Now Playing -- The Movie Review Podcast

In 1978 director Richard Donner and a team of cutting-edge optical effects artists made audiences believe a man could fly. Perhaps even more impressive, though, is that stars Christopher Reeve, Gene Hackman, and Marlon Brando were able to bring such performances that adults and children watched a man convincingly and unironically wear a blue spandex unitard. But when Superman took to the screen there was no unintentional laughter, just a generation held in thrall as they watched the first big-budget superhero film--a movie to which all superhero films to this day are still compared. Do Now Playing movie reviews Arnie, Jakob, and Stuart still believe the film flies as high? Listen to this week's podcast to find out! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nowplayingpodcast/support

Superman. In the 1930s the DC character was a breakout success creating a template for superheroes that would be copied for the next century. In the 1970s he made moviegoers believe a man could fly in the first blockbuster superhero film. But long before Christopher Reeve would embody the iconic Kryptonian there was another Superman movie--Superman and the Mole Men. Created as part of the television series The Adventures of Superman, Superman and the Mole Men starred George Reeves as the man of steel dealing with a race of beings who have escaped their home miles below ground. Reeves would go on to play Superman on television from 1952 to 1958 becoming the face of Superman for the baby boomer generation. Now, as Now Playing hosts Arnie, Stuart, and Jakob begin their Superman retrospective series leading up to this summer's Man of Steel film they look back at this forgotten 1951 feature. Is this a Superman adventure worth unearthing or should it have stayed buried deep? Listen to find out! --- Suppo

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra left many audience members cold, but the box office proved there was a hunger for G.I. Joe movies. A sequel was started, but to give the series a boost of star power the original cast was almost entirely replaced with The Rock and Bruce Willis featured in the hopes of pleasing a larger audience. After a 9 month delay for a post 3-D conversion, did this sequel fix the flaws of the previous live-action film? Listen to Jerry, Jakob, and Arnie's review to find out! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nowplayingpodcast/support

With Michael Bay's film Transformers Hasbro proved that its toy lines could be turned into profitable movie franchises and Hasbro also had another major toy line in reserve--G.I. Joe! Like Transformers, this film could appeal both to young moviegoers as well as their parents who watched the 80's cartoon. But in 2009 the second Transformers film made over $400 million while G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra floundered at $150 million, failing in US theaters to make back the production costs. G.I. Joe returns in theaters this week in a semi-rebooted form, but is G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra a blight on Joe's history, or an overlooked gem released in a very busy summer? Listen to Jakob, Jerry, and Arnie's review to find out! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nowplayingpodcast/support

Yo Joe! For almost 50 years G.I. Joe action figures have excited and enthralled children, but it was in the 1980s with the Star Wars inspired comic book, toy line, and cartoon that the G.I. Joe identity would be galvanized. A culturally diverse army of specialists, the G.I. Joes would battle endlessly to keep the evil forces of Cobra at bay. Their skirmishes would be told in a syndicated cartoon series that ran from 1985 to 1986, and as the show prepared for a fourth season Hasbro decided to take the Joes to the big screen with the animated G.I. Joe: The Movie! The failure of Transformers: The Movie would cause G.I. Joe: The Movie to have major plot changes, delays, and an eventual video release long after the series had ended. Was that fate deserved, or does G.I. Joe: The Movie succeed where the Transformer movie failed? Listen to find our review to find out! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nowplayingpodcast/support

When a terrorist plans to destroy Washington D.C. the only hope for the United States is a confederate soldier with a scar on his face and a chip on his shoulder--Jonah Hex. A strange steampunk western based on the DC Comics character, Jonah Hex failed to find an audience despite A-list stars Josh Brolin and John Malkovich. Is this possibly an overlooked gem, or could it really be as bad as world-of-mouth indicates? Listen to Now Playing and find out! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nowplayingpodcast/support

From the pages of DC’s Hellblazer comics, John Constantine was a blonde, British occult detective with a smoking habit and a bad attitude. The comics had a cult following and in 2005 Warner Bros gave the anti-hero the big screen treatment. Moving the action from Liverpool to Los Angeles, the film starred Keanu Reeves as the Americanized occultist. Now, continuing their look at DC comics one-off films, Stuart, Arnie, and Jakob see if Constantine’s theatrical adaptation had spirit, or was dead on arrival. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nowplayingpodcast/support

Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, those are the heroes DC Comics are known for. But there are others. As we build up to Man of Steel this summer, Now Playing hosts Stuart, Jakob, and Arnie are looking at some of these lesser known DC Heroes who fight bad guys and obscurity with equal fervor. For our first installment in this series, the hosts review Tank Girl, the 1995 film that pitted Lori Petty and a team of human/kangaroo hybrids against Malcolm McDowell. Does Tank Girl hit the mark, or is it a misfire? Listen to find out! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nowplayingpodcast/support

25 years ago Bruce Willis delivered his career-making performance as John McClane in the original Die Hard. To celebrate this milestone, John McClane is back, once again showing terrorists that McClanes are hard to kill as he teams with his son to fight Russian terrorists. Is this film a good day for Die Hard? Listen to find out! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nowplayingpodcast/support

It had been over a decade since Bruce Willis last played gruff, resilient New York cop John McClane and most fans thought the series finished. But in 2007 it was time for McClane to return to Live Free or Die Hard. Teamed with a computer hacker played by Justin Long, does McClane still have what it takes to stop a cyber-terrorist attack and save his daughter? And is a much older Willis still able to Die Hard? Listen to find out!

John McClane is back, and for his third film, he's going to Die Hard with a Vengeance. He's been called back into action by a mysterious terrorist with ties to McClane's past. Partnered with Zeus, played by Samuel L. Jackson, and once again directed by John McTiernan, can this be the best Die Hard yet? Listen to Stuart, Arnie, and Jakob's review to find out! {Die Hard Series} --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nowplayingpodcast/support

When Die Hard blew up both Nakatomi Plaza and the box office a sequel was fast-tracked and released in 1990. Attempting to top the action and excitement of the original, 20th Century Fox chose a script based on the original novel 58 Minutes and put the film in the hands of director Renny Harlin. Set in an airport with John fighting another group of terrorists, does Die Hard 2 fly as high as the original, or did it all come crashing down? Listen to Jakob, Stuart, and Arnie to find out! {Die Hard Series} --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nowplayingpodcast/support

Its title became short-hand for an action movie template that would be followed for a decade. It propelled star Bruce Willis to superstardom, making him never need to work in television again. It brought joy, and Ode to Joy, to millions of fans. It is the original 1988 action film Die Hard. As we ramp up for the fifth installment in Bruce Willis' most famous franchise, can Die Hard hold up 25 years later? Listen to Arnie, Stuart, and Jakob's review to find out!

A homosexual socialite is murdered and dismembered, and it's up to hard-boiled police Detective Joe Leland to figure it out! But there's more to this case than meets the eye, and events will be set in motion that reveals a conspiracy among New York City's elite that Leland can only stop at the cost of his own career. With Frank Sinatra in the lead role, The Detective is a racy drama...but what does it have to do with Die Hard? And is the movie worth checking out? Listen to Stuart, Arnie, and Jakob's review to find out! {Die Hard Series} --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nowplayingpodcast/support

After Platinum Dunes recovered Leatherface from direct-to-video hell, they relinquished their rights to the franchise, so Twisted Pictures and Lions Gate Entertainment stepped in to take the series back to its grindhouse roots. Ignoring all Texas Chainsaw films except the original, this new 3-D film picks up right where the first ended, and then fast forwards to present day. Is this the sequel Tobe Hooper's classic has always deserved, or another waste of gas? Listen to Stuart, Arnie, and Brock's review to find out! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nowplayingpodcast/support

In Los Angeles, a man calling himself "Evil" has a novel way to celebrate the coming of a new year--killing a woman every hour as a new time zone enters 1981! In New Year's Evil we follow the man as he rings in the year, and harasses TV host Blaze in between. Should you resolve to see this movie, or is this a slasher best forgot and never brought to mind? Listen to Stuart, Arnie, and Marjorie's review to find out! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nowplayingpodcast/support

Just in time for the holiday season, genre film studio Anchor Bay released a remake of Silent Night, Deadly Night! Only loosely based on the original, and titled simply Silent Night, the new version brings star power before unseen in the franchise, with Malcolm McDowell, Donal Logue, and Jamie King starring in the film about a psychotic Santa who kills those who are naughty. Is this modern version of Silent Night a Christmas treat, or another lump of coal left in the Christmas stocking? Listen to find out! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nowplayingpodcast/support

The Silent Night, Deadly Night films have always been loose with continuity, but in Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker we see yet another exploration of Christmas evil when an angsty Pinocchio unleashes deadly toys upon an unsuspecting young boy. With outspoken Silent Night, Deadly Night hater Mickey Rooney playing a drunken Gepetto, does this film have more to it than delicious irony? Listen to find out! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nowplayingpodcast/support

After three films exploring the homicidal impulses of the Caldwell (or is it Chapman) family, Silent Night, Deadly Night 4 goes a different direction as a wannabe journalist investigates a case of spontaneous combustion in Los Angeles during Christmas season. Is a cult of Lilith worshipers a good replacement for a homicidal maniac, and is the Ricky played in this film by Clint Howard the same Ricky we've seen in the previous three films? Listen to find out! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nowplayingpodcast/support

Ricky is back! After being shot at the end of Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2, Ricky's brain-dead body is revived after a connection with a blind psychic. With horror vet Bill Moseley taking over the role of Ricky Robert Culp as the cop chasing the killer, and several connections to the classic TV series Twin Peaks, this sequel has more brains on display than the previous two films, but is it better? Listen to find out! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nowplayingpodcast/support