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Kermode & Mayo’s Take

Our Christmas Spectacular, recorded live at London’s Prince Edward Theatre is now available in your ears! On our festive guestlist this week we have Wallce & Gromit creator Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham, who co-direct the famous plasticine pair’s latest adventure Vengeance Most Fowl. They talk us through what happened when Aardman went noir for this festive film treat, share stop motion secrets, and tell us why it was the right time to bring back dastardly glove-headed supervillain Feathers McGraw. Check out our socials for photos of the real A-Listers on the bill though—actual Wallace and actual Gromit, who also joined us onstage. They were a little shy on the mic... but you can watch them in Vengeance Most Fowl on BBC 1 and iPlayer on Christmas Day at 6:10pm, and on Netflix outside of the UK from 3rd January.

Plus a flying visit from someone we’re always happy to being saying hello to—Jason Isaacs himself!

If you were one of our fabulous, talented and exceptionally good-looking live audience members then we’ve got some backstage extras in this episode for you too. London cinema tour guide extraordinaire Nigel Smith gives Simon and Mark the lowdown on our venue the Prince Edward’s history as a Cinerama. Plus a bonus backstage review of ‘The Bibi Files’—Alexis Bloom’s documentary expose on Benajamin Netanyahu and the corruptions scandals surrounding his government.

Hear Mark’s take on ‘Queer’—Luca Guadagnino’s much-anticipated adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ novel, starring Daniel Craig as the autobiographical lead William Lee. And—from one former Bond to another—he also reviews ‘From Roger Moore With Love’, a charming celebration of the eyebrow-arching national treasure. You listeners bust out your film-buff smarts too, as two of our live audience take to the stage for a game of ‘(Simon and) Markstermind’...

Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free):

Bibi Files Review: 08:32

Queer Review: 24:04

From Roger Moore with Love Review: 39:26

Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham Interview: 48:16

You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo

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Live Christmas Spectacular with Wallce & Gromit, Nick Park, and Merlin Crossingham

Presenting a new feature on the Take Channel. 

ANORA has been one of the most talked-about films of 2024 so we sent supersub BEN BAILEY SMITH to speak to director Sean Baker. 

In this interview you can hear Ben talk to Sean about how he judges his own work, his love of Chihuahuas, that home invasion scene, little Orphan Annie, and of course Ben asked him about the Take That needledrop.
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NOW AND BEN

Wassail Wassail Wassail! Christmas is almost upon us, and we’ve got a gift of a guest for you this week: Barry Jenkins, AKA Mr. Moonlight. He chats to Simon about ‘Mufasa’, the origin story for Simba’s father and the long-awaited prequel to 2016’s live action animation Lion King. When a flood washes the cub-Mufasa away from his homeland and parents, he finds himself an outsider in an altogether new territory—where he stumbles across young lion Taka and begins a life-changing new journey to becoming the King of the Pride Lands we all know and love. Simon asks the Oscar winning indie director how he ended up helming this huge Disney musical, and what he’s learned from the four-year journey to its release.

We’ll hear Mark’s take on ‘Mufasa’ too, along with reviews of two more animation releases this week. We’ve got ‘Sonic 3’, where the speedy blue hedgehog and friends face new adversary Shadow—and Aardman’s Christmas gift to us all, the new Wallace & Gromit adventure ‘Vengeance Most Fowl’. The nation’s favourite plasticine pair are up against their old glove-headed adversary Feathers McGraw in this noirish stop-motion treat. You can hear Mark and Simon in conversation with co-directors Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham in last week’s episode, recorded live at our Christmas Spectacular.

Plus one more review of ‘Alien Onstage’—a gloriously oddball documentary about a group of Dorset bus drivers creating a theatrical version of the 1979 sci-fi film classic. We absolutely promise this is the wholesome if slightly madcap holiday viewing you didn’t know you needed—but you really, really do.

Top correspondence from you all as usual—including this year’s bespoke Christmas wassail number – don’t miss it!

Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free):

Review: Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl – 08:13

Review: Alien on Stage – 58:09

Review: Sonic The Hedgehog 3 – 52:59

Interview: Barry Jenkins – 26:10

And normally this is just for the Vanguardistas, but as we’re feeling festive – here are 50 Christmas TV films of the holidays for everyone:

WATCHLIST: FREE FESTIVE FIFTY

1. Easter Parade – December 23, 9.25am BBC TWO

2. Meet Me in St Louis – December 23, 11.05am BBC TWO

3. Coco – December 23, 3.15pm BBC ONE

4. Ghostbusters (1984) – December 23, 4.50pm BBC ONE

5. Chicken Run – December 24, 10am BBC ONE

6. Close Encounters of the Third Kind – December 24, 11.25am CHANNEL 4

7. A Christmas Carol (1984) – December 24, 2.10pm CHANNEL 4

8. White Christmas – December 24, 2.15pm BBC TWO

9. Moana – December 24, 2.20pm BBC ONE

10. It's a Wonderful Life – December 24, 2.30pm ITV

11. The Snowman - Christmas Eve – 3pm CHANNEL 4

12. Shrek – December 24, 3.55pm BBC ONE

13. Home Alone – December 24, 6.05pm CHANNEL 4

14. Beetlejuice – December 24, 10.45pm BBC TWO

15. The Rocky Horror Picture Show – December 25, 00.15am BBC TWO

16. Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl – December 25, 6.10pm BBC ONE

17. Toy Story 3 – December 25, 11.20am BBC ONE

18. Home Alone 2: Lost in New York – December 25, 3.10pm ITV

19. North by Northwest – December 25, 5.05pm BBC TWO

20. On Her Majesty's Secret Service – December 26, 9.25am ITV

For the remaining films on the list, go to 33:10 in Take 2 and listen for Mark's pick and reaction as well!

You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo

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Barry Jenkins on Mufasa

It’s Boxing Day, but we’ve got more than just leftovers in today’s show—we're just as stuffed full of gourmet goodies as we hope you are right now...

A fresh new guest interview this week with RaMell Ross, director of the awards-tipped ‘Nickel Boys’. Based on the Pulitzer prize winning novel by Colson Whitehead, it follows the growing friendship between two boys in racially segregated 1960s Florida, Ellwood and Turner, who find themselves unwillingly enrolled in an abusive reform school. Simon sits down with RaMell to talk about his innovative filmmaking approach—and we think you’ll be hearing plenty more from him in the future...

Reviews of ‘Better Man’, the Robbie Wiliams biopic from ‘Greatest Showman’ director Michael Gracey that chronicles the pop superstar’s infamous monkeying around by making him an actual chimp; ‘The Order’, the 80s-set thriller starring Jude Law as a neo-Nazi-hunting FBI agent; and ‘How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies’, the Thai comedy-drama in which broke university dropout M cozies up to his ailing grandmother in the hope of inheriting her massive fortune.

Plus Mark’s top 5 films of the year—and bottom 5 cinematic stinkers too. 

Merry Christmas one and all—wishing you much festive film-watching...

Review: How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies – 08:20

Interview: RaMell Ross – 17:15

Review: The Order – 33:09

Review: Better Man – 40:06

You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo

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Best and Worst Films of the Year & More

Happy New Year from Mark, Simon, The Redactor and the rest of us on the Take Team!

We’re kicking off 2025 with a top-drawer guest—’Nosferatu’ director Robert Eggers. He tells Simon about his new remake of the1922 silent classic, originally by German expressionist director F.W. Murnau, in which Bill Skarsgård’s vampire nobleman terrorises a town in pursuit of Lily-Rose Depp’s Ellen, the object of his desires. They chat about his longtime fascination with the story, creating a monster for a modern vampire movie, and a sprinkling of the occult...

Will Nosferatu meet Mark’s high standards for horror? Find out if he thinks it has bite—or whether it’s just a little bloodless? More reviews too of ‘‘We Live in Time’, the time slip rom-com starring Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh that crashes its lovers into each other’s lives (literally)—and ‘Nickel Boys’, a formally innovative new drama charting the friendship of two young inmates at a sinister reform school in Jim Crow era Florida. Listen back to last week’s episode to hear Simon’s interview with its director, RaMell Ross.

Plus another chance to hear the best of our guests from the year behind us, and the best of Mark’s reviews from the drooling raves to the Kermodean rants for the ages. Looking at you ‘Megalopolis’....

Review: Nickel Boys – 03:03

Review: We Live In Time – 49:39

Best of the guests: 09:51

Best of the reviews: 54:14

Interview: Robert Eggers – 23:19

You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo

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Nosferatu (or Yesferatu?) with Robert Eggers

Our guests this week were ‘A Real Pain’...just joking, Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin were actually really nice...

They sit down with Simon to discuss the comedy-drama, directed, written, produced by and starring Eisenberg alongside Culkin. They play two mismatched cousins David and Benji on a tour of Poland, the ancestral home of their late-grandmother, where they hope to reconnect with their Jewish roots—and each other. With Benji lacking in a social filer (as, delightfully, is Kieran Culkin is in real life—just ask Simon!) their trip isn’t as straightforward as the uptight David planned.

Hear what Mark thought of the film, plus reviews of ‘Maria’—Pablo Larraín’s biopic of legendary opera singer Maria Callas (Angelina Jolie), reflecting on her public and private life in its last days in 1970s Paris—and ‘Babygirl’, the psychosexual thriller starring Nicole Kidman as a high-powered but privately dissatisfied CEO embroiled in an affair with Harris Dickinson’s much younger intern at her firm.

Not forgetting your takes on ‘Nosferatu’, ‘We Live In Time’ and more from our bursting postbag of correspondence. Keep it coming!

Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free):

Maria Review: 05:39

Kieran Culkin and Jesse Eisenberg: 27:31

A Real Pain Review: 44:07

Laughter lift: 50:00

Babygirl Review: 54:17

You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo

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A Sony Music Entertainment production.

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts

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Jesse Eisenberg & Kieran Culkin on ‘A Real Pain’

In this latest bonus nugget of ‘Now and Ben’ goodness, our sometime super sub Ben Bailey Smith chats to legendary film & TV writer Stephen Knight. He’s penned some of the most exciting scripts to hit our screens over the last three decades, from ‘Dirty Pretty Things’ and ‘Locke’ to ‘SAS Rogue Heroes’ and, of course, ‘Peaky Blinders’.

Most recently he’s written ‘Maria’—a biopic of opera singer Maria Callas in her last days as she tries to rediscover her voice in time for her swan song. Following 2021’s ‘Spencer’, it’s Knight’s second collaboration with director Pablo Larraín.

Ben sits down with Steven for an in-depth chat about the exceptional career that’s seen him become one of Britain’s most prolific and best-known TV & film writers. They talk humble beginnings in British TV comedy with Jasper Carrott, and his journey from the backstreets of Birmingham and the small screen to the bright lights of Hollywood. Ben even gets a cheeky bit of gossip about the upcoming Peaky Blinders movie…

Listen out for more of Ben’s conversations with cinema’s most exciting creative talents dropping into the feed every ‘Now and Ben’…
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Now and Ben: Steven Knight on ‘Maria’, his screenwriting secrets, the Peaky Blinders movie & more

The big movie release this week is ‘A Complete Unknown’, but our guest is actually pretty famous... James Mangold, director of the much-anticipated Bob Dylan biopic and Hollywood hits from ‘Walk The Line’ to ‘Le Mans 66’, joins Simon for a chat. They talk about putting Dylan’s iconic and mysterious life onscreen, Timothée Chalamet’s awards-tipped performance as the young songwriting legend—and accidentally creating the Jonny Cash cinematic universe.

Picking up a teenage Dylan—then still Bobby Zimmermann—as he hitchhikes to New York, the film follows his discovery as a once-in-a-generation musical talent and a defining voice of the 60s. Through rough relationships with fellow musicians like Pete Seeger (Edward Norton) and Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro)—and himself—we watch Dylan’s rise to fame, culminating in his hellraising ‘electric’ performance at the 1965 Newport folk festival.

Is Mark shouting ‘Judas!’ or rocking along? Hear his review of the film, along with ‘Wolf Man’— the latest screen outing for the classic horror monster with a modern twist by ‘Invisible Man’ director Leigh Whannell. We’ve got Mark’s verdict on Robert Zemeckis’ new drama too, which reunites ‘Forrest Gump’ stars Tom Hanks and Robin Wright in the story of one piece of land throughout time. It’s called ‘Here’, but it might make you wish you weren’t...

More excellent listener takes too on what you’ve been watching this week. We love hearing from you, so if you’re thinking of writing in, Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright...

Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free):

Here Review: 04:29

James Mangold Interview: 29:06

A Complete Unknown Review: 43:50

Laughter lift: 57:48

Wolf Man Review: 59:05

You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo

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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

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A Complete Unknown divides Simon and Mark – with director James Mangold

‘The Brutalist’ is the epic structure on the horizon of this week’s movie releases; Mark reviews this fictional biopic of Hungarian architect László Tóth (Adrien Brody), a Holocaust survivor who arrives in America as an immigrant in 1947. Bauhaus trained and revered in his home country, László finds himself anonymous in a sometimes hostile USA—but gets a commission from a wealthy industrialist (Guy Pearce) that looks like the break he needs.

Steven Soderbergh’s ‘Presence’ hits cinemas too this week—a ghost story in a troubled family home, shot from the perspective of the ghost. Plus don’t miss our ‘Flight Risk’ Embargo Special, coming up this 

evening after 11pm, when the review embargo on the film lifts.

Our guests this week are one of Britain’s best-known filmmakers, and one of its most revered dramatic actors: Mike Leigh and Marianne Jean-Baptiste. Their new film ‘Hard Truths’ hits UK cinemas next week. It follows the day-to-day life of Jean-Baptiste's Pansy, an explosively angry and depressed woman grieving her mother, whose barbed judgements of strangers and family alike can be searingly funny. Pansy seems to long for connection in her ailing relationships with her husband, son and sister, but is prone to pushing others away and further isolating herself. Simon sits down with the creative duo to talk about building this complex character, Leigh’s unusual working methods, and more.

We’ll also take a moment this week to remember David Lynch, who we lost on 15th January, aged 78. One of the true greats of cinema, his singular surreal vision has inspired millions across his five-decade career. From Eraserhead and Blue Velvet to Twin Peaks, we hear from you about what his groundbreaking work meant.

Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free):

Presence Review: 10:44

Mike Leigh & Marianne Jean Baptiste Interview: 28:57

Laughter lift: 41:51

The Brutalist Review: 42:32

Remembering David Lynch: 55:21

You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo

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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
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The Brutalist + Mike Leigh & Marianne Jean-Baptiste on Hard Truths

Coming hot off the podcast press, we’ve got Mark’s review of ‘Flight Risk’ - under embargo until now.

The Mel Gibson directed thriller sees a US Marshal escort a government witness via plane across the Alaskan wilderness to testify against a mob boss in Manhattan. Mark Wahlberg’s pilot is in charge of their safe passage, but things get turbulent when it turns out not everyone is who they seem to be.

Don’t miss Mark’s verdict in this embargo special...
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Flight Risk embargo special - they tried to stop us...

Ben and Nemone discuss The Wire’s ‘Bubbles’ aka Reginald Collins. An informant and heroin user, a man with a fragile support network who finds himself stranded while trying to forge closer bonds with those around him. Nemone tells Ben how unconditional love is the hardest thing to give an addict, and the key to helping them start their journey to sobriety. Plus we hear wisdom from Gabor Maté. Our episode on the Queen’s Gambit has great insights into addiction if you’re looking for even more on this subject. 

 

We talked about AA, Al Anon and Samaritans in the show. Here are links: 

AA: https://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk/ 

Al Anon: https://al-anonuk.org.uk/ 

Samaritans: https://www.samaritans.org/ 

We want to hear about any theories we might have missed, what you’ve thought of the show so far and your character suggestions. Please drop the team an email (which may be part of the show): shrinkthebox@sonymusic.com 

NEXT CLIENTS ON THE COUCH. Find out how to view here 

Moira Rose, Schitt's Creek (Season 1) 

Raymond Holt, Brooklyn 99 (selected episodes) 

Jackson Lamb, Slow Horses (Season 1) 

Carrie Bradshaw, Sex and the City (selected episodes) 

 

CREDITS 

We used clips from Seasons 1 of The Wire. It’s available to watch on NOWTV. 

Starring: 

Dominic West - Jimmy McNulty 

Idris Elba - Stringer Bell 

Lawrence Gilliard Jr. - D’Angelo Barskdale 

Wood Harris - Avon Barksdale 

Deirdre Lovejoy - Rhonda Pearlman 

Wendell Pierce - Detective Bunk 

Lance Reddick - Cpt. Cedric Daniels 

Andre Royo – Reginald Collins, aka Bubbles 

Sonja Sohn - Kima Greggs 

Created by: 

David Simon 

Directed by: 

Clark Johnson 

Peter Medak 

Clement Virgo 

Ed Bianchi 

Gloria Muzo 

Produced by: 

Karen L. Thorson 

Ed Burns 

Joe Chappelle 

George Pelecanos 

Eric Overmyer 

David Simon 

Robert F. Colesberry 

Nina Kostroff Noble 

We would love to hear your theories: shrinkthebox@sonymusic.com 

A Sony Music Entertainment production. 

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts. 

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THE WIRE’S Bubbles: How do you help an addict? – SHRINK THE BOX

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