Screeners Podcast

It’s taken us many years and what feels like hundreds of movies, but we’ve reached the end of Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s culminating in Avengers: Endgame an opus so long it’s spawned a cottage industry of articles designed to tell you when it’s safe to go to the bathroom.

So it’s been released, and it made, like, a billion dollars on opening weekend (not hyperbole). What Kevin Feige and the rest of us really want to know, though, is whether Chris liked it more than Infinity War. Well, we’re here to put that debate to rest once and for all.

Oh, we’re sure the other four Screeners who braved the mobs opening weekend will have some thoughts too, but we’re really here for Chris, right?...right?

Anyway, you know where to find us to agree or disagree about the biggest cash cow of all time: Facebook or Twitter. See you there!

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Special Guest: Tyler Howat.

It’s that time of year again—the episode so chaotic it even draws Josh out of his cave. Or maybe he just likes the gambling aspect of it. Anyway...it’s Summer Movie Wager time!

You can check out the rules here, but the quick version is that we’ll be ranking 2019 releases from Avengers: Endgame (April 26) through Labor Day by the haul we expect them to bring in from the US/Canada box office.

As in any of these contests, most of the fun is in the trash talk, and then the rest of it comes when Chad loses. Tune in for an hour or so of people taking ticket sales way too seriously, and when everyone’s done yelling at each other, head over to Facebook or Twitter and give us your own picks! If you want to go the extra mile, you could even participate on another leaderboard—we didn’t come up with this tradition, after all. Good luck!

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It seems that even the small comic companies want a piece of that sweet reboot action, so now there’s another Hellboy movie. There’s no Ron Perlman, though, and the movie’s current Rotten Tomatoes score sort of reflects that. Or maybe it reflects that it’s not a great film—we don’t know; let’s ask Chris and Daniel about it. They’re the only ones who made it out to see this one (so far), so maybe they can tell the rest of us whether it’s worthwhile.

Any other straggler Screeners who see the movie will have to chime in on Facebook or Twitter, so that’s where you should head now for the rest of the discussion.

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The Screeners are feeling bad about missing their last scheduled recording, so there are two movies on the agenda tonight. First up, an uncharacteristically light movie from the DC Universe about a teenage superhero: Shazam! Can the studio shake its reputation (at least among the Screeners) of overly dour, dull movies, or will they find some way to ruin an otherwise joyful story?

And while we’re on the topic, let’s do a quick Top 3 on the DC Universe lineup so far. We can’t wait to find out if Shazam! fares better than the current fan favorite, Batman v Superman.

OK, now that the comics are out of our system, time to turn to some checkout-line horror with the new Stephen King adaptation, Pet Sematary. Recent King films have gotten passing marks from our peanut gallery (except for maybe The Dark Tower, but let’s face it; that was a losing battle), so let’s see if this one keeps the streak going.

You know what you have to do now—head to Facebook or Twitter and argue with Chris’s comic book movie rankings! He wants you to, trust us.

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Special Guest: Tyler Howat.

If we say we’re reviewing a horror movie, we’ve probably lost some of you right out of the gate. Josh is usually the first to go. But say “it’s a Jordan Peele horror movie”, and he starts paying attention again. It’s not a sequel to Get Out, but there was something unique about Peele’s voice in his debut feature that leads to high expectations for Us. Chad, Chris, and Daniel made it to the theater on opening weekend, so they’re more than happy to tell you if said expectations were met.

Also, Apple had one of their big, fancy events on Monday, and they announced something relevant to our little show here. Apple TV+ and Apple TV Channels, or whatever they’re calling the two different things that they announced together, promise to be game-changers. Either way, it’s a new streaming service (or two of them?), so the Screeners have to weigh in.

And you should too! What do you think about Us and Apple’s play for streaming dominance? Let us know on Facebook and Twitter!

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Welcome to an episode of the Screeners you can play along with at home! There’s not a lot new in the theater this week, so we’re reviewing the latest Netflix release by J.C. Chandor, director of A Most Violent Year. Triple Frontier is a movie about soldiers, but not about the military. Is “guerilla-style heist movie” a genre? It is now; we’re christening it.

And just to drive home the point that Triple Frontier isn’t a military movie, our Top 3 for this episode is “military movies”. Don’t ask why; just go with it—and if you haven’t already, add your picks to the list over on Facebook or Twitter!

See you next time!

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Special Guest: April Reuning.

Before we get into the mundanity of summarizing the episode that is the show notes’ main reason for existing, we have an exciting announcement: a new guest host is joining the Screeners! It’s been too long since we’ve had a female voice in the group, so we’re happy to welcome April to the group.

And now, as promised, from breaking news to something...a little less surprising: our main event this episode is a superhero movie. Captain Marvel does start a female character, though, so at least that makes it semi-unique in the Marvel pantheon. Was it worth its box office haul?

Our Top 3 this time (you read right; we’re doing Top 3s again—this episode just keeps on getting better!) is “Amnesia”. You’d think this would mean “movies that feature amnesia”, but who knows how Chris will twist the topic to serve him? Sometimes we think he doesn’t even plan ahead for these and just invents a reason for his pick in real time; it’s actually pretty impressive.

OK, enough fun for one episode. Help us welcome April by leaving a comment on Facebook, and give us your own Top 3 while you’re there!

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Special Guest: April Reuning.

It’s been awhile since the Screeners have just, y’know, talked about stuff, but since the Academy Awards, that same Academy has thrown some serious shade in Netflix’s direction that might affect either their future distribution model or their chances in future awards seasons. So we couldn’t just leave that there.

Also on the “now that the Oscars are over” front: it’s officially time to start anticipating next year’s contenders, so let’s hear about the movies the Screeners are most looking forward to in 2019. OK, so Chris might not be picking Best Picture nominees as much as “most explosions” nominees, but what would a podcast be without someone picking the fun movies?

Oh, and How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is out, demonstrating once more the new legal requirement for sequels to have subtitles. Let’s talk about it anyway.

Your turn: what movies are on your must-see list for this year? Let us know over on Facebook!

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There were at least a couple surprises in this year’s Academy Awards, and Chad and Daniel couldn’t wait another day to talk about them or who earned the prestigious year-long bragging rights for this year's prediction pool. And, of course, it's not just the winner of the host pool we'll be announcing -- there's also a Blu-Ray to be sent to the audience member with the best ballot, so tune in to find out who won.

And the contest may be over, but the discussion isn't! We don’t just want to hear your picks; we want to hear what you thought about the Academy’s choices. Let us know over on Facbeook, and we’ll be back in a week or so with a special announcement!

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Alita: Battle Angel might be one of those Hollywood manga reimaginings that no one really asked for, but which James Cameron and Robert Rodriguez decided to give us anyway. Sure, there are probably fans of the original series, but how many are there, and did they even want this? Chad and Chris may never know the answer to those questions, but they can tell you how the Americanized film turned out. You might think there wouldn’t be much to talk about here, but you’d be mistaken.

And while we’re here, why not spend some time on the sequel to the Screeners-approved cartoon/toy mashup, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part. We see what they did there with the title, but does the rest of the movie maintain that sort of razor-sharp wit? Tune in to find out.

OK, so those reviews might actually show up in reverse order in the episode, but we just felt like mocking Alita was more important to our goal here. Did you see either of these? How wrong was Chris (or Chad; he’s usually wrong too)? Let us know on Facebook!

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