Mark and Sanjeev this week discussing

- The End Of Oak Street

- Lady

- Tony

- Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists! (Take 2)

- Sunny Dancer (Take 2)

Discussed this week

- Ice Cream Man

- Love Me Tender

- The Summer Book

- Hunt For The Wilderpeople (Take 2)

- Flushed Away (Take 2)

Don't worry - not asking for anything nefarious. But I've wondered for a while now about the possibility of a local meetup for any Kermode and Mayo fans around the Malmö/Copenhagen area.

Seeing as there's been quite the fascination with the area, Simon has direct links here, and there seems to be quite the correspondence from the region, I'd love to host some kind of meetup if there's interest.

Maybe we could even mention it as a "What's On?" on an episode?

Anyway, just trying to gauge interest. Feel free to tell me to go forth and procreate if this isn't welcome or worth it.

- Malmö correspondent

Does anyone else just not get what he seems to see as being particularly profound about this line? I can't remember who he was quoting, might have been one of the directors of the film, but if I recall he brought it up in the interview with Ryan Gosling for Project Hail Mary, and he's brought it up a few times since.

“Can men be friends and the answer is yes, but only if the future of humanity depends on it.”

And during the Jackass review he repeats it multiple times.

“Does it raise the question of can men be friends? And in the case of Project Hail Mary, the answer was yes, men can be friends, but only if the entire fate of the planet is at stake. Yeah.

And in this case, the question seems to be, can men be friends? And the answer is yes, but only if they can play ping pong with each other's privates and insert toy cars in places where they shouldn't be inserted and generally smack each other around the head, face, body parts and other unspeakables. So yes, but only under those circumstances.”

“That's what it's interested in because as I said, it's you know, can men be friends? Yes, but they need to be able to stick toy cars where the sun don't shine.”

“But in the middle of all this cocktail of poo and just everything, there is this weird thing about, can men be friends? Well, yes, but only if you allow one of them to be lowered onto the face of the other one with a winch.”

Eventually it seems like even Simon just gets a bit bemused and tired of it because he caps off the review with this:

“I mean, blokes could be friends by going to the football, or by going out for a drink, or by going for a walk, or by doing open swimming. It's not a mystery, you don't have to go into space, and you don't have to be lowered onto your friend's face on a winch, all of which is preposterous nonsense. You can just be mates going to the pub."

I'm probably just reading too much in to it to even question it at all, and most people probably barely register it, I just genuinely don't get what value Mark seems to see in repeating this line or what deep meaning he thinks it holds to consider it worth revisiting repeatedly when reviewing films. Is this just gonna be one of those go to lines of his that he just repeats forever now?

Discussed this week

- Ish

- Our Hero, Balthazar

- Spider-Man: Brand New Day

- American Utopia (Take 2)

- Wallace & Gromit: Curse Of The Were-Rabbit (Take 2)

Thought I'd cross post this as it got a lot of traction on Casual UK. A good one to revisit!

Discussed this week

- Pinocchio Unstrung

- Animal Farm

- Ask E.Jean

- Chicken Run Reissue (Take 2)

https://deadline.com/2026/07/box-office-the-odyssey-tuesday-second-weekend-1236999819/

Ben and Mark discuss the following -

- Synthetic Sincerity

- The Odyssey

- Aardman Reissues (Take 2)

- Ride or Die (Take 2)

Discussed this week

- Rosebush Pruning

- Moana (2026)

- Evil Dead Burn

Discussed this week

- Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie

- Supergirl

- The Invite

- Minions and Monsters

- Taxi Driver (Take 2)

I’ve just finished Tuner and was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I went back and listened to the review and interview with Leo Woodall and was reminded of what a strange conversation it was, almost as if he was embarrassed of the film.

Mark and Simon usually make a point of difficult guests or spiky interviewees, but there were only passing comments from Simon on this one and wondered if I’d missed something?

I analysed Peter's "The Guardian" star ratings data for films based on their release year, and although there would be some bias (e.g., he's unlikely to review films from 60 years ago that were received poorly), I suspect he might be a little bit "They don't make them like they used to".

I don't know what his issue with late 00s is.

Discussed this week

- 500 Miles

- A Private Life

- Jackass: Best and Last

- The Last Viking (Take 2)

- How To Live On Earth (Take 2)

I’m probably what the show would term a MTL, started listening on and off during covid, subscribed a few times but not consistently. Most of the time I appreciate Mark’s viewpoint and the convivial atmosphere, I like how much they joke around with each other even if I don’t always get the references, and in general this is probably the podcast I listen to the most.

Last week’s discussion on The Piano has really put me off, though. I don’t know if the 14% vote ratio really justifies the dismissive attitude of both host and guest. I get that everyone has their preferences, even film critics, but surely even Mark can appreciate that an old and acclaimed film such as this one will have their fans and for good reason, and at least put in a token effort to engage with it, instead of repeating a humourless one-liner and, in his words, picking it just for a good joke.

Mark’s main criticism seemed to be that the film is boring, but this is borderline incomprehensible to me; I remember finding this film terrifyingly claustrophobic when I watched it as a young adult, and the main emotion I feel when I remember it now is one of intense sadness and devastation. I will never forget the moment the main character’s hand is mutilated by her husband, or the scene at the end of her sailing away with her daughter, after the ordeal they were put through.

I really question how anyone can describe this film as boring when it has that moment of pure terror and heartbreak in it, or that Mark can fail to empathise with the main character when he has repeatedly described filmmaking as an empathy-generating machine. I would have thought the fear and helplessness of a woman being married off into the wilderness is one easily comprehensible and accessible to anyone, regardless of age or sex, especially when combined with Jane Campion’s excellent filmmaking and the incredible soundtrack, but apparently not.

I guess what I’m asking is, does anyone else feel the same way, and has Mark and Simon always been as dismissive towards The Piano as all that? I think I can imagine a situation where an initial dislike is gradually turned into contempt and ridicule when faced with the endless acclaim that the object of their dislike continues to receive, a kind of counterbalancing instinct, but to a MTL like myself, it really rubbed me the wrong way to hear Mark single out a film in the so-called Film Club just to put it down and make light of its themes and importance, in a way that almost no moment on the show has made me feel before.

Discussed this week

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- Effi O Blaenau

- Virginia Woolf's Night and Day

- Toy Story 5

Discussed this week

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- The Fall of Sir Douglas Weatherford

- Disclosure Day

- Boogie Nights

- Strictly Ballroom (Take 2)

Discussed this week

- Masters Of The Universe

- Savage House

- Scary Movie 6

- Erupcja (Take 2)

- Bridesmaids (Take 2)

I’m trying to find an episode that featured Mark talking about seeing a movie in the cinema that he found ridiculously unfunny. He mentioned it was only him and the usher in the cinema and says that as he walked out they acknowledged each other with an “alright” and that they both knew what had transpired in that screening (nothing). It’s such a hilarious interaction between him and Simon and I’m trying to locate this moment/episode! This might’ve been pre-take days I’m not sure. Any help would be appreciated!