This week, Phil and Austin head south of the border with just a few dollars and a guitar case full of puns as they kick off their last trilogy of the season with Robert Rodriguez's 1992 indie triumph El Mariachi.  The guys talk about what sets this apart from other low-budget movies, Rodriguez's unique filmography, and how budget restrictions helped this film.  

Austin's Shout Out: Joel Cossette Music

Phil's Shout Out: Dave's Killer Bread

Austin and Phil return once more to Gotham City to take care of its newest threat:  A million ideas with no follow-up at all.  The guys talk about Old Batman, stock market heists, and drastic tonal shifts.  Also, Phil brings up his old grudge against the other Nolan...

Austin's Shout Out: Art That Was Never Finished

Phil's Shout Out: The Judgies

Earlier this year, Phil participated in the NYC Midnight Short Screenplay competition.  He was invited to join fellow writers Derek and Keith of Pop Up FilmCast, and Joelle("Mouse") and Julianne("Weens") of the Mouse and Weens podcast to have some long and winding and informative conversations about the process.  The result is the new podcast: The Midnight Writers: An Adventure In Screenwriting

This is the first episode of The Midnight Writers, but we encourage you to find its original feed wherever you get podcasts.  It is a really informative and fun series all about creativity and we are proud to introduce you to it.

Aus and Phil talk about the 2008 comic book masterpiece "The Dark Knight" on this week's episode.  They discuss Ledger's performance, the themes of being a vigilante and Holmes vs Gyllenhaal vs Flat Character Writing in the Battle of the Rachels.

Austin's Shout Out: Tiny Jewish Girl

Phil's Shout Out: Hag Attack

Aus and Phil fake their deaths and run to the Himalayas where they planned to become crime-fighting ninjas... until they found a tv and a blu-ray of this week's movie.  They watched Batman Begins to kick off the Christopher Nolan Dark Knight Trilogy.  The guys talk about Gary Oldman quickly becoming the podcast's MVP, the differing philosophies of vigilante justice, and the biggest suspension of disbelief in this entire movie:  the existence of socially conscious billionaires.

Austin's Shout Out: swainathan

Phil's Shout Out: In Praise of Shadows

(Train to Busan review starts at 24:00)

Austin and Phil pat themselves on the back for reaching 50 episodes of the podcast before launching into a quick review of Halloween Kills (spoilers) before getting to their main review of 2016's Korean zombie masterpiece Train to Busan.  The guys talk about what makes certain formulaic stories rise to the top, what they thought of the zombies in this movie's world, and who their favorite and least favorite train passengers were.  Our listeners picked this movie and we're glad they did, so climb aboard for Episode 50 and a really fun ride.

Austin's Shout Out: Doctor Who-Flux

Phil's Shout Out: Jason Isbell-Georgia Blue

We did this quick episode to address some of the feedback we've gotten about our coverage of the Evil Dead franchise.  The incredible Corey Scott sends us a DM about the parallels between Ash and Marty McFly, then we throw it to podcast producer extraordinaire Hammond Chamberlain who drops some knowledge on us about Sam Raimi, his work on The Evil Dead and beyond, what we got right, what we got wrong, and his souvenir skull from Army of Darkness.

Corey and Hammond are a great representation of the kind of awesome community we have around our show and we couldn't be more thankful for them.

Also, check out Song of the Sandman by J-F Dubeau wherever you get books! 

Aus and Phil finish off the Evil Dead trilogy with Army of Darkness.  The guys talk about what does and doesn't work in this installment, Raimi's choices, and how the trilogy works as a whole.  Also, Phil voices his opinions and waits for the internet to descend upon him.

Austin's Shout Out: Wolf 359

Phil's Shout Out: OldTimeHawkey

Another Very Special Episode of the Picture Show finds Austin and Phil sitting down to talk with author, artist, podcaster, and Canadian J-F Dubeau.  The guys talk to J-F about his upcoming novel Song of the Sandman, genre writing, self-promotion, and the podcast Achewillow, which is written and co-created by J-F. 

It's a really fun conversation and we can't thank J-F enough for sharing his time with us and our listeners.  

You can pre-order/purchase Song of the Sandman at your local independent bookstore, B&N, or online at Amazon or Powell's 

Austin and Phil return to the woods to hang out in a cabin and listen to a super bizarre book on tape while checking out the Sam Raimi sequel Evil Dead II.  The guys talk about how this movie levels up over the original, the inventive monsters, and the bizarre left turn the ending makes.

Austin's Shout Out: Art Ed Guru

Phil's Shout Out:  DefuncTV Jim Henson