The Media Play News Podcast

Shazam 2 debuted under expectations in theaters, but we take the contrarian opinion that this doesn't mean anything negative for superhero movies. Netflix is going to double its game content library in the next year, and as we scroll through their games some of them are actually solid titles. Last, Rocky III gets a steelbook release and we talk about favorite specialty sets of ours.   Twitter : @p...

We break down some Oscars winners and recall back to older Oscars wins to debate whether they hold up or not. The Silo debuts soon on Apple TV+, and John Wick is getting a trilogy box set as a promotional lead-up to its fourth film's debut. This franchise needs to wind down!   Twitter : @podcastmpn   Subscribe to the MPN Newsletter   Articles: Voting Is Open for the 2023 Home Entertainment Media P...

It's a 20-foot deep dive into animation this week: surprise hit Puss in Boots: The Last Wish hits Peacock soon and we talk about what its artistic style spells for the future of animated features. Meanwhile Crunchyroll has partnered with Sony to add itself as a one-click button to one of Sony's smart TV lines. What this says about the tastes of the average viewer is pretty profound.   Twitter : @p...

Mandalorian and Succession return to streaming, each with their own flavors of roasting. South Park is in the middle of a legal dustup and It gets a prequel show greenlit. Also: Party Down is back???   Twitter : @podcastmpn   Subscribe to the MPN Newsletter   Articles:   Whip Media: 'True Lies' Top New Show, 'Shadow and Bone' Top Returning Show, 'John Wick 4' Top Movie Anticipated in March Warner...

It's a short one this week: we review the latest MCU release Ant-Man 3 , and Avatar 2 crosses Titanic to become the third highest grossing movie of all time. Netflix removes its random button "Surprise Me" to no one's surprise, and a glut of new shows drop on the service including a dating show featuring contestants from multiple past Netflix dating shows.   Twitter : @podcastmpn   Subscribe to th...

Disney poised to lose control of Hulu by the end of the year, Peacock announces a livestreaming feature coming to the "Bel Air" premiere, and checking in on the box office!   Twitter : @podcastmpn   Subscribe to the MPN Newsletter   CNBC: Disney CEO Bob Iger Open to Selling Hulu Stake Peacock Bowing 'Watch With' Feature Enabling Streamers to Interact With Content Talent in Real Time Warner's 'Magi...

Children of the Mist , a documentary about loneliness, childhood, and the tradition of bridal kidnapping with the Hmong group in northern Vietnam. First time director Diem takes the viewer on a journey into a village over multiple years following the young girl Di as she grows up and loses her childhood innocence.  Children of the Mist made the 95th Academy Awards shortlist for Best Documentary, w...

We lead off with an in-depth dissection of the latest announcement coming from DC Studios and their massive slate of TV shows and movies coming over the next few years. We have an exclusive interview with director Ha Le Diem about her documentary Children of the Mist , shortlisted for the Academy Awards for Best Documentary. And Netflix retraces its plan to crack down on password sharing following...

This is the full audio from our interview with Fandango's Erik Davis. Listen to hear about his predictions for some Oscar nominees' chances to win and which are available to rent or purchase from Vudu.   Find Erik on Twitter @ErikDavis https://www.fandango.com/movies/bloggers/erik-davis-424850 https://www.vudu.com/   Subscribe to the MPN Newsletter Twitter : @podcastmpn   Modern Chillout Music by...

We're covering the most anticipated movies and shows coming in February, including Cocaine Bear, angling for most-memeable movie of the year. Erik Davis from Fandango joins the show to talk about several Oscar nominated movies on Vudu, listen to hear what his predictions for the winners this year will be. Find Erik on Twitter @ErikDavis   Twitter : @podcastmpn https://www.fandango.com/movies/blogg...

Charlie recaps his thoughts on the first two episodes of The Last of Us and how fresh it feels from the bland sameness of the "netflix look" that so many shows seem to have these days. And lots of news coming out of Netflix with one of its co-CEOs stepping down to an executive chairman position, the planned rollout of paid password sharing, and 34 (!!!) south Korean shows slated to release this ye...

The critics choice awards brings a slew of stuff we missed from 2022. Turns out, there's a lot of TV to watch these days! Also, Amazon brings back Epix now rebranded as MGM+ and Avatar 2 remains as the #1 theatrical offering in spite of the multiple new releases.    Twitter : @podcastmpn   Subscribe to the MPN Newsletter   Critics Choice Awards 2023 Winners List by EJ Panaligan & William Earl Amaz...

Netflix cancellations have gone too far! It was OK when '1899' was taken out, but 'Inside Job'? Unforgivable. We go into a deep dive on where Netflix's future lies with subscriber trust now that people's expectations are that shows will be ended early rather than letting their stories conclude. Meanwhile, an exec from Warner Bros. Discovery asserts that streaming services should cost more, and VR...

It's the first episode of the new year so we look back to the top streamed shows and movies of 2022 and forward to the coming month's most anticipated content. Long story short: January is a pretty dull month! Here's to Avatar sailing past $2B well before February.   JustWatch: 'Top Gun: Maverick,' 'Stranger Things 4' Top Streamed Movie, Show in 2022 by Erik Gruenwedel Whip Media: 'The Last of Us'...

We've got DC news, we've got Witcher news, we've got Warhammer 40k news, and we've got a fresh review for Avatar 2 (the last Avatar content for awhile). It'll probably cross $1 billion by the time you read this!   Twitter : @podcastmpn   Subscribe to the MPN Newsletter   Articles: 'Avatar: The Way of Water' Dominates Wintery Christmas Weekend Box Office - Media Play News by Erik Gruenwedel Henry C...

Avatar 2 has finally released, and we've got a gauntlet of James Cameron interviews from multiple points of his career to peek into the mind behind the movie. Following up is an exhaustive list of movies to check out during the long holiday weekend. Merry Christmas!   Articles: 'Avatar: The Way of Water' Leads Global Box Office With $435 Million Tidal Wave - Driven by 3D by Erik Gruenwedel   James...

It's a face-off between digital download movies to collect versus buying physical box sets of movie franchises and TV shows. New York Times releases an out of touch "Best of 2022" list of movies. James Cameron does his best to talk up Avatar 2 and the future of the franchise. With everything he's saying you'd get a pass if you thought this movie is destined to single-handedly end all streaming ser...

This episode could have been 4 hours long. The show winds the clock forwards and backwards, looking ahead to December's most anticipated movies and streaming shows, and looking backwards to some of the most popular shows of the year. Sandwiched between those segments are wrap-up thoughts on both The Peripheral and 1899 .   Whip Media: 'The Witcher: Blood Origin' Top New Show, 'Jack Ryan' Top Retur...

It's a review roundtable week: Charles brings in his thoughts on the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special and Charlie updates the show on his progress through The Peripheral (pretty good) and 1899 (imagine if Lost happened on the Titanic). Glass Onion debuted in theaters for a limited Thanksgiving weekend run and Amazon Studios ordered a miniseries that will dramatize the implosion of the FTX c...

We have a new show format! Charles covers the original comic's influences for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Charlie gives a teaser for the sci-fi show The Peripheral . Following that, Peacemaker gets a physical release next week and James Cameron wildly throws expletives around in an interview about Avatar 2 having to be a top-5 highest grossing movie of all time just to break even on its bud...

33 years after Weird Al Yankovic's cult movie UHF comes his biopic-parody movie "Weird: The Al Yankovic Story." We review this movie and then a 1960s romcom starring Elvis. Surprised? Turns out Elvis had a prolific acting career as Blue Hawaii was his 8th film (and most lucrative up to that point). Black Panther: Wakanda Forever released over the weekend and we cover box office numbers, and close...

Black Adam still tops the box office for its third consecutive weekend, but is sure to surrender the crown next weekend when Wakanda Forever debuts. We cover the minimalist movie Fall and a trio of 40s film noir movies from the ongoing Dark Side of Cinema collection.   Subscribe to the MPN Newsletter   Fall by John Latchem Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema IX by Scott Marks Warner's 'Black Adam'...

It's the Top Gun Maverick episode! After hyping this movie up for multiple months' worth of podcasts, it's time for a deep dive into the movie and what made it such a surprise hit. We've also got a review for Nope which has been discussed briefly already but now we dig into the details.   Subscribe to the MPN Newsletter   Top Gun: Maverick by John Latchem Nope by John Latchem Warner's 'Black Adam'...

We've got a micro-review for Black Adam , the House of the Dragon season finale, and full reviews for DC animated movie Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons and classic 30s romantic comedy film By Candlelight . On top of that is tons of industry news with James Gunn taking a co-leadership position at DC.   Subscribe to the MPN Newsletter Transformers Retrospective - Prime of Grammar Batma...

This week we catch a ride on Bullet Train . Remember seeing that in theaters? Following that is 1930s-era movie Murder at the Vanities , with a spirited discussion over how thrillers have evolved since their inception on film.   Subscribe to the MPN Newsletter   Bullet Train by John Latchem Murder at the Vanities by Scott Marks 'Halloween Ends' Tops North American Weekend Box Office Despite Concur...