Magellans at the Movies

It’s a big, scary, lonely old world out there, ladies and gents, full of nasty and uncomfortable things like trigonometry, team building exercises, and pineapple pizza. If you’re looking for refuge from any of those things, you may find comfort in the pages of a book, but not necessarily anything by David Foster Wallace, the literary titan whose fiction and non-fiction work was frequently heavy of heart and long of wind. Morose as his style was, DFW remains a vaunted figure in the world of the written word, so it’s no surprise that, after his tragic and untimely death, people decided to make movies about him, such as The End of the Tour, a 2015 character study directed by James Ponsoldt and based on the interviews and conversations collected in Although of Course You End up Becoming Yourself by David Lipsky. The End of the Tour follows David Lipsky as he tries to get at what’s in David Foster Wallace’s head, hoping to unlock the secrets of one of the most important authors of the time. The film was celebrated for its performances and sensitive depiction of the tortured, brilliant, lonely man at its center, and today our resident Wallace Wingnut (official name for David Foster Wallace fans, no need to look it up) Nathan has chosen it for review by the ever-discerning eyes of Magellans at the Movies! Put on your thick-rimmed glasses, grab a tumbler of whiskey neat, and brush up on your Kafka for today’s expedition into the soul-devouring abyss that is the pretentious literature scene, yay!

Dinosaurs! Who doesn’t love dinosaurs? There’s just something inherently cool about the idea of an ancient, mysterious kingdom of animals preceding us on Earth before being obliterated in a geological instant, leaving only bones behind for scientists to piece together. Dinosaurs have long been a source of awe in children and adults alike, so it’s no wonder that the titanic lizards (Or maybe titanic birds? Have we sorted all that out yet?) have worked their way into a fair few sources of fiction over the years, with the most enduring and popular example being the dino action of Jurassic Park. This 1993 science fiction thriller of nature’s power and human folly directed by the legendary Stephen Spielberg and based on the book of the same name by Michael Crichton is quite simply a sublime experience, a perfect polygamous marriage of concept, creators, actors, effects, and execution that stands as an unbreakable tribute to the magic of movies. Jurassic Park just has it all: it’s thrilling, thought-provoking and endlessly watchable, and today Elliot is going to prove once and for all to his contrarian brother that JP is a masterpiece for the ages. My dear listening public, welcome . . . to Magellans at the Movies!

The entertainment world is awash with dystopias these days, probably because the real world is as well. Crack open a book or sit down for a movie and there’s a non-zero chance you’ll be treated to a gray, sad main character inhabiting a gray, sad world meant to reflect some potentially harmful aspect of our gray, sad lives exaggerated to enhance danger but not so much that the similarities to present day life are unrecognizable. Entering such a saturated market means you’re bound to get at least a little splash of someone else’s work on your own, and while some try to keep overlap as limited as possible, others sink in and treat the word “derivative” like a gold star pinned to their chest. Hence Black Mirror, an ongoing British science-fiction anthology show with Cyberpunk aesthetics chronicling different characters as they move through the Twilight Zone of a Brave New World that’s at least 1984 times more dystopian than our own. Also, Blade Runner. Despite (or perhaps because of) the pride the show takes in its influences Black Mirror is a much-vaunted program by a great many viewers, and today, by listener request, Magellans at the Movies have selected Fifteen Million Merits, one of the most acclaimed episodes, to review from this cynical series of tech-based sorrow. Hop on the bike and power up your computer, let’s go!

It’s unlikely that any one movie, book, or play can lay legitimate claim to having single handedly invented any given genre. Storytelling has a long history that creators draw from consciously and unconsciously, but in the case of George Romero’s 1968 Night of the Living Dead, the argument for genre progenitor is probably as strong as it gets. The modern zombie movie, indeed, the figure of the modern zombie itself-as a decaying corpse returned to life with an insatiable hunger for human flesh-simply would not exist if not for this movie. Due to the film’s graphic violence (and then-rare African-American leading role), Night of the Living Dead released to controversy and generally mixed reviews, but since then it has enjoyed an immensely favorable revisiting, with praise heaped on the movie’s complex character dynamics, tense setting, and incisive social criticism. Filmed on a tiny budget with a miniscule cast and crew to match, the story of the making of Night is almost as entertaining and interesting as the film itself, so today the Magellans at the Movies thought they would take the plunge into this seminal work of flesh-eating fiction and undeniable piece of movie history. Stick your arms out, assume a vacant expression, and let’s shamble and groan our way into the episode!

Scream is one of horror’s most celebrated and popular franchises. Acting as a kind of State of the Genre address for decades now, Scream intermittently returns from periods of quiet to deliver updates on the tropes and trends of scary movies, as well as the men and women who make them, all wrapped up in an enduring who-dun-it formula wherein a group of friends/suspects is whittled down by the endearingly clumsy Ghostface before an inevitable climactic reveal. Scream is reliably funny and fun, existing in a pleasant median between soft and hardcore horror, leavening brutal, bloody kills with winking humor and quirky, likable characters. Elliot has been a fan of the series for a while now, and after artfully convincing Nathan to watch the movies by constantly berating him, both brothers were fully caught up with this classic slasher series in time for the latest entry. Scream 6, directed by Matt Bettineli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett and released in 2023, is currently in theaters where it is enjoying critical and commercial success and, with the brothers Magalhães now being official Scream savants, they thought they would finally release a relevant review and give their thoughts on the film in all its blood, meta glory. Do you like scary podcasts?

From Saturday morning cartoons to the evening news to science fiction classics, television programs offer up more information, entertainment, and validation than social media, with the caveat that you have to remain relatively stationary while your sense of self-worth is obliterated. TV shows can be self-contained and episodic, or essentially long-form movies telling much more in depth, expansive stories than a two hour film ever could. It’s no surprise, then, that those movie-loving ragamuffins over at Magellans at the Movies have watched a show or two in their time, determined as they are to sustain an awareness of popular culture in lieu of developing a personality. That’s right, folks, in today’s episode we’re leaving the theater and hopping on the couch to talk all about our favorite stories as seen on the idiot box. Who cares about your mother’s warnings about too much TV rotting your brain, pull up a seat, grab the remote and get those synapses withering!

Silence. According to tired parents, librarians, and corporations accused of using child labor, it’s golden, and you’ve probably agreed at one point or another in your life when the noise just gets overwhelming. For Christians facing torture and execution in Japan during the Tokugawa period, however, God’s apparent devotion to the sanctity of keeping a lid on it probably wore a little thin. How do you deal with unanswered prayers, then, or the creeping notion that God is indifferent in the face of human suffering? These are the questions at the heart of Silence, a 2016 film directed by Martin Scorsese based on the book of the same name. Silence follows a pair of Jesuit priests searching for their lost mentor as they contend with theological crises, a frightened and endangered population, and an inquisitor so ruthless and cold blooded he makes Darth Vader look like an overbearing hall monitor. Silence didn’t exactly set the world on fire on release, but its incredible visuals, compelling story, and engaging themes ensure that most people who watch it come away thinking it’s something special, and that’s exactly the opinion of the Magellans at the Movies. Join us, then, as we talk about this slow-burning bit of faith film and why we like it so much. Give us this day our daily podcast, let’s go!

Reality. Most people don’t think about it very much, content to just live in it and let that be the end, but philosophers have been asking questions about reality and its nature since before Socrates was debating his nanny. Answers and theories abound, many of them fairly colorful, but none so colorful as the leather-bound, green-tinted, trench coat-bedecked, sunglasses-at-all-times-no-matter-the-fashion-consequences-or-relevant-light-level offered up by the Wachowski siblings in the 1999 sci-fi action movie The Matrix. The Matrix was, if you’ll pardon the pun, revolutionary at the time of its release, wowing audiences with a mind bending concept, incredible special effects, and stylish action sequences that would be ripped off, paid homage to, and parodied for the next few decades of filmmaking. Join the Magellans at the Movies, then, as they revisit this 90s classic to see how well all the dramatic flourishes and suuuuuuuper sloooooooo moooooootion hold up. Let’s hop into the rabbit hole and get things started!

Planes. They are big and fast and make loud noises and the ones used by the United States military can shoot things. This was the central conceit of Top Gun, a deeply 80s action movie about said big, fast, loud planes shooting things for your viewing pleasure and not much else. Despite a critical panning Top Gun became a mainstay in many a dad’s list of movies he would rattle off to demonstrate how far movies had fallen since his time at the theater thanks to its practical effects, bombastic action set pieces, and unashamedly ostentatious characters. Whatever its objective merits (of which I am decidedly skeptical), Top Gun proved popular enough to warrant a nod from Hollywood’s indefatigable sequel generator, and that’s how we got Top Gun Maverick, an Oscar nominated 2022 movie directed by Joseph Kosinski that was even more of a silver bullet than its predecessor. Top Gun Maverick was enormously popular, an old school, crowd pleasing blockbuster whose grandiose sensibilities and jaw-dropping practical fighter sequences were just the shot in the arm the film industry needed as it was shaking the dust off after its long stint in quarantine. Today, then, join the Magellans as they give their thoughts on a sequel to a movie they have absolutely no nostalgia for, which, according to the sacred texts of the church of hipster film bros, makes them uniquely able to assess this movie’s quality. I feel the need . . . the need to start the episode!

This week was Valentine’s Day, so it’s a week for thinking about those people who make your heart go pitter-patter. The people who give you butterflies every time you see them and get your pulse up into the hundreds. But wait, that isn’t your beloved, it’s the horrifying serial killer Hannibal the Cannibal and you aren’t a doe-eyed high school girl falling for Brock the football captain. No, you’re Clarice Starling and you’re a fired-up FBI agent-in-training hot in pursuit of the latest serial killer that’s terrorizing the nation. That’s right, this week the Magellans are covering the classic thriller The Silence of the Lambs. So, no lovey-dovey feelings this week, instead it’s all about the incredible performances, the immaculate cinematography and the two movie nerds breaking it down for ewe (sheep pun). Lock your windows and doors, and then settle in for another great episode!!!

Treating mental health problems is a tricky project. The mind is a staggeringly complex structure, composed of layers of experiences and biology that, when overlaid on and enmeshed with each other, create systems that are extremely difficult to understand or even articulate, much less fix when something goes wrong. Consequently, treating the mind requires discipline, empathy, and years of hard work on both the doctor and the patient. That sounds boring, though, so for most of human history it was easier to just think people with mental illnesses were weird and/or cursed, and as we all know the best way to deal with people who are weird and/or cursed is to put them in a big building and lock the doors and hope they don’t kill each other. Such was the state of mental healthcare in 1975 when Milos Forman directed One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, an Oscar-winning adaptation of Ken Kesey’s book of the same name. One Flew Over is empathetic in its approach to mental health, exposing the deficiencies in how it was treated and grounding its social commentary in spectacular performances by Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher. In today’s episode, then, let’s look back at this classic and see how it’s held up. Let the games begin!

It’s the end of the second World War and things are looking up! The Nazis have been defeated and their leaders are on trial for unspeakable war crimes, China is recovering from the brutal Japanese invasion while the Japanese are entering a period of national introspection and revitalization, and the long conflict has made the world powers of America, the U.K., and the Soviet Union into fast friends. I foresee a long, sunny period of cultural exchange, peaceable de-militarization, and . . . oh. Oh, the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. are discovering that sad fact of all brief but fiery romances: that relationships built on shared traumatic experiences are rarely built to go the distance. The breakup is messy to say the least, with Europe broken up and divided between them and both sides preparing to spend the next few decades trying to act like they’re too cool to notice the other while obsessively stalking their every move and trying to respond in the way most likely to hurt their former ally. We call this international feud the Cold War, and it was a pretty miserable affair, but it did give rise to the genre of the Cold War thriller: stories of espionage, intrigue, and political maneuvering. One of the most fondly remembered pieces of this now-defunct style is The Hunt for Red October, a 1990 movie directed by John McTiernan based on the Tom Clancy book of the same name. Red October is a tense, tightly plotted, slow-burning dance of submarines, sabotage, and sweat, and seeing as Russia has decided it’s tired of not being a global pariah anymore, Magellans at the Movies figured it was time to revisit this mainstay of their childhoods. Let’s dive, dive, dive into the episode!

Tar-an-tino-ism n. 1 a self-indulgent, protracted conversation, usually on a topic no one cares about, with copious amounts of swearing and racial epithets between two or more characters in a film directed by Quentin Tarantino. Tarantionisms are generally pretty popular, many would argue that they’re what make his movies so enjoyable, so it’s no surprise that Pulp Fiction, Tarantino’s 1994 classic, is frequently cited as his greatest achievement, drowning as it is in Tarantinoisms. Pulp Fiction is stylish and sleek in a very grimy kind of way, a throwback to the lurid grindhouse movies of yesteryear that has endeared itself to many a college film student, but the Magellans at the Movies never went to film school they went to films, which might explain why they’re more lukewarm on this cultural touchstone. Whatever the reason for their edginess, the Magellans are back and ready to alienate even more of their rapidly dwindling audience so let’s get this over with so I can find another job that doesn’t pay me in off brand chocolate bars. Go!

A lot of stuff happened in the American West from the late nineteenth century, unfortunately most of it was either pretty depressing or pretty tame. People took stuff that wasn’t theirs, but mostly from Native Americans rather than the local bank in daring heists, and you were more likely to die from disease than a tense quickdraw duel with the man that shot your pa. We’re not here to talk about historical accuracy, though, we’re here to celebrate the American West as it has been mythologized by the silver screen: a realm of hardened gunslingers with stubble-dusted chins engaging in thrilling shootouts, untouched natural vistas brimming with the promise of adventure and wealth, and copious amounts of DUST! Westerns are a staple of American movies, but because we here at Magellans at the Movies are nothing if not men of the modern age we decided to eschew The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly in favor of The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, a 2018 anthology film directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Buster Scruggs is jam packed with everything that makes the Coens great: masterful directing, eccentric characters, and pitch-black comedy that complements intelligent themes with the added bonus of taking place across six different stories drawing on classic Western tropes and images; a filmmaking playground that the Coens put to great effect. Saddle up, listeners!

Pirates. During their heyday in the 16th-19th century when the combined rises of mercantilism, imperialism, and naval technologies sparked an explosion of commercial, exploratory, and political sea-travel, piracy was synonymous with murder, thievery, and rape, but in one of history’s most impressive spin campaigns, the modern image of the historical pirate has had a thorough cleansing resulting in the romantic figure of the swashbuckling hero we know today. One of the principal examples of this curious instance of historical revisionism is Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, a 2003 blockbuster directed by Gore Verbinski that sparked an explosion of wealth on par with the Age of Sail. Lovable Jack Sparrow isn’t a murderer, he just kills fish monsters, skele-pirates, and British people, and no one cares about any of those guys, so he and his crew of rambunctious buccaneers have been able to sail through a stupefying FIVE movies whilst reliably remaining the protagonists rather than the villains. Today, then, let’s revisit this nostalgic bit of popcorn entertainment by ignoring the dismal state of the franchise as it stands and returning to where it all began, when Johnny Depp was a big star, the Magellans were young, and everyone thought a movie based on a theme park ride was going to be a one-and-done kind of thing. Avast, ye scurvy listeners, raise the anchor and loose the main, let us set sail!

2022, what a great year it has been for people who haven’t been elected British Prime Minister or for people who haven’t bought Twitter. Really, it’s been a good year who did very little proactive. Unfortunately the Magellans have been very proactive this year, taking in a multitude of cinematic offerings and in this gigantic episode they will be bringing their thoughts on the superlatives of those offerings. But not content to merely survey the film landscape the brothers are also sharing their thoughts on their favorite books, video games, and television shows in this episode. So, get some popcorn and a nice, big puzzle to enjoy a special extra long episode of the Magellans at the Movies. Let’s ride!!!

Christmas, according to the song it’s the most wonderful time of the year. The holiday’s superlative status is derived from different factors according to different people. Maybe you’re really into cholesterol and enjoy stuffing your face. Maybe consumerism is more your thing, and you just love adding to your material wealth. Or, if you’re a pair of emotionally stunted young men from rural Iowa whose only mental escape from the 9-5 cubicle awaiting them was film, Christmas is probably most associated with Christmas movies. I exaggerate, of course, Christmas really is a special time of year, and Christmas movies really were a big part of the Magellan household experience. They’ve seen more than their fair share of tinsel town’s (Christmas pun) holiday offerings, so a Christmas classic like 1992’s The Muppet Christmas Carol directed by Brian Henson can only escape their notice for so long. Thanks to a convenient convergence of coincidences, the Magellans both watched this beloved adaptation of Charles Dickens’ seminal work for the first time recently, and since it’s the season of giving they have a gift for you: another episode of their little-known podcast! Merry Christmas, everyone!

War, what is it good for? It’s a question that has hounded philosophers, humanitarians, politicians, Fallout protagonists, and more. Throughout history many people at some point in their life have paused to consider whether humanity’s most destructive method of conflict resolution might be more trouble than it’s worth, and some of those people, upon reaching a negative conclusion, have put pen to paper in the form of anti-war books, paintings, and movies. One of the most famous examples of this is All Quiet on the Western Front, a German novel about the first World War that quickly gained a global audience thanks to its powerful, haunting depiction of life on the front lines. The book has been adapted for the screen multiple times, and today’s installment of Magellans at the Movies will be reviewing the latest iteration of this deeply moving tale of human folly. All Quiet on the Western Front as imagined by German director Edward Berger was released in 2022 a few months ago and did quite well for itself with critics and audiences alike, but because Nathan and Elliot are nothing if not attention-craving contrarians they decided to try to ruin everyone’s fun, if you can call a visually grim, graphically violent story from one of history’s most mind-meltingly horrific conflicts that. Over the top, lads!

When people think about the ways in which they would improve the high school experience, there are probably a wide range of elements they mark out as being particularly painful for all who experience it. Buildings with all the aesthetic flare and functional layout of a three-year-old’s pillow fort. State-approved lesson plans capable of reducing even the most dynamic, vibrant subjects into the educational material of a strong dose of valium. Lunch food derived from recipes written by homicidal maniacs who can’t even be bothered to pair your daily puddle of grease with fava beans or a nice Chianti. The list goes on, but of these innumerable tweaks and edits I don’t think many people would say the chief woe of American high school is the fact that it’s terrestrial. That, loyal listener, is the concern of a very different clientele: superheroes! You can’t teach teenagers how to be the next Superman on the ground, there’s dust and scary beetles down there! No, the best place for this unique form of instruction is found up high, sky high, you might even say. That’s right, folks, today’s installment of Magellans at the Movies addresses Sky High, a 2005 superhero spoof/kids’ comedy, directed by Mike Mitchell, following the colorful exploits of a group of freshmen at the titular ariel high school where they learn to become the next generation of unitard-wearing vigilantes. Sky High didn’t set the world on fire on release, but it has since gained a cult following and seeing as it was a big part of the Magellans Brothers’ childhood, today we thought it might be fun to revisit this curious piece of early 2000s culture. Into nostalgia or disillusionment we go, folks, up, up, and away!

We’ve just been invited to an eccentric billionaire’s island home, and you know what that means: vacation time! Grab your trunks, your sunscreen, and ninety-nine bottles of beer to be appended to the wall and distributed communally one by one over the course of the trip because we are paradise bound! We’ll probably be drunk by the time we get there because that’s a lot of alcohol, but, after a greasy burger sees to your hangover, you should get out there and enjoy the island’s amenities! Gaze in wonder at the Bond villain-esque architecture (get it? ‘Cuz Daniel Craig? James Bond? Is this thing on?), laugh along with the eclectic collection of narcissists and jerkwads that have joined us on this heavenly retreat and . . . gasp! What’s that? Someone’s been murdered? Heavens to Betsy, someone call Colonel Sanders’ third cousin because this is a job for Benoit Blanc! That’s right folks, after Knives Out was showered with stars, A’s, and thumbs ups (to say nothing of cold hard cash), another adventure with the rootin-est tootin-est detective to ever smoke a cigar was inevitable. Hence Glass Onion, the 2022 who-dun-it directed by Rian Johnson following up on his surprise hit. Glass Onion is doing pretty well for itself critically at the moment, and since we’ve seen it recently the Magellans thought they would contribute to the cultural discourse by weighing in on this tropical thriller and doubtlessly end the conversation with their world-renowned wit. The game’s afoot!

Spider-man. If you’re a member of today’s youth, upon whose childhood Disney’s film franchises could feasibly claim an executive producer credit, the name probably evokes images of Tom Holland. Spider-man in his most recent iteration was part of an established brand before he even thwipped his first web in Captain America: Civil War, and his further appearances in Avengers movies as well as his own trilogy of smash-hit films have only thrust the character to greater heights. For the cranky, miserable old men of the audience (hello, Magellans), however, Spider-man evokes a much different set of sights and sounds. Actors who look like they’re at least thirty trying to play high school students. Fight scenes with hilariously obvious wire work. Special effects that we could have sworn were photo-realistic when we first saw them. And one of the most spine-tingling, blood-chilling evil laughs in cinematic history. I’m talking, of course, about the webhead as he was imagined by director Sam Raimi in his 2002 classic of superhero movies, Spider-man. Before the MCU challenged Star Wars for the title of most ubiquitous institution of pop culture, before even Nolan’s dark knight trilogy opened the superhero genre to pretentious film nerds, we had Spider-man, an occasionally cheesy, often funny, and perpetually entertaining relic that spawned two sequels of disparate quality, all of which were a big part of the Magellans’ childhood. Today, then, let’s indulge our nostalgia and revisit this quaint artifact of yesteryear along with the equally quaint but less nostalgic banter and recommendations that this program is supposedly known for. Let’s get swinging!

What if I told you that an infinite set of universes existed and was open to you as long as you’re willing to wear a funny earpiece and lick the nearest traditionally un-licked thing? “Fiddlesticks!” I hear you say. “Why, that kind of poppycock is fit only for speculative fiction!” You’re quite right, O reader of the outdated vernacular, but don’t be so quick to dismiss speculative fiction such as this. When you’re dealing with limitless realities, you of course have a limitless toybox from which to draw the most mind-boggling, jaw-dropping spectacle movie goers have ever seen! Or, if you’re a pair of indie directors working with an indie studio, you could ignore most of that and stick to the exotic confines of an IRS building. As it happens, today’s movie Everything Everywhere All at Once, a 2022 action movie from alliterative directing duo the Daniels, goes with the second option. Oh well. Everything Everywhere was a surprise hit with critics and audiences alike, and has a sunny outlook going into awards season, but we here at the offices of Contrarian Movie Bros-sorry, I mean Magellans at the Movies were not quite as impressed. Everything Everywhere has a creative and intriguing premise, but is held back by indulgent scenes of action, shoddy character development, and a questionable moral message and you can hear about all of that and more in this week’s episode! So, wrap your head in tissue paper, dunk it in maple syrup and apply to a nearby stack of flapjacks and verse-hop into the strange and terrible universe of the Magellans at the Movies!

Nature can be both awesome in its complexity and beauty and terrifying in its power and scale. The diseased raccoon sifting through your garbage can at midnight may appear like a gentle, majestic citizen of the forest, but fail to treat it with respect and reverence and you will know the wrath of nature. That’s enough about how I got my new rabies shots, though, let’s talk about Godzilla, the diseased raccoon of the monster movie world. Godzilla is a staple of the very medium of filmmaking, a franchise many decades old boasting dozens of movie installments in addition to comics, TV shows, toys, pretty much anything that can be commodified and sold in your local Wal-mart. Godzilla is usually a Japanese product, but in 2014 American director Gareth Edwards took up the call to bring him back to western audiences after Roland Emmerich tried to do the same to . . . let’s say uneven results. Most people are fairly lukewarm on this iteration of the King of the Monsters, but we here at Magellans at the Movies Inc. happen to think Godzilla 2014 is something special, a fresh, unique take on the titular titan focusing more on tension, awe, and scale than relentless edge of your seat thrills, chills, and the color orange. Today, then, let’s talk about this curious little film, why we think it deserves more praise than it gets, and a few other movies you might like as well. 3, 2, 1, launch!

Baths, you may know them as those mini-swimming pools you used to clean off in when you were young and had time for anything more luxurious than a five second rinse in the shower and a few spritzes of Axe body spray, but that’s just because your mindset isn’t cosmopolitan enough. Around the world, baths aren’t always individual experiences where you burn your skin off with whatever toxic waste they make store-brand shampoo out of, sometimes, as in the traditional Japanese sento, they’re group experiences meant to bring a community together. Combine that with the novel premise of a communal bath house for spirits Japanese mythology and you have Spirited Away, the most charming film about child labor to ever hit the cinema! This 2001 animated classic, brought to you by the dynamic duo of director Hayao Miazaki and production company Studio Ghibli, is warm, funny, occasionally a bit scary, and ultimately a delight of a film bursting with creative worldbuilding and gorgeous art-style. And who better to judge this quintessentially Japanese story than two Americans from Iowa? Get in there Magellans at the Movies and do your bantery, analytical, reccomendy thing! Let the podcast begin!

Everyone hates winter, or at least everyone who has good opinions on seasons dislikes winter. And every writer has some amount of self-loathing going, otherwise they would pursue a more lucrative career such as working in masonry. And even further, it seems like everyone in the 80s hated their family, so when Jack Torrence took a job being stuck in a hotel with his family for the winter to attempt to write the next great American novel, maybe he should have known it would not go well for him. But it did go well for the camera crew documenting this process, they got to make one of the greatest horror movies of all time. And now the brothers Magellan are going to tackle this film for your listening pleasure, diving into both the technical elements and the deep thematic material that Stanley Kubrick brings to this classic adaptation of Stephen King’s novel. So, grab your fire ax, big wheel tricycle, and creepy twin sister and let’s get started!! Here’s the Magellans!!!!!!

The director. When it comes to the process of making movies there are few positions that hold the promise of greater acclaim for success or more ruthless criticism for failure. Rightly or wrongly, the director of a movie is sort of the face of the production. If an actor turns in a shoddy performance, we might say that they were given poor direction. If the cinematographer has apparently confused a dynamic, engaging visual style with the constant use of Dutch angles, we may assume that the pushy director is just really into feeling like he’s about to slide out of his chair when he’s at the theater. If a movie’s writing is shot through with cliches, melodrama, and an overreliance on vapid spectacle, we might just chalk it up to the usual Marvel formula, har har har. Whether or not any of this is fair, I think it’s safe to say that when someone decides to direct a movie they are faced with a difficult road. No area of filmmaking lacks at least a hint of the influence of the director, so when one such director manages to succeed in wrangling the different aspects of production into a coherent and satisfying whole not just once, but continuously over a long career in Hollywood, people notice. Today, then, on our twentieth episode, the Magellans are bringing to you five examples each of directors that have, for reasons of style, mastery of genre, or simple, inexplicable skill, captured their notice. It’s pretty much recommendations straight through today, folks, so get your DVD players ready, warm up the ol’ VHS player, and queue up your preferred streaming service for the Magellans at the Movies Director Extravaganza with bonus soundtrack provided by Mom insensitively clomping around the kitchen. Lights, camera, podcast!

You know, it’s at times like these that I like to pause and reflect on what makes a good movie. Why do some legends of the silver screen leave us cheering with rapturous abandon, chattering excitedly to our seatmates about the experience we have just shared while others see us walking out of the theater in disgust, our delicious snacks abandoned and our outlook ever so slightly dimmed? I can’t answer that question for you, loyal listener, but I can say that, for me personally, the former category is unlikely to contain many overlong, jumbled, paper-thin “comedies” about young men trying to take revenge on their abusive step-fathers. Enter Hot Rod, a 2007 comedy directed by Akiva Schaffer and hosting a cast of SNL alums. Hot Rod charts the effort of Rod, an aspiring stuntman, to raise money for a heart transplant for his stepfather Frank, the idea being that he might one day earn Frank’s respect by . . . beating him up. Hilarious. Anyways, Nathan and Elliot watched it because some people Nathan knows requested it, so let it never be said that we ignore the suggestion box. Expect plenty of sarcasm as we break Hot Rod down, and look out for a very special surprise guest star! Let’s put the pedal to the metal!

I can hardly wait! Memento is unsurprisingly difficult to follow, but those that endure the initial confusion will be rewarded with a truly special movie about how reality is constructed through memory and perception all wrapped up in Nolan’s classically sharp writing and cast of immensely talented actors. If you know anything about Memento it is almost certainly its novel structure, told backwards from the perspective of a man with retrograde amnesia on a mission to avenge his murdered wife. Nowhere is this derision for the idea of the audience knowing what on earth is going on more pronounced than in Memento, Nolan’s second movie and the film that served as his battering ram through the notoriously sturdy gates that separate cultural obscurity from the mainstream consciousness. When some tell stories on a pathetically linear chronology, Christopher Nolan takes the arrow of time, in all its permanently forward-facing simplicity, as a personal insult and has dedicated his working life to its desecration. Where others content themselves with the three dimensional, he looks to dimensions four through twelve. While we play checkers, he plays chess. When it comes to mind-melting movies you need seven pages of notes and a basic understanding of theoretical physics to understand, you can’t go wrong with Christopher Nolan.

A little plastic, a little glass, and a reason to rule all, that is myself- Marcus Aurelius if he was a computer. It is with these powerful words in mind that Steve Jobs (probably) set out to usher in the information age by providing every man, woman, and child with the means to access an increasingly intelligent, versatile series of electronic brains capable of processing and performing ever-more complex tasks in an ever-more complex and evolving digital universe. Was he pleased that the most complex task most people ask of their personal electronic brains was the occasional game of solitaire or the provision of a video of cats playing the piano? Unlikely, and now that Mr. Jobs is eleven years dead, we are unlikely to ever find out. That doesn’t mean people aren’t going to try to get into the head of this titanic and still-controversial figure of history. Enter Danny Boyle to direct the Sorkin-penned script for Steve Jobs, an uncreatively named biopic released in 2015 to critical acclaim. Steve Jobs (the movie, I mean, not the guy) wields Aaron Sorkin’s snappy dialogue to great effect in a memorable character study zeroing in on three critical moments in Steve Jobs’ (now I’m talking about the man, jeez this is unnecessarily confusing) career. It’s a sharply written, skillfully directed triumph boosted to yet greater heights by a slew of immensely talented actors firing on all cylinders. Joining us to talk about said triumphs is Will Spalding, a friend of Nathan’s but someone whom Elliot has never met before so who knows how that’s going to go. Well, there’s only one way to find out, so Will, sharpen your analytical knives and flex your comedic chops because this is Magellans at the Movies, where the standards of criticism are high, and the humor is . . . present. Go go go!

Greetings! Welcome to Magellans at the Airport Travel Agency, I’ll be helping you for today. Looking to get away from it all but not sure where to go? Eager for a relaxing stay in a refined, high-class environment? Well let’s take a dive into this file here and see what we can’t scare up for you. Hmm, the Bates Motel? Nice place but the showers are a bit dodgy. Hotel Earle? Run by the Coen brothers but I think it burned down a while ago. The Overlook? I think they’re in the winter season and you DO NOT want to stay there during the off season. Ah, here’s a good one, the Grand Budapest Hotel. Now this is an establishment with class, my friend, a true blast from the past complete with lobby boys, ornate rooms, and even elevator assistants from back when people couldn’t be trusted to press a numbered button. Might be a little tense right now what with the war on, but it would be worth a visit just to meet the concierge, a man so eccentric and ostentatious he makes Elvis look like the worship pastor in a small midwestern church. I guarantee you’ll have a good time there, and when you’re done come back for a recommendation on where to, uh, watch next? I don’t know, this metaphor is getting strained, the point is that we’re reviewing the 2014 Wes Anderson film The Grand Budapest Hotel this week, and, like all Wes Anderson movies, its style is ornate and its characters eccentric. Nathan and Elliot have plenty of thoughts on Anderson’s most well known offering, so let’s check in, get unpacked, and hit the pool for all the banter, analysis, and recommendations that you know and . . . well, that you know. Let’s do it to it!

Murder. Hopelessness. Darkness. The creeping, oppressive fear of life’s monstrous emptiness that spreads in the brain like a malignant tumor and drowns all light and joy in a grim tide of crushing resignation. Bleak stuff, yes? Maybe for silly sheeple like you and I who believe in things like hope, objective truths, and some kind of logically defensible moral structure, but for director David Fincher, nihilistic conceptions of humanity’s bottomless capacity for evil is the stuff of Christmas cards. Perusing through Fincher’s filmography may be like taking a tour of sadness in a museum curated by a man with the outlook of Eeyore (with one bizarrely lighthearted exhibit about the mindset of youth defying the physical bounds of age), but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you won’t enjoy your time in David Fincher’s Circus of Suffering so long as you stay away from girls with tattoos of fictional lizards. Yes, it is hard to call any given Fincher movie “enjoyable”, but it is very easy to call them “great”, and the subject of today’s installment of Magellans at the Movies examines one such example of greatness: the 1995 detective thriller Se7en. Se7en, aside from its unwieldy name, is predictably Fincher-y. It's dark, it centers conflicted characters grappling with overwhelming evil, and, oh yeah, it’s absolutely captivating and shot to utter perfection by a masterful director. We’ll try to keep things as upbeat as possible, but with a movie like this the recommendations and analysis are unlikely to turn your frown upside down, so maybe watch The Lego Movie once you’re done, yeah? Take care of your mental health, folks. Anyhoo, I need to go rethink my life so let the episode commence!

Fish, probably the most unwelcome thing to find on a pizza aside from maybe a heaping helping of crude oil. You probably don’t think that much about fish as you go through your daily life, and unless you’re a sociopathic dentist trafficking kidnapped fish to your equally unhinged niece to murder, they’re not terribly concerned with you either. This mutual indifference does a great disservice to both our species, however, because, as we see in the 2003 animated classic Finding Nemo directed by Andrew Stanton, fish actually have vibrant internal lives and a sprawling, complex culture! This week let’s all take some time to sit down with this movie and reflect on all we can learn from our aquatic allies, the good we could do together, and the many unfortunate pets who ended up in sewage treatment plants because of little Billy’s kind-hearted but ultimately misguided attempt to send his fish to the ocean via the toilet on Gill’s advice. Despite the minor fish genocide Finding Nemo undoubtedly caused with its infamous assertion that “all drains lead to the ocean”, the movie is rightly considered to be one of the many jewels in Pixar animation studio’s heavily bedazzled crown, and because Nathan and Elliot were getting kind of depressed with all these movies about people dying and civilization collapsing, they’ve made it the subject of their latest episode! Expect plenty of banter and some top tier recommendations to go along with their DEEP (that’s an ocean pun) analysis of the movie’s content. Let’s SINK in (this is cracking good stuff I’m giving you, why aren’t you laughing?)!

So, your mother has just died, leaving her estate in your care, but the rapacious bank with which she did business spent the last few years of her life squeezing pennies out of her pocket with sadistic glee. You’re a divorced dad who wants to do right by your children and leave them the family ranch that has just been found to be oil rich, but the bank is closing in, ready to foreclose and reclaim the house. What’s an enterprising young Texan like yourself to do? The answer, as any hard-jawed, steely-eyed man’s man knows, is sell cookies at your local theater troop’s yearly musical and skim enough off the top to satisfy the enormous debt. What’s that? Not good at baking? Hate musicals? Well, my friend, it looks like you’ll have to take the Hell or High Water route, and fortunately this week’s movie, the 2016 best picture nominee Hell or High Water directed by David Mackenzie, can tell you all about it. Just enlist the help of your reckless, dangerous brother and recruit the very bank that has been at your heels into a decidedly involuntary GoFundMe campaign in the form of a robbing spree that spans the Lone Star State and bing bang boom! Money time. Now that you’re rich and in the clear, may I recommend today’s episode of Magellans at the Movies, which reviews this very film (and also accepts donations fyi)? Don’t worry, you’ll get your fill of analysis, banter, and recommendations before the lawman tracks you down for a tense confrontation, but only if you start the episode now, so what are you waiting for? Let’s giddyup to the movies!

If any franchise can be described as rivaling Star Wars’ world-dominating ubiquity, it’s probably Marvel. Beginning with a film charting a billionaire’s efforts to essentially make himself a terminator suit powered by a miraculous new energy source in a cave with nothing but scraps (a premise that, despite Jeff Bridges’ incredulity, comes off as hard-core realism compared to the more . . . imaginative plots of the later films), the MCU currently churns out content at a rate even Call of Duty finds excessive. Whatever your opinion on them, however, Marvel movies are extremely profitable and popular with critics and audiences alike, and despite much tilting from a small but vocal sect of YouTube reviewers, the Marvel windmill is set to spin on until rapture. Or so it seems. Because now a new challenger approaches, fleet of foot and loose of limb, and ready to flail about before the windmill like a breakdancer having a seizure until their voices are heard. That’s right, MCU, Magellans at the Movies have thrown down the gauntlet and are ready to take on one of your most beloved episodes, Captain America: the Winter Soldier! This 2014 film directed by Anthony and Joe Russo may have all the Marvel standards (musclebound men looking pensive, grandiose plots with insane stakes, and at least one lingering shot of an attractive woman’s backside), it may have made hundreds of millions of dollars, it may have won the hearts and minds of millions of fans, but that’s only because they haven’t heard two college students from Iowa whine about it yet! Don’t even bother begging for mercy, once we’ve had our say, I guarantee that all three of our listeners will never give you a red cent again, a financial blow from which you will never recover. Let the destruction of the MCU begin now!

Being a mobster can be a bit of a mixed bag. Sure you can have all the atrocious pinky rings, oily hair, and pressed suits you could ever wish for, but at what cost? According to Goodfellas, the 1990 mob movie following the life of actual former gangster Henry Hill directed by the master of mob movies Martin Scorcese, that cost is a Shakespearean fall from grace attended by all manner of marital strife, drug-induced paranoia, and overweight, balding dads telling you that you can just “fugeddabout” going on living if you cross them. Harrowing stuff. Still, like a middle schooler challenged to down a ghost pepper in one bite in front of their cheering friends, the allure of fame and power can be an overwhelming force, even in the face of terrible danger. That’s enough about Nathan’s emergency room-destined seventh grade sleepover, though, because we have a movie to get to! Goodfellas is beloved by many and often lifted up as an example of its prestigious director’s finest work, but I must admit, the Magellans have never been the movie’s most enthusiastic proponents. In the interest of offering a balanced perspective, then, we’ve invited Goodfellas aficionado Jake Brend, whose notable achievements include growing a beard and doing our intro, onto the podcast to mock-sorry, I mean patiently listen to his argument about why this movie deserves its lauded status. And action!

Well, dear reader, it seems we have arrived at the tenth installment of Magellans at the Movies, and the tenth bit of anything is always considered notable for reasons I’ve never really understood. I guess people just like the number ten because it’s usually the easy part of math problems. Anyways, over the past weeks you’ve listened to and come to love Magellans at the Movies for its biting criticism, adroit analysis, and euphoric celebrations of the best and worst of this medium. Or maybe you just appreciate the program’s utility as a mild sedative at bedtime. Either way, as you’ve listened to each increasingly lengthy session of mindless blather, you may have begun to wonder about your guides through these somniferous sermons of cinema. Who are these strange men, and where did they come from? Why did Elliot disappear for three years in the Australian Outback and why did he return? What do the tiny runic symbols printed on the inside of Nathan’s glasses mean and why does he draw them every night on his wall? Why do these descriptions never end before meeting the word count of your average Stephen King book? Unfortunately none of those questions will be answered today, but we will be celebrating our tenth episode by sharing a bit about ourselves as movie watchers. Not that anyone asked for it, but what is a podcast if not casting pieces of oneself into the digital void to the delight and rapturous attention of precisely no one? In all seriousness we never held any illusions about the possibility for great fame or success, we’re just a pair of brothers who love movies, love talking about them, and wanted to share some of that love with a larger audience, however paltry the expansion. We thank you for listening, even if it was only once, and we hope you have and will continue to enjoy our bloviating about movies we adore, despise, and are indifferent to every week. Let’s get going!

Prison, it’s where you go when a simple disagreement between you and a particularly ornery spider monkey at the zoo gets more than a little heated and can no longer be constrained by a chain link fence. After the monkey’s tearful (but totally exaggerated) testimony moves the judge to throw the book at you, you’ll find yourself in a high-security hotel where early checkouts are frowned upon, your room is the size of an envelope, and the cleaning staff execute their duties with a work ethic that can only be described as unenthusiastic. It’s a bit like the American education system in that you’ll do your time facing terrible food, substandard medical care, constant threat from the more aggressive amongst your fellow inmates, and most of society cares more about keeping you inside than ensuring you learn your lesson while you’re there. Stepping away from super fresh and original jokes about how school is a lot like prison amirite lolz, I think we can all agree that prison is a bit grim, and how much more so when you’re forced to do the time despite not actually having done the crime? Such is the fate of Andy Dufresne, protagonist of The Shawshank Redemption, a 1994 prison movie directed by Frank Darabont that is frequently present on all but the most contrarian of hipsters’ Best Movies of All Time lists. Shawshank is stark and bleak, and occasionally hard to watch, yet leavened by an indefatigable sense of hope and trust in the power of friendship against which no cynicism can stand. The Shawshank Redemption is a movie every film lover should see at least once, and today, for the first time, Magellans at the Movies will be bringing in a non-Magellan film lover to help talk about it. That’s right, this episode we’ll be joined by Ben Neessen, best known for being tall and having red hair, and whose credentials as a cinephile are as ironclad as they come. With Ben’s help we’ll banter, review, and recommend to a standard at least three or four percent higher than our usual fare, so we hope you enjoy. Ready, set, go!Survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/T3KWHX6

Nope. What a versatile, efficient word it is. Truly the Swiss army knife of refusals, it can be employed to firmly shut down the unwanted advances of belligerent drunkards, casually indicate one’s satiated appetite when food is being ordered, or awkwardly turn back the weapons grade LSD you’ve just been handed at your nephew’s birthday party for some reason. We’re not here to talk about why I don’t visit uncle Horatio anymore, though, we’re here to talk about Nope the movie, a 2022 science fiction/horror flick directed by Jordan Peele, either the savior of modern cinema or the embodiment of everything that ails it, depending on who you ask. You can forget the anti-cloud gazing message of Don’t Look Up (I’m assuming that’s what that movie’s about, haven’t seen it yet) because Nope is all about cranking the ol’ noggin back to get a good look at the sky and the extraterrestrial shenanigans unfolding therein. That’s right, Jordan Peele’s third movie is all about aliens, a scarier prospect than having your vacation waylaid by a surprise visit from your long lost twin but not quite as scary as meeting your girlfriend’s family and being subjected to their lame attempts to relate to you. Like Get Out and Us before it, Nope features strong performances, competent directing, and a story whose high-minded themes and focus on subtle foreshadowing and easter eggs will delight some and infuriate others. What’s that I hear you ask? “What did those loveable rapscallions over at Magellans at the Movies think about the movie? What are some similar movies I could watch? How do Nathan and Elliot feel about Belgian prime minister Alexander De Croo?” Well you’re in luck my friend of the strangely specific inquiries, because this podcast literally exists for the sole purpose of answering those questions as they relate to various films, including, this week, Nope! So let’s wrap up the description and move along to the main event! Hit it!Survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/T3KWHX6

Allow me to impart a story to you, dear reader. Back when this program was getting started, I attended a conference in Dubai for exciting young creatives at the bleeding edge of innovation in the field of podcasts. After the guards realized my credentials were fake and threw me out the third floor window, I was wandering the city in despair when I stumbled upon a homeless man, sitting beneath a bridge in a pile of trash, but bearing a delighted grin on his face. “How can you be so happy sitting down here with all this garbage?” I asked. The man raised a mysterious eyebrow, dug his hand into his pocket, and produced a battered DVD case. Closer inspection revealed it to be a copy of a movie called The Dark Knight. “The Dark Knight?” I said, incredulous. “What does that mean? Why doesn’t someone just turn up the lights? And how big are your pockets anyway?” But when I looked up, the man had vanished. After I smuggled myself to Canada in a cello case on a luxury cruise line and snuck past the pack of moose in camouflage that they had guarding the border for some reason, I made my way home, where I popped the movie in, and then I knew why the man had been so happy having so little. For his sole possession had not only been just what I needed to concoct a bloated, farcical, and obviously apocryphal story for the description of an upcoming podcast episode, it had been an absolute masterpiece of a movie. Directed by the inimitable Christopher Nolan and released in 2008 to instant acclaim, The Dark Knight is the pinnacle of comic book movies: dark, intense, thought-provoking, and boasting a villain who represents such a perfect marriage of brilliance in design, writing, and performance that it is impossible to leave without feeling like you’ve seen something truly special. Now Elliot and Nathan will take turns gushing about it like the squealing fanboys Nathan is at heart, and that’s not even including the recommendation and banter sections that were THIS CLOSE to getting us a sponsorship deal before I got thrown out that window. Next time I’ll get it, for now let’s get to the episode already! And here. We. Go!

“Life in South Korea can be hard,” says director Bong Joon Ho’s 2019 thriller/mystery/think piece/comedy/who-even-knows movie Parasite. “Its cities are crowded, its economic mobility limited, and its toilets prone to expressing their dissatisfaction with all the (admittedly unpleasant) ins and outs of daily toilet life by returning the contents it was meant to consign to oblivion right back into the homes of their cruel human masters.” “Well, Parasite,” you return, “you certainly describe a grim situation, but what does it mean? What can or should be done about it? What deeper point are you trying to get across? And how does BTS figure into all of this? (No, seriously, someone please explain what BTS is to me, I’m scared to look it up.)” Parasite’s reply is ambiguous, a half-shrug and a mysterious smile, and depending on what kind of movies you like, this may send you scrambling for articles, videos, and reviews dissecting the deep layers of thematic flesh in which Parasite is coated, or on a different kind of journey . . . the kind that leads back to the video aisle of your local Walmart with anger in your heart and a refund in your future. But whether you left the theater ready to declare the film a masterpiece or having thrown up into your popcorn at the sheer pretentiousness of it all (or just having been inspired to write an angry letter to . . . whoever runs capitalism, Mr. Monopoly I think), your reaction was probably not one of apathy. Now, the movie-going Magellans for which this program is named will submit for your listening pleasure their own reactions to the 2020 Best Picture winner, their, uh, let’s say endearingly enthusiastic attempts at thematic analysis, as well as their best efforts to recommend a movie that is in any way similar to one that, whatever else, resists easy classification. Let’s do it!

Ah, middle school. That crucible of adolescent life straddling the divide between the sugary, innocent and carefree days of childhood and the more serious physical, social, and mental developments of high school (that other crucible of adolescent life). Herein boys and girls become . . . uh, slightly older boys and girls, and because human society has a truly alarming belief in the virtue of social bonds, it was long ago decided that the best way to shepherd all those mischievous scamps into the next phase of their life was to dump them all together in a big ol’ building and spend eight hours each day having depressed, underpaid and overworked men and women talk at them about how to multiply watermelon, what Gettysburg’s address is, and what kind of a house the mitochondria lives in. Or something like that. But shoving all those hormone machines together into rooms of varying size and resemblances to black site interrogation chambers is good for more than creating or exacerbating the odd nervous disorder, it could be a setting for quite the interesting, charming, and heartwarming movie, and Eighth Grade is all of those and more. Whether you’re a social butterfly who looks back at the friends and fun of middle school with a soft smile or your name is Elliot Magalhães, Bo Burnham’s 2018 directorial debut empathetically depicting shy, awkward Kayla in her last days of the titular education level is moving and inspiring, and today you will have the pleasure(?) of listening to two weirdos talk about it, exchange lighthearted barbs masking deep-seated childhood resentments, and create strained ties to other movies that you could also watch. Let’s dive in!

Jurassic World: Dominion, what a movie! Eye-popping special effects, likable characters, thought-provoking ideas about the relationship between man and nature, and complemented by impeccable scenes of tension that proudly take their place among the best feats cinema has to offer! Oh, wait, no I’m thinking of Jurassic Park. Jurassic World: Dominion is Jurassic Park’s second cousin, bitterly toiling away in the shadow of its more popular relative. Dominion is the 2022 conclusion to the Jurassic World trilogy, and even the most romantic of Romeos would struggle to call parting with these movies “such sweet sorrow”. In this case parting is more like speeding your jerk of a Tinder date home so you can get on with your life and drown the memory of the ill-fated tryst in a pint of ice cream. Jurassic World: Dominion is bloated, boring, unforgivably sloppy and about as tense as an elementary school play about the water cycle, and today the Magellans at the Movies will pass judgment on it (even though I think Nathan didn’t actually hate it but I write the descriptions so I get to say what I want) and hopefully leaven its burdensome runtime with the banter, recommendations, and general good vibes that has attracted tens of viewers to this podcast. Hold onto your butts!

“St-Star Wars?” I hear you say with befuddlement, “What a silly notion, stars are spherical cosmic bodies composed mainly of gasses, how could they be capable of launching large-scale combat operations against each other?” Ah, my unrealistically out of touch hypothetical reader, allow the Magalhães brothers to enlighten you in today’s exciting new episode of Magellans at the Movies! Truly no other movie can claim to be as ubiquitous as George Lucas’s career defining 1977 space opera. Every set, weapon, ship, character, sound effect and piece of music is iconic, and today, in what is the reviewer’s equivalent of an architect evaluating the structure of the Great Pyramids, we’ll be adding our two cents to the oceans of pennies that have already been spent on this cultural behemoth. Nathan is our resident Star Wars superfan, so in addition to the allegedly endearing banter and supposedly relevant recommendations expect an extended disquisition on the behind the scenes trivia and extended universe material that has accumulated around the Star Wars universe while Elliot . . . will also be present. Let’s get started!

Jury duty? Aw, man! I hate jury duty! So begins any number of tired standup routines delivered to tens of disinterested audience members in many a middle school talent show, 2000s sitcom, or grungy back room comedy club that doubles as a meeting place for the local AA chapter, but the 1957 classic courtroom drama 12 Angry Men is here to remind us that doing one’s civic duty is more than just a way to kill a couple weeks watching slow-mo replays of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s marriage imploding, it can often be a matter of life and death, and what a reminder it is! This week join the usual hosts of Magellans at the Movies as they look back on Sidney Lumet’s spectacular movie debut full of incredible performances, masterful cinematography, and thought-provoking themes along with the brothers’ usual complement of banter and recommendations. I can’t wait!

For the inaugural episode of the podcast Nathan and Elliot watched the classic Spielberg war film Saving Private Ryan. They discuss its commentary on war and how they felt it achieved its goals, with some help from some random review Elliot found on the internet.