This episode dives into down-South magical American musical O Brother, Where Art Thou? Along for the ride is co-host Caroline Diezyn, who sheds some light on why directors the Coen Brothers are probably full of it when they claim they have never read The Odyssey.

We also talk about the music, the hunkiness of George Clooney, and vapid political rhetoric.

#37 - O Brother Where Art Thou? w/ Caroline Diezyn

Who better than an astronomer to debunk the bad science of Armageddon. I'm joined by Western University academic David L. Clark to talk about what would and would not explode, what the movie got wrong with its plan to destroy the asteroid, and ultimately, why sacrificing science for entertainment can do far more harm than good.

#38 - Armageddon w/ David L. Clark

What a way to celebrate our 40th episode than with a discussion of Mortal Kombat so intensive, we had to split it in two.

Along with co-host Caroline Diezyn, we stood toe-to-toe with the colourful cast of characters that make up this cult classic.

In Part 1, we try to get a better understanding of the mythologies and motivations of Australian robo-mobster Kano, ninja baddies Scorpion, Subzero, and Reptile, as well as would-be leading man Johnny Cage.

Be sure to tune in next week for the rest of the review.

#40 - Mortal Kombat(Part 1) w/ Caroline Diezyn

Before you get going, it only makes sense to check out Part 1 if you missed it last week.

Along with co-host Caroline Diezyn, we stood toe-to-toe with the colourful cast of characters that make up cult classic Mortal Kombat.

In Part 2, we try to get a better understanding of the mythologies and motivations of not-so-super soldier Sonya Blade, deal-breaker baddie Goro, blink and you miss her Kitana, supervillain and mastermind puppeteer Shang Tsung, French-American Chinese thunder god Rayden (before the spelling was changed to Raiden), and our protagonist Liu Kang.

#41 - Mortal Kombat (Part 2) w/ Caroline Diezyn

Edward Platero is a filmmaker and a tremendous appreciator of Interstellar. 

We started off by discussing the movie and its relationship with science. In as much as Armageddon was a giant middle finger to the scientific community, Interstellar, whenever the narrative would allow, used science as its foundation.

We then moved into some character discussion. Firstly, we examined the simultaneous truth and falsity when various characters claim to represent all of humanity. Yes, we are everything Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) says we are but we are also, simultaneously so much more.

Edward also makes a convincing argument against director Christopher Nolan and his exclusion in most discussions of the great living filmmakers, including his vision of having as many practical effects as possible in Interstellar.

As we talked, Edward was able to open my ears to how pivotal music is to Interstellar. The score is equal parts intimate and titanic.

When it came time for Edward and I to choose our MVPs we both could not imagine the movie without the machine characters, TARS and CASE.

#43 - Interstellar w/ Edward Platero

On this podcast, Dylan was joined by queer media scholar Josh Morrison to talk about The Muppets by way of The Great Muppet Caper.

Here is a look what you can expect to hear:

-a nostalgic look at the TV available to children in Canada in the early 90s

-awe at the puppetry (Muppetry?) skills on display

-the importance of music in the world of The Muppets

-the bizarre way we treat Muppets like real people in the real world

-The Muppets as social commentary, offering acceptance to the queer and the marginalized

-what is "camp"?

-The Muppets as super-feminist by way of Miss Piggy

-the strange non-romance of Miss Piggy and Kermit

-Josh takes exception to auteur theory

-a brief (but deeply negative) look at the new TV series, The Muppets

#44 - The Great Muppet Caper w/ Josh Morrison

Dylan was joined this week by Stephen Szucs, founder of SustainableJoes, a multifaceted project that seeks to educate and inspire everyday individuals (Joes) to make the most sustainable choices in their lives. Very appropriately, he came on to talk about Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret, a documentary about the underexplored impacts of animal agriculture.

Some of the things we talk about are:

-Stephen and his discovery of Star Trek: The Next Generation
-The creation of documentary films and the power of editing
our own experiences in making conscious decisions about what we eat
-How its insistence on casting a villain blows up in its face
-Trying to create positive change through education and compassion when the clock on the climate change bomb is ticking
-We also spend some time throughout the conversation talking about the upcoming SustainableJoes documentary, which is due out later this year.

Overall, talking to Stephen was a terrific conversation to have with a passionate individual whose own project is an exciting, inevitable agent of positive change.

You can follow SustainableJoes on their website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

End credit music:

Chenosky / What was I telling you about / taken from Odiamo / 2016 / used with permission from A Person Disguised As People

#49 - Cowspiracy: A Well-Intentioned Alarm Clock with an Agenda

Dylan and Caroline are back on the mics to talk about Her. It seemed like the right thing to do, since the last one we tackled was fellow 2010 Artificial Intelligence movie Ex Machina.

Some of the things we talk about in this podcast are:

-Netflix original series Flaked
-The differences between the Artificial Intelligences in Her and Ex Machina
-Polyamory
-Theo and journey to discover that women are people too!
-The formation of Samantha and her identity, starting with the decision to give her a female voice

#50 - Her: Love Lessons for a Siri-al Monogamist

Dylan was joined in studio by programmer (at least until he grows up to be a greasy hacker) Shawn Nock to talk about 2015 international short film, Kung Fury.

Among other topics, listen to us discuss

-the validation of the fantasies of kids growing up in the 80s
-the remythologizing of computers
-the pitch-perfect tech nostalgia
-the unfortunate misappropriation of Nazi symbols in pop culture
-and even though we do not really get into it, you should still watch the music video from the original song True Survivor, which was quite frankly robbed at the Oscars this year

#51 - Kung Fury: Fulfilling the Nostalgic Promise

Trying to explain what we talk about in this podcast review of Holy Motors would take its own podcast review. With the help of academic Adam Bowes, Dylan and Caroline did their best to make sense of a movie that includes

-burqas
-chimpanzees
-simulated sex between snake-people
-doppelgangers
-prosthetic erections
-a sewer-dwelling Parisian troglodyte
-and an accordion-based halftime show

... What?

#52 - Holy Motors: Wait, What?

You asked for it, NetFlakes listeners, and now you have got it. After a neck-and-neck-and-neck poll, you chose The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo as the movie that you most wanted to hear Dylan and Caroline take on.

Things get personal when Caroline opens up about their experience being triggered by the explicit sexual violence of the film.

We also talk about the problems with both protagonists – one for replacing one stereotype with another, the other one for just being a dork.

The other bits of NetFlakes content that came up were:

our podcasts on Practical Magic, Holy Motors, Ex Machina, and Her
a piece by Caroline on BDSM in The Addams Family

End credit music:

Chenosky / anger / taken from Odiamo / 2016 / used with permission from A Person Disguised As People

#53 - The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo: Mara-the-Roo and Triggers Too

In honour of Musical Theatre Productions London presentation of Heathers: The Musical, we have brought in an all-star team to talk about the 80s cult classic teen movie that started it all, Heathers.

Dylan is joined by Heathers superfan, Vanessa Brown (of Brown & Dickson booksellers), art scene Renaissance woman and promoter for Heathers: The Musical, Deanne Kondrat, and the director of the MTP production of Heathers: The Musical, Ian Badger.

We discuss

-what it means to be a teenager
-fat activism and body empowerment
-the Heathers legacy and failures in dealing with homosexuality
-how long it takes (if ever) for JD to stop being so sexy
-differences and updates in the musical
-as well as some exclusive insights into the MTP production of Heathers: The Musical

Heathers: The Musical will run from May 6-14, 2016, with tickets available at the McManus Theatre box office or at MTPLondon.ca. You can also follow the production on Facebook.

*Bonus Episode* MTP Presents - Heathers: The Podcast

Back for his second episode of The NetFlakes Podcast, we welcome Edward Platero to help guide us through prescient 1995 sci-fi thriller, Strange Days from director Kathryn Bigelow.

Twenty years later, the themes of virtual reality, technological ethics, and racially-charged tension with police all ring just as true now as they ever have.

We also celebrate Macey (Angela Bassett), the background-to-foreground protagonist whose ass-kicking is so inspiring it leads to riots and eventually a hope for racial harmony.

#54 - The Prescient Sci-Fi of Strange Days

Jason R. Gray is back to take on modern horror classic It Follows.

In the podcast, we talk about

-a more realistic view of teenagers
-how the movie is about mortality more than about a supernatural STD
-anxiety about Nice Guy Paul
-the music, as composed by Disasterpeace
-how the ending may be a metaphor for sad marriages

#55 - It Follows: SEX! ... Now That We Have Your Attention, Here Is a Movie About Death

After another exciting Twitter vote, you, the citizens of NetFlakesland decided that we needed to talk about Punch-Drunk Love. For both myself and Caroline, we were not quite sure what to do with the movie at first but it let an impression, so please listen as we try to come to an understanding of why so many of you chose this film.

Among other topics, we get into

-Barry and his mental health
-the perfect casting of Adam Sandler
-the long shadow of Philip Seymour Hoffman
-how badly Caroline wants to throw salt at a particular character
-whether or not the villains are even worse because of their markers of Mormonism
-a side-by-side comparison of Punch-Drunk Love and Catcher in the Rye

#56 - Punch-Drunk Love: Breaking Down the Barryers

This week, we sat down with Chris Stroud, the proprietor of Bread and Roses Books, to talk about Netflix Original documentary series Cooked, based on the book of the same name by Michael Pollan. The series takes us on a journey through the human relationship with all sorts of foods, from meat to plants, from bread to cheese.

In our conversation, you will hear us talk about the things we learned and how the series made us feel. We also talk about the areas where the series may fall short of creating real, sustainable social change and whether or not its spiritual tone adds or detracts from the rest of its message.

References:

-A past conversation with Stephen Szucs from SustainableJoes about another documentary, Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret
-You can find Bread and Roses Books on alibris, Biblio, and Etsy
-And yes, the man whose name I forgot was marketing food researcher Harry Balzer

#57 - Cooked: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Food But Never Occur to You to Ask

We talked with Rob MacDougall from Hold My Order, Terrible Dresser about relatively new Netflix original movie Pee-wee's Big Holiday.

By tuning in, you can enjoy

-a few words on the Marvel Cinematic Universe
-an epiphany about how to pronounce Manganiello
-insight into Paul Reubens and his pop culture exile
-a deeply nostalgic look at other Pee-wee Herman media
-a queer reading of the movie
-some debate about whether the film is campily positive toward people of size or just plain mean-spirited
-and so much more...

#59 - Pee-wee's Big Holiday Is Really Pee-wee's Big, Gay, Campy Trip to Nostalgia-Town

Sure, the 2015 reboot of Fantastic Four was bad, but what we are here to figure out is if it was really THAT bad.

Pat Leyland is back as our go-to guy for terrible movies, to try to understand how much of the the bad reputation is deserved.

Among other topics, we will get into

-characters that act like they know they are in a movie
-what should have been added
-what should have been left out
-the weird pacing
-whether the movie realizes how poorly it reflects on Millennials

#60 - Fantastic Four (2015): Or How a Superhero Movie Taught Me to Hate Myself

The movie: Spanish psychological thriller The Skin I Live In

The guest: Co-host of Hammer films podcast Hammertime Horror, Riley McDonald

Trigger warning re: discussions of sexual assault and violence

Among the topics we get into:

-bad Netflix plot summaries
-the incredible structure of The Skin I Live In and how its non-linear story creates a compelling confusion of feelings
-the murky danger of sympathy
-the fragility of identity
-how our faces belong more to others than to ourselves
-the deft balancing of multiple genres

#61 - The Skin I Live In: Its Whats On the Outside That Counts

The movie: Barton Fink

The guest: Proprietor of Runout Records, Roozbeh Showleh

Among the topics we get into:

-the lasting images from the film
-the setting, based on stereotypes and images from the 1940s
-writers block
-a bit of a dissection of the final scene, including a super-bleak read from Dylan
-the lead performance by John Turturro
-Barton and his ignorant relationship with the common man
-watching formative texts years after adolescence and the development of tastes
-the difference between reference (Coens) and borrowing wholesale (Tarantino)

#64 - Barton Fink: An Unconventional Movie About the Conventions of Movie-Making

We blew a thin layer of dust off of Drive and it turns out, it is still freaking awesome.

Dylan sat down with co-host Caroline Diezyn and guest Adam Bowes to look at Drive from every angle imaginable.

Check out netflakesblog.wordpress.com for extensive show notes.

#68 - 6 Years Later, Drive Is Still Amazing

For all of its power in bringing drag and queer culture to an increasingly mainstream audience, guest Josh Morrison also wants us to recognize that, at times, RuPaul's Drag Race and its titular queen don't have a flawless track record when it comes to trans equality and gay misogyny.

#75 - How RuPaul's Drag Race Can (And Can't) Teach You To Be A Better Queer Ally

Arrival has a lot to say about language, communication, humanity and fate so we brought in the creator of Get Reel Movies to help tease it all out.

Full show notes available at netflakes.ca

#76 - 'Arrival' Shows The Power and Limit of Language In An All-Time Sci-Fi Great

The Movie: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)

With guest Chris de Hoog from The Quarter Portion Podcast (site, Twitter, Facebook, and iTunes).

For both myself and Chris, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World felt like it was made just for us. Now, it's safe to say that some shine has come off the ultimate nerd fairy tale.

Full show notes available at www.netflakes.ca

#79 - 'Scott Pilgrim vs. the World' is the Kind of Nerdy Male Fantasy We Need to Move Past

CW: suicide

This episode will deal at great length with the topic of suicide. Please check SuicidePrevention.ca for resources and crisis centers near you, or for American listeners, please check Suicidology.com's crisis centers.

In telling the story of a woman best known for her live suicide on a news broadcast, Christine ran the risk of being exploitative, even pornographic. But in the hands of lead actor Rebecca Hall and director Antonio Campos, the movie ends up instead as a tribute to the real Christine Chubbuck and a seemingly sincere exploration of why she died when and how she did.

Before that, we also couldn't go without talking about Netflix's latest Marvel series, The Punisher.

More extensive shownotes available at netflakes.ca

#83 - How 'Christine' Honors The Life Of Christine Chubbuck, Not Just Her Infamous Death

A duo of returning guests, Nahmi Lee and Tom Stuart helped take a hard look at Coraline and why it hasn't become the animated classic it seemed to be fated to be.

Full show notes on http://www.netflakes.ca

#85 - 'Coraline' Is A Masterpiece Of Stop-Motion Animation But Not Much Else

Our guest, Patrick Fletcher (of The Quarter Portion Podcast) brought in one of his all-time favourite movies, 2013's underappreciated sci-fi mindbender, Coherence.

#87 - 'Coherence' Is Great Sci-Fi With An Even Better Origin Story

When Netflix put co-host Caroline Diezyn's all-time favourite movie on Netflix, how could we not talk about it? We're talking, of course, about Richard Linklater teen movie classic, Dazed and Confused.

Full show notes at netflakes.ca

#88 - Dazed And Confused w/ Caroline Diezyn

I was thrilled to get the chance to speak with podcast host (The Willard Price Adventure Podcast) and perennial dinosaur kid Amy Mugglestone about the immensely successful reborquel Jurassic World.

You can find The Willard Price Adventure Podcast on Apple Podcasts (iTunes), Twitter, Facebook, Libsyn, and wherever fine podcasts can be found.

Head to netflakes.ca for full shot notes!

#89 - Jurassic World w/ Amy Mugglestone

I spent a lot of my work day laughing with Emily Bullas, host of the upcoming We're Stressed podcast, so I was overjoyed to get the chance to sit down with her to talk about the fun romp that is Memento.

Check out full show notes at netflakes.ca

#90 - Memento w/ Emily Bullas

Jeremy Hobbs is back to talk about one of the most unexpectedly affecting movies we've tackled in a long time. A Ghost Story follows a man who, following an accident, finds himself haunting the home he shared with his wife. It can be a challenge to break into, but ultimately, it's an arresting story about grief, loss, and love.

Very special thanks to Shilo Pawley for providing her cover of Dark Rooms' "I Get Overwhelmed" for this episode.

Full show notes at netflakes.ca

#91 - A Ghost Story w/ Jeremy Hobbs

Our guest this episode is comedian and writer Kevin Avram (Twitter), talking about one of the most unique stand-up specials you've ever seen - Bo Burnham: Make Happy.

Dylan and Kevin talked about what it means to make art; what it means to perform, both professionally and in our day-to-day lives; and had two very different reactions coming away from Bo Burnham's most painfully honest observations.

Full show notes at netflakes.ca

#92 - Bo Burnham: Make Happy w/ Kevin Avram

It's a Caroline episode. That's all you need to know to know it's good. And we talked about one of their all-time favourite movies, What We Do in the Shadows.

We talked about vampires (duh), Nazis (huh?), and what werewolves can teach us about toxic masculinity.

See netflakes.ca for full show notes!

#93 - What We Do In The Shadows w/ Caroline Diezyn

It's not often that I get the chance to talk with someone who's been through the kind of drama worthy of a movie. Jason R. Gray returned to the show to talk about medical drama Brain on Fire, and what happened this year when his own brain set "on fire."

It was a pleasure and an honor to talk to Jason about what it was like to watch a movie that so closely paralleled his own terrifying and alienating illness, and how far he's come on the road to recovery.

See full show notes at netflakes.ca

#94 - Brain On Fire w/ Jason R. Gray

Choosing 'Sand Storm' as the movie for this episode, Moïra hoped to offer insight into Middle Eastern culture, and in doing so, whipped us both into a sandstorm of emotion as we talked about this tragic tale of patriarchal oppression in Bedouin Israel.

Full episode notes at netflakes.ca

#95 - Sand Storm w/ Moïra Ghazal

Tune in to hear Dylan and guest Kevin Avram talk about a movie that's equal parts Groundhog Day and Scream. We talk 50 Cent, giant babies, Sonic the Hedgehog, Godzilla: The Series, and so much more!

Full show notes at netflakes.ca

#96 - Happy Death Day w/ Kevin Avram

NetFlakes is a podcast where we talk critically about the movies and series available to stream on Netflix in Canada. Our reviews go deep and even we don't know where they're going to go until we're done.
 
The NetFlakes Podcast is hosted by Dylan Clark-Moore, along with frequent co-host Caroline Diezyn.

The NetFlakes Podcast

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