Eavesdropping At The Movies

Designed entirely to simulate the desktop interface of a Macbook, Unfriended: Dark Web enthusiastically adapts modern fears of surveillance and digital stalking to the horror genre (drawing on the style of 2014's Unfriended, to which this is a sequel). It's a stylistic achievement that never once feels unconvincing, even if the route the plot takes is far from unpredictable. We discuss the way the film hides its most graphic elements and is able to create tension and horror from the very opposite, and the wonderful evocation of distracted attention, with the main character jumping between Skype, Spotify, Facebook and more, that remarkably never becomes overwhelming or incomprehensible. Some of the performances aren't the best, and we each found the film uninvolving at different points and for different reasons, but generally speaking we enjoyed the film's experiment and found it interesting. We also discuss the two producers, each of whose names caught our eyes, and how Dark Web fits in to the current cinem

Big shark, big Cockney, big fun. We dive into The Meg, a film we can all agree should have been called Chomp. It's definitely trashy, though precisely how trashy is an area of disagreement. For José, it's a bad movie. For Mike, it's a good bad movie. Recorded on 12th August 2018.

Low-budget, unexceptionally made, and absolutely vital. The First Purge takes the story of the Purge series back to the beginning, with a poor community composed of people of colour being savagely experimented upon for political purposes. Mike slightly had to drag José to see it, as it was showing only in single late-night screenings, but both were glad he did, as it's perhaps the most direct and powerful critique of white hegemony that popular cinema has offered in recent memory. We examine the imagery of the deliberate terrorisation of black communities in the USA. It draws on real-life attacks on black churches, Ku Klux Klan members wielding guns in pick-up trucks, and the resurgence of Nazis - one image of a blackface mask being removed to reveal an Aryan stereotype is particularly poetic. Mike finds that the film protects the white audience from their own complicity in the inequality portrayed, but it's only a nuance, and as José says, we should be so lucky to have such flaws in most films! And José exp

The sequel to 2015's Ant-Man maintains that film's lightness of tone, happily comic sensibility, and fabulously enjoyable visual effects. So often today we take exceptional effects work for granted but the conceptualisation and realisation of the images in Ant-Man and the Wasp make you notice, make you remark upon them. We had a great time. We find room for nitpicks, of course, with José expressing irritation with Ant-Man's malfunctioning suit and Mike finding the quantum realm too vague to provide real jeopardy, but our quibbles are minor. It's a lovely film, it got big laughs from the audience, and even gasps at one notable point. You should see it! Recorded on 2nd August 2018.

A mega bumper double podcast today, as we see Mission: Impossible - Fallout twice and incorporate both discussions into one episode. Long story short, we had tons of fun both times and you should see it. We both adore the visual storytelling and the elegance of the action. We fawn over gripping sequences which evoke silent cinema. We discuss in depth the idea of Ethan Hunt as a moral character, something that the film places front and centre throughout, giving him choices to make and emphasising the protection of innocents and self-sacrifice. José doesn't quite buy it but Mike does his best to talk him round. Neither of us is quite sold on the concept of the villain - he's not enough of an idealist - but Cavill's performance unquestionably elevates him and he's a constant delight to watch. To José, he's the new Errol Flynn. Mike focuses on two implausible scenes to compare and contrast, exploring why he believed in one but not the other. José describes how the action scenes develop like good jokes, with ide

We are joined by Celia Nicholls, another former Warwick student, for a discussion of Paul Schrader's First Reformed, a careful drama following a Protestant minster's personal crises and relationships with his parishioners and community. Comparisons with Robert Bresson, informed by Schrader's Transcendental Style in Film, are drawn; we consider how trite or meaningful we find the film's moral questions; and we pick apart the film's flat aesthetic and occasional flights of fancy. Recorded on 25th July 2018.

A tight yet sprawling high-concept thriller, Hotel Artemis features glorious performances from Jodie Foster and the wonderful cast that surrounds her, surprising pathos and a beautifully built world. José expounds upon his love for Foster and explores the details of her performance here; Mike discusses what makes the world-building so effective and elegant. We'd have liked to have seen stronger, more expressive visual storytelling - there's so much potential in this single sanctuary hidden within an unforgiving world - but, well, nobody's perfect. Recorded on 24th July 2018.

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