Talk and Beans

Episode #115 is the final part of our Halloween Spectacular 2025 and it's a time to focus on this year's movie, Addams Family Values.Scott and Tom talk about the sequel continuing the theme of great casting, enjoying the family dynamics, some very voilent moments, highlighting the Thanksgiving story, the great use of the camp leaders, some uncomfortable gags, and Morticia's solo lighting.Plus, the Michael Jackson collabortaion we missed out on and discussion about Addams Family Reunion. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #114 is the first part of our Halloween Spectacular 2025, and is the tenth annual Halloween Special. Scott and Tom talk about how to eat a pumpkin, the tradition of graveside picnics, Tom (sort of) meeting Poirot to look at his holiday snaps, two new ghostly experiences, and the boys learn about guising.Plus, Tom tells Scott about his new favourite TV show and shocks him with news of a sweet he's never tried. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #113 is the final part of our Christmas Spectacular 2024 and it's a time to focus on this year's movie, Violent Night.Scott and Tom talk about it's clever use of the "Bad Santa" cliche, the weird but lovable family, the mixture of good and bad sets, the use of Santa's magic and unexpected backstory, the bad guy's motive, the effect of shocking violence within the context of the genre, and the fantastic use of tributes to Home Alone and Die Hard.Plus, Why it's hard for a movie to become a Christmas classic in the modern era, and Scott realises something about a famous Christmas tradition. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #112 of Talk and Beans is the ninth annual Christmas Special and Part One of our Christmas Spectacular 2024. Scott and Tom talk about unconventional Christmas colour schemes, ignorant Trafalgar Square tree outrage, Coca-Cola’s controversial AI adverts, Victorian era Christmas traditions, a deeper dive into the etymology of Reindeer names, the recent resurgence in love for 90s “tacky” decorations, and a continuation of our Christmas quiz!Plus, Tom comes clean about how much his Home Alone Lego set cost and updates us on it's festive decorations. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #111 is the final part of our Halloween Spectacular 2024 and it's a time to focus on this year's movie, The Addams Family.Scott and Tom talk about it's incredible casting, the family's lore, memorable performances, use of the 90s culture, confusing plot lines, childhood memories surrounding the film, and why Gomez and Morticia are a great example of true love.Plus, Tom delivers an unexpected shock to Scott and the boys dig into some movie trivia. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #110 is the first part of our Halloween Spectacular 2024 and is the ninth annual Halloween Special. Scott and Tom talk about the best methods to eat certain sweet treats, enjoying the world of Agatha Christie's Poirot, going to a Halloween parade, finding more spooky rodents, Scott gets angry about sweetcorn and wants to know about Tom's experience of the build up to Halloween in Portugal.Plus, the boys find more gold in the weird Halloween questionnaire from last year's special and discuss owning a fancy dress shop. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #109 is the final part of our Christmas Spectacular 2023 and it‘s all about the time The Grinch wreaked havoc in Whoville.Scott and Tom talk about Jim Carrey’s strong performance, the film’s emotional message, hidden adult jokes, pacing issues, using source material and Taylor Momsen’s work as a child actor.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #108 of Talk and Beans is the eighth annual Christmas Special and Part One of our Christmas Spectacular 2023. Scott and Tom talk about viral Grinch videos, experiencing Home Alone with a live orchestra, international traditions, and light displays in London vs Essex. The boys also take part in a quiz where they learn about the origins of eggnog, attempt to do some festive maths and discover the confusing history of reindeer names.Plus, Scott falls in love with a new piece of winter clothing and a versatile Christmas decoration. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #107 is the final part of our Halloween Spectacular 2023 and it's a time to focus on the silly side of spooky season with a look back at Hocus Pocus.Scott and Tom talk about it's "straight to the point" pacing, it's use of historical Salem, the fun way characters interact with the modern day, the loser bully characters, confusing scenes and writing decisions.Plus, Scott has a few problems with Thackery and Tom is concerned about bumping into the dodgy bus driver. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #106 is the first part of our Halloween Spectacular 2023 and is the eighth annual Halloween Special. Scott and Tom talk about the lure of experiencing Halloween in America, iconic scary movies, the best things to get when Trick of Treating, Scott's recently discovered family history having close links to Jack the Ripper, why 1970s Britain is actually quite scary, and Tom talks about his fear of rats in strange places.Plus, the boys find a weird Halloween questionnaire and try to advise teenagers on how to appropriately enjoy the spooky season. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #105 is the final part of our Christmas Spectacular 2022 and is all about one of the most strange and iconic films of the 1980s, Gremlins. Scott and Tom are joined by Justin and there's talk about the film's unique change of tone, it's immoral cast of human characters, if Barney is the best ever dog actor, being shocked by the violence towards the Gremlins and Billy no-mates getting an unnecessary love story.Plus, Tom thinks he might be Gizmo and we wonder if the film could be an origin story for another famous character. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #104 of Talk and Beans is the seventh annual Christmas Special and Part One of our Christmas Spectacular 2022. Scott and Tom are joined this year by Justin to talk about European traditions, celebrating Christmas at the beach, Action Man memories, the trouble with getting a modern games console, experiencing a summer Christmas in Australia and Justin tells us his favourite festive movies, food & music.Plus, another rant about Love Actually and another debate about Bublé. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #103 is the final part of our Halloween Spectacular 2022 and it's all about one of the most iconic parody movies of all time. Scott and Tom are joined by Rob to talk about it's use of early 2000s cultural references, being a parody to a film that's already a homage, the strong opening scenes, if the comedy still holds up, mixed memories of the horror scenes referenced and the Wayans brothers as comedic writers.Plus, starting the Carmen Electra Appreciation Society and sharing the film with friends. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #102 is the first part of our Halloween Spectacular 2022 and is the seventh annual Halloween Special. Scott and Tom are joined by Rob to talk about a scary beauty product, a new way to get costume ideas, if ghostface patrolled Whitechapel, bedtime routines for staying safe, the risk of podcasting about spooky topics and the boys once again become the “Costume Police” with so many inevitable awful fancy dress trends this year.Plus, Scott talks about a recent near death experience, Tom thinks he’s the victim of a plague and much more!PS. The intro may sound a little muffled because of wearing masks… oops! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #101 of Talk and Beans is the 2022 Bromance Valentine's Special as Scott and Tom find out from Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott how to be a Role Model. We talk about how weird it is to see child actors swear, the movie being a snapshot of it's time, the presentation of LAIRE and how the film does a good job of making the audience care.Plus, Tom has another loving surprise and Scott passionately explains a beef. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #100 is on all the recent big events from the world of Pro Wrestling. Scott and Tom talk about Seth Rollins being cool again, awful new theme songs, natural new AEW stars, ROH working with IMPACT, Moxley’s return, if NXT 2.0 was really necessary, the WrestleMania sign catching fire and the risk of WWE getting caught up in boring, predictable & repetitive booking.Plus, our favourite attires, returns & moments from the Royal Rumble and a celebration of reaching 100 episodes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #99 is the final part of our Christmas Spectacular 2021 and is all about one of the most popular festive films of the modern era. Scott and Tom talk about Buddy’s weird background story, Peter Dinklage’s performance, New York being synonymous with Christmas, the film’s use of special effects and thoughts on the films musical themes.Plus, why promotional material has ruined the film’s spark and the it being a festive favourite for many. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #98 of Talk and Beans is the sixth annual Christmas Special and Part One of our Christmas Spectacular 2021. Scott and Tom are joined this year by Jamie to talk about memories of Scott's childhood stories but from his perspective, experiences from last years Christmas in lockdown, awkward gift misunderstandings, fancy restaurants trying to cash in on the festive period and Tom tells us about the mysterious case of the missing present.Plus, Jamie drops a bombshell about his controversial Christmas dinner and tells us his favourite Christmas songs, films & childhood presents. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #97 is a deep dive into the long awaited return of the Ghostbusters franchise. Scott and Tom discuss the film's Egon centric plot, attempts to fill in the story's 32 year gap, the use of Shandor's Summerville location, reactions to the incredibly emotional moments, believability issues, the film's attempt to establish new characters and the heavy reliance of properties from the original movies.Plus, which nuance character traits were faithfully recreated and which ones didn't make sense. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #96 is a look back at the controversial 2016 attempt to revive the Ghostbusters franchise. Scott and Tom discuss the film's clear identity crisis, it's use of cameos, the fan backlash, great scenes & performances that get overlooked, the hit & miss homages to the originals, problems with the plot, the use of modern CGI/3D effects and the incredible amount of promising jokes that get self sabotaged. Plus, the clear signs of second guessing with noticeable cuts, edits and rumoured use of costly reshoots. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.