Xanadu Cinema Pleasure Dome

We are still alive (somehow), so here is our report from Day 5 of Fantastic Fest 2016! In Ugandan terms, it is BEST OF DA BEST SUPA ACTION! Movies mentioned: Belief: The Possession of Janet Moses Age of Shadows The Arrival Bad Black Split A Dark Song People mentioned: Nabwana IGG (director of Bad Black) Alan Hofmanis (aka Commando Jesus, the American who made the pilgrimage to Wakaliwood) Lee Majo...

We’re still alive, dearest listeners, so we bring you our episode about Day 4 of Fantastic Fest 2016! Once again, we recorded from inside the festival, so you will hear plenty of background noise during this recording. Crowds, cars, and interruptions ahoy! Voices heard: Susana Soliz Barbara Kennedy Leigh Harris Movies mentioned: Fraud Khal Nayak Salt and Fire Miss Peregrine’s Home for...

Good morning, dear listeners! Here’s your daily dose of Fantastic Fest 2016! In this episode, we’re trying out the new portable microphone, so we recorded between movies from within the festival itself. You will hear a lot of ambient sounds, rambling, and interruptions, just like if you were actually there with us! You will also hear a slight crackle at a few spots, which seems to be t...

Hello again from Fantastic Fest 2016, dear listeners! Today we bring you our tales from Day 2 of the festival! Movies mentioned: Magadheera Sweet Sweet Lonely Girl The Autopsy of Jane Doe Toni Erdmann Bad Batch Age of Shadows The Girl with All the Gifts People mentioned: Erin Wilhelm (lead actress of Sweet Sweet Lonely Girl) Kim Jee-Woon (director of The Age of Shadows) Glenn Close Links: A good p...

Prepare yourselves, dear listeners, for a deluge of news from Fantastic Fest 2016! That’s right, just like last year, we will be posting daily from the film festival, bringing you the latest in genre film from around the world. Here’s our experiences with Day 1 of the fest! Movies mentioned: Johnny Guitar Why Don’t You Play in Hell Hell or High Water Aalavandhan Safe Neighborhood...

We are BACK! We are both in Austin, TX preparing for Fantastic Fest, so we decided to shake off the rust a bit and do a little pre-festival podcast about Ninotchka, which we both saw for the first time at the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz. We apologize for the echo-laden sound of this episode. We recorded in a carpeted room that should have been less echo-y than that. (Anyway, it’s just like old tim...

This week, dear listeners, we bring you an episode about Shane Black’s latest film, The Nice Guys! Even better, we recorded this with our Mississippi friends, Lisa Rucker and Jessica Griffis, right in the beautiful city of New Orleans! If you would like to drink along, we recommend either a hand grenade or a shark attack , because all drinks should come with drink toys. Show notes behind the...

This week, dear listeners, we return with guest Duck Washington for a conversation about science gone wrong in movies! We discuss many of our favorite sci-fi films in terms of ethics, real-life dilemmas, and copious amounts of wine. If you would like to drink along (and you very well might), we suggest either the classy Piattelli Vineyards Malbec or the ever-reliable Low Hanging Fruit Merlot Reser...

This week, dear listeners, we discuss the Liz Taylor/Richard Burton film adaptation of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? , which was released 50 years ago as of this June! Windy had never seen it before, so Melissa figured that it was about damned time . If you would like to drink along, we recommend WATER. That’s right. We both drank WATER for this episode, which is probably a first in...

Dear listeners, this week we are joined by David Tyler McKay for an episode full of nerdlove for Captain America: Civil War! We start off with a few minutes of spoiler-free territory, then plunge straight into the Spoiler Zone, so you’ll probably want to see the movie before listening to the episode. If you would like to drink along, we recommend either Bushmills Irish Whiskey (Melissa&#8217...

Dear listeners, this week, we are joined by guest star Paul Comeau for an episode about master documentarian, Errol Morris! Paul was a former cohost of The Geek Life podcast alongside Melissa, so this is a reunion of sorts. Also, Errol Morris is awesome. If you would like to drink along, we recommend picking up a bottle of Lambrusco (Windy’s pick) or pre-Prohibition cocktails crafted out of...

This week, dear listeners, we bring you a completely self-indulgent episode about our movie-themed weddings! That’s right: Melissa just got married a few weeks ago in a very nerdy fashion, and Windy also had a nerd wedding when she got married, so we just talk about all that for an hour. We promise that there is far more talk about swords and Godzilla than flower arrangements or color themes...

This week, dear listeners, we have far too much fun discussing RACISM IN MOVIES, because our special guest star is the delightful Duck Washington ! Duck is an actor and writer who recently created  Caucasian-Aggressive Pandas and Other Mulatto Tales , a stage show about his experience growing up mixed-race, so he has a few things to say about racism. If you would like to drink along, we recommend...

We have a treat for you this week, dear listeners, as we invite special guest star Alee Ellingsberg of Reel Education: Noir to join us for an episode about ASYLUM FILMS! And by Asylum Films, we mean the production house that has given us things like Atlantic Rim, Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies,  and Sharknado . If you would like to drink along, we recommend Santiago Station Cabernet Sauvignon (if you...

We return victorious this week, dear family , with an episode about The Fast and the Furious series! We are joined by Alamo Drafthouse denizen Luke Mullen for this in-depth squeefest about our favorite car-smashing soap opera, as Windy describes her thoughts and feelings after seeing all of the films for the first time. If you would like to join us in drinking… well, we did it wrong. No matt...

This week, dear listeners, guest star Jerry Belich returns to share stories about movie sweding! That’s right: Jerry and Melissa tell backstage stories about making silly YouTube videos! (If you are not familiar with the term “sweding”, it refers to making your own homemade version of your favorite movies. The term comes from the Michel Gondry film, Be Kind Rewind , which tells t...

This week, dear listeners, we bring you a magical double-feature episode about the two magician movies that came out in 2006: The Prestige and The Illusionist! (Okay, there was a third one in the same year, but did anyone really see Scoop?) For this episode, we are joined once again by super special guest star, Fes Works ! If you would like to drink along, we recommend the following (not necessari...

This week, dear listeners, we bring you an episode about musicals that Windy hates! That’s right, there are several classic musicals that Windy can’t get behind, and we dig into them here! But here at Xanadu Cinema Pleasure Dome, we prefer to love movies and not hate them, so we also bring to you an assortment of great musicals that you can watch instead. This episode was recorded back...

Dear listeners, it is time for our seventh Off-Topic Extravaganza! That’s right, the episode number is a multiple of 15, which means this episode is entirely constructed of outtakes from the previous 14 episodes. These clips were sliced out because of time constraints, irrelevance, and/or inebriation, but we felt we could still put them to some good use. During the course of the episode, you...

Dear listeners, we return to you this week with the second half of our XanaCineHoliday Extravaganza! That’s right — Windy, Melissa, and Pat Wick all spent an entire day in movie theaters, and they bring tales of current movies for your ears. If you would like to catch up with Windy’s garrulous inebriation, we recommend Yellowtail Sangria. Show notes behind the cut! Movies mention...

This week, dear listeners, we are joined by Pat Wick for a two-part extravaganza about current movies, because this is our XanaCineHoliday Special! Windy, Melissa, and Pat all spent an entire day in theaters in three different cities, and they all lived to tell about it. (Bonus: if you’re the type of person who likes to try to guess the Oscars, the end of this episode contains 20 minutes abo...

This week, dear listeners, we bring you the second half of our B-Fest 2016 rundown! Kelvin Hatle of the Get Off My World podcast returns to help Melissa relay tales of joy and horror. If you would like to drink along, we’re still drinking what we had last week: New Glarus Staghorn Octoberfest, Green River soda, and HEB sparkling water with sake. (Separately. Not mixed together.) Show notes b...

This week, dear listeners, is the first half of our B-Fest 2016 report! Melissa ventured off to Chicago with Kelvin Hatle to watch 24 straight hours of B movies, and so now you can hear the two of them tell tales of dumbfoundedness while Windy happily drinks! If you would like to drink along, we heartily recommend New Glarus Staghorn Octoberfest (Kelvin’s pick), Green River soda (Melissa&#82...

Dear listeners, we have made it to EPISODE 100! Be prepared to pump power by the hour, because this episode is all about an apex predator of bad movies: the glorious 1980 musical trainwreck, The Apple! For this momentous occasion, we have been joined by former guests Pat Harrigan (from the Get Off My World podcast ) and Eric Knight (of Vilification Tennis fame). Together, we surge with joy about t...

This week, we are joined by game designer Jerry Belich for an episode about The Neverending Story! Join us as we revisit this classic from childhood and realize that we have so very many questions. If you would like to drink along, feel free to grab some Yellowtail Cabernet Sauvignon (Windy’s pick), 12 year old Glenlivet (Jerry’s pick), or Cheerwine (Melissa’s non-alcoholic pick)...