Rotten Rewind

While torture porn and hard-R reboots of 70s classics were capturing the mood of the Bush-era, the PG-13 horror movie was still thriving throughout the 2000s. After the success of M. Night Shyamalan at the turn of the century, as well as the emergence of Americanized J-horror adaptations throughout the aughts, studios began churning out PG-13 thrillers that were lighter on gore and gratuitous nudity and heavier on jump scares and twists. But not all those films managed to cross over with critics and audiences, and today we get to look back on a pair of PG-13 horror flicks that disappeared quickly from theaters, only to find a cult audience on home video.

After “Scream” revived the teen slasher movie in the late 90s, the genre was on life support again by the early 2000s. But after 9/11 changed the tone of the country, a new wave of horror was ushered in: one that was meaner, grittier, and far more violent than any of the previous decades. Instead of looking for a light escape, Americans seemed angrier and more bloodthirsty than ever. Horror in the new millennium began to reflect that as a new era of franchises satisfied audience’s appetites with films like “Saw” and “Hostel.” For the next five weeks, we’ll be looking back at what horror looked like as it transitioned from campy slasher flicks to brutal remakes of 70s classics.

“I don’t change my style for anybody. Pussies do that.”

- Michael Bay

When discussing the pantheon of the best actor/director collaborations in film, you rarely hear about Denzel Washington and Tony Scott. From 1995 until Scott's untimely death in 2012, the pair worked together on five of the best action films of the 90s and 2000s. While Denzel is one of our most beloved and acclaimed movie stars, Scott long lived in the shadow of his brother, Ridley, mostly written off by critics as a technician and hack. Today on the podcast, we're looking back at their underrated collaboration by focusing on two of their outputs during the War on Terror, both of which saw Denzel up against unhinged white terrorists: the 2006 time travel romance thriller "Déjà Vu" and the 2009 remake of "The Taking of Pelham 123." Evoking some of the most striking and disturbing imagery of 9/11, "Déjà Vu" acted as a love letter to a post-Katrina New Orleans, while paying homage to films like Otto Preminger's "Laura" and Hitchcock's "Vertigo," while paving the way for the more critically acclaimed works of Christopher Nolan.

We're joined by film journalist and writer Abid Anwar to discuss the every-man appeal of Denzel, Scott's influence on the genre for several decades, and why critics were sour on these two thrillers while showering jingoistic and racist depictions of terrorism in film with endless praise.

It’s been 20 years since 9/11 and for this monumental anniversary, we’re paying tribute to two of America’s bravest soldiers: Xander Cage and Bob Lee Swagger. For this jam-packed, very special episode of Rotten Rewind in the 2000s, we’re joined by actor/writer/Swagger Head Morgan Phillips, as well as cinematographer and our in-house 9/11 specialist, Jake Ures, to look back on the cinematic landscape during the War on Terror. This week, we’ll be discussing the 2002 Monster Energy Drink James Bond action flick “xXx” starring a very eXtreme and horny Vin Diesel, as well as the 2007 libertarian fever dream, “Shooter,” starring Mark Wahlberg as the patriot pimp Bob Lee Swagger.

What did action movies look like in that small sliver of time between the dawn of the millennium and the events of 9/11? In our first 2000s miniseries, we'll be looking back at what genre filmmaking looked like before and after September 11th. Today, we'll be joined by podcast regular Nick Laskin to discuss a pair of early aughts action flicks from Bruckheimer protege and music video maverick, Dominic Sena: the 2000 remake of "Gone in 60 Seconds" starring Nicolas Cage, Angelina Jolie, Giovanni Ribisi, and Robert Duvall, as well as the 2001 techno thriller "Swordfish," starring Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry and John Travolta with blonde streaks and a landing strip goatee. Did these two moderately successful summer action flicks mark the end of an era? Why is "Swordfish" more famous for a 3 second shot of Halle Berry's tits when there's an entire scene devoted to Hugh Jackman getting a blowjob with a gun to his head while he hacks the Department of Defense? Was Timothy Olyphant the low-key MVP of the early 2000s? And most importantly, how many closeted Paul Oakenfold fans walk amongst us?

We’re kicking off our monster-sized 2000s Retrospective with what might be the most notorious critical and financial bomb of the decade: Martin Brest’s accidental swan song and the film that might have single-handedly ended the first iteration of Bennifer, “Gigli.” A sensationally weird miscalculation of epic proportions, “Gigli” is the worst film you’ve probably never seen.

So, does “Gigli” live up to its reputation? Does anyone walk away from this fiasco unscathed? Was there any version of this movie that wasn’t a complete and utter disaster? Has Martin Brest ever met a lesbian or even had sex? We do our best to answer these questions with reigning Rotten Rewind champ, Johnny Langan.

“Gigli” is available to stream for free on STARZ.

Hollywood filmmaking peaked in 1993 when actor turned director Tony Bill and stuntman Tom Sierchio teamed up to give America the love story they had been waiting for since the birth of cinema: one in which a small town waitress with terrible taste in men settles for the mentally impaired dishwasher with the heart of a baboon who follows her home and watches her sleep. That’s right, there is a real movie called “Untamed Heart” in which Christian Slater plays a stalker/dishwasher/ferocious readr who is convinced that he has the heart of a baboon. It also co-stars the great Marisa Tomei and Rosie Perez and it was actually released in theaters the same year Tomei won her Oscar for "My Cousin Vinny."


This week, we’re joined by film professor and return guest Macy Todd, to discuss the bonkers tale of doomed lovers, alongside the criminally underrated Meg Ryan/Matthew Broderick rom-com “Addicted to Love.” Directed by a more prominent actor turned director, Griffin Dunne, “Addicted to Love” was too insidious of a romance for Hollywood and critics in the 90s, but we’re here to give it a second life.

"Addicted to Love" is streaming on HBOMax and "Untamed Heart" is available to rent on VUDU.