Movie Crush iHeartPodcasts

Grat conversation with lovely guests about movies. Just a great show.

Uff, this is a tough one. Chuck seems like a really nice guy and I think his rapport with the guests he has on his show is really good but that’s also part of the problem I have with this podcast. Some episodes he’ll talk with his guests about all sorts of bars, cinemas and other hang outs that probably mean nothing to 90% of the people listening (myself included). I don’t want to hear about how Chicago has changed since the early 2000’s or whatever it is he’s talking about - I want to hear the discussion about the movie!

It doesn’t help either that some of his guests, while interesting and enthusiastic about their favourite movie, are basically nobodies. Maybe if I knew who half these people were I’d care more but I don’t, sorry.

I think one of the worst episodes for waffling on and on before actually getting to the movie was “The Man Who Would Be King” episode. A great movie and a really great discussion about it but it took them til almost the 45 minutes mark before they started talking about it - and the episode only had another 40 minutes left! So they spent more time chatting about other stuff than the movie. Come on, seriously?

Have longer chats with your mates all you want but do what a normal person would do and release extended versions on the website or Patreon and just release a shortened version for listeners who actually want to hear about the movie and not 45 minutes of mundane chat.

Another minor issue I have is that Chuck doesn’t always follow the same format. His “What Ebert Said” segment is interesting and I like hearing this guests “Movie 101” answers for where they sit, what they eat, would they leave a bad movie etc., but he doesn’t always do this so the whole thing ends up having a really amateur feel to it.

It’s still good which is why I’ve given it 3/5 stars but it could have been so much better. Not a great loss to have this one come to an end.