BACK 2 THE BALCONY

This week on BACK 2 THE BALCONY we discuss BEETLEJUICE! After Barbara (Geena Davis) and Adam Maitland (Alec Baldwin) die in a car accident, they find themselves stuck haunting their country residence, unable to leave the house. When the unbearable Deetzes (Catherine O'Hara, Jeffrey Jones) and teen daughter Lydia (Winona Ryder) buy the home, the Maitlands attempt to scare them away without success....

This week we make up for the lackluster "John Carpenter's Vampires" with a real vampire classic - FRIGHT NIGHT! Teenage Charley Brewster is a horror-film junkie, so it's no surprise that when a reclusive new neighbor moves next-door, Brewster becomes convinced he's a vampire. It's also no surprise when nobody believes him. After strange events begin to occur, Charlie has no choice but to turn to t...

This week we discuss one of John Carpenter's latter day curios - VAMPIRES! Ever since his parents were murdered by vampires, Jack Crow (James Woods) has had one purpose in life: putting stakes through bloodsuckers' hearts. With his battle-hardened crew of vampire killers and the assistance of the Catholic Church, Crow roams the New Mexico desert looking for undead lairs to annihilate. But he meets...

This week Justin and I cover ENEMY MINE! During a war between humans and the reptilian Drac race, spaceship pilot Willis Davidge (Dennis Quaid) ends up stranded on an alien world, along with enemy fighter Jeriba Shigan (Louis Gossett Jr.). While both Willis and his Drac counterpart can breathe on the planet, the environment and its creatures are relatively hostile, forcing the two to work together...

This week Justin and I tackle his guilty pleasure film IF LOOKS COULD KILL starring Richard Grieco. Before he can graduate, cocky high school student Michael Corben (Richard Grieco) travels to France on a school trip to earn a missing French credit. But when a British intelligence agent mistakes Michael for a spy of the same name, they rush him to headquarters and assign him to capture the evil Au...

This week we cover the Siskel and Ebert Special from 1984 where they predicted the rise of Eddie Murphy and the decline of Richard Pryor. It's a sentimental episode that really showed us their approach and appreciation of these two amazing comics. Check it out! Be sure to subscribe on your favorite pod platform and our YOUTUBE channel! Visit thecultworthy.com Visit https://www.themoviewire.com Vid...

This week we tackle GODZILLA 1985- and we struggle with it as much as our critics do! Godzilla 1985 is a 1985 kaiju film directed by R. J. Kizer and Koji Hashimoto . The film is a heavily re-edited American localization of the Japanese film The Return of Godzilla , which was produced and distributed by Toho Pictures in 1984. In addition to the film being re-cut, re-titled, and dubbed in English, G...

This week Justin and I discuss GREAT BALLS OF FIRE from 1989. Upstart rock 'n' roll singer Jerry Lee Lewis (Dennis Quaid) has just cut a record at Sun Studio. Jerry's cousin, pastor Jimmy Swaggart (Alec Baldwin), tries to steer him away from a depraved life in the music business, but Jerry was born to play the so-called "devil's music." With rock 'n' roll king Elvis Presley busy with military serv...

This week Justin and I tackle Curtis Hanson's BAD INFLUENCE! Los Angeles marketing analyst Michael Boll (James Spader) struggles with insecurity despite his successes -- until he meets a mysterious man, Alex (Rob Lowe), who promises to help him gain confidence. However, Alex's guidance becomes toxic when he introduces Michael to sex, drugs and crime. When Michael's life begins collapsing, he comes...

This week Justin and I tackle one of Siskel and Ebert's "special episodes" - this one about their favorite films of 1986. Join us as we discuss their picks - and then suggest some of our own. Hear our take on Siskel and Ebert's review. 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.co...

This week Justin and I discuss the controversial review of Quentin Tarantino's debut film RESERVOIR DOGS. Six criminals with pseudonyms, and each strangers to one another, are hired to carry out a robbery. The heist is ambushed by police and the gang are forced to shoot their way out. At their warehouse rendezvous, the survivors, realizing that they were set up, try to find the traitor in their mi...

This week Justin and I tackle the divisive comedy RADIOLAND MURDERS! The secretary at radio station WBN, Penny Henderson (Mary Stuart Masterson) is frantically trying to keep things in order as a broadcast goes on the air. Chaos breaks loose, however, when a series of murders occurs in the building, accompanied by an enigmatic voice over the airwaves. Penny's writer husband, Roger (Brian Benben),...

This week we jump into the 1996 cult classic - THE GHOST AND THE DARKNESS! Sir Robert Beaumont (Tom Wilkinson) is behind schedule on a railroad in Africa. Enlisting noted engineer John Henry Patterson (Val Kilmer) to right the ship, Beaumont expects results. Everything seems great until the crew discovers the mutilated corpse of the project's foreman (Henry Cele), seemingly killed by a lion. After...

This week we cover THE NAME OF THE ROSE - the infamous box office bomb that nearly killed Sean Connery's career - as well as the Siskel and Ebert review of the film. In the 14th century, William of Baskerville (Sean Connery), a renowned Franciscan monk, and his apprentice, Adso of Melk (Christian Slater), travel to an abbey where a suspicious death has occurred. Using his deductive powers, William...

This week Justin and I discuss the 1991 comedy OSCAR! Oscar is a 1991 American comedy film directed by John Landis. Based on the Claude Magnier stage play, it is a remake of the 1967 French film of the same name, but the settings has been moved to the Depression era New York City and centers around a mob boss trying to go straight. The film stars Sylvester Stallone , Marisa Tomei , Ornella Muti, T...

This week Justin and I discuss SHORT CIRCUIT 2 - a superior sequel in our opinion - but what do our critics think? Tune in and find out! Having rescued robot Johnny Five (Tim Blaney) from being destroyed by the military in "Short Circuit," Indian scientist Ben Jahrvi (Fisher Stevens) moves to New York City to become an American citizen. After struggling to sell a few toy replicas of Johnny, Ben mu...

This week Justin and I tackle Ivan Reitman's GHOSTBUSTERS 2 - the maligned sequel that our critic's just couldn't get behind. After saving New York City from a ghost attack, the Ghostbusters -- a team of spirit exterminators -- is disbanded for demolishing parts of the city during the battle. But when Ghostbuster Peter Venkman (Bill Murray) learns that spirits have taken an interest in his son, th...

In this very special episode - Justin and I review the 1999 episode of SISKEL & EBERT where they petition the Academy to honor some of the lesser known but award worth films and performances of the prior year. Did they get some right? Listen and find out! Be sure to subscribe on your favorite pod platform and our YOUTUBE channel! Visit thecultworthy.com Visit https://www.themoviewire.com Video...

This week Justin and I discuss the classic "not-a-musical" ALL THAT JAZZ. When he is not planning for his upcoming stage musical or working on his Hollywood film, choreographer/director Joe Gideon (Roy Scheider) is popping pills and sleeping with a seemingly endless line of women. The physical and mental stress begins to take a toll on the ragged perfectionist. Soon, he must decide whether or not...

This week Justin and I discuss 1987's *BATTERIES NOT INCLUDED. Frank (Hume Cronyn) and Faye Riley (Jessica Tandy) are an elderly New York City couple living in a depressed part of town. There, they run a diner as well as an apartment building, which is home to a poor but friendly group of people. One day, Frank and Faye learn that a property developer wants them to sell the apartment. When they re...

THIS WEEK Justin and I tackle 1980's MELVIN AND HOWARD! When luckless dreamer Melvin Dummar (Paul Le Mat) rescues a grizzled, half-dead man (Jason Robards) from the desert, he's skeptical of the man's claim that he's actually reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes. But in the wake of Hughes' death a decade later, a will appears naming Melvin the recipient of $156 million, and a media circus ensues. A...

This week Justin and I discuss the vampire/crime flick FROM DUSK TIL DAWN. From Dusk till Dawn is a 1996 American action horror film directed by Robert Rodriguez and written by Quentin Tarantino from a concept and story by Robert Kurtzman . Starring Harvey Keitel , George Clooney , Quentin Tarantino, Ernest Liu, and Juliette Lewis , the plot follows a pair of American criminal brothers (Clooney an...

This week Justin Henson of THE MOVIE WIRE and I tackle THE BRIDE from 1985. The Bride is a 1985 period horror film directed by Franc Roddam, and starring Sting, Jennifer Beals, Geraldine Page, and Clancy Brown. Based on Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, the film follows Baron Charles Frankenstein who creates a woman, Eva, while his original monster—believed to have...

This week Justin and I tackle GORILLAS IN THE MIST from 1988. Directed by Michael Apted, this film is an adaptation of wildlife expert Dian Fossey's autobiography. Midwesterner Fossey (Sigourney Weaver) leaves the United States for Africa, where she studies the gorillas of Rwanda and Uganda. As Fossey develops a bond with the animals, she also becomes wary of the poachers who prey on them. Fearing...

This week Justin and I butt heads over the 1980 film SEEMS LIKE OLD TIMES. One of us thinks its a fun nod to the screwball comedies of the 1930's, the other thinks it missed the mark. Tune in to find out more! 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