This week brought us another disappointing episode of Doctor Who, a lot more time with Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption II, and the final Nintendo Direct for next month’s Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. We talk about all of this and more, going through all the announcements from Masahiro Sakurai in Nintendo’s event, continuing to be depressed about Chris Chibnall’s Doctor Who writing, and discussing how wildly different our experiences with the vast, weird world of Red Dead Redemption II have been (once again without spoilers, as neither of us has finished the story). Sean also reviews the first DLC for Marvel’s Spider-Man on PS4, Jonathan reviews Luca Gudagnino’s Suspiria, and we encourage all our American listeners to go vote in tomorrow’s elections, because it is our civic duty, even if we’re hosting a silly niche podcast.

Time Chart:

Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:09:18

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

©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

The biggest game of 2018 has arrived in Rockstar’s long-awaited Red Dead Redemption 2, and after a solid weekend of play, we give our initial, spoiler-free impressions of this massive, wildly ambitious sequel. It’s an amazing game so far, almost mind-bogglingly vast in scope yet surprisingly intimate in tone and story. We break down what we’ve seen so far, while also grappling with the latest news about Rockstar’s problematic culture of crunch during development. And after that, we review this week’s Doctor Who, “Arachnids in the UK,” the fourth disappointing episode in a row from the new creative team, and one that continues to leave us disappointed at how the show is squandering its excellent cast in stories lacking even baseline narrative or thematic competency. We also go over the shuttering of Filmstruck, the streaming service that has been the online home of The Criterion Collection, while Sean reviews Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House and Jonathan continues his adventures catching up on Dragon Ball Super.

Time Chart:

Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:02:49

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

©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

It’s a calm before the storm kind of week, as we prepare for the biggest video game of the year next week in Red Dead Redemption 2, which is galloping into stores upon a trail of controversy after comments about Rockstar’s working conditions in an interview last week. We break down all that news, discuss Netflix’s move to start cancelling their Marvel shows, and do a good bit of Dragon Ball talk – including Jonathan ranking the Top 10 Characters he wants to see in the next round of DLC for Dragon Ball FighterZ – before diving into this week’s problematic Doctor Who, “Rosa.” It’s an episode that means well, but handles its heavy subject matter in some troublingly tone-deaf ways.

Time Chart:

Intro & Stuff: 0:00:00 – 0:20:15

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

©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

Doctor Who continues its new season this week with “The Ghost Monument,” an episode that improves on the premiere, but also reveals some real limitations in Chris Chibnall’s writing style. We discuss the episode in depth, including the new opening credits, TARDIS design, and more. But before that, we also chat more about Dragon Quest XI, Jonathan reviews Damien Chazelle’s First Man and talks about finally getting to the good stuff in Dragon Ball Super, and we go over the last week’s worth of news, including PSN finally allowing users to change their name, Microsoft potentially purchasing developer Obsidian, and the latest kerfuffle surrounding microtransactions in video games.

Time Chart:

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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

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

Our favorite TV show is back, as Doctor Who returns for its 11th modern season (37th overall!), with a new Doctor in Jodie Whittaker, a new showrunner in Chris Chibnall, plus new companions, a new composer, and an entirely new look. The entire show has effectively regenerated, and the first episode, “The Woman Who Fell to Earth,” in a promising if imperfect start. We give it the usual in-depth treatment we always employ for Doctor Who, along with an update on our progress in Dragon Quest XI, first impressions of Forza Horizon 4, and a bevy of recent video game and film news, from continued developments out of the Telltale Games fiasco to new trailers for Dark Phoenix and Dragon Ball Super: Broly.

Time Chart:

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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

We really live up to the podcast’s name this week, covering a wide assortment of stuff, including a large grab bag of video game, TV, and movie news from the past week. From the sudden closure of Telltale Games to trailers and announcements from the Tokyo Game Show to the launch of Nintendo’s online service to Sony’s surprise unveiling of the PlayStation Classic, this week brought a lot of surprising news to parse through. Sean also recommends some Spider-Man comics from the 1980s, Jonathan reviews Paul Feig’s A Simple Favor, and we give some more spoiler-free impressions of Dragon Quest XI, now that Sean has also had some time with this truly amazing game.

Time Chart:

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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 dive deep with one of the best video games of the year: Insomniac’s Spider-Man for PS4. We break down the story, the gameplay, the open world, the characters, and much more, building on our spoiler-free discussion from last week to explore what makes this a new standard-bearer for the superhero genre in video games. This discussion has spoilers aplenty, but we give fair warning before those begin. We also go through all the news from this week’s Nintendo Direct, including a brilliant Animal Crossing troll, talk a little more Dragon Quest XI, and more!

Time Chart:

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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

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

As a special bonus episode this week, we wrap up our recent retrospective journey through Sam Raimi’s original Spider-Man films with our in-depth discussion of the controversial Spider-Man 3. Though a record-breaking commercial hit, the film was widely considered a creative disappointment upon release, and its reputation has only soured more and more in the decade since. Is that reputation fully deserved? The answer is complicated, because while Spider-Man 3 almost certainly isn’t a ‘good’ movie, it’s hard to entirely dismiss it as a mere ‘bad’ one as well. Working through the film’s many problems but also its surprising pleasures makes for perhaps our most fun and engaging discussion of the series yet, and wraps up a rewarding trek back through these classic superhero films.

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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

It was an amazing week for video games, as Marvel’s Spider-Man and Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age both launched on the PS4, and after spending an unhealthy amount of time playing as much of them as possible, we’ve got spoiler-free impressions of both. Jonathan gives his thoughts on the early hours of Dragon Quest, Sean sings some more praise for Yakuza Kiwami 2, and we both gush over the incredible achievement that is Insomniac’s Spider-Man game. It may be the best use of a licensed character in a major video game to date, a consistently surprising, endlessly engrossing experience that goes above and beyond being the Spider-Man game of our childhood dreams. We’ll have a full spoiler-filled review next week, but we keep things spoiler-free this time, so feel free to listen whether or not you’ve touched the game yet.

Enjoy, and come back Wednesday for a special mid-week bonus podcust with our retrospective review of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3!

Time Chart:

Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:08:36

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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

After years of incessantly mentioning this movie in top 10 lists and while reviewing other superhero films, it is finally time for a full, in-depth retrospective of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2, the greatest superhero movie of all time. As we did last week with our look back at the original Raimi film, we’re preparing for the launch of Insomniac’s PS4 Spider-Man by revisiting some of our favorite Spider-Man media ever, and Spider-Man media doesn’t get any better than Raimi’s 2004 sequel, one of the truly great works of commercial art this century and a standard-bearer for all other comic-book adaptations. We give it our customary in-depth treatment, but we also cover a few other topics this week – including Sean’s impressions of Yakuza Kiwami 2 for the PS4, a few pieces of news including Xbox’s new ‘All Access’ program, and our shared joy at discovering an old Spider-Man concept album from 1975 – in this jam-packed, webhead-heavy episode.

Enjoy!

Time Chart:

Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:04:00

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