Francesca Rudkin: War Machine and Reminders of Him

War Machine 

During the final stage of US Army Ranger selection, an elite team's training exercise turns into a fight for survival against an unimaginable threat.  

 

Reminders of Him  

After a perfect outing with her boyfriend, Kenna makes an unbearable mistake that sends her to prison for seven years. Hoping to rebuild her life after her release, she tries to reunite with her daughter, but her custodial grandparents refuse to let Kenna see her. She soon finds unexpected compassion from a local bar owner as their secret romance gives Kenna hope for a second chance. 

 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from News Talks at by.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Tweet to ten on New Silk beginning. Are wee bit
excited there? The reason why is Billy Eilish is about
to have her first major acting role. That was Billy Eilish.
Of course Birds of a Feather, So Sylvia Plaths. The
bel Jar is going to be the latest literary classic
to get the film treatment and Billie Eilish is going
to be in it, so that'll be very interesting. Speaking

(00:47):
of films, time to get your picks for this weekend.
Francesca Rudkin, our film reviewers here, good morning. We are
going to begin with War Machine, which is screening on
Netflix at the moment, partially shot in New Zealand. So
let's have a listen. Managers are the spare of the
United States.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
Sorry, do you understand me?

Speaker 3 (01:09):
Thanks?

Speaker 1 (01:09):
Superman, thank the rest of us look bad.

Speaker 3 (01:11):
You can expect your emotional, physical, and mental strength to
be pushed to the limit.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
Ba bam bam. That's War Machine. So tell us about.

Speaker 4 (01:20):
It, hourrah.

Speaker 3 (01:22):
Yes, So this film is ridiculous. It is so silly,
It is totally unchallenging and perfect. Tonight if you would
like to just put your feet up on the couch
and forget about the world and whether you should fill
the car up or not and things like that. And
I actually enjoyed this film more than I should have.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
Just listening to that, I wondered if Pete Higgsseeth might
be starring in it, And the reason.

Speaker 4 (01:49):
Being is that it's an action film and they keep
the action going and it gets it on a roll,
and it's full on and as absurd as the sort
of the plot and the premise and things is, it's
just great escapist sort of entertainment.

Speaker 3 (02:03):
And look, it's always lovely. I personally always love seeing
New Zealand on screen. And it's sort of started and
I was going, gosh, that Tussick looks through familiar in
those pine trees, and that's this little bit of a gurgle.
I went yes. And most of it it was partly
shot in New Zealand and in Australia, but in the
South Island kind of around Queen's Town area, so it
looks awesome as well. And I'm not Richson, who is

(02:25):
of course Jack Reacher. He is in this film. He
does a very good job of carrying this action flick
with the sort of the limited character development that he's given.
It also stars Dennis Quaid. Basically, we've got a group
of Rangers who are training to become us Amy Rangers.
They're in the final stage of their selection. They're sent
out on an exercise which ends up being a bit

(02:47):
of a fight for survival. I'm not going to tell
you anything more about it because I want everybody to
laugh as loudly as I did when I realized what
was going on. Yeah, so it's a mix of Predator
meets Transformer. It's just big, dumb fun not doing anything tonight,

(03:08):
love an action flick, looking for some distraction. Here you go.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
Very good. Okay, cool, So that's warm. See that's on
Netflix right now. Your next film is showing in cinemas,
so let's have a listen. This is reminders of him.
There is before you, there was during you.

Speaker 3 (03:41):
I never thought there would be an after you.

Speaker 2 (03:43):
Okay, that's reminders of him.

Speaker 3 (03:46):
So this is another Colleen Hoover novel adaptation following on
from It Ends with Us was probably the last film
that people remember. Colin Hoover was executive producer on that show,
but that film sort of ended actually with more controversy,
and so she's kind of stepping up now, and she's
kind of taking control of writing screenplays and producing her

(04:07):
these films so that they are more faithful to the
novels that she's written. I'm not a I don't read
Collin Whope. I haven't picked up any of her books.
But she has a massive, ready made fan base. It's
clear to see why Hollywood would be interested in two
of these films into adaptations, and the fact that she
has so much control would imply to me that if
you are a fan, you're probably going to be really

(04:28):
happy with what you see on screen here. It's very
well made, it's a very handsome production. It's well cast,
got a good cast, Michael Munroe, Tyreeq Withers, Lauren Graham,
Bradley wit would. It's a movie about loss and grief
and forgiveness and second chances. Probably fifteen minutes in, Jack,
I could tell you exactly how this film was going

(04:51):
to unfold and everything that was going to happen, and boom.
I was absolutely right. So it didn't for me. It
didn't need to be almost two hours long. I didn't
feel like there was enough substance in here. It was
very drawn out with flashbacks and narrations, and actually the
cast did a really good job. We didn't need to
be sort of doubly explained what was going on. Uh look,

(05:15):
uh yeah, is this a story of the character who
is involved in an accident. She has a car accident,
her boyfriend dies, she was influenced by drugs, She goes
to prison, she comes out of prison, she's done a
lot of self reflection, and she's coming back to the
small town to try to get to know a baby

(05:35):
girl that she had while she was in prison, which
has currently been looked after by her boyfriend's parents. So
it's it's all about kind of reconnect and forgiveness and
redemption and things like that. As I say, you know,
well acted really nicely, but terribly predictable and tribed and
drawn out. Although Helen Karen Karrie Willdham's producer, was very

(05:59):
upset that I found it bladed. What about the music Francisca,
So just for Helen, I would also is a very
good soundtrack country.

Speaker 2 (06:07):
Well as I mean Helen, as you know, produced Saturday
Mornings for many, many years and so I could, yeah
predict that if she likes the soundtrack. There's going to
be just a little bit of country in the edits
over least, thanks Francesca. So those films are reminders of him.
That's the predictable one showing in cinemas, and War Machine
is the hoorah one that's on Netflix at the moment.

(06:28):
Make sure both of those films the details for them
are up on the News Talks he'db website.

Speaker 1 (06:32):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame. Listen live
to news Talks he'd be from nine am Saturday, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.