We are back bay-bee! And we kick the doors off 2025 with the return of NY Times Bestselling author, Dave Itzkoff! He has clearly established his Escape Hatch beat as gritty New York City movies from the 70s and 80s, and today is one of the all time classics, Walter Hill’s 1979 streetgang masterpiece, The Warriors. Come out and play with us!

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We know, we know…we said we’d be back in a week during the Mailbag ep, but I didn’t realize there was ANOTHER week before we got back. So Jason and I fired up the mics from vacation, and recorded a special new retrospective of the episode our listeners selected as the greatest Escape Hatch ever (it was actually Dune Pod at this point - but STILL), the first appearance of the actor from Warrior, Banshee, and See, Hoon Lee!

Waaay back in the simple days of April of 2023, right as a little new technology known as ChatGPT was suddenly bursting into the mainstream, we covered the biggest science fiction masterpiece since Blade Runner, the Wachowski’s The Matrix. Hear our finest hour, plus catch up with what Jason and I have been up to over the holidays!

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We know, we know…the holidays are OVER! But we’re still on our winter holidays break enjoying a little time with our families. Still, we wouldn’t leave y’all hanging, so we have a special treat for you, our First Annual Escape Hatch Mail Bag Episode! And we gotta shoutout the incredible letters and voicemails sent in from the Escape Hatch community, they truly have to be heard to be believed. We love y’all, thank y’all, and we’ll see you back in just 2 short weeks!

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Season’s Greeting from Escape Hatch! Remember last year, when we had dale_a on to talk about Dan Ackroyd wearing black face on our Trading Places episode? Well, we figured for our 3rd Annual Holiday Movie Extravaganza, we’d choose the not at all controversial 2005 neo-noir Shane Black classic that restarted Robert Downey Jr.’s career, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. While Jason opted to keep his reputation unblemished, we were so lucky to be joined by the showrunner of Veep and co-host of the original movie prop podcasts The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of, Dave Mandel! Dave leads us on an in-depth discussion of comedy screenwriting that makes this movie shine. Enjoy!

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This is the One. We tackle one of the all time greatest works of art and the cornerstone of a beloved holiday tradition, as we watch Peter Jackson’s unmatchable translation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. And joining us is the greatest genre podcaster in the game, and Maiar level Tolkien expert, the co-host of the House of R podcast, Joanna Robinson. We simply walk into the deep details of the production that make this film a true one of a kind..

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We’re all still worried about AI, right? Well we are, so we decided to bring you the 1970 artificial intelligence cautionary tale, in all its methodical, intense, and drenched in 70s retro future production design glory. Join us and learn why the ‘scientist’ making the computer is definitely the bad guy, in Colossus: The Forbin Project. (I MEAN, seriously, that bozo Elon literally named the supercomputer he’s building Colossus? WTH!) Anyway, we’re joined by Escape Hatch super guest, the Product Director and Founder of the Social Web Foundation, Tom Coates.

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RED ALERT. We finally tackle the 1979 masterpiece you’ve been waiting for, Star Trek: The Motion Picture. And we brought a serious expert, as we’re joined by the author of The Fifty-Year Mission: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek: The First 25 Years, co-host of the Inglorious Treksperts podcast, and creator of the amazing documentary 1982: Greatest Geek Year Ever!, Mark Altman. We go DEEP into the history and legacy of Star Trek with his encyclopedic knowledge as our guide. Do not miss it.

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In order to preserve our precious bodily fluids, we look for answers to the big questions as we welcome senior advisor to MIT's Center for Constructive Communication, Glenn O Brown. We finally go back into the Kubrick vault, as we tackle his 1964 satirical masterpiece, Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Start Loving the Bomb.

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Welp. After a decisive electoral outcome, we desperately need healing and renewed belief in the possibility of our country. And there is only one man we could turn to, the co-host of the incredible podcasts Bat & Spider, Paperkeg, and Interview with a Podcast Vampire, dale_a. We chose to cover the incredible tale of a creator who put everything on the line, inspired the ordinary Americans around him to imagine being part of something bigger than themselves, and against all odds refused to give up on his dream to create the great American Movie.

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At this difficult time, our nation needs to come together. We do our part by finally tackling one of the most requested movies we’ve ever had for our podcast. The co-host of the X-Ray Vision podcast, Rosie Knight returns to cover the beginning of Bella’s journey, in 2008’s Twilight.

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