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

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

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

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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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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

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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

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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

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We discuss the Netflix-Warner Bros. deal and whether or not this spells the end of cinema. Then we look at a lesser reported Netflix controversy - the streamer muscling in on The Hallmark Channel's turf, the festive rom-com. And to save this episode from too much doom and gloom, we finish with a fantastic new release, Harry Lighton's Pillion, starring Alexander Skarsgard and Harry Melling (i.e. Dudley Dursley). 

References
The Netflix-Warners Bros deal
How the big tech monopoly is killing cinema
Champagne Problems beats Frankenstein to Netflix’s top spot
The Shining on IMAX

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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

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You may not have clocked it, given the lack of fanfare, but the third installment of Knives Out was released last week. Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery will only be in cinemas for 2 weeks, before moving to Netflix, but is it worth catching on the big screen? We also discuss WGA and SAG renegotiations which will be taking place in 2026. Is another strike on the cards?

References
For horror fans: The Knickel Cinema
The Odyssey cinema in St Albans

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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

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This we’re revisiting one of our most popular early episodes, where we did the unthinkable and willingly watched the worst films ever made (allegedly). The hit list includes Howard the Duck, Mommie Dearest and, of course, The Room, along with our own submission, the apex of Roger Moore’s career, North Sea Hijack, in an attempt to figure out what it takes to achieve cult bad status. 

References
Howard the Duck: An Oral History by Caseen Gaines for thedecider.com
How George Lucas’ Howard the Duck movie made The Matrix possible by K. Thor Jensen
Mommie Dearest at 40: the derided camp classic that deserves a closer look by Guy Lodge for The Guardian
The Room: how the worst movie ever became a Hollywood legend as bizarre as its creator by Aja Romano
Tommy Wiseau breaks down a scene from The Disaster Artist
BTS from The Room

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

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As Michael Mann’s Heat 2 inches closer to becoming a cinematic reality, we’re revisiting one of our earliest conversations about the great Al Pacino-Robert De Niro head-to-head, with special appearances from a young Natalie Portman and a wiggy Val Kilmer.

References
James Clark and Paul Szoldra, ‘That one scene in Heat that gave audiences the most realistic firefight in movie history’
Michael Mann and Meg Gardiner, Heat 2 (2022)
Koralijka Suton, ‘Heat at 25: Michael Mann’s meticulous masterpiece’
‘The Making of Heat (1995)’

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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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