Moderate Fantasy Violence

This fortnight, Nick and Alastair challenge the boundaries of the possible with meta-animated movie Chip & Dale: Rescue Rangers and silent comic Step By Bloody Step.

But first, Alastair’s pushing cultural boundaries with punk biopic Pistol, while Nick’s playing it a little safer with new Disney+ superhero series Ms Marvel.

Then it’s time to see just how many different cartoons can be referenced in a single movie with Chip & Dale (15:25). Will these lovable chipmunks succeed in their quest to become Roger Rabbit for the 21st century?

And lastly, Nick and Alastair check out recently concluded comic mini-series Step By Bloody Step (29:33), written by podcast favourite Si Spurrier and drawn by Matias Bergara, a striking fantasy tale featuring the bold innovation of no text whatsoever.

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This fortnight, Nick and Alastair take a dark turn with the beginning of the end for lawyer tragedy Better Call Saul, plus another round of Love, Death & Robots.

But first, Nick’s read Spider-Man: Life Story, an also-bleak real-time Spidey comic by Chip Zdarsky and Mark Bagley, and for Alastair’s recommendation, they’ve both actually seen new Alex Garland movie Men, so it’s time for an MFV mini-review!

After all that, it’s off to Albuquerque once more for Better Call Saul (12:28), covering the opening half of the final season. Will they finally catch up with Breaking Bad? Full spoilers are available, but only from 23:27 onward.

Lastly, a third volume of Netflix’s bleak anthology Love, Death & Robots (33:42) has arrived, so Nick and Alastair are morally obligated to count down their top three episodes. Will they agree a bit more this time?

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A little preview of the MFV Best of 2022 episode here, as Nick and Alastair cover Everything Everywhere All At Once and the final run of Derry Girls.

But first, sitting alongside those titans, Alastair’s watched Apple TV corporate drama WeCrashed, while Nick chose his favourites in a particularly eventful Eurovision Song Contest.

And then it’s on to Everything Everywhere All At Once (15:16), the widely acclaimed film directed by Daniels and starring a multiverse-hopping Michelle Yeoh. And fair warning, a few late-in-film twists and sequences are spoiled in this review.

After which, Nick and Alastair return to 90s Northern Ireland one more time for an emotional last visit with the Derry Girls (30:35).

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All Marvel all the time this fortnight, as Nick and Alastair tackle Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and the full first season of Moon Knight, a man lost in his own labyrinth of mental problems.

But first, Nick is trudging through the dank maze of Dark Souls, while Alastair’s also experiencing a split within the mind via Severance.

And then it’s time to finally get into this Marvel Cinematic Universe thingy everyone’s talking about, with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (10:58). Surprisingly few spoilers in this one, apart from a few minutes chat about the surprise cameos in the closing minutes of the review.

And lastly, Nick and Alastair return to Moon Knight (28:22) to cover the whole of this endearingly strange series, with even less spoilers somehow.

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This fortnight, Nick and Alastair take a voyage into the past with Viking vengeance movie The Northman and time travel veteran Doctor Who in Legend of the Sea Devils.

But first, Alastair’s lost and alone on an island with Yellowjackets, while Nick’s revisiting Jonathan Hickman’s X-Men comics as they come to a mini-climax in Inferno.

After all that, they finally grow out their beards for The Northman (11:24), the new Hamlet-esque revenge saga created by Robert Eggers and grimy death.

Lastly, it’s the penultimate outing for the Thirteenth Doctor Who in Legend of the Sea Devils (25:18), and as the end becomes increasingly nigh, the possibility begins to loom that Jodie Whittaker might… go out on a moderate high?

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This fortnight, it’s a tightly disciplined military exercise as Nick and Alastair cover Peacemaker and Black Crab.

But first up, Nick’s gone back to finally watch Apple TV’s Dickinson, while Alastair’s bringing us right up to date with the opening episodes of Moon Knight.

And then they leap into Peacemaker (11:53) – also slightly late, to be honest, as it’s taken forever to finally air this in the UK, but at least it happened in the end. Nick named The Suicide Squad (featuring the debut of Peacemaker) as his favourite film of 2021 – will his love persist?

Finally, for more serious army-action, we head over to Sweden for Black Crab (28:11), a dark thriller that finally gives us soldier-survival drama ON ICE.

For anyone listening to this literally in the first few hours after it drops on April 14th, Nick’s latest comics Kickstarter is finishing at UK lunchtime! Get yourself some nice Necromancer books!

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This fortnight, Nick and Alastair look on the sunny side of life with Pixar’s Turning Red and… the other one with The Boys: Diabolical.

But first, Alastair’s finally seen enough Oscar movies to take a shot at predicting the results (and yes, since the ceremony has aired since this episode was recorded, you’ll already know if he was right). (This also means no jokes about Will Smith.) Meanwhile, Nick’s getting into the spirit of the season with Weezer’s new timely EP SZNZ: Spring.

And then our heroes cast aside their many worries and wish they were a red panda with Turning Red (13:46).

Last of all, Nick and Alastair have seen The Boys: Diabolical (25:04), a new animated anthology from the world of Amazon’s superhero-bashing show. And yes, an animated anthology can only mean one thing: top three countdown time!

Finally, a reminder that Nick’s latest comics Kickstarter is still running, and by the time the next MFV pod goes up, it’ll be hours from the end. So really it makes more sense to head over and back now.

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This fortnight, Nick and Alastair begin a long dark journey into the depths of the human soul with The Batman and Euphoria season 2.

But first, in a rare brighter moment, Nick’s finally watched Agents of SHIELD season 7, while Alastair’s slightly more up to date with The Dropout.

After which, they zip up their cowls and dive into the dark heart of Gotham with The Batman (12:53). Does the world need another gritty Batfilm? And should it be this one specifically?

Relatedly, Euphoria season 2 (29:22) dares to ask – what if the whole world was really bad?

And finally – as you’ll know almost immediately if you listen to this podcast episode, Nick has a new comics Kickstarter running for his epic fun-goth dark magic graphic novel Death of a Necromancer with Robert Ahmad, David Cooper and DC Hopkins. Fancy giving it a look, and maybe backing for this powerful journey into the dark? Head on over and get involved.

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This fortnight, Nick and Alastair attach themselves to Netflix once again to cover improv crime-sitcom Murderville and Oscar-contending cowboy movie The Power of the Dog.

But first, Alastair’s continuing his awards season diet with strong contender Parallel Mothers, while Nick’s finally watching universally beloved optcom Ted Lasso.

After which, they finally sign into Netflix to consume all six episodes of Murderville (12:02) and find out whether the one thing past popular TV cop sitcoms needed was a main character improvising the whole time.

Lastly, as part of their annual quest for Oscar relevance, Nick and Alastair watch Jane Campion’s acclaimed western The Power of the Dog (25:04) and puzzle over exactly where it fits in the pantheon of past Cumberbatch roles, plus (of course) how it connects to Zack Snyder’s Justice League.

PS – if you want to get involved with Nick’s upcoming comic about Necromancers, the Kickstarter notification page thing is up now.

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This fortnight, Nick and Alastair armour up and hit the trail with Star Wars: The Book of Boba Feet, then hunker down for the apocalypse with Don’t Look Up.

But first, a rare detour into music reviewing as Nick’s heard the new Frank Turner and Mitski albums, while Alastair’s enjoying not just the new Black Country, New Road record, but also movies The Souvenir and The Souvenir Part II. Bloody hell.

But, at last, they must sit down and watch the latest Disney+ Star Wars antics in The Book of Boba Fett (14:30), chronicling one man’s rise to somehow being the second most popular man to wear his armour despite getting there first. Spoilers throughout.

And then it’s time to embrace oblivion in apocalyptic Netflix comedy-drama Don’t Look Up (29:48), starring… more or less everyone.

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