Media Obscura - Retro and Obscure TV/Movie Reviews

A show dedicated to watching, reviewing, and bickering over the entertainment of yesteryear. Whether they're the classics that defined the era, blockbuster failures that fell off the face of the Earth, or features that never made a name for themselves, it's all fair game! Don’t forget to subscribe to find out when we post! Hosted by video editor/content creator Nicholas Abouhamad alongside Sierra Watson, Raekwon Davis and Michael Capurso. Send your episode recommendations to @themediaobscura on Twitter/Instagram!

9. Rumble in the Bronx: The Movie that Made Jackie Chan a Legend in America | Glaring Admissions

Wanna get full video versions of Glaring Admissions up to two weeks earlier than everyone else? You can do so by becoming a Patron/Channel Member! Links below. On this episode of Glaring Admissions, Nick busts out the movie that made Jackie Chan a star in America, Rumble in the Bronx! This episode finds him and his faithful co-host Raekwon discussing: - The differences between the US and Hong Kong cuts of the film (also known as Red Bronx in Japan), and which one is better/easier to find on streaming/physical media- How Jackie Chan movies were altered for American audiences, and marketed (including the infamous and dubious claim that Chan 'never uses stuntdoubles.'- Why Rumble in the Bronx was a turning point in Chan's career, as it made him known in America.- And whether or not the movie is truly a 'seminal' piece of cinema, or if it's even worth revisiting 30 years later.Support the channel:Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/NicheCaesarChannel Membership: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCscDbMTovs2Zww6by8HSDMg/joinSocials:Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/nichecaesar.bsky.socialLetterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/nichecaesar

05-25
01:09:03

8. GoldenEye: The best place to start with James Bond is 17 movies in | Glaring Admissions

Glaring Admissions shall return in... This podcast episode. On the final Glaring Admissions of 2024, Nick and Raekwon sit down with their friend (and original Media Obscura co-host Mike's brother) John to discuss GoldenEye! It's his first time watching a 007 movie before, and that leads to a long and playful conversation about the franchise and where he should take things from here. As for the movie itself, GoldenEye is an installment in the long-running Eon James Bond series of films. It was the debut of Pierce Brosnan as 007 and finds him squaring off against a rogue MI6 agent over control of a weapon known as the GoldenEye, a powerful Russian satellite that can discharge an EMP blast. Along the way, he teams up with one of the satellites operators, Natalia, and fights off Alec Trevelyan's henchman Xenia Onatopp too. Yada yada yada, dun nun na nunnnnnnnn, oh yeah and Judy Dench is M.

12-29
01:38:07

7. Scream: A Crash Course on Slasher Films | Glaring Admissions

Scream! Louder! Scream is a 1996 horror film directed by Wes Craven. It follows a group of teenagers (led by Neve Campbell) and a reporter (Courtney Cox) that are getting attacked by a killer wearing a common Halloween mask. The film is known for helping revitalize the slasher genre in the 90s and for being a deconstruction of its tropes. Despite coming out right before Christmas and not being expected to be a hit, the film ended up being a runaway success that has since spawned five sequels and a TV series.

10-29
01:08:56

6. The Blues Brothers is a perfect, culturally significant film | Glaring Admissions

The best movie podcast duo out there (sorry, not sorry) is back to discuss John Landis 1980 musical comedy, The Blues Brothers! Raekwon’s never seen it before and, boy oh boy, did Nick feel the need to change that. For those of you that don’t know, The Blues Brothers is a film adaptation of the popular SNL characters of the same name/real blues revue band led by Dan Ackroyd and John Belushi. The film, which casts them as the Blues, follows them on an adventure to raise $5000 to save the orphanage they grew up in, and finds them joined by legendary black musicians such as Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Cab Calloway and Ray Charles. They’ve got a souped up car they’ve named “The Blues Mobile,” a killer band, and they’ve pissed off everybody they could in the state of Illinois in the process. And you know what else they’ve got? A heckin’ good movie. Like, easily Nick’s favorite musical tier stuff. So join Nick and Raekwon as they discuss the classic musical The Blues Brothers, and how it’s an important film in Saturday Night Live’s canon that is 100% worth watching! Because, really, it’s got a sixty car pileup! How many car crashes do you need for a movie to be worth your time???

09-09
01:01:28

5. Is It Too Early To Call Top Gun: Maverick a Classic? | Glaring Admissions

Nick and Raekwon are back to chat about Top Gun and Top Gun: Maverick on the latest episode of Glaring Admissions! Be sure to drop your thoughts on whether or not the 2022 sequel to Top Gun can really be considered a classic already down in the comments, as well as your thoughts on the series as a whole.

07-29
01:32:08

4. Independence Day (Should We Celebrate Independence Day?) | Glaring Admissions

Independence Day is a 1996 action/disaster blockbuster that was directed by Roland Emmerich. It stars Bill Pullman, Will Smith, and Jeff Goldblum (among many others) as humans forced to scramble to fight off an alien invasion in the days leading up to the 4th of July. The film was released to massive success back in the 90s and briefly held the title as the second highest grossing film of all time (behind Jurassic Park). Despite it's popularity, and it's notability for helping jumpstart Will Smith's film career, it's also a movie that has received a mixed reception from critics and audiences alike for close to thirty years now. Which brings us to this video: Should we celebrate ID4? Is it actually a good movie? Welp, that's what here to find out.

07-01
01:13:58

3. Mulholland Drive (Baby's First Lynch Movie) | Glaring Admissions

Mulholland Drive is a 2001 surrealist drama/mystery that was written and directed by David 'Garmonbozia' Lynch. The film stars Naomi Watts and Laura Harring as two women investigating the circumstances that brought Harring's character (Rita) to Watts' (Betty, not Betsie's, I promise) door. Along the way, surrealism happens. Ya know, Lynch stuff. Chapters: 00:00 - Opening 00:38 - Movie Trailer 01:37 - The Episode Proper

06-03
01:20:46

2. Total Recall is Apparently Indiana Jones on Mars? | Glaring Admissions

Total Recall is a 1990 Paul Verhoeven directed adaptation of the Phillip K. Dick story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale." It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as Douglas Quaid, a construction worker who dreams of going to Mars and stops at Rekall Incorporated to have the memories of one such trip implanted into his brain. However, something goes wrong. It appears that "Douglas" has actually been a spy who's been to mars all along! He'll now have to get back to the red planet and figure out what happened to himself before he's captured by the shadowy "organization" that seems to want to keep him from there! Join Nick and Raekwon as they chat about this classic action movie in this episode of Glaring Admissions: A Media Obscura Podcast.

04-26
01:03:40

1. Jurassic Park (This Is Somehow Underrated) | Glaring Admissions

Introducing Glaring Admissions, a show dedicated to watching/discussing iconic, famous movies that we've somehow missed out on! Join us on our inaugural episode as we sit down and discuss Steven Speilberg's iconic 1993 action/suspense/horror classic, Jurassic Park! It's spawned *a lot* of sequels, was worked on concurrently with Schindler's List and, surprise surprise, affirms that nobody can really do it quite as well as Spielberg can.

04-05
59:51

99. Rad (Thunder in Your Heart is the greatest song of all time)

Check out the full-video edit of this episode, complete with cutaways, on https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCscDbMTovs2Zww6by8HSDMg 1986's BMX, underdog, feel-good, teen, coming of age cult movie "Rad" is coming back to theaters this Thursday for a holiday called "Rad day" and, in preparation for it, I decided to sit down with my good friend/podcast co-host Raekwon to give the movie a run down. The film follows Cru, a paperboy/diner employee who loves BMXing as he prepares for a race against the nations best BMX racers. Along the way, he meets Christian (Lori Loughlin), a biker for the Mongoose team who quickly falls in love with him. He also butts heads with Ms. Rocky Balboa herself, Talia Shire, and Duke Best (who might be the craziest person ever). It's a movie.

03-18
01:00:14

98. Wild Wild West (Damn)

Media Obscura's back and, on this week's episode, we're tackling Wild Wild (ficka) Wild Wild West, the 1999 Will Smith Box Office bomb! Join Nick, Sierra & Raekwon as they reminisce about this (not so) classic 90s action comedy! It's a film they all grew up with and have some nostalgia for it, so you'll be sure to hear the good, bad and ugly about this cowboy dud. Also, if you're that one listener Raekwon accidentally was mean to... he's sorry! nichecaesar.com

10-02
01:29:24

97. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (A handy thigh pistol)

Nick and Raekwon (sans Sierra) tackle the 2008-2009 Terminator television series, The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Also, Nick loses his voice doing his Schwarzenegger impression.

10-04
01:33:08

96. Dragon Ball: Fight Son Goku, Win Son Goku (Abraham Lincoln)

Team Obscura reassembles to watch the 1990 unlicensed Dragon Ball movie, Dragon Ball: Fight Son Goku, Win Son Goku. The film centers around Son Goku's first adventure to collect the seven magical Dragon Balls and features his friends Bulma, Puar, Oolong, Master Roshi, and Yamcha as well as the evil King Pilaf and... Nappa for some reason? Oh yeah, and Nick gets Wu Tai and Wu Tang mixed up.

08-16
01:40:55

95. Monkeybone (Piggy)

Team Obscura checks out the 2001 Brendan Fraser comedy "Monkeybone," directed by Peter Sellick.

07-12
01:22:34

94. Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (Go-Go Gadget Go-Go Dancers)

The gang's back and they're looking at the 1965 Russ Meyers exploitation flick "Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!" on this weeks episode!

06-07
01:55:20

93. Earth Girls Are Easy (Geena Davis and the Great Hairdryer Conspiracy)

Team Obscura (re)returns after a month long hiatus due to some health/life stuff to cover the 1989 movie Earth Girls Are Easy! The movie is a musical science fiction romantic comedy that was directed by Julien Temple and follows Geena Davis as a bride-to-be as she navigates adultery, the existence of alien life, and other generally rom-com/sci fi things in a highly B-moviefied version of Los Angeles. The film also features Jim Carrey, Jeff Goldblum and Damon Waynes.

05-17
01:46:37

92. Slacker (The Boyhood Express)

Team Obscura chats about Richard Linklater's seminal 1990 film "Slacker," and spirals off into conversations about Linklater movies in general, education and the value of good conversation. 

04-05
02:05:35

91. Game of Death (Spruce Bruce and the everlasting supply of Rob Schneider jokes)

Team Obscura sits down and chats about the 1978 Bruce-ploitation movie "Game of Death," a feature film built off of unused footage from an unfinished Bruce Lee movie. The gang also chats about fake Rob Schneider movies, film twitter, and the world not being the worst someday hopefully maybe please just please. Check out more episodes of Media Obscura on your podcast player of choice, or hit us up on Twitter/Instagram (@themediaobscura). 

03-15
02:26:19

90. Twins (Werner Herzog's Big Adventure)

Team Obscura checks out the 1988 Ivan Reitman comedy film, Twins, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito! Also in this episode, the gang talks about nerd culture/the death of mid-budget movies and Nick launches into way too many middling impressions. Check out some of our other vintage and strange movie/television discussions at https://themediaobscura.com/

02-22
02:07:57

89. Rush Hour (You Should've Gone For The Eye)

Team Obscura returns for their first [full] episode in over a year to cover the 1998 buddy cop flick, Rush Hour. Also, Nick exposes a strange obsession with the movie's villain, Sang. Check out some of our other vintage and strange movie/television discussions at https://themediaobscura.com/

02-08
02:25:31

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