Multiplex Overthruster

For the balance of the summer Paul, Javi, and - fearlessly - Producer Brad have braved one unbelievable movie premise after another: humanoid androids, murderous artificial intelligences, vengeful genetically engineered intergalactic dictators, the wastelands of the post-apocalypse, barbarian mercenaries with jet-powered swords… even singing sex workers have shown themselves to be no match for their laser-like analytical focus. But on the sixteenth weekend of the summer, our podcasters may have met their match with Amy Heckerling’s film of Cameron Crowe’s chronicle of 1980’s high school shenanigans “Fast Times at Ridgemont High”. What happens when three dyed-in-the-wool geeks face the unthinkable: sexually active high schoolers with no interest in genre films, TV, or comic books? Marvel as the intrepid Multipex Overthruster crew struggles to make sense of something so far out of their reality that they are frequently rendered speechless and without the capacity for rational thought! It’s the ultimately challenge - will the crew survive? There’s only one way to find out!

After two perilous weeks of comedies about sex workers, Paul, Javi, and - inescapably - Producer Brad find themselves in more familiar territory with The Sword and the Sorcerer. It’s peak ’80s as the stars of both Matt Houston and Manimal cross swords and… uh, sorcery?… in this incredibly diverting low budget bacchanal of wizardry and bloodshed. Forget Conan The Barbarian, Prince Talon is here to slay some beasts, take down some tyrants, chomp on a roasted leg of cow, and buckle his swash with his three-bladed, rocket-powered sword. 

Get ready to rock the multiplex with the most action a very limited budget can buy. Marvel at the cavalcade of television stalwarts cashing a paycheck in the magical kingdom of Griffith Park during their hiatus. Learn Javi’s valuable lesson in cave rentals, discover the (possible) secret origin of Game of Thrones’ Red Wedding, and quiver in wonder as we reveal the greatest line reading in cinema history! How are you not already listening to this episode???

The summer of ’82 continues to astound and confound Paul, Javi, and - inevitably - Producer Brad by serving up a SECOND romantic comedy about sex workers in as many weeks! After the soul-destroying pyrrhic victory that was “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas”, the Multiplex Overthruster crew trades in small town Texas for sleazy New York City for “Night Shift”! Though directed by Ron Howard and starring Henry Winkler and Shelley Long, this one is most memorable for giving future Beetlejuice and Batman Michael Keaton his first starring role: and what better way to start a movie career than in a comedy chock full of prostitutes, pimps, murderous stand up comedians, oversized top hats, frozen corpses, bloodthirsty rottweilers, Shannen Doherty’s first screen appearance, and bad take out! So dim the lights and chill the Sunny-D because we’re firing up the hearse and heading off to the Night Shift!

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. 

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!

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!

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!)

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! 

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.

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).