Tag Archives: Natalie Portman

The Toy Department – Episode 395

  By toyAdmin | August 8, 2024 - 9:12 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 395, Madden and Kolsky talk a little Lollapalooza before homing in on:

  • Apple TV+’s comedic entry Time Bandits (7:10) and Derek Madden’s distaste for the rather specific Monty Python vibe…
  • The new Apple TV+ drama Lady in the Lake (14:15) and whether it qualifies as a “gourmet cheeseburger…”
  • A few thoughts on the idea of the gourmet cheeseburger (22:10) and shows enjoying second life via the algorithm…
  • The Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black (24:40) and how and where it falls flat…
  • A brief Olympics discussion (31:50) as the games have dominated our hosts’ attention for the last couple weeks…
  • Homework for next week (40:25), including: the return of The Challenge for a (hopefully) epic Season 40, the Matt Damon/Casey Affleck movie The Instigators (on Apple TV+) and the Steph Curry mockumentary Mr. Throwback on Peacock…

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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 113

  By toyAdmin | April 3, 2018 - 4:43 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 113, Derek Madden teaches Matt Kolsky about the history of One Shining Moment before they discuss a variety of television entertainment, including:

  • Judd Apatow’s Garry Shandling documentary on HBO (5:10), The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling, which both guys found gripping and moving, and leads to some discussion of the impressive quality of recent documentaries…
  • A check-in on Kolsky’s project of catching up with Showtime’s Billions (24:35), which is going swimmingly and has him very excited about getting current with the show…
  • The new FX series Trust (35:45), which examines the Getty kidnapping story — the debut impressed both Madden and Kolsky considerably, particularly the performance of legendary actor Donald Sutherland (make sure you listen to the end of the pod for additional thoughts on Danny Boyle’s direction)…
  • The conclusion of season 2 of Amazon’s Sneaky Pete (41:20), whether the show held the level of season 1 and where it may be headed in the future…
  • The new Alex Garland film Annihilation (48:00) and how it succeeds as a sci-fi thriller without drawing too much attention to its own accomplishments in diversity…
  • Homework for next week (56:50), including: the season 2 premiere of Legion on FX, the series premiere of The Last OG (starring Tiffany Haddish and Tracy Morgan), finishing Wild Wild Country on Netflix, and the new HBO film Paterno (starring Al Pacino)…

By the way, if you like this podcast, TELL A FRIEND!! And if you want to subscribe via iTunes/Stitcher/Google Play/etc. you can just click on the link below the player (and don’t forget to leave us a review!!)… And if you want to contact the Toy Department, it’s easy — find us at ToyDepartmentPod (at) gmail.com… or tweet us: @MaddenOnAir & @thekolsky.

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The Toy Department – Episode 59

  By toyAdmin | March 1, 2017 - 7:21 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 59, Derek Madden and Matt Kolsky use the Berkeley weather as a detour before briefly addressing Kolsky’s unemployment status, then dive into a variety of subjects including:

  • FX’s The Americans (6:45) which Kolsky can now use his widely expanded free time to watch, much to Madden’s delight… which expands to a discussion of TV in general…
  • The Oscars (17:15) including: why Kolsky’s mom is unhappy with him, sad movies, Michelle Williams and Busy Phillips, Emma Stone, Jimmy Kimmel, Matt Damon and the Best Picture SNAFU…
  • The Ringer’s Top 50 Fast-Food Items (35:30) which you can find here: http://fastfood.theringer.com/ and which has a lot of explaining to do…
  • Some homework for next week (53:30): Kolsky assigns the new album Yesterday’s Gone by British hip hop artist Loyle Carner… PLUS make sure you’re watching The Americans because Kolsky is about to blast through it and it will be discussed…

By the way, if you like this podcast, TELL A FRIEND!! And if you want to subscribe via iTunes you can just click on the link below the player… Some other links down there as well… And if you want to contact the Toy Department, it’s easy — find us at ToyDepartmentPod (at) gmail.com… or tweet us: @MaddenOnAir & @thekolsky.

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