Kermode & Mayo’s Take

The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo

Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show - a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time.

This week’s special guest is Hollywood stalwart Bill Pullman, who across the decades has starred in Independence Day, Spaceballs, David Lynch’s Lost Highway, Sleepless in Seattle and many more. This time we see him in Everybody Digs Bill Evans, where he plays the father of the titular jazz legend. He chats to Simon about father-son stories, jazz, and how working in black and white changes his acting.

Mark will review Everybody Digs Bill Evans next week, and in the meantime we’ve got a packed show with four big screen releases up for the Good Doctors’ judgement. We’ve got Late Fame, a New York set indie about an aging former poet (Willem Dafoe), who is surprised to find his work reappraised by a group of young bohemians. Then there’s Leviticus, an Australian conversion therapy horror from the producers of The Babadook and Talk To Me, and Supernature, a love letter to nature documentary shot entirely on Super 8. And finally, following our interview with director Michael Sarnoski last week, the wait is over for Mark’s verdict on The Death of Robin Hood.

All that plus an especially groan-inducing Laughter Lift, and all your top correspondence, including some great What’s On bulletins this week.

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

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]

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Our Christmas Movie Spectacular is back! It’s in Bristol this year on Sunday 6th December. Don’t miss it!

Here’s the link for tickets:

https://www.fane.co.uk/kermode-and-mayo

Film Suffolk: linktr.ee/ouatis

Ikea Knightley https://iwittr.com/wiki/page/Ikea_Knightley

Timecodes:

00:00:00 Introduction

00:09:06 Late Fame review

00:18:15 Box Office Top Ten

00:30:20 Bill Pullman interview

00:44:54 Supernature review

00:53:25 Laughter Lift

00:55:16 Leviticus review

01:02:36 The Death of Robin Hood review

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

The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo

Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show - a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time.

Three more of the week’s big screen offerings reviewed by the Good Doctors on the Take. First up, The Dog Stars—Ridley Scott’s latest post-apocalyptic survival thriller offering starring Jacob Elordi and Josh Brolin. Then there’s the new drama from our favourite multicoloured Spanish maximalist Pedro Almodóvar, Bitter Christmas, and even more outrageously, Gregg Araki’s kinky comedy I Want Your Sex, starring Olivia Wilde and Cooper Hoffman.

Plus our guest this week is Michael Sarnoski, director of Pig, A Quiet Place: Day One, and now The Death of Robin Hood, Out next week, it shows us a darker side of the folk legend, following Hugh Jackman’s grizzled Robin Hood in later life as he reckons with the legacy of years of violence. No men in tights here, sorry. Michael chats to Simon and Mark about reimagining this famous take and directing Huge Action through some serious Northern Irish mud.

Laugther Lift too as usual, plus the best of your excellent correspondence, including some great What’s On info and another entry into our new technophobic feature A, I Don’t Like That. Enjoy!

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

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]

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

Our Christmas Movie Spectacular is back! It’s in Bristol this year on Sunday 6th December. Don’t miss it!

Here’s the link for tickets:

https://www.fane.co.uk/kermode-and-mayo

Timecodes:

00:00:00 Introduction

00:12:11 The Dog Stars review

00:21:41 Box Office Top Ten

00:30:35 Michael Sarnoski interview

00:45:08 Bitter Christmas review

00:53:37 Laughter Lift

01:01:28 I Want Your Sex review

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

The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo

Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show - a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time.

Our special guest this week is Johnny Flynn, who stars in & Sons—A dysfunctional family drama with a twist. His character Richard is one of three long suffering sons to Billy Nighy’s A.N. Dyer, a mega-successful novelist turned alcoholic recluse and personal disaster zone. Johnny chats to Simon about the movie, its unusual filmmaking process, and working alongside Nighy, Imelda Staunton, George McKay and Noah Jupe as part of its all-star ensemble cast. Plus we hear a little about his upcoming performances as Paul Simon in South-African-set drama The Road Home, as a beleaguered sheriff in western A Prayer For The Dying, as Dostoevsky in The Idiots, and as Lucuis Malfoy (i.e. Jason Isaacs) in Harry Potter. I do wish someone would give this lad a bit of work, he must be desperate for something to get his teeth into…

Mark reviews & Sons, as well as two more of the week’s most exciting titles. First up, Coyote vs Acme, a live action animation hybrid that sees Looney Tunes’ murderous canine Wile E. Coyote return to the screen in a meta legal drama with the suppliers of his ever-malfunctioning gadgets. Plus, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (one film not two), a meta-slasher starring Gillian Anderson in which a film director becomes obsessed with casting her ‘final girl’ in a classic horror sequel. The most Mark film evz? We’ll find out.

All that plus the Laughter Lift, the return of Simon after Sanjeev’s super subbing last week, and of course your witty, erudite and delightful correspondence. Keep the postbag full please gang!

You can find out more about Medi Cinema and donate here: https://www.medicinema.org.uk

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

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]

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

Our Christmas Movie Spectacular is back! It’s in Bristol this year on Sunday 6th December. Don’t miss it!

Here’s the link for tickets:

https://www.fane.co.uk/kermode-and-mayo

Timecodes:

00:06:25 Coyote vs Acme Review

00:14:25 Box Office Top Ten

00:26:58 Johnny Flynn interview

00:42:43 & Sons review

00:59:09 Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma review

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

The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo

Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show - a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time.

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

Supersub Sanjeev is sitting in for Simon on this week’s Take, and he and Mark will be bringing you three brand spanking new reviews of the coming cinematic attractions. The End of Oak Street has got dinosaurs, mysterious teleportation, and… kids with bows and arrows - which is the most unbelievable of those things, according to Sanjeev. But is this 80s-set adventure pleasantly Spielbergian, or just prehistoric? Then there’s Tony, the Anthony Bourdain origin story starring Dominic Sessa as the young rockstar chef to be. It might have Mark salivating - or maybe it’s just an odd mixture of ingredients…

And finally we have Lady, starring this week’s special guest, Sian Clifford. In this madcap comedy the BAFTA-winning Fleabag actress plays a self-obsessed aristocrat who looks in the mirror for so long that she starts to see herself disappearing. She talks to Sanjeev about the role and why she hates being on camera as an actor.

All that plus the Laughter Lift - this week at least delivered by an actual comedian - the box office top 10, and of course your top correspondence.

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]

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

Our Christmas Movie Spectacular is back! It’s in Bristol this year on Sunday 6th December. Don’t miss it!

Here’s the link for tickets:

https://www.fane.co.uk/kermode-and-mayo

Timecodes:

00:00:00 Introduction

00:10:13 The End of Oak Street review

00:22:52 Box Office Top Ten

00:36:57 Sian Clifford interview

00:51:02 Lady review

01:03:28 Laughter Lift

01:07:25 Tony review

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

The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo

Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show - a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time.

Mark Kermode assesses Eli Roth’s gory horror Ice Cream Man, about an ice-cream van whose treats turn kids into homicidal monsters. He also reviews French drama Love Me Tender, starring Vicky Krieps as a mother whose divorce and sexuality trigger a brutal custody battle. Staying abroad, Mark then covers The Summer Book, a Tove Jansson adaptation set on a Finnish island, featuring a standout turn from Glenn Close as a grandmother helping a grieving child and her withdrawn father.

And Simon Mayo chats to Taika Waititi on adapting the New Zealand novel Wild Pork and Watercress into the much-loved Hunt for the Wilderpeople as it returns in a 10th anniversary 4K release.

Plus, the Box Office Top Ten jumps back in time to 1976. As does the Laughter Lift for that matter….

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

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

Our Christmas Movie Spectacular is back! It’s in Bristol this year on Sunday 6th December. Don’t miss it!

Here’s the link for tickets:

https://www.fane.co.uk/kermode-and-mayo

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]

Timecodes:

00:00:00 Introduction

00:11:52 Ice Cream Man review

00:21:32 Box Office Top Ten (1976)

00:33:37 Taika Waititi Interview

00:47:23 Love Me Tender review

00:55:01 Laughter Lift

00:59:52 The Summer Book review

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

The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo

Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show - a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time.

Spider-Man is swinging back onto cinema screens this weekend in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Tom Holland’s masked web slinger is anonymous once again, his identity having been wiped from the memories of his fellow New Yorkers - including those once closest to him. Mark reviews this latest Marvel blockbuster, alongside a homegrown British indie that’s generating some serious buzz: Ish. Recalling Kes, The 400 Blows and the Apu trilogy, it’s a vivid coming-of-age debut you won’t want to miss.

Also coming soon on digital is Our Hero Balthazar, a dark satire tackling gun violence and internet culture, starring Asa Butterfield - who is our special guest this week. He plays Solomon, a gun-obsessed would-be school shooter, online-trolling from the Texas trailer he shares with his granny. The film centres around Solomon’s uneasy friendship with Balthazar, a New York rich kid who craves the social cachet of preventing a shooting by befriending its potential perpetrator. Asa joins Mark and Simon to unpack this transformational performance.

Plus the Laughter Lift, more on our inevitable technological overlords in new mini-feature ‘AI Don’t Like That’, and of course lots of top correspondence from you. Cheers!

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

Our Christmas Movie Spectacular is back! It’s in Bristol this year on Sunday 6th December. Don’t miss it!

Here’s the link for tickets:

https://www.fane.co.uk/kermode-and-mayo

What’s On info:

https://www.deliveryafterdark.com/

https://theatreship.co.uk/#tickets

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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]

Timecodes:

00:00:00 Introduction

00:08:29 Ish review

00:16:27 Box Office Top Ten

00:31:22 Asa Butterfield interview

00:46:51 Our Hero, Balthazar review

00:57:48 Laughter Lift

00:59:26 AI don't like that

01:03:32 Spider-Man: Brand New Day review

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

The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo

Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show - a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time.

We have a very ‘precious’ guest for you this week… yes, it’s Andy Serkis, AKA Gollum himself. The actor, director, and motion capturer extraordinaire chats to Simon about his new film Animal Farm - an animated adaptation of Orwell’s classic story for a young audience. With Seth Rogan putting a comic spin on Orwell’s porky totalitarian Napoleon, and a key new character and third act added, Serkis’ child-friendly version has attracted some ire already - but is it fair? Listen in to find out where Mark stands.

Plus, we’ve got two more reviews of what’s out this week for anyone not going to see The Odyssey. First up, Pinocchio Unstrung - the latest in Twisted Childhood’s series of slasher-fied, copyright free children’s classics. Then there’s Ask E. Jean, a powerful doc about American columnist E. Jean Carroll, who took on Trump in the courts and won. Plus, the Laughter Lift as usual, and we’re also debuting a technophobic new feature ‘AI don’t like that’ - a home for the ever-increasing correspondence about the terrifying ascendency of our future AI overlords.

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

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]

Timecodes:

00:00:00 Introduction

00:09:04 Pinocchio Unstrung review

00:15:49 Box Office Top Ten

00:31:00 Andy Serkis interview

00:48:20 Animal Farm review

01:02:58 Laughter Lift

01:09:01 Ask E. Jean review

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

The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo

Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show - a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time.

The time is upon us for the biggest and most epic cinematic event of the year: Sir Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey is finally hitting the (very) big screen—shot on IMAX film, no less. With Matt Damon as Odysseus, Anne Hathaway as Penelope, and a smattering of other screen superstars including Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, and Zendaya in the cast, it’s the cinematic event we’ve all been waiting for. Not to mention Samantha Morton who, as you’ll hear, might just steal the show… Strap in for a bumper review from Mark and Ben—plus of course Simon’s interview with director Sir Christopher Nolan himself. He tells us all about his decades long journey with this ancient story, bringing myth to life, and wrestling with the gods in this massive movie.

Synthetic Sincerity is our second film up for review—a docufiction curio about a filmmaker’s deal with an AI company that hovers somewhere between fiction and reality. Plus, Mark and Ben will run down the box office top 10, witter around your excellent correspondence, and subject us all to the Laughter Lift again—although we can blame/credit (delete as applicable) you guys for some of the jokes this time. Thanks as always for being part of the Witterverse!

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

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]

Our Christmas Movie Spectacular is back! It’s in Bristol this year on Sunday 6th December. Don’t miss it!

Here’s the link for tickets:

https://www.fane.co.uk/kermode-and-mayo

Timecodes:

00:06:52 Synthetic Sincerity review

00:22:51 Box Office 10

00:40:02 Sir Christopher Nolan interview

00:56:09 The Odyssey review

01:19:19 Laughter Lift--

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

The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo

Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time.

Disney animated smash Moana is getting the live action treatment this week—and our guest is director Thomas Kail, who previously helmed both the screen and stage versions of Lin Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton and In The Heights too. He talks to Simon about their longstanding collaboration, the whole island of creatives it took to make this movie, and discovering the perfect Moana from thousands of auditionees in Catherine Laga’aia. Plus Mark reviews it—will he be charmed, or is this one live action remake too far?

Also on the review slate this week we’ve got Rosebush Pruning, a twisted indie family drama featuring all the bodily fluids, and Evil Dead Burn—the latest in the super-influential zombie series. Is the franchise unkillable, or a dead man walking? Don’t miss Mark’s verdict.

All that plus the box office top 10, the weekly trial of the Laughter Lift (sorry), and of course plenty of correspondence from you lot. Keep it coming!

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

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]

Our Christmas Movie Spectacular is back! It’s in Bristol this year on Sunday 6th December. Don’t miss it!

Here’s the link for tickets:

https://www.fane.co.uk/kermode-and-mayo

WHAT’S ON:

Dr. Jazz and the Cheshire Cats Swingin’ At The Movies:

https://stockportplaza.co.uk/whats-on/dr-jazz-and-the-cheshire-cats/

The Labours of Hercule: Poirot Double Bill:

https://www.picturehouses.com/movie-details/022/HO00017996/the-labours-of-hercule-poirot-double-bill?filter=

Timecodes:

00:10:46 Rosebush Pruning

00:19:41 Box Office Top Ten

00:36:16 Thomas Kail interview

00:51:47 Moana review

01:01:36 Laughter Lift

01:04:10 Evil Dead Burn

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

The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo

Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time.

Pffft. Bottom. Yes, it’s Minions movie week. Directed by last week’s guest Pierre Coffin, this latest instalment sees the little yellow fellas take on filmmaking. But will Mark’s love for the franchise endure?

On a much more adult note, our guests this week are Edward Norton and Olivia Wilde, who star in (and in Wilde’s case direct) searing and sexy dark comedy The Invite. It follows Jaded couple Angela (Wilde) and Joe (Seth Rogen), whose marital troubles are thrown into relief by a visit from their fruity neighbours Pena (Penelope Cruz) and Hawk (Norton). Simon sits down with them to talk compersion, catastrophe, and colour coordination.

Plus, internet sensation turned big screen effort Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie, and finally a Supergirl review too. Don’t miss another top Take!

As promised, here’s the ticket link for the special K&M live show in Bristol: 

https://www.fane.co.uk/kermode-and-mayo-s-2026-tickets/bristol-beacon-hall/2026-12-06-19-00  

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

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]

Timecodes:

00:10:56 Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie review

00:22:18 Box Office top ten

00:29:32 Supergirl review

00:43:58 ad break

00:45:32 Edward Norton & Olivia Wilde interview

00:57:38 The Invite review

01:09:57 Laughter Lift

01:13:05 Ad break

01:17:10 Minions and Monsters

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