Reel Phonies

This week we're making relevant content by talking about Star Wars: Visions. Premiering on Disney+, it's a collection of 9 animated shorts by 7 anime studios exploring new stories and undiscovered worlds in the Star Wars universe.

We're catching up on the latest Hollywood news including Christopher Nolan's next project, Netflix's Diana: The Musical, an animated feature adaptation of the popular Injustice games, and new trailers for Hawkeye and The Matrix Resurrections.

Shang-Chi introduces new heroes, new worlds, and super dope fight sequences to the MCU. Join us as we break down the best and worst of this martial arts blockbuster and discuss how it fits into the Marvel universe at large.

Well there's nothing in the rulebook that says a dog can't play basketball! From Lassie to Babe to Thackery Binx, we're talking animals in movies and how a very good boy doesn't always equate to a very good movie. 

With Shang-Chi, Eternals, and Spider-Man all releasing in the near future, we talk hype, speculation, and concerns about these movies and their impact on the MCU.

This week we watch Llamageddon because someone made us. It's a schlocky, budget horror where a llama from outer space explodes people with laser eyes and it's also one of the worst things we've ever seen.

It's got comedy and gore and Nathan Fillion so it's probably a James Gunn flick. We dive into some of the standout performances, which gags did and didn't work, and grouse about some missed opportunities to make Idris Elba into the star we know he is in our hearts.

This week we're catching up on the latest news including updates on the Dexter revival, Marvel's animated "What If...?" series, new trailers for Ghostbusters, Venom 2, and Dune, and behind the scenes drama at both Marvel and DC.

We are burdened with the glorious purpose of reviewing Marvel's latest TV series, Loki, which combines time-travel hijinks and grand cosmic mysteries with everyone's favorite god of mischief. We dive into the strengths and weaknesses of the show and how it fits into the larger Marvel universe.

The long-awaited Black Widow solo movie is finally here and has proven divisive among our ranks. Is it an action-packed spy flick that feels like classic Marvel? Or is it a sloppy mess that never fully commits to a story? Listen in and decide for yourself! Also, Ian's back! Hurray!

We're pulling double duty this week as we dive into the newest Fast & Furious movie and Steven Soderbergh's latest crime thriller, No Sudden Move. 

We're using our 150th episode to be a little self-indulgent. This episode features some of our favorite films that are criminally underseen and underrated. If you like this podcast and you like our opinions, you will like these movies. Full list here: Black Cauldron Prince of Egypt The Red Turtle Super The Substitute The Faculty The Ritual Haywire Man of Tai Chi Sunshine Lonesome Dove Gattaca The Winning Season Goon Honorable Mentions: Kingdom of Heaven Wet Hot American Summer Death to Smoochy John Carter The Hudsucker Proxy The Raid: Redemption

Before Hamilton turned the world upside down, Lin-Manuel Miranda found his first success with the Broadway adaptation of In the Heights. Directed by John M. Chu, this film adaptation brings life to a small New York City neighborhood with music and dancing.

Written, performed, filmed, and edited by Bo Burnham from inside his house over the past year, "Inside" attempts to whittle down the highs, lows, and weird idiosyncrasies of quarantine into a comedic and relatably unhinged combination of songs and performance art.

The Quiet Place sequel is finally here and adds more scares, more action, and more Cillian Murphy. It's a family survival story that adds some surprising new facets to its own mythos and existing horror tropes.

We're catching up on some of the best news and announcements over the last month including an upcoming Highlander reboot starring Henry Cavill, new animated Batman and Superman series coming to HBOMax, Amazon's acquisition of MGM, and trailers for the Eternals, Venom 2, and more!

This week we're returning to one of our favorite guilty pleasures to review the final season of Netflix's Castlevania. It's got monsters and gore and cynicism but it's also full of a surprising amount of rich characters and engaging struggles for power and survival. But is it better than Transformers?

It's 2001: Train releases their only good song, the Ravens win their first Super Bowl, and we are treated to the first installations of both the Harry Potter AND Lord of the Rings franchises. But beneath all the big budget hits are some classics from 2001 that deserve a little more appreciation.

This week we're talking Amazon's animated TV adaptation of Invincible. It's the superhero story about a teenage boy who gets his powers and discovers hero work is not quite what he imagined. It's got a stellar voice cast and a superhero story that was refreshingly original. Just don't watch this with kids!

This week we're finishing up Falcon and The Winter Soldier. We talk about what worked, what didn't, how this sets up the Marvel Universe, and why we keep trying to make cowls happen. They're not going to happen.