Kermode & Mayo’s Take

Welcome to another show jam-packed with top takes from Simon & Mark—which are still eliciting your ‘quiet affirmative noises’... Reviews this week of The Monkey—a splattery and slanted dark comedy horror about a murderous wind-up toy from Longlegs director Osgood Perkins, and I’m Still Here—the Brazilian drama about ‘the disappeared’ under the military dictatorship in the 1970s that has taken the Oscar nominations by storm. Plus September Says, an unsettling drama of sisterly bonds, and a little bit of Captain America: Brave New World, since we were foiled by the screening schedule last week. This week’s guest is 90s New Black Realist cinema’s MVP—that’s Mario Van Peebles. Possibly our smoothest, coolest guest evs, he directed 90s classics New Jack City, Panther, Posse—and now Outlaw Posse. With it, he’s pushing the frontier in more ways than one, bringing us a classic western without the whitewashing as he follows a gang of black cowboys who have rejected the unjust laws of their time to become outlaws. He talks to Simon about Black Westerns, ‘Black Rodeo’—the BFI season celebrating the genre that launched earlier this month—and being part of an indie filmmaking dynasty with his father Melvin and son Mandela. Your verdicts from our inbox on all the big releases too—keep them coming! Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free): September Says Review: 08:46 Captain America: Brave New World Review: 19:24 Mario Van Peebles Interview: 27:02 I’m Still Here Review: 46:11 Laughter lift: 52:53 The Monkey Review: 55:22 You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com 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: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com And to find out more about Sony’s new show Origins with Cush Jumbo, click here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We hope this week’s podcast will earn your ‘quiet affirmative noises’--whatever they might sound like...??? Listeners to last week’s show may remember one correspondent’s story of a film eliciting this mysterious and elusive sound—and you’ve kindly sent in some examples to clear up this crucial matter for us. Mmhmm. Grown-up Aussie animation ‘Memoir of a Snail’ is first on Mark’s review slate this week--starring Sarah Snook and with a voice cast including Nick Cave and Jacki Weaver, the crafted stop-motion story follows the melancholic life of a reclusive, snail collecting misfit in 1970s Canberra. On a lighter note, to solve all your lovers’ tiffs about what genre to go for this Valentine’s Day movie night, a review of the romcom-slasher hybrid ‘Heart Eyes’. And last but certainly not least—’Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy’, fourth instalment of the British romcom institution starring Renée Zellweger in which Bridget gets back to dating for the first time after the death of Mark (Colin Firth). Our guests this week are Stephen Graham and Malchi Kirby—who star in the Steven Knight-penned Victorian boxing drama ‘A Thousand Blows’, out next week. In it, a bulked-up Graham plays Henry ‘Sugar’ Goodson—the fearsome East End boxer and adversary of Kirby’s Hezekiah Moscow. Hezekiah arrives in 1800s London from Jamaica, hoping to fulfil his dream of becoming a lion tamer at the zoo—but finds himself at the heart of the city’s criminal underworld, orchestrated by Mary Carr (Erin Doherty), ‘Queen’ of the all-female crime gang The Forty Elephants. Simon chats to the stars about getting into the ring together in this gritty drama based on real historical figures, getting ripped, Jamaican heritage and more. Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free): Memoir of a Snail Review: 09:54 Stephen Graham & Malachi Kirby Interview: 26:19 Heart Eyes Review: 41:37 Laughter lift: 47:37 Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy Review: 52:44 You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com 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: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com And to find out more about Sony’s new show Origins with Cush Jumbo, click here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Awards season spinning your head? The Good Doctors have got you covered... Welcome to our awards special, where we’ll be giving you the lowdown on all the big players in this years awards nominations, all in one super-Take from Simon & Mark. We’ve brought together reviews of the titles everyone’s talking about—like Emilia Pérez, The Brutalist, Nosferatu and more—and interviews with the filmmaking & acting talents behind them. Sean Baker, James Mangold, Robert Eggers, RaMell Ross, Ralph Fiennes & Stanley Tucci... we’ve got a list of names longer than a yawn-inducing acceptance speech. From the bottom of our hearts, thanks to our agent, our mums, God, and you loyal Wittertainees. Now go forth and impress your pals at the Oscars watch-party. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices