Episode 137: Summer Predictions 2020 - 00PS: No Time To Release

The title of the show takes a cheap shot at the non-appearance of Bond this April. He's self-isolating from audiences for seven months with a case of Crowdplease Failure Virus (COFAIL-007). The reason for this extensive barrage of text punnage is that when we recorded the show on Feb 15th we thought Bond was a lot of things, tired, over-the-hill, on his last legs but a coward? No, sir, not one of them. Oh, how times have changed.

Bond requesting a covert extraction aside the prophecy mill is in full swing as our jaunty adventurers pilot a course from damp aliens, via Jungle Rocks, through the blancmange swamp littered with recently Disney-fied Fox back-catalogue items. Now with added budgetary estimates, will their speculation on how much things cost (or knowledge of where applicable) help or hinder their quest to pick 2020's box office winners and notable losers?

It's a tricky year, Marvel are taking a year off, Disney are trying to wrong-foot the oppostion by littering the battlefield with items they found in a lock-up garage formerly owned by Fox. Only one thing's for certain, Fast & Furious 9 is bound to cash in... after that, well, you'd need to be able to predict the future...

This episode uses an excerpt of the Anchor Hill's unreasonably groovy "Funk Cabbage". The full track can be downloaded here.

Direct Link: https://archive.org/download/137summerpredictions2020/137%20-%20Summer%20Predictions%202020.mp3

Episode 130: Summer Review 2019 - Correction Disney Wins Again

As inevitable as the mighty finger-snap of Thanos the summer could only really belong to one mighty movie, and sure enough that was it. But, for the parent of that box-office juggernaut, Avengers Endgame, taking home the 1st place prize wasn't nearly enough. Indeed, even we were surprised by the absolute bucket load of cash the mouse has managed this summer.

Outside of Scrooge McDuck's money bin it's been a rum old summer and no mistake. Virtually no action movies, way too many family movies, so much content that had release dates planned in February was bounced to later dates. If you were in the US movie business and your studio name didn't rhyme with Biz Knee then you weren't getting a big bite of the box office this summer, to be fair, it didn't even look as though you were really trying.

The big question is not what happened but what does what happened actually mean for the future. People have been prophesying a disney-fied dystopia in the multiplexes and we're a couple of summers away from that being the world we live in. But is a dystopia filled with lovingly crafter Marvel movies, affectionately made Pixar animations and, er, endless live-action do overs of beloved classic animations really such a bad thing... Okay, maybe the last one could stand some work but, hey, nobody's perfect. Come and discover the monetary implications of the coming cinematic world and, like us, you will be amazed.

This episode uses an excerpt of the Coconut Monkeyrocket's supberb "Illogical Boogie". The full track can be downloaded here.

Direct Link: https://archive.org/download/1302019summerreviewdisneywins/130-2019-Summer-Review-Disney-Wins.mp3

Episode 124: Summer Review 2018

So the time of reckoning has come once more unto the kids from the 80s. It was a summer of blockbuster box office but also some bluster and blocked profits for titles that surely should have been bankable even though they were... erm... going solo. We ruminate for the mandatory amount of time about Sci Fi shenanigans, underwhelming dinos, overwhelming Star Wars ennui and purple dudes with universe-altering bling. But we are the 80s kids, and we are disciplined so on we trot in good time.

Horror movies, kids movies, comedies, how did they fare in the summer of 2018, well, a hell of a lot better than your straight action thriller, that's for certain. As we ruin the Quiet Place with our noise and moan about the annoying rabbit we have to wonder, will Joe Carnahan ever get a break?

In the comedies it would appear to be all about those Crazy, Rich Asians, leading to a question about whether things are as questionable as we first thought if they're making bank at the box office. One thing's for certain the summer of 2018 had its ups and its downs but Action Point still didn't make any money.

This episode uses Excerpts of John Bartmann's My Time Done Come, available on Bandcamp and used under a Creative Commons License

Direct Link: https://archive.org/download/301SummerRoundUp2018/3-01-Summer-Round-Up-2018.mp3

Episode 120: We Are The 80s Kids... - Summer Predictions 2018

As we may, possibly, have remarked, we are the 80s Kids, and as we further may have mentioned, we predict the future. We only mention the former because no one knows who we are. We only mention the latter because, like latter-day Cassandras, no-one listens to our prophecies, so the only ones wigged out when they come to pass is us.

It should be pointed out, to be fair, that we're a bit like those Cylons wired up in bathtubs from new BSG, parsing out our spooky visions of the future is rendered impossible because of the surrounding word salad, most of the time. This is our annual attempt to actually focus on the predictions at hand, a breakdown of what we consider to be the likely winners and losers in Summer 2018.

It's no surprise that Superheroes are back at the cinema this summer, enough of them to get their own category, but what's the point of speculating on those, really? SF and Fantasy, on the other hand, asks us to nominate Solo or more Jurassic World, among a smorgasbord of other delights. In the world of action, it looks like it's all about Skyscraper and MI: Fallout. Then it gets tricky, can one really pick apart a slate of comedies including Game Night, Life of the Party and Super Troopers 2? Family movies wave the big shinies of Incredibles 2 and Hotel Transylvania 3 in our direction, but all of this may lead one to wonder WTF happened to a variety of entertainment, sure Avengers, Solo, Rampage and the Stath punching a Megalodon are all amusing, but where are the zingers and shouldn't there be a minion in here somewhere?

Summer predictions, either they seem easy or they quite blatantly tell you they're impossible to pick. Let's see how the 80s Kids get on with this mess, shall we?

Direct Link: https://archive.org/download/203WeAreThe80sKids2018SummerPredictions/2-03-We-Are-The-80s-Kids-2018-Summer-Predictions.mp3

Live Stream: 2018 Summer Predictions

Has it been so long?

Last time the 80s Kids rocked up to proffer their opinion on what would do gangbusters at the Summer Box office was 2015.

Whether their predictions were right or wrong (mostly, they weren't right) was not the point. The journey was the point. And they're setting out on that journey once again. Will Ian's watering can of tepid water come out again? Does Leo have any cheap visual tricks to bring to the party? There's only one way to find out for sure.

We're up at 10:15 AM GMT tomorrow (10th March 2018)

Episode 116: 2015 Summer review LIVEish

Six months ago they who shall be known as the 80s Kids made their summer predictions. They picked the movies that they believed would do the business at the box office and grab the summer movie dollar. Now comes the time of the Predictoreckoning! Were they on the money? Or were they hopelessly out of touch? Did they find the gobbliest turkey? Did they unearth a surprise gem? Tune in to find out!

Direct Link: https://archive.org/download/1162015SummerReviewLIVEish/116-2015-summer-review-LIVEish.mp3

Upcoming Hangouts - Summer Review and Hallowe'en

We're back for a couple of specials this month. On the 17th October we'll be reviewing our predictions for the summer and at Hallowe'en we'll be discussing Horror-meister Stephen King both in live hangouts. Here's some links to the google events. We'll put up YouTube windows nearer the time.

Summer Review: [Alas poor link, we hardly knew ye.]

Hallowe'en Special: [Ain't nobody here but us dead links]

Episode 96: The 80s Kids Summer Predictions - LIVEish...

Not content with having plenty of time to consider their choices before being wrong the 80s Kids went onto Google Hangouts on 7th March 2015 to be wrong before an audience of their peers.

Never has inaccurately taking a punt about what may or may not be a big hit/massive flop at the pictures been so... immediate. Across the categories of Sci Fi, Action, Childrens, Comedy and Horror the 80s Kids try to foresee the summer's big hitters and find one wretched turkey in the pile. Have they actually managed to get anything right except for the unremarkable statement that Avengers: Age of Ultron might be a bit of a thing?

Well, they managed to ignore the Pixar movie and Disney's Tomorrowland altogether. This should give you an indication of how close their finger is to the pulse. Really we all just tune in to this just so we laugh that little bit harder in October when the Summer Review comes out, aren't we? And how much sweeter as that show will most assuredly be a live webcast as well! Enjoy.

Direct Link: https://archive.org/download/096The80sKidsSummerPredictionsLive/096%20-%20The%2080s%20Kids%20Summer%20Predictions%20-%20Live.mp3

Episode 72: Summer 2014 - Box Office Thunderdome!

The Time has come to review our predictions of the winners and losers of summer 2014 brutal box office film grinder. To this end Leo takes us genre by genre through the various players educating us on the ebb and flow of fortunes.

Some interjection is made by Justin and Ian, who can just about elbow a word in here or there as Leo descends down the results which seem to be both predictable and surprising at the same time. From the unloved "Edge of Tomorrow" to the retro childhood of "Guardians of the Galaxy", the sad fate of "Noah" and the 'boo hiss' winning but still somehow losing fortunes of Big Bay.

Were we wrong about everything? I do wonder why people listen to anything we say sometimes.

Direct Link: https://archive.org/download/0722014SummerReview/072%20-%202014%20Summer%20Review.mp3

Episode 57: But It's Not Even Summer Yet

One of our continuing missions here at our humble podcast is keeping an eye on the Summer releases and every so often taking some time to comment upon them. Well, it's been a while since we made our predictions on this years hits and bombs and we've certainly already had a ton of movies to get through so lets pause and reflect on what the Cinema Summer season has been like so far ... what with actual Summer nearly being upon us.

It really does feel like we've had a year's worth already, with its now standard heap of Superhero movies, mythic and historical epics with a dash of comedy and actual science Fiction creeping into view. While this year is thus far an improvement on the disappointment of the last year one can't help feel a slight wave of film fatigue at it all. We still have so much more to power through... is that fair to complain about? Shouldn't we want Hollywood to be giving us exciting reasons to head down the multiplex? And yet in this current movie cluster bomb aren't otherwise decent films getting squeezed?

Regardless. Lets join Leo and Ian as they digest this year in cinema so far! Have Marvel's Powers started to fade or are they still this lumbering caped monster of films today? What about Disney? What about Noah? What about that volcano in Pompeii? Well, grab a nice cuppa and come join us for a good old natter about it all. We promise we won't put the whole Kingdom to sleep.

Direct Link: https://archive.org/download/057ButItSNotEvenSummerYet/057-but-it_s-not-even-summer-yet.mp3

Episode 24: A Summer Of Various Disappointments

It has become something of a tradition to look to summer movies for the provision of massive, popcorn swilling, eye-popping entertainments that swell the soul with awe and wonder. It has also become something of a tradition to look back over those summer seasons with a bittersweet recollection of highs and lows.

Some years the experience is a mixed bag with stand out happy moments in a morass of mediocrity and couple of real stinkers for good measure. Last year had a glistening high point in the shape of The Avengers and plenty of other similar fare for the discerning genre fan.

This year... well, this year one could not avoid disappointment wherever one turned it seems. Nowhere was there not a film underperforming at the box office, or letting down the fanbase, or just being thoroughly ho hum on every level. So it is that the 80s Kids turn their eye to consider the summer just gone and ask what hope for the future, if any, one can salvage from it.

Direct Link: https://archive.org/download/024ASummerOfVariousDisappointments/024-A-Summer-Of-Various-Disappointments.mp3