It's Oscars week and also the 25th anniversary of American Beauty somehow winning Best Picture for the all-time movie year that was 1999. On this week's episode, Seth attempts to suffocate Sam Mendes's dark dramedy with its stupid floating plastic bag (with the help of Jason Baxter). We get into the protagonist being a wannabe pedophile, the script's horrendous scenes, the lack of comedic editing, bad improv scene-level acting, it's regressive nature despite thinking it's super edgy, stolen Austin Powers bits, how many 1999 films do elements of what it's failing at way, way, way better, and more.

Welcome to Consumer Reports: Everyone is Wrong edition. On this episode, noted collegate Apple hater Daniel Ellis comes on the pod to defend one of tech's most notable product punchlines - the digital media player and failed iPod rival that was the Microsoft Zune. We dive into the Zune's design, musician-friendly features, Spotify before Spotify, Allen Iverson crossovers, and *//deep sigh* squirting (NO NOT THAT, GET YOUR MIND OUTTA THE GUTTER). Crack open a can of Crystal Pepsi or New Coke and enjoy listening while playing your Nintendo Virtual Boy.

Can a star of one of film's biggest franchises get memory holed? Jason Baxter returns on a not so secret mission to revive awareness for the James Bond films starring Timothy Dalton: 1987's The Living Daylights & 1989's Licence to Kill. We dive into the influential seriousness Dalton brought to the role, banger theme songs by A-ha and Gladys Knight, some heavy Miami Vice influence, Benicio del Toro and Wayne Newton, Mad Max, J. D. Vance, and more.

May the 4th be with you! With Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace returning to theaters for its 25th anniversary, Jason Baxter returns to defend one of the most openly hated movies in cinema history. We go deep on epic scenes like the podrace (non-war action!) and Duel of the Fates, the whole point of a plot centered around political points like taxation, Nintendo 64 games, the loaded handmaiden cast, overly confident Jedi, and how the Phantom Menace is way better than the film that won Best Picture for the loaded movie year that was 1999.

Much like this episode's titular charachter, the podcast trekked across the Pacific Northwest to deliver a live episode of the podcast from Treefort Fest in Boise. Brennon Poynor joins the show to take up arms for Kevin Costner's 1997 post-apocalyptic Western, The Postman. We dive into the film's cautionary epic scope, Waterworld backlash, Will Paton's wildy going-for-it performance, child armies, Olivia Williams' chaotic waifu energy, Tom Petty, an extremly overly earnest score, mule sword fights, cinema's most cucked man, Dune, and how a rebellion can rise from grifter finding a tooth in the mail.

Since we played clips in this episode, here's links to them:

The Trailer

Overly Dramatic Boy with Letter

Shakespeare Off

Tom Petty

I know this might be hard to believe, but Thor battling against people manipulating the soy futures market from behind a keyboard didn't get butts in theatrical seats back in 2015. That's right, another episode about a hacking movie! This time known Michael Mann stan Jason Baxter returns to defend the director's action cyber thriller starring Chris Hemsworth, Blackhat. We dive deep into Mann essentially putting out a greatest hits record, the validity of buff computer nerds, extremely late reveals, Suicide Squad, well lit nothingness, what NOT to do with your best friend's sister after he gets you out of prison, a much more logical director's cut, the the God's Lonliest Man contest. #ABlackhatHackerNamedHathawayABlackhatHackerNamedHathawayABlackhatHackerNamedHathaway

It's Oscars week and Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling are both up for big awards (and should win) for Poor Things and Barbie. But we're not here to talk about those movies. Instead Nic and Sean come on to tear apart the duo's 2016 Oscar-winning Damien Chazzelle romantic musical, La La Land. We go deep into how their dazzling chemistry stands in for actually written charachters, how the musical numbers are instantly forgettable, the hollowness of any themes and nostalgia Chazzelle gestures towards, Emma Stone being the freakin' best, Across the Universe, and raise a vital question: is this a Spider-Gwen movie?

Everything's coming up podcast! While The Simpsons is an American animated TV institution, the ultra-long running season usually only gets praised for it's early-to-mid '90s seasons. For this episode, Spike Friedman and Jason Baxter swing into Springfield and defend the show's late '90s/early '00s tween years. We deep dive into conversations about Homer's madness, the show's sentimentality shift, George Meyer, 9/11 prognostication, digital animation, Snoopy blogging, and more!

After a Marvel diversion, we dive deep into actual DC comics (our first comic book ep!). 1986 saw the release of two monumental genre-defining works: Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns. While both are considered classics, Watchmen is granted more respect and is even considered one of the greatest novels of all time by many top-tier publications. Jason Baxter returns to argue that the Frank Miller-written Batman tome is actually a superior, more revolutionary work than the Alan Moore-penned gem. (To be clear, we think they're both great.) We discuss iconic splash pages, punk aesthetics, painted colors, comic creators' weird politics, paneling for an MTV era, and try not to accidentally call it The Dark Night Rises too many times.

Happy Across the Spider-Verse Day! To celebrate, here's the second installment of Jason Baxter and I taking turns taking shots at cinematic Spider-Man trilogies. This time Jason traps the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Spider-Man films in his web and sucks their blood dry. We discuss the lack of ties to Spidey's comic origins, why the character works as an underdog and how Tony Stark undermines that, the movies' visual stylings (or lack there of), justified villans, the suspension of Mysterio disbelief, Peter becoming dumb in the third film, the clear comedic sensibility, and if Garfield (the cat, not Andrew) should join the Spider-Verse.