Initial Thoughts

This is Part 2 of our Top Films of 2025 super-episode return. Here we tackle what Phoebe & Nathaniel make of this past week's Academy Award nominations. To hear them tell it, this is not a good year.Find out why they would think such a thing. Thank you as always for listening._____Music by White Bat Audio.

Welcome back. As we face fascism and lament a lamentable year for the Oscars, we also return to Initial Thoughts to discuss what the hell we've been up to and what the heck we made of the year in cinema since we last did this.What was Nathaniel’s favorite film of 2025? What was Phoebe’s favorite first-watch of the last 12 months? What did they think of Marty Supreme? Where do they think cinema is going? And does one of them believe Ella McCay could be the greatest film ever made?Find out in this year's Top Films episode. Part II, featuring our initial thoughts on the 2026 Oscar nominations, is right up next._____Tickets for The Time Has Passed on 25th & 26th February are available now at blackbat.uk, and at www.tickettailor.com/events/vaultcreativearts/2033557._____Music by White Bat Audio.

It's the 97th Oscars! Listen in! Conan made us laugh (mostly). Winners won well (mostly). We were pretty accurate (to a point). Intrepid correspondent Michael Zwiauer even joined us from sunny California. Not to be missed.Our hosts stayed up very, very late, so the least you can do is listen to them. Lots of love!_____Music by White Bat Audio.

Today this could be, the greatest pod of our lives. Phoebe and Nathaniel are back for Oscar Week, predicting (and in their own way, improving) the Academy’s cinematic selections. Tune in for ribald and robust discussion of each category, the safe choices, the sure surprises, and the Zag’s to be zagged. Plus, our host’s own choices of what they believe deserves recognition in each category - Oscar nomination or not.Plus, impromptu discussions of Nickel Boys, The Apprentice, I’m Still Here, The Brutalist, zoos, okapis, the Kennedy Center, and more. Enjoy the Academy Awards this Sunday night! Initial Thoughts will be back with an Oscars Special next!_____Music by White Bat Audio.

Determine your nominees and initialize your thoughts, it is once again time for Phoebe and Nathaniel to weigh in on The Academy's choices! Did your favorite film of 2024 get enough love? Did ours? Find out! _____Music by White Bat Audio.

As Phoebe would say, we are so back. Initial Thoughts returns as if our last chat were only yesterday, to discuss a year of high highs, low lows, multiple plays directed, and quite a lot of films viewed. NBB & PRJ discuss their favorites, their also-rans, the films they wish they'd seen by now, and which not-new movies they most enjoyed seeing for the first time - including many from Initial Thoughts episodes! Tune in, find cheer, stay warm, and thank you for listening! Happy New Year everyone! _____ Music by White Bat Audio.

Hollywood is a killer. MAXXXINE is a movie. Initial Thoughts is a podcast. You are a listener. This is an episode. Listen in! Neither Phoebe nor Nathaniel have seen this week's film, though one of them has seen the previous two films in Ti West and Mia Goth's gooey trilogy of throwback mayhem. This film supposedly wraps up the story of these interlinked protagonists with an 80s-tastic slasher feel, but did our hosts buy it? Find out, on Initial Thoughts! _____ Music by White Bat Audio.

We do this for a living. Does it star Tom Cruise? Who directed it? Do you believe in Santa Claus? Find out all these things and more as Phoebe and Nathaniel rev up their taxicab and drive through the streets of podcasting with 2004's Collateral. _____ Music by White Bat Audio.

There's a difference between knowing the pod, and listening to the pod. So listen to the podcast! This week we're casting our mind back 25 years (or ahead 175?) to the world of green text, omnipotent agents, teleportation telephones, double-cats and existential choices of pill: it's The Wachowski's The Matrix. _____ Music by White Bat Audio.

Revisiting our second Picture Pitcher game, featuring remarkably... determined judge Richard McIver. As previously featured in our episode on Love Lies Bleeding, this round features sophomore efforts from the likes of Christopher Nolan, Edgar Wright, Greta Gerwig, Sofia Coppola, and more! Enjoy! _____ Music by White Bat Audio.

Heists! LA! Queen Latifah! Jada Pinkett! Blair Underwood! More heists! It's a wonder F. Gary Gray's 1996 thrill ride isn't more of a household name, so Nathaniel and Phoebe set out to change that. N.b. Our pre-film conversation was recorded without ideal recording circumstances, so do excuse the atmospheric hum there, but post-film (starting at 20:16) is back to normal. Enjoy! _____ Music by White Bat Audio.

80 years ago today, Allied forces landed on the beaches at Normandy, in an operation we now call D-Day. Perhaps the most famous and respected depiction of that operation takes place in Steven Spielberg's 1998 war film Saving Private Ryan - and our hosts watched it this week. They discuss how World War II tends to be depicted in film, how the film's acting affects its impact, where Spielberg soars and where he stalls, sentimentality vs. unsentimentally, and whether this really is the greatest Second World War film ever made. Plus: saying the name of the movie in the movie... what to make of that? Enjoy, and here's saluting the men who really did it. _____ Music by White Bat Audio.

Phoebe and Nathaniel rev their engines and expect an epic as they return to George Miller's Wasteland... but what did they find when they got there? (31:44) With Furiosa making headlines and proving historic (but not quite how many predicted), our hosts dive into a thorough and hard-driving discussion of the film's execution, its sociopolitical themes, Nathaniel's declaration about Revenge Films, and what a 'reverse blooper reel' is. Witness! _____ Music by White Bat Audio.

If we're gonna pod, we're gonna pod historic on the Fury Road. WITNESS! Phoebe and Nathaniel rev their engines and take to the desert for George Miller's 2015 post-apocalyptic adventure starring Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron. Phoebe hasn't seen it and isn't so sure she'll enjoy the experience... listen in to hear her Initial Thoughts... Enjoy! _____ Music by White Bat Audio.

Thirty episodes in, time for an all-time classic. One of our hosts is passionately, quite openly an acolyte of this film, so the surprise element wasn't exactly front of our minds, but thankfully that didn't hinder discussion. Jean-Pierre Melville's 1967 slice of hitman cinema has defined and redefined the crime genre for decades, and our hosts serenely gaze upon many elements of its power and legacy. Plus, Alain Delon's one-in-a-billion face must update a certain ongoing ranking... Enjoy! _____ Find Nathaniel's Bright Wall/Dark Room piece on Le Samouraï and its connection to African-American iconoclasm and noir here: https://www.brightwalldarkroom.com/2020/09/04/black-side-of-noir/. _____ Music by White Bat Audio.

It's a mega-episode, but worth every minute! First off, our intrepid filmgoers Nathaniel and Phoebe wrap their muscly arms around Rose Glass' new film in cinemas, Love Lies Bleeding - a neo-noir thriller that bears discussion. So much discussion in fact that Richard McIver joins in for the second half! (1:46:25) This being Glass' second feature film, our hosts took the opportunity to play another Picture Pitcher as well (28:07), this time based on ten films that were prominent directors' sophomore efforts. It's a nail-biting game with some shocking moments as Phoebe and Nathaniel pitch, and Judge Richard judges. And boy oh boy, does he judge. Listen in! _____ Music by White Bat Audio.

In Everglade Studio finishes this weekend! Get your tickets if you haven't already. We thank everyone who came to see the show, and look forward to the next Black Bat Productions venture... and to round out our Everglade series, Phoebe and Nathaniel watch a 1974 film of which many of the characters in the play would have been aware... Chinatown. Our hosts go on a real journey in this episode. For one of the most analyzed and revisited films of the 20th century, Phoebe and Nathaniel dig deep and discuss the textures and ramifications of both the film's internal story and its external place in the world. This film is not easy to talk about, and essential grounds for conversation piece as a result. Listen in. Then get yourself a copy of the In Everglade Studio script from Methuen Drama / Bloomsbury Publishing! The run at The Hope Theatre has been acclaimed as an "enthralling," "thoroughly entertaining," "clever and creative" piece of theatre, featuring "excellent written and composed" songs and "smart, twisted, dark creative drama" (★★★★ - A Youngish Perspective, ★★★★ - Everything Theatre). The run concludes Saturday, the 4th of May. _____ Episode music by White Bat Audio.

As In Everglade Studio enters its final week of performances at The Hope Theatre, Nathaniel and Phoebe reconvene for the third in their Everglade series: Robert Altman's revered 1975 film Nashville. They discuss the connections aplenty between this film and In Everglade Studio, including the highlighting of specific and multifaceted contexts in which musical performances unfold, the looming metaphorical interpretations of how environments shape creative expression, and really cool cowboy hats. Enjoy! The published script of In Everglade Studio is now available to purchase from Methuen Drama / Bloomsbury Publishing. The run at The Hope Theatre has been acclaimed as an "enthralling," "thoroughly entertaining," "clever and creative" piece of theatre, featuring "excellently written and composed" songs and "smart, twisted, dark creative drama" (★★★★ - A Youngish Perspective, ★★★★ - Everything Theatre). The run concludes Saturday, the 4th of May. _____ Episode music by White Bat Audio.

In Everglade Studio is coming to The Hope Theatre, and co-directors Phoebe and Nathaniel are featuring some of the films that inspired it! Second in our series is the moving, deeply profound story of Dewey Cox (John C. Reilly), whose life was immortalized in this cradle-to-grave story - which also functions as a ruthlessly and hilariously thorough send-up of cradle-to-grave stories. This 2007 parody of the Music Biopic has been revisited and lauded elsewhere both for its commitment to the feature-length Hollywood satire bit, and for its astonishing prescience - comparisons between this film and the countless Music Biopic rehashes of the late 2010s onwards have been rife - but do our hosts agree?! Find out! Then book your tickets to In Everglade Studio here! _____ Music by White Bat Audio.

Five-star play IN EVERGLADE STUDIO comes to London for a three-week run at The Hope Theatre 16 April - 4 May! Buy your tickets here! We are delighted to be joined by one of the show's shiniest stars, Hannah Omisore, who plays Matilda. Hannah joins Phoebe and Nathaniel to discuss Jeremy Saulnier's gnarly 2015 film Green Room - which shares plenty of DNA and provided some inspiration for In Everglade Studio's musically-tinged darkly comedic psychological thriller atmosphere. Enjoy the episode, and join us at the show! Phoebe and Nathaniel directed it! And Nathaniel wrote it! _____ Music by White Bat Audio.