Nighthawks' Podcast

In 2018 the Nighthawks took a deep granular dive into the 1938 radio adaptation of War of the Worlds, that famously made Orson Welles a household name and (allegedly) scared some undetermined number of people into thinking that the United States was being invaded by an outside force.

In 2020, a movie was made based on the same Public Domain story that sought to imagine the end of the world, not through radio but, through the media of the time- webcams and device screens. The resulting movie sat on the shelf for approximately five years before being sprung on an unsuspecting public in 2025. Ice Cube and Eva Longoria lead the cast in a brand new adaptation of War of the Worlds that has viewers panicking for another reason entirely:

It’s not a very good movie.

Join co-hosts Trevor and Matt as they dig into the latest mainstream adaptation of War of the Worlds and discuss if it’s the worst movie of the year, or if it’s “just another movie this year.”

The co-hosts at the Nighthawks Diner triple down on a glass of Beetlejuice and contend with the self-proclaimed "Ghost With The Most."

Hot off of his success with Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, former Disney animator turned director, Tim Burton, chooses life, death, and the afterlife for the subject of this early effort in his career. The resulting horror comedy would cement Burton as someone who could balance four-color antics with a dark sensibility, paving the way for Burton's Batman, a year later.

Join the co-hosts for this "episode from the vault," originally recorded for release in October of 2024, this lost-and-found episode discusses a classic of the Nighthawks' respective childhoods. 

Wow... ten years. TEN YEARS! (Cue clip from Gross Pointe Blank)

Folks, it has been an honor and a privilege to have been sitting in our imaginary diner having real conversations with you (okay, at you) about movies. It's been ten years of some truly remarkable films...and Shark Week.

For this edition of the Nighthawks Podcast, the guys in the corner booth decide to take it back to the franchise that started it all...sort of. Is it a prequel? Is it a spinoff? Is it a sequel? We just don't know. But we do know that it's fully bad ass.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is the 2024 film from genre auteur George Miller, dropping off where Mad Max: Fury Road picks up. But before we get to the events of the 2015 film, we are treated to the backstory of Fury Road's undeniable main character: Imperator Furiosa.

Join the conversation as we hit the road, ten years later and parse the latest wasteland film from George Miller, rank our favorite Mad Max films, and reminisce about the podcast up to this point.

When The East meets The West- La Cosa Nostra will be turned on its ear by the man who does all his own stunts: Jackie Chan!

The Nighthawks take a peek at Jackie Chan's first attempt to break out for western audiences, in this Hong Kong/U.S.A. co-production that pits Chan against The Mafia, roller skating, American women, Luca Brazi, and the dad of that guy that was in Twin Peaks and Robo-Cop.

Struggling to wrap their head around Chan as a phenomenon, the U.S. shoehorns Chan into a convoluted plot involving underground sports, above ground fights, and under-the-table crime syndicate gamblers in BATTLE CREEK BRAWL, aka THE BIG BRAWL! While some of the movie doesn't really work, spme of the movie really does! Everything that works in the movie involves Jackie Chan.

A museum piece of early Kung Fu Action/Comedy, showcasing how good Chan is and was, that also illustrates how much the U.S. wasn't quite sure who Chan would become.

Culminating in the advertised big brawl in the streets of Battle Creek Texas, join the Nighthawks as they discuss this oft overlooked english language entry in Chan's filmography.

WHYBW – What Have You Been Watching?

Pull up a seat in the Nighthawks booth and grab a heaping helping of pod-fodder.

Alien Romulus– The guy who remade Evil Dead remakes the first four ALIEN films and crams them into one movie. Does it work? I mean...Star Wars did it, right?

Chop and Steele- It's two comedians, who show old VHS tapes around the country, versus the Morning News Industrial Complex when two imposters infiltrate the morning show circuit for lolz. Unfortunately there is a lawsuit and our two likable heroes are in danger. Matt has feelings about the lawsuit.

Born Evil The Serial Killer and The Savior- A convict who looks a little like White Jesus finds himself the recipient of confessions from a serial killer. Can this weed-dealing convicted-of-murder Jesus help investigators find where a serial killer hid his evidence and victims?

Batman Caped Crusader- An heir apparent to the Batman The Animated Series from the 90s, this more mature and more adult animated series carves its own path by dealing with some major changes to a few characters. A fantastic series that pulls stylistic cues from the very earliest Batman stories.

Chimp Crazy- Despite what you may have heard or may have come to believe, chimps are bad pets. Full stop.

A tragic comic book, with a tragic real-life backstory, is translated into a tragic film, with a real-life tragic production, which was dropped onto an unsuspecting 1990s audience who were still reeling from the death of Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain.

The Crow (1994) was a strangely perfect movie for a very imperfect time and place. A comic book adaptation in a world where the comic book fad was still many years off.

Join Matt and Trevor as they explore this original (and maybe a little of the remake and sequels) The Crow: a movie steeped in culture, legend, and MTV.

It's the story of love and hate, the story of tradition and modernity, the story of good and evil, the story of old right hand left hand.
It's 1955's The Night of the Hunter starring Robert Mitchum, Lillian Gish, Shelley Winters, and Peter Graves is that story. Adapted from a novel of the same name the film is a bold experimental feature film for actor turned director Charles Laughton. Despite taking some big swings and taking great care with the craft, the movie was a box office dud at the time and Laughton never directed a film again.
The Nighthawks think that this story of a serial killer charlatan preacher stalking the Apalachin countryside after two children and a fortune in cash has come. But can Laughton's 1955 vision reach the right people in 2024? 
Matt and Trevor go to the Nighthawks annual picnic and serve up a potluck of grist for this movie that was unsung in its era and is recognized as one of the best movies of all time by critics today.

This ain't your kids' monsters scaring people in their bedrooms movie! This is the one for the elder millennials who were traumatized or seduced by the dark horrors of a movie that is, for all intents and purposes, Night Breed Babies.

Fred Savage, Howie Mandel, Daniel Stern, Rick Ducommun, Frank Whaley, and Devin Ratray put together a pretty impressive cast of "hey I think I know that actor" roles in a bizarre waking mirage of a movie. Fred Savage plays Brian, not Shawn as we call him in the episode, a boy who is protecting his little brother from the boogie man under the bed. But as it turns out, a guy can have a lot of fun hanging out with the boogie man under the bed.

Shades of the Lost Boys, Night Breed, Monster Squad, and the Scholastic Book Fair color our analysis of this movie, that had previously been slated for a Nighthawks episode over 8 years ago.

Come for the Fred Savage analysis, stay for the frank discussion of Steven Seagal's music career.

And now, what the entire world has been waiting for...two men give you their hot takes on Greta Gerwig's 2023 film BARBIE.

This is, of course, an exaggeration. This movie could use fewer male hot takes. That said, we felt it was unfair to disqualify the movie from our RSS feed just because other people had been loud and cranky, so we felt the need to get in and defend this Oscar nominee.

The film stars Nighthawks favorites Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, with a host of cameos and celebrity walk-ons that are, frankly, just fun to watch. But that's not the only fun you'll be having with this subversive, techno-color, cornball satire of our times. Pull up a stool at the Nighthawks counter while Trevor and Matt man the booth to talk about this one.

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The Nighthawks Podcast enthusiastically recommends: Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes.
This delightful, tight, Japanese film from a Kyoto-based theatre troupe is the debut film of director Junta Yamaguchi, and we think you should see it. This movie is low budget, non-American, subtitled, and high concept which seems to have doomed this movie to be underseen and underdiscussed.
Join the Nighthawks and see if we can turn you on to watching this nifty little sci-fi comedy that (as of press time) was highly accessible on streaming.
If you are among the blessed masses who HAVE seen this movie, stick with the back half of the episode for a spoiler-filler deep dive into the plot.