Director Walter Hill’s third movie adapted source material based on Greek history following an army of soldiers on a long march home across hostile territory. In this case, the soldiers are a group of street toughs making their way across a 1970s New York City populated by colorful gangs. When the film was released, it was accompanied by an outbreak of violence linked to its screenings, including three deaths, prompting Paramount Pictures to pull advertising and pay for additional theater securi...
Feb 17, 2022•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 562
Director John Carpenter always wanted to make a martial-arts movie. He got his chance with his eighth feature film - and his third time teaming up with actor Kurt Russell - an action-comedy set in the mythical and murky underworld of San Francisco’s Chinatown. Fox rushed the movie through production and release to avoid competing with a similar-themed Eddie Murphy vehicle, The Golden Child, leaving little time for marketing the movie against its real competition: James Cameron’s hotly anticipate...
Feb 09, 2022•53 min•Ep. 561
The creator of John Wick and director of Hardcore Henry teamed up to create an action-comedy movie starring Better Call Saul actor Bob Odenkirk. What more do you need to know, buddy? Originally postponed by the pandemic, the film was released in theaters in March ‘21 with a PVOD release a month later. It turns out that nobody asks the hard questions like Nobody - and that question is, specifically: "Where's my kitty cat bracelet?!" For more geeky podcasts visit GonnaGeek.com You can find us on i...
Feb 02, 2022•52 min•Ep. 560
Director Baz Luhrman’s theater-themed “Red Curtain” trilogy drew to a close in 2001 with the follow-up to his breakout hit Romeo + Juliet. As with Baz’s take on The Bard, this film was filled with anachronism. It was a jukebox musical that fused cabaret, Broadway, vaudeville, and Bollywood. It was a lavish period piece set in turn-of-the-century bohemian Paris to the songs of the MTV Generation. And it was a hit, grossing almost $180 million and earning eight Oscar nominations. It’s hip-hop sing...
Jan 26, 2022•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 559
Director David Cronenberg is best known for mind-bending body horror in films like Scanners, Videodrome, and The Fly, but he made his first “comic book movie” in 2005, an Academy Award-nominated adaptation of a graphic novel - and we do mean graphic. Starring Viggo Mortensen as a small-town diner owner whose mobster past catches up with him, the film was a modest success both financially and critically, and led to a series of collaborations between the actor and director, including Eastern Promi...
Jan 19, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 558
The Matrix Trilogy redefined action movies, but by the third film in the franchise it had begun to topple under its own weight. The film’s creators, the Wachowskis, seemed to recognize this and went on to other projects, forswearing any future sequels. However, based on the profitability of the franchise, rumors of a reboot persisted, either with or without the creators’ involvement. And so a fourth Matrix movie became like the Matrix itself - no one can be told that it exists, you have to see i...
Jan 12, 2022•56 min•Ep. 557
Robert Zemeckis was an unemployed movie director at the start of the 1980s, but by the end of the decade he was one of the most successful blockbuster directors with films like Back to the Future and Who Framed Roger Rabbit? under his belt. He got his big break from Michael Douglas, who hired Zemeckis to direct an action-adventure romantic comedy film starring Douglas and Kathleen Turner. The movie seemed destined to flop; a rough cut screening for 20th Century Fox execs led to Zemeckis being fi...
Jan 05, 2022•51 min•Ep. 556
As a holiday treat, we’re taking a break from our usual format and laying down a commentary track for one of our favorite movies! In the wake of Spider-Man: No Way Home becoming the highest-grossing film since 2019 and the biggest Sony release of all time, we’re celebrating the dawn of the Spider-Verse with a real-time discussion while we watch the movie together! Grab a bagel, put on your sweatpants, and enjoy Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse along with us! For more geeky podcasts visit GonnaG...
Dec 28, 2021•2 hr 3 min•Ep. 65535
Bob Clark’s 1983 film A Christmas Story has become a holiday classic, but for most kids born in the ‘80s, a Red Ryder BB gun was not at the top of their wish lists. We wanted something a little more high-tech - the Nintendo Entertainment System. HBO Max’s latest original film, from Goon director Michael Dowse and novelist Kevin Jakubowski, updates this age-old tale for the millennial crowd, with hefty chunks of The Goonies, Home Alone, and The Princess Bride thrown in to make sure that no nostal...
Dec 22, 2021•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 555
The Christmas rom-com movie genre got a much-needed update in 2020 from Hulu with the release of Clea DuVall’s semi-autobiographical coming-out comedy-of-Yuletide-errors. Filmed earlier that year just prior to the Covid shutdown, the Pittsburgh-shot holiday flick starred Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie Davis as the lead couple. Aubrey Plaza, Alison Brie, Mary Holland, Dan Levy, Mary Steenburgen and Victor Garber round out the cast of the GLAAD Media Award winning film. Now we’re donning our gay ap...
Dec 15, 2021•59 min•Ep. 554
J.R.R. Tolkien’s massively popular fantasy epic, The Lord of the Rings, was long thought to be unfilmable due to the size and scope of the story and the technology limitations of the times. Kiwi director Peter Jackson proved them all wrong by shooting all three movies back-to-back in sixteen months at 150 locations and soundstages across New Zealand to the tune of $280 million. The films collectively brought in almost three billion dollars worldwide, winning 17 Oscars, becoming one of the greate...
Dec 08, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 553
Director Joe Carnahan has given us intense action before in films like Smokin’ Aces and The Grey, but he takes it to the next level in this 2021 Hulu original film. Actor Frank Grillo is a guy who knows how to beat ‘em up - he’s even gone toe-to-toe with Captain America - but he brings his A-game to this arcade-inspired action comedy. You know we had to do a time-loop movie, right? Legends Podcast caps off the month of November with Boss Level! This is Chronovember! For more geeky podcasts visit...
Dec 01, 2021•41 min•Ep. 552
The stars of Star Trek: The Next Generation made the jump to the big screen with Star Trek: Generations, though they were somewhat overshadowed by William Shatner’s Captain Kirk - good thing they killed him off! For their first “stand-alone” feature film, Captain Picard and crew faced off against their biggest threat - the Borg - as they travelled back in time to ensure that one small warp flight for man equaled one giant leap towards Kirk’s first officer. Star Trek: First Contact premiered 25 y...
Nov 24, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 551
Fall back in time with Legends Podcast! All month long we’re talking about time travel, paradoxes, and having your daughters save reality. 29 years have passed since Bogus journey was released. In this new world, do we need more Bill and Ted?? We dust off a new addition, to an old classic and see if it is any good this time around!? This is Chronovember! For more geeky podcasts visit GonnaGeek.com You can find us on iTunes under ''Legends Podcast''. Please subscribe and give us a positive review...
Nov 18, 2021•59 min•Ep. 550
We’re celebrating the return of our time travel theme month with the return of director Terry Gilliam, who last appeared during Chronovember with his 1981 film Time Bandits. This time around, we’ve got Bruce Willis acting against type as a stoic inmate sent back in time to discover the source of an apocalyptic virus and Brad Pitt acting against type as the motor-mouthed mental patient who may or may not be the cause of the apocalypse. Along the way, Madeleine Stowe, Christopher Plummer, and Davi...
Nov 10, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 549
Legends Podcast is pressing pause on Chronovember to talk about Denis Villenueve’s latest visually stunning reimagining of a beloved Eighties classic film based on long-thought-to-be-unfilmable sci-fi text! Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel was a groundbreaking achievement in the genre, but David Lynch’s 1984 film adaptation was a commercial and critical failure. With Villenueve’s film getting a simultaneous release in the theaters and on HBO Max, as well as only tackling the first half of Herbert's no...
Nov 03, 2021•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 548
Legends of Halloween is rounding out the month with a Guillermo del Toro classic. This Spanish-language coming-of-age ghost story, set in 1939 during the Spanish Civil War, is among del Toro's most critically-acclaimed films, along with its spiritual successor, Pan's Labyrinth. Now, we're collecting slugs, swigging baby-flavored rum, and playing with unexploded ordinance for El Espinazo del Diablo - The Devil's Backbone! For more geeky podcasts visit GonnaGeek.com You can find us on iTunes under...
Oct 27, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 547
Legends of Halloween is casting a spell on you with a sexy teen witch movie that turns 25 this year. Starring Fairuza Balk, Robin Tunney, Rachel True, along with two stars of 1996’s other horror hit, Scream, Neve Campbell and Skeet Ulrich. The movie became a cult classic, with a long life on home video leading to a 2020 sequel movie and inspiring a Katy Perry song. Now, we’re getting in touch with our inner goddess and summoning Manon just in time for Samhain to review The Craft. For more geeky ...
Oct 20, 2021•49 min•Ep. 546
We’re continuing Legends of Halloween with… A real throwback to the inception of the paranoid thriller. Creepy neighbors in a gothic NY apartment building and formulating distrust of everyone you should. What’s the worst that can happen? Satan himself slips you a ruffie and doesn’t pull out … Rosemary’s Baby For more geeky podcasts visit GonnaGeek.com You can find us on iTunes under ''Legends Podcast''. Please subscribe and give us a positive review. You can also follow us on Twitter @LegendsPod...
Oct 12, 2021•59 min•Ep. 545
We’re kicking off Legends of Halloween with… well, Halloween! John Carpenter’s 1978 film starring Jamie Lee Curtis ushered in the classic era of American slasher films. With the 12th movie in the franchise coming out later this month, once again starring Curtis, it’s easy to forget that the original was an independent film, made on the cheap for just over a quarter million dollars. Co-written by Debra Hill, Halloween cemented Carpenter’s status as a blockbuster director, launched the career of y...
Oct 06, 2021•59 min•Ep. 544
One year after their successful reboot of Mission: Impossible, Paramount Pictures went back to the well of classic ‘60s TV action series with The Saint starring Val Kilmer and Elizabeth Shue. Based on the best-selling book series by Leslie Charteris, international super-thief Simon Templar has been played by nearly a dozen actors, including Vincent Price and Roger Moore, with Regé-Jean Page set to don the halo in an upcoming film. The 1997 film was a box office and home video hit, but it failed ...
Sep 29, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 543
In 1991, Walt Disney Pictures released a live-action comic book movie - decades before their Marvel films - based on the 1980s graphic novel The Rocketeer by Dave Stevens. Itself an homage to 1920s and ‘30s action serials, Disney hoped to jumpstart their own Indiana Jones-style franchise based on the high-flying adventurer. The film starred a relative unknown, Billy Campbell, in the lead role, and it also featured Jennifer Connelly as the love interest, Alan Arkin as the mentor, and two-time Jam...
Sep 23, 2021•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 542
Forty years ago, two friends sat down for dinner. Starring Andre Gregory and Wallace Shawn as fictional versions of themselves, Louis Malle’s film has become a cult classic. Now we’re sitting down to feast on My Dinner with Andre. The restaurant, as they say, is history! For more geeky podcasts visit GonnaGeek.com You can find us on iTunes under ''Legends Podcast''. Please subscribe and give us a positive review. You can also follow us on Twitter @LegendsPodcast or even better, send us an e-mail...
Sep 15, 2021•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 541
The “Fast and Furious” franchise was firing on all cylinders in 2011 when it released its fifth installment. Far from the Point Break redux of ten years before, the films had evolved from their street race-centric origins through a series of side-quels, only really getting around to a proper follow-up to the first film by the fourth overall outing. In the hands of director Justin Lin, the series truly found its footing by ignoring the laws of physics and focusing on what is most important: famil...
Sep 08, 2021•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 540
This week, we’re doubling down on Soderbergh with his “Ocean’s 7-Eleven” movie from 2017. Starring Channing Tatum and Adam Driver as two possibly-cursed brothers who plan to rob a NASCAR race, this down-and-dirty heist flick rounds out its cast with a Southern-drawl sporting Daniel Craig, two years ahead of his turn as the detective in Knives Out. While the film didn’t exactly make off with the box office, it did convince Soderbergh to keep making movies after he announced his retirement from di...
Sep 01, 2021•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 539
This week, we’re betting on the 2001 remake of the 1960 Rat Pack classic Ocean’s 11 to deliver some solid Aug-Heist fun. Directed by Stephen Soderbergh and starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Julia Roberts and more, the film scored at the box office and won two sequels and a spin-off. Numerically speaking, the film was the fifth highest-grossing movie of the year, with a worldwide gross of $450 million. Now we’re putting our cards on the table and going all in on Ocean’s...
Aug 25, 2021•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 538
This week, we’re celebrating the 25th anniversary of the movie reboot of the classic television series Mission: Impossible. Starring Tom Cruise as secret agent Ethan Hunt of the Impossible Mission Force, this Brian De Palma-directed film scored the third-biggest box office haul of 1996. Cruise returned as Hunt for five more films, with two more on the way, making him the longest-running actor to play a big screen superspy - more than Bond, more than Bourne. Now we’re booting up our floppy disks ...
Aug 18, 2021•1 hr 30 min•Ep. 537
This week, we’re going back to the early days of the Coronavirus lockdown, which posed an interesting problem to filmmakers. How do you make a movie during a deadly pandemic when everyone is supposed to stay at home? While many productions were put on hold, writer Steven Knight took a dare and wrote the script, and director Doug Liman shot it in 18 days with an all-star cast. The result was Locked Down, a relationship comedy-drama starring Anne Hathaway and Chiwetel Ejiofer, which also happens t...
Aug 04, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 536
Fifteen years ago, a would-be summer blockbuster became an early example of a viral internet hit after the film’s title was announced. Starring the already meme-worthy actor Samuel L. Jackson as an FBI agent tasked with protecting a witness on a flight from Hawaii to LAX, only to find the flight besieged by venomous serpents, the film’s online notoriety did not translate to box office success I.R.L. Nevertheless, the film opened the floodgates for a torrent of high-concept action flicks of varyi...
Jul 28, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 535
The 2001 sequel to 1999’s hit monster flick The Mummy saw director Stephen Sommers helm another Indiana Jones-inspired adventure through cursed tombs infested with creepy bugs. Joining Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, Arnold Vosloo, and the rest of the first film’s cast was a professional wrestler and untested actor known only as “The Rock.” The film was another box office hit, delivering the biggest opening weekend in two years. Though it would prove to be the last film starring the original cast,...
Jul 21, 2021•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 534
