January 8, 2018
EP. 220 — 12 Movies With A Hero-Villain Dynamic That’s Now Insane
Bill Murray is an asshole. Or at least his “Ghostbusters” character is, if you consider the environmental ramifications of keeping a box of evil ghosts in America’s densest square mile of humans. That d***less EPA guy was right. Times changed. You know that. But did you know actors from Tom Hanks to Jimmy Stewart ran into that same Murray Problem? And played villains who seem nice, or heroes who seem like garbage people, just because the whole world changed a few decades (or years (or seconds)) after the movie wrapped?
On this week’s podcast, Alex Schmidt is joined by Cracked editor Dan Hopper for a journey into the dark underbelly of almost all your favorite movies. From the Christmas classics you love to the superhero movies you plunk down $17.50 to see, get ready for the history, economics, societal shifts, and scams the President of the United States got away with, that turned your DVD collection into a set of ridiculous movie premises.
Footnotes: https://goo.gl/PRxCYE
Recent Episodes
January 26, 2020
Freedom sucks…and that is why we have to defend it. Because our democracy involves doing a lot of stuff that takes energy, takes time, and lacks that Michael Bay Quality that only a surprise missile launch can provide. So on this episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt and special guest Jason Pargin (who writes for Cracked as David Wong) are exploring the ways being afraid of everything (an easy action) can stop us from being free. Discover the decades-long tradition of some Americans wanting to give up everything in exchange for not needing to think, the centuries-long tradition of people inciting fake panics, and the reasonable ways you can help change things for the better.
Footnotes: https://www.cracked.com/podcast/why-fear-based-democracies-arenE28099t-free-with-jason-pargin/
January 19, 2020
How’s your local shopping mall doing? Have you checked on it lately? Swing by sometime, because its department store might’ve turned into a call center or a hospital or a go-kart track. On this episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt is joined by the one and only Kai Ryssdal (Marketplace, Make Me Smart) for a look at surprising, strange, and shocking stories from all over the U.S. economy. Discover an international pig flu, a 26-word statement that built the modern Internet, and more amazing ways cash is ruling everything around you. By the way, if you’re an American listener, you spent the past few years funding an astonishingly huge bailout. Surprise! Listen for details!
Footnotes: https://www.cracked.com/podcast/5-parts-u.s.-economy-that-are-stranger-than-you-think
January 12, 2020
Movies, TV, gaming: three things that are theoretically a waste of time. Oh sure, they deliver value in the art sense, and comfort in the goofing-off sense. But what if they’re more valuable than that? What if consuming shows and playing video games (accidentally) turns people into real-life heroes? On this episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt is joined by comedians/writers Caitlin Gill and Alex Watt for a look at the surprising number of times that exact thing happened. They’ll explore stories of regular people who saved a life thanks to skills gained randomly from cartoons, sitcoms, ‘World Of Warcraft’, and more silly entertainment.
Footnotes: https://www.cracked.com/podcast/9-times-pop-culture-accidentally-taught-people-to-save-lives/