Natalie is back after a long time away from the pod, and brings us news from post-COVID life. Patrick has been playing fast and loose with his computer upgrade, but the PC gods have decided to give him a second chance. Then the crew dives into some news updates, checking back in with the unionization efforts at Activision Blizzard, and talking through the new Star Wars game announcement out of Respawn. After the break, Cado's pleasantly surprised to find that Pokemon Legends Arceus is a dramatic departure from Game Freak's usual structure. Natalie is living her best plant girl life in Strange Horticulture, an indie game about plants, witches, and cults. Then we dive into the Question Bucket to decide which X-man we'd least like to cook dinner for us.
Discussed: COVID talk 9:06, Patrick's Costco PC 16:34, Activision Blizzard Unionization 27:03, Respawn Star Wars Announcement 31:01, Pokemon Legends Arceus 40:39, Strange Horticulture 1:17:40, Structural spoilers for Strange Horticulture 1:25:35 - 1:38:04, The Question Bucket 1:38:51, Outro and Announcements 1:54:37 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 457 - A Fungus Among Us

What's good, Internet? Join Waypoint's Rob Zacny, Patrick Klepek, Renata Price, Natalie Watson, and Ricardo Contreras two times a week, as they break down the biggest stories in video games, talk about their favorite media, and unfairly compare everything to Dark Souls. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

TV & Film

Video Games

Games & Hobbies

Games

Leisure

This month on Mannhunting, Alex and Rob are tackling Public Enemies, Michael Mann's dramatization of the FBI manhunt for notorious Depression-era bank robber John Dillinger. The film touches on the fascist sympathies of FBI founder J. Edgar Hoover and the prologue to the modern surveillance state. But fundamentally Public Enemies is about a bank robber and the way he is hunted and eventually cornered. In that story Rob finds a lot to love, but Alex sees a thematic muddle and doubtful execution of every idea. Like Dillinger and the FBI, they just have to settle this with a shootout. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mannhunting - Public Enemies

Miami Vice was regarded as a misfire for Michael Mann upon release, then reappraised by some critics as one of this best and most misunderstood works. Dia, Alex, and Rob all approach the 2006 motion picture adaptation with fresh eyes and see, to varying degrees, both sides of the argument. One thing everyone agrees on: you do not disrespect Phil Collins like that. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mannhunting - Miami Vice (2006)

Austin Walker takes a ride with Mannhunting as the gang discusses Michael Mann's 2004 Collateral, in which Jamie Foxx's shy LA cabdriver Max is forced to drive professional assassin Vincent (played by Tom Cruise) from killing to killing over the course of a long night. What role does Mann's early-adoption of digital cameras play in creating the indelible look of the film? What is the transformation to the two characters work on each other over the course of their journey? And most importantly, what is going on with the photo collection in Max's mother's hospital room? Every secret is revealed over the course of this hall of fame-level Mannhunting. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mannhunting - Collateral (2004)

Michael Mann walks the blurry lines between homage, imitation, and theft as he attempts to tell the stories of Muhammed Ali, Malcolm X, the 1960s, and the Cold War geopolitical order in a single sprawling biopic. Join as Rob and Alex Navarro take the movie to ten rounds discussing just how much Mann borrowed from Spike Lee's Malcolm X and the documentary When We Were Kings, and to what degree he ends up directing poor stealth-remakes of both. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mannhunting - Ali

You might not be shocked to learn Patrick loves Netflix’s Stranger Things. But could you have guessed Rob has also been hanging out in the Upside Down these past few years? With the most recent season—including that whopper of a two-and-a-half-hour finale that was really a normal episode with a LOTR-style epilogue—now concluded, Rob and Patrick felt it was time to dig into a show they think is often mediocre but always tremendously fun. Also, Patrick gets to explain to Rob what “vecnussy” is. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 457 - A Fungus Among Us

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