Now Playing -- The Movie Review Podcast

​The Rage: Carrie 2 is not about Carrie White, the star character in Brian DePalma's 1976 film. Nor is it about another girl named Carrie. No, this movie tells the story of Rachel, Carrie White's telekinetic half-sister. With more than a few plot beats taken from Stephen King's original novel, The Rage adds 1990s style, dialect, and production values. There's little hope that this sequel could match the then 23-year-old original film, but the question is can The Rage: Carrie 2 be any good at all? Listen to Jakob, Arnie, and Stuart's next review in the Stephen King Movie Retrospective Series to find out!​

It's hard to imagine a time when Stephen King wasn't the king of horror fiction. It's hard to imagine a world without such influential stories including The Shining, The Stand, Christine, and King's first novel, Carrie. Yet before November, 1976 King was just another author with two modest-selling novels. But when Brian De Palma decides to adapt Carrie for the big screen he created an iconic horror movie staple, and from that King's book sold millions of copies and his career was minted. Now, in anticipation of the upcoming third adaptation of Carrie starring Chloë Grace Moretz the Now Playing hosts go back to watch and review De Palma's original. It's the start of Now Playing's massive Stephen King retrospective series, looking at all the movies based on King's writings, starting with Carrie. Does De Palma's blood soaked tale of a teen outcast still hold up over 35 years later? Listen to find out! Then join Arnie at booksandnachos.com for his review of the original novel!

The Lords of Salem -- are they an up and coming rock band? Or are they a coven of reincarnated witches who plan to bring the son of Satan to Earth? In Rob Zombie's latest feature film it's both. With Zombie's muse and wife Sheri Moon-Zombie starring as Heidi, a radio DJ who also may be mother to the Antichrist, does this film cement Zombie as the new Lord of horror? Listen to this BONUS REVIEW to find out!

Insidious Chapter 2 scared more than audiences, it scared up a huge box office return showing that audiences are still hungry for spooky scares and ghost movies! Picking up mere seconds after the first film ended, director James Wan and writer Leigh Whannell answered all the lingering questions and finally revealed the fate of the Lambert family. Were the reveals satisfying, and what may be in store for Insidious Part 3? Listen to Stuart, Marjorie, and Arnie's review to find out!

James Wan's first film, Saw, redefined horror for the 2000s. By 2011 the Saw films had run their course, and audiences turned their attention to more ghostly horror in the form of the Paranormal Activity series. So is it any wonder that when the writer and director behind Saw teamed up with the Paranormal Activity studio a new horror franchise? With Insidious 2 taking top spot at the US box office last weekend, the Now Playing crew go back to watch and review the original. Does this film scare the hosts? Listen to find out!

Riddick is a hard man to kill, but Universal Studios and the poor reception of Chronicles of Riddick almost did the job. Through the tenacity of writer/director David Twohy and star/producer Vin Diesel the antihero was able to again overcome the odds and return to the big screen. With a story that comes off more as Pitch Black: Part 2 than a follow-up to Chronicles of Riddick, does the back-to-basics approach work? Listen to Arnie, Jakob, and Brock's review to find out!

In Pitch Black Riddick was part of a small group of humans who had to survive one long night. Now Riddick is a warrior going to battle against a Necromonger army to save all of civilization! It's quite a turn for the former convict, and for the film series as it expands in scope with this sequel, The Chronicles of Riddick. Is this change of concept a welcome enlarging of Riddick's universe? Listen to Jakob, Arnie, and Brock's review to find out!

A group of space travelers crash land on a deserted planet populated with carnivorous alien monsters. But perhaps even more dangerous to the survivors is Richard B. Riddick - an escaped convict with a high body count in his history. Riddick was actor Vin Diesel's star-making role, but does Pitch Black stand up to the Now Playing reviewers' spotlight? Listen to find out!

At the end of the first Kick-Ass film Red Mist plotted his revenge while Kick-Ass enjoyed high school with girlfriend Katie and Hit Girl, orphaned with the death of Big Daddy, had to adjust to normal high school life under the watch of new guardian Marcus. It was an ending that begged a sequel, and now it has one! With a city full of costumed heroes, including Jim Carey joining the cast as new hero Col. Stars and Stripes, can Kick-Ass still kick ass? Listen to find out!

Wolverine cannot be killed, and it seems neither can his film franchise. Despite tepid fan response to X-Men Origins: Wolverine a second solo film featuring Hugh Jackman was quickly put into production. With creative changes behind-the-scenes and a change to make The Wolverine a sequel to X-Men: The Last Stand, it was released with the promise of being "The Wolverine film you've been waiting for." Does it live up to that hype? Listen to Arnie, Jakob, and Stuart's latest X-Men movie review to find out as we bide our time until 2014's X-Men: Days of Future Past!

Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, and all their surviving operatives get a sequel in their sixties with RED 2. Do newcomers Anthony Hopkins and Catherine-Zeta Jones inject fresh blood into this franchise, or has the joke gotten too old even for this crew? Listen and find out.

80s action star Bruce Willis may have gotten older, but he's still considered RED - retired and extremely dangerous. Do Jakob, Stuart, and Arnie have a laugh watching senior citizens strap on pistols to blow holes in the CIA's rep, or is this AARP action-comedy D.O.A.? Listen and find out.

Comic book vets Chris Evans and Idris Elba have joined THE LOSERS - a ragtag band of mercenaries out to punish CIA baddie Jason Patric for a failed Bolivian mission. Should Avatar babe Zoe Saldana trust these C-stringers to get the job done, or should she just call the A-Team? Listen and find out.

What is a Pacific Rim? It's a movie pitting giant robots against giant monsters! Transformers versus Godzilla; the Cloverfield monster versus Robot Jox. The concept is not high art. But behind the lens is visionary director Guillermo del Toro, who has crafted fantastical worlds in many of his films including Hellboy and Pan's Labyrinth. So listen to Jerry, Stuart, and Arnie's review to find out if this film packs a mean punch!

Has sweet little Natalie Portman been palling around with terrorists? A masked swashbuckler known only as V For Vendetta hopes she'll help him rescue future London from dictators, but has Wachowski script tinkering disfigured this classic Alan Moore comic book as well? Listen and find out.

Viggo Mortensen looks like an unassuming small town diner owner, but to a crew of Philly hoods he's a thug with A History of Violence. Does director David Cronenberg split opinion in his radical reworking of the graphic novel? Listen and find out.

Tom Hanks is a cold blooded killer heading down the Road to Perdition, hoping to deliver his son from Irish mobsters he once considered family. Has director Sam Mendes made a comic book Godfather, or is this an offer that Jakob, Stuart, and Arnie easily refuse. Listen and find out.

With Christopher Nolan's Batman films Warner Bros. set the gold standard for superhero films. The Dark Knight was a box office hit, a fan favorite, and even won an Academy Award for acting. Yet the year after Batman Begins the other World's Finest superhero, Superman, failed to take flight. So when Dark Knight writer David Goyer pitched a new, bold take on Superman Warner Bros. agreed. Watchmen director Zack Snyder was brought in to direct, and the result was Man of Steel. Its opening weekend broke records, but both critics and fans are sharply divided over the quality of the film. Now Arnie, Stuart, and Jakob bring their Superman retrospective series to a close with their review of Man of Steel. Can Man of Steel leap tall buildings in a single bound, or should it be stopped with a speeding bullet? Listen to find out!

With Christopher Nolan's Batman films Warner Bros. set the gold standard for superhero films.   The Dark Knight was a box office hit, a fan favorite, and even won an Academy Award for acting.  Yet the year after Batman Begins   the other World's Finest superhero, Superman, failed to take flight.  So when Dark Knight writer David Goyer pitched a new, bold take on Superman Warner Bros. agreed.   Watchmen  director Zack Snyder was brought in to direct, and the result was Man of Steel.  Its opening weekend broke records, but both critics and fans are sharply divided over the quality of the film.  Now Arnie, Stuart, and Jakob bring their Superman retrospective series to a close with their review of Man of Steel.  Can Man of Steel leap tall buildings in a single bound, or should it be stopped with a speeding bullet?  Listen to find out!

SFor 20 years it seemed Nuclear Man and Lex Luthor really had killed Superman. Every attempt to bring the man of steel back to theaters had fallen through. While fellow DC superhero Batman had a major franchise launch, fail, and reboot, Superman seemed relegated to the small screen with Lois and Clark and Smallville. But director Bryan Singer was flying high after two successful X-Men films, and rather than return for X-Men he had Superman Returns. A continuation of the original two films, Superman Returns has the Kryptonian hero facing off again with nemesis Lex Luthor. Fans did not embrace Singer's vision and planned sequels were scrapped in favor of a complete reboot -- Man of Steel opening this week in theaters! But does Superman Returns deserve its bad reputation? Listen to Now Playing and find out! Then join us next week as we review the brand new Superman film Man of Steel!