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We told ya we’d do it and here it is! Films last week, albums this week, next week… the world! Here’s the convoluted link to Jonathan Glazer’s new short film: https://us.strasbourg1518.film/?goal=0_745cb9c02a-6c8e2ecfb1-4713887&mc_cid=6c8e2ecfb1&mc_eid=271eed0a45 00:00 Intro (Kanye, Portland, Trump, NBA)53:30 Albums of the Year, 11-601:42:00 Albums of the Year, 5-102:17:30 Wrap-Up & Recommendations

It’s all in the title today, baby. We realize the Intros are super bummers… sorry ‘bout that! Life is a bummer right now! Feel free to skip to the movie stuff if you’d like, no judgment! Also: Black Lives Matter. 00:00 Intro (Schools re-opening(?), traveling during Covid)44:00 Top Films of the Half-Year, 10-601:32:00 Top Films of the Half-Year, 5-102:24:00 Wrap-Up & Recommendations

Hamilton is available to stream on Disney+! That is exciting! Tom discusses his multi-year obsession with the show, while Phil welcomes himself as a newcomer to the world of Hamilton, one of the truly great, genre-defying musicals to ever hit the stage. The hype is real, but remember: don’t go in EXPECTING it to be your new favorite thing; just understand that it is a new, monumental thing — the former is subjective, the latter is objective. Understand the difference and you won’t let the hype machine bog you down! Next, as we record over the July 4th weekend, we each introduce our personal Jaws Memorial July 4th Movies Mt Rushmore, in whatever way we define a “July 4th” movie. The Mt Rushmore is named after Jaws because, let’s be real — Jaws would’ve been our collective #1. Jaws forever! 00:00 Intro (Fireworks, Crazy Neighbors, Drive-Ins, Romantic Bookstores)31:30 Hamilton01:37:30 July 4th Movie Mt Rushmore(s)02:19:30 Wrap-Up / Recs

We’re back with more Spike Lee celebration, this time around focusing primarily on his work in documentary — particularly the quietly devastating 4 LITTLE GIRLS (1997) & the absolutely essential WHEN THE LEVEES BROKE: A REQUIEM IN FOUR ACTS (2006). Enjoy, y’all, and go browse all your streaming platforms, because Spike’s work is everywhere, he’s a national treasure and worth your time and attention. 00:00 Intro: The Week in Politics, Coronavirus, Movies Re-Opening52:00 Spike Lee Pt. 201:58:30 Our Spike Lee TOP FIVES02:15:00 Wrap-Up & Recommendations

Well, Spike Lee pt. 2 is on hold as we decided to give ourselves more time to watch more of his stuff. Meanwhile, we have a fun week of new releases! First we delve into the new Pete Davidson “almost a biopic,” THE KING OF STATEN ISLAND, which co-stars stand-up king Bill Burr, with Judd Apatow at the helm. Then, we go over Judd’s influence on the Hollywood comedy scene over the past 25+ years, as a director and especially as a producer. Seriously, y’all, dude’s got his fingerprints everywhere. It’s impressive. Then, we take a swim in an epic weekend of new music releases, covering FOUR major artists’ new albums: Teyana Taylor’s 77-minute follow-up to the Kanye-produced KTSE from 2018; Bob Dylan’s first album of new music since 2012 with ROUGH AND ROWDY WAYS; Neil Young’s long-lost mid-70s gem, HOMEGROWN; and Phoebe Bridgers continues her dominance of the pop music landscape with PUNISHER. Put on some headphones, open up the Genius lyrics app, and enjoy! Here is the link to Khalik Allah’s short film, URBAN RASHOMON: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpL6ItH-zno 00:00 Intro32:00 King of Staten Island & Judd Apatow01:30:00 The Week in New Music02:30:00 Wrap-Up & Recs

Spike Lee comes out with a new movie, just in time. Perfectly topical story that alternates between modern day and the Vietnam War… we talk about it. Also, Dave Chappelle dropped a surprise set on Netflix’s YouTube page, a 27-minute monologue that isn’t very funny, but incredibly raw, powerful, and appropriate. It’s a must-watch, everyone. Finally, we begin our two-part series delving into Spike’s career as a filmmaker, focusing primarily on his bigger titles from the late-80s through the mid-90s. Next week we will continue the discussion while including his work in documentary, shorts, and music videos (or “short films” as Spike calls them, so we will too — short films!). Listen, rate, subscribe, and go check out Da 5 Bloods on Netflix! 00:00 Intro43:50 Dave Chappelle’s “8:46”01:05:30 Da 5 Bloods01:33:15 Spike Lee Retrospective, Pt. 102:19:00 Wrap-Up & Recs

Big week, folks. Big, big week. For us, as nerds? Sure. For America? Oh, absofuckinglutely. 50k marched in Los Angeles. Change is coming, and in some cases, it’s already come. To be continued. After a discussion of all the History In the Making, good and bad, we move on to a discussion of Run the Jewels’ fourth album, appropriately titled “RTJ4.” It’s… quite good, and probably has the verse of 2020, if you ask us. Following this, we wrap up our first entry in our Classic Blind Spots series, with the final five episodes of Neon Genesis: Evangelion, plus the follow-up feature, The End of Evangelion. What a treat this journey has been. Listen for specifics, and SPOILER WARNINGS, AHOY! Please, just watch it all. There’s nothing like NGE. Here’s a link to the series of NGE-related essays Tom mentions in the episode: https://mubi.com/notebook/posts/tag/Neon%20Genesis%20Evangelion%20Rewatch Black Lives Matter! 00:00 Intro33:20 RTJ401:15:00 NGE02:15:00 Wrap-Up & Recs

(THIS EPISODE IS A DAY LATE IN HONOR OF BLACKOUT TUESDAY) We recorded this last week, when the world was already going to shit in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. Since we recorded, things have escalated dramatically. Tom & Phil fully support the BLM movement. We’re releasing this episode to stay on schedule, and after an Intro segment where we discuss the state of the nation, we continue on with talks of romcoms, Carly Rae Jepsen, and NGE eps 15-21. Listen if you’d like, but please, don’t take solace in distractions. We are in a crisis point. Silence is complicity. White folks like me, Phil, and any listening need to stand with our black brothers and sisters. No one can sit on the sidelines anymore. Sign the Justice for George Floyd petition here: https://www.change.org/p/mayor-jacob-frey-justice-for-george-floyd Please donate if you can and where you see fit. Everything helps! 00:00 Intro41:00 Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Dedicated Side B”01:04:00 The Lovebirds & The Wrong Missy01:35:30 Classic Blind Spots 1.3: NGE eps 15-2102:13:15 Wrap-Up & Recs

Hope y’all jabronis enjoyed the shorter episode last week because we are back on our bullshit this time! After discussing the newly announced “Snyder Cut” of DC’s Justice League movie, we wrap up our discussion of the truly fantastic, 10-hour ESPN documentary, “The Last Dance,” before diving in to episodes 8-14 of the progressively weird (and intriguing!) Neon Genesis: Evangelion in our Classic Blind Spots series part 1.2! Finally, Phil eulogizes the wonderful director Lynn Shelton, who tragically passed away at the tender age of only 54. People, go watch one of her movies — she was a true indie maverick and deserves all the credit in the world for making movies her way. She will be missed. 00:00 Intro18:50 The Snyder Cut & Streaming42:30 The Last Dance ends01:40:00 NGE eps 8-1402:15:30 RIP Lynn Shelton

A short ep for you guys, finally! We told ya we’d do it! This one’s barely over an hour! That’s short for us, OK?We spend the episode (after some catching up) discussing our history with ANIME, before diving into Part 1.1 of our Classic Blind Spots series — the influential, colossal anime series, Neon Genesis Evangelion! We discuss our thoughts on the first half dozen eps. Over the next three weeks, we will cover the entirety of the series, plus the addendum film, released one year after the series finale. Enjoy! Anime is fun! Any anime recommendations, send them our way! 00:00 Intro07:00 Capone & Tom Hardy19:50 Anime!29:30 NGE, eps 1-654:00 Wrap-Up & Recs

These episodes are too long and we are truly sorry. We are going to actively try and cut down on the length in the future. But we just LOVE THIS SHIT. The back half of the episode is all about 2020 music releases, with the highlight being Fiona Apple’s insta-classic, “Fetch the Bolt Cutters.” The first half is a roundup of a few stories and news pieces — the highlight being a really pathetic fight Phil & Tom have over a Josh Trank article that you can read here: https://www.polygon.com/2020/5/5/21246679/josh-trank-capone-interview-fantastic-four-chronicle (it’s a really great piece by Matt Patches at Polygon, we highly recommend reading if you’re interested in directors, Hollywood, and/or crash-and-burn-and-resurrection stories! 00:00 Intro19:50 The National Theatre’s Frankenstein29:50 Parks & Rec’s Fundraiser Special43:50 Josh Trank Discussion01:11:50 Fiona!01:39:30 Other 2020 Music02:10:50 Wrap-up/Recs

Focused discussions have returned! How fun! First, we discuss the explosive battle between Universal Studios and AMC theaters, a battle for the future of film distribution that went from 0 to 100 VERY quickly. Next, we discuss the new Academy Award rule changes (just for next year(?)), before we dive into the brilliant ESPN documentary series, “The Last Dance.” From there, we transition into a brief discussion of the Ben Affleck-led sports drama, “The Way Back,” before wrapping up with some recommendations while we’re all hunkered down at home. Not every episode will be two hours long, we promise! It’s just nice to socialize right now, even if it’s over the dang computer! 00:00 Intro/Coronavirus Talk28:15 AMC vs Universal50:25 Oscars & Streaming57:35 The Last Dance01:42:00 The Way Back02:01:00 Wrap-Up/ Recommendations

Welcome back, us! It’s great to be back! Phil & I are excited to return to the podcast fold — with all the current downtime, we figured what better place than here… what better time than now? What song is that from? Who cares! Google it! You have time, too! Anyway, this is an unstructured episode, just getting back into the swing of things, future eps will be specific — if you wanna do some homework so you can listen along and hate our opinions about things, might I suggest listening to the new Fiona Apple album? Or watching the Chicago Bulls doc on ESPN? Or streaming Neon Genesis Evangelion on Netflix? We will discuss those, and more! Listen to the episode to discover what that MORE means! Love to you all, it’s good to be back!

Guess who’s back? Back again? Nerds is back. Eat some ham. That’s right! After a four-month hiatus, Tom & Phil return with some focus, finally. After nearly 20 episode of How’s That Day?, we could no longer deny the obvious: we’re movie guys, guys! So that’s what we’re focusing on going forward. More specifically, we’ve decided to rebrand the show in a way that focuses (mostly) on upcoming entries in ongoing movie franchises! Your Bumblebees, your Crimes of your Grindelwalds, your Phantasm Ravagings, etc. Here’s the idea: we make a couple episodes discussing previous entries in an ongoing film series, leading up to the new release of this newest… release. Then, we dish and dash about the new movie, discuss the series as a whole, yadda yadda yadda how’s ya father, you get the idea. Interestingly, we begin with a rather unusual film series: M. Night Shyamalan’s superhero trilogy, which consists of Unbreakable (2000), Split (2017), and the upcoming Glass (2019). This episode deals with Unbreakable, next week we discuss Split, and we round up the trilogy with episode three, all about Glass. Make sense? Cool. Come along for the ride!

Longest break yet. Whatever, y’all. Nobody pays us to do this shit, and nobody ever will! But we’re happy to be back. Since we took so long to get around to things, there’s not much focus to this one. We talk politics and whatnot, specifically about John McCain’s complicated legacy, before discussing the upcoming A Star is Born remake, the (now-scrapped) new Popular Film Oscar category, and Tom recommends all the 2018 films he saw in August, before Phil gives a fitting tribute to the late, great, Aretha. 00:00 Intro 25:00 Politics & McCain 51:00 Oscars Talk 01:18:00 Wrap-Up & Recommendations

This week, we draw back the curtains and get PERSONAL! The idea initially was to do “20 Questions,” but we got through, like, five questions and then were suddenly at two hours because we love talking about ourselves LOL JAJA. Anyway enjoy I guess. Sorry. 00:00 Intro 33:50 Twenty Questions* 02:00:00 Wrap-Up & Recommendations *not really

Had to get a little serious today, y’all. Hope that’s OK. But there’s so much happening in the world, and recently, alt-right trolls have started attacking performers (who have one notable commonality — they’re vocally anti-Trump on Twitter) with disingenuous smear campaigns. You can call this liberal tears, whatever you want. Doesn’t change the truth of what’s happening. So we discuss it. That’s not to lump in our later conversation about Chris Hardwick into that problem. That’s a different situation entirely, but another with complexity to it beyond the extreme shouting you may be reading on social media. So we try to have a civil discourse about that issue, as well. Finally, we get into Sacha Baron Cohen’s new show, Who Is America?, and laugh (through tears) about the willingness many political shills share regarding the selling of their souls. Guys, girls, we have to communicate better. That’s the point of this episode. Don’t feed the trolls, learn about nuance, be genuine, listen to each other, and be willing to have a goddamn conversation. Also, vote. 00:00 Intro09:10 James Gunn Fired & Other Hollywood Controversies48:50 Who Is America?01:05:45 Wrap-Up & Recommendations

Boys and Ghouls, if you like DRAMA, you’ll love this shitshow of an episode! Tom & Phil discuss the new Jurassic World movie and GET. IN. TO. THE. SHIT. One takes the side of a movie whore; the other decides to be a pretentious asshat. You’ll have to listen to find out who is who(m)! After that, “the boys” discuss the pure joy of Incredibles 2. I guess it’s a sequel episode, huh? Should’ve just called the episodes “SEQUELS!” But promoting that JUICY, JUICY DRAMA is what slinging that ‘tent is all about. Enjoy, nerds! 00:00 Intro 16:40 Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom 01:04:00 Incredibles 2 01:22:00 Planning Future Episodes 01:29:30 Wrap-Up & Recommendations

Lists! LISTS LISTS LISTS! God oh man oh boy or gurl I love lists!!! Phil enjoys them too, more or less. Anyway, I'll be brief. Phil and Tom discuss their respective top ten lists of the year (plus a few honorable mentions brought up, natch), then briefly mention some anticipated films coming out later in the year. We meant to discuss our Top Tens of 1998, but the discussion ran long. But DO. NOT. FEAR. We will make that a Part Two to this discussion, and release it sometime before the calendar year expires! We promise! Please, don't panic! Young man climb off that ledge RIGHT FRIGGIN NOW!!! 00:00 Intro19:30 Our 2018-Midpoint Top 10 Lists 01:13:00 Upcoming 2018 Films01:22:25 Wrap-Up & Recommendations

Big Strong Boys Tom and Phil get into the latest offering from A24, the horror/drama "Hereditary." This is the longest review yet! 50 minutes long, and Phil had to cut us off like a dang taskmaster. We could've gone on and on about this one, labels and golems! Spoilers, ahoy! Next, Phil assigned Tom some more reading, so we discuss an article featured in Vice about the company MoviePass, and their goals. Like, what are they trying to do, anyway? Seems unsustainable. I dunno. Finally, a great piece in Vulture about Netflix's methodology at the upper levels of the business. Really fascinating read, and we discuss in equally fascinating measure! Enjoy! MoviePass article: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/4355xn/ted-farnsworth-moviepass-interview-on-business-model Netflix article: http://www.vulture.com/2018/06/how-netflix-swallowed-tv-industry.html 00:00 Intro 20:20 Hereditary Review 01:09:45 MoviePass, Netflix, & Commodifying Data 01:30:20 Wrap-Up & Recommendations