EPISODE 195: 2008’s Box Office Countdown (10–6) – Iron, Espionage, Penguins, and Robots (ft. Robert Yaniz Jr. & DW Lundberg)
Episode Description: The countdown continues! Jason is joined by returning guests Robert Yaniz Jr. and DW Lundberg to tackle the back half of 2008’s top-grossing movies—where talking animals, malfunctioning robots, and emotionally exhausted spies battled it out for box office supremacy.
This batch has it all: MCU beginnings, Pixar magic, Bond reboot blues, and a certain talking lion who just can't catch a break.
Films Discussed:
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (6) – The animals are back and... still trying to get home.
Quantum of Solace (7) – Bond is brooding, brutal, and possibly bored.
Iron Man (8) – The movie that launched a universe (and Robert Downey Jr. into legend).
WALL·E (9) – A near-silent ode to love, loneliness, and environmental collapse.
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (10) – Slightly darker, slightly edgier, but did anyone notice?
IN THIS EPISODE:
Was Quantum of Solace an artistic casualty of the 2008 writers' strike?
How Iron Man became a bigger gamble than anyone remembers.
Why WALL·E might be Pixar’s boldest and most bittersweet gamble.
Robert, DW, and Jason try to answer the eternal question: "Who actually watched Prince Caspian?"
From Armored Avengers to existential robots, the back half of 2008’s top 10 is more influential than you might think.
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