Grumpy Nostalgia: Second Look Cinema

Send us Fan MailIf you love duck puns, bad special effects, and crimping irons we have the film for you. It's been 40 years since this turkey (not duck) graced our movie screens courtesy of George Lucas no less. We guess someone told him those annoying Star Wars movies were played out and to focus on an intergalactic duck instead.  Well played.  This gem kicks off our special summer series called Bombs Away! We my never truly recover. Quack.

Send us Fan MailOne episode couldn't do this one justice, so the boys present a special two-parter in order to squeeze in all the pew pew pews, the red sateen, the tiny tinyHawk Men shorts, and more cheese than we deserve.  Plus, we share our takes on some famous ambiguous endings in film.

Send us Fan MailFlash and the gang face off against the glorious villain Ming the Merciless (who could easily take Thanos's lunch money). There's ridiculous special effects, very short Hawk-Men shorts, and a Queen soundtrack that will crush your face.  We promise this will be the best 52 min, 28 sec of your day.

Send us Fan MailThere's a scene where Corey Feldman, dressed as Michael Jackson, does a 4 minute dance routine in a gym and its not even the worst scene in the movie.  The worst of the 80s in on full display as the gang entertain a listener request this week.  We love our audience, but this one put us through the proverbial ringer.  Dated humor, misogyny, hair mousse, and the most disconnected plot and dialogue in the history of film all make this one of the most bizarre movies we've ever reviewed.  More fever dream than little dream. We love our audience. Did we mention that?

Send us Fan MailEven our bombs bombed bigger in the 90s.  With the 2026 summer blockbuster season folding like Superman on laundry day, we thought we'd go back 33 years (yikes) to reveal how they used to fail back in the day. Arnie does his best to try to keep this flaming dog poo bag burning, but a clunky script, forced self-referential humor, and possibly the most annoying 90s kid ever to grace the silver screen ultimately take their toll. Still there's fun to be had here, you just have to weed through all the boring parts.  Just like life.

Send us Fan MailFive years in and we've yet to talk about the Muscles from Brussels.  This ends here.  In one of our most serve-serving episodes to date, we decide to completely disregard our audience and instead cover a movie just for our own warped cinematic fetishes. The stereotypes and misogyny are in full bloom throughout this film's measly 92 minutes, but somehow everything works out okay in the end.  If you can withstand the content, stick around to the end where we talk about our favorite movie ending showdowns.  It does not deliver in the least. Ironic.

Send us Fan MailBeing the grumpy jerks we are, we're guessing you can simply stay home this weekend and listen to this podcast instead of braving theatres to see Disclosure Day.  Steve made the perfect UFO movie fifty (gulp) years ago so we invite you to ward off the inevitable disappointment.  But, we hope we're wrong.

Send us Fan MailCome listen as two brutes scratch their heads and furrow their brows as the try to review an art house film.  Having nary a special effect and nor not even one explosion, your hosts are forced to find new ways to find fault.  They are not up to the challenge.  This one is an adorable change of pace for your grumpy crew so make sure you tune in to see how they fare.  Plus, we talk about other gender swap movies and miraculously teeter on the edge of inappropriateness. 

Send us Fan MailThe boys go back to the golden era of brain rot to explore our long obsession with the video game.  From Pong to XBOX, these consoles were our baby sitters, our pacifiers, and our rage generators. So grab your quarters and prepare to relive the days where an Italian-American could clobber a monkey with a big hammer and no one raised an eyebrow.

Send us Fan MailYou Send Our Podcast to the Hospital, We Send Your Podcast to the Morgue. That's the Grumpy Nostalgia Way.  The boys go full OG this week reliving Brian De Palma's 1987 classic.  In a time when Americans couldn't drink, we learn that baseball bats, police brutality, and casual Italian-American racism could deliver us to moral clarity.  Fresh new face, Costner, nearly pulls his weight against a legendary performance from Oscar winner Connery here. The boys are so impressed by the end that they decide to cover their other favorite gangster movies that aren't the Godfather.

Send us Fan MailMandalorians and Grogus are fine, but us 80s kids would rather see some stop motion terror and a galactic build-a-bear workshop taking down the Empire.  The country is gonna remember why they like Star Wars in the next few weeks so we shamelessly dust off one of our favorite episodes from a long time ago and a galaxy blah blah blah and get a head start.  Show favorite Aron joins the gang this time to share the pain.  Stick around to the end where they gang discuss their other favorite movies featuring characters with daddy issues. It is unavoidable.  It is your...destiny.

Send us Fan MailThis week's brand new episode features what we call a "thinking man's Sci-Fi" movie.  Generally, that's code for boring. And there's some of that to be fair, but for the most part this one is pretty good. If you can buy McConaughey as a priest, you can pretty much believe anything.  Even the existence of little green men (which there are none here either).  Stick around to the end where we present part 2 of our 2026 Summer Movie Preview: The Leftovers.  Is as intriguing as it sounds.

Send us Fan MailResident show punching bag Costner writes, directs, stars, and even sings the ending credits song!  Way to hog the movie, K!  An extended spring break kept the boys out of the studio this week, so we humbly ask our overly patient audience to give this episode another listen.  Not a lot of y'all heard this one the first time and we understand.  This movie is a letter bomb.  We get it.Stick around for the end where our cohosts review a list of the worst movies of the nineties to see how many of them they've sat through.  Play along at home if you enjoy pain.

Send us Fan MailAfter 35 years, most things tend to degrade.  We certainly did.  But this is not the case for one of the greatest psychological horror films of all time.  Join the gang as they revisit the culinary curiosities in this amazing Jonathan Demme classic. Rural Appalachia, oversized panties, homemade Halloween masks, and a well-placed tuck are just the start. Our only regret is that we covered this movie way too early in our podcasting career.  The result was fine, but the fine-tuned listener will appreciate an extra level of horror upon hearing our early attempt at being clever podcasters.

Send us Fan MailWith Silence of The Lambs returning to theaters this week for it's 25th Anniversary, the boys decide to spoil the party by reviewing the film where it all started, Michael Mann's stylish Manhunter from 1986.  Heavy handed and completely free of any levity at all, it's a bit of a chore to sit through, but we knew the risks when we took the job.  Bereft of any other original ideas, the boys pad out the rest of this episode with their first annual 2026 Summer Movie Preview.  The results of which have to be heard to be believed.   

Send us Fan MailThe Artemis crew WISHES they could be as cool as the goofy miners-turned-astronauts in this ridiculous Michael Bay extravaganza from 1998.  Grab your animal crackers and settle in for nearly 3 hours full of space dementia and good old America saving the world yet again.  Oh, spoiler alert: Gruber doesn't make it (whoever the hell he was).

Send us Fan MailWe're going full icky this week by covering a film by the recently deceased Hollywood icon Chuck Norris.  Yes, we tried to avoid memes and jokes and, yes, we failed.  Over 120 gratuitous kills and zero sleeves. Not a bad ratio for a movie in the 80s.  Oh, and an armadillo out-acts most of the cast.

Send us Fan MailWith The Mummy Returns returning to theaters for a special 25th-anniversary this weekend, we thought it prudent to dust off our own take on the franchise from several years ago. Though not a well preserved as a mummy, this episode still has some life in it and quite frankly we're too busy getting next Monday's release ready to do our job as podcasters properly.  Until then, please enjoy Brendan Fraser's energy and Rachel Weisz's face.  Emphasis on the latter

Send a textThis week we go back to a big one, but as we learn, size doesn't matter.  In fact a few minutes we wont even be matter.  Come back to glorious 1997 where movies were bigger, better, and could star Will Smith without the audience wanting to punch him in the face. Speaking of jerks, stick around to the end when the boys explore other celebs that we used to admire, but now not so much. Wonderfully petty and indefensible.  

Send a textWith Studio Ghibli releasing 1989's Kiki's Delivery Service in IMAX this week, the gang decided to dust off this awesome episode featuring a collab with the gals from 2nd Hand Nostalgia. Mucho Manga 

Send a textAn 80s fantasy adventure with scorpions, gorgons and gratuitous boobs. A recipe for the best Saturday night ever.  Laurence Olivier is here for some credibility and Ursula Andress is here for two more things.  The nostalgia hits harder than the Kraken as the boys end the episode talking about their other favorite early HBO movies that seemed to be on every day, all the time.

Send a textWhy does everyone forget that this is their favorite movie? The boys get sentimental this week by revisiting this 1986 Rob Reiner masterpiece.  Recent events notwithstanding, this one reminds us why we go to the movies in the first place.  A billion dollar CGI Marvel movie is good and all, but these types of movies carry their own magic when they're done right, and this is no exception.  Dont let the sappy tone fool you though, your hosts spend most of the time laughing at the realistic absurdity of little boy talk, proving that they've never fully matured either. 

Send a textGrab a diablo sammitch and a Dr. Pepper and join the gang as they go back to the glorious morality-free movies of the 70s by viewing Smokey and the Bandit.  There's CB radio-talk, casual misogyny, and more car crashes than you can shake a stick at.  Bandit's Trans Am overstimulates the hosts to the point where they feel compelled to talk about their favorite movie cars.  We got a long way to go and a short time to get there, so get listenin', you sombitches!

Send a textIn a world with no screens, no safety, and no gas mileage, many a family would venture into our great country to explore tourist traps and dirty gas stations.  This is their story. Stop touching me!

Send us a textThis 80s brat pack weren't your standard yuppie romantics, they were hardened killers. Swayze puts his Roadhouse kill count to shame in this cold war thriller that scared the crap out of us, but taught us the only good commie was a dead commie.  Wolverines!

Send us a textThe movie that bravely pooped in its hand and flung it at the audience.  The boys short circuit after their viewing of this Burton remake of one of their favorite childhood movies.  Ape puns, unwarranted cynicism, and nervous breakdowns are only the start in this infamous episode from years ago.

Send us a textSeason Six begins with possibly our least favorite selection in the history of the podcast. We were taught if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. We managed 53 minutes though. Not bad.

Send us a textGabe (Stallone) manages to keep the vaguely European terrorists flummoxed but only when he's not making the googly eyes to annoyingly cute 90s girl Janine Turner.  Lots of catch phrases, toxic masculinity and enough quality deaths to keep even the most cynical viewer in a state of guilty pleasure.  Uber dorky head villain John Lithgow steals the show as far as your hosts are concerned.  So enamored, the boys decide to discuss their favorite over the top movie villains.

Send us a textThe gang celebrates their Season 5 finale with a real pisser, Escape From New York from 1981.  Riddled with violence, gratuitous nudity, smoking, and Ernest Borgnine, this beauty is a true product of its time.  The boys can hardly contain their joy as each wonderfully dirty scene is flushed out with pure guilty pleasure confidence.  Inspired the ridiculously cast Donald Pleasence as the President, the boys discuss other movie presidents that make us wish real life could be more like the movies.

Send us a textNew content? A Christmas miracle.  The gang go down memory lane this time to relive Christmas in the 70s.  A time when we put lead tinsel on our tree and added enough hot lights to a dead, dry trees that Prometheus himself was worried.  From barfing at your elementary school Christmas program to debunking the entire Kris Kringle conspiracy, we're covering it all.  Oh and Lite Brites!  Keep the change you filthy animals!

Send us a textOH MY GOD! We know him. We know him.  Our Christmas memories episodes come to a welcome close with the arrival every everybody's favorite holiday movie except for Christmas Vacation and a Christmas Story.  We haven't done those yet so they don't count.  Merry Christmas you filthy animals

Send us a textIs it or isn't it? Who cares, we say. The boys go back to 1988 to ponder when a man could be the lead in an action movie.  And that man could smoke, swear, kill people, and still be the hero.  This one also features one of our greatest performances ever, Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber.  All other movie villains have paled in comparison since.  The gang attempts to tackle the issue of this being a xmas movie or not, but their argument runs out of gas pretty quickly and they simply move on.  Welcome to the party pal!

Send us a textHo ho ho grumpy nation.  We start our xmas adventure with this 1983 tale of excess, betrayal, gorillas, and Jamie Lee's silk blouses.  You know, standard holiday fare.WARNING: This episode is different than others.  

Send us a textWe're going mega-nerd this week reviewing the 1982 dark fantasy film, The Dark Crystal. So nerdy, in fact, that show co-host Mike had to recuse himself.  Actually, Mike is out this week and he asked show superfan, Dr. K @pinotjones to sit in for this odd but beautiful mess of a movie.  K had some big (smelly) shoes to fill, but he knocked it out of the park.  #thedarkcrystal #wheresmike 

Send us a textIt's turkey time again, only our turkeys are the cinematic kind.  We needed some time for reflection this week, so we humbly ask you to revisit this special episode where we chow down on our most reviled holiday turkeys.  We only give thanks in that we don't have to watch these movies ever again.  This episode originally aired a few years ago and the movies we cover in it haven't gotten any better.  Now that you mention it, neither have we.  Happy Thanksgiving y'all!

Send us a textWe dangerously test the patience of our audience by reviewing yet another Arnold movie.  This week it's 87's The Running Man, just in time for its unasked for remake in theaters. Arnold was bigger than most movies during this time and it appears that no one ever bothered to tell him that he could actually say "no" in some instances. That said, this is a glorious, check-your-brain-at-the-door example of 1987 film standards.  Amazing deaths, callous one-liners, and a cast that would make a Marine blush.  Speaking of re-makes, stick around till the end where we criticize a millennial-derived list of remakes that are "better" than the original. We have opinions, nearly all of them unjustified.

Send us a textWith the release of Predator: Badlands this week, the gang remembered we talked about this franchise several years ago, but that episode stood out because we first met our heroine, Alaskan warrior princess Molly!  She bravely sat in for this episode and we have been awestruck ever since.  The movie was terrible, but this was a special podcast episode for many reasons.  Please give this another go.  Features a new intro with @mollsmusings herself!#predator #hashtagsdontwork

Send us a textOur 2025 Halloween series comes to a merciful close as we cover the amazing An American Werewolf in London from 1981.  Much like a unicorn, its a crazy original horror movie from a time where imagination, creativity, and talent could beat up a CGI movie any day of the week.  We keep the grumpy going to the end where we name our worst horror movie of the 21st century displaying our complete lack of self-awareness. 

Send us a textThe only thing more scary than Halloween is a bunch of unsupervised kids in 1978, high on sugar, wreaking havoc on suburbia.  This time the boys wax nostalgic on the Halloween experience in the 70s and 80s.  From horrible Woolworth's boxed costumes to those miserable clods that handed out pennies instead of candy to trick or treaters, we're covering it all.  If you ever filled a pillowcase full of peanut butter taffy twists and micro Snickers, this is the podcast for you.  We also give our best strategies for TP'ing those "non-compliant" houses.  Popcorn balls? Really?

Send us a textTime to kick off our season series Where Wolf? There! Wolf! with the obnoxiously entertaining Silver Bullet from 1985.  A little known Stephen King movie featuring Cory Haim and Gary Busey! And as if that wasnt horrible enough for you, the boys look back at the plethora of Stephen King movie adaptations from the very best to Lawnmower Man.  True horror, indeed.

Send us a textCross over children. All are welcome. We're going back a bit to feature the first ever episode determined by a viewer's poll, the 1982 scare fest Poltergeist. Creepy clowns, little kids with horrible bangs, and a tree that eats little boys.  Spielberg made ET the same time he was shooting this so we suppose there was some repressed anger issues so he took it out on this audience.  Scarred. For. Life.

Send us a textGood news! Hollywood is no longer remaking our great 90s movies. They've moved on to the crappy ones. This week we break format and talk about a new soon-to-be movie and unfortunately its this one. Your hosts unleash their inner grumpy with extreme prejudice as this 2:42 minute trailer truly make them lose it.  An affront to everything they hold dear with cinema.  Derivative, unoriginal, cringe can be fun!  Needs to be heard to be believed. 

Send us a textWith the pending arrival of Tron: Ares to theaters this fall, the boys decided to dust off this episode covering the original to remind you there's nothing to get excited about.  The groundbreaking (for the time) special effects are a little dated, but fortunately the story and acting are so terrible you wont notice. All that said, there's an odd charm to this one that we cant scrub off.  Listen in, laser-brains!

Send us a textSome say that the Grumpy Nostalgia boys have the same chemistry as Keanu and Swayze in this film.  Those people are wrong.  A few of you listened to this episode the first time, but not enough for our liking, so we're re-releasing this gem in hopes that its true beauty can be more appreciated.  A truly great action film that ushered in a multitude of comparable movies in the 90s that made this dumb podcast possible.  PS - Do you look as good 34 years later as Keanu does?  What the hell?

Send us a textYears of listener requests will finally be honored as the boys take on the uber-80s cult classic, Better Off Dead.  And they're not even charging two dollars for it. Travel back to a time where teen suicide was hilarious and film makers could be fearless and unapologetic in order to be funny.  Remember funny? A personal favorite for both of your hosts, this episode was a treat to do, except for poor sap Justin who had to edit in a record amount of sound clips to the point where carpal tunnel syndrome eventually kicked in. But hey, Everybody Wants Some.

Send us a textIt's back to school time so the boys decide to reminisce about the good old golden rule days.  School in the 70s was more of a Gulag experience rather than higher learning, but there were some good times too. Smoking teachers, bus ride hellscapes, and enough chocolate milk to strike fear into the hearts of a lactose intolerant generation to follow.  A must-listen to anyone who survived this glorious era!

Send us a textKiller worms with a side of Bacon. In the 90s, this was more than enough for us.  This week we're going the full six degrees of something-or-other trying to interpret this ridiculous 1990 B-movie.  Kevin Bacon's hair stars as Val, the garbage man turned worm basher.  Along for the ride is Fred Ward's Earl, who repeatedly ask us to pardon his French. And we do willingly.  Stick around to the end when the boys talk about their favorite B-Movies.  It B terrible.

Send us a textEveryone loves Keanu, but none of you listened to us talk about him in this episode the first time, so we're trotting it out again.  Maybe it was because we were only 10 episodes into our podcast career or, more likely, our enormous lack of talent that kept you all away. Either way; Who cares?  In this glorious 90s action flick we are constantly reminded of how cool things used to be in the movie theater.  Great stories, great acting, and no unnecessary CGI. Keanu and Sandy are cute as bugs and the ever whacked out Dennis Hopper keeps the joint hoppin for the entire two hrs.  Pop Quiz, hot shot. How do make an awesome action movie? Listen in to find out.

Send us a textWe're going back to the stone age this week, which is appropriate in that the viewing experience feels like you're passing one.  Justin and Mike give their timid responses to the Flintstones in this brutal episode that test the very boundaries of their podcasting fortitude.John Goodman and cast do their best, but a script that took 35 (!) writers 87 minutes to tell wins out in the end.  Only the strong survive indeed.  Thanks Darwin! 

Send us a textYou want dinosaurs?  We got your dinosaurs right here.  Before there was Scarlett Johannsen in a 6th sequel to a movie, there was Goldblum.  And we were stuck with him.  While we'd personally watch Scarlett read the phone book for 2 hrs, in 1997 this dino epic was all the rage.  Speaking of rage, co-host Mike loses his cool at the very concept of this movie right away and that's always fun.  This one was one of our earlier episodes that no one ever listened to and as your punishment, we're trying it out one last time before it becomes extinct. (See what we did there?)

Send us a textWe don't go to 11 here, but we come close.  This week were looking back at the glorious mockumentary Spinal Tap from 1984.  One of the greatest rock movies ever made was never really appreciated in its time (just like us). We all reveled in the pure, unadulterated hedonism of metal in the 80s and barely lived to tell the tale.  That's why our music was so good, it could potentially kill us.  But hey, we're sure Fallout Boy is dangerous nowadays too.Drunk on nostalgia, were saving the best to the end with a wrap of of our favorite metal bands of all time.  Spoiler alert: there's not a single band on here formed after 1984, just like it should be.