Who can take a franchise, sprinkle it with dew, and get whole new generations buzzing about a gutted corpse or two? Executive producer Jordan Peele can, because he mixes love for a 1992 Tony Todd slasher with the inflammatory racial politics of Get Out and Us . Is it performance art or possession that drives a desperate Yahya Abdul-Mateen II ( Aquaman ) to strap on the iconic hook and paint the gentrified Cabrini-Green neighborhood red in 2019? You can summon the thoughts of th...
Sep 04, 2021•14 min•Ep. 1138
Paranormal investigators engineer a blind date between a homeless wallflower and the noisy poltergeists of Hill House in The Haunting - the original 1963 movie adaptation of Shirley Jackson's classic ghost story. Director Robert Wise took a break between his Oscar-winning musicals West Side Story and The Sound of Music to craft one of the most beloved haunted house movies of all time! But will modern audiences find the rooms too old-fashioned and musty to spend time in now? Join Jako...
Aug 31, 2021•2 hr 32 min•Ep. 1137
40 years after nerdy Dustin Hoffman made his stand on foreign soil, preppy screenwriter James Marden borrows those iconic cracked spectacles so he can spar with some backwoods football jocks he calls Straw Dogs . Can new director Rod Lurie replicate the original film’s signature brand of cruelty in small town Mississippi? And will disgruntled wife Kate Bosworth stick with her Superman Returns co-star, or surrender to the redneck charms of Alexander Skarsgaard ( True Blood )? Jakob, Stuart, and A...
Aug 25, 2021•2 hr 30 min•Ep. 1135
Lock the doors, bar the windows, and strap on a pair of headphones! Now Playing is prepping a retrospective of recent Home Invasion Classics, starting with the original 2008 shocker The Strangers . Why do three masked pranksters spend the night terrorizing a couple in a remote woodland cottage? And can Liv Tyler ( Armageddon ) and Scott Speedman ( Underworld ) appease their unwanted house guests before they become another crime statistic? Invite Stuart, Arnie, Jakob, and a whole lot ...
Aug 21, 2021•18 min•Ep. 1134
Dustin Hoffman discovers that Jolly Old England is no refuge from the violence and social unrest of 1971 in the original Straw Dogs . Writer/director Sam Peckinpah pioneered the home invasion horror movie with this story of an American mathematician channeling his inner savage to beat back an angry mob storming his wife’s modest farm. Does the 50-year-old classic still have the power to shock modern audiences weaned on a steady diet of Purge sequels? Join Jakob, Stuart, and Arnie as ...
Aug 18, 2021•2 hr 4 min•Ep. 1133
Marvel might not always appreciate the irreverent humor of director James Gunn, but DC is happy to bring the Guardians of the Galaxy mastermind on board The Suicide Squad. Idris ‘Black Superman’ Elba leads a rebooted team of criminals - including old favorite Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) and new hotshot Peacemaker (John Cena) - to a South American island coup that threatens the interests of Amanda Waller (Viola Davis). Is Project Starfish just an excuse for the bad guys to show their butth...
Aug 11, 2021•2 hr 16 min•Ep. 1131
Dev Patel sets out to prove he's more than a Slumdog Millionaire by pushing away from King Arthur's Round Table, and picking up a sword to do battle with The Green Knight . Will Stuart, Jakob, and Justin lose their heads over this decidedly sinister spin on a classic 14th Century poem about chivalry? And can indie director David Lowrey ( A Ghost Story ) dethrone Peter Jackson and become cinema's next giant of the fantasy genre? The journey begins when you download the latest No...
Aug 03, 2021•2 hr 37 min•Ep. 1129
Having crapped out on two previous live-action G.I. Joe adaptations Hasbro is ready to roll the dice again, betting big on Snake Eyes . This mute ninja is arguably the most popular Joe, but is he just as cool when he takes off the mask and he's the romantic guy from Crazy Rich Asians ? Our hosts won't be silent with their thoughts! Listen now to know if they recommend this film -- and knowing is half the battle. {GI Joe Series}
Jul 28, 2021•2 hr 3 min•Ep. 1127
WWII strategy video game Company of Heroes moves the battle lines from computer consoles to movie screens with a stealth 2013 cinematic adaptation. But will Justin, Arnie, or Stuart decorate rising action star Chad Michael Collins, Vinnie Jones, or any of the other B-list actors in this platoon for their efforts in stopping Hitler from getting the nuke? And who thought it was a good idea to put demoted Tom Sizemore in charge of the Christmas hams? Find out if "the Good War" mak...
Jul 20, 2021•56 min•Ep. 1125
Scarlett Johansson breaks away from the Avengers after seven Marvel movies together so that her Russian secret agent Black Widow can finally headline her first solo adventure. Will Natasha Romanoff wipe the red from her ledger by hunting down the man who confined her childhood to war games in a Red Room? And does super soldier father David Harbour, scientist mom Rachel Weisz, and tag along little sister Florence Pugh back the trained assassin the way Cap, Thor, and Hulk would? Find o...
Jul 13, 2021•2 hr 22 min•Ep. 1122
A Japanese gangster helps a little girl navigate a treacherous red light district in search of her missing mother in the sprawling adaptation of 2006 video game Yakuza (aka Like A Dragon ). Will the pair find their way through a dense plot involving a Korean assassin, klutzy bank robbers, desperate teenagers, bickering cops, and a flashy psycho who beats underlings and enemies alike with his baseball bat? And are gamers in for some serious pain with sadistic director Takashi Miike ( ...
Jul 07, 2021•2 hr 36 min•Ep. 1120
Is new father Dominic Toretto and his family of furious drivers slowing down 20 years into The Fast Saga ? Only when they rocket to space and race their souped-up vehicles in zero gravity! This time Vin Diesel faces off against long lost brother John Cena, who’s hitched his wagon to sexy IT support Charlize Theron in a bid to hack the planet. Will the Now Playing hosts be magnetized by all the stunts and globe-trotting spectacle? Or has F9 thrown a wrench into the f...
Jun 30, 2021•3 hr 37 min•Ep. 1118
Everyone in 2021 wants to blame Bill Gates for putting microchips in vaccination shots, but the practice was pioneered by Allstate pitchman Dennis Haysbert in the 2016 Dead Rising sequel Endgame . Hallmark Channel hunk Jesse Metcalfe returns as the intrepid reporter hero, this time leading hackers and marksmen through a city overrun with zombies to rescue his missing camerawoman and avert genocide. Find out if there’s an Afterlife for this undead video game franchise when you play th...
Jun 23, 2021•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 1116
Why are the Dead Rising all over East Mission, Oregon if the government has a miracle drug that can prevent zombie outbreaks? It’s all part of Operation Watchtower , a top secret plan to give the military unprecedented access to American lives. But will anyone find out the truth if TV journalist Jesse Metcalfe insists on airing the story exclusively on middling streaming service Crackle? And can this 2015 zom-com live up to the irreverence of the 2006 Capcom video game on which...
Jun 16, 2021•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 1114
It’s not The Devil, but Now Playing’s loyal listeners , that made Arnie, Majorie, and Stuart do another Conjuring film after so many hellish experiences in the franchise. This time the Warrens are heading to court in the 1980s to help a man beat a murder rap by insisting he was possessed by a demon escaped from his waterbed. Does Ed have the heart to keep fabricating these “true stories”, or are all these cons damning the demonologist to an early grave? And will Lorraine finall...
Jun 08, 2021•2 hr 30 min•Ep. 1112
Blood-soaked prom queen... tween pyromaniac... axe wielding book critic… just some of the scary women that have leaped from the pages of Stephen King’s horror fiction onto the big screen. Now hardened New England housekeeper Dolores Claiborne is ready for her day in court. Will Kathy Bates eclipse the Oscar-winning work she did in Misery as she stands accused of pushing her cruel employer down the stairs? And will daughter Jennifer Jason Leigh fight for mama’s freedom knowing she did in dad year...
Jun 02, 2021•2 hr 34 min•Ep. 1110
George Clooney and his Ocean’s co-stars made casino heists look easy, but they never had to crack a safe being guarded by an Army of the Dead . Can Dave Bautista and his colorful crew of mercenaries bypass reanimated Elvis impersonators and a zombie white tiger to lay claim to a Vegas jackpot before nukes are dropped? And is writer-director Zack Snyder pushing his luck by returning to the horror genre 15 years after his Dawn of the Dead remake? Your chances for a good time always imp...
May 25, 2021•2 hr 9 min•Ep. 1108
Ladies and gentlemen, I have one piece of advice for you. No matter what Jigsaw tells you, there's no escape from a Jigsaw trap. None! Oh, there's pain in a Jigsaw trap, but you don't want pain...you want an escape. And Chris Rock's new movie Spiral: From the Book of Saw shows there's no escape from a Jigsaw trap. So play the game, and our podcast review of Spiral , now. {Saw Series}
May 19, 2021•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 1106
Anthony Mackie shields himself from the pressure of becoming the next Captain America by taking to the sky as The Falcon for Marvel’s second Disney+ miniseries, and it’s made Sebastian Stan angry enough to relapse back into The Winter Soldier . Can these two set aside their differences long enough to save the world from a group of political extremists enhanced by super-soldier serum? And do these six episodes go by in a Blip, or is the MCU better suited to the big screen?  ...
May 12, 2021•4 hr 30 min•Ep. 1104
Tom Clancy techno-thrillers typically feature desk-bound diplomats on the hunt for missing subs and rogue nukes, but the stakes are much more personal for Michael B Jordan ( Creed ) as he seeks vengeance against the hitman who murdered his family in Without Remorse . Could the Navy Seal-turned-CIA operative start WWIII by breaking out of jail and heading to Russia in such a rage? And will Amazon Prime give this character's origin story the same hero's welcome that greeted old friend Jack R...
May 05, 2021•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 1102
It’s been a hot minute since movie theaters hosted a Mortal Kombat tournament, but now the notoriously violent video game reboots itself on IMAX screens and HBO as an R-rated cinematic free-for-all. Can Raiden and damned ninja Scorpion light a fire under a mediocre MMA fighter, a double amputee, a girl without a dragon tattoo, and a loudmouth Aussie, so they’re prepared for a flawless victory over Shang Tsung, Sub-Zero, and other Outworld challengers? And will this 2021 rematch...
Apr 28, 2021•2 hr 52 min•Ep. 1100
Milla Jovovich and director Paul WS Anderson are hoping to recapture lightning in a bottle as they leave behind the zombie hordes of Resident Evil to chase bigger video game beasties in the 2020 blowout Monster Hunter . Will a team of grizzled UN soldiers find their way home after a sandstorm sweeps them into an alternate reality where giant crabs, worms, and dragons sit atop the food chain? And will martial artist Tony Jaa or Ron “Hellboy” Perlman help or hinder their chances of sur...
Apr 21, 2021•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 1098
Adam Sandler tries his hand in the Now Playing Arcade with the 2015 video game farce Pixels . Space invaders have brought classic coin-op characters to life, and now Pac-Man is gobbling up Manhattan, while Centipede conducts a pub crawl through London. Is it possible for a washed-up Atari addict to save a country that was stupid enough to elect Kevin James to be President? And can Q*bert, con artist Peter Dinklage, and crackpot Josh Gad take this former Waterboy to the next level of ...
Apr 14, 2021•2 hr 51 min•Ep. 1096
Godzilla Vs. Kong is a rivalry as old as the Hollow Earth (or at least the Japanese showdown of 1963), and now their battle to be crowned King of the Monsters is 2021’s biggest movie event. Will the Now Playing hosts cheer for the big ape as he breaks free of Project Monarch chains that have shackled him since Skull Island? Or is the angry green lizard still our fav, despite being slandered as the bad guy by a biotech company angling to unleash a robot monster of its own?&n...
Apr 07, 2021•2 hr 42 min•Ep. 1094
Godzilla won the box office when he took down a MUTO (and most of San Francisco) in his 2014 Hollywood comeback. Now Mothra, Rodan, and all of the Big Lizard’s former co-stars burst forth from the Hollow Earth to challenge the throne. Have eco-terrorists made it possible for three-headed Ghidorah to be crowned 2019’s King of the Monsters ? And are these Titan battles stranger than the things Millie Bobby Brown witnesses on a daily basis with her bickering scientist parents?&nbs...
Mar 31, 2021•2 hr 47 min•Ep. 1092
It was a decisive victory for The Legion of Doom when Warner Bros. executives handed Zack Snyder’s unfinished superhero team-up Justice League to Avengers mastermind Joss Whedon. Internet trolls were not kind to this last-minute attempt to leave the Darkseid behind, and tell jokes at Superman’s wake. Their aggressive social media campaign has paved the way for the original director to assemble a four-hour cut that promises to fix all the problems in the ...
Mar 24, 2021•3 hr 37 min•Ep. 1090
It wasn’t so long ago that Elizabeth Olsen was blowing up the big screen in epic films like Avengers: Endgame . What curse has befallen her career that Scarlet Witch is now slumming it in a cheesy sitcom called WandaVision ? Is Marvel experiencing some Growing Pains while trying to raise the TV profile of their superheroes? And is Paul Bettany merely a special guest star on the series, or has his cyborg Vision found a way to live on without an Infinity Stone? Arnie, Jakob...
Mar 17, 2021•3 hr•Ep. 1088
30 years after finding the perfect wife in New York City, Eddie Murphy’s King Akeem is once again Coming 2 America to meet the son he sired with one-night stand Leslie Jones. Will Millennial prince Jermaine Fowler follow in his father’s footsteps, and marry for love? Or will despot Wesley Snipes bring civil war down upon Zamunda if his daughter isn’t made the royal bride? And are these wedding hijinks more appetizing than a grass burger from McDowell’s? Discover if ...
Mar 10, 2021•2 hr 51 min•Ep. 1086
Eddie Murphy let his soul glow in a new romantic light for the 1988 fairy tale Coming To America , starring as an African royal looking for his bride in downtrodden Queens, New York. Will any woman see Prince Akeem’s true worth once he goes undercover as a poor exchange student working the janitorial crew of a fast-food restaurant? And can audiences spot Murphy and buddy Arsenio Hall in all of their latex disguises courtesy of Oscar-winning make-up artist Rick Baker? Explore th...
Mar 03, 2021•2 hr 4 min•Ep. 1084
Jakob, Stuart, and Arnie are not going to Stand for another crummy TV miniseries, so CBS better hope their nine-hour take on Stephen King’s beloved novel doesn’t choke like a Langolier downing ham Bronson Pinchot. Whoopi Goldberg leads an all-star cast of survivors rebuilding civilization in the aftermath of a deadly virus. Will they (or audiences) be tempted to shun the grind of a Colorado commune, and follow Dark Man Alexander Skarsgaard into debauchery? What happens in New Vegas g...
Feb 23, 2021•3 hr 59 min•Ep. 1082
