Are You Movie Mad? Is the podcast that asks the most difficult question one man has ever faced. Cinephile Andrew Jones is perpetually flabbergasted that Johnny Ellis uses the online moniker 'Movie_Mad' yet at any given moment seems not to understand any movie references. Join Andrew as he journeys through a collection of films to educate Johnny and ask if Johnny is Mad about the movie he watched or remains Movie Mad.
Vacation - All we ever wanted. Vacation - Had to get away.
It’s September and we’re sitting around, reminiscing on holidays long past as we pack the car and take a first trip with the original Griswold family. On top of stops on the road we spend the time discussing Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, spoilers galore, and Kneecap, as well as comparing the 1983 comedy with the 2015 reboot and run through the legacy of National Lampoon as a brand.
It is Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F release day and the start of our Eddie Murphy Month, we’re playing not-the-hits but some of his others. Starting off with Steve Martin and Frank Oz’s Hollywood satire, a film that Andrew holds dear to his understanding of the world and art, and Johnny brings his brain to many ‘what-if-this-film-got-Bowfingered’ scenarios.
Happy Towel Day! Yes, an episode long-in-gestation, since Johnny told Andrew there was a towel day and it was directly related to one of Andrew’s core art loves. We go sweary talking Sam Rockwell, The Office, Garth Jennings’ career, waking up early for a screening of this film and Jerry Seinfeld’s Unfrosted (And subsequent commencement speech). Grab a towel, stick out your thumb and don’t panic.
We’re tuning in to the most shocking of disk jockeys for a biographical picture episode regarding that old rapscallion Howard Stern, and this of course means the return of beloved guest Paul Giamatti to discuss Jungle Cruise and the name “Pig Vomit”.
Grab your pie trays and prep the oven, we’re baking up a new episode. Johnny is convinced he’s about to watch a musical, and Andrew reminisces on his experiences seeing the West End show, as they both confirm long-held beliefs on pies, gravy and all things food.
Hey, we have never covered a film under the National Lampoon branding, so what a good time to look back at a Emilio Estevez/Samuel L. Jackson send-up from the early 90s, and also spend way too long looking at the imdb page for one Joe Estevez.
Life, oh life, oh life, doo doot doot doo.
Johnny mentioned he also hadn’t seen the Eddie Murphy/Martin Lawrence movie ‘Life’ and since it is streaming, unlike a lot of films, Andrew has allowed an entire episode surrounding a film he once rented as a kid, expecting a wild comedy, and rewound and returned before the first hour was up. Will the last hour make up for Baby Andrew’s experiences?
It’s the end of the year, we…. made it. But, what has it done to us?
Johnny and Andrew look back at the year of podcast episodes, remember the films and talk about their feelings months later.
A great place to start if you’re looking for films to dive into this season.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Hope you’re ready to lose Whamageddon, because we’re watching the Paul Feig movie based on a George Michael (and Wham) song with a twist you definitely will see coming. Andrew and Johnny sit down to appreciate Christmas in London, a film that’s better than one would imagine, and play trivia games for the festive season.
Come watch along with us.
ALSO IN 25FPS FOR SKY MOVIES!
Judging December continues with Mike Judge’s iconic deconstruction of the workplace environment in the late 90s. Johnny deep-dives Disney pins, Andrew recites love for character actors and Stephen Root especially.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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?
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, Empire Podcast and Magazine’s Chris Hewitt, Variety’s Jazz Tangcay, 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 super-duper film fans Jan Thomas and Dave Thomas.
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.
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.
Well, it’s been a long time coming, the latest Judd Apatow film dropped online a few weeks back, and Andrew was psyched. Johnny tags along like it’s a regular day at the cinema, and comes away contemplating Pete Davidson’s comedy, and the potency of Bill Burr as an actor.
