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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:54:37 — 95.2MB)

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Some movie characters become way bigger than the movies they’re in, and that definitely holds true for Chucky. The redheaded murder-loving doll is no doubt one of horror’s most recognizable villains, but how often do you hear people fondly talk about the films he stars in? (There are seven and counting!) Inspired by a fresh reboot releasing this month in theaters – the first Chucky film without creator Don Mancini – we take a look back at CHILD’S PLAY (1988) to see if Chucky’s introduction to the world is deserving of any modern day recognition from horror fans.

We follow that with a viewing of CHILD’S PLAY 2 (1990) and BRIDE OF CHUCKY (1998), two sequels that could not be more different from one another despite being made by the same person. We also reveal our favorite childhood playthings, discuss Chucky’s, um, problematic behavior towards women, and debate just how young is too young to enjoy schlock horror movies. Wanna play?

When We Were Young is a podcast devoted to the most beloved pop culture of our formative years (roughly 1980-2000). Join us for a look back to the past with a critical eye on how these movies, songs, TV shows and more hold up now. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @WWWYshow, on Facebook at Facebook.com/WWWYShow and email your episode suggestions to wwwyshow@gmail.com. Don’t forget to subscribe and review us on iTunes so more folks check out the show!

Help us defray the costs of creating this show, which includes purchasing movies/shows/music to review, delivery food to eat our feelings, and producing & editing in-house at the MFP Studio in Los Angeles, California, by donating to our Patreon account at patreon.com/WhenWeWereYoung

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:16:16 — 117.4MB)

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Every generation gets the BATMAN it deserves, and ours is hands-down the best to ever glower down at us from the big screen — Michael Keaton’s scowling, brooding Caped Crusader, and his equally brooding (but also very neurotic) take on orphaned playboy Bruce Wayne.

Early in his career, Tim Burton controversially cast everyman Keaton as the superhero who redefined the modern blockbuster as more than just a movie — with a pop soundtrack by Prince, fast food tie-ins, and an iconic logo everyone was wearing back in 1989. (And ever since.) Jack Nicholson’s unforgettably over-the-top Joker also raised the bar for movie villains (and movie star paydays) in one of the decade’s very biggest films.

The mass-marketing returned in 1992’s BATMAN RETURNS, which upped the ante with two larger-than-life adversaries — the oozy, outrageous Penguin, played with gruesome gusto by Danny DeVito, and Michelle Pfeiffer’s seductive but deeply damaged Catwoman.

The podcast invites When We Were Young superfan Jan to reminisce on all the Batman merch, cosplay, and fan fiction of our youths, before revisiting Burton’s Batman films with a critical eye. Does the macabre camp of 1989’s Batman hold up against the more somber Batmen of recent years? Is its chilly, gleefully anarchic, and disturbingly erotic sequel decidedly not okay for kids? And, in a movie landscape that’s now littered with superheroes, do these Batman films look quaint alongside Marvel’s colossal conquest of the multiplex — or is Tim Burton’s singular vision just so much yummier?

Strap on your utility belt, fire up the Bat-vehicle of your choice, and have your butler ready a dirty limerick to excuse your absence, because Gotham City’s most wanted are wreaking havoc upon our podcast — and only your nostalgia can stop them!

When We Were Young is a podcast devoted to the most beloved pop culture of our formative years (roughly 1980-2000). Join us for a look back to the past with a critical eye on how these movies, songs, TV shows and more hold up now. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @WWWYshow, on Facebook at Facebook.com/WWWYShow and email your episode suggestions to wwwyshow@gmail.com. Don’t forget to subscribe and review us on iTunes so more folks check out the show!

Help us defray the costs of creating this show, which includes purchasing movies/shows/music to review, delivery food to eat our feelings, and producing & editing in-house at the MFP Studio in Los Angeles, California, by donating to our Patreon account at patreon.com/WhenWeWereYoung

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:15:21 — 62.8MB)

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Cinematographer-turned-director Jan De Bont never met a mode of transportation he didn’t want to blow up, and it all started with SPEED (1994), the action-thriller that whittled Keanu Reeves into the wooden king of turn-your-brain-off blockbusters (see also: the Matrix and John Wick franchises). This high-concept hit has one of the most iconic movie plots of all time, with madman Dennis Hopper planting a bomb on a city bus that will go boom if the odometer falls under 50 MPH. Fortunately, a very plucky Sandra Bullock is on hand to help careen through Los Angeles’ notorious rush hour traffic and quip some snappy one-liners in her star-making role.

And if all those elevators, buses, and subway cars make you claustrophobic, you’re in luck! We’ve also booked a honeymoon suite aboard SPEED 2: CRUISE CONTROL (1997), De Bont’s Caribbean-set sequel that finds Sandra Bullock and Almost Keanu taken hostage on a cruise ship by yet another disgruntled psycho. (After a half-dozen mai tais, you’ll swear it’s Titanic!)

So join us as your favorite hotshots take a pop quiz that asks just one question — is Speed still worth the ride, or should we hit the brakes?

When We Were Young is a podcast devoted to the most beloved pop culture of our formative years (roughly 1980-2000). Join us for a look back to the past with a critical eye on how these movies, songs, TV shows and more hold up now. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @WWWYshow, on Facebook at Facebook.com/WWWYShow and email your episode suggestions to wwwyshow@gmail.com. Don’t forget to subscribe and review us on iTunes so more folks check out the show!

Help us defray the costs of creating this show, which includes purchasing movies/shows/music to review, delivery food to eat our feelings, and producing & editing in-house at the MFP Studio in Los Angeles, California, by donating to our Patreon account at patreon.com/WhenWeWereYoung

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:51:14 — 91.2MB)

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If you were older than a toddler and younger than a teenager in the 90s, chances are you were obsessed with Nickelodeon. The kids network churned out countless entertaining programs for younguns in the 1990s, particularly a slate of original animated shows they referred to as Nicktoons. DOUG, RUGRATS and REN & STIMPY premiered on the same day in August 1991 and had unprecedented levels of success for original cartoon series – and that’s about all that they have in common.

So is Doug Funnie still funny? Can we relate to Tommy, Chuckie, Angelica and the rest of the babies as adults? And what the hell was going on with Ren and Stimpy anyway? Join us, you dumb babies, as we revisit the network’s first three original cartoons and try and fail to get Nickelodeon’s super catchy doo-wop bumpers out of our heads.

When We Were Young is a podcast devoted to the most beloved pop culture of our formative years (roughly 1980-2000). Join us for a look back to the past with a critical eye on how these movies, songs, TV shows and more hold up now. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @WWWYshow, on Facebook at Facebook.com/WWWYShow and email your episode suggestions to wwwyshow@gmail.com. Don’t forget to subscribe and review us on iTunes so more folks check out the show!

Help us defray the costs of creating this show, which includes purchasing movies/shows/music to review, delivery food to eat our feelings, and producing & editing in-house at the MFP Studio in Los Angeles, California, by donating to our Patreon account at http://patreon.com/whenwewereyoung

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:23:02 — 73.7MB)

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That’s what Lester Burnham tells us in AMERICAN BEAUTY, and may also describe some people’s reaction to this Best Picture winner from 1999, which is a mite more controversial in the wake of the #MeToo movement — and allegations of sexual misconduct by its Oscar-winning lead.

When We Were Young invites you to “look closer” at the stunning cinematography, the innovative editing, the memorably melancholy score, and, of course, Alan Ball’s sharp-tongued screenplay, which follows a doofy dad through a particularly fatal midlife crisis and satirizes upper middle class suburbia. There’s plenty to cherish here, from the darkly comedic performances of Annette Bening, Mena Suvari, and, yes, even Kevin Spacey — but what about its approach to gender and sexuality in the 90s? Is this a cautionary tale about the dangers of chasing youth in your middle age, or is watching Spacey lust after a teenager in 2019 just too… icky?

Does American Beauty hold up like a plastic bag on a blustery day? Or is the bloom off the rose? Find out in our newest episode!

When We Were Young is a podcast devoted to the most beloved pop culture of our formative years (roughly 1980-2000). Join us for a look back to the past with a critical eye on how these movies, songs, TV shows and more hold up now. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @WWWYshow, on Facebook at Facebook.com/WWWYShow and email your episode suggestions to wwwyshow@gmail.com. Don’t forget to subscribe and review us on iTunes so more folks check out the show!

Help us defray the costs of creating this show, which includes purchasing movies/shows/music to review, delivery food to eat our feelings, and producing & editing in-house at the MFP Studio in Los Angeles, California, by donating to our Patreon account at patreon.com/WhenWeWereYoung.