Movie Memory Machine

In 2009’s He's Just Not That Into You, a romantic ensemble built on a bestselling advice book somehow wound up being about emotionally stunted men, red flag relationships, and one very confused Scarlett Johansson.
Truman and Landen dig through the all-star cast and pop feminism of this late-2000s relic to find out how a dating guide turned into two hours of mixed messages and bare-minimum boyfriends.
A glossy rom-com about mixed signals and missed connections, He's Just Not That Into You follows a group of Baltimore singles stumbling through love and heartbreak, loosely inspired by the self-help book of the same name. Directed by Ken Kwapis and starring Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore, Ginnifer Goodwin, and a pre-Marvel Scarlett Johansson, the film was a Warner Bros. release during the late-2000s boom of ensemble romances. It made money, got lukewarm reviews, and quietly slipped into cable rerun oblivion—despite a cast list that reads like People Magazine’s Class of 2009.
 
What You’ll Hear:
– The film’s confusing tonal mix of self-help cynicism and soft-focus sentiment
– How Hollywood was trying (and failing) to bottle up modern dating anxiety
– The bare-minimum bar for male behavior in late-aughts romantic comedies
– A heated dissection of Justin Long’s hangout lair
– Who this movie thought it was helping — and why it probably wasn’t
 
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Tags: He’s Just Not That Into You, 2009, Ken Kwapis, Aniston, Affleck, Barrymore, Goodwin, Johansson, romantic comedy, ensemble film, dating movies, 2000s rom-coms

The Machine served up The Road to Wellville, and now it’s time to cleanse the palate.
WHAT YOU’LL HEAR
– Five films that turn food into ritual, punishment, or power– A Bolognese orgy, a cult in Pasadena, and one very worried draftsman– The Decameron defense: “It’s not all butts”– When Joaquin Phoenix becomes a human vessel (again)
 
Want more weird cinema and Machine-fueled chaos? Follow us here:– Support the show on Patreon: https://patreon.com/gruntworkpod– Season watchlist on Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/moviememorypod/– Visit our website: https://www.moviememorymachine.com
 
Tags: The Road to Wellville, La Grande Bouffe, The Decameron, Amarcord, The Master, The Draughtsman’s Contract, Food in Film, Decadence, Art Cinema

Enemas, cornflakes, and the unholy gospel of wellness.This Mini-Transmission digs through the baffling remains of The Road to Wellville (1994) — a film that dares to ask what happens when you make Anthony Hopkins do that with his voice.
 
What You’ll Hear:
The perils of turning cereal into cinema
Roy Brocksmith: The Greatest Character Actor?
The Trailer Game: predicting which bowel moments made the cut
The Next Movie Reveal — including a spicy clue from the Machine
 
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Tags: The Road to Wellville, Anthony Hopkins, 1990s Comedy, Wellness Satire

What if Amadeus and There’s Something About Mary had a baby—and fed it nothing but yogurt enemas? In this episode of Movie Memory Machine, Landen and Truman dive headfirst into The Road to Wellville (1994), a baffling, big-budget health spa satire starring Anthony Hopkins as cereal tycoon Dr. John Harvey Kellogg in a performance that must be heard to be believed.
Directed by Alan Parker (Evita, Pink Floyd: The Wall) and based on the novel by T.C. Boyle, this forgotten 90s movie is part cult curio, part studio misfire, and entirely unlike anything else. We unpack its shocking budget, overloaded cast, box office faceplant, and why this bizarre film might actually be the missing link in the history of adult-targeted Hollywood comedies.
 
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Matthew Broderick, Bridget Fonda, Dana Carvey, John Cusack, Colm Meaney, Lara Flynn Boyle
Directed by: Alan Parker
Written by: Alan Parker, based on the novel by T.C. Boyle
 
What We Cover:
Forgotten 90s movies with giant budgets and no audience
Anthony Hopkins’ most unhinged role (yes, more than The Father)
The real Dr. Kellogg: eugenics, gut flora, and wellness gone wrong
Why Alan Parker followed The Commitments with this
1990s retro-futurism and health fads on screen
Studio comedies for grown-ups: a dead genre?
Dana Carvey’s physical comedy masterclass
The box office bomb and bizarre marketing strategy
Does this film deserve cult classic status—or a yogurt cleanse?
Our final verdict: back to modern memory, or leave it forgotten?
 
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Subscribe to Movie Memory Machine for weekly deep dives into forgotten films, underseen bombs, and baffling studio choices that time tried to erase.
 
If you love forgotten 90s movies, cult comedies, and Anthony Hopkins giving 110%, this episode is for you.

How many ways can one girl discover she has terrifying powers? In this Movie Memory Machine Five For episode, Landen and Truman explore five thematically connected films to Carrie (2013)—ranging from Brian De Palma’s original adaptation to Cronenberg’s scanners, to telekinetic kids with lighter (or stranger) fates.
 
We cover:
Carrie (1976): Sissy Spacek sets the gold standard for prom-night horror.
The Fury (1978): More psychics, more explosions, and De Palma off the leash.
Scanners (1981): The king of head-splosions meets telekinetic warfare.
Matilda (1996): What if Carrie used her powers for whimsy instead of wrath?
Thelma (2017): Norwegian art-horror about queer longing and supernatural coming-of-age.
Along the way, we talk Stephen King, Danny DeVito’s taste for chaos, and whether Stranger Things owes royalties to every VHS tape from 1981.
 
Topics Covered
Stephen King movies
Carrie 2013 vs. 1976 • Best head explosion in cinema
Chloe Grace Moretz
Telekinesis in horror
Feminist interpretations of Carrie
Scanners & Cronenberg
Brian De Palma’s wild camera work
A24 horror vibes
Telekinetic coming-of-age films
Stranger Things influences
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In this mini-episode, Landen and Truman revisit Carrie (2013) to play The Trailer Game and score how many moments they accurately predicted would appear in the movie’s trailer — from blood buckets to telekinetic locker room footage. But along the way, the conversation detours into:
How do you explain to your kid that their dad died… from a falling bucket?
Would Carrie 3: Ennui be a better sequel than The Rage?
Could Julianne Moore have played Carrie herself in the 90s?
And is it okay to slow-dance with your teacher at prom if she’s Judy Greer?
Plus: thoughts on evangelical horror, Harry Potter comparisons, and an inspired (if cursed) pitch for Harry Carey.
We close with our next movie’s release date and a cryptic tagline: “A comedy of the heart… and other organs.”
 
Topics Covered:
– The Trailer Game: Carrie edition (2013)
– Carrie’s “bucket” death and its legacy
– Julianne Moore as Carrie: a missed opportunity?
– Evangelical horror and megachurch mayhem
– Judy Greer as the cool prom chaperone
– Could Carrie have thrived at Hogwarts?
– What if she was on the Poseidon instead?
– Real-time Googling of “magic powers”
– A cryptic teaser for the next forgotten film
 
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Nearly 40 years after Brian De Palma drenched prom night in pig’s blood and psychic rage, Carrie returned in 2013 with Chloë Grace Moretz and Julianne Moore. But did this remake modernize Stephen King’s story—or just repackage it?
In this episode, we trace the journey of Carrie (2013) from concept to release, explore how it compares to the 1976 classic, and ask whether it’s fair to call this version “forgotten”… or if we simply moved on for a reason.
 
Cast Includes:
Chloë Grace Moretz as Carrie White
Julianne Moore as Margaret White
Judy Greer as Miss Desjardin
Gabriella Wilde as Sue Snell
Portia Doubleday as Chris Hargensen
Ansel Elgort as Tommy Ross
Topics Covered
Chloë Grace Moretz vs. Sissy Spacek
The challenges of remaking horror classics
Stephen King movies
Carrie 2013 vs. 1976 • Best head explosion in cinema
Chloe Grace Moretz
Telekinesis in horror
Religious trauma and maternal horror
Feminist interpretations of Carrie
Kimberly Peirce’s directing choices
Brian De Palma’s wild camera work
A24 horror vibes
Telekinetic coming-of-age films
Stranger Things influences
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The Playmobil movie may not have left much of a legacy, but it sparks a lot of conversation about how other films have approached fantasy, world-building, and childhood imagination — sometimes successfully, sometimes not.
In this 5 For episode, Landen and Truman pull five films that echo the structure, themes, or ambition of Playmobil: The Movie — and in most cases, improve on them. From modern animated juggernauts to nostalgic fantasy, they explore the good, the weird, and the unexpectedly connected.
 
Films Discussed in This Episode:
– The LEGO Movie (2014)
– The NeverEnding Story (1984)
– The Wizard of Oz (1939)
– Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)
– Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)
 
Topics Covered:
– Fantasy worlds as coping mechanisms
– The line between commercialism and genuine creativity
– The connective tissue between Playmobil and much bigger franchises
– Unexpected emotional resonance (and cooking subplots)
– Whether Truman will ever watch The NeverEnding Story
 
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What happens when a toy company tries to copy The LEGO Movie—and completely misunderstands why it worked? That’s Playmobil: The Movie (2019), one of the strangest animated flops of the decade.
In this special mini-episode, we break down the Playmobil: The Movie trailer, play The Trailer Game, and dig into how the film’s marketing sealed its fate before it even hit theaters. We look at the bizarre choices behind the trailer, why audiences never connected, and how Hollywood keeps learning the wrong lessons from its biggest hits.
 
Cast Includes:
Anya Taylor-Joy as Marla
Daniel Radcliffe as Rex Dasher
Jim Gaffigan, Kenan Thompson, Meghan Trainor, and Adam Lambert
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What happens when you chase The LEGO Movie with none of the charm, none of the budget, and none of the jokes? You get Playmobil: The Movie—a box office catastrophe that tried to turn plastic figurines into profit.
This week, we’re joined by Josh Boerman of The Worst of All Possible Worlds podcast to dissect one of the strangest failures in modern animation. We break down the movie’s bizarre tone, its baffling creative choices, and how it ended up costing over $75 million while making less than ten. From Daniel Radcliffe’s cameo to musical numbers that feel like tax write-offs, this is a journey into movie marketing gone horribly wrong.
Was it doomed from the start—or is there a forgotten charm beneath the molded surface?
 
Cast:
Anya Taylor-Joy as Marla
Gabriel Bateman as Charlie
Daniel Radcliffe as Rex Dasher
Jim Gaffigan as Del
Kenan Thompson as Bloodbones
Meghan Trainor as Fairy Godmother
Adam Lambert as Emperor Maximus
 
Topics Covered in This Episode:
Why Playmobil: The Movie failed to connect with audiences
Daniel Radcliffe as Rex Dasher, the spy parody nobody asked for
The LEGO Movie vs. its cheap knockoffs
Animated flops and bloated budgets
Josh Boerman on the limits of branded content
The musical numbers that time forgot
Remember or forget? The final verdict on Playmobil
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