Nick and Alastair pick the week of a heatwave to dive into three enormous releases in an extra-long episode, with Thor: Love & Thunder, The Boys season 3 and Ms Marvel season 1.

But first, Alastair’s saved some time for Pleasure, while Nick cauught up with Russian Doll season 2.

And then they get stuck into Thor: Love & Thunder (10:32), with… a few spoilers and, of course, some controversial and heavily qualified opinions about this movie.

Next, The Boys season 3 (23:32) tries to beat its own high standards for blowing the human body up while bringing the mood right down.

But fortunately, we’re finishing on Ms Marvel season 1 (38:56) to cheer us right up again. (Again, a few spoilers in here.)

Download the podcast directly in mp3 here!

Listen on YouTube over a static image here!

Subscribe on iTunes! Reviews welcome!

Get the show on Spotify!

Listen on Stitcher! Reviews also welcome!

Subscribe in multiple Android podcast apps here!

This fortnight, Nick and Alastair are watching six-episode miniseries all the time, with Obi-Wan Kenobi and We Own This City.

But first, Nick bids a tearful farewell to longtime favourite Legends of Tomorrow (and stops to deliver a small eulogy for the wider Arrowverse too), which Alastair’s gone a little higher brow with London’s new production of To Kill A Mockingbird, written for the stage by Aaron Sorkin.

After which, their study of the Force finally begins in earnest with Obi-Wan Kenobi (13:57) on Disney Plus, including final episode spoilers from 19:50.

And lastly, in a slightly more grounded mode, Nick and Alastair take on We Own This City (27:27), a new miniseries about institutional corruption in Baltimore from genre heavyweights David Simon and George Pelacanos of The Wire fame. Some plot points from the final episode discussed, although this is non-fiction so you may not view them as “spoilers”.

Download the podcast directly in mp3 here!

Listen on YouTube over a static image here!

Subscribe on iTunes! Reviews welcome!

Get the show on Spotify!

Listen on Stitcher! Reviews also welcome!

Subscribe in multiple Android podcast apps here!

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.

Download the podcast directly in mp3 here!

Listen on YouTube over a static image here!

Subscribe on iTunes! Reviews welcome!

Get the show on Spotify!

Listen on Stitcher! Reviews also welcome!

Subscribe in multiple Android podcast apps here!

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?

Download the podcast directly in mp3 here!

Listen on YouTube over a static image here!

Subscribe on iTunes! Reviews welcome!

Get the show on Spotify!

Listen on Stitcher! Reviews also welcome!

Subscribe in multiple Android podcast apps here!

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).

Download the podcast directly in mp3 here!

Listen on YouTube over a static image here!

Subscribe on iTunes! Reviews welcome!

Get the show on Spotify!

Listen on Stitcher! Reviews also welcome!

Subscribe in multiple Android podcast apps here!

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.

Download the podcast directly in mp3 here!

Listen on YouTube over a static image here!

Subscribe on iTunes! Reviews welcome!

Get the show on Spotify!

Listen on Stitcher! Reviews also welcome!

Subscribe in multiple Android podcast apps here!

Netflix’s hit Korean sci-fi drama The Silent Sea has a claustrophobic intensity that makes it addictive watching. The drama takes place in the confined space of a moon base, where murderous inhuman creatures stalk the corridors preying on the heroes. It owes a lot to Alien, without being derivative of the sci-fi horror masterwork, not least how it sustains the tension across its eight episodes.

The show’s protagonist, Doctor Song Ji-an (Bae Doona), is motivated to find her sister, who was amongst the previous crew of the moon base who disappeared. Song Ji-an, and the mix of scientists and soldiers who join her on this mission, probe the secrets of the moon base to uncover the mystery of what happened to the previous crew. The twist – and this is something of a spoiler – is that the secret of the moon base has more to do with Earth than the Moon.

Most of the drama of the series takes place on the moon base, but we get glimpses of the characters’ lives on Earth. These moments answer the question: what motivated these people to risk their lives on such a dangerous mission? The answer lies in the sorry state that this future Earth has found itself in following an environmental catastrophe.

Continue reading →

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?

Download the podcast directly in mp3 here!

Listen on YouTube over a static image here!

Subscribe on iTunes! Reviews welcome!

Get the show on Spotify!

Listen on Stitcher! Reviews also welcome!

Subscribe in multiple Android podcast apps here!

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!

Download the podcast directly in mp3 here!

Listen on YouTube over a static image here!

Subscribe on iTunes! Reviews welcome!

Get the show on Spotify!

Listen on Stitcher! Reviews also welcome!

Subscribe in multiple Android podcast apps here!

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.

Download the podcast directly in mp3 here!

Listen on YouTube over a static image here!

Subscribe on iTunes! Reviews welcome!

Get the show on Spotify!

Listen on Stitcher! Reviews also welcome!

Subscribe in multiple Android podcast apps here!