Percolated Media

While not the 25 year separation between films, schedule wise we took a little break from the Planet of the Apes franchise. But, here we are, with a review of when Tim Burton took the reins of the franchise and remade the original film in 2001. On the surface Burton may seem like an unusual choice to direct a remake of Planet of the Apes, but it’s really not when you think about how many times he has done something that on paper may look like it was impossible to do, and turned it into money at the box office. Here, he is armed with the make-up effect prowess of Rick Baker and a hot leading man in Mark Wahlberg. How did it turn out? Join Matt, Adam, and Garrett as they review a movie that critically was an absolute failure, but financially made enough money to justify continuing the franchise. Listen in to find out why that didn’t happen. And be sure to keep coming back, as this leg of the retrospective will end in a review of the brand new release Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes!

Despite getting sued by the director himself upon its release, not to mention getting pretty beaten down by most critics, the simple fact is The Lawnmower Man made money. With this in mind, producers put their heads together, and three years later released a sequel, Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace. Or is it Jobe’s War? Join Garrett, Adam, and Matt as they complete their look at The Lawnmower Man with this review of the Matt era starring sequel and answer questions that DON’T have to do with Austin O’Brien’s long hair.

While going through the Night Shift slate of Stephen King adaptations, the boys have run into a slew of times when they have asked themselves out loud ‘why the hell didn’t King sue to get his name removed from this freaking movie?’ Meet The Lawnmower Man, the movie that finally went too far and pushed King to litigation. Listen to Garrett, Adam, and Matt as they dissect so many things about The Lawnmower Man, starting with the fact that this 1992 adaptation isn’t as unKing like as the author would like you to believe. Other things discussed include Adam’s unending man crush on Pierce Brosnan, Adam and Garrett’s theatrical experiences watching the movie upon release, and so much more. Be sure to come back next week as the boys finally close the doors on this leg of King adaptations with the forgotten sequel, The Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace.

Now that they’ve finished reviewing the new Ghostbusters, it’s time for the guys to return to the King. Stephen King that is. Or do they? Because the movie they are reviewing this week has little to nothing to do with the original King story The Mangler. But, that is what comes with being completionists. Listen to Garrett, Adam, and Matt as they review the 2005 release The Mangler Reborn. Can the fact this film is being done by Lionsgate have any bearing on what on the surface looks like the most inferior of inferior sequels?

2021’s Ghostbusters Afterlife proved once and for all that there could indeed be another successful Ghostbusters film. So director Jason Reitman and his co-writer Gil Kenan got back together and saw if they could come up with ideas for a sequel. Because if it worked once, it’ll work again, right? While shooting was smoother with renowned troublemaker Bill Murray on set, the death of Jason’s father Ivan once again made the movie more of a tribute than a story. With all the obstacles thrown in its way, as well as Reitman handing the directing duties over to Kenan (Monster House and 2015’s Poltergeist remake), the difficulty of following up the most successful Ghostbusters film since the original was made even more difficult. Join Garrett, Matt, and Adam as they revisit the franchise that they left their last podcasting platform with back in 2021 with this review of Ghostbusters Frozen Empire. Do they agree with the consensus that the movie is far less than its predecessor? Download below to find out! And come back next week as the three continue their look at the seemingly never ending saga of Stephen King’s Night Shift.

By 2002, Stephan King’s bibliography would seem to have all been adapted ten fold. Yet, a team of producers called the Banana Brothers were sure they had found a way to draw more blood from the King moneymaking stone. They snagged the rights to The Mangler, found a way to cast loved by the horror community Lance Henriksen in a key role, and hired Michael Hamilton Wright to write and direct a sequel to 1995’s The Mangler. The result? A film that looked like one of dozens of cheap Mattix knockoffs, featuring a techno soundtrack and a plot involving kids trapped in a school with tech based security. A plot, that has EVERYTHING to do with King’s original 1978 short story. Listen to Garrett, Matt, and Adam as they continue to dredge through all the Night Shift adaptations, and see if Adam has finally reached his breaking point.

Continuing to shift through the steam filled Night Shift collection, the boys have come across the Stephen King adaptation The Mangler. Written while working as a substitute teacher and originally published in Cavalier Magazine for a $200 fee, King republished it for the 1979 short story collection. Was it worth it? Join Garrett, Matt, and Adam as they review the 1995 Tobe Hooper (Texas Chainsaw Massacre) adaptation starring Robert Englund. Will Englund’s presence be enough for Adam to push the film in 5 or above on 10? Listen to find out! Come back next week as the boys endure more suffering with their look at 2002’s Mangler 2 Graduation Day.

Well, to the chagrin of Adam, we are punching the timecard yet again on Stephen King. We do have to close out our look at his Night Shift collection before moving on to bigger (who knows about better?) things? We're taking a look at an adaptation of his short story Graveyard Shift. Do Adam, Matt and Garrett feel like working overtime? Or does the talk about a rat-infested mill among other things make them put in their two weeks? Listen to find out! Be sure to come back next week as we start our look at the three Mangler films. Yes, there are three of these. Guess you learn something every day!

Way before they had an unending case of sequel-itus, Pixar took pride in which of their properties spawned into franchises. On top of that, original Incredibles director Brad Bird seemed to leave his superhero family in the dust with successful forays into live action filmmaking such as 2012’s entry in the Mission Impossible series Ghost Protocol. Enter 2015’s Tomorrowland. While Bird would resist and swat questions of another adventure featuring the Incredibles family away, people (and Pixar) were still clamoring for more. And when the George Clooney starring Tomorrowland fell like a rock in a lake, Bird finally succumbed to the pressure of bringing back his superhero family creation. Join Matt, Adam, and Garrett as they review Bird’s 2018 return to Pixar, The Incredibles 2, and determine whether it comes off as a subsequent return or grasp for money. And be sure to stay tuned until the end, as the boys reveal the ‘King’ sized retro they are returning to in the next few ensuing weeks.

With a couple weeks to kill, the boys needed a series of just two movies. Matt needed look no further than a series he’s been wanting to talk about for years. That of Pixar’s The Incredibles. As John Lassiter was building his Toy Story infused empire, writer/director Brad Bird was making The Iron Giant. A movie that was received well by critics but completely flopped at the box office. Lassiter brought Bird onboard and encouraged Bird to expand that superhero idea he had swirling in his head since they were in college. The result is a hugely successful superhero film released four years before the Marvel revolution. Listen in to see if Matt, Adam, and the always skeptical Garrett agree with that sentiment. And be sure to turn in next week as they review the sequel to the film that was fourteen years in the making.

When Conquest of the Planet of the Apes was coming out in 1972, producer Arthur P Jacobs was out saying that the movie would be the last of the series. But if we have learned anything from doing these franchises over the years, it’s that if there is money to be made, the machine will keep churning them out. Which leads us to 1973’s Battle For The Planet of the Apes. One more had to be made, and the term franchise was officially born. Yet, the movie came and landed with a thud, and we wouldn’t get another adventure with apes on the big screen until almost 30 years later. Listen in as Matt once again leads Adam and Garrett on the journey, and they dissect how Roddy McDowall’s swan song in the series turned out. They also talk about what they’re doing next. And we believe the franchise they’re doing next just might be….incredible.

In the early 70s, the idea of having not only one, but three sequels to the same film, was unheard of. But original producer Arthur P Jacob’s was determined to break new ground by making the fourth Planet of the Apes film, with the intent of having it be the franchise’s last. But with the only returning cast members Ricardo Montalbaun and Roddy McDowall -the latter playing a different character than he had in past films- what kind of quality could Conquest of the Planet of the Apes carry? And is it really the film that 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes remade? Listen to Matt, Adam, and Garrett as they dissect those questions, and Matt gets from the other two how this first time watch was for them.

Time to go primal once again. How do you make a movie immediately following a previous entry that ended with the destruction of the titular planet? Well, you "escape" of course through the tubular method of time travel! How do the boys feel about this third entry in the Planet of the Apes franchise? Be sure to come back next week as we discuss Conquest of the Planet of the Apes!

Despite the film landscape of today, the late 60s-early 70s weren’t ripe with sequels. But when the first Planet of the Apes more than quadrupled its budget, producer Arthur P Jacobs knew he wanted to go through with a sequel. Armed with future Magnum Force director Ted Post, and a (sort of) commitment from his star Charlton Heston, Jacobs greenlit Beneath The Plenet of the Apes. Join Matt, Adam, and Garrett as they go through the film and discuss if its lukewarm reception upon release was warranted. And keep coming back as they waffle through the whole first set of Planet of the Apes films. If they don’t go bananas first.

We seem to start many of these series saying ‘this is something we have been wanting to do for a long time’. But in the case of Planet of the Apes, it is absolutely true. At least in one of the podcasters on this network’s mind. Over the years that Matt and Garrett have been doing their show together, there have been one or two instances where they could have been leading to another new film in the Apes series. But when they started their own network, they saw a golden opportunity as not only is there another new Apes film in the near horizon, Matt found out that both Adam and Garrett haven’t seen the majority of these films. So the only question remaining was, what are they waiting for? Join the guys as they start off the first retrospective series of 2024 by reviewing the some would say classic original Planet of the Ales film starring Charlton Heston and written by Rod (Twilight Zone) Serling. But will newcomers Adam and Garrett find as much to love while watching a film from 1968 for the very first time? Download below to find out!

A few years ago, the podcast team of Matt, Garrett, and Mike spoke at length about the film resume of one Michael Mann. The end of that retro was not pretty, as they had all agreed that Mann would be dumb to end his career on the back of one of the biggest box office bombs this century, the Chris Hemsworth starring 2015 film Blackhat. Almost five years later, they get their wish. But was Mann’s comeback worth the wait? Join the guys once again as they dive into the Adam Driver starring Ferrari. Like most Mann projects, Mann struggled to get the movie made. What were the issues facing him? Who did he originally want to star? Will this be the 80 year old director’s swan song? Listen below, to our first full review of 2024. And be sure to tune in next week, as the original gang get back together to talk Planet of the Apes!

Coming into this recording, we said to each other ‘there’s no way we’re going to go three and a half hours this year’. What can we say? We only get one chance to talk directly to our listeners (instead of exclusively fighting amongst ourselves about franchises), and we wanted to take full advantage of this time to do so. In this epic podcast, we recap last year’s retros, answer some listener questions (which includes a thirty minute wrestling discussion), talk about the upcoming slate of retros, and then Adam gives us a question to discuss amongst ourselves. We couldn’t possibly recap every single thing we talk about in the show in this little space, so we recommend you just download the show and listen for yourselves. We also want to thank everyone who has ever written in, listened to us, and given feedback. We promise to continue delivering the quality of shows you expect from us. Bring on 2024!

For the final show of 2023, Garrett decided to do a new Percolated Presents and throw a little of everything at you. First, he brings his friend Nicolette Olivier on the airwaves. They discuss everything from how they met, to leading semi parallel lives within the industry. Now, she has a documentary available on YouTube entitled Oh Buster, Where Art Thou. As well as a new book about the same subject entitled Another New World: The Resurrection of Buster Keaton. What led her to do these two projects about one of Hollywood’s greatest innovators? What does she have planned next? Listen to find out! Then, Garrett brings Matt back on the Percolated Presents airwaves to review and discuss a movie that was seemingly made for them, The Iron Claw. What did Matt know about the Von Erich’s before the movie? Do Garrett and Matt think this movie would appeal to people such as their better halves, who have zero interest in the world of professional wrestling. How do they think it’ll do at the box office? Is Zac Efron good? The answers to all these questions and more, are located at the download button below. Next week, the best of show where the boys discuss their favorite movies of the year. They also get into listener questions, some sports discussions, and a little bit of everything else!

Keeping up with a retrospective we started years ago can be eye opening. Here we have a review of a movie that is a prequel (boy, where have we heard that before?) to a series that one of us was a fan of, one of us was ambivalent on, and one of us had conspiracy theories about. Welcome, to our Hunger Games The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Listen to the boys refresh peoples’ minds about where they stand on the series, and then dive into the new Viola Davis/Peter Dinklage starring prequel that tells the early life story of Coriolanus Snow, played by Tom Blyth here, Donald Sutherland in the original series. Will Matt have a better feeling about how they handle this as opposed to the just reviewed Star Wars prequels? Listen below to find out!

Going into 2005, there were a lot of alternatives in the universe that did not involve seeing Obi Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker struggle to keep peace in the galaxy while holding off the evil power established in 1999’s Episode 1. Harry Potter was about to reach for the Goblet of Fire. Batman was gearing up to begin all over again. And Peter Jackson was about to unleash a whole new vision of King Kong. While anticipation was still high for his writer/director George Lucas was going to conclude his saga, 2002’s Attack of the Clones was still a sticking point with even the most die hard Star Wars fan. The mountains of alternative fandoms and a generally poorly received second film would seem insurmountable. But Lucas’s film was promising us a PG-13 level of darkness to help lure us in and see Darth Vader being born. The three of us were there, but how did we feel? And how do we feel about the film now? So much to go over, and all is answered in this podcast. While our prequel coverage has ended, stay tuned as we take up the Disney era of Star Wars sequels in the near future. Next week? We continue a series which we started quite a few years ago, as it has a movie in theaters now. What is it? Tune in next week!