Tag Archives: Ed Eason

The Toy Department – Episode 380

  By toyAdmin | March 7, 2024 - 11:12 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 380, Madden and Kolsky discuss the big house-dad day at the Kolsky home and Matt’s various dad behaviors before locking in to cover:

  • The second and final episode of The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion reunion (4:00) and a wrap-up on a less-than-thrilling season of the pod’s favorite competition show…
  • The Zone of Interest (31:15) which Kolsky couldn’t bring himself to watch and Madden didn’t particularly enjoy…
  • The bizarre and oversexed Poor Things (40:30) and our hosts very different views on a very weird movie…
  • The new Hulu/FX adaptation of Shogun (1:03:00) and how it won over a skeptical and reluctant Derek Madden…
  • Apple TV+’s new comedy The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin (1:06:50) and the varying mileage of incredibly stupid jokes…
  • Homework for next week (1:11:45), including: the Oscars broadcast, HBO’s new Kate Winslet-starring miniseries The Regime, Netflix’s new Guy Ritchie series The Gentlemen, Amazon’s new British thriller-comedy Dead Hot and the Peter Farrelly movie Ricky Stanicky…

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The Toy Department – Episode 379

  By toyAdmin | February 29, 2024 - 9:18 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 379, Madden and Kolsky discuss Derek’s busy schedule and Matt’s various maladies before jumping into:

  • The first of two reunion episodes for The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion (2:20) and how one week probably would have been enough to cover everything if they had just limited some of the shouting matches…
  • The Vince Staples Show (19:00) and how it’s difficult not to see it as a second-rate version of our beloved Atlanta…
  • Apple TV+’s new show Constellation (22:40) and whether it is compelling enough to stick around for answers to the its many mysterious questions…
  • The Oscar-nominated Anatomy of a Fall (25:45) and how it is very French and pretty good but not necessarily on par with some of its opponents in the Best Picture category…
  • Homework for next week (32:05), including: the conclusion of the reunion for The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion, Hulu/FX’s Shogun, the remaining two Best Picture nominees — Zone of Interest and Poor Things — and the new Apple TV+ comedy The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin…

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The Toy Department – Episode 375

  By toyAdmin | February 1, 2024 - 12:00 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 375, Madden and Kolsky address Derek’s road location and failure to shower — with a weird detour to the film Wonka — before splashing into:

  • A thrilling and dramatic episode of The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion (3:05) that leaves the show in an unfortunate place moving forward towards the final…
  • The fifth and final season of Fargo (35:30) and what a spectacular show it was throughout its run…
  • Netflix’s Emmy Award-Winning limited series Beef (42:05), which both hosts only returned to recently and ended up really enjoying…
  • The new series Sexy Beast (50:50) and the fundamental but still-unanswered question of why??
  • The excellent Best Picture nominee American Fiction (57:10) and some thoughts on the upcoming Oscar race…
  • Homework for next week (1:07:40), including: another episode of The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion, Apple TV+’s new World War II show Masters of the Air, Donald Glover’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith on Amazon, Netflix’s dour comedy Loudermilk and the film Self Reliance on Hulu (written/directed/starring Jake Johnson)…

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The Toy Department – Episode 374

  By toyAdmin | January 25, 2024 - 11:21 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 374, Madden and Kolsky sort through the topics and decide it’s important to get right into:

  • The exploit’s of The Challenge’s Ravyn Rochelle in Seal of Desire (2:40), a mediocre erotic thriller…
  • This week’s episode of The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion (7:35) and how the Conquest phase seems to be taking this season in a much better direction…
  • The Martin Scorcese epic Killers of the Flower Moon (31:25) which both of our hosts enjoyed tremendously, despite the extreme running time…
  • A few thoughts on the Oscar nominations (42:25) and the kerfuffle surrounding Barbie’s nominations (or lack thereof)…
  • The Hulu mystery series Death and Other Details (50:55) and how it’s yet another middling murder mystery, but at least it’s fun!
  • The Kaley Cuoco/David Oyelowo film Role Play (53:40) and how it’s not the film you expect, in part because it doesn’t seem to totally know what it is…
  • Homework for next week (1:02:05), including: another episode of The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion, finishing Fargo on Hulu/FX and Beef on Netflix, the television series version of Sexy Beast, and the movie American Fiction (currently in theaters)…

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The Toy Department – Episode 373

  By toyAdmin | January 18, 2024 - 12:39 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 373, Madden and Kolsky are finally excited about something that happened on their favorite show so it’s RIGHT into:

  • This week’s action on The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion (1:30) and whether the appearance of an undisputed Mount Rushmore champion helped pull this season out of its previous doldrums…
  • The new season of HBO’s True Detective (36:05) and an exciting cast in the dark of Alaska…
  • The new film Foe (40:35) and whether our hosts were able to enjoy a slow, dark exploration of humanity in the age of AI…
  • David Oyelowo’s passion project Lawmen: Bass Reeves (48:20) and how the actor/producer’s love for his subject plays out on screen…
  • Peacock’s new TV version of Ted (51:35) and whether the strange heart of this deliberately offensive show is enough to redeem it…
  • Homework for next week (56:25), including: another episode of The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion, the Hulu mystery series Death and Other Details, the Martin Scorcese epic Killers of the Flower Moon (now available on Apple TV+) and for a lighter time the Amazon rom-com Role Play, PLUS Derek will watch Ravyn Rochelle’s erotic thriller…

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The Toy Department – Episode 372

  By toyAdmin | January 11, 2024 - 12:30 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 372, Madden and Kolsky waste no time diving into some divisive pop culture as they cover:

  • Kolsky’s homework recommendation A Murder at the End of the World (1:15) which Derek deeply hated and is quite angry about…
  • The new Zack Snyder Netflix film Rebel Moon (8:45) and how it turns out to be a pretty middling mediocrity, as opposed to the stunning disaster our hosts were expecting…
  • The Netflix series Brothers Sun (17:50) and how anything with Michelle Yeoh and some excellent fight sequences is off to a pretty good start…
  • Another frustrating week of The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion (20:35) and our hosts’ growing dissatisfaction with the central characters…
  • Homework for next week (45:20), including: another episode of The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion, a new season of HBO’s True Detective (starring Jodie Foster), the new film Foe (available on Amazon Prime), Lawmen: Bass Reeves on Paramount+ and the new tv-series version of Ted on Peacock…

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The Toy Department – Episode 371

  By toyAdmin | January 4, 2024 - 12:35 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 371, Madden and Kolsky totally forget to wish each other (or you) a Happy New Year and instead discuss the elastic nature of time before getting into:

  • A more eventful episode of The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion (3:10) that nevertheless failed to improve the entertainment value of an increasingly frustrating season…
  • The new Dave Chappelle special The Dreamer (23:20), his addiction to touching the third rail and enjoying a comedian without loving all of his jokes…
  • The utterly confounding film Saltburn (31:30) and the very specific (and wildly bizarre) visionn of Emerald Fennell…
  • The new Alexander Payne film The Holdovers (41:15) and how it’s just a really damn good movie and you should all watch it…
  • Season two of Dr. Death (44:50) and how one of our hosts is just a hard out on this type of show…
  • Homework for next week (55:20), including: another episode of The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion, finishing the Hulu series Murder at the End of the World, and two Netflix properties — the Zack Snyder movie Rebel Moon and the new Michelle Yeoh series The Brothers Sun…

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The Toy Department – Episode 370

  By toyAdmin | December 28, 2023 - 12:49 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 370, Madden and Kolsky have an in-depth discussion of sinus procedures and overall nasal health before ending their year with:

  • ALLLLLL the action from the last THREE episodes of The. Challenge: Battle for a New Champion (5:30) including the (questionable?) toppling of some all-time greats and a collection of some of the most stupefying game moves that 25 years of The Challenge Universe has seen…
  • The new season of Apple TV+’s Slow Horses (27:35) and the continuing brilliance of lead actors Gary Oldman and Jack Lowden…
  • Netflix’s much-ballyhooed Bradley Cooper vehicle Maestro (32:05) and how it wasn’t as much of a Leonard Bernstein biopic as our hosts would have liked…
  • The new Eddie Murphy Christmas movie Candy Cane Lane (42:10) and whether it’s good enough to slide into a regular holiday viewing rotation…
  • A fresh season of Amazon Prime Video’s Reacher (48:25) and how a new cast of characters stacks up around the mountain of Alan Ritchson…
  • Homework for next week (55:20), including: another episode of The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion, the Emerald Fenell movie Saltburn, the Alexander Payne movie The Holdovers (available on Peacock), Dave Chappelle’s new Netflix special The Dreamer and Peacock’s new season of Dr. Death…

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The Toy Department – Episode 369

  By toyAdmin | December 7, 2023 - 12:05 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 369, Madden and Kolsky spend a few minutes on Derek’s immediate future, including a rock concert and programming a Christmas music station, before launching into:

  • A relatively lackluster week on The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion (7:25) and how the loss of one of our hosts’ favorite characters doesn’t necessarily project particularly well for the second half of the season (but there’s hope!)…
  • The Netflix series Obliterated (32:15) and how its lack of particular ambition or excellence does not stop it from being watchable…
  • The film May December (42:05) and how Netflix’s Oscar bait probably falls a little short despite some excellent acting performances…
  • The entirely adorable Geddy Lee Asks: Are Bass Players Human Too? (52:30) and the joys of watching nerds talk about stuff…
  • Homework for TWO weeks from now (59:50), including: two episodes of The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion, the film Maestro (available on Netflix), the new season of Slow Horses on Apple TV+ and Eddie Murphy’s new Christmas movie Candy Cane Lane…

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The Toy Department – Episode 368

  By toyAdmin | November 30, 2023 - 3:41 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 368, Madden and Kolsky lament the existence of Daylight Savings Time and the depressing 4:30pm sundown in the Midwest before turning to:

  • The Peacock film Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain (2:50) and whether Derek owes Kolsky an apology for bringing it to his attention…
  • The Netflix documentary Beckham (12:10) and Fisher Stevens’ interesting directorial choices, plus the hitherto untold peculiarities of one of soccer’s greatest superstars…
  • The latest from The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion (28:40), where another champ showed up to embrace the chaos and break up a couple…
  • Homework for next week (59:15), including: another episode of The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion, the new Netflix show Obliterated, the film May December (also on Netflix) and the Paramount+ show Geddy Lee Asks: Are Bass Players Human Too?…

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