The Big Slurp Lon Chaney Jr. knew the pressures of living up to an iconic father’s legacy even before he agreed to be the Son of Dracula in 1943. Can the second generation horror star pioneer another classic Universal Monster without donning the extensive movie make-up that made him such a convincing Wolf Man? And did his Count Alucard overestimate the influence vampires have on women when he accepted the invitation of a scheming occultist to her New Orleans plantation? Find out how backwards th...
Jan 31, 2023•59 min
Daddy’s Little Ghoul Bela Lugosi is dead, but Countess Marya Zeleska is ready to don her father’s cape and step into the spotlight as the next Universal Monster, Dracula’s Daughter . Will her habit of leaving holes in the necks of women wandering alone in the London fog ring as familiar to incarcerated vampire hunter Professor Von Helsing? And can an obsessed psychiatrist put this undead pariah through conversion therapy using a funky hypnosis machine before she puts him inside a Transylva...
Jan 25, 2023•58 min
The Original Pain in the Neck Dracula became the premier Universal Monster in 1931 when he leapt from the Broadway stage onto film screens for the first official adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel. Can star Bela Lugosi still mesmerize with that piercing stare of his? Or is hearing that thick Hungarian accent what gave the shivers to folks new to talking pictures? And did Carlos Villarias prove how bite-lingual this vampire can be in the concurrently shot Spanish version of the story? Learn if Stu...
Jan 18, 2023•1 hr 20 min
Where’s the beef? Charlton Heston got his damned dirty paws on the 1966 sci-fi novel Make Room! Make Room! and turned it into Soylent Green , his third foray into cinematic dystopia. Is it easier to swallow a future where New York City is overrun by talking monkeys or albino vampires rather than believe it could survive without a decent restaurant? How much more will rents go up when apartments come furnished with high class call girls? And are old folks like Edward G Robinson buying...
Jan 13, 2023•12 min
Somehow I didn’t imagine the children of the night making such New Age music Director Werner Herzog revives the uniquely German take on the Dracula myth with his 1979 remake of Nosferatu The Vampyre . Klaus Kinski emerges from the shadow of Max Schreck’s silent era performance to put his own morose spin on the Transylvanian Count who longs to spend eternity with Isabelle Adjani. Can Van Helsing stop a plague of rats from spreading madness throughout Central Europe? Or will romantic audienc...
Jan 10, 2023•1 hr 4 min
The oldest movie we will ever review! (Probably) A decade before Universal Studios made Dracula the centerpiece of their stable of movie monsters, German visionary FW Murnau put his own spin on Bram Stoker’s literary creation with the 1922 silent classic Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror . Is Max Schreck’s iconic portrayal of Count Orlock the vampire that all other cinematic incarnations aspire to be? And is the plague being spread by this creature of the night really anti-seminism and...
Jan 03, 2023•1 hr 6 min
Daniel Craig is back as the famed Knives Out detective Benoit Blanc, crashing the private Greek isle of billionaire Edward Norton ( Fight Club ) to see which of his “disruptor” friends is planning to put him in a glass coffin. Will the killer turn out to be canceled starlet Kate Hudson with the crossbow at the Infinity Pool? Maybe Men’s Rights influencer Dave Bautista with the wrench on Twitch? Or is ex-wife Janelle Monae out to shatter the illusion of a cordial uncoupling? Joi...
Dec 28, 2022•2 hr 31 min
'Tis the Season to experience your favorite Marvel a-holes clumsily learning that meaning of gift giving, and experiencing the fellowship of kidnapping, in the Disney+ event The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. Can Mantis and Drax cheer up Star-Lord Chris Pratt about his recent box office slump by decreasing his degrees of separation from a true movie star like Kevin Bacon? Arnie, Jakob, and Stuart cap a year of Phase Four entertainment with this stocking stuffer “thank you” to all their...
Dec 25, 2022•54 min
James Cameron takes audiences back to Pandora by Way of Water with his long-anticipated sequel to Avatar . Are the domestic dreams of Na’vi couple Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana torpedoed now that nemesis Stephen Lang and his military outfit are brought back to life in new, blue bodies? And can the Sully children adapt to an ocean teeming with aquatic dangers after their clan relocates to Kate Winslet’s coastal village? Don’t hold your breath waiting for these answers. Hear Arnie, Marjori...
Dec 21, 2022•2 hr 43 min
Crime! Inflation! Oppression! Yes, today’s headlines look bad, but not as bleak as the Metropolis that director Fritz Lang envisioned all the way back in 1927. Will the skyscrapers of the future fall like the Tower of Babel after a sexy fem-bot incites factory workers to tear down the machines that run their city? And should a mama’s boy who defies his moneybags father just so he can court a virgin in the urban underbelly be called a savior, or the heart of the prob...
Dec 16, 2022•20 min
Quantum of Malice Star Wars fanboys had their Knives Out for Rian Johnson in 2019, but the writer/director survives their harsh verdicts of The Last Jedi by following it up with a hit murder mystery. Daniel “007” Craig stars as a celebrated Cajun investigator summoned to the mansion of a dead crime novelist to determine if he was murdered. Could the culprit be Michael Myers survivor Jamie Lee Curtis, queasy maid Ana de Armas ( No Time To Die ), or Captain America himself Chris Evans? Find ...
Dec 13, 2022•1 hr 23 min
Jon Hamm is urged to “ Confess, Fletch” after a coed is found murdered in his Boston rental apartment. But the real mystery is whether movie fans will accept someone new in the title role. Is the Mad Men star too suave to wear the disguises, and make the jokes Chevy Chase did, as the intrepid reporter infiltrates a snooty yacht club to recover missing paintings? And could any of the eccentric suspects - including germaphobe Kyle MacLachlan and horny countess Marcia Gay Harden -...
Dec 07, 2022•1 hr 13 min
Chevy Chase finds a dead woman in his bed, the Ku Klux Klan on his lawn, and televangelists on his TV praying for his inheritance, now that Fletch Lives in a bequeathed Louisiana plantation. Will the investigative reporter clear his name of murder charges, or be forced to spend retirement concealing his identity in a series of extravagant disguises? And is the smoking ooze being dumped on Fletch’s new property as toxic as his treatment of women? Listen now as Stuart, Justin, and Arni...
Nov 29, 2022•1 hr 6 min
Beverly Hills Copycat Chevy Chase takes a vacation from Saturday Night Live and National Lampoon movies to star as investigative reporter Fletch in this beloved 1985 mystery. Can the comedic chameleon unmask the real reasons why shady yuppie Tim Matheson ( Animal House ) hires a beach bum to break into his mansion and murder him? And will the jocular journalist be laughed out of town if he runs the headline that Norm from Cheers fronts a massive drug trafficking operation out of a ho...
Nov 22, 2022•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 1262
Waiting To Impale Wakanda Forever mourns the loss of King T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman), but that doesn’t mean a worthy successor can’t slip into the cat suit and become the next Black Panther . But can anyone stop the advanced African nation from being sunk by an underwater South American society also armed with an arsenal of Vibranium? Or is new rival Namor too light on his feet to fight off fierce females Letitia Wright, Angela Bassett, Lupita N’yong’o, and Danai Gueria? Let favorit...
Nov 15, 2022•2 hr 12 min
Edward Woodward (TV’s original Equalizer ) travels to a remote Scottish island in search of a missing schoolgirl and finds The Wicker Man instead. Does the original 1973 cult film live up to its legacy as one of the greatest British horror films of all time? And what scares the hosts more: that Christopher “Dracula” Lee might have murdered this child in an occult harvest ritual, or that he celebrates the sacrifice by donning drag to lead nudist villagers in song-and-dance? Enjoy the ...
Nov 12, 2022•9 min
He’ll be back…. in inferior Terminator sequels and straight-to-streaming crap. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s movie star reputation took a big hit when Collateral Damage was released in the shadow of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Can today’s audiences better appreciate his tough guy approach to a South American cartel leader (Cliff Curtis) who inadvertently killed Ahnold’s wife and child in a Los Angeles consulate bombing? Or is the whole film really just propaganda for the Governator’s entry into Califo...
Nov 08, 2022•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 1258
Jack Russell: The Furred Avenger Gael Garcia Bernal ( Coco ) might look like a typical Marvel superhero in the daylight, but he becomes a Werewolf By Night in order to protect the other monsters of the MCU. Can he outsmart six skilled hunters as they descend upon a labyrinth to slay a mythical beast and collect the powerful Bloodstone? And can Stuart, Jakob, and Arnie really root for anyone willing to rescue Man-Thing from movie jail? Get the details on Disney’s 2022 Halloween Specia...
Oct 31, 2022•1 hr 10 min
The S stands for Hurt Dwayne Johnson cooks up a different kind of Shazam for the DC Cinematic Universe as the homicidal metahuman Black Adam explodes onto the big screen. Is he the hero that an ancient Middle Eastern country needs after a tyrant seizes their crown and threatens Hell on Earth? Or is Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), Hawkman (Aldis Hodge) and the Justice Society right to try and capture lightning in a bottle before someone gets killed? Don’t wait an Eternium for the answers...
Oct 26, 2022•2 hr 40 min
Out of Shape Jamie Lee Curtis tried to move on from the curse of Michael Myers, but another Haddonfield Halloween Ends in blood and screams after granddaughter Allyson goes trick-or-treating with psycho babysitter Corey. Can the franchise’s original boogeyman teach this wannabe anything about being an old school slasher icon, or is Michael wise to keep his face out of this latest installment? Find out if director David Gordon Green has given Carpenter’s legacy a new beginning when you download t...
Oct 19, 2022•2 hr 59 min
Hulu tries to rescue the Hellraiser franchise from a purgatory of underwhelming sequels by re-configuring the original 1987 Clive Barker gorefest into an elevated 2022 reboot. Will a recovering drug addict become the pin-up girl for a Just Say No campaign against soul-tearing Cenobites after she gets high and accidentally opens their infamous puzzle box? Find out if Arnie, Stuart, and Jakob are ready to tear apart the vision of new director David Bruckner ( The Night House ) when you Donate at t...
Oct 14, 2022•22 min
Total Remake Arnold Schwarzenegger sees double after corrupt CEO Tony Goldwyn ( Scandal ) and geneticist Robert Duvall ( The Godfather ) duplicate his DNA in The 6th Day . Can the aging action star stop a clone from co-opting his career and family? Or will goons Michael Rooker ( Guardians of the Galaxy ) and Terry Crews ( Expendables ) terminate the Twins star before he can get to the choppah and expose their illegal practices? Find out how original this sci-fi thriller from the year 2000 ...
Oct 12, 2022•2 hr 46 min•Ep. 1250
It’s the End of Days for Schwarzenegger’s movie career unless he can update his 80s action hero image for the gritty new millennium. Will it take a miracle for the Now Playing hosts to accept the Austrian bodybuilder as faithless Jericho Cane, a mercenary who must put down the bottle and embrace the rocket launcher of God in order to stop Satan (Gabriel Byrne) from impregnating Robin Tunney? Does the movie fall to pieces the second a leering albino pops up to propose the booty call? Cut out our ...
Oct 05, 2022•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 1248
Arnold Schwarzenegger refuses to remove “action hero” from his identity as he suits up for summer 1996 blockbuster Eraser . Can he, James Caan, and the US Marshals help a comely whistleblower escape into Witness Protection before she’s hunted down by a cabal of high powered politicians? And is the aging Terminator equipped to fight off a kamikaze airplane, a tank full of gators, and an experimental rifle that can pinpoint targets even through walls? Pencil in time with Brock, Stuart,...
Sep 28, 2022•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 1246
Jamie Lee Curtis hides an affair from husband Arnold Schwarzenegger, oblivious that he too conceals a double life as a spy capable of terminating her boyfriend Bill Paxton in the deceptively comedic 1994 blockbuster True Lies . Is it possible to translate a modest French farce into a pumped up James Cameron spectacle? And who the hell is Tom Arnold (aka Mr Roseanne Barr) to give marital advice to anyone? Brock, Arnie, and Stuart are ready to share their honest impressions about this ...
Sep 21, 2022•2 hr 32 min•Ep. 1244
Arnold Schwarzenegger might’ve been a kindergarten cop, but he has no authority over the 10-year-old boy jawing in his ear throughout his 1993 box office bomb The Last Action Hero . Was it a Big Mistake for the movie icon to partner with a know-it-all fan eager to point out every cliche of his cinematic character? Or did Die Hard director John McTiernan and Lethal Weapon scribe Shane Black elevate the action genre with clever self-awareness that wouldn’t be hip for another decade? Brock, Arnie, ...
Sep 14, 2022•2 hr 46 min•Ep. 1242
As the Fall season begins, so comes time for ooky, spooky fun with Now Playing! Our Fall/Winter 2022 Donation Drive is underway, kicking off with our Silver Level: The Addams Family! We're reviewing six Addams films, from the original TV cast to last year's animated road-trip adventure. Plus we have our Gold 100 Years of Dystopia series, our Platinum Wicker Man series, and new installments in Jeepers Creepers, M. Night Shymalan, and even Hellraiser! Listen to this podcast preview for a sam...
Sep 10, 2022•12 min
Arnold Schwarzenegger peels back the Iron Curtain, steps naked from a Russian sauna, and brings some Red Heat to the mean streets of Chicago in this 1988 buddy-cop action flick. Can the Soviet strongman learn the American way of implementing justice from wiseass detective James Belushi ( K-9 ), and bring down the international drug dealer that killed his partner? And does 48 HRS director Walter Hill make their screen chemistry crackle like he did with Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy? Fin...
Sep 07, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 1240
Arnold Schwarzenegger made a Raw Deal with producer Dino DeLaurentiis when he opted to star in this 1986 flop instead of a third Conan film. Can the muscle bound lawman get back in the good graces of the FBI (and his nagging wife) by infiltrating the Chicago mob, and avenging the death of Darren McGavin’s son? And does this unhappy onscreen marriage resemble any real life fireworks going on between Ahnold and new bride Maria Shriver? Find out if Brock, Stuart, and Now Playing’s Arnie...
Aug 31, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 1238
Twenty years before he was California’s governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger went Commando to assassinate the deposed President of a fake Latin American country in this 1985 shoot-’em-up. Did the Austrian bodybuilder pump up his Terminator image with superhuman tree lifts and gratuitous shopping mall showdowns? Or are the corny catch phrases and play dates with daughter Alyssa Milano dead tired in 2022? Let off some steam with Brock, Stuart, and Arnie as they explore why Ahnold was the last act...
Aug 24, 2022•2 hr 38 min•Ep. 1236
