Movies With Ali Plumb

For just under ten years, the ragtag Marvel heroes known as the Guardians Of The Galaxy have been a part of our superheroic / cinematic lives, and with the third film in the series now in theatres, Ali caught up with writer-director James Gunn and his cast - including Zoe Saldana, Chris Pratt, Pom Klementieff and Karen Gillan - to ask that big ol' question: what's the secret of their intergalactic success?

After a Zoom chat with the gang a few weeks ago, Ted Lasso himself - the one and only Jason Sudeikis - stopped by London town to speak to Ali for a 'Becoming... Ted Lasso' interview special. Warning: contains moderate series 1-2 spoilers from the show as well as, um, a hug. An audio hug. As you do.

Joe and Anthony Russo are the directors of some of the biggest Marvel movies (and so biggest Movies full stop) of all time, including Captain America The Winter Soldier, Avengers Infinity War, Captain America Civil War, and the BIG one - the biggest film of all time (for a time) - Avengers Endgame. TV-wise they've also worked on Arrested Development, Community and much more, including their new Amazon Prime mega blockbuster spy series Citadel, which brought them to London recent to talk to our Ali about skis, exploding trains and director cameos.

Hot off the success of The Last Of Us, professional cinematographer / director of photography Eben Bolter joins Ali this week to talk about one of the most beautiful (and most influential) sci-fis ever made, Blade Runner. Impossible to do justice in under an hour - or given any length of time at all, really - this film of films goes under the microscope as they pair try, enthusiastically, to work out just what makes it so very, very special.

This is an interview special in honour of the extremely talented, utterly charming and truly delightful Melanie Lynskey. Currently she’s in Yellowjackets, the Paramount+ show about a high school soccer (that is to say, football) team who, in the '90s, survive a horrific plane crash that leaves them stranded in the Canadian wilderness, struggling to survive, stay warm, stay sane, and, um, stay fed. It's... not a comedy. Melanie, however, is an utter joy, and here's the interview to prove it.

British animation institution Aardman is celebrating 30 years since Wallace And Gromit gem The Wrong Trousers, so what better way to celebrate the home of Morph, Shaun The Sheep and The Pirate Captain than to... invite comedian Abi Clarke onto the show to talk about Chicken Run, eh? To be fair, the sequel is out on Netflix later on this yeah, so it kinda makes sense. And it's Chicken Run! It's a classic of classics! So any excuse, really...

Los Angeles-based film critic Grae Drake joins Ali for a spoilerific chat about Steven Spielberg's future-predicting sci-fi classic Minority Report, starring some guy called Tom Cruise. He'll be back on the big screen later this year for another Impossible Mission, but for now let's celebrate one of the best entries in either Cruise's or Spielberg's back catalogue (yep, we went there).

HBO, Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann absolutely knocked it out of the park with The Last Of Us, we can all agree - nine episodes of some of the best TV we've seen in quite some time - but that isn't going to stop Ali and friend of the show Ash Crossan from doing a spoiler special Screen Time podcast about. They may both love the games and love the show, but when it comes to spoiler specials, if there are nits, they will be picked - even if they're pretty darn hard to find. So if you've watched the first series, welcome, this is just the spoilery discussion podcast for you!

John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein are the brilliant people who gave us Rachel McAdams and Jason Bateman comedy hit Game Night a few years ago, and now they're back with the charming action adventure fantasy heist movie Dungeons And Dragons: Honour Among Thieves, taking stars like Chris Pine, Hugh Grant, Michelle Rodriguez, Regé-Jean Page and more on the ride of their lives. Here, all of the above speak to Ali about riding horses, the perils of sweaty armour and, um, hugging.

Florence Pugh is just extraordinarily talented. Whether it's Midsommar, Little Women, Fighting With My Family or her latest - A Good Person, in cinemas now, fact fans - she's just an outstanding acting take, and we can look forward to even more of her over the next few years in the likes of Marvel's Thunderbolts, Oppenheimer and Dune Part 2. This is the audio version of her Movies That Made Me interview with Ali, which you can watch on BBC iPlayer in all its glory closer to its Sky Cinema release on April 28th. Write that down in your copybooks... now.

Radio 1 veteran - and the man who literally wrote the book on Keanu Reeves - one James King, esq, speaks to Ali this week about the man also known as John Wick in honour of the fourth chapter of the action franchise hitting cinemas this weekend. And after all the Keanu love, right at the end we have a few minutes with Mr. Reeves himself, as well as his director Chad Stahelski and co-stars Rina Sawayama and Ian McShane.

This Sunday it's time for a throwback interview from late last year, one with Daniel Craig himself. In lieu of a 'Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery' spoiler special - darn those technical gremlins - we're reaching back a few months to give you Ali's chat with the artist formerly known as James Bond, touching on how he got the role, what it means to him and where that accent of accents comes from (in a classic 'Becoming...' interview way).

Zachary Levi, then: aka Tangled's Flynn Rider, aka Thor's underseen best mate Fandral, aka Chuck's Chuck, aka Shazam (aka Billy Batson). With the Shazam! sequel in cinemas now - that's Shazam! Fury Of The Gods - Ali spoke to the fast-talking, quick-witted actor about how he got the role (after originally turning down the chance!), playing Mario Kart on set and how you go about dashing to the loo when you're wearing such a form-fitting superhero get-up.

At long last, Ted Lasso returns to our screens on March 15th for a third series on Apple TV+. It has felt like an eternity for die-hard fans of the show who've fallen in love with the world of Richmond AFC since it first appeared in our lives in August 2020 - so to help tide you over just a few more days, here are Jason Sudeikis, Hannah Waddingham, Brett Goldstein, Nick Mohammed, Brendan Hunt and Toheeb Jimoh talking about the phenomenon of Ted, shortbread biscuits, "the signal" and much, much more.

Scream 6 - or Scream VI (or ScreaVI) - has arrived in cinemas, and with it... a lot of questions. It's the latest in the meta horror slasher ghostfaced series we all know and love, a treasure trove of twists and references and big plot points - so we all have some queries we'd love to have answered. But also... kinda not. Welcome to: the spoiler zone. In a nutshell, here are some short and sweet interviews with the cast of Scream 6 where Ali tries to ask them moderately interesting questions without anyone giving any spoilers away. It's quite the highwire act, but if anyone can do it, it's Melissa Barrera, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding, Dermot Mulroney, Jenna Ortega, Hayden Panettiere and the directors, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett.

Pedro Pascal is, as they say, so hot right now. In the past he's been in the likes of Game Of Thrones, Narcos, The Good Wife, Wonder Woman 1984, Kingsman: The Golden Circle (and many many more) but these days he could well be the biggest TV star out there, thanks in no small part to The Mandalorian, a tiny Yoda-like creature called Grogu and, well, that zombie show. You know the one. Here, Pedro speaks to Ali about how he got the role, what it means to him, and how to best pronounce the word "wizard".

Playing the son of Apollo Creed, Adonis "Donny" Creed, is hard enough a task just by itself, but to also direct and produce the latest Creed film? That's a lot - but fortunately Michael B. Jordan is up to the task(s) required putting Creed 3 together, as this interview undoubtedly proves. Hear him discuss with Ali how much the role means to him, the physical training required, and what it's like to give directions when you have boxing gloves on and mouthguard in.

Creed III is on the way, so it's a great time to revisit the classic of classics that is the original Rocky. Joining Ali to talk about The Italian Stallion is My Dad Wrote A Porno's Jamie Morton, whose dad wrote the immortal Belinda Blinked, um, "books". His dad's nom de plume? Rocky Flintstone. We don't throw this stuff together, you know. So here's an Ali Plumb's Film Club that digs into the super inspirational 1976 sports film in a highly spoilerific fashion, so if you haven't seen it, go treat yourself and come back to us soon, ya hear?

It's been a BIG week for our Ali, what with the BAFTAs and all this movie and TV news that keeps hitting the press. Oh, and all the interviews! Including with Jamie Demetriou, aka Stath from Stath Lets Flats, and now the star and creator of a new Netflix comedy special, A Whole Lifetime With Jamie Demetriou. So here's a Friday episode that keeps you up to date with what's worth knowing in terms of big blockbuster headlines, as well as reminding you of the brilliance of our Jamie (not too hard a task, to be fair).

Fellow Paul Rudd fans, good news: some primo, top quality, high grade Paul Rudd nonsense is about to hit your eardrums. Also along for the ride are his castmates from the third Ant-Man outing, including Evangeline Lilly, Katherine Newton, Jonathan Majors and Michael Douglas - plus their director, Peyton Reed (lest we forget). Talking about breaking, CGI chicanery, fan interactions and plenty of other teeny tiny bits and pieces, quite a lot it covered in this Giant-Man-sized interview special, so please do enjoy.