These five films have been chosen by the Machine for their shared DNA of Surviving Christmas.

  Fresh off their reluctantly festive detour into 2004, Truman and Landen return to tie up loose ends from Surviving Christmas—a film so aggressively seasonal that the Machine still smells faintly of plastic tinsel. They revisit the leftover questions, stray observations, and mid-2000s oddities that didn’t quite fit into the Main episode. And as always, they play The Trailer Game, trying to guess which chaotic assortment of Affleck faces and faux-holiday cheer the marketing team stitched together before watching the trailer for the first time. Next week, the Machine has locked onto October 22, 2004, teasing only the clue: HIP HOP MEETS SHOP TILL YOU DROP.   Subscribe & Follow Keep up with every Main episode, Mini-Transmission, and bonus discussion as the Machine flings Truman Capps and Landen Celano through the forgotten, the flopped, and the strangely fascinating films of decades past. Stay connected and subscribe to follow every jump. Official Website: https://www.moviememorymachine.com Patreon (Bonus Episodes + Early Access): https://patreon.com/gruntworkpod Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/moviememorypod/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@moviememorymachine YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MovieMemoryMachine Instagram: https://instagram.com/moviememorymachine Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/moviememorymachine   Support the show Enjoy the ride through cinematic history? Become a patron to access exclusive episodes, early releases, and help keep the Machine running. Patreon: https://patreon.com/gruntworkpod   Tags Surviving Christmas, Surviving Christmas 2004, Mike Mitchell, Ben Affleck, James Gandolfini, Christina Applegate, Catherine O’Hara, holiday comedy, Christmas movie, early 2000s cinema, DreamWorks, movie podcast, Movie Memory Machine, trailer reaction, forgotten movies, cult films, film history, cinematic analysis, film discussion

Truman and Landen are once again thrust into the time-machine, this time careening into Surviving Christmas.

A tour through five films that share the cons, capers, twists, and tonal oddities that surfaced while discussing The Brothers Bloom.

This Mini-Transmission also brings the full Trailer Game breakdown—complete with explosions, vents, visors, and a surprisingly accurate set of guesses.

The Brothers Bloom (2008) sends Truman and Landen into a con-artist story that turns out to be far stranger, warmer, and twistier than they remembered.

The Machine pulls five films that echo Nightmare Alley’s twisted sense of fate.

After six months of secret preparation, Landen unveils a mind-reading experiment that goes wildly off the rails.

Nightmare Alley follows con-man Stanton Carlisle as he rises from sideshow hustler to high-society psychic, weaving a fatal web of greed and lies.

The Machine pulls Truman and Landen back into the dream realm with five films for In Dreams.

The Machine’s latest Mini-Transmission dives into the surreal dream logic of In Dreams (1999).

A psychological thriller that opens in a fairy tale and ends in a flood of glass, apples, and psychic bleed-through.

What happens when the Machine pulls five films bound by voodoo, hypnosis, and the horror of losing yourself?

Landen and Truman start with a simple question: what kind of man truly earns his Panama hat?

The Skeleton Key (2005) promises Southern Gothic chills but locks its story inside a swamp of twists and hoodoo lore.

Five films thematically related to Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant.

Truman and Landen unpack Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant with confusion, frustration, and a deep dive into a freak show that left them feeling personally attacked.

Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant (2009) tried to launch the next big YA franchise — and fell flat on its face.

This week, the Machine delivers five thematically entangled transmissions for Hotel Artemis.

This week’s transmission includes advice for aspiring criminals, a countdown in French, and the questionable ergonomics of sci-fi jade eggs.