How To Win Eurovision & Fall Guy Flops

[@MrHarbonaut]

'spend time with your kids and make movies WE want to see!' 'kin brutal HAHAHA

[@Omar-df2se]

Marina is the Queen of effortless sarcasm!

[@attackpatterndelta8949]

The highlight for me was Richard Osman describing Greece and Cyprus as Circle Jerkers 😂😂😂😂

[@johnadesola6992]

The level of sarcasm just within the first five minutes is epic! 😂😂

[@CamMcGinn1981]

I read this comment and half a second later Marina asked Richard how he was and he said "I'm really well" and I think I about pissed myself laughing

[@dippydogz]

yep at 56 I have vague memories of The Fall Guy, but did really enjoy the film, and have been trying to convince friends that the trailer hasn't given away all the juice. The way they shoehorned the romance in with the bullhorns was hilarious, the split screen phone call was beuatifully done, and yep loved seeing how many of the stunts were actually practical in the end credits. PLUS - the story made sense

[@parametr]

Really liked how they know when to let each other elaborate, when to interviene... Marina's "bull about to enter the rodeo" energy was quite entertaining as well, tbh :)

[@Ryanneey]

Wow! I love the idea of putting TV in the theaters. I could see my friends getting together for an old favorite like Buffy or Friends.

[@deppl0ver]

My new favourite podcast! Love hearing the discussions and learning about the entertainment industry ❤

[@Alo4321]

Our local cinema showed 4 episodes of friends when the reunion came out. Absolutely packed. They had to put on a second night which also sold out.

[@chrisknight2631]

Always thought cinemas would’ve done this for the last season of Game of Thrones. I know it wasn’t great but I would’ve definitely gone to a cinema with friends and my sons to watch it. Especially if there was a bar there, and it was less “formal” than when it’s screening films. That would’ve been ace, I reckon.

[@johnpotts8308]

I like to imagine there's a room at CIA Headquarters in Langley purely dedicated to fixing Eurovision. Obviously, it has a sparkly door and all the men are shirtless.

[@anonymes2884]

Camp Intelligence Agency

[@sianwarwick633]

We could only wish

[@dombrown-tz3zu]

Ryan Gosling didn’t begin his comedy journey in Barbie. Have you not seen The Nice Guys? He’s brilliant in it, along side Crowe.

[@sonofliberty1]

Also, Crazy, Stupid, Love., The Big Short and his appearances on SNL.

[@astronomenov99]

Hello! Bladerunner 2049?

[@dombrown-tz3zu]

@@astronomenov99 Comedy?

[@astronomenov99]

@@dombrown-tz3zu sorry, mis-read your comment! Not many laughs in THAT film.

[@ChubbyChecker182]

With the price of rent and hotels in the UK, maybe Cinemas could rent out chairs for people to live in. You could have a duvet, recliner chairs to sleep in and you have a place to put your hot soup

[@Prpl_Hayes]

Bambie Thug’s performance/design incorporates ideas of pre-Christian Irish belief systems and mythology. Some people still practice versions of this today, but more generally these ideas influenced a particular type of Christianity here in Ireland (mourning rituals/ art/ superstitions etc). The effect has also gone global- for example the festival of Samhain [pronounced Sow-en] becoming Halloween.

[@DrCalamityJan]

This was a masterful piece of performance art and was well deserving of the accolades it received. On a personal level, Bambi was such a joyful participant and their character filled our hearts.

[@mathewgabriel5061]

I went to see The Fall Guy - Emily Blunt/Ken film - and I had no idea it was based on an original TV show. In built audience my foot!

[@michaelnaylor-hodgkinson991]

Was the cliffhanger/Rock joke off the cuff. It was genius if written, but stratospheric if created on the hoof!

[@achatwithalex474]

I feel rather foolish saying this since Marina is in the entertainment world, but on Ryan Gosling….. He’s had to overcome a lot of perceptions of someone simply nice to look at without much presence. I remember people’s reaction to things like the Notebook. Yes, they are films he’s been in that haven’t had box office return, but Crazy, Stupid Love did, La La land did, plus his performance in Bladeruner showed his versatility.

[@morphunkown]

Memorial Day is May 27th. Google says The Fall Guy opened on the 3rd which wasn't a holiday for us.

[@LazyLuckyandFree]

Yeah this confused me

[@ufoagent51]

Came to the comment section looking for this clarification. Thank you.

[@databeatsemotion]

Yep Memorial Day hasn’t happened yet. But it was a bank holiday weekend in the UK so maybe that’s what she meant.

[@PeterDebreceni]

The Fall Guy redux reminded me of the Stunt Man Award shows that aired in the mid-1980s and loved as a kid. They were like the Oscars with a full ceremony and the Winners' Envelopes were delivered via live stunts in the theatre. I remember being crushed the year they were no more.

[@eyeyayayay]

I'm 47 years old and my memory of the Fall Guy is a show that was frequently advertised on football games but that was on too late for me to stay up and watch. I don't remember seeing even one episode. My older brothers watched the A Team and Night Rider, but not the Fall Guy.

[@alanhammond8834]

Funniest joke of the year! “Is ‘The Ride’ your nickname for Jack Whitehall? 😂😂😂😂 I spilt my coffee 😂😂😂

[@sevro]

Considering how famously well-endowed he is, I would call him The Ride too 😂🤣

[@andybrice2711]

During the pandemic, I bought myself a decent 4K HDR TV and a surround sound system. So now I'm unlikely to schlep all the way to a cinema to watch something I might not enjoy. When I can a wait and watch it in far more comfortable and convenient surroundings.

[@CT99234]

Totally agree. Behaviour in cinemas has got so much worse since covid. Watching Civil War was ruined by people behind me who appeared to be eating a 7 course meal. Would much rather watch things at home , especially since the average running time is now well over two hours and at least i can pause a movie and create my own intermission.

[@ByronLina]

Great shout-out for "Broken Greek" one of my favourite memoirs.

[@stevewithington1787]

Doctor Who viewing figures were awful - no need to sugarcoat them. I'm with Marina on The Fall Guy. It was ok but there were big issues with it. I'm not with Marina on Timothy Chalamet being able to open a movie - certainly in the case of Dune which is a beloved IP with a dedicated fanbase, added to the Denis Villeneuve factor (he, Nolan, Tarantino and Scorsese are basically the only directors working today who can pull in a guaranteed audience).

[@sianwarwick633]

Regarding Eurovision winning songs, this is quality analysis. Just sparkling.I think Glenn Larson (Battlpestar Galatica !!) and that 80s vibe are solid, but only for like [wince] older potential movie goers. And i see, The Fall Guy is out on DVD.

[@Emrose2900]

Our tolerance for sitting in cinemas with people who might be loud/distracting has lowered as we’re used to watching things in the controlled environment of our homes. The cinema screenings I’ve gone to in the last year have been older classic movies/cult movies. The exceptions are Dune 2 and previously Oppenheimer as they need a big screen but it’s very rare that I’d take the risk on something new with crowds

[@ClayMann]

I'll throw in a very unpopular idea that I think will one day be huge. VR headsets let you watch movies in a virtual cinema that really could so easily be adapted to include other people with you in that cinema. I still want to watch movies alone sometimes but the atmosphere of a lot of people would work in a virtual setting too with the added benefit you could click on loud peoples heads and mute them. Can't do that in a real cinema sadly.

[@andybrice2711]

Yeah, also you have to physically travel to and from the cinema, to sit in a much less comfortable seat. And you can't pause for breaks.

[@anonymes2884]

True, TVs have got bigger, home sound has got better etc. Just as importantly though IMO, release windows have got _much_ shorter. Often films are barely out of the cinema before they're on some channel or other to watch at home. Factor in the cost and idjets answering their phones in screenings etc. and there's just not the same incentive to go to the pictures (it's a real _pity_ IMO - watching on TV just cannot match a _good_ cinema experience, especially for e.g. horror and comedy where the "crowd effect" can elevate good movies to greatness - but it's still understandable).

[@andybrice2711]

@@anonymes2884 Though in fairness: Maybe cinemas are just an accident of history. Why screen something in a few large theatre buildings when you can broadcast it to every room in the world? I mean, people never expected to gather in the town centre to listen to the radio together. You do lose the fun of the large crowd. But you also gain the fun of more interaction with your immediate group.

[@rhiannon8424]

Brew and View in Ashville NC was an enjoyable cinema change. Not super quiet or dark, played films that were a little bit older and had a pizza oven and bar off to the side

[@kevinsoutham]

On cinema - yes it’s expensive and yes people have got out of the habit. But I think the main reason is most people don’t enjoy it - and they never did. Absence has not made the heart grow fonder - quite the opposite. Over the last years people think back to going to the cinema and they remember crappy seats, out of focus screens and projectors, average sound (in most everyday cinemas) massively expensive, unlicensed, and full of snotty kids chatting and on their phones the whole time. These days the average screen size for new tv’s is around 65” (compared to 32” ten years ago) and with a decent sound bar and a good take away you can have a really decent movie going experience. The only exception to that would be Dolby Cinemas and IMAX (particularly the BFI IMAX in Southbank which is a life changing experience) for which I am happy to pay a premium for the right movie (Oppenheimer being the most recent)

[@aotea6983]

Quite enjoy the everyman cinemas, damn pricey though so not great for a regular movie night

[@sarasate89]

Completely agree. When I go to my local odeon, it's so dated and in need of refurb. The screens themselves are dirty so whatever film you watch looks grainy. People talk through the film or keep checking their phones, it's so distracting. I'd much rather watch a film at home now where I can be comfy and quiet!

[@monrush]

The average screen size for new TVs is 65"???????? In what universe

[@longjonwhite]

This one. I just Googled it and the most popular screen sizes in UK for 2024 are 65, 75 and 85. I got a 65” OLED, with a great soundbar, earlier this year and there’s no going back! I can now see that a 75 would have been even better, but they are still significantly more expensive.

[@m-alexandria-g]

“It opened a few weeks ago on Memorial Day in The States…” -TRIE ~ “Memorial Day is twelve days in the future from today. 🤨” -The States

[@SBEARD12345]

You missed streethawk, Dukes of Hazard and manimal.. probably a good thing but still. Thanks for this, an argument is now ensuing at work

[@ClayMann]

to be fair they were awful. I was THE target audience for Streethawk and the only bit worth watching was the speeded up riding video that looked so fake I couldn't take it seriously. The other shows like A-Team were so good. I had all the action figures and probably drove my family nuts with the catchphrases. I'd often say to my mum "I ain't goin on no plane foo" when i didn't want to do something heh

[@anonymes2884]

'Automan' ! Vies with 'Manimal' for sheer nonsensicality (at least we can clearly see '"Tron" -> "Automan" but where the hell did "Manimal" spring from ?? And anyone saying "...the shadows, as a panther !" better have already _got_ their coat). (oddest thing with shows like these for me is they loom large in memory but sometimes only ran for e.g. 14 episodes in the case of 'Streethawk', 8 episodes for 'Manimal' etc. And be sure you're sitting down for this... they only ever made 16 "Hong Kong Phooey"s !!!??)

[@kevinsoutham]

The Fall Guy does not have a built in audience because it’s one of these shows that most people know but don’t remember. A-Team, Airwolf, Knight Rider none of them were any good but we remember loving them at the time and therefore they do have a built in audience. The Fall Guy I watched a bit but frankly I’m ambivalent towards It and can’t remember it much. Thus I think to myself do I want to watch a movie based on an 80s tv show that was probably rubbish but I can’t remember? Not on your Nelly!

[@anonymes2884]

I'd venture that most of the people who know 'The Fall Guy' have aged out of going to see a movie like 'The Fall Guy' at the cinema and anyone else is just going to go by the trailer (which was terrible IMO) and Gosling/Blunt. (I have _vastly_ fonder memories of e.g. 'Airwolf' but even then, i'm only going to watch a big screen 'Airwolf' movie if I can get enough old mates together for a nostalgia trip - in and of itself, i'm totally happy to wait to watch it at home)

[@ASKpq]

The film industry will shift to smaller budget movies, like Challengers. The big budget films are dying out, and so will the multiplexes that rely on them to survive. So there may be a return to smaller cinemas with fewer screens. That might be a good thing: bigger crowds, more community, better films. The reason people don’t go to the cinema is that so much of people’s attention has been redirected into the convenience of social media content. It’s become almost redundant to go to cinema, which is very expensive on time, money and energy, and so audiences drop. Cinemas need to pivot into providing communal experiences, because they can’t compete on content anymore.

[@videoeditorbloke]

I think there's a bit of a misconception that Marvel films are filling up the screens in cinemas and stopping others being shown... I just looked at the films released at Cineworld over the last 6 months, and Madame Web was the only Marvel film we've had (technically it's a Sony film based on Marvel IP), and it didn't stick around very long because is was universally panned. The only other 'hero'-film was Aquaman at Christmas (DC), which again didn't stay around much after the festive season. There have been a decent variety of films released this year (I've been to see over 30 so far in 2024 with my Cineworld Unlimited card), but generally people just aren't heading out to the cinema to see them!

[@PaulC_DH616]

I've been saying this for years now, if cinemas started showing big tv shows that would be really popular. Imagine watching Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, Band of Brothers etc on a cinema screen, it would be amazing! Most films are not worth the money to go and watch at the cinema, that's why people don't go. They wait until they're on streaming services and watch them there on a service they are already paying for. If people know they love a tv show or an old movie, they'd pay to go and watch it on the big screen. Every time our local cinema shows an old classic movie (Jurassic Park for example), its a sell out. Cinemas need to change or disappear forever.

[@TCJones]

HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE AIRWOLF!!!

[@MattFrancis1]

The production of Eurovision is amazing, that many acts with such a short turnaround between acts is an impressive feat of planning

[@kevinsoutham]

Spot on. I used to work for Sennheiser who used to do all the wireless mics and the planning that went into that event was astonishing. It was regarded as one of their blue ribbon events annually, right up there with Adele and The Queens birthday concert etc

[@djtwo2]

But when are they going to rename it? After all, it's a stage-performance show, not a song contest.

[@MrFuzzyGreen]

And happily it won a BAFTA this weekend for our holding of the Ukrainian Eurovision. Big complex live shows have been British broadcastings area of excellence for decades.

[@MrFuzzyGreen]

​@@djtwo2clearly you didn't listen to the podcast before typing that...

[@r3cy]

was listening to this with headphones in the kitchen, and was convinced my washing machine was making a weird noise until i came back and saw the images of film reels and realised the mechanical noise was from this show 🤣

[@Gerry-Hat-trick]

I'm sad to say, I don't agree that the new Dr Who is that good, so far. I am nearing my mid fifties, but have always looked at Dr Who objectively, since the first reboot by Russell T Davies, which was excellent. Following his departure, stories definitely became more ridiculous and things happened without reason. Singly, "Oh, it's the Dr, that's why X happened". Jodie Whittaker wasn't bad, but wasn't great. Nothing to do with being the first female Dr, and all to do with less good stories. The second reboot, with Russel T Davies and, for most people of my age, the second best Dr, in David Tennant (only very slightly behind Tom Baker), was another breath of fresh air. An excellent few programmes, made by and with an extremely successful team. I was full of hope, on first impressions of the new Dr. I liked his acting, and even the song and dance routine was entertaining. However, it feels like the new series has undergone too much Disneyfication. Incredible production, but going back to the days of Steven Moffat and Chris Chibnall, in terms of the stories missing detail, in favour of "it happened, because it's the Dr". As with Jodie Whittaker, I will continue to watch, but the first couple of episodes haven't gained 100% of my attention. I hope it improves, and the Whoniverse becomes something special 🤞

[@simonmandrakejones]

Saw The Fall Guy yesterday. I haven't enjoyed a movie this much in years.

[@EddusPoet]

Totally agree about cinemas putting on TV who wouldn’t want to see David Attenborough documentaries on the big screen?!

[@muttshouse]

I feel like if they started running movies from the silents to the 1960's on a discount" movie day, people would come back to the theaters.

[@DoubleMonoLR]

Or just any "old" (90s and earlier) movies at lower prices, people would go.

[@tpbriano]

There is an interesting dynamic for Doctor Who and other BBC shows in Ireland. They don't allow streamers to have rights to it in the UK and Ireland which is fine if you are in the UK but in Ireland (ROI) we can't access the iPlayer so we have to watch/record it on standard TV and can't catchup later. Very annoying and to my mind about time the ROI was split away from these deals. Basically applies to anything on the iPlayer that is streamed elsewhere around the world. We won't have access to stream it at our leisure.

[@jackayers4955]

Is there a way to get iPlayer as a paid service in Ireland? There used to be a way to pay for BBC channels in the Netherlands.

[@daav666]

I think the statement "from the Mind of John Krasinski" is just because it's a film about imaginary friends rather than the suggestion that he has become a Christopher Nolan figure.

[@FatNorthernBigot]

I'm enjoying "Clarkson's Farm 3" immensely. I haven't watched Dr Who since halfway through Jodie Whittaker's stint. I just think Rosa Parks is an uneasy mix for the "Who-niverse". In a similar way, The Dalek invasion during the classic "Twelve Years a Slave" ruined it for me 😉

[@ClayMann]

the people who love, love it warts and all. I fell out with it after the Tom Baker run. I rather liked Jodie but still didn't like the show overall. I always wanted Joanna Lumley to be the real next doctor after she did it for children in need. She was too good.

[@FatNorthernBigot]

@@ClayMann To me, Jodie was fine, but the scripts were very poor. Lumley would have been an excellent Doctor, but I'm quite pleased she wasn't, given the quality of the show at that time.

[@SteMail926]

As Marina mentions, Challengers has done very well as a mid-budget adult-oriented original film. Part of the problem with Fall Guy to me is that it just didn't feel like something I needed to go to the cinema for. It'll be on streaming. The drama and spectacle of Challengers felt worthy of a cinema trip just from the trailer, and then the word of mouth and the chatter online added to it. Fall Guy isn't really getting rave posts about it.

[@TheGreatSteve]

I loved the Fall Guy as a kid. When I saw the trailer for the film, the only thing I thought they had in common were the name and the lead's profession (being a stuntman). Zero interest.

[@polyglotuk]

Question: Wish you had talked about the endboard protest shown by trade unions on VRT (Flemish pubcaster) before semi-final 2 and the final. Is a similar move even possible in the UK on the BBC?

[@postedbyneal]

20:25 I need about 20 seconds of yet another perfect point of view from Maria. Clip It! pod producer , make that a short for your socials!!

[@SNORKYMEDIA]

Marina

[@kevinspencer3672]

It would be interesting to hear their take on the documentary "Something about Miriam" it was made by Edemol whom Richard was involved with. What was his involvement

[@Mrmayhembsc]

I love going to the cinema but can't stand Marvel, and you're right, the choices are lower. Another thing that bugs me is limited runs for the smaller films. I missed a bunch of movies because of that.

[@Cchogan]

With Eurovision, I sometimes think the UK (and others) spend too much time trying to win and not enough time simply putting on a good show for the voters/viewers. That means working out who is best at putting a song across, and that starts with the singing. With Olly's contribution, the song was fine, but the show wasn't. His singing was simply not up to par. Now, I am a musician and was a voice producer, and I notice every bum note or weak note, and can hear technically what is wrong. Most of the audience won't notice those details, but they will still know it is not hitting all the right buttons for them - they simply won't be entertained as much as they had hoped. And if they are not, they won't vote. Politics might sway a certain amount of the voting, but it is hard to get people to vote for something that is weak and is therefore easily forgotten. When you look at winners over the years, the one thing that links them, even some of the stranger winners, is that they are strong. They start on a high, and they keep it going the entire way through. Sometimes this was because they stuck to an earlier formula where the singer was not the writer. One of the biggest songs (non EV) or all time is "The Greatest Love of All." Dolly Parton wrote and performed a great song. Then it was given to Houston, and it became something else. That kind of approach shouldn't be ignored. If I had any advice (and mine is just one silly voice amongst thousands) for next year, I would say, think about the show. Put a combination together, tightly controlled by a great but in-the-background producer, and concentrate on putting on a blinding show. Aim for being in the top fifteen and giving everyone a great night. Then, with a bit of luck, it might score higher. But at least it will have less chance of scoring Nil Points.

[@helenmoat6456]

I would say it's melody, melody, melody, plus enough variety and interest within the song (and a strong singing voice as you say is crucial). I've been quite good at guessing the winners over the years and those in the top five. People say the rest of Europe don't like us in the UK, but that's rubbish - Sam Ryder proved that. It's the one time in recent years (as a Brit) I said we could win!

[@longjonwhite]

Dolly Parton didn’t write “The Greatest Love of All”. You may be confusing it with “I Will Always Love You”, which was written by Dolly.

[@currykevuk]

A generous verdict on the tv show The Fallguy! Even The Dukes of was superior.

[@sararichardson737]

The two are sartorially harmonious in their hue. Ahhh!

[@danielleoliver1734]

As an Australian who loves watching Eurovision, I still don’t know why we are there. I doubt we’ll ever win though

[@rahonavisostromi9443]

Hi from Croatia 🇭🇷 We welcomed Baby Lasagne at the main square in Zagreb, in the same manner as he won (doesn't matter if he was 1st or 2nd) ! Finland was just a non-song just a load of nonsens, UK was so bad the performanceand song.. loved Israel song, Switzerland was good, Germany and France..

[@astronomenov99]

I am from the UK and now a big fan of Baby Lasagna! I think the UK entry went a bit too far with it's staging. It looked like a gang bang in a dirty bathroom. I think it put a lot of people off.

[@gma5607]

Knowing nothing about the original show I went to see The Fall Guy for Gosling and had a wonderful time but I was feeling quite nervous that it was too simple a sell to survive the current film environment.

[@tomearle4599]

Richard's speil about the Eurovision winners, is he aware that voting opened from the start of the show?

[@smush5653]

Pre pandemic I would visit the cinema most weeks as there was always something new to watch I was interested in these days however I’ve been to the cinema once this year as there’s just not enough new content and looking at cinema listings it’s a lot of old films.

[@felinetherapy4782]

As a Australian I don't think Australia should be in Eurovision. We do love it but none of the people I know think we should be in either.

[@T1H8F8C2]

The thing when they try to tie a semi-original movie to an existing IP, is that even if you have a degree of brand recognition and it attracts an audience familiar with that IP they invite a backlash because the movie is so far removed from the original that they remember people feel ripped off and word of mouth can be bad because of that. Imagine if you were a real fan of the 80's Lee Majors TV version of The Fall Guy and that's why you bought a ticket for the movie, should such a person exist, what would you make of the movie?

[@anonymes2884]

Ah, finally an issue of real substance. It's clearly: Airwolf The A-Team Magnum PI Knight Rider The Fall Guy Things like this are entirely subjective of course. Except in this case where I am objectively correct. (main issue with 'The Fall Guy' for me was, the trailer was pretty terrible IMO - saw it twice in the cinema and it was absolute crickets both times. As a fan of both Gosling and Blunt and with _vague_ fond-ish - no doubt rose-tinted - memories of the original, I had no desire to see it whatsoever)

[@dannyquinn9128]

QUESTION: Richard, one of your brothers is famously in the band Suede. Why do you never talk about your other brother, Patrick, the drummer from The Black Keys? Is he the black sheep of the family?

[@gilead2854]

I think we (the UK) get weirdly parochial about the acts we send, while acting as though we're not being parochial. Sam Ryder was the exception. But otherwise, we send acts that that for some reason our journalists and broadcasters publicly assume will get big points based on name recognition alone, and are then always surprised when that doesn't happen. Most other countries send obscure acts they know full well nobody outside their country really knows about, so they know they have to do the best they can with performance and staging to compensate.

[@cre8ivoutlet]

Dr Who: I'm just desperate to see Clyde and Rani, and to some degree Luke. I want to see an update on their lives, based on the Premise set in the Sarah-Jane Adventures, that once you have a universal perspective on existence you can't not do something.

[@miriam4235]

Her outfit tho. Finland my ars. She was absolutely 12 points into Joist Klein. I'm not the only one seeing this, right? 🇳🇱

[@stephenbarrette610]

Another great, unmissable episode. I had a sneaking suspicion Marina had read William Goldman’s Adventures in the Screentrade as she has mentioned his famous quote a few times in the past, “nobody knows anything”. That doesn’t just apply to Hollywood! It’s a fantastic book, as all his other ones. I fondly remember buying the script he wrote for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid back in the 70’s - just brilliant stuff. A magnificent screenwriter and also somebody who was brought in many times to fix / polish many dodgy scripts often without any credit, (but a lot of money.) And I’m so happy that Doctor Who continues now with RTD and Ncuti is a brilliant Doctor. (Watched it since 1963 …) Finally, as someone in their late teens early 20s in the 1970s the movies we had then were just incredible, original, sometimes shocking. I think Hollywood has to get back to good storytelling and original ideas. There must be a lot of good writers out there somewhere. Or is it just me and I’m getting old? As much as I admire computer graphics, practical effects are better and the whole Marvel thing is frankly boring now and I think the box office shows that..

[@epsleon]

Fall Guy flopping is easy to work out. It's a Rom Com that cost $130m+ to make and it seemingly had no marketing. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person to first hear about this film through podcasts saying the film was a massive flop. Saying that, I'd still not have gone to see it had I known about it. I did enjoy it, but it's not something I'd dedicate 5 hours and £20-£30 to go see.

[@barbararowley6077]

A quarter of our (Australia) current population weren’t born here, and if you take it back a couple of generations it’s probably a bit over 50%. A significant proportion of whom came from various European countries who, like ex-pats everywhere, clung to an idealised form of their native cultures and raised their children/grandchildren as cultural (and often actual) dual citizens. Melbourne has the second highest numbers of Greek speakers of any city in the world, including in Greece. (Even those of us Melbournians without Greek heritage know at least a few words, not all of which are rude!) All of which, combined with our ironic enjoyment of kitsch, explains the popularity of Eurovision here. Personally, I don’t have any problem with us sending an act to the competition, but really don’t think it should be included in the voting - and that’s far from a controversial opinion here, either.

[@campbellfulton5602]

Why go to the cinema when you have 65” telly with fantastic surround sound and movies out on sky within weeks

[@sams-pg7hj]

the expense is the major part of it. series or franchises do better than art style or original movies often because people are wanting to spend their money on something they deem "safe" as a purchase, they know what they are in for. they want to spend their money on a good movie guarantee. Art movies or new IP like fall guy are kinda a risky investment for a family or even single movie goer. They wait until streaming for certain movies theyre on the fence about seeing.

[@ReoRis72]

Marina channeling the Netherlands with that top!

[@AltIrishMusic]

Would rather go to an Airwolf reboot than Fall Guy

[@angiecottrell1140]

Please mention David Holmes and 'The Boy Who Lived.'

[@JohnDoe-tp8mc]

The last four things I saw at the cinema were showings of old movies.

[@WayneFawcett-v1h]

Great to see you are both Whovians, talk about it more please! I have to add, there's nothing woke about Osgood. She's a well written character. Respect on marrying her! *fist bump*

[@Zabzim]

The fall guy is not an action movie. In premise it an action movie but whomever cut the movie together made the stakes entirely unbelievable and modern action movies require somewhat believable stakes. When an object moving at speed hits a stationary, the expected outcome is that moving object comes of worse and so when the guy fighting on speeding truck hits a hanging sign the expected outcome is to have a headless corpse, not to pan to dude laying the road entirely unharmed. That when the stakes go out the window and action movie stops being an action movie.

[@saadli]

Wasn't the point of Eurovision Israel debate about how Russia was banned but Israel wasn't? Eurovision should be apolitical when it comes to Israel but be political when it comes to Russia?

[@andybrice2711]

I think it's pretty ridiculous to ban anyone. It's not as though those Russian pop-stars personally invaded Ukraine.

[@Ardnasper]

Russia was put under international sanctions, Israel is not

[@TheJonHolstein]

@@andybrice2711 In a TV project that is supposed to promote peace, there is an issue when participants support a war, even if they did not personally start it. But the bigger problem is if the country that is in war with another wins, they get the chance to do a propaganda show. It doesn't take a lot of votes pr country to score high points via the televotes (even if it is not shown, they are divided in to countries, and the score is divided in to the same 1-8 +10 +12 as the jury votes, so only the top 10 per country gets points, and then there is the additional rest of world vote as one single vote pool). I don't doubt that Israel's government had a strategy for Eurovision, there were campaign in social media, and they also always know that most jews outside of Israel are still zionists, and thus will support israel in anything they do, and on their own try to promote the state of israel, so they knew they had a fair chance of "rigging" the televotes, and thus possibly win the competition, to be able to hold a propaganda show next year. (had they been successful, they also knew a lot of artists and jury members that are against Israels war on Palestinians would boycott the competition, thus creating an opportunity for Israel, to if not win, at least place at the very top in their own show, thus boosting the propaganda). So of course EBU should ban any country that is attacking another country, of performing genocide on a people. That is not in line with their stated goal of Eurovision Song Contest.

[@billswifejo]

I rarely watch films, and even more rarely go to the cinema; what do they mean when they talk about ‘opening’ a movie. (I stopped going when you had to sit in a specific seat. I am allergic to many perfumes and after having to leave twice because I couldn’t change my seat, I pretty much gave up)

[@anonymes2884]

People who can "open" a movie are actors that will put bums on seats on the opening weekend just because they're in the movie (people go because they're fans of them, _almost_ regardless of what the film's about etc.). And "sticky" means a movie's had low drop-off in audience numbers (it's common for even successful movies to have 40-50% fewer people going to see it in the second week than the first - less than a 30% drop-off is considered a good result and generally indicates a movie may have "legs"). As @Est-os97c says, for the last 30 ish years the "opening weekend" box office is _heavily_ emphasised when determining whether a movie's a success or failure (partly because the percentage of box office that goes to the studio is higher early on whereas later in a movie's run the _cinema_ usually makes a higher percentage). And home viewing is now a huge market, meaning films don't stay in cinemas as long because there's so much money to be made selling the screening rights to your Amazons, Netflixes etc. (whereas back in the day - before home video, streamers etc. - successful films might still be in the cinema 6+ _months_ after release so the opening weekend mattered much less).

[@philipwhiuk]

Eurovision: How many times would we not get in if we were not one of the Big 5?

[@Omar-df2se]

The Irish song was supposed to be what happens in a 13 year old girl’s mind. Kind of like a goth version of Pixar’s Inside Out 😊

[@RubbishGimpy]

I don't watch Eurovision, I haven't seen The Fall Guy and I don't watch Doctor Who. Hasn't the film industry being dying for the last 5 years. 90s had the great original lower buget films (Donnie Darko, Usual Suspects) and then they made Lord of the Rings which sparked of the fantasy book era. Pixar came. Then comic book films and now we are entering the 'toy' era. Cinema has become genre based which has ruined film making. No one champions the independent, unless you live in that World, no one hears about lower budget films as they don't get cinema releases.

[@anonymes2884]

The streamers have done a lot of damage to the independent movie industry I think (they've kind of killed a lot of smaller production/distribution companies by outbidding them with their deep pockets and also effectively merged multiple individual markets - that a successful indy could sell to separately to make more money - into a single global one). There were always _trends_ in movie making of course but it does seem now that almost all the movies making it into cinemas are basically tent-pole movies ('Challengers' being a recent exception but that's got Zendaya as a draw). Not that they're all bad by any means (your 'Dune's etc. are great films IMO) but they feel of a type and are certainly expensive.

[@TheJonHolstein]

in the 90s we also had PAL/NTSC resolution at maximum 28" CRT TVs at home.

[@maxdorey6713]

I always wondered if the village people were operative members of the band. I never really think of the construction worker etc actually playing any instruments

[@philipellis7039]

They were basically a manufactured band. The naval officer, Victor Willis, was the only one who sung on most of the records (there are later non hit periods of the band without him and he doesn’t appear in the Village People movie Can’t Stop the Music) and he co-wrote some of the songs. The others were pretty much interchangeable dancers. Their hits were pre electronic dance music so I guess the instruments (quick listen to YMCA and it sounds heavily orchestrated with ‘real’ instruments) were played by session musicians based on what was written by Willis and producers Morali and Belolo.

[@queenofgreen83]

Umm…Memorial Day hasn’t happened yet. This year it lands on May 27th. So we definitely can’t blame that for how Fall Guy performed.

[@muttshouse]

I wanted to see Fall Guy. But my husband lost his job and it's so expensive to go to the theatre.

[@pd4165]

The Rock is 'officially' 6'4". Obviously he's not going to be measured properly...so the easiest measure is to get a photo of him standing next to someone whose height is known. Barack Obama. He has good reason to not exaggerate his height and The Rock is somewhat taller - maybe an inch and a half to two inches. Barack Obama is 6'1". Maybe Dwayne breaks 6'3" when he gets out of bed - maybe Obama is slightly taller than 6'1" but doesn't want to appear petty by including 'and a third'. Using metric Obama is measured at 187cm, which converts to 73.6 inches - which is more than 6'1". I'd have a small wager that Dwayne falls slightly short of 6'4" but not that he's

[@carolineparry-jones6436]

They need to remake Quincey! I loved that show

[@hazzabang17]

My local cinema lets you rent out the cinema and play video games on the big screen for a couple of hours. I’ve heard a bunch of mates all pitched in together, and then played super smash brothers on the big screen.

[@laurav.7241]

Love that blazer on Richard

[@lynnhamps7052]

Could listen to these two for hours 😊👍

[@francisdunne8542]

The flag on the moon landing had a wire mesh making it look like it was flying in the wind.

[@davyaerialvideography9595]

No it didn’t, it was a normal flag but just had a rod inserted in the top of it to make it stand proud from the pole, no air would have made it just sit flat and not be able to be seen.

[@Panda3style]

I'm with you Neal

[@MattFrancis1]

Happy belated birthday marina

[@Jimmy180-b1n]

Just commenting because apparently it helps 😊

[@prosperow]

Russell T Davies is 6ft 6in allegedly, and Richard Osman is a whopping 6ft 7in tall. It must be true. I googled it and took the first sources I found 😂

[@MrRjhyt]

Yup, the same as The Rock.

[@andrewb9790]

Put TV on in the cinema? That's exactly what I said should have happened for the final season of Game Of Thrones. I'm glad it didn't because of how badly they finished it but it would have been a spectacle. Breaking Bad? Imagine watching the final season of that with hundreds of others? It's an untapped market that could revive cinema.

[@mrseethrough]

You two are ace!

[@paulmccormack293]

would have been ace to watch game of thrones on the big screen at the time

[@ClayMann]

I'd be up for mega runs on old franchises. But I'm not sure people want to spend that long in a cinema seat. And if you ran it nightly I wouldn't bother. You're lucky to get me out once a week. I think perhaps we are trying to will something that people just don't really want anymore. We all have big TV's now. It's just not as special as it once was to see a big moving image.

[@parametr]

To be honest, I had never heard about The Fall Guy tv show. I thought it would be about "Fall Guys", the game.

[@marksnow7569]

The _Clarkson's Farm / Doctor Who_ worldwide streaming connection: shows from the global streaming services almost never do well in the UK TV charts, unless they have a strong UK connection- instead they will make their money from the cumulated audience across many territories. That implies a future in which British TV, like British film before it, needs to be accepted by worldwide audiences in order to get the budget for anything remotely ambitious. In the long term that seems to entail either a watering-down of Britishness or an over-emphasis on aspects of Britishness which have global appeal.

[@sharonco6379]

As an Australian .. I too don't think Australia needs to be in Eurovision

[@gymnosophy]

Australia, that island in the Med.

[@snotface1]

Doctor who used to be one of my favourite shows, I haven't enjoyed the show since midway through 12th doctors tenure. The writing has gone down hill and it has lost its identity in my opinion

[@boreilly82]

It's 'tenure' ya dope. 😂

[@snotface1]

Thanks that was auto correct ​@boreilly82