Groovy Movies

What better way to conclude the odyssey that has been the official run of Groovy Movies than with Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey? But where does his most challenging - and already most successful - film to date sit in our Nolan ranking? Plus, as we bring the podcast to a close, we look back at how the film industry has fared over the five years we’ve been recording.

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Produced and edited by Lily Austin and James Brailsford

Original theme music by James Brailsford

Logo design by Alfie Garland

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Website: groovymoviespod.co.uk

Part two of our Christopher Nolan recap takes us from Inception - the movie that made his name as an “IP” director - all the way to the present day and our hellish scramble to get IMAX tickets for The Odyssey. If you haven’t got yours yet, what are you waiting for? On our next and final episode, we’ll be concluding our 5-year run of Groovy Movies with a special episode discussing this most major cinematic event. 

References 

The Film Data Scientist (not the film stats guy, as we called him)

The Amazing Digital Circus

Patrick H Williams on How IMAX made Nolan a better director

Atonement Dunkirk scene, directed by Joe Wright

Watch Mussolini: Son of the Century, directed by Joe Wright on Sky or Apple TV

If you love what we do, please like, subscribe and leave a review!

Produced and edited by Lily Austin and James Brailsford

Original theme music by James Brailsford

Logo design by Alfie Garland

Follow us: Instagram, TikTok & Letterboxd

Email us: [email protected]

Website: groovymoviespod.co.uk

In anticipation of The Odyssey's release, we’re traversing the course of Christopher Nolan’s career and plotting his signature hallmarks along the way. Plus: the box office-shattering success of Backrooms and Obsession, and the AI movie showing at Tribeca Film Festival. 

References 

Christian Zilko’s IndieWire article

Nolan’s 60 Minutes interview 

The Nolan Variations: The Movies, Mysteries, and Marvels of Christopher Nolan by Tom Shone

If you love what we do, please like, subscribe and leave a review!

Produced and edited by Lily Austin and James Brailsford

Original theme music by James Brailsford

Logo design by Alfie Garland

Follow us: Instagram, TikTok & Letterboxd

Email us: [email protected]

Website: groovymoviespod.co.uk

We take a deep dive into indie cinema’s biggest success story: production company A24. Plus, we discuss its latest hit, the non-rom-com The Drama.

References
That needle drop in The Drama we mentioned: "Inside Out" by Jesse Rae

If you love what we do, please like, subscribe and leave a review!

Produced and edited by Lily Austin and James Brailsford

Original theme music by James Brailsford

Logo design by Alfie Garland

Follow us: ⁠Instagram⁠, ⁠TikTok⁠ & ⁠Letterboxd⁠

Email us: ⁠[email protected]⁠

Website: ⁠groovymoviespod.co.uk

This week we’re learning lessons from blockbusters: the latest, Project Hail Mary, and a classic, Jurassic Park. With the help of Hannah McGregor, the author of the brilliant “Clever Girl” and co-host of the podcast, Material Girls (do go and subscribe), we decipher the messages about care, chaos and lady monsters which lay under the wobbly surface (get it? that's a Jurassic Park reference) of these popcorn movies. 

References 

Buy Clever Girl by Hannah McGregor here

Material Girls podcast 

Kodak’s Verita film, used on Euphoria season 3

John Travolta’s novel on Good Reads

If you love what we do, please like, subscribe and leave a review!

Produced and edited by Lily Austin and James Brailsford

Original theme music by James Brailsford

Logo design by Alfie Garland

Follow us: ⁠Instagram⁠, ⁠TikTok⁠ & ⁠Letterboxd⁠

Email us: ⁠[email protected]⁠

Website: ⁠groovymoviespod.co.uk

After another lacklustre awards season and a decline in viewers, is it time to reinvent the awards ceremony or just retire it altogether? Then we get up to speed on the latest in the Warner Bros. takeover psychodrama (and future hopes for Star Trek nerds the world over), before reviewing two recent films that take big, beautifully flawed swings: Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride and Oliver Laxe’s Sirāt.

References

Peter Bradshaw’s Sirāt review for The Guardian

Dune: Part Three trailer

If you love what we do, please like, subscribe and leave a review!

Produced and edited by Lily Austin and James Brailsford

Original theme music by James Brailsford

Logo design by Alfie Garland

Follow us: ⁠Instagram⁠, ⁠TikTok⁠ & ⁠Letterboxd⁠

Email us: ⁠[email protected]⁠

Website: ⁠groovymoviespod.co.uk

Finally, Valentine’s Day weekend has finally come to pass, which could only mean one thing: we’ve been to see Wuthering Heights - sorry, “Wuthering Heights” that is. Was it as erotic as the test screen audience reported? And can Jacob Elordi really not grow a beard?  We search for answers.

References
That World of Reel article 
Emerald Fennell’s BFI interview on Wuthering Heights
Emerald Fennell’s Ask Penguin podcast interview 

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If you love what we do, please like, subscribe and leave a review!

Produced and edited by Lily Austin and James Brailsford

Original theme music by James Brailsford

Logo design by Alfie Garland

Follow us: ⁠Instagram⁠, ⁠TikTok⁠ & ⁠Letterboxd⁠

Email us: ⁠[email protected]⁠

Website: ⁠groovymoviespod.co.uk

We’re back and it is our 101st episode! And we’re marking the milestone with an area of special interest for James, and mostly special disinterest for Lily: Star Wars (or at least until she watched the burlesque show “The Empire Strips Back.” We take a whistlestop tour through the three sagas to consider how one of the great trilogies became such a mess. But could this year’s 50th anniversary of A New Hope offer a new hope?

References 

The Empire Strips Back burlesque show

The Phantom Menace BTS documentary 

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Produced and edited by Lily Austin and James Brailsford

Original theme music by James Brailsford

Logo design by Alfie Garland

If you love what we do, please like, subscribe and leave a review!

Follow us: ⁠Instagram⁠, ⁠TikTok⁠ & ⁠Letterboxd⁠

Email us: ⁠[email protected]⁠

Website: ⁠groovymoviespod.co.uk

What could be more festive than a masked orgy? Or an axe-wielding husband? Or a smart device going rogue in space? We finish this series with a Christmas special for those looking for an alternative movie recommendation during the holidays, by counting down our top 5 Kubrick Christmas movies. 

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If you love what we do, please like, subscribe and leave a review!

Edited by Lily Austin
Original music by James Brailsford
Logo design by Alfie Garland

groovymoviespod.co.uk
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The end of the year is drawing in, you have precisely 15 days to catch the best movies of 2025 and/or swerve the worst. This mission, should you choose to accept it, can be aided by this very podcast. Enjoy. 

References
The reviewer of Actors On Actors - @theamateurstake
BTS of the making of Kill Bill's lost chapter for Fortnite
Charli XCX's The Moment trailer
Gwyneth Paltrow and Jacob Elordi on Actors on Actors
Alexander Skarsgård and Stellan Skarsgård on Actors on Actors 

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If you love what we do, please like, subscribe and leave a review!

Edited by Lily Austin
Original music by James Brailsford
Logo design by Alfie Garland

groovymoviespod.co.uk
Instagram
TikTok
Letterboxd
Email us