“Back home, they would have put me in jail for what I'm doing. Here, they're giving me awards.” We’re heading to the neon oasis in the desert for Martin Scorsese’s grandiose 1995 Vegas-set crime epic Casino. 

In 1973, gambling savant Samuel “Ace” Rothstein (Robert De Niro) is dispatched by his mob bosses from ‘back home’ to take over their luxe Tangiers casino - quickly raking in record profits with his fastidious management. He’s soon joined by his hair-trigger childhood friend/enforcer NIcky Santoro (Joe Pesci), who quickly complicates matters by seeking his own sources of income and beating and maiming anyone who gets in his way. Ace finds himself another complication - a beautiful, free-spirited hustler named Ginger (Sharon Stone) who he quickly marries despite her reservations - and her sleazy former pimp (James Woods) whose influence she can’t seem to break free of. As control gives way to chaos, the pull of cash and power threatens to unravel this lucrative gambit, and everyone involved. 

Working from another book by Goodfellas scribe Nicholas Pileggi, Scorsese brings back two key on-screen players (and a few familiar supporting faces) from that seminal feature for another era-spanning, violent, complex tale of organised crime. While greeted with a decent reception, it was criticised somewhat as a partial retread of its groundbreaking forebear, and has slipped out of contention for the upper echelons of Scorsese’s packed filmography. Join fIlm-picker Gali, Devlin, Patrick, and Matt in the morality car wash as we ask whether Ace was onto another winner, or if we shoulda already dug a hole.

Head over to our Teemill store for merchandise, movie shirts, art prints, stickers, totes and more. If you’d like to support the podcast, a review or a quick rating on your platform of choice is the best way you can help us get the word out and keep the conversations flowing. 

Get in touch with us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, and if you'd like to submit a request, correct our constant mispronunciations, or have a chat about whatever is on your mind, you can email [email protected]. Thanks for listening!

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Welcome to The Open Slate! Ever sat through the credits and wondered why there needs to be a Second 2nd Assistant Director? Or what the Best Boy is supposed to be the best at? In this series, we sit down with working film industry professionals from across the departments for unvarnished, honest, practical conversations about how and why they joined the movie business, how they contribute day-to-day to the creation of cinema, and how they maintain their careers in a high-pressure, highly sought after field.

Our guest is no stranger to the podcast - two-time Rewinder (and friend of almost 20 years!) Aidan Dungait. A native of the north east of England, Aidan’s post-university career saw him learn the ropes as a camera assistant on everything from indie horror films, to Brit Comedy sex romps, to prestige TV dramas, and plenty in between. After relocating to Vancouver several years ago, he has reestablished himself as a focus puller on a raft of features and major studio television projects. He joins Gali and Patrick to discuss his life in film to date - his setbacks, successes, and what it is about movie-making that keeps him inspired.

Special Mentions:

www.unorthodoxroasters.co.uk

Head over to our Teemill store for merchandise, movie shirts, art prints, stickers, totes and more. If you’d like to support the podcast, a review or a quick rating on your platform of choice is the best way you can help us get the word out and keep the conversations flowing. 

Get in touch with us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, and if you'd like to submit a request, correct our constant mispronunciations, or have a chat about whatever is on your mind, you can email [email protected]. Thanks for listening!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to The Open Slate! Ever sat through the credits and wondered why there needs to be a Second 2nd Assistant Director? Or what the Best Boy is supposed to be the best at? In this series, we sit down with working film industry professionals from across the departments for unvarnished, honest, practical conversations about how and why they joined the movie business, how they contribute day-to-day to the creation of cinema, and how they maintain their careers in a high-pressure, highly sought after field.

First up is Rewind’s very own Patrick Waggett, an Assistant Director with dozens of credits including a host of major series and feature films for some of the biggest studios in the world. Gali charts his career from the early days of commuting hundreds of miles from his native Leicester for gigs and sleeping on couches, to having his phone nicked on-screen by Kylie Minogue, to establishing his life in London and regularly working with super famous stars on massive-scaled productions.

Stay tuned for more insights into the industry as we continue this series – we have upcoming chats with camera department veterans, actors, producers and a whole lot more in the pipeline.

Useful links discussed in this Episode:

www.screenskills.com

www.fullyfocusedproductions.com

largescalefilm.co.uk

calltimecompany.com

bectu.org.uk

Special Mentions:

YouTube movie review channel Val Verde Broadcasting!

You can find Em’s 200-episode-strong treasure trove of the history and legacy of movies you know (and movies you don’t) at verbaldiorama.com, where you’ll find links to all major platforms, and give her a follow @verbaldiorama.

Head over to our Teemill store for merchandise, movie shirts, art prints, stickers, totes and more. If you’d like to support the podcast, a review or a quick rating on your platform of choice is the best way you can help us get the word out and keep the conversations flowing. 

Get in touch with us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, and if you'd like to submit a request, correct our constant mispronunciations, or have a chat about whatever is on your mind, you can email [email protected]. Thanks for listening!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Big things have small beginnings. Our LV-RMP series, where we explore every film in the Alien and Predator universe, finds director Ridley Scott making his long-awaited return to the genre, and franchise, that launched his illustrious career with the heady quasi-prequel Prometheus.

A duo of young, ideologically divergent archeologists (Noomi Rapace, Logan Marshall-Green) believe they have deciphered a star map gifted over millennia by a mysterious race of celestial beings. Funded by the recently deceased centenarian billionaire Peter Weyland (Guy Pierce), they assemble an exploratory crew that sets out seeking to discover the origins of human life on Earth on a distant, mysterious moon - but may not find the answers they seek.

Ineffable black goo, eyeball worms, ill-advised intergalactic snake charming, flambéed geologists and graphic MedPod alienectomies ensue in this grand, divisive feature that, over a decade on from its release, continues to provoke fierce reactions and contradictory emotions. Gali, Devlin, Patrick and Matt reflect on their own contentious histories with the film and, in most cases, rewatch for the first time since its release.

Head over to our Teemill store for merchandise, movie shirts, art prints, stickers, totes and more. If you’d like to support the podcast, a review or a quick rating on your platform of choice is the best way you can help us get the word out and keep the conversations flowing. 

Get in touch with us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, and if you'd like to submit a request, correct our constant mispronunciations, or have a chat about whatever is on your mind, you can email [email protected]. Thanks for listening!

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Compliance! We’re taking to the skies with the 1986 family sci-fi spectacular Flight of the Navigator from director Randal Kleiser.

12-year-old David Freeman (Joey Cramer) walks through the woodlands near his Florida home to bring his irritating little brother back home before it gets dark. Instead, after losing consciousness due to a fall, David returns to his home only to find that his parents are no longer there - eight years have passed, without David having aged a day. When NASA scientists discover a mysterious silver ship, it becomes apparent that the two events are connected, and they bring the boy into their research facility. The ship seems to call to David, leading to a visually stunning thrill ride across the planet.

Devlin, Patrick and Matt reflect on a childhood TV staple, discussing the film’s impressive and in some cases pioneering visual effects, the era-defining mix of buccaneering tween adventure melancholy-tinged drama, and the surprisingly heavy themes among all the Paul Reubens intergalactic improv.

Head over to our Teemill store for merchandise, movie shirts, art prints, stickers, totes and more. If you’d like to support the podcast, a review or a quick rating on your platform of choice is the best way you can help us get the word out and keep the conversations flowing. 

Get in touch with us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, and if you'd like to submit a request, correct our constant mispronunciations, or have a chat about whatever is on your mind, you can email [email protected]. Thanks for listening!

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OUTLANDER! We’re lost on the back roads of Nebraska, following the disorientating street signs to the Bargain Bin to revisit the cut-price kid cult King flick Children of the Corn from 1984.

Newly-graduated doctor Burt (Peter Horton) and his girlfriend Vicky (Linda Hamilton) are in the process of relocating to Seattle, but their route takes them past the small rural community of Gatlin – a town where, unbeknownst to them, the children have risen up and slaughtered their parents to establish a rabid religious sect that worships an entity known only as He Who Walks Behind the Rows, who speaks through the pint-sized evangelical orator Isaac (John Franklin) and whose demands for sacrifice and total obedience are enforced by the lanky and violent Malachi (Courtney Gains).

Debuting director and former advertising standout Fritz Kiersch adapted Stephen King’s short story for a post-Roger Corman New World Pictures, agreeing to a low budget in order to gain a foothold in feature films. A modest box office success, the film went on to generate an extensive and unlikely franchise of more than 10 follow-ups, due to its enduring appeal on video and TV. But will Gali, Devlin, Patrick and Matt find themselves a juicy cob of horror entertainment, or just an empty husk?

Head over to our Teemill store for merchandise, movie shirts, art prints, stickers, totes and more. If you’d like to support the podcast, a review or a quick rating on your platform of choice is the best way you can help us get the word out and keep the conversations flowing. 

Get in touch with us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, and if you'd like to submit a request, correct our constant mispronunciations, or have a chat about whatever is on your mind, you can email [email protected]. Thanks for listening!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We’re joined once again by our good friend Aidan all the way from Vancouver to discuss one of his childhood favourites, Martin Brest’s foulmouthed 1988 buddy caper Midnight Run.

Disgraced former Chicago cop Jack Walsh (Robert De Niro), now working as an LA bounty hunter, is tasked with bringing in mob accountant Jonathan “The Duke” Mardukas (Charles Grodin), who has skipped town on his desperate bondsman Eddie Moscone (Joe Pantoliano). The Duke has embezzled $15 million from mafia boss Jimmy Serrano (Dennis Farina), giving most of the loot away to charity before going into hiding. Jack tracks The Duke down in New York, and has 5 days to bring him back to jail or Eddie forfeits almost half a million dollars in bail. After The Duke gets himself and Jack kicked off a plane by feigning an aviophobic panic attack, the pair spend a gruelling and contentious cross-country trip by rail and road, as the fussy, wily Duke tries to wheedle away from the slovenly and cranky Jack.

A showcase for De Niro’s comic skills after a long run of features which saw him established as one of serious cinema’s most celebrated actors, the film pairs him with Grodin, who had essayed a number of well-received comic roles across cinema, theatre and TV through the 70s and 80s without breaking through as a leading man. Director Brest returns to the high-octane combination of screwball dialogue and explosive 80s action that he pioneered in Beverly Hills Cop to create a sizeable commercial success that has sustained a cult following in the years since. Rustle up some Lyonnaise potatoes and join us in the boxcar.

Head over to our Teemill store for merchandise, movie shirts, art prints, stickers, totes and more. If you’d like to support the podcast, a review or a quick rating on your platform of choice is the best way you can help us get the word out and keep the conversations flowing. 

Get in touch with us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, and if you'd like to submit a request, correct our constant mispronunciations, or have a chat about whatever is on your mind, you can email [email protected]. Thanks for listening!

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Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water (again), yet another Carcharodon carcharias is on the rampage in 1983’s stereoscopic sequel Jaws 3-D.

Chief Brody’s eldest son Mike (a wired Dennis Quaid) has left the smalltown idyll of Amity Island to work at the sprawling SeaWorld theme park in Orlando, Florida, alongside his smart alec scientist girlfriend Kathryn (Bess Armstrong). The park’s owner Calvin Bouchard (Louis Gossett Jr.) unveils the new crown jewel attraction – a vast underwater series of see through tunnels where customers can walk beneath the waves. But a malfunctioning sea gate has allowed entry to a deadly, unexpected addition to the park’s fishy attractions – one that threatens to wreak bloody havoc on the upgraded park’s grand reopening.

Country dancing pigs, popcorn cart hijackings, barroom crotch tricks and inept coral thieves populate this disaster movie-influenced entry into the increasingly shaky franchise directed by debutant Joe Alves, the production designer and 2nd unit director from the previous instalments. We delve into the circuitous and contentious 5-year development cycle that saw the original movie’s producers exit the project, look at the technical difficulties that plagued the 3D production, and generally marvel at the creative and corporate decisions that resulted in this…unusual picture. GUV’NAAAAAAAH!

Head over to our Teemill store for merchandise, movie shirts, art prints, stickers, totes and more. If you’d like to support the podcast, a review or a quick rating on your platform of choice is the best way you can help us get the word out and keep the conversations flowing. 

Get in touch with us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, and if you'd like to submit a request, correct our constant mispronunciations, or have a chat about whatever is on your mind, you can email [email protected]. Thanks for listening!

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“Forget it. I don't work Toontown.” We’re delighted to welcome back one of our favourite podcasters, the incredibly talented Em from Verbal Diorama, who has brought us Robert Zemeckis’ madcap 1988 live action/animated hybrid noirtoon Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

Boozed-up, embittered gumshoe Eddie Valiant (Bob Hoskins) is hired to catch Maroon Cartoons star turn Roger Rabbit’s impossibly glamorous, equally two-dimensional wife, Jessica (voiced by Charles Fleischer and Kathleen Turner, respectively) playing promiscuous patty cake with gag king, and owner of Toontown, Marvin Acme. When Acme turns up dead with a safe dropped on his head, our toon-hating, hard-boiled antihero Valiant is drawn into a classic mystery of murder, greed, blackmail, and public transportation, literally shackled to the zany Rabbit who has been tagged as the prime suspect.

A technical marvel and smash hit on its release, the film’s powerhouse production team combined Steven Spielberg’s Midas-touch family film factory Amblin Entertainment with the then-struggling but still mighty cultural clout of Walt Disney Studios to splash out on the best animators and technicians in the industry – and license a jaw-dropping cast of mid-Century America’s most famous cartoon icons from Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny, through to Betty Boop and the Big Bad Wolf to fill out the dazzling frames. Joining Em on the Merry-Go-Round (Broke Down) are Gali, Devlin and Patrick, as we swoon over Bob Hoskins, discuss the film’s use of genre and period trappings, its importance in the Disney renaissance in the years that followed, and recall our trauma at seeing that little squeaky shoe get dipped.

You can find Em’s 200-episode-strong treasure trove of the history and legacy of movies you know (and movies you don’t) at verbaldiorama.com, where you’ll find links to all major platforms, and give her a follow @verbaldiorama. Check out her Roger Rabbit episode here!

Head over to our Teemill store for merchandise, movie shirts, art prints, stickers, totes and more. If you’d like to support the podcast, a review or a quick rating on your platform of choice is the best way you can help us get the word out and keep the conversations flowing. 

Get in touch with us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, and if you'd like to submit a request, correct our constant mispronunciations, or have a chat about whatever is on your mind, you can email [email protected]. Thanks for listening!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“Mother? What's wrong with me?” Captain Howdy has told us to revisit William Friedkin’s indelible, near-mythical 1973 horror landmark The Exorcist.

Successful actor Chris MacNeil is living in a grand Georgetown apartment with her cherubic 12-year-old daughter Regan while she stars in a movie, but their idyll is short lived as Regan starts to exhibit some frightening behaviour - shocking insults barked in raspy, disturbing voices, lashing out in violent rages, and self-harming. Subjected to a battery of tests that fail to reveal the cause, a now-desperate Chris turns to the world-weary, skeptical priest Father Damien Karras about an exorcism. 

A film whose legend precedes it as one of the scariest ever made, a ‘cursed’ production which allegedly claimed the lives of multiple people around the production, and the scene of some at-best-controversial, dangerous directorial techniques from the exacting Friedkin, we examine the story’s roots in the novel by the avowedly Catholic William Peter Blatty, who also wrote and produced, and discuss how that viewpoint was interpreted by the agnostic director in the film’s depiction of faith, good, and evil. We delve into the effectiveness of the horror, chat about Friedkin’s use of pacing and sound in building suspense, the unusual structure of the story, and recount our personal experiences with a movie whose inaccessibility in our youth only made this a more intriguing object to finally devour upon its eventual 1999 UK home video re-release.

Head over to our Teemill store for merchandise, movie shirts, art prints, stickers, totes and more, including a poster based on today's cover image. You can also find an exclusive Terminator shirt at our Redbubble shop.

If you’d like to support the podcast, a review or a quick rating on your platform of choice is the best way you can help us get the word out and keep the conversations flowing. 

Get in touch with us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, and if you'd like to submit a request, correct our constant mispronunciations, or have a chat about whatever is on your mind, you can email [email protected]. Thanks for listening!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.