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Did we need another Sense & Sensibility? Turns out, maybe yes. Romance novelist (and cultural anthropologist!) Nikki Payne joins us to weigh the merits of director Georgia Oakley’s new adaptation, and separate the Willoughbys from the Bradleys. Then we read a hotline email about esoteric movie insights and subject Alonso to the first Christmas Movie Minute of the year!What’s Good?Alonso - I’ll Believe in Anything by Jacob TierneyDrea - Libby and their addition of an AI opt-outNikki - Take Charge of My Heart on NetflixKevin - Casey Abrams concert ITIDICNetflix Reports Box Office for the First Time for La Bola Negra’s Big SuccessSoderbergh to Step in to Finish The Batman 2 Hugh Grant and Emma Thompson on Graham Norton Staff Picks Drea - WildwoodAlonso - Once Upon a Time in HarlemNikki - Rye Lane (hey, we did an episode!)Kevin - Carrie (1976) Alonso’s Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas   Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinmaxfilm Follow us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram, or Letterboxd With Kevin Avery Drea Clark Alonso Duralde Produced by Marissa Flaxbart Sr. Producer Laura Swisher

Years ago, Mahershala Ali announced that he was working with Marvel to develop a new feature Blade with himself as the titular vampire slayer. The first director attached to the project was Bassam Tariq. Blade ended up in project hell, never quite able to get off the ground, despite Ali getting in great shape and training with swordplay. Eventually Ali and Tariq took advantage of Marvel’s delinquency (and Ali's training) to develop Your Mother, Your Mother, Your Mother. It’s a film that centers on the American Muslim experience, but is by turns dramatic and action-packed. The team discusses the film and uses the opportunity to talk about some of their favorite films with MacGuffins. What’s Good Alonso - Carrie on Amazon Prime Drea - Her friend is cancer free! Kevin - It’s finally cold (by Southern California standards) ITIDIC Indiewire Editorial: Are There Too Many Horror Movies? Crazy Rich Asians to Be Adapted Into a Series, With Same Cast and Filmmakers After Years of Concern, TCM Looks Like It’s Sticking Around at Skydance Staff Picks Drea - Tenzing Alonso - The Devils Kevin - The Book of Eli Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinmaxfilm  Follow us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram, or Letterboxd WithKevin AveryDrea ClarkAlonso Duralde Produced by Marissa Flaxbart Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinmaxfilm Follow us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram, or Letterboxd With Kevin Avery Drea Clark Alonso Duralde Produced by Marissa Flaxbart Sr. Producer Laura Swisher

Just the gang today to talk about a movie that has divided critics and moviegoers alike...at least, those moviegoers who actually took the very secretive bait that DIGGER's ad campaign was offering. Tom Cruise and Riz Ahmed star in this latest film from Alejandra G. Iñárritu. Then, we've got a different kind of movie quiz about films set in their not-so-distant future. What’s GoodAlonso - Every Time a Bell Rings by Emily St. James and Lauren TheisenDrea - Luna Wants TunaKevin - Returning to GBBO  ITIDICWB Watertower Already Repainted to Reflect MergerSteven Spielberg and Michael Bay Might Be Making the Next Transformers Movie Staff PicksAlonso - The Social ReckoningDrea - Fjord, Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, and Dr. StrangeloveKevin - Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass   Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinmaxfilm Follow us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram, or Letterboxd With Kevin Avery Drea Clark Alonso Duralde Produced by Marissa Flaxbart Sr. Producer Laura Swisher

Director Lance Oppenheim's debut feature, Primetime has a sales pitch that's hard to deny: Robert Pattinson as To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen. So does the movie live up to that enticing promise? We have true crime buff, former Dateline devotee, and co-host of All Things Cozy, Gillian Walters, with us to discuss the film as both a work of fiction and a portrait of real (if complicated) man and moment in TV history. Then we'll talk about some of our most memorable morally ambiguous movies What's GoodAlonso - Magazine BreakDrea - Lili Reinhart's wig in The Love HypothesisGillian - Spooky Kitty Soap Holder from Bath & Body WorksKevin - The Sixty-Year Mission screening ITIDICViral Lesbian Bar Article From Boston Globe Is Piquing Hollywood’s InterestAn Indie Filmmaker Is Distributing His Movie Via One Traveling Copy of a DVD Staff PicksDrea - Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!Alonso - No Sleep TillGillian - The DUFFKevin - Hope (kinda) & Avengers: Endgame (still)  Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinmaxfilm Follow us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram, or Letterboxd With Kevin Avery Drea Clark Alonso Duralde Produced by Marissa Flaxbart Sr. Producer Laura Swisher

This week we've got expert musical improvisors Jessica McKenna and Zach Reino with us to discuss a movie about a middle school musical gone way off course, at the hands of a drama teacher pushed to the edge. Part comedy, part film noir, it's the feature debut of director Giselle Bonilla, and it was a Sundance premiere. THE MUSICAL! Then we talk about other films that use film noir tropes to comedic ends, and pitch some actually-pretty-genius new movies in that genre too. Look out for Jess and Zach's movie, Mock TrialListen to Off Book (or see it live!) What’s GoodAlonso - Get your colonoscopy!Drea - Bob the Drag Queen even makes the Love Island Reunion show funJess - The Gilded Age on a planeZach - The Wolves of Glendale, Go to the WoodsKevin - seeing the Rams live ITIDICAMC Burbank Pepper-Spray Guy: Villain or Hero?New California Post Production Tax Credit Becomes Law Staff PickAlonso - You Had to Be ThereJess - Original Cast Album: Company (w/”Co-Op” double feature)Drea - The IncomerZach - The Court JesterKevin - Resident Evil Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinmaxfilm Follow us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram, or Letterboxd With Kevin Avery Drea Clark Alonso Duralde Produced by Marissa Flaxbart Sr. Producer Laura Swisher

The stars of the original Practical Magic stars are back (at least, most of them) and just as cursed as ever. We have Hollywood Reporter TV Critic Angie Han with us to weigh in on whether this film left us feeling charmed, or like we'd been hit by a truck. Then, in honor of a family that has two sisters in every generation, we have a movie quiz about two-sister films!  What’s Good?Alonso - Meg Stalter’s Emmys ensembleDrea - uno spaghettoAngie - TrüFrü Dark and White Chocolate Covered Freeze Dried StrawberriesKevin - Movie theater seat snobbery ITIDIC‘Woman Unknown’ Wins Venice Film FestivalMPA Projects Proposed Federal Tax Credit would Add 143,000 Film & TV Jobs Staff PicksDrea - If I Go Will They Miss MeAlonso - Now, VoyagerAngie - The History of ConcreteKevin - Martha Marcy May Marlene Here's a Letterboxd list of Two- and Three-Sister Movies Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinmaxfilm Follow us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram, or Letterboxd With Kevin Avery Drea Clark Alonso Duralde Produced by Marissa Flaxbart Sr. Producer Laura Swisher

Casper Kelly might be most famous for his this-shouldn't-be-so-creepy comedy short "Too Many Cooks." Now he's got his feature directorial debut on his hands (but don't sleep on Yule Log 2, according to Alonso), and It's Buddy, a comedy horror that owes a debt of gratitude to the insistent cheerfulness of Barney the Dinosaur. We'll get into all that, and then talk about some of our favorite times TV crossed over onto the big screens. What's Good:Alonso: kouign amannDrea: Minnesota State FairKevin: Costco belt ITIDIC• Summer U.S. Box Office Hits All-Time $4.76B Record: How Audiences Surrendered To Moviegoing• Telluride’s Top-Secret Film Was a Documentary and people are abuzz (You Can See Everything, Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s Elizabeth Holmes doc) Staff Picks:Alonso: We Are PatDrea: Oasis: Don't Look Back in AngerKevin: Colony (Gunche) Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinmaxfilm Follow us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram, or Letterboxd With Kevin Avery Drea Clark Alonso Duralde Produced by Marissa Flaxbart Sr. Producer Laura Swisher

Hey, you! Be a buddy and take our listener survey! It'll help us keep the show great and maybe even...make it better?! THANK YOU IN ADVANCE! - Producer Marissa and the MaxFilm Gang*** Shelved after completion in 2023, COYOTE VS. ACME has finally detonated onto big screens everywhere. We have director David Kittredge (whose doc BOORMAN AND THE DEVIL is finally making it to theaters as well!) with us to follow this courtroom-drama-by-way-of-Merrie-Melodies. Then we'll talk about the fictional lawsuits that the characters of other films might have on their hands. What’s GoodAlonso - But Have You Read the Book? Romance Edition by Kristen LopezDrea - Daisy Chain Fields Festival (link is to non-profit beneficiaries if you want to donate!)David - Boorman and the Devil on the big screen, and people going back to the cinemasKevin - French press coffee ITIDIC New AMC Theaters Venture Aims to Put Smaller Films on Big ScreenRemembering Dolly Parton and Tim Curry, Movie StarsStaff PicksAlonso: Common Threads: Stories from the QuiltDrea: Hadestown: the MusicalDavid: Buffet Infinity and BuddyKevin: The End of Oak Street   Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinmaxfilm Follow us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram, or Letterboxd With Kevin Avery Drea Clark Alonso Duralde Produced by Marissa Flaxbart Sr. Producer Laura Swisher

Hey, you! Be a buddy and take our listener survey! It'll help us keep the show great and maybe even...make it better?! THANK YOU IN ADVANCE! - Producer Marissa and the MaxFilm Gang *** The main character of TONY is Anthony Bourdain, but Matt Johnson’s latest film is not exactly a biopic. We have film critic Katie Walsh with us to discuss Dominic Sessa, Antonio Banderas, and the rest of the kitchen crew in this unusual coming of age movie. Then we’ll think up some other personalities we’d like to see inspire coming-of-age/early-life pics.  What’s Good Drea: actors with real teeth Katie: Matt Johnson’s biceps Kevin: finding childhood books (Chilling Ghost Stories, and Choose Your Own Adventure: The Cave of Time and Revenge of the Rainbow Dragons) ITIDIC Sold-Out Silent Film Fest Showcases Brand New Silent Films IndieWire: The Prescience of Disney’s Direct-to-Video Sequels Staff PicksDrea: The Cycle of LoveKatie: The Rivals of Amziah KingKevin: The Conversation Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinmaxfilm Follow us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram, or Letterboxd With Kevin Avery Drea Clark Alonso Duralde Produced by Marissa Flaxbart Sr. Producer Laura Swisher

Hey, you! Be a buddy and take our listener survey! It'll help us keep the show great and maybe even...make it better?! THANK YOU IN ADVANCE! - Producer Marissa and the MaxFilm Gang *** Comedian Hay Beacon joins us to discuss THE WRONG GIRLS, Dylan Meyer’s feature debut as a writer/director, starring Kristen Stewart and Alia Shawkat. Meyer has said that the movie is not for everyone, but it’s really for the people it’s for. So…are we those people? Plus, we chat about our favorite “serious” actors to see take comedic turns . What's Good? Alonso: Widows Bay Drea: "Mamdani!" social media posts (and that they're being addressed) Hay: the dog they found! Kevin: finding a great hotel pen ITIDICMarvel Unveils Its New X-Men Cast at D23Pleasantville 4K Release Removes Reese Witherspoon “slut” line Staff Picks Alonso: Never Going Back Drea: It Ends Hay: Leviticus Kevin: Ocean's Eight Listen to Hay's podcast, No Contact. Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinmaxfilm Follow us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram, or Letterboxd With Kevin Avery Drea Clark Alonso Duralde Produced by Marissa Flaxbart Sr. Producer Laura Swisher

Hey, you! Be a buddy and take our listener survey! It'll help us keep the show great and maybe even...make it better?! THANK YOU IN ADVANCE! - Producer Marissa and the MaxFilm Gang *** Director Jane Schoenbrun's latest film has had a certain kind of movie fan salivating for months now, and it's finally in theaters. So, are we still...salivating? Is this getting gross? Editor of RUE MORGUE Magazine, Andrea Subissati, joins us to discuss. Then, we get our tongues tied up with a movie quiz about film titles even longer than TEENAGE SEX AND DEATH AT CAMP MIASMA. What's Good Alonso: Jeni's Dark Chocolate Bombe Drea: Full-body skin care Andrea: Double cone, the American way Kevin: finally solving the Vitamin C face care situation (Paula's Choice C5 Superboost Moisturizer) ITIDICEllison Says Paramount Will Exit CA if Suit Isn’t Settled By OctoberWB Promotes The End of Oak Street on AI Dog PodcastOne Night Only Director Removed Says Audiences Don’t Like Sex Scenes All titles from our  Long Titles Movie Quiz as a Letterboxd list Staff Picks Alonso: Trick (1999) Drea: Wet Hot American Summer Andrea: Milk & Serial Kevin: Undertone   Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinmaxfilm Follow us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram, or Letterboxd With Kevin Avery Drea Clark Alonso Duralde Produced by Marissa Flaxbart Sr. Producer Laura Swisher

Hey, you! Be a buddy and take our listener survey! It'll help us keep the show great and maybe even...make it better?! THANK YOU IN ADVANCE! - Producer Marissa and the MaxFilm Gang *** Ken Plume -- author, filmmaker, and longtime host of A Bit of a Chat with Ken Plume -- joins us to talk about the movie that everyone seems to be talking about. Is it a great Spider-Man movie, or the greatest Spider-Man movie? Then, we answer a Hotline call (yes, we still take those!) about forbidden films of our youths.  What’s Good? Alonso - Friends with pools Drea - Texting other people in a group Zoom Ken - Guy Montgomery’s Guy Mont Spelling Bee Kevin - Summer tabs! Urgent tabs! ITIDIC Netflix Sued Over Loss of Hard Drive With Unreleased Nicolas Cage Film Sundance to Expand Competition as Fest’s Debut in Boulder Grows Nearer Staff Picks Drea - Late Fame Alonso - Nights of Cabiria Ken - 1941 Kevin - Practical Magic Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinmaxfilm Follow us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram, or Letterboxd With Kevin Avery Drea Clark Alonso Duralde Produced by Marissa Flaxbart Sr. Producer Laura Swisher

Hey, you! Be a buddy and take our listener survey! It'll help us keep the show great and maybe even...make it better?! THANK YOU IN ADVANCE! - Producer Marissa and the MaxFilm Gang *** Is it possible for a sports comedy to fit the formula, but still break the mold? Josh Greenbaum, director of Barb and Starr Go to Vista Del Mar, takes a whack at it with THE DINK, starring Jake Johnson and Mary Steenburgen. It's streaming now on AppleTV. And we have comedian (and yes, pickleball enthusiast) Jaron Myers with us to discuss! Then we get some pitches together for thoroughly modern movies that wouldn't have made sense a few years (or decades) ago.  What's Good? Alonso - Severin Films’ Disco Italiana box set Drea - Bob the Drag Queen recapping Love Island on YouTube Jaron - Big Brother 24-Hour Feed recap podcasts Kevin - SDCC ‘26 (check out Minister FarraComic-Con) ITIDICSony, Alamo Drafthouse, to Reopen Cinerama Dome/Arclight at Long LastComic-Con 2026 – Hits and MissesParamount/WB Merger Paused Until June 2027, Or Court Ruling Staff Picks Drea: Mustache Alonso: Family Plot Jaron: Heavyweights Kevin: Paper Lion PS: Get PHYSICAL MEDIA merch at MaxFunStore.com! Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinmaxfilm Follow us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram, or Letterboxd With Kevin Avery Drea Clark Alonso Duralde Produced by Marissa Flaxbart Sr. Producer Laura Swisher

Everybody's talking about Christopher Nolan's latest film...and so are we! We've got Eurovangelists co-host Dimitry Pompée with us to discuss the first movie ever shot in 70mm IMAX film, adapted from one of history's oldest and most famous works of literature...it's THE ODYSSEY! Then we'll talk about some of the books we read in high-school that have been (or should be) adapted for the big screen. What's Good? Alonso: vegetables that don't give you explosive diarrhea Drea: Blue Diamond Dill Pickle Nut-Thins Dimitry: The Ottoman Empire (Rise of Empires: Ottoman on Netflix) Kevin: the Other Mommy trailer ITIDICHollywood Deems the Box Office “Back” – Big TimeA Rotoscoped TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE is in production The Odyssey/We Bought a Zoo meme A Letterboxd List: High-School Reads Staff Picks Alonso: The Good House Drea: The Return Dimitry: Polite Society Kevin: The Long Walk and other great movies to fall asleep to, if you're Kevin Listen to Eurovangelists! Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinmaxfilm Follow us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram, or Letterboxd With Kevin Avery Drea Clark Alonso Duralde Produced by Marissa Flaxbart Sr. Producer Laura Swisher

As a MaxFunDrive milestone goal, we set the challenge that if we got enough new/upgrading/joining supporters of Maximum Film!, one of those folks would get to pick a movie for us to do an episode on. Well, thanks to supporters like Molly, we hit that goal, and this episode is the result: PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE (one of Molly's faves) is a 1974 rock musical fantasmagoria from early in writer/director Brian DePalma's career. It's box-office flop-turned cult classic. And it is heavily reliant on the dubious cultural power of songwriter and actor Paul Williams.   As if this episode needed to be MORE special, we also mark the mid-year by naming some of our favorite films of the year so far. What's Good? Alonso - oh, let's call it "current events" Drea - fixing her own portable AC unit Marissa - Paramount+ (sorry) has a 90s sitcom "live" channel Kevin - reading Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow ITIDICGLAAD Study Shows Drop in LGBTQ Characters in FIlmA Look Back at the Pop Culture of 1974… Staff Picks Drea - Horsegirls Alonso - Ishtar Marissa - Tommy Kevin -  River [Ribâ, nagarenaide yo]   Kevin at Comic-Con: Malcolm & Friends Panel: Thursday, 12:30pm, Room 6AThe Pitching Hour: Friday, 12pm, Room 32AB   Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinmaxfilm Follow us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram, or Letterboxd With Kevin Avery Drea Clark Alonso Duralde Produced by Marissa Flaxbart Sr. Producer Laura Swisher