Graham and Dave look over this week's latest cinema releases and ask if Wonka is a Christmas hit or festive flop? There's also reviews for Maestro, Three Musketeers Milady and One Life while we pick three films we are most excited for in 2024.
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Hello and welcome back to Not Everyone's.
00:09 A film critic, a vodcast or a podcast
00:12 brought to you mainly by myself.
00:14 And that's why you all tune in.
00:15 However, Dave has joined again.
00:17 Dave, how are you?
00:18 - Sorry, I'm doing fine.
00:19 I just keep on turning up.
00:20 You keep on telling me not to, but then I just arrive.
00:23 Thank you for having me though.
00:25 - That's fine.
00:26 Not much longer left, fingers crossed.
00:29 We didn't have any reviews in the past couple of shows.
00:31 We chose our best and worst.
00:33 Probably went a little bit too early for our end of list
00:36 'cause now we are here just before Christmas
00:39 and go, oh, I've got to go back to the reviews.
00:41 But I'm quite happy to go back to the reviews
00:43 because I think you've probably seen more than me,
00:45 but I did go see a film.
00:46 I've got a funny story about it, but I'll let you go first.
00:49 So we're gonna go into films we're looking forward to
00:52 in 2024 later on.
00:54 And there's quite a few I've chosen,
00:55 particularly ones that come out in January.
00:57 So we know what's coming.
00:59 However, first and foremost, we will do the reviews.
01:02 So there is one film we know we're gonna speak about,
01:04 but Dave, have you seen anything else apart from that thing
01:07 that we discussed off air that you're not gonna discuss now
01:09 'cause you're gonna ruin it?
01:10 - Yes, no, I've seen lots and lots and lots of stuff.
01:12 I'll try to keep it down to a reasonably manageable amount.
01:15 Just a couple of ones to pick up on.
01:17 Largely because it's out on Netflix today, actually.
01:20 We're talking on the 20th of December.
01:23 - Maestro?
01:23 - Today is Maestro, yes.
01:25 So it's hitting Netflix today.
01:26 I had a very short cinematic run,
01:28 which is what Netflix does.
01:29 It puts out in the cinema for a week
01:31 'cause otherwise it isn't eligible for the Oscars.
01:33 And then it goes straight to Netflix
01:34 and they make lots of money out of it
01:36 in that way than Netflix do.
01:38 So Maestro is a film starring Bradley Cooper.
01:41 - It works.
01:42 - It's directed, yes, it absolutely works.
01:44 It's directed by Bradley Cooper,
01:46 produced by Bradley Cooper.
01:48 He stars in it.
01:49 He does the conducting of the orchestra in it.
01:51 He does everything.
01:52 So Bradley Cooper has not won an Oscar.
01:54 He's gonna win an Oscar.
01:54 But first and foremost, this is his Oscar moment.
01:57 He's gonna get it for Best Actor.
01:59 Deservedly so.
02:00 You can almost see him being up for Best Director as well,
02:02 but it's quite a crowded field this year.
02:04 For those who don't know,
02:05 it's about composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein,
02:09 who was an American conductor, massively famous in his time.
02:12 I didn't know that much about him.
02:14 And I think that maybe in Britain,
02:15 of maybe our generation and younger,
02:16 you don't necessarily know a huge amount about him,
02:19 other than things like "West Side Story"
02:20 and stuff like that.
02:21 But he was a massively charismatic, massively famous man
02:24 who was the world's greatest conductor at one point,
02:27 and arguably the world's greatest composer
02:28 at one point as well.
02:29 He was a massively flawed man as well,
02:31 as many geniuses are.
02:33 And basically, the story really isn't a biopic.
02:35 It isn't really about how he became famous
02:37 and he did this, he did this, he did this.
02:38 It's about the relationship he has with his wife,
02:42 Felicia, who's played by Carrie Mulligan,
02:43 who I'm a massive fan of.
02:44 She's brilliant in this as well.
02:46 I could see her getting nominated for stuff too.
02:48 And it's about their very turbulent marriage.
02:50 Basically, he was a bisexual at a time
02:53 when that wasn't necessarily particularly helpful
02:55 when it came to your career,
02:57 but he very much loved his wife
02:58 and he wanted to stay married to her.
02:59 He has kids, but he lived this kind of double life,
03:02 which again, isn't massively uncommon in that time,
03:06 in that period, and particularly
03:07 within the artistic community.
03:08 And it's just a great film.
03:09 The performances are absolutely fantastic.
03:11 You really get under the skin of both characters.
03:13 It's above all a romance and it's a beautiful romance.
03:17 And I just, I think the two actors
03:19 just spark off each other so much, so beautifully.
03:22 There's great chemistry there.
03:23 And just once watching Netflix,
03:25 it's not a whole thing, I'm just gonna say,
03:26 but it's gonna be a big awards contender
03:28 and I'd recommend anybody and everyone to watch it.
03:30 It is quite cinematic, unfortunately,
03:32 particularly the opening scene,
03:33 which sees him kind of go from his flat
03:36 straight into an opera house,
03:37 and it just looks beautiful.
03:38 And it was lovely to see that on a big screen,
03:40 but it'll still work very well on the telly,
03:42 particularly since a lot of the rest of it
03:43 is kind of theatrical.
03:44 It's kind of just two people in the room
03:46 talking a lot of the time.
03:47 So my throw, I'd highly recommend it.
03:49 And like I say, I'm gonna put a tenner on,
03:51 Bradley Cooper winning the Oscar,
03:53 but only gamble what you can afford,
03:54 that's what I say.
03:56 So other than that, another great film,
03:58 which is worth seeing, it is in the cinema still,
04:00 it's not being seen by many people.
04:02 It's "The Three Musketeers, M'lady,"
04:04 which is the second part of a two-part
04:06 "The Three Musketeers" film.
04:08 The first part of which was out earlier this year,
04:10 and I talked about it on this very Vodcast.
04:12 And it was a great action adventure.
04:13 It was about D'Artagnan getting together
04:15 with the Three Musketeers,
04:17 and it was just a kind of caper movie,
04:18 lots of great action set pieces,
04:20 and just a really, really good time.
04:22 Great fun.
04:23 This second part is very different,
04:25 even though it's got the same characters,
04:26 and it is the same story,
04:28 but it's a far darker proposition.
04:30 It's about a kind of very complicated plot
04:32 to set France to war against England.
04:36 Meanwhile, D'Artagnan is trying to find love of his life,
04:39 who was kidnapped at the end of the first film.
04:41 Like I say, it's quite dark.
04:43 It's got a magnificent cast
04:44 of kind of French character actors.
04:46 It isn't French,
04:47 which is why it's maybe not done quite so well here.
04:49 It's done very well over in France.
04:52 It's got Vincent Cassell in it,
04:53 who's always brilliant.
04:54 And like I say, all of the other people in it
04:56 are people you see in other films,
04:57 they're great character actors with amazing faces
05:00 and brilliant acting.
05:02 And then you've got Eva Green playing Milady de Winter,
05:05 and this is just the role she was absolutely born to play.
05:08 She's absolutely brilliant in it as well.
05:10 And I would recommend you can catch the first part
05:12 on streaming, so you can easily watch the first part at home
05:14 and then go to the cinema to watch the second part.
05:16 And I would say it's four hours of your time
05:18 that these films are very much worth.
05:20 And so "The Three Musketeers", both films,
05:22 the first came out earlier,
05:24 and the one that's out right now is "Milady".
05:26 And then very quickly,
05:27 'cause we were talking about it earlier today,
05:29 but I don't think you've seen it, is "One Life",
05:31 which is another great, great film.
05:35 It stars Anthony Hopkins.
05:37 - Excited for it.
05:38 - Yes, really good.
05:40 - It's not officially out yet though, is it?
05:41 It's not until the 1st of January.
05:44 Is it unlimited screening?
05:46 - No, this was an unlimited screening.
05:47 So I was lucky enough to see it
05:48 in one of Cineworld's unlimited screenings.
05:51 And I won't say much about it
05:52 because it would give away the plot a bit
05:54 to give away too much.
05:55 But just to say that it's got Anthony Hopkins,
05:57 I mean, just acting incredibly, he is superb in this.
06:01 Johnny Flynn plays his character when he's younger
06:05 and it works really well.
06:06 Johnny Flynn, who I'm a big fan of since the film "Beast".
06:08 If you've not seen "Beast", go and see "Beast".
06:10 He's got Jesse Buckley in it as well.
06:12 It's a brilliant kind of folk horror film.
06:14 And he plays this guy, Nicholas Winton,
06:16 who basically saved a whole bunch of kids
06:18 from Czechoslovakia just before World War II broke out.
06:22 And it's about him living with this in old age.
06:25 And then you go back to see his acts of daring do
06:30 back in the day.
06:30 And then there's a lovely reveal at the end,
06:32 which is massively emotional.
06:33 And I can, I mean, I cried a lot.
06:35 And I cry a lot in films,
06:36 but I think that pretty much anybody
06:38 would cry at the end of this film.
06:39 So look out for "One Life" as well,
06:42 which is out, like you say, at the 1st of January, is it?
06:45 - Yes, it's out on New Year's Day.
06:46 I was writing about it today and-
06:48 - Well worth catching.
06:49 - We won't go too deep into it, but it does look good.
06:51 And Anthony Hopkins is, I mean,
06:52 when's Anthony Hopkins bad?
06:54 - Yes, no, absolutely.
06:55 And I mean, this is a real,
06:56 he's in this late kind of career purple patch.
06:58 He did "The Father",
07:00 which I think got nominated for an Oscar for,
07:01 and that was amazing performance as well.
07:03 And he just seems to be giving these
07:05 really incredible performances
07:08 as older men going through that aging process.
07:13 And he isn't trying to play younger or anything like that.
07:15 He's very much playing his age
07:16 and he's playing it beautifully.
07:17 And I would just go and see anything that he was in
07:19 'cause I find everything he does very touching
07:21 and he's just a wonderful actor.
07:24 - Yeah, he's fantastic.
07:25 A really, really brilliant actor.
07:27 But there was one film that we both saw.
07:28 Now I'm meant to be doing "Christmas Shop"
07:31 and haven't really done that.
07:33 And I can't even say it's 'cause I've been going
07:35 to the cinema, it's just because I've been playing
07:37 on my NBA game far too much.
07:40 But I did go to the cinema at one point
07:42 and there was one film I think we said ages ago
07:45 of what I was most excited for at the end of 2024.
07:48 - This time last year we were talking about it, I think.
07:50 Yeah, absolutely.
07:51 - 2023 I spoke about actually, so I'm saying 2024.
07:53 I don't live in the future.
07:55 But it came obviously this month
07:58 and not as much fanfare as I thought it was gonna have
08:01 when it first got announced that Timothy Chamolet
08:05 was gonna be playing Wonka and playing his origin story.
08:08 Now we all know Willy Wonka, Roald Dahl's
08:10 were amazing films, amazing movies.
08:12 And origin stories are kind of in at the moment.
08:14 And I kind of like them because it gives you
08:16 a bit more freedom to go with a character
08:17 that's already interesting but make a new story
08:20 which is why I thought "Joker" was so damn good.
08:22 I don't know if everyone agrees with that.
08:25 I thought it was clever and a different way to go with it.
08:28 So I was a bit like, "Hmm, well not many people
08:30 "have really been that into Wonka."
08:32 But then your standard IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes
08:35 tend to give critics decent reviews
08:37 and also audience have given decent reviews.
08:42 Now I had quite a weird experience seeing Wonka.
08:45 So before I'll let you know what exactly happened
08:47 in my cinema, we went to see it, me, my friend and Ashley,
08:52 all three of us together.
08:54 And about 20 minutes from the end,
08:57 like literally, I'll be honest, the best part,
09:00 the fire alarm went off.
09:01 So everyone had to go out to the cinema.
09:04 - It's never happened to me in the cinema ever before.
09:06 That's a weird thing.
09:08 - You have been in the cinema with a power cut on Friday.
09:10 - I have been in a cinema with a power cut
09:11 and I've been in a cinema where they've played
09:14 the entire film upside down.
09:16 And at the start of the movie,
09:17 because it was a bit of an arty film
09:19 and literally for the first five minutes,
09:20 everyone's going, "Oh, I see what the director is doing.
09:22 "This is very clever."
09:23 Before someone realizes, no, it's just upside down.
09:26 - Oh no.
09:27 But I didn't have that.
09:29 That would have been a bit weird.
09:30 But yeah, about 20, 25 minutes from the end,
09:33 it literally just died on us.
09:35 And it was like, I mean,
09:37 Wonka is a wonderfully bright, booming movie
09:40 in many ways, whimsical, it's wonderful.
09:43 And then all of a sudden, it literally made that noise.
09:45 It went, (imitates car engine roaring)
09:47 and everyone went, "Oh."
09:50 And the lights came on and everyone had to go out
09:52 and the entire cinema was evacuated.
09:53 So you had other people come out with the films
09:55 and stuff like that as well,
09:56 which can sometimes kill your enjoyment of a movie,
09:59 if I'm honest.
10:00 But it didn't.
10:01 If I'm completely frank,
10:03 I kind of got away with it, I think.
10:06 And I was expecting Wonka to be pleasant,
10:08 but maybe not as good as I wanted it to be.
10:10 But I'm really pleased to say I really liked it.
10:13 Like really, really liked it.
10:14 It was, for me, a really good Christmas film.
10:16 I think, I've said this before,
10:18 one of my favorite films of last year was "Bones and All,"
10:21 which is obviously very different to Wonka,
10:24 like very, very different.
10:26 But I'm a really big fan of Timothee Chalamet.
10:28 I find his relationship with the Kardashians
10:34 a bit of an odd one at the moment,
10:35 but that's up to him.
10:36 He can do what he wants.
10:37 He is Timothee Chalamet, after all.
10:39 He has cheekbones that will take your eyes out
10:41 if you get too close.
10:42 - And those eyes, those eyes, his eyes are remarkable.
10:45 But anyway, yes, we must stop.
10:46 - No, he's a very good looking man.
10:48 I'm not, I can't even begin to deny it,
10:52 but I do feel like his cheekbones would take out my eyes.
10:55 But I thought, so Johnny Depp,
10:58 I thought was a good one, Willy Wonka.
11:00 Almost said something completely wrong then.
11:04 And of course, Gene Simmons is Willy Wonka.
11:09 - Not Gene Simmons, we've done this before, haven't we?
11:11 - Oh my God, Gene Wilder, yes.
11:13 - Having said that, Gene Simmons
11:16 would be a very interesting Wonka.
11:18 That should be the next one.
11:19 He could do old Wonka, so he could do like,
11:22 he could do one way after Gene Wilder.
11:25 And it'd be Gene Simmons with all his media for it.
11:29 It'd be good.
11:30 - Want to try some of my chocolate?
11:31 (imitates Wonka)
11:34 - I'd watch it.
11:35 (imitates Wonka)
11:38 - Yes, Gene Wilder is a Willy Wonka.
11:43 But I thought, you know, Timothy Chamolet,
11:45 because he's so famous and he's one of like
11:49 the hottest properties on the planet at the minute.
11:51 Like I wasn't sure 100% if he could take it off,
11:54 even though I really liked him, but I think he really did.
11:57 Like he was really believable as Wonka.
11:59 That's who I seen him as.
12:00 I wasn't going, "Oh my God, it's Timothy Chamolet."
12:02 I was like, "Oh, that's Wonka, okay."
12:04 I thought the other characters in it were really good.
12:06 And I know a lot of people haven't seen it.
12:09 So I'm kind of probably like just firing at people
12:13 who haven't seen this anyway.
12:14 But if you haven't seen it and you enjoyed Wonka,
12:18 I felt it was really similar in parts
12:22 to "Meek Max" by Jean-Pierre Janais.
12:26 - Yeah.
12:27 - When he's like in the underground
12:29 and he has all these people that team up together
12:30 to kind of get back at the people that have like wronged him.
12:33 And that's one of my favorite films ever.
12:36 Like I'm a big Janais fan.
12:37 We've discussed that like "Thor Kingdom"
12:38 come over the past however many years we've done this.
12:41 Oh my God, we've been doing this years.
12:43 But I feel like Wonka was a real big success
12:46 and I'm really, really pleased that it was.
12:48 I give it an eight out of 10.
12:50 And I don't like musicals.
12:51 I'm not massively like into the story of Wonka.
12:55 I'm not massively against it,
12:56 but I wouldn't say like I live my life by it.
12:59 I enjoyed the Johnny Depp version.
13:02 I of course enjoyed the Gene Wilder version.
13:06 But I thought this was really good.
13:09 I thought it was a good origin story.
13:10 It didn't go deeper than it needed to go.
13:13 It kind of skimmed the surface on some things,
13:15 but it was pretty solid.
13:16 I really liked it.
13:17 I think it would be a good Christmas film
13:19 in time to come as well.
13:20 - No, I completely agree.
13:21 And it is one of these things we're talking about in work,
13:22 are there, about Christmas films
13:23 which aren't actually Christmas films.
13:25 And there's no hint of Christmas in this,
13:27 but it feels like Christmas film.
13:28 It feels like the sort of thing
13:29 that you want to go and see in December.
13:31 And I'm amazed it's not done better.
13:32 I think there is a debate
13:34 that maybe it's gonna have quite a long run at the cinema
13:36 because it's gonna run right the way
13:38 through Christmas and New Year.
13:39 And when kids are off school,
13:41 maybe the numbers will start going up.
13:43 But I think it deserves to be a massive success.
13:45 Like you say, I think he makes a great Wonka.
13:47 I didn't think I was gonna like it.
13:48 Like I went to it thinking,
13:49 I'm not sure this is gonna be very good.
13:50 It's had some slightly sniffy reviews,
13:52 but I think that he really does.
13:54 I mean, he clearly is attempting
13:56 to be a bit like Gene Wilder.
13:57 Some of the script, there's some echoes of lines
13:59 from the Gene Wilder film in there.
14:01 There's also bits of music from the Gene Wilder film.
14:04 It's very much trying to get rid of the Johnny Depp one.
14:07 I mean, it's not really,
14:08 it's kind of pretending that film doesn't exist,
14:10 which I don't really mind about that much.
14:13 But I think he's just an absolutely wonderful Wonka.
14:15 I think the music's great.
14:16 All the music's by Neil Hanna now to the Divine Comedy,
14:19 one of my favourite bands.
14:20 So that kind of worked for me as well.
14:22 And I love the thing,
14:22 because it's written by Simon Farnaby,
14:24 who also did Paddington.
14:26 It's got a lot in common with Paddington.
14:27 And it's got that kind of British sense of humour,
14:31 but it's quite warm and lovely,
14:32 but it's got American stars in it.
14:34 And you've got that lovely kind of juxtaposition
14:35 where there's lots of very famous actors in it.
14:37 So, I mean, other than Shalomé,
14:39 you've got Hugh Grant, who's brilliant as Oompa Loompa.
14:42 He basically steals entire film.
14:44 You've got Olivia Colman, who's won an Oscar.
14:46 You've got Sally Hawkins, who's won an Oscar.
14:48 But then you've got people like Rich Fulcher,
14:51 who was in "The Mighty Boosh".
14:52 You've got Izzy Sutty, who's a standup comedian.
14:55 And most weirdly, Phil Wang is in it,
14:57 the comedian who was in "Taskmaster".
14:59 And I really like Phil Wang.
15:00 And there's a point where Phil Wang,
15:01 who's a fairly middling standup comedian,
15:04 gets to dance with Timothee Chalamet in a film.
15:07 I just thought, I never thought I'd see that.
15:09 Kind of like a fever dream.
15:10 It's like someone very famous
15:11 and someone not really famous
15:13 having kind of an equal part in that part of the film.
15:16 Yeah, I just thought it was great.
15:17 The story was great.
15:18 Songs were great.
15:20 I loved it.
15:21 I'd give it more than an eight out of 10.
15:22 I'd give it a nine out of 10, I think,
15:23 'cause I just came out of the cinema smiling.
15:26 I just thought it looked lovely.
15:26 It was dead funny.
15:28 I think it's a proper family film
15:29 that it doesn't talk down to the kids,
15:31 but it doesn't do that thing where you have double jokes.
15:33 You know, there's no kind of do-bon-tondras
15:35 or anything like that in it.
15:36 It is just funny.
15:37 It's just a funny film.
15:38 Things that happen in it are funny.
15:40 So yeah, I would recommend it to anybody for Christmas.
15:42 And it's wonderful for the whole family to go to.
15:44 I might well try to go and see it again this Christmas.
15:46 I might try to take my parents to it,
15:48 'cause I think they'd love it as well.
15:49 And I can't imagine anybody wouldn't want to.
15:51 And you know what?
15:51 I'd be somewhat suspicious of someone
15:53 who went to that film and genuinely didn't enjoy it.
15:55 'Cause they just go,
15:56 "Well, how would you not enjoy that film?"
15:57 It's fun, it's funny, it's colourful,
15:59 the songs, the dance, it's just fun.
16:02 So go and see it and enjoy it.
16:04 I think the best Christmas film that's out this year.
16:06 I can't think that's got much competition.
16:08 - I'd agree with that.
16:09 - Yeah, yeah.
16:09 So fingers crossed,
16:10 it'll do a lot of business between now and New Year.
16:12 And it's gonna be in cinemas
16:13 until the middle of January, I think.
16:14 So fingers crossed it's got a long run,
16:17 'cause it deserves success, definitely.
16:19 - I thought Kegan-Michael Key was really good as well.
16:22 - He's really good.
16:23 Yeah, yeah, he's brilliant.
16:24 And again, you didn't expect to see him, did you?
16:25 It's like, "Oh, look!"
16:26 And there's lots of moments like that where you go,
16:27 "Oh, look, it's thingy, it's that guy
16:30 that I know from that thing."
16:31 And I liked that in films as well.
16:32 It's a huge cast, loads of people.
16:34 - I mean, like Olivia Colman was really different as well.
16:37 - She was.
16:37 She had amazing teeth, didn't she?
16:38 Yeah.
16:39 - Yeah, amazing wouldn't have been the word I used,
16:42 but here we are nonetheless.
16:45 - I thought the little bit that Rowan Atkinson did was good.
16:48 - Yeah, it was good.
16:49 You see, using people to their strengths, I think.
16:52 - It did make me laugh, Kegan-Michael Key getting fatter
16:56 with the chocolate that he ate.
16:58 I felt it would have been easy not to do that,
17:02 but it was handled in a really good way.
17:03 It wasn't poking fun at him.
17:04 It was just like, "Look how much this guy loves chocolate
17:06 and how easy he is convinced just to let complete crimes
17:09 of millions and billions of pounds go
17:11 just because he got a box full of chocolate
17:14 that is bigger than his own car."
17:16 And you kind of need that in "Wonker," I think.
17:19 - You do, you do.
17:20 Yeah, there is an edge to it.
17:21 People say it doesn't have a lot of edge,
17:22 but I think that is one.
17:23 There are slightly edgy bits.
17:25 There's bits that I think Roald Dahl would approve of,
17:27 you know, because they're not nasty, nasty,
17:28 but it isn't all sunshine and light either.
17:31 There are some properly horrible characters
17:32 and bad things happen to good people.
17:35 Yeah, no, love it.
17:37 Absolutely love it.
17:37 - I know.
17:38 I thought it was really, really good.
17:40 You touched on Rich Fulcher being in it and stuff as well.
17:42 That was really good.
17:44 - Yeah, I really liked it.
17:45 I think I'm giving it a really good endorsement.
17:47 Probably deserve another "Truth Be Told."
17:51 And we haven't even really touched that much
17:54 on Matt Lucas, who is consistently brilliant.
17:57 And for some reason, people forget
17:59 that he dressed up as a baby for many years
18:01 and played drums on "Shooting Stars"
18:04 and became the bizarre, hilarious comedian
18:06 that he was in that TV show alongside Bob Mortimer,
18:10 who's one of the best people that has ever existed
18:12 on the face of this planet.
18:14 Anyway, films we are excited for next year.
18:17 Now, I have only looked at January
18:19 because I wanted to do that.
18:21 I wanna look at things that are coming in January.
18:23 So when you listen to this,
18:24 if you are listening to it, all 10 of you can go,
18:26 ah, yes, hmm, I can go see that next month.
18:29 So we did touch on "One Life,"
18:30 which I think we've spoke about enough,
18:32 but you should go see that.
18:33 I'm excited for that.
18:34 For me, probably the one I'm most excited for at the minute
18:39 is, well, there's a few, but "Poor Things"
18:42 I'm really excited for.
18:43 I'm very frustrated.
18:46 I was incredibly unwell
18:47 and I had tickets for the premiere in Scotland this year,
18:49 which really frustrated me.
18:51 But for those unaware, it's from the same director
18:53 who did "The Killing of a Sacred Deer,"
18:55 which is, I think this guy's really, really clever
18:59 in terms of the things that he does.
19:02 Like, the idea behind "Poor Things" is actually nuts,
19:06 but it kinda works at the same time
19:08 and very similar in the sense
19:10 to the way that "The Killing of a Sacred Deer" was,
19:12 which I've touched on, I think, before previously,
19:14 but the guy is called Yorgos Lanthimos,
19:17 I think it's pronounced?
19:18 - Yorgos Lanthimos, yes, that's absolutely right.
19:19 Yorgos is the favorite with which won
19:23 Olivia Colman her first Oscar.
19:25 So, okay. - Oh, okay.
19:26 - It works in with Wonka as well.
19:29 - But he's just clever.
19:30 Like, I mean, I think I've spoke before
19:32 on "Killing of a Sacred Deer,"
19:33 and we're not talking about that,
19:34 so I won't go too deep into it.
19:35 It's "Poor Things" we're speaking about,
19:36 but the idea behind "Poor Things" is there is a person,
19:41 I just believe, who is like an assistant to a surgeon
19:45 who falls in love with a woman who I think is these ward,
19:48 and she's like a childlike woman played by Emma Stone,
19:53 and she basically dies in one way or another.
19:58 He gets a corpse, which you can already see,
20:01 well, this is kinda going a bit weird,
20:03 but this is probably why I'm quite excited for it,
20:05 'cause I think the twists and the ideas he has
20:07 are really different and clever and really dark.
20:10 But he basically realizes he can resurrect it
20:12 by just switching her brain with a living baby,
20:14 but that then gives her like an infant's brain.
20:17 Now, obviously, I haven't seen it.
20:20 I don't know where it's gonna go.
20:21 It could be awful.
20:21 It could be totally sick,
20:22 but I think if you look at who's in the film
20:25 and who's agreed to be in it already,
20:28 Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, there we go.
20:32 I'm so- - It's going to be fantastic.
20:33 It's gonna be fantastic.
20:34 And also, considering we are talking
20:37 on behalf of "The Scotsman" here,
20:38 it was written by a Scots Alastair Gray,
20:40 the late, great novelist who also did "Lanark" famously.
20:43 So it's a good thing for Scotland as well,
20:45 as Alastair Gray's work is getting kind of global
20:48 and is gonna be on the global stage, so to speak.
20:50 So yeah, I'm really excited about it too,
20:52 really excited about it.
20:53 - Yeah, absolutely.
20:54 I think that's gonna be a fab film,
20:56 and that's probably the thing I'm most looking forward to,
20:59 because I love all the actors I mentioned.
21:00 I don't think I've seen anything by them I don't like.
21:03 Love the story, got a Scottish connection,
21:05 love the director, mental, mental storyline.
21:09 It's gonna be crazy, but also fun,
21:12 and a bit different, and a bit dark.
21:13 Kind of works for me.
21:14 - Yes, looking forward to that too.
21:16 Well, I'm gonna start off, I'm gonna do a bit later.
21:17 This actually works quite well,
21:18 'cause none of my films are out in January,
21:20 so this is very good.
21:20 So we're gonna cover the front half of the year.
21:22 So my first one is out on April 26th,
21:26 or it might be April 20th, my handwriting's very bad.
21:29 I think it's April the 26th.
21:31 Civil War, so Civil War is a new film by Alex Garland,
21:35 who wrote lots of films before he directed.
21:37 So he wrote things like "The Beach,"
21:41 "28 Days Later," "Never Let Me Go,"
21:44 and lots of other great, great films.
21:46 He was a great writer first,
21:47 and he actually wrote the book of "The Beach,"
21:49 so he's a novelist first, but he's now directing.
21:51 And he's now one of the great sci-fi directors of our time,
21:54 along with someone else I'm gonna mention in a bit.
21:56 But he did "Ex Machina," and he did "Annihilation,"
21:59 which are both really, really clever, clever sci-fi films.
22:02 So "Civil War," one of the reasons
22:04 that I'm really looking forward to it
22:05 is 'cause of his involvement,
22:06 but also because Jesse Plemons plays one of the lead roles.
22:09 Jesse Plemons often plays slightly more minor roles.
22:12 He was the best thing
22:14 in the massively overrated "Killers of the Flower Moon."
22:17 And he plays the lead here,
22:18 along with Kirsten Dunst, and Kirsten Dunst,
22:21 we both love Kirsten Dunst as well.
22:22 So it's a really good cast,
22:24 and it's a great, great concept
22:27 in that it is about a group of journalists
22:30 who are traveling across a USA
22:32 that is plunged into civil war.
22:34 Now, which you might say is going to be
22:37 in about two years' time.
22:38 So it's doing that sci-fi thing
22:39 where it's going a little bit into the future
22:42 and going into a world
22:44 which I think we could all see horribly
22:46 there is a chance of happening.
22:48 Now, I don't know anything else about the film,
22:50 but I just think that idea of the USA
22:54 in the middle of civil war,
22:55 and journalists within that, we are journalists.
22:57 I really like the idea of it,
22:58 and I think it's going to be a great film.
22:59 I don't think there's even been a trailer of it yet,
23:02 but I'm really looking forward to that.
23:03 So that's "Civil War,"
23:04 and it's also an A24 film,
23:06 and we've talked about A24 a lot.
23:08 It's a proper A24 film.
23:10 They were involved in it from the beginning.
23:13 And yes, I think it'll be fantastic.
23:14 So "Civil War" is my first choice.
23:16 - My second choice will shock nobody,
23:20 but it's a horror.
23:21 And I only came across this, like, today,
23:24 to be honest with you.
23:25 I don't really know how it's kind of missed my radar,
23:29 'cause it's out fairly soon.
23:31 And I think when it comes to horror heads,
23:34 a lot of us kind of go back into the glory days of the '80s
23:36 when we had, like, Wes Craven and all that kind of stuff,
23:39 or the mid '90s when he came back.
23:41 But there's been a guy, two guys,
23:45 that I think have been really good at making horrors
23:48 over the past few years,
23:50 and they don't have to be, like, Ari Aster.
23:52 They don't have to be new directors or anything like that.
23:55 And that's James Wan and Jason Blum.
23:58 - Yes.
24:00 - Because they just do good horror films.
24:02 They don't have to reinvent the wheel half the time,
24:04 but I very rarely watch a film
24:06 that one of them have been involved with,
24:07 or both of them, and go, "Mm, that wasn't very good."
24:10 Most of them, 90 to 95%, I've liked at least seven out of 10.
24:15 And I'm quite intrigued by the new movie "Night Swim,"
24:19 which is that next movie.
24:20 - I haven't even heard of that.
24:22 - Well, here's the thing.
24:24 What do you kind of want
24:26 when the festive loveliness dies off?
24:29 Yeah, you want to know about "A Haunted Swimming Pool."
24:32 - I'm in.
24:34 I'm in for "A Haunted Swimming Pool."
24:35 You don't have to tell me anything else.
24:36 You've sold it.
24:37 That is the elevator pitch.
24:39 It's about "A Haunted Swimming Pool."
24:41 - Great, great, great idea.
24:43 "A Haunted Swimming Pool,"
24:44 and it's basically following a guy
24:46 who is a baseball player who has retired
24:51 because he has an early retirement due to an injury.
24:55 So obviously, it's all very sad, isn't it,
24:57 that he's had to retire early
24:59 'cause he has a degenerative illness, is all it says.
25:02 Now, he moves to a new house
25:04 with his wife and his two children,
25:06 and it's got a backyard swimming pool
25:08 like a lot of places in America do,
25:09 especially in the warmer climates.
25:11 However, there's a malevolent force
25:16 that drags the family into the depths
25:18 of inescapable terror, which is kind of a giveaway,
25:21 to be honest, if it's inescapable.
25:23 And it is the backyard swimming pool is haunted.
25:27 Now, that sounds great.
25:29 And if people don't know of Jason Blum and James Wan,
25:34 most recent films really have been like "The Black Phone,"
25:37 "Meghan," "Insidious," various "Insidious" films.
25:44 And it has Kerry Condon.
25:46 She plays the wife, I think, who I really, really like.
25:49 I think she's been in some really, really good films.
25:52 She was in "Banjo's Vanishing Era,"
25:54 and if anyone hasn't seen it, she's really funny in that.
25:57 Kind of interested to see how she's gonna work
25:59 in a horror movie about a haunted swimming pool.
26:01 But I mean, it's from people who I know
26:04 have good form in horror,
26:06 and it's about a haunted swimming pool.
26:07 What more do you want?
26:09 - No, I will definitely be going to see it, sir.
26:11 Like, I'm going to book my tickets now.
26:13 It's an absolute slam dunk for me.
26:14 Brilliant.
26:15 - It's like teeth.
26:17 When you heard what teeth was about,
26:18 you kind of went, "Ah, yeah, of course."
26:20 Yeah.
26:21 - Anything haunted, anything strange that's haunted,
26:23 like haunted tires in rubber,
26:26 a haunted coat in deer skin.
26:29 I was very much up for that.
26:31 Any strange things haunted, yeah.
26:32 - If you told me there was a film about a haunted fart,
26:36 I would go and see it.
26:37 - Yeah, I think you should pitch that.
26:38 I think you've definitely got something there.
26:42 - On that bombshell, my second choice is-
26:46 - That will be a storyline that stinks.
26:48 - You've got it.
26:50 You've got the tagline, you've got the poster.
26:51 My second choice, there's a lot of sequels out next year.
26:56 Like a lot of really good sequels.
26:58 Inside Out, two of my favourite Pixar films.
27:00 They've not done anything for ages, Pixar,
27:01 not for about two or three years,
27:02 so they had a proper hit film.
27:04 Looking forward to that.
27:05 Joker 2, which I presume would be one of your picks,
27:07 but that's like, apparently it's a musical.
27:09 Amazing.
27:10 That sounds quite good.
27:11 - I go in as well.
27:13 - Yeah, yeah.
27:14 But my pick of the sequels is Dune 2.
27:16 Now, again, coming circle from Wonka,
27:21 Timothée Chalamet, Wills Bruins in the first one.
27:23 The first one was a terrific bit of sci-fi.
27:26 I think Denis Villeneuve, we were talking about,
27:31 we were talking about Alex Garland.
27:32 I think Denis Villeneuve now is
27:35 the greatest sci-fi director working currently.
27:38 He did Blade Runner, he did Arrival,
27:40 which we both love, and he did the first part of Dune.
27:43 Now, it's taken two and a half years
27:44 to get the second part of Dune.
27:46 I can't remember the first film.
27:47 I'm gonna have to watch the first film before watching this
27:50 'cause I've got no idea what I'm doing.
27:51 I can remember being frustrated at the end
27:52 'cause thinking it was a great film, but it just stops.
27:54 There's not even really that much of a cliffhanger.
27:56 It just stops, and that was quite frustrating.
27:59 And after seeing the second part of the Musketeers,
28:02 there was only eight months between the two films
28:03 and that kind of worked,
28:04 but this thing of doing part one of a film,
28:06 then waiting two and a half years, I'm not a fan of it,
28:08 but I am a fan of the original film.
28:10 I will watch it again,
28:11 and then I'll go and see another three hours, whatever.
28:14 It's got all of the original cast are back in there.
28:17 So Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, and obviously Timothee Chalamet.
28:21 Joining the cast, Florence Pugh,
28:24 Leah Seydoux, who again is one of our favorites,
28:28 Austin Butler, Hot Off Elvis, and Christopher Walken.
28:33 I mean, that's a good additional cast for any film.
28:36 So very excited about the cast,
28:37 very excited about the plot.
28:39 I know you're not a fan.
28:40 I know you've not even seen the first film,
28:42 but I would say if you fancy watching
28:45 a long sci-fi over Christmas,
28:47 June part one is very good,
28:49 and I'm looking forward to the second one.
28:50 It's out on the 15th of March,
28:51 so not that much longer to wait.
28:53 - Have you ever seen Tottenham or Christopher Walken,
28:57 who I really like as an actor?
29:02 Have you ever seen when he was presenting
29:05 like some show in America,
29:07 and Foo Fighters were the special guests?
29:09 Like Dave Grohl tells a story,
29:10 and Dave Grohl's like, he says,
29:12 Christopher Walken was like,
29:14 "It's the emphasis on the Foo or the Fighters."
29:19 And he's like, "Fighters?"
29:22 Even though it's really not.
29:23 And he says he introduced them on the TV shows.
29:26 "Welcome to the stage, ladies and gentlemen, Foo Fighters!"
29:30 (all laughing)
29:31 It's very funny.
29:31 It still makes me laugh.
29:34 Whenever I see Foo Fighters now,
29:35 I just think, "Foo Fighters!"
29:37 But yeah, I love Christopher Walken,
29:39 love him in "Seven Psychopaths,"
29:40 one of my favorite films ever.
29:42 So my third film that I'm most excited for,
29:47 again, is a January release.
29:48 And I kind of know it's not gonna be as good
29:51 as the original,
29:52 because that would just spit in the eye
29:54 of millennials like myself.
29:56 But am I excited for a musical "Mean Girls?"
29:59 Of course I am.
30:01 - Yeah, I'm trying not to get too excited,
30:03 'cause I don't want to be disappointed.
30:05 Always.
30:07 - You've gotta go with an open mind to it, I think.
30:09 It's like, you're never gonna get another Damien.
30:11 You'll get another version of,
30:12 but Damien is like,
30:14 like one of the greatest characters of all time, period.
30:17 Lindsay Lohan's crowning moment
30:21 will be remembered till the day that she dies,
30:24 and beyond that, which is hopefully never,
30:26 because I love Lindsay Lohan.
30:28 And Gretchen Wieners.
30:32 I mean, we're still like,
30:33 I did a TikTok of "Mean Girls" the other day,
30:37 and we're talking like it's going over 20 years
30:39 since it was first released.
30:40 Tina Fey's released an absolute gem of a film in 2002, 2003.
30:44 That'll be forever remembered.
30:46 And if you can offer me more of it, then fair enough.
30:49 I mean, let's not talk about "Mean Girls" too,
30:51 'cause that kind of nullifies my point.
30:53 But for me, "Mean Girls" is just,
30:55 it's the film of my time.
30:57 I'm kind of getting on board with musicals these days.
31:01 Wonka's kind of helped with that.
31:02 And "Rocky Horror" always used to help,
31:06 I guess, with that as well.
31:08 But really, like, the idea of it,
31:10 it can go one of two ways.
31:12 And if it's bad, or it's not that enjoyable,
31:15 we've still got "Mean Girls," it's fine.
31:17 You don't have to worry about it.
31:18 It doesn't kill the other movie.
31:19 It still exists.
31:20 But it could be good.
31:21 It could be good. - I'll definitely go and see it.
31:23 I kind of think that it should have been released by now,
31:25 'cause it feels like a Christmas film again,
31:27 going to see "Mean Girls" the musical.
31:28 It feels like kind of trying to be saying,
31:30 "Have a couple of glasses of Muld's wine
31:32 "and go to the cinema with your mates."
31:33 - I heard this the other day that someone said
31:35 "Mean Girls" was a Christmas film.
31:36 And I tend to think Christmas films
31:38 can be whatever you want them to be.
31:40 However, I'm fighting against that.
31:41 But there is a really valid point
31:44 that sort of part of it is set at Christmas time.
31:48 - It is, yeah.
31:49 So I think that makes it a Christmas film.
31:52 I think if any part of a film is at Christmas,
31:54 I think you can argue that it is a Christmas film.
31:56 And then other films-- - It's been so much.
31:59 - Yeah, I suppose.
32:01 But then again, "Miracle on 32nd Street",
32:06 "42nd Street", that was released in summer.
32:10 We can't remember which street it is.
32:13 But that is a Christmas film.
32:14 It is about Santa Claus.
32:15 That was originally released in the summer.
32:17 So it doesn't hold.
32:18 - I'm a bit sad they haven't released
32:20 a good Christmas movie this year
32:21 that's literally about Christmas.
32:23 Like I thought last year "Violent Night" was really good.
32:25 - Yeah, it was good.
32:26 Yeah, no, it's funny that it got,
32:27 which again is why I thought maybe "Mean Girls" musical,
32:30 there is a kind of gap in the market there,
32:31 which I think Wonka is gonna fill.
32:33 But you would have thought they'd maybe try to get another,
32:35 'cause you know, musicals are kind of festive.
32:38 And it's good that you're getting musicals
32:40 just in time for "Joker 2",
32:42 because that is apparently a musical.
32:44 So this is timed very well.
32:45 But anyway, onto my final selection.
32:48 And I just do this to wind you up, really,
32:50 'cause it's gonna be a slightly pretentious one,
32:52 'cause I thought I may as well end the year
32:53 in that kind of style.
32:55 It's not all that pretentious.
32:56 It's my favorite director again, Hiro Koreida.
33:01 Fantastic Korean director who I adore.
33:03 His latest film is out on the 15th of March.
33:06 You'll be very pleased to hear.
33:08 It's called "Monster".
33:09 It was in competition in Cannes this year.
33:11 It's taken me a bit of time to come out in the UK,
33:12 which often happens with South Korean films.
33:15 It won the Queer Pan in Cannes.
33:17 So not the main prize,
33:18 but the prize that goes to films that deal with queer topics.
33:22 It's about, it's got a great setup,
33:24 like all of Koreida's films do.
33:26 It's about a mother whose son behaves oddly,
33:29 starts behaving oddly,
33:31 and she suspects that it's to do with the teacher
33:33 at school doing something,
33:35 which we're not terribly sure what it is,
33:36 but she thinks he's done something to her child.
33:40 She confronts him, and it isn't what she thought it was.
33:44 And that's what the kind of thing is.
33:46 You can understand the kind of things
33:48 I'm talking about here.
33:48 I don't know what it's about.
33:49 That's all I've read about it,
33:51 'cause I don't like reading too much
33:52 in the way of plot before going to the film.
33:54 But it's called "Monster".
33:55 These films are always worth going to see.
33:57 There's two or three of his films
33:59 in my top 50 films of all time.
34:01 So "Monster", go and see it on the 15th of March.
34:04 You'll definitely enjoy it, I promise.
34:06 - Yeah, you know what?
34:07 I like a bit of Korean cinema.
34:08 Like, I know I give you a stick for being pretentious,
34:10 but like, Korean cinema, it tends not miss, shall we say,
34:15 and hence why "Parasite" was a well-overdue
34:22 winner of an Oscar.
34:23 Like, let's be honest, there's tons of things
34:26 that could have won that were from Korea before that.
34:29 We've got like a minute 30 left,
34:31 so I know that people might,
34:33 we've got five days till Christmas,
34:35 so plenty of things to watch.
34:37 And everyone recommends "Die Hard"
34:38 and yada, yada, yada, yada, yada.
34:39 And "Die Hard" is amazing,
34:40 it deserves everything.
34:41 "Lethal Weapon", also amazing.
34:42 However, I want you to give a recommendation
34:47 and a one-line recommendation so you can see the film,
34:50 and then you've got one sentence as to why,
34:52 for which alternative Christmas film
34:54 people should watch this year,
34:56 and then I'll give mine.
34:57 - "A Christmas Story", it's an American Christmas film
35:01 that's massively popular over there,
35:02 it's never been popular here,
35:04 and I've never understood why.
35:05 That's my one line.
35:09 - What film is it?
35:11 - "A Christmas Story".
35:13 - Oh, okay.
35:14 (laughing)
35:15 - Maybe that's the reason it's not that popular,
35:17 'cause everyone goes, "What?"
35:18 "A Christmas Story."
35:19 - Yeah.
35:20 I thought you were gonna tell me
35:21 what "A Christmas Story" was.
35:23 Mine is something I keep recommending
35:25 that I don't think people see as a Christmas film,
35:27 but I'm determined to do it.
35:28 I've wrote it in every single article
35:30 that I've said is an alternative Christmas film.
35:32 And it is set in the snow,
35:35 which turns red very, very fast.
35:38 It's got Nazi zombies in it.
35:40 - Yes, it does.
35:42 - And someone's brain gets removed,
35:43 and it's called "Dead Snow".
35:45 Watch it, it's Christmas 'cause it's got snow in it.
35:48 - Can I go for that one as well, please?
35:50 - Yeah, and if not, "Batman Returns".
35:53 - Or "Gremlins".
35:54 - Or "Die Hard".
35:58 (laughing)
35:59 - But never "Die Hard 2".
36:01 - Never "Die Hard 2", or "3", or "4".
36:03 Perfect, thank you very much.
36:06 - Have a great Christmas when it comes, bye.
36:07 - Yes, you too.
36:08 (upbeat music)
36:12 (upbeat music)
36:15 (upbeat music)
36:18 (upbeat music)
36:20 [MUSIC]