Middlebrow Madness


1.36 – I Think We Go to Different Libraries

Recorded on 15 September 2023 Well that goofball Derek up and forgot to upload the new episode last week, so can chastise him via your medium of choice. Sorry about that! But here it is, one week late but no worse for wear. Sports fans, we invite you to take a trip back in time with us, a trip back to the fall of 2023, where your intrepid hosts dusted off their microphones and open-source audio software and recorded an episode of this very podcast for the first time in over two years. This is worth noting because we make…

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An Oasis Appears in the Desert; It’s One of Isabelle’s Fucking Things

tap tap Is this thing on? Your eyes and ears do not deceive you, sports fans! We are back from our long hibernation, but instead of overwhelming you with takes so hot they break the Scoville scale, our intrepid hosts return with a super-sized life update spectacular, filling you in on the details of what exactly they've been doing with their lives since mid-2021. Spoiler alert: a lot of hobbies were indulged in and a lot of media was consumed. Derek and Isabelle tell stories, recommend art, and go off on tangents. It's like we never left! The quest for…

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1.35 – Randy Quaid Pride Flag

Now I'm not one for boasting, sports fans, but this one is a corker. We have an instant-classic opening bit, a huge upset (wink), and an all-time difficult opening round matchup pitting two masterpieces that have a surprising amount in common despite the 75 years that separate them. Also Isabelle makes her co-horst laugh the hardest he ever laughs, and Derek does a dramatic reading of an old film review of his. In short, another classic episode! This week's matchups: Reservoir Dogs v. The Bandit The Great Dictator v. Mad Max: Fury Road NOTE: During our discussion on The Great…

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1.34 – It Has Nutrients

NOTE: This episode contains discussions of suicide. Sometimes the Universe gives you a gift, and sometimes that gift is a poisoned chalice. Sports fans, I have to tell you, our second matchup in this episode has no business happening in Round 1. But the Bracket Gods are capricious, and they will do as they please. In between discussing four very good-to-masterful movies, our intrepid hosts take the time to talk about Oddworld, arena football, #WhiteBoySummer, bar bands, and noted Isabelle reclamation project, Renny Harlin. There's even metagaming in this one.; In short, another classic episode! This week's matchups: The Apartment…

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1.33 – We’re Gonna Cancel Abraham Lincoln

Sports fans, as we being a-tumblin' down towards the end of round one, we encounter in these matchups a couple of mirrored pairs. We have two movies that our intrepid hosts revisit for the first time in a long time, and two masterpieces of their form, each close to one host's heart. Who will gracefully bow out? Who will live another day to possibly become the Greatest Movie of All Time*? What the fuck is up with Cluck Klosterman? The answer to these questions, dear listener, is yes. This week's matchups: Amélie v. Shutter Island Raiders of the Lost Ark…

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Tennessee Williams for Stupid People

In the words of the great American philosopher Jon Bon Jovi, we're halfway there! Well, we're halfway through the first round of this white elephant we call the Middlebow Madness bracket, which means we're really only a quarter of the way there. In any case, our intrepid hosts take a load off and contemplate the road travelled between episodes 17 and 32. We name some superlatives, do a little metagaming, and crack a few jokes about spinach and morgellons. In short, sports fans: another classic episode! See the bracket [SPOILERS AHEAD] Drop us a line: [email protected] Follow the show on…

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1.32 – My Gay Trans Costellos

It was bound to happen sooner or later, sports fans: we finally cracked two hours. Naturally, this episode is packed to the gills with tangents about crawdads and Twitter Jail and Derek's dubious acting career. Not that there isn't any movie talk at all: Isabelle has a galaxy-brain take to end all galaxy-brain takes regarding one of our competitors, and Derek, well, he mostly just puts on his Film Bro(tm) hat on for this one. But any way you slice it, once these two matches are through, we will officially 25% of the way to figuring out what exactly is…

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1.31 – Dog Food-Flavoured Human Food

Sports fans, a good podcast episode is only as good as its digressions, and this one has several (shocking, I know). What do our intrepid hosts talk about that isn't the four movies listed below? Isabelle's corny jokes! Derek's pet theory about musical theatre! One of them reads a little Faulkner! Which host, you ask? Listen to yet another classic episode on the road to crowning The Greatest Movie of All Time* and find out! Punctuation!!! This week's matchups: Witness for the Prosecution v. Rang De Basanti Coco v. Stalker See the bracket [SPOILERS AHEAD] Drop us a line: [email protected]

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1.30 – Bladder Game on Lock

Sports fans, we nominally talk movies about on the show, but you know what else crops up a lot in this, our landmark 30th episode and our first missive of 2021? Racism in Hollywood, and piss. Lots of it. Not necessarily in that order. We go short on some masterpieces and long on what Derek loves to call "rich texts." There's even a little metagaming going on. All in all, another classic episode on the road to crowning The Greatest Movie of All Time*. This week's matchups: The Kid v. Gone With the Wind Diabolique v. The Green Mile A…

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1.29 – Cashiers du cinéma

Sports fans, you are getting four podcasts for the price of one this week! In addition to the usual movie bracket-based shenanigans, we have a QAnon-skewering politics podcast at the top, a short true-crime missive in the middle, and a full-on miniature games podcast to close the whole thing out. Digressive? Us? Perish the thought. The march towards crowning the Greatest Movie of All Time* continues! This week's matchups: To Kill a Mockingbird v. Gran Torino Psycho v. La La Land Isabelle's favourite murder (Hinterkaifeck murders | Wikipeda) See the bracket [SPOILERS AHEAD] Drop us a line: [email protected] Follow the…

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