On episode #134 of Fear and Loathing in Cinema, the four superhero sidekicks that is Bryan, Dan, Chelsea, and Preston, voluntarily subject themselves to Superman III (1983), the cinematic equivalent of doing whippets in a RadioShack parking lot.

This is the movie where Christopher Reeve, once again donning the cape, finds himself paired with Richard Pryor. Arguably the funniest stand-up comedian of all time and, according to Warner Bros. executives in 1982, also the perfect person to anchor a family-friendly superhero sequel. The result? A film so spectacularly unhinged it feels less like a continuation of the Superman franchise and more like someone dared the writers to lose a bar bet.

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On episode #133 of Fear and Loathing in Cinema, the squad piles into the back of a cop car with Martin Lawrence and Luke Wilson to revisit Blue Streak (1999), a film that now feels like both a time capsule and a comedic piece of nostalgia. Remember when buddy action comedies reliably paired the world’s stiffest white guy with the loudest, most cartoonish Black guy, and then had them bicker their way to justice? Simpler times as they would say.

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By the 132nd episode of Fear and Loathing in Cinema, one begins to wonder if Bryan, Dan, Chelsea, and their revolving door of guests aren’t actually podcasters at all, but cultural archaeologists, digging through the cinematic rubble of the ’90s with the patience of Indiana Jones and the appetite of Mystery Science Theater 3000. This week, their excavation tool of choice is Operation Dumbo Drop, Disney’s 1995 attempt to stage a Vietnam War film with all the gravitas of Platoon, if Platoon had a wisecracking elephant in the starring role.

The post Episode #132 – Operation Dumbo Drop (1995) first appeared on Boomstick Comics.

On the 131st episode of Fear and Loathing in Cinema, a podcast that has spent more time in the ‘90s than the Clinton administration. Bryan, Dan, and Preston revisit a movie that asks the big, important questions: Can an Austrian killing machine convincingly teach preschool? Is it okay to introduce children to heroin dealers before phonics? And why, exactly, was Kindergarten Cop shown at every elementary school movie day like it was Charlotte’s Web?

Yes, they’re talking about Kindergarten Cop (1990), the high-concept action comedy where Arnold Schwarzenegger, fresh from body-slamming aliens and blowing up jungles, trades his Uzi for juice boxes and circle time. The trio dive headfirst into the genre whiplash of Ivan Reitman’s wildly successful, weirdly traumatic family action-comedy. This is a film, after all, that made over $200 million by pitching itself as “Daddy Day Care meets Scarface,” except with more feral children and less Eddie Murphy in makeup.

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On the gloriously unhinged 130th episode of Fear and Loathing in Cinema, Bryan, Chelsea, Wade, and, making a cameo so brief it rivals Dave Matthews in Don’t Mess With the Zohan, Preston, plunge headfirst into Adam Sandler’s 2008 absurdist comedy of a movie. You remember Zohan, don’t you? The one that critics in 2008 treated as though it had personally wronged them, like a bagel shop that ran out of lox and schmear.

The plot, if you can call it that, involves Sandler as a cartoonishly invincible Israeli commando who fakes his death, defects to New York, and fulfills his true calling: cutting hair and romancing Jewish grandmothers with the sort of sensuality usually reserved for X- rated Werther’s Originals commercials. It’s a premise so deranged that even Roger Ebert, God bless him, recognized it as a minor work of genius while everyone else sharpened their critical pitchforks.

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Some people move to Texas for the brisket. Others come for the low taxes, wide skies, or a spiritual reawakening via H-E-B. But for Chelsea Nicole; fearless co-host, cinephile, and recent expatriate from the state that resembles a giant penis (Florida); it was the promise of freedom. And by freedom, I mean the chance to resurrect a 2001 cult classic starring Tara Reid, Rosario Dawson, and Rachael Leigh Cook in glitter eyeliner and low-rise pants: Josie and the Pussycats.

Yes, Chelsea is back and officially a Texan, meaning she’s now legally allowed to say “y’all” unironically and has probably already been gifted a gun and a pair of boots. To celebrate her Lone Star residency, we opened the vault of cinematic absurdity and dusted off Josie and the Pussycats, a film once dismissed as bubblegum fluff but now understood; by the enlightened few; as a prophetic takedown of corporate culture, mass marketing, and boy band brainwashing.

Joining the pod is none other than returning champion and editor extraordinaire Kristi Shimek, whose knowledge of the craft is only matched by her ability to say "DuJour means bus pass" with a straight face. Together with Chelsea, Dan, and myself, we deep-dive into this satirical pop-rock opus on episode #129 of Fear and Loathing in Cinema Podcast.

The post Episode #129 – Josie and the Pussycats (2001) first appeared on Boomstick Comics.

There are few films that could convince four grown men in 2025 to willingly dodge the U.S. military draft, board a non-refundable flight to Hong Kong, and enter an underground full-contact martial arts tournament with zero formal training; ave, perhaps, for some light cardio and a YouTube rabbit hole of aikido fails. But in Episode #128 of Fear and Loathing in Cinema, Bryan, Dan, Preston, and special guest Wade throw themselves; emotionally, spiritually, and imaginatively; into Bloodsport (1988), the film that launched Jean-Claude Van Damme into the cultural bloodstream like a spinning heel kick to the sternum.

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On Episode #127 of Fear and Loathing in Cinema, a podcast that functions as both group therapy and cinematic exorcism, our scaly trio of hosts turned their collective, dragon-singed gaze toward Reign of Fire; the 2002 post-apocalyptic lizard-thon that imagined a world where dragons reemerged from the London Underground and decided that humanity had simply had enough time.

This month’s theme? Man Month. A celebration of films from that hallowed, oily era when masculinity was measured by shirtlessness, gravitas, and one’s ability to shout at mythical creatures while swinging an axe. Enter: Christian Bale, Matthew McConaughey, and Gerard Butler; three men so hyperbolically manly in this film that you could bottle their sweat and sell it as artisanal barbecue sauce.

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On Episode #126 of Fear and Loathing in Cinema, our beloved panel of armchair cine-soldiers (who may or may not be honorary members of the IRA; the Irish Rewatching Association) don their greenest beer goggles and deep-dive into one of the more politically confused action-thrillers of the Clinton years. Somewhere between All the President’s Men and The Pelican Brief, Alan J. Pakula must have asked himself, “What if instead of Deep Throat or Julia Roberts, it’s Brad Pitt with an Irish accent trying to buy missiles in New Jersey?” Enter The Devil’s Own (1997), a film that answers no questions but asks a few truly baffling ones, like: Who thought this script was ready? Why does Brad Pitt sound like a leprechaun who studied abroad in New Mexico? And why are Harrison Ford’s eyebrows doing all the acting?

The post Episode #126 – The Devil’s Own (1997) first appeared on Boomstick Comics.

On Episode #125 of Fear and Loathing in Cinema, we cracked a dozen metaphorical eggs and finally found the perfect duck. Not a perfect duck, the perfect duck: 1986’s Howard the Duck, a film so strange, so inexplicable, so duck-breasted, that it could only have emerged from the mind of George Lucas during what historians now refer to as the "Post-Ewok Malaise." The lineup this week: myself (Bryan, duck-lover, genius), Dan (duck-hater, probably allergic to joy), Chelsea (convinced this film is a PSYOP), and Wade Davis (whose facial expressions alone deserve their own audio track). Together, we swim through the feathered fever dream that is Howard the Duck, a film that made so little money and ruffled so many feathers that it inadvertently hatched an empire: Pixar. Yes, really. We owe Toy Story to Howard the Duck. You’re welcome, America.

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