REVIEW: Black Bear

A woman in a red swimsuit sits at the end of a wooden dock, shrouded in mist. She (Aubrey Plaza) is still, but clearly shaken; devastated even. There is a sense that she is barely holding it together. It’s an image that Black Bear returns to repeatedly, that of some mysterious trauma; even as it delves into notions of art and artifice.…

PODCAST: Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (& Trial of the Chicago 7 & On The Rocks) [Movie RobCast]

Ep 103 sees Robs Daniel and Wallis embarking on another road trip with Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.

14 years after the original smash hit movie, Sacha Baron Cohen brings his most famous creation back for a tour of Trump’s America. What do our intrepid explorers in pod make of this latest film?…

REVIEW: Synchronic

With Lovecraftian time-trap horror The Endless, filmmakers Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson proved their ability to craft ambitious sci-fi on a limited budget.

Synchronic tells in some ways a more of a conventional narrative, but one that plays into many of the same themes of regret and feeling trapped.…

PODCAST: London Film Festival 2020 Wrap-Up & Review [Movie RobCast]


In episode 102 of The Movie Robcast Robs Daniel & Wallis look back at the films they saw at the 64th London Film Festival.

The viewing may have been primarily via the Press website, but the festival still delivered its usual array of astounding movies.…

REVIEW: Ammonite [LFF 2020]

Francis Lee’s Ammonite plays like a gender-swapped God’s Own Country cast back in time to the mid-19th Century.

Instead of the rolling hills of Yorkshire, the film gives us the raging sea around Lyme Regis. And rather than a nervy fictional farmworker, we have real-life palaeontologist Mary Anning (Kate Winslet).…

REVIEW: Nomadland [LFF 2020]

In a year that for most people has been largely defined by not leaving the house, Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland is a paean to wide, open spaces.

Based on Jessica Bruder’s non-fiction novel, we follow Fern (Frances McDormand). Uprooted by the 2008 recession – the film opens in 2011 – and by the death of her husband, Fern has hit the road in her camper van; seeking out seasonal employment along along the West Coast.…

REVIEW: Honest Thief


Action thrillers starring Liam Neeson are a mixed bag at the best of times, but Honest Thief may be the first I’ve seen that doesn’t even have a decent elevator pitch.

There’s been “Liam Neeson rescues his daughter” (AKA Taken, the granddaddy of the whole “Liam Neeson does stuff” genre), “Liam Neeson protects his son” (Run All Night), “Liam Neeson on a plane” (Non-Stop), “Liam Neeson on a train” (The Commuter), even “Liam Neeson on a snowplow while avenging his son’s death (Cold Pursuit).…

REVIEW: After Love [LFF 2020]

What do you do when the person you love isn’t whom you thought?

Mary Hussain (Joanna Scanlan) is a devoted wife and practising Muslim. She and Ahmed (Nasser Memarzia) have been together since their teens. They live in Dover, where Ahmed works as a ferry captain.…

REVIEW: Another Round (Druk) [LFF 2020]

© StudioCanal

Writer-director Thomas Vinterberg reteams with The Hunt star Mads Mikkelsen for Another Round, a boozy reflection on middle-aged boredom and ennui.

Martin (Mikkelsen) is not a fulfilled man.

History teacher at an elite high-school, he is perhaps best described, in the cautious words of one student, as “diffident”.…

REVIEW: One Night in Miami [LFF 2020]

Miami. February 25th, 1964.

22-year-old Cassius Clay defeats Sonny Liston in the Boxing World Heavyweight Championship and is crowned champion. That night, he retires to the Hampton House to celebrate with a few friends – NFL player Jim Brown, soul singer Sam Cooke, and civil-rights activist Malcolm X.…