In Memoriam: Calvin Dyson (2016-2018)

That's right, as those of you who've already listened to our latest episode will know, Calvin has sadly had to take an indefinite hiatus from the show.

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But fret not, for Diminishing Returns shall continue with Allen, Sol and a rolling series of guest-hosts. That's right! The show's going to start featuring more than one guest every 2 years! And don't worry, Bond fans, because Calvin will still pop up as a guest from time-to-time, such as when we do those Bond episodes that we do. 

Here's to the future of Diminishing Returns... a future of diminishing returns. 

The Diminishing Returns Top 10 Films of 2017

In our latest episode, we take a look back at the best films we've covered on the show this year. But what about our combined top 10 including all those films that didn't get a tie-in episode of the podcast? Here's our list for 2017 (and, as always, bear in mind that there are a hell of a lot of films we haven't got round to seeing yet). Also worth noting that this list includes films that were released in the US in 2016 but only found their way to the UK in 2017.

10. Fences
9. La La Land
8. The Disaster Artist
7. Spider-Man: Homecoming
6. Moonlight
5. Thor: Ragnarok
4. Wonder Woman
3. War for the Planet of the Apes
2. Logan
1. Alien: Covenant

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Listener Vote Results

The results are in and the winner is The Big Momma's House Trilogy!

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Of course, when you disqualify Allen's 37 votes designed to ruin everybody's fun, then the real winner is The Back to the Future Trilogy. Huzzah!

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Allen has confessed to his crimes and will be punished in due course. Maybe we'll do Big Momma's House one day, but come January, we'll be bringing you the Back to the Future franchise. Thank you to everyone who voted. We'll try to do you proud!

Remember That Listener Vote Episode?

Remember that listener vote episode we announced months ago?

Originally, it was supposed to be out this year, but various schedule changes forced us to push it back to early 2018. Don't worry; it's still going to happen!

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Unfortunately, Allen seems to have been taking the extra time to stuff the ballot full of votes for the Big Momma's House series, so assuming you'd rather we talk about the Back to the Future or Matrix trilogies, head over to our voting page and vote! Vote! Don't let Allen subvert democracy!

Happy Halloween!

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This week's new episode is our second Halloween special. That's right; we can now officially call our "Podcast of Horror" episodes an annual tradition.

This time round, we've got some surprises up our sleeves. "Podcast of Horror II" is all about The Blair Witch Project and its sequels. In addition to our usual schtick of reviewing the series, then pitching our own ideas for follow-ups, we've got some clips from audio commentaries and an interview with Ed Sanchez, (director of the first film), himself (in which he drops some interesting news about a possible Blair Witch follow-up).

Things to Come

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We have locked down our recording schedule for the rest of the year, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to drop a few hints regarding what you can expect from us in the rest of 2017.

  • There will be at least one more James Bond episode this year (and also something so close to James Bond that it might as well be a James Bond episode).
  • There will be an episode based on an unlikely film series that has been requested by a number of listeners since we started.
  • We'll follow through on another listener request made back when we launched the podcast in June 2016.
  • We're covering some incredibly prolific horror franchises throughout October.
  • There will be another Halloween special
  • There will be another Christmas special
  • There will be two more superhero episodes
  • We have another special season of episodes planned, and I think you're all going to really appreciate this one.

...And various further surprises.

I'll leave you with some new episode artwork that'll give you some further clues.

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New Episode Among Other Things

We don't tend to update the newsfeed for new episodes. We give you one every Monday without fail. You all know that. That's not news. It's "olds", if anything.

But this week is different because this week, the new episode, is part of our ongoing James Bond retrospective. We know a lot of our listeners are big Bond fans, so this is a big episode. More than that, however, this may just be the best episode of the show to date.

This week's episode is "You Only Live Twice" and it starts out with all the usual film discussion, but we got quite manic towards the end - something that often comes with a late-night record. Not to mention that this week's selection of sequel pitches are particularly good.

So please do go ahead and listen! And tell your friends! And subscribe! And rate and review us on iTunes!

Oh, and if you're here for the listener vote discussed in the episode, then head here to get involved. At the time of writing, Big Momma's House has inexplicably overtaken The Matrix, so anything could happen!

 

Pirates of the Caribbean, Gladiator and The Lion King 2 Soundtrack Comparison

We at Diminishing Returns hope to bring you a selection of video pieces moving forward, now that we have this fancy new website where we can show them all off.

The first is a nice, clean listening post, comparing the soundtracks of the films Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Gladiator and The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride. This audio was heard (and discussed) in our latest episode "Review of the Year: Part 1", but now you can listen to it without us talking over the top of it and decide for yourself!