I think it’s fair to say that the first Golden Age of podcasts has passed, and podcasts have gone from a new and rising medium to a fully accepted form of media distribution. If you are now entering adulthood as a high school graduate, the first season of Serial debuted when you were eight years old. This American Life would have offered its first podcast around the time of your conception (not claiming there is a correlation here). For our purposes, it’s been over three years since we’ve checked in on our favorite movie podcasts. Some have gone, some have come back, and new ones are always being invented. Here are five possibilities for your listening pleasure, with nothing in common other than they talk movies and the author has at least a passing familiarity with them. Please note your own favorites below!
The Flop House – Bad movie podcasts have been a dime a dozen over the years, but the best of them have kept the concept fresh, usually with off-topic episodes, flexibility with format, and occasional live events. The Flop House has done all three and has the magic balance of easy familiarity between the hosts and showmanship to keep the listener amused. The reigning trio Elliot Kalan, Dan McCoy and Stuart Wellington bring a wider knowledge of (and taste in) movies beyond the junk they usually cover, and they’re not afraid to praise when they see fit – as they point out, the only criteria to get on their radar is to flop with critics and/or audiences (usually both), and once in a while something gets unfairly punted away by the masses. And there are episodes with insightful interviews with Hollywood insiders, like Child’s Play creator Tom Holland. But mostly it’s a lot of hilarious jokes at the expense of movies that tripped over their own feet at the box office.
Where to start: As with so many of these podcasts, it’s usually most fun to start with a movie title you’re familiar with. If you’re looking for more general movie tomfoolery, the trio alternates “regular” episodes with “minis” which cover a grab bag of discussion topics from Oscar nominations to Best Scene Involving Meat. The three mini episodes where they attempt to guess a movie based on its inane imdb “Goofs” entries is a really funny place to start.
The Letterboxd Show – There are a number of websites with flagship podcasts – or a few if you’re The Ringer – but The Letterboxd Show reflects the movie-discussion-only social site by being constantly au currant and eclectic. Typically hosted by a rotating band of able hosts, sometimes the show gets even better when Letterboxd steps out of the way and leaves the duties to its stellar movie guests.
Where to start: The show hasn’t been updating regularly lately – is this another instance of recommending the back catalog? – but its most recent episode has Michael Mann discussing his favorite films. For an example of filmmaker-interviewing-filmmaker format, listen to classic Aussie director George Miller interview new Aussie filmmakers Danny & Michael Pillippou.
This Had Oscar Buzz – One of my favorite things to find is a podcast about a movie I remember clearly but has little to no formal existing discussion around it. This is the value of This Had Oscar Buzz, which digs up ambitious movies that weren’t just forgotten by time, but snubbed at the time of their release. What other format would have room for Alexander Payne’s disappointing Downsizing and unfairly neglected Hustlers? Hosts Joe Reid and Chris Feil
Where to start: This is one I definitely spot check – I don’t really need or want this to be my introduction to middlebrow films I haven’t seen. But just because the movie didn’t score with the Academy doesn’t mean it’s bad – there are episodes for Jordan Peele’s Us and beloved Jane Austen adaptation Love and Friendship, for example.
Screen Drafts – Movie list-making games seem to have found a niche in podcasts, with several iterations of the “Movie Draft” concept available, some as broad as determining the best in every genre, and some as narrow as only working form a list of Hallmark Films. Few are as regimented as the Screen Drafts podcast which Clay Keller hosts like a play-by-play announcer with Ryan Marker serving as his color commentator. The rules are well thought-out – maybe a little too much so as a good chunk of each episode is devoted to repeating them for the listener – but the strict format fosters intense discussion and debate as guests work to make a definitive list of the best films in a given category, jockeying to get their favorites on the board. The imaginative topics are what keeps puts this one on the top of the Movie Draft rankings, with categories as general as Natalie Portman movies to lists made from narrower fields such as MTV Movie Award Best Kiss Winners or Criterion World Cinema Project titles. Sometimes it’s just nice to know somebody else has spent time ranking the post-retirement Soderbergh movies.
Where to start: Sometimes the rapport between the guests is the most entertaining part. Old friends Griffin Newman and J.D. Amato spar over Jim Henson movies, a subject near and dear to them both. Matt Singer and Jordan Hoffman aren’t afraid to bust each others’ chops while ranking the best movies given two thumbs down by Siskel and Ebert.
Podcasts mentioned in previous articles that I still keep up on: Blank Check with Griffin and David and The Next Picture Show are still my most regular listens and the ones that will affect my actual watching many times per year. I will check out The Projection Booth and We Hate Movies if I’m familiar with (and willing to listen to a couple hours about) the title being discussed. I check up on Best Movies Never Made to see if they’re covering an unmade movie I want to know more about.
Your turn! What movie podcasts should be on everyone’s radar?