Now Playing - The Movie Review Podcast

We guess Cage didn't see this one coming. Next casts Nicolas Cage (Ghost Rider) as a man who can see two minutes into his own future, a loose adaptation of Philip K. Dick's short story "The Golden Man." It turns into a chase thriller involving government agents, terrorists, and Cage trying to outmaneuver fate itself. Blending sci-fi concept with romance and action set pieces, Next aims to turn a t...

The search for self gets personal this time for Philip K. Dick Books & Nachos is now part of Now Playing Podcast. Before our book reviews were branded as Now Playing Podcast Book Reviews, they were released under a separate show called Books & Nachos. That podcast focused on book discussions, most of which tied directly into films we were covering on Now Playing. We’ve now merged those epi...

Keanu has never been so animated A Scanner Darkly brings Philip K. Dick’s semi-autobiographical novel to the screen in rotoscope animation, with Keanu Reeves (The Matrix), Winona Ryder (Beetlejuice), Woody Harrelson (Natural Born Killers), and Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man) drifting through a near-future Southern California soaked in surveillance and Substance D. Directed by Richard Linklater (Dazed...

Before the bullets and the doves, there was just a man, a wiped memory, and a handful of junk that might save his life. Books & Nachos is now part of Now Playing Podcast. Before our book reviews were branded as Now Playing Podcast Book Reviews, they were released under a separate show called Books & Nachos. That podcast focused on book discussions, most of which tied directly into films we...

Given a choice, which movie of his do you think Affleck would erase from his memory? Ben Affleck stars in Paycheck, a high-concept thriller adapted from a story by Philip K. Dick and directed by John Woo. Affleck plays a reverse engineer who agrees to have his memory wiped after completing a classified job, only to discover he left himself a trail of cryptic clues instead of the massive payout he...

The precogs have determined you must read this story Books & Nachos is now part of Now Playing Podcast. Before our book reviews were branded as Now Playing Podcast Book Reviews, they were released under a separate show called Books & Nachos. That podcast focused on book discussions, most of which tied directly into films we were covering on Now Playing. We’ve now merged those episodes into...

Precog sounds like a plumbing term. In 2002, Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise teamed up to bring Philip K. Dick's vision of the future to the screen with Minority Report. Set in a world where psychic "Pre-Cogs" allow police to arrest murderers before they strike, the film blends sleek sci-fi spectacle with questions about fate, free will, and government overreach. With cutting-edge visuals and bloc...

Who is the man and who is the impostor? Books & Nachos is now part of Now Playing Podcast. Before our book reviews were branded as Now Playing Podcast Book Reviews, they were released under a separate show called Books & Nachos. That podcast focused on book discussions, most of which tied directly into films we were covering on Now Playing. We’ve now merged those episodes into the main Now...

Mr. Monk and the Case of the Reshot Footage Gary Sinise (Forrest Gump) headlines Impostor, a paranoid sci-fi thriller inspired by a story from Philip K. Dick. Sinise plays a government scientist developing a weapon to stop alien invaders, only to be accused of being an android assassin programmed to detonate and kill Earth’s leadership. Originally conceived as a short film before being expanded to...

This novella is a real scream Books & Nachos is now part of Now Playing Podcast. Before our book reviews were branded as Now Playing Podcast Book Reviews, they were released under a separate show called Books & Nachos. That podcast focused on book discussions, most of which tied directly into films we were covering on Now Playing. We’ve now merged those episodes into the main Now Playing P...

Type 6 Screamers look like DVR boxes. You have been warned. In 1995, Peter Weller traded Detroit for deep space in Screamers, a low-budget adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s short story “Second Variety.” Weller plays the leader of a distant mining colony locked in a brutal war, only to discover that the autonomous weapons built to protect humanity have evolved beyond their programming. Blending dystop...

If you don't recall this story, it is time for you to read it! Books & Nachos is now part of Now Playing Podcast. Before our book reviews were branded as Now Playing Podcast Book Reviews, they were released under a separate show called Books & Nachos. That podcast focused on book discussions, most of which tied directly into films we were covering on Now Playing. We’ve now merged those epi...

Man, I just pulled my Quato In 1990, Philip K. Dick's short story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" fuelled a rocket to Mars for action star Arnold Schwarzenegger, landing him one of his biggest box-office successes and most complex acting challenges. Is Ahnold the good guy liberating a Martian colony from tyranny, the bad guy sleeper spy, or a crazy man on a head-trip vacation gone very wron...

Everyone knows the movie, now learn about the story! Books & Nachos is now part of Now Playing Podcast. Before our book reviews were branded as Now Playing Podcast Book Reviews, they were released under a separate show called Books & Nachos. That podcast focused on book discussions, most of which tied directly into films we were covering on Now Playing. We’ve now merged those episodes into...

Anyone else see a unicorn run through here? From identity crises to artificial intelligence, few writers have inspired Hollywood quite like Philip K. Dick. His paranoid, reality-bending stories have attracted some of the industry’s biggest directors and stars, resulting in films that question memory, humanity, and the nature of existence itself. Now Playing Podcast dives into the mind of Dick with...

In Cyberspace, no one can hear you over the techno. More than 25 years after Disney’s cult curiosity first lit up the grid, Tron: Legacy storms into theaters with neon intensity. With the original Tron long-regarded as more groundbreaking than great, expectations are high that this sequel will finally turn concept into classic. Fueled by cutting-edge 3-D visuals, a digital recreation of Jeff Bridg...

Scott Farkus had yellow eyes, so Billy has yellow skin? Three decades after the original holiday horror classic, Black Christmas returns to the sorority house with a bloodier, louder reimagining of the 1974 shocker. This time, the filmmakers don’t just hint at the killer in the attic; they dive headfirst into his backstory, piling on gruesome kills and seasonal mayhem. The remake leans hard into g...

Can you guess what the gift is, Agnes? Before slashers ruled the ’80s, before masked killers stalked Camp Crystal Lake or Haddonfield, there was 1974 shocker Black Christmas. Often cited as a proto-slasher that paved the way for Halloween and beyond, Black Christmas mixes seasonal cheer with dread, delivering one of the genre’s earliest and creepiest home-invasion nightmares. Arnie, Stuart, and Br...

Check out the data discs on her! Light Cycles. Neon Frisbees. Arcade games. These are the iconic, nostalgic images that come to mind when you think of Tron, Disney's 'ahead of its time' 1982 cult classic, in which Jeff Bridges plays a cyberspace messiah almost 20 years before Keanu Reeves' Neo. With the upcoming release of the sequel Tron: Legacy, Disney is banking on viewer nostalgia. But beyond...

He drew first blood...on the page. As we finish our series looking back at the Rambo films, novels, and novelizations, Arnie sits down with author David Morrell. Morrell wrote First Blood over a decade before Stallone portrayed the character on screen, and then Morrell returned to Rambo by novelizing the screenplays for the first two film sequels. Now the author opens up about why he chose to adap...

Education or exploitation? Twenty years after Rambo III crashed harder than a tank into a chopper, John Rambo returned in Rambo. Fresh off his comeback as Rocky, Sylvester Stallone stepped back into the bandana, this time heading to war-torn Burma for a rescue mission that quickly spirals into full-scale carnage. This fourth installment ditches glossy ’80s bombast for brutal, unflinching violence....

It's better than the movie... but how could it not be? Books & Nachos is now part of Now Playing Podcast. Before our book reviews were branded as Now Playing Podcast Book Reviews, they were released under a separate show called Books & Nachos. That podcast focused on book discussions, most of which tied directly into films we were covering on Now Playing. We’ve now merged those episodes in...

Best. Tank vs helicoptor scene. Ever! After Rambo: First Blood Part II detonated at the box office, another mission was inevitable. Sylvester Stallone returned once more in Rambo III, sending John Rambo into war-torn Afghanistan to rescue his captured mentor, Colonel Trautman, and take the fight to Soviet forces. Trading jungles for deserts, the third installment ups the scale again with bigger ex...

No, it's worth reviewing! Really! Books & Nachos is now part of Now Playing Podcast. Before our book reviews were branded as Now Playing Podcast Book Reviews, they were released under a separate show called Books & Nachos. That podcast focused on book discussions, most of which tied directly into films we were covering on Now Playing. We’ve now merged those episodes into the main Now Playi...

Now that is a knife! In 1985, Sylvester Stallone brought John Rambo back to theaters with Rambo: First Blood Part II. This time, the mission sends Rambo back to Vietnam to rescue American POWs, turning the brooding survival story of the original into a full-throttle action spectacle. With corrupt bureaucrats, double-crosses, heavy artillery, and those unforgettable exploding arrowheads, Rambo II d...