Best of 2025! Plus, Cartoonist Mimi Pond!

Summary

Podcast Summary: Dear Movies, I Love You

Episode: "Best of 2025! Plus, Cartoonist Mimi Pond!"

Hosts: Millie De Chirico & Casey O'Brien

Guest: Mimi Pond

Release Date: December 9, 2025

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Episode Overview

This end-of-year episode of Dear Movies, I Love You is both a celebration and a reflection: the hosts look back on their first year of podcasting, recap their personal and cinematic journeys through 2025, and share their favorite (and not-so-favorite) films of the year. The discussion is candid, deeply enthusiastic, and, as always, rooted in genuine affection for cinema as a formative relationship. The episode also features an in-depth interview with cartoonist and graphic novelist Mimi Pond, focusing on her new book about the Mitford sisters and her admiration for British cinema between the World Wars.

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Key Sections & Highlights

1. Reflections on a Year of Podcasting and Personal Growth

• Podcast Evolution & Context

  • The hosts reflect on launching the podcast in 2025 amid political anxiety and personal upheaval.
  • Millie: "We had to settle in, get our bearings. But I feel like over the course of the past 12 months, we've done that, and I feel like we're in a good spot." [03:06]
  • Both hosts share personal milestones: new jobs, finishing grad school, buying a house (Millie), starting and nearly completing a film project (Casey).

• The Reality of 'Best Of' Lists

  • Both hosts discuss the daunting number of films released annually, and the impossibility of seeing everything.
  • Millie: "These days, your mailbox gets flooded with screeners, and there is simply too much to watch." [07:44]
  • Casey: "I don't think I can be the kind of person who sees every new movie and also the kind of person who's, you know, trying to watch quality movies from the past as well." [09:19]

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2. Film Gripe: The Meaninglessness of 5-Star Reviews on Letterboxd

[14:40–24:52]

• Letterboxd Etiquette Debate
  • Casey is annoyed by Letterboxd users who give every film 5 stars, ruining the calibration of the app for meaningful discovery.
  • Casey: "It pisses me off. It kind of ruins that aspect... I don't know actually how he thought about or how it's all men, I will say..." [16:07–17:00]
  • Millie prefers not to rate everything, out of reluctance to stake a public opinion and partly out of self-protection, as she works in the film world.
  • Millie: “Sometimes you have friends in movies that you don’t like, and you’re like, fuck, I ain't rating that.” [17:52]
  • They share their “funny” reviews as a way of engaging with movies and resisting taking it all too seriously.
  • Casey’s Eyes Wide Shut review: “I watched this movie for the first time before I'd had sex and I thought it was okay, but now I've had a bunch of sex and I'm married and I have to say, this is a perfect film.” [22:30]

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3. Recent Film Watches: Personal Diaries

[25:00–38:35]

• Millie’s Recent Watches:

  1. The Smashing Machine (2025)
     • Directed by Benny Safdie.
     • Millie: “I really wanted The Rock to pull off that sensitivo, gentle giant, but he couldn’t quite get there.” [28:30]
     • Both discuss whether Dave Bautista might have made the role more convincing.
  2. Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982)
     • A Robert Altman film with an ensemble female cast—"feels like a play in one big room."
  3. All That Heaven Allows (1955)
     • Admired for its seasonal vibe and for Rock Hudson’s “interdimensionally hot” presence.
     • Casey’s review: “His sexiness could bend time.” [34:04]

• Casey’s Recent Watches:

  1. The Last Seduction (1994)
     • Noir comedy, "more of a black comedy" than straight noir.
  2. Decalogue II (1989)
     • Short Kieślowski film about moral dilemma and relationships.
     • "It’s so easy though. The movies are an hour." [38:32]

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4. Best of 2025 – Favorite First-Time Watches

[41:13–47:09]

Millie’s Favorites:

• Bona (1980, Lino Brocka): A Filipino melodrama.
• EIS (2024): "The movie that haunted us… we stalked you for an entire calendar year.” [43:00]
• Night of the Juggler (1980): "The most pleasurable movie in theater experience I had this year." [43:37]

Casey’s Favorites:

• Truly Madly Deeply (1990): “Such a beautiful, funny, spooky movie.”
• Thelma (2024): “June Squibb, Richard Roundtree... just a treat, highly recommend it.” [45:21]
• You Hurt My Feelings (2023):
  • Casey: “It just sort of scratched something in my brain about creative life and how people in your life perceive your work.” [45:56]
  • Both hosts explore the deep sensitivity artists feel to criticism from loved ones.

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5. Top Three Films of 2025

[49:26–61:28]

Shared Picks:

• Pee Wee as Himself (Dir. Matt Wolf, HBO Max)
  • Casey: “I think about Paul Reubens constantly, and I think about how I want to be viewed as an artist.” [50:33]
  • Millie: “It’s about the sacrifices people make—sometimes, to hide themselves for success. You’re lucky if you can be completely who you are and also be appreciated.” [52:13]
• One Battle After Another (Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)
  • Casey: “This has a lot of weight to it. Unmatched filmgoing experience in 2025 for me.” [55:06]
  • Millie: “It was triggering as shit… really hit hard for me considering everything that's happened this year.” [55:29]

Casey's Unique Pick:

• 28 Years Later: “A delightful, different, weird, and scary sequel… had such a blast seeing it in the theater.” [58:31]

Millie’s Unique Pick:

• Friendship: “Talk about a horror movie. Damn, this movie. It really tapped into this secret world of straight guys who need friends.” [59:29]
• Discussion about societal pressure on male friendships and the impact of patriarchy.

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6. Honorable Mentions

[61:34–65:58]

• Weapons & Black Bag (Dir. Soderbergh) – tightly written, exciting spy film with Michael Fassbender.
• K-Pop Demon Hunters: Not necessarily a masterpiece, but a cultural juggernaut: "It was probably the hugest movie that came out this year." [62:45]
• Millie discusses her evolving relationship to pop culture trends, including K-pop fandom.

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7. 2025: Personal Highs and Lows

[66:12–74:51]

• Both hosts candidly share personal triumphs and struggles.
  • Millie: Completing grad school, buying a house as a single woman, surviving the chaos of homeownership and work stress.
  • Casey: Shooting his first feature (“Bathroom Humor”), launching the podcast, learning piano, and raising his baby daughter Patience.
• Honest admissions about stress, mental health, exercise, reading habits, and letting go of perfectionism.

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8. The "Goon Squad" Conversation

[72:25–75:16]

• Both are both shocked and fascinated by the Harper’s article on "gooning."
• Millie: "I was rocked in a way that I didn't think was possible. Like, I was like, certainly I've... seen a lot of fucked up shit... No, I was... This is like, impossible. No, I was, it felt like I was reading like gonzo journalism from the 80s..." [72:57]

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9. Predictions for 2026

[75:16–81:47]

• Casey: Predicts the decline of "elevated horror" and A24-style movies; calls for a return to “rough around the edges” filmmaking.
• Millie: Predicts Hollywood will cast a bland star in a biopic of a countercultural figure (jokes: “Sydney Sweeney as Frida Kahlo”); expects further politicization and more actors on Ozempic.
• Both lament the “sameness” brought on by AI and cultural smoothing, and discuss Gen Z's return to analog/DIY culture as a rebellion.

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10. My Area of Expertise with Mimi Pond

[84:05–108:10]

Mimi Pond’s Background

• Millie introduces Mimi as a “cartoonist, comic book artist, illustrator, writer, humorist… worked on everything you’ve ever loved,” including The Simpsons and Pee Wee’s Playhouse.

Mimi’s New Book: "Do Admit: The Mitford Sisters and Me"

• Focus: Six British sisters who influenced everything from "Hitler to the Black Panthers."
• Intriguing family biography; “well researched... a fantastic historical biography.” [90:35]

Mimi’s Area of Film Expertise: British Films (WWI – Post WWII)

• Admits to being more of an enthusiast than an academic expert: “I just know what I like.” [91:45]
• Favorite films/directors:
  • The Third Man (1949, dir. Carol Reed): “It’s fabulously noir… about how you grow up, have friends you admire, then realize they’re actually horrible people.” [92:09]
  • Shadow of a Doubt (Hitchcock): “Uncle Charlie comes to visit... his niece is not quite convinced. God, what a great movie.” [95:41]
  • Powell & Pressburger / The Archers:
    • Standouts: I Know Where I'm Going ("career gal of the 1940s gets stuck on her way to a Scottish island and changes her outlook on life") [97:33], Black Narcissus (“the original horny nun movie”), The Red Shoes, and A Matter of Life and Death.
• Also praises Billy Wilder’s The Apartment for its visual, economic storytelling: “Tells you everything you need to know without hardly any dialogue.” [104:29]
• On Visual Storytelling in Graphic Novels: “Filmmaking is the ultimate visual storytelling. Duh... I think more cartoonists should take note of filmmaking and visual storytelling, because it’s everything.” [104:21]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Movies are your boyfriend?”
  – Casey [11:06]
  “Yeah, I do cozy up to movies in between human boyfriends.”
  – Millie [12:10]
• “I think about Paul Reubens constantly, and I think about how I want to be viewed as an artist.”
  – Casey, on ‘Pee Wee as Himself’ [50:33]
• “You're lucky if you're able to be completely who you are and be successful and be appreciated and loved. That's a very hard thing to do.”
  – Millie, on Matt Wolf's documentary [52:13]
• “I want to be seen a certain way. And... that's a very basic human thing that I think is explored in this movie.”
  – Casey, on identity in ‘Pee Wee as Himself’ [51:42]
• “Rock Hudson is interdimensionally hot in this movie. His sexiness could bend time.”
  – Casey, Letterboxd review for ‘All That Heaven Allows’ [34:04]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [03:06] Reflecting on the podcast's origins and the year's difficulties
• [09:19] The impossibility of seeing all new and old quality movies
• [14:40–24:52] Letterboxd rant: 5-star culture and review philosophy
• [25:00–38:35] Recent watches and film diary
• [41:13–47:09] Best First-Time Watches of the Year
• [49:26–61:28] Top Three Films of 2025 discussion
• [62:45] Honorable mentions and K-pop pop culture shifts
• [66:12–74:51] Personal successes and failures of 2025
• [75:16–81:47] Film predictions for 2026 and the analog revival
• [84:05–108:10] Interview with Mimi Pond (Mitford sisters, British post-war film, visual storytelling)

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Conclusion

The episode closes with gratitude between the hosts, a warm sense of accomplishment for having made it through a turbulent year, and a preview of next week’s Christmas-themed episode with Alonzo Duralde. The blend of personal candor and film love makes the episode rewarding for both the hardcore and the casual film fan alike.

Follow @dearmoviesiloveyou for updates and community film nerd content!

Transcript

[Millie de Chirico]

This is exactly right.

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[Matt Rogers]

This is Matt Rogers from Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang.

[Bowen Yang]

This is Bowen Yang from Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang.

[Matt Rogers]

Hey, Bowen. It's gift season.

[Bowen Yang]

Ugh. Stressing me out. Why are the people I love so hard to shop for?

[Matt Rogers]

Probably because they only make boring gift guides that are totally uninspired. Except for the guide we made in.

[Bowen Yang]

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[Matt Rogers]

It's giving gifts with categories like Best Gifts for the mom whose idea of a sensible walking shoe is a stiletto.

[Bowen Yang]

Or Best Gifts for me that were so thoughtful I really shouldn't have.

[Matt Rogers]

Check out the guide on Marshalls.com and.

[Bowen Yang]

Gift the good stuff at Marshalls.

[Millie de Chirico]

Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap.

[Mimi Pond]

You're almost at the finish line.

[Millie de Chirico]

But first.

Shining bright.

[Casey O'Brien]

There, the last one.

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Enjoy a Coca Cola for a pause that refreshes.

[Millie de Chirico]

Well, well, Casey o'. Brien. Here we sit by the hearth of the fire at the end of the.

[Casey O'Brien]

Year, warming our toes, drinking our mulled wine.

[Millie de Chirico]

Ew.

[Mimi Pond]

You like mulled wine?

[Casey O'Brien]

I like mulled wine. I think it's good.

Cozy. But yes, we're sitting here next to the crackle of the fire, just thinking about thinking back on 2025 and what a year it was.

[Millie de Chirico]

This is the first year of our podcast, by the way. Dear Movies.

[Casey O'Brien]

It really is.

[Millie de Chirico]

And it's crazy that we've gotten through our first year.

I think we could confidently say when we started, it was a little bit bumpy for several reasons, by the way. Not just because we were a new podcast, we were coming from an older podcast that we had done together, but that we were in a new era politically, which was very much like an old era, but just got worse.

[Mimi Pond]

Yeah.

[Millie de Chirico]

And I think we were all bracing ourselves for that. And that has certainly happened, that it has certainly gotten worse. But yes, we were all in these, like, I don't know, we were in these conditions.

To start a podcast brand new, and, you know, we had to, like, settle in, get our bearings. But I feel like over the course of the past 12 months, we've done that, and I feel like we're in a good spot.

[Casey O'Brien]

What do you think I think so too. I think we've definitely settled into our roles really well. Yeah, I mean, when we launched the podcast, there was a lot going on in the world that was horrifying. Personally, things were challenging for me. I was about to film a movie, which I did at the very beginning of this podcast during the launch. And so I was under an immense amount of stress. Just constant, just horrible diarrhea and I. All that, my stomach issues have definitely settled down as the podcast and the year has gone on. So that's a blessing. Yeah, I think.

[Millie de Chirico]

Yeah, I think for me too. I started a new job this year. I finished grad school this year. I bought my first home this year.

[Casey O'Brien]

What a year for you, Millie.

[Millie de Chirico]

I know. I've been a fucking mess. Let's get serious. Yeah, so I, you know, I'm just thankful though that we're here.

[Casey O'Brien]

We are here. And this episode, you know, it's gonna be a best of 2025 and maybe some worst of 2025, but it's through the lens of Casey and Millie, you know, our movie journey and personal journey through this year. A reflection. So you're gonna get it all this episode.

[Millie de Chirico]

You certainly are. We're going to pick some of our fave movies from this year, talk about some of our, you know, first time watches. Because by the way, there is a lot of movies that we watch separately that we had never seen before that are older and you know, I don't. I like to throw in those. I always think it's really interesting when people list their favorite first time watches every year because I just think it, I don't know, just cool to see that people's lists and then probably gonna, I don't know, talk a little bit about what 2026 is gonna bring both cinematically and personally.

[Casey O'Brien]

Wow. So much to discuss. We also have the wonderful cartoonist, artist, graphic novelist, writer Mimi Pond on and she's gonna be talking about her area of expertise, which is British films that were made and set between World War I and World War II. So, you know, we're gonna hit some of those Powell and Press burger films.

[Millie de Chirico]

Yes, among others.

[Casey O'Brien]

So it's a great conversation and she's so cool. But we got so much going on in this episode.

[Millie de Chirico]

We do. So please, please, please stay tuned. You're listening to Dear Movies, I love you. Dear Movies, I love you. And I've got to know if.

Me to yes or no. Check the box below.

Hello everybody. You are listening to Dear Movies, I Love youe. This is a podcast for those who are In a relationship with the cinema. My name is Millie de Chirico.

[Casey O'Brien]

My name is Casey o'. Brien.

[Millie de Chirico]

And yes, like we alluded to in the intro, we are doing our Best of the Year episode.

[Casey O'Brien]

This episode, like we teased in the intro. It is kind of a fun. It's also like a perfect, you know, we launched at the beginning of the year, so it is sort of a perfect time for us to think about the first year of the podcast. It's amazing.

[Millie de Chirico]

That's right.

[Casey O'Brien]

It all works very well together.

[Millie de Chirico]

That's right. I don't know if you feel this or not, as somebody who works in the film business and has a film podcast. Right. I'm a part of the Atlanta Film Critics Circle here in Atlanta. And so I get screeners now, which I didn't get for a very long time, even though I worked at TCM for 20 years. I was not on the screener train and my boss was, but none of us and the other programmers were. And. But when I lived in la, I had friends who obviously worked for the guilds, you know, like Writers Guild, Directors Guild, SAG or whatever. And they were always get screeners. And I was always like, those fuckers. And there's screeners. It was like a thing, you know, to have to have them.

[Casey O'Brien]

It's an elite. It's a little bit of a. Like, I don't know what you'd call it, you know. You know, you're a little bit higher regarded, a little bit higher when you can get on that screener train.

[Millie de Chirico]

Well, I mean, I will say this, though. Now that I'm in the upper echelon of people, of human beings that I get film screeners there, they. It tends to happen. They just dump them all onto you at once because they're obviously doing it before the Oscars. So it typically tends to start right about now. So, like, if you, you know, and a lot of movies come out around the holidays, obviously, but it is that big, like, Oscars push. So all of a sudden your inbox or your mailbox, depending on how you get them, you're just inundated with films and you're just like, oh, my fucking God, like, I don't have time to watch all these movies before February or whatever the Oscars are. I mean, it's crazy how many movies you get. And so when I was thinking about my best of 25 list, I was like trying, trying so hard to go back to certain things that I saw this year or, like, watch things that had come out this year. And it was like impossible. I'm just like, there was just simply too many movies.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah, there are.

[Millie de Chirico]

And when you think about trying to come up with like your best of list, you know, I don't know, you're always like, at least I am. I'm always cognizant of just how many movies there are like. And all platforms, all countries, documentaries, short films, everything. It's just nutty.

[Casey O'Brien]

I was thinking about that with this episode specifically that to be. There are people I know that like see everything that is out.

[Millie de Chirico]

Yes.

[Casey O'Brien]

You know, and then there are people who I would put us in this category, I would say are like film scholars. We're trying to see all the quality movies across all of time, kind of. And I don't think I can do both at the same time. I don't think I can be the kind of person who sees every new movie and also the kind of person who's like, you know, trying to watch quality movies from the past as well. I just don't have time to do that. Maybe at some point in my life I had time to do that, but I cannot hold both of those together at the same time.

[Millie de Chirico]

If you have a full time job that isn't reviewing movies, then you can't. Yeah, I'm just gonna throw that out there because I've tried it and it's not, it's not, it's not happening. If you have, like I said, a full time job, that is something that you could be in film like, but it's not solely dedicated to reviewing films. Like if you aren't the, if you aren't like Justin Chang or you know, Richard Brody or somebody, you know, like, if you're not Alonzo De ok or somebody who's like a full time reviewer, like then you really don't have time to see everything and everything. Because on top of, like you said, on top of the thing about watching new movies is that sometimes you have to go back and watch older movies because they're being referenced or it's just at research hole that you're in, you know. But now that I have a full time job, I just can't, you know, hit it as hard. And I do. I mean I, and I don't have a family. I have no excuse. I have no family, no kids, no husband. So I do have more time than you. But I, even in spite of that, I. It's really hard to hit every single film.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah. And I mean, would you say that movies are your boyfriend?

[Millie de Chirico]

Yeah, I feel like.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Millie de Chirico]

I mean it is probably that and.

[Casey O'Brien]

It has an original possible title for this podcast.

[Millie de Chirico]

That is right. Oh, that's it.

[Casey O'Brien]

Movies Are My Boyfriend.

[Millie de Chirico]

That's a good little fact. Let's. I'm gonna say it. The original title we were trying to go for were Movies Are My Boyfriend.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Millie de Chirico]

And then I found out, or somebody found out, that one of my friends has already taken that name for their creative project. And I didn't even realize it. And I was like, oh, well, I guess we can't use that because one of my friends is using that for something.

[Casey O'Brien]

Has their active. Yeah. Film project.

[Millie de Chirico]

Yeah. So. But it was true. I mean, I feel like. I mean, you were down to call it Movies Are My Boyfriend.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah. I loved it.

[Millie de Chirico]

Yeah. And I. I felt it. I felt that it was like. I still do, actually. Although I do. I'm not pushing out a possibility of having a human boyfriend ever.

[Casey O'Brien]

Okay.

[Millie de Chirico]

I do cozy up to movies in between human boyfriends.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yes.

[Mimi Pond]

If you know what I'm saying.

[Casey O'Brien]

Absolutely.

[Millie de Chirico]

Okay.

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[Matt Rogers]

This is Matt Rogers from Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang.

[Bowen Yang]

This is Bowen Yang from Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang.

[Matt Rogers]

Hey, Bowen, it's gift season.

[Casey O'Brien]

Ugh.

[Bowen Yang]

Stressing me out. Why are all the people I love so hard to shop for like me?

[Casey O'Brien]

Exactly, honey.

[Matt Rogers]

I'm easy.

[Bowen Yang]

But you're right.

[Matt Rogers]

Holiday gifting is stressful.

[Bowen Yang]

And all the gift guides out there are boring and uninspired.

[Matt Rogers]

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[Bowen Yang]

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[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

Cause if I see one more for the dad who likes golf list, I'm out.

[Millie de Chirico]

Right.

[Matt Rogers]

How about something for the people who actually surprise you with categories?

[Bowen Yang]

Like best gifts for the mom whose idea of a sensible walking shoe is a stiletto.

[Millie de Chirico]

Psst.

[Bowen Yang]

She wants a pair of stilettos.

[Matt Rogers]

Or best gifts for me that were so thoughtful, I really shouldn't have.

[Bowen Yang]

Dying to see what those are.

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And you won't believe their prices.

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Just wait till you see what else is in there. It's basically a one stop shop for everyone.

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You know, I started bookmarking half the list for myself honestly.

[Bowen Yang]

This is the guy for the 2025 holiday gifting season.

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[Casey O'Brien]

Millie. I have a film gripe. Can I present this to you?

[Millie de Chirico]

Is it me? Am I your film gripe?

[Casey O'Brien]

Millie de Chirico is an annoying person. No, I never.

Never. I would never. You would never be my film grape. Maybe. I don't know if you might not have any opinion about this so. But I just want to throw it out there because it bothers me and it has to do with letterboxd.

So I'm a pretty. I use letterboxd a lot and I log every film I watch and I like to write a little review and I rate movies on there. I do give it a star rating. Now some people on letterboxd don't like to give star ratings to which I say, do you? That's fine.

[Millie de Chirico]

That's me.

[Casey O'Brien]

Okay. Yeah, that's fine. Some people write no reviews whatsoever. That's fine. They just wanna log the movies they're seeing. I totally think that's a fair way to use letterboxd. Okay. But I follow or I should say I followed several accounts. I would say close to five, where every movie.

Or I would say most, if they are rating it, they give it five stars and nothing else. It's almost like they give it five stars or zero stars.

[Millie de Chirico]

I see.

[Casey O'Brien]

And this pisses me off. And I had to unfollow some people.

[Millie de Chirico]

Wow, you were that juiced on your anger for this?

[Casey O'Brien]

Because I use letterboxd a lot to be like. Like for example, I saw Grosse point blank. Okay. And I'm like, oh, what did my friends or the people I follow, what did they think of this movie?

And I look and I see three and a half stars, four stars, five stars sometimes. But if these people are always giving Five stars to everything. It kind of ruins that aspect of the app for me. I don't know actually how he thought about or how it's all men, I will say how he thought about this. And it just kind of like. I just feel like it goes against.

What the app is. It like is ruining the calibration.

[Millie de Chirico]

It's ruining the calibration.

[Casey O'Brien]

It's ruining the calibration.

[Millie de Chirico]

The star system. No, I agree.

[Casey O'Brien]

And it pisses me off. And I'm pissed.

[Millie de Chirico]

Okay.

I don't know if I've talked about this before.

But.

My way of doing the stars is so deeply flawed and fucked up anyway because I don't do it all the time. Like you said, that's fine. Part of that is because I don't want to go on record as to having an opinion on certain things. And I think it's because I just. I'm out here, I'm outside, basically, is what I'm saying. I'm outside and I do.

[Casey O'Brien]

I worry about that. Having a film podcast and being a filmmaker. Yeah, I do. I'm concerned about the things I've done.

[Millie de Chirico]

Right.

[Casey O'Brien]

But.

[Millie de Chirico]

Well. And I. It's like, I don't know, sometimes it's like you've got friends that are in movies that you don't like and you're like, fuck, I ain't rating that. Like, I don't want to piss these people off or whatever. You just like, don't care enough to want to rate it. But then when I do rate something.

I typically do a thing where I don't ever really use 5 stars unless it's for something completely incredible and obvious, like Showgirls or Phantom Thread. For the most part. If I really like a movie, I'm typically going about four or four and a half. Five stars is, I feel like a very obvious play. Whereas I feel like if you really want to know a movie that I actually liked, liked, it's about four or four and a half. That's how. That's how I do.

[Casey O'Brien]

My five stars is kind of an all timer.

[Millie de Chirico]

Five stars is like, oh, I love, you know, the cutting edge. And everybody needs to know that MacGruber gets five stars. But, you know, does the Treasure of the Sierra Madre? No, it's getting four and a half or whatever. You know, it's like, that's the thing is that. But that's my own deeply fucked up way of doing things.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Millie de Chirico]

So what you're saying is that basically people are only using the star system when they rate something 5 stars, which I Feel is so dumb. And I'm with you. I think it ruins the calibration of the star system, but it's also just like, well, okay, so what's your real opinion about everything then?

[Casey O'Brien]

Not just that, but they're. They're giving five stars if they liked it. It's five stars if they liked it and zero stars if they hated it.

[Millie de Chirico]

So there's no nuance to the opinion.

[Casey O'Brien]

It's more like 80% five stars to 20%, no stars whatsoever. And it's like it's, it fucks up the calibration.

[Millie de Chirico]

But wait a minute. So what if they're logging something that they don't like?

[Mimi Pond]

It's.

[Casey O'Brien]

Then that's zero. But like, these people that I follow, it seems like they're, you know, and I'm kind of this person too. It's hard for me to dislike a movie. I rarely give, and this is a truthful review. I rarely give less than three stars because I just like, I love movies. And even if they're. I can see why they're not good, I usually like them. But these. And so I think these people have the same sort of mindset. But it's like if I were to give a movie three stars and in their mind, the equivalent of how they liked a movie was maybe a three star quality movie, they'll give it five stars instead.

[Millie de Chirico]

It's crazy. Also, don't even get me started on the hearts. I know people.

[Casey O'Brien]

I don't know how to incorporate that.

[Millie de Chirico]

Me neither. And I. There are people that I know that don't rate anything, and then they only heart things that they liked.

[Casey O'Brien]

I'm kind of okay with that, but I don't. I think it's too tricky. It's like, what it seems like, isn't five stars the equivalent to a heart?

[Millie de Chirico]

Oh, I know. It's like sometimes you're saying, saying five star rating, no heart, you're like, what does that mean? What does the heart. What does a heart mean? Listen, I feel like there's probably a whole other podcast to be done, just about the taxonomy and the goings on and the rituals of letterboxd. For sure.

[Casey O'Brien]

Well, I know my friend Luc.

She doesn't like it when people do funny little reviews. She wants people to do serious reviews.

[Millie de Chirico]

I can't stand by that whatsoever. Lucy.

[Casey O'Brien]

I can't really either, but I understand why, like Ly's opinion. And I, I like that there are opinions about the proper way to use letterbox.

[Millie de Chirico]

Yeah, I mean, for example, she would hate this. She would absolutely Hate this, but the.

The last review I left on letterboxd that has 20 likes as of today.

Was for the movie Zodiac from 2007, which we watched for the podcast. And all I wrote was no punctuation. By the way, I concur that an Aqua Velva looks insane but tastes delicious. That's important. That's pertinent to the movie. That's my review. No, I don't put a period. It's my observation now, that could be construed as being funny or, like, not serious. But when I look back at that, I'm like, I know exactly where I was in that movie. I know I can. I can pinpoint the vibe immediately, which is important.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Millie de Chirico]

For a diary to be like, oh, here's my diary of shit that I watched this year. Oh, man, I remember that Aqua Velvet. Real, real good, you know?

[Casey O'Brien]

See, this is my most. Can I read you my most liked review on letterboxd?

[Millie de Chirico]

Yes, yes, yes, go ahead.

[Casey O'Brien]

It's from 2021. It's Eyes Wide Shut. Movie I love. Gave five stars. And oddly, which I never do, I also liked it, so I gave it a five stars and a like. But this is my review. I watched this movie for the first time before I'd had sex and I thought it was okay, but now I've had a bunch of sex and I'm married and I have to say, this is a perfect film.

[Mimi Pond]

So.

[Casey O'Brien]

And that got a lot of. And that's a quippy little funny review, you know?

[Mimi Pond]

You want to know my. My.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yes, I do.

[Millie de Chirico]

Most popular. It just. It just took the place of my long time. Most popular review for the Way We Were. My most popular review was for the movie A complete unknown from 2024. And again, no punctuation. My review is feeling absolutely robbed that the history books never told me. Johnny Cash offered Bob Dylan some Bugles outside of the Newport Folk Festival.

[Casey O'Brien]

Does that happen in that movie?

[Millie de Chirico]

It's fucking insane. I was like.

There'S like a scene where.

Johnny Cash is hanging out outside of a motel and he like, pull, you know, goes into his convertible and pulls out a box of Bugles corn chips and it's like, hey, you want some?

[Casey O'Brien]

And I'm shocked that Bugles were created before 1987, let me tell you.

[Millie de Chirico]

I actually did an Instagram. Some kind of like, Instagram story about it because I was shocked. I was like, is. Why would you put that in a biopic? Like, I don't understand, like, why that was that a fact that happened?

Was Johnny Cash into Bugles? And we didn't know this.

[Casey O'Brien]

Like, Big Bugle has its fingerprints all over this movie.

[Millie de Chirico]

I was like, what a detail to put in a biopic. So I wrote that. That. That review was my most popular. So I know. Like, I. I can't not do these types of reviews, Lucy.

[Mimi Pond]

I have to.

[Casey O'Brien]

Of course, that's. That's. That's your. Let's. That's how you engage in a loving fashion with film. I get it.

[Millie de Chirico]

Exactly.

[Casey O'Brien]

I'm the same way. So anyways.

[Millie de Chirico]

Yeah, well, that's.

[Casey O'Brien]

We gotta move on to our film.

[Millie de Chirico]

Film gripe accepted.

[Casey O'Brien]

Thank you. Thank you for accepting, stamping it, approving it.

[Millie de Chirico]

Yes.

[Casey O'Brien]

We gotta move on to our film diary. Let's open that sucker up.

[Millie de Chirico]

This has been a stinky diary all year.

[Casey O'Brien]

It's been a dinky diary.

[Millie de Chirico]

It's been a.

[Casey O'Brien]

It's funny. Even though I had a film podcast this year, I feel like I was. I didn't watch enough movies. I could have done a better job. I feel like I failed our listeners. I failed myself. I failed Martin Scorsese. I just feel like. I don't know.

[Millie de Chirico]

You know what's interesting about the film diary, though, is that it gives me sort of a baseline tempo for your life.

Because it's like, oh, there are times where you're like, you absolutely have zero movies watched, and then you watched eight movies, like, during Halloween. I'm like, okay, yeah. That's what happens is that around October, Casey gets the itch and he starts. I get the juice, losing his goddamn mind on movies. So, you know, it's good.

[Casey O'Brien]

Millie, what'd you watch?

[Millie de Chirico]

Okay, I watched three films.

[Casey O'Brien]

Wow. Pretty good.

[Millie de Chirico]

Pretty good. I don't know how I did that, considering how crazy things have been at the new house. So I just managed, though, number one, I saw 2025's the Smashing Machine.

[Casey O'Brien]

Wow. And I mean, spoiler alert. Did that make your top three best movies of the year?

[Millie de Chirico]

Absolutely not.

[Casey O'Brien]

What'd you think? God help me. For some reason, I root for the Rock. And I don't know why I want him to succeed. What's wrong with me?

[Millie de Chirico]

No, it makes sense. I mean.

He'S kind of irresistible. Where is he from? Like, where is he from? He's kind of like my type, south side, Asiany type, isn't he? Is he from, like, the Philippines, or is he, like.

[Casey O'Brien]

He's Samoan?

[Millie de Chirico]

Samoan, that's right. Okay, that's close.

So for that reason, I'm. I'm kind of down. Although I do think that, like, oh, my God. I was Thinking about this in terms of. Okay, let me just back up and say this before I get into this. Okay. This movie is interesting because it is like. Is this like the first movie that the one of the Savd's directed post breakup or something?

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah. So we have the Smashing Machine that is directed by Benny Safdie. And then we have Marty supreme with Timothee Chalamet coming out soon, which is directed by the other Safdie, what's his name? Josh. Josh, yeah, Josh Safdie. So. Well, they're kind of pitted against each other a little bit.

[Millie de Chirico]

Well. And like Benny did the Nathan Fielder show with Emma Stone or whatever. Yes. But this was like, wasn't this the. The Smashing Machine was the first feature length film that he did without his brother?

[Casey O'Brien]

I believe so.

[Millie de Chirico]

I don't really know. I was trying to act like I was like, oh, I understand this fine nuances of when Benny Safdie doesn't work with Josh Safdie. And I don't know, I can't even tell. Maybe it would have been different if they did it together. Who the fuck knows? All I know is that I sort of felt like I knew what was going for, but I also felt like there was a couple of misses. Like I. Here's the thing about Dwayne the Rock Johnson. I really wanted him to be able to pull this kind of character off. That kind of like sensitivo, gentle giant type that has like a drug problem and has, you know, confidence issues and, you know, self esteem issues, this kind of thing. I just felt like he wasn't able to get there 100%. That's how I felt. And then I started thinking about, is there another wrestler that I. That could be in prosthetic makeup that could possibly have done it? And I was thinking, well, I don't know, what about like Dave Bautista or.

[Casey O'Brien]

I was gonna say, I've been impressed with Dave Bautista. I feel like he actually has developed into a great actor.

[Mimi Pond]

Yes.

[Casey O'Brien]

And I've seen him in stuff that I'm like, he looks vulnerable and makes me feel. And he takes it very seriously as a craft. And not that the Rock doesn't, but I just, I think Dave Bautista maybe could have gone where the Rock couldn't.

[Millie de Chirico]

Yes, I totally agree. You know my favorite movie of 2024, The Last Showgirl, he was in that and he was great in that. He's got something else. There's like an extra layer of nuance to his characters that I feel like would have served him really well in the Smashing Machine. But Anyway, the Rock. I just don't think the Rock has dialed it.

[Mimi Pond]

I like.

[Casey O'Brien]

I like Dave Bautista. And it seems like he's getting a lot of work in interesting projects, too. Like, he was. He's good in Dune. He's freaky in Dune, and. Yeah.

[Mimi Pond]

Yeah.

[Millie de Chirico]

Well, it's an interesting film, Smashing Machine, because it was kind of, like, really understated, which I'm not 100. Like, I'm not turned off by that, but I. I do feel like I was. I was missing that pull into that main character. You know, like when he started crying when he lost the match, I was like, is he upset? I can't tell what's going on. I know. Yeah. But the. The prosthetics are insane. Absolutely insane.

[Casey O'Brien]

He looks so huge.

[Millie de Chirico]

Yeah, he looks. I mean, he looks like an actual smashing machine.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah. All right, what else did you watch?

[Millie de Chirico]

So I was turning on TCM to watch our friend Kaden, Mark Gardner, friend of the podcast, and his co writer, Willow McClay, of their amazing book about trans film images. It's called Corpses, Fools, and Monsters. They were on tcm, and they both each hosted a night of films, and Willow did the first night, and she picked a great Robert Altman film that I'd seen before called Come back to the five and dime. Jimmy Dean. Jimmy Dean from 1982. And, yeah, it's an interesting film. I mean, it kind of feels like a play.

And it. It's.

[Casey O'Brien]

I've never seen it.

[Millie de Chirico]

Yeah, it's like. It's. When I first saw it, I had. It took me a while to get used to it because it feels like it's being. It feels like it's happening in one big room, which it kind of is. The way that it's being shot, though, feels like it's kind of like television a little bit.

There's kind of interesting angles happening, and it's kind of like an ensemble female cast, which is the best thing about it. I mean, you've got, like, Cherry, Karen Black, Sandy Dennis, Kathy Bates, who's amazing in it. You also have Mark Patton, who was most famously in the second Nightmare on Elm street sequel. He is in the film, and it's an interesting movie. It's basically about a group of people who were obsessed with James dean in the 50s, and then they get together, you know, many years down the line and kind of reunite and, you know, it's just about their interpersonal relationships. And I won't give it away, but obviously it was playing during a Trans Images film festival, so I'll just throw that out there. But yeah, it's good to see that again. I liked it a lot more. I mean, I've seen it like a couple times. I liked it a lot more now than I did, I think, the first time I saw it, so.

[Casey O'Brien]

Mm. Okay.

[Millie de Chirico]

And then because I was watching tcm the next night.

They'Re doing their month on Rock Hudson. And so I had to sit down and watch all that heaven allows from 1955 again. I've seen it like, five times. Easily. You're a fan of this movie? Have you seen this movie? Oh, yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

It's amazing. It's incredible. Listen, great fall movie.

[Millie de Chirico]

I was gonna say it was the perfect movie to watch. When it's chilly, the leaves are turning, snow's falling. I mean, it's like you just want to snuggle up with Ron Kirby.

[Casey O'Brien]

Like, I just want to go to New England.

[Millie de Chirico]

Yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

I want to peep some leaves.

[Millie de Chirico]

I mean, this is extremely horny alert. I'm just going to throw this out there.

But, like, Rock Hudson as Ron Kirby is. Has got to be the most attractive film character in film history.

[Casey O'Brien]

Can I read you my letterbox review? Very short.

[Mimi Pond]

Yes.

[Millie de Chirico]

Yes, please.

[Casey O'Brien]

Rock Hudson is interdimensionally hot in this movie. His sexiness could bend time, and that's how I felt.

[Millie de Chirico]

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I mean, besides the fact that Rock Hudson is just a beefy Illinois boy and has dark hair and, you know, is just handsome, his character is a fucking gardener who's, like, a bohemian who, like, basically decides to walk away from, like, capitalism and mainstream patriarchal white crust society to, like, live in the woods and restore an old mill and. Are you joking? This is like a dream. That's. That's my dream.

[Casey O'Brien]

Unreal.

[Millie de Chirico]

He reads Henry David Thoreau and he, like, has lobster parties with, like, his friends and is, like, just, like, really has that joie de vivre.

[Casey O'Brien]

Mm.

[Millie de Chirico]

And it's just like, that's gotta be the hottest movie character that was ever written. And he, the hottest man plays him. That's crazy.

[Casey O'Brien]

It's so funny because it's like, he's so attractive. He owns his own business, he has his own house. But polite society is like, this man is a demon.

[Millie de Chirico]

Yeah, no, I would. You know, I. That's the thing is that in 2025, you look at this and, like, what a bunch of fucking dodos. Like, by the way, all these people, like, are that now, like, every rich white person that I know is got, like, an Etsy shop that's selling, you know, 100 plants or whatever the fuck. They're all wanting to be bohemian bohos.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Millie de Chirico]

And yet in this movie, they're like, oh, my God. He is a.

[Mimi Pond]

He's.

[Millie de Chirico]

I'm a demon. He's a demon.

[Casey O'Brien]

I'm a demon. And do you like the movie Far From Heaven? I always. I kind of think of these in conversation with one another.

[Millie de Chirico]

Yeah, of course. This is not what is inspired. Like, Far From Heaven was inspired by Douglas, sir. Yeah, I. Listen, you can't. You can't get me to not watch a melodrama. Any era, any situation. So. I love you, Ron Kirby. Be my boyfriend.

[Casey O'Brien]

I love you, Ron Kirby.

[Millie de Chirico]

I would dump movies to be with Ron Kirby. Let's just say that.

[Casey O'Brien]

Wow. Here we go.

[Millie de Chirico]

Okay.

[Casey O'Brien]

There we go.

[Millie de Chirico]

All right, I'm done.

[Casey O'Brien]

My turn. Mine aren't that exciting.

[Millie de Chirico]

I watched.

[Casey O'Brien]

Well, I guess this movie is exciting. I watched the Last Seduction with Linda Fiorentino.

[Millie de Chirico]

Unbelievable.

[Casey O'Brien]

1994. This comes up in a future episode. You'll see why.

[Millie de Chirico]

Okay.

[Casey O'Brien]

But I thought this was really great. It's really funny and it is sexy, but it's a noir. But it doesn't take itself very seriously. It's almost like a. I would say it's more of a black comedy, you know?

[Millie de Chirico]

Yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

So enjoyed that one.

[Millie de Chirico]

Yes.

[Casey O'Brien]

And then you know who I really like? Who's in that movie? J.T. walsh. You know, the actor J.T.

[Mimi Pond]

Walsh?

[Millie de Chirico]

Yes, of course.

[Casey O'Brien]

I love him. Every time he pops up in something, I'm like, hell, yeah. He's just like this kind of gross asshole. I don't know. He's great. I love him. And then I watched. You know, I've talked about watching the Decalogue. Did I talk about this already? Did I watch the second one? Okay. I watched the first one. I watched Decalogue 2, 2 of 10. And this one is about a woman.

Whose husband is ill and.

In a hospital, but she starts an affair with another man and gets pregnant by this other man. And she's like, is my husband going to survive? Because it seems like he's about to die. Because if he's going to survive, I can't keep this baby. But if he's going to die, I'll keep the baby. Wow. And she asks her husband's doctor, you have to tell me, is he going to die or not? And the doctor has to kind of decide, do I tell her the truth, which is, I don't know, or do I make up something to save this child? Potential child. You know, so watch it. To figure out what they Do I.

[Millie de Chirico]

Feel like the Decalogue is. Is your quest, Your little side quest? Cinematic side quests. Right.

[Casey O'Brien]

It's so easy though. The movies are an hour.

[Millie de Chirico]

Yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

So. Well, enjoying it though. But that's all I watched.

[Millie de Chirico]

All right, the end.

[Casey O'Brien]

Well, close it up.

[Millie de Chirico]

Goodbye.

[Casey O'Brien]

Goodbye.

[Millie de Chirico]

Bye. Bye.

[Casey O'Brien]

I'm a demon.

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[Bowen Yang]

This is Bowen Yang from Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang.

[Matt Rogers]

Hey, Bowen. It's gift season.

[Casey O'Brien]

Ugh.

[Bowen Yang]

Stressing me out. Why are all the people I love so hard to shop for like me?

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Exactly.

[Casey O'Brien]

Exactly, honey.

[Matt Rogers]

I'm easy. But you're right, holiday gifting is stressful.

[Bowen Yang]

And all the gift guides out there are boring and uninspired.

[Matt Rogers]

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[Casey O'Brien]

It's Giving Gifts.

[Matt Rogers]

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[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, because if I see one more for the dad who likes golf list, I'm out.

[Millie de Chirico]

Right?

[Matt Rogers]

How about something for the people who actually surprise you with categories?

[Bowen Yang]

Like best gifts for the mom whose idea of a sensible walking shoe is a stiletto.

[Millie de Chirico]

Psst.

[Bowen Yang]

She wants a pair of stilettos.

[Matt Rogers]

Or best gifts for me that were so thoughtful.

[Bowen Yang]

I really shouldn't have dying to see what those are.

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And you won't believe their prices.

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Just wait till you see what else is in there. It's basically a one stop shop for everyone.

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You know, I started bookmarking half the list for myself.

[Bowen Yang]

Honestly, this is the guide for the 2025 holiday gifting season.

[Matt Rogers]

Check out the guide on marshalls.com it's.

[Casey O'Brien]

Giving gifts Gift the good stuff.

[Bowen Yang]

Stuff at Marshalls.

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[Casey O'Brien]

Goodbye.

All right, everybody, we're back to talk about the best of 2025. Millie, how should we do this? We both have our top three movies of the year.

[Millie de Chirico]

I feel like we have some similarities, so I don't really know how.

[Casey O'Brien]

Maybe let's, let's wait to do the top three and maybe we can do our best first time watch. Favorite first time watch of the year?

[Millie de Chirico]

Yeah, let's do that. Okay.

[Casey O'Brien]

What's your, what's your favorite first time watch of the year?

[Millie de Chirico]

Well, I have three.

[Casey O'Brien]

Love it.

[Millie de Chirico]

Okay, cool. I've talked about these at some point on an episode, so please go back and listen to every single episode we've done so far of the podcast to hear more about them.

[Casey O'Brien]

That's your homework assignment. Press pause on this one. Go back, listen to every single episode. Come back to this point in time on this episode.

[Millie de Chirico]

That's right. So, okay, you're back. Let's talk about my favorite first time watches for this year. So this is again, this is when you watch a film for the very first time. It's an older film and you're, and you're watching it this year for the first time. So I'm going to go down my list. I watched Bona Leno broca's Bona from 1980 had a great Blu Ray release this year and very much enjoyed that. Speaking of melodrama, love the Leno Broker movies. I hope they put out more. That's all I'm saying. He did a lot. So keep them coming. Then of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention my favorite first time watch of 2025 was EIS from 2024.

[Casey O'Brien]

The movie that haunted us. Haunted the podcast.

We should get that filmmaker on the show. We should get him as a guest.

[Millie de Chirico]

We could be like, we stalked you for an entire calendar year. But yeah, we had so many mentions of this movie. I finally watched it, thought it was great. So that was a great time watch. And my last one, of course I have like, I was going through all my first time watches on my letterbox going like, okay, which one is my favorite? And I was like, no, this has got to be the most, the most pleasurable. I think this might have been the most pleasurable movie in theater experience I had this year, which is what I saw. Night of the Juggler from 1980 at the Plaza Theater in Atlanta, Georgia. My God, what a fucking blast. What a blast.

[Casey O'Brien]

Wonderful.

[Millie de Chirico]

I've been handing out my copy of the Blu Ray to all my friends, being like, hey, you should watch this. Bring it back to me whenever.

[Casey O'Brien]

That's great. So doing the Lord's work, you know, this must be on some sort of tour, because this is showing in. This showed in Minneapolis recently at the Trilon Theater. I didn't get to see it. No, I couldn't go. But what's your.

[Millie de Chirico]

What's your problem? Why didn't you go?

[Casey O'Brien]

Sorry. God.

[Millie de Chirico]

I mean, just, you know, put your baby in a.

[Casey O'Brien]

In the.

[Millie de Chirico]

In the closet in a little. Give it a couple blankets and she'll be fine.

[Casey O'Brien]

But she can come. She can watch.

[Millie de Chirico]

Oh, my God. You would take her tonight of the Juggler. That'd be amazing.

[Casey O'Brien]

No, I wouldn't.

[Millie de Chirico]

Ah, come on.

[Casey O'Brien]

Wouldn't want to. It's a little different than the Teletubbies or Miss Rachel whatever.

[Millie de Chirico]

But, hey, if this was 1979, you'd be saying something totally different.

[Casey O'Brien]

So I have been exposing patience to a little show called Peewee's Playhouse, though.

[Millie de Chirico]

Oh, good.

[Casey O'Brien]

And she's been really loving that.

[Millie de Chirico]

So that's good.

[Casey O'Brien]

Expanding her mind already.

[Millie de Chirico]

All right, your turn.

[Casey O'Brien]

Fabulous. My turn. Okay, so I mean, all these I've talked about before, but. And I talked about this when we were on my favorite Murder, but I recently. I had, at that time, recently watched Truly madly deeply from 1990. I just think this is, like, such a beautiful, funny, spooky movie. Yeah, I just highly recommend it. If you're a romantic, you should check it out. And you like good movies. Check out Truly, Madly, Deeply, then I. One of my movies. These are movies that have just kind of been stuck in my head this year, you know. Another one is Thelma from 2024, starring June Squibb. This was so much fun.

[Millie de Chirico]

Yeah, you mentioned.

[Casey O'Brien]

And it was so fun. It was so funny and just such a delightful movie. And I just loved everybody in it. June Squibb. I loved Richard Roundtree. I love this actor, Fred Hechinger, who is also in the first season of White Lotus. I really enjoy him. And, yeah, Thelma is just a treat. Highly recommend it. So funny. Just a heartwarming film. And then my third one is I watched you'd Hurt My Feelings by Nicole Hall.

I don't know. I just think about this movie all the time. Maybe it's because I'm a creative person and I think about how people in my life perceive the stuff that I create and in youn hurt my feelings. She overhears her husband saying he doesn't like her latest book. And I think that would be very painful as a creative person. And I feel like, I don't know, it just sort of scratched something in my brain.

[Millie de Chirico]

Would you get a divorce?

[Casey O'Brien]

No, I wouldn't get a divorce, really, but it would hurt my feelings. And I would say you hurt my feelings.

[Millie de Chirico]

Like, what if Trisha was like, casey, let's have a talk. I know that you just worked your ass off on your first movie and you know you really, like, put in a lot of work and creative juice, but I gotta tell you, it is not good. And I mean that sincerely. Like, you should probably have not even attempted it.

[Casey O'Brien]

If she said it like that.

I probably would ask for a divorce.

[Millie de Chirico]

God, I'd be fucking gutted if someone said that.

[Casey O'Brien]

Wouldn't that be awful?

[Millie de Chirico]

Yeah, somebody, like, came up to me and said, I'm trying to think of the most creative thing I've ever done. I was probably like, written a book or whatever. Like, somebody said like, oh, Millie, God, that TCM underground book you co wrote was so bad and cringe and awful and it sounded like you didn't even know what the you were talking about. I wouldn't have even signed up to do it, to be honest. Yeah, I mean, that was a mental institution, dude. What I.

[Casey O'Brien]

Can you imagine? I mean, why would a person say it like that? But it, like. I think the painful thing is that if you overheard that, it's like, unless unfiltered, that's what you're saying. If you, like, if you overheard them saying that to somebody, I feel like that would be so painful. And I mean, you know, when you were reciting the problems that you had, that. That you imagine someone saying about your book, those came very quickly. They were quick on the tongue. So I feel like you have sensitivities about the work you make, you know, in general, and you're worried that people are going to pinpoint on those things that you're sensitive about.

[Millie de Chirico]

You know, it's like, Erica, this is. I'm an artist and I'm sensitive about my.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah, that's.

[Millie de Chirico]

I mean, it. You can't help it. It's like, it is like you're laid bare. And if. If you like. Oh, God, if you overhear somebody saying it in this very bleak way, oh, my God, I would. I would divorce and I would. I would. I would have to live in inpatient hospital. Like, I just would be bereft.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah, I Would probably be like, divorce, quit my job.

Convert religions. I mean, honestly, I don't know. Like.

It'D be horrible, so. Oh, I love that movie, though, man. I just thought it was so. I. Nicole Hoffson is so good.

[Millie de Chirico]

I know. And also, she's like, justice for socks. There's, like, a whole sock. And we talked about this the last time.

[Casey O'Brien]

Your sock thing. Yeah, I love socks. I don't get this.

[Millie de Chirico]

Not quirky socks. I like socks as a.

[Casey O'Brien]

There have been multiple scenes in movies with men at sock stores in two of her movies. And there might be more. I haven't even seen all of her movies. Friends with Money and now you hurt my feelings.

[Millie de Chirico]

Yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

Millie, let's get to our top three of the year, shall we? Okay, now, I feel like we.

[Mimi Pond]

We.

[Casey O'Brien]

We came up with these. I didn't know what hers were before I came up with mine, and unfortunately, they're very similar lists.

[Mimi Pond]

And may.

[Casey O'Brien]

Or maybe fortunately, I don't know.

[Millie de Chirico]

Do you think that we should just state the two that we had in common and then we can each talk about the one we didn't have in common?

[Casey O'Brien]

That sounds good.

[Millie de Chirico]

Okay.

[Casey O'Brien]

So I think.

[Millie de Chirico]

Do you.

[Casey O'Brien]

Do. Are yours ranked, or are they just the top three?

[Millie de Chirico]

It's just the top three. I mean, they're sort of ranked, but honestly, my top two are pretty much your top two. Okay. Or, you know, so.

[Casey O'Brien]

You start with whichever one you want to start with.

[Millie de Chirico]

Well, I will say one of my tops of the year 2025 had to be Matt Wolf's documentary. Pee Wee as himself. Hbo. Max, a juggernaut when it came out. Right. It was pretty, pretty, pretty big.

[Casey O'Brien]

Oh, man. I think about this movie all the time. I feel like. And I do feel like that is sort of what I grade movies on, like, how much it stays with me. Because you'll watch a movie and you're like, man, that was good. And then you don't think about it, and I feel like that means it wasn't that powerful. But this documentary I think about constantly. I think about Paul Rubens constantly, and I think about how I want to be viewed as an artist. You know, a lot of it, I think is really interesting how he has this sort of difficult relationship with Pee Wee Herman and how he wants to be seen. Paul Rubens as an artist and a creative person. But Pee Wee gets the credit, or other people like Tim Burton kind of get the credit, and he wants to be seen a certain way, and he even has difficulty in his relationship with the director in the movie. He wants to be seen a certain way. And I feel like that's a very powerful thing, and I relate to that a lot. I want to be seen a certain way. And, like, how are people seeing me? Yeah, you know, it's like a very basic human thing that I think is explored in this movie.

[Millie de Chirico]

Well, and to that point, I think, you know, I talked about this a little bit. I think we ended up cutting it, though, because I went really long, and I didn't feel like I was being as articulate as I wanted to be about the point. But.

It also reminded me that, you know, we think about the modern context of fame or whatever, or just our identities. And, I mean, I think that we're at this point now where we're like.

We're. We're definitely celebrating sort of our authentic selves. Right. Like, however it is, it just reminded me about a time which it wasn't even that long ago. And it's actually. There's still plenty of this happening now where people in the past would sacrifice their kind of personal lives for success, for their creativity or for their jobs, essentially.

And they know that what they need to hide would prevent them from becoming successful. And I think that that was such a big thing for people of his generation. You know what I mean? He closeted himself. I mean, he was out, and then he went back into the closet because he was like, I'm never gonna be able to be this person and also be a children's show host. Right? And I think that became absolutely clear when he started getting in trouble for, like, all of these things, which to me, are not even that big of a deal, you know, like, the idea that he would go to an adult theater. Who gives a shit? The idea that he would own ephemera from, like, you know, men's pictorial magazines, which all my friends have those magazines, by the way. And I was just watching a fucking TikTok video of lance bass from NSync who said the same thing. He was like, oh, there's no way I could have been gay and nsync in the 90s. There's just no fucking way. Like, I hid who I was because I wanted to continue to be in this band and make music. So. And that was not that long ago, Right? And so, I don't know, I think that was the message that I was really, like, focusing in, on. Just to the degree which is like, you're lucky, I think, if you're able to be completely who you are and be successful and be appreciated and loved, I mean, that's a Very hard thing to do, you know, I don't know. It's just. I think that's what makes the documentary so good, is that it's like. It forces you to think about stuff like that, which is like, when would you think about that at all? Unless you were watching a documentary like Matt's? And by the way, Matt is such a great filmmaker. He's made so many other great documentaries that he made. The one about Arthur Russell, which I really, really love. He's done a lot of. I mean, I think his. By his own words, he's talked about making films about kind of outsiders, outside artists, you know, which I love. So.

[Casey O'Brien]

Amazing.

[Millie de Chirico]

Anyway.

[Casey O'Brien]

Well, we love that one. And we also. I would say this. I would say this is probably the movie I thought was movie of the year. One battle after another.

[Millie de Chirico]

Yeah, that's definitely got to be it, huh?

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah. And I mean, we did a whole episode about that, so we don't need to go deep on that. But I will say, just. I still think about that movie a lot, and it has a lot of weight to it. And it was really incredible. It was a really incredible film going experience that was unmatched in 2025 for me.

[Millie de Chirico]

Yeah, I know. I almost felt kind of like bad that I was my number one because I was like, oh, really? The new Paul Thomas Anderson movie is your top film of the year? What are you, like a cinephile or something like that? But it was. I mean, it was triggering as shit. That's why I think it was part of so effective for me is that I was just like, wow, this is. I don't know, it's really hit hard for me considering everything that's happened this year.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah, yeah. But I. Yeah, absolutely. It makes me emotional thinking about that movie.

[Millie de Chirico]

Yeah, me too.

[Casey O'Brien]

It'll be cool. I don't think you care about the Oscars as much as I do. Would you say that's true?

[Millie de Chirico]

That's true, yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

But I hope it wins Oscars. I hope Leo wins another actor Oscar because I thought it was weird that he won for the Revenant. I don't know. I just feel like that's not representative of who he is as an actor. And it'd be cool for PTA to win a best Director Oscar and I think it would be cool for Regina hall to win an Oscar and. Yeah, that's my thoughts. I think it'd be cool.

[Millie de Chirico]

Have you seen the most recent tiktoks about Leo doing the Mexican whistle in one battle after another? That is so funny to Me?

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah. I mean, they got it. They're like, he did it.

[Millie de Chirico]

He did it.

[Casey O'Brien]

He did it good.

[Millie de Chirico]

He might have done it the wrong time. I think that was the only criticism was that he should have done it when he pulled up in the car.

[Casey O'Brien]

Ah.

[Millie de Chirico]

But I don't know. I'm like, whatever. It sounds good to me.

[Casey O'Brien]

So I also have seen a lot of, like, oh, you want someone to vape on screen, you get the King Vapor, and that's Leo. And there's all these, like, photos of him vaping in real life. You know what?

And they have those shots of him, like, vaping in that high school. And they're like, they're like 10 out of 10. Perfect vape. He's like a pro. He does. He looks like he knows what he's doing. You know, we talk about people who smoke cigarettes. Like, you can tell when they're not smokers. You can tell when you can tell Leo, he knows his way around a veg.

[Millie de Chirico]

Oh, no, he. Look at his face. He, His. He's got the power of a smoker.

[Casey O'Brien]

Oh, yeah. He's just. I, I. You got to appreciate Leo. He really does bring that old school, 70s actor to our modern day, you know. All right, so now we diverge slightly. My other movie that I thought was great of 2025 was 28 years later. This is a really delightful. I loved 28 Days later, and when you do these sequels, like, 20 years later, you're like, oh, God, what's this? But it was so good, and it was different, and it was kind of weird and scary and interesting. I loved it, and I had such a blast seeing it in the theater. So that's my other top movie of the year.

[Millie de Chirico]

That's great. I haven't seen it and. But I think it's interesting that this, this franchise keeps going.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Millie de Chirico]

And by all accounts, it's good, right?

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah, I recommend it. It's fun. It's like a good time. I don't know. I loved it. So. And what about you?

[Millie de Chirico]

Well, my.

Other top pick of the year, which, by the way, if you look this up, it'll tell you that it was released in 24, but it was only at TIFF. At Toronto International Film Festival in 24. The, the limited release and then the wide Release happened in 25. So I think, and I actually think they're counting it for the Oscars. That way, it's being considered as a 2025 film. Does that make sense?

Okay.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yes.

[Millie de Chirico]

My other favorite movie of the year is Friendship.

[Casey O'Brien]

Tim Robinson.

[Millie de Chirico]

Yeah. I mean, talk about a horror movie. Damn this movie. Like, I was, like, shook by this film.

It really tapped into this, like, secret world that I was so fascinated by, which is straight guys that need friends.

[Casey O'Brien]

I'm one of those guys. I gotta see this movie.

I'm kind of scared to see it for that reason.

[Millie de Chirico]

I mean, this isn't your fault. I feel like this is society's fault, ultimately.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Millie de Chirico]

That you.

[Casey O'Brien]

It's other men's fault too.

[Millie de Chirico]

But you all operating under a system which is destroying you. Right. Like, that's the thing about.

When men talk about the patriarchy as if it doesn't affect them. And I believe that that is absolutely untrue. It affects you. And this movie is proof that it affects you.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Millie de Chirico]

Which is that you guys are broken people and you don't know how to make friends. And when you are in an orbit of some dude that you think is, like, 1% cooler than you, you completely lose your. And you don't know how to handle it.

[Casey O'Brien]

I got. I. I will watch this movie especially because I've been watching the Chair Company obsessively, which is the director of Friendship, also directed the Chair Company.

[Millie de Chirico]

Yes.

[Casey O'Brien]

And it's Tim Robbins's new show, so you gotta check that out, Millie.

[Millie de Chirico]

Oh, I definitely have to. I definitely have to. Yeah. This was my other favorite movie of the year. I mean, if you haven't seen it, it's out there and I recommend it. It's really, really fabulous. Funny and dark as fuck is basically why I liked it.

[Casey O'Brien]

So fabulous. Fabulous. Where should we go now, Millie?

[Millie de Chirico]

You want to do some, like, honorable mentions? Things that, like, did not make your top three, but we're very close.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah. I also liked weapons.

[Millie de Chirico]

Yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

And I liked Black Bag by Steven Soderbergh.

[Millie de Chirico]

Ah, that's the Fassbender spy.

[Casey O'Brien]

Fassbender movie.

[Millie de Chirico]

That's right.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yes. You talked. I really like that. It was tight, it was funny, and it was exciting.

[Millie de Chirico]

Yeah, well, I didn't really have.

Many honorable mentions. And that could change, actually, because sometimes I watch. You know how sometimes, like, things come out at the very end of the year that don't make your list because they came out on Christmas or something.

[Mimi Pond]

Right.

[Millie de Chirico]

So that could change. But, you know, I have. I would be remiss if I didn't mention at least mention K Pop Demon Hunters because. Not because I thought it was this, like, fucking groundbreaking cinematic masterpiece necessarily, but just the idea that it was a fucking juggernaut. It was probably the hugest movie that came out this year.

[Casey O'Brien]

I Hear the songs everywhere.

[Millie de Chirico]

Well, and I just was. I will say the reason why I wanted to give it a mention is because some way it feels like I got legitimized for my interest in K pop this year, where now all these other motherfuckers are coming up to me being like, hey, I hear you like K Pop. You know, I like that K pop demon hunters. I'm like, oh, really? Oh really? Now all of you guys that were making fun of me for liking bts, now all of a sudden you're like, huh? I might dabble in a little low K pop whatever. I mean, interesting, whatever.

[Casey O'Brien]

But the hens have come home to roost.

[Millie de Chirico]

Well, and sadly, as I'm always want to do, I feel like I've fallen off the K pop train a little bit.

[Casey O'Brien]

Shut up.

[Mimi Pond]

A little bit.

[Casey O'Brien]

Really? Whoa, Millie. Once it gets legitimized, she's out.

[Millie de Chirico]

I mean, listen, I'm a trendsetter. And now when it gets popular, I sort of like, okay, like, isn't that interesting?

[Casey O'Brien]

Well, isn't that. Wow, she's a big announcement on this episode.

[Millie de Chirico]

I mean, if you really want to know why, it's because BTS is kind of in this like fallow period right now where they're like working on a comeback.

Which is going to happen next year, where they're going to tour the world and like put out a new album and shit. On top of that, my personal favorite member of the band, Suga AKA Yoongi, is literally nowhere to be found. I think he's gone total Frank Ocean. Like, I think he is staying out of the spotlight.

Because he had an unfortunate situation that happened to him earlier in the year where he was drunk and fell off of a scooter in front of his own house. Which is not a crime in my mind, but maybe he was embarrassed by it and it's like, fuck it. I'm not. I don't want to doing shit for these people.

[Casey O'Brien]

I feel like K pop artists, they don't have those sort of flubs.

[Millie de Chirico]

It feels like, you know, which is entirely that their. It's like their country's fault, basically. Like, I think in America you can be a fudgeing flop and still show your face, unlike Jimmy Kimmel and shit. But it's like there is a whole other. It's like a whole other world over there. I think that you're supposed to be absolutely perfect and they don't even want you to like tell people that you drink.

[Casey O'Brien]

Interesting.

[Millie de Chirico]

So anyway, that's my boy and I. I know he's got legitimate reasons for wanting to stay underground. But you know, when you're a fan of something, you're like, oh, well, they're just not really, like, doing much right now. You just kind of like, out of sight, out of minded a little bit. So I think that's what's happening. Besides, I went really hard and heavy on it. Yeah. Now I'm kind of like, okay, I've. I've seen what it can offer me. Maybe it'll change. Like next year when they come back. I'll probably be a fucking loser again. But right now I'm like, looking at other things. I'm listening to other things, so.

[Casey O'Brien]

Well, you know, we touched upon the. You know, we talked about this off mike. But 20, 25, what were some of your successes and failures? Did you fall off a scooter drunk in front of your house?

[Millie de Chirico]

I mean, whatever the equivalent of that is.

Has probably happened. For me personally, I've definitely had embarrassing moments. My successes, I would say. I mean, I finished my grad program this year. Yes. Which was looming over my head forever. I mean, I was in that program for like a decade. Dude.

[Casey O'Brien]

That'S huge, Millie.

[Millie de Chirico]

Thank you.

[Casey O'Brien]

That's huge. What an unbelievable burden to get off your back.

[Millie de Chirico]

Yeah. You know.

I think I. I think they felt bad for me. I will say thank you to all the professors that helped me get the out of there. They were like, whatever, let her graduate.

[Casey O'Brien]

You got a pity diploma. Yeah. Here you go.

[Millie de Chirico]

But it's fine. It's fine. I also bought a house, which we talked about. That was one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life.

[Casey O'Brien]

It's painful, but I'm very proud of.

[Millie de Chirico]

Myself as a single woman to have bought my own house.

I do feel that. And by the way, not for nothing for everybody that used to listen to. I saw what you did. Danielle and I are on the phone almost every week talking about. I'm basically her listen to our episodes where she complains about her contractors and like, the people that don't want to put the oven in the right place and in her house. And now I'm. I'm her. I'm that person. So she's been helping me a lot, guiding me through the process. So I love her very much. I'm glad we're friends. So those are some successes. Failures. I mean, it's like every day is a failure, basically, until something good happens. I didn't get arrested this year, which is good. I didn't.

[Casey O'Brien]

That's a success. Yeah.

[Millie de Chirico]

I mean, I probably like, ate too much candy. I probably could have exercised a little bit more, but I was so busy with my new job and the podcast and the house and the grad school. So. Yeah, I don't know. What about you? What are some of your success highs and lows? Successes and failures.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah. So I filmed my movie this year in February, and.

My movie, which is called. It was previously called 14 stories in a Bathroom, and we are changing the title to Bathroom Humor, and it's an anthology film set entirely in bathrooms. And this was a huge undertaking.

I produced it a lot by myself. I did have a producer on the movie, but a lot of it was me running around, putting this thing together, casting it, and it was a huge thing for me to do. And we shot it over the course of two weeks, and I was stressed beyond compare. I have never been so stressed in my life. It was really miserable, but I did it.

[Millie de Chirico]

Yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

And I finished filming it, and we're still. I'm still editing it, but.

That just felt like such a huge success to, like, actually do that. Something I've wanted to do my entire life, you know? Yeah.

[Millie de Chirico]

Great for. I mean, that's such an accomplishment, dude. Seriously.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah. And, like, I still think about it all the time where I'm like, thank God I did that. There were many times where I'm like, I don't know if I want to do this. I'm, like, so miserable. It was just so miserable. The diarrhea again.

And then around that time, we launched this podcast, which I would say was a big success for this year, getting this podcast on the ground, off the ground, and into the world and continuing to do it every week. And so that's another big success. That was huge for me. Huge. I kind of learned. Started learning the piano, which has been fun for me, and something I've wanted to do for a long time. And so that feels like a success. And I, you know, raised. I've been raising a little baby patience, and that feels like a success.

[Millie de Chirico]

It is success.

[Casey O'Brien]

Your little success, my little success. And that's what I say to her. I say, you're my little success. Patience.

Failures. You know, I think.

I wish that my kind of, you know, sitting. My usual state of being is misery. And I wish that feels like some sort of failure. So I feel like I got pretty stressed out this year, and that's not a failure, you know, but.

I hope to be more successful at not feeling that way next year. And I'm with you. Could have eaten better, could have exercised more, could have. That's about it, though. I mean, could have read more books. How many books did I read this year? I don't even want to know the answer to that.

[Millie de Chirico]

I don't even want to know either. Listen, I have. When I moved.

I literally picked up maybe 30 issues of the New Yorker that I thought I could have a subscription. I go through this thing where I'm like, I can have a subscription again. I have enough time. I'm finished with grad school. I have a lot of time to read. Yeah, no, I fucking have been collecting those 30 issues totally unread. I was like, I'll just put these in a box. I don't know what I'm gonna do with them.

[Casey O'Brien]

But yeah, I mean, yeah, totally. I think the fact that, like, you know, I haven't created, you know, some sort of, I don't know, like, what do you call it? Like a gooning room with multiple screens or something like that, you know, like, I consider that a success. That I'm not in that. That place.

[Millie de Chirico]

You're not a fucking Gooner is what you're saying.

[Casey O'Brien]

That I'm not a Gooner. God, did you read that article? You bet, Squad.

[Millie de Chirico]

You betcha. And I was rocked. Like, I was rocked in a way that I didn't think was possible. Like, I was like, certainly I've. I've read about and experienced so much depravity in my life that I cannot be shocked by anything. Right. Like, you're just like, think about it. I mean, I'm almost 50. I've seen a lot of fucked up shit and there's.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Millie de Chirico]

I cannot be swayed. Like, this is like impossible. No, I was, it felt like I was reading like gonzo journalism from the 80s where it was like somebody discovered a subculture that is so fucked up.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Millie de Chirico]

That I was actually proud that there was a subculture. Like, I was like, oh, subculture doesn't even exist anymore. Right. Like, nobody does anything weird anymore. Everybody's just, AI, no, no, no. There's still, there's Gooners.

[Casey O'Brien]

They're still out there. If that. If you don't know what we're talking about. There's this article called the Goon Squad. Loneliness Porn's Next Frontier and the Dream of Endless Masturbation by Daniel Collitz, published in Harper's magazine. And it covers this whole gooning subculture, which, God help you.

[Millie de Chirico]

I mean, listen, that writer needs to win a Pulitzer. I'm not even joking.

[Casey O'Brien]

Absolutely.

[Millie de Chirico]

I'm not even joking. I was like, I have not read anything so interesting. Shocking I mean, it just felt like it came from another time. I was like, oh man, like there. That is so depraved. I have not been this rocked since, you know, reading about like Gigi Allen or something when I was a teenager.

[Casey O'Brien]

I mean, here's a quote. He says gooning is a new kind of masturbation. More precisely, a new kind of masturbation at the heart of an Internet based, pornography obsessed, Gen Z dominated subculture. Every bit as defined and vibrant as the hippies or punks in their prime. What a incredible.

[Millie de Chirico]

What a thing to say. What a thing to say. Holy.

[Casey O'Brien]

So, yeah, I don't have a goon cave, so that's good. It's something I truly don't, like, can't understand. And it's funny because the writer is like, I tried. I really did try.

[Millie de Chirico]

Oh man.

[Casey O'Brien]

And I don't, I couldn't get that.

[Millie de Chirico]

I mean, honestly, like he, he is like Hunter S. Thompson. Like he's a absolute gonzo journalist that went into a fucking dark, dark place and came out so good for him.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Millie de Chirico]

Okay, so maybe related to this to bring it back to movies or culture or whatever. Give me one prediction for 2026. What do you think? Is there going to be like a film trend for next year or do you, what do you, what do you see cinematically for 2026?

[Casey O'Brien]

Great question. I wonder if we're hitting our limit on elevated horror. I mean, that already happened this year. But that a 24 style movie I think is really in decline and I think it will continue to decline in 2026. And.

I guess that's my number one prediction. I don't know if I have it. What about you?

[Millie de Chirico]

I feel like we're gonna say they're gonna, I swear to God, they're gonna like fucking pull some shit Hollywood. Hollywood's gonna pull. They're gonna be like, let's do a biopic of like Timothy Leary and make Glen Powell Timothy Leary. Like, they're gonna like, they're gonna put him, they're gonna make him into some kind of countercultural person. Like, and we're all going to be shocked. It's gonna be like something like that. Like they're gonna take some really famous milky white actor and put them in a shocking role. That's gonna piss everybody off. I just don't know what that's gonna be yet.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah, interesting.

[Millie de Chirico]

Everybody was trying to like, you know, everybody was trying to say, like, oh my God, I can't believe Timothy Chalamet is going to play Bob Dylan. Actually, that Kind of came and went. No, no fanfare. Like, he actually was charming and people liked it. But it's gonna be another thing like that. There's always one where it's like, Sydney Sweeney is gonna play Frida Kalo or something. I don't know.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah.

Frida too.

[Millie de Chirico]

Frida 2, starring Sydney Sweeney.

It's like mug too. Anyway.

That'S. That's my prediction. Something. Something up cinematically will happen, guaranteed. I don't really know beyond that. Trends. I feel like we're really into political stuff right now. We're in the political shit.

[Mimi Pond]

Yeah.

[Millie de Chirico]

I feel like that might continue if the world.

[Casey O'Brien]

I think that will continue. I think that will continue.

I. Yeah. And I think people have a taste for it or like there's a thirst for that type of stuff.

[Millie de Chirico]

Yeah. And that every single actor and actress will be fully on Ozempic and will whittle away into nothing.

[Casey O'Brien]

Oh, my God. Yes. That is. Yeah, I mean, that's.

[Millie de Chirico]

That's happening.

[Casey O'Brien]

So there is sort of this thing, this kind of like the Great Smoothing, I call it, where it's like AI and Ozempic. It's bringing everything to a sameness that is really uninteresting and there's like a smoothness to everything that is really boring. And I'm hoping that. I don't know, I'm hoping that we get away from this at some point. Like, I just want some more DIY.

Rough around the edges movies to come out, you know?

[Millie de Chirico]

Yeah, I want to say that I think that's true. I think there's a lot of people that are actually, like, pulling away from. What did I say the other day that was so, so funny. Like. Like there's like kids that are into like manual telephone calls or something. And it's like I was like, oh, you mean like landlines or something? Like, it was something like that where they were like, oh, I'm really into like analog.

Listening, which is like. Oh, you mean like listening to the radio in your car? So, like, it was like some kind of like, newfangled way of calling something that we used to do a trend that's based on sort of people's rejection of like, social media and the Internet and AI. And I was like, this is so crazy. We're all just going back to the way it used to be. And I know it does sort of.

[Casey O'Brien]

Seem like in a way we've reached the end of the Internet because I think there was this looming thought of AI really like, oh, what's gonna happen when that arrives? And it's here.

[Millie de Chirico]

Yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

And once you see it, you're like, yeah, this. This is kind of nothing to me. And so people are, like, reversing course and, like, checking out. Yeah, like, analog radio and, you know, listening to CDs now, so.

[Millie de Chirico]

Well, I mean, that's the thing is that, like, TikTok, which I was obsessed with this year, started becoming less fun to me when the AI stuff started happening. When, like, people started posting AI videos, I was like, man, this sucks. Like, yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

And I think that's why TikTok is so great, because it does. There is, like, a rawness to it, and it's still entertaining. And I think if there's a way to kind of combine that raw TikTok energy into a film space. Like, if kids are spending, like, I wish there was more of a pipeline from TikTok to, like, movies, you know, like, these kids that know how to visually do things.

[Millie de Chirico]

Are you talking about theater? Is that what you're. Is that you're making your analog comparison? It's like, you know, I wish there was a space where people could, like, just be raw and themselves and not use computers and AI. Oh, the theater.

[Casey O'Brien]

But, I mean, I do think, yeah, there needs to be more of a return to theater, to film.

[Millie de Chirico]

Sure, sure.

[Casey O'Brien]

Like, I think. I think that I. That there is a. That is true. But I think film needs more theater injected into it, I guess.

[Millie de Chirico]

Yeah. Maybe we need to bring back.

[Casey O'Brien]

I agree.

[Millie de Chirico]

What is that, like, Danish thing that Lars von Trier talk? Maybe we should bring back Dogma 95. We should bring back Dog. Dogma 95.

[Casey O'Brien]

Absolutely.

[Millie de Chirico]

Put some fucking rules on this shit.

[Casey O'Brien]

Anyways, I don't know anything else about 2025.

[Millie de Chirico]

We made it. We made it.

[Casey O'Brien]

We made it.

[Millie de Chirico]

And it was a fucking crazy year. Times, very depressing and very hard, but we're at the end. We made it. We have this great podcast. We have great listeners, and yes, great listeners. I have a great co host in Casey o'.

[Casey O'Brien]

Brien. Wow, Millie, this year has been a treat. Getting to know you more, getting to work with you on this project. You're a great creative collaborator. It's been real delight getting to make this podcast with you. I'm very thankful for that. That was a success.

[Millie de Chirico]

That was a success. Back at you.

All right, so we're going to dive into this episode's a section called My Area of Expertise, which is essentially where you bring on a guest to talk about their area of film expertise or maybe their specific passion for something that's niche, whatever it is. And this week we have somebody who I'm super excited to talk to. I met her when I was living in Los Angeles many years ago, and I was kind of pretending not to be a fan girl, because, honestly, this woman has had her hands in pretty much every bit of pop culture that I grew up with. I mean, ranging from the comics that were in the back of magazines that I loved growing up to working on the Simpsons, to working for the Times, the Village Voice. She's done graphic novels about her work in the restaurant business, which was where I really, you know, began to really love her work, because I also used to wait tables and it felt like I was reading the memoirs of someone that I had worked with or something in the past. And just such a great artist. I mean, honestly. Cartoonist, comic book artist, illustrator, writer, humorist, worked on Pee Wee's Playhouse, worked on everything that you've ever loved. And she's here to talk about her area of expertise. Please welcome, everyone. Mimi Pond. Hello.

[Casey O'Brien]

Hi.

[Mimi Pond]

Glad to be here.

[Millie de Chirico]

Hi. Thanks for being here. I'm honored that you decided to take some time out to chat with me about your.

[Mimi Pond]

I wouldn't have missed it. It's so good to see you again.

[Millie de Chirico]

Yeah, it's good to see you, too.

Before we get into the nuts and bolts of your area of expertise, which, by the way, is great, and I can't wait to talk to you about it, I really wanted to start off with talking about your newest graphic novel, because I feel like the last time I saw you, which was many years ago in la, you mentioned that you were working on this book or that you would. You were at least talking about the subject of the book. And I. So I started thinking back and I was like, that must have been at least five years ago. So it feels like you've been working on this new book for a long time, and I was wondering. Yeah, like, let's talk about it. So what's the name of it? I'm holding it up, but nobody can see it.

[Mimi Pond]

All right. It's called Do Admit the Mitford Sisters and Me. And it's a graphic biography of Britain's famous Mitford sisters, who were born between 1904 and 1920, and through their words and actions, managed to influence just about everything in the 20th century, from Hitler to the Black Panthers.

[Millie de Chirico]

Wow. And, like, they. There were how many of them? Six sisters. Six.

[Mimi Pond]

Six. Count them, six.

[Millie de Chirico]

And they had a. There was one brother, right? No, one.

[Mimi Pond]

There was a brother, Tom. He died in World War II. And there's a biography coming out about him. I think it was already published in Britain, but it's not here yet. But what we know about Tom is that he basically just agreed with whatever sister he was with. It just made his life easier.

So when he was with Diana or Unity, he was a fascist. When he was with Jessica, he was a communist.

You know, it was just too hard. Yeah.

[Millie de Chirico]

Well, I wanted to ask, like, I mean, I think obviously there's something alluring about like a dynasty of sisters or, you know, like when families are big and then they have, like, lots and lots of brothers and lots and lots of sisters and how they have all these, like, they just have different personalities and interests. And I wanted to ask you, like, what was. How did you come into learning about them? And what was it about the Mitford sisters that you really gravitated towards?

[Mimi Pond]

Well, initially, I only knew about Jessica. My parents just never stopped talking about Jessica because she had written their all time favorite book, the American Way of Death, which was an expose of the American funeral industry that was not only hilarious, but it also appealed to my parents because it sort of had the.

[Millie de Chirico]

Theme of that's how they get you.

The funeral.

[Mimi Pond]

As a result of reading that book, they joined a local funeral society. And my mother saved 90% on the cost of her own cremation, which, you know, would have thrilled her, you know, to death.

[Millie de Chirico]

Wow. So wait, your parents joined a funeral society? Like, what is that?

[Mimi Pond]

Well, it's like a co op for funerals. Instead of, you know, going with your hat in your hand and to the mortuary and like when you're at your most vulnerable and allowing them to just like, siphon out your life savings to pay for a funeral, you join this group and they negotiate much cheaper rates.

[Millie de Chirico]

So it was pretty much through Jessica that you kind of discovered who she was as part of this family.

[Mimi Pond]

And then as an adult, I read her her memoir, Hans and Rebels, which was written in 1960, and that was really entertaining. I think by then I was an adult and someone, you know, I was talking about it and someone turned to me and said, you know she had sisters, don't you? And I was like, what? So then there was Nancy, who was the eldest, who wrote the Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate, two best selling comic novels that have never been out of print. And she wrote, she also wrote biographies of Louis XIV and Frederick the Great, among others, and was also extremely funny. She was like the ringleader. As the oldest, she was setting the bar very high. And then there was Pam, who was the quiet one who nonetheless managed to make things interesting by becoming a late in life lesbian. And there was Diana, who married Brian Guinness, one of the heirs to the Guinness beer fortune, at 18, just to get out of the house. And then three years and two children later, she left him for Oswald Mosley, who became the head of the British Union of Fascists. They became eventually the most hated couple in Britain. Unity, following along behind Diana, became obsessed with Hitler, went to Germany, to Munich, successfully stalked Hitler and became his best friend.

And then introduced Diana to him and her parents to him. Her parents became brief acolytes of Hitler until her father. Until Britain declared war on Germany. And their father had already been in the war and in World War I and he wasn't having it. So then there was Jessica, who in reaction to Unity, decided she was going to be, at age 12, she was going to become a communist. And then Deborah, the youngest, who just said, oh, screw it, I want to marry a duke. And she did just that. She married the younger son of a duke, but his older brother died in World War II and she and her husband became the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire. And then she was tasked with the monumental job of restoring Chatsworth House, which was this immense country house in the north of England.

[Millie de Chirico]

Fascinating. Well, I will encourage everybody to go out there and get, do admit the Mitford sisters and me by our guest, Mimi Pond, because it is like, besides the fact that the art is credible as it always is, it's a huge book and it really is like well researched. I mean, it is like a fantastic historical biography and I feel like, like you really learn a lot about the family and learn about the sisters and it's funny and charming, so I just love it. So let's talk a little bit about your, your reason for being here, your area of expertise. I know that you're a big fan of film because I think I met you through the TCM Film Festival when you were a guest there. And so I guess related to that, your area of expertise is British film, but from a kind of specific period of time. So it's like between World War I and World War II and then a little. And then like Post World War II, which some of the best films ever made were, were created during this era and in this time. So that is your area of expertise.

[Mimi Pond]

Right, Just, you know, loose. Well, you can say that loosely how much of an expert I am. I just know what I like, of course.

[Casey O'Brien]

Well, that's enough to be an expert on this show. Exactly.

[Millie de Chirico]

So let's, let's talk like what Are your. What are some of your favorite titles, directors like? What are some standouts for this little era?

[Mimi Pond]

Well, I think the Third man would be among my very favorites.

For a number of reasons, because it's set in just post World War II.

Berlin. Is it Berlin or Vienna? Now I'm gonna see how much of an expert I am. Yeah, Vienna.

And everything is in ruins. And it's fabulously noir. And it also is about.

How you become friends with someone in your youth that you think is this spectacular, wonderful person, and then you part ways and you come back together or you encounter them again and you realize this is a horrible person.

Or things are not what they seemed when you were young and dewy eyed. So that appeals to me. It reminded me a little bit of my previous graphic novels, which were Over Easy and the Customer Is Always Wrong, which is about working in a restaurant in Oakland in the late 70s where the main character is a guy who's about 10 years older than the rest of us restaurant workers. And we all thought of him as our groovy beatnik dad. And I did think of him that way for many years until it finally dawned on me that he wasn't perfect. I mean, he was no Orson Welles in the Third Man. He wasn't selling diluted penicillin to children.

But, you know, he had feet of clay. You know, he was definitely.

Not perfect, which actually made him a much more interesting subject and made it possible for me to create those books. So, you know, it's just that thing that happens to you as you go along in life where you. You have had, you know, a friendship with someone and then later you realize there was something wrong with that. And also the noir aspects of it are just spectacular, you know, and the, you know, the cinematography and everything that this character is learning as he goes. As he goes along in search of his old friend is just wonderful. It's a great way to handle the story, just hearing about him.

This character, from all these different points of view.

[Millie de Chirico]

Yeah, it's so interesting too, because I think that one of the first. So Carol Reed, the director of the Third Man, I think one of the first Carol Reid movies I ever saw was that movie the fallen idol from 1948, which is also sort of about this theme of like idolizing someone and then realizing that they're not as great as you thought. Like, in that movie, it's obviously that the kid idolizes the butler and then realizes that he's probably a murderer, you know, so it's kind of that. But I feel like it fits. It fits the, you know, what we're talking about, which is, you know, sort of.

[Mimi Pond]

Yeah. Another one like that, of course, is Shadow of a Doubt, which, you know, Uncle Charlie comes to visit and everyone thinks he's wonderful and.

His young niece is not quite convinced and God, what a great movie.

[Millie de Chirico]

Oh, Theresa Wright is so good in Shadow of Doubt. I love her so much.

[Mimi Pond]

It's so interesting the way.

Hitchcock is fully capable of portraying strong female characters. And then later on he falls into that trap of.

The icy blonde and behaved badly to his stars. But in the first version of the man who Knew Too Much.

The mother in that version has so much more.

Of a completely controlling role in the narrative.

Like through her actions at the end. I don't want to give it away for anyone who hasn't seen it, but she's not in the least bit passive. She's very active. Unlike in the 50s version where Doris Day just has to sit there.

Trying to not lose her mind. I mean, they're both good, but the first one is so great.

[Millie de Chirico]

But let's talk. I think part of what really drew me to your area of expertise, because I'm a huge fan of these directors, but Powell and Pressburger, the Archers, made some of the most incredible, beautiful films of all time.

[Mimi Pond]

Oh, yeah.

[Millie de Chirico]

And so, and I feel like this, you know, you brought this up when we were talking about your area of expertise as part of this.

Sort of collection of films that you're really into. And so, like, what. What is it about Powell and Pressburger for you that really grabs you?

[Mimi Pond]

Well, I loved. I know where I'm going so much. Just so much, because, you know, it's about a, a young British career woman. The war's just over. She thinks she's got it all in the bag. She's been working in London and she's like the. She's kind of like an 80s career gal in 1946 or 1947, and she's landed the prime catch. She's got this wealthy industrialist who's gonna marry her. All she has to do is get to. To Scotland and get to this island off the coast of Scotland where they're going to get married. And that reminds me of the Mitford sisters because their family bought an island, Inch Kenneth, in the Hebrides off the coast of Scotland. Deborah said later it took longer to get to Inch Kenneth than it took to fly to Brazil. You had to take a 12 hour train up to the coast in Scotland and then get on a ferry to one island and Then. And from that island, you'd get someone to row you over to inch Kenneth. So. And I know where I'm going. Our protagonist gets to, you know, this. This one little island, and she's got to get someone to row her over to this other island where she's supposed to get married. And that's where things start to go wrong. The weather won't cooperate, and she has to figure out where she, you know, there's all these interesting people come along and change her point of view. And I think my favorite detail from the movie is when she's trying to make a phone call from a telephone booth that's next to a raging waterfall.

[Millie de Chirico]

Oh, my gosh. I do love. I Know Where I'm going. That was, like, one of the first Paola Pressburger movies I ever saw. But, I mean, you really can't deny Black Narcissus. I just think that movie.

[Mimi Pond]

Oh, my God.

[Millie de Chirico]

God, is. It is so good, but insane. It's rot.

[Mimi Pond]

It is rot.

[Millie de Chirico]

I became kind of obsessed with it for a long time because, you know, number one, it's like a. You know, one of the original Horny Nun movies, which I feel like, you know, we've cycled through many at this point, but I feel like the. One of the original originals, you cannot beat. But I also just. The idea of, you know, there being this sort of mythical place in the. Is it in the Himalayas, where it's just like everybody goes bonkers up there and it's just like this environment. It's like a magical environment that people can't control themselves in.

[Mimi Pond]

And then the sexy dude walks in.

[Millie de Chirico]

Yeah. With short shorts.

[Casey O'Brien]

It's freezing. And he has short shorts and an open.

[Mimi Pond]

Sure.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Millie de Chirico]

But I think that's the thing about the Powell and Press burger world is that there is this sort of element of magic that kind of happens. I mean, I think about A Matter of life and Death, which is, I think, my favorite Powell and Pressburger movie. Just the. You know, that is obviously about kind of heaven and alternate realities, but even in the Red Shoes, there's this kind of element of.

[Mimi Pond]

I mean, the thing in the Red Shoes that. That. That. I mean, it's just such a fabulous movie, but today you look at it and. And you think, why can't she have a career and get married?

[Casey O'Brien]

Right. Yeah.

[Mimi Pond]

It's like this.

[Millie de Chirico]

Like.

[Mimi Pond]

It's almost like, you know, it is like she has to be a nun for dance. Yeah.

[Millie de Chirico]

Oh, that's true. And the idea of. There's these kind of themes that occur in their movies. And, you know, it's like magic.

Women's choices, you know, and obviously just sort of the visual component of all these films that look really great. Anything. I mean, is there anything else that you think, like another movie that you would consider part of this. Of this passion of yours? I mean, you talked about.

National Velvet, which I haven't seen in a very long time.

[Mimi Pond]

I mean, the thing that. That I zero in on, on National Velvet is that. And this gets. I don't. I don't know why this isn't more of a thing. It's revealed late in the movie that her mother had. Had successfully swum the English Channel and was an, you know, an athlete, and that she, you know, she has this scene with her daughter where she, like, says, I want this for you. I want you to have this triumph. I want you to go for your dreams. And you hardly ever see that in movies. The only other movie I've ever seen it in is in a tree grows in Brooklyn where towards the end, the mother is in labor, and they've sent.

The brother off to get the doctor. And the mother is in labor and is finally able to tell her daughter, I'm sorry I couldn't be there more for you because your father died, and I've been busy trying to hold it together. But I want you to have all the things that you want to have, and I want you to have your dreams and everything, and it just brings me to tears every time.

[Casey O'Brien]

Mimi, I wanted to ask you, Graphic novels are such a. Oftentimes cinematic art form. How do you find yourself inspired by watching movies? Oh, hugely. Hugely comics. Yeah.

[Mimi Pond]

I'm surprised that cartoonists don't talk more about it. I mean, it's everything. I mean, filmmaking is the ultimate visual storytelling. Duh. And there's so much to learn from watching movies. In telling a story visually, that's so much more economical than what a lot of people do and do admit as a graphic biography. I wanted to avoid the pitfalls of.

Graphic biographies, which wind up being a lot of talking heads. So I was drawing on everything I possibly could, from film stills to movie posters to, you know, I've got a whole Pinterest page called Strong Mitford Tea that, you know, anyone can look at now. I've opened it up to the public, so. But I've got thousands and thousands of images that I use to just try to. To tell the story visually instead of just relying on, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

I think more cartoonists should Take note of.

Filmmaking and visual storytelling, because it's just everything.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yeah, Fabulous.

[Mimi Pond]

Can I talk about one more?

My favorite.

Expositional scene that tells you everything you need to know without hardly any dialogue is in Billy Wilder's the Apartment. I'm also just a giant Billy Wilder fan. When Jack Lemmon has been loaning out his apartment to his evil boss, Fred McMurray, who's been having assignations there, and he finds a compact with a cracked mirror that obviously belonged to one of Fred's dates, and he hands it back to him earlier on. So now it's the new year. I mean, the Christmas party at the office. And Shirley MacLaine is the elevator girl that he's gotten friendly with. And he's gotten his raise because he's been pimping out his apartment to Fred McMurray. And he wants to show Shirley MacLaine this new hat he's bought to celebrate having a raise. And he puts on the hat, and she says, here, take my compact. And he opens it, and he realizes it's her compact. She's the one who's been sleeping with Fred McMurray. And everything changes. And it's just that simple.

[Millie de Chirico]

It's just brilliant. Yeah, man. That movie breaks my heart. And I. And it makes me hate Fred McMurray so much.

[Mimi Pond]

Oh, I know. He's so. He's so deliciously evil.

[Millie de Chirico]

Oh, yeah. Like, even worse than, like, Double Indemnity or something. Like, he just, like. He's just such a gross, gross boss.

[Mimi Pond]

Double Indemnity. I'm. I'm. Once I saw Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, I realized just. It was so glaring that. That Barbara Stanwyck is wearing this. This blonde wig through the whole thing. And I can't.

[Millie de Chirico]

It's.

[Mimi Pond]

It's like, I can't not see that wig every time I watch that movie. It's such a wig.

[Millie de Chirico]

Oh, it's such a wig. I know. It's cracks me up, but, yeah, I grew up watching My Three Sons, so it was like, I always thought that Fred McMurray was, like, a good. A good dad or whatever. And then I'm like, ah, but all these other films, they just, like, make him into such a. Such a bad dude. Well, I could literally sit here and talk to you about these movies all day long, Mimi, because I just am such a fan. And we're such fans of yours, too. I mean, honestly, like I said, I want to encourage everybody to go out there and get Do Admit, which is Mimi's graphic novel about the Mitford sisters. And they're fascinating bunch. I learned a lot about them and I think it's great. But also your other graphic novels, the Customer is Always Wrong Long, which is the best name for anything over easy. Is there anything else? Are you working on anything now? I mean, you just completed this huge task of the Mitford Sisters.

[Mimi Pond]

I don't know if you're working on anything. I'm still promoting it. I'm thinking, you know, there's a the. The and me part of the Mitford sisters and me as I insert some autobiographical aspects of my own life into their story. Just to contrast, you know, like growing up in San Diego in the 1960s with the Cotswolds in the 1920s.

And people seem to have responded really well to that. So I think memoir might be the next thing on the horizon.

[Casey O'Brien]

Oh, cool.

[Millie de Chirico]

Very exciting. Well, thank you so much, Mimi. It was such a pleasure. And please come back anytime. We'd love to have you.

[Mimi Pond]

Always happy to be back and talking about movies. We could do a whole one just on wigs.

[Casey O'Brien]

Oh, that would be great.

[Millie de Chirico]

Well, and normally we would provide people with our staff picks for the week. Week. But considering this is a best of 20, 25 episode and all we did was recommend things to you, we're not going to do them. Just watch what we told you to watch from earlier and that'll be our staff pick. Right?

[Casey O'Brien]

That's it. Yeah, we had a lot of picks.

[Millie de Chirico]

Yeah.

[Casey O'Brien]

If you didn't see any of the movies we talked about today, go see them.

Check them out.

[Millie de Chirico]

Just wondering if my dog's taking another dump in front of my.

[Casey O'Brien]

Well, that usually signals the end of the podcast.

[Millie de Chirico]

That's true. When my dog takes a dump to ceremonially end this. All right, well, listen, if you want film advice or if you want to reach out to us for any reason, Casey is always up in them guts, by the way. He's either going to reply to you or we're going to read your letter or upload your voicemail to the episode so you can't lose. But we're at Dear Movies at exactly right media.com and like I said, if you've got the three wise GS, if you got a film gripe, you got a film regret or a consensual film grope, we'd love to hear them. And like I said, if you have a voicemail and you want to leave us your beautiful voice, record it on your phone, make it under a minute, email it to us. Dear moviesexactlyrightmedia.com, that's correct.

[Casey O'Brien]

And please follow us on our socials earmovies. I love you on Instagram and Facebook. Our letterboxd handles are Aclee o' Brien and Mdecherico. You can follow us and see that we don't leave just five star reviews on movies, which drives me crazy. Listen to Dear movies. I love you on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts and rate Review our show. Thank you Mimi Pond for being on this episode. It was great talking to you.

[Millie de Chirico]

Talk about next week, bro.

[Casey O'Brien]

Next week. Jingle bells. Jingle Bells. It's the Christmas season.

And we have the Christmas zaddy himself. Alonzo Deralde is going to be on the. This is a little bit different. He's going to be on the entire episode. That's great because we're both friends with him and I'm excited to have him on to talk all things Christmas.

[Millie de Chirico]

I'm excited to have him too. He's the king of Christmas movies and I feel like he is the one, if anybody's the one, he's the one to give the definitive answer to these contentious film at Christmas time questions. Like is Zodiac a Christmas movie? Should we be playing Die Hard around the hearth drinking mulled wine? This kind of stuff. Like he's the authority and he's the authority.

[Casey O'Brien]

Yes. So it'll be great to have him on. Can't wait to see him.

[Millie de Chirico]

All right.

[Casey O'Brien]

Oh Millie. Wow.

[Millie de Chirico]

What an eps.

[Casey O'Brien]

It's the end of the episode. We're at the end of the year. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

[Millie de Chirico]

We'll see everybody next week perhaps.

[Casey O'Brien]

Absolutely. Bye Bye.

[Millie de Chirico]

This has been an exactly right production. Hosted by me, Melita Cherico and produced by my co host Casey o'. Brien.

[Casey O'Brien]

This episode was mixed by Tom Bryfogel. Our associate producer is Christina Chamberlain, our guest booker is Patrick Cotner and our artwork is by Vanessa Lilac.

[Millie de Chirico]

Our incredible theme music is by the best band in the entire world, the Softies.

[Casey O'Brien]

Thank you to to our executive producers Karen Kilgariff, Georgia Hardstark, Daniel Kramer and Millie De Chirico. We love you. Goodbye.

[Amazon Customer Voice]

Amazon.

[Casey O'Brien]

Five Star Theater presents real customer reviews.

[Amazon Customer Voice]

Performed by Ed Helm. Tonight's review Tactical jacket. I was living a simple life.

[Casey O'Brien]

Didn't get out much.

[Amazon Customer Voice]

Then I bought this jacket and everything changed.

[Casey O'Brien]

Women came flocking to me from lands domestic and foreign.

[Millie de Chirico]

On the 245 day sailboat voyage home.

[Amazon Customer Voice]

I was attacked by a shark.

[Millie de Chirico]

I knew it was the jacket he.

[Amazon Customer Voice]

Was after giving up the Jack jacket in exchange for my life. 5 stars Amazon Customer 69. Shop the perfect gift this holiday on Amazon. What a matchup we got, y'.

[Casey O'Brien]

All.

[Amazon Customer Voice]

This is that classic HBCU vibe. Non stop action. The band is rocking and the crowd lit. Chance echo drum beat everybody showing that school pride. Game like this, yeah, it calls for an ice cold Coca Cola. Ah, crisp and refreshing. That's a game changer right there.

Yeah, that taste always hits the right note. Just like the band at halftime. And just like that, we're back at it. Passionate fans, school colors everywhere and an ice cold Coca Cola. That's a winning combo no matter the sport, no matter the yard. Everybody knows fan work is thirsty work. So grab a Coca Cola and keep that HBCU pride going. The day begins at the Chase Sapphire Lounge by the club at Boston Logan Airport. You get the clam chowder. In San Diego, it's Tostadas New York. Espresso Martini. It's 10am why not? It's the quiet before your next flight. The shower that resets your day. The menu that lets you know where you are. This is access to over 1300 airport lounges and every Sapphire Lounge by the college club. And one card that gets you in. Chase Sapphire Reserve, the most rewarding card.

[Bowen Yang]

Learn [e-mail] Sapphire Reserve cards issued by JP Morgan, Chase bank and a member.

[Casey O'Brien]

FDIC, subject to credit approval.