Nerd Lunch

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.

After a few episodes determining the best TV themes from various genres, Michael and Rob are joined by Jacob and KC from The Movie Connection podcast to discuss the top four from each category and decide which is the Ultimate TV Theme Song of All Time. 

Michael, Rob, and Pax watch the fourth Fast and Furious movie. It's a prequel to the third one, but it also starts putting the disparate first three movies together to move the series towards what it's going to become. It's crazy, it's exciting, but is it good? And what about its own prequel, Los Bandoleros, directed and co-written by Vin Diesel? 

Michael, Rob, and Karen finish the Brosnan Bond films with the most hated Bond film of them all. Or is it? It's Die Another Day co-starring Halle Berry, Rosamund Pike, Toby Stephens, a ton of references to earlier Bond films, and that song by Madonna.

Michael and Jess talk about a couple of vampire movies from Mike Mignola's list of favorite horror movies. After revisiting The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967), which we'd both previously seen and disliked, we try Neil Jordan's Byzantium (2012), starring Saoirse Ronan and Gemma Arterton, to see if we like it any better.

Pax, Rob, and Michael finish this month's lounge talking about Scream: The TV Series, Universal’s Dracula and Frankenstein movies, Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person, Friday the 13th with Gourley And Rust, The Witch (2015), Salem's Lot (2024), and more.

Pax, Rob, and Michael talk about haunted apartments, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, layoffs, Holmes/Poirot, taking breaks from comics, Lone Women by Victor LaValle, Hangsaman by Shirley Jackson, and cetera.

Michael and Rob welcome back Joanna from Bloody Popcorn and Becky Tyler to talk about our favorite pop culture witches. And of course also to put them into brackets and vote on them until we decide on the ultimate witch of all time.

Michael and Jess continue watching Mike Mignola's 20 Horror Movies That He Can't Live Without. This time it's all ghost stories with The Innocents (1961), The Haunting (1963), and The Others (2001).  If you especially like movies about ghosts, this makes a phantasmic follow up to Episode 286 where Michael, Jess, and their friend Darla discussed three other ghost movies: Poltergeist (1982), The Orphanage (2007), and The Woman in Black (2012).

Michael, Rob, and Pax continue drifting the Fast and the Furious drift with the third drift: Tokyo Drift. It's time to drift goodbye to Brian and drift hello with Sean, Han, and Twinkie. 

After a fun exercise in which they create their own one-off Bond films, Michael, Rob, and Karen discuss the tone, the villains, and the Christmas Jones of Pierce Brosnan's third Bond film (and Desmond Llewelyn's last), The World Is Not Enough. Also starring Sophie Marceau, Denise Richards, and Robert Carlyle, and directed by Michael Apted.