When you are into movies and say the name Leonard Maltin, you might think “the movie royalty, the man, the myth, the legend, who’s seen it all”. At least, that is what you might think if you are born and raised American. Believe it or not, even amongst “us”, movie folks/fans, he isn’t that know in the Czech Republic, where I am originally from. But when I was looking for podcasts to get into some while ago, his name kept popping up, so I have tried it. And stuck with it until now.
Hopefully, this won’t make me sound like a hipster (or at least not too much), but I am a complecionist, so I have listened to every single episode of this podcast. Yes, that means I still remember, the original co-host Baron Vaughn (who I greatly miss, as he always brought a different perspective and was also really funny) and the fact this podcast used to be primarily about movies (each week, the podcast used to have one actor/actress as the main topic, and our hosts would discuss 3 movies of theirs – one great one, one “not so great one” (or turkey, as Leonard would always call it) and one hidden gem, an underseen movie, that they thought deserved a bit more attention/love.
But as with most things, this podcast has evolved into something different. Firstly, from what I understand, it was quite challenging for a person like Leonard (whose job it is to watch movies, so he can write about them) to go back and “just” watch 3 older movies a week. Also, Baron got a role on Grace and Frankie (2015 – 2021). That led to this podcast shifting into being more interview/chat with famous people about their roles when comes to movies, how they love them. But most importantly, Baron’s leaving has allowed for “the other Maltin” to take his place – Jessie Maltin. That is how she calls herself, but she’s so much more than that. And Jessie made her mark on this show, from being funny to representing us, the listening audience, when somebody, who’s managed to reach “the legendary” status shows up to be interviewed (the likes of Al Pacino or Laura Dern). I genuinely love how she can geek out over guests and doesn’t try to hide her excitement.
The other thing about why I love this podcast and Jessie being involved, is the daughter/father dynamic, where she is allowed to (in a polite way) make fun of Leonard. But it’s always done with love, where you can tell how much they care about each other. She also is a great source of different stories, as you can imagine, growing up, being around her dad a lot, you get to meet a lot of celebrities/variety of famous folks. What I am trying to say is they complement each other so well – him, being the “straight, let’s talk about movies” host and her, being the more down-to-earth person, who isn’t afraid to tell someone how much they mean to her, or show her emotions.
Even though I’ve been listening to this podcast for about 3/4 years now, I couldn’t write a review for it until now. Because this podcast has a special place in my heart, to tell you the truth, as it was them who inspired and “made” me create this blog. During my years, I’ve always tried to write and share my movie opinions, as that’s one thing I care about and love. And yet, for a variety of different reasons (English not being my native language, thinking nobody will care about my opinions on anything, Internet being overcrowded with people spouting their opinions on everything…) I haven’t pulled the trigger. That was until I was sitting down at the airport in Paris (late 2019, before COVID-19), listening to this podcast. Jessie was talking about people coming up to her dad, asking “how can I do what you do?” and she said something along the lines of “Simply start writing and keep at it”. I know what (some) of you might be thinking: “Wait, if this was late 2019, how come you didn’t start until April 2020, during the pandemic?” Touché, you observant stranger. The truth is, I knew at that moment that I will start, I just didn’t know when, how… until the pandemic hit and suddenly, I didn’t have any excuse.
So, yes. If you ever happen to read this, dear Maltins, you are solely responsible for me having this tiny blog, where for over a year now, I have been trying to review everything from movies, TV shows, podcasts and even books (more coming soon, promise) and try to push and improve myself, because that would be the dream. To focus on my writing, watching movies for a living, writing about them, talking about them. But I know, this is hard to do, especially nowadays. So, in the meantime, I might as well sacrifice some spare time and write the occasional reviews, hoping somebody out there, might value something I say.
Overall, Maltin on Movies is a golden standard on how movie podcasts should be done. Interesting guests, impeccable hosts, who keep shining a spotlight on not just what is popular, but mainly on what is great. What deserves to be seen, people, who have stories to tell. That’s another thing I appreciate about this podcast, not every single episode has a “big A++ Hollywood name”. Plenty of times, I don’t recognise the names, which is fine with me. Because that usually means, I will find out about somebody new and get introduced to a different perspective, different opinions, different movies. If you love movies and have around one hour a week to spare, I can’t recommend this podcast enough.
That’s all for this one! Do you listen to this one? What do you think about it? Let me know!
Until next time,
Luke