Episodes

  • Summer of '82: The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
    Jul 18 2024

    There comes a time when we are all tested to our very core. Paul, Javi and — unflappably — Producer Brad all thought that time had come six weeks ago with Grease 2. They were wrong; that time is now. Our faithful co-hosts face their darkest hour as they descend into the dungeon of despair that is The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, a film that makes Grease 2 look (and sound) like Singin’ in the Rain. Not even the divine gift of Dolly Parton can save this torturous endeavor, which somehow renders Burt Reynolds abrasively charmless.

    Join us as we brave our most treacherous moviegoing challenge yet, and are surreally surprised to discover one startling scene of sci-fi (seriously!), and one spellbinding song of sublimity. Along the way, Paul (our resident Texan) will pierce his PTSD with some injections of insight contextualizing the film’s real world roots. Trust us, you never want to see this movie, but you definitely want to listen to this episode.

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    1 hr and 18 mins
  • Summer of '82: The Road Warrior
    Jul 11 2024

    Before Fury Road, before Furiosa, there was Max. Mad Max. The Road Warrior. Join Paul and Javi, and - without a doubt - Producer Brad as they board the last of the V8 interceptors and brave the dangerous domain of the Lord Humongous of the wastelands. That’s right, this week it’s George Miller’s seminal masterpiece “The Road Warrior” (or “Mad Max 2” for those of you not in the United States in 1982) - the film that damn near invented the post-apocalyptic car wars genre. It’s leather, shoulder pads, and gasoline galore at the multiplex this week… and you better watch out for that razor-sharp boomerang!

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    1 hr and 32 mins
  • Summer of '82: Tron
    Jul 4 2024

    Two years before William Gibson’s novel Neuromancer coined the term “cyberspace” the Disney corporation unleashed a bold and daring vision of anthropomorphic distributed computing gone wild. Featuring a young and wildly talented Jeff Bridges, and more dance belts and BMX armor than you can shake a data disc at, Steven Lisberger’s ground-breaking proto-CGI extravaganza, Tron, is a bizarre and beautiful vision of a future that never came to pass! Join Javi, Paul, and - needless to say - Producer Dumont as they get digitized into the gaming grid to marvel at Syd Mead’s generation-defining production design, do battle with the nefarious Master Control Program, and struggle to make sense of the movie’s plot!

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    1 hr and 40 mins
  • Summer of '82: Conan the Barbarian
    Jun 27 2024

    This week Paul, Javi, and - indubitably - Producer Brad contemplate Conan the Barbarian, John Milius’ sweeping, serpent-filled, and surprisingly soup-laden adaptation of Robert E. Howard’s legendary pulp hero, brought to laconic life by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the role that made him an icon. Crom commands you to heed this episode as we chronicle Arnold’s epic quest to deliver a monologue that measures up to those of his magnificently mellifluous co-stars James Earl Jones, Max Von Sydow and Mako! And did we mention the soup?

    (And yes, astute listeners, we realize we’re breaking continuity by reaching back to a movie that opened on May 14, 1982, but you can trust us as much as steel that this journey into high adventure is infinitely preferable to the wheel of pain that was The Secret of NIMH!)

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    1 hr and 24 mins
  • Summer of '82: The Thing
    Jun 22 2024

    When John Carpenter sets a movie in a barren terrain of ice and snow, you can bet bucks to beans that the only thing colder than the setting is his regard for the human soul! Paul, Javi, and - indubitably - Producer Brad take on one of the greatest studies in fear and paranoia ever put to film: John Carpenter’s The Thing. Released on June 25, 1982, it's one of the rare remakes that outdoes the original in vision and enduring influence, this paragon of the horror genre continues to chill audiences to the bone to this day, and Multiplex Overthruster is here to tell you why!

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    1 hr and 10 mins
  • Summer of '82: Megaforce
    Jun 21 2024

    Though largely, and justifiably, forgotten since its release on June 25, 1982, Hal Needham’s Megaforce is a truly breathtaking experience. And we don’t necessarily mean “breathtaking” in a positive way. This week, Paul, Javi and — of course — Producer Brad take one for the team and come back much changed, chafed, and itching to chat through this grand guignol of gunfire, explosions and toxic masculinity. The manly men of Megaforce may live by the slogan “Deeds not words”, but so many of those deeds are duds, and we have witty, wise words of warning! It is truly one of the most mystifying films from the summer of ’82, and we watched it so you don’t have to.

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    1 hr and 37 mins
  • Summer of '82: Blade Runner
    Jun 20 2024

    Los Angeles. November 2019. Paul, Javi, and - naturally - Producer Brad, kick off our epic triple feature weekend of June 25, 1982, by revisiting a sense-stunning vision of the distant future that is somehow now our recent past.

    One of the most influential films of all time, Ridley Scott’s towering masterpiece has been imitated, examined, recut, recut again, sequelized, and soon sequelized some more. Join us as we explore the mesmerizing multicultural megalopolis of BLADE RUNNER in its original theatrical cut (yes, with Harrison Ford’s reluctant narration), viewed through the lens of the revisionist versions that would (nearly) perfect this landmark of sci-fi cinema.

    You do not want to miss this episode, which culminates in our co-hosts’ most shocking disagreement yet! Thanks to the wonder of podcasting, these moments will not be lost like tears in the rain (though they may elicit tears of laughter).

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    2 hrs and 9 mins
  • Summer of '82: Firefox
    Jun 13 2024

    It is the height of the cold war and the Soviets have developed a fighter that defies radar detection and responds to its pilots thoughts! Naturally, the best man for the job of stealing this lethal next-gen weapon is a burned-out Vietnam war veteran who is prone to debilitating flashbacks! This week Paul, Javi, and - naturally - Producer Brad take the wayback machine to June 18, 1982, a simpler time when we as a nation knew who the bad guys were, we know where they were, and only Clint Eastwood could get in there to steal their most valuable weapon.

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    1 hr and 40 mins