As a rule, I’m not a fan of “repurposed” podcasts – the kind where a broadcaster takes a radio program and makes it available in downloadable form. This type of podcast is rarely more than TiVo for your radio. There’s nothing unique or special about it.

There is, however, one very notable exception: The BBC Five Live’s Simon Mayo program, which once a week features movie critic Mark Kermode, Ph.D. Kermode successfully combines the sensibilities of an auteur with a deep love of B movies and the talent to eviscerate a film with uncanny charm. Dr. Kermode, whose Ph.D. thesis was on horror fiction, never fails to be energetically entertaining, whether he is declaring the death of narrative cinema (something he often encourages his listeners to yell in a crowded a theater) or claiming that it’s okay to be a vegetarian and eat fish because, “fish deserve to die for failing to evolve out of the oceans.”

It may only be the fact that Kermode’s reviews are so honest and so often spot on (although probably not as often as Mark would like to think), that Mayo’s show is one of my favorite podcasts. Or maybe it’s just that Kermode’s brand of cleverness is all but extinct in this country, compelling me to seek movie guidance elsewhere, even if it is only in the form of a downloaded radio show.

However, I think it’s more than that. I find Kermode’s depth of film knowledge and total lack of pretense about it refreshing. The only person he seems concerned with impressing is himself. He also grasps the one immutable law of entertainment: that the only unforgivable sin is being predictable. This from a man who openly declares that his favorite film is The Exorcist.

If Kermode was to read a recipe book with the same charismatic bombast he does the U.K. Box Office Top 10, I’d probably listen to that, too. Especially if he maintained the thorny interplay between himself and the show’s host. Both Kermode and Mayo give the appearance of having to work hard at not throttling each other, although it’s fairly clear this is just for show. Whatever the case, their oddly stilted chemistry works.

In fact, it would be all too easy to dismiss Mayo’s contribution to the movie review segment, as he is often shouted down by the boisterous Kermode. In reality, Mayo’s efforts to interject a more calm perspective into Kermode’s harangues is what keeps the whole thing from spinning out of control. Mayo is Kermode’s safety line to reality, allowing him to ride the rapids of critical ardency, knowing that the host will keep him from going over the falls.

And, of course, there are the reviews themselves. I don’t need a critic to tell me the latest Rob Schneider vehicle stinks, although I may enjoy hearing a truly gifted rant composer describe in graphic detail precisely how much it stinks (and there is no question that when it come to the Art of the Rant, Kermode excels).

What I really want from a critic is to let me know when a movie I’m inclined to see is going to disappoint or when one I typically wouldn’t try might be worth considering. And I want a critic to tell me about the movies I need to see, but have never heard of (thanks, Mark, for turning me on to Pan’s Labyrinth way before everyone else had discovered it).

And, ultimately, I want a critic with a keen appreciation for the art of moviemaking who never forgets that the function of entertainment is to entertain.

Kermode delivers all this, each and every week.

Geek-o-Meter: I’ve been listening to the BBC’s podcast of Mark Kermode’s movie reviews for more than a year now, and it never fails to entertain. The podcast scores a 10 on the Geek-o-Meter for some of the most inspired rants in any medium on any subject. Oh, the reviews are good, too.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 13th, 2007 at 8:48 pm and is filed under HOME, ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES, PODCASTS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.