There Will Be Pod

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.

2025 has begun with a BONG and so back is Kyle King - cohost of the gaming and movie podcast ⁠Board Game Box Office⁠ - to unpack the modestly mid and mildly mid movies from the first 3 months of the year, and 24m into this ~30m episode, a deep dive into the followup to Parasite, Mickey 17.

Movies discussed: Captain America Brave New World, Death of a Unicorn, Holland, Grand Theft Hamlet, Last Breath, September 5, Bring Them Down, Black Bag, MICKEY 17

Classics Corner: Hoosiers, Agemonia

NO spoilers in this episode.

Outre: "Rejoice in the Lord" (2025), Mickey 17 OST - EXCERPT AS PART OF A CULTURAL REVIEW SO DONT SUE SPOTIFY

Every year we host a bracket to determine the best movie of the year -- this year we released 4 separate episodes for each 'corner' of the bracket. These episodes reduced the bracket to 8 movies, an Elite 8, and in this episode we roll to the end and name the bracket champion! At the end, all the listener clips are included naming their favorite 2024 movie.

The bracket was also released as a complete episode complete with listener submitted clips, available here.

To discuss and decide the Elite 8, ⁠Grace Leeder ⁠and ⁠Aaron Brooks. returned, joined by another earlier 'judge,' Allix.

Grace ⁠writes about movies and pop culture for Parade⁠ and cohosts the podcast ⁠The Tastemakers⁠. Aaron cohosts ⁠Why We Love Horror⁠, a youtube channel for horror movies and tv, which in 2025 is running a ⁠weekly horror movie challenge⁠.

The 8 movies in the Elite 8 are [SPOILERS for the prior rounds of the bracket]...

The Brutalist, Dune Part 2, The Promised Land, The Animal Kingdom, Robot Dreams, Flow, A Real Pain, Anora

No spoilers in this episode!

The Bracket can be found ⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠.

The bracket to determine the best movie of 2024 is here - after releasing the bracket in separate episodes, here you can tackle the ENTIRE (3 hour!) bracket!

Joined by guests including Allix, Zvi, Grace Leeder of Parade⁠⁠ and the Brooks Brothers, Zach of The Movie Ladder Podcast and Aaron of ⁠Why We Love Horror⁠⁠, as well as many clips from listeners naming their favorite of the year.

SPOILERS only for these movies: The Brutalist and Dune 2.

The 32 movie Bracket can be found ⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Outro is You Are My Destiny, 2022, sung by Mina, composed by Paul Anka (1957)

Every year we host a bracket to determine the best movie of the year -- this year we are releasing 4 separate episodes for each 'corner' of the bracket, culminating with a final episode compromising the entire bracket!

The 4th and FINAL bracket corner welcomes Grace Leeder and Aaron Brooks. Grace writes about movies and pop culture for Parade and cohosts the podcast The Tastemakers. Aaron cohosts Why We Love Horror, a youtube channel for horror movies and tv, which in 2025 is running a weekly horror movie challenge.

The 8 movies featured include ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT, EMILIA PEREZ, BIRD, DO NOT EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD and more!

No spoilers in this episode!

The Bracket can be found ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠.

Outro is Una Goccia Nel Mare, 2024, Valentino Santagati, soundtrack of La Chimera.

Every year we host a bracket to determine the best movie of the year -- this year we are releasing 4 separate episodes for each 'corner' of the bracket, culminating with a final episode compromising the entire bracket!

The third bracket corner - joined by Zach of the Movie Ladder Podcast and Zvi who went to see Dune 2 in theaters 2x in one week - has no shortage of contenders: The Brutalist, Dune Part 2, Nickel Boys, A Different Man, The Substance, Love Lies Bleeding, Furiosa (Fury Road 2) and The Apprentice.

Mild SPOILERS for The Brutalist from minute 32:00!

The Bracket can be found ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠.

Outro is Pump it Up!, 2019 remix by Endor, composed by Danzel in 2004, soundtrack of The Substance

Every year we host a bracket to determine the best movie of the year -- this year we are releasing 4 separate episodes for each 'corner' of the bracket, culminating with a final episode compromising the entire bracket!

The second bracket corner - joined by Aussie Adam - is chock full of 'adult' animations like Robot Dreams, The Wild Robot, Inside Out 2, Flow and pseudo animations like The People's Joker and the Tollywood extravaganza Kalki 2898. Also: Hit Man and The Order.

No spoilers in this episode!

The Bracket can be found ⁠⁠here⁠⁠.

Outro is My Walking Stick, 1974, sung by Leon Redbone, composed by Irving Berlin, soundtrack of Hit Man