Bad Dads Film Review

Die Hard is the kind of “comfort violence” film that never gets old, and your recap hits basically every reason it works. A few extra bits worth calling out (because they’re the secret sauce): It’s a Christmas film for structural reasons, not vibes. McClane isn’t an action hero at the start — he becomes one. Hans Gruber is the real blueprint villain. actually seems like he has a planEllis is the most realistic character in the whole thing. goodThe Powell/McClane friendship is pure genius. And yes: a 24/7 Die Hard channel is basically the final form of Christmas television. Even if you don’t watch it, it’s reassuring that it exists, like a lighthouse for divorced dads and men in dressing gowns. You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad Dads

Homoeroticism, honour codes, and the least festive “Merry Christmas” ever recorded. This week’s pick looks like a seasonal warm hug by title alone, but it’s actually a POW-camp psychodrama where Christmas is basically just another opportunity for humiliation, beatings, and cultural misunderstanding. The core triangle Lawrence (Tom Conti):Celliers (David Bowie):Yonoi (Ryūichi Sakamoto):What the film is really doing This isn’t a “war movie” in the guns-and-heroics sense. It’s a study of shame and power: theirThe flashback that explains everything Celliers’ confession about failing to protect his younger brother (and the brutal boarding-school initiation) is where the film stops being “about the camp” and becomes “about the kind of violence men normalise.” That shame mirrors Yonoi’s shame. Different cultures, same wound. The moments you won’t forget mock executionChristmas scenepublic kissHara“Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence.” Verdict Not festive. Not cosy. Not easy. But brilliantly acted, quietly devastating, and still unusually forward-thinking in how it frames desire, masculinity, and shame without turning it into cheap scandal. If you want tinsel: watch Elf. If you want a Christmas film that leaves a bruise: this is the one. You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad Dads

Horns, Hostages, and Human Trafficking Santa – Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010) This week on Bad Dads Film Review, we go full Finland and unwrap a Christmas movie that answers the question nobody asked: what if Santa Claus wasn’t a jolly gift-giver, but an ancient, horned, child-snatching nightmare buried under a mountain? Our main feature is Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (dir. Jalmari Helander), a wintery sci-fi/horror-dark-comedy that feels like The Thing wandered into a folk tale, got frostbite, and decided to start a black-market Santa operation. The setup is instantly great: a US drilling team blasts into the Korvatunturi mountain and hits something that absolutely should not be thawed. Nearby, reindeer herders start finding their animals slaughtered, children begin disappearing, and weird petty theft spreads through the village — radios, hairdryers, potato sacks… all vanishing like some grim Advent calendar of doom. At the centre is young Pietari, a kid who’s convinced Santa is real… and that Santa is coming to punish him. While the adults argue about Russians, borders and compensation invoices, Pietari is reading ancient texts about a pagan “Santa” with horns, and building literal Home Alone-style defences because he thinks he’s next. Then things get properly deranged: a naked, feral old man is caught in a wolf trap baited with a pig’s head — and the locals start to suspect they’ve found Santa. Turns out they’ve found one of his helpers… and the rules are simple: no swearing, no aggression, no “bad behaviour”, because these elves replicate and escalate like gremlins with hypothermia. Suddenly it’s old, nude men everywhere, and the film leans into it with alarming confidence. The finale goes full Goonies-in-a-blizzard: helicopters, a reindeer pen used as a trap, kids in sacks as bait, dynamite in the ice, and a plan so insane it only works because everyone is too cold to argue. And then the ending swerves again — from folk-horror survival to capitalism speedrun — as the village realises the “elves” are worth money, hoses them down, trains them up, and ships them around the world as mall Santas in crates like festive livestock. It’s bizarre, dark, and very funny in a “wait… did they really just do that?” way. It’s not cosy. It’s not sweet. It is snowy, grim, inventive, and weirdly brilliant — with proper atmosphere, real faces, and a premise it commits to without winking at you. Strong recommend. You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad Dads

Sugar, Cheer, and Corporate Trauma – Elf (2003) This week on Bad Dads Film Review, we crack open a modern Christmas classic and ask the hard questions: how much maple syrup is too much maple syrup, and is Christmas cheer a viable alternative energy source? Our main feature is Elf (dir. Jon Favreau), the 2003 festive juggernaut that turned Will Ferrell into a full-blown Christmas institution. Ferrell plays Buddy, a human accidentally raised as an elf at the North Pole, who travels to New York to find his real father – a joyless publishing exec played with peak deadpan misery by James Caan. We get into: ElfWe also talk Elf on the Shelf fatigue, Christmas parenting arms races, and why forgetting to move a plastic elf at 6am is more stressful than most full-time jobs. Yes, the ending leans hard into mass sing-along cheer-powered magic. Yes, it’s shameless. But Elf earns it by committing fully to warmth, kindness, and the radical idea that being nice to people might actually matter. A rare Christmas movie that works for kids, parents, and deeply cynical adults who swear they “hate festive films” but somehow still quote this one every December. Strong recommend. You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad Dads

Fairs, Fixed Games, and Failed Backhands – Islands (2024) This week on Bad Dads Film Review, we’re off to the fair and then straight to the Canaries for a slow-burn midlife crisis with added camel corpse. We kick off with our Top 5 Fairs – everything from sinister funfairs and pleasure islands that definitely aren’t safeguarding-approved, to world expos, tunnel-of-love metaphors, and the sheer horror of Simply Red – Fairground lodging itself in your brain for days. Along the way there’s a rollercoaster quiz nobody asked for, Orson Welles on a Ferris wheel treating people like ants, and the usual detours into Bruce Springsteen, Brighton Rock, and Tom Hanks getting magically statutory in Big. Our main feature is Islands (dir. Jan-Ole Gerster), starring Sam Riley as a washed-up ex-tennis pro coasting through life as a resort coach in Fuerteventura. His days are a loop of hangovers, half-arsed lessons and meaningless flings… until a young British family arrive, bringing: We dig into: If you like your films low-voltage but tense, your characters deeply flawed, and your movie chat filthy, tangential and only loosely under control, this is a strong entry point into the pod. Hit play, take a swing, and see if you make it off Trash Island for grown-ups. You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad Dads

Isle of Dogs (2018) – Trash Island, pandemics, and very good boys In this episode of Bad Dads Film Review, we head to Wes Anderson’s stop-motion Japan for Isle of Dogs, a film where man’s best friend is dumped on a toxic wasteland by a fascist cat-loving dynasty, and the only person who gives a toss is a 12-year-old boy in a stolen plane. We follow Atari and his pack of exiled hounds – Chief, Rex, King, Duke and Boss – as they trek across Trash Island in search of Spots, the missing bodyguard dog who may or may not have become the stuff of cannibal legend. Along the way we get robot attack dogs, poison sushi, hacked kill-switches, and a haiku that brings a dictator to heel. We talk about Wes Anderson’s unmistakable style even in animation: the hyper-detailed sets, deadpan framing, fight scenes rendered as swirling dust clouds, and dogs whose fur moves like living sculptures. We dig into the cast (Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Scarlett Johansson), the film’s pandemic politics, propaganda and AI war-dogs, and the criticisms about cultural appropriation versus what feels like a pretty sincere love letter to Japanese cinema and design. There’s also time for the Bad Dads to confess their real-life dog feelings (ranging from “not a pet person” to “my dog is a tiny menace”), marvel at the sheer effort behind every two-second shot, and argue that Anderson’s animated films might be the best entry point for people who bounce off his live-action work. If you’re into: …this episode is a strong recommend and a good place to jump into the pod. You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad Dads

The Duellists (1977) & Top 5 Jewels – honour, obsession, and very stupid men with swords In this episode of Bad Dads Film Review, we kick things off with our Top 5 Jewels – a glittering mix of cursed stones, crime magnets and wildly impractical accessories. From the Pink Panther diamond and Uncut Gems’ black opal to Titanic’s Heart of the Ocean, Baz Luhrmann’s blinged-out Great Gatsby, Moana’s glowing heart of Te Fiti, and even that doomed chandelier in Only Fools and Horses, we rummage through cinema’s treasure box to see which jewels genuinely sparkle and which belong in Claire’s Accessories. Then it’s back to 1977 for Ridley Scott’s stunning directorial debut, The Duellists. Harvey Keitel and Keith Carradine play two French officers locked into a 15–year feud that starts over a petty slight and escalates into a lifelong obsession. We get into: There’s also the usual Bad Dads nonsense: road-trip chat, Christmas hats in December, grumbling about “live-action everything” culture, and a detour into glass onions, murder mysteries and moving house back pain. If you like: …then this is a perfect episode to jump into the pod. You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad Dads

A nameless truck, an everyday salesman, and 90 minutes of pure escalation: this episode is all about Steven Spielberg’s debut feature, Duel (1971). We talk through how a simple setup – Dennis Weaver’s mild-mannered David Mann driving to a routine meeting – turns into a relentless nightmare when he’s targeted by a grimy tanker truck that seems less like a vehicle and more like a stalking predator. From suburban driveways to dusty California highways, we track every swerve, near–miss, and increasingly desperate decision as a casual overtake turns into a life-or-death duel on the road. Along the way we get into: Road rage and paranoiaThe truck as a characterMinimal cast, maximum tensionSet-pieces that still workSpielberg’s emerging styleProduction triviaIf you like tight, stripped-back thrillers, if you’ve ever shouted at another driver, or if you’re curious to hear three dads pick apart early Spielberg craft as much as they laugh about it, this is a good place to jump into the podcast. You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad Dads

Frankenstein (2025) – Tech bros, trauma, and a super-horny monster movie on Netflix Mary Shelley by way of Guillermo del Toro feels almost too perfect, and Frankenstein (2025) absolutely leans into that match-up: lush Gothic sets, grotesque body horror, tender fairytale beats, and a very modern anxiety about people who build things they can’t control. In this episode, the Bad Dads dig into Netflix’s lavish new take on the classic, framed in the icy Arctic as Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac) and his Creature retell their shared nightmare from two sides. Along the way we get abusive fathers, creepy power dynamics, “18th-century tech bro” energy, and more limb-sawing than is probably healthy for a school night. We also talk about how weird it is that this $120m movie technically “bombed” at the box office but only because it was dumped into cinemas for a week to qualify for Oscars, and what that says about modern streaming, awards campaigning and how success is measured now. In the episode we cover: If you like your horror Gothic, your monsters tragic, and your movie chat equal parts thoughtful and filthy, this is a good jumping-on point. Hit play, hear us argue about runtime, thirst over Oscar Isaac, side-eye Mia Goth, and decide for yourself whether this Frankenstein is a modern classic or just an overbuilt monster. You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad Dads

Arnold Schwarzenegger in a yellow jumpsuit, a murderous game show, and more terrible puns than should be legal – this week we’re diving into The Running Man (1987). Set in the far-flung future of… 2017, the film drops Arnie into a fascist police state where the government keeps the masses quiet with a wildly popular TV bloodsport. Framed as the “Butcher of Bakersfield,” helicopter pilot Ben Richards is forced onto The Running Man, a gladiatorial game show hosted by the gloriously slimy Damon Killian. Contestants are hunted by cartoonishly lethal “Stalkers” – Subzero, Buzzsaw, Dynamo, Fireball and Captain Freedom – while the state-run network lies, edits, and fakes everything to keep the ratings high. We break down: The dystopia that arrived on time:Arnie at full one-liner power:The Stalkers as 80s boss fights:Killian and the cult of TV personalities:From Stephen King to Saturday-night carnage:If you grew up on 80s action, misremember this as a Verhoeven movie, or just want to hear three dads argue over whether this is genius satire or glorious trash, this one’s for you. Hit play to hear us revisit exploding neck collars, terrible future fashion, and why, for all its flaws, The Running Man is still an easy strong recommend. You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad Dads

You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! Christopher Walken, Larry Fishburne, and Abel Ferrara’s moral abyss of a movie. This week, the dads descend into King of New York, the neon-slick crime drama that turns Manhattan into a fever dream of violence, power, and warped justice. Walken plays Frank White, a freshly released drug lord who wants to “give back” — but only by murdering every rival and funding a hospital with blood money. His crew? Mostly Black. His moral compass? Bent beyond repair. His dance moves? Still pure Walken. What we cover Crime and capitalism:The Walken mystique:Larry Fishburne’s “Jimmy Jump”:Cops vs crooks:Ferrara’s vision:The politics of power:The ending:Why listen? Because it’s peak Bad Dads territory: a film that’s stylish, sleazy, and morally bankrupt, yet impossible to look away from. We argue about whether Frank’s warped Robin Hood act has any truth to it, trade notes on 1990s cop-movie chaos, and try to work out how this didn’t end every actor’s career. 🎧 Press play for a deep dive into Ferrara’s urban hellscape — all pulse, no conscience — and stick around for the laughs, tangents, and the lads’ own King of Jersey ambitions. We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad Dads

You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! Terrence Malick’s debut gets the Bad Dads treatment. We dive into the cool, clinical menace of Martin Sheen’s James-Dean-by-way-of-the-Midwest and Sissy Spacek’s fairytale-flat voiceover that makes murder sound like homework. What the episode covers The real-world shadow:BadlandsNebraskaVibes and visuals:That score you’ve “heard before”:True RomanceKit & Holly, de-romanticised:Malick’s tone game:American Dream, skewered:Law tangent, modern lens:Should you listen? Yes. If you like films that look beautiful while making you feel morally grubby, this one’s prime. We keep it sharp: craft, context, and a few savage laughs at the myth of outlaw romance. 🎧 Hit play for a tight, provocative chat that’ll have you rewatching Badlands with fresh eyes—and side-eyeing anyone who calls it a love story. We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad Dads

You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! Starship Troopers (1997): Would you like to know more? We’re suiting up for Paul Verhoeven’s gloriously un-subtle space satire—where propaganda pops like bubblegum, the bugs aren’t the dumb ones, and “service guarantees citizenship.” We talk giant arachnids, bigger egos, and why so many people somehow missed the joke. What we cover The Federal Network effect:Rico’s journey:Co-ed everything:Verhoeven’s satire dialled to 11:meantEffects that hold up:The brain bug finale:Book vs film:Why this episode? Because it’s a perfect “did you get it?” movie—one that works as a pulpy bug-hunt and as a razor-sharp critique. We go deep but keep it rowdy: football flips, knife tricks, Ironside growls, and the most cursed workplace shower chat in cinema. 🎧 New to Bad Dads? This is a great entry point: big laughs, big ideas, zero homework. Hit play, do your part, and join Rico’s Roughnecks (temporarily). We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad Dads

You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! In this episode, we wade into Chinatown — a sun-bleached noir where water is power, everyone’s lying, and the system wins. We talk Jack Nicholson’s bandaged nose, Faye Dunaway’s glass-shard fragility, John Huston’s all-time villainy, and that ending that still guts you. Yes, we address the director caveat up front; then we focus on what’s on screen: A precision-engineered thriller that never wastes a line, a clue, or a cut. What we cover Why “Chinatown”?Follow the water:Noir done right:Iconic moments:Performances:The ethics disclaimer:Context chats:The Godfather Part IIShould you watch it? If you like your mysteries tidy and comforting, this isn’t that. If you want clockwork plotting, glorious craft, and a finish that lingers… it’s essential. We’re candid, a bit feral, and very fun about it. 🎧 New here? Hit play for our no-fluff, high-spirit deep dive, stick around for listener noms and the usual Top-5 chaos. This is why people love movies — and why some endings still haunt the living daylights out of you. We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad Dads

You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! In this week’s episode we dive into Better Man, Michael Gracey’s glossy Robbie Williams biopic — the one where Robbie is portrayed as a CGI chimp. Yes, really. It’s a bold swing that reframes a familiar music-biopic arc with unexpected bite: boy-band manufacture, burnout, reinvention, and the messy business of becoming “Robbie” when “Robert” is still in the room. What we cover The Big Swing:Factory Settings:Take ThatOasis Years & Networth Fever:KnebworthDad, Demons & Dopamine:Does the Film Sing?“Rock DJ”Should you watch the film — and our take on it? Short answer: yes to our episode (obviously), and qualified yes to the movie. One of us calls the chimp choice inspired, one calls it clever but not essential, and one is just happy it’s never dull. If you like spirited disagreement with actual reasons, you’re in the right feed. 🎧 Hit play for sharp chat, zero reverence, and plenty of laughs. If you’re new here, stick around after the review for our trademark Top-5 chaos and listener shout-outs. We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad Dads

You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! Chimp genius or 70s hubris in a suede jacket? We dive into James Marsh’s Project Nim—the wild “let’s raise a chimp as a human” saga aimed at dunking on Noam/“Nim” Chomsky and proving apes can master language. What we actually get: sex-commune vibes, bad science, worse ethics, and one heartbreakingly charismatic chimp shunted between indulgent “parents,” media circuses, and grim laboratories. We talk: Language vs mimicry:The ‘parents’:The professor:LEMSIP hell:BobViolence & inevitability:Ethics, then and now:Bits that floored us OedipalhorsesVerdict (Bad Dads split decision) Fascinating, infuriating, essential—a five-alarm case study in how not to do science. Watch it, rage at it, then argue about animal testing like we did. We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad Dads

You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! The Ballad of Wallis Island This week, the dads swapped blockbusters for something quieter, sadder, and sneakily hilarious: The Ballad of Wallis Island, the melancholic comedy starring Tim Key, Tom Basden, and Carey Mulligan. In a remote Welsh idyll, a lonely lottery winner (Key) invites his favourite long-lost folk duo to reunite and perform a private gig just for him. What follows is a beautifully awkward, bittersweet exploration of nostalgia, grief, and the impossibility of recapturing the past — with an emotional gut punch that sneaks up on you like a hangover. We talk: 🎸 Folk, fame, and failure – Tom Basden’s grumpy has-been musician trying to relaunch himself as a pop star, and the ex-bandmate (Mulligan) who’s outgrown him. 💔 Love, loss, and lanterns – Tim Key’s lonely optimism, his message to his late wife, and that heart-crushing scene on the beach. 💬 Killer one-liners – Key’s nervous chatter, the rice-pudding phone fix, and the island shop that offers peanut butter and a cup instead of Reese’s. 🎶 Music that matters – The climactic performance of “The Ballad of Wallis Island,” a scene that hits harder than most Oscar speeches. We also covered: 🏘️ Top 5 Neighbours – From Rear Window and The ’Burbs to Ned Flanders, Sid Phillips, and Gran Torino’s Walt Kowalski. 💬 Cultural crossfire – Why neighbourly relations cause more wars than parking disputes, and which of us is most likely to start one. Verdict: A quietly devastating gem that blends dry British humour with genuine emotional weight. If After Life met Inside Llewyn Davis and went bird-watching in Wales, this would be it. 🎧 Listen now for laughter, melancholy, and maybe a tear or two. We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad Dads

You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! Neighbours — Episode 234 (Charlene’s Debut) We dove back into Ramsay Street for a pure hit of Aussie soap nostalgia: Neighbours ep. 234, a.k.a. the first-ever appearance of Charlene (a tiny, feral Kylie Minogue) breaking into a house and into British hearts. Why this episode slaps Iconic entrance:Charlene!Peak mullet era:Budget telly charm:boom mic cameoDaphne’s Café drama:Paul RobinsonMax’s feelings summit:Faces you forgot were here Guy PearceJason DonovanStats & trivia Aired (AU):Aired (UK):Episodes on IMDb:Verdict Still daft, still cozy, still weirdly gripping. The fashion is a hate crime and the production is held together with gaffer tape, but the charisma-to-cost ratio remains undefeated. Strong recommend. Now hum the theme tune and pretend you didn’t. We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad Dads

You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! The dads return to their spiritual home — the grimy, neon-lit world of A24 — for Love Lies Bleeding, a wild, sweaty, steroid-soaked crime-romance from director Rose Glass (Saint Maud). Kristen Stewart plays Lou, a gym manager in a desert backwater who falls for Jackie (Katy O’Brien), a drifter and aspiring bodybuilder built like a Marvel origin story. Their chemistry is instant, their passion feral — and before long, they’re injecting more than just steroids together. But this love story’s laced with violence, paranoia, and one truly astonishing haircut courtesy of Ed Harris, who turns up as Lou’s gun-running, morally bankrupt father. What starts as a moody lesbian love story morphs into a pulpy, blood-spattered nightmare involving abusive husbands, bent cops, and a ravine full of bodies. By the time the steroids kick in and tempers boil over, the film swerves between Thelma & Louise, The Hulk, and Natural Born Killers — complete with a finale that’s part emotional catharsis, part literal giant woman. We get into: 💉 A24’s obsession with body horror and desire — and why this one might be their sweatiest yet. 🏋️‍♀️ Katy O’Brien’s powerhouse performance — raw, unhinged, and oddly tender. 🩸 That Ed Harris look — half-monk, half-madman, all-time bad haircut. ❤️ The film’s amoral heart — lovers, killers, victims… and no clean heroes. 🎬 The ending — is it metaphor, madness, or just an all-timer in WTF cinema moments? It’s violent, sexy, absurd, and oddly moving — everything you want from an A24 fever dream. The dads argue about symbolism, marvel at Kristen Stewart’s brooding brilliance, and admit they’d probably still watch Love Lies Bleeding 2: The Pumpening. 🎧 Listen now for blood, lust, bodybuilding, and the film that turns love into a contact sport. We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad Dads

You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! This week, the dads head down under for Chopper — the semi-biographical crime film that introduced the world to Eric Bana’s raw, terrifying range. Directed by Andrew Dominik (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford), it tells the story of Mark “Chopper” Read, Australia’s most notorious criminal, self-mythologising psychopath and folk hero rolled into one. Part prison horror, part dark comedy, Chopper opens with its antihero stabbing a rival inmate 15 times for crossing a line, and somehow only escalates from there. Over 90 intense minutes, we follow his chaotic life of stabbings, betrayals, botched kidnappings and baffling logic — punctuated by moments of grim humour and unexpected lucidity. In this episode we get into: 🔪 Eric Bana’s breakout performance — from TV comic to one of the most menacing, magnetic screen presences of the 2000s. 🏛️ Fact vs. fiction — how the real Chopper blurred truth and myth, and how much of this film you can actually believe. 🩸 Violence as character study — how brutality in Chopper veers between horrifying, absurd, and disturbingly funny. 🧠 The psychology of Mark Read — narcissism, paranoia, and why he thought he was doing the police a favour. 🎤 Post-prison celebrity — the bizarre Australian fascination with Chopper’s later life as a TV guest, writer, and stand-up act. It’s one of those episodes where you find yourself laughing, then immediately questioning why. Chopper is as funny as it is disturbing — and the Bad Dads dig into every contradiction of its violent, charismatic subject. 🎧 Listen in for brutal quotes, absurd anecdotes (“look what you made me do”), and why Eric Bana risked his sanity to play a man who once cut off his own ears just to get moved to another prison. We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad Dads