Dixon is still abroad, so in this session Ryan and John attempt to keep things on the rails with a standard Recommend or Refute episode. The only problem is Ryan has a penchant for breaking rules and John is a chronic enabler. Guess we'll see what happens as they each navigate bringing two titles to the table.

Look, I know what the episode title says. Dixon's out of town, John and Ryan are off the rails. This is some serious bullshit and we're gonna have to thank you extra for putting up with it, but none of it has anything to do with the pre-9/11 animated film that has been memed into oblivion --so don't even ask! If you really want to know what it's about, I can tell you... lean in close... closer... okay that's close enough.

...This episode is about an hour and a half of nothing related to shrek.

On this episode of Recommend or Refute, Dixon continues with his Italy-on-the-mind movie watching recs, Ryan takes the bullet for all of us and talks about the latest Avatar, and John brings two different mainstream touchstones from bygone eras.

Put on your tinfoil hats, pack your economy size antihistamine topical ointment, and take your emotion-suppressant supplements. The Afterthoughts crew is about to dive head first into the misanthropic honey of Yorgos Lanthimos's Bugonia. Whether you fancy yourself a queen bee or just another worker drone, you owe it to yourself to reflect on the health of the colony --what better way to do that than through this discussion on an intimate, conspiracy-propelled dark comedy laced with biting social commentary.

It's recommendin' and refutin' time. John explores the Madonna starring sexy thriller Body of Evidence (1993), Ryan goes completely off the rails and talks about some fucking video game called Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (2025), and Dixon dissects Orson Welles' favorite Fellini film The White Sheik (1952).

Take a journey with us to the small town of Virgil, Texas and meet its many quirky inhabitants. Like Louis Fyne, a big dancin' bear on the hunt for matrimony, Earl Culver, the bigwig in charge of growing tech company Varicorp, and The Lazy Woman, who's too rich to ever leave the comfort of her bed. The influential and unforgettable True Stories (1986) shows Texas at a turning point and David Byrne at the height of his artistic powers.

Freshly waking from the nightmare of Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut, the Afterthoughts crew is back with a more grounded, less rant-filled Recommend or Refute. Join John, Dixon, and Ryan as they try to push the trauma of Zack Snyder's vision from their mind's eye with some more digestible cinematic offerings.

It's a day late to publish, but it was truly the greatest April Fools prank to ever be played on Dixon.

What do you get when you take a groundbreaking comic series (DON'T SAY GRAPHIC NOVEL) and adapt it into a hyper-stylized, bloated, overly simplified late-aughts superhero film? You get Zack Snyder's Watchmen! What happens when John picks this film for his episode? You get quality Dixon rants, passionate Ryan critiques, and an abundance of John attempting to stifle his sadistic laughter all in an episode that somehow clocks in under the runtime of the theatrical version.