Talking SMAC: Superheroes, Movies, Animation & Comics

The DCU launches its first theatrically released entry. Has James Gunn captured the Superman magic we've been longing for? Or has Gunn missed the mark? 

• Intro/Josh's grown up purchases (0:00)
• Josh's war with Comcast update (3:53)
• 2 Blokes from Blighty promo (5:55)
• The sass is strong with Matt (star of the show) and Alex (6:51)
• Non-spoiler Superman thoughts (8:35)
• Is Superman a Must-See or Pass? (19:19)
• Spoiler review of Superm...

*Sigh* It's another Jurassic Park/World movie. Does it recapture the magic of the first movie? Does it hit the action movie highs of Jurassic World? Or is it just another gash in the legacy that is the original film? Josh and Alex debate. 

• Intro/Alex Re-writes history (0:00)
• Josh's deal with the devil (aka Comcast) (2:30)
• Super Familiar with the Wilsons promo (9:51)
• Jurassic World Rebirth full spoilers (10:19)
• Social Media Plu...

Josh and Alex discuss their favorite movies that help them relive that summer blockbuster feeling

• Intro (0:00)
• John Stamos and the Beach Boys (2:19)
• Sugar Coated Murder Promo (4:29)
• M3GAN 2.0 blind review (5:25)
• Feels-Like-Summer Movies honorable mentions (6:02)
• Jaws (7:27)
• What About Bob? (9:11)
• Armageddon (11:23)
• Happy Gilmore (15:02)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl (17:15)
...

Josh and Alex are joined by the Lovely Dan from Casting Views and Gaming Views to discuss the sleeper hit game; Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

• Intro (0:00)
• Alex, meet The Lovely Dan. The Lovely Dan, meet Alex (2:27)
• No On 15! Allcast promo (7:15)
• Alex's mistake in the Blockbuster Fantasy Draft resurfaces (8:28)
• Clair Obscur Expedition 33 talk begins (9:40)
• How did Alex learn about the game? (12:02)
• Expedition 33 ...

Josh & Alex review the latest entry in the Predator franchise; the animated feature Predator: Killer of Killers

• Intro (0:00)
• Father's Day for Josh (0:54)
• Sports: Steelers, Banana ball, playoff hockey (1:34)
• How to Train Your Dragon (8:34)
• The Movie Wire podcast promo (11:21)
• Our 2025 Box Office predictions are terrible, allegedly (11:37)
• Predator: Killer of Killers review (16:30)
• The Shield: VIKINGS! (18:20)
• The Shield: Sa...

Josh is joined by Gregg Beever; 1/3 of the I Have Some Notes crew, to review and discuss the themes from season 2 of the Star Wars spin-off series from Tony Gilroy; Andor

*SPOILERS AHEAD!

• Intro and chit chat with Gregg (0:00)
• Game Club Pod promo (6:02)
• Josh challenges the Game Club pod (6:46)
• Andor season 2 discussion begins (8:18)
• Andor introduces the BBY system to general audiences (10:49)
• How did we feel about the four 3-ep...

Josh pulled a Stitchion Impossible and did a double feature of Lilo & Stitch, as well as Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (Alex only saw the later.)

• Intro (0:00)
• Lilo & Stitch (6:15)
• Cultworthy promo (24:58)
• Alex is mad and then we go down a bad Smurfs rabbit hole (25:40)
• Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (32:54)
• Goodbyes and social media plugs (1:04:56)

Please remember to check out the Cultworth...

We celebrate 200 episodes of Talking SMAC with a special live recording at our favorite hometown nerd shop: Cataclysm Games and Collectibles!

• Intro (0:00)
• Let's meet Doug from Cataclysm Games & Collectibles! (1:32)
• Hemanstarfox joins the group! (5:14)
• Kicking things off with an AMA question (6:20)
• Rocket Racoon vs Legolas (7:01)
• Marvel Rivals tangent about Jeff the Landshark (8:29)
• Back to Rocket Racoon vs Legolas (10:50)
• ...

Josh and Alex bring dream pitches for projects they'd love to bring to life if they had the means

• Intro (0:00)
• Casting Views Promo (7:13)
• *Pitch Meeting disclaimer (8:05)
• Josh forgot a big nitpick from last week’s review (10:25)
• Alex pitches a ‘House of Leaves’ adaptation (11:37)
• Josh has questions about Alex's pitch (24:58)
• Casting...

The MCU machine churns on. Now it's time to see what Marvel's reinterpretation of the Thunderbolts team looks like within their connected universe. 

• Intro (0:00)
• 2 Blokes from Blighty promo (7:28)
• The trailers in front of Thunderbolts* are all over the place (9:19)
• I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025) looks dumb for all the wrong reasons (10:04)
• Back to the trailers (13:14)
• Non-spoiler 'Thunderbolts*' time! (15:08)
• Josh's is...

Josh and Alex talk about the stuff they're doing away from the pod!

• Intro (0:00)
• WrestleMania 41 thoughts (4:17)
• Alex Hates Movie Runtimes (11:35)
• Super Familiar with the Wilsons Promo (26:01)
• What'cha doin? (26:29)
• Until Dawn movie (27:25)
• Inheritance Cycle (37:01)
• Path of Exile 2 (43:47)
• Frieren: Beyond Journeys End (50:22)
• Ghosts season 4 (58:05)
• Goodbyes (1:10:34)

Please remember to check out the Super Familiar with ...

Josh & Alex have had a lot of stuff they wanted to cover for the pod, so we're gonna blitz review five of them! 

• Intro (0:22)
• Sugar Coated Murder Promo (4:10)
• Accents and good dialects in movies (4:33)
• Sinners (8:14)
• I May Be a Guild Receptionist, but I’ll Solo Any Boss to Clock Out On Time (19:46)
• Solo Leveling (25:31)
• The Pitt...

Josh and Alex are joined by the incredible Hemanstarfox to preview the upcoming WrestleMania event from WWE pitting the heel John Cena against the American Nightmare, Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE championship as the main event for the two-night wrestling extravaganza! 

• Intro (0:00)
• Hemanstarfox is in the house! (0:54)
• How'd we find ourselves enjoying pro wrestling? (6:00)
• No On 15! Allcast promo (20:25)
• Hemanstarfox's ta...

Josh & Alex are joined by the dynamic duo from the Balcony; Antonio & Justin from Back 2 the Balcony (and The Cultworthy and The Movie Wire) to talk about their impressions of the documentary centered around the creation of A Goofy Movie; Not Just a Goof

You can find Back 2 the Balcony on YouTube here

You can listen to the Movie Wire and The Cultworthy 

You can find the episode of The Cultworthy where a very tired Josh revi...

Josh is joined by Matt to discuss the implications of the Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse and upcoming MCU Spider-Man movie news announced during CinemaCon. They also discuss the Switch 2 announcement. 

• Intro (0:00)
• 'Beyond the Spider-Verse' has a release date! (1:30)
• The next MCU Spider-Man movie has a title and release date! (7:46)
• The Movie Wire promo (14:57)
• The biggest thing to remember with any new system announcemen...

Alex and Justin examine the Russo brothers' filmography post-Avengers Endgame to try to figure out if they're true auteurs, or if they just fit really well into the MCU machine.

• Intro/Josh and the blustery day (0:00)
• The Popeye slasher film that Justin's already seen (0:53)
• The Russo brothers pre-MCU filmography (3:46)
• Game Club Pod promo (9:34)
• Justin's take on the Russo's MCU entries so far (11:05)
• Post-Marvel Russo bros pro...