After Lunch | After Dinner Lounge – The Wig Budget

Rob, Pax, and I talk about what we've been watching: TV series like Midnight Club, Andor, Stargirl, Wednesday, Mythic Quest, Willow, Perry Mason, Mare of Easttown, and A-Team “Christmas” episodes. Then there are movies like A Christmas Story Christmas, the Cannonball Run sequel Speed Zone, the Underworld series, The Shop Around the Corner, Ernest Saves Christmas, and a White Christmas live production. 

Finally, we're thinking about Christmas movies. Specifically: what makes a Christmas movie, favourite Christmas movie characters, and the future of Christmas movie discussions on After Lunch.

After Lunch | After Christmas Lounge – Bring on the Whamageddon

Rob, Pax, and I talk about annoying Christmas Songs, Christmas mysteries and ghost stories, Lindsey Stirling music, book forewords and introductions, Mount Westmore, X-Men: Inferno, Batman: Three Jokers, and other things we've been listening to and reading.

Hellbent for Letterbox | 3 Godfathers (1948)

In this special holiday episode, Pax and I watch John Ford's adaptation of Peter B Kyne's Christmas Western novel, The Three Godfathers. Starring John Wayne, Pedro Armendáriz, and Harry Carey Jr.

Pax also watches a variety of Christmas episodes of TV Westerns and I catche up on a spooky Western, From Hell to the Wild West (2017), as well as Walter Hill's new film, Dead for a Dollar.

After Lunch | A Christmas Carol (1910) and Scrooge (1935)

Rob and I welcome Mike Westfall from the Advent Calendar House podcast to discuss a pair of the oldest adaptations of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. From 1910, it's the silent version from Thomas Edison's production company. And then we talk about the 1935 film starring Seymour Hicks.

And be sure to check out Mike, Rob, and my Advent Calendar House discussion from earlier this season about the 1971 cartoon that brought back Alastair Sim as the voice of Scrooge.

After Lunch | Christmas Movie Menus

In a completely original idea - Nerd Lunch definitely did not do this exact same topic on Episode 320 of their show - Rob and I welcome Evan Hanson, Paxton Holley, and Michael DiGiovanni to help a few restaurants create special menus inspired by Christmas movies.

Download here.

After Lunch | Die Hard (1988)

This is the final rerun of Tangential Christmas Movie discussions from the old Sleigh Bell Cinema podcast and it seems appropriate to close with the poster child for these kind of movies. People love to argue about whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie, so if you haven't heard the episode yet, I wouldn’t dream of spoiling where Jeeg and I fall on that topic.

Download here.

After Lunch | The Ref (1994)

Today we’re wrapping up Week 2 rerunning discussions of Tangential Christmas movies from the Sleigh Bell Cinema podcast. We’re actually not quite done yet, because there’s one more on Monday and it’s a doozy. But first, Jeeg and I talk about the Denis Leary vehicle, The Ref, from 1994. 

And if you want to hear even more on The Ref on this very feed, check the old Nerd Lunch Extra Helping episode from December 2012 where Jeeg talks about it with Carlin Trammel.

The 2022 Episode

The 2012 Episode

After Lunch | It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

Long before there was ever such a movie as Die Hard, the idea of Tangential Christmas movies was introduced by It’s a Wonderful Life. It gets played at Christmastime and has an important Christmas scene, but is it a Christmas movie? In this rerun from my old Sleigh Bell Cinema podcast, Carlin Trammel and I talk about that very question.

Download or listen to the episode here.

After Lunch | Holiday Inn (1942)

We’re still doing reruns about Tangential Christmas movies from the old Sleigh Bell Cinema podcast and on this episode I talk with Lizzie Twachtman about a Bing Crosby classic. With Fred Astaire and Marjorie Reynolds, it’s 1942’s Holiday Inn.

Download or listen to the episode here.

After Lunch | Remember the Night (1940)

Continuing our reruns about Tangential Christmas movies from my old Sleigh Bell Cinema podcast, this episode welcomes back Siskoid to talk about a movie that he mentioned in our discussion of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. From 1940 and starring the legendary team of Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray, it’s Remember the Night.

Download or listen to the episode here.

After Lunch | The Thin Man (1934)

Kicking off our second week of reruns about Tangential Christmas movies from the old Sleigh Bell Cinema podcast with a discussion I had with our friend Kay about the 1934 classic whodunnit, The Thin Man starring William Powell and Myrna Loy.

Download or listen to the episode here.

After Lunch | The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)

Wrapping up this first week of reruns about Tangential Christmas movies from the old Sleigh Bell Cinema podcast, Siskoid introduces me to an excellent French film, Jacques Demy's The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, starring Catherine Deneuve and Nino Castelnuovo. If you’ve never seen it, we highly recommend it, but you don’t need to have seen it to enjoy the discussion.

Download or listen to the episode here.

Hellbent for Letterbox | The Great Silence (1968)

Since we're heading into winter, Pax picked a snowy Western with Sergio Corbucci's The Great Silence starring Jean-Louis Trintignant and Klaus Kinski. 

I also catch up with some Halloween Westerns - Wesley Snipes in Gallowwalkers and Danny Trejo in Dead in Tombstone - while Pax gets Christmas cheer from Roy Rogers in Trail of Robin Hood.

Download or listen to the episode here.

After Lunch | Better Off Dead... (1985)

In our next Sleigh Bell Cinema rerun, I talk to Shawn Robare about Savage Steve Holland's Better Off Dead... (starring John Cusack, Diane Franklin, and Curtis Armstrong) and how much it actually has to do with Christmas.

Download or listen to the episode here.

After Lunch | Gremlins (1984)

In another rerun from the former Sleigh Bell Cinema podcast, I talk with Nerd Lunch's Jeeg about the Joe Dante almost-Christmas classic, Gremlins.

Download or listen to the episode here.

After Lunch | Shazam! (2019)

This Christmas season is all about Tangential Christmas Movies on After Lunch. After our discussion of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang last episode, we're going to spend the next couple of weeks re-running discussions of other Tangential Christmas Movies from my old Sleigh Bell Cinema podcast. Starting with this one about Shazam! with my son, David May.

Download or listen to the episode here.

After Lunch | Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)

Officially kicking off the Christmas season on After Lunch, Rob and I welcome back Jacob Bean-Watson (The Movie Connection podcast) to discuss the tangential Christmas movie, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Directed by Shane Black and starring Robert Downey Jr, Val Kilmer, and Michelle Monaghan.

Download or listen to the episode here.

After Lunch | After Dinner Lounge – Where'd Everybody Go?

Rob, Pax, and I finish this month's lounge discussion with what we've been watching and thinking about, including She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, Mike Flanagan movies, Black Adam, The Sound of 007, Clerks 3 and the View Askewniverse, elderly action heroes, Jack Ryan, the recent Halloween trilogy, in-universe canons, and Twitter.

Download or listen to the episode here.

After Lunch | After Dinner Lounge – ValuKast

Rob, Pax, and I gather in the After Lunch After Dinner Lounge to talk about what we've been listening to and reading this month, including Agatha Christie, early Marvel comics, and James Tynion IV.

Download or listen to the episode here.

Seriously Felicity | Sophomoric

Kristi and I return to school, get new living quarters, and deal with fallout from last year.

Download or listen to the episode here.

After Lunch | Doctor Sleep

Christmas is a time for ghost stories. And though it may not be Christmas season for everyone yet, it's never too early for a haunted tale. Rob and I kick off what we hope is a new After Lunch tradition of November ghost stories by talking about Doctor Sleep, in which one of our favorite film directors adapts a book by one of our favorite authors.

Download or listen to the episode here.

After Lunch | Literary Villains Sour 16

Rob and I welcome back Chris Bailey (aka Charlton Hero) to the show to match up the greatest literary villains of all time in an ultimate showdown to determine the absolute best. Also featuring picks from Evan Hanson, who sadly couldn't join us for the recording. 

Download or listen to the episode here.

After Lunch | Disneyland

I debrief Rob about his recent trip to Disneyland in (extremely) sunny California. Rob talks about what he liked and what he didn't, I add some thoughts from my own trip there a few years ago, and we both compare it with Florida's Walt Disney World, which we're much more familiar with.

Download or listen to the episode here.

Seriously Felicity | Felicity Was Here

Kristi and I finish our classes, move out of the dorm, and take a taxi ride.

Download or listen to the episode here.

After Lunch | The Avengers of Horror

Happy Halloween! To celebrate, Rob and I welcome Bloody Popcorn's Joanna back to the show along with everyone's old buddy, old pal Jeeg to create the ultimate team-up of horror characters. We each nominate two members of the team as well as a bunch of honorable mentions to flesh out the cast and come up with a story worthy of them all. And possibly even tie in with the Avengers of Science Fiction, you never know.

Download or listen to the episode here.

Hellbent for Letterbox | The Valley of Gwangi (1969)

Pax and I stretch the definitions of both Western and Horror in this second Halloween pick, The Valley of Gwangi starring James Franciscus, Gila Golan, and Richard Carlson. And with visual effects by Ray Harryhausen.

But our Westernin' picks this month are full on horror-related as Pax reads Tim Seeley, Aaron Campbell, and Jim Terry's vampire comic West of Sundown, and I watch Sam Shepard's Western ghost story Silent Tongue and the super cheesy Teenage Monster.

Download or listen to the episode here.

After Lunch | After Dinner Lounge – Don't Let Your Kids Go to Old Man Graham's House

Rob, Evan, Pax, and I gather in the lounge to talk about what we've been watching and thinking about, including mummy movies, zombie movies, what monsters we'd want to fight and what curses we'd prefer to have, and the scariest topic of all: cash.

Download or listen to the episode here.

After Lunch | After Dinner Lounge – You Made Me Cry in a Burger King, You Son of a B

Rob, Evan, Pax, and I gather in the lounge to talk about what we've been listening to and reading, including Elvis, harpsichord music, Sherlock Holmes vs Dracula, and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

Download or listen to the episode here.

Hellbent for Letterbox | The Pale Door (2020)

Pax and I celebrate the Spooky Season with Aaron B. Koontz'  witchy Western, The Pale Door.

I also watched another low-budget Western horror, Blackwood, and both of us talk about the Predator prequel, Prey. And Pax shares his thoughts on Epix' new Billy the Kid series.

Download or listen to the episode here.

After Lunch | Midnight Mass

Rob, Evan, and I confront vampires and theology in writer-director Mike Flanagan's 2021 mini-series, Midnight Mass. We talk about how the show handles vampire lore, its Stephen King influences, and the characters it creates, but mostly how it discusses big themes like faith, knowledge, addiction, sacrifice, and forgiveness. 

Download or listen to the episode here.

After Lunch | Down the Rabbit Hole: The Reunion

Rabbit Holers Carlin Trammel, Jeff Somogyi, and Paxton Holley reunite to celebrate the release of Carlin and artist Bill Wiist's fan-made Super Powers Superman mini-comic with an all-new Down the Rabbit Hole episode exploring the Super Friends Wiki. With me as a guest, we set out to get from the mini-comic's wiki page to... Ed McMahon? Find out if we're successful and while you're at it, download both the Superman mini-comic and the newly released second issue featuring Green Lantern.

Download or listen to the episode here. 

Seriously Felicity | The Force

Kristi and I plan a road trip, camp out for Star Wars tickets, and get some hot chocolate.

Download or listen to the episode here.

After Lunch | Agents of SHIELD, Season 1

Rob, William Bruce West, my son David, and I board the Bus for a deep dive into the first season of Agents of SHIELD. 

Download or listen to the episode here.

After Lunch | After Dinner Lounge – The New Dragon Excitement

Rob, Pax, Christian, and I wrap up our Lounge conversation with what we've been watching and thinking about. Topics include The Sandman TV series, the resurgence of the murder mystery genre, the US healthcare system, and Mortality vs the Relentless March of Pop Culture.

Download or listen to the episode here.

After Lunch | After Dinner Lounge – Pokémon Cards and Barbie Dreamhouses

Rob, Pax, and I welcome Christian Nielsen to the Lounge to talk about what we've all been listening to and reading. Among many other things, subjects include James Patterson and Brian Sitts' The Shadow novel, comics artist Art Adams, a 1970s Fantastic Four radio show narrated by Stan Lee and featuring [REDACTED] as the Human Torch, and a lot of Star Wars talk inspired by Adam Christopher's Shadow of the Sith novel.

Download or listen to the episode here. 

Hellbent for Letterbox | The Frisco Kid (1979)

Pax, Shawn Robare, and I travel with Gene Wilder and Harrison Ford in Robert Aldrich's The Frisco Kid.

Download or listen to the episode here.

After Lunch | Top 10 Years Later

Pax, Evan, and I welcome Noel Thingvall to the show to talk about each of our Top 10 Movies of 2012 as ranked in 2012. How do the four lists compare and are the movies on them still favorites? 

Download or listen to the episode here.

After Lunch | Greetings from Fantasy World!

Building on Episode 27, in which an After Lunch panel created a science fiction themed amusement park, Rob, Mike Westfall, John Vanover, and I add new lands devoted to various fantasy books and games like Assassin's Creed, Legend of Zelda, The Dresden Files, and Tolkien's Middle Earth.

Download or listen to the episode here.