Are You Movie Mad?

Johnny loves The Green Mile but has been so obsessed with a scene in the film where Michael Clarke Duncan watches Top Hat in the cinema and cries. Now it’s time for Johnny to finally see the whole film, in context, and Andrew is dragged along despite his hatred of Fred and Ginger films. Will Top Hat be top of the hats, or some second thing that means bad?

Things get a little crazy backstage this week, as Andrew and Johnny contemplate the amount of ‘Daddy’ talk in this week’s episode, forget names of characters, and continually engage in the ‘will they/won’t they’ of Rayna and Juliette’s upcoming tour prospects.

What if Anna Kendrick was one of two leads in a romance drama musical? That runs 90 minutes? And came out in 2014? Well, by rights it’d be a thing you’d at least have heard about, right? Thus, this is a film that 100% doesn’t exist. Yes it is another Johnny pick!

Episode 2 of the Nashville TV Series re-watch show settles us in the world of the show, the dramatic nature of a music-themed statue, and of course more discussion about the use of the term ‘Daddy’. Stay for the coaster discussions and what it means to ‘songwrite’ with another person.

It’s another Andrew Lloyd Webber musical adaptation for another musical month, and this one sees the late Joel Schumacher cast Gerard ‘Punch The Weather’ Butler as the titular phantom. Andrew and Johnny come to it from two very different angles, but will their love of cinema bridge the vast gaps between them?

Johnny gets Nashville fever and brings Andrew to the ABC drama, all the country music pulls, Powers Boothe as Daddy and Chip Esten’s twin brother Charles dominate the discussion on the hit show’s pilot episode.

Musical/Music Documentary Month gets off to a singing start, as Johnny picks a doc about the Nashville institution that features the likes of Faith Hill, Charles (Chip) Esten, Taylor Swift, Garth Brooks and Kacey Musgraves. Andrew gets a hard indoctrination into modern country performance, and Johnny fondly recalls his travels to the landmark in the pre-pandemic world. Finally, maybe, a new podcast is spawned from this episode? Keep your ears out!

Johnny wraps up FrightFest with a mysterious vampire co-host cracking wise throughout. Hitting up the films The Swerve, Enhanced, AV: The Hunt and the short films Werewolf, The Motorist, Love Bite, The Gift, Wash, Fuel, Polvotron 500, Keith, Death Walks On Nitrate and The Afterlife Bureau.

Johnny lost the internet for a bit, but still he found the scares of FrightFest Day 3, including a whole pack of shorts. We’re talking Clapboard Jungle, Hall, Aquaslash, Two Heads Creek and short films Bark, Jeff Drives You, Ouzo And The Blackcurrant, Breakfast, A Bit Of Fun, FLESH Control, Subject 3, Tarrare, Guest and The Beholder.

Hours after we recorded Day One we lost a modern cinema titan, and so tributes are paid to Chadwick Boseman, before heading into discussion on Day 2 of FrightFest online. The films reviewed are The Columnist, The Horror Crowd, They’re Outside and Don’t Click.

Johnny catches Andrew and the audience up with FrightFest 2020’s digital event, including talk of pre-fest movie Sky Sharks, and Day One films I Am Lisa and 12 Hour Shift. Expect haunts and guffaws from two folk making it through a very bad time together. But… apart, socially.

It’s Frightfest weekend and Johnny wants to relive the glory of a former year, by choosing a film he himself gave 2 stars to on Letterboxd. Johnny insists The Drone is a good silly fun time, but will it warm the cold, broken heart of horror-un-liking Andrew?

Paul Verhoeven steps up to the podcast plate with a 2006 WWII thriller that seems to still fly under the radar. Will the isolation make the film stronger, or will 150 minute films seem like an impossible experience when time is meaningless?

Andrew presents one of his all-time favourite films during a time when neither host has been able to experience any kind of outside adventure in almost half a year, it’s a perfect time to lament and wistfully watch a film like this. Will Johnny join Andrew in loving this film, or like Andrew to any of Johnny’s films, will Johnny nitpick this to death?

It’s back to reality, oop there goes gravity, as Andrew and Johnny square up to Isolation August with a spin around 2000’s Julia Roberts Oscar winning performance as Erin Brockovich. Nobody’s going insane or depressed at home, so why wouldn’t a fun romp around big corporations killing and hiding the facts of killing innocent working class people be the kind of film we all enjoy? I’m rambling, one second, I’ll continue, it’s a podcast episode, go listen. End communication.

It’s episode 200, 200! And since we cannot celebrate in person with friends, Johnny and Andrew bring folk in to talk Hamilton and their lockdown fun. Join the revolution with Movies On Weekends’ Sarah Cook, Film journalist Nathanael Smith, Forbes and E!’s Simon Thompson, Comedian and film aficionado Richard Sandling, Activist and Host Sarah O’Connell and the return of super-duper film fans Jan Thomas and Dave Thomas in Act II! So settle in for a super expressive celebration of joy, love and the power of community, in the time when we are most alone. 200 Episodes in, this is our shot, we’re not throwing it away.

It’s episode 200, 200! And since we cannot celebrate in person with friends, Johnny and Andrew bring folk in to talk Hamilton and their lockdown fun. Set in for a lot of Cats conversations with Al Pacino expert Mark Searby, VoDZilla editor Ivan Radford, filmmaker Bradley Porter, Activist and Host Sarah O'Connell, Empire Podcast and Magazine’s Chris Hewitt, Mega film fans Jan & Dave Thomas and Variety’s Jazz Tangcay in Act I! So settle in for a super expressive celebration of joy, love and the power of community, in the time when we are most alone. 200 Episodes in, this is our shot, we’re not throwing it away.

It’s episode 199 and Andrew is bringing the Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman of it back to Johnny in a conclusively final first creative experience episode. Andrew considers Catherine Keener and a sexual awakening, whilst Johnny struggles to comprehend the mindblowing nature of art, puppetry and Cameron Diaz’s hair.

Andrew takes control of the show back once more with a Canadian buddy cop picture where cultures clash like teams on the hockey rink. Will J like his new nickname? Will Andrew enjoy a film for once? Will the recording of the episode be marred by the passing of Carl Reiner the hour before recording? Yes, in that case, yes it bloody will.

It’s another Johnny pick whilst the lockdown continues to hurt the streaming video libraries, and the 2018 septuagenarian rom-com experience is explored and the hotness of Andy Garcia is stretched to feature length. Andrew continually recalls his pre-screening excitement and post-screening existential spiral as the Book Club opens to the first page.