The Fan & The Critic

Carson and Paolo run down their Top 10 movies of 2022 — pretentious indie picks from Carson, dumb Hollywood blockbusters from Paolo, and a list with something in it for everyone. Instagram: thefanandthecritic

Carson finally quits Star Wars — or tries to — by refusing to watch another Disney+ show. Then he watches all twelve episodes of Andor anyway, and we talk about why it might be the one that wins him back. Instagram: thefanandthecritic

A Filipino movie hits theatres, so naturally we have to talk about it. Paolo digs into representation in film and TV while Carson works to understand what that actually means, and we weigh in on the non-controversies swirling around Easter Sunday, Rings of Power, and Bros. Instagram: thefanandthecritic

Carson hates The Gray Man but loves The Roundup. Paolo's take is exactly the opposite. Ninety minutes later, neither of us has changed the other's mind. Instagram: thefanandthecritic

Marvel's multiverse era hits its peak and Ben and Joe join us to dig into every multiverse movie worth talking about — the good, the overstuffed, and the ones that made our heads hurt in a fun way. Instagram: thefanandthecritic

There is a new Batman movie and we talk about it Instagram: houstonwehaveapodcast

Ever wondered what would happen if Oscar-nominated movie characters were thrown into a deathmatch? No? Well, you're the weird one, not us. Bernice and Martin join Carson and Paolo to draft characters from the past decade and run them through a gauntlet of arenas to crown one ultimate survivor. Instagram: thefanandthecritic

We revisit some of the movie recommendations we made each other back in 2021, mostly to confirm — again — that Carson and Paolo just don't have the same taste in movies. This time it's Licorice Pizza that proves the point. Instagram: thefanandthecritic

Musicians Aaron, Jay, and Yoshi stop by to talk about the music that makes movies unforgettable — the scores, the needle drops, and the soundtrack choices that turn a good scene into a great one. Instagram: thefanandthecritic

Carson and Paolo go through each of their Top 10 lists of 2021. We disagree on almost every single one. Instagram: thefanandthecritic

Dan joins us to break down the best action scenes in film, category by category: best 1-on-1 fight, best one-versus-many fight, best army battle, best car chase, and best shootout. Bring your own picks, you'll definitely disagree with ours. Instagram: thefanandthecritic

It's an episode about Denis Villeneuve's Dune. We talk about Dune. That's the episode. Instagram: thefanandthecritic

We found a little-known Netflix show called Squid Game and decided more people should be talking about it. We also dig into a stack of recent movie trailers that — miraculously — don't have a single superhero in them. Instagram: thefanandthecritic

We talk about the merits of staring at paintings for two and a half hours in The Green Knight, and Paolo somehow finds an actual gem buried in Netflix's trash bucket with Shadow in the Cloud. Instagram: thefanandthecritic

We talk through every movie The Tomorrow War could have been — time-travel epic, alien invasion thriller, family drama — and the one underwhelming version it actually turned out to be. Instagram: thefanandthecritic

Mena and Nick join us for a packed one: reviews of Army of the Dead and Nobody, then a round of pitching our own pandemic movie ideas — because apparently we hadn't had enough of 2021 yet. Instagram: thefanandthecritic

With basically no new movies coming out, we got forced into watching some streaming-service original TV series instead — and Kelly joins us to talk about the handful that actually turned out to be worth it. Instagram: thefanandthecritic

We recorded our predictions for Zack Snyder's Justice League, watched the whole four-hour cut immediately after, then came back and recorded our real reactions — so you get to hear exactly how wrong we were in real time. Instagram: thefanandthecritic

Ben, Ben, Dave, and Dave face off in a battle of the 7th and 140th most popular first names in America, complete with seven movie-based challenges — from performing your favourite movie monologue to pitching a Donald Trump biopic where QAnon is real — to determine who's actually the best. Instagram: thefanandthecritic

Using refined, totally scientific techniques (read: vibes), Carson and Paolo predict the best movies of 2021 before a single one of them has come out. Instagram: thefanandthecritic

Carson and Paolo run down their Top 10 movies of 2020 — Carson's pretentious indie picks, Paolo's dumb Hollywood blockbusters, and a list with something for everyone. Instagram: thefanandthecritic

Bernice and Martin join us to draft a team of Wes Anderson characters — a Bill Murray type, a Wilson brother type, a Jason Schwartzman type, a matriarch, a child, and a wildcard — and then put both teams through a gauntlet of high-society shenanigans to crown a winner. Instagram: thefanandthecritic

We have an extremely factual, educated, and entirely undisputed debate with Ben and Ben about who deserves to be called the best action star of the 2010s. No notes, no further discussion required. Instagram: thefanandthecritic

Two real sales managers, Dave and Dave, join us to break down how salespeople get portrayed in movies — and then we throw scenarios at them to find out which fictional sales characters they'd actually hire. Instagram: thefanandthecritic

Carson and Paolo argue about whether Charlie Kaufman's films hold up, then a guest drops by to talk through everything else we've enjoyed lately — including Tenet, The Devil All the Time, and Bloodshot. Instagram: thefanandthecritic