Matt brings on guest Puppetry expert Brian Hogg, founder of Hoggworks, to review Jason Segel’s new instalment to the well loved (and recently poorly handled) Muppet franchise! Since these are two children of the 80′s talking about what a child of the 80′s did with their childhood friends, it could get messy. And long.

~Matt + Nat AND Brain!

Every year Hollywood hosts the American Film Institute’s film festival in some of the coolest theatres in show biz. Usually, these are movies vying for Academy Awards on account of the time of year to premiere a movie co-inciding so well with the Oscars. Black Swan was at 2010′s AFIfest, for example. So what did 2011 have in store? Well, Matt happened to swing by and let’s just say the list starts with Steven Soderbergh, Clint Eastwood, Jason Segel, Tilda Swinton and Jennifer Garner…

~Matt

The Geekiest movie of the year? Quite possibly.

If you were born in the 70′s or 80′s, the Muppets are as much a part of your childhood as the Transformers, Arnie, MJ, Voltron and G.I.Joe combined.

So when Jason Segel and Disney team up to bring back some of entertainment’s most adored characters, the 7-year old geek inside us all stirs and we can’t quite explain it, but we get a little bit misty eyed at the sight of a felt frog, a blonde pig, and a bear with whoopie cushions.

An best of all, there’s no reimagining, no CG puppets and no bad surgery. They all look exactly the way we remember.

These little fellas have skipped an entire generation, but now is the time for people of all ages to enjoy Henson’s genius on the big screen.

Right where they belong.

~Matt + Nat

How awesome is this!? The creator of such cancelled gems as Firefly (Fox) Dollhouse (Fox) and Angel (Fox) now has the big screen bravado of Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Stark and Sam Jackson’s Nick Fury speaking his sarcastically delicious dialogue in the biggest superhero movie of all time. A helluva step up if you ask us.

Sure, it looks more like Iron Man 3 with some Chrises Evans and Hemsworth cameos, but you can’t help but love the way Tony admires Dr. Banner’s work.

Plus, Tony keeps wearing a Black Sabbath shirt, which is pure Iron Man.

~Matt + Nat

Now, we’re not saying there’s anything WRONG with twisted metal and 3D Bay-splosions… in fact, making a film in 3D seems to have slowed down Bay’s editing pace considerably. But if you were expecting maybe third times the charm for Bay and the Transformers source material, you’ll be just as disappointed by this one as all the others. There’s barely enough to recognize your favourite 80′s cartoon was the basis of this 2.5-hour romp, but after it leaves you exhausted at the credits, you’ll need to watch the original cartoon to remind yourself what the Ark was and that Shockwave has a broader vocabulary than a cockroach.

~Matt + Nat

~Matt + Nat

Certainly overdue, but with Nat on vacation during an X-Men film release, it’s tough to keep up! How does free love and mutually assured distruction get along with a prequel/reboot of the X-Men franchise? Well, the killer casting and promise of a cameo or two made First Class have some initial excitement to off-set the fear of making this movie in a short 10-months… Doesn’t seem like very long until you consider that’s how long we have to wait for another episode of Game of Thrones!

~Matt + Nat

No Orlando and no Kiera? But we get McShane and Cruz instead? Sounds like a good recipe, but going back to the well after the trilogy has been told is risky. We’re hearing any subsequent Pirates films will be strictly one-offs, so let’s talk about how they set the precedent with “On Stranger Tides”!

~Matt + Nat

With THOR, summer comicbook movies are open for business. From Hopkins to Portman the cast was phenomenal, and Chris Hemsworth is officially perfect casting as the God of Thunder. But the big surprise was just how expertly Kenneth Branagh managed to direct a film that spans an Ice Kingdom, Asgard and New Mexico! What did you think?

~Matt + Nat

~Matt + Nat