Back Look Cinema: The Podcast

Zo visits the cool, crisp air in the mountains of the tiny, cozy town of Silver Creek, Colorado. Usually, not much goes on, but this year there's a massive blizzard: phone lines are shut down, roads are closed, travel is hazardous and one of the country's most prominent Victorian romance novel authors is missing. It's famously known that the talented writer Paul Shelton takes his vacations in this...

Zo is flung into a future where the potential of your genetics determines your entire life. Your genetic code determines where you go to school, where you work, and how society treats you. If you where genetically modified as a child then you where treated as normal, but if your parents chose natural birth then your entire life was deemed invalid. It seems that humans will always find a way to sep...

Zo had once stayed in the windy city of Chicago in the late 80's. While he was there he heard wild rumors about a cop that had been chasing down a drug kingpin for over ten years. It was said that that cop would use just about any underhanded tactic to bring down this kingpin. Word on the streets was that he had blackmailed some college kid to help infiltrate the kingpin's suspected drug operation...

Zo somehow finds himself deep, deep under the surface of the ocean: near the Cayman Trough while America and the Soviet Union have their Cold War. He's aboard the most advanced underwater facility ever constructed. The Navy commandeered the facility to investigate a sunken submarine, but, to Zo, the Navy SEAL officer sent to oversee operations don't appear wrapped to tight. The SEAL's presence onl...

Zo is in the wrong place at the wrong time: in the midst of Russia during an intense moment in World War II or, as the Russians would come to call it: The Great Patriotic War. In a city once known as Stalingrad on the banks of the Volga river the fighting has intensified as Russian civilian fighters and the Soviet Red Army desperately defend their country against the onslaught of the German Nazi w...

Zo is swept up in the excitement of 17th century France and by excitement that means constant war, the threat of public riots and persistent food shortages.  Among all of this upheaval are rumors that three of the most famous of the Musketeers of the Kings Guard have gone rogue; though they've long since retired, many say that these men present a clear and present threat to the Crown and, given ho...

Zo gets a call from a man who's voice was familiar. The man had the demeanor of an old friend who was excited to talk to him. He wanted to catch up, sit down and talk about old times. They agree to meet at the bar and, while the man seemed friendly enough, Zo realized that the stranger isn't actually someone he knew or anyone he remembered meeting. Not wanting to be rude Zo carries on with the mee...

Zo has had some bad days, but he'd never had days as bad as the end of the world! It started with a localized storm, next there was the largest aircraft he'd ever seen hovering over D.C.. It was so large that he could just barely see it from his apartment all the way in the suburbs of Suitland, Maryland. One would suppose that it was a "UFO", but it was later identified as an honest to goodness ex...

Zo somehow ended up in the wild west, but it's incredibly west and it's incredibly wild. At a port he notices there's a skirmish as people are disembarking a passenger ship. It's a fight between one man defending a woman against half a dozen men. The man handles himself well against the men and is only hampered by the woman accidently hitting that man while she's trying to help him. The man announ...

Zo is back, baby! He's been places and he's seen some things: namely he's been to the theater and he's seen Masters of the Universe and Mortal Kombat 2 . Are these films worth your time? If you're curious then check out this episode for some SPOILER FREE reviews from a fan of these icons from the 1980's.   Episode Chapters 00:05:48 Masters of the Universe Review 00:22:18 Mortal Kombat 2 Review Ple...

Zo visits some old friends at a trailer park. It seems like a normal place with kids running amok, teenagers fooling around and senior citizens looking for someone to fix their TV's so that they can watch their soap operas. Alex is just the guy the guy that they need: a recent high school graduate who is this neighborhood's handyman. Zo noticed that Alex is also fantastic at the Starfighter videog...

Zo is on a research project that takes him to the National Institute of Mental Health and while there he discovered their secret program of animal experimentation on rats, mice, dogs, cats and other animals. These experiments seem cruel and unnecessary. What he's heard is that some of the rodents had gained super-intelligence and had escaped the lab. The scientists at NIMH has tracked them down to...

Zo got a rare chance to see a couple of movies and he's going to give you his SPOILER FREE impressions of The Mandalorian and Grogu and Is God Is . These are two very different movies that, by all rights, shouldn't be in the same episode . . . yet here we are! The Mandalorian and Grogu is first; if you want to skip to the next review, then you can skip to the next chapter or go to the 10 minute ma...

Zo, still roaming around the 1800's, and Zorro is very much active. He appears when the people, his people cry out for his intervention. His people, the people of California, are on the precipice of great change as they vote on whether or not to become a state of the United States. Those in favor of this monumental move believe that becoming a state would offer some relief from oppression an grant...

Zo is transported into a time of change for Spanish California. It's a time of mystery, corruption, intrigue, romance and high adventure. It is a time when the common folk are oppressed by their wealthy overlords and they cry out for justice. The legend who had once defended the people against the chaos has been gone for many years, but Zo hears whispers of his reappearance. There is hope in the a...

Zo impossibly finds himself on a futuristic space craft ostensibly designed for science and exploration, but for a space craft of peace, the U.S.S. Enterprise is sure loaded for bare with powerful shields, nimble impulse engines, deadly accurate phasers, devastating photon torpedoes and a brilliant Captain. She will require all of these advantages as her Captain and crew discover and attempt to di...

Zo is ravished by a horrible unknown raspatory ailment. It could be Covid, the flu, the cold or all three at once. In any case he was unable to record a show for this week; however, Zo reached out to his friends Troy and Brad from Not a Bomb podcast and they graciously leant one of their shows to this podcast for you to enjoy. The episode is #153 - Masters of the Universe (1987). In this episode Z...

Zo and Chris (a special guest and host of the Saturday Morning Podcast) embark on a trek to the final frontier. They board the USS Enterprise, but, unbeknownst to them, they are heading for a place that should not exist - a planet at the center of the galaxy where God is said to exist. This excursion, they've heard, is lead by a mysterious preacher named Sybok who is a Vulcan who has embraced his...

Zo gives his impressions on this Spoiler Free review of They Will Kill You starring Zazie Beetz, Patricia Arquette and Myha'la and directed by Kirill Sokolov who also wrote the film with Alex Litvak. This episode released on Easter of 2026. Does it make for a good Easter movie?  Well, I wouldn't expect anyone to watch this film and be filled with the Holy Ghost, but it does have religious tones. T...

Zo gives his Spoiler Free review and impressions of Project Hail Mary Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller and starring Ryan Gosling, Sandra Hüller and James Ortiz. A film adaptation of Andy Weir's novel of the same name. Overall the novel was fascinating. Will the movie live up to the wonder that was presented by the novel? Do you think that this movie is fit for your viewing pleasure? T...

Zo once visited his family in a small town in Georgia and during his visit some outlandish events happened. At first it seemed like that the lady in the neighborhood that everyone respected and affectionately called "Big Mamma" was acting strange. She beat up her martial arts instructor. She beat a bunch of bullies with her grandson at basketball on the playground and, strangest of all, it seems t...

Zo went on a journey to one of the most dangerous neighborhoods of the 1990's - the South Central Los Angeles Crenshaw district. Though Zo wouldn't say that the place where he grew up was exactly safe, Crenshaw would make his hometown look like Mr. Roger's Neighborhood. Police helicopters seemed to be whirring above constantly. The sounds of police and ambulance sirens where stubbornly persistent....

Zo got a lot of invitations to parties when he was a teenager, but, one of the craziest parties that he went to was one that was put together by the most idealistic of teenagers while his parents wasn't home. Get a bunch of raunchy kids over to his house unsupervised? What could possibly go wrong? The teens might have to dodge racist police, avoid nasty school bullies, and ignore outspoken neighbo...

Zo visits some friends in the Windy City and he gets an earful of family drama. He hears about the arguments the stress the abuse the infidelity. He hears about all of the many challenges that threaten to break up this otherwise loving family. the thing that holds them together is their Big Mama and her incredible Sunday dinners . . . but what would happen if anything ever happen to their Big Mama...

Episode Chapters 00:04:24 Opening Credits for Beat Street Starring Rae Dawn Chong, Guy Davis Jon Chardiet, and Leon W. Grant 00:15:29 Favorite Parts of the 1984 film Beat Street 01:01:23 Trivia from the urban hip-hop classic - Beat Street 01:08:55 Critics' Thoughts on Stan Lathan's Beat Street Please leave a comment, suggestion or question on our social media:   Back Look Cinema: The Podcast Links...