Our second ever “Theatrical Tasting” where we journey into local theaters in Los Angeles, and this time we jumped right into recording post-screening at the local Gelson’s wine bar. It was Labor Day so the options of what was open were kinda sparse.
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TOXIC AVENGER was directed by Macon Blair and stars Peter Dinklage, Luisa Guerreiro (remember that name, we’re going to come back to her in just a moment), Jacob Tremblay, Taylour Paige, Elijah Wood, Julia Davis, Kevin Bacon, and Jonny Coyne. It was produced by Legendary Pictures and debuted at Fantastic Fest and Beyond Fest in 2023, only to spend years in limbo, with few distribution offers and even one producer supposedly declaring it “unreleasable!”
But ffwd to January of this year, and Cineverse, coming hot off the release of TERRIFIER 3 in theaters, picked up the project and released it this past Labor Day weekend.
Every $1M in Ticket Sales Wipes Out $1M in Medical Debt
And Cineverse spent their marketing budget in a wonderfully unique way: they teamed with non-profit UndueMeidcalDebt.org to erase unexpected, burdensome medical debt in the United States. The film’s release already guarantees $5M of debt will be erased, no matter what (!) And for every $1M it makes at theaters, another $1M of medical debt will be eliminated.
The film took in $2M at the box office this weekend, meaning $7M of total debt has been erased. Folks: prioritize seeing this in theaters. You’ll be helping those struggling under undue debt AND seeing a film in theaters that took 2 years to find a proper distribution deal.
And, franly, the movie is fantastic.
Spotlight/Shout Out to Luisa Guerreiro
Peter Dinklage is the marquee name on this movie, playing the man who becomes The Toxic Avenger. But Dinkage only plays the VOICE of the Avenger himself!
The actual on-screen performer throughout the entire movie: that would be one Luisa Guerreiro.
Apparently, Dinklage video taped himself performing the whole movie as Tooxie, but out of makeup/costume. Luisa studied his performance, and delivered it as best she could in full maleup/costume, she delivered all the dialogue, and then Dinklage ADR’d his voice over her mouth movements when it was all said and done.
You would never guess how nuts this was given how smooth the performance seems. Dinklage is still on screen as himself for the first 1/3rd of the movie, but Luisa is, in truth, The Toxic Avenger, and deserves that full recognition.
Make sure to check out our coverage of the OG Toxic Avenger movie from 1984 with Txoci Avenger comic book artist,
!Wine and...Movies: THE TOXIC AVENGER (1984) with Fred Harper
Folks, I can safely say - without hyperbole - that artist Fred Harper blew me away with the work he has posted here on Substack over the previous year. When I heard he was working on a new Toxic Avenger comic book, set to be released th first week of October, I knew I had to have him come on the show and talk about it!
Also our pairing with that very comic book! (A wine made from an almost-exitinct native American grape!)
Wine and Comic Pairing: TOXIC AVENGER and 2022 DELAWARE
TOXIC AVENGER is one of the OG cult classic films. Ultra-low-budget, crafted in poor taste but high-minded messaging, scrappy, gross, in-your-face, and instantly beloved by a small slice of the populace. The film put its production company - Troma Studios - and its producer, Lloyd Kaufman, the bargain bin Stan Lee of filmmakers, on the map.
The Pairings for Toxic Avenger (2023)
Fresh out of the theater, we journeyed to Ye Olde Gelson’s wine bar, where Dallas picked up a Beer Flight of 4 and Dave picked up a Wine Flight of 4.
We sipped as we recorded, and selected the best match for what we had just seen.
For Dave, he tried a Viognier (usually tropical fruity in style, I though maybe the generosity of flavor would match the abundance of the film), a Whispering Angel Rose (too reserved in style, in the end), then Gelsons’ Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon and Duckhorn Cabernet Sauvignon.
The Duckhorn was unfortunately not good - we think the bottle had been open too long, it tasted flat and oxidized and as it warmed in the Labor Day heat it turned bad to worse.
The Gelson’s was still fresh, though quite rustic ad grippy on the tannins. That said, I’d had this Cab before, and the flavor is surprisingly robust and layered. Made from pure Oakville Napa fruit, it offers flavors of bramble berries (red, blue, and black), pencil shavings (as they say), rich body, good grip. It’s nearly $60/bottle so it ain’t cheap, but if you can visit your local Gelson’s wine bar, get yourself a ~$15 flight and add this one to the group. Well, well worth it.
Dallas settled on SMOG CITY COFFEE PORTER. It’s called “Smog City” ffs, how perfect is that, but honestly this again contained the richness, the creaminess, the pure robust body and explosion of flavor that this movie demands.
