Now Playing -- The Movie Review Podcast

Reigning Dream Master Alice knocked out Kruger the last time, only to find herself knocked up with an unborn son whose prenatal naps mean preternatural nightmares for the teenage baby mama and her graduating Springwood friends. Does this latest chapter deliver a Super Freddy movie or become an unworthy heir to the ongoing Nightmare On Elm Street series? Listen to find out!

In 1987 Freddy was the Box Office Master by scaring up more money than he ever had before, and so in 1988, rushed into production despite such obstacles as a writers strike, Freddy was back again to face a new crop of Springwood teens. Freddy had a new funny, action-oriented feel, and it became Freddys top-grossing solo film, but does box office reflect quality? Listen to find out!

Freddy is back and bigger than ever! (literally. He is taller than a four-story building) And also back are John Saxon and Heather Langenkamp from the first Nightmare on Elm Street movie, and they are set for an epic showdown with the dream stalker. Is this the horror film of your dreams or just another sloppy sequel? In the name of Lowrek, Prince of Elves, listen and find out!

1, 2, Freddy's coming for you! The reboot of A Nightmare on Elm Street hits theaters April. You can start getting ready now with the hosts of Now Playing as we revisit and review all the films in the Nightmare on Elm Street series. A Nightmare on Elm Street burned up theaters in 1984, so New Line was quick to respond to audience demand with Freddys Revenge. Now Freddy uses the body of new Elm Street resident Jesse to find all new victims! But is this movie hot, hot, hot or just another cold shower with coach? Listen to find out!

1, 2, Freddy's coming for you! The reboot of A Nightmare on Elm Street hits theaters April. You can start getting ready now with the hosts of Now Playing as we revisit and review all the films in the Nightmare on Elm Street series. In this first episode, we see Johnny Depp's big screen debut as Freddy Kruger haunts four teens in this seminal horror classic. Listen now, and whatever you do...don't fall asleep!

Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio are back (as is Leo's Bah-stan accent) in this noir thriller about an island that serves as a residence for the criminally insane. Scorsese's most commercial feature since Cape Fear, listen as Stuart, Arnie, and Jakob tell you if this is a movie you'd be crazy to miss!

Jack Nicholson. Alec Baldwin. Martin Sheen. Matt Damon. Leonardo DiCaprio. It's an all-star cast, but how well can these movie icons fake a Bah-stan accent? We get to find out in The Departed, Martin Scorsese's first organized crime film since Goodfellas. This is the film that finally won Scorsese his Oscar, but does the film deserve it or was Scorsese just given a de facto "Lifetime Achievement Award"? Arnie, Jakob, and Stuart have watched the film, so listen 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.  George Lucas's Blockbusting may sound like a book chronicling George Lucas's rise to box office dominance, first through his Star Wars films, and then through Indiana Jones and the other movies he's been a part of; however, this book is actually a cultural and financial look at movies through history, including what Lucas and the editors deemed the 300 "Blockbuster" movies from 1913 through 2005. On this Now Playing Podcast Book Review, Arnie interviews Alex Ben Block to discuss ho

Howard Hughes--director, engineer, nut-job, AVIATOR. Martin Scorsese re-teamed with Leonardo DiCaprio for their second film, a biopic about eccentric millionaire Howard Hughes and the result is a stylistic, three hour opus. Is this film the Spruce Goose of Oscar Bait, or can it take flight? Listen to Stuart, Arnie, and Jakob's review to find out!

Only a year after the events of 9/11 Martin Scorsese released a film about the people who built New York--Gangs of New York. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Daniel Day-Lewis, this film had Oscar Bait written all over it, and with Cameron Diaz thrown in audience turnout was assured as well. But how well does the movie work, and does it help Leo recover from his post-Titanic career haze? Listen to find out!

Now Playing is taking a trip Back to the Future! Join us as Brock, Stuart and Arnie take a look back and discuss all three films in this beloved time-travelling comedy adventure series. We conclude our series with Back to the Future Part III, released in 1990, where Marty travels to the Old West to save Doc Brown from Mad Dog Tannen's bullet in his back. Does this series end with a hootenanny, or does this movie have us wanting to stick our heads in a water trough? Listen in and find out!

Now Playing is taking a trip Back to the Future! Join us as Brock, Stuart and Arnie take a look back and discuss all three films in this beloved time-travelling comedy adventure series. We continue our series with the first sequel Back to the Future Part II, released in 1989, where Marty and Doc travel to the future, the past, and then further in the past, all to prevent Biff from using the time machine for his own gain. Does this sequel have 1.21 gigawatts of goodness, or does this movie leave us wanting less? Listen in and find out!

Now Playing is taking a trip Back to the Future! Join us as Brock, Stuart and Arnie take a look back and discuss all three films in this beloved time-travelling comedy adventure series. We start our retrospective series with the modern-day classic Back to the Future. Has the original movie stood the test of time, or have Marty and Doc outstayed their welcome in pop culture history? 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.  Stephen King's latest work, Under the Dome, is his third-longest novel to date, bested in page count only by his classic works The Stand and It. Does this new novel, about a small Maine town cut off from the rest of the world by an unseen force, meet the standards of those books? Listen to find out in this totally spoiler-free review! (Note: There is a spoiler-ish conversation AFTER the review regarding one of the book's larger plot twists, but you will have plenty of warning so yo

12 years after his last theatrical release, "King of the world" James Cameron is back and once again astounding audiences with bleeding edge special effects in his new epic Avatar, boasting some of the best 3-D filmmaking ever. Does the movie live up to the hype? Is the story worthy of the technology? Arnie, Marjorie, and Stuart critique this film, so listen to find out!

Jigsaw's work is almost complete, but from beyond the grave he must attack some of the nation's biggest problems: predatory mortgage lenders and insurance adjusters. Republicans and Democrats agree that Jigsaw's "public option" is a little too extreme, but do viewers? Listen to find out! And after deconstructing Saw VI we reflect on the Saw series as a whole.

There is a new Jigsaw, and worse he's being hailed as a hero by the police of Generic City. But FBI Agent Strahm is hot on his trail. Will Strahm succeed where Danny Glover failed? Meanwhile, the team building experience from hell for a group of people involved in urban development. Listen to find out what it all means on the latest episode of our Saw movie retrospective series!

At the end of Saw 3 Jigsaw was killed, so why is Donnie Whalburg the New Kid on the Ice Block with a noose around his neck, and will Officer Rigg learn Jigsaw's lesson in time to save him? More importantly, is it worth the viewer's time to see a Saw film without John Kramer as the killer? Listen to find out!

"Jigsaw" John Kramer is dying of a brain tumor, and it's up to Dr. Lynn Denlon to keep him alive while they watch Jigsaw's latest victim Jeff go through a series of tests. Why would Lynn help Jigsaw? Well if Jigsaw's heart stops the bomb strapped to Lynn's head will explode. It's the most intricate Saw movie yet, and we review it on Now Playing!

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.  Indiana Jones is back! With the revival of the Indiana Jones franchise in 2008, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the original novelized adventures of Indy continue with Indiana Jones and the Army of the Dead. Taking place between the 3rd and 4th Indiana Jones movies, we get to see our hero back in action. But as Crystal Skull did not appease many fans of the franchise, will the book fare better? Choose wisely...listen to our review!