Nerd Lunch

Michael, Rob, and Pax ditch Dom and Mia for Roman, Tej, Monica, and Suki. And talk about whether or not that was a good move.

Michael, Rob, and Karen watch Pierce Brosnan's introduction as James Bond and talk about how well GoldenEye rebooted and reinvigorated the series after a few years' break post-Licence to Kill. Directed by Martin Campbell, the movie also features Sean Bean, Izabella Scorupco, Famke Janssen, Joe Don Baker, Robbie Coltrane, Alan Cumming, and introduces Judi Dench as the new M.

Michael, Rob, and Pax talk about Marvel’s Indiana Jones comics, DC/Marvel crossovers, Marvel novels, Deadpool and Wolverine pre-work, movies about the Greek Empire and the rise of Rome, the Despicable Me movies, Tár, the Ti West/Mia Goth Maxine movies, Clone Wars, Kimba the White Lion, Marvel’s Blood Hunt event and other comics, Ernest Hemingway, favorite movie props, IF, the final season of Star Trek: Discovery, Season 3 of Bridgerton, Delicious in Dungeon, John Lennon's supergroup The Dirty Mac, and ever so much more.

Michael, Rob, Pax, and Evan talk about snakes, TV shows and documentaries about politicians, Lawmen: Bass Reeves, sequel novels to Star Trek TOS episodes, Classic Nerd Lunch, Furiosa, Brats, the Beverly Hills Cop movies, Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1, The Boys, Cobra Kai, X-Men cartoons, Ripley, space cat novels, Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? and other stuff by Agatha Christie, The Acolyte, and much much more.

Michael and Rob welcome Jeeg and Mike Westfall to help nominate 16 favorite TV sitcom theme songs, then vote on them until we determine the single greatest TV sitcom theme of all time. This was crazy hard with some impossible decisions, so let us know what we forgot and which themes should have advanced further in the tournament.

Michael and Jess discuss their love for Samara Morgan in Gore Verbinski's 2002 US remake of Ringu (1998). They also talk about whether the sequels are any good: the short film Rings (2005), The Ring Two (2005), and the feature-length Rings (2017).

Michael, Rob, and Karen wrap up 1980s James Bond as well as Timothy Dalton's too short time on the series with Licence to Kill. It's one of Rob's favorites, but not so much one of Michael's. And it's Karen's first time seeing it. So there's a lot to unpack as always.

Michael, Rob, and Pax are going to kill time between Fast and Furious episodes by watching some old superhero stuff. We're starting with the wildly influential Superman cartoons released by Paramount in the early 1940s. The first nine were produced by Fleischer Studios and their fingerprints are also all over the eight that followed by a renamed studio under different leadership. Because of that, all seventeen are usually referred to as the Fleischer Superman cartoons and we talk about the whole set: what worked, what didn't, and what went on to inspire not just future cartoons, but even the comics themselves.

We continue our celebration of The Shadow's 30th anniversary with this special podcast crossover episode! Paxton Holley brings his I Read Movies podcast to After Lunch for a special look at James Luceno's Shadow novelization, based on the screenplay by David Koepp.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Russell Mulcahy's The Shadow, Michael and Rob welcome superfans of the movie, Paxton Holley and Adam Pope. The conversation covers the ups, the downs, and the impressive cast featuring Alec Baldwin, Penelope Ann Miller, John Lone, Peter Boyle, Ian McKellen, Tim Curry, Jonathan Winters, James Hong, Al Leong, John Kapelos, Max Wright, Ethan Phillips, and Robert Trebor.

Rob talks with Michael and Pax about his recent visit to France and England with his wife to celebrate their 30th Wedding Anniversary. There's sightseeing in Paris and the French countryside, mealtime scheming on the cruise ship, and a trip to Highclere Castle (aka Downton Abbey)!

Michael and Rob are joined by Carlin Trammel and Michael DiGiovanni to talk about collectible movie tie-in glasses. They discuss various ones they've collected over the years, including recent ones. But the highlight of the episode is when each panelist creates a whole line of four glasses for a movie that never got them. Carlin even created mock-ups of his line, which you can see below.

Carlin Trammel returns to the podcast feed for a special interview with David Heringer, organizer of the Infinity Con entertainment convention. They talk about the history of the show, why events like it are necessary, and the next one coming to Tallahassee, Florida on July 6 and 7.

Michael, Rob, and Pax begin a new series of episodes covering the Fast and Furious movies, starting of course with the introduction of Brian, Dom, Mia, and Letty (and alright, Vince) in Rob Cohen's The Fast and the Furious. And because it's just the way we are, we also talk a little about John Ireland and Edward Sampson's 1954 film of the same name that also stars Ireland and Dorothy Malone.

Michael and Jess investigate a couple of movies on Mike Mignola's 20 Horror Movies I Can’t Live Without. A lot of the movies on Mignola's list have common themes - vampires, witches, ghosts, etc. - but The Thing (1982) and Jacob's Ladder (1990) were outliers, so we decided to start with them. 

Michael, Rob, and Karen welcome Timothy Dalton to the James Bond films in The Living Daylights. After the mostly over-the-top Roger Moore era, the series gets back to basics with Dalton's realistic, angry, but also charming take on 007.

In this rerun from the old Filthy Horrors podcast, Michael, Jess, and Darla eat at a haunted restaurant and then talk about three of their favorite ghost movies: Poltergeist (1982), The Orphanage (2007), and The Woman in Black (2012). 

Michael, Pax, and Becky wrap up this month's Lounge talking about whether adapters of things need to be fans of the original material, X-Men movies, giant monster movies, John Hughes movies, Challengers and other sports movies, Monkey Man, Boy Kills World, The Fall Guy, Bridgerton, and more.

With Rob out of the country, Becky Tyler joins Michael and Pax in the lounge to talk about LiveJournal, The Phantom Menace, Gold Diggers of 1933, Lisa Frankenstein, Abigail, The First Omen, Late Night with the Devil, Immaculate, old Nerd Lunch episodes, the Fast and Furious movies, Jed MacKay’s Moon Knight, Remo Williams, God of Fire by Helen Steadman, The Princess Bride by William Goldman, PG Wodehouse's Jeeves stories, and more.

The After Lunch Planet of the Apes movie panel joins the After Lunch Planet of the Apes TV panel to talk about the all-new Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes! Michael, Rob, Pax, and Jacob Bean-Watson welcome the new trilogy of Planet of the Apes films with this first entry directed by Wes Ball and starring Owen Teague, Freya Allan, Peter Macon, and Kevin Durand.