Mixed Bag

74 - But I’m a Cheerleader ft Aimee Smith

It's Pride Month in America and we thought we'd invite along an incredible guest, Aimee Smith, wave our colourful flags and watch the lesbian cult film But I'm a Cheerleader (1999) starring Natasha Lyonne, Clea DuVall, RuPaul and New Zealand's own Melanie Lynskey!

"Megan is an all-American girl. A cheerleader. She has a boyfriend. But Megan doesn’t like kissing her boyfriend very much. And she’s pretty touchy with her cheerleader friends. Her conservative parents worry that she must be a lesbian and send her off to “sexual redirection” school, where she must, with other lesbians and gays learn how to be straight." 

Join Matt, James, Cass and Aimee as they take a look at one of the very few lesbian rom-coms and determine whether our squad should be cheering or cringing. Whatever we land on,
🏳️‍🌈 Happy Pride! Keep being fabulous 💋

73 - Top Gun

I feel the need... the need for speed!

With TOP GUN: MAVERICK being a colossal hit in the Box Office, the Mixed Bag team decided to visit the original, a film none of them had seen.

They were not familiar with such iconic names as Iceman, Jocker and Goose. We truly were in for a treat. Did James, Cass and Matt enjoy the homoeroticism of this Tony Scott classic? What about the propaganda for the military? And while this film can easily be awarded a Top Gun, does it deserve a bag or a biff?

72 - The Great Gatsby

*a gentle whisper* Gatsby...

It's the final episode of 'All That Baz!' (for now...) it's 2013's The Great Gatsby!

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio in one of his final boyish charm roles, Tobey Maguire as pining Nick Carraway, Carey Mulligan as Daisy Buchanan, Joel Edgerton as her hubby Tom and THE TALLEST WOMAN ALIVE Elizabeth Debicki as Jordan Baker.

Chuck on that green light and get borne back ceaselessly into the past with another Mixed Bag...

71 - Moulin Rouge

There was a Baz, a very strange enchanted Baz…

It’s our 75th episode and we’re celebrating with another one of our original picks when we first created this podcast, a film that truly represents the term All That Baz, Moulin Rouge!

Made in 2001 with Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman, Moulin Rouge’s impact on culture was indelible. But is it any good?

Twenty-one years later, Cass, Matt and James turn their eye towards the frenetic, cringe and zany world of the Moulin Rouge and try to determine if we’ll love this until our dying day, come what may, or is it more than we can stand? (ugh such a roxanne). There’s only one way to find out listeners…

 

1:40 - Popcorner

26:01 - Feature Presentation & All That Baz Intro

42:16 - Most Visually Pleasing (Hot Butter)

1:40:25 - Bag or Biff

70 - Australia

*Extremely stereotypical larrikin voice*

'STRAYA!

We've got dingos, we've got shrimp on barbies and we called over Hugh and Nicole to do a bit of the ol' pretend!

It's the first episode of All That Baz with his 2008 epic Australia. Available now on Disney+

Set in northern Australia before World War II, an English aristocrat who inherits a sprawling ranch reluctantly pacts with a stock-man in order to protect her new property from a takeover plot. As the pair drive 2,000 head of cattle over unforgiving landscape, they experience the bombing of Darwin by Japanese forces firsthand. (Sourced from Letterboxd)

00:00 - Start
04:23 - Pop Corner
34:37 - Feature Presentation
45:32 - MVP (Hot Butter)
1:27:14 - Pinocchio tangent
1:32:34 - Bag or Biff

69 - Breakfast at Tiffany’s

What's that?! A film before the early 00s?!

Here at Mixed Bag we realised we had some recent movie bias so we're going back in time to the swinging 60s, where the fashion was chic, the love was free (debatably) and Breakfast was at Tiffany's.

It's also where white men felt a lot more comfortable donning makeup and performing yellowface.

Can this smash hit starring Audrey Hepburn, adapted from a short story by Truman Capote overcome its elephant in the room? And will they ever find a name for Cat?

Note: This was recorded in advance on the day of the Oscars, obviously many takes and actions have occurred since then, so treat this as our immediate reactions to the event that people can't and will not stop talking about.

And congratulations to James and Cass who, when this airs, will now be married! 🎉

68 - Green Book

🎉 Happy Oscars Day! 🎉

In keeping with the theme of those little gold men, we're going back to 2018's Green Book and dissecting whether this Best Picture winner was deserving of the top spot and if not, how bad or mixed is it really?

Just like this podcast, this movie was "inspired by a true friendship". Don't know the movie, he's the rundown (thanks to Letterboxd)

Tony Lip, a bouncer in 1962, is hired to drive pianist Don Shirley on a tour through the Deep South in the days when African Americans, forced to find alternate accommodations and services due to segregation laws below the Mason-Dixon Line, relied on a guide called The Negro Motorist Green Book.

Catch the team's reactions to the movie and their Oscar chat ahead of tonight's awards. So grab some KFC (perhaps for the first time?) and dive into the book.

67 - The Spongebob Squarepants Movie - ft Catherine Gavigan-Binnie

*French accent* Ahh the podcast. Where dedicated listeners form a parasocial relationship to disembodied voices who chat in week in, week out.

But this is no ordinary week, this episode we're joined by Catherine Gavigan-Binnie to chat about the movie adaptation of The Spongebob Squarepants Movie! 

Made in 2004 and marking the end of series creator Stephen Hillenburg's run with Spongebob, the Spongebob series holds a soft spot for many, but does the sponge's first foray into films represent a series high or a bikini bottom? Don't miss Catherine's wonderful chat with Cass, Matt and James as they unpack beloved childhood TV and whether the rubber hits the road in this unconventional road movie.

66 - Cloud Atlas

"There are whole movements I wrote, imagining us meeting again and again, in different lives, different ages..."

The time has come, we're finally covering the Wachowskis.

Directed by Lana & Lilly Wachowski and Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run, Perfume) Cloud Atlas is... well... what is it? Over to you Letterboxd description!

"A set of six nested stories spanning time between the 19th century and a distant post-apocalyptic future. Cloud Atlas explores how the actions and consequences of individual lives impact one another throughout the past, the present and the future. Action, mystery and romance weave through the story as one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero and a single act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution in the distant future."

Exactly, that was on the tip of my tongue. Featuring Halle Berry, Tom Hanks, Jim Sturgess, Ben Whishaw, Doona Bae, Jim Broadbent, James D'Arcy, Hugo Weaving, Hugh Grant, Susan Sarandon, Keith David and a ton of yellow face, the epic sag sees each actor apply significant amount of prosthetics and their best stab at accents to reappear as different characters in timelines, race and gender be damned.

Landing on both Best and Worst lists on its release, Cloud Atlas has always been polarising. The question is, where do the Mixed Bag crew land?

65 - Cruel Intentions

69

(nice)

(OK so technically we're only on 65 episodes because of some reuploads and a promo ep for Apocalypse Songs but Podbean told us it was 69 and we recorded a whole episode about 69, so you're getting episode 69)

It's time for some late 90s Cruel Intentions, babyyyy.