370 | Creating Cinematic Universes 2

Following up on a topic from Nerd Lunch Episode 181 (which was also the first appearance of Wolverine), Michael, Rob, Pax, and David May create more cinematic universes around movies (but not just movies) that don't already have them. Tune in and check out our ideas for series built on WarGames, Capcom, Anchorman, and The Last Voyage of the Demeter.

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365 | After Dinner Lounge – How Could We Make This Podcast Better?

Pax, Rob, and Michael talk about autograph collecting, Thunderbolts*, podcast wives, the podcast Heist with Michael Caine, the Goldie Vance graphic novels by Hope Larson and Brittney Williams, and more Sherlock Holmes. And Michael's son David stops by to talk about the One Piece manga and other things.

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327 | Office Christmas Party (2016)

Michael and Rob welcome David May back to the show to discuss this year's Holiday Spirit movie. For us, Holiday Spirit films are undeniably about Christmas, but without any fantastical or magical elements. And this one is Office Christmas Party starring Jason Bateman, Olivia Munn, TJ Miller, Jennifer Aniston, and Kate McKinnon, while also featuring Courtney B Vance, Rob Corddry, Randall Park, Sam Richardson, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Jillian Bell, Vanessa Bayer, Karan Soni, and Jamie Chung.

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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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245 | Home Alone (1990)

Yesterday we shared an episode where Evan Hanson and Michael talked about the movie Krampus, where a kid gets irritated with his family and then has to defend his home from malignant forces. That’s also what happens in today’s movie as Michael and his son David discuss the classic, Home Alone.

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239 | Four Christmases (2008)

Yesterday we shared a discussion of the 1994 movie Mixed Nuts, so we’ll stick with the silly comedies for a bit. In this episode, Michael and his son David talk about Seth Gordon’s Four Christmases starring Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn and an awesome cast of co-stars like Mary Steenburgen, Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, Jon Voight, Jon Favreau, and Kristin Chenoweth.

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194 | The Hasbro Cinematic Universe

As Hasbro begins building its cinematic universe in real life, Michael and Rob welcome Jeeg and David May to talk about how they would do it. Following the MCU model, each person has picked a Hasbro game or toy to adapt into a movie that then connects somehow into the other movies, all leading to an Avengers-style crossover blockbuster. Madness or genius? You decide!

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154 | Blind Reboots

Michael, Rob, Pax, and David May reboot TV shows based only on brief descriptions of their premises.

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.

Download or listen to the episode here.

126 | Agents of SHIELD, Season 1

Michael, Rob, William Bruce West, and David May board the Bus for a deep dive into the first season of Agents of SHIELD. 

Download or listen to the episode here.

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

Download or listen to the episode here.

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.

Download or listen to the episode here.

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

Download or listen to the episode here.

47 | Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)

On the second episode of AfterLUNCH, we reran a discussion of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl from an old podcast that Michael and his son David used to have. In addition to Michael and David, the panel featured Lizzie Twatchman, Mike Westfall, and Ron Marz. Now, the panel finally reconvenes (and with 100% more Rob Graham) to take a critical, but fond look at the second Pirates movie, Dead Man's Chest.

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43 | Mystery Movie Night – Terror, Time Travel, and Teens

Dave asks David, Evan, Erik, and Michael to find the hidden connection between An American Werewolf in London, The Butterfly Effect, and X-Men: First Class. If you haven't seen one or more of the movies, feel free to skip to the discussions of your choice: 

00:02:16 - Review of An American Werewolf in London (1981)
00:14:22 - Review of The Butterfly Effect (2004) 

00:27:58 - Review of X-Men: First Class (2011) 

00:49:59 - Guessing the Connection

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37 | Mystery Movie Night – Monoliths, Mansions, and Makeovers

What secret connection do 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Being There (1979), and Clueless (1995) have in common? Erik Johnson asks Evan Hanson, Michael May, Dave Roof, and David May to find out. 

As always with Mystery Movie Night discussions, opinions and spoilers abound, so if you haven't seen a film and prefer not to listen to that part of the episode, here are the time stamps to help you skip to the parts you want to listen to: 

00:02:38 - Review of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) 

00:23:25 - Review of Being There (1979) 

00:46:20 - Review of Clueless (1995) 

01:06:51 - Guessing the Connection

Download or listen to the episode here.

33 | Godzilla vs. Kong (2021)

Michael and Rob welcome some new AfterLUNCH voices to talk about Legendary Entertainment's MonsterVerse in general, while drilling deep into the Hollow Earth and the current Godzilla vs. Kong film. Joining the panel are a trio of giant monster super-fans: Sophie (a long-time friend of Michael who lives in the UK), Corinna Bechko (who not only writes cool comics like The Expanse and Smithsonian Dig It: Dinosaurs & Other Prehistoric Creatures, but also has a background in zoology and has worked professionally with both giant lizards and primates), and David May (Michael's son and frequent podcast partner). 

Download or listen to the episode here.

30 | Mystery Movie Night: Planes, Puns, and Paramedics

The Mystery Movie Night podcast moves to AfterLUNCH! If you're new to the format, one of the panelists picks three movies with some sort of secret connection. Everyone watches the films and talks about them, then the other panelists try to guess the common element. In this inaugural AfterLUNCH episode, Evan Hanson picked Empire of the Sun (1987), Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), and Sacro Gra (2013). 

For listeners who haven't seen all the movies and want to avoid spoilers, here are the time stamps for each review, including the guessing part in case you want to skip straight to that: 

00:05:37 - Review of Empire of the Sun (1987) 

00:23:18 - Review of Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003) 

00:36:32 - Review of Sacro Gra (2013) 

00:49:49 - Guessing the Connection

Download or listen to the episode here.

6 | Blackbeard's Ghost

Before we run out of summer, let's talk about another Disney pirate movie. In this second flashback to the dead 'Casting Off podcast, Michael and David May are joined by Rob Graham to blather about Blackbeard's Ghost from 1968 starring Peter Ustinov, Dean Jones, and Suzanne Pleshette. But before we get to that, we also have a quick announcement about AfterLUNCH itself. 

Download or listen to the episode here.

2 | The Curse of the Black Pearl

While AfterLUNCH is officially a monthly show, Michael has been thinking about how to have fun things to listen to in the weeks between episodes. One has to do with a short-lived podcast that he and his son David did called ‘Casting Off, about nautical adventure stories. We won't rerun the whole series on AfterLUNCH, but there are a couple of episodes with some guests who’ll be familiar to Nerd Lunch listeners. 

This first one is a deep dive into the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, The Curse of the Black Pearl. There’s already been an official Nerd Lunch drill-down on the first four movies of the Pirates series, but this conversation is different enough that hopefully it'll be worth listening to. In addition to Michael and David, the panel includes Nerd Lunch Fourth Chair Army members Lizzie Twachtman and Mike Westfall, as well as comics writer Ron Marz. 

The plan was always to have this same panel come back and talk about the rest of the Pirates movies, but that never happened. Part of the reason for sharing this episode now though is to set the stage for finally continuing the series, hopefully sooner rather than later. Whatever happens with that, this was a fun conversation and we hope you’ll enjoy it. 

Download or listen to the episode here