Overthinking It Podcast

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Overthinking It Podcast episodes

January 13, 2025Episode 862: Your Bias Isn’t Going to Defeat My Bias
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Clint Eastwood has been one of America’s most iconic actors and directors for several generations now, and he’s kept busy well into his 90s. But with no projects currently in development, it seems like Juror #2 might be his swan song. Like many of his directorial efforts, this movie is about normal people who become swallowed up by our nation’s institutions, in this case the legal system. Pete, Mark, and Matt delve into this odd beast: part legal thriller, part morality tale, part negative Yelp review of a roadhouse called “Rowdy’s Hideaway.”
The panelists are at first skeptical about the ending, and maybe the entire second half. After introducing a genuinely interesting setup, does the movie know what to DO with it? Everyone has their own ideas of where the story COULD have gone. But the more they talk, the more they understand the story CLINT wanted to tell, one in which nobody wants to do the hard thing so ultimately we don’t get the Hollywood ending we’ve been trained to expect. If you’re looking for heroism, you’re going to have to consult Clint’s work pre-Unforgiven. The only hope for the future he’ll leave us with is a cryptic look from Toni Collette, but maybe that’s a start.
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Further Reading
Juror #2 on Max
Skin in the Game – Wikipedia
Toby Keith – As Good As I Once Was Lyrics | Genius Lyrics
Episode 862: Your Bias Isn’t Going to Defeat My Bias originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]
1 hr 11 min
January 06, 2025Episode 861: How Did Freddie Krueger and Luke Skywalker Become Friends?
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For years, Jimmy Carter was seen as a symbol of humiliating failure. (Back in 1993, The Simpsons did a joke where the town couldn’t afford a Lincoln statue and had to settle for a Carter one.) But Carter spent his post-presidency tirelessly working for Habitat for Humanity and winning Nobel Prizes, and by the time he passed away at age 100 his reputation had been transformed. Ben Adams, Matt Belinkie, Mark Lee, and Pete Fenzel use him as a jumping off point to talk second acts. Mark Hamill was a has-been in the 90s (also mercilessly mocked by The Simpsons) but his decades of work voicing the animated Joker gave him a whole new legacy. Mike Tyson went from disgraced fighter to quirky Cartoon Network star. And Joe Rogan was a c-list actor and reality tv host before he was the biggest podcaster in the world. What’s the secret to reinventing yourself? Do we all have a second act within us?
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Further Reading
A Guide to Mark Hamill’s Colorful Non–’Star Wars’ Career
Jason Everman – Wikipedia
Wristwatch Revival – YouTube
‘The Last of Us’ Continues Craig Mazin’s Hollywood Ascent – The New York Times
Episode 861: How Did Freddie Krueger and Luke Skywalker Become Friends? originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]
1 hr 7 min
December 30, 2024Episode 860: Babysitters 40k
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Matt Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather celebrate the last podcast of the year with the themes that made 2024 what it was. Lee defies gravity, Wrather buys reading glasses, Belinkie revs up his chainsaw sword, and Fenzel steps back for a logo 3. It’s not a year in review, because who could review it all, and it’s not a look forward to 2025, because who wants to spoil the surprise? We talk synchronic vs. diachronic framing of virtuosity and ask what Wicked has in common with the South Korean political crisis and what Warhammer 40k has to do with the Babysitters’ Club. It may be more than you think!
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Further Reading
Warhammer 40k on the Babysitters’ Club Club fandom wiki
Ed O’Neill “Al Bundy” the Journey to Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt from the Jiu-Jitsu Times
Modern Family: Commencement, also on fandom featuring Sensei Ron
Graeme O’Neal Shows Entertainment Weekly Showing Idina Menzel’s Reaction to Cynthia Ervino’s Cinematic Reinterpretation of Idina Menzel’s Stage Interpretation of Defying Gravity by Stephen Schwarz
Henry Cavill’s Warhammer 40K Cinematic Universe Signs on the Line with Amazon and He’s Over the Moon: ‘A fantastic place to start,’ from PC Gamer
Caitlin Clark: Athlete of the Year, 2024, from TIME
Synchrony and Diachrony: James Stirling’s Students at Yale, lecture by Emmanuel Petit, PhD at the Yale School of Architecture
Guin Saga to Resume 4 Years After Original Novelist’s Passing, from the Anime News Network
Episode 860: Babysitters 40k originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]
1 hr 8 min
December 23, 2024Episode 859: There’s a Right Christmas and a Wrong Christmas
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Mark Lee, Matt Wrather, Peter Fenzel, and Matt Belinkie, Hannukah preparations notwithstanding, triangulate and ascertain the True Reason for the Season with the freshest of holiday treats: 2024 Christmas movies. It’s a ginger-spiced promenade from the Rock to the Lohan and Hallmark to Hell and back, through approval, myth, family, heroism, and the worst kinds of miracles. Emotions run high, hopes rise and collapse, and we haven’t even cracked open the egg nog yet!
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Further Reading
Red One, in theaters and on Prime
Our Little Secret on Netflix
Dear Santa on Paramount+
Sugarplummed on the Hallmark Channel
Toasty Tails: A PAW Patrol Holiday Fireplace | 24-Hour Fireplace for Kids #holiday #fireplace on YouTube
What Is Reification?, on novelr
Beware the Satanic Panic around Jack Black as the Devil in Dear Santa, as it might make the movie sound cool or fun
Incredible streaming performance raises possibility Red One might not be a complete financial disaster
Lindsay Lohan Lives ‘Without Regrets’ After Learning from Her Past, ‘I Really Have Seen It All.’ from People.com
Episode 859: There’s a Right Christmas and a Wrong Christmas originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]
1 hr 8 min
December 16, 2024Episode 858: We Want To See the Gladiators. It’s a Movie Called Gladiator.
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Hot on the heels of our discussion about Sequel Culture, Matt Belinkie, Mark Lee and Pete Fenzel re-enter the arena to discuss Gladiator 2. In the halcyon summer of 2000, it seemed to some people that liberal democracy had won a final enduring victory, and the original Gladiator’s framing of tyranny versus republican virtue didn’t seem like biting social commentary. Twenty four years later this sequel gives us essentially the same plot, but its endless speechifying about the lost dream of democracy and rule of law feels painfully on the nose. But what are the different strategies the movie presents for countering that tyranny? Meeting violence with violence? Organizing political resistance? Or the Denzel Washington option: chewing the scenery while seizing control of the rickety institutions of state from the inside? We don’t learn very much about real Roman history from this movie, but we might learn something about our future.
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Further Reading
From Principate to Dominate: When Roman Emperors Became Boastful Autocrats
Baboon Pictures | Page 4 | AfricaHunting.com
Better Man | Official Trailer (2024 Movie) – Robbie Williams, Michael Gracey, Jonno Davies:

Episode 858: We Want To See the Gladiators. It’s a Movie Called Gladiator. originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]
1 hr 18 min
December 09, 2024Episode 857: Does Gollum Have to Do Gollum Things?
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Matt Belinkie, Mark Lee, and Pete Fenzel do something boldly original and never to be repeated: talk about pop culture trend pieces written by actual newspapers. In the immediate aftermath of seeing Moana 2 and Gladiator 2, it’s time to chat about the cluster of think pieces around Hollywood’s huge reliance on sequels this year to make up both the top and bottom of its litany of accomplishments. Beset by a category too all-consuming to be useful, we present a taxonomy of sequels, overthinking their similarities and differences, and tracking the relationship between franchise and oeuvre as creative voices move in and out of the mouths of favorite characters. Plus, the extent to which sequels may or may not be parties, the lessons about remakes movies might be logistically unable to learn from stage plays, and “That Gollum, he’s so hot right now!” Are you up and coming, here and now, or down and going? Did anyone see Bad Boys: Ride or Die? Listen to this week’s episode to find out.
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Further Reading
“Is Hollywood’s Addiction to Sequels Cannibalizing Its Future” by Owen Glieberman, from Variety
The success of Moana 2 is nothing to be celebrated – there is a real crisis in animation, by Louis Chilton, from The Independent
Worldwide box office leaders from BoxOfficeMojo: 2024 / 2023
From ‘Megalopolis’ to ‘Joker: Folie à Deux,’ these are 2024’s biggest box office flops, by Aidin Vaziri, from the San Francisco Chronicle
Episode 857: Does Gollum Have to Do Gollum Things? originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]
1 hr 8 min
December 02, 2024Episode 856: Warehousing People
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Pete Fenzel and Matt Wrather hold a storied two-hander on Ted Danson’s new Netflix retirement home spy sitcom, A Man on the Inside, which rides the lines among funny and solemn; easy and challenging; and polemic and hagiography. We dig deep on the “All the World’s a Stage” monologue from Shakespeare’s As You Like It, which is heavily featured in the show, and broaden the conversation to the literary project of using storytelling to inspire humans to find common interest and empathy in their shared condition and mortality. Comedic floors come up, by which a baseline of silliness might be established to soften the cruelty of jokes and satire. We talk sandwiches, specifically those in their 40s and 50s caring for both aging parents and growing teenagers. Matt updates us on his transition into fatherhood and the experience of reading to his daughter, while Pete goes off about dementia, compassion, and dignity in all stages of life. The question as to how exactly this show will manage a second season will have to wait for another podcast.
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Further Reading
“All the World’s a Stage: The Seven Ages of Man” from William Shakespeare’s As You Like It, performed solo by Benedict Cumberbatch (The Shakespeare Network
“The Sandwich Generation: Rising Financial Burdens for Middle-Aged Americans” (Pew Research Center, 2013)
The Iliad, Book 24: Achilles and Priam, performed by Ananke
How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question, by showrunner Michael Schur on Goodreads
A Man on the Inside Cast: Who Stars Alongside Ted Danson, from RadioTimes
OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies on the Internet Movie Database / A Man on the Inside Poster, from the Internet Movie Database
Episode 856: Warehousing People originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]
1 hr 12 min
November 25, 2024Episode 855: I Like to Consider Myself a Local Man
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Matt Wrather makes a surprise stop in from parental leave to join Matt Belinkie, Mark Lee and Pete Fenzel as we discuss The Onion: its history, style, and modes of satire through the years. We overthink the A.I.-threatened art of clever photoshopping, the dialogue between image and text, doing topical humor on news figures with zero impersonation, and good-natured, tragic pathos. With the Onion back in print and proposing to expand its media empire with an acquisition of InfoWars, will everything that was old and funny become new again and also funny? Plus, a question of the week on our greatest hits for children’s bedtime stories, and a blazing take from area new father that 9/11 may have changed American culture.
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Further Reading
Who are those six people in that one Onion section? – theonion.com | Ask MetaFilter
“Frog and Toad”: An Amphibious Celebration of Same-Sex Love | The New Yorker
De Blasio: ‘Well, Well, Well, Not So Easy To Find A Mayor That Doesn’t Suck Shit, Huh?’ – The Onion
You Will Suffer Humiliation When The Sports Team From My Area Defeats The Sports Team From Your Area – The Onion
Issue 37•34: The September 11th Issue – The Onion
Not Knowing What Else To Do, Woman Bakes American-Flag Cake – The Onion
Pop Culture Expert Surprisingly Not Ashamed Of Self – The Onion
Standards Lowered For Second Search Through Fridge – The Onion
Man Returning From Vacation Settles On Single Concise Anecdote He’ll Tell Everyone Who Asks – The Onion
Dog Looks At Owner Who Put It In Costume Like Mafia Don Betrayed By Loyal Consigliere – The Onion
Bloodied, Bruised John Kerry Emerges Victorious At Kickboxing Tournament In Bangkok Prison – The Onion
John Kerry Sits In Shadows Of Kiev Café Awaiting Woman Known Only As Dasha – The Onion
Theme Park Guests Trapped For Harrowing 6 Hours On Stuck Merry-Go-Round – The Onion
Outdoor Advertising Is A Blight On Our Society vs. I Just Wanted To Tell The Nice People About The Yogurt – The Onion
r/AteTheOnion
The new CEO of ‘The Onion’ is bringing back ‘the good internet.’ Here’s how
Episode 855: I Like to Consider Myself a Local Man originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]
55 min
November 18, 2024Episode 854: Venom’s Superpower Is Friendship
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After six years as the only Overthinker to appreciate these masterpieces, Pete Fenzel has finally convinced Matt Belinke to watch the Tom Hardy Venom movies. And it’s just in time, as Venom: The Last Dance is here to escort the series to its Comic Book Death (and inevitable resurrection). What follows is Matt and Pete’s deep dive on the whole Venom trilogy and its four pillars: amazing relationship-driven character scenes, shockingly deep cultural and psychological symbolism, plots that make no sense, and brutal comic book violence. It’s the rare series whose best parts are its filler, the best in-your-head “Space Oddity” singalong you’ll see in an IMAX movie theater with 12 people in it this year, and our second new movie in two weeks with a direct stand-in for Randy Quaid’s character in Independence Day. The discussion topics are symbiotic tendrils pulling us forward – away from parasitism, toward healthy attachment. And unlike these movies, we don’t bite anyone’s heads off.
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Further Reading
The Dependency Paradox in Relationships, by Dr. Terry Levy, Ph.D., B.C.F.E., Director, Evergreen Psychotherapy Center and the Attachment Treatment & Training Institute, Evergreen, Colorado
The Christmas Tree Is A Tradition Older Than Christmas, by Troy Bickman, Professor of History at Texas A&M University
How to Access the Secret Stage: Statue of Liberty – Maximum Carnage Guide – Hidden Cutscene Guide, from AcidGlow on YouTube
Episode 854: Venom’s Superpower Is Friendship originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]
1 hr 29 min
November 11, 2024Episode 853: Breath of Atomic Fresh Air
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Mark Lee, Pete Fenzel, and Matt Belinkie check in with the mother of all cinematic franchises, Godzilla. After 70 years and 38 films, how can the big guy possibly surprise us, much less move us? Well shockingly, Godzilla Minus One from 2023 got a 99% on Rotten Tomatoes, and earned an Oscar for Best Special Effects. We break down exactly how Godzilla reinvented its future by reimagining Japan’s post-war past. We also recall some of the series’s history, such as a 1969 movie in which a little boy meets Godzilla’s son, who is being bullied by other monsters.
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Further Reading
Depression & Anti-Bullying Awareness: All Monsters Attack/Godzilla’s Revenge (1969)
Godzilla X Kong Ne-Yo Closer Meme Montage
Episode 853: Breath of Atomic Fresh Air originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]
1 hr 12 min