Escape Hatch (formerly Dune Pod)

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...

Dreams really can come true,but only if you make them happen. We are thrilled to be joined by the co-host of The Midnight Boys (PEW PEW!!) and Higher Learning , Van Lathan ! We have a wide ranging discussion on comics, cinema, and tech policy. Then we cover Lord and Miller’s hopecore miracle of a movie starring the incredible Ryan Gosling, Project Hail Mary! Chapters Introduction (00:00:00) Hatch...

It’s all been leading to this. Episode 300. The BIG one. The Dune Part Three trailer dropped 3 hours before we started recording. THEY KNEW. Plus It’s the return of the co-hosts of the movie prop podcast, The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of , show-runner of House of the Dragon Ryan Condal and the showrunner of Veep, Dave Mandel ! And we’re going as big into The Big Ones as you can get…Stanley Kubrick’s T...

Listen, we are all trying to make sense of our being led into another war, this time in Iran, and SHOCKINGLY have the complete imbeciles who run our country be woefully unprepared for the repercussions. Well, when former Deputy National Security Adviser and co-host of Pod Save the World , Ben Rhodes called us up and asked to come talk about it with us, we jumped at the chance! Plus we talk the Osc...

We welcome author and former Magic the Gathering Lead Game Designer, Brian Schneider . Brian talks about how to create a Magic set and explores the surprising convergence between professional Magic and Poker players! Then wWe cover Gen X’s apotheosis, John Cusack’s 2000 classic, High Fidelity! Spoilers, Jason thinks the soundtrack kinda sucks. Chapters Introduction (00:00:00) Hatch News (00:21:02)...

We’re finally re-joined by our hero, the Silver Fox, the VP of Merch, the original Podcast BadBoy, and the co-host of the the co-host of the Bat and Spider podcast, dale_a . We tackle Ben Stiller’s 1996 cult classic the broke out Jim Carrey’s acting career, The Cable Guy. Plus we cover close-up magic, the Winter Olympics, looming military strikes in Iran, and whether Haitch committed m#*$er at gym...

We’re on winter break, so in this special Best of episode, we start with the current state of Dems trying to appeal to the youths, Jason tells us all about vibecoding some incredible new tools for the pod, and then we go all the way back to Episode 6(!) of Dune Pod. Relive how we were dealing with deeeep COVID and Jason’s nervousness about whether Dune Part 2 would even get made. Plus we’re joined...

We’re joined by the host of the podcast Channels , Peter Kafka , as we go back to 1982’s Los Angeles, with Cameron Crowe and Amy Heckerling’s teenage masterpiece starring Sean Penn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Phoebe Cates, Fast Times at Ridgemont High. We cover how The Pool Scene changed a generation, the first time Haitch got blue balls (after making out all night at a church lock in), why the Sup...

This is a wild one. We’re joined by House of the Dragon S3 director Loni Peristere and the creator of John Wick, Derek Kolstad ! We cover Lee Marvin’s 1967 classic, Point Blank! Other topics include a S3 HotD update, that one time when Loni REINVENTED modern sci-fi visual effects with his revolutionary approach on Firefly (and then Battlestar Galactica!), and creating a legendary modern action her...

t’s always a great time when we’re joined by the co-host of the X-Ray Vision podcast, the incomparable Rosie Knight ! We tackle David Fincher’s 2002 taut thriller starring Jodie Foster, Forrest Whitaker, and Dwight Yoakim(?!), Panic Room. Other topics include how the Dems and ordinary citizens in Minnesota are effectively fighting back, and of course #hogtalk (on both Knight of the Seven Kingdoms...

It’s the dramatic return of our Scream Queen, Sr. Editor of Fangoria Magazine , Meredith Borders . Meredith is hot off the massive Kickstarter launch of her brand new book, First in Fright: The FANGORIA Compendium ! We talk about John Carpenter’s forgotten masterpiece, Jeff Bridges and Karen Allen’s 1980s classic Starman. We also cover Greenland, the (gestures around) whole situation going on, #du...

We kicked Jason to the curb to allow us to record when Escape Hatch film correspondent and co-host of the Cinenauts podcast ctcher was available. And he’s joined by the Mayor of the Freak Beat and co-host of The Austin Danger Podcast , Kev . By their command, we cover Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jonez’ sophomore effort, the wildly inventive Adaptation. Chapters Introduction (00:00:00) Hatch News (00...

We’re back, baby! And joining us to kick off the new year in style it’s the 3rd living host of Escape Hatch, the co-host of the Twin Vipers podcast, Jonesy Love Beer . Not gonna lie, this was a tough one as we tackled Christopher Walken’s unhinged performance in Gregory ‘Highlander” Widen’s less successful effort, The Prophecy. (It does have a young, sexy Viggo Mortenson playing the devil, so it h...

Happy Holidays from us to you! Ring in the new year with a look back at where we’ve been in 2025 and what 2026 and beyond hold for us. Then join us for an INCREDIBLE Mailbag segment, featuring our amazing voicemail friends who have truly outdone themselves all year, and scale new heights tonight. Happy New Year!! Chapters Introduction (00:00:00) Your Letters (00:28:14) Notes and Links Check out Es...