The European Tour of 2017 rolls along. We took a few minutes to talk about our feels and impressions from some of the amazing, life-changing things we’ve seen. We also discuss how seeing such things can affect a storyteller’s views, and impact (or create whole cloth) future stories. 

Why are we celebrating the random 17th anniversary of GLADIATOR? Because we’re idiots and somehow got it in our head it was 25 years old (a “thank you” to Junkie Shane who pointed out that maybe we need to lay off the sauce for a bit …).

Nonetheless, this is a movie that holds up better than most. It’s a lovely, fragile, hard-as-nails movie, full of anger and grace and humanity and morality. It’s an essential movie for anyone who likes fight movies, historical movies, love stories, and even interpersonal dramas. If you’re looking for parody, this isn’t that, but otherwise, I think you’d really dig it.

This week’s StorySmack has us going back in time to a weird, wonderful Los Angeles, and a sterling example of the buddy cop movie. LETHAL WEAPON turns 30 this month, and we revisited the original to see how it stands the test of time. And to see Mel Gibson’s enormous hair. Give us a listen and let us know what you think!