Summer Blockbuster!?!

This week, as Pride Month comes to a close, we take on a landmark film in the gay cinema canon, 1990's LONGTIME COMPANION, directed by Norman Rene. The first mainstream movie to tackle the AIDS epidemic, we discuss if this gentle ensemble drama still holds up today, and if it deserves to be discovered by … Continue reading Ep. #123-Longtime Companion →

This week, we take on 1997's extremely bizarre true-life tale BUDDY, directed by Caroline Thompson. Rene Russo plays an animal-loving socialite who accepts a gorilla into her home. Once grown, she dresses it in a three-piece suit and basically forces it to become her servant, in a move co-host Luke describes as “a stunning critique … Continue reading Ep. #122-Buddy →

This week, we take on 1984’s STREETS OF FIRE, directed by Walter Hill, a film that opens by helpfully describing itself as a “rock fable.” Without the guidance, it would be hard to know what the hell to label this thing, a genre mash-up including everything from dystopic wastelands to ’50’s greasers to western showdowns … Continue reading Ep. #121-Streets of Fire →

This week, prepare yourself for a super-sized episode as we discuss Tom Green’s divisive 2001 comedy FREDDY GOT FINGERED. Marvel as two grown men spend over two hours discussing the merits of a film in which an elephant is brought to climax and shoots its load all over Oscar-nominee Rip Torn. Co-host Luke is in … Continue reading Ep. #120-Freddy Got Fingered →

This week, the fountain of youth wreaks havoc on the lives of Meryl Streep, Bruce Willis, and Goldie Hawn in 1992’s dark comedy DEATH BECOMES HER, directed by Robert Zemeckis. Streep plays a vain, aging actress trapped in a loveless marriage who takes a magical potion that renders her forever young, only to discover that … Continue reading Ep. #119-Death Becomes Her →

This week, we take on the movie everyone seems to be talking about: ZACK SNYDER’S JUSTICE LEAGUE, the four-hour behemoth currently streaming on HBO Max. Yes, we are aware this isn’t a summer film, but we covered the 2017 original, plus we are gluttons for punishment. So what did two guys who are the furthest … Continue reading Ep. #118-Zack Snyder’s Justice League →

This week, a weekend trip to Myrtle Beach will change the lives of four best friends forever in 1989’s SHAG: THE MOVIE, directed by Zelda Barron. It should come as no surprise that this dance-centric film was hoping to ride on the coattails of DIRTY DANCING to box office victory, but instead found that you … Continue reading Ep. #117-Shag: The Movie →

This week, nuclear war meets teen comedy as we take on 1986’s ill-conceived THE MANHATTAN PROJECT, directed by Marshall Brickman. Christopher Collet stars as a high school genius who steals some plutonium from John Lithgow and uses it to create an atomic bomb for the science fair. Yes, you read all of that correctly, a … Continue reading Ep. #116-The Manhattan Project →

This week, SUMMER BLOCKBUSTER!?! celebrates Valentine’s Day by taking on one of the least romantic romances ever filmed: 1986’s UNDER THE CHERRY MOON, directed by Prince. The pop icon followed up his smash hit PURPLE RAIN with a black-and-white homage to screwball comedies that plays like a giant middle finger to critics and fans alike. … Continue reading Ep. #115-Under the Cherry Moon →

This week, we conclude our discussion on the 2020 summer movie season by taking on a film we still can’t believe got a theatrical release, no matter how small: INFAMOUS, directed by Joshua Caldwell and starring the one and only Bella Thorne. The noted thespian plays a fame-thirsty, white trash Floridian who hooks up with … Continue reading Ep. #114-Infamous (2020) →

This week, we continue our look at 2020’s very strange summer movie season by tackling the first wide release of the summer–and it was a doozy. Hinges become untethered in the thriller UNHINGED, directed by Derrick Borte. Russell Crowe plays a mentally unstable incel who is no longer hinged due to a severe bout of … Continue reading Ep. #113-Unhinged →

We are back! 2021 is a new year, and after taking a break due to Covid, we are ready to talk weird summer movies once more! This month, we are looking back at the very strange summer movie season of 2020 and kicking things off by tackling Christopher Nolan’s TENET. Yes, this movie is indeed … Continue reading Ep. #112-Tenet →

This week, as the world goes to Hell in a handbasket, we return to a simpler time to tackle a guy who doesn’t seem all that bad nowadays: 1989’s FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VIII: JASON TAKES MANHATTAN, directed by Rob Hedden. Jason is back, and this time, he’s headed to the Big Apple–although it takes … Continue reading Ep. #111-Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan →

Apparently we have become the Neveldine/Taylor podcast, as this week, we take on yet another entry in their storied filmography, 2009’s futuristic sci-fi action flick GAMER. A natural extension of a brand that prides itself on video game aesthetics, we now have a film in which video games have literally come to life, with wealthy … Continue reading Ep. #110-Gamer →

This week, check out our annual Oscar predictions episode, in which we try to help you win those 2020 office pools. We’ve got you covered on all of the major categories, with thoughts on not only what will win, but also what should win. And if history has taught us anything, you should probably listen … Continue reading Bonus Episode-Oscar Predictions 2020 →

Sequel month continues here at SUMMER BLOCKBUSTER!?! as we tackle 2009’s absolutely deranged action-comedy CRANK 2: HIGH VOLTAGE, directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor. Jason Statham is back, and as the tagline helpfully explains, “He was dead…but he got better.” This time, some bad guys have stolen his strawberry tart–that’s heart to you neanderthals–and … Continue reading Ep. #109-Crank 2: High Voltage →

It’s sequel month here on SUMMER BLOCKBUSTER!?!, where we tackle sequels to films previously covered on this podcast. This week, we’re taking on 1995’s EXCESSIVE FORCE II: FORCE ON FORCE, directed by Jonathan Winfrey. We will just let the following IMDb synopsis do the heavy lifting for us: “Stacie Randall plays Harley, a Special Forces … Continue reading Ep. #108-Excessive Force II: Force on Force →

This week, celebrate the joys of both Christmas and New Year’s as we take on 1983’s TRADING PLACES, directed by John Landis and starring Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd. We take a deep dive into what is considered by many to be a comedy classic. How does it play in 2019 to two guys watching … Continue reading Ep. #107-Trading Places →

On this week’s episode, we attempt to get into the Christmas spirit by taking on 1942’s HOLIDAY INN, directed by Mark Sandrich and starring Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby. Despite featuring Irving Berlin’s classic tune White Christmas, it turns out that this film tackles all of the major holidays, from Easter to Thanksgiving to…Abraham Lincoln’s … Continue reading Ep. #106-Holiday Inn →

Just in time for Thanksgiving, we have the ultimate turkey for our listeners: 1985’s GYMKATA, directed by Robert Clouse. Olympic gymnast Kurt Thomas stars as an elite athlete recruited by the U.S. government to participate in a top secret competition where the winner will be awarded a major advantage in the Cold War. Or something. … Continue reading Ep. #105-Gymkata →

This week, SUMMER BLOCKBUSTER!?! gets into the holiday spirit as we take on 2005’s Thanksgiving-set revenge tale FOUR BROTHERS, directed by John Singleton. Mark Wahlberg, Tyrese Gibson, Andre Benjamin, and Garrett Hedlund star as foster brothers who return home to Detroit to bury their mother, who was gunned down execution-style in a robbery gone wrong. … Continue reading Ep. #104-Four Brothers →

Our 2019 Month of Horrors Extravaganza concludes this week as we take on Rob Zombie’s 2009 version of HALLOWEEN II. What was once seen as a cinematic travesty is now heralded in certain circles as a modern-day horror masterpiece. But is there any truth in such bold claims? We try to get to the bottom … Continue reading Ep. #103-Halloween II (2009) →

Our Month of Horrors Extravaganza continues this week as we tackle 1988’s remake of the sci-fi classic THE BLOB, directed by Chuck Russell. A ball of gelatinous goo has crash landed into a small Colorado town, and it isn’t long before this alien substance starts making a meal of the local residents. The body horror … Continue reading Ep. #102-The Blob (1988) →

Our Month of Horrors Extravaganza continues this week as we discuss 2009’s DRAG ME TO HELL, directed by Sam Raimi. Alison Lohman stars as a meek loan officer who angers the wrong old lady and winds up with an ancient Gyspy curse. She has got three days to figure out how to stop it before … Continue reading Ep. #101-Drag Me To Hell →

The week, we are celebrating both our Month of Horrors Extravaganza and our 100th episode by taking on Nicolas Cage in his most deranged role–1989’s VAMPIRE’S KISS, directed by Robert Bierman. The Cagester himself stars as a publishing executive who becomes convinced that he is turning into a vampire, resulting in whole lot of bug-eyed … Continue reading Ep. #100-Vampire’s Kiss →

This week, we kick off our annual Month of Horrors Extravaganza by taking on 1996’s teen thriller THE CRAFT, directed by Andrew Fleming. Four high school girls get witchy and discover that with great power comes great responsibility…or something. Honestly, the messaging here is a little muddled, and what seems on the surface like a … Continue reading Ep. #99-The Craft →

On this week’s episode, we open up the time capsule that is 1994’s THE CROW, directed by Alex Proyas. The late Brandon Lee stars as a deceased rocker who has risen from the dead to take revenge on the men responsible for the murder of he and his fiancee. With an aesthetic best described as … Continue reading Ep. #98-The Crow →

How does one even attempt to top a film as revolutionary as Jean-Luc Godard’s French New Wave classic BREATHLESS? We try to find the answer as we take on 1983’s remake BREATHLESS, directed by Jim McBride. Richard Gere’s penis and Valerie Kaprisky’s breasts star as a couple of wild and crazy lovers who talk and … Continue reading Ep. #97-Breathless (1983) →

On this week’s episode, we tackle 2013’s desperately unfunny MEN IN BLACK wannabe R.I.P.D., directed by Robert Schwentke. Ryan Reynolds and Jeff Bridges play a couple of dead law enforcement officers forced to serve in the Rest In Peace Department, the afterlife’s version of the police. Will these two polar opposites manage to set aside … Continue reading Ep. #96-R.I.P.D. →

This week, we here at SUMMER BLOCKBUSTER!?! have a spring in our step and a song in our heart as we discuss 2001’s gonzo musical MOULIN ROUGE!, directed by the one and only Baz Luhrmann. Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman play doomed lovebirds at the titular nightclub, where the activities taking place aren’t nearly as … Continue reading Ep. #95-Moulin Rouge! →

Our month devoted to YA adaptations wraps up this week as we take on 2012’s coming-of-age dramedy THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER, written and directed by Stephen Chbosky. Logan Lerman stars as an anxiety-ridden teenager who learns to navigate the living hell that is high school with a little help from new friends Emma … Continue reading Ep. #94-The Perks of Being a Wallflower →

Our YA adaptation month rolls on as we discuss 2013’s BEAUTIFUL CREATURES, directed by Richad LaGravenese and based on the novel by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. Witches–sorry, casters–and mortals be fallin’ in love as a centuries-long battle between good and evil finally comes to a head in this campy piece of Southern Gothic that … Continue reading Ep. #93-Beautiful Creatures →

Our month of YA adaptations continues as we take on 2014’s DIVERGENT, directed by Neil Burger and based on the novel by Veronica Roth. In a post-apocalyptic Chicago, society has been divided into five factions, and conformity is the name of the game. But what happens when our heroine Tris discovers that free will is … Continue reading Ep. #92-Divergent →

Our month devoted to YA adaptations continues as we discuss 2008’s infamous vampire romance TWILIGHT, directed by Catherine Hardwicke. Watch as a grown-ass man over 100-years-old seduces an emotionally-stunted high school girl! Swoon as he obsessively follows her everywhere and watches her sleep! Your heart will skip a beat as she destroys every other healthy … Continue reading Ep. #91-Twilight (2008) →

SUMMER BLOCKBUSTER!?! is devoting the month of August to Young Adult adaptations, and we’re kicking things off by tackling one of the biggest: 2012’s THE HUNGER GAMES, directed by Gary Ross and based on the novel by Suzanne Collins. In a dystopian future where the wealthy and powerful rule the working class through violence and … Continue reading Ep. #90-The Hunger Games →

On this week’s episode, we take our first foray into the Jame Bond canon as we tackle 1989’s much-maligned LICENSE TO KILL, directed by John Glen. Timothy Dalton stars as the 007 agent, and this time, it’s personal, as he seeks revenge against the drug czar who left his best friend for dead after torturing … Continue reading Ep. #89-License to Kill →

It’s Triple Lindy time, baby, as we take on 1986’s collegiate comedy BACK TO SCHOOL, directed by Alan Metter. Rodney Dangerfield stars as a boorish but lovable business tycoon who enrolls in college to bond with his son and finally get the higher education he denied himself as a teenager. Wild and wacky shenanigans naturally … Continue reading Ep. #88-Back to School →

This week, SUMMER BLOCKBUSTER!?! reveals their softer side as we take on 2003’s romantic comedy DOWN WITH LOVE, directed by Peyton Reed. An homage to the screwball comedies of yesteryear, Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor show off their flair for both verbal and physical comedy, which inspires both of our co-hosts to go into complete … Continue reading Ep. #87-Down With Love →

This week, we head to the movie theater to check out the latest divisive thriller from Ari Aster, 2019’s MIDSOMMAR. The writer-director of HEREDITARY returns with more artsy horror, as a group of grad students heads to a small Swedish village for its annual mid-summer festival and discovers all sorts of bizarre and violent shenanigans. … Continue reading Ep. #86-Midsommar →

Christian Bale Month comes to an end this week here on SUMMER BLOCKBUSTER!?!, so we decided to go out with a roar as we take on 2002’s dragon epic REIGN OF FIRE, directed by Rob Bowman. Bale and Matthew McConaughey butt heads as two alpha males desperately trying to survive in a dragon-ravaged England. How … Continue reading Ep. #85-Reign of Fire →

This week, Christian Bale Month continues as we tackle 1993’s WWII-era tale SWING KIDS, directed by Thomas Carter. In 1939 Berlin, Bale and Robert Sean Leonard play best friends who rebel against the Nazi uprising the only way they know how: by swing dancing! And while we would like to report that this film is … Continue reading Ep. #84-Swing Kids →

Christian Bale Month continues this week as we’re talkin’ about 2000’s SHAFT, directed by John Singleton–you damn right! Samuel L. Jackson stars as the titular hero, a smooth-talking police detective who delivers his own special brand of justice when an overprivileged and racist trust fund baby (Bale) commits a hate crime on the streets of … Continue reading Ep. #83-Shaft (2000) →

June is Bale Month here at SUMMER BLOCKBUSTER!?!, where we tackle a few of the films of the talented–and temperamental–Christian Bale. First up is 1992’s NEWSIES, directed by Kenny Ortega, the heart-warming Disney musical about the 1899 Newsboys’ Strike in New York City. Nothing screams ‘uplift’ quite like watching a group of orphans sing and … Continue reading Ep. #82-Newsies →

This week, class warfare becomes quite literal in 1986’s forgotten teen thriller DANGEROUSLY CLOSE, directed by cult filmmaker Albert Pyun. When a group of wealthy, overprivileged teens take it upon themselves to rid their high school of its “undesirables”–i.e. the poor and/or racially diverse–one lone student will stand up and fight for what’s right, all … Continue reading Ep. #81-Dangerously Close →

On this week’s episode, Jim Carrey plays a dangerous–but hilarious?–sociopath who can’t get enough of that sexy Matthew Broderick in 1996’s dark comedy THE CABLE GUY, directed by Ben Stiller. When a film is both this thematically messy and tonally unbalanced, the possibilities for discussion are endless. So it goes without saying that this episode … Continue reading Ep. #80-The Cable Guy →

This week, Mike Myers tries his hardest to capture that old Austin Powers magic–and fails spectacularly–in 2008’s infamous THE LOVE GURU, directed by Marco Schnabel. Myers plays Guru Pitka, a self-help master who is brought in by the Toronto Maple Leafs to help their star player regain his mojo. But instead of enlightenment, what the … Continue reading Ep. #79-The Love Guru →

In honor of Mother’s Day, this week we take on 1992’s infamous sci-fi sequel ALIEN 3, the debut feature of director David Fincher. Ripley is back, and she’s got a bun in the oven! Only problem is that it’s a bloodthirsty, acid-spewing monster. So, you know, basically your average child. And what Mom can’t relate … Continue reading Ep. #78-Alien 3 →

In honor of our two-year anniversary, this week we take on 1993’s artificial insemination comedy MADE IN AMERICA, another cinematic classic from Richard Benjamin, director of past episode highlights MARCI X and MILK MONEY. Whoopi Goldberg stars as a single mother who learns 18 years after the fact that–horror of horrors–her sperm donor was obnoxious … Continue reading Ep. #77-Made in America →

On this week’s episode, we tackle 1990’s superhero goof DARKMAN, directed by Mr. Evil Dead himself, Sam Raimi. Liam Neeson stars a brilliant scientist/liquid skin inventor who gets blowed up real good and becomes the disfigured vigilante known as Darkman, who will stop at nothing to thwart an evil real estate developer. Yes, that is … Continue reading Ep. #76-Darkman →

To celebrate our 75th episode, we are going all the way back to 1937 to take on the classic domestic drama MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW, directed by Leo McCarey. When a pair of aging parents are forced to separate due to financial issues, they discover that their children are literally the worst people on the … Continue reading Ep. #75-Make Way For Tomorrow →

This week, the Big Top spells big trouble as we take on 1988’s beloved cult classic KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE, directed by Stephen Chiodo. What happens when an alien race that resembles clowns invades a sleepy college town? Mayhem, kidnappings, decapitations and murder, of course! So does this film still hold up 30 years … Continue reading Ep. #74-Killer Klowns From Outer Space →