All too often, nostalgia seduces us into remembering things better than they actually were. But every once in awhile, the opposite occurs, and we get to re-experience something that turns out to be far better than our memory somehow maligned. Listen as Javi, Paul, and the ever mystical Producer Brad return to the days of high adventure as their dread is transmuted into delight by the startling revelation that the Conan sequel does not actually suck, but is kind of awesome! Arnold Schwarzenegger returns as Conan (with more lines!) to embark on a perilous quest with the promise of the ultimate reward. Joining the fray alongside the returning fountain of wizarding wonder that is Mako are iconic Grace Jones, imperious Sarah Douglas, impish Tracey Walter (cosmically transported from Repo Man), impetuous Olivia D’Abo, and imposing Wilt Chamberlain. And while the absence of Milius and Stone is certainly felt, we get rollicking D&D campaign scored by Basil Poledouris (if with less robust orchestra) elevated by an unexpected feminist twist, alongside more impalements than one would ever expect for a PG rating, not to mention one of the gnarliest monster killings ever committed to celluloid (thanks to a fantastic creature design by the great Carlo Rambaldi). Glory to Crom! And bring on King Conan!

Show Notes:

US Theatrical Release Date: July 29, 1984

Weekend Domestic Box Office Chart for June 29, 1984

1984 Top-Grossing Movies - The Numbers

AFI|Catalog - Conan the Destroyer

Roger Ebert's "Conan the Destroyer" movie review

FILM:SCHWARZENEGGER IN NEW 'CONAN' - The New York Times

Theme music by Mike McGuill

Additional voicework by Russell Bentley

Summer of '84 voiced by Colby Elliott

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Between the blockbuster successes of Airplane! and The Naked Gun!, Jim Abrahams and the Zucker Bros. took a more scattershot satirical turn with Top Secret!, which parodies everything from Cold War spy thrillers to Elvis rock and roll musicals to WWII espionage dramas to ’60s beach party movies to an entire flashback remake of The Blue Lagoon. Skillfully surfing these crashing waves of colliding genres is none other than an impossibly young, beautiful, and charming Val Kilmer in his film debut, deftly demonstrating he can do pretty much anything with dazzling aplomb, including a show-stopping oner shot backwards. Kilmer plays Nick Rivers, an anachronistic American rock star on a cultural exchange to East Germany who gets caught up with an inexplicably still-active French Resistance to rescue an imprisoned scientist forced to build a diabolical doomsday weapon. Join Javi, Paul, and the cunningly clandestine Producer Brad as they go skeet surfing through this tsunami of sight gags that includes a giant pooping pigeon, an underwater saloon fight, and the greatest on-screen performance ever by a cow wearing boots. 

Show Notes:

US Theatrical Release Date: June 22, 1984

Weekend Domestic Box Office Chart for June 22, 1984

1984 Top-Grossing Movies (Inflation-Adjusted) - The Numbers

AFI|Catalog - Top Secret!

Roger Ebert's Top Secret! movie review & film summary

FILM: 'TOP SECRET!', PARODY OF SPY MOVIES - The New York Times

1984 Sears Christmas Wish Book (with Fred Savage modeling)

The First Giant Restaurant Chain: Howard Johnson's: Rise and Fall

The Most Unsung Leading Man of His Generation: Val Kilmer (1959-2025)

Pinto Madness – Mother Jones

Theme music by Mike McGuill

Additional voicework by Russell Bentley

Summer of '84 voiced by Colby Elliott

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They say the third time’s the charm, and if you’re Star Trek, the third time is all about the charm. The studio may have cut the budget and schedule to cash in on the success of "Star Trek II,", but when you have a cast that has worked together for decades - and a director who is part of that cast - the characters can’t help but come through, especially when they are all on a mission of friendship. Spock may have died in "Star Trek II," but the gods of retconning were having none of it, and so the crew of the Enterprise had to suit up in their civvies, steal their old ship in a sequence that stands among the best of the franchise, and go on a search… for Spock! Of course, with Christopher Lloyd and John Larroquette as Klingons, they might as well have called it “the search for sitcom actors on hiatus”… and yet, weirdly, it works. There’s this accepted wisdom that the odd numbered treks are the worst, but revisiting this movie after many years, Paul, Javi, and the always-logical Producer Brad found it to be an absolute delight, a feast of wonderful character moments, awesome new ships (lookin’ good, Excelsior, and how you doin’ you sexy Bird of Prey?) and long-awaited franchise payoffs wrapped in a TV-movie like execution that strains to match the humor and emotion on display. Star Trek III may be known to many as the movie where Paramount’s cost-cutting led to the recasting of Kirstie Alley, but to the Multiplex Overthruster gang, it is a warm and comforting bowl of Fal-tor-pan, served up with a hefty dose of humor and the indefatigable camaraderie of a cast so tight that, together, they can overcome any obstacle… even when that obstacle is the search for more profit!

Show Notes:

US Theatrical release date: June 1, 1984

US Weekend Box Office June 1, 1984

US Weekend Box Office June 15, 1984

US 1984 Top Grossing Movies

AFI Catalog Entry for "Star Trek III"

Roger Ebert's "Star Trek III" review

NYT "Star Trek III" review

Vonda N. McIntyre

Alan Dean Foster

Theme music by Mike McGuill

Additional voicework by Russell Bentley

Summer of '84 voiced by Colby Elliott

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To this day - twenty-two years later - you can still walk into a room anywhere in the civilized world and shout “Who ya gonna call?” and get an emphatic hollaback of “GHOSTBUSTERS!” Is there more that needs to be said? Yes, there is. About three hours worth if you’re Paul, Javi, and the preternatural Producer Brad! For a franchise that has been rehashed, rebooted, re-animated, and spun-off so many times, the original still holds the power to provoke laughter, surprise, wonder, and, occasionally, a low grumble of “dude, that Venkman’s kind of a lech." It was the eighties, and if you were an alum of SNL, times were good, especially for Dan Aykroyd, who, along with Harold Ramis and Ivan Reitman turned his longtime obsession with the the paranormal into a humongously budgeted comedic spectacle on the scale of the epic blockbusters of Lucas and Spielberg. Anchored by a master class in snark presented by Bill Murray, with Ramis, Aykroyd, and everyman extraordinaire Ernie Hudson rounding out the titular team, the supernaturally amazing cast includes Sigourney “The Most Exhalted Queen of the Universe” Weaver, Annie “the unsung MVP of the Ghostbusters” Potts, and the ever lovable Rick Moranis as the world’s most indefatigable accountant. Let’s face it folks, there’s two epochs in history, before “he slimed me” and after “he slimed me," and the Multiplex Overthruster crew has seen them both. So dust off your Tobin’s Spirit Guide, power up your PK meter, and bust out the neutrona wands, because many Zuuls and Shubs are about to find out what it’s like to be roasted on the depths of the Sloar, and there’s only one call to make - GHOSTBUSTERS!

Show Notes:

US Theatrical release date: June 8, 1984

US Weekend Box Office June 8, 1984

US 1984 Top Grossing Movies

AFI Catalog Entry for Ghostbusters

Roger Ebert's Ghostbusters Review

NYT/Janet Maslin Ghostbuster Review

A look at Dan Akroyd’s original script for ‘Ghostbusters’

Dan Aykroyd Explains Spooky Way He Came Up With Original 'Ghostbusters' Idea

Teenage Sigourney Weaver Seen Enjoying Beatles’ Hollywood Bowl Concert in ‘Eight Days a Week’ Doc

Casper's creators aren't so friendly - UPI Archives

Patrick Nagel

Theme music by Mike McGuill

Additional voicework by Russell Bentley

Summer of '84 voiced by Colby Elliott

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In this gritty, neon-soaked, leather-wearin’, motor oil-stinkin’, rockabilly-singin’, pole-dancin’, pickaxe-swingin’ installment, Paul, Javi, and the tough-talkin’ Producer Brad travel to another place, another time to bear witness to a “rock’n’roll fable”. It’s Streets of Fire, one of the oddest mainstream summer movies of the eighties; a feature-length music video that is equal parts western, Road Warrior dystopia, Blade Runner quasi future noir, and Berlin sex club fashion show! It’s Diane Lane, Michael Paré, Rick Moranis, and Willem Dafoe at his palest and most consumptive in Walter Hill’s confounding valentine to toxic masculinity! So rev your engines, fire up your neon, and crank up that eighties soundtrack - because these streets are not gonna burn themselves!

Show Notes:

**This episode has been updated to correct for missing audio. Please redownload if your version has dead air in the first 5 minutes. Thanks!**

US Theatrical Release Date: June 1, 1984

Streets of Fire AFI Catalog Entry

Walter Hill Treated Screenplays Like Literature and Inspired a Generation of Filmmakers

How Did This Get Made: A Conversation With 'Streets Of Fire' Co-Writer Larry Gross - SlashFilm

40th Anniversary Interview with Michael Pare

Roger Ebert's Streets of Fire review

New York Times' Streets of Fire review

Theme music by Mike McGuill

Additional voicework by Russell Bentley

Summer of '84 voiced by Colby Elliott

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It’s Memorial Day weekend and the Multiplex Overthruster crew roars back to the movies for the Summer of ’84 with their old pal Indiana Jones! On his second outing, Indy stares down the many perils of the Temple of Doom… only it’s more like the “Temple of Holy Crap This Movie is Terrifying!” Look, over the years, Javi has followed Paul and the archaeological Producer Brad on many adventures, but into the Great Unknown Mystery… oh the hell with it, the Great Unknown Mystery here is how did all of the goodness of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” metastasize into this haltingly entertaining but mostly really weird and uncharacteristically dark story of child torture, monkey brains, a lava pit of wildly varying temperature, bloodless but nevertheless childhood-scarring heart ripping, and eyeball soup. It’s Indiana Jones as you have never seen him before… in an immaculate white dinner jacket, then strikingly shirtless and, uh, hypnotized into slapping his nine-year-old sidekick? Could Paul be right in his theory that the true hero of this film is Short Round and that we were robbed of an entire saga of Short Round Adventures? (Spoilers, he is right.) So dim your glowing stones, chill your monkey brains, and take a nice warm seat near the lava pit, because the Summer of ’84 is about to begin - in the bowels of The Temple of Doom!

Show Notes:

US Theatrical Release Date: May 23, 1984

Weekend Domestic Box Office May 25, 1984

Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom Box Office

AFI Catalog Entry

'INDIANA JONES' STIRS RATINGS DEBATE - The New York Times

How ‘The Temple of Doom’ Changed the MPAA Ratings System

Corliss, RIchard. (1984, May 21). Keeping the Customer Satisfied. Time

Theme music by Mike McGuill

Additional voicework by Russell Bentley

Summer of '84 voiced by Colby Elliott

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While “When did Michael Douglas Get So Young” may not have been the sole burning question of our rewatch of Romancing The Stone, it certainly was among the many prompted by Paul, Javi, and the always Trustworthy Producer Brad’s journey into the wilds of this 1980’s gem. Though Paul may - occasionally, pointedly - disagree, Javi brilliantly lays out the many arguments for why this film remains an underrated hidden classic. Whether they are settling their differences or finding common ground, Paul and Javi - and yes, Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas, we guess - have one of their most spirited debates as they ponder the veritable mudslide of latino stereotypes on display and many other topics of interest while marveling, as if anew, by the explosive chemistry between Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner… and Danny Devito and Zack Norman and some crocodiles… and Alfonso Arau and “Pepe”… and Holland Taylor and pretty much anything with a pulse. It’s a union of Hollywood Titans - Zemeckis, Douglas, Turner, Devito, and Thomas - yes, Thomas - as they rock to some of the most eighties saxophone riffs ever: it’s Romancing the Stone!

Show Notes:

Romancing the Stone US Theatrical Release Date: March 30, 1984

Weekend Domestic Box Office March 30, 1984

Romancing the Stone Box Office

AFI Catalog Entry: Romancing the Stone

Roger Ebert's Review

New York Times' Review

Theme music by Mike McGuill

Additional voicework by Russell Bentley

Summer of '84 voiced by Colby Elliott

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Imagine a dystopian America where authority is malignant, the profit motive rules all, everyone is on the grift, all goods and services have been devalued to the least of their utility and value, and the infrastructure has crumbled into a depressing echo of its former self… this morning’s New York Times? No! It’s Alex Cox’s punk rock masterpiece Repo Man! Made in that special time before John Hughes and the Brat Pack got their hooks in him, Emilio Estevez embodies youth in revolt as he teams up with Harry Dean Stanton at his scuzziest, most viciously nicotine-stained best to get into some tense situations. Step into the 1980s Ronnie Reagan did NOT want you to know about: where aliens are real, televangelists occasionally moonlight as government agents, television holds a hypnotic sway over your parents, and, most importantly, the threat of the Rodriguez Brothers looms around every corner! Politically biting, socially trenchant, and as fucking hilarious as a can of generic beer and poke to the eye with a lit cigarette, Repo Man may just be the angriest and most prophetic mainstream film of its time - and even more surprisingly, it’s one of Paul’s formative favorites! So join Javi and the ever-so-rebellious Producer Brad as they wonder just what Paul’s youth was really

Show Notes:

Theatrical Release Date: March 2, 1984

Weekend Box Office for March 2-4, 1984

AFI Catalog Entry

Roger Ebert's Review

NYT Review

Theme music by Mike McGuill

Additional voicework by Russell Bentley

Summer of '84 voiced by Colby Elliott

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What happens when a hard-ridin’, gravel scratchin’, manly-man motocross champ accidentally finds himself in the middle of a time travel experiment run by a private corporation unaware that they set up their equipment too close to a public rally race? What if our hero finds himself stranded in the old west with no way home? What if our protagonist never realizes he has traveled through time for most of his own story? Join them varmints Paul and Javi, guided through time and space by the Doc Brown-like Producer Brad, as they witness the occasionally incredible, but mostly credible, and - if the film’s title is to be believed - sole adventure of Lyle Swann! Thrill as our hero - played with clueless gusto by the always-delightful Fred Ward as he faces down a cast of hey-it’s-that-guy” character actors, as well as the most formidable adversary a 1980s action hero could possibly face… an intelligent, empowered female character (played by the intelligent and empowered Belinda Bauer!). It’s Timerider: THE adventure of Lyle Swann, and an episode of Multiplex Overthruster that will take you on an unforgettable journey through a forgotten film!

Show Notes:

US Theatrical Release Date: January 21, 1983

US Home Video Release Date: May, 1983

AFI Catalog Entry

NYT Review

Fred Ward obituary

Richard Masur interview

Theme music by Mike McGuill

Additional voicework by Russell Bentley

Summer of '84 voiced by Colby Elliott

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Every once in a while, a loophole in time, space, and copyright law opens and spits out an object straight out of bizarro world. The summer of ’83 gave us an “official” James Bond film starring the well past-his-prime Roger Moore, and the fall of ’83 answered with NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN - an apostate remake of THUNDERBALL directed by the man who gave us THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and starring none other than Roger Moore’s also well past-his-prime predecessor Sean Connery! What could possibly go wrong? Uh… a lot. Thrill to spine-tingling scenes of an aging superspy taking herbal treatments at a health spa! Marvel at the cringy romantic subplot with a way-too-youthful Kim Basinger! Gasp at the gravity defying athleticism of Sean Connery’s toupee! Of course, it’s not all bad news… turns out our old man Bond still has plenty of fuel left in the tank, and he is joined by the amazingly unhinged femme fatale Fatima Blush as played by the scenery-devouring Barbara Carrera, the Swedish sensation Max Von Sydow as the kitty-stroking supervillain Ernst Stavro Blofeld, and Bernie Casey as the Felix Leiter we all wish had gotten his own spinoff! It’s James Bond as you have never seen him before! Actually, it’s pretty much exactly as you have seen him before - but Paul, Javi, and their spymaster, Producer Brad love this franchise for all of its flaws, so dim the lights and chill the Geritol, because the Multiplex Overthruster crew will never… ever… say never again!

Show Notes:

Theatrical release date: October 7, 1983

Janet Maslin NYT review

Roger Ebert's review

Theme music by Mike McGuill

Additional voicework by Russell Bentley

Summer of '84 voiced by Colby Elliott

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