Cinema Limbo

Jeremy is joined by Chris Arnsby for the first half of a retrospective of the best and worst films of the last year, with such subjects as thought bubbles, climate change, poisonous nostalgia and big lizard robots coming under scrutiny.

Jeremy is joined for the Christmas edition of the podcast by fellow podcaster Tyler Adams for the latter-day pantomine that is 1992 historical comedy Carry On Columbus, with a conversation that takes in A View to a Kill, how to write for The Simpsons, buried sitcoms, Frankie Howerd's oscillating career and Curb Your Foot in the Grave..

Chris Arnsby join Jeremy for the final instalment of the run of special episodes outside the regular remit, celebrating the podcast's centenary with an edition on his favourite film, Francois Truffaut's adaptation of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. Their lengthy discussion covers a range of topics, including Britain's most influential filmmaker, a world without written language, mod...

Simon Guerrier returns to the podcast for a further instalment in the special series covering films outside the regular remit, in this case the notorious 2006 remake of The Wicker Man, adapted and directed by Neil LaBute, starring Nicholas Cage and Ellen Burstyn. Their discussion of this famous disaster covers bigoted directors, children as plot tokens, the concept of suspense, the critic as patho...

Jeremy is joined by Chris Arnsby for another in the miniseries exploring films outside the podcast's usual purview. This time, they look at 1984 television drama Threads, notorious for its uncompromising depiction of nuclear war and its after-effects, and their discussion covers such hot-button topics as the final episode of Coronation Street, the hopelessness of civil defence, parallells to t...

Jeremy is joined by Paul Morris for another dip outside the regular remit, as they enjoy a selection of short films - surreal Spanish thriller La Cabina, animated fable Peace on Earth, public information horror Apaches and Laurel and Hardy comedy Men O'War. Along the way they discuss the first ever DVD commentary, Donald Duck in Nazi Germany, public information LARPing and a joke that works on...

Jeremy is joined by fellow podcaster Ed Bloomer for the first of a special series of podcasts exploring films outside the normal remit, the first of which being Richard Williams' unfinished animated epic The Thief and the Cobbler. Their discussion takes in such topics as the importance of pre-planning, the dangers of self-indulgence, Britain's tallest man and half an argument about Kylie M...

Jeremy is joined by both Anthony Malone and Chris Arnsby to examine the best and worst films of 2020. Studying the cinema of that remote space year leads them to sundry apocalypses, Sherlockiana, the origin of Mary Poppins, historical fidelity, the drug of creative control and the last (and first) word on Tenet. Since this podcast was recorded Peter Jackson's The Beatles: Get Back project has...

Jeremy is joined by Mark Aldridge, academic and author of Agatha Christie's Poirot: The Greatest Detective in the World, to discuss 1976 comic suspense thriller Family Plot, Alfred Hitchcock's final film and starring Barbara Harris, William Devane, Bruce Dern and Karen Black. Their conversation touches on matters including the Master's unproduced work, televisual cinema, second-generat...

Jeremy is joined by author and scriptwriter Simon Guerrier to discuss Smoke, the 1995 ensemble drama by Paul Auster and Wayne Wang and starring Harvey Keitel, William Hurt, Forest Whitaker, Stockard Channing, Ashley Judd and Jared Harris. In their exploration, they touch on the companion film Blue in the Face, the transformation of New York, the screenwriter as auteur, the history of tobacco and B...

After a long interregnum, Anthony Malone returns to the podcast, joining Jeremy for a discussion of 2001 comic spy drama The Tailor of Panama, based on the novel by John Le Carré, directed by John Boorman and starring Pierce Brosnan, Geoffrey Rush and Jamie Lee Curtis. Their discursive discussion covers such a range of topics as Raise the Titanic, authorial distance, pandemic delays, the persistan...

Jeremy is joined again by author and podcaster Paul Morris to discuss the 1945 suspense drama Detour. Their discussion of this semi-forgotten B-picture covers such topics as double features, celebrity fans, low budget economics , unreliable narrators, murderous actors and Marion Crane's absent father.

Chris Arnsby joins Jeremy to examine the 1969 satirical musical Oh! What a Lovely War directed by Richard Attenborough from the Joan Greenwood stage production, with an ensemble cast featuring Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith, John Mills, Dirk Bogarde, Susannah York, John Gielgud and Vanessa Redgrave. Their discussion covers such bouncy topics as the roots of alternative comedy, satire without jokes...

Jeremy is joined for the first time by fellow Podnoser Gary Rodger. one of the brains behind The Sitcom Club and Jaffa Cakes for Proust, to discuss the 2003 Spanish-Canadian drama My Life Without Me, written for the screen and directed by Isabel Coixet and starring Sarah Polley, Mark Ruffalo, Scott Speedman and Debbie Harry. Their discussion covers a range of jovial topics including daytime melodr...

Jeremy reunites with author and scriptwriter Simon Guerrier for a New Year's Eve special examining Highlander II: The Quickening, the 1991 action fantasy sequel starring Christophe Lambert, Sean Connery, Virginia Madsen and Michael Ironside. Their conversation covers such wide-ranging topics as the implausible endurance of the franchise, the film's multiple edits and interpretations, its d...

Jeremy once again enjoys the company of Chris Arnsby for A Very Cinema Limbo Christmas. Together, they explore the 1987 suspense sequel Jaws: The Revenge, directed by Joseph Sargent and starring Lorraine Gary, Lance Guest, Mario van Peebles and Michael Caine, and discover voodoo curses, amateur icthyology, Sharkula, Jeremy's favourite Bible joke and what the film would be like without a shark...

Jeremy is joined once again by Ed Bloomer as they investigate Joseph Losey's 1970 existential suspense drama Figures in a Landscape, starring Robert Shaw and Malcolm McDowell and based on the novel by Barry England. On the way they touch on such matters as political turbulence, nightmare landscapes, religious parallels, Harold Pinter, Alan Partridge and A View to a Kill.

Jeremy is joined again by writer and podcaster Paul Morris to discuss the 1992 crime farce Blame It on the Bellboy, starring Dudley Moore, Richard Griffiths, Penelope Wilton, Alison Steadman, Patsy Kensit and Bryan Brown, with a conversation that takes in the logistics of Venice, the evil of Tom Good, the British cinema brain drain and the mathematics of comedy.

Jeremy is joined once again by Chris Arnsby to mull over 2013's surreal blackly comic horror Escape from Tomorrow, a film largely shot in secret in Walt Disney World and Disneyland Anaheim. As they dive down a rabbit hole on the log flume from hell, they consider their own theme park experiences, the Streisand effect, overlaps between the present and what seems to be ancient history and the tr...

Jeremy is joined once again by Ed Bloomer to discuss William Friedkin's 1977 suspense drama Sorcerer, a remake of French classic The Wages of Fear, starring Roy Scheider and an international cast. On the journey through the conversational jungle they uncover the uncommercial blockbuster. language barriers, reverse remakes and SeaQuest DSV.

Jeremy is joined by recurring guest Chris Arnsby to discuss, slightly later than planned, the best and worst films of 2019, with some wicked metaphors, some Stephen King-related disappointments, a few slim pickings and the occasional welcome surprise.

Jeremy is joined by author and dramatist Simon Guerrier for a discussion of David Lean's Oscar-winning epic period romance from 1970, Ryan's Daughter, starring Sarah Miles, Robert Mitchum, Christopher Jones, Leon McKern and John Mills. As they talk, they explore such topics as familiy connections to the production and content, two-fisted priests, the female gaze, storytelling through colou...

Jeremy is joined again by writer and podcaster Paul Morris to discuss the 1973 British horror film Death Line, released in the US as Raw Meat, starring Donald Pleasance and featuring Christopher Lee. Their discussion covers such topics as fiction's greatest policeman, the last 30 years of pop music, the gulf between 'real' and 'fake' horror and class violence, while Jeremy trie...

Jeremy returns after a long rest to be joined by Chris Arnsby to discuss the impact the COVID-19 crisis and lockdown has had on the cinema business, film production and movie-going habits, in doing so touching on subjects including Battlestar Galactica, Josh Trank's comeback and Quibi. Several release dates have changed since this episode was recorded, with Tenet moving from mid-July to late A...

Jeremy is joined by Anthony Malone to discuss the weighty issues that surround Tim Burton's 1996 sci-fi disaster movie parody Mars Attacks!, boasting an all-star cast led by Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Pierce Brosnan and Natalie Portman. Their detailed conflab covers such pressing concerns as Martians on the razz, Edward D Wood Jr, Richard Nixon, military deference, disposable culture, ignora...