After the mixed reception to A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge, the franchise turned to series creator Wes Craven and original star Heather Langenkamp. As our eight-part Freddy-led mega-series continues, we arrive at 1987's fan-favorite A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors. Podcaster Deanna Chapman joins us to discuss how directo…

You'll believe podcasters can podcast as NostalgiaCast takes flight with SUPERMAN, Richard Donner's 1978 super-hit starring Christopher Reeve, Gene Hackman, and Marlon Brando. Jonny and Darin are joined by Chris Scalzo of The First Run and ScreenRun podcasts for a discussion of the story structure, special effects, music score, and sincerity that n…

How do you follow a classic like A Nightmare on Elm Street? That was the task director Jack Sholder and star Mark Patton faced with A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge. Released less than a year later, the sequel dared to do something darker and very different, with wildly mixed results. Brandon Stanwyck of Fearsome Queer helps us break d…

Chucky made some friends. Ash got groovy with Deadites. Now it's time for Freddy Krueger to slash his way into the spotlight, as we kick off Franchise Detours' first horror mega-series since 2021 with an in-depth chat about writer/director Wes Craven's 1984 classic A Nightmare on Elm Street. In keeping with tradition, screenwriter/actor Bri Azmoude…

As we raise our glasses to the final installment of the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, Franchise Detours dives into the bittersweet, otherworldly journey of 2013's The World’s End. The film ends the series with a poignant commentary on friendship, nostalgia, and the inescapable march of time. Robert Stewart of Stew World Order joins the show to d…

Welcome, all you baddiwad malchicks and ptitsas! Grab a glass of Moloko Plus and get ready for a bit of the old ultra-violence as NostalgiaCast shares a few choice slovos about Stanley Kubrick's dystopian crime classic, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, based on the novel by Anthony Brugess. Jonny and Darin tackle the controversies surrounding the film, whether …

Continuing our genre-blending trek through the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, we’re locking and loading for a deep dive into the explosive Hot Fuzz. Armed with sharp wit and a barrage of bullets, this entry takes aim at action movie conventions with a dash of murder mystery thrown in. Joining us is Lauren Robinson of the Beer’d Al Podcast. We’ll …

Just as the zombie genre returned to life, Shaun of the Dead emerged as a cult classic that redefined the landscape of horror-comedy. As we dissect the intricacies of the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy in our latest mega-series, we delve into the film that set the tone for Edgar Wright's signature work. Clare Brunton of W-Rated joins us to shed li…

Celebrate 8 years and 100 episodes of NostalgiaCast as Jonny and Darin journey (at last!) to a galaxy far, far away for a discussion of George Lucas's o.g. STAR WARS Trilogy. Author R.J. Craddock sits in the gunner's seat for a lively chat about the movies' impact on countless filmmakers and film nerds, and how the 1997 Special Editions either did …

GREASE is the word (is the word that you heard) as NostalgiaCast returns to Rydell High for a boppier, bouncier-than-expected discussion of what is arguably the quintessential '70s musical, directed by Randal Kleiser and starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. Jonny and Darin chat about the energetic performances, irresistible songs, and R-r…

It took 98 episodes and double-oh-seven-and-a-half years for Jonny and Darin to talk about a James Bond film, but NostalgiaCast finally tackles everyone's favorite tuxedo-wearing, license-to-kill-bearing sex pest with THE SPY WHO LOVED ME, starring 007 as Roger Moore. Popcorn Digest co-hosts Gareth Green and Andrew Raphael lend their Bond expertise…

I love the smell of napalm in the morning! Journey up the Nùng River with Jonny and Darin as they take a psychedelic look back at Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 epic APOCALYPSE NOW, starring Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall, and Marlon Brando. But is this the Vietnam War movie to end all Vietnam War movies, 45 years after the fact? Or is the controversy ab…

Look to the skies as NostalgiaCast attempts to make contact with Steven Spielberg's CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND. Paperback Flicks hosts R.J. Craddock and Rae Davidson join Jonny and Darin for an out-of-this-world discussion of the groundbreaking FX, overly overlapping dialogue, and sense of awe and wonder that permeates Spielberg's 1977 magn…

Scoot and boot! Childhood friend Jason Payne makes his fourth token appearance on NostalgiaCast for a discussion of Carroll Ballard's 1979 children's classic THE BLACK STALLION, starring Kelly Reno, Teri Garr, Mickey Rooney, and Hoyt Axton (or, as Jonny calls him, "the guy from GREMLINS"). Listen as Jason, Jonny, and Darin speak in awed reverence a…

For the latest episode of NostalgiaCast '70s Palooza, Jonny and Darin tackle the faux-documentary / biography / proto-YouTube video essay that is Orson Welles's F FOR FAKE. They talk about the movie as an examination of authorship over art, Welles's (brazen but ultimately unsuccessful) attempts to explode the documentary form, and how a story of ch…

NostalgiaCast '70s Palooza heads back to the '60s for a discussion of AMERICAN GRAFFITI, from indie director George Lucas. Crank up your radios and bop along to the beat as Jonny and Darin chat about the nonstop parade of music and muscle cars that permeate this rock 'n' roll coming-of-age tale. But is it a fun and breezy time at the movies, or the…

Oo-de-lally, what a day! Jonny and Darin venture into Sherwood Forest to discuss the anthropomorphic action of Disney's ROBIN HOOD, with special guest Stephen J. Anderson, director of MEET THE ROBINSONS and WINNIE THE POOH! (I know, right?) Listen as they get to reminiscin' and this-n-thattin' about the 1970s as a transitional period for Walt Disne…

NostalgiaCast '70s Palooza continues with a look back at Michael Cimino's harrowing epic drama THE DEER HUNTER, which tries to out-GODFATHER THE GODFATHER with elongated, lugubrious wedding sequences and a shakedown of American idealism. Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep, Christopher Walken, and the late, great John Cazale star in a tale about working-c…

It's "Leave the gun, take the cannoli," "Go to the mattresses," and "I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse" as Jonny and Darin kick off a 1970s-centric season of NostalgiaCast with a look back at Francis Ford Coppola's THE GODFATHER. We talk about the characters, story structure, cinematography, and directorial choices that make up what is ar…

Just when you thought Dark Phoenix put an underwhelming bow on the Fox era of X-Men movies, The New Mutants comes along to further complicate the franchise's legacy. In this BONUS episode to our mega-series following the X-Men movie franchise, we'll go in-depth on the oft-forgotten 2020 film. On paper, The New Mutants should have been an easy win. …

NostalgiaCast returns for a special Halloween episode in which we brave Michael Jackson's THRILLER, arguably the greatest music video of all time. Cue up the link below and watch along with Jonny and Darin as they provide a running commentary for the event that made them lifelong horror fans and forever cemented Jackson as an icon. You're in for a …

Our X-Men mega-series comes to a close (or does it?) with 2019's Dark Phoenix, as the franchise takes a second stab at one of the comics' most iconic storylines. With X-Men: The Last Stand far behind him, can first-time director Simon Kinberg (who cowrote that 2006 movie) right past wrongs? Darin Lundberg of NostalgiaCast joins us to unravel the my…

The claws are out and the adamantium is gleaming as we dive into the final chapter in the Wolverine trilogy. Hugh Jackman's iconic portrayal of the mutant hero faced a bumpy road in his solo films. But was 2017's Logan, featuring returning The Wolverine director James Mangold, worth the wait? Fans wondered if they'd ever see the character's true po…

In a harmonious double feature, Close Watch continues venturing through the world of movie musicals with an in-depth breakdown of both the 1961 classic West Side Story and Steven Spielberg's 2021 remake. Does the Oscar-winning original still hold up, and was its update worth the creative risk? Darin Lundberg of NostalgiaCast joins us in this melodi…

In a special bonus episode of NostalgiaCast '90s Palooza, returning guest Jason of @BingeMovies takes us on a guided tour of the many films that inspired and were inspired by the most unsung of movie directors, the late, great(?) Albert Pyun! We talk about his Menahem Golan-produced 1990 masterwork(?) CAPTAIN AMERICA, and its legacy that lives on i…

After exploring time travel and creating a shared universe with X-Men: Days of Future Past, where could the sequel go next? Why, the gods, of course! For better or worse, 2016's X-Men: Apocalypse pits the Marvel mutants against their most formidable enemy yet: a big, blue Oscar Isaac. In this episode, Clare Brunton of W-Rated helps us uncover the t…

After The Avengers, superhero cinema has never been the same. Suddenly, everything needed to be interconnected, featuring tons of characters and an increasingly complicated timeline. Naturally, the X-Men series retroactively created its own shared universe of sorts with X-Men: Days of Future Past. Fourteen years after the first film, director Bryan…

Hugh Jackman's Wolverine has always been a fan favorite. But X-Men Origins: Wolverine called into question whether the mutant hero would get the opportunity to carry more than a single solo film. Thankfully, Jackman's desire to take Logan to Japan paid off in the form of 2013's The Wolverine. Adapting one of the character's most popular storylines,…

X-Men Origins: Wolverine was meant to slash open a whole new avenue for the X-Men movie franchise. Yet, despite its commercial performance, the tepid reception ultimately led the series to take another approach: going back to basics with a fresh start on the whole mutant saga. In hindsight, it might seem like 2011's X-Men: First Class was always me…

Despite the less-than-enthusiastic response from fans and critics, 2006's trilogy-ending X-Men: The Last Stand did at least offer fans something of a sense of closure (that final shot and post-credits scene notwithstanding). But it also outperformed its two predecessors at the box office. So it didn't take long for Fox to begin exploring ways to ex…

We interrupt your regularly scheduled mutant superhero mega-series already in progress for, well, another mutant superhero mega-series. It's time to dip back into the sewers for a return to the world of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Seven years have passed since the latest franchise revival fizzled out with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the …

NostalgiaCast wraps up its totally fly season of '90s Palooza as Jonny and Darin recap their favorite episodes, gush about their guests, and drop their Top 10 films of the decade! The journey has been all that and a bag of chips! And there's still so much to come!By Jonny Craddock, Darin Lundberg

Plug back into THE MATRIX as Robert Yaniz Jr. of Crooked Table Productions joins us for a season-capping conversation about the sci-fi action extravaganza that not only capped off the '90s but also inspired films and filmmakers for decades to come. We talk about THE MATRIX's groundbreaking FX, its influence on fashion and fringe groups, and how Lan…

Crank up The Cranberries, boot up your computer, and begin that sloooooow dial-up to the internet, as NostalgiaCast '90s Palooza kicks it with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in YOU'VE GOT MAIL! Film critic Megan Kearns joins Jonny and Darin to chat about the capitalism, kindness, and human connection that permeates Nora Ephron's romantic comedy classic. Lo…

Our X-Men mega-series continues, spanning 10 films and nearly 20 years. Following the success of X2: X-Men United, the franchise takes its first major shift. Director Brett Ratner (Rush Hour) steps in to helm 2006's polarizing X-Men: The Last Stand. But is it a satisfying finale to the original trilogy of mutant adventures? Or is the film the X-Men…

Welcome back, fellow mutant enthusiasts! As we celebrate the 23rd anniversary of the X-Men film franchise, we continue our journey through the groundbreaking series that revolutionized the superhero genre. In this episode, we dive deep into the sequel that took everything we loved about the first film and elevated it to new heights: 2003's X2: X-Me…

It is the east, and NostalgiaCast '90s Palooza is the sun as Jonny and Darin do battle with the Bard and SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, directed by John Madden (no, not THAT John Madden) and starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, and Geoffrey Rush. We chat about the movie's controversial Oscar run, Anti-Stratfordian conspiracies, sweeping romance, and non…

Twenty-three years have passed since the mutants of Marvel Comics made their big-screen debut. And it's an understatement to say the cinematic landscape has itself mutated since X-Men hit theaters. So on this 23rd anniversary of the film that started it all, we're taking a look back at Fox's dearly departed mutant saga with a mega-series covering 1…

Walt Disney is a name that has become synonymous with family entertainment. But back when Disney himself was running the company, the studio was pushing the boundaries of feature animation. And perhaps few films are as much of a testament to that as 1940's Fantasia. Brian Skutle of Sonic Cinema joins the show to discuss that film's ground-breaking …

Strap your rocket pack to your back as NostalgiaCast '90s Palooza takes to the skies with THE ROCKETEER, Joe Johnston's serial cliffhanger comic book throwback from 1991. Billy Campbell, Jennifer Connelly, and a scenery-gnawing Timothy Dalton star in this Indiana Jones-ish adventure that crashed and burned at the box office, and critic / Disney-phi…

Throughout the 2000s and 2010s, mainstream comedies were dominated by just one man: Judd Apatow. As a writer, director, and/or producer, Apatow was behind many of the biggest hits of the era, including classics such as Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Superbad, Bridesmaids, The Big Sick, and -- as we've previously discussed -- The 40-Year-Old…

Grab your spaghetti with marinara sauce and your f**kin' shinebox as NostalgiaCast '90s Palooza continues with a fond look back at GOODFELLAS, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Lorraine Bracco, and Joe Pesci. Hear Jonny and Darin geek out over the acting, shot choices, and messaging of what might be Scorsese’s gre…

Every episode, Close Watch gives us the chance to get to know our guest through the movie they love. But more recently, the show has sharpened its focus on the wide world of movie musicals. And after the man-eating plant of Little Shop of Horrors and the cultural celebration of In the Heights, musical icon Gene Kelly has officially entered the chat…

It's face ON as NostalgiaCast '90s Palooza continues with a fond look back at FACE/OFF, directed by Hong Kong action maestro John Woo and starring John Cage and Nicolas Travolta! Film critic Sara Michelle Fetters joins Jonny and Darin to discuss the spectacular two-gun gunplay and deeper emotional underpinnings of Woo's finest American film. Let th…

After nine films and three different incarnations, our Planet of the Apes mega-series ends here. We went in-depth on the original five-film series, dug up the oft-maligned Tim Burton "reimagining," and now we conclude our discussions on the recent reboot trilogy starring Andy Serkis as Caesar. David Rosen of Piecing It Together joins us to discuss …

Prior to its release, no one quite knew what to make of Rise of the Planet of the Apes. But after it became one of 2011's biggest surprise hits, it was clear just how much life was left in the decades-old sci-fi franchise. With its sequel, returning star Andy Serkis and director Matt Reeves (Cloverfield, Let Me In) raised the emotional stakes and s…

Woman... woe-man... whoooa, man! Author R.J. Craddock returns to the 'Cast to chat with Jonny and Darin about Thomas Schlamme's 1993 cult comedy SO I MARRIED AN AXE MURDERER, starring Mike Myers as a beat poet and serial relationship-phobe who also can't seem to treat dramatic scenes very seriously. But does all our talk about over-sized espresso c…

A full decade after director Tim Burton's "reimagining" of Planet of the Apes, the franchise seemed pretty much done. Hollywood turned its attention to other movie series, but after both Batman and Bond successfully relaunched by taking its iconic worlds back to basics, Fox ultimately took the same approach with one of its most successful brands of…