Grumpy Nostalgia: Second Look Cinema

Send us Fan Mail This week we're looking back at those amazing stores, venues and restaurants that we thought would never go away but now somehow have simply turned into T-Mobile stores. While we suckle at the teet of Amazon now, some of remember going shopping, playing in arcades and eating at 6000 calorie steak buffets. If you ever played Frogger for an hour on one quarter, shot a 178 at th...

Send us Fan Mail Our summer retro series comes to a merciful close with the headliner from hell, FACE/OFF from 1997.  By now we're sure you're Nic Caged out but hang in there for one more last heave of a movie.  This is easily in our top 5 favorite episodes of all time.  Cage and Travolta battle in a never-ending struggle to see who can chew the most scenery in every frame of this John W...

Send us Fan Mail It's easy to say Con Air is a terrible movie.  So we do.  We say it a lot of times. Thankfully its so full of stereotypes, overused tropes, and bile it makes for a great podcast.  In this week's special re-issue episode you get to listen to the boys really struggle to comprehend how this movie got made (in a fun way).  The first podcast episode that required overtime in...

Send us Fan Mail The words "number 2" have never been more appropriate as we welcome the next movie of our special summer homage to Nic Cage with 1996's The Rock. Add in some Connery and his wigged, disproportionally-sized stuntman and we got ourselves a classic 90s action hit, y'all. For some reason Nic is named Stanley Goodspeed. And there's poisonous gas.  That's s...

Send us Fan Mail We kick off our special summer series dedicated to America's greatest living actor, Nic Cage, with 2000's Gone in 60 Seconds. This movie features 63 songs in 119 minutes which is important because it helps to drown out the dialogue.  Memphis Raines and the gang boost 50 cars in one night and the bad guy falls into a coffin and we haven't even got to the implausible...

Send us Fan Mail We had to go all the way back to the 70s to find a movie where Superman was actually cool and, man oh superman, does this one deliver.  Who needs crappy-looking CGI villains when you have the horrifying Ned Beatty and an ascot-wearing Gene Hackman.  Throw in some pre-meltdown Margot Kidder and the perennial whacked out Marlon Brando and this one writes itself.  We loved this one a...

Send us Fan Mail We can all agree that music is generally getting worse, but the technology used to bring it to us is better than ever. Only it isn't. In this episode, the gang looks back at the wonderful ways we got our music.  From scratchy AM/FM radios to glorious vinyl.  From bulky cassettes to green sharpie'd CDs.  Ultimately leading to the cold, soulless streaming services that mur...

Send us Fan Mail Machines come back from the future to change the course of history but completely ignore eradicating Ed Hardy, Post-Grunge rock, and TikTok.  Arnold's back for another go on the podcast and he has 14 lines. But he kills 39 people so we can understand his priorities.  Make sure to stick around for the end of this one where we get a chance to comment on a very pretentious &quot...

Send us Fan Mail If you ever wanted to see a Ghostbuster jump out of a plane with a cigar-smoking talking gorilla, this is the movie for you! This ridiculously dumb movie celebrates its 30th birthday this week and we felt compelled to pay homage. We were only a little over a year into our podcast journey when we decided to tackle this one and we were completely unprepared. And we have have the PTS...

Send us Fan Mail We're celebrating Father's Day by keeping up with the Jones boys. We got gondolas, Nazis, River Phoenix, sewer rats, and a wig-free Connery just for starters. A perfect ending for the Indiana Jones trilogy.  Luckily, Hollywood decided not to ruin the legacy by releasing additional cash-grab movies after this one.  Oh, wait. Stick around till the end for this one.  We pay...

Send us Fan Mail We're talking tv again, but this time were going primal.  Prime time tv from 1975 to 1985 was weird and wonderful and we were its willful prisoners.  With only 3 networks and I-Pads not even a figment of Steve Jobs imagination , we were forced to make the best of what we got.  And we got a lot. Chimpanzee truckers, grits kissin waitresses and Fonzie on water skis.  And that w...

Send us Fan Mail Are we are too old to enjoy this movie? No. Did we enjoy it anyway? Also no.  Regardless, we truffle shuffled thru this one and had a blast.  Easily one of the most fun episodes we've ever done.  Did we mention Corey Feldman wears a Members Only jacket in this?

Send us Fan Mail Jean shorts volleyball. Only take away. Actually we have a few more observations about this 80's blockbuster that cemented Tom Cruise at the top of the box office for the last 40 years. Were not entirely sure if anything even happens in this movie, but there's a bunch of music and man nipples so it's not a total loss. #topgun #maverick #goose #iceman #valkilmer #tom...

Send us Fan Mail Wow. Just, wow. A big, fake-looking snake vomits up monkeys and Jon Voight, all while out-acting the entire cast. We have opinions.

Send us Fan Mail We built it.  Whether you come or not is still anyone's guess.  But you should because this is a good one.  We got the old Costner that everyone used to like in this sappy, but glorious baseball fable that makes most grown men shed a tear or two.  Add Darth Vader and Henry Hill and you got yourself a winner. Stick around til the end where the boys, overwhelmed by gallons of s...

Send us Fan Mail We have come to chew bubble gum and do a lousy podcast.  And we're all out of bubblegum.  We're going back to the 80s again this week to review the movie that launched a thousand memes.  Lotsa violence, synthesizers, and ghoulish alien yuppies on display here, but only if you're sporting those dope sunglasses. Free tip: If Roddy Piper asks you to put them on, just d...

Send us Fan Mail Finally the special series no one was asking for!  The boys take a break from the movie theater this week to introduce their new nostalgia podcast series, ReMembers Only (get it, like the jacket?). For the premier episode, we're looking back at the glorious era of late nite tv shows. Not the boring talk shows of today.  We talking Benny Hill, the Midnight Special, the Gong Sh...

Send us Fan Mail There can be only one.  As it turns out, "one" is probably too many based on our most recent viewing of this 80s sci-fi/fantasy epic!  Christopher Lambert stars as the immortal sword-wielding Scotsmen with a thick French accent hacking and slashing his way thru 80s New York.  Tagging along is our favorite be-wigged actor Sean Connery in purple pantaloons and peacock feat...

Send us Fan Mail We got dragons L-I-V-I-N all over the place, y'all.  Harken back to 2002 for this wondrous movie starring Mac, Christian Batman, and Gerard Leonidas years before they became the subtle, nuanced character actors they are today. We'll sweeten the deal by mentioning that were joined this week by  show favorite, @mollsmusings who actually suggested we cover this one.  We wil...

Send us Fan Mail feat. James Spader that's it.  Please listen to this one.  We suffered to bring it to you

Send us Fan Mail It's double O hell no this week as the boys make their first pass at Bond movies.  We're not entirely sure what happened here, but like always, there's a supervillian bent on world domination, two Bond girls, and a crap ton of gadgets designed to kill people in original ways.  Not to mention waves and waves of easily accessible ladies along the way. Endlessly fun th...

Send us Fan Mail Happy New Year, y'all.  We're starting 25 with lots of chomp by reviewing one of the big 'uns, the OG Jurassic Park. Over 30 years old and not even a scratch on it.  Stick around til the end where the gang lovingly discuss things in Hollywood they wish would go extinct. Fun! #jurassicpark #dino #1993 #blockbusters #trex #goldblum #podcast #nostalgia #mst3k 

Send us Fan Mail We're wrapping up 2024 with a very special movie picked by our new guest contributor @kevin_the_movie_guy.  Better yet, Kevin's sitting in for this one too! We decided Santa could just go to hell for the time being because we wanna talk about 1996's From Dusk Til Dawn. It's a subtle little understated character study of a criminal and his sex predator brother f...

Send us Fan Mail You're gonna like these apples for sure.  This week the boys are going back to 1997 to revisit this amazing take on the "troubled genius" theme that Hollywood loves so wicked much.  Watching hurts a little more this time knowing Williams isnt with us anymore, but luckily the Southie accents more than make up for it. Spoiler!  The boys liked this one a lot and were r...

Send us Fan Mail We're looking back at a  Christmas movie that even our snarky GenX personalities cannot diminish.  Quotable, hilarious, and tolerantly sappy, Will Ferrel's portrayal as the 6'3" elf alone to his own devices in the Big Apple is a favorite among the Grumpy Nostalgia offices.  Plus Jimmy Caan. Plus Peter Dinklage. Plus the insufferably cute Zoey Deschanel. Grab yo...