Conclave - Rumours - Red One - Moana 2 - That Christmas - UK Film Club Ep 22

00:00:00.01
Brian Penn
to catch what I've had, you know.

00:00:01.89
Chris Olson
You don't want to give our listeners something you know through their headphones, you know something like that.

00:00:07.79
Brian Penn
you? You'll never be sure about these things, but I'm over the worst, but there is a lot of it about, as they say.

00:00:14.40
Chris Olson
Yeah, absolutely. It's that time of year. um yeah Everyone's got Christmas cheer, but we've also got the Christmas sniffles.

00:00:22.01
Brian Penn
and I know, I know. Well, up the weather's colder, isn't it? I mean, you think all these germs would be killed by the by the cold weather, but it's sometimes the opposite, isn't it? You know, you're almost more vulnerable in a way, but there you are, soldier on, you know, these things, all these things are a sense of choice.

00:00:39.65
Chris Olson
Yeah, it's funny, because everyone's watching Christmas films, but it could also be a period where you could be watching, you know, like Contagion or something like that, you know, films about disease passing on.

00:00:49.81
Brian Penn
Yeah. No.

00:00:52.05
Chris Olson
um There was, I'm trying to remember that film, there was a film, I think we reviewed it, didn't we with them?

00:00:53.13
Brian Penn
Well, I don't. Yeah. Carry on. Sorry.

00:01:01.09
Chris Olson
Then to Washington, where there's like a disease like or like a sinister thing that keeps getting passed from person to person, it touches someone.

00:01:08.30
Brian Penn
Oh, yeah, yeah.

00:01:09.94
Chris Olson
I'm trying to remember what it's called. But that's a bit what this season's like, isn't it? You sort of go anywhere near someone and you get that evil thing, you know?

00:01:14.43
Brian Penn
Yeah, I know. Yeah, I know. But, you know, Christmas time, everyone's out, aren't they? Everyone's meeting been up with friends and family, catching up with each other. So you've got more people in one place, haven't you? So you kind of expect it. but I mean, you're just talking now about the number of Christmas movies that that we're watching at the moment. I don't know whether it's my imagination, but there seems to be more Christmas movies on general release now than in previous years. I just wonder whether, as a genre, it's it's back with Avengers on the big screen.

00:01:43.67
Chris Olson
I think so. I think it lends itself very nicely to the streaming idea because a lot of those naff Christmas films that used to end up on like the Hallmark Channel or Channel 5 or something, they are perfect fodder for streaming that want to buy up films cheap.

00:01:49.20
Brian Penn
yeah

00:01:59.41
Brian Penn
yeah Yeah.

00:02:02.22
Chris Olson
Like we reviewed that one on the last episode and it was okay but

00:02:04.45
Brian Penn
Yeah. Yeah.

00:02:07.22
Chris Olson
it felt like yeah yeah they didn't have massive names in it, and it was it was fairly contained.

00:02:09.69
Brian Penn
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

00:02:14.00
Chris Olson
So I think they're quite a good thing to run out. And also, I think with Christmas films, they get lots of multi-plays, right? You will watch it maybe this year, maybe next year, maybe the year after.

00:02:22.30
Brian Penn
yeah yeah

00:02:24.53
Chris Olson
Whereas like a great thriller, you might only play that thriller once.

00:02:24.87
Brian Penn
yeah

00:02:28.83
Brian Penn
I know, I know. They have that perennial appeal, don't they?

00:02:31.62
Chris Olson
Mm.

00:02:32.25
Brian Penn
I mean, Christmas is significant for all of us, isn't it? There are some people that hate Christmas. There are all kinds of valid reasons, but personally, I love Christmas, everything associated with it.

00:02:36.89
Chris Olson
Mm.

00:02:41.05
Chris Olson
Mm.

00:02:41.55
Brian Penn
But it is a very sentimental time, isn't it? It's a time for reminiscing and taking stock, isn't it? right

00:02:47.35
Chris Olson
Yeah and I think also it's that time of year that the you throw caution to the wind slightly you know you indulge and that comes through in the movies as well. I think we can be very forgiving of Christmas movies whereas we wouldn't necessarily be that forgiving if they were presented as a normal mainstream cinema release for example and And yeah, I think it depends on your approach and your feelings. Yeah, you are right. A lot of people don't like Christmas. And don't worry, listeners. Dear listener, if you are listening to this, there are plenty of films in this episode that are not Christmas christmas related. There's only a couple that are actually, to be honest.

00:03:23.82
Chris Olson
um And if you are a brand new listener to the UK Film Club podcast, I'm Chris, Brian is my co-host, and we review all manner of films, including Chris.

00:03:37.78
Brian Penn
yeah

00:03:38.52
Chris Olson
i mean We probably do it a bit more than we should, but we also a review

00:03:42.12
Brian Penn
He likes it. Oh don't we be honest, we like it.

00:03:44.36
Chris Olson
love it. We love it. um But we also review cinema releases, streaming films, indie films and what we call our nostalgia pick, which is a film from the past.

00:03:47.76
Brian Penn
Some monster isn't it really?

00:03:55.19
Chris Olson
And this one is an absolute classic on the episode today. I mean, yeah, you just can't get away from that movie at Christmas, but we're not going to start there.

00:04:04.96
Brian Penn
a know

00:04:07.66
Chris Olson
We're going to start at the beginning because that's where everyone starts, really, unless you're Christopher Nolan.

00:04:10.43
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:04:13.32
Chris Olson
We're going to start at the beginning, um which is with a release in the cinemas currently.

00:04:14.36
Brian Penn
I like it.

00:04:20.81
Chris Olson
It's a PG, but I will say this might not be for younger viewers. The film is called Conclave starring Ralph Fiennes.

00:04:26.92
Brian Penn
Oh, yeah.

00:04:29.02
Chris Olson
Over to you, Brian.

00:04:30.70
Brian Penn
Yeah. So Conclave, directed by Eber Burger, starring Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci and John Lithgow. So let's set the scene. The Pope has just died and Cardinal Lawrence has a task of leading the process to select the new Pope. The Cardinal was jockey for for position as alliances are formed and broken. Bellini is the liberal reforming candidate. Tremblay, a moderate conservative. Adeyemi, a modernist. And Tradesco, a reactionary with premise of views of the church and its role in the world. As successive rounds of voting

00:05:09.69
Brian Penn
fail to produce an overall winner deep rooted secrets begin to unravel so that's that's the story in a nutshell um this is real quality it's a very very good film but threat might not be for everyone as you say not necessarily particularly suitable for for young kids i mean it's a 15 i think isn't it i think you mentioned

00:05:23.65
Chris Olson
Yeah.

00:05:34.24
Chris Olson
Well, it says PG on IM2.

00:05:36.61
Brian Penn
um pj ago i fifteen

00:05:37.47
Chris Olson
Yeah.

00:05:38.56
Brian Penn
oh i beg you but

00:05:39.12
Chris Olson
Oh, wow. That's a big difference.

00:05:40.75
Brian Penn
Yeah, that is a big difference, isn't it? I don't know what made me think, you see, that's how my perception has changed over the years. I almost don't recognise the ratings there. It's a quality film. It deals with the mistakes surrounding the Roman Catholic Church. It shows that Godliness doesn't always bring out the best in people. And also it shows that we're all human and have the same weaknesses. Great cast, as I say, Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Suchi, John Lithgow, you can't go wrong. The imagery is amazing.

00:06:10.27
Brian Penn
I think the the way they capture the process, which is still shrouded in mystery. We all know about the comic label and the way it works. We all know about the um white smoke and the puff of black smoke. We know how all that works, but this gives gives you ah some insight. I'm not sure how accurate it is. They're much of its dramatic license, but I think it sheds light oh on what can happen, what can be at play.

00:06:39.16
Brian Penn
and what comes to light because people are only human after all so very serious subject matter it's not a comedy it's it's a drama it's a thriller so it might explain why it's got a PG racing but to me they're very fine lines you've got to draw the line somewhere I guess but it's a good film it's a very good film just very well made beautiful to look at Rome looks great how could you not make look Rome look great. you know ah but yeah Good film. Very good film.

00:07:13.69
Chris Olson
Well, I mean, it's the sort of movie that I would definitely pop on, you know, if I'm seeing something like that, especially with Ralph Fiennes in the yeah lead role, it's going to appeal.

00:07:24.66
Chris Olson
But is it is it cinema worthy, Brian?

00:07:27.37
Brian Penn
I think it is, in my opinion.

00:07:28.78
Chris Olson
Yeah.

00:07:29.65
Brian Penn
It does have that cinematic look about it. I think we know, don't we, that some films are built for the small screen. i it often makes more sense when films go straight to stream.

00:07:41.05
Brian Penn
But it's a very fine line, but I feel that Conclave works well on the bigger screen. So I think they were right to do that. Although I'm not sure how much longer it'll be running on the big screen.

00:07:51.90
Brian Penn
you know the there were very There were relatively few showings.

00:07:51.99
Chris Olson
e

00:07:54.43
Brian Penn
I mean, if you if you check out your local multiplex, whereas there might be 11 or 12 showings of, say, Paddington, for example, a day, a film like Conclave will get three or four, if that.

00:08:07.83
Brian Penn
So, you know, it's shelf life as a theatrical release, it's very short and it will go onto stream very quickly, but that's the name of the game, isn't it? It's about where they get their exes back, isn't it?

00:08:16.93
Chris Olson
Hmm.

00:08:18.99
Brian Penn
So, but I know, I think, in answer to your question, I think it does deserve to be seen on the big screen.

00:08:19.97
Chris Olson
Yeah.

00:08:24.73
Chris Olson
Is it, would you say it's awards fodder? Do you think it's punting for some Oscars?

00:08:30.05
Brian Penn
Probably not, probably not.

00:08:31.26
Chris Olson
No.

00:08:32.40
Brian Penn
it's It's very consistent. What you get is what you see. um such fine accents but i don't really see this as the type of film that will get many nominations would be recognised by the academy mean because i think it deals with with a vague vaguely dangerous subject a very touchy subject and that might be the reason why they avoid it now every film gets an award of some description if you look up a film online it will say one 11 awards one

00:09:06.16
Brian Penn
or nominated for 63 awards but you know it could be the I don't know the it could be the the uh the Lisbon film festivals nominated for an award if you know what I mean no disrespect to to Lisbon and Portugal but you know you know every film gets an award somewhere they try and make the most of that but when we're talking about major gongs we're talking about the Oscars we're talking about BAFTA's Golden Globes they're the biggest aren't they and I can't see them getting that although

00:09:17.60
Chris Olson
Yeah.

00:09:32.35
Chris Olson
yeah

00:09:35.71
Brian Penn
The screenplays, brilliant. The screenplays, excellent. It's very literal and very very easy to watch, I feel.

00:09:43.57
Chris Olson
Yeah Hmm it feels like one of those films like when I so I've seen the trade and I've seen an obviously bits about it and you're reviewing things and I think that that's the sort of film they go for sometimes is they like that sort of classic storytelling, something a bit niche.

00:09:57.25
Brian Penn
and Yeah.

00:09:58.89
Chris Olson
They obviously they hate franchises and all that sort of stuff, um unless it's the sort of more technical awards.

00:10:01.59
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:10:06.39
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:10:06.54
Chris Olson
But yeah ah oh yeah, I was just interested because it just had that vibe about it. But no well, yeah, who knows?

00:10:11.97
Brian Penn
well I think it'd be great if it did if it did get nominated for a bigger wall, but I think it's a very sensitive subject, isn't it?

00:10:20.34
Chris Olson
Hmm.

00:10:20.48
Brian Penn
Anything to do with religion is. The Academy, um ah the BAFTAs, sent us to stray away from controversy. um I don't know, but I'd be delighted if it got something, because it's It's one of the best films of the year, ah in my opinion. Yeah,

00:10:39.57
Chris Olson
Wow, okay. Well, Conclave, let us know if you've seen it, share your reviews. We'd love to hear them. We are moving on to another film, which I believe is on streaming at the same time as cinema. um Brian probably got know more about this, ah which is Red One.

00:10:57.43
Brian Penn
yeah right, okay. You're right, it already already is streaming, but you can still see it at the cinema. um Sometimes you you just get overtaken, don't you, by the speed of processing that they put a film out there right straight to streaming. So this film is is directed by Zach Kastad starring Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans, JK Simmons and Lucy Liu. So are you sitting comfortably? I'll begin. it's It's three days before Christmas and Santa Claus is gearing up for his busiest night of the year.

00:11:32.62
Brian Penn
But he said a security cow was soon enough. After 300 years on the job, he's grown tired of so many adults being on the naughty list. But things get serious when Sansa is kidnapped by dark forces. They are in to drain his positive energy and punish anyone, not just those on the naughty list. But Zoe, head of security in the mythological world, has a plan. She she ensnares IT hacker Jack.

00:12:01.82
Brian Penn
to find Sansa. He forms an unlikely partnership with Cal, but can they really say Christmas? So this will not, I'll be honest with you here, Chris, right?

00:12:12.27
Brian Penn
This will not go down as a great Christmas movie.

00:12:15.45
Chris Olson
No.

00:12:15.70
Brian Penn
No, no, I don't think so. Not really. You'll need the odd chariot too, before you watch it. Let's put it that way. But it's, again, it's a phrase I often come back to. It's all good fun. It's harmless enough.

00:12:26.57
Brian Penn
The special effects are brilliant. But again, as we said before, it's almost a standard feature of any film now that the effects are going to be good. So we, we cease to be impressed by that.

00:12:38.20
Brian Penn
The plot goes a bit, a lot deeper than is necessary. Santa Claus is a simple, simple tell. It doesn't need any elaboration. So that kind of exposes a weakness.

00:12:48.74
Brian Penn
Otherwise it's an okay kind of Christmas movie. I could be more brutal, but hey, seems to be good will and You're right though. It's, ah I think it's available to rent or buy on stream.

00:13:01.24
Chris Olson
Well, it's been coming up on my Amazon Firestick thing. And I was like, oh, and I think what happens is often these streaming platforms are putting money behind the movies, right, to say that you can have a bit of a small window at cinema, but then it's coming straight over to the streaming platform.

00:13:16.93
Brian Penn
Yeah, yeah.

00:13:18.25
Chris Olson
And I think they have to go to the cinema if they want to ah get anywhere near an award, because I think the awards are very funny about that.

00:13:23.67
Brian Penn
That's right. Yeah, yeah.

00:13:25.38
Chris Olson
But that will probably change, to be honest, the way that things are going.

00:13:28.24
Brian Penn
They'll change the rules, won't they?

00:13:28.95
Chris Olson
ah you do

00:13:30.10
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:13:30.84
Chris Olson
This, I mean, in fairness, this felt like, OK, yeah, you've got big names. It's a big cinema film. Put it at the cinema. There's no there's no harm in that. I think people they want to go watch a Christmas flick. It's fine.

00:13:40.68
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:13:40.94
Chris Olson
um But I've not seen it. So yeah it doesn't sound like it's going to um stick around in the in the year upon year of Christmas movies.

00:13:50.03
Brian Penn
Probably not.

00:13:50.10
Chris Olson
You know.

00:13:50.79
Brian Penn
No, it would do good business on stream. I'm sure it will, but it's not a safe, not one that's going to resonate that deeply. But you know, the unlike Dwayne Johnson, I think he has no pretensions about what he is and what he does.

00:14:02.53
Chris Olson
Hmm.

00:14:04.29
Brian Penn
He knows what his position is. He's not an actor. He's an action hero, more or less. And that kind of fits, this film fits his criteria, if you like. And J.K. Simmons is always good for you. Lucy Liu's very good. Chris Evans, you know, they all put in a decent shift. They all do work very well with it. But as I say, it's it's kind of like, yeah, okay, that's good. and But you say next, you know.

00:14:31.58
Chris Olson
Mmm, it's like one of those throwaway gifts you get from under the present into the tree. Just okay cool Yeah, yeah, don't give me this next year Brian.

00:14:35.88
Brian Penn
Yeah, and you would get it the following year.

00:14:41.10
Chris Olson
All right. Don't say hey Chris. I've got a great recommendation for you um I mean, it doesn't sound that bad to be fair. We've had

00:14:47.11
Brian Penn
no it's all right it's okay it's okay but i mean if you match it against similar efforts then it doesn't score very highly really but um you know you take it for what it is um you know it ticks all the boxes for a christmas movie but you you know you have to suspend your disbelief a little bit as with most films but it does the job it's it's a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours

00:15:13.43
Chris Olson
you go. I don't think that's good enough for the poster. Moving on to...

00:15:16.43
Brian Penn
No, I don't think it is. We're not going to make it onto the poster, are we?

00:15:19.14
Chris Olson
No, they don't often put us on them, I'll be honest.

00:15:19.41
Brian Penn
We're not going to be close, are we there?

00:15:22.37
Chris Olson
um next Next movie is is a cinema release, and it's called Rumours, and I know nothing about this film, so I'm intrigued.

00:15:23.07
Brian Penn
ah

00:15:31.09
Brian Penn
Well, this is a big surprise for me. I was, as you know, always thrash around to find some good films to review for the podcast. And I was kind of running short. I'm trying to think of films that we hold over to the next edition.

00:15:45.63
Brian Penn
and films that we can cover now. And I saw this film, and I thought, well, that sounds interesting. Let's give that a go. And I'm glad I did, actually. um This is directed by Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson, and and Guy Madden, starring Kate Blanchett and Charles Dance.

00:16:01.59
Brian Penn
So the leaders of G7 meet in a remote location to draft a statement on global change. However, they become lost in the woods. As they make their way back to civilization, they are confronted by dark forces.

00:16:11.52
Chris Olson
. . . .

00:16:15.52
Brian Penn
that threaten their very existence. Now, this has to be the strangest and most compelling film I've seen for a fair while. um It's loaded with symbolism.

00:16:26.27
Brian Penn
The notion that leaders of the world's seven greatest democracies are lost in the woods, trying to get their bearings, but also under mortal threat from an unseen enemy, that kind of rings true.

00:16:37.27
Brian Penn
you know Where we are globally, you know when you look at all the strife and trouble there is in the world, we look to our political leaders to lead us out.

00:16:37.36
Chris Olson
. . .

00:16:45.51
Brian Penn
of the woods, don't we? So I think the symbolism is very strong and very cleverly done. But there are certain scenes in the in the film where you go, what? Where did that come from? It's that type of thing. Alicia Vikander plays Celestine, the the president of the EU Commission, who turns up probably halfway through the film, speaking a language none of them understand. And they're all sort of saying, oh, is it Serbo-Croat? Is it Creole? And they're trying to work out out what language she's speaking.

00:17:14.22
Brian Penn
They realize it's Swedish and they, well, I'm not going to give it, give it a away, but it's, it's just surreal, but I think it's a very good film and I can understand why Kate Blanchett was attracted to it because it's different.

00:17:29.58
Brian Penn
It's unusual.

00:17:29.92
Chris Olson
I was going to say it doesn't feel like her normal wheelhouse, does it?

00:17:32.57
Brian Penn
i

00:17:32.80
Chris Olson
It feels something big.

00:17:32.97
Brian Penn
She's probably why she likes it, you know, um, but it's really good though.

00:17:34.95
Chris Olson
oh

00:17:37.71
Brian Penn
Really good. Again, a bit like bread one. ah it will have a very limited cinema release.

00:17:45.78
Chris Olson
Hmm.

00:17:46.70
Brian Penn
Strangely enough, I think this film probably works as well on a small screen as it does on a big screen. So it could explain why it's got such a ah limited run on theatrical release, but catch it if you can, because it is very good, very challenging, different, quirky, unusual.

00:18:05.21
Chris Olson
Yeah.

00:18:09.77
Brian Penn
You know, I mean, As good as most of the films are that we review, ah there're are you know there much of a muchness, salt a really. There's very little in the way of true originality. And I'm not just talking about sequels, but there are variations on a common theme. You don't mind that as long as they're entertaining and they're well-made. But this is different. I've not seen anything like this before. So it deserves a lot of credit for that. And it's quite bold as well.

00:18:37.54
Chris Olson
Wow. I mean, like I said, hadn't heard about it. And when you look at the cast, you think, wow. And yeah, from your review, it does sound like that sort of film one should check out.

00:18:43.03
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:18:47.16
Chris Olson
It's got a very unsettled rating on IMDB. It's 5.1 out of 10. So I think a lot of people are not liking it as much as loving it.

00:18:52.38
Brian Penn
yeah Yeah. Yeah.

00:18:55.90
Chris Olson
So it's probably one of those sort of very divisive pieces. um yeah

00:18:59.56
Brian Penn
Yeah, that doesn't surprise me really. It's that kind of film. You know, people will either get it or they don't. I mean, I straight away, again, that's not me you know, I could be reading something into a totally false, but the symbolism was there. The implication was clear to me is that this, this is representative of the position the world's leaders are in. And maybe it's not that at all, but to me, that seems to be the point it's making and it's very well done.

00:19:29.58
Chris Olson
Well, as I always say, all opinions are valid.

00:19:32.55
Brian Penn
Yeah, of course not.

00:19:33.31
Chris Olson
So let us know your opinion of rumors if you get to see it.

00:19:35.20
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:19:36.87
Chris Olson
And we'd love to hear it. That'd be great.

00:19:38.33
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:19:38.99
Chris Olson
Listeners of the podcast, rejoice. A christmas Christmas miracle has happened. I have made it to the cinema again once this year.

00:19:48.83
Brian Penn
Yeah, I was going to say, it's the first time this year, is it?

00:19:49.33
Chris Olson
um i I think so. No, we went, didn't we? We went to see um Fast and Furious.

00:19:55.41
Brian Penn
I don't know.

00:19:56.72
Chris Olson
um But yeah, I've not gone a lot and listeners will know. ah Yeah.

00:20:00.15
Brian Penn
You've got kids, um yeah I mean, it's fair.

00:20:02.66
Chris Olson
I've got kids, which was the only reason I was able to get to this because I saw Moana 2.

00:20:07.83
Brian Penn
Ah.

00:20:07.98
Chris Olson
And my kids are big fans of the first Moana film. We reviewed the film with Rain Johnson in earlier, so he's back in this film. um And yeah, it's a Disney princess, although she's not a princess, but it's kind of like a running joke in the film movie.

00:20:25.63
Chris Olson
So um if you know, The gist of the first one, you'll know exactly what's going to go down in the second one. They stick very much to the formula of the animated musical.

00:20:38.27
Chris Olson
And yeah, I actually i enjoyed it a lot more than some of the other critics out there have been. The the gist is that Moana is now i so the the chief of her village.

00:20:49.69
Chris Olson
She's a wayfinder, but she's now trying to find her ancestors, yeah people that have been estranged across the oceans. And that's just generally the gist.

00:21:00.97
Chris Olson
I don't think it's going much deeper into it than that.

00:21:01.73
Brian Penn
Yeah. Yeah.

00:21:03.53
Chris Olson
I think it lacks the, as a lot of these musical sequels do, it lacks the same punch that the songs from the first film had. I think that happens a lot with the the very catchy songs like, say, Frozen.

00:21:10.83
Brian Penn
ah Yeah.

00:21:15.78
Chris Olson
They're very, very catchy. They try and do it again. And it's not quite got the same you know ah appeal. But they are pretty good. And you can always be sure with a Disney animated film like this that you're in safe hands animation wise.

00:21:28.39
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:21:28.81
Chris Olson
You know, they're excellent. There's plenty of bits to laugh at.

00:21:31.10
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:21:33.22
Chris Olson
There's plenty of scary bits. I took my three-year-old and seven-year-old, well, she was six then, she's only just had her birthday, but yeah, to it. And I mean, yeah, well, thank you very much.

00:21:44.12
Chris Olson
They um they made it through the whole film. I was very proud of them. Didn't go out once. I think it's because they're my kids. I don't let them go out. I'm like, no, you will sit and you will watch the whole film. No, they were very good.

00:21:55.19
Chris Olson
And it was a few scary bits, but generally it was fine. But yeah, no. Very good cinema film. If you've got the kids, you know, you want something to watch on the big screen, I thoroughly recommend it.

00:22:06.18
Chris Olson
If you like the first one, it's very much in the same wheelhouse. um Just lost a little bit of that spark, which is inevitable with these sort of movies, I think. But yeah, Moana too.

00:22:14.62
Brian Penn
ah think yeah ah I mean, I've not seen it yet, but um I've only seen trailers and so on. But I saw the first one a fair while ago, to be honest.

00:22:21.85
Chris Olson
Have you seen the first one?

00:22:25.75
Brian Penn
But you know um no I think this is the um this is the eternal issue that you have with follow-up films, isn't it?

00:22:26.46
Chris Olson
Yeah.

00:22:35.37
Brian Penn
Particularly where they're driven by the songs, aren't they? you know You know the animation is going to be good, as you say with Walt Disney. You're in good hands, you know that. um but But the songs have got to be good. They've got to work. And if they're not as strong as they were, then that that's an issue, isn't it?

00:23:04.17
Chris Olson
right go but

00:23:05.59
Brian Penn
Yeah, so it looks and looks really good. I mean, the there's always a consistency there, isn't there? There's very little, I feel you can criticize that severely with Walt Disney. It's what they do. you know The techniques have evolved over the years, style of animations changed. They have a certain type of song that they use. you know So in some ways they're using a formula, but I don't think there's ever been a bad Walt Disney animated feature. Some are better than others. I think that's the that's the bottom line, isn't it really?

00:23:40.02
Chris Olson
Yeah and you definitely get your money's worth for something like Moana too. um So i yeah'd I'd recommend it because I liked it more than other critics out there. I found it kept its vibe enough because the best example I can give is really Frozen because Frozen

00:23:53.27
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:23:57.85
Chris Olson
number two. And I felt that the drop in quality was quite big with that.

00:23:58.99
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:24:02.16
Chris Olson
It was like, oh, they they really didn't have a story here for that second one.

00:24:02.84
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:24:05.13
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:24:05.97
Chris Olson
Whereas here, more I think the story is decent enough.

00:24:09.24
Brian Penn
yeah

00:24:09.28
Chris Olson
And the characters are also well rounded. They've got plenty to them. The dynamic between um Yeah, the Moana character, ah and I've forgotten Dwayne Johnson's name, Maui.

00:24:22.68
Brian Penn
no

00:24:22.75
Chris Olson
It's a really good dynamic. and It's a bit of a shame for quite a lot of the film. They're not together. He's he's somewhere else. I won't spoil it, but once they are together, it's it's really, really good. But yeah, let us know.

00:24:32.22
Brian Penn
Sorry Chris, how long was the film? How long was it last for?

00:24:36.47
Chris Olson
Out of 40, that one.

00:24:38.66
Brian Penn
Now that sounds a bit on the long side, were your kids okay with it?

00:24:41.06
Chris Olson
With kids, yeah.

00:24:44.92
Chris Olson
Yeah, they made it through. Obviously with that, especially with an animated film, there's a lot of credits. So it's probably more like hour 30, hour 35.

00:24:53.62
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:24:55.10
Chris Olson
But no, it holds up. I would say there's not much you could trim from it. You probably could, but it's not, yeah, I didn't sit there thinking, oh God, this is going on a bit.

00:25:05.76
Brian Penn
so

00:25:06.46
Chris Olson
No, it kept, I feel sometimes these animated films, they start running for two hours and you think, no, you can't, that's too long.

00:25:11.29
Brian Penn
I think an hour and a half is probably about an hour full so you could straight stretch it to an hour full, see that just about works.

00:25:21.09
Chris Olson
yeah

00:25:21.56
Brian Penn
ah I don't, you know, any longer than that, I think you're you're in trouble really. But you make an interesting point though about the opening and closing credits, because I think the pre publicity blurb kind of lies to us Chris, they lie to us.

00:25:35.74
Brian Penn
They say a film's two hours 11 minutes and it ends up at one hour 59, because the closing site was going on for about 10 minutes.

00:25:40.00
Chris Olson
Yeah. Okay.

00:25:43.80
Brian Penn
um You know, and you think, well, I should just say that this is the opening frame, this is the closing frame. look Who stays for the closing credits anyway?

00:25:54.79
Chris Olson
Well, what I'd like would be for cinemas to actually tell you when the film is going to start because we sat through 30 minutes of adverts, not trailers, adverts, before we didn't get to the trailers.

00:26:06.73
Brian Penn
and and I I Yeah.

00:26:08.34
Chris Olson
And I'm like, my kid has been in a seat now for 45 minutes. I'm pushing my luck as it is, um but they were transfixed. It was. my youngest's first time to the cinema so she was very much kind of like bewildered by the size of the screen and my oldest has only ever been to see Paw Patrol which she also she really enjoyed that but with this I think there was a lot more energy and you know Disney know how to hold a kid's attention I think so oh yeah they're fine um but yeah no let's know if you've seen one or two I've not heard many listen reviews I've seen create reviews um we're staying in the animated

00:26:19.31
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:26:23.25
Brian Penn
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. ah like Yeah.

00:26:35.63
Brian Penn
yeah

00:26:39.91
Brian Penn
yeah

00:26:47.08
Chris Olson
realm and fans of this show, fans of the podcast just in general will know we're all big fans at UK Film Review of Richard Curtis. um He has written some of the best movies and even our spin-off show with Amber and Joyce is actually kind of named after the film we're going to read later.

00:27:04.81
Brian Penn
absolutely

00:27:12.84
Chris Olson
Their show is called Gay Actually. um So obviously we should go with Love Actually.

00:27:14.61
Brian Penn
and

00:27:17.31
Chris Olson
and We thought this year we couldn't miss the chance to review his latest movie because it's come out in December and it's a Christmas film and it's on Netflix so no one has any excuse not to see it.

00:27:24.05
Brian Penn
Mmm. Yeah. yeah

00:27:31.09
Chris Olson
It is called That Christmas and I was so excited for this I must say I was really really buzzing.

00:27:37.15
Brian Penn
yeah

00:27:38.56
Chris Olson
Brian did you have that same anticipation or were you not quite as mad as I am?

00:27:41.16
Brian Penn
yeah No, no, no, no. Anything we Richard Curtis in is going to work for me straight away. But as as I've always said about when you're a big fan of someone, of a writer, an actor, a director, you tend to set the bar very high and you expect something special every time.

00:27:56.63
Chris Olson
Hmm.

00:27:59.00
Brian Penn
So, yeah, but I was always excited to see a new Richard Coates this fall.

00:28:03.75
Chris Olson
And he's not done an animated film before and It's the perfect timing for that. We were talking earlier about yeah how platforms can release these movies.

00:28:15.21
Chris Olson
But when it comes to animated Christmas films, that's a genre upon itself. We reviewed After Christmas in the last episode, which is still probably my favourite Christmas film of all time.

00:28:20.68
Brian Penn
Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah.

00:28:27.05
Chris Olson
and I feel this is in that league. It's in that league with those type of movies.

00:28:31.98
Brian Penn
yeah

00:28:33.71
Chris Olson
You know, the snowman and stuff like that, which if you think it will become an enduring classic that Christmas.

00:28:39.14
Brian Penn
I think in silent will do. I think the the gold standard for animated Christmas features will always be after Christmas.

00:28:47.31
Chris Olson
Hmm.

00:28:47.95
Brian Penn
That's the standard against which you would judge any any animated feature. And it's it's it's it's close, but probably not quite as good. They're very good though.

00:28:59.12
Chris Olson
No, no, it's not. I mean, do if you've not seen it, the the gist is that Santa is stuck in a snowed storm. um The whole film kind of takes place in this small town yeah on the coast in the UK. Wellington, is that Wellington on sea?

00:29:16.30
Chris Olson
And yeah, this this snowstorm also wreaks havoc with the the locals, families get separated. There's a snow day at school and um one child's mother, who's a nurse, has to go to work instead.

00:29:30.55
Chris Olson
And he gets it's like i have home alone day, but he has to go to school. It's quite hard to wrap this up in a narrative because there's so many little subplots.

00:29:36.94
Brian Penn
know.

00:29:38.26
Chris Olson
But generally, it's a all things go on in one town.

00:29:38.46
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:29:42.10
Chris Olson
And it kind of does follow that love, actually, sort of

00:29:42.56
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:29:44.98
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:29:45.03
Chris Olson
uh multi-plot line structure which I actually at first it wasn't working for me I'll be honest so I started watching it and I started to feel a bit like oh oh this isn't working for me I'm not sure on this and it wasn't until about halfway through the film that I was like oh no no no this is good I'm happy now that I'm actually I'm in this because the latter part of the film is very very good but it is I would say it it's lacking the same

00:29:57.89
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:30:03.33
Brian Penn
Yeah. yeah

00:30:08.36
Brian Penn
yeah

00:30:14.70
Chris Olson
magical charm that Arthur Christmas had, which just, but it was just full on laughs, lovely, lovely jokes, great animation.

00:30:17.36
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:30:21.91
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:30:23.23
Chris Olson
With this, I think it did take a little bit more time to get going.

00:30:26.92
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:30:26.98
Chris Olson
And I don't think the story is is as strong as Arthur Christmas.

00:30:32.25
Brian Penn
it's It's very cosy, isn't it? It's what I'd call a cosy film.

00:30:35.84
Chris Olson
Oh yeah.

00:30:35.85
Brian Penn
play and so It's pleasant to watch. It's really nice. You don't necessarily see the the Richard Curtis touches that you'd expect. But then again, It's a children's story, isn't it?

00:30:46.05
Brian Penn
so And it's based on books that you wrote for children, so you wouldn't.

00:30:46.41
Chris Olson
Yeah.

00:30:50.27
Brian Penn
But I suppose in my own mind, I was expecting it to have that same flair, if you like, but it couldn't. So if you just accept that it's not going to be anything like he's done before, this is a new avenue for him, isn't it?

00:31:04.36
Brian Penn
But I think it's very sweet and it's endearing and the characters are very likable. The actors involved, I think, do a fantastic job. I always think voicing a cartoon character and an animated character so it is in some ways more difficult than playing somebody live on screen, because you have to inject that much more life into a voice, don't you, to to make it land properly. But Brian Cox is great as Sansa, Jodie Whittaker's great. um And it's it's so nicely done. But i think I think what I'd say is it's a grower. It's a grower. It grows on you more.

00:31:44.61
Brian Penn
The more you think about it, the more you look at it. You think, yeah, this this kind of works. And I think what it does though, is that it portrays a view of life that sadly doesn't exist anymore. You know, that sense of community spirit, everyone knows everyone, everyone's mingling together, everyone looks out for everyone. If only it could be like that now, but I don't think it is. Times have changed, times have moved on, but there's no harm in wishing It was like that, I guess, but that's probably a, it's only weak spot is that you only wish it could be like that, but it, but it isn't, but it's no harm in dreaming. is So I guess.

00:32:24.30
Chris Olson
Yeah, I think it had that sense of, he's done that in other films. you You watch stuff like Even Love Actually, About Time, which I absolutely love, for love that movie.

00:32:32.94
Brian Penn
I love that. Yeah.

00:32:34.36
Chris Olson
When he was involved, obviously, Victor of Dibley and stuff like that, which is very, it's got this rose-tinted view of English life that I think viewers just absolutely eat it up.

00:32:37.64
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:32:42.51
Brian Penn
Yeah, right.

00:32:45.92
Chris Olson
They love it.

00:32:46.59
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:32:46.96
Chris Olson
And what I think you touched on in in your review there, that I feel with this movie, It was missing the cheekiness. He writes some really cheeky stuff.

00:32:56.34
Brian Penn
Yeah, it's clever, isn't it?

00:32:57.58
Chris Olson
And it's he gets it's like it's naughty, but in it's done in a way that, yeah, it's not offensive.

00:32:59.94
Brian Penn
Yeah, it's clever.

00:33:03.66
Brian Penn
Yeah, yeah.

00:33:03.72
Chris Olson
It's not crude. And it's not like, oh, that's going to upset someone.

00:33:06.76
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:33:06.88
Chris Olson
It's more like, oh, my god, I can't believe they're getting away with that.

00:33:08.92
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:33:09.53
Chris Olson
um It didn't have any of that. It felt a lot more tame. And it really did feel like it was aimed at a much younger audience, which is absolutely fine.

00:33:13.54
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:33:17.45
Chris Olson
I've got young kids.

00:33:17.74
Brian Penn
yeah

00:33:18.29
Chris Olson
theyve They both watched.

00:33:19.26
Brian Penn
All right.

00:33:19.45
Chris Olson
they've They've seen it, and they really liked it. um So I think you're right. I think it will kind of, I think it will stick around. It'll be a film that people will stick back on. But on first viewing, it wasn't a complete revelation to me.

00:33:33.91
Chris Olson
It wasn't like, oh, wow, finally it's arrived. If anything, it made me think, do you know what? I want to go watch Love Actually, or I want to go watch one of his other movies that was a bit more cheeky, a bit more naughty.

00:33:43.23
Brian Penn
well but Yeah, but the thing is though, I think we're just not used to seeing Richard Curtis right in that way. We've never seen anything like this before.

00:33:53.27
Chris Olson
Hmm.

00:33:55.57
Brian Penn
So we're used to seeing Knossing Hill, Four Winds and the Funeral Love actually about sign. It's it's a completely different type of writing. It's very it a very sophisticated humour.

00:34:07.88
Brian Penn
um you know As I as to say, I think we need to get accustomed to Richard Curtis is writing in a certain way because we're we're not used to it. I think that's.

00:34:18.03
Chris Olson
And it was good. I can't deny it was good. I liked that the animation was amazing. I thought it was brilliant.

00:34:22.97
Brian Penn
Yeah, yeah.

00:34:23.91
Chris Olson
um And I think there are jokes there. Also, it probably does have that and after Christmas appeal that on a rewatch, there'll be jokes that maybe we missed.

00:34:36.46
Chris Olson
And so I've only seen it once.

00:34:36.60
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:34:37.82
Chris Olson
And I've seen bits of it when my kids were watching it. But I think I will 100% give it another go, because I reckon there'll be bits in there that I go, oh, that's clever. Oh, well done there.

00:34:48.86
Brian Penn
yeah

00:34:49.30
Chris Olson
you know

00:34:50.21
Brian Penn
With Richard Curtis, you go back and watch it again, there'll be something that you've missed the first time around. And it doesn't matter, any times you watch it, there will always be something you miss, something very subtle.

00:35:02.17
Brian Penn
And it might just be an expression following a a throat throwaway line, but it's gold. It's and just a nugget, isn't it? You think, oh, I never noticed that.

00:35:12.15
Chris Olson
Absolutely.

00:35:13.08
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:35:13.13
Chris Olson
Well, listeners stay tuned because we're going to actually review Love Actually at the end of this episode.

00:35:17.69
Brian Penn
yeah

00:35:18.77
Chris Olson
That's how nostalgia picked this month. But we're moving on now to the indie film section of our show, which is where we review selection of movies that have been sent to us for us to review.

00:35:29.84
Chris Olson
And the filmmakers have actually requested it, as opposed to Richard Curtis, who didn't ask us to lend our thoughts to his movie.

00:35:36.07
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:35:36.51
Chris Olson
And with...

00:35:36.75
Brian Penn
You know what, if he's listening, I mean, happily review this film if you ask this.

00:35:38.54
Chris Olson
Yeah.

00:35:41.86
Chris Olson
Yeah, come on, Richie, come on, come on the show.

00:35:43.36
Brian Penn
Yeah. Come on, Sean.

00:35:45.02
Chris Olson
um Yes, very, very honored to to have this selection of indie films to review this month, the first one of which called Opportunity. We have a clip, I believe, but it's from the filmmakers, one of the stars of the show.

00:35:55.64
Brian Penn
Oh wow.

00:35:59.16
Chris Olson
So here is one of the actors talking about the movie.

00:36:49.08
Chris Olson
So that was ah Donny, ah well, the character of Donny Hatcher, but played by Quinn Akile, talking about the movie Opportunity, as he says, written and directed by Rusty Rael.

00:37:01.42
Chris Olson
I reviewed this on the site and I think I may have done it elsewhere. But Brian, why don't you give us the rundown on Opportunity to get your words on this one?

00:37:08.71
Brian Penn
Yeah. Okay. All right. Okay, though. um So Patrick who is a man living in his farm, trying to sort his life out. Having been rejected by the banks, he was also a loan shop to help him purchase a home. ah But it becomes indebted to his finances in a dangerous favor that sees him and his gullible friend, Donny, sucked into all kinds of trouble. Now, I think it's interesting, the clip that you played just now, because um

00:37:39.64
Brian Penn
He touched on the idea of the underdog, basically. And we're all underdogs of one description or another, aren't we, in life? We're all trying to get ahead, aren't we? And I really enjoyed this film, actually. There's a lot going on there. Sometimes the character's motivation is difficult to understand. I mean, why does Donny hang out with this guy? i mean But then again, that's friendship, though, isn't it? And you you do help a friend out.

00:38:05.52
Brian Penn
um but You know, you spend your disbelief. It's pretty raw and basic, but in some ways that's its charm. But it it kind of works.

00:38:16.27
Brian Penn
It could do with a bit more polish, I think. But that'll do for me. It's good enough, you know.

00:38:22.21
Chris Olson
I think when I did my review, I mentioned, because you talk about Donnie there, like, why is he friends with Patrick, that part of the appeal, I think, for anyone watching this movie is if you enjoy a good bromance, like the the the two of them are inseparable at times.

00:38:27.66
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:38:33.37
Brian Penn
Oh, yeah. Yeah.

00:38:37.05
Chris Olson
And, you know, much to the chagrin of Donnie's girlfriend, that I think

00:38:40.62
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:38:43.15
Chris Olson
That element is quite the bedrock of opportunity. I think it is the is the film because if you don't have that central friendship and that central dynamic, it is just kind of chaos really.

00:38:56.24
Chris Olson
A lot of it is just happening.

00:38:56.82
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:38:57.82
Chris Olson
And yeah, I agree. It is rough around the edges. The part parts of the film you can go, yeah, they've had to, that's had to just do, you know, they've they've they've moved on and that's fine.

00:39:06.94
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:39:09.49
Chris Olson
I never judge a movie if it's something that they could have avoided. I think there are certain scenes where I think they could have maybe done another take. I feel like okay the dialogue maybe wasn't quite on or um yeah there's a fuse.

00:39:17.78
Brian Penn
then Yeah.

00:39:23.63
Chris Olson
issues, technical, yeah so maybe go back and do it again. But it's ah generally, I thought they did very well and actually managed to pull off a full length film that felt cared for.

00:39:27.09
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:39:35.31
Brian Penn
Yeah. Yeah.

00:39:38.21
Chris Olson
i felt like you know what they And they were making a point as well, talking about how life is now for people, um difficulty is to even get on the housing ladder and even people that have you made all the right decisions in life can still end up at the bottom of the pile because of just this sort of unfairness of it all really and that seems to it seems to be these characters are railing against that

00:39:44.48
Brian Penn
yeah

00:39:52.48
Brian Penn
Yeah. Yeah.

00:40:02.69
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:40:03.42
Chris Olson
it It felt a bit at times, like a Seth Rogen film was like, okay, that the the kind of bit wacky bits only doing things that the rest of us sort of think are a bit silly.

00:40:08.03
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:40:13.92
Chris Olson
um But it I said it, again, in my room i it had a makeshift charm to it. And that I found was was endearing. um It was endearing and I think if you're on board with it, if you like twists and turns, you know, all over the place and there are some good action sequences in it as well.

00:40:33.27
Brian Penn
yeah they

00:40:33.99
Chris Olson
There's some stuff that was impressively filmed that it's got that

00:40:34.17
Brian Penn
um yeah

00:40:40.23
Chris Olson
cultish comedy kind of ah category to it. I can imagine that falling into a ah the lapse of of fans of comedy. Oh, have you seen this? Because they'll be really proud that they've seen it and other people won't necessarily have seen it.

00:40:51.48
Brian Penn
yeah wait yeah In the context ah of it being an indie feature, and we know the constraints that they're working with it,

00:40:53.21
Chris Olson
And yeah, I can imagine them getting a big kick out of that.

00:41:03.22
Brian Penn
you never felt at any point that an hour and a half was too long. Because with some indie features, when it goes to feature length format, you do think but some films, oh, this is going on a bit too long, right?

00:41:15.30
Chris Olson
Yeah.

00:41:15.36
Brian Penn
But yeah and I never thought that with this film. And there's lots of good stuff going on there. I mean, there were sort of of, seizing, how can you put it, you know, Patrick seems that they both seem really interesting characters, but At one point Patrick started to describe the life he used to have when he said that I used to have a home, I used to own six digits a year. I thought I'd love to hear more about that. So the lack of a backstory or ah a sufficient backstory, that was intriguing to me. ah But again, you've only got limited resources and limited time, but they do really well with it overall.

00:41:57.98
Chris Olson
Yeah, they the banter between two of them is really good. The characters are pretty fleshed out. As you said there, they give you... bits about each. I liked that you had the other element of like Donnie's girlfriend because I think otherwise it would just become oh are these two just messing around with the camera. Like I felt that they did have some characters in there for a reason and she's great actually. She's the way she hates Patrick is just brilliant. I love watching that. um But there are times where you're kind of going

00:42:30.74
Chris Olson
Oh, it would have been nice if that made a bit more sense like because I think maybe they're running with a joke a bit longer than they should. or There's a bit where Patrick Yeah, they're going to go and do this thing.

00:42:46.11
Chris Olson
They're going to go and ah try and make some money for the loan shark or or steal something for the loan shark. And he's like really against it. He's like, no no, we're not going to do that. And Don is like, oh, no, you should do it. And then the next scene, Patrick's just really up for it.

00:42:58.23
Chris Olson
He seems to have forgotten that he was really against it.

00:43:00.88
Brian Penn
Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah

00:43:00.99
Chris Olson
And I felt that there was a bit of a. a lack of clarity in terms of what they were doing at times but that being said I think that is still part of its charm it's almost like it's unpredictable and it's a bit punkish it's got a punk spirit to it of like well you know you're coming along for the ride and you've got no idea where this is going it's not linear by any means and I like that they've got these modern twists you know they're talking about like crypto wallets and stuff like that but they' were also they're also sticking really with this kind of like buddy film of like a almost like a road trip film kind of and I thought I thought it worked in for the most part if you add most of parts together it works yeah

00:43:32.94
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:43:40.90
Brian Penn
Yeah. I think you mentioned the girlfriend. and You don't realize how important she is to the story because she acts as a counterbalance, doesn't she really? That's something that kind of levels that relationship up between Donny and Patrick. So I think she's really important. It introduces some balance between all the characters.

00:43:59.83
Chris Olson
Yeah, absolutely. ah good Good performances. It's always difficult with a feature-length comedy, I think. And the dynamic between John Waters and Quinn Achilles is really good. So yeah, if you can see it, I'd recommend finding it. I don't think it's out yet. I believe it is on a password protected link was how we watched it.

00:44:27.23
Chris Olson
But yeah, if you can, I'd really yeah strongly recommend trying to see it.

00:44:31.71
Brian Penn
it's hard yeah absolutely.

00:44:34.86
Chris Olson
just see if you've got any information about the film. There's ah there' a website, opportunity-the-movie.com. I've not been on that. okay so I'm not going to click open right now, but it might be it might be the right one.

00:44:47.83
Brian Penn
ah know one my Yeah.

00:44:49.32
Chris Olson
um I think we've tagged the film as well um on our Instagram, opportunity-the-movie. so You should be able to find it. um If not, Let us know. We'll point you in the best direction that we can.

00:45:01.39
Chris Olson
But it's directed by a Rusty Rail and Rail has been R-E-H-L. um Yeah, really, really interesting movie.

00:45:08.57
Brian Penn
Yeah. Yeah. well wil

00:45:09.65
Chris Olson
moving yeah Moving on now to a short film which Jason reviewed earlier in the month called Perform. And for this one, I do have a clip from the movie.

00:45:20.48
Chris Olson
Here we go.

00:45:21.23
Brian Penn
spoiling us he spoil

00:45:22.65
Chris Olson
Merry Christmas.

00:45:47.04
Brian Penn
You're spoiling us. You're spoiling us.

00:46:11.70
Chris Olson
Every time I hear that actor's voice, I'm like, is that Jack Lemmon? It sounds like Jack Lemmon, which is ah John Alan Russo, who stars in Fareed Kiron's short film Perform, and Russo plays Daniel, who's an actor auditioning for a part.

00:46:16.53
Brian Penn
Yeah, actually, I never thought of that. Yeah, you're right.

00:46:22.54
Brian Penn
yeah

00:46:32.02
Chris Olson
The audition process seems to be causing him quite a lot of distress as the lines between him and his character start to blur. um He is also engaging with Jane, who we hear in that clip, who's a young actress. She's trying to also get a role in the movie and the whole film takes on this sort of psychological edge as the intensity of Daniel's predicament becomes more clear, and the character that they mention in that clip is the role that he's going for, starts to have its own kind of evil presence within the movie.

00:47:08.96
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:47:13.03
Chris Olson
um Very strong filmmaking this. I love a movie like this.

00:47:16.69
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:47:17.45
Chris Olson
When I see a short film like this, you probably did the same. You kind of kick back your feet a little bit and go, hi okay, yeah,

00:47:23.08
Brian Penn
yeah

00:47:23.82
Chris Olson
we're in We're in good hands now. And I know we've we've reviewed Fareed Karam before.

00:47:25.38
Brian Penn
yeah

00:47:28.57
Chris Olson
and So there's always that sense of like when you get a short filmmaker that's done something good that we liked, I kind of go, OK, well, this should be this should be good. um But with this, I was like, yeah, this is really good.

00:47:39.86
Chris Olson
really good stuff. We reviewed Undertow, I think, before.

00:47:43.05
Brian Penn
oh away okay yeah that was good as well wasn't it yeah yeah

00:47:43.21
Chris Olson
um yeah that was yeah Then we've reviewed that on the podcast. Go back and listen to our review of that because it was very, very good. This, I think, is a little bit better. I thought I enjoyed this even more.

00:47:54.63
Chris Olson
um not least because of Russo's performance. As I said, he reminded me of Jack Lemmon and I loved the sort of desperation in his character as he was struggling to sort of see what was happening to him throughout this auditioning process. I thought it was brilliant.

00:48:11.77
Brian Penn
I absolutely love this. I think it was brilliant. Very intense. The way they use light and shade is excellent.

00:48:18.99
Chris Olson
Mmm, yeah.

00:48:19.95
Brian Penn
Quite claustrophobic as well. But that's the intention. That's the way it's meant to be. So accomplished. You know, the greatest compliment I could pay this short feature is that it doesn't feel like a short film.

00:48:31.97
Brian Penn
It feels like a trailer for a feature film. It's got that shine to it. And I think it's brilliant. I think it's one of the best short features. and um When we talk about short features, let's restrict it to say 15 minutes and below.

00:48:49.06
Brian Penn
In terms of that criteria, it's one of the best we've reviewed, Chris. It's so good.

00:48:55.34
Chris Olson
Definitely this year. yeah yeah We've reviewed quite a few on this podcast this year.

00:48:56.40
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:48:58.90
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:48:59.18
Chris Olson
And I i was going to do that. I was going to do some kind of sort of nominations for best films and things. But if anything, I don't want to undermine the other filmmakers that we review.

00:49:09.74
Chris Olson
and We will review a lot of great movies. But when you see something like perform, it really stands out. For me, I felt like he said, oh, yeah, this will this would be sort of something I would go out of my way to recommend to someone.

00:49:19.83
Chris Olson
So you should watch that. um And I loved that it was you know different aspect ratio, sort of harking back to sort of old cinema, black and white, like say they use that brilliantly.

00:49:31.93
Chris Olson
The sound design is just intense beyond belief that when the alarm bells are going off at one point and it's like, okay, i am I'm distressed now.

00:49:43.41
Chris Olson
I'm really distressed because this character is becoming more and more unhinged.

00:49:44.44
Brian Penn
yeah

00:49:47.30
Chris Olson
It's getting more and more intense.

00:49:47.62
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:49:48.97
Chris Olson
And I think that the filmmakers really knew what they were doing here. They keep you perfectly poised throughout and you come out of it feeling completely unnerved.

00:50:00.94
Brian Penn
Yeah. I think it's got such a film noir about it as well.

00:50:04.65
Chris Olson
m Yeah, definitely.

00:50:05.40
Brian Penn
It's very reminiscent of that style, that approach to to making films black and white, very stark, very foreboding, very inseminating. All the indie films we review are good. I've never seen a bad one. They're all good. But sometimes here and there, one seems to stand out a bit more than others.

00:50:25.61
Chris Olson
We definitely have seen some bad ones. Brian is just being nice. um On the podcast we get some good ones though, I must say.

00:50:29.29
Brian Penn
west

00:50:32.24
Chris Olson
um But I think you're right. Yeah, it was like the film noir, but also slightly, I had this sort of ferocious sci-fi feel to it because it was like, we don't know what's going on.

00:50:43.35
Chris Olson
It felt like a bit otherworldly. And I was like, this could be that you know and like you said it does feel like it could be a proof of concept for something much much bigger i hope it is and i know we say this about a lot of short films but this i would certainly be happy to see a full leg version

00:50:52.19
Brian Penn
yeah yeah yeah

00:50:59.82
Brian Penn
I also wonder though if actors watch this film and it strikes a chord with them and they think oh actually that reminds me of something you know and I'd be fascinated to know if it does strike a chord with some actors when they audition for parts and people they come into contact with.

00:51:20.01
Chris Olson
Well, yeah, something Jason picked up on in his review talking about, obviously, it's going through a lot of psychological ideas, but also, yes, is it reflecting more about the state of the acting business and what that does to people?

00:51:26.56
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:51:33.85
Chris Olson
You know, there's been some horrific stories in the past about actors that have gone too deep into the character or yeah have ended up on medication and worse because of roles that they've gone for and even ones they've got.

00:51:35.64
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:51:39.03
Brian Penn
yeah

00:51:45.51
Chris Olson
the element of that fear of of being someone else too much in losing yourself. I think that is definitely going to strike a chord with people 100%.

00:51:55.00
Brian Penn
Yeah, well, yeah, I mean, there's lot there so elements of method acting that it it was and probably still is to a certain extent still a very popular technique for actors. But it always reminds me of a story of um Dustin Hoffman and Lawrence Olivier. They were on the set of Marathon Man. This is mid 70s. And Dustin Hoffman being a school of being part of the school of methanaxy. We're sitting in the corner of a studio, smacking himself around the face, you know, trying to psych himself up. And Olivier looks at him and he says, Dustin, Dustin, why don't you try acting? It's a lot simpler. And it does make you wonder whether actors go too far, because it's not acting at all, is it? If you're living the part, then you're not acting, are you?

00:52:47.42
Brian Penn
um but that's

00:52:48.63
Chris Olson
that's how i get That's how I get psyched for the podcast. I sit there and I slap my face and I really get into it.

00:52:51.80
Brian Penn
Oh, isn't it? Yeah, good yeah, yeah.

00:52:55.61
Chris Olson
Trouble is I'm quite i'm a bit of a wimp, so I stop pretty quickly.

00:52:59.43
Brian Penn
Yeah, you don't slap yourself too hard, do you?

00:53:00.84
Chris Olson
Yeah, not too.

00:53:01.32
Brian Penn
More like a tap, a gentle tap.

00:53:02.50
Chris Olson
yeah um

00:53:03.64
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:53:04.76
Chris Olson
But yeah, no, um we also reviewed Overshadow, by the way. So um go have a read of Patrick's review um um on na i am that. That's a really good film. the This one, performed for me, has really stood out, really stood out. And I love when we get to see the progression and the evolution of a filmmaker. So I feel very honored to have reviewed this. um It was It was on a ah Vimeo link and it didn't have a password.

00:53:34.93
Brian Penn
Hmm.

00:53:36.93
Chris Olson
So I think this might be available.

00:53:39.99
Brian Penn
No.

00:53:40.35
Chris Olson
um But I'm not going to give it out. I'm not going to share it because I've not been told I can do that. But if you go to Vimeo and have a look, yeah look for Fareed Kiron, which is K-A-I-R-O-N.

00:53:50.83
Chris Olson
Look for his film called Perform. You might be able to see it. um If not, there's an Instagram for Fareed, which is at Fareed Kiron, F-A-R-E-E-D-K-I-R-O-R-O-N.

00:54:02.67
Chris Olson
Sorry, I lost my way halfway through his name.

00:54:04.93
Brian Penn
Oh, another feeling.

00:54:05.42
Chris Olson
reggies for that But it's late and um it's Christmas. So yeah, Perform.

00:54:09.19
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:54:10.68
Chris Olson
Very, very good. Well done to all involved.

00:54:11.61
Brian Penn
Yeah.

00:54:12.60
Chris Olson
And I still think he sounds like Jack Lemmon, which is no bad thing.

00:54:14.83
Brian Penn
That's a

00:54:16.24
Chris Olson
I love Jack Lemmon.

00:54:18.25
Brian Penn
bad thing, really.

00:54:18.31
Chris Olson
Glenn Ross is one of the greatest films ever made.

00:54:19.21
Brian Penn
That's a bad thing. Yeah, oh.

00:54:21.55
Chris Olson
So, yeah.

00:54:22.82
Brian Penn
Oh, tell me about it. That's fantastic.

00:54:24.45
Chris Olson
We haven't done that yet. Have we on the old nostalgia?

00:54:26.24
Brian Penn
No, not that we are.

00:54:26.73
Chris Olson
We've got to get that on the list.

00:54:27.31
Brian Penn
No. Yeah.

00:54:28.95
Chris Olson
um This next film is an indie film that was sent to us, but it also had a cinematic release. Unfortunately, Brian didn't get to see this one because the link we had expired and there's been some technical issues.

00:54:39.78
Chris Olson
but I'm going to talk about it because I have reviewed it and I've reviewed it on the website.

00:54:41.29
Brian Penn
ah

00:54:43.94
Chris Olson
It's called Ball Street and it had a very short run at the Ritzy Cinema in London if anyone got to see it and I think it might be playing a few sort of select cinemas in the UK but it's an American piece written and directed by Lynne Dowell.

00:55:01.39
Chris Olson
It stars

00:55:02.63
Brian Penn
Okay.

00:55:02.71
Chris Olson
ah Melinda Hale as Luesta Gibbs, small-town lawyer, must take on the case of her life when her estranged father turns up dead.

00:55:06.97
Brian Penn
Hmm.

00:55:10.56
Chris Olson
The passing of her dad brings uncertainty surrounding their family home, which she shares with her grandmother, Mrs. Big Gal, who is absolutely brilliantly played by Loretta Devone.

00:55:22.31
Chris Olson
But then her biological sister Kendra returns and she's also a lawyer but with a Harvard background and she's come to take what she feels is rightfully hers. It's a legal drama with, it's peppered with comedy, but largely it is, I would say it's a drama.

00:55:40.19
Chris Olson
um Set in Southern America, it's got that lovely, you know, that's that those accents, you know what I mean? you they're they're eating They're eating all the really good food, and that's how I feel yeah the Southern America is.

00:55:47.32
Brian Penn
yeah

00:55:49.67
Brian Penn
and Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:55:53.04
Chris Olson
It's got that charm in spades. But there's this legal drama going on um as this sort of underdog, Luesta, hopes to take on the the big rich family plus the town mayor and lots of corruption that's going on because of the construction business. She's trying to protect her family home from these people, but there is lots of questions about her inheritance, about her family home, how she came to own it.

00:56:22.88
Chris Olson
And yes, I won't go into too much because I think there's too much that could be spoiled here. the So, Bald Street is one of those films that knows exactly the tone that it's going for.

00:56:36.47
Chris Olson
It feels like almost is a slightly lighthearted, but it knows that it's fairly serious. It knows that it's going through some pretty serious topics. You know, you've got things like racial injustice in there, inheritance,

00:56:45.98
Brian Penn
Mm.

00:56:49.32
Chris Olson
um family feuds it it goes over a few a few decades almost centuries actually in terms of how this happens and it's talking about this idea of land ownership and how that is still a massive you know talking point and issue in especially American society, yeah where black families, black people were never able to own land. And even when they were able to get some, they still never properly owned it because they didn't have the deeds to that property, because that still would be necessarily held with the original land owners and things like that. And it's really delving into that idea of displacement and

00:57:33.31
Chris Olson
whether they have a place in these societies and how they can prove it from a legal perspective. It's very strong. this It's is' a bit of a tearjerker. There's quite a lot of um emotional moments.

00:57:46.73
Chris Olson
I think it did slip into melodrama quite a few times.

00:57:47.06
Brian Penn
Is it on?

00:57:52.56
Chris Olson
You all right there, Brian?

00:57:55.78
Brian Penn
Yep. Hello.

00:57:58.50
Chris Olson
So yeah, apart from some melodramatic performance moments which it gave it kind of a TV sort of feel. Largely I could see this as a nice alternative to probably what's at a lot of cinemas right now. I think it's got a good so i production value to it. It doesn't feel like, ah it's not really an indie film to be honest, it feels more like a studio film, um but it's got characters in there, actors in there that are very much, you should have more of a light shine on them. I think it's it's great that they're doing that and Lindau really knows how to um

00:58:33.63
Chris Olson
to evoke that sentiment from the scenes that she knows how to sort of play around with her characters and and how you're connecting to them. Yeah, really interesting piece. I'm very, yeah, feel very honored to have seen that one.

00:58:46.34
Brian Penn
Yeah, it sounds great, Chris. I mean, my kind of film. I love legal dramas, absolutely love them.

00:58:49.89
Chris Olson
Yeah.

00:58:52.51
Brian Penn
Because, you know, anything goes to court. You put anything into a courtroom, you've got that true dramaticqui dramatic dramatic element cranks up to the max, haven't you really?

00:59:04.41
Chris Olson
Hmm.

00:59:04.66
Brian Penn
um But it's again, you said it it kind of drifted in some melodrama points. I think that's very easy done, isn't it? But it is sounds like a

00:59:12.40
Chris Olson
Yeah.

00:59:15.63
Brian Penn
It sounds like a ah big movie story, doesn't it?

00:59:18.97
Chris Olson
What I liked about it was it's telling a story that is fairly new and unique. It doesn't feel like anything I've seen before in terms of the actual plot. the That's quite rare now.

00:59:30.91
Chris Olson
yeah Normally films, yeah we've seen those films, like you were talking about Conclave earlier.

00:59:31.54
Brian Penn
yeah

00:59:35.47
Chris Olson
it's like I feel like I've seen that film.

00:59:35.95
Brian Penn
yeah

00:59:36.99
Chris Olson
I feel like I've seen movies talk about that before.

00:59:39.14
Brian Penn
yeah

00:59:39.41
Chris Olson
plenty of times. Not saying that takes away anything from the movie, I'm sure it's great, but I'm not saying it's the most original story.

00:59:42.52
Brian Penn
like and so

00:59:46.33
Chris Olson
With this, I felt that they were doing something that felt like it needed to be told, it needed to have that story raised.

00:59:50.01
Brian Penn
oh Yeah.

00:59:51.17
Chris Olson
And yeah, the yeah the film's called Bull Street, um which I can't spoil, there's a reason um that the film is called that. um and it's to do with the the location that they're in, but it's it's important.

01:00:04.70
Chris Olson
The movie has its own own website, to which is called ballstreetmovie.com, all one word. They're on Facebook, at Ball Street Movie, Instagram, same again, and X, if you still use X, um which is what used to be Twitter.

01:00:21.65
Chris Olson
um Yeah, Bull Street, also the trailer is on our website. So if you go and read my review, and you can see what I said there, you can also watch the trailer, get an idea for the movie. ah seth It had a very short window at the Ritzy Cinema, and I don't know if it was going to do any others.

01:00:39.38
Chris Olson
But yeah, check out if you can.

01:00:40.80
Brian Penn
Yes, that's right.

01:00:43.40
Chris Olson
Moving on to our last indie film, um and this is another short film. this This had potentially the biggest shockwave sent through me in a long time. The reason being is our critic, William Hemingway, one of our harshest critics, I have to be honest, he is a brilliant writer. He absolutely is. But he he suffers no fools, that guy. um He gave this five stars. And I was like, I have to see this movie.

01:01:15.12
Chris Olson
ah I'm so glad I was able to. um Yeah, short film directed by Cindy Lee. It was set in South Africa during COVID, the tourists have all gone. But the fight goes on for the rangers that live there protecting the rhinos from the um absolutely maddening ah theft of their horns, the brutal theft of their horns.

01:01:41.23
Chris Olson
um A young girl who lives nearby ends up riding along with one of the rangers whilst they look out for one of the rhinos and unfortunately poachers arrive and nastiness ensues.

01:01:56.76
Brian Penn
Yeah.

01:01:57.12
Chris Olson
It is absolutely incredible. ah We talked about how good perform was earlier, but this also stands toe-to-toe as one of the best shorts we've watched.

01:02:00.13
Brian Penn
yeah

01:02:02.93
Brian Penn
Yeah. ah yeah yeah

01:02:06.54
Chris Olson
I finished watching this and I had let out a sigh of just like, oh my god, like that kept me on tenterhooks the whole time.

01:02:13.18
Brian Penn
yeah yeah yeah

01:02:15.02
Chris Olson
So good, so good.

01:02:16.54
Brian Penn
It's beautiful. There's another way of describing it. You film the open plains of South Africa. It's hard to get it wrong, but it tells the story strongly and effectively. Why should beautiful animals be slaughtered for them?

01:02:36.48
Brian Penn
Sorry, Chris.

01:02:37.71
Chris Olson
but so Sounds like you fell off the table there.

01:02:37.88
Brian Penn
Earphones fell off. Sorry about that. Do you want to put a pause in?

01:02:44.48
Chris Olson
Oh no, let me put a pause in 102.

01:02:48.05
Brian Penn
I think it's absolutely beautiful. A stunning film. You know, you you could say ah filming the the wild and open plains of South Africa, it's hard to get it wrong, but it tells the story strongly and effectively. Why would beautiful animals be slaughtered for their rhino holes? For me, the most telling line is you know, rhino horns mean more to rhinos than humans.

01:03:09.60
Brian Penn
That really says it all, doesn't it? You know, and it, it's tragic, those closing, closing titles where they just delivered a few stats, because this is really part documentary and part dramatization, isn't it?

01:03:11.56
Chris Olson
Hmm Yeah No, it's it's bonkers and I think that's what it's like the desperation of people and the people that are

01:03:21.59
Brian Penn
And the figures are absolutely shocking. When you look at the number of rhinos that have been killed, the number of rangers that have been murdered, it is absolutely shocking. And it makes no sense whatsoever, does it really?

01:03:41.51
Chris Olson
manipulating this industry, for want of a better word, they are true villains, you know, the the people that rock up, but there's also people that are doing it um and not to give away any spoilers, but they're doing it because they're also in a desperate place, not necessarily that they want to be part of this world, but they're doing it because there's no other alternative or they see there's no alternative.

01:04:03.44
Chris Olson
But it is absolutely horrific and

01:04:05.14
Brian Penn
yeah yeah

01:04:05.87
Chris Olson
like you say it is part documentary and if you stick around to the end you'll see a bit more as to why and when they told the the human effect of it I mean the the animal I think that's absolutely horrendous it's already just ah an abomination.

01:04:20.42
Chris Olson
But the fact that that that humans are all dying over this, that to me was like, okay, is this goinging how is this going on? Like, how has it not been stopped? um Yeah, it was just so affecting.

01:04:31.75
Chris Olson
It was so traumatizing to watch that you come away and you cannot help but have been thoroughly moved by this movie.

01:04:39.21
Brian Penn
no and As say, it's stunning and it's beautiful. and you might you You wonder what the world is coming to. You'd expect this sort of thing to have happened 100 years ago or 200 years ago. You don't expect this sort of thing to be happening today, you know so far into the 21st century, that there's still a trade for RhinoHawk.

01:05:01.41
Brian Penn
But I mean, one thing, it does end on a on a slightly positive note because Tandy, the white rhino that was ah that was attacked and robbed of its all, it actually recovered.

01:05:16.01
Brian Penn
So that's kind of a a half-happy ending, but it's it's ah it's just one story, isn't it? For every rhino, they say how many are being slaughtered, and it's awful.

01:05:26.10
Chris Olson
Yeah.

01:05:26.99
Brian Penn
It's just terrible. And it's the type of film that needs to be seen. people need to be made aware of it. But I just get the feeling that there's not a strong enough will at official level to really do anything about it.

01:05:40.19
Brian Penn
Because you want to still be going on. and Yeah, it's like the wild west, isn't it?

01:05:42.94
Chris Olson
Yeah, it feels kind of lawless, doesn't it? It feels like, yeah. um But great performances, even, i you know, sometimes I do feel sorry for child actors having to get into something.

01:05:57.23
Chris Olson
yeah But a role like this is very, very difficult. um But she was great.

01:06:00.17
Brian Penn
She was good, wasn't she?

01:06:01.81
Chris Olson
Yeah, really, really powerful performance. And yeah, I think. For me, it's one of those films that ticks so many boxes because it's not just in an amazing film, amazing story, great performances, but it's also, it's such an important message.

01:06:16.19
Chris Olson
It's such an important film that needs to be seen. And not done in a way that's just gone, oh, okay, well, we know the film is gonna be good because we're talking about something really important that everyone's gonna agree with.

01:06:24.90
Brian Penn
Yeah, of course

01:06:26.52
Chris Olson
It's like, no, no, no, we've still gone and made an amazing film. It's a knockout film. Even if you, you know, even but if for some reason you've got no heart whatsoever and don't care at all about these rhinos.

01:06:30.48
Brian Penn
it is.

01:06:35.69
Brian Penn
Well, yeah.

01:06:36.44
Chris Olson
that you still say this is an amazing movie, like the way they filmed it and the way they've done it.

01:06:39.27
Brian Penn
Yeah, it's incredibly emotional well shot, well accessed. You couldn't ask anymore, really.

01:06:44.28
Chris Olson
No, you really, really can't. And ah again, sore so privileged to have been able to see it.

01:06:48.90
Brian Penn
Yeah, absolutely.

01:06:49.31
Chris Olson
For me, it was just incredible. um It was password protected, this one, and still is, as of this podcast. So you can't see it, unfortunately, at the moment. um But if you go to Instagram at the last stranger last Ranger film, um you'll be able to find it. It's on Kindred Films. And yeah, there is also a trailer on the review that I did, ah sorry, um that William did all on the website, um which you can watch at your leisure and get a sense of the movie.

01:07:24.13
Chris Olson
but definitely follow them if you can and stay tuned for when you can watch it and then go watch it at least 10 times because for me I think it was just incredible um yeah really really good and yeah it just goes to show that William he's harsh but he's often right you know I know i know filmmakers don't want to hear it but sometimes he is

01:07:30.82
Brian Penn
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

01:07:40.18
Brian Penn
Well, we're price, we're price indeed.

01:07:46.08
Chris Olson
Yeah, I mean, yeah, I feel generally, myself and Brian, we're we're pretty um positive about most movies, and some critics aren't, some yeah they they say what they feel and they're their opinions, as I said before, very valid.

01:07:59.76
Chris Olson
um And audiences will always have different opinions on movies.

01:08:03.97
Brian Penn
um

01:08:04.89
Chris Olson
But when it's something like this, it feels very much shared amongst the critic circle of, you know, this is a great short film. It is often because it is.

01:08:14.87
Brian Penn
Yeah.

01:08:15.41
Chris Olson
So speaking of great films, we're moving on to the final review of this episode, our nostalgia pick.

01:08:17.07
Brian Penn
Mm.

01:08:21.93
Chris Olson
And as you may already know, it is love actually written and directed by Richard Curtis. One of the few films he's actually directed, because you always forget, yeah he he often doesn't direct, right?

01:08:31.59
Brian Penn
i Yeah.

01:08:33.54
Chris Olson
He just writes the great, great script. But with this um and a few others, ah about time he he directed a couple of music videos and stuff um yeah love actually is one of his babies and yeah this is

01:08:45.04
Brian Penn
Yeah.

01:08:51.56
Chris Olson
completely cheeky comedy um as i was talking about earlier you that maybe that christmas doesn't really have that vibe you can't help but notice with something like love actually soon as it starts it sets its stall out very quickly of saying this isn't going to be the sort of schmoozy film that you might have thought just from the title you get ah bill nighy effing and jeffing very quickly you get full frontal nudity you get you get you get your works in this movie it's great

01:09:10.08
Brian Penn
yeah yeah

01:09:13.76
Brian Penn
yeah la yeah

01:09:20.73
Brian Penn
yeah hello It's like an antidote though, isn't it? To the yeah emotional aspects ah of the story.

01:09:23.70
Chris Olson
Oh yeah.

01:09:27.14
Brian Penn
um To me, it's a classic insoluble piece, isn't it?

01:09:30.43
Chris Olson
Mmm, yeah.

01:09:31.62
Brian Penn
You've got these eight intellect couples, and it's really about the ups and downs of being in love, falling out of love, staying in love, isn't it, really? um When it comes to affairs of the heart, there is nobody better in which a curse is.

01:09:47.25
Brian Penn
He understands the human condition. you know He can make you laugh, but he will make you cry in a matter of minutes. Now, that's a rare talent for any screenwriter, and he is more of a screenwriter than a director. um But that's a rare talent. And when you think that each of the characters probably don't have any longer than 15 minutes on screen in total, possibly Hugh Grant's on screen for a bit longer. ah But it's difficult to say who the star of this film really is, because they all get good lines. But there are great scenes. You know, to me, great films always have one standout scene, right?

01:10:27.05
Brian Penn
love actually has about eight and nine. So that's that you just, you just play back to yourself but after you watched it and you think that is damn good to be able to do that.

01:10:29.38
Chris Olson
yeah

01:10:33.72
Chris Olson
Yeah.

01:10:38.40
Brian Penn
And that doesn't matter how many times you watch it, it still hits home. You know, that's a rare, rare talent.

01:10:47.54
Chris Olson
I think you're right. I think you are right about the multitude of it incredible sequences that have been put into a film that could have easily just sort of thrown away a load of wish washy stuff that there are bits as well that are genuinely traumatic.

01:10:58.43
Brian Penn
Yeah.

01:11:03.25
Chris Olson
ah the The scenes with Laura Linney and her brother, um that they're some of the most powerful scenes and they're just they're just put in there as just to say, okay, ah chew on this and you go

01:11:04.31
Brian Penn
Yeah. Oh yeah, hello. Yeah.

01:11:15.42
Chris Olson
right oh god oh wow and then Alan Rickman's scenes you know with an Emma Thompson when she does her breakdown but it just it just keeps hitting you it's so it's not all positive and fluffy and you know schmaltzy yeah

01:11:16.97
Brian Penn
yeah Hello.

01:11:25.66
Brian Penn
um

01:11:28.36
Brian Penn
But that is life though, isn't it Chris? It's up and down, isn't it? One of the standouts, one of many standouts is Emma Thompson's character discovering that the bracelet wasn't, not the bracelet, the necklace wasn't for her.

01:11:43.76
Brian Penn
Oh, were you crying for her?

01:11:45.78
Chris Olson
Oh, yeah, it's when she goes upstairs and she puts on Joni Mitchell and it just absolutely knocks you for 10 days.

01:11:46.64
Brian Penn
You were, weren't you?

01:11:49.86
Brian Penn
Yeah.

01:11:53.03
Chris Olson
And I think what I love about Richard Curtis in his writing is he never forgets to do the depth. He could easily just do the funny, right? He could just do the funny and it would be cheeky and it would be funny.

01:12:05.37
Chris Olson
But he always puts in the pathos to balance it.

01:12:07.60
Brian Penn
Yeah,

01:12:08.03
Chris Olson
He always remembers to go. And I think with love, actually, it's often more in that realm. It's more in that sense of and then And he does it in a way that doesn't feel too heavy.

01:12:18.17
Chris Olson
like yeah Even Liam Neeson's character lost his wife. They have a funeral, but it's like funny.

01:12:21.66
Brian Penn
ah

01:12:23.74
Chris Olson
And then, you like I said, Laura Lilly's character, it's still kind of a little bit of a joke. there's There's lots in this film to pull at your heartstrings in different ways. And I love it.

01:12:34.38
Chris Olson
I think it's done so well. And it grows on you as well, because I find that

01:12:37.35
Brian Penn
and are

01:12:38.35
Chris Olson
As you watch it year on year, you probably find different parts of it ah maybe speaking a bit more to you than they were the last time you watched it.

01:12:38.50
Brian Penn
it yeah

01:12:45.22
Brian Penn
yeah Well, we we were talking earlier on that there's always something new to discover in a Richard Curtis film. And when I watched it, something I never picked up on, I never noticed it before, um where Hugh Grant's character is realised that he's falling in love with his PA, played by Martin McCutcheon. He looks up at the portrait of Margaret Thatcher,

01:13:07.64
Brian Penn
And he said, did you ever have this problem? And he goes, what you did, you saucy little minx. The great little lines that he puts in, and you don't necessarily notice them.

01:13:13.17
Chris Olson
yeah

01:13:17.06
Brian Penn
First time around, and it might take you three or four goes to notice it. Or if you didn't notice them, you very quickly forget them. But there's, again, like like we said earlier on, there are nuggets that you think, oh god, I never realized, forgot about that.

01:13:30.71
Chris Olson
Yeah, and I think that's what like allows certain Christmas films to live on is if they do have that

01:13:30.73
Brian Penn
um

01:13:37.63
Chris Olson
longer shelf life of going oh hey you probably aren't going to see all of this on the first watch but because it's a comedy you're probably more likely to put it back on because it's a christmas film you've got a reason to put it on and that's where this movie really shines out i i mean there are better christmas films don't get me wrong but i think love actually is a is a big contender for a lot of people as one of their favorites

01:13:46.07
Brian Penn
Yeah. Yeah.

01:13:59.47
Brian Penn
Yeah, it probably is. It probably is. But you can see why though, can't you? Because it strikes a chord in people. There's nothing, there's got to be something in that film that you identify with. You know, um, Andrew Lincoln's character.

01:14:11.03
Brian Penn
I talk about Andrew Lincoln's character because I artist said can't remember the character's name, but you know the fact that um he's mad in love with his best friend's girlfriend, then he he's best man at the wedding and he can't say no and he's tortured by it.

01:14:15.73
Chris Olson
he he he

01:14:27.98
Brian Penn
And the only way he can cope with it, the only way he can protect himself is to not so much hate her, but be cold-sauce her. but You know, you you what you want to sort of say to him, look just tell her how you feel, then walk away.

01:14:42.22
Brian Penn
And he does that, doesn't he? With with with the ah Bob Dylan pastiche, with the cue cards. and I think it was a brilliant scene and brilliantly conceived.

01:14:48.76
Chris Olson
Yeah.

01:14:53.11
Brian Penn
They're real situations, aren't they? That we can all identify with. You know, we all know someone like that. um it's It's life and it's amazing.

01:15:04.73
Brian Penn
There was talk of Richard Curtis retiring, wasn't there?

01:15:08.84
Chris Olson
Yeah, I felt he he disappeared for quite a while um and certainly wasn't doing anything high profile.

01:15:11.54
Brian Penn
Yeah.

01:15:15.41
Chris Olson
ah Then this year comes out with that film. He did the Beatles film a couple of years ago ah yesterday, which I thought was only okay.

01:15:22.42
Brian Penn
Oh, yesterday.

01:15:25.39
Chris Olson
I didn't love that one.

01:15:25.98
Brian Penn
Yeah. I wasn't keen to be honest. I mean, um I'm a massive Beatles fan. And what really, small way for me was that I can't imagine a world without the Beatles. Right.

01:15:35.11
Chris Olson
Hmm.

01:15:35.34
Brian Penn
I'm a massive Beatles fan. And it kind of, under my eye, I respected the concepts. the thinking behind it. But for that reason, it didn't really, it's just okay, it didn't really hit home, but you compare it to Love Actually, Notting Hill, A Foreignism and Funeral.

01:15:53.60
Brian Penn
It's not in the same league in that way.

01:15:55.98
Chris Olson
no yeah about time is is up there as one of the best films for me i love that film and i again one of those movies i'll go back to it again and again again i must assume that film about 100 times now and i think the

01:15:56.04
Brian Penn
About time, about time was a great film.

01:16:05.67
Brian Penn
and

01:16:11.52
Chris Olson
Because for me, often people talk about the the greatest films. yeah Oh, Chris, what's the greatest film you've watched? But the way I measure films is would I go back and watch it again?

01:16:19.64
Brian Penn
yeah

01:16:20.06
Chris Olson
um Because like I've seen some technically amazing movies, and they've yeah absolutely floored me.

01:16:20.26
Brian Penn
yeah

01:16:26.64
Chris Olson
But I never want to watch them again.

01:16:26.71
Brian Penn
Yeah.

01:16:28.08
Chris Olson
i go I don't want to watch that again. i Do you know what? That first experience was all I'll ever need of that movie.

01:16:33.22
Brian Penn
Yeah.

01:16:33.60
Chris Olson
um Because sometimes you go back again, and it's not the same. But with Richard Curtis movies, they're very often better on another watch.

01:16:40.60
Brian Penn
Yeah.

01:16:40.77
Chris Olson
You watch it again. Oh, I'm getting more out of this now.

01:16:42.30
Brian Penn
Hello.

01:16:42.97
Chris Olson
I'm getting more out of this now.

01:16:43.60
Brian Penn
Hello. Yeah.

01:16:44.71
Chris Olson
um And I think that's incredible.

01:16:45.21
Brian Penn
Yeah.

01:16:46.32
Chris Olson
You can do that with your art. You can make art that gets people to react differently and to feel more from it. I think that's brilliant. And love actually definitely stands up.

01:16:54.70
Brian Penn
Yeah.

01:16:56.58
Chris Olson
It will be interesting to see if this time next year we said the same things about that Christmas. um

01:17:02.44
Brian Penn
Yeah. Well, it's it's it would have had a year to bed in.

01:17:05.82
Chris Olson
Yeah.

01:17:06.06
Brian Penn
like I guess. It have built up and following, wouldn't it?

01:17:07.64
Chris Olson
cause um

01:17:09.11
Brian Penn
I guess.

01:17:09.86
Chris Olson
I'm due to watch it again. I'll be watching it again on Christmas Eve because my mother-in-law hasn't seen it and she's asked if we can all sit around and watch it.

01:17:15.05
Brian Penn
um

01:17:16.58
Chris Olson
So I'm going to watch it at least twice. um Plus all the little bits that I watch as and when my kids are so got it on and I come in in and out of the room. But like I said, I liked it but it didn't It didn't grab me massively.

01:17:30.28
Chris Olson
But I actually vaguely remember not loving Love Actually. I'm sorry if I'm using the words too much because it's the same words. But I didn't love Love Actually the first time I saw it.

01:17:39.56
Brian Penn
Yeah.

01:17:40.91
Chris Olson
But I think now I think I do. I think I think it's one of those movies. um I'll happily watch that every year. um I think it's a very good Christmas movie.

01:17:46.70
Brian Penn
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's to me, it's part of the landscape of Christmas, isn't it it? It seems to me that there are certain films you watch every year at Christmas. You watch A Christmas Carol. It's a wonderful life. And you watch um Love Actually.

01:18:06.19
Brian Penn
the holiday. you know that Their films that are on my list, they always are at some point.

01:18:08.13
Chris Olson
ye Yup.

01:18:12.09
Brian Penn
And it's all much traditional. and you know Christmas is about tradition, isn't it?

01:18:17.82
Chris Olson
Muppet's Christmas Cowl, I think for me.

01:18:19.18
Brian Penn
Oh, yeah, of course. Yeah.

01:18:20.56
Chris Olson
That's absolutely brilliant.

01:18:20.85
Brian Penn
Yeah.

01:18:21.48
Chris Olson
Which is actually the definitive Christmas Cowl for me, I think.

01:18:24.51
Brian Penn
I haven't seen that for ages. I've got to see that again. See, one thing you you do, Chris, is when you pick a ah film from the nostalgia slot, it's often a film that I haven't seen since it came out.

01:18:26.98
Chris Olson
Oh, I see.

01:18:35.10
Brian Penn
plugs into the point you were making about seeing a film once and you think, yeah, that's enough. I've kind of got that. I'm not thinking about it again, even though it is a really good film, but it it sometimes takes a trigger to make you watch it again.

01:18:49.37
Brian Penn
But certainly films like Love actually just do it over and over again.

01:18:49.46
Chris Olson
Yeah.

01:18:54.82
Brian Penn
It really does.

01:18:55.22
Chris Olson
Well, we'll be back in the new year so you can watch some more films again. I'll make you watch lots of new films and and old films.

01:19:01.22
Brian Penn
Yeah. Looking forward to it already.

01:19:03.16
Chris Olson
um Thank you everyone for an amazing year. UK Film Club continues to grow stronger and stronger. And the the The format is pretty much staying the same.

01:19:17.00
Chris Olson
We're going to keep reviewing cinema films, indie films, streaming films. But if there are any that you want us to review in 2025, let us know any particular movies that you're looking out for. Feel free to drop a comment on our socials or get in touch.

01:19:30.35
Chris Olson
um Also, filmmakers keep sending us your movies. We love to review them.

01:19:34.19
Brian Penn
Yeah.

01:19:35.29
Chris Olson
We've already got some lined up for January.

01:19:35.42
Brian Penn
Cool, man.

01:19:37.18
Chris Olson
We don't stop, Brian. No stopping.

01:19:38.82
Brian Penn
Oh, nice, nice.

01:19:39.85
Chris Olson
No stopping. No one gets off this train. and um Yes, lovely to have reviewed two Richard Curtis movies in one sitting. That is enough to make anyone full, I think.

01:19:51.98
Brian Penn
Yeah.

01:19:52.13
Chris Olson
If you've made it to the end of this podcast, congratulations, you get a gold star.

01:19:55.53
Brian Penn
but

01:19:57.58
Chris Olson
ah Brian will be sending out the gold stars in due course.

01:19:58.12
Brian Penn
Yeah, leave that.

01:20:03.49
Chris Olson
Thank you, Brian, to for for everything, but also specifically for seeing the films this month, your cinema trips and everything like that.

01:20:07.44
Brian Penn
Film of the month, Conclave.

01:20:09.33
Chris Olson
What was Film of the Month, by the way?

01:20:12.69
Chris Olson
Conclave. yeah um Yeah, we've been the UK Film Club and yeah, we'll see you again in 2025.

01:20:14.00
Brian Penn
Good season to you all.