0:00:00-Breaking the fourth wall as I’m on this show.
0:02:08-Moreno. Logan. Somebody else who is not here. A new Small Screen Heroes is on the way. Timestahmp!-Kupka. Googs. Teeves. Moves. Lawlapalooza stuff. Call in. Funko Pops. Collecting.
0:19:58-GOOGS. Live Goog from MJ! Nate P.!
1:19:35-RANDY RIVET SOUNDER
1:21:44-TV ROUND UP. Logan starts off with The Handmaid’s Tale and Six Feet Under. Alyx talks Westworld, a small shift to Legion, and then I’m Dying Up Here. Nate discusses Evil Genius, Agents of SHIELD, The Office, Arrested Development Season 5, The Detectorists, and Fleabag.
2:20:53-THE IMPOSSIBLE MOVIE LIST GAME
2:57:28-WHAT DID YOU WATCH? Moreno checked out Annihilation and The Last Movie Star. Logan watched Man vs. Snake: The Long and Twisted Tale of Nibbler and The Founder. Nate shows off with a ton: The House, A Quiet Place, The Strangers: Prey at Night, Baskin, and Raw.
We didn’t mean to spoil DEADPOOL 2, until we did. Consider this a FULL SPOILER WARNING for our review of the film. It gets deep and unrelenting the longer we go. In other, non-spoiler reviews, we talk REVENGE, Westworld, I’m Dying Up Here, Everything Sucks, and the amazing new Netflix doc series, Evil Genius. Watch it all, because we told you so.
0:00:00-What the fuck is happening right now?
0:02:43-Cornelius. Ammon is showing up at some point but nobody gives a fuck. Nic Cage Round Up is stupid. But it’s not. 🎶Binge Media Round Up🎶 Cocoon tangent. Surprise call in. Moreno is going to Kansas City to spoon with Chad C. Fill out the Lawlapalooza Survey! Law recaps Motor City Comic Con. MAY 2-4! Dave and Buster’s.
0:51:24-GOOGS.
1:36:13-TV ROUND UP. Moreno fifes all over Westworld. Law talks Handmaid’s Tale, Barry, I’m Dying Up Here, and Silicon Valley. Moreno checked out Everything Sucks. Evil Genius. Piss break. Law’s cat.
2:34:10-WHAT DID YOU WATCH? Ammon’s here. That dick. More Evil Genius. Ammon watched part of Desolation, Cobra Kai (tv, you asshole), had a rewatch of Ant-Man. Law checked out Revenge. Deadpool 2. Skip to about 3:31 to avoid any spoilers safely. 🎶Moviepass Roundup🎶
0:02:14-Bingecast. Law. Moreno. Pete. Cinco De Mayo (well it was). 5 years of Binge Media. Cinco years. Kupka was involved helping with Tech Diff. Pete provides some trivia on the first Binge Media shows. Phones. Beepers. 🎶Binge Media Round Up🎶….at some point. Better Call Binge Ep. 3 is live, motherfuckers!!! The boys discuss at length.
1:48:53-TV ROUND UP. Cobra Kai!! Law is still watching Barry (Pete gives his two cents on the show as well), Silicon Valley, Ash vs. Evil Dead, The Terror, The Handmaid’s Tale, Brockmire, and Westworld. Alyx brings up I’m Dying Up Here. Pete talks David Letterman. Legion?
2:45:07-GUNS AND LOGANS YA FUCKING DICK
2:51:53-PORN OR PIXAR
3:07:44-MOVIE HOMEWORK: What Happened to Monday?
3:29:05-WHAT DID YOU WATCH? The boys go right from Movie Homework to this segment, and Alyx starts off with Doctor Strange. Pete has Anon, Hangman, John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous, Avengers: Infinity War (again), and then back to Alyx with Isle of Dogs. Law discusses You Were Never Really Here, The Week Of. Chipdrunked Logan Sounder. Law (and his kids) finally review Infinity War.
2016 will forever be known as the year that the Grim Reaper showed up and placed his hairy nutsack on top of everyone. The Grim Reaper doesn’t know about manscaping, he’s au naturale.
This isn’t an “in memoriam” article, and the last thing Binge Media wants to do is bum everyone out with a goddamn list of deaths throughout the year. So, the rest of the guys , and I, will highlight some of our favorite things from 2016, entertainment or otherwise. This is in no particular order, just a random list, and I’m sure I’m missing a ton. Anyway…….
Entertainment
Horace & Pete
Louis C.K. dropped this mini-series/TV show/stage play without any promotion or hype whatsoever. We woke up one day, and there it was. He funded it himself, going a couple million in the hole, and produced one of the greatest pieces of work of his entire career. It’s comedic, dramatic, tragic and politically relevant. From Alan Alda to Edie Falco and Steve Buscemi, not to mention the cast of special guest stars, the acting coupled with Louis’ fantastic writing makes Horace & Pete an instant classic.
Black Mirror
Oh Black Mirror, you sweet, bleak bitch. The third season of the show starts off with a headshot at the dark side of social media obsession (Nosedive) and ends with an episode that is better than most theatrical thrillers (Hated in the Nation). How the show can continually maintain this high level of writing is incomprehensible. It’s unrelenting, dark and brutally beautiful in its bleakness all at the same time. Stay gold, Pony Boy. What?
Westworld
I’m going to go ahead and put this on the list, despite giving the series a 7 on 10 as a whole. It’s not the greatest or worst, but it was one of the few shows this year that had me looking forward to Sunday night. In the end, the show became muddled in its own butthole, trying to find a way to the end. But the performances (Thandie Newton in particular) were all great, the concept was fantastic (even when it fell short) and it provided plenty of good fodder for the BingeCast. Also, Thandie’s Newtons were glorious. Lot of dick though.
The Night Of
HBO had a great run of original programming this year. The Night Of was a great showcase of watching someone, through the necessity of survival, get chewed up and spit out by the system. Riz Ahmed, as Naz, brought the perfect mix of innocence and vulnerability, standing toe to toe with Michael K. Williams and holding his own. John Turturro’s arc was an emotional roller coaster, and the pussy drug exchange was both inventive and funny. Yep, pussy drugs.
Steely Dan
I have a love/hate relationship with 70s super white rock/jazz group Steely Dan. On the one hand, they’re amazing musicians and on the other hand, they’re just so fucking corny. It’s okay though, I’ve reconciled my feelings about them. They’re my dad’s favorite group of all time, I’m named after their 1977 album AJA and I have a tattoo of said album to honor my Pop. When they went on tour this year, my sister grabbed us tickets. Seeing them at Northerly Island, next to Lake Michigan and east of the beautiful Chicago skyline, is a night I’ll never forget. I’ve never seen a more diverse mixture of hippies, golf polos, and people of color, both young and old, than this show. Better yet, they played all the hits, some deep cuts and the crowd was on their feet dancing the entire show. They’re cheesy and corny as fuck, but it was a blast.
Better Call Saul
In the second season, we got more Mike. And more Mike = more gooder. It’s a fact. We got our first hint of Gus Fring, explored more of Jimmy and Kim’s relationship and got to the heart of Jimmy and Chuck’s tension. The third season is one of my most anticipated shows next year and I have no doubts that Vince Gilligan and friends will deliver.
Roots N Blues N BBQ Music Fest
This year I tagged along with friend of the site Chris Prunckle of Wannabethecomic.com to cover this event in Columbia, Missouri. I knew a few of the acts performing (St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Shovels & Rope, The Avett Brothers) but didn’t know the majority of the acts. That all changed as I got my face torn off by Southern Culture on the Skids, Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band and more. We had amazing southern food, plenty of beer and memories to last a lifetime. Chris and I recorded a day to day recap for the Binge MusicCast at the venue, and on the road, that got some great feedback, so check that out if you haven’t already (listen HERE). Can’t wait to see what they have in store for 2017.
Game of Thrones
My love for Game of Thrones is no secret to everyone who follows Binge Media. My stubbornness not to watch season 6 because The Winds of Winter wasn’t out (pushing the TV show narrative farther than A Dance of Dragons), while my co-hosts and listeners mocked me was something to overcome. When I finally caved, binging the the first nine episodes and catching the season finale live, it was due to one simple variable: I just wanted new Game of Thrones content. Seeing how the show played out never diminished my feelings about the book narrative, as I think some important storylines will play out completely different in the novels. The season was just “okay” to me. I wound up giving the season an 8 on 10, and while it was far from the best season the show has produced, it’s still better than most things on TV.
Luke Cage
Marvel’s Netflix run is pretty goddamn amazing, I can only imagine how it is for fans who have read the comics over the years and to see it come to life with solid actors and production budgets that can serve the bigger action set pieces in the story. Daredevil 2 was much better than the first season (though it could’ve used more Frank Castle), but Luke Cage was the highlight of the MCU this year. He’s a character I knew little of (other than it being the inspiration for Nic Cage’s Hollywood name) but his story roped me in immediately. Mahershala Ali as Cottonmouth is one of my favorite performances of the year, the soundtrack is dope as fuck and though Mike Colter as Luke Cage sometimes felt flat and wooden, his presence on screen is unquestionable.
Atlanta
I was never a huge Donald Glover fan. Not that I disliked him, I just didn’t know much about him. I loved Mystery Team, but I’d never heard any Childish Gambino and never watched Community. I had no expectations for Atlanta but after watching one episode, I realized why the industry and fans were in love with him. There’s something very charismatic about the show, the writing, the way it’s shot and the performances that makes Atlanta my favorite ANYTHING of the year. Glover’s unique voice is fresh, smart, funny and a breath of fresh air. The B.A.N. episode is brilliant and the invisible car bit had me screaming in my living room.
Personal
We don’t typically go the personal route on BingeMedia.net but it’s my site and I’ll do whatever the hell I want.
Binge Meetups
Since 1984, Law and I have met up every year for what is now called Lawlapalooza. We drink, we talk shit, we watch stuff and we record a show. Every year it’s gotten bigger and bigger and 2016, while being a giant butthole, was the biggest turnout so far. Big Jay (Creepy 209 guy), Chad C., Chad D., BabaNick, PeteMC, Law, Kupka, myself and Sass all hungout in Chicago for a few days of straight drinking and shit talking. That wasn’t the only meetup though. I eventually got to hang out with Chad C. in Missouri, Art met up with The Kicks in NYC and then with Lance and Big Jay in Vegas, TM and El Mariach hung out with Ammon “Where them dick at” Gilbert in Seattle, Lance met up with NateP and NateP turned around met up with Bill Tremendous. And I’m sure there are more that I’m missing. Never did Law or I think our little show and site would build a community that brought people from all over the world together. We can now travel almost anywhere and think “Hey, I know someone that lives there, let’s meet up with them.” You can’t plan this shit folks, this is what the universe does.
2016 World Series Champs, The Chicago Cubs
It’s still weird to write that. But it’s a fucking fact. Just like how women are funny. Get over it.
Making a Sass
Yeah, this is site related but it’s personal to me because of how organic this little series was created. For those that don’t know, Sass (as in Sasquatch) became a character PeteMC and I created while he was visiting Chicago earlier this year. We got drunk, Pete created a Facebook account, and everyone got really intrigued by who was behind the account. I’d been wanting to create a “Making a Murderer” type of parody show for a while but it just never came together. After talking to the always persistent Jack Valley about the identity of Sass (while also throwing him off the trail) we put together a show in which Jack talks to different guests about narrowing down the suspects. It was such a rewarding process to create this series with some of my favorite people and couldn’t be more proud of just how fun and stupid it was. You can listen to the series here: And the Making of….Making a Sass right here.
Working at Moe’s Tavern
This year, I quit my corporate job. I was good at it, but I hated every second of it. When you work from home full time and you still dread “going into work”, it’s time to make a change. So I did. After a couple of months, I decided to start applying for bartending gigs. I grew up in a bar, so I knew my way around cleaning, stocking, rotating stock, inventory, that kind of shit. But not serving. I’d never worked at a bar as an adult. Been to plenty of them, just never worked in one. Nobody wanted to train someone with no experience. And I didn’t want to work at Buffalo Wild Wings or some horseshit like that. Nothing against those places, it’s just not me. I wanted to work at a place like the one I grew up in: a blue collar, neighborhood tavern. The second I walked into Moe’s, I knew I belonged there. It felt like home. My now manager, despite me having no experience, offered me up a two hour test run to see if it was a match for both. It was. Months later and I have more stories than I can tell, regular shifts and even perform at open mics on occasion. The downside is that I’m absent from the BingeCast a lot, which is my other home, and that royally sucks. But I won’t trade it for anything. I feel like it’s what I should’ve been doing a long time ago. A lot of my family, even those in the past, have been in the industry, so this is in my blood. Doing what you love, as cliche as it is (and it is), is deeply fulfilling. I couldn’t be happier.
Member…..member when I said I grew up in a bar? And that I’ve only worked in two bars my whole life, and that Moe’s Tavern is one of them?
Do you know what the name of the bar I grew up in is called?
Like I said, you can’t plan this shit folks. This is just what the universe does.
So many Garrett stories. So little time. Smash Valley and Law grill Garrett about his love life, the “bar” he works at, Scientology, and so much more in the middle of reviewing a bunch of television and movies. Timestamp guy can tell you better than I can.
0:00:00-Time to start? Yeah totes.
0:01:55-Law and Jack are here. Deal with it. Jack’s name is put under the microscope. More name stuff is discussed. Possible call ins will happen later in the show. Christmas tree discussion. Lots of fucking trailers to break down.
0:28:40-GOOGLE VOICE. 4 on 10 shows up during these proceedings. Fuck. Will we discover more about his mysterious bar?!!!!!
1:01:05-TV ROUND UP. Garrett gets grilled about his return to Westworld. Discussion continues about the same program. Jack fifes over the Leah Reminininini Scientology show.
1:34:08-Kupka calls in. TV ROUND UP continues forward after Supka goes off to get high as balls. Law chats about South Park, The Walking Dead, Divorce, and gives his thoughts on Mars. Garrett provides all the juicy goodness for This is Us. We then get to hear juicy goodness about GC. The tangent concludes as Collins brings up with The Exorcist and he shares his opinion on the Gilmore Girls return.
2:29:42-WHAT DID YOU WATCH? Jack begins with Man Down and Hell or High Water. Law keeps the western theme going with The Magnificent Seven, and he also checked out The Accountant, Siren, The Light Between Oceans, and The Greasy Strangler. Garrett revisited Inception, Pete’s Dragon, and he gives his thoughts on Collateral Beauty and La La Land. Jack bitches about how his home state sucks when it comes to seeing fucking good films. Garrett calls Law out on his emails.
This is it, ladies and germs. The moment of truth is upon us. Westworld is rolling into its last episode this Sunday and some of us are very excited to see where the show is taking us. I, from the beginning, have been in on this, so much so that it has become a weekly hobby of mine to do some reading about the show, some hypothesizing and to talk it out with friends. All this aside, the week before the finale is an important moment, because the very real possibility exists that this is the best the show will ever get.
Westworld is a show about mystery, specifically the central question surrounding what the show is all about. There are existential questions and implications of creating sentient life that have complicated answers. There are moments of stark reality that the show toys with regarding family and memory that are lofty, heavy themes to tackle. All of these things and more are still on the table, because you see, we haven’t seen the conclusion yet.
The wonder of a great second act/early third act in a story such as this is that the possibility of what is to come is truly unknowable. The Empire Strikes Back continues to be the strongest Star Wars film because that film delivers darkness, despair, foreshadowing and hope for the future. Say what you will about Return of the Jedi, but for many that film was a let-down simply because it ends the story, and all stories must end. Ending a story well is paramount to whether or not I can recommend it to someone, so a lot is at stake for this finale for me.
When you look at the great TV series of the past sixteen years, there are examples of both phenomenal and lackluster endings. The Wire, Breaking Bad and Six Feet Under still endure as examples of shows with good arcs for everyone involved and logical conclusions to those stories. Even Battlestar Galactica, a show that by all accounts should never have been as great as it was, finds a way to complete the story in a way that serves what came before it AND does not insult the fans. Shows like Lost, The Office (US) and almost everything on Showtime fail to show restraint in their storytelling and fail to stay true to their original ideas and conventions. The stark reality of Westworld is that the latter is a completely viable path for the show to take after this week’s episode, and although I’ve been saying this since the first article I wrote, I am worried that this is the best the show will ever be.
So for you Westworld fifes out there standing in opposition to the tyrannical hordes trying to convince you this show is a waste of effort (GC), good luck this weekend. I’ll be there with you, watching with baited breath, hoping the numerous mysteries and implications have been worth the wait. Do I think it will wrap up everything we want and leave us confident for the next season? I have no idea, but I do think it will be worth the experience. At the end of the day, if all this show gave me was Anthony Hopkins sitting in a room with Jeffrey Wright having a conversation, or having a battle of wits with Ed Harris, then it was worth it.
It’s Law, Moreno, and Ammon talking about Thanksgiving, movies, television, voicemails, and finally playing a little Binge Jeopardy.
Hey, Time Stamp Guy is back!
0:00:00-Grab the Thanksgiving leftovers and sit your ass down. It’s Bingecast time.
0:01:52-It’s on, bitch. Binge Jeopardy is finally happening. Moreno celebrates his birthday TODAY. Send him a taco. Or two. Or three…thousand. Is a Thanksgiving fight a thing? Ammon is back from Hawaii and he’s getting shit done. Except he’s not on time for this Bingecast.
0:10:48-FUHOOGLE VOICE.
0:35:14-TV ROUND UP. Moreno starts with Six Feet Under. Law checked out Search Party. Ammon finally arrives. Fuck. Did he finish AHS? We’ll find out, but he did complete Channel Zero. He then details his trip to Hawaii a bit. This is Us doesn’t get the play by play this episode. Womp womp. Law gets the mic back and talks Divorce and South Park. Ammon talks about his Christmas tree. STAY FOCUSED. Westworld gets passed back and forth between Law and Moreno. Walking Dead-Law hates it, doesn’t care, wants to take a steaming dump on every episode.
1:23:46-BINGE JEOPARDY ROUND 1
1:54:01-WHAT DID YOU WATCH? Lot of sound bites to lead the segment in. Ammon saw Hell or High Water and The Monster. He also did his Movie Homework like a champ and watched Basketball. Moreno checked out The Beatles: Eight Days a Week, Swiss Army Man, The Guv’Nor, and Supersonic. Law has a fuck ton, including Masterminds, John Fallon’s The Shelter, Loving, Snowden, Night of Something Strange, and Love is All You Need? Holy shit.
2:56:20-BINGE JEOPARDY ROUND 2/FINAL JEOPARDY
That’s it, game over. Have a good one, you Alex Trebabadecks
Welcome to this very special edition of the Binge Movie Aftertaste. As I put the final touches on planning out the next set of retrospectives on this holiday season, I have been in the midst of putting together some special interviews as well. And no interview subject is more important to the Binge airwaves than that of the one and only Adam Simon. Ok, Spielberg. Maybe.
When Jack and I started putting this thing together, we figured we would have Adam on for forty-five minutes, hour tops. Adam was actually gracious enough to give us over eighty minutes of his time, and truth be told, we could have spoken to him longer.
There are many subjects covered here. But first and foremost, Adam speaks about that kick ass trailer which dropped a couple weeks ago for a little movie called Man Down, opening December 2nd. You might have heard of it. The movie was written in Adam’s car as he lived on the streets of a hard ridden LA. Adam talks at length about what it was like jacking pimps to live, all while penning the script to the film that would eventually go on to help buy him a new apartment. A couple years and many shed blood sweat and tears after living on the streets, and Man Down‘s trailer has become the most trended Facebook topic for four days straight.
Want more? How about stories of Adam and his run ins with ‘suits,’ his thoughts on our newly elected President, and what really happened with Synapse. Oh, and what is a podcast with me and Jack without him busting my balls a bit? And when Adam gets involved, it turns into an entire bashing session.
We once again want to thank Adam for taking the time to talk to us, and please be sure to check out Man Down when it is released December 2nd.
Batch and Smash Valley join Law to start conspiracy theories about Garrett Gollins, answer voicemails and review a bunch of movie thingies.
TV Round-Up rocks South Park, Ash vs. Evil Dead, Westworld, Channel Zero, American Horror Story, Divorce, The Walking Dead, This Is Us, Luke Cage, Black Mirror, and even a little Survivor.
What Did You Watch has THE MONSTER, HACKSAW RIDGE, COME FIND ME, HELL OR HIGH WATER, ARRIVAL, WAR DOGS, SUICIDE SQUAD, BEETLEJUICE, THE HOBBIT EXTENDED EDITION, and a live call in from Bill Tremendous with his thoughts on FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM.
Grab a beer, sit back, and let us make your ears bleed. With happiness.