This week, we review Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and Yoshi’s Crafted World, two games that couldn’t seem more different, but weirdly wind up teaching a lot of the same lessons in how to create a quality video game. Before that, we also kick back and talk about some Stuff – like Jonathan’s first time playing the cult classic Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, or trying to explain the plot of Season 3 of The Flash to Sean – and hit some recent news items, like the passing of the great Agnes Varda, rumors about Nintendo’s new Switch hardware offerings, and the single strangest streaming video announcement we’ve ever heard (that last one, from 1:26:25 to 1:35:21, is one you definitely won’t want to miss).

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Original Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/

©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

It’s a jam-packed episode, as we dive deep with Jordan Peele’s incredible new horror film, Us, Jonathan gives some early thoughts from a pre-screening of DC’s Shazam!, Sean shares initial impressions of FromSoftware’s Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and so much more! Sean also talks about playing the first three Devil May Cry days on some Colorado snow days, Jonathan reviews the documentary Apollo 11, and we cover a bevy of news, including Google’s new Project Stadia streaming platform and the realization of the Disney’s Fox acquisition. Throw in some listener mail and a gush-session over the new John Wick 3 trailer, and you’ve got one of the most fun episodes we’ve recorded this year.

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Original Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/

©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

This week saw the much anticipated release of Captain Marvel, the latest film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the first to feature a female lead. It’s a very fun film that opens lots of exciting new doors for Marvel, and we spend a good chunk of time reviewing and breaking it down in full spoiler detail. Before that, Jonathan talks about catching up on Supergirl and the latest DC crossover special on the CW, and we go over some strange news, such as Sonic the Hedgehog’s horrifying new live-action look, Nintendo’s very bizarre Labo VR announcement, Xbox potentially planning a disc-free console, and more.

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Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://japanimationstation.com

Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK

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Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation  

Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast

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Original Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/

©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

This week, by popular demand (and because we really wanted to do it), we finally begin our trip down Middle Earth Memory Lane, with our in-depth retrospective discussion of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. So much has changed since this film’s release in 2001, its unlikely success helping to transform Tolkien’s work from a literary classic to one of the most dominant transnational brands on the planet. We try to strip all that back to look at the film itself, discussing our memories of seeing it for the first time, what it meant to us then, what it means to us now, and why this is one of the most significant films we’ll ever cover on this podcast. Sean also shares his thoughts on Apex Legends, Jonathan talks about bad players ruining his Destiny 2 fun, and we cover a spate of recent Nintendo news, including the retirement of Reggie Fils-Aime and the announcement of Pokemon Sword & Shield.

Enjoy!

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Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com

Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://japanimationstation.com

Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK

Subscribe to our YouTube channels! 

Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation  

Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast

Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff

Original Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/

©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

Sean couldn’t record this week, so instead, Jonathan watched and live-tweeted the 91st Academy Awards, following it up with a solo podcast discussing overall reactions to the show, the winners, and what we should take away from a night that had a horrible ending – Green Book, aka 2 Driving 2 Daisy, winning Best Picture – but a lot of things worth celebrating along the way. Jonathan delivers a monologue about the good and the bad of this year’s Oscars, and what lessons we might learn from them, before going category by category to discuss the winners, losers, and where his predictions diverted from the final results.

Enjoy!

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Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com

Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://japanimationstation.com

Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK

Subscribe to our YouTube channels! 

Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation  

Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast

Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff

Original Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/

©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

This week saw Nintendo’s first Direct in months, featuring announcements ranging from Super Mario Maker 2 to a Link’s Awakening remake, plus more details on Fire Emblem: Three Houses and a cavalcade of surprise eShop releases. We talk about all of that and more, go over the latest in a seemingly endless stream of Academy Award dumpster fires, share our horror over Will Smith’s uncanny valley Genie in Aladdin, talk more Destiny 2, and Jonathan relates his experience buying Starlink: Battle for Atlas on the cheap. Then, we’re joined by special guest Thomas Lack, a lifelong Kingdom Hearts fan, to tell us about his experience with Kingdom Hearts III, and whether the game lived up to its decade-plus of expectations.

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Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!

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Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter!

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Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com

Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://japanimationstation.com

Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK

Subscribe to our YouTube channels! 

Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation  

Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast

Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff

Original Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/

©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

This week, we got our first hands-on look at Bioware’s Anthem, and the results were…not pretty. We break down all the ways this uninspired Destiny clone has us worried after a few hours with the public demo, while also talking about Destiny itself and the Forsaken expansion we’ve both recently caught up with. We gush over the new combatants introduced to Dragon Ball FighterZ, Jiren and Videl, while expressing both excitement and horror about Piranha Plant’s debut in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. A big chunk of news, including the latest moves out of DC’s film universe and some striking Nintendo sales data, rounds out the episode.

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Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter!

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Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com

Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://japanimationstation.com

Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK

Subscribe to our YouTube channels! 

Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation  

Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast

Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff

Original Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/

©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

This week, we look ahead to the year that is now upon us, 2019, and preview all the upcoming films and video games we know about that are either exciting, baffling, dread-inducing, or a mixture of all three. We also make a competitive draft of which seemingly far-off video games are most likely to actually see the light of day in 2019, while Jonathan predicts just what obscene amounts of money Disney will make on their cavalcade of remakes and sequels this year. We also discuss this week’s big Metroid Prime news, talk more Destiny 2 and Dragon Quest, and answer some listener mail about the upcoming year.

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Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter!

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Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com

Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://japanimationstation.com

Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK

Subscribe to our YouTube channels! 

Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation  

Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast

Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff

Original Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/

©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

Dragon Ball Super is in theatres and dominating the box-office, and we are absolutely in love with Broly, an amazing film that represents an amazing milestone in the history of this beloved series. We break down the movie in full detail, discussing its bold new animation style and action sequences, surprisingly rich narrative and themes, and how it rehabilitates one of the series’ most one-dimensional characters into a complicated figure we can’t wait to see more of. Jonathan also recounts his adventures binging through the Dragon Quest games, Sean talks about diving back in to Destiny 2 and its Forsaken expansion, and we discuss the huge news of Destiny developer Bungie and publisher Activision parting ways.

Enjoy!

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Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!

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Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter!

Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter!

Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com

Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://japanimationstation.com

Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK

Subscribe to our YouTube channels! 

Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation  

Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast

Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff

Original Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/

©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

With Dragon Ball Super: Broly arriving in American theatres this week, we look back on the original three Broly films from the initial run of Dragon Ball Z films (DBZ Movies 8, 10, and 11). The original Dragon Ball movies are a strange beast to begin with – they can be a lot of fun for fans, but they’re also heavily formulaic and mostly plotless – but the Broly films are the strangest of all, creating an infamous antagonist and leaving a huge mark on the franchise without being particularly good. Broly himself doesn’t even feel like that much of a Dragon Ball character, and because of him, these movies tend to lack a lot of what makes the series so enjoyable. We talk about all of that and much more, while also discussing why, despite our antipathy to Broly up to now, we’re so excited for the new film – which we’ll be reviewing in depth next week!

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!

Subscribe for free to 'The Weekly Stuff' in iTunes!

Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter!

Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter!

Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com

Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://japanimationstation.com

Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK

Subscribe to our YouTube channels! 

Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation  

Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast

Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff

Original Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/

©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman