181. The Monster Squad (1987) & Night of the Creeps (1986)

This week, we discuss two films from American cult horror director Fred Dekker. The first is The Monster Squad (1987), co-written by Shane Black, which sees a group of young kids take on the Universal monsters. The second is Night of the Creeps (1986), where two uncool college students find themselves at the centre of an alien invasion that turns people into zombies.   Timestamps What we’ve been watching (00:00:55) – Sexy Beast, Ocean’s Twelve, Wolfman’s Got Nards The Monster Squad (00:14:05) Night of the Creeps (00:41:45) Coin toss (01:08:50)   Links Instagram - @callitfriendopodcast @munnywales @andyjayritchie   Letterboxd – @andycifpod @fat-tits mcmahon   Justwatch.com – streaming and rental links - https://www.justwatch.com

This week, we discuss two films from French director François Ozon. The first is In the House (2012), which follows a precocious student who infiltrates a classmate’s family life through storytelling, blurring the line between fiction and reality. The second is Swimming Pool (2003), a tense psychological mystery where a reclusive writer’s quiet retreat unravels into a game of seduction, suspicion and blurred identities.   Timestamps What we’ve been watching (00:01:00) – Welcome to Wrexham season four, The Bear season four, 28 Years Later, Shifty, F1, The Ballad of Wallis Island, Jurassic World Rebirth, Dune: Part Two, War Dogs, Scanners In the House (00:40:40) Swimming Pool (00:56:00) Coin toss (01:19:50)   Links Instagram - @callitfriendopodcast @munnywales @andyjayritchie   Letterboxd – @andycifpod @fat-tits mcmahon   Justwatch.com – streaming and rental links - https://www.justwatch.com

This week, we discuss two films from American director John Milius. The first is The Wind and the Lion (1975), which blends adventure and political intrigue as a Berber chieftain kidnaps an American woman, sparking an international incident in early 20th-century Morocco. The second is Conan the Barbarian (1982), which charts the mythic rise of a warrior seeking vengeance in a brutal, sorcery-laced world.   Timestamps What we’ve been watching (00:01:00) – Dept. Q, Tires season two, The Bombing of Pan Am 103, Goodfellas, The Social Network, Tornado, Prey The Wind and the Lion (00:25:00) Conan the Barbarian (00:56:40) Coin toss (01:23:50)   Links Instagram - @callitfriendopodcast @munnywales @andyjayritchie   Letterboxd – @andycifpod @fat-tits mcmahon   Justwatch.com – streaming and rental links - https://www.justwatch.com

This week, we discuss two films that explore the uncertainty of growing up. The first is Diner (1982), which captures the camaraderie and coming-of-age struggles of a group of young men on the brink of adulthood in 1950s Baltimore. The second is I Vitelloni (1953), which follows five idle friends in a small Italian town as they face the slow, reluctant transition from youth to responsibility.   Timestamps What we’ve been watching (00:01:00) – Dept. Q, The Rehearsal season two, The Salt Path, Tires season two, Alien 3 - The Legacy Cut, City of God, Predator: Killer of Killers Diner (00:33:25) I Vitelloni (01:07:25) Coin toss (01:33:20)   Links Instagram - @callitfriendopodcast @munnywales @andyjayritchie   Letterboxd – @andycifpod @fat-tits mcmahon   Justwatch.com – streaming and rental links - https://www.justwatch.com Alien 3 - The Legacy Cut - https://www.a34k.net/ Andor: The Rogue One Arc - https://fanedit.org/forums/threads/andor-the-rogue-one-arc-rogue-one-rescore.29698/

This week, we discuss two films that quietly explore isolation, beauty and the passage of time. The first is Vigil (1984), which follows a young girl in rural New Zealand as she navigates grief, and a mysterious new presence, after her father's death. The second is Days of Heaven (1978), which captures the tragedy of a love triangle set against the sweeping landscapes of the American frontier.   Timestamps What we’ve been watching (00:01:00) – American Manhunt: Osama bin Laden, The Phoenician Scheme, Red River, The Last of Us season two, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, The Predator, The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey Vigil (00:35:00) Days of Heaven (00:45:50) Coin toss (01:10:40)   Links Instagram - @callitfriendopodcast @munnywales @andyjayritchie   Letterboxd – @andycifpod @fat-tits mcmahon   Justwatch.com – streaming and rental links - https://www.justwatch.com Vigil (1984) - https://youtu.be/1WSn5BTKjFM?si=3c_7KSFlGbz-LqPV

This week, we discuss two films from acclaimed director Jane Campion. The first is In the Cut (2003), a psychological thriller that delves into desire and danger as a woman becomes entangled in a murder investigation. The second is The Piano (1993), which tells the haunting story of a mute pianist whose arranged marriage in colonial New Zealand ignites a turbulent journey of passion and autonomy.   Timestamps What we’ve been watching (00:01:00) – Mogwai: If the Stars Had a Sound, Wild Zero, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, Matewan In the Cut (00:15:30) The Piano (00:47:00) Coin toss (01:14:00)   Links Instagram - @callitfriendopodcast @munnywales @andyjayritchie   Letterboxd – @andycifpod @fat-tits mcmahon   Justwatch.com – streaming and rental links - https://www.justwatch.com

This week, we discuss two depressing Scandinavian films. The first is Aniara (2018), which follows a spaceship of passengers drifting hopelessly through space, confronting existential despair after veering off course. The second is Melancholia (2011), which centres on two sisters grappling with personal and cosmic doom as a rogue planet threatens to destroy Earth.   Timestamps What we’ve been watching (00:01:00) – Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, Final Destination: Bloodlines, Andor season two, Rogue One Aniara (00:35:30) Melancholia (00:52:10) Coin toss (01:15:50)   Links Instagram - @callitfriendopodcast @munnywales @andyjayritchie   Letterboxd – @andycifpod @fat-tits mcmahon   Justwatch.com – streaming and rental links - https://www.justwatch.com

This week, we discuss two films starring Jack Nicholson. The first is The Witches of Eastwick (1987), which blends dark comedy and supernatural chaos as three women discover their powers, and a devilish visitor, in a small town. The second is Terms of Endearment (1983), which traces the complex, tender and often turbulent bond between a mother and daughter over decades of love and loss.   Timestamps What we’ve been watching (00:01:00) – Dig! XX, Sinners, Thunderbolts*, A Real Pain, Warfare The Witches of Eastwick (00:32:00) Terms of Endearment (01:04:45) Coin toss (01:36:15)   Links Instagram - @callitfriendopodcast @munnywales @andyjayritchie   Letterboxd – @andycifpod @fat-tits mcmahon   Justwatch.com – streaming and rental links - https://www.justwatch.com

This week, we discuss two Martin Scorsese films dealing with Christianity. The first is The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), which presents a deeply human portrait of Jesus, torn between divine duty and earthly desires. The second is Silence (2016), which follows two Jesuit priests facing persecution and crisis of faith while searching for their mentor in 17th-century Japan.   Timestamps What we’ve been watching (00:01:03) – Civil War, Drop, Spotlight The Last Temptation of Christ (00:26:20) Silence (00:59:53) Coin toss (01:33:00)   Links Instagram - @callitfriendopodcast @munnywales @andyjayritchie   Letterboxd – @andycifpod @fat-tits mcmahon   Justwatch.com – streaming and rental links - https://www.justwatch.com

This week, we discuss two American sports films from 1979. The first is North Dallas Forty (1979), which exposes the gritty underside of professional American football, where painkillers, politics and profit overshadow the game The second is Breaking Away (1979), which follows a group of working-class friends navigating identity, dreams and class divisions in a college town through the lens of competitive cycling.   Timestamps What we’ve been watching (00:01:00) – The Last of Us S02E01, Interstellar, Black Mirror season seven, The French Dispatch North Dallas Forty (00:35:43) Breaking Away (01:04:15) Coin toss (01:34:40)   Links Instagram - @callitfriendopodcast @munnywales @andyjayritchie   Letterboxd – @andycifpod @fat-tits mcmahon   Justwatch.com – streaming and rental links - https://www.justwatch.com Limmy - How American sports sound to me - https://youtu.be/Gz2SX5dwO84?feature=shared