The Retro Nostalgia Podcast

We never intended this podcast to be strictly movie reviews, but somehow that's all we did in 2025. Well it's 2026 and we decided to finally change it up and talk about a comic strip pretty much every Gen Xer, Xenial and Millenial loved: Calvin and Hobbes.

It didn't matter who you were or where you came from, it seemed impossible to dislike Calvin and Hobbes. It clearly inspired both comic strips and animation in the 1990s and well into the 21st Century. It's a shame it only lasted 10 years, but it has a timelessness to it few others can match.

For this show, we asked Amy Lewis of  @PopCultureRetrospectivePodcast  to join us in the discussion. It was a lot of fun and a nice change of pace. We are hoping to have more guests moving forward. Be sure to check out Amy's show at https://www.popcultureretrospective.com/

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Seems like every podcast and YouTube channel does a "best moments of the year" clip show right about now, so why not us? These are the clips that got the most views for each podcast (presented in a completely random order). Enjoy!

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People love tier lists, so we thought we'd make one of ALL the movies we reviewed in 2025. Cristina ranks all the movies Chad picked, and Chad ranks all the movies Cristina picked. You might be as surprised as us to see how high (or low) our co-host ranked some of our childhood favorites!

Do you agree with our rankings? Let us know in the comments.

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When Quentin Tarantino took the movie world by storm in the 1990s with Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown, suddenly all of Hollywood wanted to emulate his style. Movies that combined hard boiled crime capers with non-linear storylines and twisted/dark humor were EVERYWHERE!

What separated GO from the pack of imitators was its approach of being a comedy first with the gritty/thrilling elements second. It was directed by Doug Liman, who previously directed Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn in "Swingers". This film has a polished studio look; but with the offbeat nature (and budget) of an indie flick.

Chad loved GO at the time and said it rivaled American Pie and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me for the best comedy of 1999. Cristina had neither seen nor heard of it until now. Will Chad find it just as fun 26 years later? Will Cristina appreciate it as much as he did? Listen and find out!

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It's December, so of course we've been reviewing Christmas movies all month, but we never do anything by the rules around here. This week, Cristina went with a "Christmas Adjacent" classic: EDWARD SCISSORHANDS.

Tim Burton already pulled off a "weird family-friendly comedy/fantasy" with Beetlejuice, so why not another? EDWARD SCISSORHANDS stars Johnny Depp in one of his first major films playing a modern day Frankenstein's Monster... sort of. He was created by a mad scientist (played by Vincent Prince in his final role); but is he human or a robot or some kind of magical creature? All of the above! (and yet none).

Cristina saw this when it originally was released in 1990 and it was a childhood favorite of hers. Chad had never seen it until just now. Will Cristina still love it 35 years later? Will Chad kick himself for missing out on this campy fantasy all these years? Listen and find out!

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There have been A LOT of movies about Santa Claus, but few have told his origin story aside from 1985's SANTA CLAUS: THE MOVIE. This film was on constant rotation in Chad's house growing up in the 1980s; but Cristina had never even heard of it until now!

It stars David Huddleston as Santa Claus; Dudley Moore as his assistant elf Patch; and John Lithgow as the dastardly villain B.Z. The movie starts out as a medieval fantasy, but turns on a dime into a campy comedy once the story reaches the present day. It's a weird juxtaposition of genres to say the least.

Chad is convinced this was a mainstream movie; but Cristina thinks it was probably collecting dust on Blockbuster shelves. Does it still have the nostalgic/timeless spirit of a Home Alone or A Christmas Story; or should be better enjoyed as a memory?

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When you think of horror movies, family-friendly comedies probably don't come to mind. Well, that's exactly what 1984's GREMLINS is: a horror/comedy/fantasy hybrid actually intended for families.

Since Cristina loves horror movies, this was her pick for one of her favorite Christmas movies. Chad saw GREMLINS a few times as a kid, but says it didn't have the lasting impact of other Spielberg-produced adventures like The Goonies or Back To The Future.

Neither of us had seen this in quite a while, so how would it hold up in 2025? Listen to our podcast and find out!

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The Star Wars HOLIDAY SPECIAL was a one-time-only airing in November of 1978. To this day, it's never received any kind of official home video release by Lucasfilm or Disney. Thankfully, some copies are available on YouTube (which is how we saw it).

Chad and Cristina had never seen it until JUST NOW! Neither of us have any memories of it as a child or even remembers hearing that it existed until well into the 21st Century. Yet, we both knew this show had a reputation for being somewhere between stupidly campy and horribly unwatchable.

So we decided to give a look. Just how bad could it be? Watch this episode and find out!

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The are more Christmas themed movies than you can shake a stick at, but what about Thanksgiving? The only one we can think of is 1987's PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES from writer/director John Hughes. Up until this point, most of Hughes' films had been mostly family-friendly comedies about teenagers in high school. So the premise was quite a change of pace; however the COMEDY is as funny as ever. Some say it's THE funniest comedy of his career! Especially considering it starred Steve Martin and John Candy; two absolute legends of comedy.

This was Cristina's pick which was ironic because she had never seen it until now. Chad had seen it numerous times as a kid (mostly the censored TV version). Does it still hold up in 2025? Did it really need to be rated R? Is it politically incorrect today? We discuss this and so much more!

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Halloween may be long gone, but there's no reason we can't discuss another horror movie. This time it's John Carpenter's THE THING (another 1982 pick by Cristina!). Neither of us had seen this until recently, which is quite surprising considering how much Chad likes sci-fi and Cristina like horror.

Check any list of the greatest sci-fi and/or horror movies of the 1980s and you'll likely see THE THING among the greats. But is it REALLY? You might be surprised by our take on this film!

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