WEST SPRINGFIELD – When three local people – all with professional ties to movies, TV and the recording industry – get together to talk about films and TV shows, the difference in their approach is that they are “cranky” – delightfully so.

Dave Sweeney, Warren Amerman and Marty Langford are the “cranky old men” in the new podcast “Cranky Old Men at the Movies.” Sweeney is the head of Viz-Bang Productions, a company that makes videos, stages events and specializes in communications solutions for businesses. Amerman owns Rotary Records and operates a state-of-the-art recording studio in a converted 19th century church in West Springfield. Langford teaches film at American International College and is the director of the highly acclaimed documentary “Doomed: The Untold Story of Roger Corman’s The Fantastic Four.”

The three friends share interests in film and TV and Sweeney explained to Reminder Publishing that he has had great conversations with both Amerman and Langford over the years. He thought the three should do a podcast.

He added that since Amerman owned a recording studio, the production would be easy.

“There are 700,000 podcasts out there, Sweeney said with a smile. “The world needs one more.”

Sweeney admitted that another reason was the opportunity to produce a podcast and then learn about how it can get to the intended audience.

Langford said there has been an educational element to the podcast for him. He has used a one-page guide the three men developed about podcast production for his communications students at the college.

He also added that he doesn’t get to see his two friends often enough and the weekly recording sessions gives them a chance to get together and talk.

The podcasts run under a half hour and Amerman said, again with a smile, he “cuts out the crap” from each episode to keep the podcast on topic and on time.

Recent episodes have had discussions about the group’s mixed feelings about the highly acclaimed film “Jo Jo Rabbit;” a comparison about the recent science fiction drama “Ad Astra” to “2001: A Space Odyssey; a revelation that Langford won’t post negative reviews on Facebook – he didn’t like the recent “Birds of Prey” movie; and that Amerman reversed his opinion about seeing and appreciating “The Joker.”

All three men are involved in watching various multi-episode series on streaming services, which provides more opportunity for conversation.

Before a recent recording session, Sweeney revealed he hadn’t seen anything new for the podcasts and had chosen the computer animated/live action adaptation of the computer game hero “Sonic the Hedgehog” at the last moment. He had just seen the film, which, by the way, he enjoyed due to Jim Carrey’s unfettered performance as the villain.

Langford said during each episode the three men “feel their way through [the show] and talk to each other about what we’ve seen and then we go to the ‘The Crank Table (TM)’.”    

Sweeney laughs and requests this writer puts a trademark designation next to the name.

During that part of the show, the hosts revel in their crankiness. For instance, Amerman spoke about his frustrations when watching a movie in a theater and enduring the sounds made by popcorn bags. Sweeney reveals his concerns about hotel coffee makers.

So far the men have produced eight episodes and have received five five-star reviews on iTunes. Sweeny said there have been 320 downloads so far and Amerman noted, “Honestly, we do it because we enjoy talking about movies.”

Langford believes the trio is still finding their voice with the podcast, but the three men are clearly enjoying that journey.

The podcast is available on a number of services, but one is https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/cranky-old-men-at-the-movies-cranky-old-men-rQ8LqFKOvwX/.