Killah cockroaches! A new ice-age! Blossoming mushroom clouds! This episode, Bill and Chad crawl out of their underground bunker and survey the blasted and irradiated landscape of post-apocalyptic films. You maniacs! You blew it up!
Show Notes:
01:11 – The end is nigh! The apocalyptic Doug Ford.
02:44 – Chad reveals the horrific political skeleton in his closet.
04:24 – A definition of the term “post-apocalyptic”.
05:45 – Environmental apocalypse: The Lorax.
07:07 – The inevitable zombie apocalypse: 28 Days Later and Dawn of the Dead.
16:17 – Escape from New York.
17:45 – Still trying to get a grip on the meaning of “post-apocalyptic”.
20:45 – A Boy and his Dog.
30:40 – The Mad Max films.
34:48 – Damnation Alley.
39:00 – Snowpiercer.
45:09 – Yet more defining of “post-apocalyptic”.
47:39 – The 70’s Charlton Heston post-apocalyptic cycle.
53:01 – Mortal Engines.
Thanks for listening!
A Boy and his Dog trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkJV19sxKgc
Official video for Tina Turner’s We Don’t Need Another Hero:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dq4aOaDXIfY
Dawn of the Dead (1978) trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd-z5wBeFTU
Trailer for Mortal Engines:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fupYIggOq38
Connect With Your Nerdstalkers:
Bill Hunter – writer, and creator of video game history website The Dot Eaters
Chadwick Gendron – writer, musician and creator of the Canadian Culture Thing
Our Website: http://nerdstalking.com/
Social Media Links:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NerdstalkingPod
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nerdstalking/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nerdstalking/
Movie critics are people (until A.I. takes over), and sometimes people make terrible mistakes… like atomic weaponry, President Donald Trump, and now the movie reviews for Bright, starring Will Smith and Joel Edgerton as a human and orc cop team out to save the world from devious, magical elves. David Ayers’ alternate world buddy-cop film drew heavy fire from critics, but is it deserved? Chad and Bill dive deep to illuminate you on this Netflix original movie. The usual caveat: we give our typical very thorough look at the film and its meanings, so SPOILER ALERT!
Show Notes:
01:23 – Did we mention that critics suck?
06:02 – The Suicide Squad effect.
07:58 – More great worldbuilding.
11:51 – The story of Bright.
14:53 – Will Smith is very Will Smith-ish.
18:04 – A character named ‘Serling’.
19:45 – A very ethereal Noomi Rapace.
21:50 – The Ward vs. his Co-Workers scene.
29:53 – The unused wife.
31:55 – Funny scene: Jakoby spills the beans.
35:18 – True Detective is Putin’s favourite show.
38:15 – David Ayers has redeemed himself.
41:14 – Hoping for more stories in this world.
43:18 – Slight digression: Heath Ledger as The Joker.
Thanks for listening!
Our Website: http://nerdstalking.com/
Social Media Links:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NerdstalkingPod
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nerdstalking/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nerdstalking/
Bill and Chad felt the hairs on their arms stand up, heeded the call, and ran to the theatre with everyone else in the world to watch the culmination of 10 years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and 18 previous superhero flicks – Avengers: Infinity War. What’s with Cap’s beard? Can a CGI character make you cry? Is this the end of our intrepid heroes? Assemble around your podcast player of choice and join the Nerdstalking team as they drill down into the biggest cinematic event ever! WARNING: as usual for a Nerdstalking movie review, we examine many facets of the film and don’t skirt around plot points to give the most thorough, honest review. So SPOILERS ASSEMBLE!
Show Notes:
02:23 – Your heroes are only as good as your villains.
04:05 – Can a Thanos make you cry? Yes he can.
05:35 – Confusing motivations with Thanos: Movie v Comics.
09:25 – A supremely weird ending.
10:52 – Where’s Hawkeye?
12:41 – Avengers MVP: Thor.
15:41 – A better Wakanda than the Black Panther Wakanda.
17:28 – Why does Black Panther do that cross-your-arms thing?
18:58 – Doctor Strange.
20:40 – Thanos has good backup.
21:50 – Spider-Man continues to be great.
24:37 – Hulk impotence.
27:37 – Some digressions: Robocop.
30:07 – Ready Player One: the book.
30:55 – Donald Trump.
34:24 – Another great Thanos moment.
37:43 – The Vision and Scarlet Which love story.
40:03 – This movie is an amazing achievement.
45:08 – Thor’s new eye.
48:37 – Our final verdict.
Thanks for listening!
Avengers: Infinity War trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwievZ1Tx-8
Avengers: Infinity War blooper reel and funny cast stuff:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GFAd2O_kg8
Connect With Your Nerdstalkers:
Bill Hunter – writer, and creator of video game history website The Dot Eaters
Chadwick Gendron – writer, musician and creator of the Canadian Culture Thing
Our Website: http://nerdstalking.com/
Social Media Links:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NerdstalkingPod
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nerdstalking/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nerdstalking/
So, have you ever walked out of a movie theatre thinking you just didn’t like that film, but you’re not sure why? It could be that the filmmakers didn’t put enough thought and effort into good worldbuilding. In this episode of Nerdstalking, we ponder what worldbuidling means, and look at some examples of it in action, good and bad.
Thanks for listening!
Connect With Your Nerdstalkers:
Bill Hunter – writer, and creator of video game history website The Dot Eaters
Chadwick Gendron – writer, musician and creator of the Canadian Culture Thing
Our Website: http://nerdstalking.com/
Social Media Links:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NerdstalkingPod
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nerdstalking/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nerdstalking/
Forget Ready Player One’s appropriation of the famous DeLorean, Bill and Chad jump in their own time machine and go back to the past and examine the movies of the Back to the Future trilogy. Get ready for 1.21 Gigawatts of rollicking adventure!
Connect With Your Nerdstalkers:
Bill Hunter – writer, and creator of video game history website The Dot Eaters
Chadwick Gendron – writer, musician and creator of the Canadian Culture Thing
Our Website: http://nerdstalking.com/
Social Media Links:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NerdstalkingPod
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nerdstalking/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nerdstalking/
This is part 2 of our review of Steven Spielberg’s nostalgia-porn movie Ready Player One. In it we lament the lack of any real danger or even drama in the film, as well as laugh at its lack of knowledge of the actual nature of online gaming, and discuss how the changing nature of copyright and IP management these days has made this film easier to make. All this, and much more in the last of our two-parter on Ready Player One. Plus, it’s dangerous to go alone, so take this warning along with you as you listen to this episode: we take a deep dive into the movie and explore many plot points, so be pepared for MANY SPOILERS!
Bill Hunter – writer, and creator of video game history website The Dot Eaters
Chadwick Gendron – writer, musician and creator of the Canadian Culture Thing
Our Website: http://nerdstalking.com/
Social Media Links:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NerdstalkingPod
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nerdstalking/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nerdstalking/
Ready Player One is so stuffed with pop-culture references, and our derision so strong for this hollow exercise, we can’t even fit our review into one Nerdstalking episode! Log in and listen to Part. 1 of our review as we slag director Steven Spielberg for not understanding video games, knock the world-building of the film as being as shaky as the Stacks, and lament about the lack of heart in the film, among other complaints. And you might even find a couple of positive comments in here too; consider them the Easter eggs you have to search for. As usual here at Nerdstalking, we give the movie a thorough going over and dive deep into what it is and what it means, so also be on the search for MANY, MANY SPOILERS!
Author of the novel, Ernest Cline, reveals every video game reference in the book – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zglevXKpJGY
Connect With Your Nerdstalkers:
Bill Hunter – writer, and creator of video game history website The Dot Eaters
Chadwick Gendron – writer, musician and creator of the Canadian Culture Thing
Our Website: http://nerdstalking.com/
Social Media Links:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NerdstalkingPod
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nerdstalking/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nerdstalking/
Chad and Bill take a look back at a cult movie classic: the animated epic Heavy Metal. We examine its impact over the years, and break it down segment by segment. Smoke a bowl and join us on a fantastic magical mystery ride (with boobs!).
Thanks for listening!
Connect With Your Nerdstalkers:
Bill Hunter – writer, and creator of video game history website The Dot Eaters
Chadwick Gendron – writer, musician and creator of the Canadian Culture Thing
Our Website: http://nerdstalking.com/
Social Media Links:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NerdstalkingPod
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nerdstalking/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nerdstalking/
What happens if you take TRON, mix it with The Last Starfighter, and throw in a pinch of references to every SF movie and video game of the last 30 years or so? You get Steven Spielberg’s latest flick Ready Player One, based on Ernest Cline’s love-letter-to-videogames novel of the same name. We anticipate the release of the film with all the giddy glee of kids waiting in line for Back to the Future in 1985. Plus we celebrate Sam Rockwell’s 2018 Oscar win with a retrospective of his career, and take a look at Steven Soderbergh’s guerilla feature filmmaking iPhone experiment Unsane.
Connect With Your Nerdstalkers:
Bill Hunter – writer, and creator of video game history website The Dot Eaters
Chadwick Gendron – writer, musician and creator of the Canadian Culture Thing
Our Website: http://nerdstalking.com/
Social Media Links:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NerdstalkingPod
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nerdstalking/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nerdstalking/
This episode looks at the classic cold-war computer hacker film WarGames, and the new interactive reboot based on the property. We also shine some light on the other black superhero, DC’s Black Lightning, found on Netflix. Lastly, Chad latches onto the inexplicable Venom teaser trailer and tries to make some Spidey sense of it.
Show Notes:
00:56 – We start with WarGames.
04:43 – A description of the reboot, and a look at the original movie.
06:53 – Chad starts in with Short Circuit.
08:22 – Dabney Coleman is a dick.
10:36 – Again with Short Circuit?
24:56 – Start of Black Lightning discussion.
29:03 – The unbearable deadness of James Remar.
37:31 – Chad breaks down the Venom teaser trailer.
Thanks for listening!
WarGames trailer – https://youtu.be/hbqMuvnx5MU
WarGames web series trailer – https://youtu.be/ZfObVggo5QE
#WarGames interactive series website (also available on Steam and iOS) – https://helloeko.com/wargames/episode-one-chasing-bryce/?autoplay=true&utm_source=verge&utm_medium=affiliate
Bill’s article on the history of the movie WarGames, at The Dot Eaters: http://thedoteaters.com/?bitstory=games-on-film-iii-wargames
Black Lightning series trailer – https://youtu.be/uoUlGwYa4QE
Connect With Your Nerdstalkers:
Bill Hunter – writer, and creator of video game history website The Dot Eaters
Chadwick Gendron – writer, musician and creator of the Canadian Culture Thing
Our Website: http://nerdstalking.com/
Social Media Links:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NerdstalkingPod
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nerdstalking/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nerdstalking/
We focus our tri-corders on USS Callister, an episode of the great Netflix anthology SF series Black Mirror that deftly parodies Star Trek while presenting the usual futuretech dystopia that is the hallmark of the series. We also hold up DTube, a video sharing site that is being hailed as a YouTube killer, as proof that there is no redeeming features of mankind whatsoever. Enjoy!
Show Notes:
00:42 – We start off with our analysis of USS Callister.
01:39 – A detour into The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, starring Ben Stiller.
18:25 – Chad questions what’s wrong with baby-killing.
27:06 – We start talking about the dumpster fire that is DTube.
31:23 – Some choice morons on the DTube short bus.
34:46 – The mechanics of DTube.
42:21 – How to win friends and influence idiots.
44:31 -Deutsche Tube
Thanks for listening!
USS Callister Trailer – https://youtu.be/qgTtyfgzGc0
The Nerdstalking DTube channel – https://d.tube/#!/c/nerdstalking
Jack and Jill trailer- https://youtu.be/oJVv3PBoPMc
I realize this presentation is an assault on the visual senses, but this is the full version of the TV play of Bertolt Brecht’s Baal, by David Bowie. My recommendation to you is to zoom in to the window on the bottom left that contains the video, so you don’t see any of the effects that are designed to throw off the content ID algorithyms of Google. As far as I can see, this is the only post of the TV show in its entirety. And the immense creative power of Bowie is not diminished by reducing the image. No Earthly confinement could ever do that – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_l6jBYsQ60
Connect With Your Nerdstalkers:
Bill Hunter – writer, and creator of video game history website The Dot Eaters
Chadwick Gendron – writer, musician and creator of the Canadian Culture Thing
Our Website: http://nerdstalking.com/
Social Media Links:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NerdstalkingPod
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nerdstalking/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nerdstalking/
Bill and Chad can’t conceal that they have a bad feeling about Solo following the first trailers for the next Star Wars story, then Chad hooks us up with a breakdown of the much-anticipated character Cable, soon to light up screens in the upcoming Deadpool 2. Tune in, turn on and drop everything and listen!
Show Notes:
00:08 – Premiering the new Nerdstalking theme!
02:06 – The start of our Solo talk.
19:38 – We talk about the hilarious Deadpool 2 trailers.
22:25 – The start of our discussion of Cable. Who is this Cable guy?
32:30 – The powers of Cable.
37:12 – How will Cable fit into Deadpool 2?
40:11 – Demollition Man: A Retrospective.
Thanks for listening!
Solo: A Star Wars Story Trailer – https://youtu.be/K9PkToULL1c
Deadpool 2 Teaser Trailer – https://youtu.be/I4tFNfROlqk
Moss buys some women’s slacks on The IT Crowd: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujGCGZqwaSc
Deadpool 2 “Wet on Wet” Trailer – https://youtu.be/8-Cjsnq8kVU
Demolition Man Trailer – https://youtu.be/0B5v6QZ5R3g
Connect With Your Nerdstalkers:
Bill Hunter – writer, and creator of video game history website The Dot Eaters
Chadwick Gendron – writer, musician and creator of the Canadian Culture Thing
Our Website: http://nerdstalking.com/
Social Media Links:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NerdstalkingPod
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nerdstalking/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nerdstalking/
We declaw the Black Panther movie.
At the expense of causing fur to fly, Bill and Chad smell something pretty bad in the kitty litter as they do an extensive break-down of the 2018 Black Panther movie from Marvel. Try not to get scratched as you listen! As usual, we examine lots of details of the movie to cover all the bases with our assessment of it, so THERE BE SPOILERS!
Show Notes:
3:00 – We confront the white colonizer elephant in the room.
6:25 – Shortchanging Wakanda
10:55 – Missing impressive set-pieces
16:53 – No buttons at the end of any scene.
22:40 – Talk of not-so-special effects.
26:52 – Female empowerment.
30:45 – The Boko Haram scene.
33:21 – White boys.
38:35 – Weak motivations.
42:23 – Summing up.
Thanks for listening!
Your Nerdstalkers:
Bill Hunter – writer, and creator of video game history website The Dot Eaters
Chadwick Gendron – writer, musician and creator of the Canadian Culture Thing
