Why does Avatar endure but still feel like vaporware, even to people, like me, who basically like it? Blending dazzling technical achievement, breathless action, elbow-throwing but self-contradictory politics, and just plain goofy writing, Avatar is the most confounding franchise in Hollywood history, especially given the outsize nature of its financial success. With Avatar: Fire and Blood — my favorite film in the series! — fresh in our minds, Stefan Sasse and I look at James Cameron’s ongoing magnum opus in the latest subscriber-exclusive Boiled Leather Audio Hour podcast!

I’m a guest on the latest episode of Struggle Session, a terrific left-wing pop-culture podcast starring Leslie Lee III, Jack Allison, and Jonathan Daniel Brown! On this episode I join the gents to talk about the entire Alien franchise — all eight movies, from the original quadrilogy to the Alien vs. Predator spinoffs to the Ridley Scott prequels. In space no one can hear you debate the space jockey, but down hear on earth all you have to do is subscribe and listen!