Podbit · The Rest Is Entertainment
Tarantino declared there have been no good films since the pandemic. Marina Hyde and Richard Osman push back — cheerfully, with their own top-3 lists. The real issue isn't whether good films exist; it's why Tarantino's provocation spawned a thousand lists and what that reveals about how media now works.
Where this was said
At 41:00 · chapter starts 35:30
Marina Hyde crystallises the paradox: Andy Burnham can be authentic about his record collection, but the moment he becomes Prime Minister he is the figurehead of a system, and coolness requires precisely the outsider status and ability to dream impossible dreams that politics forces you to surrender. The 'art of the possible' is definitively not cool [1] — Marina Hyde "Even authentic cultural interests become liabilities for politicians the moment they're perceived as calculated. Keir Starmer genuinely lov…" 35:30 . Richard Osman pivots to ask whether any politician has ever cleared the bar, landing on Barack Obama as the strongest candidate: his annual curated music lists featuring Kendrick Lamar, Chappell Roan, Rosalía, and Burna Boy are genuinely impressive — but almost too perfectly curated, raising the question of how many hands shaped them [2] — Marina Hyde "Marina Hyde recounts asking Nigel Farage his favourite film — and discovering he couldn't recall the title of any film at all, eventually s…" 37:00 . Marina Hyde's counter-example is devastating: she once interviewed Nigel Farage and asked his favourite film, only to discover he could not recall the title of any film whatsoever. He eventually landed on Love Actually only after she supplied the name of Richard Curtis, and she is certain that Love Actually is not his favourite film. The anecdote becomes a meditation on the difference between having zero cultural hinterland (Farage) and a rich but politically undeployable one (Burnham, Starmer). The conclusion: 'if Barack Obama is not cool, then it is impossible for a politician to be cool.'
Even authentic cultural interests become liabilities for politicians the moment they're perceived as calculated. Keir Starmer genuinely loves football but barely mentions it — because the public now assumes any cultural reference is a focus-group play. Authenticity is the most important quality, and also the easiest to destroy.
Marina Hyde recounts asking Nigel Farage his favourite film — and discovering he couldn't recall the title of any film at all, eventually settling on Love Actually only after she supplied the director's name. The anecdote crystallises what she sees as a complete absence of genuine cultural life.
Richard Osman argues Obama is the most credible candidate for a cool politician — with genuinely extraordinary curated music lists featuring Kendrick Lamar, Chappell Roan, and Rosalía. But the curation is so perfect it raises its own questions. If even Obama isn't quite cool, no politician ever will be.
The entire plot of the original Terminator film depends on the phone book. The Terminator looks up 'Sarah Connor,' finds multiple listings, and starts killing them one by one. No phone book, no movie.
Rico has already appeared in Den of Thieves, Den of Thieves 2, and Roadhouse alongside Jake Gyllenhaal and Dave Bautista. Jason Statham is developing a specific role for him. Working alongside elite actors taught Rico something about himself: the emotional suppression that makes him a great fighter is exactly the material that makes great acting — if he learns to stop pushing it away.
Trump joked that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. personally ran over, butchered, and delivered the evening's beef tenderloin to the dinner — then topped it with a punchline about RFK wanting to serve raccoon roadkill as an appetizer. The crowd's laughter at jokes targeting his own administration signaled a rare night of good-natured self-deprecation from Trump.
Jimmy Tatro is playing the nemesis-son to Will Ferrell's washed-up golfer in The Hawk, his fifth project with Ferrell and Ferrell's first lead TV series. The real highlight: Molly Shannon, playing his on-screen mother, drove off set on the last day with Chief Keef blasting from her subwoofers.
Alan Ritchson walked into a Thor audition with his sides still in his hand, half-assed it on a spotlight-lit stage before two silhouettes in a dark theater, and bombed so completely that the casting director broke protocol to call his team. The feedback? He had no craft. That one sentence sent him to acting school — and changed the trajectory of everything.
Alan Ritchson walked out of his Titans audition so sure he'd booked the lead that he called his wife and told her he was going to buy a Tesla. She said he hadn't booked it. He went and bought the car anyway. His instincts were right — he was offered the role — just not the one he wanted.
Reacher drew 56 million global viewers in a single week of Season 2. Alan Ritchson points out what makes it unusual: unlike ensemble shows, almost all of that visibility lands on one person. It's an anthology with a rotating cast built around a single titular character — and the scale of it is something even he calls unprecedented.
Motor City has no spoken dialogue. Every major leading man in Hollywood — Jake Gyllenhaal, Hugh Jackman, Gerard Butler, Adrian Brody — was attached at some point. It was greenlit nine times. The concept was simple: Greg Silverman wanted a film everyone in the world could watch with the exact same experience, regardless of language. Alan Ritchson read the script and called it a masterpiece.
Working with Arnold Schwarzenegger showed Alan Ritchson what 100% recognition looks like. People feel Schwarzenegger before they see him — like a meteor approaching. Alan's wife wants a strict no-photos policy around family. Arnold stops for everyone. The contrast was a master class in how gratitude should manifest when fame is inescapable.
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