Best Pick with John Dorney, Jessica Regan and Tom Salinsky

Episode 325: Christmas Films

Released 17 November 2025

For this episode we nominated some favourite (and not-so-favourite) Christmas films, in the categories of Best Classic, Best Modern, Best Oddball and Least Anything. But first – have Tom and John seen Home Alone yet?

• Tom's new podcast: https://podfollow.com/all-british-comedy-explained
• Jess's storytelling theatre show: https://kingsheadtheatre.com/whats-on/16-postcodes-jhby

BEST PICK – the book is available now from all the usual places.

• From the publisher https://tinyurl.com/best-pick-book-rowman
• UK Amazon https://amzn.to/3zFNATI
• US Amazon https://www.amzn.com/1538163101
• UK bookstore https://www.waterstones.com/book/9781538163108
• US bookstore https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/best-pick-john-dorney/1139956434
• Audio book https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Best-Pick-Audiobook/B09SBMX1V4

To send in your questions, comments, thoughts and ideas, you can join our Facebook group, email us on [email protected], or find us on Bluesky.

You can also visit our website at https://bestpickpod.com and sign up to our mailing list to get notified as soon as a new episode is released. Just follow this link: http://eepurl.com/dbHO3n.

If you enjoy this podcast and you'd like to help us to continue to make it, you can now support us on Patreon for as little as £2.50 per month, but please be aware that future releases will continue to be sporadic.

Best Pick with John Dorney, Jessica Regan and Tom Salinsky

Episode 324: Singin' in the Rain

Released 26 November 2025

For this episode, we watched the 1952 MGM musical Singin' in the Rain, directed by Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly who also starred alongside Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds and Jean Hagen. Arthur Freed produced and wrote most of the songs alongside composer Nacio Herb Brown. Slightly overshadowed at the time by the enormous commercial and critical success of An American in Paris the year before, this movie is now widely regarded as the absolute pinnacle of the golden age of Hollywood musicals. And who are we to disagree?

• Tom's new podcast: https://podfollow.com/all-british-comedy-explained
• Jess's storytelling theatre show: https://kingsheadtheatre.com/whats-on/16-postcodes-jhby
• Lip Sync Battle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPCJIB1f7jk

BEST PICK – the book is available now from all the usual places.

• From the publisher https://tinyurl.com/best-pick-book-rowman
• UK Amazon https://amzn.to/3zFNATI
• US Amazon https://www.amzn.com/1538163101
• UK bookstore https://www.waterstones.com/book/9781538163108
• US bookstore https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/best-pick-john-dorney/1139956434
• Audio book https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Best-Pick-Audiobook/B09SBMX1V4

To send in your questions, comments, thoughts and ideas, you can join our Facebook group, email us on [email protected], or find us on Bluesky.

You can also visit our website at https://bestpickpod.com and sign up to our mailing list to get notified as soon as a new episode is released. Just follow this link: http://eepurl.com/dbHO3n.

If you enjoy this podcast and you'd like to help us to continue to make it, you can now support us on Patreon for as little as £2.50 per month, but please be aware that future releases will continue to be sporadic.

Best Pick with John Dorney, Jessica Regan and Tom Salinsky

Episode 323: 2001 A Space Odyssey

Released 29 October 2025

For this episode, we watched Stanley Kubrick's iconic science fiction masterpiece 2001 A Space Odyssey, written by Kubrick and Arthur C Clarke and starring Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester and the voice of Douglas Rain. It was nominated for four Oscars and won one for its special effects, the only Academy Award which Kubrick ever won. It ranks sixth on the 2022 Sight & Sound critics list and it tops the directors list.

• Tom's new podcast: https://podfollow.com/all-british-comedy-explained
• Jess's amazing storytelling show: https://kingsheadtheatre.com/whats-on/16-postcodes-jhby

BEST PICK – the book is available now from all the usual places.

• From the publisher https://tinyurl.com/best-pick-book-rowman
• UK Amazon https://amzn.to/3zFNATI
• US Amazon https://www.amzn.com/1538163101
• UK bookstore https://www.waterstones.com/book/9781538163108
• US bookstore https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/best-pick-john-dorney/1139956434
• Audio book https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Best-Pick-Audiobook/B09SBMX1V4

To send in your questions, comments, thoughts and ideas, you can join our Facebook group, email us on [email protected], or find us on Bluesky.

You can also visit our website at https://bestpickpod.com and sign up to our mailing list to get notified as soon as a new episode is released. Just follow this link: http://eepurl.com/dbHO3n.

If you enjoy this podcast and you'd like to help us to continue to make it, you can now support us on Patreon for as little as £2.50 per month, but please be aware that future releases will continue to be sporadic.

Best Pick with John Dorney, Jessica Regan and Tom Salinsky

Episode 18: Annie Hall (1977) recorded live at the London Podcast Festival.

Released 26 September 2018. Rereleased 12 October 2025.

For this episode – which we are re-running in honour of Diane Keaton – we watched Annie Hall, written by Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman and directed by Allen, who also starred alongside Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts, Carol Kane and Paul Simon.

The film won four Academy Awards including Best Actress for Diane Keaton and Best Screenplay for Allen and Brickman.

• Star Wars Despecialized https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGrXO2RDzLg&vl=en
• Kathy Griffin's Woody Allen story https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6i62GcGDgI4

Thanks to Zoe, Sally and everyone at the London Podcast Festival for making this happen.

Tom's new podcast ALL BRITISH COMEDY EXPLAINED is now available here in audio: https://podfollow.com/all-british-comedy-explained and here in video: https://www.youtube.com/@AllBritishComedyExplained

BEST PICK the book is available now from all the usual places, and the paperback is out now.

• From the publisher https://tinyurl.com/best-pick-book-rowman
• UK Amazon https://amzn.to/3zFNATI
• US Amazon https://www.amzn.com/1538163101
• UK bookstore https://www.waterstones.com/book/9781538163108
• US bookstore https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/best-pick-john-dorney/1139956434
• Audio book https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Best-Pick-Audiobook/B09SBMX1V4

To send in your questions, comments, thoughts and ideas, you can join our Facebook group, email us on [email protected], or find us on Bluesky.

You can also visit our website at https://bestpickpod.com and sign up to our mailing list to get notified as soon as a new episode is released. Just follow this link: http://eepurl.com/dbHO3n.

If you enjoy this podcast and you'd like to help us to continue to make it, you can now support us on Patreon for as little as £2.50 per month.

Best Pick with John Dorney, Jessica Regan and Tom Salinsky

Episode 322: Beau Travail

Released 24 September 2025

For this episode, we watched Claire Denis's 1999 story of three men in the French Foreign Legion, drawn in part from Herman Melville's unfinished novella Billy Budd. The film stars Denis Lavant, Michel Subor and Grégoire Colin and Denis also wrote the script along with Jean-Pol Fargeau. It has an 87% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and it's at number seven in the 2022 Sight & Sound poll.

We also feature an exclusive clip from Tom's new podcast All British Comedy Explained. Check it out here. https://podfollow.com/all-british-comedy-explained

Next time we will be discussing 2001: A Space Odyssey. If you want to watch it before listening to the next episode, you can buy the DVD or Blu-Ray on Amazon.co.uk, or Amazon.com, or you can stream it via Apple TV+ (UK) or Apple TV+ (USA).

• Blood Shine https://mubi.com/en/gb/films/blood-shine
• The One I Love https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/70299863
• https://www.earwolf.com/episode/the-snowman-live-w-erin-gibson-bryan-safi/

BEST PICK the book is available now from all the usual places, and the paperback is out now.

• From the publisher https://tinyurl.com/best-pick-book-rowman
• UK Amazon https://amzn.to/3zFNATI
• US Amazon https://www.amzn.com/1538163101
• UK bookstore https://www.waterstones.com/book/9781538163108
• US bookstore https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/best-pick-john-dorney/1139956434
• Audio book https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Best-Pick-Audiobook/B09SBMX1V4

To send in your questions, comments, thoughts and ideas, you can join our Facebook group, email us on [email protected], or find us on Bluesky.

You can also visit our website at https://bestpickpod.com and sign up to our mailing list to get notified as soon as a new episode is released. Just follow this link: http://eepurl.com/dbHO3n.

If you enjoy this podcast and you'd like to help us to continue to make it, you can now support us on Patreon for as little as £2.50 per month.

Best Pick with John Dorney, Jessica Regan and Tom Salinsky

Episode 321: In the Mood for Love

Released 27 August 2025

For this episode, we watched the Wong Kar-wai's modern classic In the Mood for Love, starring Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung which debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in 2000. It sits at a hugely impressive fifth place on the 2022 Sight and Sound list and has a 92% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It has also run at the Prince Charles Cinema in London for a record-breaking 75 consecutive weeks, so we take a look at the history of that UK institution as well.

• Tom Cruise breaks his ankle. https://youtu.be/KCm7uhCqo9c
• https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/movies/best-movies-21st-century.html

Next time we will be discussing Beau Travail. If you want to watch it before listening to the next episode, you can buy the DVD or Blu-Ray on Amazon.co.uk, or Amazon.com, or you can download it via iTunes (UK) or iTunes (USA).

BEST PICK the book is available now from all the usual places, and the paperback is out now.

• From the publisher https://tinyurl.com/best-pick-book-rowman
• UK Amazon https://amzn.to/3zFNATI
• US Amazon https://www.amzn.com/1538163101
• UK bookstore https://www.waterstones.com/book/9781538163108
• US bookstore https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/best-pick-john-dorney/1139956434
• Audio book https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Best-Pick-Audiobook/B09SBMX1V4

To send in your questions, comments, thoughts and ideas, you can join our Facebook group, email us on [email protected], or find us on Bluesky.

You can also visit our website at https://bestpickpod.com and sign up to our mailing list to get notified as soon as a new episode is released. Just follow this link: http://eepurl.com/dbHO3n.

If you enjoy this podcast and you'd like to help us to continue to make it, you can now support us on Patreon for as little as £2.50 per month.

Best Pick with John Dorney, Jessica Regan and Tom Salinsky

Episode 320: Man with a Movie Camera (Chelovek's kinoapparatom)

Released 30 July 2025

For this episode, we watched the 1929 experimental Soviet documentary Man with a Movie Camera, written and directed by Dziga Vertov. Our version had a soundtrack composed by Michael Nyman. For its age, it's a relatively recent entry to the Sight and Sound list, making its first entry in 1992, making it to the top ten in 2012 and settling in ninth place in 2022. It has a 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Next time we will be discussing In the Mood for Love. If you want to watch it before listening to the next episode, you can buy the DVD or Blu-Ray on Amazon.co.uk, or Amazon.com, or you can download it via iTunes (UK) or iTunes (USA).

BEST PICK the book is available now from all the usual places, and the paperback is out now.

• From the publisher https://tinyurl.com/best-pick-book-rowman
• UK Amazon https://amzn.to/3zFNATI
• US Amazon https://www.amzn.com/1538163101
• UK bookstore https://www.waterstones.com/book/9781538163108
• US bookstore https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/best-pick-john-dorney/1139956434
• Audio book https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Best-Pick-Audiobook/B09SBMX1V4

To send in your questions, comments, thoughts and ideas, you can join our Facebook group, email us on [email protected], or find us on Bluesky.

You can also visit our website at https://bestpickpod.com and sign up to our mailing list to get notified as soon as a new episode is released. Just follow this link: http://eepurl.com/dbHO3n.

If you enjoy this podcast and you'd like to help us to continue to make it, you can now support us on Patreon for as little as £2.50 per month.

Best Pick with John Dorney, Jessica Regan and Tom Salinsky

Episode 319: Vertigo

Released 25 June 2025

For this episode, we watched the 1958 Alfred Hitchcock film Vertigo starring James Stewart and Kim Novak, based on the French novel The Living and the Dead by Boileau and Narcejac and with a screenplay credited to Alec Coppel and Samuel Taylor. It's a favourite of countless subsequent movie makers and topped the 2012 Sight and Sound poll before being pushed down into second place by Jeanne Dielman in 2022.

• So-called "Foreign Censorship Ending" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xorq7mGusw
• https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/feb/15/i-had-to-leave-hollywood-to-save-myself-kim-novak-on-art-bipolar-hitchcock-and-happiness
• Kim Novak at the Academy Awards https://youtu.be/a1t-TMhObFc?si=SqByAHgZs3UJ0E-k&t=116
• https://www.kimnovakartist.com
• 16 Postcodes with Jessica Regan (use offer code DRAMASCHOOL for a 20% discount) https://museumofcomedy.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows/873655309

Next time we will be discussing The Man with a Movie Camera. If you want to watch it before listening to the next episode, you can buy the DVD or Blu-Ray on Amazon.co.uk, or Amazon.com, or you can download it via iTunes (UK) or iTunes (USA).

BEST PICK the book is available now from all the usual places, and the paperback is out now.

• From the publisher https://tinyurl.com/best-pick-book-rowman
• UK Amazon https://amzn.to/3zFNATI
• US Amazon https://www.amzn.com/1538163101
• UK bookstore https://www.waterstones.com/book/9781538163108
• US bookstore https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/best-pick-john-dorney/1139956434
• Audio book https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Best-Pick-Audiobook/B09SBMX1V4

To send in your questions, comments, thoughts and ideas, you can join our Facebook group, email us on [email protected], or find us on Bluesky.

You can also visit our website at https://bestpickpod.com and sign up to our mailing list to get notified as soon as a new episode is released. Just follow this link: http://eepurl.com/dbHO3n.

If you enjoy this podcast and you'd like to help us to continue to make it, you can now support us on Patreon for as little as £2.50 per month.

Best Pick with John Dorney, Jessica Regan and Tom Salinsky

Episode 318: Tokyo Story

Released 28 May 2025

For this episode, we watched the 1953 Japanese classic Tokyo Story, directed by Yasujirō Ozu from a screenplay by Ozu and his frequent collaborator Kogo Noda. This film came in at number 4 on the most recent Sight & Sound critics poll and has often featured in the poll's upper reaches as well as making strong showings in many other greatest-films-of-all-time lists. It has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and 100/100 on Metacritic.

• Influential Storytelling thesis https://gensoken.toyo.ac.jp/japanese-society-and-culture/vol3/iss1/2/
• 16 Postcodes https://museumofcomedy.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows/873655309
• https://variety.com/2025/film/awards/oscars-viewing-requirement-loopholes-1236380799/

BEST PICK – the book is available now from all the usual places, and the paperback is out now.

• From the publisher https://tinyurl.com/best-pick-book-rowman
• UK Amazon https://amzn.to/3zFNATI
• US Amazon https://www.amzn.com/1538163101
• UK bookstore https://www.waterstones.com/book/9781538163108
• US bookstore https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/best-pick-john-dorney/1139956434
• Audio book https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Best-Pick-Audiobook/B09SBMX1V4

To send in your questions, comments, thoughts and ideas, you can join our Facebook group, email us on [email protected], or find us on Bluesky.

You can also visit our website at https://bestpickpod.com and sign up to our mailing list to get notified as soon as a new episode is released. Just follow this link: http://eepurl.com/dbHO3n.

If you enjoy this podcast and you'd like to help us to continue to make it, you can now support us on Patreon for as little as £2.50 per month, but please be aware that future releases will continue to be sporadic.

Best Pick with John Dorney, Jessica Regan and Tom Salinsky

Episode 317. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Released 30 April 2025

Today we watched two contrasting episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. We kicked off with an episode from the fifth season, the celebratory romp Trials and Tribble-ations in which the 24th century crew revisits the action of the classic original series episode The Trouble with Tribbles. Pretty much all the senior writing staff had a go at this one. The story is credited to Ira Steven Behr, Hans Beimler and Robert Hewitt Wolfe and the teleplay to Ronald D Moore and René Echevarria. It was directed by Jonathan West, and it was first shown on 4 November 1996.

We followed this up with In the Pale Moonlight from towards the end of the sixth season, airing on 15 April 1998. The story is by Peter Allan Fields and the screenplay is credited to Michael Taylor, although Ronald D Moore heavily rewrote it. It was directed by Victor Lobl and it earned the full five stars from me (in fact, both episodes did).

These and hundreds more episodes are covered in the second volume of my Star Trek chronicle which is now available from all the usual places, including…

• From the publisher https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Star-Trek-Discovering-the-TV-Series-Hardback/p/51781
• UK Amazon https://amzn.to/4lzI1hN
• US Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Discovering-Voyager-1993-1999/dp/1399034995
• UK bookstore https://www.waterstones.com/book/star-trek-discovering-the-tv-series/tom-salinsky/9781399034999
• US bookstore https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/star-trek-tom-salinsky/1146305492?ean=9781399034999

To send in your questions, comments, thoughts and ideas, you can join our Facebook group, find us on BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/bestpickpod.bsky.social or email us on [email protected]. You can also visit our website at https://bestpickpod.com and sign up to our mailing list to get notified as soon as a new episode is released. Just follow this link: http://eepurl.com/dbHO3n.