Grumpy Nostalgia: Second Look Cinema

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The Halloween overkill continues as the gang revisit this film from over 40 (wait, what?) years ago.  Groovy ghouls, slime, and a very sultry Sigourney are just a few of the iconic highlights from a beloved movie that deserves all of its generational love.  Our wonderful friend, and Ghostbusters superfan @aron_gagliardo jumps in the Ecto1 for this episode as well.  So what are you waiting for? Judgment Day?

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Our sprint to the Halloween finish line will be fast and furious.  Three episodes and a guest spot on @lisaslounge1 this week will guarantee even our biggest fans will be barfing from overexposure.  First off, we revisit one of our favorite movies about bio-exorcism.  Young Winona broke all of our hearts as the primordial goth girl and Keaton's amped up jerky performance essentially was the blueprint for your host's personalities.

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One of the greatest movies ever filmed, but only of you get it.  Easily the worst if you don't. But we don't want to hang out with those people anyway.  In this odd continuation of the Evil Dead series, charismatic Ash is transported back to the 1300's to fight the nasty Deadites, gnarly pit witch hags, and Mr. Pitt's glued on beard.  The gruesome action violence is so fast and comical you barely realize what's happening in time for the movie to be over. A formula most horror films would be wise to rem...

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The cool thing about 80s horror was...well, everything.  However some of these films made their mark in other ways.   This one included super cool pre-goth teen vampires wearing full length leather dusters on the beach.  Throw in an extremely oily saxophone player and a couple of Coreys and you got yourself and very iconic, yet ultimately cringey, horror classic.  Your hosts aren't entirely sure if they were scared by the content, or merely the calendar on this one.  WARNING: This episode features one of the most controversial takes on a beloved film in the...

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After a summer full of poopy movies, we decided to do the natural thing and explore the origins of cinematic feces and what better place to start than with Edward D. Wood's masterclass of manure, Plan 9 From Outer Space. But we slowly realize that this is easily more fun to watch than any 2026 summer blockbuster. Super bitchy male aliens, catatonic zombies, and a Swedish pro wrestler Tor Johnson all add to the fun. Not to mention a morphine-riddled Bela Lugosi who steals the show.  Especially impressive, given the fact that he was dead. D...

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With the depressing release of Netflix's Wonka-themed reality show member berry this week, we decided to perform a public service by releasing one of our favorite episodes ever. Listen to this instead of supporting this streaming service AI-generated abomination. Your Snozzberries will thank you.

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We're finally taking our audience's advice and going to Hell.  Turns out it's not as nice as advertised.  This movie is one we're betting most of you forgot about.  Congrats for that.  A horribly miscast Arnold heaves his way through this trope-heavy plot but somehow manages to beat the devil's face in a few times before saving the world.  A hundred million dollar film featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger fighting the devil to save the world never quite lives up to its potential but neither did we so its all works out.

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This movie is why your parents were laughing so hard in the other room.  Easily one of your hosts favorite comedies of all time.  This special revisit was a no-brainer (see what we did there?).  Nonstop jokes, ridiculous sight gags, and Wilder's performance all remind us that there was a time in American cinema where you could dare to cross a few lines to make people laugh. And we did. A lot. Take a shot every time there's a quotable line in this movie and you might end up telling your family what you...

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After a brutal summer full of bombs, the gang gleefully review a great 90s thriller that exemplifies why our generation's movies were so much better. This neo film noir classic introduced an original script, laden with mystery and varied interpretations that would make a modern audience over-google themselves.  With unique characters, brutal violence, and a story that makes you work a little, these types of movies cant exist anymore and we're proud as hell to put this one on a pedestal this week.  In a pretentious and smug manner, we also wrap up th...

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GenX boys were strange little creatures (still are by all accounts). Back when you couldn't use the internet to fight your battles, some of us actually had to take matters into our own hands.  We personally were not these people, but Ed and Brad certainly were.  Criminally misunderstood in it's original run in theaters, this prophetic movie warned us where the world was heading and boy was it spot on.  Your hosts live vicariously through these iconic characters once again as they pine for the days when they could take their shirts off and...

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Headbangers Hamlet! Things go crazy this week as Mike's absence throws the Grumpy Nostalgia studios into disarray. But every crisis is also an opportunity. Therefore, the show's resident music expert @aron_gagliardo is called in to cover a movie we know Mike wouldn't touch even with a ten foot Gene Simmons tongue. The ABC Network gave the band KISS two hours of primetime TV in 1978 and the results are as surreal as you think they are.  Easily the greatest and worst TV Movie ever made all at the same time.

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Drop by the Double Deuce to see an amazing tale that somehow manages to be wonderful and vile all at the same time.  We could not get enough of this one the first time through and neither could our audience so we gladly put this stinky treasure back on the airwaves to help beat the summer heat. Never have ripped out throat scenes been more enjoyable. Oh, and Kelly Lynch! Hell yeah, y'all.

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We wrap up our brutal "Bombs Away" summer series with some real teeth.  We travel back to 1983 to revisit the gimmicky, yet somehow still boring, Jaws 3D. Besides the multitude of tiny shorts, trucker hats, and mustaches, there's all the 3D content the producers added in a desperate attempt to get us back in the theater to see another movie about an angry fish.  A coked-out Dennis Quaid and the guy from the TV show Manimal lead the charge so you know its good. 

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We swear we will cover a good movie eventually, but this week do not. But that doesn't mean for even a second that we didn't completely love revisiting this intergalactic pile of Psychlo Poo. Did we mention its bad? (Grumpy Nostalgia - always first with breaking news)

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Pirate songs and horrible puns litter this podcast as the boys get their peg legs stuck knee high into this infamous pile of poo.  When a movie loses $187 million dollars, there's more going on than just a bad script and thankfully we found a lot of it.  So hop aboard land lubbers, time to get seasick!

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Before Yellowstone made the gangster western cool, our cowboys from the 90s were shootin', drinkin' and acting all over the place.  We go back a few years to revisit one of our favorite episodes that never fully got the attention we truly feel it deserved. Stick around to the end where the boys talk about their favorite cowboys of all time. Its a rootin tootin rodeo of crap.

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If you love duck puns, bad special effects, and crimping irons we have the film for you. It's been 40 years since this turkey (not duck) graced our movie screens courtesy of George Lucas no less. We guess someone told him those annoying Star Wars movies were played out and to focus on an intergalactic duck instead.  Well played.  This gem kicks off our special summer series called Bombs Away! We my never truly recover. Quack.

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One episode couldn't do this one justice, so the boys present a special two-parter in order to squeeze in all the pew pew pews, the red sateen, the tiny tiny
Hawk Men shorts, and more cheese than we deserve.  Plus, we share our takes on some famous ambiguous endings in film.

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Flash and the gang face off against the glorious villain Ming the Merciless (who could easily take Thanos's lunch money). There's ridiculous special effects, very short Hawk-Men shorts, and a Queen soundtrack that will crush your face.  We promise this will be the best 52 min, 28 sec of your day.

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There's a scene where Corey Feldman, dressed as Michael Jackson, does a 4 minute dance routine in a gym and its not even the worst scene in the movie.  The worst of the 80s in on full display as the gang entertain a listener request this week.  We love our audience, but this one put us through the proverbial ringer.  Dated humor, misogyny, hair mousse, and the most disconnected plot and dialogue in the history of film all make this one of the most bizarre movies we've ever reviewed.  More fever dream than little drea...

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Even our bombs bombed bigger in the 90s.  With the 2026 summer blockbuster season folding like Superman on laundry day, we thought we'd go back 33 years (yikes) to reveal how they used to fail back in the day. Arnie does his best to try to keep this flaming dog poo bag burning, but a clunky script, forced self-referential humor, and possibly the most annoying 90s kid ever to grace the silver screen ultimately take their toll. Still there's fun to be had here, you just have to weed through all the boring parts.  Just li...

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Five years in and we've yet to talk about the Muscles from Brussels.  This ends here.  In one of our most serve-serving episodes to date, we decide to completely disregard our audience and instead cover a movie just for our own warped cinematic fetishes. The stereotypes and misogyny are in full bloom throughout this film's measly 92 minutes, but somehow everything works out okay in the end.  If you can withstand the content, stick around to the end where we talk about our favorite movie ending showdowns.  It does not deliver in the least. Iron...

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Being the grumpy jerks we are, we're guessing you can simply stay home this weekend and listen to this podcast instead of braving theatres to see Disclosure Day.  Steve made the perfect UFO movie fifty (gulp) years ago so we invite you to ward off the inevitable disappointment.  But, we hope we're wrong.

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Come listen as two brutes scratch their heads and furrow their brows as the try to review an art house film.  Having nary a special effect and nor not even one explosion, your hosts are forced to find new ways to find fault.  They are not up to the challenge.  This one is an adorable change of pace for your grumpy crew so make sure you tune in to see how they fare.  Plus, we talk about other gender swap movies and miraculously teeter on the edge of inappropriateness. 

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The boys go back to the golden era of brain rot to explore our long obsession with the video game.  From Pong to XBOX, these consoles were our baby sitters, our pacifiers, and our rage generators. So grab your quarters and prepare to relive the days where an Italian-American could clobber a monkey with a big hammer and no one raised an eyebrow.

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You Send Our Podcast to the Hospital, We Send Your Podcast to the Morgue. That's the Grumpy Nostalgia Way.  The boys go full OG this week reliving Brian De Palma's 1987 classic.  In a time when Americans couldn't drink, we learn that baseball bats, police brutality, and casual Italian-American racism could deliver us to moral clarity.  Fresh new face, Costner, nearly pulls his weight against a legendary performance from Oscar winner Connery here. The boys are so impressed by the end that they decide to cover their other favorite gangster movies that aren't the God...

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Mandalorians and Grogus are fine, but us 80s kids would rather see some stop motion terror and a galactic build-a-bear workshop taking down the Empire.  The country is gonna remember why they like Star Wars in the next few weeks so we shamelessly dust off one of our favorite episodes from a long time ago and a galaxy blah blah blah and get a head start.  Show favorite Aron joins the gang this time to share the pain.  Stick around to the end where they gang discuss their other favorite movies featuring characters wit...

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This week's brand new episode features what we call a "thinking man's Sci-Fi" movie.  Generally, that's code for boring. And there's some of that to be fair, but for the most part this one is pretty good. If you can buy McConaughey as a priest, you can pretty much believe anything.  Even the existence of little green men (which there are none here either).  Stick around to the end where we present part 2 of our 2026 Summer Movie Preview: The Leftovers.  Is as intriguing as it sounds.

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Resident show punching bag Costner writes, directs, stars, and even sings the ending credits song!  Way to hog the movie, K!  An extended spring break kept the boys out of the studio this week, so we humbly ask our overly patient audience to give this episode another listen.  Not a lot of y'all heard this one the first time and we understand.  This movie is a letter bomb.  We get it.
Stick around for the end where our cohosts review a list of the worst movies of the nineties to see how many...

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After 35 years, most things tend to degrade.  We certainly did.  But this is not the case for one of the greatest psychological horror films of all time.  Join the gang as they revisit the culinary curiosities in this amazing Jonathan Demme classic. Rural Appalachia, oversized panties, homemade Halloween masks, and a well-placed tuck are just the start. Our only regret is that we covered this movie way too early in our podcasting career.  The result was fine, but the fine-tuned listener will appreciate an extra level of horror upon hearing our early attempt at b...

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With Silence of The Lambs returning to theaters this week for it's 25th Anniversary, the boys decide to spoil the party by reviewing the film where it all started, Michael Mann's stylish Manhunter from 1986.  Heavy handed and completely free of any levity at all, it's a bit of a chore to sit through, but we knew the risks when we took the job.  Bereft of any other original ideas, the boys pad out the rest of this episode with their first annual 2026 Summer Movie Preview.  The results of which have to be heard to...

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The Artemis crew WISHES they could be as cool as the goofy miners-turned-astronauts in this ridiculous Michael Bay extravaganza from 1998.  Grab your animal crackers and settle in for nearly 3 hours full of space dementia and good old America saving the world yet again.  Oh, spoiler alert: Gruber doesn't make it (whoever the hell he was).

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We're going full icky this week by covering a film by the recently deceased Hollywood icon Chuck Norris.  Yes, we tried to avoid memes and jokes and, yes, we failed.  Over 120 gratuitous kills and zero sleeves. Not a bad ratio for a movie in the 80s.  Oh, and an armadillo out-acts most of the cast.

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With The Mummy Returns returning to theaters for a special 25th-anniversary this weekend, we thought it prudent to dust off our own take on the franchise from several years ago. Though not a well preserved as a mummy, this episode still has some life in it and quite frankly we're too busy getting next Monday's release ready to do our job as podcasters properly.  Until then, please enjoy Brendan Fraser's energy and Rachel Weisz's face.  Emphasis on the latter

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This week we go back to a big one, but as we learn, size doesn't matter.  In fact a few minutes we wont even be matter.  Come back to glorious 1997 where movies were bigger, better, and could star Will Smith without the audience wanting to punch him in the face. Speaking of jerks, stick around to the end when the boys explore other celebs that we used to admire, but now not so much. Wonderfully petty and indefensible.  

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With Studio Ghibli releasing 1989's Kiki's Delivery Service in IMAX this week, the gang decided to dust off this awesome episode featuring a collab with the gals from 2nd Hand Nostalgia. Mucho Manga 

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An 80s fantasy adventure with scorpions, gorgons and gratuitous boobs. A recipe for the best Saturday night ever.  Laurence Olivier is here for some credibility and Ursula Andress is here for two more things.  The nostalgia hits harder than the Kraken as the boys end the episode talking about their other favorite early HBO movies that seemed to be on every day, all the time.

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Why does everyone forget that this is their favorite movie? The boys get sentimental this week by revisiting this 1986 Rob Reiner masterpiece.  Recent events notwithstanding, this one reminds us why we go to the movies in the first place.  A billion dollar CGI Marvel movie is good and all, but these types of movies carry their own magic when they're done right, and this is no exception.  Dont let the sappy tone fool you though, your hosts spend most of the time laughing at the realistic absurdity of little boy talk, proving that the...

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Grab a diablo sammitch and a Dr. Pepper and join the gang as they go back to the glorious morality-free movies of the 70s by viewing Smokey and the Bandit.  There's CB radio-talk, casual misogyny, and more car crashes than you can shake a stick at.  Bandit's Trans Am overstimulates the hosts to the point where they feel compelled to talk about their favorite movie cars.  We got a long way to go and a short time to get there, so get listenin', you sombitches!

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In a world with no screens, no safety, and no gas mileage, many a family would venture into our great country to explore tourist traps and dirty gas stations.  This is their story. Stop touching me!