Diminishing Returns

It's time, once more, for the annual Diminishing Returns Easter Special, in which things get a little bit religious... well, I mean, as much as you'd expect when covering Monty Python's Life of Brian.

To mark the show's 200th episode, we're putting on another big Diminishing Returns quiz! This time, Gareth steps in as Quiz Master, to emcee the proceedings and the gang are quizzed by past guests from Judey Bignell to Chris Hunter to Emily Slade. Even music-meister Tomo Fallows gets in on the action.

Here's to the next 200!

In an unprecedented Diminishing Returns move, we're bringing you a second James Bond episode, the week after the first, all in anticipation of No Time to Die which, as far as we're aware, is released on the 3rd of April 2020! Calvin Dyson joins us, as always, as we enter the Pierce Brosnan era.

Bond is back, just in time for the upcoming release of No Time to Die! (No one tell Calvin).

This time, we tackle the second half of Timothy Dalton's tenure with the character. Licence to Kill was, at one time, Calvin Dyson's least favourite film in the entire franchise - has he come round to it, now? Did he and Allen comically underestimate the impact Coronavirus was just about to have? Possibly. Listen and find out!

What? Another live-action Disney remake already? Yeah, they're just pumping these out. It's Mulan, this time. Starring Eddie Murphy! (You know what that means...)

If you listen really carefully, you might hear our A Quiet Place episode, taking on John Krasinski's breakout project as director which became a surprise hit, earning so much money, A Quiet Place: Part II was put almost immediately into production so that it could come out later this week.

It may seem completely out of left field that, this week, we're covering The Big Lebowksi, but there's actually a spin-off being released (in the US, at least) where The Jesus remakes an old French movie - written and directed by John Turturro, himself. Don't feel bad that you didn't know it was coming out. Pretty much no one did. We didn't realise until the last minute, hence this ramshackle production.

We're back on Bond - but, this time, Roger Moore is nowhere to be seen! We're finally onto a new actor in the role as we kick off with the first of Timothy Dalton's two times playing the character. As always, James Bond expert, Calvin Dyson, is on hand to offer his thoughts alongside Sol and Allen.

Diminishing Returns forges somewhat new ground, this week. Over the past three years, we've brought you a trilogy of dare-we-say hilarious and insightful "sex episodes", supposedly covering The Fifty Shades of Grey Trilogy. This is year four and we're out of Fifty Shades crap to talk about, so instead, he's fictional pornstar biopic Boogie Nights, as voted for by our Patreon subscribers! (Head to patreon.com/dimreturns for more info).

Does covering a good film ruin the fun? No... Surprisingly, this episode is sexy as hell.

It's Oscar season, for the fourth time at Diminishing Returns! We take a time-travelling romp through this year's Best Picture nominees, in chronological order, starting with Little Women and ending with Marriage Story, but making stops at 1917, Ford v Ferrari, The Irishman, Jojo Rabbit, Joker, Parasite and even some movies not nominated for Best Picture (or anything in Uncut Gems' case). Also featuring the return of fan-favourite characters Joker and Randy Newman!