September 19, 2016

EP. 142 — Screw ‘Sully’: 7 True Stories That Would Make Better Movies

Ahh September, the leaves are changing into autumnal shades of yellow, red and orange, the air has a chilly bite, and movie theaters are being inundated with ‘Based on a True Story’ Oscar-bait. This month alone we’ve got 3 true story movies that shouldn’t have much suspense to them: ‘Sully’ (the plane lands); ‘Deepwater Horizon’ (oil gets everywhere); and ‘Snowden’ (dude’s in Russia).

We’ve got a little hint for you, Hollywood: how about releasing a movie that isn’t about something that happened, like, six seconds ago? History is full of amazing true stories and you’re giving us a movie about the most unceremonious, bloodless and explosion-less crash in the history of aviation? Pshhh.

This week we’ve got seven true stories for you that we promise would make better movies than ‘Snowden’: from the mad warring paleontologists who would rather burn down a museum than see each other gain a modicum of success, to the 10th century Slavic saint who murdered just everybody. Jack O’Brien and Michael Swaim co-host live from the UCB Sunset Theatre in Los Angeles with Cracked guests Carmen Angelica, Tom Reimann and Alex Schmidt, and guest comedians Lindsay Adams, Sunah Bilsted, Eli Olsberg and Steven Wilber.

Jack is also joined by Cracked writer and researcher Evan Caris to talk about a major world event that is always underserved in film: World War I.

Footnotes:

Salon Interview with Atilla Ambrus, The Whiskey Robber: http://goo.gl/FLsxwZ

Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: https://goo.gl/vxlFsw

Cracked: 6 People With WTF Secret Lives Absolutely Nobody Saw Coming: https://goo.gl/XBXQ7c

Biography of Julie d’Aubigny: http://goo.gl/c6fyrw

’60 Minutes’ Clip with Jack Barsky: https://goo.gl/mZxy4L

Biography of ‘The Bone Wars’: https://goo.gl/8mpfQU

Biography of Olga of Kiev: https://goo.gl/XxM08M

Biography of Sarah Jacob, The Fasting Girl: https://goo.gl/wlG4rq

Tom Reimann on Twitter: https://goo.gl/wgHhK2

Carmen Angelica on Twitter: https://goo.gl/B7W9JR

Steven Wilber on Twitter: https://goo.gl/4UNvFf

Lindsay Adams on Twitter: https://goo.gl/1L02UE

Alex Schmidt on Twitter: https://goo.gl/y5P6Yo

Eli Olsberg on Twitter: https://goo.gl/3eVRel

Sunah Bilsted on Twitter: https://goo.gl/3VgjE6

This episode is sponsored by Casper Mattresses and Blue Apron.

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