Red Team Reviews

Happy Pride to all our girls, gays, and theys! We, two straight men, are ill equipped to do this episode on our own, so we decided to bring some LGBTQ+ friends of the pod to pick out some films and chat: Khari Walser and Ginnie House! (A G and a B, respectively). Our guests have tee'd up two tropey bits of queer cinema for us to munch on like Chipotle's Drag Queen menu: 2015's Carol, and victim of...

IT'S THE TAG TEAM MATCH OF THE CENTURY! IN THIS CORNER -- yeah I don't know why I thought I could keep that up. It's Trevor, I write these, and even after being subjected to an entire evening of wrestling, that is still the extent of my knowledge of the vernacular. It's June, and we've got probably one of the wildest months planned for you all. It’s also TJ's birthday this month, and as a spe...

Naturally, we conclude our AAPI Heritage Month with a little Mangato-screen-adaptation. The adaptation in question being Akira, based off of the 1980's six volume manga, and let's just say... They left a whole lot out of the movie. Following our not-at-all blasphemous takes on a groundbreaking film is a refreshing look at the little show that could for our first animation entry in Reject or Renew:...

Welcome to week three of AAPI Heritage month, where (and you knew we had to do it) we're tackling martial arts movies! From the instant classic Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, to the hilarious hijinks of Jackie Chan in Legend of The Drunken Master, to the frankly routine story of Fearless, we believe we’ve covered a nice range of the genre here. (Don’t worry, should we ever cover Bruce Lee, he’ll h...

We all need a little wholesome in our lives right about now! Welcome to week two of our Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month coverage as we treat ourselves to the wonderful world of Studio Ghibli, in what will certainly not be the last time we take a bite out of Hayao Miyazaki's monumental contribution to cinema. We will take many bites. We will turn into pigs. Our selection t...

We're back! Welcome to our coverage for Asian America and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, because a) it's more than well earned, and b) fuck the people who inflict pain in this world. We're kicking this month off ~kind of~ with our auteur series, featuring our first ever analysis of an Academy Award winning Best Picture film in our pod history: Bong Joon-ho's Parasite. Oh, and also Snowpiercer. W...

Hi everyone, thank you so much for listening the past few months! We're pooped, so we're going to be taking the month of April off to recuperate and give TJ a break from editing massive tournaments that he brought upon himself. We're excited for you all to see what we have planned for the rest of the year, namely an AAPI centered month of May featuring major contributions from Korean, Japanese, an...

It's a three-peat, and we're not sure if that's a good thing! After a rollicking good time this month, from arguing about Pixar to arguing about Disney songs, we're back to our old format with yet ANOTHER Reject or Renew of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Join us as we get in one solid ode to women's history month before this Mega March ends. As the title suggests, these women (and really all women)...

Peace be with you! But NOT WITH US. We're gonna change it, to BEAT TREVOR. Welcome to part 2 of our March Music Madness tourney where treasured Disney songs duke it out in a smackdown for the ages. The full Red Team are back to finish out the finalists in each of our song categories. Let no tear go unshed, no heart go unbroken, as we declare a champion in each category, and by the end of this epis...

RED TEAM: ASSEMBLE! The whole crew from when we all worked at [redacted] and  became  THE Red Team is here: Cat Patterson (featured in our Disney Remakes episode), Anna Gundersen, and Alison Campbell join us for our version of March Madness. TJ has created a tournament pitting iconic, obscure, and overall beloved Disney songs against each other in order to determine the “objective”...

The marathon of March continues! Trevor has finally watched all the Cars movies (in his words it's “payback for suggesting Narnia”) so we can now say we've given a strong rewatch to the entire* Pixar canon. Tensions grow, minds are changed (sometimes), rankings have moved, and we get to dig even deeper into the why's and how's of the legendary animation studio. How did your fave square up? No matt...

It's March and we didn't think we'd get this far either! Check out this week's episode, part one of our Pixar rankings, and the oldest audio we ever recorded for this podcast nearly a year ago. TJ and Trevor give their preliminary takes on every Pixar movie made before next week's episode, where we re-rank after watching every single one again. Join us as we discuss the massive lega...

You know how some people think everything would have been better if we hadn’t killed Harambe? That's how we feel about [spoiler]. In a special Reject or Renew to close out Black History Month, we talk about the new show on the block, Lovecraft Country. We're joined this week by fellow Journalists member and man about town Khari Walser to discuss the television show equivalent of waiting so long fo...

Despite certain... *Things* happening, or more specifically NOT happening this month, we assure you it is, in fact, Black History Month! Much like we did in November with Edgar Wright, we thought it only natural to jump on the opportunity to analyze and discuss a giant in black cinema, Spike Lee. We're looking at three major career films: '89s Do The Right Thing, '92s Malcolm X, and '18s Blac...

Listen up all you lovebirds, it's time for some bonafide romance. This week in celebration (or despair?) of Valentine's Day, the boys have got three movies all about batting eyelashes and bedroom eyes. Join us as we examine the psyche of 2000s masculinity, the Kevin James effect, the ethics of gambling a marriage on a game of 1 on 1, and why Charlize Theron can literally carry any movie. Follow us...

Alexa this is so sad, play "Duel of the Fates". Welcome back to part two of our Mandalorian discussion, where the gloves come off and everyone's mother's cooking is called into question. Molly Burdick of @podandprejudice and @journaliststheatre is back to finish out our Episode Guide, and get into our most and least favorite parts of Mando so far. Follow us on IG and Twitter @redteampod and check...

Welcome back to a galaxy far far away, where everything is about baby yoda and TJ's opinion doesn't matter (he's slowly going insane). That's right, it's the Star Wars equivalent of the McRib: not really complicated, only around at certain times, and will never be considered a full square meal, but damn if we don't adore it anyway. Molly Burdick of @podandprejudice and @journaliststheatre returns...

If you listen to this episode at just the right time, in just the right room of your house, you'll be transported to heav--I mean Narnia. On our second foray into Dissin' Franchise, the segment where we analyze dead or dying franchises, Trevor poses the question: "why isn't Narnia a bigger thing?" TJ rightfully doesn't think this really matters. Thus the comedy. Join us as we examine church camp f...

The hills are alive, with the sound of ~conflict~! But not the one you're thinking of, because screw giving those assholes any more attention. We're talking about the natural animosity garnered from talking about film adaptations of stage musicals! This week we're joined by TJ's dear friend Emily Gulbrandsen, as we search in vain for a truly capable film to fill the void of the live stage (WEAR A...

We promise it's not plagiarism! We're hesitant to ring in the new year because going forward in time is scary, so we thought, hey, “Why not go back?” So welcome back to the 1980s, where everything's made up and the points don't matter. Seriously. Because whatever you thought about these "perfect" movies, nostalgia is a hell of a hallucinogen, and it is blurring your criticism. Join us as we tackle...

We're just going to say it outright: Die Hard is NOT a Christmas movie. Join us this week as we condemn those who build entire personalities around male power fantasies and tear into one of the most divisive “holiday” films in history. Once we cool down from the terrible stereotypes and shoddy set design, we'll be doing our first revisit on Reject or Renew, with The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air: discus...

Hey! It's the end of December 2020! We made it! Sort of! It's two days before Christmas, one of our favorite holidays, that we celebrate entirely secularly; but that don't mean we can't enjoy us some good ole fashioned Christmas content! As promised, we revive our Kill Da Babehs segment by presenting to each other the gift that keeps on giving: eviscerating each others' favorite Christma...

Well hello there. Welcome to the thirstiest episode yet, because Hayden Christensen is a handsome boy. Today we round out our hobbled journey through the prequels with our special guest Molly Burdick, co-host of the Pod & Prejudice podcast, and member of The Journalists Theatre Co.! Join us as we venture one last time through the old republic with festive songs, naughty boys sneaking out of th...

Now, TJ has said before that he doesn't like to share his opinions on movies before we record them. This is not one of those times. Join us as we trudge through this desert of a movie (we don't like sand), full of exasperated looks at fascist ideology, poor flirting technique, terrible dialogue... And that's just what they made Hayden Christiansen do. We can't afford the therapy we need now. Follo...

Weesa in big doo doo. Thisa week weesa -- Okay nope. Can't even do it. The bit isn't worth it. We kick off a December of prequels with an absolutely poor choice of reviewing Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. Join us for this LOADED episode where we talk about just how much the wizard cops set themselves up for failure against a political scheme that honestly shouldn't be the focus of t...