BACK 2 THE BALCONY

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...

This week we cover the 1986 sci-fi classic CRITTERS! When strange fuzzy creatures from outer space arrive on a farm, the Brown family -- Jay (Billy Green Bush), Helen (Dee Wallace-Stone), their daughter, April (Nadine Van Der Velde), and their son, Brad (Scott Grimes) -- must fend off the malevolent little aliens. Two bounty hunters with superhuman abilities follow the aggressive beasts from beyon...

This week we cover the 1998 horror/thriller FALLEN! After witnessing the execution of serial killer Edgar Reese (Elias Koteas), whom he arrested, police detective John Hobbes (Denzel Washington), and his partner, Jonesy (John Goodman), are soon investigating another murderer whose mode of operation is eerily similar to Reese's. In the course of the investigation, Hobbes meets theology professor Gr...

This week we cover the 1987 SCI-FI thriller - THE HIDDEN! When average, law-abiding citizens suddenly turn to a life of hedonistic behavior and violent crime, Detective Tom Beck is tasked with helping young FBI agent Lloyd Gallagher determine the cause. HEAR our take on the film and on the critique of SISKEL AND EBERT. SUBSCRIBE TODAY! Visit thecultworthy.com Visit https://www.themoviewire.com Vid...

This week we discuss the 1996 horror classic - SCREAM! Wes Craven re-invented and revitalised the slasher-horror genre with this modern horror classic, which manages to be funny, clever and scary, as a fright-masked knife maniac stalks high-school students in middle-class suburbia. Craven is happy to provide both tension and self-parody as the body count mounts - but the victims aren't always the...

This week we cover the bizarre mid-90's comedy - BABY'S DAY OUT! Posing as children's photographers, three crooks (Adam Robert Worton, Joe Mantegna, Lara Flynn Boyle) scheme their way into a mansion to kidnap an infant (Brigid Duffy, Eddie Bracken). Their hostage proves quite resourceful, however, escaping their hideout and making his way into downtown Chicago. Now the con men have to find their a...

This week we take on the misunderstood sequel - ROBOCOP 2! Cyborg Detroit policeman Alex Murphy (Peter Weller) is the sole officer on duty after the police force goes on strike against evil conglomerate Omni Consumer Products and its push to foreclose on the city of Detroit. Aside from dealing with the normal level of crime, Murphy must take on crime boss Cain (Tom Noonan), the spread of a dangero...

This week we are covering the so called misfire STAR TRAK V ! Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989), directed by William Shatner, is the fifth film in the Star Trek franchise. The story follows the crew of the USS Enterprise-A as they confront a renegade Vulcan, Sybok—Spock’s half-brother—who hijacks the ship on a quest to find the mythical planet Sha Ka Ree, believed to be the home of God. The f...

This week we discuss the 1988 film - THE GREAT OUTDOORS! t's vacation time for outdoorsy Chicago man Chet Ripley (John Candy), along with his wife, Connie (Stephanie Faracy), and their two kids, Buck (Chris Young) and Ben (Ian Giatti). But a serene weekend of fishing at a Wisconsin lakeside cabin gets crashed by Connie's obnoxious brother-in-law, Roman Craig (Dan Aykroyd), his wife, Kate (Annette...

This week we are covering the Hugh Hudson classic - GREYSTOKE. It's the classic tale of the wild man raised by apes in the African jungle after his explorer parents are shipwrecked and then die while he is still a baby. Rediscovered by adventurers when he has grown to manhood, he is returned to the strange and unfamiliar world of the British aristocracy and discovers that, despite a doting grandfa...

THIS WEEK WE DISCUSS HUDSON HAWK! Thief extraordinaire Hudson Hawk (Bruce Willis) has just been released from prison and all he wants is a nice cappuccino. However, before he can savor his favorite beverage, the highly eccentric and wealthy Darwin Mayflower (Richard E. Grant) and his equally odd wife, Minerva (Sandra Bernhard), rope Hawk into an ambitious series of heists. Soon Hawk is stealing no...

This week we discuss the film EXCALIBUR! The magical sword of Excalibur starts off in the hands of British lord Uther Pendragon (Gabriel Byrne) and then, years later, finds its way to his bastard son, Arthur (Nigel Terry), the knave destined to become king. Aided by the sorcerer Merlin (Nicol Williamson), Arthur fulfills his fate by bringing together the Knights of the Round Table at Camelot and u...

This week we tackle the 1987 Comedy / Drama GOOD MORNING VIETNAM! The film, directed by Barry Levinson, stars Robin Williams as Adrian Cronauer, a real-life Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS) DJ stationed in Saigon during the Vietnam War. Cronauer's irreverent humor and unconventional approach to radio broadcasting made him immensely popular with the troops but created friction with his superiors....

This week we cover the 1993 B-Movie Curiosity - CARNOSAUR! When nefarious geneticist Dr. Jane Tiptree (Diane Ladd) plots to wipe out all humans and replace them with flesh-eating dinosaurs, it's up to security guard Doc Smith (Raphael Sbarge) to stop her. As Jane plans to release her dangerous prehistoric creations, one of them accidentally kills a number of environmental activists as well as Doc'...

This week we discuss John Carpenter's MEMOIRS OF AN INVISIBLE MAN. Nick Halloway (Chevy Chase) is an average businessman who undergoes an extraordinary change when an experiment gone awry turns him invisible. Government operative David Jenkins (Sam Neill) discovers Nick in his see-through condition at the scene of the accident and arranges for him to be taken into custody, but he escapes. As Nick...

This week we tackle the 90's comedy - COP AND A HALF! Young Devon Butler (Norman D. Golden II) lives with his grandmother, Rachel (Ruby Dee), spending his days obsessing over television cop shows and his aspirations to be an officer of the law. When he witnesses a murder committed by a gang led by Vinnie Fountain (Ray Sharkey), Devon refuses to testify unless he is offered the chance to be a polic...

This week we discuss the 1985 film - MASK. Rocky Dennis (Eric Stoltz) is an intelligent, outgoing and humorous teenager who suffers from a facial deformity called "lionitis" and has now outlived his life expectancy. While his mother, Rusty (Cher), struggles to fight for his acceptance in the public school system, he proves himself to be a highly accomplished student. Though Rocky endures ridicule...