238 - Review of the Year 2020 (with Calvin Dyson)

Guest: Calvin Dyson

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It's that time again where we release truncated Diminisode edits from our Patreon (available for $1 a month at patreon.com/dimreturns) into the wild alongside a whole load of extra commentary, quiz games and more! This week covers Cats, Bad Boys for Life, Dolittle, Sonic the Hedgehog, the 2020 Oscars, The Jesus Rolls and the live-action remake of Mulan. Come back next week for the rest of 2020 including Tenet, Mank and more!

Check out our Patreon here!

Films covered in this episode:
Cats (2019)
Allen: ✰ ✰
Calvin: n/s
Sol: ✰ ½
Overall score: 35%

Bad Boys for Life
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: n/s
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 65%

Dolittle (2020)
Allen: ✰ ✰
Calvin: n/s
Sol: ✰ ✰
Overall score: 40%

Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)
Allen: ✰ ✰
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 60%

The Jesus Rolls
Allen: ✰ ✰
Calvin: n/s
Sol: ✰ ½
Overall score: 35%

Mulan (2020)
Allen: ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: n/s
Sol: ✰ ½
Overall score: 40%

197 - Mulan (with Emily Slade)

Guest: Emily Slade

Films covered in this episode:
Mulan
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Emily: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 84%

Mulan II
Allen: n/s
Emily: ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 35%

What? Another live-action Disney remake already? Yeah, they're just pumping these out. It's Mulan, this time. Starring Eddie Murphy! (You know what that means...)

Check out our Patreon here!

Listen on:
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Android
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PlayerFM

186 - Review of the Year 2019 (with Calvin Dyson)

Guest: Calvin Dyson

Films covered in this episode:
Mary Poppins Returns
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ½
Sol: ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 54%

Stan & Ollie
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 77%

Glass
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰
Calvin: n/s
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 65%

Captain Marvel
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: n/s
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 75%

Dumbo (2019)
Allen: ✰
Calvin: n/s
Sol: ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 35%

Pet Sematary (2019)
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: n/s
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 70%

Hellboy (2019)
Allen: ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: n/s
Sol: ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 50%

Avengers: Endgame
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: n/s
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 75%

Pokemon: Detective Pikachu
Allen: ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ½
Overall score: 54%

Aladdin (2019)
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: n/s
Sol: ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 60%

Godzilla: King of the Monsters
Allen: ✰ ✰
Calvin: n/s
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 60%

X-Men: Dark Phoenix
Allen: ✰ ✰
Calvin: ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰
Overall score: 40%

Men in Black: International
Allen: ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: n/s
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 60%

Toy Story 4
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰
Calvin: n/r
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 70%

Ho ho ho! Merry 2019! Christmas was last week's focus. This week is us getting a wriggle on and beginning the arduous task of evaluating 2019 ahead of actual Christmas. Here, Calvin, Sol and Allen take you through a tour of heavily truncated Diminisodes covering each tie-in release for the year! To hear the original, extended Diminisodes, plus loads of other ones not featured, head over to patreon.com/dimreturns

Listen on:
iTunes
Android
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Stitcher
PlayerFM

163 - The Lion King (with Calvin Dyson)

Guest: Calvin Dyson

Films covered in this episode:

The Lion King
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 90%

The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: n/s
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 65%

The Lion King 1½
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: n/s
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 70%

Nants a podcast bagithi baba! Sithi uhm podcast! We're doing The Lion King Trilogy. You know the drill.

Check out our Patreon here!

Listen on:
iTunes
Android
SoundCloud
Stitcher
PlayerFM

153 - Aladdin (with Howard Jenkins)

Guest: Howard Jenkins

Films covered in this episode:

Aladdin (1992)
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Howard: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 84%

The Return of Jafar
Allen: ✰ ✰ ½
Howard: ✰ ✰ ½
Sol: ✰ ✰
Overall score: 47%

Aladdin and the King of Thieves
Allen: ✰ ✰ ½
Howard: ✰ ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 57%

Disney have done that thing that they keep doing where they remake their old films. This time, they're messing around with Aladdin. Hear talk of the animation process, shifting political standards, Robin Williams and the introduction of an instant classic new Diminishing Returns comedy character...

Check out our Patreon here!

Listen on:
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Android
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PlayerFM

147 - Dumbo (with Calvin Dyson)

Guest: Calvin Dyson

Films covered in this episode

Dumbo
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ½
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 67%

This week has everything from deep explorations of race politics, dubious accusations of animal cruelty against Thomas Edison, a quiz game and, of course, discussion of Dumbo... Disney's beloved classic film and the upcoming Tim Burton remake.

Check out our Patreon here!

Listen on:
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PlayerFM

84 - Another Diminishing Returns Outtakes Show

Our previous outtakes episode went down pretty well, so here's another one. Don't worry; we're all fine. We just wanted to burn this episode off before it got even more outdated than it already is - plus it meant that we could chill out after not taking a week off the show over Christmas.

Listen on:
iTunes
Android
SoundCloud

This episode contains previously unheard cut material from:
"Oscars 2017"
"Live-Action Disney Remakes"
"Guardians of the Galaxy"
"Suicide Squad"
"Review of the Year 2017: Part 1"
and
"Thunderball"

Outtakes Episodes:
"So It's Come to This: A Diminishing Returns Outtakes Show"
"Another Diminishing Returns Outtakes Show"
"The Diminishing Returns 107th Episode Spectacular"
 

54 - Review of the Year 2017: Part 1

Review of the Year 2017:
Part 1
Part 2

Happy birthday, Diminishing Returns! 1 year old today (well, last week, actually, but we wanted to cover The Mummy).

In order to prevent our end of year review episode being 5 hours long, we decided to celebrate our 1-year anniversary with a look back at the last 6 months of cinema (and some films we wanted to revisit from last time).
This episode contains reviews of:
- Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
- Rogue One
- Split
- Fifty Shades Darker
- Logan
- Kong: Skull Island
- Disney's live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast
- Power Rangers
- the live-action Ghost in the Shell remake
- The Fate of the Furious
- season 4 of Bates Motel
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
- Alien: Covenant
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (aka Salazar's Revenge)
- Wonder Woman
...and more!

There's also some games, special guests and all the usual fun and japes (and arguments) that come with the show. Be sure to listen to the end!

Listen on:
iTunes
Android
SoundCloud

Films covered in this episode:

Rogue One
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 77%

Split
Allen: ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: n/s
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 65%

Enjoy our film soundtrack comparison in the episode? Hans Zimmer: god of film-composers or rip-off merchant? Here's a clean listening post without us talking over the music so that you can decide for yourself.

Resident Evil: The Final Chapter
Allen: ½
Calvin: n/s
Sol: n/s
Overall score: 10%

Rings
Allen: ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: n/s
Sol: n/s
Overall score: 50%

Fifty Shades Darker
Allen: ✰ ✰
Calvin: n/s
Sol: n/s
Overall score: 40%

Logan
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 80%

Kong: Skull Island
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰
Calvin: n/s
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 70%

Beauty and the Beast (2017)
Allen: ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 60%

Power Rangers
Allen: ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Sol: n/s
Overall score: 60%

Ghost in the Shell (2017)
Allen: ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: n/s
Sol: n/s
Overall score: 50%

The Fate of the Furious
Allen: ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: n/s
Sol: n/s
Overall score: 50%

Bates Motel (season 4)
Allen: n/s
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 80%

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰
Calvin: n/s
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 65%

The Belko Experiment
Allen: n/s
Calvin: n/s
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 80%

Alien: Covenant
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 80%

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
Allen: ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ½
Sol: n/s
Overall score: 50%

Wonder Woman
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ (rated post-episode)
Calvin: n/s
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 75%

This episode is a continuation of the following episodes:
"Tim Burton"
"Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi"
"Review of the Year 2016"
"M. Night Shyamalan season: Unbreakable"
"M. Night Shyamalan season: The Happening"
"Resident Evil: Retribution"
"The Ring"
"Fifty Shades of Grey"
"Oscars 2017"
"The Wolverine"
"King Kong"
"Live-Action Disney Remakes"
"Power Rangers"
"Ghost in the Shell"
"The Fast and the Furious"
"Psycho"
"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2"
"Alien season: The Alien Quadrilogy"
"Alien season: The Prometheus Unology"
"Pirates of the Caribbean"
"Suicide Squad"
"The Mummy"

Review of the Year episodes:
"Review of the Year 2016"
"Review of the Year 2017: Part 1"
"Review of the Year 2017: Part 2"
"Review of the Year 2018: Part 1"

41 - Live-Action Disney Remakes

Released 13/03/2017

Disney's new take on Beauty and the Beast follows hot on the heels of films like The Jungle Book, Pete's Dragon, Cinderella, Maleficent and Alice in Wonderland. Is the new trend of Disney remaking all of its animated classics harmless, nostalgia-driven fun or a tragic symptom of the end of cinematic creativity? We explore that as well as aforementioned films, Disney's upcoming slate of (at least) 17 further remakes and our pitches for the remakes that Disney should greenlight next. Oh and, also, does the new Beauty and the Beast look any good?

Listen on:
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PlayerFM

Films covered in this episode:

Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 74%

Maleficent
Allen: ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: ✰ ½
Sol: ✰ ½
Overall score: 37%

Cinderella (2015)
Allen: n/s
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 70%

The Jungle Book (2016)
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 67%

Alice Through the Looking Glass
Allen: n/s
Calvin: n/s
Sol: ✰ ✰
Overall score: 40%

We review Beauty and the Beast (2017) in:
"Review of the Year 2017: Part 1"

17 - Tim Burton

Released 26/09/2016

This classic episode is in the Diminishing Returns vault. Sign up to our Patreon for as little as £1 to access our back-catalogue episodes!

In another slightly format-bending episode, Diminishing Returns take a look at the career of Tim Burton, all the way from his early short films up to the upcoming Miss Peregrine's House of Weird Kids. Instead of pitching sequels, Allen, Calvin and Sol pitch what they would like to see Tim pick up as his next project.

Films covered in this episode:

Pee-Wee's Big Adventure
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰
Calvin: n/s
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 70%

Beetlejuice
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 77%

Edward Scissorhands
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 84%

The Nightmare Before Christmas
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 90%

Ed Wood
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 90%

Mars Attacks!
Allen: ✰ ✰
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 60%

Sleepy Hollow
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 74%

Planet of the Apes (2001)
Allen: ✰ ✰
Calvin: ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰
Overall score: 40%

Big Fish
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ½
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 74%

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 67%

Corpse Bride
Allen: ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 67%

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 70%

Alice in Wonderland (2010)
Allen: n/s
Calvin: ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰
Overall score: 30%

Dark Shadows
Allen: ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰
Overall score: 50%

Frankenweenie (2012)
Allen: n/s
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 80%

Big Eyes
Allen: n/s
Calvin: n/s
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 70%

We review Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children in:
"Review of the Year 2016"
...and again in...
"Review of the Year 2017: Part 1"

We revisit Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes in:
"Rise of the Planet of the Apes"

Allen's review of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children