The Nextlander Watchcast

Alex's final pick for February is here, and for this week's Watchcast he's taking us to the Spanish coast to peek in on the idyllic life of retired thief Gal Dove in Jonathan Glazer's Sexy Beast, a movie that's got a whole lot of unusual style and flavor going on, even outside of Ben Kingsley's ferociously memorable central performance. CHAPTERS: (00:00:00) - The Nextlander Watchcast Episode 170:...

It's Fargo week on the Watchcast, and Alex is just gosh darned excited as all get out to talk about his favorite Coens classic. Join us as he takes Brad and Vinny through the frozen wasteland of the Northern Midwest to discuss the supposedly (but not actually) "true events" of the film, the darkness that runs under the surface of Minnesota Nice, and the spectacular array of accents on display. CHA...

For this week's Watchcast Alex is returning to his previous profession as a Mannhunter, as he takes the crew through one of his favorite Michael Mann flicks, 1981's Thief. Join us as we pick apart the taxonomy of crooks and goofs populating Chicago's early '80s underworld, and marvel at all the exquisite detail that went into this movie's look and vibe. CHAPTERS: (00:00:00) - The Nextlander Watchc...

It's a new month and a new theme for the Watchcast, and this month Alex is foisting some of his all-time favorites on the rest of the cast, starting with Francis Ford Coppola's profoundly paranoid thriller, The Conversation! Join us as we uncover this deadly plot, marvel at Gene Hackman's performance, and swoon at just about the youngest Harrison Ford we ever did see. CHAPTERS: (00:00:00) - The Ne...

The final film in our slate of toy commercials turned cinema is arguably the roughest watch yet. Specifically, we all argue that maybe Masters of the Universe with Dolph Lundgren and a rubber Skeletor COULD have maybe been something watchable, if only every single creative choice were different, and better. Then you might have something! CHAPTERS: (00:00:00) - The Nextlander Watchcast Episode 166:...

The process of tearing apart our consumerist childhoods is far from over, as the Watchcast crew digs this week into G.I. Joe: The Movie, another toy commercial in disguise that comes up with some of the most bonkers stuff this franchise ever saw, both for better and for worse. CHAPTERS: (00:00:00) - The Nextlander Watchcast Episode 165: G.I. Joe: The Movie (1987) (00:00:18) - Intro. (00:08:47) - A...

The Watchcast is back for another year, and we're kicking off 2026 by laying waste to our plastic filled childhoods! The first entry in our trio of toy commercials disguised as films is one very near and dear to our youthful hearts in Transformers: The Movie, a film that simultaneously enthralled and traumatized an entire generation of budding robot enthusiasts, and tested the limits of how many p...

We've got one more Watchcast for you in 2025, and we're closing out a cursed year the only way we know how: with Gremlins. Join us as we take a trip back to a simpler time when zonked out suburbanites could shrug off the enormous implications of a lifeform like a mogwai in favor of taking cute photos and dumping water all over it. CHAPTERS: (00:00:00) - The Nextlander Watchcast Episode 163: Gremli...

We do a lot of goofy movies on this Watchcast, but now, at the behest of our own Vinny Caravella, it's time for us to tackle some Important Cinema! Vinny has chosen the one and only Citizen Kane for his movie this month, and it's time to put our film school pants on to decide once and for all if it's an over-hyped disappointment, or really as great as everyone says. CHAPTERS: (00:00:00) - The Next...

The Watchcast is back for its final slate of movies in 2025, and this month we're picking whatever strikes our fancy. First up is Alex's pick, a palate cleanser for all the Escape from New York also-rans we've seen this year in the form of actual, honest-to-Snake Escape from New York! Join us as we dive deep into the movie that spawned an iconic character, dozens of rip-offs, and pretty much Hideo...

Turkey Month is nearly at an end, but before we head out for the holiday break, we've got one more fully barbecued turkey for all of you in the bombasically stupid Action Jackson! Join us as we marvel at Carl Weathers' glistening physique, Craig T. Nelson's inexplicable martial arts prowess, and the cavalcade of delightfully awful one-liners issued before someone explodes. CHAPTERS: (00:00:00) - T...

Our Turkey month continues unabated! And this week we're visited by several of 125 possible Jet Lis in the profoundly silly 2001 action flick The One! Join us as we talk about Jet Li's various wigs, the finer points of nu-metal, and the tragedy of Jason Statham's American accent. CHAPTERS: (00:00:00) - The Nextlander Watchcast Episode 159: The One (2001) (00:00:13) - Intro. (00:03:14) - Now that o...

It's Doomsday Day on the Watchcast, a day that our own Vinny Caravella has hoped and prayed for ever since we launched this podcast. So join us as we go through Vinny's all-time favorite movie, trying to make sense of its frenetic editing and nonsensical plot, or at least as much sense as it deserves. CHAPTERS: (00:00:00) - The Nextlander Watchcast Episode 158: Doomsday (2008) (00:00:14) - Intro....

We're kicking off our third annual Turkey Month with a very bad sci-fi action movie by a person who usually makes pretty enjoyable sci-fi action movies, John Carpenter! Ghosts of Mars is the first movie on this month's roster of dumbass action flicks, and boy howdy, is this one both dumb and ass. CHAPTERS: (00:00:00) - The Nextlander Watchcast Episode 157: Ghosts of Mars (2001) (00:00:14) - Intro....

It's time to close out another month of horror on the Watchcast, and this week we've got the movie voted on by you! The patron! Specifically, we've got Argentina's When Evil Lurks on deck, and we dig deep into its portrayal of demonic possession as a fact of life that its characters are neither overly surprised by, nor especially adept at dealing with. CHAPTERS: (00:00:00) - The Nextlander Watchca...

On this week's Watchcast it's all about the horrors of the family variety in Ari Aster's Hereditary! Join us as Brad takes his first trek through the movie's minefield of guilt, grief, and grandma's weird hobbies, while Alex and Vinny ponder how it lands when you know what's coming. CHAPTERS: (00:00:00) - The Nextlander Watchcast Episode 155: Hereditary (2018) (00:00:12) - Intro. (00:01:06) - Our...

The Watchcast Month-O'-Horror continues apace, and this week we're checking out a movie that's been on Vinny's bucket list for years now, Final Destination! Join us as we confront Vinny's fears of everyday household objects conspiring to murder him, and pick apart this pleasingly goofy teen horror flick. CHAPTERS: (00:00:00) - The Nextlander Watchcast Episode 154: Final Destination (2000) (00:00:4...

Our fourth annual Halloween season of the Watchcast has begun! We're kicking off our month of personal horror picks with Alex's choice, the 1978 adaptation of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, a deft combo of alien horror and '70s paranoia thriller that features killer mustaches, the youngest Jeff Goldblum you've ever seen, and a very weird dog. CHAPTERS: (00:00:00) - The Nextlander Watchcast Episod...

For our second and final Columbo for the immediate future, we're diving into Fade in to Murder, and there we find an especially hammy William Shatner matching wits with our favorite TV detective while playing a famous TV detective himself. Layers!   CHAPTERS: (00:00:00) - The Nextlander Watchcast Episode 152: Columbo: Fade in to Murder (00:00:17) - Intro. (00:02:31) - Our second and final Columbo...

The Watchcast is back! And while we've got a shortened slate for September, that slate is going to be entirely populated with one of America (and the world)'s favorite detectives, Columbo! And we're kicking off our duet of Columbos with A Stitch in Crime, an early installment featuring Mr. Spock himself, Leonard Nimoy. CHAPTERS: (00:00:00) - The Nextlander Watchcast Episode 151: Columbo: A Stitch...

The finale of Star Trek Summer is upon us, and before we send the crew of the Enterprise on their merry way, we've got a final pair of adventures to get through! First up, yet another old-human-society-on-an-alien-planet-thing in Bread and Circuses, then we meet Assignment: Earth's Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln, two crazy kids in the 1960s who have to stop World War III while Kirk and Spock stand...

We've had a lot of splits on the Watchcast recently where we end up with a great Star Trek episode and a not-so-great Star Trek episode on the same podcast, but the gulf between great and not-so-great has never been greater than it is this week as we tackle The Omega Glory and The Ultimate Computer! CHAPTERS: (00:00:00) - The Nextlander Watchcast Episode 149: Star Trek: The Omega Glory and The Ult...

This week on the Watchcast the Star Trek crew pays a visit to a Nazi planet in Patterns of Force, and teaches some Andromedan aliens how to hold their liquor in By Any Other Name! CHAPTERS: (00:00:00) - The Nextlander Watchcast Episode 148: Star Trek: Patterns of Force and By Any Other Name (00:00:17) - Intro. (00:01:00) - Launching right into our first episode, Patterns of Force! (00:04:33) - Som...

 We're in the home stretch of Star Trek's second season, and on deck we have the extraordinarily blunt Vietnam War parable A Private Little War, and the body swapping saga of Return to Tomorrow!  (00:00:00) - The Nextlander Watchcast Episode 147: Star Trek: A Private Little War and Return to Tomorrow (00:00:54) - Intro. (00:06:21) - Kicking things off with A Private Little War and its development...

It's gangsters and space amoebas for this week's Star Trek Watchcast, as the crew beams down to Chicago II to meet with President Capone in A Piece of the Action, and the ship falls helplessly into an energy draining void in The Immunity Syndrome! CHAPTERS: (00:00:00) - The Nextlander Watchcast Episode 146: Star Trek: A Piece of the Action and The Immunity Syndrome (00:00:17) - Intro. (00:05:29) -...