The Nextlander Watchcast

One season is all that stands between us and our years-long goal of completing Star Trek: The Original Series. Yes, that season might be uniquely bad by series standards, but we are determined to push through any deep hurting that may result in order to achieve our goal. First up, an all-timer dumb-dumb episode in Spock's Brain, and the surprisingly solid The Enterprise Incident. CHAPTERS: (00:00:...

We've got a one week break coming up before Star Trek Summer begins again in earnest, but before that happens we've got one more documentary to serve our Watchcasting listeners in Trekkies! Join us for some nerd archeology as we dig through this doc that's chock full of superfans of all flavors and stripes, and marvel with us at how quaint it all seems compared with our extremely fandom-oriented p...

Nothing brings people together like a good old fashioned space mission, and for this week's Watchcast we've got a documentary about the goodest of old fashioned space missions, Apollo 11! Join us as we marvel not just at the unbelievable human achievement this story represents, but also the ludicrously high quality footage they managed to capture 50-plus years ago. CHAPTERS: (00:00:00) - The Nextl...

This week's Watchcast takes us on a trip down to Harlan County, U.S.A. as we tackle Barbara Kopple's gripping (and Academy Award winning) documentary about the 1973 miners' strike against Duke Power. CHAPTERS: (00:00:00) - The Nextlander Watchcast Episode 179: Harlan County, U.S.A. (1976) (00:00:57) - Intro. (00:07:38) - Geography lessons with the Nextlander gang. (00:12:53) - On Bloody Harlan, an...

We're filling out May's Watchcast schedule with a trio of documentaries that have been on our respective lists for a while now, and first up is Vinny's pick, Class Action Park! Join us as we recount our own memories of weirdo theme parks of yore, marvel at the brazen lawlessness of this whole operation, and wonder aloud if we aren't just living in Action Park all the time now. CHAPTERS: (00:00:00)...

We close out our slate of Coens comedies with their 2008 spy thriller farce, Burn After Reading! And joining the crew as we unravel this sordid tale of idiot spycraft is none other than our friend and yours, Austin Walker! CHAPTERS: (00:00:00) - The Nextlander Watchcast Episode 177: Burn After Reading (2008) (00:00:16) - Intro. (00:01:02) - Our guest this week is Austin Walker, and our movie is Bu...

The third film in our Coens Comedy Classics lineup is an all-time favorite of Alex's, and a genuine screwball hall-of-famer if you don't mind such bold proclamations. We are, of course, talking about Raising Arizona, a movie chock full of yuks that still has a genuine heart that cannot be denied. CHAPTERS: (00:00:00) - The Nextlander Watchcast Episode 176: Raising Arizona (1987) (00:00:22) - Intro...

Our journey through some of the wackier Coen Brothers capers continues this week as we take on The Hudsucker Proxy, a star-studded, over-the-top affair that is equal parts His Girl Friday and Roadrunner cartoon, and is every bit as ungainly as that description makes it sound. CHAPTERS: (00:00:00) - The Nextlander Watchcast Episode 175: The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) (00:00:20) - Intro. (00:01:28) - Ou...

After an unexpectedly long odyssey that delayed the Watchcast's scheduled arrival, we're finally back to our movie watching ways, and launching into our month of Coen Brothers comedies, starting with the duo's southern-fried take on one of the great Homeric works in O Brother, Where Art Thou?! CHAPTERS: (00:00:00) - The Nextlander Watchcast Episode 174: O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) (00:01:04)...

It's our last Watchcast before we take a two week hiatus, so Alex wants to send us off on a high note, and to do so he has hand selected the 1984 Talking Heads concert extravaganza Stop Making Sense! Join us as we experience together the myriad pleasures of great music, cardiovascular exercise, and enormous suits. CHAPTERS: (00:00:00) - The Nextlander Watchcast Episode 173: Stop Making Sense (1984...

Brad has made his pick for the month, and he's decided to take a trip down south to Alex Garland's Annihilation, where a funny kind of Shimmer has got everyone all confused and refracted and dead. Join us as we discuss at length the phantasmagoric scenes that await our scientific adventurers, the human drama that plagues them both in and out of the zone, and just how how messed up that bear really...

With our March schedule being on the shorter side, we've decided to once again each pick a movie we felt like watching, and first up is Vinny with Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. Join our party as we adventure through this tongue-in-cheek spin on tabletop storytelling, tell our own tales of DnD adventures, and say the name Jarnathan every chance we get. CHAPTERS: (00:00:00) - The Next...

Alex's final pick for February is here, and for this week's Watchcast he's taking us to the Spanish coast to peek in on the idyllic life of retired thief Gal Dove in Jonathan Glazer's Sexy Beast, a movie that's got a whole lot of unusual style and flavor going on, even outside of Ben Kingsley's ferociously memorable central performance. CHAPTERS: (00:00:00) - The Nextlander Watchcast Episode 170:...

It's Fargo week on the Watchcast, and Alex is just gosh darned excited as all get out to talk about his favorite Coens classic. Join us as he takes Brad and Vinny through the frozen wasteland of the Northern Midwest to discuss the supposedly (but not actually) "true events" of the film, the darkness that runs under the surface of Minnesota Nice, and the spectacular array of accents on display. CHA...

For this week's Watchcast Alex is returning to his previous profession as a Mannhunter, as he takes the crew through one of his favorite Michael Mann flicks, 1981's Thief. Join us as we pick apart the taxonomy of crooks and goofs populating Chicago's early '80s underworld, and marvel at all the exquisite detail that went into this movie's look and vibe. CHAPTERS: (00:00:00) - The Nextlander Watchc...

It's a new month and a new theme for the Watchcast, and this month Alex is foisting some of his all-time favorites on the rest of the cast, starting with Francis Ford Coppola's profoundly paranoid thriller, The Conversation! Join us as we uncover this deadly plot, marvel at Gene Hackman's performance, and swoon at just about the youngest Harrison Ford we ever did see. CHAPTERS: (00:00:00) - The Ne...

The final film in our slate of toy commercials turned cinema is arguably the roughest watch yet. Specifically, we all argue that maybe Masters of the Universe with Dolph Lundgren and a rubber Skeletor COULD have maybe been something watchable, if only every single creative choice were different, and better. Then you might have something! CHAPTERS: (00:00:00) - The Nextlander Watchcast Episode 166:...

The process of tearing apart our consumerist childhoods is far from over, as the Watchcast crew digs this week into G.I. Joe: The Movie, another toy commercial in disguise that comes up with some of the most bonkers stuff this franchise ever saw, both for better and for worse. CHAPTERS: (00:00:00) - The Nextlander Watchcast Episode 165: G.I. Joe: The Movie (1987) (00:00:18) - Intro. (00:08:47) - A...

The Watchcast is back for another year, and we're kicking off 2026 by laying waste to our plastic filled childhoods! The first entry in our trio of toy commercials disguised as films is one very near and dear to our youthful hearts in Transformers: The Movie, a film that simultaneously enthralled and traumatized an entire generation of budding robot enthusiasts, and tested the limits of how many p...

We've got one more Watchcast for you in 2025, and we're closing out a cursed year the only way we know how: with Gremlins. Join us as we take a trip back to a simpler time when zonked out suburbanites could shrug off the enormous implications of a lifeform like a mogwai in favor of taking cute photos and dumping water all over it. CHAPTERS: (00:00:00) - The Nextlander Watchcast Episode 163: Gremli...

We do a lot of goofy movies on this Watchcast, but now, at the behest of our own Vinny Caravella, it's time for us to tackle some Important Cinema! Vinny has chosen the one and only Citizen Kane for his movie this month, and it's time to put our film school pants on to decide once and for all if it's an over-hyped disappointment, or really as great as everyone says. CHAPTERS: (00:00:00) - The Next...

The Watchcast is back for its final slate of movies in 2025, and this month we're picking whatever strikes our fancy. First up is Alex's pick, a palate cleanser for all the Escape from New York also-rans we've seen this year in the form of actual, honest-to-Snake Escape from New York! Join us as we dive deep into the movie that spawned an iconic character, dozens of rip-offs, and pretty much Hideo...

Turkey Month is nearly at an end, but before we head out for the holiday break, we've got one more fully barbecued turkey for all of you in the bombasically stupid Action Jackson! Join us as we marvel at Carl Weathers' glistening physique, Craig T. Nelson's inexplicable martial arts prowess, and the cavalcade of delightfully awful one-liners issued before someone explodes. CHAPTERS: (00:00:00) - T...

Our Turkey month continues unabated! And this week we're visited by several of 125 possible Jet Lis in the profoundly silly 2001 action flick The One! Join us as we talk about Jet Li's various wigs, the finer points of nu-metal, and the tragedy of Jason Statham's American accent. CHAPTERS: (00:00:00) - The Nextlander Watchcast Episode 159: The One (2001) (00:00:13) - Intro. (00:03:14) - Now that o...

It's Doomsday Day on the Watchcast, a day that our own Vinny Caravella has hoped and prayed for ever since we launched this podcast. So join us as we go through Vinny's all-time favorite movie, trying to make sense of its frenetic editing and nonsensical plot, or at least as much sense as it deserves. CHAPTERS: (00:00:00) - The Nextlander Watchcast Episode 158: Doomsday (2008) (00:00:14) - Intro....