Would it be cheesy to describe episode 91 as “suh-MO-kin’!”? It would? Okay, we’ll Carrey on at a slightly more measured tone.
With Sonic the Hedgehog still one of the country’s most recent movie releases despite hitting cinemas in February, the two Robs decided to delve deep into Jim Carrey’s catalogue and review more than the blue-rinse speed hog. Although they do talk Sonic, don’t worry.
For Rob Wallis in 1994, Carrey was a formative movie influence. For Rob Daniel, more advanced in years and considerably creakier, Carrey was an annoyance besmirching the good name of cinema. Ironically, both the Robs learnt to like Jim through The Mask, that zany family movie that happily still holds up today.
The Robs look at how Mr...
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Director: Staten Cousins Roe
Writer: Staten Cousins Roe
Cast: Poppy Roe, Katie Brayben, Christopher Gilling
Producers: Giles Alderson, Poppy Roe
Music: Laurence Love Greed
Cinematography: James Layton
Editor: Esther Gimenez
Cert: 15 (TBC)
Running time: 18mins
Year: 2013
What’s the story: Minnie (Roe), the director of a euthanasia centre, must hit a target of ten “clients” in ten days or be closed by the Euthanasia Licensing Board.
What’s the verdict: 2019’s A Serial Killer’s Guide to Life is a British psycho movie to savour, mixing mirth and murder in one delicious cocktail. The feature debut of Staten Cousins Roe, its darkly wry humour is also present in Roe’s award-winning 2013 short film, This Way Out.
A sketch...
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Director: Yasujirô Ozu
Writer: Yasujirô Ozu, Kôgo Noda
Cast: Michiyo Kogure, Shin Saburi, Keiko Tsushima, Kôji Tsuruta, Chishû Ryû
Producer: Takeshi Yamamoto
Music: Ichirô Saitô
Cinematography: Yûharu Atsuta
Editor: Yoshiyasu Hamamura
Cert: U
Running time: 115mins
Year: 1952
FILM:
EXTRAS:
The Flavour of Green Tea Over Rice is released as part of the BFI Japan 2020 season
Click here for Japan 2020
What’s the story: Frustrated well-to-do housewife Taeko (Kogure) is exasperated when her niece Setsuko (Tsushima) refuses to enter a traditional arranged marriage. Taeko’s own marriage reaches a crisis point when her husband Mokichi (Saburi) sides with Setsuko.
What’s the verdict: Due to his famed minimalist style and...
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Director: Toshio Matsumoto
Writer: Toshio Matsumoto
Cast: Pîtâ, Osamu Ogasawara, Yoshio Tsuchiya
Producers: Sumiko Fujisawa, Mitsuru Kudo, Keiko Machida
Music: Jôji Yuasa
Cinematography: Tatsuo Suzuki
Editor: Toshie Iwasa
Cert: 18
Running time: 105mins
Year: 1969
FILM: 
EXTRAS:
Funeral Parade of Roses is released as part of the BFI Japan 2020 season, now on BFI Player
Click here for Japan 2020
What’s the story: In Tokyo, 1969, transsexual Eddie (Pîtâ) attempts to forget the traumatic events of her past.
What’s the verdict: Always referred to as the film Kubrick cited as an influence on A Clockwork Orange, Funeral Parade of Roses dazzles over 50 years since first release.
A stunning tapestry film, it is pitched so...
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For more information on BFI Japan 2020, click here
To view Japan 2020 on BFI Player, click here
BFI Player’s Japan 2020 season is now live, with two first rate collections to keep you occupied during lockdown. One focusses on Japan’s most famous filmmaker, Akira Kurosawa, and features 21 films from the 30 he made in a career spanning six decades. The other showcases classics of Japanese cinema across the decades – click here for details on that one.
People most likely know the name, but as the years tick by the audience for Kurosawa’s films inevitably dwindles. Which makes Japan 2020’s collection essential… for many reasons.
Chiefly, Kurosawa movies are dazzling. As important, they still seem fresh and accessible to modern eyes.
Kurosawa was the first ...
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Japan 2020, a six month event showcasing over 100 years of Japanese cinema, is live now on BFI Player.
Collections on Akira Kurosawa and classic Japanese movies are available to watch, with more to follow in June through October.
The Tokyo Olympics are postponed until 2021, and possibly beyond. The chances of travelling to and from the Isle of Wight let alone Japan this year are wobbly. So, the fact the BFI are going ahead with the season is great news in a miserable time.
Safely escape lockdown for £4.99 a month (and two weeks free trial) by journeying through over one hundred years of Japanese cinema from the comfort of your living room.
Classics of Japan’s Golden Age and films that rocked the studio system...
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The Movie Robcast reaches its 90th episode! And we’re marking the occasion with bang, looking at Chris Hemsworth’s explosive actioner Extraction and Gareth Evan’s brutal crime epic Gangs of London.
The Robs find a particularly familiar whiff to Extraction. But, they take the opportunity to invoke the oeuvre of straight-to-rental favourite Scott Adkins when discussing how closely Chris Hemsworth’s movie sticks to action movie beats. They also take time to ponder the business savvy of titling a film “Avengement” as Adkins did. Tune in for why it makes more sense than you’d think.
Then onto Gangs of London. Rob D binged the whole series, while Rob W only had time to watch the first episode, so the discussion is spoiler free...
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If you want to rock down while you lockdown, we recommend a heavy dose of Saigon Metalhood. A documentary about the Vietnamese heavy metal scene since the 1970s, it uncovers a musical movement little known outside the country and one that receives little love from within.
Divided into three sections, Saigon Metalhood takes a past, present and future view of the country’s metal scene and key players.
We meet Trung Thanh Sago, who has flown the metal flag since the 1970s when the country was at war, and still fronts his band Sagometal. Trung Loki is another pioneer, again pushing a music genre largely unloved by a population who favour the synth stylings of K-pop...
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Director: Gareth Evans (plus action sequence director in certain episodes), Xavier Gens, Corin Hardy (various episodes)
Writers: Peter Berry, Claire Wilson, Carl Joos, Joe Murtaugh, Lauren Sequeira, Gareth Evans, Matt Flannery
Cast: Joe Cole, Sope Dirisu, Michelle Fairley, Lucian Msamati, Paapa Essiedu, Narges Rashidi, Orli Shuka, Asif Raza Mir, Pippa Bennett-Warner, Brian Vernel, Valene Kane, Colm Meaney, Mads Koudal
Producers: Hugh Warren, Ed Talfan
Music: Jeremy Stack
Cinematography: Matt Flannery, Laurent Barès, Martijn van Broekhuizen
Editors: Johnny Rayner, Sara Jones, Harrison Wall
Cert: 18
Running time: 9 hours (approx.)
Year: 2020
What’s the story: When London crime boss Finn Wallace (Meaney) is murdered, his volatile son S...
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Blu-ray Review: The Flavour of Green Tea Over Rice