Ready For Close-Up

The great Meryl Streep is turning 75 this week and Andy and Sam finally take the opportunity to extensively talk about her incredible filmography, from early Oscar fame in Kramer vs. Kramer and Sophie's Choice to romantic favourites like Out of Africa and Bridges of Madison County, but also her great comedic work in Death Becomes Her, The Devil Wears Prada or indeed Mamma Mia! Her impact in dramatic and political films such as The Hours or The Post or TV work such as Angels in America and Only Murders in the Building also add to her incredible versatility in small or big roles. She is therefore rightfully called the best of her generation, has received innumerable awards and honours, such as recently in Cannes. We discuss why that is, what makes a Meryl Streep performance tick and why she has left such an indelible mark on cinema and our cultural memory. Join us for a festive appreciation!

The movie award season has just been officially ended with the handing out of the Oscars this week and Andy and Sam are discussing the 96th edition of these Academy Awards in their newest episode: Who won and who should have won? What were the biggest suprises and snubs (and Barbie is just one of them!) and what does the field of nominations really tell us about the state of cinema after an unusual year in film that was 2023? Listen in when we discuss our favourites and recommendations, from the blockbusters we refuse to see to the most original and most disturbing films of the year!

To wrap up their year in movies, Andy and Sam are looking back at 2023 as a much welcome return to good blockbuster and popcorn movies. Besides the obvious dominance of the Barbenheimer phenomenon and the shockwaves of the Hollywood strikes, the year did kick into gear again towards the end with some of our favourites hitting cinemas right in time for award season: From biopics to courtroom drama and from highly stylized thrillers to heartwarming musicals, our favourites eventually take us to the central question of the year: Was the plastic doll summer phenomenon a stronger contender of the year than one master director's masterful and harrowing depiction of a key episode in American history? Listen in to find out what we thought - and for some early 2024 highlights that we look forward to!

With the new year just having started, it's mandatory for Andy and Sam to look back and compare our respective Best Movies of 2022 lists. Even though they overlap in parts and divert at times considerably, we agree on one thing in particular: The past year had fewer moments of complete cinematic indulgence, where we felt movies had truly swept us off our feet and lingered with us for days afterwards. Still, there were highlights, strangely enough many of them dealing with islands (The Menu, Glass Onion, Fire Island) and superpowers (The Batman, Wakanda Forever, Everything Everywhere All At Once) but also standout comedies (Bros, The Worst Person in the World), historical drama (Corsage, The Northman) and even horror (Bones and All, Nope)  Join us for a journey up our lists with a brief outlook at what we've missed and what we can't wait to see in 2023!

It's been a long summer travelling between Mexico City and Hollywood for Andy and the most scenic locations of southern Europe for Sam but we're back with a myriad of cinematic impressions, including some fresh theatrical releases: Universal's first mainstream LGBTQ+ romantic comedy Bros and the newest entry into the Marvel Universe, Wakanda Forever, have us both laughing and in tears - and mostly at the intended moments. Our reviews are imbued with gratitude and excitement for well-written and well-judged new releases and our preview is brimming with excitement for some of the highlights coming out this winter: from Avatar to Tar, and from Babylon to Bones and All, we can't wait for theatrical gifts to reveal themselves. Join us for our fall (p)review!

After a quick review of fresh content they have seen over the summer, Andy and Sam talk about recent movie-related exhibitions they have seen: the brand-new Oscar Academy Museum in Los Angeles and the Fellini exhibition at Zurich's Kunsthaus. From these impressions, they discuss what makes an inspiring and worthwhile movie museum and what criteria should be behind the selection and presentation of such exhibits. Besides their favourite movie displays, they also ask whether cinema is increasingly becoming a thing to be shown at museums and if that is necessarily a good or bad omen for movie-making as a whole. Join us to find out!

With July just round the corner, Andy and Sam have compiled their respective summer watchlists - from films they have recently seen at the cinema (Jurassic World Dominion, Everything Everywhere All at Once), fresh streaming content (Heartstopper, The Gilded Age, Stranger Things 4) to new productions they look forward to between summer and fall (Elvis, Thor: Love and Thunder, Nope, My Policeman). They discuss that with mainstream movies and franchises in full swing and with independent cinema and streaming platforms everywhere, it will be interesting to see which films will stick out and which will leave a lasting effect on our ever-growing watchlists. Join us for an overview of what's good and what's to come!

The release of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane in 1962 was followed by a decade of so-called Hagsploitation movies, in which former female Hollywood stars went at each others' throats as hair-raising psycho biddies. The genre has been highly controversial for its depiction of older women and therefore exposing ageism in Hollywood, but Andy and Sam have also found much cult potential and camp in the examples they have watched for this episode: Besides the Bette Davis/Joan Crawford classic, they discuss Tallulah Bankhead's turn in Fanatic! (1965), Debbie Reyolds and Shelley Winters in What's the Matter with Helen? (1971), as well as Ruth Gordon and Geraldine Page battling it out in Whatever Happened to Aunt Alice? (1968). Join our latest episode for some full-throated enthusiasm about the power of old ladies in 60s Hollywood and their legacy in cinema until today.

Overshadowed by that face-slapping scandal surrounding Best Actor winner Will Smith, winners and losers of the night were almost overlooked in an Oscar show that tried to reclaim some of its glamour and inspirational qualities post Covid. Andy and Sam review the night's big scandal but also its most important winners and the movies that clearly missed out. They find that the Academy Awards have been trying to do the impossible lately: compensating for past omissions and putting on a dated show format at a time when movie consumption habits have changed dramatically over the past couple of years. So will that face slap heard around the world serve as a wake-up call for the Academy?