Original Broadcast: The Business Of Film
James Cameron-Wilson thought #3 The End of Oak Street, in which a suburban family find themselves battling dinosaurs, daft as a brush. Despite unconvincing adult performances from Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor, it's good fun and genuinely nerve-shredding. In #12 Sunny Dancer, Bella Ramsey is a reluctant teenage attendee at a holiday camp for cancer survivors. Written and directed by a young George Jaques, it does not shy from the messiness of life, has wonderful dialogue and full-blooded performances from its young cast. It is simply one of the best films of the year. On Netflix, engaging comedian Mo Gilligan challenges himself to eat nothing but fried chicken for 28 days in Big Chicken: A Fast Food Conspiracy. He almost dies while, along the way, he exposes the atrocious treatment not only of the creatures themselves, but also the workers in the associated factories. It's a hard watch and has persuaded James never to eat fried chicken again.
Guests: James Cameron-Wilson
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Original Broadcast: The Business Of Film
Spider-Man and The Odyssey continue to dominate the box office, says James Cameron-Wilson. On only in Picturehouse cinemas is the French/Luxembourgish film Love Me Tender. About a lawyer leaving her marriage, finding her sexuality while trying to keep contact with her son, it feels very real and has one of the year's best performances. It really stays with you and is highly recommended. Survival thriller The Last House is on Netflix. If it's rain you're after, it has it aplenty. James became enormously invested and found it very suspenseful, helped by great acting. On BFI Player the documentary Lesvia reminded him of old travelogues. Sweet and affectionate, it's also terribly niche. He also caught up with the BBC adaptation of Michael Frayn's play Copenhagen with Stephen Rea and Daniel Craig on iPlayer. It dovetails into Oppenheimer and so many other things.
Guests: James Cameron-Wilson
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Original Broadcast: The Business Of Film
James Cameron-Wilson is delighted by a 155% surge in UK box office with #1 Spiderman: Brand New Day scooping up £36.4m in its opening weekend. With giddying aerial shots, this outing is devastatingly romantic and hugely moving, as well as often being frightening and yet very funny too. Although not often a fan of Amazon Prime's movies, James does recommend its bustling French ensemble drama Couture, set in the fashion world and starring Angelina Jolie. It's a must both for her fans and for devotees of serious French cinema. James and Simon both loved Laurel & Hardy: The Silent Years (1929). These restored Blu-Ray discs (the third in the series) are packed with extra goodies, as well as nine of the comedy duo's last silent films with different musical accompaniments to choose from. A delightful treasure trove.
Guests: james cameron-wilson
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Original Broadcast: The Business Of Film
James Cameron-Wilson is impressed that the Odyssey is so popular that it took almost the same in its second weekend as its first. He was initially infuriated by #13 Animal Farm, an animated version of Orwell's novella made by Andy Serkis. Although heavily updated for a modern audience, the spine of the story remains, the animation is top-notch and the chilling tale seems more relevant and prophetic than ever, even if it is unclear who it is aimed at. He was left cold and dispirited by The Dink, an Apple TV+ movie from Ben Stiller about pickleball. Every joke comes with a gag warning, with the music being annoyingly leading. Netflix's Elize: Shadow of a Woman, a true tale about a murderess was unengaging and played like yet another of the channel's sensational and lurid true-crime tales. It made James go out and see The Invite again to cleanse his movie palate.
Guests: James Cameron-Wilson
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Original Broadcast: The Business Of Film
James Cameron-Wilson says that #1 The Odyssey helped box office soar 86% despite hot weather and The World Cup. However, opinions are divided. Those who have seen it on IMAX (where it broke records) think it a masterpiece. Those who have viewed it on ordinary screens are less convinced. In his normal multiplex James found the music irritating, the dialogue sometimes unintelligible, the picture very dark and the many starry cameos distracting. Puzzled by a 15 certificate for such a mild and unbloody film, he often had no idea what was going on and believed none of it. He was far happier with Heartstopper Forever, the Netflix feature film based on its TV series which he really enjoyed and thought surprisingly touching. Not so Enola Holmes 3 with Milly Bobby Brown which, after two outings that he loved, feels like a mediocre TV episode.
Guests: James Cameron-Wilson
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Original Broadcast: The Business Of Film
James Cameron-Wilson says that cinemas are suffering from the heat, Wimbledon and the World Cup with box office down 31%. He wasn't keen on #1, the live action version of Moana which lacks magic and mostly feels like a cartoon. Although it's not for everyone, he was more interested in #23, Rosebush Pruning, a black comedy about a family with an abundance of problems on a country estate with the likes of Jamie Bell, Callum Turner and Elle Fanning. It's a curate's egg with no narrative thrust. As it is shocking and nasty in places, it's not one for gentle souls. His highlight of the week is the Blu-Ray release of Oh! What a Lovely War, Richard Attenborough's directorial debut. A musical satire of the First World War with an amazing star cast, it holds up remarkably well.
Guests: James Cameron-Wilson
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Original Broadcast: The Business Of Film
James Cameron-Wilson reluctantly returns for more of those yellow mischief-makers in #2's 'Minions & Monsters', which provides kids with a quick snapshot of early film history and little else of value. He raves about the third film in the chart, Olivia Wilde's chamber drama 'The Invite', which he says is distinguished by Wilde's direction, terrific performances and an enormously witty screenplay from Will McCormack and Rashida Jones. James also covers StudioCanal's 4K UHD Blu-ray release of Russell Mulcahy's 1986 film 'Highlander', which arrived on the 29th June and celebrates the film's 40th anniversary.
Guests: Chad Kennerk,James Cameron-Wilson
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Original Broadcast: The Business Of Film
James Cameron-Wilson thought he was in for a treat with #2 Supergirl, starring Milly Alcock. But it is disappointingly tedious, with lots of fighting and killing and a surprising 12A certificate, given that it deals with alcoholism and sex trafficking. #27 Blue Heron, a Canadian film about childhood trauma, is highly regarded by some. But James found it self-indulgent, abtruse and unfathomable. He was keener on Netflix's romcom Voicemails for Isabelle. It looks great, has a super soundtrack, winning performances and boasts dialogue so effervescent, he would happily watch it again for that alone. It's the sort of film that makes you happy to be alive. In the Hand of Dante, also on Netflix, stars Al Pacino, Martin Scorsese and more but is two films in one, with an intriguing modern thriller weighed down by a plodding medieval biopic. It's half a masterpiece, half a disaster.
Guests: James Cameron-Wilson
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Original Broadcast: The Business Of Film
James Cameron-Wilson says that, despite the heatwave, box office was up 72%, thanks to #1 Toy Story 5. Maintaining the franchise's fantastic quality, it is vastly amusing but also perhaps the most moving of the films. With a plot about the damage screens are doing to children, it has a joyful score, new characters and a stellar voice cast. At #12 is Virginia Woolf's Night & Day, with Haley Bennett an astronomer suffering the social mores of the day. It's a very loose adaptation, with plot, class and language all making it seem more modern. Although kinetic, it feels redundant, despite a great central performance. James wondered why it was made at all. He did, however, enjoy Netflix's Office Romance with Jennifer Lopez and Brett Goldstein. Goldstein, famous from Ted Lasso, co-produced and co-wrote this romcom, which is silly and predictable but also an entertaining romp.
Guests: James Cameron-Wilson
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Original Broadcast: The Business Of Film
James Cameron-Wilson was intrigued but not overly excited by #1 Disclosure Day, Steven Spielberg's first sci-fi film since Ready Player One. Emily Blunt plays a TV meteorologist dreaming of better things who shows signs of ESP and can suddenly speak foreign languages. A spiritual companion to Close Encounters, it gets ever weirder, taking in AI, religion, quantum physics and more, but is essentially a chase movie. At #12 is Tuner, which is the best and most entertaining that generic cinema can get. Leo Woodall stars as a piano tuner with incredible sensitivity to sound who finds he has another talent. Dustin Hoffman steals every scene he's in. You can see where it's all going, but it's a most engaging film. On Amazon Prime is the horror film Over Your Dead Body about a dysfunctional couple harbouring murderous intentions. It is an 18, deservedly so, but is also very funny.
Guests: James Cameron-Wilson
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