This Podcast Takes Tokens

It's close to midnight, and we're talking about the undisputed king of pop and the greatest music video of all time; Michael Jackson's 14-minute masterpiece, Thriller . This set the platinum standard for choreography, and practical effects, while also traumatizing an entire generation of kids who weren't ready for those dancing zombies. We're breaking down the unbelievable $1 m...

We finally sat down to dissect a movie that apparently everyone but Deric saw decades ago: An American Werewolf in London. For a film that practically invented the prestige horror-comedy and bagged the very first Academy Award for Best Makeup, we had a surprising amount of questions. Why did David's parents completely abandon him in a London hospital while in a coma? Why didn't David just...

Grab your boomsticks and check the basement, because we are diving into the 1981 cult classic, The Evil Dead. We're looking back at Sam Raimi’s extremely bloody, incredibly low-budget cabin-in-the-woods masterpiece (or student film, depending on which one of us you ask). One of us went in expecting to hate it and came out completely charmed, while the other realized their nostalgia goggles mig...

We are docking with the Nostromo to break down Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci-fi horror masterpiece, Alien. We are debating whether the deliberate, slow-burn pacing holds up today, why the Weyland-Yutani corporation is the ultimate toxic employer, and if anyone actually has any patience left for Lambert. We question the practicality of the sci-fi self-destruct trope, marvel at the timeless in-camera prac...

A listener dared us to watch Freaked, the 1993 fever dream directed by and starring Alex Winter. We dove into this $11 million box office disaster—which pulled in a staggering $6,957 opening weekend—to see if the practical effects don by masters in the craft, can save this movie. It’s a bizarre ride involving toxic fertilizer, mutant freaks, Randy Quaid putting on a masterclass in unhinged villain...

We are digging into the musical vault to argue about the greatest earworms that struck gold exactly once and then vanished. You know the ones—the tracks that dominated the city pool speakers, the movie soundtracks, and those terrible mixtapes we all made. We are breaking down our Top Five One-Hit Wonders, join us as we defend our questionable taste. Prepare to have at least three of these stuck in...

We packed up the Taurus and hit the road back to the Y2K raunch-fest that is Road Trip. We’re looking back at Todd Phillips’ directorial debut and realizing that while the Andy Dick motel clerk scene is still comedy gold, a lot of the shock humor hits differently as we circle 40. We break down peak Tom Green energy, the bizarre fact that DJ Qualls was a Prada model, and the baffling choices made b...

We hopped into the phone booth to see if 1989's Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure still holds up, or if it should be left to the sands of time. Turns out, a utopian future built entirely on the music of Wyld Stallyns is still a journey worth taking, even if the time travel mechanics make absolutely zero sense when you actually stop to think about them. We break down the bizarre reality of G...

Before we go back to school, we’re taking a sick day to dig into the 1986 John Hughes classic, Ferris Bueller's Day Off. You know the drill: twisting, shouting, and actively destroying a 1961 Ferrari. We break down exactly how Ferris managed to hack the high school system with god-level confidence, debate the ultimate 80s logic hole of why Jeanie gets a car while Ferris only gets a home comput...

We are jumping back to 1986 to talk about James Cameron's Aliens, because sometimes one Xenomorph just isn't enough. Ryan has watched this movie deep into the double digits and loves the retro-futuristic world-building, while Deric is just here to appreciate the sheer terror of an action-thriller on rails. We break down the incredible practical effects, the claustrophobic dread of Bishop c...

We’re officially wrapping up our 10-episode Vigilantes & VHS Summer series, and we’re going out with the heavy hitter that changed the superhero game—Batman (1989). We’re diving into the chaotic, gothic architecture of Tim Burton’s Gotham to argue whether Michael Keaton’s stiff-necked Batsuit is actually cool or just a massive nightmare (literally!), and we’re split on whether Jack Nicholson’s...

We're swinging back into the Raimi-verse to tackle what might just be the pinnacle of superhero cinema—or at least the one with the most aggressive amount of unprovoked screaming. Spider-Man 2 is on the docket for our Vigilantes and VHS summer series, and we are breaking down everything from Doc Ock's surprisingly sentient (and meticulously named) robot arms to Peter Parker's unnecessa...

We pulled on our black leather 2000s gear to head back to a simpler time: July 2000, when we finally got a live-action Wolverine, and some other X-Men. The original X-Men movie built an entire cinematic universe off a $75 million budget, and honestly, we’re still riding the high of that first theater viewing. We break down everything from Hugh Jackman absolutely carrying the franchise on his adama...

We revisited the granddaddy of modern superhero flicks, the 1978 Superman The Movie. Turns out, nostalgia might be doing a lot of heavy lifting here. Don't get us wrong, the practical effects hold up surprisingly well for the era, and Christopher Reeve is absolutely iconic with his masterclass in playing Clark Kent and the Man of Steel as two entirely different people. But did we really need f...

We loaded up the 2004 release of The Punisher, starring Thomas Jane and John Travolta, to see if it hits the target today. Turns out, the rewatch was as grizzled as the Punisher himself. While the practical effects hold up surprisingly well and the soundtrack is a great early-2000s time capsule of Seether and Drowning Pool, the movie itself struggles with a massive identity crisis and a cliché sco...

We are dusting off our black leather trench coats and pumping the techno music to revisit a 1998 classic: Blade. Wesley Snipes absolutely owned this role, basically retconing the Marvel comics character to match his version. But does the movie actually hold up? We try our best to look past some truly abysmal late-90s CGI blood to see if the action still kicks. Along the way, we question why Deacon...

After the Hellboy episode, we grabbed the Spear of Destiny and took a trip to LA to discuss Keanu Reeves in Constantine. Even though critics weren't huge fans (landing a 46% on the Tomatometer), audiences disagreed with a huge 72%, and honestly, we're right there with the fans. We break down how this movie handles Christian mythology to build a surprisingly rich, lived-in world. Sure, it d...

We are continuing our "Vigilantes and VHS" summer series(3 of 10) with a deep dive into Guillermo del Toro's 2004 Hellboy. We had to go back and figure out why everyone slept on this one so hard at the box office, despite Ron Perlman delivering a practically perfect performance as the big red, cigar-chompin' demon. We talk about the wild alternate casting choices the studio pushe...

We are revisiting the heavy hitter that basically proved superhero movies could be billion-dollar behemoths, Sam Raimi's 2002 Spider-Man. We dig into the sheer cultural impact of this massive blockbuster, the brilliant mix of a practical Spidey suit with some wonderfully rubbery early-2000s CGI, and how J.K. Simmons delivered an absolute masterclass as J. Jonah Jameson, or was it the other way...

We're kicking off our Vigilantes and VHS summer by heading straight to Gotham to revisit the film that arguably launched the modern superhero era: Batman Begins . You know, the one where Christian Bale adopts the gravel voice and drives a tank over a fragile wood-framed roof. We break down Bruce Wayne’s unnecessarily complicated method of kicking party guests out of his house, debate whether the f...

We're running a prequel to our upcoming superhero summer series with a deep dive into M. Night Shyamalan's 2000 superhero origin story, Unbreakable. A massive thank you to Wilford81 for the recommendation, mostly because it gave us an excuse to argue about whether water is actually a believable kryptonite for a superhero on a planet covered in it. Ryan came into this rewatch with his comic...

We finally took a road trip down to Alabama to revisit a bona fide 90s classic, My Cousin Vinny. Turns out, we kinda missed this gem growing up, so we get the rare treat of a completely fresh perspective on Joe Pesci's legendary courtroom antics. We break down the surprisingly accurate legal procedures (seriously, actual law schools use this movie to teach procedure), the undeniable chemistry...

We're stepping into the Kumite to talk about the 1988 martial arts cult classic, Bloodsport. Sure, the movie claims to be based on the "true story" of Frank Dux , but considering practically none of his claims can be verified, we're treating this purely as the magnificent work of fiction it clearly is. We break down Jean-Claude Van Damme's questionable acting, fantastic skill...

We’re breaking our own sacred 20-year rule because Deric decided to cash in a "golden token" and drag Ryan kicking & screaming into the 2017 Jumanji reboot. To everyone's shock—including his own—the resident reboot-hater actually liked it, dare we say, loved it. We dive into how Jack Black somehow delivered the most convincing performance of a teenage girl in cinematic history and why the chem...

"This Podcast Takes Tokens for those who seek to find a way to connect with the childhood they left behind." This week, we roll the dice on the 1995 Robin Williams classic, Jumanji. We dive deep into the production lore, including why the director was terrified to hire Robin Williams, the dark theory that Van Pelt is actually a manifestation of Alan’s father and a few theories of our own...