No U-turns At The Drive-in

Things don't always go as planned in this classic British farce with a brilliant cast of caricature characters. They may not be the prettiest bunch, but they certainly are The Ladykillers! Next Up: The Last Jedi: Fan Anticipations!

With Special Guests Evan Jones and Laura Graver! The heavily stylized live action comic book that wet our young appetites for Film Noir may be a bit clumsey at times, but still holds up as a fascinating production. Other podcasters beware when we're on the case with Dick Tracy! Next up: The Ladykillers (1955)!

It's Noirvember, and if you were born in the 1980s like we were then the movie that probably introduced you to the elements of Noir was Tim Burton's heavily stylized Batman! Still a resonating work of comic book fantasy brought to life, it reinvented the character in the public mind and also established the groundwork for what was to come a dacade later. A true landmark of cinema and comic book history. Next up: Dick Tracy!

With Spacial Returning Guest Sarah Hartman! It's a Halloween Hangover as we sink our fangs into Bela Lugosi's most iconic role! As the curtain fell on silent cinema an eerie creaking coffin lid announced the rise of a new horror on the silver screen who would set the stage for all children of the night to follow. He's been remade an Untold number of times, more than any other single monster, and yet the original still has more bite than most of them. We bid you welcome to the legend of Dracula! Next Up: Batman!

With Special Guest Kyle Kleege! Nowadays you throw a rock and you'll hit a Zombie, but back in 1932 there was only one Zombie movie, and it featured a very diferent Zombie from what we know today. Here Bela Lugosi is the wielder of dark magics that bring the dead to life to do his bidding. This lurid low budget offering was to films like Dracula or Frankenstein what the pulp magazines of the time were to literature. Get out your shovels, kiddies, cause we're digging into some Pre-code Hollywood Horrors to showcase how not-so-quaint these old timey flicks really were. You'll be so shocked you'll turn into a White Zombie! Next Week it's a Halloween Hangover, cause we're back with Bela in the classic Dracula!

Based on appearances alone this is a story where H.P. Lovecraft arrives at an inn and is visited in the night by FDR, who warns him something strange is going on before getting murdered by Albert Einstein. Ghosts, Vampires, murder, all presented through an autuers whimsical nightmare. Filmmaking that still rings true as innovative today. The most surreal adaption of Bram Stoker's Dracula isn't Coppola's, it's Dreyer's Vampyr! Next Up: White Zombie!

Who would've guessed that spending a night in a spooky mansion wasn't half your troubles, or even half the movie? Believe it or Knotts this trick or treat plot is about as shakey as it's lead actor. Does it hold together on good vibrations, or tumble like a haunted house of cards? You will be judge and jury when you meet The Ghost and Mr. Chicken! Next Week: Vampyr!

THE ROAD TO STAR WARS CONCLUDES!!! We discuss Inspiration, what makes the original film Original, Character Introductions then to now, and why Peter Cushing plays such a great villian. We finally did it, we're talking about STAR WARS! Next Week: The Ghost and Mr. Chicken!

THE ROAD TO STAR WARS: EPISODE V - THE STRIKING IMAGERY OF SPACE!! An experience like no other film podcast can give you. Open your pod bay doors and explore with us how one defining science fiction epic influenced another defining science fiction epic. Does the Monolith give off the same mysterious energy as the Force? Is Hal 9000 the spiritual father of C-3PO? Did George Lucas just take shots of looming model spacecraft and add lasers? Perhaps we will have to read some tie-in novels to fully understand it all. There's little we can add that hasn't already been said about Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, but we'll say it anyways! Next Week: STAR WARS!!!!

We were somewhere around Mos Eisley on the edge of the desert when the Midichlorians began to take hold. The Road to Star Wars has been a bumpy ride, so while our land speeder is getting some repairs we thought we'd just hang out and shoot the Womp Rats. We cover some of the big Star Wars news of the day, tackle a few Star Wars influences we won't be reviewing in full, and ramble on about a couple of 2017's big releases. So sit back, grab a glass of blue milk, and enjoy!

THE ROAD TO STAR WARS PART IV: A NEW SEARCH As we search for the makeup of one of our favorite films we come to the American Western; a gerne most famously dominated in the classic era of Hollywood by director John Ford and actor John Wayne. In what is considred by many to be among the greatest films ever made we see surprising influences on our Galactic Epic, including the source of Luke Skywalker's character, but we also encounter the film's dark reflection on the troubling aspect of the racism of John Wayne's character, Ethan Edwards. Wayne's disturbing performance is possibly the best of the actors impressive career, and the highlight of the film next to Ford's masterful direction. They are part of Star Wars History, they are part of Cinema History, they are part of American History, they are The Searchers!  Next Week: 2001: A Space Odyssey!

THE ROAD TO STAR WARS PART III Where did the idea for C-3PO and R2-D2 come from? What about a hermit who turns out to be a general? A princess too? What more can we find in The Hidden Fortress! Next Week: The Searchers!

THE ROAD TO STAR WARS: PART II The legendary outlaw archer of European lore is part of our cultural tapestry and a classic heroic architype. It's ability to balance action and fun with a positive message might hold an inherent lesson for todays screen heroes, and offer audiences an escape from cliché cynicism that's become nausiatingly overdone. Surprising Star Wars connections await you, so let's get into the swing of things with The Adventures of Robin Hood! Next Week: The Hidden Fortress!

A long time ago from the pages of a comic strip came Flash Gordon! A fast paced thrill ride of spaceships, monsters, princesses and an evil emperor. Sound familiar? It should, because it had a big influence on a little indie picture you may have heard of called Star Wars! Listen and you will hear the astonishment in our voices at how much of Flash Gordon is in Star Wars - Or is that how much Star Wars is in Flash Gordon? THE ROAD TO STAR WARS BEGINS HERE! Next Week: The Adventures of Robin Hood! 

We set sail into waters deeper than the content of this movie would merit! They say that getting there is half the journey, well let's skip that part and get to the there part. Bob and Bing keep things lively as the run away from their worries as well as the narrative on the Road to Singapore! Next Week: Flash Gordon!

You may not believe in The Haunting, but you cannot deny this podcast! Lock your doors, bolt your windows, turn on every light in the house, but it still won't save you from the unseen terrror of our voices discusing the 1963 classic from master filmmaker Robert Wise. We even share a tale or two of our own personal spooky experiences along the way. Don't listen to this one alone! 

As authentically Chinese as the Kung Pow chicken at your local mall, it's the great detective, Mr. Wong! So get yourself a bowl of pork fried rice and listen to us chew the fat on an 80 year old wave of Americanized Oriental Investigators. Funny how Hollywood used to have white actors play different ethnicities. Glad we don't do that anymore, right? Don't get us wrong, we love all the weirdness of Wong, and looking back on the hows and whys of how this trend became popularised is some particularly fascinating insight you don't want to miss out on. For better or worse the yellow faced detective has gone the way of the dodo, I guess some fads are Doomed to Die!  Next Week: The Haunting! (The Original 1963 Movie)

The skeleton is the hero, the scientists are soldiers, the drill has sunglasses, we don't know who the main character is, and the bad guy is in his pajamas. Oh, and it's Japanese. This predecessor to what we know in the states as Power Rangers sets its plot on the roof of its, hits the gas, and never looks back.  As far as we can tell there's no reason for the title character to be in the movie, but there he is like a reget from a heavy metal album cover that wouldn't exist for another decade at least. Because what kid doesn't want to see a laughing skeleton that kicks butts. We've dug up and present to you, our dear listeners, The Golden Bat!  Next Week: Doomed to Die!

Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a flying battleship! No, it's the most infamously terrible giant monster of the atomic age! Hey, as we here at No U-Turns see it when you fail this spectacularly you deserve some sort of accolade. So lets dig deep into how this massive turkey got off the ground and do our best to give a big hand to The Giant Claw! Next Week: Golden Bat!

Don't be confused by the poster, this isn't E.T., so put down the Resse's Pieces because we're not phoning home and don't wave your finger at me. This is a movie about geese, a little girl who lost her mom and had to move to Canada with her loser father, and an a strangly unreasonable forest ranger dead set on crushing their dreams. Why? Because you gotta fight the system! Even if you have a decently compelling personal drama you can't ease up on oppresssive forces like your local forest ranger, and maybe, I don't know, a guy who wants to build a hotel in a swamp. They can't keep us down. Like birds we are meant to be free. Free to fly and... other stuff! And if it gets cold we'll fly someplace warm, and call that home! We'll... Fly Away Home! Next Week: The Giant Claw!