Animal House. It invented the view of fraternities in movies. Heck, it could be argued that it even reshaped the fraternity experience on college campuses nationwide (even though it was based on real experiences that were tamed DOWN for the movie). No matter how you look at it, National Lampoon's Animal House is a groundbreaking comedy that stands the test of time.
And, oh yeah. It's a car movie. Central to the plot of this movie is the 1964 Lincoln Continental with it's iconic suicide doors, trusted to Kent Dorfman by his brother... only for it to become THE DEATHMOBILE!
Joining us for this podcast is Rick Bruner. Rick knows his comedy. He's the manager of the Virginia Beach Funny Bone. He also grew up working around cars - including a time when he worked in a car museum that housed such iconic vehicles as the Muenster Coach, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and cars owed by Clark Gable and Greta Garbo.
We have a lot of fun talking about the college experience, the cars, the comedy and trying to figure out how the Delta's ended up driving some of the cars they have in the movie.
Make sure you subscribe to Reels and Wheels on iTunes or Stitcher and leave us some feedback! Find Rick at the Virginia Beach Funny Bone, where the best touring comics are always dropping in - www.vabeachfunnybone.com! Find us @ReelsandWheels, James @S2KJames and Sid @SidBridgeComedy on FaceBook or Twitter!
In 2007, Transformers returned to the big screen. A new generation was turned on to new versions of the toys that made it so fun to be a kid in the 1980s, but now Michael Bay was in charge.
Joining Sid and James to talk about 2007's Transformers is Gabriel Owens, AKA The Salty Seaman (YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/recharge138). Gabriel has a show called Military Bullshit where he points out inaccuracies in movie portrayals of the military. He joins us to talk about the cars of Transformers and the military BS.
Between explosions and Megan Fox running in slow motion, Transformers is actually a fun movie. James and Gabriel plead the case to Sid that Michael Bay's insanity doesn't ruin this movie - sure, there are the usual complaints, but in retrospect, it's a fun shot of energy to something we grew up with.
General Motors paid to play in this movie so most of the good guys are GM cars. How did those choices work out? How does this movie stack up from a military standpoint?
Subscribe to Reels and Wheels on iTunes or Stitcher and leave some feedback! Follow us: @S2KJames, @SidBridgeComedy and @ReelsAndWheels and subscribe to Gabriel's YouTube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/recharge138)!
On this episode of Reels and Wheels, Sid and James tackle another essential car movie... the 1973 classic, American Graffiti! They are joined by Brett Stillo of the 5 Minutes of Trouble podcast... and someone who has had some close encounters with the cars of American Graffiti and with its director, George Lucas.
American Graffiti launched an entire genre. George Lucas was looking to make a movie with a soul that also documented his youth around a long gone car culture. Cruising was how people kept up with each other because the internet existed and before gas shortages, over-regulation and insurance companies ruined cars in 1973.
Make sure you subscribe to Reels and Wheels on Stitcher or iTunes and leave feedback! Follow us @ReelsandWheels, @S2KJames and @SidBridgeComedy, and find Brett @5MinutesofTrouble!
Love... The International Language! Love abounds on Reels and Wheels Podcast's new episode as we discuss the classic 1985 romantic comedy, Better Off Dead!
Sid and James are joined by Alicia Camden, co-host of the Invitation to Love Podcast to get some insight into relationships... and give her some insight into classic cars. Better Off Dead seems on the surface like a fun, outlandish comedy, but the truth is that a lot of its content is based on the real life of the director, Savage Steve Holland.
It also features a sad, sad Ford LTD station wagon, two race-happy Asian immigrants in a Falcon sedan, and the infamous Camaro - a car whose post-movie story is quite interesting!
Learn about love and automobiles on Reels and Wheels!
Find Alicia Camden online - @aliciacamden and find the Invitation to Love Podcast at http://invitationtolove.podbean.com/ (or subscribe on iTunes!).
As always, find James (@S2KJames) and Sid (@SidBridgeComedy) and @ReelsandWheels! Subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher and leave feedback!
It's back to Back to the Future for Reels and Wheels! On this episode, James and Sid cover Back to the Future Part 2 and 3! (Kind of. Part 3 didn't have much to talk about when it came to cars)
Joining us for this show is Doug DeMuro, writer for Auto Trader and YouTube car reviewer! Doug just released a new video where he drives an exact replica of the Back to Future Delorean: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5dtcoCfKw4
Doug brings first hand knowledge of the famous time machine and we have some great conversations about the "future cars" that show up in Back to the Future 2! What cars from today would freak out people from 30 years ago? How did the movies skew your impression of the Delorean? Enjoy this great episode of Reels and Wheels!
Find Doug at AutoTrader.com or on his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsqjHFMB_JYTaEnf_vmTNqg
Twitter and FaceBook: @DougDeMuro
Find James and Sid, too: @ReelsandWheels, @S2KJames, @SidBridgeComedy - follow us on Facebook, subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher and leave us some feedback!
Risky Business: It made Tom Cruise a star and and it also made a star out of Porsche. The Porsche 928 went against the grain - front engine, rear wheel drive, V8 power wasn't what Porsche was known for. However, to a generation of 80's kids, thanks to Risky Business, when you said Porsche, we all thought 928.
Risky Business is a great movie - funny and exciting with a great cast and an awesome car. Need we say more? Well, yeah, actually - listen to the podcast!
Follow Sid (@SidBridgeComedy), James (@S2KJames) and @ReelsAndWheels. Subscribe on Stitcher or iTunes and leave feedback!
How obnoxious was your group of friends? On this episode of Reels and Wheels, James and Sid are joined once again by Ed Carden of The Pushers to talk about 1984's Bachelor Party, a movie where Tom Hanks showed his versatility by being thoroughly obnoxious.
As a car movie, Bachelor Party is pretty fun! Sure, there's a 1974 Porsche 911 Targa (Take the car! No! Take Debbie! No! The car! I'd hate to be in your shoes, pal!), but the only car chase is between a school bus and a utility truck.
Ed, Sid and James have a blast talking about school bus stories, obnoxious friends, and how influential this movie was on modern comedies.
Find Ed Carden online @TheEdCarden or at www.PushComedyTheater.com! Find Sid @SidBridgeComedy and James @S2KJames online and follow @ReelsandWheels. Subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher and leave feedback!
Drive (2011) stars Ryan Gosling. Sid hates it. James loves it. JG Pasterjak of Grassroots Motorsports returns to join James in liking the movie.
A part time movie stunt driver/mechanic/getaway car driver/race car driver gets caught up in a whole bunch of issues with organized crime just by being a good neighbor. He doesn't talk much and the director really wanted to impress everybody at Cannes.
James and JG defend the movie while trying to convince Sid that buying a Dodge Charger is a bad idea. Sid defends his hatred of the movie while trying to convince everyone else that the Charger is a great car filling an important place in the world. Oh yeah, and Ryan Gosling drives a 1973 Malibu that he restored himself and we all talk about what makes that car special.
Subscribe to Reels and Wheels on iTunes or Stitcher and leave us some feedback! Find James online @S2KJames and Sid - @SidBridgeComedy! Find JG at www.grassrootsmotorsports.com!
What better way to celebrate Christmas than to kick back with a new episode of Reels and Wheels, a podcast hosted by a Jew and an Atheist!?
In celebration of the holidays, Sid and James are going to talk about Gremlins! Yep, Gremlins! Sandwiched in all that cutsy movie-turned horror flick goodness are a few cars. I mean, barely enough to make an episode of Reels and Wheels, but what the hell!
Enjoy this fun discussion of the Volkswagen Beetle's nefarious origins and a good 'ol American plow! Gremlins!
@ReelsAndWheels, @SidBridgeComedy, @S2KJames - subscribe on Stitcher or iTunes and leave feedback!
You just take my advice on a dark and stormy night when the wind is howling and the rain is coming down in sheets thick as lead... Tune into Reels and Wheels as James and Sid are joined by Josh Horowitz to talk Big Trouble in Little China!
Josh is the founder of WingKong.net, a long-running Big Trouble in Little China web site and the cohost of "5 Minutes of Trouble" a podcast that talks Big Trouble in Little China five minutes at a time. Suffice it to say, he knows this movie.
How great is John Carpenter at matching cars to characters? Is the 1986 Pontiac Trans Am a purely awesome vehicle or is it terrible? Were you rooting for the AMC Gremlin?
Learn lots of interesting facts and enjoy as James, Sid & Josh have a blast talking about a movie they all agree is just plain awesome.
Find Josh Horowitz at www.wingkong.net! Follow @ReelsandWheels, @SidBridgeComedy & @S2KJames on Twitter! Subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher and leave us some feedback!
In this mini-episode of Reels and Wheels, Sid and James give their top ten movie picks for Thanksgiving. Looking for the perfect car movie for your specific Thanksgiving situation? We've got you covered!
Follow Sid (@SidBridgeComedy), James (@S2KJames) and @ReelsAndWheels. Subscribe on Stitcher or iTunes and leave feedback!
Muscle cars, classic rock and not much else. On this Reels and Wheels, James and Sid take a look a Dazed and Confused, an early 1990's movie that literally provided a snapshot of high school life in 1976.
On its surface, it's a two hour car show set to a great soundtrack. Most of us would kill time ogling American muscle cars and listening Black Sabbath anyway, so it's nice to have the excuse of "I'm watching a great movie" to get away with it. Under the surface, it's an anthropological look at high school life that isn't far from accurate.
Will James and Sid survive digging up their own high school past? Is this a sufficient distraction from the culmination of a messed-up presidential election? Either way, you need to relax, get away from it all and get Dazed and Confused with Reels and Wheels.
@ReelsandWheels, @S2KJames, @SidBridgeComedy
Stitcher, iTunes
Happy Halloween from Reels and Wheels! Today's episode is about the horror masterpiece, Killdozer! Actually, everybody but Sid hated it and technical difficulties kept this podcast shorter than usual, but you should listen anyway! James and Sid are joined by Autocrosser/Comic/Bulldozer Operator Randall Rutledge to talk about a movie where 4 out of 6 construction workers are killed off by a murderous bulldozer with a top speed of 9mph.
Enjoy Reels and Wheels on iTunes or Stitcher, subscribe and leave feedback! Find us online - @ReelsandWheels, @S2KJames, and @SidBridgeComedy!
Automotive journalist and racer Mark Baruth (AKA, Bark M) joins Sid and James because he really wanted the hosts of Reels and Wheels to watch The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.
Toyko Drift was an attempt to reboot/save a franchise that had gone from terrible to horrendously awful with a movie that was moderately bad. So, sure, it was pretty fun to watch and the driving scenes were quit impressive, but was there anything else to like about it?
Mark and James tag team their way through trying to sort out this movie and sing the praises of Japan's greatest automobiles to muscle-car-loving Sid. Spoiler alert: They don't win him over, but this show is a hell of a ride. Kind of like the movie. It also has the most unique ending we've ever recorded to a podcast.
Follow, subscribe, leave feedback and tell your friends about @ReelsandWheels!
Used Cars (1980) is a film with no good guys in it at all. Every character - even the dog - behaves reprehensibly. And it's funny. James and Sid are joined by actor/comedian Thomas Maddin (who also happens to work in car sales) to talk about a movie that pulls no punches when it comes to cars and politics.
Kurt Russell stars as a used car salesman with political ambitions in a corrupt world, caught in the middle of a family feud over the car lot he works on. It's a unique movie for Reels and Wheels in that it has so many cars, it's hard to pick a few to focus on (outside of the iconic Edsel).
What made Edsel synonymous with failure? What can we learn from this movie's take on corrupt politics leading up to this year's ridiculous presidential election? What about those outfits?!
Subscribe to Reels and Wheels on iTunes or Stitcher and leave feedback! Find us online - @SidBridgeComedy, @S2KJames, @ReelsandWheels and our guest, @ThomasMaddin
On this peculiar edition of Reels and Wheels, James and Sid are joined by... James. Yep, Co-host James Rodatus doubles up as the guest this time as he puts his experience as a lawyer to work so that we can talk about My Cousin Vinny.
This 1992 comedy starring Joe Pesci was lauded for its realistic, positive portrayal of our legal system. So I guess technically this is an episode of Reels and Lawyers and Wheels. Either way, My Cousin Vinny is a thoughtful, enjoyable, and fun movie that uses the inner workings of a 1964 Buick Skylark and a 1963 Pontiac Tempest as a key plot point.
So how accurate was this movie? How unique was the cast? What about the car we didn't see - find out what made the first generation Pontiac Tempest one of the most unique cars GM ever built!
Find our special guest James Rodatus online @S2KJames and find Sid @SidBridgeComedy - leave us some feedback! Subscribe to @ReelsAndWheels on iTunes and Stitcher and spread the word!
The original 1983 National Lampoon's Vacation is considered one of the greatest comedies of all time, and it is. The centerpiece of this saga about a family trip gone horribly wrong is the Wagon Queen Family Truckster - a vehicle that embodies everything that was wrong with the American family car at the height of the malaise era.
James and Sid are joined by comedian Jim Seward to talk Vacation - both the movie and their personal experiences on long trips with kids in the car and every family's love/hate relationship with the American station wagon.
Did the Family Truckster help put an end to the station wagon? Was the Truckster really that different from the Ford LTD Country Squire it was based on? Did the big 3 make these station wagons because they hated their customers?
Enjoy Reels and Wheels on iTunes or Stitcher, subscribe and leave feedback! Find us only - @ReelsandWheels, @S2KJames, and @SidBridgeComedy! Jim Seward is a wonderful stand up comic out of Nashville who tours regularly - find him online at www.JimSewardComedy.com or @JimSewardComedy. Photo Credit: Adam Lautenbach, Music Credit: Ben Sounds.
Initial D is the go-to Anime about street racing in Japan, so James and Sid once again welcome comedian Derek Williams to talk about the show. Derek is a huge Anime fan and has plenty of experience with the Initial D arcade game from his time managing an arcade!
Initial D follows the life of reluctant racing prodigy Takumi as he dazzles the local street racing community racing his "8-6" (A Toyota Corolla to Americans, the legendary Trueno in Japan) on the treacherous Akino downhill.
What's so special about the 8-6? Is the racing jargon used in Initial D real? Is Sid going to survive this episode even though he doesn't like Anime?
Subscribe to Reels and Wheels on iTunes or Stitcher and leave us some feedback! Find us online:
Derek Williams: @Naamco003
James Rodatus: @S2KJames
Sid Bridge: @SidBridgeComedy
Reels and Wheels: @ReelsandWheels
The original Ghostbusters - most will agree it's one of the greatest movies of all time. At Reels and Wheels, we love it because of Ecto-1 - a 1959 Cadillac Miller Meteor conversion turned into the greatest ghost-hunting machine ever!
...and did we find the best guest EVER to discuss Ghostbusters with?! The conversation goes into overdrive as James and Sid welcome Chris Balassone, owner and founder of Tri-City Paranormal! He's the real deal - a paranormal researcher and part of the TAPS family (of Ghost Hunters fame).
What did Ghostbusters get right? What kind of headaches does the movie cause for real paranormal researchers? Just what are ghosts anyway? How many different angles are there to an investigation?
The conversation swings from scientific to religious to medical to automotive in one of the most interesting episodes we've ever recorded!
Subscribe to Reels and Wheels on iTunes or Stitcher and leave feedback! Find Sid @SidBridgeComedy and James @S2KJames on social media! Check out what Chris is up to at www.tricityparanormal.com - and find Chris on FaceBook or Twitter @ChrisBalassone.
Reels and Wheels continues its odd relationship with favorite director Hal Needham, talking about what in retrospect was one of his most disturbing movies - Stroker Ace!
Sid and James are joined by JG Pasterjak, comedian and writer for Grassroots Motorsports to take a look at the movie that effectively ruined Burt Reynolds' career.
So how many Ford Foxbody vehicles can you squeeze into one movie? How great was early 1980's NASCAR? How patently disturbing was this movie?
Subscribe to Reels and Wheels (@ReelsAndWheels) on iTunes or Stitcher and leave feedback! Find James (@S2KJames) and Sid (@SidBridgeComedy) on social media! Find JG Pasterjak on social media and at www.grassrootsmotorsports.com!
Why did you do this to us, Hal Needham? We loved you for Smokey and the Bandit and the Cannonball Run. But Megaforce?!
Barry Bostwick leads a team of caricatures in strange "high tech" assault vehicles to help a fictional country win a war against a fictional country. Joining us is comedian and 1980's movie aficionado, Tim Loulies.
This movie was a shining piece of Tim's childhood for kind and innocent reasons. It has a timeless message - war is awesome and nobody dies. The loser just laughs and gives the winner a big ATTABOY!
And there's a Bronco. There's always a Bronco.
Subscribe to Reels and Wheels on iTunes or Stitcher and leave some feedback! @ReelsandWheels @S2KJames @SidBridgeComedy
Find Tim Loulies online at www.timloulies.com and @thebig44!
On this episode of Reels and Wheels, Movies and cars collide with professional wrestling! Sid and James are joined by Derek Montilla of The Steel Cafe Podcast to discuss Body Slam - a glorious masterpiece of the 1980's complete with The A-Team's Dirk Benedict, Rowdy Roddy Piper and a whole bunch of wrestling Samoans - all directed by Reels & Wheels hero Hal Needham!
As a favor to Sid, who is a huge wrestling fan with a pretty big twitter following in the wrestling community, James gets his first exposure to the world of professional wrestling and finds it surprisingly enjoyable. Helping us sort through everything is Derek Montilla, a podcaster who knows his wrestling.
If you're keeping score, Sid and Derek help James understand wrestling while James and Sid help Derek understand cars. It all makes for a really fun episode of Reels and Wheels and a loving shout out to the Twitter circus that follows Sid and Derek during wrestling shows. Enjoy!
Subscribe to Reels and Wheels on iTunes or Stitcher and leaves us some feedback! Find us online, too - @SidBridgeComedy, @S2KJames, @ReelsAndWheels - and find Derek @Cap_Kaveman and his podcast, @TheSteelCage and online www.thesportskave.com - Enjoy!
Punk rock, drugs, 80's fashion and decaying aliens in the trunk. Only 1984's Repo Man could bring such greatness together and contain it on one screen. Joining Sid and James to help understand this complicated/insane movie is Ed Carden of The Pushers - a renowned sketch comedy group who runs The Push Comedy Theater.
Emilio Estevez and Harry Dean Stanton carry this cult classic which also happens to star a sinister 1964 Chevy Malibu with radioactive alien corpses in the truck that vaporize anyone who dares to open it and take a peek.
What was this movie really about? What other magical powers did some of the cars have? Did you know that Ed Carden used to have a Volkswagen Quantum?! Find out more on this episode of Reels and Wheels! Follow us on social media - @TheEdCarden, @ReelsandWheels, @SidBridgeComedy and @S2KJames. Subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher and leave us feedback!
As much as we love Star Wars at Reels and Wheels, we can't do much with it since there are no cars (Unless you count the car they used to stand in for the ship that crashed into the Super Star Destroyer's bridge). However, there is a new hope! To celebrate the debut of Star Wars Episode 7, Reels and Wheels presents Star Wars Episode 4.5 - Corvette Summer!
It's 1978 and Mark Hamill is Kenny, a whiny brat who loves a car he saved from the junkyard along with his shop class. When the car is stolen, said whiny brat finds himself in a far off galaxy (Las Vegas) battling evil (Brion James!) only to find out that his father figure is the main villain all along. Sound familiar?
Except this time Luke's mom is a bit of a slut and he falls in love with a girl who is an aspiring prostitute.
Ok, so it's not exactly Star Wars. As a matter of fact, Hamill hoped this movie would help him avoid being typecast. Sadly, it was too mired in the 1970's to endure - especially with the Corvette. A gawdy, overdone customized C3.
Join James and Sid in a galaxy far away for a movie that really isn't as bad as it sounds, even though it doesn't have Han Solo in it.
Subscribe to Reels and Wheels on iTunes and Stitcher. Follow us @ReelsandWheels - @SidBridgeComedy and @S2KJames on Facebook and Twitter and leave feedback!
It seems like everyone is talking about James Bond now that Spectre is out, so Sid and James decided to call in podcast extraordinaire Kris Roley to talk about one of the greatest Bond movies of all time, Goldfinger!
Goldfinger really has the best of everything - Sean Connery as Bond, an amazing villain in Auric Goldfinger, a female need actually named "Pussy Galore," a killer henchman name Oddjob with the most lethal hat ever, and, of course, the greatest Aston Martin DB5 to ever spy on stuff.
Goldfinger was the Bond movie that started it all when it comes to cars packed with gadgets. Since Goldfinger, James Bond's car has become central to each movie. Join us as Kris Roley chats it up with James and Sid about the movie, the cars we see, and some of the best of James Bond vehicles.
Subscribe to Reels and Wheels on iTunes or Stitcher and leave us feedback! Follow @ReelsandWheels, @SidBridgeComedy and @S2KJames and let us know what you think!