The August heat has not let up. Fortunately, neither has Special Topics in Media with its icebreaker mini-series, the 2023 Summer Movie Season. Host Garret Castleberry mics up with Kyle Hammonds to examine the cultural landscape of moviegoing. The shadow-and-light rhetors rev up a POD-A-THON! emphasis on big releases in June 2023. With so many features releasing from major studios, the hosts reveal which films were seen versus skipped, whether they recommend versus repress certain features, and ultimately defend against the dark(ened room) arts of summertime moviegoing. Among those on deck this week: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and Kyle's delayed screening of Avatar:The Way of Water.

Hosts: Garret Castleberry, Kyle Hammonds

Producers: Garret Castleberry, Will McMurry (Audio Engineer), Alli Garner (Cover Art), Austin Foster (Music)

Recommended screenings:
Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, & Justin K. Thompson (Directors). Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse [Film]. USA: Sony Pictures Animation/Marvel Studios/Arad Productions, 2023.

Recommended/Repressed screenings (split):
James Cameron (Director). Avatar: The Way of Water [Film]. Stone Street Studios, Wellington, New Zealand: 20th Century Studios/TSG Entertainment/Lightstorm Entertainment, 2022.

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