“Good luck exploring the infinite abyss.” It’s a trip back to smalltown New Jersey with sitcom star-turned-indie auteur Zach Braff and his 2004 directorial debut Garden State.

Heavily medicated struggling Hollywood actor/waiter Andrew “Large” Largeman (Braff) learns of his disabled mother’s passing, and heads back to the home of his father (Ian Holm) for the first time in a decade for the funeral. Rather than deal with the bereavement, he buddies around with a former high school classmate, dirtbag gravedigger Mark (Peter Saarsgard), and newly wealthy loafer Jesse (Armando Riesco). Large stumbles into a conversation with intriguingly quirky Sam (Natalie Portman) in a doctor’s waiting room - companionship turns to attraction, but Large’s emotional baggage and inability to confront it disrupts their coy romance.

Braff’s film, after striking gold in the then-still lucrative early 2000s big indie/mini-major boom that swept up Sundance standouts by bagging a dual-deal with both Miramax and Fox Searchlight, went on to make a very impressive return on its modest budget investment, aided by a zeitgeist-capturing soundtrack en route to becoming one of the more lauded breakout hits of the year. But, its critical reputation seemed to sour quickly among even some former admirers, leaving Braff unable to capitalise on his emergence as a dramedy director of note for a full decade after its release. Join our panel of Patrick, Matt, and Devlin as they gently place headphones onto each other, bury the hamster, and catch their solitary tears in solo cups while talking MPDGs, quarter-life malaise, the allure of the homecoming-of-ager, and post-millennium emo angst, while tracing their personal journeys with this most sensy of films.

Rewind Movie Podcast merchandise, and shirt designs from some of our favourite films, available here.

If you have a film you’d like the gang to tackle, send us an email at rewindmoviepodcast@gmail.com. For introductions, essays, playlists, and the full back catalogue of episodes and specials, find us at rewindmoviecast.com.

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Our Hail to the King series concludes (for now) with another anomaly from the venerable author's assemblage of adaptations - director Fraser C. Heston's 1993 take on his 1991 megatome Needful Things.

In the quaint New England town of Castle Rock, the opening of a new store causes quite a stir - but just how big a stir will soon become explosively apparent. Local Sheriff Alan Pangborn (Ed Harris), recently transferred in and looking for a break from the chaos and violence of the big city, referees minor skirmishes between neighbours - while the owner of the mysterious emporium Needful Things, Leland Gaunt (Max Von Sydow), spies an opportunity to turn up the heat by offering each citizen in town the one item they desire most in the world, for impossibly low prices. At least, in cash terms - each deal involves a favour, a prank, a simple trick played secretly on a fellow citizen. Tricks that threaten to ignite long-simmering tensions that may engulf the whole place in flame and fury.

With the book an early King favourite for Devlin, he introduces Gali to this Golden Age of King movie version, released when the author's ubiquity was absolute. But, will it still take pride of place on the cinematic mantle, or does he now have buyer's remorse? Buy now. Pay later.

Rewind Movie Podcast merchandise, and shirt designs from some of our favourite films, available here.

If you have a film you’d like the gang to tackle, send us an email at rewindmoviepodcast@gmail.com. For introductions, essays, playlists, and the full back catalogue of episodes and specials, find us at rewindmoviecast.com.

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“I feel you will have to deal with this matter in the harshest possible way, Mr. Torrance.” Our Hail to the King miniseries continues with Stanley Kubrick’s now-legendary, then-controversial 1980 adaptation of Stephen King’s 3rd novel The Shining.

Frustrated writer Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) takes his wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and son Danny (Danny Lloyd) to a reclusive shift as the winter caretaker of the remote Overlook Hotel, where Danny’s burgeoning gifts for telepathy are put to the test as malevolence, both internal and external, infests the rooms and hallways that the family are trapped within.

Our film picker Matt tackles another of his all-time favourites, as he takes Gali, Devlin and Patrick on a picaresque tour of how a once-terrifying, dread-soaked experience became a comfort watch of sorts. We talk the burden and bravado of creativity, the fear and fury of King, Kubrick, and their respective Jacks, and the legacy of a film overcame a muted debut to rise to the mantle of horror classic.

Head to our website for an extended introductory essay, and shop merchandise from this episode at Devlin’s webstore.

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