Director: Josh Cooley
Writers: Andrew Stanton, Stephany Folsom (screenplay and original story), Josh Cooley, John Lasseter, Valerie LaPointe, Rashida Jones, Will McCormack, Martin Hynes (original story)
Cast: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Annie Potts, Tony Hale, Christina Hendricks, Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Madeleine McGraw, Keanu Reeves
Cert: U
Running time: 100mins
Year: 2019
What’s the story: With Woody (Hanks) increasingly becoming sidelined during Bonnie’s playtime, he wonders what the future holds. When the young girl’s homemade toy Forky (Hale) is lost during a family holiday, he takes it upon himself to reunite them.
What’s the verdict: As we currently reside in the darkest timeline, trepidation about a Toy Story 4 is understandable.
Toy Story 3 tied an Osc...
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Director: Lars Klevberg
Writers: Tyler Burton Smith (screenplay), Don Mancini (original characters)
Cast: Aubrey Plaza, Mark Hamill, Gabriel Bateman, Brian Tyree Henry
Cert: 15
Running time: 90mins
Year: 2019
What’s the story: Single-mum Karen (Plaza) gives 13-year-old son Andy (Bateman) a Buddi doll for his birthday. His initial bemusement turns to terror when it transpires this doll, which answers to Chucky, is murderously malfunctioning.
What’s the verdict: Above all other rules of the slasher film, no.1 is the killer never truly dies. That goes double for killer-doll Chucky, who due to the vagaries of Hollywood copyright laws, is owned by two different companies.
Universal currently has the rights to the original saga (at seven films, we’re calling it a saga)...
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In episode 65, we welcome a special guest to The Electric Shadows Podcast. Regular listeners will know that frequent ESP contributor Ian Bird knows his movies. What you may not be aware of is Ian’s 10-year-old son Ronan is also something of a film authority, particularly when it comes to monster flicks.
This isn’t patronising flattery, listen to Ronan’s 12-minute discussion of Godzilla: King of the Monsters in this episode and you’ll know what we mean. His kaiju knowledge puts Robs Daniel & Wallis in the shade. Which is why you’ll find it at the end of the podcast as there was no way their opinions could follow Ronan’s.
Don’t believe us? We’ve had to update this episode with a postscript correction on two errors the Robs have made that Ronan picked up on when li...
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In episode 64 of The Electric Shadows Podcast, Robs Daniel and Wallis show remarkable restraint in largely eschewing X-related puns as they discuss Dark Phoenix.
But, they do talk about the long, windy road of this 19-year-old franchise, why in some ways it is superior to the MCU, where it has stumbled, and what they think of the latest instalment.
Which, of course, is a retelling of a plot events previously visited in X-Men: The Last Stand (aka, the Brett Ratner one, aka the black sheep of the X-franchise, but actually containing good stuff and certainly better than X-Men: Origins – Wolverine).
They also rank the entire series best to worst and make room for favourite moments.
So, pop your headphones on and let us X-cite you. Damn, almost made it to the end!
To check ...
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Episode 63 of The Electric Shadows Podcast is a bonus instalment capping off our Night of the Living Dead trilogy.
Those three episodes looked at George A. Romero’s six Dead films, his other movies and the zombie explosion and totaled just under six hours of edited podcast time.
But, that final episode just grazed the cranium rather than putting one in the brain, so our Living Dead series is still biting. Which is a flowery way of saying there is always something else to talk about.
This episode came about after we had recorded those three Dead episodes. A Herculean effort that took eight hours, so thanks to Rob Wallis and Ian Bird for putting up with Rob Daniel’s request that we got it all done in one day.
Post-record, Ian was kicking himself for not discussing J...
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In episode 62 of The Electric Shadows Podcast we reach the final part of our Night of the Living Dead trilogy. Recorded six hours into an eight hour podcasting marathon, this episode sees our intrepid casters in pod Rob Daniel, Rob Wallis and Ian Bird ever-so slightly punchy.
But, despite the whiff of mania that had descended by that point, the daring trio managed to stay on point. Romero’s second zombie trilogy, Land of…, Diary of… and Survival of the Dead all get their day in court. Surprising to everyone is how much stronger trilogy number two now seems when compared to first release. Although Ian Bird has a dislike for Diary of the Dead he is not shy in sharing…
The discussion also covers Romero’s career between his two zombie trilogies, the now-classic Shaun of ...
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Episode 61 of The Electric Shadows Podcast is an epic discussion of Avengers: Endgame. But, what do the two Robs, our intrepid explorers in pod, make of the final instalment of the Infinity saga?
No spoilers here, and also no spoilers for the film itself until the podcast gets into the spoiler zone. But, there is a massive buffer, so you have more than enough time to turn off your iPhone/Android phone before then. And come back to us when you’ve seen it.
On their travels, the Robs recount the eleven year journey it took to reach this film, and what an achievement it has been...
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Director: Neil Marshall
Writers: Andrew Cosby (script), Mike Mignola (characters)
Cast: David Harbour, Milla Jovovich, Ian McShane, Stephen Graham, Sasha Lane, Daniel Dae Kim
Cert: 15
Running time: 120mins
Year: 2019
What’s the story: In modern-day Britain, Hellboy (Harbour) battles wicked witch Nimue (Jovovich), who has returned to unleash pestilential havoc on the land. Hellboy is joined by his adoptive father and demon hunter Professor Broom (McShane), the magically gifted Alice (Lane) and gruff Special Forces agent Daimio (Dae Kim).
What’s the verdict: Hellboy 2019 arrives with a diabolical number of strikes against it.
Fan backlash that it’s not a Guillermo Del Toro/Ron Perlman reteaming to tie up story threads from 2008’s Hellboy II: The Golden Army...
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