The Intermission is back with another episode. Returning special guest Barry joins Dodi in the second chair to talk about the resurgence of the MCU with Deadpool and Wolverine. They break down the third Deadpool movie, its meta humour, and all its cameos while bidding a permanent goodbye to the Fox era of Marvel movies, and a tentative goodbye to Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. Finally, they talk about what's next for the MCU (which seems to be repeating it's greatest hits) especially the return of RDJ as Doctor Doom with the Russo brothers directing the next couple of Avengers movies. It's only fitting that this episode features its own cameo with Dodi's cat, Badri, joining for a hot minute.
What a lovely day, what a lovely lovely day! Grab yourself a pint of aqua-cola and settle down... Witness us, as we beam this episode straight from the gates of Valhalla. It's Mad Max time at the Intermission podcast! Dodi and Nitin dive into the entire (actual) Saga of George Miller's steampunk dystopia, where revenge, retribution and coolth co-exist in the wastelands. We talk about all five movies in the Mad Max franchise, starting from the Mel Gibson years, all the way to Chris 'Hams'worth and Anya-Taylor Joy's jousts in Furiosa. Does Part 5 hold up? Watch on to find out!
We are on Twitter:
Intermission: https://twitter.com/yointermission
Nitin: https://twitter.com/knittins
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After a long hiatus, The Intermission is back to celebrate 25 years of The Matrix. Morpheus said "No one can tell you what The Matrix is", but Nitin and Dodi give it a shot with the help of friend-of-the-pod Barry the Baadu-shah making his first live appearance. Barry tells us who Neo is to him; Dodi explains why Keanu is the Andre Agassi of Hollywood; and Nitin posits his theory on why we are all living in The Matrix. As an added bonus, eagle-eared (?) listeners will hear Dodi's cats vociferously engaging with Barry's mind-blowing theories. Join us as we celebrate one of the defining movies of the last few decades.
Listen to Barry's Film Exploder podcast and visit his film explainer site This is Barry. Check out Nitin's new podcast Leftover Lasagne. And you know how to reach The Intermission.
Enter the world of Dune with Dodi and special guest Ronak Gupta. First, Dodi and Ronak fanboy about their shared admiration for Denis Villeneuve; they talk about Denis' visual storytelling and his penchant for using sound as a storytelling device. They then enter the world of Arrakis and Dune, revisiting the first film, before jumping into the latest entry in the franchise. Dodi and Ronak trace Paul Atreides' arc from naive young princeling to the promised saviour Lisan Al-Gaib, and break down Herbert's critique of the white saviour narrative. They specially praise Javier Bardem's Stilgar and Zendaya's Chani, before making some predictions for the potential third and final instalment.
Also, Dodi has a bit too much fun playing with his new soundboard.
Find us here:
Ronak and his writing
Ahead of the Academy Award weekend, Nitin and Dodi do a quick run through of the top categories and nominees and pick their favourites. Oppie or Barbie? Poor Things or Past Lives? Or is this the year of the underdog, ie Anatomy of the Fall? Tune in to find out what we think about the top nominations, as well as what we think about the Oscars itself.
Find us wherever you get your podcasts, including on Youtube now.
We are on Twitter:
1. Intermission: https://twitter.com/yointermission
2. Nitin: https://twitter.com/knittins
3. Naren: https://twitter.com/narendodi
Nitin and Dodi look back at podcasting as a medium and where it is now. They talk about how their first experiences as podcast consumers and and trace their journey to becoming afficionados (addicts?). Nitin laments the loss of his favourite podcast - Heavyweight, and they try to unpack what brought us to this sad juncture. Nitin and Dodi rant about the big bad wolf of podcasting, and provide some alternative solutions.
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Intermission: https://twitter.com/yointermission
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Videep: https://twitter.com/VideepVK
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A Happy New Year to all our loyal Intermissionaries ;-)
Dodi and Nitin welcome a new panelist, Videep Vijay Kumar to the pod, and look back at the highs of 2023. The groundrule was that each panelist would come in with a top 3, and as expected rules go for a toss. Videep makes a prolific debut, with eclectic catch-all picks (one of his picks is a month - go figure), and stuffing each of them with multiple sub-picks. Dodi's selections include the top hashtag of the year, and a legendary bait and switch, while Nitin holds the India flag high, with three pieces of desi content. Say hello to your friends, enjoy some laughs, multiple renditions of Jack Nicholson bellowing in the court in 'A Few Good Men' and a bounteous sanctuary of 'hornbill' mentions as we rush into the New Year with long lists of content we need to catch up on.
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Intermission: https://twitter.com/yointermission
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Videep: https://twitter.com/VideepVK
Please hit the bell icon, give us 5 stars,.. This podcast is not brought to you by Lionsgate+.
WE ARE NOW ON YOUTUBE! Find us wherever you get your podcasts from this link: https://linktr.ee/intermissionpod
Fargo returns after 3 years, and it feels like it's been just as long since The Intermission dropped an episode. Nitin and Dodi enter the Fargiverse, starting with the Coen brothers movie that first took us to Fargo, North Dakota. They also go into a detailed discussion about the multiple seasons of the TV show, where creator Noah Hawley recycles, resuses, and repurposes plot elements across seasons. But based on their foggy recollections and numerous mix-ups you would be forgiven for thinking they have never actually watched the show. The boys also have fun with Fargo's idiosyncratic character names.
Nitin convinces Dodi to watch Jigarthanda DoubleX, while Dodi stumps for Slow Horses (deep dives into both coming soon). And your hosts also pay tribute to the late great Andre Braugher. Godspeed, Velvet Thunder!
The smashin success of Shah Rukh Khan's latest gets Naren and Nitin to come back with an episode barely a week after their last one. And finally, an episode of this podcast that passes the Bechdel Test! Divya Rolla and Arya Bharath make their Intermission debuts, and hit the ground running with truckloads of Shah Rukh fan-girling. The gang contextualises Shah Rukh's resurgence, compares Jawaan with his earlier outing Pathaan, (tries to) track the career graph of Atlee and count all the influences in Jawaan, reviews the work of Deepika, Nayantara, VJS and Anirudh in the movie, and discusses the phenomenon of the Bollywood mass movie. But ... Who are we kidding - this episode is all about SRK... Naam to suna hoga ;-)
Catch us on social media:
1. The Intermission: https://twitter.com/yointermission
2. Naren: https://twitter.com/narendodi
3. Nitin: https://twitter.com/knittins
4. Arya: https://www.instagram.com/_aryaa_b/
5. Divya: https://www.instagram.com/divyarollayoga/
Naren and Nitin are back, and to make up for lost time, here is a bonanza episode in which they review four movies from the summer! Like Ethan Hunt taking on everything wrong with the world... Like Greta Gerwig packing way too much commentary into a fun film... Like Christopher Nolan, iMAXing the freckles on Cillian Murphy's face king size... Like Rajnikanth and friends gamely donning increasingly ridiculous wigs - We take the #Barbenheimer hashtag, and #HeimlichManoeuvre it to the point of collapse, to come up with the portmanteau to kill all portmanteaus - #BarbenJailMIer!
Tune in if you have seen one or more of these films! Trust us - laughs and insights galore.
TIMESTAMPS:
Jailer review: 2:50
MI 7 review : 20:13
Oppenheimer review: 37:29
Barbie review: 56:34
Shownotes:
1. Naren on the melding of Tom Cruise and Ethan Hunt: https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/trends/entertainment/mission-impossible-dead-reckoning-part-one-tom-cruise-and-ethan-hunt-are-they-the-same-person-11104281.html
2. Some more Greta Gerwig fanboying from Naren: https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/trends/entertainment/barbie-empathy-and-humanity-through-the-lens-of-greta-gerwig-11007481.html
Follow us on social media:
1. Nitin: https://twitter.com/knittins
2. Naren: https://twitter.com/narendodi
3. The Intermission: https://twitter.com/yointermission
Naren and Nitin are joined by returning cast member Mithun Sundar for a fully loaded, all-guns blazing review of John Wick: Chapter 4, followed by a sprawling retrospective of the entire John Wick saga. The gang discusses threadbare the framework and set-up of the rules binding Wick-verse, and the escalating scope of action choreography through the progress of the series. Also on the pod - a dissection of the origin stories of directors David Leitch and Chad Stahelsky, and a celebration of this seminal moment in cinema where stunt directors are becoming full-fledged film directors. The gang marvels at the evolution of Keanu Reeves, and pays their respects to the wonderful turns from Ian McShane, Lawrence Fishburne and the late great Lance Reddick. Also, a contemplation on the important Matrix v John Wick debate. Plus - what's an Intermission episode without some impromptu quiz questions, and some out-of-the-blue Kamal Haasan connections :-)
We are at @yointermission on Twitter, and at yointermission@gmail.com.
Show notes:
1. The most insane nightclub pop culture movie mashup video. Ever. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QajyNRnyPMs
2. Daniel Bernhardt in S2E5 of Barry: https://www.instagram.com/p/BwyaF7LAqyM/?hl=en
It's a s***show at the f*** factory as The Intermission gears up for the final season of HBO's Succession. The latest episode charts the ups and downs of the Roy clan and the various parasites and leeches that cling on to them for sustenance. Nitin and Dodi talk through the first three seasons of Succession, and list their favourite actors and characters on the show. They debate whether Succession is a drama or a comedy, and contrast Brian Cox's classical acting style with Jeremy Strong's method approach. The hosts also talk about what 'winning' would actually look like for the three, sorry, four :-) Roy siblings and draw parallels to the real-life people and incidents that inspired the show. Finally, they make some predictions for what they hope/expect to see in Succession's final outing (hint: Logan doesn't die).
As everyone winds down from Valentine's Day, The Intermission explores love in all its forms with genre-bending epic Everything Everywhere All At Once. Nitin and Dodi go deep into the multiverse to suss out what the Daniels are trying to say about choices, what-ifs, rocks and Raccacoonies. They trace the Daniels evolution from music videos to features and rave about Ke Huy Quan's fanny pack. Nitin tells us why EEAAO is one of his favourite movies of all time, and Dodi waxes poetic about Wong Kar-Wai's ode to love and loss - In the Mood for Love.
Check out the Daniels' music video for Turn Down For What, Barry's explainer on EEAAO, and the Daniels interview with Rian Johnson.
The Intermission is back, baby! After a leisurely year-end break, Nitin and Dodi return with a breakdown of Golden Globe winner Naatu Naatu from RRR composed by M M Keeravani (or is M M Kareem or Maradagamani?). They then take a trip down memory lane to another seminal dance number from the 90s - Prabhu Deva's Pettai Rap. For the first time, we have a guest on the podcast - Mithun Sundar joins the hosts to give his own spin on Pettai Rap and Prabhu Deva's unconventional stardom.
Join us for a raucous episode filled with lots of laughter. As usual, the rabbit hole goes deep, making connections from Baasha's Mark Anthony to M M Keeravani, and from Prabhu Deva's pants in Urvasi to Jennifer Connelly's pants in Top Gun: Maverick!
And finally, we make our pop culture resolutions for the year.
The Intermission's new look courtesy of Elango, check out his IG http://instagram.com/elodrawz
Strap in for a mega-episode of The Intermission as Nitin and Dodi look back at the year gone by, and rank their Top 5 movies and TV shows of 2022. Dodi plays fast and loose with the inherent limitations of a Top 5 list, and Nitin fills in his watchlist till... 2026. A strategic miscalculation by both Nitin and Dodi leads to the on-air creation of a new category outside the Top 5 and (numerous) Honourable Mentions. And it's only fitting that our final episode of 2022 allows us to visit all of our favourites - Kamal, Rajni, Tarantino, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, Seinfeld, Tom Cruise, and the MCU.
Meanwhile, special guest Barry weighs in on #BadushahiVsBahadurShahZaffar
Happy New Year & See you at the Movies!
PS. It's a marathon episode, but it's still shorter than most movies released this year :-)
Given our hosts have strong Chennai connections, it's a surprise that it took us this long to do an episode on Rajnikanth, but here we are! The Superstar turns 72 on Dec 12, and The Intermission dives deeeeep into the Rajniverse, celebrating the legend in style. This episode touches upon multiple facets of the Rajni story - the humble origins, the early years, the storied rivalry and friendship with Kamal Haasan, the rise to superstardom, the Bollywood innings, and the later years. Nitin and Dodi pay tribute by revisiting Baasha, the 1995 blockbuster that captures the essence of Rajni perfectly. Our hosts take a Bunk and McNulty style forensic approach to Baasha, Dodi unveils yet another moniker, and Nitin can't tell the difference between a boy and a girl.
"Aandavan... Subscribers-a sodhippaan, aana kai vida maattan..." So please hit the subscribe button and leave us a rating :)
Links
The Black Panther lives!
Returning director Ryan Coogler and the Marvel machinery have to find a way to take the story of Wakanda forward after the sudden death of their T'Challa, Chadwick Boseman. It's an impossible task, but they do it with grace and respect; honouring and celebrating Boseman's life.
Nitin and Dodi talk the Black Panther's arc from his introduction in Captain America: Civil War to Wakanda Forever. Dodi unveils his new moniker and speculates wildly about the original script of Wakanda Forever (and offers a rewrite of the first movie's script as well) while Nitin goes deeeeeep into the practice of funerals doubling as celebrations of life across cultures and rants about the current state of the MCU. Along the way, they rave about the one true Queen Angela Bassett's arms (who needs a Black Panther when you have Bassett) and compare Ramonda to Sivagami Devi (iykyk). Meanwhile, the censors in India (and Dubai!) play spoilsport as usual. Of course, no episode is complete without the usual random call outs: this time to Kamal Haasan, Breaking Bad, The Leftovers, MCC rules of cricket (!) and more!
It's extremely tough to make a movie about African-American women, and it's extremely tough to make an action movie around women. Gina Prince-Bythewood manages these incredible feats with The Woman King, which is a darned good movie, with a whole new grammar to action choreography, and also serves as a compelling footnote in the legacy of Afro-futurism. Dodi and Nitin rabbit-hole deep into the beats of the African-American experience as depicted in the movie, while making stops at Lovecraft Country, Watchmen and a number of other cul de sacs. Somewhere along the line, they also talk about F.R.I.E.N.D.S, Veep, Petta and Pa Ranjith's filmography, and meditate on the process of appreciating art that tells a good story, even if the craft might be somewhat off the mark. We have added links to a bunch of content in our show notes, do check them out to enrich your experience of this podcast.
If you like us, please tell your friends about us, and leave us a rating to help us get discovered by more folks. We'd love to hear your feedback at:
Intermission: https://twitter.com/YoIntermission
Naren: https://twitter.com/narendodi
Nitin: https://twitter.com/knittins
Show notes:
1. "Why is there no Black Superhero" - the question that spurred GPB: https://www.indiewire.com/2022/09/the-woman-king-gina-prince-bythewood-interview-1234762966/
2. The Tulsa Race Massacre: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsa_race_massacre
3. In a standout episode, Watchmen blackwashes history: https://slate.com/culture/2019/11/watchmen-hooded-justice-this-extraordinary-being-black-history.html
4. Lovecraft Country's "I Am" episode recap: https://www.vulture.com/article/lovecraft-country-season-1-episode-7-recap-i-am.html
5. Scott Galloway in conversation with Cindy Gallop - Sex, porn and knowing the difference: https://podcasts.apple.com/dk/podcast/sex-porn-and-knowing-the-difference-with-cindy-gallop/id1498802610?i=1000575745417
Is the Bollywood boycott down to the quality of movies? Or is it a coordinated agenda against a particular type of creativity and creator? Following Samanth Subramanian's deeply reported New Yorker piece on the subject, Dodi and Nitin go deep into the issue, and what it means for freedom of expression, and more importantly, what it says about the power of a weaponised internet. And despite the seriousness of the topic, there is enough time for pop culture sidebars, jokes, a few legendary movie lines and musical interludes.
We are super thrilled to be putting this podcast out, and are grateful for the audience we have. If you like us, please tell your friends about us, and leave us a rating. And we'd love to hear your feedback at:
Intermission: https://twitter.com/YoIntermission
Naren: https://twitter.com/narendodi
Nitin: https://twitter.com/knittins
Links:
1. When the Hindu Right came for Bollywood - https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/10/17/when-the-hindu-right-came-for-bollywood
2. Top Bollywood grossers, 2001 - https://www.imdb.com/list/ls093536723/
3. "Kachra Khelega!" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9wlb35BL0Q
4. When Kamal Haasan was detained at the Toronto airport - https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/kamal-hassan-grilled-in-toronto-airport/articleshow/8506178.cms?from=mdr
This episode features a compare-and-contrast between the Hindi and Tamil versions of Pushkar-Gayatri's Vikram Vedha, and a commentary on mass moments and stylised super slow-mos in Indian movies - do they help or hinder? Also, a discussion on Vijay Sethupathi's career trajectory in the time that has elapsed between the two versions of the movie, and the surfeit of multi-starrers in Tamil cinema. Plus, a deep-dive into Ponniyin Selvan - 1, and its place in the Mani Ratnam filmography, and a yearning for a full-length Ponniyin Selvi, largely centred around the women who dazzle in PS1 - Aishwarya Rai and Trisha Krishnan.
Please share The Intermission with your friends, and if you like what you heard, please leave us a rating on Apple and/or Spotify. And we'd love to hear your feedback at:
Intermission: https://twitter.com/YoIntermission
Naren: https://twitter.com/narendodi
Nitin: https://twitter.com/knittins
Links:
1. Vedha Mass Intro X Se7en: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_6KBq8hxtk
2. Viswaroopam Action Replay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEKJEOko93I
3. The Ren and Stimpy Show: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ren_%26_Stimpy_Show
4. Bombay's strange ending: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhDnk8ZWlpE
5. Ms. Chennai Vs. Ms. World: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyqFcFAfN-4