Bizzlecast Podcast By The Bizzle

I only have limited time in this short podcast, but Carrie Fisher is one of the most interesting, intense, hilarious, brilliant, disturbed, and most importantly real and honest person to ever make it out of Hollywood. And yet she barely made it out of her drug addiction, but she’s spent the last decade or so producing brilliant work on TV, film, theater, and as a writer. Totally fearless, a modern woman stuck growing up with a highly dysfunctional family of Hollywood royalty (the photo at the bottom is her with her equally important mother Debbie Reynolds, with whom she has reconciled against all adds), in the aftermath of the Hillary Clinton debacle it’s so clear that Fisher was ahead of her time, in addition to the too-much-too-young thing that has killed the careers and sometimes lives of young actors. But she’s come out the other side crazier and cooler than even, and if you enjoy the podcast I highly recommend seeking out some of the great interviews with her, from David Letterman in 1983 when the burno

Doctor Strange Daze, Guy Fawkes, Female Nerd-Land, Lack of Women Superheroes, Is Marvel Headed Towards the End Already? Feat. Matty G aka Goose

Is this the beginning of the end? Not really sure, but you can't pack enough big name actors into a ridiculous and extremely bizarre comic book property that doesn't fit in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Rachel McAdams, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Tilda Swinton do everything possible to save this hot mess from an inconsistent Benedict Cumberbatch and his horrible New York accent. This felt like a big pinch of Matrix, a dash of Inception and some sprinkling of Harry Potter. It's not as terrible as that sounds but... Listen to this non-spoiler-leads-into-spoiler review to hear where I'm going.

Yes, Wil Wheaton! Why you ask? Listen and find out! But mostly Biz & Goose Rap on sexism in TV/Film (and everywhere), the future of the Arrow-verse on CW, the new Rogue One trailer (we disagree!), and WIL WHEATON is kind of great… but his buddy and Nerdist-mogul Chris Hardwick, maybe not so much (also shout-out to Felicia Day!)

I wasn’t sure I would do this but after I started rewatching the first five minutes of STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS after having not seen it since it came out last Xmas I immediately realized that IT SHALL BE DONE. Ok, we had to get the redux/reboot tendencies out of our collective systems, but the movie gets better as it goes along and with each watching because of the brilliant work of the cast and the filmmakers. So who cares if Rey is the 2016 Luke, and that we basically have our third Death Star in four movies with the original cast, because Ridley, Boyega, Driver, Isaac, and Harrison Ford are just mesmerizing, but more importantly, just have FUN, and so do we. Two BB-8-style zippo thumbs up!

Where do The Defenders go from a bleak and underwritten but still relatively well-executed Daredevil Season 2 and the excellent early reviews of Luke Cage Season 1? Matty G and I discuss what worked and what didn’t in the Daredevil series — no need to rehash our love and respect for Jessica Jones too much — and continue our exploration into this bizarre time where comic books and movies are experiencing a shocking renaissance while at the same time being exposed for their hereditary shallowness compared to more profound issues being dealt with in the best science fiction and dark fantasy on screen and on the page. Oh, and we got aliens in the Arrow-verse. Bring it.

Luke Cage’s own show is HERE on Netflix - in Part 1 of my Pre-Luke Party Papa B and I mostly talk Daredevil Season 2, which was the most recent Netflix Marvel series and quite problematic. We think Luke Cage will be closer to Jessica Jones in tone and quality than Daredevil and we can’t wait to binge and find out! Here’s a quickie with the father of the Bizzle! (NOTE: Spoilers from Daredevil and Jessica Jones)

So deserving, but where do we go from here? ORPHAN BLACK’S Tatiana Maslany wins BEST DRAMATIC ACTRESS at the Emmys! There’s justice indeed in this world: Sci-Fi brilliance is rewarded for insane and lovable creativity. Tatiana paving the path to truth and reality. Matty G and Bizzle rap on what this means for sci-fi, women, and all creative people going forward.

Robert Downey Jr. hitting on Marisa Tomei as Aunt Mae? Check. Fabulous drama, comedy, and action involving Cap and his buddies Sam (Anthony Mackie) and Bucky (Sebastian Stan)? We got that. Paul Rudd as an Avenger? LOL hysterical. Despite some uneven pacing and yet another so-so Marvel villain (though Daniel Bruhl acted the s**t out of his role), the character drama was top notch along with some thrilled action set pieces. But ultimately, T’Challa/Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) and Peter Parker/Spiderman (Tom Holland) steal the show - which of course was the plan to set up their own upcoming massive franchises. Excellent supporting performances by Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany in particular, along with Jeremy Renner, Scarlett Johansson and others makes this universe feel truly lived in so that we love the characters wherever the writing and direction takes us. Sign up for BizzleCast on iTunes (keyword: BizzleCast) or use the RSS feed on any podcast app: http://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:

What can you say about this show? Or even this episode, which may be the greatest pilot episode of all time. The Bizzle brings his best commentator game to all seven episodes of one of the best first seasons we’ve ever seen. And while the show took until Season 3 to really find it’s mega-mojo (joining Netflix was HUGE), the writer’s strike-shortened Season 1 managed to accomplish an insane amount of world building. It didn’t hurt that the actors immediately owned their roles and their chemistry with one another, which is always a hallmark of a great series. Anyway, I’m rambling. Queue up you Netflix S1E1 to 0’0”00 and let’s ride. If you like my commentary please check out more BizzleCastTV commentaries at: www.BizzleCastTV.com

A radically humanistic and realistically utopian take on the ultimate fate of the human race disguised as a feel-good space teamwork story that captured audiences imaginations and is going to be a critical tool in enticing younger people to engage with science in general and astronomy in particular. On a mindblowingly low budget of around $100m with legendary director Ridley Scott at the helm, THE MARTIAN in 2015 managed to upstage Christopher Nolan’s INTERSTELLAR from the year before (which also had Matt Damon and Jessica Chastain) with more compelling characters and a more grounded and realistic science that was always delivered with a personal touch — never straight exposition. But as great as the plot and action are, it’s the brilliant casting and the mixed comedy-drama deliveries of all of the cast that makes this not only one of the best films of 2015, but one of the great science fiction movies ever as well as one of the most rewatchable films of all time. As Papa Bizzle puts it: “the humanism of this

BC61.5: BizzleCast Sports Goes Deep: We talk racism and diversity among athletes and fans; the state of youth sports; the problems lying beneath the NFL's $13.5 billion juggernaut; whether MLB is dying or flying; sports as the ultimate manifestation of American meritocracy; athlete activism led by LeBron James and more with Matty G aka Goose. Topics include: -we really get deep on sports culture and what it says about our culture -superhuman spectacle of superstar athletes -racism and race dynamics in sports and the growing diversity: fans using racism to taunt opponents and get them kicked out -is there actually less racism than we think among American athletes if not the fans? -where the four major sports are at plus soccer -the American meritocracy of sports -activism led by LeBron James and other superstars -soccer as a rising force — MLS vs playing overseas -and we end with which superheroes would be which superathletes Sign up for BizzleCast on iTunes (keyword: BizzleCast) or use the RSS feed on any

What is Ryan Lochte's level of douchey-ness from 9 to 1000? Ledecky or Biles? Why are the women kicking the men's asses? Can The Bizzle convince you that the Winter Olympics is the superior event? And of course, a short but insightful interview about how my #2 Matty G aka Goose became an esteemed sports reporter in the fertile sports ground of New England.

Why SUICIDE SQUAD succeeded in the box office where STAR TREK BEYOND failed. Non-spoiler mini-review of JASON BOURNE. What a lousy summer movie year. General praise for V FOR VENDETTA as ahead of its time. The future of AGENTS OF SHIELD. Tom Hiddleston and Taylor Swift aka HiddleSwift! Tay Tay! And most importantly the amazingness of HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE and the lack of great indie films so far this year.

With SUICIDE SQUAD somehow managing to defeat BATMAN V SUPERMAN in the bad review contest — and like BvS making way more money than you’d think possible — DC Comics and their “partners” at Warner Bros are headed for a plane-crash-into-the-mountain scenario with the DC Extended Universe if not for what looks like a very promising film in WONDER WOMAN (2017). After the Bizzle briefly rants solo about Suicide Squad (and no, I haven’t seen it, and won’t, so you can make your own judgments) and a very complimentary mini-review of the Wonder Woman trailer, I bring on senior contributor and DC Comics scholar Matty G to talk WW, SS, and the dreadful-looking JUSTICE LEAGUE. But we end on a high note with optimistic assessments of DOCTOR STRANGE and especially ROGUE ONE, to which The Bizzle has shamelessly jumped back ON the bandwagon for, hopefully for good (not making any promises). It appears that 2016 will go down as one of the weakest film years of all time, but that doesn’t mean that the BizzleCast Crew can’t hav

There’s no one else that could be here other than my wingman and the Spock to my Kirk, Matty G. aka Goose. We bring you 20 glorious minutes of non-spoiler review (and mostly praise) and then we get into the Nitty Gritty of this excellent scifi entry in the Star Trek multiverse. We like the Beats AND the Shouting! FIGHT THE POWER. Sign up for BizzleCast on iTunes (keyword: BizzleCast) or use the RSS feed on any podcast app: http://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:35604552/sounds.rss

Ladies and Gents, I am thrilled to welcome Ms. Laura Catana to the BizzleCast: Entrepreneur, businesswoman, professional globetrotter, global arts and cultural hub, musical tastemaker, and now managing the hottest music and arts collective in Cuba today called Guampara - and a long-time friend of mine from back to the college days at Wesleyan University. Laura is truly a global citizen, in heart, experience and background: her dad was from Israel via Romania, her mom from Curacao via Poland, and her mom also happens to be a fabulous Brazilian singer for many years based in NYC where Laura grew up and which is still her home base when she’s not trotting the globe (which is usually :) Her latest endeavor is a spectacular arts collective from Cuba called Guampara, but we talk some major life lessons, going to Wesleyan, running businesses, and so much more. Plus tons of great stories about Guampara co-founder DJ Jigue and global music shakers Marlon Bishop of NPR, DJ Nickodemus, Canyon Cody, Sean Dwyer, Scott Ket

Adam Smiley Poswolsky — millennial author, speaker, motivator, entrepreneur, camp counselor, and one of my best buddies in the multiverse — is about to drop a brand new edition of his critically-acclaimed and best-selling book for millennials searching for meaningful work: “THE QUARTER-LIFE BREAKTHROUGH: Invent Your Own Path, Find Meaningful Work, and Build a Life That Matters.” We run the gamut of how to improve our lives and make them more meaningful through the lens of Smiley’s rise from a talented writer to an inspiring speaker, master social networker, leader of innovative camp and retreat programs for adults, and fellow philosophical thinker on all things millennial and more. We also get a critique of the self-help industry in 2016 and Smiley's occasional discomfort with being a part of it. And of course, plenty of Seinfeld and Lebowski references, a touch of Daoism, a little “Up In The Air,” and Politics! http://smileyposwolsky.com/ http://www.thequarterlifebreakthrough.com/ Sign up for BizzleCast on

Seeing “Les Miserables” on Broadway as a child in the 1980s left a massive impression on me, but the 2012 film was my choice for Best Picture in a year with tons of great films. While it had one of the most inspired castings ever, from the heartbreaking Oscar-winning performance of Anne Hathaway to the deliciously evil Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter, it's the “Little Big Three” of Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne and Samantha Barks who steal the movie full stop. Although not all agree, I believe that this film is almost impossibly faithful to the legendary theatrical production and yet manages to pave its own way into film history and the hearts of those of us who love this story. While some reviewers for some reason hated on the spectacular live sound recordings, the skill of the sound engineers combined with the actors/singers might not be replicated for many years. Let’s put it like this: Les Mis is like a sexual experience. You have to go through all the motions, sometimes the middle is the bes

Love it or not, "Star Trek," and especially "Star Trek: The Next Generation" is one of the most important, game-changing franchises/shows in modern science fiction. I first brought Matty G (aka Goose) onto the BizzleCast more than half a year ago to talk (ostensibly) about Star Trek as a contrast to Star Wars. But with hundreds of TV episodes (and more on the way!), 12 movies and related material in all sorts of other media, Star Trek is well worth exploring simply on its own terms. And since Trek was very much one of the shows that turned both of us into lifelong sci-fi fans, we of course had a lot to say! Topics include: Why the Borg are so awesome; the new Star Trek TV series on CBS's online platform, the socialist vision of Star Trek vs. the libertarian vision of Firefly; why Star Trek has been beloved for 50 years despite highly uneven production quality and writing; why Data is so great, what went wrong with Voyager and Enterprise; Deep Space Nine being ahead of its time in terms of being darker and mo