Now Playing - The Movie Review Podcast

Director Bryan Singer is back to take the X-Men to the '80s for a totally tubular fight against Apocalypse! The film debuts the fan-favorite mutant villain on film. It also features the return of classic movie X-Men Cyclops, Jean Gray, and Nightcrawler. Is the result boss or bunk? Join Arnie, Jakob, and Stuart to find out!

The original Hellboy film didn't set the box office on fire. But like a necromancer, director and writer Guillermo del Toro brought the demonic comic hero back on screens in 2008. With the original cast back plus new antagonists both in and out of the BPRD, does Hellboy II: The Golden Army turn up the heat? Join Arnie, Stuart, and Jakob to find out!

Dark Horse Comics was once best known for its series based on popular movie properties like Star Wars, Predator, and Alien. That reputation slowly changed as the publisher's original characters gained prominence, with the most popular becoming Mike Mignola's demonic creation Hellboy! In 2004 that comic was adapted to film by fantastical visionary Guillermo del Toro. Now join Arnie, Stuart, and Jak...

Is this movie Captain America 3 or Avengers 3? Cap is back and he's brought the whole team. Iron Man, Ant-Man, Black Widow, Vision, Scarlet Witch, and half a dozen other costumed heroes appear--to fight! At issue is the UN wanting to control The Avengers

Arnold Schwarzenegger, come on down! You’re the next contestant on The Running Man! No one was interested in making movies based on the writings of Richard Bachman. His novels Rage, The Long Walk, Roadwork, and The Running Man were modest sellers that often had only one printing. More, they were dark and rough novels King wrote in his early years. That changed in 1985 when Bachman was exposed as a...

From 1974 to 1982 Stephen King published 12 books, most of them bestsellers. Yet only three movies were based on his writing during that same period: Carrie in 1976, The Shining in 1980, and Creepshow in 1982. That all changed starting in 1983. In the next four years a total of thirteen movies based on King's works hit screens. The first movie in that deluge was Cujo, based on King's 1980 book abo...

Harvey Pekar was an independent comic writer, a notorious talk show guest, and a general grump. And with the film American Splendor he added another title--movie star. Pekar himself and Paul Giamatti both play the author in the film that depicts Crumb's start in comics, and his fight with cancer. It's possibly the most down-to-earth comic book movie Now Playing has ever reviewed...but is it good?...

Frank Miller was given a director's credit on Robert Rodriguez's Sin City. With that film's success Miller went on to direct his own feature film. The result was The Spirit, based on Will Eisner's iconic comic book crimefighter. The movie's visual style and tone strongly resembled Sin City but the reception didn't match that earlier film. Is this film a Sin worth committing? Listen to find out!

When fans think of The Spirit they probably think of Will Eisner's 1940's comic book crimefighter. Or they may think of Frank Miller's 2008 film adaptation of the same name. Only the hard core Spirit fans and '80s trivia buffs would think of the film we'r

It took fifteen years of development, but now the World's Finest heroes are together on screen with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Can the Dark Knight and the Man of Steel share the screen?  The box office was big but the audience divided. Now join Arnie, Stuart, and Jakob for this review to find out!

It took fifteen years of development, but now the World's Finest heroes are together on screen with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Can the Dark Knight and the Man of Steel share the screen?  The box office was big but the audience divided. Now join Arnie, Stuart, and Jakob for this review to find out!

It took fifteen years of development, but now the World's Finest heroes are together on screen with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Can the Dark Knight and the Man of Steel share the screen?  The box office was big but the audience divided. Now join Arnie, Stuart, and Jakob for this review to find out!

Watchmen was an acclaimed '80s comic series. It helped legitimize comics as a literary medium, and remained a bestseller for over 20 years. Yet with its complex, nonlinear narrative, all attempts to adapt it to film had failed to launch. But in 2009 director Sack Snyder, fresh off his success on 300, used the same visual style to bring Watchmen to theaters. The result was not as highly-praised as...

After the success of the X-Men superhero properties were in demand. But before hero teams like Justice League, Watchmen, and Avengers could assemble, there was The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Sean Connery's Allan Quatermain leads a cadre of literary figures including Tom Sawyer, Dr. Jeckyll, The Invisible Man, and others. The film's reception, though, was anything but extraordinary with rum...

Created by comic book superstars J Scott Campbell, Jim Lee, and Brandon Choi, Gen 13 was Wildstorm Comics' risque Gen-X version of the X-Men. After only a few years in publication the series' success led to Buena Vista creating this animated feature, starring voice actors Mark Hamill, John de Lancie, John de Lancie, and Flea. But before the movie could see release Wildstorm was bought by DC Comics...

DC has had over 15 years of television dominance. From Smallville to Arrow, The Flash, and Supergirl, the heroes of DC Comics have come to life on the small screen. But not every attempt to bring the comics to life succeeded. Birds of Prey was cancelled early, and David E. Kelley's Wonder Woman pilot was never aired at all.  Neither was Justice League of America - a 1997 TV movie intended as a pil...

In 1976 Wonder Woman spun into America's homes on CBS. In 1978 Superman took flight in theaters. So to capitalize on this success Hanna-Barbera brought a live-action Superfriends to TV with Legends of the Superheroes!  This TV special was split into two episodes, one an adventure and the other a "roast" of the heroes. But with Adam West and Burt Ward returning to the roles of Batman and Robin, is...

This show description is guest written by Deadpool. Oh, hello there! Deadpool here. It took ten years but I've finally got my own solo film! Now, I know I'm awesome, but even I'm shocked at how many box office records it broke. I have to give a lot of credit to the marketing, but the movie stars me, so it has to be awesome. The real question, though, is what Arnie, Stuart, and Jakob think. So what...

Neil Gaiman's Stardust began in 1997 as a DC comic book fairy tale. In 1999 it was then published as an illustrated novel. Finally in 2007 it was adapted to the screen, directed by Matthew Vaughn. This story about a fallen star had its own star power with Claire Danes, Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert De Niro, and Peter O'Toole. Is this yet another Vaughn comic adaptation worth checking out, or should it...

Studio Ghibli and director Hayao Miyazaki are highly regarded among anime fans. But none of their previous successes compared to 1997's mythological Princess Mononoke. The film became Japan's top-grossing film of all time. Disney's Miramax Films even commissioned an English translation written by Neil Gaiman, voiced by stars including Claire Danes, Billy Crudup, and Billy Bob Thornton. Now join th...

Drinking game: take a shot every time someone in this podcast references another '80s franchise. In the 1980s, Masters of the Universe was everywhere. Mattel's toy line filled store shelves, Filmation's cartoon turned He-Man into a household name, and kids across America (including Arnie) raised plastic Power Swords and declared, "I have the power!" Hollywood hoped to cash in on that popularity wi...

It started with a contest, a fan-submitted new "fake" trailer for Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's Grindhouse double feature. It ended up, like Machete, being made into a full movie! The title sums up the film, but with Rutger Hauer cast as the titular Hobo can this be more than midnight-movie fare? Join Arnie, Jakob, and Stuart to find out!

The original film promised Danny Trejo would return as Machete, and that promise was kept! Machete Kills, released in 2010, boasts an even bigger line-up of stars than the original. Mel Gibson, Cuba Gooding Jr, Lady Gaga, Amber Heard, Charlie Sheen, and many more notable actors lined up to be featured in Robert Rodriguez's over-the-top film. But did Machete kill our hosts with its jokes? And are t...

He knows the score. He gets the babes. He kills the bad guys. He is Machete! The character was originally seen in a joke trailer in the Rodriguez/Tarantino Grindhouse double feature. Then in 2010 that joke became a major motion picture. Did the film live up to the trailer's promise? Listen to this episode of Now Playing to find out!

"If I had the time and a sledgehammer, I would track down every copy of that show and smash it."  So said Star Wars creator George Lucas regarding the 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special. The two hour CBS special reunited Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, alongside most of the original Star Wars cast.  It also gave fans their first glimpse at the bounty hunter Boba Fett! So how can it be so ha...