Thinking Outside The Long Box

It's time to take the podcast back to the Yautja's in the latest film in the Predator universe! This time though, the Predator's aren't on earth, nor are they hunting any humans, and there isn't a meaningful human to even speak of in this film!  " Predator: Badlands (2025) is a science fiction action film directed by Dan Trachtenberg that shifts the franchise focus by making a young, exiled Yautja...

For today's episode we are exploring a brand new film maker, but not new to the industry of entertaining people! Markiplier is undoubtedly one of the top performers on the Youtube platform right now, and he decided to fund his own film, Iron Lung! This is of course based off of his popular video game, of the same name.  " Iron Lung (2026) is a sci-fi horror film written, directed by, and starring...

Going all the way back to the 90's to discuss the pop culture classic topic for today!! This might be the most alien and supernatural focused show ever, especially for its time! " The X-Files Season 1 (1993–1994) establishes FBI agents Fox Mulder (a believer) and Dana Scully (a skeptic) investigating unsolved paranormal cases. Over 24 episodes, they battle government cover-ups, alien abduction the...

Marvel is back at it with something much different from what they've been putting on TV lately. This is a much bigger departure than previous shows and it seems to be popular with the crowd! " Marvel's Wonder Man (2026) is a grounded, Hollywood-satire series under the Marvel Spotlight banner, starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Simon Williams, a struggling actor with latent, unstable ionic superpowe...

Going back a couple of years to talk about the newest iteration in the Ghostbuster franchise! The "classic" characters come back and join forces with the new young crew in Frozen Empire! "The Spengler family returns to the iconic New York City firehouse where the original Ghostbusters have taken ghost-busting to the next level. When the discovery of an ancient artifact unleashes an evil force, Gho...

We are going pretty far back with today's pop culture classic! So far back but it's crazy to think that a new sequel actually just came out! That speaks to the staying power of this series. "The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, Rick Grimes and Michonne are reunited after years apart when Michonne finds him held captive by the Civil Republic Military (CRM). They face internal struggles and CRM thre...

We are going pretty far back with today's pop culture classic! So far back but it's crazy to think that a new sequel actually just came out! That speaks to the staying power of this series. "Alex Browning (Devon Sawa), is embarking on a trip to Paris. Alex experiences a premonition -- he sees the plane explode moments after leaving the ground. Alex insists that everyone get off the plane and 7 peo...

If you didn't know who Slappy was when you were growing up, somehow you few up without Goosebumps, which is quite a shame!! RL Stine filled most of our young lives with scary, but not too scary, and goofy types of campfire stories!! The first reiteration of Goosebumps as a TV show was anthology based and was very close to the books! "Goosebumps season 1, which is a darker, more mature take on the...

You know that we absolutely love Kaiju! With that in mind we are always talking about anything Godzilla related. Not only does Monarch have Godzilla, but it also brings along a whole host of awesome giant monsters! "Monarch: Legacy of Monsters" follows two siblings, Cate and Tim Randa, as they uncover a family legacy connected to the secretive organization Monarch. This journey takes them through...

Back at it, talking about a remake of a beloved movie, Road House! Many people booed the decision to remake this movie when the announcement was made, but, while not perfect, we think that they turned out a decent film. It might not have the nostalgia of the original but there are still many things to like about this remake! "Ex-UFC fighter Dalton takes a job as a bouncer at a Florida Keys roadhou...

Today's newest episode comes out of the COVID days and was only known about by one member of the team! It's a horror/thriller movie about monsters and cults about a person who seems oblivious to it all! We're talking about a small movie named Dashcam! It follows a conservative lady going through her nightly deliveries during COID while all hell breaks loose! "It stars Annie Hardy, Amer Chadha-Pate...

It's time to go to 2013 with a young Charlie Hunnam, and a Guillermo Del Toro who said that he laid everything out in this film, and it was just him having fun! It's pop culture classic time, speaking about Pacific Rim! Pacific Rim, while not being the "first" American made kaiju film, was probably the first blockbuster American kaiju film that took the genre more serious, and paid a lot more trib...

Today's episode was a suggestion from Doyle. When I first heard him talk about it, I took it much to literal, and thought I'd be watching something about Usher, the singer. Instead, I got something WAY better. We are talking about the Netflix series, The Fall of the House of Usher!  "Siblings Roderick and Madeline Usher have built a pharmaceutical company into an empire of wealth, privilege and po...

Are you ready for another round of Pet Sematary? Stephen King films have been very hit and miss, and this project is probably no different. You're either going to love it, or you're going to hate it, I don't think there is an in between. "In 1969, a young Jud Crandall dreams of leaving his hometown of Ludlow, Maine behind, but soon discovers sinister secrets buried within. Jud is forced to confron...

It's pop culture classic time everyone!! In the last episode we spoke about where Saw was, and where it might be going, and now it's time to talk about where it came from! We're talking about the original Saw from 2004, and the place in horror history that it has left on the populous! "The film tells a nonlinear narrative revolving around the mystery of the Jigsaw Killer, who tests his victims' wi...

It's been a while since a new Saw movie came out, and even longer since one came out that was pretty well received and had Jigsaw as the primary character. This is a prequel in which we found out a lot about how Jigsaw became Jigsaw, and the motivations behind why. We are talking about Saw X! "Hoping for a miraculous cure, John Kramer travels to Mexico for a risky and experimental medical procedur...

Listen, we enjoy The Boys as much as probably the average viewer. We don't hate it, but we also don't fawn all over it. Sometimes it can be way over the top, even for us, and that says a lot. BUT we had to watch the spin-off just in case this was more our cup of tea. We sat down in order to watch Gen V. "Gen V is an American superhero television series, developed by Craig Rosenberg, Evan Goldberg,...

I think for the most part, we were all sad when AMC announced that The Walking Dead proper would be coming to an end! Some of those fears were assuaged when it was also announced that there would be a few spin-offs coming, but the more exciting news was who would be starring in those spin-offs. Today we are talking about the Maggie & Negan series, The Dead City! "The series follows Maggie and Nega...

Summer of 2023 was a pretty crazy time when it came to today's topic! Somehow this movie got intertwined with the Barbie movie, and though I'm not 100% sure why this happened, it was such a fine time for the movie industry! I don't want to say that Barbie made Oppenheimer the film that it was, but it definitely didn't hurt, and Oppenheimer is a killer good movie as well!! "During World War II, Lt....

It's time to go back to the year 2008 for today's pop culture classic pick! This pick came in from one of our awesome patreon supporters! We are of course talking about the cult classic film, Cloverfield! "As a group of New Yorkers (Michael Stahl-David, Mike Vogel, Odette Yustman) enjoy a going-away party, little do they know that they will soon face the most terrifying night of their lives. A cre...

There are many real deep nerd culture projects. These are projects that, while very well liked and guarded in our community, they generally tend to fly under the radar for the general public! Babylon 5 is one of those shows! We had the opportunity to interview J. Michael Straczynski during a round table, and speak to him about Babylon 5: The Road Home! "John Sheridan unexpectedly finds himself tra...

Today's episode is a little bit controversial. But only in the sense that it was almost universally disliked once it came out. Controversial because the graphics and CGI that were used, were WAY below what a $200 million movie should be putting out. We are of course talking about The Flash. "Worlds collide when the Flash uses his superpowers to travel back in time to change the events of the past....

Whether you love him or hate him, today's episode is pretty much all about Sam Jackson! This TV series may have been better served as a movie? But then again, we think a lot of movies should be TV series. Today', we're going to talk about Secret Invasion! "The core concept of Secret Invasion is undeniably fascinating. The Skrulls, a shape-shifting alien species, plan to take over Earth by stealing...

It's pop culture classic time!! We're going back to 2008 to talk about today's topic!! With five years under its belt, and a movie, this was definitely one of the most popular movies of the decade! We're talking about the drug filled series, Breaking Bad!! "Set in Albuquerque, New Mexico, between 2008 and 2010, Breaking Bad follows Walter White, a struggling, frustrated high school chemistry teach...

Whether you love it or hate it, the Star Wars universe continues to grow and grow, into the furthest parts of the Star Wars universe. Some of it is cannon, some being canonized, and some being taken out of cannon, and this splits the fandom in a ton of different opinions. Today's topic is no different, but we think that Ahsoka is a great part of this universe!! "Ahsoka Tano, the former Jedi appren...