This week, we continue our exploration of musicals! Our second film in this series is the 1961 smash hit: West Side Story. Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblin, Rita Moreno, and George Chakiris star in this musical about star crossed lovers set against a backdrop of racially motivated gang violence in 1950's New York City. We set out to explore the doomed romance, but quickly get swept up in Cold War history lessons, representation and racism in Hollywood, the importance of authentic voices when telling someone else's story, and much more. Whether you are a longtime lover of musicals or new to the genre, we invite you to bring your snapping fingers and mambo with us through this entry in musical cinema history. Join us! Fill in some of your cinematic gaps as we venture into what we've dubbed #OperationDancingShoes.  Follow the podcast @BaCEAPodcast on Twitter. Don’t forget to leave a review or comment. And as always, thank you for listening. Let us know, what did your kids think of this one? Bill & Claire's Excellent Adventures is an In The Mouth of Dorkness production. Follow them @ITMODcast on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Bill & Claire's Excellent Adventures

West Side Story

This week, we kick off our exploration of musicals! Our first film in this series is the 1952 spectacle: Singin' In The Rain. Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, and Donald O'Connor sing and dance their way into our hearts in this film about Hollywood's transition from silent pictures to talkies. Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly direct, and we get to really see what the "King of Musicals" (Donen) and one of the most talented dancers ever to grace the silver screen (Kelly) can do when given relatively free creative control of a film. We dig into the artistry of the film and analyzing the character of Lena Lamont in particular (masterfully played by Jean Hagen).  Whether you are a longtime lover of musicals or new to the genre, we invite you to partner with us for this waltz through musical cinema history. Join us! Fill in some of your cinematic gaps as we venture into what we've dubbed #OperationDancingShoes. This operation name is somewhat contested, as you'll hear in the episode. Follow the podcast @BaCEAPodcast on Twitter. Don’t forget to leave a review or comment. And as always, thank you for listening. Let us know, what did your kids think of this one? Bill & Claire's Excellent Adventures is an In The Mouth of Dorkness production. Follow them @ITMODcast on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Singin' In The Rain

This week, we conclude our dive into the films of Alfred Hitchcock! Our final film in the series is the 1963 classic: The Birds. Tippi Hedren and Rod Taylor star in this thriller as Melanie and Mitch, a young would-be couple who find their mutual flirting interrupted by a bizarre phenomenon of birds of all species attacking people and property in the small fishing community of Bodega Bay, California. Jessica Tandy, Suzanne Pleshette, and Veronica Cartwright round out the cast. We dig into the ethics of directing a cast, the pressures placed on actors on film sets, the Oscars, and some detours into Florida Man and politics. It was a wild chat befitting an action-packed treasure from the Master of Suspense. Join us! Fill in some of your cinematic gaps as we venture into what we've dubbed #OperationMasterOfSuspense. This operation name is extremely on the nose. I know. Follow the podcast @BaCEAPodcast on Twitter. Don’t forget to leave a review or comment. And as always, thank you for listening. Let us know, what did your kids think of this one? Bill & Claire's Excellent Adventures is an In The Mouth of Dorkness production. Follow them @ITMODcast on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds

This week, we continue our dive into the films of Alfred Hitchcock! Our next film in the series was a first-watch and big hit for all of us: Rear Window. Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly delivered phenomenal performances as L.B. Jefferies, the temporarily incapacitated world-traveling photographer and Lisa Fremont, the wealthy socialite fashionista. While confined to his apartment recovering from an injury, Jefferies believes he witnesses the coverup to a grisly murder of one of his neighbors. He and Fremont set about trying to prove that a murder has taken place despite the disbelief of the police. We talk sound design and the tragedy of the commons as it relates to our fixation on the macabre. Claire talks about her plans to create her own film adaptation, and we debate theories about who actually dun it. Join us! Fill in some of your cinematic gaps as we venture into what we've dubbed #OperationMasterOfSuspense. This operation name is extremely on the nose. I know. Follow the podcast @BaCEAPodcast on Twitter. Don’t forget to leave a review or comment. And as always, thank you for listening. Let us know, what did your kids think of this one? Bill & Claire's Excellent Adventures is an In The Mouth of Dorkness production. Follow them @ITMODcast on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window

This week, we continue our dive into the films of Alfred Hitchcock! Our second film in the series was a first-watch for all of us: Rope. The movie features incredible performances by Jimmy Stewart, John Dall, and Farley Granger. It was written by the phenomenal Arthur Laurents, most famous for writing the script to West Side Story and based on a 1929 play by Patrick Hamilton. The film features Brandon and Philip, a couple attempting to get away with murder. Stewart plays their prep school mentor who unwittingly inspired the two with his sensationalist theories on elitism and survival of the superior. In our discussion, we touch on classism, LGBTQ representation in film, the artistry of cinematography, and acquired tastes.  Join us! Fill in some of your cinematic gaps as we venture into what we've dubbed #OperationMasterOfSuspense. This operation name is extremely on the nose. I know. Follow the podcast @BaCEAPodcast on Twitter. Don’t forget to leave a review or comment. And as always, thank you for listening. Let us know, what did your kids think of this one? Bill & Claire's Excellent Adventures is an In The Mouth of Dorkness production. Follow them @ITMODcast on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Alfred Hitchcock's Rope

This week, we're starting a dive into the films of Alfred Hitchcock! Our first film in the series is an all-time classic: Psycho. The movie features some amazing performances from Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh. Though, they had some really terrific roles to work with given the script. I confess, I only saw this movie all the through for the first time a year or two ago at our Alamo Drafthouse. It's funny, these movies baked into the zeitgeist, sometimes it feels like we've seen them when we haven't. I'm really looking forward to sharing these movies with Claire, and I anticipate a couple of first time watches for myself.  Join us! Fill in some of your cinematic gaps as we venture into what we've dubbed #OperationMasterOfSuspense. This operation name is extremely on the nose. I know. Follow the podcast @BaCEAPodcast on Twitter. Don’t forget to leave a review or comment. And as always, thank you for listening. Let us know, what did your kids think of this one? Bill & Claire's Excellent Adventures is an In The Mouth of Dorkness production. Follow them @ITMODcast on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho

Last week, we concluded #OperationUniversalHorror with Creature From The Black Lagoon. We were so sad to see it go we just had to add Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water to the line-up. Claire had mentioned she wanted something with more dancing and kissing and, well. This creature feature had it all! ...Including a really disturbing sex scene that I had totally forgotten about! We start out our chat with that scene, consent, and bodily autonomy. We explore similar themes to the classic Universal horror monster films with a discussion about Othering and what it means to exclude people with arbitrary definitions of "Normal." Claire also digs into Damsels In Distress and how Eliza (Sally Hawkins) is an awesome hero in this film! Follow the podcast @BaCEAPodcast on Twitter. Don’t forget to leave a review or comment. And as always, thank you for listening. Let us know, what did your kids think of this one? Bill & Claire's Excellent Adventures is an In The Mouth of Dorkness production. Follow them @ITMODcast on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water

Welcome to 2020! We're excited about the new year and all the amazing films to come. This week, we conclude #OperationUniversalHorror with Creature From The Black Lagoon. We're sad to see this chapter go, but we had a blast going through these movies. Plus, we're ending on a high note because this movie is gorgeous and awesome. Shout out to Mallory O'Meara and her amazing book "The Lady From The Black Lagoon" about Milicent Patrick, the actual designer of Gill-Man. Our ITMODCast ChatCast episode from the Chattanooga Film Festival is what inspired this deep dive. Claire saw her book and insisted I get her a copy of her own. You should buy the book! Follow the podcast @BaCEAPodcast on Twitter. Don’t forget to leave a review or comment. And as always, thank you for listening. Let us know, what did your kids think of this one? Bill & Claire's Excellent Adventures is an In The Mouth of Dorkness production. Follow them @ITMODcast on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Creature From The Black Lagoon

Happy New Year's Eve! We thought we'd squeeze one last episode in for 2019. We're really proud of all the work we've done and we hope you've enjoyed it, too. Stay tuned, next week conclude #OperationUniversalHorror with Creature From The Black Lagoon. But, before all that, you know we've got to talk about some Star Wars. We talk The Rise Of Skywalker in specific, a bit about the franchise as a whole, and what it means to be a fan of anything in this day and age.  Follow the podcast @BaCEAPodcast on Twitter. Don’t forget to leave a review or comment. And as always, thank you for listening. Let us know, what did your kids think of this one? Bill & Claire's Excellent Adventures is an In The Mouth of Dorkness production. Follow them @ITMODcast on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

 This week, #OperationUniversalHorror returns! Finally! We're (mostly) over the zombie virus and it's time to get back to those classic monsters. We're talking George Waggner's The Wolf Man, starring the magnificent Lon Chaney Jr. as Larry Talbot, who's kind of a creep! Telescopic spying as a pick-up line is super not cool. We get into consent and agency. We also talk a bit about the history of the Romani people, especially during the Holocaust. Bela Lugosi is phenomenal as the fortune teller, though. I tell you what.  Follow the podcast @BaCEAPodcast on Twitter. Don’t forget to leave a review or comment. And as always, thank you for listening. Let us know, what did your kids think of this one? Bill & Claire's Excellent Adventures is an In The Mouth of Dorkness production. Follow them @ITMODcast on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

George Waggner's The Wolf Man

We interrupt our regularly scheduled #OperationUniversalHorror (don't worry, it'll be back in a sequel) because Bill & Claire caught a touch of the zombie virus! No worries though, this is a strictly audio medium. While we can't record this week, we thought we'd give you a chance to listen to Claire's debut on the In The Mouth of Dorkness ChatCast! On this extra spooky special episode of the ITMODChatCast, we're bringing you an incredibly nifty chat from the Alamo Drafthouse in Winchester, Virginia. We caught André Gower and Henry Darrow McComas towards the tail end of their epic #DocTillYouDrop tour in which they traveled the country screening their documentary "Wolfman's Got Nards." We here at ITMOD became instant fans of the film after we caught its premiere at the Chatanooga Film Festival back in 2018, and we're thrilled to witness new audiences discover its uproarious celebration of fandom. Not just a making-of doc about "The Monster Squad," André and Henry's film partakes in a much larger conversation surrounding artistic passion and the fervor it stirs in the human soul. Follow Andre Gower and Henry McComas on Twitter at @andregower and @hdilla. You can follow the film @thesquaddoc. Go support this movie when it drops! Follow the podcast @BaCEAPodcast on Twitter. Don’t forget to leave a review or comment. And as always, thank you for listening. Let us know, what did your kids think of this one? Bill & Claire's Excellent Adventures is an In The Mouth of Dorkness production. Follow them @ITMODcast on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Sick Day Episode: ITMOD ChatCast Interview

We interrupt our regularly scheduled #OperationUniversalHorror (don't worry, it'll be back in a sequel) programming to bring you this special episode. This week we're talking Wolfman's Got Nards. André Gower (Sean in The Monster Squad) and Henry Darrow McComas made a beautiful documentary about the life of The Monster Squad after its lackluster theatrical release. If you've ever loved a movie or been inspired by someone else's art, there's something for you in this love-letter to the fans of everybody's favorite monster mash. Don't worry, all you Goonies out there'll love it, too! We discuss Claire's recent rise to mega-podcaster as she debuted on the In The Mouth of Dorkness ChatCast for an interview with André and Henry. Yeah, she's on a first-name basis now, no big deal. We also talk about what it's like to be the oldest child and how words can hurt, especially the F-word so common in 80s movies. Follow Andre Gower and Henry McComas on Twitter at @andregower and @hdilla. You can follow the film @thesquaddoc. Go support this movie when it drops! Follow the podcast @BaCEAPodcast on Twitter. Don’t forget to leave a review or comment. And as always, thank you for listening. Let us know, what did your kids think of this one? Bill & Claire's Excellent Adventures is an In The Mouth of Dorkness production. Follow them @ITMODcast on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Wolfman's Got Nards: A Documentary

Happy Halloween! We're slashing #OperationUniversalHorror (don't worry, it'll be back in a sequel) to bring you this special episode. We knew we were going to show Claire John Carpenter's Halloween this year, we just didn't know it would be part of a Joe Bob Briggs' Last Drive-In #HalloweenHootenany on Shudder. We talk a bit about the #MutantFam, why slashers slash, and the concept of feminism.  Follow the podcast @BaCEAPodcast on Twitter. Don’t forget to leave a review or comment. And as always, thank you for listening. Let us know, what did your kids think of this one? Bill & Claire's Excellent Adventures is an In The Mouth of Dorkness production. Follow them @ITMODcast on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

John Carpenter's Halloween

This week, #OperationUniversalHorror continues with Tod Browning's Dracula, starring the incomparable Bela Lugosi. We get into the great performances, including Dwight Frye's phenomenal performance as Renfield. Plus, there's a great conversation about how art can facilitate conversations about pressing social issues. Through that, we explore the depiction of mental health and the treatment of patients on film. Follow the podcast @BaCEAPodcast on Twitter. Don’t forget to leave a review or comment. And as always, thank you for listening. Let us know, what did your kids think of this one? Bill & Claire's Excellent Adventures is an In The Mouth of Dorkness production. Follow them @ITMODcast on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Tod Browning's Dracula

This week, #OperationUniversalHorror continues with James Whale's Bride of Frankenstein. We were very excited to get back to the Frankenstein movies and this one didn't disappoint! We continue our conversation on the depiction of women and also get into the Hays Code and the implementation of the Production Code Administration. We talk about how that leads to the modern-day MPAA and how an MPAA rating can impact both the business and artistic aspects of filmmaking. Follow the podcast @BaCEAPodcast on Twitter. Don’t forget to leave a review or comment. And as always, thank you for listening. Let us know, what did your kids think of this one? Bill & Claire's Excellent Adventures is an In The Mouth of Dorkness production. Follow them @ITMODcast on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

James Whale's Bride of Frankenstein

Parenting while watching movies feels like a minefield. Bill's challenge is how to introduce his 10-year-old daughter Claire, at her own request, to more complex entertainment than Saturday morning cartoons.  So, they are going on an adventure to expand her cinematic horizons. Each episode, they'll watch a movie and then have a conversation to analyze what they saw. Listen along with your kids and let us know what they think!

hubhopper

Bill & Claire's Excellent Adventures

hubhopper