Direct to Audio: A Movie Discussions Podcast

(Original Airdate May 23, 2022) We have been asking to please rewind for every episode, so, we are! Welcome to a new era in Direct to Audio: We are re-releasing episodes! The Please Rewind is a way for us to air older, greatest hits to allow new fans to catch up, for the longtime fans to re-live, and for Host Spencer to re-lax. This episode is a classic, one of the first with Theresa, where they discuss the Paddington movies for the first time. Enjoy!

No, we will not catch them all and cover all 23 (!) animated movies... but we will start with the OG. The movie that blew all poke fan's minds back in the day gives Stephanie, Damien, Theresa, and Host Spencer a chance to talk about the iconic franchise on the pod. This episode goes off the rails as we dive into Sonic the Hedgehog, Gif v Jif, and how cute Mew is. BUT, we ask the big question: Does the nostalgia hold up with time? Well, does Fire Spin work well on a Wartortle? As the game says, it's not very effective. That is a convoluted way to say "not really."

What better way to start off the new year than with chaos only rivaled by that of the real world? Gremlins 2: The New Batch is one of the most anarchist sequels to ever exist, and Max, Liz, and Host Spencer try to parse through this movie with enough decorum to make Brainy Gremlin proud. As is the running joke in this episode, THIS. MOVIE. HAS. EVERYTHING: A 24 hour yogurt shop, Science Twins, Gomez Addams trying to fix a water fountain, a vegetable gremlin, and an opening sequence literally taken from Superman IV... and that is not even 10% of the zaniness.

As the opening song goes, "It's that time, Christmas time is here!" Well... it was, and we are all dealing with the after effects. The last episode of 2024 and of Season 9 brings us Max and host Spencer talking about the Holiday Classic that brings chaos to Christmas for the Griswold family. We hope you had the hap-hap-happiest holiday, and that this can act as a nice cup of eggnog in your Marty Moose cups.

It's the Holiday Season, and what better way to celebrate it than by making friends and family compete in a Christmas Movie Game Show for the listeners! Cindy returns, Matt joins for the first time, and Theresa is here with host Spencer to play basically (but not really because we changed some stuff) jeopardy all based on Christmas movies. We obviously know not everyone can see every movie, but we tried to cover the bases on questions... so, good luck!

Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the Pod! Max and Liz join in for the GREAT CHRISTMAS MOVIE DRAFT(s). This episode more stuffed than a Christmas Stocking, as there are 3 drafts within this episode! First, the 3 wise people of the pod draft 5 movies with "Christmas" in the title. Second, they draft animated holiday movies: 3 from before 2000 and 2 from 2000 to now. Lastly, they make the ultimate Christmas Party guest list with 4 Holiday movie characters and 1 wild card.

It's Thanksgiving week, and that means it's time to give thanks! Theresa and Host Spencer give 10* (let's be honest the asterisk is that they clearly go over and start just listing off people and movies at the end) movies that they are thankful for existing. Grab the leftovers and let's dig in to both those and this episode.

Liz, Max, & Host Spencer needed a game episode to get their mind off things, so that is what we did! 3 rounds, tons of categories, and no scattering in sight.

With Trick or Treating all done, and Spooky Season for the pod sadly in the rearview, it's time to go into our collective trick or treat bucket (or pillowcase) and see what candy is left from the Halloween celebration! Stephanie, Damien, Theresa, and Host Spencer have a round table chat where they pull spooky season/ Halloween prompts from a bucket and talk about everything from favorite candy, to the perfect spooky movie marathon, to blind ranking Halloween themed topics.

The curtain is soon to close on this year of Spooky Season for the pod, so why not go out with a bang! er, maybe a chandelier crash? Host Spencer has his rootin' tootin' partner Theresa join in to discuss one of her favorites, the modern retelling of the Andrew Lloyd Weber stage production of Phantom of the Opera... which had a few horror movies in the past... which were adaptations of a book. Look it's spooky enough and it's fun to talk about and there's a good amount of singing. Enjoy!