Rewind Classic Movies

In this episode of Fast Forward, GB and AJ tackle one of cinema's most dangerous subjects: movie remakes.

Following on from our recent discussion about Clash of the Titans, we're looking at ten examples of remakes, reboots and reimaginings that, for one reason or another, failed to live up to what came before.

But there's an important distinction to make.

Calling something one of the worst movie remakes doesn't necessarily mean we think it's an objectively terrible film. A remake can be perfectly watchable on its own while still being a disappointing version of a...

This week, GB and AJ head back to 1981 for Clash of the Titans, the final feature film from legendary stop-motion pioneer Ray Harryhausen.

With Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith, Burgess Meredith and Ursula Andress (sort of) delivering grand, Shakespearean dialogue about gods, destiny, honour and death, while giant scorpions, Medusa, a mechanical owl and a bloody great sea monster wander around in the background, this is a fantasy film unlike anything else.

AJ watches Clash of the Titans for the first time, while GB revisits one of his childhood favourites. We talk about Harryhausen's incredible career and...

1991 was one hell of a year for movies.

In this episode of Fast Forward, GB and AJ count down its ten highest-grossing films - from huge blockbusters and Disney favourites to comedies, thrillers and some films that might surprise you by making the list.

But this isn't just a box-office countdown.

Along the way, we get into childhood memories of discovering spoof movies, debate whether one of the year's most celebrated films is actually overrated, revisit some very memorable performances, and uncover a few surprising connections between the directors and stars behind these m...

We’re heading back to Neverland for Steven Spielberg’s Hook (1991) - a film we both loved as kids, but which hits very differently when you watch it as an adult.

Dustin Hoffman gives us one of the great pantomime villains as Captain Hook.

But beneath the flying, pirates and imaginary food fights, Hook is surprisingly packed with darker ideas about growing up, parenthood, work, ageing and losing touch with your imagination.

And then there’s the weird stuff.

We uncover the Michael Jackson Hook musical that almost happened; discover a Star Wars...

What makes a movie underrated? Does it have to be obscure, forgotten, critically dismissed or a box-office failure? Or can a hugely successful film simply deserve a little more love?

In this special episode of Rewind Classic Movies (due to AJ being trapped on a shipping container. The scheduled Rewind of Hook should hopefully arrive next week), GB digs into films recommended by the Rewind Patreon community - movies that our listeners think deserve to be watched, rewatched or simply remembered.

And the definition of “underrated” gets pretty broad.

We’ve got Steve Martin...

From unforgettable masterminds to terrifying monsters, cinema has given us no shortage of villains who have stayed with audiences long after the credits rolled.

But what separates a truly great movie villain from simply a bad person? Is it intelligence, charisma, menace, or something much harder to define?

In this episode of Fast Forward, we follow up our discussion of Batman (1989) by counting down our personal Top 10 greatest movie villains.

Along the way we explore the characters who fascinated us, frightened us, made us laugh, and in some cases completely stole the films the...

In Part 2 of our deep dive into Tim Burton's Batman (1989), we're talking about the iconic music, standout scenes and favorite quotes.

We explore Danny Elfman's legendary score, Prince's surprisingly perfect soundtrack and how Michael Jackson was originally planned to be involved.

We also discuss the film's lasting influence on superhero movies and deliver our final rankings.

Next week on Fast Forward, we're counting down our Top 10 Greatest Movie Villains, before returning to Neverland for Hook (1991) on the main show the week after.

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Batman wasn't just another comic book movie—it completely changed Hollywood.

In Part 1 of our deep dive into Batman (1989), GB and AJ revisit the film that transformed the Caped Crusader from a camp TV icon into the Dark Knight.

Directed by Tim Burton and starring Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson and Kim Basinger, this was the superhero blockbuster that proved comic book movies could be stylish, serious and hugely successful.

From Gotham City's incredible production design and Danny Elfman's unforgettable score to Jack Nicholson's legendary Joker performance (and sweet deal!), we explore why Batman sti...

In this week's Fast Forward, GB and AJ follow up on last week's Legend (1985) episode by counting down their favourite movie make-up and prosthetic creations of all time.

Inspired by Rob Bottin's incredible work bringing Darkness to life, the pair each bring five picks to create a combined top 10, running from five down to two, with honourable mentions along the way before revealing their individual number ones.

From The Thing and An American Werewolf in London to Terminator 2 and Mrs Doubtfire, the discussion celebrates the artists who transformed actors into unforgettable characters long before CGI became...

This week on Rewind Classic Movies, GB and AJ head into the enchanted forest to revisit Legend (1985), starring Tom Cruise, Mia Sara, and an unforgettable Tim Curry as Darkness.

From stunning practical effects and breathtaking sets to unicorns, goblins, fairy tales and one of cinema's greatest villain transformations, there's plenty to admire.

But does the story hold together? Why are there three different versions of the film? And how did one of the most ambitious fantasy movies of the 1980s end up disappointing at the box office?

Join us as we explore the fascin...

GB and AJ are back with another Fast Forward - this time following up last week's deep dive into the 1984 Helen Slater Supergirl with a look at the all-new 2026 version starring Milly Alcock.

There's a twist, though. Only one of them has actually seen the new film. The other did go to the cinema this week - just not to see Supergirl.

Instead, AJ caught the new Spielberg movie, Disclosure Day, with the family and the pair have thoughts on John Williams, the state of cinema-going, and why sneaking in a bag of supermarket popcorn...

To celebrate (?!) the release of the all-new Supergirl (Milly Alcock) in 2026, we decided, perhaps foolishly, to Rewind the 1984 original, starring Helen Slater.

GB goes into it full of admiration for the woman who defined his preferences for the female species, while AJ has never seen it before (shocker - lucky git).

Will GB see it in an objective light? What will AJ make of the bonkers plot and characters?!

If you can't face rewatching this movie, then maybe just tune in for our look back.

Next week: We Fast Forward...

Fresh from the cinema, GB and AJ follow up last week's look at the 1987 original with their reaction to the brand new Masters of the Universe movie!

We kick off spoiler-free with first impressions, low expectations that got blown out of the water, and why this might be one of the most cohesive CGI-heavy blockbusters either of us has seen.

Then we cross the spoiler line to dig into He-Man, Skeletor and Teela on the big screen - and of course the filthy bros of Fisto and Ram Man - that Dolph Lundgren cameo, the...

By the power of Grayskull… they actually made this thing!

This week GB and AJ are rewinding one of the most gloriously chaotic productions of the 1980s - a film that cost more than Robocop, made less than it spent, helped sink an entire studio, and somehow still managed to capture the hearts of a generation of kids who grew up watching it on dodgy recorded VHS tapes.

Is it the He-Man movie fans deserved? Is it a cheap Star Wars knock-off? Is it something else entirely?

Grab your power sword, because GB an...

In this week's Fast Forward, GB and AJ follow up on the Wayne's World episode with a deep dive into their all-time favourite movie cameos.

Inspired by the film's memorable appearances from Alice Cooper, Meatloaf, Ed O'Neill, and Robert Patrick, the pair each bring five picks to build a combined top 10 - running from five down to two, with honourable mentions along the way, before revealing their individual number ones.

Among the cameos discussed are Matt Damon's punk singer, Glenn Close's prisoner and a surprise that AJ calls one of his favourite movie moments of...

Wayne's World! Wayne's World! Party time! Excellent! 🤘

It's February 1992, the EU is being born, the Winter Olympics are kicking off in France, and two headbangers from Aurora, Illinois are about to take over the cinema.

GB and AJ strap on their baseball caps (well, one of them does) and rewind the SNL sketch that became a $180 million blockbuster.

We're talking Penelope Spheeris, the three endings, Bohemian Rhapsody in a Mirthmobile, Alice Cooper's surprisingly deep history lesson, and whether Garth Algar is one of the greatest human creations in comedy history.

Is it...

GB and AJ follow up on last week's Planes, Trains and Automobiles episode with a fun one: which movie characters would you most want as a travel companion?

The rules are simple - it's the character, not the actor, and you're travelling in the time and place of their film.

From crocodile hunters to karate masters, the boys reveal their top five picks each and make the case for why they'd be the ultimate road trip companion.

Expect disagreements, some very questionable Australian accents, and wildly different number-one choices.

In th...

John Hughes. Steve Martin. John Candy. A shower curtain ring salesman, a grumpy ad exec, and the most emotionally devastating comedy of 1987.

This movie has 93% on Rotten Tomatoes but only 72% on Meteoritic. So where will we end up on it? (The Patreons will NOT be happy with AJ).

We dig into what makes this film so beloved - and whether it holds up if you've never seen it before.

Also: why Project Hail Mary is the best 80s film we've seen in years, and a deep dive into Roger Moore-era Bond.

GB and AJ rev up for their Top 10 Cars in Movies, following on from last week's Back to the Future.

The lads each bring five picks to the table, and while their tastes couldn't be more different - one loves a battered, characterful classic, the other goes full Hollywood spectacle - they find more common ground than expected.

And there are a few moments where they get surprisingly close to picking the same thing for the first time ever. They might even pick from the same movie - but will it be the same car?!?<...

GB and AJ go back to July 1985 - Live Aid, neon fashion and pop, and the highest-grossing film of the year.

They break down Back to the Future: the troubled release, the flawless script, Marty & Doc's friendship, and why it's still an all-timer in 2026.

Plus listener Patreon rankings, Project Hail Mary chat, and Bond talk. 

Next week: Inspired by the incredible DeLorean, we look at our Favorite Movie Cars Of All Time!

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The Lost Boys had one of the greatest movie soundtracks ever made - so this week GB and AJ are ranking their all-time personal top tens.

From Cavatina to Celine Dion, these are the scores and songs that stuck with them, shaped them, and still end up on in the car.

Plus: AJ is a 40-year-old skateboarder and he'd like you to know he can properly skate.

Next week: We Rewind the absolute classic time-traveling adventure - it's Back To The Future from 1985!

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It's 1987 - Rick Astley is never gonna give you up, MTV just launched and a gang of very cool, very dangerous vampires are running Santa Carla. GB and AJ rewind Joel Schumacher's cult classic The Lost Boys: how it reinvented the vampire genre for the MTV generation, why the soundtrack might be bigger than the movie itself, and whether style trumps substance.

And why does it feel like 2 different movies, with the final act coming across like a Goonies sequel? And was it anything to do with Goonies director Dick Donner being the original director?!?

...

Following on from their episode on Disney's The Black Hole, GB and AJ sit down to rank their all-time favourite movie robots.

The list spans decades - from Blade Runner's Roy Batty and Terminator's T-800 to overlooked gems like Mav from Love and Monsters.

Plus: is one of them even a robot?

And why does AJ try and ban GB's No 1 entry?!

Next week: We Rewind the dark soundtrack special that is The Lost Boys from 1987.

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You probably haven't seen it. You may never have heard of it.

But Disney's The Black Hole (1979) is one of the most ambitious - and bizarre - films the studio ever made. 

It cost $20 million, earned two Oscar nominations, and then almost completely vanished.

This week, GB and AJ dust it off and find a film that's darker, weirder, and more fascinating than it has any right to be, complete with a bonkers ending, a murderous robot, and one scene AJ has apparently never forgotten since childhood.

⚠️ TW: CA (Brief mention...

This week on Fast Forward, GB and AJ dive into the fascinating world of rock stars and singers in movies.

We’re breaking down the best, worst, and most bizarre appearances by musicians on the big screen.

Following on from our Labyrinth episode, we explore how artists like David Bowie, Cher, and Frank Sinatra successfully made the leap into acting while others (ahem Madonna et al) maybe should’ve stayed in the recording studio.

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Leave us a review on your podcast platform—it really helps the show grow!

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This week on Rewind Classic Movies, we’re exploring Labyrinth (1986) - Jim Henson’s wildly imaginative fantasy starring David Bowie as the unforgettable Goblin King.

On this episode we discuss:

Nearly 40 years later, Labyrinth still feels like pure movie magic - a fantasy world bui...

After revisiting Mission: Impossible 2 on the Rewind show, we Fast Forward to take you on the Tom Cruise Eras Tour.

From his breakout in the early 80s to becoming one of the biggest movie stars on the planet, Cruise’s career spans more than four decades, nearly 50 films, and $15 billion at the box office.

In this episode we break down the six eras of Tom Cruise - from the rebellious young actor of Risky Business and The Outsiders, to the global superstardom of Top Gun, Rain Man, and A Few Good Men, all the way through to th...

In this episode of Rewind Classic Movies, we head back to the year 2000 - a time of Napster, low-rise jeans, and blockbuster action movies - to revisit Mission: Impossible 2.

Directed by John Woo and starring Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt, the sequel took the sleek espionage thriller of the original film and transformed it into a full-blown slow-motion action spectacle. Doves, motorcycle duels, rock climbing without ropes, and a villainous bio-weapon plot… it’s all here.

We talk about:

• How John Woo’s signature style reshaped the franchise

* Slow Motion, Doves, More Slow...

What are the greatest movie quotes of all time?

After last week’s Rewind episode on The Princess Bride, GB and AJ jump into a Fast Forward discussion inspired by one of cinema’s most iconic lines:

“Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”

From there, they each bring their own personal top picks for the most memorable quotes in film history - the lines that instantly take you back to a scene, a character, or a moment in movie culture.

Expect impressions (quality varies wildly), ple...

In this episode of Rewind Classic Movies, GB and AJ revisit Rob Reiner’s fantasy adventure starring Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Mandy Patinkin, Christopher Guest, Wallace Shawn, and André the Giant.

They explore how William Goldman wrote the story for his daughters, why Hollywood struggled to bring it to the screen, and how its unique blend of romance, comedy, action, and satire confused audiences at the time - but ultimately made it timeless.

They also discuss André the Giant’s unforgettable performance, Cary Elwes’ unlikely path to leading man status, and why the film’s charm only...

After Stargate exploded onto screens in 1994, Roland Emmerich had much bigger plans than a one-off sci-fi adventure.

What was meant to be a full cinematic trilogy became a long-running TV phenomenon, a stalled sequel revival, multiple reboot attempts - and one very unfinished master plan.

In this Fast Forward episode, we dig into Emmerich’s original Stargate follow-up ideas, why Stargate 2 and 3 never happened, and how the franchise splintered into TV, straight-to-DVD movies, animation, and reboot limbo.

From Independence Day to The Day After Tomorrow, we track how Emmerich pivoted from ancient aliens to global destruc...

This week on Rewind Classic Movies, GB and AJ revisit Stargate (1994) - a film that launched one of the biggest TV sci-fi franchises of all time, despite mixed reviews and a surprisingly grim leading man.

We dig into:

Is Stargate an underrated classic, or a fascinating misfire held together by ambition and production de...

Inspired by The Last Starfighter last week, this episode is all about our favourite movie aliens from the 1980s and 1990s.

Not the films, but the creatures themselves: the designs, the performances, the personalities, and why some of them stuck with us for decades.

From lovable companions like Max from Flight of the Navigator, to nightmare fuel like The Thing, we each bring five picks to the table and count them down to a shared Top 10.

Along the way we cover:

We had such a good time recording this episode - both the interview with Lance (who was lovely) and myself and AJ chatting about a movie he'd never seen before!

This didn't go the way I thought it would.

In July 1984, arcades were basically cathedrals, Apple had just launched the Mac, and one teen in a trailer park was about to save the entire galaxy… because he was too good at a video game.

This week GB and AJ revisit The Last Starfighter (1984), the cult sci-fi adventure that helped pioneer early CGI space ba...

Nearly 40 years after Arnold Schwarzenegger’s The Running Man, a new 2025 adaptation hits cinemas, promising a darker, more faithful take on the Stephen King novel, with Edgar Wright in the director’s chair and Glenn Powell in the lead.

So… what went wrong?

In this Fast Forward episode, GB and AJ break down why The Running Man (2025) never quite works.

From a muddled tone and flat world-building to a lead character we struggle to care about, this remake somehow manages to be neither fun nor brutal. We also dig into the “Arnie problem”, whether Glenn...

Arnold Schwarzenegger hunts ratings, spouts one-liners, and accidentally predicts reality TV.

In this episode of Rewind Classic Movies, we revisit The Running Man (1987). A loose, sanitised adaptation of Stephen King’s bleak novel that somehow became a neon-lit, catchphrase-stuffed 80s action spectacle.

Recorded over Christmas, partly from a Greek garden, the discussion digs into:

This Fast Forward episode takes on the entire modern James Bond run - tackling the movies and the theme songs, starting with Pierce Brosnan’s debut in GoldenEye and following the franchise all the way through Daniel Craig’s final outing in No Time to Die.

Recorded together in a hotel room, the conversation moves chronologically through all four Brosnan films and all five Craig films, tracking how Bond shifted from glossy post-Cold War blockbuster to something far heavier, more introspective, and occasionally exhausting. There’s praise for Brosnan’s early promise and screen presence, frustration with the series...

Pierce Brosnan’s first outing as James Bond didn’t just revive the franchise. It redefined it.

In this episode of Rewind Classic Movies, GB and AJ revisit GoldenEye (1995), the Bond film that dragged 007 out of legal limbo and into the modern blockbuster era. From that legendary dam jump opening to Sean Bean’s 006 betrayal, we break down why GoldenEye still feels untouchable nearly 30 years later.

We talk real stunts, Eric Serra’s controversial score, the six-year Bond gap, and whether GoldenEye’s opening is still the greatest in the entire franchise. Plus: Brosnan vs Craig, Cold Wa...

The new-style Fast Forward is here! AJ joins GB to chat about their Favorite Christmas Movies!

As a loose follow-up to last week's Die Hard episode (yes, it's a Christmas movie!), they go over what films they dig out at Santa time whilst wearing questionable festive jumpers.

Some are nostalgic, some remind them of Christmas tree lights (!?!) and some feature Alan cumming. Sorry - Alan Cumming.

Along the way, they debate classics like It’s a Wonderful Life, Home Alone, Gremlins, The Snowman, Scrooged, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, and the surprisingly divisive Polar Expre...

Season 2 kicks off with ... the greatest Christmas movie ever made?

GB and AJ reunite (one in a John Mclane-style vest, one in an old suit with a tie made of wrapping paper (because professionalism) to dive into Die Hard (1988): the morally-objectionable-to-the-Church, career-defining-for-Willis, perfection-delivered-by-Rickman masterpiece.

We get into:

• Whether Ellis was actually trying to bang Holly Gennero

• Why Bruce Willis starts the film clutching a teddy like a stressed toddler

• Hans Gruber’s foreign Die Hard titles, including the incredible German “To Die Slowly”

• YouGov polls and an unwanted amount...