There are film podcasts that aspire to scholarship, and then there is Fear and Loathing in Cinema, which aspires mostly to survive its own conversations. Imagine a 2 a.m. diner where the coffee has become sentient, the fries surrendered hours ago, and two friends are treating cinematic failure with the seriousness usually reserved for constitutional law.
This week on Episode #168 of Fear and Loathing in Cinema, Bryan Kluger, Marc Ciafardini, and Sandi Glass do what any responsible adults in 2026 should do. They reconnect their old video-game consoles and revisit The Wizard. You know, the 1989 film that has long been accused of being less a movie than a two-hour Nintendo commercial with a plot attached.
And what a commercial it was. Super Mario Bros. 3, Universal Studios, Fred Savage, Jenny Lewis before Rilo Kiley, Beau Bridges, and a suspiciously young Christian Slater, all crammed into one glorious slice of late ’80s childhood nostalgia.
But this week, we have something better than nostalgia. We have Luke Edwards, The Wizard himself, joining us to talk about making the film, his work in Newsies and Little Big League, and what it was actually like to be a kid actor in the middle of one of the most aggressively Nintendo-obsessed moments in American history.
We dig into the strange darkness hiding beneath The Wizard’s bright colors and video-game spectacle, the sweetness at its center, the games themselves, and the peculiar magic of being a kid in the ’80s, when a lunchbox, a bus ticket, and a copy of Super Mario Bros. 3 could apparently constitute an entire emotional journey. Plug in the console. Blow on the cartridge. And try not to wonder why this children’s movie is occasionally so devastating.
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WRITTEN BY: BRYAN KLUGER
Bryan Kluger is an entertainment critic, writer, and podcast host with a deep love for film, horror, and pop culture. His work has appeared in outlets such as Arts+Culture Magazine, High-Def Digest, Screen Rant, The Huffington Post, The Drudge Report, Fark, and Boomstick Comics. He hosts My Bloody Podcast and Fear and Loathing in Cinema Podcast, along with a weekly radio show, where he brings sharp insight, humor, and an unabashed passion for movies to every conversation.
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