Second Breakfast with Cam & Maggie

Holy source material for The Batman, Batman! Today we're looking at Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli's four-issue masterpiece. Batman: Year One exploits all of the advantages of the comic book medium to tell a tense, efficient, ambiguous, and unfailingly human story about the origins of Batman and Jim Gordon - without using any of the classic villains. Instead, the action is propelled by institutional corruption and a thousand gorgeous echoes across storylines. Topics include: structural proficiency and the visual passage of time, Miller's talent for inner monologues and their similarities to Shakespearean verse, characterization through both action and reluctance, and the subtle work of deconstructing "heroes" while still crafting an aspirational story.

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"The Voice of Reason 5" & "The Edge of the World"

Sapkowski hits another home run this week with a story that is one half theological critique about the problem of evil and the Protestant Reformation and one half Tolkien commentary about Gollum being a Miltonian Satan and the rampant isolationism throughout Middle-earth. Oh and it's also a fantastic, wholly original work of fantasy - and kind of a classic western that meditates on the cyclical nature of history and man's neverending quest for purpose.

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Holy shit, Batman! This movie is thunderingly cool and grimy as hell. Strap in, because we're spoiling all of it during this discussion. Topics include: Robert Pattison's evolution of the character, the unique challenge of detective stories, the legacies of Christopher Nolan, David Fincher, and Frank Miller, the balancing of humor and reality when dealing with costumed heroes, and the profound, dynamic effect of music in this film.

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"The Voice of Reason 4" & "A Question of Price"

Destiny is the centerpiece of this story - what is it, when is it decided, and who can influence it - and so our discussion leans heavily on the characters' various invocations of ethics and religion. Sapkowski is challenging Geralt's "code" in this story from all directions with another brilliant riff on the monster hunter trope. Pivots and curveballs cascade around the witcher - and hey, how does magic factor into all this?

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Part one of our two-part exploration of Tolkien's appendices, this episode covers the most interesting nuggets and lore extracts found in Appendix A. Topics include the history of Sauron and Numenor in the Second Age, the Witch King's brutal connection to the stewards of Gondor, and a tragic, beautiful series of vignettes from Aragorn and Arwen's love story.

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"The Voice of Reason 3" & "The Lesser Evil"

Another Witcher story, another perfect volley of curveballs and provocations. Sapkowski is an absolute wizard, flipping his monster hunting formula on its head and hammering us with fascinating, complex character drama. Class commentaries abound, "destiny" is weaponized and debated, and everyone's role is reversed at least a few times. These stories have all been barnburners, and perfectly tailored for conversation - he writes fantasy stories that feels a lot like thought experiments. We get to talk about a kikimora and the problem of evil, in the very same episode!

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Now this is a damn good horror movie!

Join us for a wildly enthusiastic breakdown of lean and mean new Texas Chainsaw Massacre and a fun little field trip to the house from the original movie! Discussion topics include: what makes violence "shocking" in a modern horror film, the importance of runtime and pacing in a slasher, Cam almost crying because he was overwhelmed with sympathy for Leatherface, the difference between homages and straight retreads in a long-running franchise, how to nail politics in horror, and the one million billion ways in which this film is superior to the new Halloween movies (and kind of makes fun of them along the way!)

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What a calm and uneventful week in the Tolkien fandom! We're back to discuss the Rings of Power trailer and the hyperbolic, useless "discourse" that followed it. We talk about fandom and emotional investment, lore and the limited rights that Amazon has to Tolkien's work, and then we take a trip down memory road to remember some other times that beloved properties were rebooted or continued years after the original. Duds, copycats, impossible expectations, demonization of fans - none of this is new!

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Autumn de Wilde's 2020 adaptation of this Jane Austen classic is just as magical and faithful to the source material as the 2005 Pride & Prejudice, but it has a strikingly different tone and style. We discuss the gorgeous composition and machine gun editing of this film and try to understand why it feels so relentlessly surprising and fun. Expect a strange but earned comparison to Mad Max: Fury Road. We also take a deep dive into the emotionally devastating dance scene and Cam develops a theory about the film's pointed, rare moments of silence. Happy Valentine's Day!

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Here we are, at the grand finale of our Tolkien coverage! To honor the occasion, we've gone through all of our old notes and put together a fun little retrospective, covering: our best running theories and ideas from the past two years, a compilation of the things that most surprised us along the way, and our updated opinions on the Peter Jackson movies. We also crown an MVP for the series and choose one word to characterize each of Tolkien's four Middle-earth books.

This one was fun and emotional to record, and we can't wait to continue our deep dive into art, fantasy, and ideas next week. Our Witcher coverage will move to Fridays and Tuesdays will continue to be wild card episodes!

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