When Steven Spielberg is firing on all cylinders he delivers movies like Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Jurassic Park. But even when he's only firing on 75% of his cylinders he still turns out "lesser" movies like 1991's Hook, which has a seriously passionate fanbase despite being generally regarded as one of his second-tier films. Big thank to film critic Danielle Solzman (@danielleSATM) for recommending this one and joining me for a brief but spirited discussion.

Some call it a horrifying fever dream; others refer to it as a cinematic panic attack. And those are the people who like it! General audiences back in 2017 were clearly unhappy with what Darren Aronofsky was doling out this time around -- but some brave moviegoers, and a good portion of film critics, found a lot to like. And this insane thriller has earned lots of new fans over the past few years. Big thanks to film critic Courtney Howard (@lulamaybelle) for joining me for this discussion!

When is a TV-to-movie adaptation not exactly a TV-to-movie adaptation? When it's a super-meta ball of confusion like Nora Ephron's colorful yet confused adaptation of the classic sitcom Bewitched. This is an oddly unspectacular movie, but with talent like Nicole Kidman, Will Ferrell, Shirley MacLaine, Michael Caine, and Steve Carell on board, there's got to be a little bit of gold here... right? I sit down with my old friend and former film critic Eric Snider (@ericdsnider) to discuss this movie, making us the first people to do so in probably ten years.

If you want to do a podcast about historically lambasted movies, you're going to come across the certifiably wacky 1936 propaganda flick Reefer Madness eventually -- and boy does this thing hold up as an unintentional laugh riot. For this episode I'm joined by film & game critic Shaurya Chawla (@_ShauryaChawla), and suffice to say that we continue to be endlessly amused by this very stupid film that thought it was being very serious indeed. 

Horror fans are a ridiculously loyal sort, but for the most part they don't love change. Back in 1982, producers John Carpenter and Debra Hill wanted to shake things up in their Halloween franchise. Instead of just bringing boogeyman Michael Myers back for a third slash-fest, the franchise would now be done anthology-style. As in: each new Halloween movie would be its very own thing. Like Tales from the Crypt did a few years later with Demon Knight and Bordello of Blood.  But things didn't go precisely as planned. 

For this episode I'm joined by Scott Allen Perry (@scottallenperry), who I worked with on Found Footage 3D, but maybe you've also seen him movies like Keeping Up with the Joneses, The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle, and the seasonal classic known as Santa Jaws.

Scott Weinberg is joined by his “resident Spielberg expert” Erik Childress to preview some of the latest episodes of Overhated. You can listen to them all right now by heading over to his Patreon feed at patreon.com/scottEweinberg. Subscribe for just a couple bucks and you can listen to over 90+ more episodes available right now.

The long-awaited big-screen version of the beloved Star Trek TV series was heralded as a huge cinematic event at the tail end of 1979 -- and it turned out to be a smash hit too. So why does the film seem to have a relatively lukewarm reputation among critics and general movie-watchers? To this day the film is remembered as a bit too long, and a bit too focused on the undeniable majesty of giant spaceships, but the hardcore Trek fans will frequently come to the film's defense; hardcore Trek fans like my guest, film critic Alan Cerny (@alanwcerny).

Sometimes the weirdest movies end up striking a chord deep within your genre-loving soul; for example, this simple sci-fi / horror combo managed to entertain me a lot more than it did most film critics -- and now it's gone on to spawn two certifiably insane sequels that (yep) I also enjoy. So I asked my friend Liam O'Donnell (@liamodin) to join me. Since he co-wrote the first movie and directed both sequels, he's clearly the expert on this knowingly campy genre franchise.

I wanted to get a special guest for this highly-requested cult favorite, so I reached out to the man who wrote it: Philadelphia's own Steven de Souza (@StevenEdeSouza)! We cover all sorts of Hawk-related info. from production to box office to the exceedingly brutal reviews.

I have a list of over 200 films I share with potential guests if they need help choosing a movie for Overhated. But this guest didn't even need the list. She offered up the 2002 vampire flick Queen of the Damned, and I thought "hell, that's a good pick." So thanks to Danishka Esterhazy (@desterhazy), director of the lovably twisted Banana Splits Movie and the admirably amusing new Slumber Party Massacre remake, for a great movie pick and a highly enjoyable chat.

The mid-1990s were a strange time full of strange movies, and this is one of them. It's a future-noir anti-corporate sci-fi action absurdist farce... and I'm here to discuss it with the excellent Akela Cooper, a writer/producer on Luke Cage, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, and last summer's horror hit Malignant. (@AkelaCooper)

The critics were not pleased with this movie back in 1994, but you know who was? The rest of the civilized world. It was a huge smash, it sold tons of kooky merchandise, and kids seemed to love it. So I decided to take a second look, and my guest is L.A. Podfidential's Chauncey Telese (@bigchaunc64). He toured the Bedrock set as a kid!

Critics (mostly) dismissed it; the box office was... let's say unimpressive. But mention the Speed Racer movie on the social media platform of your choice and you'll get a lot more positive responses than negative. (Try it!) Big thanks to The Flop House's Dan McCoy (@dankmccoy) for suggesting this visual roller coaster of a movie, and also for joining me for this episode.

The network TV version scared the holy snot out of me when I was 12, so of course I enjoyed the gruesome R-rated version I later discovered on VHS. But does this weird Peter Benchley misfire still hold up to fond childhood memories? Let's find out. And for this episode we have Room 237 and A Glitch in the Matrix director Rodney Ascher (@rodney_ascher), and I'll spoil it now: he digs this movie.

This big-budget spectacle... thing hit theaters late in 1985, and nobody cared. Frankly this conversation that I had with Kevin Murphy (@kwmurphy) may be the best thing to come out of this film's existence. Yes that's the Kevin Murphy from Rifftrax and Mystery Science Theater 3000, which means I had a ball recording this episode.

Sometimes satire ages like fine wine, and sometimes it just sours and everyone hates it. And dark / violent satire is even dicier. Does Danny DeVito (director of Throw Momma From the Train, The War of the Roses, and Matilda) pull it off this time around? Spoiler: box-office-wise, no. This movie failed miserably. But how does it hold up as an actual movie? Let's sit down with the excellent filmmaker Lucky McKee (@luckymckee) and talk about it.

Are you surprised that I found someone to defend this stinker? Well get this: I had several people to choose from! But it was veteran film critic / podcaster / soap-maker William Bibbiani (@WilliamBibbiani) who got the nod, and let's just say he came prepared.

Ask a Trek fan to name the weakest link in the franchise's feature film chain and you'll get a solid handful of votes for this 1989 entry. But why? Was it the victim of a writers strike? Budget cuts? Was Shatner ill-prepared to take a seat in the director's chair? Or maybe fans were just getting a little bored of the whole series. Anyway, I found a movie nerd who loves this movie. It's family-friendly screenwriter Brian Lynch (@brianlynch)! 

This Michael Crichton adaptation -- from the director of Die Hard -- could have been a surprise hit back in 1998, but all sorts of delays, unhappy producers, and annoyed test audiences conspired to help sink the movie once it finally hit theaters in 1999. But of all the movies I've covered on this podcast, this one might be the most staunchly defended... by people who follow me on twitter. Big thanks to my guest Gordon McAlpin (@gmcalpin), creator of the very amusing web series Multiplex 10.

What can be said about a movie so silly, stupid, and inept that its own director dismissed it as a "moron movie" and blamed himself for doing way too much cocaine on the job? Well, a lot, clearly. And I'm joined by seasoned horror expert Heather Wixson (@thehorrorchick) to discuss every insane little moment, murder, and fart sound.