Aberration: Deja Reve film review by UK film critic Finn O'Toole. Starring Rachel Stone, Rocko Paolo directed by Rocko Paolo. HOME | FILMS | REVIEWS Aberration: Deja Reve Film Review average rating is 2 out of 5 Critic: Finn O'Toole | Posted on: Jun 1, 2026 Directed by: Rocko Paolo Written by: Rocko Paolo Starring: Rachel Stone, Rocko Paolo “Deja Reve” is best described as the profound sensation that a current waking experience mirrors a memory that one has already lived. The film ‘Aberration: Deja Reve’ follows a young scientist, Chase, on the verge of a breakthrough in creating a medication that allows you to relive old memories in this bold science-fiction fever dream by Rocko Paolo. The opening sequence features frantic camera movements, instantly instilling a sense of unease. This feeling is further emphasised by Chase, played by actress Rachel Stone, and her unrestful physicality. Commendations should be given to Stone for carrying the majority of this film’s runtime on her back single handedly, delivering an energetic performance as her character spirals into an addiction instigated madness. However, the acting in this piece is at its peak when she is joined by scene partner Rocko Paulo. The two constantly interrupt and talk over each other, giving their conversation an earnest sense of reality which really adds to the immersion of the performances. It is a great creative decision then, that cinematographer Alexander Joseph allows the camera to linger on the performances for long periods of time rather than cutting to other angles, in a mature and understated choice that elevates the material. From a writing perspective the story releases its exposition slowly, drip feeding the audience information over its sixteen minute runtime, keeping the audience engaged as we get our head around the fantastical concept. In the dream sequences of this film, Paulo utilises a very obvious green screen. Where this might be out of place and distracting in any other piece of media – in this case it perfectly adds a sense of uncanny valley to these montages that really lends to the core dreamlike conceit of the film. Despite its imaginative concept, this piece is not without its flaws. The distracting colour grading and often-times overwhelming sound design certainly causes a disconnect with the narrative, with shots that seem carelessly composed in post-production and sound that is either too quiet or abrasive in any given moment. Due to this, audiences may find it difficult to suspend their disbelief. Thematically the story initially seems to set out to tell a fascinating tale about the dangers of obsessive nostalgia, but is then watered down when Miles implies the existence of parallel universes which further confuses the commentary. With a fascinating concept at its core, ‘Aberration: Deja Reve’ features hints of genius in its storytelling, performances and cinematography but is bogged down by a lack of narrative focus and need for a sharper edit. Buy UKFR Banner Space About the Film Critic Finn O'Toole Short Film < All Reviews Next Film Review >

Hunting Party film review by UK film critic Jason Knight. Starring Zoe Scott, Ollie Newman, Paul O'Doherty, Hannah Oliver, Tony Curl, Enn Reitel directed by Danny Patrick. HOME | FILMS | REVIEWS Hunting Party Film Review average rating is 3 out of 5 Critic: Jason Knight | Posted on: Apr 15, 2026 Directed by: Danny Patrick Written by: Danny Patrick Starring: Zoe Scott, Ollie Newman, Paul O'Doherty, Hannah Oliver, Tony Curl, Enn Reitel A crime thriller feature written and directed by Danny Patrick and starring Zoe Scott, Ollie Newman, Paul O'Doherty, Hannah Oliver, Tony Curl and Enn Reitel. Circuit Court Judges are releasing guilty defendants, only to subsequently kidnap them and hunt them down on a vast estate belonging to Judge Hardin (Reitel). Hardin lives in a mansion in this estate, along with his daughter, Katie (Oliver), his unstable son, Stephen (Curl), both of which participate in these vile activities. Meanwhile, government agent, Eve (Scott) investigates and gradually gathers clue that uncover the deeds of these individuals. Additionally, the murder of a young woman named Marilyn (Emily Webber) has dramatic consequences for her partner, Jay (Newman) and his father (O'Doherty). From the opening scene, this film effectively sets up the atmosphere: in an isolated loation, during night-time, a group of people armed with bows and knives pursue a man. And similar occurrences follow, including murders, kidnappings, chases and hand-to-hand combat. However, the story is not just about that, as it explores the relationships between its variety of interesting characters and it also works as a family drama. Adding to this is the appearance of Russian bad people. The action scenes are probably the highlights, however, the screenplay concentrates on character exploration and there is plenty of tension and nail-biting moments. There are some well-executed long takes and the frequent aerial shots look great and Gabriele Salomoni's sinister and electronic music adds to the mood. It would be fair to say that there is not really a main character, although much attention is given to Eve and for good reason. She might be a former pill addict and she might be having an affair with the husband of Charlotte (Lauren Budd), Eve's boss, nevertheless, Eve is a clever, energetic and determined woman who can put up a fight. She could be categorised as an action heroine. Father-and-son, Jay and Danny run a pub together and they are two guys who just want to live their life but end up finding themselves in harms way and it is these two bring some comedy to the table. Looking at the bad guys now, it is Katie who seems to be the leader. A murderous individual, she is also confident and knows how to control situations. And then there is her sibling, Stephen, a violent psychopath who enjoys killing. Mainly, this is a story about murder and conspiracies. Aside from this, it is also about relationships, family and infidelity. Arguably, the fight scenes are the times when this feature shines brightest. Additionally, the plot is good and the characters are intriguing. A decent thriller. Out May 11th on UK digital, courtesy of Miracle Media. Buy UKFR Banner Space About the Film Critic Jason Knight Indie Feature Film < All Reviews Next Film Review >

The Menu film review by UK film critic Swati Verma . Starring James Tratas, Carlotta Morelli, Jack McCullum directed by Natasha Kinaru. HOME | FILMS | REVIEWS The Menu Film Review average rating is 5 out of 5 Critic: Swati Verma | Posted on: May 9, 2023 Directed by: Natasha Kinaru Written by: Natasha Kinaru Starring: James Tratas, Carlotta Morelli, Jack McCullum The writer-director Natasha Kinaru attempts to address a crucial issue that humans can face in the future looking at how quickly technology and machines are integrating in our lives. Kinaru has utilised comedy as well as drama elements in the script. James Tratas, Carlotta Morelli, and Jack McCullum make the subject matter fun, real, and relatable thus increasing the degree of audience engagement with the content The plot of The Menu revolves around a futuristic scenario when people are no longer able to experience emotions, a glamourous couple visits a fancy restaurant where they are served exactly what they are hungry for. The film opens with upbeat peppy background music along with a golden shimmery cloche in the middle of the white screen to reveal the name of the movie exudes a posh vibe and so keeps the viewers interested from the very beginning. The combination of black golden colour tones of The Menu communicates the elegance and luxury required to understand the essence and also elevates the key messages so that the audience learns from it and incorporates the learning into their lives to make it better for themselves along with the friends and family around them. The set design, dim lighting, dialogues, costume, hair, makeup, and props adds the depth to both the narrative as well as the performances of the 3 protagonists necessary to maintain the drama ensuring continuity and smooth flow of the storyline. In terms of performance, James Tratas plays the man who comes into the restaurant to refill on his emotions as he wants to improve his relationship with his partner/Wife. Tratas showcases the transition between various emotions like Jealousy, compassion, anger, and love effortlessly portraying the elegance in his demeanour all through the running times of the film as per the demand of the screenplay. Carlotta Morelli plays the woman who is on the verge of losing out on her real personality because of the dearth of emotions therefore she wants to work towards polishing the feelings she needs to reconcile her romantic relationship with her partner/ husband. Morelli with the dressing style, makeup, and body language justifies the conversations and complements the sense of luxury the cinematographer Robert Ford tries to provide in the character arc of the woman Morelli portrays. Jack McCullum plays the waiter who works in the lavish restaurant where the owners take care of people’s emotional needs. McCullum appears to be their best employee and the customer’s first choice. The actor depicts the right balance between various emotions required to serve what people demand from him. The body language, voice modulation, and facial expressions utilised by Jack McCullum add to the multi-layers giving the audience a lot of aspects of his character to explore and thus the impact created by McCullum stays with them even after watching the film. The Menu talks about the importance of emotions for people and we should always be capable enough to be in control of our feelings, not depending on external sources for providing us with the emotions required to express ourselves daily. The short film reiterates the need of making efforts towards mending any kind of relationship is of utmost importance as emotions and relationships make up the basics of humanity. The comic piece also tells the viewers about the significance of staying dedicated to the job through the right mix of hard work and smart work. Buy UKFR Banner Space About the Film Critic Swati Verma Short Film < All Reviews Next Film Review >

Orphan: First Kill film review by UK film critic Hope Madden. Starring Isabelle Fuhrman, Julia Stiles directed by William Brent Bell. HOME | FILMS | REVIEWS Orphan: First Kill Film Review average rating is 3 out of 5 Critic: Hope Madden | Posted on: Aug 18, 2022 Directed by: William Brent Bell Written by: David Coggeshall, David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, Alex Mace Starring: Isabelle Fuhrman, Julia Stiles There’s something wrong with Esther. That was the excellent tag line for Jaume Collet-Serra’s fun 2009 surprise Orphan . Then 12-year-old Isabelle Fuhrman delivered an inspired performance buoyed by the nuanced work of two veteran talents (Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard), but it was the climactic shocker that guaranteed the film’s place in horror history. The bigger surprise might be to make a prequel 13 years later with the same lead. Furhman, now in her twenties, reprises her role as the orphan you do not want to adopt. In director William Brent Bell’s episode, we go back in time to meet up with our wee villain in an Estonian facility. It’s a fun, bloody start to Esther’s adventure and an early reminder (it has been 13 years) that if you wonder whether Esther’s evil, F around and find out. That, of course, is one of the obstacles writer David Coggeshall needs to overcome. We already know Esther’s big secret and we already know what she’s capable of. What surprises are left? Plenty! Orphan: First Kill goes in unexpected places, many of them an absolute hoot. Bell’s film walks an impressive line between tension, horror and laughs. It works because of a tight script, but mostly because of rock-solid performances from Fuhrman and Julia Stiles. Stiles is Esther’s new mommy, a wealthy helicopter parent with an artist husband and a teenage son. She’s magnificent. Able support work surrounds the pair, and Coggeshall’s screenplay meshes the expected with the unexpected. I had no idea Bell—whose previous work includes the unintentionally funny The Boy and Brahms: The Boy II —had this in him. Yes, Orphan: First Kill may have benefitted from low expectations: a heretofore weak director, a 25-year-old trying to convince the audience she’s 12, a franchise none of us thought needed a sequel. Still, there’s no denying it entertains. The film is no masterpiece and Fuhrman’s age does take you out of the fantasy now and again. But it is sly fun. Buy UKFR Banner Space About the Film Critic Hope Madden Theatrical Release, Digital / DVD Release < All Reviews Next Film Review >

Read the film podcast transcript from the episode titled F1 - Jurassic World Rebirth - Superman - UK Film Club Ep 29 on UK Film Club part of the UK Film Review Podcast. < Back F1 - Jurassic World Rebirth - Superman - UK Film Club Ep 29 Listen to This Episode UK Film Club 00:00:00.00 Chris Olson on a bit earlier no ive it's the summer holidays I think the yeah the kids are tired they think well let's go to bed and I'm like okay fine go for it yeah finally it's cooling down a little bit though finally 00:00:00.98 Brian Penn That's alright, you caught me unawares there, wasn't ready for that. We're not in a way this early. Very... 00:00:08.56 Brian Penn Ah, right. 00:00:11.58 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:00:14.16 Brian Penn Yeah, see the hot weather's worn them out bit, hasn't it, eh? Well, it's just as well we don't live in Turkey, isn't it? I mean, I heard they recorded a temperature of 50 Celsius. 50 Celsius. 00:00:26.54 Brian Penn fifty sosers 00:00:26.75 Chris Olson it's just too much that's just too much 00:00:29.26 Brian Penn That's about 123 Fahrenheit. That is crazy, isn't it? 00:00:32.86 Chris Olson yeah 00:00:34.58 Brian Penn Makes you glad we're living in such a damp, usually damp, mild climate, doesn't it, eh? 00:00:39.93 Chris Olson It does. It puts us all in a bad mood, but we're not hot. 00:00:42.73 Brian Penn um no Yeah, I know. We're not wired that way. We're not wired for those sort of temperatures. um You know, i'm nice sunny weather, warm weather, her fine. Bit of a breeze. You know, that's all right. The only the only weather extremes of weather I really dislike, though, is snow. Snow's the worst. 00:00:59.96 Chris Olson Yeah, snow's one of those things that I'm I love it in theory. And then when I see it, I get very quickly of awed by It's oh, wow, that's amazing. But then by day two, you're like, I'm done with this. 00:01:11.37 Chris Olson Please get rid of it. 00:01:11.64 Brian Penn and I know. 00:01:12.41 Chris Olson Don't leave it around here with this slushy mess getting in the way. 00:01:13.42 Brian Penn Yeah. know. Visually, it's lovely. It's lovely to look at but you try going out in it, then if it freezes open, and it gets icy. So I don't think we like extremes of weather, theyre do we, in Britain? Because we don't normally get it. 00:01:28.02 Brian Penn But, you know, ah you got money if you want to paralyze this country, just lob a snowball at us. That works better than anything, really. 00:01:34.12 Chris Olson But then if you've ah if you took away the weather, we'd have nothing to talk about. 00:01:38.10 Brian Penn I know, exactly. 00:01:38.36 Chris Olson Be honest. like We talk about movies all day long, but the weather really is what connects everyone. 00:01:39.76 Brian Penn Yeah. I know. know. I know. It's a staple part of our conversation, isn't it? You know, people live in California never talk about the weather because it doesn't change out there. 00:01:52.00 Brian Penn You know, but we we it's an art form to us, isn't it? Because it's so changeable. 00:01:57.90 Chris Olson you know That's not really been done, has it? like We get lots of films about the... 00:02:00.21 Brian Penn What's that? 00:02:02.31 Chris Olson um crazy weather or like extremes, you know like flooding or hurricanes and that sort of stuff. 00:02:04.57 Brian Penn Hmm. 00:02:07.18 Brian Penn Yeah. Yeah. 00:02:08.82 Chris Olson But like, just have a film about the monotony of the British weather. Like just, and it's just that how it drives people mad and it's like, you know surrounds everyone's conversations. 00:02:17.26 Brian Penn Yeah. well 00:02:19.44 Chris Olson like I feel like that could be a good film. 00:02:21.39 Brian Penn yeah Well, you know what would make a very good film? There is a play called Pressure, and it's about the the build-ups of the D-Day landings and the meteorologists that were arguing amongst themselves about the best time to go. 00:02:29.49 Chris Olson right. 00:02:33.65 Brian Penn right And I've seen the play on stage. It would make a brilliant film. Excellent film, because you've got the British meteorologist who understands British weather conditions, and the american East American counterparts He said, well, what's the problem? Let's go tomorrow or go the day after. And the British meteorologist is saying, you don't understand, do You've never sat on a British beach in your entire life. But it could be sunny one minute, then it could be driving rain and hailstones the next. 00:02:59.55 Brian Penn So I think we have a great film that are waiting to be made, David. David, Chris, Jack, f Fred. 00:03:03.78 Chris Olson Wait to be made the British weather. 00:03:06.36 Brian Penn Sorry, it's been a long day. 00:03:09.12 Chris Olson So, uh, anyone listening, if you'd like to see our film, uh, about British weather, do send us in your like suggestions for the name. 00:03:14.16 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:03:16.81 Chris Olson I, cause I'm, I bet you there's some good puns out there. I can't think of any off the top of my head. um but I would, I would accept some of the very best. 00:03:21.42 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:03:24.04 Chris Olson Um, and I'll read them out. 00:03:25.71 Brian Penn We need a good title. 00:03:26.12 Chris Olson Um, Yeah, it has to be good title. 00:03:27.23 Brian Penn A good title. 00:03:28.37 Chris Olson And if you want to cast the film as well, I'm open to that. 00:03:28.75 Brian Penn Let's draw us down. 00:03:30.85 Chris Olson I think there's you some... It has to be British actors. I'm sorry, i'm going to pull that card. The reason being is anything else is unacceptable when it comes to the British weather. Like Brian just you intimated, only we know it truly in depth. 00:03:39.94 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:03:42.68 Brian Penn don't know. We get it. We get it, don't we? 00:03:44.75 Chris Olson We get it. 00:03:45.12 Brian Penn We understand. Yes. 00:03:46.72 Chris Olson What we also get is movies, generally. 00:03:48.41 Brian Penn Yes. 00:03:48.85 Chris Olson And this is a UK Film Club. If this is your first time, welcome. And on our show, we review all types of movies. So we review some of the cinema currently. We review something from the indie yeah sorry the streaming platforms and also indie films that get sent to us. 00:04:05.72 Chris Olson And we also finish up with what's called our Nostalgia Pick, which is a film from the past. 00:04:08.98 Brian Penn Yeah, 00:04:11.43 Chris Olson And I'm happy to say again, I've managed to do it where I've linked it to something in the cinema. So there we go. 00:04:16.46 Brian Penn you have. 00:04:17.88 Chris Olson i mean, it shouldn't really be that difficult, but yeah I find things challenging these days. 00:04:18.00 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:04:22.39 Chris Olson um But we found an absolute classic and we won't go yeah we' spoil it just yet, but stay tuned for our nostalgia review. 00:04:22.52 Brian Penn Yeah. Yes. yeah 00:04:29.48 Brian Penn yes 00:04:30.26 Chris Olson You're going to love it. um But first up, we so always start with the films at the cinema. And as it is this summer, ah you kids are off. It's time to hit the cinema. So we're hoping for some absolute you know smash hits here. 00:04:44.78 Chris Olson um So Brian's going to take us through the selection that he's seen recently, starting with F1, the movie. 00:04:50.03 Brian Penn um Oh, yes. F1 the movie. All right, let's bear with me a second. Oh, there we are. Right. Okay, then. 00:04:59.76 Chris Olson That was not a speedy start. you know to to To bring on the whole like idea of Formula 1 and you kind of did a little full start there, it's brilliant. 00:05:01.37 Brian Penn No, it wasn't. I know. I know. ah ah lost I lost my place for a second. 00:05:07.01 Chris Olson You're 00:05:08.62 Brian Penn Right, I'm back now. I'm back in the room. 00:05:09.98 Chris Olson back. 00:05:10.99 Brian Penn Right, okay. So directed by Joseph Kaczynski, starring Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, and Javier Bardem. Back in the 90s, Sonny Hayes was Formula One's most promising driver until a near-facial crash ended his career. 00:05:26.86 Brian Penn Since then, he's underliving as a driver for hire. He dreams of the glory that eluded him and now struggles with the gambling habit. But salvation arrives in the shape of former teammate Ruben Cervantes, who now runs a struggling Formula One team. 00:05:41.49 Brian Penn He convinces Sonny to rejoin the big time. Driving alongside him is hotshot British driver Joshua Pearce. But how will they cope as teammates? Now, this is a classic rookie and veteran storyline. 00:05:54.38 Brian Penn You've got the older man who sees something of himself and the new kid on the block. It's everything you want want it to be. Exciting, adrenaline-filled, lots of action. It's co-produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, so you kind of know what you're getting. This is the man who brought us Top Gun, amongst many others. 00:06:11.41 Brian Penn Lewis Hamilton is also a co-producer. So he adds a degree of authenticity, so it seems that much more real. And, you know, Brad Pitt still kicks it as a leading man, Chris. 00:06:23.60 Brian Penn He's 61, 62, going on 62. 00:06:26.67 Chris Olson Is he really? 62? 00:06:27.82 Brian Penn Yeah, know. 00:06:28.23 Chris Olson Wow. 00:06:29.10 Brian Penn It'll be 62 in December, I checked earlier on. 00:06:29.17 Chris Olson He 00:06:31.54 Brian Penn And he's not looking bad on it, is he, really? Can you think about it? 00:06:33.44 Chris Olson he never does. um i I consider myself a heterosexual, but he is always fabulous looking. 00:06:34.80 Brian Penn yeah 00:06:39.85 Chris Olson Always. 00:06:41.29 Brian Penn ah You know, yeah you've got to hand it to him. I mean, in the storyline, his character can't be more than 50. You know, if he was an up-and-coming Formula One driver in the 90s, you wouldn't think he'd be more than 50 now. But, I mean, I suppose that could be where where the credibility of this story shakes a little bit, mumbles little bit, because he'd be 50 now. How many 50-year-olds do you get? 00:07:04.45 Brian Penn in Formula One. I don't think you get that now. But, you know, that's a minor quibble. He still looks the part, Chris, and I think that is so difficult for a leading actor as they get older, where they don't necessarily play those roles and they move into more character-based roles. 00:07:20.01 Brian Penn But he still does it. He still kicks it and it gives all of us hope, doesn't it, really? But, you know, nonetheless for that, you know, when you look at, when you think about summer blockbusters, great films at the movies during the summer, this is right out there. 00:07:34.98 Brian Penn It's a very, very entertaining film. Visually, it's great. It's just so exciting to watch. um So, yeah, I like it. i like it a lot. 00:07:43.15 Chris Olson I mean, racing films as a genre are synonymous with cinema spectacle. 00:07:49.10 Brian Penn Hmm. 00:07:49.36 Chris Olson I think they're always, you don't have to go too much into detail before you realise, yeah, it's a film for the cinema because of you the absolute yeah adrenaline, the the editing, the sound. 00:07:55.71 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:07:59.34 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:08:00.54 Chris Olson I remember seeing, always talk about this film, but right ah so Rush, I saw Rush 00:08:01.14 Brian Penn Hmm. 00:08:03.87 Brian Penn Oh, Rush is great. Yeah, I love Rush. 00:08:05.06 Chris Olson in the cinema, um I think it was in the Dolby cinema, and it was absolutely amazing, just the feel of that film. It was like a ah sensory overload. 00:08:12.80 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:08:13.00 Chris Olson um But there's been some incredible yeah racing movies. talk about like Ford versus Ferrari, not that old. 00:08:18.80 Brian Penn Yeah. Yeah. 00:08:19.52 Chris Olson you've You also reviewed Ferrari not that long ago um on the pod. 00:08:22.41 Brian Penn yeah but 00:08:24.06 Chris Olson And it's it's a it's kind of like boxing. 00:08:24.67 Brian Penn yeah 00:08:26.97 Chris Olson like Boxing has got a load of really good films in that genre, and I think racing does too. 00:08:29.93 Brian Penn yeah but 00:08:31.69 Chris Olson Where does this sort of sit in that list? 00:08:32.14 Brian Penn yeah 00:08:34.56 Brian Penn I would put it fairly high up. You know, some people might look at this and say it's it's very sort kind of brash and loud and doesn't quite match something like Ferrari ah or Ford versus the thing with Christian Bowing. 00:08:53.37 Chris Olson Yeah, Ford versus Ferrari, wasn't it? 00:08:54.60 Brian Penn Ferrari, yeah, that's it. 00:08:54.69 Chris Olson Yeah. 00:08:56.25 Brian Penn ah that I mean, if you go back further than that, you could talk about Grand Prix as well with James Garner, which was a great film. 00:09:01.11 Chris Olson Mm. 00:09:02.77 Brian Penn That was back in the sixty But it I think it it's more towards the top than it is to the middle or the bottom ah of that pecking order, if you like. you know um So, yeah, i think I think it's good. It works. you know But motor racing lends itself very well to the big screen, doesn't it? 00:09:20.95 Chris Olson Mm. 00:09:21.23 Brian Penn You don't have to try very hard to make Formula One look sexy on screen because it just is. right You know, compare it to other sports. I mean, you mentioned boxing. that That's a natural subject for for movie makers. 00:09:34.28 Brian Penn But you look at and ah another mass spectator sport like football, it doesn't work nearly as well. And it's not easy to explain why, but motor racing does have that kind of adrenaline feel, pump action feel to it. 00:09:48.28 Brian Penn And you don't need to do a lot to it. You know, you can almost train a camera on onto a Formula One circuit and you've got it. It's there. You know, the drama's there already. 00:10:00.15 Brian Penn And what they've done with this film is that they've, They've packed a familiar story around around the film itself. Something that you know, you get it, and it's master and it's sorcerer and apprentice, isn't it? 00:10:14.58 Brian Penn You've got the the old hand with the young kid, you know, and how they how they may or may not work together. I'm going to give anything away because you've got to go and see the film to find out. But, um you know, really enjoyed it. 00:10:27.51 Brian Penn It's really, really good fun. um 00:10:29.53 Chris Olson there you go i mean yeah i mean anything like that um always brings people in think it's a good option for people this summer the sound of it um if you see f1 the movie do send us in your reviews or just put a comment on our social posts for this podcast it's always good to see what other people thought of it um 00:10:30.35 Brian Penn yeah 00:10:34.76 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:10:45.12 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:10:48.35 Chris Olson Yeah, no, it's one of those films I of would always try and look out for. i always find it funny with racing movies, though. There's always this one thing which they always do, or almost always do, which is they'll be going along, and then they're like, you whoever's their competitor will be coming up close behind them. 00:10:59.41 Brian Penn Yeah, yeah. yeah 00:11:03.71 Chris Olson And then they'll suddenly go, all right, well, now I'm going to put the foot down to the floor. And I'm like, why were you not driving with the foot to the floor before? 00:11:07.90 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:11:11.14 Brian Penn yeah 00:11:11.38 Chris Olson Like, what were you why were you sort of half-arsing 00:11:11.91 Brian Penn Yeah. and 00:11:14.21 Chris Olson Just dawdling. 00:11:14.28 Brian Penn Yeah. So you're dawdling, aren't you? You're literally dawdling. 00:11:16.77 Chris Olson Yeah. 00:11:17.13 Brian Penn Now you put the pedals to the metal all of a sudden. Yeah, I know. 00:11:18.96 Chris Olson yes and yeah i Yeah, I'm not, a ah maybe yeah maybe Lewis Hamilton would explain this to us because I don't know why, um but maybe it is a thing. 00:11:24.15 Brian Penn Yeah. yeah 00:11:27.65 Chris Olson But that feels like a cinema thing rather than a racing thing. 00:11:27.79 Brian Penn Yeah. I think so. I think that's for for dramatic effects. And it is almost like a Artistic license, isn't it? It's just something like that they throw in to to give it to add to the tension. 00:11:41.37 Brian Penn But you know you've got all these great machines whizzing around the track. And of course, you watch Formula One for real, or if you was at a Formula One circuit actually there, that's frustrating in itself because you just see a car whizz around, cars whizz around, that's it, they're gone. got to wait for come around again. that's Well, on screen, you know you can you can follow it all the way. um So, and also, of the three films that we're looking at on general release, it's that it's been out the longest out of the three, but it's still going great guns in the cinema. 00:12:10.96 Chris Olson oh 00:12:11.90 Brian Penn You know, which is good to see as well. 00:12:14.05 Chris Olson Doing good business. It's put its foot to the floor. That's what it's done. 00:12:16.51 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:12:17.05 Chris Olson yeah Look what I did there. I brought it back. How nice. 00:12:19.68 Brian Penn I know. 00:12:21.00 Chris Olson If only the whole show was that smooth. 00:12:21.52 Brian Penn I know. 00:12:24.08 Chris Olson um 00:12:24.21 Brian Penn We try, it we try, don't we? 00:12:26.29 Chris Olson Brian, it's meant today that we're reviewing three films, so we're going to move on to the second of the cinema releases. And I won't do the soundtrack, which I like to often do when I'm with friends, um because it is absolutely iconic. But I believe they took the soundtrack off this installment of the franchise. Brian be able to correct me on that. 00:12:44.63 Chris Olson um But we're going to be looking at Jurassic World Rebirth next. 00:12:48.25 Brian Penn Yeah. Yeah, they they you're right. They did too they did fiddle with with the ah with the soundtrack, but i don't think you necessarily notice it quite as much. 00:12:57.11 Chris Olson Well, it's just I heard this might be absolute rubbish, but I heard that Spielberg wanted certain things removed from this film or or or wasn't happy for certain things to be included. 00:12:58.49 Brian Penn Strangely. Yep. 00:13:06.43 Chris Olson i don't know if that's true. 00:13:06.81 Brian Penn yeah Yeah, I've heard this heard the same thing, but I think that's probably born out the fact he wants the film to stand by and sta on its own. You know, because even though Spielberg is executive producer, it's still got Spielberg's paw prints all over it you know yeah If you didn't know any different, you'd swear it was a Spielberg film or directed by Spielberg. So I think where that's coming from, I'm speculating here, but I think Spielberg's anxious for it to be to be ah not necessarily a Spielberg film. 00:13:37.35 Brian Penn but a Gareth Edwards film who directed it. ah That's what I think is behind it. As I say, I'm speculating. But yeah, you're right. he what He was tinkering a little bit, um particularly when you know it's the latest installment in the franchise. 00:13:50.62 Brian Penn um Perhaps they're trying to give it more of a standalone film, but there you are. um So it stars Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, Jonathan Bailey, and Rupert Friend. 00:14:04.82 Brian Penn So as I just mentioned, this is the seventh installment of the Jurassic Park franchise. The story begins in 2009 on a dinosaur research lab on the island of St. Hubert in the Atlantic. 00:14:17.92 Brian Penn The lab creates hybrid dinosaurs in a desperate bid to generate more interest. However, the creatures escape and the island is abandoned. 17 years later, pharmaceutical rep Martin Krebs recruits ex-soldier Zora Bennett. 00:14:32.53 Brian Penn Their mission is to return to the island. and collect blood samples from the three largest surviving dinosaurs. They believe this holds the key to the written to the treatment of heart disease. 00:14:44.23 Brian Penn This is great filmmaking, Chris. 00:14:46.75 Chris Olson Ooh. 00:14:46.86 Brian Penn Really is outstanding. They've reinvigorated the Jurassic brand, which I didn't think was possible. you know If you look back at the sequels that followed the first film, you kind of knew what to to expect, roughly, generally. 00:15:00.80 Brian Penn This type of film relies on its ability to surprise the audience. And they managed to do that in spades. You know, at one point, sitting in my seat in my local multiplex, watching this film, I actually ducked in one scene. 00:15:16.68 Brian Penn and like Oh no, look, look, look out. You know, literally, that's what I was doing. And it's not often a film does that to me, where I get that engrossed in it and that involved in it, that it made me duck. You know, I'm always shouting out, look out, careful. 00:15:31.57 Brian Penn um But that's that's how good it I think it is. um And it's interesting because you look at the the subject matter, the storyline they're developing here is that, you know, they they were experimenting with crossbreeding with dinosaurs. 00:15:51.38 Brian Penn And they came up with what effectively became a mutant that's on this island that nobody ever visited, but they've gone back for a reason to further medical science. And some of the things that are, 00:16:03.51 Brian Penn i've kind of shifted into conventional horror in my opinion now um whereas before I never thought Jurassic Jurassic Park, Jurassic World was ever really a conventional horror movie not in that way but now I think it's done it it's it's kind of it's stepped into the horror genre as well as the adventure action genre um and it's brilliant it's really really good and it's got Scarlett Johansson in it Chris you know and any film Scarlett Johansson is alright by me 00:16:31.71 Chris Olson Yeah, I mean, she's great. And i think it's interesting that she's gone back into a franchise yeah of the after all the Marvel stuff. um 00:16:38.70 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:16:39.93 Chris Olson Whether or not she'll do more, I don't know. But I think this in particular, this franchise was reinvigorated when they did the Chris Pratt one. 00:16:49.70 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:16:49.81 Chris Olson um But I think it started to show diminishing returns again. 00:16:52.45 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:16:52.95 Chris Olson so it's interesting they of rebirth. They bring again. think... 00:16:56.25 Brian Penn Well, yeah. 00:16:57.10 Chris Olson and i think It does have a lot of longevity. It's something that a lot of people enjoy, um the idea of it anyway. 00:17:04.21 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:17:04.52 Chris Olson And often the execution can be really cool. Like you your reaction to it, your visceral reaction in the cinema to it shows that there is something something primeval about it, obviously. 00:17:11.98 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:17:16.08 Chris Olson But also the filmmakers know that they've got us in their palms. We go, all right, let's yeah give them something that's going to really... 00:17:23.26 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:17:23.55 Chris Olson g him up um finally so it's when you mentioned about the fact that you reacted in the cinema you said something out loud reminded me of the funny time um we went as a family as me my brother my mom and dad to watch the dark night uh at the cinema so we're going back quite a few years ago my mom is notorious for doing two things in films one falling asleep and two saying things out loud because she just doesn't really have like much of a filter so something happened in the film i think it's when um 00:17:27.59 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:17:35.82 Brian Penn Alright, okay. Yeah. Yeah. 00:17:45.49 Brian Penn but yeah. 00:17:51.74 Chris Olson ah the yeah the Joker sets fire to all the money. i think that there's a scene where he sets fire to all the money. And my mum just out loud just went, oh, they won't like that. 00:18:02.66 Brian Penn I 00:18:02.70 Chris Olson Just burst out. It was like, no one laughed either. Everyone just was like, oh my God, she's mad. 00:18:06.08 Brian Penn don't know. 00:18:07.14 Chris Olson Like, what why is she saying this? 00:18:07.68 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:18:08.96 Chris Olson But yeah, was just wondering, you know, with you reacting to all these dinosaurs, whether you was there any reaction to you or was everyone else doing it as well? 00:18:09.08 Brian Penn Well, 00:18:13.20 Brian Penn yeah. Well, yeah. home not Yeah, I think other people were as well. yeah you wouldn't necessarily say there was this huge roar that went up, but I did hear other reactions as well. 00:18:24.67 Brian Penn I don't know whether anyone noticed what I was saying or what I was doing, but I think it was quite quite busy. you know i'd i'd say it was the auditorium was maybe 90% full. 00:18:35.83 Brian Penn you know It was quite pretty full up. 00:18:37.81 Chris Olson Good business, we call it. Doing good business. That's we like. 00:18:39.85 Brian Penn Oh, yeah, absolutely. absolutely Yeah, and I can believe that as well, and it deserves to. These are the sort of films that bring us out of the bring us out of our holes, Chris, bring us out of our homes and take us into the cinema. 00:18:51.41 Brian Penn This is what you want to see. You want to see that something that's different. You want the wow factor. So, you know, deeply impressed by it all. and to so 00:18:59.67 Chris Olson Deep impressed. 00:19:01.36 Brian Penn But to call it, and to subtitle it Rebirth, it's really appropriate because the storyline is about rebirth. but it so But it's also about rebranding, resetting the brand. Because, you know... 00:19:14.33 Brian Penn what The great thing about a franchise is that you can serve up the same or similar entertainment knowing it's still going to sell, right? But you've also got that challenge of making it fresh and new because it's easy to fall into a trap of just doing the same thing, you know, over and over again. And you know it works. We know it works. 00:19:34.19 Brian Penn You give people what they want. But you also challenge people as well because you're giving them something slightly different. And know as I said earlier on, I think it's very difficult. to be that original when you've got a franchise because it's too safe to keep to a formula but as I say when you see it and you see what they've done and you see how they've refined and developed the st structurets the traditional structure of Jurassic Park and Jurassic World they've done something really really clever with it and I like ah really like that yeah 00:20:03.94 Chris Olson Well, we're on to some winners already. and And I've got good feelings about this ah this third one as well, because it's doing interesting business. 00:20:11.44 Brian Penn yeah 00:20:11.58 Chris Olson um A new iteration of Superman, directed by James Gunn. on, Brian. Tell us. 00:20:17.13 Brian Penn ah can Okay then. So it stars David Curran Sweat, ah Rachel Brosnahan and Nicholas Holt. So the storyline. We begin with the premise that Superman is the most loved and powerful superhero on Earth. 00:20:31.21 Brian Penn However, his popularity is in jeopardy following his mission to stop the nation of Baravia invading Jahangpur and warns Baravian president Vasil Gokos to leave Yohangor alone. 00:20:47.02 Brian Penn um 00:20:47.93 Chris Olson You're doing well, Brian. Keep going. These names are absolutely kicking your in the bat, aren't they? 00:20:49.33 Brian Penn know, I know, this is, I know, knew I was going to struggle with all of this. Why don't they give us simple titles that we can remember? 00:20:58.38 Chris Olson Just change them. 00:20:58.76 Brian Penn Anyway, I know, I know, no one's going to notice, yeah. 00:20:59.06 Chris Olson I won't know. Just go, it's Bob and Fred. 00:21:02.68 Brian Penn After losing a battle for the first time, Superman is saved by Krypto the Superdog. He later seeks refuge in his fortress of solitude in Antarctica. Solar radiation is used to heal him. 00:21:13.61 Brian Penn However, billionaire Lex Luthor is waiting in the wings and launches a monster on Metropolis as a distraction. But can Superman rise to the challenge? It's a thoroughly enjoyable film. 00:21:27.02 Brian Penn As you'd expect, the visuals are stunning. The set pieces are amazing. I think it's difficult to get Superman wrong, really. It's such a strong story. Superman is deeply ingrained in popular culture. 00:21:38.73 Brian Penn We've grown up with it and has a familiarity that gives us comfort and reassurance. if it has a weak spot and it's not that much of a weak spot, but I feel I need to point it out. Um, it's crypto, the super dog, because it's, it's all CGI based, right? 00:21:54.82 Chris Olson Careful here, Brian. You're going to annoy the dog lovers. Careful. 00:21:57.67 Brian Penn Yeah, I know. 00:21:58.25 Chris Olson Oh, 00:21:58.34 Brian Penn ah But, but I'll say why I wouldn't, I'll say why I wouldn't because the dog, it's all CGI based, but the dog almost puts the human characters in the shade. The dog is absolutely brilliant in it. 00:22:09.46 Chris Olson oh okay, cool. You like the dog. 00:22:10.66 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:22:10.89 Chris Olson Phew, because I literally thought we're going to get letters, Brian. 00:22:11.66 Brian Penn The, 00:22:13.22 Chris Olson If you don't like this dog, jeez. 00:22:13.82 Brian Penn well but The dog is fantastic, but it's it's all CGI generated. Now, apparently they used a real dog on set, so they got the actors' reactions right. 00:22:24.70 Brian Penn But pretty much what you see on screen is CGI generated. And it's amazing, Chris, right? And it's getting to a point now where you literally can't tell that it's CGI. 00:22:35.64 Brian Penn You know, certain scenes you think, ah, I can see that CGI. But most of the time it looks real. And it's almost distracting because when the crypto is not on screen, you're thinking to yourself, I want to see crypto again. 00:22:50.43 Brian Penn I want crypto. I want to see crypto. And to me, I find that a bit of a distraction because because it is about Superman. It's about what he can do and what he can achieve and what he overcomes. 00:23:02.12 Brian Penn And this is the beauty of the story that we know so well. And it's good overcoming evil, isn't it? But Crypto the Superdog steals the show. um which could have a detrimental effect. I mean, maybe I'm being too picky, but it it' so it's a very, very good film, very enjoyable. 00:23:20.87 Brian Penn And you know what what else, Chris, about any Superman film? Each one feels like the first one to me. You know, it has that standalone feel. You enjoy it as much. 00:23:31.64 Brian Penn You don't get judgmental about various Superman films. I mean, know I can think of when I first saw Superman with Christopher Reeve in. And I enjoyed that just as much, but it stands on its own. 00:23:43.47 Brian Penn And it's it simply a different version of the same story. So you don't feel when you don't necessarily recognise a franchise and a never-ending list of Superman films. like There must be loads. 00:23:56.37 Brian Penn How many Superman movies have been made? 00:23:58.41 Chris Olson Oh, you need to ask Ian, really, don't you, from the ph Phantom Zone. 00:23:58.55 Brian Penn Yeah. Yeah. 30 or 40? 00:24:01.57 Chris Olson He he loves Superman. and 00:24:03.11 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:24:03.73 Chris Olson I think they've done an episode. 00:24:03.93 Brian Penn thatsly 00:24:05.55 Chris Olson Well, there was the franchise that we saw recently, wasn't there? trouble he He turns up in some films as well. like in the Yeah, I wouldn't know, but a lot. 00:24:12.14 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:24:15.74 Chris Olson i 00:24:16.02 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:24:16.38 Chris Olson More than enough. And especially if you include like animated stuff as well. 00:24:19.34 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:24:19.38 Chris Olson He's in all that stuff. 00:24:20.41 Brian Penn yeah I mean, the thing is you also got ah Superman versus Batman, that film as well, which... 00:24:25.65 Chris Olson Yeah, there was a Man of Steel, which then led to that. 00:24:27.25 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:24:28.27 Chris Olson Then there was, I think he was in the Justice League and all this sort of stuff. 00:24:31.27 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:24:31.53 Chris Olson But yeah, go listen to Phantom Zone if you love all that. 00:24:32.11 Brian Penn So... Yeah. 00:24:34.64 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:24:34.77 Chris Olson You know, Chris and Ian and the gang, they love all this. 00:24:37.13 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:24:37.59 Chris Olson sound like I'm 400 old, I, yeah, not, 00:24:37.81 Brian Penn Yeah, I know. 00:24:40.85 Brian Penn Well... 00:24:41.75 Chris Olson no 00:24:41.84 Brian Penn i'm you You know, Chris, i'm not I'm not a massive fan of Marvel and DC because of the way they make films. is so It's so calculating, really. And I don't feel it always does justice to the comics because that's where it comes from, right? 00:24:56.02 Brian Penn And the comics are just unsurpassable. The films are never going to going to match up to the comic strips, the original stories. And to me, they don't always take care of the of the legacy, if you like. 00:25:09.33 Brian Penn But I really enjoyed this. I i really did enjoy it. It was great fun to watch. And, you know, which is unusual for me because, i you know, with any Marvel DC film, oh I will pick it apart and say, oh, no, it's the same old, same old. But this was great. I really enjoyed it. 00:25:27.03 Chris Olson Well, this is the awkward bit though, because I normally yeah have a good inkling as to what you're going to pick as your film of the month for the cinema releases. 00:25:33.45 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:25:33.47 Chris Olson And I don't know which way you're going to go. 00:25:35.57 Brian Penn Well, yeah. I mean, usually, 00:25:36.91 Chris Olson what's film of the month, Brian? 00:25:38.27 Brian Penn well Well, I mean, usually one jumps out at me, one's obvious, but this time it's not. I think probably for the first time ever, it's actually not easy to pick one. 00:25:49.52 Brian Penn But of course I've got to, haven't I, really? And that would have to be Jurassic World Rebirth, just about. 00:25:56.92 Chris Olson Oh, wow. 00:25:58.35 Brian Penn Just about. 00:25:59.36 Chris Olson If you'd have told me that before, I'd have said no way. 00:25:59.38 Brian Penn It's very 00:26:02.40 Chris Olson Brian is not a fan of sequels. He wants like you know the original stories. 00:26:05.94 Brian Penn and 00:26:06.76 Chris Olson So, wow, that must have been an impressive film for you. 00:26:06.86 Brian Penn Yeah, exactly, yeah. but But for the reasons I've described, because because it's it's done something new to refresh the brand, the franchise, because it's too, you know, you find a formula that works, you stick to it, don't you? 00:26:22.22 Brian Penn If you're a filmmaker, you think it's making money. People want it. Why not? Why change anything? But they've got to a stage where they think, right, now we're going to try something different. but gonna We're going to throw a curveball at the audience, you know, and so and so see if they like it. Now, I i think this is, 00:26:39.70 Brian Penn just the job when it comes to breaking a mould within a franchise. Carry on with it, but you do something new with it. so And that's why it's Film of the Month. 00:26:48.56 Chris Olson Film of the month. There you go. um Listeners, don't switch off because we've still got way more to go through. 00:26:53.61 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:26:55.07 Chris Olson Some people realise they think we only review films at cinema. No, no, no We review loads of films. 00:26:58.87 Brian Penn No. 00:27:00.05 Chris Olson Don't switch off. 00:27:00.13 Brian Penn Yeah, we do. 00:27:01.36 Chris Olson And the next one is available on Netflix. 00:27:01.39 Brian Penn No. 00:27:04.43 Chris Olson It's our streaming pick of the month. That doesn't mean that we like it. It's just what we've picked. um And this film is a sequel. It's The Old Guard 2 starring Charlize Theron as the central character of Andy, um who we met in the first film. It turns out she's immortal. 00:27:22.80 Chris Olson um But left at the end of that film, she is not. 00:27:23.97 Brian Penn Mm. 00:27:26.31 Chris Olson yeah She's no longer immortal, which was a bit of an interesting twist. 00:27:27.63 Brian Penn No. 00:27:31.35 Chris Olson It gets kind of played about in this second film um where she's back um in with the gang and they are kicking ass whilst living in exile, basically. 00:27:42.36 Chris Olson um But the emergence of a long buried character sets them on a path to threaten the peace that they so much enjoy. Yeah. 00:27:51.37 Brian Penn Mm. 00:27:52.62 Chris Olson Yeah, it's it's a one of these sort of fantasy films that to say too much about it would just spoil it because there's only a few twists and turns in there and it would sort of ruin it, I think, if you haven't seen it. 00:27:58.62 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:28:04.87 Chris Olson I definitely think you need to see the first one. If you haven't seen that, I would watch The Old Guard first. I quite enjoyed that. I thought it was quite good. With The Old Guard 2, going to ask Brian his opinion first before I give mine. 00:28:18.10 Chris Olson Go for it, Brian. 00:28:19.70 Brian Penn Right. Well, look, it's very well done. Again, it's the C word for me. It's competent, right? 00:28:27.15 Chris Olson Oh, not that C word. Right. 00:28:28.00 Brian Penn oh No, no, not that sort of word. 00:28:28.04 Chris Olson A different... Gosh. 00:28:30.18 Brian Penn I've caught you twice now. 00:28:30.35 Chris Olson Whoa. 00:28:31.49 Brian Penn did that you once before, didn't 00:28:31.82 Chris Olson You have, yeah. 00:28:33.51 Brian Penn Yeah, but it's competent, right? And that that could be a ah kind of a negative or a positive thing, right? Insofar that I don't think it's taking any chances of a film like this. I think the first one was better than the second one. 00:28:47.01 Brian Penn um But this kind of goes by the numbers a a little bit, right? um I don't feel the characters are that strong. Apart from Andy, you don't you don't feel the characters stand out quite as much as you think they would. 00:28:59.86 Brian Penn you know that So it could do with with a bit more character building, building the characters up a bit more. um Again, it's look it's a familiar theme, isn't it? you know it It's about keeping humanity safe and ah using that. 00:29:15.78 Brian Penn mean, it's almost like a superpower, isn't it, being a morsel? 00:29:18.77 Chris Olson Yeah, I thought it felt like Netflix is trying to start at like a little franchise, you know trying to create... 00:29:18.86 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:29:24.08 Brian Penn yeah 00:29:25.47 Chris Olson I think it's based on some graphic novels. and 00:29:28.00 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:29:28.90 Chris Olson And considering that, i didn't I felt the same as you. It wasn't fully fleshed out in terms of the characters. 00:29:34.79 Brian Penn Yeah. Yeah. 00:29:35.45 Chris Olson There's a lot of skimming along. I've just got, okay, this is that person, right, fine. We're just sort of given to accept it. um I think the villains are... 00:29:47.83 Chris Olson and and this is quite typical of this genre, the villains are quite melodramatic. um Like it has kind of like the mummy vibes. 00:29:51.88 Brian Penn yeah and 00:29:55.07 Chris Olson It feels a bit like that, but not as... 00:29:55.33 Brian Penn yeah 00:29:56.94 Chris Olson I love the mummy. The mummy's a great film, but it... 00:29:58.85 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:29:59.52 Chris Olson yeah the The original, by the way, not the one with Tom Cruise. i 00:30:02.75 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:30:03.44 Chris Olson But this this has that sort of like, oh, yeah, we're we're jet setting, we're going across the yeah the globe and they're fighting crazy you know things from the past. um 00:30:13.23 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:30:14.28 Chris Olson But it also has... Almost like a sort of spy thriller-esque to it, le with the sort of beings that are trying to sort stop everything. um 00:30:23.26 Brian Penn yeah 00:30:23.89 Chris Olson It's clunky. I think you can't get away from it being clunky. And they are riding a lot, I think, on Charlize Theron sort of bringing that star power to it. 00:30:34.00 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:30:34.39 Chris Olson If this was just a group of no ones... 00:30:36.86 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:30:36.90 Chris Olson ah Sorry, not no ones, but unknowns, I should say. 00:30:38.27 Brian Penn Yeah, no, I'm not student. 00:30:38.85 Chris Olson um It would feel like, do we need to watch this? 00:30:39.67 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:30:42.17 Chris Olson And I always think Charlie Stone picks some amazing movies. 00:30:42.53 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:30:46.47 Chris Olson um I don't think this is one of them. 00:30:46.63 Brian Penn Yeah. No. 00:30:48.57 Chris Olson The first one was more watchable. This I found I didn't 00:30:50.74 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:30:54.60 Chris Olson sort of feel it was slow I didn't sort of feel oh gosh oh when will this end I was more like it finished I kind of went okay and just just didn't think about it ever again until right now and I think the um i think that says a lot really 00:30:58.75 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:31:01.31 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:31:04.86 Brian Penn yeah 00:31:07.49 Brian Penn Yeah, you didn't feel any any real pangs, did you, when it ended? You think, oh, okay, that's fine, you know. 00:31:10.63 Chris Olson no i liked the banter between the group i thought that was fun i liked that it did have a sort of fast pace like they were moving around a lot and that kept things moving there's an opening scene where they're sort of in this mansion and everything's kicking off that was really well done there's lots of great stunts but i think you need so much more than that now with audiences like you know you talked earlier about f1 the movie that 00:31:14.76 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:31:21.44 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:31:26.08 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:31:31.65 Brian Penn yeah 00:31:34.86 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:31:35.34 Chris Olson We've seen that before. I've seen that being done. 00:31:36.87 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:31:37.10 Chris Olson But when you've got a heartfelt story and something that you can connect to, I don't feel that I really connected to anyone in this. Not even Andy, the main sort of character. 00:31:45.55 Brian Penn Yeah. i mean I mean, it does it does the job. The fact they've they've made a second film, it must have done well enough. you know it's 00:31:52.52 Chris Olson I don't know with Netflix. They seem to cancel the things that are popular and then they they keep the things that no one wants. 00:31:54.13 Brian Penn Well, yeah. Yeah, they're just contrary, aren't they? But I think there's great potential there for this story. 00:32:00.04 Chris Olson Hmm. 00:32:02.15 Brian Penn I mean, The basic premise for the story is that you've got these eternal warriors who who are immortal, who survive through the centuries. So there's all kinds of possibilities there. 00:32:12.94 Brian Penn You could take them back in time and put them, I don't know, and put them ah on the centre of the battlefield at Waterloo, for example, or something. 00:32:19.62 Chris Olson yeah 00:32:20.33 Brian Penn You know, there's so much you could do. So it's a very good idea that hasn't been unpacked properly. You know, they've just sort of gone for the juggler, think, right, this is this is the market we want to hit. 00:32:32.85 Brian Penn Right, so, ah yeah, yeah, yeah, 00:32:34.13 Chris Olson I think you're right as well in that sense because that premise, that concept of like, you've got these warriors that just, know, they could have been anywhere across the timeline. But to stick them in a modern timeline kind of feels a bit like pointless. 00:32:47.50 Brian Penn well, yeah, no, 00:32:47.91 Chris Olson It's like, why are we not given something a little bit more interesting? um'm I suppose there's no threat, I guess, if you know they're going to survive, but you wouldn't know necessarily because these aren't key figures. 00:32:56.72 Brian Penn yeah 00:32:57.22 Chris Olson It's more they're just... 00:32:57.48 Brian Penn um 00:32:58.56 Chris Olson superheroes but yeah The Old Guard 2 felt to me like the type of film that was okay enough as a concept but it's not been executed in a way that's been anything brilliant it's it's fine and it's sturdy but it's not and anything brilliant and I think once you sort of 00:33:13.09 Brian Penn Yeah. Yeah. 00:33:18.09 Chris Olson settle into the film, you go, okay, right, it's not going to go any further than this. It's just, this is all we're getting. And you kind of thought that because Charlize Theron was in it, that there was going to be something else, but it never gets there. 00:33:29.84 Chris Olson It never gets to the point where you go, oh, that's why she's done it. 00:33:30.46 Brian Penn Yeah. yeah Yeah, I know. 00:33:33.38 Chris Olson and and 00:33:33.89 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:33:34.07 Chris Olson yeah No, no, it is just just probably for the money. 00:33:37.04 Brian Penn Yeah, that's fair enough, you know. 00:33:37.12 Chris Olson um And that's absolutely fine. Don't okay rob yeah get wrong. Get paid. That's fine. yeah Make your next indie film. 00:33:41.47 Brian Penn Yeah, yeah. 00:33:42.66 Chris Olson Speaking of indie films, we're going on to indie films now. 00:33:44.21 Brian Penn Uh-huh. That's a good link, Chris. 00:33:46.24 Chris Olson i'm That segue, that was brilliant. 00:33:48.14 Brian Penn Yeah, segue, yeah. 00:33:48.43 Chris Olson That so smooth. 00:33:49.77 Brian Penn Oh, 00:33:49.93 Chris Olson um This is a section where we review films that have been actually sent to us specifically. They've said, please review our film. um And I'm very say that for the first film, we have a clip. 00:34:01.35 Chris Olson This is from the indie film called Tiny Little Voices. 00:34:01.74 Brian Penn wow. 00:34:05.50 Chris Olson Here we go. 00:34:32.97 Brian Penn Hello? Hello? 00:35:14.78 Chris Olson So there you go. Sorry, I was getting really into that. was so oh yeah, it's we're watching the film again. 00:35:17.92 Brian Penn And 00:35:18.62 Chris Olson um 00:35:18.72 Brian Penn yeah 00:35:19.60 Chris Olson So Tiny Little Voices, are possibly and one of an early films in what's going to be a new genre, which is post-pandemic films you and stories. 00:35:29.61 Brian Penn and 00:35:30.94 Chris Olson um It is set on the sort of tail end of the pandemic when things are reopening again. And we have two characters who... cross paths, ah both of whom have now got serious issues with germs and touching people and being near people and yeah this whole reopening of society. 00:35:50.87 Chris Olson And they happen to sort um find their way to each other. um And as you heard in that clip... calamity ensues there's lots of ah comedic set pieces going on and essentially it's about how these two people navigate this journey out of lockdown and back into society um and you know trying to sort of re-acclimatize themselves with that um what do you think of tiny little voices brian it's fun isn't it 00:36:18.27 Brian Penn I really liked i think it. was I think it was well acted, great scripts. At times it was very, very funny. you know when The idea that you've got all these inanimate objects speaking to her, and it plugs into Many people's insecurities surrounding COVID that when it ended, when the lockdown finished, they had to come out of that cocoon again, didn't they? And it suited some people to have the protection of being enclosed and being indoors. 00:36:46.38 Brian Penn For someone living on their own, you could see how that behaviour could escalate. But I think the idea that a toothbrush or a tap could be speaking to her and then a friend drags her out into the park, onto Clapham Comet, 00:37:02.99 Brian Penn And, you know, there was a duck that was walking past and it said to her, I want to talk to you about foie gras. I mean, I just think it's so clever. 00:37:09.43 Chris Olson Hmm. 00:37:12.48 Brian Penn It's it's so original to do that. But it it's kind of illustrating what what can happen to someone when they go to extremes and what um and being in clothes for so long can do. 00:37:24.72 Brian Penn Because being made to stay in and not go out changes people's mindsets. I mean, most people cut an itch to get out after COVID finish, could they? 00:37:33.82 Chris Olson Hmm. 00:37:34.00 Brian Penn right But some people became cocooned by it. And this is what the the central character is is really about, isn't it? It's trying to live a normal life again. 00:37:45.00 Brian Penn But at the same time, it weaves in a ah surprising romance, doesn't it, really? A relationship developing between two people that are very similar and have the same fears, haven't they, about COVID. 00:37:55.46 Chris Olson Yeah, I think that yeah that's what sort of cements it for me, um was that there was this strong storyline behind it. Because on the one hand, yes, you have this character that is hearing things, and that could have just been the film, right? It could have been, she's struggling to get past all this, what's going on, and she hears his voices. 00:38:14.64 Chris Olson and But actually... both characters are equally as yeah troubled by what's going on and they both have their own situations. 00:38:22.65 Brian Penn Yeah. Yeah. 00:38:25.02 Chris Olson um And I think, so I'm not going into too much it, so I don't spoil it by the way. 00:38:29.60 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:38:30.11 Chris Olson umm And I think the film touching on how, impactful the the pandemic was on people across the board. 00:38:36.75 Brian Penn yeah 00:38:37.12 Chris Olson Like said, whether people were desperate to get back, that had an impact, or whether they were desperate to stay back inside. 00:38:42.78 Brian Penn know 00:38:43.02 Chris Olson um I love the quick editing between the voices talking. that 00:38:47.67 Brian Penn yeah 00:38:48.14 Chris Olson It wasn't like, oh, you've just got this like one bar of soap talking, right? It's like, no, there's lots of little things all happening all the time. 00:38:53.52 Brian Penn I know. Well done. 00:38:55.23 Chris Olson And it felt like it was claustrophobic for her. 00:38:55.57 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:38:58.11 Chris Olson It felt like a cacophony of noise. 00:38:58.11 Brian Penn Yeah. Yeah. 00:39:00.72 Chris Olson I love that. 00:39:00.79 Brian Penn know. 00:39:01.85 Chris Olson ah The sound design and the music is really great. It's got a lighthearted atmosphere for the audience. The whole feel of the film feels... so uplifting it feels like it's uplifting even though it's actually turning quite a sort of sad story really about how this is impacting people it's done in a way that's fun it's it's bright you're gonna watch it and come away feeling a little bit sort of warmed by it and I think the lead uh she's great she has such a great straight uh you know um Thornton Rice um which plays Anna I I thought she was 00:39:24.19 Brian Penn Yeah. Yeah. 00:39:28.48 Brian Penn Yeah. yeah this yeah yeah 00:39:35.37 Chris Olson break She was really great at handling both sides to that role, where she's got this sort of you know more anxiety-riddled person, but also someone that is trying to reacclimate and trying sort of help other people. um I thought it worked really, really well. 00:39:50.52 Chris Olson My only real criticism with it, and this is not going to shock anyone, is I think it's too long. I think it's about two hours. 00:39:57.53 Brian Penn Yeah, and I know. 00:39:58.81 Chris Olson And I just... I think... I'd be very surprised to see a list of films that are hilarious for two hours. 00:40:05.66 Brian Penn Yeah, I know. 00:40:05.92 Chris Olson I just don't think it's possible because you run out of steam um unless you're doing something that is just absolutely incredible. 00:40:13.59 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:40:15.04 Chris Olson I think it's baggy at times. 00:40:15.17 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:40:16.60 Chris Olson There's scenes that kind of go on. 00:40:16.78 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:40:17.80 Chris Olson It needed a much, much stronger edit um because it goes off on tangents. and I think, unfortunately, that does. 00:40:25.19 Brian Penn yeah 00:40:25.39 Chris Olson I think some people may come away feeling a little bit like they found it funny and uplifting and great, but they also feel it overstayed its welcome a little bit. 00:40:31.14 Brian Penn Yeah, I agree. 00:40:32.72 Chris Olson like COVID. 00:40:33.11 Brian Penn Well, yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah very good. I hadn't thought of it that way. But yeah, I think you're right. Look, we often talk about the running length of films, don't we? And i think yeah I think it's something that needs to be considered because it's part of the viewing experience, isn't it? 00:40:48.11 Brian Penn So if you're going to sit down for two hours and watch a film, you want the filmmaker to use the time well. This type of film, I think... what't doesn't work as well as it should do because it's too long and it is just ah think it's just a touch under two hours but this could have been a brilliant 90 minute film 00:41:07.42 Chris Olson Yeah, I think it, because I tell you who can do it, and this is something which I wanted to bring up in this review, is Richard Curtis, right? Richard Curtis can do a two-hour comedy film because often his have got enough, his his focus is so much more on the romance aspect 00:41:17.53 Brian Penn yeah yeah yeah 00:41:24.34 Chris Olson and the comedy is just always there that it's like you're you're really swept up in the romance of it and this had Richard Curtis vibes I will give it that you had the yeah the the lovely use of like locations yeah there's a brilliant bit in Borough Market where they sort of get food that's really great and it did have that sort of like 00:41:33.21 Brian Penn Yeah, a little bit. Yeah, a little bit, yeah. 00:41:38.29 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:41:41.17 Brian Penn Yeah. Mm-hmm. 00:41:46.48 Chris Olson quirky characters going through something interesting i think it's a little bit more high concept than maybe that um but the the execution of it like i said it felt like someone doing a good attempt at a richard curtis film it's it's clearly not in the same league but it's the it's in the right direction you're in the right path know if you want to get to that level i think you do need a stronger edit you need to yeah trim that down get it get rid of the baggy stuff 00:41:52.26 Brian Penn Mm-hmm. 00:42:01.54 Brian Penn yeah 00:42:04.44 Brian Penn Yeah. i yeah 00:42:11.46 Chris Olson or put stuff in there that is more meaningful, that is going to sort yeah cope better. 00:42:13.94 Brian Penn Yeah. yeah 00:42:15.67 Chris Olson um 00:42:15.83 Brian Penn and Yeah. 00:42:16.60 Chris Olson But yeah, no, of I love it when I get a film that's a comedy film that actually makes me laugh. This genuinely made me laugh. 00:42:23.48 Brian Penn yeah 00:42:23.94 Chris Olson um I would yeah strongly recommend it. 00:42:26.63 Brian Penn And I've not seen a film that that deals with the subjects in that way where the central character literally can have conversations with inanimate objects. 00:42:38.06 Brian Penn I've not seen it deal with COVID, the issue of COVID dealt with in that way. And it's a new way of approaching it. But they do it, you know, they handle the the kind of the serious aspects of it, the psychological aspects of it. 00:42:50.60 Brian Penn But they also inject moments of humor. And that's what life is, isn't it? It's a series of dramas with moments of light relief. And that's That's the Richard Curtis way, isn't it, of doing it? 00:43:02.55 Brian Penn So if you're to be influenced by anyone, be influenced by the best. And, you know, there are kind of elements, ah chinks of light that you think, oh, yeah, that is a kind of Richard Curtis thing to do, where you're filling the screen with quirky characters who are very likable and quite endearing, but are real at the same time. 00:43:22.69 Brian Penn You know, and that's what Richard Curtis can do. So there's no harm in being influenced by someone who's good. 00:43:26.55 Chris Olson Yeah, and it has it has its own sort of freshness to it as well. 00:43:29.31 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:43:29.61 Chris Olson There was like, you know, it's tapping into LGBTQ plus themes. There are the post-pandemic elements being dealt with really, really well. 00:43:35.75 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:43:39.81 Chris Olson I don't think it's, you know 00:43:39.91 Brian Penn ye 00:43:41.87 Chris Olson trying to do that solely but it comes across the way actually you know what you've you've been influenced here whether you whether you like it or not and i think it's a good thing the film itself uh tiny little voices is available currently to watch on amazon prime so if you're in the uk and you've got prime you can watch it for free which is great so you can go and watch it let us know if you thought it was too long old video and also yeah anything else yeah there's 00:43:48.49 Brian Penn Yeah. ah yeah 00:44:03.18 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:44:05.45 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:44:06.33 Chris Olson It has an Instagram page at tiny little voices and we've reviewed it on the website. I believe it was James Leroy. Yeah. James Leroy reviewed it. A terrific critic. 00:44:17.53 Chris Olson um He wrote a fabulous review to go read that. 00:44:21.57 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:44:21.69 Chris Olson And on his review is the trailer. So if you're not quite sold on whether you want to watch it, you can also watch the trailer. I don't know. I can do any more plugging for that film. That was, I covered my bases surely pretty much there. 00:44:29.94 Brian Penn No. I think so, yeah. Yeah. 00:44:33.71 Chris Olson Um, 00:44:33.76 Brian Penn That's done it. Yeah. 00:44:35.28 Chris Olson Moving on to a short film, and also reviewed on the website by James Leroy. This is from filmmaker Michael Cook, who writes, directs and stars in the short film Up Down. 00:44:47.07 Chris Olson Sadly, I don't have a clip for this. um It's a fairly short film, and... um It doesn't necessarily need us to play a clip from it. 00:44:55.67 Brian Penn yeah 00:44:55.70 Chris Olson yeah If you have time, definitely go read James' review. He's done a fabulous review on the website. 00:45:01.00 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:45:01.01 Chris Olson um But Up Down sees a character essentially in limbo. 00:45:01.15 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:45:05.66 Chris Olson Something's happened and he finds himself in... the purgatory or somewhere purgatory adjacent. um And we see him go through a sort of very interesting looking ah space. 00:45:19.97 Chris Olson It starts to feel quite ethereal. And then he ends up in a chat with an angel, ah basically where they're going to decide where he goes next. 00:45:26.01 Brian Penn yeah 00:45:29.78 Chris Olson Does he go up or down? 00:45:29.82 Brian Penn Yeah. Mm. 00:45:31.41 Chris Olson Or does he stay where is? 00:45:33.04 Brian Penn Well, yeah. 00:45:33.24 Chris Olson And... and Michael Cook's made some really great short films. um I think this is a fantastic short. It's slick production, has this really like dark and meaty atmosphere that you're in throughout. 00:45:48.12 Chris Olson And obviously playing on a very common theme of yeah what happens to us when we die? yeah Have I been a good person? 00:45:56.43 Brian Penn Mm. 00:45:57.33 Chris Olson yeah How will I be judged? And it's yeah it's pulling that off. Cook himself is actually great in the lead. um And also Hunter Bishop as the angel. But Brian, what do you think of up-down? 00:46:09.71 Chris Olson Do you like it? 00:46:10.07 Brian Penn Oh, this is good. I like this. This is really good. You know, the thing is, straight away, it sets his stall out. very um mean, it's a short film anyway, so it can't hang about. But you know straight away where it's headed, what it's about. 00:46:22.64 Brian Penn You know, you've you've got the guy at the center of this story who's really in a waiting room. He's halfway between heaven and hell, isn't he? Right? He's talking to the angel and he's saying, why am I here? What's happened? 00:46:35.86 Brian Penn What's happened? He said, talk to me, man. Tell me about yourself, man. But why? yeah i it it's ah it's a fascinating sort of exchange and it's done very quickly. But you can see exactly what his anxieties are. 00:46:48.07 Brian Penn And he's it's sort like the angel saying, well, tell me where you think you belong. You know, do you belong down there or up there? You know, I think that is so clever. It's such a kind of ah it's lateral thinking, isn't it? 00:47:01.64 Brian Penn You think, this is this is someone who's caught between two worlds. 00:47:01.75 Chris Olson Mm-hmm. 00:47:07.44 Brian Penn You know, think it's excellent. I think it's, I love the simplicity of it. You know, one word I always use when I describe a film, if it's good, I say, ah love the simplicity of it, right? it's It's presenting you with with a ah simple premise, right? 00:47:23.36 Brian Penn This man, by the look of it, is about to meet his maker, right? But this commanding angel is saying to him, We're not sure where you belong. What have you done in your life? 00:47:34.86 Brian Penn Explain to us. Tell us about your life. Tell us what you've done. And that, I think, is so such a clever way of presenting a story and doing it very quickly as well. 00:47:45.90 Brian Penn So... 00:47:45.99 Chris Olson but i I've seen films as well where they've done this like idea. I think James even mentions a couple of films where you have this sort of idea of meeting your maker or or whatever it is and and being judged. 00:47:58.47 Chris Olson And often they can come down on two sides. I think it can be quite schmaltzy and it's very sort of like... 00:48:03.74 Brian Penn Yeah, 00:48:04.94 Chris Olson yeah almost nostalgic looking back on your life, or it can be very kind of like suspenseful. And I think this falls in the latter camp. 00:48:11.36 Brian Penn I was gonna say, yeah. 00:48:13.09 Chris Olson You know, the sound designs, it gives it sort really thrillery kind of feel. 00:48:14.52 Brian Penn Yeah. Yeah. 00:48:17.78 Chris Olson It's so pulsating at times. 00:48:19.67 Brian Penn yeah 00:48:19.77 Chris Olson It's very, you know, you're in a state of unease for a lot of this. um And I think, you when you get given John's memories, it's like the emotional core of the film. 00:48:30.25 Brian Penn yeah 00:48:30.52 Chris Olson That really worked well because we connect to that character. The thing I found with it was it felt a little rushed, which was interesting because yeah when it's a short film, there's always that potential. 00:48:40.32 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:48:43.12 Chris Olson But I think here they gave a lot of time for him waiting to see the angel. 00:48:43.38 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:48:48.42 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:48:48.87 Chris Olson ah which was great because it added mysteries. Okay. What's going on here? And it felt, um, you know, that felt kind of arty. 00:48:56.04 Brian Penn yeah 00:48:56.60 Chris Olson And then we get this scene where it's very dialogue driven, um, but it's not that long. 00:48:56.65 Brian Penn yeah 00:48:59.56 Brian Penn yeah 00:49:01.30 Chris Olson And it felt like, Oh, okay. 00:49:01.41 Brian Penn yeah 00:49:02.30 Chris Olson But we just got going. Like you gave us all that waiting time. 00:49:03.68 Brian Penn yeah 00:49:04.78 Chris Olson And then suddenly like that scene was very, very quick. 00:49:06.06 Brian Penn yeah 00:49:07.61 Chris Olson Um, I don't know if that was down to any kind of budgetary reasons or if that's just what they wanted to do. 00:49:12.87 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:49:12.89 Chris Olson Um, but I, I, I suppose it's a good thing, really. I just wanted more of it. um i just thought it did feel a little bit rushed. 00:49:17.95 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:49:20.15 Chris Olson And I think you would likely come away pondering the themes that it's going to bring up. It brings up lots of about religion, beliefs, mythology. 00:49:26.07 Brian Penn Yeah. no 00:49:29.25 Chris Olson So it's got a big, wide appeal. But I think you're going to either come away feeling you're going to ponder about those themes, or you're going to come away feeling a little bit like, oh, was that it? like Was there not more? Like, I wanted more from that. 00:49:39.10 Brian Penn yeah 00:49:39.12 Chris Olson ah 00:49:40.07 Brian Penn yeah 00:49:40.18 Chris Olson So, yeah, depending on which side you land, I think will determine how much you enjoy the film. 00:49:43.00 Brian Penn and um I mean, I i would say ah I came away wanting more. Whenever I see a short film, flat if I finish the film and I think, you know, that feels a bit like a trailer, right? If I think that it feels like a trailer, there's kind of feature-length potential there. And that tells me I want to see more. 00:50:04.12 Brian Penn But with some short films, you think that's it, it's done sort of thing, you know. But that has something more to it. There's there's there's more... it's more It's much meatier because of the way it's been filmed. 00:50:14.71 Brian Penn And I take your point about it being rushed, but I suppose that in a 10-minute time frame, right, they, as I said earlier on, they can't necessarily hang about. 00:50:25.40 Brian Penn But I think that is probably integral to the story they're telling, is that this man at the centre of the story is trying to justify his place in the afterlife. 00:50:37.92 Brian Penn You know, is it going to be down there or is it going to be up there? So, in some ways it is a rush. He wants to justify himself. So I think that's part, that I think that was intentional myself. 00:50:50.13 Chris Olson Yeah, and absolutely. yeah I think you someone like this filmmaker, Michael Cook, he's done enough films now to not yeah rush what he wants. 00:51:00.15 Chris Olson But sometimes it can be you things outside their control, you know, actors had limited days or whatever it is. 00:51:00.36 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:51:05.84 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:51:06.44 Chris Olson um i just All I can say is how I felt like when I left. I was like, oh, okay, that's a shame that that's finished. 00:51:11.33 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:51:12.19 Chris Olson Yeah. 00:51:12.63 Brian Penn No, no. Yeah. 00:51:13.75 Chris Olson But yeah, as I said, I think it's a good thing, really. So the film's called Up Down, and Michael Cook has an Instagram, which is Michael underscore Cook with an E ah underscore official. 00:51:16.70 Brian Penn yeah 00:51:24.88 Chris Olson um You can also probably find him on our socials where we've tagged the film and XYZ. ah Go read ah James's review. He also really enjoyed the film and he had some very eloquent things to say. 00:51:35.96 Chris Olson And yeah, let us know if you get to see it. I think the film we were given was unlisted on YouTube, so it's not available far as I'm aware. But that may change because often when it's on a YouTube link, it might mean they just make it public. So stay tuned. 00:51:50.25 Chris Olson Moving on now to a documentary um from filmmaker Solon Solomon ah called Migrating Fears. And in what I think is possibly a very first, I have a theme tune song for a documentary. 00:52:03.59 Brian Penn Oh, ah okay, yeah. 00:52:05.04 Chris Olson um I'm going to play a bit of it. 00:52:05.88 Brian Penn and 00:52:06.56 Chris Olson i'm not trying to play a bit it. I'll play a bit of it now. 00:53:22.65 Chris Olson It's very rare that we get to play music on the show. I was swaying there a little bit with it. 00:53:25.22 Brian Penn Yeah. and I liked it, actually. 00:53:27.43 Chris Olson Yeah, it's got a bit of tune. 00:53:28.10 Brian Penn i And Solon Solomon, I think he wrote the song as well, didn't he? 00:53:32.11 Chris Olson He did, yeah. so I asked him for a and clip from the film, like I do for everyone, and he said he didn't really have a clip, but he liked the the some of the songs to be played out because, as say, he wrote it ah for the film. 00:53:32.94 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:53:36.45 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:53:42.90 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:53:44.29 Chris Olson It's um very unusual for a documentary to have a song, but hey, it's all gravy. um 00:53:49.76 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:53:50.65 Chris Olson Migrating Fears is a documentary all about the fear ah in the UK surrounding immigration and... obviously a hot topic right now. 00:54:01.52 Chris Olson it it feels like it's always a hot topic, to be honest. 00:54:03.16 Brian Penn yeah 00:54:03.51 Chris Olson I don't think you'd ever find a year where we went, oh no, no one cared about it that year. 00:54:04.46 Brian Penn yeah aye Yeah, know. 00:54:07.67 Chris Olson um um But yeah, it's ah it' it's a documentary about that and it's got the, it opens with that song and a lot of the film has, well, a lot of the opening of the film has, the filmmaker Solon actually talking about people that he's going to make this documentary, and he interviews people about that. 00:54:26.09 Brian Penn Hmm. 00:54:27.39 Chris Olson And then later on, we get more of a kind of traditional talking head kind of approach to people in the fields, talking about various aspects. 00:54:31.65 Brian Penn Hmm. 00:54:35.81 Chris Olson Lots of things come up, such as Brexit and you so housing and and and all these things. Talking... 00:54:41.81 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:54:43.11 Chris Olson i'm not to I'm not displaying, I think you should watch this film. It's actually very, very interesting. 00:54:46.66 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:54:48.01 Chris Olson I've got a lot it because he's talking not just about what's happening right now. 00:54:48.42 Brian Penn No. 00:54:50.88 Chris Olson It's talking about England's kind of historic attitudes to migration and and how that has changed. And the fact that obviously we're an island, there's always been lots of, fear about yeah people coming over, um but also how important migration has been to the success of the country. um And yeah, it goes through about that. 00:55:12.00 Chris Olson There's some really, really powerful bits, like asylum seekers and refugees giving their kind of powerful stories. What did you think of migrating fears, Brian? 00:55:19.12 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:55:21.12 Chris Olson Yeah. 00:55:21.57 Brian Penn Very interesting. You know, it provides a an excellent posted history of migrations to the UK. And it hits all the right marks because it touches on colonialism, the empire, hugenitis, fleeing persecution, wind rush, Russian Jews, fleeing persecution. You know, it does all of that really well. 00:55:42.08 Brian Penn But for me, it only really gets going about halfway through. 00:55:46.07 Chris Olson Yep. 00:55:46.17 Brian Penn when it becomes more of a conventional talking heads documentary, as you just alluded to um when I start interviewing politicians like Margaret Hodge and Lord Alton and Lord Lilly, then you get, you know, as a viewer, you get more clarity in what the issues are. um Not easy to reach any conclusions where, where ah migration is concerned. 00:56:07.31 Brian Penn Cause as you say, it's, it's always going to be a hot potato. It always has been. It always will be, you know, there are so many moving parts, aren't they, to, to the, the issue. um So i don't think it's easy to tie it up, really, but but it it kind of opens the viewer's mind to what the history is and how important immigration has been to the UK. And in fact, to every country when you think about it, ah but particularly to ourselves. I mean, we're all immigrants, aren't we? 00:56:38.42 Brian Penn You know, i mean, even, you know, the ancient Britons were descended from the Norsemen and the Picts and the Anglo-Saxons. So we're all ultimately immigrants and we're all building blocks as part of one great nationality. 00:56:54.05 Brian Penn That's what I get from it, you know. So i think in that way, it's very interesting. But, you know, the problem with a documentary of this kind is that you can't really draw it any proper any real conclusions because it's still ongoing, if you see what I'm saying, you know. 00:57:11.13 Chris Olson Yeah, I think, you and the best documentaries, they're not there to sort of provide a final answer to anything. 00:57:14.76 Brian Penn Yeah. Yeah. 00:57:16.30 Chris Olson It's more just shining a light. And I 100% agree. Listeners, you won't know this, but me and Brian don't actually confer before we go on the podcast. We just come on here and and say what we think. 00:57:23.47 Brian Penn Yeah. not yeah yeah 00:57:26.53 Chris Olson And I thought he was just nodding along to Brian's movie because like, yeah, felt the exact same way, which was... the first half of the film, or at least the first section, is ah Solomon actually in the film. 00:57:37.68 Chris Olson He's in the film a lot, and they're creating these kind of almost like fictional scenes of him talking about setting up the documentary and what he's going to do and making a film. 00:57:38.53 Brian Penn yeah 00:57:42.10 Brian Penn yeah yeah Yeah. Yeah. 00:57:46.07 Chris Olson And you have that song playing as well, which I think isolated the song is fine, but over the top of the documentary, is very heavy-handed. 00:57:48.22 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:57:53.92 Chris Olson and It comes across... 00:57:54.18 Brian Penn yeah 00:57:55.65 Chris Olson like a big punch in the face um to to sort of try and get your attention. And I think that is the biggest misstep of this film, unfortunately. 00:58:03.92 Brian Penn and 00:58:04.43 Chris Olson I think it is that the filmmaker put too much of himself into the movie and didn't let the good stuff which was there just have more breathing room. 00:58:08.13 Brian Penn yeah and 00:58:11.38 Brian Penn yeah 00:58:13.16 Chris Olson Because as Brian said... 00:58:13.41 Brian Penn yeah 00:58:14.27 Chris Olson A lot of the talking head stuff was very fascinating. A lot of the, there was like archive footage. 00:58:17.08 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:58:19.42 Chris Olson There was a bit of animation at one point. 00:58:21.40 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:58:21.44 Chris Olson That stuff worked really well. I think that that was a great movie. 00:58:22.95 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:58:24.64 Chris Olson And I think that yeah the strength of Migrating Fears is the the yeah the history and the evidence and the you know the stuff that we're talking about and raising really sort of potent themes in a way that is quite, 00:58:32.01 Brian Penn yeah 00:58:35.78 Brian Penn yeah 00:58:37.79 Chris Olson disarming I think it's not trying to be volatile or hostile. It's not trying to point loads of fingers everywhere. 00:58:42.17 Brian Penn yeah 00:58:43.77 Chris Olson I think it's sort of raising interesting aspects. I think it is largely a positive story about migration. 00:58:48.97 Brian Penn yeah 00:58:49.37 Chris Olson um I think that's fair to say. 00:58:51.11 Brian Penn yeah 00:58:51.30 Chris Olson But that's when it's at its best, when it's doing that stuff. I think it needs to learn from that and go, OK, right, yeah that works. 00:58:56.65 Brian Penn yeah 00:58:58.05 Chris Olson If you're going to do a story, a film like this again, it needs to be less about the person making it and more about the subject matter. 00:59:04.28 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:59:05.41 Chris Olson and because it seems well-intentioned just at times it's awkward and it's dry and it's like right okay but can we get back to like the stuff about why we're here yeah 00:59:05.46 Brian Penn ah Yeah. yeah 00:59:12.74 Brian Penn yeah Yeah. I mean, the at the beginning, the conversations he had with the yeah the Tasmanian lady at the beginning where they were chatting, That put him in a position where he had to act. 00:59:23.52 Brian Penn And with a great respect, he's not an actor. You know, he's yeah he's a lawyer, he's an academic, he's a lecturer, and he's very well qualified and very good at it, obviously. 00:59:26.04 Chris Olson it was cringe-worthy I have to be honest yeah 00:59:33.29 Brian Penn like But it may it put him in a position where he had to act. And that's you can tell that's not his fault, though. right And it would have been better, I think, to have started off with with a conventional documentary format, which is what they got into a bit later. 00:59:50.14 Brian Penn But even so, nothing wrong with the content. The content's fine. 00:59:54.98 Chris Olson And I think if you're going to inject yourself into a film, yeah if you want to do that, if there's a reason for you to do that, if you're a historian, yeah you want to bring your... 00:59:55.26 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:00:03.52 Chris Olson Maybe you've written a book. yeah whatever Whatever it is, maybe you want to bring attention to it. 01:00:05.75 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:00:06.80 Chris Olson I think there's other ways of doing it. I don't think you need to do it in that way where it feels like, you say, it's he's clearly not that comfortable even doing it. 01:00:08.37 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:00:14.40 Brian Penn a 01:00:14.56 Chris Olson It felt but how quite awkward. And this is one of the things that I don't like in a lot of films when people are the director and the writer and they're the star, it can be very dangerous. 01:00:16.98 Brian Penn yeah 01:00:22.58 Brian Penn Yeah. Yeah. 01:00:24.90 Chris Olson I mean, unlike ah the Michael Cook film we talked about Up Down, I thought his performance was great. 01:00:25.64 Brian Penn and Yeah. 01:00:30.06 Chris Olson And even though he's the one yeah with the big credits, 01:00:32.89 Brian Penn yeah 01:00:33.37 Chris Olson It's fine. Someone must have said to him, you know, giving him notes, giving him, OK, this needs this, you need that. I think here that didn't happen. I don't think there was any kind of like feedback going on. This is actually quite awkward um because and i what i think it's a big shame. 01:00:48.39 Chris Olson I'm glad we're able to review migrating fears is because a lot of people are probably going to give up after that first section and go, oh what's going on here? 01:00:50.19 Brian Penn yeah 01:00:55.38 Brian Penn yeah 01:00:55.79 Chris Olson it's Obviously, we we're going to watch the whole thing. And the second half is so great. It's really interesting. 01:01:00.52 Brian Penn yeah 01:01:01.35 Chris Olson There's lots of things to come away. Of of all the films, the indie films we reviewed, I wrote more notes about this one than I did about anything else because I was like oh, that's fascinating. 01:01:07.65 Brian Penn yeah yeah no but it it gets it gets its point across eventually but as you say i mean you 01:01:08.39 Chris Olson know That's interesting. you know I think the content there is really, really great. I just think the execution at times was poorly chosen. That's all. 01:01:22.93 Brian Penn the film The film lasts for, what, an hour, one hour, 12 minutes or something like that, isn't it? 01:01:26.89 Chris Olson Something like that, yeah. 01:01:27.76 Brian Penn Yeah. And because of the way it starts, you know, it may not hold people's interest, right? So they should have got into the meat of the the matter a lot sooner. 01:01:42.35 Brian Penn And they could have probably done without that that opening segment. That could have been just a more conventional, you approach to making a documentary and just to set out with just some talking head interviews to begin with as well because that's what it is. It's it's a serious documentary, isn't it? 01:02:02.84 Chris Olson Absolutely. um 01:02:03.86 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:02:04.52 Chris Olson The film Migrating Fears, I believe, is available on Fawesome TV, which is F-A-W-E-S-O-M-E.TV. 01:02:10.89 Brian Penn Hmm. 01:02:13.16 Chris Olson ah Whether or not it stays on there or not, I'm not sure. um I've not heard of that platform really before. 01:02:16.15 Brian Penn Hmm. 01:02:17.93 Chris Olson It was fine to watch this when when I watched it. 01:02:18.39 Brian Penn Hmm. 01:02:20.41 Chris Olson So yeah, if you can go and see it, as said, and it raises loads of interesting things. I think if you're 01:02:26.85 Brian Penn Yeah, 01:02:26.99 Chris Olson someone that has an interest in English history, in politics, yeah obviously see all that stuff. I think there's so much great content there. 01:02:33.98 Brian Penn yeah definitely. Hmm. 01:02:34.42 Chris Olson i'm 01:02:34.45 Brian Penn Hmm. 01:02:35.11 Chris Olson Yeah, and let us know if you do watch it. And also, Jason reviewed it, i think, on the website. Yeah, so go and read Jason's review. He's very positive about it. He he really likes that that sort of stuff. So, yeah, good stuff. 01:02:46.49 Brian Penn and 01:02:46.50 Chris Olson um Also, let me just check if there's any socials. Yeah, I don't think there was actually any social media for this. So, yeah, probably just look at that foursome TV if you do want to find out more. 01:02:56.71 Brian Penn Mmm. 01:02:57.69 Chris Olson Moving on to an indie feature film from Sayun Jiang called Nictophobia. um Chris Buick reviewed this on the on the website if you want to read that. 01:03:08.20 Chris Olson And yeah, it's an experimental feature. um Lots of interesting use of black and white colour here, but it's all primarily about the central character of Liz, who has a ah fear of the dark and her whole attempts to try and get to sleep something I sympathize with massively as the father of two children uh two young children I must say and yeah it has a very kind of dreamlike quality to it um there's sort strange scenes and visuals and like I color like colors popping out sometimes uh what did you think of this Brian? 01:03:28.02 Brian Penn yeah 01:03:42.78 Brian Penn I liked it. I thought it was very good. You know, the you can't argue with the artistic integrity of this film. There's not much in the way of a script, is there, for really honest. So it's all visuals. But they were very arresting sites. And we can all relate to someone, know, 01:03:58.49 Brian Penn I'll be honest with you, Chris. I never knew that nyctophobia was a fear of darkness. I know about a fear of darkness, but I never knew it was called nyctophobia. 01:04:07.01 Chris Olson There you go 01:04:07.22 Brian Penn I never knew that. God, I'm ignorant, aren't I? But there you go. Anyway, so I've learned something I've learned, right? um But the sequencing with was excellent. Now, we were talking about the length of tiny little voices, weren't we, that it was two hours long and a little bit too long. 01:04:23.33 Brian Penn And this is 90 minutes. And The first thing I thought was, how are they going to sustain visuals for 90 minutes and keep you interested? But they do. I think they it it keeps you engaged, which I think is quite an achievement because the imagery is quite powerful. And I love the different sections. you know i mean, you imagine that these are, you know she's trying to fall off. She's trying to get to sleep. 01:04:47.53 Brian Penn And the metronome, she's trying all kinds of techniques to get her off to sleep with the metronome and all the rest of it. right But this is her. I think, trying to focus and concentrate and relax and finally fall off to sleep. 01:05:01.82 Brian Penn But there were some quite interesting images there. a love the disco section as well. 01:05:05.36 Chris Olson Yeah, 01:05:05.53 Brian Penn and That was really well done. I like that. But other parts of it were quite alarming, particularly with with the clowns as well. 01:05:14.34 Chris Olson yeah I think it's playing on some of the sort of like classic themes of like nightmares and horror, right? 01:05:21.49 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:05:21.88 Chris Olson So it's like that whole idea of yeah clowns. I've got a place that everyone hates, right? and And I think it's that sort of... 01:05:28.49 Brian Penn Yeah. Yeah. 01:05:30.45 Chris Olson um yeah's going through the idea of like how people try and get to sleep and some of the reasons why they maybe they can't. 01:05:37.49 Brian Penn yeah 01:05:37.63 Chris Olson um I think it's got that kind of universal appeal because it is a bit of a of an art piece. 01:05:41.09 Brian Penn and Yeah. 01:05:43.27 Chris Olson And it's quite, let's say the visuals are so arresting and and so is everything to it. 01:05:47.69 Brian Penn Oh, really? um 01:05:48.83 Chris Olson Like the score and the sound, it's got a very chilling kind of atmosphere throughout. 01:05:49.21 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:05:53.71 Chris Olson And I think people are going to connect with that on a level of, okay, this is something based that everyone has to go through. The idea that you're being tormented almost, you you can't sleep. um I think there's certain scenes which go on a bit longer than they need to. 01:06:09.03 Chris Olson There's a scene where she sings, i think there's a song, idea. 01:06:09.44 Brian Penn e 01:06:13.39 Brian Penn Yeah, that jazz thing, wasn't it? 01:06:13.46 Chris Olson ah 01:06:15.15 Brian Penn Yeah. Yeah. yes 01:06:16.06 Chris Olson i think they sort of... and then Actually, you mentioned the disco scene, but I i thought that actually was great, but it again, went on too long. as ah We need to move on now. 01:06:22.47 Brian Penn yeah 01:06:24.28 Chris Olson i umm 01:06:24.37 Brian Penn yeah 01:06:25.32 Chris Olson Because... there there was a lot of potency to the scenes and it felt like oh, wow, that's really interesting. But I think by moving on a bit quicker, you keep that going, you keep that intrigue going. 01:06:35.92 Chris Olson Whereas I think once it started to labour a bit longer, there was a sense of, like okay, yeah now I actually feel like I am getting in that. 01:06:36.33 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:06:43.19 Chris Olson And I think it's probably done purposefully like to try and elicit, okay, yeah, I've got a reaction from you because... 01:06:47.08 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:06:50.57 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:06:50.75 Chris Olson you know you're meant to find that maybe a bit tedious or you're meant to find that frustrating, you know like the character does. 01:06:54.60 Brian Penn But. Yeah. 01:06:57.04 Chris Olson But from a viewing point of view, I don't think it's necessarily going to be i'm as thrilling. 01:06:59.18 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:07:01.30 Chris Olson I think it loses momentum ah because of that. 01:07:03.31 Brian Penn yeah 01:07:04.12 Chris Olson But fans of horror and experimental cinema, you're going to love this. 01:07:05.45 Brian Penn Yeah. um Yeah. 01:07:07.77 Chris Olson It's got like this nightmarish chaos to it that is going to be enthralling. 01:07:08.16 Brian Penn Yeah. yeah 01:07:13.81 Brian Penn No, it is. Look, it's very well put together. it's for You know, all the in the indies that we've reviewed on this particular show, like all the shows we do, you know, are all very good. They're very well put together. 01:07:25.39 Brian Penn Bearing in mind they have a limited budget and they almost they're they're indie films that don't seem to have an indie budget. then you know, they look like They've had more money to spend than they've really got. And that's a skill in itself, isn't it? 01:07:37.84 Brian Penn It's to make it look like it's a big budget film when it's not. um But it with regard to the timing of of different scenes, and they go on for a bit too long, you're right, they do. 01:07:49.58 Brian Penn I think they do go on for too long. But this is where you have time available. You think, if you're a filmmaker, if you're director, you think, how do I fill that time? How do I fill that space? I mean, am I filling that space for the sake of it? 01:08:02.13 Brian Penn and making a scene longer than it should be? Or am I putting something integral in there that gives more meaning to the story? It's all about the narrative. And if it's not doing anything for the story, then it shouldn't be in there. 01:08:14.11 Brian Penn Again, it's down to editing, isn't it? 01:08:16.60 Chris Olson And I think there's definitely, yeah, definitely. edit seen this is is We've mentioned it, I think, for most of the films tonight. 01:08:22.10 Brian Penn Oh, yeah. 01:08:22.69 Chris Olson It is a sense of, often with indie films, they're more susceptible to this because there are less people involved. And it's often, know, it's a balance, right? Because some of the big studio films, 01:08:34.83 Chris Olson yeah the execs come in and they do their tampering and and tinkering and they cut and they spoil just as you much as the opposite happens. 01:08:39.59 Brian Penn Yeah. Hmm. Hmm. 01:08:43.25 Chris Olson But think with indie films, often because they are sometimes the products completely of the filmmaker, yeah whoever wrote the story or directed it, if they're that ah one person thing, they're going to leave it as like untouched as possible because that's their vision for it And that's absolutely fine. 01:08:59.75 Chris Olson I think sometimes the reason why film works really well is because it's a collaborative effort, because there are often, you know, many, many ah people there. 01:09:04.56 Brian Penn and 01:09:07.40 Chris Olson And the editing is such an unsung hero of filmmaking because that's the shaping of the story, right? 01:09:11.32 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:09:15.22 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:09:15.28 Chris Olson That's the, okay, but how do we get from the beginning to the end in the best possible journey that's going to get the best possible reaction for the most amount of people? 01:09:21.41 Brian Penn Yeah. yeah 01:09:23.47 Chris Olson um If that is your ambition, it might not be. And I think with experimental cinema, there is definitely a case that sometimes filmmakers are just doing something to make a point or they're doing something to see, you know, test endurance or whatever it is. 01:09:35.41 Brian Penn yeah 01:09:36.37 Chris Olson ah ah And that's absolutely fine too. and Because like I said here, they are playing on things which people ah going to connect to in a sort of cliche way of like, okay, so we've got clowns, we mentioned you exams, I think one point she's just sitting in exam, they're singing in public. 01:09:44.70 Brian Penn Yeah. Yeah. 01:09:49.57 Brian Penn Yeah. Yeah, that 01:09:52.81 Chris Olson These things yeah that are playing on the human condition, yeah these things which are typically worrying. 01:09:56.29 Brian Penn was and 01:09:59.71 Chris Olson I think that there's a strong possibility that there's a reason why these films, these scenes are a bit longer. Um, I just want to also mention there's a really cool scene where she's playing Tetris in the air and that was brilliant. 01:10:11.69 Chris Olson I really enjoyed that scene. 01:10:12.09 Brian Penn yeah yeah that was 01:10:13.35 Chris Olson Um, it was so smart and was so clever. 01:10:16.08 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:10:16.19 Chris Olson um it's just, it's little things like that, which show me this filmmaker has a lot of promise. And I think I'm right in saying their debut. 01:10:21.60 Brian Penn Yeah, definitely. um Absolutely. 01:10:24.88 Chris Olson So say you and John, um, Yeah, massive congratulations. 01:10:29.16 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:10:29.58 Chris Olson I think it's it's got... 01:10:29.83 Brian Penn Yeah, that's 01:10:31.65 Chris Olson Actually, might not be a debut, but if it's if it is either way, it's very impressive. 01:10:34.29 Brian Penn good. 01:10:37.74 Chris Olson I don't think it's for everyone. 01:10:38.57 Brian Penn And 01:10:39.18 Chris Olson This is absolutely a Marmite type of film. I don't think everyone's going watch and go, oh yeah, i loved it. But I think for those who enjoy a bit more of a challenging piece of cinema, it's there. 01:10:49.38 Chris Olson But it would also have a connection for a lot of people in terms of you know tapping into your fears and sleepless nights and things like that. 01:10:55.39 Brian Penn and think we can all relate to it. I mean, you know, we've all had issues with sleep over the years, haven't we, for one reason or another. 01:11:04.79 Chris Olson I've had an issue with clowns and not to mention my mother twice in one episode, but I'm going to, is that she in our house when were growing up had this artwork on the wall, which was clowns. 01:11:14.31 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:11:15.05 Chris Olson These they were clowns, right? 01:11:16.82 Brian Penn yeah 01:11:17.32 Chris Olson i And it was meant to be like arty, but they were terrifying, honestly. And one night i remember my brother saying, oh should should we see if we can get them removed from your room? I was like, ah yes, please. 01:11:27.67 Chris Olson Like, I don't know why they're there. 01:11:28.04 Brian Penn hu 01:11:29.35 Chris Olson Why are they here? There's no connection. and they were like, oh i didn't think you'd find that scary. It's like, It's terrifying. Why would you put clowns on the wall? 01:11:34.33 Brian Penn and I wonder why that is, though, that clowns can be quite scary. 01:11:36.35 Chris Olson Mad. 01:11:40.03 Brian Penn I mean, they they should be happy characters, shouldn't they? They make people smile. 01:11:44.82 Chris Olson Yeah, Stephen King ruined it all, really, didn't he? 01:11:47.80 Brian Penn it's got thought It's got a lot to answer for, hasn't it? 01:11:49.24 Chris Olson He's got a lot to answer. for And not just that. 01:11:51.46 Brian Penn I know. 01:11:51.62 Chris Olson and But don't get me started. 01:11:51.72 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:11:52.91 Chris Olson No, I love Stephen King. So Nyctophobia is available on Plex TV, um which is where we watched it. ah It's a free platform. So absolutely yeah hats off to filmmakers putting their films there. 01:12:05.95 Chris Olson One thing that viewers will have to be aware of is you will have to put up with quite a lot of adverts. 01:12:06.30 Brian Penn ye 01:12:10.88 Brian Penn Oh, yeah. 01:12:10.94 Chris Olson They kick in like every 10 minutes. 01:12:11.76 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:12:12.90 Chris Olson it's like, oh, here we go 01:12:13.13 Brian Penn I know. I meant some internet earlier on yeah 01:12:14.85 Chris Olson And they tell you that it says like six adverts or something. like, all right, go make cup of tea then. 01:12:17.75 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:12:19.29 Chris Olson Come back. 01:12:19.57 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:12:20.53 Chris Olson And i think I think with a film like this, it totally disturbed the momentum. 01:12:20.59 Brian Penn You can't fast forward it either, can you? You can't. 01:12:25.44 Chris Olson And I know why filmmakers do. 01:12:25.71 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:12:27.00 Chris Olson i'm not absolutely I'm not having a go at them at all. I know what they have to do to survive. 01:12:28.98 Brian Penn No. 01:12:30.56 Chris Olson It's just absolutely... 01:12:30.87 Brian Penn That's the commercial reality, isn't it, really? 01:12:32.12 Chris Olson It is. It really is. 01:12:32.47 Brian Penn like 01:12:33.50 Chris Olson But if this was available on like YouTube or something without ads, I would say go there. 01:12:36.89 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:12:37.48 Chris Olson But it's... yeah 01:12:38.08 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:12:38.63 Chris Olson go Go watch this and you support the film because they'll hopefully get a bit of money from it. and 01:12:42.22 Brian Penn yeah 01:12:42.85 Chris Olson But yeah, just be aware there's ads. The film also has an Instagram profile, which is film underscore nyctophobia. And you can read our review, which was done by Chris Buick on the website ah by going there. 01:12:55.27 Chris Olson And yeah, why not do it? Unless you're scared of clowns. 01:12:59.35 Brian Penn ah Yeah, yeah, right, exactly. 01:13:02.12 Chris Olson ah Which most people are. 01:13:04.22 Brian Penn Nice people are, yeah, and I know. 01:13:05.05 Chris Olson Most people aren't, Mum. God. 01:13:06.67 Brian Penn Universal, isn't it, really? 01:13:07.64 Chris Olson yeah 01:13:08.52 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:13:08.93 Chris Olson um Other things that are universal are our love of dinosaur films, which is if you're wondering what our nostalgia pick is. 01:13:13.57 Brian Penn Oh, yes. Yeah. 01:13:16.98 Chris Olson and da a um I'm not to do any more than that case we get sued. 01:13:19.50 Brian Penn yeah 01:13:22.56 Chris Olson um 01:13:22.63 Brian Penn yeah Yeah, you never know, do 01:13:23.87 Chris Olson You never know. they haven't got enough money, have they, these people? 01:13:26.82 Brian Penn No, of course not. 01:13:27.34 Chris Olson um 01:13:27.56 Brian Penn don't know how they get by, do you? 01:13:29.37 Chris Olson Yeah, very difficult. 01:13:30.24 Brian Penn do they manage? 01:13:31.56 Chris Olson and Jurassic Park, a classic film from 1993, currently available to watch on ITV. 01:13:34.72 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:13:36.94 Chris Olson i'm not sure if it's still available there. um We are not affiliated with any of these platforms, by the way. and We just give them a shout out. um If you don't know what Jurassic Park is about, And that I, before I would be kind of sort of, how could you not? 01:13:50.97 Chris Olson Um, but actually I realized that is a long time ago, isn't it? 01:13:53.83 Brian Penn Oh, it nice to see it. 01:13:54.39 Chris Olson That's a very long time ago. um 01:13:56.09 Brian Penn I didn't think it was long ago actually, to be honest. 01:13:58.04 Chris Olson Yeah, it's a Steven Spielberg film, and it's about ah this creation of an island park where they have been able to bring back cloned versions of dinosaurs and using it mosquitoes in magma, I think. 01:14:15.43 Brian Penn Yeah, yeah, inamba, what's that? 01:14:16.23 Chris Olson Yeah, the blood. So yeah that was it yeah so they suck the blood of dinosaurs. 01:14:18.57 Brian Penn Inamba, yeah. 01:14:20.54 Chris Olson They're preserved in the magma. 01:14:20.78 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:14:21.78 Chris Olson They were able to bring them back. 01:14:22.77 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:14:23.13 Chris Olson And basically they have to bring in um a few experts in the field to sign off on the safety of the park because the investors are getting a bit skittish after someone is grisly eaten near the beginning of the film. 01:14:28.74 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:14:36.31 Brian Penn a yeah 01:14:38.02 Chris Olson um Sam Neill and Laura Dern star as two of those people coming, as well as... the absolute classic legend that is Jeff Goldblum rocking up in what is, this is for me definitive Jeff Goldblum because this was, I think the first film I saw him in and became aware of him. 01:14:46.91 Brian Penn He 01:14:51.70 Brian Penn was great, wasn't he? 01:14:55.33 Chris Olson And then it was independence day. I think later that I saw him in, but it's got incredible class. 01:14:57.50 Brian Penn Yeah. Yeah. 01:14:59.83 Chris Olson You've got Richard Attenborough, who's the park owner. um 01:15:02.89 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:15:03.99 Chris Olson Even Samuel Jackson is in this film. 01:15:05.40 Brian Penn yeah he turns like He's in the control centre, isn't he, Samuel Jasmin? 01:15:07.70 Chris Olson he's i mean When I saw him, was like, oh my gosh, how did you not get a bigger role in this? 01:15:09.66 Brian Penn Yeah. and I know. 01:15:12.09 Chris Olson Yeah. 01:15:12.95 Brian Penn But, I mean, 01:15:13.05 Chris Olson um yeah 01:15:14.08 Brian Penn You can't imagine him not being a star, can you, Samuel Jackson? 01:15:16.33 Chris Olson No. 01:15:16.64 Brian Penn You can't imagine him just being a a support, which is all he was in this film at the time. 01:15:21.69 Chris Olson Yeah. 01:15:22.43 Brian Penn You know, and he he was it was kind of on the fringes for so long, wasn't he? He was like Denzel Washington. You know, you catch him on the fringes and there'd be films here and there. But I think soon after this, he broke really big, didn't he? 01:15:35.63 Chris Olson Well, interesting, something like Sam Neill, right? 01:15:35.76 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:15:37.56 Chris Olson He was this big person in this film, right? But I don't think he became such a big star after this. 01:15:41.03 Brian Penn Hmm. 01:15:43.93 Brian Penn No, not really. 01:15:44.08 Chris Olson i don't yeah I've seen him in a few things, but nothing kind of major. 01:15:46.37 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:15:47.76 Chris Olson um Obviously, they brought him back for the when they rebooted it, but... 01:15:50.89 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:15:51.21 Chris Olson um Yeah, matt incredible cast. But I think one thing about Jurassic Park, which is why I would be surprised if not at least seen or heard something, simply because of the magnitude of merchandise that's available. 01:16:04.53 Brian Penn Oh, yeah, I know. 01:16:04.59 Chris Olson Jurassic Park is on T-shirts, on everything. 01:16:06.59 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:16:06.82 Chris Olson um You know, that that classic red and black logo and with the words across mouth. 01:16:10.56 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:16:12.10 Chris Olson It is just everywhere. And one thing I think back to with this film... 01:16:13.80 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:16:17.20 Chris Olson is this was probably the first cinematic experience I had where I was absolutely changed by it because I was quite young when this came out and I went to see it with my family and I remember being utterly, utterly terrified. 01:16:28.43 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:16:32.79 Chris Olson Like you were saying about the your your reaction to the new one. 01:16:32.89 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:16:35.70 Brian Penn know. 01:16:35.88 Chris Olson you and you're You're an older man. 01:16:36.34 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:16:37.84 Chris Olson It's like, you're not yeah i I must have been about... 01:16:38.28 Brian Penn I know. 01:16:40.80 Chris Olson seven I think or something when this came out and or not even that and I was utter I mean I was way too young to see this to be honest but it absolutely terrified me and I watching it back and you you talked about this a bit earlier about whether ah yeah the new film broke us into that horror genre but for me this absolutely was a horror film because of just the age I saw it but also when you watch it does there's a lot of scenes that are scary you know yeah the trembling cup of water and 01:16:41.60 Brian Penn yeah i 01:16:47.80 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:16:51.04 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:16:54.87 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:16:57.39 Brian Penn know. know. Yeah. 01:17:00.71 Brian Penn yeah 01:17:05.72 Brian Penn sad 01:17:09.31 Brian Penn ah no 01:17:09.75 Chris Olson um all this stuff. 01:17:10.02 Brian Penn and i 01:17:10.93 Chris Olson It is just brilliant. And I think it's one of those films, it's pure cinema. like you You go to see this in a cinema, it's it's it's exactly what you want to see. 01:17:22.33 Chris Olson The big spectacle, great characters, it's funny, it's scary, it's heartwarming. 01:17:22.35 Brian Penn Yeah. i mean 01:17:27.60 Chris Olson Even though you've got these two kids that they end up having to look after, it creates that heart, that moment of peril. 01:17:28.00 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:17:31.08 Brian Penn Yeah. Well, yeah. 01:17:33.29 Chris Olson you they they They're suddenly thrust into this role of guardians, looking after these kids amongst all these incredible... 01:17:37.95 Brian Penn I know. and yeah um 01:17:39.74 Chris Olson ah yeah And practical effects, right? And loads of practical effects. 01:17:43.31 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:17:43.46 Chris Olson It's just brilliant. It's jaw-droppingly brilliant still. 01:17:44.81 Brian Penn I know. It's a classic for me. It's a modern classic and it changed all the rules, you know, It shifted the goalposts. showed filmmakers what's possible, what you can achieve because there'd been nothing like it before Jurassic Park. 01:18:01.12 Brian Penn And I've related this story before on the podcast, but I want to mention it again because when I 01:18:13.55 Chris Olson All right, you cut off there, mate. 01:18:16.60 Brian Penn yeah, so I have to relate this ah story that I've that I've told before on the podcast about when I first saw Jurassic Park when it came out in 93. It was one of only two occasions when I was part of a cinema audience that was a sellout. 01:18:30.66 Brian Penn Every single seat was taken. Every single one. And it's a rare thing, particularly when you've got multiplexes, because there are so many times you can go now. But it was a full house. And the the effects were so jaw-dropping that people were screaming in the audience. 01:18:46.35 Brian Penn People were shouting and screaming at the screen. Just ah in a similar to how I described earlier on when I when i said I darts, this was more magnified than everyone was doing it because people had never seen anything like it before. you know It was so different and so exciting to watch. and this is When Spielberg talks about popcorn movies, a great popcorn movie, this this is this is it. This is the bomb, isn't it? 01:19:13.67 Brian Penn This is what you're looking for. It's something that's jaw-droppingly good. And One thing that struck me, when I watched it again for for this review we're doing here, um I am why and never realised how good the script was. you know Because you're looking at the visuals, and you know the script is really clever. It's very smart. 01:19:33.92 Brian Penn Because ah Jeff Goldblum's character, I think it's Ian Malcolm, he's having an argument with Hammond, the character played by Richard Attenborough, the guy who set it all up. 01:19:45.70 Brian Penn And he's saying, look, What you're doing here takes no discipline. You're standing on the shoulders of giants. You're so impressed by what you've done, you haven't stopped to think about whether you should. you know And Hammond says, well, if I created an island of condors, you'd have nothing to say. 01:20:02.27 Brian Penn And that raises important questions about nature and the ecosystem. you know With the technology available, is it right that we manipulate nature in this way? So it was raising lots of interesting questions about nature about the environment and what we're able to do. 01:20:19.41 Brian Penn But that kind of got lost for me anyway. But so you've got a very intelligent script that's been written there, but you don't necessarily notice it. 01:20:27.23 Chris Olson I think that's the thing with this film. like Having watched it in very different parts of my life, like going from one of my earliest, possibly, no, probably wasn't the first film I saw at the cinema, but definitely one of the earliest ones, i certainly that i remember, to now watching it you know as yeah ah podcast host in my late 30s is like, 01:20:33.75 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:20:38.84 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:20:45.71 Chris Olson is like 01:20:45.89 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:20:47.15 Chris Olson It's such an incredible film. It's so layered and there's so many aspects that you can enjoy. that i must have It must have been one of those films that you know when parents go to the cinema with their kids, like, oh God, that was a brilliant film to watch. 01:20:56.19 Brian Penn Yeah. i 01:20:57.89 Chris Olson it you actually read yeah Everyone thoroughly enjoyed it because there's so much here. 01:20:59.85 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:21:01.41 Chris Olson And you take different things from it. you and yeah It's pinning on lots of themes because of our environmental impact, right? Not just yeah good and bad, yeah we science and what we do and all those things. 01:21:10.89 Brian Penn yeah 01:21:15.17 Chris Olson But it's also that primeval link that we have to these ancestors who used to be the dominant force. 01:21:19.38 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:21:21.46 Chris Olson It's got so much relevance. Like it's always got relevance. I think that's why it spawns so many more films because it's a story that can just keep being told and and slightly tweaked. to make it more relevant to a modern an audience. 01:21:32.64 Chris Olson But I think the spectacle of it, the film it gives me most kind of connection to is probably Jaws. 01:21:32.95 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:21:39.63 Chris Olson Cause obviously similar for a lot of obvious reasons, but it, yeah, in terms of the actual, 01:21:39.81 Brian Penn Hmm. 01:21:44.03 Brian Penn Some of the vibe, isn't it? Yeah. 01:21:48.63 Chris Olson ah physical predators that we're seeing in the film and the way that they're delivered elicits such a stark reaction from audiences. It creates that whoa moment and that is magic. 01:21:59.13 Brian Penn Yeah. Yeah. 01:22:03.90 Chris Olson That is cinema magic and I think that, like you said, that's why the filmmakers look up to this sort of film. 01:22:07.68 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:22:08.88 Chris Olson Their score helps. I mean, that score is absolutely incredible. 01:22:10.49 Brian Penn who 01:22:12.75 Chris Olson um The cast is brilliant. talked about that. I think It's a film that is like, if you're going to do the, when people hold up the scoreboards at like a recital, it's like 10, 10, 10, like everything is just on the money here. 01:22:25.10 Brian Penn yeah i'm like and i 01:22:27.53 Chris Olson Yeah, it's absolutely perfect. 01:22:29.07 Brian Penn It's an amazing film and its power doesn't diminish at all. Even though we've seen six Jurassic films since then, it's powerful. It still carries that punch. Even though I would imagine that how many people have seen that film at some point in the last 32 years, it's still got that punch. It still doesn't diminish in its impacts. 01:22:53.74 Brian Penn And you realise what a genius, I mean, genius Steven Spielberg is. Really incredible. You know, and I mean, going back to one of your earlier points, though, that, you know, it's quite endearing, quite heartwarming. You know, the characters played by Sam Neill and Laura Dern. 01:23:10.73 Brian Penn They're a married couple. And yeah you notice how they kept on getting trapped with these two kids and she wants to have kids and he doesn't. 01:23:17.25 Chris Olson Yeah. 01:23:17.87 Brian Penn They're being put in a position where he has to look after kids and he he and he starts to de develop up kind of a parental instinct then because he thinks, oh, well maybe, yeah. So that's... It's got a human side as well. 01:23:30.08 Brian Penn you know the And that's quite endearing. And it's clever to mix it in with all the action. Because you you could just look upon it as an action movie. So it's it's as you say, it's multi-layered. It's got so much going on there. 01:23:41.19 Brian Penn And the seeing it once, you don't always catch all the nuances. and Which is why I picked up on the the ecological debate in the script, which you wouldn't necessarily get first time around. 01:23:53.83 Chris Olson Absolutely. And that's why we revisit these films, um these nostalgia picks. 01:23:57.33 Brian Penn Exactly. Yeah. 01:23:59.79 Chris Olson And yeah, that was a really good one. and and I thoroughly enjoyed going back to that. and And after you giving the new one, Film of the Month, that has really, really made me want to go see that. um 01:24:09.37 Brian Penn you love it. 01:24:10.11 Chris Olson Rebirth. 01:24:10.18 Brian Penn You will love it. You will love it. 01:24:12.43 Chris Olson So, yeah, that's been our episode ah for this month. Thoroughly entertaining and very varied. yeah We've reviewed films across the spectrum. I hope you enjoyed them. And big thank you to the filmmakers who send us their movies, as always. 01:24:26.36 Chris Olson Big thank you to Brian for going to the cinema, braving the outdoor world in this post-pandemic life that we have. 01:24:31.43 Brian Penn Yeah, know, yeah. Yeah, I'm a brave little soldier, aren't I, really? 01:24:33.45 Chris Olson um You know... You are really. 01:24:36.32 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:24:36.44 Chris Olson um But I don't like to sort of brag about it really for you too much. I don't want you getting a big head. I don't want you feeling that, you know, because otherwise, you know, the demands will start, you know, nightmare. 01:24:45.56 Brian Penn I've got to keep my feet on the ground, I, really? Yeah. 01:24:47.82 Chris Olson um Thank you to everyone um for listening. If you've made it this far, congratulations. You've stuck with us. You know, we talked earlier about running times, but, you know often we run our mouths way too long. 01:24:56.85 Brian Penn Yeah. ah Yeah. 01:24:59.19 Chris Olson um So, yeah, if you made it this far, thank you. And we'll see you again in August. 01:25:04.59 Brian Penn Bye for now. Previous Next

NYC Dreams film review by UK film critic Jason Knight. Starring Yves Mathieu East, Carol Weakland, Nixon Frederick directed by J. Arcane, Paul Erskine. HOME | FILMS | REVIEWS NYC Dreams Film Review average rating is 3 out of 5 Critic: Jason Knight | Posted on: Jul 16, 2022 Directed by: J. Arcane, Paul Erskine Written by: J. Arcane, Paul Erskine Starring: Yves Mathieu East, Carol Weakland, Nixon Frederick A troubled young man with a passion for dancing struggles to find his place in the world. Theo (East) is young African American who is a homosexual and dreams of becoming a professional dancer. Unfortunately, he is having a hard time succeeding at that and he must find a way to come to terms with his past and find out who he is and what he really wants before he can move on with his life. This drama focuses on the life of an individual who appears to have reached a point where he has hit a brick wall and does not know how to get his life back on track. The story is told through his perspective and the audience follows him as he walks through New York City, finds work in a coffee shop, spends time with acquaintances, experiences romance and tries to figure out what to do with himself. The screenplay explores his struggles and brief flashbacks reveal the troubled relationship he had with his father. The narrative does not put a lot of effort into showing his attempts to begin a dancing career, but instead concentrates more into pointing out how much he loves that activity and how he attempts to deal with his past and be a decent person. What mostly stands out are the multiple scenes where Theo begins dancing by himself, accompanied by music and lyrics, in a way turning the movie into a musical. These beautiful scenes contain wonderful choreography and highlight his passion for dancing and signify his temporary escape from reality, much like the main character in Dancer in the Dark proceeds to sing in order to escape from her harsh life. There are lengthy periods of time with no dialogue, many of which include the dance scenes and montages. Arcane also worked on the editing and does a great job with the dancing parts and montages, utilising superimposition to great effect. As the main subject of the feature, East delivers a dramatic performance as a self-taught wannabe dancer with personal issues. He comes across as a bit socially awkward, shy and having difficulties expressing himself. Arcane and Erskine do a great job as directors and create magnificent shots that capture the splendour of New York City. The soundtrack consists of various wonderful songs that add significant value to the movie. The pace feels a bit slow, which is not necessarily a bad thing as this film is a character study and primarily aims to explore a person's life, who they are, rather than focusing on the narrative. Nevertheless, the movie generally does seem overlong. This movie is about self-discovery, inner struggles and having a passion. The narrative might be tedious to some, however it is a decent drama that reveals the beauty of dancing and the importance of people realising who they are and what their purpose in life is. Buy UKFR Banner Space About the Film Critic Jason Knight Indie Feature Film < All Reviews Next Film Review >

The Last Sacrifice film review by UK film critic Hope Madden. Starring Geraldine Beskin, Gavin Bone, Janet Farrar directed by Rupert Russell. HOME | FILMS | REVIEWS The Last Sacrifice Film Review average rating is 3 out of 5 Critic: Hope Madden | Posted on: Feb 16, 2026 Directed by: Rupert Russell Written by: Rupert Russell Starring: Geraldine Beskin, Gavin Bone, Janet Farrar Documentarian Rupert Russell has a pretty wild tale to tell, one set in an isolated British community where outsiders aren’t wanted, information is hard to come by, and something sinister waits in the fields. And if that sounds like every British folk horror film from The Wicker Man in 1973 to Kill List in 2011, there’s a reason. Russell tracks the birth of British folk horror cinema to one specific moment and place in time: Cotswold District, Gloucestershire, England, Valentine’s Day, 1945. On that day in that hamlet—an isolated farming community of about 200 people—Charles Walton was found dead, a pitchfork in his face and throat, a billhook in his neck. The murder shook the nation, its description taking on wild details over the retellings: a cross carved in his chest, dead frogs all around him. The crime so enthralled England that its most prized Scotland Yard detective, Robert Fabian, came to Cotswold to investigate. What he found was a community unwilling to cooperate in the investigation, and the Rollright Stones, enormous ancient stones said to be what remains of an Iron Age King and his soldiers after a witch’s curse. This is all fascinating enough, but Russell goes on to explore the genuine British witchcraft phenomenon of the Sixties and Seventies, and even brings in a Teletubby. What’s wildest about this documentary is the way that the old films—including the campiest Hammer greats The Devil Rides Out , The Witches, and Dracula A.D. 1972 —are based directly from documentary footage of official witch rituals of the time. The campier and more ridiculous the scene, the more exactly it recreates rituals celebrated by Alex Sanders, the era’s self-proclaimed King of the Witches. Except that, of course, Sanders and his followers were harmless, and Hammer’s witches rarely were. But Sanders’s incredible popularity sparked new interest in the Cotswold murder and a whole, very British film genre was born. The Last Sacrifice is sometimes clunky in its true crime format. It’s trying too hard to be scary. The approach doesn’t always suit the material, because the wild cinematic crossover with nonfiction is exponentially more interesting, and no crime was committed there. The information is revelatory for horror film fanatics, jaw-dropping, even. And certain details are downright funny. Russell’s sometimes wobbly approach to the doc is hardly a reason to skip it. If you have any interest in British folk horror, The Last Sacrifice is a fascinating must-watch. (Give yourself the gift of a double feature, with Kier-La Janisse’s 2021 doc Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched , also on Shudder.) Buy UKFR Banner Space About the Film Critic Hope Madden Documentary, Digital / DVD Release < All Reviews Next Film Review >

Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass film review by UK film critic George Wolf. Starring Zoey Deutch, Jon Hamm, Ken Marino directed by David Wain. HOME | FILMS | REVIEWS Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass Film Review average rating is 4 out of 5 Critic: George Wolf | Posted on: Jul 9, 2026 Directed by: David Wain Written by: Ken Marino, David Wain Starring: Zoey Deutch, Jon Hamm, Ken Marino You think Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass is just about a small-town Kansas woman in ruby red shoes traveling to Hollywood on a quest to have sex with Jon Hamm? Get hip to the subtext, man! It’s also a film about a tragic bullfighting fatality, John Slattery pulling out a man’s eyeball while imitating Howard Cosell, a nefarious plot to dismantle the corrupt global financial system, a mailman’s beef with his overcharging roofer and Henry Winkler’s role in the deadly consequences of a briefcase mixup. But yes, this hilarity is centered around Gail (an irresistible Zoey Deutch), a fresh faced and endlessly upbeat hairdresser excited to soon marry her childhood sweetheart Tom (Michael Cassidy). But when a local book signing leads Tom straight into the legs of his celebrity sex pass, Gail’s best friend Otto (Miles Gutierrez-Riley) knows there’s only one thing to do. Gail has to come with him to the big hair show in L.A., and settle the score with her own chosen wizard of aaahhs – Mr. Jon Hamm. Director/co-writer David Wain (Wet Hot American Summer, Role Models ) and co-writer/co-star Ken Marino (veteran comedic support standout) have created a relentless assault of silliness that delivers a consistent string of smiles, yuks, laughs and belly laughs. Beyond the multiple nods to the yellow brick road adventure, Wain and Marino lampoon celebrity culture, paparazzi, the Hollywood bubble and various movie genres with winks, nods and relish, tossing in several surprise cameos to boot. Deutch proves again that she is a versatile talent with serious comedy chops, and the wide-ranging ensemble (led by Marino, Slattery and a delightfully understated Ben Wang) offers fun from every angle. Gail Daughtry is an unhinged cult leader in waiting, with a vibe that is set from the opening minutes. Ride it all the way through the credits (and one final Wiz bang) to score the funniest film of the year so far. Buy UKFR Banner Space About the Film Critic George Wolf Theatrical Release < All Reviews Next Film Review >

Captain America: Brave New World film review by UK film critic Hope Madden. Starring Anthony Mackie, Harrison Ford, Danny Ramirez directed by Julius Onah. HOME | FILMS | REVIEWS Captain America: Brave New World Film Review average rating is 3 out of 5 Critic: Hope Madden | Posted on: Feb 13, 2025 Directed by: Julius Onah Written by: Rob Edwards, Malcolm Spellman, Dalan Musson Starring: Anthony Mackie, Harrison Ford, Danny Ramirez Look out! There’s a bloated menace wreaking havoc at the White House, throwing temper tantrums, creating enemies of allies, and ruining everything he touches. But wait, could there be some nefarious, nerdy, unelected mastermind behind the villainy destroying the United States of America? Art imitates life in Marvel’s latest big screen attempt, Captain America: Brave New World . Anthony Mackie picks up the shield as Cap. We’ve known Mackie could act since his 2009 breakout, The Hurt Locker , but can he carry a franchise film? As a rule, franchise films are helped by the addition of Harrison Ford. He loses the mustache and picks up the mantle carried by Sam Elliott and William Hurt, playing Thaddeus Ross, newly elected President of the USA. The President has done some pretty horrible things, though, and should really be in prison. Instead, he’s in the White House. Pair that with a mysterious villain trying to orchestrate a war, and the end of the world could be in sight. But the movie has bigger problems, starting with its script. Writers Rob Edwards, Malcolm Spellman and Dalan Musson stuff the film with repetitive dialog and endless exposition. Not sure what just happened or what’s about to happen? No need to fret, somebody’s about to explain it again. Director Julius Onah (Luce , The Cloverfield Paradox ) strings together a few impressive action sequences, but the momentum always gets derailed by needless explanation and – especially in the third act – some bland CGI visuals. Even the cameos and end credits scene are less than inspiring. From the beginning, the Captain America character felt like the moral compass of the MCU. The best films in the franchise have found ways to balance the super-heroics with timely questions about power and responsibility. Brave New World creates the opportunity but never allows Cap to follow through. Instead, complexities are neutered in favor of easily digestible answers and the next weakly earned plot point. That’s what makes the film so disappointing. A deserving new hero and a solid cast are given a narrative treatment usually suited to streaming audiences who are looking at their phones or getting up to feed the dog. Above all, this new world seems satisfied with playing it safe. And that’s not brave at all. Buy UKFR Banner Space About the Film Critic Hope Madden Theatrical Release < All Reviews Next Film Review >

The Great Escaper film review by UK film critic Brian Penn. Starring Michael Caine, Glenda Jackson directed by Oliver Parker. HOME | FILMS | REVIEWS The Great Escaper Film Review average rating is 5 out of 5 Critic: Brian Penn | Posted on: Oct 7, 2023 Directed by: Oliver Parker Written by: William Ivory Starring: Michael Caine, Glenda Jackson With Remembrance Sunday barely a month away, the Great Escaper is a sharp reminder of how war scars the mind; no matter how much time we put between ourselves and the event. There are sadly few veterans of the Second World War left to tell the tale. But there is no substitute for living memories that show how past deeds shape the present. This wonderful new film directed by Oliver Parker provides real insight and lays bare the reality of growing old. Based on a true story, it resonates on so many levels and illustrates the debt we owe those who fought for this country. D-Day veteran Bernie Jordan (Michael Caine) lives in a retirement home with his wife Rene (Glenda Jackson). The 70th Anniversary of the Normandy landings is fast approaching. Annoyingly Bernie leaves it too late to register for the official tour party. Undeterred he decides to make his own way alone. Care staff smell a rat but Rene playfully covers for their errant resident. Walking frame in hand he boards the cross border ferry and is befriended by Arthur (John Standing), an ex-RAF pilot. They discover common ground as demons from the war continue to haunt them. Bernie and Arthur are introduced to German veterans with whom they share memories of D-Day. The realisation soon dawns that language is all that separates them. The grand ceremony is about to begin and Arthur has secured front row seats. However Bernie's pilgrimage is not yet complete. Caine and Jackson are outstanding in their respective roles and make a convincing couple in their sunset years. There is real truth in the portrayal of two people that have lived a happy and fulfilling life. But like so many of their generation are trapped by memories of a lost youth. Vivid flashbacks to the war are brilliantly captured with super sharp editing. Bernie looks out on a peaceful beach that turns into the deafening carnage of D-Day. Rene plays an old gramophone record and we land back at the dance hall where she and Bernie met. William Ivory's excellent script crackles with pathos and gentle humour. It pulls no punches and exposes over used platitudes about war. What remains is a thoughtful account of how the elderly can be marginalised; when they should be embraced for their knowledge and wisdom. A film we should all cherish and admire. Buy UKFR Banner Space About the Film Critic Brian Penn Theatrical Release < All Reviews Next Film Review >

Longlegs film review by UK film critic Hope Madden. Starring Maika Monroe, Nicolas Cage, Alicia Witt, Blair Underwood directed by Oz Perkins. HOME | FILMS | REVIEWS Longlegs Film Review average rating is 4 out of 5 Critic: Hope Madden | Posted on: Jul 12, 2024 Directed by: Oz Perkins Written by: Oz Perkins Starring: Maika Monroe, Nicolas Cage, Alicia Witt, Blair Underwood Very few 2024 films have been more eagerly anticipated by horror fans than Oz Perkins’s Longlegs . For some, it’s the filmmaker’s criminally underappreciated features The Blackcoat’s Daughte r, Gretel & Hansel , and I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House that compel interest in his latest effort. For others, it’s lead Maika Monroe, a tremendous talent who routinely chooses challenging, satisfying horror, including It Follows , Watcher , The Guest and more. But for most people, let’s be honest, it’s the chance to see Nic Cage play a deeply deranged serial killer. (We are not made of stone!) Cage excels, as does Monroe—both aided immeasurably by memorable support work from Blair Underwood and Alicia Witt. Monroe is Agent Lee Harker whose “hyper intuitive” nature has her assigned to a confounding case of whole families murdering one another, the only sign of an outside presence being an encoded note left at the scenes. Monroe’s green FBI agent is as stiff and awkwardly internal as Cage’s psycho is theatrical. Her terror is as authentic as his lunacy. Perkins shines as bright as ever, too. As always, his shot selection and framing evoke dark poetry. His use of light and shadow, architecture and space is like no one else’s. His Longlegs direction and writing contain provocative notes of his own Blackcoat’s Daughter , but the plotting here is anchored by something slightly more predictable. I defy you to watch Blackcoat’s Daughter and figure out where it’s going, and yet it ends up exactly where it needs to be. For all the many fascinating flourishes and unsettling performances in Longlegs , there is something here that feels more obvious than any of the filmmaker’s previous films. Maybe it’s the clear influence of 90s thrillers: The Silence of the Lambs, Zodiac , maybe even a little bit of Se7en . It is nagging—the sense, for the first time in any of his films, of recognizability. But don’t let that deter you. In many ways, it’s Perkins’s sleight of hand, his way of suggesting one thing while saying something else, of rooting audiences in something familiar expressly to pull that comfy rug away. Longlegs is strangely beautiful, deeply unnerving, and a fine reason to be a horror fan. Buy UKFR Banner Space About the Film Critic Hope Madden Theatrical Release < All Reviews Next Film Review >

Are You Lonesome Tonight? film review by UK film critic Rachel Willis. Starring Eddie Peng, SylviaChang directed by Shipwei Wen. HOME | FILMS | REVIEWS Are You Lonesome Tonight? Film Review average rating is 3 out of 5 Critic: Rachel Willis | Posted on: Mar 15, 2023 Directed by: Shipwei Wen Written by: Binghao Zhao, Yinuo Wang, Shipwei Wen Starring: Eddie Peng, SylviaChang A distracted driver makes a series of bad decisions one dark evening, setting the tone for director Shipei Wen’s first feature, Are You Lonesome Tonight (Re dai wang shi) . This is a film you expect to go a certain way, so when it veers off in a different direction, it’s an intriguing but not necessarily satisfying choice. The film follows a predictable pattern even though it might not be the pattern you were initially anticipating. The movie’s two leads, Xueming (Eddie Peng) and Ma (Sylvia Chang), are what’s most appealing. Though Xueming is a bit too similar to characters we’ve seen many times before, Ma is more complicated. Because Ma has lost both a husband and a son, you might expect her to put Xueming into the role of son – and in some ways, she does, but emotionally, she keeps him at arm’s length. We don’t spend as much time with Ma as you might want. Instead, we follow Xueming as he makes questionable decision after questionable decision. His motivations are murky, but this works to underscore the darkness of both the film and human nature. He deals with guilt and uncertainty in increasingly violent ways, making the sensitivity he shows Ma especially touching. Though she may be using him to fill certain needs, there’s no doubt there’s something that connects these two. There’s a lack of linear cohesion to the film that is surprisingly irrelevant to the whole. That we move around in time doesn’t increase tension or even really cause confusion. It simply is, and it’s a curious choice. A scene or two is repeated. One particular scene is shown from multiple perspectives, but the choice to work it into the film in two different spots is unnecessary. It would have worked as well – perhaps better – if we saw both perspectives at the same time. There isn’t much going on in this film. The ethical dilemmas are overlooked in favor of a paint by numbers mystery. However, as a slice of Xueming and Ma’s lives, it’s worth watching to see how they react to the events unfolding around them. As a character drama, it’s intriguing. As a languidly paced mystery, Are You Lonesome Tonight is a little underwhelming. Buy UKFR Banner Space About the Film Critic Rachel Willis Digital / DVD Release, World Cinema < All Reviews Next Film Review >