
Hosted by The Nextlander Watchcast · EN

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) - The Nextlander Watchcast Episode 178: Class Action Park (2020)(00:00:43) - Intro.(00:04:00) - Class Action Park is Vinny's pick this month, and here's why.(00:10:37) - How this podcast is going to go, generally, and our own personal experiences with local theme parks.(00:20:57) - How the hell was this allowed to go on for so long?(00:27:04) - Break!(00:27:32) - We're back, and it's time to talk about who made this movie, and who some of the folks speaking in it are.(00:32:11) - Kicking things off with who Gene Mulvihill was. and how he came to own this place. (00:36:26) - The Action Park complex, and the rides that didn't work out.(00:46:42) - Some of the rides that lasted the duration, and the Lord of the Flies situation going on here.(00:56:02) - The deadliest kayak experience this side of the Colorado.(00:57:31) - The wave pool deaths.(01:05:49) - Motorworld, and George Larsson's death on the Alpine Slide.(01:14:52) - How Gene Mulvihill dodged consequences.(01:24:05) - What became of Action Park, and what, if anything, is there to be learned from all this?(01:46:12) - Final thoughts.(01:53:26) - Our film for next week: Harlan County, USA!(01:56:18) - Outro.

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 Burn After Reading!(00:05:36) - On the movie's overall tone, it's cynicism, and how it treats its characters.(00:21:14) - How this movie came into the world.(00:29:03) - Break!(00:29:24) - We're back, and it's time to handle the most important political issue of our time: HR violations at the CIA.(00:36:38) - Katie, and the Pfarrers.(00:44:52) - Osborne's explosive memoirs (and exploding marriage).(00:51:32) - Linda arrives, and she wants some work done.(01:00:49) - The discovery of top secret shit.(01:07:22) - The master plan begins.(01:15:56) - We gotta get these two crazy kids together.(01:18:34) - The drop, and the Russians become involved.(01:24:40) - No one ever expects the adult novelty chair, and the fall of Osborne Cox.(01:31:36) - Things escalate, to say the least.(01:36:07) - JK Simmons is here to say what we're all thinking.(01:41:16) - Everyone and everything becomes unwound.(01:57:55) - What did we learn?(02:03:58) - Final thoughts.(02:09:21) - Housekeeping for the remaining May movies.(02:13:01) - Outro.

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.(00:08:19) - Some initial impressions, and how Raising Arizona got made.(00:21:09) - On the subject of Randall "Tex" Cobb.(00:25:43) - A brief bit on Trey Wilson.(00:27:05) - On the movie's success and reception (and also a lengthy Siskel and Ebert bit).(00:33:11) - Break!(00:33:31) - We're back, and it's time for Hi and Ed's whirlwind romance.(00:43:32) - Taking your pick of the Arizona Quints.(00:52:42) - Our new nuclear family, and the Snoats brothers come calling.(01:01:47) - The demon biker first appears, and Nathan Jr. is discovered missing.(01:07:57) - The true horror of the nuclear family is revealed.(01:15:09) - One of the all-time great failed hold-ups in cinema.(01:18:04) - The bank robbery is pitched, and Junior's origins are discovered by unsavory types.(01:29:59) - Hi and Ed are nearly done, and the bank robbery pops off.(01:33:10) - All forces converge on Nathan Jr.(01:36:47) - Hi and Ed make things right, and a (potential) vision of the future.(01:44:05) - Final thoughts, and various other Cage musings.(01:53:42) - Our final Coens movie for this lineup: Burn After Reading!(01:55:47) - Outro.

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) - Our movie this week: The Hudsucker Proxy!(00:10:49) - How this movie got made, and discussion of its ill box office fortunes.(00:25:03) - Break!(00:25:26) - We're back, and it's time to tell the tale of Norville Barnes.(00:35:04) - Everything's going great at Hudsucker Industries, until it isn't.(00:40:04) - Let's hatch a stock scam.(00:44:22) - Mailroom mayhem, and the introduction of the Blue Letter.(00:57:17) - A perfect patsy is born, but one ace reporter smells a bunko scam.(01:05:20) - A fabricated meet-cute at the diner, and Amy becomes a Muncie gal.(01:10:20) - Taking a letter, and the fancy dress ball.(01:21:02) - The dawn of the extruded plastic dingus.(01:28:29) - The stock scam is in shambles, and Norville is tripping on his own dingus.(01:32:20) - Norville's dancing dreams, and the downfall.(01:42:25) - Long way down (one more thing).(01:54:14) - The epilogue, and our final thoughts.(02:02:13) - Our film for next week is a killer one: Raising Arizona!(02:03:48) - Outro.

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) - Intro(00:02:53) - It took us longer than we expected to get back, but we're finally here. Now, on a totally unrelated subject, let's talk about The Odyssey.(00:09:17) - The music, and some chatter about our main cast.(00:16:46) - Some last production notes.(00:23:32) - What was our familiarity with this one prior to this watch?(00:27:01) - Break!(00:30:01) - The blind seer's prophecy, and a night on the farm.(00:40:41) - A genuine geographical oddity, and the dreamiest Baptism you ever did see.(00:43:43) - Meeting Tommy at the Crossroads, and singin' into a can.(00:54:19) - Money talk around the campfire, and the introduction of Babyface.(01:04:55) - The sirens, a toad, and Big Dan.(01:13:17) - Homer Stokes, the Wharvey gals, and the pater familias.(01:21:59) - Reuniting with Pete, and rescuing Tommy from the klan.(01:30:11) - Everything converges at the music hall.(01:37:34) - Babyface's fate, and one last challenge to overcome.(01:44:41) - The McGills reunited.(01:46:10) - Final thoughts.(01:49:45) - Next week's movie: The Hudsucker Proxy!(01:51:57) - Outro.

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)(00:00:45) - Intro.(00:02:46) - Our personal histories with the Talking Heads, if we have them.(00:10:36) - Brad has a couple of questions.(00:14:38) - A little bit of history about the band.(00:33:45) - How the film came to be.(00:41:13) - The touring musicians who help make this show so dynamic.(00:48:37) - Break!(00:48:58) - We're back, and we're kicking things off with Psycho Killer.(00:54:52) - Heaven is a place where nothing ever happens.(01:02:33) - Jerry Harrison Found a Job.(01:04:49) - (Mostly) The full backing crew arrives for Slippery People.(01:06:19) - A song from the extended edition, Cities.(01:08:40) - Burning Down the House.(01:12:32) - The incredible performance of Life During Wartime.(01:17:54) - Making Flippy Floppy.(01:20:06) - Swampin' it up.(01:22:30) - What a Day That Was.(01:24:21) - This Must Be the Place (Naive Podcasters)(01:27:43) - This is not my beautiful Watchcast!(01:30:07) - Big Business / I Zimbra(01:32:40) - The Tom Tom Club takeover.(01:35:08) - BIG SUIT (also featuring Girlfriend Is Better).(01:39:30) - Take Me to the River.(01:43:42) - Closing out with Crosseyed and Painless.(01:46:57) - Final thoughts.(01:56:35) - Housekeeping for next month.(02:00:35) - Outro.

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 is.CHAPTERS:(00:00:00) - The Nextlander Watchcast Episode 172: Annihilation (2018)(00:00:26) - Intro.(00:04:06) - Brad's pick is up this week, and he has chosen Annihilation!(00:08:50) - Talking about the book, Alex Garland, and how he set about adapting this story.(00:16:48) - On the production, and the trouble it ran into pre-release.(00:27:02) - The flashback.(00:38:23) - This is not my beautiful house. This is not my beautiful wife. How did I get here?(00:42:35) - Break!(00:42:54) - We're back, and it's time for our first look at the Shimmer.(00:53:28) - Meeting the squad.(00:59:34) - Time becomes immediately weird.(01:03:11) - The mutations start to become apparent.(01:15:33) - Video logs and environmental storytelling.(01:24:24) - Another flashback in a flashback, and the bear makes its first appearance.(01:33:44) - They find Cassie, then they find some tree people.(01:42:50) - Sometimes you eat the bear, sometimes the bear absorbs your consciousness at the moment of grim death.(01:52:28) - Josie becomes one with the field.(01:56:59) - That lighthouse is messed up.(02:07:51) - The titular line.(02:13:13) - Dancing with...myself?(02:26:20) - Are you you? Am I me?(02:30:59) - Final thoughts.(02:37:57) - Housekeeping for next week's movie: Stop Making Sense!(02:41:21) - Outro.

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 Nextlander Watchcast Episode 171: Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)(00:00:13) - Intro, and immediately launching into our personal experiences with tabletop gaming.(00:13:41) - Initial thoughts about the movie.(00:19:14) - How this movie (finally) got made.(00:32:34) - The tonal tightrope this movie walks.(00:38:53) - Meeting our Bard and Barbarian in a frozen prison.(00:50:58) - Break!(00:51:19) - We're back, the gang is out of prison, and it's time to head to Neverwinter.(01:01:46) - Time to (re)form the party (and a sidebar about hidden effects shots).(01:14:37) - Scoping out the red wizard's security.(01:19:24) - The Helm of Solving This Specific Problem.(01:25:24) - Waking the dead.(01:29:12) - The most paladin paladin who ever paladin'd.(01:37:08) - To the Underdark.(01:49:19) - Attunement is a real pain in the ass.(01:57:03) - Doing some magical heisting.(02:04:22) - Surviving the games.(02:13:33) - A real life party might've made off with the treasure, but that's not a good movie ending.(02:23:23) - Saving Holga, and keeping the party together.(02:27:56) - Final thoughts.(02:34:51) - Housekeeping for the rest of this month's movies.(02:40:27) - Outro.

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: Sexy Beast (2000)(00:01:20) - Intro.(00:03:05) - Our final February film for 2026: Sexy Beast!(00:10:57) - How this movie got made.(00:20:58) - Our extremely British cast.(00:26:14) - Sweating, baking, boiling, things of that nature.(00:35:02) - Break!(00:35:26) - We're back, and so is Don Logan.(00:44:10) - The plan.(00:52:00) - Yes. No. Yes. No. Yes! Yes! Yes!(01:06:38) - Don leaves, and then doesn't.(01:14:04) - Onto the heist, but what of Don?(01:24:54) - These are the true heirs to the Wet Bandits moniker. (01:31:03) - Shooting off, are we?"(01:36:52) - Gal survives to suntan another day.(01:39:03) - Final thoughts.(01:44:12) - Housekeeping for next month and next week's movie.(01:45:48) - Outro.

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.CHAPTERS:(00:00:00) - The Nextlander Watchcast Episode 169: Fargo (1996)(00:00:15) - Intro.(00:01:18) - What the boys knew about Fargo going in, and how Alex first saw it.(00:10:03) - Some broader Coens talk.(00:17:20) - Cast chat.(00:30:18) - Launching down a snowy highway into the movie proper.(00:46:52) - Wade and Jerry are not exactly aligned.(00:51:07) - Break!(00:51:27) - We're back, and it's time for a kidnapping.(01:06:37) - The plan is in motion, but it's about to hit its first homicidal snag.(01:11:48) - Marge is on the case.(01:19:24) - This is Jerry's deal.(01:25:32) - Marge meets some ladies.(01:27:00) - The Yanagita Affair, and a few other assorted scenes.(01:32:22) - Jerry's getting cut out of his own kidnapping, and Carl endures many indignities.(01:44:11) - The drop goes bad.(01:50:47) - Here are some guys talking, and Carl buries the money.(01:59:32) - Jerry flees the interview, Jean is dispatched, and Carl gets Gaear'd.(02:09:33) - Chipper Cop Finds Man in Wood Chipper.(02:15:46) - Jerry's undignified end, and one last moment with Marge and Norm.(02:23:27) - Final thoughts.(02:27:31) - Housekeeping for our final film of the month: Sexy Beast!(02:30:12) - Outro.