Crowning Around

Sam Cheung, Carlyn Greenwald, and Ivan Vukovic, three regular everyday Americans, sit down to talk about Julian Jarrold's 2015 film A Royal Night Out, starring Sarah Gadon, Bel Powley, Jack Reynor, Rupert Everett, and Emily Watson. Together, they break down all the bad accents, attempt to decode the confusing character motivations, and try to remember the last movie that they saw in a theater. Plu...

Sam Cheung, Carlyn Greenwald, and Ivan Vukovic, three regular everyday Americans, sit down to talk about the 2012 film Hyde Park on Hudson, starring Bill Murray, Laura Linney, and Olivia Colman. Prepare to hear about all of your heroes in incredibly unflattering lights, as the three of them try to glean something from this truly wild film. From sensual hot dogs to cabins in the woods, this film ha...

Sam Cheung, Carlyn Greenwald, and Ivan Vukovic, three regular everyday Americans, sit down to talk about the 2019 film Downton Abbey, based on a quasi-argument Sam and Ivan had several episodes ago. Sam and Carlyn have not seen even one episode of Downton Abbey before, and are going in with zero context. Ivan loves Downton Abbey and has seen the movie twice, but has not rewatched it a third time t...

Sam Cheung, Carlyn Greenwald, and Ivan Vukovic, three regular everyday Americans, sit down to talk about the 2010 Best Picture Award Winner The King's Speech from director Tom Hooper. Was this movie really the best movie of 2010? Over a decade later, is it even the movie for which Tom Hooper will be remembered most? And how do the royal portrayals in The King's Speech stack up to The Crown? Answer...

Sam Cheung, Carlyn Greenwald, and Ivan Vukovic, three regular everyday Americans, sit down to talk about The Crown Season 1, Episode 10: Gloriana. Now that they've reached the end of Season 1, they're ready to dive into some topics that went unanswered in Season 1, like whether or not Peter should order a hit on his ex-wife to get around the divorce rule. Ivan finally gets into the Kinky Crown spi...

Sam Cheung, Carlyn Greenwald, and Ivan Vukovic, three regular everyday Americans, sit down to talk about The Crown Season 1, Episode 9: Assassins. Depending on who you are, this is either the Winston painting episode or the horses having sex episode, either way a strangely erotic exhibition for an episode of The Crown. We stan Aureole, though, so you'll hear no complaints from us!

Sam Cheung, Carlyn Greenwald, and Ivan Vukovic, three regular everyday Americans, sit down to talk about The Crown Season 1, Episode 8: Pride and Joy. They debate which of the Windsor women has the most impressive episode, largely failing to come to a consensus, but one thing that they can agree upon is that that statue looks absolutely nothing like Bertie. Oh, and that it was nice to see Elizabet...

Sam Cheung, Carlyn Greenwald, and Ivan Vukovic, three regular everyday Americans, sit down to talk about The Crown Season 1, Episode 7: Scientia Potentia Est. The Queen feels dumb because she has little practical knowledge and all she can talk about are horses, so she hires Professor Hogg to just teach her general things. Meanwhile, the two oldest men in Britain seem to be having a contest to see...

Sam Cheung, Carlyn Greenwald, and Ivan Vukovic, three regular everyday Americans, sit down to talk about The Crown Season 1, Episode 6: Gelignite. Margaret and Peter's connection is finally brought to the forefront, yet somehow it's the palpable tension between Peter and Tommy that's really stealing the show. And what's the deal with the Soho lunch club? Lewd jokes one second, high-level photojour...

Sam Cheung, Carlyn Greenwald, and Ivan Vukovic, three regular everyday Americans, sit down to talk about The Crown Season 1, Episode 5: Smoke and Mirrors. For an episode all about Liz's coronation, it's pretty crazy that we don't really get that much of her perspective. However, if it's at the expense of David, his pug pillows, his poetry, his SAT words, and his libido, maybe we'll let this one sl...

Sam Cheung, Carlyn Greenwald, and Ivan Vukovic, three regular everyday Americans, sit down to talk about The Crown Season 1, Episode 4: Act of God. They notice that this episode has some uncanny parallel's to today's society. They also begin to recognize the formula for a perfect episode of The Crown - there's a long series of tracking shots as information makes its way from person to person, some...

Sam Cheung, Carlyn Greenwald, and Ivan Vukovic, three regular everyday Americans, sit down to talk about The Crown Season 1, Episode 3: Windsor. In this episode, they are introduced to David, the former King Edward VIII, and Ivan has done the work of adjusting his allowance for inflation so we all know what we're working with here. And again, how is all this name stuff coming up just now? You'd th...

Sam Cheung, Carlyn Greenwald, and Ivan Vukovic, three regular everyday Americans, sit down to talk about The Crown Season 1, Episode 2: Hyde Park Corner. Together, they ponder things you probably never thought about, like what if Elizabeth had chosen Margaret to be her queen name. Would Margaret have gotten jealous and resentful? She seems the type. Then again, if Margaret was the queen, we could...

Sam Cheung, Carlyn Greenwald, and Ivan Vukovic, three regular everyday Americans, sit down to talk about The Crown Season 1, Episode 1: Wolferton Splash. Together, they ask the hard questions, for example why do the writers hate Philip? Why did they show us an orderly wrapping Bertie's black lung in some newspaper? And why does Winston Churchill make eating soup so uncomfortable? Plus, the first e...