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Episode #475: We Need to Talk about DIGGER Oct 09, 2026

Show notes

Just the gang today to talk about a movie that has divided critics and moviegoers alike...at least, those moviegoers who actually took the very secretive bait that DIGGER's ad campaign was offering. Tom Cruise and Riz Ahmed star in this latest film from Alejandra G. Iñárritu. Then, we've got a different kind of movie quiz about films set in their not-so-distant future.

What’s Good
Alonso - Every Time a Bell Rings by Emily St. James and Lauren Theisen
Drea - Luna Wants Tuna
Kevin - Returning to GBBO

ITIDIC
WB Watertower Already Repainted to Reflect Merger
Steven Spielberg and Michael Bay Might Be Making the Next Transformers Movie

Staff Picks
Alonso - The Social Reckoning
Drea - Fjord, Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, and Dr. Strangelove
Kevin - Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinmaxfilm

With
Kevin Avery
Drea Clark
Alonso Duralde

Produced by Marissa Flaxbart
Sr. Producer Laura Swisher

Episode #474: 'Primetime' with Gillian Walters Oct 02, 2026

Show notes

Director Lance Oppenheim's debut feature, Primetime has a sales pitch that's hard to deny: Robert Pattinson as To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen. So does the movie live up to that enticing promise? We have true crime buff, former Dateline devotee, and co-host of All Things Cozy, Gillian Walters, with us to discuss the film as both a work of fiction and a portrait of real (if complicated) man and moment in TV history. Then we'll talk about some of our most memorable morally ambiguous movies

What's Good
Alonso - Magazine Break
Drea - Lili Reinhart's wig in The Love Hypothesis
Gillian - Spooky Kitty Soap Holder from Bath & Body Works
Kevin - The Sixty-Year Mission screening

ITIDIC
Viral Lesbian Bar Article From Boston Globe Is Piquing Hollywood’s Interest
An Indie Filmmaker Is Distributing His Movie Via One Traveling Copy of a DVD

Staff Picks
Drea - Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!
Alonso - No Sleep Till
Gillian - The DUFF
Kevin - Hope (kinda) & Avengers: Endgame (still)

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinmaxfilm

With
Kevin Avery
Drea Clark
Alonso Duralde

Produced by Marissa Flaxbart
Sr. Producer Laura Swisher

Episode 473: 'The Musical' with Jessica McKenna and Zach Reino Sep 25, 2026

Show notes

This week we've got expert musical improvisors Jessica McKenna and Zach Reino with us to discuss a movie about a middle school musical gone way off course, at the hands of a drama teacher pushed to the edge. Part comedy, part film noir, it's the feature debut of director Giselle Bonilla, and it was a Sundance premiere. THE MUSICAL! Then we talk about other films that use film noir tropes to comedic ends, and pitch some actually-pretty-genius new movies in that genre too.

Look out for Jess and Zach's movie, Mock Trial
Listen to Off Book (or see it live!)

What’s Good
Alonso - Get your colonoscopy!
Drea - Bob the Drag Queen even makes the Love Island Reunion show fun
Jess - The Gilded Age on a plane
Zach - The Wolves of Glendale, Go to the Woods
Kevin - seeing the Rams live

ITIDIC
AMC Burbank Pepper-Spray Guy: Villain or Hero?
New California Post Production Tax Credit Becomes Law

Staff Pick
Alonso - You Had to Be There
Jess - Original Cast Album: Company (w/”Co-Op” double feature)
Drea - The Incomer
Zach - The Court Jester
Kevin - Resident Evil

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinmaxfilm

With
Kevin Avery
Drea Clark
Alonso Duralde

Produced by Marissa Flaxbart
Sr. Producer Laura Swisher

Episode #472: 'Practical Magic 2' with Angie Han Sep 18, 2026

Show notes

The stars of the original Practical Magic stars are back (at least, most of them) and just as cursed as ever. We have Hollywood Reporter TV Critic Angie Han with us to weigh in on whether this film left us feeling charmed, or like we'd been hit by a truck. Then, in honor of a family that has two sisters in every generation, we have a movie quiz about two-sister films!

What’s Good?
Alonso - Meg Stalter’s Emmys ensemble
Drea - uno spaghetto
Angie - TrüFrü Dark and White Chocolate Covered Freeze Dried Strawberries
Kevin - Movie theater seat snobbery

ITIDIC
‘Woman Unknown’ Wins Venice Film Festival
MPA Projects Proposed Federal Tax Credit would Add 143,000 Film & TV Jobs

Staff Picks
Drea - If I Go Will They Miss Me
Alonso - Now, Voyager
Angie - The History of Concrete
Kevin - Martha Marcy May Marlene

Here's a Letterboxd list of Two- and Three-Sister Movies

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinmaxfilm

With
Kevin Avery
Drea Clark
Alonso Duralde

Produced by Marissa Flaxbart
Sr. Producer Laura Swisher

Episode #471: It's Absurdist, It's Disturbing, It's 'Buddy' Sep 11, 2026

Show notes

Casper Kelly might be most famous for his this-shouldn't-be-so-creepy comedy short "Too Many Cooks." Now he's got his feature directorial debut on his hands (but don't sleep on Yule Log 2, according to Alonso), and It's Buddy, a comedy horror that owes a debt of gratitude to the insistent cheerfulness of Barney the Dinosaur. We'll get into all that, and then talk about some of our favorite times TV crossed over onto the big screens.

What's Good:
Alonso: kouign amann
Drea: Minnesota State Fair
Kevin: Costco belt

ITIDIC
• Summer U.S. Box Office Hits All-Time $4.76B Record: How Audiences Surrendered To Moviegoing
• Telluride’s Top-Secret Film Was a Documentary and people are abuzz (You Can See Everything, Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s Elizabeth Holmes doc)

Staff Picks:
Alonso: We Are Pat
Drea: Oasis: Don't Look Back in Anger
Kevin: Colony (Gunche)

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinmaxfilm

With
Kevin Avery
Drea Clark
Alonso Duralde

Produced by Marissa Flaxbart
Sr. Producer Laura Swisher

Episode #470: 'Coyote vs. Acme' with David Kittredge Sep 04, 2026

Show notes

Hey, you! Be a buddy and take our listener survey! It'll help us keep the show great and maybe even...make it better?!
THANK YOU IN ADVANCE! - Producer Marissa and the MaxFilm Gang
***

Shelved after completion in 2023, COYOTE VS. ACME has finally detonated onto big screens everywhere. We have director David Kittredge (whose doc BOORMAN AND THE DEVIL is finally making it to theaters as well!) with us to follow this courtroom-drama-by-way-of-Merrie-Melodies. Then we'll talk about the fictional lawsuits that the characters of other films might have on their hands.

What’s Good
Alonso - But Have You Read the Book? Romance Edition by Kristen Lopez
Drea - Daisy Chain Fields Festival (link is to non-profit beneficiaries if you want to donate!)
David - Boorman and the Devil on the big screen, and people going back to the cinemas
Kevin - French press coffee

ITIDIC

New AMC Theaters Venture Aims to Put Smaller Films on Big Screen
Remembering Dolly Parton and Tim Curry, Movie Stars

Staff Picks
Alonso: Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt
Drea: Hadestown: the Musical
David: Buffet Infinity and Buddy
Kevin: The End of Oak Street

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinmaxfilm

With
Kevin Avery
Drea Clark
Alonso Duralde

Produced by Marissa Flaxbart
Sr. Producer Laura Swisher

Episode #469: ‘Tony’ with Katie Walsh Aug 28, 2026

Show notes

Hey, you! Be a buddy and take our listener survey! It'll help us keep the show great and maybe even...make it better?!
THANK YOU IN ADVANCE! - Producer Marissa and the MaxFilm Gang
***

The main character of TONY is Anthony Bourdain, but Matt Johnson’s latest film is not exactly a biopic. We have film critic Katie Walsh with us to discuss Dominic Sessa, Antonio Banderas, and the rest of the kitchen crew in this unusual coming of age movie. Then we’ll think up some other personalities we’d like to see inspire coming-of-age/early-life pics.

What’s Good
Drea: actors with real teeth
Katie: Matt Johnson’s biceps
Kevin: finding childhood books (Chilling Ghost Stories, and Choose Your Own Adventure: The Cave of Time and Revenge of the Rainbow Dragons)

ITIDIC

Staff Picks
Drea: The Cycle of Love
Katie: The Rivals of Amziah King
Kevin: The Conversation

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinmaxfilm

With
Kevin Avery
Drea Clark
Alonso Duralde

Produced by Marissa Flaxbart
Sr. Producer Laura Swisher

Episode #468: 'The Wrong Girls' with Hay Beacon Aug 21, 2026

Show notes

Hey, you! Be a buddy and take our listener survey! It'll help us keep the show great and maybe even...make it better?!
THANK YOU IN ADVANCE! - Producer Marissa and the MaxFilm Gang
***

Comedian Hay Beacon joins us to discuss THE WRONG GIRLS, Dylan Meyer’s feature debut as a writer/director, starring Kristen Stewart and Alia Shawkat. Meyer has said that the movie is not for everyone, but it’s really for the people it’s for. So…are we those people? Plus, we chat about our favorite “serious” actors to see take comedic turns .

What's Good?
Alonso: Widows Bay
Drea: "Mamdani!" social media posts (and that they're being addressed)
Hay: the dog they found!
Kevin: finding a great hotel pen

ITIDIC
Marvel Unveils Its New X-Men Cast at D23
Pleasantville 4K Release Removes Reese Witherspoon “slut” line

Staff Picks
Alonso: Never Going Back
Drea: It Ends
Hay: Leviticus
Kevin: Ocean's Eight

Listen to Hay's podcast, No Contact.

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinmaxfilm

With
Kevin Avery
Drea Clark
Alonso Duralde

Produced by Marissa Flaxbart
Sr. Producer Laura Swisher

Episode #467: 'Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma' with Andrea Subissati Aug 14, 2026

Show notes

Hey, you! Be a buddy and take our listener survey! It'll help us keep the show great and maybe even...make it better?!
THANK YOU IN ADVANCE! - Producer Marissa and the MaxFilm Gang
***

Director Jane Schoenbrun's latest film has had a certain kind of movie fan salivating for months now, and it's finally in theaters. So, are we still...salivating? Is this getting gross? Editor of RUE MORGUE Magazine, Andrea Subissati, joins us to discuss. Then, we get our tongues tied up with a movie quiz about film titles even longer than TEENAGE SEX AND DEATH AT CAMP MIASMA.

What's Good
Alonso: Jeni's Dark Chocolate Bombe
Drea: Full-body skin care
Andrea: Double cone, the American way
Kevin: finally solving the Vitamin C face care situation (Paula's Choice C5 Superboost Moisturizer)

ITIDIC
Ellison Says Paramount Will Exit CA if Suit Isn’t Settled By October
WB Promotes The End of Oak Street on AI Dog Podcast
One Night Only Director Removed Says Audiences Don’t Like Sex Scenes

All titles from our Long Titles Movie Quiz as a Letterboxd list

Staff Picks
Alonso: Trick (1999)
Drea: Wet Hot American Summer
Andrea: Milk & Serial
Kevin: Undertone

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinmaxfilm

With
Kevin Avery
Drea Clark
Alonso Duralde

Produced by Marissa Flaxbart
Sr. Producer Laura Swisher

Episode #466: 'Spider-Man: Brand New Day' with Ken Plume Aug 07, 2026

Show notes

Hey, you! Be a buddy and take our listener survey! It'll help us keep the show great and maybe even...make it better?!
THANK YOU IN ADVANCE! - Producer Marissa and the MaxFilm Gang
***

Ken Plume -- author, filmmaker, and longtime host of A Bit of a Chat with Ken Plume -- joins us to talk about the movie that everyone seems to be talking about. Is it a great Spider-Man movie, or the greatest Spider-Man movie? Then, we answer a Hotline call (yes, we still take those!) about forbidden films of our youths.

What’s Good?
Alonso - Friends with pools
Drea - Texting other people in a group Zoom
Ken - Guy Montgomery’s Guy Mont Spelling Bee
Kevin - Summer tabs! Urgent tabs!

ITIDIC

Staff Picks
Drea - Late Fame
Alonso - Nights of Cabiria
Ken - 1941
Kevin - Practical Magic

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinmaxfilm

With
Kevin Avery
Drea Clark
Alonso Duralde

Produced by Marissa Flaxbart
Sr. Producer Laura Swisher

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