This week we share our take on The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, a patron selected movie! After the decade that was 2020 we came at this movie with a new perspective and realized it just might be the best movie about hope and finding a reason to “keep calm, and carry on” that we needed to hear at the beginning of 2021. Check out this episode to hear our thoughts on what symbols of hope can be found in this movie, and how these messages can be applicable to our lives IRL.

Hey there fantasy fans, and welcome to our first Satire TV episode, in which we talk about fantasy TV shows! Listen in to hear about this new format for our show, and don’t worry, we do our best to be as spoiler free as possible, just in case you are watching along with our show! Our first series will be on The Witcher, starting with the first episode, The End’s Beginning, and we will follow this series every other week in between our regular movie episodes. In this episode we talk about the magic and dark prophecies in the Witcher world, as well as how certain themes run throughout the episode, such as the interplay between the patriarchy and gender roles, mutations and emotional states, how destiny and fate shape character arcs, and the various definitions of personhood and what it means to be a monster.

This week the Satirists cover a timely film for once (wink wink, nudge nudge), in this episode on Wonder Woman 1984. Listen in for the latest scoop on the problematic nature of classic movie tropes about beauty, the importance of 80’s fashion shows, the problems with the capitalist myth of scarcity, and how magic wishing stones work in practice. The crew also has a bone to pick (bones to pick?) with the editors of this film or whoever made the decisions that created the scenario that we got, like burying the lead when it comes to why we should care about Maxwell Lord, the woefully mismanaged narrative arc that we were left with for Barbara, or the scene bloat that just wouldn’t ease up. Check out the episode to hear more about their take on this unnecessarily nostalgic fantasy film.

This week the Satirists share a special New Year’s mini episode with you! Listen in to hear all about who these wacky characters are, how they got into fantasy, and the origins of the Swords & Satire podcast. You also get to hear other important tidbits, like the criteria the Satirists use for what movies they watch for the show, their favorite movie of the show so far, what their D&D alignments and classes are, and more! Check it out to hear how the sausage gets made.

Alright, we have a holiday treat for all of our listening fans out there! This week we are doing another full length episode on a movie that was voted on by our patrons, Elf, starring Will Ferrell and Zoey Deschanel. This is a holiday movie that actually delivers on at least some of its themes and messages unlike the Polar Express, which we watched last week. In this episode we really dig deep into Buddy’s character and we work to figure out why he’s so child-like and how that quality affects the other characters around him in the film. Listen in to hear our take on the character, and what we can all learn from him to possibly improve our own emotional experiences about life. As we all know one of the most important lessons of this film is that we must beware the antics of Santa imposters!

This week the Satirists cover the horribly dystopian reality that is The Polar Express, also known as The Christmas Train to Hell. Listen in to hear their take on this film, covering topics such as the Christmas Panopticon, the North Pole as an Orwellian factory town, the Abduction Conductor, and strange elven holiday rituals reminiscent of Midsommer. Join in as they delve into a world where people are intimidated into group think, where Christmas cheer is enforced, where dissent is not tolerated, and all children are indoctrinated into the cult of Santa. You will also get to hear their answer to the question, What do the train tickets represent? (We also showcase our new holiday music and transitions in this episode, from Zapsplat.com, and by Loyalty Freak Music.)

This week the Satirists watched The Crown and The Dragon, and tried to suss out what the film is about in real time for your listening pleasure. Could it be about romance blooming in harsh times? Or about a political plot to overthrow the current regime of rulers and reinstate a rightful king? Perhaps it is about an epic battle with a dragon and healing the land? Or even how the time space continuum as we know it is horribly flawed? Well, with your help dear listeners we may figure this one out yet! Listen in to hear how we made sense of this film, and respond with your own thoughts in social media with #swordsandsatire.

This week the Satirists imagine a sequel to Enchanted, pulling from such disparate influences as “Adaptation” with Nicholas Cage, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” with Bob Hoskins, and “Stranger Than Fiction” with Will Ferrell and Emma Thompson. Listeners will get to hear in real time as the team discovers the plot to create the sequel “Disenchanted” in real life, and how they weave this into a metanarrative about their rewrite. Join the Satirists on their epic journey as they weave a narrative web linking actual screenwriter Bill Kelly with the characters he wrote about in the original film, including forest druid Giselle and former divorce lawyer turned ACLU lawyer Robert. All is not well with this unlikely trio though, so listen in to find out who stalks our heroes in this sequel “Re-Enchanted.”

This week the Satirists watched Enchanted, a movie that is somehow oddly prescient about the November 2020 political climate in the US, relating to the transfer of power, or lack thereof! (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) Is this movie actually pushing antiquated and limiting ideas about true love as a type of chosen one, and perpetuating traditional gender roles, or is it simply that Giselle is the most powerful druid in the multiverse? Listen in as the Satirists break down this movie’s themes and critique it’s lack of thematic follow through. But damn if this movie isn’t fun to watch! (We can’t get the music out of our heads, please help!)

This week the Satirists are here, just doing their best to salvage a rewrite from the film they watched last week, Seventh Son. In their reboot, the Satirists highlight Tom’s half-witchy-ness over his birth status (what the original should have done, rework Jeff Bridges, or Gregory if you like, as a stoner druid (a la The Dude), and give Mother Malkin a romanticized makeover as the noble leader of a band of freedom fighters (a la Children of Men). Join the team as they reimagine this movie into the life and times of a magical social worker and his apprentice, as they work together with the fey folk to keep the peace with the humans and avoid a bloody war. Listen in to hear what’s really behind the conflict.