The Cold Open Podcast

Matt Reynolds, Robert Sickels, and Kynde Kiefel are being responsible citizens and practicing social distancing in all aspects of their lives. That said, we are lonely and we miss each other. Hence, the birth of the Cold Open Mini pods, in which we’re together. Apart. Remotely. Giving our top five lists on an endless array of topics. We intend to do this as close to every day as possible for as long as the CDC recommends we keep our distance from others. But, as the Cold Open Minis illustrate, you do not have to be in total isolation while practicing social distancing–you can be with those you love in at least some capacity. And you can make stuff. Is it the same? No. Do the minis sound as good our normal pods recorded in the Whisper Room do? No. Does making them beat the hell out of sulking alone and not doing anything and being lonely and turning to drink and despair? YES!!! And so in The Cold Open Mini Pod #1, Matt, Kynde, and Robert each give their top 5 lists of their favorite movie crowd scenes. Matt and Robert both break the rules and include things other than movies. Especially Matt. Because of course they do. Kynde’s awesome top 5 is only movies, because she’s better than us in every way. But you already knew that.

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

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In The Cold Open #40, The Pop Culture Potpourri Edition, Matt Reynolds, Robert Sickels, and Kynde Kiefel begin with a discussion of the emergence of coronavirus.  As this was recorded a week before it was posted, the opening is a time capsule illustrating just how radically life has changed in such a short period of time.  Strange days indeed.  We then move towards more evergreen content and discuss a series of things that have been on minds for the past few months, including Greta Gerwig’s Little Women, Taika Waititi’s JoJo Rabbit, and Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite.  We finish by talking at length about two recent HBO series, Watchmen and The Outsider.  Our intro to this episode is Tom Waits’ “I Don’t Wanna Grow Up” and our outro is David Bowie’s “Helden,” both of which are from the JoJo Rabbit soundtrack.

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

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In The Cold Open #39, The Great Pumpkin/Scary Movies Edition, Kynde Kiefel, Robert Sickels, and special guest star Kathryn Frank begin with their responses to Todd Phillips’ Joker, which Kynde loves and Robert most definitely does not. They then delve into a discussion about the scariest movies they’ve seen in a movie theatre, which includes Attack the Block, The Omen, The Love Witch, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, Pan’s Labyrinth, Let the Right One In, The Blair Witch Project, Lady Vengeance, Us, Hereditary and a ton of others.  Our intro this edition is Jerry Goldsmith’s “Ave Satini” from the Omen Soundtrack and our outro is Luniz’s “I Got 5 On It (Tethered Mix featuring Michael Marshall)” from the Us Soundtrack.

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

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In The Cold Open #38, The So Bad It’s Comfortingly Good Edition, Matt Reynolds, Robert Sickels, and Kynde Kiefel begin with an in depth discussion of Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time in Hollywood. They then each detail their top five lists of media objects so bad they’re comfortingly good, which includes things such as the remake of The Wicker Man, Tiptoes, the films of Jean-Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal, several reality TV shows, CSI Miami, and the theme songs to WKRP in Cincinnati and The Bionic Woman, which also serve as our intro and outro this week.

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

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In The Cold Open #37 Part 2, The Franchise Edition, Matt Reynolds, Robert Sickels, and Kynde Kiefel discuss their top five best film franchises lists, which include some of the usual suspects–the Fast and the Furious, Mad Max, Night of the Living Dead, Rocky/Creed, and Toy Story films–as well as some pleasingly unexpected choices like the Luchador films and the Police Story movies featuring Jackie Chan. Our intro this week is “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” by Randy Newman, and our outro is “El Santo” by King Chango.

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

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In The Cold Open #37 Part 1, The Franchise Edition, Matt Reynolds, Robert Sickels, and Kynde Kiefel discuss their top five least favorite film franchises, which includes the Scary Movie, Transformers, Death Wish, Carry On, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Hobbit, Saw, Pirates of the Caribbean, Matrix, Madea, and James Bond franchises, as well as a couple of controversial surprise choices. Our intro this week is the James Bond Theme Song as performed by the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, and our outro is the Pirates of the Caribbean Theme Song as performed by Geek Music.

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

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In The Cold Open #36, The Nuclear Meltdown Edition, Matt Reynolds, Robert Sickels, and Kynde Kiefel discuss Booksmart, John Wick 3, Rocketman, and Chernobyl.  Both our intro and outro this edition are songs featured in Booksmart, Leikeli47’s “Attitude” from the album Wash & Set and Sampa the Great’s “FEMALE” from the album The Great Mix Tape.

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

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In The Cold Open #35, The Endgame Edition, Matt Reynolds, Robert Sickels, and Kynde Kiefel begin with an unexpected digression on The Big Bang Theory finally ending before moving on to discuss the cultural phenomena trifecta of Us, Avengers: Endgame, and the final season of Game of Thrones. We then finish with each of us recommending a TV show the other two haven’t watched: Catastrophe, Happy!, and PEN15. Our intro this edition is  Michael Abels’ “Anthem” from the Us Soundtrack and our outro is Alan Silvestri’s “One Shot” from the Avengers: Endgame Soundtrack.

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

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In The Cold Open #34, The Generational Films Edition, Matt Reynolds, Robert Sickels, and Kynde Kiefel discuss generational defining films.  This was inspired by a recent assignment in an Intro to Film Class in which half the students wrote on either The Perks of Being a Wallflower or Love, Simon.  While these are beloved films for teens and early twenty somethings, they don’t necessarily appeal to older audiences in the same way, but they aren’t supposed to.  So it got us thinking: what are some films that we think defined our generations (X for Matt and Robert, cusp Millennial for Kynde)?  The only rule was no John Hughes’ films, because duh.  We discuss the following eight films at length: Best in Show, Slacker, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Valley Girl, Vision Quest, Blue Velvet, Brain Candy, and Pump Up The Volume.  Our intro this edition is Journey’s “Only the Young” from the Vision Quest soundtrack and our outro is Bonnie Hayes and the Wild Combo’s “Girls Like Me,” from the Valley Girl soundtrack.

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

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In The Cold Open #33, The Pop Culture Deal Breakers/Fiery Passion Edition, Matt Reynolds, Robert Sickels, and Kynde Kiefel discuss a litany of their pop culture deal breakers, including the way art and artists are depicted in film & TV, critical disdain for what’s popular, online celebrities, Mark Wahlberg, CNN, Trump surrogates (especially Jason Miller & Jack Kingston), NPR both siderism, Mel Gibson’s torture porn, movies that disregard the time space continuum, Matthew McConaughey, the sad lack of contemporary rom coms, the Netflix algorithm, babies and weddings on TV shows, and Angelina Jolie.  Our intro this edition is Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch’s “Good Vibrations (feat. Loleatta Holloway)” from their epic 1991 album Music For the People and our outro is “Wildside,” from the same opus.

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

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