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 20, 2019, Posted in  Podcast Comments: No comments

Episode 71 of The Electric Shadows Podcast is an epic review of the 2019 BFI London Film Festival. Over the course of two hours, Robs Daniel & Wallis run through their respective Top 10s of the festival.

There is some crossover, but some shocks are in store as films make one Rob’s list but not the other.

They also make time to chat through notable films they saw that didn’t make the Top 10 and, inevitably, there is the odd tangent or two.

Also included are clips from press conferences and Q&As the Robs attended. The full Scorsese-De Niro-Pacino press conference will be posted when The Irishman premieres in November, but you can listen to a segment here with Scorsese and De Niro discussing the beginnings of the project.

So settle in, listen to the pod and then see the ...

October 17, 2019, Posted in  Features Comments: No comments

After making quite a splash at this year’s Arrow Video FrightFest, Rob Grant’s Harpoon arrives on The Arrow Video Channel from Friday 18th October…

Jean-Paul Sartre famously wrote, Hell is other people. In Harpoon, they are also your closest friends.

A gleefully caustic, witty and violent film about three pals self-destructing when they’re accidentally stuck in a boat out on the ocean, it is rollercoaster horror in the best sense. Snide remarks soon turn darker as resentments and long-held secrets begin to surface, while an omniscient narrator (Fleabag’s Brett Gelman) keeps tabs on their predicament.

Regular readers of this site will be aware of Arrow Video and what they do, i.e...

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 15, 2019, Posted in  Podcast Comments: No comments

In episode 70 of The Electric Shadows Podcast, Robs Daniel and Wallis set their laughing gear to discussing Todd Phillips’ Joker. A controversial film being hailed as a masterpiece, the two Robs are baffled as to why.

They both talk about why the film left them unimpressed and non-plussed, from the slavish homage to Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy to Joaquin Phoenix’s mannered performance.

Rob D recounts the negative reactions his review has met on Facebook and R&R attempt to figure out where the love is coming from.

To help them, friend of the podcast Adrian Zak joins Rob D for a brief chat, describing what he found to like in the movie. Never say we’re not balanced.

We recorded this one outside between screenings at the London Film Festival, hence the background being...

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...

October 4, 2019, Posted in  Reviews Comments: No comments

Director: Rose Glass

Writer: Rose Glass

Cast: Morfydd Clark, Jennifer Ehle, Lily Frazer, Lily Knight

Producers: Andrea Cornwell, Oliver Kassman

Music: Adam Janota Bzowski

Cinematography: Ben Fordesman

Editor: Mark Towns

Cert: 15 (TBC)

Running time: 83mins

Year: 2019

What’s the story: The unsmiling Maud (Clark) is private nurse to capricious terminally ill dancer Amanda (Ehle). Gripped by religious fervour, Maud believes she can save Amanda’s soul.

What’s the verdict: After Abner Pastoll’s A Good Woman is Hard to Find, Rose Glass’ outstanding feature debut is the second film this year to open with a young woman coated in blood...