Universal thought the Fast and Furious franchise was unstoppable. With each new sequel grossing more than the previous installment, they fast tracked Furious 7, even if it meant losing long time series director Justin Lin and new star The Rock. But when Paul Walker died before the movie was complete the cast and the creatives making the film had to rework the script to be a fitting goodbye. Can Insidious director James Wan make this film still be fast and furious while paying the fitting respects to a passed co-star? Join Stuart, Jakob, and Arnie to find out!

With Fast Five director Justin Lin opened the car racing franchise up to a wider audience. With in his final film in the series, Fast & Furious 6, Lin tried to continue that trend, setting Vin Diesel's group of likeable outlaws against a European terrorist. The action set pieces were bigger, as was the box office, but can this film rev higher than the last instalment? Join Arnie, Stuart, and Jakob to find out--and then come back next Tuesday as we conclude the serious with a review of Furious 7!

Director Justin Lin had one thought going into his third Fast and Furious movie--what if they didn't make it a Fast and Furious film. Rather than focusing on fast cars and racing, Fast Five becomes an action film involving drug dealers and spectacular chases. Culling a cadre of characters from the first four films, and adding The Rock as a new nemesis for Vin Diesel's Dominic Toretto, Fast Five set a new course for the franchise. How does this film rank for action? Listen and find out!

After the third Fast and Furious movie crashed at the box office the series could have run out of gas for good--until original stars Vin Diesel and Paul Walker returned to give it a jump start! With the two headliners returning, as well as supporting cast Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster, plus Justin Lin back behind the camera, audiences hit the NOS to get to theaters! Will this film live up to the hype? Join Stuart, Arnie, and Jakob to find out!

The third Fast and Furious film took a sharp turn, leaving the series' previous actors in the dust to tell a new story about a rebellious teen racing on the streets of Tokyo. The series has a new star, a new style of racing, and a new director in Justin Lin--who would return for three more Fast and Furious installments. Does the third movie in this series have the Now Playing hosts turning Japanese? Listen now to find out!

When The Fast and The Furious raced up the box office Universal Pictures thought they had a franchise on their hands and hit the NOS for a sequel--with or without Vin Diesel. So for 2 Fast 2 Furious Paul Walker returns as Brian O'Connor, once again going undercover to bring down a criminal mastermind. This time, though, Brian's trash-talking bald-headed partner isn't Dominic Turetto, but Roman Pierce played by R&B singer Tyrese Gibson. Helmed by Oscar nominated director John Singleton, is this sequel Carz in the Hood, or did this cash-grab get the Shaft? Race to NowPlayingPodcast.com to hear this review and find out!

Pixar films including Toy Story, Monsters Inc., and Finding Nemo, had been smash hits. But could this success that worked on toys, fish, bugs, and beasts, work for a movie starring a roster of human characters? That was the risk they took with The Incredibles -- Pixar's first superhero film. The gamble worked and Pixar had another hit, but how does this film hold up more than 10 years later? Join Stuart, Arnie, and Jakob to find out!

An undercover police officer infiltrates a group of thieves, but can he resist the lure of the subculture and do his duty? No, we're not talking the Keanu Reeves/Patrick Swayze film Point Break--we're reviewing the 2001 car racing film The Fast and The Furious. Starring Vin Diesel, fresh off the success of Pitch Black, the film raced to box office success and launched a billion-dollar franchise. But is there more to this film than fast cars and attractive women? Join Stuart, Arnie, and Jakob to find out!

The making of this film is unlike any other: director Richard Linklater and his stars convened annually over the span of twelve years to make a movie about a boy growing into a man. The sheer scope and complexity of the project is enormous, but it was completed when Boyhood hit theaters in 2014. But with all the behind-the-scenes complexity, was the final film worth it? Join Stuart, Jakob, and Arnie in this review to find out!

​Christopher Nolan's film Interstellar tells of an Earth that is dying; those who don't starve to death will suffocate in an atmosphere turning toxic. Our only hope comes in the form of Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), a farmer who crashes NASA's secret base thanks to mysterious messages from beyond. It's an ambitious film filled with hard science and lots of discussions of love. Is it a film that has found its place in the stars, or that has crashed to its place in the dirt? Join Arnie, Stuart, and Jakob to find out!

Last summer's supernatural horror film The Conjuring scared up big profits for Warner Bros. Pictures. While ghostly Bathsheba terrorized the house, it was possessed doll Annabelle that stole the show. Now the porcelain poltergeist is back in her own spin-off film! The film scored much green in its opening weekend, but will it get green arrows from the Now Playing hosts? Listen to find out!

Platinum Dunes Studios has released more franchise reboots than original films, attempting to update horror classics Friday the 13th, The Amityville Horror, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre for a new generation. Their latest reboot is of a totally different sort--Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Can producer Michael Bay bring his Transformers toyetic touch to the Turtles? Join Stuart, Arnie, and Jakob in this final TMNT review to find out!

Rhino. Electro. Green Goblin. In 2012's The Amazing Spider-Man the web head had a hard time defeating one bad guy, but now he is up against three. With The Amazing Spider-Man 2 director Mark Webb has an even harder challenge than rebooting the film series--he has to up the stakes while setting the stage for Sony to launch an entire Spider-Man cinematic universe of films. With all the movie moguls planning annual films and three bad guys on screen, can Andrew Garfield's Peter Parker still get a story of his own? And after a polarizing first film, does The Amazing Spider-Man 2 show a hero on an upswing, or a downward fall? Listen to Arnie, Jakob, and Stuart's review to find out!

The First Avenger is back in the latest film from the unstoppable Marvel Cinematic Universe. With a mysterious new assassin out to kill Captain America and S.H.I.E.L.D. turning on him, it's up to the Star Spangled man along with his friends Black Widow and new hero The Falcon to save the day. Is this a good installment in Marvel's Avengers series or just a stalling tactic until we get The Avengers: Age of Ultron in 2015? Listen to Arnie, Stuart, and Jakob's review to find out!

Robocop is back! After two theatrical sequels that quickly declined in quality, a syndicated TV series, and a series of TV movies, the cyborg cop is back in theaters with a totally new take on the tale of Alex Murphy. Gone is Verhoeven's ultra-violence and satrical take on 80's business, and instead Robocop is now a state of the art tactical killing machine, dressed in black. Does this new angle on the robot cop work, or should Murphy have stayed dead? Listen to Arnie, Jakob, and Stuart's review to find out!

While the frequency of their collaborations has slowed, Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese are together again in 2013's Oscar-bating docu-comedy The Wolf of Wall Street. DiCaprio plays real-life Wall Street criminal Jordan Belfort, who lived a sex, drug, and money fueled lifestyle before his short stint in prison. Does Scorsese's style work when showcasing white-collar crime families? Listen to Arnie, Stuart, and Jakob's review to find out!

The posters declare "You Will Know Her Name" but for fans of horror, Brian DePalma, or Stephen King you already know her name--Carrie, the outcast girl whose telekinetic powers will be both her salvation and her damnation. When it was announced this film was being adapted to screen for a third time even original author King said "Why, when the original was so good?". But now the new adaptation is in theaters to tell a younger generation of movie lovers why they should know her name. Was King right and this film unnecessary, or can this film still shine in the shadow of the 1976 original? Listen to Arnie, Jakob, and Stuart's review 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!

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.

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!

25 years ago Bruce Willis delivered his career-making performance as John McClane in the original Die Hard. To celebrate this milestone, John McClane is back, once again showing terrorists that McClanes are hard to kill as he teams with his son to fight Russian terrorists. Is this film a good day for Die Hard? Listen to find out!

After reviewing 25 movies released over the span of 50 years, Now Playing reaches the conclusion of its James Bond retrospective series--Skyfall. Continuing the rebooted spy stories starring Daniel Craig, Skyfall has already become the top-grossing film in the James Bond franchise, and there is even rumblings of Academy Award honors. But can it really best Craig's Casino Royale, and how does a life long Bond fan warm to this new take? Listen to Now Playing's ultimate James Bond review to find out! Plus the hosts reflect on all 25 Bond films, picking the best and worst actors, film, and songs from the franchise!

The Dark Knight Rises, Christopher Nolan's much-anticipated conclusion to his Batman trilogy, opened last Friday under the pall of a senseless tragedy that occurred at a screening in Colorado. Nationwide, people mourn for those lost, and pray for those injured. But the majority refuse to let the acts of one man taint a movie they've waited four years to see, and audiences rushed to theaters and IMAX to see if Nolan's latest effort could measure up to 2008's record-breaking, Academy Award winning The Dark Knight. Listen to Arnie, Stuart, and Jakob's final review in their Batman retrospective series to find out if it did!

THE AVENGERS! Breaking worldwide box office records this super-hero team-up is a film that seems impossible to make, and yet they did! After a year of reviewing movies based on Marvel Comics characters, listen to Arnie, Stuart, and Jakob's review of this blockbuster film! Did it make a year's worth of viewing worth it, or did it fail to come together? Listen to find out!

After Ghost Rider set theaters ablaze in 2007 a sequel seemed assured, but it took five years to get here. But now Nicholas Cage returns in the quasi-rebooted Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. Johnny Blaze can have his curse lifted but first he must stop the devil from transferring his soul into the body of a young boy. From the directors of the cult hit Crank films, does this Ghost Rider spark with Arnie, Jakob, and Stuart? Listen to find out!

Transformers: Dark of the Moon made headlines this weekend. Despite Revenge of the Fallen being almost universally hated by critics and Transformers fans alike, the third Bayformers film has kept pace with the predecessors and broken box office records, grossing over $400 million worldwide in less than a week, and breaking the US Fourth of July holiday weekend record. But is the movie any good, or is it yet another example of a lackluster film that sets the box office ablaze due to gorgeous special effects and inflated 3-D and IMAX ticket prices? Listen to our latest podcast as Jerry, Stuart, and Arnie review this latest, and reportedly last, Michael Bay helmed Transformers film. Will a government conspiracy dating back to the Apollo moon mission bring the Transformers' storyline down to earth, or is all that's here what meets the eye? Listen to find out!

Fresh off the success of Return of the Jedi, blockbuster movie producer George Lucas was thought to have the golden touch and be able to do no wrong, but Lucas has always been one to do the impossible. And in the late summer of 1986, Howard the Duck was laid into by critics and fans alike. Now, for the 25th anniversary of this legendary flop, Arnie, Stuart, and Jakob watch and review the film as the start of their Marvel Comics Movie Retrospective Series! Is the movie as bad as critics said, or like Lucas said, 25 years later is this film looked back upon fondly? Listen to find out!

Over 25 years after Daniel-san first craned kicked his way into movie history comes this remake of The Karate Kid, starring Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan. Shot on location in China and featuring Kung Fu instead of Karate, this reboot of the franchise hopes to pack the same punch with a new generation of moviegoers. Does this retelling of the story for modern audiences have the same heart that makes the original the classic it is today, or is this just another Hollywood remake that misses the point? Listen in and find out!

Nine, Ten, Freddy's back in theaters again--and Now Playing is back also with the ultimate review in our Nightmare on Elm Street retrospective series as we review the brand new Nightmare on Elm Street movie. Gone are Robert Englund and Wes Craven, replaced by Jackie Earl Haley and Samuel Bayer, bringing a new, darker Freddy to a new generation of horror lovers. Join Stuart, Arnie, and Brock as they review this film, giving a review from the point of view of a horror fan, a Freddy fan, and a newbie to horror films. We compare the new Nightmare on Elm Street to the original, and wrap up our entire Nightmare on Elm Street reflecting on the series as a whole, Freddy's place in the pantheon of horror icons, and comparing how the new Nightmare reboot compares to other recent horror reboots. Does Jackie Earl Haley give audiences the dangerous, evil Freddy they'd always dreamed of? Listen to find out!