Nerd Critic J.E. Petersen

Bottoms
Two straight white dudes in their 30s talking about two gay girls in high school.
I mean what else were you expecting.
But for serious, we really liked this movie, and if you saw it, or are thinking about seeing it, then this episode is for you.
And as always, hit us up at nerdcritic.substack.com. We’re always around.


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BARB/ENHEIMER
Pre-shownotes note: CJ sounds bad because he was recording on his airpods like a complete rube.
Actual shownotes:
* CJ does not complain about the giant corporation he works for
* Why #barbenheimer? (the marketing phenomenon)
* BARB/
* Disclaimer: we’re dudes, talking about a movie made maybe not for dudes
* Unsurprisingly, we loved Ryan G
* Big hits (production design, cast, some humor), big misses (…the rest?)
* What we should expect from a movie about a Mattel toy sponsored by Mattel
* You can’t speak truth to power when the power is funding your movie
* The third act culminates in an unearned sermon
* A token zoomer in a movie made by and for millennials
* Absurdism spins out of control without something to consistently ground it
* CJ mic drops on the haters
* /ENHEIMER
* On the merits of seeing a Christopher Nolan movie twice
* Jordan responds to CJ’s response to Jordan’s invitation to go see it with him for the 2nd time
* Masterclass in filmmaking, but…
* It’s too long, and too “important,” and not nearly entertaining enough
* Whole first hour feels like a montage
* Nolan loves his nonlinear storytelling, but his best films are his most linear
* What kinds of movies earn rewatches?
* A discussion of the film’s most unironically important scene
* The emotional core of the film is Robert Oppenheimer being cursed with existential guilt
* Special shoutout to Florence Pugh, who accomplishes a lot with a little
* Also Casey Affleck
* The visual conceits deployed to keep the audience oriented in space and time
* Nolan is a great, very fallible director
* An example of a director who understands how to conjure a truly great script: Denis Villeneuve
* Where does Oppenheimer fall in the pantheon of Nolan films?
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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nerdcritic.substack.com

This is the best action franchise ever created. No cap.
Listen we’re just gonna get right to the show notes because I worked really hard on them:
* In the banter: Nerding out about Harry Potter lego book sets + one day we will be Black Beard and Red Beard
* Would you like to know where this movie ranks in the M:I franchise? It's high. Very high.
* Drama sometimes slides into melodrama
* How this movie (and the other strongest entries) set up personal stakes
* Mourning the loss of a favorite character, and a sincere disagreement about how the loss was handled
* How to make a Car Chase feel fresh
* Cart sometimes pulling the horse, i.e. theme sometimes strong-arms plot
* The calculus of character death
* Hayley Atwell is luminous
* Ethan Hunt is the American James Bond
* Can this franchise continue without Tom Cruise? HINT NO
* That train sequence tho (or, how to make a Runaway Train feel fresh); homages to Jurassic World and...Toy Story 2
* Best comedy of the franchise?
* What Part 2 will have to do to be narratively successful
* Why this is best critically reviewed movie in the franchise
If you want the fullest and bestest experience, head on over to nerdcritic.substack.com


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nerdcritic.substack.com

Yeah, it’s late. Like, really late. We get it. Let’s maybe move on?
OK fine here’s what happened.
We went to see this movie opening day, then went back to see it a second time (in IMAX. Again.) and then recorded this episode a couple days later. We were on it.
And then I (Jordan) got reeeeeaaaaalllly busy. Too busy. Work, weddings, birthdays, travel, blah blah blah. This item on my to-do list:
* Edit and publish spiderman episode
got bumped day after day after day, until oh crap it’s been more than a month.
Which is really an unconscionable misstep on my part, because holy crap was this movie fantastic. We loved it so much that it almost ruins the episode, which is too long, too hyperbolic, and too scattered.
But I guess that what it’s like to be in love.
If you are also in love with this movie, join us! You’ll fit right in.
Notes!
* CJ’s sister-in-law thinks Jordan is a celebrity
* Meeting the directors outside the theater after
* How the style of this movie (and its predecessor) radically widened the scope of what studios are willing to do with animated movies
* Creative maximalism
* How grateful we are that theaters are dark enough to hide our tears
* Conjecturing a 17-year-old boy’s crush on Spider-Gwen
* The easter egg of all easter eggs
* And so much more!
Also this, which we referenced and promised to link to:
PS don’t be surprised if you see a couple more episodes drop real soon, here. There are like three movies we want to cover this month. At least. What a summer. What they call a good problem.


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nerdcritic.substack.com

CJ kicks us off with a story about a bunch of cops and a helicopter outside his apartment. Eventually, we get around to talking Guardians 3, which gives us plenty of goodies -- Chris Pratt's performance, Drax, a whole slew of "poster moments" -- but also tends toward excess and indulgence in plotting and emotional rule setting (and not keeping). We also discuss the potential future of the MCU, poster moments, the George Lucas effect, and the state of Disney's IP empire.
Some timestamps for ya:
[8:03] James Gunn's distinct style a breath of fresh air
[12:44] Can Gunn do DC?
[20:06] Ham-fisted jokes, and Chris Pratt's redemption
[24:12] Emotional rules! Why the first Guardians worked pretty well, and why this one maybe not quite so much.
[30:29] Even not-great movies can deliver some kind of emotional impact, but Marvel has been biffing it hard on this front for years now.
[00:33:25] Disney's precipitous decline is alarming and unusual. Are they OK over there? Someone should give them a call.
[00:38:26] The George Lucas effect.
Come find us at nerdcritic.substack.com


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nerdcritic.substack.com

Dungeons & Dragons & so on
The basic structure of Dungeons & Dragons lends itself perfectly to film adaptation. Why did it take so long to do this successfully? Probably because the first people who tried it all the way back in the year 2000 shat the bed, inspiring risk-averse studios to avoid the IP for 20 years.
Hallelujah! The curse is broken!
Listen in if you want to hear CJ nail the nerdery by pointing out all the RPG-lover easter eggs, while Jordan breaks down what makes the script so satisfying.
Also, tell your friends: Nerd Critic is going to be the biggest movie podcast in the world.
Soon, now. Very soon.
In the meantime, here's a link to a better movie podcast, if you're in the market.
Us, elsewhere:
CJ’s book on Amazon:https://a.co/d/8nqtUL2
(Jordan’s Substack):thedispatches.substack.com
(Jordan’s other Substack):bythebooks.substack.com
And as always…
If you have comments, questions, recommendations for future episodes — whatever! — please drop us a line. You can even send us an audio recording and we’ll almost certainly put it in the show. And then you’d be famous, which everyone knows is what you really want.


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nerdcritic.substack.com