power rangersThirty-three Power Rangers is less than it takes to change a light bulb! Time to review the new Power Rangers movie, and to do this epic justice, Nick and Alastair bring in mighty morphin’ mega-fan PDT, co-host of RangerPod and The Mostly Made-Up Doctor Who Episode Guide! Before getting stuck into the dinosaur meat, they quickly discuss such random intake as Designated Survivor, Ghost in the Shell (not the new one) and the recent Flash/Supergirl musical crossover episode!

PowerRangers-old-schoolThen, at around 8:28, it’s time to morph all the way and get stuck into Power Rangers in some detail. Could the film meet everyone’s expectations? What did PDT think of epilogue comic Power Rangers: Aftershock? Is Alpha 5 still annoying? Which Ranger is the Wolverine of the franchise? All this and much, much more.

If you enjoyed PDT’s appearance here, check out RangerPod and The Mostly Made-Up Doctor Who Episode Guide on their respective websites or iTunes/other podcast apps, and/or follow him on Twitter as @PDTSaysThings!

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iron-fistThirty-two tiny punches and a big stab! In a shortened episode (because they’ve moved the Power Rangers review to a separate special, admin fans), Nick and Alastair quickly cover some classic material, with H.P. Lovecraft’s The Call of Cthulhu and Wes Anderson’s The Darjeeling Limited.

Then it’s into less-than-classic territory with Marvel’s latest Netflix/Defenders series Iron Fist (7:01), before recovering with excellent comedy-horror liberal nightmare movie Get Out (23:52).

get outLastly, what did Alastair think of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (35:13)? Is it good for anyone, or did Nick’s love of comedy music blind him to the truth?

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elleThe big three-one! Moving into the thirties with good range, as Nick and Alastair start with brief chat about the poetry of Kate Tempest and Archie-murder series Riverdale. Then it’s on to new movie Elle (9:19) which, for anyone sensitive about such content, means talking a fair bit about the film’s handling of rape.

sleaford_mods_english_tapas_grandeIf you’d rather not listen, you can skip to 25:44 and the album English Tapas by Sleaford Mods, a band Nick hadn’t previously heard. Lastly, Alastair’s recommendation: Heat (38:46), a 1995 crime epic with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro.

If you’re wondering why there’s only three items this episode – the fourth for the fortnight was in MFV #30, an off-schedule special where we talked Logan with guest Chris Brosnahan. It was fun, click that link and check it out.

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loganEpisode thirty! We’re old, but not as old as Wolverine! Logan goes full grizzled in his new movie, and Nick and Alastair celebrate by releasing an off-schedule special, and bringing on writer, occasional stand-up comedian and X-Men fan Chris Brosnahan to help deal with the dystopian misery of it all. But first, an epic recommendations three-way, taking in The Love Witch, American Horror Story, Spider-Man: The Clone Conspiracy, Jerusalem by Alan Moore and Twin Peaks. Runs longer than usual, mostly because Chris makes the mistake of getting Nick started about Spider-Man clones.

Speaking of which – the Life of Reilly blog series Chris mentions can be found at this link and is a fascinating look behind the scenes of that storyline. Nick’s post on our own website about the Clone Saga, which Alastair had to mention for him, is at this link right here.

old man loganBut we eventually start on our main feature: spoiler-free Logan chat at 18:40, followed by the full-fat ruinous stuff from 27:52 onwards. Is it good? In a superhero way or a proper film way? Do we know what a fight is really like? Which actor surprised us with his strong performance? Which Marvel hero did incest in the original Old Man Logan comics? All this and more! If you enjoy Chris’s appearance here, you can follow him on Twitter as @ChrisBrosnahan.

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prevenge_01Twenty nine episodes in a year! Yes, it’s Moderate Fantasy Violence’s first birthday, so Nick and Alastair allow themselves some indulgent ‘Look How Far We’ve Come!’ talk before brief recommendations of NASA movie Hidden Figures and Native American noir comic Scalped.

Then we do full-length talk-downs of curse-words-01Alice Lowe’s pregnancy revenge thriller Prevenge (8:40), hot new urban fantasy/wizard fantasy crossover comic Curse Words (20:15) by Charles Soule and Ryan Browne, the new series of BBC horror anthology Inside No. 9 (32:13) and Nick’s recommendation from last episode: the excellent (and prematurely concluded) crime comic Fell (48:54) by Warren Ellis and Ben Templesmith.

inside number 9Download the podcast directly in mp3 here!

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lego-batman-movie-poster-charactersTwenty-eight episodes, just like there are days in February! This time, Nick and Alastair both read actual books – specifically Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway and Maus by Art Spiegelman – and one probably had a cheerier time than the other.

But at least both enjoyed The Lego Batman Movie (5:25), an exercise in joyous Batglee like no other. Good to be back on the comic adaptations for 2017.

t2-trainspotting-teaserIn other franchise-sequel news, it’s time for T2 Trainspotting (20:41) (and for Nick to watch the original movie). Can these Scottish heroin addicts anchor a franchise with as much panache as Batman? Sticking with superheroes and tripping out, next it’s time to try X-Men-adjacent TV show Legion (36:09).

Riget(1)_foto_Henrik DithmerFinally, Alastair recommended Nick the Danish surreal-horror show The Kingdom (48:08). Did he like it? Will he include clips of its amazing theme tune in the show? (Yes.)

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Twenty seven episodes, right here in twenty-seventeen! It starts in respectable territory, as Nick read lost-classic adult-comic Miracleman by Alan Moore (credited as “The Original Writer”, because that’s how the guy rolls), Gary Leach, Alan Davis and co, while Alastair followed the Oscar nominations with interest. Such interest, in fact, that we stop for a longer chat about them (5:16).

a-series-of-unfortunate-events-neil-patrick-harris-social (1)It’s a smooth transition from there to a full review of hot Oscar favourite La La Land (12:06), and then on to the new Netflix adaptation of Lemony Snicket’s A Series Of Unfortunate Events (26:12), a show with a thoroughly excellent theme tune. (Don’t worry, we’ve included a clip.)

richard iii2Thirdly, and a small jump away from the rest, we’ve heard 11 Short Stories Of Pain & Glory (38:54), the new album from the Dropkick Murphys. Is it too screamy for Nick, or can he withstand it?

Finally, we cover Richard III (45:35) – specifically the 1995 Richard Loncraine movie starring Ian McKellen. It’s certainly got points to make about fascism rising in the Western world, which may or may not be interesting given recent news events.

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silenceEpisode twenty-six in the Moderate Fantasy Violence house! Unusually, Nick has read a book (namely The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell), while Alastair stares at the new Dirk Gently show on Netflix.

a monster callsMeanwhile, in this award-movie season, two trips to the movies this fortnight: first, Team MFV saw Silence (5:59), a new serious historical movie about priests from Martin Scorsese, and then A Monster Calls (21:03), an adaptation of the YA novel by Patrick Ness.

sherlock_the_final_problemThen back to Sherlock (31:55) for the second episode running – perhaps the last one ever – for a chat about the final two episodes of series four.

Lastly, Alastair has recommended Nick one of his favourite albums: Levelling The Land by The Levellers (50:18). Will it cause him to level up?

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sherlock-season-4-sherlock-with-dogTwenty-fifth podcast – would be a giant-sized special if this were a 90s comic! (Yes, Nick writes these blurbs, how did you guess?) Nick and Alastair are back from the holiday season to talk about things they’ve seen on their travels, such as Revolting Rhymes, The Eagle Huntress and Inside Number Nine!

In our first Steven-Moffat-run TV show of the fortnight, we’re covering the start of Sherlock series 4 (5:02), as we ask: how much crime is enough? Full spoilers here, by the way, and here’s the review of it that Alastair mentions.

netflix-the-oa_1Whereas we’re a bit more sparing with the spoils in our talk about The OA (21:36), a strange new Netflix sci-fi mystery – detail-free thoughts for a while, finally plunging into total ending details at 34:31. Here’s the article Nick mentions about whether it really needs a second season.

the-return-of-doctor-mysterio-promo-cast-imageThen back to Moffatland for the Doctor Who Christmas special (44:15) – fortunately, we’re releasing this on the twelfth day of Christmas so narrowly avoid suffering a curse.

Lastly, back in MFV #23, Nick recommended Alastair the first volume of JLA by Grant Morrison and Howard Porter (55:05) – will this straight action-superhero comic be a step too far?

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mfv-2016

Only took twenty-four podcasts, but Nick and Alastair are finally in the same room for this bonus year-in-review episode!

They attempt to talk down 2016 as a year in film and television, starting with a general chat about movies lately (1:19) before moving on to each listing their top five films covered in 2016 and negotiating them into a unified MFV top 3 without coming to blows (12:48). And if you want to read the good article about Arrival that Nick mentions during this bit, it’s linked here.

And if that wasn’t enough, they do the same for TV – a little broad discussion (27:07), followed by chart listings (39:05).

Finally, needing a little mutual back-slapping after all that controversy, they each give their favourites of the other’s 2016’s recommendations (59:55). All that and the first ever live incident of the Moderate Fantasy Violence drinking game!

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