Brendan made Sara an offer she couldn’t refuse: to guide her through the wonders of cinema, one classic at a time.
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Ciao amici! This week we’re on an international adventure as Sara and Brendan nostalgically navigate the sultry seas of Sicily’s Cinema Paradiso (1988). There’s marvellous Mediterranean insights as we mull over the movie’s mobilisation of frame narratives, repeating motifs, and reflections on private and collective life. Plus haiku belleza returns in a nuovo edizione of poesia corner. Andiamo!
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10 Sept 2026
Whiplash
Drumroll please … Sara goes to Hollywood is back! Season two kicks off with a souped-up squad as sound engineering supremo and pod favourite Olly Thompson joins Sara and Brendan LIVE in the studio to scatter pearls of professional wisdom over our discussion of 2014 indie nail-biter Whiplash. We aim for the pinnacle of podcasting as we percussively probe the pic’s portrayal of poor pedagogy, painful pleasures, paternal power, and all that jazz (ba-dum tish). Plus poetry corner returns with a special sonic tribute to Hank Levy courtesy of Olly. There are no two words in the English language more harmful than “good pod”.
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7 May 2026
There Will Be Blood
I. Record. Your. Podcast. I record it up! Join Sara and Brendan for an oil-booming deep dive into Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2007 masterpiece There Will Be Blood. There will be adventurous interpretations of the film’s rich symbolism. There will be diverting digressions on extraction equipment. And there will of course be another particularly petroleum-perfumed portion of poetry corner. I’ll have what she’s drilling!
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23 Apr 2026
Festen
Sara 95 manifesto. Rule 1. The 1998 Danish drama Festen must be discussed, paying particular attention to the film’s unconventional cinematography and dark themes. Rule 2. The film must be placed in context of the Dogma 95 movement. Rule 3. Comparisons must be drawn with other works by director Thomas Vinterberg and the film’s spiritual descendants must be mentioned. Rule 4. Poetry corner must return for a basically bacchanalian bonanza of haphazard haikus.
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9 Apr 2026
2001: A Space Odyssey
Read my lips: in space, no one can hear you screen 2001: A Space Odyssey, but they can sure as Hal hear you podcast. Join commander Sara and lieutenant Brendan as we voyage through a few million years of human history chatting spaceship interior design, hominid habits, and how you can tell when you’re in a vortex. Plus stratospheric haiku harmonies return in a nebulously neoclassical edition of poetry corner. Houston, we have a podcast.
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26 Mar 2026
Good Will Hunting
It’s not your fault that Brendan and Sara watched Good Will Hunting. It’s not your fault that they discussed the nature of genius, the parallels with Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s careers, and the meaning of ‘them apples’. It’s not your fault that they found the slow motion fight scene bizarre and cheesy. It’s not your fault that there was more haiku-based hilarity in a bountifully Bostonian edition of poetry corner. It’s not your fault.
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12 Mar 2026
Harold and Maude
I should like to change into a podcaster most of all: Brendan and Sara hotwire the nearest convertible and speed down the interstate discussing 1971 cult classic Harold and Maude. We chat beautiful friendships, the ethics of tree theft, and the pointedly un-Romeo-and-Juliet-like ending of this bizarre, wonderful film. Plus poetry corner returns with another irresistible instalment of life-affirming haiku energy. I couldn’t imagine a lovelier podcast.
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26 Feb 2026
Force Majeure
Sara and Brendan hit the slopes to glide through Ruben Östlund’s alpine romp Force Majeure (2014). An avalanche of accurate synopsis and insightful commentary descends over the pod as we chat ski infrastructure, primal screaming, and holiday childcare etiquette. Après-ski, a blizzard of beauty beckons in a suitably sublime iteration of poetry corner. Don’t look down!
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12 Feb 2026
Groundhog Day
Don’t worry listeners: it’s not a war film! Sara and Brendan don their hats and booties to brave the long, long winter of Groundhog Day. We discuss this seasonal classic’s manifold meanings, including the inevitability of death, the futility of forecasting, and (once again) the importance of hobbies. Plus the eternal poetry corner recurs with a flamboyantly French foray into haiku wisdom. Whatever happens tomorrow, or for the rest of my life, I'm happy now… because I love podcasting.
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29 Jan 2026
Se7en
You can’t just tap people on the shoulder anymore - you have to hit them with a podcast. In this episode, Sara and Brendan team up to investigate the fiendish crimes of David Fincher’s slick 1995 thriller Se7en. There’s thoughtful reflection on the pleasures of counting, biblical exegesis, and le Corbusier furniture; plus of course your usual dose of haiku medicine in poetry corner. Don’t miss this episode’s conclusion, where we unveil Mansplaining Moments, a new segment devised to punish the eighth deadly sin: male pedantry. This isn’t going to have a happy ending…
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15 Jan 2026
The Shawshank Redemption
Listen up, maggot! We believe in two things: discipline and podcasting. Join us as we do some hard time in New England’s finest penitentiary with the Shawshank Redemption. We chat prison design, Michel Foucault, and smoking while incarcerated. Plus there’s haiku fun as always in a radically reform-minded edition of poetry corner. Get busy listening, or get busy podcasting.
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18 Dec 2025
The Muppet Christmas Carol
Sara was heard: to begin with. Put on your stovepipe hat and trim those mutton chops, because it's time to talk about everyone's favourite foam-and-felt festive classic, The Muppet Christmas Carol! Taking the lead from Gonzo and Rizzo, in this episode Sara and Brendan spar over the Muppetry's masterpiece, with tinsel-tangling digressions on topics including notorious deleted aria, 'When Love is Gone', the three major categories in Muppet taxonomy, and the nature of Muppet-master Jim Henson's genius. Plus there's thunderous Tennysonian tones in a monstrously Malthusian edition of poetry corner. This is culture!
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4 Dec 2025
Citizen Kane
Stop press! Sara and Brendan mount the rostrum to eulogise Orson Welles’ obituary-themed opus, Citizen Kane. How did Welles get to Hollywood? Why did mid-century newsreaders talk like that? And who exactly is this “Rosebud” character? Plus a very special edition of poetry corner gets down and dirty in that deep romantic chasm which slanted down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover. We finish with some intriguing listener correspondence to clear up any nagging doubts about the use of wigs in cinema.
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20 Nov 2025
Days of Heaven
Don’t panic: there’s locust trivia galore as Sara and Brendan hop on the train to Amarillo to enjoy Days of Heaven (1978). Siblings or dating? Texas or Canada? How old should Richard Gere be? We shine the bright natural light of Nestor Almendros’s Oscar-winning cinematography on all these questions and more. Plus obligatory haiku high jinks in another sun-soaked edition of poetry corner.
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6 Nov 2025
When Harry Met Sally
When you realise you want to spend the rest of your podcast with somebody, you want the rest of your podcast to start as soon as possible. Sara and Brendan meet cute for an intertextual romp through timeless 1989 rom-com When Harry Met Sally. We discuss the movie’s flagrant parallels with Casablanca and latent echoes of podcast favourite Psycho. Plus sensitive reflections on friendship, wigs, and conversing with men. And of course there’s more haiku fun in Poetry Corner. I’ll have what she’s podcasting.
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30 Oct 2025
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Sara Goes to Horrorwood: it's a fang-tastic Halloween special as we cross oceans of time to savour Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992). Baseless speculations abound on the foundation of Romania, the logistical advantages of sail, and the medicinal properties of garlic. Plus there's more haiku fun in a particularly putrescent poetry corner. Abandon all hope, ye who listen here.
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23 Oct 2025
Fame (1980)
Class is in session as Brendan and Sara compare notes on coming-of-age masterpiece Fame (1980). We study the woes and thrills of teenagerdom, what makes a musical a musical, and rogue subtitles. Plus a bumper edition of poetry corner as Brendan invites Sara to sing the body electric with Walt Whitman Jr. Turn on, tune in, drop out.
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9 Oct 2025
Psycho
Film novice Sara sits down with kino connoisseur Brendan to discuss the first stage of her cinematic Odyssey: Alfred Hitchcock's shower-time classic Psycho. We chat morality, Macguffins, and Marxist taxidermy. Who is ''the Psycho'' anyway? Plus, segment fun in the inaugural edition of Poetry Corner.
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