Opening Weekend

It’s a hard knock, black and white, post-apocalyptic life! This week the boys travel back to May 21, 1982 to run down THE ROAD WARRIOR, ANNIE, and DEAD MEN DON’T WEAR PLAID. Leapin’ lizards, it’s Episode 51 of Opening Weekend! The world has gone mad.  Mohawked marauders rule the roads. Singing/dancing orphans run amok in the cities.  ET has his/her/its own cereal.  And a 9 year old Dan is eating a...

“Heeeeeere’s Episode 50!” The boys are celebrating a year of hot, buttery cinematic nostalgia by jumping back to May 23rd, 1980 and taking a deep dive into THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, THE SHINING, and THE GONG SHOW MOVIE. Grab your axe, slice open that dead Tauntaun and lie back and relax with Rip Taylor and the gang, ‘cus it’s Episode 50 of Opening Weekend! May 23, 1980: a day filled with Jedis, Jac...

Opening Weekend is hitting it outta the park (cue Randy Newman music) and settin’ some s**t on fire (cue Tangerine Dream music) with May 11th, 1984’s THE NATURAL and Stephen King’s FIRESTARTER.  And the boys take a deep dive into their top 5 favorite sports movies (cue Handfarts Training Montage Music). Now batting: Episode 49 of Opening Weekend! Ahh, 1984. Weird Al is topping the charts and great...

Hey, web-slingers, it’s your friendly neighborhood movie podcast! Swing into a Spidey Spectacular as the boys wrap a web of wonder around Sam Raimi’s SPIDER-MAN Trilogy; with special Spidey Scribe, Kevin Shinick (Marvel, DC, “Robot Chicken”) joining in on the fun. Look out! Here comes Episode 48 of Opening Weekend! With great podcast, comes great responsibility.  And with Opening Weekend, comes….h...

“Sheila. S-H-E-I-L-A. Sheila.” This week the boys revisit April 28th, 2006’s major releases, AKEELAH & THE BEE, UNITED 93, and the Robin Williams comedy, RV, written by this week’s special guest: Emmy nominated screenwriter and best-selling author, Geoff Rodkey! How do you spell “Movie Podcast Magic?” E-P-I-S-O-D-E-4—7-o-f-O-P-E-N-I-N-G-W-E-E-K-E-N-D!   “Handfart. H-A-N-D-F-A-R-T. Handfart.” “...

“And the Oscar for Best Performance of 1987 goes to…Willy The Chimp!” It’s April 17th, 1987 and the boys are going ape for PROJECT X and getting H.I. off of RAISING ARIZONA.  Grab your Huggies, mind your fontanelle  and climb aboard a plane full of monkeys. Destination: Episode 46 of Opening Weekend! In April of 1987, Nicholas Cage and Holly Hunter were stealing babies, but it was Willie the Chimp...

Jobu need a refill of hot, buttery, cinematic nostalgia! It’s April 7, 1989 and Jason, Dan, and Fred are stepping up to the plate, taking sail, and losing their minds (for different reasons) over MAJOR LEAGUE, DEAD CALM, and THE DREAM TEAM. Juuuuust a bit outside; yes, it’s Episode 45 of Opening Weekend! There are myriad reasons a successful podcast can fall apart and great friendships can be push...

Methinks thou art the one, Neo! Now taketh some acting lessons, taketh the red pill, and joineth us as we Shake our Speares on the new episode of OPENING WEEKEND...eth! March 31st, 1999 gave us both a Ledger-rific redux of a classic Shakespeare comedy and a Fishburne-tastic redux of a classic Lewis Carroll novel. So plug into your headjack, because OPENING WEEKEND is about to upload 10 THINGS I HA...

Murderous turns, musical twists, and misogynist twerps.  DEATHTRAP, VICTOR/VICTORIA, and PORKY’S gave March 19th, 1982 a whodunnit, a who-is-it, and who-grabbed-it; all wrapped up in one Jazz-Hot new episode of OPENING WEEKEND! Ah, the halcyon school-days of 1982: playing Star Wars in the backyard, acting out cowboys and Indians, drawing cartoons on the front-lawn with your friends, getting your w...

Global culture clashes, the pitfalls of nationalism, cultural appropriation…and Woody Allen. It’s March 14, 1986, and GUNG HO, CROSSROADS, & HANNAH AND HER SISTERS are gonna push all those buttons. And we haven’t even mentioned Ralph Macchio’s hat. It’s Episode 42 of OPENING WEEKEND! When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough get lip-synching to Billy Ocean, and that’s exactly what Fred was doing in...

It’s March 7, 1997 and Howard Stern is showing off his PRIVATE PARTS while Tim Allen is ditching “Tool Time” to go JUNGLE 2 JUNGLE. Watch out, Pig Vomit, ‘cus we’ve got Baboons, blow darts, and a good dose of Baba Booey on Episode 41 of Opening Weekend! While Howard Stern was becoming the King of All Media in March 1997, Tim Allen was becoming the King of All Meh-dia....says the three guys who wer...

“We’re the Dream Warriors! Don’t wanna dream no more!”  It’s February 27, 1987, and all your wildest dreams are coming true with SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL, HOOSIERS, and A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET: DREAM WARRIORS. High school, hoops, and hair metal on Episode 40 of Opening Weekend Late February, 1987: Freddy Krueger may have ruled Jason, Dan, and Fred’s nightmares but it was the dulcet tones of Don Do...

“Umm, yeah, boys, if you could just head back to February 19th, 1999 and take a look at OFFICE SPACE, OCTOBER SKY, and RUSHMORE, that would be great, mmkay?” You got it, Mr. Lumbergh! Grab your red stapler, throw on your school blazer, and look to the sky, ‘cus it’s Episode 39 of Opening Weekend! After having to sit through “Nothing But Trouble” last episode, this week’s three movies are just the...

“You still wake up sometimes, don't you, Clarice? You wake up in the dark and hear the screaming of the lambs. Or is that just Jason watching ‘Nothing But Trouble’?” This week, the boys travel back to February 15, 1991, and the horrifying (for all sorts of different reasons) triple bill of THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, NOTHING BUT TROUBLE, and KING RALPH on Episode 38 of Opening Weekend! There are cer...

It’s February 6th, 1981, and both the Bronx AND Bill Cosby are burning. The Bronx will eventually be saved. Cosby? Well... This week the boys hit the streets and descend into the depths of hell to revisit FORT APACHE, THE BRONX and THE DEVIL AND MAX DEVLIN on Episode 37 of Opening Weekend! “RUDY! THEO! ELLIOT GOULD!” Ah, remember the good old days when we just thought Bill Cosby was PLAYING the De...

It’s the day of the show, y’all, and the boys are heading back to January 31, 1997 to take in some amateur theatrics! From community theatre’s answer to “This Is Spinal Tap” (WAITING FOR GUFFMAN) to community theatre’s answer to “Caddyshack” (MEET WALLY SPARKS) and community theatre’s answer to the original “Star Wars” (STAR WARS: SPECIAL EDITION), it’s a “Stool Boom” of epic proportions on Episod...

Suicidal lonely guys, washed up talent managers, and factory workers with radiation poisoning; was January 27th, 1984 the funniest week in movies or WHAT?!? This week the boys revisit Steve Martin’s comedy THE LONELY GUY, Woody Allen’s ode to entertainment, BROADWAY DANNY ROSE, and the Meryl Streep/Cher drama, SILKWOOD. Dig if you will the podcast and might as well JUMP into Episode 35 of Opening...

It’s a symphony of suckers this week - BLOOD-suckers that is - as Mr. Holland teaches a group of sexy Mexican vampires how to make beautiful music with George Clooney. And in turn, they...teach...him (cue music). The boys revisit January 19th, 1996 and MR. HOLLAND’S OPUS is playing FROM DUSK TILL DAWN on Episode 34 of Opening Weekend! If music be the food of love, play on, Richard Dreyfuss! And if...

Gooooooooooooooood morning, Opening Weekend listeners!  This week the boys head back to January 15th, 1988 for deep dives into GOOD MORNING VIETNAM, MOONSTRUCK, and FOR KEEPS. And the show gets a touch of New York Times class when best-selling author and culture reporter, Dave Itzkoff stops by to discuss the late-great Robin Williams.  SNAP OUT OF IT! It’s Episode 33 of Opening Weekend! TEENS GONE...

An Oscar winner, a cinema legend, and a leprechaun walk into a bar…nope, it isn’t an off-color joke, it’s just the newest episode of Opening Weekend! The boys are scooping up their pots o’gold, donning their bowler hats, and Tango-ing back to January 8th, 1993 to take deep dives into the wide releases of SCENT OF A WOMAN, CHAPLIN, and LEPRECHAUN.  “Begosh, Begorrah, and a Hoo-Ah, too, it’s Opening...

Ah, Christmas Day, 1973. Drinking egg-nog, opening presents, playing cards in the back of the local brothel, stroking your Magnum .45, and cleaning up the vomit from your demon-possesed daughter. THE STING, MAGNUM FORCE, and THE EXORCIST are the Christmas Day gifts that keep on giving on Episode 31 of Opening Weekend! Heads will spin as the boys go back to the year of Dan’s birth to celebrate two...

It’s the most wonderful time of the year!  No, not Christmas; Life Day! That’s right, for their 30th episode, the boys stick around 1978 for a deep into one of the most baffling and upsetting episodes of cinematic and television history ever: The Star Wars Holiday Special.  And to close out the shit-show that is 2020 and to celebrate 30 weeks of podcasting magic, it’s the  First Annual “Golden She...

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s...three giant nerds talking about superhero movies! The boys head back to December 15th, 1978 to celebrate the granddaddy of them all, SUPERMAN! And Can You Read Their Minds and guess their Top Ten favorite superhero movies? Throw on your cape and take flight with Episode 29 of Opening Weekend!  Which after-school animated  superhero had the coolest theme song? (Hin...

Gritty buddy-cop movie? Check. Half-baked sequel to a comedy classic? Check. A kids’ holiday movie with two comedy legends that’s both uncomfortably racist AND stars a future porn actor? Check, check, and CHECK.  48 HOURS, AIRPLANE II: THE SEQUEL , and THE TOY have it…all? It’s December 10th, 1982 and The Boys Are Back In Town with Episode 28 of Opening Weekend! Jason, Dan, & Fred have Pac-Man...

Ve vill break you. Hearts are On Fire this week as the boys head back to the 80s and up north for the greatest Cold War of all: Rocky vs...Santa? Yo, Apollo, it’s November 27th, 1985, and ROCKY IV and SANTA CLAUS: THE MOVIE are your Black Friday gifts on Episode 27 of Opening Weekend! It’s a hormonally fueled episode as 8th grade Fred rounds the bases at The Eagles Nest, 9th grade Jason spins a we...