Tag Archives: movies

The Toy Department – Episode 367

  By toyAdmin | November 24, 2023 - 2:51 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 367, Madden and Kolsky discuss the arrival of really cold weather in the Midwest and lament their life choices before diving in to:

  • This week on The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion (2:50), a victorious Big T and the dangling mystery of the third pole in the draw…
  • Hulu’s Nathan Fielder/Emma Stone HGTV spoof The Curse (36:45) and whether it’s more than just an awkward parody…
  • The return of FX/Hulu’s Fargo for its fifth and final season (45:10) and the excitement brewing in both of our hosts after two great episodes to start things off…
  • The Brit Marling-created A Murder at the End of the World (50:45) and whether our hosts are on board for its Gen Z-amateur-sleuth vibe…
  • The biopic Rustin (57:00) and the incredible performance from leading man Colman Domingo that makes it go…
  • Homework for next week (1:02:00), including: another episode of The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion, the Fisher Stevens-directed Netflix documentary Beckham, and the movie Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain from SNL’s video short team…

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The Toy Department – Episode 365

  By toyAdmin | November 10, 2023 - 3:43 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 365, Madden and Kolsky discuss Derek’s rock-and-roll travels before getting to today’s pod business:

  • The latest from a double-episode week of The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion (3:20), including the impending chaos portion of the game and thoughts on the exciting crop of developing you lady contestants…
  • The Hulu movie Quiz Lady (43:05) and how it doesn’t make good enough use of its two leading ladies or its big-name guest star…
  • The new Apple TV+ film Fingernails (48:50) and yet another project that tragically fails to add up to the appropriate sum of its parts…
  • Netflix’s new Shea Serrano-created series Neon (57:15) and how he once again delivers a joyful series with clever writing and a deeply endearing heart…
  • Homework for next week (1:05:20), including: another episode of The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion, the new David Fincher movie The Killer on Netflix, the new Nathan Fielder/Emma Stone show The Curse on Showtime/Paramount+ and the Australian show Colin from Accounts on Paramount+…

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The Toy Department – Episode 364

  By toyAdmin | November 2, 2023 - 9:16 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 364, Madden and Kolsky exchange only brief pleasantries before diving into the week’s homework:

  • A head-spinning week of The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion (1:20) and another remarkably terrible deliberation speech from the ultimately eliminated competitor…
  • Netflix’s new British thriller Bodies (30:45) and its unique time-jumping framework…
  • The Jennifer Lawrence-led Netflix comedy No Hard Feelings (41:45) and the charm of its leading lady…
  • Homework for next week (49:25), including: another episode of The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion, the movie Quiz Lady on Hulu, the Apple TV+ movie Fingernails and the new Netflix series Neon…

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The Toy Department – Episode 362

  By toyAdmin | October 20, 2023 - 8:29 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 362, Madden and Kolsky lament the sickness passing through the Kolsky household (and the overall joys of parenthood) before diving in on:

  • TJ’s Final on The Challenge: USA Season 2 (2:40) and a wrap-up discussion on a truly excellent Challenge season that featured arguably the greatest rookie season in the franchise’s history…
  • Netflix’s new thriller Fair Play (48:40), about which our hosts have rather disparate opinions…
  • The unremarkable and in fact largely unpleasant return of Frasier (1:01:40) and how it’s essentially and empty suit of a throwback sitcom…
  • The Brie Larson vehicle Lessons in Chemistry on Apple TV+ (1:07:25) and how it’s relatively hollow and predictable despite reasonably good acting and directing…
  • Homework for next week’s THURSDAY episode (1:18:25), including: the start of the new season of the flagship Challenge — Battle for a New Champion, and actually getting to The Fall of the House of Usher…

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The Toy Department – Episode 360

  By toyAdmin | October 6, 2023 - 11:13 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 360, Madden and Kolsky talk a little bit of Chicago Bears football and Wrexham soccer before getting down to business with last week’s homework:

  • This week’s episode of The Challenge: USA Season 2 (8:25), including the antics of Michaela and the Michele-tdown that ended with elimination…
  • The incredibly disappointing film Heist 88 (28:05) and how seemingly every choice made by the producers and director fell flat…
  • Wes Anderson’s new Roald Dahl adaptation The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (34:10) and how Anderson’s signature nonsense has officially pushed one of our hosts over the edge…
  • The wildly enjoyable Gen V (39:40) and all the things that make it a welcome addition to The Boys’ universe…
  • Homework for next week’s short show (46:20), including: another episode of The Challenge: USA Season 2, and … … THAT’S IT, THAT’S THE HOMEWORK…

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The Toy Department – Episode 359

  By toyAdmin | September 29, 2023 - 10:58 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 358, Madden and Kolsky celebrate a (relatively) problem-free recording environment before getting right into:

  • Kolsky’s misadventures with the National (1:25) and the development of an understanding of why he struggles so much to listen to them…
  • The high school comedy Bottoms (7:05) and why one of our hosts HATED it and the other really quite enjoyed it…
  • The underwhelming film Cassandro (21:45) and how both hosts were left feeling unsatisfied and wishing they knew more about the movie’s subject…
  • The crown jewel of this week’s culture, Apple TV+’s British rom-com Still Up (27:25) and the undeniable charm of the relationship at its center…
  • Another week of action from The Challenge USA: Season 2 (32:00) which continues to deliver excellent daily and elimination challenges and has no shortage of drama as we careen towards the TJ’s Final…
  • Homework for next week (58:35), including: another episode of The Challenge: USA Season 2, the new show Gen V (a spinoff of The Boys) on Amazon Prime Video, the Paramount+/Showtime movie Heist 88 and the Wes Anderson-directed Roald Dahl adaptation The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar on Netflix…

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The Toy Department – Episode 358

  By toyAdmin | September 22, 2023 - 10:45 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 358, Madden and Kolsky lament Derek’s illness before he pushes through to discuss:

  • The new Mitski album The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We (2:20), how it differs from Mitski’s past output and the deep darkness and moments of bright light within it…
  • The return of pod favorite Sex Education (14:30) and its undeniable charm, plus how its end coincides with a desperate lack of similar quality on Netflix…
  • A few thoughts on Winning Time (24:10) and its cancellation…
  • The based-on-a-true-story film A Million Miles Away (37:40) and the remarkable life of astronaut Jose Hernandez…
  • British true-story-heist series The Gold on Paramount+ (41:30) and whether the first two episodes are enough to draw our hosts into what is undeniably an interesting real life tale…
  • A mile marker episode of The Challenge: USA Season 2 (46:20) and the end (at least for now) of one of the Challenge Universe’s truly legendary careers…
  • Homework for next week (1:04:35), including: another episode of The Challenge: USA Season 2, the British rom-com Still Up on Apple TV+, the movie Bottoms (available on VOD of your choice) and the Amazon Prime Video film Cassandro, plus Kolsky said will try to listen to The National…

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The Toy Department – Episode 356

  By toyAdmin | September 8, 2023 - 9:24 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 356, Madden and Kolsky are both exhausted and threatening each other with falling asleep mid-sentence as they prepare to discuss:

  • This week’s episode of The Challenge: USA Season 2 (2:15) and how the change to an individual game changed the dynamic in the house…
  • A trip to the movie theater to see Barbie (22:55) and how Greta Gerwig snuck a feminist text into the brains of the masses…
  • Adam Sandler and family in the Netflix movie You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah (35:15) and how it’s the most Jewish teen comedy our hosts have ever seen (and also very enjoyable)…
  • The surprising and intense Special Ops: Lioness (45:55) and how the Taylor Sheridan/Paramount+ galaxy continues to be more than expected…
  • Some disparate thoughts on the various Hollywood strikes (50:45) and some of the issues at hand…
  • Homework for next week (1:03:15), including: another episode of The Challenge: USA Season 2, The Changeling on Apple TV+, the second season of Welcome to Wrexham on Hulu and another season of The Morning Show on Apple TV+…

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The Toy Department – Episode 355

  By toyAdmin | September 3, 2023 - 6:11 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 355, Madden and Kolsky lament some technical issues before jumping right into:

  • The last two weeks of action from The Challenge: USA Season 2 (1:45); and there is A LOT of action to cover!
  • Tracy Morgan’s new stand-up special Takin’ It Too Far (38:40) which is pretty quintessential Tracy Morgan content…
  • The Ringer-produced documentary Destination NBA: A G-League Odyssey (40:20) and how it was interesting and informative but didn’t quite come together as brilliantly as our hosts hoped…
  • The latest Star Wars series, Ahsoka (47:10) and how Rosario Dawson and a generally good cast is not necessarily enough to save the franchise for our less sci-fi-inclined host…
  • Homework for next week (51:35), including: another episode of The Challenge: USA Season 2, Special Ops: Lioness on Paramount+, the Netflix film You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah and the boys are gonna head to the theaters to see Barbie(!!)…

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The Toy Department – Episode 354

  By toyAdmin | August 18, 2023 - 9:28 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 354, Madden and Kolsky reflect once again on Kolsky’s family couch-surfing, plus the ultimate basement destination, before locking into:

  • This week’s two episodes of The Challenge: USA Season 2 (2:55) and how the young guns are running the game so far, plus predictions of defection in next week’s episodes…
  • The Netflix movie They Cloned Tyrone (36:20) and the delightfully over-the-top performances of Jamie Foxx and Teyonnah Paris…
  • Wes Anderson’s film Asteroid City (39:20) and the diminishing returns of an adult man playing with model houses…
  • Netflix’s Untold: Johnny Football (44:30) and the insane journey of its subject, Johnny Manziel…
  • The weekly dose of Chelsea football (54:55) as Kolsky tries to rev himself up for the rebuilding project…
  • Homework for TWO weeks from now (1:01:35), including: FOUR more episodes of The Challenge: USA Season 2, Tracy Morgan’s Max special Takin’ It Too Far, the new Star Wars series Ahsoka and the Ringer-produced Destination NBA: A G-League Odyssey…

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