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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

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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

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This week, the dads swapped blockbusters for something quieter, sadder, and sneakily hilarious: The Ballad of Wallis Island, the melancholic comedy starring Tim Key, Tom Basden, and Carey Mulligan.

In a remote Welsh idyll, a lonely lottery winner (Key) invites his favourite long-lost folk duo to reunite and perform a private gig just for him. What follows is a beautifully awkward, bittersweet exploration of nostalgia, grief, and the impossibility of recapturing the past — with an emotional gut punch that sneaks up on you like a hangover.

We talk:
🎸 Folk, fame, and failure – Tom Basden’s grumpy has-been musician trying to relaunch himself as a pop star, and the ex-bandmate (Mulligan) who’s outgrown him.
💔 Love, loss, and lanterns – Tim Key’s lonely optimism, his message to his late wife, and that heart-crushing scene on the beach.
💬 Killer one-liners – Key’s nervous chatter, the rice-pudding phone fix, and the island shop that offers peanut butter and a cup instead of Reese’s.
🎶 Music that matters – The climactic performance of “The Ballad of Wallis Island,” a scene that hits harder than most Oscar speeches.

We also covered:
🏘️ Top 5 Neighbours – From Rear Window and The ’Burbs to Ned Flanders, Sid Phillips, and Gran Torino’s Walt Kowalski.
💬 Cultural crossfire – Why neighbourly relations cause more wars than parking disputes, and which of us is most likely to start one.

Verdict:
A quietly devastating gem that blends dry British humour with genuine emotional weight. If After Life met Inside Llewyn Davis and went bird-watching in Wales, this would be it.

🎧 Listen now for laughter, melancholy, and maybe a tear or two.

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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We dove back into Ramsay Street for a pure hit of Aussie soap nostalgia: Neighbours ep. 234, a.k.a. the first-ever appearance of Charlene (a tiny, feral Kylie Minogue) breaking into a house and into British hearts.

Why this episode slaps

• Iconic entrance: Scott grabs a “burglar” in the window… hat comes off… “Charlene!” Cue destiny, perms, and pop superstardom.
• Peak mullet era: Two mullets before the first ad break. Oxygen levels dangerously low in those singlets.
• Budget telly charm: Cricket in the yard, sprinklers on, a helicopter shot that looks like a camcorder on a fishing line… and yes, a boom mic cameo at 4:42. Chef’s kiss.
• Daphne’s Café drama: Eviction threats, gender-role argy-bargy, and Shane trying to mansplain her out of a job. Meanwhile Paul Robinson is already scheming, smarming, and hair-gelling.
• Max’s feelings summit: The blokiest man in Erinsborough attempts group therapy (“I read it in an American magazine”), gets laughed out of his own lounge. Bless.

Faces you forgot were here

• Guy Pearce looking about twelve and already magnetic.
• Jason Donovan 2.0 (post–mysterious-riverbed recast).
• The Robinson clan (Helen forever), and an army of future chart acts and horror-movie alumni warming up in the background.

Stats & trivia

• Aired (AU): 17 Apr 1986
• Aired (UK): 28 Sep 1987 (we waited 17 months for Kylie and still turned up in our millions)
• Episodes on IMDb: 9,300+ (and somehow all roads still lead back to Daphne’s espresso machine)

Verdict

Still daft, still cozy, still weirdly gripping. The fashion is a hate crime and the production is held together with gaffer tape, but the charisma-to-cost ratio remains undefeated.

Strong recommend. Now hum the theme tune and pretend you didn’t.

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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The dads return to their spiritual home — the grimy, neon-lit world of A24 — for Love Lies Bleeding, a wild, sweaty, steroid-soaked crime-romance from director Rose Glass (Saint Maud).

Kristen Stewart plays Lou, a gym manager in a desert backwater who falls for Jackie (Katy O’Brien), a drifter and aspiring bodybuilder built like a Marvel origin story. Their chemistry is instant, their passion feral — and before long, they’re injecting more than just steroids together. But this love story’s laced with violence, paranoia, and one truly astonishing haircut courtesy of Ed Harris, who turns up as Lou’s gun-running, morally bankrupt father.

What starts as a moody lesbian love story morphs into a pulpy, blood-spattered nightmare involving abusive husbands, bent cops, and a ravine full of bodies. By the time the steroids kick in and tempers boil over, the film swerves between Thelma & Louise, The Hulk, and Natural Born Killers — complete with a finale that’s part emotional catharsis, part literal giant woman.

We get into:
💉 A24’s obsession with body horror and desire — and why this one might be their sweatiest yet.
🏋️‍♀️ Katy O’Brien’s powerhouse performance — raw, unhinged, and oddly tender.
🩸 That Ed Harris look — half-monk, half-madman, all-time bad haircut.
❤️ The film’s amoral heart — lovers, killers, victims… and no clean heroes.
🎬 The ending — is it metaphor, madness, or just an all-timer in WTF cinema moments?

It’s violent, sexy, absurd, and oddly moving — everything you want from an A24 fever dream. The dads argue about symbolism, marvel at Kristen Stewart’s brooding brilliance, and admit they’d probably still watch Love Lies Bleeding 2: The Pumpening.

🎧 Listen now for blood, lust, bodybuilding, and the film that turns love into a contact sport.

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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This week, the dads head down under for Chopper — the semi-biographical crime film that introduced the world to Eric Bana’s raw, terrifying range. Directed by Andrew Dominik (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford), it tells the story of Mark “Chopper” Read, Australia’s most notorious criminal, self-mythologising psychopath and folk hero rolled into one.

Part prison horror, part dark comedy, Chopper opens with its antihero stabbing a rival inmate 15 times for crossing a line, and somehow only escalates from there. Over 90 intense minutes, we follow his chaotic life of stabbings, betrayals, botched kidnappings and baffling logic — punctuated by moments of grim humour and unexpected lucidity.

In this episode we get into:
🔪 Eric Bana’s breakout performance — from TV comic to one of the most menacing, magnetic screen presences of the 2000s.
🏛️ Fact vs. fiction — how the real Chopper blurred truth and myth, and how much of this film you can actually believe.
🩸 Violence as character study — how brutality in Chopper veers between horrifying, absurd, and disturbingly funny.
🧠 The psychology of Mark Read — narcissism, paranoia, and why he thought he was doing the police a favour.
🎤 Post-prison celebrity — the bizarre Australian fascination with Chopper’s later life as a TV guest, writer, and stand-up act.

It’s one of those episodes where you find yourself laughing, then immediately questioning why. Chopper is as funny as it is disturbing — and the Bad Dads dig into every contradiction of its violent, charismatic subject.

🎧 Listen in for brutal quotes, absurd anecdotes (“look what you made me do”), and why Eric Bana risked his sanity to play a man who once cut off his own ears just to get moved to another prison.

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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This week, the dads head into the mosh pit with Jeremy Saulnier’s brutal, claustrophobic thriller Green Room — where a struggling punk band finds themselves trapped in a neo-Nazi club after witnessing a murder. It’s one part siege movie, one part social horror, and all parts grim.

When the Ain’t Rights take a last-minute gig deep in Oregon’s backwoods, they expect low pay and bad beer — not blood, dogs, machetes and Patrick Stewart as a terrifying skinhead ringleader. What follows is a night of panic, violence and duct-tape surgery, as the band fights to survive against an organised fascist militia who’d rather clean up witnesses than pay for another gig.

We dig into:

• Punk authenticity — the grime, the DIY spirit, and how Saulnier nails the small-venue chaos.
• Patrick Stewart’s casting — calm, chilling, and galaxies away from Captain Picard.
• Anton Yelchin’s tragic final performance — and what a loss he was.
• Violence that hurts — no jump scares, just sudden, stomach-turning realism.
• The Nazi problem — why these villains feel horrifyingly believable in 2025.
• The A24 factor — another lean, mean indie proving the studio’s knack for smart brutality.

Elsewhere in the episode:
☕ The Top 5 Hot Drinks delivers peppermint tea, Dirty Harry’s coffee, and more filth than a builder’s thermos.
🎸 Reegs spirals into video-game documentaries (Tony Hawk: Pretending I’m a Superman, Speed Runners).
🎤 Dan gets nostalgic about The Last Dance, Sidey recounts a surreal Lady Gaga show, and everyone somehow ends up discussing Tracker bars.

It’s one of those episodes where the jokes come thick, the violence is thicker, and nobody leaves unscalded.

🎧 Listen now for fascists, feedback, froth and a quiz that can only be described as “Hot Coffee or Tea-bagger?”

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