Episode 77: The Rescuers

Grab the closest jug of moonshine, sit back, and relax as Josh, Mike and Gabe close out 2012 with their little friends Bernard and Bianca from the Rescue Aid Society. Yes, this week, the trio discusses the 1977 Disney animated film The Rescuers, from its many songs to its Cruella De Vil-like villain Madame Medusa. Would it surprise you to learn that Josh contradicts a recent opinion regarding bleakness? Would it surprise you to learn that Mike calls Josh out for this very thing? (Only if you're a new listener!) Oh, and would you like to know what it sounds like when Gabe impersonates the sound of sad horns you might hear in a Burt Bacharach song? Of course you would! All this and more in the new episode of Mousterpiece Cinema!

Episode 76: Mickey's Christmas Carol

There are only a few shopping days until Christmas, and what better way to ring in the holiday than by warming up by the fire, sipping on some hot cocoa, and listening to a holiday-centric episode of Mousterpiece Cinema? Don't even try to think of one! Instead, listen as Josh, Mike, and Gabe discuss the 1983 short Mickey's Christmas Carol, where Mickey Mouse plays Bob Cratchit, Goofy plays Marley's ghost, and Scrooge McDuck plays...well, who else? This week, your intrepid hosts also discuss their favorite adaptations of Charles Dickens' famous tale, along with their least favorites, and there are plenty of strange movies dropped along their path. Only here can you find out what Rich Little, Henry Winkler, and Vanessa Williams have in common. So check out the new show before the bell on the clock strikes twelve!

Episode 75: One Magic Christmas

Is the Christmas season one tinged with bleakness? Do all the great holiday movies--It's A Wonderful Life or A Christmas Carol, for example--begin at a place of immense sadness? Is that what makes them great? And how does religion factor into our enjoyment of holiday films? Lots of heady topics to unwrap on this week's new Mousterpiece Cinema, where Josh and Mike tackle the 1985 Disney film One Magic Christmas, starring Harry Dean Stanton and Mary Steenburgen. And yes, in between all of this craziness, Mike was able to turn the show into a brand-new Ducksterpiece Theatre. Plus, at the end, a bit of chatter about the new Hobbit film, which Josh reviewed at Sound on Sight. Your early Christmas present is here--you just have to listen to it!

Episode 74: The Santa Clause 2

The most wonderful time of year is upon us once again, folks. Yes, it's the holiday season, and Josh is returning to the North Pole just like he did last December. A year ago, he reviewed 1994's The Santa Clause all by himself, but this year, he's got Gabe and special guest Marc Vibbert of the Animation Fascination podcast to discuss the 2002 sequel The Santa Clause 2. Does this sequel, where Santa Claus finds a wife in the form of Elizabeth Mitchel (also known as Juliet from Lost), deliver the goods? Is the first film still better? Has the boy playing Charlie, the son of the Tim Allen version of Santa, gotten any better? And what's with the way David Krumholtz runs? These and other questions are pondered and put to bed a new episode of Mousterpiece Cinema!

Episode 73: Enchanted

How do you know...if a movie is good? How do you know...it's for you? (I hope you're singing those questions out loud.) This week, Josh, Mike, and Gabe convene in Mousterpiece Cinema HQ with special guest (and our first returning guest, to boot) Kate Kulzick of The Televerse to review the 2007 Walt Disney Pictures live-action/animation hybrid Enchanted. Everyone agreed that Amy Adams, in her breakout starring role as the fairy-tale denizen Giselle, is excellent, but what about the rest of the film? Was everyone as enamored with Patrick Dempsey, aka McDreamy? What of the music? And would Enchanted have been better if Paul Schrader had written it? (Of course.) Plenty of spirited debates within, so check out the new show!