It’s the most wonderful time of the year, for fangirls (and boys) like our host KellieAnn Halvorsen, as the countdown to FanX Salt Lake Comic & Pop Culture Convention is hitting the 20s! In only a month, fans, nerds, geeks, cosplayers, artists, authors, and creatives of all sorts will descend on the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City for a three-day event like no other in Utah — not to mention big-name celebrities like David Tennant, William Shatner, and Marisa Tomei. 

On this episode of KSL’s  Fan Effect podcast, FanX Founder Dan Farr previews the 2025 event, talking all about what to expect this year, a sneak peek into show highlights and guests, and tips on how to get your con on. And joining as our guest co-host is fellow FanX fan and moderator Heather Kelly from KSL Newsradio.

The brains behind Fan Effect are connoisseurs of categories surpassing nerdy, with a goal to publish a weekly "What to Watch on the Weekend" minisodes taken from KSL-TV's Friday segment, and two deep-dives a month on shows, creative works, artists, local events, and other fandom topics. 

Based in the beautiful beehive state, Fan Effect celebrates Utah's unique fan culture as it has been declared The Nerdiest State in America by TIME, and is hosted by KSL Movie Show's Andy Farnsworth and KSL Podcasts' KellieAnn Halvorsen. 

Fan Effect is sponsored by Megaplex Theatres, Utah's premier movie entertainment company.

Andy Farnsworth joins KSL-TV to help audiences decipher #WhatToWatch for the weekend of August 22, 2025. The highest-grossing animated film of all time, "Ne Zha II," comes to local theaters from China and is dubbed into English for the first time.  It's epic and looks great, but patience is required. If you want to see beautiful people roughing it, "Eden" from director Ron Howard may be more your thing. Of local interest, "The Streak" is a must-watch for sports fans as this new documentary in theaters explores the 1987 Salt Lake Trappers and their historic 29-game winning streak 38 years ago.  And finally, a young adult romance movie on streaming for Gen Z called "The Map That Leads To You" is a gorgeously shot movie about star-crossed lovers on Amazon Prime Video.

The brains behind Fan Effect are connoisseurs of categories surpassing nerdy, with a goal to publish a weekly "What to Watch on the Weekend" minisode taken from KSL-TV's Friday segment, and two deep-dives a month on shows, creative works, artists, local events, and other fandom topics. 

Based in the beautiful beehive state, Fan Effect celebrates Utah's unique fan culture as it has been declared The Nerdiest State in America by TIME, and is hosted by KSL Movie Show's Andy Farnsworth and KSL Podcasts' KellieAnn Halvorsen. 

Listen regularly on your favorite platform, at kslnewsradio.com, or on the KSLNewsRadio App. Join the conversation on Facebook @FanEffectShow, or Instagram @FanEffectShow.

Fan Effect is sponsored by Megaplex Theatres, Utah's premier movie entertainment company.

Andy Farnsworth joins KSL-TV to help audiences decipher #WhatToWatch for the weekend of August 15, 2025. Today’s episode is brought to you by the number 2! Starting with the movie hitting theaters, "Nobody 2” brings Bob Odenkirk's assassin and his family to the vacation spot he went to as a kid, and comedic (but savage) violence ensues. Next, "Highest 2 Lowest" teams up Spike Lee and Denzel Washington in an action drama that has a music mogul dealing with a ransom request. Netflix’s "Night Always Comes" makes you glad you're not having the same kind of night that Vanessa Kirby is.

For parents of younger viewers and those looking to relive some nostalgia, "Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical" is a must-watch. It follows Charlie Brown and company as they try to save their summer camp from closing down, now available on AppleTV+. 

The brains behind Fan Effect are connoisseurs of categories surpassing nerdy, with a goal to publish a weekly "What to Watch on the Weekend" minisode taken from KSL-TV's Friday segment, and two deep-dives a month on shows, creative works, artists, local events, and other fandom topics. 

Based in the beautiful beehive state, Fan Effect celebrates Utah's unique fan culture as it has been declared The Nerdiest State in America by TIME, and is hosted by KSL Movie Show's Andy Farnsworth and KSL Podcasts' KellieAnn Halvorsen. 

Listen regularly on your favorite platform, at kslnewsradio.com, or on the KSLNewsRadio App. Join the conversation on Facebook @FanEffectShow, or Instagram @FanEffectShow.

Fan Effect is sponsored by Megaplex Theatres, Utah's premier movie entertainment company.

Andy Farnsworth joins KSL-TV to help audiences decipher #WhatToWatch for the weekend of August 8, 2025.  The sequel "Freakier Friday" takes a lot from the 2003 "Freaky Friday" movie, but it's still fun to see Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis trading bodies with a couple of teenagers.  It's also got a good message about seeing things from others' perspectives. Other options include a couple of scary movies... one that could be a good test to see if your kids can *handle* scary movies called "Sketch" from Angel Studios. And NOT for kids, a film called "Weapons"... it's still a freak-you-out and make you nervous and uncomfortable for two hours kind of scary movie.  Finally, on streaming on Amazon Prime Video, you could check out Eddie Murphy, Pete Davidson, Keke Palmer, and Eva Longoria in "The Pickup".  You gotta like Pete Davidson, though, to enjoy this at all...and that may be too much to ask for some.

The brains behind Fan Effect are connoisseurs of categories surpassing nerdy, with a goal to publish a weekly "What to Watch on the Weekend" minisode taken from KSL-TV's Friday segment, and two deep-dives a month on shows, creative works, artists, local events, and other fandom topics. 

Based in the beautiful beehive state, Fan Effect celebrates Utah's unique fan culture as it has been declared The Nerdiest State in America by TIME, and is hosted by KSL Movie Show's Andy Farnsworth and KSL Podcasts' KellieAnn Halvorsen. 

Listen regularly on your favorite platform, at kslnewsradio.com, or on the KSLNewsRadio App. Join the conversation on Facebook @FanEffectShow, or Instagram @FanEffectShow.

Fan Effect is sponsored by Megaplex Theatres, Utah's premier movie entertainment company.

The 2025 "Freakier Friday" sequel to the 2003 "Freaky Friday" is a fun-filled, heartfelt, drama-fueled comedic ride—a practically perfect (for its purpose) Summer movie for women and audiences of all ages.

To prepare for the feature, producer KellieAnn Halvorsen read the original (and very outdated) 1972 book by Mary Rogers, watched the campy 1976 version "Freaky Friday," re-watched her generation's version with the Lindesy Lohan movie (2003), as well as the 2018 musical version. Now she is joined again by her honorary niece Adele Kemp (now 15 years old, featured previously on our deep dive into "Inside Out 2" and as the main child of KSL NewsRadio's Quarters for Chrismas radio drama, "A Pocket Change Christmas") and HallMarkies Podcast host/Rachel's Reviews writer, Rachel Wagner, to explore the movie and it's body-swapping legacy. Our first segment is spoiler-free!

The brains behind Fan Effect are connoisseurs of categories surpassing nerdy, with a goal to publish a weekly "What to Watch on the Weekend" minisode taken from KSL-TV's Friday segment, and two deep-dives a month on shows, creative works, artists, local events, and other fandom topics. 

Based in the beautiful beehive state, Fan Effect celebrates Utah's unique fan culture as it has been declared The Nerdiest State in America by TIME, and is hosted by KSL Movie Show's Andy Farnsworth and KSL Podcasts' KellieAnn Halvorsen. 

Listen regularly on your favorite platform, at kslnewsradio.com, or on the KSLNewsRadio App. Join the conversation on Facebook @FanEffectShow, or Instagram @FanEffectShow.

Fan Effect is sponsored by Megaplex Theatres, Utah's premier movie entertainment company.

Andy Farnsworth joins KSL-TV to help audiences decipher #WhatToWatch for the weekend of August 1, 2025. The big movie this week is a reboot/sequel titled "The Naked Gun," starring Liam Neeson in the slapstick farce about a group of hilarious idiots called Police Squad. Andy hasn’t laughed this hard in a movie for a long time, even if it did get a little vulgar at times. Another funny sequel is "The Bad Guys 2," an animated family movie about a group of anthropomorphic animal former bad guys who are getting framed for crimes they're not committing by a group of bad gals. Andy highly recommends Netflix’s new documentary, "WWE: Unreal," a must-watch for pro-wrestling fans. And after a bit of a delay, Netflix also has a mostly satisfying sequel with “Happy Gilmore 2.” 

The brains behind Fan Effect are connoisseurs of categories surpassing nerdy, with a goal to publish a weekly "What to Watch on the Weekend" minisode taken from KSL-TV's Friday segment, and two deep-dives a month on shows, creative works, artists, local events, and other fandom topics. 

Based in the beautiful beehive state, Fan Effect celebrates Utah's unique fan culture as it has been declared The Nerdiest State in America by TIME, and is hosted by KSL Movie Show's Andy Farnsworth and KSL Podcasts' KellieAnn Halvorsen. 

Listen regularly on your favorite platform, at kslnewsradio.com, or on the KSLNewsRadio App. Join the conversation on Facebook @FanEffectShow, or Instagram @FanEffectShow.

Fan Effect is sponsored by Megaplex Theatres, Utah's premier movie entertainment company.

Andy Farnsworth joins KSL-TV to help audiences decipher #WhatToWatch for the weekend of July 25, 2025.  Andy had high hopes for Marvel's latest superhero movie, "The Fantastic Four: First Steps," and was mostly pleased with the result. Director Matt Shakman got the family dynamic right and didn't over-rely on action, plus had a (dare we say?) fantastic retro-futuristic design. In the second segment of our episode, we even have our good friend Natalie Mollinet of Nat’s Nerd Knowledge giving her quick review, as producer KellieAnn is on vacation. 

Also out this weekend are a couple of indie movies that were very compelling, including "Sorry, Baby," a Sundance 2025 award-winner about a college professor coping and trying to move on after being assaulted by her own professor years before. "Shosana" gives us a look at the conflict between Zionists and the British rulers in the 1930s and 40's in Tel Aviv through the eyes of a Jewish reporter and her fiancé, a British policeman assigned there.

Sadly, not featured on this review rundown, but not available on Netflix, "Happy Gilmore 2" is a sequel that Adam Sandler fans, like Andy, can’t wait to watch. 

The brains behind Fan Effect are connoisseurs of categories surpassing nerdy, with a goal to publish a weekly "What to Watch on the Weekend" minisode taken from KSL-TV's Friday segment, and two deep-dives a month on shows, creative works, artists, local events, and other fandom topics. 

Based in the beautiful beehive state, Fan Effect celebrates Utah's unique fan culture as it has been declared The Nerdiest State in America by TIME, and is hosted by KSL Movie Show's Andy Farnsworth and KSL Podcasts' KellieAnn Halvorsen. 

Listen regularly on your favorite platform, at kslnewsradio.com, or on the KSLNewsRadio App. Join the conversation on Facebook @FanEffectShow, or Instagram @FanEffectShow.

Fan Effect is sponsored by Megaplex Theatres, Utah's premier movie entertainment company.

In this special episode of Fan Effect, ripped from the streams of our friend Rachel Wagner at the Hallmarkies Podcast, producer KellieAnn Halvorsen discusses the latest “Superman” movie, and in particular, the lasting love of Lois Lane and Clark Kent. Darin Lundberg of the NostalgiaCast Podcast joins Rachel and KellieAnn for a masculine perspective on the beloved pair. Not only do they dive into a (spoiler-filled) review of the 2025/James Gunn’s version of the Man of Steel, but they look deeply into the 1978 “Superman: The Movie,” which provides a great foundational gateway for learning about The Man from Krypton. 

The brains behind Fan Effect are connoisseurs of categories surpassing nerdy, with a goal to publish a weekly "What to Watch on the Weekend" minisode taken from KSL-TV's Friday segment, and two deep-dives a month on shows, creative works, artists, local events, and other fandom topics. 

Based in the beautiful beehive state, Fan Effect celebrates Utah's unique fan culture as it has been declared The Nerdiest State in America by TIME, and is hosted by KSL Movie Show's Andy Farnsworth and KSL Podcasts' KellieAnn Halvorsen. 

Listen regularly on your favorite platform, at kslnewsradio.com, or on the KSLNewsRadio App. Join the conversation on Facebook @FanEffectShow, or Instagram @FanEffectShow.

Fan Effect is sponsored by Megaplex Theatres, Utah's premier movie entertainment company.

Andy Farnsworth joins KSL-TV to help audiences decipher #WhatToWatch for the weekend of July 18, 2025. A reboot of a Saturday morning cartoon from the 1980s, "Smurfs," has a handful of funny moments and some decent animation, but otherwise is just for the little ones. “Eddington” might give you PTSD flashbacks to the early days of the COVID pandemic of 2020 as Joaquin Phoenix and Pedro Pascal battle it out for mayor of a fictional New Mexico town.

On streaming, a really solid series called "Untamed" on Netflix has Eric Bana trying to solve a young adult's mysterious death in Yosemite National Park. And for you Trekies out there, a new season of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" on Paramount+ brings back the entertaining adventures of the crew of the USS Enterprise back before the days of Captain Kirk. (According to producer KellieAnn, it’s a “must-watch” for sci-fi fans.)

The brains behind Fan Effect are connoisseurs of categories surpassing nerdy, with a goal to publish a weekly "What to Watch on the Weekend" minisode taken from KSL-TV's Friday segment, and two deep-dives a month on shows, creative works, artists, local events, and other fandom topics. 

Based in the beautiful beehive state, Fan Effect celebrates Utah's unique fan culture as it has been declared The Nerdiest State in America by TIME, and is hosted by KSL Movie Show's Andy Farnsworth and KSL Podcasts' KellieAnn Halvorsen. 

Listen regularly on your favorite platform, at kslnewsradio.com, or on the KSLNewsRadio App. Join the conversation on Facebook @FanEffectShow, or Instagram @FanEffectShow.

Fan Effect is sponsored by Megaplex Theatres, Utah's premier movie entertainment company.

Andy Farnsworth joins KSL-TV to help audiences decipher #WhatToWatch for the weekend of July 11, 2025. The big question of the weekend is whether James Gunn can pull off a film about one of the most famous superheroes of all time. Thankfully, according to both Andy and producer KellieAnn’s opinions, he nailed it! “Superman” is fun, vibrant, and enjoyable! Producer KellieAnn even joined our friends at the Hallmarkies podcast to talk about the film and the iconic romance of Clark Kent and Lois Lane. 

For streaming options, "Brick" on Netflix is an intriguing premise but not a great follow-through. It is hampered by some dubbing issues (it's originally in German), and some over-the-top violent moments mean it is not for all audiences. Andy did like Maggie Q's new streaming series "Ballard" on Prime Video, a spinoff of "Bosch" that is a fairly standard police mystery procedural and is an enjoyable watch. 

The brains behind Fan Effect are connoisseurs of categories surpassing nerdy, with a goal to publish a weekly "What to Watch on the Weekend" minisode taken from KSL-TV's Friday segment, and two deep-dives a month on shows, creative works, artists, local events, and other fandom topics. 

Based in the beautiful beehive state, Fan Effect celebrates Utah's unique fan culture as it has been declared The Nerdiest State in America by TIME, and is hosted by KSL Movie Show's Andy Farnsworth and KSL Podcasts' KellieAnn Halvorsen. 

Listen regularly on your favorite platform, at kslnewsradio.com, or on the KSLNewsRadio App. Join the conversation on Facebook @FanEffectShow, or Instagram @FanEffectShow.

Fan Effect is sponsored by Megaplex Theatres, Utah's premier movie entertainment company.