Screeners Podcast

The biggest event in the entertainment industry this week (as far as the Screeners are concerned, at least) was the news of Roger Ebert’s death. The Screeners open the episode by paying tribute to the first movie critic to get his own star on the Walk of Fame, sharing their favorite memories of Ebert’s life and work.As promised in the show, here’s the original blog post Josh mentioned; turns out it’s been made into a book. And here’s the Rob Schneider exchange Chad excerpted. In the spirit of fairness, though, it’s worth mentioning that Schneider didn’t end this little feud as belligerently as it began.The Lightning Round...AlmostMoving on to Jump Cuts, the Screeners consider Disney’s recent shuttering of the LucasArts video game studio. Apparently, Josh is the only one who pays attention to the credits screens in the Lego series to see where they’re made. So sad.Next, not to spoil the episode or anything, but one Screener loved the new GI Joe movie, and one, not so much. If you can’t guess at least one of th

Get out your controllers and settle in for a long night of not communicating with the outside world, because this time around, the Screeners are reviewing 2K Games’ blockbuster Bioshock Infinite. If you’re not a gamer, though, not to worry; there’s still plenty of movie and TV talk to go around.The Lightning Round ReduxBefore getting into the meat of this episode’s lightning round, the Screeners take a minute to confess that they haven’t really been sticking to a 60-second answer limit in previous episodes (though we’re sure no one would have known if they hadn’t pointed it out). They then introduce the nemesis of any long-winded Screener, the Jump Cut buzzer. We’ll see if they need it...who are we kidding? Of course they’ll need it.The questions start out with Gerard Butler and Olympus Has Fallen, the White House-levelling action thriller. Melody and Chad take turns mocking the amateurish visual effects and praising the...delightfully campy visual effects. There might have been some talk about the acting and

The Screeners host a double-feature this time, heading to the theater for both Oz: The Great and Powerful and The Incredible Burt Wonderstone. Before the conversation turns to wizards, monkeys, and the somewhat blurry line between them, though, they spend a little time outside Hollywood with a round of Jump Cuts.How to Raise Money, and Where Not to Spend it (01:23)The lightning round opens with a nerdfest about the increasing accessibility of cinema and video production. The Black Magic Cinema Camera gets a nod for its recent use in a feature-length movie, and the Screeners talk about their experience with it and other increasingly affordable theater-quality digital cameras.Next, the round gets charged, but maybe not so lightning-fast anymore, as the Screeners take on the recent Veronica Mars Kickstarter success, touching on everything from the revolutionary nature of crowdfunding a studio-backed movie to Joss Whedon’s reaction to the news.Having talked enough about worthy causes, the Screeners move

Good news! The Screeners Podcast pilot passed the test, and they’ve been picked up for a full run by...the network that they run. Hey; it’s still an accomplishment—and they’re on iTunes now, so once you’re done previewing the episode here, head over there to subscribe.This time, with the Oscars behind them, the Screeners are ready to move on to the year ahead and discuss a variety of non-film media.Jump Cuts (1:15)OK, so we can’t resist one movie question...The recent trend of recasting fairy tales into darker, more adult stories has hit theaters and network TV in force, but who’s watching these things anyway? Somewhere along the way, we find out that the Screeners have some strong opinions on what actually constitutes a fairy tale. Who knew?Audio ”books” and the geeks who love themHey, they said no “media” is safe—and for now, books are still considered media. Does listening to an audio book count as “reading”, though? Chad and Josh try to drop some science on the topic, but Chris is having none of it.Tiny s

Wave to the camera - err, microphone Any good pilot has to establish some characters, so the Screeners start out by introducing themselves. Josh leads with a story illustrating his questionable credentials as a movie critic, and everyone else points out that he’s also bad at telling stories. C’mon, just a quick sound byte... Up next is the lightning round - a round-robin question-and-answer where the only rule is that every host is given one minute or less to...ignore that they’re supposed to answer within one minute. Should JJ Abrams be directing Star Wars? What movies are you looking forward to this year? If you were writing a fan-fiction spinoff of Breaking Bad, which illegal substance would you have the main character produce? Only one of those wasn’t an actual question; don’t you wish you knew which one? And the winner is... Since the Oscars have dominated media news lately, much of the episode is devoted to discussing the nominees for some of the main (and not-so-main) categories, the winners, and those