Scott and Steven tackle the first half of the Monsterverse series as they discuss Godzilla (2014) and Kong: Skull Island (2017). Topics include "the scale problem" inherent in giant monsters, the intricacies of synchronized skydiving, the fickle nature of kaiju worship, and of course Kong's oddly firm butt. We also discuss movie issues like tonal consistency, the importance of hiring colorful actors, and the logic of killing your best character at the end of Act I. Coming soon: Godzilla: King of...
May 28, 2021•1 hr 7 min
In this latest installment, things get... a little weird. We present to you: Brazil (1985) vs Southland Tales (2006), two strangely similar yet VERY different sci-fi dystopian comedies (one intentional, one we're not sure) about Kafkaesque government bureaucracy, terrorism, and plastic surgery. Both boast talented all-star casts (if not necessarily in the right roles), great scores (if not necessarily in the right places), and some fascinating dream sequences (if indeed Justin Timberlake singing...
Apr 14, 2021•49 min
This pairing has been on our agenda since we first started the podcast, and today is finally the day. Apollo 13 (1995) and Apollo 18 (2011) are both about astronauts landing on the moon, but that's where the similarities end. One is a meticulously accurate retelling of actual historic events. The other is made-up nonsense without a shred of believability. One is a great movie with compelling, fleshed-out characters delivering top notch dialog by Oscar-winning screenwriters. The other is... not t...
Feb 27, 2021•1 hr 13 min
One year ago this month, we went to Austin to cover Time After Time on our first ever live show at Other Worlds Film Festival. This year we are back for the 2020 OWFF virtual festival! This time around, we tackle the Sylvester Stallone 90s comic-book adaptation Judge Dredd and its 2012 remake Dredd. We talk about sci-fi bullets and the wounds they cause, the nature of the fictional designer drug "slo-mo", and where the heck a city the size of the entire eastern seaboard grows its food. Join us f...
Dec 31, 2020•57 min
In this (belated) Halloween episode, we discuss the lighter side of reanimating the dead. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) is the very definition of a "cult classic", having spawned decades of sing-alongs by generations of adoring be-costumed fans. Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein (1974) is no less beloved, and with good reason, as one of the greatest and most quotable spoofs of all time. How is a laser gun like a salad shooter? What is a transducer, and can it really turn you into stone? Can ...
Nov 11, 2020•1 hr 3 min
This week we tackle Amazon's blue-tinged, pretty-boy-filled series The Expanse. As with all of our commentary tracks, you can watch along with the episode yourself, or you can listen to it on its own.
Oct 18, 2020•50 min
We cover Scott's favorite episode of the series and discuss, among many things, the purpose of floating chandeliers. As with all of our commentary tracks, you can watch along with the episode yourself, or you can listen to it on its own.
Oct 11, 2020•46 min
We tackle the new series in the beloved Star Wars universe. Werner Herzog! Baby Yoda! Killer Robots! And More! As with all of our commentary tracks, you can watch along with the episode yourself, or you can listen to it on its own.
Oct 04, 2020•41 min
In the third installment of our Firefly commentary series, we spend a lot of time talking about the Reavers. As with all of our commentary tracks, you can watch along with the episode yourself, or you can listen to it on its own.
Sep 27, 2020•45 min
Steven and his wife Randi are big fans of The Orville , whereas Scott was completely new to the series and a bit reluctant, for reasons divulged within the actual episode. Did it win him over? Listen and find out. As with all of our commentary tracks, you can watch along with the episode yourself, or you can listen to it on its own.
Sep 20, 2020•48 min
Our next patron commentary episode covers the debut episode of Firefly -- even though it wasn't actually the Firefly pilot. It's a little confusing, yes. But Scott and Steven explain it all while revisiting one of the series' best "heisty type" episodes. As with all of our commentary tracks, you can watch along with the episode yourself, or you can listen to it on its own.
Sep 13, 2020•46 min
Next in our series of commentary tracks, we tackle an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation that scared the crap out of Steve when he first watched it as a kid. As with all of our commentary tracks, you can watch along with the episode yourself, or you can listen to it on its own.
Sep 06, 2020•48 min
When we started this podcast, we wanted to provide episodes to Scott's patrons on Patreon ( www.patreon.com/scotteweinberg ), but we didn't want to accidentally cannibalize movies that we might want to later cover in a proper cage-match episode. So we decided to do some commentary tracks for TV shows. Since we are taking a brief hiatus for the next few months, we decided to release those patron episodes here on our main feed for your listening pleasure. These episodes are all real-time commentar...
Aug 30, 2020•1 hr 30 min
Strap in for a trip to Mars! Two of them, actually (well... four, if you want to get really technical), as Scott and Steven tackle Brian De Palma's theme-park-ride-based yawnfest Mission to Mars (2000) and the terrifically intense Ridley Scott space adventure The Martian (2016). Which movie gets the science right? And which one is as dull as it is silly? The answers may surprise you. But probably not.
Jul 21, 2020•1 hr 3 min
There's sci-fi, there's horror, and there's sci-fi/horror, but how many movies have the audacity to follow up a hit horror movie with a complete left turn into straight sci-fi the way Happy Death Day 2U (2019) does? Scott and Steven sit down to watch this endearingly oddball sequel and discuss it in real time. Slasher horror, screwball comedy, murder mystery, parallel universe science fiction, and even some surprisingly effective heartfelt melodrama... this movie has it all. Along the way, we di...
Jun 08, 2020•1 hr 39 min
Scott and Steven sit down for one of Marvel's most science fiction-y movies, aka the one in which a miniaturized ex-con teams up with a mad scientist, his double-agent daughter, and an army of helpful ants to keep their technology out of the hands of the military-minded bad guy. This week we're trying something different: a full-length commentary track. Not only does this allow us to do a deep dive into the science AND the fiction of a single movie, but it allows you, our faithful listeners, to ...
May 18, 2020•1 hr 56 min
Scott and Steven take a long hard look at two of the most beloved time travel comedies of the 1980s (or ever). And while both films are still considered "most excellent" today for their genuine warmth and lovable characters, they also boast surprisingly intelligent screenplays, full of interesting science questions, including: Could a giant amplifier actually blow you out of your sneakers? Which is the more practical time machine: a bizarro sports car or a soon-to-be obsolete phone booth? Was Ab...
May 03, 2020•1 hr 8 min
This week we tackle two movies about characters who go from being cogs in a corrupt system to burning that very system to the ground--in one case literally! In Minority Report (2002), Steven Spielberg's action-packed and brain-bending adaptation of the Philip K. Dick story, Tom Cruise races against time to prove his innocence for a crime he has yet to commit. In Logan's Run (1976), Michael York--a 35-year-old actor playing a 26-year-old character in a story that's supposedly about youth--goes on...
Apr 19, 2020•1 hr 6 min
In 1982, the world was introduced to one of the most beloved alien visitors of all time. His name was E.T., and apparently he was a not-too-bright child techno-savant exo-botanist whose alien biology was somehow perfectly compatible with Earth's atmosphere, candy, and liquor. This was seven years after a man named Travis Walton and his lumberjack buddies stumbled across something not nearly as cute and cuddly in the woods of Arizona, but eleven years before that allegedly true incident became th...
Apr 06, 2020•1 hr 21 min
Travel back in time, make a quick stop in Egypt, and then soar deep into outer space with a pair of popular (and kinda wacky) sci-fi epics. First up is Luc Besson's The Fifth Element , which is as colorful as it is incomprehensible -- and then it's Stargate , in which a fascinating space-travel premise quickly ends up in... a big pile of sand dunes. How exactly do waves of radiation generate human tissue? How could one gun do so many things? How hard is it to decipher a 7-symbol code? And what's...
Mar 22, 2020•1 hr 19 min
Here's a fun little sidebar to our Blade Runner(s) episode. Scott sits down for a brief chat with Charles de Lauzirika, whom sci-fi fans will recognize as the producer of the stunning Blade Runner blu-ray release as well as "The Final Cut." Which means he's also one of the globe's leading experts on the original Blade Runner.
Mar 08, 2020•28 min
The original Blade Runner is one of the most influential, celebrated, and debated science fiction films of all time. The sequel was met with rapturous praise but, similar to its predecessor, died a quick death at the box office, like tears in the rain. Listen in as Steven and Scott discuss the harsh realities of flying cars, fake snakes, human-sized toys, and whether or not replicants are cyborgs.
Mar 08, 2020•1 hr 17 min
Did you know that George Lucas made Star Wars only after he failed to adapt the old Flash Gordon comic/serial into a feature? It's true! So it only makes sense to pair the original Star Wars (1977) with the 1980 Flash Gordon movie that only got made because Star Wars was a smash hit. This episode's important science questions include: What do Obi-Wan Kenobi and Reggie Jackson have in common? Is Han Solo the Star Wars equivalent of a flat-earther? Did Flash really save every one of us? And what t...
Feb 17, 2020•1 hr 27 min
In this monster of an episode (pun intended), we discuss two of the greatest sci-fi/horror/action movies of all time, and investigate how two perfect movies could possibly birth such a deformed and moronic lovechild. Along the way, we explore such critical science questions as: Is the xenomorph just basically Jiffy Pop? Can you rip someone’s spine out by pulling off their head? And is there a single ounce of intelligence in AVP? (Hint: no) Join us for a special 2-hour episode!
Feb 02, 2020•1 hr 51 min
It's time for another "original vs remake". This time we set our sights on two films inspired by the grandfather of science fiction, H.G. Wells. The 1953 version of War of the Worlds is considered a classic of the genre, but how does it hold up today? Can Steven Spielberg's 2005 rendition survive the scrutiny of an analytical revisit? We cover alien space travel, whether the Earth was indeed created in six days, and the wonderfully abrupt "deus ex bacteria" ending. All this and more on the lates...
Jan 14, 2020•1 hr 9 min
It wasn't difficult to choose the movies for our first Christmas episode. Not only does Joe Dante's Gremlins (1984) hold up as a supremely entertaining movie, but it's also a truly impressive blend of comedy, horror, science fiction, and Christmas movie. But how would the "three rules" actually work in reality? What qualifies as "after midnight"? Heck, what technically qualifies as "eating"?!? And let's talk a bit about that infamous microwave sequence. And it only made sense to match Gremlins u...
Dec 22, 2019•1 hr 1 min
This week we present our first ever LIVE SHOW! Scott and Steven ply their trade at Other Worlds Film Festival in Austin, TX, where they discuss 1979 fan favorite Time After Time (aka the movie in which H.G. Wells chases Jack the Ripper into modern-day San Francisco). Join us as we open the massive can of worms that is cinematic time travel, with the participation of a group of smart and savvy science fiction fans. Can your limbs really disappear in real time if someone cuts them off in the past?...
Dec 08, 2019•53 min
In 1938, John W. Campbell Jr. wrote a scary sci-fi story called "Who Goes There?" That story caught the eye of producer Howard Hawks, who adapted the tale into a 1951 feature film called The Thing From Another World, which blew the mind of a kid named John Carpenter, who would get to direct his own adaptation in 1982, which is still so beloved that Universal tried to do sort of a remake that was really a prequel in 2011. Which of the three is the best version? You may think you know the answer, ...
Nov 25, 2019•1 hr 8 min
How likely is it that humans can catch horrible diseases from adorable monkeys? Are those big, shiny decontamination suits all that effective? Can deadly snot work its way through the ventilation system of a crowded theater? These questions and more (even some intelligent ones) as Scott and Steven do the SvF treatment on Outbreak (1995) and Contagion (2011), two very different takes on one very scary scenario. And we have a guest! Dr. Vincent DeGennaro (yep, Steven's brother) is an epidemiologis...
Nov 11, 2019•1 hr 13 min
Do Leprechauns have gold testicles? What would happen if you shot Jason into the heart of the sun? Why are McDonald's french fries so fluffy? We answer these and other deeply scientific questions as we discuss two of the first horror franchises to go into outer space for some reason.
Oct 27, 2019•56 min
