AfterLunch | After Dinner Lounge – I Want to Believe

Rob, Evan, Pax, and I  chit chat about The Beatles, The Morning Show, the post-Endgame MCU, and whether or not the Supernatural is real. 

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AfterLunch | After Dinner Lounge – Every Rose Has Its Thorn

Rob, Evan, Pax, and I gather again to talk about what we've been listening to and reading. And our favorite flowers. Lots of recommendations, but in the process of meandering, the conversation occasionally settles into topics like The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the Fast and Furious movies, and gritty super hero comics. 

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AfterLunch | Bond Novels – Goldfinger

I continue exploring Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels with the seventh in the series, Goldfinger. Like with the film version, the novel introduces a lighter tone than had been in the series so far. But is that a good thing or bad? 

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AfterLunch | Nerdstradamus 2022

Rob, Evan, Pax, Kay, Robert Zerbe, and I reconvene to see how we all did on our pop culture resolutions and predictions from 2021. And to make new ones for 2022. 

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Hellbent for Letterbox | Our Top 15 Westerns

When listener Mathias Skeppstedt sent in the list of his Top 15 Favorite Westerns, Pax and I decided to come up with our own lists to compare. Each of the three has a mix of classics and surprises, and we run through all of them in this short(ish) episode.

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Seriously Felicity | Love and Marriage

Kristi and I get a visit from our brother, try out for the swim team, and consider green card marriages.

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Movie-Watching in 2021

Before getting into all the movies from 2021 that I saw, here's a look at my movie-watching overall last year according to my activity on Letterboxd:

• I watched a total of 335 films, which is way down from the previous two years, but I started watching a lot more TV series in 2021. My movie average was just under 28 a month or just over 6 a week.
• The first movie I saw last year was a rewatch of Wonder Woman to get ready to see Wonder Woman 1984.
• The last movie I saw last year was Spider-Man: No Way Home.
• I didn't watch any movie more than twice last year, but there were a few that I did that with. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and The Suicide Squad were the only two that I did it just because I wanted to see them again. The others were all movies that I watched for a podcast, but the recording was rescheduled, so I watched them again just before we actually recorded.
• 56 (or about 17%) of the movies I saw were actually from 2021. That's higher than normal for me. I usually skew a lot heavier into older films by over 90%.
• 194 of them (about 58%) were films I watched for the first time (or at least had never recorded on Letterboxd before). That's right around normal for me.
• Samuel L Jackson was my most watched actor with 10 films, thanks to several MCU re-watches, but also Kong: Skull Island, The Hitman’s Bodyguard, and first-time watch The Protégé.
• Other actors I watched a lot of were folks from the MCU and Fast and Furious movies, so the only surprise on my Most Watched Actors list was Donald Sutherland. He's due in part to a Hunger Games binge, but also Kelly’s Heroes, Max Dugan Returns, and The Castle of the Living Dead.
• My most watched director was Justin Lin thanks again to the Fast and Furious series. Chloé Zhao, the Russo Brothers, lucha libre director Federico Curiel (thanks to the lucha libre podcast I was on), and Michael Curtiz were all right behind Lin with four movies each. Curtiz was the only sort of naturally recurring one. The others are all because of series, except for Zhao and she's because I purposely marathoned her stuff before seeing Eternals. The Curtiz films I watched were The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex and The Sea Hawk (both because I was watching Elizabethan films), The Adventures of Robin Hood (for After Lunch), and my annual re-watch of White Christmas.
• Kevin Feige was my top producer at 22 films.
• But Marvel was not the movie studio I watched most of. It was tied for second with MGM with 21 films each. My most-watched studio was Universal with 28 films. The Fast and Furious series helped a lot with that, as did the Halloween movies, but there are a lot of random films in that list, too.
• Chris Morgan and Henry James were tied for my Most Watched Writer at 7 films each. Morgan's a writer for the Fast and Furious series. James wrote the novel The Turn of the Screw, which I watched a lot of adaptations of.
• Over the Garden Wall was the thing I saw that's most liked by other Letterboxd users.
• The thing I watched that was least liked by other Letterboxd users was Halloween: Resurrection. And I agree with them.
• Spider-Man: No Way Home is the most popular movie that I saw last year.
• The most obscure movie I watched was a 1965 Italian Biblical epic called I Grandi Condottieri. It's basically an anthology film with the stories of Gideon and Samson connected only through some inelegant narration. Both stories have good actors creating relatable versions of their characters, though. And the whole project must have had a decent budget too if the sets and large casts of extras are an indication. I liked it just fine.

AfterLunch | Bond Novels – Dr. No

I continue exploring Ian Fleming's James Bond novels with the sixth in the series, Dr. No. It's the pulpiest so far, but also has big character development for Bond and a surprising thematic connection with Pierre Boulle's novel, Planet of the Apes. 

Download or listen to the episode here.

Hellbent for Letterbox | News of the World (2020)

Pax and I finally watch the 2020 Western that everyone's been talking about, Paul Greengrass' News of the World starring Tom Hanks and Helena Zengel. And Pax looks into what the deal is with The Hateful Eight Extended Version.

Download or listen to the episode here.

My Favorite Songs of 2021

I was going to try to rank these in terms of favorites, but that's too hard. Here are my 11 favorite songs of 2021 in alphabetical order.

"After Coffee" by Joywave

Perfectly captures a lazy morning of pondering mild existential crisis.

"All You Ever Wanted" by Rag'n'Bone Man

If I had to pick a favorite from this list, "All You Ever Wanted" would be it. From Rag'n'Bone Man's soul-filled voice to the fuzzy guitar and just rocking groove of the whole thing. 

"Be Sweet" by Japanese Breakfast

Speaking of groove. The bass line on this thing with Michelle Zauner's gorgeously sweet voice is driving and perfect.

"Can You Handle My Love??" by WALK THE MOON

Gotta love a song about romantic desperation that's this danceable. Best one since ABBA's "Take a Chance on Me."

"Colorado" by Milky Chance

"Groovy" and "chill" are recurring themes for me, apparently.

"help herself (with BENEE)" by bbno$ & Diamond Pistols

Take "groovy" and "chill" and immerse it in a big vat of "smooooooth." So good.

"Higher Power" by Coldplay

I think it's cool to not like Coldplay? Is it too uplifting or something? 

"Memory" by Windser

One of the advantages of writing this well into 2022 (and backdating to January) is that I was able to discover a new song to add to the list. I'd never heard of Windser before, but I love how easy and groovy this song is. I'll be searching out more by him.

 

"My Universe" by Coldplay X BTS

Another Coldplay song, but this one enhanced with some good old-fashioned K-pop. 

"Prom" by courtship.

Big time '80s vibe. Which (for someone my age) is perfect for a song about high school love.

"Saturday" by twenty one pilots

Saturday is the day of the week when I'm typically listening to new music while running errands and doing chores, so "Saturday" the song was a perfect discovery on one of those days. Great party song that also happens to be a great laundry-folding song.

AfterLunch | Mystery Movie Night – Pixies, Police, and Protests

I ask Dave, David, Erik, Evan, and special guest Rob Graham to find the hidden connection between A Midsummer Night's Dream (1968), Running Scared (1986), and V for Vendetta (2005).

If you haven't seen one or more of the movies, feel free to skip to the discussions of your choice:

00:02:36 - Review of A Midsummer Night's Dream (1968)
00:33:31 - Review of Running Scared (1986)
00:52:25 - Review of V for Vendetta (2005)
01:16:45 - Guessing the Connection

Download or listen to the episode here.