296 - Spectre

Films covered in this episode:
Spectre
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ½
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 64%

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The boys are back with the penultimate James Bond movie (but for how long? Probably quite a while, honestly). It's finally time for Spectre (or SPECTRE?), in which Christoph Waltz amazes everyone with the shocking twist no one saw coming that he's playing Blofeld and James Bond finally finds love like he didn't already do that three movies ago. It's a real surprise of an episode where up is down, left is right and Calvin is the #1,000,000 James Bond fan on YouTube.

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276 - Diminishing Returns Are Dead (with Thomas Turgoose, Andrew Ellis and more)

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Guests: Thomas Turgoose, Andrew Ellis, Calvin Dyson, Judey Bignell, Conor Murray, Grace Miller, Emily Slade, How Didn’t This Get Made? and Nicky Diss

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A seance brings a number of never-heard-before clips back from the dead, featuring Thomas Turgoose, Andrew Ellis, Calvin Dyson, Judey Bignell, Conor Murray, Grace Miller, Emily Slade, Nicky Diss and Cubby R. Broccoli.

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274 - Review of the Year 2021: Part II (with Calvin Dyson)

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Seeing out the year in style – and only a month later than everyone else did. By the way, we've heard some of you like James Bond. Listen for our (and guest Calvin Dyson's) thoughts on No Time to Die, along with a whole load of other 2021 films.

Check out our Patreon here!

Films covered in this episode:
Space Jam: A New Legacy
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 55%

Candyman (2021)
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 80%

The Matrix: Resurrections
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 70%

The Kingsman
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 65%

No Time to Die
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Sol: n/s
Overall score: 80%

265 - Quantum of Solace (with Calvin Dyson)

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Guest: Calvin Dyson

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No Time to Die is (allegedly) finally being released! To mark the occasion, we're marching on from the ending of Casino Royale and straight into the beginning of Quantum of Solace, the Bond movie that was infamously written on the fly thanks to the 2007 writers' strike. Will Sol stay true to his contrarian nature and actually like this one? Someone's got to because Calvin certainly doesn't.

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Films covered in this episode:
Quantum of Solace
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰
Calvin: ✰ ½
Sol: ✰
Overall score: 37%

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255 - Casino Royale (2006) (with Calvin Dyson)

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Guest: Calvin Dyson

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In a heartfelt apology for the hilarious April Fools' prank we pulled last month, here's a sincere, legitimate bit of film analysis focused in on the 2006 version of Casino Royale - the real one, starring Daniel Craig - that you wanted to hear us discuss in the first place.

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Films covered in this episode:
Casino Royale (2006)
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 80%

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250 - You Only Live Twice (Twice): Diminishing Returns Returns! (with Calvin Dyson & Japanese Bond)

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Guest: Calvin Dyson and Japanese Bond

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To celebrate our landmark 250th episode, we let our Patreon-subscribers decide which film we should cover again (out of everything in our first 200 episodes). They wanted us to do You Only Live Twice... twice.

Check out our Patreon here!

Films covered in this episode:
You Only Live Twice
Allen: ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 60%

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232 - Die Another Day (with Calvin Dyson)

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Guest: Calvin Dyson

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It's the end of the Pierce Brosnan era! Die Another Day is famously Sol and Allen's go-to answer to "worst James Bond movie of all time". Does it live up (down?) to the hype? As usual, Calvin is on hand to try and keep them in check.

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Die Another Day
Allen: ✰ ✰
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ½
Sol: ✰ ✰
Overall score: 44%

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219 - The World Is Not Enough (with Calvin Dyson)

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Guest: Calvin Dyson

Films covered in this episode:
The World Is Not Enough
Allen: ✰ ½
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Sol: ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 57%

We're whizzing through the James Bond franchise because what else is there to do in 2020 but watch old movies? This time, it's The World Is Not Enough. Is this finally the film to win over Sol and Allen? Obviously not, but it's a funny journey, we promise.

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210 - Tomorrow Never Dies (with Calvin Dyson)

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Guest: Calvin Dyson

Films covered in this episode:
Tomorrow Never Dies
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 64%

Back on Bond! Calvin is determined to get us through the Brosnan era ahead of No Time to Die's release in November. This is our second step towards that goal, looking at Pierce's second time playing James: Tomorrow Never Dies! Listen for discussion of a wealth of name-actors and even No Time to Die's potential for a Best Picture nomination at the coming Academy Awards.

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206 - Diminishing Returns Live! (with Calvin Dyson and Emily Slade)

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Guests: Calvin Dyson and Emily Slade

Film scores updated in this episode:

American Beauty
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Judey: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 88%

Fight Club
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Brear: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 90%

Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Daryn: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 88%

Shaun of the Dead
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 94%

This Is England
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 84%

A special live episode of the podcast, originally broadcast exclusively to Patreon subscribers on the 28th of April, 2020! (Please forgive the shaky audio quality - we're normally much better than this, but we're also not normally live).

That's right, this whole corona virus lockdown pushed us to hold a special video stream event: a live episode of the podcast. Hopefully the first of many.

Listen to this - the edited audio version - or head over to our official YouTube page to watch the (mostly) unedited video version (there’s also an embed on this very page).

This episode features Sol, Allen and Calvin as well as Emily Slade from Why This Film? podcast, who was kind enough to compere the event for us. There's a James Bond quiz, Calvin is invited to add his own ratings to the films he missed in the currently in the Diminishing Returns top 10 list, the gang take various audience questions and more.

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199 - GoldenEye (with Calvin Dyson)

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Guest: Calvin Dyson

Films covered in this episode:
GoldenEye
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 77%

In an unprecedented Diminishing Returns move, we're bringing you a second James Bond episode, the week after the first, all in anticipation of No Time to Die which, as far as we're aware, is released on the 3rd of April 2020! Calvin Dyson joins us, as always, as we enter the Pierce Brosnan era.

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198 - Licence to Kill (with Calvin Dyson)

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Guest: Calvin Dyson

Films covered in this episode:
Licence to Kill
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 64%

Bond is back, just in time for the upcoming release of No Time to Die! (No one tell Calvin).

This time, we tackle the second half of Timothy Dalton's tenure with the character. Licence to Kill was, at one time, Calvin Dyson's least favourite film in the entire franchise - has he come round to it, now? Did he and Allen comically underestimate the impact Coronavirus was just about to have? Possibly. Listen and find out!

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194 - The Living Daylights (with Calvin Dyson)

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Guest: Calvin Dyson

Films covered in this episode:
The Living Daylights
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Sol: ✰ ½
Overall score: 54%

We're back on Bond - but, this time, Roger Moore is nowhere to be seen! We're finally onto a new actor in the role as we kick off with the first of Timothy Dalton's two times playing the character. As always, James Bond expert, Calvin Dyson, is on hand to offer his thoughts alongside Sol and Allen.

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182 - A View to a Kill (with Calvin Dyson)

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Guest: Calvin Dyson

Films covered in this episode:

A View to a Kill
Allen: ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 60%

Diminishing Returns continues to march forward through the Bond franchise - this time forging new ground as, for the first time, we tackle an entry that Sol hasn't seen before. Could this be the one to win him over to Bond? And how does Calvin feel? (Allen hates it, obviously).

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168 - Diminishingump Roasturns (with Calvin Dyson, Dan Straw and Conor Murray)

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Guests: Calvin Dyson, Dan Straw and Conor Murray

Films covered in this episode:

Fifty Shades of Black
Allen: ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: n/s
Sol: n/s
Overall score: 50%

We're on our Summer hols and Allen actually has some acting work lined up for a change, so here's a very special outtakes episode in which esteemed film-maker Werner Herzog takes a look (listen?) at some previously unheard Diminishing Returns material from the archive.

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145 - For Your Eyes Only (with Calvin Dyson)

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Guest: Calvin Dyson

Films covered in this episode:

For Your Eyes Only
Allen: ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰
Overall score: 50%

For your ears only (not really, it's for anyone who wants to listen, sorry)... but that shouldn't matter because it's Diminishing Returns returning to James Bond once more.

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