Kermode & Mayo’s Take - Simon Pegg, Medusa, Squaring the Circle & While We Watched

Episode Date: July 14, 2023

The terror of wondering whether Tom Cruise has died. Writing the rulebook for shooting in a pandemic. The artistic mediocrity of AI. Even more Tom Cruise! This week’s episode sees Simon sit down for a chat with another iconic Simon, the brilliant Simon Pegg, who has once again strapped on his harness to join the Mission Impossible crew for its seventh stunt-filled, death-defying outing. Mark reviews ‘Medusa’, a drama about a young woman who leads a vigilante girl gang enforcing Christian standards in Brazil; ‘Squaring the Circle’, a documentary about the creative team responsible for some of the most iconic album artwork of all time; and ‘While We Watched’, a turbulent newsroom documentary that intimately chronicles the working life of broadcast journalist Ravish Kumar, who risks his life to tell the truth about India today. Time Codes (relevant only when you are part of the Vanguard): 10:05 Name me Lawand review 23:41 Box Office Top 10 38:38 Peter Sohn interview 53:25 Elemental review 57:29 Laughter Lift 00:31 Mission Impossible review 01:14:22 What’s on 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] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Holt Renfrew is sharing joy for the holidays with gifts for everyone on your list, and maybe even a special treat for yourself, too. Discover the new collection for Burberry by Daniel Lee. Add some ambiance with Louis Vahome. Give Gorpkora try and Solomon Sneakers, and so much more. Whatever presence you pick, we know they're going to love them. Visit a store today or shop at HoltRenfrew.com. I just got a message from the company.

The company. The company who were responsible for our taxi drive in. Okay. Did we want to tip the taxi driver? Yeah, he's my tip. Get a map. Yeah, so the cab driver today arrived at my house where Mark has been living in the caravan for a while, as you know, and his opening words were,

where is this? So I said, sorry, he said, where are we? And it sort of went downhill from there. Downhill from there. The weird thing was, he had a satnav, but it appeared not to know where it was. Yeah. It was like, it was as confused as anyone else.

I'd tell you, Cabb from, I got horrendously lost and had got on the wrong train out of Houston and ended up in Cheltenham when I should have been in Exeter. Right. And through a long convoluted thing, I ended up in like in a mini cab going from Cheltenham to Exeter, which is quite a long journey. It is.

And as we set off having given all the instructions to the correct place to take me, taxi driver said, is this near London? I said, sorry, he said, is Exeter near London? So, that was... I had been planning to sleep because it was like one in the morning, but I decided I should probably stay awake.

When we used to broadcast out of White City, I had been planning to sleep because it was like one in the morning. But I decided I should probably stay awake. When we used to broadcast out of White City, remember back up in the day, and if you come out of White City, there's a road called the Westway, which connects that part of London with Central London. You literally go on to it and you drive in a straight line, and it's always a traffic jam, but it's a straight line into the Central London. The Westway is my favourite road because he goes out. The busiest and most polluted road in Europe.

Five miles out of London on the West and Avenue, must have been a wonder when it was brand new, talking about the splendor of the Hoover factory. I know that you'd agree for you to see it too, but. So I, there was a cab company immediately opposite the establishment for which we worked. And I thought, I won't get a train, I'll get a cab. And he said, where are you going? I said, such as a cinema, I said, where won't get a train, I'll get a cab. And he said, where are you going?

I said, such as a cinema, I said, where's that? I said, it's the West End. He went West End. I went, yes, the West End. Just go to the West Way and just go on the... So, okay, fine, we got on the car. Go on to the West Way. So, to the right is London.

He turned left. I went, where are you going? He said, go West. I said, the West End of London. There is anyone. There's no way if driving is your job that you would think west end meant west, go west young man. Westwood Ho.

Also, I was in this end of the way. I did, I did a thing in Bristol and my friend Martin Barker was there and I had to get back to Martin. I had to get back to Whale, to Wells and I said to him. Yeah, because I was doing a thing with it must have been Glaston, I said to Martin, how did it get to Wells for me? He said, yeah, you come out and you go left, you go on the thing and I came out and I went left and I went on the thing and I found myself on a bridge and I rang him. I said, Martin, I'm going the wrong way. He went, no, he, Wales is that way. Not Wales.

With hilarious consequences. With hilarious consequences. I wouldn't be funny if I hadn't said whales at the beginning. I kind of blew the punchline. It's fine. I was there. You were there anyway. Absolutely. It was there for the joke. Later on in this program Simon Pegg is going to be talking about Mission Impossible. Now, the reason this is straddling last week and this week, because you gave the full, full some review last week is because it came out on Monday. It did. Is that, is that, so it has a whole week.

Give it the biggest opening we can. As if it needed it in history. It could have opened Sunday morning at 3am and it would still have been absolutely huge. Anyway, so there'd be some more impossible, impossible. Impossible, impossible. Is that the strong color it is? It is. Absolutely.

He makes a surprising, sure. Simon Pegg. What else we talk about? Mr. Woffe was that the Sean Connery? It is. Absolutely. He makes a... Mr. Woffe was a Sean. Simon Pegg. What else we talking about? Medusa, which is a Brazilian fantasy horror, squaring the circle, which is documentary about, well, as you would say, hip-genosis.

Hip-genosis. That's how it's written, isn't it? It is. Who are the company that designed some of the most iconic album covers of our lifetime. Yeah. And also also while we watch, which is a documentary about news in India, which is very gripping stuff. And of course, we will be talking to Simon Pegg, who has very pleased to see picked up the photograph of my

fudge, my hat. Yes, notes, and put it on his Instagram. As a result of which I got a message from one of the editors or maybe the editor of Mission Impossible saying, can I have that framed? Which seems like the least you could do. I'm not doing anything with it. Then in our extra takes, what are you reviewing there? In extra takes, we're going to be reviewing, has to move down to see what else we are reviewing. What else am I reviewing? The deepest breath. The deepest breath, which is a nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, deepest breath. The deepest breath, which is a nice, I'm just asking. Yeah, and also a kind of kidnapping. Yeah, I know that.

Sorry. Well, you just didn't say it on the... I need it all written on the front page. I've got it. It's fine. I know what's happening. Okay. Potentious moire currently marked

curmode 17. Oh, it does say it there. Exactly. Sorry. Sorry. So Mark is does say it there. Exactly. Sorry, sorry. So Mark is falling behind on that. One frame back is about extreme sports. Yeah. Take it all over you decided it's the extraordinary attorney who which is. Yeah. No, I was about to do it and then I thought no, save it till save it. Save it for the van guys. Save it for the van guys.

You can spot us via Apple Podcast and all that stuff. Anyway, if you're ready of van guys, you're already a Vanguardist, you're a very good person and there's always we salute you. Thank you very much. Quick reminder that we now ship our merch to colonial commoners in the USA and Australia. Oh yeah, okay, so don't forget, don't forget, if you are a colonial commoner

and you're in the United States of America or Australia, we can get you our fantastic merchandise and think how cool you'll look as you stroll through Perth, Sydney, Melbourne, Boston. You trying to think of other places? I mean, I would know Australia had the America. Yeah, and America. Anywhere at all.

Yeah. Buffalo. Incidentally. You always ask me to talk about your t-shirt. Why don't you talk about your t-shirt? Well, who do you think it is? Why don't you just tell me about it? It's going a full t-shirt.

There you go. No wonder I hadn't ever clue what you were talking about. No, but you're not a big gang of full fans. No. I told you about my gang of three projects. Yes, last week. Yeah. After you gave me the vinyl of entertainment. How nice was that?

We're going to play the whole album, me, Simon Booth and A&R, the person which probably ended up being Stevie, or he doesn't know about that yet. We're just going to play the whole album from beginning to, no, we're not going to play the album. We're going to play the album from beginning to end hardly. Whether the audience wanted or not.

An anonymous email, actually. Dearest team production team and the other two. Medium term listener, third term email, runner up in the regional Scouts chess championship. I write on the subject of West Wing fans being termed wing nuts, as raised by a previous correspondent. This is, I think it's genuinely fascinating. This is because I hadn't known this,

and I said right wing, wing, wing nuts. And somebody wrote in, said, can you use another word? Yes. Because wing nut, which is now generally taken to mean conspiracy theorist, you know, Lunatic, actually, is a word for people who love the West Wing. They love the West Wing podcast. Which I don't know.

So this says, it is common for devoted fans of specific media to have a name for themselves to use in fan communities. And it's a phenomenon I found very interesting, says anonymous. The naming conventions range wildly from in-universe terms, Hunger Games fans call themselves tributes. To Port Mantos.

So adult male, my little pony fans, really call themselves Bronis. I know. Is that a big community? Anyway, I'm just going to take a while to process this. Also, self-deprecation as in twilight's twi-hards. I don't think I'd want to be a twi-hard, because in our family that means something is going to be a different.

Anyway, but how many, if you are an adult male, my little pony fan, in fact, if you are a brony, we would like to hear from you, because this is a community that we've been ignoring, I feel. Yeah, I mean, my little... Anyway, anonymous continues. These dedicated fandoms often have dense, complex injokes and subcultures that you need to follow decades of fandom drama and discussion to understand. And the media in question often becomes secondary to the community around it.

Fandom names are very much part of this law, a name to be understood by an in-crowd or identify themselves from outsiders. I'd be interested to know if your good selves have examples of fandoms you are a part of that have names such as this. Well, this show basically has accumulated over the years enough in jokes and self-reverentials. Yes. Kind of little bon mose, I think, to keep anyone going. See, our wit of pd. Yes. Witter Taney, that came. I mean, that was an audience thing. I think it can come from us. Now, all the best ideas come from the audience. Anyway, the anonymous person signs themselves brackets. Tolkien deal,

Klandem, Huvian and Red Waller. Okay, so Tolkien deal, so that's Lord of the Rings. What's the deal bit? I don't know. Yeah, but anyway, that's very funny and clever if you're a Tolkien nut. Okay, what's the second one? Klandem. Klan. Klan, what's the second one? Clan, what's Clan? Who Vienn is?

Is that a Game of Thrones thing, Clan? Who Vienn is Doctor Who's? Yes. And what was the last one? Red Waller. Go on. I don't know. Is that the Red Wall, which the Tories took down at the last election?

Oh, that's what it is. No, I don't suppose it is that the red wall, which the Tories took down at the last election? Oh, that's what it is. No, I don't suppose it is for a moment. But anyway, see anonymous if the red wallers and the Brunis, the five Brunis, I think, Brunis. Okay. Anyway, so, well, let's dedicate this show to Tributes, Brunis, Twiards, Red Wallers, Huvians, Clandums and Tolkien Dills.

And it's Trekkers, isn't it? Not trekkies. There's a bit of not mentioned. No, no, but it was always a thing about that. That there was, you'd say the wrong one, not you. One would say the wrong one, that they've got that right. Okay. More on this, please, very welcome correspondentsacovidamer.com. And Ken Inbrighten, hi, both, quick,

want to point out that you being a film podcast, should probably call Chem Trail Believers Trailers. Ah, very good. I suppose that works because we were talking about that last week. And then Trail Believers. We got a voice note here from Dr. Curran Raj, NHS surgeon, also has a podcast called The Referral, produced by our good friends here at The Take.

Anyway, centers this, here we go. Hi Simon, hi Mark, it's Dr. Curran. And this festival season, I want to explain why you should desperately avoid deliberately holding in your number two. The art of defecation relies on timing and reflexes. When you ignore the urge to go, your fecal matter remains in your colon where increasingly more water is reabsorbed from your stool, making it drier and harder, essentially biological cement in your pipes. Now this dry, hard stool can be painful when

it does eventually exit and you'll probably need to strain more. If you're consistently doing this, you're putting yourself at risk of hemorrhoids and weakened pelvic flow muscles and beyond. So, answer the call of nature and do it for the love of your intestines. So the forecast has taken a strange turn. That's right, because we have been talking about how long it's possible to avoid trying hard. That would actually be the name of the podcast.

I could do a whole poo podcast called Trying Hard, the art of trying hard. Anyway, that's Dr. Karen Raj. thank you Dr. Karen, his podcast. I did tell you, did the, the a critic in the best joke ever made, and I wish I had made it, said asteroid city is such a pain in the butts, they should have called it hemorrhoids, which is very good. That is a good joke. Correspondence at Kervetamay.com. What is out that we can go and see? Medusa, which is a really interesting Brazilian film

by Anita Rocha de Silvera. And this plating can in 2021, it's been doing the festival circuit since then. It is kind of inspired by the jalo of Daria Argento. It also plays like a kind of weird pre-echo of Heather's clueless neon demon because it looks like it's kind of a 70s film. It opens with this video, this really strange video, this spider walking dance, you know, the spider walking, actually we haven't seen the exist. Somebody turned, I've seen

the clip. You see the clip? On their back dancing and riding. And then we see that this is being watched by somebody on their phone. And then we see the person who's watching this on their phone being pursued by a series of masked assailants and women wearing these masks that are like the masking eyes without a face, who then basically beat her up and get her to promise to become a soldier of Christ. What she has to do is that she has to admit that she's been a terrible woman and then say to accept Jesus and become a virtuous woman. They film it on their phones and then they put the film on the internet. We then see them as part

of a sort of Christian vanguard group. They are the treasures. There is a male militia as well called the Watchmen. They are training for morality duties to police the morality of everyone around them. And then one of them starts telling this story of why it is that they do this thing, going out these vigilante groups, wearing a mask, we're gonna play you a clip.

Obviously it's not an English language clip. So we'll just explain afterwards what was said during the... Okay. Então, vamos apenas explicar o que foi que estava acontecendo durante o tempo. que uma iluminada apareceu. Uma mulher, vestida de anjo, uma má escabra. Com uma mão, ela foi trazendo um copo, um querozane. Pou outro esquerdo. Aí ela foi andando.

Bem, de uma garginha. Até a melha. A ela foi andando. Bem de aguardar. Até a melisse. Feche a única coisa que podia ter sido feita. Está com fogo na cara dela. Fio rô. Não, não. Não é o fogo dos infernos, é o fogo que limpa. Mas ela morreu.

Então o que aconteceu com aquele clipe é o fogo que lhe... Mas ela morreu. fire. And at the end is, is she dead? No, she disappeared where she gone. So they said it wasn't hellfire. It was a cleansing thing. It was a cleansing fire. Exactly. So one of them then says, I'm going to go and find her and get a photograph of her because this will be a great warning to anybody who wants to be simple. But of course, actually what's happening is that these people who are completely sort of one of the things they do is they post videos online, how to take the perfect Christian selfie. You have to hold it. If you hold the camera too low, that's the view from hell. If you hold the camera too high, well, that's God's eye

and that's no one else other than God, you have to do it from, you know, from horizontal. We need to be saved from people like this, precisely. So the film, as you saw from that, it's kind of pinks and, you know, bright colors and that's what I meant about the kind of the clueless and the headless thing. It's very, very satirically. It is basically a horror fantasy satire that is inspired by the rise of right-wing populism and mad religious belief in return to old school values that the women believe absolutely that women must be subservient to men and you know we must get back to the old testament values. But the whole thing is being done in this really kind of Riley, you know,

satirical off-kilter way. So as you're watching it you understand that there's several layers of the film playing out and the central one of the centric characters then goes off to go undercover to find Melissa and in fact discovers much more than she bargained for. I really like this. I loved the way it looked. I mean, it's got these kind of, these bright colors that are completely kind of odds with the darkness of the story.

It's got a kind of Susperia-like edge to it. It's also got touch of the eyes of Tammy Fei about it. You remember the eyes of Tammy Fei, which I'd be really enjoying. Tammy Fei Baker. Tammy Fei Baker. You remember the film? And it was like when they were portraying Tammy Feigh Baker, was everything, the brightness was so bright, you thought it was going to score. He's worth saying just in parentheses that the Reverend Steve Peters, who is in that movie as the gay pastor, died this week.

And yes, which is, and John Ronson, in his podcast, he was talking a lot about Steve Peters, depending on the way he's been. Yes, and John Ronson was actually on Radio 4 talking about him because it was a fascinating, absolutely fascinating story. So essentially what you've got is on the one hand, you've got a nod to a lot of cult movies, like I said, Eyes Without A Face. There's a touch of plot with a courage in the way in which the gang dress. There is this really inventive use of pop songs

like wishing on a star ends up sounding very, very kind of threatening, as does a baby, it's you. And the whole thing is done in this very arch, very sort of smart, sociopolitical satire way. That if you're a fan of, you know, Lynch or Argento or any of that psycho drama horror, they overcranked psycho drama horror, you'll find much in this to enjoy. If you're a fan of political satire, you'll find much in it to enjoy. The whole thing is really a modern parable about progressive values being attacked by a right of right wing populorism that is driven

by authoritarianism and body fascism and you know all those things that we were against. Well, look, this is Portuguese. Brazilian Portuguese. And in Brazil, the evangelical church is in bed with the Bolsonaro folk and so that's precisely one of the key markets. This is where it comes from. So still to come on this rather fabulous edition of the podcast.

Squaring the circle, which is documentary about hip-gonosis, we're not going to keep making that joke, we will. And while we watch, which is a very interesting documentary about news reporting in India, we'll be back before you can say, without music, life would be a mistake. Friedrich Nietzsche. There's nothing Nietzsche couldn't teach about the raising of the risk. Socrates himself was permanently tired and interesting.

Hi, esteemed podcast listeners, Simon Mayo. I'm Mark Kermot here. I'm excited to let you know that the new season of The Crown and The Crown, the official podcast returns on 16th of November to accompany the sixth and final season of the Netflix epic Royal drama series. Very exciting especially because SuperSub and Friend of the show Edith Bowman hosts this one. Indeed, Edith will take you behind the scenes dive into conversation with the talented cast and crew, from writer and creator Peter Morgan to the crowns Queen Elizabeth, Emelda Staunton.

Other guests on the new series include the Crowns research team, the directors, executive producers Suzanne Mackie and specialists, such as voice coach William Connaker and props master Owen Harrison. Cast members, including Jonathan Price, Selim Dor, Khalid Abdullah, Dominic West, and Elizabeth the Bikki. You can also catch up with the story so far by searching the Crown, the official

podcast, wherever you get your podcast. Subscribe now and get the new series of the Crown, the official podcast first on November 16th. Available wherever you get your podcasts. Happy Nord Christmas. Protect yourself whilst Christmas shopping online and access all the Christmas films from around the globe. Plus, when you shop online, you'll have to give websites your card details and other sensitive data like your personal addresses. Those websites should already have their own encryption built into their payment systems, but to be on the safe side, you can use a VPN to ensure that all data coming to and from your device is encrypted. Even if you're using an unsafe Wi-Fi, you'll still be able to shop securely with a VPN.

And you can access Christmas films only available overseas by using streaming services not available in the UK. To take our huge discount off your NordVPN plan, go to nordvpn.com slash take. Our link will also give you four extra months for free on the two-year plan. There's no risk with Nord's 30-day money back guarantee. The link is in the podcast episode description box. In our last section you mentioned Eyes Without a Face twice. Yes. And in my head,

you're thinking really idle. Eyes without a face. Anyway, my boss, And in my head, you think he billy idle as with the other furries. Anyway, my boss, um, at greatest hits ready, I went to see Billy Idol, Jen at where? Generation search. Generation sex,

but his, and he took this photograph, Billy Idol looks fantastic. Look, I mean, he, he looks exactly the same. Can I say two things about this? Did you see them, did you see them playing at Glastonbury? No, it's okay, fine. Firstly, the leather jacket array, I mean, Billy Idol, yeahdle, yeah, he's fit.

That's the way I'm making it. Yeah, dress sense, not so much. It was a weird one. Yeah, anyway, apparently he was very good. That's some just passing down. Which, what's your favorite Billy Idle song? And here's the interesting thing. Do you consider?

You can see the listeners will have noticed there the set up of the question really idle song. And here's the interesting thing. Do you consider? Do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider,

do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider,

do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you consider, do you Well, because if your answer was going to be dancing with myself, which is the correct answer, is a question of, is it Billy Idol or is it, is it like with Wham or George Michael, you know, right? Who's careless whisper was it? Right.

You don't have a favorite Billy Idol song? Eyes without a face, probably. Yeah, that's actually his worst. You see, what you weren't interested in is my answer. I know, I'm interested in your answer. I just thought it'd be better than that. Right, so it wasn't the factually correct answer. No, it's just an opinion that's different to yours. Well, yes. Eyes without a face is the answer. Dear E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy. Very good.

This is from... Sorry, I can't hear you over this record of fascist speech. That seed is brilliant, isn't it? This is from our Swedish correspondent, Oscar. Now, I think last time he wrote, I got this about right. Okay. Sevastin. Okay. Oscar Sevastin. I'm swallowing the, I got this about right. Okay. Sivarsen. Okay. Oscar Sivarsen.

I'm swallowing the G and the D, Oscar. I hope that's more or less right. It was, as always, delightful to hear Mark rant about Nixon on the last take two, but I'd like to offer a small correction. Okay, go ahead. His description of the Nixon White House recording system. Mark was correct that Nixon indeed wanted to make sure that history was able to reflect his own greatness accurately. But in fact, it predated him. It had originally

been set up by Nixon's predecessor, Lyndon B. Johnson, as a system to record all his calls and meetings. Nixon just kept using the same system. This taping system has contributed enormously to our understanding of history, given that it recorded the decision process behind virtually all of Lyndon Johnson's major decisions, including many relating to the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Act, as well as his great society programs, Capital G, Capital S. It is truly a treasure trove of history. In addition to the important events recorded in these tapes, there is also audio of various other miscellaneous goings on inside the

Oval Office. I would like to highlight one particular clip. Okay, I'm looking forward to this. Made to the Hagger clothing company, where Lyndon Johnson orders a few pairs of trousers and asks for some adjustments. Now, another thing that crights down where you're nuts hanging is always little too tight. So when you make them up, give me a each that I can let out there because they cut me. They just like riding a wire fence. These are almost the best that I've had anywhere in the United States.

But when I gave them a little weight, they cut me under there. So, leave me, you never do have much margin there. But see if you can't leave me about it. The need from the further zipper ends round under my back from a bunghole. So, I can read it out there if I need to. So, there you have the president of the United States, referring to his crotch, his bunghole, and clearly burping like a child does. You know when your youngster decides to burp in your face, that's clearly what the president was doing.

Anyway, Oscar Sivarsen says the full version is widely available. Anyway, Tinkley Tonkin, down with past terrible US presidents. Wow. Last time I wrote with a recording of various Swedish names and how to pronounce them correctly. That's amazing. Challenge Simon to pronounce my name correctly. Simon did a fantastic job.

He was the highlight of my week. His Danish seems to be coming along. But that's not the same as Swedish. Anyway, Oscar's a Vassa. I'm going to go with that anyway. Bog's office, top 10. Yes at 24, the damn don't cry. Which I think is a really, really interesting film. And in a way, the title, although obviously the title

is actually referenced to a previous film, the title is slightly misleading. It's actually a very, very moving and powerful film about a relationship between a mother and a son, both of whom are trying to find their own way in a very, very hostile world. I thought it was really well worth seeing. I've never heard of the bunghole before. That's really stuck with you.

Where did that come from? Have you been saying where is it? Is that quite a well-known? No, it's not one I've ever seen. Okay, that's a lot of phrases that I haven't heard. That's right, but I also don't quite. Anyway. He said he was like riding a race.

Anyway, number 10 here, number 11 in the States is the Flash, which is still out. The way you jumped over, name me Lewon and smoking causes coughing. Okay, yeah. Number 19. Thank you. Name me Lewon, which I think is terrific. This is a love laces documentary about LeWon who comes here and it was born deaf and learns to sign and comes out of his shell from the doveschool.

And then suddenly finds his family under threat of deportation and is a really moving and uplifting documentary. Number 15 is Smoking causes Coffee, which is one of the oddest films out at the moment. And it's the real triumph of it is, despite the fact that it begins with what appears to be the mighty, morphing power rangers, fighting a giant turtle, it manages to be weirdly, emotionally engaging. Because if you bang something, I know you're not going to go over this, are you? Well, no, but a bung is something that you insert, isn't it, to stop

a leak? Well, also a bung is a bribe, isn't it? Or did he say bumhole? I thought that's what he said. I thought he said bumhole. But on my out cue, it's been written as bumhole. Yeah, I think that's a mistranscription. I thought he said, can we play it again? I know we're interrupting the top 10, but we just like it. But you know, we have our priorities. They cut me under there. So, leave me, you never do have much margin there. But see if you can't leave me about it. The need from the further separate ends right under my, back from a bunghole. So I'm ready to out there if I need to. No, he does sound like he says,

it does. I'm afraid that's a bum. I'm sorry, he says, I'm sorry, he says, that's just don't get what the bung would be doing because a bung is supposed to stop things coming out, stop a leak. The white house plumbers wouldn't have been able to plum if they'd been a bummer. Let me go go get it, okay.

I'm sorry, but I'm going to do this. So keeping nine o'clock, keeping nine o'clock. Yeah, it's fine. Bunghole sellers is a place in Hoban. Butthole surfers were a band that John Peel played quite a long time. Yeah, but Bunghole liquors in P-Body Massachusetts. I really think we should be moving on. Here we go.

Dictionary. An aperture through which a cask can be filled or emptied is a bunghole. OK. Or urban dictionary, as we just heard on the headphones, vulgar slang for the do-do. Anyway, so thanks very much, Lyndon B. Johnson, the accruity. So the flash, we've done all that. So the flash at 10, we've done that. Transformers rise to the beast as at nine. It's okay, it's not bad. Ruby Gilman, teenage crack and is at eight,

at 10 in the States. I enjoyed it. I thought it was good fun. And it's again, it has a message of accepting difference and there is a very good joke in it about why you blew on from Canada. Number seven here, seven in the state's no hard feelings. You know, it's done better than I thought. This is its third week in the charts. I thought it was completely misjudged and completely not funny, but evidently, it's found an audience.

So what do I know? Asteroid City, another chance for you to do the joke is number six. Such a pain in the bunghole should have been called hemorrhoid city. And that's not my joke into the book. It's gonna take me a while to get over Lyndon B. Johnson number say. Do you think the beast has for bunghole? I mean... Anyway, so where are we?

Oh yes, the little mermaid's at five. Yeah, which is kind of fun and nice to like since it annoyed all the right people. Spider-Man across the spiderverse is at number four, number five in the state. Done terrifically well now at number six, but it's, you know, it was all of those films if you were going to do a multiverse movie

that was the one to see because it was smart and funny and the animation was really well done. Incidious, the red door, is it number three? Haven't seen it because it wasn't screened. I will go and see it this weekend. If anyone has seen it, let me know. I mean, you say that now, but you probably, we'll get to next week and you go,

I know I was planning to go. I'll tell you what, I'll do when it comes to streaming. So you're not going, so you've all read so within one 30 second clip, you've gone to, I'm going to see it this weekend. I don't want there to be lies in our relationship. I'm not going to see it this weekend. So are you going to see it this weekend or not? You're not.

No. So you said that you would, but I took it back. Okay. So you must have done those things. So I'll paint the garage door. Will you? No, because that's a job for a specialist employer painter to do that. Okay. If you do it yourself, it's scabbing. Okay. You are, you are taking work

away. You are taking that was weaponized fast. That's right. This is Jeremy Hardy doing DIY scabbing. The late Jeremy Hardy said on a radio full program. He was his way of getting out of DIY because obviously it's just not very good at DIY. He said, my way of looking at it is because it fits it is political technology, he said it's scabbing. You're taking away work from talented people. So that's why I haven't painted the garage door because there's a garage door painted down there. This is job. Well, it is true. The good lady professor here in Dorset says, are you going to put those shells up? The answer is, would you like them to stay up? Because if so, get a shell.

Yeah, it's a shell for the two of us. That's the thing. Indiana Jones and the dial of destiny, number two here, number two at Jones. I said, Indiana. You said Indiana. I did not. You did not go back, just do the go back to 20 seconds,

you hear. I did not. I did not. I did not. Matter of record, don't edit that bit. All right. I definitely said Indiana Jones. Toby Jones. Indiana Toby Jones and it in Indiana Jones. Toby Jones.

Indiana Toby Jones and the dial of death. Toby Jones does steal every single scene and it was terrific to see him have a lot to do. But it's the most febby wall of bridges, dad. He is. Imagine that. And UK number one, four in the state is elemental. So bear in mind, the reason Mission Impossible

isn't in this chart is that Mission Impossible opened on Monday. So the first time it will be in chart is the next chart at which point it will have had the biggest opening weekend possible. I am going to make a prediction that it's going to be number one. I think it probably will be. Is that your top of the pops? Absolutely. That's the way it works. Smash your armor. Anyway, Daniel, um, Braunold, I would say Daniel, Braunold, dear fire and water. Last week, the good directing marketing officer, her indoors and myself, took our energetic children, ages 5 and 8, to the new Pixar film, Elemental,

in our local multiplex. With sufficient quiet snacks brought for young and gin in our water bottles, we settled to watch a new colourful animation that will have eaten up the afternoon. My partner and I agree with Mark last week's interview with the director was wonderfully beautiful. And it gave us a new insight into the film.

We summarised that the message was great, but the delivery fell short. For me, the issue with the film is that my head couldn't get past the physics of it. In other, in other Pixar films, I do understand that. A huge amount of thought and research went into them. How clever inside out was in relation to what we think about the brain works, or that simply the beauty of the story that allows you to be swept away with films such as with up. But with elemental, I couldn't get past the concept of elements being limited to their, in quotes, power. And how they try to interact with the world around them, yet still able to live their daily lives. Anyway, Tisitong down with all things Nazi-related,

hello to Jason Daniel Braunold. We did talk about this, that there is, and in fact, we made the same comparison about, within side out, the Nomskulls thing works. There is a problem, what was that noise? Was that you? How was you doing that? There is a problem, what was that noise? Was that you? Are you doing that? There is something about the actual setup that doesn't quite work, the fire and the wood. It just doesn't quite ever gel. But what was fascinating, as I said, was when listening to that interview, it made me like the movie a lot more because you kind of get what it's doing. You get what it's doing. It doesn't quite work, but you get what it's doing. You get what it's doing. It doesn't quite work, but you get what it's doing.

And it was really lovely to see somebody be so moved talking about it. Be interested to know what the five and eight year old actually thought about it. I mean, you were clearly downing the gin, Daniel. But, you know, I would imagine five and eight year old would have come out and went, that was good, but I'm going to see next, you know, because it's a piece of...

Colin Scott and Chesterfield recently saw elemental for the second time after a somewhat bizarre secret screening a couple of weeks ago. But I wanted to hold back my thoughts until after I'd taken my six year old and got an idea of it through her eyes. Definitely a film that will resonate far more with a father daughter combo going to see it. I thought it was a film

about growing up, living your own dream, inclusivity, tolerance, immigration, other people's expectations, and the danger of sponges. It's been under-reported. As a dad, I absolutely watched it through a prism of willing ember to follow her own path and had a talk with my own daughter afterwards about the most important thing in my world being her happiness and supporting wherever she wants to do in her life and whoever she wants to be with. Keep up the good work. A lot of Jason, down with trailers for 12 A Barbies, getting shown for my six-year-old who loves Barbie but ain't watching the new film with added beach-y-off jokes in the trailer. So the relevance of that is that I've seen the film because talking to Greta Goig for next week's program. Greta Goig's on

the show next week. That's fantastic. It's beach B-A-C-H but they obviously make it sound somewhat more racy but I'm saying that's a race. That's a race. It is one of the more AC jokes. I'm surprised they put that. Why, you can't have a 12-A trailer shown to 60-year-olds. Well, it depends what the film that you were seeing it with. The BBFC rule used to be. Well, it was elemental. So, what's difficult is elemental? Must be a U or a PG, mustn't it? So, it's not going to be a 12.

Okay, that's peculiar because usually the rule, well, it may have changed, because I'm slightly out of touch, was that you could, it's PG, was that you weren't meant to show trailers for higher certificate, or maybe that was just in the video. But yeah, the work, I can't keep up with the modern world. Anyway, it is a 12-day joke.

I'm surprised that they showed it to your six-year-old. But that's obviously a point that I might be making to Greta Goe in terms of who are you aiming Barbie at? I think that's a very interesting question. Hopefully Greta Goe will have. Because even if you've seen the trailers, you know that Barbie, the movie, is not aimed at six-year-olds who play with Barbie.

Correct. It's much more than that. It's aimed at people who used to be six, but are now 20s. And who get a joke about 2001 at the beginning, because the six-year-old is not going to see the trailer and go, that's a very funny joke about Stanley Kubrick. More on that next week, Simon Pegg, in a moment.

This episode is brought to you by MUBI, a curated streaming service dedicated to elevating great cinema from around the globe. From my connect directors to emerging otters, there's always something new to discover, for example. Well, for example, the new Aki Karri's Macchi film Fall and Leaves, which won the jury prize at CAN, that's in cinemas at the moment. And if you see that and think I want to know more about Aki Karri's Mackey, you can go to Mooby the streaming service and there is a retrospective of his films

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That's M-U-B-I dot com slash Kermit and Mayo for a whole month of great cinema for free. Whole Threnfrew is sharing joy for the holidays with gifts for everyone on your list and maybe even a special treat for yourself too. Discover the new collection for Burberry by Daniel Lee. Add some ambiance with Louis Vey home. Give Gorpkora try in Solomon's sneakers, and so much more.

Whatever presence you pick, we know they're going to love them. Visit a store today or shop at HoltRenfrew.com. So we're going to talk mission impossible again, as we said at the beginning of this particular podcast, the reason is because they're going for the most humongous opening weekend of all time because it opened on Monday, so it will become one. Whatever happens, it'll be the new number one. Anyway, no matter what happens in the world, Mission Impossible is going to be number one, anyway. No matter what happens in the world, Michelin Possible is gonna be number one next week. Simon Pegg is back in this movie. He's back playing Benji,

and you'll hear more about his role in just a moment after this clip. Well, you can see the train, right? Yes. I see the train. What about it? And you have a parachute. You have a parachute. What do you expect me to do?

Well, just, you know, jump. Jump? Yeah. I mean, Benji doesn't work like that. I'm not that high. There's ledges sticking out everywhere. I'm going to hit them before the parachute even opens. Even if I could get the parachute open, I don't know if I can make it across the valley and intercept and then safely on a moving dream.

Do you copy? Yes! I copy! Look, I'm just trying to help you. Okay, I need you to take a step back and pull yourself together because I am under a lot of pressure right now. As a clip from Mission Impossible, Dead Reckoning, part one, one of it stars his Simon Pegg. Hello, Simon, how are you? I'm fine, Simon, how are you? I'm fine Simon, how are you? I'm good Simon.

Hair you've got is spectacular. Well, you know what, I've had the same hair cut for three years, because I've been in continuity since we started shooting, and we came to the press store and I thought, right, scorched earth. It looks great, and thank you. So, I don't even know where to begin. It introduces to the movie. There's so much to talk about, but it just introduces to this latest mission

in possible adventure. Yes, well, I mean, as it always seems to be the case with these films, and it's done very much to Christopher McCorean, Tom Cruise, together. It wrapped you up the stakes and the tension, another notch. We're up against an enemy we've never really encountered before in this film, in any of the films.

There is a human emissary working for it, but essentially we are fighting an artificial intelligence called the entity. And it's kind of a sort of supersized version of what the IMF is. Our team has always been about sub-diffusion, masks, and creating sort of theatrical moments to kind of do people. This thing is the ultimate manipulator of the truth, so it really is the most awesome challenge we've ever faced as a group. What's fascinating about that as a topic is that AI has kind of entered the public discourse

in the last kind of six, 12 months. Yeah. But this movie started its journey a long time ago. It did, yeah. So is that Christopher McQuarrie as the screenwriter who's thinking he's just ahead of everybody else? I think, well, when he pitched me the idea in 2019 when we were in preparation for what was originally going to be the start day of the movie,

I thought, yeah, this feels very mission impossible. It's kind of tech-related. It's a little bit sci-fi, but it doesn't kind of, it's not too much for Mission Impossible, which yours has been along those lines. And here we are three years later, and it's the absolute zeitgeist. It's what everyone's talking about.

So that's Christ just being, you know, super prophetic. My understanding is that you were starting, you were about to film, and then when pandemic and lockdown hit, you was like two days before, or something like that, anyway. So you shut it. Can you just say something about the impact of COVID on the making of this film and how you recover?

Because I think it was the first Hollywood movie to pick up again after lockdown. Yeah, it was. We were in Venice, which was where the first sort of significant outbreak took place. And we were about to show. I hadn't got there yet, but a few of the cast members had Tom wasn't in there.

There was a big story about Tom fleeing Venice, but he didn't actually get there. Rebecca was there, Esai was there, and I was called and they said, I just don't come for a week. I was literally the day before I traveled. They said, don't come, we're just trying to figure something out. There's something happening.

Then of course, two weeks later, and the whole thing was shut down completely. And then we spent lockdown figuring out Tom kept training. Tom was determined to not let it stop the shoot. He made a lot of phone calls, he started to figure out the logistics, and we pretty much wrote the rulebook of how to shoot a film in a pandemic, because Tom is not a man to be sort of stopped. We get that impression.

Yeah. And we just figured out how to carefully and responsibly shoot in those circumstances, whilst protecting everybody on the crew, everybody in the cast, everybody related to the film. For Tom, it was a matter of saving, not only our film, but all film, because I think he felt a kind of existential threat to cinema generally, and that's his ultimate passion.

So for Tom, he was facing off against a villain he'd never faced before. So just remind us about your role. Remind us about Benji, where and where he can fit in the story. Yeah, Benji, Darn, he was a lab technician that used to kind of like, you know, sort out hard drives for Ethan back in the day. This is back in mission in Possible 3.

And then in the gap between 3 and Ghost Protocol, JJ Abrams called me one day and said, how would you feel it if Benji was an agent in the field? I'd say that's just a great line. JJ Abrams called me up on day. That's just great. That's his way though.

I mean, he called me to ask me to be in it in the first place. He's very hands on. Rather than go through the reps and do the whole thing, he'll just call and say, hey, do you want to do this? He did it with Star Trek, Star Wars, and this. And so when I did Ghost Protocol, Benji was then in the team. He's out in the field. He's the technician. He's the guy that does the hacking, the IT,

the sort of, you know, the logistics of the missions. I'm always on the B side of all the big stunts, so I'm the guy telling Tom what to go and jump off. You know, I'm just happy with. But he's become a more capable, more mature, more experienced member of the team as the films have gone on. I've done five of them now.

And it's been a privilege to kind of have the opportunity to grow that character and build on what's gone before each time. And there's a great chemistry between you, in Vingraeam's and you're all sitting there with Tom and working out what we're going to do and what's the next incredible thing that we're going to have to sort out. It feels as though you're good mates at that point.

Yeah, well that team, well Tom and Ving, I met them for the first time, the same time, on the set of Mission Impossible 3, they sort of walked out of a door, and they were both there, and it was very much getting thrown in the deep end. Both of them were incredibly patient with me. I was doing this huge monologue,

I'd only got the day before, I was nervous, I kept getting it wrong. Tom was so kind of good at seeing, it's okay, you're gonna nail this, you're gonna crush this, monologue, I'd only got the day before, I was nervous, I kept getting it wrong. Tom was so kind of good at saying it's okay, you're gonna nail this, you're gonna crush this, you know? And yeah, so every time now we get together and it's me, Tom Ving and Rebecca Ferguson, that feels like the real core team, and we always have a lot of fun.

And I would imagine when you work with someone like Tom with that level of commitment, which you've already alluded to, it must rub off on everybody. 100%. I mean, he would never turn around and give orders, but you just sort of like... You feel obliged in a way.

In the same way that he feels obliged to deliver the most sort of authentic, kind of thrilling experience for the cinema go by doing all those stunts himself, you know. You feel obliged to just like step up to the plate and do the same, because otherwise, I think you'd just vanish into the background or you wouldn't be able to keep up. I think we can talk about it because the little clip was out on YouTube

has been there for quite a while, where Tom drives off the cliff, which I think is in Norway and then he'll parachute. And he does it six times, doesn't he? When you get to that bit in the film, it's actually added to the thrill of the ride because you know he's doing it for you. You know that this is him. I mean, you kind bit in the film, it's actually added to the thrill of the ride, because you know he's doing it for you. You know that this is him. I mean, you kind of assume that anyway.

But it's such an incredible stunt. And that was the first day of film. It was the first day of filming, partly because, obviously, having that hanging over him for the shoot would be a bit stressful. Also, practically speaking, you know, you get those things out the way, because if you shoot a big part of the film film and then you shoot that and something goes wrong, then that's going to cause problems, you know. So, it's a very, very eventful first day. And I think the thing about Tom, he knows that when you hand over to a

stunt professional in any other film series, the acting stops. It's just the stunt, it's just the stunt then, because the stunt professional isn't the actor. Tom knows two things. One, if the actor does the stunt, then the character never leaves the moment. And two, if the audience know that it's happening, if they're not not watching CGI or VFX or something that's been, you know, is artificially created, there's more of a sense of danger and heart-stopping kind of thrill because it's not only Ethan Hunt that's jumping off a cliff, it's Tom Cruise. And I think he really understands the value of that authenticity, you know. Does everyone else worry? Yes! I was up there because I was giving lines for the scene when he skids to the edge of the mountain and

we had that little exchange because I'm the one sending him up there. And then we all, all of us, went up the mountain, we were helicoptered up this mountain to stand and watch it, because it felt slightly preferable to just being back at the hotel, waiting to hear if it had all gone well. So we watched him do it seven times on that second day. I think he'd already done it like twice the day before. And there would be a moment when he'd go off the end and he'd disappear. And then there'd just be a pause, because he freefalls for a little bit. He actually delivers a line in freefall. That's not allowed.

Not really. But not just freefall, but freefall at base jump level. He's so close to the ground. And then we get the radio signal good canopy, which meant that his shoot had opened, and he would probably get to the ground safely. There's always the chance that there'd be a gust of wind, but good canopy was what we were waiting for.

And that moment would stretch into an eternity when he went off the cliff. It was genuinely, I mean, imagine how thrilling it is in the film to see it live. I have it on my phone. I was filming it. I want to ask you something else about AI because I was listening to an interview that Christopher McCwory gave to Craig Mason on the script notes podcast. So he was talking about AI as impacting on the the screenwriters Guild Strike, which is as we speak on going. And he was saying that the threat to your industry as a writer and an actor is that AI can reproduce mediocrity. It can be mediocre drama. It can do mediocre comedy.

What it can't be is exceptional. But Chris McQuarrie was making the point that none of us are exceptional out of the box. We all have to be a bit mediocre to start with. And that's the threat that writers aren't going to get a chance to be average, because QI can do that. I just wonder how you see it as a writer yourself. Well, I think the writing process, you know, it is a process. And you do, when you write a first draft, you write something that you know is going to improve and you will improve. If we get AI to write those first drafts the whole time, people are only ever going to be, you know, doctoring scripts or giving notes. There's going to be no sort of genesis

in them, no kind of heart. I read a funny thing that says AI hasn't had any childhood trauma so it's never going to make good art, you know? But it's true. And I think AI is going to be a potentially incredible tool when it comes to things like space travel or environmental protection. Problems we can't solve yet medicine, you know? But it has no feelings that it cannot abstractly interpret, so it can't make art.

You can use it as a paintbrush perhaps. But I think the idea of it being present in the creative space, it might be a good thing in that it will stop us from being mediocre. You know, there is a lot of mediocrity out there sometimes, things that pass for entertainment are not quite as good as they should be. So if it ups our game, because we want to sort of escape the velocity of this creeping threat, then it's a good thing. But I don't think, until it has feelings of its own,

and it can make art about being an AI. We don't want it to have feelings of it. You don't know it's going to hate us. We always think it's going to make that calculation about humanity not being worth preserving. It says a lot about how we feel about ourselves. You know, we're in therapy a lot. You mentioned earlier, when you talk about the JJ Abrams,

that you've been in Star Wars Star Trek mission impossible. Three of the biggest titles ever. Is there anyone else that has done all three? The big one that the sci-fi one is Star Trek Star was in Doctor Who, you know, which is the kind of like sci-fi tromba for the super nerds. But, well, Pawn and Haley are both Marvel girls, you know, they've both been in Avengers and stuff. And I mean, Tom's the one. He's been in so many Tom Cruise movies. Yeah, that's true. I just think, you know, there is something about...

Also, the other thing, you were in a drama, the underclared war. Yeah. On television about GCHQ and cyber attacks. And so on. And what that and this movie and the mission impossible have in common, it seems to be, is that it's, what are we worried about?

What is making us nervous when we go into the Senate? It's not the Cold War anymore. Maybe it will be. Maybe there will be another one, and then we'll have movies about Russia. But it's actually cyber attacks. It is AI, and that's the genius of this film is that we are genuinely worried.

Yeah, well it says in the movie, when they speak of the entity, they say it started on social media and in the news. But that served our purpose, the American government, saying, and you could almost see that as something that is happening now. There is a lot of AI at work in social media. There are a lot of bots out there, there are a lot of trolls that are, you know, manned operatives that actually pretend to be from certain countries to stir up disorder and, you know, separate people. These are all very real threats. These are things that are happening now. So it's definitely on our minds, yeah. Well, the great achievement, one of the achievements it seemed to me of this movie is that it's two hours, 43, and it felt like an hour and a half. Yeah. It was, it's an incredible film. When you were on Desert Island discs recently, you said that when you were growing up you had a list. I think maybe when you're a student,

you had a list of people that you wanted to work with. Yeah. Does that list, is that an actual list and you're kind of crossing people off or is it just back of your head? Well, there were always people coming through as well. So the list is always, I've been so lucky to work with, particularly someone like Stephen Spielberg, who is someone that I grow up sort of appreciating, and that was a genuine kind of dream come true moment. But there are filmmakers who are established and filmmakers who break through, like the Daniels,

who came through last year, particularly with everything ever all at once, who are, their first film, Srisalmi Man, is great, but you know, it's really fun to sort of like meet those guys and say, hey, you know, next time you make a film, I'm around, because you always want to work with interesting people. What you don't want to do is mediocrity.

That's the thing, you want to work with exceptional people. And where are we with part two? I mean, obviously you can't tell us anything about it, but are you in production? Are you actually filming? Well, this is the thing. If I said that I was filming, it would mean I survived part one.

Now, the people that haven't seen the film, you know, so I can't confirm or deny, as we say in the IMF, but I know that Mission Impossible Two is indeed filming, and anyone in Mission Impossible Two, part two, will be going back to shooting immediately after the press tour, which is a very strange thing because it's like we've promoted a movie and then we're just going back to filming it again. Well, if indeed you do make it through Part 1, we look forward to seeing you in Part 2 and if you don't make it to the end of Part 1 commiserations, and all the best for the future.

I can guarantee that Part 2 will be bigger and more spectacular. It is not possible, surely, you'd be surprised. Really? Yeah. Bigger than what I've just seen. Yeah. Okay, next summer it is Simon Pegg. Thank you so much. Thank you, Simon. Good to see you. BELL RINGS Having seen this in possible, the idea that the stunt should

in part 2 are even better. I know. How? How is that possible? Because as you and I, because we saw it together, and the last half and the last movement, the movement that begins with the stunt that everyone's talking about, which is the setup. That's not even the thing. That's the set which we heard in the clip is where, which is where you see Tom on his motorbike, the edge of the clip. To be honest, just riding up to the edge of the clip on a motorbike looks like ludicrous baby.

It's terrifying. But that whole last extended sequence, I honestly was starting to hyperventilate, but make it stop, make it stop. I can't bear the tension. And yes, I am aware, listening through to that interview that I confused AI with QI and refer to this terrible threat as QI. So obviously that was a ludicrous thing to juxtapose.

Louis, or possibly Louis, anyway, whichever you'd rather, I'll go with Louis. Dear dead reckoning part one and part two. I saw the latest mission impossible last night on your recommendation. I've not seen any of the others in the cinema. Okay. I thought it was brilliantly entertaining. Some of the most thrilling set pieces I've ever seen. It was funny throughout, even if many of the laughs were incidental, laughing at the absurdity

of the stakes or the delivery of certain lines. Of course, it was preposterous throughout. That's to be expected of a mission impossible film, but I thought by far the most unbelievable moment, more than the AI villain, the death defying stunts or the futuristic gadgets, was just how empty Venice was. Venice is never empty. Dozens of alleys. That is absolutely true. A single soul to be seen, yet restaurants were open. The supposedly clandestine party was heaving and plenty of gondolas for guests. Maybe that's, maybe that is COVID, because as you just heard Simon Pegg was explaining. Yeah, but also it's because they're making a mission impossible films. Are you not

allowed on the set when they're like, are people or two people having a fight on a bridge? You're not just going to have tourists taking photographs of each other. And then Louis slash Lewis says, presumably they filled during lockdown when tourists numbers dwindled in the city was emptier than it's been in decades, if not centuries. How else could they have booked out the Doge's Palace? Anyway, I wonder whether they changed the location of Venice because of the possibilities that lockdown there offered the production. Nonetheless, there was something eerie about an empty Venice, as if something terrible

had happened to the world beyond the Lagoon, precisely the kind of disaster the IMF at task was stopping. Down with AI, up with striking writers says, and as you heard in that interview, they were always going to Venice because that's where they were, you know, because they cancelled it just ahead of the first lockdown. Although I would say that if you've seen Don't Look Now, a lot of Don't Look Now, no Don't Look Now is technically off season, but the streets of Venice through which Donald Sutherland chases are empty. And I went to Venice a few years ago and it's true you can't move. It's absolutely rammed. But, you know, film set in Venice. I mean, wings of the dove has got that sequence in Venice and it's the streets once again are empty. Bob Smithy via our YouTube channel because the

whole of this episode is available with pictures. And who wouldn't want to see that? Quite well, my family. It says, AI is not a new subject matter in films. It's been around for many decades, examples. Terminator 1982 was about AI controlling Earth's SkyNet took over in the humans' wage war to reclaim the planet. 2001 Space Odyssey for 968 spaceship AI computer Howe attempts to kill the crew. Westworld 1973 AI robot attempts to kill customers. Maybe the definitive AI film of them all. War games in 1983, a military supercomputer, tricks humans into playing a real-life nuclear war simulation. The computer, WAPA, War Operation Plan Response, has advanced artificial intelligence and

accurately predicts the responses of humans. And going back even further, Colossus, the Forbidden Project in 1970, which basically provided the template for War Games WAPA and Terminator Skyna, has a similar setup with control of U.S US defense being handed to an AI in order to remove the possibility of human error from the equation, but the AI then establishes contact with another AI like itself, which turns out to be its Russian equivalent, which they didn't know about the existence of, and it gets more interesting from there and it's well worth the watch.

I think the main difference is that all of those things were very futuristic. And we go, wow, that would be scary. And now, AI is in every part of our lives and is threatening to sort of re-change, to change and rearrange lots of people's jobs and so on. And so, in a way that SkyNet didn't, you never watched that and thought, I hope SkyNet doesn't get rid of my job. You might watch this and go, oh yeah. Do you remember the original trailer for Westworld, which had the most brilliant tagline, which was in the movie trailer that you would see in the cinema, you know, a futuristic world in which nothing can go wrong, go wrong, go wrong. Anyway, so my outrageous prediction is still that it's missing possible, will be number one. Yes. And once you've seen it, please let's know what you Michigan Possible will be number one. Yes.

And once you've seen it, please let's know what you think correspondentsacermenome.com. I think, I mean, the laughter lift is going to be on. It's not very good addition of the laughter lift. Why is that? Well, you're about to find out. Okay. Not a lot of laughter is basically it. The lift.

Yes, just the lift. Okay. Hey, okay. Hey Mark, did you hear the news from Dorset's Jurassic Coast? They found a fossilized dinosaur fart. It's a real blast from the past. You see what I mean. That's really who wrote that? The red actor?

He's not here. I know. Why do you think he's not here? To face the Roth. Can you text him. Dear Simon Paul. Why can't you hear a Teradactyl dinosaur go to the toilet because it has a silent pee Because it's written pee teradactyl. Right. The pee is silent as in Bath. Yeah You're not even trying. No, I say I say why can't dinosaurs clap?

They got small front hands Because they're all dead. What's a front hand? You know, we can just hand. So just hand. What's the other one? That's much funnier. OK, fine, there we go.

Do it again. Why can't dinosaurs clap because they've got small front hands? And also they're dead. Also, why don't dinosaurs make good pets? Because they're dead. Because they're all dead. Anyway, they're dead. Also, why don't dinosaurs make good pets? Because they're dead. Because they're all dead. Anyway, dead is precisely right. What else is to come to think? Is that what's actually right?

That's actually right. Wow, OK, squaring the circle of documentary about, you say it. Squaring the circle. Getting a circle and making it square, hip-a-good noses. Thank you very much. And Wally Watch, which is a documentary about news reporting in India.

We'll be back after this, unless you're a Vanguardista, in which case we have just one question, how far can you walk into the woods? With banking packages from Scotia Bank, you can put money back in your pocket. That's how Marcus was able to invest in everything he needed to launch his podcast about his pets. Welcome back to PetGasd. Visit ScotiaBank.com slash welcome offer. Scotia Bank conditions apply. Get holiday ready at Real Canadian Superstore. That's it. every detail. And the answer, of course, to how far can you walk into the woods? The answer is, of course, halfway after which you're walking out.

Oh, actually, that's a better joke than any of the dinosaur jokes. Anyway, Tom says, hello, 401st, most popular name in England and Wales. And hello, 211st, most popular name. That and Wales. And hello, 211st most popular name. That's Hello Simon. Hello Mark. Glad you witted on about names again this week. It reminded me I got halfway through this the week before and then forgot to finish it.

Thanks a lot. Thought you'd like to know there were 207 marks born in England and Wales in 2021, the latest available data, but just 107 simons. That's an average of a new Simon just over twice a week about the same rate as these podcasts. I wonder if there's a connection.

In terms of popularity, Simon and Mark both peaked in the mid-70s and as baby names as well. Some names that are more, and we have two simons, so me and Simon Pegg, so we've had two simons on it, so maybe. Some names that are more popular than either Simon or Mark include Oscar with a K. What? 230.

That's more popular than Simon or Mark. Yes. Ryan. Ryan. No. R-A-Y-A-N. No. Really?

264 of them. And. I'm surprised. Maximus. are a y a n no really 264 of them and surprise Maximus 293 there are 293 Maximus is more than Maximus is more than or Mark less popular in 2021 than either of our names Boris you have got well 99 Nigel eight and

Donald just the one I do a genuinely amaze. There's only one Donald in the whole of 2021. I mean, for good reason, obviously. But anyway, I'm not, Tom says, I'm not sure if Sanchez pans is a sensible name, but then there's only been four Sanchez registered in England and Wales since 1996. All of them in 2004. So it sounds like the 2003 Doncahoti convention might have been a rather wild one Hello to Jason 251 of them and Isaac so there's more Jason's than they were our son or mom and Isaac

1888 really so that's the big growth name Isaac is the most popular of all of those names Signed by Tom brackets. I went in barrissey how popular I am, so presumably there are loads of Tom's here. But that makes us rare and to be cherished. What's the joke? Every Tom's I can hear he's called Mark, you know this? That works. Alex says, on an episode a few weeks ago, you mentioned teacher strategy of reading the question before doing an exam. We mentioned it several times, that's right. Read the flipping question. It, however, brought horrific memories of my AS level history exam on the tutors. Like every history student, we were put through the many trials and tribulations of that family,

and we studied them to death. That's a strange punishment by the medieval punishment. We're going to study it till you're dead. During my first year examination, one that did not count towards my engraid, but would be looked at by a potential university, is I read the question. To what extent was Henry VIII's foreign policy dictated by international prestige? To me, this was a dream of a question. Due to his majesty's small man syndrome,

international approval is all he ever wanted, similar to certain politicians today. Good, yeah. I wrote an excellent answer to this, and was ecstatic coming out of the exam hall. All was about to change. I spoke with my best friend, asking about how he found the Henry the eighth question, and he said,

well, do you mean both questions were on Henry the seventh? Oh, my heart dropped. I misread the question, a single line, a single digit. No. It was the cause of my downfall, and it was too late to change anything. I hadn't read the question, a single line, a single digit. No. It was the cause of my downfall and it was too late to change anything. I hadn't read the question properly and now that entire exam was worthless. Even now, I still curse that line. All is well, however, it might have meant that I was not able to go to my first choice

university, but I still got a good history degree at the end. The friend I spoke to after my exam is becoming a teacher in the autumn and I've told him he can always use me as an example of why you should read the question. From Alex, University of Warwick history, first class honours, Tossel Hall Survivor 2018. Very good. So that is actually the, that is a first class university Tossel Hall being, when I was there, one of the most horrible places that it's possible to live as a student. So I got a text. Particularly Tossel 46. Tossel flats. Tossel flats. Terrible. I got a text from Jay Rayner, which said, I'm sure you've been told this, but we were

Oxford and Cambridge exam board. Now the reason for this is because I said that when I did my history at O-level, there was a mistake in the question. They got the date of a treaty wrong, and I was trying to find out what it was in order to prove. I should have got a B-not C for my history O-level, okay? So I was born in... do you lie the second 1963? You do your O-levels when you're in the fifth form. So that would have been... What's... You do it, it's your story.

Would you help me with this? What? When would I when would I've done my whole level? So 63 73. When were you born? Second of July 1963. So I was sick. 1978. Would it be 70 out of 79? No, it depends. Okay. It's your life. Right. Okay. Jay then goes on to say no clue on the question because I'm so very much younger than you. But probably the treaty of you tracked it often was. I don't think it was the treaty of you tracked. I tried to find this but I can't say if there's anybody out there in the academic world, okay? Who can find me the Oxford and Cambridge O-level history exam for either 1978 or 1979. In one of those papers there is a mistake in the date of a treaty, and I don't think it was a treaty of you trekked. I would love to

know because I'm 60 now and I'll carry this around with me ever since then. So Oxford and Cambridge exam board O level, either 78 or 79, and there's a mistake in one of the questions. Do us a film. Have you lost interest in my, and I'm just pressing on. Okay, fine. So squaring the circle, the story of hypnosis spelled, h-i-p-g-n-o-s-i-s. The whole thing about where that name came from, being one of the things which

is dealt with in the documentary about how it came up, it was apparently written on a wall, and it was either written by Sid Barrett, possibly, or by a whole bunch of other people, maybe, nobody's quite sure. So, this is made by Anton Corbin, who's the Dutch photographer who made control and the American and life. This is his first feature, doc, apparently. Story of Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Poe Powell, who were the creative duo behind the company, who went from making album covers for their mates. They made to that point being Dave Gilmore and Sid Barrett, to becoming one of the most

excess drenched record album sleeve designers in the world. His Eclipse. By the mid 70s, money was really rolling into rock stars pockets. The albums were selling in millions. The money was gushing in. Whether it was Paul McCartney or Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd or Peter Gabriel, they wanted the image to look right on the album cover. This album cover was a very important asset to them. And so our fortunes changed to fees accelerated.

We were looking at $50,000 spent on an album cover. I felt a bit like the fifth wheel on the car. You had the four members of the band, and then there was this guy who was also attached to the car that went with them everywhere they went. He'd a grant and say, well, you better get Concord, you better get there tomorrow morning. So there they are, at the height of the excess,

flying around on Concord. Documentary uses, well, you saw the black and white monochrome interviews, which include Paul McCartney, Noel Gallagher, Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, Peter Gabriel, Glen Matlock, Nick Mason, Dave Gilmore, but Roger Waters. Oh well, it's part of the story. Exactly. Animation, archive images, clips from repulsion, because there's a thing about repulsion

being shot in one of the buildings that they were working in. We hear the story about them bonding after a drug bust when one of them didn't run away and the other one was in press, so they kind of became like us against the world. That name hip-gunosis, which is a pun on no stick meaning, you know, okay, we kind of put no one's quite sure where it came from. So you go through the story of Atom Hartmother, Dave Gilmore's very funny, he says the whole idea was we have a picture of a cow because it doesn't mean anything, but it failed because it came to mean things because people looked at it and they saw meaning in it. You see, you hear about, oh, the setting up a band on the run, getting all those people

in point, this lovely behind-the-scenes footage of doing that. Dark Side of the Moon, apparently Rick Wright originally said he wanted it to look like a black magic box of chocolates. For no reason, anyone understands. Venus and Mars, with the billiard balls, apparently poor McCartney slogan was, it's all balls, which is funny. Peter Gabriel doing the cat scratch stuff, and then the story of wish you were here, the fact that wish you were here, the guy really was on fire.

They say it was a metaphor, you get burnt by the music industry, but he really was on fire. And then it all leads up to the cover of animals, in which what they did was they had a huge inflatable pig. They literally flew the pig over Battersea Power Station, rather superimpose it, right? Took photographs of it and the wire broke and the pig went up into the air into the air lanes coming into Heathrow Airport. So they had to shut down all the air traffic and the pig kept going

and they couldn't catch it because the police marksman wasn't there to shoot it out of the sky. Finally ended up in someone's farm and then at the end of the day, they just put it on afterwards because they didn't get the shot, so they just cut one out and stuck it on the thing. So the whole thing was, it's kind of brilliant. I mean, I really liked it. I liked the stories behind the album covers. And if like me or somebody who, you know, no Gallagher talks about, he says this thing, he says, rich people have art on the walls.

Poor people have art on the floor on their album covers. And then he says, Rich people have art on the walls, poor people have art on the floor, on their album covers, and then he says, I don't know who said that, it's so brilliant, it must have been me, which is quite funny. Fair enough. But I thought it was a really gripping documentary

and oddly moving, so. And where do I see that? It's in cinema, and also on that, but it's really worth checking out. Because it's sort of like a lost art, really, because no one really pays any, because by the time the artwork turns up on your phone

is a few millimeters square. I know but it was so lovely getting the artwork and reading it. All right. Okay. So that's a cinematic release but presumably we'll turn up on the screen. What else have we got? While we watch, we see there's a documentary about Andy TV anchor, Raviish Kumar, who is described in India as the voice of the voiceless. He turns his attention to poverty, job losses, infrastructure, while other stations are gaining view as by screaming about dissent and this very pro nationalist agenda. And the documentary depicts journalism in India

as in crisis, in the same way it is elsewhere in the world, that what you have is all these new stations who are basically firing up, you know, national zeal and describing anybody who is criticizing the government as being anti-national. And what we see is the station signal being blocked. We saw that they see their resources dwindling. We see death threats being thrown around

after the subject's phone number is posted on Facebook. We see one threats being thrown around after the subject's phone number is posted on Facebook. We see one bit in which he gives a lecture to students in which he says news channels are pitting people against each other. This is becoming an information less society. And it's about how he continues to want to tell the news even in the face of all this. Here's a trailer for the film. Today, the channel that is happening is not a journalist. All the content is being released for a week. I'm so worried. You're not going anywhere. The people of India are talking about the incident. They will be angry at you.

Whenever you want to think about it, you will be angry. Ravi Kumar, you are not here. Just leave the wrong path. கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட்டும் கூட் NEWS Channel's Zerie, Zahar, آپ کے வیچ کو لجارہ ہے Puchne wale ko deshdrohi bata yaa jaa tae Puch follow ka rata Tese follow ka rata So I thought this was really interesting firstly because I didn't know the particular story behind it but the story about how news has been taken over by people shrieking you know nationalist patriotic agendas around is something with which everyone will be familiar

and there is a kind of sturdiness at the centre of it, but this guy said, look, these aren't the issues. The issues are really to do with poverty and infrastructure and all these other things. And as a result of that, getting receiving regular death threats and we cut between him at work and then him with his daughter at home. And even when he's at home, getting his phone call saying, you are anti-national, you are anti-national, you are anti-national, you are good and then of course we're all leading up to the election. And I thought it was really gripping really kind of an impressive portrait of somebody who's it's a sobering story about you're trying to tell the news, you're trying to actually report on what's genuinely happening

and yet you are now surrounded by this kind of huge media enterprise in which the person who shouts most loudly the message that we must all stand behind the nation, we must all be patriotic, they are the ones that get the advertisers and the money and the resources. And it ends with people that run the NETV being arrested. So it's a really, really worthwhile document.

The Prime Minister of India goes to America and is fated by the White House because you want to be friends with India precisely. Okay, and that is cool. While we watch. And that is a cinematic release. And again, again, probably online as well. Sounds like essential viewing. Time for this week's listener correspondence.

This is our What's on Guide stuff that you sent us. You can send yours to Correspondents at COVIDaMO.com. Let's see who we have this week. Hi Mark and Simon, I'm James Smith, a UK filmmaker. Now it strikes me that you're a couple of proper geezers, so I think you'll like this. We're having the London premiere of our comedy feature film Best Geezer at the Courtaugh Hotel on the 28th of July at 7pm. The story follows three down on the luck video guys from Essex who aspire to make a proper Giza movie full of gangster's and punch-ups. Things don't go to plan and there are plenty of ups and downs, laughs and tears, all against a great

soundtrack. Search for best Giza on Eventbrite and get your tickets today. Thank you. Hi, Sam and I'm Mark and I'm a fashion theorist and historian at Oxford Uni. As part of my doctor, I'm exploring the sensory entanglement between costume and actors in film. For this, I'm conducting interviews with costume designers, makers and actors on their experience of costume and film. If you would like to be a part of my research, please email me at millie.cox at classics.ox.ac.uk. That's m-i-l-l-y.cox at c-x at c-l-a-s-s-s-i-c-s dot-o-x dot-ac dot-u-k. Thank you. Hello Simon and Mark, this is Simon from Secret Cinema.

This summer we're bringing Rydel Hyde to life outdoors at the NEC in Birmingham, as we present Greece the live experience. The show opens on the 26th of July and runs for three weeks only. Tickets are available from just 39 pounds at secretcinema.com. Academic email addresses are arrived. Oh, that was nice. Wow, I thought that was the formula for life.

James Smith was promoting his new comedy, Best Gees, a fashion theorist with the academic email that's milly once you're helped with a PhD research. And another sign and see how popular we are promoting secret cinemas, Greece event in Birmingham. If you've got a little trailer for us us about anything in the world that you're working on which you think might be cinema related, correspondence or COVID-19.

Fascinating about the thing about the physical interaction between costume. And I'd like to know more about what that thesis is about. That seems really interesting. You could get in touch with email. If I could remember the address. Exactly. To remind me what it was. You can go back 30 seconds and write it down.

As you had to take one, this has been a Sony Music Entertainment production. The team was Lily Hamley, Ryan Amira, Lovely Ed, Beth Perkin, Mickey Movies, Hannah Talbot, and Simon Pull, not that he bothered to turn up this week. Mark, what is your film of the week? Medusa. Thank you very much indeed for listening. Take two has landed already. And it already.