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Is Waterworld Really That Awful? | Kevin Costner is a MERMAN Who Drinks HIs Own Pee

Release Date: 04/14/2026

We Re-Watched Adaptation…Charlie Kaufman's MENTAL BREAKDOWN Movie

Cinema Psychos Movie Reviews

Charlie Kaufman was hired to adapt a nonfiction book about orchids. Instead, he wrote himself into the script — twice — and made one of the strangest, most self-aware movies ever released by a major studio. Brian and John rewatch Adaptation (2002) and break down Nicolas Cage's dual performance as neurotic screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and his fictional twin brother Donald, Meryl Streep's Susan Orlean and her obsession with "The Orchid Thief," and Brian Cox's scene-stealing turn as real-life screenwriting guru Robert McKee. We also get into a genuinely compelling theory: what if Donald...

We Re-watched Hellbound: Hellraiser II...It's a PERFECT Horror Sequel! | Ft. Robert Brian Taylor

Cinema Psychos Movie Reviews

Is Hellbound: Hellraiser II the best sequel in horror history? With Hellraiser back in the cultural spotlight this year — Halloween Horror Nights' 2026 and the long-awaited Hellraiser Revival game both dropping this fall — we figured it was the perfect time to revisit the film many fans consider the series' high point. Film critic Robert Brian Taylor (Collider) joins The Cinema Psychos Show to make the case for Hellbound, arguing it does exactly what a horror sequel should: expand Clive Barker's world without breaking its rules. We break down how Hellraiser 2 deepens Julia's transformation...

We Re-watched Rocky (1976) and It Was... Weird | Ft. The Silver Linings Playlist Podcast

Cinema Psychos Movie Reviews

Sports Month closes out with the quintessential non-sports sports movie: Rocky (1976). Brian and John are joined by Dustin and Nate from The Silver Linings Playlist Podcast to break down Stallone's underdog script (allegedly written in three days), the real Chuck Wepner vs. Muhammad Ali fight that inspired it, Carl Weathers' criminally underrated Apollo Creed, and a running theory that Rocky himself reads as autistic-coded — "his special interest is punching." Plus: how this movie beat Taxi Driver, Network, and All the President's Men for Best Picture, whether the Rocky/Adrian romance...

I, TONYA: Nobody in This Movie is Telling the Truth (ft. KT Baldassaro)

Cinema Psychos Movie Reviews

Tonya Harding loved skating. The skating world never loved her back — and I, Tonya (2017) is the mockumentary-style biopic that dares to ask: who's actually the villain here? Brian sits down with KT Baldassaro (MovieRunTime & What If I Don't Like It) to break down Margot Robbie's snubbed performance, Allison Janney's Oscar-winning turn as the worst mom in cinema, Sean Eckhardt's delusional hitman fantasy, and why the Academy has a track record of punishing dark comedy. CHAPTERS: Introduction [00:00] Why I, Tonya makes a surprisingly fun rewatch [02:17] A biopic that refuses to play...

A League of Their Own (1992): Sibling Rivalry, Sexism & the Best Casting in Movie History

Cinema Psychos Movie Reviews

A League of Their Own (1992) is the rare baseball movie that isn't really about baseball — it's a sibling rivalry story, a look at 1940s sexism, and (we'd argue) one of the best examples of age-accurate casting in film history. Brian and John break down Penny Marshall's classic: Tom Hanks' pivot from comedy to the dramatic roles that led to Cast Away and Forrest Gump, the Kit/Dottie rivalry that drives the whole plot, what the film gets right (and skips) on race and sexism in the 1940s, and the ending debate that still splits fans. A movie reaction and deep-dive discussion for baseball fans...

Spider-Man: Brand New Day Review — The Best MCU Spidey Movie Yet? (Spoiler-Free)

Cinema Psychos Movie Reviews

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is a beautiful mess — and it might be the best MCU Spider-Man movie yet. Both hosts land on 8/10. We weren't planning to cover this one. Then we saw it, and we had to record an emergency bonus episode. Brian and John break down why Destin Daniel Cretton's Spider-Man: Brand New Day is the most grounded, consequence-driven Spidey film Marvel has made — and why it owes more to Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2 than to anything in the Home trilogy. Jon Bernthal's Punisher steals the movie. Florence Pugh's "small potatoes" bathhouse scene is already a meme. Sadie Sink shows up...

The Rutles | The Beatles Parody That Left Paul McCartney PISSED!

Cinema Psychos Movie Reviews

Eric Idle and Lorne Michaels teamed up in 1978 to make the greatest Beatles parody you've probably never seen — and it worked so well that Paul McCartney sent back a real letter saying he didn't find it funny, while John Lennon loved it so much he never returned his copy. This week on Cinema Psycho Show, Brian and John dig into The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash, the SNL-adjacent mockumentary packed with John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Gilda Radner, Mick Jagger, and even George Harrison himself. We break down the Beatles history it's spoofing, argue about whether you need to be a...

Super (2010): Is James Gunn's TWISTED Superhero Movie Really That Awful? | Ft. Josh Axelrod

Cinema Psychos Movie Reviews

This is a spoiler-filled review and discussion of Super (2010), directed by James Gunn and starring Rainn Wilson and Elliot Page, covering the film's violence, its most divisive scene, and what it means that its director now runs DC Studios. Before James Gunn was directing Superman, he wrote and directed Super (2010) — and it's way darker than you remember. Brian and John are joined by Josh Axelrod, Director of Media & Press Relations at the Lindsay Theater, to break down Super (2010) — and this time, our guest actually came in ready to fight us on it. Super (2010) Quick Facts: ...

Fargo (1996): The Coen Brothers' "Funny Looking" Dark Comedy | Ft. Katie & Nat of The VHS Club

Cinema Psychos Movie Reviews

Fargo (1996) turns 30 this year. On this episode of The Cinema Psycho Show, hosts Brian and John are joined by Katie and Nat from The VHS Club podcast to revisit the Coen brothers' Minnesota crime classic — including why detective Marge Gunderson spent most of the investigation with almost nothing to go on but a single vague description of her "funny looking" suspect. In this episode: Why Fargo's dialogue rewards a rewatch more than almost any crime film of the '90s Marge Gunderson's investigation, and how one bystander's description of a "funny looking" suspect drives the entire back half...

Obsession: Inde Navarrette's Performance Will Haunt You | Ft. Jordan Dwayne (Jordan The Grey Witch)

Cinema Psychos Movie Reviews

This is a spoiler-filled review and discussion of Obsession (2026), directed by Curry Barker and starring Inde Navarrette and Michael Johnston, covering the film's themes, performances, and ending. Obsession is finally on digital — and Inde Navarrette's performance as Nikki is going to haunt you. Brian and John are joined by returning guest Jordan the Grey Witch to break down Curry Barker's indie horror hit that's outgrossing studio tentpoles on a fraction of the budget — including why Bear might have the most punchable face in horror this year. We cover why this "nice guy" is actually the...

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Kevin Costner spent $200 million making a Mad Max ripoff on the open ocean — and the man has gills behind his ears.

That's right. Waterworld's hero is a merman. A gill-having, web-toed, pee-drinking merman. And Cinema Psychos is here to ask the only question that matters: Really That Awful?

Brian and John go full deep dive on Waterworld (1995), one of Hollywood's most notorious production disasters and one of the most divisive bad movies of the 1990s. They cover everything: why shooting on open ocean is genuinely suicidal for a film budget, how Kevin Costner fired his own director mid-edit and took over post-production himself, why Dennis Hopper is the only person on screen who clearly knows what kind of movie he's in, and how a world where the polar ice caps have entirely melted somehow still has a drinking water shortage.

There are plot holes deep enough to lose a submarine in. There are action scenes with the energy of a kid smashing action figures together with no plan. There is a bungee cord rescue sequence that defies physics, logic, and basic narrative structure and secretly rules. And there is one man. Part human. Part fish. All Kevin Costner.

CHAPTERS:

Introduction [00:00]
Welcome to Cinema Psychos [00:26]
Personal Histories with Waterworld [00:39]
Podcast Promo and Audience Questions [02:32]
IMDb Synopsis [04:28]
Initial Thoughts and Expectations [06:48]
Origins and Mad Max Inspiration [10:00]
Shooting on Open Water Nightmares [11:40]
Budget Explosion and Production Chaos [17:31]
Kevin Costner vs. Director Drama [23:00]
Plot Holes and World-Building Ridiculousness [29:00]
Plot Recap: The Mariner and Smokers [33:20]
Dennis Hopper's Over-the-Top Performance [44:00]
Action Scenes and Multiple Endings [50:00]
Audience Reviews [58:00]
Final Thoughts and Ratings [01:06:00]

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