This year is our 5th annual Holiday Movie Bingo Marathon. For this mission, our Agents watch three Christmas movies, including An Alpine Holiday, Merry Christmas Ted Cooper!, and A Keller Christmas Vacation. We unintentionally chose the theme of siblings, but there are still miscommunications, almost smooches, and European settings. And we learn that just about anyone can climb mountains in the Alps if you carry your yoga mat. Grab your Bingo Cards and get ready to play with us.

2025 Annual Christmas Movie Marathon

Annette Wierstra with Erika Ensign, Steven Schapansky, Kirsten Goruk and Sandra Wong

Agents of SMOOCH Holiday Bingo cards

Movies We Watched

Movies and Series We Recommend (or not)

Bonus recommendations

Deanna Durbin and Gene Kelly. Gotta be a musical, right? Actually, it’s a film noir, whose connection to Christmas is limited at best. So much misdirection, and I haven’t even told you the plot.

Christmas Holiday

Shelly Brisbin with Randy Dotinga and Micheline Maynard

Get in touch with the show at [email protected], Mastodon or Bluesky.

Check out our new LTS BookShop.org page.

The Movie: review/commentary on a single classic film

The Self-Referential LTS

We’ll return in Spring 2026

Bracket Case returns for the third time, and on this occasion our panelists whittle down a list of the best Christmas movies to determine which one is the most Christmassy of them all!

Bracket Case 3

Annette Wierstra and Kathy Campbell with Shelly Brisbin, Erika Ensign, Jason Snell, Monty Ashley and Micki Maynard

Who watches the Watch House? Not us, the book is better. Ross Cleaver returns to discuss Robert Westall’s The Watch House (1977).

John McCoy with Ross Cleaver

A crew of adventurers (some new, some old friends) gathers to do some academic research! And then hit the road toward the actual adventure.

The Slaying Stone, Part 1

Tony Sindelar with Aleen Simms, Annette Wierstra, Chelsea Hackman, Heather Berberet, James Thomson and Jason Snell

Edited by Erika Ensign.

We kick off “The Wreath of Khan,” our monthlong celebration of Star Trek’s favorite mad tyrant, with a look back at where it all started: “Space Seed.” At least, after Khan wakes up 15 minutes into the episode…

Scott McNulty and Jason Snell

Set in a bright retro-future world, “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” doesn’t have anything to do with the Marvel Cinematic Universe… yet. We analyze the latest attempt to translate Marvel’s first family to the big screen, including the trade-offs involved in introducing characters, not retreading the origin story again, turning Galactus into Rumplestiltskin, and the inevitable downbeat ending that never comes.

"The Fantastic Four: First Steps"

Jason Snell with Erika Ensign, Moisés Chiullán, Scott McNulty and Chip Sudderth

Jeremy meets an intriguing woman…primarily because he wasn’t invited to the office game of Celebrities. Breakups are hard. What’s not hard is breaking DOWN… another Sports Night episode.

Lex Friedman and Brian Warren

Tracy and Hepburn do “battle of the sexes” and help Judy Holiday launch her film career. There’s a random Cole Porter song, and T & H are adorable. George Cukor directs a great script.

Adam's Rib

Shelly Brisbin with David J. Loehr, Nathan Alderman and Micheline Maynard

Get in touch with the show at [email protected], Mastodon or Bluesky.

Check out our new LTS BookShop.org page.

The Movie: review/commentary on a single classic film

The Self-Referential LTS

Next time, we’ll watch

In the thrilling conclusion to our 8-bit adventure, our heroes stab someone to cure him, face off against a beholder, and try to find their way out of a multi-layered, increasingly silly, pixel-based prison!

Candlekeep - The Curious Tale of Wisteria Vale, Part 5

Tony Sindelar with Aleen Simms, James Thomson, Mikah Sargent, Monty Ashley and Tiff Arment

Edited by Warren Frey.