Rewind Classic Movies

Inspired by The Last Starfighter last week, this episode is all about our favourite movie aliens from the 1980s and 1990s.
Not the films, but the creatures themselves: the designs, the performances, the personalities, and why some of them stuck with us for decades.
From lovable companions like Max from Flight of the Navigator, to nightmare fuel like The Thing, we each bring five picks to the table and count them down to a shared Top 10.
Along the way we cover:
Why some aliens work because they aren’t monsters
The brilliance of performers inside suits and behind puppets
How design, sound, and movement sell an alien more than CGI ever could
And why a few of these choices still hit harder today than they did back then
Funny, nostalgic, occasionally horrifying - this is a love letter to the aliens that shaped a generation of sci-fi, with some terrible impressions and questionable accents.
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We had such a good time recording this episode - both the interview with Lance (who was lovely) and myself and AJ chatting about a movie he'd never seen before!
This didn't go the way I thought it would.
In July 1984, arcades were basically cathedrals, Apple had just launched the Mac, and one teen in a trailer park was about to save the entire galaxy… because he was too good at a video game.
This week GB and AJ revisit The Last Starfighter (1984), the cult sci-fi adventure that helped pioneer early CGI space battles and delivered one of the most relatable heroes of the decade.
And yes, we’re joined by Alex Rogan himself: Lance Guest.
Lance takes us behind the scenes of Centauri’s Recruit, how he landed the role, what it was like leading a fast-paced shoot with limited takes, and playing both Alex and Beta Alex (including reshoots, sickness, makeup, and a wig that absolutely did the job).
We also dig into what makes the movie feel like a warm nostalgic comfort-watch: the trailer park community, the slow-burn first act, the Star Wars / WarGames vibes, and why this film still hits if you’ve ever dreamed of escaping small-town life for something bigger.
In this episode:
Why The Last Starfighter was a risky early CGI leap
Lance Guest on being “bored and terrified” while starring in every scene
The charm of Alex Rogan as the ultimate “ordinary guy” hero
Beta Alex, reshoots, and that creepy under-the-bed version you maybe didn’t see on VHS
Why people either love this film… or they’ve never seen it
If you grew up with arcades, VHS sci-fi, and big dreams of space adventure… this one’s for you.
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Nearly 40 years after Arnold Schwarzenegger’s The Running Man, a new 2025 adaptation hits cinemas, promising a darker, more faithful take on the Stephen King novel, with Edgar Wright in the director’s chair and Glenn Powell in the lead.
So… what went wrong?
In this Fast Forward episode, GB and AJ break down why The Running Man (2025) never quite works.
From a muddled tone and flat world-building to a lead character we struggle to care about, this remake somehow manages to be neither fun nor brutal. We also dig into the “Arnie problem”, whether Glenn Powell was miscast, and why the film never feels like an Edgar Wright movie at all. Maybe he was just the wrong person to direct this. And we LOVE Edgar.
We went in hopeful. We left apologising to the people we dragged along.
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Arnold Schwarzenegger hunts ratings, spouts one-liners, and accidentally predicts reality TV.
In this episode of Rewind Classic Movies, we revisit The Running Man (1987). A loose, sanitised adaptation of Stephen King’s bleak novel that somehow became a neon-lit, catchphrase-stuffed 80s action spectacle.
Recorded over Christmas, partly from a Greek garden, the discussion digs into:
Why the film feels more like a parody than a prophecy
How much of Stephen King’s original story survived the rewrite process
Arnie’s peak one-liner era (for better or worse)
The film’s surprising accuracy about media manipulation and televised punishment
Why nostalgia doesn’t always mean something holds up
A cult classic for some, a baffling mess for others, and a fascinating snapshot of where blockbuster cinema collided with TV culture.

🗓️ Don't miss the NEW STYLE FAST FORWARD episode next week when both the guys return to look at ... The Running Man! 2025 version! With Glen Powell! And directed by one of our favorites, Edgar Wright! How exciting!

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This Fast Forward episode takes on the entire modern James Bond run - tackling the movies and the theme songs, starting with Pierce Brosnan’s debut in GoldenEye and following the franchise all the way through Daniel Craig’s final outing in No Time to Die.
Recorded together in a hotel room, the conversation moves chronologically through all four Brosnan films and all five Craig films, tracking how Bond shifted from glossy post-Cold War blockbuster to something far heavier, more introspective, and occasionally exhausting. There’s praise for Brosnan’s early promise and screen presence, frustration with the series’ slide into excess and gimmicks, and a lot to say about the franchise losing its grip at the turn of the millennium.
The Craig era is unpacked in full, from the shock of Casino Royale through the uneven middle chapters to the emotionally loaded conclusion of No Time to Die. Themes of continuity, character damage, tonal ambition, and whether Bond benefited from taking itself so seriously all come under scrutiny.
It’s a fast, opinionated comparison of two eras that couldn’t be more different, and a discussion about what Bond gained, what it lost, and whether there’s a way back to fun without pretending the last 25 years didn’t happen.

🗓️ Don't miss the REWIND episode next week when the guys go back over The Running Man with Arnie! (1987).

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