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Well, the 94th Academy Awards were last night, and boy have we got thoughts on the winners and production! We've gone and recorded them all for you because we love you and because the Oscars are our Superbowl. Enjoy! Let us know what you thought on Twitter: @AYSWpod Support us on Patreon

Happy 2-year anniversary to us! And much more so to you, our incredible listeners, for being with us throughout the craziness of the past 2 years of movies, madness, miracles alike. Here's to many, many more.  In this special anniversary episode, we're taking it back where we started in February of 2020 and guiding you through the 2022 Academy Award nominations. Also, we discover in real-time that AMC and Odeon are owned by the same people, and they've been broadcasting Nicole Kidman's ad spot to us all transatlantically without any of us realizing it. Which other podcast is giving you this kind of insight???    Follow us on Twitter for the latest: @AYSWpod Support us on Patreon

The discourse around this movie definitely feels eternal, so we reviewed it! Here's a discussion of everything you need to know, from the themes, connections, performances, all the way to those post-credit scenes we know you're still thinking about. As always, spoiler-free review begins at 13:21, and full spoilery discussion from 18:15.   Follow us on Twitter for the latest: @AYSWpod Support us on Patreon

Looking for a movie recommendation that's fun for the whole family? Well, Black Widow is now streaming on Disney+ and is no longer behind the premium access paywall, so give it a shot and let us know what you think! Spoiler-free review from 0:14, and full spoilery discussion begins at 12:44. Follow us on Twitter for the latest: @AYSWpod Support us on Patreon

Is time flying by at an incomprehensible pace for you too? Well, it's definitely happening for us, so we decided to give you a rundown of every single notable* movie releasing from mid-October all the way until the end of 2021 so you know what to look out for. From current releases all the way to the holidays, we've got you covered. (*to us; very flexible definitioning here) Follow us on Twitter for the latest: @AYSWpod Support us on Patreon

James' Gunn it again!! DC's latest is out, and we thought it was a real good time. Curious to hear what you thought! We've got your explainers, review, and the thematic discussions you know and love. Spoiler-free opening and review from 10:39, and full spoilery discussion begins at 22:57.   Follow us on Twitter for the latest: @AYSWpod Support us on Patreon

It's Cruella (2021) time! We've got your rundown of everything to like, love, and growl about. Spoiler-free opening and review from 8:00, and full spoilery discussion begins at 18:06. Let us know what you thought of the two Emmas!   Follow us on Twitter for the latest: @AYSWpod Support us on Patreon

Well, we finally did it. We watched Tenet (2020). Or, you know, we will...have...watched it. In the future. Past. Anyway, it was weird! As usual, spoiler-free opening and review, and full spoilery discussion begins at 20:43. Hit us up to share you views on JDW and RPatz's snazzy suits and Kenneth Branagh's murder Fitbit!   Follow us on Twitter for the latest: @AYSWpod Support us on Patreon

The 93rd Academy Awards are tomorrow (Sunday, April 25th) and just like everything else tainted by COVID this past year, they're certainly going to be weird! If you've completely forgotten about the Oscars and missed all the movies and talk leading up to the big night, fret not. We've got a quick rundown of all the nominations in the main categories, complete with commentary and odds. Main Oscars talk begins at 6:48, and the nominations coverage kicks off at 10:26. Happy listening, and let us know what your predictions are! Follow us on Twitter for the latest: @AYSWpod Support us on Patreon

We watched all four hours and two minutes of #TheSnyderCut so you wouldn't have to! Amazingly though, the thing is...we liked it! And you might, too! If you need help deciding whether to hit play, how to approach this movie, or even just understanding what the hell a Snyder Cut is and what it means for DC, we've got you covered. Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021) is now streaming on HBO Max. Follow us on Twitter for the latest: @AYSWpod Support us on Patreon

The portal to the multiverse has opened, and gigantic Liev Schreiber is coming for us all! This week we're joined by the incomparable Geordan Tilley (@GeordanATilley) in our very first guest episode. Together we tackle Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) in all its glory, from the animation to the score to the characters to everything that makes it great. Spoiler alert: we love this movie a lot!! We go beyond the movie and chat about its place within the superhero genre, why it didn't perform as well as it might've, and what it is about this film and others like it that bring us (and Geordan) so close to this art form.  Follow us on Twitter for the latest: @AYSWpod Support us on Patreon

Raya and the Last Dragon dropped this past Friday (March 7th) on Disney+ and in theaters around the world where they are open! Eric and Shaleila review the movie for you and tackle the beautiful animation, cultural depiction, issues with pacing, wishes for Disney World, the game Journey, the traditional nitpicks, and how it's absolutely for the lesbians.  Some wonderful words from Kelly Marie Tran, the voice of Raya, and more on the fight for good WLW representation in animated children's media: Raya and the Last Dragon's Kelly Marie Tran Thinks Her Disney Princess Is Gay (Vanity Fair)

Martin Scorsese's been in the news recently for speaking about Marvel movies and other blockbusters films not being "cinema", and for critiquing algorithmically-driven streaming services for treating film as "content". We think he's got a point! But what do his words really mean? What made everyone so upset? What does it take to be a "real" film fan? Do you need to watch old movies and foreign films to qualify? We go deep. Follow us on Twitter: @ayswpod Reach out to us: ayswpod@gmail.com

An investigation into the beauty of Joe Cornish's slept on movie. This might just be our best episode so far, so you're not gonna want to miss this, or the movie it's about. We talk sincerity, myths, groundedness, writing good characters, and the importance of letting kids be kids. Please, more movies like this!

The first major Hollywood release made during and about the pandemic is here, and it's the Doug Liman-directed, Steven Knight-written LOCKED DOWN! We think it's...not great, but it did remind us one of Shaleila's faves, the also Steven Knight-penned insane masterpiece SERENITY (2019). We cover a quick update on the state of movies these days (0:14), then LOCKED DOWN (3:07), and finally, SERENITY (31:26)!

In which we cover the first two episode of Marvel's WandaVision, which dropped on Disney+ on January 15th. Spoiler alert: they're very strange and very captivating! We've got a rundown of all the sitcom and Marvel references in the episodes, as well as some explanations and theories as to what's going on and what to expect ahead. Whether you're a an MCU stan or a newcomer to the world of Wanda and Vision, this one's for you. Also, are S.H.I.E.L.D. and S.W.O.R.D. just Doctor Who and Torchwood??? Who's to say!

Disney hosted Disney Investor Day (DID) on December 10th, 2020, and you can bet Disney Superfan Eric caught the entire thing live! Since Disney owns just about everything related to The Culture and The Media, we're here to quickly recap for you the movies and tv shows that will be the talk of the town for the next few that were announced, and highlight the bits you really need to pay attention to. We're doing so in a series of episodes - this one focuses on all things Pixar, a podcast favorite. Also, is the upcoming film LUCA just Call Me By Your Shape of Water? Who's to say! (Us!)

Disney hosted Disney Investor Day (DID) on December 10th, 2020, and you can bet Disney Superfan Eric caught the entire thing live! Since Disney owns just about everything related to The Culture and The Media, we're here to quickly recap for you the movies and tv shows that will be the talk of the town for the next few that were announced, and highlight the bits you really need to pay attention to. We're doing so in a series of episodes - this one focuses on their Original movies and television products, excluding Pixar which we will cover in the next episode. Plus, we talk basketball! Wouldn't have called that on this podcast, would you!

Disney hosted Disney Investor Day (DID) on December 10th, 2020, and you can bet Disney Superfan Eric caught the entire thing live! Since Disney owns just about everything related to The Culture and The Media, we're here to quickly recap for you the movies and tv shows that will be the talk of the town for the next few that were announced, and highlight the bits you really need to pay attention to. We're doing so in a series of episodes - this one focuses on Marvel. Also included: Shaleila going off about how Tatiana Maslany is God. It's true!!

Disney hosted Disney Investor Day (DID) on December 10th, 2020, and you can bet Disney Superfan Eric caught the entire thing live! Since Disney owns just about everything related to The Culture and The Media, we're here to quickly recap for you the movies and tv shows that will be the talk of the town for the next few that were announced, and highlight the bits you really need to pay attention to. We're doing so in a series of episodes - this one focuses on Lucasfilm (Mainly Star Wars, Indiana Jones). If you're overwhelmed by the amount of canon Star Wars content about to be out in the world, we break down how to deal with that as well. Let us know what you think of the announcements!

Disney hosted Disney Investor Day (DID) on December 10th, 2020, and you can bet Disney Superfan Eric caught the entire thing live! Since Disney owns just about everything related to The Culture and The Media, we're here to quickly recap for you the movies and tv shows that will be the talk of the town for the next few that were announced, and highlight the bits you really need to pay attention to. We're doing so in a series of episodes - this one focuses on their TV properties (Hulu, Star, National Geographic, and FX). We've also got antics around technical difficulties, and an impressive cryptocurrency tangent. What's not to love!

Well, we set aside some time in whatever month of 2020 it is right now to tackle the latest time loop movie to serendipitously drop in the middle of our very own societal time loop: Palm Springs! We discuss what sets it apart from other time loop movies, whether the science holds together, what we can learn from the Sisyphean paradox of being stuck in a loop and yet looking to the future, and what the hell is up with the dinosaurs. If you know, please tell us!

We're keeping our Disney crawl going by revisiting (visiting, for Shaleila) the second ever release, Pinocchio! What are kids and parents meant to take away from it? What do Monstro and Pleasure Island symbolize? Why is it so damn dark? Why does this movie have THREE live action adaptations in the works? What's up with all the butts? We'll tackle them all!

We're burning our way through every Disney movie out there, and what better to tackle than their most recent release, available to all (who want to pay extra for it) on Disney+! Let us take you through the ups and downs of Disney's 2020 remake of Mulan, as we discuss family, honor, truth, and setting climactic scenes among drab scaffolding. Also, phoenixes!

We kick off The Walt Discussions in proper form by visiting and revisiting (respectively) the movie that kicked off Disney's animation empire way back in 1937: Snow White. What did it take to bring a feature-length animated narrative to life in 1937? What makes for a deserving villain death? Is old animation boring? Why do the dwarves have those names? All those answers and more!

We're kicking off the first installment of "The Walt Discussions", our brand new sub-unit of AYSW where our resident Disney connoisseur Eric and our resident Disney neophyte Shaleila make their way through the complete Disney timeline movie-by-movie. We'll start at the very beginning soon, but kicking it back to the evergreen Mulan (1998) first in preparation for our review of the 2020 remake, up next. We're especially proud of this one, and we hope you enjoy!

Here's something fun about your hosts: Shaleila has managed to avoid watching nearly every single Disney movie in existence in her lifetime, while Eric is a walking Disney encyclopedia with facts for days and trivia to rival any Disney Season Pass holder. Armed with the power of human wit and 1.5 Disney+ subscriptions, they'll dive into how exactly this rift in Disney knowledge has formed, and kick off a new series chronicling the full timeline of Disney Originals.

We know what you're thinking. You're asking yourself why this episode exists. Well, we've got an answer! This movie is so completely insane that it deserved the most in-depth analysis you've ever heard in your life, and also we swear to you that this is our funniest episode, and also possibly THE funniest podcast episode published in 2020. No way to dispute that unless you listen to it, so I suppose you'd better go ahead and click play. We answer a lot of critical questions about this baffling production, and ask even more. We are professional comedians, and Scoob Exclamation Point deserves 4 watches and over 2 hours of analysis. We said what we said.

Follow us on Twitter! What if all the movies that have released until the end of July 2020 were the only ones eligible for the Oscars? Who would be nominated and who would win? Also, what if we did it with just the 2020 releases we've actually seen? Well, wonder no further, because we did it! That's the entire episode! Feel free to use this episode as a pregame for your nighttime watch of Bloodshot, the former #1 movie in America. Shaleila also wants to warn you, listener, that this episode features gratuitous amounts of Eric's passion for and devotion towards Ewan McGregor, so there's that.

Hi Swatchers! (Shaleila's trying that out, do we like it?) Can you believe it's almost September? We sure can't! We've been on hiatus making some personal strides - moving house, writing a thesis, successfully fielding existential crises...but we're back and better than ever! In lucky episode number 13, we tackle two requests courtesy of our very own Eric's dad and brother, respectively. Thank you, Mr. Morales and Aubrey (also Mr. Morales) for donating to the Black Lives Matter fundraiser! This one was a real adventure, and we're grateful for the extremely unique suggestions. Hit play to revisit two very weird movies with impressively strong legacies.

This episode comes at the request of Cari Scheutte, who donated to the recent Black Lives Matter fundraiser. Thank you, Cari! It was an honor to revisit Pixar's weirdly bear-focused fairy tale from 2012 for you. In this one, we review Brave, talk about the makings of a good witch, discuss tartan patterns, and of course go over lots and lots of bears. We've even got some games on animagi in cinema and the epidemic of misleading movie trailers. Plus, look out for a trivia question that'll get you your own episode!

We're back and better than ever with our first mailbag episode! In this one, we tackle questions sent in by you, our lovely listeners, from far and wide. We address such critical issues as "Have you ever cooked food from a movie?", "What are some movies that are not good that you love anyway?", and "Top 5 period pieces?", and impart some humble tips for budding film critics. We also play a strange round of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. As always, we're unendingly grateful to you, our listeners, for supporting us and sending these in. We hope you're taking care of yourselves and doing what you can for the world at the moment!

It's part 2 of our X-men X-travaganza! In this one, Eric and Shaleila tackle the bigger picture behind the franchise. What does it all mean? What was it supposed to mean? Is there any way to fix it? We've also got baby's first podcast sound effect, a directorial dream that's larger than life, and more mentions of the phrase "queer theory" than your college roommate's textbooks. Hope you're all holding up!

Welcome to our first two-parter! The two of us (and some of you) recently undertook a brave 26-hour marathon of all the movies in the X-Men franchise to date in the famed Cannoli Order, and in this first part, Eric and Shaleila take you through every single one of them. Listen on to recap, review, and reflect on a long weekend well spent in front of the tv. We'll take you through the entire timeline, and make you a real X-pert. Coming up on the second part: a larger breakdown of the franchise and what it stands for, including successes and failures, metaphors, and hopes for future movies.

We'll just get right down to it: we made a list of every single disaster movie we could come up with, and then discussed everything important within them, because in case you missed it, we're in the midst of a pandemic and everything is strange! If you, like us, have been indulging in apocalypse/disaster/monster/virus/calamity/dystopia/sci-fi movies and media to pass the time and make sense of the world around us, this one's for you. If not, it's chock full of recommendations. This one really takes all the turns. We love you and hope you're keeping safe and well. We'll keep podcasting, and you keep staying home!

Eric and Shaleila review Pixar's latest, "Onward". Where does it rank among the studio's releases? Is it worth a watch? We've got games and plugs galore, as always. Also explored: D&D classes, Maggie Simpson, and a certain questionable Netflix original. Hope this keeps you company during quarantine szn! We've got lots more on the way. Until then, wash your hands, and look out for each other!

This week, Eric and Shaleila give you the lowdown on all things Pixar, ahead of their latest movie, "Onward" - in theaters now (sponsor us, Disney!). We start with a brief history of Pixar, and then take you through a complete timeline of films, complete with fun facts and strong opinions. We cover Pixar's 22 Rules of Storytelling, and then dive into The Pixar Theory in its full madness (and give expanding it a brave shot). We close with some personal anecdotes and top 5's. We've also got 90's nostalgia aplenty, and Eric's increasingly impressive handle on segues. What's not to love?

Settle in, because your intrepid hosts have written down every single one of the 14+ movies currently airing across two continents in order to give you the lowdown on each of them (extremely uninformed, for the most part) during the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Month of February.  This one features cat noises, Eric's continuing struggles with articles in the English language, and 2+ mentions of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn. What more can you ask for?

Before Oscar season takes its dying breath and Eric closes Jenkins for the year, let's revisit the nine movies nominated for Best Picture (and a sprinkling of others). Are they worth your time? Which should you traipse al cine to catch? What's the vibe? Listen on to find out! We've got reviews and trivia and games galore (all spoiler-free, of course).

What's more cinematic than a trailer?

We're back, and we come bearing a movie discussion! In this episode, Eric and Shaleila talk all things Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) - highlights, plot, casting, colors, costumes, diamonds, twitter reaccs, gratuitous violence, and Margot Robbie's general perfection. Let us know what you think! Theme music from: https://soundcloud.com/royalty-free

Well, we did it! We kept a promise! We present our Oscars 2020 post show, wherein Eric and Shaleila recap all the snubs, surprises, speeches, salt, and sugar from the big night just gone by. Also features: A couple of new games, some recurring bits, and a generally improved sense of how to do this thing. We love you and continue to be indebted to you listeners! Next up: Reviews of some of the blockbusters currently playing, and some personal lists. Theme music from: https://soundcloud.com/royalty-free

Let's get this going with an Oscars 2020 pre-show! In our pilot episode, Eric and Shaleila get you ready for the big day, with predictions, complaints, hopes, dreams, fantasies, and Laura Deeeeeern! Thanks for supporting us! We really do love movies and we love you and we love doing this, and we promise to bring you more content and get better at producing this. Stick with us!