Daniforth and The Acoustic Mayhem
@daniforth.bsky.social
Writer, storyteller, on-demand bon vivant.
Talking film history at www.writingtherapyproductions.com or other stuff at talesfrompartsunknown.com
Talking film history at www.writingtherapyproductions.com or other stuff at talesfrompartsunknown.com
Look, I am just SAYING, you are asking if I recall "the most famous reindeer of all," yet moments ago seemed VERY confident I knew the other eight.
If it's a given I know Donner and Blitzen but you have to check if I know Rudolph, is Rudolph truly the MOST famous?
If it's a given I know Donner and Blitzen but you have to check if I know Rudolph, is Rudolph truly the MOST famous?
December 24, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Look, I am just SAYING, you are asking if I recall "the most famous reindeer of all," yet moments ago seemed VERY confident I knew the other eight.
If it's a given I know Donner and Blitzen but you have to check if I know Rudolph, is Rudolph truly the MOST famous?
If it's a given I know Donner and Blitzen but you have to check if I know Rudolph, is Rudolph truly the MOST famous?
My co-host and I deep dive into a curated selection of Christmas Carols, as six Scrooges get visited by 18 ghosts.
'Tis the season to hope the rich jerks in your life get haunted, and so Dan & Keith take on a Curated Selection of Christmas Carols. Covering every version would be an act of madness, so after going back to 1901 for the first ever film Scrooge, then Scrooge tales that add elements to the story--
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December 23, 2025 at 9:55 PM
My co-host and I deep dive into a curated selection of Christmas Carols, as six Scrooges get visited by 18 ghosts.
Me watching @nandovmovies.bsky.social talk about who ScarJo could play in the Batman 2:
Nando: "There's a character she could play..."
Me: "Silver St. Cloud?"
Nando: "This will involve spoilers for a specific Batman story you've probably read--"
Me: "BATMAN VS ELMER FUDD!?"
I was way off.
Nando: "There's a character she could play..."
Me: "Silver St. Cloud?"
Nando: "This will involve spoilers for a specific Batman story you've probably read--"
Me: "BATMAN VS ELMER FUDD!?"
I was way off.
December 17, 2025 at 1:09 AM
Me watching @nandovmovies.bsky.social talk about who ScarJo could play in the Batman 2:
Nando: "There's a character she could play..."
Me: "Silver St. Cloud?"
Nando: "This will involve spoilers for a specific Batman story you've probably read--"
Me: "BATMAN VS ELMER FUDD!?"
I was way off.
Nando: "There's a character she could play..."
Me: "Silver St. Cloud?"
Nando: "This will involve spoilers for a specific Batman story you've probably read--"
Me: "BATMAN VS ELMER FUDD!?"
I was way off.
@munsi.bsky.social joins me to talk old franchises, which hold up, and which they only tried to like. Also, some Cybersix lore drops why not.
On our last between-decade break, Munsi Parker-Munroe returns to challenge Dan to look back at old franchises, and guess which Munsi genuinely liked, which they pretended to like because they were popular and boy-coded, and which they would have liked if only they'd felt safe indulging in them.
December 12, 2025 at 12:25 AM
@munsi.bsky.social joins me to talk old franchises, which hold up, and which they only tried to like. Also, some Cybersix lore drops why not.
My co-hosts and I get into RoboCop, what made one version work, and what made the other very much not.
It's the 100th episode, as we dig into our lords & saviours, the RoboCops! Paul Verhoeven satirized capitalism through a hero that's part man, part machine, and all cop, and John Tebbutt explains what got lost from the director's cut, while Emma Gallaher relates her first-time-viewing experience.
Recovered Reboots the RoboCops — Writing Therapy Productions
It's the big 100th episode, and to celebrate, our hosts (or are they?) dig into our lords and saviours, the RoboCops! In 1987, Paul Verhoeven satirized capitalism through a hero that was part man, par...
www.writingtherapyproductions.com
November 21, 2025 at 5:20 AM
My co-hosts and I get into RoboCop, what made one version work, and what made the other very much not.
My co-host and I wrap our two-part journey through Fantastic Four cinema, to cover the highest highs and lowest lows.
Back to Fantastic Four cinema with two opposite takes on Marvel's First Family. In 2015, Josh Trank tried a more grounded, body-horror-infused take that met with severe studio notes and mandated reshoots, leading to grey corridors and one action beat before the credits. It didn't go over great.
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November 11, 2025 at 5:18 AM
My co-host and I wrap our two-part journey through Fantastic Four cinema, to cover the highest highs and lowest lows.
"Post something 90s"
October 23, 2025 at 7:32 AM
"Post something 90s"
Fresh episode! Pirates and mobsters and cops, oh my!
It's 2006, and get ready for the most thrilling, high quality bummers of a movie. The Oscar found its way to Martin Scorsese, with his remake of Hong Kong flick Infernal Affairs, The Departed. Leo DiCaprio and Matt Damon go head to head in the Battle of the Snitches, and nobody walks away clean.
October 16, 2025 at 9:33 PM
Fresh episode! Pirates and mobsters and cops, oh my!
The Academy doesn't always make the right choice about the Best Picture, but hoo golly audiences aren't better. My co-host and I skim through the highest grossing films of the 20th century and ask which are worth revisiting.
Dan drags Keith into his film history brainrot in order to answer a question: do the biggest hits of the 20th century need or warrant a remake? We look at the biggest hit of each year from 1927 until 1999, from the dawn of the silent era to the birth of Jar Jar Binks...
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October 9, 2025 at 8:04 PM
The Academy doesn't always make the right choice about the Best Picture, but hoo golly audiences aren't better. My co-host and I skim through the highest grossing films of the 20th century and ask which are worth revisiting.
The Best Picture winners of the 20th century! Should they be remade? I have the answers.
While schedules align, Dan presents a one-man crossover between us and Recovered by asking the question... do the Best Pictures of the 20th century need or warrant a remake? From Wings to American Beauty (at which point they're all so recent it's a hard no)...
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October 4, 2025 at 5:12 PM
The Best Picture winners of the 20th century! Should they be remade? I have the answers.
My co-host and I go deep... as deep as you can... into Assaults From Precinct 13, the John Carpenter original that thrived in simplicity and the remake that decided "if less is more, how much more would MORE be?"
John Carpenter September continues as Dan and Keith crack open Assault on Precinct 13, and its 2005 remake, the same year as The Fog's remake. Carpenter favours simplicity, as the precinct is besieged by a seemingly unstoppable horde of gang members on a vendetta, until only a handful remain.
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September 30, 2025 at 2:40 AM
My co-host and I go deep... as deep as you can... into Assaults From Precinct 13, the John Carpenter original that thrived in simplicity and the remake that decided "if less is more, how much more would MORE be?"
Surprised I didn't hear about this from @munsi.bsky.social
If sexy Watto is what this f*d up universe needs to right this timeline, then sexy Watto is what it gets.
August 31, 2025 at 5:09 AM
Surprised I didn't hear about this from @munsi.bsky.social
Two different families are haunted by approximately a dozen ghosts, Keith and I have opinions, and I find closure for a 30-something year old one-season cartoon show.
Get ready to get haunted as Dan & Keith dig into 13 Ghosts. In 1960, they tried a new gimmick: a special pair of glasses for audiences that either made ghosts appear, or made the movie utterly incomprehensible, as a family inherits their uncle's house only find it filled with about a dozen ghosts.
August 29, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Two different families are haunted by approximately a dozen ghosts, Keith and I have opinions, and I find closure for a 30-something year old one-season cartoon show.
My co-hosts and I go all-in on Lord of the Rings, just like the Academy did in 2003.
It's 2003, and we reach our final Joint Champion, as after two years of being Best Picture nominees and lurking near the top of the box office, Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy reached its grand finale with The Return of the King.
August 22, 2025 at 12:06 AM
My co-hosts and I go all-in on Lord of the Rings, just like the Academy did in 2003.
My co-hosts and I talk the big winners of 2002, which were just here for a good time. (Not safe for Tobey Maguire)
In 2002, Hollywood is swinging, be it to all that jazz, or by webs through the city. Chicago managed the singular achievement of blending the gritty realism Hollywood thinks prestige pictures need with the glitzy, showy song and dance numbers musicals thrive on...
August 7, 2025 at 7:51 PM
My co-hosts and I talk the big winners of 2002, which were just here for a good time. (Not safe for Tobey Maguire)
Movie you’ve watched more than six times with a gif. ”Hard mode” no Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, or Marvel)
You call this "hard mode?"
You call this "hard mode?"
June 27, 2025 at 3:18 AM
Movie you’ve watched more than six times with a gif. ”Hard mode” no Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, or Marvel)
You call this "hard mode?"
You call this "hard mode?"
My co-hosts and I ask "Are we not entertained," or if that mission is impossible. Fun abounds!
We enter a new century with an old trend and a TV show adaptation, seems right for 21st century Hollywood. First, Gladiator, a return to sword and sandal action, only without the Jesus. Historical accuracy is absent, but Erin, Claire, and Dan answer the big question: are they, in fact, entertained?
June 27, 2025 at 12:39 AM
My co-hosts and I ask "Are we not entertained," or if that mission is impossible. Fun abounds!
Keith, @hugobookclub.bsky.social, and I take apart a classic comedy and also a Mel Brooks film, debates and hijinks ensue!
People always say "You couldn't make a [insert Mel Brooks classic] today." But were there movies Mel Brooks shouldn't have remade? That's the question facing Dan and Keith, presented by guest Olav Rokne of @hugobookclub.bsky.social, as we tackle To Be Or Not To Be.
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June 20, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Keith, @hugobookclub.bsky.social, and I take apart a classic comedy and also a Mel Brooks film, debates and hijinks ensue!
While we ramp up for the 2000s, @munsi.bsky.social presents ten 90s movie that deserve more attention, and then I hop in at the end with two entries of my own. Well, almost two. One and a bit.
Before we enter the 21st century, @munsi.bsky.social returns to present their Top Ten Secret Masterpieces of the 1990s: ten films that weren't hits, didn't get Oscar love, but delight our guest to no end and they would argue are worthy of your attention just the same...
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June 14, 2025 at 12:52 AM
While we ramp up for the 2000s, @munsi.bsky.social presents ten 90s movie that deserve more attention, and then I hop in at the end with two entries of my own. Well, almost two. One and a bit.
Can you remake the Marx Brothers? Turns out they already did.
SHOULD you remake the Marx Brothers? That's a different conversation, and we're having it.
SHOULD you remake the Marx Brothers? That's a different conversation, and we're having it.
Dan and Keith head back to that brief overlap between the Golden Age of Hollywood and the dying days of vaudeville with the Marx Bros. In A Night at the Opera, Groucho, Chico, and Harpo Marx hit a new height by blending their signature antics with an emotional arc, but how do those antics hold up?
June 8, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Can you remake the Marx Brothers? Turns out they already did.
SHOULD you remake the Marx Brothers? That's a different conversation, and we're having it.
SHOULD you remake the Marx Brothers? That's a different conversation, and we're having it.
Even for a @munsi.bsky.social episode, this one is extra unhinged in the best ways. And we pitch a spinoff podcast!
The decade wraps up with one beautifully crafted but disturbingly hollow Best Picture, and one beloved franchise returning with a controversial entry. Recurring guest/victim of scheduling @munsi.bsky.social is back for the takes, joining Claire, Erin, and @daniforth.bsky.social.
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May 15, 2025 at 10:22 PM
Even for a @munsi.bsky.social episode, this one is extra unhinged in the best ways. And we pitch a spinoff podcast!
Keith and I get into the Thomas Crowns and their affairs, and why some stories just weren't their best prior to the 70s.
Rollerball wasn't the only Norman Jewison film remade by John McTiernan, so strap in for the Affairs of the Thomases Crown. Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway squared off as bored millionaire Thomas Crown and an insurance thug trying to prove he's a thief, in a languid romance featuring some crimes. 1/2
May 11, 2025 at 6:05 AM
Keith and I get into the Thomas Crowns and their affairs, and why some stories just weren't their best prior to the 70s.
I wrote a thing! And it's only 30% bits!
And because we were talking about the best science fiction movies of 1984 this week, we got the most ardent Ghostbusters fan we know ( @daniforth.bsky.social ) to write a guest post about why the original 1984 #Ghostbusters has enduring value.
Blog post: hugoclub.blogspot.com/2025/05/gues...
Blog post: hugoclub.blogspot.com/2025/05/gues...
Guest Post: Four Decades Of Bustin' Makes Us Feel Good
Discussion of Hugo Award nominees for best novel, other science fiction novels, and analysis of the awards. We read all the nominees before we vote.
hugoclub.blogspot.com
May 11, 2025 at 4:42 AM
I wrote a thing! And it's only 30% bits!
Gonna be a heck of an editing process for me this weekend but a stellar time.
Two hours spent podcast recording about Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, ending with "In summary, watch The Matrix instead" and a brief discourse on whether you should watch The Matrix or The Mummy instead is time exceedingly well spent, in my opinion. Fun evening!
May 6, 2025 at 6:01 AM
Gonna be a heck of an editing process for me this weekend but a stellar time.
Nobody asked for it but here it comes: the vignette of the Coen Brothers' The Ballad of Buster Scruggs ranked from most to least sad. Minimal spoilers. But also how funny was it?
6. Meal Ticket. Jesus the life this kid had, and what became of it.
3.5/5 funny, though.
6. Meal Ticket. Jesus the life this kid had, and what became of it.
3.5/5 funny, though.
April 9, 2025 at 4:06 AM
Nobody asked for it but here it comes: the vignette of the Coen Brothers' The Ballad of Buster Scruggs ranked from most to least sad. Minimal spoilers. But also how funny was it?
6. Meal Ticket. Jesus the life this kid had, and what became of it.
3.5/5 funny, though.
6. Meal Ticket. Jesus the life this kid had, and what became of it.
3.5/5 funny, though.