Discerning Geeks Portal

We return to "The Simpsons," one of Preston's favorite shows, to review the "Treehouse of Horror" specials 05 to 08. Check out episodes #168 & #169 of our podcast for our two-part review of "Treehouse of Horror" 01 to 04. In this batch The stories, spoofs, and themes covered in these four episodes include:  "The Shining," time travel, cannibalism, giants, "Nightmare on Elm Street," "The Thing,...

Just in time for listening while standing in line at the polls on Election Day, Todd & Preston discuss movies & TV shows of a political theme. Political-Themed TV Shows Discussed The West Wing Veep Madam Secretary The Simpsons episode 6.05 "Sideshow Bob Roberts" Commander-In-Chief House of Cards The Newsroom The Good Fight South Park episode 20.05 "Douche and a Danish" Babylon 5 Political-...

Welcome to the Halloween 2024 Edition of Todd & Preston's Drive-Time Chats. This episode starts with Preston's review of "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice." Preston then continues with reviews of the following streaming movies: - A recent remake of "Salem's Lot" - "VHS Beyond" - "I Watched the TV Glow" Todd then talks about movies he's recently seen in abridged form, via reaction videos on YouTube: - "...

This week, we take a deep dive into the importance we place on entertainment, whether we're being too picky about movies & TV shows, why some of them fail, and how much writing is responsible for successes or failures. Note: Please excuse this brief description when first being published. I had an extensive description all typed out, and when I clicked one link on the screen, Spotify blanked o...

This week, we review the sci-fi film, "Valerian and the city of a Thousand Planets," a passion project of "The Fifth Element" director Luc Besson. - What record does this movie hold among independent films and European films? - What did the Geeks think about the story structure and pacing? Did the movie flow well, or were there too many distracting tangents along the way? - With Luc Besson directi...

We continue with Part 2 of our Drive-Time Chat #07, covering the following topics... - "Late Night With The Devil" movie - "Arcadian" movie - "Deadpool & Wolverine" trailers (recorded before the movie itself came out) - The "X-Men" franchise, in general - "Batman: Caped Crusader" TV show - "Agatha All Along" trailer - "Spider-Man...

Tune in to our Drive-Time Discussion #07 as Todd & Preston cover: X-Men '97, The Ark, House of the Dragon, The Acolyte, The Bear, Jules - Preston is finally caught up on "X-Men '97," so we're finally able to talk about it, including some spoilers. What did the Geeks think about it? - What reasons did the Geeks have for bringing up Surge energy drink, Putt-Putt Golf &...

It's another new member of the $1 billion club. We review the superhero blockbuster, "Deadpool & Wolverine." - Plain & simple, which Geek is the grump this episode and how badly? - What were the Geeks' opinions about performances in the movie? - Which of the Geek(s) felt like one or more of the fights in the movie were a little over-the-top? Did they mean that in a good w...

May the odds be ever in your favor...for enjoying this week's review of "The Hunger Games," the first movie in the young adult political action-thriller franchise. - Which Geek has read the Hunger Games book trilogy, which Geek didn't see any of the Hunger Games until now, which Geek is the only one to see all five movies including the prequel, and are any of these the same Geek?...

In Part 2 of our discerning look into "The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror 01 to 04," we start with the two literary parodies and then delve into broader discussion about the general appeal of "The Simpsons." - One of these stories makes a reference to the political primaries of 1992 that included Ross Perot. Don't the days of Ross Perot seem quaint now, in a good way? Could...

This week, we take a haunting look into the first four "Treehouse of Horror" episodes from "The Simpsons." In Part 1 of this super-sized two-parter, we review the movie parody and "Twilight Zone" parody stories from those first four annual Halloween-themed episodes. Each "Treehouse of Horror" episode contains three stories and a framing device. Preston is th...

This week, we join a time-traveling S-Mart employee named Ash against Deadite zombies as we fight with, "Army of Darkness." - Did the Geeks agree whether this movie felt like a Looney Tunes cartoon brought to life? - What did Dave feel was the target audience for "Army of Darkness," and did he consider himself part of that group? - What did the Geeks feel about the special effe...

This week, we review the 1999 romantic heist film, "The Thomas Crown Affair." - Were the Geeks on the same page with this movie, or was this another contentious review? - What did the Geeks think about the heist aspect of the money? Was it still enough of a heist movie with certain elements missing or downplayed and the movie also being half romantic drama? - How "heisty" is th...

Folks, you're missing out if you haven't seen "The Fall Guy." The Geeks recently saw the new action/romantic-comedy in the theater (one of them twice), and now they're reviewing & recommending it to you, our discerning stunt team. - This movie is part action movie, part romantic comedy. For the action part, it's a "love letter" for stunt people. What did the...

We are back with a review of a 2024 movie, "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire." Dave, Preston, and Todd, all saw this in the theater together recently, and <spoiler> all liked it. - Did the Geeks think this movie was fun? Was the comedy good? - How well did the movie handle its older characters from the original movies? - Were there too many characters? - Were the character interactions...

Part 2 of Todd & Preston's Drive-Time Chat #06 continues with the following topics. - TV shows that only lasted two seasons (at least 19 shows mentioned) - Preston's Wrestling Corner - Todd's Star Trek Challenge - Upcoming topics on the podcast: "The Thomas Crown Affair," Ranking MCU Phase 2, "Army of Darkness," Favorite Multi-Episode TV Stories, and "Real...

It's time for another Drive-Time Chat with Todd & Preston. As usual, they packed in more topics (and side tangents) than they expected, so be on the lookout for Part 2. For now, here's what they they cover in Part 1. - "X-Men ’97" first half of season 1 - "Shogun" (up to the penultimate episode for Todd; no spoilers; Preston is still catching up) - "The Rookie&...

This week, we take a...hopefully discerning...look into the British musical horror comedy web series, "Don't Hug Me, I'm Scared." Technically, this is just season 1, which only takes about 35 minutes to watch six episodes, and somehow this led to our 2nd-longest podcast episode ever. - What were the co-hosts' general feelings about this web series. Which one(s) found it at least entertaining, if n...

With the triumphant return of Andruw, we finally review the Netflix horror trilogy, "Fear Street." Each of the movies in the trilogy are named after the year in which they're based: 1994, 1978, and 1666. - How well did the Geeks think these three movies worked as a collective trilogy? Was there disagreement about this point? - Did one or more co-hosts love these movies, and did one o...

This week is PART 2 of Todd & Preston's Drive-Time #05. Topics discussed include... - "NCIS" franchise - "JAG" - "Magnum P.I." - "Hawaii Five-O" - The movie "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" - The movie "2 Days in the Valley" - Spaghetti Westerns - Who had the better navy, the Empire from Star Wars or the Federation from Star Trek -...

With Dave & Andruw incognito this week, Todd & Preston go on another imaginary car ride for their Drive-Time Chat #05. And, once again, the discussion lasted long enough to make a two-parter. This is Part 1. This time, Todd & Preston discuss... - Preston's audio issues (sorry about that, folks) - Super Bowl commercials & trailers - Trailer for "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire&...

This week, we review the 1989 fantasy/sports/road-trip movie, "Field of Dreams," a favorite of one of our co-hosts. - This movie makes a lot of nostalgic connectionss between baseball and Americana. Which Geek is a fan of Japanese baseball? - Which Geek described this as a "Hallmark movie for dudes"? - What did the Geeks think about the relationship between the main character a...

Season 4 is the season of variety. So far, we've reviewed two Christmas movies, a western, and a horror TV-movie older than all the co-hosts. This week, we review a different kind of movie. It's the cutscenes of the video game "Arkham City" stitched together in cinematic fashion. It's our first time reviewing something from a video game, outside of Whatcha' Doin'? epi...

This week, we delve into classic small-screen macabre with a review of the highly-rated 1972 TV movie, "Kolchak: The Night Stalker." This is the first of two TV movies which led to the single season of a Kolchak TV show, which in turn inspired "The X-Files." - Preston is the big Kolchak fan in the group. How much, if any, were the other Geeks impressed by it? - Which odd compar...

Happy New Year, Discerning Listeners, and welcome to our special Year In Review episode for 2023. In this episode we talk about some of the best -- and...not so best -- movies, TV shows, and other entertainment that we enjoyed in 2023. For movies, we cover the following: - Blue Beetle - Super Mario Bros. Movie - Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves - Evil Dead Rise - Spider-Man: Across the...