Kermode & Mayo’s Take - Best and Worst Films of the Year

Episode Date: December 22, 2025

It’s that time of year on the Take when Mark runs down his best and worst films of the year—so get ready for a reminder of 2025’s biggest raves and rants from I’m Still Here to Tron: Ares. It���s all new content as he ranks the big-screen bangers and clangers of the last 12 months and picks the Take’s best picture. We’ll also look at the year’s best small screen releases, revisiting stunning series like the gruelling Narrow Road to the Deep North and the gripping Pluribus (39:31). Brand new reviews too of two new cinema releases. First up, Song Sung Blue—a feelgood musical drama biopic about a real-life couple who form a Neil Diamond tribute band and follow their long-held musical dreams, starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson. There’s Peter Hujar’s Day too—which follows the everyday life on the 70s Downtown New York arts scene of the titular photographer, played by Ben Whishaw. Plus we remember the greats we lost in 2025. We’ve said goodbye to some true cinema legends this year, including Robert Redford, Diane Keaton, David Lynch—and of course tragically and most recently Rob Reiner. Mark and Simon celebrate their exceptional contributions to cinema. Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free): Song Sung Blue review 2:51 Best films of 2025: 17:15 Peter Hujar’s Day review 30:20 Best TV of 2025: 36:12 Worst films of 2025: 45:39 They Lived Their Dash (obits): 56:45 You can contact the show by emailing [e-mail] or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by Mooby, the global film company that champions great cinema. From iconic directors to emerging otters, there is always something new to discover. With Mooby, each and every film is hand-selected so you can explore the best of cinema. This festive season, you can find a collection of film streaming on Moobie in the UK that explore the connections between food and cinema. Including streaming now on Mooby, Phantom Thread. If you've been to the cinema and you've seen one back, battle after another and you think, wow, that Paul Thomas Anderson, he can really direct. Then check

out Phantom Thread. Also, the fantastic performance by Daniel Day Lewis and Vicky Creeps and a brilliant Leslie Manville with an amazing score by Johnny Greenwood, which is one of my favorite scores of recent years. The whole film is an absolute miracle. Just don't eat the mushrooms. You can try Mooby free for 30 days at Mooby.com slash Kermode and Mayo. That's Mubi.com slash Kermode and Mayo for a whole month of great cinema for free. Does anyone really know what hormones do? There is so much talk about women's hormonal health, but most women are left even more confused about what it means for them and what to do about it.

This confusion ends now. Hormone Harmony is a game changer for women struggling with hormonal imbalances that leave them exhausted both physically and mentally. It contains science-based ingredients that bring back comfort, energy, clarity, and a sense of balance. Happy Mammoth, the company behind this phenomenal formula, has helped over 2.4 million women get their lives back and feel like themselves again, after years or even decades of hormonal imbalances. The company surveyed 1,831 women to see how hormone harmony helped them. And the results are mind-blowing. 86% of women

started losing weight, 77% say it improved their mood, and 100% say they're feeling like themselves again. Hormone Harmony has already sold over 6 million bottles with more than 50,000 rave reviews from women worldwide, and 98% of them say they'd recommend it to their friends and family. For a limited time, you can get 15% off your entire first order at happy mammoth.com. Just use the code Happy 15 at checkout. Before we begin, a quick reminder that you can become a Vanguard Easter. and get an extra episode every Thursday. Including bonus reviews.

Extra viewing suggestions. Viewing recommendations at home and in cinemas. Plus your film and non-film questions answered as best we can in questions, Schmestians. You can get all that extra stuff via Apple Podcasts or head to extra takes.com for non-fruit-related devices. There's never been a better time to become a Vanguard Easter. Free offer, now available wherever you get your podcasts. And if you're already a Vanguard Easter,

We salute you Are we saluting you Are we still Wholesailing at this time of year Have it isn't I thought that what doesn't the was sailing? I've broken it. Yeah, as I think I told you at the live show, you wassail in on 12th night, which is January the 5th in the evening.

I beg you pardon. But it's, you're toasting and wishing well to a fruit tree. So it kind of doesn't really matter because the fruit tree is, you know, not that bothered when you wish it all the best. but um and you say wassail and the reply is drink well drink hail drink hail drink hail it's not an invitation to drink hail it's like it wassail is sort of greetings hello and drink hail so fine i'll have a drink then okay so i say wassail and you say drink hail drink hail yes but you can do it basically any time between now and january the 5th also if you're working on the old calendar up until like the 15th of january because that's when they used to do

12th night. Old 12y, as it was known. Old 12y. Yeah. Depends how trad you want to be, really. There's a whole community of was sailors who take this very seriously. So, you know, this is very important to get all the facts right. Yes. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, no, I agree. Do you have a fruit tree near you? Uh, we've got, um, uh, what'd you call it? Is it a fig tree? We've got something that we've got in the concern. No, no, no, no, we haven't got a tiny little backyard, but we've got, um, Fig tree? Is it a fig tree? We've got, we've got something,

no, maybe it's an orange tree. We've got something that's in a pot that's in the conservatory. I don't know what it great. It grows like an episode of Cludeau. So you're in the pot, in the conservatory, with a drink. With a drink. That's right, yeah.

Well, you need to go up to this mysterious fruit plant and wassail it. Yeah, you wassail it and you drink its health, and then it will burst forth and bring you fruit all the way through the year. And then you'll actually be able to know what it's there for. Anyway, on this show, lots of best of the year, worst of the year, best of times, worst of times, best TV of the year, which there's been a lot. Yes. And also this thing, more will be explained about those who live there, dash.

Yeah. We can't quite remember who used the phrase, but it was a listener and a contributor to this show. So we'll need some more information because we are using that as a phrase. But also, there's a couple of things to review, I understand. Yes. Well, shall we start with Song-Sung Blue, which opens on the first? Everybody needs one.

Very good. So this is the new film from Craig Brewer, who made a splash with Hustle and Flow back in 2005, and directed Eddie Murphy in Dolomite is my name and coming to America. Apparently currently working on a Snoop Dog biopic. So this, from the poster and from the title, you might think it is a Neil Young biopic. Look again. It's actually a dramatization. Do you mean Neil Diamond?

Pardon me? Do you mean Neil Diamond? What did I say? Neil Young. Did I say Neil Young? Yes. Heaven's sake. Yes, I do mean Neil Diamond.

Too much eggnog. Too much eggnog. That's what's been going on. This is like when I said that the role in that film was played by Patrick Baitman. Yes. I'm getting worse as I get older. But I would like to see Patrick Baitman playing Jason Bainman. So I said, Neil Diamond, yeah, Neil Young.

Stop me if I do that again. The other one I do is Nick Cave, Nick Cage. Every single time I said... That's an ease. That's an easy mistake. I have to correct myself every single time and think, cave, cage, cave, cage, cave, cage. Anyway, this is based on a 2008 documentary, which, one big of slam dance, told the story of Lightning and Thunder, aka Mike and Claire Sardina, who were a Milwaukee-based duo.

Mike was a Neil Diamond impersonator. She did Patsy Klein. They ended up getting a cult following. singing together and opening up for Pearl Jam. So huge action is Mike, who we meet working in clubs in retro tribute acts where people impersonate Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley. He looks a lot like Neil Diamond, but he considers doing Neil Diamond to be out beyond the pale because he holds Neil Diamond in such high esteem. But then he is persuaded otherwise by Claire, played by Kate Hudson, in frankly a career best turn who was said is a hairdresser who has done some

fairly decent Patsy Cline impersonations and with whom he falls in love. Here is a little clip from the trailer of Song Songbook. I'm not a songwriter. I'm not a sex symbol. I just want to entertain people. I don't want to be a hairdresser. I want to sing. I want to dance. I want a garden. I want a cat. I need something big. I need something new. Tell you mama girl. We can't stay long. We should call ourselves lightning and thunder. We got things we got to catch up on.

So you be lightning and I'd be thunder. Uh, yeah. Thank you. That is not very professional of me, but I've been wanting to do it for like a whole. I mean, I don't know about you, but I'm kind of sold already on the basis of that and I've seen the film. That's a great song. They start singing together, their fortunes start to expand, although life has. a series of surprises in store for them, sort of trials and tribulations, some of which seem

unbelievable, some of which have obviously been enhanced for the purposes of drama, but actually the sort of the basic key elements of the story are well documented. Now, I hadn't seen the doc. I didn't know the story, and I actually think that when I went to see the film, I didn't even know it was about impersonation, or interpretations, as they were just saying there, I thought I was going to see a documentary about Neil Diamond, or I feel a film. I feel a dramatization about Neil Diamond, or as I just pointed out, possibly even Neil Young. Yes. So when the film started being what it was, I was completely charmed by it.

I mean, at the center of it is the performances. I think that, you know, what Craig Brew as a director does here, is it's a very good job of stepping back and letting the performers bring the razzle-dazzle, rather than sort of trying to do it with fancy-smansy direction, because they are really, really good. I mean, huge action. And just in case anyone's a new list, huge action is what we've called Hugh Jackman for as long as. But I realized I hadn't explained that, but then I kind of figure everybody knows. So huge action is great.

Kate Hudson is, as I said, I think the best she's ever been. So he is basically this, you know, two decades sober vet who juggles music and being a mechanic and these sort of these musical dreams. she is completely believable as this struggling single mom and hairdresser who are they're both united in the belief that there is something about playing music that is transcendent that you can stand up in a bar or a club or whatever the surroundings or a restaurant and if the if the music is good enough somehow it takes you to another level and i was thinking when we reviewed recently the film still pushing pineapples in which there's this kind of tragic comic pathos in the sight of this guy

who's famous as being Mr. Agadou and is still working the kind of the nightclubs of the UK and the bingo halls, frankly, but still having to do agadu. And there's something about that which is kind of rather tragic and downbeat. This is the opposite. They've got these spangly suits.

They've got these rhinestones. And they don't look ridiculous. Even when they're wearing them in the context of wearing them in a restaurant or in a bar or in some completely inappropriate situation. Actually, they look oddly glorious. And of course, the song, are weapons-grade earworms. I mean, nobody wrote more and better tunes.

There's a very good joke at the beginning that when he says we doesn't want to do Neil Diamond. And one of the reasons he doesn't is that everybody, when he say Neil Diamond, they go, ba, ba, ba. And he goes, yeah, that's not even the part of the song. He did so much more. And so what he wants to do is he wants to start the set with Suleiman

because, you know, that's much more interesting and much more accomplished. and he's got this whole love of Neil Young as so much more than... Neil Diamond. I said Neil Young again. You did. I can't believe I keep doing this.

Neil Diamond, I'm going to do this now. Let's just say Neil Young. For the rest of the review, let's just say Neil Young. When I say Neil Young, I mean Neil Diamond. Not even the best Jared. He's not even the best Jared. And there's something about it that is... I mean, the film is like Neil Diamond

in that it's got its feet on the ground and its heart in the right place and its hair and makeup somewhere between this world and the next and the story I mean there is you know tragedy in the story and it is a story

kind of hard scrabble existence of you know real people facing really life-changing circumstances and yet somehow through this belief in the music of Neil Diamond and probably Neil Young's well

they like I said it becomes weird I loved it. I was totally charmed by it. And I genuinely went in thinking that I was going to watch a Neil Diamond biopic, although I probably said Neil Young as I went in. And I thought it was terrific. And those two performances are really great. And the track that's playing underneath the trailer, which was obviously broken down and so on for the movie, Cherry is one of the early Neil Diamond songs where he was on a record label called Bang Records before he was a big international suit, when he was writing songs for other people, and they're all

fantastic, they're all, they all, they all, they're all, you know, this is, I'm a believer by the monkeys, that, it's he's writing songs like that, and they are just fantastic, you know, he had a, he had such a great ear for pop music. He was brill-building level of golden ear at that point. I mean, it was just absolutely just heard hits. What's that thing, that phrase that they, that they use in, um, in dig. I sneeze

and hits come out. yeah it wasn't yeah a bit like a bit like that anyway and yes lots to say about niels i mean but anyway i i wasn't sure when i read the description of the film i was thinking oh really so he's not it's not a neil diamond by a picket it's something else altogether but the story of lightning thunder of my god is just it's i i didn't know it because i didn't know the documentary and there's something it's done so well because it loves them and it loves the fact that they love the music and that they take it seriously and that there is a belief that through that music

they can transcend whatever is happening in the world, which is often very hard scrabble and very, very tough. And I think the doc gets that just right. And I think, you know what, I think, I think Neil Young would really like it. You absolutely would. Thank you for correcting me, not once, not twice, but thrice.

Well, that's the way these things go. Okay, so correspondence at kodomero.com. So thank you for all the emails that have been coming in about, best films of the year, worst films of the year and all that kind of stuff. So I've got loads here. Do you want to do yours once I've done them or what do you think? I mean, whichever way you would like to do it, you're the host, I'm the contributor. Well, let's scatter them before we get to what you think.

So, Craig, I'm just going with the information that I've got here, but Craig, thank you for sending these in. This is one to five, okay? Superman, train dreams, sinners, one battle after another, and weapons. Is that weapons as number one or number five? Weapons at five, so starting at one, ending at five. Mohamed Shakir, weapons at one. Superman, F-1, Saturday night, the naked gun.

Ben Bradford, Top 5, Huller Road, Sister Midnight, Sinners at 3, Mickey 17 at 4, and The Long Walk slash the Running Man at 5. Ruth Roselson, top 5 in no order, which I think is perfectly acceptable. Sorry Baby, Sinners, Ballad of Wallace Island, Nickel Boys and the Ice Tower. William Janssen Den Sidst the Viking which is a Danish film did you see Den Sid's the Viking

I didn't know no no Anora a complete unknown Wicked Part 2 and debt and debt offer Danish film thank you William Callum Jack his top five again start at number one

Floe Ballad of Wallace Island sorry baby four mothers and mickey seventeen uh jensen todd one battle after another at one then flow wake up dead man predator badlands and 28 years later so there are there are lots more but why don't you why don't you go next okay well just once again to sort of put the rules in place so the way that we do these lists is films released in the UK during the year and obviously because of the way the awards calendar works this kind of messes with the beginning and end of the year. So there's a bunch of films that like tail end of of 24 and very beginning January of 25, like, you know, Nosferatu, Nickel Boys, Bruteless, hard truths, which I tend to think of

as being part of last year's awards season. And then there are films which are in this year's award season, but don't open here until next year, until 2026. And those include Hamnet, which of course is shaping up as a big awards contend. It's out on January the 9th. Bone Temple, the new 28 years later film, which is January the 16th. No other choice, which you will have seen popping up in nominations, including the Golden Globes.

That's 23rd. Richard Linklater's Nouvelle Vagg. That's January the 20th. Secret agent, that's out in February. Now, all those, therefore, are ineligible from these lists, although they will feature in lots of other people's lists because they are very much part of this award season. It's also worth saying,

that there have been so many great movies this year that it's really, really hard to get down to any list. If you look at, I mean, as always, the foreign language films, again, this is the year that they were released in the UK. Seed of the Sacred Fig had to be smuggled out of Iran, sentimental value, which is just wonderful, and is a really big awards contender this year. Sisu Road to Revenge from Finland, Sister Midnight, the Karen Gondari film, which is in India, Sweden, UK, co-production, Sunday, Suri, Sanch, which is India, France, UK, Germany. Brilliant indie movies. I mean, Pillion, which, regardless of what you think about it, we've discussed it a lot, and it has provoked a lot of interesting discussion.

Steve, which I thought was really great Urchin, which a great feature debut, Ballast of Wallace, Ballard of Wallace Island, and Christie, the Irish film, Christie, not the boxing film, Christy, which is farless in. Christie, the Irish film, Christy, which is one of my favourite of the year, which I loved. Then from America, Eva Victor's Sorry Baby, which is showing up in this award season. Kelly Reichard's the mastermind. She came on the show with Josh O'Connor. Also, it's been a brilliant year for horror. I mean, just look what we've had.

Frankenstein, the Guillermo del Toro, bring her back, which is genuinely terrifying. The monkey and keeper from Oz Perkins, 28 years later from Danny Boyle, and as I said, Bone Temple coming up really soon. The Shrouds, the Cronenberg movie, which didn't get the love that deserved. together, which is a really sort of satirical body horror film. The Long Walk, I mean, the question about whether or not you count the long walk as a horror film, but I think it is in that market. It's interesting. It came out the same year as a running man. Companion, which I thought was terrific. In terms of animation, memoir of a snail, flow, K-pop demon hunters, which I really, really

enjoyed. And then you've had other things this year, which, you know, the life of Chuck, the end, warfare, nobody to, Ellis Park, the mastermind. You know, these are, these are, all remarkable films. So when I was trying to get it down to the list of, you know, the top 10, I'm very, very aware that it's a top 10 list in which those films that I've just mentioned, all of which probably would have deserved a place in it, aren't in there, but you just have to do it somewhere. Okay. So here is my top 10 of films that were released in the UK in this period with those exceptions that I pointed out about the beginning in the end of the year. Yes.

So at 10, Alpha, which is the Julia de Corno film. She made Roar and Titan, and I say titan, and you say, Sex with a Car, thank you. It got a very rough ride from some critics, but I love her filmmaking. I think she's great, and I really liked this. At number nine, Sinners. This is Ryan Coogler's Mississippi Delta Horror Musical. It's one of the real surprises of the year,

and it is shaping up as a big award. contender, which I think has surprised some people. But it's really, really found its audience and it's found its kind of critical sweet spot. And I thought it was a terrific movie. And also just on that subject. Yeah. On the subject of sinners. If you have ever watched the river dancing Michael Flatley and thought this kind of dancing is quite annoying and maybe it's of the devil, Well, Jack O'Connell proves your point. Absolutely. Absolutely.

That whole dancing sequence is demonic. Yeah. It really is. Okay. All right. I can see where this is going. Jack O'Connell, it's been a great... I mean, I know what else is coming up in this conversation,

but he's been a great year for him, hasn't it? He's had a very, very good year. He's had a very good year. Okay. Number eight, and I know you like this too. A House of Dynamite. Yes. Catherine Bigelow, the first woman ever to win

the best director Oscar, makes the prospect of nuclear war scary again, which is remarkable because this is kind of like, I suppose, a modern-day, unfunny Dr. Strangelove in which we see the same 18 minutes play out over and over again. And by the end, I mean, it's palm-swettingly tense stuff. And by the end of it, you are once again properly and rightly alarmed about the fact that we may be on the precipice of something really, really terrible just because everything now would happen so fast. And I mean, you liked it too, right? I thought it was, I did think it was brilliant. And it's the final half hour of the film, which is really sweaty, but all the way through, because they keep repeating that 18 minutes

consistently. And then you learn more about all of the people that you hear, you know, off mic and offstage and you have the right Jared in there, who is fantastic. He is the best Jared in the movie. I wasn't, as I think I mentioned when we were reviewing it, I wasn't quite convinced with Idris right at the end.

As the president who listens, who seems to be listening to podcasts and I can't quite believe that that actually happens. But as a piece, I thought it was fantastic, hugely, hugely enjoyable. I just think as an exercise in filmmaking, it was just a really smart thing. You just see that sequence of time over and over again from those different angles. And unlike Ration Morning, which it's different versions of the story, it's just different angles on the same story because the constituent parts don't move.

So that's number eight. At number seven, I swear, and I love this film. And Simon Brew, he of film stories, said really astutely, it is one of those rare movies that might, might actually change someone's life. And I think he's bang on because I think it's, I mean, it's a story that has been told before about Touretta was told before in TV documentaries. And yet what the film does is it brings a whole new perspective to what you think you knew about it.

And it's, I mean, it's engrossing and at times it's funny and at times it's kind of heartbreaking. And it's one of those sort of triumph of the human spirit movies that manages not to be cheesy in any way. And I think it is like one of those, it's one of those movies that as Simon quite rightly says, it could actually change someone's opinion and change someone's life. And I think that's brilliant. And then at number six, and this is kind of, so I'm still here. Now, technically, this was from last year's award season, but it opened here at the end of February. So I'm thinking, okay, fine, I'm going to put it in this. As I said, I know these rules don't make any sense. I'm just trying, I'm trying to create a picture that is some way coherent.

So I'm still here, which is Walter Salas's adaptation of Marcelo Rubbins Paiver's memoir. It won Best International Feature at the Oscars, got a best actress nomination for Fernando Torres, and it's worth remembering that it really was one of the very best films that opened in UK Cinemas this year. I mean, just an astonishing piece of work. If you haven't seen it, it must now be on streaming services. Do yourself a favour. So that number. Number 10 to number six. So into the top five, my top five films of 2025. And as I said, again, again, again, there was so many good films this year. It was really hard to narrow them down. And I know that it's a slightly eccentric list. But at Five, Hallow Road, which is British Iranian director Babak Amvery's brilliant thriller. He made Under the Shadow, which I still think is like one of the great modern classics. But this is a stripped down chiller. Most of it plays out in a kind of. as indeed does a lot of modern Iranian cinema, and it is completely nail-biting.

It is a couple, parents, who have had a call from their daughter, an anguished call that something terrible has happened on the road, and they are trying to get to her. And when you consider it's basically two people stuck in a car with a voice on the end of the phone, I mean, just as an exercise in filmmaking, it is second to none.

It was absolutely fabulous. at number four the one battle after film as we refer to it one battle after another which I know you saw and when you saw it you said this has to be

one of the films of the year doesn't it? Definitely yeah I think it would probably be my number one but yeah yeah well I mean I think once we're at this point

yeah I think it's all kind of they're all brilliant and frankly they could all swap around so this is Paul Thomas Anderson's fabulously anarchic movie honestly one of the most jaw-dropping films of the year

I cannot believe that Paul Thomas Anderson was given this much money to make a film this out there and this anarchic. I mean, obviously, the Leonardo DiCaprio thing is the thing that bolsters the financing. But this is currently set to sweep all the major awards. It wouldn't be at all surprising if in the award season now, Paul Thomas Anderson walks off with Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Film. I think it's very likely that this will win Best Film at all the big awards. You agree? Okay. Yeah, no, yes. And I would, you're right. Just a list of these films is fine. And, you know, tomorrow you'll wake up and maybe you'll put six at three and five at one and so on. But I thought it was wonderful. I hadn't interviewed him before. I know you've interviewed him before. But really, I really enjoyed the conversation. And I thought the film was just outstanding. Yeah. It is remarkable and needs to be seen in the cinema. At number three, and this came up in a number of those emails that you had, West.

So this is Zach Craig's follow-up to Barbarian, and it's one of those movies that the more I think about it, the better it gets. And the reason is that like The Shining, it seems to withstand multiple interpretations. I mean, you and I talked a little bit recently when we were talking about the Shining being reissued in cinemas, about all the way in which people have interpreted the numbers, the 237, 217, you know, the distance to the moon, the original, the original, the original, the original, the room in the novel. And of course, in the case of weapons, there's the 217. Is that a reference to the Shining? Is it a reference to a bill which nearly outlawed semi-automatic weapons in the US, which would pass through Congress with Trondon 17? But I mean, you can bring so many different things to bear on it. And the film manages to sustain all of them without ever having to be about any single one of them. Have you seen weapons, haven't you? Yes. Yes, I have. And I think The other thing that was so stunning from that film is the least horrific thing. Well, no, actually, it is horrific.

But, and if you've seen the poster, you'll know that children run, once they've been affected by whatever it is that's affecting them, they run as fast as they can, and their arms are out like they're pretending to be an aeroplane. It's that kind of, that kind of run. And I found that incredibly hypnotic and as an image from the film, which is not scary to look at, but when repeated over and over and over again throughout the film becomes utterly terrifying. So it's just an ordinary dressed, ordinary-looking kid running with their arms out, and that is really scary. Yeah. And it's, I don't know whether you've seen this, but again,

even with that, there's been a lot of stuff about what is that referring to? And one of the things that it is referring to is the person who became known as Naples. harm girl from that terrified, absolutely horrific photograph from the Vietnam War. But the point is somebody said to me, oh, you know it's that. And I said, no, I didn't. And now you say that, that is chilling. But I also don't think it is that or only that. I think, as I keep saying, and this is very much in relation to the Shining, there is so many things that it evokes that it's brilliant that you don't have to tie it down to any one thing. But that image of them running, it is really, really chilling. So that's my number three. At number two,

And strangely enough, this is a film which is doing well in the mainstream awards categories. It was just an accident, which is the Palm Door winner that reviewed very recently from Jafar Panahi. One of his very best. Also, it's been nominated, the Golden Globes, although, you know, Globes, but it's been nominated best film and best non-English language film along with screenplay and director. But it's worth saying, once again, when people talk about how hard it is to make a movie, yes, there's being hard to make a movie and then there's being hard to make a movie

when the authorities are trying to put you in prison and ban you from making movies that's hard to make a movie and Jafar Panahi is one of the kind of the most outspoken voices for cinema and every time he does this there's another criminal thing against him proceeding against him

and the movie is brilliant I mean it's blackly satirical and comedic sometimes but it's also serious. It's also perhaps his most overtly political film. But just as a sort of unfolding thriller drama, it is astonishingly well done. And I think it's probably his most mainstream accessible film.

And as I was saying, actually, weirdly enough, in relation to Hallow Road, another example of an Iranian film, which a large portion of it takes place in a car, or actually in this case, in a van. This is definitely a trope of modern Iranian cinema, for very, you know, for very obvious reasons, which is it's a way of filming an environment in which you're not really allowed to be filming anywhere. Anyway, it was just an accident, it was number

two. And any of these films could have been number one, one battle after another could be number one, weapons could have been number one. But the thing I have gone for as number one is a film which, again, I don't think got enough love, which is die my love. Now, Jennifer Lawrence is getting all the awards attention, but I have to say for me, it's director Lynn Ramsey, who is the real star. I think Robert Pattinson is terrific. But I love Lynne Ramsey's films. Ratcatcher, Morven Caller, we need to talk about Kevin. You were never really here now like this.

I mean, like the French filmmaker Selimha, she's never made a film that I thought was anything other than perfect. And she is, to me, a reminder of what daring, singular, absolutely personal, experiential cinema moviemaking looks like. and I think if you look at a year in which die my love it was just an accident weapons one battle after another Hallow Road I'm still here I swear House of Dynamite Sinners Alpha these these were the ones that made the top 10 and there was all those other ones I cited before

it's been an exceptionally good year and an exceptionally hard year to do a top 10 but how great that all those films played in Sam when people say oh you know it's all blockbusters and remakes in cinema no it isn't no it isn't Still to come, the best tally of 2025, the worst films. And we'll remember some of those who left us this year after this. Mark, I was just wondering, you know, as I do,

how do you keep your internet connection Elfi this Christmas? Boomtish, use NordVPN for dark web alerts or to help protect you from hackers while browsing public Wi-Fi? Not healthy, healthy. Like maybe using NordVPN to watch Harry Potter whilst in Lapland on a one-horse open sleigh? Sounds a little complicated. Not with Nord's mobile app and the ability to use across multiple devices. Have a healthy, elfie time this Christmas browsing with Nord VPN. I'll be using it for extra security on public Wi-Fi when I travel,

as well as streaming films using virtual location switching. And to help spread the festive spirit we're offering listeners, a discount on Nord's two-year plan. With NordVPN, you can travel the world faster than a private jet, minus the carbon footprint. Unwrap a huge discount on NordVPN by heading to NordVPN.com slash take. Plus, with our link, you'll get an extra four months for free on the two-year plan, and it's risk-free with Nord's 30-day money-back guarantee. Check the link in the description. At Capital One, we're more than just a credit card company. We're people just like you who believe in the power of yes. yes to second chances, yes to a fresh start. That's why we've helped over 4 million Canadians get access to a credit card, because at Capital One, we say yes, so you don't have to hear another no.

What will you do with your yes? Get the yes you've been waiting for at Capital One.ca.ca.com slash yes. Terms and conditions apply. Okay, so we'll get to some of the worst films, some of the best telly very shortly, but there's something else out to consider going to see. Yeah, new release out on the second, Peter Hoosier's Day, which is the latest from writer-director Iris Sacks, who's the indie tour behind Love is Strange, Frankie, passages, all of which I really, really loved. I struggle a little bit more with this. So this is a sort of self-consciously artsy film about the photographer,

Peter Huja, played rather brilliantly by Ben Wishaw, who was so fantastic in passages. is. And his friend, Linda Rosencrantz, played by Rebecca Hall, who I love, upon whose book it is based, the Linda Rosencrantz book. So he was an American photographer. He was part of the Susan Sontag, Fran Lieberitz, Andy Warhol crowd. His work remained fairly fringe during his lifetime. Now reassessed as really important known for, his portraits, kind of, one of those people who, since their passing, he died in 87 of age-related illnesses, has become recognized as, you know, a major player in the kind of history and evolution of American photography. So the opening screen tells us that in 1974, Linda Rosencrantz recorded Hojah detailing

the events of the previous day. And this was for a project that she was doing about how artists fill their days up, what they actually do, the day-to-day stuff of it, the quotidian stuff. The project never happened, and apparently the tape of those interviews was lost, but then a transcription was unearthed, and it says upon which this is based. In fact, that transcript was published as a book in 2019. So the film has got with Sharon Hall in an apartment with him narrating the previous day, which including going to see Alan Ginsburg, getting groceries, printing photographs, worrying about invoices, constantly smoking, all very day-to-day stuff.

And the narration of that day seems to take the length of a day. Here is a clip. I stay in bed until 1145, and then I put my clothes on. I thought you hadn't taken them off. Oh, I guess I didn't. I just lied. When I go downstairs to buy cigarettes and I break a $10 bill because the cigarettes are 56 cents. God, there are?

I say, is Alan Ginsberg there? And he says, who's calling? And I say, it's Peter Hoosier. I'm supposed to photograph here with the Times. I get my camera stuff together. I had a flash that there was something sort of Bohemian poet about it, and I'd be much snazier in my red ski jacket. Good choice, yes.

I just think it's more like Lower East Side. I photographed Ginsburg, and he sits down in the lotus position, looking very Buddha, right in the doorway, and he starts to chant. And I really think, well, I can't interrupt God. I need to correct my pronoun to here, hoojah, not who jah, hoojah, that's right, soft jay. Anyway, so that gives you a sense of what it's like. I mean, it's beautifully shot on, it looks like it's grainy 16-mil. So there's real texture to the images, and they kind of situate.

it in the period that the thing is meant to be taking place. The performances are utterly natural. I mean, the way that sort of Ben Whishaw wanders through his own memories, as Peter Hoosha, and the way that Rebecca Hall's character sort of prods him, but sort of is also looking after him, like with genuine affection. And there was an interview. I think it was when Irisax was promoting passages. He was asked what he was doing next, and he said, I'm doing this, he said, I'm doing a film about what it is to be an artist among artists in the city where no one was making any money. And I think that's an interesting idea. And I think that the film is made very well. And I think that the performances are very, very convincing. But I didn't

find myself engaged by it. I worried that, I mean, what I wanted was for it to just suck me into its atmosphere and just, you know, grip me, and it didn't. And I don't think it's a fault of the filmmaking. I think it may be a fault of me, but I did think it is, I mean, the whole point of the exercise is, let's see how people actually live moment to moment, artists live moment to moment, how they fill up their day. And then what you get is an account of someone filling up their day, which is an interesting exercise, and it is a well-made film, but I would be lying if I told you that I didn't think, okay, this is fine now, and I'd now like this to end, not because the performances aren't great, not because it isn't film beautifully, not because it's not an

interesting project, but it felt to me very much like an art installation in which nothing happens. And that's the point. Nothing happens, but things are revealed, I know, listen, And more intelligent people may listen to this and go, oh, Comeo, you're such an idiot because actually in the nothing happening, everything is revealed. I didn't find that it was. I found it was a very convincing portrait of somebody narrating the mundanities of a day and demonstrating that great artists live from moment to moment, worrying about the change from cigarettes and getting groceries. So I wanted to love it, and I didn't. Correspondence atcomcom.com. Okay, so thank you very much for all the correspondence. We'll get to some of the worst films, but best telly. So basically, that's, you know, a card on the table, I'm not a television watcher habitually. I watch television because Komoda Mayer's take now does television reviews. And so most of the stuff that I'm talking about is stuff that I've seen because of the show. There's some, there's a couple of other things that we're outside of it. So when I say, this is my top ten list of best TV. This is top ten list of best TV that I saw this year. That is nothing like a day.

So I want to be absolutely clear about that. Okay, so I'm sure I'm missing out really important stuff. So number 10, dying for sex, Michelle Williams, as a woman who, after being diagnosed with terminal cancer, goes in search of sexual fulfillment. And I thought it was really, really well done. It was really, really well done. I think Michelle Williams was terrific in it, and I thought it had that balance of frankness and comedy and tragedy in a way. that was fairly remarkable. At number nine, narrow road to the deep north,

we did an interview with Justin Kozell. Is it Kuzel? It is Kuzel, isn't it? Yeah. I think we got that right. It was one of the most emailed about productions that we talked about this year. And it provoked so much feedback

that I think that's kind of proof of how good it was. It was really grueling, really, really tough. And there are things in it that are very, very difficult to watch. At number eight, the studio. which for me is the player for the modern age. It is a properly sharp, funny, insightful Hollywood satire. Noah Boundbach, take note. Take your J. Kelly's, take them outside, and watch this instead.

At number seven, Riot Women, which is the latest Hebden set outing by Sally Wainwright, about a group of variously disenfranchised women who form a punk band and get a new lease of life, fabulous cast, including Joanna Scanlon, Tamsing, Greg, Amelia Ballmore. I mean, I just thought this was a treat. It was very much something that was kind of aimed at my demographic, but I thought it was terrific. And at number six, White Lotus Season 3, Hello to Golden Globe nominated Jason Isaacs and Hello to Jason. And Little Jason, well done. So into the top five, at Five, Last of Us, season two. Yes, that's what I've gone. Very good. Once again, it reminds Craig, how do we pronounce it? Amazing.

Craig Mazin. Amazing, amazing, amazing. Reminding us that he really is one of the modern poets of the small screen. Bella Ramsey is admirably unlikable for a large portion of this. And I think that's a very, very brave move. Great achievement. Great achievement. Number four, Black Mirror Season 7.

Because I thought Black Mirror really got its mojo back with this. I thought it was funny, it was scary, it was amusing, it was ultimately very positive. But I thought it was a real return to form. At number three, toxic town, hello Jack Thorn, the man who appears to be behind absolutely everything, followed the story of three mothers involved in the Corby Toxic Waste case. Cast includes Jamie Whittaker, Amy Lee Wood, who of course did Film Club as well, which we enjoyed very much. Robert Carlisle, who I think we interviewed for the show, is that right? Did you interview Robert Collar?

Yes, I did, yeah. Love that. And then number two and number one, I mean, it's so hard to do this, but at number two, pluribus, Vince Gilligan, God bless Vince Gilligan. God bless Rear Seahorn. I mean, we're only however many episodes it is we're in so far. But every single one I'm waiting on, I'm waiting for it to drop. I love it to pieces. And then at number one, well, you can do this. What's obviously the best television of 2025? Well, the most talked about, and I think, and I've written it down as number one, is adolescence. Adolescence. adolescence, written and created by Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham. Yes. And it is clearly the best television of the year. Absolutely remarkable.

In my top five, I have Last of Us, Pluribus Adolescence. The two that you haven't got are slow horses. I would put that in there. It's still remarkably good. And Andor, which was some of the most fantastic television leading up to Rogue One. that's the kind of the next bit. But Diego Luna as Cassian Andor, and really, once you clock

it's really the road to oppression and authoritarianism and the danger that America is going through, you go, wow, this is incredible what they've done with this. So I don't think we reviewed it on the programme, but Andor is just amazing, apart from a very, very long wedding

sequence, which seemed to go on for years and years and years. I thought it was very, as Tony Gilroy, I think, anyway, I just thought it was remarkable. Yeah, and I mean, the reason it's not on mine is that I haven't seen it, and I really, really need to. It's a very good reason. No, no, but this is what I'm saying at the beginning, you know, as far as the film stuff, it's kind of my job to see it, but in terms of the television stuff, it's much more scattershot. But I do think, I mean, I think there's no debate about adolescence, is there? It is, it's just, it's head and shoulders above everything else.

I love Pluribus. I really love Pluribus. Still to come, the worst films of 2025 on the way. This is not a drill. For the first time in Lipsick on the Rim history, a real housewife has entered the studio. And not just any housewife, Rachel Zoh, the fashion legend herself.

Did we expect styling stories, glam, chaos, stories from the past decade, and a full cat eye at all times? Yes. Did we expect her to open up about divorce, rediscovering herself, joining Housewives as a zero prep, and what it feels like to finally feel like her again? No. It is vulnerable, iconic, hilarious, and one of our favorite conversations ever. The Real Housewives have officially entered the chat. Listen now.

Well, that was a very good outbreak. I enjoyed that. But you changed during it. Sadly, but also what happened during the outbreak is, I've changed into a green sweater and I've also got a cold. He came on during the first ad and then I realized in the second ad that I was in trouble. So that's the way I'm going to sound.

Also, but even more impressively just during that ad break, I moved houses and had a haircut. It's incredible, isn't it? It's like, I don't know how you do it. It's almost as though it's almost as though this isn't a live show.

Well, Simon, it is a part. podcast. I know, but I just like, I still live under the illusion the fact that we're live right now, and there might be travel and weather any second, handsome horse racing from Cornelius Lyset. Well, if people want a live show, of course, they can always become Patreon subscribers in which every other week, every bi-weekly or whatever it is, we do indeed do a live show. I just want to say, because I didn't mention it when we were talking about our favourite television of the year.

The Blue Lights is a fantastic cop show coming out of Belfast, three series, got better with each series, and everyone

involved should be thoroughly thrilled because it's getting better. And also, when line of duty is coming back, I think they're

going to have to up their game. They're going to have to come up with a comprehensible plot, apart from everything else. But anyway, so I would add blue lights to my favorite TV shows. Anyway, worst films is where we are.

Yes. So shall I wander through what listeners have said? Yes, go ahead. And then you can, although I think I've only got one page. That can't be right. There must have been a whole lot worse than that. Anyway, Richard Bradley, Tron, ours, nobody two, the conjuring last rights, the naked gun,

and a big, bold, beautiful journey. That was from number one to number five. Nick Williams Shame about it I mean I thought Big Bowl Beautiful Jelly didn't work But I think it wasn't You know

It was it was at least trying to do something So Nick Williams Number one The Mastermind Ha Well You enjoyed the interview Number two

Most of it I did I must say We're having just watched The New Knives Out film Finally having caught up with that Did you enjoy it? Yeah And then also having seen

The Spielberg Trey for his new film. Josh O'Connor is the next big superstar, isn't it? I mean, he can do serious art films and he can do blockbusters, and he can be funny, and he can be serious, and he's just extraordinary. I want him to be Bond.

Is he too young? No. Also, Simon, brilliantly, he will get older. Yeah. Maybe he's the Bond after this one. Anyway, the next one, you know. Anyway, so, yes, Nick Williams, the Mastermind number one,

Beautiful Journey Number Two, Captain America, Brave New World, number three, after the hunt at number four, death of a unicorn, at number five. Okay. And then he adds, don't think I saw any awful films this year, unlike 2024 with Megalopolis, but there would be, these would be the weakest ones I saw from the 48 that I managed to see. That's pretty good. And, yeah, someone who I think is called Tarn Kool, apologize. is forgetting, if I've got that wrong. Surf to Princess Poppy, the Prog Cat. My Bottom Five.

Jurassic World Rebirth at number one. Inheritance at number two. The Salt Path at number three, sorry, Jason. Captain America, Brave New World at number four. Tron Arse at number five. There are more. Take us through your worst films. Okay, well, I mean, I think one has to distinguish between worst films and, you know,

and disappointment. So I think things that were disappointments, wolf which no one's mentioned because no one remembers it which was you know no bite the alto knights remember this Robert De Niro playing two roles why yeah yeah I remember that and as far as anyone can tell the only reason Robert De Niro plays two roles

is it's the only way they could make the film interesting to him no Bobby it's not just one role you play two roles you play both the roles you go yeah okay well that makes no sense the Phoenician scheme I found incredibly disappointing and annoying. How much more, Wes Anderson could it be? How to Train Your Dragon, the live action version.

I mean, it's not terrible, but it's just completely without point. What was wrong with the animation? The animation was fine. We didn't need it. The naked gun, Shirley, you can't be serious. I am serious and don't call me Shirley. And then, of course, Cundering Last Rights. Now, conjuring Last Rightes very nearly made it into the bottom.

In the end, it's just, you know, it's a nuts and bolts horror movie, and it would have kind of got away with the quiet, quite bang stupidity. We hadn't had to put up with being lectured about how two carnival hucksters are the saviors of all things good and decent. So, here we go, and I've done a top ten. Now, bear in mind, as I've always said, I think it's the ones that you like, the good films that are the best. But when I'm doing my sort of bottom ten worse, what I'm trying to balance is potential as in what was available to them with what we actually got. So at number 10 in my worst of the year, and incidentally, this was number one in my good friend Nigel Floyd's

worst film of the year, Jay Kelly. So much talent, so much potential. How can people this good have made a movie this tedious? And Nigel just, it was, he just said, you know, he thought it was smug, fatuous, all those, all those with, and I know you didn't like it either, did you? Yeah, I think smug is exactly the right word. And I think, because I saw it before you, because I had to do the interview. Yeah. I think my, I just said, you said, well, give us a clue. And I said, there's a lot of talent on screen, which I agree. I think that was correct. Yeah. Well, that's exactly why it's at number 10, because there's a lot of talent on screen and there's very, very little to like about the fun. Okay. Number nine, and you probably don't even remember this. Another simple favor. Do you

Remember that? No. So it was Paul Figg. Is it Figg? Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Yeah. It was the sequel to a film that we don't, didn't remember. Oh, yes. Yes, I do remember. Yes, I do. Yes, yes, yes. I did the interview with Paul. You did. There we go. That's how much you have blanked it from your mind. And I told him it should have been a musical. And there we have it. And it was. It should have been. It was so far, these are two films, both of which you did interviews for.

So you have fully suffered. This is, well, good because I was starting to think, did I completely hallucinate that you've seen this? No, you're quite right. It was rubbish, wasn't it? It was, I'm afraid, yes. Absolute rubbish. Okay. At number eight, five nights at Freddy's Two.

And as the great Kim Newman said, it's killer robot toys, how do you mess that up? In so many ways you mess it up. Again, a preponderance of plot and nothing else. Number seven, and this came up in one of the listeners' emails just there, Death of a Unicorn. completely misjudged, once again, smug, it's a comedy, well, it's sort of a It's like a grown-up sort of ironic tongue-in-cheek comedy with Paul Rudd. And it's what the fantastic thing is, if you're old enough to enjoy the gore, then you're too old for all the awful father-daughter bonding stuff, which is far more alarming than any

of the old. I mean, it's just completely misjudged film, absolutely a film made by people who just think that what they're doing is really clever, because, like, yeah, it's a unicorn movie. you, but like he's really grown out of it. And this is absolutely awful. And then at number six, this very, very nearly got into the top five. It just didn't because in the end it was just a,

his flight risk. Remember this? Flight Risk, which is the film in which Marky Mark wears the worst bald cap in the world, made worse by the fact that it isn't a bald cap. He just shaved his head to look like a bald head, but it looks like he's wearing a bald cap.

It's like, it's the worst bald act. What's the phrase that Ralph Brown uses in Withnell? I started coming on all really balls with me, man. It's an awful, awful, awful, awful. And bear in mind, right, this is a film which is directed by Mel Gibson, who Mango Mussolini chose, along with John Voigt and Sylvester Stallone, to be his eyes and ears in Hollywood, to help make Hollywood great again, right?

Yes. This is the guy behind this film. Good luck, everyone. Yeah, good luck. It'll all be marvellous. The golden age of Hollywood is coming back, and very soon you'll be back at the point that you were with Gone with the Wind, when one of the Oscar winning performers will have to come in through the back door because the place that you're having the ceremony in is segregated. Into the top five.

Yes. Number five, now you see me now you don't, and you'll wish you hadn't. That's kind of all we need to know, really, I think. Number four, this was picked up again by a listener, Jurassic Park Rebirth. Now, there's no way of getting around this. Gareth Edwards, brilliant director, really talented, get saddled with, I think, one of the worst scripts of the year. Shame on you, David Kep or Kopp, or however it is that you pronounce it. The film cost around 2225 million, I think, is taken around 850.

So, you know, it's like, yeah, exactly. so it will, it will just carry up. The Jurassic thing will carry on lumbering along, but it's just such bad script writing. And it is absolutely a demonstration that in the end, movies do start with a script. And if the script is shonky, there's nothing you can do. You can direct all you want.

It will still be that terrible dialogue. Number three, honey don't. Now, do you remember honey don't? I don't remember honey, don't. Remind me. Well, this is the one when, you remember the Cohen brothers and they used to work together

and they were great and then Ethan Cohen was making movies on his own and this is a reminder why Ethan Cohen shouldn't be allowed to make movies on his own without Joel so it's the second part

after driveaway dolls of what they are calling the lesbian B movie trash trilogy and that means there's another one on the way and again this was just like honey don't one of the very very few movies

whose title actually reviews the film itself and I will invoke once again the great Stephen King King, who said of Guy N. Smith's book, The Sucking Pit. It's one of the very few books whose title rhymes with your opinion of that. Very good. Which is genius.

Okay, into the top two. Number two, after the hunt. This had come up in the listeners choices. And this is Luca Guadagnino's super smug tale of everything is smugging. It's a tale of academics beset by woke cancel culture. And, I mean, particularly, so one of the things that came out this year, as I mentioned this, when we're talking about the best films of the year, there was that brilliant film, Sorry Baby, which approached a not dissimilar subject matter, but did it in a really, really interesting and dark and satirical and insightful and often very, very painful and brilliant way. This doesn't have any of that at all. This is a film that appears to have been written and made by people who have never, ever, ever, ever, ever been on an academic campus and just have a kind of an imaginary version of how people speak. And no names, no pactual, but I know somebody who has confessed to me that they are in the background of one of the scenes in this film, which is a scene that is apparently taking

place amidst academia. And they are an academic. And whilst they were listening to the dialogue being delivered, they did think, has the writer of this film ever, ever been in one of these circumstances to which the answer is absolutely not? And then we get to number one. Simon, what is my worst film of 2025? I'm just looking at some of the other emails from listeners. And there's a movie that hasn't been mentioned so far. So, for example, Nick says in from five to one, the killers game, heads of state, G20, the electric state, number one, war of the worlds. Joe Warn, a working man, the electric state, flight risk, smirfs, number one, war of the worlds. So I'm, I don't know.

is it that? It's Tron Oz, isn't it? Oh, okay. I thought it might be that terrible version of War of the World's where your man just sits there looking and gets on the phone and carries on. Anyway, yes, of course it's Tron Ars.

Yeah, the worst film of the year is Tron Ars, the curse of Jared Leto. I'm a nominate, I'm a not a nominate. I'm not a nominate at all. He's a winner. He's not a nominate. He's a winner. He won the worst film.

Yeah, he won the worst film. of the year he is he is the worst thing in the worst film of the year um we may take some comfort from the fact that according to deadline um the film is on course was on course to post the loss of around 160 million dollars so hopefully we won't have tron to us and that is something we can be grateful for but we must say thank you to jared leto for once again going the extra mile and reminding us just how bad modern movies can be. I'm a not a nominate. I'm a win. I'm a win. A worst a film of it a year. Thank you very much. The thing is, there are, Jared Leto can now never be a guest on this podcast, can he? Because of all the baggage that we, before we get to,

before we get to your film, Jared. Yeah. It's the same with Tarantino, really. But, you know, before we discuss your new film, can we just deal with some of this baggage? Yeah, well, can we say on the subject, okay, there's subject of Tarantino. Firstly, on the letter thing, again, I suppose we should be saying Lito, apparently, but I'm just not going to because I don't care. And as far as the Tarantino thing is concerned, every time I think about what he said about Paul Dayno and Matthew Lillard, I just go, and there we are.

I refer you to everything I have said about Quentin Tarantino over the past few years. There it is, made flesh. Still to come, we're going to remember some of those who left us in 2025. it's been a bit of a rubbish year from that point of view that's in just a moment. So this next bit is headlined here

they lived their dash. So this is a reference to a listener who used this expression, the dash, meaning the bit between your birth, year and your death year. Yeah.

So it just seemed like quite a nice phrase. And if you can claim that, I mean, we did ask this last week, I think, but anyway, no one has claimed it, which might mean that we claim it as our own. Maybe we thought of it. Well, I tell you know who probably thought of it? The same guy you wrote, if it's not, you know, it'll all be all right in the end, and if it's not all right, it's not the end. It'll turn out to be him.

How do you think? Old Parker. Old Parker. Okay. Well, let's attribute it to him then. So it's been a bit of a rubbish. Yeah, I mean, inevitably, we lose a bunch of people every year. And I think because a lot has been focused in the last few months, it's just felt particularly heavy.

Anyway, Bjorn Andreson, 1955 to 9, 2025. Yeah, a young star of Death in Venice also turned up in Mitzvon Mart. We reviewed, if you remember, the documentary about him called The Most Beautiful Boy in the World, which was a, I think it was from a few years ago now, a very, very good documentary. Cheki Cayo. Jackie Garrio, even. And David Lynch died, age 78, back in January.

Captain Hurley says, I went with my daughter to see Sunset Boulevard at the NFT yesterday. It was her birthday, and one of the presents I had bought her was a print of David Lynch playing Gordon Cole. Gordon Cole, oh wait, is the guy from Paramount. who keeps ringing Norma Desmond. What a lovely Easter egg to find. Cole's place in the story is so pivotal, yet so apparently incidental, that the actor went uncredited. It was the nuclear bomb test episode of the Return of Twin Peaks, which finally nailed

down why and how much I loved Lynch. He had the heart of a humanist artist. He loved humans and the great love and beauty we are capable of, even in the midst of horror. That wish, to bear witness to the best and worst of us, but side with hope and kindness may be the reason his vision bonded with so many people. Angels originally was supposed to be amazing and terrifying. Yup, says Captain Hurley. I mean, it's, it is worth saying, I'd interviewed David Lynch a few times over the years, which I was great, you know, I was proud to have done.

And I know I've said this before, and it does sound trite, but the thing that should always be remembered about him quite other than the fact that he was, you know, an artistic genius and the rest of it is two things. firstly, he was very funny, and his comic timing was perfect, and if you, if you Google that thing, David, David Lynch owns Mark Kermode in which he, I ask him a really long rambling question, and he gives a one word answer, which is just fantastic. The other thing is that it's important to remember the sincerity of what he did, that there was a point when everybody thought it was all surreal and postmodern and all the rest of it, but I think he did genuinely,

sincerely believe in love and goodness and, you know, certainly transcendental meditation. And there was a strange, that description of him, I think it was Mel Brooks, who said he was Jimmy Stewart from Mars, I think he's strangely accurate. Joan Plowright died age 95, Diane Ladd, 89, Pauline Collins, 85. Gene Hackman, we lost age 95. before you, Davy Boy says he made many films of varying quality, but he never phoned in a performance every time he was on screen, he dominated it. Yeah, I mean, I think Hackman was an amazing actor.

Hackman, of course, is sort of the linchpin of the French connection, and worth repeating once again that William Friedkin, of course, who I was a great admirer of, always thought that Hackman was the wrong person for the role. And he said, he was quite honest about it. He said that they had a very adversarial relationship on set. And because Gene Hackman was really nice. And the character that he was playing was really nasty. And Freedkin said that he had to light a fire on the Hackman every day

to annoy him, to aggravate him, to make him into this really dark, nasty character. And Freedkin accepts that the performance is brilliant. And he accepts that he was wrong in thinking that it was, Hackman was the wrong person for the role. But then when we interviewed Hackman for the documentary, Hackman had nothing but nice things to say, nothing but nice things to say. David Johansson died age 70.

I apologize for my voice, by the way, but it's only going to get worse. So maybe AI can make it sound better. He died back in February, age 75. Richard Chamberlain died age 90. Val Kilmer, 65. We talked about him a lot. When Top Gun Maverick came out.

When Tockham Averick came out, yeah, because that's a, I mean, it's a very moving, very moving scene in that film. And actually, one of the things that was interesting was, I watched Heat again the other night, which I know is kind of, it was a film that you're really impressed by. And I remember Michael Mann saying this thing, that Val Kilmer, who's in heat, and is very good in heat, he said Val Kilmer would turn up on days that he wasn't in scenes just to watch them shooting it, because he loved. loved, he loved the film and the process of it so much. And it is hard to, because there were stories about him being very, very difficult. But it's hard to kind of get you head around. In fact, an A-list star like that, just turning up on set when he's not required, just because he wants to watch the other people doing the work. And I'm going to mention Tombstone again, just because it was my favourite Val Kilmer performance when he was Doc Holiday. Yeah. And just

sort of out of it on, you know, as an actor. What I mean is he wasn't out of it, but Doc Holliday was, was it consumption he had that he was just taking lots of medication for all the way? I just thought it was a fantastic performance and a great film. Brian Wilson in June, aged 82. It's funny because a friend of mine made a couple of docs about the Beach Boys and actually had the privilege of interviewing Brian Wilson, which I never did. But, I mean, I listen to the Beach Boys all the time.

I've just been listening to Brian Wilson's autobiography, which is read by an actor, not by Brian Wilson, but I mean, just the sheer scope of Wilson's music. If you listen to Surf's Up, it's just, you go, I just don't know where this is coming from. And then, you know, you listen to all the early banging hits, all the surfing hits, all the, you know, we're getting in our car and we're driving to the beach

and there's going to be golden sunshine on girls in bikini. and it's all of that and then pet sounds and people always I know the comparison is always made with the Beatles but it's a it's a completely valid comparison because how you go from that to pet sounds and then from pet sounds to everything it's it it is astonishing and and and and mercy love and mercy love and mercy love and mercy we watch that the day that um brian wilson died and quentin tarantino Paul daino is worth 50 of you yeah I played Righteous Brothers. You've lost that loving feeling a couple of days ago

back when I was still working on greatest hits, which I still am, by the way, have you been fired? Because I can't. No, no, it did make it sound like that. It did. And Brian Wilson rang or contacted Phil Specter and said, after he'd heard it the first time,

he said, that's the best records ever that he'd ever heard. And that's 1964, 65. and that kind of big sound. This is, Be My Baby. No, no, no, it was the righteous brother. You've lost that loving feeling. You've lost that loving feeling. And the first time Brian Wilson heard it,

he contacted Phil Spector to say that's the best song I've ever heard. Because the famous story is Brian Wilson is driving along in his car and Be My Baby comes on the radio. And Brian Wilson is so stunned by the sound of the record that he lurches the car over to the side of the road

and has to pull over. to listen to the rest of it. And then there's a brilliant bit in the autobiography in which he says, and the guy who's acting playing Brian Wilson, you know, he's doing the kind of, oh, well, you know. And he said, no, anyway,

I went to a friend's party and I went over to their record collection. Of course they had Be My Baby. And I started playing the opening drum beats. Boom, boom, boom, boom. And then I just play it over and over and over and over again. And eventually people threw me out. Which you would.

Okay, so as you mentioned, the audiobooks, we haven't said hello to Michael Sheen for a while. Hello, Michael Sheen. Hello, Michael Sheen. But I'm just, because I've been ill, I've been listening to a lot of audiobooks, and Michael does the Rosefield, which is the last of the Book of Dust. It's Book of Dust, Volume 3, it's the Philip Pullman, the end of the Philip Pullman books about Lyra. And Michael Sheen's performance is genuinely sensational. You know, he, the number of voices that he has to do. from around the world, men, women, young, old, British, Asian, wherever, it's just

an extraordinary performance. So, Michael, maybe someone could tell him, if anyone hears this. Maybe he's listening, I don't know, but anyway, I thought it was fantastic. Living their Dash, Tatsuya Nakadai, aged 92, Michael Manson. Widely considered to be one of the greatest actors of Japanese cinema. I did a whole bunch of films with Kurosaur. and you like a genuine legend. Michael Madsen died in July age 67.

Udo Kia died in November aged 81. Udo Kier, who should be burned into your memory, because when you were of a certain age, you went to see Flesh for Frankenstein. Do you remember this? We're at University Film Society. Yes. And Udo Kier is in 3D.

In 3D, that's right. It's one of the only really brilliant in 3D films. And Udo Kia, I think, was partly responsible for the line in which he puts his hand into the offal and he pulls a bunch of offal out of the cadaver and he dangles it towards the screen in 3D and he says, to no, yes, that's right,

to know death, Otto, you have to F life in Sago, Ladd. Does he say it in English like that? He does say it in English like that. He says it's in English language film, but he does it in that thing. And it's a, it was a parody. He was a pastiche of the most famous line in Last Tango in Paris in which Marlon Brando says something completely stupid, which I won't repeat because it's not repeatable.

But yes, it was laughing at Last Tango in Paris. I haven't seen it since 1978, but anyway, it did leave an impression, particularly the bit where the liver comes and wobbles in front of your eyes. Yeah, that's the bit. That's the bit. That's literally the bit. He's dangling the liver out of the thing. Marianne Faithful died age 78 Jimmy Cliff There's a documentary Marianne Faithful documentary Come out Broken English

which has been very well received Okay Jimmy Cliff died aged 81 Wow And again Really really important to remember that in terms of cinema

The harder they come Is one of the One of the The only movies That can be genuinely Be attributed With popularising internationally popularising

a musical form because the harder they come was the thing that introduced reggae to a vast number of people who hadn't come across it before. Absolutely. I mean, probably the greatest pop soundtrack of all time.

Yeah, I had it as an album in the week, actually, on Drive Time. It's just every track is as fresh as it was when it was originally recorded. Just absolute genius. Tom Stoppard, we've mentioned quite a few times and he's died very recently, of course, back in November, age to 88.

James on this email to us, Tom Stoppard's emotional insight, erudition, political depth and wit will be hugely missed. In addition to his brilliant plays, he also contributed to brilliant screenplays for Empire of the Sun, Shakespeare in Love, Parades End, Rosencrantz and Gilderston are dead and Brazil. And Brazil, yeah, no, he was an absolute key player in the Brazil script, yeah. And as we've learnt, responsible for various bits and pieces, like making, if Spielberg rings to improve a scene, and Tom Stup, I was in the shower, he'd still take the call and improve the scene whilst in the shower. Incredible.

Suleiman Sisei, director, dived 84. Yeah, I mean, one of the sort of the first generation of African filmmakers regarded as Africa's greatest living filmmaker during his career. Yeah, I mean, just again, an absolute legend. As is Terence Stamp, who died aged 87. Yeah. In fact, all these, these are, Terence Stam, 87, Robert Redford, 89, Diane Keaton, 79. You could legitimately put legend next to all of those.

Yeah, next to all of those. And I mean, you know, Terrant Stamp was in last night in Soho, you know, just a few years back. Robert Redford, we had the great privilege of interviewing on stage, and we always told the thing about his watch was set, like, was it, it was set half an hour fast because they knew he'd always be half an hour late, and yet he turned up, he turned up with a minute to go, and he said, do I have time to go and get a coffee? And you said, no. And then Diane Keaton, I think the thing that was so shocking was, you know, Diane Keaton, it sort of seemed to come out of nowhere. And I was genuinely, I was, I mean, I was, I was genuinely, you know, shocked when that happened. And you just look at the extent of her amazing career. You look at how brilliantly funny she was in, you know, in films like Sleeper and how amazing she is in Annie Hall, but then there's Reds. And, you know, I mean, I went back and watched Reds again just afterwards and just, just an amazing, an amazing screen presence. And as far as I can tell, I never, I never met her, for everyone who talked about, just she, I never, I never, I never,

heard anyone say a bad word about her, ever. It was like everyone seemed to love her. Rob Ryan, age, 78. Now, we've talked about Rob before. Here's a couple of emails. I think the reason why this is still, well, I'm staying the obvious, but it's reverberating because it's tapped into the political conversation in America and over here, you know, because he was such an activist, therefore the repercussions of what he stood for and the White House's response to it

means that this is something that is going to rumble on for a considerable amount of time. May I just say the White House's obscene response to it? Yeah. Jonathan Harley says, Stand by Me is perhaps my favorite film of all time and still to my mind the finest Stephen King

adaptation. I first saw it when my own 12 year old, when my own 12 year old life was still close enough to recognize myself in it. The friendships it captured felt uncannily true then, and they continue to do so now. Re-watching it doesn't simply entertain, it transports,

back to a place, a time, and a way of feeling that never quite leaves you. I once lent my DVD of Stand By Me to someone at work. When they left, the disc went with them. I suppose they couldn't part with it. The film drifted in and out of streaming services over the years, but I always missed the original director's commentary. This year, I finally bought the Blu-ray, which restored that, along with a wonderful feature of Corey Feldman and Will Wheaton,

watching the film with Rob Reiner and sharing memories as it plays. In the opening to the body, the Stephen King novella of which the film is based, King writes that the most important things are the hardest to say, that words diminish them. I return to that passage often. Like the film itself, it expresses something profound with extraordinary economy. At just 90 minutes, stand by me wastes nothing. No shot, no line of dialogue, no moment fails to matter.

It isn't easy in a handful of words to explain what that film and those performances mean to me or the impact Rob Reiner had on my own life, as King wrote, words diminished the most important things. And Simon Borowski Renov says Rob Reiner was so much more than this brilliant run of films, of course. He went on to make over 20 features, was a successful producer who co-founded Castle Rock Entertainment, a talented and very funny actor, a passionate activist and a man who seemed to live by Roger Ebert's mantra, that film is a machine that generates empathy but those seven perfect films across six different genres

at the start of his directing career helped shape both my adolescence and my passion for cinema and for that I will always be grateful we've lost the legends eventually Roger Ebert there there's a fantastic clip one of the many Rob Ryan of clips

which has done the rounds I don't know if you've seen it where he's obviously he's there's a conversation like an MK3D right he's on staging conversation and a Roger Ebert review of one of his films comes up and Roger Ebert hated it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And I think the review says, I hated it, hated it, hated it, hated it, hated it, hated it, everything about it, hated it's this, hated it's that. Yeah, yeah, I remember it, yeah. And then at the end, Rob Reiter says, well, if you read between the lines, I think he probably quite liked it. Anyway, thank you very much, Steve, for the emails on that. And as I said, I think that story is going to continue to, you know, to rumble on pretty much. Is that it? Are we done? Yeah, let me just say one thing is one of the subject of Rob Reiner. Yes.

And one of the best Rob Reiner jokes in which he is directing and acting is when he's being Marty DeBergy in This Is Spinal Tap. Yes. Or is they saying, in America, this is Spinal Tap, which is weird. And he's being Marty DeBerg. And obviously that character is sort of based on Martin Scorsese from the last waltz. But when he's doing the opening monologue, you know, when he's explaining, you know, when they got in touch with me and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, it's the one that ends up with, hey, but, you know, enough of my yakkin.

He does this absolutely brilliant thing, which is that he starts to fold his arms, and then he's obviously told by someone off camera to not fold, so he unfolds them. And it is one of the greatest bits of silent comedy. He's talking, but the gag is a silent gag. It's just so brilliantly done. I mean, he's absolutely note-perfect comic timing. And he is acting and obviously re-authored that bit as well, and directing that scene. And if you want proof of somebody who understands the language of cinema, just that tiny, tiny moment is by everybody remembers Stonehenge.

Everybody remembers this goes up to 11. Everybody remembers bizarre gardening accident. Marty DeBergey starting to cross and then being told to unfold his arms is just jean. Genius. Time to watch it again, I think. Yeah, always time to watch my old tap again. Correspondence at covenomeo.com. Take 2 has landed alongside the earth from which you plucked this particular podcast. Happy Feet. Happy Feet is going to be reviewed, is that? Yeah, Happy Feet is back, 20th anniversary. And lots of the joys of Patreon, so please sign up and join the club, and we'll be with you very shortly. Thank you.