Welcome to the very first episode of Now Playing Podcast: Intermission, our new monthly free-form show where the structure is looser, it's far less edited, and anything can happen!

This month:

Arnie goes nuclear over Alamo Drafthouse’s new mid-movie cell phone ordering system and why he canceled his Season Pass.

Brock and Stuart break down Oscar season, from the Best Picture nominees to which films Arnie might actually enjoy.

The hosts debate Star Wars fatigue, The Mandalorian & Grogu, and who Lucasfilm is making movies for.

And we welcome our very first Patreon supporter guest for some horror trivia!

This is the show where we talk about what we’re watching, what’s frustrating us, and what’s coming next for Now Playing Podcast.

And this is our first show of this kind, so let us know if you enjoy the show. We welcome your feedback to help shape this new type of Now Playing Podcast! If you like this looser vibe, let us know.

We’ll be back next month!

Raging Ghoul

Robert DeNiro couldn’t speak the Queen’s English even before Kenneth Branagh stitched his lips onto other body parts for a 1994 retelling of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Will the miscast actor need to hide at the North Pole to escape the embarrassment of his screen romance with Helena Bonham Carter? Or was this a worthy creation denied life at the box office because of the bad press the director received over his off-screen dalliances? Listen Now as Arnie, Brock, and Stuart dig up a classic movie monster and his bride for another re-animated podcast {Individual Movie Reviews} {Frankenstein Series}

Fleshdance

Rock star Sting denies his Frankenstein creation Clancy Brown (Shawshank Redemption) a happy wedding day so that the mad scientist can be the one to kiss The Bride. But will Jennifer Beals (Vampire’s Kiss) find reanimated life enjoyable with The Police frontman watching every breath she takes with suitor Cary Elwes (Princess Bride)? And can little person David Rappaport (Time Bandits) successfully reinvent the jilted Monster into a popular circus clown? Find out if this 1985 Mary Shelley update plays outside Budapest when you Listen Now!

Vlad The Impersonator

Director Luc Besson (The Fifth Element) spins Bram Stoker’s classic horror novel Dracula into “A Love Tale,” released in US cinemas in time for Valentine’s Day 2026. Is Caleb Landry Jones (Get Out) damned to walk the world a lonely vampire because he picked Roseanna Arquette’s daughter over God in a 1480 Ottoman battle? And how strong a perfume does the 400-year-old bloodsucker need to throw stake-wielding priest Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds) off his scent, or smell different than Gary Oldman did in the same role? Listen to Find Out Now!

Never Been Kissed

Arnie, Stuart, and Justin peer through their spirit camera to find the ghosts haunting a 2014 movie adaptation of the cult video game Fatal Frame. Is the graduating class of a Japanese Catholic school dying because a curse makes girls go mad and suicidal like Shakespeare’s Ophelia? And is Ju-On Black Ghost director Mari Asato more interested in making a sequel to The Grudge than entertaining PlayStation 2 and Xbox users? You don’t have to wait until midnight to plant your lips on the next Now Playing Arcade installment. Listen Now!

There’s Something About Mary

Director Christophe Gans makes a Return To Silent Hill 20 years after adapting the first video game into a hit movie. Sean Bean and his bifurcated daughter have moved on so that struggling artist Jeremy Irvine (War Horse) can save muse Hannah Emily Anderson (Jigsaw) from cult sacrifice. Is everyone seeing crazy things because the water is contaminated? Or is a dude with a pyramid head, a hospital full of gyrating nurses, and armless torsos squirting acid in the street just the local celebrities coming out to greet you? Listen Now to hear the hosts work this puzzle!

I’ve Got 99 Minutes And My Bitch Face Runs

Jeff Fahey (Lawnmower Man) screams Die Darkman Die in 'roid rage after trying to usurp the super-strength of the titular B-movie vigilante. Will star Arnold Vosloo (GI Joe: The Rise ofCobra) find a friend in Darlanne Fluegel (TV’s Wiseguy), the doctor who first cut his nerves to make him immune to pain? And does Darkman 3 work as a retelling of Beauty And The Beast, with the disfigured scientist suddenly smitten with mobster’s wife Roxanne Dawson (Star Trek: Voyager)? Find out if Arnie, Stuart, and Justin are pumped for the trilogy’s conclusion when you Listen Now!

Always replace your divots (never your lead actors)

Larry Drake (Dr. Giggles) gives the finger to audiences who assumed his mob kingpin died in the last movie’s climactic chopper crash. Darkman 2 features The Return of Durant (and the exit of Liam Neeson, Francis McDormand, and director Sam Raimi). Can new face Arnold Vosloo (The Mummy) use his mask-making machine to infiltrate his nemesis’s gang and stop the development of a high-powered laser? And will reporter Kim Delaney (NYPD Blue) uncover the reasons why this superhero vigilante didn’t receive a theatrical release the second time around? Listen Now!