June 23rd, 2019
HBO's Barry wrapped up its second season a few weeks back, and Ed and Emily were both very taken with Bill Hader and Alec Berg's hitman comedy/drama. They talk about the ways in which it balances psychological insight with hilarious comedy, Hader's considerable skill as a dramatic actor, and the ways in which the show has deepened its ensemble in the second season, with plenty of SPOILERS along the way. They also discuss the debut of Neon Genesis Evangelion on Netflix, Bryan Singer being removed from the Red Sonja remake, and I Think You Should Leave being renewed for season two.
Here is the Google talk with Bill Hader that Emily references during the Barry discussion.
00:00:00 - 00:24:33 - Intro & News
00:24:34 - 00:52:21 - Emily & Ed discuss Barry
00:52:22 - 00:56:48 - SRS Recommends & Outro
June 17th, 2019
Whilst Ed has his trotters up in Florida, Matt and Emily hit the wonderful Sheffield DocFest - now in it's 26th year - for a few days of films, masterclasses and *checks notes* algorithmic perfumery. They muse over the wonder of the conversation with Werner Herzog, the sheer inventiveness of the Alternate Realities stranded and get thoroughly flumped by more Harvey Weinstein than they are prepared for.
June 2nd, 2019
Much like the cast of an all-time great television series, Matt and Ed reunite this week for a spoiler-filled talk about Deadwood: The Movie, the long-awaited follow-up/conclusion to David Milch's bleak, hilarious and profane Western series. They also discuss some recent trailers, pitch some fixes for Pixar's Onward, and reminisce about odd people they knew at University.
00:00:00 - 00:35:52 - Intro & News
00:35:53 - 01:02:39 - Matt & Ed discuss Deadwood: The Movie
01:02:40 - 01:07:58 - SRS Recommends & Outro
May 26th, 2019
There's no full episode this week, so Ed runs through some news stories from the week - including the success of Guy Ritchie's Aladdin, The Lonely Island pulling a Lemonade, and Sony deciding to just start making their own damn video game movies - in this minisode.
Here is Lindsay Ellis' video essay on the original Aladdin and Robin Williams' role in animation history, as mention at the end of the episode.
May 23rd, 2019
In a break from the usual format, Matt is joined by not one, but three special guests to discuss the final, divisive season of HBO's wildly popular TV show Game of Thrones. Suffice to say, there's spoilers, so don't listen unless you're all caught up.
May 19th, 2019
Continuing their run of music-themed episodes, this week finds Emily and Ed discussing iconic songs from movies and TV shows which transcend their origins and percolate out into broader culture, musical tropes that they personally respond to, and filmmakers who re-use music from other films and make it their own. They also talk about the news coming out of Cannes, R-Batz, and Disney consolidating even more control over culture.
Correction: At one point Ed incorrectly says that Kill Bill prominently uses a piece of Bernard Hermann's score from Sisters, when it is in fact part of his score to Twisted Nerve.
00:00:00 - 00:20:27 - Intro & News
00:20:28 - 00:43:24 - Emily & Ed discuss Iconic Music and Musical Tropes
00:43:25 - 00:49:34 - SRS Recommends & Outro
May 12th, 2019
Inspired by Beyoncé's Homecoming - and continuing the music theme started with their episode on Visual Albums - this week finds Emily and Ed talking about concert movies, specifically the ones that go beyond recording a band or artist performing live to really using the language of cinema to transport and immerse the audience. They also discuss the absolute mess that is the Sonic the Hedgehog movie, their excitement about seeing Renée Zellweger play Judy Garland, and the death of Peggy Lipton.
00:00:00 - 00:19:44 - Intro & News
00:19:45 - 00:48:42 - Emily & Ed discuss Concert Movies
00:48:43 - 00:53:17 - SRS Recommends & Outro
May 1st, 2019
In this special, spoiler-filled episode, Matt and Ed discuss Avengers: Endgame. It's a wide-ranging discussion that features key plot details from the start, so probably don't listen to it if you haven't already seen the film, and in addition to cataloging the good and bad in the movie, it also encompasses the impact of the MCU, Disney's increasing dominance of film and television, and the many ways in which the comics industry has screwed over writers and artists.
April 29th, 2019
Inspired by the recent release of Childish Gambino's Guava Island, as well as the success and acclaim in recent years of Beyoncé's Lemonade and Janelle Monáe's Dirty Computer, Emily and Ed discuss the visual album as a form of expression. They also ponder the goodness of Sigourney Weaver and Keanu Reeves, and the potential horrors of a live-action Rugrats movies.
00:00:00 - 00:24:57 - Intro & News
00:24:58 - 00:50:38 - Emily & Ed discuss visual albums
00:50:39 - 00:55:51 - SRS Recommends & Outro
April 22nd, 2019
The gang were unable to record together this week, so please enjoy Ed's recent appearance on the Big Questions podcast from Oxford Sparks at the University of Oxford. Host Emily Elias spoke to Ed about the science in films like King Kong, Pi, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Office Space and Superman III, and they listened to scientists assess just how feasible those "what if" scenarios might be. There's also a brief Recommendations segment at the end for good measure.
April 15th, 2019
MATT GOT A DOG!
Also, Disney revealed a bunch of details about their forthcoming streaming service which, in addition to a few other stories from this past week, paints an interesting/terrifying picture of the streaming landscape, one which could be fundamentally reshaped by Disney and its franchise menagerie. Matt and Ed discuss the potential Disney+ has to challenge Netflix, the debut of the Criterion Channel, and how streaming services relate to a Supreme Court Case from 1948. Also, dogs.
00:00:00 - 00:02:35 - Intro
00:02:36 - 00:47:25 - Matt & Ed discuss the present and future of streaming
00:47:26 - 00:52:10 - SRS Recommends & Outro
April 7th, 2019
Double Jeopardy, The General's Daughter, Payback. These are just some of the timeless classics that were released in 1999, alongside utterly forgotten duds like Fight Club, The Talented Mr. Ripley, The Blair Witch Project, The Matrix, The Sixth Sense, All About My Mother and Eyes Wide Shut. Matt, Emily and Ed assemble to discuss some of their favourite films from a vintage movie year, tease out some of the themes shared by a broad and disparate array of great films, and look at how Hollywood has changed over the past 20 years. Ed also enters some sort of fugue state at one point when the subject of the upcoming Cats movie comes up.
00:00:00 - 00:36:44 - Intro & News
00:36:45 - 01:30:51 - Matt, Emily & Ed discuss the films of 1999
01:30:52 - 01:36:34 - SRS Recommends & Outro
March 31st, 2019
Jordan Peele's Us is still tearing it up at the box office and inspiring spirited debate online, so Matt and Ed decided to talk in-depth about the film's story, its themes, and its malleable allegory. Needless to say, there are spoilers. They also discuss Apple's latest move in the streaming wars, try to pitch long-forgotten game shows that deserve to be revived on the service, and pay tribute to Scott Walker and Agnès Varda.
00:00:00 - 00:30:43 - Intro & News
00:30:44 - 01:12:05 - Matt & Ed discuss Us (SPOILERS, I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH - Ed)
01:12:06 - 01:22:00 - SRS Recommends & Outro
Here is the opening scene to Letterkenny, as mentioned by Ed during Recommends.
March 24th, 2019
Twenty goddamn years ago this week, The Matrix was released in the US, an event which launched the careers of the Wachowskis, spawned a briefly unavoidable and fitfully brilliant multi-media franchise, and had a seismic impact both on popular culture and how American action movies look and are made. To mark this anniversary, Ed and Emily discuss the enduring legacy of The Matrix, the Wachowskis' subsequent work, and some of the many, many parodies the films inspired.
00:00:00 - 00:12:40 - Intro & News
00:12:41 - 00:47:43 - Ed & Emily discuss The Matrix
00:47:44 - 00:54:46 - SRS Recommends & Outro
March 17th, 2019
Inspired by a rewatch of the Mission: Impossible franchise, Ed and Emily discuss instances where they changed their minds about a work of art, how their relationships to specific filmmakers have evolved over time, and being able to admit when you don't like canonically "great" movies. They also discuss the college admissions scandal involving Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman, Netflix's weaselly cancellation of One Day at a Time, and James Gunn's surprise reinstatement to the MCU.
00:00:00 - 00:22:17 - Intro & News
00:22:18 - 00:49:31 - Ed & Emily discuss changing your mind about art
00:49:32 - 00:54:07 - SRS Recommends & Outro
March 4th, 2019
Now that the dust has settled from last week's Oscars ceremony, Ed and Emily are ready to stir it up all over again by dissecting the winners of awards season, and what the victory of Green Book means for Hollywood more generally (assuming it means anything at all). They also discuss the controversy over possible changes to the Academy's bylaws that could exclude Netflix films in the future, and the best joke from long-forgotten 1990s animated anthropomorphic procedural Fish Police.
00:00:00 - 00:06:01 - Intro
00:06:02 - 00:35:44 - News
00:35:45 - 01:16:23 - Ed & Emily discuss the Oscars, Green Book, and awards season
01:16:24 - 01:23:39 - SRS Recommends & Outro
February 24th, 2019
In a shorter than usual episode, Matt and Ed go without a theme and talk about some of the big film and TV stories of the week, including the Independent Spirits Awards, the sudden end of Netflix's Marvel TV universe, and the death of Stanley Donen.
February 18th, 2019
Inspired by the absolutely stacked cast for the new version of Dune, Matt, Emily and Ed spend this week's episode talking about movies with notable ensembles, as well as which genres benefit from a deep bench and the factors, both commercial and artistic, that can compel filmmakers to work with a big cast. They also try to parse the latest Oscars broadcast drama and the Aladdin teaser.
00:00:00 - 00:01:34 - Intro
00:01:35 - 00:27:45 - News
00:27:46 - 01:05:06 - Matt, Emily & Ed discuss movies with notable ensembles
01:05:07 - 01:08:57 - SRS Recommends & Outro
February 10th, 2019
Inspired by M. Night Shyamalan's Glass (which is mentioned briefly, but in a spoiler-free fashion), Matt and Ed discuss examples of long delayed sequels, particularly ones made by the same creators as the originals. They also talk about the dispiriting experience of watching the Super Bowl, the freshly completed BAFTAs, and the death of Albert Finney.
00:00:00 - 00:06:30 - Intro
00:06:31 - 00:29:35 - News
00:29:36 - 00:57:10 - Matt & Ed discuss Long Delayed Sequels
00:57:11 - 01:02:55 - SRS Recommends & Outro
February 4th, 2019
In this episode, Ed and Emily cast their minds back to the golden age of physical media and misspent youths listening to Futurama audio commentaries, watching Lord of the Rings documentaries, and learning about the art and craft of filmmaking through special features and DVD extras. They also discuss the return of The L Word and the closure of Ultraviolet.
Here is where you can watch Original Cast Album: Company, as recommended by Ed
00:00:00 - 00:01:15 - Intro
00:01:16 - 00:18:43 - News
00:18:44 - 00:45:40 - Ed & Emily discuss Special Features
00:45:41 - 00:51:16 - SRS Recommends & Outro
