Now Playing - The Movie Review Podcast

Here Comes The Hot Steppers  Dylan O’Brien and his Maze Runner friends leave the labyrinth only to find themselves navigating a charred landscape full of rage virus zombies in second chapter The Scorch Trials. Can Giancarlo Esposito (Mandalorian), Lili Taylor (Conjuring), and Barry Pepper (Saving Private Ryan) offer these kids sanctuary from wicked scientists wanting to milk their brains? And would our hero do better to stop chasing Kaya Scodelario and date infected pistol-packer Rosa Salazar (Bird Box) instead? These burning questions get answered when you Listen Now!

Thinking Outside The Box  Arnie, Jakob, and Stuart survived the harrowing gladiator matches of The Hunger Games only to stumble into a labyrinth of dangers in the 2014 adventure The Maze Runner. Can Teen Wolf star Dylan O’Brien decode the secrets tucked within these giant granite walls, and find an escape path for a marooned tribe of teenage boys? Or will this flight to freedom be thwarted by an army of biomechanical spiders, bully Will Poulter (aka Adam Warlock), or the arrival of a girl (Kaya Scodelario)? Listen Now as the hosts guide you through another YA dystopia.

The Town That Dreaded Markdowns Director Eli Roth (Hostel) has a lot to be grateful for this Thanksgiving now that a decades-long mission to expand his Grindhouse joke trailer has finally blessed the multiplex. Will holiday viewers be delighted to dine on a 17-year-old turkey overstuffed with gorey kills and T&A exploitation? Say a prayer for Arnie, Stuart, and Jakob as they gobble up this 2023 horror-comedy. 

Charlie’s Bangles Brie Larson mixes it up for the sequel to her 2019 Captain Marvel debut by bringing estranged niece Teyonah Parris (WandaVision) and gushing fangirl Iman Vellani (Ms Marvel) into her 2023 Marvels adventure.  Can the trio stop trading places long enough to thwart a hammer-wielding Kree (Zawe Ashton) from disrupting the Skrull peace negotiations?  And have the years Sam Jackson spent assembling the Avengers prepared him for a mother-Flerken job herding cats in space? Listen to find out if Arnie, Stuart, and Jakob are annihilators of the MCU’s 33rd movie.

It’s Not Easy Being Green  Sam Jackson returns from the far corners of the cosmos to help extra-terrestrial bud Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) stop a Secret Invasion of Earth by shape-shifting Skrulls. Are White House envoy Don Cheadle and MI-6 agent Olivia Colman smart to discount the aged Avenger after he broke his promise to find these radicalized aliens a new planet to inhabit? And is Nick Fury keeping other surprises about his personal life, and his time in space, tucked underneath that eye patch? Listen Now as Arnie, Jakob, and Stuart expose the truth about this 2023 Disney+ miniseries!

Choke-E-Cheese and the Riflefire Explosion Security guard Josh Hutcherson (Hunger Games) spends Five Nights At Freddy’s looking for the reason why his younger brother went missing back in the 1980s. Could the animatronic mascots of this condemned pizzeria be at the center of a string of unsolved child abductions? And will his socially awkward little sister be the next victim after having a sleepover with these rock and roll robots, and sketching their dark secrets out in crayon?  Listen Now as Justin, Arnie, and Stuart suit up to spend Halloween inside the Now Playing Arcade.

The Coyote of Wall Street Martin Scorsese is back with longtime acting muses Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert DeNiro in the 2023 Oscar hopeful Killers of The Flower Moon. This time Leo is the taxi driver, chauffeuring Lily Gladstone around Oklahoma as uncle Bobby conspires with an entire town to fleece her Osage tribe out of oil profits. Can Jesse Plemons (Breaking Bad) get the FBI to stop this wave of poisonings, bombings, and shootings before the white devils succeed in Native American genocide? Listen Now as the hosts speak truth about Leo and Marty’s sixth collaboration.

Can God be Love if He lets such awful things air on network television? Ron Perlman (Hellboy) is the Tak of the Town after his attempt to become the next Pennywise in the 2006 Stephen King effort Desperation. Will the possessed policeman ticket motorists Tom Skerritt (Dead Zone), Steven Weber (The Shining), Matt Frewer (The Stand), and Henry Thomas (Doctor Sleep) for driving past a cursed Arizona mine, or because he’s jealous they were in better King adaptations? And what darlings will director Mick Garris have to kill in order to turn the 700 page novel into a two hour TV movie? Find out when you Listen Now!

Sometimes dead is better than straight-to-streaming  Look what the cat dragged into Paramount Plus: a 2023 prequel to Stephen King’s beloved 1983 novel Pet Sematary.  Long before the infamous Indian burial site brought back dead pets and run over children as flesh-eating zombies, grieving father David Duchovny dug a hole to reanimate the son he lost in Vietnam. Can longtime resident Judson Crandall justify staying on these sour grounds after tracing his hometown carnage back through the Bloodlines of its founding fathers?  Walk this perilous road with Arnie, Stuart, and Jakob to find out now!

See saw with a seesaw Saw is back, as is series star Tobin Bell as “Jigsaw” John Kramer. In this film, set mere weeks after the events in the original Saw, Kramer travels to Mexico seeking a cure for his brain tumor. Instead, what he finds is a scam that leads him back to his old “Jigsaw” ways with all new traps. Will this movie suck out your eyeballs with its violence and gore? Or do you need to put several ounces of gray matter in a jar to enjoy the tenth Saw release? Join our hosts Jakob, Arnie, and Marjorie now to find out!

I Know What You Did Last Century The Phantom Killer returns to Texarkana nearly 70 years after first turning a quaint community into The Town That Dreaded Sundown.  But could the original culprit still be alive, uncaught, and wielding razor sharp band instruments in 2014? Or are these copycat slayings the handiwork of a disgruntled great-grandson, or demented fan of the 1976 Charles Pierce cult movie? And how much faith should be put in Anthony Anderson (Kangaroo Jack) and Gary Cole (Office Space) to crack the case?  Step back into the shadows with Arnie, Stuart, and Jakob and Listen Now!

The Texas Trombone Massacre Texarkana becomes The Town That Dreaded Sundown after a psycho with a sack over his head starts terrorizing couples necking in secluded makeout spots. Can Oscar-winning Ranger Ben Johnson (Last Picture Show) expect to lead the largest manhunt in US history to this Phantom Killer if his klutzy driver can’t even keep the patrol car on the twisty gravel backroads?  And did Dawn Wells survive three seasons of Gilligan’s Island just to be shot dead in her kitchen? Listen and find out if this 1976 docudrama sheds new light on the unsolved 1946 true story.

A Hard Habit to Break Valak continues to spread the evil of The Conjuring Universe throughout the churches of Europe in the 2023 sequel The Nun II. Can Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga) return her nemesis to Hell with Father Burke out of the picture, and faithless bad girl Storm Reid (Euphoria) her only frIend? And will this demon in a wimple actually learn a thing or two about throwing shade from mortals after enrolling in a boarding school overpopulated with mean French girls?  Arnie, Marjorie, and Stuart are ready to perform the miracle of turning slaughter into whine when you Listen Now!

Law & Order: MCU Emmy winner Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black) sees her dreams of headlining a fun lawyer show get contaminated after cousin Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) accidentally turns her into She-Hulk. Does being a giant green hothead help the Attorney At Law win high profile cases for celebrity clients like Megan Thee Stallion and Abomination (Tim Roth)?  Or will the super-prosecutor be convicted in the court of popular opinion after haters launch a nasty social media campaign against her? Learn how angry Arnie, Stuart, and Jakob get about the 2022 Disney+ series now!

Now if someone would design a video game preparing the next generation for service work!  A college dropout’s devotion to a PlayStation racing simulator unexpectedly paves the way for his career as a professional sports car driver in the incredible true story Gran Turismo. Is Lord of the Rings star Orlando Bloom still living in a fantasy world by thinking this homebody gamer is Team Nissan’s best shot at winning the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans? And can coach David Harbour (Stranger Things) really help the lad transition from couch to car if they remain stuck on whether to turn the radio dial to Enya or Black Sabbath? Play our next podcast and find out!

Livin’ La Vida Locust A recent college graduate (Cobra Kai’s Xolo Mariduena) goes looking for work that will keep a roof over his family’s heads, and scores a lifetime appointment as Blue Beetle. Can DC’s first Latino crimefighter satisfy audiences tired of fascists like Batman dominating the box office, and hungry for superhero flicks equipped with George Lopez jokes? And is Susan Sarandon totally buggin’ to think she can extract the alien scarab fused into the youth’s back, and market it as a one-man police force? Listen to imperialists Arnie, Jakob, and Stuart to find out now! {DC Comics Series} {Comic Book Movie Series} {DC Movie Universe} {Blue Beetle Series}

As if vampires are the worst thing you’d encounter on a cruise ship. Dracula had to find dry land before he could start sucking London dry in Bram Stoker’s classic 1897 novel, which means sailing for a month on the doomed Last Voyage of The Demeter.  Will onboard medic Corey Hawkins (Straight Outta Compton) go down with the ship before he solves the mystery of why so many crew members sport holes in their necks? And does Javier Botet (Conjuring 2) ride the same wave of success that carried Bela Lugosi, Frank Langella, Nick Cage, and all the other Universal nosferatu to infamy?  Listen and find out!

The 40 Year Old Terrapin Fanboy producer Seth Rogan brings Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Rafael back to big screens to frolic in the radioactive green ooze that first transformed them into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 40 years ago. Should the foursome heed the warnings of rodent mentor Splinter (Jackie Chan) to stay hidden from humans in the sewer? Or answer the call of cub reporter April O’Neil (Ayo Edebiri) to thwart villain Superfly (Ice Cube) before he vaporizes everyone in New York?  Find out if this Mutant Mayhem is more toxic than a Michael Bay creation. Listen Now!

Sisterhood of the Traveling Partition 16-year-old cosplayer Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) fulfills her ambition to be like idol Brie Larson after she straps on her great-grandmother’s magic bracelet, and becomes Ms. Marvel in a 2022 Disney+ miniseries. Can the fledgling superhero heal generational trauma dating back to Pakistan’s split from India by stopping supernatural family members from opening The Veil of Noor, and wiping out life on Earth?  And how will the self-described “brown girl from Jersey City” honor Muslim tradition while following her cosmic dreams?  Listen and find out.

The Shawshank Reinvention Prison guard Tom Hanks walks the condemned down The Green Mile to the electric chair for a living, but takes a different path after meeting magical healer Michael Clarke Duncan (Armageddon) behind bars. Was a jury in Depression Era Louisiana blinded by racial prejudice when they convicted the enormous black man of brutally murdering angelic white twins?  And does director Frank Darabont get the same mileage out of another Stephen King jailhouse melodrama as he did with Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins?  Listen and find out!

…or How I Learned to Start Worrying And Make A Bomb Christopher Nolan offers an intimate look at the Father of the Atomic Age in his epic new biopic Oppenheimer. Is Cillian Murphy even scarier than his Batman Begins villain when he delivers the means of mankind’s destruction to military bigwig Matt Damon at the start of the Cold War?  Or should we feel sympathy for the bewildered scientist once Robert Downey Jr persecutes him and wife Emily Blunt for perceived Communist leanings? Find out if this director is paving a road to the Oscars, or turning summer movie season radioactive with his pretensions. Listen Now!  {Nolan Series}

Because it’s a global crisis when Tom Cruise loses his keys Arnie, Jakob, and Stuart accept a seventh assignment to review a Mission: Impossible movie… make that half a movie… as Part 1 of Dead Reckoning explodes onto the big screen. Has artificial intelligence gotten so savvy that it can predict every move Ethan Hunt and his IMF regulars Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, and Rebecca Ferguson are going to make?  Or can Tom Cruise beat the computers by performing dangerous leaps off a mountain on his motorcycle without digital fakery?  Find out if this franchise is set to self-destruct when you Listen Now!  

Paint It Black Patrick Wilson steps away from the Conjuring universe and returns to his roots via The Red Door to direct the Lambert family through another Insidious ordeal. Does eldest son Dalton (Ty Simpkins) undo the hypnotic conditioning meant to protect him from demonic possession when he enrolls in a liberal arts college that heightens his artistic abilities? And does Lipstick Face Demon (Joseph Bishara) have more fun hazing frat bros than he would hiding from Elise, Specs, and Tucker? Look no Further for the answers. The podcast review is ready now!

You can now get our bonus review podcasts individually in our Patreon Digital Store! Hear OVER FOUR HUNDRED bonus movie review podcasts. Alien! Child's Play! Planet of the Apes! Psycho! And, yes, the reviews of Evil Dead Rise and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny are on there too. The store is at Patreon.com/NowPlayingPodcast Watch the video to find out all the details. And thank you for supporting Now Playing Podcast!

New Jack Hustler Tommy Lee Jones and his U.S. Marshals are on the hunt for a new outlaw in the 1998 sequel to The Fugitive. Is Wesley Snipes able to keep pace with Harrison Ford as he flees a plane crash and his bad reputation for killing government agents, selling secrets to the Chinese, and not paying income tax?  And is Robert Downey Jr a valuable addition to Sam Gerard’s team, or will his smarmy stances polarize in the same way Iron Man broke apart the Avengers?  Get righteous with this long-running franchise when you join Brock, Arnie, and Stuart now!

Presumed Guilty Harrison Ford goes on the lam after being wrongly sentenced to Death Row in The Fugitive, the 1993 blockbuster movie adaptation of the hit 1960s TV show.  Can the convicted surgeon use his medical cunning to track down the one-armed man actually responsible for murdering his wife?  And did running from all those boody-trapped boulders prepare the Indiana Jones star for navigating the mean streets of Chicago while evading capture from Oscar-winning pursuer Tommy Lee Jones (MIB)? Listen Now as Brock, Stuart, and Arnie chase down the answers.      

Bratman Returns Time is running out for the DCU unless The Flash (2023) can reverse the damage done by problematic star Ezra Miller, and deliver some meta-human box office. Does grabbing an extra can of crushed tomatoes from a supermarket shelf spare Barry Allen a lifetime of tragedy, or just turn all superhero continuity into a bowl of spaghetti? And can he clean up Ben Affleck’s “bat mess” by bringing audiences back to the glory days of Michael Keaton?  Get your quick fix of Stuart, Jakob, and Arnie when you catch their latest podcast review. Listen Now!

Bumble in the Jungle The planet-eating Unicron will devour all of Earth unless Optimus Prime and his Autobots help promote the Rise of the Beasts - the next phase of Transformers evolution. Do 30 foot tall mechanical gorillas, cheetahs, and falcons hold the key to mankind’s (and the franchise’s) future?  And can Broadway star Anthony Ramos (Hamilton) learn to work with the team, and trust a talking Porsche that sounds like SNL’s Pete Davidson? Buckle up and join Justin, Stuart, and Arnie for this next stretch of road in the long-running Hasbro series. Listen Now!

Blame It On The Boogie Chris Messina (Birds of Prey) wonders if psychotic patient David Dastmalchian (Suicide Squad) might be innocent of killing his three children after The Boogeyman he described in session starts stalking the therapist and his two daughters. Will eldest kid Sophie Thatcher (Yellowjackets) find more than skeletons in the closet once she starts rummaging through her dead mother’s things? And does found footage director Rob Savage (Dashcam) expand this Stephen King short story with more skill than most Night Shift adaptations?  Listen Now!

The Spider And The Fly Girl Miles Morales swings Across The Spider-Verse to reconnect with best friend Gwen Stacey five years after collecting the Oscar for his first animated adventure. Has the superhero jeopardized the structural integrity of everything by refusing to be the self-sacrificing Spider-Man we’ve seen in so many previous comic books and movies? And do new friends Spider-Woman (Issa Rae), Spider-Punk (Daniel Kaluuya) and Spider-Man India (Karan Soni) widen this story’s appeal? Find out if the sequel hits The Spot for Arnie, Stuart, and Jakob when you Listen Now!