Now Playing - The Movie Review Podcast

For the first time ever, all six Now Playing Podcast hosts are together, and somehow everyone manages to keep their pants on. Mostly.

In this Intermission podcast: Stuart discovers his inner Broadway fan; Brock boldly goes back to Star Trek: The Next Generation; Jason gears up for Formula One in Las Vegas; and Justin explores haunted houses and the Brat Pack. Meanwhile, Arnie and Marjorie return from Universal's Halloween Horror Nights with tales of questionable Cenobites, a Universal Studios tour guide's worst nightmare, and some very expensive home decorating ideas.

Then it's time for Impossible...

Getting Into Characters

Batman would have one less problem in Gotham if Tom Rhys Harries (Slaughterhouse Rulez) had won an Oscar rather than gotten carved up by mobsters in the 2026 origin story Clayface. Can this disfigured celebrity reclaim his looks and movie-star status once scientist Naomi Ackie (Blink Twice) fills his pores with A.I. nanocells that allow the method actor to literally stretch?  Or does staying bent out of shape at the folks who canceled his career typecast this versatile thespian as an unlovable villain? Hear Now Playing give DC Studios an earful today!

Eat some snails with Arnie, Justin, and Stuart in the Now Playing Arcade

Lord Bison (David Dastmalchian) invites the world’s toughest warriors to show off their “psycho energy” and gravity-defying hairdos in the 2026 reboot of Street Fighter. Can estranged brothers Ken Masters (Noah Centineo) and Ryu (Andrew Koji) repair their relationship as the MTV playboy summons a Flaming Hadouken, and the orphaned loner struggles to contain a dark spirit inside himself? And is spy Chun-Li (Callina Liang) right to say there’s more happening at this tournament than 50 Cent and Jason Momoa flexing video game physiques? Listen N

Getting In Your Face(book)

Mikey Madison (Anora) braces for a Social Reckoning after she shares stolen Facebook secrets with investigative reporter Jeremy Allen White (The Bear) in this 2026 docudrama. Has Mark Zuckerberg (Succession’s Jeremy Strong) become a better friend to media types like Bill Burr (The Mandalorian) since Jesse Eisenberg played the retaliatory tech-company CEO in start-up story The Social Network?  And can Oscar-winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing) make this Meta commentary with the same directorial flair as David Fincher?  Find out Now!  

Iguana Be Sedated

Matthew Broderick needs another day off after Godzilla rises out of the Hudson to nest in New York City in a 1998 reboot of the iconic Japanese monster. But should this dweeby biologist criticize the asexual reproduction of a giant lizard laying eggs inside Madison Square Garden when he’s got even less romantic chemistry with aspiring reporter Maria Patillo?  And can Hollywood hitmakers Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin coax our star to demolish Manhattan buildings with the same zeal as the UFOs from Independence Day?  Listen and find out now!

Halloween has come to Now Playing! The hosts share their favorite spooky-season traditions, from month-long horror marathons and haunted houses to vintage TV specials, costumed pets, and gifts from the mysterious Mr. Bogeyman. Meanwhile, Arnie has accidentally planned an entire month around Hellraiser. Plus, concerts, Star Trek, fantasy football, and a patron brave enough to face our horror movie trivia!

Jurassic Landmark

This podcast covers both the original 1954 Japanese Godzilla as well as the 1956 Americanized re-edit Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Before all the throwdowns with Mothra, Ghidorah, and King Kong, radioactive dinosaur Godzilla stood tall as a symbol of nuclear annihilation in his 1954 debut. Can paleontologist Takashi Shimura (Seven Samurai) convince the people of Japan that the creature attacking their boats, trains, and radio towers is just as much a victim of H-bomb testing as they are? And do things get worse with the arrival of American journalist Raymond Burr (Perry Mason) and an...

First Person Shirker

Austin Abrams (Whalefall) is tasked with delivering the cure to another Umbrella Corporation lab leak in the 2026 reboot of Resident Evil. But can the hapless courier reach the top floor of a Raccoon City hospital overrun with monsters using a vehicle unprepared for snowy mountain roads, receiving intermittent cell connection with a pregnant girlfriend, and having only handled guns in video games?  And will writer-director Zach Cregger (Weapons) be torn limb from limb for discarding all the franchise lore to focus on pratfalls?  F*ckin’ find out when you Listen Now!

Is it evil that I’m glad Milla Jovovich is no longer a resident of this franchise?

Umbrella Corporation wanted South Africa’s New Raccoon City to launch a pharmaceutical revolution in 2022, but the failed utopia ends up birthing a zombie apocalypse in Netflix’s episodic reboot of Resident Evil. Is the reason why twin sisters Ella Ballinska (Charlie’s Angels) and Adeline Rudolph (Mortal Kombat II) have no Joy in 2036 because their chemist father Lance Reddick (The Wire) screwed up an antidepressant 14 years before?  And does it make Zero sense that the T-virus is now turning caterpill...

Crimson Tides

YouTuber Mark Fischbach (aka Markiplier) adapts David Symanski’s 2022 submarine simulator Iron Lung into the surprise hit movie of 2026. What conspiracies will be uncovered when a convict gets welded inside a rickety submersible and dives into an ocean of blood on a distant moon?  Will the x-rays taken of alien creatures, or transmissions downloaded and decoded from other vessels, be the key to saving a dying universe?  And will Simon - or hosts Stuart, Arnie, and Justin - survive this deep plunge into the Now Playing Arcade?  Find out Now!

Get Your Ass Off Mars

Robert Patrick (Terminator 2) thought he liberated the Red Planet from bossy Earthlings 25 years ago, but that was just the Origins of a conflict that rages on in this 2011 SyFy Channel video game adaptation. Can Red Faction trooper Brian J Smith (Stargate Universe) mobilize Blue Planet scientist Danielle Nicolet (TV’s The Flash), and local Marauders led by Kate Vernon (Battlestar Galactica), to ensure that the Earth Defense Force stays off Martian soil?  Trust Terrans Arnie, Justin, and Stuart to tell the truth about this next Now Playing Arcade installment.

The Now Playing crew checks in for another Intermission with a packed slate of movies, memories, and questionable homework assignments. Jason revisits Point Break on the big screen 35 years later. Brock goes from The American President to Kate & Leopold and an MCU rewatch, and Stuart reports back from Chicago’s new Obama Presidential Center. Plus Arnie and Justin unexpectedly find common ground in the comedy of The State, Wet Hot American Summer, and Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass. Then longtime listener Josh joins the show for Resident Evil trivia and turns the tables with a question about th...

Getting Long In The Tooth

Slain cult leader Sam Spruell (TV’s Fargo) promises to lead Insidious demons like Lipstick Face and The Bride In Black Out Of The Further in this sixth installment of the enduring horror franchise. Will traumatized dental hygienist Amelia Eve (Haunting of Bly Manor) be the unwitting courier for evil forces conquering the material world? Or is stopping shotgun-wielding housewives and a trio of anesthesia-huffing old farts still what dead medium Lin Shaye will do best at age 82?  Follow Arnie, Marjorie, and Stuart into the pillow fort to find out now!

Unclear and Present Danger

John Krasinski (A Quiet Place) walked away from four seasons playing Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan on an Amazon Prime series, only to return in the explosive 2026 reunion movie Ghost War. Can the former CIA analyst help his old boss Wendell Pierce (Hackers, The Wire) and friend Michael Kelly (House of Cards) fight a rogue black-ops unit making terrorist threats 20 years after brutally solving post-9/11 political realities?  And is Jack too much of a private citizen to play cloak-and-dagger with MI-6 babe Sienna Miller (GI Joe: Rise of Cobra)?  Step out of the dark...

Asking questions about character motivation that Marvel never put to Echo

Struggling actor Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Aquaman) hides his destructive ionic powers to land his dream role as Wonder Man in this 2026 Disney+ series.  But can Iron Man 3's Trevor Slattery (Ben Kingsley) really expect to shed his Mandarin image if he’s gonna villainously turn his super-scene partner into the Department of Damage Control? And shouldn’t Hollywood be giving an Oscar to anyone who can permanently show Josh Gad the door?  Listen Now to learn if showrunner Andrew Guest (Brooklyn 99) found the real man inside this S...

Home Sick

It’s a Brand New Day for Tom Holland now that everyone has magically forgotten Peter Parker, and Spider-Man is once again anonymously ridding New York City of criminals like Scorpion and The Hand.  But is the workaholic web-slinger turning into something socially unacceptable by suppressing his feelings? And will his genetic mutation qualify him for Xavier’s School For Gifted Youngsters if he can’t go to MIT with MJ (Zendaya) and Ned (Jacob Batalon)?  Find out if Punisher (Jon Bernthal) or Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) have any fatherly advice when you Listen Now!

Arnie and Justin unveil StubBook, their independent movie-and-TV logging platform. Plus: mahjong mysteries, vintage novelizations, 3D-printing disasters, Marvel trivia with patron Corey, and a heated debate over whether Disney’s “Infinity Vision” is a meaningful theatrical standard or an empty marketing gimmick.

John Wick comes at you with a pencil; Frank Castle comes at you with a pen! That's the Punisher way!

Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal) worries that his life has no purpose after putting down the crime family that murdered his wife and two children in an ultra-violent 2026 Marvel Television Special. Could there be One Last Kill for Punisher to perform after sitcom mom Judith Light (Who's the Boss) sets a bounty that brings every criminal in Little Italy to the vigilante’s door?  Hide your kids, lock up your dog, and take that donut and coffee to go...

Ill Will Hunting

Matt Damon has trouble finding a way home after winning the Trojan War with a duplicitous offering to Athena (Zendaya) in Christopher Nolan’s epic re-telling of The Odyssey.  Is there something more than the giant cyclops, spellcasting witch, Charlize Theron’s lotus flower diet, or the ghost of fallen soldier Elliot Page that prevents this Ithacan King from reclaiming his throne?  And how pissed will son Tom Holland be if mom Anne Hathaway reads Twilight instead of Homer, and marries Robert Pattinson? Find Out Now!

Dora (Milaje) The Explorer

Marvel Animation resurrects Black Panther for the 2025 Disney+ anthology series Eyes of Wakanda. Join Arnie, Stuart, and Justin as they follow an elite squadron of “War Dogs” over the centuries and see the sacrifices made to recover stolen artifacts from a pillaged Ethiopian city, a snowy Chinese temple, and even the Trojan War. Are there times when the isolationist African nation of Wakanda might benefit from burying the hatchet and sharing its advanced tech with the outside world?  Listen Now to learn a history the colonizers never taught you!

The book Sam Neill wrote for himself... and shared with the rest of us.

Sam Neill spent nearly five decades becoming one of cinema's most dependable actors, from Jurassic Park and The Hunt for Red October to Event Horizon, The Piano, and dozens of films in between. Following Neill's passing, Arnie looks back at the actor's 2023 memoir, Did I Ever Tell You This? Written during treatment for a life-threatening cancer diagnosis, the book becomes far more than another celebrity autobiography. Instead of Hollywood gossip or behind-the-scenes stories, Neill reflects on friendship, family, cars, dogs, wine, aging, and...

The Devil’s In The Deep Dish

Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) returns from her Wakanda Forever semester abroad to learn she’s lost her Tony Stark grant money and is being kicked out of MIT in the 2025 Disney+ miniseries Ironheart. Is the young inventor so desperate to fund the overhaul of her robot suit that she’d partner with possessed Chicago hood Anthony Ramos (Hamilton)?  And how much help will the superhero receive from a magic candy store, an A.I. program designed to look like her dead BFF, and pushover Alden Ehrenreich (Solo: A Star Wars Story...

Athleisure wear, Affairs, and Awful Life Lessons

Arnie concludes his journey through Lauren Weisberger's Devil Wears Prada trilogy with When Life Gives You Lululemons. Shifting the focus to Emily Charlton and an all-new ensemble initially feels like a welcome break from the repetitive formula of the earlier novels. But does the fresh premise lead to a better story? Arnie examines the novel's suburban satire, gender politics, and increasingly questionable ideas about marriage, motherhood, and what makes a woman successful.

One Million Readers Would Kill for a Better Sequel

Over a decade before Disney made The Devil Wears Prada 2, original Devil author Lauren Weisberger wrote her own sequel. Arnie reviews Revenge Wears Prada: The Devil Returns, a novel that reunites Andy, Emily, and Miranda... but delivers little revenge, little devil, and surprisingly little story. Was this forgotten sequel worth revisiting?

This month on Now Playing Intermission, the hosts discuss community theater, symphony screenings of Star Wars, audiobooks, road trips, and what they've been watching. Plus, listener Michael from England joins the show for Tom Hanks trivia before the conversation turns to one of the biggest questions in Hollywood: why are original movies suddenly beating the biggest franchises at the box office?

DC Universe Series Episode 2

Stupor Girl

Milly Alcock (House of the Dragon) resists the call to do good like her cousin Clark (David Corenswet), instead spending the second DCU movie partying on red sun planets. Is she finally ready to put down the bottle and become Supergirl after villainous Krem (Mathias Schoenaerts) poisons her dog Krypto and orphans a swordmaker’s daughter (Eve Ridley)?  And how much help is bounty hunter Lobo (Jason Momoa) to their vengeance quest?  Find out if the director of I, Tonya and Cruella can handle another badass chick when you List...

Left To Her Own Devices

Woody (Tom Hanks) and Jessie (Joan Cusack) worry that screens have replaced childhood make-believe once 8-year-old Bonnie receives her first tablet in Toy Story 5. Can the cowgirl doll help her kid make friends the old-fashioned way after Lilly Pad (Greta Lily) connects her to mean girls online?  And will deputized spaceman Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) keep the peace in the playroom once infinite upgrades of himself fly in from a spilled shipping container?  Listen Now to learn if this Pixar sequel (or just Conan O’Brien) takes a dump on the beloved fran...

The Switches of Eastview

Kathryn Hahn (Glass Onion) realizes she’s Agatha All Along after breaking the TV show spell put on her by Wanda Maximoff in a 2024 Disney+ miniseries. But can this prickly loner forge a coven with Broadway legend Patti LuPone and deadly Aubrey Plaza (White Lotus) that has the power to access a mythic, wish-granting Witches' Road?  Or did her dream to reconnect with her dead child come true the minute a nameless, hexed teenager (Joe Locke) joined her quest?  Listen Now to hear if Justin, Stuart, and Arnie sing the praises of this Wand...

Fistos of Fury

Manchild Nicholas Galitzine (Red, White & Royal Blue) dares to stand in Dolph Lundgren’s spot and attempt to wield the Sword of Power in the 2026 reboot of Masters of the Universe. Will his newfound muscles and brute strength impress boyhood crush Teela (Riverdale’s Camila Mendes), Man-At-Arms Idris Elba (Thor), and disapproving dad James Purefoy (Resident Evil)? Or has Jared Leto (Tron: Ares) ruined yet another kids' franchise with his eccentric take on villain Skeletor? Find out if director Travis Knight fumbled another Bumblebee when you Listen Now!

Now Playing Podcast needs YOUR support to keep operating! Our Spring Donation Drive is coming to an end. This is your last chance to help keep us stay independent and hear 50 hours of bonus reviews, including the movie Stuart has been passionate to talk about for years, THE MOST DANGEROUS MOVIE EVER MADE:  ROAR!  Hear this preview and donate now!

By The Power of Filmation

Before the Masters of the Universe conquer 2026 movie theaters, Arnie, Marjorie, and Stuart dish about the 1985 animated feature that reveals He-Man and She-Ra are twins. Is The Secret of the Sword that Adora is a real-life Eternia princess who’s been kidnapped and gaslighted by evil adoptive parents Hordak and Shadow Weaver… or just that Mattel would do anything to sell girls on a new doll line? And will Skeletor solicit help from this Horde so that he can finally seize control of coveted Castle Greyskull? You have the power to Listen Now...

The fourth Intermission finds the hosts debating film preservation, 4K restorations, AI upscaling, George Lucas's Star Wars revisions, Spielberg's E.T. walkie-talkies, and whether modern transfers are preserving movies or changing them. Plus, Jason completes a year-and-a-half watch-through of the entire Kristy Swanson filmography, Arnie revisits 1995's Mortal Kombat, listener Tom Ross hosts a trivia challenge, and the conversation wanders through Darth Maul, The Boys, Project Hail Mary, and more.

The old protect the young, and the young develop poor eating habits.

The Mandalorian and Grogu have left Disney+ behind to take orders from sci-fi queen Sigourney Weaver (Alien) in a big-screen 2026 Star Wars movie. But does Pedro Pascal need to go rescue little "Stinky the Hutt" now that he’s grown into big, buff Jeremy Allen White (The Bear)? And can director Jon Favreau (Elf) find The Way to balance between adrenalizing fans of the badass bounty hunter and soothing everyone else that’s come for adorable Baby Yoda? Learn if Arnie, Justin, and Stuart bring this...

Before Alfred Hitchcock turned birds into cinematic terror, The Birds was a bleak, intimate apocalypse story from author Daphne du Maurier. In this special Now Playing Podcast Book Review, Arnie looks at the 1952 short story that inspired Hitchcock’s classic film and finds something very different: a grim survival tale closer to War of the Worlds, I Am Legend, and Night of the Living Dead than the Hollywood thriller audiences know.

From post-war paranoia to unexplained cosmic dread, hear why this short story still works over 70 years later, why its ending hits so hard, and why Hitchcock ma...

Is this The Way to make a follow-up to a hit show?

Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff) aims to bring the various Mandalorian factions together and reclaim their homeworld in Season Three of the popular Star Wars series. Does that mean The Armorer can give Pedro Pascal a pass for peeking out from under his helmet and pushing his foundling child Grogu to become his combat-ready apprentice? Or would Grogu prefer to remain coddled by psycho fans like Amy Sedaris, Jack Black, and Lizzo? Find out if villain Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) can Force himself into the crowded...

Nic is not the only Cage who made garbage action flicks in the 1990s

Karl Urban (The Boys) goes from Comic-Con has-been to fighting for Earth in a life-or-death tournament called Mortal Kombat II. Does this aging Gen X-er still have enough fight to defeat classic video game characters like fan-wielding Kitana, toothy Baraka, and big, bad Outworld villain Shao Khan? And can director Simon McQuoid bring new life to martial artists who didn’t stick the landing in his COVID-era first attempt at the property? Get over here and listen to Arnie, Justin, and Stuart provide pe...

Kenneth Branagh’s Adoing Nothing

Anne Hathaway (The Dark Knight Rises) returns to Runway Magazine in The Devil Wears Prada 2, where the collapse of print media may finally threaten the icy reign of editor Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep). But after the death of a publishing mogul leaves Miranda’s future uncertain, will the fashion queen be forced to trade first-class flights and chauffeured town cars for coach seats and Uber rides? And can Streep (Silkwood) still get away with terrorizing assistants, insulting body-positive models, and tormenting long-suffering Stanley Tucci (Captain America: The First Avenger) in 2026? Join Marjorie, Arni...

The Devil Wears Prada has become iconic. Anne Hathaway’s cerulean sweater. Meryl Streep’s silver hair and clipped “that’s all” dismissal. The pop songs, the score, the fashion world excess. Just hearing the title instantly conjures images from the film for millions of people.

And while it’s common knowledge that Streep’s Miranda Priestly was inspired by Vogue editor Anna Wintour, fewer people realize the story began as a novel: a lightly fictionalized account written by Wintour’s former assistant, Lauren Weisberger.

Now, with a movie sequel hitting theaters, Arnie looks back at Weisberger’s...

Temuera Morrison is ready to throw The Book at Tatooine spice dealers as he steps from his Bacta tank and back into the role of Boba Fett for a 2022 Disney+ miniseries. But how did the badass bounty hunter escape Return of the Jedi’s Sarlacc Pit to claim Jabba the Hutt's throne from Bib Fortuna? And does he really need to interrupt Grogu’s Force training with Luke Skywalker and call in Pedro Pascal’s Mandalorian to win a showdown with outlaw Cad Bane? Join Arnie, Stuart, and Justin now for this next chapter in the Star Wars saga.

Sachs And The City

Anne Hathaway’s wannabe writer Andy finds both her outfits and work ethic clashing with boss-from-hell Meryl Streep in the 2006 comedy The Devil Wears Prada. Can bitchy first assistant Emily Blunt and diva fashion director Stanley Tucci help the aspiring journalist dress the part and fit in at high-pressure Runway magazine? And will boyfriend Adrian Grenier (Entourage) get tossed out with last season’s wardrobe once Andy connects with smooth operator Simon Baker (The Mentalist)? Gird your loins and join Marjorie, Arnie, and Brock for this free bonus podcast.