Nothing New Under the Sun

The second part of our arc about the Legendary Entertainment monster franchise analyzes the origin of the King of monsters himself, Godzilla. The storied history of the leviathan lizard begins in post-WWII Japan and spawns countless sequels, each getting progressivey sillier. What do you do when you're not sure the audience is interested anymore in metaphors about the horrors of weapons of ma...

Happy first birthday to us here at NNUTS! For this year's version of what we might call "Monster March", we bring you the first part of an arc about the new Legendary Entertainment monster franchise. From Kong to Godzilla, we'll be covering the history of these behemoth beasts as we prepare for them to square off on the silver screen once again. How tall is Kong? Does he love t...

Akira Kurosawa's timeless masterpiece told, and retold, through generations in a game of plot interpretation telephone. It was a film so good it became a genre. And in this episode, much like for the warriors in these pyrrhic parables of peaceful populace protection, here too does alcohol fuel confidence. Does a movie have to be Great to be great? Does a podcast need to pronounce all the name...

Cathy Lee Crosby. Lynda Carter. Gal Gadot. In a medium dominated by male heroes, male writers and male directors, we see the evolving portrayal of one of Earth's mightiest heroes from problematic origins to empowering icon. Adaptations of the Amazonian Olympian's story have historically been riddled with issues. So does the newest iteration truthfully do her justice, or does it remain a...

It came without ribbons. It came without tags. The winner of our Patreon holiday episode poll came without packages, boxes or bags! Listen to the good, the bad, and the ugly history of everyone's favorite thieving spoil-sport, remade countless more times than the general public is aware. From Boris Karloff to Jim Carrey to Benedict Cumberbatch, we celebrate and lambast these merry musical hom...

"Do you know the Klingon proverb that tells us revenge is a dish that is best served cold? Well, it is VERY cold in space." We welcome our long-time Trekkie pal Brian as our second-ever guest on NNUTS to discuss one of the Starship Enterprise's most illustrious villains: Khan. From William Shatner's unbelievable longevity, to Ricardo Montalban's suspiciously rippling pecto...

The third and final episode of spooky season 2020, only a few weeks too late! Listen, there was a lot of material here. You'll see. And speaking of a third, this episode features our first guest on the show, our buddy John! 150% the editing, but three times the fun! I had to really dig in and get to feeling at home editing this one. NNUTS house is where I belong now. It's calling to me,...

Let me tell you about witches. They have purple eyes. They don't really have toes, and, oh yeah, they're all bald! And they also have, uh, laser vision? Most importantly, they have conventions at fancy hotels. So if you're asking yourself, "how insanely good of a job would Jim Henson, Angelica Huston, Rowan Atkinson, Anne Hathaway, Octavia Spencer and Stanley Tucci have to do t...

Our first episode of Spooky Season 2020 and the result of a poll on our Patreon! Who is the definitive Pennywise, Tim Curry or Bill Skarsgard? What's the best way to adapt a terrifying, drug-fueled and often problematic Stephen King cosmic horror story? Listen as this dancing, bike-riding, rock-throwing tale of innocent kids growing up into traumatized adults floats its way to box-office succ...

Will this remake honor the original, and can it withstand the great typhoon of social turmoil? We try our best to give a fair account of the myriad geopolitical issues surrounding this ill-conceived attempt at reviving a childhood favorite. Support human rights. Support women's rights. Support democracy. Support the most badass soundtrack in Disney history. The flower that blooms in adversity...

History, time travel, philosophy and guitar solos. Join us on this most bodacious expedition through one of Mike's favorite franchises. It's finally Dave's turn to have some totally bogus audio difficulties, but that doesn't stop us from partying on, dudes. Check out the show and be excellent to each other! Media covered: Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989) Bill &a...

Pongo and Perdy of course. Patch, Lucky and Rolly, sure. Penny, Freckles, Pepper, OK fine. Dipstick, Two-tone and... Wizzer, really? In this episode we cover those daring dotted dogs and the devious deeds of one Cruella De Vil. But first we run through the state of the movie industry while COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc on studio plans, as well as our plans for scheduling this show. It's a...

"If we could talk to the animals, learn all their languages, maybe take an animal degree..." Join us on an udderly hare-raising voyage detailing some of the most beastly movies we've covered so far on this show. From disastrous production, to insane plots, horrible voice-over editing (but not for who you'd expect) and abysmal ratings, these movies truly have it all. Can even so...

In the jungle you must wait, until you hear NNUTS number eight! The incomparable Robin Williams, the bromance of The Rock and Kevin Hart, the obscurity of Zathura. But beware, this will not be an easy mission, audio technical difficulties slow the expedition. Our first attempt at recording in person (socially-distanced!) led to some weird microphone mishaps. Nevertheless sit back and enjoy the nos...

Jinkies gang, another movie studio trying to craft a cinematic universe out of a host of beloved classic characters? Like, that's totally risky, man! This legendary Hanna-Barbera series, home to some of the most beloved voice actors of all time, is known for traversing culturally rich settings. But attempting transitions between media types? How will they make it out of this one? Zoinks! Medi...

What is it to be a person? How does consciousness emerge from inorganic parts? How does a movie studio annihilate the best parts of such a classic film and reduce it to a garbled action mess? Do not attempt to adjust your audio, there is nothing wrong with your speakers. We are controlling the transmission. Media covered: Ghost in the Shell (1989) Ghost in the Shell(1995) Ghost in the Shell (2017)...

True crime! Fictional Crime! Two all-star casts in feature-length bottle-episodes wrestle with morality and magnificent mustaches. Put your detective skills to the test and discover how sometimes truth is stranger than fiction... Movies covered: Murder on the Orient Express (1974) Murder on the Orient Express (2017) URL: http://www.nnuts.show Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nnuts.show Support...

Monster truck explosions in the desert, dystopian commodification, spiky punk outfits, obscure Australian slang. A cultural icon which reverberated through the action genre in movies, video games and TV for decades to come. It's a ripper of a time! Media covered: Mad Max (1979) Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981) Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) URL: http://www.nnuts...

What happens when a futuristic amusement park goes haywire and starts turning against its guests? No, not dinosaurs, these are androids - gunslinger androids! What happens when this awesome premise gets repeatedly bungled until it's finally in the hands of a (mostly) competent production company? Is there a market for heady sci-fi on big-budget television? Media covered: Westworld (1973) Futu...

Second part of an arc about the Universal Monster Franchise. How the Mummy movies almost killed Brendan Fraser. When keeping it "Rotten Tomatoes Fresh" goes wrong. The unbelievably poor treatment of lead actresses, and how to let your lead actor destroy a movie and, with it, an entire cinematic universe. Media covered: The Mummy (1932) The Mummy (1959) The Mummy (1999) The Mummy (2017) U...

First part of an arc about the Universal Monster Franchise. The talent of Claude Rains' and Elizabeth Moss' performances. The spookiness of evolving technology. The sheer insanity of just how old the original movie is. The uh, existence, of the film Hollow Man. Media covered: The Invisible Man (1933) Hollow Man (2000) The Invisible Man (2020) URL: http://www.nnuts.show Instagram: https:/...