Best John Brooks And Julia Sirmons Podcasts (2025)

1
VAL KILMER: 1959-2025 1:14:00

12d ago1:14:00

1:14:00

Actor Val Kilmer died on April 1st of this year, after a long battle with throat cancer. He was 65. Kilmer's film career began in the 1980s with iconic turns in the likes of Top Gun and Real Genius, but it was in the 1990s where be became an icon in a decade known primarily one dominated by iconoclasts, starting with his portrayal of Jim Morrison i…

1
SWEET AND LOWDOWN: "All That Jazz" - with Liz Whitmere 1:32:38

26d ago1:32:38

1:32:38

Sweet and Lowdown opened on December 3rd in just 3 theaters and taking in an impressive 31,562 dollar per screen average Written and directed by Woody Allen, it stars Sean Penn as fictional jazz guitar legend Emmet Ray alongside Samantha Morton and Uma Thurman, Brad Garrett, John Waters, Anthony LaPaglia, and Brian Markinson, among others. Sweet an…

1
FOR LOVE OF THE GAME: "Baseball" - with Jack Krestel 1:14:32

1M ago1:14:32

1:14:32

57th on the 1999 box office chart, For Love of the Game marked director Raimi’s first foray into big-budget, mass-market filmmaking (which would ultimately pave the way for being handed the enormous task of finally bringing Spiderman to the screen in 2002) But love and baseball was very different territory for Raimi, and his inexperience in the rea…

1
TWILIGHT (1998) - Gene Hackman Special 1:09:10

2M ago1:09:10

1:09:10

There were no movies starring the late Gene Hackman that were released in the US in 1999, but two of his films released in the US in 1998 – Tony Scott’s Enemy of the State and Robert Benton’s Twilight – were released in Europe in 1999. So because plenty has been said about the former, we are taking a look today at the latter. Directed by Kramer and…

1
THE END OF THE AFFAIR: "Lots of Rain" - with Kristin Battestella 1:30:07

2M ago1:30:07

1:30:07

The End of the Affair was released on Dec 3, 1999 in just 7 theaters so that it could bait some Oscars and then going wide on January 21. It would ultimately bring in just shy of 11 million dollars on 23 million dollar budget, though it did open with an astonishing $28,000 per screen average, so maybe a wider initial release would have been wise. T…

1
BEYOND THE MAT: "The Wrestlers" - with Ross Benes 1:17:36

3M ago1:17:36

1:17:36

Beyond the Mat is a movie that appears NOWHERE in the 1999 box office charts, mainly because it only screened once in 1999 in Los Angeles on October 22, thanks in no small part to Vince McMahon fuckery (though it did get a limited release in March of 2000). Beyond the Mat was directed by Barry Blaustein, an accomplished comedy screenwriter, and it …

1
DICK: "Tricky" - with Alex Steed 1:27:36

3M ago1:27:36

1:27:36

The 145th highest-grossing movie of the year, Dick was released on August 3rd and going on take 12th place at the box office. Through no fault of its own, it was thrown into a death slot, as the films that outgrossed it included juggernauts like The Phantom Menace, American Pie, Runaway Bride, The Blair Witch Project, and a little movie that opened…

1
Bonus Features - WATERGATE MEDIA 1:13:35

4M ago1:13:35

1:13:35

We present to you our very first Bonus Features episode, where we do a little contextual research for an upcoming episode. To start - for absolutely no reason at all, what are you even talking about? - we take a look at some of the more interesting media concerning the former Worst President of the Last 100 Years and the famous thing he did that us…

1
New Year's Eve Special - 200 CIGARETTES 1:15:32

4M ago1:15:32

1:15:32

Opening CONFUSINGLY on February 26th on less than a thousand screens, 200 Cigarettes was the 143rd-highest grossing movie of the year, going on to make just shy of 7 million dollars on a 6 million dollar budget. Directed by first-time director and accomplished casting director Risa Bramon Garcia, written by first-and-only time screenwriter Shana La…

1
Christmas Special - ONE SPECIAL NIGHT: "Happy Hallmarky" with Audrey Fox 1:36:57

5M ago1:36:57

1:36:57

It's our third Christmas special, and once again we turn to the small screen for Christmas with Hallmark Hallo of Fame's One Special Night. Airing Sunday, November 28th, 1999 on CBS, One Special Night stars James Garner and Julie Andrews, alongside Patricia Charbonneau, Stewart Bick ,Stacy Grant, and Danniel Magder. Written by the highly prolific C…

1
TITUS: "There Shalt Be Blood" - with Carmen Paddock 1:28:21

6M ago1:28:21

1:28:21

Released December 25th, Christmas Day, Julie Taymor's debut feature Titus was 187th-highest grossing movie of the year, going on to gross just about three million dollars worldwide on an 18 million dollar budget. Titus, adapted from the Shakespeare (or possibly not Shakespeare) play came on the heels of Taymor hitting the cultural spotlight with he…

1
GIRL, INTERRUPTED: "Interrupted" with Jane Altoids 1:31:41

6M ago1:31:41

1:31:41

Girl, Interrupted was the 70th-highest grossing movie of 1999, released in a very limited run just before Christmas to make it eligible for awards season. It would ultimately go on to earn $48 million worldwide on a $40 million budget. Directed and co-written by Copland director James Mangold from the memoir "Girl, Interrupted" by Susanna Kaysen, t…

1
MAN ON THE MOON : "Andy" with Sean Malin 1:32:47

6M ago1:32:47

1:32:47

If there was a surprise critical and commercial failure for the year, it was Forman’s highly anticipated, Oscar-baiting Andy Kauffman biopic, Man on the Moon. Among other things, Man on the Moon was touted as a second chance for Carrey to nab a best actor Oscar, following what had roundly been seen as an epic snub for his denial of the award for Th…

1
PAYBACK: "Mel" - with Jim Woods 1:33:01

7M ago1:33:01

1:33:01

Payback was something of a surprise - and largely forgotten - minor hit, riding mostly on the coattails of Mel Gibson at the height of his popularity and box office appeal, having come off a string of hits, including 1994’s Maverick, 1995’s Oscar-winning Braveheart, 1996’s Ransom, and 1997’s Conspiracy Theory, as well as the prestige of Brian Helge…

1
SUMMER OF SAM: "S.O.S." - with Julia Sirmons 1:29:01

7M ago1:29:01

1:29:01

Spike Lee's Summer of Sam should have been the perfect 1999 movie. After Lee’s breakthrough 1989 film Do the Right Thing, he was on a roll in the 90s, giving us 1990s’ Mo Better Blues, 1991’s Jungle Fever, 1992’s Malcolm X, 1994’s Crooklyn, 1995’s Clockers, 1996’s Get on the Bus, and 1998’s He Got Game. And so a gritty, Scorsese-esque New York crim…

1
WOODSTOCK 99 - An End of Summer Special Episode 1:05:39

8M ago1:05:39

1:05:39

For an end-of-summer special, Dan Colón, of CageClub's very own The Monsters That Made Us podcast, joins John to talk about the greed, mayhem, and madness that defined Woodstock 99. The Woodstock that was just so great that it convinced everybody to never Woodstock again, 1999's 30th anniversary festival (inspired by the relative success of the 25t…

1
THE EMPTY CINEMA - A Special Summer Episode 51:57

9M ago51:57

51:57

John and Jenn take a crack at explaining the baffling summer 2024 box office. Why did PLANER OF THE APES and FURIOSA fail where INSIDE OUT 2 succeeded? Is the summer movie season a thing of the past? And why do people seem less inclined to go to the movie theater for just ANYTHING? Covid? Prices? Capitalism? All of the above? Find out what we have …

1
ARLINGTON ROAD: "Boom" - with Matt Belenky 1:53:27

10M ago1:53:27

1:53:27

Arlington Road was 77th highest grossing movie of 1999, released 25 years ago last week on July 9th, unfortunately crowded out by some other big releases, namely American Pie, released the same day, as well as Wild Wild West, Tarzan, and The General's Daughter, all in their second weeks. Directed by acclaimed music video director Mark Pellington (P…

1
SOUTH PARK - Summer Rerelease! - with George Freitag 1:24:12

10M ago1:24:12

1:24:12

South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut is...very funny. It's also absurd, obscene, and one of the best movie musicals not called Moulin Rouge of the last few decades. The humor of the show and the movie, though, has always been too things - edgy (bordering on shocking) and timely. South Park the series has produced some of the smartest, most incisiv…

1
TARZAN - Summer Rerelease! - with Heather Antos 1:20:52

10M ago1:20:52

1:20:52

Disney’s Tarzan was, as the 6th-highest grossing movie of the year, a big hit. But it also had a giant budget. Made for $130 million, it grossed $171 million domestically and $448 million worldwide. Tarzan did well with critics, as well. It was nominated for more than 2 dozen different awards, and won the Oscar and Golden Globe for best original so…

1
THREE TO TANGO: "No La Tango" - with R. Lee Fleming Jr. 1:48:19

11M ago1:48:19

1:48:19

Three to Tango was the 126th-highest grossing movie of 1999, sandwiched between two movies we have covered already, Drop Dead Gorgeous at 125, and Bats at 127. It opened in 8th place (behind Bats, which it would ultimately outgross) on the very not rom-com season of October the 22nd, going on to gross 10 and a half million dollars worldwide on a 20…

1
NEVER BEEN KISSED: "Grosie" - with Trae Crowder and Corey Ryan Forrester 2:06:39

11M ago2:06:39

2:06:39

Never Been Kissed was the 43-rd highest grossing movie of the year, just edging out last week's Forces of Nature (though proving far more profitable) at the box office. Never Been Kissed opened April 9th, pitting it against The Matrix in its second week, but still managed to post an impressive second place finish for the week, taking in 14 million …

1
FORCES OF NATURE: "Planes, Trains, and Geo Metros" - with Julia Sirmons 1:49:41

12M ago1:49:41

1:49:41

Forces of Nature was the 44th highest-grossing movie of 1999, opening at #1 at the box office on March 19th and taking in 17 million dollars in its first week, going on to make 94 million worldwide on a budget of (somehow) 75 million dollars. Starring Sandra Bullock and Ben Affleck at a time when both actors' stars were at a high point and one of j…

1
PHANTOM MENACE @ 25 - A Special Anniversary Release 2:05:58

12M ago2:05:58

2:05:58

Four special guests share their fond memories of the movie that (re)started it all: Star Wars: Episode One - The Phantom Menace. This is followed by a rerelease of our Phantom Menace episode, the second in the podcast's history, with Brian Silliman and Matt Romano from the podcast RETURN OF THE POD: A Star Wars Podcast. Enjoy. And may the Force be …

1
BLAST FROM THE PAST: "Adam & Eve" - with Samm Levine 2:15:36

1y ago2:15:36

2:15:36

Blast from the Past was 75th highest-grossing movie of 1999, opening at #4 at the box office on Valentine’s Day weekend and going on to take in $40 million worldwide on a $35 million budget. The first of two 1999 collaborations between director Hugh Wilson and star Brendan Fraser, Blast from the Past included a stellar supporting cast, including Al…

1
PUSHING TIN: "Control" - with Joe Kwaczala 1:42:18

1y ago1:42:18

1:42:18

Pushing Tin was the 135th-highest grossing film of the year, grossing 8.4 million dollars on a 33 million dollar budget, opening April the 23rd, 1999 as the #4 movie at the Box Office behind The Matrix, Life, and Never Been Kissed. Directed by Four Weddings and a Funeral and Donnie Brasco director Mike Newell and written by Cheers co-creators Les a…

1
MICKEY BLUE EYES: "Gid Ouda He" - with Meghan Leigh Paulk 1:28:56

1y ago1:28:56

1:28:56

Mickey Blue Eyes was just the 61st-highest grossing movie of 1999. The only major US release of the weekend of August 20, 1999, Mickey Blue Eyes opened in third place while The Sixth Sense continued to dominate the box office. It would go on to make $54 million on a $75 million budget. Directed by Kids in the Hall alum Kelly Makin and written by Ro…

1
QUIET ON SET - A Very Special Episode 1:09:28

1y ago1:09:28

1:09:28

We take a quick detour to discuss the 1999-adjacent Investigation Discovery series QUIET ON THE SET, which looks into the toxic, harmful atmosphere at Nickelodeon in the 90s and 2000s under showrunner Dan Schneider, as well as the subsequent instances of child sex abuse as detailed by DRAKE AND JOSH star Drake Bell. You can find Jenn's coverage of …

1
SHE'S ALL THAT: "Kiss Me" - with Chase Mitchell 1:50:42

1y ago1:50:42

1:50:42

This week, we take a look at one of 1999’s biggest surprise hits, the 38th-highest grossing movie, which took in a very impressive $103 million on a budget of just $10 million, She's All That. She's All That opened at #1 on January 29, boosted by being nicely timed around Valentine’s Day and by coming out in one of the least-competitive box office …

1
RUNAWAY BRIDE: "Eggs & Lamps" - with Greg Pilgrim 1:42:32

1y ago1:42:32

1:42:32

Runaway Bride, the other 1999 Julia Roberts rom-com, was the 9th-highes grossing movie of the year, sandwiched between The Mummy at 8th and The Blair Witch Project at 10th. And while Runaway Bride did far worse with the critics to the vastly superior Notting Hill, its box office performance was likely boosted by two factors: unlike Notting Hill, it…

1
NOTTING HILL: "Just A Girl" - with Courtney Brooks 2:13:36

1y ago2:13:36

2:13:36

Notting Hill was the 16th-highest grossing movie of 1999, opening Memorial Day Weekend, May 28th, and in 2nd place earning $27.7 million (behind #1, The Phantom Menace, which, then in its second weekend, earned $67 million). It would go on to make $116 million domestically and $364 million worldwide on a $42 million budget. Notting Hill was the sec…

1
AUDITION and WE SOLD OUR SOULS FOR ROCK 'N ROLL - "Ozzdition" 1:04:15

1y ago1:04:15

1:04:15

Audition does not rank anywhere in the 1999 box office. This is largely because it had no theatrical release in 1999. Rather, Audition played a single screening at the Toronto International Film Festival that year, and would only go on to make a few hundred thousand dollars worldwide during its run. But it developed an enormous cult following since…

1
IDLE HANDS: "American Idle" - with John-Michael Bond 1:39:48

1+ y ago1:39:48

1:39:48

A dismal critical and commercial failure that has gone on to be a genuine cult classic, Idle Hands came in at 162nd at the box office, earning less than $2 million on a $25 million budget. It probably didn't help that it was released 10 days after Columbine, and audiences maybe weren't in the mood for a high school-set slasher film. Or maybe it's t…

1
HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL: "The (Other) Haunting" - with Stephanie Gagnon 1:42:01

1+ y ago1:42:01

1:42:01

House on Haunted Hill was a huge failure with critics, but at 50th in the 1999 box office, and having made back its budget, it was a reasonable commercial success. It opened number one during Halloween weekend, likely finding an audience in moviegoers eager for anything spooky (and it is pretty spooky...) A remake of William Castle’s 1959 film star…

1
A CHRISTMAS CAROL: "You Will Be Visited By Three Hosts - A Very Special 1999: The Podcast Christmas" with Alex Steed 1:23:58

1+ y ago1:23:58

1:23:58

Charles Dickens' 1846 A Christmas Carol is one of the most adapted works of all time. And his protagonist, Ebenezer Scrooge, has been portrayed by the likes of Jim Carrey to Bill Murray, George C. Scott to Mr. Magoo, Alastair Sim to Scrooge McDuck, and Michael Caine to Will Ferrell. And spins on A Christmas Carol have appeared in everything from Be…

1
SLEEPY HOLLOW: "Hollow" - with Dan Colón and guest go-host Becky Ellis 1:22:07

1+ y ago1:22:07

1:22:07

Sleepy Hollow qualifies as one of the biggest movies of the year, and it was certainly one of the most anticipated - an expected return to form from a slumping Tim Burton. But it didn't quite work out that way. Released on November the 19th of 1999, Sleepy Hollow was one of the most expensive movies ever made at the time, with a budget of $100 mill…

1
THE RAGE: CARRIE 2: "All The Rage" - with Paul Haynes 1:31:00

1+ y ago1:31:00

1:31:00

The Rage: Carrie 2 was not a box office success, but it wasn't the disaster a lot of people remember either. Finishing at #91 for the year, just ahead of Go and (somehow) just behind the Melissa Joan Hart/Adrian Grenier vehicle Drive Me Crazy, The Rage: Carrie 2 opened in late March at an impressive #2 behind the 1999 comedy hit Analyze This. But i…

1
STIGMATA: "St. Frankie" - with Kelly Baker 1:49:10

1+ y ago1:49:10

1:49:10

Stigmata was, impressively, the 49th-highest grossing movie of 1999, finishing just ahead of House on Haunted Hill at 50th (which is upcoming in this round!) It made $50 million domestically and just shy of $90 million worldwide on a $29 million budget. Opening at #1 on September the 10th at over $18 million on a spooky box office weekend that saw …

1
EXISTENZ: "Pod People" - with Julia Sirmons and Jess Collins 1:33:34

1+ y ago1:33:34

1:33:34

At 174th place at the box office, eXistenZ was not one of the big hits of 1999, though the it has some proud company in the 170s, including The Limey, Cradle Will Rock, Princess Mononoke, and Jawbreaker It’s not clear that it ever had the makings of a runaway hit, but it can’t have helped that another heady sci-fi thriller about people who aren’t s…

1
STIR OF ECHOES: "Paint it Black" - with Mary Beth McAndrews 1:51:04

1+ y ago1:51:04

1:51:04

Stir of Echoes was David Koepp's second directorial venture following the success of his 1996 thriller The Trigger Effect. Adapted from a lesser-known work by genre legend Richard Matheson, the film hit at a weird and perhaps unfortunate time. Just 6 years off his massive breakthrough penning Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park (a film he wrote when h…

1
A VERY SPECIAL ROUND FOUR RECAP EPISODE - With A Very Special Guest 37:36

1+ y ago37:36

37:36

It's time for our Round Four recap and it's a very special one! After 40 episodes and 36 movies, and two specials...big changes are coming to 1999: The Podcast. Is it our very own Y2K?? Are we pivoting to video??? Will we both be replaced by cheaper AI alternatives????? No. But find out what IS coming following a look back a the nine movies from th…

1
TOPSY-TURVY: "Stan Leigh" - with Shreds 1:25:41

1+ y ago1:25:41

1:25:41

Topsy-Turvy, writer-director Mike Leigh's ambitious period musical about the creation of Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Mikado", was not a commercial hit, losing about $14 million of its $20 million budget. But like almost all of Leigh's work, it was a critical smash, remaining one of his best-reviewed movies and the recipient of a number of awards, i…

1
MYSTERY MEN: "The Spleen" - with Becky Ellis 1:32:25

1+ y ago1:32:25

1:32:25

Mystery Men was 1999's 68th-highest grossing movie, and an overall money loser. It arrived at a strange but opportune time, as it both lampooned and heralded the rebirth of the superhero genre. The early stages of its production date to the mid 1990s, when movies like 1998’s Blade, often cited as the birthplace of the modern superhero film, began p…

1
THE STRAIGHT STORY: "Mt. Zion" - with Julia Sirmons 1:12:48

1+ y ago1:12:48

1:12:48

The Straight Story was that other 1999 movie about someone trying to get to a place called Zion. In all seriousness, the beloved film about a man at the end of his life driving his lawnmower across the Midwest to visit his estranged brother is notable for a number of reasons. It's a rare G-rated non-aminated movie (though the rating itself is a sou…

1
BOWFINGER: "K.I.T" - with Greg MacLennan 1:15:00

1+ y ago1:15:00

1:15:00

Bowfinger could not have come at a better time for any of its three biggest names. In 1999, Frank Oz, who had a string of successful collaborations with Steve Martin, was coming right off the critical and commercial hit In and Out in 1997, which happened to star 1999’s most cursed star yet, one we’ve talked a lot about lately, Kevin Kline. But Mart…

1
SIMON SEZ: "The Worm" - with Matt Stuertz 1:21:28

2y ago1:21:28

1:21:28

At the 1999 box office, the Dennis Rodman action vehicle Simon Sez came in at... Well, actually, we don't know, because Box Office Mojo's rankings end at #200, which was American Movie, which made $1,165,795. Simon Sez made $292,152 (somehow) on a budget of...well, quite a bit more than that, probably. You've probably never heard of Simon Sez, and …

1
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM: "Ye Woodes" - with Steven Sabel 1:24:27

2y ago1:24:27

1:24:27

Michael Hoffman's adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream came at the end of a big decade for Shakespeare adaptations in general. Franco Zeffirelli's Hamlet starring Mel Gibson was released in 1990, and other hit adaptations would follow - notably Kenneth Branagh’s celebrated Much Ado About Nothing in 1993, Oliver Parker’s Othello, starring Branagh…

1
WILD WILD WEST: "Wicky Wicky" - with Mike Manzi and Dan Cólon 1:45:41

2y ago1:45:41

1:45:41

It is late 1998, Wild Wild West is well into its production, and things are not going well. The film has gone through a stunning roster of would-be stars - Tom Cruise, George Clooney, and Mel Gibson among them - before landing on Will Smith, who turned down the lead role in an obscure sci-fi picture called The Matrix from a couple of fringe indy fi…

1
GO: "Mary Xmas" - with Alex Steed and Jess Collins 1:31:01

2y ago1:31:01

1:31:01

The shortest-titled movie of 1999 (and among the shortest ever), Go was Doug Liman's follow-up to his 1996 debut, a collaboration with writer John Favreau, Swingers. There is some shared DNA between the two movies - both explore a very specific subculture in LA at a very specific time in the 90s, both drip with cool, and both borrow heavily from ot…

1
AMERICAN MOVIE: "Coven" - with BJ and Harmony Colangelo 1:31:33

2y ago1:31:33

1:31:33

Chris Smith and Sarah Price's heartfelt, quirky, and utterly original documentary American Movie was not one of 1999's major blockbuster hits. And of the 200 movies listed in Box Office Mojo's list of film grosses from that year, American Movie comes in at number 200. But it has gone on to become of the most critically successful and beloved docume…

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John Brooks And Julia Sirmons Podcasts

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