Above the Title: A Colin Farrell Podcast

After several years negotiating the shift into adulthood via a series of supporting roles, Saoirse Ronan made her triumphant return to stardom by headlining a serious drama at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival which would assert her status as a respected actor and set the course for the rest of her career. This is... not that movie. This is Stockholm, Pennsylvania, a misguided kidnapping drama which was her other attempt at reintroducing herself as a dramatic lead, that also played that Sundance, but would have a hasty release and be quickly forgotten. It's a weird one gang!

This week we're back to talking Colin with the second of his two starring roles of 2025. This time, he's playing a gambler at the end of his rope in Edward Berger's Ballad of a Small Player, a potential Oscar play for Netflix that received a chilly reception on the festival circuit and, at time of recording, appears to have been quietly dumped, much to the consternation of both your hosts (this movie's good!). Listen in for a lot of James Bond talk, a lot of Tilda Swinton talk, an awards season check-in, a debate over this film's use of Macau as a setting, and an attempt to figure out why they bend the cards in baccarat (spoilers: it's way dumber than you could ever imagine).

This week, the great Sean Fahey returns to help us struggle through technical difficulties as we discuss Ryan Gosling's first and only directorial effort, Lost River! Ten years on, with a movie seemingly only the three of us like, where do we stand on this one off? We answer that strangely complicated question, and along the way we complain about the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, debate the aesthetics of homage, salute Ben Mendelsohn, reveal which directors are liars, and try to remember what happens in Hancock.

In 2011, James Bobin and Nicholas Stoller successfully reintroduced The Muppets to a new generation, delivering a box office, Oscar winning hit. In 2014 they followed that up with Muppets Most Wanted, a movie that stinks so bad it basically killed any potential for the Muppets to appear again on the big screen. This week, we dissect the latter to figure out just what went wrong, and you know if we're covering a misbegotten franchise entry we had to bring back the great Colin Hamingson and the great Saneesh Feisal. Saoirse Ronan is technically in this movie. She kind of has a line and everything.Sorry for the poor audio this week, we promise we're working on it!

This week, the great Genevieve Jacobson returns along with first time (and equally great) guest Langston Young to discuss The Grand Budapest Hotel. Arguments are had and technical issues abound as we discuss the broader career of Wes Anderson, the film's Oscar run and notorious Ralph Fiennes snub, Saoirse's frustratingly small role and its oddly fruitful afterlife, and, of course, 28 Years Later.

This week, we complete our brief return to the work of Colin Farrell with A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, his reunion with After Yang director Kogonada and his first feature film following a three year hiatus after his Oscar nomination. We're not mad, we're just disappointed.