After Lunch

Today we're wrapping up Week 2 rerunning discussions of Tangential Christmas movies from the  Sleigh Bell Cinema  podcast. We're actually not quite done yet, because there's one more on Monday and it's a doozy. But first, Jeeg and Michael talk about the Denis Leary vehicle,  The Ref , from 1994.  And if you want to hear even more on The Ref on this very feed, check the old Nerd Lunch Extra Helping...

Long before there was ever such a movie as  Die Hard , the idea of Tangential Christmas movies was introduced by  It's a Wonderful Life . It gets played at Christmastime and has an important Christmas scene, but  is  it a Christmas movie? In this rerun from Michael's old Sleigh Bell Cinema podcast, he and Carlin Trammel talk about that very question.

We're still doing reruns about Tangential Christmas movies from the old  Sleigh Bell Cinema  podcast and on this episode Michael talks with Lizzie Twachtman about a Bing Crosby classic. With Fred Astaire and Marjorie Reynolds, it's 1942's  Holiday Inn .

Continuing our reruns about Tangential Christmas movies from Michael's old  Sleigh Bell Cinema  podcast, this episode welcomes back Siskoid to talk about a movie that he mentioned in our discussion of  The Umbrellas of Cherbourg . From 1940 and starring the legendary team of Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray, it's  Remember the Night .

Kicking off our second week of reruns about Tangential Christmas movies from the old  Sleigh Bell Cinema  podcast with a discussion Michael had with our friend Kay about the 1934 classic whodunnit,  The Thin Man  starring William Powell and Myrna Loy.

Wrapping up this first week of reruns about Tangential Christmas movies from the old  Sleigh Bell Cinema  podcast, Siskoid introduces Michael to an excellent French film, Jacques Demy's  The Umbrellas of Cherbourg , starring Catherine Deneuve and Nino Castelnuovo. If you've never seen it, we highly recommend it, but you don't need to have seen it to enjoy the discussion.

In our next Sleigh Bell Cinema  rerun, Michael talks to Shawn Robare about Savage Steve Holland's  Better Off Dead...  (starring John Cusack, Diane Franklin, and Curtis Armstrong) and how much it actually has to do with Christmas.

In another rerun from the former  Sleigh Bell Cinema  podcast, Michael talks with Nerd Lunch's Jeeg about the Joe Dante almost-Christmas classic,  Gremlins .

This Christmas season is all about Tangential Christmas Movies on  After Lunch . After our discussion of  Kiss Kiss Bang Bang  last episode, we're going to spend the next couple of weeks re-running discussions of other Tangential Christmas Movies from Michael's old  Sleigh Bell Cinema  podcast. Starting with this one about  Shazam!  with Michael's son, David May.

Officially kicking off the Christmas season on  After Lunch , Michael and Rob welcome back Jacob Bean-Watson ( The Movie Connection  podcast ) to discuss the tangential Christmas movie,  Kiss Kiss Bang Bang . Directed by Shane Black and starring Robert Downey Jr, Val Kilmer, and Michelle Monaghan.

Michael, Rob, and Pax finish this month's lounge discussion with what they've been watching and thinking about, including  She-Hulk: Attorney at Law , Mike Flanagan movies,  Black Adam ,  The Sound of 007 ,  Clerks 3  and the View Askewniverse, elderly action heroes, Jack Ryan, the recent  Halloween  trilogy, in-universe canons, and Twitter.

Michael, Rob, and Pax gather in the After Lunch After Dinner Lounge to talk about what they've been listening to and reading this month, including Agatha Christie, early Marvel comics, and James Tynion IV.

Christmas is a time for ghost stories. And though it may not be Christmas season for everyone yet, it's never too early for a haunted tale. Michael and Rob kick off what they hope is a new  After Lunch  tradition of November ghost stories by talking about  Doctor Sleep , in which one of their favorite film directors adapts a book by one of their favorite authors.

Michael and Rob welcome back Chris Bailey (aka Charlton Hero) to the show to match up the greatest literary villains of all time in an ultimate showdown to determine the absolute best. Also featuring picks from Evan Hanson, who sadly couldn't join us for the recording. 

Michael debriefs Rob about his recent trip to Disneyland in (extremely) sunny California. Rob talks about what he liked and what he didn't, Michael adds some thoughts from his own trip there a few years ago, and they both compare it with Florida's Walt Disney World, which they're much more familiar with.

Happy Halloween! To celebrate, Michael and Rob welcome  Bloody Popcorn 's Joanna back to the show along with everyone's old buddy, old pal Jeeg to create the ultimate team-up of horror characters. Each panelist nominates two members of the team as well as a bunch of honorable mentions to flesh out the cast and come up with a story worthy of them all. And possibly even tie in with  the Avengers of...

Michael, Rob, Evan, and Pax gather in the lounge to talk about what they've been watching and thinking about, including mummy movies, zombie movies, what monsters they'd want to fight and what curses they'd prefer to have, and the scariest topic of all: cash.

Michael, Rob, Evan, and Pax gather in the lounge to talk about what they've been listening to and reading, including Elvis, harpsichord music, Sherlock Holmes vs Dracula, and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

Michael, Rob, and Evan confront vampires and theology in writer-director Mike Flanagan's 2021 mini-series,  Midnight Mass . They talk about how the show handles vampire lore, its Stephen King influences, and the characters it creates, but mostly how it discusses big themes like faith, knowledge, addiction, sacrifice, and forgiveness. 

Rabbit Holers Carlin Trammel, Jeff Somogyi, and Paxton Holley reunite to celebrate the release of Carlin and artist Bill Wiist's fan-made Super Powers Superman mini-comic with an all-new Down the Rabbit Hole  episode exploring the Super Friends Wiki. With guest Michael May, the group sets out to get from the mini-comic's wiki page to... Ed McMahon? Find out if they're successful and while you're a...

Michael, Rob, William Bruce West, and David May board the Bus for a deep dive into the first season of  Agents of SHIELD . 

Michael, Rob, Pax, and Christian wrap up their Lounge conversation with what they've been watching and thinking about. Topics include  The Sandman  TV series, the resurgence of the murder mystery genre, the US healthcare system, and Mortality vs the Relentless March of Pop Culture.

Michael, Rob, and Pax welcome Christian Nielsen to the Lounge to talk about what they've all been listening to and reading. Among many other things, subjects include James Patterson and Brian Sitts'  The Shadow  novel, comics artist Art Adams, a 1970s Fantastic Four radio show narrated by Stan Lee and featuring [REDACTED] as the Human Torch, and a lot of  Star Wars  talk inspired by Adam Christoph...

Michael, Pax, and Evan (yes, Evan!) welcome Noel Thingvall to the show to talk about each of their Top 10 Movies of 2012 as ranked in 2012. How do the four lists compare and are the movies on them still favorites? 

Building on Episode 27, in which an  After Lunch  panel created a science fiction themed amusement park, Michael, Rob, Mike Westfall, and John Vanover add to that with new lands devoted to various fantasy books and games like  Assassin's Creed ,  Legend of Zelda ,  The Dresden Files , and Tolkien's Middle Earth.