Category Reviews

November 6, 2019, Posted in  Podcast, Reviews Comments: No comments

Episode 73 journey back to The Overlook Hotel for a discussion of Doctor Sleep, the sequel to both Stephen King and Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining.

Robs Daniel and Wallis also take this as an opportunity to review Stanley Kubrick’s classic horror film, discussing why it still has such a hold on the imagination nearly forty years later.

Horror fans will know Kubrick changed large parts of King’s book, including the ending. So our intrepid casters in pod review how Doctor Sleep compares to King’s source novel and spins gold from referring back to Kubrick’s 1980 chiller.

They still find time for horsing around, including Rob Wallis pulling “Jack Nicholson frozen in the snow faces”. A lot of “Jack Nicholson frozen in the snow faces”...

October 27, 2019, Posted in  Reviews Comments: No comments

Director: Tim Miller

Writer: David S. Goyer, Billy Ray, Justin Rhodes

Cast: Linda Hamilton, Mackenzie Davis, Natalia Reyes, Gabriel Luna, Arnold Schwarzenegger

Producers: James Cameron, David Ellison

Music: Junkie XL

Cinematography: Ken Seng

Editor: Julian Clarke

Cert: 15

Running time: 128mins

Year: 2019

What’s the story: Dani (Reyes) is targeted for termination by a time travelling cyborg (Luna) and protected by enhanced human soldier Grace (Davis). Joining them is legendary “mother of the future” Sarah Connor (Hamilton).

What’s the verdict: The Terminator franchise is one based on a contradiction.

“The future is not set” might be the mantra at its heart, across the series passed down from father to mother to son and b...

October 24, 2019, Posted in  Reviews Comments: No comments

Director: Abner Pastoll

Writer: Ronan Blaney

Cast: Sarah Bolger, Andrew Simpson, Edward Hogg, Jane Brennan, Rudy Doherty, Macie McCauley

Producers: Guillaume Benski, Junyoung Jang

Music: Matthew Pusti

Cinematography: Richard Bell

Editor: Abner Pastoll

Cert: 18

Running time: 97mins

Year: 2019

What’s the story: In Northern Ireland, recently widowed Sarah (Bolger) cares for her two kids, Ben (Doherty) and Lucy (McCauley). Her life becomes more complicated when criminal Tito (Simpson) busts into her flat with drugs stolen from a fearsome local gangster (Hogg).

What’s the verdict: A Good Woman is Hard to Find is equal parts Ken Loach, Shallow Grave, Dead Man’s Shoes and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance...

October 22, 2019, Posted in  Reviews Comments: No comments

Director: Marielle Heller

Writers: Micah Fitzerman-Blue, Noah Harpster

Cast: Matthew Rhys, Tom Hanks, Susan Kelechi Watson, Chris Cooper, Tammy Blanchard

Producers: Youree Henley, Leah Holzer, Peter Saraf, Marc Turtletaub

Music: Nate Heller

Cinematography: Jody Lee Lipes

Editor: Anne McCabe

Cert: PG

Running time: 108mins

Year: 2019

What’s the story: Cynical journalist Lloyd Vogel (Rhys) is less than thrilled to be profiling children’s entertainer Mr. Rogers (Hank). But, their meeting might be lifechanging for the writer.

What’s the verdict: With Operation Yewtree looming large over formerly idyllic childhood viewing, in the minds of the British public the last few years have altered what it means to be a beloved children’s ent...

October 22, 2019, Posted in  Reviews Comments: No comments

Director: Robert Eggers

Writer: Robert Eggers, Max Eggers

Producers: Robert Eggers, Youree Henley, Lourenço Sant’ Anna, Rodrigo Teixeira, Jay Van Hoy

Cast: Robert Pattinson, Willem Dafoe

Music: Mark Korven

Cinematography: Jarin Blaschke

Editor: Louise Ford

Cert: 15

Running time: 109mins

Year: 2019

What’s the story: New England, sometime in the 1890s. Two men battle personal demons and each other while tending a storm-beaten lighthouse.

What’s the verdict: As in his 2015 directorial debut The Witch, Robert Eggers’ The Lighthouse grapples with the theme of spiritual annihilation, though in a way that’s altogether wetter, wilder, and weirder.

Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe star as two lighthouse keepers, or “wicki...

October 15, 2019, Posted in  Reviews Comments: No comments

Director: Babak Anvari

Writer: Babak Anvari

Cast: Armie Hammer, Zazie Beetz, Dakota Johnson, Brad William Henke

Producers: Babak Anvari, Christopher Kopp, Lucan Toh

Cinematography: Kit Fraser

Editor: Chris Barwell

Cert: 15 (TBC)

Running time: 94mins

Year: 2019

What’s the story: Bartender Will (Hammer) watches his world implode when he discovers horrific images on a mysterious mobile phone.

What’s the verdict: Those with a fear of cockroaches, mobile phones or millennials will embark upon an emotional rollercoaster with Wounds.

Babak Anvari’s second film continues the reality ripping supernatural shocks of his debut, Under the Shadow...

October 14, 2019, Posted in  Reviews Comments: One comment

Director: Martin Scorsese

Writer: Steve Zaillian (screenplay), Charles Brandt (book)

Cast: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Bobby Cannavale, Stephen Graham, Ray Romano, Harvey Keitel, Anna Paquin, Welker White, Sebastian Maniscalco

Producers: Troy Allen, Gerald Chamales, Robert De Niro, Randall Emmett, Gastón Pavlovich, Jane Rosenthal, Martin Scorsese, Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Irwin Winkler

Music: Robbie Robertson

Cinematography: Rodrigo Prieto

Editor: Thelma Schoonmaker

Cert: 15

Running time: 209mins

Year: 2019

What’s the story: Mob enforcer Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran (De Niro) recounts his life in the mafia, particularly his friendship with Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa (Pacino).

What’s the verdict: With its fiv...

October 10, 2019, Posted in  Reviews Comments: No comments

Director: Rian Johnon

Writer: Rian Johnson

Cast: Daniel Craig, Ana de Armas, Christopher Plummer, Jamie Lee Curtis, Don Johnson, Chris Evans, Michael Shannon, LaKeith Stanfield, Katherine Langford, Jaeden Martell, Noah Segan

Producers: Ram Bergman, Rian Johnson,

Music: Nathan Johnson

Cinematography: Steve Yedlin

Editor: Bob Ducsay

Cert: 15

Running time: 130mins

Year: 2019

What’s the story: When acclaimed mystery writer Harlan Thrombey (Plummer) suddenly commits suicide, famous detective Benoit Blanc (Craig) investigates.

What’s the verdict: You’ve just made one of the best instalments of a legendary movie franchise. Yet, toxic fanboys have their (to use an apt phrase) knives out and suddenly you’re Public Enemy Number 1...

October 7, 2019, Posted in  Reviews Comments: No comments

Director: Taika Waititi

Writer: Taika Waititi (script), Christine Leunens (novel)

Cast: Roman Griffin Davis, Thomasin McKenzie, Scarlett Johansson, Sam Rockwell, Rebel Wilson, Stephen Merchant, Taika Waititi, Archie Yates

Producers: Carthew Neal, Taika Waititi, Chelsea Winstanley

Music: Michael Giacchino

Cinematography: Mihai Malaimare Jr.

Editor: Tom Eagles

Cert: 12

Running time: 108mins

Year: 2019

What’s the story: Hitler Youth Jojo (Davis) is committed to the Nazi cause, but the discovery of a Jewish girl (McKenzie) being hidden in his house forces him to reconsider his beliefs.

What’s the verdict: Easy to understand why some have approached Taika Waititi’s latest with trepidation...

October 7, 2019, Posted in  Reviews Comments: 2 comments

Director: Todd Phillips

Writers: Todd Phillips, Scott Silver

Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy

Producers: Bradley Cooper, Todd Phillips, Emma Tillinger Koskoff

Music: Hildur Guðnadóttir

Cinematography: Lawrence Sher

Editor: Jeff Groth

Cert: 15

Running time: 122mins

Year: 2019

What’s the story: Gotham, 1981. As the world goes to ruin, mentally ill clown impersonator Arthur Fleck (Phoenix) begins to lose his sanity.

What’s the verdict: After all the critical adulation, it’s a punchline worthy of the Clown Prince of Crime himself that Joker isn’t very good.

We’re in early 80s Gotham for DC’s latest movie...