Matinee Manatees

Latest Episodes:

Idiocracy (2006) Aug 31, 2026

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"Idiocracy" is 20 years old THIS MONTH! Anyone else know this one?

A textbook "cult classic", Idiocracy made less than half a million dollars when it was first released in 2006, but it's seen been hailed by some as not only an insightful comedy but a terrifyingly prescient prediction of modern society's downfall. But does it hold up? Float along with the manatees as they get waaaay more political than usual. The fed rolled back protections for wild manatees this last month and we're mad! Skip this one if you're already saturated with mentions of current societal problems, but otherwise float along with the manatees as they discuss the classics, like: how much of this has actually already happened? Is President Camacho even a bad president, really? Is this scenario possible without some kinda Morlock situation going on? And, does anybody still think IQ actually means anything? (One of the manatees has tested higher than Einstein and is living proof that, no, it doesn't.)

Robocop (1987) (Reupload) Aug 19, 2026

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(Spotify for Podcasts is such a bad service that they've now taken to re-flagging episodes they've already flagged that have already been explicitly cleared of copyright violation by both their own investigation and the copyright holder himself. We're looking into returning to libysn as quickly as possible. Anchor.fm was good, spotify bought it, it is no longer good.)

Sometimes you just wanna watch an old favorite, you know? For us, that's Paul Verhoeven's 1987 genre-making classic, Robocop. Starring Peter Weller and Kurtwood Smith and made for a much smaller budget than you'd think, Robocop's a slim hundred minute satire of US corporatism and creates one of the most iconic characters in American sci-fi. <p>

Set in the near future, Robcop contemplates an unthinkable world where an enormous corporation is endeavoring to gentrify major urban areas and replace human workers with AI, set against a backdrop of increasingly militarized police and privatized public services. Can you imagine?

Float along with the manatees as they enjoy this old favorite once again, snark about modern politics, and of course discuss child-rearing and the appropriate age at which ultra-violence can help a child be better adjusted, among other important topics. Float along and have a watch, it's Robocop.

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) (Reupload) Aug 19, 2026

Show notes

(Spotify For Podcasts is such a bad service they've taken to taking down episodes that were already explicitly cleared of copyright infringement by both the podcaster and the copyright holder. We are looking into switching back to libsyn as soon as feasible.)

It's a Patreon poll winner! Well, technically, it tied, but this was the one that didn't have subtitles, so, same same. Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) was a commercial flop, but will it perform better with an aquatic audience than it did with land-based audiences? Do you need to have seen Jacques Cousteau's films to get the jokes? What the heck is an IMU? These and others are the questions that, uh, we ask, while, you know, watching this movie. And talking about it. On a podcast.

Kingdom of Heaven (2005) Feb 20, 2026

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This time we're delving into the... is it alright to call it a cult classic? The reviled-in-it's-theatrical-cut-but-beloved-in-it's-director's-cut-version Ridley Scott epic, Kingdom of Heaven, form 2005, starring Orlando Bloom and Eva Green. A period drama about the crusades, Kingdom of Heaven tells the story of a guy who's somehow just a bit better at everything than everybody else who shows up in the middle of a bunch of crazy religious people and is asked to fix everything and then angrily ignored until it's unsalvageable. As a relatively lucid American living through the early 21st century, I have never felt more seen. Put your parallel-recognizin' hats on and float along with us, will you?

What's up with the podcast feed lately? Feb 19, 2026

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Short answer, our episodes keep getting taken down for copyright infringement until we challenge the decision and are allowed to reupload them. Hope it's not messing with your feed too much! New episode coming tomorrow.

Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) Dec 30, 2025

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Matinee Manatees is taking a stand: if they can play carols during October, we can watch spooky movies in December! We go back to the Halloween season well with Francis Ford Coppola's "Bram Stoker's Dracula" from 1992, the movie that dares to ask: just how horny can a person get before the rest of us need to cut their head off? Turns out: very. Float along with the manatees through OCEANS OF TIME as they ask the important questions, like: do vampires just really like empires in decline? What season did the Simpsons really jump the shark? And, of course, could Dracula run a successful mayoral campaign in the contemporary US? They also talk about the movie. You know, a little.

Frankenstein Unbound (1990) Oct 15, 2025

Show notes

It's October again, and you know what that means: spooky movies! Or at least, movies we think are going to be spooky until we actually watch them. This month, we checked out Roger Corman's "Frankenstein Unbound" from 1990, starring friends of the show William Hurt and Raul Julia. A bizarre mashup of Frankenstein, Back to the Future, Knight Rider, and Army of Darkness, and starring some of our favorite actors, we were shocked that we hadn't heard of this movie before. Until we saw it. Then it kinda made sense.

Float along with the manatees as they discuss paradoxes, an embarrassingly outdated understanding of neurology, and what is and isn't an acceptable way to treat a car, and whether or not this should have been an episode of Star Trek. Don't worry, it's not actually all that scary (although definitely watch the movie in question first if you plan on showing it to any kids).

A Knight's Tale (2001) Sep 20, 2025

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Sorry we're late, half of us had covid! He's actually fine, he just had no voice for a while. And his personality is odd, but that's normal. This month we revisited the 2001 cult classic A Knight's Tale! Written and directed by Brian Helgeland and starring the late great Heath Ledger, A Knight's Tale is a mostly light anachronistic romantic comedy sports movie period piece coming of age tale... kind of. The manatees talk accents, pasta, what music even existed in medieval times, and whether or not the main character even needs an antagonist. Also, there's like a solid half hour of catching up on account of the aforementioned covid, so this one's EXTRA sleep inducing. (Or you can skip forward.) Float along with us and have a movie night, why doncha?

Dragonheart (1996) Jun 26, 2025

Show notes

We don't know about you guys but we could use some silly escapism. This month, the manatees are checking out 1996's Dragonheart! Directed by Rob Cohen and starring Dennis Quaid and the voice of Sean Connery, Dragonheart was one of our hosts' favorite movies when he was a child. But does it hold up to an adult audience? (Of course not.) But it does prove particularly rich springboard for ranting about Dungeons and Dragons, Patrick Stewart, the differences between accents and speech impediments, the differences between house flipping and scalping (hint: there are none), and recent peer-pressured forays into the Romantasy genre of smut novels (have you all heard about that one yet?). It's been so long since we talked that we ramble on for about six hours. Might get more than one night out of this one!

Dark City (1998) Apr 23, 2025

Show notes

It's another patron episode! This month we've been directed to watch 1998's Dark City, a flop at the time but a cult classic in the decades since. Directed by friend of the show Alex Proyas from The Crow and starring Rufus Sewell and William Hurt, Dark City asks the same question we've all been asking ourselves: what if The Matrix had the guy from Hellraiser? And boy, does it deliver. Come float along with us and see for yourself how telekinesis can be used poorly, whether spirals are always as mysterious as you might think, and why sometimes less is more with 1998's Dark City.

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