⁠Allix⁠⁠ joins the pod as cohost, to celebrate he shares his "MovieBio," the movies that tell the story of a life + he reveals how Sydney Sweeney, Ana de Armas and the others in the new movie Eden would do on the tv-show SURVIVOR.

Also review recent 2025 releases: Weapons (21:20), Eden and the Survivor strategies (27:00), Ne Zha 2 (39:10), The Naked Gun (42:30), Highest 2 Lowest (44:30), KPop Demon Hunters (47:12), Sorry Baby (47:40), Misericordia (48:05).

CLASSICS CORNER (49:06): Elizabeth (1998) Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959)

No SPOILERS in this episode.

Outro is Friend Like Me, Robin Williams, 1992

WAY BACK in May 2022, then cohosts Sam & John invited Paco Uybarreta - an experimental test pilot and USAF pilot - to unpack aerial thrills and frills of Tom Cruise's blast from the past, Top Gun Maverick.

FFW to 2025 and after the episode was mistakenly deleted, we've blasted this back from the past as a 2025 Matinee.

WAY BACK in 2020 June, then cohosts Sam & Av discussed Spike Lee's latest, Da 5 Bloods, before sharing their 5 most impactful movies on police racism from this list of 20+ on the subject.

After the EP was mistakenly deleted, now republishing as a "Matinee."

Outre is 1971's What's Going On by Marvin Gaye

WAY BACK in 2019 October, then hosts Will & Av invited on Zach Brooks to discuss the newest DC release, JOKER.

Little did they know a bad sequel would follow OR that Spotify would mistakenly delete this original episode, prompting a republishing ("Matinee") now in August 2025.

The bracket to determine the best movie of 1975 - joined by Allix⁠ and special guest Justin Purwitsky, along with listener callouts naming their favorite of 1975.

See the bracket featuring the 18 movies competing, see here.

Mild SPOILERS for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Jaws, Barry Lyndon, Picnic at Hanging Rock, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Story of Adele H. and 3 Days of the Condor

Outro is Show Me The Way To Go Home, 1925 ditty by James Campell and Reginald Connelly, 1975 cover.

Classics Corner takes over the podcast for a special episode devoted to the Apu trilogy, the three celebrated Indian movies directed by Satyajit Ray: Pather Panchali, Aparajito and The World of Apu. Joining us from Asia is Prof. Shai Chester for a spirited debate on experience vs purpose and a competitive draft of best characters from across the ACU (Apu Cinematic Universe) .

Outre is Ravi Shankar's "Improvisations On The Theme Music From Pather Panchali" (1999)

The new summer blockbuster F1 needs Brad Pitt and we need movie superfan Benji Gotfried - alongside The Movie Ladder Podcast cohost Zach Brooks and listener John to cover new releases from June 2025, headlined by the formula one flick as well as The Phoenician Scheme, The Life of Chuck, Materialists, and a bunch of murder movies: Echo Valley, 28 Years Later, Predator Killer of Killers and I Don't Understand You.

Minor SPOILERS only for F1 at 11:00 for 30 seconds.

Outre: Morning Evening by Tom Basden on the OST of The Ballad of Wallis Island (2025)

With a megastar like Tom Cruise bringing back his 8th Mission Impossible movie, we call upon a major guest in ⁠Zach⁠ of the ⁠Movie Ladder Podcast⁠ (+ Allix!) to unpack the summer blockbuster + recent releases like the comedies Mountainhead and Friendship and very different takes on "action" with MCU's Thunderbolts* and the Iraq War portrayal Warfare.

Mild SPOILERS for Mission Impossible Final Reckoning.

Outro is Aquarela do Brasil, also called Brazil, composed 1939 by Ary Barroso, recorded 1985 by Michael Kamen with Kate Bush

Sammy's three siblings join him to highlight their favorites from the "40 at 40" list he prepared for his 40th birthday: choosing one movie that was released in each of the past 40 years that most resonates with him today.

For the full list of 40 movies over 40 years, see: https://letterboxd.com/gosnowso/list/40-at-40/

Outre: 40 Years Old, 2018, Casey Lowry ft. Rothwell

A24 superfan Aaron of ⁠⁠Why We Love Horror⁠⁠⁠ returns to figure out once and for all which of the two arthouse movie studios has produced the best of the bunch. We run through a bracket -- see here for the bracket visual! -- featuring 16 movies, 8 from both A24 and Neon. As the kids say these days, Who Will Win?

ALSO, we highlight a few April movies: Sinners, Freaky Tales, The Assessment, Bring Her Back and Borderline.

Outre: With Plenty of Money and You, With Plenty of Money and You” composed in 1937 by Harry Warren for the movie Gold Diggers of 1937 , covered in 1959 by Tony Bennett.