Posted in: Movies | Tagged: film, movie, podcast, Review

The Best Podcast You're Not Listening To Yet: 80s All Over

Published Sat, 26 Jan 2019 17:15:55 -0600

Last updated Sat, 26 Jan 2019 22:49:45 -0600

These days it seems like you can't throw a bucket of popcorn in a movie theater without hitting at least one cinema-focused podcaster. They come in varying flavors but primarily tend to be contemporary film reviews. There are others that focus on the industry, writing, gossip and more, but one that's been running for a few years now that stands apart from most of the rest is '80s All Over.

Hosted by nationally-known film critics Scott Weinberg and Drew McWeeny, it's a labor of love and dedication. Every two weeks, they put out an episode which focuses on a single month in the 1980s. Starting with January of '80, they've currently made it all the way up to October of '84 at this point. That's 34 individual month episodes so far, and for those who also contribute to their Patreon at the $5 level or more, there are more than 50 "bonus" episodes which focus on long-form interviews with stars from the 80s, running commentaries to full films (like Flash Gordon and The Dead Zone).

Opening each episode with some sound bites or cold-reads of headlines for that original month, they then settle into recounting what amounts to nearly every film that was released in the United States. What sets '80s All Over apart from many other podcasts is that both Scott and Drew grew up as children of the 80s and watched a lot of the films the first time around (either in the theater or on VHS on the new channels that were cropping up). Now they're revisiting them again and give an in-depth perspective on the historical context of many of the films when they hit and how they play now. For listeners of an age, their experiences very much will echo many of our own, and for younger Millennials it might help give some insights as to why their parents are so gobsmacked by films that simply don't resonate the same way today.

Most other time-capsule series touch on a few films, but here there's time to go into a full depth retrospective. Some films only get a few minutes of airtime, but most get a due nod.

As with any critics, there's the fun of the times where you get the fun of agreeing completely when Scott or Drew call out that obscure film from '83 as being one that resonated with one or the other of them, and then those occasions where you wonder what planet they settled in from (ahem, Scott's entire lack of love given to Footloose). The conversations will often segue to memories of having seen films in their early teens, sometimes by way of sneaking out with friends or not exactly knowing what they were getting into when they talked their mother into taking them (The Hunger).

Sure, you can jump right to "those months" of 1982 that changed cinema forever, and perhaps check out one of those that has your favorite film of the era, but then do yourself the favor of settling back to the beginning in January of '80, and follow along. You'll be reminded of more than you might expect, and for newer listeners or for those who were around but perhaps didn't grow up working at movie theaters, you'll learn of various films that you really should go back and check out.

To check out their episodes you can follow either of the following links:

And of course, follow the podcast on Twitter, as well as Scott and Drew.

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