We’re back! We’ve been away for a little while, but the wait is over, and to celebrate our return we’re catching up on ALL of your feedback! We work our way through an entire summer’s worth of comments and emails, and there are plenty of conversations and debates to be had. Hopefully, we’ll be able to make this a regular segment in order to encourage fan interaction, albeit in a much more concise way.
Go on…Catching Up on Your Feedback – Anyway, That’s All I Got!
This week on Cinemaholics, I’m joined by special guest Jake Holland and my co-host Will Ashton to review Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Is the “fallen kingdom” in question the state of the Jurassic Park franchise at this point? Well, according to the box office, definitely not. We had a great conversation about the series as a whole and leading up to this new film from J.A. Bayona, and we’ve even included a brief section for spoilers (with fair warning of course).
We opened this week’s show with some Off-Topics, including a rundown of Incredibles 2 breaking all kinds of box office records, plus how Solo: A Star Wars Story‘s utter failure at the box office has reportedly led to Disney and Lucasfilm putting future standalone Star Wars movies on hold. We also get into a fascinating segment about Gotti, which includes everything from a marketing campaign targeted at film critics to some seriously shady number crunching going on at Rotten Tomatoes. You’ll have to hear this one to believe it.
Last, we get into Mini Reviews as usual, but only a few this week. I give my thoughts on Luke Cage Season 2, which just dropped on Netflix, as well as the new romantic comedy Set It Up. And Will finally saw Thoroughbreds, one of my favorites of 2018.
Question for you: Aside from the original, which is your favorite Jurassic Park movie?
It’s much more laid-back on ATAIG this week, because we decided to talk about some of our favorite (and possibly least favorite) ROBOTS from movies, in celebration of last week’s low-budget sci-fi thriller Upgrade (not technically a robot, but we thought it was close enough). Listen as the ATAIG crew discuss some of the most well-written, interesting, bizarre, or ridiculous mechanical beings to grace motion pictures (which is a fancy way of saying that Sam totally nerds out while Anthony and Jason calmly discuss some sci-fi movies). Enjoy!
Hosted by Sam Noland, Jason Read, and Anthony Battaglia!
Question for you: Who are some of your favorite Robots (Robits?) from movies? The more obscure the better! Also, what Robot would you want as your personal sidekick?
Last week, we asked you (the listener) which movie we should do for our featured review. And it turns out Upgrade was the clear winner, and we couldn’t be more thankful. Upgrade turned out to be a blast of a movie with plenty for us to discuss. If you haven’t checked out this sci-fi action horror from Blumhouse (and director Leigh Whannell, one of the minds behind the Saw and Insidious franchises), consider giving our spoiler-free review a listen and seeing this one for yourself.
In addition to our main review, we opened the podcast this week with our reactions to Solo: A Star Wars Story getting trounced in the box office, plus my recent experience at Pixar Fest, a seasonal celebration of all things Pixar at Disneyland in California. And as always, we did some mini reviews, which include Adrift (the movie we almost did for our featured review), Disobedience (an indie gem), The Tale (an HBO film that premiered at Sundance), and Arrested Development Season 5 (on Netflix).
If you’re not sure what to check out in theaters next week, stay tuned for our Coming Soon segment, where we briefly discuss what’s about to release. And next week, we’re giving the entire show over to a guest cast to review Ocean’s 8. For more info on that, be sure to listen to our Off-Topics segment at the top of the show.
Question for You: should Star Wars make more spinoffs of characters we’ve already seen? Why or why not?
Disclaimer: Our normal recording device crashed at the end of the episode (go figure), so we were forced to use a backup recording of slightly lesser quality. We apologize for the inconsistent sound of this episode.
Solo: A Star Wars Story has finally been released, and we’re concluding our conversation on the entire cinematic Star Wars franchise. After a quick appetizer of a discussion on the animated Clone Wars movie from 2008, we go on a deep dive into the current era of Star Wars. From The Force Awakens all the way through the newly-released Solo, we engage in some of the most impassioned debates and disagreements we’ve ever had. After that, we all propose our own ideas for the unlikely Star Wars Anthologies we want to see, and they might not be what you expect. Enjoy!
Question for you: What’s a Star Wars Anthology you would want to see on the big screen? Also, what are your views on the Disney era of Star Wars?
Go on…Star Wars Breakdown (Part 2) – Anyway, That’s All I Got
Special guest Catrina Dennis joins the podcast this week to help us unpack the latest Star Wars anthology prequel, Solo: A Star Wars Story. It’s a movie with just as much drama taking place outside the context of the movie, with production problems galore and an unfolding narrative surrounding its underperformance at the box office as of opening weekend. But as for the movie itself, we chat at length about whether or not it’s simply “fine” or perhaps a bit better than some are giving it credit.
We only did a few mini reviews, but the first one absolutely makes up for it. Maveryke and I go on a tear about 13 Reasons Why Season 2, now on Netflix. Will talks about the new Adult Swim show he can’t stop watching, Joe Pera Talks With You, and I finish things out with my tribute to New Girl in light of its series finale.
Question for you: What should we review next week? Adrift, Action Point, Upgrade, or something else?
Solo: A Star Wars Story hits theaters this weekend, so we decided to revisit each and every Star Wars movie, including the strange, misfit TV movies history has tried to erase. We didn’t want to force (no pun intended) every single installment into one episode, so for part 1 of our discussion we review everything from the very first movie up through the prequel trilogy. Our discussion has plenty of surprises and hot takes (mostly from Jason), and we hope you enjoy listening!
Question for you: What do you think of any of the movies we talked about today (especially the Ewok movies and the Holiday Special)?
Go on…Star Wars Breakdown (Part 1) – Anyway, That’s All I Got