Now Playing - The Movie Review Podcast

The Devil Wears Ghorman Twill Four years of Star Wars spy missions have Andor (Diego Luna) ready to ditch the Rebellion with equally traumatized girlfriend Bix (Morbius' Adria Arjona). Can schemer Stellan Skarsgård keep his agents in position like the bugged antiques in his shop until he has all the Death Star intel? And is Mon Mothma too busy throwing her teenage daughter's wedding to notice best friend Jimmy Smits has been replaced by Benjamin Bratt? Listen Now to learn if the Now Playing Podcast hosts get caught in creator Tony Gilroy’s Season Two spider web.

Now You’re Playing With Millennials  Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) and Toad (Keegan-Michael Key) rocket into another Galaxy to rescue her kidnapped sister Rosalina (Brie Larson) in the 2026 Super Mario Brothers Movie sequel. Can brothers Mario and Luigi (Chris Pratt and Charlie Day) keep the Mushroom Kingdom safe as Bowser (Jack Black) returns to full size and escapes to a homemade planet built by imaginative son Junior (Benny Safdie)? And what do video game icons Yoshi (Donald Glover), Honey Queen (Issa Rae), and Fox McCloud (Glen Powell) bring to this “Mario Party”?  Listen to Find Out Now!

Stuart's Burning Down the House on this episode... What did we lose when video stores disappeared, and can streaming ever replace it? Arnie, Stuart, and Justin dive into that, along with immersive theater, playoff hockey, and a round of listener trivia that puts their movie knowledge to the test. And this is still a new podcast format for us, so let us know if you enjoy the show. We welcome your feedback to help shape this new type of Now Playing Podcast! If you like this looser vibe, let us know. We’ll be back next month!

Do NOT confuse this title for another Caravan of Courage on the Ewok moon Before he was the martyr of Rogue One, Diego Luna was a desperate thief who accidentally lit the spark of the Rebellion in the 2022 series Andor. Is he better off making Death Star parts in prison with Andy Serkis, or facing the consequences of the Imperial robbery he pulled for chameleon Stellan Skarsgård? And can Senator Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) keep footing the bill while Forest Whitaker, Denise Gough, and Kyle Soller follow the money? Join rebels Justin, Arnie, and Stuart for the darker side of Star Wars right now!

Qui-Gon but Not Forgotten Ewan McGregor returns to the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi in a 2022 miniseries that gives him another chance to school his rogue Padawan, Hayden Christensen, for rebranding himself as Darth Vader. But is the Force strong enough with this middle-aged Jedi Master to save little Princess Leia (Bird Box’s Vivien Lyra Blair) after she’s kidnapped by Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea? And will Inquisitor Moses Ingram (The Queen’s Gambit) succeed in her mission? Listen now to find out whether Arnie, Stuart, and Justin have renewed hope that Star Wars will thrive on Disney+.

The Hate U Give Disney Ends All Their Hopes (T.H.U.G. D.E.A.T.H) Lee Jung-jae (Squid Game) attempts to save twin sisters from a witch coven and bring them into the Jedi fold, only to watch his Acolyte turn to the Dark Side in this Star Wars prequel. Can Amandla Stenberg (The Hate U Give) as former Jedi Osha be Forced to return to the Order and stop her sister Mae before she assassinates a meditating Jedi Master, a Wookiee hermit named Kelnacca, and even Trinity herself, Carrie-Anne Moss? And will Arnie, Justin, and Stuart give a Sith about this eight-episode Disney+ epic after it was cancelled following its first season? Listen and find out now.

Speaking In Tongues Mary Shelley possesses Hamnet star Jessie Buckley and turns her into The Bride!, a politically charged sequel to her 1818 novel Frankenstein. But would the reinvigorated woman prefer not to be engaged to Christian Bale’s Monster when his idea of romance is stomping on mobsters' heads while pretending he’s tap dancing in a movie musical? And is director Maggie Gyllenhaal a mad scientist for fusing a Bonnie and Clyde love story with Gothic horror? Follow dubious detectives Brock, Stuart, and Arnie as they investigate this brain attack!

Bring Your Daughter To the Slaughter Neve Campbell sat out Ghostface’s rampage in New York City so she could raise Isabel May to become her Final Girl replacement in Scream 7. Has Matthew Lillard risen from the dead to stalk veteran survivors like Courtney Cox, Mason Gooding, and Jasmin Savoy Brown in a brand new suburbia?  And why did O.G. screenwriter Kevin Williamson take another stab at directing a scary movie after his debut, Teaching Mrs. Tingle, nearly killed his career?  Join true crime junkies Marjorie, Arnie, and Stuart as they clean the blade of another postmodern slasher installment.

Welcome to the very first episode of Now Playing Podcast: Intermission, our new monthly free-form show where the structure is looser, it's far less edited, and anything can happen! This month: Arnie goes nuclear over Alamo Drafthouse’s new mid-movie cell phone ordering system and why he canceled his Season Pass. Brock and Stuart break down Oscar season, from the Best Picture nominees to which films Arnie might actually enjoy. The hosts debate Star Wars fatigue, The Mandalorian & Grogu, and who Lucasfilm is making movies for. And we welcome our very first Patreon supporter guest for some horror trivia! This is the show where we talk about what we’re watching, what’s frustrating us, and what’s coming next for Now Playing Podcast. And this is our first show of this kind, so let us know if you enjoy the show. We welcome your feedback to help shape this new type of Now Playing Podcast! If you like this looser vibe, let us know. We’ll be back next month!

Raging Ghoul  Robert DeNiro couldn’t speak the Queen’s English even before Kenneth Branagh stitched his lips onto other body parts for a 1994 retelling of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.  Will the miscast actor need to hide at the North Pole to escape the embarrassment of his screen romance with Helena Bonham Carter?  Or was this a worthy creation denied life at the box office because of the bad press the director received over his off-screen dalliances?  Listen Now as Arnie, Brock, and Stuart dig up a classic movie monster and his bride for another re-animated podcast {Individual Movie Reviews} {Frankenstein Series}

Fleshdance Rock star Sting denies his Frankenstein creation Clancy Brown (Shawshank Redemption) a happy wedding day so that the mad scientist can be the one to kiss The Bride. But will Jennifer Beals (Vampire’s Kiss) find reanimated life enjoyable with The Police frontman watching every breath she takes with suitor Cary Elwes (Princess Bride)? And can little person David Rappaport (Time Bandits) successfully reinvent the jilted Monster into a popular circus clown?  Find out if this 1985 Mary Shelley update plays outside Budapest when you Listen Now!

Vlad The Impersonator Director Luc Besson (The Fifth Element) spins Bram Stoker’s classic horror novel Dracula into “A Love Tale,” released in US cinemas in time for Valentine’s Day 2026. Is Caleb Landry Jones (Get Out) damned to walk the world a lonely vampire because he picked Roseanna Arquette’s daughter over God in a 1480 Ottoman battle? And how strong a perfume does the 400-year-old bloodsucker need to throw stake-wielding priest Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds) off his scent, or smell different than Gary Oldman did in the same role? Listen to Find Out Now!

Never Been Kissed Arnie, Stuart, and Justin peer through their spirit camera to find the ghosts haunting a 2014 movie adaptation of the cult video game Fatal Frame. Is the graduating class of a Japanese Catholic school dying because a curse makes girls go mad and suicidal like Shakespeare’s Ophelia?  And is Ju-On Black Ghost director Mari Asato more interested in making a sequel to The Grudge than entertaining PlayStation 2 and Xbox users?  You don’t have to wait until midnight to plant your lips on the next Now Playing Arcade installment.  Listen Now! 

There’s Something About Mary Director Christophe Gans makes a Return To Silent Hill 20 years after adapting the first video game into a hit movie. Sean Bean and his bifurcated daughter have moved on so that struggling artist Jeremy Irvine (War Horse) can save muse Hannah Emily Anderson (Jigsaw) from cult sacrifice. Is everyone seeing crazy things because the water is contaminated? Or is a dude with a pyramid head, a hospital full of gyrating nurses, and armless torsos squirting acid in the street just the local celebrities coming out to greet you? Listen Now to hear the hosts work this puzzle!

I’ve Got 99 Minutes And My Bitch Face Runs Jeff Fahey (Lawnmower Man) screams Die Darkman Die in 'roid rage after trying to usurp the super-strength of the titular B-movie vigilante. Will star Arnold Vosloo (GI Joe: The Rise ofCobra) find a friend in Darlanne Fluegel (TV’s Wiseguy), the doctor who first cut his nerves to make him immune to pain?  And does Darkman 3 work as a retelling of Beauty And The Beast, with the disfigured scientist suddenly smitten with mobster’s wife Roxanne Dawson (Star Trek: Voyager)? Find out if Arnie, Stuart, and Justin are pumped for the trilogy’s conclusion when you Listen Now!

Always replace your divots (never your lead actors) Larry Drake (Dr. Giggles) gives the finger to audiences who assumed his mob kingpin died in the last movie’s climactic chopper crash. Darkman 2 features The Return of Durant (and the exit of Liam Neeson, Francis McDormand, and director Sam Raimi). Can new face Arnold Vosloo (The Mummy) use his mask-making machine to infiltrate his nemesis’s gang and stop the development of a high-powered laser? And will reporter Kim Delaney (NYPD Blue) uncover the reasons why this superhero vigilante didn’t receive a theatrical release the second time around?  Listen Now!

The Phantom Menace Liam Neeson needs thicker skin after Larry Drake (TV’s LA Law) burns down his laboratory and turns him into the vigilante Darkman. But will girlfriend Frances McDormand (Fargo) still want to marry the nerd after he disguises his disfigured looks under masks, and goes after the goons that work for shady real estate developer Colin Friels? And did writer-director Sam Raimi create a landmark superhero movie a decade before he spun the Spider-Man trilogy into box office gold?  Listen Now to learn if this 1990 cult film holds together under the Now Playing spotlight.

You Only Live Twice Daniel “007” Craig loses faith in his abilities to solve a third Knives Out Mystery after murdered monsignor Josh Brolin rises from the grave in Wake Up Dead Man. Is Sheriff Mila Kunis right to slap the cuffs on Josh O’Connor after the doubting priest confesses to a violent past?  Or should she be looking at suspicious parishioners like bitter Glenn Close, jilted Jeremy Renner, blocked writer Andrew Scott, grabby groundskeeper Thomas Haden Church, resentful lawyer Kerry Washington, and handicapped cellist Cailee Spaeny? Listen Now to this miraculous podcast!

Feliz Na’vi Dads  Pandora will be turned into Fire and Ash if Giovanni Ribisi and Edie Falco learn the secret to breathing the planet’s toxic air from feral human Spider (Jack Champion). Can adoptive father Sam Worthington protect “monkey boy” from being reclaimed by bio-parent Stephen Lang, or getting whacked by his grieving wife Zoe Saldana?  And who exactly gave birth to 76-year-old “teenager” Sigourney Weaver? Sullys never quit, but James Cameron might if audiences don’t join Arnie, Marjorie, and Stuart in theaters for the conclusion of the Avatar trilogy. Listen Now!

Charlie’s (Avenging) Angels  Rohan Campbell goes from ending the Halloween franchise to taking an axe to Christmas in the 2025 reboot of Silent Night, Deadly Night.  Is the traumatized orphan crazy for wanting to wear a Santa suit and murder festive folks in small-town America?  Or is that gruff voice in his head only interested in The Naughty - child snatchers, heartless foster moms, wife murderers, and a White Power rally found kissing under mistletoe and swastikas?  Learn if this holiday horror series has taken a wrong turn under Mike P Nelson’s direction when you Listen Now!