CinemArcade

The Rock arrives as a movie star in the goofy barbarian actionerTHE SCORPION KING from 2002! This spinoff of the MUMMY franchise centers the pro wrestler to see if he has legs as an A-list star, and (spoiler alert) the guy has got the goods! We talk all about the Rock's career, review some of the history of the sword-and-sandal genre, and then take on two games: RISE OF THE AKKADIAN on Gamecube an...

Our buddy Jeffrey Chatman joins us this week to talk about the splashy sequel THE MUMMY RETURNS! Made less than 2 years after the original became a sleeper hit, the movie falls into a lot of traps that sequels often do, resulting in some predictable plot beats and some legendarily shoddy CGI. But is there anything worth salvaging from this quickie sequel or is is better left to rot in its tomb? We...

This week we're unearthing a new four-part miniseries exploring the 1999 reboot of the Universal classic THE MUMMY! Starring Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz, the rip-snorting crowd-pleaser became a generational favorite and something of an awakening moment for a large portion of the population, launching a huge franchise in the process. We're checking out the first film in the series, as well as i...

Guys! The guardians! They're rising! And we're here to capture the holiday-ish magic!  This week is all about Dreamworks' largely forgotten animated film RISE OF THE GUARDIANS, in which the public-domain representatives of holidays (and seasons? And the concept of sleep?) come together to defeat the forces of cynicism. Which is ironic, because I feel like we approach this episode with a great deal...

Merry Christmas and a bah, humbug to you all! This week we're fully embracing our Christmas cheer (or lack thereof) by checking out the 2009 iteration of Charles Dickens' timeless classic A CHRISTMAS CAROL! Robert Zemeckis' stop-motion animated film features Jim Carrey as Scrooge, but don't expect the manic energy he brought to the Grinch: this is Carrey at his most stately and subdued, and weathe...

Dr. Seuss' timeless holiday classic gets a loud and abrasive feature-film adaptation with Ron Howard's HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS from 2000! Jim Carrey is putting in some work behind all of that amazing (and apparently agonizing) makeup, but is that enough to get past the film's harsh and weirdly creepy tone? We'll get into it, before we check out the game adaptation for the Dreamcast and PS1!...

What's this? Why it's an episode on the exquisite animated holiday staple THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, the perfect way to bring us into a month of Christmas movies! We cover the entire grueling saga of getting Henry Selick and Tim Burton's vision to the screen, and wax nostaligic about the incredible animation and timeless Danny Elfman score. Then, we're checking out two long-belated video game...

Don't you dare interrupt our groove, because this week is all about Disney's fun and featherlight comedy THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE! Despite it's loose and silly trappings, this was actually one of the most troubled Disney animated productions ever, and it was almost a very different movie than the one we ended up with. We're joined this week by actor and improviser Ananya Roy to revisit this 2000 a...

Catch the excitement! Catch the adventure! Catch... the baffling vanity project and massive box office bomb HUDSON HAWK! This week, we talk about the film that almost killed Bruce Willis' career before it had even really begun, a wildly expensive, tonally scattershot action comedy that suffered more behind-the-scenes drama than almost any other film of the 90s! And since this is the early 90s, any...

We're going big this week, and we do mean big: we're talking about Guillermo Del Toro's giddy genre throwback PACIFIC RIM, in which massive mechs pummel the crap out of gargantuan monsters, and we just get to sit back and enjoy the popcorn. It's a film that seems tailor-made for a video game adaptation, and yet the film produced only one half-hearted effort that isn't even available anymore; thank...

For this month's JBan's Choice, we're heading to the far distant fantasy land of Jim Henson's THE DARK CRYSTAL! This 1982 high fantasy flick features some jaw dropping visuals and an incredible well of creativity... but is it any good? We get into it, as well as discussing one of our earliest games, the 1983 text-adventure HI-RES ADVENTURES #6: THE DARK CRYSTAL.  Hosted by Steve Guntli, Jennifer "...

This one is monumental, y'all. An independent film that not only changed how movies are consumed but helped invent an entrie genre, John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN remains one of the most important horror films of all time. Which is why we had to give it its due with one of our longest episodes ever! We're joined once again by Puppet Masters/Castle Freaks co-host Jarrod Hornbeck to talk about his all-t...

It's time to do the Time Warp... again! This week we're discussing the cult movie to end all cult movies, the word-of-mouth musical sensation ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW! The original Midnight Movie is celebrating 50 years of gender-bending, rice throwing, and pure antici..... pation, and we're joining in on the fun! Return guest Ailish Collins joins us as we talk about the hard-to-define movie, and...

The virus is spreading and the zekes are taking over! This week, we're talking about perhaps the most expensive horror movie ever made, the globe-trotting zombie thriller WORLD WAR Z! Brad Pitt leads this loose adaptation of the smash hit book, which makes it to the screen despite one of the most contentious and costly film productions in recent memory. We get into it, before signing up for a tour...

Unpleasant dreams, everyone! It's time to give a legend her due: we're talking about ELVIRA: MISTRESS OF THE DARK, the 1988 film debut of everyone's favorite buxom horror hostess, Elvira! The lovely Juliet Robb joins us for this wacky horror comedy, which inspired an early DOS game that's a surprisingly hardcore early horror game.  Hosted by Steve Guntli, Jennifer "JBan" Bannister, and Justin Wilh...

Alright ramblers, let's get ramblin': we're kicking off an entire month of spooktacular goodness with the absolutely wild B-movie FROM DUSK TILL DAWN! Made by Hollywood enfant terribles Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, the film is a brash, uneven, hugely entertaining mash-up of grimy crime thriller and vampire gorefest, and if it's inconsistent and dumb, well, that's part of the charm. We'r...

We're blasting off this week with the plucky little robot boy that nobody loved... ASTRO BOY! Based on one of the forebearers of anime, ASTRO BOY got a 2009 animated movie that barely made a ripple at the box office, despsite an absolutely stacked cast. We dig into this forgotten little charmer before talking about two games: the PS2 adaptation of the movie, and the classic 2003 game ASTRO BOY: OM...

Mix up some mojitos and cuff those blazers, because this week we're looking at Michael Mann's 2006 adaptation of his hit TV show, MIAMI VICE! Starring Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx as two cool as hell vice cops, the movie is almost defiantly not what you might expect from a Miami Vice movie, which has left it as kind of a love-it-or-hate-it experience. We brought along someone who happens to love i...

We're bending the rules just a little bit this week, because it's JBan's birthday week and our girl wants to talk about some GARGOYLES! This cult favorite 90's TV show (who's five-part pilot was reedited into a movie) was way ahead of its time and still feels like an anomaly for Disney animation. We're talking about the film's surprisingly lengthy legacy before checking out GARGOYLES REMASTERED, a...

We're bringing our TMNT deep dive to a close this week, and we're going out on a high note with 2023's gleeful, gorgeous animated film TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: MUTANT MAYHEM! Turtles superfan Grace Dickens joins us to talk about this most recent flick, which hearkens back to all eras of the TURTLES legacy for a damn-near perfect confection designed to please the fans. Then, we're checking out...

By 2007, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles brand wasn't what it once was, and the fully-animated sequel TMNT sought to revitalize the franchise. How successful it was is up for debate; this may be one of the most aggressively "okay" films we've ever covered, and doesn't exactly light a fire for the Heroes in a Half Shell to make a comeback. We're talking all about this strange pitstop in the TURTLE...

Cowabunga, dudes! We're launching a whole new miniseries on the movies and games of the TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES series! Even though there technically isn't a game adaptation of the original 1990 live action film, the series needs a proper introduction, and there's no better way than to talk about the early 90's megahit that surprisingly still holds up! Plus, we can't talk about NINJA TURTLES...

This week, we're stepping into the hidden world inside our closets for Disney/Pixar's 2001 classic MONSTERS, INC.! This madcap comedy is one of the animation powerhouse's lighter and funnier works, but it's every bit as worthy as some of the studio's more prestigious tearjerkers. Starring Billy Crystal and secret CinemArcade MVP John Goodman, the movie is a delightful romp that spawned surprisingl...

Paul Newman shines in the heartbreaking and beautiful drama THE HUSTLER, a stunning examination of addiction, obsession and self-hatred, and one of the least likely movies to ever be covered on our show! The road to arriving as a video game 30 years later is a long and fascinating story, but luckily we have film buff and THIRTY TWENTY TEN host Diana Goodman on board to help us navigate it! Check o...

At long last, the epic saga comes to a conclusion. And then another one. And then another one. And then another one.  Jokes aside, RETURN OF THE KING is an incredibly accomplished, satisfying conclusion that was absolutely worthy of it's insane Oscar streak. We're talking all about this final entry in the beloved saga before switching the game adaptation from EA, which truly realizes the potential...