February 14, 2020, Posted in  Podcast Comments: No comments

Robs Daniel and Wallis give their take on Oscars 2020, aka The 92nd Academy Awards, aka the year that a film not in the English language finally won the Best Picture statue, not just Best Foreign Film. Sorry, Best *International* Film, as the Academy are now calling it.

Parasite’s sweeping victory, picking up four Oscars, turned an otherwise standard Oscars show into a night to remember. But, there are still plenty of other things to talk about, from Joaquin Phoenix’s heart-in-the-right-place-but-wildly-scattershot acceptance speech for his performance in Joker to Brad Pitt’s rather moving words when winning Best Supporting Actor for Once Upon A Time… in Hollywood.

Although the best speech of the evening has to go to Olivia Colman, when presenting the Oscar for Best Actor...

February 8, 2020, Posted in  Reviews Comments: No comments

Director: Cathy Yan

Writer: Christina Hodson

Cast: Margot Robbie, Rosie Perez, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Ella Jay Basco, Ewan McGregor

Producers: Sue Kroll, Margot Robbie, Bryan Unkeless

Music: Daniel Pemberton

Cinematography: Matthew Libatique

Editor: Jay Cassidy, Evan Schiff

Cert: 15

Running time: 109mins

Year: 2020

What’s the story: After splitting up with the Joker, Harley Quinn (Robbie) has Gotham’s criminal underworld gunning for her, including mob boss Roman Sionis aka Black Mask (McGregor)...

January 27, 2020, Posted in  Podcast Comments: No comments

The Movie Robcast reaches its 80th episode, so we have a fittingly bumper show in store. Opening with a tribute to the late, great Terry Jones, who died on 21st January 2020, aged 77 after a long battle with dementia. The two Robs were raised on Life of Brian so have words of praise for the Python polymath.

The Robs then look at two movies in this ep, which seem poles apart but complement the discussion. Jay Roach’s Bombshell examines the sexual harassment scandal that rocked Fox News and saw the end of its sleazebag-in-chief Roger Ailes. The Robs discuss the strength of the film, particularly the stunningly accurate performance from Charlize Theron as Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, superbly supported by Nicole Kidman and Margot Robbie...

January 9, 2020, Posted in  Podcast Comments: No comments

You may have noticed The Movie Robcast has a lovely new logo image. Created by the rather wonderful Bridge Fazio, we’re thrilled with it. See more of Bridge’s work here: www.bridgefazio.com

Episode 79 sees Robs Daniel & Wallis review both the ridiculous and the, not sublime, but well-crafted.

The ridiculous is Guy Ritchie’s dated, mean-spirited gangster fluff The Gentlemen, starring Matthew McConaughey, Hugh Grant, Charlie Hunnam, Henry Golding and Michelle Dockery, all of whom should know better. Wanna see a film where cash-poor, land-rich aristos are the real victims? No, us neither, but we did so we could warn you off it.

Much better is Sam Mendes’ 1917, his World War I epic made to resemble one continuous real-time shot...

January 6, 2020, Posted in  Podcast Comments: No comments

Episode 78 of The Movie Robcast is proof that bad publicity can be as effective as positive hype. Rob Daniel had no intention of seeing Tom Hooper’s adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s hit stage show. And then the negative reviews arrived. And kept on arriving. And conjured such bizarre and terrible images of what awaited audiences for Cats that he had to see the horrors for himself.

Paying £10, he saw… oh did he see. And now cannot unsee. Rob Wallis is a little kinder towards the film, but not enough to give a pull line that could get The Movie Robcast its first poster quote.

So, prepare for a journey to a fantastical place that should be full of wonder, but instead resembles The Island of Dr. Moreau...

January 4, 2020, Posted in  Podcast Comments: No comments

We started back in 2016 as The Electric Shadows Podcast. We enter the twenties as The Movie Robcast, with a gorgeous new image, courtesy of designer Bridge Fazio. Check out Bridge’s work at www.bridgefazio.com/.

And episode 77 is a biggy, in which Robs Daniel and Wallis run through their respective Top 10s of the 2010s.

Not to spoil the surprises too much (although the movie quick-witted will be able to guess some entries from the tags), but amongst the fine choices is a war movie, a superhero film, the decade’s best horror movie, the decade’s best action movie, tear-jerkers, thought-provokers and smile-raisers.

We hope you enjoy the journey. If you like what you hear, why not leave a review here: apple.co/2ZRwq4w, or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

If you think we’r...

December 31, 2019, Posted in  Podcast Comments: No comments

The Electric Shadows Podcast has rebranded! We’re now The Movie RobCast, a more befitting title for a podcast about movies by two guys named Rob. It took us 76 episodes to reach that realisation… thanks for sticking with us.

But, fear not. The same degree of movie passion, knowledge and penchant for tangents will be as present and correct as they were under the old banner.

In this episode Robs Daniel and Wallis run through their Top 10s of 2019. There is some overlap, there is a microbudget BFI film that Rob Daniel *must* see and one of the Rob’s no.1 movie is something that went straight-to-rental. The movie landscape is shifting out there, people. Luckily you have two guides to make sense of the madness…

To check out Rob Wallis’ movie writings, head over to:&n...

December 28, 2019, Posted in  Features Comments: No comments

2019 may have had many problems, but cinema wasn’t one. The decade closed with a banner year for movies, so much so that our 11-20 list in any other year would have been a fine Top 10. Before we move onto what films we thought were the year’s best, here is a nod to those movies that didn’t quite squeeze in (although it was, appropriately, a close run race between The Peanut Butter Falcon and Le Mans ’66).

So, also check out… Le Man ’66, Booksmart, Monos, Ready or Not, One Cut of the Dead, The Sisters Brothers, Avengers: Endgame, The Report, John Wick 3: Parabellum and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

The Electric Shadows Top 10 Films of the Year also sees a couple of firsts...

December 21, 2019, Posted in  Podcast Comments: No comments

The Electric Shadows Podcast reaches its three-quarters of a century mark! And in the 75th episode Robs Daniel and Wallis see just how strong the Force is with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

The film has proven as divisive (almost) as The Last Jedi, and our two intrepid casters in pod have opinions on what it does well and where it stumbles. We don’t want to spoil the discussion here too much, so we’ll not go into specifics. Suffice to say, there is a spoiler section because the film packs in quite a few surprises. But, it’s behind a clearly defined spoiler wall midway through, so don’t worry.

Also, this will be the final episode under the moniker, The Electric Shadows Podcast...

December 20, 2019, Posted in  Reviews Comments: 2 comments

Director: J.J. Abrams

Writer: J.J. Abrams, Chris Terrio (story and script), Derek Connolly (story), George Lucas (characters)

Cast: Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, John Boyega, Carrie Fisher, Anthony Daniels, Ian McDiarmid, Richard E. Grant, Domhnall Gleeson, Billy Dee Williams, Kelly Marie Tran, Keri Russell

Producers: J.J. Abrams, Kathleen Kennedy, Michelle Rejwan

Music: John Williams

Cinematography: Dan Mindel

Editor: Maryann Brandon, Stefan Grube

Cert: 12

Running time: 141mins

Year: 2019

What’s the story: When Emperor Palpatine (McDiarmid) returns, the Resistance must find his base before he brings destruction to the galaxy. First Order Supreme Leader Kylo Ren (Driver) hunts both the Emperor and fledgling Jedi Rey (Ridley).