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: 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: The Devil All The Time & Enola Holmes [Netflix]

The Devil All The Time and Enola Holmes are perfect examples of high-quality, immediately disposable Netflix Originals.

Both have promising “indie” directors (Antonio Campos’ last feature was 2016’s Rebecca; Harry Bradbeer broke out directing Fleabag), at least a couple of stars (Devil’s ensemble includes the current Spider-Man and future Batman; Enola Holmes lead is Stranger Things’ Eleven with Superman himself in support as older brother Sherlock), and maybe some literary pedigree (both are based on best-selling novels.)…

REVIEW: i’m thinking of ending things

For a filmmaker whose first script, Being John Malkovich, plunged us, literally, into the head of a revered character actor and whose most recent, Anomalisa, was a stop-motion meditation on individuality, a couple’s car journey to visit the boyfriend’s parents might seem a bit… prosaic?…

REVIEW: Annihilation

CONTAINS SPOILERS

Alex Garland is one of the relatively few directors working today who truly deserves to be called a visionary.

His latest film, Annihilation,  a dreamlike adaptation of Jeff VanderMeer’s novel of the same name, is, to say the least, a smart, ambitious, multi-ethnic, female-led sci-fi.…

REVIEW: The Cloverfield Paradox

By Rob Daniel
Twitter: rob_a_Daniel
iTunes Podcast: The Electric Shadows Podcast
The original Cloverfield is about everyday life jolted by a seismic event. Fitting then that home entertainment giant Netflix chose to surprise release this third instalment in producer J.J. Abrams’ anthology franchise.

PODCAST: Black Panther, The Cloverfield Paradox & Mute

Episode 39 of The Electric Shadows Podcast is the agony and the ecstasy.

The agony comes from Rob Daniel, who talks (at length) about his ongoing recuperation following surgery after a particularly non-heroic “sports injury”.

The ecstasy comes from myself who, being of sound body (and mind, so to speak) was able to see Black Panther – aka Contender for the Biggest Film of 2018, aka Contender for the Most Culturally Significant Film of 2018, aka The Film You Really Should Have Seen By Now.…

REVIEW: Battle of the Sexes & The Meyerowitz Stories (LFF Days 2-3)

Battle of the Sexes

The real-life Battle of the Sexes, the 1973 tennis match between women’s world champion Billie Rae King and former men’s champion Bobby Riggs, is an event that might well have been conceived with dramatisation in mind.

To say that the film version, co-directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (Little Miss Sunshine), in a populist, mainstream sports biopic takes nothing away from it.…