Junkfood Cinema

Summer of 87 would not be complete without a trip to Santa Carla as Brian and Cargill take on all the damn vampires of Joel Schumacher's The Lost Boys. They happily sink their teeth into one of the very best vamp movies of the 80s, explaining what makes its appeal live longer than a gnarly bloodsucker. Was Peter Pan a vampire? How did Mayor Hobo Carny get elected? What's in a Corey Combo? Will we...

Brian and Cargill's final laps around the Junky Summer of 1987 land them in Summer School. In fact, the guys argue that this is the movie that inspired this entire series (moreso than Robocop, Predator, or The Running Man)? Mark Harmon plays the flunkiest of teachers who gets coerced into teaching a summer school course full of misfits, rejects, and a guy called Chainsaw. While fighting his natura...

Are you ready for pain? Are you ready for suffering? Are you ready for PUNishment? Then you're ready for the new episode of Junkfood Cinema! This week, Brian and Cargill are joined by Night Attack's Justin Robert Young as they blaze through one of the most unexpectedly prophetic movies of all time! The Running Man takes place in a dystopian 2017. A time in which you can't trust what you see on the...

Brian and Cargill prove they have the powwwwwerrrr to genuinely love even notoriously bad films as their Summer of 1987 series takes them to Eternia to do battle with Masters of the Universe. One of the trio of films that shuttered Cannon Films, Masters of the Universe is a marvel of schlock, but do we dare say it's the best movie ever adapted from a line of toys? We dare anything! If anything, Ma...

Dead or alive, Junkfood Cinema is pushing through the Summer of 1987! Modern Rogue's Brian Brushwood joins us as we dissect and reassemble Paul Verhoeven's legendary Robocop! The villain bench is deep, the satire is strong, and the violence is necessary! We talk about the long road to production, how Robocop and Spider-Man live in the same neighborhood, and why we now want to see Charles Bronson a...

The Summer of 1987 series continues on and this week heads to a dark place. A Canadian suburb?   ...yes Modern Rogue's Jason Murphy joins us for a deep dive into The Gate. The Gate is the answer to every heavy metal horror movie that painted metal as the catalyst for evil. Because this time, metal saves the day! It has as much heart as an Amblin film, astoundingly creepy special effects, and manag...

A long time ago, in a galaxy far removed from good taste. It's Junkfood Cinema: The Podcast! As Brian and Cargill trek through the Summer of 87, they visit planet Brooks and go to plaid while juggling their thoughts on Spaceballs! How did the biggest Star Wars parody of all time manage to completely avoid resembling the story structure of Star Wars but at all? Is it among Brooks' best films? Has n...

Summer of 87 stops for a spell in a little Rhode Island town as Brian and Cargill discuss the wickedly fantastic Witches of Eastwick. Did Jack Nicholson ever come back from this role? Does the film's feminism hold up? And, wait, George "Mad Max" Miller directed this with a score by John Williams?! All this plus, how the dangerously insane producer Jon Peters tried to mix witchcraft with...aliens?...

We ain't got time to preamble, this is one of the big tentpole movies of 1987 and one of the biggest reasons we're doing our Summer of 87 series: Predator. Brian and Cargill discuss the cast, structure, effects, and music of one of the greatest action films of all time. They also contemplate whether Shane Black was kidnapped by Joel Silver, chat about how Jean-Claude Van Damme was almost in this m...

In honor of the late, great Powers Boothe, and because Brian had never seen it, Junkfood Cinema's Summer of 87 series makes a detour with Extreme Prejudice. An unfairly obscure Walter Hill mercenary western, Extreme Prejudice boasts a cast and crew that reads like a JFC-specific IMDB. Written by John Milius, scored by Jerry Goldsmith, produced by Vajna and Kassar and we haven't even reached the ca...

JFC may be based in Austin, Texas, but that doesn't mean we don't love doing things the Chicago way! One of the best movies of 1987, period, Brian De Palma's The Untouchables is a master class in crafting legend out of fact. Apparently De Palma's man crush on Alfred Hitchcock was matched only by his infatuation with Al Capone. The guys talk cast, crew, and the many possible casting multiverses whi...

Suit up, masters of the mystic arts! This week, One Junky Summer hits some familiar targets. Another sequel, and another Cannon Film? Hell yes! Brian and Cargill fight their way out of paradise in American Ninja 2: The Confrontation! (a.k.a American Ninja 2: Super Ninjas, a.k.a American Ninja 2: F### It!) Full disclosure, American Ninja 2 is not the best film JFC has ever covered, but it is among...

The heat is back on...so make sure to store your cupcakes in the fridge. This week Brian and Cargill head back to L.A. with Axel Foley as One Junky Summer heads into sequel territory once again. On paper, Beverly Hills Cop 2 shouldn't work. Despite Tony Scott at the helm, it cuts back on the action, is edited with a chainsaw, and strips the slobs vs. snobs appeal of the first. However, the comedy...

Cargill expected Project X to fit in perfectly with JFC's Summer of 87 retrospective, Brian however did not expect to be so emotionally affected by the story of Matthew Broderick and a chimp named Virgil. Turns out, Project X is one of the most perfect Junkfood movies of all time! Not simply because it is beautifully shot, powerfully moving, and expertly written, but also because it features a gat...

Welcome to prime time, Junkions! Junkfood Cinema slashes its way through The Summer of 87 as Brian and Cargill battle it out with The Dream Warriors! Is it safe to call A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 the best horror sequel of the 80s? What makes it hold up so well? How badass is John Saxon? Oh, we can answer that last one right now: all of it. All of the badass. Download, listen, share, and get ready...

One Junky Summer trucks on, and this week we wrestle with a longstanding challenge. For years, Brian has wanted to cover Sylvester Stallone's macho-piece Over the Top, but Cargill couldn't get over his distaste for it. There was however no avoiding Over the Top when discussing the junkiest flicks of 1987. Plus, returning guest (and Alamo Drafthouse programmer) Greg MacLennan threatened to fight th...

One Junky Summer returns as we kick off our season-long retrospective of the best genre films of 1987! First up, the flick that redefined buddy cop cinema: Lethal Weapon. Sure, it's a spectacular, hilarious, and quotable action comedy...but it's also an intensely dark foray into the scarred psyche of Vietnam vets?! Brian and Cargill delve into the darkness, the extended director's cut of the movie...

Make no mistake, the alien invasion has begun. Luckily it appears the invaders are only interested in robbing banks, stealing sports cars, and listening to heavy metal. It's a close encounter of the weirdest kind as Brian and Cargill uncover 1987's The Hidden. Michael Nouri and Kyle Maclachlan (two years before Twin Peaks) star in this oddball buddy cop movie about what it means to be human...well...

Writer/TV personality Jason Murphy joins us again for this very special bonus installment of Junkfood Cinema. We dug deep and uncovered a true gem. You've seen it, you love it, but you somehow forgot about it immediately after its 1994 release.  You wanted someone to jog your memory of this lost classic? Your wish is our command! Like the show? Consider supporting us on Patreon! For as little as $...

Grab your toothbrush, your swimsuit, and a whole mess of body bags, because we're heading back to Crystal Lake! This time, counselors Brian and Cargill are joined by author/screenwriter/TV personality Jason Murphy (The Modern Rogue, The Black Goat Motorcycle Club) as they dissect one of the most imperfect, but interesting entries into this or any slasher franchise. Beyond the patchwork Jason vs. C...

Hold on to your skulls, Junkions! Brian and Cargill continue through their March Madness series with David Cronenberg's Scanners. It may not be the granddaddy of psychic killer movies, but it's at least the daddy. And yet for as much as they love it, the guys come to the mind-blowing realization that Scanners is a deeply flawed film remembered more for a meme than for its story. However, the perfo...

It's the third anniversary of Junkfood Cinema and Brian and Cargill are bugging out as they welcome director/previous episode subject Joe Lynch (Wrong Turn 2, Everly) to join their discussion of the most Fulci-esque Argento movie of all time: 1985's Phenomena (aka Creepers). Can't decide if you want a serial killer giallo or a movie about a girl who can communicate with insects or a Donald-Pleasen...

Welcome to March Madness, our month-long celebration of mental thrillers and physic killers! To kick things off, Brian and Cargill haunt your dreams as they run alongside Dennis Quaid through the Dreamscape. That's right, 1984's other movie about a killer invading people's dreams that also happens to be 1984's other Kate Capshaw movie involving ripping out a man's heart! As much as the parallel th...

Last week, we lost a titan. An actor/director whose name was heard in countless previous episodes and, were we to have a Mt. Junkfood, his face would be etched in stone. Brian and Cargill run down their lists of favorite Bill Paxton performances. Cargill compares Frailty to Night of the Hunter while Brian has some issues with Twister that won't seem to blow over. Rest in peace, Bill. The game may...

This week, Brian and Cargill come out of their shells to explain in absurd detail, the full T.U.R.T.L.E power of 1990's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Dark as the comic at points, dopey as the cartoon at others, featuring some of Jim Henson's best work and edited by...Sally Menke(?), TMNT is a criminally underrated superhero film that tastes better on revisit than a slice of Domino's pizza. Like th...