After decades of movies, books, TV shows, and comic books, we finally come to the beginning of the end. The first trailer for the final film in The Skywalker Saga is upon us. The film is officially called Star Wars Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker. Of course for an event this epic and monumental, I needed my resident Star Wars expert with me to get the job done, so I had the illustrious Mr. Ryan McDonald Esq. with me on this episode of The World’s Best Podcast.
C3PO (Anthony Daniels), Finn (John Boyega) and Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) in STAR WARS: EPISODE IX.
We sat down to break down the trailer for this new Star Wars film, the final film in this new trilogy. We offer up our theories, we speculate where the story is going, we offer up some inside and behind the scenes information, and discuss the changing landscape of franchise filmmaking that began all those years ago in 1977 with the first Star Wars film. We had a great time recording this episode, so we hope you enjoy listening to it! If you’d like to watch the trailer before listening to the podcast, we have it posted at the bottom of the page. Listen here or subscribe on Stitcher and iTunes: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/17636894
On this week’s episode of The World’s Best Podcast, I review the new DC superhero movie SHAZAM! starring Zachary Levi.Shazam may not be well known, but at one time his comic book series was outselling Superman. DC may not be knocking it out of the park with their movies like Marvel, but they’re on the right track. With missteps like Suicide Squad and Justice League out of the way, DC has built up a solid roster of stand alone movies with Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and now Shazam. SPOILERS are discussed in this episode, but I cover the characters history and some other interesting topics before breaking down the movie.
Listen to the episode here or subscribe on Stitcher and iTunes:
It took me awhile, but I finally got around to reviewing Jordan Peele’s new horror movie, “Us”. We I saw the creepy as fuck trailer for “Us” I knew it was going to be film to keep my eye on. It was easily one of my most anticipated movies of the year. As much as I love Star Wars and Marvel, it’s always exciting to see a new, original concept on the big screen. With the movie having been in theaters for a few weeks now, I wanted to make sure I posted my podcast review. This episode does have SPOILERS, but you can get my SPOILER FREE thoughts on the film at the beginning of the podcast. Without further ado, please enjoy the latest episode of “The World’s Best Podcast”! Listen here or subscribe on Stitcher and iTunes:
This morning Marvel dropped, what is most likely, their final Avengers: Endgame trailer. This is easily one of the most anticipated movies of the year, so I was really looking forward to doing this trailer breakdown for you guys. We’re less than a month and a half away from Endgame and after seeing Captain Marvel, I only became more hyped up! Now, with this new trailer we have another reason to be counting the days on the calendar until this baby hits theaters! But have no fear! Because I’m here to help you navigate the twists and turns of the (probably) final Avengers: Endgame trailer. In this World’s Best Podcast episode, I breakdown the trailer and give you the details on everything you need to know before seeing this movie. Such as offer up some character backstory, clarify and explain a few things, talk about influences from the comic books, some personal predictions, and get you up to speed on the status on your favorite characters (FYI A lot of them are dead)! So please enjoy the latest episode of The World’s Best Podcast! The full trailer is posted at the bottom of the page, for you’re viewing pleasure. Listen here or subscribe on Stitcher and iTunes:
The MCU’s Phase III has been, so far, Marvel’s best set of films yet. Phase III began with Captain America: Civil War and will wrap up with this April’s Avengers: Endgame. All of Marvel’s movies have been, at the very least, solid & fun at their worst and masterpieces at the best. The current renaissance of Mavel’s flicks has largely been the result of the creation of Marvel Studios, an independent movie studio that produces and has complete control over creative choices. Kevin Fiege, the head of Marvel Studios, has bee a huge part of the MCU’s success. Disney bought Marvel a few years ago, but Marvel Studios still remains independent and free to produce films in anyway they see fit.
Don’t get me wrong there are some great movies here, some of the best in Phases I & II include:
PhaseI
Iron Man
Captain America: The First Avenger
Thor
The Avengers
PhaseII
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Guadians of The Galaxy
Ant-Man
but they don’t compared to the level of quality and experimentation that we saw in Phase III:
Capain America: Civil War
Doctor Strange
Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.2
Spider-Man: Homecoming
Thor: Ragnarok
Black Panther
Avengers: Infinity War
Ant-Man & The Wasp
Captain Marvel
That a pretty fucking great set of movies in Phase III which culminates in Endgame. Phase IV starts with Spider-Man: Far From Home FYI.
I’m happy to say that Phases III has not disappointed us with Captain Marvel. This episode of The World’s Best Podcast is all about Captain Marvel. We are doing a deep dive review of Captain Marvel with full spoilers, so we were there. Please enjoy the show! Listen here or subscribe on Stitcher and iTunes:
First of all I feel I have to apologize yet again for being a little late in putting out our latest podcast. It’s been a busy month, but we try to get episodes of The World’s Best Podcast on a more or less weekly schedule at a minimum, if not more. So I really appreciate your patience with our unorthodox podcast release schedule over the last few weeks and I want to reassure you that the release schedule will be getting back to normal. As a small consolation, this week will see the release of not one, but TWO pretty great episodes of the Podcast (today’s episode and our Captain Marvel SPOILER-Filled Deep Dive Review)! I am particularly excited about our upcoming Captain Marvel episode! Not only because I am very psyched to see the movie, but some of the concepts and elements that we will see in this film, have the potential to open up so many different interesting possibilities for the MCU! Much in the same way Guardians of The Galaxy and Doctor Strange did.
Anyway back to today’s episode! Most excitingly, HBO FINALLY dropped a full trailer for the EPIC final season of Game of Thrones premiering on April 14. I’ve posted the trailer below if you want to check it out (As if you haven’t already watched it a dozen times 😉). Needless to say, we were super excited to talk about it and we needed to do a breakdown of the trailer right away. I really dug it, the trailer was exciting and just substantive enough, without giving too much away.
We also discuss the trailers for Dark Phoenix and Hellboy released earlier this week, we touch upon some predictions for Captain Marvel, and sadly we wrap things up on a somber note. With a tribute to the untimely passing this week of beloved actor, Luke Perry. Who was taken from us too soon, passing away at the age of 52. Despite the sad ending, as usual we had a lot of laughs recording this episode and we think you will too! So please enjoy! Listen here or subscribe on Stitcher and iTunes:
2019 is going to be “The Year of Streaming Services”. For a few years now I have felt that streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime are going to massively change the way we consume entertainment content, specifically films and television shows. With Warner Bros. having already thrown their hat into the ring on the increasingly solid and well done app DC Universe. The service not only offers original content like the excellent shows they’ve released so far: Titans, Young Justice: Outsiders, and one of the shows will be discussing at length on today’s podcast, Doom Patrol.
Then there’s Disney, coming out swinging later this year with Disney Plus. Which will launch with the release of an original live action Star Wars television show, The Mandalorian produced by Jon Favreau and with incredible talent like Taika Watiti, Dave Filioni, JJ Abrams and Favreau himself directing episodes. Add on to that the already announced Marvel Cinematic Universe projects that so far includes miniseries starring The Vision & Scarlett Witch, The Falcon & The Winter Soldier, and a Loki prequel miniseries. Will be covering all this and more on today’s episode of The World’s Best Podcast!
So sorry about the long wait between episodes! Just had some personal stuff to deal with, but we are so psyched to be back! This week Paul Sr. and I have discussion about some excellent new shows: DOOM PATROL on DC Universe Streaming and THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY on Netflix.
We also have a wide ranging, but still very fucking fun discussion about the larger effect streaming services are having on our entertainment. As I said at the start of the article, 2019 is “The Year of The Streaming Services”. We appreciate your patience between episodes and we hope you enjoy this awesome episode! Listen here or subscribe on Stitcher and iTunes:
From L to R: Sam, Dean, & Castiel (Misha Collins) having a few laugh on “Baby”, their trusty ‘67 Chevy Impala
“Saving people, hunting things. The family business.” For 14 Seasons, that’s been the motto of Brother’s, Sam and Dean Winchester (played by actors Jared Padelecki and Jensen Ackles respectively). Driving around in “Baby”, their 67 Chevy Impala, they’ve faced off against pretty much everything that goes bump in the night. Ghosts, demons, demigods, The Apocalypse (A couple a’ times), vampires, black magick, Djinn, Angels, Lucifer, even God himself and that doesn’t even scratch the surface. Supernatural is one of the most underrated, well acted, creative, scary, fun, and bat-shit crazy shows on TV.
Jared Padalecki as Sam Winchester, Jeffrey Dean Morgan as John Winchester, Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester
The Winchester Family. Together. In a rare moment of happiness. (Photo Courtesy Of EW.com)
The good new for fans is that there’s no sign of slowing down. The long running CW series has already been picked up for it’s 15th Season. This week Supernatural reached its 300th episode. A gigantic achievement in itself and when it hits Season 15 later this year, it will be one of top 15 longest running scripted series in the history of television. Needless to say, it’s a special milestone for the cast, the crew, and the fans. Consistent with the magnitude of reaching 300 episodes, the show came out swinging with something special for the fans. The series usually does something special to make a big deal of their milestones episodes like their 100th or the 200th episodes, usually something for the fans, but this year could be their best yet.
Jeffery Dean Morgan who played John Winchester, Sam and Dean’s father, for the first two seasons of the show, with a minor appearance in season 3, finally returned to the series for episode 300. Even though the character of John Winchester has been dead for over 10 years now, anyone who has an even passing familiarity with the show will realize that doesn’t matter a whole hell of a lot in the world of Supernatural. Morgan has been wanting to return for guest appearances on the show for years but scheduling had been difficult because he’s become an increasingly popular actor since he left Supernatural.
JohnandMaryfinallyreuniteafterdecadesapart.
But he never forgot his roots. He stayed in touch with the cast and crew and frequently discussed in interviews how he’d love to return to the show and it was just a matter of finding the time. So it’s pretty damn cool to have John Winchester back, even if it’s just for one episode. He’s such an iconic character, who is so important in the show’s mythology. There’s a great little joke from a few seasons ago, at the beginning of one episode, Sam and Dean come back from a hunt, covered in the blood and guts of god knows whatever they’d been killing the night before. As they walk into the room, we see that Dean is carrying “Lucille” : a baseball bat, wrapped in barbed wire that is the infamous weapon used by Jeffery Dean Morgan’s character Negan on the AMC series The Walking Dead. Dean puts “Lucille”, which is covered in blood and guts, right down on the table and says “Man, Dad used to love this thing.” It’s moments like this, that make people love Supernatural.
Hmmm, that bat looks awful familiar…
A relatively small amount few shows, even good ones, make it past their first season. Hell, most “hit” shows if they’re lucky, get about five seasons. The secret to Supernatural’s success is that, even though it’s not a ratings giant compared to other huge shows on other larger networks, it’s one of the most solid performers on The CW. It also has a very passionate fan base. Supernatural’s fans are among the most unique and devoted in the geek community. Which is something that the stars of the show, Jensen Ackles and Jared Padelecki, fully recognize. All of the main actors on the show are known for being notoriously grateful and gracious when dealing with fans in real life
Any series running as long as Supernatural is bound to have its highs and lows, but over 15 years, they have an astonishing level of consistency. That’s pretty damn impressive. At it’s best, Supernatural has produced some of the best seasons of television I’ve ever seen. I know that a bold statement, but there are 3 or 4 seasons that would be in my top 25 best television seasons of all time list. Even at its worst, there’s never been an episode Supernatural of that’s anything less than solid.
That show’s excellence largely comes from the great writing and the talent and the charisma of the leads on the series. All of the main actors are overlooked far too often and the talent on display in this series isn’t recognized enough. I do you have to tip my hat to Entertainment Weekly because the magazine has frequently done cover stories on Supernatural. Anyway, you can listen to the episode here or subscribe on Stitcher and iTunes:
I haven’t been a big fan of the Academy Awards for years now, but I must admit I was very excited when Black Panther received an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. This is the first time a comic book film, a superhero film has been nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. Even though I don’t consider the Oscars to be the standard by which excellence in film should necessarily be judged, it’s still a great feeling of validation to a lifelong comic book fan. Not to mention that it’s all too rare to see a big budget superhero film with a predominantly black cast that, as put so well by Marc Bernardin in his Entertainment Weekly cover story, Black Panther is a movie about celebrating “Excellence”. Which is all too rare. This movie’s cultural impact cannot be understated. Even putting all of that aside, Black Panther is just a great fucking movie that absolutely deserves this recognition.
The cast of Black Panther after their win for Best Ensemble Cast at The Screen Actors Guild Awards.
So, With Black Panther nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, on this episode we wanted to acknowledge that historic accomplishment as well as talk about other comic book films that deserved Oscar noms. We also discuss some of the upcoming DC films, like Birds of Prey. To top it all off, we try to figure out (if you could pick ANY character from ANY comic book universe) who would have the best chance in a face off against Thanos with The Infinity Gauntlet! All this and so much more on this episode of “The World’s Best Podcast”! Enjoy! Listen here or subscribe on Stitcher and iTunes:
It’s been twenty years in the making (and one quasi-sequel), but, Glass, M. Night Shyamalan’s follow up to his superhero classic, Unbreakable, is finally here! For years, a direct sequel to Unbreakable was one of my most desired films. So needless to say I was extremely excited to see the finale to M. Night Shyamalan‘s superhero trilogy, Glass. In this SPOILER filled review, I gives my full breakdown of the movie and more. Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, and James McAvoy all give great performances, but does the film live up to nearly two decades of hype? Listen here or subscribe on iTunes and Stitcher to find out:
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