It’s our fa-la-la-la-la la-la la-last episode of the year and we’re going back on the Griswold Family Vacation Train to finally have Johnny witness a good old family tradition of a movie, whether he wants to or not. But Johnny tells us about his journeys through Oz from Great And Powerful to Wicked Part One, and Andrew has finally, finally, seen Memoir Of A Snail and gets to talk a little sad-sack stop-motion before the festive spirit takes flight for good.
FAST FRIDAYS - EPISODE 09 - FAST AND FURIOUS PRESENTS: HOBBS AND SHAW (WITH SARAH O'CONNELL)
The Fast Saga is continuing in two strands, you can now enjoy F9 in the cinema, but this podcast is reuniting two titans, Andrew and Johnny, to deal with one last mission: Talking spin-offs. How many pages of notes can be written on this adventure? Who gets the best insults? Will special guest Sarah delve into the madness of the family timeline, or will sense finally prevail? Nothing will be revealed!
245 - LOVE NEVER DIES
Musical Month 2021 ends with Johnny’s defying return to the Phantomverse, forcing Andrew to sit through another Lloyd Webber musical, but hark there’s The Phantom Of The Podcast coming in to take over matters. Will we survive the show intact? Will music ever be the same again? Will Love ever Die? NEVER!
243 - IN THE HEIGHTS
Humpweek of Musical Month and we’re finally celebrating a couple of days in Washington Heights properly. We hang out with best friend BENNY! Discuss the changes from the stage show, some of the adaptations that worked for the nature of cinema, and prepare for the opening of big screen theatrical experiences again. Get ready for a lot of hot, heavy musical talk in this fan-friendly episode.
242 - WALKING ON SUNSHINE
Remember Mamma Mia!? Well, it was such a huge hit that the UK tried to make an independent version, and nobody talks about the 80s music jukebox summer sun movie that came out of that. We, here, are the podcast that dares to examine the lost archives of summers past, in musical month’s triumphant second episode.
241 - TOMMY
Podcast can you hear us? It’s musical month once again, and stretching the definition of cinema, we watch the Ken Russell’ed The Who rock opera about a pinball wizard featuring Jack Nicholson and Elton John. Weird? Of course. Good? Well, that’s for the courts to decide.
239 - WAITRESS
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.
210 - REPO! THE GENETIC OPERA
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!
209 - AN AMERICAN IN PARIS
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.
208 - TOP HAT
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?
206 - THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
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?
205 - BLUEBIRD
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!
200 - HAMILTON - AN AMERICAN MUSICAL
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.
