Through the Lens

Alex and Davis celebrate their 40th episode of Through the Lens with a Valentine's Day special that features three "classic" Rom-Coms: The Wedding Planner, Love Actually and About Time. It was another light news week with a rumors of a Madame Web film in the works, the next A24 film "After Yang" releasing a trailer and the Kenobi tv series getting a premiere date on Disney+. They then jump right into the rom-com genre, critiquing The Wedding Planner at every turn, discussing if Love Actually truly deserves its place in pop culture and how About Time is more than just a rom-com.

This week, Alex and Davis tackle the X-Men timeline, trying to follow it from the first X-Men film all the way to Dark Phoenix. They open the show with some of the biggest news from the week, including the controversial trailer for the Halo tv series, Sam Raimi's thoughts on No Way Home and what The Rock's next video game film will be. The news is followed with an in-depth run through of the X-Men timeline, with every contradiction, confusing scene and plot twist highlighted.

Alex and Davis are back in the studio to talk about the third series of Spider-Man films, the Tom Holland-led Home Trilogy. They open the show with a packed news segment that features info on the trailer for Moon Knight, a discussion of the length and rating of Robert Pattison's The Batman and the announcement trailer for the new Lord of the Rings T.V. show on Amazon. The news segment is followed by nearly an hour of reviewing and discussing the MCU's take on Spider-Man, including the flaws of Homecoming, the comedy in Far From Home, as well as the theater experience of No Way Home and where Spider-Man goes from here. Check out the show's Instagram page @through_the_lens_wegl.

Alex and Davis close out the fall semester with special guest Chris DiBias returning to the show for a war movies discussion, as the trio each rank their Top-10 favorite war films of all time. They open with a light news segment, including discussions about the new Spider-Man Across the Multiverse trailer, the new trailer for Matrix:Resurrections and Kevin Feige's comments on Daredevil possibly joining the MCU. The rankings segment features a variety of war movies, with films such as Saving Private Ryan, The Outpost, We Were Soldiers and Apocalypse Now making an appearance. The show ends with a debate over whether war movies are inherently pro-war and what exactly the message of these films might be.

Alex and Davis are back after Thanksgiving break to celebrate the holiday season with a Christmas episode as Davis watched Die Hard for the first time. The show begins with one of the longest news segments ever as they discuss the new No Way Home trailer, teaser trailers for Halo, the Book of Boba Fett and Elvis, as well as the cast and trailer film Don't Look Up. Then they dive right into reviewing Die Hard, including Alan Rickman's performance as Hans Gruber, what makes this film different from the "dumb action movies" that Davis has not liked in the past and a little bit about Die Hard 2. They wrap up the show with a Christmas movie discussion and whether Die Hard and Die Hard 2 fit into the genre.

This week Alex and Davis reviewed the Amazing Spider-Man series as they prepare for the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home. They opened the show with a packed weekly news segment, including the trailers for She-Hulk and Moon Knight as well as Ridley Scott's thoughts on superhero films and Tom Holland denying more No Way Home rumors. They then jump right into the Amazing Spider-Man films, starting with some background on how these films were made following the cancellation of Sam Raimi's fourth Spider-Man film, how these films compare to the Raimi trilogy and why the series ending after the second film.

Alex and Davis welcome friend of the show Josh Wilber back in the studio to discuss Interstellar, one of the hosts' all-time favorite films. This week there is a lot of news to talk about with the trio going through some casting news for Oppenheimer, trailers for Morbius and Power of the Dog and Chris Pratt taking over as the voice of Garfield. The Interstellar review begins shortly after with a discussion of the science behind some of the film, such as the black hole, whether this is Hans Zimmer's best score yet, where this ranks among Nolan's other films and what Josh thinks of the film after seeing it for the first time.

Alex and Davis welcome friend of the show Josh Wilber into the studio to discuss the recent space epic from Denis Villeneuve, Dune, as well as the original 1984 film from David Lynch and how the book by Frank Herbert compares to both. With two movies to discuss, the news segment to open the show is very light with brief discussions about the trailers for Lightyear and the Book of Boba Fett as well as the potential John Wick spinoff starring Ana De Armas. After wrapping up the weekly news the trio dives right into Dune(1984) and the discussion takes a mostly negative turn as they find little that they enjoy from the film, including a few absurd style choices that were not present in the original novel and horrible exposition to open the film. The review of Dune(2021) is more positive, focusing on the film's A-list cast, stunning visual effects and well executed exposition. They wrap up the show with a discussion of potential casting choices for Dune Part 2, set to release in 2023.

Alex and Davis wrap up scary movie season in this episode as they, with the help of Cheetah Print host Chris Dibias, review John Carpenter's Halloween and the Thing. Alex and Davis open the show on their own as they discuss a host of movie trailers including a look at the Uncharted film, Aaron Sorkin's Being the Ricardos and Ambulance. They move onto Halloween, Carpenter's first horro film, and discuss how the film has influenced the slasher genre and what makes it different from modern day horror films. Once they finish Halloween, Chris Dibias joins the show to discuss the Thing, how it was a remake, who was in fact "The Thing" and the prequel released in 2011.

Alex and Davis are back with another Scooby Doo themed episode, but this time they tackle the four classic Scooby Doo animated films that were produced from 1998-2001. They open the show with a lot of news and trailers from DC Fandome, including the Batman trailer and a sneak peek at The Flash. Then they go through the four Scooby Doo films, Zombie Island, Witch's Ghost, Alien Invaders and Cyber Chase, breaking down what makes these films stand out from traditionally Scooby Doo shows and how each film is different.