Not Playing with Lex and Dan

We’ve hit the ’90s and with it the tenure of the effortlessly cool Pierce Brosnan as James Bond. Lex and Dan settle in for his debut in the role in 1995’s GoldenEye. Hot topics include having your grim cake and eating it too, why the popular video game may be better than the movie, and how not to handle sexual harassment. Programming Note: In addition to this capsule episode, which contains our di...

It’s the first of Timothy Dalton’s two outings as 007: 1987’s The Living Daylights, and Dan and Lex are buckled in for a new, more serious Bond. Hot topics include the regression of female characters, a decided lack of Bond-ish one liners, and oh my god is there skiing in this movie too? Programming Note: In addition to this capsule episode, which contains our discussion before and after the film,...

It’s on to one of the longest-tenured Bonds—and the first English actor to play him—Sir Roger Moore. Dan and Lex take on 1981’s For Your Eyes Only, the fifth of Moore’s seven outings. Hot topics include Blofeld’s side gig on a particular Disney ride, a strange point of continuity, why you should always pick a car that rolls, and yet another winter chase sequence. Programming Note: In addition to t...

Filling Sean Connery’s shoes is no easy task, perhaps even more so when you’re an Australian model. Dan and Lex return to consider the second actor to fill the title role in the storied franchise, and the only one with a single credit to his name: George Lazenby in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Hot topics include questionable parenting decisions, lengthy winter wonderchases, under- and overcran...

Four. Season four. Not Playing is back, and this time around we’re delving into a fifty-plus year franchise with its fair share of fans and detractors: James Bond. We’ll be picking the best entry from the tenure of each actor to play the legendary secret agent. To kick it off, we’ll be starting with perhaps the most iconic movie in the franchise: 1964’s Goldfinger, starring future Russian submarin...

This is not going to go the way you think. Or will it? For this special bonus episode, we watch the most recent movie ever to appear on the show, and round out our viewing of one of the world’s biggest franchises. Join grumpy sequestered Jedi Master Dan Moren and enthusiastic would-be trainee Lex Friedman as they team up to check out 2017’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Hot topics include “how do you...

The circle is now complete. We conclude our viewing of the Star Wars saga—for now, anyway—with the most recent installment in the main sequence of movies. Grizzled smuggler Dan Moren teams up with desert scavenger Lex Friedman to take in the spectacle that is 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Hot topics include Kylo Ren as a Vader wannabe, how to get just the right amount of C-3PO, and, of cour...

In our penultimate episode, we close out the original trilogy with the movie that began a sixteen year hiatus of the Star Wars franchise. Lovable Ewok Dan Moren leads rebel commando Lex Friedman through the 1983 version of Return of the Jedi. Hot topics include distracting alien effects, much ado about Admiral Ackbar’s famous line, what the heck the deal with Force ghosts is, and, of course, wheth...

We return to season 3 of Not Playing with the rare sequel that arguably surpasses its predecessor—at least as far as one of our panelists is concerned. Roguish smuggler Lex Friedman puts his trust in card player, gambler, and scoundrel Dan Moren to lead him through the 1980 masterpiece The Empire Strikes Back. Hot topics include the most awkward dinner ever, disconcerting tauntaun animations, and,...

On to the main course. It’s the 1977 classic that started this whole thing: Star Wars. (And not with any of that “Episode IV” jazz or anything.) Crazy old wizard Dan Moren and whiny farm boy Lex Friedman embark upon the epic beginning of the franchise as season 3 of Not Playing passes the mid-point. Hot topics include the names of Tatooine’s two suns, the weird slightly retconnings of Rogue One, w...

And now for something completely different. Rebel spy Dan Moren and reckless criminal-turned-freedom-fighter Lex Friedman take a break from the story of the Skywalker clan to watch 2016’s Rogue One, the first of the standalone anthology movies set in the Star Wars universe. Hot topics include why droids are programmed with people-like personalities, why the Death Star flaws come in two separate pa...

And with this, we conclude eating our vegetables for this special third of Not Playing covering the Star Wars saga. Dark Lord of the Sith Dan Moren and his apprentice Lex Friedman watch the final installment of the prequels, 2005’s Revenge of the Sith, allowing them to at last move onward and upward. Hot topics include the complete absurdity of Anakin’s fall to the dark side, the frustrating natur...

We return to a galaxy far, far away, a slightly less long time ago for the second installment of our epic third season, covering the entire Star Wars saga. Supreme Chancellor Dan Moren guides Senator Lex Friedman through the 2002 soporific bore film, Attack of the Clones. Hot topics for this episode include telling the difference between clones and droids, a horrendously unconvincing love story, w...

You’re not seeing things! We’re back with a very special season three of Not Playing with Lex and Dan. Right on schedule, as we promised. Go about your business. Move along. Regular listeners of the show know that among the most egregious holes in Lex’s movie-watching history are most of the Star Wars saga, so in season three, we’re out to correct that oversight. Join Jedi Master Dan Moren as he t...

Special guest John Siracusa takes time out of his busy operating-system review schedule to join Lex and Dan for Not Playing’s season two finale. Neither John nor your regular hosts had ever seen Scarface. We fixed that. Of course, Siracusa’s known for being hypercritical. Will Oliver Stone’s script, Brian De Palma’s directing, and Al Pacino’s acting be enough to impress him, or will Scarface need...

We missed you, too. We took a few weeks off, but then we felt that longing, that need to once again share the joy of watching a movie most everyone has seen, but that at least one of us hasn’t. In this case, Dan introduced Lex to 1992’s Sneakers, which Lex repeatedly attempted to confuse with the Angelina Jolie starrer Hackers. Sneakers is not Hackers, as Dan patiently explained to Lex. Repeatedly...

ABC: Always Be ‘Casting. Lex didn’t know how big a David Mamet fan Dan was; he just knew that Dan hadn’t seen Glengarry Glen Ross, and that was an oversight only Not Playing could fix. So put that coffee down and listen in as Dan experiences the Jack Lemmon / Al Pacino / Kevin Spacey / Ed Harris / Alec Baldwin / Alan Arkin film for the first time. Hot topics include whether all sales people are re...

When you need someone to perfectly embody a Russian military officer, there’s only one man to think of. And that man, of course, is Connery. Sean Connery. This week, Dan invites Lex to see a movie for the first time—a movie where Connery gets precisely such a role: 1990’s The Hunt for Red October. Lex had been in the theater for this film once, years ago, but he fell asleep after just a few minute...

History is littered with successful brothers: the Wrights, the Karamazovs, the Wayans, the Hansons, and so on. But perhaps no pair of brothers has become so famous for an extended masturbation joke as the brothers Farrelly. Dan had never seen their, ahem, seminal 1998 classic There’s Something About Mary. After learning of Dan’s appreciation for the comedy in movies like Army of Darkness and Hudso...

Sometimes things are simply dead. Other times, they are EVIL dead. But one thing will never die: Dan’s affection for Army of Darkness, the third film in Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead trilogy—which Lex had never seen. Hot topics include director trademarks, when campiness works, and homages to movies that we also haven’t seen. You can watch along with us by streaming the film—we used the theatrical release...

Michael Keaton only appears for 17 and a half minutes—but he’s still playing the title role. And he’s joined by Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Winona Ryder, and Catherine O’Hara. It’s 1988’s Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice! Dan had never seen it, but Lex remembered the film fondly. (Lex even owned a slew of Beetlejuice-themed toys back in his childhood.) Hot topics include Danny Elfman’s noticea...

You’re Bruce Willis, you’ve made it big with Die Hard, and there’s only one obvious next step: You make a goofily silly vanity project with unlikely musical numbers, James Coburn, and Leonardo da Vinci. And that project is the 1991 box-office bomb—but cult classic!—Hudson Hawk. Lex, like much of America, hadn’t seen it. And, at Dan’s insistence, Lex did no research of any kind; he had no idea what...

Black and white. Yin and yang. Cheech and Chong. Lex and Dan. Life is full of opposites that go together. This week, Lex shows Dan the 1988 comedy classic Twins. DeVito. Schwarzenegger. And let’s not forget Preston or Caruso! Hot topics include how much easier Arnold is to impersonate than Danny, likable bad guys, and unlikable good guys. You can support Not Playing by filling out our listener sur...

What do you get when you take a bunch of leading and character actors, mix them together in a 1950s-era neo-noir, and sprinkle on a helping of Not Playing? You get L.A. Confidential, that’s what. Dan knew Lex had never seen the Russell Crowe/Kim Basinger/Guy Pearce/Kevin Spacey/Danny DeVito flick. He also knew that the movie won Oscars (though it lost many more to Titanic), and, of course, that L....

We all go through moon phases. Amazingly enough, though Lex had seen the 2009 Sam Rockwell sci-fi film Moon, Dan had not. Fortunately, Lex recognized the gravity of the situation, and righted that wrong with Dan for this week’s episode. Hot topics include Sam Rockwell’s incredible acting ability, the morality of what’s going on in the movie, and happy endings. You can support us not only by checki...