Mixed Bag

"Suck a toe, get your piggies licked" - Matt Loveranes, 2026

Hey, are you one of those people who only listens to Mixed Bag for Pop Corner and skips the feature presentation? Then you're going to love this one where we talk about The Odyssey in Pop Corner for about as long as we talk about The Fountain. Sometimes the Baguettes have to record a podcast on Saturday night and things get pretty hazy, okay?

The Fountain is Darren Aronofsky's Extremely Deep film all about this guy who's searching for the secret to everlasting life (or mo...

That's IT! I've had it with these motherf*ckin' SNAKES on this motherf*ckin' PODCAST!

Our ongoing surprise series JetBag: Emergency Landing continues with another instalment, and this one is a real first class episode if I do say so myself. Featuring yet another Evil Flight Attendant theory, reflections on the band Cobra Starship, and a pitch for a brand new Obra Dinn-alike video game (TM TM TM).

Over in the Pop Corner we talked about so many things I've divided them into categories:

New Release Movies

The Invite, Toy Story 5, C...

Happy Pride (June pride is the only element of American cultural imperialism recognised by the Mixed Bag crew). We're celebrating by watching... a movie that was widely protested by the gay community when it was released?

That film is Cruising, a William Friedkin joint where Al Pacino goes undercover in the Meatpacking District to catch a gay serial killer. Or is he the gay serial killer himself?

The essay Cass finds at the end of the episode is also worth a read, and can be found here.

Over in the Pop Corner, we t...

The final episode of Demisexual is here! And for the first time in the miniseries, Demi isn't the main character. But where does this performance fit in our Demisexual Rankings? You'll have to wait until the end of the episode to see.

"The Angels are charged with finding a pair of missing rings that are encoded with the personal information of members of the Witness Protection Program. As informants are killed, the ladies target a rogue agent who might be responsible." (Sourced from Letterboxd). 

Over in the Pop Corner, we talk Tiny Bookshop, Battlestar Galactica (2004-0...

We're still Demi-sexual here on Mixed Bag, and this time we look at the film infamous for inadvertently leading to the 2022 Oscars Slap: G. I. Jane.

"In response to political pressure from Senator Lillian DeHaven, the U.S. Navy begins a program that would allow for the eventual integration of women into its combat services. The program begins with a single trial candidate, Lieutenant Jordan O’Neil, who is chosen specifically for her femininity. O’Neil enters the grueling Navy SEAL training program under the command of Master Chief John James Urgayle, who unfairly pushes O’Neil until...

We continue the Demi Moore miniseries with a movie that made many viewers question their values, and made Cass question where she could get a cool backpack/vest/saddlebag combo. As Letterboxd says: "John Gage offers a down-on-his-luck yuppie husband $1 million for the opportunity to spend the night with the man’s wife." Would you take the money?

We also talk about the Rise of the Golden Idol video game series, music documentaries Little Richard: I Am Everything, It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley and Luther: Never Too Much, Ball of Fire (1941), Julio Torres' Color Theories, Chris Fleming: Live at...

OOOoooooOOOoooOOH! Is it spooky season!? No, it's just time for the second instalment in our Demi Moore series, Demisexual.

"After a young man is murdered, his spirit stays behind to warn his lover of impending danger, with the help of a reluctant psychic" (Letterboxd). We clearly have a lot to say about Sam Wheat and his otherworldly antics. Apologies for the occasional loud storm sounds -- the night after we recorded this, a massive flood came and ruined several of Jamie & Cass's neighbours' homes. We're fine though!

Over in the Pop Corner, we chat The Pi...

It's the first instalment of our latest miniseries: DEMISEXUAL. That's right, we're celebrating the life and career of Ms. Demi Moore, starting right here at her first feature film appearance St Elmo's Fire.

Letterboxd has a very long summary for this one, so we'll just say that it's about seven friends in their post-university era, trying to get their lives and love lives together. Also, most of the men should be in jail!!!!!!!

In the Pop Corner, we chat Green Snake (1993), Project Hail Mary, After the Hunt (2025), Stick It (2006), I Swear (2025), the pro-shot of Merrily We Roll...

"Oh... they're the IRA." – Matt Loveranes, 2026

It's a Cass pick, which means you know it'll either be animated, a musical, or an obscure period piece (shout out Dean Spanley). Today's film is definitely in the third category and comes straight from Year 11 history class.

"Michael Collins plays a crucial role in the establishment of the Irish Free State in the 1920s, but becomes vilified by those hoping to create a completely independent Irish republic," says Letterboxd. Not a word on the smouldering sexual tension between Michael and his bestie Harry Boland? Say it ain't so!

It's Matt's personal pick, and in honour of the upcoming Oscars he's decided to go back to where it all began... "it" being Amy Adams' long unfinished road toward Oscar glory.

On the way to meet with an independent artist in the South, newlywed art dealer Madeleine is convinced by her husband, George, that they should stop to meet his family in North Carolina. Madeleine’s affluent lifestyle clashes with the family, but she befriends George’s wide-eyed and pregnant sister-in-law, Ashley, who is nearing her due date. Through the family, Madeleine gains greater insight into George’s char...

It's a totemic film for Jamie, who has been working on her Katharine Hepburn impression since childhood. But truly, how many times can someone say "You old poop!" with a straight face? We (attempt) to keep a tally.

For Norman and Ethel Thayer, this summer on golden pond is filled with conflict and resolution. When their daughter Chelsea arrives, the family is forced to renew the bonds of love and overcome the generational friction that has existed for years. (Sourced from Letterboxd).

Over in the Pop Corner, (the Poop Corner??) we talk about: Bitter Karella's...

Saltburn — it's the dumb person's idea of a smart movie. Luckily we're all dummies and we are ready to LICK this salt.

Struggling to find his place at Oxford University, student Oliver Quick finds himself drawn into the world of the charming and aristocratic Felix Catton, who invites him to Saltburn, his eccentric family’s sprawling estate, for a summer never to be forgotten. (Sourced from Letterboxd).

Pop corner kernels include: the Trans Theatre festival in Melbourne, the Lord of the Rings trilogy up on the big screen, Marty Supreme, The Secret Agent and Hamnet. We also s...

We're back for our first real episode of 2026! We saw the Big Blue Boys again and let me tell you those returns are diminishing.

In the wake of the devastating war against the RDA and the loss of their eldest son, Jake Sully and Neytiri face a new threat on Pandora: the Ash People, a violent and power-hungry Na’vi tribe led by the ruthless Varang. Jake’s family must fight for their survival and the future of Pandora in a conflict that pushes them to their emotional and physical limits. (Sourced from Letterboxd).

Over in a...

We bid farewell to the year gone by with a round up of our favourite films of 2025. From arthouse to blockbusters, international cinema to Aotearoa-grown, the Mixed Bag trio have a lot to say about a bunch of films that will never feature on this podcast because they are too good.

We'll be back soon with our first real episode of the year discussing Avatar: Fire and Ash!

"You there, boy, what day is it?"

"Why, it's Mixedmas, sir!"

Celebrate the festive season with the most of Mixed of all Mixed films, Mixed Nuts! We're joined, as is tradition, by the Ghost of Christmas Pod, Lucas Neal. Letterboxd describes this simply as "The events of a crisis hotline business on one crazy night during the Christmas holidays." It's a French farce with a lot more suicide jokes than you'd expect for a Christmas film, we can tell you that much.

Over in the Pop Corner, we chat Wake Up Dead Man an...

His mind...

Our final movie from this round of personal picks as we look forward to the holiday season. We discover that one of the hosts has her own cognitive malfunctions to deal with (Paul Bettany face blindness). We reminisce about Jamie's close personal connection to Jennifer Connelly. We forgive Matt for his bad takes about Anomalisa (Cass writes the blurbs).

From the heights of notoriety to the depths of depravity, John Forbes Nash Jr. experiences it all. As a brilliant but socially awkward mathematician, he made a groundbreaking discovery early in his career and...

Cass worked a full 16-hour day the day before recording this pod so she worried she would fall asleep on mic. Instead, she decided to let herself be fuelled by hatred as she brings one of her least favourite movies to the pod for her personal pick. Matt's a fan, Cass is a foe, but at least all three hosts can agree that the film looks good.

Anomalisa is a stop-motion animated film written by Charlie Kaufman about a man who sees everyone else in the world as having the same face and voice. When he meets...

It's time for Jamie's Personal Pick, and you know she's gonna choose a big ol' Dyke Drama. Some Sapphic Cinema. A Movie for Muff-Divers. So she's chosen a movie about one of the world's gayest sports, roller derby, featuring a pre-transition Elliot Page and bi-con Alia Shawkat and... NO LESBIAN CHARACTERS!?!? 😱😱😱 Can it be true?!?!?

In Bodeen, Texas, an indie-rock loving misfit finds a way of dealing with her small-town misery after she discovers a roller derby league in nearby Austin. (Sourced from Letterboxd).

Join the team as they grapple with this egregious display of lez erasure...

It's spooooooky season so it's time for the Foe of the Podcast, Mike Bryant, to arise from his crypt once again and bless the pod with another scary feature that is mixed in quality.

This time around, we're travelling just a decade ago to Goosebumps (2015) starring Jack Black, based on R. L. Stine's children's horror novel series of the same name.

After moving to a small town, Zach Cooper finds a silver lining when he meets next door neighbor Hannah, the daughter of bestselling Goosebumps series author R.L. Stine. When Zach unintentionally unleashes real...

We cap off Tissue Box Office with a film where the tragic death is of not a long-haired brunette, but a short-haired blond! And also, he's a dog.

A newly married couple, in the process of starting a family, learn many of life’s important lessons from their trouble-loving retriever, Marley. Packed with plenty of laughs to lighten the load, the film explores the highs and lows of marriage, maturity and confronting one’s own mortality, as seen through the lens of family life with a dog. (Sourced from Letterboxd)

Over in the Pop Corner, we t...

We are Jamie-obsessed on this next installation of Tissue Box Office, to the extent where everyone keeps accidentally renaming Ryan Gosling's character after our beloved cohost. While it's clear the whole Mixed Bag trio are bona fide Gos-heads, what do they think about the film that launched a million teen girl crushes?

An epic love story centered around an older man who reads aloud to a woman with Alzheimer’s. From a faded notebook, the old man’s words bring to life the story about a couple who is separated by World War II, and is then pass...

We continue on our journey through the wonderful world of weepies with 2002's A Walk to Remember, the sleepover classic beloved by every teen girl who ever said "I can fix him."

When the popular, restless Landon Carter is forced to participate in the school drama production, he falls in love with Jamie Sullivan, the daughter of the town’s minister. Jamie has a “to-do” list for her life, as well as a very big secret she must keep from Landon. (Sourced from Letterboxd).

This episode we put forth our theory of straight-haired brunette death and the...

Let's go to the beach, beach, let's go get away with Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey! Next on our Tissue Box Office list is a classic platonic weepie that somehow has little to no cultural footprint in Aotearoa New Zealand.

A privileged rich debutante and a cynical struggling entertainer share a turbulent, but strong childhood friendship over the years. (Sourced from Letterboxd).

But before we dive into the beachy waves, we unpack the 2025 NZ International Film Festival in a bumper Pop Corner. Hear our thoughts on Sirât, The Mastermind, Resurrection, Sorry, Baby, A Useful Ghos...

Hankies at the ready, Baguettes, it's time for our new miniseries, TISSUE BOX OFFICE! Today, we discuss the concept of the term 'weepie', what qualifies as a weepie and a classic of the genre, 1970's Love Story.

Harvard Law student Oliver Barrett IV and music student Jennifer Cavilleri share a chemistry they cannot deny - and a love they cannot ignore. Despite their opposite backgrounds, the young couple put their hearts on the line for each other. When they marry, Oliver’s wealthy father threatens to disown him. Jenny tries to reconcile the Barrett men, but to no...

Okay, maybe this one really is episode 150 after all. Regardless, you've been listening to Mixed Bag for 150 years. Feel old yet?

Blending lively music and brilliant animation, this sequel to the original ‘Fantasia’ restores ‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ and adds seven new shorts. (Sourced from Letterboxd). If you don't love the Rhapsody in Blue sequence, you are probably a philistine and hate cinema and music?? That's what Cass thinks, at least.

Pop corner kernels include: Girls and Too Much, Chappell Roan's "The Subway", Friendship (2025), Polyester (1981), Princess Chelsea's Midwinter Ball and Monster (2003). Donate to our Ko-Fi to help us...

So at one point in this episode we say that we should do something special for our 150th episode, which is next... well, actually we miscounted and this is our 150th episode. If you've been with us for all 150, thank you for sticking with us!

Today we talk Crash, the infamous race relations film that beat out Brokeback Mountain at the Oscars (a film which will not be featured on Mixed Bag because it is straightforwardly good). We keep accidentally referring to it as Trash in this episode, for good reason.

In post-Sept. 11 Los Angeles, ten...

We're joined by Museum Enthusiast and Night at the Museum superfan Renée Iosefa to discuss the second (and best) Night at the Museum film. We've been trying to get Renée on the pod for ages but this woman is always booked and busy, so we're excited to find a time to talk "the greatest film trilogy of all time".

Hapless museum night watchman Larry Daley must help his living, breathing exhibit friends out of a pickle now that they’ve been transferred to the archives at the Smithsonian Institution. Larry’s (mis)adventures this time includ...

Yes, Baguettes, it's the long-awaited NOBBSISODE. You know him, you love(?) him, it's Albert Nobbs. We're not using the official film synopsis for this one because it's problematic so here's our summary:

Albert Nobbs is a trans man who works at a swanky hotel in late 19th century Ireland. He meets another trans man who is out there thriving with a wife he loves and decides to acquire a wife of his own. Things go badly.

Pop corner kernels this week include the Tony Awards, Devil's Plan season 2, The Count of Monte Cristo, ~gay cinema~...

VRRRRRRRMMMMMPHHH! Do you hear that?! It's another JetBag: Emergency Landing! And this time, we're shifting from the plane to the plain because 90% of this film is set in an airport!

Carry-On (2024) was a surprise hit at the end of last year by our Mixed Bag king, Jaume Collet-Serra (Non-Stop, Jungle Cruise) and starring Taron Egerton and Jason Bateman. But now that the hype has died down, is the movie any good?

An airport security officer races to outsmart a mysterious traveler forcing him to let a dangerous item slip onto a Christmas Eve flight. (Sourced...

Our final foray into Joliewood as we help ourselves to a tasty snack. Evelyn Salt can make a flamethrower out of office equipment; should she be renamed MacGirlver?

As a CIA officer, Evelyn Salt swore an oath to duty, honor and country. Her loyalty will be tested when a Russian defector accuses her of being a Russian sleeper spy. She goes on the run, using all her skills and years of experience as a covert operative to elude capture, protect her husband, and stay one step ahead of her colleagues at the CIA. Her efforts to prove...

THAT IS NOT MY SON!

Clint Eastwood made... a feminist movie that says ACAB!? Maybe? But it also says, "shame, fools, there's still 47 minutes to go and you thought it was nearly over."

Los Angeles, 1928. When single mother Christine Collins leaves for work, her son vanishes without a trace. Five months later, the police reunite mother and son. But when Christine suspects that the boy returned to her isn’t her child, her quest for truth exposes a world of corruption. (Sourced from Letterboxd).

The penultimate episode of Joliewood, in which your hosts gi...

It's the birth of Brangelina, today we're covering Doug Liman's Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005) starring Angelina Jolie and some man.

After five (or six) years of vanilla-wedded bliss, ordinary suburbanites John and Jane Smith are stuck in a huge rut. Unbeknownst to each other, they are both coolly lethal, highly-paid assassins working for rival organisations. When they discover they’re each other’s next target, their secret lives collide in a spicy, explosive mix of wicked comedy, pent-up passion, nonstop action and high-tech weaponry. (Sourced from Letterboxd)

Will Jolie cement her movie star status as Jane...

It's time for a very special episode! Our favourite foe, Mike, purchased a Ko-Fi request for an on-mic murder mystery and we were happy to oblige.

Matt, Mike and Detective Jamie (daughter of Sherlock Holmes) are all extras in the upcoming sci-fi horror film Blood Red Planet. But when the star, Jacob Stone, is discovered dead in his trailer, our trio must work together to find out who killed him and why! In a feat of transformative acting (i.e. cycling between three different accents) Cass plays every witness in the case. Was it the director? The...

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A STAR IS BORN, HONEY!
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A major event in Joliewood's history, it's time to crown her. No, it's not her Oscar, it's more important, it's 2001's Lara Croft: Tomb Raider!

Orphaned heiress, English aristocrat and intrepid archaeologist, Lara Croft, embarks on a dangerous quest to retrieve the two halves of an ancient artifact which controls time before it falls into the wrong hands. As an extremely rare planetary alignment is about to occur for the first time in 5,000 years, the fearless tomb raider will have to team up with rival adventurers and sworn enemies to collect the pieces, while time is running out...

The Age of Ange is going from gay coded with Hackers to full on lesbian as our bisexual queen Angelina Jolie had her breakout role in Gia (1998) the first TV Film covered on Mixed Bag, based on real life supermodel Gia Carangi.

Gia Carangi meteorically rises to modeling fame in the late 1970s but becomes overconsumed by persistent loneliness and drug addiction. (Sourced from Letterboxd)

Will this erotic romance be as steamy as it sounds? Who knew Juliet from Lost was her love interest, Linda? Will somebody please explain what a supermodel is to Jamie...

The Age of Ange returns by going back to the early days of Joliewood, Hackers (1995) where Angelina Jolie broke through with a bob cut and those piercing eyes.

Along with his new friends, a teenager who was arrested by the US Secret Service and banned from using a computer for writing a computer virus discovers a plot by a nefarious hacker, but they must use their computer skills to find the evidence while being pursued by the Secret Service and the evil computer genius behind the virus. (Sourced from Letterboxd).

Will we see the sparks...

Welcome to the hallowed land of Joliewood! That's right, it's the Age of Ange for the next few weeks as we profile bisexual queen and one of the biggest movie stars of her day, Angelina Jolie!

Kicking us off is Jolie's high profile and bid for an Oscar, Maria! Directed by Pablo Larraín and third in the tragic white woman trilogy after Jackie and Spencer.

Maria Callas, the world’s greatest opera singer, lives the last days of her life in 1970s Paris, as she confronts her identity and life.

Will Jolie be...

Hey y'all! Butter my biscuit, we're just three country gals committing to a bit. Thanks Virginia for the Ko-Fi donation, apologies to anyone who isn't yee-ing and haw-ing to hear our wonderful accent performances.

This episode we're taking on The Help (2011), a film about Black maids in the segregated South and the white lady who saved them all apparently. Grab a bowl of grits and fry up some chicken, time to dig in.

For more of this nonsense, support us on our Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/mixedbag

Welcome to the New Year, Baghags!

To start the year with a new tradition, we've split our 2024 Top Ten Films into a completely seperate episode! Last year, we tacked this onto our Wonka episode but because this year was bursting to the brim with episodes (and we didn't want to do a three hour episode) you can hear Matt, Cass and Jamie count down their favourites of 2024.

Catch us next time as we tackle our very first Ko-Fi challenge!

For our final episode of 2024, we're rounding out the year with the legendary Adam Goodall who shares the good work on Mothers' Instinct (2024) starring Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain. 

Housewives Alice and Celine are best friends and neighbours who seem to have it all. However, when a tragic accident shatters the harmony of their lives, guilt, suspicion and paranoia begin to unravel their sisterly bond.

Available now on Prime Video, these mothers and their instincts must be seen to be believed so wee woo wee woo spoiler alert if you're listening without watching first cause t...