They Live (1988) • REBROADCAST
February 18, 2026
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”?
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."
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.
We venture into completely new territory with The Monster Squad (1987)—a film neither had seen before. Does the magic work when you’re encountering Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster, and the Wolfman for the first time as adults?
Professor Dustin Morrow from The Long Rewind Podcast joins us to tackle one of the 80s’ most inexplicable obsessions—ninjas!—with an exploration of Revenge of the Ninja and Ninja 3: The Domination.
Jordan Collier joins us to revisit the 1985 spy comedy Spies Like Us. What happens when a beloved childhood favorite gets the modern rewatch treatment? Sometimes the results are as bumbling as the protagonists themselves.