036 Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019)

It’s a big year for #ZacAttack as we return to talk about Zac Efron’s newest film, A Family Affair, co-starring Nicole Kidman, Joey King, and Kathy Bates! We talk about how A Family Affair feels like a meta take on Zef’s career, how the movie always feels like it’s moonlighting as a car commercial, and how it seems unsure about who the main character really is. We debate if the ages are believable, if Nicole Kidman is too attractive for the type of character she’s playing, and whether it’s weird that Joey King’s character never even comes close to a romantic subplot of her own. We talk about the shocking lack of sexual chemistry in this movie. We put a twist on the Letterboxd game. Want even more “#ZacAttack”? Check out 2 Fast 2 Forever, which releases new episodes every Tuesday and is (almost literally) the same exact show as this, but about different movies. Seriously. We promise you. Go check it out!

#ZacAttack is back already to talk about the newly-released Ricky Stanicky, now available to stream on Amazon Prime! After working our way through a complicated production backstory that includes so many of our guys (and exploring the history of the Hollywood Black List survey), we discuss how Zef is (once again) threatening to join the Fast & Furious franchise by choosing to team up with existing #family members. We talk about the oddity of a comedy where only one person is allowed to be funny, we admire John Cena's musical parodies, and we praise the sort of surprisingly adept way this movie's plot comes to a close. Joe gets jealous of the premise of this movie. We pitch the most successful MCU movie of all-time. We make guesses for A Family Affair and shout out Carrie Soloman for writing movies exclusively for us.

#ZacAttack makes its triumphant return to the (podcasting) ring as we grapple with last year’s Von Erich family biopic The Iron Claw! Joe shares his history with the Von Erich family and Joey shares his history with watching this movie twice. We talk about the wildly depressing stuff *omitted* from this already-depressing film, talk about Zef’s declaration to never get Baywatch-level jacked again, and admire his ability as a “song and dance boy” which shines through in this film. We compliment the wrestling cinematography, talk about how difficult it is to really “make it” in wrestling, and wonder if the corny moments at the end of the movie work. Zef’s haircut. (Enough said.) We talk about Zef’s freakout vs. Ric Flair, the movie’s “Tom Sawyer” montage, and its misleading (?) trailer. We play Fire Ass Titles and look ahead to Ricky Stanicky. We wonder: could we get Zef to wrestle Nathan Fielder? Want even more “#ZacAttack”? Check out 2 Fast 2 Forever, which releases new episodes every Tuesday and is (almost literally) the same exact show as this, but about different movies. Seriously. We promise you. Go check it out!

#ZacAttack returns again (like it’s a normally-scheduled podcast) to cover Zac Efron’s *other* new movie from 2022: Firestarter! Before we dive into the movie, we talk about his profile in Men’s Health and Vanessa Hudgens’s profile in Nylon. Then, we dive into Firestarter (which we eventually settle on calling “Strange Things”) as we explore the final state of this movie, how it compares to other versions, and the limitations of “creepy kids with powers” stories. We talk about the lack of word of mouth about this movie, the decision to release it basically alongside Stranger Things, and how Zef could have fit into Stranger Things. We also point out new elements of Zef’s role/character in Firestarter, the seeming total absence of Sydney Lemmon as the mom in the narrative, and the sort of ambiguously sad place this movie ends up.

#ZacAttack is back for The Greatest Beer Run Ever, and we're dropping another (!) new episode next week, too, about Firestarter! Before we dive into the movie, we talk about a potential #ZacAttack spinoff we killed, preview upcoming Zac Efron movies, and remind you to listen to 2 Fast 2 Forever for more of the same show, but on a much more regular and frequent basis. Then, we (metaphorically) head to Vietnam to talk about whether or not these accents sound more New York or Boston, whether or not this is a comedy, and who this movie is for. We praise Zac Efron for being charming, talk about the interesting stories found within this story, and lament the overly long runtime. We check in on Zac's crying and shirtless status, play another stellar round of Fire Ass Titles, and close out with some beer talk. Want even more "#ZacAttack"? Check out 2 Fast 2 Forever, which releases new episodes every Tuesday and is (almost literally) the same exact show as this, but about different movies. Seriously. We promise you. Go check it out!

#ZacAttack is back! (Again!) We're kicking the year off right -- by covering Zac Efron's newest film, Gold. After running through a preview of Zef's upcoming movies, Joe tries to guess Zef's character name in this movie. We talk about his ties to Robert Pattinson and how this is the kind of movie we were hoping to see from him. We also talk about Gold as both his "COVID movie" and his "new groove" before trying to figure out what's real in this movie. We also run through lots "career firsts" for Zac Efron in Gold (which we won't spoil here, but do spoil in the episode).  Want even more "#ZacAttack"? Check out 2 Fast 2 Forever, which releases new episodes every Tuesday and is (almost literally) the same exact show as this, but about different movies. Seriously. We promise you. Go check it out!

#ZacAttack is back! We're only about 15 months late to the Scoob! party after being lured back via listener emails. We're bringing the 2 Fast 2 Forever format over to this podcast as we read listener emails, gauge our Scooby Doo histories, and take a moment to guess how Zef will cry and be shirtless in this movie. Then, after a break, we strike back with a vengeance to talk about all things Scoob!, including a Ryan Reynolds character not played by Ryan Reynolds, Zef's character's truly blue eyes, and altogether too many connections to the Fast and Furious franchise. Will #ZacAttack return (once again) to cover Human Discoveries or Down to Earth with Zac Efron? Write into the show and convince us to come back, or just check out 2 Fast 2 Forever every Tuesday! (It's truly the same show, just about different movies.)

The Year of Zef continues! We previewed the Beach Bum a bit when we talked about Zef Bundy, but we’re back to give Harmony Korine’s latest movie its proper due. In this episode, we give praise to Zef as Flicker, one of the many weird souls that Moondog (Matthew McConaughey) encounters on his journeys throughout Florida. We also talk about Miniboo, Lingerie Doggy Dogg, Captain Wack and more as we embed ourselves deep into the neon-drenched wonderland of South Florida. Also, we look ahead (and make our crying and shirtless guesses) for the recently-dated new Zef project, Human Discoveries!

In August 2015, we released our very first podcast and proceeded to tear through Nicolas Cage’s filmography at a breakneck pace. We had no idea that we'd continue after we finished Cage’s filmography, but we asked, “What’s next?” and went from there. After nearly four years, we are releasing our 1,000th episode. In this episode, Joey Lewandowski talked many of your favorite CageClub Podcast Network hosts: Mike Manzi of Third Time’s A Charm, Joe Two of 2 Fast 2 Forever, Chris Podcasts of Now and Again, Brian Rodriguez of High School Slumber Party, Kyle Reinfried of Foodie Films, Jordan Polan-Clarke and Cara Gael O’Regan of Wistful Thinking, Aislinn Addington of The Contenders, Lindsay Gibb of Winona Forever, Jonah Rubino of X is for Podcast, and Nico Vasilo and Kevo Risse of .html. Thank you for listening. Share your favorite episode or memory with us by emailing [email protected]!

Welcome to the Summer of Zef! After nearly a year of no new #ZacAttack episodes, we're back with (at least) two new episodes this summer, and we're kicking things off with Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile. Zac Efron continues his shift from good guy to frat guy to... interesting guy? But is this role and this movie interesting enough? In this episode, we recap the past year of Zef news, open up a very dusty mailbag, and wonder what kinds of projects Zef will tackle next. We also look forward to the next few episodes, lament that we can't play the Google game, and reflect on our 18-month-old shirtless and crying guesses!