The Watch-men podcast

On this episode of The Watch-men Podcast, the gang share some more of their recent viewing recommendations. From irreverent sketch comedy, to grim folk horror, to the latest MCU and HBO series', Matt, Sam and Joyce give plenty of reasons to stay home even as restrictions continue to lift. All this plus a preamble celebrating the 25th anniversary of a sci-fi classic (and 5th anniversary of a Watch-men review classic) and an extended news segment bringing you up to date on all the latest things people are arguing about on #FilmTwitter. - SPOILER ALERT - Our Recommendations Joyce: Loki (TV, superhero, Disney+) Mare of Easttown (TV, drama, HBO/Crave) The Morning Show (TV, drama, Apple TV+) Chocolat (movie, drama, Amazon Prime) Matt: I Think You Should Leave (TV, comedy, Netflix) Pitch Black (movie, action, iTunes) X2 / X-Men franchise (movies, superhero, Disney+) Highlander (just kidding, please don't watch this, Amazon Prime) Sam: Band of Brothers (TV, drama, HBO/Crave) Midsommar / Hereditary (movie, horror, Netflix) Fear Street trilogy (movies, horror, Netflix)

In this episode, The Watch-men throw it back all the way to Los Angeles in the 70s for the 5th anniversary of The Nice Guys. Does this action buddy comedy that stars Russell Crowe as a grizled hired gun and Ryan Gosling as a private detective with a drinking problem hold up? Short answer: yes! Joyce also attempts summarize Cruella but spoils the whole movie instead. Tune in!

On this episode, The Watch-men perform a temporal pincer movement and return to the depths of 2020 to review Christopher Nolan's time-bending tentpole, Tenet. Did the movie twist our podcast protagonists' minds into a pretzel or did Joyce, Matt and Sam manage to decipher some fun out of Nolan's “Nolan-iest” effort to date? Tune in to find out… your future self already has! Links: Tenet timeline infographic - https://www.reddit.com/r/tenet/comments/ioq4ac/tenet_infograph_timeline/ The trailer for the killer-lions movie Sam mentions ‘The Ghost and the Darkness' - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGsiY-2CkPU

On this episode, The Watch-men take a trip back to 1980s Hong Kong for a review of Jackie Chan's stunt-filled action classic Police Story. Matt also discusses his recent watch of First Blood — the first flick in the Rambo series — and the gang chat about the differences between Hong Kong and American ‘80s action movies. Can Matt, Sam and Joyce match Jackie's speed, creativity and humour with their banter and hot takes? Probably not… but tune in anyways to hear them try! Links: For behind-the-scenes breakdowns of great stunts check out the Stuntmen React videos on the Corridor Crew YouTube channel - https://youtube.com/c/corridorcrew

On this week's episode, the Watch-men crew do their best Netflix algorithm impersonation and recommend a selection of shows they've been watching and re-watching during the pandemic. Leave it to Matt, Sam, Joyce and Oumar to fill your watchlists with a wide mix including prestige dramas, searing satires, newly anointed Oscar winners, and trashy TV series' to chuckle at with friends. Settle in for some Watch-men approved binge-watching before those pesky vaccines take us away from our screens! Links: Does the Dog Die? - https://www.doesthedogdie.com Empire Podcast: Edgar Wright And Quentin Tarantino In Conversation -https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/celebration-cinema-edgar-wright-quentin-tarantino-in/id507987292?i=1000507570831 Steven Yuen looking fineeeee in GQ - https://www.gq.com/story/steven-yeun-april-cover-profile The Rewatchables Podcast: ‘Dunkirk,' With Quentin Tarantino, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan - https://www.theringer.com/2019/12/30/21043344/dunkirk-with-quentin-tarantino-sean-fennessey-and-chris-ryan National Film Board of Canada YouTube channel - https://youtube.com/user/nfb Our Recommendations: Joyce - Pushing Daisies (TV series), Minari, Nomadland Sam - Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, The Ghost of Peter Sellers (Documentary), Death Proof, The Kid Detective Oumar - The Sopranos (TV series), Mad Men (TV series) Matt - What We Do In The Shadows (TV series) Law & Order: Organized Crime (TV series), Love and Monsters

The Watch-men Cinematic Universe expands this week with a new review of the Disney+ series WandaVision and deep dive into all things Marvel. Plus, joining in on the action is our resident superhero super genius Reg! We also find plenty of time to banter about new series Falcon and the Winter Soldier, pick our most anticipated upcoming MCU movies like Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and forget all about Loki...oops. For all of your Marvel needs, in the words of DMX, the Watch-men gon' give it to ya! Links: Hip-hop fight chart mentioned by Matt - https://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/the-if-i-fought-this-rapper-would-i-win-chart/ Damian Lewis eulogy for Helen McCrory - https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/damian-lewis-on-his-wife-helen-mccrory-ive-never-known-anyone-able-to-enjoy-life-as-much-d7wmp2w3n ‘Friday the 13th' documentary ‘Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th' mentioned by Sam - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2396421/ Our review of ‘Infernal Affairs' starring ‘Shang-Chi' actor Tony Leung - https://soundcloud.com/thewatchmenpodcast/episode-138-infernal-affairs-vs-the-departed New trailer for ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings' - https://youtube.com/watch?v=giWIr7U1deA&feature=share

The age of heroes has returned… that's right, The Watch-men are back and in full force as Matt, Sam, Joyce and Oumar reunite for one last romp of a review! What Earth-threatening catastrophe could have summoned our mighty team? Nope, not the ongoing global pandemic but a film that may still cause viewers to experience flu-like symptoms, Zack Snyder's Justice League. Only united will The Watch-men stand a chance against the #SnyderCut, tune in to find out how our heroes fare against this most mythical of movie foes. Links from episode: Vanity Fair article - https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2021/02/the-true-story-of-justice-league-snyder-cut

It's our favourite time of year! Or, maybe just Joyce's favourite time of year. Regardless, Matt and Joyce are back to make their Oscar picks and talk about some of the contenders. Will Oscar voters see things our way? We'll find out!

Better late than never, Joyce and Matt return to review Star Wars Rise of Skywalker. Critics hated it, fans who hated Last Jedi loved it, but where do the Watchmen sit on this one-month-late to the party review? Cue your favourite Ben Solo shoulder shrug, grab your force-teleported lightsabre and set your expectations to stunned (wait, wrong franchise?) as Watchmen rap about the wars.

What a better way for the Watch-men to end the year with the season finale of The Watchmen! Matt and Joyce review the last episode of Watchmen, their favourite moments in the season and look forward to a new year of more nerdy movies and shows. Happy holidays!

Disney+ has launched and with it, The Mandalorian. How does this latest iteration of Star Wars compare to the movies? What's the Star Wars universe like without the characters that movie goers are so familiar with? And, do Matt and Joyce talk about how cute Baby Yoda is all episode? Listen and find out!

The brand new Watchmen TV series has been out for a few weeks on HBO now. Who watches the Watchmen? Why,the Watch-men, of course! Joyce and Matt chat about the early episodes and reflect a bit on how the show connects with the graphic novel.

Now that we've talked about the Jokers, it's time to talk about JOKER the movie starring Joaquin Phoenix. Matt is back (or was he?) with Matt and Joyce to try figure out what was real and what wasn't in the latest and darkest re-telling of Joker.

Special guest Matt joins the Watch-Men to talk about the jokers throughout the years. Could there be a Jared Leto Joker without Heath Ledger? Or Jack Nicholson without Cesar Romero? The Matts and Joyce discuss all the Jokers leading up to the latest Joaquin Phoenix iteration. Listen and share with us who your favourite Joker is!

Since Jon Snow rode off into the sunset with Tormund (spoilers?) there's been a void once filled with fantasy spectacle and relationship drama. Thanks to Amazon Prime's Carnival Row, our lives are once again full of political intrigue and a jam packed cast led by Orlando Bloom* and Cara Delevingne. Guest Jill joins Matt and Joyce to talk about this new victorian steampunk series and whether or not it will (or should) fill the gap that Game of Thrones left in the genre. *You may know him from another little fantasy genre movie called Lord of the rings and appearances in the Hobbit trilogy but we don't talk about that.

Stranger Things 3 is out on Netflix with even more nostalgic wacky 80s adventures, Russian mysteries and an extra gory monster. Our Stranger Things correspondent Paul returns to share his thoughts on this latest season and how it compares to its previous chapters. Was it worth the wait into the summer? Will the monsters get scared away by the increasing teenage angst? Listen and find out!

Quentin Tarentino's 10th film takes us back to the time Bryan Adams got his first real six string: the summer of '69! Following the story of a struggling actor and his stuntman, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood takes a peak at a time in Hollywood when things went all helter skelter. We bring in special guest Stephanie to chat about a movie that is without a doubt stylish and well produced, but not without issues.

It's the end of the world as we know it, and Joyce and Matt feel fine … because we're reviewing Amazon Prime's Good Omens! Is it an angelic masterpiece? Fiendishly good? Or just bad as hell? We talk about the show, the book and struggle a bit to pronounce Gaiman. It's a real biblical affair on this week's Watch-men podcast.

Comic-Con has comic-come and comic-gone, and all that's left are the trailers and nostalgia. We go over a few of the biggest trailers (see below for a list) and also chat about the MCU's fourth phase.

Spider-man's back! Now that Endgame has, uh, ended, and Tony Stark is [SPOILERS] RIP, how will our friendly neighborhood Spider-man manage to keep spinning webs without a mentor? By going to Europe, apparently! Our spider-correspondent Matt joins regular Watch-men hosts Joyce and Matt swing through Venice, Prague and London to decide whether or not Jake Gyllenhaal is superhero material, if Peter Parker is the new Iron-Man and where Marvel and superhero movies will go from here.

Undeterred by the fact that the previous iteration of Dark Phoenix Saga, X-Men: Last Stand, was a colossal failure that practically killed the X-Men franchise, 20th Century Fox brings back Last Stand writer Simon Kinberg so he can write, direct and produce a new version of the same story. Can Kinberg prove that Last Stand was a fluke? Does Dark Phoenix finally elevate the X-Men franchise? Lol nope! It bad. Worse than X-Men Apocalypse even. So bad we don't even know how we filled a whole episode talking about it. Ah well, at least the news section has some interesting stuff. Watch-men!

Blessed with a Wizard's powers to review movies every time they say the name “Watch-men!”, Joyce and Matt take on the light-hearted DCEU flick Shazam! Does is it indeed stand out as a not-terrible DCEU movie? Was it a missed opportunity to not license the Destiny's Child song, “Say My Name?” And why is it that some DC cities are fiction and others are real like Philadelphia? Are there no rules? I mean, come on!

Wondering what to watch this summer? There's a lot! In this episode, Matt recounts the horrors of Chernobyl (both in real life and on HBO) and we run down a list of anticipated summer blockbusters for you to consider. Will they be good? Only time (and our review) will tell!

Joyce and Matt go to a far away land where the CGI camels and caravans roam to review Disney's latest live-action remake: Aladdin! We talk about our what it means to have a diverse cast in an otherwise orientalist story, how we felt about all the acting, singing and dancing, and, of course, whether or not we liked Will Smith's version of the genie. Prepare your wishes and hop on your magic carpet for this week's Watch-men podcast.

Our resident Game of Thrones Subject Matter Expert, Tori, guests as Joyce and Matt wrap-up their Game of Thrones season 8 coverage with a deep dive into the finale. Were we as enraged as the rest of the internet? What's missing from the show that could be different in the books? And how did Robyn Arryn turn into such a hottie? We answer these questions and more on this episode of the Watch-men podcast.

It's the penultimate episode of Game of Thrones and...what just happened?! Just when we thought we couldn't be more mad and/or confused about events and character arcs in an episode, The Bells happened. Matt and Joyce attempt to break down the episode, but really, it's just a joint therapy session at this point. Did you enjoy it? Let us know!

Our heroes and anti-heroes prevented the Long Night only to barely survive the latest episode of Game of Thrones. Matt and Joyce are pretty grumpy about this episode. Listen to the latest episode about why this episode made everyone mad (and let us know if you're mad too! @watchmenpodcast)

Check the battle lines and tighten your infinity gauntlets because it's time for the most epic Watch-men episode of them all: an MCU Game of Thrones mashup! That's right, with Endgame in theatres and GoT 8.3 in the books, Joyce and Matt decide to record double-header! In this extra long episode we talk about time travel, characters dying, new characters replacing old characters, diversity, valarian steel and even more time travel. Fun for the whole family, unless your family includes White Walkers or Thanos on this week's Watch-men Podcast! Don't want to spoil/not interested in Endgame? Skip to Game of Thrones at 36:45

Joyce and Matt once again tap into the Weirwood-net to look back on Game of Thrones season 8 episode 2! Was Jaime knighting Brienne a better scene than Jaime's hot tub confession? Why is Tyrion making so many terrible decisions? Is Dany going to become the show's 'villain'? And who the heck will even survive to be on episode 3? All these questions answered plus more insight from our Thrones correspondent Tori on this week's Watch-men podcast!

After months of sneak peek photos and cryptic trailers, Game of Thrones is finally back! We return to Winterfell in a mirror episode to the pilot. It was a Game of Reunions as all our favourite heroes and anti-heroes finally cross paths again. What did you think of Winterfell's newly installed CCTV department? Did this episode strike the right tone? We also have our special Game of Thrones correspondent, Tori, to give us some insights from the books. Listen and find out!

Game of Thrones returns this weekend for its 8th and final season. No time for a 7 season rewatch? Not to worry! Matt and Joyce give you a refresher of pivotal moments and episodes throughout the series that will bring you to speed of important background details and major plot points for the key players still vying for the Iron Throne.

Joyce is back and eager to catch up with Matt on all the nerdy news that's happened in the last month. Among those is...Captain Marvel! Listen in as she and Matt pull no punches and hold no feelings back in their review of the MCU's latest installment.

In order to talk about Peter Jackson's WW1 restoration film, They Shall Not Grow Old, the Watch-men do a little restoration themselves, bringing back OG host Sam! Through modern technology (a phone) Sam is back on the podcast! He and Matt talk about how Peter Jackson used modern technology (more than just a phone), and his personal collection of first world war uniforms and artillery pieces (!!) to bring footage from more than 100 years ago back to life. They also go through the news, catch up a bit and talk about some of their most anticipated movies of 2019. It's a reunion extravaganza on this episode of the Watch-men Podcast!

Happy anniversary to us! Matt and Joyce (plus clips from Sam and Oumar) celebrate the 150th episode of Watch-men. We talk about some of our favourite memories doing the pod and weigh in on the highs and lows from Oscar night. We too were not happy about Green Book pulling off the win...

The countdown to the Oscars continue! Listen to Part 2 of the Watch-men's primer of all the Oscar nominated Best Picture movies. Matt and Joyce have made their Oscar picks, but do you agree with them? See you at the movies!

The countdown is on for the Oscars! Matt and Joyce gives a primer for each Best Picture movie and their chances of taking Oscar home. This week we focus on: BlacKKKsman, Bohemian Rhapsody, Green Book, Roma. Stay tuned for next week as we review The Favourite, Vice, A Star is Born and give our final predictions for the Oscar pool.

Happy awards season! Matt and Joyce discuss the contenders, snubs and surprises from this year's Oscar nominations. Do you agree with the nominations this year? Better yet, have you seen all the movies this year? Have a listen and meet us back here for our Oscars predictions episode after a binge watch of all the Oscar nominees.

This week we have a double Matt(inee!) with special guest Matt joining the Watch-Men conversation about Into the Spider-Verse. We're very excited for this different approach to the Spider-Man lore and even more excited to tell you all about it. Special cameos from comic book expert Reg to tell us about the origins of Into the Spider-Verse and Isaac to explain why the art design was so special.

Have you seen Aquaman? Incredible, right? Just kidding. It's so bad. Matt and Joyce talk about why it's so bad this week on the Watch-Men even though it has just surpassed the 1 Billion dollar mark at the box office. Sam also makes an appearance to review Bird Box - which, after recording this episode, Joyce watched and has decided to never leave her house again. Happy new year!

After a brief hiatus Joyce and Matt are back! We chat about some of the bigger news stories that we missed; Joyce gives her impressions on Mary Poppins Returns, Oumar gives a guest clip to weigh in on Drake's rankings in rap history, and we cap things off with a quick chat about the new Netflix She-Ra reboot. It's a jam packed talk-fest on this week's The Watch-men Podcast!

Like Drago from Rocky 2, Oumar makes his Watch-men return this week as we look at Creed 2. We loved Creed, but how does the Michael B. Jordan punch-em-up fare in a followup without director Ryan Coogler? And will Creed 2 continue to plot out an original story for Adonis, or will it simply re-hash the old Rocky flick? We step into the ring, put our foot into a tire for some reason, and go toe-to-toe with Creed 2 to answer these and other questions on this week's Watch-men podcast!

We're back in the wizarding world! Matt graciously steps aside so that wannabe witches, Joyce, Maura and Michelle can discuss (and geek out) over the return of Newt Scamander and a few new fantastic beasts. Also in need of discussion, how was Jude Law as Dumbledore? And, what's going to happen to Nagini? And, of course, THAT happened. Yes. That. What is that? If you've seen it you'll know! If you want to be spoiled, listen and find out.

Amie joins Matt and Joyce this week to talk about the reimagining of Sabrina Spellman in Chilling adventures of Sabrina. How does it compare to Sabrina the teenage witch? Listen and find out the good, the bad and the weird (sisters) of Netflix's latest original show.

Happy Halloween! Matt and Joyce discuss and recommend a few favourite movies to watch over Halloween, be it spooky, gory or just plain funny. And, we have a cameo from Sam with his own recommendations and a review of the latest Halloween!

We didn't think this day would come, but VENOM is out and so is our review! Matt and Joyce are joined by special guest Matt v2 to discuss if VENOM was really THAT bad (yes), what might have gone wrong and if Tom Hardy really is the hero in the whole lead up to the movie (also yes). Join us! And, let us know if you hear the music that we're hearing too?

This week we're comparing Martin Scorcese's The Departed to its Hong Kong counterpart, "Infernal Affairs". Listen and find out what the Watch-men think of the Hollywood remake and whether or not this should have been the movie that finally won Scorcese his Oscar. (Spoiler alert: no)

A sad episode of the Watch-men Podcast as we bid a fond farewell to Sam, who's off to warmer but wetter climates in Vancouver. For Sam's last hurrah we discuss some of our most anticipated fall movies and shows, while Sam reminisces over a few of his fondest Watch-men moments. Bring your tissues, dear listeners, and prepare yourself to hear Sam's sweet, soothing voice one last time.

Episode 114: Annihilation Review by The Watch-men

There's something out there, and it ain't no original property. On this week's episode, the Watch-men use the latest Predator sequel as a launching point for a discussion on the original alien versus Schwarzenegger flick. Sam, Matt and Joyce also take a closer look at Hollywood's obsession with remakes and reboots. Prepare to be unsurprised by the long list of nostalgia baiting shows we found that are set to re-make an appearance on a screen near you!

The Watch-Men are back together again! This week is part exploration and part nostalgia as we discuss our favourite movie soundtracks and scores. Did we include your favourites? Tune in and find out!

While Joyce enjoys a post-snap, ash-laden, vacation holiday, Matt and Sam get into the nitty-gritty news and issues of the Hollywood Summer. What are the biggest box office hits and misses? What's the next step for the #metoo movement? Will James Gunn work again? And is Chris Pratt really a bonafide leading man? All this and more on this week's Watch-men Podcast.