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In A Boy Called Christmas, an ordinary young boy called Nikolas sets out on an extraordinary adventure into the snowy north in search of his father who is on a quest to discover the fabled village of the elves, Elfhelm.. Brand new film trailers. A Boy Called Christmas Trailer On Sky Cinema and in cinemas across the UK & Ireland from 26 November Christmas comes early with the launch of the main trailer for Gil Kenan ’s (Monster House, Ghostbusters: Afterlife ) live-action magical adventure A Boy Called Christmas , a Sky Original . The film boasts an incredible ensemble cast including newcomer Henry Lawfull as protagonist, Nikolas, Toby Jones (Infamous , Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy ), Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water , Paddington 1 & 2 ), Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids, Wonder Woman 1984 ), Michiel Huisman (The Haunting of Hill House, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society ), Zoe Colletti (Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark), Stephen Merchant (Jojo Rabbit, Fighting With My Family, Logan ) Jim Broadbent (Paddington 1 & 2, The Iron Lady ) and Maggie Smith (Downton Abbey, Harry Potter ) and Indica Watson (Gold Digger, Radioactive). In A Boy Called Christmas , an ordinary young boy called Nikolas sets out on an extraordinary adventure into the snowy north in search of his father who is on a quest to discover the fabled village of the elves, Elfhelm. Taking with him a headstrong reindeer called Blitzen and a loyal pet mouse, Nikolas soon meets his destiny in this magical, comic and endearing story that proves nothing is impossible… Ol Parker (Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel ) and Gil Kenan adapted the screenplay from the bestselling book by Matt Haig , the first of 5 books in the acclaimed series, all of which are published by Canongate Books. The film is produced by STUDIOCANAL with Graham Broadbent and Pete Czernin of BAFTA and Academy Award® winning Blueprint Pictures. The film will be released on Sky Cinema, on streaming service NOW and in cinemas on 26 November. The Moment The Land of Sometimes Twins Alfie and Elise find a magical Wish Watch on Christmas Eve and are swept by the Wish Collector into the musical Land of Sometimes, where they learn that wishes have consequences. Avengers: Doomsday Fans are elated at the release of the first teaser trailer for Avengers: Doomsday. Set for a theatrical release on 18th December 2026, find out more here. Greenland 2: Migration Now, the first official trailer for the sequel, Greenland 2: Migration, has landed, promising to take that survivalist tension into even more treacherous territory. Looney Tunes: The Day the Earth Blew Up Looney Tunes: The Day the Earth Blew Up Official Trailer. Looney Tunes: The Day The Earth Blew Up will be in UK & Irish cinemas from 13th February 2026. Mother Mary Ultimately, the Mother Mary trailer establishes a compelling promise: a film that uses the theatricality of the music industry to explore something primal about identity and obsession. Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come In the trailer for Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come establishes a new, thrilling chapter. It’s a sequel that dares to go bigger, transforming a single family’s twisted tradition into a full-scale, world-controlling bloodsport. Shelter People We Meet On Vacation People We Meet On Vacation looks set to be a thoroughly British affair in its tone and appeal—a charming, heartfelt escape, promising both belly laughs and a good cry. Doctor Plague Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery This first glimpse of Wake Up Dead Man isn’t just a trailer; it’s a brilliant statement of intent. The film looks primed to be a festive treat for audiences looking for a compelling, cleverly constructed mystery. Michael Michael is set to arrive in cinemas in the UK and Ireland on the 24th of April 2026, and based on this compelling first look, the world will indeed be waiting. The Carpenter's Son We anticipate that The Carpenter's Son will be less of a retelling and more of a deeply disquieting examination of power, temptation, and the human cost of being chosen. It arrives on 21st November. Eternity Eternity looks set to be a sophisticated, imaginative film that avoids the usual genre clichés by grounding its absurd plot in stellar performances. Kontinental '25 The promotional material and critical buzz surrounding Kontinental ’25 confirm that the winner of the Silver Berlin Bear for Best Screenplay is not only back, but operating at a fever pitch of urgency and daring. Anniversary Kenny Dalglish It's rare for a documentary trailer to stir the soul quite as effectively as the first look at Kenny Dalglish, the upcoming feature focusing on the life and legacy of one of British football's most revered and complex figures. Is This Thing On? Searchlight Pictures has premiered the teaser trailer for Is This Thing On?, and it suggests we are in for a sharp, melancholic comedy that mines the humour and heartbreak of mid-life crisis through the lens of stand-up. Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere The first official trailer for Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, the biopic chronicling the turbulent creation of the 1982 masterpiece Nebraska, has landed. The Bride The latest tease for The Bride, the highly anticipated 2026 offering from Maggie Gyllenhaal, has dropped, and if this brief glimpse is anything to go by, British cinema-goers should prepare themselves for a truly spectacular and unsettling cinematic experience.

Vivo follows a one-of-kind kinkajou (aka a rainforest “honey bear,” voiced by Miranda), who spends his days playing music to the crowds in a lively square with his beloved owner Andrés (Buena Vista Social Club’s Juan de Marcos).. Brand new film trailers. Vivo Official Trailer Vivo Official Netflix Film Trailer Released From Netflix and Sony Pictures Animation — the studio that brought you Oscar winner Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and this year's critically acclaimed blockbuster The Mitchells vs. The Machines — comes Vivo , an animated musical adventure featuring all-new songs from Lin-Manuel Miranda, the Tony, Grammy, and Pulitzer Prize-winning creator of Hamilton and In the Heights . Vivo follows a one-of-kind kinkajou (aka a rainforest “honey bear,” voiced by Miranda), who spends his days playing music to the crowds in a lively square with his beloved owner Andrés (Buena Vista Social Club’s Juan de Marcos). Though they may not speak the same language, Vivo and Andrés are the perfect duo through their common love of music. But when tragedy strikes shortly after Andrés receives a letter from the famous Marta Sandoval (three-time Grammy-winning Latin pop legend Gloria Estefan), inviting her old partner to her farewell concert with the hope of reconnecting, it’s up to Vivo to deliver a message that Andrés never could: A love letter to Marta, written long ago, in the form of a song. Yet in order to get to Marta, who lives a world apart, Vivo will need the help of Gabi (newcomer Ynairaly Simo) – an energetic tween who bounces to the beat of her own offbeat drum to fulfill his owner’s wishes. Also featuring the voices of Zoe Saldaña (Guardians of the Galaxy ) as Gabi’s mother, Rosa; Michael Rooker as a villainous Everglades python, Lutador; Brian Tyree Henry and Nicole Byer as a pair of star-crossed spoonbills; and Katie Lowes, Olivia Trujillo, and Lidya Jewett as a trio of well-meaning but overzealous scout troops, VIVO is an exhilarating story about gathering your courage, finding family in unlikely friends, and the belief that music can open you to new worlds. The film is directed by Oscar nominee Kirk DeMicco (The Croods ), co-directed by Brandon Jeffords (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2) , written by Quiara Alegria Hudes (In the Heights ), produced by Lisa Stewart (Monsters vs. Aliens ), Michelle Wong (Hotel Transylvania 2 ) and Oscar winner Rich Moore (Zootopia ), with visual consultation by Oscar winning cinematographer Roger Deakins (Blade Runner 2049 ). Serving as the film’s composer and executive music producer is Tony and Grammy award-winner Alex Lacamoire (The Greatest Showman ), and the film is executive produced by Miranda, Golden Globe winner Laurence Mark (Dreamgirls ), and Louis Koo Tin Lok (The Mitchells vs. The Machines ). Vivi is in select UK cinemas on 30th July and on Netflix on 6th August. The Moment The Land of Sometimes Twins Alfie and Elise find a magical Wish Watch on Christmas Eve and are swept by the Wish Collector into the musical Land of Sometimes, where they learn that wishes have consequences. Avengers: Doomsday Fans are elated at the release of the first teaser trailer for Avengers: Doomsday. Set for a theatrical release on 18th December 2026, find out more here. Greenland 2: Migration Now, the first official trailer for the sequel, Greenland 2: Migration, has landed, promising to take that survivalist tension into even more treacherous territory. Looney Tunes: The Day the Earth Blew Up Looney Tunes: The Day the Earth Blew Up Official Trailer. Looney Tunes: The Day The Earth Blew Up will be in UK & Irish cinemas from 13th February 2026. Mother Mary Ultimately, the Mother Mary trailer establishes a compelling promise: a film that uses the theatricality of the music industry to explore something primal about identity and obsession. Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come In the trailer for Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come establishes a new, thrilling chapter. It’s a sequel that dares to go bigger, transforming a single family’s twisted tradition into a full-scale, world-controlling bloodsport. Shelter People We Meet On Vacation People We Meet On Vacation looks set to be a thoroughly British affair in its tone and appeal—a charming, heartfelt escape, promising both belly laughs and a good cry. Doctor Plague Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery This first glimpse of Wake Up Dead Man isn’t just a trailer; it’s a brilliant statement of intent. The film looks primed to be a festive treat for audiences looking for a compelling, cleverly constructed mystery. Michael Michael is set to arrive in cinemas in the UK and Ireland on the 24th of April 2026, and based on this compelling first look, the world will indeed be waiting. The Carpenter's Son We anticipate that The Carpenter's Son will be less of a retelling and more of a deeply disquieting examination of power, temptation, and the human cost of being chosen. It arrives on 21st November. Eternity Eternity looks set to be a sophisticated, imaginative film that avoids the usual genre clichés by grounding its absurd plot in stellar performances. Kontinental '25 The promotional material and critical buzz surrounding Kontinental ’25 confirm that the winner of the Silver Berlin Bear for Best Screenplay is not only back, but operating at a fever pitch of urgency and daring. Anniversary Kenny Dalglish It's rare for a documentary trailer to stir the soul quite as effectively as the first look at Kenny Dalglish, the upcoming feature focusing on the life and legacy of one of British football's most revered and complex figures. Is This Thing On? Searchlight Pictures has premiered the teaser trailer for Is This Thing On?, and it suggests we are in for a sharp, melancholic comedy that mines the humour and heartbreak of mid-life crisis through the lens of stand-up. Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere The first official trailer for Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, the biopic chronicling the turbulent creation of the 1982 masterpiece Nebraska, has landed. The Bride The latest tease for The Bride, the highly anticipated 2026 offering from Maggie Gyllenhaal, has dropped, and if this brief glimpse is anything to go by, British cinema-goers should prepare themselves for a truly spectacular and unsettling cinematic experience.

Read the film podcast transcript from the episode titled Conclave - Rumours - Red One - Moana 2 - That Christmas - UK Film Club Ep 22 on UK Film Club part of the UK Film Review Podcast. < Back Conclave - Rumours - Red One - Moana 2 - That Christmas - UK Film Club Ep 22 Listen to This Episode UK Film Club 00:00:00.01 Brian Penn to catch what I've had, you know. 00:00:01.89 Chris Olson You don't want to give our listeners something you know through their headphones, you know something like that. 00:00:07.79 Brian Penn you? You'll never be sure about these things, but I'm over the worst, but there is a lot of it about, as they say. 00:00:14.40 Chris Olson Yeah, absolutely. It's that time of year. um yeah Everyone's got Christmas cheer, but we've also got the Christmas sniffles. 00:00:22.01 Brian Penn and I know, I know. Well, up the weather's colder, isn't it? I mean, you think all these germs would be killed by the by the cold weather, but it's sometimes the opposite, isn't it? You know, you're almost more vulnerable in a way, but there you are, soldier on, you know, these things, all these things are a sense of choice. 00:00:39.65 Chris Olson Yeah, it's funny, because everyone's watching Christmas films, but it could also be a period where you could be watching, you know, like Contagion or something like that, you know, films about disease passing on. 00:00:49.81 Brian Penn Yeah. No. 00:00:52.05 Chris Olson um There was, I'm trying to remember that film, there was a film, I think we reviewed it, didn't we with them? 00:00:53.13 Brian Penn Well, I don't. Yeah. Carry on. Sorry. 00:01:01.09 Chris Olson Then to Washington, where there's like a disease like or like a sinister thing that keeps getting passed from person to person, it touches someone. 00:01:08.30 Brian Penn Oh, yeah, yeah. 00:01:09.94 Chris Olson I'm trying to remember what it's called. But that's a bit what this season's like, isn't it? You sort of go anywhere near someone and you get that evil thing, you know? 00:01:14.43 Brian Penn Yeah, I know. Yeah, I know. But, you know, Christmas time, everyone's out, aren't they? Everyone's meeting been up with friends and family, catching up with each other. So you've got more people in one place, haven't you? So you kind of expect it. but I mean, you're just talking now about the number of Christmas movies that that we're watching at the moment. I don't know whether it's my imagination, but there seems to be more Christmas movies on general release now than in previous years. I just wonder whether, as a genre, it's it's back with Avengers on the big screen. 00:01:43.67 Chris Olson I think so. I think it lends itself very nicely to the streaming idea because a lot of those naff Christmas films that used to end up on like the Hallmark Channel or Channel 5 or something, they are perfect fodder for streaming that want to buy up films cheap. 00:01:49.20 Brian Penn yeah 00:01:59.41 Brian Penn yeah Yeah. 00:02:02.22 Chris Olson Like we reviewed that one on the last episode and it was okay but 00:02:04.45 Brian Penn Yeah. Yeah. 00:02:07.22 Chris Olson it felt like yeah yeah they didn't have massive names in it, and it was it was fairly contained. 00:02:09.69 Brian Penn Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 00:02:14.00 Chris Olson So I think they're quite a good thing to run out. And also, I think with Christmas films, they get lots of multi-plays, right? You will watch it maybe this year, maybe next year, maybe the year after. 00:02:22.30 Brian Penn yeah yeah 00:02:24.53 Chris Olson Whereas like a great thriller, you might only play that thriller once. 00:02:24.87 Brian Penn yeah 00:02:28.83 Brian Penn I know, I know. They have that perennial appeal, don't they? 00:02:31.62 Chris Olson Mm. 00:02:32.25 Brian Penn I mean, Christmas is significant for all of us, isn't it? There are some people that hate Christmas. There are all kinds of valid reasons, but personally, I love Christmas, everything associated with it. 00:02:36.89 Chris Olson Mm. 00:02:41.05 Chris Olson Mm. 00:02:41.55 Brian Penn But it is a very sentimental time, isn't it? It's a time for reminiscing and taking stock, isn't it? right 00:02:47.35 Chris Olson Yeah and I think also it's that time of year that the you throw caution to the wind slightly you know you indulge and that comes through in the movies as well. I think we can be very forgiving of Christmas movies whereas we wouldn't necessarily be that forgiving if they were presented as a normal mainstream cinema release for example and And yeah, I think it depends on your approach and your feelings. Yeah, you are right. A lot of people don't like Christmas. And don't worry, listeners. Dear listener, if you are listening to this, there are plenty of films in this episode that are not Christmas christmas related. There's only a couple that are actually, to be honest. 00:03:23.82 Chris Olson um And if you are a brand new listener to the UK Film Club podcast, I'm Chris, Brian is my co-host, and we review all manner of films, including Chris. 00:03:37.78 Brian Penn yeah 00:03:38.52 Chris Olson i mean We probably do it a bit more than we should, but we also a review 00:03:42.12 Brian Penn He likes it. Oh don't we be honest, we like it. 00:03:44.36 Chris Olson love it. We love it. um But we also review cinema releases, streaming films, indie films and what we call our nostalgia pick, which is a film from the past. 00:03:47.76 Brian Penn Some monster isn't it really? 00:03:55.19 Chris Olson And this one is an absolute classic on the episode today. I mean, yeah, you just can't get away from that movie at Christmas, but we're not going to start there. 00:04:04.96 Brian Penn a know 00:04:07.66 Chris Olson We're going to start at the beginning because that's where everyone starts, really, unless you're Christopher Nolan. 00:04:10.43 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:04:13.32 Chris Olson We're going to start at the beginning, um which is with a release in the cinemas currently. 00:04:14.36 Brian Penn I like it. 00:04:20.81 Chris Olson It's a PG, but I will say this might not be for younger viewers. The film is called Conclave starring Ralph Fiennes. 00:04:26.92 Brian Penn Oh, yeah. 00:04:29.02 Chris Olson Over to you, Brian. 00:04:30.70 Brian Penn Yeah. So Conclave, directed by Eber Burger, starring Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci and John Lithgow. So let's set the scene. The Pope has just died and Cardinal Lawrence has a task of leading the process to select the new Pope. The Cardinal was jockey for for position as alliances are formed and broken. Bellini is the liberal reforming candidate. Tremblay, a moderate conservative. Adeyemi, a modernist. And Tradesco, a reactionary with premise of views of the church and its role in the world. As successive rounds of voting 00:05:09.69 Brian Penn fail to produce an overall winner deep rooted secrets begin to unravel so that's that's the story in a nutshell um this is real quality it's a very very good film but threat might not be for everyone as you say not necessarily particularly suitable for for young kids i mean it's a 15 i think isn't it i think you mentioned 00:05:23.65 Chris Olson Yeah. 00:05:34.24 Chris Olson Well, it says PG on IM2. 00:05:36.61 Brian Penn um pj ago i fifteen 00:05:37.47 Chris Olson Yeah. 00:05:38.56 Brian Penn oh i beg you but 00:05:39.12 Chris Olson Oh, wow. That's a big difference. 00:05:40.75 Brian Penn Yeah, that is a big difference, isn't it? I don't know what made me think, you see, that's how my perception has changed over the years. I almost don't recognise the ratings there. It's a quality film. It deals with the mistakes surrounding the Roman Catholic Church. It shows that Godliness doesn't always bring out the best in people. And also it shows that we're all human and have the same weaknesses. Great cast, as I say, Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Suchi, John Lithgow, you can't go wrong. The imagery is amazing. 00:06:10.27 Brian Penn I think the the way they capture the process, which is still shrouded in mystery. We all know about the comic label and the way it works. We all know about the um white smoke and the puff of black smoke. We know how all that works, but this gives gives you ah some insight. I'm not sure how accurate it is. They're much of its dramatic license, but I think it sheds light oh on what can happen, what can be at play. 00:06:39.16 Brian Penn and what comes to light because people are only human after all so very serious subject matter it's not a comedy it's it's a drama it's a thriller so it might explain why it's got a PG racing but to me they're very fine lines you've got to draw the line somewhere I guess but it's a good film it's a very good film just very well made beautiful to look at Rome looks great how could you not make look Rome look great. you know ah but yeah Good film. Very good film. 00:07:13.69 Chris Olson Well, I mean, it's the sort of movie that I would definitely pop on, you know, if I'm seeing something like that, especially with Ralph Fiennes in the yeah lead role, it's going to appeal. 00:07:24.66 Chris Olson But is it is it cinema worthy, Brian? 00:07:27.37 Brian Penn I think it is, in my opinion. 00:07:28.78 Chris Olson Yeah. 00:07:29.65 Brian Penn It does have that cinematic look about it. I think we know, don't we, that some films are built for the small screen. i it often makes more sense when films go straight to stream. 00:07:41.05 Brian Penn But it's a very fine line, but I feel that Conclave works well on the bigger screen. So I think they were right to do that. Although I'm not sure how much longer it'll be running on the big screen. 00:07:51.90 Brian Penn you know the there were very There were relatively few showings. 00:07:51.99 Chris Olson e 00:07:54.43 Brian Penn I mean, if you if you check out your local multiplex, whereas there might be 11 or 12 showings of, say, Paddington, for example, a day, a film like Conclave will get three or four, if that. 00:08:07.83 Brian Penn So, you know, it's shelf life as a theatrical release, it's very short and it will go onto stream very quickly, but that's the name of the game, isn't it? It's about where they get their exes back, isn't it? 00:08:16.93 Chris Olson Hmm. 00:08:18.99 Brian Penn So, but I know, I think, in answer to your question, I think it does deserve to be seen on the big screen. 00:08:19.97 Chris Olson Yeah. 00:08:24.73 Chris Olson Is it, would you say it's awards fodder? Do you think it's punting for some Oscars? 00:08:30.05 Brian Penn Probably not, probably not. 00:08:31.26 Chris Olson No. 00:08:32.40 Brian Penn it's It's very consistent. What you get is what you see. um such fine accents but i don't really see this as the type of film that will get many nominations would be recognised by the academy mean because i think it deals with with a vague vaguely dangerous subject a very touchy subject and that might be the reason why they avoid it now every film gets an award of some description if you look up a film online it will say one 11 awards one 00:09:06.16 Brian Penn or nominated for 63 awards but you know it could be the I don't know the it could be the the uh the Lisbon film festivals nominated for an award if you know what I mean no disrespect to to Lisbon and Portugal but you know you know every film gets an award somewhere they try and make the most of that but when we're talking about major gongs we're talking about the Oscars we're talking about BAFTA's Golden Globes they're the biggest aren't they and I can't see them getting that although 00:09:17.60 Chris Olson Yeah. 00:09:32.35 Chris Olson yeah 00:09:35.71 Brian Penn The screenplays, brilliant. The screenplays, excellent. It's very literal and very very easy to watch, I feel. 00:09:43.57 Chris Olson Yeah Hmm it feels like one of those films like when I so I've seen the trade and I've seen an obviously bits about it and you're reviewing things and I think that that's the sort of film they go for sometimes is they like that sort of classic storytelling, something a bit niche. 00:09:57.25 Brian Penn and Yeah. 00:09:58.89 Chris Olson They obviously they hate franchises and all that sort of stuff, um unless it's the sort of more technical awards. 00:10:01.59 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:10:06.39 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:10:06.54 Chris Olson But yeah ah oh yeah, I was just interested because it just had that vibe about it. But no well, yeah, who knows? 00:10:11.97 Brian Penn well I think it'd be great if it did if it did get nominated for a bigger wall, but I think it's a very sensitive subject, isn't it? 00:10:20.34 Chris Olson Hmm. 00:10:20.48 Brian Penn Anything to do with religion is. The Academy, um ah the BAFTAs, sent us to stray away from controversy. um I don't know, but I'd be delighted if it got something, because it's It's one of the best films of the year, ah in my opinion. Yeah, 00:10:39.57 Chris Olson Wow, okay. Well, Conclave, let us know if you've seen it, share your reviews. We'd love to hear them. We are moving on to another film, which I believe is on streaming at the same time as cinema. um Brian probably got know more about this, ah which is Red One. 00:10:57.43 Brian Penn yeah right, okay. You're right, it already already is streaming, but you can still see it at the cinema. um Sometimes you you just get overtaken, don't you, by the speed of processing that they put a film out there right straight to streaming. So this film is is directed by Zach Kastad starring Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans, JK Simmons and Lucy Liu. So are you sitting comfortably? I'll begin. it's It's three days before Christmas and Santa Claus is gearing up for his busiest night of the year. 00:11:32.62 Brian Penn But he said a security cow was soon enough. After 300 years on the job, he's grown tired of so many adults being on the naughty list. But things get serious when Sansa is kidnapped by dark forces. They are in to drain his positive energy and punish anyone, not just those on the naughty list. But Zoe, head of security in the mythological world, has a plan. She she ensnares IT hacker Jack. 00:12:01.82 Brian Penn to find Sansa. He forms an unlikely partnership with Cal, but can they really say Christmas? So this will not, I'll be honest with you here, Chris, right? 00:12:12.27 Brian Penn This will not go down as a great Christmas movie. 00:12:15.45 Chris Olson No. 00:12:15.70 Brian Penn No, no, I don't think so. Not really. You'll need the odd chariot too, before you watch it. Let's put it that way. But it's, again, it's a phrase I often come back to. It's all good fun. It's harmless enough. 00:12:26.57 Brian Penn The special effects are brilliant. But again, as we said before, it's almost a standard feature of any film now that the effects are going to be good. So we, we cease to be impressed by that. 00:12:38.20 Brian Penn The plot goes a bit, a lot deeper than is necessary. Santa Claus is a simple, simple tell. It doesn't need any elaboration. So that kind of exposes a weakness. 00:12:48.74 Brian Penn Otherwise it's an okay kind of Christmas movie. I could be more brutal, but hey, seems to be good will and You're right though. It's, ah I think it's available to rent or buy on stream. 00:13:01.24 Chris Olson Well, it's been coming up on my Amazon Firestick thing. And I was like, oh, and I think what happens is often these streaming platforms are putting money behind the movies, right, to say that you can have a bit of a small window at cinema, but then it's coming straight over to the streaming platform. 00:13:16.93 Brian Penn Yeah, yeah. 00:13:18.25 Chris Olson And I think they have to go to the cinema if they want to ah get anywhere near an award, because I think the awards are very funny about that. 00:13:23.67 Brian Penn That's right. Yeah, yeah. 00:13:25.38 Chris Olson But that will probably change, to be honest, the way that things are going. 00:13:28.24 Brian Penn They'll change the rules, won't they? 00:13:28.95 Chris Olson ah you do 00:13:30.10 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:13:30.84 Chris Olson This, I mean, in fairness, this felt like, OK, yeah, you've got big names. It's a big cinema film. Put it at the cinema. There's no there's no harm in that. I think people they want to go watch a Christmas flick. It's fine. 00:13:40.68 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:13:40.94 Chris Olson um But I've not seen it. So yeah it doesn't sound like it's going to um stick around in the in the year upon year of Christmas movies. 00:13:50.03 Brian Penn Probably not. 00:13:50.10 Chris Olson You know. 00:13:50.79 Brian Penn No, it would do good business on stream. I'm sure it will, but it's not a safe, not one that's going to resonate that deeply. But you know, the unlike Dwayne Johnson, I think he has no pretensions about what he is and what he does. 00:14:02.53 Chris Olson Hmm. 00:14:04.29 Brian Penn He knows what his position is. He's not an actor. He's an action hero, more or less. And that kind of fits, this film fits his criteria, if you like. And J.K. Simmons is always good for you. Lucy Liu's very good. Chris Evans, you know, they all put in a decent shift. They all do work very well with it. But as I say, it's it's kind of like, yeah, okay, that's good. and But you say next, you know. 00:14:31.58 Chris Olson Mmm, it's like one of those throwaway gifts you get from under the present into the tree. Just okay cool Yeah, yeah, don't give me this next year Brian. 00:14:35.88 Brian Penn Yeah, and you would get it the following year. 00:14:41.10 Chris Olson All right. Don't say hey Chris. I've got a great recommendation for you um I mean, it doesn't sound that bad to be fair. We've had 00:14:47.11 Brian Penn no it's all right it's okay it's okay but i mean if you match it against similar efforts then it doesn't score very highly really but um you know you take it for what it is um you know it ticks all the boxes for a christmas movie but you you know you have to suspend your disbelief a little bit as with most films but it does the job it's it's a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours 00:15:13.43 Chris Olson you go. I don't think that's good enough for the poster. Moving on to... 00:15:16.43 Brian Penn No, I don't think it is. We're not going to make it onto the poster, are we? 00:15:19.14 Chris Olson No, they don't often put us on them, I'll be honest. 00:15:19.41 Brian Penn We're not going to be close, are we there? 00:15:22.37 Chris Olson um next Next movie is is a cinema release, and it's called Rumours, and I know nothing about this film, so I'm intrigued. 00:15:23.07 Brian Penn ah 00:15:31.09 Brian Penn Well, this is a big surprise for me. I was, as you know, always thrash around to find some good films to review for the podcast. And I was kind of running short. I'm trying to think of films that we hold over to the next edition. 00:15:45.63 Brian Penn and films that we can cover now. And I saw this film, and I thought, well, that sounds interesting. Let's give that a go. And I'm glad I did, actually. um This is directed by Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson, and and Guy Madden, starring Kate Blanchett and Charles Dance. 00:16:01.59 Brian Penn So the leaders of G7 meet in a remote location to draft a statement on global change. However, they become lost in the woods. As they make their way back to civilization, they are confronted by dark forces. 00:16:11.52 Chris Olson . . . . 00:16:15.52 Brian Penn that threaten their very existence. Now, this has to be the strangest and most compelling film I've seen for a fair while. um It's loaded with symbolism. 00:16:26.27 Brian Penn The notion that leaders of the world's seven greatest democracies are lost in the woods, trying to get their bearings, but also under mortal threat from an unseen enemy, that kind of rings true. 00:16:37.27 Brian Penn you know Where we are globally, you know when you look at all the strife and trouble there is in the world, we look to our political leaders to lead us out. 00:16:37.36 Chris Olson . . . 00:16:45.51 Brian Penn of the woods, don't we? So I think the symbolism is very strong and very cleverly done. But there are certain scenes in the in the film where you go, what? Where did that come from? It's that type of thing. Alicia Vikander plays Celestine, the the president of the EU Commission, who turns up probably halfway through the film, speaking a language none of them understand. And they're all sort of saying, oh, is it Serbo-Croat? Is it Creole? And they're trying to work out out what language she's speaking. 00:17:14.22 Brian Penn They realize it's Swedish and they, well, I'm not going to give it, give it a away, but it's, it's just surreal, but I think it's a very good film and I can understand why Kate Blanchett was attracted to it because it's different. 00:17:29.58 Brian Penn It's unusual. 00:17:29.92 Chris Olson I was going to say it doesn't feel like her normal wheelhouse, does it? 00:17:32.57 Brian Penn i 00:17:32.80 Chris Olson It feels something big. 00:17:32.97 Brian Penn She's probably why she likes it, you know, um, but it's really good though. 00:17:34.95 Chris Olson oh 00:17:37.71 Brian Penn Really good. Again, a bit like bread one. ah it will have a very limited cinema release. 00:17:45.78 Chris Olson Hmm. 00:17:46.70 Brian Penn Strangely enough, I think this film probably works as well on a small screen as it does on a big screen. So it could explain why it's got such a ah limited run on theatrical release, but catch it if you can, because it is very good, very challenging, different, quirky, unusual. 00:18:05.21 Chris Olson Yeah. 00:18:09.77 Brian Penn You know, I mean, As good as most of the films are that we review, ah there're are you know there much of a muchness, salt a really. There's very little in the way of true originality. And I'm not just talking about sequels, but there are variations on a common theme. You don't mind that as long as they're entertaining and they're well-made. But this is different. I've not seen anything like this before. So it deserves a lot of credit for that. And it's quite bold as well. 00:18:37.54 Chris Olson Wow. I mean, like I said, hadn't heard about it. And when you look at the cast, you think, wow. And yeah, from your review, it does sound like that sort of film one should check out. 00:18:43.03 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:18:47.16 Chris Olson It's got a very unsettled rating on IMDB. It's 5.1 out of 10. So I think a lot of people are not liking it as much as loving it. 00:18:52.38 Brian Penn yeah Yeah. Yeah. 00:18:55.90 Chris Olson So it's probably one of those sort of very divisive pieces. um yeah 00:18:59.56 Brian Penn Yeah, that doesn't surprise me really. It's that kind of film. You know, people will either get it or they don't. I mean, I straight away, again, that's not me you know, I could be reading something into a totally false, but the symbolism was there. The implication was clear to me is that this, this is representative of the position the world's leaders are in. And maybe it's not that at all, but to me, that seems to be the point it's making and it's very well done. 00:19:29.58 Chris Olson Well, as I always say, all opinions are valid. 00:19:32.55 Brian Penn Yeah, of course not. 00:19:33.31 Chris Olson So let us know your opinion of rumors if you get to see it. 00:19:35.20 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:19:36.87 Chris Olson And we'd love to hear it. That'd be great. 00:19:38.33 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:19:38.99 Chris Olson Listeners of the podcast, rejoice. A christmas Christmas miracle has happened. I have made it to the cinema again once this year. 00:19:48.83 Brian Penn Yeah, I was going to say, it's the first time this year, is it? 00:19:49.33 Chris Olson um i I think so. No, we went, didn't we? We went to see um Fast and Furious. 00:19:55.41 Brian Penn I don't know. 00:19:56.72 Chris Olson um But yeah, I've not gone a lot and listeners will know. ah Yeah. 00:20:00.15 Brian Penn You've got kids, um yeah I mean, it's fair. 00:20:02.66 Chris Olson I've got kids, which was the only reason I was able to get to this because I saw Moana 2. 00:20:07.83 Brian Penn Ah. 00:20:07.98 Chris Olson And my kids are big fans of the first Moana film. We reviewed the film with Rain Johnson in earlier, so he's back in this film. um And yeah, it's a Disney princess, although she's not a princess, but it's kind of like a running joke in the film movie. 00:20:25.63 Chris Olson So um if you know, The gist of the first one, you'll know exactly what's going to go down in the second one. They stick very much to the formula of the animated musical. 00:20:38.27 Chris Olson And yeah, I actually i enjoyed it a lot more than some of the other critics out there have been. The the gist is that Moana is now i so the the chief of her village. 00:20:49.69 Chris Olson She's a wayfinder, but she's now trying to find her ancestors, yeah people that have been estranged across the oceans. And that's just generally the gist. 00:21:00.97 Chris Olson I don't think it's going much deeper into it than that. 00:21:01.73 Brian Penn Yeah. Yeah. 00:21:03.53 Chris Olson I think it lacks the, as a lot of these musical sequels do, it lacks the same punch that the songs from the first film had. I think that happens a lot with the the very catchy songs like, say, Frozen. 00:21:10.83 Brian Penn ah Yeah. 00:21:15.78 Chris Olson They're very, very catchy. They try and do it again. And it's not quite got the same you know ah appeal. But they are pretty good. And you can always be sure with a Disney animated film like this that you're in safe hands animation wise. 00:21:28.39 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:21:28.81 Chris Olson You know, they're excellent. There's plenty of bits to laugh at. 00:21:31.10 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:21:33.22 Chris Olson There's plenty of scary bits. I took my three-year-old and seven-year-old, well, she was six then, she's only just had her birthday, but yeah, to it. And I mean, yeah, well, thank you very much. 00:21:44.12 Chris Olson They um they made it through the whole film. I was very proud of them. Didn't go out once. I think it's because they're my kids. I don't let them go out. I'm like, no, you will sit and you will watch the whole film. No, they were very good. 00:21:55.19 Chris Olson And it was a few scary bits, but generally it was fine. But yeah, no. Very good cinema film. If you've got the kids, you know, you want something to watch on the big screen, I thoroughly recommend it. 00:22:06.18 Chris Olson If you like the first one, it's very much in the same wheelhouse. um Just lost a little bit of that spark, which is inevitable with these sort of movies, I think. But yeah, Moana too. 00:22:14.62 Brian Penn ah think yeah ah I mean, I've not seen it yet, but um I've only seen trailers and so on. But I saw the first one a fair while ago, to be honest. 00:22:21.85 Chris Olson Have you seen the first one? 00:22:25.75 Brian Penn But you know um no I think this is the um this is the eternal issue that you have with follow-up films, isn't it? 00:22:26.46 Chris Olson Yeah. 00:22:35.37 Brian Penn Particularly where they're driven by the songs, aren't they? you know You know the animation is going to be good, as you say with Walt Disney. You're in good hands, you know that. um but But the songs have got to be good. They've got to work. And if they're not as strong as they were, then that that's an issue, isn't it? 00:23:04.17 Chris Olson right go but 00:23:05.59 Brian Penn Yeah, so it looks and looks really good. I mean, the there's always a consistency there, isn't there? There's very little, I feel you can criticize that severely with Walt Disney. It's what they do. you know The techniques have evolved over the years, style of animations changed. They have a certain type of song that they use. you know So in some ways they're using a formula, but I don't think there's ever been a bad Walt Disney animated feature. Some are better than others. I think that's the that's the bottom line, isn't it really? 00:23:40.02 Chris Olson Yeah and you definitely get your money's worth for something like Moana too. um So i yeah'd I'd recommend it because I liked it more than other critics out there. I found it kept its vibe enough because the best example I can give is really Frozen because Frozen 00:23:53.27 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:23:57.85 Chris Olson number two. And I felt that the drop in quality was quite big with that. 00:23:58.99 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:24:02.16 Chris Olson It was like, oh, they they really didn't have a story here for that second one. 00:24:02.84 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:24:05.13 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:24:05.97 Chris Olson Whereas here, more I think the story is decent enough. 00:24:09.24 Brian Penn yeah 00:24:09.28 Chris Olson And the characters are also well rounded. They've got plenty to them. The dynamic between um Yeah, the Moana character, ah and I've forgotten Dwayne Johnson's name, Maui. 00:24:22.68 Brian Penn no 00:24:22.75 Chris Olson It's a really good dynamic. and It's a bit of a shame for quite a lot of the film. They're not together. He's he's somewhere else. I won't spoil it, but once they are together, it's it's really, really good. But yeah, let us know. 00:24:32.22 Brian Penn Sorry Chris, how long was the film? How long was it last for? 00:24:36.47 Chris Olson Out of 40, that one. 00:24:38.66 Brian Penn Now that sounds a bit on the long side, were your kids okay with it? 00:24:41.06 Chris Olson With kids, yeah. 00:24:44.92 Chris Olson Yeah, they made it through. Obviously with that, especially with an animated film, there's a lot of credits. So it's probably more like hour 30, hour 35. 00:24:53.62 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:24:55.10 Chris Olson But no, it holds up. I would say there's not much you could trim from it. You probably could, but it's not, yeah, I didn't sit there thinking, oh God, this is going on a bit. 00:25:05.76 Brian Penn so 00:25:06.46 Chris Olson No, it kept, I feel sometimes these animated films, they start running for two hours and you think, no, you can't, that's too long. 00:25:11.29 Brian Penn I think an hour and a half is probably about an hour full so you could straight stretch it to an hour full, see that just about works. 00:25:21.09 Chris Olson yeah 00:25:21.56 Brian Penn ah I don't, you know, any longer than that, I think you're you're in trouble really. But you make an interesting point though about the opening and closing credits, because I think the pre publicity blurb kind of lies to us Chris, they lie to us. 00:25:35.74 Brian Penn They say a film's two hours 11 minutes and it ends up at one hour 59, because the closing site was going on for about 10 minutes. 00:25:40.00 Chris Olson Yeah. Okay. 00:25:43.80 Brian Penn um You know, and you think, well, I should just say that this is the opening frame, this is the closing frame. look Who stays for the closing credits anyway? 00:25:54.79 Chris Olson Well, what I'd like would be for cinemas to actually tell you when the film is going to start because we sat through 30 minutes of adverts, not trailers, adverts, before we didn't get to the trailers. 00:26:06.73 Brian Penn and and I I Yeah. 00:26:08.34 Chris Olson And I'm like, my kid has been in a seat now for 45 minutes. I'm pushing my luck as it is, um but they were transfixed. It was. my youngest's first time to the cinema so she was very much kind of like bewildered by the size of the screen and my oldest has only ever been to see Paw Patrol which she also she really enjoyed that but with this I think there was a lot more energy and you know Disney know how to hold a kid's attention I think so oh yeah they're fine um but yeah no let's know if you've seen one or two I've not heard many listen reviews I've seen create reviews um we're staying in the animated 00:26:19.31 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:26:23.25 Brian Penn Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. ah like Yeah. 00:26:35.63 Brian Penn yeah 00:26:39.91 Brian Penn yeah 00:26:47.08 Chris Olson realm and fans of this show, fans of the podcast just in general will know we're all big fans at UK Film Review of Richard Curtis. um He has written some of the best movies and even our spin-off show with Amber and Joyce is actually kind of named after the film we're going to read later. 00:27:04.81 Brian Penn absolutely 00:27:12.84 Chris Olson Their show is called Gay Actually. um So obviously we should go with Love Actually. 00:27:14.61 Brian Penn and 00:27:17.31 Chris Olson and We thought this year we couldn't miss the chance to review his latest movie because it's come out in December and it's a Christmas film and it's on Netflix so no one has any excuse not to see it. 00:27:24.05 Brian Penn Mmm. Yeah. yeah 00:27:31.09 Chris Olson It is called That Christmas and I was so excited for this I must say I was really really buzzing. 00:27:37.15 Brian Penn yeah 00:27:38.56 Chris Olson Brian did you have that same anticipation or were you not quite as mad as I am? 00:27:41.16 Brian Penn yeah No, no, no, no. Anything we Richard Curtis in is going to work for me straight away. But as as I've always said about when you're a big fan of someone, of a writer, an actor, a director, you tend to set the bar very high and you expect something special every time. 00:27:56.63 Chris Olson Hmm. 00:27:59.00 Brian Penn So, yeah, but I was always excited to see a new Richard Coates this fall. 00:28:03.75 Chris Olson And he's not done an animated film before and It's the perfect timing for that. We were talking earlier about yeah how platforms can release these movies. 00:28:15.21 Chris Olson But when it comes to animated Christmas films, that's a genre upon itself. We reviewed After Christmas in the last episode, which is still probably my favourite Christmas film of all time. 00:28:20.68 Brian Penn Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. 00:28:27.05 Chris Olson and I feel this is in that league. It's in that league with those type of movies. 00:28:31.98 Brian Penn yeah 00:28:33.71 Chris Olson You know, the snowman and stuff like that, which if you think it will become an enduring classic that Christmas. 00:28:39.14 Brian Penn I think in silent will do. I think the the gold standard for animated Christmas features will always be after Christmas. 00:28:47.31 Chris Olson Hmm. 00:28:47.95 Brian Penn That's the standard against which you would judge any any animated feature. And it's it's it's it's close, but probably not quite as good. They're very good though. 00:28:59.12 Chris Olson No, no, it's not. I mean, do if you've not seen it, the the gist is that Santa is stuck in a snowed storm. um The whole film kind of takes place in this small town yeah on the coast in the UK. Wellington, is that Wellington on sea? 00:29:16.30 Chris Olson And yeah, this this snowstorm also wreaks havoc with the the locals, families get separated. There's a snow day at school and um one child's mother, who's a nurse, has to go to work instead. 00:29:30.55 Chris Olson And he gets it's like i have home alone day, but he has to go to school. It's quite hard to wrap this up in a narrative because there's so many little subplots. 00:29:36.94 Brian Penn know. 00:29:38.26 Chris Olson But generally, it's a all things go on in one town. 00:29:38.46 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:29:42.10 Chris Olson And it kind of does follow that love, actually, sort of 00:29:42.56 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:29:44.98 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:29:45.03 Chris Olson uh multi-plot line structure which I actually at first it wasn't working for me I'll be honest so I started watching it and I started to feel a bit like oh oh this isn't working for me I'm not sure on this and it wasn't until about halfway through the film that I was like oh no no no this is good I'm happy now that I'm actually I'm in this because the latter part of the film is very very good but it is I would say it it's lacking the same 00:29:57.89 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:30:03.33 Brian Penn Yeah. yeah 00:30:08.36 Brian Penn yeah 00:30:14.70 Chris Olson magical charm that Arthur Christmas had, which just, but it was just full on laughs, lovely, lovely jokes, great animation. 00:30:17.36 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:30:21.91 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:30:23.23 Chris Olson With this, I think it did take a little bit more time to get going. 00:30:26.92 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:30:26.98 Chris Olson And I don't think the story is is as strong as Arthur Christmas. 00:30:32.25 Brian Penn it's It's very cosy, isn't it? It's what I'd call a cosy film. 00:30:35.84 Chris Olson Oh yeah. 00:30:35.85 Brian Penn play and so It's pleasant to watch. It's really nice. You don't necessarily see the the Richard Curtis touches that you'd expect. But then again, It's a children's story, isn't it? 00:30:46.05 Brian Penn so And it's based on books that you wrote for children, so you wouldn't. 00:30:46.41 Chris Olson Yeah. 00:30:50.27 Brian Penn But I suppose in my own mind, I was expecting it to have that same flair, if you like, but it couldn't. So if you just accept that it's not going to be anything like he's done before, this is a new avenue for him, isn't it? 00:31:04.36 Brian Penn But I think it's very sweet and it's endearing and the characters are very likable. The actors involved, I think, do a fantastic job. I always think voicing a cartoon character and an animated character so it is in some ways more difficult than playing somebody live on screen, because you have to inject that much more life into a voice, don't you, to to make it land properly. But Brian Cox is great as Sansa, Jodie Whittaker's great. um And it's it's so nicely done. But i think I think what I'd say is it's a grower. It's a grower. It grows on you more. 00:31:44.61 Brian Penn The more you think about it, the more you look at it. You think, yeah, this this kind of works. And I think what it does though, is that it portrays a view of life that sadly doesn't exist anymore. You know, that sense of community spirit, everyone knows everyone, everyone's mingling together, everyone looks out for everyone. If only it could be like that now, but I don't think it is. Times have changed, times have moved on, but there's no harm in wishing It was like that, I guess, but that's probably a, it's only weak spot is that you only wish it could be like that, but it, but it isn't, but it's no harm in dreaming. is So I guess. 00:32:24.30 Chris Olson Yeah, I think it had that sense of, he's done that in other films. you You watch stuff like Even Love Actually, About Time, which I absolutely love, for love that movie. 00:32:32.94 Brian Penn I love that. Yeah. 00:32:34.36 Chris Olson When he was involved, obviously, Victor of Dibley and stuff like that, which is very, it's got this rose-tinted view of English life that I think viewers just absolutely eat it up. 00:32:37.64 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:32:42.51 Brian Penn Yeah, right. 00:32:45.92 Chris Olson They love it. 00:32:46.59 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:32:46.96 Chris Olson And what I think you touched on in in your review there, that I feel with this movie, It was missing the cheekiness. He writes some really cheeky stuff. 00:32:56.34 Brian Penn Yeah, it's clever, isn't it? 00:32:57.58 Chris Olson And it's he gets it's like it's naughty, but in it's done in a way that, yeah, it's not offensive. 00:32:59.94 Brian Penn Yeah, it's clever. 00:33:03.66 Brian Penn Yeah, yeah. 00:33:03.72 Chris Olson It's not crude. And it's not like, oh, that's going to upset someone. 00:33:06.76 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:33:06.88 Chris Olson It's more like, oh, my god, I can't believe they're getting away with that. 00:33:08.92 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:33:09.53 Chris Olson um It didn't have any of that. It felt a lot more tame. And it really did feel like it was aimed at a much younger audience, which is absolutely fine. 00:33:13.54 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:33:17.45 Chris Olson I've got young kids. 00:33:17.74 Brian Penn yeah 00:33:18.29 Chris Olson theyve They both watched. 00:33:19.26 Brian Penn All right. 00:33:19.45 Chris Olson they've They've seen it, and they really liked it. um So I think you're right. I think it will kind of, I think it will stick around. It'll be a film that people will stick back on. But on first viewing, it wasn't a complete revelation to me. 00:33:33.91 Chris Olson It wasn't like, oh, wow, finally it's arrived. If anything, it made me think, do you know what? I want to go watch Love Actually, or I want to go watch one of his other movies that was a bit more cheeky, a bit more naughty. 00:33:43.23 Brian Penn well but Yeah, but the thing is though, I think we're just not used to seeing Richard Curtis right in that way. We've never seen anything like this before. 00:33:53.27 Chris Olson Hmm. 00:33:55.57 Brian Penn So we're used to seeing Knossing Hill, Four Winds and the Funeral Love actually about sign. It's it's a completely different type of writing. It's very it a very sophisticated humour. 00:34:07.88 Brian Penn um you know As I as to say, I think we need to get accustomed to Richard Curtis is writing in a certain way because we're we're not used to it. I think that's. 00:34:18.03 Chris Olson And it was good. I can't deny it was good. I liked that the animation was amazing. I thought it was brilliant. 00:34:22.97 Brian Penn Yeah, yeah. 00:34:23.91 Chris Olson um And I think there are jokes there. Also, it probably does have that and after Christmas appeal that on a rewatch, there'll be jokes that maybe we missed. 00:34:36.46 Chris Olson And so I've only seen it once. 00:34:36.60 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:34:37.82 Chris Olson And I've seen bits of it when my kids were watching it. But I think I will 100% give it another go, because I reckon there'll be bits in there that I go, oh, that's clever. Oh, well done there. 00:34:48.86 Brian Penn yeah 00:34:49.30 Chris Olson you know 00:34:50.21 Brian Penn With Richard Curtis, you go back and watch it again, there'll be something that you've missed the first time around. And it doesn't matter, any times you watch it, there will always be something you miss, something very subtle. 00:35:02.17 Brian Penn And it might just be an expression following a a throat throwaway line, but it's gold. It's and just a nugget, isn't it? You think, oh, I never noticed that. 00:35:12.15 Chris Olson Absolutely. 00:35:13.08 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:35:13.13 Chris Olson Well, listeners stay tuned because we're going to actually review Love Actually at the end of this episode. 00:35:17.69 Brian Penn yeah 00:35:18.77 Chris Olson That's how nostalgia picked this month. But we're moving on now to the indie film section of our show, which is where we review selection of movies that have been sent to us for us to review. 00:35:29.84 Chris Olson And the filmmakers have actually requested it, as opposed to Richard Curtis, who didn't ask us to lend our thoughts to his movie. 00:35:36.07 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:35:36.51 Chris Olson And with... 00:35:36.75 Brian Penn You know what, if he's listening, I mean, happily review this film if you ask this. 00:35:38.54 Chris Olson Yeah. 00:35:41.86 Chris Olson Yeah, come on, Richie, come on, come on the show. 00:35:43.36 Brian Penn Yeah. Come on, Sean. 00:35:45.02 Chris Olson um Yes, very, very honored to to have this selection of indie films to review this month, the first one of which called Opportunity. We have a clip, I believe, but it's from the filmmakers, one of the stars of the show. 00:35:55.64 Brian Penn Oh wow. 00:35:59.16 Chris Olson So here is one of the actors talking about the movie. 00:36:49.08 Chris Olson So that was ah Donny, ah well, the character of Donny Hatcher, but played by Quinn Akile, talking about the movie Opportunity, as he says, written and directed by Rusty Rael. 00:37:01.42 Chris Olson I reviewed this on the site and I think I may have done it elsewhere. But Brian, why don't you give us the rundown on Opportunity to get your words on this one? 00:37:08.71 Brian Penn Yeah. Okay. All right. Okay, though. um So Patrick who is a man living in his farm, trying to sort his life out. Having been rejected by the banks, he was also a loan shop to help him purchase a home. ah But it becomes indebted to his finances in a dangerous favor that sees him and his gullible friend, Donny, sucked into all kinds of trouble. Now, I think it's interesting, the clip that you played just now, because um 00:37:39.64 Brian Penn He touched on the idea of the underdog, basically. And we're all underdogs of one description or another, aren't we, in life? We're all trying to get ahead, aren't we? And I really enjoyed this film, actually. There's a lot going on there. Sometimes the character's motivation is difficult to understand. I mean, why does Donny hang out with this guy? i mean But then again, that's friendship, though, isn't it? And you you do help a friend out. 00:38:05.52 Brian Penn um but You know, you spend your disbelief. It's pretty raw and basic, but in some ways that's its charm. But it it kind of works. 00:38:16.27 Brian Penn It could do with a bit more polish, I think. But that'll do for me. It's good enough, you know. 00:38:22.21 Chris Olson I think when I did my review, I mentioned, because you talk about Donnie there, like, why is he friends with Patrick, that part of the appeal, I think, for anyone watching this movie is if you enjoy a good bromance, like the the the two of them are inseparable at times. 00:38:27.66 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:38:33.37 Brian Penn Oh, yeah. Yeah. 00:38:37.05 Chris Olson And, you know, much to the chagrin of Donnie's girlfriend, that I think 00:38:40.62 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:38:43.15 Chris Olson That element is quite the bedrock of opportunity. I think it is the is the film because if you don't have that central friendship and that central dynamic, it is just kind of chaos really. 00:38:56.24 Chris Olson A lot of it is just happening. 00:38:56.82 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:38:57.82 Chris Olson And yeah, I agree. It is rough around the edges. The part parts of the film you can go, yeah, they've had to, that's had to just do, you know, they've they've they've moved on and that's fine. 00:39:06.94 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:39:09.49 Chris Olson I never judge a movie if it's something that they could have avoided. I think there are certain scenes where I think they could have maybe done another take. I feel like okay the dialogue maybe wasn't quite on or um yeah there's a fuse. 00:39:17.78 Brian Penn then Yeah. 00:39:23.63 Chris Olson issues, technical, yeah so maybe go back and do it again. But it's ah generally, I thought they did very well and actually managed to pull off a full length film that felt cared for. 00:39:27.09 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:39:35.31 Brian Penn Yeah. Yeah. 00:39:38.21 Chris Olson i felt like you know what they And they were making a point as well, talking about how life is now for people, um difficulty is to even get on the housing ladder and even people that have you made all the right decisions in life can still end up at the bottom of the pile because of just this sort of unfairness of it all really and that seems to it seems to be these characters are railing against that 00:39:44.48 Brian Penn yeah 00:39:52.48 Brian Penn Yeah. Yeah. 00:40:02.69 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:40:03.42 Chris Olson it It felt a bit at times, like a Seth Rogen film was like, okay, that the the kind of bit wacky bits only doing things that the rest of us sort of think are a bit silly. 00:40:08.03 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:40:13.92 Chris Olson um But it I said it, again, in my room i it had a makeshift charm to it. And that I found was was endearing. um It was endearing and I think if you're on board with it, if you like twists and turns, you know, all over the place and there are some good action sequences in it as well. 00:40:33.27 Brian Penn yeah they 00:40:33.99 Chris Olson There's some stuff that was impressively filmed that it's got that 00:40:34.17 Brian Penn um yeah 00:40:40.23 Chris Olson cultish comedy kind of ah category to it. I can imagine that falling into a ah the lapse of of fans of comedy. Oh, have you seen this? Because they'll be really proud that they've seen it and other people won't necessarily have seen it. 00:40:51.48 Brian Penn yeah wait yeah In the context ah of it being an indie feature, and we know the constraints that they're working with it, 00:40:53.21 Chris Olson And yeah, I can imagine them getting a big kick out of that. 00:41:03.22 Brian Penn you never felt at any point that an hour and a half was too long. Because with some indie features, when it goes to feature length format, you do think but some films, oh, this is going on a bit too long, right? 00:41:15.30 Chris Olson Yeah. 00:41:15.36 Brian Penn But yeah and I never thought that with this film. And there's lots of good stuff going on there. I mean, there were sort of of, seizing, how can you put it, you know, Patrick seems that they both seem really interesting characters, but At one point Patrick started to describe the life he used to have when he said that I used to have a home, I used to own six digits a year. I thought I'd love to hear more about that. So the lack of a backstory or ah a sufficient backstory, that was intriguing to me. ah But again, you've only got limited resources and limited time, but they do really well with it overall. 00:41:57.98 Chris Olson Yeah, they the banter between two of them is really good. The characters are pretty fleshed out. As you said there, they give you... bits about each. I liked that you had the other element of like Donnie's girlfriend because I think otherwise it would just become oh are these two just messing around with the camera. Like I felt that they did have some characters in there for a reason and she's great actually. She's the way she hates Patrick is just brilliant. I love watching that. um But there are times where you're kind of going 00:42:30.74 Chris Olson Oh, it would have been nice if that made a bit more sense like because I think maybe they're running with a joke a bit longer than they should. or There's a bit where Patrick Yeah, they're going to go and do this thing. 00:42:46.11 Chris Olson They're going to go and ah try and make some money for the loan shark or or steal something for the loan shark. And he's like really against it. He's like, no no, we're not going to do that. And Don is like, oh, no, you should do it. And then the next scene, Patrick's just really up for it. 00:42:58.23 Chris Olson He seems to have forgotten that he was really against it. 00:43:00.88 Brian Penn Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah 00:43:00.99 Chris Olson And I felt that there was a bit of a. a lack of clarity in terms of what they were doing at times but that being said I think that is still part of its charm it's almost like it's unpredictable and it's a bit punkish it's got a punk spirit to it of like well you know you're coming along for the ride and you've got no idea where this is going it's not linear by any means and I like that they've got these modern twists you know they're talking about like crypto wallets and stuff like that but they' were also they're also sticking really with this kind of like buddy film of like a almost like a road trip film kind of and I thought I thought it worked in for the most part if you add most of parts together it works yeah 00:43:32.94 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:43:40.90 Brian Penn Yeah. I think you mentioned the girlfriend. and You don't realize how important she is to the story because she acts as a counterbalance, doesn't she really? That's something that kind of levels that relationship up between Donny and Patrick. So I think she's really important. It introduces some balance between all the characters. 00:43:59.83 Chris Olson Yeah, absolutely. ah good Good performances. It's always difficult with a feature-length comedy, I think. And the dynamic between John Waters and Quinn Achilles is really good. So yeah, if you can see it, I'd recommend finding it. I don't think it's out yet. I believe it is on a password protected link was how we watched it. 00:44:27.23 Chris Olson But yeah, if you can, I'd really yeah strongly recommend trying to see it. 00:44:31.71 Brian Penn it's hard yeah absolutely. 00:44:34.86 Chris Olson just see if you've got any information about the film. There's ah there' a website, opportunity-the-movie.com. I've not been on that. okay so I'm not going to click open right now, but it might be it might be the right one. 00:44:47.83 Brian Penn ah know one my Yeah. 00:44:49.32 Chris Olson um I think we've tagged the film as well um on our Instagram, opportunity-the-movie. so You should be able to find it. um If not, Let us know. We'll point you in the best direction that we can. 00:45:01.39 Chris Olson But it's directed by a Rusty Rail and Rail has been R-E-H-L. um Yeah, really, really interesting movie. 00:45:08.57 Brian Penn Yeah. Yeah. well wil 00:45:09.65 Chris Olson moving yeah Moving on now to a short film which Jason reviewed earlier in the month called Perform. And for this one, I do have a clip from the movie. 00:45:20.48 Chris Olson Here we go. 00:45:21.23 Brian Penn spoiling us he spoil 00:45:22.65 Chris Olson Merry Christmas. 00:45:47.04 Brian Penn You're spoiling us. You're spoiling us. 00:46:11.70 Chris Olson Every time I hear that actor's voice, I'm like, is that Jack Lemmon? It sounds like Jack Lemmon, which is ah John Alan Russo, who stars in Fareed Kiron's short film Perform, and Russo plays Daniel, who's an actor auditioning for a part. 00:46:16.53 Brian Penn Yeah, actually, I never thought of that. Yeah, you're right. 00:46:22.54 Brian Penn yeah 00:46:32.02 Chris Olson The audition process seems to be causing him quite a lot of distress as the lines between him and his character start to blur. um He is also engaging with Jane, who we hear in that clip, who's a young actress. She's trying to also get a role in the movie and the whole film takes on this sort of psychological edge as the intensity of Daniel's predicament becomes more clear, and the character that they mention in that clip is the role that he's going for, starts to have its own kind of evil presence within the movie. 00:47:08.96 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:47:13.03 Chris Olson um Very strong filmmaking this. I love a movie like this. 00:47:16.69 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:47:17.45 Chris Olson When I see a short film like this, you probably did the same. You kind of kick back your feet a little bit and go, hi okay, yeah, 00:47:23.08 Brian Penn yeah 00:47:23.82 Chris Olson we're in We're in good hands now. And I know we've we've reviewed Fareed Karam before. 00:47:25.38 Brian Penn yeah 00:47:28.57 Chris Olson and So there's always that sense of like when you get a short filmmaker that's done something good that we liked, I kind of go, OK, well, this should be this should be good. um But with this, I was like, yeah, this is really good. 00:47:39.86 Chris Olson really good stuff. We reviewed Undertow, I think, before. 00:47:43.05 Brian Penn oh away okay yeah that was good as well wasn't it yeah yeah 00:47:43.21 Chris Olson um yeah that was yeah Then we've reviewed that on the podcast. Go back and listen to our review of that because it was very, very good. This, I think, is a little bit better. I thought I enjoyed this even more. 00:47:54.63 Chris Olson um not least because of Russo's performance. As I said, he reminded me of Jack Lemmon and I loved the sort of desperation in his character as he was struggling to sort of see what was happening to him throughout this auditioning process. I thought it was brilliant. 00:48:11.77 Brian Penn I absolutely love this. I think it was brilliant. Very intense. The way they use light and shade is excellent. 00:48:18.99 Chris Olson Mmm, yeah. 00:48:19.95 Brian Penn Quite claustrophobic as well. But that's the intention. That's the way it's meant to be. So accomplished. You know, the greatest compliment I could pay this short feature is that it doesn't feel like a short film. 00:48:31.97 Brian Penn It feels like a trailer for a feature film. It's got that shine to it. And I think it's brilliant. I think it's one of the best short features. and um When we talk about short features, let's restrict it to say 15 minutes and below. 00:48:49.06 Brian Penn In terms of that criteria, it's one of the best we've reviewed, Chris. It's so good. 00:48:55.34 Chris Olson Definitely this year. yeah yeah We've reviewed quite a few on this podcast this year. 00:48:56.40 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:48:58.90 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:48:59.18 Chris Olson And I i was going to do that. I was going to do some kind of sort of nominations for best films and things. But if anything, I don't want to undermine the other filmmakers that we review. 00:49:09.74 Chris Olson and We will review a lot of great movies. But when you see something like perform, it really stands out. For me, I felt like he said, oh, yeah, this will this would be sort of something I would go out of my way to recommend to someone. 00:49:19.83 Chris Olson So you should watch that. um And I loved that it was you know different aspect ratio, sort of harking back to sort of old cinema, black and white, like say they use that brilliantly. 00:49:31.93 Chris Olson The sound design is just intense beyond belief that when the alarm bells are going off at one point and it's like, okay, i am I'm distressed now. 00:49:43.41 Chris Olson I'm really distressed because this character is becoming more and more unhinged. 00:49:44.44 Brian Penn yeah 00:49:47.30 Chris Olson It's getting more and more intense. 00:49:47.62 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:49:48.97 Chris Olson And I think that the filmmakers really knew what they were doing here. They keep you perfectly poised throughout and you come out of it feeling completely unnerved. 00:50:00.94 Brian Penn Yeah. I think it's got such a film noir about it as well. 00:50:04.65 Chris Olson m Yeah, definitely. 00:50:05.40 Brian Penn It's very reminiscent of that style, that approach to to making films black and white, very stark, very foreboding, very inseminating. All the indie films we review are good. I've never seen a bad one. They're all good. But sometimes here and there, one seems to stand out a bit more than others. 00:50:25.61 Chris Olson We definitely have seen some bad ones. Brian is just being nice. um On the podcast we get some good ones though, I must say. 00:50:29.29 Brian Penn west 00:50:32.24 Chris Olson um But I think you're right. Yeah, it was like the film noir, but also slightly, I had this sort of ferocious sci-fi feel to it because it was like, we don't know what's going on. 00:50:43.35 Chris Olson It felt like a bit otherworldly. And I was like, this could be that you know and like you said it does feel like it could be a proof of concept for something much much bigger i hope it is and i know we say this about a lot of short films but this i would certainly be happy to see a full leg version 00:50:52.19 Brian Penn yeah yeah yeah 00:50:59.82 Brian Penn I also wonder though if actors watch this film and it strikes a chord with them and they think oh actually that reminds me of something you know and I'd be fascinated to know if it does strike a chord with some actors when they audition for parts and people they come into contact with. 00:51:20.01 Chris Olson Well, yeah, something Jason picked up on in his review talking about, obviously, it's going through a lot of psychological ideas, but also, yes, is it reflecting more about the state of the acting business and what that does to people? 00:51:26.56 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:51:33.85 Chris Olson You know, there's been some horrific stories in the past about actors that have gone too deep into the character or yeah have ended up on medication and worse because of roles that they've gone for and even ones they've got. 00:51:35.64 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:51:39.03 Brian Penn yeah 00:51:45.51 Chris Olson the element of that fear of of being someone else too much in losing yourself. I think that is definitely going to strike a chord with people 100%. 00:51:55.00 Brian Penn Yeah, well, yeah, I mean, there's lot there so elements of method acting that it it was and probably still is to a certain extent still a very popular technique for actors. But it always reminds me of a story of um Dustin Hoffman and Lawrence Olivier. They were on the set of Marathon Man. This is mid 70s. And Dustin Hoffman being a school of being part of the school of methanaxy. We're sitting in the corner of a studio, smacking himself around the face, you know, trying to psych himself up. And Olivier looks at him and he says, Dustin, Dustin, why don't you try acting? It's a lot simpler. And it does make you wonder whether actors go too far, because it's not acting at all, is it? If you're living the part, then you're not acting, are you? 00:52:47.42 Brian Penn um but that's 00:52:48.63 Chris Olson that's how i get That's how I get psyched for the podcast. I sit there and I slap my face and I really get into it. 00:52:51.80 Brian Penn Oh, isn't it? Yeah, good yeah, yeah. 00:52:55.61 Chris Olson Trouble is I'm quite i'm a bit of a wimp, so I stop pretty quickly. 00:52:59.43 Brian Penn Yeah, you don't slap yourself too hard, do you? 00:53:00.84 Chris Olson Yeah, not too. 00:53:01.32 Brian Penn More like a tap, a gentle tap. 00:53:02.50 Chris Olson yeah um 00:53:03.64 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:53:04.76 Chris Olson But yeah, no, um we also reviewed Overshadow, by the way. So um go have a read of Patrick's review um um on na i am that. That's a really good film. the This one, performed for me, has really stood out, really stood out. And I love when we get to see the progression and the evolution of a filmmaker. So I feel very honored to have reviewed this. um It was It was on a ah Vimeo link and it didn't have a password. 00:53:34.93 Brian Penn Hmm. 00:53:36.93 Chris Olson So I think this might be available. 00:53:39.99 Brian Penn No. 00:53:40.35 Chris Olson um But I'm not going to give it out. I'm not going to share it because I've not been told I can do that. But if you go to Vimeo and have a look, yeah look for Fareed Kiron, which is K-A-I-R-O-N. 00:53:50.83 Chris Olson Look for his film called Perform. You might be able to see it. um If not, there's an Instagram for Fareed, which is at Fareed Kiron, F-A-R-E-E-D-K-I-R-O-R-O-N. 00:54:02.67 Chris Olson Sorry, I lost my way halfway through his name. 00:54:04.93 Brian Penn Oh, another feeling. 00:54:05.42 Chris Olson reggies for that But it's late and um it's Christmas. So yeah, Perform. 00:54:09.19 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:54:10.68 Chris Olson Very, very good. Well done to all involved. 00:54:11.61 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:54:12.60 Chris Olson And I still think he sounds like Jack Lemmon, which is no bad thing. 00:54:14.83 Brian Penn That's a 00:54:16.24 Chris Olson I love Jack Lemmon. 00:54:18.25 Brian Penn bad thing, really. 00:54:18.31 Chris Olson Glenn Ross is one of the greatest films ever made. 00:54:19.21 Brian Penn That's a bad thing. Yeah, oh. 00:54:21.55 Chris Olson So, yeah. 00:54:22.82 Brian Penn Oh, tell me about it. That's fantastic. 00:54:24.45 Chris Olson We haven't done that yet. Have we on the old nostalgia? 00:54:26.24 Brian Penn No, not that we are. 00:54:26.73 Chris Olson We've got to get that on the list. 00:54:27.31 Brian Penn No. Yeah. 00:54:28.95 Chris Olson um This next film is an indie film that was sent to us, but it also had a cinematic release. Unfortunately, Brian didn't get to see this one because the link we had expired and there's been some technical issues. 00:54:39.78 Chris Olson but I'm going to talk about it because I have reviewed it and I've reviewed it on the website. 00:54:41.29 Brian Penn ah 00:54:43.94 Chris Olson It's called Ball Street and it had a very short run at the Ritzy Cinema in London if anyone got to see it and I think it might be playing a few sort of select cinemas in the UK but it's an American piece written and directed by Lynne Dowell. 00:55:01.39 Chris Olson It stars 00:55:02.63 Brian Penn Okay. 00:55:02.71 Chris Olson ah Melinda Hale as Luesta Gibbs, small-town lawyer, must take on the case of her life when her estranged father turns up dead. 00:55:06.97 Brian Penn Hmm. 00:55:10.56 Chris Olson The passing of her dad brings uncertainty surrounding their family home, which she shares with her grandmother, Mrs. Big Gal, who is absolutely brilliantly played by Loretta Devone. 00:55:22.31 Chris Olson But then her biological sister Kendra returns and she's also a lawyer but with a Harvard background and she's come to take what she feels is rightfully hers. It's a legal drama with, it's peppered with comedy, but largely it is, I would say it's a drama. 00:55:40.19 Chris Olson um Set in Southern America, it's got that lovely, you know, that's that those accents, you know what I mean? you they're they're eating They're eating all the really good food, and that's how I feel yeah the Southern America is. 00:55:47.32 Brian Penn yeah 00:55:49.67 Brian Penn and Yeah, yeah, yeah. 00:55:53.04 Chris Olson It's got that charm in spades. But there's this legal drama going on um as this sort of underdog, Luesta, hopes to take on the the big rich family plus the town mayor and lots of corruption that's going on because of the construction business. She's trying to protect her family home from these people, but there is lots of questions about her inheritance, about her family home, how she came to own it. 00:56:22.88 Chris Olson And yes, I won't go into too much because I think there's too much that could be spoiled here. the So, Bald Street is one of those films that knows exactly the tone that it's going for. 00:56:36.47 Chris Olson It feels like almost is a slightly lighthearted, but it knows that it's fairly serious. It knows that it's going through some pretty serious topics. You know, you've got things like racial injustice in there, inheritance, 00:56:45.98 Brian Penn Mm. 00:56:49.32 Chris Olson um family feuds it it goes over a few a few decades almost centuries actually in terms of how this happens and it's talking about this idea of land ownership and how that is still a massive you know talking point and issue in especially American society, yeah where black families, black people were never able to own land. And even when they were able to get some, they still never properly owned it because they didn't have the deeds to that property, because that still would be necessarily held with the original land owners and things like that. And it's really delving into that idea of displacement and 00:57:33.31 Chris Olson whether they have a place in these societies and how they can prove it from a legal perspective. It's very strong. this It's is' a bit of a tearjerker. There's quite a lot of um emotional moments. 00:57:46.73 Chris Olson I think it did slip into melodrama quite a few times. 00:57:47.06 Brian Penn Is it on? 00:57:52.56 Chris Olson You all right there, Brian? 00:57:55.78 Brian Penn Yep. Hello. 00:57:58.50 Chris Olson So yeah, apart from some melodramatic performance moments which it gave it kind of a TV sort of feel. Largely I could see this as a nice alternative to probably what's at a lot of cinemas right now. I think it's got a good so i production value to it. It doesn't feel like, ah it's not really an indie film to be honest, it feels more like a studio film, um but it's got characters in there, actors in there that are very much, you should have more of a light shine on them. I think it's it's great that they're doing that and Lindau really knows how to um 00:58:33.63 Chris Olson to evoke that sentiment from the scenes that she knows how to sort of play around with her characters and and how you're connecting to them. Yeah, really interesting piece. I'm very, yeah, feel very honored to have seen that one. 00:58:46.34 Brian Penn Yeah, it sounds great, Chris. I mean, my kind of film. I love legal dramas, absolutely love them. 00:58:49.89 Chris Olson Yeah. 00:58:52.51 Brian Penn Because, you know, anything goes to court. You put anything into a courtroom, you've got that true dramaticqui dramatic dramatic element cranks up to the max, haven't you really? 00:59:04.41 Chris Olson Hmm. 00:59:04.66 Brian Penn um But it's again, you said it it kind of drifted in some melodrama points. I think that's very easy done, isn't it? But it is sounds like a 00:59:12.40 Chris Olson Yeah. 00:59:15.63 Brian Penn It sounds like a ah big movie story, doesn't it? 00:59:18.97 Chris Olson What I liked about it was it's telling a story that is fairly new and unique. It doesn't feel like anything I've seen before in terms of the actual plot. the That's quite rare now. 00:59:30.91 Chris Olson yeah Normally films, yeah we've seen those films, like you were talking about Conclave earlier. 00:59:31.54 Brian Penn yeah 00:59:35.47 Chris Olson it's like I feel like I've seen that film. 00:59:35.95 Brian Penn yeah 00:59:36.99 Chris Olson I feel like I've seen movies talk about that before. 00:59:39.14 Brian Penn yeah 00:59:39.41 Chris Olson plenty of times. Not saying that takes away anything from the movie, I'm sure it's great, but I'm not saying it's the most original story. 00:59:42.52 Brian Penn like and so 00:59:46.33 Chris Olson With this, I felt that they were doing something that felt like it needed to be told, it needed to have that story raised. 00:59:50.01 Brian Penn oh Yeah. 00:59:51.17 Chris Olson And yeah, the yeah the film's called Bull Street, um which I can't spoil, there's a reason um that the film is called that. um and it's to do with the the location that they're in, but it's it's important. 01:00:04.70 Chris Olson The movie has its own own website, to which is called ballstreetmovie.com, all one word. They're on Facebook, at Ball Street Movie, Instagram, same again, and X, if you still use X, um which is what used to be Twitter. 01:00:21.65 Chris Olson um Yeah, Bull Street, also the trailer is on our website. So if you go and read my review, and you can see what I said there, you can also watch the trailer, get an idea for the movie. ah seth It had a very short window at the Ritzy Cinema, and I don't know if it was going to do any others. 01:00:39.38 Chris Olson But yeah, check out if you can. 01:00:40.80 Brian Penn Yes, that's right. 01:00:43.40 Chris Olson Moving on to our last indie film, um and this is another short film. this This had potentially the biggest shockwave sent through me in a long time. The reason being is our critic, William Hemingway, one of our harshest critics, I have to be honest, he is a brilliant writer. He absolutely is. But he he suffers no fools, that guy. um He gave this five stars. And I was like, I have to see this movie. 01:01:15.12 Chris Olson ah I'm so glad I was able to. um Yeah, short film directed by Cindy Lee. It was set in South Africa during COVID, the tourists have all gone. But the fight goes on for the rangers that live there protecting the rhinos from the um absolutely maddening ah theft of their horns, the brutal theft of their horns. 01:01:41.23 Chris Olson um A young girl who lives nearby ends up riding along with one of the rangers whilst they look out for one of the rhinos and unfortunately poachers arrive and nastiness ensues. 01:01:56.76 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:01:57.12 Chris Olson It is absolutely incredible. ah We talked about how good perform was earlier, but this also stands toe-to-toe as one of the best shorts we've watched. 01:02:00.13 Brian Penn yeah 01:02:02.93 Brian Penn Yeah. ah yeah yeah 01:02:06.54 Chris Olson I finished watching this and I had let out a sigh of just like, oh my god, like that kept me on tenterhooks the whole time. 01:02:13.18 Brian Penn yeah yeah yeah 01:02:15.02 Chris Olson So good, so good. 01:02:16.54 Brian Penn It's beautiful. There's another way of describing it. You film the open plains of South Africa. It's hard to get it wrong, but it tells the story strongly and effectively. Why should beautiful animals be slaughtered for them? 01:02:36.48 Brian Penn Sorry, Chris. 01:02:37.71 Chris Olson but so Sounds like you fell off the table there. 01:02:37.88 Brian Penn Earphones fell off. Sorry about that. Do you want to put a pause in? 01:02:44.48 Chris Olson Oh no, let me put a pause in 102. 01:02:48.05 Brian Penn I think it's absolutely beautiful. A stunning film. You know, you you could say ah filming the the wild and open plains of South Africa, it's hard to get it wrong, but it tells the story strongly and effectively. Why would beautiful animals be slaughtered for their rhino holes? For me, the most telling line is you know, rhino horns mean more to rhinos than humans. 01:03:09.60 Brian Penn That really says it all, doesn't it? You know, and it, it's tragic, those closing, closing titles where they just delivered a few stats, because this is really part documentary and part dramatization, isn't it? 01:03:11.56 Chris Olson Hmm Yeah No, it's it's bonkers and I think that's what it's like the desperation of people and the people that are 01:03:21.59 Brian Penn And the figures are absolutely shocking. When you look at the number of rhinos that have been killed, the number of rangers that have been murdered, it is absolutely shocking. And it makes no sense whatsoever, does it really? 01:03:41.51 Chris Olson manipulating this industry, for want of a better word, they are true villains, you know, the the people that rock up, but there's also people that are doing it um and not to give away any spoilers, but they're doing it because they're also in a desperate place, not necessarily that they want to be part of this world, but they're doing it because there's no other alternative or they see there's no alternative. 01:04:03.44 Chris Olson But it is absolutely horrific and 01:04:05.14 Brian Penn yeah yeah 01:04:05.87 Chris Olson like you say it is part documentary and if you stick around to the end you'll see a bit more as to why and when they told the the human effect of it I mean the the animal I think that's absolutely horrendous it's already just ah an abomination. 01:04:20.42 Chris Olson But the fact that that that humans are all dying over this, that to me was like, okay, is this goinging how is this going on? Like, how has it not been stopped? um Yeah, it was just so affecting. 01:04:31.75 Chris Olson It was so traumatizing to watch that you come away and you cannot help but have been thoroughly moved by this movie. 01:04:39.21 Brian Penn no and As say, it's stunning and it's beautiful. and you might you You wonder what the world is coming to. You'd expect this sort of thing to have happened 100 years ago or 200 years ago. You don't expect this sort of thing to be happening today, you know so far into the 21st century, that there's still a trade for RhinoHawk. 01:05:01.41 Brian Penn But I mean, one thing, it does end on a on a slightly positive note because Tandy, the white rhino that was ah that was attacked and robbed of its all, it actually recovered. 01:05:16.01 Brian Penn So that's kind of a a half-happy ending, but it's it's ah it's just one story, isn't it? For every rhino, they say how many are being slaughtered, and it's awful. 01:05:26.10 Chris Olson Yeah. 01:05:26.99 Brian Penn It's just terrible. And it's the type of film that needs to be seen. people need to be made aware of it. But I just get the feeling that there's not a strong enough will at official level to really do anything about it. 01:05:40.19 Brian Penn Because you want to still be going on. and Yeah, it's like the wild west, isn't it? 01:05:42.94 Chris Olson Yeah, it feels kind of lawless, doesn't it? It feels like, yeah. um But great performances, even, i you know, sometimes I do feel sorry for child actors having to get into something. 01:05:57.23 Chris Olson yeah But a role like this is very, very difficult. um But she was great. 01:06:00.17 Brian Penn She was good, wasn't she? 01:06:01.81 Chris Olson Yeah, really, really powerful performance. And yeah, I think. For me, it's one of those films that ticks so many boxes because it's not just in an amazing film, amazing story, great performances, but it's also, it's such an important message. 01:06:16.19 Chris Olson It's such an important film that needs to be seen. And not done in a way that's just gone, oh, okay, well, we know the film is gonna be good because we're talking about something really important that everyone's gonna agree with. 01:06:24.90 Brian Penn Yeah, of course 01:06:26.52 Chris Olson It's like, no, no, no, we've still gone and made an amazing film. It's a knockout film. Even if you, you know, even but if for some reason you've got no heart whatsoever and don't care at all about these rhinos. 01:06:30.48 Brian Penn it is. 01:06:35.69 Brian Penn Well, yeah. 01:06:36.44 Chris Olson that you still say this is an amazing movie, like the way they filmed it and the way they've done it. 01:06:39.27 Brian Penn Yeah, it's incredibly emotional well shot, well accessed. You couldn't ask anymore, really. 01:06:44.28 Chris Olson No, you really, really can't. And ah again, sore so privileged to have been able to see it. 01:06:48.90 Brian Penn Yeah, absolutely. 01:06:49.31 Chris Olson For me, it was just incredible. um It was password protected, this one, and still is, as of this podcast. So you can't see it, unfortunately, at the moment. um But if you go to Instagram at the last stranger last Ranger film, um you'll be able to find it. It's on Kindred Films. And yeah, there is also a trailer on the review that I did, ah sorry, um that William did all on the website, um which you can watch at your leisure and get a sense of the movie. 01:07:24.13 Chris Olson but definitely follow them if you can and stay tuned for when you can watch it and then go watch it at least 10 times because for me I think it was just incredible um yeah really really good and yeah it just goes to show that William he's harsh but he's often right you know I know i know filmmakers don't want to hear it but sometimes he is 01:07:30.82 Brian Penn Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. 01:07:40.18 Brian Penn Well, we're price, we're price indeed. 01:07:46.08 Chris Olson Yeah, I mean, yeah, I feel generally, myself and Brian, we're we're pretty um positive about most movies, and some critics aren't, some yeah they they say what they feel and they're their opinions, as I said before, very valid. 01:07:59.76 Chris Olson um And audiences will always have different opinions on movies. 01:08:03.97 Brian Penn um 01:08:04.89 Chris Olson But when it's something like this, it feels very much shared amongst the critic circle of, you know, this is a great short film. It is often because it is. 01:08:14.87 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:08:15.41 Chris Olson So speaking of great films, we're moving on to the final review of this episode, our nostalgia pick. 01:08:17.07 Brian Penn Mm. 01:08:21.93 Chris Olson And as you may already know, it is love actually written and directed by Richard Curtis. One of the few films he's actually directed, because you always forget, yeah he he often doesn't direct, right? 01:08:31.59 Brian Penn i Yeah. 01:08:33.54 Chris Olson He just writes the great, great script. But with this um and a few others, ah about time he he directed a couple of music videos and stuff um yeah love actually is one of his babies and yeah this is 01:08:45.04 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:08:51.56 Chris Olson completely cheeky comedy um as i was talking about earlier you that maybe that christmas doesn't really have that vibe you can't help but notice with something like love actually soon as it starts it sets its stall out very quickly of saying this isn't going to be the sort of schmoozy film that you might have thought just from the title you get ah bill nighy effing and jeffing very quickly you get full frontal nudity you get you get you get your works in this movie it's great 01:09:10.08 Brian Penn yeah yeah 01:09:13.76 Brian Penn yeah la yeah 01:09:20.73 Brian Penn yeah hello It's like an antidote though, isn't it? To the yeah emotional aspects ah of the story. 01:09:23.70 Chris Olson Oh yeah. 01:09:27.14 Brian Penn um To me, it's a classic insoluble piece, isn't it? 01:09:30.43 Chris Olson Mmm, yeah. 01:09:31.62 Brian Penn You've got these eight intellect couples, and it's really about the ups and downs of being in love, falling out of love, staying in love, isn't it, really? um When it comes to affairs of the heart, there is nobody better in which a curse is. 01:09:47.25 Brian Penn He understands the human condition. you know He can make you laugh, but he will make you cry in a matter of minutes. Now, that's a rare talent for any screenwriter, and he is more of a screenwriter than a director. um But that's a rare talent. And when you think that each of the characters probably don't have any longer than 15 minutes on screen in total, possibly Hugh Grant's on screen for a bit longer. ah But it's difficult to say who the star of this film really is, because they all get good lines. But there are great scenes. You know, to me, great films always have one standout scene, right? 01:10:27.05 Brian Penn love actually has about eight and nine. So that's that you just, you just play back to yourself but after you watched it and you think that is damn good to be able to do that. 01:10:29.38 Chris Olson yeah 01:10:33.72 Chris Olson Yeah. 01:10:38.40 Brian Penn And that doesn't matter how many times you watch it, it still hits home. You know, that's a rare, rare talent. 01:10:47.54 Chris Olson I think you're right. I think you are right about the multitude of it incredible sequences that have been put into a film that could have easily just sort of thrown away a load of wish washy stuff that there are bits as well that are genuinely traumatic. 01:10:58.43 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:11:03.25 Chris Olson ah the The scenes with Laura Linney and her brother, um that they're some of the most powerful scenes and they're just they're just put in there as just to say, okay, ah chew on this and you go 01:11:04.31 Brian Penn Yeah. Oh yeah, hello. Yeah. 01:11:15.42 Chris Olson right oh god oh wow and then Alan Rickman's scenes you know with an Emma Thompson when she does her breakdown but it just it just keeps hitting you it's so it's not all positive and fluffy and you know schmaltzy yeah 01:11:16.97 Brian Penn yeah Hello. 01:11:25.66 Brian Penn um 01:11:28.36 Brian Penn But that is life though, isn't it Chris? It's up and down, isn't it? One of the standouts, one of many standouts is Emma Thompson's character discovering that the bracelet wasn't, not the bracelet, the necklace wasn't for her. 01:11:43.76 Brian Penn Oh, were you crying for her? 01:11:45.78 Chris Olson Oh, yeah, it's when she goes upstairs and she puts on Joni Mitchell and it just absolutely knocks you for 10 days. 01:11:46.64 Brian Penn You were, weren't you? 01:11:49.86 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:11:53.03 Chris Olson And I think what I love about Richard Curtis in his writing is he never forgets to do the depth. He could easily just do the funny, right? He could just do the funny and it would be cheeky and it would be funny. 01:12:05.37 Chris Olson But he always puts in the pathos to balance it. 01:12:07.60 Brian Penn Yeah, 01:12:08.03 Chris Olson He always remembers to go. And I think with love, actually, it's often more in that realm. It's more in that sense of and then And he does it in a way that doesn't feel too heavy. 01:12:18.17 Chris Olson like yeah Even Liam Neeson's character lost his wife. They have a funeral, but it's like funny. 01:12:21.66 Brian Penn ah 01:12:23.74 Chris Olson And then, you like I said, Laura Lilly's character, it's still kind of a little bit of a joke. there's There's lots in this film to pull at your heartstrings in different ways. And I love it. 01:12:34.38 Chris Olson I think it's done so well. And it grows on you as well, because I find that 01:12:37.35 Brian Penn and are 01:12:38.35 Chris Olson As you watch it year on year, you probably find different parts of it ah maybe speaking a bit more to you than they were the last time you watched it. 01:12:38.50 Brian Penn it yeah 01:12:45.22 Brian Penn yeah Well, we we were talking earlier on that there's always something new to discover in a Richard Curtis film. And when I watched it, something I never picked up on, I never noticed it before, um where Hugh Grant's character is realised that he's falling in love with his PA, played by Martin McCutcheon. He looks up at the portrait of Margaret Thatcher, 01:13:07.64 Brian Penn And he said, did you ever have this problem? And he goes, what you did, you saucy little minx. The great little lines that he puts in, and you don't necessarily notice them. 01:13:13.17 Chris Olson yeah 01:13:17.06 Brian Penn First time around, and it might take you three or four goes to notice it. Or if you didn't notice them, you very quickly forget them. But there's, again, like like we said earlier on, there are nuggets that you think, oh god, I never realized, forgot about that. 01:13:30.71 Chris Olson Yeah, and I think that's what like allows certain Christmas films to live on is if they do have that 01:13:30.73 Brian Penn um 01:13:37.63 Chris Olson longer shelf life of going oh hey you probably aren't going to see all of this on the first watch but because it's a comedy you're probably more likely to put it back on because it's a christmas film you've got a reason to put it on and that's where this movie really shines out i i mean there are better christmas films don't get me wrong but i think love actually is a is a big contender for a lot of people as one of their favorites 01:13:46.07 Brian Penn Yeah. Yeah. 01:13:59.47 Brian Penn Yeah, it probably is. It probably is. But you can see why though, can't you? Because it strikes a chord in people. There's nothing, there's got to be something in that film that you identify with. You know, um, Andrew Lincoln's character. 01:14:11.03 Brian Penn I talk about Andrew Lincoln's character because I artist said can't remember the character's name, but you know the fact that um he's mad in love with his best friend's girlfriend, then he he's best man at the wedding and he can't say no and he's tortured by it. 01:14:15.73 Chris Olson he he he 01:14:27.98 Brian Penn And the only way he can cope with it, the only way he can protect himself is to not so much hate her, but be cold-sauce her. but You know, you you what you want to sort of say to him, look just tell her how you feel, then walk away. 01:14:42.22 Brian Penn And he does that, doesn't he? With with with the ah Bob Dylan pastiche, with the cue cards. and I think it was a brilliant scene and brilliantly conceived. 01:14:48.76 Chris Olson Yeah. 01:14:53.11 Brian Penn They're real situations, aren't they? That we can all identify with. You know, we all know someone like that. um it's It's life and it's amazing. 01:15:04.73 Brian Penn There was talk of Richard Curtis retiring, wasn't there? 01:15:08.84 Chris Olson Yeah, I felt he he disappeared for quite a while um and certainly wasn't doing anything high profile. 01:15:11.54 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:15:15.41 Chris Olson ah Then this year comes out with that film. He did the Beatles film a couple of years ago ah yesterday, which I thought was only okay. 01:15:22.42 Brian Penn Oh, yesterday. 01:15:25.39 Chris Olson I didn't love that one. 01:15:25.98 Brian Penn Yeah. I wasn't keen to be honest. I mean, um I'm a massive Beatles fan. And what really, small way for me was that I can't imagine a world without the Beatles. Right. 01:15:35.11 Chris Olson Hmm. 01:15:35.34 Brian Penn I'm a massive Beatles fan. And it kind of, under my eye, I respected the concepts. the thinking behind it. But for that reason, it didn't really, it's just okay, it didn't really hit home, but you compare it to Love Actually, Notting Hill, A Foreignism and Funeral. 01:15:53.60 Brian Penn It's not in the same league in that way. 01:15:55.98 Chris Olson no yeah about time is is up there as one of the best films for me i love that film and i again one of those movies i'll go back to it again and again again i must assume that film about 100 times now and i think the 01:15:56.04 Brian Penn About time, about time was a great film. 01:16:05.67 Brian Penn and 01:16:11.52 Chris Olson Because for me, often people talk about the the greatest films. yeah Oh, Chris, what's the greatest film you've watched? But the way I measure films is would I go back and watch it again? 01:16:19.64 Brian Penn yeah 01:16:20.06 Chris Olson um Because like I've seen some technically amazing movies, and they've yeah absolutely floored me. 01:16:20.26 Brian Penn yeah 01:16:26.64 Chris Olson But I never want to watch them again. 01:16:26.71 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:16:28.08 Chris Olson i go I don't want to watch that again. i Do you know what? That first experience was all I'll ever need of that movie. 01:16:33.22 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:16:33.60 Chris Olson um Because sometimes you go back again, and it's not the same. But with Richard Curtis movies, they're very often better on another watch. 01:16:40.60 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:16:40.77 Chris Olson You watch it again. Oh, I'm getting more out of this now. 01:16:42.30 Brian Penn Hello. 01:16:42.97 Chris Olson I'm getting more out of this now. 01:16:43.60 Brian Penn Hello. Yeah. 01:16:44.71 Chris Olson um And I think that's incredible. 01:16:45.21 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:16:46.32 Chris Olson You can do that with your art. You can make art that gets people to react differently and to feel more from it. I think that's brilliant. And love actually definitely stands up. 01:16:54.70 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:16:56.58 Chris Olson It will be interesting to see if this time next year we said the same things about that Christmas. um 01:17:02.44 Brian Penn Yeah. Well, it's it's it would have had a year to bed in. 01:17:05.82 Chris Olson Yeah. 01:17:06.06 Brian Penn like I guess. It have built up and following, wouldn't it? 01:17:07.64 Chris Olson cause um 01:17:09.11 Brian Penn I guess. 01:17:09.86 Chris Olson I'm due to watch it again. I'll be watching it again on Christmas Eve because my mother-in-law hasn't seen it and she's asked if we can all sit around and watch it. 01:17:15.05 Brian Penn um 01:17:16.58 Chris Olson So I'm going to watch it at least twice. um Plus all the little bits that I watch as and when my kids are so got it on and I come in in and out of the room. But like I said, I liked it but it didn't It didn't grab me massively. 01:17:30.28 Chris Olson But I actually vaguely remember not loving Love Actually. I'm sorry if I'm using the words too much because it's the same words. But I didn't love Love Actually the first time I saw it. 01:17:39.56 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:17:40.91 Chris Olson But I think now I think I do. I think I think it's one of those movies. um I'll happily watch that every year. um I think it's a very good Christmas movie. 01:17:46.70 Brian Penn Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's to me, it's part of the landscape of Christmas, isn't it it? It seems to me that there are certain films you watch every year at Christmas. You watch A Christmas Carol. It's a wonderful life. And you watch um Love Actually. 01:18:06.19 Brian Penn the holiday. you know that Their films that are on my list, they always are at some point. 01:18:08.13 Chris Olson ye Yup. 01:18:12.09 Brian Penn And it's all much traditional. and you know Christmas is about tradition, isn't it? 01:18:17.82 Chris Olson Muppet's Christmas Cowl, I think for me. 01:18:19.18 Brian Penn Oh, yeah, of course. Yeah. 01:18:20.56 Chris Olson That's absolutely brilliant. 01:18:20.85 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:18:21.48 Chris Olson Which is actually the definitive Christmas Cowl for me, I think. 01:18:24.51 Brian Penn I haven't seen that for ages. I've got to see that again. See, one thing you you do, Chris, is when you pick a ah film from the nostalgia slot, it's often a film that I haven't seen since it came out. 01:18:26.98 Chris Olson Oh, I see. 01:18:35.10 Brian Penn plugs into the point you were making about seeing a film once and you think, yeah, that's enough. I've kind of got that. I'm not thinking about it again, even though it is a really good film, but it it sometimes takes a trigger to make you watch it again. 01:18:49.37 Brian Penn But certainly films like Love actually just do it over and over again. 01:18:49.46 Chris Olson Yeah. 01:18:54.82 Brian Penn It really does. 01:18:55.22 Chris Olson Well, we'll be back in the new year so you can watch some more films again. I'll make you watch lots of new films and and old films. 01:19:01.22 Brian Penn Yeah. Looking forward to it already. 01:19:03.16 Chris Olson um Thank you everyone for an amazing year. UK Film Club continues to grow stronger and stronger. And the the The format is pretty much staying the same. 01:19:17.00 Chris Olson We're going to keep reviewing cinema films, indie films, streaming films. But if there are any that you want us to review in 2025, let us know any particular movies that you're looking out for. Feel free to drop a comment on our socials or get in touch. 01:19:30.35 Chris Olson um Also, filmmakers keep sending us your movies. We love to review them. 01:19:34.19 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:19:35.29 Chris Olson We've already got some lined up for January. 01:19:35.42 Brian Penn Cool, man. 01:19:37.18 Chris Olson We don't stop, Brian. No stopping. 01:19:38.82 Brian Penn Oh, nice, nice. 01:19:39.85 Chris Olson No stopping. No one gets off this train. and um Yes, lovely to have reviewed two Richard Curtis movies in one sitting. That is enough to make anyone full, I think. 01:19:51.98 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:19:52.13 Chris Olson If you've made it to the end of this podcast, congratulations, you get a gold star. 01:19:55.53 Brian Penn but 01:19:57.58 Chris Olson ah Brian will be sending out the gold stars in due course. 01:19:58.12 Brian Penn Yeah, leave that. 01:20:03.49 Chris Olson Thank you, Brian, to for for everything, but also specifically for seeing the films this month, your cinema trips and everything like that. 01:20:07.44 Brian Penn Film of the month, Conclave. 01:20:09.33 Chris Olson What was Film of the Month, by the way? 01:20:12.69 Chris Olson Conclave. yeah um Yeah, we've been the UK Film Club and yeah, we'll see you again in 2025. 01:20:14.00 Brian Penn Good season to you all. Previous Next

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

Film trailer for the upcoming Netflix movie Steve, starring Cillian Murphy. Based on Max Porter's Shy, the film will come to select cinemas and then Netflix.. Brand new film trailers. Steve Set in the mid-90s, Steve is a reimagining of Max Porter's Sunday Times bestseller Shy . The film follows a pivotal day in the life of headteacher Steve (Academy Award® winner Cillian Murphy) and his students at a last-chance reform school amidst a world that has forsaken them. As Steve fights to protect the school’s integrity and impending closure, we witness him grappling with his own mental health. In parallel to Steve’s struggles, we meet Shy (Jay Lycurgo), a troubled teen caught between his past and what lies ahead as he tries to reconcile his inner fragility with his impulse for self-destruction and violence. The film, Steve , is directed by Tim Meilants and stars a fantastic cast including: Cillian Murphy, Tracey Ullman, Jay Lycurgo, Simbi Ajikawo and Emily Watson, Douggie McMeekin, Youssef Kerkour, Luke Ayres, Joshua J Parker, Araloyin Oshunremi, Tut Nyuot, Tom Moya, Ahmed Ismail, Joshua Barry, Archie Fisher, Ben Lloyd-Hughes, Priyanga Burford, George Fouracres, Marcus Garvey, Ruby Ashbourne-Serkis and Roger Allam. The Moment The Land of Sometimes Twins Alfie and Elise find a magical Wish Watch on Christmas Eve and are swept by the Wish Collector into the musical Land of Sometimes, where they learn that wishes have consequences. Avengers: Doomsday Fans are elated at the release of the first teaser trailer for Avengers: Doomsday. Set for a theatrical release on 18th December 2026, find out more here. Greenland 2: Migration Now, the first official trailer for the sequel, Greenland 2: Migration, has landed, promising to take that survivalist tension into even more treacherous territory. Looney Tunes: The Day the Earth Blew Up Looney Tunes: The Day the Earth Blew Up Official Trailer. Looney Tunes: The Day The Earth Blew Up will be in UK & Irish cinemas from 13th February 2026. Mother Mary Ultimately, the Mother Mary trailer establishes a compelling promise: a film that uses the theatricality of the music industry to explore something primal about identity and obsession. Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come In the trailer for Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come establishes a new, thrilling chapter. It’s a sequel that dares to go bigger, transforming a single family’s twisted tradition into a full-scale, world-controlling bloodsport. Shelter People We Meet On Vacation People We Meet On Vacation looks set to be a thoroughly British affair in its tone and appeal—a charming, heartfelt escape, promising both belly laughs and a good cry. Doctor Plague Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery This first glimpse of Wake Up Dead Man isn’t just a trailer; it’s a brilliant statement of intent. The film looks primed to be a festive treat for audiences looking for a compelling, cleverly constructed mystery. Michael Michael is set to arrive in cinemas in the UK and Ireland on the 24th of April 2026, and based on this compelling first look, the world will indeed be waiting. The Carpenter's Son We anticipate that The Carpenter's Son will be less of a retelling and more of a deeply disquieting examination of power, temptation, and the human cost of being chosen. It arrives on 21st November. Eternity Eternity looks set to be a sophisticated, imaginative film that avoids the usual genre clichés by grounding its absurd plot in stellar performances. Kontinental '25 The promotional material and critical buzz surrounding Kontinental ’25 confirm that the winner of the Silver Berlin Bear for Best Screenplay is not only back, but operating at a fever pitch of urgency and daring. Anniversary Kenny Dalglish It's rare for a documentary trailer to stir the soul quite as effectively as the first look at Kenny Dalglish, the upcoming feature focusing on the life and legacy of one of British football's most revered and complex figures. Is This Thing On? Searchlight Pictures has premiered the teaser trailer for Is This Thing On?, and it suggests we are in for a sharp, melancholic comedy that mines the humour and heartbreak of mid-life crisis through the lens of stand-up. Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere The first official trailer for Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, the biopic chronicling the turbulent creation of the 1982 masterpiece Nebraska, has landed. The Bride The latest tease for The Bride, the highly anticipated 2026 offering from Maggie Gyllenhaal, has dropped, and if this brief glimpse is anything to go by, British cinema-goers should prepare themselves for a truly spectacular and unsettling cinematic experience.

Watch the thrilling trailer for Surge, a new film from Vertigo Releasing coming out this year starring Ben Whishaw. . Brand new film trailers. Surge Trailer Watch the thrilling trailer for Surge, a new film from Vertigo Releasing coming out this year starring Ben Whishaw. Set over 24 hours in London, SURGE is a stripped-back thriller about a man who goes on a bold and reckless journey of self-liberation. Directed by Aneil Karia and written by Rupert Jones and Rita Kalnejais. The Moment The Land of Sometimes Twins Alfie and Elise find a magical Wish Watch on Christmas Eve and are swept by the Wish Collector into the musical Land of Sometimes, where they learn that wishes have consequences. Avengers: Doomsday Fans are elated at the release of the first teaser trailer for Avengers: Doomsday. Set for a theatrical release on 18th December 2026, find out more here. Greenland 2: Migration Now, the first official trailer for the sequel, Greenland 2: Migration, has landed, promising to take that survivalist tension into even more treacherous territory. Looney Tunes: The Day the Earth Blew Up Looney Tunes: The Day the Earth Blew Up Official Trailer. Looney Tunes: The Day The Earth Blew Up will be in UK & Irish cinemas from 13th February 2026. Mother Mary Ultimately, the Mother Mary trailer establishes a compelling promise: a film that uses the theatricality of the music industry to explore something primal about identity and obsession. Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come In the trailer for Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come establishes a new, thrilling chapter. It’s a sequel that dares to go bigger, transforming a single family’s twisted tradition into a full-scale, world-controlling bloodsport. Shelter People We Meet On Vacation People We Meet On Vacation looks set to be a thoroughly British affair in its tone and appeal—a charming, heartfelt escape, promising both belly laughs and a good cry. Doctor Plague Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery This first glimpse of Wake Up Dead Man isn’t just a trailer; it’s a brilliant statement of intent. The film looks primed to be a festive treat for audiences looking for a compelling, cleverly constructed mystery. Michael Michael is set to arrive in cinemas in the UK and Ireland on the 24th of April 2026, and based on this compelling first look, the world will indeed be waiting. The Carpenter's Son We anticipate that The Carpenter's Son will be less of a retelling and more of a deeply disquieting examination of power, temptation, and the human cost of being chosen. It arrives on 21st November. Eternity Eternity looks set to be a sophisticated, imaginative film that avoids the usual genre clichés by grounding its absurd plot in stellar performances. Kontinental '25 The promotional material and critical buzz surrounding Kontinental ’25 confirm that the winner of the Silver Berlin Bear for Best Screenplay is not only back, but operating at a fever pitch of urgency and daring. Anniversary Kenny Dalglish It's rare for a documentary trailer to stir the soul quite as effectively as the first look at Kenny Dalglish, the upcoming feature focusing on the life and legacy of one of British football's most revered and complex figures. Is This Thing On? Searchlight Pictures has premiered the teaser trailer for Is This Thing On?, and it suggests we are in for a sharp, melancholic comedy that mines the humour and heartbreak of mid-life crisis through the lens of stand-up. Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere The first official trailer for Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, the biopic chronicling the turbulent creation of the 1982 masterpiece Nebraska, has landed. The Bride The latest tease for The Bride, the highly anticipated 2026 offering from Maggie Gyllenhaal, has dropped, and if this brief glimpse is anything to go by, British cinema-goers should prepare themselves for a truly spectacular and unsettling cinematic experience.

Now, the first official trailer for the sequel, Greenland 2: Migration, has landed, promising to take that survivalist tension into even more treacherous territory.. Brand new film trailers. Greenland 2: Migration When the original Greenland arrived in 2020, it defied the expectations of the standard disaster flick. Rather than focusing solely on the spectacle of global destruction, it grounded itself in the harrowing, intimate struggle of one family trying to find safety amidst the chaos. It was a grounded, emotionally resonant piece of cinema that resonated with audiences during a time of global uncertainty. Now, the first official trailer for the sequel, Greenland 2: Migration , has landed, promising to take that survivalist tension into even more treacherous territory. The trailer opens with a sobering reminder of the stakes: "Five years since the end of the world." We find Gerard Butler’s John Garrity and Morena Baccarin’s Allison five years after the cataclysmic comet impact that decimated the planet. The family has survived in their Greenland bunker, but as the trailer makes clear, surviving is not the same as living. The "new normal" of their underground existence is reaching its breaking point. John tells Allison that there is no life for their son, Nathan, in the confines of the bunker, sparking a desperate journey across a transformed, hostile landscape. The central mystery of this sequel is "The Crater." Described as humanity’s last chance, it is a mythical-sounding destination that Denis, a new character, claims is where the world will be reborn. However, the path to this sanctuary is deemed impossible. The trailer shifts gears from the claustrophobia of the bunker to the vast, desolate expanses of a frozen, ash-covered world. We see glimpses of recognizable landmarks in ruin—including a haunting shot of the Sydney Opera House—reinforcing the scale of the devastation. Visually, Greenland 2: Migration looks to maintain the gritty, tactile aesthetic of its predecessor. There are plenty of high-stakes action sequences, involving gas masks, treacherous climbs, and what appears to be a massive tsunami or environmental surge. Yet, the core of the film remains the Garrity family. The chemistry between Butler and Baccarin was the engine of the first film, and here it seems to have deepened into a weary, battle-hardened resolve. Their promise to Nathan—to get him to the crater—provides the emotional anchor for what looks to be a relentless odyssey. As a sequel, Migration seems to be asking a compelling question: once you have survived the end of the world, how do you go about building a new one? It moves the story from the immediate panic of a disaster to the long-term struggle of reconstruction and hope. The inclusion of the word "Migration" in the title suggests a journey of epic proportions, moving away from a static hideout towards an uncertain future. For fans of the first film, this trailer offers everything one could hope for: higher stakes, a more expansive world, and the return of the characters we grew to care for. It looks set to be a harrowing, high-octane exploration of the human spirit’s refusal to extinguish. Greenland 2: Migration is scheduled for US release in January, and based on this first look, it is likely to be a standout cinematic event for the new year. The Moment The Land of Sometimes Twins Alfie and Elise find a magical Wish Watch on Christmas Eve and are swept by the Wish Collector into the musical Land of Sometimes, where they learn that wishes have consequences. Avengers: Doomsday Fans are elated at the release of the first teaser trailer for Avengers: Doomsday. Set for a theatrical release on 18th December 2026, find out more here. Greenland 2: Migration Now, the first official trailer for the sequel, Greenland 2: Migration, has landed, promising to take that survivalist tension into even more treacherous territory. Looney Tunes: The Day the Earth Blew Up Looney Tunes: The Day the Earth Blew Up Official Trailer. Looney Tunes: The Day The Earth Blew Up will be in UK & Irish cinemas from 13th February 2026. Mother Mary Ultimately, the Mother Mary trailer establishes a compelling promise: a film that uses the theatricality of the music industry to explore something primal about identity and obsession. Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come In the trailer for Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come establishes a new, thrilling chapter. It’s a sequel that dares to go bigger, transforming a single family’s twisted tradition into a full-scale, world-controlling bloodsport. Shelter People We Meet On Vacation People We Meet On Vacation looks set to be a thoroughly British affair in its tone and appeal—a charming, heartfelt escape, promising both belly laughs and a good cry. Doctor Plague Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery This first glimpse of Wake Up Dead Man isn’t just a trailer; it’s a brilliant statement of intent. The film looks primed to be a festive treat for audiences looking for a compelling, cleverly constructed mystery. Michael Michael is set to arrive in cinemas in the UK and Ireland on the 24th of April 2026, and based on this compelling first look, the world will indeed be waiting. The Carpenter's Son We anticipate that The Carpenter's Son will be less of a retelling and more of a deeply disquieting examination of power, temptation, and the human cost of being chosen. It arrives on 21st November. Eternity Eternity looks set to be a sophisticated, imaginative film that avoids the usual genre clichés by grounding its absurd plot in stellar performances. Kontinental '25 The promotional material and critical buzz surrounding Kontinental ’25 confirm that the winner of the Silver Berlin Bear for Best Screenplay is not only back, but operating at a fever pitch of urgency and daring. Anniversary Kenny Dalglish It's rare for a documentary trailer to stir the soul quite as effectively as the first look at Kenny Dalglish, the upcoming feature focusing on the life and legacy of one of British football's most revered and complex figures. Is This Thing On? Searchlight Pictures has premiered the teaser trailer for Is This Thing On?, and it suggests we are in for a sharp, melancholic comedy that mines the humour and heartbreak of mid-life crisis through the lens of stand-up. Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere The first official trailer for Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, the biopic chronicling the turbulent creation of the 1982 masterpiece Nebraska, has landed. The Bride The latest tease for The Bride, the highly anticipated 2026 offering from Maggie Gyllenhaal, has dropped, and if this brief glimpse is anything to go by, British cinema-goers should prepare themselves for a truly spectacular and unsettling cinematic experience.

Award-winning Hungarian writer/director Szabolcs Hajdu’s immersive nocturnal drama TREASURE CITY, is released on on 18 June, in cinemas and on Virtual Cinemas and VOD.. Brand new film trailers. Treasure City Trailer WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU WILL SEE TONIGHT? ACCLAIMED HUNGARIAN DRAMA RELEASED IN UK, 18th June 2021 Award-winning Hungarian writer/director Szabolcs Hajdu’s immersive nocturnal drama TREASURE CITY , is released on on 18 June, in cinemas and on Virtual Cinemas and VOD. A subtle mix of nocturnal urban tales exploring the darker side of human relations, the film drops the viewer into a web of family, sexual, political and romantic relationships where nothing’s quite what it seems. A disagreement in a florists’ spirals badly out of control; a family dinner deteriorates into acrimony; an anti-facist demo raises tensions; a visit to an empty bar leads to an unexpected encounter - one event connects to another, people appear in one situation and reappear in another, and by the end, the lives of 22 people intersect in unpredictable ways, during 90-minutes in one magical night in the city they share. Prolific Hungarian filmmaker Szabolcs Hajdu has won numerous awards for his work, with his 2010 fantasy drama, and Berlin Film Festival hit, Bibliothèque Pascal winning prizes at the Media Central European Film Festival, the Sarajevo Film Festival and the Toburon International Film Festival. His 2016 drama It’s Not the Time of My Life won awards at the Bosphorus Film Festival, the Miskolc International Film Festival, the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, and got the Special Jury Prize at the Sochi International Film Festival. In TREASURE CITY Hadju turns the spotlight on the city at night, and the interweaving stories of its inhabitants. With a brilliant, natural ensemble cast (including stand outs from Banality 's Lilla Sárosdi and Biblothèque Pascal 's Orsolya Török-Illyés), a pulsing, driving score by Freakin’ Disco, superb cinematography (with the camera gliding and swooping around the city) from Csaba Bántó, and assured direction from Hadju, TREASURE CITY offers a valuable and gripping glimpse into a hidden world that reveals much about human nature, and the way we live now. TREASURE CITY WILL BE RELEASED ON 18th JUNE 2021 The Moment The Land of Sometimes Twins Alfie and Elise find a magical Wish Watch on Christmas Eve and are swept by the Wish Collector into the musical Land of Sometimes, where they learn that wishes have consequences. Avengers: Doomsday Fans are elated at the release of the first teaser trailer for Avengers: Doomsday. Set for a theatrical release on 18th December 2026, find out more here. Greenland 2: Migration Now, the first official trailer for the sequel, Greenland 2: Migration, has landed, promising to take that survivalist tension into even more treacherous territory. Looney Tunes: The Day the Earth Blew Up Looney Tunes: The Day the Earth Blew Up Official Trailer. Looney Tunes: The Day The Earth Blew Up will be in UK & Irish cinemas from 13th February 2026. Mother Mary Ultimately, the Mother Mary trailer establishes a compelling promise: a film that uses the theatricality of the music industry to explore something primal about identity and obsession. Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come In the trailer for Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come establishes a new, thrilling chapter. It’s a sequel that dares to go bigger, transforming a single family’s twisted tradition into a full-scale, world-controlling bloodsport. Shelter People We Meet On Vacation People We Meet On Vacation looks set to be a thoroughly British affair in its tone and appeal—a charming, heartfelt escape, promising both belly laughs and a good cry. Doctor Plague Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery This first glimpse of Wake Up Dead Man isn’t just a trailer; it’s a brilliant statement of intent. The film looks primed to be a festive treat for audiences looking for a compelling, cleverly constructed mystery. Michael Michael is set to arrive in cinemas in the UK and Ireland on the 24th of April 2026, and based on this compelling first look, the world will indeed be waiting. The Carpenter's Son We anticipate that The Carpenter's Son will be less of a retelling and more of a deeply disquieting examination of power, temptation, and the human cost of being chosen. It arrives on 21st November. Eternity Eternity looks set to be a sophisticated, imaginative film that avoids the usual genre clichés by grounding its absurd plot in stellar performances. Kontinental '25 The promotional material and critical buzz surrounding Kontinental ’25 confirm that the winner of the Silver Berlin Bear for Best Screenplay is not only back, but operating at a fever pitch of urgency and daring. Anniversary Kenny Dalglish It's rare for a documentary trailer to stir the soul quite as effectively as the first look at Kenny Dalglish, the upcoming feature focusing on the life and legacy of one of British football's most revered and complex figures. Is This Thing On? Searchlight Pictures has premiered the teaser trailer for Is This Thing On?, and it suggests we are in for a sharp, melancholic comedy that mines the humour and heartbreak of mid-life crisis through the lens of stand-up. Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere The first official trailer for Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, the biopic chronicling the turbulent creation of the 1982 masterpiece Nebraska, has landed. The Bride The latest tease for The Bride, the highly anticipated 2026 offering from Maggie Gyllenhaal, has dropped, and if this brief glimpse is anything to go by, British cinema-goers should prepare themselves for a truly spectacular and unsettling cinematic experience.

Watch the trailer for the indie film Spears, by filmmaker Gerard Lough. For more of the latest film trailers visit UK Film Review. . Brand new film trailers. Spears Spears is the new thriller from Irish filmmaker Gerard Lough. Packed with twists and turns, the plot kicks off when a Private Investigator is sent from Ireland to Florence, Italy to track down a woman who mysteriously vanished there. Meanwhile in London, a Dissident Republican does an arm's deal with a new seller he does not trust. In Berlin, a scam artist spends a weekend with a married woman he tries to convince to leave with him. Each of the three men makes a startling discovery which forces them to team up back in Ireland and take revenge on those who have wronged them. Fittingly, the film’s title is taken from the Emily Bronte quote; “Treachery and violence are spears pointed by both ends; they wound those who resort to them worse than their enemies.” Typical of the mystery/thriller genre, the film is a stylish looking affair with tension and fear in abundance but trust in short supply. The ambitious production was shot in London, Berlin, Florence and Donegal, Ireland. Busy Irish actor Aidan O'Sullivan (Night People) leads a diverse cast of exciting newcomers. Lough: "The cast of Spears were are the best I have ever worked with. Each of the seven principal actors are potential break out stars and I have no doubt we are going to be seeing more of them on screen in the years to come. After a preview screening, their performances were one of the most talked-about aspects of the film." Another early talking point has been the film's music which includes some of the best new Irish and British electronica from artists such as Shaefri, Sleep Thieves, Le Groupe Fantastique and Exit: Pursued by a Bear, whose song Rabbit with Hat is featured on the trailer. Lough rates the Cork group's song "as one of the best pieces of electronic music ever released by an Irish band, no two ways about it." The new trailer proved a challenge as it had to give audiences a clear idea of what the film is about while not giving away its biggest plot twist. Lough: "It's a common complaint of modern trailers that they give away far too much. With this trailer, we have held back the film's biggest surprises and retained the mystery while still giving an audience the essence of the story. It's a tricky balance but I think we've nailed it." The film's release date was held back so it could be released in cinemas at a time when audiences are returning in larger numbers. Lough: "There is nothing like seeing your work on the big screen, so we are all delighted that initial audiences will get to experience Spears exactly as we intended." Spears is currently showing at selected cinemas in Ireland with a U.K. release to be confirmed. The Moment The Land of Sometimes Twins Alfie and Elise find a magical Wish Watch on Christmas Eve and are swept by the Wish Collector into the musical Land of Sometimes, where they learn that wishes have consequences. Avengers: Doomsday Fans are elated at the release of the first teaser trailer for Avengers: Doomsday. Set for a theatrical release on 18th December 2026, find out more here. Greenland 2: Migration Now, the first official trailer for the sequel, Greenland 2: Migration, has landed, promising to take that survivalist tension into even more treacherous territory. Looney Tunes: The Day the Earth Blew Up Looney Tunes: The Day the Earth Blew Up Official Trailer. Looney Tunes: The Day The Earth Blew Up will be in UK & Irish cinemas from 13th February 2026. Mother Mary Ultimately, the Mother Mary trailer establishes a compelling promise: a film that uses the theatricality of the music industry to explore something primal about identity and obsession. Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come In the trailer for Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come establishes a new, thrilling chapter. It’s a sequel that dares to go bigger, transforming a single family’s twisted tradition into a full-scale, world-controlling bloodsport. Shelter People We Meet On Vacation People We Meet On Vacation looks set to be a thoroughly British affair in its tone and appeal—a charming, heartfelt escape, promising both belly laughs and a good cry. Doctor Plague Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery This first glimpse of Wake Up Dead Man isn’t just a trailer; it’s a brilliant statement of intent. The film looks primed to be a festive treat for audiences looking for a compelling, cleverly constructed mystery. Michael Michael is set to arrive in cinemas in the UK and Ireland on the 24th of April 2026, and based on this compelling first look, the world will indeed be waiting. The Carpenter's Son We anticipate that The Carpenter's Son will be less of a retelling and more of a deeply disquieting examination of power, temptation, and the human cost of being chosen. It arrives on 21st November. Eternity Eternity looks set to be a sophisticated, imaginative film that avoids the usual genre clichés by grounding its absurd plot in stellar performances. Kontinental '25 The promotional material and critical buzz surrounding Kontinental ’25 confirm that the winner of the Silver Berlin Bear for Best Screenplay is not only back, but operating at a fever pitch of urgency and daring. Anniversary Kenny Dalglish It's rare for a documentary trailer to stir the soul quite as effectively as the first look at Kenny Dalglish, the upcoming feature focusing on the life and legacy of one of British football's most revered and complex figures. Is This Thing On? Searchlight Pictures has premiered the teaser trailer for Is This Thing On?, and it suggests we are in for a sharp, melancholic comedy that mines the humour and heartbreak of mid-life crisis through the lens of stand-up. Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere The first official trailer for Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, the biopic chronicling the turbulent creation of the 1982 masterpiece Nebraska, has landed. The Bride The latest tease for The Bride, the highly anticipated 2026 offering from Maggie Gyllenhaal, has dropped, and if this brief glimpse is anything to go by, British cinema-goers should prepare themselves for a truly spectacular and unsettling cinematic experience.

Read the film podcast transcript from the episode titled September 5 - Bridget Jones Mad About the Boy - Flight Risk - UK Film Club Episode 24 on UK Film Club part of the UK Film Review Podcast. < Back September 5 - Bridget Jones Mad About the Boy - Flight Risk - UK Film Club Episode 24 Listen to This Episode UK Film Club 00:00.25 Brian Penn Because up I was chatting away. I forgot what I was saying now. but no um But you can hear me okay now? 00:07.61 Chris Olson Yeah, if anything, you're louder now. I don't know if you you've gone up in volume. 00:12.56 Brian Penn That's strange. oh okay. Anyway, so I'm back. I'm back. hope you didn't miss me. 00:17.28 Chris Olson Wow, we always miss you, Brian, whenever you're away. Yeah. 00:19.52 Brian Penn Oh, well. Thank you for saying so. Yeah, anyway. Okay. Yeah. So, yeah, so Oscar season, you know, they They all seem to spread the net very wide, ah but they never seem to get the films that should be there. But it is a matter of opinion, isn't it? 00:37.38 Brian Penn And lot of a lot of the time you are comparing apples with oranges, aren't you? You're not comparing light with light, and it's always difficult with any set of walls, isn't it? 00:45.15 Chris Olson Yeah, I think yeah it goes across not even just film, right? Awards in general are sort of like, okay, what value do they hold? 00:51.72 Brian Penn Yeah. Yeah. 00:53.74 Chris Olson I like the fact that often they shine a light on stuff that just didn't get that, um maybe that main main street point popularity. 00:59.42 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:02.03 Chris Olson And also... even people that get i said yeah they get ah nominated, it's enough to sort of make careers, right? 01:09.53 Brian Penn Yeah. 01:11.43 Chris Olson To just say that you're you you often see it in the trailers, it would say like Oscar not oscar nominated, and you think, well, actually, it's a massive achievement. 01:14.84 Brian Penn Yeah. yeah 01:18.32 Chris Olson So I'm all for them. I think I i ah kind of, I don't hold too much stock in terms of like who wins. 01:20.64 Brian Penn yeah 01:26.49 Chris Olson I think it's just nice. you see You see the films that get nominated, so you kind of think, okay, that's a good list of movies probably to check out. 01:29.49 Brian Penn Yeah. Yeah. 01:32.03 Chris Olson Yeah, it's probably good quality. 01:33.57 Brian Penn Yeah. I think it's a license to work in Hollywood, isn't it? if you're Even if you're nominated, it's an endorsement, isn't it? It's that ultimate degree of acceptance. And it probably outranks the BAFTAs and the Golden Globes. They all fall hot on the heels of the Oscars, don't they? 01:50.13 Chris Olson Yeah. 01:50.32 Brian Penn But because the Oscars was first, and it is the center of the filmmaking industry traditionally, um they will always carry a lot of weight. So... um You can't, it's the it's the one set of awards you can't really ignore or dismiss or say they're just silly, you know, because they're not, they're a barometer for success, aren't they? 02:11.03 Brian Penn And if an actor or a director can or a writer can point to it and say, look, I've been nominated, it's not bad. 02:11.21 Chris Olson Yeah. 02:18.95 Brian Penn it's all about 02:19.19 Chris Olson no 02:19.87 Brian Penn and It's not a bad thing to put on your CV, is it? 02:22.92 Chris Olson No, I do that just to see if anyone notices. I just say best best supporting actor and just see if anyone says anything. 02:25.40 Brian Penn Yeah, well, what? All right. see ah we See, I'd normally go for best writer myself. 02:28.55 Chris Olson writer. 02:31.17 Brian Penn I don't see myself as an actor particularly. So best writer, you know, that kind of suits me. 02:35.82 Chris Olson that's right and 02:36.44 Brian Penn I can stay anonymous then, and nobody knows me. 02:37.92 Chris Olson And that's that's the thing, I suppose, actually, you know, with Best Supporting Actor, they can check it quite easily. But with you, you can go, yep, that is me. yeah like I just write under a i write under a pseudonym and that's me. 02:44.20 Brian Penn Yeah, and exactly. Yeah, I know, I know. 02:47.27 Chris Olson So, fair enough. 02:48.79 Brian Penn And you can enjoy all the trappings of success and fortune without the fame bit, you know. So it's all good. Jobs are good. 02:56.15 Chris Olson Well, as it is a February episode, we're going to talk a little bit about the Oscars in this ah this show, um but we're not losing our usual remit. Don't worry, listeners. We will still be reviewing cinema releases. 03:06.19 Brian Penn yeah 03:08.48 Chris Olson We're going review a ah streaming pick. We've got some indie movies to review and we'll be doing our nostalgia pick. um and sliced in there somewhere we're also going to just quickly ask brian who he thinks is going to win a couple of the categories we're not going to go through all of them by any means um but before we get to that we're going to talk about a new release in a franchise that i have a soft spot for which is bridget jones with a new film called mad about the boy brian come on tell me this is great come on okay 03:21.79 Brian Penn Yeah. No, no, no. No, no, 03:30.33 Brian Penn no. 03:34.09 Brian Penn Yeah. Yeah, okay then. So, directed by Michael Morris, starring Renny Zalweger, Chiwetel Ijefor, Hugh Grant, Leo Woodall, and a host of cameos to choose from. ah So, this is the fourth installment in the Bridget Jones franchise. We've not heard from Bridget since 2016. 03:57.35 Brian Penn um So, she's now widowed with two children. Mark Darcy was killed overseas four years previously. And now she has to navigate life as a singleton again. Her friends urge her to start dating. 04:10.15 Brian Penn Love interest arrives in the form of park ranger Rockstar and the kind but uptight school teacher Mr. Wallach. Bridget inevitably falls for toy boy Rockstar whilst the plainly more suitable Mr. Wallach watches on. 04:23.64 Brian Penn Oh, it's great have Bridget back. It really is. I've missed her. I don't know about you. I've really missed her. 04:28.44 Chris Olson Oh, she's great. She has a great character, isn't it? 04:29.81 Brian Penn yeah and I know. And whenever a new film comes out, it's like catching up with an old friend. And she's so lovable, you wonder why you ever lost touch in the first place. so That's the way it feels. So straight away, there's a natural glow. 04:41.84 Brian Penn Because Bridget's so human, we we relate to on all kinds of levels. So I would say men and women could relate to Bridget. um Even though there are laugh-out-load moments, there's no overwhelming sadness about this film. 04:54.30 Brian Penn She's still grieving and trying to help her children through the process. Bit of a tear-joker at the end. but you'll be pleased with the outcome if that's not a contradiction in terms. Great soundtrack to enjoy and a welcome addition to the franchise. 05:07.82 Brian Penn I really enjoyed it. ah some Some have said that it's better than the original. I wouldn't quite go that far, but it's on par and it maintains the standard, but ah thoroughly enjoyable film. 05:20.12 Chris Olson Oh, it's funny because I watched and watch all three of the other films over Christmas. And I think they're a great set to revisit. 05:25.05 Brian Penn All right, thanks. 05:27.19 Chris Olson They've got a very kind of timelessness to them. And I did enjoy the third one more than when I first saw it. So rewatching it. 05:35.79 Brian Penn Yeah. 05:36.30 Chris Olson And I think that's a really powerful thing with movies like this, especially the rom-coms. where yeah if you are still able to get things out them, and in this case more when I went back to it, I thought that was really, really good. 05:46.49 Brian Penn Yeah. 05:47.46 Chris Olson So i am, you know, is 100% on my watch list for this year. 05:51.38 Brian Penn Yeah. I mean, it's interesting you mentioned the third film. It is more of a grower, I think. the you know the the first The first two films are real standouts and um you you desperately want each six-season film to be at at least as good, but not better, of course. But, um yeah you know, there there were just so many good lines. And as I say, you you feel like bridge Bridget coming back in onto this and you think, oh, it's so good to her back. 06:19.19 Brian Penn And straight away, you start thinking about what the next Bridget Jones might film might be because they come to the end of the books now. 06:26.83 Chris Olson Right. 06:27.20 Brian Penn So and Helen Fielding, if they made another one, she would have to come come up with something new. But if you left it for, say, five years, um for example, Bridget would be in her 60s. Her kids would be grown up. 06:41.07 Brian Penn Where would that leave her? So it's a bit like kind of a you crave it, but you don't want it. 06:47.53 Chris Olson Yeah, I think it's a franchise that you could do that with. Not many franchises could could you do that, i think because of the nature of the stories and it's it's it's quite a real life sort of um tale being told and she just gets in these kind of comic capers. 06:53.02 Brian Penn Yeah. 06:56.38 Brian Penn Yeah. 07:03.75 Chris Olson You could do that with a character of any age really, and as long as it's not settled down and boring. 07:06.49 Brian Penn Yeah. But she's all, yeah. know. But she's got this kind of, ah oh, shucks sort of um image about isn't she? She gets things wrong. She makes mistakes. she She says things that she shouldn't say. She puts her foot in it, you know. 07:22.53 Chris Olson Yeah. 07:22.69 Brian Penn And that's what we all do, that, don't we? That's why she's so like... 07:26.40 Chris Olson So we love Bridget for, um, yeah, fabulous. Um, so Bridget Jones is currently, what's at cinemas? Is it still at cinemas? 07:36.23 Brian Penn Yeah, no, no, it's still going, it's doing great, great business still. 07:39.46 Chris Olson Okay. Okay. Fabulous. 07:41.15 Brian Penn It's not been out long. It came out, it came out on Valentine's Day. 07:45.62 Chris Olson Oh, well, of course. Yeah. 07:47.25 Brian Penn So it's, oh yeah, absolutely. 07:47.62 Chris Olson Perfect date night. 07:49.81 Brian Penn No question. Yeah, good date movie. 07:50.61 Chris Olson Um, 07:52.00 Brian Penn Yeah. 07:52.99 Chris Olson Well, if you've seen it, let us know what we think of it. 07:55.93 Brian Penn Yeah. 07:55.82 Chris Olson and We may have had some listening reviews. I'll check in a second. But um I know you have for the next film that Brian went to see at the cinema, ah which is September five Or is it September 5th? 08:06.24 Brian Penn oh 08:07.09 Chris Olson I don't know. September 5th? 08:08.34 Brian Penn Oh, it depends. 08:08.88 Chris Olson September 5th? 08:09.22 Brian Penn It depends whether you're in an American state of mind or a British state of mind, because we would say 5th of September, wouldn't we, over here? 08:13.01 Chris Olson Okay. 08:16.64 Brian Penn But in America, they'd say, yeah. 08:16.88 Chris Olson We would because 100% the day comes before the month. And I know we have a lot of American listeners and that might irk you, but I'm sorry. 08:21.98 Brian Penn Yeah. 08:24.44 Brian Penn Hmm. 08:26.70 Chris Olson It is the way it should be. And I'll leave it at that. I don't want to start any more grief, but day, month, year. 08:32.01 Brian Penn No, no, no. Yeah. 08:35.07 Chris Olson Smallest to biggest, please. 08:36.25 Brian Penn that's and That's the rules, isn't it? Simple as that. 08:37.84 Chris Olson That's the rules. But the rule is now that Brian gets to review this movie. 08:38.76 Brian Penn Yeah. 08:40.74 Chris Olson So go, Brian. 08:41.28 Brian Penn I do. I do. Thank you. and So, September 5, directed by Tim Feierbaum, starring Peter Sarsgaard, John Magaro, Ben Chaplin, and Leonie Benesch. 08:53.53 Brian Penn This is the true story of the terrorist attack on members of the Israeli Olympic team at Munich in 1972. American broadcasters ABC already have a studio set up next to the Olympic Village. 09:06.23 Brian Penn So they have a perfect vantage point to relay live coverage. But the sports team face competition not only from their own from other broadcasters, but members of their own news team who want to muscle in on the scoop of the century. 09:19.21 Brian Penn Now this film has got all the hallmarks of a great thriller. It's full of tension and nervous energy. TV executives trying to do the right thing, but at the same time trying not to compromise a great story. 09:30.86 Brian Penn It feels like a documentary and where I fly on the wall. It's very, very strong. and fully deserves the Oscar nomination for best original screenplay. But this is quality filmmaking. 09:42.75 Brian Penn You know, this is a film that deserves to be seen. um So a very, very good film. It's really impressive. 09:49.63 Chris Olson Fantastic. I mean, we had um one listener send in a review. 09:51.07 Brian Penn Yeah. 09:54.97 Chris Olson Ethan Jay, who gives it five stars, says, a the filmmakers here seem to respect their audience. 09:57.63 Brian Penn and 10:00.13 Chris Olson The pacing of the film was great, with only having a runtime of an hour and 35, and it used every minute perfectly and didn't linger on one scene for any longer than it needed. 10:09.03 Brian Penn ah 10:09.26 Chris Olson Even though to some people, having the whole film set in one building or area might seem lazy or boring, the director uses that setting to its full potential. 10:17.04 Brian Penn Yeah. Yeah, I totally agree with that. it gives It gives you a good sense of the the um the drama, the inbuilt drama that you have there within that studio. You know, where one minute they think they're going to, you know, at the beginning of the day, they think they're going to be um broadcasting athletics and boxing and show jumping. 10:31.24 Chris Olson Thank 10:37.84 Brian Penn And the next minute, they're covering a terrorist siege. You know, it's it's just jumping from two completely different scenarios and it shows exactly what what the mechanics are in a situation like that. 10:54.89 Brian Penn Bear in mind, this is the early 70s and they didn't have the same technology they have available today. You know, that's satellite TV, that's satellites that could bring pictures live across the world. They could do that. But it, 11:06.51 Brian Penn it all becomes magnified. And the fact that they do contain it in the studio, more or less, makes it even more effective. And the fact that it is only 95 minutes long makes it even more effective in the in the way it comes across. 11:23.05 Brian Penn Because it doesn't have time to sort of flesh out the detail anymore. Because I think it is a story that's fairly well known. I think we we know the story of the Munich Olympics quite well anyway. 11:37.16 Brian Penn And the other films have been made, you know, for example, Spielberg made Munich, didn't he? 11:41.61 Chris Olson Yeah. 11:41.86 Brian Penn Um, which is a completely different perspective. This is the first film so look as far as I'm aware anyway, to look at it from, from the, uh, the news angle, you know, how is, the how is it done on the ground? 11:55.15 Brian Penn And I have very clear memories. I was young at the time, but I have very clear memories of, um, of Munich and Black September. And, um, it does bring bring back some vivid memories for me. So it's such a good film, but it's the kind of I mean, i'm I'm glad it's been recognized by the Oscars, that it has got that nomination there. That's so important because it gives, it gives the director, it gives the stars of the film a much, much higher profile because one thing they haven't got is an A, no disrespect to the actors involved. They're all brilliant, right? 12:26.48 Brian Penn But they don't have any, what you would call A-list actors involved. Now, maybe you would say that helps the film more because it stands by itself. But um very special shout out, though, to the actress that plays, the actor, sorry, that plays Marianne. 12:44.08 Brian Penn um That's Leonie Benesch. She plays the interpreter who's caught, basically caught in the middle, who's trying to liaise with the police, liaise the general authorities, cease translate it and bring it back to ABC so they can make sense of it all. 13:01.27 Brian Penn But such a good film. Very good film. 13:03.90 Chris Olson Wow. Yeah. I mean, i just touching on the point you mentioned about ah stars in the movies, um I'm often of the mindset of that I think stars can be distracting. 13:15.40 Chris Olson i get i get the whole system. 13:15.88 Brian Penn Yeah. 13:17.00 Chris Olson i understand that often that's the only way they're going to get the film made, right? 13:19.78 Brian Penn Yeah. 13:19.76 Chris Olson that If they've got someone in that can pull in the... 13:21.84 Brian Penn Yeah. 13:22.30 Chris Olson The punters, as they say. um 13:23.81 Brian Penn Go ahead. 13:24.39 Chris Olson But but i was we were watching some animation recently, and I think it was Raya, The Last Dragon or something, and they've got celebrities in that, and I find them very distracting, and especially in animation, where you're sort of going, did that need to be a celebrity's voice? 13:30.80 Brian Penn right Yeah. 13:38.39 Chris Olson that could that 13:38.89 Brian Penn And and I. 13:39.37 Chris Olson yeah If anything, it sort of makes you think, well, it's not that person at all. 13:39.65 Brian Penn and 13:42.49 Chris Olson They're not in the film physically, like visually. 13:43.39 Brian Penn Yeah. 13:44.83 Chris Olson um And I think often with movies where you're trying to create an authentic story, they get 13:45.01 Brian Penn Yeah. 13:51.67 Chris Olson You could ruin that by sort of showing, oh, here's here's Brad Pitt, here's Angelina Jolie, here's all these people. 13:53.33 Brian Penn Yeah, I think that's true. Yeah. I know. 13:57.10 Chris Olson and so yeah. 13:57.61 Brian Penn I know. 13:58.21 Chris Olson Yeah. 13:58.64 Brian Penn Yeah, I agree with that. Where it becomes a star vehicle, um it can be distracting. 14:01.74 Chris Olson and 14:03.74 Brian Penn ah so I suppose with September 5th, they've got actors that you recognise. You know, and they're instantly familiar. They all are. And you're kind of thinking, oh, know them from somewhere. And Peter Sarsgaard and Ben Chaplin, ah you know, a reasonably high profile, I guess. 14:17.21 Brian Penn But I suppose as long as you've got actors that you recognise, that's probably okay. um because really at the end of the day, it's a story, isn't it, that matters. It's a standard of storytelling. 14:27.62 Chris Olson Yeah. 14:28.65 Brian Penn And sometimes I think you're right that if the stars are bigger than the film, they're bigger than the script, they're bigger than the story, then it kind of gets buried a little bit, I think. 14:39.58 Brian Penn So sometimes I think it helps to have ah films that don't necessarily have A-listers. But I mean, inevitably, things being the way they are, Chris, we know they look for a certain type of actor in a certain type of film. 14:57.17 Brian Penn And if the bigger the budget is, the big you know and the larger they go with but the stars they employ. 15:02.51 Chris Olson Well, thank you, Ethan, by the for your review. 15:05.90 Brian Penn Yeah. 15:06.28 Chris Olson Thank you, Brian. and Speaking of star vehicles, let's see if that's happened with the next film Brian's going to review, which is Flight Risk, starring Marky Wahlberg. 15:14.81 Brian Penn Oh, yeah, yeah. ah Right, okay. So Flight Risk um is directed by Mel Gibson. Stars, Mark Wahlberg. ah can't I can never pronounce his name properly. 15:27.60 Brian Penn Mark Wahlberg. 15:27.58 Chris Olson because you're scared of him, Brian. That's what it is. You're scared. 15:29.04 Brian Penn Yeah, I know. He's a big bloke, isn't he? 15:32.33 Chris Olson is 15:32.55 Brian Penn Michelle Dockery and Topher Grace. um So, story in a nutshell, US Marshal Madeleine Harris places an accountant called Winston under arrest. 15:43.57 Brian Penn He's agreed to give evidence against the Moretti crime family. She chances a private plane to fly her star witness to New York via Anchorage. The pilot, Daryl Boo, shows up, but it's not all he seems. 15:55.63 Brian Penn Following an altercation, Madeline has to fire the plane herself. She has sporadic radio contacts and slowly begins to piece together what's happened. Very enjoyable film. 16:07.08 Brian Penn I like this. 16:07.11 Chris Olson Yeah. 16:07.97 Brian Penn Yeah, nice easy plot to follow. Not too challenging, you know. and Doesn't distract you too much from your popcorn or your coke or whatever it is you've got with you. um It's only 90 minutes long. 16:20.01 Brian Penn So no chance getting cramped, sitting there for too long. Always it's always an important consideration, I think. 16:25.20 Chris Olson Cramp. 16:26.34 Brian Penn Well, yeah, I know. 16:26.44 Chris Olson It's got the cramp avoidance. 16:28.93 Brian Penn I mean, for a six-footer, it's a particularly um big issue for me. you know But anyway, I'm getting off the pull. 16:34.14 Chris Olson Yeah. Cramp risk. That's what I should have called it. 16:36.19 Brian Penn Cramp wrist, yeah, I know. 16:36.29 Chris Olson Cramp risk. 16:37.75 Brian Penn um Now, Michelle Dockery pulls off a fairly convincing American accent. A very enjoyable film. it It doesn't require, it's one of those sort of films that doesn't require too much from you. 16:50.10 Brian Penn You immediately know what's going on. And it's interesting the fact that Mel Gibson directed the film because this is the type of film he would have made back in the day. It does feel like a Mel Gibson star vehicle, but um I really enjoyed it. 17:03.76 Brian Penn It's really got a lot going for it. 17:06.45 Chris Olson Well, we had one reviewer send in a review of this, Charles Pugh, who did not take the same um approach. Gave one start. 17:14.56 Brian Penn Oh, oh, oh, wow. 17:15.15 Chris Olson Not happy with this one, Brian. Um... I'll just skip right to the end. It's a good review, but as good say yeah Flight Risk, ironically, doesn't take any risks at all in providing anything other than cheap popcorn entertainment, which definitely isn't a bad thing if the characters were interesting if the direction wasn't on autopilot. 17:25.33 Brian Penn I like that. I like that. 17:33.33 Chris Olson um So opinions differ, and the film does have a fairly poor rating on IMDb, but Brian makes a couple of really good points, which is one. 17:36.93 Brian Penn Of course they 17:43.88 Chris Olson length I'm a big fan of short films. 17:45.10 Brian Penn do. Yeah. 17:46.36 Chris Olson Secondly, I think sometimes films do have a purpose. 17:46.90 Brian Penn Yeah. 17:49.46 Chris Olson You sometimes there are movies there that are for, you turn your brain off. 17:51.21 Brian Penn Yeah. 17:52.86 Chris Olson You just want to veg. 17:54.36 Brian Penn yeah 17:54.36 Chris Olson And, you know, Mark Wahlberg, he's been some good films to be fair, but he is often in these sort of films as well. 17:55.15 Brian Penn time 17:58.82 Brian Penn Yeah. 18:00.62 Chris Olson Um, 18:00.83 Brian Penn Yeah. 18:01.58 Chris Olson Interesting with Mel Gibson's direction, though, because later on we've got a movie ah related to him. 18:06.86 Brian Penn We have, haven't we? Yeah. 18:07.73 Chris Olson Yeah, I'm not giving it away, but yeah, he's he is involved in the um nostalgia pick this month. 18:10.70 Brian Penn no no. Yeah. Yeah. Nice. Yeah. I think the thing is with flight risk, what you see is what you get. And I think there's a lot to be said for a film like that. That doesn't. 18:21.70 Brian Penn have any pretensions. it sets it out. This is what's going to happen. It's kind of like a thriller by numbers. But I don't mind that, you know. um it's It's not going to win any awards. It's not that type of film. 18:35.04 Brian Penn But I think it what it works. But of course, I take on board what the Charles the reviewer is saying. um But, you know, he's got some great airline puns in there as well, hasn't he? I'm really impressed. 18:44.87 Chris Olson ah i said you know what? The film reviews that come in, i always look for that. i don't say If someone's having fun with it, I'm going to goingnna run with it. 18:50.01 Brian Penn Yeah. and I know. 18:52.52 Chris Olson um So film of the month, Brian, I'm i'm guessing it's not Flight Risk. I but i would say, is it September 5? 18:57.21 Brian Penn I 18:58.63 Chris Olson Okay. 18:59.65 Brian Penn No. It's a toss-up between September 5 and Bridget Jones. 19:02.79 Chris Olson oh Okay. 19:03.17 Brian Penn But I would give it to Bridget Jones purely for and sustainment value appearance entertainment pure entertainment value. 19:07.24 Chris Olson that 19:10.75 Brian Penn And the fact that if he was he was planning a night out at the pictures, what would you go and see? Would you go and see September 5? Or would you go and see Bridget Jones? And I'm almost certain you would land on Bridget Jones, the Bridget Jones movie, every time. 19:25.98 Brian Penn Because it's it's high on the entertainment factor. 19:26.11 Chris Olson the 19:29.20 Brian Penn September 5th is a different, it's a more of a cerebral film and it it makes you think a bit more and it's more demanding. So for periods as good as September 5th is, film of the month, by a whisker, it's Bridget Jones. 19:44.44 Brian Penn Mad about a boy. 19:44.43 Chris Olson There you go. 19:45.04 Brian Penn Yep. 19:45.78 Chris Olson There you go. Brian is mad about the film and that is film month. We're going to have a quick look at the Oscar categories. Just a couple, not all of them. And we're just going to ask Brian because Brian may have seen them. 19:55.94 Chris Olson He may not have seen the films. 19:57.18 Brian Penn well it's funny you should say that yeah okay well well I mean look for for best film we've got 10 nominations now I've seen 6 out of the 10 so if I just briefly mention the 6 that I've seen um uh Complete Unknown um which we reviewed a couple of weeks back with uh Timothy Chamolais excellent film uh 19:57.95 Chris Olson um Yeah. um Have you got any that you wanted to particularly shout out, Brian? 20:15.70 Chris Olson Yeah. 20:25.90 Brian Penn thoroughly deserves the nomination. Conclave, which we also review ah with Ralph Fiennes. Another brilliant film, excellent film. Dune Part 2, I'm a bit surprised that's there actually, to be honest, because I wasn't really sure when I saw that, but that's in there. 20:41.99 Brian Penn Emilia Perez, which came via Netflix, but it's making a lot a lot of noise for on all kinds of levels, but a very original storyline really about the Mexican drug lord who It was transgender. um So interesting take. 20:59.22 Brian Penn What else have we got? The Substance, um which we also reviewed a few weeks back. 21:03.86 Chris Olson Yeah, the horror film, wasn't it? Yeah. 21:06.01 Brian Penn Yeah, with Demi Moore. That's a bit of a sleeper. I think that's deservedly there. And the final film that I mentioned is Wicked, which is the big screen version of the Broadway musical and West End musical as well. um Very, very good film. 21:24.50 Brian Penn Visually stunning, great music. And Ariana Grande is very good in the role. Great comic timing. But of those 10, if I had to pick one that I thought was going to win, I've got a funny feeling Amelia Perez might shade it because it is so different. 21:41.98 Chris Olson Okay. 21:43.62 Brian Penn It is so incredibly different. And it also um also complies with the diversity and inclusion ah agenda, which is always a big factor, I think. 21:53.38 Chris Olson Yeah, it does does come up now, I think. um I see that um the Brutalist is on. 21:55.86 Brian Penn Yeah. 21:58.26 Chris Olson Have you seen the Brutalist? 21:59.44 Brian Penn No, not yet. I was going to watch it. I mean, I think I need to book some annual leave to see it. It's so long. its It's about, it's three hours, 20 minutes. What I think I'll do, I may well, if it's still out, ah you know, if it's still out by the time we do the next podcast, I'll review it for then. 22:15.52 Brian Penn But ah I mean, that's the film with Adrian Brody. it It looks like a great film. It does look, it looks, 22:20.58 Chris Olson Yeah, i mean, we've had a couple of people sending reviews and um John, was sending a five star review of it. I just want to read a little snippet um just because it's relevant. So yeah, Corbett's direction incorporates many long uninterrupted takes that allow for the performances to feel realistic and grounded wholly in the subject matter. 22:38.08 Chris Olson There are too many to simply cite here, but when used in tandem with both shaky camera and some scenes wide, stunningly realized shots in others put you flawlessly in the character's perspective. 22:48.80 Chris Olson The performance by other members of the cast are no less erupturing in themselves. It's what Guy Pearce, Felicity Jones. 22:53.76 Brian Penn Hmm. 22:55.04 Chris Olson So yeah, some really good um features there. Interesting list there. ah Sorry, yeah, thank you, John, by the way, for your review. 23:02.67 Brian Penn Yeah. Yeah. 23:04.58 Chris Olson Interesting list there, and it'd be interesting to see which film comes out on top because I remember reviewing conclave and I thought all that sounds like Oscar kind of territory in terms of the the way that that film um came about so yeah 23:13.29 Brian Penn Yeah. 23:16.78 Brian Penn Yeah, definitely. yeah I think it, I mean, it it got, there I think it got the award for best film at the BAFTAs, didn't it? Conclave. 23:24.11 Chris Olson hmm um yeah 23:25.34 Brian Penn So, you know, that's, That's not always a good indicator, though, because, I mean, I think there are few occasions where the BAFTAs and the Oscars agree with each other when it comes to Best Picture. 23:38.25 Brian Penn But it'll be interesting, though. You know, I think that there are some very good films there. Obviously, can only speak for the films that I've seen. 23:46.00 Chris Olson Yeah. 23:46.36 Brian Penn But um i'm I'm still keen very keen on A Complete Unknown, the Bob Dylan film. That is a terrific piece of filmmaking. It really is. 23:55.01 Chris Olson Well, and it's good to be seeing such... strong films again. i think that obviously when we had COVID, and it was quite sort of lull. 24:01.09 Brian Penn Yeah, 24:03.29 Chris Olson um And, you know, we're getting that high quality back again. um so yeah, we'll catch up in the next episode about that, just to see what happened. 24:07.35 Brian Penn yeah definitely, yeah. 24:11.64 Brian Penn Yeah. 24:12.49 Chris Olson um 24:12.69 Brian Penn Yep. 24:13.41 Chris Olson Moving now to our streaming pick. And in a, I don't want to say a similar vein to British Jones, because it's not even in the same league. 24:23.91 Brian Penn ah I know what you mean, though. 24:24.81 Chris Olson um But you know what mean with this? 24:26.26 Brian Penn Yeah, I know what you mean. 24:27.38 Chris Olson The Amy Schumer comedy, Kinda Pregnant, came to Netflix in February. And I made me and Brian watch it because we like to review a film on a streaming platform. 24:33.34 Brian Penn Yeah. 24:35.81 Brian Penn Yeah. Yeah. yeah 24:38.82 Chris Olson And yeah, essentially it's a film about a woman called Lainey, played by Amy Schumer, who is that point in life where starting to maybe want to settle down, wants to find a partner, now and she's desperate to have a family, um and through one contravence or another, ends up wearing a fake baby bump um and pretending to be pregnant. 25:07.18 Chris Olson which gets her into all kinds of caper, as you can imagine, and because she accidentally falls in love with um yeah the love of her life who thinks she's pregnant with someone else's child. 25:10.16 Brian Penn e Yeah. 25:17.50 Chris Olson And you can imagine what the rest of the film is like. I started watching this film with my wife and she watched half an hour and said she didn't want to watch anymore. so 25:25.51 Brian Penn Really? ah Right. 25:26.48 Chris Olson Yeah. um And that, I think, tells you... 25:28.14 Brian Penn Yeah. 25:31.80 Chris Olson What I think this film gets wrong, and this is I knew this going in, I could kind of tell, it was the balance. 25:37.09 Brian Penn Yeah. 25:38.80 Chris Olson There was the wrong balance between caring about this character, yeah caring about her situation and what she's going through, to the kind of slapstick comedy, the rudeness, there yeah the sort of strange things that are going to just happen, and the shock kind of value. 25:49.15 Brian Penn Yeah. 25:57.06 Brian Penn Yeah. 25:57.08 Chris Olson there's a few characters that are peppered in there that you can imagine in the script, you're seeing that script written down, oh, that that that could be quite funny. But when it's delivered and when it's done, it just kind of comes off as being quite obnoxious. 26:09.14 Chris Olson And i think that tone is wrong. 26:09.41 Brian Penn yeah 26:11.18 Chris Olson We might be the wrong kind of um audience for this, but Brian, what do you think are kind of pregnant? 26:14.09 Brian Penn yeah i I thought it was okay. I like a Amy Schumer. ah yes 26:20.01 Chris Olson I do too. I don't i don't mind her at all. I just didn't think this was great. 26:23.88 Brian Penn She's a very good comedian, very good at visual comedy, which isn't always easy to pull off. And she tends to rely on visual comedy in this film. But, don't know, it just seems incredibly silly in places. 26:35.04 Chris Olson Yeah. 26:35.19 Brian Penn Not silly in a nice way. Silly in an annoying way. you know and And in many ways, Chris, I think it it becomes a a one-gag movie because she's got this 26:41.29 Chris Olson I'll give to that. 26:46.13 Brian Penn bump, artificial bump, straps on. And she she kind of falls over and she trips and, you know, and you think, right, how many ways are you going to do this gag when it wasn't that funny to start with, if you see what I'm getting at. 26:59.08 Chris Olson Hmm. 26:59.37 Brian Penn And it kind of lets the film down. And I don't think there's anything particularly compelling there to hold the hold the attention because, you know, the love of her life, Josh, you know, if he was for real, what would he think of her? 27:12.63 Brian Penn I mean, I know love does funny things to us, but I mean, you know, you think he'd run a mile because she she does seem slightly um idiosyncratic, 27:23.49 Brian Penn slightly unhinged as a character. You think, what would he really think of her? What would a guy guy think of her? You know, as attractive as she is and it so as engaging and funny and likable as she is, are they with the right circumstances for him to fall for her? 27:28.27 Chris Olson And 27:40.49 Brian Penn I don't know. 27:40.44 Chris Olson and I think, yeah. 27:40.82 Brian Penn Well, I'm explaining myself here, but you know you see what i'm getting at. is 27:44.42 Chris Olson 100% is that you you're asked to suspend disbelief. You're asked to sort of, okay, yeah, she she's pretending to be pregnant and there's a group of adults around her nonstop who have not noticed. And that straight away is just like, okay, this is already, yeah you're asking a lot. 27:54.83 Brian Penn Yeah. 27:58.77 Chris Olson But then you're right, like then things happen and you're like, yeah, but... 27:59.02 Brian Penn Yeah. 28:02.88 Chris Olson okay, but if that's how you're going to react, like I can't trust anything you're going to do because you you clearly are not human. 28:06.24 Brian Penn Yeah. 28:08.58 Chris Olson like You don't react in the way that a human would react. 28:09.17 Brian Penn I know. I 28:11.60 Chris Olson And yeah, you're right. I think the silliness overtakes it. The... They're asking you to spend a lot of time with one idea that is not even really that funny. 28:22.94 Chris Olson I think Schumer does well to bring quite a few laughs. 28:23.08 Brian Penn know. No, exactly. Yeah. 28:27.43 Chris Olson just There are bits where I did chuckle. with Oh, that that's funny. like They've done well. um 28:32.06 Brian Penn yeah 28:32.14 Chris Olson i think I liked her friend a lot as well. but She was really good. like She's... 28:35.51 Brian Penn Megan, Megan, yeah. 28:36.30 Chris Olson Yeah, and there's a bit of depth there as well. It was a bit of, okay, that she's actually sort of yeah struggling little bit. 28:38.70 Brian Penn ah 28:41.51 Chris Olson But then there was this like other teacher or guidance counselor or someone at the school that was just there purely for like comic relief and just everything she said was just stupid. I'm just like, this is just ah winding me up now. 28:51.09 Brian Penn Oh, yeah, Anna, Anna, yeah, yeah. yeah 28:55.68 Chris Olson And i think... as I got through more of the film, I thought, I think they're trying. I feel like they kind of thought, oh, actually, this isn't this isn't enough. We need to try and put something else on here. 29:06.06 Brian Penn Yeah. 29:05.95 Chris Olson But it was just too late. They'd already run down this path. And you're like, no, we're on it now. 29:09.42 Brian Penn Yeah. 29:10.34 Chris Olson You're goingnna have to see this to the end. 29:10.56 Brian Penn but um 29:11.46 Chris Olson And we all are as well. Except my wife who left. 29:14.44 Brian Penn Well, yeah, I know. But you see, I'm just surprised that ne Netflix gave them the budget for a film like this. Because, you know, if that was... 29:20.71 Chris Olson Hmm. 29:22.17 Brian Penn Imagine if you and i were were executives, you know, commissioning new work for for Netflix or or any any online service provider, whoever it is. You know, would you be impressed by the pitch for a film like this? 29:35.76 Brian Penn I think it would be slightly lost on me if I'm being honest. You know, I'm always one give all films a chance, particularly if we're going to review something here. Then, you know, I pay it i pay that from the compliment of watching it all the way through and because that's what we do. 29:51.26 Brian Penn But I can understand why your wife got bored with it after half an hour. I'm surprised that it didn't take, you 29:55.26 Chris Olson And I think also... it's that sense of knowing where it's going, Okay, I know where this is going. i don't I don't need to watch the rest of this. 30:00.63 Brian Penn Yeah. 30:02.43 Chris Olson I think that's quite disappointing sometimes when you watch a movie, you kind of go, oh right, yeah we're we're in it now. 30:02.95 Brian Penn Yeah. 30:08.39 Chris Olson we know We know exactly what's going to happen and it's not good enough. 30:10.38 Brian Penn Yeah. 30:10.97 Chris Olson Like yeah you said about flight risk earlier, like you know what it's doing. You know, it's kind of, you know, slot A, slot but it's not, like it's still engaging. 30:15.00 Brian Penn Oh, cool, sir. 30:19.04 Chris Olson it's still, you still like what what's happening. But with this, like I didn't really like what was happening and I just kind saw it through just out of professional courtesy more than anything else. 30:26.64 Brian Penn Yeah, thanks so exactly. Yeah. Exactly. 30:27.83 Chris Olson um But yeah, if you've seen Kind of Pregnant, do you know what? 30:28.12 Brian Penn Yeah. 30:32.18 Chris Olson You can send me a review, but might not read it. ah just've I've had enough time with that movie. 30:34.85 Brian Penn exactly Yeah. 30:37.03 Chris Olson um 30:37.30 Brian Penn yeah yeah 30:38.64 Chris Olson But yeah, we're moving on to the indie film section of our podcast now, which is where we review some films that filmmakers have sent to us specifically to review. Because Amy Schumer did not ask us to review that. 30:49.32 Chris Olson So I don't think she really cares what we think. 30:50.28 Brian Penn No, no problem. 30:51.29 Chris Olson And that's it's absolutely fair play. 30:53.25 Brian Penn Yeah. 30:53.53 Chris Olson um But we yeah the filmmakers here do care what we want to say. And we're going to review four indie films in this section. And I've got clips from all four. 31:03.19 Brian Penn Oh, wow. 31:03.86 Chris Olson Yeah. 31:04.27 Brian Penn Fantastic. 31:04.76 Chris Olson which is yeah fabulous. So we're going to start with the action movie White Crow and here is a clip. 32:09.44 Chris Olson Okay. 32:10.71 Brian Penn Yeah. 32:10.59 Chris Olson I was bobbing along for that, I must say. that The vibe of that trailer music just kind of really got me. 32:15.58 Brian Penn Yeah. 32:15.92 Chris Olson um 32:16.82 Brian Penn Yeah. 32:17.04 Chris Olson The film's called White Crow. I reviewed this on the website, and i also did a video review, believe, of this already. um But I will give the the quick rundown on this. So it's written and directed by ah George Threadgold, and Julian Gam plays this ex-agent called JD, who is... 32:35.61 Chris Olson a bit annoyed. He's a bit miffed because he's found out the agency that he worked... 32:38.22 Brian Penn not happy, is he? 32:38.73 Chris Olson for He's not happy. 32:39.61 Brian Penn He's not happy. 32:40.15 Chris Olson The agency that he worked for turns out to be evil. 32:40.98 Brian Penn Okay. 32:43.47 Chris Olson And he's now on a mission to avenge himself and to take them down at any means. um They obviously don't like that, so they start hunting him back. And from there, he gets embroiled with a ah do-gooder called Emma, played by Hannah al-Rashid. 32:59.01 Chris Olson And Emma ends up saving him a few times, getting him out of a few scrapes, and the pair of them end up on the run together, trying to stay ahead of them and make their next move to bring down this ah this terrible agency. 33:13.36 Chris Olson my review, mentioned some of the big spy franchises like Jason Bourne, James Bond, those sort of things. It definitely has a lot in common with Jason Bourne, I think, where you've got this kind of 33:23.19 Brian Penn Yeah. 33:25.60 Chris Olson rogue agent who knows what they're like and knows how to kind of circumvent them. 33:26.70 Brian Penn Yeah. 33:30.73 Chris Olson It's obviously on a much more humble budget than those sort of movies, but it's definitely in that sort of ballpark. What did you think of White Crow? 33:39.15 Brian Penn Yeah. I enjoyed it. It's very slick. I mean, it doesn't feel like an indie film to me. I mean, even though that, yeah. 33:43.87 Chris Olson No, it's pretty good. It's pretty up there, isn't it? Yeah. 33:46.51 Brian Penn I mean, even though, um We know they've got a limited budget, but they've made that budget stretch a long way. I really like the opening titles. They're very well done. They feel very Bond-esque. um They've got a theme song as well, which which all goes to make it look look like look a very handsome film. 34:02.81 Brian Penn um Obviously, you just refer to the Bourne and the James Bond movies. It's definitely in that territory, isn't it, Mission Impossible? And that's a very crowded space. 34:13.31 Brian Penn You know, that there are lots of filmmakers working in that particular area. And it's very fertile territory, isn't it, sp for filmmakers generally. um So it becomes a greater challenge to make a film on a limited budget with that kind of subject material. 34:29.44 Brian Penn But I think it does it really well, you know, and there there are some really sort of standout phrases, if you like. You know, they talk about the truth-sayer, we are legion, new world power, division of Valkyrie. 34:40.17 Chris Olson yeah 34:42.78 Brian Penn And it it's quite... um eniggmatic and it it stands out and it gives it more more of an edge. So they made an effort so try and to try and build an image and and give it a series of handles and hooks um because a story like this, you know, is naturally very familiar because of what we've already seen, what we already see on screen. 35:05.99 Brian Penn But I really enjoyed it. I thought it was really good and very well done, bearing in mind that it is an indie film. And it, yeah. 35:12.94 Chris Olson And I think on those budgets, sometimes you have these films that are, maybe they're just inspired by the films that they loved. Do you know what i love? Bourne movies, so I'm going to make a movie like that. 35:24.49 Chris Olson And they realise that there's no way they could get anywhere near that. Like, know, it just wouldn't happen. 35:29.79 Brian Penn Yeah. 35:30.42 Chris Olson But with this, it feels like, actually, no, he did a really good job. Like there's lots, they're not holding back as well. 35:33.41 Brian Penn Nice. 35:34.76 Chris Olson There's lots of fight scenes. 35:35.21 Brian Penn Yeah. 35:35.92 Chris Olson There's lots of action. 35:36.41 Brian Penn Yeah. 35:37.51 Chris Olson um What i did really like was the pacing. Because sometimes with action movies, 35:41.00 Brian Penn and 35:42.87 Chris Olson especially if you are sort of, oh, do you know what? Like, yeah, we can pay for that scene, but we can't pay for all these other scenes. 35:47.89 Brian Penn yeah 35:48.48 Chris Olson So they kind of have a lot of downtime to sort of yeah justify it. But actually with this, it it moved at a really good pace and it did not stop. And I love the way that we were given... this flashback to the character of JD, see how he got embroiled in this system and how they just absolutely trained him up to become this sort of super soldier. 36:02.44 Brian Penn Yeah. 36:08.09 Brian Penn Yeah. Yeah. 36:09.48 Chris Olson And that arc is really powerful because he's quite cold. 36:12.40 Brian Penn yeah 36:14.43 Chris Olson He's quite a hard character to sort of like at the beginning. And you don't really... see things in his way, if yous see what I mean. It's not really, for me anyway, it wasn't until he met Emma that it was like, okay, right, she's a character we can get on board with, she's more of a kind of every person and has more heart, and then he sort of obviously starts to soften slightly with her. 36:23.08 Brian Penn yeah 36:36.08 Chris Olson and I liked that development. That felt quite smart. quite it thought It was thought through. it was like we need to have not just loads of action. Don't get me wrong, there is a lot, but we need to have some heart here. 36:48.71 Chris Olson There needs to be something for audiences to kind of grapple with if action isn't their thing, you know, if if they yeah want something else. So having that kind of balance is really smartly done. 37:00.18 Chris Olson i thought it was a well-made film, you know. 37:02.64 Brian Penn Yeah, it's really enjoyable. As I say, i mean, to to make a film like this, with this sort of subject matter, because it's so, as I said just now, because it's been so frequently done, you're you're really going to work hard. 37:18.92 Brian Penn You know, you to have the chops to do it. And he's done it well. And it takes a lot of nerve to make a film like this and make it look credible. So it deserves a lot of credit for that. 37:30.25 Chris Olson Yeah, i want to um shout out some of the actors in there because yeah Julian Gam is really good in the leading role. I thought Hannah O'Rashid was actually even stronger for me. 37:35.51 Brian Penn Yeah. 37:39.25 Chris Olson I really connected with the performance. I thought it great. But really enjoyed the, um there's the two characters, one played by James Graham and one played by Andrew Rolfe. 37:42.17 Brian Penn Yeah. 37:47.58 Chris Olson They play the kind of like agency side. They're sort of higher ups that are like trying to, 37:51.64 Brian Penn Yeah. senior senior 37:52.50 Chris Olson trying to put JD down, if you know And I just, I love the way they were just getting wound up. 37:53.81 Brian Penn yeah yeah 37:57.60 Chris Olson And like the bit where he's on the golf course, he just takes the phone call, he just ends up missing his part. 37:58.06 Brian Penn ah know yeah yeah yeah yeah And I'm still in their car like that. It's not on, is it, really? 38:05.71 Chris Olson Yeah. 38:06.27 Brian Penn ah 38:06.47 Chris Olson I just thought it's brilliant. and Also there's the bit, obviously they they're like, they do that classic thing of where they have like their meetings along the side of the Thames. 38:08.17 Brian Penn No. Yeah. 38:13.93 Chris Olson Right. And it's like where like MI5 is and all that sort of stuff. 38:14.77 Brian Penn Yeah. 38:17.20 Chris Olson I thought that was a really good way of, 38:17.41 Brian Penn Yeah. 38:20.52 Chris Olson giving the audience like, okay, yeah, this is what we're talking about, you know, this like type of high-level secrecy, these intelligence agencies and how they operate. 38:29.41 Brian Penn yeah 38:30.42 Chris Olson They operate in plain sight, and yet, you know, the things that they do are completely uns scrupulous. And, yeah, I thought they... They paid homage to a lot of those things that have come before them. 38:41.63 Chris Olson You know, they sort of knew that the things they needed to reference and but also gave you a new story. 38:43.02 Brian Penn Yeah. 38:45.77 Brian Penn Yeah. but 38:47.39 Chris Olson i Well, not a new story, but it gave you a story that you could get on board with. Yeah. 38:51.07 Brian Penn Yeah, that's right. 38:51.41 Chris Olson yeah 38:52.07 Brian Penn i i I think it's difficult to come up with a story that's even vaguely original. And I think it is. they they try they've That's where it's it's brave. It takes guts to do this. 39:03.16 Brian Penn But they've made it work. And but as you say, they pay homage to all the reference points. 39:11.42 Chris Olson Yeah. um White Crow was on Plex TV. and Plex TV is a platform we're not associated with them. We're not associated with Netflix either, by the way. um But Plex TV, I believe you can watch it for free. You just have to watch adverts. 39:25.84 Chris Olson They are annoying. I'm going to be honest. They are annoying because sometimes it's like five in a row. oh But that's the way we used to watch movies. 39:30.88 Brian Penn Yeah, know. 39:33.55 Chris Olson You know, if you watch them on TV, we used to watch that. 39:34.03 Brian Penn I I know. Yeah. so 39:37.07 Chris Olson um But yeah, it's... 39:38.09 Brian Penn See, we're spoiled, really, aren't we? We're streaming now, where we can... 39:40.24 Chris Olson Yeah, streaming has... was going back that way though, wasn't it? They're starting to put ads at the beginning, at the end. 39:44.44 Brian Penn Yeah. Yeah, and I know. 39:45.75 Chris Olson um 39:46.74 Brian Penn Yeah. 39:47.00 Chris Olson But I honestly think, you know, if if filmmakers are able to get them on these platforms, though, things like Plex TV, Amazon, whatever, um it's great. 39:51.88 Brian Penn Yeah. 39:54.41 Chris Olson And a movie like this, you get a lot of bang for buck. You really do. It it comes in at around an hour and a half, I think. um And... There's a lot in there and it doesn't yeah doesn't go at all slow. 40:06.66 Chris Olson and so I think, you check out you can, send us a review if you've seen it. 40:08.59 Brian Penn No, 40:10.88 Chris Olson um I think you will be pleasantly surprised. And also go to the website and watch my review, you know, spend some time on the website. 40:16.32 Brian Penn Yeah, I think you will. 40:19.80 Brian Penn Yeah. 40:20.21 Chris Olson just Just click around, you know. 40:20.50 Brian Penn Yeah. Fantastic. know. 40:23.58 Chris Olson Let us know what you think. 40:24.34 Brian Penn Yeah. 40:24.79 Chris Olson um White Crow. oh and also there is an Instagram page, should say, at White Crow Movie, all one word. and We have tagged them, I think, in some posts, so you should be able to find it fairly easy if you can't. Just get in touch. 40:37.19 Chris Olson um Moving on now to a sci-fi movie called The Space Rodent. And again, we have a clip. 40:45.54 Brian Penn Mm-hmm. 41:47.84 Chris Olson I love that. The biggest threats coming this morning. Brilliant. So Space Rodent um is a sci-fi comedy set on Halloween. 41:58.97 Chris Olson You get a couple of best friends, Mac and Dean, hanging out and they are 00:00.96 Chris Olson Okay, so The Space Rodent. um It's a sci-fi comedy about best friends Mac and Dean, ah played by Robert Carrera and David Menard, respectively. 00:12.55 Chris Olson And they're hanging out at their apartment on Halloween. Their partners, Amanda and Skylar, head out on a drive. They're played by um Leah Bernard and Shelby Broadnecks. 00:24.22 Chris Olson um yeah It's Halloween, and they're all sort of looking for a good time. um but unfortunately... the the world gets invaded by some very vicious puppet rats. 00:34.03 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:36.36 Chris Olson And when you start this film, I think there's a sense of that you kind of go, Oh no, like, Oh, Oh, this is going to be a slog because it does. 00:42.31 Brian Penn Yeah. I know. Yeah. Yeah. 00:45.16 Chris Olson I would say the first, it's about two hours. I think this film, the first half of the film, does move an absolute snail's pace and they are just messing around i think for most of it they're having a lot of fun you can tell you're watching it but they had a lot fun just sort of messing around it's not very engaging you sort of go right okay um but is anything gonna happen guys because you've been here a while now um but the second half the film it actually is really fun because I they did it so that when the actual 00:53.43 Brian Penn Yeah. 00:56.12 Brian Penn yeah 01:01.00 Brian Penn yeah 01:07.15 Brian Penn Yeah, know. 01:15.05 Chris Olson rodents in invade they're quite scary they had this kind of like Ghostbusters sort of feel to them it felt a bit kind of visceral what did you think of this one Brian? 01:16.75 Brian Penn Hmm. It, yeah. 01:22.35 Brian Penn know, yeah. 01:25.93 Brian Penn It's hugely likeable, as you say. I mean, so it's a film with two halves, isn't it? First half, you know, not a lot going on, and you're kind of scratching your head a little bit, thinking, mate, You're waiting for something to start, but then it springs into action. 01:39.07 Brian Penn And I think the beauty of this is that the the what the the monsters, the rats, the giant rats, the puppet glove puppets, aren't they more? But it's amazing how effective they are. 01:50.64 Brian Penn You know, they they make it work and and they do carry, they're creepy, quite shocking as well. 01:52.80 Chris Olson ah Pretty creepy, yeah. 01:57.31 Brian Penn But you've got, you know, you've got to be in the zone, right? It's always the way with horror, stroke, sci-fi. 01:59.72 Chris Olson Hmm. 02:02.48 Brian Penn You've got to be in the zone. You've got to be um open to it. But You know, those big staring lines, they do have an effect, you know. And you set it against um modern CGI techniques and all the things they can do on screen now. 02:17.28 Brian Penn um But it just proves that good horror, good quality horror, stroke sci-fi, depends on you, the viewer, using your imagination, right, and how you how much you buy into it. 02:31.12 Brian Penn Aside from that, I think it sits that sits within a plot that's quite tongue-in-cheek in some ways, but there's nothing wrong with that. You know, so I i think it's it's really good fun. 02:43.00 Brian Penn You know, have to speak as I find. 02:43.63 Chris Olson Yeah. 02:45.00 Brian Penn It's very, it was, for second half was really enjoyable. 02:48.10 Chris Olson Yeah, I think the sort of elements of horror worked to me a lot better than necessarily the comedy, because it was just kind of this like awkward mix of stoner comedy with almost like a Gremlins kind of vibe. 03:03.70 Chris Olson Like, it felt a bit like Gremlins. 03:03.73 Brian Penn Yeah. 03:05.37 Chris Olson And... I think that latter part was better. I think when they had the sort of horror bits going on and the characters had something to do and they had something to kind of rail against and they weren't kind of just left to do whatever they want, um that really helped to structure this sort of movie and get it moving. 03:12.46 Brian Penn Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 03:18.02 Brian Penn yeah. 03:22.13 Brian Penn yeah 03:22.77 Chris Olson One thing I found in the first half which let it down was that the two male characters are a bit too similar. So, like, Dean and Mac are both sort of buffoons and they're both idiots. 03:33.46 Brian Penn yeah 03:34.70 Chris Olson And I think that lack of contrast makes it kind of difficult to enjoy that section. 03:39.13 Brian Penn but yeah 03:39.21 Chris Olson Whereas I think if you'd have had, like, a, you know, the buffoon and then you had this sort of this sort of hard-ass kind of character that's ah you got a stick up his butt. 03:45.14 Brian Penn yeah 03:47.01 Chris Olson Like that kind of dynamic works, like where you've kind of got odds there. 03:47.24 Brian Penn Yeah. yeah Yeah. 03:51.51 Chris Olson But when you have these two characters both being silly for a long time, it's kind of like, yeah, I get it. 03:55.11 Brian Penn yeah 03:56.60 Chris Olson Maybe like your mates would enjoy this bit, but the rest of us are all sitting here waiting for this to get going. 03:58.90 Brian Penn Yeah. 04:01.03 Chris Olson And I think what will happen is a lot of audiences are going to switch off before the good stuff gets going. 04:01.37 Brian Penn yeah yeah 04:05.72 Chris Olson And that's a shame. 04:06.18 Brian Penn yeah I think that's that that's a good point. I think where you've got a double act there, you need some contrast. you They need to be slightly different. even if you're talking about kind of like a Dumb and Dumber type storyline, you know, there's got to be a difference. 04:18.08 Chris Olson Yeah. 04:19.80 Brian Penn There's got to be a contrast there because then they like can bounce off each other if there is. So I think that's a fair point. And that you need that, you need two characters to rub against each other little bit. 04:31.89 Brian Penn And they they weren't doing that enough, certainly not the beginning anyway. 04:35.45 Chris Olson Yeah, and I think the the nature of this film, like because it's an indie comedy, like yeah they want to have that stuff and I think you could have done but you could have absolutely trimmed it down but what I think was really impressive about the film was the way that 04:44.35 Brian Penn Hmm. 04:48.75 Chris Olson they used the locations really smartly. They didn't sort of over they overdo it, didn't try and go and do loads of things and be in loads places. 04:51.31 Brian Penn Hmm. 04:55.60 Chris Olson A lot of it does take place around this house um and in sort of surrounding fields. 05:01.44 Brian Penn Hmm. 05:02.59 Chris Olson There's the whole thing of Amanda and Scarlett being on the road and they they crash the car and they come across a stranger and things like that. ah And that stuff felt quite, unnerving quite scary it was like okay not scary but you know i mean it kind of had a bit of an edge to it a bit of a okay yeah we're not not sure where this is going this is actually getting us going and i think that's really good when you have these indie movies that are they know how to sort of play to those strengths i think what this just needed was just like an editor to just come down on it and go wait a minute let me just slice this up a little bit 05:14.12 Brian Penn Yeah. yeah surena Yeah. 05:30.24 Brian Penn Yeah. 05:34.95 Brian Penn Well, yeah. Yeah. I think that's a good point as well. I think a good Edison is as important as a good director because they know what 05:43.13 Chris Olson Yeah. 05:44.34 Brian Penn what to keep, they know what to get rid of basically. So, yeah, I think it probably could have done with it with ah someone's like it could have done with a good editor taking out a razor blade and saying, right, let's get rid of this, let's get rid of that, and you just make it a bit leaner. 05:59.51 Chris Olson Yeah, and it's funny because often when you get director's cuts, they're often longer, right? They go, I've got a director's cut of this, but they could have a director's cut of this where they kind of go, actually, we've gone back and just made a bit more of a streamlined version, um and that's what we're going to present. 06:03.66 Brian Penn Yeah. 06:08.77 Brian Penn Yeah, exactly, yeah, I know, yeah. yeah Yeah. 06:12.03 Chris Olson um But then, the yeah as we've mentioned before with some reviews, it's like each to their own. Maybe people really enjoy that chemistry between the characters. Dumb and Dumb is actually an interesting um point. hadn't really considered that, where you do have characters that are very similar like in terms of 06:22.57 Brian Penn Yeah. 06:26.32 Chris Olson outlook but I think it can be done I just think that bit didn't really work as well as the other stuff the rodents as you said and I think um it was Patrick that reviewed it on the website and on the YouTube channel um he mentioned about the fact that these rodents just absolutely put the CGI things we see these days in their place you it really was actually what this holds up against so much yeah and this will this will date so much better than like these CGI films that you watch and you go 06:30.80 Brian Penn No. 06:36.68 Brian Penn Hmm. 06:46.55 Brian Penn Yeah. 06:49.35 Brian Penn Yeah, it does. 06:53.73 Brian Penn Yeah. 06:55.28 Chris Olson Oh, yeah, it's already looking a bit pixelated. 06:57.64 Brian Penn Yeah. Basically, the thing is, though, CGI does have its limitations because it can almost be too sterile and too slick, and it ends up not having the desired effects. 07:08.87 Brian Penn So, yeah, I think in that way, it does more straightforward ah effects can hold up for a lot longer. 07:17.74 Chris Olson And I think this type of film... sets its stall out amongst those kind of movies that did use practical effects and puppetry things like that. And I think it knows that it it wants to appeal to those viewers. 07:27.06 Brian Penn Yeah. 07:30.67 Chris Olson It's not going, certainly not for a mainstream audience anyway. 07:33.56 Brian Penn No. 07:34.09 Chris Olson um and yeah you You have fun with it you know when they talk. throw a rabbit at someone they got pretend that it's eating them yeah it's gonna it's gonna do it um i think that that's um the fun of this film is you you get on board with that that vibe like said i think it does the horror better than the comedy but the comedy was was a fun touch at times and there was things that happened kind okay that's quite clever um and yeah i said you're happy to watch um 07:39.56 Brian Penn Yeah, and I, 07:52.36 Brian Penn Yeah. 07:55.19 Brian Penn Yeah. 07:59.61 Chris Olson the second half of that film again. I feel like we keep saying, that I apologize to the filmmakers that we keep saying that the second half is better, but it just really was. It was what I think yeah it's interesting. 08:06.18 Brian Penn Yeah. 08:07.72 Chris Olson We talked about that Amy Schumer comedy comedy earlier. 08:09.66 Brian Penn Yeah. 08:10.26 Chris Olson It was like, oh, it just stayed exactly where was all the way through. And it was okay, whereas with this, it was like, if my wife had watched the first half an hour, she would have walked out of this film as well. 08:13.41 Brian Penn Yeah. yeah 08:19.82 Chris Olson But the second half actually was like, that's where the really good stuff happened. 08:22.39 Brian Penn yeah 08:22.59 Chris Olson So you've got to stick with it. 08:22.98 Brian Penn But you see, the thing is, like Chris, though you could yeah We could easily be saying that about a big-budget Hollywood movie. We could say the first half was superfluous or too long. 08:34.91 Brian Penn Excuse me. um So you could easily saying that about um any film, not just ah an indie film. 08:44.83 Chris Olson And I think there's going to be people that aren't going like this baby I'm not going to lie. um But I also think... the people that stick with it and have an affinity for movies. 08:57.07 Chris Olson Like, yeah, I think Patrick mentioned things like Red Wolf and stuff like that. And and also and some of the Edgar Wright stuff. 09:00.22 Brian Penn Yeah. 09:03.97 Chris Olson I think if you like that kind of tongue-in-cheek, you know, also referencing movies, i think a lot of people get stuff out of that. 09:04.23 Brian Penn Yeah. 09:07.41 Brian Penn Yeah. 09:12.42 Chris Olson Like when you've got a movie that's referencing lots of other movies, it just makes you feel like you're in good company. 09:15.19 Brian Penn yeah 09:16.96 Chris Olson And I think that does happen here. 09:17.46 Brian Penn yeah 09:18.52 Chris Olson You certainly know that these guys are film fans very early on. 09:21.82 Brian Penn yeah 09:22.16 Chris Olson um so yeah i mean check it out if you can um i'm not 100 sure where the space rodent is available um i can't remember how we watched it was it on it was it was youtube but i might be unlisted let me check for you dear listener um i think it might be unlisted but it is yes that um 09:32.14 Brian Penn which Was it YouTube? Was it YouTube? It's YouTube. 09:45.79 Chris Olson can often change. So do you do a search if you're listening to this in the future, which if you are, hello, hello to the future. 09:47.55 Brian Penn Hmm. 09:51.98 Brian Penn Yeah. Hello to the... 09:52.98 Chris Olson um 09:53.72 Brian Penn I like that. It's good line. We'll have to remember that, Chris. 09:56.05 Chris Olson Every now and then it happens, doesn't it? say something that's worthwhile. 09:57.64 Brian Penn Yeah, I know. Yeah. Yeah. 09:59.49 Chris Olson um But in the meantime, if you can't watch the film, you can follow resurrectionfilms underscore LLC. um We have tagged them on some posts ah in the sort of recent past where we've promoted Patrick's review. 10:15.74 Chris Olson So you should be able to follow them and you can ask them where you can see the film. um But yeah, Resurrection Films are the people that you need to chat to. And yeah, that was The Space Rodent. 10:28.13 Chris Olson Moving on to a short film now called Photocopy, um which we reviewed on the website over a year ago. James Leroy wrote a very good review, um written and directed by Mike Klubeck. 10:38.78 Brian Penn Hmm. 10:42.57 Chris Olson um Do to take the synopsis on this one, Brian? 10:44.80 Brian Penn Yeah, I think the synopsis is fairly straightforward, isn't it? that You know, we've got this um photographer out taking snaps, but begins to lose his grip on reality when he certainly can see his doppelganger. 11:04.43 Brian Penn And it just studies his reactions and and how he he rationalises what what he sees in front of him. And it's it is mainly visual. there's There's no scripts as such. um But the powerful, the images are so powerful. 11:22.17 Brian Penn And it's very well done. It's very... 11:26.72 Chris Olson Yeah, it's interesting you mentioned about the the lack of dialogue. So we do have a clip from the film, but it's of something that's played during It's not actually the the main character because it is largely dialogue free. 11:35.46 Brian Penn oh 11:38.11 Brian Penn Yeah. 11:38.25 Chris Olson But I'll play the clip just so that you've got a sort of sense of the tone of the film. and This is from Photocopy. 12:34.74 Chris Olson So yeah, that um gives you a bit of yeah know sense of what they're talking about in the film, this whole doppelganger thing. 12:37.52 Brian Penn Yeah. Yeah. 12:42.58 Chris Olson And I think one thing that came across when you're watching photocopy is that there are levels to this. there There's layers, you there's things that you can, you could read it as just one man being a bit paranoid, yeah going around the camera being paranoid, but actually... 12:56.59 Brian Penn yeah 12:59.04 Chris Olson He's seeing, potentially, he's seeing himself. He thinks he's seeing himself. He's getting more wrapped up in this idea. 13:02.46 Brian Penn Yeah. 13:04.26 Chris Olson um It's quite psychological, the movie. You're watching, kind of going, oh, wow. 13:10.05 Brian Penn Yeah. 13:10.78 Chris Olson um I love the fact that it's filmed on, is it New York? New York streets. 13:14.50 Brian Penn I think, yeah, I think it's new, yeah. 13:14.54 Chris Olson um And that adds to, know, because you could easily have this film, you know, sort of be anywhere, just in hallways or like a shopping mall, but actually to have it on the streets, 13:16.30 Brian Penn Hmm. 13:22.62 Brian Penn Hmm. 13:25.48 Chris Olson really gave it a big cinematic feel. it only about 12 minutes long. It's not a long film. 13:30.31 Brian Penn Yeah, I know. No, it's... 13:31.67 Chris Olson But that felt, for me, that made it feel really cinematic and that made me really get... 13:35.07 Brian Penn yeah 13:35.51 Chris Olson It reminded me slightly of like Taxi Driver. like When I was watching that like character sort of out in the urban space but very much kind of unsteady. 13:38.29 Brian Penn Oh, yeah, actually, yeah, good comparison. Yeah. 13:44.35 Chris Olson Not that the character does anything kind of along the lines to sort of being worrisome. You're not going, oh gosh, do anything. But more in that sense of like he's surrounded by people yet completely isolated. 13:57.47 Chris Olson And I think that is the sort of vibe you or that contrast that you want to create by having the film film that way. 14:00.49 Brian Penn Yeah, yeah. 14:03.02 Chris Olson Because you wouldn't choose to use all these urban locations unless they had a meaning behind them, because it's going to cost you a lot of money and take a lot of effort to do that. 14:06.46 Brian Penn Yeah. 14:09.21 Brian Penn Yeah, well, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 14:11.16 Chris Olson But I think now you that choice was made to create that feeling, or or at least you one of the feelings it might create. um I thought it was really powerful. I really engaged. 14:20.27 Brian Penn Yeah, 14:20.81 Chris Olson I watched it and remember... When I finished it, I felt so unnerved by it, which is powerful. 14:24.59 Brian Penn know. I but you see, I think what's what's a a good move there is that if they're portraying a character that is convinced he can see a frightening vision of himself, which is what a doppelganger is, 14:36.50 Brian Penn but his primary activity as a photographer, where he's used to capturing it images in a certain light, then it heightens that feeling that he's sure he's seen his own doppelganger as well. 14:48.25 Brian Penn So you almost become even more convinced on his own behalf that what he's seeing is real. But to make him a photographer, to say, right, that's your primary activity. So he's seeing things, he's processing images in his mind via his camera all of the time. 15:06.79 Brian Penn right? And that's, that's his companion, isn't it? The camera is his companion because, you know, he is a loner. He's isolated for whatever reason. It's just him and his camera. And I think that's very cleverly done. 15:19.42 Brian Penn And the images are, as you say, very powerful, taken at night. And that heightens the tension even more. And they pack a lot in. You know, I'm always impressed by, by what filmmakers can do with a limited timeframe. 15:34.96 Brian Penn And it, You know, the average length ah of a typical short is about 10 minutes, isn't it? Nine or 10 minutes. 15:40.12 Chris Olson Yeah, yeah, so 10, 20. 15:40.86 Brian Penn And that's not a lot of time, really, to tell your story, whatever that story is. 15:41.67 Chris Olson twenty 15:45.07 Brian Penn But they do it very well here. 15:47.03 Chris Olson And also, funny enough, obviously we played a clip, which does have, that's probably the most amount of dialogue the whole film has. But the vast majority of the film, there isn't dialogue. And I think that's really ambitious as well, to go and say, look, I'm going to make 12-minute film, very little dialogue, that is something that you could talk about for, like, 20 times the length it took you to watch it. 15:57.56 Brian Penn Yeah. 16:00.74 Brian Penn But, yeah. 16:05.33 Brian Penn Yeah, but but what it also means, like Chris, is without dialogue, there are no language barriers either, are they? You know, 16:12.03 Chris Olson Yeah, and I think that also gives it that otherworldly sense to it. There was this sort of feeling of we're watching something almost supernatural unfold here. 16:17.21 Brian Penn yeah. 16:21.26 Brian Penn Yeah, yeah. 16:21.73 Chris Olson And I think, yeah, you're right. like That makes it more accessible to viewers to sort of watch that. 16:25.23 Brian Penn I 16:26.75 Chris Olson And yeah, I thought it was really good. The score was really good. There's a really good soundtra sound design to it that, again, just enhances this sort of 16:30.95 Brian Penn don't know. 16:34.17 Chris Olson um atmosphere, but it doesn't veer into melodrama. 16:35.97 Brian Penn Yeah. 16:38.14 Chris Olson It's not like, oh, it's meant to sort of like, you know, throw you off the deep end. 16:38.54 Brian Penn No. 16:41.39 Chris Olson You know know, it really sort of subtly implies yeah that what you're watching is something deeper than maybe you're taking for granted. 16:42.00 Brian Penn Yeah. Well, yeah. the the set The soundtrack is particularly important for a film like that. I think without an effective soundtrack, it wouldn't be half as effective or work as well as it does. 16:58.08 Chris Olson ah tell you what, it is a really good sign of a film, and this happens to us fairly often. you watch a short film like this and then I go immediately to IMDB to check to see if there's a feature length in the works. 17:08.82 Brian Penn Yeah, but I know. 17:09.75 Chris Olson ah Unfortunately, I don't think there is um because I would happily watch this as a feature length thriller. 17:14.55 Brian Penn Yeah, definitely. Yeah. 17:16.33 Chris Olson Obviously it would be difficult to maintain you know the the minimal dialogue, but I actually think it could be done. But even if you did you know introduce a bit more, I just think there's a, there's a bigger film here. This could really, really work. 17:25.55 Brian Penn Yeah. 17:27.20 Chris Olson Yeah. 17:28.28 Brian Penn Yeah, you're right. 17:28.38 Chris Olson yeah 17:28.80 Brian Penn I think this is a bit like a promo, isn't it? It's but it's almost like a proof of concepts, isn't it? It's to say, right, this is the idea. This is how we want to develop it. And I think your analogy with taxi driver is a good one because it does it does have a distinct taxi driver of life. 17:44.49 Brian Penn And really, if if you if that's what it gives off, you must be doing something right if you're the director. 17:50.57 Chris Olson Absolutely. And shout out to Mike Krubeck, the writer, director. It's a fabulous film. Play our podcast episode to anyone. there If you want to raise some money for your for your film, get a feature line. 17:58.37 Brian Penn Yeah. Yeah. 18:00.68 Chris Olson Say, look, you know Chris and Brian, they said we should do it. 18:02.23 Brian Penn Yeah. 18:03.30 Chris Olson they said it They said it's as good as Taxi Driver. 18:03.34 Brian Penn know. 18:05.66 Chris Olson yeah I'm happy to go on record. 18:06.05 Brian Penn What? 18:07.02 Chris Olson I'll go on record. 18:07.29 Brian Penn Yeah, I know. but more What more could I answer? Right? 18:10.52 Chris Olson um and also shout out dame clark the second i think he it's a great performance it's i love the bit on the tube where he's on the tube and the characters in the and he sort of sees him go oh that was brilliant um yeah no really really good i believe the film might be available if we watched on vimeo and shout to vimeo i think they're just as good as youtube guys all right come on um 18:10.58 Brian Penn Yeah. 18:14.40 Brian Penn Yeah. 18:20.77 Brian Penn Yeah. 18:33.33 Brian Penn yeah No, it didn't do well. 18:34.93 Chris Olson It wasn't parts where protected, and it has quite a lot of views. So, yeah, you can look it up. Photocopy. Mike Klubeck, if you look for his channel, should be able to see it. um Mike might also be happy for us to share it, but I won't do that unless he says. 18:49.23 Brian Penn no 18:49.67 Chris Olson And... and You can watch the trailer on our um website. you can go and read James' review of it, which he wrote last year. His review is very good, very eloquent, um much more than me. 19:02.15 Chris Olson Him and Brian are the people you need to listen to, not me. ah um 19:05.84 Brian Penn Hmm. 19:06.05 Chris Olson But yeah, photocopy is the film, and yeah, very, very good, very good short film. Moving on to our final indie film, before we get to the nostalgia pick, we've got a feature length, um and we have a clip of the movie called What No One Knows. 21:10.42 Chris Olson Okay, so what no one knows. 21:11.43 Brian Penn Hmm. 21:12.26 Chris Olson um Before we start this review, going to be very clear to mention I'm trying to avoid spoilers. 21:13.58 Brian Penn Hmm. 21:18.38 Brian Penn Hmm. 21:18.48 Chris Olson Okay, um there's a lot in this film that happens that you need to see and to find that out in this review would be unfair to you. 21:19.33 Brian Penn hu 21:26.18 Chris Olson And unfair to the filmmakers. They deserve to have the film watched without spoilers. Apologies to anyone if we do give spoilers. We try and not. I mean, Brian's very good at avoiding spoilers. um We try to not give things away. 21:37.93 Chris Olson And we're going to do that with what no one knows. So... Lots in that clip, and but hopefully it was yeah not giving away anything there. 21:43.58 Brian Penn Hmm. Hmm. 21:46.14 Chris Olson um 21:46.36 Brian Penn Hmm. 21:46.98 Chris Olson But yeah, the film is about two two friends, um one Oriomi and the other Ithelula, who are basically friends since childhood. childhood um We meet them at the beginning of the film in a courtroom where they're clearly in a case against each other. 22:05.07 Chris Olson um But then the film is largely told in flashback where we see them growing up as children, being very, very close, having the usual run-ins that ah girls do with the boys and things like that, but typically being very close. 22:14.07 Brian Penn Yeah. 22:18.37 Chris Olson ah Then we see them as adults and they've got a business together and seem to be having a very enjoyable adulthood. um They then meet partners and inevitably comes up the idea of um both of them separately having children with their respective partners. 22:38.16 Brian Penn know 22:38.87 Chris Olson um So Oriomi wants to have children, um but her partner is very keen on having a boy. um Whereas if Alula doesn't want necessarily to have children, but her partner does want to have them. 22:51.84 Brian Penn know 22:53.45 Chris Olson um and eventually go on this journey together and something happens, which we're not going to get into any of that territory at all. 23:01.56 Brian Penn Oh, 23:01.68 Chris Olson That's where we're going to leave it. But just know that a lot happens after that. 23:04.64 Brian Penn yeah. Oh, yes. Hmm. 23:06.57 Chris Olson ah Yeah. And yeah, it's, um it's ah as you can tell from that clip, lots of drama, um lots of passionate character exchanges. 23:18.34 Chris Olson What do you think of what no one knows, Brian? 23:20.74 Brian Penn I thought it was excellent. I was really impressed by it. And there's an impressive sting in the tail, which is why we've all been very careful about how much we we've described the plot, because so much happens. 23:33.78 Brian Penn But there are thing there were twists and turns in this plot that I really wasn't expecting. And for me, I'm not exaggerating when I say this, but I think this film has big screen potential. 23:44.13 Chris Olson Yeah. 23:44.36 Brian Penn It has Hollywood potential. Not in its current form, but this will surely get picked up by a producer. and remade featuring a more high profile cast. That's no disrespect to the writers or the actors in this film. They were all excellent throughout, but this film is different. 24:01.34 Brian Penn This could be big, really big because it's, it's dealing with, with um subject matter in such a different way. I've not seen ah film like this before that explores this relationship between two friends as they grow up, where they, they get married and they They both resolve to start a family in their own way. 24:23.26 Brian Penn But, you know, something happens that affects the rest of their lives. And it is not what you're expecting at all, is it? Well, not what I was expecting anyway. 24:32.75 Chris Olson No, I think you kind of think you know where the film's going and then you don't. And that, for me, was brilliant. I thought it was really well played out. I think you're right. This could be adapted and and brought into a mainstream kind of audience. 24:42.36 Brian Penn Yeah. 24:44.83 Chris Olson yeah It doesn't necessarily need it, but I think it could be done. You could see sort of the execs looking at this, go, oh, this is a great story, because it is a great story. 24:48.87 Brian Penn Yeah. 24:52.10 Brian Penn Yeah, it is. 24:52.16 Chris Olson um 24:52.62 Brian Penn It's like a story. 24:53.49 Chris Olson I think... 24:53.50 Brian Penn Yeah. 24:55.11 Chris Olson Much like the Space Rodent, there's some editing needed here. there's There's sections that could have been chopped off, especially at the beginning of the movie. 25:00.57 Brian Penn Yeah. 25:04.06 Chris Olson I think they they wanted to establish the friendship, but I think they did it a bit too long. 25:06.81 Brian Penn Yeah. 25:08.46 Chris Olson It kind of went on. We didn't need all of that. 25:09.27 Brian Penn Probably, yeah. Yeah, probably. 25:11.21 Chris Olson I think you'd have a sharper film and had you just kind of 25:13.19 Brian Penn Yeah. 25:15.45 Chris Olson done that bit quicker. um 25:16.61 Brian Penn Yeah, yeah. 25:17.80 Chris Olson There's scenes where the families are all introduced, their side characters introduced, and I kind of thought actually some of this is superfluous. 25:17.82 Brian Penn Yeah, fair point. 25:25.21 Chris Olson You could have actually got away with not having that at all, or you could have 25:25.54 Brian Penn Yeah. 25:30.68 Chris Olson just remove I think spent a bit more time shaping the characters that we needed and and giving them more kind of to go on. 25:36.37 Brian Penn Yeah. 25:39.00 Chris Olson But I really liked the chemistry between the two leads. I thought that was great. 25:42.06 Brian Penn Yeah. 25:42.91 Chris Olson Really well done. um You needed that. You needed that sense of sisterhood and you needed that. 25:48.65 Brian Penn yeah 25:50.33 Chris Olson um And i say as as much as I think they overdid it in the beginning, you did need something. You needed something to kind of connect these two 25:55.81 Brian Penn Yeah. 25:57.74 Chris Olson and and the journey that they've been on because otherwise the sort of latter half of the film wouldn't have meant anything. 25:57.81 Brian Penn Yeah. 26:00.35 Brian Penn Yeah, of course. 26:03.31 Chris Olson So yeah no, I did you shout out to those guys. this guy 26:06.55 Brian Penn I 26:07.14 Chris Olson um Yeah, it's always a shame when we can't talk about this yeah the second half of a film where that's the bit where it gets really, really good. 26:11.75 Brian Penn know. Yeah. I know. 26:15.64 Chris Olson um 26:15.89 Brian Penn Yeah. 26:16.45 Chris Olson But you kind of just have to trust us on this one that it is really good. 26:19.25 Brian Penn Yeah. 26:20.56 Chris Olson There is, like I said, there's some stuff that could have been cut away. 26:21.06 Brian Penn Yeah. 26:24.00 Chris Olson It's also, it is melodramatic at times. There's bits where characters kind of, know, they react or or or the music kind of just swells and it is a bit kind of, whoa, okay. 26:34.71 Brian Penn Yeah. 26:34.98 Chris Olson So so if that's not your and your your tone, your atmosphere, it's um it's not quite there, but it feels a little bit soap opera-y at times. It's kind of like goes into that sort of realm and you sort of think, whoa, just claw it back a bit because actually there's something really powerful and dramatic going on here that if you can keep that keep that line and keep it really, really moving, yeah, I thought it was good. 26:43.59 Brian Penn Yeah. yeah 26:49.97 Brian Penn Yeah. yeah yeah i think i think it's easy to to underplay and overplay certain aspects of the plot. 27:00.65 Brian Penn And that's probably what what they do. And using the incidental music to overemphasize a minor point in the narrative and doing the opposite. you know So that's that's simply technique, isn't it, really? that you know Bearing in mind that um it's it's her first film, isn't it, Topa Laguna, um to write and direct it, produce it. I mean, she's done literally everything on this film, hasn't she, really? 27:26.14 Chris Olson Yep. 27:26.18 Brian Penn and That's hell of first effort, but does need... can you say, a bit of tidying up, a bit of polishing, doesn't it, really? But I think that, you know, any any producer, any film producer will be looking at this and be licking their lips and thinking, we've got something special here, you know, and that's something in itself because they would want the film to stand but on its own. 27:51.80 Brian Penn They would would want the film to be a success as it is, but I don't think it would work, for example, in America. That's the ultimate test, doesn't it? Would it work in America? 27:59.82 Chris Olson Yeah. 28:00.46 Brian Penn And in its current form, I don't think it would. which is quite probably why it'd be recast. 28:03.57 Chris Olson Yeah. 28:05.21 Brian Penn I mean, we're speculating here, aren't we, really? 28:07.44 Chris Olson Yeah. And I'm 100% saying it doesn't need that. of just saying that you could see it happening and because often yeah they go and they pick these stories out from elsewhere because they sort of think, oh, actually, we can show this to a bigger audience. 28:10.02 Brian Penn Yeah. Yeah. 28:17.69 Chris Olson And 100% with what no one knows, you could do that. It's a great story. 28:21.52 Brian Penn Yeah. Yeah, it 28:22.70 Chris Olson um And there are lots and lots of strengths. I would recommend watching I'm not 100% sure if you can because I think it's on the festival circuit. 28:25.64 Brian Penn Hmm. 28:30.72 Chris Olson and We watched it on Film Freeway so that typically does say that that's where it is. 28:31.76 Brian Penn Hmm. Yeah. 28:36.31 Chris Olson um They have an Instagram page called What No One Knows The Movie, all one word, so you can check out that Go check out our review. 28:43.82 Brian Penn Yeah. 28:44.84 Chris Olson um Jason wrote a review of the movie and you can watch the trailer. You you can get involved. Maybe, obviously you heard the clip, but maybe go watch the trailer because that'll give you a bit more of a feel for for the movie itself. 28:51.14 Brian Penn Yeah. 28:55.26 Brian Penn but 28:56.49 Chris Olson It's just such a show and we can't get into it. 28:58.66 Brian Penn ah 28:58.68 Chris Olson But what i did want to do was absolutely shine a light on it. 29:01.48 Brian Penn yeah 29:01.86 Chris Olson ah 29:02.31 Brian Penn Yeah, we've certainly done that, I think. But so with respect to the um the writers, the directors, the actors, they did a fantastic job. And like they've got a ah special product there, for sure. 29:14.73 Chris Olson Wow. That could go on the poster. Special product. 29:16.40 Brian Penn Yeah. 29:17.30 Chris Olson Um, that's all your indie films for this episode. We're going to move on now to our nostalgia pick. This is a film that we watch, uh, that was released a while back. And the way I picked this one, Brian, was I went back through the best picture winners and I tried to find, ah found one that first off was, 29:30.33 Brian Penn Yeah. 29:33.35 Brian Penn Oh, I see. Yeah. 29:38.77 Chris Olson yeah I hadn't seen, and so I haven't actually seen this film before. 29:40.56 Brian Penn and 29:42.35 Chris Olson And also it kind of tied in because it's a Mel Gibson-directed movie who stars in the movie Braveheart, and it was released about 30 years ago. 29:45.51 Brian Penn Yeah. 29:51.56 Chris Olson Can you believe it? 29:51.73 Brian Penn Exactly 30. Yeah, I know. I know. 29:53.24 Chris Olson Can you Adam and Eve it? 29:53.63 Brian Penn I know. 29:54.96 Chris Olson Um... 29:55.17 Brian Penn I know. It's one of those, oh my God, I've blinked and 30 years have passed by yet again. 30:01.54 Chris Olson And for me, Braveheart was always one of those films because it was like, it's three hours long and um it was a bit violent. 30:01.54 Brian Penn You know, 30:07.70 Chris Olson And when it you know and and it came out, when I was, i was just a lad and it wasn't a film I kind of got around to watching. 30:09.37 Brian Penn Yeah. Yeah. 30:12.63 Chris Olson And then it kind of went too long that it had all been, you know, it had been done in in popular culture enough for me to i go, okay, right. 30:19.53 Brian Penn Yeah. 30:20.72 Chris Olson I get it. I thought, you know what? No, going to, I'm going to, I'm going to do this. I'm going to make Brian watch it and I'm going to watch it. 30:23.98 Brian Penn yeah 30:26.43 Brian Penn yeah 30:26.73 Chris Olson And I really enjoyed it. I thought it was a lot of um fun. It is, you know, it's looking a bit dated now. There are bits to it that are a bit kind of like, okay. um But I just found it to be, know, it was good company. 30:41.46 Chris Olson I'm guessing you'd seen it before. 30:42.89 Brian Penn Yeah, I mean, I saw it when it first came out. And it it's the kind of film that I saw more than once as well. I mean, I would actually sit, even though there's not a drop of Scottish blood in me, um I would quite happily sit down after being out on a Friday night and a Saturday night. think I'd put Braveheart Because it's that kind of film. It's so rousing, isn't it? 31:03.16 Chris Olson yeah 31:03.24 Brian Penn You know, apparently in ah during Euro 96 in the European Championships in the football, um Scotland were in England's group. And they played Braveheart every evening for them to watch. They watched it on the coach going to Wembley. 31:20.01 Brian Penn just sign them up but We still beat them, by the way, too ill but I know. 31:23.71 Chris Olson Brian, don't stop it. We have Scottish listeners. We have Scottish critics. 31:26.91 Brian Penn ah 31:27.81 Chris Olson They're going to attack you. 31:28.53 Brian Penn Do we? 31:29.14 Chris Olson Yeah, we do. They're going to attack you. 31:29.90 Brian Penn Well, but but the point I'm trying to make there is that it's that kind of film that you buy into it straight away that you you know you really get into it. You get you got immersed in it because it is essentially a true story. 31:43.03 Brian Penn You know, i mean, we're talking about the, what, the 1500s, early 1500s, like 14th century. um So it is legend that's purely written down. We don't have the benefit of moving film, do we in any shape or form. um And I think William Wallace is a great character in history who needs to be represented. 32:06.86 Brian Penn And it was long overdue. You know, William Wallace's story should have been sold long before then. And What he did, you know, historically, is that he gave Scotland their identity. He was one of the leaders of the first Scottish scottish War of Independence. 32:23.79 Brian Penn And that's significant because he fought Edward the first Edward Longshanks, won the Battle of Stirling, which was a huge battle. um So he's a very significant figure in Scottish history that needs to be, that we all need to be aware of. 32:42.65 Brian Penn but a significant figure it in British history as well. A great film, a fantastic film, really. And it still is. you know Even though it's 30 years old, and it does show signs of age, but you know that you take that on board, and that's part of its charm in some ways. 33:01.03 Chris Olson I mean, i i felt that a lot of these films stand up because they weren't heavily reliant on computers or anything like that. There's obviously an elephant in the room, which is, should Mel Gibson have played the role? 33:15.11 Brian Penn Ah, well, but yeah, so well, should we should we deal with that that that that aspect? 33:15.64 Chris Olson the voice, the accent? Hmm. 33:22.52 Brian Penn You know, the ah fact is that at the time, Mel Gibson was pretty much the biggest film star in the world. You know, at the time in the mid-90s, his stock was very high in value. 33:35.27 Brian Penn But, you know, much there was much talk at the time of Mel Gibson's accent. And it does waver a lot. I mean, ah But bearing in mind that he was surrounded by Scottish actors on set, you know, Angus McFadgen played Robert the Bruce and we had James Cosmo, terrific actor. 33:54.77 Chris Olson Yeah, I love him. Yeah. 33:56.01 Brian Penn Right. All great actors. You think it would have rubbed off on him a little bit, but it it does sound like an Australian trying to sound like a Scotsman. You know, you know, ah you know, they'll say, where you're going? And you say, I'm going to pick a fight. 34:10.35 Brian Penn You know, it's it's, it's, it doesn't really work. And I'm speaking ah as a ah proud Englishman who who loves the Scottish accent. I love the swing and the rhythm that you you have in the Scottish accent. And it's not there with Neil Gibson at all. 34:26.57 Brian Penn But was there a Scottish actor at the time that could have played William Wallace at the time? I'm not sure there was. 34:34.82 Chris Olson yeah it Yeah, it's that star power we talked about earlier. And I think, like you they said, often it's who's the most powerful actor at the time because they want to tell this story or do this film. 34:38.14 Brian Penn Yeah. 34:46.10 Chris Olson Yeah, I definitely, it jolted me out of the film a few times because I was just like, whoa, wait a minute, that what accent are you going for now? um And I think that's probably my only real main gripe with it. 34:57.54 Brian Penn Yeah. 34:58.15 Chris Olson um I liked the exploration of the history of it. and 35:01.88 Brian Penn Yeah. 35:02.33 Chris Olson I knew some of it, I didn't know all of it by any means. And like I said, it's got that... Same appeal that films like Lord of the Rings have, which is because they've obviously done this all in live action, real stunts, it's real know blood and gore kind of going on, that it doesn't age as quickly as its CGI counterparts. 35:10.56 Brian Penn Yeah. 35:15.16 Brian Penn and yeah 35:22.52 Chris Olson you know and It doesn't kind of give you that sense of, oh God, what am watching? 35:22.87 Brian Penn No. Well, yeah. 35:26.54 Chris Olson Don't get me wrong, there's bits to it that you kind of think, okay, that's not how they would do it now. But typically, it's the vast majority of it is still very watchable. 35:34.12 Brian Penn it's It's a greater achievement. Yeah, I agree. It's a greater retreat achievement where they've not, you know, the CGI that we have today didn't even exist back then. So where you can now um electronically or digitally put in thousands of soldiers on a battlefield, 35:52.88 Brian Penn back then, they had to do it for real. So there's no kind of visual trickery going on there that they can do now. So if you compare it to a modern equivalent, a film that was made, say, Napoleon, for example, the Ridley Scott film. 36:07.58 Brian Penn Now, that that was done with robotics, with real numbers, but it was also done and electronically as well. It was digital. Now, I think the Braveheart kind of holds up better because they're using real people, right? 36:23.12 Brian Penn They were literally lining up hundreds, thousands of extras to make these scenes work. 36:28.49 Chris Olson Yeah. 36:29.03 Brian Penn And they were very well done, and they still hold up even now. you know And bear in mind that it was but it is a period drama. So in that sense, it will never date. But the style of filmmaking dates, doesn't it? 36:41.86 Brian Penn The approach to filmmaking can date. And that's probably what we notice this now, 30 years after the event. but it But it still works. It still works for me. 36:52.07 Chris Olson Yeah, I absolutely agree. I'm glad I've seen it. I'm glad I can hardly say that I've seen it. 36:54.81 Brian Penn Yeah. 36:55.87 Chris Olson It's on um Disney, if anyone wants to watch it. 36:58.17 Brian Penn Yeah. 36:58.63 Chris Olson disney rests Again, we're not affiliated. um we just We just point you in the direction. 37:03.23 Brian Penn Yeah. 37:03.54 Chris Olson And 37:03.83 Brian Penn We're good at pointing, aren't we? We point these things out. that Yeah. 37:06.72 Chris Olson we're going to point you away now. We're going to point you away from the podcast because that's the end of the show. 37:08.22 Brian Penn oh 37:11.58 Chris Olson And we watched Braveheart, your Best Picture winner. And next month, we'll be able to see who won the... ah 37:18.94 Brian Penn We will. 37:19.04 Chris Olson The 2025 award. 37:20.16 Brian Penn Yeah. 37:20.64 Chris Olson um 37:21.23 Brian Penn Yeah. 37:21.92 Chris Olson b Brian's prediction of Amelia Perez. well We'll find out. 37:25.20 Brian Penn yeah 37:25.21 Chris Olson um But thank you for listening. And thank you to the filmmakers for sending their movies. Thank you to Brian. As always, yeah my absolute soldier going to watch all these movies so I don't have to fight. 37:35.92 Brian Penn Pleasure. 37:36.67 Chris Olson yeah 37:37.13 Brian Penn Bye 37:37.73 Chris Olson um It's been the UK Film Club podcast, part of UK Film Review. Do go and um check out the other shows that we have on our channel. There's lots of great episodes for you listen to. 37:48.92 Chris Olson and But we will see you again next time. 37:52.64 Brian Penn bye for now. Previous Next

IN CINEMAS 30th JULY 2021. Brand new film trailers. Spirit Untamed Trailer SPIRIT UNTAMED TRAILER Genre: Animated Adventure Cast: Isabela Merced, Julianne Moore, Jake Gyllenhaal, Marsai Martin, Mckenna Grace, Walton Goggins, Andre Braugher and Eiza González Director: Elaine Bogan Producer: Karen Foster An epic adventure about a headstrong girl longing for a place to belong who discovers a kindred spirit when her life intersects with a wild horse, Spirit Untamed is the next chapter in the beloved story from DreamWorks Animation. Lucky Prescott (Isabela Merced, Dora and the Lost City of Gold ) never really knew her late mother, Milagro Navarro (Eiza González, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw ), a fearless horse-riding stunt performer from Miradero, a small town on the edge of the wide-open frontier. Like her mother, Lucky isn’t exactly a fan of rules and restrictions, which has caused her Aunt Cora (Academy Award® winner Julianne Moore) no small amount of worry. Lucky has grown up in an East Coast city under Cora’s watchful eye, but when Lucky presses her own luck with one too many risky escapades, Cora picks up stakes and moves them both back with Lucky’s father, Jim (Oscar® nominee Jake Gyllenhaal), in Miradero. Lucky is decidedly unimpressed with the sleepy little town. She has a change of heart when she meets Spirit, a wild Mustang who shares her independent streak, and befriends two local horseback riders, Abigail Stone (Mckenna Grace, Captain Marvel ) and Pru Granger (Marsai Martin, Little ). Pru’s father, stable owner Al Granger (Emmy winner Andre Braugher, Fox’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine ), is the best friend of Lucky’s father. When a heartless horse wrangler (Emmy nominee Walton Goggins, FX’s Justified ) and his team plan to capture Spirit and his herd and auction them off to a life of captivity and hard labor, Lucky enlists her new friends and bravely embarks on the adventure of a lifetime to rescue the horse who has given her freedom and a sense of purpose, and has helped Lucky discover a connection to her mother’s legacy and to her Mexican heritage that she never expected. Spirit Untamed is the next chapter in DreamWorks Animation’s beloved franchise that began with the 2002 Oscar-nominated film Spirit: Stallion of Cimarron and includes an Emmy-winning TV series. The film is directed by Elaine Bogan (Netflix and DreamWorks Animation Television’s Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia ) and is produced by Karen Foster (co-producer, How to Train Your Dragon ). The film’s co-director is Ennio Torresan (head of story, The Boss Baby ), and the film’s score is by composer Amie Doherty (Amazon’s Undone , DreamWorks Animation’s Marooned ). The Moment The Land of Sometimes Twins Alfie and Elise find a magical Wish Watch on Christmas Eve and are swept by the Wish Collector into the musical Land of Sometimes, where they learn that wishes have consequences. Avengers: Doomsday Fans are elated at the release of the first teaser trailer for Avengers: Doomsday. Set for a theatrical release on 18th December 2026, find out more here. Greenland 2: Migration Now, the first official trailer for the sequel, Greenland 2: Migration, has landed, promising to take that survivalist tension into even more treacherous territory. Looney Tunes: The Day the Earth Blew Up Looney Tunes: The Day the Earth Blew Up Official Trailer. Looney Tunes: The Day The Earth Blew Up will be in UK & Irish cinemas from 13th February 2026. Mother Mary Ultimately, the Mother Mary trailer establishes a compelling promise: a film that uses the theatricality of the music industry to explore something primal about identity and obsession. Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come In the trailer for Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come establishes a new, thrilling chapter. It’s a sequel that dares to go bigger, transforming a single family’s twisted tradition into a full-scale, world-controlling bloodsport. Shelter People We Meet On Vacation People We Meet On Vacation looks set to be a thoroughly British affair in its tone and appeal—a charming, heartfelt escape, promising both belly laughs and a good cry. Doctor Plague Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery This first glimpse of Wake Up Dead Man isn’t just a trailer; it’s a brilliant statement of intent. The film looks primed to be a festive treat for audiences looking for a compelling, cleverly constructed mystery. Michael Michael is set to arrive in cinemas in the UK and Ireland on the 24th of April 2026, and based on this compelling first look, the world will indeed be waiting. The Carpenter's Son We anticipate that The Carpenter's Son will be less of a retelling and more of a deeply disquieting examination of power, temptation, and the human cost of being chosen. It arrives on 21st November. Eternity Eternity looks set to be a sophisticated, imaginative film that avoids the usual genre clichés by grounding its absurd plot in stellar performances. Kontinental '25 The promotional material and critical buzz surrounding Kontinental ’25 confirm that the winner of the Silver Berlin Bear for Best Screenplay is not only back, but operating at a fever pitch of urgency and daring. Anniversary Kenny Dalglish It's rare for a documentary trailer to stir the soul quite as effectively as the first look at Kenny Dalglish, the upcoming feature focusing on the life and legacy of one of British football's most revered and complex figures. Is This Thing On? Searchlight Pictures has premiered the teaser trailer for Is This Thing On?, and it suggests we are in for a sharp, melancholic comedy that mines the humour and heartbreak of mid-life crisis through the lens of stand-up. Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere The first official trailer for Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, the biopic chronicling the turbulent creation of the 1982 masterpiece Nebraska, has landed. The Bride The latest tease for The Bride, the highly anticipated 2026 offering from Maggie Gyllenhaal, has dropped, and if this brief glimpse is anything to go by, British cinema-goers should prepare themselves for a truly spectacular and unsettling cinematic experience.

. Brand new film trailers. Doctor Plague The promotional footage for Doctor Plague , the new mystery killer chiller from director Ben Fortune and Shogun Films, promises a sinister, high-stakes slasher that leverages the grim historical tapestry of London’s underworld. Fronted by UK screen favourite Martin Kemp as the cynical Detective John Verney, the film looks set to deliver a relentless, modern take on ancient evil, complete with a genuinely unsettling masked killer. The trailer wastes no time in establishing the dire situation, presenting a city gripped by fear as a mysterious figure stalks the streets under the ominous guise of a 17th-century Plague Doctor. What immediately grabs the attention is the tone: a dark, rain-slicked urban setting provides the backdrop for a crime story that spirals rapidly into the supernatural. Verney’s investigation into the escalating body count reveals that this is no ordinary serial killer; the dialogue confirms the connections to the White Chapel murders and Jack the Ripper, immediately escalating the mythology. The trailer hints at a chilling history, explaining that the Plague Doctors of old were part of a secret faction tasked with killing those "deemed corrupt and criminal and who refused to repent." This ancient, deadly mandate has seemingly been revived, adding a layers of cultic deception and deadly rituals to the standard detective procedural. Kemp, who made his name in The Krays and Eastenders , looks commanding as the beleaguered detective. Verney is presented as a man under intense pressure, facing scrutiny from his superior, played by David Yip, who dismisses the Plague Doctor killings as mere gang violence. Adding fuel to the fire, the trailer shows the media and social platforms fearmongering with explosive headlines and outlandish videos, encouraging public unrest and complicating Verney’s already impossible task. The scope broadens as Verney falls deeper into the terrifying web, hinting at a connection to a subterranean London—the tunnels beneath the city housing an ancient evil. The stakes become deeply personal when his son is kidnapped, forcing Verney to break protocol and take the law into his own hands as his colleagues turn against him. The trailer effectively showcases a strong ensemble cast ready to be drawn into the chaos, including Peter Woodward, Jeanine Nerissa Sothcott, Wendy Glenn, Daisy Beaumont, Gary Webster, and Michael McKell. From the sharp, gritty cinematography to the unnerving presence of the titular killer, the Doctor Plague trailer offers a compelling glimpse at a British horror-thriller hybrid that aims high. It successfully balances the familiar beats of a London-based police drama with the chilling theatrics of a full-blown slasher and conspiracy thriller. Produced by Shogun Films and directed by Ben Fortune, this looks like a solid piece of UK genre filmmaking. For viewers looking for a dark, labyrinthine mystery that delves into the city's deepest secrets, Doctor Plague looks like the essential appointment. Get ready to repent or die; the doctor will see you now when the film makes its UK digital debut on 12 January, courtesy of Miracle Media. The Moment The Land of Sometimes Twins Alfie and Elise find a magical Wish Watch on Christmas Eve and are swept by the Wish Collector into the musical Land of Sometimes, where they learn that wishes have consequences. Avengers: Doomsday Fans are elated at the release of the first teaser trailer for Avengers: Doomsday. Set for a theatrical release on 18th December 2026, find out more here. Greenland 2: Migration Now, the first official trailer for the sequel, Greenland 2: Migration, has landed, promising to take that survivalist tension into even more treacherous territory. Looney Tunes: The Day the Earth Blew Up Looney Tunes: The Day the Earth Blew Up Official Trailer. Looney Tunes: The Day The Earth Blew Up will be in UK & Irish cinemas from 13th February 2026. Mother Mary Ultimately, the Mother Mary trailer establishes a compelling promise: a film that uses the theatricality of the music industry to explore something primal about identity and obsession. Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come In the trailer for Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come establishes a new, thrilling chapter. It’s a sequel that dares to go bigger, transforming a single family’s twisted tradition into a full-scale, world-controlling bloodsport. Shelter People We Meet On Vacation People We Meet On Vacation looks set to be a thoroughly British affair in its tone and appeal—a charming, heartfelt escape, promising both belly laughs and a good cry. Doctor Plague Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery This first glimpse of Wake Up Dead Man isn’t just a trailer; it’s a brilliant statement of intent. The film looks primed to be a festive treat for audiences looking for a compelling, cleverly constructed mystery. Michael Michael is set to arrive in cinemas in the UK and Ireland on the 24th of April 2026, and based on this compelling first look, the world will indeed be waiting. The Carpenter's Son We anticipate that The Carpenter's Son will be less of a retelling and more of a deeply disquieting examination of power, temptation, and the human cost of being chosen. It arrives on 21st November. Eternity Eternity looks set to be a sophisticated, imaginative film that avoids the usual genre clichés by grounding its absurd plot in stellar performances. Kontinental '25 The promotional material and critical buzz surrounding Kontinental ’25 confirm that the winner of the Silver Berlin Bear for Best Screenplay is not only back, but operating at a fever pitch of urgency and daring. Anniversary Kenny Dalglish It's rare for a documentary trailer to stir the soul quite as effectively as the first look at Kenny Dalglish, the upcoming feature focusing on the life and legacy of one of British football's most revered and complex figures. Is This Thing On? Searchlight Pictures has premiered the teaser trailer for Is This Thing On?, and it suggests we are in for a sharp, melancholic comedy that mines the humour and heartbreak of mid-life crisis through the lens of stand-up. Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere The first official trailer for Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, the biopic chronicling the turbulent creation of the 1982 masterpiece Nebraska, has landed. The Bride The latest tease for The Bride, the highly anticipated 2026 offering from Maggie Gyllenhaal, has dropped, and if this brief glimpse is anything to go by, British cinema-goers should prepare themselves for a truly spectacular and unsettling cinematic experience.