie with a parent. Watch it on our Twitter or on our TikTok.   Next week: Superman (1978)   Subscribe to our Patreon, Load Bearing Beams: Collector's Edition for $5 a month to get two extra episodes! patreon.com/loadbearingbeams      Time stamps: 00:05:56 — Our personal histories with Heartbreakers 00:09:27 — History segment: Brief overviews of director David Mirkin and stars Sigourney Weaver and Jennifer Love Hewitt; Laci and Matt listen to Jennifer Love Hewitt’s highest charting single to determine if they’ve ever heard it 00:21:00

Our coverage of the late, great Gene Hackman begins with Laci and Matt getting sucked into the vortex of legal intrigue that is The Firm. And, okay, it’s not exactly a Gene Hackman movie, but he’s wonderful as always as part of this ensemble cast that is one of the all-time great ensemble casts. Seriously, this movie is a warm bath you can just slip into, not unlike Gene Hackman’s character Avery Tolar at the end of this film.   Bonus video: We talk about things people do in the movies that are weird, very much unlike things that people in real-life do. Watch it on our Twitter, BlueSky, Instagram, or TikTok.   Next week: Heartbreakers (2001)   Subscribe to our Patreon, Load Bearing Beams: Collector's Edition for $5 a month to get two extra episodes! patreon.com/loadbearingbeams    Time stamps: 00:01:42 — Our personal histories with The Firm and the legal thriller sub-genre 00:16:54 — History segment: John Grisham and the ‘90s legal thriller boom; brief overview of director

Friend of the Show Screen Time Kota (https://www.tiktok.com/@screentimekota) returns to discuss the 1985 sci-fi film Enemy Mine. This hidden gem of an ‘80s sci-fi film has everything you want: practical effects, elaborate sets, miniature spaceships, matte paintings, and incredible makeup. Even more impressive is the performance of Louis Gossett Jr. underneath the intricate alien makeup. He and Dennis Quaid (a human) get stranded on a planet together; their species hate each other more than anything else… but somehow, they’ll need to learn to get along if they want to survive this. (They do.)   Next week: The Firm (1993)   Subscribe to our Patreon, Load Bearing Beams: Collector's Edition for $5 a month to get two extra episodes! patreon.com/loadbearingbeams    Time stamps: 00:01:34 — Kota’s history with Enemy Mine 00:11:10 — History segment: Development of Enemy Mine, from novella to production under original director Richard Loncraine, to Loncraine getting replaced with Wolfgang Peter

Matt has a new podcast! Don't worry, Load Bearing Beams shall be unaffected. In fact, it can only grow stronger. The new podcast will come out once per month and it's about the classic Twilight Zone series. Along with Friend of the Show Patrick Perot (the 10 Things I Hate About You episode, the Blair Witch Project episode, Rural Route Nine), Matt will go through each episode of The Twilight Zone—one episode per podcast—in chronological order. And you can try out that podcast now: The Sign Post Up Ahead. To catch episodes 2 and 3 of The Sign Post Up Ahead, you can subscribe to the show: Apple Podcast: https://bit.ly/3DA3Z3c  Spotify: https://bit.ly/4kEEvlM  YouTube: https://youtube.com/@thesignpostupahead  In the debut episode of the podcast, Matt and Patrick go through the very first episode of The Twilight Zone: "Where Is Everybody?" An amnesiac wanders through a town, unable to find a single human being, but always feeling like somebody is just out of reach. Creepy! How well does this episode serve as

Austin Proctor of the Frightmares podcast joins Laci and Matt to go through The Devil’s Rejects, the second film from director Robert “Robbie” Zombie. A family of demented devil freaks is running roughshod over Jimmy Carter’s America, and the only thing standing in their way is a demented devil sheriff who just might be even more evil. Who will win? Answer? You, the listener, as we unpack this gory, unpleasant, but fascinating early 2000s horror/neo-western.   Check out the Frightmares podcast on Apple Podcast (https://apple.co/4h7Qaqh) or Spotify (https://bit.ly/4kvmHtl). Follow the podcast on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@frightmarespodcast    Next week: Enemy Mine (1985) with Screen Time Kota!   Subscribe to our Patreon, Load Bearing Beams: Collector's Edition for $5 a month to get two extra episodes! patreon.com/loadbearingbeams    Time stamps: 00:08:05 — Our personal histories Rob Zombie and The Devil’s Rejects  00:20:00 — History segment: Career overview of Rob Zombie,

Yes, this is a five-hour episode. Luckily, we have time stamps available for you so you can hop around to hear about the Oscar categories you find most interesting. With Laci out on assignment, Matt interviews a handful of friends and past guests of the show to preview Hollywood's Biggest Night™. With the Academy Awards ceremony looming in two days, he and his pals preview all of the major categories, and a few fun extra ones.  So tune in for detailed conversations about movies like Anora, A Complete Unknown, Dune Part Two, Wicked, The Brutalist, Nosferatu, Inside Out 2, Emilia Perez, Nickel Boys, Sing Sing, Conclave, A Real Pain, The Substance, The Wild Robot, Kindom of the Planet of the Apes, and more!  Next week: Laci triumphantly returns and we're joined by frist-time guest Austin Proctor of the Frightmares podcast to review Rob Zombie's The Devil's Rejects (2005). Subscribe to our Patreon, Load Bearing Beams: Collector's Edition for $5 a month to get two extra episodes! patreon.com/loadbearingbeams

It only took us eight years but we finally reached 150 episodes. How about that? To celebrate, we squeeze into matching Union Jack dresses and slam our bodies down and wind them all around to discuss Spice World (1997), the notoriously bad (but secretly good?) Spice Girls movie.   To elder millennials, this movie’s a big honking deal, folks, and we pull out all the stops to unpack exactly why that is. And to then marvel at how, of all the directions they could have gone with a Spice Girls movie, this is what they made.    Bonus video: We name our favorite movies about bands, real or fictional. Watch it on our Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok.   Next week: Our Oscars special, previewing the 2025 Academy Awards with a cavalcade of superstar guests    Subscribe to our Patreon, Load Bearing Beams: Collector's Edition for $5 a month to get two extra episodes! patreon.com/loadbearingbeams    Time stamps: 00:06:13 — Our personal histories with the Spice Girls 00:16:06 — History segment:

For Valentine’s Day, we’re celebrating the greatest American love story of all time: Isabella Swan and Edward “The Bad Guy” Cullen. That’s right, after years of threatening to turn the podcast into a full-time Twilight show, we’re finally doing it. For one episode, at least. But how to tackle such an enormous endeavor? Well, we’ve found the two perfect people to help us in our quest: Courtney and Rose from the great Fiction Fixation podcast.   The four of us unpack our different Twilight journeys, discuss the odd figure that is Stephenie Meyer, try to determine the connection between Twilight and Mormonism, unpack the demented sexual politics of this franchise, and, finally, we all confess how much we’d want Edward to bite our necks.   Listen to Fiction Fixation on Apple Podcast (https://bit.ly/411OKaS), Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow them on TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@fictionfixation    Next week: Spice World (1997)   Subscribe to our Patreon, Load Bearing Be

In the history segment from our Patreon-only episode about The Truman Show, Matt and Laci cover: How The Truman Show started as a much darker script by Andrew Niccol about an alcoholic, philandering New Yorker. When director Peter Weir came aboard he had a few notes—like, why would this show be so popular if it's about a depressing, unlikable cheater?  Jim Carrey based his performance on his dad, and was at a level of fame in 1998 that he could whole-heartedly understand a man who is literally the center of the universe. Enjoy this free sample! To hear the entire episode, you'll have to join our Patreon: Load Bearing Beams: Collector's Edition. Subscribe for $5 a month: https://patreon.com/loadbearingbeams  Source:  “Twenty Years Later, Everything Is The Truman Show” by Julie Miller | Vanity Fair, 2018 - https://bit.ly/41cSW8X

The winner of our recent Listener Choice Lottery was our friend Monique (of Monique’s Movie Madness, @moniques_movie_madness on TikTok). Her movie? The Legend of Billie Jean (1985). Not only had neither of us ever seen this movie, we'd barely even heard of it. But boy is it a hidden gem. Pure sleazy '80s goodness.   Helen Slater plays our hero: Billie Jean, a 17-year-old resident of Corpus Christi, Texas. The year is 1985, and she’s going up against the many injustices life throws at her, with the help of her spunky younger brother Binx (Christian Slater), the live-action Lisa Simpson (Yeardley Smith), and a hunky movie nerd named Lloyd (Keith Gordon). Spoiler alert: She wins. But the real winner is YOU, the viewing public.   Bonus video: We each name an actor we just can’t stand. Who can’t you stand?? Watch it on our Twitter, BlueSky, Instagram, or TikTok.   Next week:  Feb. 12 - The Truman Show exclusively on Patreon!  Feb. 14 - Twilight with special guests, Rose and Courtne

Diane Keaton accidentally inherits a baby. Hilarity ensues. Actually, this isn’t your typical “I don’t know how to change a diaper!” comedy, it’s actually a pretty sweet and incisive look at the demented work culture of the 1980s. This is where Diane Keaton and Nancy Meyers first collaborated, and it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Also, this movie has one* cute baby!   *Actually two.   Bonus video: We each submit our favorite baby from a movie. Watch it on our Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok.   Next week: The Legend of Billie Jean (1985)   Subscribe to our Patreon, Load Bearing Beams: Collector's Edition for $5 a month to get two extra episodes! patreon.com/loadbearingbeams    Time stamps: 2:16 — Our personal histories with Baby Boom 15:35 — History segment: The story of Nancy Meyers and Charles Shyer, a legendary Hollywood power couple 30:31 — In-depth movie discussion 1:38:12 — Final thoughts and star ratings   Source: “Life Isn’t Like the Movies (Eve

Louisiana got hit with a historic winter storm and the state shut down. Your pals Laci and Matt have cabin fever and are furious as they haven't been able to go anywhere or do anything all week, including podcasting. So here's their apology and update on the schedule. We will return in one week with our episode about Baby Boom (1988).  If you are shaking from withdrawal because it's Friday and you need your fix, you can just go to our Patreon and become a subscriber, and then you'll have a handful of brand-new episodes to tide you over until next week. https://patreon.com/loadbearingbeams  Thank you for your support of our podcast! Okay we love you goodbyeeeee. 

Get over here to this podcast about Mortal Kombat (1995). We’re revisiting this movie, even after having already covered it on episode 76, because that episode was less than 30 minutes long. And respect must be paid! Director Paul W.S. Anderson knows exactly what kind of movie he’s making here, and the scuzzy mid-’90s vibes are immaculate!   Now, is this movie basically just you watching the video game, but in movie form? Well, yes. But that’s what you bought the ticket for!   Bonus video: We spin the wheel and select the winner of our Listener Choice Lottery™ . Watch it on our Twitter, BlueSky, Instagram, or TikTok.   Next week: Baby Boom (1988)   Subscribe to our Patreon, Load Bearing Beams: Collector's Edition for $5 a month to get two extra episodes! patreon.com/loadbearingbeams    Time stamps: 00:07: 02— Our personal histories with Mortal Kombat 00:11:18 — History segment: The history of the Mortal Kombat franchise; the making of the 1995 movie under director Paul

This is a preview from the Patreon-exclusive bonus episode where Laci and Matt give their spoiler-filled thoughts, analysis, theories, etc. about the terrific Apple TV+ series Severance. Get the full episode by subscribing to Load Bearing Beams: Collector's Edition on Patreon for $5 a month: https://www.patreon.com/c/loadbearingbeams 

What if there was a romantic comedy where you were rooting for the evil “other woman” but you didn’t know it? Well, Hollywood boldly went there in 1997 with My Best Friend’s Wedding. And what a charming evil woman we have as our protagonist here, in Jules (Julia Roberts). She’s an utter delight, as is Kimmy (Cameron Diaz). The only stretch here is that either would find anything appealing about this dimwitted drip named Michael (Dermot Mulroney).   Director P.J. Hogan called My Best Friend’s Wedding “a romantic comedy that wasn’t very romantic.” And it is very impressive to see how well the movie balances its many tensions—to have Julia Roberts, the lead, be someone the audience roots for, but not too much; to have her rival Cameron Diaz be able to hold her own against Roberts but not steal the show; and to have the dullard male lead not seem like an oblivious jerk.   Well, it worked. This movie rules. We both loved it. But we need to make fun of stuff, so we do a lot of bad impressions and ask