Rotten Rewind

"Miami Vice" is streaming on Showtime in its original theatrical form and "Blackhat" is streaming on Cinemax.

TW: This episode does contain discussion of rape, abuse and domestic violence.

This week, we're taking a look back at a pair of divisive teen true crime dramas: the sweaty, lurid Florida-set thriller "Bully" from provocateur Larry Clark and Nick Cassavetes' San Fernando Valley-based drama  "Alpha Dog." Both films were met with their own set of controversy upon release in the 2000s and both featured strong ensembles of up and coming teen actors at the time, ranging from Brad Renfro and Michael Pitt to Anton Yelchin and the big screen debut of Justin Timberlake. We're also joined by our frequent Rotten Rewind third and fellow San Fernando Valley native, Nick Laskin, to discuss these tragic tales of murder, revenge and white-boy posturing.

"Alpha Dog" is streaming on STARZ, while "Bully" is streaming on Hulu and Amazon Prime.

In our most personal episode to date, we're serving up our thoughts on a pair of rotten restaurant industry movies: the 2005 gross-out comedy "Waiting" with a pre-Deadpool era Ryan Reynolds, Anna Faris and Justin Long, and the 2015 bad boy chef drama, "Burnt" starring Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller and Matthew Rhys. Is it possible to make a good restaurant movie, or is "Party Down" still the closest we'll ever get to capturing the industry? We'll be answering that question, along with discussions on everything from toxic workplaces to how Hollywood failed Anna Faris and sous vide suicides with fellow industry veteran and very talented actor, Morgan Maher.

"Burnt" is streaming for free on Tubi and "Waiting" is streaming on Netflix

Since the holidays are over, we're back to our regularly scheduled programming. This week, we're evaluating two feminist themed rehabilitation dramas: the 1999 cult favorite "Girl, Interrupted" starring 90s royalty Winona Ryder, podcast favorite Brittany Murphy and an Academy Award winning performance by Angelina Jolie, as well as the underseen Mary Harron-directed take on the Manson murders, "Charlie Says." We're also thrilled as always to be joined by our favorite critic and resident "Charlie Says" defender, Jourdain Searles.

"Girl, Interrupted" is available to rent on your usual streaming rental apps, but will be streaming for free on STARZ on January 15th. "Charlie Says" is currently streaming on Showtime.

As we put the nail in the coffin of 2020 and step into a new coffin a.k.a. 2021, we're celebrating two New Years cult classics: the 1980 ball dropper slasher "New Year's Evil" featuring an unhinged white dude embarking on a festive killing spree through Van Nuys, and the Gen-X 80s nostalgia fest "200 Cigarettes" starring a cast so stacked it can only be described as "The Thin Red Line" of broad studio comedies (Ben Affleck, Casey Affleck, Kate Hudson, Paul Rudd, Courtney Love, Christina Ricci, and Dave Chappelle just to name a few of the stand-outs in the ensemble). We're once again joined by film professor Macy Todd to discuss campy New Yawk accents, bad screenwriting, and the legendary Gene Shalit, who is still alive!

"New Year's Evil" is streaming on Amazon Prime and "200 Cigarettes" is streaming nowhere because the music royalties ran out, so you might have to get a little creative if you wanna see Kate Hudson covered in shit for 90 minutes.

For our final Rotten Holidays episode of the season, we'll be taking a look at a pair of dark holiday comedies that have no idea how dark they really are, featuring two undiagnosed psychopaths. First up, we're jumping back to 1996 when brand mania was taking over pop culture and Hollywood still thought Arnold Schwarzenegger could pass as a regular mid-western dad, to discuss the accidentally anti-capitalist unhinged family classic, "Jingle All the Way." After that, we're fast forwarding to the tail end of December MVP Ben Affleck's first career slump with the notorious near career-ender "Surviving Christmas," featuring James Gandolfini, Catherine O'Hara and Christina Applegate (also our lowest rated film so far on the podcast!) This episode also sees the return of podcast all star Nick Laskin to discuss his aversion to Christmas movies and apple sauce.

"Jingle All the Way" is available to rent on all your usual rental streaming apps. "Surviving Christmas" is available to stream on Amazon Prime.

We've gotten to the holiday horror portion of our Rotten Holidays series and we're looking at two seasonal slashers: the 1984 cult classic "Silent Night, Deadly Night" and the 2006 remake of "Black Christmas." If you watched the original "Black Christmas" and thought to yourself, "why isn't there any incest in this movie???" then Glen Morgan's eye-popping, severely jaundiced remake is the holiday slasher movie you've been looking for. We're also very excited to once again be joined by critic and screenwriter Jourdain Searles to discuss these two holiday not-so-classics!

"Silent Night, Deadly Night" is available to rent on all of your usual streaming rental sites and "Black Christmas" is available in its entirety in glorious HD FOR FREE on YouTube!

It's gonna be a White Christmas this week because we're cozying up to a pair of mid-2000s star-studded holiday affairs: the familial dramedy "The Family Stone" featuring Sarah Jessica Parker as an uptight, homophobic working woman who is forced to spend the holidays with her boyfriend's toxic liberal family (Diane Keaton, Craig T. Nelson, Luke Wilson, Rachel McAdams) and the Nancy Meyers house swap romcom "The Holiday" featuring Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law and Jack Black as a bunch of rich, beautiful white people finding love in new cities. We're joined by writer Kaycee Felton-Lui to discuss these surprisingly dark holiday semi-classics and why "The Family Stone" in particular, is one of her own family’s go to holiday films.

"The Family Stone" is streaming on HBOMax and "The Holiday" is available to rent on all rental streaming apps.

We're kicking off our five week Rotten Holidays series with two forgotten 2000s holiday heist thrillers that are *extremely* early 2000s. First up, it's  John Frankhenheimer's swan song, "Reindeer Games," starring Ben Affleck, Charlize Theron and Gary Sinise in nu-metal cosplay as members of what might be the dumbest fucking crew to ever grace the big screen. After that, we're turning the thermostat down and taking a boozy nap with Harold Ramis' "The Ice Harvest," starring John Cusack and Billy Bob Thornton as a pair of small town crooks with low ambitions and a frighteningly high tolerance for alcohol. This week, we're joined by return guest and certified celebrity pussy eating connoisseur Kelsey Holmes, to discuss these cinematic lumps of coal.

"The Ice Harvest" is streaming for free on Peacock. "Reindeer Games" is available to rent on all the usual streaming apps.

Fall in love with two seasonal rotten romances on this week's episode featuring filmmaker and musician William Breen.  Join us as we look back on  "Autumn in New York" starring Winona Ryder and Richard Gere, and "Sweet November" with Charlize Theron and Keanu Reeves, a pair of films that remind us that behind every mediocre man is a beautiful, dead woman who helped revive the .25  percent of his personality that contains empathy.

"Autumn in New York" is streaming on HBOMax. "Sweet November" is streaming on hoopla.

And don't forget to stream our guest Willie Mason's debut album "Exhibition" on Spotify now!