Explore every episode of the podcast Grumpy Nostalgia: Second Look Cinema

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Killer worms with a side of Bacon. In the 90s, this was more than enough for us.  This week we're going the full six degrees of something-or-other trying to interpret this ridiculous 1990 B-movie.  Kevin Bacon's hair stars as Val, the garbage man turned worm basher.  Along for the ride is Fred Ward's Earl, who repeatedly ask us to pardon his French. And we do willingly.  Stick around to the end when the boys talk about their favorite B-Movies.  It B terrible.

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Everyone loves Keanu, but none of you listened to us talk about him in this episode the first time, so we're trotting it out again.  Maybe it was because we were only 10 episodes into our podcast career or, more likely, our enormous lack of talent that kept you all away. Either way; Who cares?  In this glorious 90s action flick we are constantly reminded of how cool things used to be in the movie theater.  Great stories, great acting, and no unnecessary CGI. Keanu and Sandy are cute as bugs and the ever whacked out Dennis Hopper keeps the joint hoppin for the entire two hrs.  Pop Quiz, hot shot. How do make an awesome action movie? Listen in to find out.

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We're going back to the stone age this week, which is appropriate in that the viewing experience feels like you're passing one.  Justin and Mike give their timid responses to the Flintstones in this brutal episode that test the very boundaries of their podcasting fortitude.

John Goodman and cast do their best, but a script that took 35 (!) writers 87 minutes to tell wins out in the end.  Only the strong survive indeed.  Thanks Darwin! 

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You want dinosaurs?  We got your dinosaurs right here.  Before there was Scarlett Johannsen in a 6th sequel to a movie, there was Goldblum.  And we were stuck with him.  While we'd personally watch Scarlett read the phone book for 2 hrs, in 1997 this dino epic was all the rage.  Speaking of rage, co-host Mike loses his cool at the very concept of this movie right away and that's always fun.  This one was one of our earlier episodes that no one ever listened to and as your punishment, we're trying it out one last time before it becomes extinct. (See what we did there?)

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We don't go to 11 here, but we come close.  This week were looking back at the glorious mockumentary Spinal Tap from 1984.  One of the greatest rock movies ever made was never really appreciated in its time (just like us). We all reveled in the pure, unadulterated hedonism of metal in the 80s and barely lived to tell the tale.  That's why our music was so good, it could potentially kill us.  But hey, we're sure Fallout Boy is dangerous nowadays too.

Drunk on nostalgia, were saving the best to the end with a wrap of of our favorite metal bands of all time.  Spoiler alert: there's not a single band on here formed after 1984, just like it should be.

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This week we're looking back at those amazing stores, venues and restaurants that we thought would never go away but now somehow have simply turned into T-Mobile stores. While we suckle at the teet of Amazon now, some of remember going shopping, playing in arcades and eating at 6000 calorie steak buffets.

If you ever played Frogger for an hour on one quarter, shot a 178 at the local putt putt, or gagged on Showbiz pizza, this one should be right up your alley.

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Our summer retro series comes to a merciful close with the headliner from hell, FACE/OFF from 1997.  By now we're sure you're Nic Caged out but hang in there for one more last heave of a movie.  This is easily in our top 5 favorite episodes of all time.  Cage and Travolta battle in a never-ending struggle to see who can chew the most scenery in every frame of this John Woo epic. Spoiler alert, the both win.  The only losers here are us.

Famous for the first installment of our infamous episode-ending segment "You Just Made the List, Pal!

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It's easy to say Con Air is a terrible movie.  So we do.  We say it a lot of times.

Thankfully its so full of stereotypes, overused tropes, and bile it makes for a great podcast.  In this week's special re-issue episode you get to listen to the boys really struggle to comprehend how this movie got made (in a fun way).  The first podcast episode that required overtime in order to sort everything out.  Alabama Nic is in rare form and you got Malkovich doing a turn as a whacked out serial killer.  Pure delight, especially when Steve Buscemi shows up trying to eat a little girl.

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The words "number 2" have never been more appropriate as we welcome the next movie of our special summer homage to Nic Cage with 1996's The Rock. Add in some Connery and his wigged, disproportionally-sized stuntman and we got ourselves a classic 90s action hit, y'all.

For some reason Nic is named Stanley Goodspeed. And there's poisonous gas.  That's should be enough for any of you.

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We kick off our special summer series dedicated to America's greatest living actor, Nic Cage, with 2000's Gone in 60 Seconds. This movie features 63 songs in 119 minutes which is important because it helps to drown out the dialogue.  Memphis Raines and the gang boost 50 cars in one night and the bad guy falls into a coffin and we haven't even got to the implausible stuff yet.  But Angelina Jolie looks great at least.

Remember - We're featuring 4 of these in the next 2 weeks because that's what we think you deserve!

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We had to go all the way back to the 70s to find a movie where Superman was actually cool and, man oh superman, does this one deliver.  Who needs crappy-looking CGI villains when you have the horrifying Ned Beatty and an ascot-wearing Gene Hackman.  Throw in some pre-meltdown Margot Kidder and the perennial whacked out Marlon Brando and this one writes itself.  We loved this one as boys and couldn't find a reason not to like it still.  But we give it our best shot anyway.

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We can all agree that music is generally getting worse, but the technology used to bring it to us is better than ever. Only it isn't. In this episode, the gang looks back at the wonderful ways we got our music.  From scratchy AM/FM radios to glorious vinyl.  From bulky cassettes to green sharpie'd CDs.  Ultimately leading to the cold, soulless streaming services that murdered it all.  We have not come to bury our 8-tracks, but to honor them.  Even better, this time we get mega vinyl collector @aron_gagliardo to sit in with us to help us sound slightly educated for once.

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Machines come back from the future to change the course of history but completely ignore eradicating Ed Hardy, Post-Grunge rock, and TikTok.  Arnold's back for another go on the podcast and he has 14 lines. But he kills 39 people so we can understand his priorities.  Make sure to stick around for the end of this one where we get a chance to comment on a very pretentious "Overrated Movies" internet list that seemed to be an intentional attack on our very being.  We get a little fussy.

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If you ever wanted to see a Ghostbuster jump out of a plane with a cigar-smoking talking gorilla, this is the movie for you!

This ridiculously dumb movie celebrates its 30th birthday this week and we felt compelled to pay homage. We were only a little over a year into our podcast journey when we decided to tackle this one and we were completely unprepared. And we have have the PTSD to prove it.

Add a dash of Bruce Campbell, Joe Don Baker, Jimmy Buffet (really!), and enough crappy accents thrown around and you almost don't mind the entire convoluted premise of the movie.  Almost.

Originally aired on July 2022, this one has always been one of our favorite, and most referenced movies since.  Don't call it a re-run, its been here for years, rockin' its peers, puttin' suckas in fear,

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We're celebrating Father's Day by keeping up with the Jones boys. We got gondolas, Nazis, River Phoenix, sewer rats, and a wig-free Connery just for starters. A perfect ending for the Indiana Jones trilogy.  Luckily, Hollywood decided not to ruin the legacy by releasing additional cash-grab movies after this one.  Oh, wait.

Stick around till the end for this one.  We pay homage to our dads by taking a look at their favorite movies.  For a couple of grumpy jerks, we can be surprisingly genuine and sentimental when we want to be.

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We're talking tv again, but this time were going primal.  Prime time tv from 1975 to 1985 was weird and wonderful and we were its willful prisoners.  With only 3 networks and I-Pads not even a figment of Steve Jobs imagination , we were forced to make the best of what we got.  And we got a lot. Chimpanzee truckers, grits kissin waitresses and Fonzie on water skis.  And that was just Tuesday night.

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Are we are too old to enjoy this movie? No.

Did we enjoy it anyway? Also no. 

Regardless, we truffle shuffled thru this one and had a blast.  Easily one of the most fun episodes we've ever done.  Did we mention Corey Feldman wears a Members Only jacket in this?

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Jean shorts volleyball. Only take away.
Actually we have a few more observations about this 80's blockbuster that cemented Tom Cruise at the top of the box office for the last 40 years.
Were not entirely sure if anything even happens in this movie, but there's a bunch of music and man nipples so it's not a total loss.
#topgun #maverick #goose #iceman #valkilmer #tomcruise #tonyscott #80s #80smovies #blammo #nostalgia #nostalgiamovie #comedypodcasts #retro #mst3k #dangerzone

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Wow. Just, wow.
A big, fake-looking snake vomits up monkeys and Jon Voight, all while out-acting the entire cast.
We have opinions.

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We built it.  Whether you come or not is still anyone's guess.  But you should because this is a good one.  We got the old Costner that everyone used to like in this sappy, but glorious baseball fable that makes most grown men shed a tear or two.  Add Darth Vader and Henry Hill and you got yourself a winner.

Stick around til the end where the boys, overwhelmed by gallons of sap, decide to explore other examples of egregious sentimentality in Hollywood. The list is long and embarrassing and we don't even bother mentioning The Notebook

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We have come to chew bubble gum and do a lousy podcast.  And we're all out of bubblegum.  We're going back to the 80s again this week to review the movie that launched a thousand memes.  Lotsa violence, synthesizers, and ghoulish alien yuppies on display here, but only if you're sporting those dope sunglasses.

Free tip: If Roddy Piper asks you to put them on, just do it.  Its the easiest way to avoid a beat down.  Trust us.

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Finally the special series no one was asking for!  The boys take a break from the movie theater this week to introduce their new nostalgia podcast series, ReMembers Only (get it, like the jacket?).

For the premier episode, we're looking back at the glorious era of late nite tv shows. Not the boring talk shows of today.  We talking Benny Hill, the Midnight Special, the Gong Show, and all the other disturbing television that warped young kids minds while in their pajamas and sleeping bags every weekend.

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There can be only one. 

As it turns out, "one" is probably too many based on our most recent viewing of this 80s sci-fi/fantasy epic!  Christopher Lambert stars as the immortal sword-wielding Scotsmen with a thick French accent hacking and slashing his way thru 80s New York.  Tagging along is our favorite be-wigged actor Sean Connery in purple pantaloons and peacock feathers. Add a dash of Queen's soundtrack, and you've got yourself a cult masterpiece.  Trust us.

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We got dragons L-I-V-I-N all over the place, y'all.  Harken back to 2002 for this wondrous movie starring Mac, Christian Batman, and Gerard Leonidas years before they became the subtle, nuanced character actors they are today.

We'll sweeten the deal by mentioning that were joined this week by  show favorite, @mollsmusings who actually suggested we cover this one.  We will be dealing with her later.

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feat. James Spader

that's it.  Please listen to this one.  We suffered to bring it to you

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It's double O hell no this week as the boys make their first pass at Bond movies.  We're not entirely sure what happened here, but like always, there's a supervillian bent on world domination, two Bond girls, and a crap ton of gadgets designed to kill people in original ways.  Not to mention waves and waves of easily accessible ladies along the way.
Endlessly fun throughout, but the sheer amount of camp and cheese left us very shaken (not stirred). 

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Happy New Year, y'all.  We're starting 25 with lots of chomp by reviewing one of the big 'uns, the OG Jurassic Park. Over 30 years old and not even a scratch on it.  Stick around til the end where the gang lovingly discuss things in Hollywood they wish would go extinct. Fun!
#jurassicpark #dino #1993 #blockbusters #trex #goldblum #podcast #nostalgia #mst3k 

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We're wrapping up 2024 with a very special movie picked by our new guest contributor @kevin_the_movie_guy.  Better yet, Kevin's sitting in for this one too!
We decided Santa could just go to hell for the time being because we wanna talk about 1996's From Dusk Til Dawn. It's a subtle little understated character study of a criminal and his sex predator brother fighting evil vampire strippers in a Mexican roadhouse.  Pass the eggnog!
Stick around til the end when we do a multigenerational review of the top movies from 2024, 1994, and 1984.  

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You're gonna like these apples for sure.  This week the boys are going back to 1997 to revisit this amazing take on the "troubled genius" theme that Hollywood loves so wicked much.  Watching hurts a little more this time knowing Williams isnt with us anymore, but luckily the Southie accents more than make up for it.
Spoiler!  The boys liked this one a lot and were really at a loss for words which, we suppose, is not very good for a podcast. Listen anyways, ya Barneys.

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We're looking back at a  Christmas movie that even our snarky GenX personalities cannot diminish.  Quotable, hilarious, and tolerantly sappy, Will Ferrel's portrayal as the 6'3" elf alone to his own devices in the Big Apple is a favorite among the Grumpy Nostalgia offices.  Plus Jimmy Caan. Plus Peter Dinklage. Plus the insufferably cute Zoey Deschanel. Grab your syrup and join us.  

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Gobble Gobble, y'all. 
We're so caught up in the holiday excitement preamble, we are using our precious studio time to wrap gifts and browse thru the Sears Christmas catalog making our lists for Big Red.
In the meanwhile, please revisit this lost episode that no one really bothered listening to the first time.  We really never got over that.  Please give this one a listen and be our Holiday miracle. Then we could walk like the other podcasters!

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This week, we're diving into the 1990 Dick Tracy movie. Remember this one?  Of course you dont.

Imagine Tim Burton’s Gotham got hit with a color filter that only understands primary colors and then added... a whole lot of questionable choices.

Warren Beatty is no Michael Keaton (sorry, buddy), but he does give it his best shot. And Pacino? Well, let’s just say he was definitely a more over-the-top villain than Jack Nicholson's Joker—if you replaced menace with ham. 

Hit the link in bio to listen now (and let’s just say, we had a lot of feelings). 

#DickTracy #Batman1989 #90sMovies #PodcastReview #ComedyPodcast #MovieReview #WarrenBeatty #Madonna #PopCultureThrowback #Nostalgia #SuperheroMovies #FunnyPodcasts #mst3k 

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We dare you admit you didn't watch this on HBO at every pizza-fueled sleepover in the 80s. It's a fun mix of horror, comedy, and well-meant gratuitous gore and nudity, just like the eighties.  Your gang had a blast checking this one out again.
To end both the 4th season and their month long horror spectacular, the boys finally reveal their favorite horror films after spending the last two episodes making fun of everybody else's.  Spoiler Alert: Your hosts are sissies.

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Our final trip down memory lane is last year's retrospective of Wes Craven's original A Nightmare on Elm Street.
Creative, original, and generally icky, just like your hosts.
Stick around to the end where the gang talks about their favorite (and least liked) Halloween candy.

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Back in the 70s, most things were designed to ruin children. Jarts, doctors smoking in the exam room, steel playgrounds, and television movies about kids getting killed. So naturally, we decided to review the most egregious of these, Salem's Lot. Mostly tame by today's standards, this Stephen King vampire classic broke our little brains and we're pretty bitter about it.
Stick around to the end when we measure ourselves up against Elle Magazine's top 25 Halloween movies.  The horror.

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Horror, dread, and misery. And that's just Keanu's accent. Gary Oldman is serving generous amounts of holiday ham in this campy, unintentionally hilarious 90's horror classic.
Not to be outdone Anthony Hopkins goes full batcrap crazy here too.  But it's all okay because our Sweet Winona looks over us all.
The best part for your grumpy hosts however is the presence of our favorite Alaskan homesteader-baker-warrior-ice queen-super cool @mollsmusings sitting in for this one.

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We're bringing our Dominos pizza and a two liter Coke downstairs to the rumpus room for another late night viewing of the greatest cult horror comedy ever made.  Violent, gross, disturbing, yet never not hilarious.
Even better, everyone's favorite veterinarian, Dr K. joins the gang to offer some ridiculously astute and off the wall observations that our hosts have never truly  recovered from.  

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Cool teen vampires? No way!  We're going back to the glorious 80s this week when a movie like this one would be celebrated by the masses. Is it as good in the rear view mirror? Well sadly, one of your hosts gets violently and copiously sick reliving this one if that's any indication.  See if you can guess which one!
After some mopping up and apologizing, the gang test their movie chops by calculating how many of Empire Magazine's 50 greatest horror movies they've actually seen.  The results are as embarrassing as ever.

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To honor last year's Halloween BooNanza, we've decided to re-release those spooky episodes every Saturday this October to introduce them to our new friends while still managing to annoy our regular fans.
This one features our favorite vinyl archivist, @aron_gagliardo as we violate our tender sensibilities reviewing this 1974 Tobe Hooper classic. Bitch hogs unite! 

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This week the boys review this adorable story of American entrepreneurship, love, and pelicans. Al Pacino's iconic, if not over-the-top, performance has developed its own archetype of cinema that's often imitated, rarely duplicated.  Show favorite, Michelle Pfeiffer owns the screen only with a few eye rolls and the lethal combo of Brian DePalma and Oliver Stone do the rest.  Did we mention the chainsaws?
Stick around for the end where the boys discuss other movies and performances that defined the eras they represented.

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Is it finally happening?  Did a Yoko-type infiltrate and cause the inevitable break up we all saw coming since Twister released in 2022?

In a word: nah

We simply wanted to let you know about some upcoming show news and a slight schedule change for this fall. No, we're not skimping out on any episodes.  You're still gonna get all the episodes you paid for.  Hey.  Wait a minute.....

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Bereft of new ideas, Hollywood has again taken another of our classic movies to reintroduce it to a new audience and we're starting to take it personally.  These are our movies, damn it.  Make up your own ones!
Okay, tantrum over.
This time were going back to the glorious original, Betelgeuese from 1988. Keaton is cool and Winona is cute. And that was all we needed.
Stick around to our morbid take on movies about the afterlife. We, ourselves are, strange and unusual.

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What if Evel Kneivel and and Ed Wood had a baby? Broken Arrow, that's what.  Travolta is a proper cured Virginia ham in this John Woo action adventure and we cant get enough of it.  Long admired behind the scenes, the boys let there feelings out with extreme prejudice.  
Inspired by cute, little Samantha Mathis, we also talk about our favorite ingenues of the 80s and 90s.
This is one's a Grumpy Nostalgia new favorite.  Aint it cool?

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Why go to a theater to see an 8th sequel of Alien, when you can simply revisit the franchise from the comfort of your own ear buds?  Inspired by the new release of Alien: Romulus, the boys remastered their early take on the Alien series with new content, new audio, and new embarrassing discourse!  Only about a dozen of you heard this the first time so we don't wanna hear any guff about repurposing old episodes.  More work went into remastering this episode than the recording of the original and we're childishly bitter about it. So that's good.
Game over, man!

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Just when we thought we were out.  The boys get a chip on their shoulder this week, defending this often maligned finale.  By today's standards this movie could easily sweep the Oscars, but back then, a bunch of film school drop-outs had a serious case of sour grapes and the rest was history. We suppose they practiced  trolling Sophia Coppola to later refine their skills for the likes of Jake Lloyd and Ahmed Best.
Regardless, the Godfather quotes fly furiously, and we finally read some mail only to realize that our fanbase is moderately disturbed (in a good way).

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We finally hit 88 miles an hour this week, with a look back at this 80s classic. It's as good as you remember, but, true to form, the boys manage to find just enough cringe to make you feel slightly embarrassed. (hey, it's what they do). 
Jammin music, awesome cast, and one of Hollywood's most perfect scripts, there's really no reason to not listen to this one, kids.
Plus the boys talk about their other favorite time travel movies just for fun and wonder why they're craving Pepsi for some reason.
Heavy!

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Get a head start on the upcoming (and questionable) AppleTV reboot by porting back to this 1981 fever dream of a movie.  There's too much weird to count here, but the boys slog through this confusing, but often hilarious Python-based scifi adventure.
For your pleasure, the boys wrap up this episode with another look back at the pop culture exposures we saw as kids that scarred us for life.

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Despite all our rage we are still going back to Nic Cage.  This one seems a little more tolerable in that its more an extended music video rather than a movie.  But hey!  It's too hot to do anything else right now so why not?
Fast cars, loose dialogue, a blond, dread-locked Angie and more stereotyped characters than you can count.  What more do yo need?  Plus, this time the boys talk about their favorite car movies and the results need some time in the shop. Let's ride!

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We're taking a look at Spielberg's masterpiece this week.  Not usually the first movie you associate with Steve, but arguably his best.  Plus, the boys spend some time remembering how great the 70s were for being mischievous little boys. Stick around to the end to make fun of our list of favorite "little green men" movies.

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Madhouse, indeed.  The boys go back to the future this week to review the glorious original Planet of the Apes.  Fresh after a recent viewing of the latest Apes movie (in an actual theater) our hosts were inspired to go back to the Forbidden Zone to re-watch this iconic sci-fi classic and, more importantly, take a few more shots at the Tim Burton abomination while they were at it.  Inspired by spite, the boys also look at other remake-proof movies and the futile attempts Hollywood has attempted  over the years.
As a human, you must listen!