Mixed Bag

Ho ho ho said the Santa Claus baby! That's right, there's another gift under your tree, a BONUS Christmas episode with a new guest Ben Wilson! Playwright, actor and cinephile, Ben is a mega-fan of 2007's Fred Claus starring Vince Vaughn and Paul Giamatti! He loves it so much, he even learned how to play the soundtrack on piano. Fred Claus and Santa Claus have been estranged brothers for many years. Now Fred must reconcile his differences with his brother whom he believes overshadows him. When an efficiency expert assesses the workings at the North Pole and threatens to shut Santa down, Fred must help his brother to save Christmas. (Sourced from Letterboxd) Will Fred and Santa be able to resolve their differences? Can we stomach the appearance of a cursed actor or will it all fall apart like a House of Cards? And why IS there a Naughty List, Santa? Kind of a fucked up thing to create in the first place. All this and more in our bonus holiday episode!

Meri Kirihimete ya filthy animals! It's the holiday season so it's time to invite the Ghost of Christmas Pod, Lucas Neal! We're always down to catch a new release so we thought a recent Christmas movie, Red One (2024) would be the ticket, starring Chris Evans, J. K. Simmons and frequent Mixed Bag offender Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. After Santa Claus (codename: Red One) is kidnapped, the North Pole’s Head of Security must team up with the world’s most infamous tracker in a globe-trotting, action-packed mission to save Christmas. (Sourced from Letterboxd). Will the Fast & Furious-ification of the Christmas mythos be the trick for Lucas and the MB trio? Are you bold enough to call Head of Security an Elf instead of E.L.F? And where did Chris Evans go so wrong? Once again, huge thanks to Lucas for bringing the Christmas cheer to the pod!

Cass here filling in as the description writer. It would be so very Gen Z of me to just copy and paste the entire script of Bee Movie here in the description field, but I fear we may fuck up the podcast hosting website somehow by doing that. So, here it is, the Renee-sance (or is it Renee-zance?) coming to a close just before we hit our Christmas specials. For more of this nonsense, support us on Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/mixedbag [https://ko-fi.com/mixedbag] Leave us a review on Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/mixed-bag-904210 [https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/mixed-bag-904210] or on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/nz/podcast/mixed-bag/id1475762726 [https://podcasts.apple.com/nz/podcast/mixed-bag/id1475762726]

We're kicking off the Renee-ssaince in earnest after our lost episode last time, it's time to visit COLD MOUNTAIN. Directed by Anthony Minghella [https://letterboxd.com/director/anthony-minghella/] (The Talented Mr. Ripley, The English Patient) and starring Jude Law, Nicole and our focus of this mini series, Renee Zellweger, will this be a stirring epic or a significant snooze? In this classic story of love and devotion set against the backdrop of the American Civil War, a wounded Confederate soldier named W.P. Inman deserts his unit and travels across the South, aiming to return to his young wife, Ada, who he left behind to tend their farm. As Inman makes his perilous journey home, Ada struggles to keep their home intact with the assistance of Ruby, a mysterious drifter sent to help her by a kindly neighbor. Also featuring a murderer's row of supporting actors, will the trio be warmed by the mountain or left cold by its charms?

An update.