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Dorking Out

The podcast for anyone who loves to dork out about movies. Every week, writer Sonia Mansfield (The Sonia Show, formerly of The San Francisco Examiner, EON Magazine, IF Magazine, Assignment X and Cinescape) and podcaster Margo D. (Book Vs. Movie, Best Neighbors, Fit Bottomed Girls, Not Fade Away) dork out about movies from the past and present.
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Now displaying: June, 2017
Jun 25, 2017

Show Rundown: To honor our first anniversary as a podcast, Chris and Sonia have reached back into the archives to pull clips from our 40 years as an ahead-of-our-time pop culture podcast. 

Since May, 1977, we've been doing test podcasts of the Dorking Out Show, distributing our shows via 8-Track Tapes, CDs, DAT tapes, radio and finally podcast players. 

In this special episode, you'll Chris and Sonia fight and make-up, quit and return to the show as the biggest events of 40-years of pop culture fun parades through the show, including Star Wars, The Star Wars Holiday Special, Oh God!, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Octopussy, James Bond, Manimal, Back to the Future, Aliens, Wall Street, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, The Real World, Batman and Robin, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Beavis and Butthead, The Sopranos, The West Wing, Iron Man, the 1990s renditions of  Fantastic 4, Captain America, The Punisher,  Nick Fury, The Hunger Games, Attack on Titan and Wonder Woman.

 

Find The Dorking Out Show here...

Dorking Out Show Blog - Twitter - YouTube - Facebook - Patreon

 

Find Sonia here...

Twitter - The Sonia Show Blog - The Sonia Show Facebook Page

 

Find Chris here...

Twitter - The Jett Jergens Blog - The Jett Jergens Facebook Page

 

Jun 20, 2017

Show Rundown: In this week’s episode, Juan Uriarte from the Instant Ramen podcast joins us to talk about “Car 3” and the Pixar’s film track record. Is “Cars 3” a hit like “Inside Out,” or is it more of a “Cars 2?” We talk about that. In our second segment. we review the first big comedy of the summer, “Rough Night,” starring Scarlett Johansson and Kate McKinnon. And finally we end our show with what we’re dorking out about this week. We’ve got a lot to talk about, so let’s get this podcast started.

 

Topic 1: Cars 3 and the Decline of Pixar

Chris' Intro: In my movie going life, I have witnessed three game-changing developments in film which tower above all others. The first was Star Wars in 1977, which lead to the corporatization of blockbusters which reverberates to this day. Another is the release of Iron Man and the idea a movie can not just live on its own, but a series of different movies can create a greater whole than the sum of its parts. But in between these two events was another, no less magical arrival. It was the 1995 release of Toy Story by Pixar, and the revelation to the world the Pixar Animation Studios has been. From the first Toy Story, Pixar’s ability to create delightful, wondrous, endearing and often meaningful was something unseen in Hollywood since Walt Disney first revealed Mickey Mouse to the world.

Let’s just consider this run. 1995 saw Toy Story. Next was Bug’s Life, then Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, Ratatouille, Wall E, Up, and Toy Story 3.  

But everything beautiful that begins has some end. While Pixar seemed to have invented a system to pump out classic after classic, with the arrival of Cars 3, to say nothing of The Good Dinosaur or Monsters University or Cars 2 or, or, or… it’s apparent the glory days of Pixar are over.

 So we have come to talk about Cars 3, praise Pixar, and discuss what this studio means to us, and how it might regain its glory.

 

 

Topic 2: Rough Night Review

 Sonia's Intro: “Rough Night,” starring Scarlett Johansson, Kate McKinnon, Zoe Kravitz, Ilana Glazer and Jillian Bell, is the first of two comedies this summer about a bunch of women going on a trip and going wild. “Girls Trip,” starring Jada Pinkett Smith and Queen Latifah, comes out in July.

“Rough Night” is about a group of college friends are reunited for a bachelorette party. But it’s not all drinking and silly bachelorette party games when they accidentally kill a stripper. It mixes body shots with a dead body. It’s like 1998’s “Very Bad Things” but it’s not nearly dark. “Rough Night” is way goofier than that. I went with my sister and one of my best friends. We are the target audience for this movie, and we were disappointed. It just wasn’t funny enough.

 I don’t want to say that women want certain kinds of movies and men want certain kinds of movies, but after this movie we all thought the same thing, which was we wanted to see this movie without the accidental murder of a stripper. That part of comedy just didn’t work for us. But we really enjoyed the beginning of the movie with all the friends getting together, joking and drinking and being ridiculous. We enjoyed the part about college friends getting together as adults and trying to party like they used to. The murder plot line just didn’t work for us.

“Rough Night” only earned $8 million this past weekend, which is far below expectations. I think part of the reason this movie didn’t connect with the audience that made “Bad Moms” a sleeper box office hit last year is that stripper movie plot. I think the target audience for “Rough Night” isn’t interested in a goofy comedy about women accidentally killing a stripper. Of course, I can’t speak for all women. That’s just what we thought. Smith, what did you think of “Rough Night?”

 

What We’re Dorking Out About This Week:

Joel Schumacher Apologizes For ‘Batman & Robin’

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/14/entertainment/joel-schumacher-batman-robin/index.html?sr=twCNN061517joel-schumacher-batman-robin0331AMVODtopPhoto&linkId=38717488

 

The Official Reason for Star Trek Discovery’s Delay: ‘World building is hard’

http://io9.gizmodo.com/the-official-reason-for-star-trek-discoverys-many-dela-1796237580

Dorking Out's 40th Anniversary Show

 

Find The Dorking Out Show here...

Dorking Out Show Blog - Twitter - YouTube - Facebook - Patreon

 

Find Sonia here...

Twitter - The Sonia Show Blog - The Sonia Show Facebook Page

 

Find Chris here...

Twitter - The Jett Jergens Blog - The Jett Jergens Facebook Page

Jun 12, 2017

Show Rundown: In this week’s episode, we review the first (and maybe the last) installment in Universal’s Dark Universe “The Mummy” starring Tom Cruise. In our second segment, Peter Brown from Assignment X joins us to talk about the Dark Universe, counting your movie franchise eggs before they’re hatched, Marvel’s new Black Panther trailer, and what the success of “Wonder Woman” means for the DC Universe. We’re talking about the whole messy subject of cinematic universes, the latest blockbuster trend that may or may not be fizzling out. All of that, plus what we’re dorking out about this week. 

Topic 1: The Mummy Review

Universal’s kickoff to its new Dark Universe “The Mummy” opened this weekend to a disappointing $32.2 million. The movie stars Tom Cruise as Nick Morton, a soldier of fortune who steals valuable relics and sells them to the highest bidder. Nick stumbles across an ancient burial ground, because of course he did, and accidentally awakens a 3,000 year old mummy (played by Sofia Boutella). The movie also stars Jake Johnson, Annabelle Wallis and Russell Crowe and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - yes, that Dr. Jekyll, and yes that Mr. Hyde.

 The movie is written by Tom Cruises’s regular writers, David Koepp, Dylan Kussman and Christopher McQuarrie, who have worked several “Mission Impossible” movies, so those “Mummy Impossible” jokes you’re seeing are pretty accurate. And the movie is directed by Alex Kurtzman, whose previous directing credit is  2012’s “People Like Us.” Kurtzman is probably better known for his role creating TV shows such as “Sleepy Hollow,” “Fringe” and the upcoming “Star Trek Discovery.” He also wrote some “Transformer” movies and the first two installments of the “Star Trek” reboot.”

This is a long way of saying that there are a lot of cooks in the kitchen. And there’s a lot riding on this movie, since it’s supposed to be launching a franchise.

Topic 2: Dark Universe and the state of Cinematic Universes

It’s been a mere nine years since Robert Downey Jr. strapped on an Iron Man suit and starred in Iron Man. That movie, with it’s little tease at the end hinting at a larger cinematic universe, launched the biggest blockbuster revolution Hollywood has ever seen, or at least since the first Star Wars. By creating a series of movies with elements which connected with one another, the Marvel series of movies have become more than sequels, they’ve created an entire alternate movie universe movie goers can’t seem to get enough of. To put it another way, Guardians of the Galaxy 2 came out in May to massive money, but in a way you could think of it as Iron Man 15. That is a massive temptation for the copy-happy suits in other studios looking to get in on the lucrative action of having a series of movies build up to a massive cross-over financial success, as Marvel had with Avengers 1, 2 and Captain America Civil War. Each earned over $1 billion.

But while other studios are eager to try to copy Marvel’s success, they have almost all failed.

Sony tried and failed with the relaunched Amazing Spider Man series, announcing A Sinister Six Movie, a Venom Movie and a Black Cat movie just before The Amazing Spiderman 2 crashed. While Universal is trying to create a connected universe with The Mummy, melding together their trove of monster characters (Wolfman, Frankenstein, Dracula, the Mummy, the Creature from the Black Lagoon), they have already failed once with Dracula Untold, which was supposed to launch their monster connected universe. But Dracula Untold crashed at the box office. That’s right, the Mummy is their second shot.

Then we have Warner Brothers’ attempt to get into the game with their DC universe. Wonder Woman finally seems to have them on track.

Recent attempts at connected universes: 

King Arthur:Legend of the Sword - Supposed to be 6 movies

 

Fast and Furious

Harry Potter (Fantastic Beasts)

Transformers

Star Wars (Rogue One)

Ghostbusters reboot

Hasbro - GI Joe and MASK

Lego movies

Star Trek (connecting universes since 1987)

 

What We’re Dorking Out About This Week:

Netflix Cancels “Sense8” and “The Get Down”

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/sense8-still-canceled-netflix-tells-fans-1012024

I’m kinda dorking out about this because Netflix doesn’t release any ratings on their shows and specials. So if you are a fan of a show on Netflix, there are no ratings, you have no idea if the show you like is in danger of being canceled or not. You can to go by the buzz for the show.

Billions on Showtime

 

Find The Dorking Out Show here...

Dorking Out Show Blog - Twitter - YouTube - Facebook - Patreon

 

Find Sonia here...

Twitter - The Sonia Show Blog - The Sonia Show Facebook Page

 

Find Chris here...

Twitter - The Jett Jergens Blog - The Jett Jergens Facebook Page

 

 

 

 

Jun 5, 2017

Rundown: We review the long-awaited Wonder Woman movie with Margo D from the Book vs. Movie podcast and Laura Smith (better half of co-host Christopher Allan Smith). We then revisit our offensiveness/comedy thread in the wake of the Kathy Griffin/Bill Maher controversies this week. And finally, we end our show with what we’re dorking out about this week, including Chris winning another Emmy (really) and the return of Sonia's Old Movies, New Beer podcast.

Topic 1: Wonder Woman Review

Unless you’ve been living on a magically hidden island you know that “Wonder Woman,” directed by Patty Jenkins, opened this weekend. There’s a lot riding on this movie. It’s not just another comic book movie. The DC Cinematic Universe really needs a movie that competes on Marvel’s level - which is a critically acclaimed and long-running franchise. “Wonder Woman” needs to be more than a box office hit, and prove that DC is capable of making a movie that audiences and critics love. And it needs to prove that a female superhero movie will make money. And it’s the first big superhero blockbuster directed by a woman. These are high stakes, and just like women have to do all the time in their careers - Wonder Woman needs to be better a movie and make more money than its male counterparts just to be considered equal. Smith will hate that I said that, but it’s true.

Well, this weekend it made more than $100 million, and it’s the biggest opening for a movie directed by a woman. But is it any good? We’ve brought in reinforcements for this review, a couple of real wonder women, Laura Smith, which is Smith’s better half, and Margo D. from the podcast Book vs. Movie is here to talk about “Wonder Woman” with us.

You can find Book vs. Movie at:

http://bookvsmovie.libsyn.com/

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/book-vs-movie-podcast/id918954447?mt=2

http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/margo-porras/book-vs-movie

https://www.facebook.com/bookversusmovie/

https://twitter.com/bookversusmovie?lang=en

 

Topic 2: Comedian freedom redux Kathy Griffin/Bill Maher controversy

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/01/politics/kathy-griffin-ted-nugent-donald-trump/

http://www.salon.com/2016/01/20/ted_nugent_so_impressed_by_13_hours_he_calls_for_the_lynching_of_barack_obama_and_hillary_clinton/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2017/06/03/bill-maher-faces-calls-for-firing-after-using-the-n-word-on-his-hbo-show/?utm_term=.9fddb1d4cd00

 

What We’re Dorking Out About This Week:

Smith Goes To The Emmys

https://twitter.com/dorkingoutshow/status/871224233027805184

Old Movies, New Beer is back

http://www.oldmoviesnewbeer.com/



Find The Dorking Out Show here...

Dorking Out Show Blog - Twitter - YouTube - Facebook - Patreon

 

Find Sonia here...

Twitter - The Sonia Show Blog - The Sonia Show Facebook Page

 

Find Chris here...

Twitter - The Jett Jergens Blog - The Jett Jergens Facebook Page

 

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