Now Playing -- The Movie Review Podcast

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! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nowplayingpodcast/support

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! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nowplayingpodcast/support

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! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nowplayingpodcast/support

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! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nowplayingpodcast/support

FORREST GUMP's Gary Sinise is a scientist developing a bomb to eradicate alien invaders, who has the tables turned on him when he is accused of being a robotic assassin sent to blow up Earth's warmongering leader. Originally planned as a half hour short but expanded to feature length, can IMPOSTOR fool our Now Playing critics with its newly added storylines or will they cut its ambitions down to size? Listen in and find out! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nowplayingpodcast/support

In 1995, ROBOCOP star Peter Weller signed up for more cybernetic carnage playing the leader of a space colony overrun by war machines originally designed to protect them from a human enemy. Will fans of Philip K Dick's "Second Variety" scream with delight or howl in pain at this low budget Canadian curiosity? Listen in and find out! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nowplayingpodcast/support

In 1990, Philip K Dick's "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" fuelled a rocket to Mars for action star Arnold Schwartzenegger, landing him one of his biggest box office successes and most complicated acting challenges. Is Ahnold the good guy liberating a Martian colony from tyranny, the bad guy sleeper spy, or a crazy man on a head-trip vacation gone very wrong? More importantly, does TOTAL RECALL decide if it's going to be forgettable action schlock or subversively smart sci-fi? Listen in and find out! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nowplayingpodcast/support

Harrison Ford took a break from STAR WARS and INDIANA JONES to play cynical bounty hunter Rick Deckard in an expensive adaptation of Philip K Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?". A flop in 1982, BLADE RUNNER's cult following has grown in the subsequent decades as new edits of the movie offer expanded interpretations of Deckard's real identity. Does Ridley Scott's vision pass the hype test with our hosts, or will they retire it from the list of great sci-fi flicks? Listen and find out! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nowplayingpodcast/support

Over 27 years after an original film that Disney desperately hopes you don't remember all that well, Tron Legacy hits theaters in a big way. A film generating a lot of buzz and interest in a holiday movie season that is largely considered lackluster, hopes for Tron Legacy are high. With state of the art 3-D visuals and playing heavily on Gen X nostalgia, is Tron Legacy the upgrade from the original that Arnie, Jakob, and Brock were hoping for, or does it still fail to compile? Listen in and find out! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nowplayingpodcast/support

Another holiday season podcast coming to you, as a thanks from us at Now Playing to you for helping nominate us for a Podcast Award at podcastawards.com --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nowplayingpodcast/support

A black little package for under your tree this holiday season, as a thanks from us at Now Playing to you for helping nominate us for a Podcast Award at podcastawards.com --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nowplayingpodcast/support

Light Cycles. Neon Frisbees. Arcade games. These are the iconic and nostalgic images that come to mind when you think of Tron, Disney's "ahead of its time" 1982 cult classic that had Jeff Bridges as a cyberspace messiah almost 20 years before Keanu Reeves as Neo. With the upcoming sequel, Tron Legacy, being released in theaters, Disney is banking on viewer nostalgia, but beyond those images how well do you remember Tron? Disney is intentionally downplaying the original film, so to ensure your memory meets all system requirements for Tron Legacy, boot up this episode of Now Playing with Arnie, Brock, and Jakob! Is Tron an unappreciated classic that audiences should replay or are our hosts just waiting for the game over screen? Listen in and find out! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nowplayingpodcast/support

20 Years after Rambo 3 crashed at the box office like a chopper into a tank, John Rambo returned to the big screen. Stallone, still in the afterglow of his acclaimed return as Rocky Balboa, reprised his other classic role of John Rambo, and this time he's going to Burma to give you a war you won't believe. Limbs, and children, are flying in this ultra-violent action event, but is this new Rambo for the 21st Century a return to the series better days, or should we have just left Rambo in Afghanistan in the 80's? Listen to Arnie, Brock, and Jakob to find out! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nowplayingpodcast/support

After Rambo First Blood Part II blew up at the box office like napalm on a waterfall it was inevitable that Stallone would reprise the role for another outing. This time, Rambo heads to war-torn Afghanistan, teaming up with the Afghan rebels to rescue his only friend, Colonial Trautman, and liberating the country from the Russian army in the process. Is this third film as dated as the cold war or more fun than sheep-carcass polo? Listen to this week's Now Playing with Arnie, Jakob, and Brock to find out! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nowplayingpodcast/support

In 1985 Stallone returned to theaters as Rambo. Rambo returned to Vietnam to rescue POWs. And now, Brock, Jakob, and Arnie return to Now Playing to review Rambo: First Blood Part II, and they get to win this time! Continuing our Rambo Retrospective series, we discuss all of Rambo 2, from the slimy government agent who leaves Rambo to die, to Rambo's exploding arrow heads. Was this film a welcome return to familiar territory, or was watching it like being strapped to an electrified bed frame? Listen in to find out! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nowplayingpodcast/support

John Rambo, as embodied by Sylvester Stallone, is arguably one of the biggest cinematic icons of the 1980s. Oscar-nominated for Rocky, Stallone's non-Rocky film career was on the ropes when Stallone signed onto this troubled production adapting David Morell's 1972 novel to film, but with a large explosion this would catapult Stallone to the action A-list and create a character that would not only endure on screen but off as well, with President Ronald Regan as one of Rambo's biggest admirers. Now join Now Playing as we watch and review these films! In our first installment we revisit the original Rambo film, First Blood. Is it the overblown, dumb action film stereotypical of the 80's or is it worthy of its place in cinematic history? Listen to Arnie, Brock, and Jakob's review to find out! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nowplayingpodcast/support

After Paranormal Activity upset Saw as the Horror King of Halloween last year, the makers of the Saw film franchise decided that the seventh installment of Saw would be the last, and to provide a new novelty they also jumped on the 3-D bandwagon. Arnie, Marjorie, and Jakob have reunited to finish their trial of reviewing the Saw films by giving more thought to Saw 3-D than the screenwriters did. Is this last piece in the Jigsaw puzzle satisfying? Listen to find out! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nowplayingpodcast/support

After Platinum Dune's Texas Chainsaw Massacre reboot cut deep in the box office, another installment was inevitable, but with Leatherface left one-armed, and scene stealing R Lee Ermey's Sheriff Hoyt squashed like a Texas armadillo, where could the series go next? Platinum Dunes' answer was to make a prequel to their reboot, telling the origin story of the Hewett clan, including witnessing the birth of Leatherface, seeing how Ermey earned his sheriff's badge, and watching as the family dines for the first time on human flesh. Is this new film a tasty morsel to be savored, or just another rancid installment in a wayward horror franchise? Listen to find out! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nowplayingpodcast/support

When the fourth Texas Chainsaw Massacre was released quietly to video, it seemed Leatherface's terrorizing of Texas teens had been terminated. Only Michael Bay and his new production company Platinum Dunes gave Leatherface another look, deciding the time was right for a proper Texas Chainsaw Massacre reboot, bringing us a new Leatherface, a new group of teens, and a twisted new family lead by Full Metal Jacket hard-ass R. Lee Ermey as Sheriff Hoyt. This film launched Platinum Dunes' reputation as horror rehab, a reputation that is less than stellar after their reboots of Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street. Was their first attempt their best? Is this Arnie, Stuart, or Brock's favorite of Platinum Dunes' reboots? Listen to find out! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nowplayingpodcast/support

Now Playing has yet another bonus mid-week episode for you: The Social Network, which held the number 1 box office spot for its first two weeks! From David Fincher (Fight Club, Seven) and Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing), this film has an impressive behind-the-scenes pedegree that Arnie, Stuart, and Marjorie all had to see and review. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nowplayingpodcast/support