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Rotten Rewind

232 episodes - English - Latest episode: 9 months ago - ★★★★★ - 37 ratings

A film podcast that digs through the bottom half of the Rotten Tomatoes barrel to re-evaluate, over-analyze and show our appreciation for all things Rotten.

Find us on Patreon for early access, bonus episodes and other exclusive content at www.patreon.com/rottenrewind

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Episodes

The Pelican Brief & Conspiracy Theory (with Morgan Phillips)

August 04, 2023 20:16 - 1 hour - 144 MB

We're back in action with a pair of political thrillers starring heavyweight stars of the 90's! That's right, there was a time when Hollywood produced big budget thrillers for adults starring bonafide movie stars! First up, it's Alan J. Pakula's return to the paranoia thriller with 1993's "The Pelican Brief," starring Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington as a law student and journalist caught up in a conspiracy to assassinate members of the supreme court, who definitely do not fuck at any poi...

Clint Eastwood's "The Rookie" & John Woo's "Broken Arrow" (with Jake Ures)

July 25, 2023 19:39 - 1 hour - 133 MB

Buckle your fucking seatbelts because it's time to go ballistic as Auteur Misfires enters the 90's. Kicking things off, it's Clint Eastwood's return to the podcast with one of his forgotten cop thrillers, "The Rookie" starring Eastwood, Charlie Sheen and Raul Julia. After that, we're headed into the Wooniverse with John Woo's second American feature, "Broken Arrow" starring John Travolta, Christian Slater and Samantha Mathis. Cinematographer and resident 9/11 correspondent Jake Ures return...

Coke Noir: 8 Million Ways to Die & 52 Pick-Up

July 18, 2023 18:04 - 1 hour - 97 MB

We're kicking off month 3 of Auteur Misfires with a pair of 1986 coke-noirs from two of the most iconic directors of the 20th century. First up, it's Hal Ashby's unlikely swan song, "8 Million Ways to Die" starring Jeff Bridges, Rosanna Arquette and a ponytailed Andy Garcia in Scarface mode. After that, it's John Frankenheimer's adaptation of Elmore Leonard's "52 Pick-Up" featuring Roy Scheider, Ann-Margaret and an all-timer villain performance from John Glover. Why did Ashby's career decli...

Alex Cox's Walker (with Olivia Willke)

July 03, 2023 08:49 - 51 minutes - 70.2 MB

Just in time for the 4th of July, it's Alex Cox's radical, career-killing satire, "Walker." It's hard to imagine a more radical film being made in the studio system than Alex Cox's "Walker." Shot on location in Nicaragua with a predominately Nicaraguan crew, "Walker" was Cox's scathing satire on William Walker, the man who colonized and attempted to rule over Nicaragua in 1853. Featuring a career-best performance by Ed Harris, "Walker" was nearly forgotten to time just as the real-life Walk...

Bad Timing & Eureka (with Alex Kolpan)

June 26, 2023 07:01 - 1 hour - 105 MB

Ever listen to Simon & Garfunkel and wonder what Art Garfunkel's balls look like? Curious what an Austrian/Brooklyn accent would sound like? Then we have the perfect double feature for you. Like so many other directors in the first part of this series, Nicolas Roeg had an incredible run of films in the 1970's. From the critically acclaimed "Don't Look Now" and "Walkabout" to the David Bowie-starring cult hit "The Man Who Fell to Earth," Roeg had prominently secured himself as the best cinem...

Swept Away Double Feature

June 19, 2023 12:00 - 55 minutes - 76.6 MB

It's rare that both the original and remake of a film are critically maligned, but that's exactly what happened to Lina Wertmüller's 1974 class satire "Swept Away." Wertmüller's 70's run with muse Giancarlo Giannini culminated in her becoming the first woman ever nominated for directing at the Academy Awards in 1977, but "Swept Away" was a rare critical misfire for the auteur. So what happens when the biggest popstar in the world and her in demand director husband decide to remake it nearly ...

Reflections in a Golden Eye & Secret Ceremony

June 13, 2023 07:01 - 45 minutes - 63 MB

On this week's double feature, we're taking on a pair of 1960's psychosexual thrillers featuring Elizabeth Taylor in the prime of her career. First up, it's the aforementioned "Reflections of a Golden Eye" featuring a pre-Godfather Marlo Brando as a repressed army captain who's being publicly cucked by his horny wife (Taylor) as he quietly longs for the mysterious new cadet riding riding horses naked on the base (a very young Robert Forster). After that, it's Joseph Losey's 1968 tale of two ...

Ishtar (with Andrew Jacobson)

June 06, 2023 07:00 - 56 minutes - 77.9 MB

In 1999, Time Magazine compiled a list of The 100 Worst Ideas of the 20th Century. "Ishtar" was on the list. So was Michael Cimino's career-derailing, studio-bankrupting "Heaven's Gate." Both films became synonymous with financial disasters. While Cimino continued to work, albeit not on the same scale as his previous features, Elaine May never directed another film again. And while "Ishtar" didn't bankrupt Columbia Pictures, it did result in the studio being sold to Sony after the $50 millio...

They All Laughed (with Nick Laskin)

May 30, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 103 MB

Twenty-five years after Peter Bogdanovich's self-distributed critical failure "They All Laughed" was quietly released in a handful of theaters, Quentin Tarantino declared it one of his top ten favorite films of all time. Soon after, fellow 90's auteurs like Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach reclaimed it as one of Bogdanovich's very best. Today, it's been mostly reappraised as an underrated entry in the prolific director's long career. But in 1981, the film was marred by controversy after the tr...

One From the Heart (with Logan Kenny)

May 26, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 103 MB

The Godfather. The Godfather Part II. The Conversation. Apocalypse Now. It's hard to think of a director with a better consecutive run than Francis Ford Coppola in the 70's. The winner of five Academy Awards and nominee of 7 more during the decade, Coppola was quickly being hailed as the greatest American filmmaker of his generation. Sure, the "Apocalypse Now" shoot was notoriously troubled and nearly killed the director, but he was in the lucrative position to make whatever the hell he wan...

New York, New York (with Hannah Zipperman)

May 22, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 101 MB

In 1976, Martin Scorsese could make what ever movie he wanted to. Riding the success of "Taxi Driver" and the four Oscar nominations it brought in the following year, Scorsese was given his first real blank check. In an effort to showcase his range before getting pigeonholed as the guy who makes gritty New York crime movies, Scorsese cashed in his check by paying homage to the classic 1940's musicals of his childhood. What followed was one of the most tumultuous productions of its time. Going...

Foxfire & Sucker Punch (with Ella Talkin)

May 15, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 88.2 MB

The male and female gaze clash in this week's Gaslight/Gatekeep/Girlboss double feature as we look back on two critically trashed stories of female empowerment and revenge. Illustrator Ella Talkin returns to the podcast to break down the opposing visions of Annette Haywood-Carter's 1996 adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates's "Foxfire" and Zack Snyder's ultimate blank check fantasy "Sucker Punch." One is a sensitive portrayal of young women united by their abuse in 90's grunge-era Portland starrin...

That Cold Day in the Park & Let's Scare Jessica to Death (with Olivia Willke)

May 15, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 104 MB

It's Rotten history on the podcast today as we go all the way back to 1969 and 1971 for the two oldest films ever covered on the podcast. Generally it's hard to find many Rotten films made before 1980, so we're lucky we were able to find the perfect pair of gaslighting thrillers from the New Hollywood era. First up, it's Robert Altman's sophomore feature "That Cold Day in the Park" starring Sandy Dennis as a lonely spinster who develops an unhealthy fixation with a mute teenage boy. After t...

Practical Magic & Forces of Nature (with Jean Yannarel)

May 15, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 90.1 MB

For our Gaslight/Gatekeep/Girlboss finale, we're paying tribute to our Rotten Queen Sandra Bullock and two of her most unhinged romantic comedies. First up it's the 90's sleepover cult favorite "Practical Magic" directed by Griffin Dunne (yes, that Griffin Dunnen), featuring Bullock and Nicole Kidman in purple shades as a pair of witchy sisters who use their powers to find love and murder a Bulgarian cowboy (twice). After that, it's Bullock's oft-forgotten pairing with Ben Affleck in "Forces...

By the Sea

May 15, 2023 07:00 - 44 minutes - 61.5 MB

Do you remember when Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt spent their honeymoon making a movie about the disintegration of a married couple on the island of Malta? According to the movies box office and 35% score on Rotten Tomatoes, you probably don't. But in 2015, the couple formerly known as Brangelina quietly released the slow burn marital drama "By the Sea."  Dismissed by critics as an indulgent vanity project for the most beautiful celebrity couple alive, "By the Sea" has drifted into obscurit...

Mommie Dearest (wth Kaycee Felton-Lui)

May 15, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 82.4 MB

"No more wire hangers!" "Tina! Bring me the ax." "I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at the dirt." "She doesn't need an ambulance... She's drunk." Can a movie this quotable be that bad? In 1981, yes. Maybe. We're still not sure honestly. What we do know is that our deep dive on Frank Perry's infamous "Mommie Dearest" left us with a new appreciation for the trashy cult classic and its notoriously difficult star, Faye Dunaway. Writer and astrologer Kaycee Felton-Lui joins us to explore the tumultuo...

Spike Lee's Girl 6 (with Mariko Enkoji-Busch)

May 15, 2023 07:00 - 56 minutes - 77.7 MB

Spike Lee is back on the podcast after a three year absence following our very first episode ever on his controversial satire "Bamboozled." Lee was riding a near-unanimous wave of critical praise in the early 90's following his mainstream breakthrough, "Do the Right Thing." But in 1996, Lee had his first real flop with the Suzan-Lori Parks penned comedy "Girl 6." Telling the story of a struggling actress turned phone sex operator, Lee's episodic comedy is headlined by a fantastic Theresa Ran...

The Neon Demon & Crimes of Passion

May 15, 2023 07:00 - 57 minutes - 78.6 MB

It’s a sleazy, neon/cum drenched double feature today on the podcast as we dive into a pair of darkly comedic thrillers set in two very different LA worlds. First up, it’s Ken Russell’s 1984 X-rated tale of sexual repression and desire in “Crimes of Passion,” starring Kathleen Turner as a fashion designer moonlighting as a sex worker by night and Anthony Perkins as the unhinged, perpetually sweaty reverend who wants to save her whorish soul from the life she’s chosen. After that, it’s the p...

What Lies Beneath & Gothika

May 15, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 90.7 MB

Before the "Saw" franchise staked their claim to the Halloween release slot, Dark Castle was delivering its annual nu-metal take on classic horror movies. Ah yes, that blissful period in between the 90's slasher wave and the post-9/11 torture porn/J-horror remake craze. During that brief window, we got movies like "House on Haunted Hill" and "Ghost Ship," but their last hurrah was the 2003 supernatural thriller "Gothika" starring a post-Oscar win Halle Berry, Penelope Cruz and Robert Downey,...

G.I. Jane & Red Sparrow

May 15, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 107 MB

This week, we're reminding you that Jennifer Lawrence once starred in a failed franchise starter called "Red Sparrow" in which she plays an impoverished ballerina who is recruited to become a spy for the Russian government. But before that, we're taking you all back to the halcyon days of 1997 for one of Ridley Scott's rare box office misfires, "G.I. Jane." A movie that was once prominently known for being the movie in which Demi Moore shaved her head before disappearing into obscurity, has ...

Blonde (with Samantha Prosser)

May 12, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 108 MB

Comedian and co-host of The Toni Awards, Samantha Prosser, joins us to unpack the discourse surrounding Andrew Dominik's polarizing adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates' "Blonde." Starring Ana De Armas in an Oscar-nominated performance as Marilyn Monroe, "Blonde" has been stirring up controversy ever since its first trailer dropped last year featuring De Armas with her native Cuban accent. Things didn't get any better when the film premiered to scathing reviews at the Venice Film Festival, before...

Babylon

May 12, 2023 07:00 - 58 minutes - 80.9 MB

2022 was a banner year for unexpected critical misfires. Critical darlings like David O'Russell, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Sam Mendes, Noah Baumbach, and Darren Aronofsky saw their latest films either crash and burn on arrival or quickly disappear after a tepid response. It's hard to say which outcome is worse! But the movie that's endured the most polarizing response yet is undoubtedly Academy Award winning director Damien Chazelle's 189 minute epic "Babylon." And as our listeners know, ...

Don't Worry Darling (with Johnny Langan)

May 12, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 99.4 MB

On-set drama. Recasting. Divorce. COVID shutdowns. Bad accents. Spitgate. How do they shit??? These are just some of the many controversies that befell Olivia Wilde’s sophomore feature “Don’t Worry Darling.” Podcast regular Johnny Langan makes his triumphant return to the show to unpack the slew of DWD controversies and neverending plot holes. Is it really as bad as the critics said it was? Is Harry Styles a leading man? Is Harry Styles even an actor? What’s with the earthquakes? The plane ...

Man on Fire & Domino (with Jake Ures)

May 10, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 125 MB

In the mid-aughts, Tony Scott was written off by most film critics as a studio showman who valued style over substance. Ten years after his untimely death, Scott's legacy has been reclaimed by new generations of fans and critics as one of the most visionary filmmakers of his time. The 2000s were a transitional period for Scott as he evolved his trademark visual panache and hyper-kinetic action into something far more groundbreaking and experimental than any modern studio director. Scott's si...

Ocean's 12 (with Andrew Jacobson)

May 10, 2023 07:00 - 49 minutes - 67.5 MB

Is there a more versatile, prolific American director working today than Steven Soderbergh? In 1989, Soderbergh became the youngest American director to ever screen a film in competition at the Cannes Film Festival and changed independent film forever with his provocative debut "sex, lies and videotape." Since then, Soderbergh has directed over 35 films and several television series, working in nearly every genre imaginable, embracing multiple formats across a wide spectrum of mediums, makin...

Only God Forgives & Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning (with Matthew Hayes)

May 10, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 95.5 MB

Art-House and Grindhouse join forces for part three of our Vulgar Vibes miniseries. Cinematographer Matthew Hayes joins the podcast this week to chop it up about a pair of ultra-violent meditations on masculinity and free will. First up, it's VOD maverick John Hyams's surrealist fourth entry in the Universal Soldier franchise with "Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning" starring Scott Adkins, Dolph Lundgren and Jean-Claude Van Damme. After that, it's Nicolas Winding Refn and Ryan Gosling's muc...

The Great Gatsby (with William Breen)

May 10, 2023 07:00 - 52 minutes - 72.3 MB

Filmmaker and musician William Breen returns to the podcast to unpack the hot mess that is Baz Luhrmann's maximalist take on "The Great Gatsby." Headlined by Leonardo DiCaprio as the titular Gatsby, Luhrmann's adaptation divided critics at its Cannes premiere 10 years ago, but went on to clean up at the box office and build a small but vocal cult following. But what ultimately went wrong? Was it Jay-Z's extremely 2010's soundtrack? Was Carey Mulligan up for the task of playing such a beloved...

Natural Born Killers (with Alex Kolpan)

May 10, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 94.7 MB

In 1994, Quentin Tarantino was on top of the film world. He had just won Cannes with "Pulp Fiction." He was riding the cult success of "Reservoir Dogs" and the Tony Scott-directed "True Romance." At the same time, Oscar-winning provocateur Oliver Stone desperately needed a hit after the box office failure of "Heaven and Earth." Months before "Pulp Fiction" premiered theatrically, Stone and Tarantino's "Natural Born Killers" debuted in dog days of summer amidst a torrent of controversy. Not o...

Speed Racer & TRON: Legacy (with Logan Kenny)

May 10, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 116 MB

What makes a foundational movie experience? For critic and podcast regular Logan Kenny, it was seeing Joseph Kosinski's meditative tech opera "TRON: Legacy" in IMAX 3D when he was 9 years old. Logan returns to us for an episode discussing two Vulgar Maximalist cult classics that polarized anti-digital critics at the time of their releases over 10 years ago. First up, it's The Wachowski's fever dream cartoon come to life "Speed Racer" starring Emile Hirsch, Susan Sarandon, Christina Ricci an...

New Rose Hotel & Demonlover (with Olivia Willke)

May 10, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 86.6 MB

Vulgar Vibes continues this week with two cyberpunk thrillers from two world-renowned auteurs. First up, it's Abel Ferrara's feverish adaptation of William Gibson's "New Rose Hotel." Starring Willem Dafoe, Christopher Walken and Asia Argento, Ferrara's take on the short story was heavier on vibes than plot, centering much of the action around a prostitution ring moonlighting as a karaoke bar. It's heady sci-fi for people who fuck. After that, we're logging in to the dark web corporate espion...

The Brown Bunny & My Blueberry Nights (with Alex Kolpan)

May 10, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 129 MB

In 2003, Vincent Gallo brought his second feature "The Brown Bunny" to the Cannes Film Festival. The rest is history. The so-called controversy surrounding Gallo's film became bigger than the film itself. It was called indulgent. Embarrassingly sincere. Most famously, in the words of Roger Ebert, it was "the worst film in the history of the Cannes Film Festival." And that didn't even touch on the infamous unsimulated blowjob. But what qualifies a failure? Is indulgence always a bad thing? I...

In the Mouth of Madness & Event Horizon (with Shawn Chiesa & Nick Laskin)

May 09, 2023 07:01 - 1 hour - 125 MB

Hell is what you make it. Or maybe it's just an alternate reality created by a prolific Lovecraftian author. For our penultimate installment in the Vulgar Horror series, we're taking listeners back to the mid-90's for a pair of unhinged bangers starring Sam Neill. First up, it's John Carpenter's meta take on a Stephen King-esque horror writer with 1994's "In the Mouth of Madness," starring Neill as a skeptical insurance investigator slowly unraveling. After that, we're boarding Paul W.S. And...

Death Becomes Her (with Kae Whalen)

May 09, 2023 07:01 - 42 minutes - 58.2 MB

Director Robert Zemeckis could have never predicted that his 1992 box office disappointment "Death Becomes Her" would endure 30 years later as an essential entry in the queer cult classic canon. Pitting Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn against one another as frenemies in a quest for eternal youth and casting Bruce Willis as the hapless alcoholic they're fighting over, Zemeckis created an inspired piece of camp with groundbreaking VFX work and pitch-perfect offbeat casting. The co-host of Gay Win...

The Hunger (with Kaycee Felton-Lui)

May 09, 2023 07:01 - 42 minutes - 58.3 MB

We're kicking off our 3rd Annual Rotten Horrors™ with two podcast favorites! Writer and one of our in-house Queer Cinema commentators Kaycee Felton-Lui joins us for a look back at Tony Scott's feature debut "The Hunger," starring David Bowie, Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon. At the time of its release in 1983, Scott's debut was panned and written off as a lurid exercise in style over substance. Today, it's regarded as a midnight classic and one of the most important debuts of the 20th c...

Hollow Man (with Mike Thorn)

May 09, 2023 07:01 - 50 minutes - 69.1 MB

When Sony gave Paul Verhoeven $100 million to adapt H.G. Wells' "The Invisible Man," they might not have been expecting a nihilistic, hard-R slasher, but that's what they got! Kevin Bacon underwent a notoriously grueling shoot with groundbreaking VFX to give what is still the most bleakly realistic depiction of the source material to date. Many directors have offered their take on the question: What would a man do if nobody could see him? But only Verhoeven could bravely answer: "Well, he'd ...

The Devil's Rejects & Halloween II (with Nick Laskin & Lindsay Theirl)

May 09, 2023 07:01 - 1 hour - 127 MB

Our five week descent into the grotesque madness of Vulgar Horror comes to an end today on the podcast. For our special Halloween send-off, we're finally diving into the 100% rotten career of musician, filmmaker and certified Wife Guy, Rob Zombie. Over the last 20 years, Zombie has amassed one of the most singular horror filmographies in the canon. Critics have almost unanimously given his work the cold shoulder, dubbing his specific brand of the genre as "Hixploitation." Today on the podcas...

Sugar and Spice & The Bling Ring (with Jaime Bolker)

May 09, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 108 MB

For our second installment in the Vulgar Female Gaze miniseries, we're interrogating the often polarizing sub-genre of women doing crime. Writer Jaime Bolker joins us for a look back at two ripped from the headlines comedies: the 2001 cheerleaders turned bank robbers comedy "Sugar & Spice" and Sofia Coppola's pivot into the true crime genre with 2013's "The Bling Ring." Coming on the heels of "Bring It On" and "But I'm a Cheerleader," Francine McDougall's midwestern crime satire "Sugar & Sp...

Office Killer & I'll Take You There (with Giselle Bonilla)

May 09, 2023 07:00 - 55 minutes - 76.5 MB

For our final Vulgar Female Gaze installment, we're looking back at a pair of underseen 90s dark comedies. First up, it's photographer Cindy Sherman's first and only foray into directing with the 1997 horror comedy "Office Killer" starring Carol Kane, Jeanne Tripplehorn and Molly Ringwald. After that, we're switching gears for the late, great Adrienne Shelly's sophomore feature, "I'll Take You There" starring Ally Sheedy. Filmmaker Giselle Bonilla joins us to discuss her surprising connectio...

Romance & Sharp Stick

May 09, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 102 MB

TW: This episode contains discussion of rape and sexual assault. Some filmmakers court controversy wherever they go, but few have been as polarizing as Catherine Breillat and Lena Dunham. For our third installment in the Rotten Female Gaze miniseries, we'll be dissecting two films from Breillat and Dunham that offered an uncompromising and often uncomfortable look at the complexity of female sexuality. Beginning in 1999 with Breillat's visceral and painful "Romance," a film that shocked au...

She-Devil & Bachelorette (with Kaycee Felton-Lui)

May 09, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 103 MB

When looking at the canon of "Vulgar Auteurism," you'll notice that most of the directors mentioned are... surprise... men! Specifically, white men. But because the very concept of "Vulgar Auteurism" is so loose and open to interpretation, we decided to dedicate the next month to female filmmakers that have, at one point or another, directed a critical misfire that honors the "Vulgar Female Gaze." Writer Kaycee Felton-Lui joins us for our first installment in the miniseries for a double fea...

The Quick and the Dead & Last Man Standing (with Michael Chau)

May 05, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 98.3 MB

The American Western experienced a resurgence in the 90s after the critical and financial success of "Dances with Wolves" and "Unforgiven." At that time, Sam Raimi was more known for his groundbreaking work in horror, making him an unlikely choice to spearhead a Western revisionist action film with genre heavyweight Gene Hackman. But that was the only director star and producer Sharon Stone wanted for the project. Stone used her post-"Basic Instinct" power to not only bring Raimi on board, b...

The Counselor (with Michael Aghajanian)

May 05, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 143 MB

"For those that understand they're living the last days of the world, death acquires a different meaning. The extinction of all reality is a concept no resignation can encompass." This week's guest, Michael Aghajanian, has described Ridley Scott's 2013 bomb "The Counselor" as a "flagship Rotten Rewind movie." This is, after all, a movie that opens with Michael Fassbender finger-fucking Penelope Cruz while telling her she has "the most luscious pussy in all of Christendom," and later features...

Sudden Impact & Impulse (with Jourdain Searles)

May 05, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 88.5 MB

⁠SUBSCRIBE NOW⁠ for early access and exclusive bonus episodes at WWW.PATREON.COM/ROTTENREWIND Clint Eastwood and Sondra Locke made six films together over the course of a decade. They also had a tumultuous romantic partnership that culminated in a 19 month trial where Locke developed breast cancer. Locke, an Academy Award nominated actress, turned to directing in the late 80s, but was never able to achieve the notoriety she deserved because of her public falling out with Eastwood. Today on ...

Year of the Dragon & Black Rain

May 05, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 92.6 MB

Vulgar Neo-Noir continues this week with one of the most controversial and divisive films - and filmmakers - of their time. 1980s Hollywood was steeped in Orientalism, predominately seen in action films like "Flash Gordon" and "Big Trouble in Little China" and futuristic sci-fi landscapes like the iconic imagery of "Blade Runner." We're riding solo today for an in-depth conversation about the fetishization of Asian culture in Hollywood cinema, specifically in Michael Cimino's murky Chinatown...

Snake Eyes & Femme Fatale (with Andrew Jacobson)

May 05, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 90.1 MB

"You don't have to lick my ass. Just fuck me." It's hard to think of a better quote in the canon of genre master Brian De Palma. Today on the show, we finally get the opportunity to dive into one of our favorite directors' filmography by discussing two of De Palma's most divisive critical failures: the 1998 Nicolas Cage conspiracy thriller "Snake Eyes" and the 2002 erotic thriller "Femme Fatale" starring Antonio Banderas and Rebecca Romijn. Filmmaker Andrew Jacobson joins us for the first ...

The Last Boy Scout & Die Hard with a Vengeance (with Jake Ures)

August 31, 2022 07:01 - 1 hour - 121 MB

SUBSCRIBE NOW for early access and exclusive bonus episodes at WWW.PATREON.COM/ROTTENREWIND The year is 1991. Tony Scott is still riding the momentum of his generation-defining phenomenon “Top Gun.” Writer Shane Black is the highest paid screenwriter in Hollywood before the age of 30. Bruce Willis’ seemingly untouchable star power has been dealt a blow by the recent disaster known as “Hudson Hawk.” Producer Joel Silver is quickly developing a reputation as the most hands-on, hard-nosed prod...

Last Action Hero & Small Soldiers (with Chad Alligood)

August 24, 2022 07:01 - 1 hour - 96.3 MB

SUBSCRIBE NOW for early access and exclusive bonus episodes at WWW.PATREON.COM/ROTTENREWIND Between the one-two punch of "Predator" and "Die Hard" and going to federal prison for illegal wiretapping, vulgar auteurist John McTiernan satirized the genre he helped redefine with Hollywood's biggest star and screenwriter. The result? According to McTiernan, himself: “Last Action Hero was the worst time I’ve ever had in this business.” Actor Chad Alligood joins us on the podcast again to unbox t...

Flashdance & Rocky IV

August 17, 2022 07:01 - 1 hour - 93.9 MB

SUBSCRIBE NOW for early access and exclusive bonus episodes at WWW.PATREON.COM/ROTTENREWIND History might tell you that the Cold War ended in the late 80s, but it actually ended in 1985 when Sylvester Stallone directed the fourth installment of the "Rocky" franchise and sent the braindead American hero to Soviet Russia to avenge his best friend's death. Today on the podcast, we continue our descent into Vulgar Auteurism with two films that defined 80s aesthetics and film as we know it: the...

Pain & Gain (with Olivia Willke)

August 10, 2022 07:01 - 57 minutes - 78.4 MB

SUBSCRIBE NOW for early access and exclusive bonus episodes at WWW.PATREON.COM/ROTTENREWIND "When it started, America was just a handful of scrawny colonies. Now, it's the most buff, pumped-up country on the planet." - Daniel Lugo To celebrate the most buff, pumped-up country on the planet, Rotten Rewind is kicking off our most epic miniseries to date. For the next 6 months, we'll be asking listeners the question: "What is Vulgar Auteurism?" In its simplest terms, it's a movement that cel...

Vanilla Sky (with Logan Kenny)

August 02, 2022 02:14 - 1 hour - 108 MB

SUBSCRIBE NOW for early access and exclusive bonus episodes at WWW.PATREON.COM/ROTTENREWIND All good things must come to an end. Today, we have to say goodbye to our month long retrospective on the Rotten works of America's last movie star, Tom Cruise. Critic and writer Logan Kenny returns to the podcast  to help us dissect the most divisive film of Cruise and director Cameron Crowe's careers, 2001's "Vanilla Sky." Crowe and Cruise made their long awaited reunion at the turn of the century...