Info

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.
RSS Feed Subscribe in Apple Podcasts
2022
January


2021
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2020
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2019
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2018
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2017
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2016
December
November
October
September
August
July
June


Categories

All Episodes
Archives
Categories
Now displaying: September, 2017
Sep 25, 2017

Rundown: In this week’s episode, we review KINGSMAN: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE, which topped the weekend box office with $39 million. We also talk about ATOMIC BLONDE and wonder if the spy genre is at a crossroads. Are either of these movies any good, and are they the next James Bond? I think Smith and I do not agree on the answers to those questions. In our second segment, friend of the show Mike Richman, our favorite hobbyist historian joins us to talk about the new Ken Burns documentary series THE VIETNAM WAR. And in our final segment, we kick off our weekly recaps and roundtable discussion with Jeff Bond and Alexandra August about STAR TREK: DISCOVERY, which premieres Sunday night. We’ve been talking about this show for more than year.

Topic 1: Kingsman, Atomic Blondes and the Spy Genre?

On Friday,KINGSMAN: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE, the sequel to Matthew Vaughn’s irreverent spy hit of 2015 opened to mild reviews and we will have our review in a minute. But in this segment we also wanted to talk about this summer’s ATOMIC BLONDE, Charlize Theron’s entry into the genre once, and maybe still, ruled by James Bond 007. Blonde was directed by David Leitch, who also co-directed the energetic gunfight movie JOHN WICK. That movie struck a lot of action fans as a fun, modern take on the gentleman spy/hitman genre.

But this also comes after JASON BOURNE flamed out last year (remember that was a thing?), and Atomic Blonde, while lauded, underperformed at the box office. So, agents, your mission today is to discuss the current state of the spy movie genre.

Topic 2: Ken Burn’s Vietnam War

One of the problems we don’t talk about much on this show is, well, it’s a show about stories we love. And some weeks, it’s just stories we like. Or stories we watched, or read, or listened to, and frankly they were fine for passing the time, but they didn’t leave us with anything that lingered. And stories that linger is why we love stories in the first place.

But last week legendary documentarian Ken Burns released, along with co-director Lynn Novick, THE VIETNAM WAR, a 10-part, 18-hour examination of America’s involvement in that war. Parts six through 10 started last night and will run through this Thursday on PBS. I’m showing my cards here and saying like his previous great achievements in filmmaking, THE CIVIL WAR, THE ROOSEVELTS, MARK TWAIN, BASEBALL and JAZZ maybe better than all of those, and I’ve discussed the impact THE CIVIL WAR had on me, this series is maybe the best documentary on an American subject I’ve ever seen.

To discuss, we brought back friend of the show Mike Richman, co-host of NOR CAL NEWS NOW but more importantly our favorite hobbyist historian.

Status Check: Star Trek: Discovery Episodes 1 and 2

Joining us today to talk about it are two people who will be talking Star Trek Discovery every week. First up is Jeff Bond, my favorite living pop culture critic. He wrote the book on STAR TREK MUSIC, has helped release the amazing STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES COMPLETE SOUNDTRACK boxed set, he even played Dr. Leonard H. 'Bones' McCoy on the late, great STAR TREK: NEW VOYAGES. This December his new book, The Art of Star Trek: The Kelvin Timeline will be released and I will be reading by noon on Christmas day.

Also joining us is Alexandra August, one of the quickest, funniest pop culture commenters we know, Alexandra August. You may know her as the co-host for the fantastic GOT Thrones podcast, from her writing at Geek Magazine. If you don’t, well, that’s your loss dummy!

 

Find The Dorking Out Show here...

Dorking Out Show Blog
http://dorkingoutshow.com/


Dorking Out Show Twitter
https://twitter.com/dorkingoutshow


Dorking Out Show YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3ufLeNHiA59ANCMPlAdAOQ


Dorking Out Show Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/dorkingoutshow


Dorking Out Show Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/DorkingOutShow


Sonia’s Twitter
https://twitter.com/TheSoniaShow


The Sonia Show Blog
http://www.thesoniashow.com/


The Sonia Show Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/TheSoniaShow
Chris’ Twitter:
https://twitter.com/JettJergens


The Jett Jergens Blog
https://jettjergens.com/


Jett Jergens Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/JettJergens/

Sep 18, 2017

Show Rundown: We welcome our Star Trek Jeff Bond and maybe Alexandra August (we kid) to join us in a talk about what STAR TREK means to us as a lead up to STAR TREK DISCOVERY which premieres this Sunday! We’re going to be doing weekly recaps and discussions after each episode, so consider this your warm up. In our second segment, Todd Bishop, co-founder of Geek Wire and our old boss at The Orion, the weekly newspaper at Chico State, joins us to talk about Silicon Valley-ing of Hollywood: How Silicon Valley is impacting storytelling. And finally we end our show with a quick recap of Sunday night’s Emmy Awards. What were our favorite moments? Least moments? And why is this one show that’s supposed to celebrate the best TV has to offer the most boring thing on TV?

Topic 1: The Meaning of Star Trek and Preview of Star Trek: Discovery w/Jeff Bond and mentions of Alexandra August

Star Trek, to put it simply, is the bedrock of science fiction for millions around the world. Many of us were first introduced to the magic and wonder of science fiction storytelling by Gene Roddenberry’s unkillable show decades ago, and ever since every aspect of genre storytelling has been their influenced by the adventures of Kirk, Spock and McCoy, or their successors, like Picard, Data and Riker, or Sisko, Odo and Kira, or Janeway, Chakotay and Seven, or Archer, T’Pol and Trip. Or back again to Kirk, Spock and McCoy from the new movies.

All of this is introduction to our discussion of Star Trek, and our upcoming episode by episode reviews of Star Trek Discovery starting next week and this simple question: Is Star Trek still a thing?

Joining us today to talk about it are two people who will be talking Star Trek Discovery every week. First up is Jeff Bond, my favorite living pop culture critic. He wrote the book on STAR TREK MUSIC, has helped release the amazing STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES COMPLETE SOUNDTRACK boxed set, he even played Dr. Leonard H. 'Bones' McCoy on the late, great STAR TREK: NEW VOYAGES. This December his new book, The Art of Star Trek: The Kelvin Timeline will be released and I will be reading by noon on Christmas day.

 

Topic 2: Silicon Valley Disrupts Storytelling w/Todd Bishop of GeekWire.com

To talk to us about how the Silicon Valley will be changing and remaking the stories you watch, we’re bringing in an old friend the Award Winning Journalism program at California State University, Chico. Don’t laugh. That’s Todd Bishop. Since graduating with Sonia and I, he’s gone onc to become a hell of a journalist… one out of three ain’t bad… covering Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, modern technology all from the tech news website he co-founded, GeekWire.com. So Todd, welcome to Dorking Out.

 

Topic 3: Emmy Awards 2017 Reactions

 

Find The Dorking Out Show here...

Dorking Out Show Blog
http://dorkingoutshow.com/


Dorking Out Show Twitter
https://twitter.com/dorkingoutshow


Dorking Out Show YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3ufLeNHiA59ANCMPlAdAOQ


Dorking Out Show Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/dorkingoutshow


Dorking Out Show Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/DorkingOutShow


Sonia’s Twitter
https://twitter.com/TheSoniaShow


The Sonia Show Blog
http://www.thesoniashow.com/


The Sonia Show Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/TheSoniaShow
Chris’ Twitter:
https://twitter.com/JettJergens


The Jett Jergens Blog
https://jettjergens.com/


Jett Jergens Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/JettJergens/

Sep 13, 2017

Show Rundown: We review Stephen King’s IT, which scared up $117 million at the box office this weekend. Neither of us have read the book so we brought in an expert, Margo D from Book vs Movie. She’s a big Stephen King fan, so Margo is going to stick around for our second segment while we share our favorite Stephen King adaptations. And finally, we will end our show with what we’re dorking out about this week. Another Star Wars movie, another director firing, but does that mean things are on the right track? All that, and some Emmy preview talk after we get rolling.

Topic 1: IT Movie Review

Over the last 40 years, Stephen King has quietly, but not too quietly, been one of the most influential storytellers in Hollywood. More on his body of work in Topic 2, but we say that as a set-up to our review of this last weekend’s monster hit, IT. While King has made his name as a horror writer, he’s expanded out into all kinds of fiction and nonfiction work. What that’s lead to is a total lottery situation when his works are adapted to the big screen. Sometimes we get a classic, like a Stand By Me or Shawshank Redemption or The Shining. Sometimes we get a Dark Tower or Sleepwalkers. So what did we get with It?

It is pure, un-cut horror about a group of kids who discover, as you might expect, there is a supernatural evil at the heart of what appears to be their tranquil New England town.

Joining us today to discuss IT, and later to talk about the towering figure Stephen King is in the world of storytelling, is Margo D from Book vs Movie, whose podcast has charted more than a few King adaptations, including episode by episode reviews of the latest adaptation of Stephen King’s The Mist.

Topic 2: Our Favorite Stephen King Adaptations

While Stephen King has been the undisputed King of the best seller since the 1970s, the era which saw Brian DePalma make King’s first book, Carrie, into a horror classic, a veritable trainload of movies have been based on his stories, not all of them screaming ‘Stephen King’ horror mister. Among these are good movies and classics, like Stand By Me, Apt Pupil, The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, Misery, even Arnold Schwarzenegger’s camp action flick The Running Man. Added to these are undisputed horror classics, like The Shining and The Dead Zone as well as a huge number of good to middling horror movies like Firestarter, The Mist, Cujo, Needful Things, Children of the Corn, Hearts of Atlantis and the recent TV adaptation 11-22-63.

While we love a lot of these stories, we thought it would be good to have Margo stick around as we try to tackle the big task of naming our favorite Stephen King adaptations. It’s a big task because Stephen King has written more than 90 books and his work has been adapted more than 60 times (but I think 3 or 4 of those are different adaptations of CARRIE). That’s an insane amount of stories. I’m not going to waste a lot of time talking about how crazy it is that Stephen King has written so many books, while I’m still struggling to write one, because that’s a segment for another time. Let’s just dive right in.

Margo D Favorites

Dead Zone

Stand By Me

The Shawshank Redemption

Dolores Claiborne

Sonia’s Favorites 

The Shining

The Running Man

Pet Sematary

Carrie

Chris’s Favorites

Apt Pupil

11-22-63

Misery

(Plus exactly Margo D's list)

 

What We’re Dorking Out About This Week:

Colin Trevorrow’s Firing From Star Wars Is Another Reminder That No Director Will Ever Be Bigger Than the Franchise

http://www.vulture.com/2017/09/star-wars-episode-8-colin-trevorrow-firing-explanation.html

Winners of the Creative Arts Emmys

http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/2017-creative-arts-emmy-winners-list-1202552858/

 

Find The Dorking Out Show here...

Dorking Out Show Blog
http://dorkingoutshow.com/


Dorking Out Show Twitter
https://twitter.com/dorkingoutshow


Dorking Out Show YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3ufLeNHiA59ANCMPlAdAOQ


Dorking Out Show Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/dorkingoutshow


Dorking Out Show Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/DorkingOutShow


Sonia’s Twitter
https://twitter.com/TheSoniaShow


The Sonia Show Blog
http://www.thesoniashow.com/


The Sonia Show Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/TheSoniaShow
Chris’ Twitter:
https://twitter.com/JettJergens


The Jett Jergens Blog
https://jettjergens.com/


Jett Jergens Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/JettJergens/

Sep 4, 2017

Rundown: We talk about the ultimate piece of WTF pop culture, David Lynch’s Twin Peaks: The Return. The finale was on Showtime last night, and we have thoughts. Joining us for that is our old friend Anthony C. Ferrante, pop culture encyclopedia, but you may know him as the director of all five Sharknado movies. Then in our second segment, we are joined by a new friend, Alexandra August from the GOT Thrones podcast and Geek Magazine, to ask the question… Now that we’ve digested Season 7 and look forward to the final episodes, is Game of Thrones overhyped? Is it one of the greats? We’ll find an answer. And finally we return for a while to giving our thoughts on pop culture stories of the moment… An all female Lord of the Flies? True Detective Season 3?

 

Topic 1: David Lynch and the finale of Twin Peaks: The Return

Guest: Anthony C. Ferrante

http://www.darkhorizons.com/twin-peaks-closing-out-on-soft-ratings/

 

Topic 2: Is Game Of Thrones a Fad, or One of the Great TV Shows?

Guest: Alexandra August 

Her Twitter: https://twitter.com/alxaugust

Her show: http://gotthrones.com/

https://twitter.com/gotthronespcast

 

Last week, the season seven finale of Game of Thrones was broadcast and raked up the biggest audience in the show’s history. It was seen by 16.5 million viewers, which in today's atomized media landscape is like the final episode of Seinfeld by comparison.

Through Season 7, we’ve been doing weekly versions of our Status Check segment, taking a look at each and every episode and giving our thoughts. So what else is there to say about Game of Thrones? A lot.

With the 8th and final season of this hugely influential show coming, we thought we’d take a look at all of Season 7 and also talk about GOT as a thing. Now that we can see the end, where does it rank with the great TV shows? The Breaking Bads, the Mad Mens, the Hill Street Blues and the Star Treks? Is Game of Thrones merely a great genre show, or is it one of the greats.

Joining us today is a leading expert Game of Thrones, and someone who will be joining our Star Trek: Discovery status checks in a few weeks, Alexandra August. You may know her as the co-host for the fantastic GOT Thrones podcast, from her writing at Geek Magazine, and she’s currently recapping Preacher at CBR.com and as one of the wisest asses we know.

 

What We’re Dorking Out About This Week:

Lord Of The Flies Remake With Girls

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/31/arts/lord-of-the-flies-girls.html?mcubz=1&_r=0

 

True Detective Season 3

https://nytimes.com/2017/09/01/business/media/true-detective-will-return-for-a-third-season-on-hbo.html?

Marvel’s Inhumans getting wrecked in reviews

http://lrmonline.com/news/early-reviews-of-marvels-inhumans-are-brutal

 

Find The Dorking Out Show here...

Dorking Out Show Blog
http://dorkingoutshow.com/


Dorking Out Show Twitter
https://twitter.com/dorkingoutshow


Dorking Out Show YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3ufLeNHiA59ANCMPlAdAOQ


Dorking Out Show Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/dorkingoutshow


Dorking Out Show Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/DorkingOutShow


Sonia’s Twitter
https://twitter.com/TheSoniaShow


The Sonia Show Blog
http://www.thesoniashow.com/


The Sonia Show Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/TheSoniaShow
Chris’ Twitter:
https://twitter.com/JettJergens


The Jett Jergens Blog
https://jettjergens.com/


Jett Jergens Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/JettJergens/

1