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In this episode, we wade into Chinatown — a sun-bleached noir where water is power, everyone’s lying, and the system wins. We talk Jack Nicholson’s bandaged nose, Faye Dunaway’s glass-shard fragility, John Huston’s all-time villainy, and that ending that still guts you. Yes, we address the director caveat up front; then we focus on what’s on screen: A precision-engineered thriller that never wastes a line, a clue, or a cut.

What we cover

• Why “Chinatown”? The title’s bleak punchline and what “forget it” really means in a city built on corruption.
• Follow the water: Droughts, land grabs, cooked records, and a murder that only makes sense when you trace the pipes.
• Noir done right: Goldsmith’s moody trumpet score, razor tailoring, art-deco menace, and how every tiny detail pays off.
• Iconic moments: The nose slice (cameo alert), the “my sister/my daughter” reveal, and the slow-motion horror of the finale.
• Performances: Nicholson’s cocky PI unravelled, Dunaway’s haunted elegance, Huston’s monstrous calm.
• The ethics disclaimer: Separating a notorious off-screen history from on-screen craft — and why that discomfort belongs in the conversation.
• Context chats: How the screenplay became a template, the year it ran into The Godfather Part II, and why the ending had to be that ending.

Should you watch it?

If you like your mysteries tidy and comforting, this isn’t that. If you want clockwork plotting, glorious craft, and a finish that lingers… it’s essential. We’re candid, a bit feral, and very fun about it.

🎧 New here? Hit play for our no-fluff, high-spirit deep dive, stick around for listener noms and the usual Top-5 chaos. This is why people love movies — and why some endings still haunt the living daylights out of you.

We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com.

Until next time, we remain...

Bad Dads

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In this week’s episode we dive into Better Man, Michael Gracey’s glossy Robbie Williams biopic — the one where Robbie is portrayed as a CGI chimp. Yes, really. It’s a bold swing that reframes a familiar music-biopic arc with unexpected bite: boy-band manufacture, burnout, reinvention, and the messy business of becoming “Robbie” when “Robert” is still in the room.

What we cover

• The Big Swing: Why the CGI chimp isn’t a gimmick for giggles but a visual metaphor for the “performing monkey” persona Robbie built to survive fame — and why that works (or doesn’t) for each of us.
• Factory Settings: From Nigel & Gary’s control of Take That to the economics of who actually got paid, and the cost of being the “likeable one” without songwriting credits.
• Oasis Years & Networth Fever: The hang-around era, the envy, the one-upmanship, and the obsession with conquering Knebworth as validation.
• Dad, Demons & Dopamine: Anxiety, addiction, and that lifelong pursuit of approval — including the film’s sweetest and saddest notes with Nan, and the uneasy father-son bookends.
• Does the Film Sing? Staging, choreography, and why set-pieces like “Rock DJ” land; what’s rushed (Oasis/Nicole), what’s caricature (sorry, Gary), and where the emotional math still doesn’t balance.

Should you watch the film — and our take on it?

Short answer: yes to our episode (obviously), and qualified yes to the movie. One of us calls the chimp choice inspired, one calls it clever but not essential, and one is just happy it’s never dull. If you like spirited disagreement with actual reasons, you’re in the right feed.

🎧 Hit play for sharp chat, zero reverence, and plenty of laughs.
If you’re new here, stick around after the review for our trademark Top-5 chaos and listener shout-outs.

We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com.

Until next time, we remain...

Bad Dads

You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out!

Chimp genius or 70s hubris in a suede jacket? We dive into James Marsh’s Project Nim—the wild “let’s raise a chimp as a human” saga aimed at dunking on Noam/“Nim” Chomsky and proving apes can master language. What we actually get: sex-commune vibes, bad science, worse ethics, and one heartbreakingly charismatic chimp shunted between indulgent “parents,” media circuses, and grim laboratories.

We talk:

• Language vs mimicry: 120+ signs learned…or just expert begging?
• The ‘parents’: breast-feeding (!) and a roll-call of under-qualified carers.
• The professor: comb-over, cameras, and conclusions that nuke the funding.
• LEMSIP hell: cages, needles, PR panic—and the stoner saint Bob who actually cares.
• Violence & inevitability: cute baby ➝ teen primate with seven-men strength.
• Ethics, then and now: where the line is (and how far they trampled past it).

Bits that floored us

• The throwaway “I breastfed him.”
• Documenting Nim’s Oedipal…metrics.
• A “sanctuary” with horses and one lonely chimp.
• A finale that’s “interesting,” not “enjoyable.”

Verdict (Bad Dads split decision)

Fascinating, infuriating, essential—a five-alarm case study in how not to do science. Watch it, rage at it, then argue about animal testing like we did.

We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com.

Until next time, we remain...

Bad Dads