A film podcast where each episode is a deep dive into one movie. We treat “untouchable” classics exactly the same as cult curiosities: nothing’s off limits. Mate Night digs into history and craft, but doesn’t hesitate to highlight the ridiculous along the way. If you’ve ever muttered “is it actually that good?”, you’ll feel at home here.
The 10th greatest film ever made - Back to the Future (1985) | The Mate Night Film Deep Dive
Is Back to the Future (1985) a genuinely perfect film, or just the one we're all too fond of to mark down honestly? Welcome back to the booth at Mate Night, where we're re-ranking the IMDb Top 250 A to Z until someone finally invites us to Cannes.
Fred went 9.1 and refused to blink — it's Back to the Future, stick the landing. Jambo came in at 8.4, docked partly because rewatching Parts II and III soured it: Zemeckis never wanted to film the future, made a caricature of it instead, and Part II is irritating for it. Jambo still rates Jaws and Jurassic Park above it, while admitting this one has the better story.
Then the production, which was a mess. Eric Stoltz sacked five weeks into shooting. Michael J. Fox doing a TV show all week and this at weekends, sleep-deprived the whole way through. Crispin Glover picking fights with Zemeckis over an ending he read as "money makes you happy", then suing over his likeness. Forty-six rejections before Spielberg came on as producer.
In this episode:
🎬 9.1 vs 8.4 — should the sequels count against the first film?
🍳 Everything in focus — how the opening breakfast scene lands the plutonium gag before anyone speaks
🛸 Spaceman from Pluto — the retitle memo Spielberg killed with one very polite reply
🕰️ 21 October 2015 — what Marty would actually have found: a real Jaws 19 trailer, self-lacing Nikes, and thousands of people already dressed as him
📊 The official Mate Night score — 8.8, level with 12 Angry Men, Apocalypse Now and Dune Part Two, and 10th on the Master List
Strap in, strap on, and let's find the one true score.
#BackToTheFuture #MichaelJFox #MateNight #FilmPodcast #IMDbTop250
2 Aug 2026
We found the worst decade in cinema history | Batman Begins (2005) | Mate Night Podcast
Is Batman Begins (2005) the best comic book film ever made, or is it just really goofy? Back in the booth, one film into B, on current projections about 25 years from finishing the Top 250.
Fred gave it 7.8 and spent most of it cataloguing goof: the way Batman stabs the switchboard on the train, and an entire Katie Holmes performance delivered by someone who appears not to have read the scene. Jambo gave it 7.7 and argued it's the rare origin story that actually shows its working — Bruce has to earn the kit rather than just be a billionaire. Machine result: 7.75. The 32nd greatest film of all time, until further notice — behind Sinners, The Devil Wears Prada and 2001: A Space Odyssey, just ahead of Superbad and Casablanca.
Then Jambo runs the numbers on nearly 100 scored films to find the worst decade in cinema. Fred guessed the 1940s. Fred was wrong.
In this episode:
💧 The Weapon That Vaporises All Water — except, mercifully, the water inside you. Don't drink anything and you'll be fine.
🎭 Cillian Murphy Listening — why Nolan keeps the camera on his face while somebody else talks.
🎩 "Never." — Michael Caine's delivery, the Stuart Laws bit that ruins it forever, and the man's one-in-ten philosophy.
📉 Decade Averages — the 2020s bottom out at 6.7 across 31 films. The 1970s take it at 8.4. Citizen Kane got 7.7 because it's boring and old.
🅱️ Listener Question — what do A Beautiful Mind, Bend It Like Beckham and Batman Begins have in common?
Strap in, strap on, and let's find the one true score.
28 Jul 2026
Thanos had omnipotence and chose murder — Avengers: Infinity War (2018) | Mate Night Podcast
Is Avengers: Infinity War (2018) the peak of the biggest film series ever made, or three hours of highlights with no film underneath? We're in the booth, working through the IMDb Top 250 alphabetically, and we are not close on this one.
Fred came out at 6.6 — six point mix — after watching it a second time and hearing every scripted pause where the cinema audience was meant to laugh. Jambo landed on 7.69, admitted his gut reaction was north of 8, and confessed to full Godfather effect: went in expecting to hate the Avengers, had a lovely time.
Then Fred takes over for a segment on the one thing nobody argues about: the plan. Thanos holds a vehicle of omnipotence and decides the answer is to kill half of everything. We go through what he could have done instead — double the resources, bring back Titan, abolish hunger, or, at the very worst, a universe-wide vasectomy. Fred scored it a 1 for ethical and stands by it.
In this episode:
🧤 The Thanos Plan — six years of "morally grey" and it falls apart in ten minutes.
🎭 The Peter Dinklage Problem — the accent, the size, and one joke delivered in one take.
🪓 Drax Defence Force — "I'll do you one better. Who is Gamora?"
⚔️ Helm's Deep vs the Highlight Reel — why the most clippable film ever made struggles to build tension.
📊 The Mate Night Machine — the numbers, and where it sits on the Master List. [PLACEMENT]
Strap in, strap on, and let's find the one true score.
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Spotify
5.0 / 5
10 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 21 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
41
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
0
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Questions about Mate Night
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hosts host the show. Published by Fred and Jamie.
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The show publishes weekly, based on its RSS feed.
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