When I first asked Collin if he wanted to do a podcast with me in which we took turns picking movies for the other to watch, this is the type of thing that I was expecting to have to watch on a pretty regular basis:  something that, were I his age, I would find amazingly entertaining.

The Transformers franchise has been cranking along now for over 30 years, and there are more of the excruciating films in the works, but there's something here that has an appeal to some people or it wouldn't have been around as long as it has.  Apparently Collin is one of those people, and even if I don't share his enthusiasm, I can see that there is something here that he finds engaging.  So, in that spirit, we talk about this TV series - one in many iterations of the Transformers universe.  I get it if discussing a "came-and-went" animated kids show isn't for everybody, but I still think we got a pretty good show out of it.

Last week we watched Ghostbusters; this week it's a very different kind of ghost story.  Hayao Miyazaki doesn't make conventional animated stories.  Those used to the Disney/Pixar way of doing things may be thrown off by the odd characters and seemingly meandering story-telling style.  But his movies are always personal, heartfelt, and beautifully rendered.  To me, Spirited Away is the best of the bunch. Collin and I discuss.

Mental Floss: 15 Fascinating Facts about Spirited Away

Collin once again steals my thunder and picks an '80s flick.  I take this as evidence that my experiment is working.  This week:  the jerkiness of Bill Murray characters, an awkward discussion about feminist movie remakes, an even more awkward discussion about whether or not Venkman is cool for resisting possessed Sigourney Weaver, and how uncool it was for Collin to see Rouge One without me.

We had a small window to cram in one more show before Christmas, and so we powered up the Zoom recorder and did the show with very little prep, which is pretty typical of how we do the show anyway.  This week I picked Gremlins:  the movie where Phoebe Cates goes dowdy, mothers kick butt, and mayhem ensues because one kid can't obey three pretty simple rules.  Plus, Hoyt Axton! Enjoy.

How do you review an empirically bad movie that is simultaneously being lambasted by a TV show? Do you review the movie? The TV show? We take a shot splitting the difference as we discuss the Mystery Science Theater 3000 takedown of the 1964 comedy (?), Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. It's a perennial classic in our household.  If you want to see just the movie (sans the MST quips) it's in the public domain and available in its entirety (in glorious HD, no less) on YouTube:

Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (in HD)

10 Festive Facts About Santa Claus Conquers the Martians

Thanksgiving movies are few and far between, but John Hughes managed to make a classic based around the holiday.  Oddly enough, this is the first rated R movie we've done on the podcast, which we discuss.  Also, from the same year this movie was released (1987), U2 released The Joshua Tree.  We briefly discuss that album as well.

Right in the middle of the Disney renaissance came this retelling of Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp.  It's been duly Disneyfied (there's no beheading at the end, for instance). Collin knew of Robin Williams but had never seen one of his movies. This was probably the perfect introduction to his more manic, stream-of-consciousness side.  I think he's definitely a fan.  Per usual we've got five questions, one good thing and one bad thing and the 60 second out-of-context table read.  Also, at the end are some outtakes from our failed attempt at doing an Aladdin commentary track.

Seeing The Twilight Zone series as a kid was a seminal experience.  The Brady Bunch and Diff'rent Strokes did not prepare me for the more bizarre and morally challenging episodes that the series offered.  Trying to pare down that experience into 4 episodes was nearly impossible, but I took a stab at it with some of the more famous offerings from the mind of Rod Serling.  From the first 2 seasons I chose Walking Distance, Time Enough at Last, The Monsters are Due on Maple Street, and It's a Good Life. There were so many more that I wanted to talk about, but as it is we chatted for about an hour.  I'm curious about what some of the listener favorites are.  Drop us an email and let us know.  We'll read them on the next show.

The Five Themes of the Twilight Zone - Arlen Schumer

The Twilight Zone and the Power of Ideas - Brant Short

I asked Collin to pick something appropriate for Halloween, and he chose this 1933 James Whale joint based on the H.G. Wells book.  In 5 questions we try to decide what kind of movie this is (horror? suspense? monster movie?), and discuss the differences in acting styles between then and now.  Plus, Collin stays mostly on topic this week, which helped keep the show to a nice, tidy 40 minutes.

Our guest shot on Movies, Music and More

This week, as a companion piece with last week's Short Circuit, I picked Steven Spielberg's A.I.  We discuss the movie, it's controversial ending, and whether humans should even be pursuing artificially intelligent machines at all. Plus, Collin asks 5 questions, we do one good thing and one bad thing about the film, and Greta joins us again for our out-of-context table read.

AV Club article defending the ending of A.I.