Eye of the Duck: A Film Podcast

This week we are landing with a splat on the ground floor of a quarantined apartment complex in Spain for what may be the only (somewhat) heroic depiction of a landlord in film history! It’s the very intense 2007 virus outbreak thriller from Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza, which spawned several sequels as well as the American remake QUARANTINE. Discussed on this episode: ethical video journalism,...

Listeners, we are going to into the woods, and we may never return. We are so, so sorry to everyone’s mothers. This week it’s the reason for the season. The most famous found footage film in cinema history! It spawned an entire genre, and we’re going to do our best to honor its legacy. We couldn’t have a more qualified guest – joining us to uncover the secrets of the most successful American indep...

**Heavy content warning! This episode contains coverage of a very problematic (and cursed) piece of film history. For those who wish to join us in the murky waters ahead, listener discretion is advised… Today we’re introducing the listener-selected winner of this year’s Miniseries MAYhem, our latest genre series: Lost and Found!! We’re going deep on the origins of the Found Footage movement with s...

Batman is vengeance. Batman is the night. Batman is forever! Today we’re sealing the gates of Arkham once and for all, and saying farewell to the greatest superhero franchise ever put to film. We’ll be tying off some loose threads, answering listener questions, and…announcing the final list of movies for our upcoming Found Footage series! Next week we’re kicking off “Lost and Found” with the very...

It’s the end of an era for us and the beginning of yet another Bat franchise! Theres a Dark Knight for every generation, and this one is very emo, has runny eye shadow, calls himself “vengeance,” and is directed by Matt Reeves. We have some complicated thoughts about this very compelling new vision for Gotham City. Whatever you think about THE BATMAN, you’ve got to admit: The Riddler is a good sin...

It took 83 years, but we finally got a movie about the Dark Knight facing his ultimate villain… The Eye of Sauron? Voiced by Jemaine Clement? This week it’s another LEGO animated spectacular, but it’s NOT a bonus, because Batman is the main character! It’s a rom-com, a musical, a father/son drama, and above all, an excuse for Warner Bros to dump all their IP into one toy box. And somehow, it actua...

Bonus!! Remember in BATMAN BEGINS when Christian Bale says he’s going to build back Wayne Manor, brick by brick? That was actually a reference to THE LEGO MOVIE! Yes, we’re talking about bricks today. And not just because LEGO is part of Adam’s origin story. There’s a Batman in this film! So we’re required to talk about him! Next week, it’s Chris McKay’s bat/brick spinoff, THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE. J...

Into the Keatonverse! For this week’s bonus, we’re going meta with Alejandro González Iñárritu’s exceedingly self aware Oscar-winner that’s definitely not about Batman or Michael Keaton’s career. What do we talk about when we talk about Batman? Listen to find out. Next week it’s another bonus, Lord and Miller’s LEGO MOVIE. It counts because Batman is in it! Join the conversation on our Discord at...

The fire rises, brother! This week we conclude our Nolan run with the biggest and most divisive entry in his Batman saga. Also discussed this week: the origins of Tom Hardy’s infamous Bane voice, whether or not Joseph Gordon Levitt’s character should have just been named Dick Grayson, and…why the hell is Bruce so fucking cruel to Alfred? Next week it’s bonus time, baby! Alejandro González Iñárritu...

Listeners, you either die a normal film podcast, or live long enough to see your show completely devolve into a Christopher Nolan marathon. Between Heath Ledger’s legendary turn as the Joker, Nolan’s transformation into an IMAX-first director, and the coolest truck crash in cinema history, there’s so much to explore in this sprawling behemoth of a picture. We went for nearly four hours on this one...

“Why do we fall, Master Bruce? So that we can learn to pick ourselves up. Batman Begin.“ This week, we’re celebrating the greatest tweet ever made. Michael Caine’s post from August 19, 2024 inspired a generation of Batman storytelling. And this is where is it all begins. Also, we’re going to talk about Christopher Nolan. Next week, we we either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain....

Holy Nu-metal, Batman! It’s the year 2039, Bruce Wayne is a grouchy old man, corporations rule the world, and Batman is a moody teen. Has there ever been a cooler superhero show? This we're week going long on one of our favorite animated series, BATMAN BEYOND, and the standalone film that reunited Mark Hamill’s Joker with Bruce Timm, Kevin Conroy, and the whole BTAS gang for a truly horrific visio...

It’s that time of year again…we are pausing our regularly scheduled programming to commence the second annual season of MINISERIES MAY HEM! That’s right, just like last year, we’re asking YOU to decide the future of Eye of the Duck. What should we cover for our big summer miniseries? Listen in to hear our three contenders, and hop over to the Discord on May 5 to cast your vote! Next week, we retur...

Our Schumacher era concludes with this week’s episode on the most toyetic of all toyetic films in human history! But, this isn’t the last time we’ll be talking about BATMAN & ROBIN… On May 20, join us at the Nitehawk Theater where we’ll be in-person to introduce Schumacher’s exceedingly demented opus on the big screen!! Grab your tickets here: https://nitehawkcinema.com/prospectpark/movies/batman-...

Rest in peace, Val Kilmer. This week, we’re devoting our episode to Val and his smoldering performance in Joel Schumacher’s first foray into the Batman franchise. There will never be another Dark Knight like you, Mr. Kilmer. Between Jim Carrey’s unhinged take on the Riddler, Tommy Lee Jones trying against all odds to out-crazy him, and the overwhelming aura of horny energy exuding from Nicole Kidm...

Bonus! Johnny To’s windswept, smoldering superhero masterpiece may not exactly exist in the Batman continuity… but we sure as hell are going to talk about it anyway. Starring Michelle Yeoh, Anita Mui, and Maggie Cheung, we thought this bonkers dream of an action noir would be the perfect appetizer for our upcoming Schumacher era. Whether it was intentional or not, Schumacher’s films look suspiciou...

Bruce Timm’s animated Batverse is for many people the defining adaptation of the character, and this week we’re here to tell you why. We’re going deep on THE ANIMATED SERIES over on our Patreon show (link below!) but here on the main feed it’s all about the original villain, The Phantasm, and how she helped inspire a tormented Bruce Wayne to leave his personal life behind for a life in vigilantism...

Griffin Newman returns! And this time he’s brought with him the Bat, the Cat, the Penguin, and….Shreck? Yes, we’ve got THE TICK’s Arthur to talk all things superhero movies, performing in costume, transitioning from comedian to action hero, and why there will never be a better Bruce Wayne than Michael Keaton. Also, we gush about how truly reprehensible and brilliant Danny DeVito is in this film! H...

Greatest superhero movie of all time? Whatever you think about Burton’s 1989 BATMAN, it’s hard to argue its influence on movies and pop culture. It’s an all-timer, and we’re going to get into it! Also discussed on this episode: the long and windy path to getting a proper Batman movie made, fan backlash against Michael Keaton’s casting, Jack Nicholson’s absurdly lax production schedule, the Prince...

Dunna-nunna-nunna-nunna…holy miniseries, Batman!! This week, we’re kicking off Eye of the Duck Knight with the very first theatrical movie about the Caped Crusader! Leslie H. Martinson’s 1966 BATMAN may not be the most faithful adaptation of the iconic superhero, but it is definitely the most colorful. And insane! Really, what is going on with the US foreign relations in this film? Join the conver...

Just like the Xenomorph who (somehow) survived the desolation of outer space, we are back. And this time, we’re going deep! The last episode on Fede Alvarez’s space thriller was just an appetizer. This is the full meal, as promised. Joining us to perform the Eye of the Duck treatment is franchise expert and author of BECOMING ALIEN, our old friend Sarah Welch-Larson. It’s time to answer once and f...

It’s awards season, baby! This week we celebrate another year of Eye of the Duck by naming our favorite films of 2024…and we’re announcing a very special new addition to the podcast...our new show, After Hours (!!) which you can find on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/EyeoftheDuckPod Also discussed: our favorite movies we watched for the podcast, honorable mentions from ‘24, the recently ann...

We finally played all five tones! Our UFO Invasion series is over, and we’re waving goodbye this week with tears in our eyes and a lot of lingering questions about extraterrestrial life. Do they want to kill us or not? We may never know. To send off our longest-ever miniseries, we’re offering up some final thoughts about our scaly green friends, answering listener questions, and announcing what’s...

This week we finish off our UFO miniseries with the long overdue Eye of the Duck debut of Wes Anderson! ASTEROID CITY asks all the big questions from we’ve been trying to answer since we began this miniseries back in the summer: where do aliens come from? Why are they here? What do they want from us?! And was it really just Jeff Goldblum in a latex suit all along? Next week, it’s the outro for our...

It’s the penultimate film of our UFO invasion series and the only one to feature an evil monkey, a suicidal cinematographer, and a nasty alien thing called “jean jacket.” Oh, and Osgood Perkins! Jordan Peele’s latest big budget spectacle has so much to say. But does it all come together in the end? We tried our best to find some answers without getting chewed up and spit out by the cowboy hat mons...