Original Broadcast: The Business Of Film
James Cameron-Wilson reports box office up 102% with #1 the Ryan Gosling sci-fi film Project Hail Mary. From the writers of The Martian, he plays a science teacher who wakes up from a coma in space. Like The Martian largely a one-person film, it is great fun early on but becomes self-indulgent, barmy and sentimental, with the trailer giving away a very late plot point. James was even less keen on the horror film Ready or Not 2: Here I Come. It is ludicrous drivel which is neither scary nor funny and is dreadfully edited. He was amazed at its 15 certificate. On Netflix is the feature film Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man starring Cillian Murphy, as in the TV series. It's part ghost story, part war movie and part gangster epic. It looks terrific but it has too many flashbacks and set pieces and they can't disguise that there is very little story or narrative drive. James was actually glad when it ended.
Guests: James Cameron-Wilson
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Original Broadcast: The Business Of Film
James Cameron-Wilson laments box office down 32%. #2 Reminders of Him, a Colleen Hoover adaptation, is complete trash and yet, predictable though it is, it has relatable characters and is hard to dislike. #3 How to Make a Killing is an adaptation of the famous Ealing comedy, Kind Hearts and Coronets. Sadly, this lacks the wit or appeal of the original and is to be avoided at all cost. As ever, James was excited by the Oscars, with most of his predictions coming good. It was, he says, the most predictable ceremony for a long time. Although One Battle After Another won Best Picture, it was really the year of the horror film, which has perhaps become respectable again. One of the highlights was the great speech given by Jessie Buckley.
Guests: James Cameron-Wilson
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Original Broadcast: The Business Of Film
James Cameron-Wilson is delighted by #1 Hoppers from Pixar. A sci-fi film with a theme of connectivity to the natural world, it's vastly entertaining and imaginative, with plenty of comic business, even if it becomes a bit complicated at times. #4 is The Bride!, written and directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal. It's the nearest any Frankenstein adaptation has come to being a romcom. Starring Christian Bale and Jessie Buckley, who gives a no-holds-barred erotic turn, it's an homage to the movies which gets better and better as you think about it afterwards. Streaming on BBC iPlayer is another Oscar-nominated documentary, Mr. Nobody Against Putin. James found this story of a schoolteacher in the Urals objecting to the militarisation of schools after the invasion of Ukraine highly impressive.
Guests: James Cameron-Wilson
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Original Broadcast: The Business Of Film
James Cameron-Wilson is not a fan of #1 Scream 7, despite the return of Neve Campbell. He didn't care for the characters, found the film nasty and thought it made no sense. He was more positive about The Testament of Ann Lee, with Amanda Seyfried giving a career-best performance as the founder of the Shaker movement with an excellent Mancunian accent. It's a bonkers film, being a musical biopic on an enormous visual canvas but it shows what cinema can do and is very memorable. Come See Me In The Good Light is an extraordinary documentary – nominated for an Oscar – about a poet with terminal cancer and how they deal with it. It is deeply moving but also full of joy and laughter. It is also one of the most intimate and personal films about a relationship.
Guests: James Cameron-Wilson
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Original Broadcast: The Business Of Film
James Cameron-Wilson says that #1 Wuthering Heights, written and directed by Saltburn's Emerald Fennell, is not a close adaptation of the novel and has attracted criticism for casting Jacob Elordi alongside Margot Robbie. However, it is thoroughly entertaining, has a great score and production design and is also quite funny. He found it a cinematic delight and feels Fennell is a national treasure. #3 Crime 101 with Chris Hemsworth and a great cast is a rare LA movie actually filmed there. James enjoyed it. Not only is it a good crime thriller, but the characters are very human. On Blu-Ray for the first time is the Oscar-nominated 1974 East German film Jacob the Liar. A darkly comic movie set in a Jewish ghetto in 1944, it is in similar vein to the much later Life Is Beautiful. The disc comes with lots of great extras.
Guests: james cameron-wilson
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Original Broadcast: The Business Of Film
James Cameron-Wilson says that #1 Sam Raimi's Send Help, with Rachel McAdams and Dylan O'Brien, the tale of a work couple being stranded on a desert island, seems overfamiliar. Blending comedy and thrills, he enjoyed it in a schlocky way. #19 is 100 Nights of Hero, a bonkers movie based on a graphic novel with Richard E. Grant and Felicity Jones. Set in a parallel, colour-blind world it's about storytelling and the empowering of women. It does have a distinctive look but is all too flat and needs a stronger director and style. Far more impressive is Anniversary on Netflix. It stars Diane Lane as the matriarch of a close-knit family and is a state-of-the-nation epic with a frighteningly prescient script. There's so much going on, James had to watch it again. Very credible, often tense and with a strong cast, it's a really brilliant movie he discovered completely by accident.
Guests: James Cameron-Wilson
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Original Broadcast: The Business Of Film
James Cameron-Wilson says the bump up of Hamnet to #1 in the charts shows the important of award nominations. The latest Jason Statham thriller, Shelter, is #3. He's a recluse living in a lighthouse whose past comes back to bite him when he rescues a girl from the sea. It's the same old, same old, but done slightly better than usual. #10 Is This Thing On, about a stand-up comic's marriage with Will Arnett and Laura Dern, is inspired by Liverpool comedian John Bishop. But Bradley Cooper's annoying directorial style obscures and confuses the story. James recommends #38, docu-drama The Voice of Hind Rajab, which is one of the most traumatising war films he has ever sat through. He also discusses the current awards season and the London Film Critics Circle awards last weekend.
Guests: James Cameron-Wilson
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Original Broadcast: The Business Of Film
James Cameron-Wilson can't recall another week where the top six UK films are all holdovers, with The Housemaid returning to #1. #9 is the ironically-titled Mercy with Chris Pratt a man who has 90 minutes to convince an AI judge that he didn't kill his wife. Set in real time, it is mechanical but James was drawn in by its moral arguments. #13 is the adaptation of best-seller H is for Hawk with a brilliant Claire Foy and Brendan Gleeson. It is a beautifully-crafted film but doesn't have a strong storyline or conflict. While not bored, James did get impatient at times. On Netflix is the Taiwanese-set Left-Handed Girl, written by Anora's Sean Baker. The tale of a mother and two daughters moving to Taipei is filmed entirely on an iphone. With great performances, this guerilla style of filmmaking gives it an immediacy and the movie is a real gem.
Guests: James Cameron-Wilson
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Original Broadcast: The Business Of Film
James Cameron-Wilson says that #1 28 Years Later – The Bone Temple deserves its 18 certificate as you will need a strong constitution. Starring Ralph Fiennes and Jack O’Connell, it’s hard to watch but is a gripping horror film with style, beauty and terrific dialogue. #7 Rental Family, starring Brendan Fraser, is set in Japan and directed by the Japanese Hikari. It’s an odd but enthralling story with a light touch about an actor rented out as a family member. On Netflix, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck star in The Rip, a generic, often confusing but hard-hitting action thriller. It seems far-fetched but is based on a true story so outlandish, it had to be scaled back.
Guests: James Cameron-Wilson
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Original Broadcast: The Business Of Film
James Cameron-Wilson is impressed that The Housemaid has risen to the top spot. #2 is the quintessentially British movie Hamnet, despite Irish leads (Paul Mescal & Jessie Buckley) and Chinese writer-director Chloé Zhao. It's a slow burn but builds to a highly emotional climax. James loved it to within an inch of its brocade. On Amazon Prime, he was impressed by The Tank, a German film about a Tiger crew on a secret mission against the Russians after Stalingrad. It's tense and excellent until the final, infuriating twist. He is a fan of Kate Winslet's directorial debut, Goodbye June on Netflix. Written by her son Joe Anders, the cast includes Helen Mirren and Timothy Spall. It has great humanity, humour and wisdom, despite its sentimental ending. He watched The Family Plan 2 on Apple TV+ to see why Mark Wahlberg's online movies are so popular. It has some good action and one-liners but the plot is incredibly familiar.
Guests: James Cameron-Wilson
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