Retro Grade Podcast

“EVEN THE SMALLEST PERSON CAN CHANGE THE COURSE OF THE FUTURE.“ On this episode, we cover the one high fantasy film franchise to rule them all, The Lord of the Rings. Specifically, The Fellowship of the Ring, directed by Peter Jackson released in December of 2001. Yeah, this movie came out 20 years ago (feel old yet?) We talk about how we both liked this movie as kids, but missed so much of what i...

“THERE IS NO SPOON.“ On this episode we cover one of the most influential sci-fi action films of all time: The Matrix (1999,) written and directed by the Wachowski sisters, starring Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Lawrence Fishburne and Hugo Weaving. Most likely, there is not a person reading this blog post that hasn’t experienced The Matrix in some way. Be it the film series itself, a parody of t...

“I AM A ROCKER, I AM A ROLLER, I’M AN OUT-OF-CONTROLLER!” On this episode of Retro Grade Podcast, we talk about the most prestigious high-octane, post-apocalyptic film franchise in cinema history. We are talking about where is all began in Mad Max, from 1979, directed by George Miller, produced by the late Byron Kennedy, and starring the infamous Mel Gibson. With a very humble budget of about 350,...

“YOU’RE A WIZARD HARRY.” On this episode of Retro Grade Podcast, we talk about the most famous wizarding world in cinematic history. We are talking about Harry Potter! Specifically, we are talking about where it all began with 2001’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone directed by Chris Colombus, based off of the book series by the world’s first billion dollar author, and documented transphobe ,...

“THE WORST THING THAT’S HAPPENED TO YOU HAS ALREADY HAPPENED AND YOU’RE STILL HERE.“ On this week’s episode of Retro Grade Podcast, we talk about a horror gem from the mid 2000’s, The Descent. Directed by Neil Marshall, the film is about a group of women who go exploring  remote underground caves, and find that they are not the only ones there. We go into depth about the story, how the film l...

“OH MY GOD! WE HIT A BOOT!“ On this episode of Retro Grade Podcast, we take a look at a movie that meant a lot to the theater-going audiences of 2000. A movie that also meant a lot to Jorge’s childhood. A movie that revived the spoof genre itself. We are talking about none other than, Scary Movie, directed by Keenan Ivory Wayans. This movie was one of the highest grossing films of 2000, earning mo...

“THIS IS THE GIRL“ On this episode of Retro Grade Podcast, we talk about David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive from 2001. This is a special episode, as it is the first time we talk about a film from Austin’s favorite film director of all time. It’s also one of the few times our podcast has a shorter run time than the actual movie. We talk about the effect Lynch’s surreal, atmospheric and sometimes comedi...

“THIS ISN’T FLYING, THIS IS FALLING WITH STYLE “ On this week’s episode of Retro Grade Podcast we talk about the beloved children’s animated film, Toy Story. Released in 1995, this is the first feature length film released by Pixar Studios, directed by John Lasseter. We revisit the classic film from most of our childhoods, we reminisce about all the toys we had from this film and our memories of w...

YOU PUT THIS KID BEHIND THE WHEEL, THERE’S NOTHIN’ HE CAN’T DO. On this episode of Retro Grade Podcast, we talk about one of Jorge’s top 3 favorite films, 2011’s Drive, directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, starring Ryan Gosling. A film shot on a humble 15 million dollar budget that made a huge impact amongst those that saw it, earning 81 million at the box office, and made Refn an indie darling overn...

NOBODY PUTS BABY IN A CORNER On this episode of Retro Grade Podcast, we go back to 1987 (again) and watch Dirty Dancing, directed by Emile Ardolino, written by Eleanor Bergstein, starring Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze! We talk about how this film with a small budget went on to become the biggest films of the year, with a firm place within the pop culture zeitgeist. Not only is the film a coming...

“EVERY PILGRIM REACHES THE END OF IT’S JOURNEY… SOME SOONER THAN OTHERS.“ On this week’s episode, we go over the 2010 cult classic Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, directed by Edgar Wright. The cast of the film featured mega stars before they were mega-stars: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Anna Kendrick, Alison Pill, Aubrey Plaza, Jason Schwartzman, Brandon Routh, Brie Larson, a...

WAIT, WHAT HAPPENED TO 028? It’s officially been one year since Retro Grade Podcast has been online! Throughout our first year in podcasting we’ve had a lot of memories and moments behind the scenes that have have made the experience so enjoyable and fulfilling. We’ve also had moments where it was clear to us now, we had no idea what we were doing. However, part of the journey is making mistakes a...

“YOU EVER HEARD OF THE DREAM TEAM? WELL, WE’RE THE MEAN TEAM, WUSSY MAN!” This week on Retro Grade Podcast, we talk about 1996’s Space Jam, featuring Michael Jordan and the Looney Tunes. We revisit this classic film in response to the recent release of Space Jam: A New Legacy. Having been conceived by a series of commercials featuring Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny, this Warner Bros. classic marked...

“YOU REMIND ME OF THE BABE“ We just covered a David Bowie-inspired film, but how about a film with the man himself? On this episode of Retro Grade Podcast, we are talking about 1986’s Labyrinth, directed by Jim Henson, starring Jennifer Connelly as Sarah, and David Bowie as the Gobling King, Jareth. On this episode, Labyrinth super-fan , independent puppet filmmaker , and Etsy Shop proprietor , Ma...

“FUNNY HOW SOME PEOPLE NEVER LOVE AT ALL“ In honor of Pride Month, we revisit the 1998 cult classic, Velvet Goldmine . Directed by Todd Haynes ( Carol , Far from Heaven , and I’m Not There ) and starring Christian Bale, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Ewan McGregor, Toni Colette and Eddie Izzard. We go back in time to the 1970s Glam Rock era. The era of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, T. Rex, Roxy...

“THESE TANKS TODAY ARE BETTER. MUCH BETTER.“ A few months ago we got an email from an avid fan of a movie called “The Beast“ (or sometimes called “The Beast of War.“) We had never heard of the film before, but Nick talked it up describing it as one of the best films of 1988, but was only released on two screens in the entire US. Being our first request from an anonymous fan who thought to contact...

“LOOKY LOOKY, I GOT HOOKY!“ On this week’s episode we talk about 1991’s Hook , directed by Steven Spielberg. We revisit the same year Terminator 2: Judgement Day was released, and we go back to another Steven Spielberg film that isn’t Jurassic Park . Austin walks us back to his childhood, reminiscing about when he would rewatch the VHS tape of Hook and cheering “RUFIO, RUFIO, RUFI…O!” when Dante B...

“IF YOU CHASE SOMETHING TO GET SOMETHING, SOMETHING WILL COME CHASING YOU.“ Today, on the first foreign film we have covered on the podcast, we take a look at 2008’s action-comedy or “kimchi western“ as the director describes it, “The Good the Bad the Weird“ directed by South Korean auteur, Kim Jee-woon. If you aren’t familiar with Kim Jee-woon, this might be the best place to start! On this episo...

“MY NAME IS GRACE LEE.“ After the deliberations and listener suggestions from the previous episode, we decided on what movie(s) we should discover next. As fate would have it, the random picker wheel landed on listener suggestion: “The Grace Lee Project“ a documentary from 2005 by director and producer, Grace Lee. This film isn’t just about having a name in common with thousands of others, but als...

On this week's episode of Retro Grade, we decided to take you behind the scenes of the podcast and show you how we go about finding the films to talk about…a long with a very special announcement at the end. Each host brings in 4 movies they want to record an episode for, and they each can veto 2 films from the other's list. We then look at the final four picks and hold them to our special criteri...

“BUT YOU AIN’T GOT NO LEGS, LIEUTENANT DAN.“ On today’s podcast, we talk about a movie so popular, it turned the novel it was based on into a best seller 8 years after it was published. So beloved, it swept the 67th Academy Awards, beating the Shawshank Redemption for Best Picture! A film so embedded into the American psyche, generations of girls named Jenny might actually hate this movie. Today w...

“TAKE YOUR STINKING PAWS OFF ME, YOU DAMN DIRTY APE!“ On this episode, we go back to the oldest movie we’ve done to date, with Planet of the Apes , directed by Franklin J. Schaffner starring the controversial Hollywood icon, Charlton Heston. We go back to 1968 and try to figure out just why this film based off of the ‘63 novel by Pierre Boulle inspired 4 sequels, a remake, a reboot trilogy, and mu...

"EVERYTHING IN THIS ROOM IS EATABLE, EVEN I'M EATABLE. BUT THAT IS CALLED ‘CANNIBALISM,’ AND IS IN FACT FROWNED UPON IN MOST SOCIETIES." In conclusion to our two-part Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory episode, we examine the film by comparing it to the 2005 “remake,” Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, directed by Tim Burton. Having re watched both films in close succession, we talk about the c...

"WE ARE THE MUSIC MAKERS... AND WE ARE THE DREAMERS OF DREAMS." On this week's episode of Retro Grade Podcast, we watch the beloved film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory from 1971. Considered by many to be a classic, we revisit the film and see why it has earned so much adoration from viewers all over the world. We dive into the structure of the screenplay and how effectively it showed the de...

“WE’RE ON A MISSION FROM GOD.“ On this episode, we cover a comedy musical classic, “The Blues Brothers“ from 1980, directed by the (in)famous John Landis. Joining us for this episode is one of the hosts over at the podcast Cinenation , Brandon Sparks ! Brandon is a fellow movie lover, film major, podcaster, but also happens to LOVE Blues Brothers, and has a great deal of trivia and answers to our...