Dvd Verdict Presents... Movie Podcasts

Melissa finds The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo exceeds expectations. Michael spends Christmas Eve at Disneyland. Plus! A glut of '70s and '80s television and '90s cult classic movies arrives on Netflix and Hulu. Another year of Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve. Trent Reznor the film composer returns to CD. New books from Dean Koontz, The View's Elizabeth Hasslebeck, and "the sexy" Suzanne Sommers. Massive hype generated by trailers for The Dark Knight Rises, The Hobbit, and Ridley Scott's Prometheus. And a dose of celebrity banality. Happy New Year!

Basking in the glow of Peter Jackson's trailer for The Hobbit and pitifully attempting to decipher Tom Hardy's Bane monologue, Mac seeks Dave's blessing to imbibe on He-Man and The Masters of the Universe, Dave is disappointed with the Dexter season finale, and Erich doesn't have access to Willow. Reviews of Young Justice, The Simpsons: Season 14, and Cinematic Titanic: War of the Insects. Plus! Favorite fake Seinfeld movies, Memorable beards, Famous aliases, and Supervillains with speech impediments.

Patrick interviews Erich about his favorite movies of all time, including Annie Hall, The Graduate, This is Spinal Tap, Rushmore, and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.

Kent and Michelle's bi-weekly odyssey continues with this year's unconventional Christmas episode: reviews of Die Hard, The Sound of Music, three vintage Canadian animated films, a statistical breakdown of the Christmas holiday, and a visit from Old Saint Nick. Yippee Kay Yay, Mister Mistletoe!

This week, Clark gets into the holiday spirit by offering a full hour of film music from Christmas movies. You'll hear selections from Blizzard, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Home Alone, A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas, Scrooged, Love Actually, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Jack Frost, and The Polar Express.

Another exciting week of entertainment is on tap, as Melissa learns what happens in The Booth at the End, Michael learns valuable Christmas lessons from Fat Albert and Mr. Magoo. Plus! Sherlock Holmes and the mystery of the dwindling box office, the arrival of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, a rundown of festive holiday week television, new arrivals on Netflix Instant and Hulu Plus, Austin Powers is making his way to Broadway, The Lord of The Rings gets the Lego treatment, your weekly celebrity scanner report, and much more.

This week's episode sees more talk of Skyrim, as Kev puts the final nail into the main quest. Meanwhile, Jon gets his Smackdown on with WWE 12, and Steve continues his hate march against the Nintendo 3DS. Plus! The boys finish out 2011 with talk of their favourite gaming moments.

Dave and Mac return to the glory days, when it was just the two of them huddled around a roaring fire and open mic. This week's hot topics include X-Men vs. The Avengers, comic books in the digital age, embedding stealth pilots in hit series, reviewing the french thriller Point Blank on Blu-ray and the latest Ben 10 DVD release, action scenes on trains, and fights scenes in bathrooms.

For those of you already overdosing on Christmas cheer, we offer some much needed counter-programming. Join Patrick and Mike as they freebase all eight movies in the original Halloween franchise, beginning with John Carpenter's 1978 classic, and ending with Jamie Lee Curtis, Busta Rhymes, Katee Sackhoff, and Tyra Banks taking down Michael Myers one last time.

This week, Clark explores the music of the late Jerry Fielding, offering selections from The Wild Bunch, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, The Outfit, Super Cops, Chato's Land, The Big Sleep, The Black Bird, and The Gauntlet. In addition, a handful of new DVD and Blu-ray releases are reviewed.

Melissa spends quality comedic time across the pond. Michael sits down with the cast of Community. The box office tanks hard but looks to rebound with a big season. A rundown of this week's Christmas TV specials. James Bond returns to Netflix Instant with Pierce Brosnan in tow. Getting down with OPP 20 years later. Elisabeth Sladen releases a posthumous autobiography. Lindsay Lohan brings her disaster tour to Hawaii. And The 100 Hottest Women of All Time... Really?!

Erich acquaints himself with Being Human. Daryl finds Deadwood doesn't live up to the hype. Michael finds The Iron Lady has a heart of gold. Dan streams Community. Mac finishes Assassins Creed. Dave gets knocked out by Warrior. Plus! Movie word association, Irritating kids in Christmas movies, Mini DVD and Blu-ray Holiday Gift Guide, Severed heads that spring back to life, and Casting the worst actor to play Khan in Star Trek 2.

Ho-Ho-Ho! Hey boys and girls, Santa has a special treat for you this year. Our movie elves -- Patrick, Doug, and JB -- have recorded a special audio commentary to one of Santa's favorite Christmas movies... John Frankenheimer's Reindeer Games! So get yourself situated in front of the TV, bring the movie up on Netflix Instant Streaming, and join Rudolph and me for a rip-snortin' good time.

The dynamic Edmonton duo return with a winter weather update. Kent taps his massive Christmas TV specials collection (Spongebob, Shrek, Bugs Bunny, How to Train Your Dragon). Michelle talks 2011 television (Prime Suspect, Falling Skies). And we wrap with a look ahead to Pixar's Brave, Disney's John Carter.

This week, Clark spotlights film music which prominently features the guitar, offering selections from Once Upon a Time in the West, Deadfall, Spanglish, Under Fire, Taking Woodstock, Brokeback Mountain, 3:10 to Yuma, Norma Rae, P.S. I Love You, and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. In addition, The Muppets, Hugo, and a handful of DVD and Blu-ray releases are reviewed.

A snowed-in Melissa revists Jonathan Winters and Bonnie Hunt in the short-lived series Davis Rules. Michael gets to know Margaret Thatcher via Meryl Streep's The Iron Lady. The Dragon Tattoo Trilogy gets an extended TV mini-series treatment. A big week for British comedy on Netflix Instant. Community finds a new home on Hulu Plus. A rapid rundown of this week's Christmas-themed television. Richard Branson's new book says "Screw business as usual!" Amy Winehouse lives on in new music. Brad Pitt saves a man's life. And more wretched Kardashian news.

On this week's episode, the boys stop talking about Skyrim (briefly) to share some thoughts on The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Then there's the usual Bethesda love and some news, before everything degenerates into a Nintendo hate-fest when Jon asks, "What would you do to save the 3DS?"

Mac thrills to a Wonder Woman that never was, Erich reaches puberty while reading a book, and Dave loves his Kindle. Reviews of Being Human (US): Season One, Mission: Impossible '88, Meet Me in St. Louis (Blu-ray), and Smallville: Season Ten (Blu-ray). Plus! Overly complicated schemes, Alternate sledding devices, and Fictional game shows.

A broken laptop throws Patrick and Doug into an alternate universe where the resulting conversation is a pop culture, stream of consciousness explosion that's going to be a bitch to clean up.

This week, Clark presents another batch of new and recent film score releases, featuring selections from Funeral Home, Forever Young, Gremlins, Rampage, The Debt, Dolphin Tale, Immortals, and Real Steel. Plus! A review of Alexander Payne's The Descendants.