DC Universe Series Episode 2

Stupor Girl

Milly Alcock (House of the Dragon) resists the call to do good like her cousin Clark (David Corenswet), instead spending the second DCU movie partying on red sun planets. Is she finally ready to put down the bottle and become Supergirl after villainous Krem (Mathias Schoenaerts) poisons her dog Krypto and orphans a swordmaker’s daughter (Eve Ridley)? And how much help is bounty hunter Lobo (Jason Momoa) to their vengeance quest? Find out if the director of I, Tonya and Cruella can handle another badass chick when you Listen Now.

Left To Her Own Devices Woody (Tom Hanks) and Jessie (Joan Cusack) worry that screens have replaced childhood make-believe once 8-year-old Bonnie receives her first tablet in Toy Story 5. Can the cowgirl doll help her kid make friends the old-fashioned way after Lilly Pad (Greta Lily) connects her to mean girls online? And will deputized spaceman Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) keep the peace in the playroom once infinite upgrades of himself fly in from a spilled shipping container? Listen Now to learn if this Pixar sequel (or just Conan O’Brien) takes a dump on the beloved franchise.

The Switches of Eastview

Kathryn Hahn (Glass Onion) realizes she’s Agatha All Along after breaking the TV show spell put on her by Wanda Maximoff in a 2024 Disney+ miniseries. But can this prickly loner forge a coven with Broadway legend Patti LuPone and deadly Aubrey Plaza (White Lotus) that has the power to access a mythic, wish-granting Witches' Road? Or did her dream to reconnect with her dead child come true the minute a nameless, hexed teenager (Joe Locke) joined her quest? Listen Now to hear if Justin, Stuart, and Arnie sing the praises of this WandaVision sequel.

Fistos of Fury

Manchild Nicholas Galitzine (Red, White & Royal Blue) dares to stand in Dolph Lundgren’s spot and attempt to wield the Sword of Power in the 2026 reboot of Masters of the Universe. Will his newfound muscles and brute strength impress boyhood crush Teela (Riverdale’s Camila Mendes), Man-At-Arms Idris Elba (Thor), and disapproving dad James Purefoy (Resident Evil)? Or has Jared Leto (Tron: Ares) ruined yet another kids' franchise with his eccentric take on villain Skeletor? Find out if director Travis Knight fumbled another Bumblebee when you Listen Now!

By The Power of Filmation

Before the Masters of the Universe conquer 2026 movie theaters, Arnie, Marjorie, and Stuart dish about the 1985 animated feature that reveals He-Man and She-Ra are twins. Is The Secret of the Sword that Adora is a real-life Eternia princess who’s been kidnapped and gaslighted by evil adoptive parents Hordak and Shadow Weaver… or just that Mattel would do anything to sell girls on a new doll line? And will Skeletor solicit help from this Horde so that he can finally seize control of coveted Castle Greyskull? You have the power to Listen Now!

The fourth Intermission finds the hosts debating film preservation, 4K restorations, AI upscaling, George Lucas's Star Wars revisions, Spielberg's E.T. walkie-talkies, and whether modern transfers are preserving movies or changing them. Plus, Jason completes a year-and-a-half watch-through of the entire Kristy Swanson filmography, Arnie revisits 1995's Mortal Kombat, listener Tom Ross hosts a trivia challenge, and the conversation wanders through Darth Maul, The Boys, Project Hail Mary, and more.

The old protect the young, and the young develop poor eating habits.

The Mandalorian and Grogu have left Disney+ behind to take orders from sci-fi queen Sigourney Weaver (Alien) in a big-screen 2026 Star Wars movie. But does Pedro Pascal need to go rescue little "Stinky the Hutt" now that he’s grown into big, buff Jeremy Allen White (The Bear)? And can director Jon Favreau (Elf) find The Way to balance between adrenalizing fans of the badass bounty hunter and soothing everyone else that’s come for adorable Baby Yoda? Learn if Arnie, Justin, and Stuart bring this spin-off in warm or cold when you Listen Now!

Before Alfred Hitchcock turned birds into cinematic terror, The Birds was a bleak, intimate apocalypse story from author Daphne du Maurier. In this special Now Playing Podcast Book Review, Arnie looks at the 1952 short story that inspired Hitchcock’s classic film and finds something very different: a grim survival tale closer to War of the Worlds, I Am Legend, and Night of the Living Dead than the Hollywood thriller audiences know.

From post-war paranoia to unexplained cosmic dread, hear why this short story still works over 70 years later, why its ending hits so hard, and why Hitchcock may have only borrowed the premise while leaving most of the original story behind. Plus, how gulls attacking a farmer became one of horror’s most influential setups.