Paragon Marathon

MOVIE NIGHT! Join Tom, Dan, and Sarah on a biblical New Jersey adventure in Dogma; This 1999 Jay and Silent Bob vehicle asks the big questions, like what would happen if the Catholic god was wrong about something even once? Or how does Kevin Smith get Alan Rickman, Selma Hayek, Matt Damon, and Ben Affleck to be in his low budget movie about Gen X sensibilities and comic book hot-takes? Clearly thi...

MOVIE NIGHT! Join Tom, Dan, and Sarah as they untangle the cable around our hearts in Ben Stiller’s cinematic directorial debut, “The Cable Guy” (1996), a thriller spoof that answers the question, “what if cable was obsessed with YOU?” Starring the completely comparable Mathew Broderick as the heartbroken boring leading man, befriended and tormented by Jim Carey in his most misunderstood role of C...

MOVIE KNIGHT! Join Tom, Dan, and Sarah as they sally forth unto the WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS OF JOUSTING in the 2001 live-action sports anime, "A Knight's Tale," the pre-Game of Thrones medieval fantasy that taught us even the lowliest peasant can change his stars, ignore the oppression of a feudal caste system, and make their dad proud if they just believe hard enough. Like a collection...

Movie Night! Join Tom, Dan, and Sarah as they trek through the stars with the 1999 comedy space epic "Galaxy Quest"! Campy sci-fi tropes are ubiquitous enough that you can make a mainstream hit parodying them, right? If not, the outstanding character work of Alan Rickman, Sam Rockwell, and Tony Shalhoub is enough to rocket this movie into the stratosphere of middling family-friendly come...

MOVIE NIGHT! Join Tom, Dan, & Sarah as they take you out to the ball game with the 1992 hit and enduring cult classic, "A League of Their Own." America's desperate nostalgia for the 40s and 50s is matched and perhaps exceeded by the Marathon's own nostalgia for this TBS-once-a-week banger, wherein the towering and beloved Geena Davis is paired up with "the other one" to explore women breaking...

MOVIE NIGHT! Join Tom, Dan, & Sarah as they play that dangerous game from the depths of 1995, Jumanji! Where no boy is safe from getting bat-tornadoed into the jungle for 30 years, turned into a monkey, or bested by a pelican. In this adaption of Chris Van Allsburg's book of the same name, Robin Williams (playing Alan Parrish) shows us that not even jungle imprisonment can undo Dad-trauma, and...

MOVIE NIGHT! Join Tom, Dan & Sarah as they scrub the Rust off the Root to "send you on your way" to a place where learning is magical, and where tyrannical parents, megalomaniacal principals, and regular cops always get what they deserve: suffering. That's right, we're watching the 1996 family film masterpiece, "Matilda!" Bringing vivid life to the Roald Dahl classi...

MOVIE NIGHT! Join Tom, Dan & Sarah as they saddle up alongside that bold renegade who carves a “Z” with his blade, a “Z” that stands for ZORRO. The pride of Wales is on parade with Catherine Zeta-Jones and Sir Anthony Hopkins supporting Antonio Banderas in the 1998 Action/Adventure classic, “The Mask of Zorro.” Picking up the legacy of the famed Fox and masked vigilante, this masterpiece of 90...

In a horror story, there are only victims and monsters. In a podcast about a video game about a horror story, there are only confused (but enthusiastic!) sibling hosts. Join Tom, Dan, and Sarah as the Marathon runs a long, spiralling loop-lap through Alan Wake 2 along with any and all connected universes. We like to call this next episode "The Story of the Journey of Alan Wake: THE MUSICAL!&q...

MOVIE NIGHT! Join Tom, Dan & Sarah as the Marathon takes a lap around Luc Besson's sci-fantasy epic, " The Fifth Element ", a classic tale of good vs evil, sentient hell planets vs perfect day-old babes, and/or capitalist greed vs noble hobbit priests. Everyone's favourite tank-top wearing action hero, Bruce Willis, teams up with humanity's sexiest hope for survival Milla...

Join us on a wild ride through the 2000 classic, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," (or in Tom's words "How the Cringe stole Milfmas") featuring Jim Carrey and directed by the mischievous Ron Howard. Uncover the sticky and pear-shaped mysteries of Whos, as we reveal Ron Howard's 6-hour makeup torture on Jim Carrey. We argue that Carrey's Grinch, a furry fusion of the...

Hop in the way way back machine with Paragon Marathon! This week, we're tackling the oldest story civilization has, The Epic of Gilgamesh. Join us to learn of the ancient king, He who saw the deep, revel in the wisdom and the super-jacked, bro'd up wrestlemania he found along the way. Contained within these clay-fired podcast-tablets; mythical sex marathons, copious cubit conundrums, and t...

Get ready for a frightening vore-ay into Tom, Dan and Sarah's deepest fears! (Please do not use them against us). This episode, we point our shaking flashlights at the mysteries of darkness and the unknown, slither into the world of snakes, and dish on the fear of being eaten, bone-in or chewed. Join us as we uncover the origins of these fears, comparing the concept of horror vs terror with &q...

Operation GOODBYE-HELLO-GOODBYE is a go: All Paragons report to Marathons. Welcome to the Paragon Marathon Season 1 Finale and Retrospective! Join Tom, Dan & Sarah as they reflect on their time podcasting together over the past two years, and make plans to return to the world of Literature, Mythology and Pop Culture after a much-needed break. Contained within: Mario noises, Canonical Shreks, a...

MOVIE NIGHT! Join Tom, Dan & Sarah as they YIPPEE-WAHOO their way through the 1993 cult classic and misunderstood masterpiece, "Super Mario Bros." The inscrutable decisions of a string of troubled directors are put under the patented Marathon Microscope as the team discusses the exact kind of stuff you'd expect in a Mario movie: cyberpunk dystopias, fascist police, and copious am...

Paragon Marathon is baguette it again . Join Tom, Dan and Sarah as they put the Marathon (and the Paragons?) back in the titular Para-Mara with a très grand exploration of Alexander Dumas' "The Three Musketeers." The adventure begins with a look into Dumas' background before Tom puts Dan and Sarah on trial with his French History quiz. Upon their escape from the Bastille of Ignor...

MOVIE NIGHT! Join Tom, Dan & Sarah as they seek out the dark forces and join their hellish crusade in the 1993 sequel-masterpiece, "Addams Family Values!" Strap yourself in for a delightful exploration of 90s nostalgia, goth origins, and a criminally underrated satire of the conservative status quo. The marathon runs the well-trod path of Gomez and Morticia's unapologetically lov...

We're back with Part 2 of our deep dive into the Earthsea Archipelago. (We hit a COVID snag last month--sorry for the delay!) Join Tom, Dan, and Sarah as they discuss the main themes of the first three books in Ursula Le Guin's opus before ending with a conversation on the author's changing views of feminist fantasy through "Tehanu," the fourth novel in the series (and one of...

Only in silence the word, Only in dark the light. Only in an oversaturated YA Fantasy market, the ascension of a talentless loser like J.K. Rowling. Join Tom, Dan, and Sarah in the first part of their exploration of Ursula K. Leguin’s fantasy opus, “A Wizard of Earthsea.” Striking out from Gont Port into the seas of the Archipelago, the intrepid siblings navigate serene straits of functioning magi...

January twenty-fifth, Dan's podcast diary continued: Began recounting the tale of Bram Stoker's Dracula. First, I administered a quiz to my intrepid sibling co-hosts Sarah and Tom, regarding that most sinister and infamous real-estate mogul, Count Dracula. As a university-trained vampire hunter, I am the most qualified to guide them through this 1897 classic, and best guard them against the hornie...

MOVIE NIGHT! Join Tom, Dan & Sarah as they dodge-roll their way through 1999's "The Mummy!" After briefly pontificating on the nature of old-school remakes, the Marathon puzzles over the nature of an Old-Testament-Powered Imhotep, seemingly at odds with the very literal Anubis who suddenly appears to whip ass in the finale. Mostly, this episode is about gushing over the pulp-action classic tha...

Who is to say that the Cardinal Sin must be Cardinal forever? Join Tom, Dan, and Sarah as they grow eyes on the inside in an attempt to understand the boundless vision of Hidetaka Miyazaki's "Soulslike" games, before changing gears for a deep-dive into the religion-infused indie marvel management game, "Cult of the Lamb." Be prepared for some discussion of apocalypse, some reckoning with the natur...

What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets! Join Tom, Dan, and Sarah in an exploration of Religion in Video Games. After some discussion on the nature of play, escapism, and the literary bonafides of video games as a medium, the Marathon cruises through a quiz on some famous depictions of myth and religion in games. After that, it's time for some analysis of literary apocalypse, and how "be...

MOVIE NIGHT! Join Tom, Dan & Sarah as they tear open the past and realize that Goofy contains the essence of their entire personalities. This week we're watching the 1995 Disney B-Team classic, "A Goofy Movie!" After taking another run at the Furry Agenda, the marathon simmers in the delicious nostalgic stew of this Father-Son bonding vacation adventure. Featuring the iconic bops of Powerline...

We did it; we did the mash . Join Tomb , Dankenstein , and Scare-ah on a special tour of mythic and modern monsters. After a brief meditation on scary stories and Horror movies, the marathoners run for their lives through monster tales from Greek, Japanese, Cree and Celtic mythology. Also featured are some monstrous figures from modern stories and legends, including the Alzabo from Gene Wolfe's Bo...