The Right Stuff

Mac & Maud had mixed reactions watching Sam Shepard, Ed Harris, Scott Glenn and Dennis Quaid punch a hole in the sky in 1983's The Right Stuff. Space is awesome, and there's plenty of fun, hilarious anecdotes highlighting the insanity of the Mercury 7 program and America's flights into space. But as much as this movie may hold a special place in one of our intrepid host's heart, this movie doesn't hold up great. It's long, and sometimes a slog, and despite some of the fun performances this isn't the best-written movie we've ever seen. But, hey, isn't it worth it to watch early-80's Jeff Goldblum and Harry Shearer yukking it up?After the break, Mac & Maud talk about seeing two of the year's best films, both hurtling toward the Oscars in a major way. First is our most-anticipated watch, The Disaster Artist, James Franco's hilarious yet poignant exploration of the creation and filming of the cult classic, The Room. Then, after a quick jaunt to a major-chain theater and 20 minutes of previews, we saw The Shape of Water, which has one of the best female performances we've ever seen in one of the most incredible movies and stories we've ever seen. It's a one-two punch of real Oscar contenders, and awards season is in full swing.NEXT WEEK: Coming to America (1988) PLUS Golden Globes Nominations...You can email us with feedback at [email protected], or you can connect with us on Instagram (macintosh.and.maud) and Facebook.If you like the podcast, make sure to subscribe and review on iTunes or your favorite podcatcher, and tell your friends.Music taken from the Second Movement of Ludwig von Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Hong Kong (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 HK) license. To hear the full performance or get more information, visit the song page at the Internet Archive.