Gobbledygeek
508 episodes - English - Latest episode: 26 days ago - ★★★★★ - 26 ratingsA more-or-less weekly podcast dedicated to all things geeky in pop culture and entertainment. We talk about everything from film and television to books, comics, video games, and more.
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Episodes
510 - FCF: Uzumaki (feat. Eric Sipple)
March 24, 2024 21:35 - 1 hour - 158 MBAround and around we go, where we’ll stop–only Arlo knows! For this month’s Four-Color Flashback, Gobbledygeek’s enfant terrible has chosen Junji Ito’s 1998-99 horror manga Uzumaki. Will Paul ever forgive him? On hand to find out is The Deli Counter of Justice co-conspirator Eric Sipple, who will be appearing on FCF episodes for infinity. The gang discusses Ito’s beautifully grotesque imagery, the book’s at times confounding narrative, their (in)experience with the manga form, and snails. Pl...
509 - FCF: Weavers (feat. Eric Sipple)
February 27, 2024 22:42 - 1 hour - 116 MBOh, what a tangled web we Weavers! For this month’s Four-Color Flashback, Paul and Arlo trap Eric Sipple in their web once more, this time to discuss Simon Spurrier & Dylan Burnett’s Lovecraftian mob story Weavers. Despite being big fans of Spurrier’s (author of past FCF favorites Six-Gun Gorilla and The Spire), Paul and Arlo aren't quite sure what to make of this one, while Eric has some thoughts on why the book is an interesting failure. One thing they can all agree on is Burnett’s vibrant...
508 - That Was Then: Sideways
February 09, 2024 03:51 - 1 hour - 139 MBAs they say, don’t drink and podcast, but here Paul and Arlo are talking about 2004’s Sideways for another round of That Was Then. Alexander Payne’s acclaimed dramedy follows alcoholic wine connoisseur Miles as he takes his bonehead best buddy Jack on a road trip through Santa Barbara the week before Jack’s due to get hitched. It is the Fox Searchlight movie, and the boys discuss what that means, how the performances bring forth certain emotional notes in the script’s body, and why somebody ...
507 - That Was Then: The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
February 02, 2024 16:30 - 1 hour - 124 MBWe’re speeding away at breakneck speed with another installment of our That Was Then series. This time Paul and Arlo are witnesses to The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, a 1974 subway heist thriller that is exactly what it says on the tin. Not that there’s anything wrong with that! But our boys do struggle to find much to say, choosing to highlight David Shire’s jazz-funk score and Owen Roizman’s gritty cinematography while mostly being puzzled by the script’s wasted potential. It’s a fun No...
506 - That Was Then: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (feat. Michael Holland)
January 29, 2024 20:34 - 1 hour - 128 MBFor the next installment in our That Was Then series, Paul and Arlo cast their minds back to 1964–a year that predates both of them, though the era’s Beatlemania might as well be Arlo’s spiritual birthplace. This time, they’re popping paisley parasols for Jacques Demy’s The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, a sung-through opera told in the style of a Hollywood musical with some of the most stunning colors you’ll ever see. Hollywood extraordinaire and From Out of the Past host Michael Holland is on han...
505 - That Was Then: Ghostbusters
January 24, 2024 02:06 - 1 hour - 140 MBWho ya gonna call? Gobbledygeek! For the first installment of our That Was Then series, taking a look back at movies celebrating anniversaries in 2024, Paul and Arlo take residence at Spook Central for 1984’s Ghostbusters. Turning a frightful 40 this year, Ivan Reitman’s classic comedy began as a high-concept riff on the “slobs v. snobs” template made popular by Animal House before becoming an inescapable pop cultural juggernaut. The boys discuss the thoughtfulness of Reitman’s direction in ...
504 - FCF: Superman for All Seasons (feat. Eric Sipple)
January 17, 2024 16:26 - 2 hours - 203 MBLook, up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's the Gobbledygeek season 15 premiere! Breaking from vaguely defined tradition, Paul and Arlo are kicking off the season with a Four-Color Flashback, and their pal Eric Sipple is on hand to help turn the pages. Arlo has chosen to subject Paul and Eric to the classic Jeph Loeb/Tim Sale collab Superman for All Seasons, which may prove a tough sell to a couple of Super-skeptics. The gang discusses the book’s Rockwell-influenced aesthetic, the s...
503 - Twisted Christmas: Black Christmas vs. A Christmas Story
December 22, 2023 04:36 - 2 hours - 176 MBYou’ll slash your eye out, Kidder! To close out our truncated season, it’s a Twisted Christmas double feature, as Paul and Arlo explore both of Canadian auteur Bob Clark’s yuletide classics: 1974’s proto-slasher Black Christmas and the 1983 staple A Christmas Story. The boys separately find each of these movies to be deeply annoying…but who couldn’t stand which one?! Just kidding, Paul’s not that into the horror movie and Arlo can’t stand the cutesy nostalgic one. We have a brand, and we’re ...
502 - Blue Eye Samurai
December 16, 2023 17:27 - 2 hours - 170 MBWhat is there for a young, mixed-race woman to do in feudal Japan? Reject all traces of her femininity, assume the masculine identity of a ronin, and seek revenge on any of the four white men in the whole country who could potentially be her father. Is Mizu a demonic half-breed, an enlightened warrior, or something else altogether? Created by Michael Green and Amber Noizumi, Blue Eye Samurai charts Mizu’s journey of self-discovery and bloodlust, and Paul and Arlo are along for the ride. The ...
501 - Scavengers Reign
December 12, 2023 19:07 - 1 hour - 160 MBWe’re crash-landing back into regular podcasting with the Max original animated series Scavengers Reign. Created by Joseph Bennett and Charles Huettner, the seeds of Scavengers Reign were planted in an Adult Swim short before blossoming into a brilliant sci-fi series teeming with surrealist detours and bits of body horror. Paul and Arlo rave about the show’s Cronenberg-meets-Miyazaki vibe, laud the series’ refusal to provide easy answers, and hope against hope that this beautiful, otherworld...
500 - Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (feat. Eric Sipple)
November 26, 2023 20:07 - 2 hours - 213 MB500 episodes! Can you believe it? What incredibly special way will we choose to commemorate this event??? By, well, just having a regular episode discussing Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse with our good friend Eric Sipple. At one point this past summer, we weren’t sure another episode was ever going to happen, so this seems like a fitting celebration. The boys rave about Across the Spider-Verse’s layered meanings, innovative animation, strong emotion, and how much more fun and exciting t...
499 - Geek Challenge: Xanadu vs. Mulholland Drive
June 28, 2023 01:40 - 2 hours - 166 MBYou have to believe Gobbledygeek is magic. Or at the very least, that Paul and Arlo will revel in cinematic magic on the latest Geek Challenge. Robert Greenwald's infamous 1980 flop Xanadu is paired with David Lynch's acclaimed 2001 masterpiece Mulholland Drive for a fantastical discussion of filmic fantasy. The boys argue that Xanadu should not be seen as a failure, interpret Mulholland Drive's many cryptic symbols, bask in the radiance of Olivia Newton-John, and laud Naomi Watts' raw emoti...
498 - FCF: Far Sector
June 06, 2023 19:05 - 1 hour - 150 MBIn brightest day, in blackest night, no listener shall escape the Four-Color Flashback’s might! In an unusual turn of events, Paul has selected a DC book–but, of course, it’s an unusual one. Published under DC’s Young Animal imprint, curated by My Chemical Romance’s Gerard Way, Far Sector is a Green Lantern murder mystery written by N.K. Jemisin (in her first comics work) with art by Jamal Campbell. Sojourner “Jo” Mullein is the newest Lantern in the universe, and she’s been kicked way out i...
497 - Geek Challenge: Stick Season vs. Blood on the Tracks
May 10, 2023 18:53 - 2 hours - 210 MBAre you feeling “Homesick”? Are you all “Tangled Up in Blue”? Dogged by a “Simple Twist of Fate” or, perhaps, sippin’ on gin and “Orange Juice”? Then boy, do we have the Geek Challenge for you! Dipping their toes in musical waters for the first time in a while, our boys are listening to one of each other’s favorite albums. Paul has challenged Arlo to Noah Kahan’s 2022 singer-songwriter album Stick Season, and Arlo has in turn challenged Paul to Bob Dylan’s extremely singer-songwriter classic...
496 - FCF: Boxers & Saints
April 13, 2023 01:44 - 2 hours - 200 MBFor this month’s Four-Color Flashback, Paul and Arlo tackle a blindspot from one of their favorite writers. Gene Luen Yang, author of Gobbledyfaves like American Born Chinese and Avatar: The Last Airbender, tells the brutal story of the Boxer Rebellion in Boxers & Saints. The graphic novel duology delves into complex subjects like faith, spirituality, nationalism, and fascism; we cover ‘em all, hopefully in something resembling depth. Plus, Arlo returns to the city of Metropolis for more Sup...
495 - HBO’s The Last of Us, Season One (feat. Dale & Ensley Guffey)
April 04, 2023 05:09 - 2 hours - 182 MBLove can spread like a fungus throughout the soul, eradicating any shred of self-control. For a thorough depiction of that sentiment, we turn to HBO’s The Last of Us, a TV adaptation of the blockbuster video game series. Joining Paul and Arlo to talk everything mushroom are authors and pop culture enthusiasts Dale and Ensley Guffey, stopping by the show for their first visit in years. The gang discusses the game’s transition to television, how the show breaks new ground for the zombie apocal...
494 - Geek Challenge: Alice vs. Labyrinth
March 15, 2023 00:08 - 2 hours - 186 MBYou remind me of the pod…the pod with the geeks. Paul and Arlo fall down the rabbit hole of another Geek Challenge, this time pitting Jim Henson’s 1986 cult classic Labyrinth against Jan Švankmajer’s 1988 headtrip Alice. Henson’s film finds Jennifer Connelly dancing with David Bowie and a variety of Muppets as she attempts to rescue her baby brother, while Švankmajer’s finds Kristýna Kohoutová assailed by a variety of bizarre stop-motion creations and a taxidermied rabbit. It should be obvio...
493 - RRR
February 17, 2023 04:07 - 2 hours - 177 MBTime to rise, roar, and revolt as Paul and Arlo engage in some extreme piggybacking with S.S. Rajamouli’s RRR. This alt-history epic is the rare Indian film to make a splash in the Western world, and our boys approach it as only two ignorant white guys can: with almost no knowledge of Indian culture or film! Nevertheless, they are in love with the movie, which reimagines Indian revolutionary figures Komaram Bheem and Alluri Sitarama Raju as superheroes who can outrun tigers, shoot a British ...
492 - FCF: We Only Find Them When They’re Dead
February 05, 2023 22:56 - 2 hours - 176 MBGot a hankerin’ for god meat? Well, pull out your giant lightsaber knife and feast on a new Four-Color Flashback! For the first FCF of 2023, Paul and Arlo set out at warp speed to seek enlightenment with Al Ewing and Simone Di Meo’s We Only Find Them When They’re Dead. The BOOM! Studios series, whose 15-issue run wrapped in December, is set hundreds of years from now, when the primary industry is extracting proteins, enzymes, and minerals from the corpses of massive deities. Evocative title ...
491 - In Like a Lion
February 01, 2023 01:06 - 1 hour - 156 MBWe’re back, baby! After a longer than expected hiatus, Gobbledygeek has returned for season 14. That’s right, we’re up to 14 seasons of Paul and Arlo babbling on about any manner of nonsense–which they continue to do in this freestyle season premiere. 2023 has come in like a lion and is likely to go out like one, so we find our boys licking their wounds, recounting the real-life horrors that delayed their return to the mic, and generally complaining about everything. Including pop culture! L...
490 - Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
December 27, 2022 23:49 - 2 hours - 217 MBIs that a tree branch on your face, or are you just lying to me? An extra-long Gobbledygeek season finale takes root with a discussion of Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson’s new stop-motion adaptation of Pinocchio. Paul and Arlo discuss the numerous ways del Toro has made Carlo Collodi’s immortal tale his own, chiefly by making it a study of mortality–oh, and fascism too. The boys rave about Ewan McGregor’s take on the Cricket, the awe-inspiring puppetry and animation on display, and Arl...
489 - Geek Challenge: White Christmas vs. Eyes Wide Shut
December 13, 2022 19:39 - 2 hours - 176 MBHang your stockings by the chimney, roast some chestnuts on that open fire, and prepare yourself for a very special Twisted Christmas installment. Our annual yuletide derangement has morphed into a Geek Challenge, featuring two obviously similar films: Paul has challenged Arlo to Michael Curtiz’s holly jolly classic White Christmas (1954), and in turn Arlo has thrust upon Paul Stanley Kubrick’s festive psychosexual nightmare Eyes Wide Shut (1999). Paul has some harsh words for Kubrick’s orgy...
488 - Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (feat. Kenn Edwards)
December 08, 2022 02:03 - 1 hour - 147 MBNow that rock star biopics have peaked with Elvis, what else can the genre do but get Weird? Dare to be stupid with Paul, Arlo, and Alex Jonestown Massacre guitarist Kenn Edwards as they discuss Weird: The Al Yankovic story. Everyone’s favorite accordionist parodies Oscar bait bologna to tell a fact-free version of his own life story, starring obvious choice Daniel Radcliffe. The gang recounts their history with “Weird” Al, dives into the film’s loving homage to early alt-comedy, and can’t h...
487 - Reservation Dogs: Season 2
November 25, 2022 23:16 - 1 hour - 148 MBAho, podcast listeners! To celebrate Native American Heritage Month, Paul and Arlo check in on the latest season of Reservation Dogs, possibly the best show on TV. It would be hard to top Rez Dog’s freshman year, a revelatory season filled with joy, pain, and a whole bunch of shitasses. Yet that’s exactly what Sterlin Harjo and his collaborators have done, deepening the themes of loss and community that made the first season so resonant. The boys rave about the show’s core cast–Devery Jacobs...
486 - Interview with the Vampire (1994)
November 06, 2022 05:07 - 2 hours - 177 MBListen to Gobbledygeek and live forever. This week, in a stealth continuation of this year’s Gobbledyween, Paul and Arlo head on down to New Orleans for Neil Jordan’s 1994 adaptation of Anne Rice’s classic Interview with the Vampire. Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, and Antonio Banderas are the most beautiful men anyone could have cast as immortals in the mid-’90s, and they’re joined by a prepubescent Kirsten Dunst to form a truly tragic coven. The boys discuss the evil joyfulness of Cruise’s Lestat, ...
485 - The Blair Witch Project
October 29, 2022 20:24 - 1 hour - 141 MBWe all get lost, every now and then. Most of us don’t get quite as lost as the three film students at the center of The Blair Witch Project, a massive hit in 1999 whose reputation among the average moviegoer has also taken a massive hit. If you ask Arlo, though, it’s one of the greatest horror films ever made–and he tells Paul exactly why, as they celebrate the second and final week of this year’s abbreviated Gobbledyween. The boys discuss the incredibly convincing performances, why the char...
484 - Midnight Mass (feat. Joe Lewis)
October 27, 2022 21:11 - 2 hours - 230 MBLeaves are on the ground, blood is on the screen–it’s time for a (very late) Gobbledyween! Gobbledygeek’s annual horror-thon returns for an abbreviated run, kicking things off with Mike Flanagan’s 2021 Netflix miniseries Midnight Mass. What at first seems like a riff on ‘Salem’s Lot–a vampire ingratiates himself into a tiny coastal community–becomes a soaring exploration of addiction, faith, and death. Joining Paul and Arlo to discuss the series is original Gobbler Joseph Lewis. Together, th...
483 - Nope
September 19, 2022 21:37 - 2 hours - 186 MBFor his third film, Jordan Peele looks to the skies–and what he finds doesn’t want to be seen. This week, Paul and Arlo say yup to Nope, Peele’s celebration and evisceration of spectacle. The boys discuss the widening of Peele’s horizons in the summer blockbuster mode; how the film reveres Spielberg while offering a pointed rebuttal to Jaws; Daniel Kaluuya’s quiet intensity; and why first-time viewing Arlo is always the dumbest Arlo. Plus, a tribute to cinematic titan Jean-Luc Godard. ...
482 - FCF: Oblivion Song
September 06, 2022 19:10 - 2 hours - 168 MBSing, sing a song; sing of oblivion, it’s 36 issues long! For this month’s first (?) Four-Color Flashback, Paul and Arlo are harmonizing about Robert Kirkman and Lorenzo De Felici’s 2018-22 Image series Oblivion Song. It’s an alien invasion saga that questions the very concepts of “alien” and “invasion,” regarding its human and Kuthaal characters with equal levels of empathy and complexity. The boys discuss how Kirkman overcomes The Walking Dead’s biggest flaws, De Felici’s otherworldly artw...
481 - Netflix’s The Sandman, Season 1 (feat. Eric Sipple)
August 24, 2022 17:16 - 2 hours - 218 MBNo, this isn’t a dream (or even a nightmare): The Sandman, the iconic Vertigo comic book series created by Neil Gaiman, Sam Keith, and Mike Dringenberg, has finally been adapted for television. Paul, Arlo, and The Deli Counter of Justice co-creator Eric Sipple are all huge fans of the comics, and they use their familiarity with the Dreaming to dive deep into the first season of the Netflix TV show. The gang discusses the show’s mostly spot-on casting, whether it captures Morpheus as well as ...
480 - Elvis
August 15, 2022 19:39 - 1 hour - 161 MBFrom Tupelo to Memphis, from Hollywood to Vegas, Elvis Presley conquered America–and now, telling his story, an Australian filmmaker has conquered the biopic. The operatic, maximalist, subtlety-eschewing Baz Luhrmann returns to the screen with Elvis, delivering the glitzy, excessive tribute this mythical/kitsch-ical icon deserves. Paul and Arlo share their personal connections to Elvis, rave about Austin Butler’s transformation into the King, discuss how the film’s portrayal of Elvis’ racial...
479 - Sad & Weird
August 02, 2022 02:18 - 1 hour - 144 MBFor another freestyle, Paul and Arlo are getting weird. As in “Weird Al” Yankovic, whom Arlo recently saw with their good buddy Kenn Edwards. Arlo recounts the concert moment he’d been waiting for all his life, then Paul discusses the joys and frustrations of the first-ever virtual Slayage conference. Plus, brief ruminations on Nope, Thor: Love and Thunder, and The Rehearsal; and we remember our friend Chelsea Hawk. NEXT: TBD. LINKS GoFundMe: For Jared, Chelsea and Xion...
478 - FCF: Thor by Jason Aaron
July 21, 2022 19:26 - 1 hour - 162 MBListener, we would have words with thee! As the Odinson and the Mighty Thor swing their hammers onto the big screen in Thor: Love and Thunder, Paul and Arlo revisit some of the film’s influences for this month’s Four-Color Flashback. The boys dig deep into the early part of Jason Aaron’s run on the golden-haired Avenger, with Thor: God of Thunder #1-25 and Thor (2014) #1-8. Topics of discussion include the dynamite art of Esad Ribić and Russell Dauterman, Thor’s crisis of faith, why Jane Fos...
477 - Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
July 04, 2022 04:04 - 1 hour - 156 MBPaul and Arlo are going slightly mad. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is the MCU’s latest trip through the titular multiverse, fracturing and reshaping reality to meet the franchise’s corporate needs. If that sounds a little unenthused, well, what can we say? The boys didn’t love this one. Paul, ever the optimist, discusses why the MCU’s depiction of sorcery continues to be one of its greatest assets. Arlo, ever the cynic, expresses appreciation of Sam Raimi’s trademark flourishe...
476 - FCF: Die (feat. Eric Sipple)
June 27, 2022 18:56 - 2 hours - 232 MBFor this month’s Four-Color Flashback, Paul and Arlo roll the Die to discuss Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans’ dark tale of a group of one-time RPG nerds getting sucked into the world of the game. Gillen has described the book as “goth Jumanji,” and there’s some truth to that–these characters feel everything, hard. Luckily, so do we, and so does special guest Eric Sipple, author of Mimesis and co-creator of The Deli Counter of Justice. The gang discusses how Die takes apart and rebuilds typi...
475 - GC: Everything Everywhere All at Once vs. The One
June 21, 2022 20:25 - 1 hour - 137 MBIn a multiverse without limitations…you have chosen to listen to Gobbledygeek. Let that sink in. While you do, you’ll also get to hear Paul and Arlo’s latest Geek Challenge! Arlo sort-of challenges Paul to The Daniels’ Everything Everywhere All at Once, the year’s big breakout movie, starring Michelle Yeoh as infinite versions of herself; and Paul in turn challenges Arlo to James Wong’s 2001 action flick The One, featuring Jet Li vs. Jet Li in a dystopian future. The boys discuss the Daniels...
474 - MCUTV: Moon Knight (feat. Michael Holland)
June 14, 2022 01:38 - 1 hour - 151 MBTravelers of the night, welcome to Paul and Arlo’s latest MCUTV discussion. They join hands once again with Hollywood wonder boy Michael Holland, and together they summon Moon Knight. Oscar Isaac joins the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Marc Spector, the human avatar of Egyptian god Khonshu, and…well, is he Marc Spector? Is he Steven Grant? Or is he someone else entirely? The gang discusses how the show tackles Marc’s dissociative identity disorder, the killer costume design, how the series pu...
473 - Dick’s on the Brain
June 03, 2022 19:42 - 1 hour - 156 MBIt’s a freestyle episode, boys and girls! You know what that means: the Dragon’s Milk is flowing, the tangents are plentiful, and Paul and Arlo just can’t get enough Dick’s. Now, now, get your mind out of the gutter–we’re talking Dick’s, the iconic Seattle burger chain. In addition to chowing down on their favorite regional burgers (Arlo shouts out Akron’s very own Swenson’s), the boys are very much on their bullshit throughout. Arlo recounts the entire A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, P...
472 - FCF: Smile
June 01, 2022 00:55 - 1 hour - 137 MBSit back and say ‘Aaaahhhh!’ For this month’s Four-Color Flashback, Paul and Arlo take a trip to the dentist with Raina Telgemeier’s 2010 autobiographic novel Smile. Raina looks back on how her orthodontic woes served as a marker for her adolescence, from the loss of her two front teeth in 6th grade circa 1989 through finally ditching those braces in freshman year ‘92. This prompts Paul and Arlo to recount their own dental dramas in dramatic (traumatic?) detail before praising Telgemeier’s s...
471 - The Batman (feat. Kenn Edwards)
May 22, 2022 23:10 - 2 hours - 210 MBRiddle me this, riddle me that…who's afraid of Matt Reeves' The Bat(man)? Not Paul and Arlo, that's for sure, at least not with Project Batman vet Kenn Edwards at their side. There's a lot of ground to cover, beginning with: Did we need the 897th Batman movie? Of course not, but since we're here, the gang discusses Robert Pattinson's turn as the Caped Crusader, the film's emphasis on detective work, whether or not the story is served by a three-hour runtime, and much, much more. NEXT: ...
470 - The Mighty Marvel Movie Catch-Up
April 30, 2022 19:17 - 2 hours - 222 MBAnd you run, you run to catch up with the sun, but it’s sinking…well, before it sets, Paul and Arlo have a few MCU movies they need to discuss. Due to that pesky pandemic, we’ve gotten behind on the Marvel Cinematic Universe here at Gobbledygeek, but fear not! In this special, super-sized episode, Paul and Arlo discuss three mighty Marvel movies: Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which brings Chinese mythology to the MCU; Eternals, which brings a race of immortal god-beings to the M...
469 - FCF: The Many Deaths of Laila Starr
April 25, 2022 04:35 - 1 hour - 138 MBWhat happens when a child is born who will invent immortality? According to Ram V and Felipe Andrade's The Many Deaths of Laila Starr, Death is fired from her job, is cast into a mortal body, and attempts to find and murder this child. Oh, she also dies a lot. On this month's Four-Color Flashback, Paul & Arlo discuss the book's unique approach to Indian mythology, Andrade's beautifully distorted figures, V's ability to be self-serious without being pretentious, and more. Plus, Paul gets into...
468 - Geek Challenge: Lady Bird vs. Ladyhawke
April 16, 2022 19:51 - 2 hours - 166 MBIt's Ladies' Night on Gobbledygeek! By which we mean we've got a Geek Challenge featuring Richard Donner's 1985 medieval fantasy epic Ladyhawke and Greta Gerwig's 2017 millennial coming-of-age tale Lady Bird. What do these two films have in common? They're both about transformation, of course! In Lady Bird, Saoirse Ronan transforms into a young woman ready to take on the big city; in Ladyhawke, Rutger Hauer and Michelle Pfeiffer quite literally transform into a wolf and a hawk, respectively....
467 - Whatever Happened to the Geeks of Tomorrow?
April 11, 2022 18:19 - 1 hour - 134 MBFor Paul and Arlo, existential crises and comic books often go hand-in-hand. Such is the case for this week’s freestyle, wherein Paul’s rumination on the erosion of his teenage self-confidence leads into a discussion of superhero mags. Paul tells Goblin punks to fuck off as he rocks out to Cody Ziglar and Justin Mason’s Spider-Punk, goes undercover with Kelly Thompson and Elena Casagrande’s recently wrapped run on Black Widow, and cloaks himself in Jed MacKay and Alessandro Cappuccio’s Moon ...
466 - Our Flag Means Death
April 05, 2022 00:51 - 1 hour - 136 MBWeigh anchor and hoist the mizzen! Paul and Arlo set sail for a discussion of David Jenkins’ pirate rom-com Our Flag Means Death. The new HBO Max series, a very loose telling of the history between Stede “The Gentleman Pirate” Bonnet and Edward “Blackbeard” Teach, begins as a silly romp very much in the vein of executive producer/star Taika Waititi’s other work. And then…well, it becomes something very much more, depicting a number of queer romances in positive, affirming fashion. The boys d...
465 - FCF: Six-Gun Gorilla
March 28, 2022 19:31 - 1 hour - 124 MBSometimes a gorilla is just a gorilla. Sometimes, though, that gorilla–righteously bearing arms though he may be–is a gateway to a story about the power and fluidity of narrative. For this month’s Four-Color Flashback, Paul and Arlo go ape for Si Spurrier and Jeff Stokely’s Six-Gun Gorilla, a sci-fi Western published by BOOM! Studios in 2013. The boys discuss Stokely’s glorious, hyper-exaggerated art; how the book’s entertainment conglomerate dystopia feels like a logical extension of our pr...
464 - West Side Story (2021)
March 20, 2022 20:30 - 2 hours - 190 MBSomethin’s comin’, somethin’ good: this week, Paul and Arlo pirouette through a discussion of Steven Spielberg’s new take on West Side Story, nominated for Best Picture at this year’s Oscars. Is it a spoiler to say they love it? The boys discuss how Spielberg and screenwriter Tony Kushner’s changes enrich the text, why choreographer Justin Peck’s bold choice to discard Jerome Robbins’ iconic choreography was the right move, what it means for the Sharks to be played by Latinx actors, and the ...
463 - The Animatrix & The Matrix Resurrections (feat. Tilly Bridges)
March 15, 2022 18:55 - 1 hour - 159 MBWhy use old code to mirror something new? Writer/producer Tilly Bridges is back to continue last week’s discussion of The Matrix series. This time, she joins Paul and Arlo to chat about 2003’s anime anthology The Animatrix, which fits surprisingly well into the series’ trans allegory; and, for the bulk of this episode, The Matrix Resurrections. Lana Wachowski’s triumphant return to her signature co-creation is strikingly similar to the original films…and strikingly different. The gang discus...
462 - The Matrix Trilogy (feat.Tilly Bridges)
March 06, 2022 06:35 - 2 hours - 165 MBUnfortunately, no one can be told what Gobbledygeek is. You have to listen to it for yourself. Writer-producer Tilly Bridges joins Paul and Arlo for the first of a two-part discussion of Lilly & Lana Wachowski’s revolutionary Matrix franchise. This week, the gang discusses the original Matrix trilogy, which was released from 1999-2003 and shattered moviegoers’ preconceived notions of the world around them. In turn, Tilly shatters Paul and Arlo’s preconceived notions of these films by touchin...
461 - FCF: Black Panther - The Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda
February 27, 2022 23:32 - 2 hours - 170 MBPanthers…IN SPAAAAACE! For their first Four-Color Flashback of 2022, Paul and Arlo look to the stars, where they find Black Panther: The Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda. The second half of Ta-Nehisi Coates' Black Panther run, these 25 issues--with art by Daniel Acuña, Kev Walker, and Ryan Bodenheim, among others--concern T'Challa's rise from slave to legend in an alien empire that bears his kingdom's name. The boys discuss Coates' bold new direction, the question of expansion vs. imperialism...