This week we discuss Ridley Scott’s latest film, The Counselor, Davis Guggenheim’s moving educational documentary, Waiting For Superman, and early awards front-runner, 12 Years A Slave. Podcast: Play in new window | Download Read more »
On this week’s podcast we discuss Thor: The Dark World and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, as well as the joy of seeing classic films on the big screen – such as The Day Of The Jackal, which recently played as part of Tokyo’s Toho 10am Festival. Podcast: Play in new window | Download Read more »
On our latest podcast dispatch, we discuss Paul Greengrass’ white-knuckle hijacking thriller, Captain Phillips, starring Tom Hanks, the enigmatic documentary The Institute, and Fernando takes us through his favourite discoveries at this year’s Tokyo International Film Festival. Podcast: Play in new window | Download Read more »
On this week’s podcast, our 40th in fact, we discuss R100, the new, slightly out there comedy from Japanese director Hitoshi Matsumoto. We then take some time to review Ernst Lubitsch’s 1942 classic, To Be Or Not To Be. Finally, we cast our eyes forward to the upcoming Tokyo International Film Festival. Podcast: Play in […] Read more »
In this week’s podcast we take a look James’ picks from Fantastic Fest before discussing Alfonso Cuarón’s long anticipated space drama, Gravity, Woody Allen’s latest, Blue Jasmine, the challenging Blue Is The Warmest Colour and Ron Howard’s Rush. Oh and we also talk about Diana. Podcast: Play in new window | Download Read more »
The summer is over and we are back to consider the best films of the season. There were some surprise hits, a few disappointments and a lot to discuss in terms of which films made a big impact on both of us. A blockbuster episode with sixteen films up for discussion. Podcast: Play in new […] Read more »
While Fernando is otherwise engaged relocating himself somewhere new in Asia, James is joined by special guest Pierce Conran () from Twitch and Modern Korean Cinema, to discuss the highlights of this year’s Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival and also Bong Joon-ho’s highly anticipated sci-fi epic, Snowpiercer. Podcast: Play in new window | Download Read more »
The time has come to pause and survey our film experiences so far this year. James and Fernando both offer up their five best (and three worst) cinematic experiences of the year so far. It’s a diverse mix of films, some Hollywood, some Bollywood, some comedy, some art-house drama and of course, some films that […] Read more »
We explore the limits of human identity in three films this week, a post-apocalytic humanity in exile adventure, After Earth, the latest incarnation of the Superman story, Man of Steel and yet another zombie action blockbuster, World War Z. Podcast: Play in new window | Download Read more »
Three very different films come up for consideration this week. First is The Hangover Part III, the latest instalment in this commercially successful comedy series. Then we look travel back to 1969 and look the critically acclaimed and somewhat controversial classic Medium Cool. Then we finish off with the magic-inspired fun in the form of […] Read more »
After a one week hiatus while Fernando recovered from a music conference (which he insists qualified as work), we are back with a blockbuster episode. First up is the latest instalment of Fast and the Furious, including a discussion of why the franchise might be in better shape now than when it started. James reviews […] Read more »
This week we turn our attention to two very different romantic tales. First, we discuss Baz Lurhmann's highly caffeinated adaptation of The Great Gatsby. Then, we compare notes on Shane Carruth's enigmatic work, Upstream Color. Read more »
This week we discuss two very different films. First we compare notes on the second instalment of the rebooted Star Trek franchise. Then we take a look at acclaimed Soviet director Andrei Tarkovsky's first feature film, Ivan's Childhood, which was recently re-released as part of the Criterion Collection. Read more »
This week we discuss Fernando’s upcoming move to Tokyo, before turning out attention to the action blockbuster Snitch. We then consider the somewhat dire state of contemporary Romantic Comedies (RomComs), looking at films like Celeste And Jesse Forever and The Big Wedding. Finally, we explain our plan to add some regular reviews of recent Criterion […] Read more »
On this week’s show, Fernando reunites with James in Hong Kong to discuss Marvel’s latest superhero blockbuster, Iron Man 3. In order to guide them through the intricacies of The Avengers Universe they are joined by friend of the show Casey Lau (), renowned comic book aficionado and tech-geek extraordinaire! Podcast: Play in new window […] Read more »
This week James leads us off with a review of The Host. Adapted from the novel by Stephenie Meyer of Twilight fame, this teen-angst driven Sci-Fi feature is directed by Andrew Niccol, best known for Gattaca, Lord of War and In Time, as well as for writing The Truman Show. Then we take a longer […] Read more »
This week we are back to our regular pattern of reviewing films. We take an in depth and critical look at Oblivion, the latest big budget blockbuster from Joseph Kosinski, the director of Tron: Legacy and starring Tom Cruise and Morgan Freeman (and Andrea Riseborough and Olga Kurylenko). Then we turn our attention to a […] Read more »
Before boarding planes to traverse Asia, James and Fernando got together to discuss Hong Kong Filmart and the business of selling films. We look behind the scenes of a major film market and the different ways filmmakers, distributors and festival organisers meet and do their work. Read more »
We celebrate our quarter century of podcasts with a short special, looking back over this week’s Academy Awards. Having managed to correctly pick 20 and 19 of the winners respectively, James and Fernando reflected on the winners, the whole game of second-guessing the Academy’s hive mind and what the awards say about the year in […] Read more »
On this week’s dispatch, Fernando and James discuss the nominations for the 2013 Academy Awards – which take place on 24 February – weighing up the relative merits of the contenders in each category, and distinguishing between the films and artists they want to see win and those they believe will be taking home Oscars […] Read more »