I'm Mildly Obsessed with a New Podcast
In September, my dear friend, Andy, started a blog called My Cultural Obsessions--a virtual soapbox for venting about matters both trivial (the state of his clogged DVR) and Earth-shattering (the state of CBS's Two Broke Girls).
Not content, I guess, with the written word, he and his fiancée, Missy, broke onto the podcasting scene this week with a breezy, twenty-five-minute show called Missy and Drew's Movie Marathon. In their debut episode, they discuss four recent home video releases, including Sucker Punch, Bad Teacher, Hanna, and Crazy, Stupid, Love.*
As first podcasts go, this one's pretty solid. Despite a lack of intro music** and the occasional edit-jump, Movie Marathon sounds great. Our hosts don't sound like they're broadcasting from inside a Wal-Mart bathroom, and I was surprised at how much these novices made their first foray into podcasting seem like the easiest, most natural thing in the world.
Technical proficiency aside, the two marks of a great podcast are chemistry and content. It's easy to tell that Andy and Missy spend a lot of time watching movies together and talking about them. Movie Marathon plays like a three-way discussion between friends in which the listener is an anxious mute. That is to say, I settled right into the rhythms of the hosts' conversation and was chomping at the bit to participate. Andy is the more enthusiastic of the two (I would say "borderline boisterous", but I'm working on my "No Alliteration" New Year's resolution early), and Missy offers a subdued counterweight--which makes the revelation that she's more of an action fan than her drama-loving beau a lovely surprise.
As for content, you'd be hard-pressed to find a more eclectic group of movies to discuss. Better yet, Andy and Missy don't segment their reviews too much; this show feels like a genuine conversation, rather than a bulleted list the hosts have to get through for the week.
My one issue with the show is also one of its more charming aspects: there's a "Not Ready for Prime-time" quality permeating the chat that drove me crazy. This note likely has more to do with my own neuroses than with objective reality, but every few minutes I wanted to scream about something. For example, when discussing Hanna, the hosts at first thought that this was Saoirse Ronan's first movie. Following a quick IMDb check, they regrouped with The Lovely Bones, and in doing so completely overlooked the movie that made audiences stand up and take notice of the actress, Joe Wright's devastating period piece, Atonement (for which Ronan was an Oscar nominee).
But, hey, we're all on journeys of cinematic discovery here, so please take the above with a grain of sodium-substitute.
If you're a fan of fans talking about movies, you should definitely check out Missy and Drew's Movie Marathon. I don't know if this will be a regular show, but I really hope they keep it going--and maybe even expand into other areas of the pop landscape (Our Cultural Obsessions?). Please give it a listen, leave them some feedback, and spread the word. The Internet is lousy with film podcasts, and it's refreshing to hear one that isn't lousy.
*For my take on these movies, feel free to peruse the Stub Drawer.
**Yeah, I'm a spoiled pod-snob. Sue me.