Fuds On Film

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.