Friday, December 30, 2022

150 | After Dinner Lounge – The Wig Budget

Michael, Rob, and Pax talk about what they've been watching: TV series like Midnight Club, Andor, Stargirl, Wednesday, Mythic Quest, Willow, Perry Mason, Mare of Easttown, and A-Team “Christmas” episodes. Then there are movies like A Christmas Story Christmas, the Cannonball Run sequel Speed Zone, the Underworld series, The Shop Around the Corner, Ernest Saves Christmas, and a White Christmas live production. 

Finally, the loungers are thinking about Christmas movies. Specifically: what makes a Christmas movie, favourite Christmas movie characters, and the future of Christmas movie discussions on After Lunch.

Monday, December 26, 2022

149 | After Christmas Lounge – Bring on the Whamageddon

Michael, Rob, and Pax talk about annoying Christmas Songs, Christmas mysteries and ghost stories, Lindsey Stirling music, book forewords and introductions, Mount Westmore, X-Men: Inferno, Batman: Three Jokers, and other things they've been listening to and reading.

Friday, December 23, 2022

148 | A Christmas Carol (1910) and Scrooge (1935)

Michael and Rob welcome Mike Westfall from the Advent Calendar House podcast to discuss a pair of the oldest adaptations of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. From 1910, it's the silent version from Thomas Edison's production company. And then we talk about the 1935 film starring Seymour Hicks.

And be sure to check out Mike, Rob, and Michael's Advent Calendar House discussion from earlier this season about the 1971 cartoon that brought back Alastair Sim as the voice of Scrooge.

Wednesday, December 21, 2022

147 | Christmas Movie Menus

In a completely original idea - Nerd Lunch definitely did not do this exact same topic on Episode 320 of their show - Michael and Rob welcome Evan Hanson, Paxton Holley, and Michael DiGiovanni to help a few restaurants create special menus inspired by Christmas movies.

Monday, December 19, 2022

146 | Die Hard (1988)

This is the final rerun of Tangential Christmas Movie discussions from the old Sleigh Bell Cinema podcast and it seems appropriate to close with the poster child for these kind of movies. People love to argue about whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie, so we wouldn’t dream of spoiling where Jeeg and Michael fall on that topic.

Friday, December 16, 2022

145 | The Ref (1994)

Today we’re wrapping up Week 2 rerunning discussions of Tangential Christmas movies from the Sleigh Bell Cinema podcast. We’re actually not quite done yet, because there’s one more on Monday and it’s a doozy. But first, Jeeg and Michael talk about the Denis Leary vehicle, The Ref, from 1994. 

And if you want to hear even more on The Ref on this very feed, check the old Nerd Lunch Extra Helping episode from December 2012 where Jeeg talks about it with Carlin Trammel.

Thursday, December 15, 2022

144 | It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

Long before there was ever such a movie as Die Hard, the idea of Tangential Christmas movies was introduced by It’s a Wonderful Life. It gets played at Christmastime and has an important Christmas scene, but is it a Christmas movie? In this rerun from Michael's old Sleigh Bell Cinema podcast, he and Carlin Trammel talk about that very question.

Wednesday, December 14, 2022

143 | Holiday Inn (1942)

We’re still doing reruns about Tangential Christmas movies from the old Sleigh Bell Cinema podcast and on this episode Michael talks with Lizzie Twachtman about a Bing Crosby classic. With Fred Astaire and Marjorie Reynolds, it’s 1942’s Holiday Inn.

Tuesday, December 13, 2022

142 | Remember the Night (1940)

Continuing our reruns about Tangential Christmas movies from Michael's old Sleigh Bell Cinema podcast, this episode welcomes back Siskoid to talk about a movie that he mentioned in our discussion of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. From 1940 and starring the legendary team of Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray, it’s Remember the Night.

Monday, December 12, 2022

141 | The Thin Man (1934)

Kicking off our second week of reruns about Tangential Christmas movies from the old Sleigh Bell Cinema podcast with a discussion Michael had with our friend Kay about the 1934 classic whodunnit, The Thin Man starring William Powell and Myrna Loy.

Friday, December 9, 2022

140 | The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)

Wrapping up this first week of reruns about Tangential Christmas movies from the old Sleigh Bell Cinema podcast, Siskoid introduces Michael to an excellent French film, Jacques Demy's The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, starring Catherine Deneuve and Nino Castelnuovo. If you’ve never seen it, we highly recommend it, but you don’t need to have seen it to enjoy the discussion.

Thursday, December 8, 2022

139 | Better Off Dead... (1985)

In our next Sleigh Bell Cinema rerun, Michael talks to Shawn Robare about Savage Steve Holland's Better Off Dead... (starring John Cusack, Diane Franklin, and Curtis Armstrong) and how much it actually has to do with Christmas.

Wednesday, December 7, 2022

138 | Gremlins (1984)

In another rerun from the former Sleigh Bell Cinema podcast, Michael talks with Nerd Lunch's Jeeg about the Joe Dante almost-Christmas classic, Gremlins.

Tuesday, December 6, 2022

137 | Shazam! (2019)

This Christmas season is all about Tangential Christmas Movies on After Lunch. After our discussion of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang last episode, we're going to spend the next couple of weeks re-running discussions of other Tangential Christmas Movies from Michael's old Sleigh Bell Cinema podcast. Starting with this one about Shazam! with Michael's son, David May.

Monday, December 5, 2022

136 | Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)

Officially kicking off the Christmas season on After Lunch, Michael and Rob welcome back Jacob Bean-Watson (The Movie Connection podcast) to discuss the tangential Christmas movie, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Directed by Shane Black and starring Robert Downey Jr, Val Kilmer, and Michelle Monaghan.

Friday, December 2, 2022

135 | After Dinner Lounge – Where'd Everybody Go?

Michael, Rob, and Pax finish this month's lounge discussion with what they've been watching and thinking about, including She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, Mike Flanagan movies, Black Adam, The Sound of 007Clerks 3 and the View Askewniverse, elderly action heroes, Jack Ryan, the recent Halloween trilogy, in-universe canons, and Twitter.

Monday, November 28, 2022

134 | After Dinner Lounge – ValuKast

Michael, Rob, and Pax gather in the After Lunch After Dinner Lounge to talk about what they've been listening to and reading this month, including Agatha Christie, early Marvel comics, and James Tynion IV.

Monday, November 21, 2022

133 | Doctor Sleep

Christmas is a time for ghost stories. And though it may not be Christmas season for everyone yet, it's never too early for a haunted tale. Michael and Rob kick off what they hope is a new After Lunch tradition of November ghost stories by talking about Doctor Sleep, in which one of their favorite film directors adapts a book by one of their favorite authors.

Monday, November 14, 2022

132 | Literary Villains Sour 16

Michael and Rob welcome back Chris Bailey (aka Charlton Hero) to the show to match up the greatest literary villains of all time in an ultimate showdown to determine the absolute best. Also featuring picks from Evan Hanson, who sadly couldn't join us for the recording. 

Friday, November 11, 2022

131 | Disneyland

Michael debriefs Rob about his recent trip to Disneyland in (extremely) sunny California. Rob talks about what he liked and what he didn't, Michael adds some thoughts from his own trip there a few years ago, and they both compare it with Florida's Walt Disney World, which they're much more familiar with.

Monday, October 31, 2022

130 | The Avengers of Horror

Happy Halloween! To celebrate, Michael and Rob welcome Bloody Popcorn's Joanna back to the show along with everyone's old buddy, old pal Jeeg to create the ultimate team-up of horror characters. Each panelist nominates two members of the team as well as a bunch of honorable mentions to flesh out the cast and come up with a story worthy of them all. And possibly even tie in with the Avengers of Science Fiction, you never know.

Monday, October 24, 2022

129 | After Dinner Lounge – Don't Let Your Kids Go to Old Man Graham's House

Michael, Rob, Evan, and Pax gather in the lounge to talk about what they've been watching and thinking about, including mummy movies, zombie movies, what monsters they'd want to fight and what curses they'd prefer to have, and the scariest topic of all: cash.

Friday, October 21, 2022

128 | After Dinner Lounge – You Made Me Cry in a Burger King, You Son of a B

Michael, Rob, Evan, and Pax gather in the lounge to talk about what they've been listening to and reading, including Elvis, harpsichord music, Sherlock Holmes vs Dracula, and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

Monday, October 17, 2022

127 | Midnight Mass

Michael, Rob, and Evan confront vampires and theology in writer-director Mike Flanagan's 2021 mini-series, Midnight Mass. They talk about how the show handles vampire lore, its Stephen King influences, and the characters it creates, but mostly how it discusses big themes like faith, knowledge, addiction, sacrifice, and forgiveness. 

Monday, October 10, 2022

Down the Rabbit Hole: The Reunion

Rabbit Holers Carlin Trammel, Jeff Somogyi, and Paxton Holley reunite to celebrate the release of Carlin and artist Bill Wiist's fan-made Super Powers Superman mini-comic with an all-new Down the Rabbit Hole episode exploring the Super Friends Wiki. With guest Michael May, the group sets out to get from the mini-comic's wiki page to... Ed McMahon? Find out if they're successful and while you're at it, download both the Superman mini-comic and the newly released second issue featuring Green Lantern.

Monday, October 3, 2022

Friday, September 30, 2022

125 | After Dinner Lounge – The New Dragon Excitement

Michael, Rob, Pax, and Christian wrap up their Lounge conversation with what they've been watching and thinking about. Topics include The Sandman TV series, the resurgence of the murder mystery genre, the US healthcare system, and Mortality vs the Relentless March of Pop Culture.

Monday, September 26, 2022

124 | After Dinner Lounge – Pokémon Cards and Barbie Dreamhouses

Michael, Rob, and Pax welcome Christian Nielsen to the Lounge to talk about what they've all been listening to and reading. Among many other things, subjects include James Patterson and Brian Sitts' The Shadow novel, comics artist Art Adams, a 1970s Fantastic Four radio show narrated by Stan Lee and featuring [REDACTED] as the Human Torch, and a lot of Star Wars talk inspired by Adam Christopher's Shadow of the Sith novel.

Monday, September 19, 2022

123 | Top 10 Years Later

Michael, Pax, and Evan (yes, Evan!) welcome Noel Thingvall to the show to talk about each of their Top 10 Movies of 2012 as ranked in 2012. How do the four lists compare and are the movies on them still favorites? 

Friday, September 16, 2022

122 | Greetings from Fantasy World!

Building on Episode 27, in which an After Lunch panel created a science fiction themed amusement park, Michael, Rob, Mike Westfall, and John Vanover add to that with new lands devoted to various fantasy books and games like Assassin's Creed, Legend of Zelda, The Dresden Files, and Tolkien's Middle Earth.

Monday, September 5, 2022

121 | Star Trek: Discovery, Seasons 1 and 2

Michael, Rob, and Delaney continue trekking through Star Trek with the first couple of seasons of Star Trek: Discovery. How does it fit into other Star Trek continuity? How comprehensible are the plots? How good are the characters? It's not quite a five-year journey to uncover the answers, but it's close in this extra-long episode.

Thursday, August 25, 2022

120 | After Dinner Lounge – My Dudes

Michael, Rob, and Pax continue their rambling conversation, touching this time on Stranger Things, Obi-Wan KenobiThor: Love and Thunder, art criticism, favourite vacations, Fourth Chair Carryover Questions, and breakfast cereal traps.

Friday, August 19, 2022

119 | After Dinner Lounge – Do You Guys Have Piña Coladas?

With Evan on hiatus, Michael, Rob, and Pax talk about James Bond radio plays starring Toby Stephens, the current state of ComiXology, the Superman ‘78 and Batman ‘89 comics, and many many other things.

Monday, August 8, 2022

118 | Ocean Master's 11

We're not promising that Ocean Master actually comes up in the episode, but a bunch of other comics characters sure do. Michael, Rob, Pax, and new guest Jody Collins (the Ramblin' Man podcast) each draft a comic book Ocean's 11-style heist team to liberate a priceless artifact from an unassailable location defended by powerful guards. Listen to the episode, then head over to Twitter to vote on which team you think will succeed in the heist. 

Thursday, August 4, 2022

117 | Top Gun and Top Gun: Maverick

Michael, Rob, and Pax do a flyby (a very long, in depth flyby) on the 1986 icon, Top Gun, as well as its 2022 sequel, Top Gun: Maverick.

Monday, July 25, 2022

116 | Mystery Movie Night: Mausers, Mutara, and Monsters

Erik asks Michael, Dave, and David to guess the secret connection between the James Bond classic From Russia with Love, "Space Seed" sequel Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and Pixar's Monsters, Inc

If you haven't seen one or more of the movies, feel free to skip to the discussions of your choice:

00:01:49 - Review of From Russia with Love (1963)
00:21:55 - Review of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
00:42:40 - Review of Monsters, Inc. (2001)
01:05:59 - Guessing the Connection

Monday, July 18, 2022

115 | After Dinner Lounge – Save My Farts

Michael, Rob, Evan, and Pax convene for one last (with this configuration, for now) conversation about what they've been watching and thinking about. Topics include Moon Knight, the Jurassic Park series, fatherhood, and a special announcement from Evan. 

Monday, July 4, 2022

114 | After Dinner Lounge – Acorn Bread

Michael, Rob, Evan, and Pax gather in the lounge for another rambling conversation about what they've been listening to and reading. This time, the discussion touches on (among many other things) Henry David Thoreau's Walden, the history of Nerd Lunch, Garry Trudeau's Doonesbury, and Paper Girls by Brian K Vaughan and Cliff Chiang.

Monday, June 27, 2022

113 | Battle of the Fictional Bands

Michael and Rob welcome back old friends Carlin Trammel and William Bruce West to discover who the Ultimate Fictional Musician is. Each panelist nominates four bands or solo musicians to face off against each other, Sweet 16 tournament-style. There can be only one champion, but the fun is in the discussion and laughter along the way.

Monday, June 20, 2022

112 | Dead Poets Society (1989)

Michael and Rob welcome new friend Jacob Bean-Watson of the Movie Connection podcast to start a series of conversations about high school movies. They talk a little about high school movies in general before digging into the characters and themes of their first pick: Dead Poets Society starring Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, and Ethan Hawke. If it's been a while since you've seen the movie, it's time to rewatch it and listen to this great discussion.

Monday, June 13, 2022

111 | Bond Novels: On Her Majesty's Secret Service

Michael continues his solo exploration of Fleming's Bond novels with On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Written after the release of the Dr No film, OHMSS references the movie is some interesting ways while also continuing the Blofeld saga begun in the novel Thunderball. And then there's Tracy Draco, who may or may not be as cool in the book as she is in the later film adaptation. 

Featuring music by Hugo Montenegro, as well as David Arnold and Iggy Pop.

Monday, June 6, 2022

110 | The Avengers of Sci-Fi

Michael, Rob, and Evan welcome Michael's long-time friend DeAndre to the podcast to create the ultimate team of science fiction characters. Plucking favorite characters from various sci-fi subgenres, the panel not only creates an amazing all-star team, but also an adventure worthy of them. 

Monday, May 30, 2022

109 | After Dinner Lounge – I Derailed You With Farts

Michael, Rob, Evan, and Pax continue this month's Lounge discussion with topics like live music, changing attitudes with age, and of course... multiverses. They talk about their own personal multiverses, but also lots of spoilery conversation about Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

If you haven't seen Doc Strange 2 and would like to be unspoiled, it's best if you see the movie before listening to this episode. But if you'd like to listen to the rest of the podcast and skip the bulk of the Doctor Strange discussion, the biggest spoilers are between 00:32:35 and 00:51:07, and then again from 01:13:31 to 01:32:10. Though we can't promise that something didn't sneak in outside those time frames. 

Monday, May 23, 2022

108 | After Dinner Lounge – Distant Waterfall

Michael, Rob, Evan, and Pax chat about what they've been listening to and reading lately with special attention given to old comic strips, Star Trek novels, Percy Jackson vs The Kane Chronicles, and Michael's audio quality (for which we apologize). This week's musical guest is Death Cab for Cutie. No Infringement is Intended.

Monday, May 16, 2022

107 | Avengers Assemble, Season 1

Michael and Rob are joined by Michael's son, David May, to talk about the first season of the Avengers Assemble cartoon, how it compares to the MCU, and whether or not they'll ever speak of this again.

Wednesday, May 11, 2022

106 | Dr No (1962)

Michael, Rob, and Karen Flieger discuss the first James Bond feature film: how it compares to the Fleming novel while setting the stage for the 60-year (and running) series of movies about the world's favorite super spy. 

Monday, May 2, 2022

105 | Mystery Movie Night: Memories, Matchsticks, and Mountains

Evan asks Dave, David, Erik, and Michael to find the hidden connection (other than the fact that none of them are English-language films) between Solaris (1972), Le Dîner de Cons (1998), and Force Majeure (2014).

If you haven't seen one or more of the movies, feel free to skip to the discussions of your choice:

00:02:10 - Review of Solaris (1972)
00:16:12 - Review of Le Dîner de Cons (1998)
00:30:57 - Review of Force Majeure (2014)
00:51:24 - Guessing the Connection

Monday, April 25, 2022

104 | Holodeck Party

Michael and Rob welcome back Corinna Bechko and Ben Graham to adapt books and movies into Star Trek holonovels. Each panelist picks a character from the source material that they want to play and then invites Star Trek characters to take on other roles. But in true Star Trek fashion, everything does not go smoothly on the holodeck and strange glitches occur to complicate and change the stories.

Opening and closing music by Andrew Allen.

Friday, April 22, 2022

103 | After Dinner Lounge – Tubi or Not Tubi

Evan, Michael, Pax, and Rob ramble about the Hardy Boys, Batman, kids, surprising personality traits, and how to watch TV. Among many other things.


Monday, April 18, 2022

102 | After Dinner Lounge – There's Always Been Asses

Evan, Michael, Pax, and Rob enjoy a rambling conversation about The Sandman, Ringu (and The Ring), Cyclops’ heat vision, Black Panther comics, and ever so much more.