BACK 2 THE BALCONY

WELCOME TO SEASON 2!! We kick things off with a conversation on one of the most controversial episodes of Siskel and Ebert - their conversation on FULL METAL JACKET and BENJI: THE HUNTED. Gene loved what Kubrick did - Roger did not. Hear us discuss their infamous debate on what it means to be a critic - and how we have discourse on what audiences want. Be sure to subscribe on your favorite pod pla...

This week we finish off 2024 and season one with an awards show covering the best and worst films, performances and reviews of the films we watched this years - check it out! Link in bio. Be sure to subscribe on your favorite pod platform and our YOUTUBE channel! Visit thecultworthy.com Visit https://www.themoviewire.com Video: https://www.youtube.com/@back2thebalcony

This week we are discussing the classic NATIONAL LAMPOON'S CHRISTMAS VACATION! As the holidays approach, Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) wants to have a perfect family Christmas, so he pesters his wife, Ellen (Beverly D'Angelo), and children, as he tries to make sure everything is in line, including the tree and house decorations. However, things go awry quickly. His hick cousin, Eddie (Randy Quaid),...

This week we are discussing the SISKEL AND EBERT review of THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT! Schoolteacher and single mother Samantha Caine (Geena Davis) lives an average suburban life -- until she begins having strange memories of unexplained violence and discovers that she has physical skills that she never imagined. Hiring private detective Mitch Hennessey (Samuel L. Jackson) to probe into her past, Sam...

This week we discuss SCROOGED! n this modern take on Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," Frank Cross (Bill Murray) is a wildly successful television executive whose cold ambition and curmudgeonly nature has driven away the love of his life, Claire Phillips (Karen Allen). But after firing a staff member, Eliot Loudermilk (Bobcat Goldthwait), on Christmas Eve, Frank is visited by a series of ghost...

This week we discuss HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS! When her teenage daughter opts out of Thanksgiving, single mother Claudia Larson (Holly Hunter) travels alone to her childhood home for an explosive holiday dinner with her dysfunctional family. Claudia quickly tires of her parents, her long-suffering sister (Cynthia Stevenson), her snobby brother-in-law (Steve Guttenberg) and her nutty aunt (Geraldine C...

This week we discuss the Thanksgiving cult classic - DUTCH!! Working man Dutch (Ed O'Neill) is dating the divorced Natalie (JoBeth Williams), and he offers to drive her stuffy 13-year-old, Doyle (Ethan Randall), from his private school in Atlanta to his mother's home in Chicago for Thanksgiving. Doyle is not interested as he blames Natalie for the divorce and wants nothing to do with Mom's new boy...

This week we discuss 1994's WOLF!! After being bitten by a wolf in rural Vermont, aging book editor Will Randall (Jack Nicholson) finds himself full of youthful vigor. Randall then discovers that he's been fired and replaced by Stewart Swinton (James Spader), a vicious young executive. As Randall struggles to regain his position, he becomes enthralled with Laura Alden (Michelle Pfeiffer), his form...

This week we cover 1994's THE CROW! Soulmates Eric Draven and Shelly Webster are brutally murdered when the demons of her dark past catch up with them. Given the chance to save his true love by sacrificing himself, Draven returns to seek bloody revenge against the killers, traversing the worlds of the living and the dead to put the wrong things right. Be sure to subscribe on your favorite pod plat...

THIS WEEK WE COVER LITTLE MONSTERS! Little Monsters is a 1989 American fantasy comedy film starring Fred Savage and Howie Mandel and directed by Richard Alan Greenberg. It tells the story of a boy who befriends a real-life "monster under the bed" and discovers a secret world of monsters who sneak into children's bedrooms at night to pull pranks on them. Although the film failed financially, receiv...

This week we tackle the controversial "WOMEN IN DANGER" episode where Roger and Gene naively attack the horror/slasher genre - saying that it is against the "women's movement" and has no redeeming qualities. We hit back hard - how do you feel about it? Be sure to subscribe on your favorite pod platform and our YOUTUBE channel! Visit thecultworthy.com Visit https://www.themoviewire.com Video: https...

This week we discuss JEWEL OF THE NILE! Novelist Joan Wilder (Kathleen Turner) is living with adventurer boyfriend Jack Colton (Michael Douglas) on his yacht. But she leaves when Omar (Spiros Focas), the head of a North African nation, asks her to visit his country and write about him. Jack intends to go on a pleasure cruise to Greece, but when he learns that Joan is a pawn in Omar's quest to poli...

This week we discuss the Mel Gibson film THE MAN WITHOUT A FACE. Young Chuck Norstadt (Nick Stahl) wants nothing more than to join a prestigious military academy like his late father, but he is wary of the school's lofty academic standards. With only a single summer in which to study for the entrance exam, Chuck finds an unlikely tutor in the form of Justin McLeod (Mel Gibson), a disfigured reclus...

This week we discuss 1984's ANGEL! Angel is a 1984 American exploitation thriller film directed by Robert Vincent O'Neil , written by O'Neil and Joseph Michael Cala, [4] [5] and starring Donna Wilkes , Cliff Gorman , Susan Tyrrell , Dick Shawn , and Rory Calhoun . Its plot follows a teenage prostitute in Los Angeles who faces danger when a serial killer begins stalking and murdering young prostitu...

This week Justin and I discuss the classic comedy WEIRD SCIENCE! Teen misfits Gary and Wyatt design their ideal woman on a computer, and a freak electrical accident brings her to life in the form of the lovely, superhuman Lisa. She outfits Gary and Wyatt in cool clothes, surprises them with a Porsche and helps them stand up to jerks Ian and Max. But, all the while, the boys must hide Lisa's existe...

This week we are discussing the film La Bamba! Los Angeles teenager Ritchie Valens (Lou Diamond Phillips) becomes an overnight rock 'n' roll success in 1958, thanks to a love ballad called "Donna" that he wrote for his girlfriend (Danielle von Zerneck) whose parents didn't want her to date a Latino boy. But as his star rises, Valens has conflicts with his jealous brother, Bob (Esai Morales), and b...

This wee we welcome a very special guest: Josh Skaar of THE TALKING SMAC podcast! We discuss STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE. The Federation calls on Adm. James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and the crew of the Starship Enterprise to contain an immense nimbused object that's on a crash course with Earth. After investigating, the crew discovers that the alien cloud harbors artificial intelligence with an...

This week we discuss SHE'S OUT OF CONTROL! She's Out of Control is a 1989 American independent coming of age comedy film directed by Stan Dragoti , starring Tony Danza , Ami Dolenz and Catherine Hicks . [3] The original music score was composed by Alan Silvestri . The film was marketed with the tagline "She was Daddy's little girl. Now she's at that age when girls go wild, guys go crazy and Dads g...

This week we tackle the 80's disaster - BLAME IT ON RIO! Two friends who work for the same Brazilian company, Matthew (Michael Caine) and Victor (Joseph Bologna) decide to take a vacation together without their wives, since both men are having marital difficulties. Each brings his teenage daughter along, and there is trouble when Matthew begins an affair with Victor's daughter, Jennifer (Michelle...

This week Justin and I discuss the 1980's yuppie comedy - THE SECRET OF MY SUCCESS. Recent college graduate Brantley Foster (Michael J. Fox) travels from his home in Kansas to New York City to pursue a new finance job. However, when Brantley arrives, he learns that his position has been eliminated, and he's forced to take a job working for his inept Uncle Howard (Richard Jordan), who became a comp...

This week Justin and I cover the Brian de Palma misfire - BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES! In this adaptation of the Tom Wolfe novel, powerful Wall Street executive Sherman McCoy (Tom Hanks) is riding with his greedy girlfriend, Maria (Melanie Griffith), when she makes a wrong turn and winds up in the Bronx. There, she runs over a black boy and drives off without reporting it. When alcoholic tabloid repor...

This week we take a listener request and cover the maligned Steven Spielberg film HOOK!! When his young children are abducted by his old nemesis, Capt. Hook (Dustin Hoffman), middle-aged lawyer Peter Banning (Robin Williams) returns to his magical origins as Peter Pan. Peter must revisit a foggy past in which he abandoned Neverland for family life, leaving Tinkerbell (Julia Roberts) and the Lost B...

This week Justin and I discuss 1990's MERMAIDS. Fifteen-year-old Charlotte Flax (Winona Ryder) is tired of her wacky mom (Cher) moving their family to a different town any time she feels it is necessary. When they move to a small Massachusetts town and Mrs. Flax begins dating a shopkeeper (Bob Hoskins), Charlotte and her 9-year-old sister, Kate (Christina Ricci), hope that they can finally settle...

This week Justin and I take a break from our normal routine and focus on a special episode from 1992 dedicated to Siskel and Ebert's GUILTY PLEASURES. From TREMORS to EARTH GIRLS ARE EASY - we take these critics to task in regards to their "guilty pleasure" films. CHECK OUT OUR SPONSOR! BULLETPROOF COFFEE: https://www.bulletproof.com - USE CODE "B2B" Be sure to subscribe on your favorite pod platf...

This week we discuss the 1985 Western Classic PALE RIDER. When property owner Coy LaHood (Richard Dysart) starts using a band of hooligans to terrorize a group of small-town gold miners into giving up their territory, an enigmatic man named "Preacher" (Clint Eastwood) arrives in town. Preacher fends off the attacks, and then goes directly to LaHood to negotiate. When the miners, led by Hull Barret...