Apologies for the double-send, but the earlier version of this newsletter had half of the content eaten by internet gremlins for unknown reasons, and our dumb newsletter program (that’s right, I don’t care WHAT entity I call dumb) doesn’t allow us to publish more than one letter within 12 hours, AND doesn’t offer customer support unless we’re at a higher paid tier! A big ol’ raspberry to that! Anyway, far too late… this is the FULL newsletter.

Top Plug of the Week

THE FLOP HOUSE IS RETURNING TO SAN FRANCISCO SKETCHFEST! We'll take a break from relentlessly flogging FlopTV (FTV tickets here) to announce that we’re thrilled to be returning for SF Sketchfest 2025! Guess we didn’t break enough things, because they invited us back! Come see us on Sunday, January 19th, at Cobb’s Comedy Club, at 7pm. Elliott’s extra busy these days with his “career,” so this might be one of the few in-person shows we can squeeze in! Come out if you can; we’d love to see you!

Some Pointless Musings

Last night, as I was putting on the various contraptions (CPAP machine, sleep headphones, eye mask) I apparently require to perform the basic biological function of “sleeping” these days, I had a thought. Oftentimes, when people have disagreements about whether a movie is “good” or not, the person arguing for it is almost providing “instructions” on how to enjoy a movie.

I’ll try and express what I mean. For instance, people talk about “vibes” a lot more in film criticism these days, and I really appreciate it, because it acknowledges that a movie can be really flawed, but it doesn’t matter, if the FEEL is right. Two people might argue over, say, Michael Mann’s second feature film, The Keep — a horror movie about some Nazis who fuck around (with a supernatural force) and find out.

“Person A” might argue that the movie is nigh-on incomprehensible plotwise. And that’s not an unfair assessment, given that Mann’s original assembly was 210 minutes, the studio insisted he cut that down to 2 hours, and the version they eventually released was shorter still, at a mere 96 minutes AND the special effects supervisor died in post-production, leaving behind tons of uncompleted work and no instructions. In a traditional narrative sense, The Keep is, shall we say, “flawed.”

“Person B” might respond, “Yeah — you just have to not worry about that. Just enjoy the Tangerine Dream score; the faces of Scott Glenn, Jürgen Prochnow, Robert Prosky, and Ian McKellen; the incredible real-life locations merged with miniatures and effects; and the way Mann brings it all together into a synthwave nightmare/anti-Nazi wish fulfillment.

The notion that people are trying to give “instructions” on how to enjoy a movie occured to me because so many of these arguments come in the form of “oh you gotta ignore that part,” or “yeah, that was less important to me — THIS was what I found important.” It’s an attempt to highlight “the good parts.” Perhaps nothing I’m saying is particularly new or edifying, but matters of opinion are often matters of priorities. What people care about. What people are or are not willing to overlook in the name of having a good time at the movies. Did I watch Welcome Home Roxy Carmichael on HBO a lot when I was a teen because it was good? No. But it ranked very high on the “having Winona Ryder in it” metric. This can be true for consensus-great movies as well. Beloved STAR OF THE SHOW Hallie Haglund would bemoan how much Elliott and I would be in her (shared with Elliott) office talking about Star Wars, not because she thought it “sucked” necessarily, but because her own priorities leaned less toward laser battles and space bears.

Perhaps I’m a cockeyed optimist, but I do think (well, except for assholes) most people say stuff like this because they had a good time at the movies, and want to give you a road map to also having that good time. It only becomes a problem when your enthusiasm becomes a denial THEIR equally valid priorities. The point of talking to others about art is to expand your perspective, not to call other people crazy for not liking the same things as you.

For instance — my own movie mania is pervasive at this point. I read a lot about movies. I see a lot of movies. My job is tied directly to movies. I’ve had tiny cameos in a couple of movies. I’ve written three (unproduced) screenplays. And many of my friends (improbably) see even more movies than I do. Because film has so permeated my life, I both enjoy a wider swath of types of things, while simultaneously developing tastes that are specific and bizarre. Did I recently give three stars to “Arcade” on Letterboxd, a 1993 Full Moon Entertainment picture directed by Albert Pyun, starring Megan “PCU” Ward and Peter “A Christmas Story” Billingsley — a charming cheapo about a killer video game, featuring some of the finest CGI outside of an old mouthwash commercial? Yes, I did. But that’s because I’m a weirdo whose brain has been primed by nostalgia and the context of dumb “technology panic” movies of the 90s to love that shit. Would I recommend it to someone who sees three movies a year and is just looking for a good time? Fuck no. They should watch The Fall Guy.

Anyway, I guess if I’m going anywhere with this, it’s here — at a time when there are plenty of genuine things in the world to argue about (including some rifts between people that maybe shouldn’t be solved — at least without genuine remorse and hard repair work)? Your friendly neighborhood “bad” movie podcast is here to remind you that movie disputes don’t need to be arguments. Discussing this stuff should be fun. Accept the roadmap to liking a film, or don’t, but enjoy the one corner of the world where disagreements ultimately don’t matter.

Next on the Podcast:

Hear ye on main!

11/23 - We welcome Linda Holmes back to the podcast to discuss the neither-a-critical-nor-commercial-flop TRAP, which is nonetheless a movie people have strong differences of opinion about! Perhaps even within the flop panel! Does Linda have a new novel coming soon that you can pre-order? One that even involves podcasting, maybe? Why yes she does!

11/30 - The thrilling conclusion to Stuart’s 2-part mini to find the greatest film action hero! The answer may surprise you! It will certainly surprise 2/3 of the Peaches themselves, since Stu did all of the tallying after the show was over and recorded the results at a later time!

Boys on the Side

Check out Elliott’s run on HARLEY QUINN!

Most Fridays, as his schedule allows, you can find Stuart painting models on Twitch.

The most recent installment of my personal newsletter, Dan McCoy’s Special Interests is a silly humor essay about being covered with ants!

Extra Credit

Elliott’s time summarizing the Power Broker over at 99% Invisible is close to wrapping up (but not before snagging them a spot in Time Magazine’s list of 2024’s 10 Best Podcasts!), but it seems he’s developed a taste for polypodcastery, because he’s just beginning a stint as the host and writer for CLUELESS, a new podcast from the Smartless podcast empire. Read about it in Variety!

If you can’t get enough Elliott, but prefer him “closer to home,” check out this recent Jordan Jesse GO! with guests Brian Michael Bendis, Elliott, and the ghost of Stan Lee (also Elliott).

Dan also guests on things! Things like The B.O. Boys, a (funny) podcast about the upcoming box office weekend. Listen to his episode, where he’s proud (?) to say he came closer to Red One’s actual weekend gross than the regular hosts!

And if you want a DOUBLE dose of the Peaches guesting on something, check out the most recent Judge John Hodgman, featuring Dan and Stu making a cameo appearance in JJHo’s NYC Road Court session!

You Made it to the End!

A couple of shots for the crazy cat men out there: Panda visiting Dan at work, and Archie saying hi to Stuart, his favorite human that doesn’t live in the same apartment.