On episode 145 of The AwardsWatch Podcast, AwardsWatch Executive Editor Ryan McQuade is joined by Editor and Chief Erik Anderson, as well as AwardsWatch contributors Dan Bayer, Josh Parham and Kevin Lee to give their takes on Thor: Love and Thunder, answer some listener questions, and play a brand new game. Before they get into their thoughts on the latest film in the MCU, there have been a lot of recent classic film anniversaries this year, and with Ryan seeing The Godfather on the big screen this past weekend, the group got to talk about some of their favorite moments of seeing classic films at their local art house theaters. This was a fun, informative discussion on how important these films and theaters can be in the landscape of modern cinema. Getting into their review of Thor: Love and Thunder, the crew talk about the film overall, the performances, and the general look of the film from director Taika Waititi. Within this conversation, they talk about the vision of the MCU going forward, as well as the grand plan for this franchise, since many of the complaints by members on the podcast, and fans of the MCU, have been that these movies aren’t being executed to the level of care and consistency as a couple of years ago. It is a fascinating conversation that goes many places, even leading into a little more praise for Top Gun: Maverick by the end. Next up were the weekly listener questions, and continuing with the theme of talking about the MCU, they discuss if the franchise is becoming over-saturated and is becoming too much. They then talk about their feelings on the Penny Marshall film A League of their Own, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year (check out our retrospective here). Then they reveal which fictional movie restaurant they would want to eat at, what movie they would like to see a documentary made about, and which superhero they would want Taron Egerton to play in the MCU. Lastly, the group play a new game title, How to Name a Franchise and Get Away with It. The basic rules of the game are Ryan reads a name of a subtitle of a film and the other hosts name the franchise it is a part of. They play of round competitively till a winner is name, then a free for all with the final titles leads to some pretty hilarious, crazy film title reveals from the history of cinema. You can listen to The AwardsWatch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify and more. This podcast runs 1h37m. Without further ado, let’s get into it. Music: “Modern Fashion” used by permission from AShamaleuvmusic