The Midnight Run

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Once more, unto tardiness dear friends. Once more. Apologies for only our 3rd episode in 2026. Hopefully you will forgive us and soon be feeling the warm glow of our embrace, which will be akin to wearing a favourite dressing gown, or cardigan. Not that we are akin to wearing a favourite dressing gown, or cardigan. We don't even own said items, but if we did, we would be feeling a warm glow in them.

Anyway, onto the subject of the episode, which is Action Comedies. They are easy to watch and we are more forgiving of them. Although the bar is lower it doesn't mean that there are not some absolute classics. On the contrary, films such as Beverly Hills Cop, Romancing the Stone, Nice Guys, Hot Fuzz and the film with the same name as our podcast stand out. It is a genre that features many double acts, good set pieces and dastardly villains, which is very similar to us in this podcast, apart from the good set pieces and dastardly villains.

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For our 40th episode we thought we would provide our listener with a public service. Films seem so much longer now, (they probably aren't, but that is what it seems). So, we at The Midnight Run Podcast have devoted this episode to shorter films. Picture the scene. You are at home on your sofa, bed, or sofa bed. It is 8pm, you have had your dinner and you want to watch a film, but you want to be in bed by 10. What are you going to watch? This episode is for films under 100 minutes long, so we are ticking your box.

All genres are on the table here, as it is purely based on the running time, but which genres do we think are more prominent in this category and which films would we recommend for an all day film marathon?

It is a great excuse to talk about the performances of (amongst others) Peter Sellers in Dr Strangelove, Ralph Fiennes in The Grand Budapest Hotel, Michael Keaton in Beetlejuice, Alicia Silverstone in Clueless and everyone in The Adventures of Robin Hood.

This subject is also littered with showy, scene stealing moments, so The Black Knight, Always Be Closing and complaining to a car rental dealership will all feature.

We have managed to contain all of this loveliness within 100 minutes. We would like to tell you that it was deliberately and brilliantly stage managed that way, but it wasn’t.

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The Rotten Tomatoes website was launched in 1998 and is a widely used review aggregation tool for film and TV. Each film is scored using a percentage and the higher score the better. If a film scores above 60% it is considered as "fresh", which means that 59% or lower is a "rotten" film. The site is as good a gauge as any and they largely get it right....or do they? Obviously this it subjective and although there are some undoubted stinkers and disappointments in here (not naming names, but The January Man should have been better), there are some films rated rotten that we can't get on board with. We discuss potential agendas, such as Lee Marvin and Clint singing in Paint Your Wagon, Kevin Costner's lack of an English accent in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, or knocking Oliver Stone down a peg in Any Given Sunday.

In this episode we pick our top 10 films, scenes and performances from films that are classified rotten at the time of recording and discovering which films are rated below 60% was a surprise, particularly noting the number of films we grew up watching and saw at the cinema. Which genre do we think is the most maligned and who does Matt think is the absolute master when it comes to rotten film appearances? 

Our favourite performances are dominated by supporting roles by such actors as Bill Murray, Raul Julia, William Petersen and Sharon Stone and we recall many scenes that have lived long in our memories (not just Sharon Stone).

If you are unable to correctly guess the Top Gun call signs, the Alphabet crimes in Beverly Hills Cop 2 or play along with our own version of Play Your Cards Right, you should be able to decide upon your favourite food to have with tomatoes.

If you like the episode, please rate it higher that 59% that would be lovely.

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The films from 2000-20009 had many a peak and trough. There were some huge hits such as Avatar, Gladiator, The Departed, The Dark Knight and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but attempting to choke them like a mean old vine were Battlefield Earth, The Ladykillers and The Room. It was a decade that saw a new James Bond, the re-emergence of fantasy and comic book hero genre's and Pixar was at the peak of their powers.

Lewis reveals which film watched in preparation he had put off for more than 20 years as well as both he and Matt picking their favourite directors, actors and actresses of the decade. The favourite performance and scenes categories are loaded, with Ben Kingsley, Julia Roberts, Christolph Waltz and Heath Ledger featuring.

We reveal our favourite songs, sporting moments and personal achievements of the decade. We also go off topic with a theory about Lt Harris in Police Academy, bad sports fans and Bruce Springsteen among others.

We hope that you enjoy listening to the episode. If not, Anton Chigurh will come looking for you with his captive bolt pistol, Miranda Priestly will look disdainfully at what you are currently wearing and you will be exposed to Sex Panther, by Odeon. Either way, we will have our vengeance, in this life or the next.

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In many ways, fantasy films shaped the wonder and imagination of the film lover. Incredible scenes, such as the skeleton battle in Jason and the Argonauts, jumping into chalk paintings in Mary Poppins, ice dancing in Edward Scissorhands and seeing Hogwarts for the first time, live long in the memory. It is a genre, which is perfect for the cinema, with magnificent effects and ventures into other worlds, offering the ultimate escapism. So memorable in fact, that the top 4 films in Lewis's list would all be included in his all time top 20, but can Matt guess the correct order?

It can be argued that more films than initially thought have an element of fantasy and we are not referring to Barb Wire, so how will Matt do in the "Is it a Fantasy Film" section? Should all musicals be regarded as fantasy for example? There are also a whopping 4 quizzes for Matt, ranging from such film as Bedknobs and Broomsticks to Lord of the Rings.

So many great scenes to discuss, but the fantasy genre also has 2 of our least favourite scenes in film history, which shows how easily you can invest emotionally. There are many memorable performances, including the Genie-us of Robin Williams and the entire cast of The Princess Bride. 

Escaping the fantasy world, we also talk about dogs, hospitals, digital passport photographs, pensioners getting the best food in cafes and a tribute to the recently departed Robert Redford.

Lewis also revives the sealed envelope game, but this time there is a twist, so at the end we will see who is right.....and who is dead.

According to a definition, fantasy films often have an element of magic, myth, wonder, escapism and the extraordinary. A bit like this episode.

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It is too easy to suggest that remakes are a bad idea and yes, there are some pointless stinkers to pick from. But if you look properly you will find there are some absolute classics which are remakes, possibly many films that you had no idea were remakes, either from a film with a different name, a film made long ago, or a foreign language film. 

Remakes are tricky, get it wrong and everyone asks what was the point of making it in the first place (apart from money)? Some remake choices are baffling, for example, why remake Psycho shot for shot? Why remake Ben-Hur and what on earth was the point in remaking The Wicker Man, apart from the bees scene? The Disney live action remakes don’t escape scrutiny either, and nor should they. Matt and Lewis also share their thoughts on the same film watched in preparation and they are not good thoughts.

We decide on which original and remake have the biggest gulf in quality either way and we discuss our favourite cover version songs.

There are some occasions where the original and remake can peacefully coexist, such as The Seven Samurai and the Magnificent Seven. Do TV shows count? TV movies? How we answer that determines which films get in our top 10 lists.

The difference between a remake and a reboot? Lewis suggests a film that can be seen as both. There are quizzes and the usual silliness and wildly off topic discussions too. 

This episode has the longest runtime that we have recorded to date. Please don’t ask us to remake it. We would only be doing it for the money.

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Black and white films were practically the film industry for the first 40 years, so there is an embarrassment of riches for us to choose from. No genre is off the table here, and with such classics as Casablanca, Psycho, 12 Angry Men and Plan 9 From Outer Space we have plenty to ponder for our top 10s. Black and White films haven't gone away, so more recent films such as Raging Bull, Schindler's List, Ed Wood and The Artist are all contemplated.

Along with the normal categories we discuss our favourite Directors, Actors, Actresses and Lines from films, of which there are plenty. Also the iconic moments, such as the light on Harry Lime in The Third Man, the twist in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane and fighting in the War Room from Dr Strangelove are discussed.

As usual we stray off topic at numerous times, talking about Harrison Ford trilogy rankings, characters that derail films, James Bond Bingo and unexpected compliments from fast food delivery drivers.

If you haven't watched many black & white films before then we hope that we have given you some ideas, but if you don't want to we're not that upset.

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The perfect popcorn movie. The adrenaline rush you get from watching an action film is like no other cinema experience. Thrilling set pieces, chase sequences and great stunts are just some of the weapons in its armoury and the very good action films have the wow factor. The bad ones however can be hilarious as it is arguably the film genre with the worst acting standards. We reveal which films were watched in preparation, including one film that made us both rage.

Is Raiders an action film? What about Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and James Bond films? Matt gives his opinion on them and he and Lewis have a film characters quiz for each other. We also give a lot of thought to which action film character we want defending us for our lives.

Huge films such as Robocop, The Matrix and the John Wick, Bourne and Mission Impossible franchises are discussed along with Die Hard (obviously), which was responsible for much imitation, including by ourselves using a car as the setting.

From Bruce Lee to Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Damon, Reeves and Cruise the role of the action hero has changed, but who is our favourite? Our favourite action scenes and stunts are revealed along with what we believe are the best punches in cinema history.

Other topics include Matt's favourite ice cream flavour, people's odd dress sense in post apocalyptic worlds, how we make cauliflower cheese and why Lewis wouldn't want to watch a film with Charlie Sheen in the room.

We hope that you enjoy this episode and if you listen to it we will look for you, we will find you, and we will kiss you.

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A true legend of the cinema. The great Gene Hackman, who sadly passed away recently, was always going to command his own episode. With a career spanning over 4 decades and more than 70 films there is plenty of variety for our top 10 lists. Gene Hackman won numerous awards, including 2 Oscars. As an actor he was equally good in lead or supporting roles, or playing the hero or villain. He brought charisma and personality to all that he did and was probably the best at being angry on film, but is he the most famous Gene according to a list that Lewis found?

Major characters such as Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle and Sheriff "Little Bill" Daggett vie for the top spot of our favourite performances category, but will they get past Senator Kevin Keeley, Agent Rupert Anderson, or indeed, Lex Luthor. The  best scenes category also gives Lewis another opportunity to get emotional about Shelley Winters.

Along with all things Gene, we discuss compering at dance and cheer competitions, planned train works on Sundays, the song 24 Hours From Tulsa, riding pillion on a motorbike and the only giant spider that Lewis can watch on film.

Gene Hackman was not only the greatest criminal mastermind of our time, but (in our opinion) the greatest actor of our time. After all, he was mentioned as having the freedom of a fictional island in a play that Matt wrote in 1999 so he must have been good.

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We need to offer a groveling, humble apology to our listeners for our lengthy absence. We have had a lot going on with weddings and less pleasant events affecting our lives. Fear not though as we are back to captivate you over the next 2 hours with an episode that covers most genres.
We can be brokers of world peace as a result of some of the new countries that joined our listening family during our hiatus.
What is a family film is quite the question. Is it a film that is suitable for all the family, or is it a film that watch together as a family? The answer to that defines the criteria for our lists as we talk about how films molded and inspired us growing up. We talk about E.T. The Goonies, Mary Poppins, Jason and the Argonauts and Back to the Future to name a few, but there are so many here that qualify.
Great performances from Tom Hanks, Gene Hackman and Hugh Grant among others are joyfully discussed along with our favourite scenes, such as cheating at the athletics meet in Blackbeard's Ghost, playing the floor piano in Big and the football match in Bedknobs & Broomsticks.
Alongside this we talk about blue comedians, the sexiness of actor Derek Nimmo, stupid film titles, the perfect jacket potato and the impressionist Bort Scrumpet.
We could have been anything that we wanted to be and we and we are very happy to have recorded this episode which will hopefully keep you occupied until we return.