Eavesdropping At The Movies

The Rock is the action star of the moment and despite Skyscraper's lacklustre title, we enjoy his latest vehicle a lot. It's mechanical, predictable, corporate, obvious, and not even shot and edited that well, but we don't really care. It features a gem of a setting, a great central performance from an enormously likeable star, depicts disability in a remarkably sensitive way, generates decent threat and tension despite obvious flaws in how it does so, is wholesome as hell, and Mike wants The Rock to be his dad. Recorded on 23rd July 2018.

After a fourteen-year wait, the Incredibles are back! We discuss how well the comedy is directed, how full of ideas the action is, and our love of Edna Mode and the mad baby. José finds food for thought in the conceptualisation of the antagonist, while Mike makes sure the animation, somehow so often overlooked in animated films, is given its due. And we discuss the imbalance in the treatment of the two main characters, Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl. Recorded on 23rd July 2018.

We only thought of it in this way after we finished the podcast, but Sicario 2 is the best movie for watching on a plane we've ever seen. It's pacey, entertaining, catchy, and entirely insubstantial. José discusses some issues he has with the film, including how many Mexicans it's happy to kill while keeping every American alive, and the lack of tension in scenes that are crying out for it - Mike agrees with everything José says and knows he should have a problem with this stuff but just doesn't. We agree that it's a joy to see so much of Benicio del Toro and Josh Brolin, and when they share the screen there's a special feeling, but the conscience that Emily Blunt brought to the first film is perhaps lacking here. It doesn't live up to the first Sicario - and really, how could it - but it's good, rough, dark fun. Recorded on 2nd July 2018.

We go deep on Hereditary, occult/folk horror, and indeed horror in a wider perspective with guest contributor and horror guru (Mike's words) Dr. Matt Denny from the University of Warwick, a film scholar with a particular interest in precisely the milieu Hereditary occupies. (He's also a former student of José's who was an undergrad alongside Mike, so it's not all down to his credentials.) He brings an insightful and informed perspective to the film, picking up the baton where Mike and José dropped it in the previous podcast, and running off with it. We consider what the occult subgenre is, what makes such stories interesting and where Hereditary in particular digresses from them, and the effects that has. Matt offers a historical perspective on the treatment of women in horror and how the film puts forth a muddled version of that, and the influence of Kubrick (in particular The Shining) on the film. We consider Mike's dislike of how the film hides information or clues behind codes, and Matt suggests that thi

Perhaps we lack the specific horror fundamentals that would open Hereditary up to us, but we find it a muddled, almost adolescent film - a particular disappointment given it's also an engrossing family drama with a brilliant central performance from Toni Collette. Our conversation includes considerations of the compositions and props, including repeated imagery of miniature models of the family's home, and complaints that it feels as though we're deliberately being withheld a clear explanation of what the hell is going on by a writer-director who's keen to seem smarter than us. In its cruel and brutal treatment and imagery of women, José finds the film misogynist, which reminds Mike of It Follows, which he found misogynist. And José spends a few moments decrying The Exorcist, why not. Everything we discuss is a significant plot spoiler as the film operates in revelation and surprise, so make sure you either know or don't care what happens before listening. Recorded on 24th June 2018.

Jurassic World returns with The Orphanage and A Monster Calls director J. A. Bayona in charge, transforming the colourful knockabout thrills of the previous instalment into a volcano disaster-cum-Gothic horror film. We both love the heightened drama of the mansion half of the film and how Bayona finds new life in what has, over the last 25 years, somehow become somewhat stale imagery of reanimated dinosaurs. José adores the casting of Geraldine Chaplin and Mike finds the reduced importance of love stories a positive thing. And seeing businessmen get killed is always fun. Cracking movie. Hugely enjoyable. Recorded on 22nd June 2018.

The all-female reboot of the Ocean's franchise sees Sandra Bullock and Cate Blanchett leading a team of women to infiltrate and rob the Met Gala. We discuss how the heist failed to meet our expectations, the weak integration of Ocean's personal motivation, and the underwhelming displays of glamour, but we find things to like, including Anne Hathaway's performance in particular and how the film depicts the characters eating. But ultimately we're left with the question: If a woman can't get the job directing a film like this, just what is she allowed to direct? Recorded on 21st June 2018.

A classic returns to cinemas for its 50th anniversary and we receive it in rather a muted fashion. José's never seen it on the big screen and Mike's never seen it at all, so it's an interesting experience for both, but both come away with reservations. Much of the discussion revolves around context. 2001: A Space Odyssey was first released in 1968 and our repeated use of the phrase "of its time" becomes a coded criticism as much as an honest descriptor - the film simply doesn't work today as well, or in the same ways, as it did half a century ago. We discuss its editing, novelty value, depiction of the future and technology and more, perhaps unfortunately but probably unavoidably never being able to escape the historical lens. It's true to say that we're both very glad we took the opportunity to see it, but both left feeling that while its influence is even more tangible than one could imagine and its legacy is not in question, its greatness is today a touch overstated. Recorded on June 3rd 2018.

We find much to mull over in Solo, which José finds the best Star Wars film since The Empire Strikes Back and Mike finds overlong and depressingly dull. Our discussions take in the merits and flaws of the film's visual design, its relationship to the saga's history and fans, Ron Howard's earnestness, the way the film builds a lawless world to develop and reconfigure Han Solo, and how on Earth an $84m opening weekend is considered a flop. One thing's for sure: Rush is a great film. Recorded on 28th May 2018.

Charlize Theron stars in Tully, Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody's fourth collaboration as director and screenwriter, as a mother of two with a third on the way, heavily put upon and struggling financially and personally, who hires a nanny to help her out at night. We find room for both praise and criticism, José in particular singling out Reitman's direction for his ire and Mike disappointed in the film's ultimate treatment of its central female friendship, but keen to discuss its portrayal of stress and mental illness. Recorded on 13th May 2018.

We turn once again to curated streaming service MUBI for João Moreira Salles' essay film, In the Intense Now, which combines archival news footage with home and amateur film to explore brief but fiery sociopolitical moments with a first-person, personal tint. It looks at four events: May 68 in France, the Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia, the March of the One Hundred Thousand in Brazil, all of which took place in 1968, as well as the beginnings of China's Cultural Revolution, entirely through tourist footage shot by the director's mother of her holiday there in 1966. The film is deeply thought-provoking and complex. We discuss the feelings with which it left us, its contrast of cultures and movements across different countries and classes, how its search for understanding of its era is preferable to and more accessible than simple nostalgia, its disappointed examination of how business found ways to insert itself into the counter-culture in order to commodify and sell it, and the way that May 68 lives in cult

This week we go arthouse and discuss Xavier Legrand’s first feature, Custody (Jusqu’à la garde), though 'arthouse' perhaps only in the sense that it’s subtitled. In some ways, the film is shot in a realist style, halfway between British kitchen sink drama and the Dardennes' more leisurely, microscopic style. The film revolves around a couple in the process of divorce battling for custody of their young son. The boy wants to stay with his mother. Has he been coached? Is his mind being poisoned against his father? We discuss how the first section is basically an exposition of the law where the father is surrounded by women, how the film initially orchestrates the audience’s sympathy around the father, and how this changes as the film unfolds. Is the film a critique of male privilege? Why is it so unpleasant so watch? Is it material that television handles better? What’s the point of putting an audience through this type of experience? We both adore Denis Ménochet as the father but really praise the whole cast.

Jose has been obsessed with 120 BPM and was very keen to hear what Mike, who is much younger and not gay, thought of it. Is his obsession due to purely personal reasons – the film seems to reflect a part of his youth – or is the film actually as good as he thinks it is? Is it a niche film or does it have meanings and feelings to communicate to a broader audience? Is the movie really great or is just it something Jose's particularly vulnerable to weeping at the mere thought of? We talk about it in relation to Matthew Lopez’s The Inheritance, currently on at the Young Vic in London. We also discuss the film as ‘director-as-editor’ filmmaking. We agree that despite the film's length - almost the same as Infinity War! - there's not a moment we'd cut. We discuss the opening sequences, all meetings, political actions, and introductions of characters; we agree that the sex scene in the hospital is one of the best ever filmed. Sex and desire in the film is always on the table and we discuss how it takes on differen

The first part of Marvel's ending to the unendable story wallops us with two and a half hours of punching and planets. Mike is even more gullible than usual. Jose stays cynical and rightly so. The film leads to discussions on whether we can actually find themes in it, the leaps of faith necessary to buy into it, the way in which we can't help but buy into the story logic in the way we talk about it, and the nature of even trying to talk about corporate assets this enormous. It all gets quite meta. Jose mentions the state of modern America again. We bring up Call Me by Your Name somehow. Recorded on 29th April 2018.

One of the stupidest films we've seen for a long time, but was it fun? We discuss its lazy and crass writing, the treatment of its female star, its lack of balance between entertainment and boredom, missed opportunities, and just how many people we think died. Recorded on 23rd April 2018.

A boxing film that opens with its climactic fight and develops drama in its aftermath. We find Journeyman disappointingly contradictory - a showcase of performance, writing, and observation, executed with no cinematic nous or flair. Paddy Considine lacks credibility as a world champion boxer, but captures beautifully the impotent rage and misery of such a star physically and mentally diminished. His road to recovery is a clever and interesting twist on the typical boxing film formula of training for a life-changing fight, executed too sappily and casually. A film we like but don't admire. Recorded on 8th April 2018.

A young adult romance with a twist, Love, Simon gives gay teens a high school movie with a decent budget and aimed at a wide audience. We both have mixed feelings on it, but find it a well-meaning and substantially positive film. We discuss some shortcuts it takes - the use of a queeny character to render Simon more acceptable, the setting in upper middle class suburbia making Simon's sexuality the only issue in his life, a certain generic formulaicity - and ideas the film depicts as simple that could and should be more complex, including conversations we'd like to have seen Simon have with his best friend and the aforementioned queen. Not to mention the rather flat aesthetics. It's a discussion that does almost nothing but pick out flaws but nonetheless finds that the breadth of the film's intended audience mitigates them and its goodness of heart shines through. Worth a watch! Recorded on 6th April 2018.

Jose can't handle the bad costumes, pap morality, and smug tone. Mike considers the age of the intended audience a mitigating factor but largely agrees. A Wrinkle in Time inclusively opens the big-budget Hollywood fantasy film to new audiences, but while we agree on the positivity of that aim, we find the film flawed and overly simple. The film invites comparison with The Wizard of Oz, but as Jose demonstrates, it's a comparison in which it comes off far worse. Mike fondly remembers the Macaulay Culkin film The Pagemaster and recommends people watch that instead. Recorded on 2nd April 2018.

A Quiet Place is a deceptively simple horror film that finds a surprising degree of variety in its premise: the planet is overrun with monsters that cannot see but hunt by sound. We marvel at its creativity and technique, and indeed, the way it silenced the audience. We talk over its performances, its ending, the way it manipulates and moves characters to generate threatening situations, the intelligence of its editing in moving between storylines, and the shortcuts it takes with its internal logic in order to keep the story moving. We also mull over a potential for a sequel and decry one plot decision in particular. But fundamentally, we urge everyone to see it. It silenced a full cinema, and that was quite remarkable. Recorded on 2nd April 2018.

A low-budget psychological thriller, Unsane is a less involving film than its subject matter and star deserve. Claire Foy is extraordinarily powerful as a paranoid prisoner of mental trauma inflicted on her by a stalker and bureaucratic malfeasance, distressed, knowing, sarcastic, resistant. The film fails her in other areas but is an intriguing experiment nonetheless, and we find much to discuss, including its cinematography, relationship to termite art, and potential audiences. Recorded on 1st April 2018.