Holy Kris Kringle!  Can it be that our dynamic duo of Richard and Greg find the Christmas Feels in a new round of movies?  Will they declare “Batman Returns” a Christmas movie?  Just what exactly is at the heart of the mysterious Christmas parcel?  And is there really a “rapidly approaching Season 5”?  For the answers to these and other questions, tune in today – same Pod-Time, same Pod-Channel!There’s Something in the Barn (2023) http://tinyurl.com/fmfw-05-xmas-barn Spirited (2022) http://tinyurl.com/fmfw-05-xmas-spirited Batman Returns (1992) http://tinyurl.com/fmfw-05-xmas-batman 

It’s been a long break between episodes – a whole Christmas cycle in fact.  Following tradition, Richard and Greg get their reviewing skates on with three Christmas movies, as a lead-in to our rapidly approaching Season 5.  Are they rusty?  Are the films Christmassy enough for Greg?  And has he brought another seasonal sound effect to antagonise Richard?  There’s ho-ho-only one way to find out…The Shop Around the Corner (1940)  https://tinyurl.com/fmfw-05-xmas-corner National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989)  https://tinyurl.com/fmfw-05-xmas-lampoon Mon Oncle Antoine (1971)  https://tinyurl.com/fmfw-05-xmas-antoine 

Season 4 has been bookended by THREE Christmas episodes – so “seasonal” greetings are in order.  Richard and Greg keep with tradition and review three Christmas films – including a musical about a Christmas zombie invasion (which is just SO in keeping with the spirit of the last year).  But what Christmas prop will Greg bring in this year to keep Richard in line?Anna and the Apocalypse (2017)  https://tinyurl.com/fmfw-04-xmas-anna The Bishop’s Wife (1947)  https://tinyurl.com/fmfw-04-xmas-bishop A Sunburnt Christmas (2020)  https://tinyurl.com/fmfw-04-xmas-sunburnt 

Melbourne has gone from the world’s most livable city to the most locked-down – and our Season 4 has stretched across this period.  Way back in “the early days”, we held a Friday Quarantine Film Night festival to restore the shared film-watching experience to our audience. Now that we’re (finally! hurray!) coming out of lockdown, we bookend Season 4 with reviews of three of those FQFN feature films as a pretty-darn-obvious exercise in nostalgia.Heartbreaker (2010)  http://tinyurl.com/fmfw-04-10-breaker Departures (2008)  http://tinyurl.com/fmfw-04-10-departures A Matter of Life and Death  -- also known as “Stairway to Heaven” (1946)  http://tinyurl.com/fmfw-04-10-matter 

Our reviewers seek lockdown escapism through films based on Disneyland rides, despite the fact that one of them has never been on these rides.  But they sidestep the obvious choice – as Richard was born on “Talk Like a Pirate Day” (and needs no encouragement to perform) and Greg’s afraid of Caribbean planks.The Haunted Mansion (2003)  http://tinyurl.com/fmfw-04-09-mansion Jungle Cruise (2021)  http://tinyurl.com/fmfw-04-09-jungle Tomorrowland (2015)  http://tinyurl.com/fmfw-04-09-tomorrow 

Richard and Greg leave the Confessional to push deeper into the spiritual realm.  They sample three ghostly films across different genres (horror, comedy, and existential exploration).  Of course, one reviewer’s “existential exploration” can be another’s snoozefest.  The abiding philosophical question is: Which reviewer felt which?Extra Ordinary (2019)  http://tinyurl.com/fmfw-04-08-extraA Ghost Story (2017)  http://tinyurl.com/fmfw-04-08-storyPoltergeist 2: The Other Side (1986)  http://tinyurl.com/fmfw-04-08-side

It’s Greg’s turn in the FMFW Confessional and there are significant gaps in his Film Watching CV.  Although he makes an interesting myth diagnosis of “Pretty Woman”, our first two films are but pitstops on the way to the Big Question – has Richard’s beloved “Rocky” improved Greg’s opinion of Sylvester Stallone since our Season 1 review of “Cliffhanger”?  Perhaps that’s why our middle film is “Great Expectations”…Pretty Woman (1990)  http://tinyurl.com/fmfw-04-07-pretty Great Expectations (1946)  http://tinyurl.com/fmfw-04-07-expect Rocky (1976)  http://tinyurl.com/fmfw-04-07-rocky 

Here at the FMFW Podcast, we like to play a little game – are there well-known films that our reviewers “confess” to not yet seeing?  This episode, Richard steps into the FMFW Confessional.  Will his sins of omission be original (or merely venial)?  More importantly, will Greg ever forgive Richard his opinion of a favoured film?Galaxy Quest (1999)  http://tinyurl.com/fmfw-04-06-quest Dolores Claiborne (1995)  http://tinyurl.com/fmfw-04-06-dolores Twelve Angry Men (1957)  http://tinyurl.com/fmfw-04-06-twelve 

Pandemic Lockdown sucks – so Richard and Greg decide they need a good laugh.  Each chooses a sure-thing comedy (previously unseen by the other) to give them that lift.  And then they both watch a Marx Brothers film for the first time.  Does it work?  Does a bear do stand-up in the woods? Duck Soup (1933)  http://tinyurl.com/fmfw-04-04-soup Happy Gilmore (1996)  http://tinyurl.com/fmfw-04-04-happy Rat Race (2001)  http://tinyurl.com/fmfw-04-04-race

Only three films have ever won the “Big 5” Oscars: Actor, Actress, Screenplay, Director and Film. And this is where we’d usually tell you their titles (with links). But let’s keep a sense of mystery this time and reveal them as we go. We’ll tell you now that they’re from the Thirties, Seventies and Nineties. The rest is up to you (no Googling!) Our special thanks to listener Natasha Broadstock for suggesting this topic.