The death of Peter Fonda inspires Matt and Ed to ruminate on the legacy of the American counterculture that Fonda, thanks to his work on Easy Rider, came to embody. They also run through an all-Disney news segment, pretty much all of which is bad!
Here is Art Spiegelman's introduction to a Marvel collection which is mentioned in the News section.
00:00:00 - 00:30:03 - Intro & News
00:30:04 - 01:08:21 - Matt & Ed discuss the Counterculture
01:08:22 - 01:14:45 - SRS Recommends & Outro
It was Ed's birthday this week, and as is tradition, he got to pick any topic for this week's episode. He chose Video Games, so he and Matt have a long chat about their own personal history with video games, the titles that resonated with them, and what genres elude them. There's also some teeth talk, and a breakdown of how and why Universal decided to cancel the release of the thriller The Hunt.
Apologies for the sound issues in this episode: Ed's mic had problems which only became apparent once the episode was recorded and being edited.
00:00:00 - 00:12:11 - Intro & News
00:12:12 - 01:08:22 - Matt & Ed discuss Video Games
01:08:23 - 01:14:12 - SRS Recommends & Outro
Inspired by an article in the Hollywood Reporter about Leonardo DiCaprio, Emily and Ed discuss the changing nature of movie stardom in an age of social media and Constantly Being On. They also talk about Emily's time at the Edinburgh Fringe (where she is performing her show Big Wendy), CBS All Access taking big swings with its adaptations of The Man Who Fell to Earth and The Stand, and the first trailers for The Irishman, The Lighthouse and 1917.
00:00:00 - 00:34:07 - Intro & News
00:34:08 - 01:04:30 - Ed & Emily discuss movie stardom in the year 2019
01:04:31 - 01:08:34 - SRS Recommends & Outro
Matt's back from holiday, and he and Ed had meant to do an episode on a specific topic, but they wound up talking about a packed news week for the duration. Stories include the Emmy nominations, behind-the-scenes drama on Big Little Lies, Netflix losing subscribers, Marvel's two-year plan, and, oh boy, the Cats trailer.
HBO's Barry wrapped up its second season a few weeks back, and Ed and Emily were both very taken with Bill Hader and Alec Berg's hitman comedy/drama. They talk about the ways in which it balances psychological insight with hilarious comedy, Hader's considerable skill as a dramatic actor, and the ways in which the show has deepened its ensemble in the second season, with plenty of SPOILERS along the way. They also discuss the debut of Neon Genesis Evangelion on Netflix, Bryan Singer being removed from the Red Sonja remake, and I Think You Should Leave being renewed for season two.
Here is the Google talk with Bill Hader that Emily references during the Barry discussion.
00:00:00 - 00:24:33 - Intro & News
00:24:34 - 00:52:21 - Emily & Ed discuss Barry
00:52:22 - 00:56:48 - SRS Recommends & Outro
Whilst Ed has his trotters up in Florida, Matt and Emily hit the wonderful Sheffield DocFest - now in it's 26th year - for a few days of films, masterclasses and *checks notes* algorithmic perfumery. They muse over the wonder of the conversation with Werner Herzog, the sheer inventiveness of the Alternate Realities stranded and get thoroughly flumped by more Harvey Weinstein than they are prepared for.
Much like the cast of an all-time great television series, Matt and Ed reunite this week for a spoiler-filled talk about Deadwood: The Movie, the long-awaited follow-up/conclusion to David Milch's bleak, hilarious and profane Western series. They also discuss some recent trailers, pitch some fixes for Pixar's Onward, and reminisce about odd people they knew at University.
00:00:00 - 00:35:52 - Intro & News
00:35:53 - 01:02:39 - Matt & Ed discuss Deadwood: The Movie
01:02:40 - 01:07:58 - SRS Recommends & Outro
There's no full episode this week, so Ed runs through some news stories from the week - including the success of Guy Ritchie's Aladdin, The Lonely Island pulling a Lemonade, and Sony deciding to just start making their own damn video game movies - in this minisode.
Here is Lindsay Ellis' video essay on the original Aladdin and Robin Williams' role in animation history, as mention at the end of the episode.
In a break from the usual format, Matt is joined by not one, but three special guests to discuss the final, divisive season of HBO's wildly popular TV show Game of Thrones. Suffice to say, there's spoilers, so don't listen unless you're all caught up.
Continuing their run of music-themed episodes, this week finds Emily and Ed discussing iconic songs from movies and TV shows which transcend their origins and percolate out into broader culture, musical tropes that they personally respond to, and filmmakers who re-use music from other films and make it their own. They also talk about the news coming out of Cannes, R-Batz, and Disney consolidating even more control over culture.
Correction: At one point Ed incorrectly says that Kill Bill prominently uses a piece of Bernard Hermann's score from Sisters, when it is in fact part of his score to Twisted Nerve.
00:00:00 - 00:20:27 - Intro & News
00:20:28 - 00:43:24 - Emily & Ed discuss Iconic Music and Musical Tropes
00:43:25 - 00:49:34 - SRS Recommends & Outro
Inspired by Beyoncé's Homecoming - and continuing the music theme started with their episode on Visual Albums - this week finds Emily and Ed talking about concert movies, specifically the ones that go beyond recording a band or artist performing live to really using the language of cinema to transport and immerse the audience. They also discuss the absolute mess that is the Sonic the Hedgehog movie, their excitement about seeing Renée Zellweger play Judy Garland, and the death of Peggy Lipton.
00:00:00 - 00:19:44 - Intro & News
00:19:45 - 00:48:42 - Emily & Ed discuss Concert Movies
00:48:43 - 00:53:17 - SRS Recommends & Outro
In this special, spoiler-filled episode, Matt and Ed discuss Avengers: Endgame. It's a wide-ranging discussion that features key plot details from the start, so probably don't listen to it if you haven't already seen the film, and in addition to cataloging the good and bad in the movie, it also encompasses the impact of the MCU, Disney's increasing dominance of film and television, and the many ways in which the comics industry has screwed over writers and artists.
Inspired by the recent release of Childish Gambino's Guava Island, as well as the success and acclaim in recent years of Beyoncé's Lemonade and Janelle Monáe's Dirty Computer, Emily and Ed discuss the visual album as a form of expression. They also ponder the goodness of Sigourney Weaver and Keanu Reeves, and the potential horrors of a live-action Rugrats movies.
00:00:00 - 00:24:57 - Intro & News
00:24:58 - 00:50:38 - Emily & Ed discuss visual albums
00:50:39 - 00:55:51 - SRS Recommends & Outro
The gang were unable to record together this week, so please enjoy Ed's recent appearance on the Big Questions podcast from Oxford Sparks at the University of Oxford. Host Emily Elias spoke to Ed about the science in films like King Kong, Pi, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Office Space and Superman III, and they listened to scientists assess just how feasible those "what if" scenarios might be. There's also a brief Recommendations segment at the end for good measure.
MATT GOT A DOG!
Also, Disney revealed a bunch of details about their forthcoming streaming service which, in addition to a few other stories from this past week, paints an interesting/terrifying picture of the streaming landscape, one which could be fundamentally reshaped by Disney and its franchise menagerie. Matt and Ed discuss the potential Disney+ has to challenge Netflix, the debut of the Criterion Channel, and how streaming services relate to a Supreme Court Case from 1948. Also, dogs.
00:00:00 - 00:02:35 - Intro
00:02:36 - 00:47:25 - Matt & Ed discuss the present and future of streaming
00:47:26 - 00:52:10 - SRS Recommends & Outro
Double Jeopardy, The General's Daughter, Payback. These are just some of the timeless classics that were released in 1999, alongside utterly forgotten duds like Fight Club, The Talented Mr. Ripley, The Blair Witch Project, The Matrix, The Sixth Sense, All About My Mother and Eyes Wide Shut. Matt, Emily and Ed assemble to discuss some of their favourite films from a vintage movie year, tease out some of the themes shared by a broad and disparate array of great films, and look at how Hollywood has changed over the past 20 years. Ed also enters some sort of fugue state at one point when the subject of the upcoming Cats movie comes up.
00:00:00 - 00:36:44 - Intro & News
00:36:45 - 01:30:51 - Matt, Emily & Ed discuss the films of 1999
01:30:52 - 01:36:34 - SRS Recommends & Outro
Jordan Peele's Us is still tearing it up at the box office and inspiring spirited debate online, so Matt and Ed decided to talk in-depth about the film's story, its themes, and its malleable allegory. Needless to say, there are spoilers. They also discuss Apple's latest move in the streaming wars, try to pitch long-forgotten game shows that deserve to be revived on the service, and pay tribute to Scott Walker and Agnès Varda.
00:00:00 - 00:30:43 - Intro & News
00:30:44 - 01:12:05 - Matt & Ed discuss Us (SPOILERS, I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH - Ed)
01:12:06 - 01:22:00 - SRS Recommends & Outro
Here is the opening scene to Letterkenny, as mentioned by Ed during Recommends.
Twenty goddamn years ago this week, The Matrix was released in the US, an event which launched the careers of the Wachowskis, spawned a briefly unavoidable and fitfully brilliant multi-media franchise, and had a seismic impact both on popular culture and how American action movies look and are made. To mark this anniversary, Ed and Emily discuss the enduring legacy of The Matrix, the Wachowskis' subsequent work, and some of the many, many parodies the films inspired.
00:00:00 - 00:12:40 - Intro & News
00:12:41 - 00:47:43 - Ed & Emily discuss The Matrix
00:47:44 - 00:54:46 - SRS Recommends & Outro
Inspired by a rewatch of the Mission: Impossible franchise, Ed and Emily discuss instances where they changed their minds about a work of art, how their relationships to specific filmmakers have evolved over time, and being able to admit when you don't like canonically "great" movies. They also discuss the college admissions scandal involving Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman, Netflix's weaselly cancellation of One Day at a Time, and James Gunn's surprise reinstatement to the MCU.
00:00:00 - 00:22:17 - Intro & News
00:22:18 - 00:49:31 - Ed & Emily discuss changing your mind about art
00:49:32 - 00:54:07 - SRS Recommends & Outro
Now that the dust has settled from last week's Oscars ceremony, Ed and Emily are ready to stir it up all over again by dissecting the winners of awards season, and what the victory of Green Book means for Hollywood more generally (assuming it means anything at all). They also discuss the controversy over possible changes to the Academy's bylaws that could exclude Netflix films in the future, and the best joke from long-forgotten 1990s animated anthropomorphic procedural Fish Police.
00:00:00 - 00:06:01 - Intro
00:06:02 - 00:35:44 - News
00:35:45 - 01:16:23 - Ed & Emily discuss the Oscars, Green Book, and awards season
01:16:24 - 01:23:39 - SRS Recommends & Outro
