Shat the Movies: 80's & 90's Best Film Review

When it comes to the greatest Vietnam war movie of all time, two films come to mind: Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now" and Stanley Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket." Longtime listener Hot Sauce Steve was kind enough to commission the latter. Everyone remembers the belly laughs and jaw-dropping surprises in "Full Metal Jacket," R. Lee Ermey's unforgettable performance, Vincent D'Onofrio's body tr...

Robin Williams has a patchy history on "Shat The Movies." He shined in "Good Will Hunting" (don't tell Gene) and flopped in "Hook." Will "Jumanji" be his redemption? Sure, the special effects are a bit dated and the rules are a bit silly, but this movie has the nostalgia of the Caledecott Medal-winning book and the staying power of the recently refreshed series. "Jumanji" also has a great villain,...

"Blade" left a mark on every '90s teen—the music, the fashion, the detailed breakdown of the vampire economy—but many forget it also kicked off Marvel's string of cinematic success. It was darker than any superhero film we'd ever seen, and it had a sense of humor. With a blazing fast origin story and immediate action, this movie had our attention from the jump, inspiring conversations about the pr...

What would happen if a random group of Hollywood actors at an '80s cocktail party decided to make a Western? We found out with listener Jim Batten's commission of "Silverado." On paper, this movie has it all. Lawrence Kasdan wrote and directed it. Kevin Costner, Danny Glover, Brian Dennehy, Rosanna Arquette, and Scott Glenn starred in it. And the soundtrack flew off shelves. But "Silverado" also i...

Just when we thought we'd covered every '80s high school movie, listener Jen treated her husband and us to "Three O'Clock High," a sleeper comedy with a lovable hero, a horny teacher, and a climactic fight. "Three O'Clock High" got it right where lots of its peers got it wrong: Friends and siblings treat each other with genuine care. Each scene delivers on its punchlines. And Tangerine Dream's sou...

People are always complaining that Hollywood's run out of ideas: Everything's a remake or a sequel or a comic book movie. But in 1985, things were wild. Wanna make a movie about a guy who turns into a wolf and a chick who turns into a bird so that they can never be together? Go for it; we'll even throw in Matthew Broderick and a score by Alan Parsons. The Shat Crew's been waiting a long time to do...

If you thought our "Red Dawn" episode was unpredictable and juvenile, buckle up for "Taps." This military-versus-civilians, young-against-old, leaders-versus-condominiums drama from 1981 introduced the world to Sean Penn, Tom Cruise, Timothy Hutton, and the king of wacky screen deaths, Giancarlo Esposito.  "Taps" also highlighted what was so great about George C. Scott's portrayal of General Georg...

If you hate Gene, you'll love our "The Last of the Mohicans" episode. Ash is at the helm, with Dick Ebert and guest host Kevin R. Brackett (Reel Spoilers) rounding out the crew to explore romance, frontier life, and Big D's virginity.  When it comes to period dramas from the early '90s, things often get a little goofy, but "The Last of the Mohicans" stands apart by getting a lot of things right: b...

"Shat The Movies" fans are horror fans, so we jumped at the chance to do a scary movie outside October. When longtime listener Carmelita commissioned "Jacob's Ladder," the Shat Crew collectively squealed. This 1990 Tim Robbins banger did lots of things we'd later see in '90s movies and beyond: non-linear storytelling, the questioning of reality, faceless doctors, and that wiggly head thing from To...

"Friday" wasn't the easiest episode to record, but it's one of our new favorites. After Big D recovered from his Strawberry Festival-induced hospitalization, the Shat Crew convened to debate whether certified stars like Chris Tucker, John Witherspoon, Regina King, "Tiny" Lister, Bernie Mac, and Michael Clarke Duncan could elevate a Zig-Zag-thin plot to a '90s comedy classic. In this episode, we di...

"Tequila Sunrise" commissioner Rachel C. returns with another '90s movie full of sexy people doing confusing things. This week, it's "The Grifters," a 1990 neo-noir thriller that proves even John Cusack, Anjelica Huston, and Annette Bening have their off days. This movie about con people and the con people who love them led to such classy topics as discount grandmas, boob fingerprints, nostalgia t...

Shat The Movies Fantasy Basketball champion Don Sauce chose a movie he'd never seen before as his prize: "White Men Can't Jump." And what he got was perhaps Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes at their best.  Like other Ron Shelton sports movies, this 1992 love letter to Los Angeles blends sex, psychology, and an underlying malaise to take the audience beyond the game and into life itself. In this e...

Tom Hanks' "Big" was the '80s film that started it all for "Shat The Movies," a massive hit everyone saw growing up. But a few months before "Big" hit theaters, another child-to-man body transformation movie took a slightly different approach. "Vice Versa" took an established Judge Reinhold and a brilliant young Fred Savage and shifted the focus to the adult trapped in a child's body. Along the wa...

Is "Stargate" as good as "Star Wars?" Maybe not. Is it every bit as fun? Possibly! Roland Emmerich's 1994 ode to Ancient Egypt boasts a surprisingly kickass musical score,  some super creative costuming, and possibly the secrets to where Saddam Hussein hid his yellow cake. But it isn't without its problems. Your main villain, Ra, is utterly impractical with his security forces (what's with those h...

"12 Monkeys" has something for every member of the Shat Crew: An edgy, smart director for Ash, time travel for Dick Ebert, and loads of man butts for Gene. But is it the slick, mind-blowing film we remember from 1995, or does it fall flat in a post-pandemic America? As the Month of Steve continues, we dig into some tinfoil territory, questioning the nature of reality, whether the powers that be wo...

The last time Shat The Movies took on a Mel Brooks movie, Big D spoiled Roger's and Gene's fun with a grumpy wipe score. Will "Robin Hood: Men in Tights" be a parody redemption, or will Dick Ebert's "Spaceballs" gloom spread to the rest of the Shat Crew?  In this episode, commissioned by Hot Sauce Steve, we discuss who Mel Brooks jokes are for, the eternal hotness of Cary Elwes, why amazing songs...

Shat The Movies is no stranger to Stephen King movies, but we've never done a miniseries before. "It" taught us there's nothing more shat-tastic than mixing television icons like John Ritter, Harry Anderson, Richard Thomas, and Tim Reid with the horrifically bad TV production value of the '90s. But Hot Sauce Steve's commission wasn't all laughs. There were real scares: Parents not seeing the terro...

Many '80s babies first met xenomorphs in 1986's "Aliens," but there just something special about the 1979 Ridley Scott masterpiece that started it all. It's more suspenseful, more thought-provoking, more groundbreaking. That doesn't mean we can't laugh at it. Face it: Mother is just a room of blinky lights, the ovamorphs look like lady parts, the crew of the Nostromo is hilarously reckless, and th...

With a joke every 10 seconds, "The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!" is considered by many the Gold Standard when it comes to '80s comedies. The gags are nonstop and forever burned into our brains, but is this 30-year-old movie based on a single-season TV show still funny? That depends on whether you like jokes about loud urination, tigers mauling baseball players, ballistic missiles dri...

It's another Shat The Movies horror-comedy, but this time we have an '80s classic. Longtime listener Rob T. reached out from across the pod to commission the 1981 John Landis masterpiece, "An American Werewolf in London." Big D's the star this week as we get more Ebert Animal Tips for Safety, hear why he thinks the British make the best horror movie victims, marvel at what it takes to convince Dic...

Some commissioners present Shat The Movies with films they admire, hoping for low wipe scores and eternal glory in the Pantheon of Shat. Others serve us straight from toilet, understanding their favorite films are turds and deserve a whole roll of TP. Listener Will C. is the latter. We're kicking off 2022 with "Masters of the Universe," a movie that makes "Star Wars" look like irrefutable science...

Just as fans feared (or cheered) Shat The Movies slipping into a pattern of covering '90s blockbuster films, listener Ben in Japan commissioned "Ravenous" to close out the 2021 Shat calendar. This cannibal Western horror comedy set during the Mexican-American War is about as quirky as cinema gets: a soundtrack by Damon Albarn of Blur, a cartoonish mass murderer, gross-out humor mixed with slapstic...

We dedicate this Shat The Movies episode to those who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces and the people who love them. Oh, and Pauly Shore fans who feel horribly underserved by our existing catalog. You might think "In The Army Now" offends veterans of the Army and Army Reserve. It's irreverent, inaccurate, and inappropriate. But at least one Shat warfighter, The Colonel, finds it surprisingly i...

Podcast releases don't get any bigger than this: A heroic band of listeners pulled together a special commission marking the massive milestone of 3 million Shat The Movies downloads on the 24th anniversary of the most epic film to hit theaters: "Titanic." There's no denying James Cameron's grand vision of capturing the Titanic's disastrous maiden voyage through a love story was a huge risk with a...

Everyone knows about the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it's time we gave the DC Animated Universe some love. "Batman: Mask of the Phantasm" marked the first time DC put an animated feature into theaters, and it changed the way we'd see Batman on screen for years to come. This 1993 release was loosely based on the graphic novel "Batman: Year One" and trade paperback "Batman: Year Two," so it had G...