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The year was 1984, and a fledgling filmmaker has made a film about post-millennium killer robots coming back to the 80s to kill a young unwed mother.If you were to travel in time to 1991, you'd see that same filmmaker release a film about post-millennium killer robots coming back to the 90s to kill a child.Some would call that a disturbing trend among killer robots, we call it one of the best one-two roundhouse combos in action/sci-fi film history. Tune in for this episode about a movie that the Nighthawks describe as "one of the Great Films," Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Edward Furlong, Linda Hamilton, Joe Morton, and introducing Robert Patrick as The T-1000; this rock 'em-sock 'em battlebots rumble royale took audiences by storm and permnently altered the course of special effects in films. On the point of the CGI machete, is the liquid metal T-1000 morphing through a broken helicopter windshield, and both the film industry and the Nighthawks were changed forever.

WHYBW – What Have You Been Watching? Joining the regular co-hosts is special Nighthawks guest- Scott Schalchlin, host of the podcast Observations From Life. Scott and Matt tell Trevor about their respective experiences at the Telluride Horror Show last October, for a very special What Have You Been Watching episode. Discussed in this episode: Good Boy Man Finds Tape Shelby Oaks Flush F**k My Son The Vile Hellcat Honeybunch It Ends

Once again it’s time for a glamorous strut on the red carpet, outside the Nighthawks conceptual diner, to talk about Hollywood’s most prestigious night. Oscar Czar and Nighthawks house band musician Cameron Maris, Nineteen Cent Feast, is back for a very informal discussion of the Oscar horserace in 2026.  The precious metal humanoid is back at it again and there’s a whole new roster of movies to discuss including One Battle After Another, Sinners, Bugonia, F1, and many others. Slide up with a slice of pie and a cup of coffee and talk about this year’s best.

WHYBW – What Have You Been Watching? Pull up a seat in the Nighthawks booth and grab a heaping helping of pod-fodder. Play Dirty– A new Shane Black movie...seemingly out of nowhere V The Mini Series- A rewatch of the 80s miniseries draws comparison to modern day. On Battle After Another- An accessible Paul Thomas Anderson movie, but is it a movie to love? Bugonia- Does Yorgos Lanthimos do justice in his remake of a South Korean film? The Long Walk- Mark Hamill joins the pantheon of Stephen King cinematic villains that you just want to strangle. The Haar- a novel by Steven Sodergren about a lady holding out against a wealthy land developer, when a shape-shifting creature washes up on the beach.

A warning to the wary listener, there be spoilers here. From the Nerds at Night podcast- Terry Flemings joins the Nighthawks at the Diner for a stripped-down reaction episode discussing the finale season of Stranger Things. Ten years ago, the Nighthawks actually felt the need to advocate for Season 1 of Stranger Things, a little plucky show that they really wanted people to watch. Now, with a decade behind it, Stranger Things is a certified cultural phenomenon. But does the wrap-up match the overwhelming love they felt for the first season? Nighthawks on Stranger Things Season 1 Terry Flemings With the Nighthawks: Nighthawks covers Boyz n the Hood Nighthawks covers The Matrix Resurrections

WHYBW – What Have You Been Watching? Pull up a seat in the Nighthawks booth and grab a heaping helping of pod-fodder. Black Phone 2– The Grabber is back, and this time he's killing you in your dreams. A little too Freddy? Maybe. Shelby Oaks- Part Found Footage, part finder of footage, all horror.  Vodoo Macbeth- An academic experimental film, chronicling the groundbreaking production of Macbeth mounted by Orson Welles during the Works Projects Administration's Negro Theatre Project.  The Powers of Darkness Podcast- After it is discovered that the Icelandic and Swedish translations of Bram Stoker's DRACULA are wildly different from the author's English language original, an investigation is mounted to discover where this "new" version of Dracula came from. The Witcher (SSN 4)- Dick York is replaced by Dick Sergeant and the budget is cut, can the Witcher withstand his greatest enemy: Market Forces?

We sliced our way through THANKSGIVING (2023), we got absolutely SCROOGED (1988) for Christmas, and now we're going to let the ball drop in Manhattan for New Year's Eve as the Nighthawks pop the champagne and caviar for GREMLINS 2: THE NEW BATCH (1989). Rounding out our spooky holiday offerings we bring you a movie that absolutely isn't set during New Year's Eve, but has BIG New Year's Eve vibes- including wall-to-wall partying, a musical number of a crooner standard, a New York City setting, and a focus on getting things done before midnight. Gremlins 2 has all of these things, and as a follow-up to the undeniable Christmas-time-set original, it's hard to turn down singing monsters to ring in 2026. The Nighthawks covered the original GREMLINS (1984) as part of their 2020 holiday special. During that conversation a return to the world of the mogwai was teased, but the time as come six years later. Join Matt and Trevor in an after-midnight toast to the outgoing year and looking forward to a bright future... but not too bright. Especially not sunlight, it will kill them.

A classic Christmas time-travelling ghost story, told in five staves, becomes an 80s-drenched "modern" film told in three acts: Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol from 1843 becomes Dick Donner's SCROOGED from 1988. Join Matt and Trevor in the Nighthawks diner, order up a cup of hot mulled wine, and chat with us about the classic tale of the redemption of Ebeneezer Scrooge and how it was reimagined to fit Frank Cross (Bill Murray) the Youngest Network Television President in (fictional) history. Frank is trying to mount a daring live presentation of Dickens' classic story, but life begins to imitate art as Frank is haunted by spirits that will take him on a whirlwind tour of past, present, and future trying to figure out where exactly Frank went wrong. Murray brings his trademark energy, volume, and talent to a stacked cast of actors, extras, and walk-on cameos, meanwhile the semi-dark story has gone from Christmastime oddity to 21st Century holiday classic. What's the big deal about a rich jerk who changes his ways? Parse it with us as we beat the Dickens out of SCROOGED.

Matt and Trevor are deep in the Holiday leftovers as they serve themselves a diner slice of pumpkin pie along with an appropriately themed holiday horror film in the Nighthawks’ MONSTEMBERFEST! The holidays are a time for family, togetherness, mercy, charity, blood and guts as we remind our listeners that spooky movies aren’t exclusive to Halloween! This time around, we have Horror director Eli Roth delivering on a movie idea he introduced us to in 2007. Part of the slate of phony trailers in the Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez “Grindhouse” presentation, THANKSGIVING is a slasher movie that is looking to carve its way into your annual traditions. However the movie that we were advertised in 2007, and the movie that was released in 2023 are two completely different animals, and it seems like Roth may have done it that way on purpose. It’s a Thanksgiving holiday hangover that can only be cured with a little booth time at the Nighthawks diner.

Sit down to cannoli and espresso at The Nighthawks Diner, as the co-hosts parse one of the greatest films of the 70s. Written by the man who wrote Superman The Movie, directed by the man who directed Bram Stoker’s Dracula, starring the man who would star in The Island of Doctor Moreau, and co-starring at least one guy from The Irishman; this is the quintessential family mob drama that you can’t refuse. Also featuring Adrian from Rocky, that palooka guy from Big City Brawl, John Travolta’s dad from Look Who’s Talking, the guy from the oft-forgotten and underrated NBC drama Las Vegas, the old man from Get Low, and that gal from Annie Hall.

In 2018 the Nighthawks took a deep granular dive into the 1938 radio adaptation of War of the Worlds, that famously made Orson Welles a household name and (allegedly) scared some undetermined number of people into thinking that the United States was being invaded by an outside force. In 2020, a movie was made based on the same Public Domain story that sought to imagine the end of the world, not through radio but, through the media of the time- webcams and device screens. The resulting movie sat on the shelf for approximately five years before being sprung on an unsuspecting public in 2025. Ice Cube and Eva Longoria lead the cast in a brand new adaptation of War of the Worlds that has viewers panicking for another reason entirely: It’s not a very good movie. Join co-hosts Trevor and Matt as they dig into the latest mainstream adaptation of War of the Worlds and discuss if it’s the worst movie of the year, or if it’s “just another movie this year.”

The co-hosts at the Nighthawks Diner triple down on a glass of Beetlejuice and contend with the self-proclaimed "Ghost With The Most." Hot off of his success with Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, former Disney animator turned director, Tim Burton, chooses life, death, and the afterlife for the subject of this early effort in his career. The resulting horror comedy would cement Burton as someone who could balance four-color antics with a dark sensibility, paving the way for Burton's Batman, a year later. Join the co-hosts for this "episode from the vault," originally recorded for release in October of 2024, this lost-and-found episode discusses a classic of the Nighthawks' respective childhoods.

Wow... ten years. TEN YEARS! (Cue clip from Gross Pointe Blank) Folks, it has been an honor and a privilege to have been sitting in our imaginary diner having real conversations with you (okay, at you) about movies. It's been ten years of some truly remarkable films...and Shark Week. For this edition of the Nighthawks Podcast, the guys in the corner booth decide to take it back to the franchise that started it all...sort of. Is it a prequel? Is it a spinoff? Is it a sequel? We just don't know. But we do know that it's fully bad ass. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is the 2024 film from genre auteur George Miller, dropping off where Mad Max: Fury Road picks up. But before we get to the events of the 2015 film, we are treated to the backstory of Fury Road's undeniable main character: Imperator Furiosa. Join the conversation as we hit the road, ten years later and parse the latest wasteland film from George Miller, rank our favorite Mad Max films, and reminisce about the podcast up to this point.

When The East meets The West- La Cosa Nostra will be turned on its ear by the man who does all his own stunts: Jackie Chan!The Nighthawks take a peek at Jackie Chan's first attempt to break out for western audiences, in this Hong Kong/U.S.A. co-production that pits Chan against The Mafia, roller skating, American women, Luca Brazi, and the dad of that guy that was in Twin Peaks and Robo-Cop.Struggling to wrap their head around Chan as a phenomenon, the U.S. shoehorns Chan into a convoluted plot involving underground sports, above ground fights, and under-the-table crime syndicate gamblers in BATTLE CREEK BRAWL, aka THE BIG BRAWL! While some of the movie doesn't really work, spme of the movie really does! Everything that works in the movie involves Jackie Chan.A museum piece of early Kung Fu Action/Comedy, showcasing how good Chan is and was, that also illustrates how much the U.S. wasn't quite sure who Chan would become.Culminating in the advertised big brawl in the streets of Battle Creek Texas, join the Nighthawks as they discuss this oft overlooked english language entry in Chan's filmography.

WHYBW – What Have You Been Watching? Pull up a seat in the Nighthawks booth and grab a heaping helping of pod-fodder. Alien Romulus– The guy who remade Evil Dead remakes the first four ALIEN films and crams them into one movie. Does it work? I mean...Star Wars did it, right? Chop and Steele- It's two comedians, who show old VHS tapes around the country, versus the Morning News Industrial Complex when two imposters infiltrate the morning show circuit for lolz. Unfortunately there is a lawsuit and our two likable heroes are in danger. Matt has feelings about the lawsuit.Born Evil The Serial Killer and The Savior- A convict who looks a little like White Jesus finds himself the recipient of confessions from a serial killer. Can this weed-dealing convicted-of-murder Jesus help investigators find where a serial killer hid his evidence and victims?Batman Caped Crusader- An heir apparent to the Batman The Animated Series from the 90s, this more mature and more adult animated series carves its own path by dealing with some major changes to a few characters. A fantastic series that pulls stylistic cues from the very earliest Batman stories. Chimp Crazy- Despite what you may have heard or may have come to believe, chimps are bad pets. Full stop.