Phoning It In

Dan kicks things off with the details of a weekend trip to a snooker club in Peterborough. Alongside navigating drugged-up staff members, the publican is forced to do the unthinkable: step foot inside a Wetherspoons.

On the other end of the line, Luke provides an update on his investigation into exposing an ex-coworker's side hustle on a rogue Polish adult website. He's also fresh from a trip to the darts, bringing back tales of extortionate ‘two-pinters’; a monstrous drinking vessel that baffles Dan.

Plus, the lads tackle the official ONS 1996 name rankings, the tragic death of an EastEnders legend, and why Luke finds The Cat in the Hat repulsive.

This week, Dan treated his mum to a night out at the Corby Cube to watch Jimmy Tarbuck die on stage. Which, given the man’s age, is a genuine possibility most evenings.

Meanwhile, Luke has been hosting his dad and embarking on a minor, highly localised crime spree to steal pebbles from the village green.

Plus, the boys dive into the mechanics of drag queen names, the art of making terrible banana bread on purpose, and the identity of the ugliest man alive.

After Luke, a former Head of Podcasts, literally forgot to hit record on last week's catch-up, the lads are forced to dial in and try again.

Over the past week, Dan has embarked on a new weight-loss journey. Unfortunately, this health kick primarily involves him getting completely naked in the communal swimming baths and eating bread pudding at midnight.

Meanwhile, Luke is convinced he’s stumbled across a former colleague on a highly questionable Polish adult site.

Plus, the boys discuss transvestites, ‘Slag-atha Christie’, fingerless gloves, and whether Dan could pull off having his ears pierced.

In the inaugural episode of the new format, Luke and Dan immediately set a low bar for what constitutes a podcast.

Luke recounts his failed attempt to starve himself into a tailor-made Vietnamese suit for the Grand National. Naturally, this health kick devolves into grand-scale ice cream larceny, a £250 panic-bet, and shameful train kebabs.

Meanwhile, Dan shares the highlight of his adrenaline-fuelled week: watching Saturday Kitchen.

Plus, the boys tackle the logistics of spaffing jelly beans, Hilary Devey’s abysmal taste in music, and why Kenneth Williams forced his dinner guests to defecate into Tupperware.

Luke and Dan return with their most baffling creative choice yet: a running commentary of a Celebrity MasterChef Christmas special from three years ago.

They offer zero context, hurl abuse at Gregg Wallace, and skip so many scenes that an hour-long TV episode miraculously fits into a 39-minute podcast.

The result? The sonic personification of a brain aneurysm.

After a suspiciously long “creative hiatus” (AKA laziness), Luke and Dan return with a brand new challenge: to review every film on The New York Times’ Top 100 Movies of the 21st Century list.

They’re starting from the bottom (as Dan likes to do) with No. 100: Superbad. A film about teenage chaos, codependency and catastrophic social skills. I wonder why it resonates with Dan so much.

The boys are back. The takes are bad. The films are good (hopefully).

Here's the New York Times 100 Greatest Movies of the 21st Century list.

Although we're a little late, it's that time of the year again. Here come our favourite films of the year!

In this special episode of 15 | A Film Review Podcast, Luke and Dan each give a rundown of their Top 10 movies from 2023.

The duo are picking from the likes of Oppenheimer, Barbie, Poor Things, Past Lives, Saltburn, The Holdovers and Wonka (Dan has better not put that abomination in his Top 10).

Click here to watch the podcast instead.

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Obsessed with films too? See how your opinions match up against the boys'. Here's Luke's Letterboxd account and here's Dan's Letterboxd account.

In the latest episode of 15 | A Film Review Podcast, Luke and Dan continue to watch some of the most acclaimed films of 2023. The pair of films they review in full this week are BlackBerry and Anatomy of a Fall.

Matt Johnson's BlackBerry is a fictional account of the creation of the BlackBerry line of mobile phones by co-founders Douglas Fregin and Mike Lazaridis, and investor Jim Balsillie, played by Johnson, Jay Baruchel and Glenn Howerton respectively.

The Oscar-nominated Anatomy of a Fall is a French legal drama, directed by Justine Triet, that stars Sandra Hüller as a writer trying to prove her innocence in her husband's death. At the 76th Cannes Film Festival, it won the Palme d'Or and has also gained significant international success, winning two Golden Globes, and being nominated for seven BAFTAs and five Oscars.

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Support the show

Obsessed with films too? See how your opinions match up against the boys'. Here's Luke's Letterboxd account and here's Dan's Letterboxd account.

This time on 15, Luke and Dan rattle off their reviews for three recent films that they should have got round to critiquing sooner.

Firstly, Luke gets frustrated by Wonka, the musical fantasy film directed by Paul King, who co-wrote the screenplay with Simon Farnaby. The picture tells the origins of Willy Wonka,  featuring his early days as a chocolatier. Starring Timothée Chalamet as the title character, and with an ensemble cast including Sally Hawkins, Rowan Atkinson, Olivia Colman and Hugh Grant, it is the third live-action film based on Roald Dahl's novel.

Next up is the film that grabbed everyone's attention, Saltburn. Emerald Fennel's second offering is black comedy psychological thriller featuring Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike and Richard E. Grant. The film focuses on a student at Oxford University who becomes fixated with a popular, aristocratic student who later invites him to spend the summer at his eccentric family's estate.

Then, after a handy tip off from Luke, the pair discuss Theater Camp, a 2023 American mockumentary comedy film directed by Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman. The movie follows the counsellors of an underfunded theatre-focused summer camp as they band together with the founder's son to keep the camp afloat.

To wrap up the show, they agree to quickly review two extra films that the other has no interest in seeing. Dan shares his disappointment with Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget. Whereas Luke recommends Air, the film that's based on true events about the origin of Air Jordan, a basketball shoe-line.

Click here to watch the podcast instead. 

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Obsessed with films too? See how your opinions match up against the boys'. Here's Luke's Letterboxd account and here's Dan's Letterboxd account.

In this episode of 15 | A Film Review Podcast, in preparation for the Oscars, Luke Oddie and Dan Wade review two of the biggest contenders.

To begin with, the duo review Alexander Payne's The Holdovers. The comedy-drama is set in the winter of 1970–71 and stars Paul Giamatti as a strict classics teacher who is forced to chaperone a handful of students with nowhere to go over Christmas break. Co-stars Da'Vine Joy Randolph and Dominic Sessa play the school cafeteria manager and one of the students who stays on campus, respectively.

Then, Luke and Dan discuss Yorgos Lanthimos' Poor Things. Starring Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo and Willem Dafoe, and based on the 1992 novel by Alasdair Gray, the plot follows Bella Baxter, a young woman in Victorian London, who is resurrected by a scientist and embarks on an odyssey of self-discovery. 

Support the show

Obsessed with films too? See how your opinions match up against the boys'. Here's Luke's Letterboxd account and here's Dan's Letterboxd account.