That's Not How It Went Down
*Winners of Best TV & Film Podcast at the Independent Podcast Awards 2025 Many movies claim to be 'based on a true story', but how much truth actually makes it onto the silver screen? Whilst one of us queries the less believable moments from the film, the other takes a deep dive into the fact behind the fiction to educate us and answer… is that really how it went down? Produced by 2020 Recordings Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episodes
March 2, 2026 • 59 mins
Sometimes there's no watch more comforting than an unapologetically outrageous spy thriller - but unfortunately for us, so few of them seem to be submerged in reality. Surprisingly however, that can't be said for this 1990 classic adaptation of Tom Clancy's debut novel. Jack Ryan's search for the truth in the ocean depths inspired me to do something similar, and even though a Scottish sounding Russian submarine commander might be t...
Mark as Played
February 24, 2026 • 62 mins
It's never easy to tell a sympathetic story when war is the main focus. But following the invasion of Iraq in 2001, the opportunity to reinvent the war movie genre on a different battlefield seemed like too goood a chance to ignore. Jarhead, The Hurt Locker and Green Zone all take place amidst conflict in the Gulf Wars, but few movies are as deeply "patriotic" and culturally divisive as Clint Eastwood's 'American Sniper'. Despite b...
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February 16, 2026 • 59 mins
It took Adam McKay over ten years to prove that he could write and direct a film that didn't star his legendary comedic collaborator Will Ferrell. And he did so with aplomb - cementing his reputation as a creative who knows exactly how to handle whatever story he decides. And I know what you're thinking - what else can be learned from a film that literally goes out of its way to make sure we know exactly what went down in the build...
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February 9, 2026 • 62 mins
The challenge of following up a smash-hit that happens to be the first of a series is commonly referred to in the world of music as the difficult second album. And with writer/director team George Lucas and Steven Spielberg wishing to make each of their sequels canonically disparate from their forebear, what better way to achieve this than by not making a sequel at all. Enter the (seldom-used) prequel then to establish a new timeli...
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February 2, 2026 • 59 mins
"The average table tennis player is different from most other sports buffs. He is unable to comprehend the enormous gulf in ability that separates him from the professional." So says the enigmatic prodigy that inspired the Chalamet-driven, white-knuckle, globetrotting romp through the lesser known theatre of post-war table tennis competition - and it's easy to see why this world appealed to Josh Safdie when we see the theatre it se...
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January 26, 2026 • 57 mins
With Harper Lee's upbringing in Monroeville, Alabama, seemingly having so many similarities to that of her narrator, Scout, many have alluded to her Pulitzer Prize-winning work as being inspired by her own childhood. But can we dig a little deeper? What about some of the other characters on display in the sleepy neighbourhood of Maycomb and its environs, and how did the racially motivated convictions seen in numerous court cases of...
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January 19, 2026 • 52 mins
Compared by Rachel Weisz to the classic 'All About Eve', this also is a film involving scheming, influence and no small amount of dark humour. Peppered with awards and lauded as a triumphant vehicle for its three leading female actors, the tale of Queen Anne's personal relationships with those in her close circle has often been the subject of debate and speculation. But there's no doubt here in the vision of Yorgos Lanthimos and th...
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January 12, 2026 • 59 mins
Although markedly different from previous film iterations of Mary Shelley's groundbreaking gothic sci-fi novel, Guillermo Del Toro still holds on to many of the key aspects of what truly makes a great Frankenstein adaptation. But whilst Oscar Isaac's morally dubious creator might not scream "IT'S ALIVE!" as in previous versions, what true to life aspects of the Age of Enlightenment may have inspired the writing of this all-time cla...
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January 5, 2026 • 57 mins
Tom Cruise plays someone that can competently fly a plane. But that doesn't really narrow it down. How about, 'Tom Cruise plays a man on the wrong side of the law'. That whittles it down a fair bit. Tom Cruise is in a 21st century 'comedy'. We're into single figures, which is the last thing that can be said about the box office for this film. But something isn't sitting quite right despite a robust set of filmic ingredients in this...
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December 29, 2025 • 60 mins
"Are you paying attention? Good". Whilst our computational skills might not quite be up to the standard of, say, Alan Turing our ability to weed out the fiction from the facts is no secret. But given the undeniable critical praise for 2014's Turing biopic, "The Imitation Game", arguably Benedict Cumberbatch's breakthrough cinematic role, can it really be said that the story of the men and women behind Britain's codebreaking triumph...
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December 22, 2025 • 51 mins
Much like a year ago, the temptation to bend a holiday classic towards our rules forces us to meet it halfway. Whilst exploring the initial nucleus for these festive mainstays gives us something to talk about, it's when we explore stories that may have even been inspired by the exploits of Harry and Marv, or anecdotes that bear an uncanny similarity to Kevin's situation that we can really indulge. Join us in this bonus episode of T...
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December 15, 2025 • 55 mins
With the festive season upon us once again it seemed fitting to not just look into the veracity of a classic Yuletide movie, but perhaps even the very origins of our modern Christmas itself. There are very few amongst us who won't be aware of the source material for lines such as "Bah! Humbug!" and "God bless us, every one!" but when a movie was produced in 2017 exploring the genesis of Dickens' enduring festive fairytale it seemed...
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December 8, 2025 • 52 mins
He may admit to having a slight fear of the ocean, but that didn't stop Ron Howard tackling the huge budget and epic story that is said to have inspired Herman Melville's Moby Dick. For the 'thalassaphobic' (sic) among us, this film is a challenging watch - and for those that struggle hearing inconsistent accents, this film is a challenging watch. But putting aside petty grievances, pursuing the truth in the vast ocean of Hollywood...
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December 1, 2025 • 51 mins
"Listen to the ground. There is movement all around. There is something goin' down and I can feel it". The iconic opening lyrics to The Bee Gees smash hit, "Night Fever", hint at something of a cultural revolution. With vast swathes of America's youth feeling increasingly hopeless by the end of the 1970s, disco dancing on a Saturday night became a surefire outlet where under the thumb young people could shine. With producers on the...
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November 24, 2025 • 56 mins
As we've explored before, there's a small part of the human psyche that wants the fugitive to escape when we watch crime capers. Maybe not those films where the crimes committed are particularly evil, but how can you not feel for the cheeky and charming Channing Tatum attempting to start a brand new life, whilst hiding in the now nostalgia-inducing Toys "Я" Us? But then again, he did threaten innocent McDonald's employees at gunpoi...
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November 17, 2025 • 58 mins
Family movies featuring innumerable children are a dime a dozen. But whilst The Sound of Music, The Swiss Family Robinson and Home Alone might boast extraordinarily large family units, nothing compares to Cheaper by the Dozen. And upon learning that this unfeasibly large clan was based on a real household I felt it was my domestic duty to investigate this unusual brood. Were there really twelve children living under one roof? How d...
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November 10, 2025 • 54 mins
It's a common understanding that Disney only look inwardly for their animation film storylines, and most of them are born from a very small nucleus of an idea before taking our imaginations on a journey beyond reality. Occasionally they can be traced to a period in history but few are based on something quite as dark as this 19th century gothic novel, containing quotes such as: "I bear the dungeon within me; within me is winter, ic...
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November 3, 2025 • 59 mins
Whilst Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson might be the highest earning actor on the planet, there was one genre it seemed he was never destined to grace: drama. Until now, that is. Having recently acquired shares in UFC's parent company, it makes sense that an MMA-themed movie with DJ at the helm would follow. The surprise came on the revelation that he would be telling the true story of a UFC pioneer, dogged by a life of substance abuse an...
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October 28, 2025 • 59 mins
After probing the 'true' events of the first film in this franchise, I joked we could simply run the same episode again but add a '2' to the title. But in fairness to James Wan, his follow-up horror attempts to carve new ground instead of copying the same format of the first. But even though we're introduced to new scary characters, they are still somewhat familiar - a crooked man and a demonic female figure taking advantage of a v...
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October 20, 2025 • 59 mins
This week we're holding our commandments dear and pledging our allegiance to the truth. The story of a soldier who refuses to bear arms, whilst saving the lives of dozens of his fellow men in one of the bloodiest battles of WWII was seemingly a tale so inspiring that Mel Gibson couldn't pass it by. But in telling the history of a simple carpenter travelling the world treating the injured, was there a chance of straying too far from...
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