Gobbledygeek

Why talk about a mega-blockbuster sure to be seen by every casual movie fan in the planet when you can talk about a Sam Raimi deep cut from a quarter-century ago? In belated celebration of the 25th anniversary of Raimi's first superhero movie, 1990's Liam Neeson-starring Darkman, Paul and AJ take the fucking elephant, getting down and dirty with the film's idiosyncrasies. Including the question: what draws AJ to those idiosyncrasies, and what keeps Paul at arm's length? The boys discuss auteurism, artifice, a superhero's moral code, and much more.

Next: a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, Kenn Edwards and Andrew Allen join us to discuss the Star Wars saga.

Penultimate installments are tricky. They need to deliver on longstanding character arcs and plot threads while at the same time ensuring everything is in place for the finale just so. As tricky a balance as the one between life and death, one might say. Is it possible that Paul, AJ, and The Debatable Podcast's Greg Sahadachny manage that balance with the penultimate installment of their Four-Color Flashback series discussing Jeff Smith's Bone better than Smith himself does with Vol. VIII: Treasure Hunters? Maybe so. The boys discuss their weariness of the series' ever-expanding mythology and continuous infodumps, while debating whether or not anything of note actually occurs in this volume. They try and say some kind things, too. Plus, even more boning with a discussion of the Kurt Russell Western Bone Tomahawk.

Next: Paul and AJ throw a belated celebration for the 25th anniversary of Sam Raimi's first superhero film, Darkman.

This week, Paul and AJ enter into their very first three-way with none other than Greg Sahadachny of The Debatable Podcast and All the Pieces Matter. That's right, it's a veritable ménage à geek, as the gang undergoes a tri-part Geek Challenge featuring as much paranoia as they could cram into one podcast. In reverse chronological order, we've got Guy Hamilton's 1985 cult movie (does this thing have a cult?) Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, wherein Fred Ward and a regrettably racist Joel Ward try to take out a secret government weapon; 1977's Black Sunday, a John Frankenheimer would-be blockbuster wherein Robert Shaw's Mossad agent tries to stop Bruce Dern before he kills 80,000 Americans at the Super Bowl; and lastly, Alan J. Pakula's 1974 conspiracy thriller classic The Parallax View, which features Warren Beatty uncovering a cynical government plot. Lots of distrust, misdirection, and bloodshed here. Or as we like to call it, just another episode of Gobbledygeek.

Next: Greg Sahadachny is back for the penultimate installment in our Four-Color Flashback series on Jeff Smith's Bone. This time, the boys tackle Vol. VIII: Treasure Hunters

There's a starman waiting in the sky, and his name is Mark Watney. Back in February, we talked a whole bunch (some would argue too much) about the Red Planet's greatest botanist when we hosted a Gobbledy-Book Club discussion of Andy Weir's The Martian. Now, Paul and AJ have reconvened the Book Club--Wanna Cook? author Ensley F. Guffey, So Let's Get to the Point's Kenn Edwards, and the all-around amazing Hallie Prime--to tackle Ridley Scott's star-studded film adaptation. Is there a certain amount of character-building shorthand a filmmaker can accomplish by casting familiar faces? Is the film really the story of a band of precocious potato plants? Does Matt Damon have the chops to be stranded all by his lonesome? And most contentiously...does the science hold up? All this and more, plus what pop culture the gang is excited for.

Next: The Debatable Podcast's Greg Sahadachny joins us for our very first Geek Challenge three-way. The movies the boys have challenged each other to this time are Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, Black Sunday, and The Parallax View.