Screeners Podcast

What better way to celebrate election season than by watching a documentary about a partisan summer camp in Texas? At least, that's what Boys State looks like to us at first glance. We're sure it's far more nuanced than that. Since this is clearly a light release week, let's also take some time to catch up on what else the hosts have been streaming lately, then—why not?—work on our Flickchart list a bit. Subscribe: iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/screeners-podcast/id611609146) | Google Play (https://play.google.com/music/m/Iissyasykzy4aokzsgmcto5xsfe?t=Screeners_Podcast) | Pocket Casts (http://pca.st/TZQF) Web: Home (http://screenerspodcast.com/) | Download (https://aphid.fireside.fm/d/1437767933/15272701-2f5b-4fb3-81f6-b494b321b3f9/1af46ce6-aaf9-4e42-97fd-7d6f7e9ef3bc.mp3) Social: Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/screenerscast/) | Twitter (https://twitter.com/screenerscast/)

HBO Max is here, like it or not. Some Screeners might just be in the latter group, since they're having trouble getting access to it through no fault of their own (thanks, cable companies and Amazon!). Anyway, they've put all their eggs in Seth Rogen's basket for their first feature-length movie, An American Pickle. It's a . . . dramedy about a Jewish time traveler? Sure; why not. It's also over in less than 90 minutes, so if it's bad, at least it won't be bad for that long. If it's good, it won't overstay it's welcome. Let's watch it; what do we have to lose? Subscribe: iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/screeners-podcast/id611609146) | Google Play (https://play.google.com/music/m/Iissyasykzy4aokzsgmcto5xsfe?t=Screeners_Podcast) | Pocket Casts (http://pca.st/TZQF) Web: Home (http://screenerspodcast.com/) | Download (https://aphid.fireside.fm/d/1437767933/15272701-2f5b-4fb3-81f6-b494b321b3f9/a8c97057-3446-4348-83a5-76174ffc53de.mp3) Social: Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/screenerscast/) | Twitter

We don't know what the next Oscars will look like, but if there's one awards show that should have a banner year, it's the Emmys. We've certainly had plenty of time to check out the nominees (https://www.emmys.com/events/72nd-emmy-nominations-announcement). The streaming platforms (even some of the newer ones) play an unsurprisingly large role here, so we'll have to have a little chat about whether that's warranted. Once we've complained about why our favorites didn't make the list, let's . . . well, let's do some more complaining. We spend a lot of time on the show making "best of" lists, but no one ever talks about the opposite of the best — until now. Welcome to the inaugural "worst movies ever" list. "But wait," you say. "If it's the worst movies ever, can't there by definition be only one list?" Nah. When you start digging into repressed memories like this, you're always bound to come up with more than you started with. Plus, there's a new Mortal Kombat movie coming out next year. Enjoy! Subscribe: iTune

Our "best of" episodes have been a lot of fun so far, and it's been a minute since we've done one. What better decade to return with than the 90s? Sure, Chad was probably pushing middle age by then, but it's right in the childhood nostalgia sweet spot for several of the Screeners, so we should be able to find some good arguments in here somewhere. Without further ado, here are the categories we'll cover: Animation Horror Comedy Action Sci-fi Best performance Most rewatchable ...as always, though, there are no rules, so Chad will probably slip something else in there since he has adult memories from this era. Subscribe: iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/screeners-podcast/id611609146) | Google Play (https://play.google.com/music/m/Iissyasykzy4aokzsgmcto5xsfe?t=Screeners_Podcast) | Pocket Casts (http://pca.st/TZQF) Web: Home (http://screenerspodcast.com/) | Download (https://aphid.fireside.fm/d/1437767933/15272701-2f5b-4fb3-81f6-b494b321b3f9/fdac1037-9a7e-4b6a-9d22-8f9cbb451d88.mp3) Social: Facebook (h

At under (under!) 90 minutes, Max Barbakow's Palm Springs shouldn't be too hard to make it through...unless its familiar plot devices make it insufferable. The reviews so far suggest it's worth the modest amount of time it asks for, and it does star Adam Sandler, so the only question remaining is whether it gets the Screeners seal of approval. Only one way to find that out... Subscribe: iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/screeners-podcast/id611609146) | Google Play (https://play.google.com/music/m/Iissyasykzy4aokzsgmcto5xsfe?t=Screeners_Podcast) | Pocket Casts (http://pca.st/TZQF) Web: Home (http://screenerspodcast.com/) | Download (https://aphid.fireside.fm/d/1437767933/15272701-2f5b-4fb3-81f6-b494b321b3f9/e6efedd0-867c-4121-8923-bacd6911d4c4.mp3) Social: Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/screenerscast/) | Twitter (https://twitter.com/screenerscast/) Special Guest: Tyler Howat.

After all those months of trying to score tickets from shady scalpers and even shadier “legitimate” ticket outlets, Disney+ has finally scored us seats to Hamilton, and couch seats at that. Despite all the criticism (https://apnews.com/db3c9d7573334b55a651d7ceba4dc66b) from people who insist on getting things “accurate”, the musical has obviously been a massive hit. Does it translate to TV, though? The Screeners are here to help you decide! Subscribe: iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/screeners-podcast/id611609146) | Google Play (https://play.google.com/music/m/Iissyasykzy4aokzsgmcto5xsfe?t=Screeners_Podcast) | Pocket Casts (http://pca.st/TZQF) Web: Home (http://screenerspodcast.com/) | Download (https://aphid.fireside.fm/d/1437767933/15272701-2f5b-4fb3-81f6-b494b321b3f9/059e2edf-cef7-4fc0-b0bd-11f0ef2a60bc.mp3) Social: Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/screenerscast/) | Twitter (https://twitter.com/screenerscast/) Special Guest: Tyler Howat.

If you listened to our review of Devs (https://screenerspodcast.com/172) and thought, "That's great, but can't you give me something longer to watch?", we've got your back. ESPN's docuseries The Last Dance is longer than Devs by a solid 2 hours. So there. "But I don't like sports," you say. Don't worry; we've got that viewpoint covered too. We'll tell you what's up. And if that's not enough, or if you've already watched The Last Dance (we know; it ended a couple weeks ago), we'll give you a list of other things to catch up on by talking about our top 3 movies and TV shows of...the first half of the year. Surely there's something in there you haven't seen—it's not like you've been holed up at home for the past three months or something, right? Subscribe: iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/screeners-podcast/id611609146) | Google Play (https://play.google.com/music/m/Iissyasykzy4aokzsgmcto5xsfe?t=Screeners_Podcast) | Pocket Casts (http://pca.st/TZQF) Web: Home (http://screenerspodcast.com/) | Download (

They've been saying that the summer movie season is canceled (https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/2020/4/the-2020-summer-movie-season-is-probably-canceled) for at least a couple months now, but that's not stopping some heavy hitters from putting new work out there. This week has seen big releases from both Spike Lee and Judd Apatow. First up, Da 5 Bloods (available on Netflix) follows a squad of black soldiers from Vietnam who return to the country decades after the war. That's all we'll say about the plot, but you know Spike Lee's got some themes on his mind, and this release comes right in the middle of a time when a lot of people are ready to discusss them. Next up, Pete Davidson's partial autobiography, The King of Staten Island (available for on-demand rental). Judd Apatow has really dialed in his ability to maintain solid humor while serving up emotion over his past few films, so a story that covers loss in 9/11 and some of Davidson's not-so-secret personal struggles should make for a good watch, but thing

Before we get into our regularly scheduled reviews for this episode, we want to take a moment to acknolwedge the tremendous amount of pain that's come to the surface in America (and elsewhere (https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/07/europe/edward-colston-statue-bristol/index.html)) over the past 2 weeks. As a bunch of white people on a media podcast, we're not going to try to offer any answers, but we also don't want to sit in silence while fellow humans cry out for justice. We want to instead show solidarity by taking some time out at the beginning of our episode to talk about the ways we've been trying to educate ourselves. There are a number of resources out there for learning about life experiences in our country that differ greatly from our own. We'll only be able to mention a few, but maybe we'll come up with one you aren't familiar with. If so, check it out. After that, we'll go back in time to the 1970s for the new Hulu series Mrs. America, which focuses on a different fight for justice, the campaign for the E

If there's ever been a summer that the Screeners should have some content for a What Have You Been Watching segment, it's this one. So let's go ahead lead off with that. Next, Paramount's The Lovebirds is currently the top movie on Netflix (https://www.indiewire.com/2020/05/the-lovebirds-number-one-netflix-movie-scoob-tops-vod-charts-1202233388/). We're not sure if that's an indication of quality per se, but Netflix did need a comedy/romance co-starring Kumail Nanjiani to compete with The Big Sick, so at least this is...that, but with some murder too? Sure, if that's your thing. And no, the IMDB game is not just a time-filler—and to prove it, we're going to end the episode with it. See? Guess we showed you. Subscribe: iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/screeners-podcast/id611609146) | Google Play (https://play.google.com/music/m/Iissyasykzy4aokzsgmcto5xsfe?t=Screeners_Podcast) | Pocket Casts (http://pca.st/TZQF) Web: Home (http://screenerspodcast.com/) | Download (https://aphid.fireside.fm/d/14377679

Seems like most of the Screeners are either lazy or...too not-lazy, so we only have two hosts this time. Well, two plus a very special guest—we won't tell you who it is, but you won't want to miss their review. Two hosts means a pretty quick episode, but we'll be talking about Scoob! — mostly because there's an exclamation point in its title — and the new Damien Chazelle drama on Netflix, The Eddy. Is it a coincidence that Daniel was one of the only two people to show up to talk about a Damien Chazelle show about jazz? No, it is not. Subscribe: iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/screeners-podcast/id611609146) | Google Play (https://play.google.com/music/m/Iissyasykzy4aokzsgmcto5xsfe?t=Screeners_Podcast) | Pocket Casts (http://pca.st/TZQF) Web: Home (http://screenerspodcast.com/) | Download (https://aphid.fireside.fm/d/1437767933/15272701-2f5b-4fb3-81f6-b494b321b3f9/34ed4a54-0a04-4aa8-b4a0-0a51e74d0537.mp3) Social: Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/screenerscast/) | Twitter (https://twitter.com/scree

With both a movie and a season of TV on the schedule for this episode, we have no shortage of content to cover. You'll have to bear with us, though; it's a little heavy on the HBO. We can't help it—if you've got the goods, you've got 'em. First up, a not-so-quick discussion: Universal has discovered they can make money (https://www.slashfilm.com/trolls-world-tour-vod-sales/) streaming their movies. Who knew, right? Well, AMC knew (presumably), but was unhappy that Universal found out, so they threw a hissy fit (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/amc-theatres-refuses-play-universal-films-wake-trolls-world-tour-1292327). Do we have that story right? Let's talk about it some more, though; there's nothing like a public tantrum from a big company to take our mind off of things that matter. This is also why we follow Elon Musk on Twitter, by the way. Then, onto Bad Education, a talent-packed true-crime feature about an infamous school embezzlement scandal. Bad Education is more salacious than it sounds, we prom

Extraction. Chris Hemsworth's in it. All the cool kids are watching it, and we know at least April couldn't wait to review it. By the end of the episode, you should be able to tell if it's worth your somewhat-less-scarce-than-before streaming time, or if we should only let Jason Statham do action movies. But that's not all! Reese Witherspoon is back in a Hulu miniseries that's nothing like Big Little Lies. We think. Little Fires Everywhere is available now in its entirety, and we'll tell you if you should binge it. Subscribe: iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/screeners-podcast/id611609146) | Google Play (https://play.google.com/music/m/Iissyasykzy4aokzsgmcto5xsfe?t=Screeners_Podcast) | Pocket Casts (http://pca.st/TZQF) Web: Home (http://screenerspodcast.com/) | Download (https://aphid.fireside.fm/d/1437767933/15272701-2f5b-4fb3-81f6-b494b321b3f9/72eebb7d-3756-4b9a-bfca-a74da3b044be.mp3) Social: Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/screenerscast/) | Twitter (https://twitter.com/screenerscast/) Special

In these trying times, we need...escapist content, and lots of it. Movies usually only last a couple hours unless we're talking Scorcese or Jackson, and that's just not enough. How about a TV series? FX has one of those, and it's made by the Ex Machina guy and has Nick Offerman in it. Those are good enough reasons, right? Right. Let's talk about Devs this time. And since we managed to pull Josh out of witness protection for this one, why not torment him by working on our Flickchart (https://www.flickchart.com/screenerspodcast) list? Sounds like fun, right? Well, at least for some of us. Have you seen Devs? What should we watch next? Tell us these things, and whatever else comes to mind, on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/screenerscast/) or Twitter (https://twitter.com/screenerscast/). Please. We're starving for human interaction here. Chris hasn't seen an explosion on a wall-sized screen in a month. We're thinking of commissioning a Sarah McLachlan commercial on his behalf. Subscribe: iTunes (https://itune

You may have heard about an upstart streaming service called Quibi (https://quibi.com/)—at least, you probably have if you watched the Super Bowl. It's an entire platform built around the premise that people often only have 10 minutes or less at a time to consume media. When we pitched this idea to our our sweatpants drawer, it said, "Well, bless their hearts", but we're going to watch a few anyway. We might just watch the whole catalog—we, um, have the time. Once we're done with that (short content gets a short review; see how that works?), it's been awhile since we've played Made You Watch, our favorite game for Screeners who like to torture each other. Each host picks a movie for another and forces them to review it. Chris still hasn't forgotten the last time he played this game; maybe that's why he's not on this episode. And last but not least (or maybe it is; we haven't gotten to the review yet), we had to twist Daniel's arm to pull this off, but we're going to review Trolls World Tour. It's a movie that

There are many possible reasons for the sudden overwhelming popularity of Netflix’s Tiger King docu-series. Perhaps the most likely is that Netflix is hard-selling it everywhere—including, as we found out the other night, after the last episode of The Crown, despite the unlikelihood of that particular binge-watch combo. Maybe it’s the cute little kitties...who can tear an adult human limb from limb. Our personal pet theory is that, in these strange times, we all need some perspective about just how strange things could be. Whatever the case, Joe Exotic (and...friends?) is here, he’s...definitely not straight, and we might as well just get used to it. This is his world; we’re just living in it. And once we’re done talking about that, why don’t we take our streaming habits to other people’s couches—no, don’t worry; we’re not actually leaving our houses. It’s been awhile since we’ve done a “Made You Watch” segment, where Screeners dictate each others’ streaming schedules, if only for a moment. Now, don’t lie: yo

Now that so many of us are looking at an extended staycation, the Screeners thought it would be a good time for a prequel to our Best of the 2010s (https://screenerspodcast.com/163) episode. Why review one movie when we can review 28? The real problem, of course, is what to call the decade we’re talking about. “The aughts” is too 20th-century, “the two thousands” takes too long to say, and “the zeros” is just...no. So we’re just refusing to name it altogether. The format hasn’t changed since the 2010s episode, but in case that was too many lifetimes ago to remember, we’ll cover: - Action - Comedy - Sci-Fi - Horror - Animation - Most Rewatchable If there’s anything we missed, you know where to find us! Send us a message on either Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/screenerscast/) or Twitter (https://twitter.com/screenerscast/); we’re checking them...um, “occasionally” right now. Subscribe: iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/screeners-podcast/id611609146) | Google Play (https://play.google.com/music/m/

As you might have noticed, life is...different right now, and media is changing along with everything else. We have one more theatrical review for you—Disney’s Onward, but it seems like the only question will be “should you stream this once it’s on Disney+?” since you probably shouldn’t go to the theater by the time this episode is released. Thanks to the, ahem, onward march of technology, though, there’s plenty of content to keep us occupied while we’re hanging out at home. There’s a whole season of Watchmen on HBO, for example, so let’s talk about that. Netflix is also a thing, and it’s the perfect time for a streaming-focused Top 3. We know you have time to share your favorite streaming content with the rest of us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/screenerscast/) or Twitter (https://twitter.com/screenerscast/), so let’s make that happen! Tell us about something we haven’t seen, and let’s get through this thing together. Subscribe: iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/screeners-podcast/id61160914

Fans of horror movies and reboots rejoice! This episode’s main feature is Blumhouse Productions and Leigh Whannel’s reimagining of The Invisible Man. The filme stars Elizabeth Moss, so you sort of know it’s going to be a departure from the H.G. Wells novel that is its namesake, but maybe that’s a good thing. Guess you’ll have to listen to find out. Then, from fiendish to fiendishly difficult: It’s about time we revisited the IMDB game that we introduced awhile back and see who gets stumped by Will Ferrell movies this time around. And when the episode’s over, don’t forget to share your spooky stories and deceptively challenging film trivia with us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/screenerscast/) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/screenerscast/)! Subscribe: iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/screeners-podcast/id611609146) | Google Play (https://play.google.com/music/m/Iissyasykzy4aokzsgmcto5xsfe?t=Screeners_Podcast) | Pocket Casts (http://pca.st/TZQF) Web: Home (http://screenerspodcast.com/) | Down

There weren’t any compelling big releases this weekend, so the Screeners (including a couple estranged friends!) have decided to huddle around their mics and talk about what’s been on their own screens, big and small, recently. Netflix, networks, movies—we’ve got ‘em all, and we’re not afraid to make fun of them. And since we have five—count ‘em, FIVE—hosts, let’s work on our Flickchart list (https://flickchart.com/screenerspodcast) a bit. You know where to mock our picks: Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/screenerscast/)! If you’re really mad about it, take the fight to Twitter (https://twitter.com/screenerscast/) too. Subscribe: iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/screeners-podcast/id611609146) | Google Play (https://play.google.com/music/m/Iissyasykzy4aokzsgmcto5xsfe?t=Screeners_Podcast) | Pocket Casts (http://pca.st/TZQF) Web: Home (http://screenerspodcast.com/) | Download (https://aphid.fireside.fm/d/1437767933/15272701-2f5b-4fb3-81f6-b494b321b3f9/745ea9de-7c68-4749-a55e-1ead887d0667.mp3) Social