Episode 95 - Defending Battlefield Earth

June 21, 2018

Today, we are doing something unprecedented. We're going to defend the film, Battlefield Earth! Well, Steve is going to defend it. All in a new segment called, To the Death! - Where we will take critically panned (and audience panned) movies and one of us must try to defend them, for whatever merits they may possess. In some cases, we may actually like the film, which in this case, Steve does! I know...crazy right?

Then we have some Nerdy News, where we'll discuss the troubling allegations against nerd icon, Chris Hardwick, and talk about some upcoming sequel films you probably didn't know were on their way.

Then we'll have the return of the Preternatural Penetration segment. Sticking with the theme of aliens from our featured movie, Jarman tells the story of a possible UFO crash that happened in Iceland in the 1950s.

In an extended Radical Recommends segment, Steve discusses how much his daughter loves Moana, which led to him doing research into the real myths behind the character of Maui from that film (the Rock). Join us on a historical deep dive!

Finally, for Trailer Reviews, we cover the upcoming Bumbebee Transformers spinoff, and the "live action" remake of Dumbo that no one asked for. Bumbo!

Intro music provided with permission by the awesome Jimmy Hinson of Big Giant Circles. Find him Bandcamp or iTunes!

Episode 94 - The Battle of the Hercules!

May 25, 2018

In a truly heroic return of A Play On Nerds, we bring you Copy Cat Cinema! This time with the 2014 screen gems, Hercules and The Legend of Hercules! Which musclebound fake Greek demi-god will defeat the other? Listen in to find out! Steve will give us a quick recap of the Greek pantheon of gods and their history before we delve into the main segment.

For Nerdy News we cover discoveries on Jupiter's moon, Europa, that could mean discovering alien life in the near future! Plus, how are bees making red honey? And how is pot involved?!

For the rest of the episode, we have a very late review of Avengers: Infinity War, some Radical Recommends, and Trailer Reviews of Kin and The Predator!

Intro music provided with permission by the awesome Jimmy Hinson of Big Giant Circles. Find him Bandcamp or iTunes!

Episode 93 - The Postman and Problems in Post

May 3, 2018

Due to a terribly unfortunate glitch, we lost the main portion of this episode, where we discussed the movie The Postman, in a new segment To The Death! - where we review a film that one of us absolutely loves, but the other absolutely hates. Jarman is in love with The Postman even though it is pretty universally reviled. But, as mentioned, we lost that whole segment due to a strange computer glitch.

What did survive the terrible glitch was our related interview with Shawn Vanderloo, who is a real life "postman" in Canada. He tells us all about the ups and downs of his job as a letter carrier. It's a super fun romp! And you may already know Shawn as he a host on both The Rusted Robot Podcast and the Soul Forge Podcast. You should definitely check them out!

Sorry for the loss of what was a hilarious episode, but we'll be back with you in another full episode of A Play On Nerds in a couple weeks. We're moving into a brand new studio space, so it will take a bit of time to get set up. See you then!

Intro music provided with permission by the awesome Jimmy Hinson of Big Giant Circles. Find him Bandcamp or iTunes!

Episode 92 - Two Terrible Mall Cops

March 29, 2018

Join us for another edition of Copy Cat Cinema! This is where we take two movies made in the same year, that are incredibly similar in premise. For this edition we cover the two gems of filmmaking, Paul Blart: Mall Cop and Observe and Report.

For Nerdy News Jarman goes on a rant about bad video game movies, then Steve discusses the discovery of a new originating species of humanity!

Since this episode was recorded around the time of St. Patrick's Day, we go into the history of that holiday, and how it really is nothing like you thought it was. Then we have a quick game of Would You Rather and some Radical Recommends.

For Trailer Reviews we cover The Trials of Grindelwald and the newest trailer of Avengers: Infinity War.

Intro music provided with permission by the awesome Jimmy Hinson of Big Giant Circles. Find him Bandcamp or iTunes!

Episode 91 - Muppet Treasure Island Movie Review!

March 17, 2018

In today's episode we continue our ongoing series of reviewing every film from the Muppet and Star Trek franchises (each of Steve and Jarman's favorite franchises respectively) by reviewing Muppet Treasure Island! With the always wonderful Tim Curry.

For Nerdy News we cover possible developments in uploading your consciousness after you die and do our (new) annual rundown of the winners of the 2018 Razzie Awards.

We also have a return of Would You Rather and Radical Recommends, and Trailer Reviews of Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2, and The Incredibles 2.

Intro music provided with permission by the awesome Jimmy Hinson of Big Giant Circles. Find him Bandcamp or iTunes!