Eavesdropping At The Movies

Freely based, as the closing credits tell us, on Jean Cocteau's 1930 play of the same name, The Human Voice sees Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar working in the English language for the first time. The play has long been on Almodóvar's mind, inspiring, significantly, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, among other works of his, and this short film joins the pantheon of adaptations of the play, which has seen its single character, a woman speaking on the phone to an unseen, unheard lover, played by such stars as Sophia Loren, Ingrid Bergman, and Anna Magnani. Here, Tilda Swinton plays that role, bringing to it a sense of reserve that didn't quite make sense to José until the final sequence and the resolution to the story - perhaps an effect of having seen the play adapted so many times and not having seen the character played this way before. Conversely, Mike feels he instinctively understands the character, remarking upon her change from being out of place, both geographically and emotionally, to her as

A chamber piece that asks what happens when your life of carefully constructed lies is exposed, Shiva Baby is a smart, tense comedy set in that most aggravating of situations: the funeral, in which you're forced to be judged by lots of people you want to avoid but aren't allowed to kick up a stink. We discuss debut writer-director Emma Seligman's handling of the story's shifts in tone, in particular how she intensely ekes out tension; the light in which it depicts its women, who bookend scenes with sarcastic off-screen barbs and gossip; and the main character's relationship to technology, and how her use of it to seek power is a double-edged sword. Recorded on 6th August 2021.

Apparently dissatisfied with the dismal reception of 2016's Suicide Squad, DC has bravely decided to vaguely reboot the property with a spot-the-difference name change to The Suicide Squad, probably hoping that this new film will effortlessly send its predecessor down the memory hole. We ask whether it hits that whimsical tone it clearly wants to and discuss imperialism, satire, racism, gazing at males, rats, story structure, excessive volume and more. Recorded on 3rd August 2021.

Reminding José of 1970s auteur exploitation movies and Mike of The Twilight Zone, M. Night Shyamalan's Old confines its characters, and most of its action, to an isolated beach at a high-class tropical resort. As you might expect with Shyamalan, it's best seen with little advance knowledge, as the plot twists and turns, revelations throwing previous events into new light. But we do, indeed, encourage you to see it - it's perhaps the most entertaining film Shyamalan's made in some time, and although his dialogue isn't the finest you'll ever hear, his camerawork is some of the most interesting. He's a director who always seeks an interesting or expressive composition, who isn't satisfied with shot-reverse shot, and his enthusiasm for the image is infectious. Some things could be better - some dramatic moments could be heightened, and it's a fairly thin film that may not reward a second viewing, when there's no hope of surprise. But the first viewing is an engrossing one, and we recommend it. Recorded on 24th

1996's Space Jam is beloved of people Mike's age throughout the Western hemisphere, despite basketball's limited reach beyond North America - it was a Looney Tunes film, full of imagination and laughs, and is today a nostalgic linchpin for millennials. And because millennials now make films, it's back, twenty years on, with Space Jam: A New Legacy, featuring LeBron James in Michael Jordan's central role as the basketball star who joins forces with the Looney Tunes to defeat a team of superpowered villains. But the wit and tone of the 1996 original is nowhere to be found here, beyond those unacceptably brief moments in which Bugs Bunny and co. get to shine. There's a heavy focus on family, a theme that's come up more than a few times on recent podcasts and never feels intelligently explored, with LeBron's son held hostage in scenes that are supposed to heighten the sense of threat but in fact just grind any sense of entertainment to dust. But even that isn't the film's biggest problem - it's the corporate pro

What began twenty years ago as a series of car chases and races has since spiralled out of control into an action behemoth encompassing ten films, a TV series, videogames, and theme park attractions. But for the spinoff film Hobbs & Shaw, Fast and Furious 9 is Mike's introduction to the Fast & Furious series, with José having seen some of the previous instalments, but not all. We discuss the soap opera storytelling, the way it expresses humour - what it thinks are jokes are really just aggressive, macho posturing - and what it thinks of intelligence, José contending that it represents the worst of American culture in privileging stupidity and making it victorious, with Mike offering a complementary drop of nuance, arguing that it does at least believe that its heroes are smart... but it's a stupid person's idea of what being smart is. Core to the film's failings is its almost complete lack of irony, only the car-turned-space shuttle indicating that the film has any understanding of comedy and how absurd it a

Marvel's triumphant return to our cinemas is... a film that fills in a plot hole nobody cared about for a character who not only should have had a standalone film long before now but who has since been killed off. To say that Black Widow feels like a kick in the teeth is an understatement, but still, the MCU is back with us and we see what it has to offer. And what it presents us with is something much more earthbound than the spacefaring antics in which Marvel has increasingly indulged: a good old-fashioned Russian spy story, and a family reunion of sorts, Natasha Romanoff driven to reconnect with the other undercover Russian agents who formed her surrogate family as a child. We ask whether the theme of family is done justice here, especially the father's part in its expression. And, among others, we ask questions of the action filmmaking, the lack of humour in heroes, Romanoff's conceptualisation, how the women are filmed, and whether it's necessary to eschew edginess in order to pursue a progressive polit

An offbeat, gentle, surreal, intriguing and slightly camp comic drama, French Exit is a pleasant surprise for us both. Michelle Pfeiffer's widowed heiress, reduced to selling her late husband's property, takes what's left of her life - her cat, adult son, and attitude - to an apartment in Paris, where she resolves to spend her remaining money before ending her life. Sounds hilarious. And indeed it is, its director, Azazel Jabocs, demonstrating a mastery of tone. We discuss what makes the film work, its visual design, its relationship with and attitude towards money, how that campness José perceives is kept subdued, and more. French Exit isn't a perfect film by any means, but it is a good one, and a charming way to spend a couple of hours. Recorded on 4th July 2021.

The sequel to one of the first films we discussed on Eavesdropping at the Movies, The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard reunites Samuel L. Jackson's hitman, Ryan Reynolds' bodyguard, and Salma Hayek's hitman's wife - whose role is significantly expanded from the first film's bit part. The vaguely sketched plot - Antonio Banderas wants to blow up Europe or something, and that's enough detail - is the wire hanger upon which jokes and comic character interplay are draped, but, crucially, is the comedy successful? Whether it is or isn't, and what we read into the audience response, is up for discussion, as is the deployment of the stars' personas and cinematic histories, what renders Ryan Reynolds' schtick endearing here where it's normally irritating, and whether the film's sexual dimension is overly vulgar or too one-sided. José has seen The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard twice now, and is no less in thrall to Hayek's aggressive, wild performance the second time, loudly and enthusiastically responding to it. Mike is much

Before Lin-Manuel Miranda shot to fame in the mid-2010s with Hamilton, he had already enjoyed success with his 2005 musical, In the Heights, with a book by Quiara Alegría Hudes, winning four Tonys for its Broadway production in 2008. Set in Washington Heights, a largely Dominican neighbourhood in Upper Manhattan, it now comes to cinemas, following the lives, struggles and dreams of its inhabitants, who simply cannot stop singing. Well, singing and rapping - and it's the rapping that shines, Miranda's lyrics as witty and intricate as those in Hamilton, while the singing is less impressive, and the domain of the film's women, who Mike wishes had been given the opportunity to rap. We discuss our disappointment in the direction - the film is full of visual ideas that aren't executed to their fullest potential - and its relationship to the cultures and peoples it portrays. In the Heights has its flaws, but despite them, it's an immensely likeable portrait of life in its locale, José in particular, an immigrant t

We explore Come and See, a 1985 Soviet film whose reputation precedes it - it's regarded as one of the greatest war films of all time. In 1943 Belarus, a young teenager, Flyora, joins the resistance, but as he travels from village to village across Nazi-occupied Belarus, experiencing worsening horrors and atrocities brought upon the locals, the extent to which he is out of his depth gradually becomes clearer and clearer. Part of Come and See's reputation is of being hard to watch, something we both take issue with - it goes to some deeply unpleasant places, but it's a gradual descent rather than an onslaught. That the film is regarded as such a trial has likely caused some filmgoers to unnecessarily avoid an experience that they would value. While it depicts shocking imagery and events, it's shot with an ethical eye - everything that's shown has a purpose, and that which would be excessively prurient is often avoided. We also consider the use of supernatural and fairytale aesthetics to place us in the mind

A Quiet Place Part II picks up moments after its 2018 predecessor ends, its characters desperate for refuge from the terrifying predators hunting them. Seeking survivors, they encounter a family friend, now a recluse, having lost his wife and children. Emboldened by her discovery of a way to combat the aliens, the family's deaf daughter makes a beeline for a radio station she believes can help, and what was a home invasion horror becomes an action adventure. While accommodating this alteration in tone, A Quiet Place Part II offers, as sequels tend to do, more of what made the first film so successful, and it's terrifically entertaining cinema - but a diminished experience, compared to its predecessor, in almost every way. We consider the film's view of society, the uncritical whiteness in its casting and its inability to imagine ways of living that don't involve the nuclear family unit; and the lack of threat we feel, despite its functional and well-orchestrated set-pieces - we simply never feel like these c

Disney's latest update of its back catalogue sees Emma Stone bring punk rock to Sixties London in Cruella, a beautiful, stylish, but clunky affair. Like Maleficent before it, Cruella offers an origin story to a key Disney villain: Estella, as she's named when we meet her, takes a circuitous route to her destiny as a star fashion designer, grifting with friends to make ends meet, and waging war on the leading fashionista of the day, Baroness von Hellman - played by a fabulously wicked Emma Thompson. Oh, and there are some Dalmatians involved. We discuss the quality and intentions of Cruella's characterisation and Stone's performance, the conspicuously expensive soundtrack, the use of CGI animals, whether the film is as queer as some of the hype has suggested, the role of men and masculinity, and why it is that fashion movies are one of very few areas in cinema where women get to play fun villains like the Baroness. Cruella is an imperfect film, less than the sum of its parts - but at their best, those parts a

Billy Wilder directs this adaptation of Agatha Christie's Witness for the Prosecution, a courtroom drama concerning a man on trial for the murder of an old woman - did he do it? What's up with his wife? Will his lawyer's nurse catch him smoking? As with Christie's stageplay, The Mousetrap, upon the film's conclusion, the audience is kindly asked to refrain from revealing its twists and revelations, but we at Eavesdropping at the Movies respect no such requests. Spoilers within. Charles Laughton is pleasingly hammy, Marlene Dietrich composed, and Tyrone Power a loud, sweaty, stressed out mess - and somehow mostly in the background, despite his central role as the accused murderer. We discuss their performances and characters, the pleasures and methods of Agatha Christie's mysteries, and Wilder's direction, which hopes, in that classic Hollywood style, to render technique invisible. Witness for the Prosecution is an engrossing mystery filled with interesting bits of business that enrich its characters, and a c

Cinema is back! And to celebrate, we see the new spin-off of the Saw series, Spiral, which... is not a good film. But it gives us much to think on, especially the surprisingly big names of its cast, which includes Chris Rock, Samuel L. Jackson, and Max Minghella. Slasher series don't traditionally accommodate stars, but, beyond the fact that they're typically too expensive, Spiral offers a warning against their presence: the screentime they require pulls too much attention away from the thrills, the reason we're really there. The deaths we're accustomed to enjoying in Saw films just aren't given to us in sufficient excess or quantity in Spiral; Chris Rock's protagonist, a detective hunting a Jigsaw copycat, dominates the story. As if catching the murderer is more exciting than watching him work. Honestly. Despite our disappointment in the film, we enjoy our return to the cinema after nine months away, José finding a new appreciation for the meditative quality of submitting himself to a movie he can't pause i

We explore René Clair's adaptation of Agatha Christie's novel of - in the US - the same name, And Then There Were None. In terms of quality, it's nothing to write home about, sadly, but is interesting nonetheless. Recorded on 13th May 2021.

We explore Dario Argento's Suspiria, his 1977 horror classic, and its loose remake by Luca Guadagnino, from 2018. We've never seen either, although Argento's film casts a long shadow - those who've seen it never forget it, and it's easy to see why. Its visual design is bold, imaginative and beautiful, the images it creates extraordinary, its violence heightened and wild. José loves it, literally wowed by it, captivated by its cinematic flair and interesting casting. But, Mike argues, it's a film that offers nothing beyond the aesthetic, uninterested in its own characters or story, which leaves him cold. Our responses to Guadagnino's remake are reversed entirely. For Mike, it's superior: ambitious, keen to mine the threadbare original for thematic depth, and laudably attempting to weave together generational guilt, dance, institutional corruption and women's bodies into a complex tapestry, although one which requires too much audience participation to complete. José thinks he's giving a pretentious work of eg

Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce star as the previous and current Popes respectively, in The Two Popes, an imagined biopic that uses their personas and public profiles as jumping off points to explore a range of ideas. We discuss the success with which the film has been adapted from the original stage play, but the lack of visual artistry it nonetheless exhibits; the ways in which it uses - and ignores - the characters' histories and mistakes; the sincerity that underpins the entire film; and the rather cheap and simple, if entertaining, use of football to convey Pope Francis as a man of the people. Although we find all sorts of areas to pick at, The Two Popes is easy to recommend - witty, charming, brilliantly performed by Hopkins and Pryce, and keen to explore meaningful ideas with seriousness and solemnity, when the moment calls for it. Worth a look. Recorded on 2nd May 2021.

We're joined by returning guest Celia, on the phone from Canada, to discuss writer-director Emerald Fennell's unusual revenge thriller, Promising Young Woman. Following the rape and - implied - suicide of her friend Nina, which goes unpunished, Carey Mulligan's Cassie drops out of medical school, and now spends her nights feigning drunkenness, allowing men to pick her up and take her home, alarming them with her sobriety as they begin to sexually assault her. When a chance reunion with a former classmate reveals that Nina's rapist is engaged, Cassie embarks upon a campaign of vengeance against those she considers responsible for and involved in committing and allowing her friend's rape and its cover-up. Celia loves it, finding that it invokes and brings to life many subtle and important observations about life for women in the patriarchy, enjoying the various forms Cassie's revenge takes - particularly the "exercises in forced empathy", in her words - and feeling a call to arms; José decidedly doesn't, decry

Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford star in Gild- sorry, Affair in Trinidad, Hayworth's first film upon her return to Hollywood after four years away, and a blatant rip-off of a certain classic film noir from 1946. (There's also a chunk of Notorious thrown in for good measure.) Expensively cobbled together at Columbia boss Harry Cohn's instruction, its production was rushed, with its script barely presentable and Vincent Sherman's direction lazy, but audiences weren't put off - it made $7m domestically, blockbuster box office in 1952. Now featured as part of Columbia Noir #2, a box-set from the same series that includes The Garment Jungle, we take the opportunity to see what Affair in Trinidad has to offer - for José, the answer is, "not much, besides Rita Hayworth, gorgeous gowns and rich cinematography" - and discuss more besides, including Hayworth's name and image, and how and why they were changed. Affair in Trinidad is far from a good film, but one of historical interest, and certainly worth seeing for any fa