Diminishing Returns

First up: vote for Sol's iHeart podcast pilot, Development Hell, at nextgreatpodcast.com Now then... tying into the upcoming release of Pixar's Soul, we let Patreon select a Pixar film for us to cover on the show. They went with Monsters, Inc., so here we are.

First of all, head over to https://nextgreatpodcast.tongal.com and vote for Sol's new podcast pilot, Development Hell, to go to series at iHeartRadio! (It's nothing to do with that previous Development Hell show). Then you can listen to this week's episode with a clean conscience as Sol repeatedly begs you to go and vote in between discussing Con Air with Allen and preparing/eating his dinner. Yep, this week's episode is a bit of a shambles. But it's a Nicolas Cage film so that's appropriate.

In a move we bet nobody saw coming, Diminishing Returns brings you its first Christopher Guest episode!

After three weeks of zombie movies, SpongeBob and the worst James Bond movie ever made, it's about time Diminishing Returns got stuck into something a bit high-brow for a change. That's why we gave our Patrons the option to select a film off the American Film Institute's list of greatest movies ever made. Thankfully, they chose Citizen Kane, which also ties into the upcoming release of David Fincher's Mank, so here we are!

It's the end of the Pierce Brosnan era! Die Another Day is famously Sol and Allen's go-to answer to "worst James Bond movie of all time". Does it live up (down?) to the hype? As usual, Calvin is on hand to try and keep them in check.

Tying into the UK-release of Sponge On the Run, the third SpongeBob SquarePants movie, we're covering the previous two SpongeBob SquarePants movies, which is going to be interesting to say Allen has never seen a single episode of the series before...

The final, most Halloweeny part of this year's three-part Halloween special takes a look at our two remaining George A. Romero zombie movies: 1985's Day of the Dead and 2005's Land of the Dead. We also touch on Taurus Entertainment's continued attempts to draw blood from a stone.

This year's three-part Diminishing Returns Halloween special continues with the next two movies in George A. Romero's "Of the Dead" zombie franchise: Survival of the Dead and Dawn of the Dead. We take a look at Zack Snyder's 2004 remake, too.

Diminishing Returns are going big for Halloween, this year, with a three-part "Podcast of Horror" special! We've been wanting to cover George A. Romero's "Of the Dead" zombie franchise for years, now, but we've finally found a solid place to fit them all in in a way that can do them justice. Looking at the films in the order of their internal chronology, we're starting, this week, with Night of the Living Dead, its hundreds of remakes and Diary of the Dead.

It's a particularly exciting week for Diminishing Returns - not because of the films we're covering (definitely not). No, it's an exciting week because we're joined by the one and only Jeff Davis to discuss all things Teen Wolf, including its transition from a questionable Michael J. Fox vehicle into a sexy, teen-drama series on MTV.

Murder, murder, murder! In a Diminishing Returns first (not counting that Diminisode where we covered Knives Out), we take a look at a murder mystery movie! It's Murder on the Orient Express, taking aim at the 1974 Sidney Lumet film starring Albert Finney as Hercule Poirot and the 2017 Kenneth Branagh version in anticipation of its sequel, Death on the Nile, which was due out this week but has since been delayed until December. We considered delaying this episode but figured we couldn't be bothered. Also covered are the 2001 Alfred Molina version, the 2010 episode of the Poirot TV series and the 2015 Japanese version.

We had arguably the most exciting episode of Diminishing Returns yet all lined up, but our special guest had to postpone at the 11th hour, leaving us scrambling for content. We popped on One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and two and a half hours later, we recorded this: an unusually impromptu edition of the podcast. Fret not, though, because we have yet another incredibly special guest coming up two weeks from now...

What is this, a crossover episode? Diminishing Returns are joined by How Didn't This Get Made? (who, confusingly, were going by "Development Hell" when this was recorded), the brand-new podcast from Sol Harris and Conor Murray that examines the history of movie projects that never got made. Why? To examine one of the most infamous cases of a film that nearly never got made, but eventually fought its way out of Development Hell, only to finally make its way up and onto the big screen: Watchmen. Is there a legitimate place for Zack Synder? Where does the film fit into the DC universe now that The Flash is going to go all Spider-Verse on us? Is the #SnyderCut better? All this and more in this week's edition of Diminishing Returns / How Didn't This Get Made?! Find How Didn't This Get Made? on Apple Podcasts, here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/development-hell/id1531690420 Or just search for them on your podcast provider!

In an effort to make the show more woke, Definitely-Not-Racist Liam Neeson takes a look at some never-before-heard, deleted moments from previous Diminishing Returns recording sessions.

It's finally here: Diminishing Returns doing a Nicolas Cage episode! If you've never seen (or heard) of Vampire's Kiss, don't let that put you off as we're going to hold your hand through what is quite an obscure relic. Audio clips abound, along with a Nic Cage quiz and the birth of a new phrase, destined for the Oxford English Dictionary: "Cinematic Concealism".

Bill & Ted Face the Music is finally upon us, after years (followed by additional months of delay-based) waiting! To mark this most excellent of occasions, Sol and Allen are joined by Gareth to discuss Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey.

It's the surprise return of #CalvinsSharks, the poorly named sub-series of Diminishing Returns episode where Calvin makes us cover shark movies! Except this time, it's Allen making Calvin do it. "It" being Jason Statham vehicle The Meg. Why? Well, you name another shark movie worth doing that we haven't already covered...

We're whizzing through the James Bond franchise because what else is there to do in 2020 but watch old movies? This time, it's The World Is Not Enough. Is this finally the film to win over Sol and Allen? Obviously not, but it's a funny journey, we promise.

Christopher Nolan Season comes to a thrilling and much-better-thought-through conclusion than The Dark Knight Rises with this: "The Christopher Nolan Season Rises", a look at the third Nolan Batman movie, Interstellar and an in-depth look at Dunkirk (following us touching on it in our 2018 Oscars episode, where we covered all of the Best Picture nominees). Gareth Allen joins us to lend a third voice among the split opinions that dominate this episode.

Diminishing Returns continue their exploration of Christopher Nolan's filmography with the help of Emily Slade, on hand to guide them through The Prestige, The Dark Knight and Inception.