Available episodes
Newest first
Oldest first
Apr 15, 2020
Uncut Gems – Sandler stuns in flawless flick
Uncut Gems marks the best performance of Adam Sandler’s career but, for some reason, the people behind the Oscars didn’t think he deserved to be nominated. Some comedians do drama better than most accomplished actors and that doesn’t impress the Academy, find out why in this movie review. Watch the video: Listen to the podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/111980/3367498-uncut-gems-sandler-stuns-in-flawless-flick.mp3 Adam Sandler may have been snubbed by the Oscars this year for his performance in Uncut Gems but it didn’t stop him from having the last laugh when he won best actor at the Independent Spirit awards. It’s a great speech, watch the video review to see some highlights. Some comedians are notoriously good at delivering some great dramatic performances. The gold standard would have to be the late and eternally great Robin WIlliams in films like Dead Poets Society and Good will Hunting. This is not some kind of phenomena, as people would be led to believe, and more related to a skill set. Not all comedians successfully transition to drama, for example you’re never gonna see Jerry Seinfeld in something like Awakenings or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. For the ones that do make it, it comes down to their [...]
Mar 26, 2020
Colour Out Of Space – the resurrection of Richard Stanley
Colour Out Of Space is the first feature film that Stanley has made in 20 years, find out what put him into into exile and why it took so long for him to come back in this movie review. Watch the video: Listen to the podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/111980/3129304-colour-out-of-space-the-resurrection-of-richard-stanley.mp3 Colour Out Of Space is a modern re-telling on one of HP Lovecraft’s short stories that first appeared in the science fiction magazine Amazing Stories in September 1927. In fact the majority of Lovecraft’s stories featured in pulp magazines at the time and he wrote a bunch of them to turn a quick buck. Poor old Howard Philips Lovecraft didn’t have much of a life, succumbing to intestinal cancer at the young age of 46 he died a poor, bitter and quite racist bastard. When you talk about posthumous success, there’s not many who can match Lovecraft. There’s no denying his legacy and the tentacles of his influence can be felt in loads of modern horror. With writers like Stephen King and Alan Moore and in films like The Thing, Alien, Underwater, The Lighthouse and countless others. A lost soul Much like Lovecraft director Richard Stanley is no stranger to suffering for [...]
Mar 11, 2020
The Invisible Man – clearly good for Aussie industry
The Invisible Man is an Australian made film that encourages our local industry to grow up and get with the times. Watch the video: Listen to the podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/111980/2980360-the-invisible-man-clearly-good-for-aussie-industry.mp3 The Invisible Man is also another attempt from Universal Pictures to breathe new life into their monsters franchise and it looks like they’ve got it right this time thanks to a deal with the highly credible Blumhouse, a great cast and an extremely talented director. Director Leigh Whannell is one of Australia’s best directors right now. He’s last couple of films have him looking like a modern day Hitchcock. But like all good Australian artists we had to send him away to achieve that status, instead of supporting him over here. A home grown tragedy That is the shit thing about how the mainstream media and the government in this country perceive the arts community. It happens with music and it happens even more with film. Unless you’re making the next Top End Wedding, Ride Like a Girl or Storm Boy you’ve got buckley’s of being supported and you’re forced to either fuck off overseas to make it big or die trying. It’s because of this attitude they have of [...]
Mar 1, 2020
Underwater underrated?
Underwater seems to be one those movies the studios didn’t know what to do with, so they released it during a dump month, find out why it ended up being better than expected in this review. Watch the video: Listen to the podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/111980/2879833-underwater-underrated.mp3 Dump months are where studios like to put out films that they deem as excrement based on test screenings, movies with an unknown cast or more genre flicks like teen films and an old and reliable favourite, horror. Why are January and February considered dump months? Because they come right after the time where distributors force feed us films they think are going to be the best in terms of critical success, when people are far more frivolous with their money. Other factors include things like the awards season and NFL playoffs. Dump months have given us some shockers—Bio Dome, Electra, Body of Evidence—but there have been some exceptions like Tremors, Get Out and From Dusk Till Dawn. Meet their makers Underwater is the last film to be released under the 20th Century Fox name since they were conquered by Disney and changed to 20th Century Studios, heralding the end of an era for the [...]
Feb 19, 2020
Bad Boys become old men
Find out why Bad Boys is better off without Michael Bay in this movie review. Watch the video: Listen to the podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/111980/2784016-bad-boys-become-old-men.mp3 It’s been well over 20 years since Hollywood’s favourite moron Michael Bay released his all style and no substance buddy cop flick Bad Boys. One thing is certain, Bay has a well worn formula that he sticks to. Bad Boys 2 was pretty similar to Bad Boys 1 and if you haven’t seen either, or any of Michael Bay’s movies for that matter, you can replicate the experience by drinking about 30 Red Bulls, standing in front of a strobe light and beating yourself over the head with a plank of wood. Who made it? Thankfully, he’s passed the torch to directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah and the franchise is better for it, although he does make a small cameo appearance in the film, just to ensure his taint lingers ever so slightly. Now these guys weren’t the first choice to step into our favourite director with ADHDs shoes. Joe Carnahan of Narc and The Grey fame was originally lined up for the gig in 2015 but left the project in 2018 because of [...]
Feb 12, 2020
The Lighthouse – arthouse or shithouse?
The impact of The Lighthouse has been undeniable. It has received high praise from critics and sparked many a conversation among art cinephiles about the layers of subtext that lies within. But is it any good? Watch the video: Listen to the podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/111980/2724073-the-lighthouse-arthouse-or-shithouse.mp3 It’s complicated Art polarises people. It gets them talking. It is open to interpretation and often debated by critics far removed from the creator, sometimes with little clue as to what the artist’s vision ever was. That is certainly the case with The Lighthouse. No one is going to argue that it’s not good art, because art itself can’t really be measured like that. It’s more about the way art communicates with us. The x factor is the individual, who they are and where they are at when they receive that communication. The Lighthouse communicates by abusing itself, the characters and the audience. By getting drunk. shouting like a fuckwit on talk like a pirate day, masturbating, shouting again, and then falling into a heap of ejaculate, tears and seagull shit. Who made it? This is director Robert Egger’s second feature film and the follow up from 2015’s The VVitch, a supernatural period horror film that [...]
Feb 5, 2020
Parasite – moving in and taking over the awards season
Parasite is the latest film from Korean Director Bong Joon Ho, find out why it’s caused such a stir among pundits behind major awards in this review. Watch the video: Listen to the podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/111980/2669911-parasite-moving-in-and-taking-over-the-awards-season.mp3 Korean Cinema is an excellent go to for the jaded cinema goer. There’s some great films like Oldboy, The Host, The Chaser and Train to Busan that are well worth your time and better than a lot of the swill that comes from the States. When short on inspiration, the US has looked to South Korean Cinema to remake their films for audiences too lazy to read and watch at the same time. They did it with Oldboy and recently Train to Busan was in the middle of a bidding war between studios keen for a US remake. The rise of South Korean Cinema It all kicked off in the mid 1940’s after World War 2 with themes of freedom and liberation permeating their content, however once the Korean War started in the early 50s that got shut down fairly quickly. During the mid 50’s right up to the early 70s the industry experienced a golden age, that was subject to heavy censorship from [...]
Jan 29, 2020
1917 – Is it genius or just a gimmick?
Find out why Sam Mendes’ World War 1 epic 1917 is an awards season favourite in this review. Watch the video: Listen to the podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/111980/2612557-1917-is-it-genius-or-just-a-gimmick.mp3 Mendes is no slouch when it comes to quality filmmaking, an Oscar on debut with American Beauty, a couple of Bond films, Road to Perdition and Jarhead to name a few. 1917 however is his most audacious and visually impressive film to date. 1917 is has been crafted to look like it has been shot in one continuous take, which makes the film incredibly immersive. Think the Copacabana scene from Goodfellas sustained for an entire movie. While it’s not the first time this technique has been applied—check out movies like Rope and Birdman or do a quick search of IMDB—it might be the most impressive application of the technique thus far. A quick history lesson There’s two key events that inform the story for this movie. The allies push to drive the Germans back from the Western Front and the Germans decision to fortify themselves at the Hindenberg line. At the time the French Army were straining against the advance of the Germans, which lead to the British Army assuming an even greater [...]
Jan 22, 2020
Netflix’s The Witcher puts the saucy into sorcery!
Find out why Netflix’s The Witcher has fans going against the critics in this review of the hit TV series. Watch the video: Listen to the podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/111980/2551453-netflix-s-the-witcher-puts-the-saucy-into-sorcery.mp3 If there’s one thing Netflix’s the Witcher has over Game of Thrones it’s that the source material was completed long before the cameras rolled. There’s not going to be any money grubbing show runners hastily wrapping it up so they can move onto the next project. It’s still a ways off being the event television that Thrones was. While it has some similar elements—fantasy, titties, sword fighting, political intrigue, magic and more titties—it’s kind of ridiculous to expect the show to be Game of Thrones. The Witcher is more like a darker and sexier version of Hercules or Zena meets Hellboy. Most people would have been introduced to The Witcher through the short stories and books by Andrzej Sapkowski or the awesome series of video games by CD Projeckt Red. The latest instalment in the game series ‘The Wild Hunt’ just might be one of the greatest video games of all time. Who made it? Initially The Witcher was set to become a standalone film until Netflix intervened and pushed for the [...]