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

"Dumb and Dumber" is the king of '90s comedies. Undisputed. End of discussion. But many moviegoers forget this 1994 screwball comedy is the film that put the Farrelly Brothers on the map and cemented Jim Carrey as the dominant comedic star of the decade.  In this Best of Jim Carrey edition of Shat The Movies, we examine all the little touches and big ideas that put "Dumb and Dumber" head and shoul...

Listener John Enright asked Shat The Movies a year ago to put the Best of John Cusack up for a vote. Then he waited month after month and heard nothing: no "Say Anything," no "Grosse Pointe Blank," no "Sixteen Candles." Fed up, Enright decided to grease the skis of justice with some hard-earned cash and three words everyone had been dying to hear: "Better Off Dead." Big D nearly fainted. Gene Lyon...

It only took 3 years and 108 days, but long-time listener Gillian J. finally commissioned the 1991 movie that asks the question: "Is a light-hearted comedy really the best vehicle to explore the effects of childhood trauma & schizophrenia?". "Drop Dead Fred" tells the story of Lizzie (Phoebe Cates), an out of work court reporter that dresses like an evangelical missionary, experiencing a mental br...

It's that most wonderful time of year, when hundreds of people flock to a small western Pennsylvania town for the excitement of watching a large squirrel predicting the weather. In honor of our favorite rodent related holiday, Shat The Movies is re-releasing it's own version of "I Got You Babe" with our review of the 1993 Bill Murray cult classic: Groundhog Day. In this episode of Shat The Movies:...

What would an '80s podcast be without the ultimate buddy cop movie? "Lethal Weapon" blew our minds in 1987 and blew the doors off box offices. Listener Bryan Fong commissioned this stereotype-shattering killing spree of a flick that spawned a franchise of three sequels and a TV series. Growing up with "Lethal Weapon," the Shat Crew never doubted the magic between Mel Gibson and Danny Glover would...

"The Explorers" had everything an '80s kid could want in a movie: three buddies building a spaceship from a Tilt-A-Whirl, magical computers, teenage aliens, and cool special effects from Industrial Light and Magic. What this 1985 sci-fi adventure lacked was enough time to fully develop. "Gremlins" director Joe Dante was forced to rush an unfinished film to theaters, dooming an otherwise promising...

Listener Brad Nicholas noticed "Shat The Movies" had never done a Chris Farley movie, and he decided to do something about it. To honor a comic genius who died too young, Brad chose "Tommy Boy" as his commissioned film. It's a movie critics have called "dumber than 'Dumb and Dumber'" and "written by three writers locked in separate rooms," but no child of the '90s can resist quoting every memorabl...

Do you remember your first DVD? "Shat The Movies" listener Ken C. does. And he forked out the dollars to share it with you.  "Ronin" was a throwback movie even on the day it was released, feeling more like 1968 than 1998. It was prime Robert De Niro before he started his string of comedies, and it was legendary director John Frankenheimer's final picture, an ode to all his car-chase spectaculars t...

Leave it to an Aussie living in Canada to commission the most anti-intellectual American truckerfest we've ever covered on "Shat The Movies." Listener Fabian threw in his hard-earned green stamps to request "Over The Top," Sylvester Stallone's 1987 attempt to recapture the magic of "Rocky." Rotten Tomatoes shat on Stallone's attempts to make a movie about arm wrestling that reveals a deeper tale o...

"Shat The Movies" voters have spoken, and the holiday movie they most wanted to hear in 2019 is "The Santa Clause." Take a magic sleigh ride back to 1994, when Tim Allen was the king of TV and you could still fat shame in the workplace. Listen as the Shat boys discover the true meaning of Christmas, Big D laments the demise to Black Friday, Gene recalls phreaking phone sex lines as a 12-year-old,...

WARNING! Shat The Movies has hit peak adorable, just in time for the holidays, with its first kid-friendly episode: "The Nightmare Before Christmas." Listener Emmett in Orange decided to reach across the globe to play Santa after hearing young listener Brody calling in from Belfast, Ireland, with one precious question: Is "The Nightmare Before Christmas" a Christmas movie or a Halloween movie? Wit...

Christmas comes early for Gene Lyons as listener David Petsolt commissions "Bram Stoker's Dracula, the movie that changed the way we see vampires and ruined Keanu Reeves for the better part of a decade.  Francis Ford Coppola's insistence on old-school practical effects, combined with Gary Oldman's intense portrayal of The Count, give this movie and undeniable creep factor, but obviously fake backd...

Shat The Movies listener Ash 'TJ' Partridge is better to us than we deserve. When we're stumped by a movie, she explains it in the context of literature and history. When we're perplexed by a TV show, she's there to save the day. Ash is a die-hard Shatter, and even made us the godparents of her child. So when she asked us to do "Magnolia" for her husband, Tom, we jumped at the chance. Even though...

Want the Shat Crew to really invest in a movie review? Give us something to relate to! Let Roger the vaper talk about life as a sorta' Cuban. Let Big D talk about the proper use of an M16A1 grenade launcher. Let Gene explain foreign slang and immigration. Listener Dale commissioned Al Pacino's "Scarface," opening the door to lengthy discussions of naming bongs, laughable riot scenes, questionable...

Listener Erika in Connecticut made Gene Lyons' dreams come true by commissioning the little movie that could: Weird Al's 1989 underground comedy "UHF." This scrappy film mixed corny plot lines with sociopathic humor to remind us all of those strange local stations we watched in our childhood. It was the final role for two very talented actors, and starred several top comedians in their prime: Vict...

Only a Californian can truly appreciate Steve Martin's 1991 labor of love, "L.A. Story." So listener Emmet from Orange, CA, did the honors of commissioning it. And in the grand tradition of Shat The Movies making romantic comedies, things get really personal. Big D recalls his carefree days and asks, "Why do we let life suck our SanDeE dry?" Roger and Gene drool over a young Sarah Jessica Parker,...

Wife of the year Marisa commissioned "Iron Eagle" for her husband, Greg, but really it was a gift to all of Shat Nation. This 1986 Air Force cheese fest holds a special place in the hearts of '80s kids and inspired a disturbing number of today's pilots. Who knew Top Gun's ugly cousin—filled with bad effects, a generic Middle Eastern enemy, homoerotic undertones, teenage mass murder, horrific Air F...

It's the Third Annual Shat The Movies Halloween Spooktacular and the Third Annual Roger Telling About His Grandparents' Haunted House! In this episode, we cover Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining," a 1980 film staggering in its production value and terrifying in its shooting schedule. Roger Roeper really shines in this episode, as he opens a portal into the world of psychic friends, imaginary friends,...

Big D just watched his first "Evil Dead" movie and is here to talk about it. That alone makes this episode of "Shat The Movies" worth the price of admission.  Need more? Listener Chris Powers' "Army of Darkness" commission also triggered discussion about how useless we'd be as time travelers, what a world would look like if killing your sex partners cured the STDs they gave you and Bruce Campbell'...

This isn't just a podcast about '80s movies; it's a podcast about FEELINGS. Or at least three guys' ideas on cheating, romantic comedies, and home inspections. Listener Joe in Alexandria, VA, commissioned 1986's "The Money Pit," in which Tom Hanks plays the same role he played in every '80s movie and Shelly Long is 100% swappable with Shelly Duvall.  In this episode of Shat The Movies, we explore:...

Just when you thought we had covered all the '80s space classics: "E.T.," "The Empire Strikes Back," "The Last Starfighter," and "The Thing," listener John Clyburn takes the podcast where no Shat has gone before with "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan." Star Trek II widely is considered the best "Star Trek" movie ever made, and "Shat The Movies" certainly recognizes why: a chesty Ricardo Montalban,...

Shat The Movies listeners were asked to choose from six of Dick Eberts' favorites for this week's podcast, but their top choices already had been commissioned by other listeners. We get it: You love Dick. We've done "Demolition Man" and "The Karate Kid," so you're stuck with the film Rotten Tomatoes rated the Greatest Sci-fi movie of all time: "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial." Find out how to pronounc...

Most "Shat The Movies" episodes are commissioned by listeners who want to hear us revisit films they love. But this one was commissioned by a podcaster who wanted to hear us cover one of Big D's favorite movies.  Drew Zakmin, of "One Headlight Podcast," shelled out a few bucks and opened the gates to Michael Bay's greatest cinematic achievement, 1996's "The Rock." It's got everything we've come to...

"The Boondock Saints" went from the hottest script in Hollywood to a pathetic five-theater release, to one of the biggest cult classics of the late '90s. But does Troy Duffy's underground hit film live up to all the hype, or was it just a weird byproduct of an edgy era?  Listener Jim L. from London wired some money across the pond to commission this shoot-em-up episode of Shat The Movies, exposing...

Have you ever caught yourself thinking, "I'd like some parenting advice from three male podcasters stuck in the '90s?" If you answered yes, then this is the podcast for you. Listener Stephanie commissioned "Kindergarten Cop," the ninth Arnold Schwarzenegger title featured on "Shat The Movies" and a perfect portrait of Arnold's awkward shift from action to comedy. Be there for Arnold's first passio...