Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you. 

The wonderful Mark Gatiss is our guest this week. He joins Simon and Mark to talk ‘Bookish’—his new crime comedy passion project that sees him play a bookseller-turned-detective in postwar London. Plenty of whimsy, history, detective-fiction geekery and big love for weird archaic vocabulary in this chat, so don’t miss it—he's always a delight.  

Our Mark reviews the series, as well as the week’s big cinema releases. First up, ‘Modì, Three Days on the Wing of Madness’--a whirlwind imagining of three days in the life of bohemian artist Modigliani, directed by Johnny Depp and (briefly) featuring Al Pacino. And, of course, we’ll get the lowdown on the super-size blockbuster of this week: is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s ‘Superman’!  

We’ll also address this week’s ‘Salt Path’ news, with Mark and Simon reacting to the controversy surrounding the author of the original memoir, Raynor Winn. Since recording, Winn has published her response to the allegations which can be found here: https://www.raynorwinn.co.uk/  

Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free): 

Salt Path discussion: 02:36 

Modì: Three Days on the Wing of Madness Review: 11:54 

BO10: 18:04 

Mark Gatiss Interview: 27:37 

Bookish Review: 42:19 

Superman Review: 49:59 

You can contact the show by emailing [email protected] or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo 

Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey  

EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! 

A Sony Music Entertainment production.     

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts   

To advertise on this show contact: [email protected] 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you. 

Our very special guest this week is a body horror legend; director of ‘The Fly’, ‘Videodrome’, ‘Crash’ and many more genre classics... the one and only David Cronenberg. He talks to Mark about his new film ‘The Shrouds’. Written in the aftermath of his wife’s death, it imagines a technology that allows those who have lost loved ones to watch their interred bodies decompose in real time. He and Mark discuss the meaning of art, his unique approach to moviemaking, and why we are allowed—and encouraged—to laugh about this most serious of subjects.  

Mark reviews ‘The Shrouds’ too, plus two more of this week’s brand new movies. ‘Hot Milk’—a woozy summer psychodrama starring Fiona Shaw, Vicky Krieps and Emma Mackey—and of course this week’s gigantic blockbuster, Jurassic World Rebirth. What does Mark make of it—roaring success or bound for extinction? Listen up to find out + the Box Office Top 10 and excellent correspondence on what you’ve been watching this week on the big and small screen. 

Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free): 

Hot Milk Review: 10:02 

BO10: 18:20 

David Cronenberg Interview: 29:38 

The Shrouds Review: 43:51 

Jurassic World: Rebirth: 55:21 

You can contact the show by emailing [email protected] or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo 

Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey  

EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! 

A Sony Music Entertainment production.     

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts   

To advertise on this show contact: [email protected] 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you. 

‘F1’, or ffffwan, as nobody is calling it—is racing onto cinema screens this week, so listen up for Mark’s verdict on this high-speed blockbuster. And we’ve got a review of ‘M3GAN 2.0’—the first of what could be many sequels to the dollfaced genre-mashing horror hit. Can they keep shoehorning numbers into their titles? Looks like we might be about to find out. 

Our special guest this week is Maxine Peake, who stars in ‘Words of War’--a bold biopic of murdered Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, whose work was critical of the Kremlin and the Russian army. She talks to Simon about telling Anna’s powerful story, why the film ditched the fake Russian accents, and being married to Jason Isaacs—onscreen only! You can catch Mark’s review straight after their chat too.  

Top takes in the Box Office Top 10 this week—and fans of 80s radio nostalgia are in for a treat from Simon, so listen out. Plus, 28 Years Later fans, don’t miss Take 2 for yet more spoiler-tastic chat unpacking the film everyone’s talking about—including lots of you in your top correspondence. Keep it coming!  

Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free): 

M3GAN 2.0 Review: 09:16 

Box Office Top Ten: 14:55 

Maxine Peake Interview: 25:10 

Words of War review: 40:45 

F1 Review: 51:52 

You can contact the show by emailing [email protected] or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo 

Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey  

EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! 

A Sony Music Entertainment production.     

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts   

To advertise on this show contact: [email protected] 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you. 

It’s not quite 28 years, but we have been waiting a whole 23 for a Danny Boyle helmed sequel to the 2002 zombie apocalypse classic ‘28 Days Later’. He and Jodie Comer, who stars in the new horror shocker, join Simon to discuss ‘28 Years Later’. It’s the first in a trilogy of follow ups set amongst the new society that has developed on the remote Holy Island after the Rage Virus has rendered mainland Britain uninhabitable. Danny and Jodie unpack the horrifying and fascinating world of the film, and we’ll be bringing you The Good Doctors’ verdicts on it too. We can guarantee you a spoiler-free review in Take 1—but tune in to Take 2 sharpish if you’re after a spoiler-tastic deep dive...  

More reviews this week of ‘The Last Journey’—a Swedish documentary about one son’s bid to help his father regain a zest for life via an elaborate road trip adventure—and ‘Elio’, an intergalactic new Pixar offering that sees a misfit kid appointed as Earth’s ambassador to the universe. Plus our usual rundown of the Box Office Top 10 with Mark’s takes and yours, more alleged ‘hilarity’ from The Laughter Lift, and top correspondence from you lot on everything from your cinemagoing antics to films that just need a slap.  

Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free): 

The Last Journey Review: 06:47 

Box Office Top Ten: 12:59 

Danny Boyle and Jodie Comer Interview: 24:27  

28 Years Later Review: 38:35 

Elio Review: 52:32 

You can contact the show by emailing [email protected] or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo 

Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey  

EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! 

A Sony Music Entertainment production.     

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts   

To advertise on this show contact: [email protected] 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you.

Our guest this week is the prounciationally challenging but very lovely Domnhall Gleeson, who sits down with Simon to talk about his new Apple TV+ thriller ‘Echo Valley’. In it, he plays the sinister dealer Jackie to Sydney Sweeney’s addict Claire—no more nice Domnhall. He and Simon talk accents, improv, and looking like a psychopathic Ronan Keating—don't miss it.

Mark reviews ‘Echo Valley’, along with two more of the biggest big-screen releases this week. First up, ‘Tornado’, a Scottish Samurai tale starring Jack Lowden and Tim Roth as criminal heavies, and Kôki as the titular Tornado they are chasing down. Plus, ‘How to Train Your Dragon’: Mark delivers his verdict the live action (except for the dragon) remake starring Nick Frost, Gerard Butler and more. Some more excellent Jason Isaacs content too, and an iWttr mystery solved...

Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free):

Tornado Review: 10:24

Box Office Top Ten: 16:46

Domhnall Gleeson Interview: 26:53

Echo Valley Review: 43:21

How To Train Your Dragon Review: 52:50

You can contact the show by emailing [email protected] or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo

Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey

EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee!

A Sony Music Entertainment production.

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts

To advertise on this show contact: [email protected]

And to find out more about Sony’s new show Origins with Cush Jumbo, click here

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to another Now & Ben! This little nugget of bonus interview goodness features Carey Mulligan and Tim Key—stars of the new wholesome folk musical The Ballad of Wallis Island—in cinemas now.

Ben sits down with them to talk about this British gem of a film that’s got Richard Curtis cooing. Plus behind the scenes goss on everything from corpsing on camera to sliding into dms.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you.

It's a 20th anniversary special for this ‘ere podcast—yes, we have been in your ears via download since 2005. That’s two whole decades ago. Whew. To celebrate we’ve got a bumper correspondence special for you with lots of lovely stuff from you loyal listeners—including some who have valiantly put up with us for the entire duration. Alongside our usual box office top 10, we’ll be rolling back the clock to see what was in the charts this time two decades ago, and there will be reminiscences aplenty. Reviews aplenty too: First up, 'Ballerina', the latest instalment in the world of John Wick, this time with a twist--or should we say a pirouette? Plus, a double whammy of new horror releases: 'Clown In A Cornfield' adds another creepy clown to the conematic cannon of coulrophobia, and 'Dangerous Animals' is asks 'hmmm what would Jaws be like with an added serial killer?". Check out the Good Doctor's top takes on the lot.

Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free):

Ballerina review: 10:32

Box Office Top Ten: 18:01

Clown in a Cornfield review: 37:39

Dangerous Animals review: 53:14

You can contact the show by emailing [email protected] or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo

Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey

EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee!

A Sony Music Entertainment production.

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts

To advertise on this show contact: [email protected]

And to find out more about Sony’s new show Origins with Cush Jumbo, click here

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you.

It’s time for another of those very special episodes where we all get to say “hello” to one of our very favourite friends of the show in the actual flesh (or whatever the audio equivalent of that is...). You guessed it, our guest this week is the one and only Jason Isaacs. He drops in for a chat with both Simon and Mark about ‘The Salt Path’—a seriously inspirational film that sees him walk the South West Coast Path in a journey of massive resilience and self-discovery alongside Gillian Anderson. They play the real-life couple Moth and Raynor Winn, who walked the path after losing their home and livelihood, and wrote the bestselling memoir on which the film is based. It’s a seriously meaty chat and Jason is on top form—you don’t want to miss it.

Mark reviews it too, plus two more big releases this week. We’ve got ‘Karate Kid: Legends’, the high-kicking and wholesome latest in the Kung Fu franchise, starring Jackie Chan—and ‘The Ritual’--an exorcism horror with a demon-ousting Priest played by... Al Pacino??? This one sounds like Kermode catnip, so listen in and say your prayers for a rant or a redemption. Simon is back this week too, so expect bumper banter from the Good Doctors.

Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free):

Karate Kid: Legends: 08:06

Jason Isaacs Interview: 30:18

The Salt Path Review: 48:20

The Ritual Review: 58:35

You can contact the show by emailing [email protected] or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo

Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey

EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee!

A Sony Music Entertainment production.

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts

To advertise on this show contact: [email protected]

And to find out more about Sony’s new show Origins with Cush Jumbo, click here

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you.

The wait is over for the actioniest and Tom Cruiseiest of all Tom Cruise action movies – ‘Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning’. And we’ve got action director (and producer and writer) extraordinaire Chris McQuarrie—who is behind this and the last four Missions—in the guest spot for you this week. Our super sub Ben Bailey Smith chats to him about the much-anticipated new movie, its jaw-dropping stunts, and his longstanding creative partnership with Tom Cruise. Simon is on his holibobs this week and we bet he’s gutted to be missing this one! Plus we find out what Mark makes of this epic conclusion to the 29-year Mission: Impossible series.

It’s a proper blockbuster week with reviews of two more big cinema releases too. Firstly, Disney’s live action ‘Lilo and Sitch’, which sees everyone’s favourite fuzzy blue genetic experiment accompanied by a cast of IRL actors including Hannah Waddingham as an alien and Maia Kealoha as Lilo. Secondly and more achingly-arty-quirkily, it’s Wes Anderson’s latest ‘The Phoenician Scheme’, starring Benicio del Toro, Scarlett Johansson, Mia Threapleton, Bill Murray, Tom Hanks—and indeed Uncle Tom Cobley and all. Plus all the usual top bantz from Mark and Ben, and from your stellar correspondence.

Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free):

Lilo and Stitch: 07:32

Box Office Top Ten: 12:59

Chris McQuarrie Interview: 26:10

Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning Review: 40:29

The Phoenician Scheme: 55:24

You can contact the show by emailing [email protected] or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo

Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey

EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee!

A Sony Music Entertainment production.

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts

To advertise on this show contact: [email protected]

And to find out more about Sony’s new show Origins with Cush Jumbo, click here

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you.

Reviews this week of French feelgood hit ‘The Marching Band’ (En Fanfare)--where a conductor in need of a bone-marrow transplant discovers a long-lost brother and undertakes an unexpected musical journey. Think Brassed Off, but more French. Also we have the edge-of-your-car-seat thriller ‘Hallow Road’ starring Rosamund Pike, and the usual run down of the Box Office Top 10 and all your erudite/hilarious/chin-strokey correspondence on those.

The Good Doctors will also be talking ‘The Last Of Us’ series 2—and that’s because our very special guest this week is its showrunner Craig Mazin. In a bumper conversation that extends into Take 2 for Vanguardistas, he and Simon talk about the groundbreaking video-game adaptation series and his journey to creating it. Covering everything from storytelling secrets to the show’s brilliant needle drops, via revenge, grief and creativity, this one really goes places—don't miss it.

Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free):

En Fanfare (The Marching Band) Review: 08:15

Craig Mazin Interview: 26:03

The Last of Us S2 Review: 45:28

Hallow Road Review: 58:36

You can contact the show by emailing [email protected] or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo

Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey

EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee!

A Sony Music Entertainment production.

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts

To advertise on this show contact: [email protected]

And to find out more about Sony’s new show Origins with Cush Jumbo, click here

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices