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| Sorry, folks, this is as good as the photoshopping gets. |
I spend an inordinate amount of time listening to podcasts. (This is an assumption. I haven't done the research.) In 2022 alone, according to Podcast Addict, my total time came to 24 days, 3 hours. I don't know how to feel about that. Seems like too much. But... what else was I going to do while driving, walking the dog, doing yard work, or playing video games? Listen to music? Nothing against music, but when you spend so much time alone (intentionally, mostly, in my case), you need conversational stimulation, even if you aren't part of it. I listen at normal speed and rarely skip ad breaks, week after week. Because I'm a good listener. Hopefully on the healthy side of the parasocial divide. I mean, notice how I wrote listener and not friend. That's because all of these people are strangers, and I'm okay with them staying that way. This is proof that I don't have a problem.
Anyways, a lot of the podcasts I consume are about movies. Each has in some way shaped the way I think about the medium. Feels only right to give them a shout out on this site that no one knows about. It's (quite literally) the least I could do.
Maximum Fun is a podcast network built in founder Jesse Thorn's own image: smart, kind, funny, welcoming. It was no surprise to me to find a film podcast on there that exemplifies those qualities. Pitched as a movie podcast "that isn't just a bunch of straight white dudes," Maximum Film! is the right balance of professional/casual movie review show for me. Its hosts - comedian/writer Ify Nwadiwe, producer/fest programmer Drea Clark, and film critic Alonso Duralde - have great chemistry and know how to share the space. They start by talking about what's good in their lives before moving on to movie news (in a segment called ITIDIC, short for "Is This Important? Do I Care?") and the week's featured film. Episodes are rounded out with a game or listener question and then staff picks. There's usually a guest, either someone in the film industry or a fellow podcaster, and no show does a better job celebrating outside voices. Maybe because the trio aren't combative with each other. A lot of movie podcasts thrive on arguing, but there's a politeness here that extends to guests, films, and audience. I hopped aboard during its second episode, and I've been a listener ever since. If I could only listen to one podcast, I would choose this one.
Guy and Tim are me in an alternate timeline where I am good at convincing even one of my friends to do anything stupid. The original premise was that these two New Zealand comedians would watch and review the Adam Sandler movie Grown Ups 2 once a week for a full year. Over the course of that first season, there were emotional highs and lows, a natural evolution of bits (I still sing "Patty Schwarz Party Time" theme to myself from time to time), and some inspiring breakdowns (both of story and of self). They followed that up with an even more grueling task, watching Sex and the City 2 for a year. Subsequent seasons have focused on We Are Your Friends, the first Sex and the City movie, and the Emmanuelle series, while miniseries have covered Dolittle, Cats, and various Rob Schneider projects. They're currently working their way through the Fast and the Furious series, backwards and with watches equal to the number the film in is in the franchise (F9 nine times, Fate of the Furious eight times, and so on down to one viewing of the original). This has caused zero confusion, for them or for listeners.
If you aren't ready to dive into a full season, YouTube commissioned a TV pilot adaptation of the show a couple years back. It didn't get picked up, but the episode is available on the site. Or try the annual podcast they do with the McElroy Brothers called Til Death Do Us Blart. Every American Thanksgiving - for the rest of linear time - the five of them (or their designated replacements in the event of their deaths) will watch and review the Kevin James film Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2. Either is a worthwhile venture and a decent litmus test of whether the podcast is for you.
I found David Ehrlich through Twitter, as so many of us did, while he was chronicling his experience at a Marvel marathon leading up to the release of Avengers: Infinity War. It was a harrowing saga of an exhausted critic tethering his sanity to a cardboard standee poster for Tully. (Feels appropriate looking back.) He was an instant follow. Likewise, I found Katey Rich through Twitter during Oscar season one year (her Vanity Fair podcast Little Gold Men is also quite good). So when I found out they hosted a podcast together - along with Polygon's Matt Patches and animation supervisor/writer Dave Gonzales - I immediately added it to the rotation. This is one of those slightly more argumentative movie podcasts where the hosts talk over each other and things derail from time to time, but their friendship and expertise carries you through. Their dynamic works and even though there is often overlap between what's covered here and on Maximum Film! the perspectives are always a little different and just as valuable.
I was a big fan of Spill.com back in college. It was pretty much my only source for movie news and reviews back then, and the closest I ever got to being a real part of a message board community. When the site shut down, it hurt. But you can't keep Korey Coleman down! The Austin, TX native rallied, creating Double Toasted. These days there's no way I could keep up with the amount of content his site puts out each week, but I still dip back in for weekly movie reviews (The Movie Review Extravaganza) with Martin Thomas and whoever else is around, and it always feels like catching up with old friends. No creator is as engaged with their audience as Coleman, who welcomes fans into the show via chat or by bringing them into his home and putting them on mic if they happen to be in town. The meandering style won't be for everyone (it can take two or three hours to get through a single review, and the first hour might just be chitchat), but if you aren't in a hurry it's a good space to hang out.
Like The Worst Idea of All Time, this pod is built around endurance. At some point, comedians Nicole Byer and Lauren Lapkus realized neither of them had seen Star Wars - or really any movie in the franchise - and set out on a quest to watch the entire series, bringing on guests to explain and console them along the way. Then they did Lord of the Rings. And Tyler Perry. And Fast and the Furious. And the MCU. Their outsider perspective on these cultural touchstones is both fascinating and very, very funny. I'll show up no matter what they do next.
Another MaxFun banger. Host Jordan Crucchiola has an unparalleled enthusiasm for film and for her guests, who come on to get personal about the characters and stories they see themselves in. It's smart and intimate and will from time to time make you cry. (The Ke Huy Quan episode comes to mind.) It's the kind of podcast you turn to when you're feeling overwhelmed or questioning the point of moviemaking.
Speaking of shows that double as positive affirmations... If you only know Brett Goldstein as Ted Lasso's growling footballer Roy Kent, prepare yourself for the shock of hearing his real voice. Goldstein is a warm, welcoming host who loves movies and loves talking to people about movies. Each week he brings on a guest, tells them they've died, and talks to them about the movies that affected them most in life. The list of questions is always the same, but the answers are always insightful.
I was very late to the Blank Check party. The backlog is intimidating, I will never hear most of it, and I'm trying to be at peace with that. Actor Griffin Newman and critic David Sims work their way chronologically through the complete filmographies of movie directors. They've been going since 2015 and are somewhere around their 25th director. It's inspiring that they've covered so much ground, and that they still have the enthusiasm they do for the project. They are insightful and good-humored and I always walk away feeling a little different about whatever movie they're covering. I just finished the George Miller season, having myself just worked through his films in our Monday night movie club, and it was an absolute blast.
I only just found out about this one, but I'm not gonna pass up an opportunity to promote some home town talent. It's nice to know this show is happening in my corner of Oklahoma, where the film industry is taking off but where I also still feel kind of alone in my level of interest in the medium. They seem like good dudes and I respect their unpretentious, laid back approach. I'm glad they're out there and I look forward to learning how many hosts there actually are and whose voice is whose.
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