Nerd Lunch

Following up on a topic from Nerd Lunch Episode 181 (which was also the first appearance of Wolverine), Michael, Rob, Pax, and David May create more cinematic universes around movies (but not just movies) that don't already have them. Tune in and check out our ideas for series built on WarGames, Capcom, Anchorman, and The Last Voyage of the Demeter.

Michael, Rob, and Pax cover Paul Walker's emotional, final ride with his Fast and Furious family in Furious 7. The movie also features Jason Statham back as Deckard Shaw after his brief appearance in the previous one, a couple of other cameos from earlier films, and the introductions of Kurt Russell and Nathalie Emmanuel to the series.

Michael and Rob watch the latest (and last?) Mission: Impossible movie starring the whole gang from the last movie plus Angela Bassett, Tramell Tillman, Hannah Waddingham, Katy O'Brian, and Nick Offerman. Spoilers abound of course, but considering that the movie is generally getting positive reviews, it seems right to provide an additional warning that neither of us loved the film. We loved some things about it and talked freely about those, but there are also many, many things that frustrated us, and we talked freely about those as well. 

Our James Bond project is complete, now let our Sherlock Holmes project begin. Rob and Michael are joined by Pax and Jacob Bean-Watson in order to explore the Great Detective as portrayed on Film and TV. We're not taking a methodical approach, but just taking turns picking whatever adaptation strikes our fancies. Rob is up first and chose the 1976 TV movie, Sherlock Holmes in New York starring Roger Moore as Holmes, Patrick Macnee as Watson, John Huston as Moriarty, and Charlotte Rampling as Irene Adler.

Pax, Rob, and Michael continue this month's lounge talking about Cobra Kai, A Stitch in Time by Andrew J Robinson, Golden Age Wonder Woman, All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai, pop culture Mount Rushmores, and the Agatha Christie mini-series Towards Zero.

Pax, Rob, and Michael talk about autograph collecting, Thunderbolts*, podcast wives, the podcast Heist with Michael Caine, the Goldie Vance graphic novels by Hope Larson and Brittney Williams, and more Sherlock Holmes. And Michael's son David stops by to talk about the One Piece manga and other things.

To celebrate the conclusion of our massive James Bond project, our panelists Michael, Rob, and Karen welcome fellow Bond fans Becky Tyler, Jacob Bean-Watson, and Jody Collins for a fun game, reviewing our favorite elements of the series. We draft our favorite Bond actors, villains, gadgets, and features from a dozen other categories to create our own inter-era Bond mash-up films. We laughed, we gasped, and we hurt each other's feelings in this super fun episode about everyone's favorite super spy.

Michael, Rob, and Pax get back in the cars to talk about the return of the Fast and Furious family as they try to rescue an amnesic Letty from the machinations of supervillain Owen Shaw (Luke Evans).

Michael, Rob, and Karen finish (for now) their James Bond movie project with the final Daniel Craig and the final Eon Productions entry in the series. It's No Time to Die, also starring Léa Seydoux, Rami Malek, Lashana Lynch, Jeffrey Wright, Ana de Armas, and the usual cast of allies.

Michael and Jess talk about the comics Fangs by Sarah Andersen and Rachel Rising: The Shadow of Death by Terry Moore.

Michael, Pax, and Rob finish this month's Lounge talking about an Irene Adler novel, Kraven the Hunter (2024), Anora (2024), Black Doves (2024), Young Guns autographs, and the scariest things to crawl on you and/or haunt your house.

In the first half of this month's Lounge, Michael, Pax, and Rob are visited by Noel Thingvall. Topics include pets, death, Kraven the Hunter comics, Sherlock Holmes stories, Kamen Rider, X-Men comics, old Nerd Lunch episodes, Peter Dinklage as Hercule Poirot, and Ruth Ware's One Perfect Couple.

Following up on our C2E2 conversation about things that could be improved by monkeys, robots, or Michael Caine, please enjoy this special rerun of the first time that topic appeared on the Atomic Geeks podcast. With special thanks to Carlin Trammel for the idea and Christian Nielsen for the audio and permission.

You don't put Christian Nielsen, Michael DiGiovanni, Carlin Trammel, Shawn Robare, William Bruce West, Rob Graham, Michael May, Jeeg, and Paxton Holley in a room together and not record a podcast. While at C2E2, the group (minus Jeff Somogyi who sadly was not feeling well that evening) gathered in Christian and DiGio's hotel room to revive the classic Atomic Geeks topic: "Robot, Monkey, Michael Caine." Each person suggests a movie, TV show, event, etc. and discuss what would best improve it: a monkey, a robot, or... well, you'll see.

In 2015, the Nerd Lunch crew met up with most of the Atomic Geeks and assorted members of the Fourth Chair Army at C2E2 in Chicago. Ten years later, it's time to get together again with even more friends. The group this time included Carlin Trammel, William Bruce West, Jeeg, Paxton Holley, Jeff Somogyi, Shawn Robare, Michael May, Rob Graham, Christian Nielsen, and Michael DiGiovanni. In this audio diary, we learn about how the trip came together, check in with the attendees at various points of the weekend, and tease a very special podcast episode that we recorded there and will be Coming Soon.

Michael and Rob invite Michael DiGiovanni, Christian Nielsen, and Paxton Holley to help cast an imaginary remake of Silverado. Each of our five casting directors have scoured Hollywood for the perfect actors to update the roles of Emmett, Paden, Mal, Jake, Rae, and Cobb, plus other characters we wanted to think about. We've brought our top candidates to the conference room to make final decisions, but also to discuss possible tweaks to the script and even suggest a director.

Michael, Rob, and Karen discuss the penultimate Craig Bond film, Sam Mendes's Spectre, co-starring Léa Seydoux, Christoph Waltz, Andrew Scott, and Dave Bautista.

Rob, Michael, and Pax wrap up this month's Lounge talking about The Lost Adventures of James Bond, Mothra, podcasts, Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Treason, Snow White (2025), and finding a Holy Grail.

Rob, Michael, and Pax talk about many things including The Electric State (2025), Sherlock Holmes, Space Ghost comics, “every second counts,” ‘70s JSA comics, and Companion (2025).

Inspired by the 2001 sitcom Emeril, Michael, Rob, Carlin Trammel, and Tim Lybarger assign each other similarly unlikely celebrities to build sitcoms around. Get ready for pitches for shows starring Bob Ross, The Cure's Robert Smith, Willie Nelson, and Theresa Caputo so that you can decide... would you watch this show?

Michael and Jess talk about the comics "Did You Hear What Eddie Gein Done?" by Harold Schechter and Eric Powell and The Ring, Volume 1 by Hiroshi Takahashi and Misao Inagaki.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! We're celebrating with that most Irish of superheroes: The Green Hornet! Michael, Rob, and Pax watch and talk about the 1940 serial starring Gordon Jones and Keye Luke.

Pax, Rob, and Michael finish this month's Lounge talking about the Star Wars Holiday Special, Captain America: Brave New World, the Star Wars: Clone Wars / Revenge of the Sith viewing order, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Daisy Ridley in Cleaner (2025), and more.

Pax, Rob, and Michael talk about many things including Universal Studios Florida, Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, the Siskoid Cinema Battles podcast episode about Bond Girls, Anya Taylor-Joy and Miles Teller's new movie The Gorge, a comic called Major Holmes and Captain Watson, and the niftiness of subscription services like Marvel Unlimited and DC Universe Infinite Ultra Extreme Radical Far-Out Super-Cool. All this and more, including a special guest appearance by William Bruce West!

Continuing a year of horror comics, Michael and Jess talk about Richard Sala's Cat Burglar Black and Junji Ito's cat diary, Yon & Mu.

Michael, Rob, and Karen are halfway through the Daniel Craig era as we talk about the series-changing film Skyfall by Sam Mendes.

Michael, Pax, and Noel Thingvall talk about our favorite movies from ten years ago. 2015 was a great year for blockbusters, but a lot of smaller films made our lists as well. We also talk about some stinkers and honorable mentions.

Michael, Rob, and Pax talk about Fast Five, basically the Avengers of the Fast and Furious series in which characters from all the previous films team up to pull off a heist while avoiding capture by The Rock. This is where the series becomes The Series and we're excited to finally be here.

Michael, Rob, and Karen return for a look at the first direct sequel in the Bond series: Marc Forster's Quantum of Solace. While the Bond films have always been nominal sequels to each other, Quantum of Solace closely continues Bond's story begun in Casino Royale. Bond fans had never seen anything like it and not everyone appreciated the new experience. We talk about that and editing and villains and Olga Kurylenko and everything else.

Kay, Robert Zerbe, Pax, and Michael look back at their favorite movies, shows, and books of 2024, check in on their pop culture predictions and resolutions from the year, and make new ones for 2025.

Michael and Jess talk about a couple more horror comics this month. First is Becky Cloonan's dark fantasy short story collection, By Chance or Providence. Then Witch for Hire, a high school mystery by Ted Naifeh.  And we also talk a little about the movies Nosferatu (2024) and I Was a Teenage Frankenstein (1957).

Michael, Pax, and Rob wrap up this month's Lounge talking about Ghost Stories: Stephen Fry's Definitive Collection, Batman: Resurrection by John Jackson Miller, Lady Macbeth by Ava Reid, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, Sure I'll Join Your Cult by Maria Bamford, what makes a good Sherlock Holmes pastiche, and more.

After a loungeless December, Michael, Pax, and Rob are back to talk about lots of things including the TV series Rome, stand-up comedy albums, Transformers One, Red One, Wicked, and another superhero TikTok game.

Michael, Rob, Pax, and special guest The Bald Tiger (who strangely disappears whenever Rob's around) talk about the 1940 serial The Shadow starring Victor Jory, Veda Ann Borg, and... Roger Moore?

Michael, Rob, and Karen Flieger begin the new year with a new era in the Bond series. We're finally watching Daniel Craig and talking about Martin Campbell's reboot, Casino Royale. Or is it a reboot? What about M? Continuity is on the agenda as well as action, character arcs, and ambiguity about who the heroes and villains are.

Michael and Jess start a series of episodes focusing on horror comics. In this one, we talk about Junji Ito's adaptation of Frankenstein and Emily Carroll's short story collection, Through the Woods.  We also discuss the movies Smile (2022), Talk to Me (2022), Eyes Without a Face (1960), and Kuroneko (1968).  

Merry Christmas! As our very special gift to you, Michael, Rob, Michael DiGiovanni, and Jody Collins don't just talk about our favorite Christmas songs. We put them into brackets and vote on them until we determine the Greatest Christmas Song of All Time!

Michael and Rob welcome Jeff Somogyi to talk about Les Mayfield's remake of Miracle on 24th Street, starring Mara Wilson, Richard Attenborough, Elizabeth Perkins, and Dylan McDermott. We have differing opinions about its quality. How much does it makes sense? How does it compare to the original? And how well does it communicate its ideas about faith, truth, and capitalism? We get into all of it in this funny, thought-provoking conversation.

With this episode, all of the Sleigh Bell Cinema archives are now included in the After Lunch feed. Michael and his wife Diane talk about Jon Favreau's hilarious and heart-warming modern classic, Elf starring Will Ferrell, James Caan, and Zooey Deschanel.

In this penultimate rerun of old Sleigh Bell Cinema episodes, Michael talks with Jeff Somogyi about the hilarious and underrated Ernest Saves Christmas.

In the second of this week's Sleigh Bell Cinema reruns, Michael and Dan Taylor talk about killer robots, polar bears, and Martian uprisings in Nicholas Webster's notorious Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.

In this rerun from Michael's old Sleigh Bell Cinema podcast, he talks with Mike Westfall about the 1947 classic Miracle on 34th Street starring Edmund Gwenn, Maureen O'Hara, and Natalie Wood.

Michael and Rob welcome back Jacob Bean-Watson to discuss what's either a tangential Christmas movie or a Christmas ghost story, depending on your point of view. It's The Curse of the Cat People, Val Lewton's controversial follow-up to his noir horror film Cat People from a couple of years earlier. Simone Simon, Kent Smith, Jane Randolph, and Elizabeth Russell return from the earlier movie, joined this time by child actor Ann Carter, Lewton-favorite Sir Lancelot, and Julia Dean.

Michael and Rob welcome David May back to the show to discuss this year's Holiday Spirit movie. For us, Holiday Spirit films are undeniably about Christmas, but without any fantastical or magical elements. And this one is Office Christmas Party starring Jason Bateman, Olivia Munn, TJ Miller, Jennifer Aniston, and Kate McKinnon, while also featuring Courtney B Vance, Rob Corddry, Randall Park, Sam Richardson, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Jillian Bell, Vanessa Bayer, Karan Soni, and Jamie Chung.

In accordance with tradition, Mike Westfall from the Advent Calendar House podcast returns to help Michael and Rob kick off the Christmas season right with another Christmas Carol adaptation. This year, we're watching the classic 1951 version (titled Scrooge in the original British) starring Alastair Sim.

Rob, Michael, and Pax finish up this month's lounge talking about Agatha All Along, Seasons 4 and 5 of Fargo, lots of podcasts, a game in which Rob has Pax and Michael create new MCU characters, Tears for Fears' new concert film, and much much more.

In the first half of this month's lounge, Rob, Michael, and Pax talk about movies for Native American Heritage Month, recent movies Heretic and Woman of the Hour, books like The Daughters of Block Island by Christa Carmen, What Moves the Dead by T Kingfisher, The Devil You Know by KJ Parker, and ever so much more.