Diminishing Returns

Judey Bignell's back for a look at 3 Men and a Baby and it's 1990 sequel. Why? Ask Allen.

This week we are joined by Emily Slade of the Why This Film? podcast to take a look at the turn of the century super spy action comedy Charlie's Angels along with its sequel and television series forebear. It's an episode full of nostalgia and sheer disbelief. It's a film that will take you straight back to the turn of the century and leave you wondering how we ever thought that was normal.

In what might be a Diminishing Returns first, we take on a film while it's still playing in the cinemas! Is it a good idea or are we betraying everything the show stands for? It's Joker, anyway - the weird, DC, Batman side-piece starring Joaquin Phoenix and directed by Todd Phillips.

It's our fourth annual Halloween special! What does that mean? It basically just means that we cover a horror movie that doesn't have to tie into an upcoming sequel release. We threw this one open to our Patreon subscribers and they selected John Carpenter's 1982 classic The Thing. In true Diminishing Returns fashion, we take pitstops at 1951's The Thing from Another World and the 2011 prequel of the same name, too. It's Dimini-Thing Returns!

We've cultivated something of a reputation for our willingness to dismiss the classics and take them down a notch or two and that's on full display in this episode, taking aim at The Shining. Thankfully, Calvin is on hand to defend Kubrick's vision against Sol, who's on hand to defend Stephen King's.

This week, we continue our look at the Terminator franchise, but we covered the good ones last week (The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day). Why would you want to listen for Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Terminator Salvation and Terminator Genisys? Well, other than looking forward to Terminator: Dark Fate, we're also joined by special guest: Angry Christian Bale!

In anticipation of Terminator: Dark Fate, we begin a retrospective look at the franchise, starting with the good ones (The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day).

We spend 4 years getting round to Shaun of the Dead and now, a couple of months later, we're doing Zombieland? What's that about? (I'll tell you what that's about; it's about Zombieland: Double Tap coming out soon)

Another TV episode (kind of) as we turn our collective heads towards The Addams Family - all of it! The 1964 sitcom, the 1991 film and its sequels, the weird attempts at relaunching the show and even the original Charles Addams comic strip - all because there's a brand spanking, new 2019 Addams Family movie on the way.

Diminishing Returns continues an exhaustive look at the First Blood film-franchise, better known as the Rambo series because they star Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo. Last week covered the first two films (First Blood and Rambo: First Blood Part II), leaving Rambo III and Rambo (the fourth one) for this week, as well as a speculative look at the upcoming Rambo: Last Blood.