Initial Thoughts

Five-star play IN EVERGLADE STUDIO comes to London for a three-week run at The Hope Theatre 16 April - 4 May! Buy your tickets here! We are delighted to be joined by one of the show's shiniest stars, Hannah Omisore, who plays Matilda.

Hannah joins Phoebe and Nathaniel to discuss Jeremy Saulnier's gnarly 2015 film Green Room - which shares plenty of DNA and provided some inspiration for In Everglade Studio's musically-tinged darkly comedic psychological thriller atmosphere.

Enjoy the episode, and join us at the show! Phoebe and Nathaniel directed it! And Nathaniel wrote it!

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Music by White Bat Audio.

Call it, friendos. As we continue our way through all cinema great and small, Phoebe encounters the Coens for the first time this week. What did she already know? Which Oscars did this film win, and why? How has this one affected Nathaniel's view on genre? Find out!

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Music by White Bat Audio.

This year marks the 45th anniversary of Francis Ford Coppola's legendary war film, and Nathaniel and Phoebe leapt at the chance to watch and discuss it.

Nathaniel's history with the film goes back at high school, while, as the premise would suggest, Phoebe is experiencing it for the first time.

They had lots to discuss, including what the film achieves from an artistic and sensory perspective, how its formal and narrative qualities have aged, and a particularly hot Film School Take from Nathaniel.

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Music by White Bat Audio.

Our hosts share a birthday, and but have never shared a screening of their respective favorite films with each other - until this week!

As they celebrate the birthday season, Phoebe and Nathaniel swap their #1 picks: Phoebe's is Ang Lee's beloved 1995 Austen adaptation Sense & Sensibility, and Nathaniel's is Quentin Tarantino's 2012 barn-burner western, Django Unchained.

It's a very special Initial Thoughts, squeezing the two films into a sweeping double-bill no one would put together otherwise, but with some insights and conversations that draw more parallels between the films and our hosts' feelings on them than you might expect...

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Music by White Bat Audio.

Join Phoebe and Nathaniel as they play Oscar Bingo, tussle over a ranking of the ten Best Picture nominees this year, and react in real-time to wins and surprises into the wee hours of the night and into the pages of film awards history.

Plus, after the show (1:03:09), as tomorrow the 12th is their birthday... some birthday presents are exchanged!

Enjoy!

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Music by White Bat Audio.

Wormsign ahead. As this film grabs headlines and accolades, Phoebe and Nathaniel head to the cinema for Denis Villeneuve's blockbuster sequel. Plus, our hosts take a swing at predicting who will take home Academy Awards this Sunday, March 10th, including Nathaniel's special approach this year: The Zag Awards (22:04).

And another thing: it's Nathaniel and Phoebe's birthday this week! So keep that in mind!

As for the Dune of it all - did this trip to the desert prove different than the first? Did they get sand down their trousers? Tune in for their very own Initial Thoughts... (1:11:16).

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Music by White Bat Audio.

Journey with us to Arrakis, where Nathaniel has never been before, as Phoebe hosts an Oscar-appropriate revisiting of Denis Villeneuve's acclaimed Dune.

Then, in preparation for the 96th Academy Awards later this month, we welcome the appropriately-named Oscar Brudenall-Jones to the show, as we play our first ever Picture Pitcher! This brand-new Initial Thoughts movie game sees Phoebe and Nathaniel compete in various categories relating to a selection of ten films, and this week, of course, it's the ten Best Picture Oscar nominees (24:01). Tune in!

Then we jump back in (1:36:12) for our reactions to Dune, and what we expect we'll say next week - when we watch Dune: Part Two...

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Music by White Bat Audio.

Light the fuse. Phoebe and Nathaniel are back in action, discussing the daring do's and don'ts of Agent Mark Sanders, in possibly the most thrilling, rewatchable, and death-defying Mission: Impossible entry yet. But what did our hosts make of this particular outing? Find out!

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Music by White Bat Audio.

Happy Valentine's Week! Phoebe and Nathaniel discuss a highly acclaimed, much beloved film about romance, but were they in the mood themselves? Find out!

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Music by White Bat Audio.

From the legendarily cheeky opening shot to its ambiguous climax, Sofia Coppola's Academy-Award winning Tokyo-set film brings to mind what's changed and what hasn't in the two decades since its release. We dive into the ins and outs of Scarlett Johansson and Bill Murray's central dynamic, the cultural and emotional questions the film raises, the ones it sidesteps, and some intermittently woke Initial Thoughts, this week!

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Music by White Bat Audio.