In The Cold Open #47, Kynde Kiefel and Robert Sickels discuss all things Avatar: The Way of Water. One of us quite liked it. One of us really, really didn’t. Our intro and outro this week are Simon Franglen’s “From Darkness to Light” and The Weeknd’s “Nothing is Lost (You Give Me Strength)” from the Avatar: The Way of Water Soundtrack.

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In The Cold Open #46, Kynde Kiefel, Robert Sickels, and Matt Reynolds, in his triumphant podcasting return, do a spoiler heavy deep dive into writer/director Damien Chazelle’s Babylon. Our intro and outro this week are “Welcome” and “Voodoo Mama” from Justin Hurwitz’s Babylon score.

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In The Cold Open #45, Kynde Kiefel and Robert Sickels each name the top three things they love and the top three things they don’t in 2022 popular culture to date. Making the respective lists are the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Reservation Dogs, Industry, House of the Dragon, Pearl, Station Eleven, Andor, The Sandman, Movies, and live-in-person events of all kinds. Which lists? Whose lists? Listen to find out! Our intro and outro this week are The Chicks’ The Long Way Around and Gaslighter.

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In The Cold Open #44, The Batman Edition, Robert Sickels and Kathryn Frank offer wildly diverging opinions on Matt Reeves’ new movie, The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson and Zoë Kravitz headlining an all around stellar cast. We discuss it not only in the context of the many, many other Batman movies, but also in light of its relationship to particular storylines from the comics, especially Batman: Year One and Batman: The Long Halloween. Our intro and outro this week is Nirvana’s “Something in the Way” from The Batman Soundtrack.

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In The Cold Open #43, The Licorice Pizza Edition, Robert Sickels and Kynde Kiefel discuss Paul Thomas Anderson’s electrifying new film at length. Our intro and outro this week are Sonny & Cher’s “But You’re Mine” and Paul McCartney and Wings’ “Let Me Roll It,” both from The Licorice Pizza Soundtrack.

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In The Cold Open #42, The French Dispatch Edition, Robert Sickels and Kathryn Frank discuss Wes Anderson’s delightful new film at length. Our intro and outro this week are Jarvis Cocker’s “Aline” and Alexandre Desplat’s “A Multi-Pronged Battle Plan,” both from The French Dispatch Original Soundtrack.

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In the Cold Open #41, The Dune Edition, Robert Sickels and long sought after special guest Tarik Elseewi discuss Denis Villeneuve’s new take on the first novel of Frank Herbert’s classic series. Our intro and outro are Hans Zimmer’s “Ripples in The Sand” and “Holy War,” from the Dune soundtrack.

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In the Cold Open Mini #40, Kynde Kiefel and Robert Sickels discuss Zack Snyder’s redemptive Netflix zombie/heist movie Army of the Dead, which might be the most Zack Snyder film ever made–and also his best film by a long shot.

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In the Cold Open Mini #39, the last of our seven pods dissecting Director Zack Snyder’s 4 hour (re)cut version of DC’s The Justice League, Kynde Kiefel and Robert Sickels examine the film’s seventh and final part: Epilogue–A Father Twice Over. In this episode we address the looming cumulative questions: Is the Snyder Cut better than the original (yes, by a long shot)? But even if it’s “better,” does that mean it’s good (ymmv)? And what are the limits of auteurist readings of pre-sold properties? What audience, exactly, is this supposed to be for? Does the epilogue even matter in that will any of the many possible suggested sequels be made? With what end goal in mind was this movie green-lit? Does anyone really like Jared Leto’s Joker or Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor? And, finally, what does its being made for and released primarily on HBO Max mean for the future of the film industry?

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In the Cold Open Mini #38, the sixth of our seven pods dissecting each of part of Director Zack Snyder’s 4 hour (re)cut version of DC’s The Justice League, Kynde Kiefel and Robert Sickels delve into Part 6: “Something Darker.” We discuss a variety of issues, including the movie’s ongoing Superman problems, Snyder’s skill with action sequences and infatuation with corn fields and perpetual magic hours, and Jason Mamoa’s embrace of his inner McConaughey.

The Cold Open Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, so please rate, review, and subscribe!