Broad Appeal

It is truth universally acknowledged that sequels are always better than the original so please enjoy Part 2 of our 2019 Oscar conversation. You’ll hear Brian school Seán on his childhood days in Mr Rogers’ Neighborhood, whilst Seán suggests that JOKER is far from Kingly in its Comedy. It’s all here: the Pain and the Glory of “Being Alive”. It’s been so good to be back. How long til our next episode...? We don’t dare say how long xoxo

Back by popular demand, Seán and Brian go to the Oscars! In our usual take no prisoners style, we get down and dirty with the acting nominees… but not the ones you think. Listen as Seán mansplains THE IRISHMAN to a clueless imaginary twink, Brian dreams of Brad’s rad dad bod and both hosts genuflect to kiss two Papal rings. Sorry, ladies, it’s Men Only tonight. (Part 1 of 2) Clips from the film presented according to fair use policy. Podcast Theme: "Pipeline" by CyberSDF (https://soundcloud.com/cybersdf/tracks).

1950. 1987. There are certain years when the Best Actress lineup at the Oscars is so stacked with talent that it is nay on impossible to make a choice. With a legendary veteran, a pop megastar, a British genius up for her first award, a comedic superstar transitioning into drama and a total unknown all in competition, 2018 is the kind of year that makes fans like Seán and Brian go Gaga. In one of our longest discussions EVER, we anatomise every aspect of these five women and their performances - from the good to the great to the unjustly rewarded (Seán has opinions on THE WIFE. Get ready.) It is a Close call and the performances are even richer than they Aparicio! Multiple Stars have been Born (or Re-Born) this year and yet we must somehow pick a Favourite. CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE US????! Clips from the film presented according to fair use policy. Podcast Theme: "Pipeline" by CyberSDF (https://soundcloud.com/cybersdf/tracks).

The telecast is a mess, The Academy keeps making boneheaded decisions, and Bohemian Rhapsody may win multiple awards, but…. THANK GOD FOR ACTRESSES! (Now more than ever.) We are back, binches, with our annual Special Edition waxing rhapsodic about the Academy Award and a truly vintage year for female acting nominees, starting off with the five ladies in the supporting category. And since we’ve been away for nearly two months, we’ve got A LOT to talk about. Enjoy this first act, with another one to follow! Xoxo Clips from the film presented according to fair use policy. Podcast Theme: "Pipeline" by CyberSDF (https://soundcloud.com/cybersdf/tracks).

We finally left the house!! Last month, Broad Appeal went out into the wild for our first-ever LIVE event as part of Fringe! Queer Film & Arts Fest in East London. Now you too can pretend you were there. Name an actress who is indisputably iconic… does she have what it takes to enter the Broad Appeal Hall of Fame? Your candidates are: a) a neurotic New Yorker; b) a delicious Dame; c) a moving Mum; d) a Force of Nature; e) a prissy Princess ripe for rehabilitation. Seán and Brian convened an All-Star panel - Nat Luurtsema, Kemah Bob and Shon Faye - to nominate and advocate for the candidates, before the live audience determined the winner. This is, without question, the most satisfying election result of 2018!!! (With special shout-out to technical wizards Will Swinburne & Helen MacKenzie who engineered the show.) Happy New Year and we’ll be with you again during Oscar season. Xxxx Clips from the film presented according to fair use policy. Podcast Theme: "Pipeline" by CyberSDF (https://soundcloud.com/cybersdf/tracks).

Welcome to Broad Appeal...after dark. Ahead of tonight's screening of THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE at the Cinema Museum, Seán and Brian engage in a diverse, insightful, and (let's face it) meandering conversation about gay Hollywood producer extraordinaire, Ross Hunter. While forgotten by history, this dippy queen's fingerprints are all over some of classic Hollywood’s biggest pictures, including ones that feature in both Brian’s and Seán’s feature personal canons.  From melodramas to musicals, Sirk to sex farce, Hunter sold audiences on his magnificent obsessions: artifice and not reality. Join us on this journey as we consume a full bottle of wine and wax poetic about a forgotten queer icon who possessed true Broad Appeal!! Clips from the film presented according to fair use policy. Podcast Theme: "Pipeline" by CyberSDF (https://soundcloud.com/cybersdf/tracks).

The time has come... to snap out of it! The last in our 1987 Best Actress series is the timeless, charming and Oscar-winning MOONSTRUCK, starring Cher in her iconic role of lovelorn Brooklynite Loretta Castorini, who falls for the sweaty, agro charms of her fiancé's brother, played by a never-more-gorgeous Nicolas Cage. Cher was the ultimate winner that year and it's easy to see why: a genuinely multi-faceted role in a popular, much loved movie, with great dialogue by John Patrick Shanley and a stellar supporting cast featuring Danny Aiello, Vincent Gardienia, John Mahoney and (quite possibly the movie's MVP) Olympia Dukakis. It's a film that Seán has seen so many times he can recite it and we know Brian can't resist all that Italian stuff. But will the Broad Appeal boys cast their decisive votes for Cher? Listen and find out who our Oscar goes to...

In Oscar history, there have been some inexplicable moments: the Streaker, Christolph Wattz’s second Oscar, CRASH?? But none was more surprising, unprecedented and downright mind-boggling than the lone Best Actress nomination for Sally Kirkland in ANNA, a film that is practically mythical (especially since it is so hard to find). Kirkland herself is the stuff of legend. From bit parts in forgettable films where only her back faces the camera (A STAR IS BORN), she somehow strong-armed her way into one of the strongest Best Actress fields ever. Yes, Sally sent personal letters to every member of the Academy. Yes, she won the Golden Globe. Yes, based on her facial expression at the ceremony, it even seems that she thought she had a chance to win. ANNA is a rarity and an oddity. The story of a Czech dissident movie star living in New York, it depicts spiritual vampirism in which one woman’s waning life force is sucked dry by a newer, prettier model. Sally speaks in Czech, bears her breasts, stuffs her face with cake and even screams the verses to Humpty Dumpty while hopping on one foot. THIS WOMAN REALLY WANTED AN OSCAR. It takes effort to find a copy of ANNA and we have done the work for you. Enjoy the fruits of our labour - and of Sally’s never-ending determination. Clips from the film presented according to fair use policy. Podcast Theme: "Pipeline" by CyberSDF (https://soundcloud.com/cybersdf/tracks).

Have we got news for you! And we promise it’s 100% guaranteed to please. Here, announced for the first time, is our lineup of all-star guests for Broad Appeal….. LIVE, coming to you on Sat 17th November at Hackney House in Shoreditch as part of Fringe! Queer Film & Art Fest. Tickets are FREE but there aren’t many of them so do be sure to book in advance at: www.fringefilmfest.com - SEE YOU THERE!

Period dramas don't always feature big dresses and country mansions - in the case of BROADCAST NEWS ‘period’ means VHS tapes, chunky telephone receivers and something called the "nightly news." In the third installment of our 1987 Best Actress series, we look at Holly Hunter's first big leading role in James L. Brooks' weird and wordy romantic dramedy. The trifecta of almost likable characters are: Holly's scrappy news producer Jane; Albert Brooks' petulant, nebbishy reporter Aaron; and William Hurt (beloved of Irish Mammies everywhere) as the hunky but lunky Lead Anchor, Tom. Crushes are formed, journalistic ethics are violated and everyone, at some point, is kind of a jerk. BROADCAST NEWS is an 80s time capsule of bad suits and weird hair (especially on Joan Cusack) depicting a media landscape that teeters on the edge of obsolescence, with a terrible beauty about to be born. We read the news today, oh boy!

You may be tempted to skip this episode… but don’t follow Brian’s bad example. That’s right, for the first time in the history of this podcast (and, in fact, his life) Brian Mullin hasn’t done his homework. And, believe us, Depression-era misery-fest IRONWEED does feel like homework. In the second of our 1987 Best Actress contenders, Meryl and Jack Nicholson are two alcoholic hoboes who are haunted by guilt, ghosts and grime. Pretty it isn’t, but Meryl gets to deliver both a song and a hand job so it’s not entirely without interest. To be fair, Brian did see it 20 years ago. In fact, he was such a diligent student, HE EVEN READ THE NOVEL!! But in this instance he’s totally got amnesia, meaning that Seán must come to his rescue by jogging memories that are hazier than a drunk’s in the gutter. Is Meryl doing extraordinary acting in mostly solo set-pieces or is this just an egregious example of Prestige Category Fraud? Be our pals and listen along to this free-wheeling, unconventional episode. We promise it’s more fun that watching the movie!! Clips from the film presented according to fair use policy. Podcast Theme: "Pipeline" by CyberSDF (https://soundcloud.com/cybersdf/tracks).

Glenn, Meryl, Holly, Sally, Cher. Name a more iconic quintet... We begin a mini-series charting the five nominated actresses of the 1987 Oscars, starting with a film that epitomised Reagan-era Fear of Sex, but so indelibly that phrases like “bunny-boiling” still permeate our speech. Glenn Close plays Alex Forrest, the hyper-sexualised and independent woman whose fling with married man Michael Douglas got hot, then very, very heavy. And more than 30 years later the Broad Appeal boys are split: For Brian, Glenn struggles spectacularly in an exploitative and sexist role. As for Seán, well he agrees with Brian...but in this finely crafted blockbuster thriller, he can't help but be manipulated by the conventions of monster-horror. What follows is a deadly discussion, and one of our most heated episodes to date!  This episode is not going to be IGNORED, dear listener. Clips from the film presented according to fair use policy. Podcast Theme: "Pipeline" by CyberSDF (https://soundcloud.com/cybersdf/tracks).

I would like to talk about.... Mary. Fisher. In SHE-DEVIL, Streep gets her first attempt to do comedy. And like all first attempts, we have to accept that failing is sometimes inevitable.  As a proto-Madeline Ashton, Streep gets to indulge her worst WASPy tendencies: pretty, privileged, tall and blonde. A formidable contrast to Roseanne Barr's dumpy, put-upon wife, right? Well... SHE-DEVIL is not so much a comedy as it is the idea of a comedy. Who knew a story of MS stealing Roseanne’s husband could be so flat? Meryl is bad, but it's not her fault. Seán is grinding his teeth from the moment it begins. Surely expert Merylologist Michael Schulman can't like this movie, can he? Can he??!??!!! This truly is Meryl at her BADDEST. Clips from the film presented according to fair use policy. Podcast Theme: "Pipeline" by CyberSDF (https://soundcloud.com/cybersdf/tracks).

21st Century Meryl: lauded, applauded… and impossible to rein in. Gone is the bloom of youth, replaced by overglazed ham. In a wimple. With a Bronx accent. John Patrick Shanley’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama DOUBT set off sparks onstage, as a study in faith and ambiguity. Who should you trust: the progressive priest or the doctrinaire nun who accuses him of child abuse? In this stagey adaptation (filmed by the playwright himself, with plenty of wind and weather thrown in) the only uncertainty is whether the church will have a single pew left once Meryl is done chewing the scenery. Brian and Seán are both good Catholic boys and special guest Michael Schulman studied at Sacred Streep Academy. It’s not hard to find a few cardinal virtues in the film’s dialogue or dramaturgy, as well as in the other actors’ performances. But when it comes to Holy Mother Meryl…. they have SUCH DOUBTS!!!! Clips from the film presented according to fair use policy. Podcast Theme: "Pipeline" by CyberSDF (https://soundcloud.com/cybersdf/tracks).

While there may be no such thing as the Greatest Living Actress, there is such thing as the Greatest Living Meryl Streep Aficionado, and that is Michael Schulman. Michael is not only the author of HER AGAIN: BECOMING MERYL STREEP and a writer at the New Yorker, he's also a big Broad Appeal Fan. He likes us, he really likes us. But does he like SOPHIE'S CHOICE? The revered Holocaust drama which won Streep her first Best Actress Oscar is mythologised and revered, but how many people do you know who’ve seen it... or enjoyed it? Brian's first viewing was influenced by the Pauline “Streep-Hater” Kael, and Seán is going in cold. Well, except for the "choice" part. Everyone knows about that. Join us for our most controversial series yet, Meryl Streep: The Bad, the Badder, and the Baddest!! Clips from the film presented according to fair use policy. Podcast Theme: "Pipeline" by CyberSDF (https://soundcloud.com/cybersdf/tracks).

Can we just say, there’s no such thing as the ‘best podcast’? There’s no such thing as the ‘greatest LIVING podcast’….? Oh, we can be such a tease! Summer is dwindling, and we’re back from vacation… almost. This is Seán & Brian saying hello again for the first time in months - with a couple of tiny hints about the next set of NEW episodes coming your way. xoxo

[Again, it's time to say goodbye to the summer holidays. But, unlike Robert Kincaid, we won't leave you with just some old issues of National Geographic... Instead we'll be back with NEW CONTENT very very soon. In the meantime, our last vintage episode in which a sensual summer romance brings out the very best in marvelous Meryl Streep.] The time has come: 12 books. 12 films. All of them read (by Brian). We conclude our magnum opus with THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY, the insufferable little book by Robert James Waller that became the sensitive work of bleeding-heart conservative Clint Eastwood. Meryl Streep is Francesca Johnson: The Italian war-bride who traded Bari for Iowa, and fiery Italian passion for steadfast, cornfed, mundanity. Then enter photographer Robert Kincaid (Eastwood) and four days that change her life forever. Like all true fans, here at Broad Appeal we have equal parts ire and admiration for the most overrated actress in the world. But there is just something about Meryl in THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY that even Pauline Kael would have praised her for. Could this be the film where Brian learned what love was, all those years ago in Quincy, Mass? Is it as he remembers? And will Seán be sucker-punched by the inescapability of melodramatic love? In a word, yes. To all our listeners: thanks for coming on this journey with us! We'll be back in the autumn for a new series with absolutely no required reading. Peace + Love, Brian & Seán. Clips from the film presented according to fair use policy. Podcast Theme: "Pipeline" by CyberSDF (https://soundcloud.com/cybersdf/tracks).

[All too soon we'll be debating the merits of Tarantino's ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD, so why don't we return to our discussion of a movie that we can all agree is actually his best?] An air hostess, a gun runner, a bail bondsman, a sun kissed dope-bunny and his boyfriend Brian... but enough about our holiday! Elmore Leonard's RUM PUNCH was adapted by Quentin Tarantino into JACKIE BROWN: a grown-up, low down, sly and slick piece of filmmaking. Tarantino, auteur and fanboy supreme, made the canny alteration of turning a sultry, middle-aged, blonde white lady into Pam Grier, icon of blaxploitation and commanding leading lady. Tarantino's film is an exemplar of adaptation, both pulpy and slow-burning, tense and quotable. You might have guessed we both enjoyed it. How did Seán feel about the new concept of reading on the beach? What is Brian's dramaturgical analysis? Needless to say it all breaks down into the most Broad Appeal conversation ever: A debate over Jodie Foster's Oscar dress. Please return your tray tables to their upright positions: here comes Jackie Brown. Clips from the film presented according to fair use policy. Podcast Theme: "Pipeline" by CyberSDF (https://soundcloud.com/cybersdf/tracks).

[On our summer break we happened to be in Lucca, Italy - and we also happened to stumble across one of the actual palazzos that Nicole Kidman walks through in Jane Campion's film!! That seredipitous event indicated it was time to share this vintage episode from our literary adpatation series....] n which Brian & Seán read extended passages from Henry James and marvel at Barbara Hershey's collagen-injected lips. For the first in our series of female-driven literary adaptations, we tag along with Isabel Archer (Nicole Kidman) as she fends off the advances of several suitors, only to get caught in a web of European marital treachery. We spent a year reveling in the excruciatingly exquisite prose (and campy dialogue) of THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY. Now we see what happens when visionary director Jane Campion puts this literary classic through her feminist Cuisinart. Masturbatory fantasies, talking vaginal beans and bucketloads of bibelots await! Clips from the film presented according to fair use policy. Podcast Theme: "Pipeline" by CyberSDF (https://soundcloud.com/cybersdf/tracks).

[There's one only exciting thing about MAMMA MIA 2.... MORE CHER! So, during our hiatus here's a classic look back at one of her previous summer releases.] A film about sexual sublimation, religious fervour, sisterhood and starring Winona Ryder... how has Brian never seen MERMAIDS (1990)?! Seán has, of course, because Cher. Winona is Charlotte Flax, the Jewish girl with a flare for romantic Catholicism who desperately tries to be the responsible one, sandwiched between her aquatic kid sister Christina Ricci and her nomadic, flirtatious mother, Cher. MERMAIDS may have the cheese factor of a ripe Taleggio, but this coming-of-age story is bolstered by the gorgeous and warm performances of these three gifted women. Seán had forgotten how much this film impacted his adolescence, and is ready to dive back in. But is Brian willing to put down his Proust and Shoop, Shoop? Warning: Contains sexualised Bob Hoskins references. Listener discretion is advised. All clips from the film presented according to fair use policy. Podcast Theme: "Pipeline" by CyberSDF (https://soundcloud.com/cybersdf/tracks)

[It's our summer hiatus, but it's also London Pride this weekend, so we're taking you into the backroom with Al Pacino and hundreds of horny men with a favorite vintage episode from our "Male Gayz" series!] Get your ass into cruise control, boys. Seán and Brian are back with our new miniseries - Broad Appeal: The Male Gayz. We've ditched the chicks and are hanging back with the brutes for seven whole episodes. We kick off with a re-evaluation of sleazy, sketchy and sloppy(?) sex-sesh CRUISING (1980), directed by William Friedkin who having dealt with the devil in The Exorcist, confronted audiences with something much more demonic: LEATHER. Al Pacino plays an undercover cop who huffs too many poppers in his quest to find a killer at large on the gay S&M scene. It's explicit, it's weird, it's QUEER. But is it any good? Grab your chaps and let's find out. All clips from the film presented according to fair use policy. Podcast Theme: "Pipeline" by CyberSDF (https://soundcloud.com/cybersdf/tracks)

[With Jodie Foster back in theatres with "Hotel Artemis," here's a summer hiatus flashback to one of our favorite past episodes... Are you OK to go????"] What's more plausible: the existence of God or intelligent alien life? Frankly, both are more believable than Jodie Foster's romance with Matthew McConaughey in CONTACT (1997). Jodie is Ellie Arroway, a scientist so brilliant and dedicated to her cause that no-one, and we mean no-one, seems to realise she might be an actual expert on this stuff. Watch how men of the 90s mansplain extraterrestrial life, God, government funding and who knows what else to one of the powerhouse actresses of the decade. Will Seán warm to Brian's 'space-is-profound' type of sci-fi, or have his own crisis of faith? There can be miracles, when you believe... P.S. Angela Bassett. All clips from the film presented according to fair use policy. Podcast Theme: "Pipeline" by CyberSDF (https://soundcloud.com/cybersdf/tracks)

[During our summer hiatus, we're bringing you back to some of our favourite episodes from seasons past. After our last Good/Bad/Crazy, we thought we'd return to our first encounter with Juliette....] Juliette Binoche f**ks Jeremy Irons, but also f**ks him up in the British/French erotic drama "Damage" (1992). A tale of desire and obsession, this film by Louis Malle leaves us ruminating on our own sexual awakenings in cinema and searching through Greek myth, French existentialism, and Freudian theory to penetrate the dark, dark heart of these morally ambiguous characters. With a standout turn by Miranda Richardson as the jilted wife, this film has enough heavy breathing and histrionics to spice up any European Union. All clips from the film presented according to fair use policy. Podcast Theme: "Pipeline" by CyberSDF (https://soundcloud.com/cybersdf/tracks)

It’s 1986 and a sexually-transmitted retrovirus is killing off young people. A massive pharma company have a vaccine in development that they won’t release, until a band of misfits break in to liberate it… Sound familiar? It is and it isn’t. The sophomore feature from French enfant terrible Leos Carax is a heady, swoony, futuristic Nouvelle Nouvelle Vague oddity, for which (Carax’s then-girlfriend) Binoche garnered her first César nomination. The real star is the film’s ever-shifting aesthetic that encompasses cartoonish absurdism, music video, spectacle and lyricism in equal measure. Alex (Denis Lavant) is a juvenile delinquent caught up in the vaccine heist but whose “amour fou” for the unavailable Anna (Binoche) has him completely pent up. You see, in this alternative future, anytime you “make love without love,” you risk death. This is a caper that is full of ideas, emotions and set-piece scenes (like Juliette herself - not a stunt woman! - dangling from an airplane!!!). If it left us scratching our heads at times, it also prompted reflections on the pure beauty of the moving image and the irrational risks we all take to achieve…. Modern Love. Clips from the film presented according to fair use policy. Podcast Theme: "Pipeline" by CyberSDF (https://soundcloud.com/cybersdf/tracks).

Sometimes a brown, gooey substance is sweet, delicious, even spiritual. But sometimes it’s actually just…. All the cacao in an ancient Mayan temple could not flavour this cynical, derivative Miramax joint from 2000 which somehow received five Oscar nominations, including BEST PICTURE??! Harvey Weinstein’s committed a lot of crimes, but aesthetically this one takes the fudge-filled (sludge-filled?) cake. Juliette is a mystical stranger who arrives in a fairytale French village - where everyone, even the French actors, somehow speak in English!! She’s got a daughter who sees imaginary kangaroos, some bon bons that can apparently change your sex life, and a spinning pagan disc that hypnotises everyone she meets into joining her cult… er, enjoying the pleasures of chocolate. Judi Dench slowly destroys her diabetic pancreas through constant truffle-eating, Johnny Depp listlessly invokes both the hairstyle and the accent of Bono, and Alfred Molina has nothing better to do during Lent than to lead a boycott against Juliette and her life-giving chocolate shop. THAT IS SERIOUSLY THE PLOT. Cynical, saccharine and soporific, CHOCOLAT is a film without sweetness and very definitely the worst viewing experience we’ve had so far. Clips from the film presented according to fair use policy. Podcast Theme: "Pipeline" by CyberSDF (https://soundcloud.com/cybersdf/tracks).

Quick: name an Oscar-winning actress who’s worked with both Godard AND Godzilla. THERE IS ONLY ONE. Having been on international screens for three decades, Juliette Binoche has matured more gracefully than a vintage Bourdeaux, acquired more ripe notes than a cave-aged Gruyère. Take a look at the whole career from the dewy, sexualized ingénue of DAMAGE to the earthy middle-aged diva of SILS MARIA, and it is clear: JB is the Actress of Actresses. She’s bared both her flesh and her soul for countless auteurs, but she’s perhaps never been asked to carry a film quite so completely as she did for Krzystof Kieslowski in THREE COLOURS: BLUE. As a grieving widow thrown into a traumatised “liberté” that she never asked for, Binoche’s performance is mostly silent, often as cold as the film’s azure cinematography and as deeply felt as Zbigniew Preisner’s extraordinary score. Her Julie (like the continent of Europe itself) must confront the submerged pains of the past as she is hurtled forward into an uncertain future. That’s right: Juliette Binoche IS Europe. She is Cinema. She is Everything.

By 1988, Glenda had made six films with Ken Russell including THE MUSIC LOVERS and WOMEN IN LOVE. But though Ken didn't quite have the clout he once did, Glenda was still loyal and totally game for this high-camp, theatrical, romp complete with loads of boobs, dildo-spears, and some baffling full frontal nudity. Glenda (braying, bilious and bejeweled from head to toe) is Herodias, second wife of Herod Antipas, who has the hots for his niece/step-daughter Salome, who in turn has the hots for John the Baptist. Now imagine all this being acted out in front of Oscar Wilde himself, by a cast of bootboys and skivvies. MARAT/SADE seems tame by comparison. We discuss Ken Russell, Wilde, our own personal nudity, and the Gospels, of course. Clips from the film presented according to fair use policy. Podcast Theme: "Pipeline" by CyberSDF (https://soundcloud.com/cybersdf/tracks).

You know when the Academy gets it (horribly) wrong? Well, sorry Ms. Jackson, but this is one of those times. A TOUCH OF CLASS was one of the films that inspired Broad Appeal; we tuned in for a scathing 70’s satire of feminism and sexual mores starring one of our favorite actresses. Only to learn that the film is more like a juvenile TV sitcom that got to play its cancelled series out in one extended episode. Glenda plays Vicky Alessio, a rag trade divorcée who gets involved with brash American dirty dawg George Segal (and who never seems concerned about her children's whereabouts). A searing sex comedy this is not. A messed up, kinda funny, outdated, ridiculous mess it certainly is. And don't just take out word for it, take a look at the faces of Ellen Burstyn, Joanne Woodward and Marsha Mason when Glenda nabs it. Clips from the film presented according to fair use policy. Podcast Theme: "Pipeline" by CyberSDF (https://soundcloud.com/cybersdf/tracks).

She's served you withering stares on screen as well as in the constituency of Hampstead and Highgate. Of course we’re talking about Glenda Jackson MP, who as far as we know is the only British politician whose own boobs were used against her by the opposition. Glenda's place is in our hearts and in the House of Commons, but also firmly in 1970s cinema history. With two Oscars wins within four years, her career symbolised a potent change in roles for women. Nestled between her two awarded roles is SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY - a bisexual love triangle, a nuanced social commentary and a great study of how rotary telephones used to work. If she deserved a second Oscar, it should have been for this subtle sexual roundelay about liberated libertines who discover that trying to have it all is not all it’s cracked up to be. Clips from the film presented according to fair use policy. Podcast Theme: "Pipeline" by CyberSDF (https://soundcloud.com/cybersdf/tracks).

With an actress of a particular brilliance there's a special register of performance called "good-bad" acting. That's right, GOOD and BAD at exactly the same time (for more examples of this, please check out Meryl Streep's entire body of work post-DEVIL WEARS PRADA). In the case of Cate, we have HANNA. A frenetic, baffling, high-octane and enjoyable thriller with our favourite Irish cailín, Saoirse Ronan, out there breaking people's necks like all girls do at that age. In Blanchett's Marisa Wiegler we get a drawl so far south that voiceless alveolar stops are practically non-existent! In place of of /t/ sounds we get kitten heels, a great wig and an unstoppable urge to neutralise a little girl. Hanna? More like HAMMA! But we loooove what she doooooees. Clips from the film presented according to fair use policy. Podcast Theme: "Pipeline" by CyberSDF (https://soundcloud.com/cybersdf/tracks).

It is said that every Irish person remembers where they were when crusading journalist Veronica Guerin was killed. But when the Cate Blanchett movie about Veronica was released, it seems that not enough people remembered to go to the cinema… Despite being a Jerry Bruckheimer/Joel Schumacher Hollywood production, the film has some estimable Irish credentials: authentic Dublin locations, an impeccable accent from Cate… and Brenda feckin’ Fricker as her Mam!!! Not so much a “bad” movie as a horribly worthy one, it does feature small pleasures like Colin Farrell’s sexy neck tattoos and Cate’s Princess Diana hairdo. Brian learned a lot about the Irish underworld, but Seán still can’t get the maudlin sounds of “Fields of Athenry” out of his ears. Saint Veronica, pray for us!! Clips from the film presented according to fair use policy. Podcast Theme: "Pipeline" by CyberSDF (https://soundcloud.com/cybersdf/tracks).

Category is: Greatest Living Actress. For all the Meryls, Juliannes and Sally Kirklands, there's another whose name gets on that list. She's Galadriel, she's Carol Aird, heck she's even Bob Dylan! She's Cate Blanchett. Brian is a sucker for a plummy mid-Atlantic accent. Seán is hesitant. Or is he? He really can't remember, either way he saw the CHARLOTTE GREY trailer way too many times. In her breakthrough role as Queen Elizabeth Numero Uno, Blanchett has notes of Streep, a hint of G. Jackson and that certain mouthfeel of a full-bodied Aussie that only an Antipodean lends to a legendary Anglo Saxon. ELIZABETH is not subtle, but it gets you drunk, perks you up and makes you feel a little sexy. And isn't that all you want in a Shiraz and an Actress? Clips from the film presented according to fair use policy. Podcast Theme: "Pipeline" by CyberSDF (https://soundcloud.com/cybersdf/tracks).

Crazy has many meanings, and in SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY it’s what young wife Laura (Julia Roberts) discovers her husband to be when he obsesses over the arrangement of hand towels or the alignment of canned goods. But hubby Martin (Patrick Bergen) is more than just slightly OCD: he’s a violent psychopath and Julia must fake her own death to escape him. In her first big starring role after her breakout success, Julia is a woman in jeopardy - putting on aliases, wigs and even a fake mustache all in hopes of starting a new life in Smalltown, USA. At the centre of the the implausibly schematic scenario, a very youngJulia dampens her usual brightness to play a woman traumatized by fear - but learning to fight back. Drink your V8, Shelby! Clips from the film presented according to fair use policy. Podcast Theme: "Pipeline" by CyberSDF (https://soundcloud.com/cybersdf/tracks).

When the 21st century bourgeoisie are lined up along the barricades and made to pay for their crimes, Julia, Ryan Murphy and (most of all) Elizabeth Gilbert better hope that our proletarian overlords are feeling particularly generous. EAT PRAY LOVE was a pre-credit crunch piece of best-selling self-help travel porn that had the misfortune to be made into a film once the world had gone tits up. You know you’re in trouble when even America’s Sweetheart struggles to make a protagonist remotely relatable. Julia slurps spaghetti, mouths mantras, and basks in Bali, all to… find herself? Get over a divorce? Fulfill an insanely generous book deal? No one knows and no one cares - except Seán who has found the latest entry to round out his syllabus for The Cinema of Repugnance. This execrable oddity just barely avoids torpedoing the goodwill Julia has accrued over all those years. But as they say, “If you don’t accept me at my bougie-est, you don’t deserve me at my Brokovich!!” Clips from the film presented according to fair use policy. Podcast Theme: "Pipeline" by CyberSDF (https://soundcloud.com/cybersdf/tracks).

Science has proven that Julia Roberts’s smile shows more teeth than any other human’s (except possibly Brian’s). Is this the key to her movie star longevity? Quite possibly they got her her start. But something more must have kept this woman in our hearts for so many years. NOTTING HILL attempts to answer this question and many more. An awkward Brit bookshop-owner (Hugh Grant) is unexpectedly snogged by a movie star who seems very much like Julia Roberts (Julia Roberts). What follows is the most self-consciously meta romantic comedy of all time in which one movie star plays herself and the other pretends not to be.a movie star. Julia/Anna may be just a girl standing in front of a boy, and this may be just another formulaic Richard Curtis joint, but there’s enough commentary on stardom here to fuel a dozen monographs by Richard Dyer. Grin and bear it! Clips from the film presented according to fair use policy. Podcast Theme: "Pipeline" by CyberSDF (https://soundcloud.com/cybersdf/tracks).

What do you get when you combine ultra violence, a political metaphor and a kick-ass heroine? The answer? A Seán Film. Also known as STRANGE DAYS, from the mind of visionary director Kathryn Bigelow and bonkers ex-hubby James Cameron. The year is 1999. People are scared. They're jacking in to a weird bootleg neuro-hardware called SQUID. And like the internet, it begins as a bit of fun, then becomes porno and ends up as a toxic, racist, hate-dump. Only (sexy!) Ralph Fiennes and a kung-fu kicking limo driver mom (who was also once a waitress?) known as Angela Bassett can save us all from getting totally fucked up! In the midst of it all, a flawed but fascinating commentary emerges (dreamed up by two white millionaires) about the institutional violence of the LAPD in a post-Rodney King world. STRANGE DAYS is a miasma of brutality and brilliance, excess and truth. Angela saves not only the movie, but our future. Clips from the film presented according to fair use policy. Podcast Theme: "Pipeline" by CyberSDF (https://soundcloud.com/cybersdf/tracks).

Sometimes the worst films make some of the best conversations, and boy, did Brian loathe VAMPIRE IN BROOKLYN.  We can spread the blame around: Eddie Murphy's ego, the insistent racial stereotyping (of African-Americans AND Italians!), the half-dozen writers who couldn’t decide on a tone, or even usual maestro of horror Wes Craven who was clearly having an off-day. In fact, the only person not culpable is Angela Bassett, once again showing full commitment when battling the ludicrous and the undead. Listen to Seán explain vampire arcana to Brian, who seems misguidedly to be looking for plot consistency in a mid-90s horror comedy. The stress of the undertaking is so high that our hosts find themselves corpsing in ways that would typically be left on the cutting room floor. P.S. Eddie Murphy is a jerk. Clips from the film presented according to fair use policy. Podcast Theme: "Pipeline" by CyberSDF (https://soundcloud.com/cybersdf/tracks).

There are few actresses who have the level of commitment and intensity of Angela Bassett - both for every role she's in, as well as to that hunky husband of hers. And while Auntie Angela may be giving regal fish and smashing box office records everywhere in Black Panther, there is a whole lotta history to this woman's career. In 1995, following her iconic breakthrough as Tina Turner, it was #1 box office hit WAITING TO EXHALE that positioned Miss B. as a woman to be reckoned with. This film that launched a thousand .gifs is not unlike the kind of “women’s picture” like Joan Crawford used to make: Angela journeys to a place of strength, Loretta Devine is homely, Lela Rochon is horny, and Whitney, well poor Whitney is a TV anchor or something? Ready? Breathe...and exhale (shoop shoop)

A vast meteor, hurtling toward our planet, but sparing us total destruction: so, too, is Barbra Streisand’s A STAR IS BORN. A stratospheric arrival that leads ineluctably to total self-immolation. Somewhere in between THE STONEY END and TELL HIM (feat. Celine Dion) was a period where Barbra was "hip", "groovy" and "totally far out". Even Barbra must have a few lost years -  this would explain her relationship to illiterate hairdresser Jon Peters, mastermind behind some of Barbra's weirdest moments, including this truly bonkers remake of the remake of the remake. Barbra provided all her own clothes. Kris Kristofferson provided his nipples. And Sally Kirkland... is actually in this. If that's not enough of a reason to see A STAR IS BORN, listen to the concluding part of our Babs Trilogy and we'll give you a few more.

How much would you pay for a blowjob? Somewhere in excess of $500? No? Well, wait till you hear who's giving them... NUTS is a film that could also just be called BAD, in which suspension of disbelief only takes you so far. Good luck believing that Barbra Streisand is a prostitute, that she is potentially mentally incompetent or even that the walls of the courtroom are not made of cardboard. While Seán and Brian may have little praise for the film, it doesn't mean they don't have A LOT to say. Barbra is Claudia Draper, a working girl caught up in a messy situation. After decapitating Leslie Nielsen, she is forced to fight for her right to stand trial. I mean, okay? Barbra thinks this is a searing look at the criminal justice system, while we think this film is truly criminal. You'll probably never see it, but you'd be NUTS not to listen to this podcast. Clips from the film presented according to fair use policy. Podcast Theme: "Pipeline" by CyberSDF (https://soundcloud.com/cybersdf/tracks).

She kept her clothes and kept her space. She kept her nose to spite her face! Who else could it be but BARBRA? Simply, Barbra. Long before she was in the business of cloning domestic mammals, Barbra Streisand was an ACTRESS. And in today's unequivocally good film, THE WAY WE WERE, Babs sparkles as Katie Morosky: The earnest agitprop campus leftie who has eyes for hunky blonde, Hubbell Gardner, the only WASP known to make sweet, sweet honey. Charting the romance of two ideologically incompatible love-birds, THE WAY WE WERE is the second greatest communist romance (after REDS, of course) and leaves Seán and Brian both in love with Ms. Streisand and in sticky lust with Robert Redford. Barbra couldn’t do any wrong after this, could she? Would she? Clips from the film presented according to fair use policy. Podcast Theme: "Pipeline" by CyberSDF (https://soundcloud.com/cybersdf/tracks).

"A mother on a quest for vengeance. A strong and silent heroine. A young woman on the cusp of adulthood. A publisher with the ultimate choice to make. Tonya Harding. Here are the five extraordinary women nominated for Best Actress" - Sharon Stone, in our fantasies. Join us for Part 2 of our Actress Oscar Special. Clips from the film presented according to fair use policy. Podcast Theme: "Pipeline" by CyberSDF (https://soundcloud.com/cybersdf/tracks).

After a short hiatus of watching films strictly for pleasure and not taking any notes during movies, we're back! And what a time to be alive - it's Oscar week! Seán and Brian take on the only categories that matter: Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. And in our typical style, this simple conversation has turned into two episodes. Join us for Part 1 as we talk Mary J., Leslie, Octavia, Allison and (swoon) Laurie. Any guess who our favourite is? Clips from the film presented according to fair use policy. Podcast Theme: "Pipeline" by CyberSDF (https://soundcloud.com/cybersdf/tracks).

The year is 1989. “Bad” communism is coming to an end, Europe is breaking into new nation states, Seán is being born and Emma Thompson is telling the world she is an absolute star in THE TALL GUY. After garroting Richard Curtis in the last episode, he gets an odd free pass here by helping create a strikingly independent female character in Emma's Kate Tampon Lemon. The film is a cluttered and creaking 80s romantic comedy, somewhere between Slaves of New York and A Chorus Line (i.e. far too batty for today's audiences). But weirdest of all, it includes what you never see much of: two consenting adults who barely know each other, casually arranging a date to enjoy a healthy serving of afternoon delight. (Well, if they’re straight, that is...). Known more for its raucous and equally joyous sex-scene between Emma and hunky co-star Jeff Goldblum, THE TALL GUY is a weird little romp down Shaftsberry Avenue and up the way to the Royal Free Hospital, which catapulted Emma to stardom. Seán and Brian cannot resist her charms, but was that ever really going to be a possibility? Oh Emma, we love you. Part 3 of 3 Clips from the film presented according to fair use policy. Podcast Theme: "Pipeline" by CyberSDF (https://soundcloud.com/cybersdf/tracks).

Here at Broad Appeal we have the perfect gift for you: A foaming-at-the-mouth screed about one of the most repugnant little films masquerading as entertainment! Were it not for Emma Thompson, who brings an emotional weight to an entirely undeserving film, LOVE ACTUALLY would be consigned to the dust-bin of history. Also in that bin is every skeezy boss who ever creeped on his staff, political figures who think they can get away with anything, lad culture, and all “awkward” weirdos who just don't know how to talk to women. If you saw this film in 2003 and thought nothing of it, you'll be WOKEn up by the end of this episode. Alan Rickman, Hugh Grant, Andrew Lincoln, Bill Nighy et al – they're all here and they're all COMPLICIT! But Emma: As if we needed any reminder that E.T. is not only a consummate professional, with pools of artistic and emotional depth, but can also utilise the flat role of a taken-for-granted wife to craft a polemic on marriage, relationships, forgiveness and family, while never raising her voice. Richard Curtis and all cis-gendered males have a lot to answer for, but Emma makes this unfunny mess almost relatable. Proof, once again, that she is legendary. Part 2 of 3 
Clips from the film presented according to fair use policy. Podcast Theme: "Pipeline" by CyberSDF (https://soundcloud.com/cybersdf/tracks).

You may be yin, and I may be yang, but we can all agree on Emma Thompson. For some, she is the queen of 90s prestige filmmaking, for others (i.e. Brian) she is a role model, an idol, a way of life. SENSE AND SENSIBILITY (which Em wrote and starred in) takes 18th century English manners and deconstructs them through the Taiwanese lens of director And Lee. The story of wildly disparate sisters Elinor and Marianne Dashwood certainly left its impact on your wildly disparate hosts. For Brian it was fuel to the fire of his love and passion for Emma, for Seán it was some frou-frou trailer at the start of the VHS tape of Addams Family Values. But will the older, wiser Seán be able to come to his senses (as opposed to sensibilities) and to look beyond the Empire waistlines to see this film for what it is: a delightful, insightful comedy that is as much Thompson as it is Austen? Reader, he loved it. (That's her, right? - Ed. Note: No, Seán, that’s Charlotte Brontë) Part 1 of 3 Clips from the film presented according to fair use policy. Podcast Theme: "Pipeline" by CyberSDF (https://soundcloud.com/cybersdf/tracks).

Don't you just love it when the bourgeoisie debase themselves? In what is undoubtedly a masterpiece in malice, Judi delivers her best performance ever in NOTES ON A SCANDAL. She is Barbara Covett, a petrified husk of an educator, who believes that Sapphic machinations form the basis of any good friendship. And yet even Dench's detestability is put to the test by Cate Blanchett's Sheba Hart: performing youth outreach in the form of sexual favours offered to the underaged. NOTES ON A SCANDAL is what happens when truly talented people get together to make utter trash - sure it disagrees with our bowels, but we can’t get enough of it. Part 3 of 3 Clips from the film presented according to fair use policy. Podcast Theme: "Pipeline" by CyberSDF (https://soundcloud.com/cybersdf/tracks).

What do you get when you combine Judi Dench, Cher, Maggie Smith, Lily Tomlin and someone called Joan Plowright with a bunch of hot Italian men, World War II and a healthy dose of fascism? The answer... practically nothing. TEA WITH MUSSOLINI is exactly the kind of film you'd expect from a right-wing homosexual, wistfully recounting his misspent youth amongst delightfully polite blackshirts. Maggie sympathises, Joan frets, Cher is rich and Judi goes gaga for her pooch. Even if the film is bloodless, Seán and Brian make sure to spill plenty of tea during the conversation. We like ours strong. Et tu, Benito? Part 2 of 3 Clips from the film presented according to fair use policy. Podcast Theme: "Pipeline" by CyberSDF (https://soundcloud.com/cybersdf/tracks).

Here at Broad Appeal we try and avoid all honorific titles and that includes “national treasure”. But as it turns out, Judi Dench has earned these platitudes: regal imperiousness is her USP! To say her range is limited to the odd monarch or head of MI6, however, is to do her a disservice. PHILOMENA may look like the perfect film to watch with your aunt, but like The Dench herself, it's far more than that. Judi D. plays the titular Phil, an Irish woman who for years kept a secret close to her heart: doing penance to unforgiving nuns for birthing an unwed child (and for the sin of enjoying the sex that conceived him!). She lived her whole adult life with her boy taken from her. Now she's teamed up with the cynical journo Martin Sixsmith (Steve Coogan), whose level of smugness is perfectly matched with Philomena's polite way of managing B.S. But a wacky buddy-comedy this is not: PHILOMENA is a funny, heartfelt, emotional story handled with superb tact by Stephen Frears, and completely owned by Judi, melting hearts and filling every silence with maternal grace and faithful purity. Any film that deals with gayness, transatlantic identities, Catholicism and old ladies can definitely get Seán and Brian talking. And talk we did. Part 1 of 3 Clips from the film presented according to fair use policy. Podcast Theme: "Pipeline" by CyberSDF (https://soundcloud.com/cybersdf/tracks).

JENNIFER LOPEZ IS A GENIUS. Who else could've spun box office gold from this laughable material and turned it into... the ultimate guilty pleasure? JLo is a suburban Mom (and Classics teacher!) whose ill-advised jones for jailbait comes back to haunt her, and then some. Don'tcha hate it when the neighbor boy with the rock-hard abs turns out to be a psychopath? Achilles never raged as vengefully as this horny hunk who becomes hell-bent on destroying her family unit. This is Fatal Attraction: Female Version - featuring naked butts, pornographic photocopies and a gruesome finale that would put Aeschylus to shame. It's getting pretty wet down here! Part 3 of 3 Clips from the film presented according to fair use policy. Podcast Theme: "Pipeline" by CyberSDF (https://soundcloud.com/cybersdf/tracks).

Ali vs. Forman! Rocky vs. Apollo! JLo vs. JFo! On paper it sounds great: Puerto Rican pop princess faces off against a Hollywood grande dame in her unexpected return to the screen. Alas, what might've been a truly Freudian slugfest as mother-in-law battles bride-to-be lands with a whimper, a shrug and a WTF?! Jen is in candy-coated rom-com mode, rendering herself into an inoffensive Everygirl, while Hanoi Jane is going for a register somewhere in between Miranda Priestly and Mommie Dearest. This fascinating failure exhibits all the formulaic flaws that have sunk many a recent rom-com. Where's the rom? Where's the com? Brian and Seán dream of the diva duet that never happened, while dissecting the wilted bridesmaid's bouquet that was actually tossed. Part 2 of 3 Clips from the film presented according to fair use policy. Podcast Theme: "Pipeline" by CyberSDF (https://soundcloud.com/cybersdf/tracks).