Kermode & Mayo’s Take - Jackass: I thought Jonny Knoxville was an a***

Episode Date: June 25, 2026

The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. With Mark recording the show from the air-conditioned cool of a film festival in Croatia while the UK swelters, Simon bravely holds the fort back in showbiz north London as he chats to Minions creator Pierre Coffin about the new film, Minions and Monsters. For this week’s reviews, Mark dons his safety helmet and grabs a sick bucket for Jackass: Best & Last, the latest big-screen goodbye to Johnny Knoxville and the Jackass crew, packed with stunts, injuries and end-of-an-era nostalgia. It’s not for everyone (Simon) but will Mark indeed find it “best and last”, or a stunt too far? Back on safer ground 500 Miles comes under the spotlight. It’s a YA-novel adaptation in which two brothers run away from home and travel across land and sea to reach their grandfather in rural Ireland, encountering music, mishaps and buried family history along the way. Finally, A Private Life is a French-language mystery-thriller from Rebecca Zlotowski starring the always excellent Jodie Foster as a psychiatrist drawn into a patient’s death and a spiral of suspicion. And as ever, there’s box office chat (predictably dominated by Toy Story 5 this week), our always thought-provoking listener correspondence, and yes…hahahhahaha…. the Laughter Lift. You can contact the show by emailing [e-mail] or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo. 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] Timecodes: 00:00 Introduction 00:11:06 500 Miles review 00:16:59 Box Office top 10 00:31:16 Pierre Coffin interview 00:48:19 A Private Life review 00:56:14 Laughter Lift 01:02:31 Jackass: best and last review Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello? Hello, Simon Mayo. It's Mark Kermode. Password. Sorry? State the password. What password? Exactly what an imposter would say. Simon, it's Mark. We host a podcast together.

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Check the link in the description. What is that? Oh, yeah, it's a World Cup holder. Like the soccer tournament World Cup? Holder for the world. Fits every car, holds every cup. It has a Carvana logo? Carvana made it.

They buy and sell cars, so they made a car cup holder. So, uh, got any good cups lately? Used to. I just couldn't figure out where in the world to put them. The World Cup holder. Brought to you by Carvana. Proud sponsors of the World Cup Holder. Sign up today to win yours at cup-dash holder-togholtar 2026.com.

Not authorized or endorsed by FIFA, not a real product for parody and fair use purposes only. 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, shmestians. 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. So there was I slightly concerned that the fan that I've got running in this small bedroom was going to be all noisy and we'd get in the way of people's enjoyment.

And then I see that you have air conditioning. Okay, well, to be clear about this, Simon, I don't have air conditioning because, as you know, I live in an old chapel in Cornwall, but I'm not there. I'm in Croatia because it's the same as last year. It's the Pontilopood Film Festival. So I'm in a hotel room, which has got the most delicious air conditioning. And also, outside, the temperature is not what it is in London, which I've just looked on the app. And it says that London is basically on fire. Yeah.

Well, that's not quite, it's not quite right, but it's certainly, it's certainly tropical. When are you back? Back on Monday. Back on Monday for, you know, for screenings, first thing, 10 o'clock Monday morning. My guess is when you land, it's still going to be pretty steamy. The thing is the nights are very hot and the days are pushing 40. So it ain't no fun. And when we, you know, the heat wave of 76, which people talk, and I do remember the heat wave. of 1976, but I remember it only as a wonderful thing, you know, because it was just like a summer that went on forever. And now, because we know and understand more, it just feels scary. That's all. That's what I'm saying. I know. If only there was some way of explaining it in terms of global change. I mean, is that a, I don't know. Anyway, I suppose Croatia is a great

place to follow the World Cup, because, as you know, Croatia in England's group, so what, what you make of the World Cup so far from Croatia? Well, as you know, I'm not watching any of it. You're in Croatia. They love their football in Croatia, surely. I only got here last night, right? Okay, I arrived at 1 o'clock and they lost my luggage. So so far, that's been the thing that I've been focusing on.

Can I tell you about the film festival? Because it's really exciting. What have they lost then? Well, the bag with all the clothes. Of course, I carried with me all the recording equipment because having been in a lost luggage situation before, I know, to take. with me all the recording equipment. But all your pants are in your luggage.

Please don't put that image into any of the listeners' minds. Well, just saying they're thinking about it anyway. By the way, my door is open. Actually, you can see that the door is open because it has to be. So it may well be that child three, who's moved back in because it's cooler here than his flat. And the good lady ceramicist may well appear at some stage. as well thinking, why have you got your door open?

It can't be cool. Well, I mean, the upstairs room in your house is the hottest place I've ever been in my life. Yes, and you stayed there on the UK's hottest day a few years ago, which was 40-something. You walked from the tube, wearing exactly the same clothes, and you slept fine, as I recall, so. No, it was fine.

It's because I always felt very calm. Anyway, thank you for asking what I'm doing here at the festival. I'm doing a thing about, you know, the role of the critic. Yes. I'm talking to filmmakers. There's a whole brilliant music thread here that Susanna Perritch is running. They're doing this thing about Morricone's music, and they've got the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra

performing the music of Enia Morricone. That's on Sunday night, which is going to be brilliant. What is the point of a critic? I don't really know, I think, to sort of, you know, to sort of swan, to turn up at festivals and say, hello, you know, how interesting. Let me talk to you about some films, and now let's have some food. I've got screening of

One Love with the director Rinaldo Marcus Green Anyway, it's all going to be great It's going to be fabulous And I'm sure everybody else Will be talking about football But not me Are you going to be on stage?

Yeah Well, I mean on stage It's like it's in rooms And you sit around with other things It's a very intimate film festival It's very much for filmmakers And you know, to discuss filmmaking

And there's practical workshops And all that sort of stuff It's great, it's really good It's my idea of a film festival because it's very small and compact and intimate and everyone gets to spend time with each other. When we finish talking, I've just decided I'm going to go and stay in your chapel. Because the hottest it's getting today is 24. And so I think that would be quite a nice place to be.

In Cornwall? Have you left the key yet in your particular part? Okay. So have you left the keys under the dormant like normal? It's in the key safe and you know that you know that. know the combination. That's right. 30127, I think.

That's the money. Something like that. Yeah. Okay, that's good. So I'll be in there along with everybody else. What are you reviewing later when you get to do, you know, when we work out what the role of the critic is, what are you going to criticize? I'm going to critique.

I'm going to be reviewing 500 miles, which is an adaptation of a Y novel, a private life, which is a French language film starring Jodie Foster, who has that annoying ability to be brilliant in more than one language. And, and I know you've been waiting for this. Jackass, best and last. Now, I should say that Supergirl opens this Friday, but they didn't screen Supergirl until as late as possible, which was last night, Tuesday night,

at which point I was in the air. So we will review Supergirl next week, and we will reserve judgment as to why it is that they held back screenings of Supergirl until the last minute. Our special guest is Pierre Coffin, creator of the minions, and the writer and the director of the latest in the franchise, Manions and Monsters.

Exactly. A conversation with Pierre Kaufan on the way, and in take two. The Last Viking. Now, give me a correct pronunciation on Masmikelson. You always say it better than I do. Maz Magelson. Maz Magelson. And How to Live on Earth, which is a documentary presented,

narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch, who doesn't get to say the word penguin. Oh, okay. That's a shame, really. So, and you probably know all this anyway, but you can get take to add free by heading to our Patreon page. And it's the last week of our frankly scandalous and unapproved 90% off promotion, which runs until 2359 hours next Tuesday.

Just use the code June 90, Sister of Joe, at checkout, and acquire the ability to watch the production team, read out the most insane comments about us from the YouTube channel, plus loads more discussion of film and non-film stuff. Why would you not? We should also point out that immediately after this we are doing a live ultra, which will have happened by the time you're listening to this, but we haven't done it yet. Yes, in which case, Brother Jim, our monk, will have emailed in about a few things,

and then we'll take it from there. Now, there's an email from Judith, and there's a typo here, and unless I'm being really dumb, and I'll blame it on the heat, I'm not quite sure what she means. Anyway, Judy says, Dear Street Cat Bob and Mabel the Hawk, many thanks to the discombobulators on the team for their reverse peacock, which we played last week,

has elicited nothing more than mild irritation. Okay. Millie the Tabby, who is mildly irritated by everything, and moderate puzzlement from Kip the grey and white loaf, who meets the world in a permanent state of moderate puzzlement. Loaf? Loaf. Kip, the grey and white,

could that be full? And it's a typo? Oh. And I looked at loaf only, I mean, obviously it's a loaf of bread, but I thought maybe, Sloth? Sloth. What is, Kip is the grey and white what? It can't be a loaf.

So Simon Poole has written, it's the name for a cat pose where they tuck their paws underneath. So a grey and white cat. So they look a little, they look like a little loaf apparently. Okay. New to meet. Anyway, thank you, Judith,

who says, long-time listener, including Mark's audiobooks, fourth in the under 13th, just Mark's audio books, fourth in the under 13th's backstroke at the Parramatta High School Swimming Carnival, 1977, Vanguard Easter,

who can't find where to put the code to get the patron discount, and one of two pins on the map. Now, I would say Launston, Tasmania, on the Iwitterat, but apparently, because they're foreign, they say Launceston. Oh. Or Launceston.

But obviously, if you have any knowledge of British geography, you know it's Launston. Launston. No, in Tasmania, it's Launceston. Interesting, can I just say, don't be annoyed about her only listening to my audiobooks? She would listen to your audiobooks if you read them, but you don't. No, well, it's because I'm not an actor. No, I know, but that's fine. So it's not, there wasn't any snub in.

in that? It might not be intended, but it was certainly taken. As such. Evan, dear dancing at the disco bumper-de-bumper, wait a minute, where's my missing Rembrandt and he's not even the best Jared in the movie. Greetings from Dublin, Ireland. Thank you for helping us out there, Evan. In case you were thinking, in somewhere else. On the recent thread of animals sounding like infants in distress, Simon mentioned the cry of a fox sounding like a baby. Well, in Ireland, there's the Banshee, a female spirit, who acts as the omen of death. Legend had it that if you heard the cry of the banshee across the fields,

this was a harbinger of the fatal demise of your nearest and dearest. In reality, it was a fox. How is this film adjacent? Well, there's the banshees of Inesherin, of course. The fox's cry of Inisharing doesn't really have the same ring to it. But the banshee also features at the end of Darby O' Gill and the Little People, which scared the proverbial out of me as a kid. Have you heard of Darby O' Gill and the Little People?

I have, yes. I'm just trying to remember what the cry sounds like, though. And in Banshees of Inish, Sharon, there is a character, isn't there? There's a character who appears to be the banshee, the harbinger of death. Well, it's a fox. Anyway, Evan says, how is this exorcist adjacent? I'm not sure. I'll leave that one to mark.

It probably isn't. Well, any kind of weird cry or voice thing is obviously exorcist adjacent because so much of that is to do with the weird voice of Mercedes-McChambridge. I bet you Mercedes-McCambridge could have done a. a brilliant impression of a peacock. And probably the peacock backwards. Yeah, exactly. In fact, a possessed peacock. Yes, and a tortured fox and all of those.

Okay, so it's correspondence at codemeyer.com. That is our email for you to participate in this charade. What else do we have? Oh, yes, let's do a movie. Yeah, 500 miles, which is a bittersweet, tragicomic adaptation of what I think it must be a young adult novel by Mark Lowry. The novel was entitled Charlie and Me, 421 miles from home.

And here the 421 miles is rounded up to a kind of proclaimer friendly 500 miles. Script by Malcolm Campbell, directed by Morgan Matthews, who's got a background in documentaries, award-winning documentaries. Feature credits include X plus Y, brilliant young mind, and railway children return. So on the poster, Big Face, Bill Nye. So Bill Nyee is this West Vialan grandfather, whose Sheffield-based grandchildren, Finn, Roman Griffith Davis and Charlie, Dexter Sol Ansel, run away from home after hearing that their parents played rather well, I think, by Claire Dunn and Michael Sucher,

are splitting up, risking, splitting them up. And they have run away to go to see their grandfather in rural Ireland, which will involve a long trip. We learn through the voice over that Charlie was born prematurely, has health issues, and Finn has always felt fiercely protective of him, and this is putting a great weight on Finn, and it's his idea to run away in order to prevent them being split up. So the film flits backwards and forth in time from the present day in which they're doing this journey,

this 500 miles, to memories of the past being in Dingal, having a great time with their grandfather, everything being happy. But somewhere in between, the grandfather has done something terrible. We don't know what the terrible thing is, but we know that it means that the boys are no longer allowed to speak to him. So basically, it's a kind of time-traveling, Y.A. coming-of-age road and water movie in which the methods of transport will involve trains and boats

and inevitably horses. And you know that it's an emotional journey and that the miles travel, the psychological miles rather than just physical, and that, of course, the destination of all of this will have to be some kind of form of family reconciliation. On route, Finn meets up with a ukulele brandishing busker played by Maisie Williams. Now, I like Maisie Williams a lot, but I have to say it is a hard role not to be toe curling in. We first meet her on a train with the ukulele murdering the passenger.

And then later on, she takes a very... For clarification, she's not... No, not murdering a passenger. On the train. I am the passenger. like e-pop. Yes, exactly. So not murdering a passenger,

but murdering the passenger, which is, of course, a crucial plot difference. And then later on, she takes an enthusiastic swing at Road to Nowhere. And I have to say, it's funny because she says, yes, I've been playing the ukulele all my life,

and you think it's funny because it sound like you've been playing it five minutes. And then elsewhere, there's this kind of very tinkly piano score with strings coming into underscore tragedy. and there is a lot of kind of fairly straightforward fiddledy music choices. And for the most part, it's kind of amiably morkish sort of family adventure with darkness fair. But at the heart of it is this thing about what is the thing that happened.

And when we get to the thing that happened, it turns out to be the film's biggest problem because it's a sort of, it's a plot wild card, which, which in order, which I have to be honest, really doesn't work for me and provides the biggest tonal challenge. And the reason it provides a big tonal challenge is that essentially I think that what happens is it makes it sort of too traumatic for the younger viewers and too just trite for the older viewers. So it's like there is a film going on that's sort of derailed by the, by the ambition of what, of what the revelation needs to be. That aside, the location work is, I mean, obviously the locations look

absolutely fantastic. It's a somewhat cozy vision of, I mean, you remember we were talking before about it's impossible to have Irish pubs that you go into in which there isn't somebody standing at the bar and immediately somebody else starts playing, and everybody's playing music. Always. Yeah, there is a little bit of that. And there's some magical dolphins and, you know, that I'm not entirely happy with either. I think. I think the tricks. No, no, no. It's just, it's just an appearance of aquatic life that's, that kind of becomes symbolic of, you know, of, of, of the possibility of future redemption. So I think the problem is that it's tonally trying to balance two different things. One of them is sort of, you know, actually well played sentimentality. And the other is something deeper, something darker, which I think, which may may work in the source novel, which I haven't read. I think it doesn't work on film. I think in the air. I think in the air, end, it kind of, it makes it fall apart. But there are some nice performances. And to my,

you know, to my sort of slightly jaded sensibility, there were moments in it when I was swept along by, I mean, particularly the young kids, they're great. I mean, they're really good. And I really like being in their company. I just think it's got a tonal shift that it doesn't, it doesn't know how to manage and doesn't. Okay. Correspondence at codenade.com. If you see that and want to take issue with Mark or just agree with him. Yeah, I disagree, yeah. Yeah, drops an email. Take issue.

Okay, Snickson. Still to come after the break, Mark is talking about jackass, best and last, and a private life. And our special guest is Pierre Coffan, the inventor of the minions. Butem. Hello, Simon Mayo. Hello, Mark.

I see your lovely new bookshelves haven't buckled yet. There's a particularly weighty and wise-looking one by an in Kermode on there too. True, but getting them up nearly buckled me. Even giving up and hiring someone was a full-time job. You should have used TaskRabbit. It's an online marketplace available in the UK that connects you with skilled, reliable local freelancers called Taskers who can help with everything from furniture assembly and home repairs to moving, gardening and more.

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Or with the TaskRabbit app. That's taskrabbit.com. UK, code take. Terms and conditions apply. Righty-ho, box office top 10. Hang on, before you do that, can I just say that in the very quick, what would have been an ad break for anyone who's hydration break yeah yeah child three made an

appearance and i have to say child three it's like the old morganman wise joke open the fridge light goes on he'll do five minutes never knowingly undersold yeah no he'll only do 10 now five is he doesn't do five 10 he'll do it at five no i don't think so that's for the up and coming 12. Yes. Right, this is Gareth in Birkenhead. After listening to Mark's review of Evio Blenai, do we settle on that?

Well, what we said was it is pronounced different ways depending on where you're from. I had the director and star on the MK3D show at the BFI, and they said, it really depends whether you're from there or is from somewhere. I said, well, how would I say it? And they said, well, you should probably say effie a blenah like that.

And I said, well, I can't do that and sound, convincing. They said, no, well, just in that case, just take a punt. Evio Blaineye then. I had to search it out, even though that meant finding a place to see it during a business trip. And I saw it at home in Manchester on Monday. That's great. As in home, capital age, not at his home. At the end, I first thought, is that it? But it stayed with me so much so that when I woke up at hour past four in the morning, it suddenly clicked. The opening felt overwhelming, almost like an assault on the senses. And the whole film is a roller coaster.

The lead, chapeau to Laysa Gwenthean, is brilliantly conflicted, a real Jekyll and Hyde. You're constantly torn between empathy and frustration. As Evie stumbles through situations, many of her own making and somehow finds a conclusion. It also felt personal. My grandfather left Tanagrici in the 1920s for Liverpool, rather than face the slate minds. the kind of difficult choice people there still face. Evie feels like part of that same story. The music and shifting cinematography added to real depth,

a wonderful film, down with the down stuff and up with the uppity stuff. But it just, oh, and thanks for blah, blah, blah, blah, keep out of good work from Gareth. So Gareth, thank you very much indeed for FVBLA, but it's not in the chart as far as it. No, but I'm really glad you sort it out, and I'm really glad you saw it because I think it is remarkable film.

I think it is one of the films of the year. That central performance by Lisa, and she was, she explained to me that it's Gwenghian like that, which I can't do easily, but Lisa Gwenghian, she is fantastic. I mean, it's based on a one-woman play, and although obviously there's an ensemble cast in the film, she really carries it, and she is amazing in that role. So the rest of the chart, we'll zip on through to number one, which is what most of the correspondence is. Then there'll be more in the overflow car park in take two. Anyway, number 12 is Virginia Wool's Night and Day.

Check out our interview with Tim Sports. from last week who it was in very fine form was also on his boat, which made everything very exciting. I mean, I think Nighting Day is really good. I think it works really well. It's called Virginia Woolf's Night and Day, although it departs very much from the text and goes off in its own ways. But I think it's really well directed by Tina Gravy. And yeah, I encourage people to seek it out. It's a small release, but well worth checking out. The number 10 is The Devil Wears Prada 2? Week 8 in the chart. So this is probably the last time in the top 10.

UK number nine is Cocktail 2. So this wasn't press screened. This opened last week. This is an Indian Hindi language, romantic comedy drama. If anyone's seen it, send us a review. Eight here, seven over there, the baby Yoda film. Yeah. I mean, what else is there to say other than that your child won, who's a huge fan, quite liked it but thought it was TV episodes strung together? UK number 7, number 10 in America is Michael. Apparently now the most financially successful, or box office successful music biopic, pop music biopic of Evs, which just goes to show.

It's a bulletproof movie. You know, it's not a very good movie. It's a very functional movie, but it has a gaping hole at the heart of it, but it has been hugely successful. Masters of the Universe is six here and six over there. Right. Shirely, shiny, colourful, not much sub-examination. but entertaining. Number five is backrooms.

Which has done terrifically well. I mean, I really liked it. You don't need to know anything about the web series beforehand. A couple of people have said to me, do I need to have any of the back story? No, you don't.

If you do, this won't contradict anything in the web series, but you can go in completely blind as I did when I saw, I only saw the web stuff afterwards. But I think it's great. Scary movies in number four? I mean, yeah, I, yeah, no.

The top three in America is the same as the top three in the UK. Three is obsession. Which is fantastic and cost thrumpence and has done terrifically well. Disclosure Day is it number two? Which didn't cost thrumpence and has done, you know, reasonably well, but obviously in comparative terms has been outstripped by these sort of younger, cheaper directors. And the box office number one, and once again it is very number one. It's like 15 million as opposed to 1 million for Disclosure Day. Toy Story 5.

Yes. So let's zip through some of these. Go ahead. Tom Stewart, as someone who has watched Toy Story in real time, beginning with the first film when I was 10, I am so very disappointed in what I just watched in Toy Story 5. I avoided Mark's review, comma, until after watching the film. Okay.

agree completely. It didn't even feel like Toy Story 5. It felt like a side story in the mold of Rogue 1 in the Star Wars universe. Woody and Buzz were supporting characters. You've got a friend in me was barely used. Perhaps I could have been more forgiving if it had been advertised as Jesse's story rather than being part of the almost impeccable Toy Story lineage. It didn't even really pick up where Toy Story 4 left off. I thought we were going to see how Woody makes it back to the rest of the group and ultimately finds his way back to Andy and then emotionally hands Woody to his son. I went to the cinema on Father's Day with my wife and two children with tissues in my pocket at the ready, expecting this to be the tale to be told. But I'm sadden to say it was more a case of trying to stay awake. I now feel I have a messy, snotty, Toy Story 3 cry built up inside of me and I'm going to need to find another outlet. I don't even remember laughing in the film. More than sad, more than disappointed, more than angry, I feel grieved. Says Tom Stewart. Carl says, Dear Mr. Potato Head.

Mrs. Potato Head. On the topic of Toy Story, and after hearing Mark's thoughts on the pod last week, I wanted to share my take on the theme of tech versus toys. Yes, it felt like an unnecessary sequel at times with a thin plot and more confusion than laughs. But as a mid-30s millennial, I wondered if the film isn't really for children at all, but for those of us returning for nostalgia while starting families of our own. As teenagers, we were the first left alone on the early internet. An odd, fascinating space our parents didn't understand. Somewhere along the way, we felt that we left that version of the internet behind. Now, as we raise children, it's becoming something darker and more addictive, something we barely recognize. Watching Toy Story 5,

it struck me how much the adult seemed to be tethered to it. Combined with the film's muted tone and loose logic, it feels less like a children's story and more like a reflection of a generation still trying to make sense of what we created, down with heat waves and up with kings of the north, do you want, Carl? You're either king of the north or you're not. They can't be more than one, because if there are more than one, they'll have to fight. Anyway, that's not what you're writing about. But an interesting point from a mid-30s millennial. Yeah. I mean, I, can I just say on the subject of that? I wish that I felt that that was what it was about. But my problem was I didn't, I didn't even think it was about that. I thought, I, I, I have a

real problem with, with how little I think Toy Story 5 is about, which you cannot say of any of the previous ones. Even Toy Story 4 had more subtext than this. It is something to explain to those of children of a certain age that, that the internet when it started was that place that Carl spoke about. No, that is, you know, he is absolutely right. And that thing about which our parents didn't, you know, which parents didn't understand. And it's, there was the analogy used, wasn't it? Which was just like, it was like, you know, opening up a highway and saying, go and wander across that and see how it goes. You know, yeah, just very, very strange. But I think the problem with Toy Story 5, particularly where we are in that debate at the moment,

is that it isn't adding anything. It feels like a very, very old-fashioned discussion of an inverted commas new issue. Jim, from Southampton, this past Thursday, we went on mass as a family, 10 in total to see Toy Story 5 at the showcase in South Hamlet. First of all, how fantastic that there is something that you can go. And this, I would say, would be the perfect environment for which to find all the good. And now I don't know what this email is about to say, but this sounds to me like the ideal viewing environment to see all the best in the movie. We took over the back row of a packed screening,

all excited to see the latest installment. The ages that attended were 71, 43, 39, 19, 19, 16, 14, 8, 7, 5 and 3. Wow. I wonder if the 71-year-old or the 3-year-old was the most trouble, but both needed feeding just to keep going. That's less of a family outing, more of a focus group. That is incredible, isn't it really?

Okay, well, first of all, Jim, I'm impressed. Yes. Second point, here we go. This excitement quickly turned into utter confusion within the first 10 minutes. The opening felt like it was going to be an in-movie advert for the the new Buzz Lightyear toy, but no, this was the actual start of the movie. This confusion continued amongst us grownups with an all-over-the-place narrative more confusing than Tenet.

Add in the, are you crying yet? Are you crying now? Emotionally forced moments. And the complete extinction of any soul or magic, I left feeling genuinely grumpy, the exact opposite of how I'm supposed to feel at the end of a Pixar movie. Maybe at 43 I have finally outgrown this franchise that I had grown up with. Maybe this is what the next generation wants. Well, all I can say is that I saw multiple children walking around, going to the toilet,

and a complete disengagement with what was happening on screen. The most scathing review came from my child, from my child three. Quote, can we go home and watch the proper one now? Love and miss the show, Steve. Thank you, Jim. Okay. Can we go home and watch the proper one? Yeah, that in a nutshell is exactly it.

Well, two things. Firstly, I'm sorry that you're first of, you're sorry. that your family outing was not better than that. I have to say I'm kind of slightly relieved to hear this because, you know, when I reviewed the film, I had no idea what anybody else thought of it, and I was very down on it. And I felt the same thing about, you know, disappointment turning to kind of crossness. But to have gone with an age group that goes from 30 to, what do you want, 71 was the top. Seventy-three to three. And to come away with that, yes, exactly. The plot is all over the place. The emotional bits are button pushing, and can we go home and watch the proper one?

That's it. That's the perfect review. Finally, Andy Silman just wanted to share with you something that my daughter told me about her taking my seven-year-old grandson to see Toy Story 5. He said it was 10 out of 10. But what was more interesting was that he initiated a conversation about how much time he was spending on his tablet or on his games console. He said that he thinks he should be spending less time on those and more time playing with the other toys. I thought that if that message gets across to more younger children, then that's not a bad thing. Keep up the good work, down with the usual nonsense and up with everything that's positive.

Okay, absolutely. Well, there's an interesting take for someone who liked the film and was determined to spend more time with other toys. Yeah, well, that is an entirely good thing. And if the film provoked that reaction in somebody, then good for it. More discussion on current films including Toy Story 5 in the Overflow car park in Take 2, available available via Patreon. And in today's Take Ultra, available exclusively to Patreon Ultras, unless I've melted, which Mark won't, you might have to do it on his own because he has air conditioning.

It's lovely and cool here. It's just really, it's refreshingly crisp. It'll be time for Carpey, Stream. Your guide to all the things you can't miss out on streaming services this July, please don't use the June 90 discount code to get 90% of it. off ultra-tier membership until the end of the month because we'd be making a loss. And you wouldn't want that. So our guest this week is Pierre Coffin, the French animator, voice actor, director,

producer and writer, and best known for co-directing four films in the Despicable Me franchise, as well as being the voice and creator of the minions. You'll hear my conversation with Pierre Coffin after this clip from the film. By the way, I'm Gary Orkham Oliver Magma Iqabod the Deceiver. But my friends just call me Gumi for short. Oh, so James. Oh, James. Rolls off the face tendrils.

James. Is that it Henry? Hey, hello. Henry. Oh, I like it. It sounds tough and rugged. It's like, oh, look out. Here comes Henry.

And I'll add. Ed. Ad. Asante. That's a clip from Minions and Monsters. it was written and directed and voiced a lot by Pierre Coffin, who is our guest. Hello, Pierre, how are you, sir? Hello, good, good. Very nice. Thank you for having me. Well, it's very nice to talk to you again. Congratulations on a joy-filled 90-minute cinematic experience. Everyone's going to have a hoot, I think,

and also, intriguingly, I think it's going to get to the end. People are going to say, I need to go in and see that again, because I think I missed half the gags. So anyway, that's my opening statement. Introduces to minions and monsters. Where are we with this film? So this film comes from a place of me not wanting to do minion movies anymore. Yeah, because I've done three despicable me's, one minion movie, and then I sort of helped out on the others in terms of voicing.

But I really, you know, I didn't want to do one more of the same. But one day, Chris Maldonbury, the producer, called me and said like, okay, you're going to say no, I know, blah, blah, blah. But hear me out, and if you could help me, that would be great. And so he pitched me the idea of like minions wanting to make a movie, a monster movie, summoning a monster or building one or wasn't quite sure. And then, you know, the monster would turn against the minions and start destroying Earth and the minions would have to, you know, sort of correct their blunder once again.

And he had me at Minions wanting to make a movie because from that moment onwards, I sort of knew that I wanted it to, if I was doing it, I wanted it to happen in the Hollywood in the 20s when this film became, when film became an industry and I could reference like people coming over

from East Germany and building studios and making films. There was so much context that I knew that I could get inspiration from just to nourish, just to surround the minions and putting the minions in that context would provide me with sufficient matter to make this new movie a hopefully original and hopefully a little bit less like the others. And did you make the right decision, Pierre, having decided that you didn't want to make any more movies, were you always convinced that you made the right decision to make?

Were there any moments when you thought, what have I done? Well, I'm asking that myself now that the movie is about to come out, yes. Just because I'm wondering, like, is it funny enough? This thing is more of a timepiece. So children maybe will not get that aspect of things. But then I tried staying faithful also to what made dominions to minions. So I guess it's more a question for you than for me. Okay.

Well, like I said, I think I want to go and see it again because the gags come so fast that you need to sort of go back just to write them all down. I think it starts with a group of people being shown around, one of the Hollywood studios. And then the tale is told of the two original minions around which this whole story begins. Who are the main minions that we follow through this story, Pierre? So the main protagonists of this story are two minions called Henry and James. and James is the creative one. I really wanted to, at the core of this movie,

the core of this movie is just friendship between two minions. They meet, they befriend, they become best friends, and then because of James' creativity, he likes to draw us cult, and ultimately when he discovers cinema, he wants to make this movie. Well, that sort of breaks their friendship. But then in the end, obviously,

their friendship is going to be back again, and in the process, they're going to save the earth and the universe. So there is this silliness on top of that very serious thing. James, the minion who is drawing all the time. Is that you, Pierre, because that's what you used to do? I don't know. Yeah, that's what I used to do.

But it could be, I think, anyone with a creative knack, I guess, like a musician or sculptor, whatever, I think lives that sort of thing, like lives for his passion, but not sure that he's going to be ever recognized one day and gets in a way of like friendship or marriage or whatever. I mean, that's the lot of anyone being creative. I think, yeah, I've read stuff that this was movie about me,

but I don't think it's, I don't think it's me. And the making of the voices, and you are the voice of the minions, what is, just takes through the mechanical process of that. Do you speak in the same way and then it's adjusted later on? Or how do you go about voicing these different? It's a multi-step thing because on this movie I got to write. So I put them directly in a context where the context would be helpful to understand what the dialogue would be about.

So that was what we learned over like a couple of, almost a couple of decades now. So it's a multi-step process where I write a scene in this particular instance. I know what the scene is about. I know what if there is a conflict, I know what it is about. And so I know that I need to find like a little music to say like, okay, well, there's a minion who, for instance, is a leader and doesn't want, they've been fired from making films, and that minion wants to go back to finding like a new boss, but there are three minions who want to continue making a movie.

So there's this argument that's just dialogue-based, that what we found, a little bit of physical comedy, but it's mostly dialogue-based, and hopefully you get through the, melodies of each character's dialogue that there is a conflict about this and that, and that there is going to be a bridge that's being cut at that particular moment. But do you do different voices for Henry and James, or is that altered? No, no. I mean, in the process of things, it's just me being recorded in slow motion, play back in real time, and that's when the pitch sort of appears,

the high-pitched voice. And as for recognizing different characters, I need to modulate and act, I guess, like differently for each character. Like we have this Dick character who's a minion and the minion antagonist. And he's stern and very, you know, not really nice sounding. Obviously, every word that comes out of his mouth doesn't seem like a compliment. And the other guys are more pleading. And so there's that contrast also that helps out.

And in the way I guess I perform hopefully. And with the animation, you get, you know, what everyone is saying. What does a screenplay for a film like this look like? It's all written in English. That's one of the things also we learned. Because initially I started writing directly in Minionese, like all the dialogue. But then we quickly noticed that no one else could read it except us, which was nice and not nice at the same time. And so in this one, we went directly to English and then went gradually to Minionese as we went to many knees as we went to

storyboards. And the script is constantly rewritten for three years up until, I don't know, like four months before the end of the movie, but it gets constantly tweaked and, um, and massaged. Maybe it's because I've just got the World Cup on the brain, Pierre, but did I pick up reference to Mbapapé and Platini? Yes. Okay. So, but you're having a lot of, you're having a lot of fun here. Yeah. I mean, it's not really, I'm not sure you go to football directly. I'm not sure people know Platini anymore.

So it's all about, it's all about, you know, finding a word that sounds minionese. I'm saying Joe Leap also, by the way, like at the very beginning of the movie. And does the minionese change in any different regions around the world? Does it alter? Yes, it is altered and it's all altered by me because I heard what. people did in all these different countries, and I asked them to stop doing it

because it felt like they were not understanding the process properly. And so what happens at the end of each movie is that apparently I say a lot of swear words like in different languages. So all these different countries tell me that I shouldn't not say that. So I have to find like these little alternatives

because somehow I name a nameable body parts here and there and you know whatever and then i spent two other weeks just saying words appropriate to each country where like plot points like in this instance i have the minions say a lot a big boss big boss because you know they're searching for their ultimate bus all the time but in um south american countries they preferred that i say like a grande hefe grande hefe so i have to do all that in all these different languages, except Chinese because I really can't Chinese. And why do the minions constantly look for the most evil person to work for? What's that all about?

That's called retro engineering, because we did despicable me and we sort of discovered that the minions were working for this character grew in that first movie. And so we found it with Brian Lynch, my co-writer, we found that it'd be funny to have them to create this mythology of them wanting to always serve the most evil master they could find. And we established that with the first minion movie as a short opening credit sequence where we see these yellow little cells following this black cell, which is clearly eating all the other ones. And then we go from there and show the evolution of them,

yellow creatures following the bigger and baddest creatures. Yeah, and speaking of baddest creatures, we end up with a huge, blubbery, orange beast. I wonder what you're trying to... Irene. Yes, well, you call it Irene. I think most people might be thinking you're trying to say something else. What am I trying to say? About another orange beast who lives in the White House.

Oh, my God. It never occurred to you? No, never. You're the first one to bring it up. No, no, really not. Oh, I won't be the last. Let me tell you, I won't be the last to mention it. So what are the things that you, or maybe one thing,

that you would like us to know about this film that you wish we did, right? Because I'm sure that this is a labor of love has taken you many, many years. What do you think we should understand that we probably don't understand about the making of a Minion's film? Man, that's a hard one. I mean, the thing I think that people should know is that the script is in constant, evolution because again when you make these sort of films you're sort of asking the audience

to pay a little attention to what's happening otherwise you don't understand like you know it's not something where you could start cooking or doing something else and then you're listening to the movie that doesn't work because the voice and the

understanding of the action goes through multiple aspect of the filmmaking thing like the camera angles what the characters that are actually doing with their bodies. And so sometimes I write a scene where, well, it's not working. I can't convey what the script is needed to convey. So I need to change everything, like the context, the characters that are talking, prop them.

That's how at a certain point there's a million antagonist called Dick, properly named Dick. Yes. And he's, we needed to have, we realized that the. middle of the movie that we needed to recognize him. So that's when we started giving him a stick or pipe because he loses a stick at some point. And so this was a figure of authority. And so we had to retroactively put a stick back in at the beginning of the movie. And just has to recognize him.

So it's a constant, it's the chance that we get making an animated movie is that we have three years to do it and we have relatively, you know, a relatively comfortable budget to be able to swivel things around and change things to make them better, hopefully. Last question, Pierre. Imagine for the moment I'm the head of Universal and I'm in the hotel there with you and I've got a great idea for another Minions film. What does Pierre Confant say? Pierre Kaufan is at a stage where he doesn't know if he wants to make another movie again. And it would have to be like a really, really, really good pitch. Because that one was, and that one really clicked.

At the third word that Chris Maldondry said, I knew that I wanted to do that movie. And I knew that I had so many ideas to fillet it with that I knew I should do it. Well, congratulations on Minions and Monsters. It's a hoot. I need to go and see it again. Pierre, thank you so much for your time. Merci. Yeah, thank you for having me.

Thank you. Yes. Oh, well. The repressable, Pierre Cofin, very entertaining, could have spoken to him for a lot, long, he had lots to say. When I asked a question about that, because there's this orange sort of blubbery thing that I don't think,

I don't think it's a film you can spoil, wanders through, squashing everything, taking everything over, and I said, I wondered if he had another agenda, or what he was trying to say, he genuinely appeared baffled at that point. Okay. But listening back to it,

I, I think that's just the answer that he had to give. That a movie in which the baddest thing on the planet is a gelatinous orange blob eating the world. By the way, the Mbapé Plattini references football. Yeah, didn't get that. What I did get, which made me laugh out loud, was when he went in the scene, it's not working. And in his own conversation, he goes, pf, put them. What's interesting is that even though they speak in minionese, it's still very French.

Maybe it's because we know that Pierre Confant is French and he's a French animator, etc., etc. But if this was Pixar, they would have done this, their minions would be different. Yes. I mean, honestly, I think one of the things that you got from that conversation is just how complicated this is. I love the idea that the original scripts were written in minionese and nobody else could understand them. So now they write them in English so that other people can understand them. But I think it's so easy to, I mean, I should say,

I've seen the new minions movie. We'll review it next week. I'm not meant to review it now. But it's so easy to underestimate how hard it is to do slapstick comedy and how hard it is to do absurdist verbal comedy. And the level of talent involved in it is, astonishing. And I also, when he said this is not the kind of film you could watch while you're cooking, well, firstly, why would you look away? Because whatever anyone thinks of the movie, and I said,

we'll review it next week, and I'm trying hard not to give away what I think about it, although I think I'm not doing a very good job of keeping it under wraps. Yeah, I think you love it. It is probably the most sinny literate film you'll see this year. Yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes. That's why I said, Tim, I need to go and see it again, because whilst you're admiring the chaplain, and the Buster Keaton, you've missed a couple of other things. Yeah. Yeah, it's just there is a gag every three seconds. And I saw it in Dave Norris's screening room, and I was on my own.

And I laughed like an idiot the whole way through. So to be reviewed next week, this is the new Minions and Monsters, a film that obviously Piacovan didn't want to make, but was very easily persuaded by the... by the sound of it. Correspondence at Kevin Mellar.com, so you can't review that this week. What can you review?

A private life, Vivé, which is a satirical French mystery, romance, thriller, psychodrama, hybrid, directing co-written by Rebecca Zatowski, starring a Lumier Award nominated and French-speaking Jodie Foster, brilliant in more than one language. How annoying.

alongside Daniel Toy, Maca Amarik, Vincent Lacost. So she plays Dr. Lillian Steiner, who is a Jewish-American psychiatrist working from her home in Paris. She's very insular. She's estranged from her husband, from her son,

from her grandchild, who she refuses to even hold. In the opening moments, there's a great scene in which a patient comes in and he says, I'm ending my sessions with you. So I came to see you years and years ago because I wanted to give up smoking. I didn't end up doing that. We ended up doing years and years of

psychoanalysis. Well, the other day, I went to a hypnotist, spent 20 minutes with them, they stopped me smoking. So I'm not going to do any more of this. And I think I'm going to sue you for the years that I've wasted coming here to be psychoanalysis. So that's the first thing that happens. The second thing that happens is she's sideswiped by news of the death of a patient with whom she seemed to have a very good relationship, Valerie. Valerie's husband, Simone, blames her for Lillian's death because it appears to have been death by suicide. Meanwhile, Valerie's daughter says that the pills that were used for the apparent suicide were the pills that was prescribed by Lillian and that a cryptic message was left on the prescription. Now, if Lillian feels any guilt about this, did she miss something?

You know, she was psychoanalysed, but did she miss this? She doesn't appear to show it. However, she develops this weird condition whereby her eyes keep weeping, so it seems that she's constantly crying, and she's fed up with this. So she visits the hypnotherapist who cured the smoking very skeptically and says, look, I don't believe in any of this, but I really need to stop this happening. And she is then hypnotized, and during hypnosis, has this dreamy vision. You're going to hear a clip from the trailer in a moment,

which is in French, which is why I'm having to do so much explaining, has this dreamy vision of herself playing in an orchestra in Nazi-occupied Paris with the patient as her mistress and the husband as the conductor who then pulls a gun. Anyway, here is a, as I said, non-English-language clip. So you can hear from that kind of, you know, the slightly satirical tone of it all, it's, you know, it's mystery, it's all strange, but, you know, it's also, it's a kind of, it's on the edge of satire and the edge of comedy, but there's other stuff going on.

So what happens is, essentially, she becomes increasingly convinced that there's a conspiracy that somehow Valerie was murdered, but maybe a member of the family, and she starts to go down this paranoid rabbit hole. She confides in her ex who can't decide whether she's onto something, or whether she's just going crazy. And the film then plays out as this, you know, how much of this is real, how much of this is imagined. So it is a strange mix of psychodrama, thriller, satire,

but there's also this kind of rom-com playfulness, her relationship with her estranged partner, which is beautifully done. And then this genuinely surreal paranoia. I've read a couple of things, because the film's, the film played in Cannes last year out of competition, And a couple of people call it Hitchcockian. Basically, when people say Hitchcockian now, it doesn't mean Hitchcockian. It's just kind of a short hand for anything in which there are a couple of warring tension elements. I don't think it's Hitchcockian. I think it's, that emphasizes the mystery element of it. I think it is much more kind of absurdist character study, like a kind of a gently satirical portrait of bourgeois naval gazing that pokes fun at psychoanalysis and pokes fun at psychoanalysis and pokes fun at, sort of middle-class values, but at the same time uses the psychoanalysis as the engine of the

plot. And I think in other hands, it could have been awful. As it is, it's very entertaining. I mean, Jodie Foster, does Jody Foster do bad things ever? Can you remember the last time she was actually bad in a film? No, and she's not, there's not a lot of Jody Foster around these days, but, no, I can't remember her being a turkey. So she's great. And the relationship between her and the character played by Daniel O'Otoe is just so nicely done and so nicely done that you find yourself going along with the preposterous plot twists because you like being in the company of these people, even though one of them is quite annoying. And that sort of sees it through me. The whole thing is predicated on the idea that all of this might be nothing.

It might just be the projection of something. You know, what's the phrase physician heal myself? So here is somebody who is telling people how to sort out their problems and all the rest of it, but clearly has absolutely no handle on their own issues. But there is also, as I said, this thing about this estranged couple who still clearly love each other. There's one scene in which they meet up and they get kind of flirtily drunk together. And then the son sees them kissing and he's outrace. He says, your breakup ruined my childhood.

And now you're doing this what you're up to. So, I mean, it's very slickly directed, and that slickness adds a kind of, you know, glossy pleasure to it. So it's very, very easy on the eye. And as I said, it really shouldn't work. It really should just fall flat on its face, particularly when one bears in mind, and this will come up again in take two, that comedy and satire are often very sort of nation-specific. And, you know, we've all heard, you know, French comedies that aren't funny and German comedies that aren't funny because you're not French or you're not German.

Well, I said, this isn't a comedy. It is technically a mystery, suspense, psychodrama thriller with a satirical edge to it. But I really enjoyed it, and I think I really enjoyed it because it's played so well, and applaud it to Jodie Foster. I just, you just sit there and go, oh, okay, all right, she's really good, isn't she?

Yeah. And when I said, I can't remember her being a turkey. I suspect if she was playing a turkey, she'd be very good at it. She'd be very good as a turkey. I met with she hadn't been in a turkey. Anyway, so I'm quite fond of bourgeois navel-gazing, so this sounds quite fun.

Precisely, and honestly, as somebody who is, you know, both bourgeois and navel-gazing and spent a long time in psychoanalysis, it's a thumbs up from me. Okay, so that is called A Private Life. Before we get to Mark's review, Jackass, Best and Last, a quick reminder that in Take 2, you can join five-question Film Club.

Three questions, Your Majesty. And vote on which films you'd like, Mark, and I'd do an introduction too. Head to Patreon to sign up to get that ad-free. Films we've already covered include the piano with Nail and I, the Goonies, train spotting and The Thing. So that's all happening over on Patreon. Now, before we get to the Laughter Lift,

yes. I feel as though this is not suitable for minors. Okay. As in mine, ors. Okay. So I think the redacta is taking us into difficult territory. Okay. Okay. So I'm just saying that if anybody, you know, if they're listening in the car with youngsters, then maybe, I mean, it may well be absolutely fine, and maybe I'm just being overly sensitive. But here we go, into the laughter lift.

You also probably know the joke anyway, because it's been told numerous times. But hey, Mark, you know, last week, Grandpa Mayo's World War II joke was very popular. So I thought people would appreciate another one of his stories. Excellent. For the purposes of this joke, Grandpa Mayer was a Spitfire pilot and was invited to speak in a church hall about his war experiences. Ready? Go on. During the Battle of Britain in 1940, it was really tough, he said. The Luftwaffe were very strong.

One day, out of the clouds, these fockers appeared. There were a few gasps from the audience, and several of the children began to giggle. I looked up and I realized that two of the fockers were directly above me. I aimed at the first one and shot him down. By then, though, the other focker was right. on my tail. This point several of the elderly ladies of the church were blushing with embarrassment. The girls were giggling and the boys laughing loudly. The vicar finally stood up and said, I think I should point out that Wing Commander Mayo is referring to the Fokker Wolf FW19,

which was the name of the German fighter plane. Yes, that's true, says Wing Commander Mayer, but these foggers were flying mesher smits. That's a good joke. That is actually a good joke, I didn't see it coming. Yes. I heard that as a Douglas Bader joke. And it may well be a true story, but I don't know. So anyway, you didn't see that coming. Okay, well, I didn't see that coming.

Like the Messerschmitt's overhead, I didn't see that coming. What is still to come, Mark? Jackass best and last. Okay. And we have a rogue Watts on as well on the way. Okay. Okay, so Jackass in just a second. Email from James Heron, who, as you'll know, Mark,

is the director and programmer of the Toronto Japanese film festival. Oh, excellent. Okay. Are we being invited? I haven't noticed that bit. All expenses paid, hotel, business class? Probably air conditioning. I'm there.

The air conditioning here's fabulous. How is it in your room? Well, the fan is working over time again. It's just, you know, it's recycling the fetid, stinking, moisture-ridden air. But it's making me slightly happier. It's cool as a mountain breeze in this hotel room in Croatia. He says, Dear Eager Noish Itashi, I would just like to speak to your question about Japanese football supporters cleaning up the stand.

Oh yes. Which you mentioned last week. And whether that applied to cinema audiences as well. It's because there have been many famous occurrences where the Japanese supporters stay after the match and clear up the stadium. I've been traveling back and forth to Japan for at least a couple of decades on the Japanese supporters. cinema-related business, says James. And I see many films while I'm there. I don't recall seeing Japanese audience members cleaning up after one another, simply because they do such a great job of cleaning up after themselves. People take their garbage outside of the cinema and dispose of it

in the correct receptacles, all very civilized and code-compliant. Another interesting point is that Japanese audiences, out of respect for the filmmakers, tend to stay in their seats until the absolute end of the credits. We occasionally struggle with films at our own festival here in Canada because Western audiences, at least a large portion of them, tend to try and slip out while the credits are running. We often have to explain this to visiting Japanese filmmakers so they understand there is no disrespect intended, simply a different cinema culture custom. Down with all the bad things and up with all the good things. Well, which is good, but I have to say with Marvel films and things like that, they really do stretch that.

you know, if you are one of the persons that tends to hang around, I mean, I know they put like a little sketch at the end, but really, when the credits are going for 10 minutes, does anyone really state for that? Well, yes, more people probably than you would imagine. But I just, I love the idea of just a cultural norm being, of course you clean up after yourself, because it would be disrespectful not to.

An email from Oliver Morton, Planetary Affairs Editor of The Economist. Wow. Dear straight up and with a twist, genuinely amazed that two men of such distinction, experience and taste have not ever tried a ngroni. Equal parts, Campari, Italian vermouth and gin. To say nothing of its many delightful siblings, the boulevardier, swapping out the gin for bourbon. The Nogroni spaliato, gin replaced with carver, preeminent amongst them. Champari is integral to all of them. Martini Rosso, a perfectly acceptable supporting act, though other Italian vermutes are available and to some preferable. Not sure you would get one at

the ship, Mark, excellent as it is, but the old Coast Guard should be happy to help you. Not sure there's anywhere in showbiz, North London, which wouldn't be available, wouldn't be able to rustle one up for Simon. You really should try one or more. So, well, very nice to have, thank you, Oliver, from The Economist, which we've mentioned a lot and never ever get any advertising for. But yes, if you want to send us a read, I'll do you a read. So maybe one of us needs to try a nigroney or a boulevardier or the nigroney spaliato. Do you want, okay, do you want to divide it up?

Should we do one each? I mean, I don't know what. To be honest, I don't think, I can't imagine that I'm going to be anywhere that will sell one of these. But if I am, I think I might go for the nigroney spani. Spaliato, where the gin is replaced with Carver. All right, well, why don't you do that? And I will attempt here in Croatia to just do a nogroni. Or when I'm back, I'll just go to the Coast Guard, and then I'll do it there.

Okay. So Oliver seems to know an awful lot about your places where you drink. But anyway... That's because it's a small place, and there's limited choice. Oliver, thank you very much. Correspondence at kodomeo.com. Jackass, best and last. It's finished. That's a good thing. Okay. So this is the final installment in inverted comments in the Jackass movie series, a farewell love letter to the series with a combination of old and new adventures, directed by Jeff Tremaine, co-produced by Spike Jones,

who also, I believe, directed the opening and closing sequences. The opening closing sequences are weirdly spectacular and cinematic, the opening sequence, which has got these moving tableau, which is done in a way, which is very, kind of Michel Gondry, Charlie Kaufman, Spike Jonesy, and then in the finale, which is basically like the end of apocalypse now with absolutely sort of massive explosions. The rest of the film in between those two, very, very cinematic things is much more, how shall we say, rough and ready. Lots of stuff filmed in, you know, back alleys and hotel rooms and staircases. So, original stars, Johnny Knoxville, Stivo, Chris Pontius, Weeman, Preston, Lacey, Dave England, Danger Aaron, are back along with comparative newbies,

I know you know all these names, Simon, poopies, Zach Holmes, Jasper Dolphin, Rachel Wolfson, and also cameos by the likes of your friend and mine, Paul Walter Hauser. Here's a little snippet of the trailer. Hello, I'm Johnny Knoxville. Hello, I'm Johnny Knoxville. Hello, I'm Johnny Knoxville.

Welcome to Jacket. Welcome to the first day of our last film. What in your feeling? I'm sad. Does it make she sad, Chris? No, I'm not. I'm not in touch with my emotions. I would like to introduce you to our new cast member.

Larry! Nice to meet you all, big fans. Oh my gosh, he got you! Give me a fucking water so I can throw it on Larry. 25 years and we haven't learned a goddamn playing. Can someone go get the shot collar for your penis? Hoopie said he wants to try it. So just in case it wasn't clear, Larry is a sort of,

is a sort of AI robot. And then I think from the rest of it, you don't need to see what was going on. You get the general idea. So, as I said, combination of old bits and new bits. So I've seen the previous films. And, well, I've reviewed them. You can go back and find out.

So some of the old bits in this include the poo cocktail supreme sequence, which I think was in Jackass 3, with the flying port-a-lou. the famous thing of Johnny Knoxville getting hit by the bull twice, from which event he was literally ambulanced away with fairly serious injuries. And which I hadn't seen before, the Brad Pitt abduction thing, which is from the TV series in which Brad Pitt appears to be abducted

off the streets while curing up to buy some food. The new stunts include a prostate exam carried out by that robot, Larry, on one of the cast members, someone having, as you heard in that clip, an electronic device attached to Mr. Happy and then being asked to walk across a balance beam whilst getting electric shocks in their sensitive parts and an escape room from hell and a whole bunch of other stuff.

Now, where you stand on Jackass is where you stand on Jackass. Simon Paul, who's the producer with this show, big fan in the past. found some of it quite challenging. In terms of this, some of it is actually very funny in an old school slapstick way. I mean, it is just funny. There's, you know, the footage which is fairly well known now of Johnny Knoxville being put into a cardboard box and thrown down a flight stairs. Dangerous, obviously, but quite funny. Some of it is revolting. I mean, I just have to look away with the diary of stuff because there's the game of Twister with them wearing

cellophane trousers after having taken laxatives. I just, I literally didn't watch the screen because I don't want to, because I don't, you know, because it provoked, these things provoke vomit on and off screen and I'm just not interested in it. And some of it, as you heard from that thing, is sort of weirdly sentimental. The fact that this is the end, I mean, they make a point of the fact that they have said that every single one they've done was the last one, but they then gone to done another one, but this did feel like this actually probably was the end of it. And one of the things I thought when watching it is this. Do you remember when Project Hell Mary came out and I did the Ryan Gosling interview? And the question was, you know, whether it's actually a film about friendship, you know,

whether it's what Project Hell Mary was about. Does it raise the question of, you know, can men be friends? And in the case of Project Hell Mary, the answer was yes, men can be friends, but only if the entire fate of the planet is at stake. Yep. And in this case, the question seems to be, can men be friends? And the answer is yes, but only if they can play ping pong with each other's privates and insert toy cars in places where they shouldn't be inserted and generally smack each other around the head, face, body parts and other unspeakables. So yes, but only under those circumstances. I mean, we should point out that in this one, apparently because injuries have been sort of accrued over the years, but according to the wiki page, the

main injury that was accrued on this film was that somebody ripped a tendon in their finger whilst attempting to dig a coin out of a place I can't repeat on the radio. Would that be a sphincter? Okay, yes, I speak as someone who has one of the best. It's one of the best, yes. The thing is that he doesn't, know that it's a sphincter when he puts his finger into it. Oh, okay. I think we know everything that we need to know. We know everything that we need to know.

Okay. So, the thing is, I'm not completely down on it by any means at all. Because on the, I mean, one thing it is worth saying is, in a world in which cinema constantly fetishizes, in inverted commas, perfect women's bodies, I struggle to think of another mainstream field that has more male nudity and also more diverse body shapes and sizes without any apparent judgment. I mean, it is weirdly, there is something weirdly refreshing about seeing this much and this many male bodies in this way, in a way that it's just completely unabashed. and that actually does run contrary to what an awful lot of mainstream cinema is about.

That is what it is, that's what it's interested in, because as I said, it's, you know, can men be friends? Yes, but they need to be able to stick toy cars where the sun don't shine. The other thing that's funny is that I do think that there is a thing about friendship. Recently, I was doing a program about male friendship in cinema. And I was thinking about the Jackass movies, and particularly in the case of this, there is this genuine sense that whatever you think, there is this camaraderie that's been built up over the years of smacking each other in the unmentionables. The film starts and ends with a warning, which is only part of your running of do not try these stunts at home, okay?

Do not try these stunts at home. They've been carried up by professionals and they're dangerous. The BBFC site, of course, is brilliant, as always, cites violence, people are punched, struck with objects and thrown to the ground. Occasional bloody injuries in the aftermath of stunts and animal attacks, including bites and cuts. is frequent comic genital and buttock nudity. There is crude humor throughout, including the sight of people defecating, vomiting, and being covered in feces, and then dangerous behavior. These are highly dangerous stunts that may cause serious injury if imitated. They include the use of guns, fireworks, cars, razors, electricity and animals. People cause themselves harm by inserting objects into their bodies and exposing themselves to dangerous materials. Now, also hilariously

at the end of the film, there are two of the usual disclaimers. One of them is that no animals were harmed during the course of the making of the film, which is more than can be said of human beings on display. And the other one is that there's the thing at the end that says the film may not be used to train artificial intelligence. Yeah, that's happening all the time now. I know, but it's particularly funny in the context of a film in which there is no intelligence, artificial or otherwise. In fact, it is, of course, proudly and profoundly stupid. I think of all of the jackass ones. This is the one that I enjoyed the most. I still have grave reservoir. I mean, I just, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the,

can't be doing with. I just can't be doing with it. But in the middle of all this cocktail of poo and just everything, there is this weird thing about, can men be friends? Well, yes, but only if you allow one of them to be lowered onto the face. of the other one with a winch. I mean, it does sound as much fun as a prostate exam. And in a very literal sense, Simon, that's what it is. These are the people who I have avoided my entire life. I know.

Oh, God, yeah. You know, and I interviewed Johnny Knoxville live on Five Live. Oh, right. And after that, I thought, I am never going to see any of your films. Why? What was he like? He was such an ass. He just would, he just, it was like he, he thought he was still in a film.

Right. One of his films, rather than being on live radio. Okay. And after that, I just thought he was so appalling that I just didn't want to have anything. So I am, I am not going to be going to see this. No, no. Well, I don't imagine that you wouldn't. And as I said, if you've heard my reviews of the previous ones, I mean, I have, I have, I have struggled my way through some of the previous films.

But as I said, in the interest of objectivity and being completely honest about it, of all of them, this is the one that I've enjoyed, if that's the right word, the most. There are some things that I just am not. I can't, I just can't be doing with. But there is underneath it all just this weird thing about blokes. And I, yeah, anyway, there we are. I mean, blokes can be friends by going to the football or by going out for a drink or by going for a walk or by doing open swimming.

You know, it's not a mystery. You don't have to go into space and you don't have to be lowered. onto your friend's face on a winch, all at which is preposterous nonsense. You can just be mates going to the pub. Yes. But that's not a film. That's not a film. You know, if you and I made a film about this like this, it would just be a series of shots of us going, all right, all right.

Cup tea? You want a pint of Kingfisher? Anyway, enough of that. Correspondence at kernelware.com. Hey, we've got a what's on here. Katie is here to tell us about a screening of, quote, People's Emergency Briefing, a new film aimed at enhancing public awareness of climate and environmental risks. Or if you don't believe, just look outside. Anyway, People's Emergency Briefing, here's Katie.

Hello, Simon and Mark. This is Katie from 80 Impact in Old Blue Park. Just wanted to share the details to our upcoming screening on the 2nd of July between 2pm and 4 p.m. We're really excited to be one of a small number of businesses who will be screening the film in the workplace. Oldley Park is a leading innovation and business campus in Cheshire. It's home to a wide range of organisations across science, technology and sustainability. So it's a great setting to bring people together around film. Love you to join us.

Thanks, Katie. I've heard a lot about people's emergency briefing. My issue with these, and I haven't seen it, and I'm sure it's very well made and is doing a very important job. and clearly there is a climate emergency and drastic action is needed, etc. However, it's like, do you remember an unfortunate truth, the Al Gore film? Yes. From, and obviously Al Gore was right. But in my experience, everyone who went to see it agreed with him anyway.

Yes. So I guess the challenge for filmmakers is how do you get the jackass crowd to watch a people's emergency briefing kind of film? And suggestions on a postcard to Kermodemail. You know, the people who are inclined to think it's all nonsense, how do you get them to see a film which might make them go, oh, yes, you've got a point, as well as it being 43 degrees in Paris. But, you know that anyway.

Unless you're in a Croatian hotel room where the air conditioning is perfect at 20 degrees. Absolutely lovely. That's it for this week. This has been a Sony Music Entertainment production. This week's team, Jen, Eric and Josh, producer was Dom, the redactor was Simon Poole. In Take 2, we're directing you to the Overflow Car Park for more chat about current film releases.

More on Toy Story 5 and Disclosure Day. We'll have more of your missives, including a surprising piece of film trivia about the Babadook's unexpected afterlife, and a very surreal idea for blending entirely different films altogether. There is also the latest round of one frame back, featuring some of the most wince-inducing on-screen injuries, inspired by Jackhouse, Five-question film club

Free questions, Your Majesty As Mark ignores or accepts a democratic vote to introduce us to one of these great films available for free and on subscription streaming platforms, The Lavender Hill Mob, Children of Men, or Gregory's Girl. Plus questions, Schmessians, in which this week we're asked

why it's seemingly still okay to kill a cat on a movie, but all dogs are sacred. Interesting, I hadn't spotted. I mean, obviously dogs are better. counts, but apart from that. So come and join us on Patreon for the exclusive good stuff, Mark, what is your film of the week? Well, I know it's a small

release, and I don't expect it to be topping the charts, but I'm going for a private life. Okay, very good. Supergirl review next week, of course, because as I said, it was only screened on Tuesday night, and we reserve any judgment as to why that might be. And minions.

And minions? Well, that's the biggie of next week. Correspondent of the Back next week, by the way, Olivia Wilde and Ed Norton are on the show. I think I'll bestow a year's ultra-membership to our correspondent of the week. It's tricky.

I was tempted to give it to Oliver Morton at The Economist, but, you know, I don't think he needs it. So I think I did particularly enjoy the email from Gareth, who was the guy, no, sorry, Jim in Southampton, it's going to be, who took his entire family 10 in total to see Toy Story 5. I did think that was a unique view to take 71-year-olds, 39-year-olds and three-year-olds to a movie. So it'll be him.

And also thank you for that email because it reassured me that my judgment is not completely shot. Thank you very much, Dean, for listening. Take two has landed alongside this one.