Episode 252. We're starting another ongoing monthly series, talking about season one of the 2016 sitcom The Good Place, and we'll be back to discuss season two next month! Eleanor wakes up to discover that she's dead and has been sent to the "good place," a mysterious heavenly neighborhood where she has the house of her dreams and her true soulmate. This is a reward for all of Eleanor's good deeds on earth -- except this isn't the right Eleanor, she was sent here by mistake, and she's determined to keep that secret so she doesn't get sent to the "bad place." As she tries to learn to be a better person, she realizes that she isn't the only one keeping secrets, and there may be other imposters around her.

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Episode 251. We return to our nostalgic favorite, the 2004 indie movie Napoleon Dynamite, to discuss why it still charms us twenty years later and ask if it has kept its cult classic status. Napoleon is a high-schooler in the small town of Preston, Idaho, trying to impress his peers, get his family to respect him, and find a date to the school dance. He deals with a delusional uncle, petty teen judgement, his best friend's run for class president, a time machine scam, and getting a steak thrown in his face.

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Episode 250. We celebrate the milestone of our 250th episode by reading the silly and satirical 2016 Flintstones comics from Mark Russell and Steve Pugh. The Flintstones are living in a modern take on the same ancient city of Bedrock, dealing with issues like religion, politics, war, and consumerism, trying to be the best people they can as the help forge civilization itself.

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Episode 249. We can't watch the new Mario movie without taking a good hard look at the old one first. We watched the 1993 Super Mario Bros movie, specifically the "Morton-Jankel" directors' cut with unfinished extra footage. Mario Mario and Luigi Mario are brothers, plumbers, New Yorkers. When their new friend Daisy is kidnapped by goons who take her through a mysterious portal at her paleontology dig site, they follow her, armed with nothing but their wits and wrenches. The brothers fight to rescue Daisy and take down the megalomaniacal King Koopa and his machine that can evolve dinosaurs into humans, and devolve humans back into primordial slime.

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Episode 248. We watched the first season of the Netflix animated series Arcane, based in the world of League of Legends. Amidst conflict between the high-class metropolis of Piltover and its neglected and crime-ridden undercity of Zaun, sisters Vi and Powder fight to stay alive and make a difference for their community. After a mistake that costs the lives of their friends, the sisters split up and meet again years later, when Powder is now known as the unpredictable terrorist Jinx. As Piltover scientists work to develop magical hex tech to improve their city, they find that Jinx and other criminals could exploit it, leading them to question if their invention should be destroyed.

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Episode 247. We are now full members of the family as we finish all the movies in the Fast Saga: Furious 7 (2015), The Fate of the Furious (2017), F9 (2021), and some bonus talk on the spinoff movie Hobbs & Shaw (2019). The family rescues a kidnapped hacker who created an omnipotent software called God's Eye, with Brian enjoying one last action-packed job before he leaves for a quiet life with Mia and their kids, as the series honors the late Paul Walker. Then, the family believes that Dom has turned rouge on them, teaming up with the mysterious techno-terrorist Cipher, but Dom is only doing this to protect a special new member of the family. Finally, the long-estranged Toretto brother Jacob appears, embroiled in a plot that could end the world, as the family reunites with another long-lost member to stop him.

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Episode 246. We watched Angelyne, a five-episode limited series from Peacock dramatizing true events. A mysterious woman called Angelyne started putting up billboards for herself around Los Angeles in the early 80s, unclear about exactly what she was promoting, just that she wanted to be a star. She became a fixture of the city, driving around in the city selling her own merchandise out of the trunk of her pink Corvette. The city loved her but was puzzled by her, never knowing her real identity. Decades later, the Hollywood Reporter published an article revealing her origin, and we see how that expose came together and how Angelyne reacts to someone else trying to tell her story.

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Episode 245. We read the 2018 comic series Shazam and the Seven Magic Lands by writer Geoff Johns. Billy Batson and his adopted siblings find that whey they transform into their superpowered alter egos and visit the Rock of Eternity, they can travel to other magical lands. While exploring worlds of infinite amusement parks, talking animals, and living video games, they find the citizens aren't welcoming to strangers from other lands. They also have the villainous Dr. Sivana and Mr. Mind on their trail, plus the antihero Black Adam seeking their powers, and Billy's biological father has finally come to make amends to his son, but might not be who he says he is.

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Episode 244. We watched the 2007 legal thriller Michael Clayton, written and directed by Tony Gilroy. Michael Clayton is a "fixer" for his law firm, cleaning up messes for their prestigious clients. They're defending the manufacturer of a potentially carcinogenic pesticide when the head lawyer on that case suffers a mental breakdown, and turns against the client. Michael Clayton has to look after his friend's wellness and smooth over relations with the client, while investigating claims of evidence that could blow the case wide open, and dealing with his own personal debts that make it difficult for him to turn down any bribes to stay quiet in the face of dangerous corporate misconduct.

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Episode 243. We're continuing our ongoing monthly discussion on the Fast saga, covering Fast & Furious (2009), Fast Five (2011), and Fast & Furious 6 (2013). Brian reunites with the Torettos after Lettie is mysteriously murdered while trying to infiltrate a drug ring. Dom is already on the run from the law, and taking down Lettie's killer could make him a visible target to both criminals and police. Then the family hides out in Brazil, where they call upon all their past friends to help steal a bank vault belonging to the city's most powerful and dangerous crime lord, attracting the attention of federal agent Luke Hobbs. In the sixth film, Dom learns that Lettie is still alive, suffering from amnesia and working for a far more sinister group of thieves. The family joins forces to bring Lettie home, but they're putting other family members in grave danger in the process.

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