Reel Phonies

We're closing out the year by breaking down the last 3 episodes of The Mandalorian: Season 2. From the Robert Rodriguez-directed "The Tragedy" to the climactic finale, we discuss the best and worst that the final episodes have to offer and speculate on the future of the series.

Look, we were totally gonna do a Christmas movie episode but Disney dropped so much exciting content this week that we couldn't ignore it. We've got new Star Wars shows, a Guardians of the Galaxy holiday special, Buzz Lightyear movie, Hocus Pocus 2, The Fantastic Four, Hayden Christiansen returning as Vader, and quite literally so much more.

A good pilot episode should give you a good idea of what the show is going to be about while enticing you to watch the next episode. This week we're talking about shows that hit the ground running and never quit while comparing them to shows that took a little longer to find their footing.

Ahsoka Tano? Clones? Carl Weathers is good at directing? We've got a lot to catch up on in The Mandalorian! We've also got updates on a potential Spider-Verse with Alfred Molina (Doc Ock), a curious Black Widow announcement, and a potential casting on a new Black Panther.

In this special Reel Phonies Spinoff, husband/wife duo and newly-minted Ghibli experts Joseph and Valerie take you on a journey through the Studio Ghibli catalog. Often described as Japanese Disney (and recently accessible on streaming through HBOMax), the Ghibli films are animated stories for all ages that weave fantastical tales of adventure, whimsy, and self-discovery. Whether you've seen some or none of these films, this guide will give you a basic rundown of each of the movies and what makes each one special (or skippable). If you're just looking for a jumping off point, a timecode for our rankings of the 23 films is listed below:

Ghibli Rankings - 48:56

From Ray to Imitation Game to Into The Wild, we love a good biopic that tells a comprehensive story of a fascinating life in a tight 2 hours. But there are still so many interesting folks whose stories have yet to be adapted to the big screen. This week we're looking at some overlooked biopics that we think are well-overdue for the Hollywood treatment.

From Back to the Future to Terminator to Bill and Ted, some of our favorite movies are time travel stories. Although it's fun to think about what would be possible with the ability to travel backward in time, each of these movies proposes it's own particular rules for how that might work.  We break down some of the most famous time travel movies along with their own time travel logic and see at what point they break their own rules and whether that even matters.

The Mandalorian is back! Oscar Isaac as Moonknight! Jared Leto still exists! There's a lot to catch up on and we've got you covered for all the October entertainment news worth noting and, of course, the new season of The Mandalorian.

We're closing out our Halloween Horror for Cowards series with the classic John Carpenter masterpiece, The Thing. It's got Kurt Russell, an underrated Keith David, an almost unrecognizable Wilford Brimley, and a lot of squirmy, wet tentacles. Truly a monster movie that delivers on it's monster, this was a blast to watch and even more fun to talk about.

In our third foray into the horror genre this month, we're taking a look at the 1983 cult classic, Sleepaway Camp. It's a classic 80's slasher set in a campground with an unexpected ending. From questionable casting and costuming choices to impossible cookware to numerous plotholes, this film was a lot of fun to talk about even if not all of us enjoyed the viewing experience.