The Freshman Fifteen

18/07/2025

While they may all be 21st century freshman films, none of them are the greatest. So which freshman film deserves the top spot?

Join Jeremy, Daniel and Jeff as they count down the 10 greatest directorial debuts of the 21st century (so far).

Episode available now!

18/07/2025

Jeremy, Daniel and Jeff Jensen reconvene, New York Times-style, to count down the 10 greatest freshman films of the 21st Century. They've conferred and collaborated and they're presenting their findings to you. Who will take the top spot?

Episode available now!

Jeremy, Daniel and Jeff Jensen reconvene, New York Times-style, to count down the 10 greatest freshman films of the 21st Century (so far).

24/02/2025

Oscars Special 2025! Even though Daniel bowed out of this year's proceedings, Jeremy and the ever-faithful Jeff Jensen manage to have a densely packed discussion of the 10 Best Picture nominees.

We do a fairly deep dive, but we keep spoilers absent from the conversation, so rest assured we won't ruin any experiences for films you haven't seen. Find out which film Jeff declared "batsh*t awesome!" Also, which film gave Jeremy one of the most troubling in-theater experiences of his life? Finally, which film do Jeff and Jeremy feel should be awarded with the grand prize of Best Picture?

Listen and find out!

Episode available now!

Oscars 2025! Once again, Jeremy and Jeff Jensen take to the mics for a spoiler-free discussion of the year's Best Picture nominees.

24/02/2025

Episode available now!

10/03/2024

Happy Oscar Day! As mentioned, our Oscar Special ran epically long this year (still time to check it out before the big show), but hours of material were cut for time… material like what’s in this bit of bonus content in which Jeff reads an essay he wrote about Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers. If more deep-dive film analysis is your jam, enjoy!

Also, check the comments for a link to a polished and edited version of Jeff’s brilliant Holdovers analysis.

In a bonus discussion cut from our 2024 Oscars Special, Jeff Jensen reads a prepared essay comparing Alexander Payne's nominated film The Holdovers to the 1970s films that inspired it.

04/03/2024

It's our eighth Oscars Special! The year that brought us the massive movie-going event Barbenheimer required a maxi-sized special from The Freshman Fifteen. So Jeremy, Daniel and stalwart honorary co-host Jeff Jensen break down the best of the best from a truly amazing film year. And don't let the length fool you, we've kept film spoilers out of the discussion, so click without fear.

Thanks for listening!

In the 2024 edition of the Freshman Fifteen Oscar Specials, Jeremy and Daniel are once again joined by Jeff Jensen for a spoiler-free discussion of the year's Best Picture nominees.

01/03/2024

It’s that time of year.

15/10/2023

Feeling guilt-ridden about abusing our audience's faith and good will, the Freshman Fifteen is back with a SECOND October episode. We cap our comedy block with a discussion about the very first film of director Adam McKay, 2004's Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. Episode available now!

F15 is back with our SECOND October episode and the final entry in our comedy block. This time, we turn our focus to SNL alumn and Academy Award winner Adam McKay and his 2004 freshman film, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.

15/10/2023

15/10/2023

And our final comedy mini-block director is former SNL head writer and Academy Award Winner Adam McKay. Come on by tomorrow as we round out our trifecta of funny business.