Screeners Podcast

The biggest event in the entertainment industry this week (as far as the Screeners are concerned, at least) was the news of Roger Ebert’s death. The Screeners open the episode by paying tribute to the first movie critic to get his own star on the Walk of Fame, sharing their favorite memories of Ebert’s life and work.

As promised in the show, here’s the original blog post Josh mentioned; turns out it’s been made into a book. And here’s the Rob Schneider exchange Chad excerpted. In the spirit of fairness, though, it’s worth mentioning that Schneider didn’t end this little feud as belligerently as it began.

Moving on to Jump Cuts, the Screeners consider Disney’s recent shuttering of the LucasArts video game studio. Apparently, Josh is the only one who pays attention to the credits screens in the Lego series to see where they’re made. So sad.

Next, not to spoil the episode or anything, but one Screener loved the new GI Joe movie, and one, not so much. If you can’t guess at least one of the mystery identities by now, let us know so we can tell the Screeners that they’ve done a terrible job of introducing themselves so far.

The gloves come off for the third Jump Cut, as the Screeners take on the piracy debate at the center of some comments from Game of Thrones director David Patrarca. The question for the Screeners isn’t so much about whether piracy is good or bad, but about how wrong Chad is. C’mon, Chad; how can you fight Chris’s reasoning? He’s got the Nords on his side!

And in order to not make the summary of the last lightning round question longer than the discussion itself, we have two words: Upstream Color.

There’s a lot happening on the small screen right now, and the Screeners have vowed to take in as much of it as possible. Game of Thrones draws first (dragon) blood in the discussion this time, as three followers of the series and one loser who hasn’t seen a minute of it give their impressions on the season 3 opener.

From warriors to medics; the next premiere on the Screeners’ plate is Dr. Who. Is he, like, the most powerful being in the universe or whatever (sorry, Melody; we couldn’t resist), or is he just another quack? All four Screeners have a different perspective on the series, so answering this proves to be a fun romp through space and time.

But that’s not all! With Bates Motel, A&E has transitioned from the real-life horror of abandoned storage units and the houses their contents came from to the much more pleasant topic of serial killer origin stories. The Screeners are ready for a gritty thrill ride, but is the network concealing something far uglier than Norman’s adolescence?

To round out the main event, the Screeners couldn’t talk the week in TV without mentioning the Walking Dead season finale, even though only two of them have seen it. This part is filled with spoilers, so if you haven’t seen the episode yet, you might just want to skip ahead to the next segment.

We remember movies for dialog, characters, cinematography, and a myriad of other things, but some of the most lasting recollections from a film can be their scores. A great film (or television) score elevates the content it surrounds, and the effect isn’t lost on the Screeners, who are huge fans of music as well as cinema.

Below are the selections the Screeners singled out this time, but they already have others in mind for the future. 

The Social Network

Warhorse

Lost

Sherlock Holmes

Back to the Future

Star Trek: First Contact

How to Train Your Dragon

What are some of your favorite moments in cinema music? Let us know in the comments, and we’ll see you next time, when the Screeners will review the new Tom Cruise sci-fi thriller Oblivion.

*That’s right; that’s two Scandinavia shout-outs in one post. How do you like us now, Holland? Just kidding; we love you too, Holland. Who can stay mad at wooden shoes?

Get out your controllers and settle in for a long night of not communicating with the outside world, because this time around, the Screeners are reviewing 2K Games’ blockbuster Bioshock Infinite. If you’re not a gamer, though, not to worry; there’s still plenty of movie and TV talk to go around.

Before getting into the meat of this episode’s lightning round, the Screeners take a minute to confess that they haven’t really been sticking to a 60-second answer limit in previous episodes (though we’re sure no one would have known if they hadn’t pointed it out). They then introduce the nemesis of any long-winded Screener, the Jump Cut buzzer. We’ll see if they need it...who are we kidding? Of course they’ll need it.

The questions start out with Gerard Butler and Olympus Has Fallen, the White House-levelling action thriller. Melody and Chad take turns mocking the amateurish visual effects and praising the...delightfully campy visual effects. There might have been some talk about the acting and the script too, but let's just say there was only one Screener who liked the movie unconditionally. Guess who that was?

From DC to Marvel; topic 2 is the new Wolverine trailer—err, “tweaser”. Seems the kids are using this thing called “Vine” to do...whatever kids do with 6 seconds of video, and film studios may have picked this to be the one time they’re ahead of the content distribution curve. Josh complains that he’d like to see just a few more cuts in the trailer, and everyone else agrees. Wait; that can’t be right...

The next jump is from movies to metrics, as the Screeners observe a moment of silence for Neilsen’s decades-old ratings model. With an in-depth Wired piece as a reference, they consider that the week-long ratings cycle might finally be dead, especially for cable-scorning hipsters like Chris and Melody. Oh, and let's have a moment of silence for that poor Neilsen family. All they ever did wrong was like bad TV.

Rounding out the lightning round is a quick review of the Screeners’ personal favorites in the podcast world. Here’s a shocker: Josh hasn’t heard any of the others’ favorites. Notable mentions include A Cast of Kings and The Q & A Podcast.

For this week’s main event, you may want to crack open your favorite secessionist American history book and a copy of Atlas Shrugged, because the Screeners are reviewing a video game. (If you can think of a less likely second half for that last sentence, please let us know in the comments.)

Bioshock has always been a genre-defier, and the latest incarnation is no exception. It’s won awards and nearly universal acclaim, but do the Screeners agree? As of this recording, they’ve all played it, but they’re at different points in the story, so Josh refuses to let Chris and Chad (those overachievers) spoil the ending for anyone.

For this episode’s Cutting Room Floor, the Screeners have come up with a new game to enlighten and/or torment each other. They’re calling it “Convince Me to Watch”—each Screener picks a movie specifically for one other host to watch, and the pair convene during the episode to discuss.

As a side note, all these movies are streaming on Netflix as of this writing, so if you have a subscription, you won’t have to spend any money to join in this segment’s fun.

First up is Melody, who tells Josh he really should watch Side By Side, a documentary about the movie industry and the reception of digital production in a world ruled by film for so long. The movie’s discussion is moderated by Keanu Reeves, and Josh’s main complaint about the film (can we call them “films” anymore?) is that Keanu has apparently judged himself competent enough to say more than “Whoa.” in a movie.

Switching roles from reviewer to presenter, Josh has selected Visioneers, an offbeat dystopian comedy built around a growing epidemic of people spontaneously exploding. He’s picked this for Chris, and he’s positively giddy about his choice because he loved the movie and thinks there’s a small chance Chris liked it too. He’s guessing, though, that Chris's lack of experience with soul-crushing jobs, existential crises, and introspection about the nihilism lurking behind every corner of modern life might lead him to a somewhat...different reaction than his own. Either way, at least one of them will be happy.

Chris then introduces The Imposter, another documentary about the disappearance of a small boy and his possible reappearance over a decade later. This one’s for Chad to comment on, and he spends much of his time remarking on the way  director Bart Layton has used the documentary format in a somewhat unconventional way. No plot spoilers here; the less you know about the movie, the better; but it’s worth listening to Chad’s review so you can be on the lookout for some of the film’s finer production details.

Last up is Chad, who takes great joy in having recommended a movie about the world of mixed martial arts to a mother of two young children. Melody admits that she wasn’t too excited by Warrior at first, but what did she think by the end of it? Well, we're not giving away the ending of that one either.

That does it for this episode; if the Screeners convinced you to watch (or play) something, let them know what you thought of it in the comments. See you next time!

The Screeners host a double-feature this time, heading to the theater for both Oz: The Great and Powerful and The Incredible Burt Wonderstone. Before the conversation turns to wizards, monkeys, and the somewhat blurry line between them, though, they spend a little time outside Hollywood with a round of Jump Cuts.

The lightning round opens with a nerdfest about the increasing accessibility of cinema and video production. The Black Magic Cinema Camera gets a nod for its recent use in a feature-length movie, and the Screeners talk about their experience with it and other increasingly affordable theater-quality digital cameras.

Next, the round gets charged, but maybe not so lightning-fast anymore, as the Screeners take on the recent Veronica Mars Kickstarter success, touching on everything from the revolutionary nature of crowdfunding a studio-backed movie to Joss Whedon’s reaction to the news.

Having talked enough about worthy causes, the Screeners move on to one of the newest trends in the gaming market:  Microtransactions. CliffyB’s defense of the practice isn’t winning too many hearts over here, though Chad does note the extreme difficulty of building a successful virtual farm while juggling a career and family on the side. A magic grape every now and then might just be a good buy; you decide.

Moving on to a less visually assaulting medium, the Screeners spend some time talking about what they’re currently reading or have just finished. Josh mentions a couple good books and totally shafts the authors by not giving their names (sorry about that), and mysterious forces try to prevent Chris from talking about his recommendation. Links are at the bottom of this post, but don’t look down there before you listen if you want to be surprised by the titles.

So, does the modern-day prequel to the The Wizard of Oz make us all feel like kids again? What’s it like to see Jim Carrey be funny in a movie again? Or was he funny in Burt Wonderstone? The main event has the answers to those questions and many more (including the perennial favorite, “How annoyed does Josh have to be before he becomes completely incoherent?”). Oh, and a little pro-tip for producers:  Spend the extra coin on those opening credits; Melody’s watching closely.

As with other Screeners reviews, there's a spoiler-free overview for each movie, but then thar' be spoilers, so head out when you hear Vader if you want the plots to be farmer's market fresh for you when you get to the theater.

Longer reviews behind them, the Screeners offer an homage to a favorite from the Totally Rad Show: A Flickchart battle royale. In it, we learn that the 90’s was a golden age of cinema (who knew?), and that Chris and Melody can’t stand movies with more words than explosions (guess who doesn’t write the show notes...). Since the movies in this segment are the only ones on there so far, you, um, might not want to check out the Screeners’ Flickchart page, but hey; everyone could use a good laugh, right?

That’s it for this time. We’ll be back with a new episode in a couple weeks; until then, stay occupied by leaving us some feedback or ideas in the comments here or over on Facebook (and go ahead and like us while you’re there; we like you too, we promise).

Here are those links we promised earlier. Reading’s fundamental, folks (and yes, these are Amazon affiliate links, because you can’t spell “fundamental” without “fund me”):

• John Carter and the Gods of Hollywood
• Platform
• True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society
• Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind
• Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape 
• 14

Good news! The Screeners Podcast pilot passed the test, and they’ve been picked up for a full run by...the network that they run. Hey; it’s still an accomplishment—and they’re on iTunes now, so once you’re done previewing the episode here, head over there to subscribe.

This time, with the Oscars behind them, the Screeners are ready to move on to the year ahead and discuss a variety of non-film media.

Any good pilot has to establish some characters, so the Screeners start out by introducing themselves. Josh leads with a story illustrating his questionable credentials as a movie critic, and everyone else points out that he’s also bad at telling stories.

Up next is the lightning round - a round-robin question-and-answer where the only rule is that every host is given one minute or less to...ignore that they’re supposed to answer within one minute. Should JJ Abrams be directing Star Wars? What movies are you looking forward to this year? If you were writing a fan-fiction spinoff of Breaking Bad, which illegal substance would you have the main character produce? Only one of those wasn’t an actual question; don’t you wish you knew which one?

Since the Oscars have dominated media news lately, much of the episode is devoted to discussing the nominees for some of the main (and not-so-main) categories, the winners, and those who got robbed.

Movies may be the focus of the episode, but there’s more to our show. Sprinkled throughout the Oscar musings and retrospectives of 2012 in cinema are some hints at the Screeners’ other interests.

The next obvious screen is the one in our living rooms. Melody brings up shows some of us had tried very hard to forget, Chad expresses his love for bad soap operas, and Chris illustrates how you can want to love a show so much that you can convince yourself it’s good.

We couldn’t go a whole episode without talking about video games, but unfortunately, the big news in the gaming world is the PS4. Whoop-de-doo. There; that summarizes that segment.

No one wants to make Microsoft’s mistake and completely ignore the mobile industry, so Chris saves us all by bringing up an iOS game he used to love that’s recently been cannibalised by a gaming industry giant. We recorded before this came out, but a fair depiction of our opinions can be found over at Penny Arcade.

We wrap up the first episode with a quick look into our future - because we’re also psychic. Bet you didn’t know that. Seriously, though, this show’s going to be a lot of fun as we get going, so drop by from time to time and let us know what you’d like to hear us argue about - or you can argue with us yourself if that’s your thing. See you next time!