Movies We Dig | Film, Antiquity and Everything in Between

Movies We Dig
  • 5.0 (20)
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Is it a movie podcast? Is it a history podcast? Is it an unholy union of the two? Short answer: yes!Each episode, hosts Colin MacCormack, Elijah Fleming and Christie Vogler break down a new movie about Greece, Rome or the wider ancient world and what works (or doesn’t work) about them. But this isn’t a podcast for nitpicking historical inaccuracies. Rather, it’s a chance to get hot takes on Hollywood films from professional nerds/academics and take a closer look at the relation between our movies and our pasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. Gods of Egypt (2016), with Julia Troche

    5D AGO

    Gods of Egypt (2016), with Julia Troche

    Maybe, like, the fourth or fifth best entry in the Transformers series? Yes we're talking Gods of Egypt (2016) a... film. Joining us is extra special guest, Dr. Julia Troche, who is here to help educate us on ancient Egyptian mythology and the many hidden benefits of lettuce. We talk gods, Egypt, robots, forced-perspective, arm workout routines and much more. Listen now or you'll need to spend money to get into the afterlife and a giant cosmic snake will devour your soul! To learn more about Julia's work with The American Research Center in Egypt Missouri Chapter visit ARCEMO.org. You can also stay up-to-date with her research by following @profjuliatroche on Instagram. If you would like to check out some of Dr. Troche's writing, here's an article on Letters to the Dead. Or if you would like to check out her book, Death, Power, and Apotheosis in Ancient Egypt, use this link. In unfortunate news, the University of Iowa recently proposed that the Classical Languages major--a major focused on the study of Ancient Greek and Latin--be eliminated later this year. If, like us, you care deeply about the study of Ancient Greek and Latin and want the University of Iowa’s proud tradition of teaching these languages to continue, join us in demanding that the University of Iowa abandon its proposal to eliminate the Classical Languages major. If you would like to help support the campaign to save Classical languages at the University of Iowa, please do so at here via the Change.org petition. As always, if you like what you hear, please be sure to rate, review, and subscribe to the show! Stay up-to-date on all the Movies We Dig news by visiting movieswedig.com or checking out our socials. Movies We Dig is also part of Mnemosyne: The Memory Collective, a podcast network and creator collective for historians, archaeologists, artists, and other creators and educators dedicated to sharing content about and featuring the ancient world that is accurate, accessible, and inclusive. To learn more about the collective and its contributors, check out collectivemem.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 39m
  2. Percy Jackson & The Olympians, Season 2 (2025), with Lexie Henning

    FEB 20

    Percy Jackson & The Olympians, Season 2 (2025), with Lexie Henning

    If ever a series made us feel our age, it's this one! Once again, we return to Rick Riordan's fantastical world of teenage demi-gods with Disney's second season of Percy Jackson & The Olympians. Since your hosts are lost at sea when it comes to this series, we called upon a true aficionado and fellow Mnemosyne member, Lexie Henning, to help us navigate the world of prophecies and Party Ponies. Inevitably we find ourselves moored in discussion of early 2000s YA novels and their pitfalls. In the end, the sirens reveal to us the fatal flaw of adapting such tomes to the screen: No one is truly satisfied trying to relive the childhood memories of generations past. To learn more about Lexie and her work with The Ozymandias Project, visit www.ozymandiasproject.com. You can also follow Lexie on her socials at Instagram and Bluesky. If you would like to read the op-ed essay mentioned in this episode, you can access a free copy via this link. As always, if you like what you hear, please be sure to rate, review, and subscribe to the show! Stay up-to-date on all the Movies We Dig news by visiting movieswedig.com or checking out our socials. Movies We Dig is also part of Mnemosyne: The Memory Collective, a podcast network and creator collective for historians, archaeologists, artists, and other creators and educators dedicated to sharing content about and featuring the ancient world that is accurate, accessible, and inclusive. To learn more about the collective and its contributors, check out collectivemem.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    2h 1m

  3. FEB 6

    10,000 BC (2008), with David S. Anderson

    Grab your spears, grow out your dreads and get ready to hunt some mammoth because we're going back, waaaay back to 2008 and 10,000 BC, Roland Emmerich's stealth prequel to Stargate. And what conversation about Stone Age tribes battling Atlantean Pyramid Enthusiasts (Aliens?) would be complete without our resident pseudo-archaeology expert, David S. Anderson. We talk mammoth hunting strategies, megafauna, why farming was a mistake and all walks of conspiracy theories from star-aligned pyramids to Shakespeare-wasn't-real. If you would like to learn more about David and stay updated about his research and tabletop card game Excavation!, then follow him on his social media pages at Facebook, Instagram, and Bluesky. As always, if you like what you hear, please be sure to rate, review, and subscribe to the show! Stay up-to-date on all the Movies We Dig news by visiting movieswedig.com or checking out our socials. Movies We Dig is also part of Mnemosyne: The Memory Collective, a podcast network and creator collective for historians, archaeologists, artists, and other creators and educators dedicated to sharing content about and featuring the ancient world that is accurate, accessible, and inclusive. To learn more about the collective and its contributors, check out collectivemem.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 39m
  4. Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft, Season 2 (2025)

    JAN 23

    Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft, Season 2 (2025)

    As part of our "Unfinished Business" season, we return to the Netflix animated series Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft. It wouldn't surprise the three of us to learn that you might have missed the second (and final) season of this series, but we spend a good chunk of time discussing why that may have been the case. So let's all dive in to the story of a tomb raider turned repatriation advocate and help stop a random tech billionaire from forcing the world into a hard reboot. Hmmm, prescient. As always, if you like what you hear, please be sure to rate, review, and subscribe to the show! Stay up-to-date on all the Movies We Dig news by visiting movieswedig.com or checking out our socials. As always, if you like what you hear, please be sure to rate, review, and subscribe to the show! Stay up-to-date on all the Movies We Dig news by visiting movieswedig.com or checking out our socials. Movies We Dig is also part of Mnemosyne: The Memory Collective, a podcast network and creator collective for historians, archaeologists, artists, and other creators and educators dedicated to sharing content about and featuring the ancient world that is accurate, accessible, and inclusive. To learn more about the collective and its contributors, check out collectivemem.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 22m
  5. Hail, Caesar! (2016)

    JAN 9

    Hail, Caesar! (2016)

    Ancient Rome. MWD's podcasts are masters of the world, the heat of its takes heard from the Iberian peninsula in the west through the halls of the great library of Alexandria in the east. As oppressed people everywhere writhe under the Roman lash, freeman and vassal are united in one compulsory listenership. But there is a new wind, exploring this Cohen Brothers' 2016 comedy on the eccentric personalities here at Capitol Pictures. We talk sword and sandal cinema, the Red Scare, Jesus, Marxism, split nature of man, and more, all of course with extreme taste and panache. Would that it were so simple... As always, if you like what you hear, please be sure to rate, review, and subscribe to the show! Stay up-to-date on all the Movies We Dig news by visiting movieswedig.com or checking out our socials. As always, if you like what you hear, please be sure to rate, review, and subscribe to the show! Stay up-to-date on all the Movies We Dig news by visiting movieswedig.com or checking out our socials. Movies We Dig is also part of Mnemosyne: The Memory Collective, a podcast network and creator collective for historians, archaeologists, artists, and other creators and educators dedicated to sharing content about and featuring the ancient world that is accurate, accessible, and inclusive. To learn more about the collective and its contributors, check out collectivemem.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 60m
  6. The Eagle (2011), with Roel Konijnendijk

    12/26/2025

    The Eagle (2011), with Roel Konijnendijk

    Once again, we sift through our backlog of episodes to take another look at a mostly forgotten film, this time with fresh eyes and new takes. What we find is a film about a Roman legionary that is actually, dare we say, good!? Joining us on the journey to find The Eagle is special return guest, Roel Konijnendijk. From a Roman military fortress to the wilds of Scotland, we discuss the charm of this underrated film. While it has a few problematic elements, one can't help but root for the budding "bromance" between Channing Tatum's Marcus Aquila and Jamie Bell's Esca as they travel together to restore their honor. And really, isn't the eagle just the friends we made along the way? Be sure to follow Roel on Bluesky and read his posts as Iphikrates on r/askhistorians. As always, if you like what you hear, please be sure to rate, review, and subscribe to the show! Stay up-to-date on all the Movies We Dig news by visiting movieswedig.com or checking out our socials. Movies We Dig is also part of Mnemosyne: The Memory Collective, a podcast network and creator collective for historians, archaeologists, artists, and other creators and educators dedicated to sharing content about and featuring the ancient world that is accurate, accessible, and inclusive. To learn more about the collective and its contributors, check out collectivemem.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 30m
  7. Frankenstein (2025), with Marina Escolano-Poveda

    12/12/2025

    Frankenstein (2025), with Marina Escolano-Poveda

    Chug your milk, don your ruffled shirts and get ready to shoot lightning bolts through your lymphatic system because we're re-animating Guillermo del Toro' latest creature-feature: Frankenstein (2025). Returning to play god with us is Dr. Marina Escolano-Poveda, Senior Lecturer in Classics, Ancient History and Egyptology at the University of Liverpool. We talk the horrors of science, the sins of the father(s) and the benefits of a classical education for developing Creatures, along with all the changes, big and small, between del Toro's adaptation and Mary Shelley's 1818 novel. Be sure to follow Marina on Instagram under the handle @hypatiaheuresis. As always, if you like what you hear, please be sure to rate, review, and subscribe to the show! Stay up-to-date on all the Movies We Dig news by visiting movieswedig.com or checking out our socials. As always, if you like what you hear, please be sure to rate, review, and subscribe to the show! Stay up-to-date on all the Movies We Dig news by visiting movieswedig.com or checking out our socials. Movies We Dig is also part of Mnemosyne: The Memory Collective, a podcast network and creator collective for historians, archaeologists, artists, and other creators and educators dedicated to sharing content about and featuring the ancient world that is accurate, accessible, and inclusive. To learn more about the collective and its contributors, check out collectivemem.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 42m
  8. Ben-Hur (2016)

    11/28/2025

    Ben-Hur (2016)

    The holidays are upon us, so we figured it was a good time to delve into a remake of a remake that nobody really asked for. That's right, we're talking about 2016's Ben-Hur! And sorry to say, this one might have sent your hosts off the rails. We discuss the major changes from the 1959 film, including Messala's backstory, the inciting incident that destroys the Ben-Hur family, and the interesting choice to cut Judah's trip to Rome. What do we learn? Mario Kart rules apply to chariot racing and the Pope gets a lot of interesting asks. As always, if you like what you hear, please be sure to rate, review, and subscribe to the show! Stay up-to-date on all the Movies We Dig news by visiting movieswedig.com or checking out our socials. As always, if you like what you hear, please be sure to rate, review, and subscribe to the show! Stay up-to-date on all the Movies We Dig news by visiting movieswedig.com or checking out our socials. Movies We Dig is also part of Mnemosyne: The Memory Collective, a podcast network and creator collective for historians, archaeologists, artists, and other creators and educators dedicated to sharing content about and featuring the ancient world that is accurate, accessible, and inclusive. To learn more about the collective and its contributors, check out collectivemem.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 46m
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Is it a movie podcast? Is it a history podcast? Is it an unholy union of the two? Short answer: yes!Each episode, hosts Colin MacCormack, Elijah Fleming and Christie Vogler break down a new movie about Greece, Rome or the wider ancient world and what works (or doesn’t work) about them. But this isn’t a podcast for nitpicking historical inaccuracies. Rather, it’s a chance to get hot takes on Hollywood films from professional nerds/academics and take a closer look at the relation between our movies and our pasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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