The Review Show

Episode 331. In our final regular episode of The Review Show, we talk about the haunting final season of The Americans. Philip has left espionage behind to focus on the legitimate family business to disastrous results, Elizabeth is in over her head with more demanding assignments, and Stan is finally realizing the spies he's been looking for may be his own neighbors. We discuss the pattern of broken connections between fathers and sons, Elizabeth's art studies restoring a missing part of her humanity, if any characters actually make it out of this show with a positive future, and whether we'd want to see a sequel series following the Jennings family years later.Click here to watch a video of this episode. (00:00) - Intro (00:04) - Welcome and banter (01:55) - Non-spoiler thoughts on The Americans s6 (10:14) - Housekeeping (17:26) - Spoilers for The Americans s6 (01:27:07) - Review Show Bingo (01:30:14) - Recommendations (01:35:29) - What we are discussing next episode (01:37:52) - Outro Reply on Bluesky ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Episode 329. We're back to our ongoing coverage of The Americans, talking about season 4. Philip and Elizabeth have to make choices that will devastate the lives of their unwitting informants, while Paige struggles under the pressure of keeping her pastor from revealing the family's secrets. We theorize about what the show will do with Henry and how he'll finally learn about his family's double lives, dignity for Martha, sudden and random deaths, how the show uses '80s pop culture sparingly and carefully, and past storylines coming back with unforeseen consequences.Click here to watch a video of this episode. (00:00) - Intro (00:04) - Welcome and banter (02:04) - Non-spoiler thoughts on The Americans s4 (08:59) - Housekeeping (14:50) - Spoilers for The Americans s4 (01:27:46) - Review Show Bingo (01:30:04) - What we are discussing next episode (01:30:22) - Outro Reply on Bluesky ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Episode 327. We continue our mission with The Americans, talking about season three in this episode. Philip and Elizabeth are conflicted about revealing their spy history to their daughter Paige, and struggle against the constraints of their orders from The Centre. We discuss sad sack Stan, all the sex missions weighing on Philip, Elizabeth and the old woman in the repair shop, if Mischa is even real, the teeth scene, and the urban legend of the psy ops video game Polybius.Click here to watch a video of this episode. (00:00) - Intro (00:04) - Welcome and banter (02:37) - Non-spoiler thoughts on The Americans s3 (10:46) - Housekeeping (15:56) - Spoilers for The Americans s3 (01:41:44) - Review Show Bingo (01:44:17) - What we are discussing next episode (01:46:55) - Outro Reply on Bluesky ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Episode 325. To prepare for Paul Thomas Anderson's new movie One Battle After Another, we watched his 2012 drama The Master. A volatile vagabond crosses paths with a charismatic scholar with a cult-like following, and the two men form a bond that threatens the scholar's family and community of believers. We discuss the shifting power dynamics of who exactly is "the master" of any situation, the surprising sense of humor in this movie and in PTA's other works, anxious cinematography, and movies where a freaky little gremlin guy comes in to take over your life.Click here to watch a video of this episode. (00:00) - Intro (00:04) - Welcome and banter (03:56) - Non-spoiler thoughts on The Master (16:49) - Housekeeping (20:29) - Spoilers for The Master (01:14:15) - Review Show Bingo (01:17:01) - Recommendations (01:29:49) - What we are discussing next episode (01:32:19) - Outro Reply on Bluesky ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Episode 323. We read the first two volumes of The Terrifics, a DC story featuring fan-favorite characters from James Gunn's Superman, in a format that feels more like Marvel's Fantastic Four. The best of both worlds! Mr. Terrific, Metamorpho, Plastic Man, and Phantom Girl find themselves literally stuck together -- if they're more than a mile apart from each other, they'll all explode -- and have to turn themselves into a real working team to solve a multiversal crisis. We discuss Plastic Man's ability to be truly, mind-bogglingly ANYTHING, classic Jeff Lemire sadness, "science" adventures, and if Alan Moore has ever once in his life jumped.Click here to watch a video of this episode. (00:00) - Intro (00:04) - Welcome and banter (02:17) - Non-spoiler thoughts on The Terrifics vol. 1-2 (19:45) - Housekeeping (23:34) - Spoilers for The Terrifics vol. 1-2 (01:15:08) - Review Show Bingo (01:17:24) - Recommendations (01:23:34) - What we are discussing next episode (01:25:38) - Outro Reply on Bluesky ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Episode 321. For our annual Nicolas Cage weekend, we watch our earliest Cage yet in 1987's Raising Arizona. In this Coen Brothers caper, an infertile couple kidnaps a baby from a family of quintuplets, intending to raise him on their own, until criminals and manhunters get in their way. We discuss the movie's sincerity, the iconic chase scene, the tattoo mystery, John Goodman screaming, and how every small town movie just takes us back to Napoleon Dynamite.Click here to watch a video of this episode. (00:00) - Intro (00:04) - Welcome and banter (01:59) - Non-spoiler thoughts on Raising Arizona (12:47) - Housekeeping (17:32) - Spoilers for Raising Arizona (01:17:15) - Review Show Bingo (01:19:09) - Recommendations (01:32:21) - What we are discussing next episode (01:36:20) - Outro Reply on Bluesky ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Episode 319. We quick-change into our capes for an episode on Richard Donner's 1978 Superman: The Movie. This has all the classic Superman iconography you know and love, plus a complicated real estate scheme where Lex Luthor wants to sink the California coastline to make a new one. We discuss the strange pacing that makes you wait nearly an hour to see Superman in action, the surprisingly sincere romance (and horniness), Jor-El being a busy dad with two jobs, Midwestern wheat fields, how we expect James Gunn's Superman to emulate this or step away from it, and if we'll ever see a big-screen Superman with a mullet like that one comic from the 1990s.Click here to watch a video of this episode. (00:00) - Intro (00:04) - Welcome and banter (03:42) - Non-spoiler thoughts on Superman: The Movie (13:36) - Housekeeping (20:04) - Spoilers for Superman: The Movie (01:30:17) - Review Show Bingo (01:32:21) - Recommendations (01:49:50) - What we are discussing next episode (01:54:12) - Outro Reply on Bluesky ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Episode 317. We want to believe in this week's episode, a look back at the The X-Files movie from 1998. This movie, sometimes known under the subtitle Fight the Future, was released in theaters between seasons 5 and 6 of the TV show but tells a standalone story. Mulder and Scully are fighting for their careers, their lives, and their connection to each other as they're embroiled in a plot to release an ancient alien virus into the world. We talk about how this movie goes big while staying close to the roots of the show, textbook moves for writing an investigative partnership will-they-won't-they romance, the bees, the grandson with the broken leg, and how this is unique in the history of TV shows being turned into movies.Click here to watch a video of this episode. (00:00) - Intro (00:04) - Welcome and banter (01:40) - Non-spoiler thoughts on The X-files Fight the Future (18:44) - Housekeeping (24:06) - Spoilers for The X-files Fight the Future (01:22:36) - Review Show Bingo (01:25:50) - Recommendations (01:48:56) - What we are discussing next episode (01:56:00) - Outro Reply on Bluesky ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Episode 315. We watched the 2016 comedy I Was a Teenage Wereskunk, an homage to 1950s B-movies made on a shoestring budget. A teenage boy is sprayed by a magical skunk while he's trying to look at boobs and now he turns into a murderous skunk monster whenever he gets horny. We discuss how the movie is a deft parody of a variety of genres, the tiny house, the sexy pancakes, our new favorite character Deputy Gary, and trying to understand mid-century cultural tropes like beatniks and the Lover's Lane.Click here to watch a video of this episode. (00:00) - Intro (00:04) - Welcome and banter (03:30) - Non-spoiler thoughts on I Was A Teenage Wereskunk (11:43) - Housekeeping (17:53) - Spoilers for I Was A Teenage Wereskunk (01:04:56) - Review Show Bingo (01:09:50) - Recommendations (01:24:53) - What we are discussing next episode (01:27:30) - Outro Reply on Bluesky ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Episode 313. It's finally here: the episode where Kyle makes Melissa watch a Gundam. We watched Mobile Suit Gundam I-III, three movies on Netflix that are abridged compilations of the original 1979 TV show. In a war-torn future, young Amuro Ray finds his way into a mech suit and struggles with the moral conflicts of becoming a soldier losing members of his newfound family. We discuss how Gundam is more about the tragedy of war than it is about pew-pew-pew space fights, characters who are introduced just to die, what purpose the little kids serve in the story, discovering the sadness in your workaholic dad, and how the plot of The Big O sounds cool until you get to the part where the giant robots are named "megadeuces."Click here to watch a video of this episode. (00:00) - Intro (00:04) - Welcome and banter (03:59) - Non-spoiler thoughts on Mobile Suit Gundam (compilation movies 1-3) (23:58) - Housekeeping (29:44) - Spoilers for Mobile Suit Gundam (compilation movies 1-3) (01:15:37) - Review Show Bingo (01:19:30) - Recommendations (01:33:47) - What we are discussing next episode (01:35:22) - Outro Reply on Bluesky ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Episode 311. We catch up to the current season of For All Mankind, as the show reaches the 1990s and begins the race for Mars, with a private company launching its own voyage alongside the USA and Russia. We discuss how the show has proven itself adept enough at drama in the early seasons to earn a few wild comedic moments now, having one specific human villain, and spending too much time on setup when we're ready to be introduced to a situation in media res. Kyle demands a sovereign colony on Mars. Melissa just wants Margo and Sergei to kiss again. We get very excited about homages to Lost.Click here to watch a video of this episode. (00:00) - Intro (00:04) - Welcome and banter (05:25) - Non-spoiler thoughts on For All Mankind s3-4 (16:30) - Housekeeping (20:40) - Spoilers for For All Mankind s3-4 (01:53:10) - Review Show Bingo (02:00:25) - Recommendations (02:07:02) - What we are discussing next episode (02:08:48) - Outro ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Episode 309. We're talking on Sunshine, and don't it feel good! We watched the sci-fi thriller from director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland, about a space mission to launch a nuclear bomb that will revive the dying Sun and save Earth from death by ice age. The mission is thrown into chaos when the crew hears a distress signal from the first ship who attempted this mission and failed under mysterious circumstances. We discuss the cast of breakout stars and how the movie feels like it could be a hit new release this year and not a box office flop from 2007, strange stylistic choices, cosmic horror, a troubling haircut, and just what the 20th Century Fox logo is supposed to be. Is that a building? Can you go inside??Click here to watch a video of this episode. (00:00) - Intro (00:04) - Welcome and banter (02:28) - Non-spoiler thoughts on Sunshine (16:29) - Housekeeping (20:42) - Spoilers for Sunshine (01:08:12) - Review Show Bingo (01:11:20) - Recommendations (01:22:40) - What we are discussing next episode (01:25:20) - Outro ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★