Claim OwnershipThe Critical Spectrum
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© Colin Steele, Michael Murguia, Matthew Lundeen, and Frank Pontrelli
Description
Between casual consumers and impassioned critics, there are countless ways people perceive and enjoy art. On this podcast, we embrace how differently we enjoy art to have more fulfilling discussions about film, television, and video games. Join Michael Murguia, Frank Pontrelli, Colin Steele, and Matthew Lundeen as they each say their piece from their end of the Critical Spectrum.
34 Episodes
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This week, Matt regales the boys about his dream journal. Meanwhile, Matt plays Fortnite the entire episode because his friend playfully dissed him and he's bitter because of it. Also, they all talk about movies.
Check out Matt's friend on Twitch: GanwhoTwitch
Donate to Point of Pride, providing life-saving health and wellness to the Trans community!
Follow us on Instagram: thecriticalspectrum
Matthew's written work: Sakura Sunrise and Sakura Shuffle
Apologies for the audio problems. You'd think four years of radio would have given Matt the ability to not have the podcast sound like ass but guess not.
This week, the boys talk about Cyberpunk Edgerunners and more from Trigger's panel at AnimeExpo. Later on, they talk about the game design of the Souls games and if they'd be as beloved without the wiki.
ANN Trigger Panel Coverage: Trigger 10 Year Anniversary & Announcement Panel
Matt's Assassin's Creed Article: Assassin's Creed: Why the Assassins Suck At Their Jobs
Donate to Point of Pride, providing life-saving health and wellness to the Trans community!
Follow us on Instagram: thecriticalspectrum
Matthew's written work: sakurasunrise.blog, and sakurashuffle.wordpress.com
This week, the gang talks about people getting into AJR thanks to TikTok, Morbius' disastrous rerelease, Matt's recent comic book reads, and more!
Donate to Point of Pride, providing life-saving health and wellness to the Trans community!
Follow us on Instagram: thecriticalspectrum
Matthew's written work: sakurasunrise.blog, and sakurashuffle.wordpress.com
Colin had whisky samples, so the whole gang decided to try them while having a totally normal discussion about Multiverse of Madness and Moon Knight. However once the alcohol started to kick in, the boys turned their attention to world affairs.
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Matthew's written work: sakurasunrise.blog, and sakurashuffle.wordpress.com
Matt wanted to pose the question of what the gang's theme song would be if they were the villain in a story. The choices ranged from bangers to some headscratchers, but no one will deny that these villains are still better than 90% of MCU antagonists.
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Matthew's written work: sakurasunrise.blog, whoaanime.com, and sakurashuffle.wordpress.com
This week, the gang gets hyped for Taika Waititi's next film. That's right, Matt likes the MCU again this week. Then, they decide they need to watch more movies together, talk about Elden Ring's lore, and ponder the bathing tendencies of heterosexual men.
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Matthew's written work: sakurasunrise.blog, whoaanime.com, and sakurashuffle.wordpress.com
This week, Colin gushes about Lego Star Wars while Matthew despairs the state of cinema after watching Everything Everywhere All At Once by Daniels.
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Matthew's written work: sakurasunrise.blog, whoaanime.com, and sakurashuffle.wordpress.com
The gang is back after an eight-month hiatus and they're here to blitz through what they missed while they were gone, explain their absence, and get straight back to shooting the shit like always.
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Matthew's written work: sakurasunrise.blog, whoaanime.com, and sakurashuffle.wordpress.com
00:00 | A Review of Black Widow
38:40 | A Review of Loki
Black Widow came out and Loki finished its (first) season. Which is the superior product? I don't know, it's not a competition. They're practically different genres. The guys are just here to tell you if they're worth watching or not. Sorry, I didn't mean to lash out. The first half of the episode was lost. Crazy shit happened. Matt came out as bisexual, Michael and Colin got into a fierce debate about abortion, and then DJ Jazzy Josh had a knife fight with Alex From The Block to determine the true "friend of the show." Take my word for it, things got intense.
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Matthew's written work: sakurasunrise.blog, animequarterly.com, and sakurashuffle.wordpress.com
00:00 | Star Wars Visions
01:02:42 | The Nintendo Switch OLED Model with Mike "The Merc" Murguia
01:07:53 | Assassin's Creed Infinity
Star Wars is getting an anime from 9 directors at seven renowned studios in Japan and Matt has all of the details. Then, we call totally-not-host-on-vacation Mike "The Merc" Murguia to talk about the new Switch, before talking about the death (or rebirth?) of Assassin's Creed.
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Matthew's written work: sakurasunrise.blog, animequarterly.com, and sakurashuffle.wordpress.com
00:00 | Missed opportunities for jokes and a discussion of rap names
5:58 | Evangelion 3.0+1.01 coming to Amazon internationally
31:05 | EA wants to put ads in games
01:01:31 | Amazon Games' New World
We brought resident Warhammer expert Alex Stanczik back just for fun to discuss a whole bunch of random crap, including but not limited to EA continuing to pull their usual schemes, Amazon bringing the long-awaited Evangelion sequel to their service, and Amazon Games creating a new MMO.
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Matthew's written work: sakurasunrise.blog, animequarterly.com, and sakurashuffle.wordpress.com
The gang didn't have a set topic, so instead, they rambled about VR technology, music, Matthew's sex life, and Colin's hot takes about veganism. All this and more on a very special (and very stupid) episode.
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Matthew's written work: sakurasunrise.blog, animequarterly.com, and sakurashuffle.wordpress.com
1:20 | Nonsense
9:09 | E3
01:18:00 | Netflix Geeked Week
E3 happened, and while some have been quick to call it a disappointment, the boys found themselves quite impressed upon further inspection. Also, Matt runs down a list of the crazy number of Netflix announcements from Netflix Geeked Week.
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Matthew's written work: sakurasunrise.blog, animequarterly.com, and sakurashuffle.wordpress.com
00:00 | Michael Rants about Nvidia
28:20 | Army of the Dead Review
01:37:00 | Does Matt think Michael will like Death Stranding?
Michael had some words about Nvidia's business practices in light of the scalping problem in the electronics industry. Then, the gang reviews Army of the Dead, before Michael throws a curveball and asks Matt if he would actually recommend Death Stranding. It's the gift that keeps on giving this week.
Follow us on Twitter: @TheCritSpectrum
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Matthew's written work: sakurasunrise.blog & animequarterly.com
00:00 | Absolute nonsense
07:06 | EA sucks
34:40 | We loved the Scarlet Nexus demo
In the most strangely fatigued episode yet, the boys rant about EA and Colin's inability to play their multiplayer games. Then, they go in-depth about Scarlet Nexus after playing the demo released recently on Xbox. In-between all of that, they talk about dumb shit. Only the best for our fans here on our landmark 20th episode.
Follow us on Twitter: @TheCritSpectrum
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Matthew's written work: sakurasunrise.blog & animequarterly.com
00:00 | In loving memory of John "TotalBiscuit" Bain
04:50 | Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Wrath of the Druids
54:40 | Matt reviews "I Think Our Son Is Gay" by Okura
01:07:46 | Castlevania Season 4
Matt's review of Castlevania Season 4
Castlevania Season 4's Sakugabooru Page!
Although Michael was worried he wouldn't have much to say in this episode, he had quite a lot to share when the boys decided to talk about Assassin's Creed. Between that, Matt's manga review, a review of Castlevania's final season, and some timely memorials of some talented gentlemen taken far too soon, this is one packed episode.
Follow us on Twitter: @TheCritSpectrum
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Matthew's written work: sakurasunrise.blog & animequarterly.com
00:00 | Our thoughts on the Venom 2 trailer
42:40 | Culture Corner: Scott Pilgrim vs The World
01:35:55 | Some small news, and Alex talks about Warhammer
Andy Serkis is directing the second Venom movie and it looks... interesting? The guys discuss the trailer in detail and share their hype levels on a scale of 1 Mrs. Chen to 10 Mrs. Chens. Next, the gang discusses Scott Pilgrim vs The World after its theatrical rerelease and then they round out the show with a discussion of news and the Warhammer series with special guest Alex Stanczik.
Follow us on Twitter: @TheCritSpectrum
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Matthew's written work: sakurasunrise.blog & animequarterly.com
00:00 | Apex Legends' new mode is great!
15:40 | Mortal Kombat... not so much
54:40 | Netflix's Yasuke is... something
Last week it was nothing but praise. This week, the universe balanced things out with two topics that weren't quite what the gang was hoping for. But first, Matt starts off positive, discussing Apex Legends and the brand new Arena mode. Then, the boys review Mortal Kombat and Yasuke alongside "Friend of the Show," Josh Mrowca (DJ Jazzy Josh as they call him).
Matt's show recommendations based on Yasuke:
Dororo (Streaming on Amazon Prime Video)
Sword of the Stranger (Available on Blu-ray)
Samurai Champloo (Hulu, FunimationNow, Blu-ray)
Afro Samurai (Funimation, Blu-ray)
Follow us on Twitter: @TheCritSpectrum
Follow us on Instagram: thecriticalspectrum
Matthew's written work: sakurasunrise.blog & animequarterly.com
00:00 | Demon Slayer The Movie
55:30 | We talk about random crap
01:09:26 | Falcon and the Winter Soldier Series Review
The boys were gonna watch Mortal Kombat, but Matt and Michael didn't watch it. Instead, the gang discusses the Demon Slayer Movie. In the second half, they gush about one of the MCU's best and most important stories in years!
Matt's Demon Slayer Review: Is the Demon Slayer Movie Worth All the Broken Records?
Follow us on Instagram: thecriticalspectrum
Matthew's written work: sakurasunrise.blog & animequarterly.com
00:00 | Netflix's new releases
49:45 | Culture Corner: Promare (2019)
This week, the gang discusses the next coolest things coming to Netflix, including Studio MAPPA's Yasuke, Jordan Vogt Robert's live-action Gundam, and the fourth and final season of Castlevania, among others. Then, the boys talk about Promare, an action-packed (and appreciably queer-coded) animated film from the makers of Gurren Lagann and Kill la Kill.
Castlevania Season 4 poster & teaser
Promare Articles:
The Shape of Queer Liberation: On the Geometry of Promare
Are Promare and The Lighthouse 'Queer Cinema'?
Follow us on Instagram: thecriticalspectrum
Matthew's written work: sakurasunrise.blog & animequarterly.com
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