Now Playing -- The Movie Review Podcast

Oscar Isaac (Ex Machina) spends his days hawking trinkets at a museum gift shop, and his nights sleepwalking around the globe as a mummified mercenary named Moon Knight.  Should the scatterbrained crime fighter try to figure out his multiple personalities in a sanitarium run by Black Phone predator Ethan Hawke? Or is this white padded cell really a front for a doomsday cult bent on bringing a vengeful, crocodile-headed God down to Earth?  Listen Now as Arnie, Stuart, and Jakob balance the scales of Marvel’s latest Disney + series!

Bella Swan can’t wait to die so she can spend all future birthdays sucking face with vampire boyfriend Edward Cullen in the second Twilight novel. Will things end tragically between the odd couple once author Stephanie Meyer starts quoting Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet? And is Bella’s native friend feeling the pangs of puppy love, or the onset of a werewolf transformation? Find out what’s in the pages of New Moon when you join Team Jakob and Stuart!   

With all of the Toy Story seemingly told, Pixar rockets back into the past to give us a cinematic origin story for Buzz Lightyear voiced by Chris Evans. Can the cocky Space Ranger learn to work with a team of misfits after his arrogance maroons the mission on a planet crawling with deadly bugs, lethal vines, and killer robots?  And does Buzz have a friend in robotic cat Sox the same way he clicked with neurotic cowboy Woody?  Pull the string and hear podcasters Arnie, Jakob, and Stuart talk to infinity and beyond about this spin-off space opera.  Listen Now!  

Stephanie Meyer drove a stake into typical literary depictions of vampires when she published her 2005 bestseller Twilight.  What is it about Bella Swan that makes the chaste heroine so irresistible to every living and undead boy in Forks, Washington?  And was it a good look for suitor Edward Cullen to take off the Dracula cape and show off his sparkling personality?  Join Jakob and Stuart as they sink their teeth into this six-part blockbuster book series.  Listen Now! 

Kate Beckinsale steps away from the Underworld franchise so that her real life ex Michael Sheen can get some time in the sun as star of prequel Rise of the Lycans.  Did Bill Nighy start an eternal war when he adopted a werewolf cub destined to lead human slaves and wilderness beasts in an uprising against vampire aristocracy?  And does Death Dealer Rhona Mitra look enough like Selene to wear her iconic leather catsuit and indulge in more forbidden interspecies romance? Listen Now to find out what the hosts are “Lycan” about this third entry in the saga!

Scott Speedman may have morphed into the perfect halfbreed boyfriend for vampire Kate Beckinsale at the end of Underworld, but there has been no Evolution in her clan’s thinking when it comes to interspecies romance. Can the pair escape the nocturnal city and find a place for themselves within a primordial forest?  And what happens when winged Elder Marcus (Tony Curran) catches up with the Death Dealer, and learns where his Lycan brother is imprisoned?  The key to making sense of the sequel is listening to the latest Now Playing podcast.        

Long before Bella had to choose between vampire and werewolf boyfriends, Kate Beckinsale was two-fisting pistols to save star-crossed Lycan lover Scott Speedman from her judgey undead family in Underworld. Is the director of Live Free Or Die Hard a wise man for placing the story of Romeo & Juliet inside The Matrix? Or is Len Wiseman just a letch inventing excuses for getting his future wife out of corsets and into tight leather?  Find out if Jakob, Stuart, or Arnie stake a claim for The 2000s’ other fangs and fur Gothic romance when you Listen Now.  

Turns out Jack Nicholson did not forget Chinatown as advised, but pulled double duty 16 years later as director and star of the sequel The Two Jakes. Did Harvey Keitel hire our heartbroken private eye because he needs help confronting a duplicitous wife, or because the sting will provide cover when he murders a business partner? And how did the long lost daughter of Faye Dunaway wind up owning an LA suburb built atop an explosive reservoir of oil and gas?  Join kitty cats Jakob, Stuart, and Arnie as they follow the money down the well.  Listen Now!  

Jack Nicholson goes sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong in the Oscar-winning 1974 noir Chinatown. Can the private eye connect the dots between the missing girlfriend of a city official and LA’s vanishing water supply? Is femme fatale Faye Dunaway really falling for the gumshoe, or just taking Jake to the bedroom to stop him from seeing who’s drowning her hubby in the pool?  And why does tycoon John Huston want to be an orange farmer so bad? Get the full picture in a podcast your sister, your daughter, and the entire family can enjoy.  Listen Now!

11-year-old Charlie McGee might look like just another snowflake who can’t manage her emotions, but tell her she’s no Drew Barrymore and you’ve got a real Firestarter on your hands in 2022.  Is proud papa Zac Efron pushing his telekinetic daughter to make the right choices, and avoid being captured by Native American assassin Rainbird and The Shop?  Or will the next High School Musical end with a thermonuclear explosion?  Find out if Blumhouse has made a barbeque out of a classic novel when you listen to the latest Stephen King podcast.    

Dr. Strange presents the illusion that his latest Marvel movie is a routine affair, but In the Multiverse of Madness might actually be another zombie splatter comedy from Evil Dead director Sam Raimi. Can Benedict Cumberbatch’s callous sorcerer fix his relationship with Rachel McAdams, and save America (the country and the teenager) from the wrath of monster mom Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen)?  And is it possible there’s a reality where The Inhumans are cool?  Listen Now as Arnie, Stuart, and Jakob make their 28th incursion into the MCU.       

Jeremy Renner cuts his Yuletide New York vacation short after fangirl archer Hailee Steinfeld (Bumblebee) starts wearing his infamous Ronin suit to fight crime in the Disney Plus miniseries Hawkeye. Will the Marvel mercenary make it home for the holidays with only six days to defeat the Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio), new Black Widow Florence Pugh, a one-legged, deaf martial artist, and her entire Tracksuit Mafia?  And why does wife Linda Cardellini want her old Rolex wrapped up and under the tree so badly?  It’s Christmas in May when you Listen Now! 

Is The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent driving Nicolas Cage into a booze-fueled early retirement (or did he just make too many embarrassing flops)? Now the Oscar winner has to accept a humiliating offer to host a lavish birthday party for fanboy cartel leader Pedro Pascal.  Will those “nouveau shamanic” acting techniques be of any help to Agent Tiffany Haddish when the CIA needs Cage to play spy and free a kidnapped politician’s daughter held at a Mallorca compound? Listen Now as Stuart, Jakob, and Arnie face off with Nic’s latest crazy comedy.     

Nic Cage first used his “massive talent” to become an action star in the 1996 Michael Bay extravaganza The Rock. Can his Beatles-loving biochemist teach the original James Bond Sean Connery anything about being cool, as they team up to expel Ed Harris and his terrorists from Alcatraz?  Or will Candyman Tony Todd steal the show by launching a fleet of missiles loaded up with delicious-looking green gumballs of flesh-eating virus?  Listen Now to find out if Stuart, Jakob, or Arnie are ready to cut Cage some friggin’ slack, and let him out of movie jail.

Sega’s speedy mascot races back to movie theaters to offer an encore helping of attitude in Sonic The Hedgehog 2. This time the video game icon not only battles Jim Carrey’s mechanical contraptions and manic comic timing, but the oversized fists of new nemesis Knuckles (voiced by Idris Elba).  Are James Marsden’s days of being a helicopter parent over now that flying fox Tails is ready to lift the hedgehog to the next level?  Find out if this sequel receives any Blue Justice from the podcast hosts when you listen to the latest Now Playing Arcade installment.

Oscar-winning joker Jared Leto sinks his teeth into another comic book villain role as Morbius, a hematologist who turns into a “living vampire” after tinkering with bat DNA.  Can blood brother Matt Smith (Dr. Who) convince the superpowered physician to turn his back on humanity, and join him on a New York bender biting babes and breaking things?  Or will the good doctor accept Michael Keaton’s offer to take down Spider-Man in some future sequel instead? Find out how much the latest Marvel movie sucks for Arnie, Jakob, and Stuart when you Listen Now.    

Dolph Lungren trains young gamers to become masters of a zombie universe in Dead Trigger, the 2017 film adaptation of a popular first-person shooter made for smartphones.  Can a Disney star, an MMA fighter, and the no-longer-little rapper Lil’ Romeo blast their way to Terminal City, and rescue the scientist who can cure the outbreak? Or will Cyglobe CEO (and soap star) Tamara Braun whack them for posing a threat to her gun sales?  Help Justin, Arnie, and Stuart answer the call for another trying video game movie when you Listen Now!      

Michael Fassbender learns the homicidal impulses that landed him on Death Row in 2016 can be traced back to the Assassin’s Creed he pledged to free-will-loving vigilantes in 1492. Can Oscar-winning scientist Marion Cotillard (Inception) cure the convict of his violent ways simply by plugging him into holographic re-enactments of his past life hit jobs? Or does Jeremy Irons have nefarious reasons for footing this exorbitant 23AndMe bill? Find out why gamers have such animus for this big-budget adaptation of the popular Ubisoft title when you Listen Now!

  Yakuza director Takashi Miike tries his hand at a different type of video game adaptation by bringing Ace Attorney Phoenix Wright to the big screen. Can the rookie lawyer find the guilty parties in three interlocking murder trials simply by cross-examining parrots and debunking photographic evidence of lake monsters?  And will the fashion police level charges against all those gravity-defying hairdos on display in the courtroom?  Find out if Justin, Stuart, and Arnie offer objections to the latest entry in the Now Playing Arcade when you Listen Today!

Robert Pattinson spent the last two years suiting up as The Batman so that he might score a hit movie for DC, and rescue a Gotham City drowning in drugs, violent crime, and political corruption. Will his plans for urban renewal be thwarted by unhinged assassin The Riddler (Paul Dano), or mob henchman Oz “The Penguin” Cobblepot (Colin Farrell)? Or will Zoe Kravitz steal the show as a limber cat burglar with a soft spot for strays?  Jakob, Stuart, and Arnie can help you crack the code on this dense new Caped Crusader adventure.  Listen Now!