Is ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER film of the year? With Paul Thomas Anderson

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you.  ‘One Battle After Another’ hits the big screen this week—and there’s already plenty of buzz, not least from Steven Spielberg, about this much anticipated new flick starring Leonardo DiCaprio and the dazzlingly named newcomer Chase Infiniti. Its director—and one of the most exciting directors working today—Paul Thomas Anderson is our very special guest this week. He and Simon unpack his decades-long writing process on the movie, his first ever car chase, and getting binned off by DiCaprio for ‘Titanic’. Could this be the year PTA finally gets his Oscar? Answers in an envelope now please...  Mark reviews ‘One Battle After Another’ too--along with two more of the week’s most popcorn-worthy cinema releases. First up, ‘The Dead Of Winter’--where we see Emma Thompson explore new territory in a frozen thriller set in chilly Minnesota. And yes, that means she does the accent. Plus, ‘The Strangers: Chapter 2’... let’s see if this unintentionally silly slasher can improve on its predecessor, which shouldn’t be difficult... one would hope.  All the usual tasty features too as Mark runs down the full Box Office Top 10 and Simon tries to wring some genuine humour out of the Laughter Lift. Tope correspondence from you as always--and don’t forget you can now watch the full show on YouTube!     Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free):    The Dead of Winter Review: 09:16 (00:11:04 – 11:40:19)  Box Office Top Ten: 15:44  Paul Thomas Anderson Interview: 28:17  One Battle After Another Review: 42:04 (Clip: 00:28:34 – 00:29:16)  Laughter Lift: 56:11  The Strangers: Chapter 2 Review: 01:00:06 (Clip 01:01:23 – 01:02:06)        You can contact the show by emailing [email protected] or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo  Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey   EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee!  A Sony Music Entertainment production.      Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts    To advertise on this show contact: [email protected]  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices