Kermode & Mayo’s Take

The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo

Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time.

Pffft. Bottom. Yes, it’s Minions movie week. Directed by last week’s guest Pierre Coffin, this latest instalment sees the little yellow fellas take on filmmaking. But will Mark’s love for the franchise endure?

On a much more adult note, our guests this week are Edward Norton and Olivia Wilde, who star in (and in Wilde’s case direct) searing and sexy dark comedy The Invite. It follows Jaded couple Angela (Wilde) and Joe (Seth Rogen), whose marital troubles are thrown into relief by a visit from their fruity neighbours Pena (Penelope Cruz) and Hawk (Norton). Simon sits down with them to talk compersion, catastrophe, and colour coordination.

Plus, internet sensation turned big screen effort Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie, and finally a Supergirl review too. Don’t miss another top Take!

As promised, here’s the ticket link for the special K&M live show in Bristol: 

https://www.fane.co.uk/kermode-and-mayo-s-2026-tickets/bristol-beacon-hall/2026-12-06-19-00  

You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo.



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A Sony Music Entertainment production.



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Timecodes:

00:10:56 Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie review

00:22:18 Box Office top ten

00:29:32 Supergirl review

00:43:58 ad break

00:45:32 Edward Norton & Olivia Wilde interview

00:57:38 The Invite review

01:09:57 Laughter Lift

01:13:05 Ad break

01:17:10 Minions and Monsters
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo

Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time.



With Mark recording the show from the air-conditioned cool of a film festival in Croatia while the UK swelters, Simon bravely holds the fort back in showbiz north London as he chats to Minions creator Pierre Coffin about the new film, Minions and Monsters.



For this week’s reviews, Mark dons his safety helmet and grabs a sick bucket for Jackass: Best & Last, the latest big-screen goodbye to Johnny Knoxville and the Jackass crew, packed with stunts, injuries and end-of-an-era nostalgia. It’s not for everyone (Simon) but will Mark indeed find it “best and last”, or a stunt too far?



Back on safer ground 500 Miles comes under the spotlight. It’s a YA-novel adaptation in which two brothers run away from home and travel across land and sea to reach their grandfather in rural Ireland, encountering music, mishaps and buried family history along the way.



Finally, A Private Life is a French-language mystery-thriller from Rebecca Zlotowski starring the always excellent Jodie Foster as a psychiatrist drawn into a patient’s death and a spiral of suspicion.



And as ever, there’s box office chat (predictably dominated by Toy Story 5 this week), our always thought-provoking listener correspondence, and yes…hahahhahaha…. the Laughter Lift.



You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo.



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A Sony Music Entertainment production.



Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts



To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com

Timecodes:

00:00 Introduction

00:11:06 500 Miles review

00:16:59 Box Office top 10

00:31:16 Pierre Coffin interview

00:48:19 A Private Life review

00:56:14 Laughter Lift

01:02:31 Jackass: best and last review
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo   

Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. 

 

The box office big beast this week is Toy Story 5, and we’re bringing you Mark’s verdict on this fifth instalment of the beloved Pixar franchise. It’s been a Take favourite since it first hit screens in the 90s and has never let us down so far, but can it really live up to the hype for the fifth film in a row?  

 

Plus we’ve got two more reviews from this weekend’s cinema slate. First up, Welsh language drama Effi o Blaenau, which recasts a Greek tragedy plot in working-class Cardiff. And from gritty modern drama to glossy period drama, there’s Virginia Woolf’s Night and Day - an ‘unromantic comedy’ based on a comic novel by modernist literature’s most famous feminist.  

It also brings us to our guest this week…  

 

It’s Timothy Spall, who will be chatting to Simon about playing the film’s crusty old patriarch, Mr. Hilbery. One of our most respected and versatile British actors, Spall has played everyone from Winston Churchill to Wormtail, and has made several celebrated films with Mike Leigh (famously, the friendliest of all directors). This one is a meaty chat not to be missed.  

 

Mark will be playing Mr Punchline in this week’s Laughter Lift - unfortunately unlikely to make it any funnier. Lots and lots of correspondence from you lot too, including a thorough Disclosure Day debrief. Don’t miss it!  

 

You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo. 

 

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A Sony Music Entertainment production.     

 

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts   

 

To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com 

Timecodes: 

00:07:09 Effi O Blaenau review 

00:14:50 Box Office Top Ten 

00:24:56 Timothy Spall interview 

00:39:57 Virginia Woolf's Night and Day review 

00:47:33 Laughter Lift 

00:54:36 Toy Story 5 review 

 
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo



Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time.



It’s Disclosure Day week! Yes, film buffs, that means it’s time for a new Steven Spielberg film—and not just a new Spielberg, but a new Spielberg sci-fi. We can’t wait to see the iconic director return to the genre he defined, and to hear Mark’s verdict. Should we believe the hype that it’s his best film in decades?



As well as Mark’s review, we’ll hear Simon’s interview with two of its stars, Emily Blunt and Colman Domingo. They talk Spielbergian on-set insights, space aliens, and, erm… Percy Pigs. Plus, yet more speculation as to whether Jaws is or is not about a shark.



On top of that we’ve got two more reviews of two new movies who dared to release alongside this box office whopper. First up, quirky Scottish tragicomedy The Fall of Sir Douglas Weatherford, about a man desperate to keep his small town’s true history alive when a Game-of-Thrones-style production circus arrives and threatens to redefine it. And it’s reissue time for Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights, scrubbed up in glorious 4K, and back on the big screen to celebrate. How does this groovy and grimy modern classic stand up after nearly 30 years? Let’s see what the Good Doctors say.



All that plus the usual hilarity/hardship of the Laughter Lift, and of course your erudite and insightful correspondence to boot. Don’t sleep on another top Take!



You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo.



EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee!



A Sony Music Entertainment production.



Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts



To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com

Timecodes:

00:10:27 The Fall of Sir Douglas Weatherford review

00:20:03 Box Office Top 10

00:35:23 Colman Domingo and Emily Blunt interview

00:46:23 Disclosure Day review

01:12:10 Boogie Nights review

01:22:57 What's On?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo

Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time.



The one and only Richard E. Grant joins us on this week’s Take for a chat with both Mark and Simon about Savage House. He stars as the flamboyant and grotesque Lord Chauncey Savage in this unhinged satirical period drama, alongside Claire Foy. Expect wigs, leeches, the pox and quite a lot of poo.



Mark will also be reviewing Savage House, alongside two more of the week’s biggest releases. Masters of the Universe sees an all-star ensemble cast led by Nicholas Galitzine, Camila Mendes and Idris Elba (erm, and Jared Leto) bring the He-Man franchise to the big screen—but is it superpowered, or another revival nobody asked for? Plus, Scary Movie, the latest instalment in Mark’s (least) favourite horror spoof franchise.



All that plus the usual excess witterings, and plenty of your excellent correspondence—including many more Muppet Game entries. We may have started something we can’t finish with this one….



You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo.



A Sony Music Entertainment production.



Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts



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To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com

Timecodes:

00:00 Intro

11:54 Masters of the Universe review

21:45 Box Office Top Ten

34:12 Richard E. Grant interview

48:23 Savage House review

56:58 Laughter Lift

01:00:49 Scary Movie review

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices