Movie The Needle

This week, it's finally Ang Lee's 2012 spiritual survival adventure which sees a young man survive a disaster at sea only to be stranded on a lifeboat in the Pacific with only a Bengal tiger for company - Cannibalistic islands and angry Frenchmen ensue - It's LIFE OF PI! We talk all things Cast, Production and Plot, and for our game this week we play Strife of Pi, linked to Pi to 5 dec...

This week, it's our third monthly retrospective episode, where we look back on the episodes released in the last month (Baby Driver, F1 and Sideways) and discuss anything we missed, some listener feedback and discuss some data.  Cars, wine and yet more cars ensue - it's the Movie The Needle JULY 2025 Retro! Plus we reveal our top 3 Jamie Foxx movies and induct more movies into the Movie The Needle...

This week, it's Alexander Payne's 2004 dark buddy comedy which sees two middle age men embark on a week-long road trip through California's wine country, just as one is about to take a trip down the aisle. Lots of wine BUT DEFINITELY NOT FUCKING MERLOT ensue - It’s Sideways! We talk all things Cast, Production and Plot, and for our game this week we test AI's capabilities to make a...

Movie The Needle goes to the Movies...again!! It's been a while since our last Movie the Needle date night, but we are back from the cinema to talk F1 Colon The Movie. What can Bradley Pittstop do to wow us on the Biiiiiiiiiig (IMAX) screen? All the usual sections you know and love but a more condensed format. It's bright, it's breezy, it's still two morons who don't know what...

This week, it's Edgar Wrights 2017 action crime caper which sees Ansel Elgort as a young getaway driver who must face the music when a doomed heist threatens his life, love, and freedom. ipods and tyre screeching ensue - it's Baby Driver! We talk all things Cast, Production and Plot, and for our game this week we have fun with the often used trope of "one last job"! You can read...

This week, it's our second monthly retrospective episode, where we look back on the episodes released in the last month (Moulin Rouge, The Big Short and Casablanca) and discuss anything we missed, some listener feedback and discuss some data.  Repetition, Lingering thoughts and repetition ensue - it's the Movie The Needle June 2025 Retro! We revisit our initial thoughts from the episode to see if...

That's the end of season 3! To close things out we are pitting the 16 movies we have covered in this season against each other in a tournament to find out the overall winner, that will proceed to the champion of champions tournament where it will face the winners from seasons 1, 2 and 4! We've ranked all the movies based on their cast, production and plot and let them battle it out. LET THE GAMES...

A quick intro to season 4 of the Movie The Needle podcast…coming soon!

This week, it's a quote-tastic, black and white classic from 1942 which sees Humphrey Bogart play a cynical, expatriate, American bar owner who struggles to decide whether or not to help his former lover and her fugitive husband escape the Nazis in French Morocco. Fezzes and human trafficking ensue...it's CASABLANCA! We talk all things Cast, Production and Plot, and for our game this week it all g...

This week, Adam McKay directs an all star cast as we enter the thrilling world of the United States housing bubble, which, spoiler alert, caused a global financial crisis in 2008. Subprime mortgages and synthetic collateralized debt obligations ensue - it's THE BIG SHORT! We talk all things Cast, Production and Plot, and for our game this week Carl has decide which actors are Bigger or Shorter tha...

We're trying something a little different this week. To go alongside our new (ahem) slimmed down(??) regular episodes, each month we will do a little retrospective of the movies covered in the month. This month it's 2001: A Space Odyssey, Bullet Train and Sinners. We revisit our initial thoughts from the episode to see if anything has changed, open up the mailbag for listener feedback and thoughts...

This week, we warm up our vocal cords and don our stockings for Baz Luhrman's 2001 jukebox musical about a poor bohemian poet in 1890s Paris who falls for a beautiful courtesan and nightclub star, coveted by a jealous Duke. Absinthe and musical mashups ensue - it's MOULIN ROUGE! We talk all things Cast, Production and Plot, and for our game this week Carl tries to remember his school French lesson...

Movie The Needle goes to the Movies! It's been a while since our last Movie the Needle date night, but we are back at the cinema to cover a movie that is causing quite a stir with audiences around the world. It's a Ryan Coogler film starring Michael B Jordan and Michael B Jordan - Is it a horror? Is it a musical? Blues and plenty of red ensue - It's SINNERS! All the usual sections you know and lov...

This week, it's the 2022 action comedy starring Brad Pitt as one of five assassins who board a swiftly moving BULLET TRAIN and find out that their missions have something in common - Thomas the Tank Engine and snake bites ensue - it's BULLET TRAIN! We talk all things Cast, Production and Plot, and for our game this week we recreate a UK game show - where Carl has to navigate the Train BRIDGE OF LI...

This week we tackle a 1968 epic science fiction film , widely recognised as one of the greatest and most influential ever made. Directed by Stanley Kubrick , it sees a mysterious artifact uncovered on the moon, leading to a spacecraft manned by two humans and one super computer being sent to Jupiter to find its origins. Hominids and psychedelic sequences ensue, it's 2001: A SACE ODYSSEY! We talk a...

This week, it's the Ron Howard directed 2006 globetrotting adventure mystery which sees Tom Hanks' professor of symbology follow clues inside Da Vinci paintings to the discovery of a religious mystery protected by a secret society, which could shake the foundations of Christianity - Flashbacks and self-flagellation ensues - it's THE DA VINCI CODE! We talk all things Cast, Production and Plot, and...

This week, it's the 2014 psychological drama/mystery from David Fincher, starring Ben Affleck as a husband who becomes the chief suspect when his wife Rosamund Pike disappears suddenly. Wine bottles and box cutters ensue - it's GONE GIRL! We talk all things Cast, Production and Plot, and there's a silly game, imaginatively called "Gone Girls" where Carl has to name the actress who has disappeared...

This week, it's the 1975 comedy from the Monty Python crew which sees King Arthur and his knights of the round table embark on a surreal, low budget search for the Holy Grail, encountering many, very silly obstacles along the way. Shrubberies and swallows ensue - it's MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL! We talk all things Cast, Production and Plot, and there's a silly game, imaginatively called "It's...

This week, it's the 1999 darkly satirical drama from Sir Sam Mendes about a depressed suburban father in a mid life crisis, who decides to turn his hectic life around after developing an infatuation with his daughter's attractive friend - Rose petals and smiley burgers ensue - It's AMERICAN BEAUTY! We talk all things Cast, Production and Plot, and there's a prison-based movie game, imaginatively c...

This week we are haphazardly dissecting a movie that we believe has been errrr...ciminally(??) underrated by critics with a Rotten Tomatoes score of just 2% . Surely it must be better than that...right? It's the third sequel to an absolute classic. As a shark deliberately takes revengeagainst a family responsible for the previous horrific murder of at least two members of its species. Archive foot...

This week, it's the 2013 team-up of 80's/90's action legends, as Sylvester Stallone plays a prison security expert who finds himself set up and incarcerated in the world' most secret and secure prison, where he has ro use his skills to escape with help from the inside in the form of Arnold Schwarzenegger - mumbling and Arnie-patented screaming ensures - It's ESCAPE PLAN! We talk all things Cast, P...

Movie The Needle goes to the Movies! Carl and Simon had another little date night, so thought we would record our reflections on the movie we saw, which was the science fiction, black comedy directed by Bong Joon Ho ,following the story of Mickey Barnes, an expendable worker on a space colony ,who is cloned every time he dies - hair sniffing and macarons ensue, it's MICKEY 17. All the usual sectio...

This week, it's a 1974 Roman Polanski movie as he directs Jack Nicholson as a private detective hired to expose an adulterer in 1930s Los Angeles and finds himself caught up in a web of deceit, corruption, and murder. -  nose bandages and water politics ensues - it's Chinatown! We talk all things Cast, Production and Plot, and there's a game, imaginatively called "Private Detective or Private Brow...

This week,  it's a film that had 5 stars to lose from the start, as we tackle the coming of age drama from Charlotte Wells, who writes and directs Paul Mescal as a young father, as his daughter Sophie reflects on the shared joy and private melancholy of a holiday she took with her father twenty years earlier. -  mudbaths and the macarena ensues - it's Aftersun! We talk all things Cast, Production...

The Oscars is finally here! Following our predictions for every single award....yes, even the ones nobody cares about! We recorded a live reaction to the awards and see who comes out on top of our predictions game. You can read our reviews of other movies on Letterboxd - Look for ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠CarlMTN⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠SiMTN⁠⁠⁠...