Watch.read.listen.

This episode of Watch.Read.Listen. is Part 2 of our Season 2 opener, "It's on Random." We discuss a variety of topics including film editing, sequels, adaptations, superhero fatigue, and unlikable characters in movies. On a side note, the new WRL drinking game is drink whenever we mention Devin Faraci. 1. Every Frame a Painting - an excellent video series and blog about the art of film. We discuss the latest episode, "How Does an Editor Think and Feel?" 2. Kirby Ferguson's Everything is a Remix, specifically the newest episode on Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens 3. Tony Zhou's (creator of Every Frame a Painting) article from December 21, 2015 "The Force Awakens is Deeply Broken" 4. Ghostbusters (2016) - Specifically the irrationality surrounding reaction to the film (see our Ballad of the Fanboys episode for more on this topic in general) 5. Superhero "fatigue" and why we think that's not really an issue or a thing Devin Faraci's article on it 6. Game of Thrones Season 6 (SPOILERS) 7. Preacher Seaso

After six months (!) of Watch.Read.Listen., we begin Season 2 with a multi-topic discussion of things we watched, read, or listened to that don't yet warrant their own episodes. In Part 1, we start with our This Week segment, and then dive into two Captain America - related controversies: #GiveCapABoyfriend and #SayNoToHydraCap. In both of these, the crux of the argument is how much artists should or should not cater to their audiences. Our general conclusion is that artists should be allowed to create their art, and that if people want greater representation in media, they should start creating that media. We also find the attacks on creators to be ridiculous, unwarranted, and in some cases scary. Check out Devin Faraci's article "Fandom is Broken" for a great analysis of the issues of social media access to creators and fandom's use of that access. In our This Week segment: Duane (and his wife, Jen) watched Circle (2015) and Before I Go To Sleep (2015) (both on Netflix), and he read the introduction to Har

In this episode of Watch.Read.Listen., we discuss our top 5 comics without superheroes. David's List: 5) Chew by John Layman and Rob Guillory; 4) Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson; 3) Locke & Key by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez; 2) Fear Agent by Rick Remender and Tony Moore; 1) Preacher by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon Duane's List: 5) Gunsmith Cats by Kenichi Sonoda; 4) Scott Pilgrim by Bryan Lee O'Malley; 3) Bone by Jeff Smith; 2) Thieves and Kings by Mark Oakley; and 1) Strangers in Paradise by Terry Moore Honorable Mentions Duane: Maus, The Maxx, Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, Yotsuba&, Genshiken, Welcome to the NHK David: The Maxx, The Walking Dead, 100 Bullets, Sin City, Ronin, From Hell, V for Vendetta This Week: Duane: The Cure at the Toyota Center; Hank Green and the Perfect Strangers, Driftless Pony Club, Harry and the Potters, Andrew Huang, and Rob Scallon at Super Happy Fun Land; the Canon podcast on Se7en. David: The Hitcher (movie); The Fury (movie); Frank Carter

In this episode of Watch.Read.Listen., we discuss the issues with Fanboys, arguing for more inclusiveness in the various fan cultures. We break down four main problems that we've observed both in others and ourselves: 1) fan tribalism, 2) gatekeepers, 3) "cheer pressure" (coined by Brady from Hello Internet and Numberphile), and 4) lack of critical thought around their fandom. On the more serious side, we discussed briefly the death of comic creator Darwyn Cooke. His loved ones encourage donations to the Canadian Cancer Society and the Hero Initiative, which is dedicated to helping comic creators in need. This Week: Duane - Stuff You Missed in History Class (two-parter on Hercules Mulligan in particular); Marathon Man (1976) and the Canon episode on it; Free Comic Book Day @ Bedrock City Comics, Love & Rockets, Mooncop by Tom Gauld; Rachel Rising Vol 1-2 by Terry Moore. David - Shock Waves podcast (from the hosts of Killer POV); Bloodcast; The Damn Fine Cast Devan Faraci's "I am Biased" article. Opening

In the second edition of the Watch.Read.Listen. Special Report, Duane and David breakdown the thirteenth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain America: Civil War. Note: After about 30 minutes we break into spoilers. We give you a heads up so if you go past that, well, that's on you. Overall we both enjoyed the film. David goes over some nitpicks that he has in terms of the way action scenes are shot, and the lack of memorable music coming out of the film. Both agree that it is one of the better films to come out of the MCU, and that it manages to close out the Captain America trilogy, and put our heroes in an interesting spot going into Phase 3. P.S. We aren't Marvel shills (still), and we manage to not talk about that other superhero film that came from the Distinguished Competition. Since, that seems to upset folks if you compare similar movies.  

In this episode of Watch.Read.Listen., we discuss and evaluate Phase Two of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. SPOILERS for Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel's Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Ant-Man. The entries in this slate of movies are somewhat uneven, but we think that while The Dark World is a bit of a snooze, the others are great examples of superhero movies that each manage their own tone and voice. In our This Week segment: Duane: Tales to Terrify (horror short-story podcast), The History of English podcast David: Wes Borland's Crystal Machete, Radiohead's A Moon Shaped Pool, The Witch (2015)   Check watchreadlisten.net for past podcasts and articles Listen on iTunes, Stitcher, or on Android devices Social Media: Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr Email: watchreadlistenpodcast at gmail dot com Links to the movies above go to through our Amazon Associates, so purchases through them help support the podcast. You can also shop on Amazon while suppor

In this episode of Watch.Read.Listen., we discuss Phase One of the MCU in anticipation of Captain America: Civil War. Spoilers (really?) for Iron Man, Iron Man 2, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain American: The First Avenger, and Marvel's The Avengers. We also take an extended detour in our This Week section as we search for that "Amblin Feelin'". This Week: Duane: Game of Thrones and sundry things, Neil Simon's Rumors (live at the Crighton Theatre in Conroe, TX) - check out this interview with Rumors director Travis Bryant, Far Fetched Fables "The Dark Down There" by Joe R. Lansdale (read by Eric Lake) David: Killer POV ends this chapter of the podcast, Krampus (the good one directed by Michael Dougherty, who also did Trick 'r Treat), Rob Zombie's The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenser Remember to check us out at watchreadlisten.net, on Facebook, Twitter @WRLPodcast, and to rate and review us on iTunes.

In this episode, we are joined by Shoe and Ian to discuss Game of Thrones. We focus on episode 1 of season 6, but we also discuss the show as a whole, and there is at least one possible spoiler from the books because we honestly don't really care about spoilers. Check out our website WatchReadListen.net for show notes, including links to our watches, reads, and listens for this week. Stay tuned for more on Game of Thrones this season, as well as the Marvel movies and upcoming launch of Shoe's book club podcast.

In this week's episode of Watch.Read.Listen., we are joined by Shoe to discuss George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire novels. SPOILERS for everything in the ASOIAF universe! We also go on a tangent about why we like John Green as a personality but don't read his novels. This Week: Shoe - TV: My Mad Fat Diary, Unbreakable Kimmie Schmidt, iZombie, Last Man on Earth, 11-22-63; Books: 11-22-63, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, Dorothy Must Die series (Danielle Paige), The Ice Dragon; Podcasts: Criminal, History of Westeros; Music: Portishead Duane - Star Wars Rebels Season 2 finale, short stories by J.G. Ballard and Dorothy Parker, Preacher (comic) David - The Projection Booth podcast, Outside the Cinema, stuff directed by Jeremy Saulnier (Green Room, Blue Ruin, Murder Party) Music at the break is the Game of Thrones theme by Rameses B, which you can find at https://soundcloud.com/ramesesb/game-of-thrones, which is used under a Creative Commons 3.0 license.

In this episode of Watch.Read.Listen., we discuss Peter Jackson's The Hobbit trilogy and explore both the things we like about and the things we don't. Overall, it doesn't work as a trilogy, and we wonder what would have been different if 1) Guillermo del Toro had stayed on to direct and 2) if these had been two films instead of three. We also look at these as adaptations of Tolkien's book. In our This Week section: Duane: Selected Shorts podcast for March 30: "The Sun and the Moon", Far Fetched Fables podcast episode 100 features a story by Michael Moorcock, and Star Wars Rebels David: Shudder horror movie service, Lucio Fulci's The Beyond  

In this epic-length episode of Watch.Read.Listen. (the first in our Fantasy Month), we discuss Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings films, both in their own right and as adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien's novel. This episode can be seen as the first of a two-parter on Jackson's adaptations of Tolkien's works as next week we will discuss The Hobbit films. What makes a good adaptation? What effects do the changes made have on the stories? In our This Week segment: David focused on rewatching The Lord of the Rings, although he did watch some of the DC animated movies, including Justice League: The Flash Paradox. Duane read Martian Comics#1-3 (check out the Martian Lit Kickstarter for the next issue, The Canals of Earth); listened to Alice Isn't Dead, the new podcast from the creators of Welcome to Night Vale; and watched Grace Randolph on Beyond the Trailer attempt to explain away the negativity around Batman v Superman. Both he and his wife watched Deadpool (read Duane's article "Deadpool v Batman v Superman") an

In this episode of Watch.Read.Listen., we discuss the works of one of our favorite authors, William Browning Spencer. Spencer's work is fairly obscure, but he gives real insight into how we deal with monsters -- both inside and out -- while balancing on the line between tragedy and comedy (both present in good measure). His work is also to credit for our further enjoyment of the works of H.P. Lovecraft. In our discussion, we try to keep it relatively spoiler-free. We know a lot of people haven't read these works, and we want to encourage you to go check them out for yourself. Our discussion sticks primarily with: The Return of Count Electric and Other Stories, Resume With Monsters, Zod Wallop, and Irrational Fears. Neither of us has yet read Spencer's first novel, Maybe I'll Call Anna, or his most recent collection of short stories, The Ocean and All Its Devices. Our This Week section is fairly sparse. Duane mostly just read, but he did see two casually racist and sexist Jerry Lewis movies, The Big Mouth and 

In this special edition of the Watch.Read.Listen. podcast, we discuss Batman v Superman. Note: the first half is spoiler-free; spoilers start 30 minutes in. In a nutshell, we both feel that the movie has major problems but that it is still worth seeing in the theater. In two smaller nutshells, Duane thinks the movie needed to be Man of Steel 2, and David thinks the movie doesn't earn its emotional beats. Basically, DC / Warner Bros. is still just chasing Marvel, and many of the movie's issues can be traced to this. P.S. We aren't Marvel shills, seeing as we haven't received any money from Marvel, but if they want to send any our way... P.S.S. Check us out on Twitter, Facebook, and at watchreadlisten.net

No new episode this week, but next week we are going to discuss William Browning Spencer. He's a bit obscure, but some of his work is now available in ebook form from Amazon and Barnes and Noble. This link will take you to Amazon, and if you buy through that link, we'll get a little bit of sale without costing you anything. Thanks for listening and don't forget to follow/like us at: facebook.com/WatchReadListenPodcast twitter.com/WRLPodcast watchreadlisten.net watchreadlistenpodcast@gmail.com

In this week's Watch.Read.Listen., we discuss the films of director and producer Sam Raimi. Spoiler Warning for: The Evil Dead (1981), Crimewave, Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn, Darkman, Army of Darkness, The Quick and the Dead (minor), A Simple Plan (minor), Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man 3, and Drag Me to Hell, with brief mentions of The Gift and Oz the Great and Powerful. In our This Week segment: Duane: Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane (physical book) and Trigger Warning (audiobook) David: As the Story Grows podcast and 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)

On this week's episode, we continue our Creator's Month with Neil Gaiman, discussing his various works of fiction with a focus on Gaiman's short stories and novels as we quickly realized that The Sandman will require an episode all on its own. There are potential spoilers for everything prose except for The Ocean at the End of the Lane and Trigger Warning - including Neverwhere, Smoke and Mirrors, Fragile Things, Coraline, Stardust, Miracleman #17-24, Mirromask, American Gods, Anansi Boys, The Graveyard Book, and Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader. We're playing the promo for the Outside the Cinema podcast, so check them out, especially their music special airing March 26, 6 pm EST at http://www.tv.outsidethecinema.com. This Week: Duane: Scriptnotes Podcast Episode 239, Neil Simon's Plaza Suite (1971) starring Walter Matthau, Studio One (TV show, 1948-58) - especially the Nineteen Eighty-Four episode (available on Hulu), John Oliver's This Week Tonight on Donald Drumpf David: Mark Salomon's Never Was pod

For this week's Watch.Read.Listen., we discuss movies based on comic books, especially those featuring super heroes (super-heroes? superheroes?). In our mostly-chronological conversation, we chart the evolution of the comic book movie from 1978's Superman through the current Marvel and DC movies, no doubt fogetting some along the way. In our "This Week" segment, we discuss: Duane: Showbread's Cancer film (2016), The Bad Christian Podcast, George R.R. Martin's Dreamsongs Volumes 1 & 2, The Star Wars Oxygen Podcast, and The Force Awakens soundtrack. David: Exorcist 2: The Heretic (1977), Damien: Omen II (1978),  American Graffiti (1973), Michael Kaminsky's The Secret History of Star Wars (audiobook and print), Jadorowsky's Dune (2013) - Documentary on an unmade movie.

March is Creator's Month at Watch.Read.Listen., and our first creator is director, animator, and Python Terry Gilliam. Gilliam's films have been a huge influence on us since we were kids, and we explore how his exploration of the fantastical has affected us. Note: This episode contains spoilers for Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Jabberwocky, Time Bandits, Brazil, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, The Fisher King, 12 Monkeys, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Brothers Grimm, and Tideland, with minor discussion of The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus and Zero Theorem. This Week: Duane: Live theatre, Bad Lip Reading (YouTube), The Liturgists Podcast, Scriptnotes Podcast David: Marriage (to Shoe), The Art of Neil Gaiman: the Story of a Writer by Haley Campbell, Dark Knights and Holy Fools by Bob McCabe, The Projection Booth's episode on Pump Up the Volume (which Duane realizes he's actually seen and liked, despite not remembering during the conversation) Terry Gilliam Biblography for More Info: Dark Knights and

In this week's episode of Watch.Read.Listen., we continue our discussion with Shoe on the effect of media on the criminal justice system. We compare The Jinx and Making a Murderer, how class affects justice, the effect of coercion on finding the truth, and the sad irony of pleading guilty but not guilty (i.e. the Alford Plea). In the end, we wrestle with the question "Does any of this matter, or is it just entertainment?" and maybe come up with an answer. In the This Week segment: Shoe: Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, The Lizzie Borden Chronicles, Better Call Saul, How to Get Away With Murder, Weezer, and My Chemical Romance. Duane: The Game of Owns Podcast, Radio Free Tatooine Podcast, Neil Gaiman's interview with Michael Chabon, and The Shaping of Middle-earth seminar from Mythgard Academy David: Better Call Saul, The Final Girls (movie), The Gift (movie), Southbound (anthology horror film), and the Orbit Magazine anthology by Rob St. Mary. Next month (March) will be Creator's Month, in which we explore the work

In this episode of Watch.Read.Listen., we are joined by Shoe to discuss (for lack of a better term) True Crime. For part 1 of this discussion we give our experiences with the genre (also for lack of a better term) and give our recommendations for things to watch, read, and listen to related to True Crime. This Week: Shoe: new X-Files, Christopher Moore's Secondhand Souls , Harry Potter (illustrated editions), Stuff You Missed in History Class, Criminal, Welcome to Night Vale, The Suffers (local Houston band) Duane: Note to Self (podcast), Zod Wallop by William Brownwing Spencer David: O Brother Where Art Thou!, Turbo Kid, Face Off (Syfy show). Our recommendations for True Crime things to watch, read, and listen: Kristina: Watch - Central Park Five, The Jinx, Lost for Life, Shenandoah, Making a Murderer, Read - (If) I Did It, Body in Question, Listen - Criminal, Serial, Sword and Scale Duane:  Watch - Making a Murderer, Listen -  Criminal, Serial, Undisclosed, Truth and Justice David: Read - Devil's Knot, Watc