It’s been a while, beloved listeners! Thank you so much for your patience while we worked on this one, but the time has finally come for Sneople episode 80! This week, we’re talking Film of the 70’s!

After a What We Sneep covering what Ezra's seen this summer since they missed the last episode, our hosts dive right into some hits of the 70’s and what makes them stand out, including The Godfather, All the President’s Men, Jaws (our friend Jaws), Fiddler on the Roof, and many more. From there, the conversation turns to changes in filmcraft, especially notable with the removal of the Hays Code right before the decade, and the emergence of both new genres and new directors. As is our wont, we then discuss how society impacts culture and what that meant for the 70’s (Watergate, anyone?) and finish up on the lighter note of 70’s beauty ideals in film.

Surprising no one, there’s a lot of talk mixed into this ep about how Al Pacino is 1) SO good and 2) SO little. They mean it lovingly if that helps.

It’s a What We Sneep this week on Sneople at the Movies as we catch up on what we’ve watched this summer, but this time we’re joined by a returning guest - Ben Hamlin of Syndicated with Lesley and Ben!

Starting with Ben, all three hosts go through what they’ve watched since late May - this runs the gamut from Mad God (2021) to Heat (1995) to Die Another Day (2002) to Paprika (2006) to Barton Fink (1991) while hitting nearly every genre in between. They also talk a lot about Better Call Saul since both Ben and Helena are enthusiastically rewatching it - Bob Odenkirk, hello.

Completely unrelated to what they all saw, Ben teaches Matty and Helena about The Dark Universe. If you don’t know what it is, you’re in for a treat.

After an accidental month and a half long hiatus, the Sneople are back and better than ever with Matty’s Birthday episode pick - an Unusual Double Feature of Jaws and Dog Day Afternoon!

The Sneople forgo their usual What We Sneep this week to get right into the heart of the matter (don’t worry, they’ll do a full ep on that topic next time): What makes these two movies go so well together? In typical Sneople fashion, the topic takes through several side topics along the way, including why modern 80’s nostalgia media doesn’t always hit for them, what made men in the 70’s Look Like That (and how do they look like that), and the draw of a complicated protagonist. They wrap up the episode with a discussion of other great films that came out in 1975 and a quick ask game that ended up being not so quick about their favorite John Williams’ pieces and/or scores.

It must be said that the Sneople realize in this ep that John Goodman has not even been NOMINATED for an Oscar which IS a crime and they ARE offended on his behalf. The Academy lets us down yet again.

Happy Pride, beloved listeners! To kick the month off right, Matty and Helena are tackling a topic long overdue: Queer Cinema!

Like many episodes, this one starts with your Sneople going down a list of films and discussing which ones they love and which they think can be passed. This covers everything from cult classics (But I’m a Cheerleader) to recent popular hits (Moonlight) to some of their personal favorites (The Handmaiden). They wrap up with movies and media that weren’t necessarily meant to be queer but end up feeling relevant to queer experiences or coming out anyway - looking at you, The Lost Boys (1987).

Obviously they also talk about Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. This is THE unofficial KKBB fanclub podcast and Sneople as a show owes Gay Perry everything, so obviously it was going to come up.

The Kenobi show is releasing it’s first episode tomorrow (05/27), beloved listeners, and if it wasn’t obvious from this week’s title, your Sneople are sneaking in their own episode on the career of the show’s protagonist: Ewan McGregor!

The discussion starts in the What We Sneep segment, as two of the Sneople talk about something they saw him in recently: Birds of Prey and Doctor Sleep (2019). From there, they do a wider overview of his work and get into why exactly they like him so much as an actor, including some movies he wasn’t in that they think he SHOULD have been in. There is also some robust dunking on Robots (2005) and the live action Beauty and the Beast - if you’re a big fan of those films, they are sort of sorry.

Please keep Matty and Ezra in your thoughts, they love Obi Wan Kenobi too much so even though they’re sick of The Mouse they are still going to be destroyed by Kenobi. Congrats to Helena on probably being the sole host of this show now .

Halloween is quite a ways away, beloved listeners, but for the Sneople (and Jonathan Harker), vampire season has just begun! This week, Matty, Ezra, and Helena talk about the new craze sweeping (parts of) the Internet - Dracula Daily!

For those who haven’t heard, Dracula Daily is a Substack where pieces of the original Dracula novel is emailed to you as days pass in the novel - since the novel is told through diary entries, letters, news articles, etc, each section is dated and therefore easy to break up and send out on the days in which events occur rather than by chapter. Our hosts, made up of two long time Dracula fans and one Dracula new comer, discuss the trend, why it’s taken off, and why they’re all enjoying it. They also use this as an excuse to discuss various Dracula film and TV adaptations - they’re looking at you, 2020 BBC Dracula mini series.

The Sneople would like to use this section that’s normally saved for some kind of closing joke to make a prediction that starting May 16th there is going to be a rise of Jonathan Harker/Count Dracula fanfiction and they’re not particularly excited about it. If they call it into being by making this prediction, they are very sorry.

We’re down a Helena this week on Sneople at the Movies, but in exchange we have a very special guest - Ben Hamlin of Syndicated with Lesley and Ben and ParaScience (aka Producer Ben who is also our friend). He also suggested our topic this week: Horror movies focused on Haunted Locations!

The assorted Sneople and guest break down different variations on this topic (such as places that are haunted because you’re stuck there with something versus places that have always been haunted, etc.) and then talk about some of their favorites and why they like the subgenre so much. This discussion covers movies such as Alien, Event Horizon, In the Mouth of Madness, The Thing (1982), The Shining, Amityville Horror, and more!

If you think about it, this is also kind of a ParaScience crossover episode since all three of them are on that show. This is your sign to listen to ParaScience.

Sneople is Matty-less this week, beloved listeners, but that isn’t stopping the remaining hosts from talking their current TV obsessions on this week’s episode!

What We Sneep flows right into the topic of the episode, as Helena and Ezra discuss a few of their current watches, including Our Flag Means Death, Severance, and The Haunting of Bly Manor! They also talk Black Flag , Star Trek: Picard, a couple of Sy Fy’s older shows, and trying to watch something that’s popular online before it gets TOO popular and you get cultural fatigue.

Also shout out to all our fans who, like us, look up the summaries to horror media on wiki before you watch them. Thanks, Wikipedia.

It’s the biggest night of the Film Year, beloved listeners, and what a night it was this year! It’s our Oscars 2022 recap episode!

The Sneople dive right into the thick of things with their thoughts on the Oscars ceremony this year, from the cut awards to the Fan Awards and everything in between. From there, they move into Matty’s Fashion Report before tackling The Helena Awards for this year, where Helena goes through their own list of winners for the season. They wrap up, per standard, with an impassioned discussion on why the Oscars continue to disappoint.

Be forewarned: there is a lot of hooting and hollering here, but at least some of it is positive hollering!

It’s that time of year, beloved listeners, and the Sneople are ahead of the curve for once - we’re talking about the 2022 Oscar noms this week!

If you haven’t yet heard, there’s already a lot of drama (haha) about the Oscars this year, which the Sneople gleefully get into. Afterwards, they begin their traditional run down of the nominations and what they think of them, though it’s too early to get into predictions. There is also the traditional discussion of what is it about the moderns Oscars that is missing the magic of previous years - spoiler alert, it’s not just Billy Crystal’s hosting!

After 3 years of hosting this show, they finally realize that perhaps they secretly enjoy the Oscars season because they like being mad about them? Or maybe that’s just Matty.