317 | Witches Spooky 16

Michael and Rob welcome back Joanna from Bloody Popcorn and Becky Tyler to talk about our favorite pop culture witches. And of course also to put them into brackets and vote on them until we decide on the ultimate witch of all time.

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316 | After Midnight – Ghost Stories 2

Michael and Jess continue watching Mike Mignola's 20 Horror Movies That He Can't Live Without. This time it's all ghost stories with The Innocents (1961), The Haunting (1963), and The Others (2001). 

If you especially like movies about ghosts, this makes a phantasmic follow up to Episode 286 where Michael, Jess, and their friend Darla discussed three other ghost movies: Poltergeist (1982), The Orphanage (2007), and The Woman in Black (2012).

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315 | The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006)

Michael, Rob, and Pax continue drifting the Fast and the Furious drift with the third drift: Tokyo Drift. It's time to drift goodbye to Brian and drift hello with Sean, Han, and Twinkie. 

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314 | The World Is Not Enough (1999)

After a fun exercise in which they create their own one-off Bond films, Michael, Rob, and Karen discuss the tone, the villains, and the Christmas Jones of Pierce Brosnan's third Bond film (and Desmond Llewelyn's last), The World Is Not Enough. Also starring Sophie Marceau, Denise Richards, and Robert Carlyle, and directed by Michael Apted.

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313 | After Dinner Lounge – Khan-text

Michael, Rob, and Pax talk about the Scream movies, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Agatha All Along, Sherlock Holmes live theater, Alien: Romulus, relistening to yourself on podcasts, Yellowjackets, Omen movies, and more.

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312 | After Dinner Lounge – Cool Jerk

Michael, Rob, and Pax talk about rescuing princesses, refrigerator delivery, Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey, comfort media, Mary and the Birth of Frankenstein by Anne Eekhout, Pax's revisiting early Nerd Lunch, Kill Creek by Scott Thomas, and so much more.

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311 | Drama and Miscellaneous TV Themes Sweet 16

Michael and Rob welcome back Carlin Trammel from last week and also John Vanover to nominate and vote on TV themes from dramas or any other genres that didn't fall into one of the previous categories we've covered. It's an especially eclectic hodge podge of musical styles this episode (making it particularly difficult to vote) in our road to determine the greatest TV theme song of all time.

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310 | Action and Mystery TV Themes Sweet 16

These TV themes Sweet 16s aren't getting any easier. This time, Michael and Rob are joined by Paxton Holley and Carlin Trammel to agonize over, nominate, and vote on our favorite opening themes from action and mystery shows. It may be an impossible mission, but we'll open a bottle of magnum and try to become the greatest American heroes as we reveal the unsolved mystery of the best action/mystery theme ever.

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309 | Rod La Rocque as The Shadow

Michael and Rob travel back to the late 1930s for the first screen adaptations of the pulp hero The Shadow. The Shadow Strikes (1937) and International Crime (1938) both star Rod La Rocque as the Shadow, or at least Lamont Cranston. Or Granston. We'll get into it.

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308 | Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

After largely agreeing about GoldenEye, Michael, Rob, and Karen are divided once again. We differ about the enjoyability of Tomorrow Never Dies, Pierce Brosnan's second turn as James Bond with Jonathan Pryce as an over-the-top villain, Michelle Yeoh as a butt-kicking rival agent, Teri Hatcher as the never-before-revealed love of Bond's life, and a heart-breaking tale of two theme songs. 

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307 | After Dinner Lounge – Doctor Octavian

Michael, Rob, and Pax stay up late talking about The Alienist, Avenue 5, Presumed Innocent, Sugar, The Six Million Dollar Man, Batman: Caped Crusader, Cleopatra movies, The Cat from Outer Space, Zardoz, Murder on the Orient Express movies, the Time Bandits TV series, Mayor of Kingstown, Deadpool & Wolverine, Knox Goes Away, Under Paris, generation gaps, The Man from Atlantis, Sealab 2020, Borderlands, Jackpot!, Guitar Hero, and more.

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306 | After Dinner Lounge – Relax Your Eyes

After a quick conversation with Evan about ancient history, Michael, Rob, and Pax discuss Jedi gloves, Tomb Raider, Star Trek video games, salsa, Masterpiece by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev, DC's Dark Knights of Steel event, a Ghostbusters oral history, Starter Villain by John Scalzi, Charlesgate Confidential by Scott Von Doviak, Sisters of the Neversea by Cynthia Leitich Smith, Ensign Flandry by Poul Anderson, The Space Between by Corinna Bechko and Danny Luckert, Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie, when to quit a book or TV series, and more.

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305 | After Midnight – Black Sunday and The Witch

Michael and Jess talk about a couple of Mike Mignola's favorite movies about witches: Black Sunday (1960) and The Witch (2015). Plus Spirit Halloween, Maxine Minx, remakes, and strangely enough: Tarzan.

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304 | Jetpack Tiger – A Rebuttal of Animation as a TV Themes Category

The Return of Jetpack Tiger! In response to our episode on the Cartoons and Kids TV Show Themes Sweet 16, Dashiell and Carlin Trammel critique the decision to include the medium of animation as a separate category that competes with live action genres like sitcoms and action shows. Should animated shows be included with live action shows of similar genres?

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303 | Cartoons and Kids TV Show Themes Sweet 16

Michael and Rob welcome Ben Graham, Kay, and Pax to talk about the greatest cartoon and kids show theme songs of all time. Only sixteen tunes can go in the brackets, but there are honorable mentions galore. Even so, we've undoubtedly left out some great ones, so let us know your favorites!

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302 | 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)

Michael, Rob, and Pax ditch Dom and Mia for Roman, Tej, Monica, and Suki. And talk about whether or not that was a good move.

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301 | GoldenEye (1995)

Michael, Rob, and Karen watch Pierce Brosnan's introduction as James Bond and talk about how well GoldenEye rebooted and reinvigorated the series after a few years' break post-Licence to Kill. Directed by Martin Campbell, the movie also features Sean Bean, Izabella Scorupco, Famke Janssen, Joe Don Baker, Robbie Coltrane, Alan Cumming, and introduces Judi Dench as the new M.

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300 | After Dinner Lounge – Corporation Defamation

Michael, Rob, and Pax talk about Marvel’s Indiana Jones comics, DC/Marvel crossovers, Marvel novels, Deadpool and Wolverine pre-work, movies about the Greek Empire and the rise of Rome, the Despicable Me movies, Tár, the Ti West/Mia Goth Maxine movies, Clone Wars, Kimba the White Lion, Marvel’s Blood Hunt event and other comics, Ernest Hemingway, favorite movie props, IF, the final season of Star Trek: Discovery, Season 3 of Bridgerton, Delicious in Dungeon, John Lennon's supergroup The Dirty Mac, and ever so much more.

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299 | After Dinner Lounge – Like a Vergence

Michael, Rob, Pax, and Evan talk about snakes, TV shows and documentaries about politicians, Lawmen: Bass Reeves, sequel novels to Star Trek TOS episodes, Classic Nerd Lunch, Furiosa, Brats, the Beverly Hills Cop movies, Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1, The Boys, Cobra Kai, X-Men cartoons, Ripley, space cat novels, Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? and other stuff by Agatha Christie, The Acolyte, and much much more.

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298 | TV Sitcom Themes Sweet 16

Michael and Rob welcome Jeeg and Mike Westfall to help nominate 16 favorite TV sitcom theme songs, then vote on them until we determine the single greatest TV sitcom theme of all time. This was crazy hard with some impossible decisions, so let us know what we forgot and which themes should have advanced further in the tournament.

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297 | The American Ring Movies

Michael and Jess discuss their love for Samara Morgan in Gore Verbinski's 2002 US remake of Ringu (1998). They also talk about whether the sequels are any good: the short film Rings (2005), The Ring Two (2005), and the feature-length Rings (2017).

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296 | Licence to Kill (1989)

Michael, Rob, and Karen wrap up 1980s James Bond as well as Timothy Dalton's too short time on the series with Licence to Kill. It's one of Rob's favorites, but not so much one of Michael's. And it's Karen's first time seeing it. So there's a lot to unpack as always.

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295 | Paramount Superman Cartoons

Michael, Rob, and Pax are going to kill time between Fast and Furious episodes by watching some old superhero stuff. We're starting with the wildly influential Superman cartoons released by Paramount in the early 1940s. The first nine were produced by Fleischer Studios and their fingerprints are also all over the eight that followed by a renamed studio under different leadership. Because of that, all seventeen are usually referred to as the Fleischer Superman cartoons and we talk about the whole set: what worked, what didn't, and what went on to inspire not just future cartoons, but even the comics themselves.

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294 | I Read Movies: The Shadow

We continue our celebration of The Shadow's 30th anniversary with this special podcast crossover episode! Paxton Holley brings his I Read Movies podcast to After Lunch for a special look at James Luceno's Shadow novelization, based on the screenplay by David Koepp.

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293 | The Shadow (1994)

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Russell Mulcahy's The Shadow, Michael and Rob welcome superfans of the movie, Paxton Holley and Adam Pope. The conversation covers the ups, the downs, and the impressive cast featuring Alec Baldwin, Penelope Ann Miller, John Lone, Peter Boyle, Ian McKellen, Tim Curry, Jonathan Winters, James Hong, Al Leong, John Kapelos, Max Wright, Ethan Phillips, and Robert Trebor.

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292 | Rob's European Vacation

Rob talks with Michael and Pax about his recent visit to France and England with his wife to celebrate their 30th Wedding Anniversary. There's sightseeing in Paris and the French countryside, mealtime scheming on the cruise ship, and a trip to Highclere Castle (aka Downton Abbey)!

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291 | Movie Tie-In Glasses

Michael and Rob are joined by Carlin Trammel and Michael DiGiovanni to talk about collectible movie tie-in glasses. They discuss various ones they've collected over the years, including recent ones. But the highlight of the episode is when each panelist creates a whole line of four glasses for a movie that never got them. Carlin even created mock-ups of his line, which you can see below (click to enlarge).

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290 | CT Talks to Infinity Con

Carlin Trammel returns to the podcast feed for a special interview with David Heringer, organizer of the Infinity Con entertainment convention. They talk about the history of the show, why events like it are necessary, and the next one coming to Tallahassee, Florida on July 6 and 7.

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289 | The Fast and the Furious (2001)

Michael, Rob, and Pax begin a new series of episodes covering the Fast and Furious movies, starting of course with the introduction of Brian, Dom, Mia, and Letty (and alright, Vince) in Rob Cohen's The Fast and the Furious. And because it's just the way we are, we also talk a little about John Ireland and Edward Sampson's 1954 film of the same name that also stars Ireland and Dorothy Malone.

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288 | After Midnight – The Thing & Jacob's Ladder

Michael and Jess investigate a couple of movies on Mike Mignola's 20 Horror Movies I Can’t Live Without. A lot of the movies on Mignola's list have common themes - vampires, witches, ghosts, etc. - but The Thing (1982) and Jacob's Ladder (1990) were outliers, so we decided to start with them. 

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287 | The Living Daylights (1987)

Michael, Rob, and Karen welcome Timothy Dalton to the James Bond films in The Living Daylights. After the mostly over-the-top Roger Moore era, the series gets back to basics with Dalton's realistic, angry, but also charming take on 007.

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286 | Fithy Horrors Rerun – Ghost Stories

In this rerun from the old Filthy Horrors podcast, Michael, Jess, and Darla eat at a haunted restaurant and then talk about three of their favorite ghost movies: Poltergeist (1982), The Orphanage (2007), and The Woman in Black (2012). 

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285 | After Dinner Lounge – Not My Sigmund Freud

Michael, Pax, and Becky wrap up this month's Lounge talking about whether adapters of things need to be fans of the original material, X-Men movies, giant monster movies, John Hughes movies, Challengers and other sports movies, Monkey Man, Boy Kills World, The Fall Guy, Bridgerton, and more.

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284 | After Dinner Lounge – Sin River

With Rob out of the country, Becky Tyler joins Michael and Pax in the lounge to talk about LiveJournal, The Phantom Menace, Gold Diggers of 1933, Lisa Frankenstein, Abigail, The First Omen, Late Night with the Devil, Immaculate, old Nerd Lunch episodes, the Fast and Furious movies, Jed MacKay’s Moon Knight, Remo Williams, God of Fire by Helen Steadman, The Princess Bride by William Goldman, PG Wodehouse's Jeeves stories, and more.

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283 | Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024)

The After Lunch Planet of the Apes movie panel joins the After Lunch Planet of the Apes TV panel to talk about the all-new Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes! Michael, Rob, Pax, and Jacob Bean-Watson welcome the new trilogy of Planet of the Apes films with this first entry directed by Wes Ball and starring Owen Teague, Freya Allan, Peter Macon, and Kevin Durand.

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282 | Ultimate Villains Sour 16

After four episodes determining our favorite villains from literature, comics, TV, and movies, Michael and Rob welcome Joanna from Bloody Popcorn and Pax to help decide the ultimate villain from all media types. Rather than nominate candidates, the panel works together to seed the Final Fours from each of the previous match-ups (episodes 132, 209, 263, and 275, if you like) into brackets. And then, as usual, we vote on them until we reach the ultimate champion.

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281 | A View to a Kill (1985)

Michael, Rob, and Karen dance into the fire and board the iceberg submarine to talk about Roger Moore's final performance as James Bond in A View to a Kill. Also starring Grace Jones, Christopher Walken, Tanya Roberts, and Patrick Macnee.

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280 | After Midnight – Universal Mummies, Part 2

After discussing the horrors of car repair and the new Omen prequel, The First Omen, Michael and Jess finally wrap up their exploration of the Universal monster movies. They talk about the last two mummy movies (both from 1944): The Mummy's Ghost and The Mummy's Curse.

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279 | War for the Planet of the Apes (2017)

Michael, Rob, and Pax discuss the wrap up to the Planet of the Apes reboot trilogy.

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278 | After Dinner Lounge – Extreme Laundry

Michael, Rob, and Pax talk about more Harry Palmer, Matt Helm, and Mannix, The Marvels and the state of the MCU, lots of podcasts, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, the Mr and Mrs Smith TV series, Doctor Strange comics, John Byrne’s Superman, the Sherlock Holmes Expanded Universe, Predator Vs Wolverine, Jason Copland's Full Tilt, and ever so much more.

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277 | After Dinner Lounge – Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!

Michael, Rob, and Pax are back in the Lounge to talk about generational differences, local pro wrestling events, Darth Vader, the Godzilla x Kong novelization, Van Halen, Cinderella (2015), Bottoms (2023), the '70s Amazing Spider-Man TV series, MacGruber, Renegade Nell, Wilkie Collins, Road House (2024), Silo, Argylle (2024), and real estate.

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276 | Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024)

Michael and Rob catch up with kaiju fans writer Corinna Bechko (currently of The Space Between) and David May about the new entry in Legendary's MonsterVerse series, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. Godzilla vs. Kong's Adam Wingard returns to direct and brings along his The Guest star Dan Stevens to join returning MonsterVerse actors Kaylee Hottle, Rebecca Hall, and Brian Tyree Henry.

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275 | Movie Villains Sour 16

Michael and Rob welcome Shawn Robare and Jacob Bean-Watson to nominate 16 legendary movie villains, then match them against each other in a tournament to determine the greatest movie villain of all time. 

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274 | Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)

Michael, Rob, and Pax discuss director Matt Reeves' arrival on the Planet of the Apes with Dawn. The second movie in the reboot trilogy is set 10 years after Rise and stars Andy Serkis, Toby Kebbell, Jason Clarke, Keri Russell, Kodi Smit-McPhee, and Gary Oldman.

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273 | After Midnight – Universal's Invisible Man, Part 2

Michael and Jess finish Universal's Invisible Man series with Invisible Agent (1942), The Invisible Man's Revenge (1944), and Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951). And Jess discusses the merits of Butterfly Kisses (2018).

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272 | Never Say Never Again (1983)

Michael, Rob, and Karen talk about the Johnny English prequel that also happens to feature Sean Connery's last performance as James Bond. It's Irvin Kershner's alternate reality 007 film, Never Say Never Again, also starring Kim Basinger, Barbara Carrera, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Bernie Casey, and Max von Sydow.

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271 | After Dinner Lounge – Batman's Speed Force

Michael, Rob, and Pax wrap up this month's Lounge talking about Bodyguard, The Brothers Sun, Poker Face, The Bear, Michael Caine's Harry Palmer movies, Mannix, Red Hood comics, the Disney Villains books by Serena Valentino, brand loyalty, Drive-Away Dolls, Death and Other Details, and 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

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270 | After Dinner Lounge – Three-Hour Downer

Michael, Rob, and Pax meet in the Lounge to talk about hot towels, plastic cups, Dune 2, Oppenheimer, Past Lives, Marvel's Midnight Suns video game, King Kong and Godzilla movies, Thin Man movies, The Beekeeper, Wonka, Napoleon, The Artful Dodger, the live-action Last Airbender series, the first Perry Mason novel, Kitty Pryde comics, and much more.

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269 | After Midnight – Universal Monster Mash

Michael and Jess watch House of Frankenstein (1944), House of Dracula (1945), and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948), the movies where Frankenstein's Monster, Dracula, and the Wolfman all share the story together. But first, we catch up on other horror movies we've been watching like Burnt Offerings (1976), Strangler of the Swamp (1945), and Lisa Frankenstein (2024).

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