Solo, and Thanks for Phoebe Cates

Published: June 4, 2018, 4 a.m.

On this installment of MULTIMEDIOCRITY: The Broadcast!, Talley and Doofin are talking SOLO: A Star Wars Story -- the movie's highs and lows, its canonizing connections to the Expanded Universe, and the franchise's ever-worsening fandom (((there are minor SPOILERS, but they manage to avoid spilling the major one))) -- and dissecting the rather decent filmography of its storied director, Ron Howard, who 30 years later, has come full circle to helm another of George Lucas' ripoffs.

They touch on DEADPOOL 2 and their anticipation for upcoming action flicks UPGRADE and MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - Fallout as well, before lambasting the Academy Awards for far-too-often gifting statues to actors who aren't necessarily the most outstanding in a given year, but are "due" or had a long and/or respectable-enough career.

Your trusty hosts also show some love for '80s teen idol Phoebe Cates; find a mutual fondness for the "great American diner" and all its kitchy trappings; and converse about the negative, sometimes brainwashing effect that heavy news and social media consumption can have on us. Come for Shawn's random pop culture tidbits about Kevin Kline and Manfred Mann, stay for Matthew's personal anecdotes about his pop's… uhh, "culture." Clutch some pearls with the gents on episode 27, heard via the State Lines Network!