Open World Chat

Mark and John look at directors who are generally accepted as having a particular masterwork and explain why - no - a DIFFERENT movie is actually their masterpiece and why. Part 1 in our 2 part director series.

Mark and John go full pundit and talk about the current state of elections and democracy in the US. Are our rights safe? Are our systems safe? What policies help us or hinder us? The answers, of course - complicated in the details, but maybe not so much at the end of the day. Join in for a break from our usual fare.

When Jesus turns up in your favorite stories! Mark and John talk about the archetype of the "Christ Figure," and it turns out it pops up everywhere.

The war on DEI is hitting companies like Disney and Warner Brothers and they've have already begun to alter their policies in response. Will this backlash affect our favorite movies, books, and comics?

It's the flip side of last time - this time Mark and John go through a bunch of movies that should never be remade, as well as several that should never have been remade (and the trainwrecks that came of it).

Mark and John throw out some ideas of movies that scream to be remade (in some cases remade again), while also reviewing some remakes that have been made and made well.

Mark and John look at so-dubbed "franchise fatigue" and its cousins superhero fatigue, sequel fatigue, and throw in some multiverse fatigue. We discuss what genre franchises are doing better than others, and why.

One episode after talking about dumb sci-fi, we return to talk about excellent sci fi and fantasy that doesn't get enough love, be it from critics, fanboys, general audiences, or just due to the fog of the passage of time.

Dumb sci fi. The title says it all. Not just bad, not just ill-considered. Dumb. Come on, see if we mention your favorite book or movie We dare ya.

It's the AI era! You want to know how bad it can get? Check out the list of most evil artificial intelligences. Come on and tell us what (who?) we missed, even if some of them are a little obvious (we're looking at you Stanley Kubrick).