Looky looky at our black booky: this week Pop Screen is looking at an artefact of the utmost early ’90sness, Vanilla Ice’s first and only starring vehicle Cool As Ice. Deeply influenced by the teen rebel films of the 1950s and shot by Spielberg’s future DoP Janusz Kaminski, these classy influences sit uncomfortably with a story in which Kristin Minter falls in love with the Iceman after he nearly gets her killed in a horse fall.
This week, first-time host Jeff joins us to unpick the layers of this profound work of cinema, including its unexpectedly Malick-influenced romantic montage, its puzzling attitude towards the conflict of witness protection, and the clash of tones which leads to cartoon sound effects being dubbed over Ice’s big action hero moment. We also discuss Vanilla Ice’s brief time in the spotlight and long career tail, including his many reality TV appearances and the remarkable speed with which his record company overhauled his image into something more pop-friendly. Stop, collaborate and listen to this podcast!
If you appreciate the fact that we’ll voluntarily watch movies like this for your entertainment, you can show your love at our Patreon, where you’ll also get an exclusive monthly bonus episode of this very show, as well as Graham’s twice-weekly reviews of classic Doctor Who and our other movie podcast Directors Uncut. This week we’re looking at Fellini, and any podcast network that can bring you Eight and a Half and Cool As Ice in the same week has to be worth your money. Follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
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Vanilla Ice + Cool as Ice Archive
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