Purple Rain
April 22, 2026
Two returning special guests—Kyle Olson and Pete Wright—join us to dig into one of the most electric, beguiling, and undeniably Prince films ever committed to celluloid: Purple Rain (1984).
Nathan Blackwell is a Phoenix-based filmmaker who began his career like many of his counter-parts, as a weird eleven year-old kid running around with a camera. In 1998 he directed his first feature film, Forever Midnight, and in 2007 he created his production company Squishy Studios, with which he produced numerous short films and the award winning, two season web series Voyage Trekkers. He's won over 40 filmmaking awards, including six ADDYs for directing commercial and branded content, was named by the New Times as one of Phoenix's 100 Creatives, and recently won Filmmaker of the Year at the Phoenix Film Festival for his feature film "The Last Movie Ever Made."
Two returning special guests—Kyle Olson and Pete Wright—join us to dig into one of the most electric, beguiling, and undeniably Prince films ever committed to celluloid: Purple Rain (1984).
Eric Weir joins us to tackle The Dark Crystal (1982), the film that proved Muppets could die on screen and parents could regret their viewing choices. Turns out, it’s warm, weird, and genuinely curious!
REBROADCAST: Sean Oliver and Drew Leatham join us to navigate the wonderfully bonkers 1984 sci-fi comedy Ice Pirates. This movie has everything—and we mean everything.
REBROADCAST: Adam Rini joins us to dissect John Carpenter’s 1988 cult classic They Live. Is this film a masterpiece of political satire or just “Noam Chomsky for 14-year-olds”?
Adam Marshall Rini joins us to close out Season 8 with Mel Brooks’ 1987 sci-fi parody Spaceballs. Does this childhood favorite still holds up with “grown-up eyes”?
Heath Wilcock joins us as we make ourselves at home with John Hughes’ 1989 comedy Uncle Buck, a lovable exploration of family dynamics and giant pancakes.
David Westlake joins us as we dive headfirst into Katsuhiro Otomo’s groundbreaking 1988 anime masterpiece Akira. Buckle up—this one goes hard from frame one.
Robert Fata joins us to dive into the 1988 sci-fi rom-com My Stepmother is an Alien, starring Kim Basinger, Dan Aykroyd, and a scene-stealing debut from Alyson Hannigan.
We pommel horse our way through one of the most wonderfully absurd action films of the 1980s—Gymkata (1985), starring real-life Olympic gymnast Kurt Thomas in his first – and last! – film role.
Revisiting our chat on The Running Man (1987) as a new adaptation hits theatres: Arnold Schwarzenegger battles murderous game show hosts in this prescient dystopian thriller that predicted reality TV.