There Will Be Pod

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 first bracket corner - joined by movie pros Allix and Zvi - includes movies like Anora, A Real Pain, Challengers, A Complete Unknown, Babygirl, Hundreds of Beavers, The Last Stop in Yuma County, Sing Sing and the movie that earned the top seed based on critics scoring, Ghostlight.

No spoilers, save for minor comments on Anora.

The Bracket can be found ⁠here⁠.

Outro is I Don't Regret Anything (Ne Zhaleyu ni o Chyom)

2024 Anora Soundtrack, sung by AnDy Darling, Composed by Anastasia Dunaeva

TWBP comes back from hiatus to run down the most disappointing movies of 2024, those that we had such high hopes for... and failed us ;-(

No Spoilers in this episode.

This episode was recorded on Dec 30 and due to complications, uploaded only in Feb 2025.

32 movies from 2023 face off head to head to determine the (second) best movie of the year, as this year we gave Oppenheimer the title to enable a competitive bracket. The irregularities do not end there as this off-the-cuff bracket breakdown was open-mic with several guests joining the host to determine the (second) best movie of the year.

The episode is (pretty much) spoiler free.

The Bracket can be found here.

Outro is from the soundtrack of the number one movie of the year ;-)

Physics prof Jim Crumley and OG guest ⁠Zach Brooks⁠ join for the biggest movie month....ever? Oppenheimer (4:15) is the main dish, plus Barbie (19:45), Biosphere (25:50), They Cloned Tyrone (27:25).

And then quick thoughts on I Like Movies (30:15), Asteroid City (31:00), Chile '76 (32:30), Falcon Lake (33:10), The Night of the 12th (33:45), Disco Baby (33:55), Talk to Me (34:10), Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (36:10), The Flash (37:37), Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (38:20).

Thanks to Allix and others for joining discussion - always welcome!

Oppenheimer is such a classic we skip Classics Corner.

Outre: Can You Hear the Music, Oppenheimer OST, Ludwig Göransson, 2023.

Is this the first podcast ever recorded between man and AI? And is it even possible to notice who is Sam and who is the AI movie expert that has been trained on movie Reddit? 

Mr. M the AI movie guru steps in for this podcast’s ever declining co-hosts to discuss some of the best and worst movies released over the last three months, including, Spiderman: Across the Spider-Verse (3:35), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 (3:40), Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (5:00),  Asteroid City (5:40), Sisu (6:30), Extraction 2 (9:15), How to Blow Up a Pipeline (13:00), The Artifice Girl (15:30), Reality (17:20), Blackberry (18:45), Air (19:40), The Eight Mountains (22:00), Sanctuary (22:45), Super Mario Brothers (23:50), Beau is Afraid (24:20) and Are You There God Its Me Margaret (25:40). Plus two movies we hated – Renfield (27:20) and You Hurt My Feelings (27:45).

NO Spoilers this episode.

Outre: Goodbye Stranger, Supertramp, 1979

Curious how we recorded this episode? Basic idea was written up here, https://hackaday.com/2023/04/22/ai-powered-speaker-is-a-chatbot-you-can-actually-chat-with/

Gaming is the story of 2023 movies so far so board-game expert Kyle King - cohost of the gaming and movie podcast Board Game Box Office - joins us to debate the best IP, erm, movies of 2023 so far -- and those you can skip.

Movies discussed include: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Tetris, Pacifiction, Godland, Saint Omer, Kill Boksoon, Close, Rye Lane, Knock at the Cabin, Boston Strangler, Missing, When You Finish Saving the World, Sharper, Creed 3, John Wick: Chapter 4.

Classics Corner: Beyond Sunrise/Sunset (1995, 2004) & Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

NO spoilers in this episode.

Outre: "Hold On Tight," (2023), AESPA

32 movies from 2022 face off head to head to determine the best movie of the year. John and Sammy are joined by Aaron Brooks, Grace Leeder,

Av Sinensky, Alex Orvitz and Mark Geneson, plus audio picks from friends and fans worldwide. The episode is spoiler free.

The Bracket can be found here. See here for John, Sammy and the critics 32 favorite 2022 movies.

Outro is from the soundtrack of the number one movie of the year ;-)

December gets a bonus episode as John and Sammy make sense of the Avatar sequel, The Way of Water, call out the most disappointing movies of 2022 and hash out which bubble movies qualify for the 4th annual best movie of the year bracket, coming next episode!

We also catch up and give a passing mention to EO, Thirteen Lives, Women Talking, The Woman King and To Leslie.

Our next episode will be a 32-movie bracket to decide the best film of 2022. To participate in this bracket, please send us a short audio clip where YOU (1) identify yourself and (2) name and (3) explain your favorite movie of 2022. Please send your audio clip directly to any of the hosts by email, whatsapp or courier pigeon.

Intro: We Remade Avatar 2 for $20, Cracked, dir. Chandler Perry, 2022

Outro: The Songcord, Zoe Saldana, "Avatar: The Way of Water - The Soundtrack, 2022

2022 was a bottom-heavy year for movies so between watching the new and catching up on past eleven months, John and Sammy have a busy episode, hitting favorites like The Banshees of Inisherin and Glass Onion as well as The Menu, Bodies Bodies Bodies, Armageddon Time, Del Toro's Pinocchio, Funny Pages, This Place Rules, the WW1 duo of All Quiet on the Western Front + Benediction, Good Luck to You Leo Grande and Baby Assassins. We also urge avoiding White Noise and the Italian flick, The Hole.

Classics Corner: Terms of Endearment (1983), Story of Your Life (1998)

For the Pandora obsessed, we aim to add a bonus episode soon on Avatar 2, Babylon, The Whale, Women Talking and a few more late-year worthies.  

Our Feb episode will be a 32-movie bracket to decide the best film of 2022. To participate in this bracket, please send us a short audio clip where YOU (1) identify yourself and (2) name and (3) explain your favorite movie of 2022. You can send this audio clip directly to any of the hosts (find us on Twitter, email, whatsapp).

Outro: We Were a King Once, Christoph Waltz, Pinocchio (Soundtrack from the Netflix Film), 2022

After a few dry months, November brought quality and John and Sammy are here for Todd Field’s Tar (7:30) and Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans (29:00), as well as a few other hits and misses like Paris 13th District (3:30), Fresh (43:30), She Said (46:33) and Causeway (50:30), plus documentaries like Fire of Love (39:50) and Riotsville USA (41:30) + Classics Corner (53:00).

Outre: Monster Hunter World OST (2018)