Down To Watch

DTW gets into the summer season with a fresh new concert documentary (both now in select theaters and streaming on Hulu) that boasts a great lineup and a bit to say about society. Jonnie joins Dan and Raul to talk about Questlove's directorial debut, Summer of Soul; a music & culture film exploring racial relations circa the summer of 1969 via the artists and songs of this very unique time period. Some of the musicians spotlighted during this series of weekend concerts in Harlem include Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, and these performances help draw a picture of a time in our recent history worth discussion and this pod is one of them! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/downtopod/message

Summertime cinemas and televisions are starting to cook up tasty new shows and films to fill our warmer, longer days, and DTW is gonna tell you about 'em! Dan and Raul talk about a whole bunch of stuff coming out in July; we've got a lady shoot-em-up Wick-style, docs on beloved musicians and a globetrotting chef, even what Nic Cage is up to with his "Pig"... You want to know, so you should definitely listen! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/downtopod/message

Fresh new shows to choose from this week as DTW bounces between freak-outs!  Panic, a new series on Amazon Prime, is also a feeling you might get as a teen stuck in a dead-end town when your only option for escape is to play a deadly game of YA Fear Factor. Kevin Can F*** Himself deals with another kind of panic, as a woman's home life looks like a sitcom in all the worst ways and clashes with her IRL dreams and expectations. Listen in to see if these shows about shaking up your world shook Dan and Raul enough to keep watching! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/downtopod/message

Time trickery and chronological capers are on the docket this week as Down to Watch gets plucked out of one Disney/Marvel timeline and right into another one! The new 6-episode series, Loki, has landed and it's about time Dan and Raul had Jonnie back on to help put the MCU back into the right perspective. Tom Hiddleston has been a favorite of audiences as a conniving deity bent on power, but can this singular character who is usually a part an ensemble carry an entire TV show? Luckily, the answer is on this pod! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/downtopod/message

This week special guest, Hannah, returns to delve back into the Del-Co (that's Delaware County where Philadelphia is located for you noobs) murder mystery show Mare of Easttown! Dan and Raul covered the first few eps a couple of pods ago, but now that Kate Winslet has detected (you know, because she is a Detective) her way to the end of this prestige-TV HBO limited series, was it a crime classic, a rocky-rehash of small town desperation or something in-between? Your typical, usual cop show it ain't.  It's way more than that, so do yourselves a favor since you obviously have seen the show already, grab a hoagie and a Rolling Rock and dive into a spoiler-laden discussion on this great TV series! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/downtopod/message

Back with another new round of upcoming TV shows and movies; the best day of the month! Down to Watch tears into the new gifts from the big streamers and studios to figure out what might be worth taking a peek at in June. There's Norse gods messing with Marvel timelines, housewives caught in oppressive sitcom tropes, kids with powers to save the world or just skate it, even some singing, dancing and getting physical. Let Raul and Dan tell ya what's comin'! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/downtopod/message

Down to Watch reaches back to the 80's again, and this time Dan and Raul find a bunch of chattering pinheads! The Cenobites are here to do gross painful sex stuff in Hellraiser, and there's plenty of bits and gooey chunks to sift through in this cult classic. This movie was shocking in it's day, but can it gross out this podcasting duo in the modern era!?  Open the box and find the answers you seek within! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/downtopod/message

There's a Peacock show on the agenda this week, but don't think that means HBO doesn't get their foot in the door this week as usual! Dan and Raul head to the NBC streaming service for the new Tina Fey-produced comedy, Girls5Eva, featuring four women attempting to revisit their fleeting fame as late-90s/early 00's pop group. At the same time, HBO Max is releasing Hacks week to week; a half hour "dramedy" about two women comedians at very different places in their careers. Is Girls5Eva the better comeback story or is it gonna be Hacks on Max? This pod says the answer! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/downtopod/message

This week on Down to Watch, HBO is at it again! This time there's a sad murder in the little gray 'burg of Easttown and they got their own Academy Award-winning actress to wrap this new tragedy into her already complicated life. The spotlight is on Mare of Easttown, a new murder mystery small-town drama starring Kate Winslet, that already has Raul and Dan interested in seeing if Mare can find some justice in her jurisdiction without uncovering too many secrets in these interconnected lives. Can she do it? If it happened in the first two episodes then it's on this pod! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/downtopod/message

Another monthly-upcoming extravanganza, factory fresh!  May has more media to consume, so Raul and Dan plate up what looks appetizing, including leftover Marvel/Hulu animated-collaboration M.O.D.O.K., Fey and Carlock 90's pop group send up Girls5Eva (Peacock), and Zack Snyder's toe-dip into the Romero-verse with Army of the Dead (Netflix). There's big name Disney projects, edgy up-and-comers in comedy and random big budget YA adaptations they forgot to advertise, all scooped up in this episode, totally recorded for you! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/downtopod/message

Back for another round of social-commentary-TV, disguised this time in slick and scary 70's suburban horror; the guys are talking about Amazon Prime's new series, Them. Dan and Raul discuss the show and it's approach to style and storytelling, as well as trying to place it in the modern television landscape. Chances are pretty good that this goal is not accomplished; the attempt crushed under the weight of endless tangents. It's a good one, so listen, OK!?! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/downtopod/message

This week on Down to Watch we're short on kryptonite and fiber because we're getting Invincible and The Irregulars! Animation, capes and tights, Doctor Watson, teen drama, and "The Hound" can shoot birds from his coat!?! This is genre country, home of the fantastical and the terrible, but not to worry as both these new TV shows have something to offer.  Dan and Raul are gonna wade through the first leg of each of these streaming samples and come back with the hot takes! Hot takes!!! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/downtopod/message

Hiatus over! This year started with a bang across our tv schedules, so apparently these content creators think they can take a break! April 2021 is looking kinda thin but there is promise of jewels in the rough streaming edges. Dan and Raul sift through the upcoming tv terrain and highlight the televised stories that might catch hold of your brains throughout the next month. Check if there's something for you! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/downtocast/message

Dan fills everyone in on what he's been watching, he's got some recommends for Raul and the audience so listen in! The guys also watched the first episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Zack Snyder's Justice League, THE WHOLE THING! Listen to this episode! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/downtocast/message

Raul and Dan are joined by good friend of the pod, Jonnie! Everyone has seen the whole season of this new series over on Disney+ and there is much to be discussed, including how all the crazy fan theories permeated the pop culture zeitgeist over these past 9 weeks and also where the MCU stories involving Wanda potentially could progress towards in the future. This was a fun one, get into it! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/downtocast/message

Dan and Raul are back to cover all the shows and movies premiering this month that they find interesting, and March is a busy month for watchin' stuff! The guys cover the Coming 2 America sequel (Amazon), The Falcon and Winter Soldier (Disney+), Breeders (Season 2 on FX), and City on a Hill (Season 2 on Showtime) as well as many, many more offerings. As always some of these shows will get full episode discussions so listen to this preview for the coming month of what might be covered very soon at length! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/downtocast/message

Dan and Raul begin this episode discussing some true crime doc-series on Netflix, including The Night Stalker and also The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel. Then talks turn to the new feature film (now on HBO Max for 30 days), Judas and the Black Messiah, and the critical praise for the film is deserved. There is much to discuss in terms of the filmmaking here, including the very effective musical score and the astonishing performances, some of which most likely should see some Oscar love when the Academy Awards are handed on April 25th! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/downtocast/message

Dan saw a new indie horror flick called, Saint Maud, which he highly recommends and is discussed briefly as Raul hadn't seen the film.  Next, Raul and Dan dive into the first episode of the very new HBO Max series, The Head.  Playing on some of the similar tropes of a group of people living in an isolated and remote location, the show rightly calls attention to some of the obvious references and sets out to give us a really solid entry into the genre with plenty of suspense/mystery, and a little body horror! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/downtocast/message

Dan and Raul are back to cover the new month in all things TV and Movies, and these include a new show from The Rock over on NBC, Clarice on CBS All Access, Behind Her Eyes on Netflix, and Beartown on HBO Max, as well as many other movies and shows that the guys thought would be fun/interesting watches for February! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/downtocast/message

Dan and Raul are joined by special guest, Hannah, to discuss this highly regarded newly released film on Amazon Prime Video.  The film has great performance and simple yet highly effective direction, and also features a striking portrait of race in America circa 1964 from the black male perspective.  Listen ahead as the DTW crew delves into what makes the film so effective in its balancing of race discussions from each characters specific and unique point of view, but also utilizing the limited space of almost only a single hotel room for nearly the entire film in very effective ways.  This flick is good, watch it now! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/downtopod/message