Pshht Themes

Roll initiative! We'll give you advantage because this movie is fun. . . . This week we watch the latest Dungeons and Dragons movie, a great romp through icy tundras, Neverwinter, the Underdark, and halfling houses. Do you need to know anything about the classic game to enjoy the movie? No! I mean what background knowledge do you need to enjoy a super fat dragon, a paladin that is too pure to walk AROUND a boulder, or a barbarian who loves potatoes and little men? Will Simon be of help? Probably not. What does Edgen do? I think he makes plans. And we all just want a Hither-Thither staff! 

This week our hosts are ashamed to admit that at every race start we hoped SOMEONE would crash into Max and force him to retire the car. Not to cause him any personal injury mind you, just to give us an interesting race for once! Perhaps with Lewis getting a win? We were ok with Alonso, that dumb-dumb-boy Lando, or even Lance Stroll, ANYONE besides the Dutch menace. We watched Charles get crushed by the weight of his own expectations, Yuki come to life in a garbage car, and even the bittersweet return of Daniel Ricciardo. Erin and Brennan break down their feelings for each team and driver, hate on Las Vegas (duh), and give their predictions for the future of F1. 

Don't mess with Susie Wolff, she's the best!

Ok Void, this we find ourselves at the conclusion of our aerodynamic excursions. Now, let's take what we've learned in the last three films and combine them all in the dramatic telling of the Apollo 13 disaster. Test pilots, check; rocket fuel, check; communications array, check; Nazi mechanical engineer, check and check! This week we fight the ultimate fight against bad luck. I mean really, CAN you put a square peg in a round hole to save yourself from carbon dioxide poisoning? We talk the rock that is Gene Kranz and his lucky vest, America's dad: Tom Hanks, and how hot Kevin Bacon is even when he's supposed to look cold and sick (and for once it's not Erin who brings this up). 

Happy Birthday, Brennan (queue 4 minutes of tears)

Who goes there! Baaaaaaaaaaa!! This week we transmit from New South Wales, Australia (bet you didn't think you'd find the space race here!) We have Kiwis playing Aussies, awkward romances between a math nerd and a pretty girl, Aussie insult translators, and sheep. Whether it's drunk PMs, gale winds, or Rudy's vigilance, our team capture the first steps on the moon in July 1969. Maybe the US Ambassador can tell us where Apollo 11 is. . . .

Erin and Brennan shoot off rockets and hope they don't become missiles. Or explode. Both would be bad. We watch October Sky starring baby Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Cooper (a man out of time), and Laura Dern (our favorite teacher, Captain Pew Pew!). We revisit memories of putting washers on rockets, Sputnik conspiracies, JPL movies, and TEACHERS SHOULD BE APPRECIATED MORE! Did we mention that Brennan is a teacher? Well, he is. But let's not forget that the hero of our main character was a Nazi. Just putting that out there. 

Who's the best pilot you ever saw? It's Brennan! (Because it's his birthday and we have to feed him delusions of grandeur.) Meanwhile, Erin is the launch button-pusher who is getting increasingly anxious that each rocket they launch blows up. This week we review "The Right Stuff," a film about the test pilots that became the first generation of astronauts in the US Space Program. It's a race against communism, it's a race between the military branches, and it's a race to give the president the news before he already knows about it. So, who's the best pilot with the right stuff? It's Chuck Yeager, duh. 

Happy Día de los Muertos, Void! This week we are not human, nor are we skeletons, WE ARE PUDDLES!! HEAR US SOB!!! That's right, we cry a fair bit this week as we review the Pixar film "Coco." We discuss railings, different death rituals, and how falsifying a unibrow is apparently very illegal. But don't worry, the Rivera family has an arsenal of shoes to hit Ernesto with. This movie is really sweet and gives us all the feels, whether we want them or not. 

Happy Halloween detectives of the Void, can you spy who the greatest comedic actor of all time is? It's Madaline Khan, with the rope in the billiard room!!!! In this, the greatest film adaptation of a game ever, we enjoy the comedic chops of Tim Curry (I butle, sir), Madeline Khan (it's a question of life after death; now that he's dead, I have a life), Eileen Brennan (I just want to powder my nose), and Michael McKean (BIG BOTTOMS!!!! TALK ABOUT BUN CAKES, MY GIRL'S GOT 'EM!!). We are here to solve who killed one, three, or maybe six different people in a mansion atop a hill in New England. We discuss the history of the Red Scare, Erin's fear Morlocks, and Brennan's whiskey to soda ratio (he's truly Irish).  But honestly, we know the real killers, it was Erin and Brennan, in the library, with the textbook on American history. 

Help yourself to a drink, not the cognac, just in case.

Happy Halloween!

Oh Void. . . , let me tell you a tale of so much that could go oh so right, and went so so wrong. Young, shirtless, Gerard Butler is Dracula, stuck in a coffin under the watchful eyes of Christopher Plummer, NOT Abraham Van Helsing, "MATTHEW Van Helsing." We've got Mary, portrayed by a carboard cutout, Dracula scribbling Aramaic like some 90's tagger, and Val reporting FROM A SWAMP OF DEATH!!! Was this movie terrible? Absolutely, but there were small pieces of enjoyment i.e. kicking crosses, guns that shouldn't work, and atheist vampires. Ultimately, it takes an intervention from alcohol and RuPaul's Drag Race to keep this episode fresh. 

Dracula, Shantay you stay. Van Helsing, sashay away. 

Hey Void, wanna watch one of the worst movies ever made? Well luckily for you, Erin and Brennan watched "Van Helsing" so you wouldn't have to! We talked about everything except this film including: Larry Bird (white werewolves can't jump), Gladiator (slow-motion grass), and Lord of the Rings (looking at you Faramir). Ultimately, Team Monsters won our hearts (rimshot) and we were surprised the "heroes" managed to survive anything especially: fighting monsters, CGI gorges (multiple, or the same one too many times), or ropes that DO NOT follow the laws of physics. Did we mention the only good things were Dracula and a shirtless Hugh Jackman? In the end, it's better to arm yourself with a fog machine than stakes, monster hunters, holy water, sun bombs, more stakes, knives, silver bullets, rapid-fire crossbows, saw-blade ninja stars, and the entire Roman Catholic Church.