Houston, we have a Podcast: Recent Episodes
Carson Widynowski
Intellectual, beer-fueled discussion about movies. Each episode we bring in new guests to talk about their favourite movie genres, share their favourite audio clips, describe themselves using movie characters, and ultimately to get in a fight with us by end of each episode.
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Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey has us thinking about every Greek mythology movie ever made — so Ben and David join Carson and Paolo to crown the best Zeus and Hercules, argue over which myths Hollywood still hasn't touched, and cast our own Greek Mythology Cinematic Universe.Instagram: thefanandthecritic
Ben and Elon stop by to talk about the movies that made us who we are — the ones we watched too young, the ones that hit different now, and the ones we're a little embarrassed to admit shaped us. It starts sentimental, gets weird, gets serious, then gets weird again, and somehow ends with a horror movie game.Instagram: thefanandthecritic
Carson and Paolo run down their Top 10 movies of 2025. Carson's list is the usual pretentious indie picks, except this year Paolo's is almost entirely horror — proof that nine years in, we still don't watch the same movies.Instagram: thefanandthecritic
Carson built a Christmas movie trivia quiz that wildly overestimates how much anyone else knows about Christmas movies, Ben included. Spoiler: not everyone has watched Scrooged (1988) twenty-plus times like Carson has, and that shocks him every single time.Instagram: thefanandthecritic
Ben and Peter join Carson and Paolo to dig into the horror franchises that have lasted longest and the ones that should've stopped a sequel or two ago. Expect strong opinions, dumb tangents, and at least one franchise we change our minds about mid-conversation.Instagram: thefanandthecritic
Instagram: thefanandthecriticAfter we finished recording this episode, we said to ourselves: "Boy that was fun to do. I'm not sure if anyone is going to enjoy listening to this, but at least we enjoyed this." So yeah, welcome to another 2 hour long episode and we hope you sit through all of it.
Instagram: thefanandthecriticOn this month's episode, Carson is tied to a chair and forced to watch Musicals against his will. He finds at least one good thing to say about each. Our guests are more musically sophisticated and better able to articulate what is good and bad about these movies.
Instagram: thefanandthecritic10 years ago Rogue One was released to theatres and created strongly divided opinions between the Fan and the Critic. More recently, Andor season 2 was released and was received well by both. Perhaps it is time to revisit Rogue One and see if the passage of time yields a more favourable response. Will the Critic walk back his hatred? Will the Fan be less hyped?
Instagram: thefanandthecriticJust 4 dudes sitting around talking about how much they like Jackie Chan....'s movies.
Instagram: thefanandthecriticCarson and Paolo talk about their favorite movies from the past year. As usual, Carson's list is full of pretentious indie movies and Paolo's list is full of dumb Hollywood movies. There's something for everyone!(note: I've used this description for the last two year's top 10 episode, and it's always true!)
Instagram: thefanandthecriticIt's end of year, there are tons of great movies finally being released - so let's watch the worst 2 that came out? I barely have enough time to watch the movies I want to watch. I have a lengthy backlog of good movies to watch - why am I doing this to myself?
Instagram: thefanandthecriticWe've somehow gone 7 years of doing this podcast without having an episode dedicated to zombie movie, a genre that we all love. And so...it is time...and instead of talking about our favourite zombie movies we talk about two movies that no one has ever heard of: One Cut of the Dead, and Seoul Station. We forget to say it during the episode, but SPOILER WARNING. If you're going to put in the time to listen to this episode we suggest you just go the extra mile and watch One Cut of the Dead before you do.
Instagram: thefanandthecriticSure you've probably seen the original Starship Troopers movie, but did you know it also had two terrible sequels? We do now and we've watched them both. We invite Aleks and Dan back onto the show to share their suffering - I mean - to share their thoughts on how well they live up the original.
Instagram: thefanandthecriticLast time Ben and Carlos were here we talked about 2 horror movies in the same franchise. This time, we expand our scope by having each person bring their horror movie recommendation. We will like them? Will we hate them? We will decide to stop watching horror movies?
Instagram: thefanandthecriticWe designed this episode so we could compare two part twos - a good one a bad one - little did we expect that Dune Part Two would be absolute garbage and Rebel Moon Part Two would be the most amazing movie of the year!
Instagram: thefanandthecriticCarlos makes us watch horror movies that he considers some of the best in recent years. We discuss them but also get VERY off topic. Ben and Carson also try to join the conversation while trying to admit they were too scared to watch them all the way through.
Instagram: thefanandthecriticIt's been a while since we did an episode focused on a single movie, but Rebel Moon is just one of those movies that we had to get together and discuss. Is it the worst thing we saw all year? Is it something almost great? We still dont know!
Instagram: thefanandthecriticCarson and Paolo talk about their favorite movies from the past year. As usual, Carson's list is full of pretentious indie movies and Paolo's list is full of dumb Hollywood movies. There's something for everyone!(note: I copy/pasted this description from last year's top 10 episode, and it's still true!)
Instagram: thefanandthecritic4 dads get together and talk about watching movies and being dads.
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We review Christopher Nolan's latest film, Oppenheimer, and then discuss his entire filmography and how we would rank them.
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What makes a good sidekick or supporting character in a movie? Kyle from 'Kyle and Dave vs the Machine' joins us to help answer this question. We formed a bracket and voted/argued to decide, tune to find out who the 3 of us eventually agreed on.
Check out Kyle's podcast, Kyle and Dave vs The Machine, where a machine forces them to watch and review movies from a particular year. Find it at: https://kdvstm.transistor.fm/ (or everywhere else you find podcasts at)
Instagram: thefanandthecriticWhat makes a movie adaptation good or bad? Should you stick close to the source material or have your freedom to make it your own? Tracey, a few movie podcaster, joins us to explore this subject. Check out Tracey's podcast, Off My Shelf, where she reviews movies right off the shelf for her DVD. Find it at: https://offmyshelf.underbellyofsunshine.com/
Instagram: thefanandthecriticWe didn't learn our lesson! 4 Years ago we did an episode on Asylum Studio's awful low-budget movies, thinking it would be fun - and it turned out to be boring and awful, so we did it again! Since we've now done 2 episodes, we're considering ourselves as experts on this studio and their usual tricks.Two Headed Shark Attack - 13:26Jurassic Domination - 36:26Atlantic Rim: Resurrection - 55:15Dracula: The Original Living Vampire - 1:19:05
Instagram: thefanandthecriticWould you rather live in the Quantum Realm of the MCU or the island of Inisherin? Paolo and Carson's answers are as you'd expect and oddly are at the root of why they like or dislike each of these movies.
Instagram: houstonwehaveapodcastCarson and Paolo talk about their favorite movies from the past year. As usual, Carson's list is full of pretentious indie movies and Paolo's list is full of dumb Hollywood movies. There's something for everyone!
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Carson decides that he's had enough and decides to finally quit Star Wars and not watch another of their terrible Disney Plus shows. He then proceeds to watch all 12 episodes of Andor and then we discuss it.
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A filipino movie came out, and so we must talk about it. Paolo talks about representation in film/tv while Carson attempts to understand what that means. We also weigh in on recent non-controversies regarding Rings of Power and Bros.
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Carson does not like The Gray Man, but Paolo does. Paolo does not like The Roundup, but Carson does. They discuss it for an hour and half.
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We talk about recent multiverse movies Dr Strange In the Multiverse of Madness and Everything Everywhere All At Once. We also talk about how far we'd make it in a The One style deathmatch with the other version of ourselves, and pitch amazing multiverse movies of our own.
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We re-visit some of our 2021 recommendations that we made to each other, only to confirm that we have different tastes in movies. We then talk about Licorice Pizza to re-confirm that we have different tastes in movies.
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Have you ever wondered what would happen if Oscar nominated characters were entered into a deathmatch? No? Well - you're the weird one, not us - listen to us draft characters from the past decade and put them through a gauntlet of deathmatch arenas to see who is the ultimate survivor.
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We re-visit some of our 2021 recommendations that we made to each other, only to confirm that we have different tastes in movies. We then talk about Licorice Pizza to re-confirm that we have different tastes in movies.
Instagram: houstonwehaveapodcast
Local musicians stop by the show to talk about their favourite music in movies.
Carson and Paolo go through each of their Top 10 lists of 2021. We disagree on almost every single one.
Lamb - 15:31 Judas and the Black Messiah - 19:10 The Power of the Dog - 21:59 Last Night in Soho - 26:00 The Card Counter - 29:30 Matrix: Resurrections: 31:40 Spencer - 41:18 Werewolves Within - 43:27 C'mon C'mon - 46:48 Nobody - 49:44 Titane - 50:35 Shang-Chi - 54:12 The Last Duel - 58:35 The Suicide Squad - 1:02:20 Pig - 1:03:30 No Time To Die - 1:06:50 The Green Knight - 1:13:02 Dune - 1:13:50 Justice League Snyder Cut - 1:14:30 Spider-Man: No Way Home - 1:15:45
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We talk about our favourite action scenes of the following categories: 1v1 Fight, 1 v Many Fight, Army Battle, Car Chase, Shoot Out
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We found a little known show on Netflix and decide to talk about it because there isn't enough being said about it. We also discuss some of the recent movie trailers that don't contain super heroes.
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We discuss the merits of looking at paintings, and Paolo finds a gem (?) in the trash bucket of Netflix
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We discuss all the different movies that The Tomorrow War could have been but wasn't
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Army of the Dead Review - 3:30 Nobody Review - 36:30 Pandemic Movie Pitches - 50:36
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Due to lack of new movies being released, we are forced to start watching tv series but actually find a few worth talking about.
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We recorded a conversation of what we thought the movie was going to be, immediately watched it, and then came back and recorded what we thought - so you get to hear how wrong we were.
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A battle of the 7th and 140th most popular first names in the most recent US census. We give our guests 7 movie-based challenges to determine who is in fact the best.
- Perform your favourite movie monologue - 2:24
- Cast a live-action South Park movie - 11:42
- What is the best Nic Cage character - 20:22
- Pick 4 movie characters to survive with in a mall during zombie apocalypse - 30:45
- Pitch a Donald Trump biopic where QAnon is real and Trump is an action star - 54:38
- Who is the best non-human character in Star Wars - 1:06:12
- Create a movie pitch on the spot - 1:17:00
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Paolo and Carson used refined scientific techniques to guess next year's best movies.
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Paolo and Carson discuss their Top 10 movies of 2020. Full spoilers for all reviews, timecodes below in case you don't want to skip ahead and not be spoiled for something.
Wonder Woman 1984 - 05:17 Soul - 27:38 Train to Busan Peninsula - 34:54 Boys State - 42:34 The Outpost - 48:57 Onward - 58:01 Da 5 Bloods - 1:03:18 The Invisible Man - 1:17:02 The Gentlemen - 1:25:35 Tenet - 1:29:43
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We draft a team of Wes Anderson characters, which includes: A Bill Murray character, a Wilson brother character, a Jason Schwartzmann character, a mother/matriach, a child/minor, and a wildcard. We then put our teams through a series of high society shenanigans and debate whose team is the best.
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We engage in a factual, educated discussion about which actor/actress should be labeled as the best action star of the 2010s. Our conclusions - undisputed.
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2 Sales Managers discuss how sales people are portrayed in film and we make them choose which sales characters they would hire for some scenarios we throw at them.
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Carson and Paolo argue about the value of Charlie Kaufman's films and a new guest drops by to discuss other new movies that we've enjoyed
Tenet (2020) - 3:40 Devil All The Time (2020) - 21:15 Bloodshot (2020) - 48:40
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Carson and Paolo argue about the value of Charlie Kaufman's films and a new guest drops by to discuss other new movies that we've enjoyed
Onward (2020) - 10:50 I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020) - 17:50
Alive (2020) - 32:30
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Dr. Mena visits our show and explains how accurate (or mostly inaccurate) infectious disease movies are, and ranks 10 disease movies that we forced him to watch.
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We discuss some of the new movies we've managed to catch up on in the absence of movie theatres being open:
The Old Guard (2020) The Domestics (2018) Joker (2019)
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We discuss the 2008 spanish horror movie 'REC' and the 5 subsequent movies that it spawned.
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We return to discuss the adaptation of video games to film, and offer Hollywood some recommendations on how to do it right.
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Of all the movie franchises out there, which one is the most fun? This isn't a debate about which one is best, this is about which one brings us the most fun and enjoyment.
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Is Harry Potter responsible for creating a generation of SJWs? Are subliminal messages in Disney movies harmless or malicious? Which famous kids movies need to a total rework? We answer all this and more on this month's episode.
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We discuss the career of Canadian actor Keanu Reeves, and argue over which role was his best.
Episode Fact Check: Care Bears did produce a CGI version of their show in 2012. Keanu Reeves did not voice any of the characters.
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Paolo and Carson discuss their Top 10 movies of 2019 and what they're looking forward to in 2020
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We force ourselves to watch terrible horror movies so that we can discuss them, but instead try to talk about literally anything else.
Movies discussed: Paranormal Entity Alien vs Hunter 11/11/11 Zombie Apocalypse Killers Clowns from Outer Space Zombeavers Bone Tomahawk Gutterballs
NOTE 'Meow Bitch' scene occurs at 1:22:17 of Zombie Apocalypse
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We draft movie robots onto basketball teams and then argue with each other about who picked the best team. Visual aids available on our instagram for you to see the draft pool.
I just finished my 5th Film Festival so I want to rant about people that annoy me at film festivals and also offer some advice to anyone thinking of attending a film festival themself
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We bring on some Star Trek experts to teach us the ways of the Federation. They promise to only talk about the movies and not the shows and then immediately break that promise.
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Star Trek Movie discussion - our favourite and least favourite films
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Star Trek Characters - choosing which characters we would have as our captain, a wing(wo)man, and who we just hate
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Making our own Star Trek crews - and then giving them Star Trek-esque scenarios to test them.
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On this month's episode we discuss Romantic Comedies, what they are, and pitch the RomCom versions of recent Blockbusters.
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Here are some Documentary recommendations so that you have something else to watch instead of some blockbuster you know is going to disappoint you.
Movies: Free Solo (2018) Minding the Gap (2018) Won't You Be My Neighbor? (2019)
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On this month's episode our guests elect a supreme leader of earth based on a list of 16 movie characters. We also give them a cabinet to work with and debate whether superhero movies are awesome or the worst thing imagineable.
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Some Marvel fans drop by the podcast to talk about how much a fan of Marvel they are.
Content: 1. Gushing about how good Marvel is 2. Raving about how good Endgame is 3. Ignoring plot holes and subpar time travel logic 4. Fantasizing about being a Marvel superhero 5. Making demands for the future of the MCU
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Welcome to a new series where Carson spotlights some of the overlooked and underappreciated movies from the past month.
Movies: The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter (1984) Dragged Across Concrete (2019) Reign of the Supermen (2019)
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Carson and Paolo talk about movies for 90 minutes with no consistent theme or purpose.
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We talk about movies we're looking forward to in 2019 and pitch movie ideas based on dreams we had.
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2019 Superhero movies (09:34)
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Avengers 4 - how will they bring back all the people? (25:00)
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Pick 3 plot points that will definitely happen in Star Wars 9. (34:35)
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Cast Ghostbusters 3 (41:20)
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What IP will they announce a movie for in 2019? (46:11)
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Pitch a movie idea based on a dream you had(55:05)
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We finish our conversation about 2018 by answering some questions that we found in a grocery bag. Also, Carson sounds like he's very far away but he's just very quiet.
tl;dr - Annihilation is awesome and Solo is terrible
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Some lesser known movies from the past 12 movies that we want to talk about:
Colette - 13:03 Eight Grade - 20:23 The Hostiles - 28:26 Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay - 35:00 The Wife - 42:47 Death of Stalin - 49:37 Gringo - 55:55 An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn - 1:02:19
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We discuss buddy cop movies - however you want to define what that is....
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What is a Buddy Cop movie? - and what isn't (09:37)
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Lethal Weapon vs Rush Hour (38:20)
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Buddy Cop Obstacle Course - pick your own buddy cop duos (1:08:30)
Scene re-enactments: - Lethal Weapon w/ Dan and Carson (36:02) - Bay Boys w/ Aaron and Paolo (1:03:30)
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A discussion about non-Star Wars, non-Marvel animated Disney movies
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Disney Bachlorette (08:55)
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Pixar Movie Ideas (46:17)
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Disney Death Match (1:13:08)
Getting to know our guests: - Erica (42:20) - Faye (1:10:00)
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An reflection on the career of Nicolas Kim Coppola.
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Movies we watched recently (03:15)
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Nicolas Cage's career (13:10)
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Pitching the perfect Nicolas Cage movie (47:16)
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Movies we're looking forward to (1:14:45)
Getting to know our guests: - The Newlyweds Game (41:10) - Re-enacting our favourite Cage-outs (1:29:30)
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We try our best to watch terrible movies from The Asylum and then explain them to eachother while drinking
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Nazis at the Center of the Earth (02:41)
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Transmorphers (26:10)
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Atlantic Rim (54:20)
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Titanic 2 (1:14:45)
Getting to know our guests: - Dan: Pulp Fiction scene (22:20) - Aleks: Watchmen scene and rapid fire questions (49:37) - Dan: rapid fire questions (1:11:35)
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We discuss recent some recent movies
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Avengers: Infinity War (08:40)
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Deadpool 2 (41:10)
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Solo: A Star Wars Story (1:10:10)
Rapid Fire Questions: - Tyler (30:10) - Rebecca (1:05:07)
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We draft classic movie characters who are not athletes and draft them onto hypothetical hockey teams. Vodka gets an assist.
Start of Draft - 19:25 Semi Final #1 - 54:00 Semi Final #2 - 1:03:22 Semi Final #3 - 1:13:00
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We discuss the works of Luc Besson, director of Fifth Element, Lucy, Leon The Professional, and Valerian.
- Movie Recommendations (03:08)
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Stuff we saw recently that we think you should watch
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Valerian Movie Review (21:10)
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Is it good? Is it bad? We discuss
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Best Luc Besson Side Character (45:42)
- We compare 8 side characters from Luc Besson movies and decide (bracket style!) which one should get their own stand alone movie.
Rapid Fire Questions: - Ben (13:16) - Joe (43:25)
Twitter: @HWHAPodcast
We finally sell out and talk about Star Wars
- Star Wars Standalone Movie Ideas(05:23)
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Giving ideas to Kathleen Kennedy for the next Star Wars standalone movie
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Important Star Wars Questions (31:45)
- Why do these movies exist and why are we talking about them?
Audio Clips: - 2001: A Space Odyssey - Carson (22:21) - Fight Club - other Ben(1:26:55)
Twitter: @HWHAPodcast
Guests Ben and Nehal stop by to discuss Apocalypse movies.
- Save The World (06:00)
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Who would you pick to save the world?
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Armageddon/Deep Impact Conversation (38:30)
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Why do these movies exist and why are we talking about them?
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The best zombie outbreak patient zero (1:04:30)
- JFK vs the Vietnam War vs the Kansas City Shuffle
Audio Clips: - The Big Lebowski - Ben (28:08) - Independence Day - Nehal (1:00:04)
Twitter: @HWHAPodcast
Guests Cam and Peter give us their recommendations for their favourite movies from the past year that you probably haven't heard of.
- 2017 Movie Recommendations (13:45)
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Our favourite movies from the past year: Three Billboards outside Ebbing Missouri, Super Dark Times, The Void, Brawl in Cell Block 99, Lemon, The Invitation, 6 Days, Good Time
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Pitches: Bad Movies re-invented as Oscar winners (1:04:00)
- Paul Blart Mall Cop, Thunderstruck, and That's My Boy re-invented as dark, gritty, meaningful stories
Audio Clips: - MacGruber - Peter (10:00) - The Fifth Element - Paolo (1:01:00)
Twitter: @HWHAPodcast
Guests JP and Joe join us as we discuss/fight about space movies.
- Movie Catchup (04:40)
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the new xXx movie, Kingsman 2, and the Russian Avengers movie: funny bad or boring bad?
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All-Star Space Mercenary Crews (22:00)
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Captain Mal, Poe Dameron, Chewbacca, Korben Dallas, Ender, Morpheus, Scotty, Predator, and more.
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Which planet would you want to live on? (1:02:00)
- Coruscant vs Naboo vs Bespin vs Orous
Audio Clips: - The Life of Brian - Joe (19:03) - In Bruges - JP (1:00:24)
Guests David and Manan join for an hour of random movie talk/drunken ramblings
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Which actor/actresses should star in the next James Bond film?
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Who is your All-Star bank heist crew?
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Pitch a movie from the perspective of a side character.
Guests Jory and Kevin join us as we discuss/fight about sports movies.
- Choosing the best Sports Movie MVP
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who is the best fictional athlete in all of sports movies?
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Baseball vs. Basketball vs. Hockey movies
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which sport has the best filmography?
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The best fictional sport from a movie
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Quidditch vs. Baseketball vs Podracing
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Our starting basketball lineups made up of movie characters
- Air Bud, Teen Wolf, Like Mike, Jesus Shuttlesworth, Neon Boudeaux, Billy Hoyle, and more.
Audio Clips: - The Sandlot (Jory) - Remember the Titans (half time speech)
Cinematic Universes, pitching our own universe, and deciding the best non-MCU cinematic universe out there.
Why video game movies suck, adapting video games as movies (and doing it better than the film industry does), and choosing the best movie worlds for various video games genres