Back Through The Lens

We're taking on The Beast and getting our Babe Ruth-autographed ball back in today's episode all about The Sandlot. We reminisce about the baseball experiences of our youth, our favorite bubble gum (not chewing tobacco), and discuss how this classic baseball movie of our youth found its way to theaters. ⁠⁠⁠backthroughthelenspodcast@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠ Watch us on YouTube at Lucky Card Productions...

"Today we celebrate our Independence Day!" We're also going to talk about Independence Day, the 1996 movie from Roland Emmerich. This one has a lot of behind the scenes details along with memories of Will Smith in his heyday, big weekend movie rentals, and weird tabloid trash on the Fox network. ⁠⁠⁠backthroughthelenspodcast@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠ Watch us on YouTube at Lucky Card Productions!...

The summer movie season tends to have at least one big animated feature on deck and 1992 was no different. We take a deep dive into FernGully: The Last Rainforest, its feud with Disney and their 1992 release, Aladdin, and all our memories of wearing out this VHS as kids. We also get into environmentally-friendly children's media, non-Disney animated movies, and the outcast status of both back...

"That must be Nigel with the brie." Actually it's us with season 5. We're kicking off another season of summer movies with the classic late 90s rom-com 10 Things I Hate About You. Join us for a rare drama-free discussion of a movie that was easily green-lit and everyone became friends. It turns out Heath Ledger really was as great as you always hoped he was. ⁠backthroughthelenspodcast@gmail.com⁠ W...

Throughout season 4, movies that were released in 1985, we kept hearing the same pre-production notes - "this movie should be raunchier, more like Porky's!" So we decided to check out the movie that was the gold standard for teen comedies in the early 80s. Let's just say, we're glad most of those 1985 movies didn't take the studios' advice.

Season 4.0 comes to a close with the comedic murder mystery, Clue! We discuss how difficult it was to write a screenplay that worked, the botched theatrical roll-out, and how it became a cult classic for our specific generation.

What would you do if you suddenly became a werewolf in the middle of your high school years? Become a basketball star, obviously. We dive into Michael J Fox's other 1985 movie, Teen Wolf.

We discuss Paul Reubens pop culture breakthrough and Tim Burton's directorial debut, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. Join us on a trip to the Alamo to save one beloved bike while we discuss Reubens' creation of Pee-Wee Herman, all the weird supporting characters he meets along the way, and maybe some references to European art house cinema.

A nerd double feature! 1985 brought us two movies featuring teens performing great feats of science, released just 5 days apart. In this episode we look back at both Weird Science and Real Genius.

Where we're going we don't need roads. Join us on a trip back to the future, where we discuss the many failed attempts to get this movie green-lit, the failed original Marty McFly, and the most successful movie of 1985.

Join us for a deep dive into St. Elmo's Fire and the creation of the Brat Pack, which became a pop culture phenomenon alongside its release. The characters are yuppies in DC, the actors are brats running wild in LA, and we're here to detail all of it.

In this episode we're traveling back to Oz, but not in a sequel type way, more in a book series adaptation way. Trust us. Or don't, because none of this makes sense anyway. Join us for a discussion of Walter Murch's first and last foray into directing, starring baby Fairuza Balk and a whole lot of weirdos.

We smell ice cream! Join us for our second Richard Donner movie in a row, our millionth Steven Spielberg appearance, and a discussion full of booty traps, truffle shuffling, and opera-singing criminals

Hawk by day, wolf by night, forever together, eternally apart. In this episode we're discussing the Richard Donner fantasy movie, Ladyhawke. Enjoy our horrific French pronunciations and the most 80s of 80s soundtracks while we discuss the actual historical figure that inspired Philippe "The Mouse" Gaston, nonsensical side characters, and the real-life love story that resulted from th...

Welcome to season 4, all about movies that turned 40 in 1985, the year we also hit that milestone. We're kicking it off with the John Hughes classic, The Breakfast Club. Both the budget and the expectations were low, but here we are 40 years later discussing whether we're a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, or a criminal.

With the recent passing of Catherine O'Hara, we look back at her classic role in Beetlejuice. We discuss how fate intervened to give us Catherine O'Hara as Delia Deetz, how this comedy-horror cult classic literally changed her life, and give you an overview of the rest of her career.  

Mawage is wot bwings us togeder today. Actually, it's The Princess Bride. We discuss the career of beloved director and actor, Rob Reiner, along with his 1987 classic. Once considered an unfilmable novel and later a box office disappointment, Reiner eventually succeeded in turning this fractured fairy-tale into a cult classic.

Keep this episode out of the light, don't get it wet, and definitely don't listen to it after midnight. We close out season 3 with a discussion all about Gremlins - a weird little movie that was never supposed to be made, but ended up defying box office expectations while becoming a Christmas classic (for some of us, at least).

We're hopping into our pink bunny suits and lighting our leg lamps for an episode all about A Christmas Story! We discuss the very specific reason our hometown of Cleveland, Ohio was chosen as a filming location, the confusion over when exactly this story is set, and its lasting legacy as both a Christmas classic and a Cleveland tourism site.

For many people, namely us, the Christmas season officially begins when it's time to rewatch The Muppet Christmas Carol. In today's episode we discuss the passing of Jim Henson and the impact that had on production, all the Muppet roles that could have been, and why this is inarguably the best retelling of A Christmas Carol, ever - at least for those of us that grew up watching it.

We could never forget Kevin McCallister or this Christmas blockbuster from our childhood. We might not be heading to Paris, but we are discussing Home Alone, including the writing machine that was John Hughes, Chris Columbus's Christmas dreams coming true, and of course, all those booby traps.

We're kicking off our very first Christmas season with National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation! We discuss some of our own Christmas traditions while diving into the history of National Lampoon movies, marveling at John Hughes's rise in Hollywood, and discussing the cast's reaction to making a genuine Christmas classic.

Join us in remembering Diane Keaton, specifically her work in the First Wives Club. We discuss the powerhouse cast of Diane Keaton teaming up with Bette Midler and Goldie Hawn, the 3-hour Jon Stewart cut, our childhood interpretations of this title, and how much better these lines land now that we're adults.

We wrap up our spooky season with the slasher film that started it all, John Carpenter's Halloween (1978). We detail how very low budget this production was, mispronounce "Samhain" a few times, and discuss the many, many sequels. 

What's your favorite scary movie? If it happens to be the original Scream from 1996, you're in luck! Today's episode dives into how this classic 90s slasher film got made, our personal memories of watching it for the first time, and the franchise it kicked off.