Talkin' TV

What's going on guys! You know, it has been a long and pretty rough year. A year of reflection, of self absorption. Of looking at the other guy. So what better way to celebrate that than to look at a movie that examines the origin of cinema itself. And it's also a momentous occasion because people, David Fincher is back! That's right, the guy who kick started the Netflix revolution with House of Cards has return to feature filmmaking, with quite possibly the best movie of the year, his most introspective movie yet, Mank!  Mank is the story of Herman J. Mankiewicz, the co-writer of Citizen Kane. Similar to the aptly titled classic, the film cuts back and forth through time, chronicling Mank's experiences in Hollywood from the late 30's to the early 40's, dealing in the studio system, other stars and his own alcoholism. The film takes a look at everything in the time period from the way that movies were made, to the studio system, to the various and assorted figureheads that made the magic happen and so much more.  In this episode, Dom & Chris get more introspective than they've ever been. They discuss Fincher's mindset in making this movie, his long and very well known chip on his shoulder when it comes to making movies in the studio system, as well as his attempts to pay homage to his late father, who wrote the script. It's a black and white film with so many layers that they couldn't possibly cover in an hour, because to quote Mankiewicz from this movie: "You can't capture a man's life in two hours. You can only hope to get the impression of one."

Alright, who here likes chess? Apparently a lot more people than I originally thought, especially after this show hit. People, we've got another unexpected smash hit on our hands here, in the form of Netflix's The Queen's Gambit! Released on October 23rd, the miniseries from acclaimed writer-director Scott Frank has taken the internet by storm, with the story surrounding Beth Harmon, an orphan revealed to be a chess prodigy who slowly ascends through the chess world all while battling addiction and her own personal demons.  The seven episode miniseries covers a lot of topics, all of which are covered by Dom & Chris on tonight's podcast. But the biggest question surrounds the actual show itself, and how it may be the instrumental next step in terms of storytelling format, what makes a movie versus a tv show and so on. Other topics discussed also include Anya Taylor-Joy's relatively short rise to stardom and what separates her peers; the show's statements on addiction and how it separates itself from other stories in that vein; and what it means to be at that level of fame and the alienation that comes with it.

25 Years and still Perfect! What's going on guys! On tonight's episode of Talkin' TV, we come together to celebrate an event that quite frankly, I forgot was a thing until last week. And woe is me for having done so, because we're talking about easily one of the greatest animated movies ever made, as well as one of my favorite movies of all time. That's right people, the original Toy Story is officially 25 years old, and we're gonna discuss, dissect, break down everything there is to love about this movie.

Welcome back people, to yet another fantastic episode of the Talkin' TV podcast!!!! So people, a couple months ago, at the height of our powers, we finally started something. In that we got Dom to actually start watching anime. And by anime we mean Studio Ghibli. And guess what, those movies are actually really f**king good.  So this week, because it was another slow week and because movies are officially over for this year, we decided that this would be another perfect week for a Studio Ghibli movie. So we pulled out our good friend Jimbob, the resident anime expert from the UK and talked about, in my opinion, the best Studio Ghibli movie out there, Princess Mononoke.  Despite the slightly more universal appeal of Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke wows with its superb landscapes, fascinating creature designs, and once again superb real world themes. Dom & Jimbob talk about how with this film, Miyazaki really doubled down on his attempts to pay omage to Kurosawa, as well as do a different take on the age old struggle of man vs. nature. One of the most interesting points is that the antagonist of the film, that being the leader of the Ironworks Lady Eboshi, is arguably the most interesting character in the movie. There's giant wolves, giant boars, former prostitutes and a whole bunch of other craziness, and it's a perfect movie.  It's all covered here, only on Talkin' TV!!!