Argue The Toss

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You know a Coen brothers film when you see one, but what are the magic ingredients? Don't move, Drew & Chella are unpacking the secret right now, right here (or wherever you are). This is not a review of the new Coen brothers film, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, for reasons that will be revealed in this episode. However, Buster Scruggs is discussed in a completely spoiler-free episode.

Drew & Chella discuss Life is Strange 2 and the first episode of this brand new story. It's a dramatic opening, but a return to familiar Life is Strange territory, making it the perfect mix for episode one. Spoiler warning is announced halfway through, before we delve into plot details and player choices.

This week, Drew and Chella are joined by special guests, Emily Marlow and Lauren Nixon, two academics from Sheffield Gothic, at Sheffield University, England. The topic? Gothic in games. It's Halloween, so draw close to the fire and settle down for a special edition of Argue the Toss. Let us take you on a journey through graveyards, castles and the back streets of New Orleans, with a short stop in Mexico and Japan. Join us for a chat with these two queens of all things Gothic and games, including the definitive list of the most Gothic games ever.  

Drew and Chella discuss neo-noir Bad Times at the El Royale. The stylish situational thriller pits a stunning ensemble cast against each other on one rainy night at the El Royale hotel.   

This week Drew & Chella are hanging around to talk web-slinging and catching bad guys in New York. Spider-man is back, after a few duff games. This time, things are looking better, but will it be enough to woo the ATTeam? They're a tough crowd, but if anyone can, Spider-man can. Yeah, so, we promise no superhero themed poetry. 

Jumping on that internet meme, Drew & Chella are chatting about the five games they'd give to someone to represent their taste or something about themselves. Narrowing it down to five is hard. Do you pick your favourites or the ones you've played most? Wait, what about that one that you played all summer because that person you wanted to impress liked it and it always takes you back to that place? The ATTeam didn't come up with a sound strategy, they just winged it, but they've got their five each. What does it say about them? One shouldn't dwell on such things.

Due to scheduling clashes, there is no new episode of Argue the Toss this week. Instead, we revisit an episode from Season 3, where Drew and Chella discuss robots in film and TV. Back in Season 3, there were a lot of robot-based things being released. From examinations of robots and what it means to be human in Humans and Her, to our paranoia of being replaced or usurped by robots with their own motivations, in West World and Ex Machina. This show also discusses the idea of the robot sidekick, from Forbidden Planet through to Star Wars. For all robot things, please step this way.

Drew and Chella share a bit of background on how they met, which leads to a long discussion of tabletop roleplaying games. There's more to tabletop than just DnD, so this episode looks at the breadth of games, discusses how to set up a group and what there is to love about rolling dice with other geeks.  

Mission: Impossible - Fallout is the sixth in the Mission: Impossible series and it goes all out on Tom Cruise stunts. It even goes a bit Uncharted in the end. Drew and Chella enjoyed Fallout, but where does it rank in the grand scheme of Mission: Impossible films? Only one way to find out.  

Dishonored, Metal Gear Solid, The Last of Us and Batman all have something in common; they're all stealth games of one kind or another. Drew and Chella discuss the new breed of stealth games, compared to the pure stealth titles of yore, such as Splinter Cell. What makes a good stealth game and which ones do it best? These are just some of the questions answered in this episode of Argue the Toss.     

Hereditary is the horror film that's getting all the buzz at the cinema this summer. And from the same production company, A24, The Witch hit Netflix UK in the last few weeks. Drew and Chella discuss both films, which share more than just the A24 brand. One film successfully creates a tense atmosphere of psychological horror and paranoia, but the other isn't quite so successful.  

The games industry descended on LA for E3 2018, where publishers showed all the games. Drew and Chella discuss the big publisher conferences and pick their highlights.    

Another day and another Star Wars film, it seems. This week the Argue the Toss team is discussing Solo, the latest in the expanded Star Wars universe. The film didn't do well at the box office, but was it unfairly judged or is it really not worth a watch? Drew & Chella give their verdict.

Leading on from the Royal Wedding, in the UK, last weekend, Drew & Chella get to wondering about video game weddings. And when they couldn't think of many that weren't really negative experiences for the bride, they try to find games with a happily ever after. Today's AAA games rarely do happy endings, if ever. The Argue the Toss team discuss the ones that do and why there are so few. They get through the whole episode without once singing The Doors, so there is that.

War! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing. How much of it is there? Infinity. After an already pretty endless hype train, Marvel have finally released Infinity War, which - spoilers - actually does not continue on for infinity. Though at 149 minutes, it does get closer to delivering on its title than The NeverEnding Story. The ATTeam have been to see the latest battle royale featuring nearly the entire MCUniverse, and return with well-considered, correct opinions which you may now use to replace in your head all other criticisms and analyses that you have previously listened to or read. If you're still avoiding spoilers, don't worry - most of this episode is spoiler-free and we clearly mark the point where we're about start discussing the plot. Also, how the heck are you still managing to avoid Infinity War spoilers? Do you live in a sensory deprivation tank or something? Jeez. Ridiculous.

Drew and Chella went to , in London and discuss the roundup of games they played. It’s a Very Special Episode of , but don’t worry, that doesn’t mean we’re going to spend the whole thing delivering a heavy-handed moral message about drugs or bullying or anything. No, it’s Very Special because this week, Argue The Toss has been on the road. And by this week, I mean last week. Last weekend. By which I mean the weekend before the most recent weekend. So actually, more like two weeks ago now. Anyway, point is, we’ve been a place. And that place was London, and the reason was because EGX Rezzed was happening there and we went to that. So that’s what happened, basically. And we met a bunch of cool people there, and went to a couple of really interesting talks, and got hands-on with a plethora of up-and-coming indie titles. That’s right, a whole plethora. And it is from that plethora that we now present a podcast containing a few of our personal highlights. So listen to that now. Find out more about the games discus

Wes Anderson doesn't have a clean record when it comes to representing people of colour well, but Isle of Dogs is his worst yet. If you can overlook the cultural appropriation, colour coding and white saviour, it's a charming film with beautiful animation. Drew & Chella get into it with their latest film review.

It's been a month of female-led media, so Drew and Chella are diving in with reviews of A Wrinkle in Time, Annihilation and the latest Tomb Raider film, which reboots the films by being an adaptation of the rebooted games. These films have more in common than it seems, as they are all adaptations, all feature female protagonists and all focus on lost male figures. Some are more successful than others, oh and there are flamingos.

Drew and Chella discuss the new season of Jessica Jones - new characters, return of old ones and some dodgy dialogue. Released on International Women's Day and directed entirely by women, season 2 of Jessica Jones has high expectations upon it. Does it hold up, so far? Tune in to find out.