We talked with Rob MacDougall from Hold My Order, Terrible Dresser about relatively new Netflix original movie Pee-wee's Big Holiday.

By tuning in, you can enjoy

-a few words on the Marvel Cinematic Universe

-an epiphany about how to pronounce Manganiello

-insight into Paul Reubens and his pop culture exile

-a deeply nostalgic look at other Pee-wee Herman media

-a queer reading of the movie

-some debate about whether the film is campily positive toward people of size or just plain mean-spirited

-and so much more...

What are we even doing here?

In watching the 2015 remake of Poltergeist, I was expecting that I would get at least a taste of an understanding of why this franchise has endured. Surely if someone was going to take the time, care, and energy to overhaul such a revered piece of horror cinema, they must have something important to say on the subject.

So I talked to Pam-Marie Guzzo, film reviewer for Interrobang and Poltergeist fan, to see just what the point was of this whole project. As it turns out, from the shift to male protagonists to the stripping of familial affection, there is not much of a point at all.

This week, we sat down with Chris Stroud, the proprietor of Bread and Roses Books, to talk about Netflix Original documentary series Cooked, based on the book of the same name by Michael Pollan. The series takes us on a journey through the human relationship with all sorts of foods, from meat to plants, from bread to cheese.

In our conversation, you will hear us talk about the things we learned and how the series made us feel. We also talk about the areas where the series may fall short of creating real, sustainable social change and whether or not its spiritual tone adds or detracts from the rest of its message.

References:

-A past conversation with Stephen Szucs from SustainableJoes about another documentary, Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret

-You can find Bread and Roses Books on alibris, Biblio, and Etsy

-And yes, the man whose name I forgot was marketing food researcher Harry Balzer

After another exciting Twitter vote, you, the citizens of NetFlakesland decided that we needed to talk about Punch-Drunk Love. For both myself and Caroline, we were not quite sure what to do with the movie at first but it let an impression, so please listen as we try to come to an understanding of why so many of you chose this film.

Among other topics, we get into

-Barry and his mental health

-the perfect casting of Adam Sandler

-the long shadow of Philip Seymour Hoffman

-how badly Caroline wants to throw salt at a particular character

-whether or not the villains are even worse because of their markers of Mormonism

-a side-by-side comparison of Punch-Drunk Love and Catcher in the Rye

Jason R. Gray is back to take on modern horror classic It Follows.

In the podcast, we talk about

-a more realistic view of teenagers

-how the movie is about mortality more than about a supernatural STD

-anxiety about Nice Guy Paul

-the music, as composed by Disasterpeace

-how the ending may be a metaphor for sad marriages

Back for his second episode of The NetFlakes Podcast, we welcome Edward Platero to help guide us through prescient 1995 sci-fi thriller, Strange Days from director Kathryn Bigelow.

Twenty years later, the themes of virtual reality, technological ethics, and racially-charged tension with police all ring just as true now as they ever have.

We also celebrate Macey (Angela Bassett), the background-to-foreground protagonist whose ass-kicking is so inspiring it leads to riots and eventually a hope for racial harmony.

In honour of Musical Theatre Productions London presentation of Heathers: The Musical, we have brought in an all-star team to talk about the 80s cult classic teen movie that started it all, Heathers.

Dylan is joined by Heathers superfan, Vanessa Brown (of Brown & Dickson booksellers), art scene Renaissance woman and promoter for Heathers: The Musical, Deanne Kondrat, and the director of the MTP production of Heathers: The Musical, Ian Badger.

We discuss

-what it means to be a teenager

-fat activism and body empowerment

-the Heathers legacy and failures in dealing with homosexuality

-how long it takes (if ever) for JD to stop being so sexy

-differences and updates in the musical

-as well as some exclusive insights into the MTP production of Heathers: The Musical

Heathers: The Musical will run from May 6-14, 2016, with tickets available at the McManus Theatre box office or at MTPLondon.ca. You can also follow the production on Facebook.

You asked for it, NetFlakes listeners, and now you have got it. After a neck-and-neck-and-neck poll, you chose The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo as the movie that you most wanted to hear Dylan and Caroline take on.

Things get personal when Caroline opens up about their experience being triggered by the explicit sexual violence of the film.

We also talk about the problems with both protagonists – one for replacing one stereotype with another, the other one for just being a dork.

The other bits of NetFlakes content that came up were:

our podcasts on Practical Magic, Holy Motors, Ex Machina, and Her

a piece by Caroline on BDSM in The Addams Family

End credit music:

Chenosky / anger / taken from Odiamo / 2016 / used with permission from A Person Disguised As People

Trying to explain what we talk about in this podcast review of Holy Motors would take its own podcast review. With the help of academic Adam Bowes, Dylan and Caroline did their best to make sense of a movie that includes

-burqas

-chimpanzees

-simulated sex between snake-people

-doppelgangers

-prosthetic erections

-a sewer-dwelling Parisian troglodyte

-and an accordion-based halftime show

... What?

Dylan was joined in studio by programmer (at least until he grows up to be a greasy hacker) Shawn Nock to talk about 2015 international short film, Kung Fury.

Among other topics, listen to us discuss

-the validation of the fantasies of kids growing up in the 80s

-the remythologizing of computers

-the pitch-perfect tech nostalgia

-the unfortunate misappropriation of Nazi symbols in pop culture

-and even though we do not really get into it, you should still watch the music video from the original song True Survivor, which was quite frankly robbed at the Oscars this year