I like 'em.

I have to say I still love the programme, though. One of my essential podcasts.

A large part of it must be if you take to the personalities of Mayo and Kermode. I quite like the pedantic banter, but it sounds like maybe you are sick of it. I haven't been listening to them for the whole last 10 years, so maybe that's part of it.

I find I don't agree with Kermode a LOT of the time, but I am just happy to let my own head be the critical disagreement. I don't think I need a dissenting voice on the programme itself (although it would occasionally be nice for someone to correct his factual errors). Although he is quite stubborn and headstrong, it's his force of personality that makes his reviews interesting.

Boyd and Floyd are really good, though. If they had a whole separate programme I would listen to that as well. But whenever they fill in for Kermode I find myself craving Kermode again.

So, all in all, it's each to their own, isn't it? The programme obviously has a lot of mileage left as long as there are dedicated fans like me.

I'm inclined to agree with you on some of your points.

Certainly, since the move to the longer show, the podcast has become far less essential than it used to be. At one point the podcast was barely 35 minutes long (sometimes, on a busy day, it was less than 20) but now, it's regularly well over an hour and often 90 minutes or more. You're right - that's far too much time to simply review films but the padding that comes before the reviews is, in my opinion, unnecessary. All those hellos to x,y or z, back slapping emails from listeners, that quite annoying Code of Conduct (the amount of listener snobbery about cineplexes is sometimes quite jarring) and the interminable Benjamin Sniddlegrass stuff (funny for about two minutes) just don't hold my interest.

Do people really enjoy all that guff? I guess they must but whenever I listen I'm reminded of what Mark Kermode would say whenever he's confronted with a long, baggy, incoherent movie. It's usually something about a ruthless editor and a sharp pair of scissors. I often think the same could apply to the podcast in the new format.

I think when a show like that gets to the point that people are listening on a specific week just to hear an anticipated rant (Pirates, Transformers, etc.) then its inherent value as a review show is compromised. It used to be that Mark Kermode would end up ranting about a movie in an organic fashion, building a head of steam as he discussed the movie's content and qualities. Now he's expected to start in rant mode. But unfortunately there's nowhere to go from there.

I also find myself often questioning Mark Kermode - not on his reviews (after all, it's just his opinion) but on his judgements regarding certain films content. So The Hangover II (not a great film, by any stretch) is slammed for it's misogynistic content but an equally (if not more) offensive film like "The Boat that Rocked" received a positive review (no, really) and any questions about its misogynistic content was brushed aside because he liked it.

I listened to Bradley Cooper on the show yesterday (quite an enjoyable interview, in fairness) and couldn't help thinking that it would have been so much more interesting if Mark Kermode had been there to discuss The Hangover. Cooper was more than willing to defend it but Simon Mayo didn't quite have the werewithal or, perhaps, the inclination to pursue it. I would have liked to have heard a lively discussion between Mark Kermode and Bradley Cooper. Much like, as you said in the original post, the brief debate that took place between Joe Cornish and Mark Kermode back in May.

However, I must say that I still enjoy the review section of the show. I'm big fans of both of them and think that some elements of the show are still of great value. I guess I'd just prefer if the show was split into two podcasts - the way it sometimes used to be. One podcast for interviews and another for the Top Ten listing and new reviews. And Sniddlegrass and the rest can stay on the cutting room floor where they belong.

Still I'm sure they (and others) would say that if we don't like it we don't have to listen or that we could just skip to the reviews.

Incidentally I went to see Beginners last night in my local multiplex. I won't bore you with details of the audience's behaviour or the clarity of the projection (digital or otherwise) but I will say that it's a lovely, lovely film with smashing performances throughout. And Melanie Laurent is unbelievably beautiful. Highly recommended.

.....being made into an hour-and-a-half film scenario.
Sometimes worked ('Dad's Army', 'Likely Lads', 'Porridge').
Usually didn't.

Just read this tweet from @wittertainment a moment ago. Suggest that perhaps the OP and I are out of step with the majority.

"Record podcast figures send us off with a skip in our step and hats at a jaunty angle."

Good for them, I guess. Although I'm sure that in some cases Mark Kermode would argue that just because something is popular, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's good.

Still, happy holidays to the pair of them.

even though I haven't seen a movie in years. I have, however, got the feeling that Mayo has become slightly more impatient over the last year or so, and seems slightly bored with the format.

A similar thing seems to have happened to the last series of Adam and Joe. While I still loved it, it was obvious that Joe has moved on, which makes me feel rather sorry for Adam. It was almost Adam's show with Joe as a guest.

But there is a bit too much of it for me unless I am doing a lot of travel. Thing is - if I miss it on the radio, I dont hear it. If it is on a podcast I feel strangely compelled to listen, and so they build up.
I'd prefer 90 minutes to 2 hours. But I am pleased it is there at all.

The reason it works is that Mayo functions to rein in Kermode from some of his obscure flights of fancy.

I agree that some of the interviews are weak, but I listen to the podcast and always have the option of fast-forwarding.

I used to listen to it all the time. I still download the podcast but rarely listen to it. If I'm going to listen to a podcast that length about film I'm afraid Filmspotting gets my vote.

It's a considered talk about film (the fact both Adam and Matty have seen the films makes for a proper two-way conversation) without the tired banter and "Hello Jason Isaacs" - maybe Joe Cornish should have told them how "Stepehen!" went on too long.

while K&M are away and realise why the Kermode and Mayo show works so well. Boyd is a living egg man who knows sod all about everything and barely lets Nigel Floyd, who does know many things, get a word in. Add to that dimwit enthuse machine Colin Patterson and you've got a bore fest to rule them all. .

I'll wait til they are back from holidays, cheers

Still love it here too. Although I really think Kermode should be more involved with the interviews - if he's allowed to say what he really thinks. Mayo's interview with Bradley Cooper yesterday was a bit too "What makes you so awesome?" for me.

Kermode is a fine fellow I'm sure, but I have never agreed with his taste in, or approach to, films, and his climb to the post of the BBC's premier film expert has left me a bit cold. I suspect I am in the minority on this.

Im alwayd disappointed when Boyd & Floyd take over. Kermode & Mayo's constant bickering is a weekly podcast highlight

have Floyd and Peter Bradshaw fill in for the holidays? Boyd Hilton is a decent TV reviewer but I like film critics to really have a good grounding in the language and history of film, something he does not. Boyd seems to be a lazy booking - a tried and tested participant in Richard Bacon's show, with the producers afraid to take a chance on someone different. Wouldn't surprise me if the rhyming names is a factor too.

Kermode, Floyd and Bradshaw have the ability to avoid patronising their audience without sounding like stuffy lecturers, and it is the job of the presenter, usually Phil Williams or Colin Patterson, to pull them back if they're getting too "Sight And Sound".

At the exact moment when Mr Mayo stopped reading out my emails every week.