The Prestige

The most recent film on our Latin American odyssey is the Venezuelan MY STRAIGHT SON (2012). After reviews — some more fervent than others — we talk about drama, found families, and whether or not we might have a Eurocentric view of this film’s politics.

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GOLDENEYE (1995): Martin Campbell, Pierce Brosnan, Sean Bean
REACHER (2022–): Lee Child, Nick Santora, Alan Ritchson

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THE PERKS OF BEING...

After something of a hiatus: we’re back! With the award-winning 2015 Colombian film EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT. After some reviews, we dive in with a reference to Rob’s favourite theatrical director, as well as exploring why it’s good that this film was made and how it might be important that some people don’t get on board with it.

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THE HARDER THEY FALL (2021): Jeymes Samuel, Idris Elba, Zazie Beetz
ENCANTO (2021): ...

The next stop on our journey through Latin America is 2005’s MADEINUSA. After some reviews, we talk about how this film is itself a disturbing experience for the viewers, to what extent it presents the main character as a ‘femme fatale', and why it works as a complete disruption of the ‘white saviour’ myth.

Next Up
The next film in our Latin American Odyssey is Colombia’s EL PASEO (2010).

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MIDNIGHT MASS (202...

The title for this episode comes from something Rob says towards the end of this chat, which I think sums up this film brilliantly. After reviews (spoilers: we loved it), we talk about a number of things to do with the incredible artifice of this film, and its brutality, and (strangely enough) its use of architecture. 

Next Up
Our next Latin American film is the Peruvian drama MADEINUSA, from 2005.

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MONEY HEIS...

Our film this week is the slacker comedy/drama 25 WATTS, from Uruguay. Post-reviews, we talk about movies with which this shares obvious roots, as well as how this captures the experiences of disenfranchised youth, and some borderline-colonial-tourist-y speculation about why this was such an important touchstone in Uruguayan film.

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The next film on our cinematic journey through Latin America is the 2002 film CITY OF GOD....

After something of a hiatus from the main feed, this week the band is back together with our look at (the most recent, Rob) THE ACCUSED. We talk about how this film undercuts expectations, what it has to say about the experiences of children as opposed to adults, and the in some ways chilling ending of the movie.

Next Up
The next film on our Latin American road trip is 2001’s 25 WATTS from Uruguay.

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EMPIRE R...

The first of our brand new Small Batch episodes, this week looking at the Pirates Of The Caribbean, all the from The Curse Of The Black Pearl (2003) all the way to Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017).

As with the smaller shows, also smaller show notes, so enjoy!

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We launch into Season 5 (FIVE!!! madness, I tell you) and our ‘world tour’ with a film from the country at the southernmost tip of the Americas, Chile, and Pablo Larraín’s 2019 film EMA. After expressing awe at the visuals of the film and the impact that it had on us as viewers, we discuss the idea of new growth (‘seeds’ to be sown after fire, in a central metaphor of the film), the plan that Ema has, and how underestimating this i...

Some six years (not five, Rob! we’ve been doing this aaaaages) after our first episode — and fourteen years after the…’discussion’ that prompted us to start doing this podcast (eventually), we’re revisiting Zach Snyder’s 2007 epic 300. After we read through that fourteen-year-old transcript, we talk about how our views of the film have changed, its roots in Spartan propaganda, and the aesthetics of a piece that were very much of it...

The final film in our Disney-animation-and-remakes sub-season is the 2020 iteration of MULAN. After some reviews, we delve into discussions of Disney ‘humanisation’ (sometimes, you just want bad guys to be bad guys), the fact that this movie is aimed at a very different audience from the original, the changes that are made to make this more of a human film, and how honour and ch'i (two big concepts here) mean very different things ...

Our final Disney film is 1998’s MULAN. After some reviews, we talk about the ways in which this film starts from a position of naivety, but grows into a much more adult movie: which leaves us both intrigued as to what the reboot will be like.

Next Up
Next time, for the last time, we turn to the live-action version of a Disney animation, with the 2020 MULAN.

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SAFE (2012): Boaz Yakin, Jason Statham, Catherine ...

This week, after some...reviews of Disney’s most recent take on THE LION KING, we talk about how colour and contrast can make or break a film, the importance of myth to the original movie, and what it means to consider style versus substance when the film is as hyperrealistic as this one.

Next Up The final film in our Disney mini-season is 1998’s MULAN.

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TED LASSO (2020–): Brendan Hunt, Jason Sudekis, Hannah Waddi...

Our film this week is the 1994 award-winning classic THE LION KING. After the usual reviews, we talk about Sam’s changing ideas about the film, how it may or may not be about the growth of a character, and what it says about the role of royal privilege (not, this week in particular, an entirely irrelevant topic!).

Next Up
It’s remake time! Next up is the 2019 version of the film.

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LINE OF DUTY (2012–): Jed Mercu...

This week’s offering is the re-make of ALADDIN. After…mixed reviews, we talk about the ‘clean’ visuals, what it feels Disney wants from a re-make, and how watching this involves something of the same pretence shown by the characters themselves.

Next Up
Our next Disney film is the 1994 original version of THE LION KING.

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THE BITTER TEA OF GENERAL YEN (1933): Frank Capra, Barbara Stanwyck, Nils Asther
INTE...

This time, our focus is on the 1992 Disney film ALADDIN. After some reviews, we discuss how this is a movie about people pretending to be something they’re not; we talk about what ‘diamond in the rough’ means (both to a 10-year-old Rob, and today); and we think about media depictions of class, from country-house dramas to inner-city soap operas.

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Next time (sticking to the format!), our focus turns to the 2019 live-act...

This week our focus is he 2017 live-action version of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. After some…contrasting reviews, we talk about how this film is a lot darker and more serious than the original, how it has a lot more to it (both good and bad), and how it might be a different sort of fairy tale to the 1991 film.

Next Time
Next in line for our Disney focus is he 1992 version of ALADDIN.

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HORTON HEARS A WHO! (2008): The...