Mixed Bag

That's IT! I've had it with these motherf*ckin' SNAKES on this motherf*ckin' PODCAST!

Our ongoing surprise series JetBag: Emergency Landing continues with another instalment, and this one is a real first class episode if I do say so myself. Featuring yet another Evil Flight Attendant theory, reflections on the band Cobra Starship, and a pitch for a brand new Obra Dinn-alike video game (TM TM TM).

Over in the Pop Corner we talked about so many things I've divided them into categories:

New Release Movies

The Invite, Toy Story 5, Couture

Old Movies

Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982), Orpheus (1950), The Doom Generation (1995), Crooked House (2017), O Brother Where Art Thou (2000), Kiki's Delivery Service (1989), A Woman Under the Influence (1974)

TV

The Traitors NZ Season 3, Widow's Bay

Video Games

Alice: Madness Returns (2011), The Seance of Blake Manor (2025), Ratline (2026), Utter a Name (2025)

Music

CMAT's Euro-Country (2025)

RIP

Bonnie Tyler, your rasp will live on forever.

Happy Pride (June pride is the only element of American cultural imperialism recognised by the Mixed Bag crew). We're celebrating by watching... a movie that was widely protested by the gay community when it was released?

That film is Cruising, a William Friedkin joint where Al Pacino goes undercover in the Meatpacking District to catch a gay serial killer. Or is he the gay serial killer himself?

The essay Cass finds at the end of the episode is also worth a read, and can be found here.

Over in the Pop Corner, we talk The Boys in the Band (1970), Disclosure Day, the mobile game Cats & Soup: Magic Recipe [please help I am addicted], The Christophers, ""sport"" including ""the Hurricanes"", Kissing Jessica Stein (2001), the short documentary "He Won't Stop Building a Map to an Imaginary Place" by People Make Games, and reaction videos of people listening to Olivia Rodrigo's you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love.

The final episode of Demisexual is here! And for the first time in the miniseries, Demi isn't the main character. But where does this performance fit in our Demisexual Rankings? You'll have to wait until the end of the episode to see.

"The Angels are charged with finding a pair of missing rings that are encoded with the personal information of members of the Witness Protection Program. As informants are killed, the ladies target a rogue agent who might be responsible." (Sourced from Letterboxd). 

Over in the Pop Corner, we talk Tiny Bookshop, Battlestar Galactica (2004-09), Mother Mary, Backrooms, The Christophers, the recent Wellington Film Society mini-festival, and Olivia Rodrigo's new album you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love (which Cass can confirm she has also listened to now and also thinks is great, especially the first part).

We're still Demi-sexual here on Mixed Bag, and this time we look at the film infamous for inadvertently leading to the 2022 Oscars Slap: G. I. Jane.

"In response to political pressure from Senator Lillian DeHaven, the U.S. Navy begins a program that would allow for the eventual integration of women into its combat services. The program begins with a single trial candidate, Lieutenant Jordan O’Neil, who is chosen specifically for her femininity. O’Neil enters the grueling Navy SEAL training program under the command of Master Chief John James Urgayle, who unfairly pushes O’Neil until her determination wins his respect." (Sourced from Letterboxd). We talk about whether this film really goes into the true horrors faced by women in the military, what G. I. even means and why all three of us thought that the final scene of this film was implying a surprise gay twist.

Plus, we talk through some of our recent watches: short discussions of The Sheep Detectives, Caterpillar, Cover Up, Magellan, My Cousin Rachel (2017), Battle of the Sexes (2017), Misericordia (2024), True Grit (2010) and Obsession. Jamie and Matt offer their defence of Peter Hujar's Day, while Cass still thinks it is exquisitely boring. In the TV world, we talk Wie is de Mol?, Survivor and Ready Gamer Mum. And Jamie grants Rita Bullwinkel honorary trans status in admiration of her short story series Belly Up.

We continue the Demi Moore miniseries with a movie that made many viewers question their values, and made Cass question where she could get a cool backpack/vest/saddlebag combo. As Letterboxd says: "John Gage offers a down-on-his-luck yuppie husband $1 million for the opportunity to spend the night with the man’s wife." Would you take the money?

We also talk about the Rise of the Golden Idol video game series, music documentaries Little Richard: I Am Everything, It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley and Luther: Never Too Much, Ball of Fire (1941), Julio Torres' Color Theories, Chris Fleming: Live at the Palace, Kimberly Bellflower's John Proctor is the Villain, Saraid de Silva's Amma, Resident Evil 4 and its upcoming movie adaptation. Plus for some reason Jamie delivers a full beat-by-beat recap of Species (1995).