Fuds On Film: Recent Episodes
Craig Eastman, Drew Tavendale, Scott Morris for Fuds On Film
Fuds On Film is a podcast about, and this will shock you, movies. From blockbusters to arthouse, you'll find considered opinions and hot takes on worldwide cinema from three Scotch fuds. Invite us into your ears and we promise to only infrequently disappoint.
Do you want to hear our opinions on The Adam Project, The Batman, Turning Red, and Free Guy? How exceptionally fortunate, that's exactly what this podcast covers. It's very much your lucky day. And such great value! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!
For varied reasons both personal and geo-political, we're not able to bring you the fresh podcast meat you've come to expect from us this month, our apologies for that. So, we do what we always do in times of trouble and turn to our spirit animal, Jean Claude Van Damme for inspiration. Here is, I think, his every appearance in our podcast, including a very special look at JCVD taken from this podcast's previous incarnation from all the way back in 2009. Apologies for the somewhat inconsistent audio quality on that one in particular. We were young. Of course, there will be some people who don't want to listen to over three hours of chat about Brussel's finest sprout, and you lot can take the day off, and we hope to have something fresh with you soon.
It has long been said that there is no better time to talk about Gremlins than now, and we are nothing if not slaves to that axiom. So, listen ye now to our various thoughts on Gremlins and Gremlins 2: The New Batch, or else we'll tamper with your stairlift.
Against all the odds, humanity has survived another month. Celebrate this remarkable milestone by listening to us talks about The King's Man, Bigbug, and The Worst Person in the World.
Now, we don't know quite why we're doing this either, but today we are talking about Hollow Man 2 and Showgirls 2. If you don't want to hear it we entirely understand. But, c'mon, we both know you're intrigued. Give in to the temptation.
Today we turn our attention to Paul Verhoeven, in particular his most famous, Hollywood era works, namely RoboCop, Total Recall, Basic Instinct, Showgirls, Starship Troopers, Hollow Man. Are they worth blabbing about? Would you like to know more? Listen in, then.
We start off the new year hoping that it very much doesn't continue in the same vein, as we examine Don't Look Up and The Matrix Resurrections for any redeeming features. Tune in and find out if we identify any!
What better place for drama to accumulate than the formerly smokey dens of iniquity that were casinos? Of course, they're now mostly free of smoke, if not iniquity. We look at two casino adjacent flicks, Croupier and Hard Eight, and see if they roll snake eyes, hit the jackpot, or indeed any other gambling-centric clichés you have to hand.
Our theme for this episode is the con movie, and why not? Join us for a discussion of Il bidone, The Sting, The Spanish Prisoner, Nine Queens, Confidence, and The Brothers Bloom.
While I suppose we should be glad to see the back of 2021, early previews of 2022 don't look all that great. Take your mind off it all by joining us to chat about House of Gucci, Belfast, Spider-Man: No Way Home, The Last Duel, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, and Last Night in Soho.
We transport ourselves to the far-flung future dystopia of three years ago to take in some Rollerball, and an indeterminate post-apocalyptica for a round of The Blood of Heroes, or The Salute of the Jugger if you'd rather. Are either of these sci-fi sports worth purchasing a season ticket for? Tune in and find out!
With Dickie Davies on stand-by, we return to the world of sport to cast a critical eye over Downhill Racer, Any Given Sunday, Warrior, 42, The Way Back, and Schumacher in our continuing effort to find out which sport is best. There's only one way to find out. Listen in!
Another month, another random assortment of films face our terrible judgement. Get out thoughts on Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Ron’s Gone Wrong, Finch, The French Dispatch, and Dune. Appeals for clemency will be denied.
Sometimes you just can't trust the contents of your own head, particularly in these loosely connected films, Repo Men and Source Code. Listen in and see if they are worth inserting into your mindtank.
In this episode we take stock of Shane Meadow's movie output, and see if his examinations of English working class stories and characters have stood the test of time. Listen in to get our takes of varying temperature on Small Time, TwentyFourSeven, A Room for Romeo Brass, Once Upon a Time in the Midlands, Dead Man's Shoes, This Is England, Somers Town, and Le Donk & Scor-zay-zee.
No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to listen to us talk about The Chambermaid, Prisoners of the Ghostland, The Protege, Stillwater, and No Time To Die. Get our activated charcoal filtered opinions in our latest podcast episode!
Following on from our last episode on the films of John Huston, we thought we'd change things up with a look at two more John Huston films. This time it's his first, and still one of his most iconic films, The Maltese Falcon, and a rather more obscure outing from over a decade later that's considered a loose parody of that films form, Beat the Devil.
We take a look at a cross-sectional smattering of John Huston's work in todays episode, namely The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Key Largo, The African Queen, The Night of the Iguana, The Man Who Would Be King, and The Dead. Listen in as we brass it out with bags of swank.
We give a thorough examination to The Green Knight, Reminiscence, Space Jam: A New Legacy, and Enforcement in this latest grab-bag-aploosa. Are they worth your time or not worth a dime? Tune in and find out!
Robert Ludlum was a prolific author of primarily Cold War espionage thrillers, and so in a way it's surprising that so few of his works made their way into cinema screens, and the vast bulk of those were part of the The Jason Bourne Imbroglio. In this episode, for no real reason other than a fondness for espionage bunkum and baroque titling, we are skipping over the various TV miniseries and taking a look at two earlier adaptations, 1983's The Osterman Weekend and 1985's The Holcroft Covenant.
We examine what's surely the definitive buddy cop franchise in our latest episode, with a look at Lethal Weapons one through four. Join us and revisit these slices of extra-judicial mayhem!
The bell has tolled for The Suicide Squad, Lost in the Moonlight, Gunpowder Milkshake, Pig, and Jungle Cruise. Let's see which ought to be washed away by the sea, and which should remain involved in mankind.
We investigate six of Austrian director and screenwriter Michael Haneke's outpu, namely Caché, The White Ribbon, Funny Games, The Piano Teacher, Amour, and Happy End. Will our report be positive? Negative? Both? Neither? Tune in and find out!
Some time ago we did a whole episode on time travel films without mentioning Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale's Back to the Future series, their bold updating of Oedipus, so today we remedy that oversight and see if the pride of 1985 and its follow-ups live up to their reputations, and their posters. Remember when movie posters were good?
Another month, another batch of films present themselves for judgement. What will we make of Black Widow, Fast & Furious 9, Luca, The Tomorrow War, The Dead Don't Die, and Censor? Tune in and find out!
We take a trip back to the nineties with a look at Ronin and The Rock, two action thrillers notable for having their dialogue punched up by luminaries you may not expect. Do the hold up in the harsh light of 2K21? Tune in and find out!
In this exciting episode we are taking a look at some selected works of Álex de la Iglesia, after a number of stars came into alignment that hinted at him being worthy of further investigation than our brief exposure to him at the EIFF many moons ago. So, we should do that then.
Loaded into this month's arbitrary film review roulette are Wrath of Man, Cruella, and Army of the Dead. Which of them clean up, and which gets swept into the trash? The answer to this confusing, poorly constructed hypothetical can only be found out by listening in! Rien ne va plus.
Can the pupil can match the teacher? We compare and contrast Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and J.J. Abrams' Super 8 in our latest episode. Check it out!
It's an open secret that the podcast slot we nominally refer to as "Compare and Contrast" is normally twisted into a way to cover a couple of films we fancy taking a butchers at, but we do keep a list of a few candidates that are more directly comparable than most. Some of these cover that Hollywood phenomenon where, by coincidence or design, films with closely related subject matter are released mere months apart, like Deep Impact and Armageddon, or Volcano and Dante's Peak, covered in our Disaster Movies extravaganza back in 2016. Another such example, of course, takes place in the Wild West, with Wyatt Earp's 1994 release fairly closely following from 1993's Tombstone. So, lets get to lookin'.
It's that time again. Film review time. As it it every time. This time: Nomadland, Palmer, The Human Voice, Without Remorse, Stowaway, Nobody, and Mortal Kombat. It's about time.
In this episode we're going to be taking a look at the sadly sparse work of the Japanese animator, writer and director, Satoshi Kon, a favourite around these parts. Get our takes on Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers, and Paprika forthwith!
If you're feeling generous you could call today's episode a mash-up, or more accurately, the remnants of a couple of different music related ideas that never quite gelled into a full episode. It was resurfaced recently in the morass of my mind by the sad passing of rap-man DMX, rendering him unable to deliver to ya. Alternate delivery services must now be sought. He was also the poster child of an idea for covering films where the soundtrack is significantly better than the film it came from, but seeing as that is perhaps limited entirely to _Cradle 2 the Grave_, perhaps that's best left to a Jet Li retrospective.
But it also brings to mind the crossover between musicians and actors, going back arguably to the dawn of "Talkies", through the Rat Pack, The Beatles and Elvis up to modern times, leveraging their celebrity in one field for success in another. That's a bit vague, though, but it does lead to the rat hole of musician's vanity projects, also recently brought to mind by the opprobrium levelled at Sia's Golden Raspberry winning film _Music_. There's a little of the spirit of that in this selection of films, and the other primary thrust here is films where the artists life and career reflect in the film that they are in.
A shorter, but no less coherent introduction might simply have been to say "here's a bunch of music related films", but, gentle reader, I have no respect for your time. So tune in for our reviews of A Hard Day’s Night, Pink Floyd: The Wall, Purple Rain, Moonwalker, Honest, and 8 Mile.
We are living in a material world, and we are a material podcast. This episode's material - Judas and the Black Messiah and Godzilla vs. Kong. If they can't raise our interest then we'll have to let them be.
With the recent release of Zack Snyder's Justice League, we thought it was high time to see what the deal was with that, and indeed have a bit of a post-mortem on the Synderverse and what strategy, if you can call it such, Warner and DC have been following. Join us!
In this extravagently exciting episode, we take a butcher's at some choice cuts of David Mamet's work. Find out what we make of House of Games, Glengarry Glen Ross, Oleanna, Heist, Spartan, and Redbelt by tuning in!
We warily approach the back end of March, which can only mean that it's time to review the movies that have crossed our paths this month. Tune in for our takes on The Mauritanian, Ride Your Wave, and Minari.
Who Goes There? Well, various alien Things, naturally. We shapeshift through four takes on the novella with The Thing from Another World, Horror Express, John Carpenter's The Thing, and its 2011 prequel/remake. Join us as we test them with some heated copper wire and see which ones recoil.
We take a hopefully representative cross section of Howard Hawks' voluminous output and run it through our extensive analytical suite to determine the truth of it. Join us as we poke and prod at Scarface, His Girl Friday, Sergeant York, To Have and Have Not, The Big Sleep, and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes until they stop wiggling and give up their secrets. For science!
We get our laughing gear around In and Of Itself, Earwig and the Witch, The Kid Detective, The Dig, The Endless Trench, and Promising Young Woman. What revs our motors and what blows our gaskets? Tune in and find out!
We take a look at two mid-fifties creature feature responses to the advent of the nuclear age, with Godzilla and Them!. Will they hold up in Space Year 2021? Tune in and find out!
Join us on our fictional scientific exploration to determine if A Trip to the Moon, Metropolis, Things to Come, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The War of the Worlds, Forbidden Planet, and Ikarie XB 1 have stood the test of time!
We take a wander down the paths of January's batch of films, including Wonder Woman 1984, Wolfwalkers, Sound of Metal, Soul, and Another Round. Are they worth the journey? Join us and find out!
Gorillas. Man's best friend, or our greatest enemy? Both? Neither? Well, we won't be answering that today, but we will talk for a while about Gorillas in the Mist and Congo and tell you if we liked them or not, which is almost the same thing. Join us!
The halcyon days of the nineteen-nineties saw a slew, relatively speaking, of Neo-Noirs unleashed upon us, and we thought we'd take a look at a few of them. How well do One False Move, Red Rock West, Romeo is Bleeding, The Last Seduction, La Cérémonie, Bound, and Insomnia hold up? Listen in and find out!
As 2020 staggers to a merciful end, we see out this dumpster fire of a year with a look at (what else) a bunch of films. Do Black Bear, Possessor, Mank, Unhinged, Tenet, and Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project enhance the 2020 experience, or somehow, unbelievably, make it worse? Tune in and find out!
Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to take a butchers at two films that routinely vie for top spot in any self respecting list of British gangster movies. Both are more concerned with gangsters performing investigations, both refuse to sugar coat the nefarious activities of the their leads, and you could probably make a case for each film reflecting the mood of the decade they lead into. We are speaking, of course, of Get Carte_, a firm favourite around these parts for many a year, and The Long Good Friday, which despite the reputation it has garnered has so far been a stranger to me. Let's get that sorted and see if its as good as it's cracked up to be, and indeed if Get Carter is as good as we remember it to be.
We chow down on Quentin Tarantino's directorial output in our latest exciting episode. Join us if you dare!
Welcome to Fuds on Film, semi-officially the 22nd most popular movie podcast in Egypt. We need to up our game in the Czech Republic though. In this episode we take a look at American Utopia, On the Rocks, Peninsula, The Eight Hundred, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, and The Trial of the Chicago 7. Come get some.
Japanese director Seijun Suzuki had been on my list to catch up on for some time now, long before his death in 2017. He's cited as an influence on Tarantino (but who isn't?), Jim Jarmusch, Wong Kar-wai, John Woo, Takeshi Kitano, and surely Takashi Miike, both in style and career arc. Suzuki started directing primarily B-movies that were, as I am led to understand, fairly formulaic gangster flicks for the most part, growing increasingly strange and iconoclastic up until the 1967 effort _Branded to Kill_, which we shall speak of today, which is now regarded as a cult classic but was such a financial disaster that the lawsuit laiden fallout saw Suzuki blackballed from the industry for 10 years. We'll go on to discuss the very loose sequel, released some 34 years later, _Pistol Opera_, his penultimate film.
I like big boats and I cannot lie, and for that reason, flimsy as it is, we are today looking at some of the saltiest seamen, and seawomen committed to film as we examine piracy through the ages, and through the genres. We have stuffed this episode to the gunwales, which is defined here as seven films, during which we shall leave no timber unshivered, no hatch unbattened, and no deck unpooped. Tune in for our coverage of Captain Blood, Anne of the Indies, Roman Polanski's Pirates, Muppets Treasure Island, The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists!, Captain Phillips, and Harlock: Space Pirate.
In this month's round-up episode, we take a look at Enola Holmes, Irresistible, First Cow, Console Wars, The Platform, and Portrait of a Lady on Fire. Check it out!
We spoke in our last enthralling episode about some of our favourite stop-motion animated films, although the eagle-eared amongst you may have noticed an egregious absence, that of a little Oregon studio named Laika. That was not a snub, but an honour, as we now spend this entire episode covering all of their output.
We show our love for the painstaking work of stop motion animation in this episode, covering A Midsummer Night's Dream, Jason and the Argonauts, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Chicken Run, Corpse Bride, Peter and the Wolf, Mary and Max, The Little Prince, and Ma vie de Courgette. Join us!
We turn our attention towards I’m Thinking of Ending Things, Bill and Ted Face the Music, Beastie Boys Story, Mulan, Ava, and Les Misérables in our latest episode. We've checked, and you are destined to listen in. Why fight it?
An article on the BFI website (well, I say article: it’s more of a list, really) is our inspiration for this episode (well, I say “inspiration”, but “is our episode”, really). The article listed six films that deal with masculinity in some form (occasionally along with chauvinism and patriarchy), but that were made by female directors. And as we’d only seen one of the six (or thought we had), we thought it might be interesting.
We’ll begin in the era of classic film noir, with a film directed by a woman so relatively alone in her field that meetings of the Director’s Guild of America would be brought to order by saying, “welcome gentlemen and Miss Lupino”; move onto a director doing something for the first time in six decades; consider just having to kill a lot of people as a Canadian takes on American materialism; and spend a good chunk of our time in France, where female directors have been more successful at making their mark over the years. And hopefully along the way we’ll find something interesting to say about it all, and with any luck inspire you to check out at least some of the titles.
With a few scheduling issues we're not able to bring you a fresh new podcast in our usual time slot, so to tide you over please accept this selection of our favourite reviews from the fourth year of our podcast. Normal service will be resumed shortly.
Have you ever been on a date? Have you ever hosted something? Have you ever seen a colour? If you answered "yes" to one or more of these questions then boy, have we got a show for YOU! Buckle up, monkey funsters, because this week we punched apathy right in its stupid face, scraped the bottom of the available barrel, and we found Dating Amber, Host, Blood Quantum, and Color Out of Space.
Now, I don't know if you've noticed, but I've done some research and found out that "the police" are a controversial topic right now that some people are quite upset about. As such I thought we'd take a look at two documentaries that will go some way to explain why people may not think they are being served and protected, with Abel Ferrara's 1992 Bad Lieutenant, and, of all people, Werner Herzog's 2006 Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans.
In extraordinary times, extraordinary measures must be taken. Such as watching a bunch of films at random and talking about them earlier in the month that we normally do. Hot takes incoming on Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, Greyhound, The Vast of Night, Palm Springs, Radioactive, The Old Guard, and A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. Taste it with your ears at your earliest convenience!
In the third part of our look at Spike Lee’s joints, we’ll be talking about a powerful documentary; a remake of a Korean film based on a Japanese Manga about hammers; an adaptation of a 2,400-year-old play; a scarcely believable, yet mostly true, tale of improbable undercover police work; and a latter day Kelly’s Heroes, though with more scruples.
We continue our delve into the career of Spike Lee with a look at 4 Little Girls, He Got Game, Summer of Sam, Bamboozled, and 25th Hour. Mid-career and middle-of-the-road, or is he just hitting his stride? Join us and find out!
There are a number of notable film directors to have come from New York City, though some are particularly strongly associated with it, and with one borough in particular. Some of these filmmakers are short, bespectacled and often act in their own films. However, today we’re talking about one associated with Brooklyn, who isn’t a creep, and whose films we actually think are any good, so we know who that rules out.
So, prompted by the recent release of _Da 5 Bloods_, we’ve decided to look at the work of Spike Lee for our main topic episode this month, though through a combination of an inability to suitably pare down a list and chronic procrastination, we’re spreading things out, declaring July 2020 “Spike Lee” month at Fuds on Film, and bringing you three episodes covering his work.
We’re beginning in this episode, in an entirely perverse way, at the beginning, from Lee’s directorial feature debut, _She’s Gotta Have It_, up to his 1995 crime drama, _Clockers_. One other film from this period, _Jungle Fever_, was covered in our Wesley Snipes episode last year, and it’s probably also worth mentioning we’ve also covered Lee’s _Inside Man_ in a Compare and Contrast episode along with _Dog Day Afternoon_ - both episodes well worth checking out, of course.
This month, we turn our attention to these beauties: Weathering with You, Vivarium, Just Mercy, Ema, Richard Jewell, and Capone. Are they worth your time? Join us and find out!
We return to the Wong Kar Wai well to review the later half of his output thus far. Will we fall in love with Happy Together, In the Mood for Love, 2046, My Blueberry Nights, and The Grandmaster? Join us and find out!
We cover the early part of HK filmmaker Wong Kar Wai's career in this episode. Tune in to get the lowdown on As Tears Go By, Days of Being Wild, Chungking Express, Ashes of Time, and Fallen Angels.
Strumpets aside, we take a look at three films covering the horrors of the Vietnam war with Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, and Casualties of War. Join us as we find out if they hold up.
Another batch of contenders have appeared to allegedly entertain us during these weird-ass times. Do The Rhythm Section, Onward, Dark Waters, Trolls World Tour, Extraction, and The Day Shall Come make the grade? Join us and find out.
We take a look at three JCVD / Ringo Lam collabs, Maximum Risk, Replicant, and In Hell, and report back on whether that was a worthwhile endeavour. Spoilers - it wasn't.
Lock Me Up! Lock Me Down! We're right there with you, two metres apart, discussing Birds of Prey, Sonic the Hedgehog, and The Invisible Man. Turn on, tune in and drop out!
Returning to the Belgian well of full contact face displacement we are here to preach to you, once again, the gospel of Van Damme, because apparently he's our mascot or something. Celebrating the only decade coke-fuelled enough to afford me the opportunity to complete the following sentence, we have a trio of 90s curios for you this episode, including two efforts from Hong Kong maestro Hark Tsui, an appearance by non-hexadecimal basketball character Dennis Rodman, and a fight to the death with a penguin called Pete. Don't delay, get your incredibly violent pick 'n' mix today!
I think we could all use a bit of a laugh, so what better time to take a look through the work of one Edgar Wright. Join us as we see if A Fistful of Fingers, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, The World's End, and Baby Driver have held up to the ravages of time.
Passing across our desk this month are Terminator: Dark Fate, Hustlers, The Lighthouse, and Frozen 2. Will they be scanned and archived for posterity, or moved directly to the shredder? Listen in and find out!
Because, well, just because, today we talk about the trouble with twins, with John-Claude van Damme in Double Impact and Will Smith in Gemini Man. Which of the four will win out? Join us and find out!
In which we take a brief tour through some selected highlights of the cinematographer's Illustrious career. Check out out takes on 1917, Nineteen Eighty-Four, Barton Fink, Kundun, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, and Sicario.
Join us as we take in the sights, sounds and smells of Jojo Rabbit, The Gentlemen, Uncut Gems, and The Personal History of David Copperfield. Will we find them pleasing to one or more of our senses? You simply must listen in to find out!
With income equality being as hot a topic today as it was in Victorian times, what better time to look at the most controversial habit of the filthy rich: hunting and killing their fellow man, the deadliest game of all. We take a look at Hard Target and Ready or Not, but are they worth tracking down and firing crossbow bolts into? Listen in and find out!
We examine the more mature side of the comics book adaptation racket in our latest episode, with a look at American Splendor, Ghost World, From Hell, Road to Perdition, Art School Confidential, and A History of Violence. Check it out!
Join us as we guide you through the wilderness of January's offerings, signposting directions to Birthday Wonderland, Little Women, Parasite, and Rise of Skywalker. Are any of them worth the journey? Tune in and find out!
In order to prepare ourselves for what seems to be our inevitable future, we're looking at three science fiction films from around fifteen to twenty years ago that have imagined us living under the future jackboots of fascism, with Starship Troopers, Equilibrium, and V for Vendetta. Necessary preparations, or flimsy excuse to rewatch a few tenuously connected films? I think we all know the answer to that.
It's the start of a bold new year and, by consensus if not reality, the start of a new decade. With the millennium's difficult teenage years now in the rear view mirror, we thought we would take a look at how the cinema landscape has changed over the last decade, and what that will mean for us in the coming years.
A little Christmas present for you as we recap some our our favourite and least favourite films of Space Year 2019. Best wishes to you all! We'll catch you all in the impossibly futuristic fantasy land of 2020.
We bundle 6 Underground, Le Mans '66, and The Irishman in to the back of the judgement van in our latest episode. Which will come out a made man, and which gets the cement shoes? Listen in and find out!
One of cinema's most enduring icons is taken on my podcasting's least endearing iconoclasts, as we sit in judgement on East of Eden, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant. It's tearing us apart!
Armed only with our fearless inquisitive nature and tin foil hat, we take on some of the massive conspiracies that plague our world. Or, at least watch a few films based on them. Listen in for our takes on Foreign Correspondent, The Parallax View, Capricorn One, JFK, Conspiracy Theory, and The X-Files Movie.
Another grab-bag of films gets the treatment in this Intermission episode - what will we make of Dolemite Is My Name, By the Grace of God, Midsommar, Diego Maradona, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, and Joker? Why not listen in and find out?
Full show notes at https://www.fudsonfilm.com/intermission-november-2019/
We take a look at two of Vincenzo Natali's early, under-appreciated science fiction outings, Cube and Cypher. Join us as we examine their style and substance!
Why are we talking about the films of Kathryn Bigelow? Well, surely the better question is why aren't you listening to us talk about Near Dark, Point Break,Strange Days, K-19: The Widowmaker, The Hurt Locker, and Zero Dark Thirty. Remedy that at your earliest convenience.
Full show notes at https://www.fudsonfilm.com/kathryn-bigelow/
In our October round up, we pass ULTIMATE JUDGEMENT on Ad Astra, Yuli, Rambo: Last Blood, La familia, Pain and Glory, and Happy as Lazzaro. Join us for their sentencing.
We take a look at Robert Rodriguez's earliest and arguably best films, in the shape of El Mariachi and Desperado. Are these worth revisiting? Join us and find out!
Full show notes at https://www.fudsonfilm.com/el-mariachi-desperado
Join us for our somewhat belated recap of the films September threw at us, namely It: Chapter 2, The Farewell, Mirai, and Alita Battle Angel. We watch them so you don't have to, unless they are good or you otherwise want to see them, gosh, I'm not your dad, chill out.
Due to a series of unfortunate events, we're unable to bring you a fresh new podcast in our usual time slot, so to tide you over please accept this selection of our favourite reviews from the third year of our podcast. Normal service will be resumed shortly. Full show notes at http://fudsonfilm.com/year-three
We take a look at the poison of white nationalism in our latest good ol' fun time podcast, as we review American History X and Skin.
It's been used to start a story since the 1300s, so this podcast is centuries in the making, as we look at some of the many films telling us what happened "Once Upon a Time" in the West, America, China, Mexico, Anatolia, and Hollywood. Cynics have cynically suggested this is a pretty weak theme to join together a bunch of films we fancied watching, to which I reply "yes". But aren't they all? Anyhoo, we gots your action films, your martial arts films, your gangster opera films, your western films and your driving around a desert films to get through, so let's get crackin'.
This time around we turn our attention to Fast and Furious Presents Hobbs and Shaw, The Sun Is Also A Star, and Knife+Heart.
Full show notes available at https://www.fudsonfilm.com/intermission-august-2019/
We take a look at Lucas Belvaux's Trilogie films, an ambitious trio with interlinked narratives. Do these tie together in a neat bow, or are they less than the sum of their parts? Listen in and find out!
Full show notes at https://www.fudsonfilm.com/trilogie/
We examine the future of days past in our latest episode, as we look at some classic 70s Science Fiction. Strap yourself into our dystopia machine as we look at The Andromeda Strain, THX 1138, Solaris, Fantastic Planet, Soylent Green, The Man Who Fell to Earth, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and Stalker.
Get the full show notes at https://www.fudsonfilm.com/70sSciFi
We take a look at the best that July could throw at us, at least in terms of films, and at least in terms of the subset of those we got to this month. Join us as we dissect Toy Story 4, Yesterday, Lukas, Men In Black: International, and Spider-man: Far From Home.
Get the full show notes at https://www.fudsonfilm.com/intermission-july-2019/
Because one dog ain't enough, and two is too low, it's me, Three Dog! How you kids handlin' Post-Apocalyptia today? Or at least, an episode looking at two uniquely British takes on post nuclear war shenanigans, Threads and When the Wind Blows.
Get the full show notes at https://www.fudsonfilm.com/threads-when-the-wind-blows/
Welcome, everyone to Krzysztof Kieślowski Club. The first rule of Krzysztof Kieślowski Club is, of course, never spell club with a 'K', as it attracts entirely the wrong sort of clientele, and I'm not talking about Mortal Kombat fans.
For me at least, the Polish director was very much part of baby's first attempt at cinephiling, as I approached the world cinema section in Fopp with a student loan burning its way through my back pocket. Those Three Colours DVDs were then lovingly put on a shelf, and I went off and watched Aliens again, or Violent Cop, or all the other nonsense I've subjected myself to. Twenty years and numerous shelves later, those DVDs remain unwatched, but that changes now. Well, technically it doesn't as couldn't be bothered finding the DVDs and just downloaded them, but that aside, we're looking at six of Kieślowski's films to see if he is all that and a bag of potato chips.
What delights lie in store for us in June's crop of movie reviews? Well, how does Rocketman, Aladdin, Godzilla: King of Monsters, Booksmart, I Am Mother, and X-Men: Dark Phoenix grab you?
In which we discuss Wesley Snipes' most widely celebrated turn as the vampire hunter Blade, in two excellent films. And then another, markedly less excellent one.
We look at a selected sample of Mr. Snipes' 90s output, skewing more towards the dramatic than the kicky-punchy, to see if our recent praise for his abilities is justified. Join us!
Full show notes at https://www.fudsonfilm.com/wesley-snipes
It's another one of those delightful episodes where we talk about the films we've seen recently - The Sisters Brothers, Hellboy, The LEGO Movie 2, Styx, and Avengers: Endgame. Why not listen in?
This episode represents something of a retreat to adolescence, to a simpler time when most of the films we watched were Die Hard on an Increasingly Silly Something. The something in this case being aeroplanes, and the silly being off the scales as we discuss the delights of Con Air and Passenger 57.
Full show notes at https://www.fudsonfilm.com/con-air-and-passenger-57/
We vote for Pedro Almodóvar’s best film, and in particular discuss Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!, Live Flesh, All About My Mother, Talk To Her, Bad Education and Volver.
Full show notes at https://www.fudsonfilm.com/pedro-almodovar/
It is again time to turn our collective gaze towards another random selection of movies and lo, pass judgement upon them. Which of Shazam!, The Catcher Was A Spy, The Kid Who Would Be King, Fighting With My Family, Triple Threat, and Vice will be worthy of your time? Join us. Find out.
Full show notes at https://www.fudsonfilm.com/intermission-april-2019/
More kids classics examined, as we look at two films with a darker edge in the source material. But will the movie adaptations of Watership Down and The BFG sharpen or dull that edge? Join us and find out!
Get the full show notes at https://www.fudsonfilm.com/watership-down-and-the-bfg/
We revisit some of hits from our formative years and see if they hold water now, in the future! Get the low down on The Karate Kid, The NeverEnding Story, The Goonies, Labyrinth, Short Circuit, Flight of the Navigator, and *batteries not included!
We unleash the hounds of opinion on Captain Marvel, Free Solo, Holmes & Watson, Triple Frontier, and Shoplifters in our latest episode. Which will be savaged, and which will be enthusiastically slobbered on? You simply must tune in to find out!
In the words of Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong, as interpreted by Charles Edwin Hatcher and Jackie Chan: War! Huh! Yeah! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing! War! Huh! Yeah! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing! Except arms manufacturers and other defence contractors and disease and famine and destroyed families: war’s pretty good for those. And, in the case of the two films we’re talking about today, war is also good for covering attempts at pulling off bullion heists. So, y´know, swings and roundabouts.
Full show notes at https://www.fudsonfilm.com/kellys-heroes-and-three-kings/
James Bond is, of course, a stupendously successful and enduring force in cinema, and it's hard to avoid them entirely, even if you wanted to. That's why we devoted an entire show to the series a few years back, but there's always someone wanting a slice of that sweet Bond pie. Today we take a look at some films that have drawn inspiration from Bond, either as imitators, parodies, oddities, and even one that Bond itself liberally borrowed from.
On the slate for this month's freewheeling movie opinioneering are Aquaman, A Star Is Born, Velvet Buzzsaw, and Can You Ever Forgive Me?. Tune in to find out our thoughts on these films! Obviously. That's sort of the point of these podcasts. We hope you've got the general concept by now.
Full show notes at https://www.fudsonfilm.com/intermission-february-2019/
We take a look at two of the many, many adaptations of the World's Greatest Detective - Sherlock Holmes, not Batman - featuring his arch-enemy Professor Moriarty with The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and A Game of Shadows. Which of these very different takes on the character emerges triumphant?
Full show notes at https://www.fudsonfilm.com/adventures-of-sherlock-holmes-and-a-game-of-shadows/
In this episode we’re going to be talking about one of our favourite film-makers, the director, writer and producer Wes Anderson, darling of The Criterion Collection, whose distinctive style has led to him being considered something of a Marmite director, i.e. people tend to love him or hate him, with seemingly little middle ground.
Full show notes at https://www.fudsonfilm.com/wes-anderson/
We run down the low down on Mary Poppins Returns, Green Book, A Simple Favor, Bird Box, The Favourite, Roma, and Bandersnatch in this epochal podcasting event. Miss it at your gravest peril.
Full show notes at https://www.fudsonfilm.com/intermission-january-2019/
We take a look at two films covering the tragic mass murder in Oslo, July 22nd 2011 in our latest laugh-a-minute, light hearted, roustabout episode.
We've just seen off the challenge of 2018, so what better time could there be to reflect on the best, worst, or just the most interesting films of the year.
Full show notes at https://www.fudsonfilm.com/films-of-the-year-2018/
A Christmas present for you with this bonus episode, as we discuss some of our favourite movies to watch over the holidays - Christmas themed or not.
Craig takes us through a schedule of Christmas Day programming, while Scott and Drew take a rather more liberal (and violent) approach to what to watch when sprawled out on a sofa.
It's late December, which means two things - improbably, it looks like we're going to survive Space Hell Year 2018, and that it's time to talk turkey about these cinematic presents: Creed II, Bohemian Rhapsody, Ralph Breaks The Internet, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Widows, Spider-man: Into the Spiderverse, Sorry to Bother You, and The Crimes of Grindelwald. Listening in is the least you could do! Well, the least you could do is not listen to it, I suppose. But we rather hope that you will choose to.
Full show notes at https://www.fudsonfilm.com/intermission-december-2018/
What was lost has now been found, as a completed version of Orson Welles' last film _The Other Side of the Wind_ has been released, alongside a companion documentary, _They'll Love Me When I'm Dead_. Were they worth waiting for, or do they do a disservice to his memory? Join us and find out!
Full show notes at https://www.fudsonfilm.com/the-other-side-of-the-wind/
In podcasts passim we've discussed our regard for the more grounded, somewhat realistic espionage dramas from the likes of John Le Carre, but despite Frederick Forsyth plowing a very similar furrow, I'm not all that familiar with his works. We aim to rectify that today as we discuss the four major adaptations of his work, leaving to one side a slew of TV movies with poor reputations. Join us as we place The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, The Dogs Of War, and The Fourth Protocol under surveillance, and to allay any of your cynical assumptions, we didn't pick this topic purely to give our awful Christopher Walken and Michael Caine impersonations another outing. That was only 86% of the rationale.
Full show notes at http://www.fudsonfilm.com/frederick-forsyth/
Join us for another film-based gabfest where we discuss the delights, or inverse delights, of Apostle, The Night Comes For Us, Flavors of Youth, Halloween, and Sicario: Day of the Soldado. Our opinions are delightful, and will delight you. Groove is in all of our hearts.
We continue that solid zombie vibe with two films that take a look at the lighter side of the dead returning to life and eating you - Shaun of the Dead and Night of the Comet. Who will triumph in this undeathmatch? Listen in and find out!
Full show notes at https://www.fudsonfilm.com/shaun-of-the-dead-night-of-the-comet/
We may have just seen the back of Halloween, but it's somehow fitting that the zombies would be shambling out a trifle late. Join us as we hit some interesting and/or noteworthy reanimated corpse based entertainment with White Zombie, I Walked with a Zombie, Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Zombi 3, Versus, 28 Days Later, Pontypool, and Train to Busan. Braaaaaaaaaaiinnns.
Full show notes at https://www.fudsonfilm.com/zombies/
Another month, another wildly divergent bunch of films to chew on. Join us and savour the flavour of Crazy Rich Asians, BlacKkKlansman, First Man, Upgrade, Mandy, Game Night, Detroit, and Faces Places.
Our last episode covered most of what we'd call the prime cuts of Carpenter, but there's a lot more to talk about, including revisiting his most influential work, and also his only film that had a cup of coffee with the Oscars. Join us as we examine the varied pleasures and pains offered by Dark Star, Halloween, Christine, Starman, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, In the Mouth of Madness, Village of the Damned, Escape from L.A., Vampires, Ghosts of Mars, and The Ward.
B-movie auteur, King of the Schlock, call him what you want but John Carpenter has carved himself a very singular reputation and a status as one of Hollywood's most inventive if not critically successful directors. On this episode we will be discussing a broad swathe of work from his most successful and influential period to date, which is to say the mid seventies to late 80s.
It's time once more to batter through a diverse batch of recent film, including The Meg, Mission: Impossible: Fallout, Mom and Dad, The Spy Who Dumped Me, Hereditary, Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again, and The Predator. Get with the program, you square!
Full show notes at https://www.fudsonfilm.com/intermission-september-2018/
Two films examining the same character, twenty five years apart? Intriguing. Join us as we digest The Hustler and The Color of Money.
At some point in the dim and distant past of last year, prompted in part by the welcome news of his retirement, we'd decided we should look at the career of Uwe Boll. I say we. As it turns out, no-one has quite the same level of disregard for their own sanity as myself, so you are, I'm afraid, stuck with me hollering at you as we crash through this whistlestop tour of Boll's lowlights and, I suppose by comparison if nothing else highlights in this selection of what I suppose we can just about call films. Normally on this podcast we're discussing films we enjoy, or seeking new films we think we will, and I think we're broadly more positive than negative. This is very much redressing that balance, so if that's not your bag, no hard feelings and see you in 10 days with normal service resumed. Everyone else, strap in. Its going to get bumpy.
It's our general August film round-up time, but we're inadvertently hit upon a couple of themes, with two superhero sequels, Ant-man and the Wasp and Incredibles 2, two dramas with a religious bent to them, First Reformed and Apostasy, and we round things out with the critically acclaimed colonial character study, Zama.
Bank heists and hostage situations come under examination in this episode, as we talk about Dog Day Afternoon and Inside Man. Listen in, or suffer the consequences.
Between 1984 and 1994 we bore witness to the Arnie Ascendency, as Mr. Schwarzenegger rose to the top of the box office and refused to leave. At least as far as this carefully selected timeframe is concerned, sparing us all the pain of reliving Eraser and End of Days.
We bluff and bluster our way through the outright displays of machismo in The Terminator, Commando, Raw Deal, Predator, The Running Man, Red Heat, Total Recall, Terminator 2, Last Action Hero and True Lies. Join us!
Another random round-up, where we review Isle of Dogs, Ocean's 8, and Calibre. Join us and find out what we make of them!
New balls all-round, as we serve a volley of opinions your way on Borg McEnroe and Battle of the Sexes. Two studies of rivalries and the characters behind them, but are they champions or on the bus home after crashing out of the first round? The only way you will ever find out is by listening in!
Full show notes at: https://www.fudsonfilm.com/anyone-for-tennis/
Time itself bends to our will as we discuss Predestination, Timecrimes, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Primer, Run Lola Run, Tomorrow I'll Wake Up and Scald Myself with Tea, and Je t'aime, je t'aime. What's worth spending a few of your precious hours with,? Join us and find out!
Full show notes at https://www.fudsonfilm.com/time-travel/
We dispense our inimitable brand of cinema justice on Deadpool 2, Solo, A Quiet Place, and Death Wish. What's worth your time, and what's a borderline crime? Listen in and find out!
Full show notes at https://www.fudsonfilm.com/intermission-june-2018/
If a life unexamined is truly not worth living, the subjects of these films have nothing to fear. Join us as we join those already watching The Truman Show and The Cabin in the Woods!
Full show notes at http://www.fudsonfilm.com/truman-show-cabin-in-the-woods/
We turn the cameras back around on themselves, as we look at films about the filmmaking process. Check out our take on Lost In La Mancha, Doomed: The Untold Story of Roger Corman’s Fantastic Four, American Movie, and Hearts of Darkness.
Full show notes at https://www.fudsonfilm.com/films-on-film
The Breadwinner, Mary and the Witch's Flower, Ready Player One, and Avengers: Infinity War find themselves in paraded in front of our fact cannons in this latest episode. Which will escape this certain doom? Tune in and find out!
Full show notes at https://www.fudsonfilm.com/intermission-may-2018/
Test your iron with these two metallic classics - the comedy mockumentary of This Is Spinal Tap, and Anvil! - The Story of Anvil, a real group that channel them all too closely.
Full show notes at http://www.fudsonfilm.com/spinal-tap-anvil/
With you Were Never Really Here just out of U.K. cinemas, we though we'd take the opportunity to look at our countrywoman's career. Join us as we also discuss Ratcatcher, Morvern Callar, We Need to Talk About Kevin, and also her short films. Listen in! That's certainly a thing you could do.
Full show notes at http://www.fudsonfilm.com/lynne-ramsay/
The month's end draws close, so that can only mean it's time for another round-up of movies what we have done watched and that. Join us as we talk the heck out of All The Money In The World, Molly's Game, Phantom Thread, and The Titan.
Full show notes at http://www.fudsonfilm.com/intermission-april-2018/
We're back once again to straddle the line in discord and rhyme, as look at two werewolf-based flicks with An American Werewolf in London and Dog Soldiers. Will they bring our mouths alive with juices like wine, or do they smell like they sound and get lost in a crowd? You simply must listen in to find out!
In this exciting episode we turn our attention to the matter of live action adaptations of animations. Why? How dare you question us, insolent pup!
Full show notes at http://www.fudsonfilm.com/animated-adaptations/
It's time for another review round-up, this time taking on Black Panther, Lady Bird, Annihilation, I, Tonya, A Fantastic Woman, Mute, and The Shape Of Water. Tasty.
Full show notes at http://www.fudsonfilm.com/intermission-march-2018/
Following the concluding part of our Studio Ghibli exploration, we thought we'd stay within the realm of animation and look at two adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings epic, which we trust needs little introduction. While Ralph Bakshi's take on Lord of the Rings doesn't quite get the recognition it deserves, we had at least heard of it, unlike Rankin-Bass' Return of the King. Join us as we find out if they're worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as Peter Jackson's adaptations.
Full show notes at http://www.fudsonfilm.com/animated-lotr/
So we come, finally, to the last of our episodes focusing on the output of Japan’s most famous film studio and, for me at least, the greatest feature animation production company of all time: Studio Ghibli. Our first two Studio Ghibli episodes covered the directorial canon of the company’s human figurehead, co-founder and legendary storyteller Hayao Miyazaki, and in our third episode we brought our attention to bear on the work of his long-time collaborator and business partner Isao Takahata, Ghibli’s other co-founder.
In this episode we’re going to be talking about the work of “the other guys”, the less-celebrated directors who together have created the seven Studio Ghibli features not helmed by either Miyazaki or Takahata. These are films that are typically lesser known, and certainly have been directed by less star-studded names, but we hope to be able to enlighten you to any qualities they may have, and to guide you to the titles that you should put on your watchlist.
Full show notes at http://www.fudsonfilm.com/studio-ghibli-part-four/
Our explosive opinions explode on to our latest explosive episode as we explode Coco, Darkest Hour, Early Man, The Cloverfield Paradox, The Post, and Braven, in what promises to be our most explosive explodisode yet!
Full show notes at http://www.fudsonfilm.com/intermission-february-2018/
With the publicity machine for Ready Player One kicking into gear, we though it time to look at some films that have based themselves on the ideas and aesthetics of video games, while not being based directly on them. To that end, listen now as we run through the ups and downs of Disney's Tron and Mamoru "Ghost in the Shell" Oshii's Avalon. It's a thing you can do, that's for sure.
Full show notes at http://www.fudsonfilm.com/tron-and-avalon/
With Sam Rockwell firmly in the awards frame for Three Billboards, we thought it was as good a time as any to take a look at some of our favourite films of his. Join us as we discuss Lawn Dogs, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Matchstick Men, Choke, Moon, and Seven Psychopaths.
Improbably, we've survived 2017 and now plough on into the brave new year of film, covering Three Billboards Outside Of Ebbing Missouri, The Last Jedi, Jumanji, Bright, and The Foreigner. We also catch up with It and mother! for your listening pleasure. It perhaps doesn't demand your attention, but it will sit with its hand raised until you let it into your brainspace. Please let it in. It's cold outside.
It's the quintessential martial arts move, with a charismatic lead, excellent fight choreography and cinematography. But are we talking about Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon, or Jean-Claude Van Damme's Bloodsport? The only way to find out is to listen to our latest episode! Or, y'know, have a functioning brain.
Full show notes at http://www.fudsonfilm.com/enter-the-dragon-bloodsport/
Today we will be continuing our discussion of the works of the legendary Japanese animation company Studio Ghibli. While not as prolific a director as Miyazaki under the Ghibli banner, Isao Takahata's works are more varied in style, and some are strikingly distinctive. Full show notes at http://www.fudsonfilm.com/isao-takataha/
We’re dangerously close to requiring new calendars, so that can only mean it’s time for us to review our year in cinema, giving you the highlights and the lowlights of 2017.
There’s also the small matter of December’s output to get through, so we’ll also give you the lowdown on Murder on the Orient Express, Justice League, Paddington 2, and The Disaster Artist.
Full show notes are available at http://www.fudsonfilm.com/films-of-the-year-2017/
When Infernal Affairs was released in Hong Kong to great commercial and critical success it was immediately snaffled up for a Western remake, as was very much the style at the time, becoming of course The Departed. We thought we'd take this opportunity, fifteen years after the original's release and a rather less rounded eleven after the Western adaptation to see how they both hold up. There's a better than evens chance we'll get into spoiler territory here, so if you haven't seen one or t'other of these excellent films we heartily recommend that you slap on the pod-breaks and watch them, and come back to us when you're good and ready.
In an unavoidable change to our regularly scheduled episode, we are bringing you instead a bit of a retrospective of some of our favourite reviews from the start of the second year of our podcast. If you're relatively new to the podcast, we hope you find this informative, and if you've been with us from the start, firstly, thank you, and secondly we hope you enjoy this walk down memory lane, or feel free to instead contemplate something beautiful for an hour and a half.
We're looking again at Gods of Egypt, Robinson Crusoe on Mars, The Deer Hunter, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Man Who Wasn’t There, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Star Trek VI: The Final Frontier, and Kubo and the Two Strings.
We investigate the qualities, of the lack of qualities, of Lucknow Central, Ghost Story, The Death of Stalin, and Thor: Ragnarok in this latest podcast episode. You should listen to it, or we will be ensaddened.
Continuing on from our look at journalism in film, we narrow down the focus to war reporting, with Oliver Stone's Salvador set during the El Salvadorian civil war, and Volker Schlöndorff's look at Lebanese civil war reportage in Die Fälschung. Join us as we examine how the stress of the battlefield affects those assigned to report on it.
In this exciting episode we will explore the story of a journalist whose mild curiosity about a classified ad turns into a crusade to free an innocent man; a young man who decided that making it all up was a better way of doing things than actual work; two political reporters who stumble upon one of the biggest scoops of the twentieth century, and produce some of the most influential and famous reportage in history; a reserved older writer whose conscience is stirred by the passionate youth around him; a principled television producer fighting against corporate self-interest to get his story broadcast; and a journalist poet who gets caught between two opposing, but equally corrupt, politicians.
Get our lukewarm takes on Made in France, Prevenge, Miss Sloane, The Lego Ninjago Movie, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, Goodbye Christopher Robin, and Blade Runner 2049 in our latest ep!
With the latest instalment of The Fast and the Furious skidding onto the home formats and a release date apparently confirmed for the spin-off, we thought we'd compare it to the first of the series and chart the road between these markedly different films from the bafflingly popular franchise.
Don't let anyone apart from trained physicians tell you that laughter is the best medicine. Frequently anti-biotics are better suited to deal with the problem. However, it's certainly true that life is better with laughs, so in the first of an occassional series today we're looking at some of our favourite comedy films adapted from the small screen.
On the list, we've got The Blues Brothers, Wayne's World, I, Spy, Starsky and Hutch, The Naked Gun, Brain Candy, Monty Python, Alpha Papa, and Ali G. There's around about another hundred films we could talk about, but most of them are underwhelming or not even close to whelming, so we're skipping them.
We cover another hodge-podge of arbitrarily selected films for this month's Intermission podcast, namely Death Note, Hotel Salvation, American Made. The Anthem of the Heart, Pawn Sacrifice, and Mindhorn. Find out what these flicks' major malfunctions are in this exhilarating episode! You will be exhilarated.
Since first watching Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler back in 2008, I've always wondered if he'd seen the 1999 documentary Beyond the Mat in his preparations, as there's more than a little commonality. Join us as we explore them, and the odd world of pro wrestling.
Sport is ancient and popular, and has been an important part of our various cultures and societies for as long as cultures and societies have existed. Little wonder, then, that sport should have seen a lot of representation in modern culture through cinema, though, given the popularity and pervasiveness of sport, perhaps not so much as one might expect.
It has been posited by many that a large number of sports films don’t have a broad appeal due to unfamiliarity with the featured sport, but I’d strongly disagree, or at least argue strongly that that need not be an impediment to enjoyment: the audience not understanding the offside rule, not appreciating the significance of a three ball, two strike count with two outs and bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth, or not appreciating the subtleties of why one man did a better job of punching his opponent in the face than his opponent did to him are, for the most part, irrelevant. And that’s because in most sports films the sport really isn’t the point; it’s a hook, a framework on which to hang a much more universal story.
Usually the sport itself is an allegory for the exploration of something else, and the nature of sports, whether the discipline and training needed, drive and temptation, the perennial appeal of an underdog or the “get knocked down, get yourself back up again” mentality needed to succeed, lend themselves well to many narratives.
In this episode we’re going to look at six films featuring six different sports, and representing many of those things I have just mentioned. We’ll look at a fairly straightforward biopic; sporting rivalry where respect is maintained; a desire to win at all costs, and the toxicity that generates; sport as a force to unite and inspire a nation; passion, choice and independence; and sport as a means to improve one’s life.
In this enthralling episode, we swing our wisdom mallets at Shin Godzilla, David Lynch: The Art Life, Dunkirk, The Big Sick and Scribe and beat their most intimate truths out of them. Feel not for them, they've got it coming.
Following on from our last episode on social hot topics, we take a look at two very different takes on post-Civil War race relations with D W Griffiths' 1915 The Birth of a Nation, and Nate Parker's 2016 reclamation. Listen, if you dare.
This month we have chosen to look at films that reflect, recount, and/or comment upon, stories of social importance and themes of injustice, iniquity, intolerance, and the perilous power of ideas. Dig in as we discuss Tambien la lluvia, Transamerica, I, Daniel Blake, The Wave, Inherit the Wind and The Magdalene Sisters.
Another month, another wide mix of films for us to cast shade or anti-shade on, as appropriate. Find out our takes on The Circle, War for the Planet of the Apes, Okja, Baby Driver, Colossal, A Cure for Wellness, and Spider-Man: Homecoming. Taste it!
Not everyone knows that Michael Mann's Heat was the second time he's used that material. First time round was a TV pilot called L.A. Takedown, eventually getting its own limited theatrical and home format release. How does it stack up to its more famous sibling?
We take a look at the seedier side of Los Angeles in this episode, away from the distracting, bright lights of Hollywood. We move from noir to 80s excess and beyond as we discuss Chinatown, To Live and Die in L.A., Less than Zero, Boyz n the Hood, L.A. Confidential, and The Limey.
Another arbitrarily selected batch of films line up for inspection as we discuss Wonder Woman, Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar's Revenge, My Life as a Courgette, A Dog's Purpose, Life, and Passengers. Which will win this month's Palme d'Fud? Tune in and find out!
It's the turn of the other iconic alien-based havoc franchise this episode, as we talk all things Predator - including the much maligned Aliens vs Predator films. What do we make of them? Listen to find out!
1979 saw the beginning of what would become an icon of cinema, and a long-running series that would capture the imaginations of generations of film-goers. And in addition to the birth of all three members of Fuds on Film, 1979 also saw the release of a little film called Alien.
Moving between, and often straddling, the horror, science-fiction and action genres, the _Aliens_ franchise has seen 6 main films, 2 crossover spin-offs with the _Predator_ franchise, numerous books, comics and videogames, a boatload of money and the launch into superstardom of three notable directors. Only _Star Trek_ and_ Star Wars_ can rival _Aliens_ for most recognisable and emotive extra-terrestrial species (and most of these are just humans with pointy ears, humans with wrinkly heads, or tall humans in bear costumes). Not even George Lucas’s syntactically-crippled diminutive space frog, beloved though he is, has the same pull on our emotions as the sight of that shining, black, elongated skull emerging from the shadows, ready to strike.
The series has been marked out by its willingness to take risks on debutant or up and coming directors, rather than established names, and the fact that, until the most recent entry, each film, while clearly part of the series, had its own particular, distinctive, look and feel, something which has helped keep the franchise from stagnating (at least too badly).
I mentioned the Predator cross-overs, and we will be covering those 2 films, along with the Predator franchise itself, in our next episode, but today we’re sticking to the Xenomorphs, and we’ll be discussing the whole series, from Alien up to the recently released Alien: Covenant.
From hugely budgeted action adventures to weird films about poetry, we have you covered with this month assorted grab-bag of films. Listen to our witterings on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, Neruda, The Handmaiden, Assassin's Creed, and Paterson.
For no particular reason other than sharks being awesome, we take a look at two of the many films starring these aquatic terrors - the all-time classic Jaws, and the rather less classic Deep Blue Sea.
In an unavoidable change to our regularly scheduled episode, we are bringing you instead a bit of a retrospective of some of our favourite reviews from the first year of our podcast. If you're relatively new to the podcast, we hope you find this informative, and if you've been with us from the start, firstly, thank you, and secondly we hope you enjoy this walk down memory lane, or feel free to instead contemplate something beautiful for an hour and a half.
Two films about beasts, two films about identity politics - it can only mean that we're bloviating about Beauty and the Beast, Get Out, Kong: Skull Island, and Ghost in the Shell. Check it out!
Today we are looking at a pair of near contemporaneous films that chose to focus on Truman Capote around the period where he writes what becomes his most celebrated novel, In Cold Blood, 2006's Infamous and 2005's Capote. Check it out!
We left our last look at the Star Trek franchise with the Next Generation crew untouched, so join as we give them a right old touching and no mistake in our ongoing mission to boldly review all films Trek.
For this month's round-up, we turn our attention to Logan, The Founder, Arrival, and Certain Women. What verdicts shall we render? You simply must listen to find out!
It's time for the second part of our coverage of Hayao Miyazaki's career, as we examine Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, Ponyo, and The Wind Rises.
In this episode we are turning our eyes to the east, and specifically to the work of Japanese filmmaker Miyazaki Hayao, legendary animator, storyteller and co-founder of Studio Ghibli. This episode will cover his career from his feature debut The Castle of Cagliostro up to the inter-war aerial hijinks of Porco Rosso.
Welcome, everybody, to the wild Wild West, a state that's untouchable like Elliot Ness. Or, at least, welcome to our catch-up podcast where we touch a number of Oscar contenders in their tender areas. Check out these lukewarm takes on La La Land, Hidden Figures, Trainspotting 2, Hacksaw Ridge, Moonlight, Split, and Fences.
Borag Thungg, Earthlets. Thrill-Power aplenty awaits in this episode of the Fuds On Film podcast as we look at the two film outings for Mega City One's top lawman, 1995's Judge Dredd and 2012's Dredd.
One of the most celebrated directors of recent times, David Fincher, gets a thorough examination in our latest podcast. From Alien 3 to Gone Girl, let's see how his career has progressed...
It's that time of the month again, where we round up the movies roaming the multiplex and streaming plains and brand them with our unique opinions. This time around, we corral A Monster Calls, Snowden, Hands of Stone, The Lobster, Elle, and Rogue One. Check it out!
Movie adaptations of video games have a hard won reputation for being entirely dreadful, as evidenced by, well, all of them. Puzzlingly, one of the most popular genres for plundering is the one on one fighting game, where any plot is relegated to an unread blurb in the manual. Not, you'd think, prime candidates for making movies from, but we're here to talk about them regardless as we cover Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, and DOA: Dead or Alive.
A new year stretches out in front of us, and the way things are going it's probably humanity's last. Before we deal with that carnival of terror, let's look back at the best and the worst films we caught during Space Year 2016.
We're dropping truthbombs on Kubo and the Two Strings, Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, Mechanic: Resurrection, Your Name, De Palma, and Sully in this exciting episode - dare you listen?
Today we're browsing through the case files of MK ULTRA, or at the very least taking a look at two very contrasting films based around brainwashing, with Joe Wright's 2011 outing Hanna and John Frankenheimer's 1962 classic, The Manchurian Candidate.
Star Trek has earned itself a place in popular culture thanks to its endless television syndication run in a way that we might not see again, now that media has spread itself across so many channels and platforms and we're not all stuck with the same four channels of our youth. Today we're taking a look at the big screen outings for the original cast.
Another month has passed, so again we congregate to discuss what horrors cinema has unleashed on us. Get our takes on The Light Between Oceans, Captain Fantastic, Bastille Day, Doctor Strange, The Shallows, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, Supersonic, Lo & Behold: Reveries of the Connected World, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, and The Infiltrator.
We're looking at The Prestige and The Illusionist this month, two films with fairly similar high level plots but very different executions as they explore rivalry, love, and obsession through the world of illusion. And we don't mean the old Megadrive game.
See the full show notes at http://www.fudsonfilm.com/illusionist-prestige/
We're all used to the Technicolor realities of modern cinema by this point, but there's still more than a few examples where, either by economic necessity or stylistic preference, it's monochrome in the multiplex. Today we're looking at some notable examples, namely Pi, The Good German, Good Night and Good Luck, Schindler's List, The Mist, The Man Who Wasn't There, and La Haine.
Find the full show notes at http://www.fudsonfilm.com/modern-black-and-white/
As October draws to a close, it's time for us to reconvene and pass judgement on an assortment of films: Blood Father, Bridget Jones Baby, Soy Nero, Inferno, The BFG, The Girl on the Train, The Red Turtle, and The Free State of Jones.
Full show notes are available at http://www.fudsonfilm.com/intermission-october-2016/
Now, on this podcast we love a bit of Dick, ol' Phil K being a favourite author in this neck of the woods, with some of our favourite films based on his work. We've already discussed Blade Runner and Total Recall, but it's fair to say that these are both only very loosely based on the works that inspire them. We thought we'd take a look at two films rather more adherent to the source material, with Richard Linklater's 2006 adaptation of A Scanner Darkly and 2014's Radio Free Albemuth, directed by John Alan Simon.
Full show notes available at http://www.fudsonfilm.com/scanner-darkly-radio-free-albemuth/
We thought we'd return to the horror genre's heyday in the 70's to look at six of the most highly regarded horrors the world has yet seen. Join us as we discuss Don’t Look Now, The Wicker Man, The Exorcist, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Omen, and Halloween.
Get the full show notes at http://www.fudsonfilm.com/70s-horror/
We review Lights Out, Elvis and Nixon, The Jungle Book, Anthropoid, Sing Street, Hell or High Water, and Our Kind of Traitor in this podcast without portfolio. Tune in to find out the skinny on this disparate celluloid bunch!
There's been two cinematic cracks at Thomas Harris' novel _Red Dragon_ so far, the serial-killer thriller than introduced us to the charismatic cannibal Hannibal Lecter, perhaps more readily associated with _The Silence of the Lambs_. We'll be taking a look at 1986's _Manhunter_, directed by Michael Mann, and 2002's _Red Dragon_, with Brett Ratner at the helm. Who captured our imaginations best? There's only one way to find out...
Oh, and spoilers will abound over this episode, so you might want to give this a wide berth if you've not seen them so far.
After the sad news of Michael Cimino's death, we thought it appropriate to take a look over his body of work for your listening pleasure. We're covering the bulk of his output, certainly feature film-wise, as both screenwriter and director with a look at Silent Running, Magnum Force, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, The Deer Hunter, Heaven's Gate, Year of the Dragon, The Sicilian, Desperate Hours, and The Sunchaser.
Reviews of Ghostbusters, Suicide Squad, Midnight Special, Jason Bourne, Independence Day 2, Finding Dory, and Star Trek: Beyond await in our latest episode. Search your feelings, you know it to be true.
In this exciting episode we take a look at two films that bend both the audience and the lead character's minds, with Jacob's Ladder and Shutter Island. Spoilers aplenty for both, so please don't listen before viewing both of these films.
No planet has proved more fascinating to science fiction than Mars, so we thought it high time to look at some of the prime examples of Martian culture. We're blabbing about Robinson Crusoe on Mars, Total Recall, Mission to Mars, Red Planet, Doom, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, and The Martian. It's out of this world! And on a different world. That world being Mars. Naturally. I'm sure you figured that out.
This month's assortment of recent releases for the cinema and the home sees us cover Gods of Egypt, The Legend of Tarzan, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, and Green Room. Four films enter. One film leaves. That makes three films still inside. That is the maximum occupancy of this Thunderdome. We're on a budget.
We're looking at political satire this month, as current Brexit-based events are so resplendently ludicrous that we now seem to have moved entirely beyond satire, rendering it redundant. Not that we're bitter, or incandescently angry. Also, with the much delayed Chilcot Report into the U.K.'s role in the Iraq War rearing its head on the day we record this, we thought we'd look at an American and British take on manipulating a war for political gains with 1997's Wag the Dog and 2009's In the Loop.
We deal with the enduring, sometimes mystifying appeal of Disaster Movies in this episode, covering films from the 50's right through to modern day with a variety of dooms for us, fire, flood, earthquakes, volcanoes, asteroids, ... and bees. Millions of bees. Please join us for our whistlestop tour of A Night To Remember, The Poseidon Adventure, Earthquake, The Towering Inferno, Meteor, The Swarm, Twister, Independence Day, Daylight, Dante's Peak, Volcano, Armageddon, Deep Impact, The Day After Tomorrow, 2012, and San Andreas.
We unleash our opinions on Captain America: Civil War, The Colony, Eye in the Sky, Alice: Through The Looking Glass, 10 Cloverfield Lane, X-Men: Apocalypse, The Boss, The Nice Guys and Warcraft: The Beginning in our latest podcast. Your attention is demanded, nay, required! Well, requested. If you're not too busy. We guarantee you'll get some level of enjoyment from it! Zero is a level too, right?
This month's commentary track is for Terry Gilliam's excellent 12 Monkeys, with the time travelling Bruce Willis on the trail of a deadly virus, or possibly just off his rocker. Join us! Well, for the first hour or so, then if we're honest we kind of run out of steam. Forewarned is forearmed.
The time has come for us to step into the future simultaneously with the past as we look at the intriguing Tech Noir sub-genre - science fiction content with Film Noir stylings, which hits upon some of our favourite movies and directors. We'll give you the low-down on Alphaville, The Groundstar Conspiracy, Blade Runner, The Terminator, Ghost in the Shell, Brazil, 12 Monkeys, The City of Lost Children, Dark City, and The Thirteenth Floor, whether you want us to or not. Come, explore the retro-future with us!
It's the second part of our French New Wave crash course, as we look at the works of those in the rather more loosely defined Left Bank group - Agnes Varda, Alain Resnais, Jacques Demy and Chris Marker. Are they any better than the Cahiers du cinema gang? There's only one way to find out...
Featuring discussions on Hiroshima Mon Amour, Last Year at Marienbad, Lola, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Cleo from 5 to 7, and The Pier.
This claims to be a commentary track for Truffaut's 1960 new wave "classic", but in all honesty we can't back that assertion up with paperwork. Drew and Craig bring you coughs, heavy breathing, bizarre Czech state TV musical numbers from 1978 but, crucially, almost no insight into this movie. Bravo!
In an arbitrary celebration of the Auld Alliance, we're spending this month talking about the French New Wave of cinema, widely hailed as the most influential movements that the art of film-making has yet seen. Join us as we look at some of the most notable works of the Cahiers du cinema group, try and uncover the reasons for their notability, and determine if they live up to the hype.
Settle down with your favourite fuds as we give you the skinny on The 5th Wave, Jane Got A Gun, Bone Tomahawk, Our Brand Is Crisis, The Assassin, and Zootropolis. For once we even have divergent opinions on most of them. It's truly exhilarating.
Join us for our commentary on the animated action from an earlier attempt at DC Comic Universe-building, with _World's Finest_, the Batman Superman "movie". It's a collation of three episodes of the Superman animated series, with Joker teaming up with Lex Luthor to bring down Superman, with Batman showing up to assist the boy in blue. Not that you'd know it from our commentary, which quickly veers into an Elseworld exploration of sexbots and Eternia's Finest, Fisto. It's the most powerfully erotic hour of audio entertainment we've yet produced. Check it out, unless you have high blood pressure or a heart condition. If symptoms persist after 48 hours, consult your medical practitioner.
We think we may have had a few seconds drift between hosts on this one for no readily ascertainable reason, but honestly most of what we're talking about had little to do with the on-screen action, so it makes little difference.
With the release of the latest outing for DC's premier superheroes, we thought we'd take an overview of all of the previous live action movie adaptations of Batman and Superman, as well as give you our take on the Dawn of Justice currently lighting up your local multiplex. Once we're done, you'll surely believe a yam can fry.
Check out http://www.fudsonfilm.com/batmen-vs-supermen/ for the full show notes.
Another exciting episode of recent reviews of magnificent movies, as we aim our truth cannons in the general direction of Room, Trumbo, Spotlight, The Secret in Their Eyes, Anomalisa and Hail, Caesar!
We're covering arguably Kubrick's most controversial film in this commentary, his 1971 spot of ultraviolence A Clockwork Orange. Join us as we watch Malcolm McDowell's urbane psycho Alex DeLarge wreak havoc, before having havoc wreaked upon him in this exploration of his violence to society, governmental violence on their subjects, and the role of free will in moral frameworks. Quite complex, for a film where a lady is bludgeoned to death with a giant plaster phallus. Check it out! Or don't. No retribution will be levied for non-checking-outness. We're not animals.
This month we turn our attention to one of the most well regarded directors of his generation, Stanley Kubrick. For someone who made films for nearly five decades, you'd think we'd have to pick and choose which films to cover, but his meticulous attention to detail in all aspects of production means that there's only thirteen feature films for us to talk through, and there's a few on that list that Kubrick himself probably wouldn't be thanking us for covering. Please join us as we discuss them.
We wade our way through a glut of recent releases in this catch-up episode. We'll give you the skinny on The Danish Girl, Exposed, Joy, Carol, Creed, Concussion, The Big Short, The Good Dinosaur, The Revenant, Zoolander 2, and Deadpool. Phew!
We return to the coldest of all wars and don a set of NHS prescription glasses as we delve in to Funeral In Berlin, featuring Michael Caine's Harry Palmer navigating the tricky business of arranging the defection of a top Soviet Colonel across the Berlin Wall. This commentary for the second of the adaptations of Len Deighton's classic spy novels to feature Palmer will thrill, enthuse and excited in equal quantities, although we're not saying how large or small those quantities are.
Espionage outings get their day in the sun in our latest podcast, as we look at the somewhat more realistic side of the spy game, as opposed to Jimmy Bond's Gunfire & Explosion Expositions. So join us as we step back into the shadows, hunt for moles and eavesdrop with the likes of Le Carré, Deighton and Coppola as they look for the cheat codes in The Great Game.
This month we're mainly concerning ourselves with the first post-Lucas Star Wars film, The Force Awakens. We'll also give you quick takes on The Hateful Eight, Steve Jobs, and Mockingjay Part 2. Oh, it's real. It's damn real.
It is by will alone we set our Dune Commentary in motion. The career acquires stains, the stains become a warning. It is by will alone we set our Dune Commentary in motion.
This is Lynch's most compromised work, but that's why it's so interesting to talk about. It's got enough of Lynch's stylistic nous to make it remarkable, even if the narrative gets away from him rather badly. Still, we hope you'll join us in reassessing this much-maligned slice of cinema.
If you're in the market for a director you can really dissect with near impunity, American auteur David Lynch and his frequently bizarre output provides a golden opportunity. We dive into his career and out the other side in our latest podcast, and nothing will ever be the same again. Note the occurrences surrounding the man behind 'Winkies'.
45 minutes or thereabouts of the Fuds On Film boys discussing all the films they didn't see this year, and possibly one or two they might have done. Take it or leave it, but remember - no judge will ever convict us.
After our Takeshi Kitano podcast, we were looking forward to covering one of his films, so quite why we chose _Johnny Mnemonic_ is a mystery for the ages. Join us as we examine the Keanu Reeves-centric cyberpunk festival of wasted opportunity, wonky effects and Dolph Lungren's astonishing turn as Techno Jesus.
Japanese auteur Takeshi Kitano is one of our favourite filmmakers, and we're delighted to bring you this run-down on his career. We explain why we find his work so captivating in this latest podcast. Join us for this exploration of inventively minimalist storytelling, Yakuza violence, and slapstick comedy.
November's Intermission podcast sees us firing up our opinions on Sicario, Crimson Peak, and the summer's big creature feature Jurassic World. We're not saying you have to listen to it, but your very life and the future of humanity depends on it. Your decision. No pressure.
No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to listen to our latest commentary track! We examine the black sheep of the franchise, Never Say Never Again, as Connery returns to highly diminished returns in this kinda-remake of Thunderball. Expect all of the stunning wit and insight that you've come to expect from us. That being bad impersonations and laughing at a poorly composited horse-dive. Join us for this flawed gem of a film. Well, flawed, certainly.
With the latest Bond film, SPECTRE haunting cinemas worldwide, what better time to look at our ol' pal James' prolific cinematic escapades, culminating in a review of that there new film. We discuss all of the Bonds, if not necessarily all of the Bond films as we cover the varied eras of Martini-sipping, gadget-laden "spycraft".
As the leaves turn to red so our thoughts naturally turn to Communism and, of course, a Scottish man pretending to be a Russian who is in fact Lithuanian. In a submarine. The Hunt For Red October is our obvious jumping off point for a discussion on the cinematic outings of Jack Ryan; CIA Analyst extraordinaire, and spanner in the works of many an American enemy's dastardly plotting.
It's movie commentary track time from your boys at FoF. Yes, we're afraid it's come to this. Let's see how the career of the oft-forgotten 90's action movie lynchpin Steven Seagal is progressing with his latest flick, "Absolution". Also featuring Vinny Jones! How bad could it be? Spoiler: it's rotten.
They don't make new action stars like they used to, which I suppose is why we still use the old ones. The recent adventures of Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Liam Neeson, Harrison Ford, Denzel Washington and Bruce Willis get a right old examination and no mistake, guv.
We cover The Man From U.N.C.L.E, Legend, and Furious 7 in September's Intermission podcast, as well as something of a potted recap of all of The Fast and the Furious franchise so far. If it's not the best podcast you listen to all month, we'll give you double your money back. YOU SIMPLY CANNOT LOSE.
Nobody asked for it, and so now we done gone give it to ya, see? If you're living in 1975 and are a little hazy on the concepts of misogyny and homophobia then don't worry - ol' Clint's gonna mansplain that to you good and proper. Failing that we might at least give you a laugh or two as we get tipsy. On a Sunday morning. Don't tell our mums - they'd be ever so disappointed.
We cover the life and times of Clint Eastwood in our latest podcastaganza, looking at his most iconic roles, and his progression as both actor and director. Please join us in this pre-obituary celebration!
Welcome to another Fuds On Film interim podcast, featuring reviews of Inside Out, The Legend of Barney Thomson and a quite extensive look at the Mission Impossible franchise, including of course the latest instalment, Rogue Nation.
A special treat for you lucky people, as we present our feature commentary for Scorsese's Mafia classic that featured heavily in our Favourite Films discussions.
Just hit play on this podcast at the same time as your copy. We're watching the 25th Anniversary Blu-ray, but to the best of our knowledge there's no difference in cuts to the various editions so you should be fine with whatever copy you have.
We are proud to present the concluding part of our favourite films rundown. Get a taste for our tastes, with a few laughs along the way!
In this Intermission episode, we opine the heck out of Ant-Man, Ex Machina, and Terminator: Genisys. It's a wonder to behold.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for allowing the first episode of the Fuds on Film podcast into your entertainment diet. We promise to provide tasty chunks of film commentary as we consider an assortment of topics, starting with our favourite films. Hopefully this will give you an idea of the sort of things that we like to see, and if that's not too far away from your tastes, we should get on like a house on fire.
Y'know, screaming, people running for cover, calling the emergency services, that sort of thing.