Category Archives: X-Men

Episode 22: X-Men: The Last Stand

X-Men

This week on the podcast, author Laramie Dean joins me to talk about the 2006 mixed metaphor X-Men: The Last Stand! It’s the third effort in the X-Men film series, and it’s the story of what happens when the studio wants to make one movie, and the director and screenwriter want to make a different one.

As two plotlines collide, we ask the important questions: Why are powerful women always out of control? Can you actually tell the “Dark Phoenix” story in a movie? Is this a decent metaphor for queerness? and most importantly, What’s up with the kid who can change TV channels with his eyes?

The podcast is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Overcast, Audible and lots of other places. Come check it out!

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Episode 19: The New Mutants

The New Mutants, X-Men,

There’s an old Native American proverb that says: inside every person, there are two bears forever locked in combat for your soul. That doesn’t sound very likely, though, so I wouldn’t worry too much about it.

This week on the podcast, Becca Petunia from the Muppet fansite Tough Pigs joins me to talk about The New Mutants, the 2020 haunted hospital pic about five teenage supermutants who find themselves on the wrong end of a horror movie.

Now, making a horror movie about these X-babies is an extremely peculiar thing to do, because the protagonists can teleport, burst into flames, summon a magic sword and turn into a werewolf, which means they’re automatically the scariest thing in the room. But the film tries to make it happen, with spectacularly weird results. Come join me and Becca as we attempt to comprehend this mutant misfire.

The podcast is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Overcast, Audible and lots of other places. Come check it out!

A note for listeners: I’m now releasing new episodes every two weeks, instead of every week. That’s your chance to get caught up!

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Episode 17: X2: X-Men United

X-Men,

In a world where mainstream superhero movies are less political than films based on fashion dolls, it’s natural to wonder whether the genre has lost its edge. But back in the early 2000s, Fox’s X-Men series struck a blow for freedom, proudly standing up to defend the rights of the most dangerous people on the planet. Whether you can whip up devastating tornadoes, blow up police cars with an unending stream of fire, or suck the life out of everyone you touch — you deserve a place in society, without criticism or complaint.

That’s what we’re talking about this week on the Superheroes Every Day podcast, with the hilarious Stuart Gipp from the retro video games podcast Retronauts talking with me about Fox’s 2003 political thriller, X2: X-Men United! Join us as we discuss evolution, beehives and the importance of caution when you tattoo your own face.

The podcast is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Overcast, Audible and lots of other places. Come check it out!

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Episode 13: X-Men

X-Men,

Every few hundred millennia, apparently, evolution leaps forward, and we enter a new stage of human development. This next stage appears to be the one where thirteen-year-olds suddenly manifest the ability to walk through walls or suck the life force out of their boyfriends, and I suppose that makes them the new rulers of the Earth, somehow.

This week on the podcast, Trevor Bolliger and I take on the original uncanny giant-size mutant masterpiece, X-Men, where we try to make sense of these impossibly dangerous creatures, and their lunatic schemes to turn all of the world’s leaders into sticky Jell-O monsters.

The podcast is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Overcast, Audible and lots of other places. Come check it out!

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Episode 2: X-Men: First Class

X-Men, X-Men: First Class,

You know, things were a lot easier, back when you could tell whether someone was a Nazi or not a Nazi. Then X-Men: First Class came along, and all of a sudden, everything was on the table.

Luckily, this week, Trevor Bolliger and I dissect First Class, the 2011 violent rom-com about doomed romance on the high seas, and we try to make sense of this thrilling and utterly bizarre reboot.

We discuss Nazi coins, nuclear missiles, and most importantly: What is happening with women in this movie?

To make things easier for you, the podcast episodes are split into three parts according to the Syd Field three-act structure, and released separately over the course of the week. The episodes are fast, funny and full of surprises, and if you haven’t tried it yet, then my prediction is that you’ll love it.

The podcast is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Overcast, Audible, Stitcher and lots of other places. Welcome to my facility!

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The New Mutants 86.1: Control Control Control Control Control and Control

The New Mutants, X-Men,

So now I’ve got a new hobby/mission in life, which is to get really drunk and trash-talk all the terrible non-MCU Marvel movies on the film podcast The Signal Watch. In the latest episode, host Ryan Steans and I venture into the spooky haunted hospital of The New Mutants, the 2020 X-Men movie that you keep wondering if you should get around to watching at some point.

This is the story of five X-Teens trapped in a sinister prison orphanage mental hospital, unable to escape despite the fact that they are magnificent supermutants who could easily use their powers to wreck the place and run away. It’s the film that dares to tell the truth about how many bears there are inside you, and gives you step-by-step instructions on how to not do whatever the hell the spooky doctor who runs the institution is trying to achieve.

This movie has everything, including scolding therapy, hand puppets, lesbian romance, tambourines, a breathtakingly gorgeous naked dude, solitary confinement that looks exactly like their regular confinement, an inefficient email system, a guy who won’t shut up about working in the mines with his dad, and a cast of six annoying characters who fail at literally everything that they try to do.

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