Nerd Lunch

A Christmas Carol week concludes with Michael talking with his brother Mark about the irreverent remake, Scrooged, starring Bill Murray, Karen Allen, Alfre Woodard, Bobcat Goldthwait, Carol Kane, and a bunch of other stars. As with the rest of this week's adaptation discussions, this originally aired on the former Sleigh Bell Cinema podcast.

A Christmas Carol week continues with another old Sleigh Bell Cinema discussion. This time Michael and Paxton Holley triple the run time of the movie they're talking about when they dig into the short Mickey's Christmas Carol starring a plethora of Disney characters in the various Dickens roles.

Christmas Carol week continues (and we hit Episode 75 of the podcast) with another Sleigh Bell Cinema discussion about one of the world's favorite Christmas Carol adaptations: The Muppet Christmas Carol starring Michael Caine as Scrooge. This was the very first episode of Sleigh Bell Cinema and featured frequent Nerd Lunch and AfterLunch guest Mike Westfall, whose Advent Calendar House podcast was a direct inspiration for Sleigh Bell Cinema in the first place.

A Christmas Carol Week continues with another re-run from Michael's old Sleigh Bell Cinema show. This time Michael and his wife Diane talk about the TV musical The Stingiest Man in Town starring Basil Rathbone as Scrooge. And if you'd like to hear Michael talk about the '70s Rankin-Bass animated remake starring Walter Matthau and Tom Bosley, be sure to check out his guest appearance on Mike Westfall's Advent Calendar House podcast.

A Christmas Carol week continues with this re-run from Michael's former Sleigh Bell Cinema podcast. Michael talks with Carlin Trammel about one of their favorite Christmas Carol adaptations: Clive Donner's TV movie from 1984 starring George C Scott.

Michael and Rob welcome new guest Nikki Rollier to talk about ghost stories, their connection to Christmas, and especially the most famous Christmas ghost story of all, Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. They talk about favorite characters, scenes, and adaptations, and even a thing or two that don't work so well for them.

Michael covers Ian Fleming's fourth James Bond novel, Diamonds Are Forever, in another solo episode. Bond returns to the United States to bust up a mob-run diamond smuggling operation, but how do these hoods measure up as a threat to a spy used to taking on mad industrialists and agents of the Soviets' assassination bureau? And what about Tiffany Case?

Back on Episode 15 of the old Fourth Chair Army Invasion show, we imagined a live-action TV version of a DC Super Hero Holiday Special comic. Now it's Marvel's turn as Michael and Rob welcome Michael DiGiovanni, Mike Westfall, and Ben Graham to assign each other super heroes and holiday elements to turn into segments on a Marvelous Holiday Special.

Michael’s solo again with a short episode about the third James Bond novel, Moonraker. It's a unique entry in the Bond series, offering a glimpse at Bond's daily life while also sending him to solve a murder at a remote country estate where he meets one of the most remarkable women of his career.

Michael's brother Mark returns to the podcast along with third brother Matt to talk about one of their favorite '80s bands. Starting with The Cure's debut Three Imaginary Boys album and covering up through 1985's The Head on the Door, the brothers talk about their own experiences with the band, favorite and not-so-favorites songs, the group's evolving sound, and the three "genres" of music that the group tends to make. It's a different sort of episode for AfterLunch, but whether you're already a Cure fan or merely Cure-ious, we hope you'll enjoy this detailed look back at the early days of Robert Smith and Company.

Michael is joined by his brother Mark to start a journey through the filmography of one their favorite actors, Kiefer Sutherland. In this first episode, they cover Sutherland's career from his first jobs in Max Dugan Returns (1983) and The Bay Boy (1984), his revelatory 1985 performance in Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories, and all four of his 1986 movies, including his blink-and-miss-it part in At Close Range, the wildly varying-in-quality TV films Trapped in Silence and The Brotherhood of Justice, and finally his breakout role as Ace Merrill in Stand By Me.

Michael, Rob, Evan, and Pax continue their ramble through various topics spurred by what they've been watching and thinking about. Discussions include big, spoilery discussions of Ted Lasso's second season and the first of Only Murders in the Building as well as deep thoughts about holiday travels, the importance of Thanksgiving, and celebrity crushes. 

Loungers Michael, Rob, Evan, and Pax gather again for another drifting discussion about what they've been listening to and reading. Big topics this time include superheroes Daredevil and Jason Todd, listening through musicians' discographies, and when it's appropriate to start celebrating Christmas.

Everyone loves Robin Hood and we're no exceptions. Michael and Rob welcome Pax, Sue London, and - making his podcasting debut - Sue's husband Devin for the first in a series of episodes about the legendary merry man. Starting with the panel's experience with the Robin Hood legend in general, the conversation then moves to the classic 1938 film The Adventures of Robin Hood. Starring of course Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone, and Claude Rains.

On the last episode, where our MCU panel talked about Iron Man 3, Michael mentioned that he and William Bruce West had a conversation about the same movie for Michael's former Christmas movie podcast. Even though they did talk about how Iron Man 3 works in some Christmas themes, most of the conversation was about the movie in general. So for that reason, and  because William Bruce West is awesome, we thought you might enjoy hearing that discussion.

The AfterLunch MCU Panel - Lizzie, Pax, Rob, and Michael - reconvene to talk about the final film in Marvel's Iron Man trilogy: how it builds on themes from the previous films and whether or not it flows well into what came later. And of course, there are its controversial villains, kid sidekick, and whether or not that ending works super well.

Michael's back with another short, solo episode, this time about the second James Bond novel, Live and Let Die. Listen to how it differs from the film while also influencing other Bond movies like License to Kill and For Your Eyes Only. 

We hope you haven't finished eating all your Halloween candy yet, because Michael and Rob are joined by Joanna from Bloody Popcorn and new guest Ron Ankeny to determine once and for all, Sweet 16 bracket-style, what the ultimate Halloween treat is. Whether it's what you pass out to trick-or-treaters or what you serve at your Halloween party, it's the season for sweets. And you bet there's some discussion of other Halloween traditions along the way.

After a brief intermission, the AfterLunch Loungers finish their wandering conversation with thoughts on horror movies, DC superhero shows, acting better than you feel, and relationships with technology.

We're trying something different with the latest After Dinner Lounge conversation. Rather than drop another 3+ hour conversation on you, we're splitting it into two, smaller chunks. In this part, Michael, Rob, Evan, and Pax talk about what they've been listening to and reading, with the conversation meandering into Dracula comics, film canon, murderbots, and Nerd Lunch's lost Brenda Starr episode.