BACK 2 THE BALCONY

This week we cover Mel Brook's - LIFE STINKS! Affluent and arrogant businessman Goddard Bolt (Mel Brooks), feuding with rival Vance Crasswell (Jeffrey Tambor) over a land deal, makes a bet with Crasswell that he has the wits and street smarts to live penniless and anonymous on the rough streets of Los Angeles for 30 days. But Bolt has a rude awakening when the reality of homelessness hits him. Sti...

This week on the show - we cover the 1991 comedy, OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY. Larry the Liquidator Garfield (Danny DeVito) is a corporate raider, deconstructing companies and selling off the parts for a profit. His new target is a small-town cable company that employs the majority of the town's residents. With everyone's livelihood depending on him, company chairman Andrew Jorgenson (Gregory Peck) hires...

THIS WEEK we cover the 1990 blockbuster film DICK TRACY! Hard-boiled detective Dick Tracy (Warren Beatty) is searching for evidence that proves Alphonse Big Boy Caprice is the city's most dangerous crime boss. He may have found the key to unraveling the crime lord's illegal empire in Breathless Mahoney (Madonna), an enigmatic barroom singer who has witnessed some of Caprice's crimes firsthand. How...

This week we cover the 80's scif-fi classic, THE LAST STARFIGHTER!! After finally achieving the high score on Starfighter, his favorite arcade game, everyday teenager Alex Rogan (Lance Guest) meets the game's designer, Centauri (Robert Preston) -- who reveals that he created Starfighter as a training ground for developing and recruiting actual pilots to help fight a war in space. Hear our take on...

This week we cover the 1990 classic. GREMLINS 2: THE NEW BATCH! The magical collectibles store that Gizmo calls home has just been destroyed, and the tiny monster finds his way into a newly erected skyscraper. Billy Peltzer (Zach Galligan) and his bride-to-be, Kate (Phoebe Cates), who have previously dealt with Gremlins run amok, discover that Gizmo and an impish legion of reptilian pals are inhab...

This week we cover the 1995 sci-fi thriller - VIRTUOSITY! A former cop who has been imprisoned for murdering the psychopath who killed his family, Parker Barnes (Denzel Washington) is recruited to test out a new virtual-reality program where the goal is to apprehend a computer-generated being called SID 6.7 (Russell Crowe), who has been modeled on hundreds of deranged criminals. When SID manages t...

This week we discuss the 1997 sci-fi action flick STARSHIP TROOPERS! In the distant future, the Earth is at war with a race of giant alien insects. Little is known about the Bugs except that they are intent on the eradication of all human life. But there was a time before the war... A Mobile Infantry travels to distant alien planets to take the war to the Bugs. They are a ruthless enemy with only...

This week we cover 1995's OUTBREAK! A dangerous airborne virus threatens civilization in this tense thriller. After an African monkey carrying a lethal virus is smuggled into the U.S., an outbreak occurs in a California town. To control the spread of the disease, a team of doctors is brought in that includes a contagious disease expert (Dustin Hoffman) and his ex-wife (Rene Russo). Once the Army i...

This week on the show - we are covering the film HOOP DREAMS with special guest: MICHAEL BURGETT of the SCREEN NERDS PODCAST! Every school day, African-American teenagers William Gates and Arthur Agee travel 90 minutes each way from inner-city Chicago to St. Joseph High School in Westchester, Illinois, a predominately white suburban school well-known for the excellence of its basketball program. G...

This week we cover the 1995 adventure classic - FAR FROM HOME: THE ADVENTURES OF YELLOW DOG. While sailing off the shore of British Columbia, John McCormick (Bruce Davison), his son, Angus (Jesse Bradford), and the boy's Labrador retriever, Yellow, encounter severe weather. When Angus and Jesse are knocked overboard, John struggles to rescue them, but to no avail. After washing up on the coast of...

This week we cover the 1989 film - THE ADVENTURES OF MILO AND OTIS. Milo is one lucky cat. He’s got nine lives and a best friend. When Milo the cat and Otis the dog are separated, they each set off on an adventurous and often perilous quest across mountains, plains, and snow-covered lands to reunite with one another. We cover the film, our childhood memories of it, the animal cruelty controversy -...

This week we cover the 1997 film HOME ALONE 3! When an inept group of criminals tries to get a stolen top-secret computer chip through airport security, it ends up in a toy car in the luggage of the elderly Mrs. Hess (Marian Seldes). Unable to promptly retrieve the chip, the felons follow Hess and the car to her neighborhood. After she gives the toy to young Alex Pruitt (Alex D. Linz), who is home...

This week we cover Siskel an Ebert's appearance on the Nickelodeon program - RATED K FOR KIDS, BY KIDS. Running in the latter half of the 1980's , the show featured film reviews done by kids - and in this very special episode they were joined by ROGER AND GENE! Check it out! SUBSCRIBE TODAY! Visit thecultworthy.com Visit https://www.themoviewire.com Video: https://www.youtube.com/@back2thebalcony

This week we cover the 1996 adventure film - ALASKA! Jake Barnes moves his daughter and son to Alaska and earns money by ferrying supplies to locations throughout the state. His daughter loves it, but her brother doesn't, and he can't wait to leave. However, they join forces to look for their father when they learn that he has gone down in an airplane accident. The official search party is called...

This week we take a break from movie reviews and pay tribute to the late, great Rob Reiner. We discuss his films that were released during the time of Siskel and Ebert's TV run, as well as the critiques given. We Miss You Rob! SUBSCRIBE TODAY! Visit thecultworthy.com Visit https://www.themoviewire.com Video: https://www.youtube.com/@back2thebalcony

This week we continue our annual tradition of awarding our favorite and least favorite films, performers, directors and critiques of season 2! Thanks to all our listeners and supporters for another great year! See you in season 3! SUBSCRIBE TODAY! Visit thecultworthy.com Visit https://www.themoviewire.com Video: https://www.youtube.com/@back2thebalcony

This week we cover the cult classic - TRAPPED IN PARADISE! Fresh out of prison, Alvin (Dana Carvey) and Dave Firpo (Jon Lovitz) pull their brother Bill (Nicolas Cage) back into a life of crime. But the siblings' foolproof bank heist takes a tailspin when Alvin gets lost in the getaway car. That's how the criminal nitwits wind up trapped in the snowbound burg of Paradise, Pa., on Christmas Eve with...

This week we tackle the review of Siskel and Ebert on the film BETTER OFF DEAD. Lane Meyer (John Cusack) is a teen with a peculiar family and a bizarre fixation with his girlfriend, Beth (Amanda Wyss). When Beth dumps Lane, he decides to kill himself, making bumbling attempts at suicide. Outside of his morbid endeavors, Lane spends time with his oddball buddy, Charles (Curtis Armstrong), and befri...

This week we tackle the holiday classic - THE REF! Denis Leary plays an unfortunate cat burglar, who is abandonded by his partner in the middle of a heist and is forced to take an irritating Connecticut couple (Kevin Spacey and Judy Davis) hostage. He soon finds that he got more than he bargained for when the couple's blackmailing son and despicable in-laws step into the picture. Before long they'...

This week we celebrate our 100th episode by appreciating our fans (and our critics) before we get into the critique of the 1997 film THE HOUSE OF YES! Jackie-O is anxiously awaiting the visit of her brother home for Thanksgiving, but isn’t expecting him to bring a friend — and she’s even more shocked to learn that this friend is his fiance. It soon becomes clear that her obsession with Jackie Kenn...

This week we tackle the 80's classic DIRTY DANCING! Baby (Jennifer Grey) is one listless summer away from the Peace Corps. Hoping to enjoy her youth while it lasts, she's disappointed when her summer plans deposit her at a sleepy resort in the Catskills with her parents. Her luck turns around, however, when the resort's dance instructor, Johnny (Patrick Swayze), enlists Baby as his new partner, an...

This week we cover the 1991 Disney film - WILD HEARTS CAN'T BE BROKEN. Thrilled by a performance she sees at a fair, Sonora (Gabrielle Anwar) tries to land a spot as a daredevil who rides horses off of high dives. With the help of Al Carver (Michael Schoeffling), whose father runs the show, Sonora works toward her goal. An injury to star rider Marie (Kathleen York) paves her way, and Sonora finds...

This week we tackle the 1997 film MIMIC. When a cockroach-spread plague threatens to decimate the child population of New York City, evolutionary biologist Susan Tyler (Mira Sorvino) and her research associates rig up a species of "Judas" bugs and introduce them into the environment, where they will mimic the diseased roaches and infiltrate their grubby habitats. So far so good ... until the bugs...

This week we bring back the SISKEL AND EBERT QUIZ SHOW! It's Justin's turn to quiz me - he brings a handful of clips from the tv show and I get to guess what film they are reviewing! How did I do?? SUBSCRIBE TODAY! Visit thecultworthy.com Visit https://www.themoviewire.com Video: https://www.youtube.com/@back2thebalcony

This week we take on George A Romero's MONKEY SHINES! Athlete Allan (Jason Beghe) becomes quadriplegic after a horrific traffic accident. His friend Geoffrey (John Pankow), who is conducting experiments with monkeys, offers Allan a well-trained monkey named Ella to keep him company and raise his spirits. But the initially healthy bond, which even enables Allan to form a romantic relationship with...