A Work of Geniuses

People have been bringing inarguable classics onto Someone Else’s Movie all year — and this week is no different, as director Nick Davis chooses a movie I am shocked to learn no one else had in 626 episodes: Young Frankenstein.

Seriously, you guys. I’ve been making this show for eleven and a half years now (and one week!) and this is the first time someone wanted to talk about one of the greatest spoofs in human history? For shame. But Nick turns out to be uniquely qualified to tackle it, having produced a doc about Wilder and — understandably — using that opportunity to pepper the legend with questions about this joke, that prop, etc. It’s all glorious.

So go find  the show on Apple, Spotify, YouTube Podcasts or your podcatcher of choice, or download the episode directly from the web and listen to it while you’re roll, roll, rolling in ze hay.

And don’t miss Nick’s new documentary, You Had to Be There, which is in the process of opening across North America over the next couple of weeks, and is an entirely engaging look at how a legendary Toronto production of Godspell launched the careers of half a dozen brilliant performers — among them SCTV stars Eugene Levy, Martin Short and Andrea Martin, Paul Shaffer, Victor Garber and this weird ball of energy named Gilda Radner … who, of course, would eventually marry Gene Wilder. It’s at the TIFF Lightbox next Friday, October 2nd. It’s very sweet.

Also! Shiny Things went into overtime last week, as I reviewed Warner Archive’s flawless 4K restoration of Out of the Past and the new releases At the Place of Ghosts, Passenger, Tunerand She Rides Shotgun. And of course paid subscribers got a brand-new What’s Worth Watching on Friday, featuring my exclusive reviews of The Beast of Mossy Bottom, Garth Jennings’ exuberant rockumentary Pulp: What Do You Do for an Encore? and the new season of Slow Horses. Didn’t get it? Worried you’ll miss the next one? Just level up to the paid tier and you’ll instantly have access to dozens of WWWs. Membership has its privileges, or something.

And now I’m off to Sudbury for Cinefest, where I’ll be doing some hosting, moderating and panel-ing in the back half of the festival. If you see me gawking at the Canadian Shield, please be gentle with me. It’s my first time.

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