The 5 Best Podcasts For Movie-Loving English Learners

Do you love listening to podcasts? Do you love watching movies? The you’re going to love this selection of podcasts for movie-loving English learners.

These podcasts will help you understand the movies you watch better, give you extra listening practice and prolong the fun, even once the film is over.

Read to the end to discover my favourite podcast for movie lovers. And a bonus podcast episode!

If you prefer watching videos to reading, press play on the video version of this post below. Otherwise keep reading!

1. Shrink The Box

One of my Movie Club members mentioned Shrink the Box to me because we were talking about some of the meanings of the word “shrink”. It can be a verb meaning to make smaller as well as a noun referring informally to a therapist.

Anyway, this discussion reminded her of this podcast. And the latter meaning of “shrink” is important here because one of the co-hosts of this podcast is psychotherapist, Sasha Bates. It’s also worth mentioning that “box” refers to a TV here.

Along with her co-host, actor-comedian Ben Bailey Smith, they analyse characters from our favourite TV series to understand their behaviour and learn from their mistakes.

Sasha and Ben discuss questions like:

Ever wondered why Tony Soprano’s therapist stuck with him?
Why Fleabag is obsessed with sex?
Or why Walter White is always in his underpants?

They’ve also analysed characters such as Ross and Monica from Friends, George from Seinfeld, and Mitch and Cam from Modern Family.

I love this concept because this is something my Movie Club members and I do a lot – we discuss the behaviour of characters in films, even if we don’t understand it, and try to make sense of it. And these discussions help to make us more empathetic in the process.

2. All The Right Movies

All the Right Movies is the perfect podcast if you want to understand British accents and groups of native speakers chatting, while re-visiting some amazing films!

The podcast is, according to its hosts, a deep dive into classic and hit films. They bring you the making-of stories behind the biggest movies ever made with big laughs and opinions along the way.

They’ve discussed classics such as Alien, Fargo, Get Out, The Thing and more. The last three are also movies we’ve watched and discussed in Movie Club so you know these guys have good taste!

Listening to the podcast will make you feel like you’re sitting around listening to friends chat about films. But beware, this podcast will be challenging to understand! The hosts are from the north-east of England and the accent from that region is rather unusual and not the easiest to catch. You’ve been warned.

The 5 Best Podcasts For Movie-Loving English Learners Vertical

3. Kermode And Mayo’s Take

Kermode and Mayo had a show on the BBC for years, 21 years to be exact. Mark Kermode is a film reviewer and Simon Mayo is a radio presenter. As someone who grew up in the UK, those names are very familiar to me.

After their BBC Radio 5 Live film review show ended, fans were delighted to discover that they had created a new podcast, Kermode and Mayo’s Take.

In this brand-new podcast they share their infamous film and TV reviews with wide-ranging conversation about everything you’ll want to know in the entertainment world.

The show has got a whole bunch of recommendations for what to watch in cinemas, on streaming services and on physical media from the greatest hits to the newest releases.

This podcast is another excellent one if you want to understand British native speakers. And you won’t just hear from Simon and Mark as they regulary have guests on the show too.

4. Movies That Raised Us

The last two podcasts are hosted by middle-aged British men. So let’s switch gears a little and choose a podcast hosted by two American, millennial women, Mo and Christina.

The reason I like Movies That Raised Us is that they do a deep dive recap of movies. So if you’ve watched a film and found it a bit hard to follow, you can listen to this podcast to fill in any gaps.

As you listen to these detailed recap, you’ll also get analysis and commentary and deepen your understanding of the film and the culture behind it!

If you’re a millennial woman, and even if you’re not, I’m sure you’ll recognise many of the movies they discuss such as The Notebook, The Twilight Saga, Cruel Intentions

And that brings us to the name – if you’re my age, these are the movies that raised us, the movies we grew up with and that influenced us.

5. You Are Good

You Are Good describes itself as a feelings podcast about movies. It’s hosted by Sarah Marshall and Alex Steed.

If you’re a podcast fan, you might know that Sarah is also a host of You’re Wrong About, another great podcast even if it’s not about movies!

The hosts invite guests to the podcast to discuss a particular movie and then they discuss the feelings that the film brings up.

Movies they’ve covered include Gremlins 2, The Little Mermaid, Men In Black, Babe, Sister Act 2, Little Miss Sunshine.

Like with “Movies That Raised Us”, if you’re my age, you may remember some of these movies from your childhood or adolescence so they might give you a warm fuzzy nostalgic feeling inside.

The hosts do speak fast so beware. My recommendation is to listen to an episode about a movie you’ve already seen so that it’s a bit easier to follow.

6. Bonus: My Fluent Podcast

One of my Movie Club members, Daniel, has his own podcast, called My Fluent Podcast which he created to improve his own English.

He invited me as a guest to discuss the movie “Groundhog Day” starring Bill Murray. “Groundhog Day” has become a real Movie Club favourite over the years.

It’s the story of Phil Connors, an arrogant and selish weatherman who gets stuck in the small town of Punxsatawney on February 2nd, also known as groundhog day.

Daniel and I had a movie club style chat about why we like the movie so much and about its many themes and messages.

Go check out our episode by hitting play on the video below.