PODCAST: LFF 2021 – The Power of the Dog, Nitram, The Lost Daughter, Dashcam, Benediction, Petite Maman, Benedetta, & King Richard [Movie Robcast]

Episode 131 is our penultimate London Film Festival wrap-up episode, and it’s a bumper one.

At 2:55 we review the new Benedict Cumberbatch film The Power of the Dog.

At 11.20 we give our thoughts on the Cannes award-winning and hard-hitting drama Nitram.…

PODCAST: The Suicide Squad & Jungle Cruise [Movie RobCast]

Episode 122 of The Movie Robcast casts an eye over James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad and the Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt starring Jungle Cruise.

Rob D’s eye is a little grumpier than the kind-hearted Rob W, so you’ll have to listen and see which team you’re on.…

REVIEW: The Personal History Of David Copperfield [LFF 2019]

As suggested by his use of its full title, Armando Iannucci is clearly a man who knows and loves his Dickens.

That might be surprising given the cynical, politically-driven worldview Iannucci is known for versus Dickens’ warm, colourful humanism, but the social issues of the Victorian era are very much in evidence today.…

REVIEW: Paddington 2

 

That adventurous, well-mannered British bear has returned to the big screen… and not a moment too soon!

The first Paddington was, for me, an unexpected delight, delivering one of the biggest laughs of any film in 2014. This sequel is, if possible, even more charming, and all the more comforting in these turbulent times.…

BFI & Radio Times Festival: a write-up

Is TV as we knew it dying?

What was once a communal experience – households across the nation gathered before the glow of the cathode ray tube – has now become a more private experience.

It seems not to matter how you consume the latest episode of must-watch telly, be it Broadchurch or Bake Off, alone or in company, live or via catch-up, so long as you’re able to take part in the water-cooler discussion come Monday.…

Paddington gets right more than the bear necessities

 

How exactly do you go about adapting a classic children’s character to the big screen?

Stay too true to the source material and you’ll miss out on the audience of hyperactive tweens; stray too far, however, and you end up with a soulless “product”.…

The long-awaited World War Z is, surprisingly, not a shambling mess

 

It’s the end of the world as we know it. At least for the film industry.

Steven Spielberg and George Lucas recently gave a talk at the USC School of Cinematic Arts where they discussed what they think’s in store for the future of the medium.…