Escape Hatch (formerly Dune Pod)

It’s the return of NY Times Bestselling author Dave Itzkoff ! He’s firmly established his Escape Hatch beat as gritty New York City movies from the 70s and 80s, so this week he leaves the subway behind for the candlelit drawing rooms of 18th-century Europe, as we FINALLY tackle Stanley Kubrick’s 1975 masterpiece, Barry Lyndon. Plus: the Paramount–Warner Bros. megamerger, Digger’s disastrous openin...

After 6 years, we finally have the Voltron style crossover we’ve always dreamed of: Dune Pod x Gom Jabbar ! We’re joined by their co-host and producer, Abu Zafar ! He’s also the super producer of our beloved sister pod X-Ray Vision . We keep Hot Nolan Summer going with Christopher’s under-rated 2017 war epic, Dunkirk! Chapters Introduction (00:00:00) Hatch News (00:10:08) Dunkirk Roundtable (00:21...

Jason drops a bombshell announcement on the podcast! Plus: we talk romantic three-ways with Grok and then keep the romance theme going with Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart’s 3rd outing together, 2010’s The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. We’re joined by Chief Instigator of Bad Movies, co-host of the X-Ray Vision podcast, Rosie Knight ! Chapters Introduction (00:00:00) Hatch News (00:17:22) The Twilig...

It's the return of two of our favorite Lucasfilm friends — ILM's Lorelei David and Lucasfilm Animation's Nico Anastassiou! The SUMMER OF JASON continues with Joel Schumacher's 1987 dark and sexy vampire classic, The Lost Boys. Chapters Introduction (00:00:00) Hatch News (00:23:38) The Lost Boys Roundtable (00:26:18) Your Letters (01:21:27) Notes and Links Check out Escape Hatch Merch! Our all new...

2 years ago we tried to do Iron Giant, and Haitch crashed his car. This week we tried again, but were blocked by a guest’s shooting schedules. The universe is trying to hold us back, but the SUMMER OF JASON persists, as we pivot to the hilarious and fantastically fun 2023 adventure movie, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. Chapters Introduction (00:00:00) Hatch News (00:16:36) Dungeons & Dra...

It’s the return of our scream queen, Senior Editor at FANGORIA and author of First in Fright: The FANGORIA Compendium , Meredith Borders ! The SUMMER OF JASON continues (whereby Jason learns that even I don’t actually get to pick the movies) as we finally cover David Cronenberg's 1986 absolutely disgusting and goopy, body-horror classic, The Fly. Chapters Introduction (00:00:00) Hatch News (00:11:...

It’s Shark Week on Escape Hatch as we welcome back the director of Sharksploitation, producer of Jodorowsky's Dune, co-host of Best Movies Never Made , Stephen Scarlata . He last joined us with @dale_a for Jaws, and this time we cover ‘the #2 most important shark movie of all time”, LL Cool J’s Deep Blue Sea. Haitch gets rekt for his take. Chapters Introduction (00:00:00) Hatch News (00:11:16) Dee...

We’re back from our late summer vacation and we're joined by the CEO of Particle News , Sara Beykpour . We catch up on the last 2 weeks with updates on the Democratic Civil War, dispatches from the AI wilds, and why these insufferable tech bros won’t stop being so insufferable. Then, the SUMMER OF JASON continues with Christopher Nolan's 2008 superhero epic, The Dark Knight. Chapters Introduction...

Look, when you’re discussing one of most beloved films in the history of cinema, you want to make sure you have your bases covered. So we turned to the man who literally wrote the book ( Stranded on Earth: How Night Skies Became E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ), film journalist and author Max Evry . Chapters Introduction (00:00:00) Hatch News (00:19:16) E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Roundtable (00:29:38)...

The SUMMER OF JASON continues as we finally cover the Coen Brothers' 1991 Hollywood writer’s block nightmare starring John Turturo and John Goodman, Barton Fink. Joining us is the showrunner of Veep, writer/director (Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, White House Plumbers) and co-host of The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of , Dave Mandel . We discuss San Diego ComicCon's biggest highlights, DNC misst...

The Summer of Jason continues our long journey as we're joined by Homeric teacher and scholar Bijani Mizell! Bijani has taught The Odyssey for over 10 years to high school kids, so she was a lock to help us tackle Christopher Nolan’s magnum opus take. She covers (in language you can understand!) the history of the poem, how Nolan relates to the translators who have come before him, and digs deep i...

The Summer of Jason goes on a long journey as welcome long lost, yet most frequent Escape Hatch recurring guest, co-host of the Cinenauts podcast, ctcher ! In preparation for Christopher Nolan’s magnum opus The Odyssey next week, we revisit one of the greatest adaptations of Homer’s classic work, the Coen Brother’s 2000 masterpiece starring George Clooney, O Brother Where Art Thou? Chapters Introd...

The Summer of Jason blasts off as we're joined for the FOURTEENTH time by [REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED] and co-host of the Twin Vipers podcast, Jonesy Loves Beer . We discuss the highs and lows of the World Cup, Jason and Jonesy revel in their new blade purchases, and then we boldly go on the original crew's final voyage, and discuss Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Chapters Introduction (00...

The Summer of Jason heats up, as we welcome romance storytellers, editor Liz Tingue and the author of bestsellers Dreamology, and Literally, Lucy Keating . We tackle one of the all-time great lo-fi sci-fi films, Michel Gondry’s 2004 stunning classic starring Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Chapters Introduction (00:00:00) Hatch News (00:18:38) Eternal Sunshine o...

The Summer of Jason rolls on and now we’re really getting into it as we begin our run of Coen Brothers classics, starting with their first huge breakthrough hit, 1996’s thriller Fargo. We’re joined by co-host of Nobody Knows Anything , Rob Flaherty . Chapters Introduction (00:00:00) Hatch News (00:25:15) Fargo Roundtable (00:28:46) Your Letters (01:14:37) Notes and Links Check out Escape Hatch Mer...

'Poooooooooddss out... for... SUMMER!!!' - Extremely Alice Cooper voice. We try and hang in for one final episode before taking a week off to celebrate the start of summer. With our high priest of cinema Stephen Spielberg returning to the holy theater of Summer Blockbusters this weekend for Disclosure Day, we figured what the heck, let’s finally cover one we’ve talked about for years, Minority Rep...

This one is something special. We have absolute legend of the animation and comicbook world, who has written episodes of Flash Gordon, Dungeons & Dragons, He-Man, Transformers, Star Wars: Ewoks, Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Batman: The Animated Series, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Superman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, Justice League, Lost, Batman: Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, PAUL...

Let’s talk about sex. At long last, we tackle the final movie from the master, Stanley Kubrick. Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman’s sexual drama Eyes Wide Shut. Joining us for the conversation is New York Times bestselling fantasy author of The School for Good and Evil and the new hit novel Young World , Soman Chainani . We cover how today’s youth are going to save us and the dream that is this masterp...

LOCK THE GATES! The SUMMER OF JASON rolls on, as we welcome Jason’s former co-worker, President Biden’s US Ambassador to ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations), Yohannes Abraham . We catch up on Trump’s China Summit, his wholesale pillaging of the US Government with his new slush fund, and Jason’s new project The Center for Shared AI Prosperity . Then we talk about Cameron Crowe's 2000...

We swore we would never cover this movie. I mean just Haitch, really. Jason never cared either way - until our discord waged a multi-year campaign to break Haitch down. Now, we’re joined by literal rabble rouser, comic writer, and co-host of the X-Ray Vision podcast, the incomparable Rosie Knight , to finally cover Joel Schumacher's infamous 1997 superhero disaster, Batman and Robin. We also tackl...

It’s the return of the host of the movie prop podcast, The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of , and showrunner of Veep, Dave Mandel ! We start out with a quick pass around the wheel of where things stand politically as mid-term primary contests start and look forward to 2028 and beyond. Then, we officially kick off the SUMMER OF JASON - where Jason gets to pick all the movies we cover, with his longstanding...

It’s the return of technologist and writer of Spyglass , M.G. Siegler . M.G.’s one of the pre-eminent experts on Apple, so we start with The Trial of Tim Cook™, with his analysis on how Tim Apple will be remembered. Then we look at where John Ternus might begin taking Apple in the future. We announce THE SUMMER OF JASON, where Jason finally gets to make all the picks for what movies we cover! Then...

Set Condition 1 Throughout the Fleet: it's the return of technologist, founder and CEO of Particle News , Sara Beykpour . We announce our new hire producer of Escape Hatch, get excited about CinemaCon’s previews of Dune Part Three and Avengers Doomsday, and have a real conversation about our relationships with our AI agents. Then we finally tackle one of the greatest reboots in television history,...

It’s the return of New York Times Bestseller Dave Itzkoff. We kick off with a Spring Break update including reviews of Virginia rollercoasters, Icelandic ice caves, cleaning up absolute adorable dog s#!t for a week. Then we tackle the 80’s buddy classic, Midnight Run. Chapters Introduction (00:00:00) Hatch News (00:15:37) Midnight Run Roundtable (00:32:45) Your Letters (01:13:45) Notes and Links C...

It’s the return of the Senior Editor of Engadget and co-host of The Filmcast , Devindra Hardawar . We finally tackle John Woo’s final Hong Kong action masterpiece, starring the coolest motherf#%*ers in the world - Chow Yun-fat and Tony Leung, in Hard Boiled. Plus, Haitch gets puppies! Chapters Introduction (00:00:00) Hatch News (00:12:14) Hard Boiled Roundtable (00:15:10) Your Letters (01:12:58) N...