The Incomparable

Our Summer of Submarines floats on with “U-571”, a 21st centry-style action movie that manages to hit most of the squares on the submarine bingo card. McConaughey is a disgruntled XO! Depth charges terrify! A surprising twist if you didn’t think about the title! Turns out, submarine movies aren’t a genre—they’re a format that lets filmmakers explore genres. Jason Snell with Erika Ensign, Casey Liss and Moisés Chiullán.

We dive beneath the sea again with “K-19: The Widowmaker,” in which Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson star as… wait a second… Soviet naval officers? It’s a film about a horrible nuclear accident assembled from pieces of other submarine movies, as well as possibly several “Star Trek” movies, and we can’t decide if the screenplay or the casting is more of a problem. But finally we’ll get to the bottom of the real question: if most of the crewmen aren’t married, can K-19 really be a widowmaker? Jason Snell with Erika Ensign, Philip Michaels, Steven Schapansky, Brian Warren and Tony Sindelar.

The Summer of Submarines resurfaces with James Garner going on a secret mission to an enemy island in 1959’s “Up Periscope.” The Skipper is not a skipper, but he’s got some interesting romantic ideas. Some scenes are impressively bad from multiple angles. And we realize that we’re starting to get good at this submarine-movie business, maybe? Jason Snell with Philip Michaels, Shelly Brisbin, David J. Loehr and Erika Ensign.

We return to 1995 not to hack into the Net but to wander, Netless, around Vienna with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. Palm readers! Street poets! Plays featuring cows! It’s “Before Sunrise,” a movie in which nothing happens… except maybe the most extraordinary thing in two people’s lives. Jason Snell with Brian Hamilton, Erika Ensign, Annette Wierstra and Steven Schapansky.

Our Awards Book Club closes up shop for 2025 with a final set of rankings, the presentation of an award we made up, and an overview of all the Hugo-nominated short fiction. Jason Snell with Erika Ensign, Scott McNulty, Aleen Simms and Heather Berberet.

We celebrate the tenth anniversary of our Summer Superhero Spectacular tournament with something slightly different: A draft of our favorite superhero movies. Jason Snell with Andy Ihnatko, Chip Sudderth, James Thomson, Annette Wierstra, Tony Sindelar, Moisés Chiullán and David J. Loehr.

2025 Awards Book Club nears the end with award nominees “Asunder,” “The Ministry of Time,” and “The Tainted Cup.” Plus: What else are we reading? Jason Snell with Scott McNulty, Erika Ensign, Aleen Simms and Heather Berberet.

We went to the theater to see James Gunn’s “Superman” (2025) and are back to report about the pleasant experience. Gunn sets a new direction for DC superheroes, and fans of Zack Snyder may want to look elsewhere. From Krypto the Superdog to a surprising squirrel save, from The Marvelous Miss Lane to that Elemento guy, we’ll break the whole thing down. Jason Snell with Tony Sindelar, Dan Moren, Shannon Sudderth, Chip Sudderth and Brian Warren.

We remain submerged for a very long time to watch a very long film, 1981’s “Das Boot.” This certifiable classic is certainly long and German, encompassing almost everything you might expect in the genre. There’s action, suspense, a lot of character moments, and long periods of tedium spent listening for bad sounds, punctuated by moments of terror as the boat goes to eleven (and beyond). Jason Snell with Erika Ensign, Brian Warren, Casey Liss, Dan Moren and Philip Michaels.

The Summer of Submarines joins forces with Old Movie Club to take on 1958’s “Run Silent, Run Deep,” starring Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster. It’s a tense thriller that has inspired sub and sci-fi movies for many decades. Erika’s gleeful reaction to the film’s abrupt ending may surprise you! Jason Snell with Erika Ensign, Philip Michaels, Shelly Brisbin, Dan Moren and Casey Liss.

The summer of submarines kicks off with 1995’s “Crimson Tide,” a taut character drama that pits a captain (Gene Hackman) against his XO (Denzel Washington) in a conflict that escalates as global tensions rise outside their nuclear submarine. Jason Snell with Philip Michaels, Lisa Schmeiser, Dan Moren, Casey Liss and Erika Ensign.

With the guiding hand of Prof. Siracusa choosing the curriculum, we watch select animated shorts from the Netflix series “Love, Death + Robots.” John’s quest to find the perfect photorealistic CGI animation continues. Tony does his companions a solid if he’s ever killed on a moon. The others debate if they represent love, death, or robots. We try to reconnect with our inner pool-polishing robots. It’s a real team effort. Jason Snell with John Siracusa, Annette Wierstra, Brian Hamilton and Tony Sindelar.

The second (and final?) season of the BBC/Disney+ collaboration era of “Doctor Who” is at an end, and so our crew of fans is here to pick up the pieces and ponder what went right and (unfortunately) what went wrong. Where does this franchise go from here? Jason Snell with Steven Schapansky, Erika Ensign, Chip Sudderth, Annette Wierstra and Heather Berberet.

We conclude (for now?) our coverage of the TV adaptation of The Wheel of Time, which was just canceled by Amazon. Three seasons in, we cover whether we think it is still worth watching despite cancellation (we do) and how well the show’s third (and final?) season fulfills the promise of it coming into its power. Moisés Chiullán with Sarah Hendrica Bickerton, Heather Berberet, Bryan Guffey and Kathy Campbell.

Our Awards Book Club continues its run through the roses with a tougher than expected review of Vajra Chandrasekera’s “Raksefall,” Adrian Tchaikovsky’s “Alien Clay,” and Kelly Link’s “The Book of Love.” Jason Snell with Scott McNulty, Aleen Simms and Erika Ensign.

Guillermo del Toro’s career started small, with the small-scale vampire (sort of) horror (sort of?) movie “Cronos,” in which an old man finds a mechanical object containing a magical bug that gives him eternal life in the bad way. Meanwhile, young Ron Perlman hates his evil uncle but continues to do his bidding! It’s a fun 1992 throwback that is still recognizeably del Toro. Jason Snell with Steve Lutz, Moisés Chiullán and Tony Sindelar.

From the skyscrapers of Coruscant to the pyramids of Yavin and with numerous stops in between, season two of “Andor” covers the rise of the rebellion and leads to the doorstep of “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.” What makes it special among Star Wars series? Did season two improve on the groundbreaking first season? It’s Star Wars, so we break it down in detail. Jason Snell with John Siracusa, Dan Moren, Tony Sindelar and Steven Schapansky.

We return once more to 1995, this time for a movie set at the turn of the century! It’s “Strange Days,” a cyberpunk movie with only a little bit of cyber but a lot of punk, along with grease and stink. Jason Snell with Erika Ensign, Tony Sindelar and Monty Ashley.

The highest-grossing film of all time is straight-up sci-fi and yet in 15 years at this place we’ve never talked about it. That ends now, as we put on our oxygen masks and venture out into the moon of Pandora to meet the local Na’vi and the interloper Sky People and discuss why James Cameron’s “Avatar” became an enormous hit and then disappeared entirely (other than the theme-park attactions) until re-emerging with a sequel that was also an enormous hit. Jason Snell with Erika Ensign, Brian Warren, Brian Hamilton and Chip Sudderth.

Our walk through the 10 different novels nominated for the Hugo and Nebula awards in 2025 begins! In this episode we discuss “Sleeping Worlds Have No Memory” by Yaroslav Barsukov, “A Sorceress Comes to Call” by T. Kingfisher, and “Someone You Can Build a Nest In” by John Wiswell. Jason Snell with Erika Ensign, Aleen Simms, Scott McNulty and Heather Berberet.