One with the Films

Released in 2011, The Intouchables has a runtime of 2h 11 minutes and was made on a budget of US$11m and had a relatively small opening weekend of only 4 theatres but went on to make US$101k anyway. Its worldwide box office was north of US$480 mil making it the most successful French language film of all time in… are you ready? Germany (8.9M tickets), Spain (2.5M tickets), Italy (2.5M), Netherlands (1.2M), Switzerland, Austria, Israel, Denmark, Iceland, Estonia, South Korea (1.7M tickets), Mexico (1.6M), Brazil (1M), Colombia (500000 tickets), Venezuela, Peru, Hong Kong, New-Zealand and Norway. 

It is the second most successful French language film of all time second only to 2008’s Welcome to the Sticks. It stars Omar Sy, and Francois Cluzet and is wholesome comedy-drama with an IMDB score of 8.5 from 868k ratings, a Letterboxd score of 4/5. It was adapted into 2019’s The Upside starring Bryan Cranston and Kevin Hart. Which… well lets not talk about that.

Released in 2005, this film was nominated for 4 oscars including Best Actress, Art Direction, Costume Design and Original Score and was crafted on a budget of 28 mil USD, making back nearly 5x its budget at 122 mil with a 3 mil opening weekend. It has a metacritic score of 82, a 7.8 on imdb from 302k reviews and a 4.2/5 on Letterboxd. It was directed by Joe Wright, also known for Darkest Hour, Atonement, The Soloist and 2021’s Cyrano! This film is adapted from the novel of the same name by Jane Austen and has been adapted to film 17 times since 1938… one of which included zombies. It stars the wonderful Keira Knightly and the Wambsgans himself, Matthew Macfayden in a love story period piece as old as time itself!

Released on the 25th of Jan 2015, and adapted from the book of the same name by its own author on a relatively small budget of $8M USD it had a teeny opening at only $196k USD but went on to make $9.1M USD world wide. It has a Metascore of 74 and a 77 on iMDB from 133k reviews and is certified Fresh with 81% Critics and 86% Audience scores on RT. It was directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon and stars a wonderful trio in Thomas Mann, Olivia Cooke who is now quite well known for her performance in HOTD and was the debut of RJ Cyler. It took home both the grand jury surprise and the audience award at Sundance the year it premiered as well as a bunch of other awards across other film festivals as well and won the hearts of many, many people…

This week there's no K, but there lu'K'e instead.

Cannot stress enough the need to watch this film before listening! Massive Spoiler Alert!

One Cut of the Dead is a Japanese horror/comedy that released in 2017. With a run time of 1h 36 min, It was made on a budget of $3 Million! Yen. So 25k. On its opening weekend in the US and Canada it grossed only $6360, but ultimately grossed 3.12 billion yen, or $31.2 million US making It… somewhat profitable.

It was written and directed by Shinichiro Ueda and stars Takayuki Hamatsu, Yuziki Akiyama and Harumi Shuhama, it features an action packed 37 minute onner which took 2 days and 6 takes to get right! According to one of the actors, they actually got it perfect on the second try but the camera stopped while filming which of course rendered it unusable – the entire film was actually shot in only 8 days, won nearly 30 awards across many film festivals and has a score of 86 on metacritic, 7.6 on iMDB from 26k reviews – and a 100% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Had some pesky audio issues in this one! I've tried my best to remove the noise. 

This week's episode is all about Ridley Scott's Legend!

Originally released in France on august 28 1985, it made its way to American screens on April 18 1986. On a modest budget $24.5mil it made back $23.5 mil with mixed reviews. Originally, the director Ridley Scott had considered Johnny Depp, Jim Carrey and Robert Downey Jr for the lead role but ultimately landed on Tom Cruise, with Mia Sara and Tim Curry playing the other leads. Tim Curry's makeup in this film is considered to be one of the most iconic images in all of fantasy cinema.

The special effects and make up were designed by Rob Bottin, who is well known for his work on John Carpenter's “the Thing”. They also burnt down an entire sound stage at Pinewood during production but luckily no one was hurt. The original cut of the film was over 2 hours long but after multiple test screenings it was cut all the way down to 89 minutes for a North American release, that being said they still screened a cut at 95 minutes for European audiences and Scott was quoted as saying  "European audiences are more sophisticated. They accepted preambles and subtleties whereas the U.S. goes for a much broader stroke” eventually, an unrated directors cut was released in 2002 with a run time of 114 minutes. Which has helped it earn its place as a cult classic! So there are actually 3 different version with 3 different endings! 

This year marked the beginning of the Weekly Watch List where each week, someone is introduced to a film for the first time! We give out some awards in a not at all tired format. 

We discuss in depth all our of new friends recommendations and ultimately choose our recommendation of the year!

Andor is over... but the rebellion has just begun! Welcome Suhaila and Nos along with Kay and Naf to break down the latest in Star Wars Television!

Labyrinth was released in 1986 on a budget of 25mil USD and made back only 13 million during its US run and 34 mil in total, leaving it mostly known as a box office disappointment, but as is the way with a lot of these passion projects, it went on to become an absolute cult classic! It was directed by Jim Henson and Produced by George Lucas, It won Hugo and BAFTA awards for its special effects. It stars David Bowie as Jareth the Goblin King, and Jennifer Connelly as Sarah Williams, a young girl navigating a labyrinth to save her baby brother. It features some of the greatest practical creature work every put to screen and pioneered a lot of unique visual effects methods allowing it to feel almost timeless even after all these years.

Schindler’s list was directed by Steven Spielberg and was released in 1993. It has a rating of 9 stars on IMDB from over 1.3m ratings and a metascore of 94. It was nominated for 12 Academy Awards and won 7 including best picture, original score, editing and Spielbergs first win as best director. It stars Liam Neeson as Oskar Schindler, a man who was integral in saving the lives of over 1000 jewish people during WWII. The film was crafted with a budget of $22mil and returned that plus another 300 million at the box office during its run. This is heralded as one of the greatest, most important films of all time and im sure any one who has seen it can absolutely understand why.