Purely Academic with Jonathan Lack & Sean Chapman

On the first episode of 2014, we take a look back at 2013, and the best in movies, video game, and (a little bit of) TV. With lots of lists and plenty of in-depth discussion, we bring 2013 to a close, and hopefully start 2014 off on the right foot. Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION,...

We catch up on December with a full review and discussion of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and a discussion of the Doctor Who Christmas Special, "The Time of the Doctor." We also offer a retrospective of Matt Smith's run on the series as the Eleventh Doctor, capping off a very fun and busy episode! Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects...

We catch up on several weeks worth of news, including the announcement of Persona 5 and three new spin-off games, before jumping into a discussion of the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special, "The Day of the Doctor." Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the...

On a special bonus episode, we celebrate today's 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who, one of our very favorite television series, with a special retrospective episode. We talk about all eleven Doctors, their best companions, count down our Top 10 Favorite episodes from the classic and modern series, and more. Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https:...

We give our initial impressions of the PlayStation 4, including the hardware, user interface, games, and graphics, before transitioning into an in-depth discussion of Marvel's "Thor: The Dark World." Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderf...

On a special episode, we celebrate the launch of the PS4 and the next generation of video games by looking back upon the current generation - the Xbox 360, the Wii, and the Playstation 3. Talk of favorite games, memories, and more makes for a special, extremely long episode. Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com Subscri...

On this week's episode...we lost this week's episode! After spending two hours recording a brand new episode reminiscing about the current generation of video games, a computer malfunction erased the data, leaving us with this special twenty-minute explanatory podcast to tide listeners over. Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonatha...

We cover a wide grab bag of topics - and a lot of random tangents - including recent movie trailers for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the giant PS4 FAQ released by Sony, our extended thoughts on Batman: Arkham Origins, and some commentary on recent game reviews. Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at ht...

Sean and Jonathan talk about a bunch of random topics - Pokemon X and Y, Gravity, Indie Games, Doctor Who news, etc. - before moving on to a review of Batman: Arkham Origins, the newest Batman game, which we both consider to be a pleasant surprise! Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION,...

We celebrate Halloween with a discussion of one of history's greatest horror movies: Dracula, starring the inimitable Bela Lugosi! And before that, we discuss the shocking delay of Ubisoft's Watch Dogs and offer some initial thoughts on Pokemon X and Y! Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STA...

We talk a bunch about recent video games we've played, including Beyond Two Souls, before diving into some really exciting Doctor Who news, and finally providing our promised, definitive review of "Grand Theft Auto V" and its troublesome online mode. Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com Subscribe to JAPANIMAT...

We analyze all the recent, fascinating Steam announcements, some intriguing information about the PS4, the reveal of a new Persona game, and even offer some more critical thoughts on Grand Theft Auto V. Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful worl...

Sean and Jonathan give their first thought on Rockstar's 'Grand Theft Auto V.' We have not finished the main campaign yet, so we kept this discussion spoiler-free - but there are still plenty of things to talk about in terms of characters, game mechanics, and crazy stories from our first week with the game. Other Video Game news and some quick movie reviews round out the episode... Read Jonathan L...

We take a slow week and furiously overcompensate, delivering an in-depth Grand Theft Auto retrospective to mark the release of the new game, Grand Theft Auto V, before giving our long overdue discussion on Mass Effect 3, with particular regards to the ending. Other topics, like flooding in Colorado (where we record this podcast) and the Japanese Blu-Ray release of the new Dragon Ball Z movie, roun...

We catch up on a bevy of gaming news, including big announcements from Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony, before diving into a discussion of Rooster Teeth's two major animated series, "Red vs Blue" and "RWBY," and offer some thoughts on one of our favorite recent Indie games, "Hotline Miami." Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast proj...

We talk all the big video game news of this year's Gamescom conference, cover the casting of Ben Affleck as Batman, and treat you to a solid hour's worth of tangents and asides. A fun time shall be had by all! Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderf...

Jonathan Lack and Sean Chapman recap some recent movies, video games, and news for each before jumping into a long, in-depth discussion on our favorite game of all time, the 2006 JRPG classic "Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3." Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast a...

We cover this weekend's revelation of the identity of the 12th Doctor on British sci-fi classic Doctor Who, give our thoughts on the new downloadable content for Bioshock Infinite, and review the latest comic-book movie, The Wolverine. Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast...

We catch up on all
the news, announcements, and happenings since I have been away on vacation.
That means that we get to talk about awesome new movies like Pacific Rim and The Wolverine, the Steam Summer Sale, news about the Xbox One and
Indie gaming, and of course, Comic-Con. There was far too much at Comic-Con (as
always) to cover in one podcast, so we focused on what was directly relevant to
th...

On the third and final episode of a special three-part installment, we finish counting down, discussing, and analyzing our Top 10 favorite video games of all time! On this episode, we conclude the countdown with discussions of our very favorite video games ever, including entries in the "Mass Effect" and "Persona" series. Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date w...

On the second episode of a special three-part installment, we continue counting down, discussing, and analyzing our Top 10 favorite video games of all time! On this episode, we share our respective selections for #7-#4, including modern masterpieces like Halo and Red Dead Redemption and classics like Super Mario 64. Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projec...

On the first episode of a special three-part installment, we begin counting down, discussing, and analyzing our Top 10 favorite video games of all time! On this episode, we share our honorable mentions before moving on to our respective selections for #10 - #8. Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com Subscribe to JAPANIMA...

We go in-depth with Naughty Dog's "The Last of Us," the recent video game sensation for PlayStation 3. This is one of the greatest games ever made, and we give it the treatment it deserves by discussing and analyzing it in extreme detail over the course of this special 3-hour episode. Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jona...

We break down Microsoft's stunning, surprising announcement that they are doubling back on nearly every online or DRM-related policy they have announced for the Xbox One, their next-generation gaming console, over the past few weeks. Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast ab...

We discuss the new Superman film, "Man of Steel." And by discuss, we mean Sean rants about why he hates it, while Jonathan mostly stays quiet and lets him vent (you can visit We Got This Covered for Jonathan's full, positive written thoughts on the film). We also touch on some developments in the world of superhero films, discuss the possibilities for a Justice League movie after "M...