Second Take Cinema

October is here and that means it's all horror, all month long here at Second Take Cinema! This year we're doing double features every week and we're starting here with two of the ultimate cult classics, from the excellent Sam Raimi and starring the brilliant Bruce Campbell, we're talking Evil Dead & Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn!

This week on Second Take Cinema we're discussing Duncan Jones' debut feature film Moon. This sci-fi indie flick boasts a very small cast largely centering on Sam Rockwell with other actors appearing in only very minor or voice only roles. Moon was a critical darling upon release and seemed to indicate a very promising career ahead for its director, has Duncan Jones lived up to the expectations set by his debut or has he failed to repeat the success of this first time outing?

This week on Second Take Cinema we're reviewing perennial meme-factory Vampire's Kiss, a film in which Nicolas Cage spends 90 minutes losing his goddamn mind!

Jamie and Rory revisit the 2011 movie Another Earth, a film they both saw separately and both were disappointed by. Promising an intriguing and thought provoking story that asks questions about the idea of parallel lives and the paths not taken, the film instead spends a lot of time focusing on someone cleaning a house. At least, that was our perception the first time we saw it. All of these years later, will our thoughts have changed?

Jamie and Rory tackle their second Robert Rodriguez movie since covering Spy Kids way back in season 1. Combining CGI with live action, Alita: Battle Angel is an adaptation of a Japanese manga with a mixed reputation. The first part in a planned huge undertaking, the sequel still has yet to arrive (and at present it doesn't look like it's coming at all) so we decided to look back and see if the first film can stand on its own.

Jamie and Rory go back to the MCU as they take a look at the second Iron Man movie and ask the question; did this film move the story along at all? Did it play things too safe?

Jamie and Rory take a look at the poorly-named Sorcerer which is actually an American remake of the French movie The Wages of Fear which we covered back in season 1. Poorly received on release, Sorcerer underwent a critical re-evaluation and many film aficionados consider it one of the most tense thrillers ever made. So of course, Jamie and Rory have to be contrarians...

On this week's episode of Second Take Cinema the gang take a look at one of the most famous movies of the 1980s; Raiders Of The Lost Ark. With Steven Spielberg and George Lucas running the show and Harrison Ford in the leading performance, Raiders seems almost destined to have become the franchise-starter that it turned out to be, but how does this movie hold up in 2026? Are the thrills still thrilling? The villains still imposing? And are there some elements of the production that seem very problematic when viewed through a 2026 lens?

Second Take Cinema is a...

Things get heated on this week's episode of Second Take Cinema as the gang discuss the movie usually regarded as the Coen Brothers' Magnum Opus: No Country For Old Men. Is it a genius post-modern deconstruction of all of the narrative tropes Hollywood has held onto for decades or is it a messy meandering film being praised by the pretentious crowd?

We're finally doing it! One of the movies that inspired the creation of Second Take Cinema; Apocalypse Now. Often hailed as one of the greatest movies of all time, Jamie saw this movie at University and absolutely hated it. If you've ever listened to Jamie on a podcast before you're sure to know just how much he despises Apocalypse Now. Now he's (redacted) number of years older, not really any wiser and watching the theatrical cut which is supposed to be much better than the Redux Cut he watched previously. He's roped Benton and Rory into it too so tune...

A brand new season of Second Take Cinema is here and our fourth season kicks off with an unusual episode for us in that we aren't discussing an old movie to see if it still holds up but rather a brand new movie in Christopher Nolan's epic retelling of Homer's Odyssey which recently did great numbers at the box office. 

Jamie and Rory are also joined on the show by Benton who, as a keen fan of the original text, had some misgivings going into this movie. Has Nolan delivered a satisfying experience or will Benton be infuriated b...

It's the end of season 3 and the end of listener request month here on Second Take Cinema! For this entry we're going to Luke in Chelmsford who asked us to look back at this highly regarded 80s sci-fi movie and give it a second take. How well does Back To The Future hold up in 2026? How are those effects looking? And why-oh-why does this film love to keep us all uncomfortable with incestuous implications?

An obscure cult film from the 1980s, The Last Dragon is a mash-up of hip hop music with martial arts, produced by music legend and founder of Motown Berry Gordy. It's an unusual film that, whilst not good cinema in the traditional sense certainly has a sense of style and charm all its own. Will Jamie and Rory appreciate the unusual charms of The Last Dragon or will it go over their heads?

Listener request month continues with Danny Boyle's low budget indie horror hit 28 Days Later which helped revive the zombie genre in the early 2000s and has gone on to spawn a franchise (28 Months Later and 28 Years Later). Jamie has seen this film many times but Rory never has. It's sure to be a fun experience seeing he reacts to it.

Requested by listener Tierra in Wisconsin, USA this week Rory and Jamie was watching cult Sci-Fi indie movie "Cube." A group of strangers wake up in a steel cube with no recollection of how they got there or how they know one another. Every subsequent room is an identical cube, some equipped with terrifying and brutal traps designed to whittle their group down. Will they band together to make it out? Will they succumb to the sinister and monolithic Cube and does this movie still hold up in the year 2026?

It's the start of listener request month (or listener requests for slightly more than a month) and first up is Batman Begins! The start of Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, listener Craig claims this is the best film in the trilogy but Jamie has always considered it his least favourite. Will that opinion change with a Second Take?  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We wrap up season 3 of Second Take Cinema with a pair of movies made by musicians! Moonwalker is the vanity project by Michael Jackson at the height of his fame (and arguably madness). Rejecting narrative and traditional filmmaking in favour of a surrealistic blend of noir gangster movie, music videos, Looney Tunes and...Transformers?
Meanwhile, Spice World made roughly a decade later is a testament to the cynicism and relentless grinding of the pop culture machine; taking the biggest girlband of the 1990s and throwing them into a Frankenstein of a movie stapled and tied together from scraps of...

On this week's episode of Second Take Cinema the boys return to the work of Mr Robert Zombie with his second ever movie "The Devil's Rejects." Jamie saw this movie when he was 14 and has maintained that this is the best movie in Rob Zombie's filmography. Will he still feel that way reviewing the movie in 2026 and how will Rory react to this blood-soaked grindhouse movie? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After a stunning start with Iron Man, the MCU hit a misstep early on with its second movie out the gate; The Incredible Hulk. Or did it? The film has a mixed reaction and the lead actor Edward Norton was famously replaced by Mark Ruffalo going forward. There also weren't any solo Hulk movies after this (so far at least) which would lead one to believe this movie sucked and so we decided to give it a second take and see how it stacks up in 2026. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Based on the popular play and featuring a cast of massive names including Al Pacino, Alan Arkin, Jack Lemmon and Ed Harris this is a contained movie about salesman facing the chop if they can't reach the increasingly high targets set by their corporate overlords. A meditation on capitalism, desperation and toxic masculinity, does the film resonate even more now than when it was released? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week's episode of Second Take Cinema we take a look back at this sci-fi classic from 1984, the film that put so many of the people involved on the map; director James Cameron as well as stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn. There's been a lot of sequels since that saw Schwarzenegger's T-800 turned into an iconic action hero, but in this original movie he is the bad guy. Does it still work in 2026 now we all know Arnie as the action star?  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Wow, we recorded this episode literally almost about a year and a half ago and due to some schedule changes never got around to releasing it. The boys are joined by Kirk Redgate, indie filmmaker and George Romero fan to discuss the OG zombie masterpiece; Night Of The Living Dead! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The boys are joined by special guest David Gardner (the voice of Karl Trevino) on this weeks episode of Second Take Cinema as they take a look back at this Alfred Hitchcock classic which sees two strangers plan the "perfect" murder; by swapping victims with one another they believe the authorities would have no hope of catching them. However things take a dark turn when it turns out one of the conspirators is more serious about the plan than the other... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This indie film was a juggernaut in the late 90s and is usually credited as being the film that first mainstreamed the "found footage" subgenre. Since release it's been a divisive movie with some audiences finding the lack of anything happening dull and a waste of time, whilst others find an oddly compelling sense of dread in the lack of any "real" events. Jamie and Rory are coming at the movie from opposite directions and discuss how they think the film plays today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we're talking about the Sandman, no not the Neil Gaiman Netflix show but Adam Sandler. It's undeniable that Sandler has built a lengthy career in Hollywood although the quality of that career is up for discussion. On today's episode Jamie and Rory discuss one of the more unique (albeit oft-forgotten) of Sander's oeuvre; 2006's Click. What begins as a very by-the-numbers Sander comedy about a man who gifted a universal remote that let's him...well, control his universe, this movie takes a SHARP turn around the middle portion of the film that transforms it into a completely different...

We're going waaaay back on the podcast this week as we review one of Rory's all time favourite movies, the Marx Brothers' classic "Animal Crackers." The second movie from the vaudeville stars, catapulted the boys to stardom, but does their sense of humour still play in 2026? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the latest episode of Second Take Cinema we're taking a look at this Marilyn Monroe-led classic. Directed by Billy Wilder and based on a stage play, this movie features the iconic Marilyn Monroe white dress scene and became a part of pop culture, however the director had a lot of regret about the movie, feeling it had been held back by the restrictive Hayes Code at the time. Jamie and Rory look back at it and see how it plays in a modern age. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's a controversial episode this week folks as the boys take a look at Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy. Whilst this film is widely likely and has a pretty good reputation, it didn't sit well with Jamie who is extra grumpy on this episode on account of being very unwell. The boys discuss the movie and try to articulate what they liked and didn't like about the movie and Jamie airs his beef with Will Ferrell. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this edition of Second Take Cinema we take a look at one of Rory's favourite movies and the final movie directed by the legendary Richard Donner. Starring Bruce Willis as an alcoholic cop who has given up on life, this film charts the journey of an apathetic man who unexpectedly finds himself fighting for something for the first time in a long time.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A franchise built on parodying existing franchises, 1996's Scream was a much needed shot in the arm for the very tired and essentially dead slasher genre when it released and it introduced the world to one of the most iconic slasher's in cinema history in Ghostface alongside one of its most iconic final girls with Neve Campbell's Sydney Prescott. But how does the original Scream hold up today, after all of these years (and sequels)? Jamie and Rory discuss it in this new episode of Second Take Cinema! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Widely recognised as having saved the Star Trek franchise from certain doom, The Wrath Of Khan finds its strength in being a film that strips back its budget and instead relies on tight scripting, iconic (if over-the-top) performances and escalating tension and winds up with a more successful outcome than its predecessor. How does it hold up all of these years later though? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Telling the true story of Jordan Belmont and the schemes that earned him the titular moniker, this is our first visit back to Martin Scorsese-land since we covered Goodfellas right back at the beginning of the show. Will this movie fare better with Rory than Goodfellas did? The boys discuss the film and the moral implications associated with telling this sort of story, which seems to thread through a lot of Scorsese's work.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

1994 remains perhaps the biggest year of Jim Carey's career, seeing the release of 3 of his biggest hits all in one year; Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (see previous STC episode!), Dumb & Dumber and perhaps the most risky of the three ventures: The Mask. Based on a comic book and produced by New Line Cinema, the movie takes the source material in a more comedic direction and blends a weird sense of disturbing fantasy, real-life mundanity and cartoonish comedy under the guiding hand of director Chuck Russell (A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, The Blob). The question is, how does the...

A huge Merry Christmas from Second Take Cinema and all of us here at Impala Films! We celebrate this week by reviewing a movie that holds a nostalgic place in Jamie's heart. Of the many screen adaptations of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol that there has been, Jamie contests that this 1970 Albert Finney vehicle is the best of the bunch. Will Rory agree? Do you agree? Let us know! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Love Actually is usually regarded as one of the best Christmas and romantic movies ever but, in recent years opinion has been turning on the film with many acknowledging that the films idea of "love" is often misplaced. So who better to weigh in on this discussion than two fat guys? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A British-made New York gangster movie, a period-piece AND it's a musical!? How is that supposed to work? Oh, and one other thing...the cast is entirely made up of children. Yep, children. That's the unusual concept at the centre of Alan Parker's odd British musical-comedy Bugsy Malone which tells the story of a man caught up in a battle of rival gangs determined to wipe one another out and vying for control of a powerful new weapon; the "splurge gun." Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A classic movie that launched Audrey Hepburn into a cultural icon and even spawned a 90s soft rock hit, almost everyone recognises Breakfast At Tiffany's, even if they've never actually seen the movie. Jamie first saw this movie as a teen and introduces it to Rory for the first time. Does the movie deserve its cultural reputation or is it all fanfare with no substance, and can certain poor decisions in this movie be reconciled with modern values? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on the show Jamie and Rory go back to one of the scariest sci-fi movies of all time, described as a "haunted house in space" Alien launched a franchise that remains one of the most well-known in Hollywood, but it all stems from humble beginnings. Jamie and Rory discuss some of the more disturbing themes of the movie and take a look at some of the filmmaking techniques used to bring the Nostromo to life.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jamie and Rory review the classic action movie "Die Hard" widely regarded as an excellent movie, Jamie has to come along with his usual contrarian take and isn't too enamoured by the movie. The boys discuss the reasons behind this and whether or not Die Hard could work with another action hero in the lead.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The third season of Second Take Cinema continues and, since HAUNTED is currently on a break we're continuing to share it with all of our Patreon supporters. In the first episode of the season we discussed the landmark superhero movie "The Dark Knight" and this week may give you tonal whiplash as we're reviewing "Come And See" a harrowing, haunting and relentlessly bleak Soviet movie from 1985 that follows a young Belarussian boy who gets caught up in the Nazi invasion of his country.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.