Film Chat

Film Chat

By Film ChatTV & Film
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Film Chat episodes

  • 141. Murder on the Orient Express, No Stone Unturned & The Florida Project

    It takes a genius to play a genius, which is why Kenneth Branagh cast himself as Poirot in his adaptation of the classic Agatha Christie mystery, Murder on the Orient Express. Don't be surprised if you find yourself spontaneously weeping or wracked with uncontrollable spasms of laughter as you watch the legend hunt for clues—that's just the power of Branagh. The slightest furrow of his noble brow can melt the coldest heart and stir the most inert loins. It's hard to find words that do justice to the Great Man and his film (probably the greatest ever made), but we do our best in our review.


    We also look at the new Alex Gibney documentary No Stone Unturned, in which he investigates an unsolved massacre in Ireland with the tireless patience and forensic attention to detail of a Kenneth Branagh. Finally, we review The Florida Project, another delightful slice of "pop realism" from Tangerine director Sean Baker—who in my opinion is a Kenneth Branagh in the making.


    Plus, we check in with our fave hubristic corporate behemoths, Disney and Amazon. One is making a pointless-sounding TV series, the other has been lashing out unwisely at the LA Times. Listen to find out which is which!!


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    56 min
  • 140. The Silence of the Lambs, Thelma & The Killing of a Sacred Deer

    THIS week we pour ourselves a nice glass of Chianti and cook some fava beans to enjoy as we give a reappraisal of The Silence of the Lambs. It's generally considered to be a masterpiece but does that FilmChat hivemind agree? 


    THEN, Danny casts a critical eye over the supernatural coming of age film Thelma by Joaquim Trier. Was he bewitched by the film or did he think it should be drowned in a well? FYI the film is about witchcraft so that the last sentence was a brilliant joke.


    AND we give a scorching hot take on Yorgos Lanthimos latest slice of cultural satire/bleak tragicomedy in the form of The Killing of A Sacred Deer. Is Colin Farrell's performance in it better than his iconic turn as Bullseye in Dare Devil? I mean obviously of course not but it's still pretty good.


    PLUS we detail Disney's strongarming of cinemas in the build-up to the new Star Wars release, chat about the latest heads to roll in the ever-unfolding sexual harassment scandal and debate whether Antony's Hopkins performance as Odin in the Thor films is the one he'll be most remembered for.


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    55 min
  • 139. Call Me By Your Name, The Death of Stalin, & Thor: Ragnarok

    This week, we review the one millionth Marvel film, Thor: Ragnarok — a breezy, colourful adventure that shows that the studio has finally developed the confidence to include jokes in its movies. We also give our verdict on Luca Guadagnino's sumptuous and incredibly horny drama Call Me By Your Name and Armando Iannucci's The Death of Stalin, which sees the veteran satirist transferring the "sweary bureaucrats" mode of comedy he honed in The Thick of It to Soviet Russia, with bizarre results.


    PLUS! We discuss whether Woody Allen's newest project suggests he felt the romantic age gap in his film Manhattan was simply not wide enough, and Mark Wahlberg's inexplicable guilt over starring in by far the best film of his career.


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    55 min
  • 138. The Party, Brawl in Cell Block 99, The Meyerowitz Stories & The Mountain Between Us

    This week Film Chat sharpened its knives to deliver four career ending eviscerations of four mediocre projects that have the audacity to call themselves "films".


    First up Sam takes on The Party, Sally Potter's film about a bunch of middle-class twats bumming about. He didn't like it.


    THEN Danny reviews The Meyerowitz Stories, Noah Baumbach's film about a bunch of boring New Yorkers gazing up their own arses. He didn't care for it.


    THEN Sam tackles Brawl in Cell Block 99, S. Craig Zahler's film about Vince Vaughn being a righteous white guy doing some murders or something. He despised it.


    THEN Sam gets to grips with The Mountain Between Us, Hany Abu-Assad's film about a couple of self-obsessed rich wankers wandering about the wilderness. He thought it was shit.


    We also discuss how much we all fancy Colin Farrell.


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    1 hr 2 min
  • 137. Blade Runner 2049 & Daphne

    As Denis Villeneuve kept saying on the set of Blade Runner 2049: "It's Blade Runner time!" The much-anticipated sci-fi sequel has been hailed as a "cortex-wobbling spectacle of pure hallucinatory craziness" by the Guardian's Peter Bradshaw—but did we deem it worth of such lofty rhetoric or describe it merely as "not bad"? Tune in to find out. 


    Plus! Sam reviews Sam the lowkey British drama Daphne, we survey the unfolding horror of the Harvey Weinstein sexual assault scandal, and we talk about some Star Wars stuff.


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    50 min
  • 136. Kingsman 2: The Golden Circle
    It's no secret that Film Chat were not fans of the first entry into Matthew Vaughn's laddish spy franchise but, with our minds firmly closed, we trudged to the Peckham Plex to view Kingsman 2: The Golden Circle. What we witnessed was perhaps a Film Chat first - a film that was not at all disappointing and yet utterly shit at the same time. We also report the exciting news that the filmmaking wunderkinds Lord and Miller having just been left a film about a space smuggler are gearing up to shoot a film about a different space smuggler. That's the plan at least, there are rumours that Ron Howard has cleared his schedule for next spring.... PLUS a look at the latest film from Dr Sexy himself Joe Cornish and a thorough examination of the recent films that have grinded the gears of our listeners. In the words of genius auteur Matthew Vaughn "This is fucking brilliant and everyone will love it!"

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    53 min
  • 135. mother!, The Villainess, & Dispossession
    This week we review Darren Aronofsky's divisive psychological horror film mother!, a half-hearted effort by a timid hack who would've given his movie title at least three exclamation marks if he was committed to the sky-high concept. Just one "!"? Give it some welly Darren.Plus, we discuss, and give thumbs up to, the operatic Korean thriller The Villainess and social housing documentary Dispossession; we evaluate the prospects for a Watchmen TV series; and we ask why horror films love to put women through the ringer so much more than men.

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    57 min
  • 134. IT & Dennis Skinner: Nature of the Beast feat. Reel Politik
    It's a podcast crossover episode as Tom and Jack from the Reel Politik podcast join us to review the Kickstarted documentary Dennis Skinner: Nature of the Beast. It's an intimate portrait of the fearsome socialist MP that really nails why he is known as the Beast of Bolsover: his lilting singing voice, his Woody Allen fandom, and his love of trees.Then we review IT, the horror smash about a gang of youths being terrorised by a demonic clown. Most audience members have gone bananas for this latest adaptation but as a paedophobe, I found the children's treatment of Pennywise deeply upsetting.PLUS we wonder if Benedict Cumberbatch is capable of playing a non-posh, non-genius character, speculate about an exciting collaboration between Spike Lee and Jordan Peele and give British auteur Peter Strickland some fantastic title ideas for his next film.

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    1 hr 18 min
  • 133. Nocturama & Wind River
    This week we take a look at the ponderous crime thriller Wind River, which most critics seem to have liked but we thought was trite and pretentious—thus proving once and for all that we are smart and everyone else is dumb. Danny also reviews controversy-baiting terrorist drama Nocturama and finds time to teach Sam several elephant-related metaphors in the process.Plus! We mourn the death of Colin Trevorrow's Star Wars dreams, discuss Alice Lowe's high-concept follow-up to Prevenge, and marvel at the latest on-set japes of mercurial method-acting prankster Jared Leto.

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    53 min
  • 132. American Made & Logan Lucky
    It's outrageous caper week on this week's Film Chat as we review two films about working for, and sticking it to, the man. First up Sam reviews American Made the latest film from the ancient demonic entity known as Tom Cruise. You've seen this old man hang from planes (Mission Impossible 5), hang people from planes (Mission Impossible 3) but can he fly a plane? Of course he can, he's Tom Cruise. Then Sam and Danny join forces to review Logan Lucky the new film from Hollywood's hardest working retiree, Steven Soderbergh. In it Adam Driver is missing an arm, Seth MacFarlane has an English accent, but perhaps most strangely of all Daniel Craig is asked to do some acting. The results have to be seen to be believed. Plus, we discuss whether Ed Skrein is woke now, pore over the line-up for this year's London Film Festival and report a shocking expose of the unethical lengths Christopher Nolan goes to to realise his cinematic ambitions.

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    49 min

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We talk about films and try to make that entertaining for an audience.

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