In this gritty, neon-soaked, leather-wearin’, motor oil-stinkin’, rockabilly-singin’, pole-dancin’, pickaxe-swingin’ installment, Paul, Javi, and the tough-talkin’ Producer Brad travel to another place, another time to bear witness to a “rock’n’roll fable”. It’s Streets of Fire, one of the oddest mainstream summer movies of the eighties; a feature-length music video that is equal parts western, Road Warrior dystopia, Blade Runner quasi future noir, and Berlin sex club fashion show! It’s Diane Lane, Michael Paré, Rick Moranis, and Willem Dafoe at his palest and most consumptive in Walter Hill’s confounding valentine to toxic masculinity! So rev your engines, fire up your neon, and crank up that eighties soundtrack - because these streets are not gonna burn themselves!

Show Notes:

**This episode has been updated to correct for missing audio. Please redownload if your version has dead air in the first 5 minutes. Thanks!**

US Theatrical Release Date: June 1, 1984

Streets of Fire AFI Catalog Entry

Walter Hill Treated Screenplays Like Literature and Inspired a Generation of Filmmakers

How Did This Get Made: A Conversation With 'Streets Of Fire' Co-Writer Larry Gross - SlashFilm

40th Anniversary Interview with Michael Pare

Roger Ebert's Streets of Fire review

New York Times' Streets of Fire review

Theme music by Mike McGuill

Additional voicework by Russell Bentley

Summer of '84 voiced by Colby Elliott

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It’s Memorial Day weekend and the Multiplex Overthruster crew roars back to the movies for the Summer of ’84 with their old pal Indiana Jones! On his second outing, Indy stares down the many perils of the Temple of Doom… only it’s more like the “Temple of Holy Crap This Movie is Terrifying!” Look, over the years, Javi has followed Paul and the archaeological Producer Brad on many adventures, but into the Great Unknown Mystery… oh the hell with it, the Great Unknown Mystery here is how did all of the goodness of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” metastasize into this haltingly entertaining but mostly really weird and uncharacteristically dark story of child torture, monkey brains, a lava pit of wildly varying temperature, bloodless but nevertheless childhood-scarring heart ripping, and eyeball soup. It’s Indiana Jones as you have never seen him before… in an immaculate white dinner jacket, then strikingly shirtless and, uh, hypnotized into slapping his nine-year-old sidekick? Could Paul be right in his theory that the true hero of this film is Short Round and that we were robbed of an entire saga of Short Round Adventures? (Spoilers, he is right.) So dim your glowing stones, chill your monkey brains, and take a nice warm seat near the lava pit, because the Summer of ’84 is about to begin - in the bowels of The Temple of Doom!

Show Notes:

US Theatrical Release Date: May 23, 1984

Weekend Domestic Box Office May 25, 1984

Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom Box Office

AFI Catalog Entry

'INDIANA JONES' STIRS RATINGS DEBATE - The New York Times

How ‘The Temple of Doom’ Changed the MPAA Ratings System

Corliss, RIchard. (1984, May 21). Keeping the Customer Satisfied. Time

Theme music by Mike McGuill

Additional voicework by Russell Bentley

Summer of '84 voiced by Colby Elliott

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While “When did Michael Douglas Get So Young” may not have been the sole burning question of our rewatch of Romancing The Stone, it certainly was among the many prompted by Paul, Javi, and the always Trustworthy Producer Brad’s journey into the wilds of this 1980’s gem. Though Paul may - occasionally, pointedly - disagree, Javi brilliantly lays out the many arguments for why this film remains an underrated hidden classic. Whether they are settling their differences or finding common ground, Paul and Javi - and yes, Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas, we guess - have one of their most spirited debates as they ponder the veritable mudslide of latino stereotypes on display and many other topics of interest while marveling, as if anew, by the explosive chemistry between Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner… and Danny Devito and Zack Norman and some crocodiles… and Alfonso Arau and “Pepe”… and Holland Taylor and pretty much anything with a pulse. It’s a union of Hollywood Titans - Zemeckis, Douglas, Turner, Devito, and Thomas - yes, Thomas - as they rock to some of the most eighties saxophone riffs ever: it’s Romancing the Stone!

Show Notes:

Romancing the Stone US Theatrical Release Date: March 30, 1984

Weekend Domestic Box Office March 30, 1984

Romancing the Stone Box Office

AFI Catalog Entry: Romancing the Stone

Roger Ebert's Review

New York Times' Review

Theme music by Mike McGuill

Additional voicework by Russell Bentley

Summer of '84 voiced by Colby Elliott

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Imagine a dystopian America where authority is malignant, the profit motive rules all, everyone is on the grift, all goods and services have been devalued to the least of their utility and value, and the infrastructure has crumbled into a depressing echo of its former self… this morning’s New York Times? No! It’s Alex Cox’s punk rock masterpiece Repo Man! Made in that special time before John Hughes and the Brat Pack got their hooks in him, Emilio Estevez embodies youth in revolt as he teams up with Harry Dean Stanton at his scuzziest, most viciously nicotine-stained best to get into some tense situations. Step into the 1980s Ronnie Reagan did NOT want you to know about: where aliens are real, televangelists occasionally moonlight as government agents, television holds a hypnotic sway over your parents, and, most importantly, the threat of the Rodriguez Brothers looms around every corner! Politically biting, socially trenchant, and as fucking hilarious as a can of generic beer and poke to the eye with a lit cigarette, Repo Man may just be the angriest and most prophetic mainstream film of its time - and even more surprisingly, it’s one of Paul’s formative favorites! So join Javi and the ever-so-rebellious Producer Brad as they wonder just what Paul’s youth was really

Show Notes:

Theatrical Release Date: March 2, 1984

Weekend Box Office for March 2-4, 1984

AFI Catalog Entry

Roger Ebert's Review

NYT Review

Theme music by Mike McGuill

Additional voicework by Russell Bentley

Summer of '84 voiced by Colby Elliott

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What happens when a hard-ridin’, gravel scratchin’, manly-man motocross champ accidentally finds himself in the middle of a time travel experiment run by a private corporation unaware that they set up their equipment too close to a public rally race? What if our hero finds himself stranded in the old west with no way home? What if our protagonist never realizes he has traveled through time for most of his own story? Join them varmints Paul and Javi, guided through time and space by the Doc Brown-like Producer Brad, as they witness the occasionally incredible, but mostly credible, and - if the film’s title is to be believed - sole adventure of Lyle Swann! Thrill as our hero - played with clueless gusto by the always-delightful Fred Ward as he faces down a cast of hey-it’s-that-guy” character actors, as well as the most formidable adversary a 1980s action hero could possibly face… an intelligent, empowered female character (played by the intelligent and empowered Belinda Bauer!). It’s Timerider: THE adventure of Lyle Swann, and an episode of Multiplex Overthruster that will take you on an unforgettable journey through a forgotten film!

Show Notes:

US Theatrical Release Date: January 21, 1983

US Home Video Release Date: May, 1983

AFI Catalog Entry

NYT Review

Fred Ward obituary

Richard Masur interview

Theme music by Mike McGuill

Additional voicework by Russell Bentley

Summer of '84 voiced by Colby Elliott

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Every once in a while, a loophole in time, space, and copyright law opens and spits out an object straight out of bizarro world. The summer of ’83 gave us an “official” James Bond film starring the well past-his-prime Roger Moore, and the fall of ’83 answered with NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN - an apostate remake of THUNDERBALL directed by the man who gave us THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and starring none other than Roger Moore’s also well past-his-prime predecessor Sean Connery! What could possibly go wrong? Uh… a lot. Thrill to spine-tingling scenes of an aging superspy taking herbal treatments at a health spa! Marvel at the cringy romantic subplot with a way-too-youthful Kim Basinger! Gasp at the gravity defying athleticism of Sean Connery’s toupee! Of course, it’s not all bad news… turns out our old man Bond still has plenty of fuel left in the tank, and he is joined by the amazingly unhinged femme fatale Fatima Blush as played by the scenery-devouring Barbara Carrera, the Swedish sensation Max Von Sydow as the kitty-stroking supervillain Ernst Stavro Blofeld, and Bernie Casey as the Felix Leiter we all wish had gotten his own spinoff! It’s James Bond as you have never seen him before! Actually, it’s pretty much exactly as you have seen him before - but Paul, Javi, and their spymaster, Producer Brad love this franchise for all of its flaws, so dim the lights and chill the Geritol, because the Multiplex Overthruster crew will never… ever… say never again!

Show Notes:

Theatrical release date: October 7, 1983

Janet Maslin NYT review

Roger Ebert's review

Theme music by Mike McGuill

Additional voicework by Russell Bentley

Summer of '84 voiced by Colby Elliott

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The envelope, please! That’s right, it’s time, once again for the MULTI AWARDS. Join Paul, Javi, and the august Producer Brad as they render final judgment on the summer of ‘83! Was “Flashdance” a better film than “Yor: The Hunter from the Future?” Was “Octopussy” the most misogynistic movie title of all time, or just of the James Bond series? Are Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd one actor or two? Is being ground zero for the “Nicolas Cage freakout” enough to enshrine a movie in the hall of classics? Can Paul limit himself to only three adjectives per sentence? Will Javi stop evoking The Frank Factor already? Can Producer Brad keep the running time under five hours? It’s Multiplex Overthruster’s finest hour… well, if you listen to this podcast you know it’s going to be more than an hour, but… uh, metaphorically speaking! Whether you can’t get enough of awards season or are sick of the same old awards shows, this episode is for you - an awards show like none other!

Theme music by Mike McGuill

Additional voicework by Russell Bentley

Summer of '84 voiced by Colby Elliott

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The Summer of ’83 concussively concludes with a gloriously metal swords and sorcery adventure helmed by the 1st AD of The Beastmaster, and penned by the writer of Vampire Hookers and Rainbow Brite. Deathstalker, our morally messed up but oddly philosophical anti-hero, is sent on a quest by weird witch Toralva to unite the sword of justice, amulet of life, and chalice of magic in order to “become the power” before the evil Lord Munkar does. Join Javi, Paul and, intrepidly, Producer Brad on this wild ride into wanton violence and chaos that features a creepy meat puppet, a chatty cave ogre, random mud wrestling, a cannibalistic pig man, a gladiator tournament, some very problematic shape-shifting, John Wick’s worst nightmare cuisine, a truly epic score, and an unexpectedly bold (and timely) anti-autocracy political statement — all of which somehow spawned three sequels and a very fun 2025 remake executive produced by none other than Slash. (Really.)

Show Notes:

1983 Box Office

September 2, 1983 Weekend Box Office

Deathstalker box office

Hollywood Reporter interview with Slash discussing 2025 Deathstalker reboot.

Kickstarter campaign to fund the 2025 Deathstalker reboot.

Screen Rant article on Deathstalker comic book from Vault Comics and Slash.

Boris Vallejo movie posters here and here.

Theme music by Mike McGuill

Additional voicework by Russell Bentley

Summer of '84 voiced by Colby Elliott

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