Original Broadcast: The Business Of Film
James Cameron-Wilson found #1 Verity ridiculously enjoyable but for all the wrong reasons. Yet another Colleen Hoover adaptation, staring Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson, he found himself laughing at the ridiculous plot while others simply left the cinema. A thriller without a shred of credibility, be warned that all the twists are in the trailer. James approached #4, Alejandro Inarritu's Digger, with trepidation, having disliked his multi-award-winning Birdman. But he found it a brilliant film with important things to say. Imagine Dr. Strangelove but in the age of climate change and you get some idea of what you might expect. Although it stars Tom Cruise, his makeup is so good you forget it's him. Be aware, though, that it will polarise audiences. James wanted to see #35, Her Private Hell, as it's directed by Drive's Nicolas Winding Refn. But there is nothing remotely real about this ostensible thriller, which is spectacularly violent at times and constantly shifts tone. Whatever Refn wanted to achieve was lost on James.
Guests: James Cameron-Wilson
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Original Broadcast: Gadgets and Gizmos
Steve Caplin says that Google Maps will now guide you to find the cheapest – well, less expensive – petrol. With AI prompts often going wrong, scientists in Korea have developed a mind-reading AI which monitors brainwaves to realise when it's made a boo-boo. Starship Technologies' delivery robot has finished its trial in Sheffield, but not all its robots emerged unscathed. Barnsley, however, now has a two-legged delivery robot which is proving very popular. There's an e-ink Kindle display for the back of your phone to avoid distracting notifications. IKEA has set up a secondhand marketplace for buying or selling its used products. And the University of Glasgow is to send whisky into space to see if the rapid heating and cooling of space will speed up the maturation process.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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Original Broadcast: The Business Of Film
James Cameron-Wilson is amazed by the buoyancy of the box office, boosted by a mildly-revised Avengers: Endgame at #1 which cinemagoers may be mistaken in thinking a new film. He was bored by #3 Heart of the Beast starring Brad Pitt, finding it just another wilderness movie, despite some great photography. However, #4 Sense and Sensibility is a superlative adaptation. Featuring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Esmé Creed-Miles, it excels in every department, particularly cinematography, score and screenplay. He much admired #13, the NT Live showing of The Misanthrope. He was also surprised to enjoy The Runner on Amazon Prime, a thriller set in London with Gal Gadot and Damian Lewis, which he found pulse-quickening and relevant.
Guests: James Cameron-Wilson
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Original Broadcast: Gadgets and Gizmos
Steve Caplin discusses Muse, Meta's "world's first personal AI agent", which you can get in a pendant. However, he also warns of some downsides of AI agents. However, AI is good at spotting diseases, diabetes being the latest which it does by listening to voice recordings. Blood pressure can be lowered by hearing Mozart. As humans prefer robots that have facial expressions, one can now produce emotional responses – including crying. AI has been used to create a Greta Garbo advert for a ball bearing company, apparently without using her likeness. There's a collapsible cargo trailer which sounds useful. Not so the "world's first emotion-aware smart pen". The Bodleian Library is allowing OpenAI to train ChatGPT on its books. And there's a Chinese car that will give Tesla's S model a run for its money.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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Original Broadcast: Gadgets and Gizmos
Steve Caplin explains that the latest research shows that humans have not just one brain but two. Scientists at Stanford have created a human-mouse hybrid to help study the causes of conditions like schizophrenia and dementia. He discusses the latest developments used by scammers to con us. In Japan, there's an ambulance for robots that are sick or otherwise malfunctioning. Dyson's new toothbrush comes with a built-in camera so you can watch your teeth being brushed on your phone. Steve waxes lyrical about a crowd-funded wireless, portable touchscreen monitor. In flood-ridden areas of Japan, you can get giant sheets to seal your car against the waters. And offensive e-bike riders may find their behaviour does have consequences in future.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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Original Broadcast: The Business Of Film
With box office buoyant, James Cameron-Wilson is delighted by #3 Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom, perhaps the funniest of Aardman's animated Shaun series. #7 is the documentary Oasis: Don't Look Back in Anger which is most likely to appeal to existing Oasis fans familiar with the story so far. James could not be more excited by the limited edition, restored, disc version of 2000's Sexy Beast, with Ray Winstone, Ben Kingsley and Ian McShane in one of the best of British gangster films. With visual authority and extraordinary performances, it also has the best set of extras in years. The Whisper Man, on Netflix, is a conventional yet nasty crime thriller which has nothing good about it, despite the cast including Robert de Niro, Michelle Monaghan and Michael Keaton.
Guests: James Cameron-Wilson
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Original Broadcast: Gadgets and Gizmos
Steve Caplin is moderately impressed with Apple's new phone operating system and with Siri AI but warns of the dangers of searching for cheap iPhones. Uber is recruiting people with regional accents to train AI. The Ig Nobel Prizes have been awarded to scientists burying underpants, milking cockroaches and smelling babies. AI agents have developed a new language to speed communications amongst themselves and it is surprisingly poetical. Gatwick Airport has introduced robots to park cars, with a few caveats. There's a crowd-funded self-powered treadmill for chickens and ducks. Cyborg cockroaches will now be able to deliver injections to those trapped in disaster zones.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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Original Broadcast: The Business Of Film
James Cameron-Wilson thought the belated #1 Practical Magic 2 with Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock akin to a mediocre syrupy episode of the old TV show Bewitched. But he was bewitched by #3 Pressure, based on David Haig's true-life play. Andrew Scott is the Scottish weatherman advising Brendan Fraser's Eisenhower on the feasibility of landing Allied forces in France. Playing out like a courtroom thriller, James feels this brilliant film is one of the greatest portrayals of a World War 2 figure. He is full of admiration for the supernatural thriller Obsession, out on Blu-Ray. It is beautifully made and acted, with every frame used for maximum effect. The film is deeply unsettling but it works wonderfully. He is also a fan of Apple TV's buddy comedy Mayday. Set in 1987, Ryan Reynolds is an American pilot who crashes in Russia near the home of hermit Kenneth Branagh, who is the funniest he has been in ages.
Guests: James Cameron-Wilson
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Original Broadcast: The Business Of Film
National Cinema Weekend reduced UK box office take, says James Cameron-Wilson. With Spider-Man and Odyssey still at the top, The Death of Robin Hood limped in at #7. Starring Hugh Jackman, it is a violent, extremely bloody and grim telling of the famous tale. James and host Simon Rose disagreed about Coyote vs. Acme, a mix of live action and animation that has Roadrunner's cartoon enemy suing the famous corporation for providing dangerously deficient products. James found it ludicrous and unfunny. Simon (and those around him) found it often hilarious and great fun. At #14 is Greg Araki's erotically-charged I Want Your Sex. It stars Olivia Wilde as a provocative artist and is often very funny and daring but often also uncomfortable. It intends to offend, and succeeds.
Guests: James Cameron-Wilson
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Original Broadcast: Gadgets and Gizmos
Steve Caplin is excited by the "gorgeous" folding iPhone Duo, although a little daunted by the price. He's also impressed by new features on the Apple watch. Scientists have reproduced the sound, so they believe, of a Jurassic forest using fossils. There's a way of detecting fake alcohol, which can be very dangerous. An app claims to predict the onset of flu or Covid by listening to you coughing at night. A weird hotel in Tokyo uses only robot staff, including talking velociraptors. It is somewhat further ahead than the latest robot innovations in UK hotels. 3D-printed ultrasounds will let blind parents experience their unborn children. And the crowd-funded Mezmodrop fires an aluminium collar into the air which drops back down onto the spike.
Guests: Steve Caplin
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