Kermode & Mayo’s Take

The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show - a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. Legendary French actress Juliette Binoche is our special guest this week. She’ll be talking to Simon about her new film Queen at Sea, a hard-hitting drama examining the tensions and taboos of caring for a family member with Alzheimer’s. Plus we’ll hear a little about her dance documentary directorial debut In-I in Motion - which is also released in the UK this week. She even challenges Simon to get on the dancefloor…now that we would like to see… Mark reviews Queen at Sea, as well as three more big screen releases - it is, as they say, a packed show. We’ll get his verdicts on Resident Evil - an adaptation of the hugely popular videogame from Weapons director Zach Cregger - as well as dark classroom satire Bad Apples, starring Saoirse Ronan, and the latest Aardman animated treat, Shaun The Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom. Plus an uncharacteristically quite-funny Laughter Lift (which we really did need this week…), and all your excellent correspondence. Keep it coming please! You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo. A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! Our Christmas Movie Spectacular is back! It’s in Bristol this year on Sunday 6th December. Don’t miss it! Here’s the link for tickets: https://www.fane.co.uk/kermode-and-mayo Timecodes: 00:00:00 Introduction 00:09:51 Resident Evil review 00:20:20 Box Office Top Ten 00:31:52 Juliette Binoche interview 00:48:02 Queen at Sea review 01:00:04 Laughter Lift 01:03:12 Bad Apples review 01:12:38 Shaun The Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom review Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo    Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show - a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time.    On this week's Take, Simon and Mark are back in the booth and diving into a packed slate of new releases. From the spellbinding return of Practical Magic 2 to the vertigo-inducing thrills of Fall 2, they weigh up the latest sequels hoping to recapture cinematic lightning in a bottle. There's also a look at the tense wartime-weather-system drama Pressure and jazz biopic Everybody Digs Bill Evans, exploring the life and legacy of one of the genre’s most influential musicians and featuring last week’s guest Bill Pullman.     Plus, director Nicolas Winding Refn joins Simon for a conversation about coming back from the dead (for real), and Her Private Hell—his first film in a decade, out on September 25th. Keep your eyes peeled for Mark’s review then too.     Along the way there's the usual mix of film news, recommendations, correspondence, and of course the Laughter Lift. Time to settle in, press play, and enjoy another trip to the cinema with Mark and Simon.     You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo.    A Sony Music Entertainment production.        Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts      To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com    EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee!    Our Christmas Movie Spectacular is back! It’s in Bristol this year on Sunday 6th December. Don’t miss it!     Here’s the link for tickets:  https://www.fane.co.uk/kermode-and-mayo   Timecodes:  00:00:00 Introduction 00:13:23 Pressure review  00:23:25 Box Office Top Ten  00:35:21 Nicholas Winding Refn interview  00:49:01 Everybody Digs Bill Evans  00:59:05 Laughter Lift  01:01:31 Fall 2  01:12:01 Practical Magic 2  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show - a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. This week’s special guest is Hollywood stalwart Bill Pullman, who across the decades has starred in Independence Day, Spaceballs, David Lynch’s Lost Highway, Sleepless in Seattle and many more. This time we see him in Everybody Digs Bill Evans, where he plays the father of the titular jazz legend. He chats to Simon about father-son stories, jazz, and how working in black and white changes his acting. Mark will review Everybody Digs Bill Evans next week, and in the meantime we’ve got a packed show with four big screen releases up for the Good Doctors’ judgement. We’ve got Late Fame, a New York set indie about an aging former poet (Willem Dafoe), who is surprised to find his work reappraised by a group of young bohemians. Then there’s Leviticus, an Australian conversion therapy horror from the producers of The Babadook and Talk To Me, and Supernature, a love letter to nature documentary shot entirely on Super 8. And finally, following our interview with director Michael Sarnoski last week, the wait is over for Mark’s verdict on The Death of Robin Hood. All that plus an especially groan-inducing Laughter Lift, and all your top correspondence, including some great What’s On bulletins this week. You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo. A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! Our Christmas Movie Spectacular is back! It’s in Bristol this year on Sunday 6th December. Don’t miss it! Here’s the link for tickets: https://www.fane.co.uk/kermode-and-mayo Film Suffolk: linktr.ee/ouatis Ikea Knightley https://iwittr.com/wiki/page/Ikea_Knightley Timecodes: 00:00:00 Introduction 00:09:06 Late Fame review 00:18:15 Box Office Top Ten 00:30:20 Bill Pullman interview 00:44:54 Supernature review 00:53:25 Laughter Lift 00:55:16 Leviticus review 01:02:36 The Death of Robin Hood review Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show - a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. Three more of the week’s big screen offerings reviewed by the Good Doctors on the Take. First up, The Dog Stars—Ridley Scott’s latest post-apocalyptic survival thriller offering starring Jacob Elordi and Josh Brolin. Then there’s the new drama from our favourite multicoloured Spanish maximalist Pedro Almodóvar, Bitter Christmas, and even more outrageously, Gregg Araki’s kinky comedy I Want Your Sex, starring Olivia Wilde and Cooper Hoffman. Plus our guest this week is Michael Sarnoski, director of Pig, A Quiet Place: Day One, and now The Death of Robin Hood, Out next week, it shows us a darker side of the folk legend, following Hugh Jackman’s grizzled Robin Hood in later life as he reckons with the legacy of years of violence. No men in tights here, sorry. Michael chats to Simon and Mark about reimagining this famous take and directing Huge Action through some serious Northern Irish mud. Laugther Lift too as usual, plus the best of your excellent correspondence, including some great What’s On info and another entry into our new technophobic feature A, I Don’t Like That. Enjoy! You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo. A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! Our Christmas Movie Spectacular is back! It’s in Bristol this year on Sunday 6th December. Don’t miss it! Here’s the link for tickets: https://www.fane.co.uk/kermode-and-mayo Timecodes: 00:00:00 Introduction 00:12:11 The Dog Stars review 00:21:41 Box Office Top Ten 00:30:35 Michael Sarnoski interview 00:45:08 Bitter Christmas review 00:53:37 Laughter Lift 01:01:28 I Want Your Sex review Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show - a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. Our special guest this week is Johnny Flynn, who stars in & Sons—A dysfunctional family drama with a twist. His character Richard is one of three long suffering sons to Billy Nighy’s A.N. Dyer, a mega-successful novelist turned alcoholic recluse and personal disaster zone. Johnny chats to Simon about the movie, its unusual filmmaking process, and working alongside Nighy, Imelda Staunton, George McKay and Noah Jupe as part of its all-star ensemble cast. Plus we hear a little about his upcoming performances as Paul Simon in South-African-set drama The Road Home, as a beleaguered sheriff in western A Prayer For The Dying, as Dostoevsky in The Idiots, and as Lucuis Malfoy (i.e. Jason Isaacs) in Harry Potter. I do wish someone would give this lad a bit of work, he must be desperate for something to get his teeth into… Mark reviews & Sons, as well as two more of the week’s most exciting titles. First up, Coyote vs Acme, a live action animation hybrid that sees Looney Tunes’ murderous canine Wile E. Coyote return to the screen in a meta legal drama with the suppliers of his ever-malfunctioning gadgets. Plus, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (one film not two), a meta-slasher starring Gillian Anderson in which a film director becomes obsessed with casting her ‘final girl’ in a classic horror sequel. The most Mark film evz? We’ll find out. All that plus the Laughter Lift, the return of Simon after Sanjeev’s super subbing last week, and of course your witty, erudite and delightful correspondence. Keep the postbag full please gang! You can find out more about Medi Cinema and donate here: https://www.medicinema.org.uk You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo. A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! Our Christmas Movie Spectacular is back! It’s in Bristol this year on Sunday 6th December. Don’t miss it! Here’s the link for tickets: https://www.fane.co.uk/kermode-and-mayo Timecodes: 00:06:25 Coyote vs Acme Review 00:14:25 Box Office Top Ten 00:26:58 Johnny Flynn interview 00:42:43 & Sons review 00:59:09 Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma review Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show - a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo. Supersub Sanjeev is sitting in for Simon on this week’s Take, and he and Mark will be bringing you three brand spanking new reviews of the coming cinematic attractions. The End of Oak Street has got dinosaurs, mysterious teleportation, and… kids with bows and arrows - which is the most unbelievable of those things, according to Sanjeev. But is this 80s-set adventure pleasantly Spielbergian, or just prehistoric? Then there’s Tony, the Anthony Bourdain origin story starring Dominic Sessa as the young rockstar chef to be. It might have Mark salivating - or maybe it’s just an odd mixture of ingredients… And finally we have Lady, starring this week’s special guest, Sian Clifford. In this madcap comedy the BAFTA-winning Fleabag actress plays a self-obsessed aristocrat who looks in the mirror for so long that she starts to see herself disappearing. She talks to Sanjeev about the role and why she hates being on camera as an actor. All that plus the Laughter Lift - this week at least delivered by an actual comedian - the box office top 10, and of course your top correspondence. A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! Our Christmas Movie Spectacular is back! It’s in Bristol this year on Sunday 6th December. Don’t miss it! Here’s the link for tickets: https://www.fane.co.uk/kermode-and-mayo Timecodes: 00:00:00 Introduction 00:10:13 The End of Oak Street review 00:22:52 Box Office Top Ten 00:36:57 Sian Clifford interview 00:51:02 Lady review 01:03:28 Laughter Lift 01:07:25 Tony review Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show - a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. Mark Kermode assesses Eli Roth’s gory horror Ice Cream Man, about an ice-cream van whose treats turn kids into homicidal monsters. He also reviews French drama Love Me Tender, starring Vicky Krieps as a mother whose divorce and sexuality trigger a brutal custody battle. Staying abroad, Mark then covers The Summer Book, a Tove Jansson adaptation set on a Finnish island, featuring a standout turn from Glenn Close as a grandmother helping a grieving child and her withdrawn father. And Simon Mayo chats to Taika Waititi on adapting the New Zealand novel Wild Pork and Watercress into the much-loved Hunt for the Wilderpeople as it returns in a 10th anniversary 4K release. Plus, the Box Office Top Ten jumps back in time to 1976. As does the Laughter Lift for that matter…. You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo. EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! Our Christmas Movie Spectacular is back! It’s in Bristol this year on Sunday 6th December. Don’t miss it! Here’s the link for tickets: https://www.fane.co.uk/kermode-and-mayo A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Timecodes: 00:00:00 Introduction 00:11:52 Ice Cream Man review 00:21:32 Box Office Top Ten (1976) 00:33:37 Taika Waititi Interview 00:47:23 Love Me Tender review 00:55:01 Laughter Lift 00:59:52 The Summer Book review Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show - a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. Spider-Man is swinging back onto cinema screens this weekend in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Tom Holland’s masked web slinger is anonymous once again, his identity having been wiped from the memories of his fellow New Yorkers - including those once closest to him. Mark reviews this latest Marvel blockbuster, alongside a homegrown British indie that’s generating some serious buzz: Ish. Recalling Kes, The 400 Blows and the Apu trilogy, it’s a vivid coming-of-age debut you won’t want to miss. Also coming soon on digital is Our Hero Balthazar, a dark satire tackling gun violence and internet culture, starring Asa Butterfield - who is our special guest this week. He plays Solomon, a gun-obsessed would-be school shooter, online-trolling from the Texas trailer he shares with his granny. The film centres around Solomon’s uneasy friendship with Balthazar, a New York rich kid who craves the social cachet of preventing a shooting by befriending its potential perpetrator. Asa joins Mark and Simon to unpack this transformational performance. Plus the Laughter Lift, more on our inevitable technological overlords in new mini-feature ‘AI Don’t Like That’, and of course lots of top correspondence from you. Cheers! You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo. Our Christmas Movie Spectacular is back! It’s in Bristol this year on Sunday 6th December. Don’t miss it! Here’s the link for tickets: https://www.fane.co.uk/kermode-and-mayo What’s On info: https://www.deliveryafterdark.com/ https://theatreship.co.uk/#tickets EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Timecodes: 00:00:00 Introduction 00:08:29 Ish review 00:16:27 Box Office Top Ten 00:31:22 Asa Butterfield interview 00:46:51 Our Hero, Balthazar review 00:57:48 Laughter Lift 00:59:26 AI don't like that 01:03:32 Spider-Man: Brand New Day review Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show - a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. We have a very ‘precious’ guest for you this week… yes, it’s Andy Serkis, AKA Gollum himself. The actor, director, and motion capturer extraordinaire chats to Simon about his new film Animal Farm - an animated adaptation of Orwell’s classic story for a young audience. With Seth Rogan putting a comic spin on Orwell’s porky totalitarian Napoleon, and a key new character and third act added, Serkis’ child-friendly version has attracted some ire already - but is it fair? Listen in to find out where Mark stands. Plus, we’ve got two more reviews of what’s out this week for anyone not going to see The Odyssey. First up, Pinocchio Unstrung - the latest in Twisted Childhood’s series of slasher-fied, copyright free children’s classics. Then there’s Ask E. Jean, a powerful doc about American columnist E. Jean Carroll, who took on Trump in the courts and won. Plus, the Laughter Lift as usual, and we’re also debuting a technophobic new feature ‘AI don’t like that’ - a home for the ever-increasing correspondence about the terrifying ascendency of our future AI overlords. You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo. EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Timecodes: 00:00:00 Introduction 00:09:04 Pinocchio Unstrung review 00:15:49 Box Office Top Ten 00:31:00 Andy Serkis interview 00:48:20 Animal Farm review 01:02:58 Laughter Lift 01:09:01 Ask E. Jean review Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show - a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. The time is upon us for the biggest and most epic cinematic event of the year: Sir Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey is finally hitting the (very) big screen—shot on IMAX film, no less. With Matt Damon as Odysseus, Anne Hathaway as Penelope, and a smattering of other screen superstars including Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, and Zendaya in the cast, it’s the cinematic event we’ve all been waiting for. Not to mention Samantha Morton who, as you’ll hear, might just steal the show… Strap in for a bumper review from Mark and Ben—plus of course Simon’s interview with director Sir Christopher Nolan himself. He tells us all about his decades long journey with this ancient story, bringing myth to life, and wrestling with the gods in this massive movie. Synthetic Sincerity is our second film up for review—a docufiction curio about a filmmaker’s deal with an AI company that hovers somewhere between fiction and reality. Plus, Mark and Ben will run down the box office top 10, witter around your excellent correspondence, and subject us all to the Laughter Lift again—although we can blame/credit (delete as applicable) you guys for some of the jokes this time. Thanks as always for being part of the Witterverse! You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo. EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Our Christmas Movie Spectacular is back! It’s in Bristol this year on Sunday 6th December. Don’t miss it! Here’s the link for tickets: https://www.fane.co.uk/kermode-and-mayo Timecodes: 00:06:52 Synthetic Sincerity review 00:22:51 Box Office 10 00:40:02 Sir Christopher Nolan interview 00:56:09 The Odyssey review 01:19:19 Laughter Lift-- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. Disney animated smash Moana is getting the live action treatment this week—and our guest is director Thomas Kail, who previously helmed both the screen and stage versions of Lin Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton and In The Heights too. He talks to Simon about their longstanding collaboration, the whole island of creatives it took to make this movie, and discovering the perfect Moana from thousands of auditionees in Catherine Laga’aia. Plus Mark reviews it—will he be charmed, or is this one live action remake too far? Also on the review slate this week we’ve got Rosebush Pruning, a twisted indie family drama featuring all the bodily fluids, and Evil Dead Burn—the latest in the super-influential zombie series. Is the franchise unkillable, or a dead man walking? Don’t miss Mark’s verdict. All that plus the box office top 10, the weekly trial of the Laughter Lift (sorry), and of course plenty of correspondence from you lot. Keep it coming! You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo. EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Our Christmas Movie Spectacular is back! It’s in Bristol this year on Sunday 6th December. Don’t miss it! Here’s the link for tickets: https://www.fane.co.uk/kermode-and-mayo WHAT’S ON: Dr. Jazz and the Cheshire Cats Swingin’ At The Movies: https://stockportplaza.co.uk/whats-on/dr-jazz-and-the-cheshire-cats/ The Labours of Hercule: Poirot Double Bill: https://www.picturehouses.com/movie-details/022/HO00017996/the-labours-of-hercule-poirot-double-bill?filter= Timecodes: 00:10:46 Rosebush Pruning 00:19:41 Box Office Top Ten 00:36:16 Thomas Kail interview 00:51:47 Moana review 01:01:36 Laughter Lift 01:04:10 Evil Dead Burn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. Pffft. Bottom. Yes, it’s Minions movie week. Directed by last week’s guest Pierre Coffin, this latest instalment sees the little yellow fellas take on filmmaking. But will Mark’s love for the franchise endure? On a much more adult note, our guests this week are Edward Norton and Olivia Wilde, who star in (and in Wilde’s case direct) searing and sexy dark comedy The Invite. It follows Jaded couple Angela (Wilde) and Joe (Seth Rogen), whose marital troubles are thrown into relief by a visit from their fruity neighbours Pena (Penelope Cruz) and Hawk (Norton). Simon sits down with them to talk compersion, catastrophe, and colour coordination. Plus, internet sensation turned big screen effort Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie, and finally a Supergirl review too. Don’t miss another top Take! As promised, here’s the ticket link for the special K&M live show in Bristol:  https://www.fane.co.uk/kermode-and-mayo-s-2026-tickets/bristol-beacon-hall/2026-12-06-19-00   You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo. EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Timecodes: 00:10:56 Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie review 00:22:18 Box Office top ten 00:29:32 Supergirl review 00:43:58 ad break 00:45:32 Edward Norton & Olivia Wilde interview 00:57:38 The Invite review 01:09:57 Laughter Lift 01:13:05 Ad break 01:17:10 Minions and Monsters Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. With Mark recording the show from the air-conditioned cool of a film festival in Croatia while the UK swelters, Simon bravely holds the fort back in showbiz north London as he chats to Minions creator Pierre Coffin about the new film, Minions and Monsters. For this week’s reviews, Mark dons his safety helmet and grabs a sick bucket for Jackass: Best & Last, the latest big-screen goodbye to Johnny Knoxville and the Jackass crew, packed with stunts, injuries and end-of-an-era nostalgia. It’s not for everyone (Simon) but will Mark indeed find it “best and last”, or a stunt too far? Back on safer ground 500 Miles comes under the spotlight. It’s a YA-novel adaptation in which two brothers run away from home and travel across land and sea to reach their grandfather in rural Ireland, encountering music, mishaps and buried family history along the way. Finally, A Private Life is a French-language mystery-thriller from Rebecca Zlotowski starring the always excellent Jodie Foster as a psychiatrist drawn into a patient’s death and a spiral of suspicion. And as ever, there’s box office chat (predictably dominated by Toy Story 5 this week), our always thought-provoking listener correspondence, and yes…hahahhahaha…. the Laughter Lift. You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo. EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Timecodes: 00:00 Introduction 00:11:06 500 Miles review 00:16:59 Box Office top 10 00:31:16 Pierre Coffin interview 00:48:19 A Private Life review 00:56:14 Laughter Lift 01:02:31 Jackass: best and last review Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo    Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time.    The box office big beast this week is Toy Story 5, and we’re bringing you Mark’s verdict on this fifth instalment of the beloved Pixar franchise. It’s been a Take favourite since it first hit screens in the 90s and has never let us down so far, but can it really live up to the hype for the fifth film in a row?     Plus we’ve got two more reviews from this weekend’s cinema slate. First up, Welsh language drama Effi o Blaenau, which recasts a Greek tragedy plot in working-class Cardiff. And from gritty modern drama to glossy period drama, there’s Virginia Woolf’s Night and Day - an ‘unromantic comedy’ based on a comic novel by modernist literature’s most famous feminist.   It also brings us to our guest this week…     It’s Timothy Spall, who will be chatting to Simon about playing the film’s crusty old patriarch, Mr. Hilbery. One of our most respected and versatile British actors, Spall has played everyone from Winston Churchill to Wormtail, and has made several celebrated films with Mike Leigh (famously, the friendliest of all directors). This one is a meaty chat not to be missed.     Mark will be playing Mr Punchline in this week’s Laughter Lift - unfortunately unlikely to make it any funnier. Lots and lots of correspondence from you lot too, including a thorough Disclosure Day debrief. Don’t miss it!     You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo.    EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee!    A Sony Music Entertainment production.        Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts      To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com  Timecodes:  00:07:09 Effi O Blaenau review  00:14:50 Box Office Top Ten  00:24:56 Timothy Spall interview  00:39:57 Virginia Woolf's Night and Day review  00:47:33 Laughter Lift  00:54:36 Toy Story 5 review    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. It’s Disclosure Day week! Yes, film buffs, that means it’s time for a new Steven Spielberg film—and not just a new Spielberg, but a new Spielberg sci-fi. We can’t wait to see the iconic director return to the genre he defined, and to hear Mark’s verdict. Should we believe the hype that it’s his best film in decades? As well as Mark’s review, we’ll hear Simon’s interview with two of its stars, Emily Blunt and Colman Domingo. They talk Spielbergian on-set insights, space aliens, and, erm… Percy Pigs. Plus, yet more speculation as to whether Jaws is or is not about a shark. On top of that we’ve got two more reviews of two new movies who dared to release alongside this box office whopper. First up, quirky Scottish tragicomedy The Fall of Sir Douglas Weatherford, about a man desperate to keep his small town’s true history alive when a Game-of-Thrones-style production circus arrives and threatens to redefine it. And it’s reissue time for Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights, scrubbed up in glorious 4K, and back on the big screen to celebrate. How does this groovy and grimy modern classic stand up after nearly 30 years? Let’s see what the Good Doctors say. All that plus the usual hilarity/hardship of the Laughter Lift, and of course your erudite and insightful correspondence to boot. Don’t sleep on another top Take! You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo. EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Timecodes: 00:10:27 The Fall of Sir Douglas Weatherford review 00:20:03 Box Office Top 10 00:35:23 Colman Domingo and Emily Blunt interview 00:46:23 Disclosure Day review 01:12:10 Boogie Nights review 01:22:57 What's On? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. The one and only Richard E. Grant joins us on this week’s Take for a chat with both Mark and Simon about Savage House. He stars as the flamboyant and grotesque Lord Chauncey Savage in this unhinged satirical period drama, alongside Claire Foy. Expect wigs, leeches, the pox and quite a lot of poo. Mark will also be reviewing Savage House, alongside two more of the week’s biggest releases. Masters of the Universe sees an all-star ensemble cast led by Nicholas Galitzine, Camila Mendes and Idris Elba (erm, and Jared Leto) bring the He-Man franchise to the big screen—but is it superpowered, or another revival nobody asked for? Plus, Scary Movie, the latest instalment in Mark’s (least) favourite horror spoof franchise. All that plus the usual excess witterings, and plenty of your excellent correspondence—including many more Muppet Game entries. We may have started something we can’t finish with this one…. You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo. A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts 🌎 Get an exclusive 15% discount on your first Saily data plans! Use code [Take] at checkout. Download Saily app or go to https://saily.com/Take ⛵ To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Timecodes: 00:00 Intro 11:54 Masters of the Universe review 21:45 Box Office Top Ten 34:12 Richard E. Grant interview 48:23 Savage House review 56:58 Laughter Lift 01:00:49 Scary Movie review Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. Our guest this week is James Graham, one of Britain’s most prolific and successful writers, including of the brand new BBC series Dear England. Adapted from a play which Graham also wrote, it charts the journey of Gareth Southgate’s England men’s team from the disappointment of the ‘golden generation’ to the success we all cheered on in recent years—except for Mark, of course. No chance of him following the football. James talks to Simon about the highs and lows, moving from stage tp screen, and why Gareth Southgate has a redemption narrative straight outta Shakespeare. Mark reviews it too, plus three more of the week’s big releases—a packed show again. We’ve got Power Ballad, a dark musical comedy of unfulfilled potential and stolen success starring Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas, Backrooms a new A24 horror that started life as a viral YouTube video, and Tuner, the crime thriller starring Dustin Hoffman and last week’s Take guest Leo Woodall. All that plus the usual lovely nonsense. Enjoy! Timecodes: 00:00 Introduction 10:04 Power Ballad review 16:38 Box Office 10 30:29 James Graham interview 47:00 Dear England review 53:33 Laughter Lift 01:00:31 Backrooms Review 01:08:22 Tuner review The fundraising page for Dave Mitchell, director of Alien On Stage can be found here: https://www.goodhub.com/go/helpdave You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo. 🌎 Get an exclusive 15% discount on your first Saily data plans! Use code [Take] at checkout. Download Saily app or go to https://saily.com/Take ⛵ A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. Our guest this week is Leo Woodhall, who stars in upcoming thriller Tuner as Nikki, a new York piano tuner who discovers a talent for cracking safes, thanks to his hypersensitive hearing. He chats to Simon about the process behind his performance, going to piano-tuning-school, and working with Hollywood legend Dustin Hoffman. Keep an ear out for Mark’s review of Tuner, coming up in next week’s podcast. On this week’s review slate we’ve got three more of the biggest movies hitting the big screen. First up, it’s The Mandalorian and Grogu, the latest Star Wars franchise adventure starring Pedro Pascal as the helmeted bounty hunter, alongside a super cute/slightly unnerving puppet [delete as applicable]. Will Mark jump onboard, or is this one Star Wars spin off too many? Plus we’ve got the Good Doctors’ verdicts on Manchester-set romcom Finding Emily, and road trip horror Passenger. All that plus the usual bountiful witterings from Mark and Simon and excellent emergency mails from you listeners. We might read yours out, but you’ll also have to endure The Laughter Lift – so it’s swings and roundabouts. Another top Take nonetheless! The fundraising page for Dave Mitchell, director of Alien On Stage can be found here: https://www.goodhub.com/go/helpdave You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo. 🌎 Get an exclusive 15% discount on your first Saily data plans! Use code [Take] at checkout. Download Saily app or go to https://saily.com/Take ⛵ A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Timecodes: 00:00 Introduction 00:09:39 Finding Emily review 00:16:22 Box Office 10 00:29:43 Leo Woodall interview 00:44:13 Passenger review 00:52:51 Laughter Lift 01:00:47 Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu review Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some exciting news—The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo    Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time.    Another week, another national treasure. This week Simon Mayo talks to Olivia Colman, joined by Sophie Hyde, director of the new film Jimpa, in which Olivia stars. The film explores queerness, intergenerational family, and gender fluidity, and places kindness firmly at its heart - but will that be enough for Mark? You’ll have to listen to his verdict in this week’s Take Two to find out.    In this week’s reviews: The Christophers stars last week’s guest Sir Ian McKellen as a once‑great artist whose awful children plan to forge his unfinished paintings for their own financial gain. Obsession is a creepy love‑horror that’s far too much for Simon, but which Mark is more than happy to peer into. And finally, Normal drops Bob Odenkirk and Henry Winkler into a Fargo‑esque Minnesota small town packed with axe‑throwing, car‑blowing‑up oddballs. Sounds fun - but will Mark enjoy it?    Oh. And there’s the Laughter Lift. Sorry.      You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo  🌎 Get an exclusive 15% discount on your first Saily data plans! Use code [Take] at checkout. Download Saily app or go to https://saily.com/Take ⛵  A Sony Music Entertainment production.      Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts    To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com  Timecodes:  00:00:00 Audio start  00:06:30 Obsession review  00:15:14 Ad break  00:15:20 Box Office 10  00:30:50 Olivia Colman & Sophie Hyde interview  00:56:17 Laughter Lift  00:58:26 Ad break  01:01:53 Normal review  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some exciting news—The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. This week’s very special guest is a living legend and bona fide National Treasure: Sir Ian McKellen. He chats to Simon from the comfort of his very own East London pub The Grapes about his new film ‘The Christophers’. This Steven Soderbergh directed drama of art, family feuds and friendship is a late-career gem from McKellen, who plays cantankerous celebrity artist Julian Sklar in an unlikely and uneasy friendship with Michaela Coel’s Laurie, his new assistant. Sir Ian and Simon prop up the bar and talk grumpy old men, unfinished business… and what it’s like to be Gandalf. Mark will review The Christophers next week, but for now we’ve got three more fresh film releases to dissect. Three fresh reviews this week too: first up, the new Hugh Jackman-starring family adventure that’s like “Babe meets Knives Out”: ‘The Sheep Detectives’. A star-studded affair with roles played by Hugh Jackman, Emma Thompson, and Molly Gordon with sheep voiced from the likes of Chris O’Dowd, Patrick Stewart and Bryan Cranston, the ‘cozy-crime’ tale sees the sheep turn sleuths. Plus, a full review of Legends, the new Netflix series form last week’s Take guest Steve Coogan, where ordinary customs workers go undercover to fight Britain’s heroin crisis. And finally a look at the fourth time made, second era’d Mortal Kombat II. And as always we’ve got top correspondence from you lovely listeners, extended and unadulterated wittering from Mark and Simon—and Laughter Lift jokes guaranteed to induce the most exasperated groans. It’s what The Redactor lives for. You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo 🌎 Get an exclusive 15% discount on your first Saily data plans! Use code [Take] at checkout. Download Saily app or go to to https://saily.com/Take ⛵ Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Timecodes: 00:00:00 audio start 00:09:59 The Sheep Detectives 00:19:18 Box office 10 00:30:08 Sir Ian McKellen interview 00:46:11 Legends review 00:54:56 Laughter Lift 01:00:27 Mortal Kombat review Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some exciting news—The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. On this week’s Take, Mark and Simon return with more of the week’s freshest film reviews – and the Redactor is back from his holibobs (boo hiss). First on the review slate we’ll revisit the world of fashion, ambition, and withering put-downs in The Devil Wears Prada 2, the much-anticipated sequel to the beloved original. Has the magic survived the runway return, or should some classics be left untouched? Then it’s Surviving Earth, a tender new family drama centred on a refugee harmonica player trying to hold his fractured family together. And finally, Hokum, a chilling Irish-set horror about a haunted hotel and a family secret, starring Adam Scott. Plus, Steve Coogan stops by to talk about his new Netflix series Legends, based on the true story of ordinary customs workers going deep undercover to tackle Britain’s heroin crisis in the 90s. One of Britain’s most renowned character actors, Coogan chats to Mark and Simon about playing real people, life beyond Partridge, and how he gets deep into his roles. For the football fans, there’s some Saipan chat too. And as ever, there’s correspondence from the faithful, a few unexpected cinematic tangents, and the familiar blend of conviction, camaraderie, and gentle sparring that keeps the Take motoring along. Oh, and the Laughter Lift—as if we hadn’t all suffered enough. You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Timecodes: 00:11:50 The Devil Wears Prada 2 review 00:22:43 Box Office Top 10 00:26:20 Lee Cronin's The Mummy review 00:38:03 Steve Coogan interview 00:51:56 Hokum review 01:07:04 Surviving Earth Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some exciting news—The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. On this week’s Take, Mark and Simon return with another trio of fresh reviews spanning the big and small screen. First up, they dive into the BBC’s Half Man, a hard-hitting new series from Baby Reindeer creator and star Richard Gadd, who is also our very special guest on the show. It’s already prompting plenty of discussion—but does it live up to the hype, or crumble under the weight of expectation? Then it’s The Rose of Nevada, Mark Jenkin’s new seafaring feature that could see him launch into the mainstream. And finally, Michael—the Michael Jackson biopic that’s already divided the critics. Find out what Mark makes of it. And as ever, there’s correspondence from the faithful, a handful of cinematic detours, and the usual mix of passion, persuasion, and playful disagreement that keeps the Take ticking along nicely. Oh, and the Laughter Lift. You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Timecodes: 00:13:34 Rose of Nevada review 00:23:19 Box Office Top Ten 00:40:20 Richard Gadd interview 00:55:13 Half Man review 01:02:13 Laughter Lift 01:11:16 Michael review Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some exciting news—The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. On this week’s Take, Mark and Simon are back with more box fresh film reviews of the latest big screen releases. And we are still reviewing three brand new films out this week, even though it’s Easter holibobs and the show is pre-recorded—because the Good Doctors are actual time travellers now, ICYMI. First up, they head to the Highlands for Glenrothan, Brian Cox’s whisky-soaked directorial debut family drama—does it live up to its lofty ambitions, or get lost in the Scottish mist? Then it’s Rebuilding, a quietly affecting portrait of second chances and fragile hope starring Josh O’Connor as a cowboy without a ranch. And finally, Wizard of the Kremlin—where Vladamir Putin is played by… Jude Law?! Plus Mark talks to ‘The Pope of Trash’ John Waters, director of cult classics like Pink Flamingoes and Multiple Maniacs, and high priest of bad taste. He’s celebrating the BFI’s Trash season. Expect a gleeful and provocative conversation on the art of trash cinema, the pleasures of the disreputable, and why good bad films might just be the most honest kind of all. Plus, as always, there’s the latest correspondence from the faithful, a few choice diversions, and the sort of cinematic enthusiasm (and exasperation) you’ve come to expect. You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com And here is the link to the Faith for Holy Places article as promised in the episode: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/20-march/faith/faith-for-holy-places/faith-for-holy-places Timecodes: 00:00:00 Show starts 00:13:01 Glenrothan review 00:36:46 John Waters Interview pt 1 00:38:51 John Waters interview pt 2 00:50:51 Rebuilding review 00:57:08 Laughter Lift 01:02:29 Wizard of the Kremlin review Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some exciting news—The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. Fresh film talk and finely tuned cinematic debate await in this week’s episode of Kermode & Mayo’s Take. The Good Doctors return with their trademark blend of insight and irreverence, casting a critical eye over the latest arrivals on the big screen. Leading the lineup is Father Mother Sister Brother, the latest slanted family drama from Jim Jarmusch, with an all-star cast including Adam Driver, Cate Blanchett, and Charlotte Rampling. Then on to some moody existentialism with The Stranger, an adaptation of Albert Camus’ seminal novel, directed by François Ozon—who was our guest a couple of weeks back. And finally, The Undertone, a podcast-based, sound-forward horror—but will it resonate with Mark? He’ll also be reviewing Glenrothan—a warming, Scottish-set tale of family reunion through whisky, directed by Brian Cox. Simon sits down with this formidable acting talent to discuss his turn to directing. Cox reflects on the changes and challenges of moving behind the camera, and what we can expect from his feature debut. All that alongside a generous helping of listener correspondence, probably some spirited disagreement, and the familiar flickers of presenter exasperation—another essential listen for wittertainees the world over. You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Timecodes: 00:00:00 Show starts 00:12:02 Father Mother Sister Brother review 00:20:31 Download Chart 00:31:55 Brian Cox interview 00:45:27 Laughter Lift 00:49:49 Undertone review 01:01:30 The Stranger review Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some exciting news—The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. More movie musings and cinematic chat this week on Kermode & Mayo’s Take. The Good Doctors will be reviewing this week’s biggest big screen releases—plus a bit of TV for you too today. First up, there’s The Drama, a black comedy starring Robert Pattinson and Zendaya as a soon-to-be-married couple whose romantic bliss is derailed by a shocking confession. Then more white-knuckle stuff in Fuze—a bomb disposal meets heist thriller starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Theo James and Sam Worthington. On a much more colourful note, we’ve got Super Mario Galaxy—but will this latest screen outing for the videogame franchise be a level up or game over? On the small screen, the spotlight turns to the BBC’s Twenty Twenty Six—a brand new sequel series that catches up with Hugh Bonneville’s Ian Fletcher in all his bureaucratic glory. This time he’s been appointed ‘Head of Integrity’ on the organizing committee for an international football tournament taking place in summer 2026, which definitely isn’t the FIFA World Cup. Simon sits down with the ever-charming Hugh to unpack the series—plus a word on his latest stage outing in Shadowlands, and little bit of Downton chat too. All that, along with the usual listener correspondence and presenter cantankerousness—you won’t want to miss this one. You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some exciting news—The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. On this week’s episode of Kermode and Mayo’s Take, director François Ozon joins us to talk about his latest film, The Stranger. He sits down with Simon and Mark to discuss the inspirations behind the story, balancing ambiguity and tension, and the challenges of bringing such a distinctive vision to the screen—along with a few reflections on his wider body of work and the themes that continue to draw him in. You’ll be able to hear Mark’s full verdict on The Stranger in two weeks’ time, and this week we have a packed slate of new releases. First up, The Magic Faraway Tree brings a beloved children’s classic to life with a mix of whimsy, adventure, and a touch of nostalgia. Then there’s Splitsville, a comedy exploring relationships in all their messy, unpredictable glory. And finally, They Will Kill You, a new horror starring Tom Felton—son of Jason Isaacs, of course. They’re really related you know, just like all the Skarsgårds and Sargaards….The Elsewhere, we’ll have all the usual Take treats: the box office top 10, a Laughter Lift that may (or may not) brighten your week, and your ever-wonderful correspondence. Thanks for listening! You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Timecodes: 00:00:00 Show starts 00:07:57 Splitsville 00:14:59 Box Office top ten 00:31:43 François Ozon Interview 00:44:11 They Will Kill You review 00:51:35 Laughter Lift 00:56:56 The Magic Faraway Tree Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some exciting news—The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo. Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. On this week’s episode of Kermode and Mayo’s Take, Stephen Graham joins us to talk about his new film The Good Boy. It’s an unsettling thriller where he plays a father fixated on a strange rehabilitation ritual for a violent young man who he takes in and…erm… chains up in his basement. Stephen chats to Simon about navigating the film’s darker emotional undercurrents, finding the human intrigue in morally murky territory, and being his usual lovely Liverpudlian self. You’ll be able to hear Mark’s full verdict on The Good Boy in this week’s show too, alongside a packed slate of other new releases. First up, Project Hail Mary finally lands—bringing big ideas, bigger stakes, and one very lonely astronaut to the big screen. Then there’s Ready or Not 2: Here I Come, which ups the ante on the original’s gleefully gory game of survival. And finally, Dead Man’s Wire, a tense thriller starring Bill Skarsgard that sees a desperate act spiral into a gripping standoff. Elsewhere, we’ll have all the usual Take treats: the box office top 10, a Laughter Lift that may (or may not) brighten your week, and your ever-wonderful correspondence. Thanks for listening! Timecodes: 00:00:00 Show starts 00:09:44 Dead Man's Wire review 00:18:12 Box office top ten 00:30:51 Stephen Graham interview 00:44:11 The Good Boy review 00:53:37 Laughter Lift 00:57:06 Ready or Not 2: Here I Come review 01:04:42 What's On? 01:09:21 Project Hail Mary You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey 🌎 Get an exclusive 15% discount on your first Saily data plans! Use code [Take] at checkout. Download Saily app or go to to https://saily.com/Take ⛵ A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this Oscars special episode of Kermode & Mayo’s Take, Simon Mayo and Mark Kermode break down the biggest moments from the 2026 Academy Awards. Mark shares his reactions to the ceremony, from Avatar: Fire and Ash winning Visual Effects to the triumph of Sentimental Value.   Simon and Mark unpack the night’s major wins — including One Battle After Another sweeping six awards and Paul Thomas Anderson’s backstage reflections on politics, culture, and “bringing common sense and decency back into fashion.” They also explore the fierce race between One Battle After Another and Sinners, Michael B. Jordan’s emotional Best Actor win, and Autumn Durald Arkapaw’s groundbreaking Cinematography victory.  Hear extended backstage moments from Paul Thomas Anderson, Michael B. Jordan, and Jessie Buckley as they reflect on the significance of their awards, artistic responsibility, and historymaking achievements. The duo also discuss Amy Madigan’s longawaited Supporting Actress win, Norway’s triumph with Sentimental Value, and the powerful documentary Mr Nobody Against Putin.  Plus: the rise of KPop Demon Hunters, Guillermo del Toro’s three craft wins for Frankenstein, a rare Oscars tie, Conan O’Brien’s sharp hosting, emotional tributes to Rob Reiner, Catherine O’Hara, Diane Keaton and Robert Redford — and the films that left emptyhanded.  The video version of this episode is available on our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/kermodeandmayo  You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo  Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey    🌎 Get an exclusive 15% discount on your first Saily data plans! Use code [Take] at checkout. Download Saily app or go to to https://saily.com/Take ⛵   A Sony Music Entertainment production.      Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts    To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some exciting news—The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo. Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. On this week’s episode of Kermode and Mayo’s Take, Ryan Gosling is with us to talk about his new sci-fi epic Project Hail Mary. From the challenge of bringing Andy Weir’s beloved novel to the screen to the peculiar pressures of carrying a space-set survival story (often alone), Gosling reflects on the film’s mix of brainy science, cosmic peril and unexpected heart. This week it’s Mark he’ll be chatting to, and they get deep on sci-fi gems from Silent Running to The Abyss—plus some behind the scenes gossip on Project Hail Mary’s epic karaoke scene. Keep an ear out for Mark’s review next week, and in the meantime there’s a trio of new releases on this week’s review slate. First up is Scarlet, a swashbuckling anime revenge drama based on the story of Hamlet. Then there’s How To Make A Killing, a darkly comic crime caper starring Glen Powell, and loosely based on the Ealing Comedy classic Kind Hearts and Coronets. And finally, One Last Deal—where a sports agent (played by he who shall not be named) battles to land a big contract and save his career. In Mark’s eyes though, the lead actor’s career is way beyond saving. Rant on the horizon, folks! We’ll also be shouting out our favourite women directors for this Women’s History Month; Plus all the usual Take treats: the box office top 10, a Laughter Lift that may (or may not) restore your faith in humanity, and your ever-splendid correspondence. Thanks for listening! Timecodes: 00:00:00 Show starts 00:11:51 Scarlet review 00:19:01 Box Office Top 10 00:39:08 Ryan Gosling interview 00:51:28 How To Make A Killing review 00:57:36 Laughter Lift 01:02:08 One Last Deal review You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey 🌎 Get an exclusive 15% discount on your first Saily data plans! Use code [Take] at checkout. Download Saily app or go to to https://saily.com/Take ⛵ A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Here's a cheeky preview of our latest Take Ultra video episode in which Mark and Simon look ahead to this week’s Oscars and assess the state of the race.  Ultra-Vanguardistas get these live streams every other week, our weekly T2 episodes in video and loads more. You can join them here: https://www.patreon.com/c/kermodeandmayo/membership   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some exciting news—The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo. Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member‑only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind‑the‑scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. On this week’s episode of Kermode and Mayo's Take, actor and national treasure Martin Clunes joins Simon… On the review slate this week: Pixar’s latest animated adventure, Hoppers—a high-concept tale of body-swapping beavers and environmental derring-do. Will it burrow into the Take’s good books, or be politely shown the exit? Then there’s The Bride!, a bold and buzzy reimagining of a classic monster myth from Maggie Gyllenhaal, starring Gothic romance, big hair, bigger ideas—Mark digs into the film’s ambition, while Simon weighs up whether it truly crackles with life. We also head back to Birmingham’s smoky underworld with Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, as the Shelby saga makes the leap to the big screen. Is it a cinematic evolution worthy of its razor-sharp legacy, or does it feel like prestige telly in slightly fancier trousers? Rounding things off is Mother's Pride, an intimate drama exploring family, sacrifice and the stories we tell ourselves. Tissues may be required. Mark considers its emotional pull; Simon braces for impact. Plus all the usual Take treats: the box office top 10, a Laughter Lift that may (or may not) restore your faith in humanity, and your ever-splendid correspondence. Thanks for listening! Timecodes 00:00:00 Show starts 00:11:33 Hoppers review 00:21:02 Box Office Top 10 00:33:27 Martin Clunes interview 00:49:06 Mother’s Pride review 00:56:35 Laughter Lift 00:59:10 The Bride! review 01:13:28 Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man review You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey 🌎 Get an exclusive 15% discount on your first Saily data plans! Use code [Take] at checkout. Download Saily app or go to to https://saily.com/Take ⛵ A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode is brought to you with Vanguard, whose Managed ISA service provides a smart way to invest with confidence, giving you a better chance of investment success.    It’s an International Women’s Day special, and we’ll be celebrating women in film by looking back at some of our favourite interviews with women filmmakers who have joined us on the Take. We’ve got Past Lives director Celine Song, editing legend and pioneer Thelma Schoonmaker, megastar actor-turned-director, Kate Winslet, and our live show guest Nia DaCosta on directing 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple. Plus we’ll hear from our Take guest booker Heather Dempsey about the importance of championing female filmmakers, and what barriers we need to keep pushing.   If you’ve been putting off sorting your ISA, or you’re new to investing and don’t know where to start, Vanguard’s Managed ISA might be a good fit. Essentially, it’s a Stocks and Shares ISA but managed by Vanguard experts. They’llhelp you work out your risk appetite, match you to an investment plan that’s right for you, and then they’ll do the rest. So, you can focus on the things you’d rather be doing… like listening to more of the Take, of course.     You can find out more at:  https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/investing-explained/stocks-shares-isa/we-do-it-for-you?cmpgn=DP0126PBAMISA01UKEN0082     Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some exciting news—The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo. Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member‑only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind‑the‑scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. Mark actually went to the BAFTAs this year IRL—and this week’s Take kicks off with a rundown of the winners and all the big moments of the ceremony, including of course some reflections on its controversy from Mark and Simon and from your correspondence. In celebration of Pixar’s 40th anniversary, Chief Creative Officer Pete Docter is our special guest this week. As the creative force behind some of Pixar’s most beloved films—including Up, Monsters Inc. and Inside Out, he joins Simon and Mark to celebrate the studio’s milestone birthday, and to look ahead to the release of their brand-new adventure, Hoppers. Featuring reflections on four decades of storytelling, a peek behind the animation curtain, and the secrets to making grown adults crumple into sobbing wrecks (in a good way). Mark’s Hoppers review is still to come next week—but first it’s another packed show with the Good Doctors’ verdicts on all the biggest big screen releases of this week. First up, the latest instalment in a horror institution, Scream 7, where the body count rises and we’re once again promised that this really is the last one of these films (bet it isn’t though). Remember what Mark thought of the last one? Well, you’re in for a ranty treat... Then there’s EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert—so anyone who knows how Mark feels about Elvis will know we’re in for a ravey treat. Plus The Testament of Ann Lee, a Shaker musical exploring faith, fervour, and ecstatic song starring Amanda Seyfried. You can hear her and director Mona Fastvold on last week’s show too. Finally, Sirât—the nerve-jangling desert-set tale from Oliver Laxe that is blowing minds left right and centre. Mark throws his hat into the ring. Plus all the usual delights of the Take: the box office top 10, the unpredictable and unbridled joy of the Laughter Lift, and your always-excellent correspondence. Thanks for listening! Timecodes 00:00:00 Show starts 00:15:21 Scream 7 review 00:24:54 Box Office Top 10 00:38:38 Pete Docter interview 00:56:49 The Testament of Ann Lee review 01:07:38 Laughter Lift 01:10:16 EPiC review 01:21:23 Sirât review You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some exciting news—The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo. Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member‑only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind‑the‑scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. Amanda Seyfried is our special guest this week. She’s starred in Mean Girls, The Housemaid and Mamma Mia!, but she’s never been a Mancunian... until now. She joins Simon alongside writer-director Mona Fastvold to talk about The Testament of Ann Lee, in which Seyfried stars as the titular leader of the Shakers. You might not have heard of her and the 18th century radical religious sect she founded—and we promise you’ve definitely never seen a musical about her. Seyfried talks about her struggle to crack a Manchester accent for the role, never mind all that ecstatic song and dance—and we hear from Fastvold about he old-school filmmaking techniques that helped her and co-writer husband Brady Corbet bring this unique story to the screen on shoestring budget. Mark will review The Testament of Ann Lee next week, but we’ve got four more movie reviews for you in the meantime—it's a packed show! First, The Secret Agent, where paranoia and deception collide as an ex-academic gets caught up in South American political turmoil. Then there’s If I Had Legs I'd Kick You, a darkly comic tale of maternal burnout pushed to surreal extremes. We also have Wasteman—a gritty prison drama starring Rye Lane’s David Jonsson. And finally, Good Luck Have Fun Don't Die, a genre-bending evil-tech adventure starring Sam Rockwell. Plus all the usual delights: the box office top 10, the unpredictable joy of the Laughter Lift, and your tip-top correspondence. Don’t miss it. Timecodes 00:00:00 Show starts 00:10:09 The Secret Agent review 00:22:02 Box Office Top 10 00:39:24 Mona Fastvold and Amanda Seyfried interview 01:01:24 If I Had Legs I’d Kick You review 01:07:35 Laughter Lift 01:12:09 Wasteman review 01:19:13 Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die review You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some exciting news—The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo. Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member‑only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind‑the‑scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. Bodices will be ripped in this week’s Take, because we’re talking Wuthering Heights. Emerald Fennell heads to the wild and windy moors for a cinematic storm of obsession, repression, lots of rain and, well… let’s just say nobody’s getting this worked up about the weather alone. Controversially starring Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff and Margot Robbie as Catherine, it’s already dividing the critics, so where does Mark stand? The lascivious literary adaptation’s director is our guest this week. She joins Simon to talk about the story’s sensuality, toxicity, and how much glaring, breathing, and storm-lashed longing is too much glaring, breathing, and storm-lashed longing? She tells us how it felt to realise her teenage dream of bringing her vision for this classic to the screen, and why its tale of love, revenge, and emotional chaos still gets pulses racing. Plus reviews of three more of the week’s cinematic offerings. There’s Crime 101, Bart Layton’s sleek thriller pairing Chris Hemsworth’s precision jewel thief with Mark Ruffalo’s relentlessly pursuing detective, and proving once again that nobody in LA should ever relax. Whistle brings supernatural horror and the world’s worst extracurricular activity, as students discover that cursed ancient Aztec artefacts are best left well alone. And Little Amélie offers something altogether gentler — an animated adaptation of Amélie Nothomb’s autobiographical story of childhood, identity, and wonder. All this, plus the box office top 10, a trip to the dizziest heights of humour in the Laughter Lift, and the customary digressions and delights of another top Take. 00:00:00 Show starts 00:08:53 Crime 101 review 00:18:33 Box Office Top 10 00:32:14 Emerald Fennell interview 00:46:27 Wuthering Heights review 01:00:06 Laughter Lift 01:03:11 Little Amelie review 01:08:49 Whistle review You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello hello, Take listeners!A quick heads‑up: if you’re not yet part of our brilliant Patreon community, you’re missing out on an entire extra episode every single week.   Take 2 is where Mark & Simon stretch out, go deeper, get sillier, and answer the questions we simply can’t squeeze into the main show. And that’s just the start. Our Patreon subscribers also get polls, behind‑the‑scenes photos and videos, newsletters, video versions of Take 2, and Take Ultra — our fortnightly extra video and audio show packed with even more of the good stuff. Here’s a free taste of this week’s Take 2. If you enjoy it, come join us on Patreon — you’ll instantly unlock a whole world of bonus content and become part of something genuinely special.   Head over to Patreon for more. And here's a code to get 90% off your first month: T90. Just add it at checkout. Join Mark and Simon here: https://www.patreon.com/cw/kermodeandmayo/membership   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some exciting news—The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo. Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member‑only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind‑the‑scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. It’s the take you’ve all been waiting for... Mark’s Melania review. Did he enjoy this, er, ‘documentary’ about the FLOTUS? Obviously not. Will you enjoy listening to him slate it? We think so. Buckle up. Our guest this week is Riz Ahmed—actor, musician, writer and all-round creative force—joining Simon to talk about his bold new film adaptation of Hamlet. Reimagining Shakespeare’s most introspective tragedy for the screen, Ahmed takes on the iconic role of the Prince of Denmark in a version that fuses classic text with contemporary urgency. He tells Simon what it means to wrestle with “to be or not to be” in the modern world. Mark also reviews Hamlet, plus three more of this week’s notable releases. There’s Send Help, Sam Raimi’s survival thriller that strands its characters in a fight against both nature and themselves; The Chronology of Water, a visceral adaptation of Lidia Yuknavitch’s memoir, and Kristen Stewart’s directorial debut; and It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley, a documentary portrait of the elusive, mythic musician whose influence still reverberates decades on. All this, plus the box office top 10, the lofty pleasures of the Laughter Lift, and the usual conversational twists, turns, and small-hill-pedantry you’ve come to expect. Timecodes with YT clip codes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free) Send Help review - 08:53 ( clip: 11:27 – 12:18 Box Office Top 10 - 00:15:56 Melania review - 00:18:46 (clip 00:19:10 - 00:19:58) Riz Ahmed interview - 00:38:50 (film clip Universal 00:39:16 - 00:40:02) Hamlet review - 00:55:07 Laughter Lift - 01:02:50 Chronology of Water review - 01:04:46 (clip 01:05:41 - 01:06:32) It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley 01:11:19 (clip 01:11:56 - 01:12:44) You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some exciting news—The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo. Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member‑only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind‑the‑scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. Our guests this week are two comedy giants: star of Arrested Development, 30 Rock and BoJack Horseman, Will Arnett—and mega-successful scouse standup John Bishop. It’s Bishop’s unlikely comedy origin story that inspired Is This Thing On?, the new Hollywood feelgood blockbuster directed by Bradley Cooper. In it, Arnett plays a divorced dad who puts his name down for an open mic at a bar just to save the entry fee—then accidentally catches the comedy bug. As he secretly follows his new standup dreams, can comedy save his sanity—and maybe even his marriage? Find out what Mark makes of it, plus two more of this week’s big screen releases. First up its Nouvelle Vague, Richard Linklater’s homage to the French new wave film movement of the 1960s. Linklater’s film dramatises the making of one of its essential movies, Jean Luc Godard’s Breathless. And from uber-cool Parisians murderous monkey’s, we’ll be reviewing Primate too: a tongue in cheek horror where a pet chimp goes bad. The boys are here in the studio IRL this week, so you’ll be getting all of this, plus the box office top 10 and the banterous heights of the laughter lift, beamed right at you from the room where movie-reviewing magic happens. Keep it real, Vanguardistas and all-comers! Timecodes with YT clip codes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free) Nouvelle Vague review - 10:32 Box Office Top 10 - 23:51 Will Arnett and John Bishop interview - 39:19 Is This Thing On? review 56:11 Laughter Lift - 01:03:04 Primate review - 01:07:20 You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some exciting news—The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo. Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member‑only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind‑the‑scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. Claire Foy is our special guest this week—and we promise that’s not just because her dad keeps writing in to the show... It’s also because she’s starring in H is For Hawk, out in cinemas this week. She plays Helen, who decides to keep and train a notoriously difficult goshawk as a means of coming to terms with the death of her father (played by Brendan Gleeson). Claire chats to Simon about bringing this bestselling memoir to the screen and learning to falcon with one of these ‘perfectly evolved psychopaths’ for real. Mark reviews H is for Hawk, plus three more fresh film releases—it's a packed show! First, Saipan—the football drama starring Éanna Hardwicke as Roy Keane and Steve Coogan as Ireland manager Mick McCarthy, which charts their legendary bust-up ahead of the 2002 world cup. From Korean cinema superstar Park Chan-wook we’ve got No Other Choice, a black comedy about a white-collar worker who turns lethal after being laid off. And last but certainly not least we’ve got even more Josh O’Connor and more Paul Mescal (surely those two lads deserve a holiday?) in The History of Sound—a gay romance between two student musicians in WW1 era America. Plus all the cinema action from the box office top 10, the endless hilarity of the laughter lift, and your tip top correspondence. Don’t miss it! Timecodes with YT clip codes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free) Saipan review 08:36 Box Office Top 10 - 18:43 Claire Foy interview – 42:09 H is For Hawk review 58:08 Laughter Lift - 01:07:47 The History of Sound review 1:16:01 No Other Choice review 1:10:54 You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some exciting news—The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo. Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member‑only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind‑the‑scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. The chilling on screen (but charming IRL) Jack O’Connell joins us on the Take this week to talk 28 Years Later: the Bone Temple. Directed by Nia DaCosta, who loyal listeners may remember from our live Christmas Extravaganza, it’s the second installment in a sequel trilogy to Danny Boyle’s zombie smash hit. Jack talks tracksuits, tiaras and being the most villainous actor of the past year—plus lots more on-set insights from the horror-thriller that’s got you all talking. Don;t miss this one! Mark reviews Bone Temple too, plus more of this week’s fresh new films. First up, Rental Family—which sees Brendan Fraser’s Philip join a Japanese agency providing fake ‘family for hire’ for its clients’ social and companionship needs. Plus a tougher but important watch, The Voice of Hind Rajab, which replays the tragic death of six-year-old Hind Rajab—killed in Gaza in January 2024—based on real audio of her final recorded calls to the Palestine Red Crescent Society and the efforts of its volunteers to save her life. Plus all the usual top quality nonsense on all things film-related and beyond, and your emergency mails of course. Thanks for listening! Timecodes with YT clip codes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free) Rental Family review 09:55 Box Office Top 10 - 17:23 Jack O’Connell interview - 44:30 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple review 59:15 Laughter Lift - 1:15:14 The Voice of Hind Rajab review You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some exciting news—The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo. Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member‑only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind‑the‑scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. It’s a New Year’s correspondence special this week on the Take. Simon and Mark will be breaking open our bursting postbag and cracking into your excellent emergency mails from across the holiday period. We’ll be hearing your top takes on the films that made your festive breaks—and one repentant confession from the poor soul who made the mistake of watching The Lighthouse with their granny... We’ve got reviews of the freshest films from 2026’s first week too. First up it’s Becoming Victoria Wood, a documentary looking for the true personality behind the comedy persona of the national treasure. Plus you’ll hear Mark’s verdict on the new British boxing drama GIANT—which follows the true story of ring star Naseem Hamed (Amir El-Masry) and his fractious relationship with trainer Brendan Ingle, played by Pierce Brosnan. Not forgetting the much-anticipated Hamnet—the Chloé Zhao-directed biopic of William Shakespeare and his family during a period of personal turmoil and tragedy—based on Maggie O’Farrell’s bestselling novel. It’s already tipped for awards success—especially for lead performances by Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal—but do the Good Doctors believe the hype? Timecodes with YT clip codes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free) Becoming Victoria Wood review – 15:46 BO10 – 31:11 Hamnet review – 55:25 Laughter Lift – 1:10:25 GIANT review – 1:13:51 You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s that time of year on the Take when Mark runs down his best and worst films of the year—so get ready for a reminder of 2025’s biggest raves and rants from I’m Still Here to Tron: Ares. It’s all new content as he ranks the big-screen bangers and clangers of the last 12 months and picks the Take’s best picture. We’ll also look at the year’s best small screen releases, revisiting stunning series like the gruelling Narrow Road to the Deep North and the gripping Pluribus (00:43:00 https://tv.apple.com/gb/show/pluribus/umc.cmc.37axgovs2yozlyh3c2cmwzlza). For Vanguardistas listening ad-free, Pluribus is at 00:39:31. Brand new reviews too of two new cinema releases. First up, Song Sung Blue—a feelgood musical drama biopic about a real-life couple who form a Neil Diamond tribute band and follow their long-held musical dreams, starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson. There’s Peter Hujar’s Day too—which follows the everyday life on the 70s Downtown New York arts scene of the titular photographer, played by Ben Whishaw. Plus we remember the greats we lost in 2025. We’ve said goodbye to some true cinema legends this year, including Robert Redford, Diane Keaton, David Lynch—and of course tragically and most recently Rob Reiner. Mark and Simon celebrate their exceptional contributions to cinema. Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free): 00:00:00 Start of Discussion 00:02:51 Song Sung Blue review 00:17:15 Best films of 2025: 00:30:20 Peter Hujar’s Day review 00:36:12 Best TV of 2025 00:45:39 Worst films of 2025 00:56:45 They Lived Their Dash (obits) You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some exciting news—The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo. Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member‑only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind‑the‑scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. We’ve got a proper festive treat for you in this week’s Christmas week Take special. The one and only Kate Winslet—Oscar winner, Hollywood royalty and all round very good egg. She’s given acclaimed performances as an actress in films like Titanic, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Sense and Sensibility, Steve Jobs and more—as well as in HBO’s Mare of Easttown series. She looks back over all that with Simon and Mark in this bumper chat—plus this time she’s getting behind the camera to direct her first film, Goodbye June. It’s a Christmas movie about a dysfunctional family thrown together when the elderly matriarch (June) falls ill during the festive period. As well as directing, Winslet plays Julia, one of June's four adult children. She came in person to our studio to unpack it with the Good Doctors—and she was so brilliant that she gets this Christmas Take special all to herself. She talks about her experiences as a debut director, working with her screenwriter son Joe Anders, and the incredible cast—from Helen Mirren and Timothy Spall to Toni Colette, Johnny Flynn and Andrea Riseborough. We even got a sneak peak of what a Winslet Christmas looks like. You won’t want to miss this. Happy holidays one and all! You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some exciting news—The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo. Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member‑only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind‑the‑scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. Howdy Take listeners! We’re approaching the very end of the Christmas corridor—and we’ve got all the movie reviews you need to get you through the final push and onto the sofa eating Quality Street and turkey leftovers. First up, The Housemaid—Paul Feig’s psychological thriller starring Sydney Sweeney as a live-in maid for a family with dark secrets. Plus Marty Supreme, the high-speed Josh Safdie drama starring Timothée Chalamet as a aspiring table-tennis star in 1950s New York—and finally, Avatar: Fire and Ash. Regular listeners will know about Mark’s longstanding love for (slating) the Avatar films—so buckle up for a festive rant. The wonderful Paul Bettany—star of A Knights Tale, Dogville, and more recently the Marvel Cinematic Universe as both the voice of J.A.R.V.I.S. and as Vision—is our guest this week. He’s with us to discuss the new Sky adaptation of Amadeus—in which he plays Salieri, the frustratedly mediocre nemesis of Will Sharpe’s Mozart. The Oscar-winning 1984 film adaptation is Simon’s favourite movie of all time—but will Bettany win him over to this new TV version? They unpack it and talk music, the truth about Mozart, and whether Paul will ever direct again. Thanks for listening, and Merry Christmas ya filthy animals! Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free) The Housemaid review – 11:17 BO10 – 20:34 Paul Bettany Interview: 28:20 Laughter Lift – 53:55 Marty Supreme review 57:55 Avatar Fire & Ash review 1:10:24 You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some exciting news—The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo. Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member‑only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind‑the‑scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. To those of you who joined us for our Live Christmas Spectacular at the Prince Edward Theatre in London’s West End last weekend—thank you for being a fabulous audience and we hope you had as much festive film buff fun as we did. To those of you who couldn’t be there—fear not! This week’s Take brings it directly to your ears. Recorded live from the auditorium, it’s stuffed full of more goodies than your Christmas stocking, including interviews with Nia DaCosta on next year’s 28 Years Later sequel The Bone Temple, and Jason Isaacs beamed to us chatting about whatever he was doing in a massive conference centre in New Orleans... Plus reviews of some brand new films you can watch in cinemas and at home this holiday: Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery—the latest instalment in the whodunnit franchise that’s fast becoming a Christmastime screen staple, starring the fabulously accented Daniel Craig as detective Benoit Blanc and Josh O’Connor as a priest at the centre of the case—alongside the stellar ensemble cast we’ve come to expect from Knives Out. Plus we’ve got Goodbye June—the directorial debut from Kate Winslet that sees a dysfunctional family thrown together when their matriarch falls gravely ill at Christmas. The ensemble cast includes Helen Mirren, Toni Colette, Johnny Flynn, Timothy Spall, and Andrea Riseborough, alongside Winslet herself—and its screenplay was penned by her son Joe Anders. Kate Winslet will be joining us for an extended Christmas special interview on the Take—so you’ll hear a little sneak peek of that too. And finally, on a less festive note we’ve got Lurker—a fame and fandom psychodrama about a retail worker who becomes part of a pop star’s inner circle. We’ve got a Christmas cracker edition of the Laughter Lift too (oh you lucky things). Enjoy it, and we hope to see some more of your fabulous faces in the audience next year! Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free) Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery review: 11:19 Nia DaCosta Interview: 19:27 Christmas Cracker Laughter Lift: 42:22 Lurker review: p1 47’17 Jason Isaacs interview: 48:50 Lurker review pt 2: 1:00:53 Goodbye June review: 01:05:35 You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some exciting news—The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo.  Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member‑only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind‑the‑scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time.  We have a bonafide film and TV legend in our midst this week: director of ‘Broadcast News’, ‘Terms of Endearment’ and ‘As Good As It Gets’—not to mention co-creator of The Simpsons—James L Brooks. He talks to Simon about his new comedy drama ‘Ella McCay’—his first film in 15 years. He unpacks the movie starring Emma Mackey (yes, the names are confusing), Jamie Lee Curtis, Woody Harrelson and Jack Lowden—and tells us why he’s nostalgic for 2008. Plus a bit of Simpsons chat—there are a few very familiar voices in this movie!   Mark reviews Eternity—the new A24 afterlife romcom that sees Elizabeth Olsen torn between two dead husbands, played by Miles Teller and Callum Turner. Plus we’ve got his verdict on the new film from exiled Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi too--’It Was Just an Accident’. This latest daring project has seen the banned filmmaker issued a jail sentence from the Iranian government. And finally, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2....You might remember how much Mark loved the first one (not)... but could the sequel win him over? Spoilers: it doesn’t—but strap in for a review that might be more entertaining than the movie.  All the box office top 10 news for you too, plus the weekly hilarity of the laughter lift. Enjoy!   Our LIVE Christmas Extravaganza at London’s Prince Edward Theatre is this weekend! Join us on 7th December—with special guest Nia DaCosta, and Jason Isaacs beaming in from the USA. Tickets here: fane.co.uk/kermode-mayo      Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free)  Eternity review: 09:10  BO10: 19:50  James L Brooks Interview: 37:10  It Was Just An Accident review: 52:30 Laughter Lift: 1:02:32  Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 review: 01:07:32 Jay Kelly review: 01:14:41      You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo  Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey   EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee!  A Sony Music Entertainment production.      Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts    To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some exciting news—The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo.  Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member‑only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind‑the‑scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time.  American indie darling director Noah Baumbach joins Simon in the guest spot this week to talk ‘Jay Kelly’, his new film starring George Clooney as the titular aging movie star in crisis. On an unexpected European tour, he looks back on a life of stardom and its effects on those around him—not least the long serving entourage who trail after him. Noah sits down with Simon to unpack his writing process and more on this sweeping showbiz tale.   Jay Kelly is out on Netflix next week, so listen out for Mark’s review then. In the meantime, we’ve got this week’s biggest releases reviewed for you right now. First up, ‘Pillion’—whose star Alexander Skarsgård was our guest on last week’s show. It’s an unbashful BDSM biker drama, following the unconventional romance between Skarsgård’s Ray and Harry Melling’s Colin. Does Mark think it’s a pleasure or a pain? Either way—maybe not one to watch on family film night...  Plus, ‘Christy’--the boxing drama based on the true story of women's boxing trailblazer Christy Martin, played by Sydney Sweeney—and ‘Zootropolis 2’, the long-awaited sequel to the animated animal cop drama for all the family.   All the best of the Box Office Top 10, and top correspondence too, including some excellent ‘Pluribus’ discussion—keep the emergency-mails coming, folks!   AND Don’t miss our upcoming LIVE Christmas Extravaganza at London’s Prince Edward Theatre on 7th December—with special guests Nia DaCosta, Jason Isaacs beaming in from the USA, and more! Tickets here: fane.co.uk/kermode-mayo      Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free)  Pillion review: 12:33   BO10: 27:34  Noah Baumbach Interview: 47:45  Christy review: 01:01:38  Laughter Lift: 01:10:39  Zootropolis 2 review: 1:12:57       You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo  Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey   EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee!  A Sony Music Entertainment production.      Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts    To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com     Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Howdy Take listeners—it's about time for another Now & Ben, don’t you think? This time it’s Benedict Cumberbatch—who chats to our Ben about his new film ‘The Thing With Feathers’, alongside director Dylan Southern. Based on the bestselling Max Porter novel, the movie follows Cumberbatch’s character ‘Dad’ through his grief at the sudden death of his wife, and his efforts to raise their two sons alone. It’s a hefty subject matter and emotional performance—but as you’ll hear there were some pretty hilarious on-set antics too. When you’re working with two child actors and a guy in a giant crow costume, things are bound to be some laughs... Enjoy, and watch out for more of these bonus interview nuggets dropping into the Take feed every ‘Now & Ben’. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some exciting news—The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo. Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member‑only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind‑the‑scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. A leather-clad Alexander Skarsgård is riding into this week’s Take as our very special guest. That’s because he’s here to talk about ‘Pillion’, the one-of-a-kind comedy drama where he stars as mysterious BDSM biker Ray. The film follows his unfolding relationship with Colin, a shy small-town boy played by Harry Melling—who you might have heard on the show a few months back chatting to Simon about ‘Harvest’. Colin begins to discover his submissive streak under Ray’s dominant hand, as their complex relationship develops. Alexander sits down with Simon to unpack the film—a ‘Dom-Com’, as he calls it—and gives us the lowdown on what a Skarsgård Christmas looks like too. Don’s miss Mark’s review of ‘Pillion’ on next week’s show. This week we’ve got his verdicts on three more juicy new releases for you as usual. First up, ‘Sisu: Road to Revenge’--the Finnish action sequel to 2022’s ‘Sisu’, where seemingly unkillable action man Aatami Korpi goes on a revenge rampage against the Red Army. Plus, Bizarre biblical horror ‘The Carpenter’s Son’, starring Nicolas Cage going full Nicola Cage yet again—and ‘Wicked: For Good’ – the sequel to last year’s musical smash spectacle. The Good Doctors run down the box office top 10 too—and from the top of the charts to the bottom of the barrel, there’s the Laughter Lift. Plus your excellent and erudite correspondence answered. AND Don’t miss our upcoming LIVE Christmas Extravaganza at London’s Prince Edward Theatre on 7th December—with special guests Nia DaCosta, Gurinder Chadha, and more! Tickets here: fane.co.uk/kermode-mayo Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free) Sisu: Road to Revenge Review: 13:44 BO10: 22:21 Alexander Skarsgard Interview: 37:37 The Carpenter’s Son Review: 51:15 Laughter Lift: 01:01:28 Wicked: For Good Review: 01:05:51 You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some exciting news—The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo. Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member‑only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind‑the‑scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. The fabulous Edgar Wright joins us on this week’s Take to talk ‘The Running Man’—his new adaptation of the Stephen King dystopia. You might remember the Arnie version from 1987, but Wright’s is a refreshed take starring very angry action man Glen Powell. He plays Ben Richards, an out-of-work dad living in the slums of a sci-fi totalitarian state, who enters a deathmatch gameshow in the hope of winning the cash he needs to save his sick child. Edgar and Simon talk action classics, staying on Arnie’s good side, and why Stephen King called the film ‘Die Hard for our time’. Mark reviews it too—plus two more big movies out this week: a blockbuster and an exciting indie. In the arthouse corner, the Palme d’Or-winning ‘Titane’ director Julia Ducournau’s latest, ‘Alpha’. In her usual out-there style, it follows a troubled teenage girl who returns home with a mysterious tattoo, amidst a terrifying bloodborne epidemic. And from Hollywood, ‘Now You See Me: Now You Don’t’, the latest entry in the slick magician‑heist franchise... which has left Mark wishing it would do a disappearing act. Ladies and gentlemen, be marveled as a Kermodean rant is conjured before your eyes! Plus more exquisite dad jokes and guaranteed groans in The Laughter Lift, and we’ll hear plenty from you lovely lot as always—including some prizewinning pedantry. Keep it coming! AND Don’t miss our upcoming LIVE Christmas Extravaganza at London’s Prince Edward Theatre on 7th December—with special guests Nia DaCosta, Gurinder Chadha, and more! Tickets here: fane.co.uk/kermode-mayo Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free) Alpha Review: 13:11 BO10: 21:42 Edgar Wright Interview: 38:14 The Running Man Review: 53:04 Laughter Lift: 1:03:12 Now You See Me: Now You Don’t Review: 1:04:40 You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some exciting news — The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo. Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member‑only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind‑the‑scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show — a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. It’s a pretty special week for guests over here in Take town. We’re welcoming debut filmmaker Ronan Day-Lewis, and his dad who’s come with him and is apparently quite famous or something? Yes, that’s Sir Daniel Day-Lewis, star and co-writer of ‘Anemone’—the father-son co-created drama that has brought him out of retirement. Day-Lewis stars as reclusive and damaged former soldier Ray, who reconnects with his brother Jem (Sean Bean) after years in the wilderness. The pair unpack the film with Simon—including how a 16th Century manuscript partially inspired it, their family history in Ireland, and what it was like to write and shoot an intense father-son story as a real life father-son team. Mark reviews it too, along with three more big movies you can head down to the cinema to watch this weekend—code compliantly, obvs. First up, ‘Predator: Badlands’—the latest instalment in this very loooong running sci-fi action franchise which the classic villain turns hero and the hunter turns hunted. In calmer territory, we’ve got ‘The Choral’ too—a cosy drama about a Yorkshire village choir during WWI, led by controversial new conductor Dr. Henry Guthrie (Ralph Fiennes). And finally, the new and long-awaited Lynne Ramsay film ‘Die My Love’—a dark family drama starring Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson. Reckon Mark’s going to be excited about this one... All the usual email excellence, bantz, rantz, and everything you’ve come to expect from a top Take too. AND Don’t miss our upcoming LIVE Christmas Extravaganza at London’s Prince Edward Theatre on 7th December. Tickets here: fane.co.uk/kermode-mayo Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free) Predator: Badlands Review: 11:33 BO10: 19:21 Daniel Day-Lewis & Ronan Day-Lewis Interview: 29:13 Anemone Review: 30:30 Laughter Lift: 57:21 The Choral Review: 1:02:41 Die My Love Review: 1:12:44 You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some exciting news — The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo. Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member‑only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind‑the‑scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show — a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. Another top Take this week where the Good Doctors are giving you the lowdown on all the most enticing movies hitting cinema screens—and the small screen too, with our very special guest Ruth Wilson. She’ll be chatting to Simon about Down Cemetery Road — the new TV thriller based on Slow Horses author Mick Herron’s novel, where she plays the ordinary woman pulled into a mystery involving a huge explosion, a missing child, and a shady coverup. She unpacks her unlikely sleuth character, Sarah Trafford, the show’s tonal twist on TV crime, and hunting for clues alongside Emma Thompson’s gutsy gumshoe Zoe Boehm. Mark reviews it too—along with Relay — another taut thriller starring Riz Ahmed as a mysterious fixer who cuts deals through an anonymous phone service between his clients and the dodgy corporations they take on. And Bugonia—Yorgos Lanthimos’ latest oddity that asks whether Emma Stone might actually be an extraterrestrial...well, haven’t you wondered? All that plus the Box office Top 10, the ever- hilarious Laughter Lift, and top correspondence from you lot—keep it coming please! AND Don’t miss our upcoming LIVE Christmas Extravaganza at London’s Prince Edward Theatre on 7th December. Tickets here: fane.co.uk/kermode-mayo Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free) Relay Review: 10:44 BO10: 19:14 Ruth Wilson Interview: 36:04 Down Cemetery Road Review: 49:58 Laughter Lift: 58:30 Bugonia: 1:05:03 You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This Week on the Show: Josh O’Connor, Kelly Reichardt & the Art of the Heist Fresh off the headlines of a real-life Louvre robbery, indie auteur Kelly Reichardt and breakout star Josh O’Connor join Simon to talk about their buzzy new film, The Mastermind—a stylish 70s-set art-heist drama that’s suddenly feeling very timely. O’Connor plays JB, a slacker dad whose low-stakes gallery theft spirals into something far more chaotic. Expect Nixon-era nostalgia, vintage fashion deep-dives, and awkward ovation etiquette. Plus, Josh spills on his upcoming Spielberg project—yes, that Spielberg. Mark Reviews: The Mastermind – Does Reichardt’s latest live up to the hype? Regretting You – A romantic drama with a title tailor-made for snark. Mark’s rant radar is fully activated. Sketch – A family film where kids’ drawings come to life. But does the magic hold up? Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere – Jeremy Allen White stars as The Boss in this hotly anticipated biopic. Does it rock or roll off the rails? Whether you're here for reviews, behind-the-scenes stories, or just want to know what’s worth your cinema ticket this week, we’ve got you covered. And some exciting news: The Take is now on Patreon! Find our page here: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo You can now become a Vanguardista—or join the new ranks of the Ultra Vanguardistas, on our Patreon page. Get a whole extra show with Take 2 every week, plus... Access to our new member-only Patreon chat rooms Polls & submissions — vote on the films we cover, send us questions to answer, and try your best (or worst) jokes for the Laughter Lift. Behind-the-scenes photos and videos you won’t find anywhere else. Video versions of ALL upcoming Take Two bonus episodes A new monthly newsletter called The Redactor’s Roundup And, most excitingly... A whole brand new fortnightly LIVE show from the Good Doctors – and the chance to message on the live chat during the show AND Don’t miss our upcoming LIVE Christmas Extravaganza at London’s Prince Edward Theatre on 7th December. Tickets here: fane.co.uk/kermode-mayo Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free) Regretting You Review: 10:51 Box Office Top Ten: 19:54 Josh O’Connor & Kelly Reichardt Interview: 33:31 The Mastermind Review: 48:15 Laughter Lift: 57:40 Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere Review: 1:01:04 Sketch Review: 01:15:57 You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you.  Another packed show this week with four movie reviews for your listening pleasure. First up, ‘Black Phone 2’ -- the sequel to 2021’s comms-based chiller, starring Ethan Hawke. Like a lot of horror movies, the fact that his character died in the last film isn’t really a big deal. Speaking of reanimation, we’ve got Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein too—a fresh take on the much-adapted classic horror novel, this time starring Jacob Elordi as the monster. ‘Roofman’ sees Channing Tatum hiding in a Toys ‘R’ Us in a crime caper based on a bizarre true story from ‘The Place Beyond The Pines’ director Derek Cianfrance—and finally, a new Luca Guadagnino out this week too. ‘After The Hunt’ stars Julia Roberts as a Yale college professor frustrated by her student’s allegations against a colleague... and it’s ripe to get under Mark’s skin—so buckle up for that one.  Plus, those of you who enjoyed Mark’s review of ‘Plainclothes’ last week will be pleased to hear that this week we’re welcoming the very lovely Russell Tovey to the show. The charged drama follows an undercover cop assigned to arrest gay men at cruising spots—and Russell plays a target who becomes an unexpected love interest. He and Simon unpack the film and how it speaks to today—plus a bit of art chat and a mysterious arty paperback too...  Strap in too for what we think is an especially good Laughter Lift, if we do say so ourselves—and more of your top correspondence answered—including a fascinating neuroscientific take on tearjerkers. Link here to the article mentioned in that one: https://medium.com/@itsanavidreader/why-we-cry-at-movies-but-not-real-life-the-psychology-behind-emotional-processing-de18f2dbf624  And don’t miss our upcoming LIVE Christmas Extravaganza at London’s Prince Edward Theatre. Tickets here: fane.co.uk/kermode-mayo        Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free)  Black Phone 2 Review: 09:04  Box Office Top Ten: 15:35  Russell Tovey Interview: 28:23  After The Hunt Review: 43:56  Laughter Lift: 52:30  Roofman Review: 59:31  Frankenstein Review: 01:08:14      You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo  Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey   EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee!  A Sony Music Entertainment production.      Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts    To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you. Simon is off galivanting this week, so our supersub Ben Baby Smith is back—and ready to run down another big week of big screen action with Mark. We’ve got reviews of all the most exciting cinema coming up this weekend: First up, the foul-mouthed and warm-hearted drama ‘I Swear’, which tells the true story of Tourette’s activist John Davidson’s struggle with the condition after a teenage diagnosis. Another indie gem this week, ‘Plainclothes’ starring Russel Tovey and Tom Blyth, depicts the dilemma of an undercover cop discovering his sexuality after being assigned to arrest gay men at cruising spots. Finally, the biggest, shiniest and blockbuster-iest release of the week is TRON: ARES—and we’re not exactly sure how to pronounce that, so we’re going with TRON: HAIRIES. We can’t reveal Mark’s verdict before you listen... but we can say it stars Jared Leto, and that Mark treats it with the respect that it deserves. Strap in for this one—it’s a corker. Plus, if you heard Mark’s review of ‘A House of Dynamite’ last week, you might be excited to hear that its star Rebecca Ferguson—of ‘Mission: Impossible’, ‘Dune’ and many more—and its director—none other than the legendary Oscar trailblazer Kathryn Bigelow—are our very special guests in this week’s show. They unpack this super-tense nuclear thriller with Ben, and he gives them a little nugget of British 1980s nuclear panic to take away with them too. Plus the box office top 10, the Laughter Lift, and all your top correspondence answered! Don’t miss our upcoming LIVE Christmas Extravaganza at London’s Prince Edward Theatre. Tickets here: fane.co.uk/kermode-mayo Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free): I Swear Review: 10:43 Box Office Top Ten: 18:46 Kathryn Bigelow & Rebecca Ferguson Interview: 33:09 Plainclothes Review: 50:33 - Laughter Lift: 55:36 Tron: Ares Review: 1:00:28 You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you.  Our very special guest from the small screen this week is Aimee Lou Wood. The White Lotus star is back on British screens this month in ‘Film Club’—a BBC rom com that celebrates the healing power of love and, of course, movies. Wood has co-written the series too, and she sits down with Simon to unpack it. She shares what her writing debut has taught her, how she’s channeling the spirit of classic rom coms and bringing back “neurotic chatterboxes falling in love”. We might even have a scoop on her next big writing project...     Plus Mark reviews the week’s most exciting cinema releases. First up, ‘The Smashing Machine’—Benny Safdie’s UFC fighter biopic starring The Rock as you’ve never seen him before. Plus, the much-anticipated directorial debut from Harris Dickison—who you’ll know from ‘Triangle of Sadness’, ‘Scrapper’, ‘Babygirl’ and more. His social realist tale ‘Urchin’ stars Frank Dillane as the homeless Mike—and it looks an indie treat. Last but not least, another nail-biter from Kathryn Bigelow, ‘A House of Dynamite’, which charts the terrifying moments following a nuclear missile launch headed towards the US. Not soothing viewing.     We’re keeping the banter coming too though with the Laughter Lift and the Good Doctors’ thoughts on your stellar correspondence—plus news of our upcoming LIVE Christmas Extravaganza! Tickets here—available from 3pm TODAY: fane.co.uk/kermode-mayo       Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free):    Urchin Review: 03:39 (clip 05:37-06:32)  Box Office Top Ten: 12:06  Aimee Lou Wood Interview: 22:47  Film Club Review: 38:23 (23:14 – 24:02)  Laughter Lift: 45:18  The Smashing Machine Review: 51:19 (clip 53:02-53:57)  House of Dynamite Review: 1:01:34 (clip 1:02:52-1:03:45)        You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo  Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey   EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee!  A Sony Music Entertainment production.      Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts    To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you.  ‘One Battle After Another’ hits the big screen this week—and there’s already plenty of buzz, not least from Steven Spielberg, about this much anticipated new flick starring Leonardo DiCaprio and the dazzlingly named newcomer Chase Infiniti. Its director—and one of the most exciting directors working today—Paul Thomas Anderson is our very special guest this week. He and Simon unpack his decades-long writing process on the movie, his first ever car chase, and getting binned off by DiCaprio for ‘Titanic’. Could this be the year PTA finally gets his Oscar? Answers in an envelope now please...  Mark reviews ‘One Battle After Another’ too--along with two more of the week’s most popcorn-worthy cinema releases. First up, ‘The Dead Of Winter’--where we see Emma Thompson explore new territory in a frozen thriller set in chilly Minnesota. And yes, that means she does the accent. Plus, ‘The Strangers: Chapter 2’... let’s see if this unintentionally silly slasher can improve on its predecessor, which shouldn’t be difficult... one would hope.  All the usual tasty features too as Mark runs down the full Box Office Top 10 and Simon tries to wring some genuine humour out of the Laughter Lift. Tope correspondence from you as always--and don’t forget you can now watch the full show on YouTube!     Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free):    The Dead of Winter Review: 09:16 (00:11:04 – 11:40:19)  Box Office Top Ten: 15:44  Paul Thomas Anderson Interview: 28:17  One Battle After Another Review: 42:04 (Clip: 00:28:34 – 00:29:16)  Laughter Lift: 56:11  The Strangers: Chapter 2 Review: 01:00:06 (Clip 01:01:23 – 01:02:06)        You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo  Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey   EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee!  A Sony Music Entertainment production.      Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts    To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you.  Simon and Mark remember true movie legend Robert Redford, who passed away this week. We hear your favourite Redford films, memories of him as a style icon and more. Plus, the Good Doctors talk about meeting the great man himself on stage, and the surprising effect he had on their audience.  Paul Greengrass—legendary director of the Bourne movies, Captain Philips, United 93 and many more—is our guest this week. His latest movie is The Lost Bus—the gripping true story of a bus driver and schoolteacher’s attempt to evacuate 22 children from a vicious wildfire in Paradise, California, starring Matthew McConaughey and America Ferrera. Greengrass tells Simon how he brought this real-life story to the screen, how he recreated the terror of a wildfire with practical effects, and loads more from the making of this white-knuckle ride. He's always a treat to hear from, so don’t miss it.   Mark reviews it too, plus two more shiny new releases for your eyeballs. First, ‘Steve’, starring the ever-excellent Cillian Murphy as the burnt out headteacher of a reform school struggling to keep it together. And from gritty to glossy, we’ve got A Big Bold beautiful Journey for you too—a rom com with a sprinkling of magic starring Colin Farrell and Margot Robbie as a could-be-couple taking a time travelling tour of their respective pasts.   Top correspondence from our top-drawer listeners as always—including for a new feature. We’re inviting you to send us your Shameless Plugs—whatever you’re working on right now in the world of all things film and film-adjacent—let us know what it is and how we can get involved. Emails and voice notes welcome!   And don’t forget you can now watch the full show on YouTube too!     Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free):  Steve Review: 14:03  Box Office Top Ten: 21:33  Paul Greengrass Interview: 31:08  The Lost Bus Review: 47:21  Laughter Lift: 57:58  A Big Bold Beautiful Journey Review: 01:00:26        You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo  Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey   EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee!  A Sony Music Entertainment production.      Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts    To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you.  ‘Spinal Tap II: The End Continues’ is finally out this week—but will it rock Mark’s world or break his heart? He’ll deliver his verdict in this week’s Take—plus more reviews of the biggest movies hitting cinema screens this weekend. First up it’s the final film instalment in everyone’s favourite goes-down-nicely-with-a-cuppa-tea-missus period drama saga, Downton Abbey. On a much less civilised note, we’ve got ‘The Long Walk’ too—a brutal death game drama adapted from Stephen King’s novel. Plus we’ll get your top takes on the Box Office Top 10 and whatever else is going on in your lovely listener lives.   Our very special and exceptionally well-dressed guest this week is Warren Ellis—musician of Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds and Dirty Three fame, and now the subject of new Justin Kurzel directed documentary ‘Ellis Park’. It follows the story of the animal sanctuary Ellis founded in Indonesia with Femke den Haas, and it’s an intimate insight into the life and music of this very cool man too. He chats IRL in the studio with Mark and Simon—and this week we’re filming the whole show in golorious technicolour, so you’ll get the full effect of his excellent outfit. They talk all about the movie and plenty about music too—and just because Warren loves a lengthy natter we’ve got even more for you in Take 2—so listen up!     Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free):  Downton Abbey Review: 06:35  Box Office Top Ten: 14:41  Warren Ellis Interview: 25:19  The Long Walk Review: 46:37  Spinal Tap: The End Continues Review: 1:00:48        You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo  Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey   EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee!  A Sony Music Entertainment production.      Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts    To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you.  Grab the popcorn, because we’ve got a load more sweet and salty reviews for you this week on the Take. We’ll let you find out which are which. First up, ‘Honey, Don’t’, the neo-noir crime comedy from Ethan Coen that follows ‘Drive-Away Dolls’ as the next in a soon to be trilogy. Plus, two new indie flicks: Cork-set drama Christy, following two brothers forging a new life outside the care system, and the odd-couple holiday drama ‘Signs of Life’. There’s ‘The Conjuring: Last Rites’ too... but is it really really the last one this time?   Our guest this week is the ever-excellent Sam Riley—a stalwart on British screens since his breakout role as Ian Curtis in the Joy Division singer’s biopic ‘Control’. This time he’s starring in ‘Islands’, a mysterious sun-soaked thriller out next week. He plays tennis coach Tom—who seems to have the perfect life hitting rallies all day and chasing holiday flings all night—but things get complicated when he gets wrapped up in a dodgy family drama. Sam sits down with Simon to unpack his role in the movie, plus they talk middle-aged angst, holidays in the German Skegness, and that time he almost got arrested in Aberdeen... Keep an ear out for Mark’s review of the film next week too.   There’s top correspondence from you Wittertainees as always too, as we dive ever deeper into the cinema seating debate and beyond. Don’t miss another top Take!      Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free):  Honey, Don’t: 08:15  Box Office Top Ten: 14:00  Sam Riley Interview: 26:15  The Conjuring: Last Rites: 38:49  Signs of Life Review: 52:33  Christy Review: 58:13        You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo  Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey   EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee!  A Sony Music Entertainment production.      Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts    To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you.  It’s a lovely highlights show for your summer holiday this week, where mark and Simon will be bringing back all the highlights of the year in film so far. You’ll hear all the greatest hits from our guest interviews with Justin Kurzel, Craig Mazin and Domhnall Gleeson.  And reviews of Sinners, Bring Her Back, The Ballad of Wallis Island, Adolescence, Death of a Unicorn (oy!), Jurassic World: Rebirth (yeesh!) and Another Simple Favour.  Reminisce and relive it all with us—and it’s back to school with a brand new pencil case, more new reviews and shiny starry guests next week.      Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free):  Bring Her Back: 03:43  Sinners: 07:45  The Ballad of Wallis Island: 13:17   Justin Kurzel: 18:20  Death of a Unicorn: 25:44  Another Simple Favour: 31:09  Jurassic World: Rebirth: 36:41   Domhnall Gleeson: 41:32  Adolescence: 46:57  Craig Mazin: 58:02      You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo  Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey   EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee!  A Sony Music Entertainment production.      Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts    To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Surprise! It’s another tasty nugget of Now & Ben in the Take feed. This time, Ben sits down with Olivia Colman and Jay Roach, star and director of ‘The Roses’--which hits the big screen this Friday.  This grown-up comedy with bite is all about marriage and what happens when it gets rocky. Colman plays one half of a battling couple alongside Bendict Cumberbatch—and although things might look perfect on the surface, tensions rise and resentment simmers as the pair’s respective careers start to move in opposite directions. It’s a reimagining of the 1989 classic ‘The War of the Roses’, starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner—and Roach has shaken things up to reflect the pitfalls of modern romance.   Ben chats to both of them about the secrets of comedy, casting, and marriage—and how this long-imagined project came to the screen. Spoilers—Olivia Colman is her delightful self on full beam—don't miss it!   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you.  Supersub Ben Bailey Smith joins Mark this week for reviews of the freshest cinema releases. We’ve got the Good Doctor’s verdicts on ‘Eddington’, Ari Aster’s much-discussed western starring Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Austin Butler, and Emma Stone. Plus, indie black comedy ‘Sorry, Baby’, and ‘The Life of Chuck’, whose stars Tom Hiddleston and Chiwetel Ejiofor are our very special guests this week.   We recorded this one with them a while back with Simon, so it’s him you’ll be hearing sit down with the two of them to unpack it. It’s a Stephen King adaptation following one man’s ordinary life and the multitudes it contains, and we can’t say too much more than that without giving it away. Best leave it to Tom and Chiwetel...   All the usual silliness and profundity to be found too as usual in another top Take. Don’t miss it!     Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free):  Eddington Review: 07:58  BO10ish: 15:28   Tom Hiddleston & Chiwetel Ejiofor: 28:53  Life of Chuck Review: 42:20  Sorry, Baby Review: 52:22    You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo  Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey   EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee!  A Sony Music Entertainment production.      Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts    To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you.  Supersub Sanjeev is back again this week, donning his Take merchandise—and he’s not the only special guest we’ve got for you. Bob Odenkirk—star of ‘Breaking Bad’, ‘Better Call Saul’, ‘Nobody’, and now ‘Nobody 2’--joins us too. It’s Mark’s turn to do the interview honours this week, and he’s pretty chuffed with that—but as it turns out, he’s not the only fan in the room... They unpack the film’s stonking action seqeunces and talk sequel nerves, father figures and Jackie Chan.   Mark reviews the summer holiday action comedy too, as well as all the biggest movies you can catch on the big screen this week, rain or shine. First up, ‘The Materialists’--whose director Celine Song was our guest last week...and kind of became Sanjeev’s new bestie in the process? We get both Mark and Sanj’s takes on her New York romcom for our cynical modern dating scene. Plus, a much more grusome take on finding your ‘other half’, ‘Together’. Starring real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie, this co-dependency body horror is a real scrunge-fest. Don’t miss Mark’s verdict!   And for those still enjoying our run of curry house correspondence, this week’s laughter lift is for you. Keep that correspondence coming on all things curry and non-curry related—and make sure to get it in sharpish this week, as we’re recording next week’s show this Friday!     Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free):  The Materialists Review: 09:42  BO10: 23:51  K Pop Demon Hunters review: 21:33  Bob Odenkirk Interview: 33:42  Nobody 2 Review: 45:55  Together Review: 54:49    You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo  Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey   EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee!  A Sony Music Entertainment production.      Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts    To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you.  Simon is off on his holibobs this week, but fortunately the excellent Sanjeev Bhaskar is in town to sub in, and he does an excellent job if we may say so. He takes up the baton to interview this week’s guest—who is the ever-delightful Celine Song. They unpack ‘The Materialists,’ her new romcom about the mercenary modern dating scene, starring Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans. Fans of ‘Past Lives’ listen up—and listen out for Mark’s full review of this sophomore feature next week.   If you heard last week’s guest Guy Pearce on the show, you might have been waiting for Mark’s official verdict on the Aussie star’s new prison drama ‘Inside’--and we’ve got it right here or you this week. Plus two more fresh takes on the week’s new releases: first up ‘Freakier Friday’, the four-way body swap sequel to the 2003 original. And we’ve got the Good Doctor’s verdict on ‘Weapons’ too—a creepy horror-mystery from Barbarian director Zach Cregger.   Correspondence on celebrity curry house encounters continues this week too—so don’t miss your fellow Wittertainees tales of vindaloo with VIPS and Saag Aloo with the stars. And check out Take 2 for Sanjeev’s very own celeb curry anecdote...     Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free):  Inside Review: 07:40  BO10: 14:14  Celine Song Interview: 27:42  Freakier Friday Review: 44:07  Weapons Review: 54:50    You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo  Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey   EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee!  A Sony Music Entertainment production.      Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts    To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com     Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you.  ‘Alien: Earth’ is landing on the small screen on 13th August in the first TV outing for the much-loved and multi-sequelled Alien franchise—and we’re bringing you a special bonus drop to celebrate. Showrunner Noah Hawley is the man behind it, and with ‘Fargo’ and ‘legion’ on his CV, it’s fair to say he’s pretty good at putting stuff on the telly that it seems like would be tough to make work on the telly. He chats to both Mark and Simon all about realising this ambitious project, adapting a stone cold classic, and his surprising love for British comedy.   Plus we’ve got Mark’s review of the series, hot off the embargo press. Where will it place in the Alien canon leaderboard, and can it undo the sins of the later sequels? Don’t miss the Good Doctor’s verdict, and do send your takes in to us too.     You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo   EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee!  A Sony Music Entertainment production.     Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts    To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com  ---    Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts    To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you.  ‘Naked Gun’ is out this week, where Liam Neeson finally embraces his meme-status by playing parody cop Frank Drebin Jr.--son of Leslie Nielsen’s hero of the 1988 original. ...Is it naff though? Find out what Mark thinks—along with his verdicts on Willem Dafoe-starring weirdy fantasy drama ‘The Legend of Ochi’, and ‘Savages’, the new stop motion tale from the director of ‘My Life as a Courgette’. School’s out but the reviews still keep coming!   Our guest this week is Guy Pearce, who chats so Simon about this hard-hitting new prison drama ‘Inside’, set in his native Oz. Pearce plays grizzled lifer Warren, who is facing up to the uncertainties of freedom days before his long-awaited parole—but does he really want to get out? He stars alongside the ever-versatile Cosmo Jarvis and newcomer Vincent Miller, who plays the 18-year-old new inmate who Warren takes under his wing. Guy unpacks it all with Simon—plus we hear about his music projects, ‘The Brutalist’, and find out which classic role of his he actually hates...   Some really amazing correspondence this week on ‘The Narrow Road To The Deep North’ too, which has reminded us that we really do have the best and most fascinating listeners evs. Thanks as ever Wittertainees!      Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free):  Savages Review: 07:54  BO10: 14:39  The Bad Guys 2 Review: 27:28  Guy Pearce Interview: 33:09  The Naked Gun Review: 49:01  The Legend of Ochi Review: 59:24    You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo  Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey   EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee!  A Sony Music Entertainment production.      Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts    To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you.  Could we have found the film of the year already? ‘Bring Her Back’ looks like it’s got a fighting chance. Mark reviews this brilliantly unsettling new horror from The Philippou brothers, who last freaked us all out with ‘Talk To Me’ in 2022. We’ve got the Good Doctor’s verdict on ‘Fantastic Four: First Steps’ too—plus the box office top 10 and all your top-quality correspondence.   Our guest this week is the fascinating Justin Kurzel. You know him as director of 2015’s ‘Macbeth’ with Michael Fassbender, 2021’s ‘Nitram’, and last year’s Nazi-hunting thriller ‘The Order’--and now of his first TV project, ‘The Narrow Road To The Deep North’, which hits British screens this week. He chats to Mark and Simon all about the visceral new series, which follows a group of Australian prisoners of war working on the Burma railway in the 1940s, and stars Jacob Elordi and Ciarán Hinds. Plus there’s a bit of chat about Nina Simone’s chewing gum, and a little teaser for his next project with the guardian of this strange and sticky piece of music ephemera, Warren Ellis.    Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free):  Bring Her Back Review: 08:36  BO10: 15:50  Justin Kurzel Interview: 21:55  The Narrow Road to the Deep North Review: 38:20  The Fantastic Four: First Steps Review: 51:16    You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo  Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey   EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee!  A Sony Music Entertainment production.      Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts    To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you.  Our guest this week is Harry Melling—all grown up after first hitting the big screen as Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter films. He’s here to chat about the latest in a hit parade of pleasingly weird and wonderful post-Potter projects, ‘Harvest’. This trippy period piece sees a mysterious feudal society in an unspecified place and time fall apart after crops fail and sinister strangers arrive. Simon unpacks this unique film with Harry—plus a bit of Potter chat since the HBO reboot has put the wizarding world back in the spotlight.   Mark reviews Harvest too—along with two more of this week’s biggest cinema releases: ‘Friendship’--a black comedy about male bonding starring Paul Rudd as the new-best-pal-next-door, and ‘Smurfs’--the latest big-screen outing for the little blue fellas. If that didn’t sound like a bit of Mark-bait already, it also stars James Corden. Odds on Kermode going full ‘Grouchy Smurf’ on this one?   Plus we revisit the Salt Path controversy, including some of your excellent correspondence, run down the Box Office Top 10 and serve up sizeable portions of delectable daftness as always.     Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free):  Friendship Review: 10:25  BO10: 18:16  Harry Melling Interview: 26:50  Harvest Review: 42:09  Smurfs Review: 56:18    You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo  Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey   EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee!  A Sony Music Entertainment production.      Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts    To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you.  The wonderful Mark Gatiss is our guest this week. He joins Simon and Mark to talk ‘Bookish’—his new crime comedy passion project that sees him play a bookseller-turned-detective in postwar London. Plenty of whimsy, history, detective-fiction geekery and big love for weird archaic vocabulary in this chat, so don’t miss it—he's always a delight.   Our Mark reviews the series, as well as the week’s big cinema releases. First up, ‘Modì, Three Days on the Wing of Madness’--a whirlwind imagining of three days in the life of bohemian artist Modigliani, directed by Johnny Depp and (briefly) featuring Al Pacino. And, of course, we’ll get the lowdown on the super-size blockbuster of this week: is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s ‘Superman’!   We’ll also address this week’s ‘Salt Path’ news, with Mark and Simon reacting to the controversy surrounding the author of the original memoir, Raynor Winn. Since recording, Winn has published her response to the allegations which can be found here: https://www.raynorwinn.co.uk/     Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free):  Salt Path discussion: 02:36  Modì: Three Days on the Wing of Madness Review: 11:54  BO10: 18:04  Mark Gatiss Interview: 27:37  Bookish Review: 42:19  Superman Review: 49:59    You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo  Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey   EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee!  A Sony Music Entertainment production.      Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts    To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you.  Our very special guest this week is a body horror legend; director of ‘The Fly’, ‘Videodrome’, ‘Crash’ and many more genre classics... the one and only David Cronenberg. He talks to Mark about his new film ‘The Shrouds’. Written in the aftermath of his wife’s death, it imagines a technology that allows those who have lost loved ones to watch their interred bodies decompose in real time. He and Mark discuss the meaning of art, his unique approach to moviemaking, and why we are allowed—and encouraged—to laugh about this most serious of subjects.   Mark reviews ‘The Shrouds’ too, plus two more of this week’s brand new movies. ‘Hot Milk’—a woozy summer psychodrama starring Fiona Shaw, Vicky Krieps and Emma Mackey—and of course this week’s gigantic blockbuster, Jurassic World Rebirth. What does Mark make of it—roaring success or bound for extinction? Listen up to find out + the Box Office Top 10 and excellent correspondence on what you’ve been watching this week on the big and small screen.    Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free):  Hot Milk Review: 10:02  BO10: 18:20  David Cronenberg Interview: 29:38  The Shrouds Review: 43:51  Jurassic World: Rebirth: 55:21    You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo  Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey   EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee!  A Sony Music Entertainment production.      Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts    To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you.  ‘F1’, or ffffwan, as nobody is calling it—is racing onto cinema screens this week, so listen up for Mark’s verdict on this high-speed blockbuster. And we’ve got a review of ‘M3GAN 2.0’—the first of what could be many sequels to the dollfaced genre-mashing horror hit. Can they keep shoehorning numbers into their titles? Looks like we might be about to find out.  Our special guest this week is Maxine Peake, who stars in ‘Words of War’--a bold biopic of murdered Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, whose work was critical of the Kremlin and the Russian army. She talks to Simon about telling Anna’s powerful story, why the film ditched the fake Russian accents, and being married to Jason Isaacs—onscreen only! You can catch Mark’s review straight after their chat too.   Top takes in the Box Office Top 10 this week—and fans of 80s radio nostalgia are in for a treat from Simon, so listen out. Plus, 28 Years Later fans, don’t miss Take 2 for yet more spoiler-tastic chat unpacking the film everyone’s talking about—including lots of you in your top correspondence. Keep it coming!     Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free):  M3GAN 2.0 Review: 09:16  Box Office Top Ten: 14:55  Maxine Peake Interview: 25:10  Words of War review: 40:45  F1 Review: 51:52  You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo  Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey   EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee!  A Sony Music Entertainment production.      Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts    To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you.  It’s not quite 28 years, but we have been waiting a whole 23 for a Danny Boyle helmed sequel to the 2002 zombie apocalypse classic ‘28 Days Later’. He and Jodie Comer, who stars in the new horror shocker, join Simon to discuss ‘28 Years Later’. It’s the first in a trilogy of follow ups set amongst the new society that has developed on the remote Holy Island after the Rage Virus has rendered mainland Britain uninhabitable. Danny and Jodie unpack the horrifying and fascinating world of the film, and we’ll be bringing you The Good Doctors’ verdicts on it too. We can guarantee you a spoiler-free review in Take 1—but tune in to Take 2 sharpish if you’re after a spoiler-tastic deep dive...   More reviews this week of ‘The Last Journey’—a Swedish documentary about one son’s bid to help his father regain a zest for life via an elaborate road trip adventure—and ‘Elio’, an intergalactic new Pixar offering that sees a misfit kid appointed as Earth’s ambassador to the universe. Plus our usual rundown of the Box Office Top 10 with Mark’s takes and yours, more alleged ‘hilarity’ from The Laughter Lift, and top correspondence from you lot on everything from your cinemagoing antics to films that just need a slap.     Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free):  The Last Journey Review: 06:47  Box Office Top Ten: 12:59  Danny Boyle and Jodie Comer Interview: 24:27   28 Years Later Review: 38:35  Elio Review: 52:32  You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo  Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey   EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee!  A Sony Music Entertainment production.      Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts    To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com     Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you. Our guest this week is the prounciationally challenging but very lovely Domnhall Gleeson, who sits down with Simon to talk about his new Apple TV+ thriller ‘Echo Valley’. In it, he plays the sinister dealer Jackie to Sydney Sweeney’s addict Claire—no more nice Domnhall. He and Simon talk accents, improv, and looking like a psychopathic Ronan Keating—don't miss it. Mark reviews ‘Echo Valley’, along with two more of the biggest big-screen releases this week. First up, ‘Tornado’, a Scottish Samurai tale starring Jack Lowden and Tim Roth as criminal heavies, and Kôki as the titular Tornado they are chasing down. Plus, ‘How to Train Your Dragon’: Mark delivers his verdict the live action (except for the dragon) remake starring Nick Frost, Gerard Butler and more. Some more excellent Jason Isaacs content too, and an iWttr mystery solved... Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free): Tornado Review: 10:24 Box Office Top Ten: 16:46 Domhnall Gleeson Interview: 26:53 Echo Valley Review: 43:21 How To Train Your Dragon Review: 52:50 You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com And to find out more about Sony’s new show Origins with Cush Jumbo, click here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to another Now & Ben! This little nugget of bonus interview goodness features Carey Mulligan and Tim Key—stars of the new wholesome folk musical The Ballad of Wallis Island—in cinemas now. Ben sits down with them to talk about this British gem of a film that’s got Richard Curtis cooing. Plus behind the scenes goss on everything from corpsing on camera to sliding into dms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you. It's a 20th anniversary special for this ‘ere podcast—yes, we have been in your ears via download since 2005. That’s two whole decades ago. Whew. To celebrate we’ve got a bumper correspondence special for you with lots of lovely stuff from you loyal listeners—including some who have valiantly put up with us for the entire duration. Alongside our usual box office top 10, we’ll be rolling back the clock to see what was in the charts this time two decades ago, and there will be reminiscences aplenty. Reviews aplenty too: First up, 'Ballerina', the latest instalment in the world of John Wick, this time with a twist--or should we say a pirouette? Plus, a double whammy of new horror releases: 'Clown In A Cornfield' adds another creepy clown to the conematic cannon of coulrophobia, and 'Dangerous Animals' is asks 'hmmm what would Jaws be like with an added serial killer?". Check out the Good Doctor's top takes on the lot. Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free): Ballerina review: 10:32 Box Office Top Ten: 18:01 Clown in a Cornfield review: 37:39 Dangerous Animals review: 53:14 You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com And to find out more about Sony’s new show Origins with Cush Jumbo, click here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you. It’s time for another of those very special episodes where we all get to say “hello” to one of our very favourite friends of the show in the actual flesh (or whatever the audio equivalent of that is...). You guessed it, our guest this week is the one and only Jason Isaacs. He drops in for a chat with both Simon and Mark about ‘The Salt Path’—a seriously inspirational film that sees him walk the South West Coast Path in a journey of massive resilience and self-discovery alongside Gillian Anderson. They play the real-life couple Moth and Raynor Winn, who walked the path after losing their home and livelihood, and wrote the bestselling memoir on which the film is based. It’s a seriously meaty chat and Jason is on top form—you don’t want to miss it. Mark reviews it too, plus two more big releases this week. We’ve got ‘Karate Kid: Legends’, the high-kicking and wholesome latest in the Kung Fu franchise, starring Jackie Chan—and ‘The Ritual’--an exorcism horror with a demon-ousting Priest played by... Al Pacino??? This one sounds like Kermode catnip, so listen in and say your prayers for a rant or a redemption. Simon is back this week too, so expect bumper banter from the Good Doctors. Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free): Karate Kid: Legends: 08:06 Jason Isaacs Interview: 30:18 The Salt Path Review: 48:20 The Ritual Review: 58:35 You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com And to find out more about Sony’s new show Origins with Cush Jumbo, click here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you. The wait is over for the actioniest and Tom Cruiseiest of all Tom Cruise action movies – ‘Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning’. And we’ve got action director (and producer and writer) extraordinaire Chris McQuarrie—who is behind this and the last four Missions—in the guest spot for you this week. Our super sub Ben Bailey Smith chats to him about the much-anticipated new movie, its jaw-dropping stunts, and his longstanding creative partnership with Tom Cruise. Simon is on his holibobs this week and we bet he’s gutted to be missing this one! Plus we find out what Mark makes of this epic conclusion to the 29-year Mission: Impossible series. It’s a proper blockbuster week with reviews of two more big cinema releases too. Firstly, Disney’s live action ‘Lilo and Sitch’, which sees everyone’s favourite fuzzy blue genetic experiment accompanied by a cast of IRL actors including Hannah Waddingham as an alien and Maia Kealoha as Lilo. Secondly and more achingly-arty-quirkily, it’s Wes Anderson’s latest ‘The Phoenician Scheme’, starring Benicio del Toro, Scarlett Johansson, Mia Threapleton, Bill Murray, Tom Hanks—and indeed Uncle Tom Cobley and all. Plus all the usual top bantz from Mark and Ben, and from your stellar correspondence. Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free): Lilo and Stitch: 07:32 Box Office Top Ten: 12:59 Chris McQuarrie Interview: 26:10 Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning Review: 40:29 The Phoenician Scheme: 55:24 You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com And to find out more about Sony’s new show Origins with Cush Jumbo, click here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you. Reviews this week of French feelgood hit ‘The Marching Band’ (En Fanfare)--where a conductor in need of a bone-marrow transplant discovers a long-lost brother and undertakes an unexpected musical journey. Think Brassed Off, but more French. Also we have the edge-of-your-car-seat thriller ‘Hallow Road’ starring Rosamund Pike, and the usual run down of the Box Office Top 10 and all your erudite/hilarious/chin-strokey correspondence on those. The Good Doctors will also be talking ‘The Last Of Us’ series 2—and that’s because our very special guest this week is its showrunner Craig Mazin. In a bumper conversation that extends into Take 2 for Vanguardistas, he and Simon talk about the groundbreaking video-game adaptation series and his journey to creating it. Covering everything from storytelling secrets to the show’s brilliant needle drops, via revenge, grief and creativity, this one really goes places—don't miss it. Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free): En Fanfare (The Marching Band) Review: 08:15 Craig Mazin Interview: 26:03 The Last of Us S2 Review: 45:28 Hallow Road Review: 58:36 You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com And to find out more about Sony’s new show Origins with Cush Jumbo, click here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you. It’s a bumper review week in Take 1, and first up is the new underwater doc from everyone’s favourite near-centenarian national treasure, ‘Ocean with David Attenborough’. Mark reviews this big-screen voyage for the naturalist, and sticking with the seaside theme we’ve also got a review of Nic Cage’s bonkers beach-set latest, ‘The Surfer’. In it, Cage plays a man who revisits the beach of his childhood to surf with his son, but finds himself locked in a conflict with the locals that escalates to surreal heights. Plus, ‘The Wedding Banquet’—Andrew Ahn’s remake of Ang Lee’s 1993 romcom, in which two queer couples get mixed up in an unlikely marriage in pursuit of Green Cards and fertility treatment. And finally, ‘The Uninvited’—a Hollywood industry satire featuring two screen stars of the moment, Walton Goggins and Pedro Pascal—alongside Rufus Sewell, Lois Smith, Elizabeth Reaser and more. And in place of a guest this week the Good Doctors will be answering even more of your top correspondence than usual, so don’t miss it. Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free): Ocean with David Attenborough review: 08:23 The Uninvited review: 37:58 Laughter Lift: 43:38 The Surfer review: 49:13 The Wedding Banquet review: 59:26 You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com And to find out more about Sony’s new show Origins with Cush Jumbo, click here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you. The 50th anniversary re-release of ‘Slade in Flame’ is making Mark very happy this week, and he’ll be reviewing this “Citizen Kane of rock movies” at the top of the show to celebrate. Starring the real-life Black Country glam rockers as the fictional band Flame, it follows their rapid rise and fall via record company clashes that reveal the darker side of the music industry. Plus, new (and new-ish) releases ‘Thunderbolts*’, the Marvel anti-hero ensemble starring Florence Pugh, and ‘Sinners’—Ryan Coogler’s 1930s southern gothic tale of two twin brothers coming face to face with evil when they return to their Mississippi hometown in search of a new start. It came out while we were on our holibobs, so we’re catching up this week with a full review and some top takes from those of you who have seen it already. ‘Another Simple Favor’ is out this week too—and we’ve got director Paul Feig, also known for ‘Bridesmaids’, ‘Spy’ and, yes, the all-female Ghostbusters remake—on the show to talk Simon through it. A follow-up to the 2018 hit ‘A Simple Favor’, it sees Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick reprise their roles in a genre-mashing comedy-mystery-crime-thriller, this time on the isle of Capri. Feig talks power dressing, breaking his no-sequels rule, and how that Blue Origin all-female space flight could definitely be straight out of one of his movies. Mark reviews it too—and we also hear plenty from you wonderful wittertainees, including your takes on Mark’s ‘Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith’ review. Enjoy! Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free): Slade in Flame review: 11:34 Sinners review: 27:49 Paul Feig Interview: 36:44 Another Simple Favor review: 50:05 Laughter Lift: 57:20 You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com And to find out more about Sony’s new show Origins with Cush Jumbo, click here&l Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you. It’s time for the Take team to take stock of our first quarter, so this week we’re looking back over the first three or so months and putting our affairs in order: deciding whether to tighten our belts or loosen the purse strings, cut some salaries or dish out a few tasty bonuses. We’re bringing you a Quintessential First Quarter Recap of all the best bits from the year so far—including interviews with Ashley Walters & Erin Doherty, Jesse Eisenberg & Kieran Culkin and Brady Corbet—and a chance to hear moments from Mark’s best reviews like the previously Vanguardista-only ‘Santosh’. And there’s still plenty of brand new stuff for you in today’s take too. Our guest is David Oyelowo, who you’ll hear in conversation with Simon about his new Apple TV+ series ‘Government Cheese’. In this surreal 60s-set California comedy-drama, David plays Hampton Chambers, a father and former burglar trying to go straight after his release from prison and make his fortune in a crazy world. By popular demand, Mark and Simon will also be reviewing The Studio—the Hollywood film industry satire starring Seth Rogen as a spineless executive trying to make serious cinema and serious money... and possibly failing to do either. Plus we’ll be ‘treating’ you to the Laughter Lift as usual (you thought you’d managed to avoid that this week didn’t  you? Oh no, the hilarity never stops.) Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free): Quarter 1 highlights: 05:46 David Oyelowo Interview: 31:07 The Studio Review: 49:10 Laughter Lift: 01:04:33 You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com And to find out more about Sony’s new show Origins with Cush Jumbo, click here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you. ‘Warfare’ co-directors Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza join us this week to talk about the astonishing new film that aims to put modern conflict onscreen in the most authentic way possible. With an ensemble cast of soldiers featuring Will Poulter, Cosmo Jarvis, Kit Connor, and Joseph Quinn, the film’s events are based on the real wartime experiences of Mendoza (who is played by D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai). He’s a former Navy SEAL and Iraq veteran who has used his expertise to advise filmmakers presenting war onscreen, including Garland on ‘Civil War’. Now he’s collaborating with Garland again to tell his own story and that of his colleagues in this truly powerful film. Plus we’ve got reviews of ‘The Penguin Lessons’—the true story of an English teacher in turbulent 1970s South America who unexpectedly befriends the waddling creature of the film’s title, after rescuing it from an oil slick—and ‘Blue Road’, the literary doc on the colourful life of Irish writer Edna O’Brien. Don’t miss an Easter treat in the Laughter Lift this week too... Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free): The Penguin Lessons: 08:54 Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza Interview: 29:44 Warfare Review: 43:30 Laughter Lift Easter Special: 57:48 Blue Road: The Edna O’Brien Story: 1:00:39 You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com And to find out more about Sony’s new show Origins with Cush Jumbo, click here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If you’ve managed to watch any of the excellent seventh series of Black Mirror yet, you might have spotted our super sub Ben Bailey Smith popping up there... and just for you he’s collared his fellow dystopians Charlie Brooker and Emma Corrin for a chat about the mind-bending anthology’s latest iteration. Brooker is the writer and creator of the show, which has been sending sci-fi shivers down our spines since it first hit British TV screens in 2011, before going global with Netflix in 2016. So for over a decade, “it’s all a bit Black Mirror” has been the phrase on everyone’s lips whenever real-world technology makes another ever-so-slightly terrifying leap forward. Emma Corrin stars in episode three of the new series, ‘Hotel Reverie’, in which a cutting-edge filmmaking technology called ReDream allows modern day actors to star in high-tech remakes of classic films. Actor Brandy (Issa Rae) steps into the world of a 1940s movie—where she meets Corrin’s golden age star Dorothy. Charlie and Emma chat to Ben about Hotel Reverie and the rest of the brand new series. They talk golden age Hollywood, the shipping forecast, and erm... bowling? It goes places. Listen now for the whole story! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you. We have a real treat for you in the guest slot this week—director of ‘The Amateur’ James Hawes, and one of its stars Laurence Fishburne—AKA actual Morpheus from The Matrix. We are not worthy. Laurence plays Colonel Henderson, the grizzled CIA man tasked with training Rami Malek’s geeky decoder Charlie for the fieldwork he insists on undertaking in order to track down his wife’s terrorist killers. Simon chats to the actor and director about this smart action thriller, and its influences from Hawes’ Brit spy series ‘Slow Horses’ to Jason Bourne. We’ll hear stories from the set plus the pair’s thoughts on the theatre, The Matrix and Adolescence. Don’t miss this one. Mark reviews ‘The Amateur’, as well as ‘Drop’--a psycho-thriller wherein a widowed mother’s (Meghann Fahy) first date interrupted by sinister messages threatening to kill her son—unless she kills her dinner companion. Plus, we’ll get the Good Doctors’ verdict on ‘One to One: John & Yoko’, the latest from documentary maestro Kevin Macdonald charting the revolutionary couple’s post-Beatles days in New York. We’ll also be catching up with the movie-going phenomenon that is ‘A Minecraft Movie’, and deciding whether we’re going to let its legions of fans get away with all those code violations... Another week of Top Takes from Simon & Mark and top correspondence from you. Keep it coming! Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free): Drop Review: 08:15 A Minecraft Movie Review: 19:53 Laurence Fishburne & James Hawes Interview: 29:48 The Amateur Review: 44:55 Laughter Lift: 52:43 One to One: John & Yoko Review: 55:24 You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com And to find out more about Sony’s new show Origins with Cush Jumbo, click here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you. Well hurrah hooray because this week it’s a Toby Jones show (not a Noby Jones show) and he joins Simon to chat about ‘Mr. Burton’. In this true story Toby plays the title character, schoolteacher Philip Burton, who spots the talent of young pupil Richie Jenkins in the Welsh mining town of his birth. Burton nurtures Jenkins’ acting flair as he becomes Richard Burton—taking his guardian’s name as the stage name by which he became internationally famous. The erudite everyman as always, Toby chats to Simon about accents, pyjamas, and the future of TV drama. Mark reviews ‘Mr. Burton’ too, as well as ‘Restless’, a psychological thriller about nightmare-inducing noisy neighbours—or at least they would be nightmare-inducing if Nicky (Lyndsey Marshal) could get any sleep. Plus, A24’s ‘Death of a Unicorn’—the starry satire where Paul Rudd & Jenna Ortega’s father and daughter accidentally run over a unicorn on the way to visit the billionaire Leopold family (Richard E Grant, Téa Leoni and Will Poulter). Mark’s verdict on all  these, plus your correspondence on everything from search engines to The Stath—and memories of the late Val Kilmer. Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free): Restless Review: 09:35 Toby Jones interview: 31:28 Mr Burton review: 46:11 Laughter Lift: 56:14 Death of a Unicorn review: 01:03:11 You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com And to find out more about Sony’s new show Origins with Cush Jumbo, click here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you. A smashy crashy action movie double bill on the review slate this week. First up, ‘Novocaine’—the action comedy where Jack Quaid plays Nathan Caine, a man born with a disorder that leaves him unable to feel pain. When the bank he works in is robbed and the girl of his dreams taken hostage, he discovers his physical quirk can be a superpower. But will it make Mark wince? Plus, The Stath returns in ‘A Working Man’--where he’s Jason Statham, doing Stath things. That’s probably all you need to know... but Mark will tell us where it’s at in the Stath stakes. Our guest this week is none other than Gorgeous George MacKay, who plays ‘Son’ in Josh Oppenheimer’s post-apocalyptic bunker-musical (yes, you read that correctly) ‘The End’. Set 25 years after an environmental catastrophe leaves the earth uninhabitable, MacKay and his ‘Mother’ (Tilda Swinton) and ‘Father (Michael Shannon) carry on a life of luxury and denial in their opulent underground shelter—where Son was born and raised, never having known life before. As Father writes a memoir nobody will read, and the family sing and dance their way through their bizarre existence in Golden-Age style, their brittle harmony is broken by the arrival of an unexpected guest. George tells Simon all about singing, dancing, having the most arthouse onscreen parents evs, and how his own new fatherhood has made him feel differently about the end of the world. Plus more correspondence on Flow from our Latvian listeners, the Milennium Bug from ‘Y2K’ defenders, and of course Snow White--including a message from a young critic giving Mark a run for his money. Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free): Novocaine Review: 09:04 George MacKay interview: 29:14 The End review: 42:54 Laughter Lift: 51:55 A Working Man Review: 56:13 You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com And to find out more about Sony’s new show Origins with Cush Jumbo, click here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you. The much anticipated ‘Flow’ is first on the review slate this week. The Oscar-winning animation follows the story of a solitary black cat, displaced from its home by a huge flood in a world now devoid of humans, who finds refuge on a boat with a crew of other animals who must work together to survive. Plus The Alto Knights—the new gangster flick where Robert De Niro as 1950s New York Mafioso Frank Costello squares up to, erm, himself as rival Vito Genovese—and of course Snow White—the live action remake of the 1937 Disney classic. Our guest this week is the fabulously French auteur director Francois Ozon, who’s chatting with Simon about his new film ‘When Autumn Falls’. Set amidst the crisp and golden vistas of Autumnal Burgundy, and featuring lots and lots of extremely chic knitwear, the film follows doting grandmother Michelle—whose family life is thrown into turmoil by an unfortunate accident involving some mushrooms. But was it an accident? All is not as cosy as it seems, and the dodgy  fungi aren’t all that’s toxic about this situation... Another week of top takes and high-quality witterings from the Good Doctors—not to mention correspondence from you lot. Don’t miss it! Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free): Flow Review: 07:52 Francois Ozon Interview: 27:49 When Autumn Falls Review: 39:23 Laughter Lift: 48:40 The Alto Knights Review: 53:31 Snow White Review: 01:00:12 You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com And to find out more about Sony’s new show Origins with Cush Jumbo, click here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you. Our guests this week are Ashley Walters and Erin Doherty, stars of astonishing new Netflix series ‘Adolescence’. With each episode shot in one take, it follows the story of a family left in shock when their teenage son is arrested for murder. Doherty and Walters respectively play the psychologist and detective involved in the case, alongside Stephen Graham—who plays the boy’s father and co-created the series alongside Jack Thorne. Erin & Ashley chat to Simon about the technical feat of shooting the film, how absolutely terrifying the internet can be, and how terrifyingly good first-time teenage actor Owen Cooper definitely is. Mark reviews the series, plus all these new releases: ‘Black Bag’, Steven Soderbergh’s seductive spy comedy following Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender as married spooks trying to trace a leak whilst navigating a relationship that must have secrets; ‘Opus’, a fandom thriller about the long-awaited and frighteningly cultish return of fictional pop icon Moretti (John Malkovich), and Karan Kandhari’s madcap Mumbai-set black comedy about arranged marriage, ‘Sister Midnight’. Top quality correspondence from you as always, including a right telling off for Mark, news from ‘the internet’s stinkiest it girl’, and a hello to a bit more of Jason Isaacs than we bargained for in this week’s episode of White Lotus.... Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free): Sister Midnight Review: 08:47 Ashley Walters and Erin Doherty Interview: 25:55 Opus Review: 57:04 Laughter Lift: 50:51 Black Bag Review: 1:05:57 You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com And to find out more about Sony’s new show Origins with Cush Jumbo, click here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s ‘Mickey 17’ release day, and Ben is chatting to Director Bong Joon Ho in today’s episode to celebrate. Starring Robert Pattinson as an expendable worker on a colonized ice planet, the new film from Korean cinema’s modern master sees protagonist Mickey ‘re-printed’ over and over again.  Frequently killed in his dangerous daily tasks, ‘human printing technology’ allows Mickey to be simply reborn, with his memories intact. But when he makes it back to base unexpectedly alive one day, he finds he’s already been reprinted—coming face to face with his latest iteration. His girlfriend may be loving it, but the law, upheld by Mark Ruffalo’s villainous Marshall, is not. Ben sits down with the ‘Parasite’ Oscar winner, and his legendary translator Sharon Choi, to unpack this dark comedy sci-fi satire... to name some of the genres this madcap movie might be. Nobody makes them like Director Bong. He reveals the secret real-life location of his ice-planet (complete with mountains of salt standing in for snow), the challenges of working with two Robert Pattinsons, and his obsession with his comfort-blanket iPad. Check out the ‘Now and Ben’ back catalogue for more conversations with cinema’s most exciting creative talents, including four-time Oscar winning director of ‘Anora’, Sean Baker,  ‘Peaky Blinders’ writer Steven Knight, and Hollywood royalty Angela Bassett. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you. In this week’s Take we’re travelling back into the past and looking to the future with VR. Yes, we made Simon put on a VR headset thingy—and yes, we did laugh at him whilst he wandered blindly around the room thinking he was in 19th century Germany. That’s because he was experiencing ‘Trailblazer’, a VR experience telling the forgotten story of Bertha Benz, the woman behind the wheel of the world’s first automobile in the first road trip ever taken. Simon chats to the voice of Trailblazer, Star-Wars star Daisy Ridely and creator Eloise Singer. They talk about history’s forgotten women, Daisy’s forgotten BAFTA (surprise!), and whether we’ll all be swapping cinema tickets for VR goggles in the future... Plus reviews this week of ‘Twiggy’, Sadie Frost’s doc about the titular teenage model sensation and 60s icon; ‘One Of Them Days’—a comedy caper starring Keke Palmer and SZA as two broke best friends trying to raise a month’s rent after losing it to a deadbeat boyfriend—and Bong Joon Ho’s big follow-up to ‘Parasite’, ‘Mickey 17’. Starring Robert Pattinson as an ‘expendable’ worker in a barren ice colony, Director Bong’s latest sci-fi flick sees protagonist Mickey ‘reprinted’ over and over again each time he dies—until a duplicate begins to cause trouble. Find out if Mark thinks you should be heading to the cinema on the double! Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free): Twiggy Review: 10:24 Daisy Ridley & Eloise Singer Interview: 25:19 One of Them Days Review: 43:28 Laughter Lift: 47:31 Mickey 17 Review: 52:37 You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com And to find out more about Sony’s new show Origins with Cush Jumbo, click here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Begbie himself, and surely a frontrunner for British cinema’s scariest man (on screen only, we might add), is our guest this week—it’s Robert Carlyle. This time he’s playing staunchly moral councilor Sam Hagen in new Netflix drama ‘Toxic Town’. Penned by Jack Thorne (of course), and with a cracking cast of Jodie Whittaker, Aimee Lou Wood, Rory Kinnear and more alongside Carlyle, it tells the true story of the Corby poisonings. Following the closure of the town’s steelworks, mismanagement of toxic waste begins to affect the health of local mothers and their babies—who are dismissed by the council and must fight for justice. Robert unpacks his character, and gives us the screen zinger of the year that had us reaching for the birdsong button... Mark reviews ‘Toxic Town’, as well as Indian feelgood flick ‘Superboys of Malegaon’. The Hindi language film follows a gang of amateur filmmakers whose shoestring budget spoofs of their favourite Bollywood hits become a cult phenomenon. Plus, Gia Coppola’s ‘The Last Showgirl’--the story of a Las Vegas dancer’s fading glamour, starring Pamela Anderson in a critically acclaimed comeback performance. All the usual box office madness and top takes from our emergency mailers too. Don’t miss it! Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free): Superboys of Malegaon Review: 09:24 Toxic Town Review: 44:10 Robert Carlyle Interview: 30:19 Laughter Lift: 49:30 The Last Showgirl Review: 55:53 You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com And to find out more about Sony’s new show Origins with Cush Jumbo, click here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We’ve got a bona fide icon for you in today’s Now & Ben—a movie star of four decades known for tackling tough female characters in films like ‘Boyz n the Hood’, ‘Malcolm X’, ‘What’s Love Got to Do with It?’ and ‘Black Panther’. She is the one and only Angela Bassett. This time, she plays US president Evelyn Mitchell in ‘Zero Day’, the new Netflix thriller series in which America is struck by a cyber attack. Managing the crisis, Bassett’s president re-enlists beloved ex-President Geroge Mullen (Robert De Niro) to help still the public panic and discover the mysterious perpetrators. Angela talks to Ben about the role and her longstanding talent for playing powerful women onscreen—including Michelle Obama in ‘The Simpsons’, of course. She tells Ben about the real women who have inspired her, plus we get the lowdown on working with De Niro—and fans of Kathryn Bigelow’s undersung millennium tech thriller ‘Strange Days’, listen up: we’ve got a treat for you... Listen out for more of Ben’s conversations with cinema’s most exciting creative talents dropping into the feed every ‘Now and Ben’. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to another show jam-packed with top takes from Simon & Mark—which are still eliciting your ‘quiet affirmative noises’... Reviews this week of The Monkey—a splattery and slanted dark comedy horror about a murderous wind-up toy from Longlegs director Osgood Perkins, and I’m Still Here—the Brazilian drama about ‘the disappeared’ under the military dictatorship in the 1970s that has taken the Oscar nominations by storm. Plus September Says, an unsettling drama of sisterly bonds, and a little bit of Captain America: Brave New World, since we were foiled by the screening schedule last week. This week’s guest is 90s New Black Realist cinema’s MVP—that’s Mario Van Peebles. Possibly our smoothest, coolest guest evs, he directed 90s classics New Jack City, Panther, Posse—and now Outlaw Posse. With it, he’s pushing the frontier in more ways than one, bringing us a classic western without the whitewashing as he follows a gang of black cowboys who have rejected the unjust laws of their time to become outlaws. He talks to Simon about Black Westerns, ‘Black Rodeo’—the BFI season celebrating the genre that launched earlier this month—and being part of an indie filmmaking dynasty with his father Melvin and son Mandela. Your verdicts from our inbox on all the big releases too—keep them coming! Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free): September Says Review: 08:46 Captain America: Brave New World Review: 19:24 Mario Van Peebles Interview: 27:02 I’m Still Here Review: 46:11 Laughter lift: 52:53 The Monkey Review: 55:22 You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com And to find out more about Sony’s new show Origins with Cush Jumbo, click here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We hope this week’s podcast will earn your ‘quiet affirmative noises’--whatever they might sound like...??? Listeners to last week’s show may remember one correspondent’s story of a film eliciting this mysterious and elusive sound—and you’ve kindly sent in some examples to clear up this crucial matter for us. Mmhmm. Grown-up Aussie animation ‘Memoir of a Snail’ is first on Mark’s review slate this week--starring Sarah Snook and with a voice cast including Nick Cave and Jacki Weaver, the crafted stop-motion story follows the melancholic life of a reclusive, snail collecting misfit in 1970s Canberra. On a lighter note, to solve all your lovers’ tiffs about what genre to go for this Valentine’s Day movie night, a review of the romcom-slasher hybrid ‘Heart Eyes’. And last but certainly not least—’Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy’, fourth instalment of the British romcom institution starring Renée Zellweger in which Bridget gets back to dating for the first time after the death of Mark (Colin Firth). Our guests this week are Stephen Graham and Malchi Kirby—who star in the Steven Knight-penned Victorian boxing drama ‘A Thousand Blows’, out next week. In it, a bulked-up Graham plays Henry ‘Sugar’ Goodson—the fearsome East End boxer and adversary of Kirby’s Hezekiah Moscow. Hezekiah arrives in 1800s London from Jamaica, hoping to fulfil his dream of becoming a lion tamer at the zoo—but finds himself at the heart of the city’s criminal underworld, orchestrated by Mary Carr (Erin Doherty), ‘Queen’ of the all-female crime gang The Forty Elephants. Simon chats to the stars about getting into the ring together in this gritty drama based on real historical figures, getting ripped, Jamaican heritage and more. Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free): Memoir of a Snail Review: 09:54 Stephen Graham & Malachi Kirby Interview: 26:19 Heart Eyes Review: 41:37 Laughter lift: 47:37 Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy Review: 52:44 You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com And to find out more about Sony’s new show Origins with Cush Jumbo, click here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Awards season spinning your head? The Good Doctors have got you covered... Welcome to our awards special, where we’ll be giving you the lowdown on all the big players in this years awards nominations, all in one super-Take from Simon & Mark. We’ve brought together reviews of the titles everyone’s talking about—like Emilia Pérez, The Brutalist, Nosferatu and more—and interviews with the filmmaking & acting talents behind them. Sean Baker, James Mangold, Robert Eggers, RaMell Ross, Ralph Fiennes & Stanley Tucci... we’ve got a list of names longer than a yawn-inducing acceptance speech. From the bottom of our hearts, thanks to our agent, our mums, God, and you loyal Wittertainees. Now go forth and impress your pals at the Oscars watch-party. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dogman heads up Mark’s review slate this week--an anarchic animation based on Captain Underpants creator Dav Pilkey’s graphic novel series, where a lifesaving operation sees a police dog and his cop handler become one crime-busting half-canine hero. Plus, The Seed of the Sacred Fig—a courageous political drama about Iran’s authoritarian government from exiled Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof. And last but not least, September 5--the tense newsroom drama starring Peter Sarsgaard, who is our guest this week... Peter sits down with Simon to discuss the Oscar-nominated drama, based on the true events of the 1972 Munich massacre, the first act of terrorism to be broadcast live on television. During the Munich Olympics of that year, the Palestinian militant group Black September infiltrated the athletes village, killing two Israeli athletes and taking nine more hostage. Taking place entirely within the newsroom, the film follows the efforts of the ABC sports broadcasting team, led by producer Roone Arledge (Sarsgaard), to cover the story as it unfolds in real time—and navigate the many practical and moral issues this entails. Sarsgaard tells Simon all about the unique production—plus working with his wife Maggie Gyllenhaal on The Bride!, and why he’s given up correcting people when they think he’s a Skarsgård. It’s a great week for cinema—get the Good Doctors’ takes here, and don’t forget to send them yours! Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free): Dog Man Review: 04:38 Peter Sarsgaard Interview: 25:44 September 5 Review: 42:01 Laughter lift: 53:11 Seed of the Sacred Fig Review: 54:34 You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com And to find out more about Sony’s new show Origins with Cush Jumbo, click here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In today’s Now & Ben drop, Ben sits down with Chris Sanders—director of the Oscar-nominated animation ‘The Wild Robot’. With a stellar career behind the drawing board that’s taken him from Disney to DreamWorks, he’s the man behind ‘How To Train Your Dragon’, ‘The Croods’ and ‘Lilo and Stich’—so Ben had plenty to quiz him on. ‘The Wild Robot’ takes us on an unexpected adventure through nature with Roz, a human assistance robot who finds herself shipwrecked on an uninhabited island. Uninhabited, that is, by humans—but she soon discovers a host of animal companions, including an orphaned gosling who needs her help. Becoming the adopted mother of this strange creature is a challenge that her programming hasn’t prepared her for. Ben & Chris chat about the film’s beautiful blend of hand-drawn and CG animation, why movie robots can teach us so much about being human, and what it’s like to be beloved to a generation of Disney kids as the voice of Stitch. Listen out for more of Ben’s conversations with cinema’s most exciting creative talents dropping into the feed every ‘Now and Ben’… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Brady Corbet, the now-Oscar-nominated director of ‘The Brutalist’, sits down with Simon for an interview this week. His much lauded and lengthy fictional biopic follows the life of László Tóth, a Hungarian architect who arrives in late-1940s America having survived the Holocaust, and finds his life changed once again when he picks up a commission from a wealthy industrialist. Brady chats to Simon about all those awards nominations, the empathy generating machine that is Adrien Brody, and the future of AI in the movie business. Reviews this week of ‘Companion’, a smart sci-fi horror about a holiday weekend gone awry for a couple who seem a little uncanny—and ‘Saturday Night’, Jason Reitman’s 70s-set tale of the origins of America’s now legendary Saturday Night Live comedy show. Plus ‘Hard Truths’, Mike Leigh’s family drama following Marianne Jean-Baptiste's scathing Pansy, an emotionally volatile woman grieving her mother and navigating wounded relationships with her sister, husband and son. Check out last week’s show to hear Simon’s interview with Marianne and Mike, who some of you may have noticed was feeling a tad grumpy at the beginning of the interview... Top takes from you too on what’s been on your screens this week, and of course, Mark’s Prime Ministerial quiff. Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free): Hard Truths Review: 09:40 Brady Corbet Interview: 26:27 Saturday Night Review: 45:52 Laughter lift: 51:53 Companion Review: 54:29 You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com And to find out more about Sony’s new show Origins with Cush Jumbo, click here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices