How did this wild ride began? Picture this: my buddy and partner at Owls of Pallas Productions, McKenzie, asked me if I was in on starting a podcast. Thus, Reel Lit with McKenzie and Stephen was born., Our brainchild, delves into the depths of literature and its transformation to the silver screen. It was a no-brainer for me, being a literature and film scholar at my day job, sort of a natural fit. Fast forward to a few weeks back, when I was gearing up for our next episode featuring Zombie Strippers - a flick that, believe it or not, is adapted from a French play from the '50s (loosely, very loosely). That's when it hit me like a ton laser-engraved discs falling out of a curio cabinet - I've got a mountain of DVDs accumulated over the past 25 years. I'm talking five whole shelves, folks. Yep, I've officially reached hoarder status in the DVD department!
And, sure, there are the typical blockbusters one might expect, everything to summer popcorn fare to raunchy comedies to superhero flicks--and some of that is redundant. But there are also a lot of off-the-wall features: unknown gems, cult classics, B-movies, trash cinema, grindhouse pictures. There was a time when I would just for fun walk into a pawn shop and look for the most outrageous titles I could come across. (How do you think I discovered Zombie Strippers)? There are vestiges of my late wife's tastes--mostly gross-out comedies and action flicks with explosions big enough to make Michael Bay wet himself--and even a few leftovers from when my son was a wee lad, at least I hope that's why The Shaggy Dog and Spy Kids 2 are in there. Some might call it eclectic, while others might call it a movie buffet with an identity crisis. But hey, something about variety and spices, am I right?
So, after getting nibbled by the podcasting bug and, obviously, acknowledging my sheer brilliance that the world craves to hear me blabber about movies even more, I accidentally tripped over another genius idea, along with a dreadful pun. And voilà , behold the miraculous birth of Shelf Criticism!
Each week on this podcast, I am going to randomly grab a DVD out of the cabinet, revisit it (or watch it for the first time in some cases because I really was a DVD-binge sort of fellow for many years), and give it the old critical once-over that it probably doesn't deserve but is going t get anyway. I know, I know, you're already dying to start streaming those episodes, aren't you?
Welcome to Shelf Criticism! Because, let's face it, we're always in need of a little shelf indulgence.
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