Happy New Year's Eve! Here's to 2023 being a good year for all of us!

End the year on a high note by listening to this episode of Podcast Racing, where MaryAnn and I share our thoughts on who we THINK (not necessarily who we want) will be nominated at next year's Oscars ceremony. If you have trouble hearing our predictions, you can follow along using the Google Doc link below:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yWNHp13crm8fQewq8BTThRKMULKrgFQjLlQukJINLhQ/edit?usp=sharing

On New Year's Day, I am releasing a top 10 best and worst movies and shows video on my YouTube channel where I am hosting a special contest where you can win a $50 gift card! More details via the link below:

https://youtu.be/RujhI0rJREg

FINALLY! A BRAND NEW EPISODE OF PODCAST RACING!

It has been too long since I have released an episode on the podcast and now I am back with my good friend MaryAnn to discuss the careers of several singers turned actors. We will NOT be discussing the careers of actors who just so happen to also be good singers, such as Emma Stone or Anne Hathaway.

I have been eager to resume the podcast and I am happy to announce that one more episode will come out next month and hopefully many more in 2023!

#podcastracing #barbrastreisand #ladygaga #justintimberlake #franksinatra #elvispresley #bingcrosby #common #icecube #madonna #jenniferlopez

It’s no surprise that movies such as Lightyear, which is coming to theaters today, are usually made just to sell toys and other merchandise to impressionable kids and Toy Story fans.  But for some reason, studios and toy companies occasionally think that it’s a good idea to sell toys to kids that are based off of movies that are too violent or mature for kids to watch, such as the Terminator franchise.  Films in general seem to be becoming more adult lately, so my good friend Ben and I are going to be delving into the mindset of these Hollywood executives and whether their actions are harmless or truly ruining kids’ innocence.  We also discuss the role that parents could and do play in exposing or hiding their kids from said movies.

(Mild spoilers for Obi-Wan Kenobi in this episode.)

Sometimes it feels like people judge movies based on criteria that may not even be relevant to the film, whether it be judging said film as either pure entertainment or meaningful art.  Today, my good friend CeCe and I are going to share our thoughts on film criticism and what we think is the right and wrong way to analyze and review movies.  I have a feeling that the upcoming movie Jurassic World: Dominion will, like almost all other movies, be judged amongst mainstream audiences based on whether the action is satisfying or not and critics will judge it based on mostly the writing and directing.

(Mild spoilers for Turning Red in this episode.)

You’ve all heard stories about how children of famous celebrities leech off their parents’ success in order to have careers of their own…but how much of it is truly a shallow attempt of reaching high levels of fame and how much of it are real earnest attempts to prove themselves as true thespians?  In today’s episode, MaryAnn and I address nepotism in Hollywood, analyze the careers of famous children of celebrities, and even delve deeper into the psychology behind how we inherit traits from our parents and inadvertently follow in their footsteps.

(For some weird reason, whenever I export an audio or video file on my computer, the audio becomes corrupted.  I don't know what's the cause of this, but it makes all of my recent content sound weird.  That's why the audio sounds static-y in this episode.)

Finally a brand new episode of Podcast Racing!  Yay!

SPOILERS AHEAD for Spider-Man: No Way Home.

As of the initial release of this episode, Spider-Man: No Way Home has made $1.8 billion worldwide.  It's clear that people like this movie, but that might not be such a good thing.  This movie is the latest in a trend of films and television shows that rely on nostalgia baiting and fan service.  Does this mean that we're going to see more stuff from Hollywood come out that relies too heavily on nostalgia and references?  My very good friends and I discuss that in today's episode.  Hope you enjoy!

2021 hasn't been the best year for cinema or television, but the good ones were truly memorable or exceptional.  Here are my top 15 favorite moments from 2021 movies and tv shows.

2021 Movies Ranked:

https://boxd.it/b6kiG

2021 Shows Ranked:

http://www.imdb.com/list/ls082213275/

NOTE: I recorded this episode before watching Licorice Pizza.  Now having seen Paul Thomas Anderson's latest masterpiece, the "running out of gas" scene is my new 5th favorite movie moment from 2021.

SPOILERS for the following:

Amphibia (season 2)

C'mon, C'mon

Cobra Kai (season 3)

Derek Delgaudio's In & Of Itself

Dune

Encanto

The Green Knight

Hawkeye

Infinity Train (season 4)

Invincible (season 1)

Judas and the Black Messiah

Loki (season 1)

Love, Victor (season 2)

Mare of Easttown

The Mitchells vs the Machines

The Mysterious Benedict Society (season 1)

Nightmare Alley

No Time to Die

The Owl House (season 2)

Spencer

Spider-Man: No Way Home

Squid Game

Star Wars: The Bad Batch (season 1)

The Suicide Squad

Supernova

Tick, Tick... Boom!

The Violet Evergarden Movie

WandaVision

What If (season 1)

West Side Story (2021)

The FINAL episode of Podcast Racing (for a while) is now available!  I was originally going to upload this last week, but some personal problems caused the delay.  In today's episode, I (and sadly just me) will be ranking all of the episodes of the recent Disney+ shows Star Wars Visions and What If?

Thank you for listening and for all your support!

Timecodes:

Star Wars Visions: 02:43

What If: 16:03

Due to the (still ongoing) pandemic, there were no blockbuster films released last summer to help theaters financially and help studios determine which ideas would work and which wouldn't.  This year, studios were much more comfortable releasing films that could be potential hits and revive the box office.  And revive the box office it (kind of) did.  But should the movies themselves be considered "cinema" by Martin Scorsese's standards?  Or our standards?  Hear some potentially controversial thoughts from me and my good friend in today's episode of Podcast Racing!

In today's episode, MaryAnn and I will discuss what we think is the best year for movies (which year had the best or most iconic films released in said year).  In recent history, some amazing movies were released in 2014 and 2019.  But are either of this years our personal favorites in cinematic history?  Find out in today's episode!  Hope you're all doing well.