Couple Indemnity

Hal has gone big this week and has selected what he deems his favourite film of all-time, with the next movie from our Hitchcock marathon, the haunting and intensely psychological Vertigo (1958).
A former San Francisco police detective (James Stewart) juggles wrestling with his personal demons and becoming obsessed with the hauntingly beautiful woman (Kim Novak) he has been hired to trail, who may be deeply disturbed. 
Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Izzy has selected another classic this week with Sophie's Choice, the 1982 psychological drama based on the novel of the same name by William Styron. Meryl Streep stars as Zofia "Sophie" Zawistowska, a Polish immigrant who moves to America with a dark secret from her past, who shares a boarding house in Brooklyn with her tempestuous lover Nathan (Kevin Kline in his feature-film debut), and young writer Stingo (Peter MacNicol). 
Director: Alan J. Pakula

Hal has gone for another hugely important film classic for this episode with David Lean's romantic period masterpiece Brief Encounter (1945), adapted from the Noel Coward 1936 play Still Life.
Brief Encounter tells the story of two married strangers (Celia Johnson & Trevor Howard) living in pre-World War II England, whose chance meeting at a railway station leads to a brief yet intense emotional affair disrupting their otherwise conventional lives.
Director: David Lean

Izzy's latest choice is the iconic 1961 romantic comedy Breakfast at Tiffany's which saw Audrey Hepburn deliver a career-defining performance as the eccentric and unpredictable socialite Holly Golightly, who is determined to make it big and marry a wealthy husband. But when young writer Paul Varjak (George Peppard) moves into her apartment building, her past threatens to get in their way.
Director: Blake Edwards

Hal has gone back to one of his standout TV dramas from the archives and has selected one of the early episodes from the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes Granada TV series that was broadcast on ITV from 1984-1994.
In this episode, titled "The Dancing Men", a gentleman is baffled when the childish drawings of dancing men terrify his American wife. Sherlock Holmes is drawn to the case and soon discovers why.
Director: John Bruce

Izzy's next choice is the highly rated Merchant Ivory production The Remains of the Day (1993), based on the Booker Prize-winning novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, about the story of the unexpressed affection between Mr Stevens (Anthony Hopkins) - head butler at an English stately home shortly before World War II - and housekeeper Miss Kenton (Emma Thompson).
Director: James Ivory

For Hal's selection this week, we ventured to London to see the Oscar-nominated period horror film Sinners (2025) on the big screen for the full movie-going experience.
Set in 1932 in the Mississippi Delta, the film stars Michael B. Jordan in dual roles as criminal identical brothers who return to their hometown in the Jim Crow South, where they are encountered by a supernatural evil. 
Director: Ryan Coogler

This week we are delighted to be joined again by Scott Phipps (host of the Talking Pictures TV Podcast, as well as his own shows Reel Britannia, The Stinking Pause and Rainbow Valley podcasts) who has selected Hal and Izzy to review Paper Moon (1973), the wonderfully endearing road comedy-drama starring real-life father and daughter Ryan and Tatum O'Neal as protagonists Moze and Addie, who forge an unlikely partnership during the Great Depression.
Director: Peter Bogdanovich

Izzy's choice has landed on Valentines Day this week so she has decided to go big and select one of her all-time favourites for the podcast with About Time (2013), the British romantic comedy starring Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams and Bill Nighy. 
At the age of 21, Tim (Gleeson) discovers he can travel in time and change what happens and has happened in his own life. His decision to make his world a better place by getting a girlfriend turns out not to be as easy as you might think.
Director: Richard Curtis

Hal has chosen the second French movie for the podcast this week with Priceless (2006), a romantic comedy starring Audrey Tatou and Gad Elmaleh. 
A shy waiter (Elmaleh) who works at a high-end hotel is mistaken for a young millionaire by the beautiful and intriguing fortune hunter Irene (Tatou). 
Director: Pierre Salvadori