Kevin Geeks Out with Pete & Alex from STAR WARS MINUTE

At the first-annual Brooklyn Brain Jam I had the pleasure of interviewing two inspiring nerds -- Alex Robinson and Pete the Retailer. These guys have been podcasting daily about the Star Wars Saga for close to 3 years. (Visit StarWarsMinute for full episodes.)  

Now you can hear our interview below, taped live at the Bell House. 

Bonus: At the end of the segment we're joined by  Noah Tarnow (host of The Big Quiz Thing) for a round of trivia, using the 1982 quiz book written by an 11-year-old boy. Play along and see if you know more than our expert panel. 


ALSO: This month, Alex and Pete are co-hosting Kevin Geeks Out About Space Operas, where we look at some of our favorite STAR WARS rip-offs, along with other favorites of the sub-genre. Get tickets here.


Kevin Geeks Out About Space Operas from Kevin Maher on Vimeo.


Note: The Brooklyn Brain Jam returns to Littlefield on Sunday March 6th.


** RELATED **

New York Times article about The Brooklyn Brain Jam. 

Kevin's guest appearance on StarWarsMinute LIVE. 

Kevin's guest appearance on NPR's The Brian Lehrer Show, talking about THE FORCE AWAKENS (spoiler-free.) 

STAR WARS Talking Points - and the stuff I didn't get to say on NPR

I was honored to be a guest on WNYC'S The Brian Lehrer Show. The topic was STAR WARS. (Fitting since my next Kevin Geeks Out show is all about Space Operas) 

You can listen to it HERE.

When I was booked I only knew we'd be talking about STAR WARS. Because of who I am, I thought of LOTS of talking points. Here are some stray thoughts I had prepared but didn't get to use....

*** 

OPENING NIGHT

On the opening night of STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS I was at the Brooklyn Academy of Music with my 8-year-old son seeing a retelling of THE NUTCRACKER. It was a modern update on the classic story, different and ironic but still driven by powerful music. 

THE FORCE AWAKENS is pretty much the same thing. A current retelling of a classic story. With powerful music. 

And there's nothing wrong with that. 

Disney is playing a long con, they will release a new STAR WARS film every year. And each year the movie will be something you can bring the kids and the grandparents to -- and everyone will have a nice time. 

*** 

THE FORCE AWAKENS - STAR WARS' ECHO CHAMBER

People criticize the new film for following the story beats of A NEW HOPE. 

I'm reminded of a phrase repeated throughout BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: "All of this has happened before and will happen again." 

Everyone is going through motions already repeated. (And that includes 40-year-olds complaining about a STAR WARS movie.) 

Here's a fun game: when someone criticizes THE FORCE AWAKENS for going all JURASSIC WORLD by being a beat-for-beat remake of the first film, ask if they would make the same complaint about EVIL DEAD 2. (I knew this talking point wouldn't play on NPR.) 

***

THE NOSTALGIA TRADITION

The institution of STAR WARS is based in nostalgia. In the 1970s, following his own nostalgia story AMERICAN GRAFFITI, George Lucas had wanted to make a big-screen version of a childhood favorite: FLASH GORDON. 

Ironically he couldn't get the rights, because another producer beat him to it. Dino DeLaurentiis had staked a claim in FLASH GORDON. (Dino had already remade another childhood favorite, the 1976 KING KONG, and was planning to produce a film version of another kiddie classic: MANDRAKE THE MAGICIAN starring Jack Nicholson.)

So Lucas created his own space opera. Despite all the spaceships and laser guns, the film was a "gee-whiz" throwback to a simpler time; decidedly unlike the morally ambiguous genre-benders of New American Cinema. While movies like ROCKY and THE BAD NEWS BEARS featured humble victories where underdogs lose but still win, STAR WARS showed the good guys winning in no uncertain terms -- by blowing up the Death Star! (Luke pretty much has an orgasm when he fires.) 

*** 

A LONG TIME AGO...

At the KEVIN GEEKS OUT show we love looking at rip-offs. For every E.T. or JAWS there are anywhere from 3 to 30 copycat movies. What's most interesting to me is how many of those knock-off films copy the wrong elements. For example: JAWS rip-offs will include a big aquatic monster, without realizing that the shark is the least compelling thing about JAWS. (It's the dynamic between Hooper and Quint, or Brody's inability to fit in with the islanders, or the Mayor as a Nixon figure.) 

Along those same lines, most of the STAR WARS knock-offs are set in the distant future. 

But STAR WARS is decidedly part of the past. The film's political landscape is not the result of any 20th century conflicts. So we can watch and feel good that whatever's taking place happened a long time ago. Whatever disagreements they had were all worked out by now. Phew! 

***

SPACE NAZIS

The first STAR WARS movie was released exactly 32 years after World War II. 

The new STAR WARS movie was released exactly 32 years after the first STAR WARS movie. 

I mention this because of the Space Nazis. 

In 1977 plenty of movie-goers who recognized the symbols of Fascism because they lived through the second world war. 

In 2015 movie-goers recognize Nazi iconography because they've seen SCHINDLER'S LIST. 

Nazi imagery is a copy of a copy of a copy. 

While making of the third Indiana Jones film, Harrison Ford told Entertainment Tonight that the villains would once again be the Nazis. Adding that they're "the best bad guys." 

***

BRITISH NAZIS

The 1977 STAR WARS features bad guys with Nazi uniforms and British accents. 

My friend Jeff says those are the perfect villains for an American movie, because the American identity is about being scrappy revolutionaries who fought against an evil British Empire. 

Again, part of the nostalgia for the Revolutionary War is that Americans are underdogs. 

We're cowboys and freedom fighters, not a global superpower. (See also: Roland Emmerich's INDEPENDENCE DAY. To make America the underdog you have to introduce an intergalactic mega-power.) 

***

DON'T FEEL BAD ABOUT KILLING THEM

Another recurring theme at KEVIN GEEKS OUT show is that Hollywood loves to hates Nazis. (Especially Nazi Zombies!) In Zach Snyder's 2011 fantasy film SUCKER PUNCH a General leads his rag-tag team of sexy freedom fighters into battle against Nazi Zombies and the commander notes that 
you don't have to feel bad about killing them, they're already dead. (And, y'know, they were Nazis.) 

(RELATED: I just re-watched Disney's 1979 STAR WARS knock-off THE BLACK HOLE and noticed something uniquely Disney about the villains. The evil robot henchmen are revealed to be former humans who are now living as slaves of the villain. One of the good guys announces that they have to "save" them. But the know-it-all scientist declares, "It's too late. The only way to help them is to release them from their tortured state." In other words, the robot-like henchmen can't be saved. They can be killed -- but please note: killing them is releasing them from their misery, so you're doing them a favor. Only in a Disney movie can you murder the bad guys and feel good about it.) 

***

FEEL LIKE A KID AGAIN

Friends of mine have praised the new STAR WARS film because it makes them "feel like a kid again." 

Strange that this is the yardstick to measure art. 

Not "how does it make you feel?" but "how young does it make you feel?

Is that a recent phenomena or have adult men and women always longed to feel like a child? 

Hey, know who else wants to feel like a kid again? 

THIS GUY!

(But seriously, who benefits from a society full of adults who need to feel like a pre-pubescent?) 


***

George, Walt & Ron 

It's fitting that Disney bought the franchise, because Walt Disney and George Lucas have a lot in common. Tom Carson contributed to the book A GALAXY NOT SO FAR AWAY, connecting the dots between Lucas, Disney and Ronald Reagan. (Carson made this comparison 10 years before Disney bought STAR WARS.) 

"(Lucas) is the most successful businessman-artist since Disney. Very little really matters to him except his own product, and like a good salesman, he believes in it absolutely.
 Whether Lucas would find the kinship grating or gratifying (and who knows?), it's this combined know-nothingism and faith that gives him common ground with another great salesman, Ronald Reagan -- who was also, of course, a fellow storyteller. Both, in their way, urged us to become children again, and invested the condition with a moral superiority that more than made up for being uninformed. Melding tomorrow with a yesterday that never was, Lucas's invitation to the audience to return to the comforting simplicities of an earlier era of entertainment that was ideologically loaded as Reagan's summons to hark back to an earlier state of historical ignorance-as-bliss, because you can't uncritically revive the pulp narratives of another age without also replicating their values. Famously, Reagan once spoke wistfully of a time when "Americans didn't even know they had a racial problem" -- meaning, of course, white Americans, since those of color had presumably been well posted on its existence since 1492. With the possible exception of David Lynch, who's like his twin brother gone bad, Lucas may be about the whitest -- and most goyish -- American filmmaker alive, and he's always balked at admitting that the fairy tales he loves have a racial problem, too."

Still with me? I'm almost done. 

***

A FAMILY AFFAIR

I invited my wife, my parents and my kids to see THE FORCE AWAKENS. 

3 generations going on Christmas night. Just like when I was a kid and we'd go to Church once a year. 

Seemed fitting though, since space operas aren't just spaceships and lasers, they're about fathers and sons. (Sorry Moms. Maybe next trilogy.) 

***

FEELINGS BEFORE THE NEW MOVIE STARTED

Moments before the opening titles, I felt three things very strongly: 

1. I hope it doesn't suck. 
2. I'm glad I avoided major spoilers. 
3. I hope we don't have a mass shooting in the theater. 

I doubt kids felt those things when they saw JEDI in '83.

***

SCIENCE IN STAR WARS

Seeing a STAR WARS movie and complaining about the science is like going to MEDIEVAL TIMES and complaining about the food. 

***

STAR WARS IS LIKE THE DRESS

Remember that 2015 trending topic "What color is this dress?" Media analysts called it the perfect social media item because it asked YOU to weigh-in and become part of the story. 

STAR WARS is similar, since you're expected to bring so much of yourself to the picture. 

A lot of people preface their STAR WARS review (or anticipation) by telling you how old they were when they first saw it. They make themselves and their expectations part of the story. They don't separate their own childhood from the movie.

Is there any other franchise where that happens? Does anyone talk about the new James Bond movie by noting "I was 5 years old when I saw MOONRAKER at a Drive-In." Nope. Totally un-necessary information. 

But STAR WARS is an exception. STAR WARS is part of your childhood, and now your childhood is part of STAR WARS. 

***

I MUST BE AN ADULT

Walking out of THE FORCE AWAKENS I didn't feel strongly one way or another. 

I didn't want to gush about it as the "Best. Movie. Ever." 

I didn't hate, loathe or resent it. 

I was surprised that I didn't feel much one way or another. 

And that's when I knew I'm an adult. 

***

WHAT THE KID SAID

I'd brought my 8 and 10-year-old sons to the movie. Here's my 10-year-old's assessment of THE FORCE AWAKENS:

"It was better than GHOSTBUSTERS. But not as good as STAND BY ME." 

(Maybe he would've liked it better if Finn and Rey had cursed and smoked.) 

Funny that he compared STAR WARS with STAND BY ME, because so many middle-aged men look back on the original trilogy with the same longing that Gordy feels. 

I guess some of us never loved a movie the way we loved STAR WARS when we were twelve. 

Jesus, does anyone? 

*  *  *

RELATED ITEMS:

You can catch more ramblings about Space Opera at the next Kevin Geeks Out show, live at Nitehawk Cinema on January 28th. (Get tickets HERE) 

Here's my podcast appearance on STAR WARS MINUTE (talking about The Empire Strikes Back) Listen HERE.

Personal essay about 12-Step, Suicide and The Star Wars Special Editions. 

KEVIN GEEKS OUT ABOUT STEPHEN KING - 10/29 at Nitehawk Cinema

The next KGO show promises to "scare the hell outta you."

KEVIN GEEKS OUT ABOUT STEPHEN KING
a Horror video variety show just days before Halloween

WHEN: Thursday October 29th, 9:30pm
WHERE: Nitehawk Cinema in Brooklyn
HOW MUCH: $15

Click HERE for tickets. 

Trailer: KEVIN GEEKS OUT ABOUT STEPHEN KING from Nitehawk Cinema on Vimeo.


Covering 40 years of film and TV projects, with close readings of the famous and infamous Stephen King adaptations: the good, the bad, the good-bad and the bad-bad.

Special guests include:

• Jenn Wexler (Producer, Glass Eye Pix) 
• Ritch Duncan (author, The Werewolf’s Guide to Life) 
• Carolyn Symons (writer, Susan Vaginahands: Attorney at Law) 
• Matt Glasson (Editor, Filmmaker) 
• Edwin Samuelson (DVD/Blu-ray Special Features producer)
• Jon Abrams (Editor-in-Chief, Daily Grindhouse) 

Without giving too much away, here's some more details of what's in the show: 

A look at literary themes in Stephen King's IT. 

Compare and Contrast of the 3 adaptations of CARRIE. 

The Stephen King "Echo Chamber" 

5 Lessons from CREEPSHOW

Annie Wilkes: an appreciation

Why Kevin's Mom will never read another Stephen King book. 

The show will sell-out, so click HERE for advanced tickets. 

Next two KGO shows will be intense

KEVIN GEEKS OUT ABOUT WRESTLING
The 5th annual show about the world's most entertaining spectacle. 

WHEN: Saturday, September 26th @ 8pm 
(doors at 7:30, with a custom pre-show video)

WHERE: Alamo Drafthouse in Yonkers
HOW MUCH: $12

Trailer: KEVIN GEEKS OUT ABOUT WRESTLING (2015) from Kevin Maher on Vimeo.

This year's show includes: 

• a tribute to Rowdy Roddy Piper 
• My search for the world's worst wrestling movie
• tWWEets
• A retrospective on Dusty Rhodes
• Trivia games (including one courtesy of The Big Quiz Thing)
• and much more

With co-host Brian Solomon (author of the new book PRO WRESTLING FAQ) 
and special guests Mike "the Main Event" Edison
and Sixth Boro Saint Dennis Holden (host of Dennis Has a Podcast)

*Listen to Dennis' podcast with Kevin HERE (hear)


*   *   *

KEVIN GEEKS OUT ABOUT STEPHEN KING
a Horror video variety show just days before Halloween

WHEN: Thursday October 29th, 9:30pm
WHERE: Nitehawk Cinema in Brooklyn
HOW MUCH: $15

Click HERE for tickets.

KEVIN GEEKS OUT ABOUT STEPHEN KING from Kevin Maher on Vimeo.

Covering 40 years of film and TV projects, with close readings of the famous and infamous Stephen King adaptations: the good, the bad, the good-bad and the bad-bad.

Special guests include:

• Jenn Wexler (Producer, Glass Eye Pix)
• Ritch Duncan (author, The Werewolf’s Guide to Life)
• Carolyn Symons (writer, Susan Vaginahands: Attorney at Law)
• Matt Glasson (Editor, Filmmaker)
• Edwin Samuelson (DVD/Blu-ray Special Features producer)
• Jon Abrams (Editor-in-Chief, Daily Grindhouse)

Photo recap of KEVIN GEEKS OUT ABOUT LADY ROBOTS

The August 27th show at Nitehawk Cinema sold-out. 

I can't possibly do justice to the event, but here's photographic evident that it happened, along with a video. 

Don't miss the next show, KEVIN GEEKS OUT ABOUT THE APOCALYPSE, Thursday September  17th at Nitehawk Cinema. Get tickets HERE

Kevin Maher with co-host TOM BLUNT.

 

 Lady Robot as Femme Fatale

A discussion on the lady robot as femme fatale asked the question: is the femme fatale a strong female character or a sexist stereotype. Later someone asked "Why can't it be both at the same time?" That's what we explore in Kevin Geeks Out. 

ROBOT AS FEMME FATALE: 8-minute cut of LOST IN SPACE from Kevin Maher on Vimeo.

2 Big Show in September

The Kevin Geeks Out show will feature not one but TWO excellent nights of pop culture celebration. 

First is KEVIN GEEKS OUT ABOUT THE APOCALYPSE. 

A two hour video-variety show that looks at the end of the world as we know it. With great guest speakers, rare video clips, and a costume contest/post-apocalyptic fashion show. 

This one-night-only event is part of the Brooklyn Book Festival, so expect some intelligent literary discussion about HELL COMES TO FROGTOWN. 

guests include: Emily Asher-Perrin (Tor.com) Tenebrous Kate (Heretical Sexts), Peter Miller (the Post-Apocalypitc Book Club), Nathaniel Wharton (SportsAlcohol.com) and Matt Glasson (Kevin & Matt Geek Out About Sharks) 

Get tickets in advance HERE, since the show will sell out. 

KEVIN GEEKS OUT ABOUT THE APOCALYPSE
Thursday September 17th @ 9:30pm
Nitehawk Cinema in Williamsburg
$15 
note: the venue has a full kitchen, you can eat/drink during the show. 

Trailer: KEVIN GEEKS OUT ABOUT THE APOCALYPSE from Nitehawk Cinema on Vimeo.

* * * 

Second, it's the fourth annual KEVIN GEEKS OUT ABOUT WRESTLING.

This multi-media tribute show looks at the world's most entertaining spectacle, with lots of odd video clips, a tribute to Roddy Piper, live commentary on a classic match, a roundtable discussion about wrestling's myths, rumors and legends and a trivia round. 

This event is co-hosted by Brian Solomon, author of the excellent book PRO WRESTLING F.A.Q. (Brian will be selling and signing copies of his book after the show.) 

Along with special guests: Mike "the Main Event" Edison, The 6th Boro Saint Dennis Holden, and Parts Uknown resident Brandon Rohwer. Plus: a surprise guest (to be announced.)  

Get advanced tickets HERE, you choose your seat. 

KEVIN GEEKS OUT ABOUT WRESTLING
Saturday September 26th @ 8:00pm 
(doors at 7:30 for a special video pre-show) 
at The Alamo Drafthouse in Yonkers
note: this venue has a full kitchen, you can eat and drink during the event. 

Trailer: KEVIN GEEKS OUT ABOUT WRESTLING (2015) from Kevin Maher on Vimeo.

Kevin Geeks Out About LADY ROBOTS

The August KEVIN GEEKS OUT show is all about Lady Robots: a virtual parade of female robots from the last 100 years of science fiction, featuring Frisky Fembots of the 1960s, Cyber-clones of the ‘20s, Killer Androids of the ‘80s and much more.

This show spotlights ass-kicking killbots and seductive replicants, plus electric grandmothers and feminist revolutionaries. Kevin and guests explore the question: what does a wholly manufactured woman want, and what will she do to get it?

with Co-Host Tom Blunt and special guests: 

Cici James (owner of Singularity & Co. sci-fi bookstore) 

Moon Ribas (co-founder, The Cyborg Foundation)

Seth Porges (technology writer/editor) 

Jenn Northington (co-founder, Bookrageous)

and more

Watch the trailer here:

Trailer: KEVIN GEEKS OUT ABOUT LADY ROBOTS from Nitehawk Cinema on Vimeo.


*** ONE NIGHT ONLY *** 

Kevin Geeks Out About Lady Robots
Thursday August 27th @ 9:30pm

at Nitehawk Cinema in Williamsburg Brooklyn
buy tickets HERE

Kevin Geeks Out About Super Villains

Time for the next installment of KEVIN GEEKS OUT. This month's show is all about SUPER VILLAINS. 

A story is only as good as its villain, so comedian Kevin Maher takes an obsessive look at some of the best and worst super villains. This two-hour multi-media show includes a virtual parade of power-mad perverts, bald villains, cartoon criminals, Satanic weirdoes, wrestling heels and more.

Kevin is joined by co-host Tenebrous Kate (creator of My Dream Date with a Villain) and a diabolical line-up of special guests, including 
• Illustrator Becky Munich (“Monster Activity Book”) 
• Writer Nick Nadel (truTV, IFC.com),  
• Doctor Maureen Mararese 
• Filmmaker Paul Murphy (Red Obsession)
• Professor Geoff Klock (“The Future of Comics, The Future of Men”) 

All this, plus trivia prizes, lame super-villains and even some V.I.L.F.s

Trailer: KEVIN GEEKS OUT ABOUT SUPERVILLAINS from Nitehawk Cinema on Vimeo.
KEVIN GEEKS OUT is a video variety show hosted by writer-comedian Kevin Maher – a confabulation of obscure film clips, offbeat commentary, guest experts, games and curiosities. To geek out with Kevin you don’t have to be a geek, just a pop culture-adventurer.

RELATED: 

New York Times coverage of KEVIN GEEKS OUT

Kevin Geeks Out returns to Brooklyn, teams up with Nitehawk Cinema

Starting this June, we're bringing the KEVIN GEEKS OUT show back to Brooklyn for an extended run at NITEHAWK CINEMA in Williamsburg. 

The series begins Thursday June 25th with KEVIN GEEKS OUT about ANIMAL ATTACKS, keeping with the KGO tradition there will be dozens of film clips presented by special guests. (Order tickets in advance HERE, the show will sell-out.)




KGO shows continue once a month, with a different theme each month. 

You can save the summer dates: 

Thursday July 30th @ 9:30
Thursday August 27th @ 9:30
Thursday September 17th @ 9:30

(come back here in July to see the topics for each show.) 


KEVIN GEEKS OUT ABOUT ANIMAL ATTACKS

A two-hour video variety show of rare footage and pop culture commentary.

Comedian Kevin Maher presents an obsessive look at the Animal Attack genre: from recent CGI beasts to the nature-gone-wrong films of the Drive-In era. This two-hour multi-media show includes dozens of film clips featuring crazed cats, angry bears, giant spiders, Freudian snakes, killer cockroaches, a racist dog and much more. With special guest presentations by Jon Abrams (Editor-in-Chief, Daily Grindhouse), Wendy Mays (creator of SPACE CAT) Matt Glasson (filmmaker/editor/co-host, Kevin & Matt Geek Out About Zombies) and Tom Blunt (film blogger and variety show host)  

Plus Kevin hand-picked some of his favorite scenes from the genre, including: the most pretentious animal incident, best gratuitous animal attack, and cinema’s fakest reptile (hint: it’s not DinoCroc.)

ABOUT NITEHAWK CINEMA

Since 2011, Nitehawk Cinema has been one of New York's best movie theaters, offering an eclectic mix of first-run films, revival screenings and special events. It's a great theater for movie-lovers, date night, or even a brunch screening. 

Nitehawk includes a full-service restaurant, so you can get food served during the movie, as well as snacks and beverages from the bar. There's also a bar and cafe, to get food and drinks before or after your screening. 

Guests are advised to arrive 30 minutes prior to showtime to get settled, meet their server, place their order and enjoy the custom pre-show. Seating is first come, first serve. 

For more about the theater, just click HERE.

ABOUT KEVIN GEEKS OUT

KEVIN GEEKS OUT is a video variety show hosted by writer-comedian Kevin Maher – a confabulation of obscure film clips, offbeat commentary, guest experts, games and curiosities.  To geek out with Kevin you don’t have to be a geek, just a pop culture-adventurer.

To date, Kevin has geeked out with over 30 different installments of his variety night, dedicating a full evening to a specific topic, such as Bigfoot! – Robots! – Zombies! – KISS! – Wrestling! – Batman! – and Visions of the Future! His show has been a critics’ pick in The New York Times, The Village Voice, Time Out NY, Gothamist … and what other comedy show can you name that’s been featured in Scientific American? 

Previous guests include writers from The Daily Show, award-winning cartoonists, scientists, comic book writers, film scholars, screenwriters, novelists, bloggers, a clown, a psychic and Santa Claus.

Join Kevin each month as he and his special guests share rare footage, sharp observations and funny takes on the tropes, themes and recurring images that occupy our minds.

“Kevin Maher is a shining example of truly independent humor and spirit. Not only that, but he's actually funny!” 

- Lloyd Kaufman, President, Troma Entertainment, and creator of the Toxic Avenger

Follow Kevin Geeks Out on Facebook and twitter.