Netflix

Amusement Park Podcast 029: Arrowverse Crazyness! Plus, Spielberg vs. Netflix

/ Ian Casselberry / Leave a comment

The original plan was to build this week’s Amusement Park Podcast around reviewing Captain Marvel, which figured to be the big geek culture event of the week. Then, news of Arrow announcing it would end after Season 8 broke and there was suddenly another topic to which we had to devote some significant time.

So our Captain Marvel review and reaction will be in a separate, special episode.

Eight seasons is a formidable run for any TV show. But it seems especially notable for a superhero TV show, and Arrow opened the door for a lot of other superhero programming to walk through — and that’s just on the CW alone with The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Black Lightning and Supergirl anchoring that network. Arrow isn’t the show it once was — ultimately, it may have been too much of a Batman clone — and it’s probably bowing out at the right time.

We also dive into the Steven Spielberg vs. Netflix debate. I see where Spielberg is coming from. Someone needs to stick up for movie theaters and the experience they create. However, people increasingly prefer to watch movies at home if there’s a streaming option. To deny that is to deny the current moviegoing reality.

And I tip my cap to Seth Everett, who runs his own geek culture podcast titled Hall of Justice. It’s the show we hope the Amusement Park Podcast can come close to being someday. But Seth is also a sports guy who likes to let his geek flag fly, which is pretty cool. What a pleasant surprise to see him as a guest on DC Universe’s DC Daily show last week, and he interviewed the cast on his podcast.

Please leave a review and rating on iTunes for us and a like on our Facebook page to help spread the word. You can subscribe to the Amusement Park Podcast everywhere you find podcasts:

You can also give us feedback at amusementparkpod@gmail.com and find us on Twitter and Instagram. We’d love to hear from you! Thanks for listening!

Amusement Park 027: True Detective, Doom Patrol and We Mourn the Punisher – and bonus thoughts

/ Ian Casselberry / Leave a comment

wayne_road

The Season 3 finale of True Detective is on Sunday, so we try to get in some theories and reactions to the season on the latest Amusement Park Podcast.

Maybe Chris and I would’ve had a bit more fun had we checked in every week, but I think we managed to put a couple of guesses out there regarding who the true bad guy is and how far up the whole conspiracy goes. And I got to voice my love for Stephen Dorff, who’s been tremendous as Roland West. It’ll be intriguing to see where his career goes from here.

We also react to the pilot episode of DC Universe’s Doom Patrol, which has the potential to be unlike anything ever seen in superhero TV. Fingers are crossed. Get weird and funny with this stuff, man.

https://soundcloud.com/casselberry/true-detective-doom-patrol-and-we-mourn-the-punisher

— Show notes for Ep. 27 are available at the Amusement Park Podcast website —

Since we also discussed Netflix’s inevitable cancellation of The Punisher (seriously, there’s no way Daredevil, Luke Cage and Iron Fist would be canceled, and The Punisher and Jessica Jones saved), I was reminded that there were a couple of things about Season 2 that I wanted to touch on, but didn’t previously.

I’m certainly self-centered enough to think Season 2 of The Punisher was speaking directly to me somehow. But there were a handful of intriguing coincidences that were extremely amusing.

First, the season begins in my home state of Michigan while Frank Castle is traveling the country and trying to get away from the events of Season 1. He ends up at a bar called Lola’s Roadhouse, which happens to be the name of one of my nieces.

lolas_roadhouse

Then at the end of the season, Castle and the young woman he’s been protecting throughout the story end up at a bus station. (I’ll try to avoid spoilers by saying why.) But the destination on the bus is where I currently live: Asheville, North Carolina.

punisher_asheville

punisher_asheville2

I haven’t encountered any murderous vigilantes, deeply religious contract killers, amnesiac soldiers, or Homeland Security agents with a major grudge during the past few years. So these parallels only apply so much with me. But still, I’ll always have a soft spot for Season 2 of The Punisher for these amusing coincidences. And I’ll be on the lookout for anything suspicious.

Please leave a review and rating on iTunes for us and a like on our Facebook page to help spread the word. You can subscribe to the Amusement Park Podcast everywhere you find podcasts:

You can also give us feedback at amusementparkpod@gmail.com and find us on Twitter and Instagram. We’d love to hear from you! Thanks for listening!

Amusement Park Podcast 026: The True Cost of Streaming and Mr. Rogers Still Has the Right Idea – and bonus thoughts

/ Ian Casselberry / Leave a comment

mcfeely_rogers

With the Mister Rogers documentary, Won’t You Be My Neighbor, debuting on both HBO and PBS last week, we thought it would be fun to talk about on the Amusement Park Podcast. I saw the movie last summer and thought it was one of the best movies of 2018, but Chris is just coming around to it now.

We also talk about the ideal streaming setup as more networks and studios create their own over-the-top services to compete with Netflix, Hulu and Amazon. If you want to (or already have) ditched cable or satellite, which are the best services to sign up for that provide the content you’ll want to watch?

https://soundcloud.com/casselberry/true-detective-doom-patrol-and-we-mourn-the-punisher

I’m probably long overdue to make some decisions on streaming subscriptions. I’ve basically signed up for everything, yet still maintained a cable subscription. Whenever I think Hulu is something I could live without, they launch an original series or documentary that gets me thinking it’s worth keeping. I also subscribe to DC Universe and the upcoming Criterion Channel. I’ll surely sign up for Disney+ once that launches.

Where I’ll probably make a cut is with sports. I shouldn’t admit this as someone who’d still like to work in sports media, but I don’t watch as much baseball as I used to and the Detroit Tigers likely won’t be worth many of summer hours, so I’ll probably ditch MLB.TV. That almost seems inconceivable to me (and I wrote it off as a work expense). But that’s nearly $150 I can save right there.

Please leave a review and rating on iTunes for us and a like on our Facebook page to help spread the word. You can subscribe to the Amusement Park Podcast everywhere you find podcasts:

You can also give us feedback at amusementparkpod@gmail.com and find us on Twitter and Instagram. We’d love to hear from you! Thanks for listening!

Amusement Park Podcast 024: The Batman, Reign of the Supermen, The Punisher – and bonus thoughts

/ Ian Casselberry / Leave a comment

reign_supermen

On the latest Amusement Park Podcast, we react to news of the next Batman movie being set for a Summer 2021 release and a younger Bruce Wayne meaning Ben Affleck will no longer play the role. We also review the entire Season 2 of The Punisher after delving into the first six episodes last week. And we review the latest DC animated movie, Reign of the Supermen.

https://soundcloud.com/casselberry/the-batman-reign-of-the-supermen-plus-a-punisher-recap

Previously, I’ve just posted the same blurb and link to the podcast that you can find at the Amusement Park Podcast website. But I’d like to try and offer a bit more here at The Casselbloggy, especially for those who take the time to click over and read. I think it could be a good opportunity to discuss topics that didn’t make the cut or stuff that I intended to include but forgot to mention while we were recording.

That’s where I’d like to go this week because it’s bugging me that I forgot to talk about Punisher star Jon Bernthal and his voice for Frank Castle. I’ve seen Bernthal in several other movies and TV shows like The Walking Dead, Sicario, Show Me a Hero and The Ghost Writer, but had forgotten what his actual speaking voice sounds like. So when I watched some talk show clips of him, it was jolting to me how different he sounded from Frank Castle.

I know; it’s called acting! But it’s still impressive to me (and far more effective than, say, Christian Bale’s Batman voice) and a reminder of how deeply Bernthal lost himself in that role. It’s a damn shame that he probably won’t play The Punisher anymore.

Please leave a review on iTunes for us and a like on our Facebook page to help boost our signal. You can subscribe to the Amusement Park Podcast everywhere you find podcasts:

You can also give us feedback at amusementparkpod@gmail.com and find us on Twitter and Instagram. We’d love to hear from you! Thanks for listening!

Amusement Park Podcast 023: The Punisher, the Oscars, and Glass Misses the Mark

/ Ian Casselberry / Leave a comment

punisher_s2

On the latest Amusement Park Podcast, we respond to the first half (six episodes) of The Punisher and the Oscar nominations, which include a Best Picture nod for Black Panther and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse being nominated for Best Animated Film. (How many Oscar nominees do you get a chance to see where you live?)

We also dig into what Netflix joining the MPAA means, briefly review Glass, and share what we’re enjoying this week.

https://soundcloud.com/casselberry/the-punisher-the-oscars-and-glass-misses-the-mark

— Show notes for Ep. 23 are available at The Amusement Park Podcast website — 

Please leave us review on iTunes! One listener broke the seal, so hopefully you’ll join in with your own comments.

You can subscribe to the Amusement Park Podcast everywhere you find podcasts:

Thank you for listening! Please give us a like on our Facebook page to help boost our signal. You can also give us feedback at amusementparkpod@gmail.com and find us on Twitter and Instagram. We’d love to hear from you!