Mike & Matt’s X-Cellent Adventures – Episode #6 – The Wolverine

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Okay, feel free to skip this episode. We will not be offended. The Wolverine is one of the three unquestionably weak X-Men films. Unlike The Last Stand  or Origins: Wolverine though, this one was just really boring as opposed to hilariously awful. On top of that, we had some audio issues for the first 15-25 minutes (of this super short 40-minute episode). Things are about to pick up though with the next three episodes though! Don’t give up on us!
Continue reading Mike & Matt’s X-Cellent Adventures – Episode #6 – The Wolverine

Mike & Matt’s X-Cellent Adventures – Episode #5 – X-Men: First Class

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Hey! X-Men films are good again! We also make jokes about Donald Trump being the absolute worst. Please join us for episode #5 of the number one retrospective podcast mini-series on the X-Men cinematic franchise!
Continue reading Mike & Matt’s X-Cellent Adventures – Episode #5 – X-Men: First Class

Mike & Matt’s X-Cellent Adventures – Episode #4 – X-Men Origins: Wolverine

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Bone claws. Silent Deadpool. will.i.am. Creepy Professor Xavier. There was no shortage of topics on Episode #4 of the number one retrospective podcast mini-series on the X-Men cinematic franchise!
Continue reading Mike & Matt’s X-Cellent Adventures – Episode #4 – X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Mike & Matt’s X-Cellent Adventures – Episode #3 – X-Men: The Last Stand

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Is The Last Stand just the worst X-Men film ever or in fact the worst film ever? Tune in to this week’s edition of Mike & Matt’s X-Cellent Adventures to find out! Continue reading Mike & Matt’s X-Cellent Adventures – Episode #3 – X-Men: The Last Stand

Game of Thrones Season 6: Where are we? How did we get here? Where are we going?

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Season 3 of Game of Thrones brought an end to the Stark vs. Lannister war that had dominated the show ever since Ned Stark lost his head at the end of season 1 and represented the main conflict of the show since the very first episode (which of course ended with Jaime Lannister pushing Bran Stark out of a tower).

Without that main source of conflict and intrigue, the following three seasons struggled to find that throughline that could carry things until the endgame. While the show’s audience has been treated to some absolutely spectacular moments, battles, etc. for the past thirty episodes, there was also a sense of aimlessness to the overall story. Continue reading Game of Thrones Season 6: Where are we? How did we get here? Where are we going?

How Carol Demonstrates that The Patriarchy Is Bad for Everyone

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This column contains spoilers for the film.

While the awards season buzz for Carol has mostly (and very deservedly) concentrated on the performances of the wonderful Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara, the work done by Kyle Chandler has been in some need for praise and celebration. The film was about the Blanchett and Mara characters of course (as well it should have been), and it was a gripping and (at times) emotionally devastating story of two women punished and held down by patriarchal values and institutions. It becomes clear though by the end that the film also expresses how those same values and institutions are crippling for men and thus, making matters even worse for women. Continue reading How Carol Demonstrates that The Patriarchy Is Bad for Everyone

The Hobbit (1966)

Director: Gene Deitch
Runtime: 12 minutes

William L. Snyder, an American producer, obtained the film rights to J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and set out to make a feature-length version of the film with the director, Gene Deitch. That project fell through, and this twelve-minute, animated film was produced instead in order to retain the filmmaking rights to the property. As a result, the very first film adaptation of this famous piece of literature is a quite cheap-looking, cartoon (without real animation) that obviously greatly condenses Tolkien’s story. Oddly enough, the cheapness actually works in the film’s favor. Continue reading The Hobbit (1966)