The Number One Movie in America

We've got a bonus episode! Robin sits down with Kaitlin Moore — friend, scientist and fellow Person With a Lot to Say About You Can See Everything — to discuss the unlikely NOMIA and, more vitally, the discourse around it.

Odds are good you can glance around your immediate surroundings and immediately spot at least one piece of NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS merchandise! But does the actual film hold up to the branding machine — or our own memories? (Not Kahmeela's, she's never seen it.) Let's wrap up spooky season with the Pumpkin King!

We've met Annabelle, we've run from The Nun, but we haven't done an episode on THE CONJURING! We go back to the critically acclaimed box-office smash that launched a surprisingly sturdy cinematic universe. Will Robin's hair mask hold up through all the scares? Listen and find out!

Plus, thoughts on DIGGER, VERITY, THE SOCIAL RECKONING, OTHER MOMMY, the new CARRIE series and more!

Forty years later, Laurie Strode is ready for Michael Myers to return! Just like the several other times that a version of that happened ... but we're serious about it, this time! The 2018 movie called HALLOWEEN was a massive hit; does it hold up (after we've seen the movies that followed)?

Plus, thoughts on PRIMETIME, RESIDENT EVIL, HEART OF THE BEAST, THE WEIGHT, LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, HOPE, DIARRA FROM DETROIT and more!

We should like BAD GIRLS! We really should! Sean and Robin especially! It just is very difficult to like! Drew Barrymore, Andie MacDowell, Mary Stuart Masterson and Madeleine Stowe have typical western problems in a typical western that doesn't quite yee-haw. Can we drag this pony to a positive rating?

Plus, let's talk about FINDING EMILY, PRACTICAL MAGIC 2, DEAR YOU, BUDDY, MAYDAY, BY ANY MEANS and more!

Look, we're not gonna tease this out: We are not a group of big Blade Runner fans. That doesn't mean we're haters, either! (Okay, one of us ... a little.) But if you're coming expecting neon-lit rapturous feelings, you're not gonna get them in our review of BLADE RUNNER 2049. But perhaps you'll get something much more rare: Three people being actually calm about this franchise!

Plus, thoughts on COYOTE VS. ACME, TEENAGE SEX AND DEATH AT CAMP MIASMA, SHELL, THE DOG STARS, INSIDIOUS: OUT OF THE FURTHER, TONY and more!

Haley Mills and Deborah Carr have secrets! One likes fire and murder! One is an astute observer of soil conditions! It's THE CHALK GARDEN, and we would love you to listen to this episode even though you definitely haven't seen the movie!

Plus, let's talk about THE END OF OAK STREET, OVER YOUR DEAD BODY, THE LAST HOUSE, ONE NIGHT ONLY, I WANT YOUR SEX, MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE and more!

It's our second LITTLE TREAT FILM FESTIVAL! Robin picks an all-time classic (and, whoops, a NOMIA): THE THIRD MAN! Sean chooses another weird one: THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES! Kahmeela's got twists: THE PERFECT HOST!

Plus, yes, this is the one where we talk about The Odyssey!

The original Barbershop cast is back, and they're ... fighting gentrification, sometimes? Eh, who cares, it's just good to see them (and Queen Latifah). Let's flash back to the early aughts and an underappreciated comedy franchise!

Plus, thoughts on THE INVITE, MOANA, MINIONS AND MONSTERS, EVIL DEAD BURN, BILLY IDOL SHOULD BE DEAD, UNDERTONE and more — including our picks for our second Little Treat Episode!

Man, that is one long TRAINING DAY! Denzel Washington takes Ethan Hawke through a crash course on both police corruption and how to be the best actor who ever lived. Sure, we liked it, but did it get to the very top of our list?

Plus, let's talk about TOY STORY 5, SUPERGIRL, JACKASS BEST AND LAST, THE STRANGERS CHAPTER 3, GOOD LUCK HAVE FUN DON'T DIE, JEANNE DIELMAN ETC. and more!

Slightly younger versions of Earth's mightiest heroes team up because the one hero's brother, who would later also become one of Earth's mightiest heroes and then ... fix time? Or break it? ... anyway, he's got these space worms, and ... you know what, it's Avengers, you know what it's about. Listen to us revisit the first great team-up of the MCU!

Plus, we'll talk about DISCLOSURE DAY, continue the ongoing evaluation of BACKROOMS and OBSESSION, drop in on SCARY MOVIE, HOPPERS, SWAPPED and more!

Our beloved theme songstress, Addi Twigg, returns to the show to continue her streak of alien flicks! And she's got a hell of a recap for us! We're talking about COCOON, a mysterious and magical experience ... with a plot that could've used a few more years in the magic pool.

Plus, let's talk about OBSESSION, BACKROOMS, IS GOD IS, THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU, PASSENGER and more!

Mulder, it's me! We learn that 2/3 of the hosts had formative childhood experiences with THE X-FILES, so we have a lot to get into (both personal and critical ... and extraterrestrial) when it comes to the hit 1998 theatrical movie!

Plus, thoughts on THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA 2, THE SHEEP DETECTIVES, APEX, MORTAL KOMBAT II and more!

The Pulitzer Prize winning musical HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING overcame its cumbersome title to become a Broadway smash ... and then was made into a deeply confusing but occasionally delightful movie. We're stuck in the '60s, but the production design is remarkable!

More importantly: We all saw MICHAEL, and we have ... a lot to say. Plus, we find time for MOTHER MARY, CRIME 101, YOU ME & TUSCANY, THRASH, DUST BUNNY and more!

A cast of thousands! Global intrigue! Thrilling battles! No really, we're supposed to believe that 55 DAYS AT PEKING is interesting! Sure, you haven't heard of this movie (we hadn't either), but we promise you should listen anyway. 

Plus thoughts on THE DRAMA, THE SUPER MARIO GALAXY MOVIE, THEY WILL KILL YOU, PROJECT HAIL MARY, MERCY and more!

All your favorite superheroes are here! Y'know, Hawkeye! Black Widow! Quicksilver! And your actual favorites, sometimes! Ten-plus years later, the second Avengers movie seems like a bit of a miss, even as of its subject matter remains depressingly relevant. Will our hosts declare Age of Ultron to be a Ragnorak-level Marvel hit, or a Dark World-esque miss?

Live to tape from two coasts, the NOMIA hosts react to an Oscar night that gave both joy and heartbreak.

Nope, Event Horizon was not the number one movie in America. By virtue of pure dumb Bingo luck, Sean had the right to choose a movie from outside our list ... and he chose a weird, famously messy work of late-'90s cosmic horror. Will Sean introduce Kahmeela and Robin to an underappreciated gem, or will they be left hoping he doesn't hit that many Bingos ever again?

Plus, thoughts on SCREAM 7, THE BRIDE!, Robin's trip to the Academy museum, this week's Oscars and more!

Saddle up your ostrich (or punch it) for a quick and wacky sequel to the sequel to JUMANJI! After the '90s version was dusted off the shelf for the massive hit JUMANJI: WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE, 2019's THE NEXT LEVEL was rushed into production. Will excessive character swapping, an infusion of stars and a zoo's worth of CGI beasts be enough to make this one work?

Plus, thoughts on RELATIONSHIP GOALS, GOOD FORTUNE, HOW TO MAKE A KILLING, NIRVANNA THE BAND THE SHOW THE MOVIE, the TOP MODEL docuseries and more!

All your favorite Spider-People — the dinosaur, the cat, the horse and the rest — collide in the visually stunning SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE! Is it a masterpiece of cutting-edge animation ... or just half a movie?

Plus, let's talk about WUTHERING HEIGHTS, SEND HELP, F1, the live PARANORMAL ACTIVITY show and more — including Kahmeela's big night out with John Cusack!

As Robin puts it: Romeo/Juliet in Amer-i-ca! The classic musical WEST SIDE STORY won 10 Oscars and became a cultural touchstone. Will our hosts — two of whom claim not to be into musicals — be swept up in the romance, the snapping and the dance fighting?

Plus, our thoughts on SEND HELP, MERCY, MIRACLE: THE BOYS OF '80, HEATED RIVALRY, SHADOW FORCE and more!

For our 200th episode, we dive deep in show lore and come up with the fact that Sean has never seen A FEW GOOD MEN. Will our hosts be impressed or sort of nod off at all the legalese and military jargon?

Plus, in the segment NAMED FOR THIS MOVIE, let's talk about If I Had Legs I'd Kick You, The Housemaid, Marty Supreme, Song Sung Blue, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple and more!

With the year over and movie-award ceremonies fill our Sunday nights, it's time to name our favorite films of 2025! Will the hosts have a consensus pick? Will anyone pick anything truly unhinged? Will anyone make a disapproving noise into the microphone? (Yes on that last one.)

Plus, movies we'd like to punch, our most anticipated films of 2026, a couple of quizzes and more!

It's a beloved holiday classic that's everywhere this time of year. So of course one of our hosts absolutely shreds it. (We're sorry.) Even so, ELF is loaded with great bits and memorable performances; how will it fare against our own favorite Christmas movies?

Plus, let's talk about RENTAL FAMILY, OH WHAT FUN, NUREMBERG, KILL BILL: THE WHOLE BLOODY AFFAIR and more!

Misty, watercolored memories! Of what, we ask? Protesting and awkward dates, mostly. Verifiable movie stars BAR-bra Streisand and ROB-ert Redford have a relationship! It has, you know, ups and downs. And ... that's a movie, we guess? The important thing is that Robin's grandfather-in-law gives his opinion!

Stay tuned for our thoughts on WICKED: FOR GOOD, SENTIMENTAL VALUE, WAKE UP DEAD MAN: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY, HAMNET, ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER and many more!

Who you gonna bust? Callin' makes me feel good! Wait, that's wrong. Anyway: GHOSTBUSTERS ... is Ghostbusters. It requires no context or further comment. And yet, here we are! Will anyone dare to take a shot at this sacred, spooky cow?

Stick around for discussions of FRANKENSTEIN, THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE, TRAIN DREAMS, JAY KELLY, THE RUNNING MAN and many more!

Some people call THE NATURAL the best baseball movie of all time. They're wrong — but how close are they? Sean picked this one to answer that very question. Don't expect an answer on the whole gambling scheme, though. It's murky.

Plus, let's talk about SPRINGSTEEN: DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE, BLUE MOON, BALLAD OF A SMALL PLAYER, THE PERFECT NEIGHBOR and more ... including, somehow, PARASITE.

Death! Watch out! It's everywhere! Could that be Death? Is Death over there? Probably! Certainly in FINAL DESTINATION: BLOODLINES, this year's massive hit and the most successful film in the franchise! We go back to the beginning and cover FINAL DESTINATION in the process — and what? Why are we all crying?

Plus, let's talk about BLACK PHONE 2, AFTER THE HUNT, I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER (the new one), GOOD BOY, THE WOMAN IN CABIN 10 and more! Including, unfortunately, TRON: ARES.

It's a Hitchcockian thriller that's also a spooky ghost party that's also a sad meditation on motherhood! Do these things go together? Who cares, Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer are here! Let's go back to the summer of 2000 (feels like the autumn of 94) for WHAT LIES BENEATH!

Plus, let's talk about One Battle After Another, Roofman, Him, Highest 2 Lowest, The Long Walk, The Smashing Machine and more!

If you watch this tape — what? A tape. It's like a DVD but older. ... A DVD is a streaming movie that you, like, hold in your hand. Never mind, THE RING scared us silly 23 years ago, but after a hundred imitators, can it still kick off spooky season with a shriek? (The horse-on-the-boat sequence sure can.)

This week's recommendations: Robin enjoyed MEGADOC, and she enjoyed SPINAL TAP II more than Sean, who didn't like it nearly as much as he liked HIM, which was more than most people! It's like a logic puzzle! Kahmeela gives a soft recommendation to...

We're livin' 25 hours a day! Or, as Robin says, 14 max. But still! We're trying to draw life lessons from this Michael J. Fox comedy, which teaches us how to be seduced by the boss's wife even if she's your relative (by marriage) and how to enjoy the little things, like a corner office with a really big couch.

This week's recommendations: Robin raves about HIGHEST 2 LOWEST, Kahmeela sits down with PEE-WEE AS HIMSELF and Sean has a whole TED Talk about Epic Universe.

Look. If you only had one shot or one opportunity to ... what, exactly? Eh, it doesn't matter, because 8 MILE is a pretty good watch! Join Papa Doc, Cheddar Bob, Future and Lotto — oh yeah, and Eminem (sorry, B. Rabbit) — for a sports movie about stage fright!

This week's recommendations: Sean wants to live in DOWNTON ABBEY. Robin is entirely fine with THE MONKEY. Kahmeela finally watched JOHN WICK.

Fast? Sure. Furious? Debatable. Rat? One, and it's a doozy. The vroom-vrooms and the pew-pews relocated to South Beach for 2 FAST 2 FURIOUS, the movie that would begin sowing the seeds for a billion-dollar franchise ... without actually showing any of the flair that would lead to that success!

This week's recommendations: Sean and Robin agree on WEAPONS, Sean puts in a vote for NIGHT ALWAYS COMES, Kahmeela likes COMPANION and Robin goes back to JUDGMENT NIGHT. Plus: teen crushes revealed!

We're gonna sleep in a real pile, unless you invite Bob and Terry! (We promise that sentence makes sense.) Spike Jonze's imaginative, decidedly feelings-heavy take on WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE wasn't for kids (or, necessarily, wide audiences), but it resonated with Millennial viewers. Which one of our panel will cry about it a little? The answer may surprise you!

Recommendations: Sean and Robin loved THE NAKED GUN. Kahmeela thinks you should feel free to watch DROP and 28 YEARS LATER. Sean thinks the internet is being way too hard on the new I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST...

After The Independence Day After Tomorrow, director Roland Emmerich thought he could do no wrong. (He must've forgotten about Godzilla.) So he made a prehistoric Lord of the Rings knockoff called 10,000 B.C. — is it mammoth-sized fun, or an anachronistic mess?

Plus: Kahmeela got along fine with THE LUCKIEST MAN IN THE WORLD, Robin and Sean are in favor of this SUPERMAN fella and Robin liked OH, HI. And some podcast recommendations for your summer listening!

Everyone — including Robin and Sean on an earlier version of this very podcast — trashed "Fifty Shades of Grey" when it came out 10 years ago. With the benefit of hindsight, is there more to this pile of smut and menswear? (No.)

Plus, Sean and Robin are in favor of JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH, Robin recommends KPOP DEMON HUNTERS and BECOMING LED ZEPPELIN and Kahmeela is just fine with WOLFS and FINAL DESTINATION: BLOODLINES.

Boy, Jim Carrey sure loves overacting in response to wacky situations! Having already encountered this behavior in the form of Liar Liar and Yes Man, we move on to BRUCE ALMIGHTY, which lets us discuss Morgan Freeman and "Friends."

This week's recommendations: Sean and Robin enjoyed MATERIALISTS, Kahmeela liked THE BETTER SISTER and Robin begs for clarification on which movie named DEEP COVER you're talking about.

You're forgiven (in fact, fortunate) if you've never heard of C.C. AND COMPANY, a 1970 biker film starring the undynamic duo of Joe Namath and Ann-Margret. The only question: How far down our overall rankings can this sweatfest go?

Plus! Sean gives a why-not shrug to KARATE KID LEGENDS, Robin has similar feelings on BALLERINA and they agree that MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE — THE FINAL RECKONING is pretty good.

Immortal hippies! Pinhead-lookin' F. Murray Abraham! Beardless Riker! STAR TREK: INSURRECTION may not be the best movie in the series, but it's definitely ... something. See if anyone other than resident reluctant Trekkie Robin finds something to love!

This week's recommendations: Sean raves about FINAL DESTINATION BLOODLINES. Robin and Kahmeela are excited about the Apple series THE SEASON and lukewarm on HAVOC. Robin is all-in on the underseen 2010 indie flick CERTIFIED COPY.

Back in a previous decade, we did the first part — so why not finish the series? "Mockingjay — Part 2" wraps up the epic tale of Katniss being reluctantly near pivotal events in Panem history. But can it be more satisfying than its predecessor despite not having nearly enough Donald Sutherland?

Strong recommendations this week for SINNERS, THUNDERBOLTS, ANOTHER SIMPLE FAVOR and more!