The hottest movie ticket in Fullerton, CA is for a film that's not even playing on a screen - it's being performed LIVE on stage in a small speakeasy-type of theater called The Maverick. Owner and play director, Brian Newell, has adapted the 1933 version of "King Kong" and blends live theater elements with classic camera tricks and special effects from two different stages into one monster of a production. The impact of the old black-and-white movie has gripped Brian since he first watched it at five years old and it eventually led Brian to pursue a failed career in Hollywood. But life's journey turned his "failure" into a complicated and wonderful redemption story.

ThunderamaDome explodes back on the scene with John Stamos as an apple-loving gymnast/action star and Kiss rockstar Gene Simmons as an evil hermaphrodite trying to take over the world in 1986's "Never Too Young To Die." One of us read Stamos' autobiography (the library copy!) and we come to the mic jampacked with info on the Stamosverse. Plus - Is nostalgia the key ingredient for the theme songs from our youth, like TGIF and Disney Cartoon afternoons? Or do these tunes now represent something more? Our overworked researchers find an "unused theme song" from N2Y2D and it's a full house of good music. So join us on this oft-overlooked treasure of a film, and as we reveal what our theme of "Hard Ticket To Die Young" actually means.

What is non-exploitative exploitation? Malibu Bay Films Producer Arlene Sidaris, film partner and widow to legendary "B-movie" writer and director, Andy Sidaris, joins ThunderamaDome to explain what their attitudes were towards nudity and violence and what it was like working on films such as "Hard Ticket To Hawaii" with Andy. Find out how their type of filmmaking both embraced the action movie stereotypes of the '80's and also played against them. Listen to Arlene explain what it was like working as one of the first female TV producers in Hollywood and what kind of obstacles she faced. So come Beyond ThunderamaDome with us and Arlene for this very special segment!

Over-the-top action B-movies occupy a unique space in the mid 80's - and in our hearts! With the advent of VHS, video stores and cable channels, kids were introduced to cheaper movies that added two scoops of their own exploitation formula: blood, explosions and…gasp…nudity! In this episode, we punch our ticket with Andy Sidaris's "Hard Ticket to Hawaii." Was this an exploitation film? Or did it add something more to the action genre by cleverly inverting some of the male-oriented clichés? Maybe it did both? Join us as we hop aboard this highly entertaining movie that stars Playboy Playmates in the lead roles, bold and beautiful Ron Moss, bad guys named Shades and Skater, airborne blowup dolls and a deadly snake straight outta your toilet. And if you can remember the very first movie you saw with nudity, well, we do too. We talk about that and a whole lot more on this episode - so come on down to the 'Dome with us and say, Aloha!

Meet Judy Kim, owner and operator of the Gardena Cinema - the last single-screen movie theater in Los Angeles that's run by a family. Or at least, what's left of her family. It's really just Judy now and despite her love and commitment, the cost of keeping a single-screen theater alive is not without its challenges. Covid. Strikes. Decreasing movie audiences. Most people would have given up by now, but not Judy. By making huge sacrifices and adapting her business model, she's turned the small community theater into a larger communal destination movie house for cinema fans all across Los Angeles and Orange County. Her optimistic attitude has even inspired a small army of volunteers, all trying to help save Gardena Cinema. So grab your popcorn, and let's all go to the movies.

The world punched a gift horse in the mouth when Quentin Tarantino's and Robert Rodriguez's double-feature release of GRINDHOUSE sadly flopped at the box office in 2007. But it really was a gift to cinema fans since the release was just as much about the theatrical experience as it was about the actual movies. Why the heck did it fail? And why the heck does Tarantino's slowburn DEATH PROOF still seem to get more accolades than Rodriguez's action-packed PLANET TERROR? As we continue on with our "fear of being forgotten" theme for this episode, we focus on the gravitational pull of PLANET TERROR being so strong it can now graduate from the yearly Halloween watch list and reclassify itself as a...Thanksgiving movie! Listen and find out why on our special holiday-themed episode!

We face our fears as we examine Frank Marshall's "Arachnophobia" - eek! But what does athazagoraphobia mean? It's the fear of being forgotten! We jabber on about how not-talked-about-films can still matter. Along the way, we throw in the fear of pooping in public, past fears of dying before the Star Wars prequels finished, Peter Cushing Cornflakes boxes, the digital hologram tour of Dio, and saved prints of Nosferatu. And if you're afraid this makes no sense, just listen, because we tie it all together before web-slinging our way through one of our favorite horror-starter films, "Arachnophobia"....actually, scratch that. It's not a horror, it's a thrillomedy!

The loving deconstruction of genres continues with Rian Johnson's hardboiled high-school booster shot of a debut, "Brick." We discuss how Rian Johnson's entire filmography challenges the preconceptions of whatever genre he chooses to tackle and how he's always artfully subverted those tropes in a new and interesting way. Then we gumshoe our way through "Brick" and find out why it always ranks in the top five or top ten-thousand of And It's Me, Joel's favorite movies.

What does it take to "reinvent" yourself to find the job that makes you fulfilled? That's the question I asked three ex-colleagues from my nine-season run on the TV series, "Suits." I interview composer Christopher Tyng, editor Peter Forslund, and the main man himself - creator, writer, showrunner and eventually director, Aaron Korsh. They all give me their backstories and how they made the jump to their current positions. An inspiring look at these three careers and why being open to change and other possibilities was critical to their success - and how they found something they loved.

Can it be that Gore Verbinski's "Rango" is Johnny Depp's best film? That's the text Hollywood Nate received one day back in 2011 from And It's Me, Joel and we put it to the test here. This episode discusses how "Rango" pumped some much-needed blood back into Westerns with its unique blend of humor and action and how it pushed the conventions of the genre, while also, remaining loyal to them.