They don’t know it yet, but this is the final weekend someone is going to have all 10 of their fingers. Here’s your staff picks for July!

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Jason Soto (Host Whatever with Jason Soto, That’s Da Bomb, Yo!, Co-Host Between The Scares, CineGamer, I Have A Weird One & Musically Ignorant):

Uncle Sam (1996)

Maybe a little TOO on the nose? I don’t care, this is a fun but really stupid movie. A guy named Sam dies while fighting a war that may or may not be based on a real war and his body is sent home. His nephew who worshipped him is bummed out but everyone else doesn’t care because apparently Sam was a royal asshole. He’s also such an asshole that he somehow comes to life and kills anyone who isn’t patriotic or say nice things to him. Issac Hayes co-stars.

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Lisa Leaheey (Co-host Whatever with Jason Soto, Between The Scares, The SibList):

Deep Blue Sea (1999)

In a shameless attempt to garner cross-podcast network approval from certain pals who have a certain podcast about a certain July 1999 movie about genetically-modified sharks, I’m selecting Deep Blue Sea as my Staff Pick for July! Directed by Renny Harlin, DBS follows a group of scientists who are undergoing a series of tests and observations on sharks to find treatments (maybe a cure?) for Alzheimer’s disease. Starring Saffron Burrows, Thomas Jane, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Rapaport, Stellan Skarsgård, L.L. Cool J, and a sassy parrot, DBS is a raucous and hilarious romp on an isolated research facility in the middle of the ocean. With this cast of actors, you know you’re in for some snarky one-liners, but add in genetically-modified super-smart sharks, and you know you’re in for a ride. Besides, it’s not like there are other famous and groundbreaking summer shark movies out there. This is clearly the one to watch.

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Rob Branch (Co-host CineGamer, Top 5 A Thru Z, Whatever with Jason Soto, Lyrical Innuendo, InfoBlast & I Have A Weird One):

Sanctuary (2008)

There are two things I can say about this show: it did not have enough seasons and it didn’t win enough awards.  This was one of the flag shows of the SyFy Channel (along with Warehouse 13, Eureka & Haven).  Even though it’s over a decade old, it’s still a show that can hold its own (even with the obvious special effects).

This is one of those types of show that is visually on one path, yet the story telling is completely on another.  Humanity is a word that isn’t really explored anymore, and the idea species evolution isn’t much either.  There’s truth and then there’s truth.  There are monsters and then there are monsters.  The choices we make in this world show just how truthful monsters really are.

This show gives us a glimpse of what the possibility of a darker side of the evolution of any species could be.  Yet it also shows just how far people are willing to go to save something they don’t understand.

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Pete Rangel, Jr (Co-host Top Five A Thru Z):

Beavis and Butthead Do The Universe (2022)

Lately we have been getting nostalgic again and with this said if you loved in the 90s “Beavis and Butt-Head” as much as I did go check out on Paramount+ “Beavis and Butthead do the Universe“. Very hilarious and great story too. Great lead off also to the series reboot. You won’t be disappointed.

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Lackey (Co-Host From Inner Time, Musically Ignorant):

Crimes of the Future (2022)

If you think David Cronenberg’s last few films have been too damn normal, he’s got a proposition for you—a movie in which mutation is art and surgery is sex. Viggo Mortensen plays a performance artist whose partner (Bond girl Léa Seydoux) cuts specially grown internal organs out of him for a rapt audience. The two get involved in a scheme to perform a live autopsy and gain the attention of a pair of government bureaucrats including Kirsten Stewart. This is Cronenberg’s long-awaited return to the body horror/science-fiction milieu that typified his earlier work: if you’re a fan of Rabid and Videodrome, this movie is for you.

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Nick Jobe (Co-host Navigating the Multiverse, InfoBlast, & I Have A Weird One):

“Where the Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens

With the movie coming out this month, what a better time to read this book? The book is more than what the film trailers or even the book description sets it up to be (the murder stuff is honestly feels a small part of it). The book is about a a girl named Kya who is abandoned to grow up by herself in the marshlands of North Carolina in the 1950s and 60s and is eventually blamed for the murder of a man in 1969. The book more or less alternates chapters from Kya growing up to the murder chapters, though the latter tend to be shorter, putting more focus on Kya’s life to get a better understanding of the character. I don’t normally read or like books like this–especially for how it’s written, very poetically and literary-like. And maybe it was the audiobook that I listened to (which I do strongly recommend), but it was just entrancing and easy to get into. It also has one heck of an ending. It seems the movie is going to put more focus on older-Kya and the murder stuff, which I do hope it spends enough time with the younger version to really get a good grasp of her life and doesn’t miss the point of the story. Regardless, I do recommend the book, especially the audiobook version, before going out and checking out the movie.

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Bubbawheat (Co-host Lyrical Innuendo):

The World According To Jeff Goldblum (2019)

I was very close to choosing Obi-Wan for my staff pick this month, it was enjoyable but I enjoy choosing things a little bit left of center. So that’s why I decided to shine a light on the Disney+ series The World According to Jeff Goldblum. It’s technically a part of their National Geographic brand as it looks at things at not just an entertaining way but also an educational way. Goldblum brings his quirkiness to a wide range of topics over the two seasons as he looks at why people enjoy things from diamonds to high fashion to puzzles to tiny things. The show sends Goldblum all across the country talking with many people and occasionally sharing bits of his personal life including his wife, his dog, and his two sons. The educational aspect generally isn’t that deep but there’s always something to learn and it’s worth it seeing Jeff Goldblum being his Goldblum-y self whether he’s playing jazz to use as a score to a fireworks show or cooking a tiny plate of spaghetti and meatballs.

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Bill Szany (Co-host Top 5 A Thru Z):

Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter (2012)

If you like History and you like Fiction, more particularly Historical Fiction, you should definitely enjoy this book. Being a huge fan of both Vampire lore and President Lincoln it was probably a no brainer that I’d enjoy it, but I had no idea just how much that I would enjoy it until I actually read it. I fell instantly in love with the world in which this novel takes place and I think you will too. I give it Four Score out of five.