Mixed Bag

Oh the Hugh-manity! It's another Hugh Jackson flick and we're warming up to Halloween with this action adventure Van Helsing (2004) directed by Stephen Sommers of The Mummy and G.I. Joe fame. Famed monster slayer Gabriel Van Helsing is dispatched to Transylvania to assist the last of the Valerious bloodline in defeating Count Dracula. Anna Valerious reveals that Dracula has formed an unholy allian...

Before James got bit by a dog (he's fine) he rather liked these furry animals. We take you to a recording pre-bite when he and the other hosts were 100% gung-ho on the beloved canines. Introducing Dean Spanley (2008)! Directed by Toa Fraser and starring Jeremy Northam, Sam Neill and Peter O'Toole! If you're a NZer you might vaguely recall this movie, if you're from elsewhere you probably don't hav...

It's the eighth wonder of the world, Jack O'Donnell! That's right, we've got the nicest guy in New Zealand film, Jack O'Donnell talking about Peter Jackson's King Kong (2005)! Before Peter Jackson was union busting and bringing about Hobbit Law with the NZ Government, he was transforming Petone into New York City and making a great big gorilla wreak havoc. In 1933 New York, an overly ambitious mov...

Today we're joined by the wonderful Charlie Potter to discuss the magical adventure/romance 'Stardust' (2007) by Matthew Vaughan, adapted from Neil Gaiman's book of the same name. THIS SUMMER A STAR FALLS. THE CHASE BEGINS. In a countryside town bordering on a magical land, a young man makes a promise to his beloved that he’ll retrieve a fallen star by venturing into the magical realm. His journey...

Another first for Mixed Bag season 2, our very first documentary! Cast your mind back to 2012 when Katy Perry was on top of the world, dating Russell Brand and her new movie Katy Perry: Part of Me was hitting cinemas in 3D! Giving fans unprecedented access to the real life of the music sensation, Katy Perry: Part of Me exposes the hard work, dedication and phenomenal talent of a girl who remained...

It might be the summer of Cillian Murphy in 2023 with Oppenheimer but what about 4 August 2005, when this very week 18 years ago today, Red Eye was released and the general public realised just how 'killer' Cillian could be. Starring Rachel McAdams, Cillian Murphy and Brian Cox and directed by beloved horror filmmaker Wes Craven! FEAR TAKES FLIGHT. A woman is kidnapped by a stranger on a routine f...

Pika pika! We're heading back just four years to revisit Pokémon Detective Pikachu with performer, director and Pokémon aficionado, Emily K. Brown! We get talking our favourite little 151 critters and how this action adventure starring Ryan Reynolds and Justice Smith sat with us. PARTNER UP! In a world where people collect pocket-size monsters (Pokémon) to do battle, a boy comes across an intellig...

"Say it. Out Loud." "100 episodes" That's right, we're 100 episodes old, Baghags! To celebrate, we gathered together at Vogelmorn Hall on a cold July evening and celebrated with an iconic Mixed film and franchise, Twilight (2008). Huge thanks to Patrick Barnes for the sound and AV, Cass' parents for the screen, our readers Ed, Catherine, Mike and Jared and to our special guest! Listen to the end t...

ARE YOU READY? Because we've reached the end of our MixedBerg Miniseries with the only way we could, Speilberg's retrospective on legacy by cramming so much IP on the screen at all times! That's right it's Ready Player One! (2018) Based on the popular book of the same name, Ready Player One imagines an OASIS world where the VR headset is king and everybody is obsessed with Mark Rylance.  A BETTER...

Picture the scene: You're Steven Speilberg. Congrats! You've made a lot of great movies! You sit down to a show on the West End and you see a hella great show with some stonking great horse puppets. You think to yourself, this is one wicked tale, time to nix those horsies. That's right, it's the movie no one was calling for, it's Best Picture nominee War Horse (2011), the second entry in our Mixed...

Because we were a little late with some episodes, we're dropping a new miniseries a few days early! Welcome to the mini miniseries of Mixed-Berg, the covering of Steven Speilberg's mixed films in the lead up to our 100th episode! And to kick things off, we're joined by returning guest, Ellie Stewart! So put on your pirate hat and think a happy thought because we're flying to Never Neverland with H...

"Mr. Grey will see you now" We're finishing off our Personal Picks with the steamy Fifty Shades of Grey! Released in 2015 and an adaptation of the ridiculously popular book of the same name, Fifty Shades stars Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan who, like their Twilight compatriates, have gone on to bigger and better things. When college senior Anastasia Steele steps in for her sick roommate to interv...

(Heads up, the audio sounds a little different this episode! We don't think it's hugely distracting but just a little mic mix up.) In our second entry in Romance Personal Picks, we're heading back to 1999 with Entrapment. Y2K was just around the corner, Catherine Zeta-Jones was getting regular work and aged movie stars were still having extremely younger women as their love interests.  Two thieves...

You're waiting for a train, or rather you're running for one! Do you make it through the sliding doors? Or do you just miss it? The ultimate brain tickler in multiversal mysteries starring Ms. Goop herself, Gwyneth Paltrow! Released in the same year as her Oscar-winning turn in Shakespeare in Love, Sliding Doors (1998) sees Gwyn donning the British accent again as we follow two parallel stories of...

We've reached the end of our Hello Halle series! We're sending her off with this taut psychological thriller 'GOTHIKA' (2003). After a car crash, a criminal psychologist regains consciousness only to find that she’s a patient in the same mental institution that currently employs her. It seems she’s been accused of murdering her husband—but she has no memory of committing the crime. As she tries to...

It's time! It's the film that won Halle Berry her Oscar and we've timed it perfectly to discuss the 95th Oscars. The first and second time a Person of Colour has won Best Actress at the Academy Awards.  With that celebratory but also bleak premise, let's look at the film itself. Releasing in the same year as Swordfish, Monster's Ball (2001) is a completely different kettle of fish: Set in the sout...

"You know what the problem with Hollywood is? They make shit. Unbelievable, unremarkable shit." So says Gabriel (John Travolta) in Swordfish (2001), but does this assessment apply to his own movie? Cast your mind back to June 2001, the hairdos were wild, the pants were leather,  the tips were frosted and terrorism and vehicles smashing into buildings were something freely depicted onscreen. 😬  St...

Hello Halle once again! We started with one of Halle Berry's most well-known roles so we thought we'd take a trip back to 1997 to discuss one of Halle's first leading roles, B.A.P.S (1997). And to keep the 1997 train going, we spend the first 20 minutes discussing Titanic: 25th Anniversary so if you're a Jack & Rose-head like we are, be sure to tune in. Two clueless homegirls move to L.A. to b...

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She's got a point. She's an icon, she is a legend, and she is the moment. It's M3GAN, bot. That's right it's the smash hit by kiwi director Gerard Johnstone. Available in cinemas now, the Mixed Bag crew head to the cinema once against to see if this robot is a TikTok flash in the pan or the real deal.  A brilliant toy company roboticist uses artificial intelligence to develop M3GAN, a life-like do...

We said we were starting 2023 strong so we're recalling our 12th episode Avatar, a whole THREE years ago (we said 2 on the pod whoops) with the long-awaited sequel Avatar: The Way of Water. Did James Cameron prove everybody wrong? Well, financially yes. But how does the story hold up? Are we really that jazzed to be back in Pandora? Shout out to the wonderful folks at Weta Digital for their incred...

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Happy holidays Baguettes! We hope you had a wonderful Christmas Day yesterday if you celebrate and are having a well-earned break. Now that it's Boxing Day, it's the perfect time to kick up your feet and hear our annual tradition of inviting Lucas Neal on to discuss a Christmas movie! This year we're diving back to 2004 for The Polar Express by Robert Zeme...

How many episodes must a podcast release before they cover Bob Dylan? 89 it appears because today we're covering I'm Not There (2007) by Todd Haynes! Six actors portray six personas of music legend Bob Dylan in scenes depicting various stages of his life, chronicling his rise from unknown folksinger to international icon and revealing how Dylan constantly reinvented himself. Is this new approach t...

We're heading back to 2001, the year when Shrek was king and when you could just gather some comedians and get them to do some antics and insane stunts! That's right it's Rat Race! Starring John Cleese, Rowan Atkinson, Whoopi Goldberg, Seth Green, John Lovitz, Kathy Najimy and more. A Las Vegas casino tycoon entertains his wealthiest high rollers by pitting six ordinary people against each other i...

As we begin a round of personal picks, Matt has chosen a genre the likes of which we haven't glimpsed in many a year, we take you back to 2003 with Mona Lisa Smile. Featuring an incredibly stacked cast including Julia Roberts, Julia Stiles, Kristen Dunst, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Marcia Gay Harden, Mona Lisa Smile follows the story of Katherine Ann Watson, a feminist teacher who studied at UCLA gradu...