Multiplex Overthruster

The Last Starfighter is... dead? Alive? Any good as a movie? These are the questions that bedevil Paul, Javi, and the ever gung-ho Producer Brad as they discuss the endearing curio that is Nick Castle's The Last Starfighter. Not as well-directed as Return of the Jedi, not as handsomely produced as Gremlins or Poltergeist, and not nearly as well-written as ET, The Last Starfighter nevertheless...

The cinema of the 1980s brought us many great showdowns: Kirk vs. Khan, Rocky Balboa vs. Clubber Lang, Tom Cody vs. Raven Shattick… and now PAUL VS. JAVI! And what brought these two to go toe to toe? None other than Joe Dante’s beloved Amblin classic Gremlins! Join us as Paul and Javi - refereed by the ever equitable Producer Brad - clash over this timeless phantasmagoria of small town Americana,...

All too often, nostalgia seduces us into remembering things better than they actually were. But every once in awhile, the opposite occurs, and we get to re-experience something that turns out to be far better than our memory somehow maligned. Listen as Javi, Paul, and the ever mystical Producer Brad return to the days of high adventure as their dread is transmuted into delight by the startling rev...

Between the blockbuster successes of Airplane! and The Naked Gun! , Jim Abrahams and the Zucker Bros. took a more scattershot satirical turn with Top Secret!, which parodies everything from Cold War spy thrillers to Elvis rock and roll musicals to WWII espionage dramas to ’60s beach party movies to an entire flashback remake of The Blue Lagoon . Skillfully surfing these crashing waves of colliding...

They say the third time’s the charm, and if you’re Star Trek, the third time is all about the charm. The studio may have cut the budget and schedule to cash in on the success of "Star Trek II,", but when you have a cast that has worked together for decades - and a director who is part of that cast - the characters can’t help but come through, especially when they are all on a mission of friendship...

To this day - twenty-two years later - you can still walk into a room anywhere in the civilized world and shout “Who ya gonna call?” and get an emphatic hollaback of “GHOSTBUSTERS!” Is there more that needs to be said? Yes, there is. About three hours worth if you’re Paul, Javi, and the preternatural Producer Brad! For a franchise that has been rehashed, rebooted, re-animated, and spun-off so many...

In this gritty, neon-soaked, leather-wearin’, motor oil-stinkin’, rockabilly-singin’, pole-dancin’, pickaxe-swingin’ installment, Paul, Javi, and the tough-talkin’ Producer Brad travel to another place, another time to bear witness to a “rock’n’roll fable”. It’s Streets of Fire , one of the oddest mainstream summer movies of the eighties; a feature-length music video that is equal parts western, R...

It’s Memorial Day weekend and the Multiplex Overthruster crew roars back to the movies for the Summer of ’84 with their old pal Indiana Jones! On his second outing, Indy stares down the many perils of the Temple of Doom… only it’s more like the “Temple of Holy Crap This Movie is Terrifying!” Look, over the years, Javi has followed Paul and the archaeological Producer Brad on many adventures, but i...

While “When did Michael Douglas Get So Young” may not have been the sole burning question of our rewatch of Romancing The Stone , it certainly was among the many prompted by Paul, Javi, and the always Trustworthy Producer Brad’s journey into the wilds of this 1980’s gem. Though Paul may - occasionally, pointedly - disagree, Javi brilliantly lays out the many arguments for why this film remains an...

Imagine a dystopian America where authority is malignant, the profit motive rules all, everyone is on the grift, all goods and services have been devalued to the least of their utility and value, and the infrastructure has crumbled into a depressing echo of its former self… this morning’s New York Times? No! It’s Alex Cox’s punk rock masterpiece Repo Man ! Made in that special time before John Hug...

What happens when a hard-ridin’, gravel scratchin’, manly-man motocross champ accidentally finds himself in the middle of a time travel experiment run by a private corporation unaware that they set up their equipment too close to a public rally race? What if our hero finds himself stranded in the old west with no way home? What if our protagonist never realizes he has traveled through time for mos...

Every once in a while, a loophole in time, space, and copyright law opens and spits out an object straight out of bizarro world. The summer of ’83 gave us an “official” James Bond film starring the well past-his-prime Roger Moore, and the fall of ’83 answered with NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN - an apostate remake of THUNDERBALL directed by the man who gave us THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and starring none oth...

The envelope, please! That’s right, it’s time, once again for the MULTI AWARDS. Join Paul, Javi, and the august Producer Brad as they render final judgment on the summer of ‘83! Was “Flashdance” a better film than “Yor: The Hunter from the Future?” Was “Octopussy” the most misogynistic movie title of all time, or just of the James Bond series? Are Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd one actor or two? Is...

The Summer of ’83 concussively concludes with a gloriously metal swords and sorcery adventure helmed by the 1st AD of The Beastmaster, and penned by the writer of Vampire Hookers and Rainbow Brite. Deathstalker, our morally messed up but oddly philosophical anti-hero, is sent on a quest by weird witch Toralva to unite the sword of justice, amulet of life, and chalice of magic in order to “become t...

What do you get when you mix the manic comic genius of Michael Keaton, the inimitable dramatic and comedic chops of the great Teri Garr, the legendary deadpan wit of Martin Mull, the wacky unpredictability of Christopher Lloyd, and the ever-reliable smarm of Jeffrey Tambor? Franlky, we wish you got more than Mr. Mom, a movie regarded by many as a modern classic but which left the already very dome...

Okay you hosers, so welcome to our podcast. So today we’re gonna chug a couple cold ones, put on our tuques and watch as comedy titans Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas take their beloved characters from television and comedy albums to the big screen in The Adventures of Bob and Doug McKenzie: Strange Brew ! While it would have been perfectly acceptable for them to do their small screen schtick on the...

Cavemen. Dinosaurs. Lasers. Robots. A mysterious medallion. A talking box. Choice meats! And oh that theme song. This barely begins to dip into the brain-bending fountain of wonders that is YOR, THE HUNTER FROM THE FUTURE. Javi, Paul and - intrepidly - Producer Brad have ventured to Yor’s World and returned forever changed by this Italian adaptation of an Argentinian graphic novel that was distill...

Behold the birth of the cinematic icon that is Nicolas Cage. Bask in the glory of his historic first on-screen freak-out. Witness his wondrous weirdness expertly unleashed by director Martha Coolidge, who made the most of a tiny budget, tight schedule, and tepid script to deliver a (sub-)cultural landmark by way of the Sherman Oaks Galleria. This week, Javi, Paul - and for sure, like totally, Prod...

Put on your Ray-Bans, rev up the Porsche, and crank up the Tangerine Dream! It’s time for the movie that made Tom Cruise a star, which somehow Javi and Paul had never seen! Listen as they, with the help of ever-patient Producer Brad, get past their preconceived notions and are rewarded with a teen sex comedy that has more in common with Blue Velvet than Porky’s. Suburban high school senior Joel (C...

What is Krull? Who is Krull? Where is Krull? Why is Krull? These are all time-honored questions asked by no one - except those of us who have experienced the fantasy sci-fi would-be saga that is Krull. Join Paul, Javi, and the stalwart Producer Brad as they journey through space (they think) and time (maybe?) to experience the (it thinks) epic battle between a princess, her prince, and their rag-t...

Does it get any more ’80s than Flashdance ? Luminous Jennifer Beals is a welder by day who dances at a bar by night, but must conquer imposter syndrome to achieve her ballerina dreams. It’s sort of a music video-esque Disney musical crossed with an inspirational sports drama (a la Rocky or Rudy ), yet somehow Javi and Paul had never seen it, much to Producer Brad’s amusement. Join them in a world...

John Travolta returns as sweaty strutting disco stud Tony Manero in this misguided sequel to Saturday Night Fever co-written and directed by… Sylvester Stallone? Tony makes a brazen leap from Brooklyn to Bizarro World Broadway (and from the ’70s to the ’80s) but soon finds himself not in a love triangle, but a love pentagon as he vies for the lead role in a dizzyingly demented Dante-meets-disco da...

You’ll believe a man can sigh as Supergeeks Javi, Paul and - indestructibly - Producer Brad discover the third time’s not the charm with Superman III, though it does offer one unforgettable high-concept scene (and a truly funny setup and payoff). Our hosts boldly bend format this episode by picking three scenes each to examine (one of which may or may not involve bowling vandalism via Super-sneeze...

When Paul, Javi, and the audacious Producer Brad see a great movie, the result is a podcast full of mirthful entertainment… but when it’s a movie that crashes and burns, the result is UNMITIGATED SNARK GREATNESS. What happens when Burt Reynolds and Hal Needham, the star and director of the hit films “Smokey and the Bandit” and “Cannonball Run”, reunite for a putative romantic comedy about a devian...

What happens when screen legends Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche play obscenely wealthy commodities brokers who wager on an insidious, impromptu nature-vs.-nurture experiment that subjects an unwitting Eddie Murphy and Dan Ackroyd to radical reversals of fortune? You get an ’80s screwball comedy update of The Prince and the Pauper that also showcases the great Jamie Lee Curtis and Denholm Elliott, al...