For Screen and Country

This week, the guys return to the list! This is the final Ealing Studios comedy on the list so the question is... will Jason finally genuinely like one of these a lot? Is there ever too many Alec Guinnesses or the more the merrier? What are the lead character's similarities to Patrick Bateman? And did they just say what I think they said in that one scene?! (we literally can't and don't want to ty...

Closing up And Now for Something Completely Similar is the sequel to the Danny Boyle classic - T2 Trainspotting. Have Brendan and Jason FINALLY found a remake/sequel that comes close to living up to the original? How successful is the film at suddenly giving the psychotic Begbie some nuance and sympathy without it feeling hokey? Who is the newest and smartest character in the franchise? How honest...

Marching on, the guys take the time to dissect the American remake of Get Carter starring Sylvester Stallone... and Michael Caine still shows up anyway! The guys dive deep into this weird remake and ask the questions you all want to know the answers to like: what if Caine and Stallone switched careers? Why is Jack Carter a much nicer boy in this version? Has Michael Caine ever done an American acc...

In a complete change from last week's episode, the 2016 remake of the 1949 Ealing Studios classic Whisky Galore is about as close as you can get to the original source material without being a blatant copy and paste job! Eddie Izzard finally gets some lines in a movie covered on this show but is it worth it and do they deliver!? What IS the perfect remake and what are the qualifications? Why wasn'...

The off-book series continues and your hosts welcome back Steve and Izzy of Everything I Learned from Movies to break down the 2003 remake of The Italian Job. After grilling their guests on their knowledge of New Brunswick customs, they all dive head-first into Edward Norton's contractually-obligated appearance, Seth Green's creepy character, sponsorship deals with the Mini Cooper and more. Plus:...

The final (for a while, anyway) edition of And Now For Something Completely Similar begins with a discussion of the third Harry Palmer flick - Billion Dollar Brain. During this discussion, the guys talk about it all including how this movie completely abandons the "mundane" approach of The IPCRESS File in favour of the populist Bond format, the villain sadly being more relevant in 2021, lack of co...

This episode is literally Brendan and Jason talking about nothing. They do answer some listener mail though, talk about their new horror movie/lemonade podcast spinoff, rant about prequels, directors who should just shut up and be British and much more.   Next week: the guys return with a discussion of the first installment of And Now for Something Completely Similar with a discussion of the third...

Jason is on vacation this week so enjoy this slice of Brendan's other podcast where the former joined him to discuss Wild Mountain Thyme. See!? It still fits into this podcast topic... sort of. Stay tuned for that ending, Yowzah.   Next week: Jason is still on vacation but the guys recorded a mini-episode! Questions? Comments? Suggestions? You can always shoot us an e-mail at forscreenandcountry@g...

This week, the guys get musical with a discussion of the bombastic all-singing, all-dancing Oliver Twist adaptation directed by Carol Reed - Oliver! In this episode, Jason gives his full dissertation on musicals, the guys bemoan the lack of any version of "A Christmas Carol" on the list, they discuss how this movie may have heavily inspired several moments on The Simpsons, they talk about Oliver b...

This week, Brendan and Jason discuss a film that is still not Carry On Up the Khyber - that of Stephen Frears' film My Beautiful Laundrette starring History's Greatest Monster Daniel Day-Lewis. The guys break down the movie and discuss The Shocking Reveal, how the film is one of the few on the BFI Top 100 led by a person of colour, laundry as a metaphor, the themes of dealing with one's own identi...

Captain a ship and fire at your own men! It's time to sail on the cruel sea! Brendan and Jason talk all about the 1950s Jack Hawkins war film with regards to Stanley Baker's memorable brief performance, the fact that this may be a stealth anti-war film, the use of stock footage, manly men crying, thinly-written but multiple female characters in a war film, early on-screen portrayals of PTSD and mu...

Take a step into the surreal side of the BFI Top 100 with the occasionally mind-bending, often awe-inspiring film if.... starring Malcolm McDowell. This is the film that made Stanley Kubrick take notice and cast McDowell in A Clockwork Orange and the guys take notice as well by going deep into his impactful performance. They also discuss the unexplained surreal imagery, the innocuous switching bac...

This week, the guys discuss the all-singing all-frowning experimental family drama Distant Voices, Still Lives. They discuss the fractured narrative of the film and how it gives everything an ethereal dreamlike quality, they discuss the idea of grieving over very troublesome and/or problematic folks, they praise the use of the music and singing and how it tells the story rather than the dialogue a...

This week, the guys talk about what maybe one of the strangest choices to win Best Picture at the Oscars. That's right, Brendan and Jason discuss the 1963 Tony Richardson romp Tom Jones starring the late, great Albert Finney. They talk about the unique film editing techniques drawing from both past and present, the dark subjects the film approaches with a very light tone, the use of a goofy narrat...

This week, the guys talk all about the John Schlesinger epic romantic drama Far from the Madding Crowd. At three hours long, will this be a slog or a beautiful slow-burn of a drama? Or something in between? The guys talk about "pasture bloat," the sex appeal of a young Terence Stamp, they discuss the flimsy handling of marriage "back in the day," debate if Boldwood is an old-timey incel, lavish Ju...

This week, Brendan and Jason go way back to 1947 to discuss the crime/thriller Brighton Rock starring a very young Richard Attenborough. The guys talk about old-timey radio contests, testifying against your spouse, the role that religion plays in the film in regards to the two lead characters, the shockingly brutal violence, they debate if the movie's ending is TOO sad and much more.   The guys al...

Time to lighten the mood... kinda. Brendan and Jason take on the pitch-black comedy Withnail and I starring Paul McGann and Richard E. Grant. They talk about how the director shaped Grant's performance (and some of the claims by director Bruce Robinson that Grant wrote off as pure fiction), the production design bringing the film's story and characters to life, the influence this movie had on many...

It's time to get real weird as this week's movie is something of a gangster flick crossed with an acid trip. Brendan and Jason talk about Performance, a film co-starring Mick Jagger in an impressively strong performance. The guys also discuss the unexpectedly massive influence of the film spanning across multiple genres, the progressive viewpoints on gender fluidity, the avant-garde editing style,...

Time for a little break as Brendan and Jason rank the most recent selection of 20 movies from the BFI Top 100 list, hand out some awards and make a few announcements. How many will surprise you? Did their rankings line up at all? And why yes - Fagin IS still the most horrifically racist thing on this podcast so far.   The guys also draw next week's movie out of a hat! What will it be? Join us, won...

To cap off another group of 20 movies, Brendan and Jason discuss Alfred Hitchcock's suspense-filled The Lady Vanishes. How well does the movie age? Is it odd that the first 20-30 minutes are essentially a screwball comedy? Is this one of the oldest movies to pass the Bechtel Test? Plus - Jason makes a stand for "up-front credits," the guys discuss the characters of Charters & Caldicott along with...

This week, the guys return to master filmmaker David Lean to talk about his final film on this list: Oliver Twist. To start off the conversation, they talk about all of the various adaptations of the classic Dickens novel and the only one they watched in full (the one with an animated orange cat) and then they break down the long and problematic history of Fagin, talk about the way in which the ca...

This week, Brendan and Jason discover the darkest side of Michael Caine's personality with the gangster classic Get Carter. They talk about the difficulty in building an entire movie around such a despicable character with no redeemable qualities, the difficulties in overlapping dialogue, the bleak ending and much more.   The guys also roll the dice to find out what they'll be watching next week....

The trek continues with Brendan and Jason talking about Ken Loach's 1998 release about class differences and, more specifically, addiction with My Name is Joe. The guys connect this film to similar techniques found in the work of Mike Leigh and Robert Altman, they discuss the thick Scottish accents, they question the existence of welfare spies, they address the criticism of Ken Loach's dialogue so...

Back to the list! The fellas go back in style by talking about the cultural touchstone Trainspotting. They get into the definition of the 90s Indie Hit and University Movie genres, they analyze the critcism of this movie allegedly glorifying drug use, both guys gasp in horror at all of the content involving the baby, they marvel at the breakneck editing style and much more.   The guys also roll th...

To cap off Brit Picks, the guys take a pick from loyal listener Suzy Cuthbert and talk all about I Know Where I'm Going, a Powell and Pressburger movie that is NOT on the BFI Top 100! The dynamic duo talk about the very modern opening credit sequence, the amazing whirlpool special effects, the character of Bellinger never being on-screen and much more. Plus: Jason bemoans the lack of Scottish acto...