PODCAST: The Lecter Variations [Movie RobCast]

SPOILER WARNING: This episode contains spoilers for Hannibal (2001), Red Dragon (2002), Hannibal Rising (2007), and the Hannibal TV series. 

After the epic dissection of The Silence of the Lambs and Manhunter in our last episode, The Movie Robcast moves onto The Lecter Variations.…

FEATURE: My 2020 in Cinema

PSA: Unlike with this year’s roundup on the Movie Robcast, I’ve decided not to include any films that were eligible for the previous Oscars; even if they were only released in the UK in 2020.

That means no Parasite for Best Picture, or Céline Sciamma for Best Director (Portrait of a Lady on Fire), no Scarlett Johansson for Best Supporting Actress (Jojo Rabbit), or Roger Deakins for Best Cinematography (1917).

PODCAST: Mank & The Godfather Coda [The Movie RobCast]

Episode 106 of The Movie Robcast sees Robs Daniel & Wallis joined by friend of the podcast and regular contributor Adrian Zak.

The three discuss the new David Fincher film, Mank, which tells the story of Herman J. Mankiewicz, co-writer of Citizen Kane.…

REVIEW: Mank

Perhaps no movie looms larger in the collective consciousness than Citizen Kane; perhaps no filmmaker more legendary than its multi-hyphenate creator Orson Welles, who directed, wrote, and starred in the film.

One of those credits he shares – that of screenwriter, with Herman J.…

PODCAST: Oscars 2018 [Electric Shadows]

The Electric Shadows Podcast reaches its 40th episode.

What better way to mark this landmark episode than by discussing the biggest night in the movie calendar: the Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars. Best known as the awards where they announced the wrong movie last year for the biggest win of the night.…

Our BAFTA 2018 predictions

By Max Eshraghi

The BAFTA film awards have always been the Oscar’s slightly more unassuming younger sibling.

While it mightn’t be quite as renowned or lavish, we Brits can conclusively make claim to having one thing over on our transatlantic cousins: BAFTA, unlike the so-called Academy Awards, frequently gets it “right”.…

REVIEW: Darkest Hour

Darkest Hour gives us the British bulldog as belligerent underdog in this un-illuminating portrayal of legendary Prime Minister Winston Churchill and his first few weeks in office.

It’s 1940 and Neville Chamberlain (Ronald Pickup; dignified and resigned in a role originally intended for John Hurt) has been driven out of office.…

PODCAST: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, & Darkest Hour [Electric Shadows]

In Episode 37 of The Electric Shadows Podcast, Robs Daniel & Wallis look at one of the best films of the year and a contender for one of the worst.

Impressing them is Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.…

REVIEW GRAB-BAG: The Dark Tower, Logan Lucky, & The Hitman’s Bodyguard

The Dark Tower

Or How to Make Soup out of Stephen King’s Keystone Series.

In brief: Take an epic eight-book series inspired by both Lord of the Rings and Spaghetti Westerns, strip away the character and the uniqueness, boil down the mythology and the plot, and reduce to 95 minutes.…

RETROSPECTIVE: Desire, criminality, & hope in Prick Up Your Ears & Victim

2017 marks fifty years since the Sexual Offences Act was introduced in the UK, which led to the partial decriminalization of male homosexuality.

It’s also, coincidentally, fifty years since the death of taboo-busting gay playwright Joe Orton.

The BFI is currently presenting two separate seasons inspired by these events, Gross Indecency and Orton: Obscenities in Suburbia.…