Recovered

Dan and Keith head to the sewers of New York for the beginning of a deep dive into Ninja Turtle Cinema! What began as a comic parodying Frank Miller's Daredevil became an extremely kid friendly comic and animated series, whose popularity lead inexorably to a trilogy of movies in the 90s, which did what franchises of the era tended to do: start incredibly strong, then gradually fall apart. The 1990 original took the characterizations of the Saturday morning cartoon and applied them to the story of the original comic, with surprisingly effective practical suits and fun human performances. The iconically titled Secret of the Ooze overcorrected after complaints the previous film was "too violent," upping the slapstick and adding a kid sidekick to... questionable results, and the third film, somehow NOT called "Turtles in Time," abandoned New York for time travel shenanigans in feudal Japan... that ended Turtle Cinema for over a decade. Grab some pizza, shout "Cowabunga," and dive in with us!

Dan and Keith head to a trio of spooky wax museums, where the figures are a little TOO realistic. Beginning in the golden age of 1933, Mystery of the Wax Museum tells the tale of Ivan Igor, a dedicated wax sculpturer betrayed by his greedy partner, who finds a sinister shortcut to rebuilding his collection of lifelike waxen historical figures. A plan imperiled by Plucky Girl Reporter Florence Dempsey, out for the scoop! Twenty years later, a new version skims off some unnecessary side characters (and the Plucky Girl Reporter), polishes the story, and puts classic horror icon Vincent Price at the center of the macabre action, while adding some extra chills to the idea of a human being made into wax sculpture. But wait there's more, as in 2005, a collection of affordable 2000s teen heartthrobs encounters a pair of twin brothers building a ghost town of wax people, one of whom we're told is the Bad Twin, the other of which... is also killing people to make wax figures, sometimes in that order? IS there a good twin? Or a coherent theme? Can Vincent Price truly be replaced? Should more horror movies add a girl reporter out of a screwball romcom? We discuss, you listen in!

While we sort out some technical difficulties and prepare a mini-saga for your enjoyment, we harken back to the time when the Video Vulture, John Tebbutt, introduced Dan and Keith to the time a Roger Corman sci-fi b-movie somehow got remade and ended up even cheaper. Join us again for It Conquered the World and Zontar, The Thing From Venus, as we explore how maybe Roger Corman did in fact have the sauce.

Grab your tommy guns and say hello to our little friend as Dan and Keith tackle the Scarfaces! Back in 1932, as prohibition was about to end but Hays Code Hollywood was about to start, Howard Hughes commissioned Scarface, a film adaptation of a novel loosely fictionalizing Al Capone's crime career. Paul Muni, the Daniel Day-Lewis of the 30s and 40s, plays Tony Camonte, a gangster with dreams bigger than his boss prefers, who rises to control Chicago's booze racket, then manages to lose it all in five minutes. Fifty-one years later, Al Pacino and Brian De Palma revisited the crime saga with a Miami twist, reimagining the lead as Tony Montana, a Cuban refugee out for money and power selling cocaine to the Americans, but makes too many enemies. The remake can add layers of crime drama and a more nuanced fall from the top, but requires nearly double the runtime to manage it. Which Scarface works best? Find out!

Things get hairy in Europe as Dan and Keith explore some American Werewolves! Back in 1981, John Landis followed up his classic comedies Animal House and Blues Brothers by blending surreal comedy with classic horror in An American Werewolf in London, where an American on holiday must grapple with a curse turning him to a killing machine three nights per month. Dan has appreciation for random comedy, and less appreciation for Keith's questioning of the lore. When the 90s hit, the Americans move to Paris, where a new crop of werewolves await, werewolf supremacists with a sweet tooth for Yanks. Where London leaned on award-winning practical effects and dry humour, Paris goes with CG werewolves and broad humour and that... well, was a choice. But are there highlights? Which character with Keith defend to the end against Dan's snark? Find out here!

Dan and Keith dive into the Girls of Steel with two takes on Supergirl! Way way back in the 1980s, low-rent producers the Salkinds took one last shot at cashing in on the Superman brand by introducing his cousin Kara, who must fight a brave battle to... prevent a witch from kissing the groundskeeper of a girls' boarding school? So that he can continue to pursue students? Oh no. Four decades and one briefly (promise) discussed six-series TV show later, DC Studios took another crack at a Supergirl movie, adapting the beloved graphic novel Woman of Tomorrow, True Grit in space as Supergirl and young Ruthye track the man who killed Ruthye's family and poisoned Kara's beloved dog Krypto. Both flopped in the theatres, but did they deserve to? And did the newest have the appropriate amount of Lobo? Find out here!

Dan and Keith head to Eternia for He-Man and the Masters of the Universe! From its humble yet apparently iconic beginnings as an 80s cartoon, some of the characters hit the big screen in 1987 with Dolph Lundgren fighting through a language barrier as He-Man while Frank Langella has a blast as his nemesis Skeletor, in a movie that managed to be extremely low-budget get still financially ruin its studio. Nearly four decades later, a new version hit the big screen (briefly), with bright colours, bold visuals, and a huge sense of fun... but is it too MUCH fun? Keith argues if it lacks weight, Dan asks if this is the One Good Jared Leto Performance, and is it possible audiences just forgot movies can be simple fun? You have the power (to find out)!

Munsi Parker-Munroe rejoins Dan and Keith to delve into the cinematic universe of "What if multiple fancy murderers were all in a place where you wouldn't expect them to all be?" In the beginning comes Smokin' Aces, a full deck of current and future stars as a variety of feds and hitmen circle the one drug-riddled informant who could bring down the last Castra Nostra boss. Violent hijinks ensue! Then future Oscar nominee Martin McDonagh gets pulled into the conversation with Seven Psychopaths, the story of a filmmaker who really doesn't want to do a violent crime flick but promised to make a movie called Seven Psychopaths so may have painted himself into a corner. And finally, a collection of colourful criminals find themselves caught in fate's web as they're all drawn to the same Bullet Train, which unexpectedly becomes a master class of set-up and payoff. Are these really all remakes of Smokin' Aces? Or has Munsi concocted a ruse to let us have some fun with some killers? Listen and find out!

Dan and Keith dive into some theoretically romantic Faustian bargains with two takes on Bedazzled! Back in the 1960s, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore riffed some bits on a man meeting the Devil until they spun it into Bedazzled, in which a quiet cook named Stanley is offered a deal by Lucifer, aka George Spiggott, and given seven wishes, seven chances to find a way to win the heart of his crush, Margaret. But George has his own agenda and finds seven ways to mess with Stanley, weird, devil's bargains are usually so uncomplicated. Three decades and change later, Hollywood tried to replace the desert-dry with a more broad style, casting Peak Era Brendan Fraser as lovelorn Elliot as Elizabeth Hurley as the scheming devil making a monkey's paw out of his attempts to forge love from rewriting his crush's very identity. Two perfect movies to watch immediately after Obsession. But which did it better? Which comedy landed better or aged worse? Find out!

Dan and Keith head beyond the veil for some Jacob's Ladder scenarios! In 1990, a biblical term and also electric desk toy becomes a thriller starring Tim Robbins and a bunch of future stars, as a Vietnam vet named Jacob gradually learns maybe he never actually made it home from the 'Nam after all. Keith has some glowing praise while Dan digs into the layers of the storytelling: what IS real? What life does he struggle to let go of? Then, nearly three decades later, a remake occurs in which an Afghanistan vet named Jacob chases a conspiracy involving his presumed dead brother, but everything in his life begins to collapse... as does any chance of following the plot or how this is a Jacob's Ladder remake. One has layers upon layers worth unpacking, one slaps a classic film title on a shaky story and hopes to cash in. Catch the breakdowns!