Now Playing - The Movie Review Podcast

A saga for the ages… or at least a podcast appropriate for April Fool’s Day

British heavy Bruce Payne (Passenger 57) is the only cast member willing to return for a Dungeons & Dragons sequel now that the 2005 campaign is being launched on SyFy Channel.  Can new director Gerry Lively (Darkness Falls) do a better job of advancing the fantasy role-playing game into a credible cinematic universe by more closely studying the classic monster manuals and rule books of TSR?  Find out if hosts Justin, Stuart, and Arnie have much clemency for yet another low-budget quest to enchant today’s tabletop players. Listen Now! 

The Desolation of Snails

Jeremy Irons sees a reversal of fortune in his acting career as he conjures an army of fire-breathing beasts to fight empress Thora Birch (American Beauty) in a theatrical Dungeon And Dragons campaign from 2000. Can wise-cracking thieves Justin Whalin (Lois & Clark) and Marlon Wayans (White Chicks) bring together a mage, a dwarf, and an elf to acquire the magic gem that will put an end to all the shoddy CGI work swirling in the sky? Listen now to learn if Arnie, Stuart, and Justin have the constitution points to endure another board game movie.

That Thing You Pardieu 

College kid Tom Hanks plays RPG Mazes And Monsters and quickly descends into madness and murder in this notorious 1982 TV movie. Did Maze Controller Chris Makepeace (Meatballs) make the fantasy too real by swapping out dice bags and painted figurines for a live-action campaign inside a dangerous cave? Or did the future Oscar winner simply get too wrapped up in a delusional Method Acting quest to become his holy man character, forsaking his studies and sex with girlfriend Wendy Crewson (The Santa Clause)? Join us in the Great Hall to find out!

Goodbye Friend

Horror specialist Mike Flanagan (Netflix’s Haunting of Hill House) picks up another Ouija board to tell the 2016 prequel story Origin of Evil. Can sham medium Elizabeth Reaser (Twilight) finally give up the ghost and let her 9-year-old daughter take over the seance business after the girl uses the mass market spirit board to connect with ghoul Doug Jones (Shape of Water)?  Or is priest Henry Thomas (E.T.) right to phone an exorcist, and stop more bodies from winding up in the basement walls?  Get the skinny on another board game film when you Listen Now!

Hi Friend

Terrible things happen to a high school girl playing alone with an Ouija board in this hit 2014 chiller. Can Bates Motel co-star Olivia Cooke conduct a seance with the mass market spirit board that reveals the true reason her BFF committed suicide in her suburban home?  And what does nutcase Lin Shaye (Insidious) know about the ghosts of an abusive mother and silenced daughter that can be seen when looking through the “glass eye” of a planchette?  Our lips are sealed until you make contact with the latest entry in Now Playing’s board game retrospective!

Dead Time For Bonzo

Twin boys decide to wind up TheMonkey toy left to them by absentee father Adam Scott (Severance), only to learn the mechanical drum solos cause mass carnage throughout small-town Maine. Can introvert Theo James (White Lotus) grow up to stop a bullying twin brother (also Theo James) from using the organ grinder to play off all their neighbors and family members into an early grave?  Listen Now to hear Arnie, Stuart, and Brock dance to the offbeat rhythm that director Osgood Perkins (Longlegs) has given this classic Stephen King short story.

The Leader of the Package

Anthony Mackie still sports his Falcon wings as he steps into the role of Captain America, and navigates a Brave New World of political intrigue without first Avenger Chris Evans. Should he give a vote of confidence to new President Harrison Ford by helping the ailing politician soften the “Hulk Hunter” image earned when played by William Hurt? Or is everyone in Washington DC being led on by Tim Blake Nelson, whose musical mind-control threatens to destabilize global efforts to peacefully bring adamantium to the MCU? Listen Now to learn if Red Hulk’s a smash!

You sank my franchise!  

Hasbro and Hollywood transform the Milton Bradley seafaring board game of pegs and wild guesses into the $200 million would-be blockbuster Battleship. But how can box office poison Taylor Kitsch (John Carter) hope to stop an invasion of space aliens splashing down in giant armored vessels when he can’t even deliver a frozen burrito to hungry girlfriend Brooklyn Decker without incident?  Will older brother Alexander Skarsgard, trigger-happy singer Rihanna, and hardass admiral Liam Neeson help this sailor shape up or ship out?  Find out now!

And Then There Was Fun 

Justin, Stuart, and Arnie roll the dice on finding a good movie based on a board game, starting with the 1985 adaptation of the Parker Brothers classic Clue. Can butler Tim Curry (Rocky Horror Picture Show) keep the funny banter alive as he scrambles to identify the guilty amongst dinner party guests Professor Plum (Christopher Lloyd), Mrs Peacock (Eileen Brennan), Colonel Mustard (Martin Mull), Miss Scarlett (Lesley Ann Warren), Mrs. White (Madeline Kahn), and Mr Green (Michael McKean)? Hear the hosts kill it with a Microphone in the Recording Room now!

The Wrath of San

Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh tires of being Everything Everywhere All At Once, and beams back into Star Trek for a 14th motion picture now streaming on Paramount Plus. Can she help a Section 31 black ops team operate outside Federation space, and recover a WMD she created back when she ruled the evil mirror universe of Terran? And how well does future Starfleet Captain Rachel Garrett (Kacey Rohl) keep this crew of assassins and seductresses in line with the utopian vision of creator Gene Roddenberry? The podcast is set to stun, so Listen Now!

Night of the Living Dad

Writer-director Leigh Whannell (Saw) returns to Universal Monsters five years after updating the Invisible Man’s look and gives a 2025 makeover to Wolf Man. But has he changed lycanthropy too much by asking infected Christopher Abbott (Poor Things) to shed hair and teeth rather than sprout fangs and fur and howl at the full moon?  And can workaholic mom Julia Garner (Ozark) set down her cell phone long enough to help their daughter evade this family curse? You don’t have to be a mind reader to know what Jakob, Arnie, and Stuart think of the reboot. Listen Now!

Like Father, Lycanthrope Son

Oscar winner Benicio Del Toro (Traffic) could tour the world as a Shakespearean actor but prefers to follow in the paw prints of Lon Chaney Jr and play The Wolfman in a 2010 revival of the Universal Monster. But are his full moon transformations just madness inherited from his suicidal mother?  And does father Anthony Hopkins have ulterior motives for locking his son in an asylum while he comforts sexy widow Emily Blunt? The past is a wilderness of horrors, so let Arnie, Stuart, and Jakob be your guide through this classic franchise. Listen Now!

Peeper and the Wolf

Lon Chaney Jr. takes an engaged woman on a date to see fortune teller Bela Lugosi, and learns his future is to become The Wolf Man. Can father Claude Rains (Casablanca) keep his son on a short leash so that the afflicted playboy doesn’t go thirsting for blondes like Evelyn Ankers in the neighboring village? And was 1941 the year Universal Studios finally got screen lycanthropy right after their first try Werewolf of London failed to match the popularity of their other Monsters? Even a man who’s pure of heart and says his prayers at night needs to Listen Now!

Wouldst Thou Like to Live Deliciously?  Maybe not do that to a pigeon.

Lily Rose-Depp receives a fatal mustache ride from Bill Skarsgard when she psychically calls out to dark spirits in the second Nosferatu remake of 2024. Did Renfield prepare Nicholas Hoult for how to stake this new Count Orlok before he corrupts his convulsing wife and idyllic German village? Or does Professor Willem Dafoe know from starring in Shadow of the Vampire that the only good way to stop a silent movie-era bloodsucker is to let the girl lure him into the sunlight?  Listen Now to learn if director Robert Eggers has redeemed this bastard telling of Dracula.

Dracula Unstreamed 

Creature specialist Doug Jones (The Shape of Water) caps a long career acting under latex by becoming the first to revive silent movie era vampire Nosferatu for a 2024 remake. Could the westward migration of his undead Count Orlok be more devastating to an unsuspecting German village than the plague brought on by fellow immigrants Max Schreck, Klaus Kinski, and Willem Dafoe?  And can this bloodsucker really be blamed for coming between a realtor and his wife when the couple’s already displaying a wandering eye and bi-curiosity?  Listen and Find Out!

“You always have a choice.” (The hosts, on the other hand, are stuck in this Arcade.)    

A Shadow falls over the Sega Cinematic Universe as ass-kicker Keanu Reeves joins the cast of fast-paced characters battling it out in Sonic The Hedgehog 3. Will this dark duplicate let his pain lead him into a partnership with Dr. Robotnik’s grandpa (also played by Jim Carrey), and destroy the world with a space canon?  Or will James Marsden and Tika Sumpter find room for him in their adopted family of aliens that already includes echidna Knuckles (Idris Elba), techie Tails (Colleen O’Shaughnessey), and titular blue streak Ben Schwartz? Listen and find out now!

The Lion, The Witch, and A Totally Fabulous Wardrobe

Aaron Taylor-Johnson stuffs and mounts his previous Marvel characters, Kick-Ass and Quicksilver, to make room on his mantle for the prized role of Kraven The Hunter. But before the expert tracker can find his way into a movie with nemesis Spider-Man, he’ll face off with a stampede of super-villains, including The Rhino (Alessandro Nivola), Chameleon (Fred Hechinger), and an angry lion definitely not voiced by Blue Ivy Carter. Find out if Oscar winners Russell Crowe and Ariana DeBose help salvage Sony’s radioactive Spider-Verse. Listen Now.

Bitch Pleas

June Lockhart begs for her family curse not to be true after dogs, acting like her future co-star Lassie, sniff out her secret identity as the She-Wolf of London. Could the wholesome TV actress really be following in the footsteps of 1935 British werewolf Henry Hull and sneaking out to slash throats in the neighboring park? Or is director Jean Yarbrough gaslighting the audience by teasing a Universal Monster that never emerges from the fog? No need to call Scotland Yard. Arnie, Jakob, and Stuart are on the case to find the screen’s first Wolf Woman. Listen Now!

With them teeth, he’ll fit right in! 

Arnie, Stuart and Jakob offer listeners a cure for “lycanthrophobia” with their podcast review of Werewolf of London - the very first Wolf Man appearance in a feature film!  Henry Hull returns from Tibet howling mad that an infectious animal bite transforms him into a bloodthirsty beast on the full moon. Will every English Garden now need to grow the rare Marphasia flower to keep him human? And why didn’t this globe-trotting botanist blossom into a Universal Monster as famous as Bela Lugosi’s Dracula or Boris Karloff’s Frankenstein?  Listen and find out now!

The Dondus 2028 presidential campaign begins now

Director Ridley Scott returns to the arena where he won Best Picture a quarter century ago in the hopes that his 2024 epic Gladiator 2 will entertain a new generation. Does tyro Paul Mescal honor Russel Crowe’s legacy by kicking up dirt with raging baboons, rhinos, and sharks?  And can slavemaster Denzel Washington help the rising Coliseum star make good on his dream to end General Pedro Pascal and rescue Rome from corrupt twin Emperors?  The podcasters have spoken, so find out if it’s a Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down verdict when you Listen Now!

Mad “Max” Before Thunderdome

Russell Crowe avenges his family’s execution by turning the Gladiator games of ancient Rome into a rematch with murderous Emperor Joaquin Phoenix (Joker). But can the outcast general survive an arena full of unchained tigers and beefcake competitors by maximizing his celebrity with the roaring crowd and mobilizing fellow slaves like Djimon Honsou (Amistad) into a new army?  And did auteur Ridley Scott not entertain movie audiences well enough to deserve a Best Director statue denied to him by the Oscars? It takes no bread to join this circus now!

My Big Fit Greek Wenham

Sullivan Stapleton (TV’s Strike Back) aims to turn the sacrifice of 300 Spartans into The Rise of An Empire in this 2014 continuation of Frank Miller’s comic book vision. But will his dream of a unified Greece get undone by bad girl Eva Green (Casino Royale), who proves to be the real power behind Persian God-King Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro)? Or will widow Lena Headey and sole survivor David Wenham avenge fallen Gerard Butler as the battle of Thermopylae migrates to the sea? Listen Now as this podcast review rings out through the centuries!

This is Sparta?  Because it kinda looks like a place you’d put a dollar in his g-string.

Gerard Butler leads 300 Spartans to a glorious seaside death in Zack Snyder’s blockbuster adaptation of a graphic novel by Frank Miller (Sin City). But did the Greek King bring his wartime problems on himself by literally killing the messenger and using racist and homophobic insults to taunt Persian rival Xerxes?  And can wife Lena Headey (Game of Thrones) use her charms to convince some toga-wearing senators to stop partying long enough to send reinforcements to X-Man Michael Fassbender and David Wenham (Lord of the Rings)? Listen and find out now!

Would you dream of reading 300 pages about the actor who played Freddy?

This year the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise turns 40 years old, and Now Playing host Arnie has been celebrating all month by revisiting the classic slasher series. As part of that personal retrospective he has read and reviewed Freddy Krueger star Robert Englund's 2009 autobiography:  Hollywood Monster: A Walk Down Elm Street with the Man of Your Dreams. Does Englund dream up new tales to entertain people who have been fans for decades? Is there more to the man than just the makeup? You can find out by hearing Arnie's bonus Halloween book review now!

Knull in Void

Tom Hardy has a Last Dance with his shadow self Venom as the symbiotic pair hot step across the country evading Chewitel Ejiofer (Serenity) and alien enthusiast Juno Temple (Ted Lasso) in the trilogy’s 2024 conclusion. Is there something extra about the black ooze E.T. that makes him a target for both the US military and imprisoned space elf Andy Serkis?  And are the bickering fugitives better off locked up in Area 51 rather than trying to get from a Mexican dive bar to a Lady Liberty photo op with a pack of monsters on their tail? Listen and Find Out Now!

Bad To The Lucky Bone

Who is The Crooked Man who dares to make a Hellboy sequel without Ron Perlman, Guillermo del Toro, or even David Harbour?  Why it’s creator Mike Mignola, bringing his original comic book vision of the character to the screen for the first time!  But did the titular phantom steal all the coins from the production budget, leaving new star Jack Kesy (Baywatch) looking red from embarrassment at the threadbare special effects and creature designs?  Find out if Crank director Brian Taylor gives the franchise the shot of adrenaline it needs when you Listen Now!

The Lost Boys

Stephen King’s 1975 vampire novel Salem’s Lot won’t stay dead, coming back for a fourth time as a 2024 feature film exclusively on Max. So why did the studio lock this new effort from producer James Wan (The Conjuring) and writer/director Gary Dauberman (It Chapters 1 & 2) in a crypt for three years before exposing it to the light of day? And would they have more luck changing the title and peddling it as a remake of The Sandlot, given how much focus is put on 11-year-old boys at play?  Listen Now to learn if the end results are Pennywise or dollar foolish.

Born This Way

Joaquin Phoenix indulges in a Folie A Deux (aka “Madness of Two”) by restaging the Joker sequel as a musical duet with psycho fangirl Lady Gaga. Will the jury in his high-profile murder trial plug their ears once this incarcerated clown starts singing his defense in full makeup?  Or can lawyer Catherine Keener (Get Out) convince them that Arthur Fleck suffers from multiple personality disorder and never wanted to dance with the Devil in the pale moonlight as Gotham City burned?  Listen Now to find out if director Todd Phillips leaves the hosts crying or smiling.

I’d still take 8 years of civil war over 8 hours at the DMV

Rosario Dawson (Ahsoka) attempts to mend her broken family and America’s political divide in a post-apocalyptic Demilitarized Zone (aka DMZ) formerly known as Manhattan. Can she break the influence that tyrannical baby daddy Benjamin Bratt (Catwoman) has on their graffiti artist son Freddy Miyares (When They See Us) by backing political rival Hoon Lee (Banshee)? And can director Ava DuVernay (Selma) take an obscure DC/Vertigo comic book from 2005 and find new political relevance for today’s streaming audience? Eyes Forward Love to find out now!

Roll Models

The story of Autobots and Decepticons begins with the 2024 animated epic Transformers One. What makes lowly miner droid Orion Pax (Chris Hemsworth) so optimistic that he will find the Matrix of Leadership and lead his cog-less peers to a new destiny on the surface of Cybertron?  And how does his friendship with bestie Brian Tyree Henry (Into The Spider-Verse) transform into such a bitter rivalry?   Listen Now to find out how well Hasbro incorporates Scarlett Johansson, Jon Hamm, Keegan-Michael Key, and Steve Buscemi into their iconic toy line.

The Silence of the Low Men

Stephen King tries his hand at touching coming-of-age drama with the 2001 adaptation of Hearts In Atlantis. So why are the Now Playing Podcast hosts so terrified by the stranger danger posed to 11-year-old Anton Yelchin (Star Trek) by neighbor Anthony Hopkins? Is single mother Hope Davis (American Splendor) smart to leave her son unsupervised with this supernatural tenant and trust that his fatherly lessons in gambling and kissing girls won’t get the pair into trouble with the FBI agents swarming small town Connecticut? Listen Now, and don’t miss a minute of it.

”I’m Ready for My Close-Up, Mr. Murnau”

The silent movie Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror may be a counterfeit version of Dracula, but it boasts the most authentic undead performance in cinema history, according to Shadow of the Vampire. Has director John Malkovich made a pact with the devil by casting actual bloodsucker Willem Dafoe as his lead actor?  And will co-stars Catherine McCormack (Braveheart) and Eddie Izzard (Ocean’s 13), along with crew Cary Elwes (Saw) and Udo Kier (Andy Warhol’s Dracula), be sacrificed in the artistic pursuit of ultimate realism? “Iris In” and Find Out Now!

Little Miss Sunset

Six kidnappers abduct Abigail in a get-rich-quick scheme that backfires once they realize the wee ballerina is Dracula’s Daughter. Can ex-junkie Melissa Berrera (Scream), bad cop Dan Stevens (Legion), hacker Kathryn Newton (Quantumania), wheelman Angus Cloud (Euphoria), muscle Kevin Durand (Locke & Key), and sniper William Catlett (Black Lightning) find a way out of this babysitting bloodbath?  And does directing team Radio Silence revive the Universal Monsters brand better than the recent Renfield and Last Voyage of the Demeter? Listen Now!

My Body, Main Course

Will it be another cannibal holocaust for tweeting college activists after their 2015 plane ride crashes into the very same Green Inferno that Ruggero Deodato documented in his notorious 1980 found footage shocker?  Director Eli Roth (Thanksgiving) certainly isn’t letting these social justice warriors off any hooks or impaling sharp objects as they attempt to live-stream a stand-off between an oil company destroying the rainforest and a local tribe of headhunters. Find out if Final Girl Lorenza Izzo, and the Now Playing hosts, can withstand the abuse now.

No Animals Weren’t Harmed In The Making Of This Movie

Four documentary filmmakers disappear into the “green inferno” of the Amazon rainforest and end up the main dish in a Cannibal Holocaust. But will the recovered footage of their final moments in the jungle actually prove that modern-day Americans are the real savages?  And why is porn star Robert Kerman the only one arguing that snuff films shouldn’t air on prime-time television?  Find out if Arnie, Stuart, and Jakob taste like chickens as they dish on Italian splatter director Ruggero Deodato’s notorious 1980 found footage landmark  Listen Now!