Recovered: Recent Episodes
Dan Gibbins and Keith Kollee
Welcome to Recovered, where Dan and Keith dig into all films remade, rebooted, and redone. They say there are no new stories under the sun, and Hollywood's been taking that as an excuse to tell the same stories over and over since the silent era, so we dig into which movies warranted a remake, which remakes improved on the original, and how very often neither of those things are true.
Munsi Parker-Munroe rejoins Dan and Keith to delve into the cinematic universe of "What if multiple fancy murderers were all in a place where you wouldn't expect them to all be?" In the beginning comes Smokin' Aces, a full deck of current and future stars as a variety of feds and hitmen circle the one drug-riddled informant who could bring down the last Castra Nostra boss. Violent hijinks ensue! Then future Oscar nominee Martin McDonagh gets pulled into the conversation with Seven Psychopaths, the story of a filmmaker who really doesn't want to do a violent crime flick but promised to make a movie called Seven Psychopaths so may have painted himself into a corner. And finally, a collection of colourful criminals find themselves caught in fate's web as they're all drawn to the same Bullet Train, which unexpectedly becomes a master class of set-up and payoff. Are these really all remakes of Smokin' Aces? Or has Munsi concocted a ruse to let us have some fun with some killers? Listen and find out!
Dan and Keith dive into some theoretically romantic Faustian bargains with two takes on Bedazzled! Back in the 1960s, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore riffed some bits on a man meeting the Devil until they spun it into Bedazzled, in which a quiet cook named Stanley is offered a deal by Lucifer, aka George Spiggott, and given seven wishes, seven chances to find a way to win the heart of his crush, Margaret. But George has his own agenda and finds seven ways to mess with Stanley, weird, devil's bargains are usually so uncomplicated. Three decades and change later, Hollywood tried to replace the desert-dry with a more broad style, casting Peak Era Brendan Fraser as lovelorn Elliot as Elizabeth Hurley as the scheming devil making a monkey's paw out of his attempts to forge love from rewriting his crush's very identity. Two perfect movies to watch immediately after Obsession. But which did it better? Which comedy landed better or aged worse? Find out!
Dan and Keith head beyond the veil for some Jacob's Ladder scenarios! In 1990, a biblical term and also electric desk toy becomes a thriller starring Tim Robbins and a bunch of future stars, as a Vietnam vet named Jacob gradually learns maybe he never actually made it home from the 'Nam after all. Keith has some glowing praise while Dan digs into the layers of the storytelling: what IS real? What life does he struggle to let go of? Then, nearly three decades later, a remake occurs in which an Afghanistan vet named Jacob chases a conspiracy involving his presumed dead brother, but everything in his life begins to collapse... as does any chance of following the plot or how this is a Jacob's Ladder remake. One has layers upon layers worth unpacking, one slaps a classic film title on a shaky story and hopes to cash in. Catch the breakdowns!
With a cry of "Klaatu barada nikto," Hugo Book Club founder Olav Rokne returns to help Dan and Keith break down two takes on The Day The Earth Stood Still. In the 1950s, an alien named Klaatu and his robot pal Gort arrive on Earth with a message for all for mankind... but finds it difficult to get the leaders of mankind in one room to hear it. Then we jump to the 2000s, as an all-star cast takes on a new take on Klaatu's warning to humanity, with a new message for humanity to learn before it's too late. But which message lands the best? We discuss, you listen, lest Gort come at you.
Dan and Keith hit the Amazon river for not just ANaconda, it's TWOacondas! In 1997, a handful of rising stars and also Eric Stoltz went looking for hidden indigenous tribes, only for Jon Voight, making a big choice with his accent, to hijack the expedition to find giant man-eating snakes. CG carnage ensues! Then we jump to last year, as Jack Black, Paul Rudd, Thandiwe Newton, and comedy assassin Steve Zahn head to South America for an Anaconda remake about doing an Anaconda remake. Do the laughs hit in 2025? Does anything Jon Voight is doing work in 1997? Debate ensues! Listen in!
Dan and Keith return to the Coen Brothers for tales of Ladykillers! In 1955, Alec Guinness and Peter Sellers led a gang of thieves making their home base the spare room of a doddering widow. The heist goes well, but the escape proves difficult under their landlady's eye, and dark hijinks ensue! Five decades later, the Coen Brothers took the gig of remaking it and transporting the story from England to the US deep south with Tom Hanks at the center, resulting in... nobody's favourite Coen Brothers movie. But how do they compare? Does the original hold up? Can the Coens top it? Find out!
Dan and Keith return to the Hyborian Age for two tales of the iconicly armoured redhead, Red Sonja. Back in 1985, schlock kingpin Dino De Laurentiis attempted to bring Conan the Barbarian ally (via Marvel Comics) Red Sonja to the big screen... without being able to feature or mention Conan himself. Despite talking Conan actor Arnold Schwarzenegger into a cameo that got stretched into a co-lead in post production. And its box office meant that it would be over four decades before anyone tried again, with a 2025 release that may never have seen a theatre, in which Matilda Lutz steps into the chainmail bikini to find her people and overthrow an empire, in sort of that order. How does the 80s version hold up? Is the 2025 version correctly or unfairly overlooked? Find out!
Dan, Keith, and guest Gina return to dig into the big screen version of Stephen King's It, the prequel spinoff Welcome to Derry, and more from the original novel (yes, there is still weird sex stuff left to unpack). In 2017, Andy Muschietti brought a new version of It to the big screen, one that drifted further from the source material... well, half of it, specifically the kid half, and when it proved to be a hit, the adults followed in 2019. Gina's back to compare and contrast the movies with the novel: what they kept, what they skipped, what they invented. Meanwhile Dan digs into what extra layers have been added by the prequel series Welcome to Derry, which proves the passion the Muschiettis (and Dan) have for Pennywise lore. And Keith falls between, reminding us all of the actual topic. All the evil clown discourse you could ask for! Listen in!
Dan and Keith head into the sewers of Derry, Maine to confront Stephen King's IT in all ITs current forms. Back in the 90s, IT became a very famous TV show, a two-part miniseries that tried to squeeze 1100+ pages of novel into three hours of movie with network TV standard to uphold, which meant some substantial cuts from the novel. Thankfully, guest Gina Stewart is here to walk Dan and Keith through all those cuts, and how much of it was weird sex stuff. We sort through what worked, which cast shone (and it isn't JUST Tim Curry), and what was never making it to television (including, yes, THAT scene). Join in for part one, before Pennywise is reborn for the big screen next episode!
Grab your mops and get ready to clean up this town as Dan and Keith take on the Toxic Avenger! Way way back in the 1980s, b-movie titans Troma Films accidentally created a surprisingly mainstream franchise when bullies sent a neurodivergent janitor into a vat of toxic waste, creating mutant superhero the Toxic Avenger, who set out to clean up Tromaville with a mop, a mission statement, and a radar for evildoers... and, time permitting, deal with the mass-murdering bullies who tormented him. Just last year, after two years on a shelf, Troma released a new take on Toxie, with Peter Dinklage as a man, torn from his family, murdered in his prime, only to return to Earth resurrected as a super-strong, hard to kill toxic mutant, who takes on Kevin Bacon for the future of his city and stepson. A b-movie classic vs a modern remake that refuses to take itself seriously: which Toxic Avenger prevails? Find out!
At last, the Phantom Saga arrives at the most influential and successful adaptation of Gaston Leroux's doomed romance horror novel... Andrew Lloyd Webber. Dan and Keith are joined by musical theatre aficionado Colleen Bishop to break down Webber's adaptation of the story, and what happened when Joel Schumacher was tasked with bringing it to the big screen. But wait, there's more! Decades later, in place of seeing a therapist, Webber chose to work through some issues by writing a bizarre sequel where the Phantom runs a burlesque show, Raoul is a drunken gambler, and Christine was a fool for ever choosing the pretty rich guy over the soulful artist, Andy's doing fine you guys, he's doing SO fine. What makes the musical a classic? How did it survive its film adaptation? And how off the rails does Love Never Dies get? All this and more as the Phantom saga concludes!
Hollywood hasn't stopped remaking and rebooting the same stories over and over since we began this journey, and it was inevitable that at some point past topics would see new versions. Dan and Keith check in on the latest editions of iconic heroes, chocolatiers, or holiday-themed mass murderers. Timothée Chalamet pits whimsy against ruthless capitalism (while Keith questions if music makes you a musical), James Gunn takes the DCU up, up, and away, while a new Santa finds good uses for an axe. One delights, one is an argument, and one works much better than either host expected, find out which as Recovered Revisits.
Strap on your sneakers and get ready to bolt as Dan and Keith jog into two very different takes on Stephen King's The Running Man! Way way back in the 1980s, secret government employees frame Arnold Schwarzenegger for a mass murder he'd refused to commit, and he ends up recruited to the police state dystopia's most popular game show, The Running Man. Arnold and his pals must survive an arena and the high-concept gladiators sent after them to win (maybe) freedom, or possibly find a way to crash the system. In 2025, Edgar Wright goes back to the source material, as Glenn Powell finds his only way to get his family out of crippling poverty is to enlist on the Running Man, where he's given 30 days to try and elude some more generic hunters... and every person with a cell phone being encouraged to turn on him. The dangers of deepfakes, the end goal of the "war on woke," and some classic Arnie one-liners abound. Which Man Ran best? Find out!
Dan and Keith head down once more into the lair of the Phantoms and their various operas, if not of the box office. One made-for-TV movie sets Jane Seymour and Michael York against a Phantom whose motives go from sympathetic to sinister on a dime, while another stretched the story to a full miniseries to soft-launch a rival Phantom musical. In between, an animated version tries to speed-run the original novel with Hanna-Barbera level animation. Finally, Dario Argento enters the opera house with some wild swings, including the prettiest Phantom and way more of a specific character than anyone would expect. How to the Phantoms hold up? Which one is wildly popular with viewers? Find out!
Dan and Keith head to Germany for two movies on three key things: dance, magic, dance! In 1977, Italian director Dario Argento told the tale of an American ballerina caught up in a German dance academy secretly run by witches... witches that go from zero to murder alarmingly quickly. The visuals were sharp and colourful, but the story seemed thin... then in 2017, Luca Guadagnino went with starker greys, more dance, and so much story Dan and Keith need shovels to unpack it all. Which Suspiria succeeded in which ways? Is the original Argento's best movie? Is the remake Dakota Johnson's? Find out our thoughts.
And we're back into the Phantoms & Operas sagas, seeing how two distinct film eras take on the Phantom: the auteur era of the 70s, and the slasher horror era of the 80s! In the time when creative vision was king, two Phantoms emerge. Wicked, Wicked attempts a new cinematic technique called DuoVision as a Phantom haunts a mid-range hotel, while Brian De Palma and Paul Williams unite for the rock opera Phantom of the Paradise, blending the Phantom with Faust and a lot of great tunes. But once Andrew Lloyd Webber made the Phantom a Broadway smash, there was only one thing to do: cheap knock-off horror movies! Robert Englund tries to break away from Freddy Krueger in the more book-accurate Phantom of the Opera, while a competing film in the same year goes another way in Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge, both brining the key elements of terror: blood, gore, and... Pauly Shore? Which is the best adaptation? Join us and find out!
'Tis the season to embrace, be merry, and hope the rich jerks in your life get haunted, and to celebrate, Dan and Keith take on a Curated Selection of Christmas Carols. Trying to cover every version of Dickens' classic holiday haunting would be an act of madness, so after travelling back to 1901 for the first ever film Scrooge, the boys examine ways Scrooge cinema tried to add elements to the story, be it meta-commentary, modernization, Muppetization, and more. Bill Murray, Michael Caine, Some Bloke From Eastenders, and Miscellaneous learn the errors of their ways on Christmas Eve, and we break down what errors they may have missed. God bless them, (almost) every one! Join in!
At last it arrives! In sleep it sang to you, in dreams it came... the Phantoms of the Operas Mega-Saga begins! Dan and Keith head way, way back to the silent era for the first film adaptation of Gaston Leroux's gothic horror novel the Phantom of the Opera, with Lon Chaney as the signature Phantom. Then it's off to China for Chinese cinema's first ever horror movie, the loose Phantom remake Song at Midnight, which may have added an element to Phantom lore? Back in America, the 40s tried a version that was too little Phantom, too much Opera, while in the 60s Hammer Horror asked "But what if the Phantom WEREN'T the villain?" Dan and Keith debate unmaskings, which even count as horror movies, and how some were held back by their eras as the Phantom Journey begins!
It's the big 100th episode, and to celebrate, our hosts (or are they?) dig into our lords and saviours, the RoboCops! In 1987, Paul Verhoeven satirized capitalism through a hero that was part man, part machine, and all cop, and John Tebbutt explains what got lost from the later director's cut, while Emma Gallaher relates her first-time-viewing experience. Then, 27 years, two sequels, a TV show, and at least one cartoon later, a star-studded remake was attempted that came close to touching on big topics, but like the robotic cop at the center of the story, it stops working when emotions are involved. Dan and Keith have thoughts... wait, who's hosting this again? Listen in and find out!
Wrapping up our dissection of Fantastic Four cinema with two polar opposite takes on Marvel's First Family. In 2015, Josh Trank attempted a more grounded, body-horror-infused take that met with severe studio notes and mandated reshoots, leading to a bunch of grey corridors and one action beat before the credits. It did not go over great. This very year, the MCU finally got their crack at the characters, and presents a whimsical, retro-futuristic world where an established Fantastic Four takes on Galactus for the fate of their world, and moreso, their family. Have we hit the best and worst of the Fours Fantastic? Find out!
The Fantastic Four! Once dubbed "The World's Greatest Comic Magazine," they've struggled to make it on the big screen, split between earnest attempts at blockbusters and quickie attempts to retain the film rights. And Dan and Keith are here to tackle one of each as the road to First Steps begins. Roger Corman produced the first attempt, a low-budget B-movie never intended to see the light of day, but which didn't account for the nascent internet's ability to spread a video file. Eleven years later, Tim Story made it into theatres with, at present, the only Fantastic Four movie to earn a sequel. Who did best with Dr. Doom? Which source material should Tim Story NOT have referenced? Can The Thing look good on screen? All this and more, with the Fantastic Four(s)!
Dan drags Keith into his film history brainrot in order to answer a question: do the biggest hits of the 20th century need or warrant a remake? We look at the biggest hit of each year from 1927 until 1999, from the dawn of the silent era to the birth of Jar Jar Binks and ask which of these hit films should be made again, which should stay lost to film history, and which will never stop being remade. Join in!
John Carpenter September continues as Dan and Keith crack open 1976's Assault on Precinct 13, and its 2005 remake, the same year as The Fog's remake. Carpenter's version favours simplicity, as the soon-to-close precinct is besieged by a seemingly unending and unstoppable horde of nigh-inhuman gang members on a vendetta, until only a handful remain. 2005, however, takes a different spin, as this titular precinct is under siege from corrupt cops, meaning the simple menace of the original is replaced by being massively out-gunned and out-armoured by an elite squad... but damned if Laurence Fishburne and Ethan Hawke aren't worth watching. Who plotted the better assault? Find out!
Welcome to Carpenter Summer, where Dan and Keith take on two 2005 remakes of vintage John Carpenter flicks! First up, The Fog, one of three 1980 horror movies starring Jamie Lee Curtis, in which an eerie fog sweeps over a small California town, bringing with it ghost sailors out for revenge! Or their money back. Or both? Twenty-five years later, Early-Smallville Tom Welling and Just-Started-Lost Maggie Grace headline a remake of this simple ghost story that lathers on lore, sets up a love triangle that doesn't pay off, and ends with a payoff that has almost no set-up. Is it a successful expansion of the original's concept, or simply too much mustard? We discuss, you are entertained.
Throw on your special glasses and get ready to get haunted as Dan and Keith dig into 13 Ghosts. Back in 1960, William Castle attempted a new gimmick: a special pair of glasses for audiences that either made ghosts appear, or made the movie utterly incomprehensible, as a family inherits their ghost-hunting uncle's house only find it filled with approximately a dozen ghosts. Forty-one years later, it's the cast in the special glasses as Tony Shalhoub must save his family from a little over ten ghosts with help from Matthew Lillard, and a bit of ghost writing from James Gunn. James Gunn, Matthew Lillard... well clearly Dan is going to fit Scooby-Doo in here somehow. Who haunts the best? Find out!
Casablanca! Generally regarded as one of the greatest movies ever made, perhaps the most correct the Oscars have ever been, and the last movie you'd ever expect to see on a podcast about remakes! So why is our favourite they-slash-femme comedienne Munsi-Parker Munroe joining Keith to talk about it? It's not like there's a secret 90s Casablanca remake that's also a grim sci-fi comic book adaptation starring Pamela Anderson, right? Right? RIGHT!? Love for a cinema classic quickly gives way to deep dives into a 90s schlock flick that might not be good, but was it the Casablanca remake we needed? Find out!
While James Gunn's Superman is soaring through theatres, Dan and Keith look back at the first time he wrote a big-screen adaptation of a Warner Bros. franchise: a pup named Scooby-Doo. Digging into the casting, the rewriting of the pitch, we ask: is it over-hated? Is it more clever than it's given credit? Maybe. Then it's time to jump from 2002 to 2020 as WB tries to launch a Hannah-Barbera Cinematic Universe with Scoob!, teaming up Mystery Inc. with less familiar characters Blue Falcon, Dyna-Mutt, and Captain Caveman. Do they try too hard to launch a franchise? Is it funnier than we think? Or is trying to do a Scooby-Doo movie and Blue Falcon: Brave New World at the same time too much? We break it all down for you!
Dan, Keith, and guest Emma Gallaher are back to Transylvania for the 21st century Nosferatus! In 2024, horror auteur Robert Eggers decided to take another spin at Count Orlok... and perhaps because of this some amateur filmmakers Kickstarted their own version in 2023, with almost three recognizable stars in the mix. We tackle this low-budget retread first, which makes some odd choices with the central trio, then move on to Eggers, which shifts the focus from money-focused Thomas to tormented Ellen. Does Doug Jones as Orlok make the amateur version worthwhile? How does Eggers manage retelling the first vampire movie? We discuss, you are entertained!
Dan, Keith, and returning guest Emma travel as far back in film history as we've ever been to discuss the cinematic attempt at to file the serial numbers off Dracula with Nosferatu! In this first installment, it's heute auf Deutsch time as our hosts break down 1922's Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror, one of the earliest and most groundbreaking surviving horror movies of the silent era. How does it hold up? Can it hold up, asks Keith? Then we jump to the 70s, as Werner Herzog takes his own spin at the story, but while very much adapting Nosferatu brings back the names from Dracula? Odd choice. What other odd choices hit as the 70s auteur era reimagines the classic ugly-style vampyr? Join us to find out!
People always say "You couldn't make a [insert Mel Brooks classic] today." But were there movies Mel Brooks shouldn't have remade? That's the question facing Dan and Keith, presented by guest Olav Rokne of the Hugo Book Club, as we tackle To Be Or Not To Be. In 1942, Jack Benny starred in a farcical comedy about a theatre troupe rallying to save the Polish resistance from the Nazi occupiers, an occupation that was still very much ongoing during the film's release. Did that make the comedy a tough line to walk? Then, four decades later, Mel Brooks produced and starred in a remake that hit the throttle on the comedy yet still had more insights into the Holocaust, thanks in part to hindsight. Dan, Keith, and Olav break them both down, figure out who did what best, and how much the subject matter affected the laughs. Join us!
Dan and Keith head all the way back to the time to that brief overlap between the Golden Age of Hollywood and the dying days of vaudeville with comedy legends the Marx Brothers. In A Night at the Opera, Groucho, Chico, and Harpo Marx were said to hit a new height by blending their signature antics with a more grounded emotional arc (outsourced to supporting characters), but how do those antics hold up? Are aspects a little too vaudeville for a modern audience? And who would be bold enough to attempt to remake a Marx Brothers movie nearly six decades later, and why have you never heard of it? Should you have heard about it? Well, we're going to tell you about it. Listen in!
Dan and Keith head to ancient Greece and classic hero Perseus to weigh old-school stop motion against modern CG in the Clashes of the Titans! Back in 1981, legendary animator Ray Harryhausen wrapped a storied career with Clash of the Titans, in which Harry Hamlin's Perseus fights his way through stop-motion monsters to win the girl and claim a throne. Nearly three decades later, an all star cast (and Sam Worthington, fresh off one of the biggest hits in film history so you probably haven't already forgotten him) takes on a new twist on Perseus, with no throne to claim and the wrong girl gets chased, and only a few big name actors get wasted. Who did Perseus better? And who should have quit while they were ahead? Find out!
Turns out Rollerball was not the first instance of a Norman Jewison classic being remade by John McTiernan, so Dan and Keith strap in for round two, the Affairs of the Thomases Crown. In 1968, last days of the Hays Code, Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway squared off as bored millionaire turned bank robbery mastermind Thomas Crown and the insurance investigator who gets pulled into his orbit while trying to prove he's the thief, in a languid romance featuring some crimes. In 1999, when sexy crime thrillers were fully off the leash, Pierce Brosnan's Thomas Crown orchestrates an art heist just to feel alive, putting him in the path of insurance investigator Rene Russo, for a much sexier game of cat and mouse. Which story of romance and betrayal manages a better theme? Better heists? Fewer crimes by law enforcement? Find out!
Lllllllllet's get ready to ROLLERBALL! Dan and Keith dig into the 1975 cult classic dystopic sports flick Rollerball, in which James Caan must rise up against the world's corporate overlords by playing the best darn game of Rollerball he can, after about an hour of worldbuilding that only partially builds the world. In the early 2000s, legendary action director John McTiernan attempted to remake it for the Extreme Sports era, a truly epic mess of a process that sank his entire career. Dan and Keith dig into both, to see which era Rolled Balls the best: New Hollywood's heady-philosophical-white man stares forlornly era, or the xXx/Fast and Furious era? Find out!
Beloved friend of the podcast and Video Vulture John Tebbutt is back, and he's got a doozy for Dan and Keith. Schlock king Roger Corman unites Mission: Impossible's Peter Graves, iconic western villain Lee Van Cleef, and B-movie queen Beverly Garland for the sci-fi thriller, question mark, It Conquered the World, in which a Venusian alien lures an Earth scientist into helping it seize control of our world, and only the scientist's wife and best friend can turn him away from his alien pal. The following decade, a much less iconic schlock filmmaker changed the names and VIRTUALLY NOTHING ELSE to make Zontar, The Thing From Venus, which if nothing else serves as proof of Roger Corman's ability to make a movie. And then somehow it gets remade again by a classic Canadian sketch show? Dan, Keith, and John break it all down for your entertainment. Listen in!
John Woo's The Killer: one of the most iconic 80s Hong Kong action flicks, with Chow Yun-Fat leaping through dove-invested areas to fire two pistols in slow-motion. Who would dare to remake it? John Woo. Dan and Keith dig into the original (and how dubbed and subtitled versions differ), the choices excellent and confusing, then jump forward to 2024 to unpack the Straight-to-Streaming remake, and how being made for the Second Screen era has affected Woo's updated take on his classic. Does the new model live up? Listen and find out!
Hit the big city streets and get ready to look for vengeance, kind of, as Dan and Keith take on the Death Wishes. Back in 1994, Charles Bronson found his most iconic role as an architect who lashes out at random street criminals in the wake of an attack on his family. Dan and Keith break it down, how much it differs from the sequels that followed, and why that's Reagan's fault. Forty-four years later, Eli Roth and Bruce Willis give the story a new spin, while hewing closer to the revenge thriller post-70s audiences expect. What do our hosts think? Interesting journeys? Satisfying revenge? Or wishing for death? Find out!
Dan and Keith head to Mega-City One to look into two Judges Dredd! First, back in the 90s, Sylvester Stallone brought Britain's favourite satirical comic Judge to Hollywood, but perhaps put a little too much of him on the screen. Dystopic future, overly aggressive protagonist, Rob Schneider is here for some reason, it's a blend of a Judge Dredd adaptation and a Demolition Man follow-up that fails at being either. Two decades later, Karl Urban slips on the iconic helmet for the simply titled Dredd, and we break down everything they put right that the 90s version did wrong, from plot to costume to the insufficiently famous Olivia Thirlby. Listen in!
As the MCU returns from hiatus, Dan and Keith look back at the film that set up Captain America: Brave New World... that being 2008's The Incredible Hulk. First, in 2003, Ang Lee and a young producer named Kevin Feige attempted a deep, psychological Hulk, with comic-book-style editing, examinations of trauma and repressed memories, and a bit of a whackadoo climax, that may have been all theme, no plot. Five years later, Feige made one of the debut movies of his Marvel Cinematic Universe experiment a safer, simpler Hulk story... that was sandwiched between two much bigger superhero hits and largely slept on. Dan and Keith discuss what works better: a big swing that doesn't connect, or a bunt that doesn't astonish? Listen in and make your choice.
Grab your shovel and prepare to make bad choices as Dan and Keith unearth the Pet Semataries! Way way back in the 1980s, during the heyday of Stephen King adaptations, a former star of Star Trek: TNG and a future star of Time Trax took on an adaptation of Pet Sematary, the one Stephen King book that scared Stephen King. Three decades later, another attempt was made, which didn't start changing things up until the back third, then changed a lot. Which do Dan and/or Keith prefer? Why did Dan insist on mentioning Time Trax in the synopsis like anyone knows what that is? Why does Keith come at John Lithgow? Listen and find out!
Dan and Keith take a deep sigh, say "This may as well happen," and get into two takes on The Crow. First, the extremely 90s original with Brandon Lee and a bunch of cool character actors. How does it hold up? How does the tragedy at the core of the movie affect the viewing? Breaking down the unsafe production that cost us a rising star in Brandon Lee and imagining what might have been had someone safety checked that blank. Thirty years later, a remake limped into theatres, and Dan and Keith dig into what went wrong and how often, starting with why you don't spend half your runtime building up a McGuffin. Listen in!
It's a new year, and Hollywood is still allergic to new ideas, so we have a new crop of remakes on the Horizon! Hooray, question mark? Dan and Keith dig into all the remakes and reboots on the horizon, from Fantastic Four: First Steps and Superman to new takes on Stephen King, Saturday morning cartoons, a weirdly unconnected trio of Universal Movie Monsters, and deep cut remakes you'd never expect that may or may not be released... plus find out what Mega-saga is stalking in the wings, waiting to strike! Listen in!
Ho ho holiday greetings, as Dan and Keith celebrate the season the Recovered way: unpacking movies with the same premise! First up, what else but the internet's favourite non-Muppet Christmas movie, Die Hard! John McClane is trying to save his marriage and Christmas, and we love him for it enough that it spawned a sub-genre. But of all the Die Hard clones out there, only one dared to be EVEN CHRISTMASIER... by having literal Santa Claus go full Die Hard in 2022's Violent Night! So curl up by the fire, grab some cookies, makes fists with your toes on the carpets, and tune in for A Very Recovered Christmas.
Grab your parka, light a flamethrower, and trust no one as we take on Things from Other Worlds! First, Dan, Keith, and special guest Emma head back to the 1950s for The Thing From Another World, based on the story Who Goes There, as an arctic base is beset by a plant-based invader out to steal their blood, and science and military find themselves at odds. Then jump to 1982 for another attempt to adapt the story, Keith's very favourite movie, John Carpenter's The Thing, a masterwork of paranoid thrills and practical effects; and its 2011 prequel-sort-of-remake, a case study of studio notes run amok. How will Keith deal with a remake of his favourite flick? How much damage can one bad test audience do? Find out!
Dan and Keith go storm chasing with Twister and Twisters! Back in the 90s, Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt chased tornadoes for non-specific Science while staying ahead of their rival who was out for vague Profit in a simple storm flick that became one of the top hits of 1996. A whopping 28 years later, Hollywood took another crack at it with Twisters, which despite its title has the approximate same number of tornadoes but being a Movie From the Mid 2020s DOES have more Glen Powell. Dan and Keith unpack motivations, quirky casts, film language, and how it's a little weird to portray tornadoes as slasher movie villains that can be defeated with microplastics. We've got the entertainment, so if you FEEL IT... CHASE IT!
Dan and Keith head back to the old west for two takes on the gritty western 3:10 to Yuma. Both versions see a desperate rancher agree to escort an outlaw bandit to the train to a prison in Yuma, something his gang is very willing to kill to prevent. In 1957, the conflict comes from the growing connection between Dan the rancher and Ben the bandit, and Ben probes and tests Dan's resolve through a long wait in a hotel for the train's arrival. The 2007 remake casts Russell Crowe and Christian Bale for a more action-packed version, but does it lose the original's magic? Take the train with us and find out.
It's another 80s classic (question mark) with a largely overlooked remake as Dan and Keith take on the Red Dawns! Back in Reagan's America, Hollywood wove a tale of America being invaded by a Russian/Cuban alliance, which took a very elaborate amount of set-up to justify, held at bay by rising stars Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen, Jennifer Grey, and Lea Thompson. The fierce Soviet alliance brought America to its knees overnight, but couldn't withstand six teenagers with attitudes. In 2012, after a few years on the shelf, an updated version was released with a new invading enemy... that had to be quickly re-written to keep valuable markets in play. The definitely not Chinese invaders are harassed by the recently famous Chris Hemsworth, The Beekeeper's Josh Hutcherson, The Orville's Adrianne Palicki, and somehow it all makes even less sense. Dan and Keith have some notes on the whole enterprise, from improbable set-ups to which fast food chain clearly didn't pay enough for their product placement. Listen in!
Jump back, listeners, as it's time for another 80s classic and its 2010s remake as Dan and Keith cut loose, Footloose. In 1984, Kevin Bacon comes to the town of Bomont to redeem it from frenzied Satanic Panic oppression through the power of dance, with excellent supporting performances from Chris Penn, John Lithgow, and the great Diane Wiest. Then in the 2010s, the story is retold with few updates aside from "also rap exists," with a cast whose breakout star is... Miles Teller? In the Chris Penn role? That can't be right, can it? Which version was better than it had any right to be, and which underdelivered? Tune in and cut foot loose with us!
The Kaiju Saga reaches its conclusion in the cinematic smackdowns of Godzilla Vs. Kong, the Scaly Boi vs. the Big Monke. But it's not cinema made it to the Monsterverse before someone thought "Maybe these two could fight," so we start back in the Showa Era with King Kong Vs Godzilla from 1962 (or '63 depending on country), in which Big Pharma orchestrates a fight between monsters for reasons that almost make sense. That done, back to the 2020s as Hollywood emerges from Plague Times with Godzilla Vs. Kong, then has the lizard and the monkey team up for the mismatched buddy cop throwdown Godzilla X Kong: New Empire. Who had the best human subplots? Or the most human subplots? Where were the best fights? Dan and Keith break it all down. Join us!
Dan and Keith are back into the Kings Kong, starting with Peter Jackson's 2005 remake. Fresh off Lord of the Rings, the future Sir Peter goes back to the 1930s in a lavish remake that references and homages the original while still adding a contemporary sensibility. Dan has some flowers for the filmmaking, while Keith thinks maybe Jackson put too much mustard on it. Then we return to the Monsterverse with Kong: Skull Island, a new take on Kong lore with a new story and a new way to make Man the real monster, as an all-star cast heads to Skull Island and finds out the massive gorilla isn't the biggest threat around. How do the 20th Century Kongs fare against the classics? Will Keith finally break Dan, or vice versa? Find out now!
We are back into the Kaiju Saga, trading Japan's scaly king for the USA's Big Monke! Dan and Keith cover two takes on King Kong: the original 1933 classic, and the 1976 remake that tries to be as different as it can while still being functionally identical. Two different Kongs of very different quality, but only one got a sequel: 1986's King Kong Lives, in which the producer and director of the remake reunite but can't convince any of the original cast to come back, so Linda Hamilton has to take their place. Who Kong'd the best? Will Keith's love of practical effects take a hit? Join us for the journey through 20th century Kongs.
Throw on a suit, grab your neuralizer, and bounce with us, just bounce with us as we dig into the Men in Black! Back in 1997 an obscure comic became a classic sci-fi buddy-cop action-comedy teaming Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith, then after two kinda samey sequels and a long gap an attempt was made to soft-reboot the franchise with Thor: Ragnarok's Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson. Special guest Munsi-Parker Munroe returns to explain why heavily bi-coded MIBs were what they never knew they always needed, the original gets some love, and Keith has some thoughts on MIB: International. Join in for the ride, and help us show some love to Weird Little Guy performers!
Our deep dive into giant monsters continues as Godzilla, formerly Gojira, makes the jump across the ocean to Hollywood! Eventually. Takes a couple of tries. In 1998, the director of Independence Day tries to adapt the big scaly boi for America, making big changes in design and backstory, with what could be called mixed results. Sixteen years later, the director of Rogue One kicks off the Monsterverse with a more classic Godzilla as humanity's one best hope against some... kinda generic monsters that don't get names, and it's enough of a hit that (after something we'll get to later) the franchise went full giant monster mash, as Mothra and Rodan pitch in for the title bout of Godzilla vs Ghidorra in Godzilla: King of the Monsters. Just like last time, but with way more budget and a stacked cast of notable actors. Can Hollywood crack the Godzilla code? Dan and Keith discuss, you listen, we're all happy.
The much referenced saga begins, as Dan and Keith dig into Gojira, Godzilla to his western friends, by visiting each of the five eras of Toho Studios' Godzilla franchise. From the original classic, through to his Avengers-style team-up flick Ghidora the Three Headed Monster, to the back-to-basics revivals of Godzilla 1985 and Godzilla 2000, to the more serious reboot of Shin Godzilla and the first Oscar winner, Godzilla Minus One. There's monster fights, civic destruction, and even some human characters worth caring about in this flyover of seven decades of Godzilla history. Strap in and fly along!
A day at the circus gets very noir as Dan and Keith walk down two different Nightmare Alleys. Carnie Stanton Carlisle has dreams of making the big time with a mentalist act, one he must purloin from his employers in the carnival, and that dream goes very well until it very doesn't. In 1946, swashbuckling actor Tyrone Power tried to break out of his usual type as the con man Stan, in a version that does well but perhaps strains against 1940s film regulations. Over seven decades later, spooky visionary Guillermo Del Toro takes another swing at the story, with Bradley Cooper leading an all-star cast, that has more freedom in its content but maybe it too relaxed in its pacing. Dan and Keith pull both apart to figure out a favourite, so come join.
It's way back to the Golden Age of Hollywood and the early days of Dreamworks animation, and Dan and Keith take on two movies about con artist pals and the woman they meet along the way getting into shenanigans in exotic locales. Back in the 1940s, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour kicked off a hugely popular seven film series of road movie hijinks in Road to Singapore, which helps prove that millions of people can be wrong about something. Flash forward all the way to the year 2000, and Dreamworks concocts an animated adventure in the same vein with Kevin Kline and Kenneth Branagh taking The Road to El Dorado. We dig into what the 40s considered comedy, and the movie behind the "Both is good" meme, and have exactly one movie's worth of a good time. Plus Mayan facts from two white guys on the internet! How can you go wrong?
While schedules align and kaiju rampages are absorbed, Recovered brings back an old favourite with April Fool's Day, the episode that made our hosts reconsider some life choices. Ask if you can you remake a movie whose signature is a twist ending, re-experience Keith learning about the glories of G Vs E, and dig into what might be our least favourite remake to date. And some bonus content from Dan to kick us off!
Get ready for some Nights of Frights as Recovered digs up the 1980s camp creepshow classic and the 2010s remake. In 1985, suburban teen Charlie Brewster suspects his new neighbour Jerry Dandrige is a vampire, a claim his girlfriend Amy as associate "Evil" Ed find dubious. He must convince faded horror actor Peter Vincent, host of Fright Night, to help him take up arms against The Vampire Jerry. Cut forward to 2011, and a spookier, darker, unfortunately CG'd-for-3D Fright Night finds a different Charlie taking on a more vicious Dark Lord Jerry with the help of Vegas magician Peter Vincent. Who did which better? Dan and Keith have some disagreements. Listen now!
The X-Men film franchise was weird. Highs and lows and continuity just all over the place, and rather than sum it all up, Dan and Keith and special guest/X-Men enthusiast Munsi Parker-Munroe dig into its weirdest chapter: that time they took two tries at making a movie out of the Dark Phoenix saga, and hired the same writer both times. In 2006, Brett Ratner replaced Bryan Singer to wrap up the X-Men trilogy while also not doing that, then 13 years later writer Simon Kinberg managed to talk himself into a promotion to write and direct Dark Phoenix, in which the MacAvoy/Fassbender X-Men are dragged into a second attempt that half of them very clearly hate doing. Which did the Dark Phoenix dirtiest? Laugh and learn with Recovered and Munsi!
Get ready for a lot of punching and a little plot as Recovered takes on Road House! In 1989, Patrick Swayze is a legendary bouncer (something we're assured exists) out to save a struggling Kansas bar from the local tyrant rich man through calm, Zen, and if needed some fisticuffs. Jump forward to about a month ago, and Jake Gyllenhaal plays a very different Dalton out to save a somewhat different Florida Keys saloon from a mostly different blend of spoiled rich jerk through fisticuffs and if needed, some calm and Zen. Who pulls off more cool, better banter, and a more believable world? And which supporting character is the best character in either movie? Dan and Keith have takes a-plenty, listen and learn!
Back in early 2023, Dan and Keith did a special two-part episode looking at franchises speeding towards a reboot, and reboot/remakes hitting screens in 2023. Now they return for updates: which franchises are getting closer to hitting the screen? Which are farther away somehow and why? Plus Dan gives brief reviews of Wonka, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Evil Dead Rise, and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, plus if you pay attention, there's an accidental sneak peek of our next episode. Tune in!
Recovered is taking a brief break to process some unfortunate real-world issues, and while we do that, we're pleased to bring back one of our favourites, Crimes and Punishers. Get ready for pizza parties, pity parties, and an attempt to make "Yummy in my tummy" feel threatening as Dolph Lundgren, Thomas Jane, and the late, great Ray Stevenson bring three very different takes on Frank Castle's war on crime. Enjoy this Recovered Re-Release, and we'll be back soon.
Dan and Keith are back in the old west as a young girl, a grizzled marshal, and a cocky (and creepy) Texas ranger seek justice-slash-revenge in two takes on True Grit. In 1969, an aging John Wayne plays slightly against type as Rooster Cogburn, while still basically being John Wayne. It's considered an all-time classic western, so who would remake it? Joel and Ethan Coen, that's who. Three years off their first Oscar win, the Coens remake True Grit with 80% of the same dialogue but a spectacular cast. Two takes on the same story: how much of an improvement did the Coens manage? We discuss, listen in!
Grab your corset, rent your limo, and prepare to celebrate with bad choices, because Recovered is going to the prom! For murders! Back in 1980, scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis and not-yet-comedy icon Leslie Nielsen teamed up for Prom Night, a Canadian made horror movie about four teens hunted by a masked killer due to their past misdeeds... well, eventually. After a while. Nearly three decades later, a new team borrows the title and very little else for 2008's Prom Night, in which a teen girl is hunted by an obsessed teacher, and by "hunted" we mean he hangs around her hotel room and waits for victims to show up. How do the Nights Prom hold up as slasher horror? What 90s films does the remake owe more to? Meet us in the gym and we'll find out!
We've seen how Time Loop cinema moved from magical romcom to suspense thriller to sci-fi action, and now Dan and Keith jump back into the loops for slasher horror, and back to romcoms, now with a 2020s spin. First up, Happy Death Day, a proud part of Blumhouse's "But what if the popular thing were horror" collection, as a college student must relive her final day over and over until she figures out who's killing her. Then Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti are stuck at the destination wedding that never ends in Palm Springs. And to wrap up, a surprise bonus movie that may not have true time loops, but still captures the themes and emotional hooks that made the sub-genre resonate. Which movie did it best? Listen and find out!
Do you think Phil is gonna come out and see his shadow? That's right, woodchuckers, it's Groundhog Day! And subsequent movies inspired by Bill Murray's attempts to escape eternity in February 2nd. Instead of true remakes, Dan and Keith delve into how Groundhog Day popularized the time loop, and how the genre worked its way from magical romcom through multiple other genres and back to romcoms. In this instalment, we move from Murray and the groundhog to Franka Potente reliving a tense 20 minutes in Run Lola Run, to Tom Cruise living, dying, and repeating in Edge of Tomorrow. What tropes are introduced? How do the Germans do it better? Do time loops just work with everything? Listen in!
Time for some whodunnits and laughs as Dan and Keith delve into the comedic mysteries of Irwin "Fletch" Fletcher, investigative journalist. Way way back in the 1980s, Chevy Chase found success bringing the popular novel character to life as Fletch solves crimes through SNL sketches and determination. Over three decades and one failed attempt by Kevin Smith later, a new Fletch arrives in the almost annoyingly chiseled features of Jon Hamm in the tragically underseen Confess, Fletch. Who wears the mantle best? Or has the best supporting cast? Can Dan and Keith come up with actual criticisms, or will this just be a love-fest? Tune in and find out!
Keep your arms and legs inside your Doom Buggy and avoid flash photography, because Dan and Keith are delving into the Haunted Mansions! First, back in 2003, at the tail end of Disney's attempts to make hit movies out of their theme park attractions, Eddie Murphy brings... comedy, question mark?... to an adventure through the Gracie Mansion. Then, two full decades later, as Disney gives theme park movies another spin, a star-studded cast battles a baffingly cast Hatbox Ghost for the fate of the world, and increased hijinks. Which of these had the best blend of laughs, thrills, and easter eggs to the ride? Or is there a third contender Disney barely tried to tell you about? Listen in and find out!
The Recovered Slasher Saga reaches the conclusion, as Dan and Keith take on the time Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes tried to reinvent Jason Vorhees and Freddy Krueger for a new generation, following the eras rules for a horror remake: bigger gore, too much CGI, and get a Supernatural cast member in there. Is this Jason the meaty murderer we'd been wanting? We certainly get a less cartoonish Freddy, but at what cost? Unpack the successes and failures of the remakes, and hear Dan and Keith's final rankings.
Recovered takes a break from iconic mass murderers for... lady assassins? Okay. We head back to the 90s for a young Luc Besson's breakout movie, La Femme Nikita, and its questionably necessary American remake Point of No Return with Bridget Fonda. Video Vulture John Tebbutt returns to walk Dan and Keith through his youthful love for the French original, the moments where he became connected to its titular addict-turned-unwilling black ops agent, and how the remake manages to bungle so many of them by being a little too Hollywood. Plus Jean Reno and Harvey Keitel take on the same character, confusion over which Dermot is in this, and the debate over whether we're just impossible to please with remakes. Listen in!
After 10 Fridays the 13th and seven Nightmares on various Elm Streets, Dan and Keith arrive at the penultimate stop of the slasher saga: the title bout of Freddy Vs Jason. The dream terrors of Freddy Krueger collide with the brutal and blunt kills of Jason Vorhees, while Dan and Keith battle over best or worst cast member, casting conspiracy theories, and whether the movie hinges entirely on the last 20 minutes. Join in for the donnybrook!
Round two of Dan and Keith and Freddy Krueger, as the franchise goes from silly to dumb to... very meta. The slow slide from dread to cartoonish began last time with The Dream Master, and now the slide speeds up through The Dream Child and into the doomed-to-be-broken promise of Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare. Then, three years after Freddy's claw glove was hung up, Wes Craven returns to test some ideas he's been having about self-referential meta-horror in New Nightmare... a film that showed promise but wasn't quite Scream yet. We dig into Freddy's slide into near self-parody, bizarre cameos, Freddy Vision, and more as we witness the death and attempted rebirth of Nightmare on Elm Street.
Dan and Keith's Freddy/Jason deep dive continues as they move from Crystal Lake to Elm Street for the various dream-crimes of Freddy Kreuger. In part one, we look at how the original shaped the franchise Wes Craven never intended, how the second film is essentially the Super Mario Bros. 2 of horror, then debate whether the original or Dream Warriors is the best one and whether Dream Master is the last good time or the beginning of the slide into stupidity for Freddy. Grab your hypnocil, don't trust any small children, and whatever you do, don't fall asleep as Recovered heads to Elm Street.
Time for a deep cut! We jump all the way back to 1940 for the classic comedy The Philadelphia Story, in which Katherine Hepburn is torn between Cary Grant, James Stewart, and the shlub she's actually engaged to who isn't either and thus has no chance. Dan's delighted to present a true classic, Keith is out to get Cary Grant Twitter cancelled, but then it's time to leap forward in time to the far-future year of... um... 1956 for the full-colour musical remake, which replaces the leads with Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, and Frank Sinatra, and replaces large swathes of plot and character with whatever Cole Porter songs they could squeeze in. But also Louis Armstrong! There's no school like the old school, and this week Recovered is your headmaster. Visit the classics (question mark?) with us!
It's part two of our deep dive into the Friday the 13th Franchise, in which hockey-masked killer Jason Vorhees Lives, battles the New Blood, and takes scenic trips to Manhattan, Hell, and Deep Space. Dan and Keith break down the carnage from potentially the best installment to some of the worst, all of the ridiculous new lore lathered into the "Final Friday," and Jason's voyage to the future. Best kills? We got 'em. Final Girls? We score 'em. Regrets? Several. Come back to Crystal Lake with us!
A new multi-franchise crossover breakdown begins as Dan and Keith pack up the van for some fun at scenic Crystal Lake, home of the Vorhees clan! We unpack the Fridays the 13th, from their humble Kevin Bacon-wrapped origins, to the three-film journey to hone Jason Vorhees as a horror icon, to the beginnings of the Tommy Jarvis Triptych, in which the Jason saga got possibly as good and as bad as it ever did. Who are the best final girls? What are the best kills? Who dispatched the maniac killer the best (this one's pretty obvious)? Get your tent and sleeping bag and listen along.
Short answer yes, long answer, this episode.
Before we abandon superheroes for super killers, Dan and Keith take a look at the DC Extended Universe that was, and the DC Universe to come. Did the last three movies deserve to bomb? Why did they? And beyond the movies, what chronic issues were pointing to DC Entertainment needing to get its house in order? And what does the rebooted DC Universe need to do? We discuss, you are entertained! Join us for the journey.
It's part two of the Recovered/Academy Vs Audience crossover! After Keith popped over to AVA to discuss 1961's West Side Story, Claire and Erin hop into Recovered to talk Steven Spielberg's 2021 Oscar nominated remake. What improvements did Spielberg make? What did he sacrifice to make them? Who deserved more Oscar love than they got, and who absolutely deserved all they did/didn't get? Which song will Keith never forgive? All this and more as we tackle another Story of the West Side.
Get set to get wet, because Dan and Keith are heading into the water for two takes on murder fish! In 1978, king of schlock Roger Corman gives newbie director Joe Dante a break with his Jaws knock-of Piranha, then decades later the self-aware schlock of the 2010s cranked the spicy content to 11 for the oddly star-studded Piranha 3D. Dan and Keith unpack the hedonism, the gore, the inevitable second act pacing issues, how much more child-peril the 70s were willing to accept, if this entire genre is an attack on 60s counter-culture, and whether more money for more effects necessarily results in a better movie. Grab yourself a jetski, a shotgun, and head into the piranha-infested waters with us.
Grab your Panama hat, warm up the houseboat, and keep a weather eye out for rakes, because Recovered is heading to Cape Fear! Dan and Keith head back to the 1960s, when Gregory Peck produced an adaptation of the novel The Executioners only to get out-acted by Robert Mitchum and end up bankrupting his own production company. Three decades (ish) later, film legend Martin Scorsese takes a crack at the same story, with Robert De Niro Facing off with Nick Nolte. Along the way we dissect how expected morality levels shifted over the decades, along with what level of nobility audiences expected from their protagonists, character actress Illeana Douglas gets praised, and a certain someone has some hot takes for Marty Scorsese. Someone named Keith. Which version is better? One of the answers may surprise you.
Dan and Keith dig into two attempts to make the Mario Bros Movie: one live action flick that's an infamous failure, and one Minion-Motion animated movie that, depending on your take, might be a regrettable success? We've got love for Leguizamo, debates on "quippiness," and questions on how rational it is to expect every animated movie to reach the heights of the Lego Movies. You're in for a treat so hang onto your seat! Get ready for adventures and remarkable feats! You'll meet Koopas, the Troopas, the Princess and the Others, hanging with Recovered you'll be hooked on the brothers!
Roll for initiative, listeners, because it's time to delve Dungeons for Dragons! Two movies attempted to bring the classic table-top role playing game to the big screen, and one's a true treasure chest while the other is but a vicious mimic. Dan and Keith turn the clock back to 2000 to watch Jeremy Irons savagely, remorselessly overact in Dungeons and Dragons, then pop to just a couple of months ago for the endlessly entertaining Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. Why do they both center on thief leads? What can't Chris Pine's charisma do? How many types of overacting could the 2000 movie cram in? All this and a frank discussion of how streaming has affected the cinematic experience as a franchise levels up.
Wax your board, check your chute, and pop a Monster or a Red Bull (not NOS, wrong franchise), because it's time for EXTREME crimes in Point Break! Dan and Keith venture back to then-power-couple Kathryn Bigalow and James Cameron's surfing and bank robbing bromance, as Keanu Reeves pursues Patrick Swayze, and Lori Petty is also here to keep the homoeroticism in the subtext. Then 24 years later, IP owners desperate to keep up with bigger, bolder extreme sport action sagas bring it back but lose any and all sense of focus as a new Johnny Utah chases a different Bodhi through more extreme sporting and somehow fewer crimes. Also a woman is present. Catch the wave with us as we (point) break it all down!
After 18 films of Batmans dark or campy, Supermans classic and infamous, and the two V-ing each other, the journey concludes, and it's time to tackle the Justice Leagues. Dan and Keith unpack all four hours of Zack Snyder's Justice League, examine the new scenes the studio hammered into the theatrical cut, and look at the strengths and weaknesses of each versions (yes, they each have both)... and also prove that neither of these are the "worst Justice League movie," thanks to a failed TV pilot from the 1990s that the nascent internet wouldn't allow to fade out of memory. What did Zack Snyder deliver? What was the studio looking for? How did each succeed or fail? And is the TV pilot a war crime? Find out now!
And so, after 11 movies' worth of eight Batmen, and six movies covering three Supermen, Dan and Keith arrive at their intersection: Zack Snyder's... let's call it divisive opus Batman V Superman. Keith hates, Dan likes it, they're digging into to who's right while admitting that "flawless masterpiece vs worst movie ever" discourse is just, it's just, it's exhausting. So grab your Kryptonite spear and your Lasso of Truth and let's get to unpacking Batfleck, Snyder, and the worst arguments hardcore Snyder fans employ.
John Tebbutt, your Video Vulture, is back to walk Keith through the history of Donald Westlake's Parker novels, and the feature films similar to but legally distinct from his classic anti-hero protagonist. Back in the 1960s, classic Tough Guy Lee Marvin plays "Walker," the Parker-esque crook out to wring his rightful cut of some heist money out of organized crime syndicate The Outfit in Point Blank. Then, a little over three decades later, Payback sees Mel Gibson takes on the same story as "Porter," but an ambiguous ending and unforgivable dog-related crime get the director fired and a new ending filmed. We take on both versions in our quest to find the best Pseudo-Parker. Join us for the ride, and if you're not careful, you just might learn something.
With the journey through nearly every cinematic Batman complete, Dan and Keith turn their gaze to the film history of the Man of Tomorrow, the Last Son of Krypton, Superman! From Reeves to Reeve to Routh to... 'Ry Cavill, we take on every theatrically released Superman, and review the legacy of Richard Donner in both this franchise and beyond. Keith picks apart powers and Dan tries to bring up Smallville as little as he can, for you, listeners, for you. Join us as we go up, up, and away into Super-lore!
In the wake of the 95th Oscars (recorded before they happened), Dan and Keith take on two takes of a classic war story from opposite ends of film history with All Quiet on the Western Front, and how it's evolved from the dawn of the sound era to the age of the Netflix Exclusive. First, a look the 1930 OG, the third film ever to win Best Picture, less of a story than a sketch the-absolute-opposite-of-comedy about war trauma, then jump to just recently with the 2022 version, where Keith and Dan have some disagreements over how well it translated. It's horrifyingly riveting action, differing thesis statements about the Great War, and Dan's most hated character in vintage cinema, so strap in and join us for the journey.
Dan and Keith plunge into forgotten crypts to unearth an examination of the cinematic takes on Lara Croft: Tomb Raider! First, Oscar winner Angelina Jolie takes Lara through two movies, one hyper-dumb but somewhat fun, one that's more competent but less interesting. Then, once the video games reinvent themselves to target a new audience, Oscar winner Alicia Vikander brings this new less hyper-sexualized Lara to life. And to guide our hosts through this journey, actress and Croft enthusiast Emma Gallaher is here to explain Croft Boys, easter eggs, and how little Lara Croft movies actually require constant daddy issues. Grab your pickaxe and come exploring with us!
Round two of Recovered's journey through cinematic Bat-history! We leave behind the aggressive camp of the 90s and plunge into a aggressive realism of the 21st century Bats... with a detour into things animated and block-based along the way. Will we find the Best Batman? Which two wildly different movies are the lead competitors? What makes for a happy or sad ending to a Bat-flick? Dan and Keith discuss, argue, and maybe reach consensus. Or just get tired. It's been so many Batmen.
The time has come, the promised day has arrived: Keith and Dan begin their journey through the entire cinematic history of the Dark Knight, the Caped Crusader, the goddamn Batman. This instalment takes us from the camp days of Adam West to the camp revival of Joel Schumacher, as our hosts assess each era by the aesthetics, characters, story, action, and Dan's many opinions on music. We may not find The Best Batman Movie just yet, but have we found the worst? We'll see. Strap on your utility belts, get your atomic engines to speed, and join us for the ride.
As Heath Ledger said... And here. We. Go.
We've talked about what the big superhero franchises should do next, now Dan and Keith dive into 2023's crop of reboots, remakes, and requels to see what's worth getting excited for. Evil Dead is back? Hell yes. Can an Exorcist requel compete with Conjuring spin-offs? Are we sure the Wonka origin movie isn't a joke? Which is the one we're angriest we have to root for? All this and Dan forcing Keith to think about James Bond again in part two of our look forward.
While taking a holiday break, Dan and Keith sat by roaring fires to sip seasonal beverages* and discuss not remakes that have been made, but those yet to come. Some major IPs are barreling towards rebooting; what do they need to do to improve on what's already been done? From the tone of Marvel's First Family to underused villains to criminally neglected characters, Dan and Keith and a sudden guest look into what the next wave of superhero movies should be including.
*Wine has seasons.
Recovered remains festive in our own weird way as Dan and Keith dig into the horror classic Silent Night, Deadly Night, and its 2010s remake simply titled Silent Night. Santas are out to punish the guilty in elaborate, gory ways, and Keith and Dan struggle to parse exactly why and to form any sort of connection with the rapidly introduced victims. Which sinister Santa is committing the most holly, jolly, homicides? Listen now to find out!
Recovered gets festive as Dan and Keith dig into three takes on Dr. Seuss' classic heist tale, How the Grinch Stole Christmas. A brief overview of the animated short, then the two big screen Grinches: Jim Carrey in a rubber fursuit, and the voice of Benedict Cumberbatch as what Keith hates to learn is The Grinch Tumblr Got Horny For. Who Grinched the best? Had the least obtrusive backstory? What is "Oncest" and will Keith ever recover from finding out? All this and some very good dogs as Recovered gets Grinchy!
Special guest John Tebbutt, the Video Vulture, joins Dan and Keith through a tour of cinematic Djangos. In the beginning, the spaghetti western Django introduces a mysterious gunfighter with a coffin; decades later, Japan gets into the Django game with the Quentin Tarantino-backed-and-co-starring Sukiyaki Western Django, somehow set in feudal Japan, the old west, and also Tudor England maybe; then we follow Tarantino to the closest he's ever come to a remake (still pretty far but hey we're here anyway), the historical revenge flick Django Unchained. The body counts are high and the cinematic swings are big, come with us on the journey!
Recovered eases our way out of spooky season by switching from horror to suspense, with two adaptations of Daphne du Maurier's novel, Rebecca. First up, Gone With the Wind producer David O. Selznick takes a chance on a rookie British filmmaker named Alfred Hitchcock to bring the novel to live with (future Sir) Laurence Olivier; eight decades later, Netflix takes another crack at it with full colour, relaxed content restrictions, and... alleged sex cannibal Armie Hammer. Fun. Who did it best? What effects did the Hayes Code have on how this story could be told, and was escaping it enough to overcome the lack of Hitchcock? Listen and learn!
Dan and Keith have such sights to show you, as Recovered tackles Hellraiser! Travel back to the late 80s, as horror Maestro Clive Barker adapts his own novella about the Cenobites, unearthly beings with no distinction between pleasure and pain, and how they become minor players in one young woman's struggle against her step-mother and abusive, recently undead uncle. Then catch up to... a couple of weeks ago, as a new take on the Cenobites and their leader, known to us as Pinhead, stalk a group of 20-somethings in a desperate search for a cohesive theme. Does an upgrade in film technology result in an upgraded Hellraising? Listen and find out!
Welcome to spooky season! Dan and Keith begin to settle into the Halloween spirit with the brat pack (citation needed) thriller Flatliners and the 2010s remake that see med students attempting to peek beyond the veil to see what waits beyond death, only to learn the answer is varying amounts of murder ghosts. The original assembles an early 90s all star ensemble, with Kiefer Sutherland, Kevin Bacon, Julia Roberts, a top half Baldwin Brother, and the delightful Oliver Platt, while the remake gathers Elliot Page, Cassian Andor, Elena From The Vampire Diaries, and some other people. Who's doing the concept the most justice? And who forgot which movie they were doing for 20 minutes? Listen now and find out, or your regret will be waiting for you on the other side.
Three movies, two cities, 30 heisters! Dan and Keith go back to the 60s for Ocean's 11, the Rat Pack's heist flick that gave them an excuse to party in Vegas, then hop to 2001 for the remake that spawned a franchise, and to 2018 for the female led requel Ocean's 8! Who had the best crew? The best heist? Could they maybe have had better female roles sooner? (Hint: yes.) Did people in the 60s even LIKE heist movies? We dig into all of this and more as Recovered takes on the Dannys Ocean.
Get set to get wet as Recovered goes to sea for the Poseidon Adventure, one of the highlights of the 70s disaster flick craze, and it's 2000s remake, simply titled Poseidon. The 70s bring a star-studded cast, and the remake is filled with actors Dan knows from things Keith refuses to watch. Ships are flipped, lives are lost, and don't get attached to the actors playing the captain. Which doomed ship and its passengers had the best set piece spectacle? Who had the most pathos? Is there a version of this that could nail both a little more than either? Come on the adventure with us!
Dan and Keith venture back into horror for iconic 80s classic Poltergeist, and the 2010s sequel they needed to be reminded happened. We dig into the big questions: who really directed the original? How can the remake star both Sam Rockwell and Jared Harris yet pass this unmemorably? Who's using the supporting cast better? If practical effects can be this jaw dropping, why keep messing with digital replacements? Join Dan and Keith now, for.... they're heeeeeeerrrrrrre
Dan and Keith speed into the far flung future year of 2000 as envisioned by 1975, for the dystopic blood sport of Death Race 2000. Car-based gladiators slaughter their way through a cross-country race of miles and mayhem in a world dominated by the cruelty of minority rule fascism, where the resistance can't stop fighting each other long enough to make a difference, people are weirdly okay with Nazis, and the only unbelievable part is the notion that David Carradine is the sexy one in the cast. Then jump forward to the Unspecified Future as Death Race gets remade with the only star suitable to this much car-based ultraviolence, Jason Statham, in a new, modern blood sport dystopia that suggests maybe the US for-profit prison system has some flaws. Turns out there is a lot more to unpack than you'd think as we dig into the Death Races. Grab your navigator and strap in, it's a bumpy ride.
Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Your wife tried to kill you
Can you escape to reality?
Total Recalls
Get your ass to Mars and seeeeeeee
Dan and Keith take on two very rough adaptations of Philip K. Dick's We Can Remember It For You Wholesale: Arnold Schwarzenegger's hyper-violent 90s classic Total Recall, and Colin Farrell's 2012 remake. Not only do we tackle who did what better, we go deep: what's real? What's imagined? What choices in storytelling and visual language swing the needle in which directions? And which decided to leave all the ambiguity in the deleted scenes? Listen now to find out!
Grab your hook and your beard of bees as Dan and Keith return to horror through Candyman! First we dive into the Clive Baker-inspired 90s original, as Virginia Madsen is haunted by the iconic Tony Todd through the ghettos of Chicago, then jump aaaaallll the way to 2021 as Jordan Peele helps usher in Nia DaCosta's remake that turns out to be a surprise sequel... a "requel," as they're called... which hits hard with the current times and doesn't skimp on the visuals as Yahya Abdul-Mateen II uncovers a whole new Candyman mythos with surprising connections to what came before. Sometimes the lads get nice things, and they're thrilled to share them this week.
Our two-part look into the legacy of the Seven Samurai continues as Dan and Keith take on the western so nice they made it twice, The Magnificent Seven! The manliest men of the early sixties put a cowboy twist on Kurosawa's samurai epic, then a surprising number of decades later, Denzel Washington reunites with Antoine Fuqua, director of Training Day and The Equalizer, to bring modern audiences a new, racially diverse, Handsome Chris-enhanced remake. How'd it turn out? New classic or Xerox of a Xerox? Keith and Dan have some notes.
In a topic too big for one episode, Dan and Keith travel back to feudal Japan to revisit Akira Kurosawa's classic, The Seven Samurai, and the films it inspired. There's a lot to break down: legendary warriors, a town in crisis, and a debate among our co-hosts on Toshiro Mifune's wardrobe choices for the big siege, and then it's time to jump forward to 21st century China for The Seven Swords, which is said to be based on a Chinese novel, but still somehow ends up a Magnificent Seven remake, only much, much bleaker.
We hear you, we know what you thought the second half of this episode was going to be. Don't worry. We'll get there. It's coming.
It's time to play the music. It's time to light the lights. It's time to unpack Muppets on Recovered 'cast tonight. Dan and Keith re-examine that old, forgotten emotion of "joy" as they revisit Jim Henson's The Muppet Movie and Jason Segel's tribute/reboot, The Muppets. Brace for hot takes on quality of cameos and quantity of Gonzo. Is there ever such a thing as ENOUGH Gonzo? But now let's get things started on the most hilarious, not nefarious, quite contrarious, so gregarious, it's Recovered's Muppet movie SHOOOOOOW! [trumpet gag]
Dan and Keith take on Ghostbusters, the franchise that went from Original to Reboot and back again through the 1984 classic, the 2016 reboot Answer the Call, and the 2021 requel Afterlife. And if you have a dose of some movie ghosts, I think you'd better call... Chris Stewart, host of leading Ghostbusters podcast The Crossrip. Our hosts and special guest dig into the complicated making of the original... during which, as part of his ongoing crusade to hate everything Dan loves, Keith has some notes for the movie... weigh the successes and failures of Answer the Call and why it's so hard to discuss publicly, and wonder what doors Afterlife has opened for future busting of ghosts. We're dusting off ghosts, like true ghost dusters, so listen now!
Get ready for a lot of "Not good but as good as it gets" takes as Dan and Keith dig into three different Punisher movies. Dolph Lundgren goes straight to video, Thomas Jane has the darkest origin with the least amount of Punishing, and Ray Stevenson tries to actually be in a comic book movie. Who does it best? Or least worst? We try to find an answer, with much love for two random mobsters and many references to Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon's seminal Punisher book, Welcome Back Frank. Dan has... so much to say about Welcome Back Frank.
Long time Bond fan Dan walks lifetime Bond hater Keith through vintage Bond flick Thunderball, and the decades-long legal battle that resulted in there being two of them. Plus why it took so long to get Blofeld and SPECTRE into the Craig era Bonds the Thunderballs that could have been, and why Dan wouldn't be the best underwater cinematographer, all while breaking down two spins on "Bond looks for stolen nukes in the Caribbean." Which Thundered Ball reigns supreme?
What is best in life? Is it either cinematic adaptation of Conan the Barbarian? Dan and Keith are here to find out as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jason Momoa each take on the titular barbarian, to... mixed results. Also we touch on the scope of this podcast and Keith learns about Horse Girl movies. Come on, you know you want to how we ended up there.
Dan and Keith take on cult 80s horror flick April Fool's Day and its straight-to-DVD remake, asking the question: when the thing a movie's famous for is a twist ending, CAN you do a remake? Are you counting on your audience not having seen the original? In which case, why a remake? Also, Dan begins his crusade to get a DVD release of the criminally underrated fantasy/action series G Vs E. All this and plenty of laughs at the expense of attempted horror.
Hit the Holiday Road as Dan and Keith re-examine an old idea from times past, before the Plague Days... "Vacations." Our hosts head back to the early 80s to see how Chevy Chase's road trip shenanigans in National Lampoon's Vacation have aged, then hop to the 2010s as Ed Helms leads a new generation of Griswalds in a sequel/remake hybrid we have since learned is now called a "requel." Much love gets thrown to Beverly D'Angelo and the always delightful Skyler Gisondo, a deep dive into why theme parks don't close in the summer, and more as we figure out who had the best Vacation.
Come with me, and you'll be, in a world of dueling chocolate factories! Recovered takes on two very different approaches to Roald Dahl's immortal children's adventure book-slash-Saw precursor horror tale Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, or as 70s cinema knew it, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Two Wonkas enter, one Wonka leaves! Then the other one does. We don't have the power to erase Wonkas. But which Factory had the best visuals? Best kids? Wasted time less egregiously? Dan and Keith get right to the bottom of this edible candy wonderland to find out, through Dan's hot takes and Keith's hatred of whimsy.
It's heist time! Dan and Keith travel back to the long ago 1960s for Michael Caine and Noel Coward in The Italian Job, then hop to the not-quite-so-long-ago 2003 for an all-star crew in a remake that's trying to be a remake in as few ways as possible. Cunning plans, betrayals, feature-length ads for Mini-Coopers, and Dan and Keith disagreeing about heist movies. Come on the ride!
Recovered gets paranoid as Dan and Keith dive into two paranoid journeys into mind control with the Manchurian Candidate, the movie whose twist became the lexicon. Frank Sinatra and Denzel Washington unravel conspiracies, lost loves are found and lost again, while Angela Lansbury and Meryl Streep pull the strings. Who wore it best? Whose sinister conspiracy reigns supreme? Is there a point to hiding the reveal of a plot point so well known it's the Winter Soldier's nickname?
What better way to celebrate Valentine's Day than with two takes on pickaxe murder enthusiast Harry Warden in My Bloody Valentine? Dan and Keith dig into the mine murders of the 1981 original, and how much the 2009 remake, from that brief period when Hollywood really wanted the guys from Supernatural in their horror movies, relied on 3D effects that you likely won't see streaming it at home. Iconic kills, awkward love triangles, multiple "Or IS he" twists, and why these movies are basically the same as Academy Award winner The Deer Hunter.
Welcome to Recovered, breaking down Hollywood’s favourite trend, the remake! This week, Dan and Keith invite you to “Get over here” as they dig into the two attempts to make a movie out of Mortal Kombat. [Dan, you have a better Mortal Kombat joke in you, find it before we publish this. -K]