Category: Episodes

Back to the normal fortnightly schedule, albeit with a new dual review format, Nick and Alastair continue their hiatus catch-up with the final season of The Good Place, then catch back up to reality with new movie The Platform.

But first, Nick’s caught up on former podcast subject Curse Words, the funtasy comic by Charles Soule and Ryan Brown, while Alastair’s embarked on a rigorous lockdown entertainment programme of Mission Impossible movies and Ken Burns documentaries.

And then it’s time for one final trip to The Good Place (14:51), as the clever-stupid afterlife sitcom concludes. Since the finale went out a couple of months ago, our heroes let the spoilers hang loose on this one. You have been warned.

And finally, a grimmer abstract vision with Netflix’s grisly horror-scifi-thriller movie The Platform (35:58), a film which may or may not contain political metaphor. And a review which also contains a few spoilers, by the way. (Including hard ending details from about 46:18.)

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Nick and Alastair return with their first episode of the year to be recorded within a week of release! And as you’d expect with the times, it’s all TV – specifically Doctor Who series 12 and Better Call Saul season 5.

But first, some talk of other media they’ve enjoyed in these closed off times. Alastair’s subscribed to Disney Plus (along with the rest of the UK, including Nick), while Nick went back and read all 75 issues of The Sandman.

And then on to today’s main business, as Nick and Alastair go back to review Doctor Who series 12 (15:21) and find out if it’s any improvement on the last one, including spoilers for those big finale twists from 29:43.

Lastly, almost bringing them all the way up to date, they’ve also seen the first 6 episodes of Better Call Saul season 5 (39:03) and are getting very emotional about the fate of Jimmy and Kim’s relationship.

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This week, in the final of our two backlogged hiatus episodes, Nick and Alastair return to the heady days of February with reviews of then-new films Parasite and Birds of Prey!

But first, they discuss other culture digested in that simpler time, such as Nick reading the gargantuan Batman: No Man’s Land crossover and Alastair watching cult hit movie Uncut Gems.

After which, they swing into Parasite (12:14), with discussion of its Oscar success (and Joker’s comparative lack of same) and exactly which BBC show it reminds Nick of. Plus relatively few spoilers beyond the basic premise, for once.

Lastly, of course MFV must cover 2020’s first (and possibly only) superhero movie Birds of Prey And The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn (27:57), a fun film which takes superhero conventions and fires a glitter gun at them.

And that’s it for the backlog! Join Nick and Alastair in the near future for an episode recorded in the same week as release!

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Nearly three months since the last episode, Nick and Alastair are back! Neither coronavirus nor Nick’s inability to edit on his crappy laptop could defeat them!

Up-to-date new episodes forthcoming, but before that, here’s the first of two our dedicated heroes recorded during their unwilling hiatus – the Moderate Fantasy Violence review of 2019!

Including such topical affairs as a review of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker instead of a recommendation section, plus some largely inaccurate Oscar predictions. And yes, due to the belated nature of the episode, no mention of a certain virus.

But most importantly, at long last, Nick and Alastair get stuck into the usual end-of-year admin, chatting about the year in TV (11:42) before counting down their 5 favourites each (27:41), before doing the same for film – first they chat (53:25), then they chart (61:05).

What was their favourite release of the year? What other shows, movies and trends caught their eye? Well, hopefully if you’ve paid attention, you know what it wasn’t…

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This fortnight, our (festive) heroes (festively) re-enter the (festive) jungle with Jumanji: The Next Level! And Nick, forever behind on cinema, also finally (and, yes, festively) watched the first one.

But before that, time for the recommendations section, where Nick’s catching up on former podcast subject The Immortal Hulk by Al Ewing and Joe Bennett, and Alastair… defeats the point of the segment with his discussion of the BBC’s recent War of the Worlds adaptation.

And then they log into the great game with Jumanji: The Next Level (7:06), drawing inevitable questions about what exactly we want from our sequels. New stuff? Old stuff? More of the same stuff?

And then, remembering it’s late December and this is probably our (festive) Christmas episode, we settle down in the living room after the main event for a big pointless theoretical (festive) argument: which is the best Doctor Who Christmas special? (19:30)

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This fortnight, it’s 3.5 hours of power as Nick and Alastair tackle Martin Scorsese’s gangster mega-epic The Irishman!

But first, Alastair’s dissecting Alien with new documentary Memory: The Origins of Alien, while Nick’s caught up with DC’s cult favourite villain team-up comic Secret Six, by Gail Simone, Dale Eaglesham, Nicola Scott and more.

And then they sit their arses down for a long spell to watch The Irishman (11:07), complete with some ending spoilers after a short while. To the extent it’s possible to spoil this movie.

Finally, after that epic sit-in (which Nick watched in three separate sessions), they ask: What makes a good 3.5 hour movie? (30:50)

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This fortnight, Nick & Alastair saw the first two episodes of the new His Dark Materials adaptation from the BBC and HBO!

But first, Nick’s caught up with Netflix’s popular women’s wrestling series GLOW, while Alastair’s acquainted himself with the latest re-release of Apocalypse Now – The Final Cut.

And then we get into His Dark Materials (10:50), the latest adaptation of Philip Pullman’s beloved novels starring James McAvoy, Ruth Wilson and Dafne Keen. Alastair has a deep love for these books – can the show live up to them?

Small spoiler note: inevitably, Nick and Alastair can’t get through this review without mentioning a few plot points from later on in the book series.

All that done, they ask this week’s big question: whatever happened to British sci-fi/fantasy on TV? (27:27) The bleakness of the answer will shock you.

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Nick and Alastair face an awful future in horrendously named franchise sixquel Terminator: Dark Fate!

But first, Alastair’s zoomed off into Netflix space show Another Life, while Nick’s dived into past podcast material yet again to catch up on the second batch of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina episodes.

And then they lunge into the grim scifi concept of more than one-hundred MFV episodes and more than five Terminator films to review Terminator: Dark Fate (10:52), with… surprisingly few spoilers. Good work, boys.

Finally, as Terminator takes a cybernetic swinging blade to its own continuity yet again, Nick and Alastair ask: Do the plots of past films matter? (29:31)

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Nick and Alastair made it to the century! One hundred podcasts! Has… the world improved yet?

Oh well, never mind. To celebrate, they’re covering the new Breaking Bad epilogue movie El Camino, then recommending each other some teenage favourites: A Room For Romeo Brass and Transmetropolitan.

But first, Nick’s seen recent HBO the-teens-aren’t-alright drama Euphoria, while Alastair’s made his annual rounds of London Film Festival and seen… all kinds of stuff.

And then they’re on to El Camino (13:10), to find out what happened to much-abused relatable meth cook Jesse Pinkman after Breaking Bad finished.

With their present day obligations discharged, Nick and Alastair dive into some celebratory nostalgia, trying to bring you some insight into what the hell they’re about (if ninety-nine podcasts of chat wasn’t enough) by throwing their youthful media favourites in for discussion.

First up, Alastair brings in Shane Meadows’ debut feature A Room For Romeo Brass (20:36), a thoughtful British comedy drama featuring an early performance from Paddy Considine, and then Nick chucks out Transmetropolitan (35:03), the gonzo cyber-punk journalist comic by Warren Ellis & Darick Robertson.

And with that, it’s time to move on. To MFV #101, obviously.

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This NINETY-NINTH fortnight, Nick and Alastair launch themselves screaming into the discourse with a review of the new Joker movie!

But first, Alastair’s giving Disenchantment another disenchance with its second season (after MFV shrugged at it previously), while Nick brings us the last ever instalment of his extremely sporadic iZombie coverage.

And then it’s time to explore the chaos at the heart of our so-called society with Joker (10:15, lapsing into ending spoilers from around 21:30).

Finally, the dark, morally unsettling question of the week: To what degree are you supposed to empathise with villains? (35:21)

Download the podcast directly in mp3 here!

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