Big Daddy Dispatch: December 2025 (Patreon)

Dispatch One Hundred and Two, November 23rd, 2025

Greetings WHM Family!

And just like that, we find ourselves at the end of another banner year at the WHM HQ! It’s been an incredible one—from launching a new tier with two new amazing shows (Scaredy Cats and WHM After Dark for those of you not in the know), to having a residency in the UK for three straight nights and six kickass shows (wasn’t that Hellraiser episode, somethin’?), to knocking some major titles off the old “Stay Tuned” list (The Dark Knight, 8MM, Beethoven, The Craft, and Identity to name a few), and we can look forward to capping it all off at a 15 year anniversary show at the Bell House! Whew. It’s been a lot, and we have some exciting stuff planned for next year already, but we always want to take moments like this to say thank you! Thank you for your continued support, because this show wouldn’t happen without you and our lives would be very different and likely very boring. So, thank you, for sticking with us and laughing with us. Here’s to a better 2026 for all of us, because, Christ, we could use it.

Banner Credit: We Hate Movies Logo by Felipe Sobreiro

Header Credit: The King of Kongmentary by Felipe Sobreiro

15TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW AT THE BELL HOUSE IN BROOKLYN

We are only a few days away from our 15 year anniversary show  at the Bell House in Brooklyn! That’s right, on December 6th, we’re doing a live episode on Total Recall!  Yes, it’s the Arnold one. The good one! It’s gonna be a WLM episode talking about Kuato, Mutant Dean Norris, and Sharon fucking Stone, plus a ton of bad Arnold Schwarzenegger impressions, live on stage! These Brooklyn shows sell out fast, so get your tickets ASAP here!

LAST MONTH ON WHM

Episode 829 – Rear Window (1954)

Calling All Perverts! Calling All Perverts! We Love Movies Month 2025 started with a real classic – it’s from the 50s and everything! That’s right, the boys were getting close with Jimmy Stewart inside his little apartment as he tries to solve a murder and avoid having sex with his gorgeous girlfriend and would-be fiancée. What kind of smells are building up in that place? No seriously, why doesn’t he want to have sex and get married to the crazy wealthy lady? Would anyone be able to sleep out on their fire escapes today or would they be killed immediately? Do men still sit in the dark and smoke for leisure? Okay, just one more time: why won’t you fuck Grace Kelly? We want to know and we want to know now!

Episode 830 – The Book of Henry (2017)  (Patrons Only)

Andrew, Chris, Eric, and Steve finally tackled one of the most requested bad movies of all time: the story of the worst child ever born, his surprising death, and the assassination plot that he planned thoroughly and is undertaken by his family in his honor. What even is this movie? Is anyone supposed to mourn for or like Henry, even vaguely? Why was Colin Treverrow allowed to continue on after this? Please. Someone explain this to us. We’re honestly desperate for answers on this one.

Episode 831 – The Dark Knight (2008) 

We Love Movies month made its second stop in Gotham City to help out poor Bruce Wayne and Batman as they do battle with the Joker and, for a little bit, the Chinese government. Is this the biggest movie we’ve covered? Does Heath Ledger’s performance outweigh everything else in this? Did Chris Nolan make the definitive superhero movie here? Many more lofty questions, a few jokes, and plenty of Eric Roberts talk await you inside.

Episode 831 – Hellraiser (1987) Live in the U.K. 

We Love Movies month rolls on with a live dispatch from the boys’ tour in the UK, specifically this barnburner on Clive Barker’s nasty classic about a deadly love triangle that leads to real, actual Hell, Pinhead, and his cenobite pals. Can we get more practical effects like this in modern movies, please? How desperate are you for a free house if you’re willing to live in filth? Is this the worst Uncle Frank in cinema? Plus, Gordon Ramsay’s latest creation, Chicken Nightmares!

Episode 832 – Tombstone (1993) with Jamelle Bouie (Drops 11.25.25)

Get your gun garters and your big silly hats on, folks, because the fellas are heading to the Ol’ West to take up arms with New York Times columnist and long-time friend of the show, Jamelle Bouie and the Earp brothers to save the titular town from impending, cowboy-induced doom. Does this have the most stacked cast in existence? Was Wyatt Earp as popular as Batman in his day? Has there been a better Doc Holliday performance than Val Kilmer’s? Probably not, but Victor Mature sure tried his best, did he not?

WHAT ARE WE WATCHING?

This is a space for us to talk about some NON-We Hate Movies-related content that we've shoved into our eyeballs in the last month: TV, Movies, Cartoons, and Sports (maybe?). Just about anything that isn't pornography.

Andrew: Predator: Badlands (2025):  I was surprised how much fun I had with this. It’s an entertaining enough adventure, I really liked all the monster designs, and I thought that Elle Fanning was really solid in the dual role. (I also love that her mere appearance in a Predator movie is making bigoted assholes shit their pants online—and probably real life too.) But man, I’ll tell you what, the PG13 rating, and the all-synth army that goes along with that, is a total cop-out. I’m sorry, you’re making a goddamn Predator movie, let’s get bloody. 

The Great Muppet Caper (1981): I think this is the most underrated Muppet film. Henson’s directorial debut is filled with some hilarious Muppet humor, along with some of the most inventive puppetry stuff they ever tried. Charles Grodin is so goddamn funny in it too. It’s often overlooked in the Muppet movies conversation, and if you haven’t seen it, I strongly suggest checking it out.

Pluribus (2025): Chelsea and I started the new Vince Gilligan show a few nights back and we were hooked from the pilot. I love that Vince has gone back into sci-fi territory—dude was a revelation for The X-Files—and I’m really excited to see where this thing goes. We’re only three episodes in and are disgusted that we were on the road when episode four dropped. Rhea Seehorn is fantastic, shocking absolutely no one who’s seen her masterful work on Better Call Saul. Seek this out! 

Mr. Scorsese (2025): It’s a really beautiful deep dive into a legendary artist’s life and career. Well worth your time, no question. And be sure to show your friend who, for whatever reason, still thinks Marty only makes mob movies. It is kind of funny when they get to more-or-less the present and the film, after going through pretty much his entire filmography, basically says, “Oh, and he also made Killers of the Flower Moon. Bye!”  

Smiling Friends (2020-Present): Chris made an off-handed mention of this show on our Beavis and Butt-Head Do America episode and I decided to check it out. Very glad I did, because hot damn it’s the most bonkers, wildly-hilarious, fever dream of a cartoon. Elevator pitch — there’s a business called Smiling Friends where our heroes, Pim and Charlie, work as drones who go out and try to get sad people to smile. I’ll let the rest of the show speak for itself, but man, it is a wild-ass time. I’m into the second season already, it’s an Adult Swim cartoon so every episode is 12 minutes or so, and really enjoying it. It’s on Max in full, and apparently is already greenlit for a fourth and fifth season, so tune in! 

Chris:  The Running Man (2025): A bit of a disaster imo. Feels way too much like a movie made to show off Glen Powell’s many talents, leaving less time to dig into world-building or the titular TV show, both of which offer far bigger question than the character of Powell’s Ben Richards. This has already been done with far more fruitful results in Richard Linklater’s electric Hit Man, and this director/co-writer, Edgar Wright, doesn’t seem to have much new or distinct to say about the character of Richards or the morality of the situation in comparison to Hit Man or the original Running Man, for that matter. That’s not to say that Wright doesn’t have some fun with the action and the showdown set-pieces – the fight in Michael Cera’s character’s home, the first hotel attack, etc. – but I’ve come to expect more from Wright than merely a reliable toolman. Last Night in Soho was not good and often came across as outright confused, but it came from a personal place for Wright, clearly. The only thing that suggests Wright’s personal touch here is the particular view of the audience as furiously reactionary, as easy to drive to careless, sadistic slaughter as it is righteous armed revolution. Even that comes off as slight, and that’s something I’ve never thought Wright was capable of: saddling an audience in the hopes of fumbling his way to a satisfying ending, a thing that Wright has seemingly effortlessly conjured in nearly every other film he’s made. Quite frustrating.

John Candy: I Like Me (2025): Why even fucking bother with this shit anymore? I’m serious. If it’s just going to be a bunch of famous people talking about how great the guy we all know is great is, dolled up with all-too-rare flourishes of intimacy and genuine humor, then I really don’t need it, especially when it’s an artist who meant a great deal to me over the years. Eddie Murphy did one of these for Netflix too and I’ve been avoiding it like the plague, despite loving Eddie and his work and his ideas. There’s no room to consider the person of John Candy and what he thought because there must be infinite, incalculable space for the legend of Candy and the films he made, available for rental or purchase on the app you are currently using or the one right next to it. Heck, even in that respect, this one is a dud – couldn’t even afford a few minutes to talk about the baffling, delightful Who’s Harry Crumb?, the film that includes the only (?) on-screen pairing of Candy and Jim Belushi for one scene to hock Coca-Cola products.

Eric: American Psycho (2000): It's a Christmas movie! I couldn't believe how good the recent 4K release of this looks. It felt like watching it again for the first time. So much to enjoy about this delightful yuletide yarn. Hopefully a WLM in the future! Merry X-mas, Patrick! 

Ice Road: Vengeance (2025): Remember Ice Road? No? Well, this is the sequel. I guess Liam Neeson was an ice road truck driver in that one. In this one he has no truck. He's transporting his brother's ashes to scatter on Mount Everest for some reason. There's a delightful moment towards the start where TSA stops him from transporting human remains in an old fashioned urn. He has to transfer it to an approved container. Cut to Liam Neeson accidentally dumping his brother's ashes all over a toilet seat. In some respects, this feels like The Naked Gun, but it ain't. I mentioned he has no truck in this. Don't worry. A bus he's on gets in trouble and now he's driving the bus! Weird and windy roads and CGI effects galore. 

Steve (2025): Decided to check out the latest from Cillian Murphy because I needed an Oppy-ium hit. It's fine! A bit Dangerous Minds with Murphy as a teacher trying to ensure troubled teens have a future. Could've been stilted and like a theatrical play but thankfully they make the camera really kinetic so it's elevated from that. 

Sleepy Hollow (1999):  Always surprised how well this holds up. And this is exactly what it's like in the Hudson Valley. Please stop visiting. You will be beheaded and tossed into a ditch. 

Steve: Peter Hujar’s Day (2025): Saw this on a rainy Sunday night at the Film Forum followed up with a hearty New York Italian meal at a checkered napkin kinda joint, which is to say, perfect conditions. This is a little miracle of a movie and quite possibly the best performances of Ben Whishaw and Rebecca Hall’s careers. It better be! Because that’s the whole damn movie! Well, not really, it’s a perfect slice of life of queer, urbane New York in the 1970’s and it’s a real joy to behold, the smallness of it, the intimacy, the accent work…all top notch. It’s only 76 minutes so do yourself a favor when this is streaming and check it out.

HIM (2025): Do yourself a favor and don’t check this out. The height of A24-esque elevated “horror” emptheadedness masquerading as insight. Nothing to recommend. Top to bottom. 

Uncut Gems (2019): I’ve had the Criterion sitting on my shelf for a while and I finally gave it a spin and hot damn if this isn’t one of the best movies of the last 25 years. There’s so much to recommend and so much to pore over but in light of the latest NBA gambling scandal, this feels so prescient and such a grim portrait of the sports gambler. Desperate, sad, and totally exhilarating to watch. I’m very excited for Marty Supreme. 

Interstellar (2015): Another movie that’s been begging for a rewatch and this one held up just fine, Mr. Nolan! Really engrossing and neat space stuff and fantastic performances butt heads with whatever the hell is happening in the bookcase and whatever we’re supposed to understand about time and relativity in this flick. It’s still a terrific ride and it proves Nolan doesn’t have to make a ton of sense to make a great movie, though I feel like Tenet might be the large exception (also due for a rewatch, so… stay tuned).  

PATREON MAILBAG LIGHTNING ROUND

Here's a fun space where folks on Patreon get to ask us Questions directly. This month's entry comes from

Robert from Australia, who asks:

“Which director would you like to see make a Christmas movie?”

Andrew: Okay, a director I’d love to see make a Christmas movie is Zach Cregger. Dude has done real well for himself in the horror world and I personally feel like the “holiday horror” sub-genre has gotten super weak lately. So let’s give Zach a shot at getting weird and creepy during the holidays! Now I’m just picturing Santa running down a snowy, suburban street in the middle of the night, his un-swinging arms cast to the sides as he glides down the block. Yeah, I’d watch that movie. 

Chris:  Last year, a relatively new filmmaker – the excessively talented Tyler Taormina – made what I consider to be one of the best Christmas movies ever produced in Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point. That’s just to say that I don’t see Christmas movies as a thing that it takes a special kind of knowledge or style or age to pull off. Action movies at Christmas can be good (Die Hard, Carry-On) as long as you don’t try to engage with the mythology itself, lest we find ourselves in a dire, sad world where people are sitting down and actually paying attention to what is happening in Violent Night (or the upcoming Violent Night 2: Rudolph’s Rectum). I bring that up because my choice would be a man who started in action movies and I’m sorry, but my actual real answer is Clint Eastwood. No other director has dealt so intrinsically with American fantasies based in a vague, ever-shifting traditionalism, and I think he could make a real meal out of a movie about the holiday, the origins of Santa Clause, and familial strife being inescapably political, no matter what Uncle Rick says.

Eric: Abraham Zapruder. Imagine this, it's the Thanksgiving Day Parade and who's that coming around the bend? Who's coming to town? NOT ANYMORE! Kidding, of course. I would never advocate for violence especially not against a jolly fat man. That's our problem today: fat men are no longer jolly. Here's I guess better answers. What would a Panos Cosmatos Christmas movie be like? Is that anything? Maybe a Christopher Nolan Oppenheimer style film about the guy who split the Peppermint Atom and created Santa? I'm not a huge Christmas guy, so listen to the rest of the crew on this one! 

Steve: Gonna go a little far afield on this one and say Marielle Heller. One of my favorite movies of the last 20 years was Can You Ever Forgive Me? Caustic, funny, sad, but with real human heart that never feels saccherine. I could see a killer “set at the Holidays” dramedy that captures the vibes better than a lot have. It would be like if The Family Stone was not insane and actually good. 

DECEMBER SCHEDULE

Say what? The schedule in advance?! It's the least we could do! By subscribing to this newsletter, you get a sneak peek at what we're putting out for We Love Movies month:

December 2nd  – Just Friends (2005)

December 9th  – Krampus (2015)

December 16th – Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker (1991)

December 23rd – How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) - Patreon Unlock!

December 30th – Terror Train (1980)

Patreon Episodes:

December 2nd  at 8pm EST – WHM After Dark: Come with your questions at the ready and spend an hour hanging out with the gang!

December 4th – We Love Movies: Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)

December 11th – Once in a Lifetime: Hot Frosty (2024)

December 12th – Animation Damnation: Frosty the Snowman (1969)

December 18th  – The Gleep Glossary: Biggs Darklighter

December 19th  –  MELR0210: Melrose Place: “Sex, Drugs and Rocking the Cradle” (s3, e14) Melrose Place: “Holiday on Ice” (s3, e15)

December 26th – The Nexus: Star Trek:The Animated Series: “The Eye of the Beholder” (s1,e15), TNG: “In Theory” (s4,e25)

December 29th – Quarterly Synchable Commentary: The King of Kong (2007)

PATREON RSS BUG

If you’re having trouble with the RSS feed updating or episodes not appearing in your app, Patreon has acknowledged this bug and they have a fix: "Try unsubscribing and re-subscribing via your app by re-entering the unique RSS feed you were given and is on our Overview section of the Creator page. Or try using a different podcast app or RSS feed reader." Please consult this page and contact Patreon Support if the problem persists. We apologize for any inconvenience you’ve experienced on Patreon and truly appreciate your continued support!

UPCOMING NEWS AND PROMOTION

In case you missed it we opened our Patreon Shop with our very first offering, our virtual live show from 2021 on Terminator: Dark Fate is now available for purchase! This is a killer show from the dark times and it’s safe to say we were still suffering from QUARANTINE MADNESS. If you missed it and always wanted to listen, here’s your chance! You get a new introduction recorded by us, the show from that night, and an audio file of the whole thing so you can enjoy the show again on the go!

On Screen Live has had some kick-ass episodes lately! We had two great ones in November covering Predator: Badlands, The Chair Company, Bugonia, and more!  Subscribe on our YouTube Channel to never miss a broadcast! 

We also have all officially sanctioned VHS Trailer Game episodes up to this point. Eric has also put out great clip packages likeWTF Exorcism with Marc Merrin, Dr. Loomis is the Worst Doctor, Dilf Den, George Bailey as Michael Meyers,John Wick-Mentary,  Toby Jones in Bee Movie, Sausage Claus, David!Muppet Hitchcock Presents, and many more! You can also watch the entirety of ourWitchboardepisode! Complete with visual gags (most of which are almost funny.). You'll find all sorts of cool shit like Mailbags, VHS Trailer Games, Full Episodes likeRampage (2018),Any Which Way You Can,Bram Stoker’s DraculaandSaw III. Like we said above, these are great for sharing and introducing folks to the show. There's so much content there we can't list it all here. Just go and subscribe already!TJ Hooker…Is back! Join Eric and Ben as Sharon Stone shows up for a failed backdoor pilot!  Listen here!

Please note that from now until at least the end of 2025, ALL PROFITS from our merch store store will be going directly to the Center for Reproductive rights! Shit’s bad out there and we know it’s likely to get worse and we want to do something,  SO, If you're a fan of the show and a fan of looking sharp, you should check out our merch on our new and improved merch store on Dashery! We have some hot off the presses designs by Felipe Sobreiro such as the Barbarian logo from our upcoming Scaredy Cats, Too Old For This Shit and Sheenpril Logos as well as A Certain Fat Director enjoying his favorite film filter of all time! We also have "The DILF Den", and a "Crispy Critters" design from friend of the show, Nathan Hamill!  There’s a ton of other great designs like The VHS Trailer Game Logo, Demon-o's Pizza, Egg Lawyer, The Order of the Boop, The Kornkast design and many more, with more to come! 

That's going to do it for this month's Dispatch! Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! 

Take it easy,Andrew, Chris, Eric, and SteveWe Hate Movies