Are You Movie Mad?

Following Theodore’s wish for a divorce with Rayna, Andrew and Johnny witness some of that before-times partying hard, whilst Deacon and Juliette battle a manager that dislikes, ya know, actual music. Johnny focuses on a fake energy drink, but Andrew is more concerned with which of Rayna’s children is Daphne and which one is Maddie. This is world-shaking material, so get ready for shocks galore.

A second mid-00s David Cronenberg/Viggo Mortensen film this year, ending November’s ups and downs with American brutality. Discussions abound of Ed Harris wearing sunglasses, who IS William Hurt these days, painful stair sex and what if Viggo’s character was simply yes-anding the bad guys the entire film? All the clear and focused film discussion you require and desire.

A lazy day backstage at the Bluebird has Andrew chilling, Johnny reciting Nashville plot points and Deacon & Rayna having multiple awkward elevator encounters. Gunnar’s entourage ruins a musical performance, Theodore and Margaret spend too much time together, Juliette dares to perform without dancers and pyro, and Avery gets to be on everyone’s favourite TV show ‘Star Towns’. Johnny really tries to ruin Andrew’s belief regarding buying nail polish, but who will win out?

It’s time to forget the world and its many strange moments these last months, indulging in a Kiefer Sutherland/Reese Witherspoon/Rainn Wilson animated movie that Johnny has wanted to see for a long time. Yes it’s a very slight piece of Dreamworks Animation, but stay for the Invisible Man tangent, the examination of spin-offs and casting, and a little touch of monster-naming-and-power-having fun that only two very broken brains could let go on for so long.

There’s some real catty attitudes abound with Andrew and Johnny this week. An episode full of big emotional monologues and shock moments has Andrew getting angry and hurt in equal measure, as Johnny kindly lays out the continuing adventures of those wacky musicians in the titular town. Will Ming-Na Wen be the game-changer of the season, or another complication for everyone on the show?

It’s a post-election, current-lockdown world, and Johnny is finally bearing witness to the gold of American Utopia, after the 2018 episode on Stop Making Sense and Andrew’s attempts to get Johnny to see the show live, in the end it all comes down to an HBO Max account and a distinct hope and love for humanity in the darkest of times. Join the celebration of music, ideas, togetherness and looking to better one another, plus I guess jokes.

It’s the day of the election in Nashville, and the mayoral race comes down to this episode. It is also the election of the United States, and some of the aftermath is mentioned throughout the recording, Andrew falls into the charms of Big Deac Energy, and references A Serious Man non-stop, as Johnny frets about guitarists and the landscape of American politics in 2013 and 2020. A healthy episode of healthy, mentally-fit humans enjoying a TV show during a perfectly normal year.

As America’s election fever grows stale, Andrew and Johnny set their sights on the hands that built America, those of Leonardo ‘Irish’ DiCaprio, and Cameron ‘Irish’ Diaz. But never fear, Jim Broadbent pops in to reminisce on filming Scorsese’s violent epic, and what he’s been up to in lockdown.

It’s 2013 on Nashville, and the week before the election Backstage at the Bluebird Cafe, so tensions are high, hopes are breaking, and love is forming around so many people. Deacon is taking centre stage in the Revel Kings, Scarlett and Gunnar are going through heartbreaks, Rayna and Juliette’s tour might save their personal lives, and there’s a big game of ‘Who’s Your Daddy’ at play. Packed ep? Of course, we’d not have it any other way.

Johnny closes out Shocktober with the film he deems scariest of all, based on childhood traumas. Andrew is ready for a Spielberg slice of fun. Will ET remain a terrifying figure for Adult Johnny? Will Halloween in lockdown be any fun whatsoever? What good is having an alien buddy if you can’t go around freaking folk out?

In the mid-season finale of Nashville Season One there’s huge shifts in power, in relationships, and in the careers of those living in and performing around Nashville. For Andrew and Johnny, it’s a time to remember the importance of times when you could be on a plane, and when you didn’t have to deal with Paul Giamatti trying to interrupt a podcast recording.

On the time of FrightFest’s Halloween spooktacular, Johnny pays homage with another of 2019’s festival favourites, an indie Scottish found-footage-cum-shockumentary (shocking mockumentary) about a vlogger, a ghost, and a series of scares. Andrew spirals deeper into his own madness and commences naming HBO shows for 15 minutes, he’s doing fine, he’s doing fine, he’s...doing……….fiiiiiiiine.

Recorded on the 10th anniversary of the UK release, and celebrating Johnny’s 27th birthday, Andrew and Johnny dive into Fincher/Sorkin’s generation-defining masterpiece. There’s trivia games, fear of the fall of democracy, love of cinema and process, and lots of lockdown-re-entering japes in this special gift for all. Sync up 5 seconds into the film, we begin the commentary at 0:19:02

Scarlett and Avery’s fallout looms large over an episode about togetherness, redressing the balance, and of course Nashville geography. Johnny gets to talk Johnny Cash, Andrew discusses songs that slap, and there’s hope building for the future of the show, the city and the podcast in a fun filled episode.

A not-so-routine traffic stop leads the conversation as Johnny and Andrew stay active in this trying time. Rayna hangs out with a new producer, Juliette has a PR date, Avery and Scarlett are definitely forever, and the town of Nashville will never have any dramatic things happening within it, so long as we keep vigil on the show.

Johnny takes command of the episode and makes Andrew sit through a modern horror that he absolutely adores. Andrew prepares for the Ethan Hawke of it all, and finds ways to make horror less scary by turning Sinister into a Muppet movie. Johnny tries to remember his top 10 films of 2012, but there seems to be some cursed beast within the archives, unleashing its own sinister brand of evil. The bad guy of this film is named Mr. Boogie, by the way.

It’s the cross pollination of musical month and Shocktober, as horror director Darren Lynn Bousman delves deep into the dingy world of operatic storytelling, and gets a pre-I’ll Kill Harvey Weinstein Paul Sorvino to perform, whilst Paris Hilton loses face and Anthony Head remains vastly underpaid for his services to cinema. Also, Andrew laments horror cinema and Johnny works through furloughed worker schemes, because that’s where we are mentally now!

It’s time to face up to addictions, deceptions and audits, as Nashville looks to bring characters together and tear relationships apart. Johnny goes deep in detail whilst Andrew reminisces on the end of Ben Affleck’s The Town and accepts Charles Esten’s smouldering personality.

The last week of Music Documentary Musical Month sees Andrew finally witness a Gene Kelly film he’s been meaning to watch for years, and Johnny witness the prowess of a dance god. Also, some deep talk about trailer production for, I’d guess, nobody’s interest.

In the aftermath of Juliette’s criminal activity, Andrew and Johnny recover by discussing the geography of the city of Nashville, problematic characters from the year 2012 and the ensuing political landscape that manifests in the mayoral race on a TV show from the start of the decade. This will be the last episode on the Are You Movie Mad? Podcast feed, we’re going solo from October.