“Night Swim” & “Weak Layers“
Season	14
Episode	1
Hosts	T. Amato Joey P.
Reporter	Kaili Amato
Guest	Gregg Turkington
Released	January 3, 2024
Films reviewed	Night Swim (2024, 98 mins.) Weak Layers (2024, 99 mins.)
Segments	Joey's Take Hollywood Spotlight (bumped)
Runtime	14 mins. (video) 19 mins. (podcast)
Video link	HEI (subscription required)

On Cinema at the Cinema gets a massive shakeup for its fourteenth season premiere, which debuted on January 3, 2024. Now known as On Cinema On Demand, the show has an innovative new format where you can watch the show anytime and anywhere: on video through HEI Network or on-the-go with the new audio podcast, available on most platforms.

With the new format comes big changes: host T. Amato (formerly Tim Heidecker) is joined by a brand new co-host, Joesph "Joey Patron" Patrocelli. Kaili Amato returns from the prior season to continue giving a spotlight on Hollywood gossip with her ”Hollywood Spotlight” segment. Gregg Turkington appears as a guest. The debut episode sets up all these new changes and has Joey and Gregg review Night Swim and Weak Layers

The intro starts with closeups of T. promising “expert opinions”, “fresh voices”, and “the right information, right when you need it”, followed by the show's new intro and theme, a bad-ass sequence of T. and new co-host Joey Patrocelli walking through town. The intro sequence promises discussion of movies, sports, business, and politics.

T. starts the episode by plugging the audio podcast version of On Cinema on Demand, noting that On Cinema was a pioneer in the podcast space and that they have come full circle. T. introduces himself under his new name, T. Amato. He then introduces Kaili and new co-host Joseph Patrocelli, or Joey P.

T. states that Joey will become the show's main reviewer as T. can no longer review movies due to having “dissociative reality confusion syndrome”, which makes him feel like he's in whatever movie he sees. He mentions a scary story about how watching The Little Mermaid (2023) in theaters made him feel like he was drowning. Gregg chimes in that it sounds like it must have been a good movie for him to get sucked in like that; T. scolds him for talking when he was not told to speak.

T. thanks his “father”, G. Amato, and the whole Amato Group for saving his life after experiencing a “mental and physical catastrophe” last March. He announces that he has stopped dying his hair out of vanity, revealing new gray hairs. He also mentions a new diet he has, getting 10 hours of direct sunlight a day, which he claims curbs most of his appetite.

Gregg appears as a guest, as a request from G. Amato despite T.'s objections. Talking about his holidays, he stated he celebrated his Wonkadays by watching Wonka, which he predicted would come out in 2023 two years prior, 12 days in a row. He calls the new film Wonka 1, stating that even though it is technically Wonka 3, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory has been reclassified as a TV movie and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is an unofficial Wonka movie as it lacks “Wonka” in the title. T. quickly moves the subject onto that week's new movies.

Gregg compares Night Swim to Creature from the Black Lagoon but transported into someone's swimming pool, and hopes it gets a sequel. He rates the film 5 bags of popcorn, with 1 pool-cleaning tool to get the human skulls out of the pool. Joey's review comes via a pre-recorded segment titled “Joey's Take”. He says Night Swim is a good horror movie, praising the acting of Kurt Russell's son and the good scares. He gives the film 3 stars.

Gregg is confused about the pre-recorded status of “Joey's Take”, which is added in in post, with Gregg wanting to be able to discuss the movies with Joey. T. sternly states that he does not want a debate, only two differing opinions. T. also tells Gregg that the popcorn rating scale has been retired in favor of rating the film out of 4 stars. Gregg denies that, believing that when he did his review earlier the usual rating graphics popped up on the screen (they did not). He then asks Joey how many bags of popcorn he gave Night Swim. Joey says that because he gave the film 3 stars out of 4, on the popcorn scale it would be 3.75 bags out of 5; Gregg says it may as well be topped up 4.

T. moves onto discussing Weak Layers. Gregg was initially not too interested in the movie because he thought it was a regular skiing movie, but ultimately wound up loving the movie, as it was a rare movie about making movies. He compared it to The Aviator and Mank, but lamented the movie's runtime of 99 minutes, stating it should have been 100 minutes minimum. He rates the film 5 bags, with 1 ice cube because it takes place in the winter. Joey calls the film a fun, outlandish comedy, albeit a “little woke”, comparing it to Bridesmaids.

Due to the “nonsense” regarding the rating scale, Kaili's “Hollywood Spotlight” segment is bumped. T. suggests liking and subscribing to the podcast, while Gregg suggests disliking and unsubscribing because Joey won't talk about his reviews. T. plugs the first episode of On Cinema On Demand Encore, which he says starts right now. Over the fade-out, T. argues with Gregg further about how there's no need for any debating.

Night Swim (2024, 98 mins.)
Joey: 3 stars (3.75 bags of popcorn when converted to the popcorn scale)
Gregg: 5 bags of popcorn, 1 pool-cleaning tool

Weak Layers (2024, 99 mins.)
Joey: 2.5 stars (3.125 bags of popcorn)
Gregg: 5 bags of popcorn, 1 ice cube

• The new set features various little items placed on the shelves behind each chair. Visible items include:
  • A gavel, cigars, two gold trophies, and a framed music record (presumably for “Empty Bottle”) behind Tim
  • Two awards (A winner for “Excellence in Service” and a top candidate for “Outstanding Performance”, both from The Amato Group), the Lithium periodic table element, three other trophies, and a framed photo presumably of the staff that works at the Amato warehouse behind Joey
  • A statue of a snake, a statue of a microphone, and some books behind Gregg
  • A statue of a bird on a log, and the pepboys on top of a few books behind the empty guest chair
• When T. talks about how he had dyed his hair for vanity reasons, an image of Tim from s07e10 appears.
• The audio version of the episode is 5 minutes longer than the video version.
  • These extra minutes consist solely of ads for Carrabba's Italian Grill, which, for unknown technical reasons, are much louder volume than the rest of the podcast, and are slotted in poorly, sometimes mid-sentence.

• The show's new format and set seem to be a direct reference to the PBD Podcast, a business, news, and commentary podcast hosted by Patrick Bet-David.
• This is the first season since season 11, when the show was still produced by Adult Swim, to be available for free, thanks to the audio podcasts. It's at a cost, though.

• HEI Network (video, subscription required)
• Spotify (audio, free w/ ads)
• Apple Podcasts (audio, free w/ ads)