Awesome Friday Movie Podcast: ‘Star Wars: Visions’ & ‘Midnight Mass’

Awesome Friday Podcast: Star Wars: Visions & Midnight Mass

Greetings programs! It’s that time again, Awesome Friday on a Sunday! Remember, it’s a state of mind and not a day of the week. In this episode, we have two new series to talk about, the latest Star Wars project Star Wars: Visions and director Mike Flanagan’s latest series for Netflix, Midnight Mass. This episode is nearly 90s minutes long, but that’s because we absolutely loved one of these series and have a lot to say about it. Join us!

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Review: ‘Star Wars: Visions’ offers some new takes on the galaxy far, far away, mostly

Star Wars: Visions

Star Wars is a franchise of epic stories, but the galaxy far, far away has always felt a little small. Planets with the population of villages, each only a short drive through hyperspace from one another. One thing that the franchise has needed for a long time is some expansion, some stories to push at the universe’s boundaries. Animation has been, for years now, the place where that has been happening, and Star Wars: Visions –a project in which Lucasfilm let several prominent anime studios tell Star Wars stories– is the latest series to do it. Mostly.

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Awesome Friday Movie Podcast: ‘Kate’ & ‘Cruella’

Awesome Friday Podcast Kate & Cruella

Greetings programs! We’re back with our 9th episode of the new Awesome Friday Podcast. This week we’re talking about one new thing and one not so new thing. First up is the new Mary Elizabeth Winstead starring action film from Netflix, Kate, which we have mixed feelings about, and second is the new-to-all-Disney+-subscribers film starring Emma Stone, Cruella, which as it turns out, we both really like.

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Review: ‘Only Murders in the Building’ is both lighthearted fun and a great send-up of true crime podcasts

True Crime is, debatably, the largest and furthest reaching of all the podcast genres. They reach mass audiences and have been adapted into television series that have gone on to critical acclaim. So it’s only natural then that someone was going to send them up. Luckily for us, that person turned out to be Steve Martin.

Martin, alongside producer John Hoffman and joined in the cast by Martin Short and Selena Gomez, created a delightful lighthearted comedy series and a delightful send-up of the true crime podcast genre itself.

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Review: ‘Vacation Friends’ is fine, and that’s fine.

VACATION FRIENDS

Stop me if you have heard this one before. A protagonist obsessed with planning, order, and things being just so, ends up in a situation where they have to spend time with a new friend who floats through life, embraces chaos, and for whom things always seem to work out. I don’t know what movie you are thinking of because there are so many possibilities, but I am talking about Vacation Friends, the new film starring Lil Rel Howrey and John Cena, which debuts on Disney+ Star (Hulu in the US) today.

To be clear, this set-up has been done so many times because when it works, you get comedy gold. However, there are two things that a film like this needs to hit that paydirt. First, you need a pair of charismatic leads who have excellent comedic timing and natural chemistry that allows them to bounce off one another seamlessly for the most comedic effect. Howrey and Cena are definitely this. Second, you need a really funny, original script. It’s a good thing that this movie has the first thing.

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Recap & Review: ‘WandaVision’ Episode 1: 1950s sitcoms are a perfect vehicle for awkwardness

WandaVision

Here we are, folks! Today and for the next 7 weeks, I’ll be recapping WandaVision, the latest entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the first entry to be a mini-series on Disney+. As a lifelong Marvel fan, and fan of Paul Bettany and Matt Shakman I have been very much looking forward to this series, so let’s not waste any more time and dive right in!

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Review: ‘WandaVision’ is delightfully weird and intriguing

At the end of Avengers: Endgame the entire Marvel universe had been shattered and re-assembled. Half the universe was wiped from existence and brought back five years later. A few casualties stuck, one of whom was Paul Bettany’s Vision, the android created by a combination of The Avengers, their enemy Ultron, and the power of one of the infinity stones.

WandaVision is the first new entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in over a year. The first new entry to be a TV series features the return of Vision and his paramour Wanda Maximoff to a world that looks a lot like a TV sitcom. It’s weird, and it’s delightful.

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Review: ‘Soul’ cements Pete Docter as one of our great storytellers

Soul

Pete Docter is one of the best directors of animated features working today. That might sound like hubris, but it isn’t. Each of his films is adorable, approachable, and visually stunning enough to warrant the praise, but each also has a core of love and acceptance that makes them universal. The marriage montage in Up! or the simple truth that sadness plays a key roll in our lives from Inside Out, Docter makes movies that tell truths.

Soul, his latest film, is no different.

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Recap & Review: ‘The Mandalorian’ Season 2 Episode 8: ‘The Rescue’ pulls out all the stops in the name of fan service

Well, friends here were are, together at the end. The Mandalorian’s second season has been mostly good so far, and this last episode has some big promises to fulfil. Let’s see if it does so.

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