This week’s BingeCast is full of Star Wars: The Last Jedi talk, Christmas tree talk and mother! talk. Exactly. mother!, a movie that came out 4 years ago, gets as much talk as a new SW movie. There’s a bit of Spoiler Talk so go fuck yourself.
The kids call it SW.
Google Voice calls us out for being BULLSHIT.
TV Round Up has us reviewing The Punisher (again), Dark and tapping out of TV shows all together.
Films we watched this week? Scrooged, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Bushwick, The Disaster Artist, The Meyerowitz Stories, Flatliners and other shit.
Fuck you guys.
0:00:00-Sleigh balls.
0:04:04-AlyxMoreno and Jack Valley. Shout out to PeteMC for being awesome at sounders and everything else. Full on spoiler review of The Last Jedi is on its way. This film is pretty divisive and that’s weird but it’s a thing. Who will be on the spoiler cast? When’s it dropping? Is there another movie series that is super spoilery? Or just particular movies in general? Ammon’s late. Of fucking course. #whereisjimlaw? Alyx lends insight. There’s Google Voice and TV Round Up of course, but TV round up is kind of lacking. And there’s so many goddamn shows!
0:32:29-GOOGLE VOICE Ammon shows up during the proceedings.
1:18:45-QUOTE WHORES. Christmas tree discussion follows the game. Tree decorating movie?
2:02:45-TV ROUND UP. Alyx talks The Punisher, Godless, and other shows that he just gave up on. Ammon discusses Dark. Jack checked out Peaky Blinders. Golden Globe nominations.
2:31:32-WHAT DID YOU WATCH? Alyx starts off with his love of Scrooged, Moana, The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected), Bushwick, Flatliners (which Ammon also saw), and Mother! Jack has a ton-The Disaster Artist, Hired Gun, The Devil in Daniel Johnston, and The Killing of a Sacred Dear. He and Ammon both rewatched The Force Awakens and they team up for The Last Jedi. #diehardisachristmasmovie. What makes a Christmas movie a Christmas movie?
At long last, the Binge SportsCast is back as Luke and Batch return to discuss the fallout from this past weekend’s WWE Survivor Series pay-per-view. And seeing as how everyone else in the world has a take on it, they’re kicking things off by arguing about what happened in the match that was Goldberg vs Brock Lesnar and it’s actually a little bit surprising which one of these guys was okay with what happened.
Listen in as they break down each Survivor Series match one by one and discuss what went right, what went wrong and which match was absolutely perfect. And as they usually do, there are a few random conversations that hit you like an RKO outta nowhere. You know…because it’s a wrestling podcast.
With everything happening these days and my schedule getting more and more busy, I regret to inform you that this will be my last post with Binge Media ever. Time has become too much of a constraint and as much as I want to keep this thing going, it seems that life is going to intervene. Rather than drone on about this being the last post, I’ve compiled some of the really great moments I’ve had here on the site as a little road map of my time here at Binge Media.
Firstly, I have to start by thanking Law and Moreno for taking me on in the first place. I remember writing my first Why This Sucks article for the site just to help these guys start building the brand. I, like all of you, started off as a fan of the site and wanted the party to keep on raging. I saw a need for some additional articles and submitted an article detailing all the problems I had with Star Trek Into Darkness. A couple of years and many articles/podcasts/commentaries later and I find myself getting stale. Part of keeping your cool is knowing when to leave the party, and I think that time, for me, is now.
Secondly, there are innumerable people that I have come in contact with on my Binge journey that I want to thank. Denny Luis, Ammon, Supka, Batch, Luke, Nick, 4/10, Nate P, Logan, Eric King, that fake motherfucker Will Tremendous, “We’re Losing Her” Lance and so many others that I’ve been able to interact with. Your feedback and conversation has been invaluable and I have to thank all of you immensely, even if I didn’t mention you by name.
Last but not least I want to thank all of you for taking the time to read or listen to me. It’s really quite odd to hear yourself for the first time on a podcast that you are a fan of, but it’s been a really rewarding and eye-opening experience across the board. From doing commentaries for The Strain to the recent Batman Retrospective, there has been a lot of good and bad, but I’ve enjoyed all of it.
This is it. The curtain call. The final bow. I leave you all with a favorite scene of mine and encourage you all to Binge On!
It’s been a week since most of us have gone to see the new episode of the Star Wars saga, and if you’re anything like me you’re really feeling a galaxy sized gap in your heart. It feels as if nothing can fill the void that is left behind after walking out of the theater, other than another viewing of The Force Awakens. I have to say, I was probably the most satisfied by Episode VII, than I have been by another movie in a long time. This movie had a way of cutting to the core of your heart of nerdiness, and just giving you an amazing time at the theaters. Sure, it had a few things to nitpick at, but really overall I can’t find myself wanting to watch another movie any more than I want to watch this one. I loved Kylo Ren, and BB-8 was the absolute boss. Finn was an excellent new addition, and Rey looks to be a very important new character. Poe was the fighter of a lifetime, and his bromance with Finn was applause-worthy. There were so many other great moments in the movie to make it one of the best of the year, and I’m finding it difficult to have a drink or vice that can please me greater than this film. However, I did finish up the rest of the Star Wars canon-worthy comic books that I had ready to read, and boy did I save the best for last. So if you’re looking to get your Star Wars fix and maybe can’t make it to the movies, try to get your hands on these excellent Star Wars comics in the meantime. We can only hope that the Blu-ray release for this film comes sooner rather than later… Before we delve in, I hope everyone has a Merry Bingemas, Christmas, and a Happy Holiday this week/weekend!!!
First up this week was Star Wars: Darth Vader, which seems to be a series that will follow Darth Vader’s quest for knowledge. It ended up connecting with the main title, which I will review here shortly. This first volume opened up with Vader having a visit and small chat with Jabba the Hutt. Jabba unfortunately believes himself more powerful than he really is, and it opened the book with a ton of suspense. Vader and Jabba have a war of words, albeit in disguise as pleasantry, other than Vader’s matter-of-fact statements about Jabba’s stupidity to believe he can best the Sith lord. The book opening like this put me right in the mood to read the rest, and it really sets the tone for the book. It’s a dark, suspenseful, brooding type of book that obviously follows our favorite Sith master Darth Vader and his evil exploits. Watching the battle of wits between the two in the beginning was a lot of fun, and it only gets better from there. As Vader is on the search for the man who attacks the Empire from underneath them, he eventually comes to find out the name of his attacker. Much to his surprise, it is a familiar name that literally causes the glass around him to fracture and show just how tormented Vader is about to be by his past. Those of us who are familiar with the films obviously know about all of this lore, but the book really helps to solidify some of what is in the movies, and gives us some behind the scenes of what Vader was up to in between. I really enjoyed this book, and I’ve recommended it to all Star Wars fans. This book does tie into the main Marvel title in the last scene I mentioned here, and honestly the next book was even better.
Marvel’s Star Wars title has been around for awhile. There were already Star Wars comics in the past under the Marvel banner, and I’ve tried to read them. The ones I read that were any good to me were some of the newer ones with newer characters, but unfortunately those are now no longer canon. I’m not sure about the state of the original Marvel Comics series, but I would imagine that they have to be some sort of canon considering their owner and also their content. They started as adaptations of the original trilogy of films, and some of those issues are contained within the new canon hardcovers so I guess we will see in due time. Skywalker Strikes is the first volume of the new Marvel series, and it was a seriously good book. It opens with Han making his way into an Empire base as a smuggler, and somehow no one questions his company. As the book continues to open, we see that Han, Leia, Luke, and R2 have decided to try and attack the Empire at its heart. Luke ends up splitting from the rest as things go haywire and Vader arrives on the base. As Luke continues to learn the powers of the Force, he is assisted by his former master and tries to get revenge on Vader. All the while, C-3PO is stuck in a tough predicament with the Millenium Falcon off site, where he was supposed to come from to rescue the crew. This all evolves into another small story in the back half of the book, and we have some surprising new canonical revelations about some of our most familiar characters. This book was outstanding, and the art was awesome. I seriously cannot wait for more of Marvel’s Star Wars.
Last but not least was the comic book that was part of the Journey to the Force Awakens movement, Shattered Empire. This book chronicles the time after the Emperor’s death, where we see Luke and company tackling the remaining sects of the Empire. I’m not sure if the first two books spoiled me a bit, but this one was a little less entertaining. You learn a little bit about some future characters, but we also get some hints at what is going on in The Force Awakens. I have two big theories that spun out of the new film, and I’m not going to spoil them here. However, one of my theories receives some evidence in this book and I’m really glad to see it, because it proves that I’m not crazy for thinking what I have been about a certain new character. I would welcome those who are curious to ask below and maybe we can have a small discussion about the revelations, but holy crap is it awesome. Also present is a mirage of Darth Maul, which I find very suspicious and wonder how he’s going to tie into future stories as he’s obviously still around and haunting the Force. We return to Naboo, and a lot of story follows Leia as well as she ties up some of her responsibilities as royalty. The art was the main thing that I found unpleasing to the eye here, because some of the time the characters have a very manga-esque appearance and I’m not too crazy about that for these characters. One full page in particular had Luke with some very funky looking eyes, but otherwise again the art is beautiful. Also, much like all of the other books listed above and before, the covers are outstanding and the alternates are even better. If you’re looking for your next Star Wars fix like me, and maybe don’t like to read the book hefty books, these three comic books here will provide plenty of new story, characters, and joy to your galaxy.
Everybody is in good cheer as the year comes to an end. Ammon and Law get drunk and argue about The Leftovers for a while, answer a shit-ton of voicemails, and look back on the newest Christmas classic, ELF for Movie Homework.
Kupka, Moreno, and Luke call in from the annual Kupka Christmas spectacular (thanks for the invite, again) and talk some massive shit while hiding from their wives in a closet.
Ammon catches up on some Summer films such as PIXELS, TOMORROWLAND, and THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., and start the new season of Serial.
There’s a new (incredible) Pee Break Sounder, Law and Ammon discuss some books, and everybody’s STAR WARS plan is put into effect.
If you’ve ever wanted to hear six Binge Media employees get together and be drunk as drunk can be make sure you stay tuned for the end of this show when Moreno, Kupka, and Luke call in to talk with Law, Ammon, and Jack about things that are stupid.
Before that though, your regularly scheduled hosts have tons to talk about. We discuss, in no particular order, Christopher Nolan possibly directing READY PLAYER ONE, high Santa Claus pissing in a garbage pail, Serial, our best/worst spoiler experiences, Sons of Anarchy, The Walking Dead, and play an exciting game of Stupid Comments.
Even then, after that barrage of awesome, we head into What Did You Watch with reviews of TUSK, THE GUEST, INTERSTELLAR, CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER, SOUTH PARK: BIGGER, LONGER, AND UNCUT, KILL BILL: VOL II, BANKSY DOES NEW YORK, and NIGHTCRAWLER.
It’s as epic as they get, people. Don’t forget about the last Sons of Anarchy commentary ever this week. Out.