Verbal Diorama

Scooby-dooby-doo! Where are you? We've got some work to do now! I'm joined by my furry sidekick Jess (she's not happy we're discussing a movie about a dog!) to talk all about the 2002 live-action adaptation of Scooby-Doo (and a little about its sequel Monsters Unleashed). We all grew up with some iteration of Scooby-Doo, and it's that nostalgia that fuels this movie, along with some great performa...

There are many astonishing things about The Rocketeer.... Its origins in pulp serials its authentic comic book style its unknown leading man its innocence and timelessness its beautiful score by James Horner its stunning art deco poster But the most amazing, brilliant, incredible thing about The Rocketeer, is how much people love it. Despite its lacklustre box office, and the fact that Disney have...

This is it. The Princess Bride. As You Wish. Death cannot stop my true love for this movie. All it can do is delay it for 59 episodes. Verbal Diorama, inconceivably, goes downhill from here because there is no movie as perfect as one about fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love AND miracles... There's a shortage of perfect movies in the world. It would be...

In a change to the scheduled programming, Death Becomes Her moves up the schedule slightly and marks the first appearances on the podcast for global Hollywood icons Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn. Yes, Bruce Willis is also in this movie, and he's quite good, but the appeal for Death Becomes Her has always, for me, been Streep and Hawn, who wanted a star vehicle for them both and when Thelma and Loui...

I hate the way you talk to me, and the way you cut your hair. I hate the way you drive my car, I hate it when you stare. I hate your big dumb combat boots and the way you read my mind; I hate you so much it makes me sick, it even makes me rhyme. I hate the way you're always right, I hate it when you lie, I hate it when you make me laugh, even worse when you make me cry. I hate it when you're not a...

It's got awe-inspiring practical puppets, flawless CGI, fantastic performances, awesome cinematography and Unix systems (I know this!). Welcome to Jurassic Park! 27 years later, it's still the T-Rex of action, adventure, horror and sci-fi, as billionaire John Hammond and his team of scientists spend so much time thinking they could, they don't stop to think if they should. Directed by Steven Spiel...

Mutation: it is the key to our evolution. It has enabled us to evolve from a single-celled organism into the dominant species on the planet. This process is slow, and normally taking thousands and thousands of years. But every few hundred millennia, evolution leaps forward.  X-Men, based on the comic books created in 1963 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, like many projects in Hollywood, moved arou...

Make way, make way for Disney's first computer generated animated foray into the Polynesian islands, mythology and culture (although not the first animated foray - that goes to Lilo and Stitch!) to the island of Motonui, and its future chief Moana; a young woman who feels a call to the ocean (not surprising as her name literally means 'ocean') and is tasked with finding the demigod Maui, restoring...

Computer, what topic is episode 54 on? "Galaxy Quest" Episode 54 is on Galaxy Quest! Pedal to the metal, and get ready for some vertical Thermian handclaps for the crew of the NSEA Protector with returning special guest Crewman #6..... aka Andy from Geek Salad! You may remember him from Episode 23 on Mystery Men. He's the plucky comic relief in this episode, and unlike Guy Fleegman's Crewman #6 on...

Serenity, the continuation and culmination of Joss Whedon's one-season space western TV show Firefly, had the full backing of Universal after acquiring the rights of Firefly from Fox, who really didn't have a clue what Firefly was, or even the common decency to air all the episodes in order.... this is not the first time Fox have been world-class a-holes on something I've featured on this podcast....

The Nice Guys, upon its release in May 2016, found itself facing off against a comedy sequel, an animated movie of a million-selling mobile game and two separate superhero franchise sequels. It's really no wonder it suffered at the U.S. box office. An original idea, from the always brilliant mind of Shane Black, needed room to breathe and find its feet. Sadly, it never got to do that. Had it been...

Paying tribute to the classic no-sex sex comedies from the late '50s and early '60s, Down With Love is a wonderful, bright, kitschy romcom classic that seems to be well regarded, if not completely well remembered. Renee Zellweger (fresh from Chicago ) and Ewan McGregor (fresh from Moulin Rouge ) tackle roles similar to those made famous by girl-next-door-turned-sex-symbol Doris Day and serious-act...

Here we are.... 50 episodes later! It's been a genuine delight to produce fifty episodes of this podcast and I wanted to do something special for #50. There's no animated movie so ingrained in modern culture, so beloved by everyone and such a pioneer in modern animation than Pixar's Toy Story. But I didn't just want to tell the story of Toy Story, because the story of Pixar is integral to the stor...

It’s time to play the music, it’s time to light the lights, it’s time to meet The Muppets on Verbal Diorama tonight... today... In this special Patron-chosen episode, I go behind the curtain on 2011's The Muppets. The Muppets have been in everyone's lives, whether through The Muppet Show, the eight big screen offerings, or just through general media. Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo, Animal...

When it came to thinking of a horror movie I'd love to feature, The Thing (1982) was top of my list. It's not a movie most would associate with someone who admits to not liking horror, but the combination of science fiction and horror remains one of my favourite genre mixes (see also Alien!) It's also a movie that continues to delight and terrify me. The practical effects, created by Rob Bottin (o...

Princess Mononoke, or Mononoke Hime to give it its Japanese name, could have been covered in February for the anniversary along with Howl's Moving Castle, My Neighbour Totoro or Spirited Away, but honestly I'm glad I can devote a whole regular-sized episode to it, because it's so jam-packed full of greatness. As much as I love all the aforementioned movies from the legendary writer/director Hayao...

Rogue One was the first anthology movie announced post the Disney takeover of Lucasfilm in 2012; the year after Star Wars Episode VII The Force Awakens had enticed and delighted audiences across the world. The rogue one, you might say... Rogue One, born of the simple question "how did the Death Star plans end up with Princess Leia?" is probably most famous for its CGI recreations of Grand Moff Tar...

Little Shop of Horrors, based on the off-Broadway musical, in turn based off the 1960 Roger Corman dark comedy The Little Shop of Horrors... is probably my favourite ever screen musical. It contains within several elements that never fail to delight me: -Rick Moranis - a true gem of a man, on-and-off screen, who was a regular for all us 80s and 90s kids growing up -It's a musical - with music and...

STOMP-STOMP-CLAP STOMP-STOMP-CLAP STOMP-STOMP-CLAP STOMP-STOMP-CLAP It's the unmistakable beat of Queen's 1977 anthem "We Will Rock You", filling an arena, as a massive crowd of people do a human wave. The competitors enter the stadium and the crowd goes wild at seeing their favourite sportsperson. The competitors are announced loudly, as a hush falls over the crowd, and the sport begins.... It co...

In 1943, Philip K. Wrigley (of chewing gum fame!) founded the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) in order to maintain sport and public morale during World War II, at a time when many eligible young men, including professional sportsmen, were drafted to fight overseas. Whilst A League of Their Own is a mostly fictional account of the players and founders behind the AAGPBL, it...

For clarification, this episode discusses and spoils: John Wick John Wick: Chapter 2 John Wick: Chapter 3 Parabellum The Boogeyman. Baba Yaga. Mr Wick. Jonathan. Jardani Jovonovich.... John Wick is known by many names, but everyone knows of him and everyone should fear him. Especially if you kill the one thing he loves most in the world, and the only link to his recently deceased wife; the one wom...

The perfect homage and satire of classic 50s monster B-movies, Tremors initially failed to set the box office alight. Like most cult classics it found a resurgence on VHS and ended up spawning multiple sequels, a prequel, a 2003 one-season TV show and a failed 2018 TV pilot starring Kevin Bacon, back as Val McKee. Praised for its special effects work, the chemistry between Kevin Bacon and Fred War...

I find Paul Feig's directorial career fascinating; Spy, The Heat, A Simple Favour and Ghostbusters, all female-fronted and each of them a lot of fun and very enjoyable in their own right. 2011's Bridesmaids really was the catalyst, not only for Paul Feig's career, but the Hollywood careers of Saturday Night Live alumna Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph, for Rose Byrne to prove her comedic timing and f...

Four years after Hellboy , Hellboy II: The Golden Army came out. Bigger, bolder and more del Toro than its predecessor, it concentrated on its existing characters and introduced a more complex and interesting antagonist in the dedicated, skilled warrior Prince Nuada - fighting for the survival of his dying race as humanity continues its greed and desire to consume everything around it. Influences...

Hellboy, as a concept, shouldn't work as well as it did in 2004. (Well, we saw what rebooting it in 2019 did....) Mike Mignola's comic blends folklore, mythology, the paranormal and Lovecraftian horror, and needed a director who could take all that and make it visually appealing, and coherent to the layman. It also needed a lead actor who could portray the strength, vulnerability and humour needed...