Now Playing -- The Movie Review Podcast

When Scream 3 came out, it was intended to be the last installment in the Scream series. While we know now that would prove to not be the case, in 2000 Scream 3 looked to be the conclusion of what original Scream writer Kevin Williamson said was always envisioned as a trilogy. And with film-geek Randy coming back from the grave (via videotape) to give us the rules of the trilogy, we know Ghostface is back. But this time Ghostface has gone Hollywood as he is stalking actors on the set of Stab 3, hoping to lure reclusive Sydney Prescott out of hiding. Is the meta-humor horror combination a winning one? Listen to Arnie, Marjorie, and Stuart to find out, and join us next week as we review the new release Scream 4!

Before it was a novella, it was a card game. In 2004, Decipher resurrected the gameplay of the ended Star Wars Trading Card Game and launched WARS, building a brand-new sci-fi universe with creative input from names like Michael Stackpole and John Howe. Gamers embraced it, but the line was short-lived, ending in 2005 before the world could fully unfold. Now that story continues in prose with Healers and Hunters by Nathan P. Butler, the first novella set in the WARS universe. For those who never cracked a single booster pack, can this book stand on its own? Does it reward longtime fans while welcoming newcomers, or is it too tied to a game most readers have never played? Join Arnie as he evaluates whether this expansion of the universe is worth your time.

Ghostface is back stalking Sydney and her friends, this time at Windsor College. In the script, screenwriter Kevin Williamson calls out that "by definition alone, sequels are inferior films". Does that statement hold true for the second installment of the Scream franchise? Listen to find out!

With Scream 4 coming out, it's time to follow the rules of a Now Playing Retrospective series and rule number 1 is Arnie, Stuart, and Marjorie are looking back at the entire Scream series, arguably the most popular horror franchise of the past 20 years. With Ghostface tormenting teens, including Neve Campbell, Jamie Kennedy, Rose McGowan, and Drew Barrymore, and directed by master of horror Wes Craven, does this film hold up 15 years later? Listen in to find out!

Just when you thought it was safe to read on the beach! Books & Nachos is now part of Now Playing Podcast. Before our book reviews were branded as Now Playing Podcast Book Reviews, they were released under a separate show called Books & Nachos. That podcast focused on book discussions, most of which tied directly into films we were covering on Now Playing Podcast. We’ve now merged those episodes into the main Now Playing Podcast feed for easier access and a complete archive. But these older episodes still have the original Books & Nachos intro and credits on those older recordings. You’ve seen the shark. But have you read the book that started it all? Before Spielberg made audiences afraid of the water, Benchley made readers afraid to turn the page. Now, in partnership with Now Playing Podcast’s Jaws retrospective, Stuart returns to dive into Peter Benchley’s bestselling novel. The core story may be familiar, but the tone, characters, and motivations are far darker and more complicated than the fi

He has no powers, no girlfriend, no cool outfit, but /Dave Lizewski can still Kick-Ass in the film directed by future X-Men First Class director Matthew Vaughn. With it's balance of humor and violence, and a foul-mouthed, violent 11-year-old Hit Girl courting controversy the film failed to catch on with mainstream audiences. But is this an underrated Kick-Ass film, or are we three for three with our Marvel Misfits retrospective series? Listen to the final episode in this first part of our Marvel Comic Book Movie Retrospective to find out!

Rising from the swamps comes a humanoid creature made of pure plant matter - Marvel's Man-Thing! A cult comic book character, Man-Thing was promoted to Marvel Movie Star in 2005 to capitalize on the popularity of Man-Thing's superhero peers the X-Men and Spider-Man. Premiering on the Sci-Fi channel, this film remains fairly unknown. Is it a treasure found underneath the murkiness of the swamps, or a fetid swamp plant that should be left to decompose? Listen to Stuart, Arnie, and Jakob to find out!

And you thought the MOVIE was bad..... This book review previously appeared in Issue 11 of Now Playing Podcast's sister podcast Marvelicious Toys. As that show is no longer, the review is published here as part of Now Playing. As we kick off Now Playing Podcast’s Marvel movie retrospective, Arnie turns to one of the strangest literary artifacts of the 1980s: the novelization of Howard the Duck. Written by humorist Ellis Weiner, this long-out-of-print paperback attempts to adapt George Lucas’s infamous cult film into prose, and in the process becomes something far stranger than a simple tie-in. From Hitchhiker’s Guide-inspired dueling narrators to extended satirical tangents skewering Reagan-era America, the book often seems less interested in Howard’s adventure than in mocking the very idea of adapting it. As Arnie recounts in his review, the result is a self-aware, occasionally hostile, and frequently baffling curiosity that seems to resent both its source material and its readers. Is this novelization a hid

Fresh off the success of Return of the Jedi, blockbuster movie producer George Lucas was thought to have the golden touch and be able to do no wrong, but Lucas has always been one to do the impossible. And in the late summer of 1986, Howard the Duck was laid into by critics and fans alike. Now, for the 25th anniversary of this legendary flop, Arnie, Stuart, and Jakob watch and review the film as the start of their Marvel Comics Movie Retrospective Series! Is the movie as bad as critics said, or like Lucas said, 25 years later is this film looked back upon fondly? Listen to find out!

Turn of the Dark, Turn on the Podcast These days, when Marvel makes headlines in 2011, it isn’t for Thor or Captain America. It's for a Broadway musical that seemed determined to crash harder than Gwen Stacy. Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark arrived with Bono and The Edge writing the songs, Julie Taymor of The Lion King producing, and a budget that keeps climbing as cast members keep falling. The show remains "in previews" just to try and staunch the flow of bad press, but this Broadway bomb has become infamous before most people ever saw it. But what about the fans? Marjorie, Arnie, and Stuart attended one of these preview performances to see the spectacle for themselves. Is this ambitious, aerial Spider-show a misunderstood marvel or a web of chaos? They’re here with an unfiltered, first-hand report. So Turn off the Dark... turn up the volume!

Potential New York senator Matt Damon finds more than paparazzi on his tail when attempts to date ballerina Emily Blunt disrupt the predestined order of the universe, and draw out a cosmic cleaning crew of grumpy old men determined to keep them apart. Can these two love birds prove that THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU has a romantic side? Listen in and find out!

Books & Nachos is now part of Now Playing Podcast. Before our book reviews were branded as Now Playing Podcast Book Reviews, they were released under a separate show called Books & Nachos. That podcast focused on book discussions, most of which tied directly into films we were covering on Now Playing. We’ve now merged those episodes into the main Now Playing Podcast feed for easier access and a complete archive. But these older episodes still have the original Books & Nachos intro and credits on those older recordings.  This week, Stuart examines “Adjustment Team,” the 1954 short story by Philip K. Dick that later inspired the film The Adjustment Bureau starring Matt Damon and Emily Blunt. Dick’s original tale is a tighter, more overtly metaphysical story about a man who glimpses the machinery behind reality and discovers that unseen bureaucrats quietly "adjust" events to keep the universe on schedule. With less romance and more existential dread than the film version, this original story explores

Books & Nachos is now part of Now Playing Podcast. Before our book reviews were branded as Now Playing Podcast Book Reviews, they were released under a separate show called Books & Nachos. That podcast focused on book discussions, most of which tied directly into films we were covering on Now Playing. We’ve now merged those episodes into the main Now Playing Podcast feed for easier access and a complete archive. But these older episodes still have the original Books & Nachos intro and credits on those older recordings.  This week, Stuart turns to The Golden Man, Philip K. Dick's 1953 short story that later inspired the Nicolas Cage thriller Next. Dick’s original tale is lean, strange, and far more unsettling than its Hollywood counterpart. Set in a post-nuclear future, it follows a mutant who can glimpse the immediate future and survives by instinct alone, hunted by a society that fears what it cannot control. Stuart explores how Dick uses this simple premise to examine evolution, fate, and humani

Nicolas Cage's movie choices can often be unpredictable, even to a psychic deity like Philip K Dick's The Golden Man. Was playing an omniscient mutant on the run a step in the right direction for the extravagant actor, or will his NEXT move bomb with the Now Playing critics? Listen in and find out!

Books & Nachos is now part of Now Playing Podcast. Before our book reviews were branded as Now Playing Podcast Book Reviews, they were released under a separate show called Books & Nachos. That podcast focused on book discussions, most of which tied directly into films we were covering on Now Playing. We’ve now merged those episodes into the main Now Playing Podcast feed for easier access and a complete archive. But these older episodes still have the original Books & Nachos intro and credits on those older recordings.  This week, Stuart examines A Scanner Darkly, the 1977 novel by Philip K. Dick that later inspired the rotoscope film adaptation directed by Richard Linklater and starring Keanu Reeves. Set in a near-future California ravaged by Substance D, Dick’s novel follows an undercover narcotics agent whose dual identities begin to collapse under addiction and surveillance. Written from personal experience, the book blends dark humor, paranoia, and tragedy into one of Dick’s most intimate and

Keanu, Wynona, and notorious Hollywood bad boys Woody Harrelson and Robert Downey Jr toon in and drop out in this trippily animated adaptation of Philip K Dick's autobiographical novel concerning chemical addiction in near-future Southern California. Does the Now Playing crew find substance to these druggie doodles or is A SCANNER DARKLY one long, bad trip. Listen in and find out!

Books & Nachos is now part of Now Playing Podcast. Before our book reviews were branded as Now Playing Podcast Book Reviews, they were released under a separate show called Books & Nachos. That podcast focused on book discussions, most of which tied directly into films we were covering on Now Playing. We’ve now merged those episodes into the main Now Playing Podcast feed for easier access and a complete archive. But these older episodes still have the original Books & Nachos intro and credits on those older recordings.  This week, Stuart continues our movie reviews of Philip K. Dick's Paycheck and discusses the original short story on which the movie is based. Dick’s 1953 short story is about a technician who trades his memory for a payout, only to discover he’s left himself a series of seemingly mundane objects instead of cash. As he pieces together why, the story unfolds into a tight, paranoid puzzle about free will, corporate control, and whether knowing the future is a gift or a trap. Later ad

Was it all about the PAYCHECK for matinee idol Affleck when he signed on to play a classically conflicted Philip K Dick character piecing together memories of a top secret assignment he completed before having his memory wiped? Or will he learn from past film flubs to forge a better future with director John Woo and botanist babe Uma Thurman? Listen in and find out!

Books & Nachos is now part of Now Playing Podcast. Before our book reviews were branded as Now Playing Podcast Book Reviews, they were released under a separate show called Books & Nachos. That podcast focused on book discussions, most of which tied directly into films we were covering on Now Playing. We’ve now merged those episodes into the main Now Playing Podcast feed for easier access and a complete archive. But these older episodes still have the original Books & Nachos intro and credits on those older recordings.  This week, Stuart turns to The Minority Report, Philip K. Dick’s 1956 novella that laid the groundwork for the later big-screen adaptation starring Tom Cruise and directed by Steven Spielberg. Long before glossy holograms and futuristic car chases, Dick’s original story presented a lean, unsettling premise: a justice system that arrests people for crimes they have not yet committed, based on the predictions of three precognitive mutants. But what happens when those predictions don’

In 2002, Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise synced heads to conjure a Philip K Dick vision of the future where a trio of psychics can convict murderers before a life is taken. But will Now Playing's threesome find the results of the powerhouse director/actor partnership a crime of confusion or a sci-fi classic? Listen in and find out!