Kermode & Mayo’s Take - Gareth Edwards, The Exorcist: Believer, The Burial, The Great Escaper

Episode Date: October 6, 2023

This week, Simon sits down with director Gareth Edwards to talk about his new AI-centred sci-fi action thriller epic, ‘The Creator’. Mark reviewed this last week. Other films Mark gives his takes on include ‘The Exorcist: Believer’, the sixth instalment of the horror franchise, which sees Hollywood icon Ellen Burstyn reprise her role from the original film; ‘The Burial’, a Jamie Foxx and Tommy Lee Jones-helmed legal drama about a lawyer who helps a funeral home-owner save his family business from a corporate behemoth; and ‘The Great Escaper’, which sees a World War 2 veteran, played by Michael Caine, escape from his care home to attend the 70th anniversary of the D-Day Landings in France. Our dynamic duo also takes us through the Box Office Top 10 and the film events worth catching in this week’s What’s On. Time Codes (relevant only for the Vanguard - who are ad-free!): 09:59 The Great Escaper Review 20:59 Box Office Top Ten 30:50 Gareth Edwards Interview 49:00 The Burial Review 52:59 Laughter Lift 56:53 The Exorcist: Believer Review 01:06:06 What's On You can contact the show by emailing [e-mail] or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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How did you sleep last night? Well, till four I think and then... No, that's not bad. I don't think anyone unless if you're doing the breakfast show sleeping till four is a good thing. But for normal civilians, I think Sleeping Tilt 6 is like a minimum. I woke up weirdly around about 4, 4, 30, which I often do just because it's an age thing. I'm looking forward to the Invendus new film by the way, which is called Perfect Days. Right. And it's about a Japanese sanitary worker. I read this in the economist.

You know the economist, the ones that don't advertise. The ones that don't advertise with this ever, but they're used to. Yeah. Back in the day. But they listen to the show and thought we don't want to be associated with that. Anyway, so it's about this guy who goes around cleaning toilets, which is not quite the same job in Japan. No, because Japanese toilets are extraordinary, you know, they're they're amazing things. Have you ever used a Japanese toilet? I have never been to Japan. So unless there's a Japanese toilet somewhere else.

Anyway, London has 14 public toilets per 100,000 residents. And Tokyo has 53. So they're really into their fantastic public convenience. There's a friend of mine who was an actor who lived up in Nichols Canyon and they had a Japanese toilet in Los Angeles, up in Los Angeles, and they had a Japanese toilet in their house and it was all singing, all dancing and I mean singing. the seat would be warmed by electricity. When you went anywhere near it, it would start running water so that there would be no sounds of whatever you were doing would escape out of the room because there was already a sound of running water. There was a function

in which it would play music in order to relax you into, so you didn't have to try too hard. And then there were several buttons that would wash and blow dry. And yes, wash and blow dry. So it was a whole, you could spend half an hour in there. Apparently, it's called Otto Hime or Sound Princess. The idea of making noises bigger than the... There we go, there we go. But the most disconcerting public toilets have a see the

transparent windows you can see in but as soon as you shut the door it becomes opaque right I'm not sure I'd trust no but you can see in to see that it's clean in the vast areas there's a photograph thrown room of the sand princess there's the most Wow. It says, the most outlandish toilet, well, you're, you're in all, I have ever used, I know that's not a sentence I thought I'd be using at the beginning of this podcast was, at the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo,

which is that absolutely mad hotel, which has got all sorts of themed rooms and everything, the male, you're in all is a waterfall. It's like a stone wall and as you walk up to it, it turns into a waterfall and this waterfall is activated. It's not, I'm quite happy for a luge just to be a luge. Clean, not a wash. You know, to be cleaned in the last week, you know, and to have all the treatments. I don't need, I don't need a blow dry. I don't need a wash and blow dry. Thank you very much. Anyway, I look forward to Vin Vendors new film. There is, there is a documentary about

Vin Vendors from way way back called Motion and Emotion by Chris Rodley and Paul Joyce, which features a German film critic, whose name fails me at the moment, but who says very astutely that all Vin Vendors films can be summed up with three phrases which are children of strange aren't they? And women of strange aren't they? Let's put another song in the jukebox. And I thought that was I wish that I had said that. Okay well look, perfect days is the new Vim Vendors film. We'll see if it fits into that interesting description. What else are you going to be reviewing apart

from all of that nonsense? We are going to be reviewing the great escaper, which is the new film with Michael Cain and Glenda Jackson, the burial, which is a new film with Tomy Lee Jones and Jamie Foxx, and the exorcist believer, excellent, always could have an exorcist movie on the show. In extra takes, oh yes, also Garithaib was, he's gonna be on the show. He is takes, oh yes, also Gareth Edwards is going to be on the show. The right

to and director of the creator, the number one hit movie, the creator. Yeah. And it's unusual to be interviewing him in the week, you know, to have an interview when it's already a number one movie. That's just the way the interviews fell in the last few weeks, but you can hear from Gareth Edwards, who has history on this program. He does. He owes his entire career to us. In take two, which has history on this program. He does. He owes his entire career to us. In Take Two, which has landed in that other field,

but not far away, so you don't have to walk too far. Even more useless stuff from us. The weekend watch list, weekend not list, pesay to impress trade to send away. That's Albanian, obviously, for our Albanian listeners. If you are an Albanian, as in listening in Albania, please get in touch, because I don't think we've ever had an email from Albania.

No, I don't think we have. Am I right in thinking that Norman Wisdom is very big in Albania? Well, he probably was. I think he was, I think that's the story. Well, he was sort of like in the same way that Jerry Lewis was huge in France. Is Norman Wisdom not something of a...

Something like that. Okay, I may, there's a statue of Norman Wisdom in the Isle of Man, because obviously, you know, he was very connected to the Isle of Man. So if you go to the Sefton, the bar is called Norman's Bar, and there is a bench that you can sit on with a statue of him that you can sit next to. There's also a statue of the Bee Gees. What's that? This is the call sign for Radio Taurana, which broadcast the latest track.

It was until the third of the mic start to realise what you would do. Track to factory information from Radio Taurana, which is the interupt radio caroline. No, you just interrupt the top four. On Radio One. On Radio One, okay. And if you're recording, that's one for the older listeners. Take it or leave it, you, you decide is gonna be all about no one will save you.

This is where you recommend stuff that we should definitely be watching. Thank you for the recommendation. Also extra reviews of, or also extra reviews of, it's probably written in a piece of paper, hold on one second, extra reviews of, I mean, I can say, if you want to.

Please tell me, please. Golder. Golder, mindset. Mindset. I should just do the whole thing. I should just do the whole thing really. Extra reviews of I mean I can say if you just tell me please gold a gold a mindset mind set I should just do the whole thing. I should just do the whole thing really pretentious mark currently Well marks in the lead against mark mark took the lead against him 1918 and one frame back is inspired by the burial and it's all movies where people sue people Yes, similar most films involve the legal process. Yes, yeah, but it's specifically suing. You can support as Fire Apple podcast makes it sound like a charity really, but you can hit the extra takes.com for non-fruit related devices if you're already a vanguardista obviously.

Oh, sorry together. We salute you. Yeah, we salute you very much. I said there's too many bits of paper. None of which you've looked at. No, I know, but I was doing other stuff. Paint what, like what? But you know like what? Like what? Just preparing myself a later in the show. Okay. But not this part. Not this part of the show. This I let you lead on this. Usually with this, you do stuff and I just go,

yeah, I laugh at you doing radio for two. The radio station still have a call. Can we use that instead of bird song from now on? Can we use Simon doing the radio tronical sign? That would be great. Radio station still have a call. Can we use Simon doing the radio tronical sign? That would be great.

Emile from Neales. Dear Seat Shuffle and Hardster. I'm a medium term listener. Who seasons deckhand? Radiologist, member of the Vanguard, first time emailer who has followed your show since five live days and continued to enjoy the takes with all the great value that they bring thanks to you and the phenomenal production team. Also, thank you for boosting my favorite thing from work,

MRI scans in your promotion material for the take. As a decent opening flourish. Last year when the local cinema, now I think this is called Rio Bio in Luzdal, Helsingland in Sweden. Excellent. Announced that new seats were being installed, patrons were offered to sponsor seat plaques with names of their choice. Instantly I thought of you, and, at the premiere of Mission Impossible 7, I could verify that there is indeed now a very nice seat towards the left side near the aisle.

Did I get that right, I wonder, with a plaque with marks name on it. Oh, wow! And a nearby seat with Simon's name, row five, seat 12 and 14. Fantastic. Last I'll see it on the left, well done. So you're exactly where you want to be.

Yeah, exactly. If any of you recognize the name Helsingland, it's probably because you saw Ariasla's mid-Somar. Despite it featuring the amazing Florence Pew, I still have not seen it, but it is on my shoulders. However, I vouch for Rio Bio, I hope that's right, as a safe location to more at for the cruise in future. And if you want to know, Luzdal is a small town by the river Luznan in the middle of Sweden, the town grew quickly during the industrialization, following the expansion of forestry and the railway's arrival. And the cinema was introduced in 1912 of the four cinemas during peak years, only Rio Bio, possibly Rio Bio, I think Rio Bio sounds better, doesn't it? And continue to show films and plays

and uses a digital projection system with nice seats as well. So you can sit in a curmud seat, you can sit in a maio seat, and that'll be in our favorite cinema of the week. That's the Rio Bio in the aforementioned Yuzdal in Helsingland. I think that's great. That was done. Thank you very much.

What a very, very kind thing to have done. Thank you. Indeed. It's very nice. Correspondence at COVID-19.com. Tell us about a movie. So, the Great Escaper, which is a new film from Oliver Parker, not to be confused with all Parker, who was the originator of It'll Be All Right in the End, see previous shows

going back years and years. It's Oliver Parker, who's directorial credits include things like the Centriniens Reboots, the 2016 Dad's Army film starring Toby Jones. He also made swimming with men, which I thought I very witterly said should have been called the Paul Monti. Yes, that was kind of the reaction that it got when it first came out. So this is written by William Ivory, who wrote Made in Dagon and which I loved. It is loosely based on the true story, which you may know already, of Bernard Jordan, an 89-year-old Navy veteran

who made headlines when he disappeared from his care home, and took the ferry to France to be part of the anniversary D-Day memorial. His wife knew that he was going, but no one else did, so he was briefly a missing person, and then, less briefly, a national hero who was nicknamed the great SKP. This is the great SKP. So here he's played by Michael Cain, who, if you remember, announced his retirement

on our program, five years ago, I think he had more films. No more films. I can't possibly do any more films, and here he is quite literally headlining a film. Glenda Jackson is his wife Irene in what turned out to be her, I believe her final screen role.

Here she is in the care home in which they both live, where the staff are trying to keep the news of Bernie's disappearance from her, his eclipse. You're supposed to be taking it easy, not brushing around. I'm fine. I'm just trying to keep my eye on the ball at all times. Very good. Very, very good. In any case, I bought you something.

Ooh. Fish and chips. Oh, what the hell? Oh, that's so lovely. Where's Bernie's? We're Martin Brunke's up later. Oh, you're face lovely. You're face, I'm pulling your leg.

Bernie! Oh, he's gone AWOL. Well, everybody knows, but nobody's talking about it, because they're afraid it'll finish me off. I haven't said anything about it either, because I want to make sure he has enough time to get there. Can I just say, the size of the fish on that place is enormous. The biggest fish in chips I've ever seen in the...

But also, Daniel Patel, who is the care worker, says, I've got you a big piece of fish. And the reason is because she's trying to sort of, because she realizes that she's going to find out that Bernie is missing. But of course, that's your public lunch and you're going, wow, I'm exactly. It's in here.

Yeah, but the size of the fish is definitely in 30. So I thought that, I thought Glenn Jackson's performance was absolutely lovely. Now, I have size of the fish is definitely refer to. So I thought I thought the Glendet Jackson's performance was absolutely lovely. Now I have to confess, you know that movies can hit you in a certain way because of sort of personal things. And so I should say I thought a performance was lovely. She reminded me of my mum. I think she will remind lots of people of their mums, but it was so and I just loved watching her. I should also say that since my father-in-law was a proud D. Day veteran who took part in some of the anniversary celebrations, I also found myself hugely invested in Michael Cain's performance as somebody who just wants to go and, you know, and on the past. And all of that meant that I was completely emotionally involved.

Even when the drama becomes unashamedly contrived, there are subplots about a fellow veteran, played by John Standing, who takes Bernie under his wing, but is resting with his own demons. There's another young, a vet who's full of post-traumatic conflict. There are flashbacks to Bernie's recollections of the war, and the revelation of a hidden trauma that he will have to deal with. And to his early relationships

with his relationship with his wife, his then girlfriend and now his wife, we meet them jiving together. I mean, it's very, very sweet-natured and I have to confess it absolutely got me in the fields and I watched great swathes of it with tears rolling down my eyes, even though I know that there are things wrong with it, there are things about the drama that do feel very contrived. It didn't matter. And I think largely that has a lot to do with performances. I mean, Michael Cain is always watchable.

Glenda Jackson has never been, you know, anything less than brilliant. And it is one of the most lovely portrayals of a married couple who have been together forever and absolutely adore each other. And while the whole story about him making that pilgrimage and him becoming, getting his face on the front page of the papers and being very conflicted about that, okay, that's kind of, in a way that's almost the muguffin. That's almost the thing that you're following

because it drives the plot. Whatin. That's almost the thing that you're following because it drives the plot. But what makes the film sing is the scenes between him and her performance of Irene as this absolutely stalwart. She loves him, she knows what he's got to do. She's funny, she's, I mean, like I said, there are just certain times that a film just touches a part of you and you then cannot distinguish

between that and what its exact artistic achievements are. But it's the kind of thing which in another incarnation, you would have said the monthly with thing that goes down well with a cup of tea misses. And it's definitely a three o'clock on a Wednesday afternoon movie, but I saw it at one o'clock on a Monday afternoon and I cried my eyes out. Is it, is it a bit, you know, unlikely pilgrimage of Michael Cain?

There's a touch of that in it, but it's, as I said, it's in the end, it is much more about this lovely relationship between them as a couple, whereas Harold Frye had that in the, but they, in Harold Frye, they refractured couple, and that was the whole point that she couldn't really understand what he was doing. And the lovely thing about, I mean, Glendor Jackson's performance,

there is not a note in it that isn't right. And Michael Cain, it's just lovely seeing Michael Cain doing this. However many years it was after he said, that's it, I'm retiring. So yeah. Glendor Jackson and Michael Cain doing this however many years it was after he said that's it I'm retiring. So, yeah. Linda Jackson and Michael Cain is like a star billing from the six years. Yeah, precisely. And here we are.

Precisely. And here we are. Precisely. And here we are. Precisely. And here we are. Precisely. And here we are.

Precisely. And here we are. Precisely. And here we are. Precisely. And here we are. Precisely. And here we are. Precisely. And here we are Which is no. No, the exorcist believer. Thank you, I did. I'll be right back.

We'll be back before you can say, live, laugh, love. MUSIC Hi, esteemed podcast listeners. Simon Mayo. I'm Mark Kermot here. I'm excited to let you know that the new season of the Crown and the Crown, the official podcast, returns on 16th of November to accompany the sixth and final season of the Netflix epic Royal Drama series. Very exciting, especially because SuperSub and Friend of the Show Edith Bowman hosts this one.

Indeed, Edith will take you behind the scenes, dive into conversation with the talented cast and crew, from writer and creator Peter Morgan to the Crowns Queen Elizabeth in Melda Staunton. Other guests on the new series include the Crowns research team, the directors, executive producers Suzanne Mackie and specialists such as Voice Coach William Connaker and props master Owen Harrison. Cast members including Jonathan Price, Selim Dor, Khalid Abdullah, Dominic West and Elizabeth the Bikki. You can also catch up with the story so far by searching the Crown, the official podcast,

wherever you get your podcast. Subscribe now and get the new series of the Crown, the official podcast, first on November 16th. Available wherever you get your podcasts. Happy Nord Christmas. Protect yourself whilst Christmas shopping online and access all the Christmas films from around the globe. Plus, when you shop online, you'll have to give websites your card details and other

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Money Bank guarantee, the link is in the podcast episode description box. I can't believe I just said, live laugh love. I mean, I said it because, you know, it was there, but apparently it's what influencers say. Well, you know, it's a mud single, isn't it? but apparently it's what influencers say. Well, it's a mud single, isn't it? It was when mud went disco towards the end of their career, when they had made a living out of doing sort of Ersatz Elvis impressions,

and then they had a hit called, we're not gonna talk about it, we're just gonna laugh, live and love. But it hit influencer speak. It's a mud single from the 1970s. So if hip influencers are now speaking like a mud single from the 1970s, I think that tells you everything about the state of the world. I went to a mud Christmas party.

Did you? How was it? It was fantastic. They were notorious for being hugely enjoyable. And they played at Warwick University. I think it's the Christmas of 77, I imagine. And of course, it ends with, it'll be lonely this Christmas without a child, anyway, it was terrific.

Jonathan, a box office top 10, and Garith Edwards on the way. Jonathan says, come on in to you both. I was listening to your podcast, which mentioned the slightly ridiculous BBC warnings. I was trying to remember the name of a film I saw that had, in quotes, contains suicide on the card, which was a massive plot spoiler.

On Google again, I came up with a Guardian article from 2014, which mentions a different film, two days and one night. There was also spoiled by a similar warning. I particularly liked Ben Wheatley's comments near the end of the article. And this is a quote. Ben Wheatley, the esteemed end of the article. And this is a quote. Ben Wheatley, the esteemed British director,

has pushed the envelope in films such as site seers, quotes bloody violence and kill list, very strong bloody violence, is all for information being available online, but finds the appearance on a black card, quotes a pretty odd development. What are you supposed to do at that point as a viewer? It's a bit late in the day.

Why stop there? There's lots of other things that offend or worry me. Maybe a warning for generic plotting or overuse of shallow focus or simply not very well made. My own simple solution is now to take my glasses off when the card comes up, leaving me in a blissfully ignorant blur. Yes. Up with cinema down with popcorn. Yep. So maybe you could also, if you'd like to suggest your own warnings that should appear at the beginning of a movie, then I quite like the idea. Generic, beware, generic plotting. And correspondence falls away in the third act. Yes, that's right. Disappointing from the off. Okay, correspondence at covidamon.com. And just before the top 10 Felix says, dear,

reformed and before yo, bulls, am I doing that right? Because it's because of the expend of orderables. And are you doing that right? Because it's because of the expend affordables. Read the Wurly Coptor exploding or otherwise. Yes. This is reference to last week. English is an evolving language. So attaching Wurly to this form of transport is perfectly

cromulent, but you've done it wrong. How I... Helicopter is made up of Helicopter spiral as in helix. And... Copper. Well, no, it's... The word is PTER. made up of helico spiral as in helix. And copper. Well, no, the word is PTER, but it's a silent P, wing as in teradactyl. Oh, okay.

Okay, so. So if you're going to be inventive, at least call it a whirlipter, or actually don't pronounce the P, so it's a whirlipter. Yeah, that's not as funny as a silence P. Doesn't sound as good as a whirlipopter though, does it? This, of course, means that really helicopter should be pronounced helicopter.

Helicota with a longish O and the minute, oh, Helicuta. He is silent as in Bath. Yes, Helicuta. Helicuta. But when I found myself next to a very senior member of the RAF, I pointed out that he was saying it wrong, he just walked away. And RAF Hel.F. helicopter. That's very, thank you.

Thank you Felix, I feel informed. If I could just take this moment to remind you that Roger Coleman's rule was, no, you can't have more than a million dollars. No, it can't be more than 89 minutes long. And yes, it does have to have a scene of an exploding, worldly copter. Helicuta. Helicuta. Box office top 10 at 17,

the exorcist 50th anniversary reissue. Had the great privilege of introducing this onstage at the Belfast QFT, which is a lot of me stand up and go, ladies and gentlemen, the exorcist. And then bow and get off. I was literally told I had 10 minutes and so what I did was I got my phone and I sat in a alarm on it

so that it would go off after 10 minutes and I could stop and get off the thing and it so that it would go off after 10 minutes. Right. So I could stop and get off the thing. And it was lovely and it was a sold out screening. It was the third of those that I've done. I did one at the BFI South Bank and I did one at Fry Fest, all of which were sold out. It gave me great pleasure to be able to see a full cinema watching a 50 year old movie. Many people seeing it on the big screen for the first time in an absolutely beautiful

pristine form. And in the version you've never seen as it was called when it first came out, a masterpiece that has aged brilliant. Number 10, Toy Story, week 1,347. Oh, a masterpiece that has aged brilliant. Number 9 is Done Money, which I enjoyed. I know it does a certain amount of simplification,

but that's fine because dramatically it works well. And Paul Dayno, as the person who is behind the game stop, you know, defense, I think does it really, really well. So simplification is called for? Of course it's called for. It's like, you know, it's an under two hour movie and it's a complicated issue. At number eight is the old oak. How much more Ken Loach could it be?

None more Ken Loach. It is a very, very Ken Loach film. I don't say that. I'm a Mr. Thing. I'm Mr. Thing. You're Mr. Thing. Yeah. The old note number. Okay, very good. Then we get to the Expender forbels. If you buy ticket, if you go up to the box office, I want to take it for Expender forbels, is that what you would say? That's what I would say. And they would go, do you mean Expender forbables for? And I'd say no, I wanted to get for expand forbles in the same way as I bought it to get for Sir Sevenan and a fan forced it. Well, MM Woddingham says, they're Dr Salona and Dr Statham. I have yet to have the unique pleasure of expanding forbles with Jason Statham, although my awful nephew is a fan of the series,

so I'm sure I'll catch up eventually. Having seen the previous film, I'm convinced that Vester Sloan doesn't understand the meaning of the word expendable. Expendables two features a member of the expendables being captured, and the rest of the team rescuing them, meaning said member is literally not expendable. Expendables three opens with the expendables rescuing a teammate from prison, so again said team member is not expendable. Expendables three opens with the expendables rescuing a teammate from prison. So again, said team member is not expendable and expend four balls does exactly the same thing. Other favorite examples of films that don't understand their own title, new feature possibly. Well, the first one is clearly unstoppable in which Tony Scott's unstoppable in which a runaway train proves to be very stoppable. And David airs suicide squad in which a team

assembled for suicide missions has sent on a rescue mission, the opposite of a suicide mission. Can you realist think of any other examples? That's very, very true. If you're expendable, you don't go and rescue them prison, they're completely expendable. PS the publication of my first novella, only in the hottest years a predator love story has been severely delayed due to a legal issue with the studios,

but I'm sure some of your more enterprising listeners will be able to find it online. They said cough fanfiction.net cough, which I obviously haven't performed properly. And PPS, why are why isn't the delightful Nigel Havers in more films? These, and other questions are asked by M. M. Woddingham writing about the expender forebours, which is this week's number seven. Number six, stop making sense, remastered. It is one of the great concert movies of all time. In fact, I included it in the list I did for

the observer a year or so ago of the 25 greatest concert movies and talking heads at the very height of their powers and a brilliantly directed movie. What we've got here, number five is the Equalizer three, which is fine. It's kind of good fun. It does what it says in the tin. It's got, you know, it's nasty when it needs to be nasty and it's got a good central performance. The none two is at number four, which is rubbish. And it's, you know, we did all the none two impressed, none two pleased, none two scared. But it's too early, but it's doing very well and I have to tell you, warn you in advance that the none will come up again in this program. It'd be a whole convent of them by the time they're finished.

Yes, no, but in relation to another movie. A haunting Invenus is at number three. You know, it's the 50th anniversary of Don't Look Now this month, and it is interesting how whenever anyone does a film in Venice, particularly a film that has haunting in the title, part of you is thinking, I do love Don't Look Now. But in general, it's done very well. It's a great experience. I think Bran is really enjoying himself with it, and I think it's certainly the most

visually adventurous of those films, and I could watch him do Poirot forever. Number two in the UK and number two in the States is Sorks, Sorks, X, or Ten. Matt says, Dear Hoffman and Amanda, I was intrigued to hear you discuss both WAP and sort X being funny in the same show. As I listened to Mark's review after discussing both these very things in the lobby with my friend afterwards. When I first heard WAP, I laughed from beginning to end. A colleague, not really sure why I was listening to it at work, said, you know, they don't mean it to be funny. It's meant as female empowerment. And maybe it is, but my argument then and now

is that excess is funny. Turn up the levels of gratuitous anything. Be it violence or sex to eleventhy stupid and huge sways of the audience are going to laugh. That's part of the reason why we go and see these films like this anyway. Sorex was another such lol fest for me. A line you wouldn't have written in the observer.

Would you be writing? Definitely passed the six laugh test with the line. Now we have a rope being the apotheosis of the silliness. That's great. But the rest of the familiar sore tropes are there too. The twists, the political commentary. And those weird 360 shaky camera swoops around some poor sap who has to feed their liver into a shredder to save their neck or something.

Mark's absolutely right when he says this is one of the better sore films. For this particular reviewer, it's only beaten by one, three, and six, and I'm looking forward to seeing it in chuckling like Ken Branagh in an interview all over again. Loving the shawl sleeve says Matt. Sore X at number two. Well, I think that that pretty much covers it all. That it's there is that thing about Grongin Yol and the theatre of excess and and yeah, I sat next to Alan Jones who said to me, so many people come up to me and said, that my name came up in your review of Saw X. What did you say about me? Um, that we did laugh, you know, we enjoyed it because it's it if you're going to make a Saw movie, that's the one to make. Right. I still you're not going to see I am not going to see any of them. But all I can say is

on the subject of rope in testines which brings us to the top of the hip parade. Yes. And it's the so this is slightly because of the way the guests and releases are falling we're actually going to be talking to Gareth Edwards very shortly. This is partly in this weird time of strikes which I you know maybe coming to it to, but congratulations to the team for getting through all of this strange time. Absolutely. So that's why directors, so I'm only talking to directors at the moment, pretty much, they're more directors to come. But as we said before, the great thing about talking to directors is they are so involved in the project. It's their gig. In a way that actors aren't. Anyway, so Gareth Edwards' new movie is number one in the UK, number three in the States,

it is the Creator. Or just do one email and then we'll take a break and then you'll hear Gareth Edwards. And then we'll do some more emails. John LTL. So Mark, listening to the podcast as I drove to see the Creator, I had calculated that at best. I would get to the laughter lift podcast as I drove to see the creator. I had calculated that at best. I would get to the laughter lift, but not any headliner reviews. So I was nervous when the creator related chat began early in my journey,

relieved by your positivity. I was excited and I quickly bought into the world building of this talented director. I'm teaching here in Thailand. And the way Edwards presented the juxtaposed Asian stance on AI was believable and an intriguing Fresh take on the feature there was so much to like in the film especially the real world sets and as you said the nomad Which is the big thing in the skies is skybase? I Think someone was very keen to say it's cloud base cloud base. I'm so sorry as a mist

It was a it was a, it was a captain's scull. It was a fissionade. Absolutely. I stand 100% corrected and I shall flageulate myself for having got that right. Cloud-based. Go back and read it. I'm so sorry.

But I did feel there were too many plot holes and apparent jumps in the narrative. They snapped me out of my happy place too many times, which is a shame. I love original science fiction, so I hope it does well. Down with all the birdsong inducing usual suspects from John. What's interesting is that so he's teaching in Thailand,

so he has a completely, it just will feel different if you're watching this kind of film in Thailand or Vietnam or Indonesia or any of the places that are referenced. All of those topics will come up, including a story that Garather was has never told before in Justa Man. Can I say very quickly, one thing on the correct you,

we said correct it for the cloud-based sky-based. That's absolutely right. Yes, absolutely. But on the YouTube thing, under the review of Soar, a bunch of people said, oh, Mark com referred to the Hostel movies as hotel. Yes, because that was the joke about the Hostel movies took so much money, they'd have to start calling them the hotel movies. All right, so that was the joke about the hostile movies took so much money.

They'd have to start calling them the hotel movies. And that was a joke. So people below the line never got, never go below the line. And yet somehow you do. So anyway, there are more emails about the creator and we'll get to those. But I think it's worth hearing from the creator of the creator of the creator. Which you'll do in just a moment. This episode is brought to you by MUBI, a curated streaming service dedicated to elevating great cinema from around the globe. From my connect directors to

emerging otters, there's always something new to discover, for example. Well, for example, the new Aki Karri's Mackey film Fallen Leaves, which won the jury prize it can, that's in cinemas at the moment. And if you see that and think I want to know more about Aki Karri's Mackey, you can go to Mooby the streaming service and there is a retrospective of his films called How to Be a Human. They are also going to be theatrically releasing In January Priscilla, which is a new Sophia Coppola film, which I am really looking forward to since I have an Elvis obsession. You could try Mooby Free for 30 days at Mooby.com slash

Kermit and Mayo. That's M-U-B-I dot com slash Kermit and Mayo for a whole month of great cinema for free. With banking packages from Scotiabank, you can put money back in your pocket. That's how Marcus was able to invest in everything he needed to launch his podcast about his pets. Welcome back to PetGasd. That's how Marcus was able to invest in everything he needed to launch his podcast about his pets. Welcome back to PetGasd!

Visit Scotiabank.com slash welcome offer. Scotiabank conditions apply. It's Hal. Answer the phone. You can play for no, you're there. Colonel. Taylor, we're shiply. I'm with him right now. He's a pretty bad shape. All right, listen to me. Did you locate the weapon?

Yes, it's here. I'm with it. Describe it. It's a kid. It's a kid. They make it into some kind of kid. That's the weapon. What? I can't reach you. You have to bring it to me. Do you understand?

Nah, shipley can't move. I mean, to bring it to me. Do you understand? No, Shipley came home, I'm eased. He's not looking good at all. Police everywhere, I don't know how I'm getting out right now. I don't even have an extra set today. Then you know what you have to do. Kill it. And that was a clip from the creator. I'm delighted to say that the creator's creator,

I guess we could call you. Caratette is with us. How are you? I'm very well, thank you, and you. Yeah, I was just thinking we spoke to you in a previous incarnation of this show for monsters. So would that be 2010? Yeah, that's right. When you come up with this extraordinary film, former BBC cameraman, and that seems like a lifetime ago. Yeah, and it was sabacy what that movie was,

like a lot of people when they do their first film, they have no money. And so the way we did it, because my background was visual effects, is I ended up taking about five people in a van around Central America. And whenever we saw something beautiful or amazing location, we jumped out

and tried to invent a scene for the movie. And then when we got into the edit, we just put all the best stuff together and it was very organic, very creative process. And then I got very lucky and at that, teleported me to the Super Bowl final and I got to do Godzilla and Star Wars as the next film, which is kind of insane.

I remember. And so this film is really like me trying to find a sweet spot between those two extremes. I see. There's something of that monster's vibe in this film. But introduces to the who is the creator? Who or what is the creator? Good question. I think today I can describe the creator as the kind of Oppenheimer of our world.

It's this genius, you know, to some extent, maybe the Asamu bin Laden of the world, it's this genius AI engineer that has basically created all the breakthroughs in AI. And so the West wants to ban AI, the world's kind of divide in the West wants to kill the creator to stop this stuff being made. But, and so from the point of view of America and everything, it's a public enemy number one, like the devil. And from the point of view of Asia, well, AI has been embraced as equals. The creator is God, like the Messiah. And so there's this hunt for this person throughout the movie.

You know, I had this conversation around the latest mission impossible film. You know, it's one, you know, AI has dominated public conversation for the last 12 months. So it's one thing for us to be picking up on that, but you were obviously investigating this, I mean, Spielberg did a long time ago, but you obviously thought that AI was the coming subject when, when did this, when did the story of the creator start for you? I would love to take credit for that, but it was more like the holy trinity of science fiction is sort of aliens, spaceships, robots. And I did an alien film, I did a spaceship film, and I was like, I really want to do a robot one next if I can.

And so I was using it to start with as like a metaphor, like a science fiction metaphor for people who are different to us. But then the second you start exploring AI, you get all these fascinating questions, like how do you know they're real? What happens if they don't do what you want? Can you turn them off? What if they don't want to be turned off?

And the film became more about those sort of ideas than the original fairy tale. And then you have to pick a date when you're doing a science fiction film and even Stanley Kubrick got it a bit wrong with 2001, you know, when don't live on the moon, et cetera. And so I was like, if I pick 2070, I won't look like Canadian because I'll be dead then

and no one can tell me I would, you know. And I should have picked like my joke that I should have picked like 2024 because it sort of happened so much faster than anyone was expecting, even the experts, it's kind of surreal. Yeah, so are you scared of it? No, no. No, because it's like, because it's the heart of the strike as well, you know, is what happens to intellectual property, what happens to faces and actors and writers, yeah, once AI, this is not the AI of

your movie, but it's certainly the subject of the year. These are all really fascinating dilemmas that we sort of had it with music. When everything goes digital, it sort of forces these very things that were very hypothetical in the past, like the nature of ownership. It used to be like, well, we print a record, you the buyer or you don't, and that's it. And then someone goes, what if it doesn't physically exist, you know what I mean? And what if I ask someone to play it to me? And so they know, do they, I then owe you money and it gets very complicated. And, and I think AI, you know, helping people generate creative things in the future, we're going to have the same

problems and I don't know what the answer is, nobody seems to know right now. I'm sitting to you, I'm sitting opposite you and behind you is a big backdrop, it's the creator and then this extraordinary kind of spaceship for one to the better word nomad which you've created. Can you just tell us about nomad and where that fits in the story? Yeah, nomads like, I guess you call it a space station or something, but it's basically a military platform that orbits the earth and essentially gives the west the upper hand

in this war against the eye. It was kind of like when you design something, you're always trying to combine different visuals subconsciously, and so so for us the two things I wanted to get in there was a bird of prey, like the idea of that there's this sort of thing in this guy that might kill you and then also like an eye, like an all-seeing eye, so it's a circular thing. So the shape was like this combination of two ideas and we had the whole pandemic to tinker away at the design, so. So I wrote down a bunch of influences as they occurred to me having seen the film which I enjoyed very, very much. Apocalypse Now I wrote down District 9, Starship Troopers, and

then, and I can say this because you're British, Captain Scarlett. Because you know that bit where the Mr. Ones. I don't know, did you watch the Jerry Anderson stuff? So there's a bit where the Mr. When you know the Mr. Ones are approaching, you get these two circles, which appear like torch lights on the ground. Okay. And I thought that's what that's what your craft is doing. It's like the Mr. Ones. Would you want to know the real reason? I never told this story. You want it? Yeah. So when we were doing Star Wars and there was an artist that was working on the film who was from the UK, who came over to San Francisco, and we both sort of secret, well not secret, but kind of into the idea of aliens and silly things like that.

And we kept joking about going to visit Area 51 and eventually it was like, hey, if we don't go now, we're never going to get the chance before we come to shoot the movie in Pinewood. So we basically hired a car and we went to go now, we're never going to get the chance before we come to shoot the movie in Pinewood. So we basically hired a car and we went to the Nevada and drove all the way to Area 51. We went down this dirt track towards the gate and we saw some crazy lights in the sky and we got really excited that that, oh, here we, you know, we had actually had some sort of weird encounter and then we're about to leave. And as we were leaving, this is all true.

And it takes a long time to tell this story properly. But suddenly this red square appeared floating in the middle of the ground between the mountain and where we were. And we totally ourselves. And I start doing this like three-point turn, but we're on this dirt road. I don't want to get stuck. So it's like Austin Power Style, where it takes me like 20 goes to turn the car around and then we're driving off and as we drive off this light projects onto the mountain like from above and it just projects this grid and it put the fear of God into us. I thought they were sort of tracking us with some Apache helicopter. Who knows what but we got really scared and there's way more to it in this, and we were sort of followed all the way to Las Vegas

by night vision security people. But it was such a traumatic experience that I always wanted to put it in a movie, and so essentially that's where it came from. As much as Captain Scarlett, you know, was also an inspiration. So who was shining that light? I'm looking back on it. I think the logical answer is the security guards were messing with

this. Like I think they had a project like a laser projector or something that could put it was like a grid pattern. And that's the my only explanation for it because we didn't see any helicopters or anything else and none of it it made sense But it was it was a bit freaky. I need to ask you about Alfie and your extraordinary actor You had just explained the significance of Alfie and and who she is. Yeah, so Alfie is the Essentially is the unique thing in the movie. There is basically an advance in AI that has, you know, I don't know if you know these terms, but it's like, there's this thing called the singularity where essentially AI is like humans, gets closer being like humans, and then there's a day where it's going

to surpass humans and become like a scary thing. And so Alfie is that, it's the first AI in this world that's going to be more powerful than a human being So everyone's trying to get this child and the Americans are trying to kill the kid and in Asia the AI and Everyone is trying to save it and so John David Washington essentially is on this stuff. Yeah, it's basically You know knows that this journey at the end of this journey They're gonna execute this child and it's sort of escorting it to some extent and gets torn by the dilemma of like, you know, if you could end World War II,

all you have to do is kill Hitler as a five-year-old, you know, could you do it? And does that make you as bad as Hitler, if you could? And so we needed this like exceptional child. I hate movies that have child actors in. There's only a handful that are great. Most of them, the kids are really annoying. And so I was like, if we can't find the right kid,

I'm not sure I wanna do the film. And we did. With pressure. Yeah, and we just got really lucky. We did a casting call all around the world. And the first kid in the room was Madeline, who played the role. The first person in. Yeah, and she did this amazing performance that made us nearly cry.

I thought the mother might have cheated and told her a terrible story just before she walked in. And so I sort of then tried to make her like laugh a bit and be normal, and then I sort of then tried to make her like laugh a bit and be normal and then I sort of went, oh, do you mind just doing one more scene? And I just invented this scene to test whether she was really like this and she did it even better. And so then it was like this, it was kind of a director's dream. Like these are the sort of kids you really hope to meet when you do. Did you cancel the casting? No, because I, that was the weird thing we had all this other casting to do and

how to go to New York and do even more but I was paranoid that the we were it was such a big ask to get this family to come to Thailand and All around the world for six months That I was paranoid they would drop out so I had to have like a backup plan. Just in case explain you mentioned Thailand so explain Why you filmed there and and those, because it gives a very, very particular vibe to the film. Yeah, well, definitely wanted to film in Southeast Asia and the original goal was literally go to anywhere in the world, wherever the best location was for each scene,

just go there. And there's this thing, when you get the crew small enough, it's cheaper to fly them anywhere in the world than it is to build a set, you know, in a studio against green screen. And so suddenly you're allowed to do it. And so we had, we had about seven different countries, we had these amazing locations that we had selected, and then the pandemic came along. And they're like, Gareth, you can't quarantine the actors for two weeks, you know, every time you fly somewhere, it's not going to happen.

So what we decided to do was like a malgame, a lot of the film, into Thailand because it had all these amazing. It's quite a good one-stop shop for Southeast Asia, and they also have a great filmmaking infrastructure. But then when we finished shooting there, we then went to like, you know, temples in the Himalayas, volcanoes in Indonesia, like ruins in Cambodia and stuff like this. And so the movie is this kind of mixture of like sort of classic filmmaking, sort of Hollywood style, and then really like indie gorilla. And hopefully it's peppered throughout and you can't quite pick it apart. Just feels like a real place. Can you give us a robot monks? Yes. yes.

I mean, that's the thing is that I got the idea, all got me excited as I went to visit a friend in Vietnam and I wanted to do a robot movie and I was just picturing everyone, like an idiot, I was just picturing everybody as robots. And these monks went into a temple and a second you picture them as robots, you go, what is going on there?

You know, and I had a million questions and I love that about science fiction when you don't have the answers. Like the best kind of science fiction is when you don't understand everything because if you really went into the future and saw this material, it wouldn't make sense to you. And so I was trying to put a lot of that in the film as well. Two things I just want to mention before we're done. One is Ralph Innocent who appears with his astonishing voice and I was thinking, is that him? Because he's speaking in American accent. I've never heard of it. And then halfway through, I'm sure we hear deep purple,

which I was not expecting to hear. Can you mention? I'm right, I'm certainly right about Ralph, obviously, but deep purple. Yeah, so Ralph has the world's greatest voice, you know, maybe James or Jones can compete and then it's Ralph. And it was funny because you have to do ADR, you know, like when you have to kind of like mock up potential dialogue, you know, in the edit suite, where you kind of replace what was said with some new lines. And normally you just do a quick impression. Everyone was trying to do Ralph. It was like, no matter who did it, it just made you laugh every time. And there's no one that could do it over the route. Support Ralph, I was texting all the time saying, can you just read this into your iPhone? Yeah, and deep purple. There's a lot of 70s-ish kind of vibe to the music in this film.

I kind of wanted to have this retro-future thing, and Gabe, who was the music supervisor, he did this impossible task of like, we were like, imagine, because we wanted a lot of Asian music, but like, try and find a band from Asia, from the 70s, that were like the doors or something that we've never heard of, you know, but has all that quality. And he found this band called Golden Wing, that's an Indonesian band, and their album is

phenomenal. And it's like one of those albums where you go, oh my god, why haven't we heard of this? There's some really great music on it. And so we put that, a lot of that in the movie as well, and there's a whole retro feel to the sound. And Hans Zimmer couldn't pick up the rest. Oh, good old, Hans, yes. Gareth Edwards, nice to talk to you again. Thank you very much.

No, thank you. Delightful chap, Gareth Edwards. He did well, the boy, didn't he? If you want the full review, then that's in last week's show. Last week's take one. Just a couple of emails. James in Reigns Park, he says, I've just had the misfortune of seeing Apocalypse Chappy. Original science fiction on this scale is such a rarity.

I understand wanting to support Garret Edwards' journey from guerrilla filmmaking to enormous blockbusters. And I think Mark was a bit too polite about this one. The film was a mess from the opening sequence. Good cast is squandered on an incoherent story with no real emotional depth. Again, wrong, I think. The idea is a much of the designer, a pale imitation of better pictures. The music choices are tonally odd and Zimmer's score is bland. In the end, I'm reminded of Neil Blomkamp, a director whose first film, District 9, which I think

I mentioned, released around the same time as Edward's Monsters promised much bigger and better things to come, sadly not. I hope Apocalypse Chappy doesn't discourage studios from taking these sort of much-needed risks. That's from James and Baptiste. I think it won't discourage them since it's done very well. Baptiste Collard. I just came back from watching Gareth Hedley as the creator felt compelled to write in after hearing your review. I know absolutely nothing about the film going in,

except for the directors and the main actors' names. I met a desire of despair when I realized 20 seconds in the AI would be the focal point of the story, mainly because of the constant discourse about the rise of artificial intelligence in real life, is ubiquitous, unavoidable, and fills me with mixed emotions about humanity's future, with or without this kind of technology. However, I loved this film,

apart from the points you raised in your review about the scale and the world building, I felt all of the emotions the story was trying to convey. I was stunned by a Madeline Unavoyals performance. It was the creator. But most importantly, I was reassured by what seems to me to be the very mature and insightful message shared in the film. Our mistrust of technology and progress is a mistrust of the way we could use it, not of the technology itself. The idea that a technical innovation we created is going to have to behave just like us because we created it,

which is, in my opinion, untrue, cynical and wildly arrogant view of humanity. So I'm happy that the creator reveals the antagonistic nature of this point of view through the heavily armed shoulders of the American army and puts forward the fact that cohabitation is not something to be feared and doesn't go against human nature just because homo sapiens and then the Andaphaels didn't get along. All the love from Cloudy Belgium. Very good. Very good. And I think it just makes me want to go and watch the movie again. Hearing Gareth talk about it so eloquently I think it's great. I think he's a really interesting filmmaker and particularly after Rogue One it's lovely to see him fully at the reins.

For Laughter Lift fans, it could be along shortly, but Mark has a review. The burial, which is a courtroom drama from director Maggie Betts, who made the Sundance Prize winner and a Vissier, to show also a cover at the screenplay. This is inspired by true events, which is a phrase that we continue to say. I always think, what is that being inspired by untrue events? Based on a 1999 New Yorker article by Jonathan Hart, Jamie Foxx is American lawyer, Willie E. Gary, who is a gregarious figure. We first meet him in the pulpit at church,

mesmerizing the congregation, and then in a courtroom, equally mesmerizing the jury. He wears flashy jewelry and flashy watches, and he's all sort of panache. He's never lost a case, which brings him to the attention of Jeremiah Jerry O'Keefe. He's a funeral homeowner who believes that he's been stiffed by Ray Lowe and played by Bill Camp, who is a businessman who offered to buy some of his funeral homes

and then welched on the deal, leaving him in financial strates. Jerry wants to sue against the advice of his longtime lawyer, played by Alan Ruck, formerly best known for Ferris Bueller, now of course best known for succession. But young lawyer Hal, played by Mamadu Arte, who was one of the stars of Elemental, which you like very much,

brings him to see Willie in the two strike-up of friendship. And together, they decide to take this case. Here is a little bit of the trailer. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, how y'all doing? All y'all that don't know who I am, my name is Willie Gary. Willie Gary. William Gary. Never heard of him. What's so special about this guy anyway? Litigation is war, it's a battle.

And I'm not talking about no bulls, I'm talking about some jar part, band-dam, ass kicking. Truth is, I may have got myself into a lot of trouble. I've been your lawyer for 30 years. We can find a way out of it. You never sued anybody before in your whole life. I just fell in trying to bully me out of business.

I don't think I should be expected to stand for it. So the film also stars Jenny Smollett as maybe Downs, who's the hot shot lawyer who is brought in by the Loans group to outmaneuver Willy Gary, who thought he'd have an advantage and suddenly finds himself up against somebody who is equally well versed in knowing how to win over a jury. Now it does not sound like the most gripping case because basically it is a contract suit. This really keeps saying it's a contract thing and why they got in Willy Gary, it's a contract thing. And why have they got in Willie Garry? Because he's a personal injury. He's an ambulance chaser, is what they call him.

But actually, it's a really smart, funny movie, which addresses quite complicated issues of race, class, family, politics, life, and death in a manner that is completely engaging. I mean, the twists and the turns of the courtroom case are suitably twisty and turny. You get the spectra of the KKK, the exploitation of the poor, the unexpected role of the church being hoodwinked into somehow taking part in this, this kind of business scheme. Jamie Foxx, as you just I think heard

or saw from that clip, is completely magnetic in the role. He throws himself into it. He's kind of like a James Brown or Elvis figure. It's all to do with past, but underneath, there's real substance. Tommy Lee Jones is completely does that thing, but no one has a saddle bagged face down us more than Tommy Lee Jones. And the kind of combination of the pairing of the two of them is really smart. Remember when he was doing the Men in Black movies, Tommy Lee Jones said the secret of comedy is standing as close as possible to Will Smith. And in this, the secret of this working is being completely the opposite of the character that Jamie Foxx is playing and between them, the kind of chalk and cheese chemistry works really well. I didn't know the story. I know they've taken liberties with it because they say they haven't the end.

And as I said, it's inspired by true events. The original scores by Michael Ables, who did get out us note that kind of stuff. I went into this not knowing anything about it and really enjoyed it. It is a good solid courtroom drama with two very, very chalk and cheese performances that work very well. Well, it's the ads in a minute Mark. First of all it's time to step with Joy in our hearts into the laughter lift. Hurrah! Hey Mark!

Hey Simon! Child 3's been thinking about a new career. Right. He's looking into starting his own specialist zoo. Is it the... The seventh? This is so contrived. Okay, okay. He's thinking of setting up his... I just say, I know child three,

and I already don't believe this. His own specialist zoo, in which the only exhibits will be carnivore on mammals of the hercidide family. But the bureaucracy is insane, Mark. Apparently, you need at least two pandas, a grizzly and a polar. It's the bare minimum.

Anyway, he's not had a great time recently. He said this week. A long runway for such a short takeoff. Bad news, Dad. I broke up with my girlfriend. The presenter of a well-known ITV breakfast television program because I was seeing another girl named Claire Lee. But the good news is that I can see Claire Lee now.

Lorraine has gone. I think that's not bad. Contrived, certainly. Not to Johnny Nash. It's a bit Colin Knox, two pence off into Planetaries craft, isn't it? I've been thinking a lot about the power of prayer this week, Mark. I remembered that when I was just a little nipper, I used to pray for a brand shiny new bicycle. Then I learned at Sunday School that that isn't how prayer works.

So I knit one instead and prayed for forgiveness. And a practice. And that's a better joke. Anyway, we'll be back after this, unless you're a van Gogh Easter, in which case we have just one question. What comprises 15% human skin? Metrolinx and crosslinx are reminding everyone to be careful, as Eglinton Crosstown LRT train testing is in progress. Please be alert, this trains can pass at any time on the tracks.

Remember to follow all traffic signals. Be careful along our tracks, and only make left turns where it's safe to do so. Be alert, be aware, and stay safe. Get holiday ready at Real Canadian Superstore. We'll find more legendary ways to save than any other major grocer. And stay safe. Get holiday ready at Real Canadian Superstore. We'll find more legendary ways to save than any other major grocer. Until December 13th, you'll get a free PC turkey when you spend $300 or more. That's right, free only at your Super Holiday Store.

Conditions apply to fly every details. And the answer is of course, the air in a typical railway station comprises a 50% you know, is that all that's that's horrible? You know that mask you were wearing get that back on all that's just horrible dear agent 69 and agent 86 on the subject of misheard movie titles my pal Richard still gets reminded of a trip to the cinema in the 90s where he asked the ticket attendant for and I quote, four tickets to Alton Towers, please. When the laughter and mockery had subsided, we made it into the theatre to enjoy Austin Powers. Thank you, Reese in Wolfenstow. Ian says back in the early 2000s, a popular UK fruit-based telecoms provider,

Rana Service, where a voice avatar, red reviews of the box office top 10 movies of the moment. One reason the avatar could never replace such highly esteemed personages as yourselves was its robotic lack of common sense. On one occasion in 2002, I called the service to be told that the box office number one movie that week was Star Wars episode two Attack of the Clunes. Now that is an interesting, I should have mentioned that to Garith Edwards, he would have, I'll be back on the Star Wars ticket in no time. Excellent. Thank you Ian. And Steve McKenna, long term heritage listener and Vanguard Easter, which my spell check doesn't like.

In relation to the ongoing thread of Miss Herd or similar filming titles, my wife, the good lady learning supporter system to her indoors, used to work at view cinemas. One day she got a woman coming to her asking for two tickets to the Aureo-R-Y of everything. When my wife politely pointed out that it was the theory of everything, the woman pointed at the display board behind her and insisted that that was wrong and it was indeed meant to read the orey of everything. This point, my wife just handed over the tickets and I hope she enjoyed the film and half expected it to see her again to complain that the film credits were wrong too. Anyway Steve, thank you very much Steve for getting in touch.

Correspondents at Curbinamayer.com. Now you have been allowed, at the beginning of this, you were talking about introducing the exorcist in Belfast. Yes. And because you can actually talk for about five hours about the exorcist, you've given 10 minutes. Yes. So you had your, what, you had your clock on a timer.

I did. Which would go off after 10 minutes of phone clock. So we're going to do the exorcist believer, which is a new issue. So you've been allocated eight minutes. Okay. Okay. For this review, it's my time. There it is. So basically, a disgusting wake up sound will go off. Are you ready to press the sound? Okay. So you have eight minutes to talk about the excess believer starting now. One of the problems with all the excess spin-offs with the exception of excesses three, which was by William Peter Blattie, is that they have completely misunderstood the original. So the message of the original amongst the many messages, it's not about the girl,

it's about everybody else in the house, it's about the priest. Also, message of the original, you don't tell the audience what the message of the original is, they have to feel it. That's kind of essential to the thing. So, Exorcist 2. Worst movie ever made? It is all about the girl. Let's get, let's spit a leopard and get on the back of a low-custom fly to Africa. Exorcist Dominion, the most boring movie ever made, featuring a lengthy sequence in which someone sits down and explains the plot of the entire movie, which was so boring that after Morgan Freeman made it, they dropped the whole movie and decided to start again with a different director and then made Exorcist the beginning, which is the stupidest movie ever made, which climaxes in an all-sing, all-dancing, all-spider

walking sequence literally featuring hits on 45-style vocal samples from the original exorcist, while somebody crawls around the inside of a cave and shouts things. Wow. Now we have this, the exorcist believer from David Gordon Green, which it would like us to see it as a recall,

a reboot sequel to the exorcistist from the makers of the Halloween series. If you remember, we liked the new Halloween and then that didn't. And then we didn't. This is in fact better seen as a recall from the director of Pineapple Express and Your Highness. Although I should say it is less funny and indeed less scary than either of those movies. It is not good. The story is this, following an earthquake in Porteprins,

Victor, played by Lesiolum Jr., has to decide between saving his wife and his baby. 13 years later, he lives with his daughter, Angela, she misses her mom and one evening she sneaks off into the woods with her friend, Catherine. They have candles, they have a picture of the mom, they have a medallion, and they do a say-uncey type thing. They then disappear for three days. When they turn up, they're found in a barn, but they don't remember anything. They seem to be okay,

but then they start behaving weirdly, particularly Eclipse. So he prays he's mad and cheesers now. The body in the blood. The body in the blood. The body in the blood. The body in the blood. The body in the blood. The body in the blood. The body in the blood. The body in the blood.

The body in the blood. The body in the blood. The body in the blood. The body in the blood. The body in the blood. The body in the blood. The body in the blood. The body in the blood.

The body in the blood. The body in the blood. You know, there's a smut. There's a, so there's a, in the, in the church, there's a small girl, as a girl, a girl. Walking down the aisle and she's got lots of trailer. Like, it's wine. I know.

So, yeah. So, Caffin's mom is a Christian and believes in possession. And Dowd is a medic with a not-so-secret past who, about which Angel of the other girl knows in the same way that Reagan knew about Father Carus' mother, ooh, she gives Victor a book, which is a book written by Chris McNeil, right? The mother of Reagan McNeil called a mother's explanation, which is an account of her daughter's possession. Well, at first point, Chris McNeil would not have written a book about her mother's

possession. One of the key things about the first film is that they are trying to keep everything secret. And as in the source case, the 1940 nightmare, Rainier case, they don't want any publicity. Oh, anyway, turns out that as a result of writing the book, Reagan has gone into hiding and no longer speaks to a mother. Well, there's a shock. In the book, Victor reads a thing which says that on the body of Reagan during this possession

appeared the words, help me. Note to writers, in the original film, it is explicitly made clear that Chris does not know that that writing appears on her daughter's body because Sharon actually says to Caris, I didn't want Chris to see this. Also, note to writers, turning Ellen Burston into a basil exposition character who just gets to read huge screeds of explanatory dialogue is not the best use of Ellen Burston. Originally, the original specifically avoided any explanation, this explains everything for the heart of thinking.

Even worse, Chris, who has seen two priests die while trying to perform an exorcism in the first film, now is brought out retirement and seriously love Ellen Burstin, and I hope that she has done wonderful things with the money they paid for doing this. Turns up and decides to have a go. And the result is one of the films touched on stupid scenes in which the most notoriously

shocking scene from the original exorcist is turned into a stabby punch and duty pantomime, which at least means that but bursting won't have to witness anything further and gets to have a bit of a lie down. Everything then goes completely formulaic. Heads get turned, vomit gets spewed, bodies get levitated. We move towards an avenge as a symbol finale in which everyone decides to have a go.

At one point and doubt actually says, I live in the name of Jesus, I'll give it everything I've got. And everyone goes, that sounds like a good idea. Elsewhere, somebody else declares, this is putrid, which I have to say I did laugh at that. And then somebody else explains, it's vapor from inside them. They're at a critical temperature. It's the start of an eruption. So the girls have now turned into boiling kettles.

Despite the absolute stupidity of it, or it is staggeringly dull, it's hard not to compare it to the original because every other shot is a direct shot quote from the original So opens with dogs fighting oh, yeah, like the dogs in it rough Angela stealing bacon from a father's plate. Oh, it's like Reagan stealing the cookies from the jaw Victor telling Angela, oh, you're very mature. Oh, like Chris McNeil's old Reagan You look so mature the scene in the boxing club when he's hitting the punch bag like Damien Carras The eerie lights going on and off in the house like in the McNeil house, a shot of a light in the window like the poster from the original. The medical examination in which is horrible and the doctor say you're going to feel something colder

and there'll be a bit of pressure, which is the same. The injection with the sedative, the demonic flash face, although this time the demonic flash face actually looks like the Marilyn Manson character from the nun. Catherine wearing a blue dress, like some kind of Reagan cosplay at a Halloween party. The terrible Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz demon voice, I mean at least Colin Duhurst did a better job fit in Exorcist 3. Warner's, when the original came out, sued the makers of Abbey, which got pulled from studios, which was a kind of like black splutation film, which they said was ripped off of the Exorcist. They also sued the makers of behind the door, which is a US-Italian co-production which

they said was a rip off of the exorcist. Both of those movies are more accomplished than the exorcist believer. Roger Ebert, reviewing Beyond the Door, said, it's all trash, but it's scary trash. This is just trash. It is not scary at all. On the subject of which there's a Turkish Exorcist called Satan, which I think actually fundamentally understands the original movie better than this does. And when I was in that chip shop near you,

which is run by a Turkish family, the guy told me it's not pronounced Satan, it's pronounced shaytan. And I said, okay, and never was something, you know, more correctly done. It is apparently the beginning of a trilogy, after which the trilogy. Yes, it's the Elvis trilogy, after which we have exorcist deceiver, presumably followed in the third case by exorcist Asleeper. It is a movie made by people who have seen the original, but have not seen the original. They've watched it, but they haven't understood it.

They have quoted it without ever taking on board any of what it meant. The film has nothing to do with the exorcist other than its original title and the I have to say I mean as I said Burstin I'm you know I really really hope that Burstin takes the money that she got from this and gets something wonderful out of it. It is okay fine that's the end of that. It is dumb, dumb, boring, It's as bad as it could have been, and then some, and it's so dull. What's the best bit about it? It ends. If you want a sequel to the exorcist, go and look at the reconstructed Legion, which is on the blue ray of exorcist 3. As for exorcist the believer, it starts out as exorcist to the heretic, which William Freak can famously call the hairy tick and say it was the product of a demented mind. Then it goes a bit empty event horizon as they all got a hell and then bring something

back. Then it turns into utterly silly sophie's choice for reasons which totally fail me before finally becoming even more rubbish repossessed. Do I? Very good. Time for this week's listener correspondence. You okay now? I am.

Okay, would you like to be rubbed down with the radio times? No. I believe that was a courtesy that was offered back in the day. Very good. Time for this week's listener correspondence. Are you okay now? I am. Okay. Would you like to be rubbed down with the radio times? No. I believe that was a courtesy that was offered back in the day. Listen to reviewers, thank you very much indeed for getting in touch and sending information from wherever you are in the world about movie related stuff that's close to you. Correspondence at CurbeterMail.com.

Here's this week's. Hello, this is Christy Matheson from the London Film Festival. Over the next few weeks, from the 4th to the 15th of October, we have got a cracking program for you to all get involved in. We have films, short films. We have a great free program down at BFI Southbank. And if you would like to see what the future looks like,

please step into the barge house down on the South Bank for our expanded program. It's got virtual reality and a most of experiences lots to see and do. So hope to see you all there. Hi Mark Insignment. This is Paul and St. Louis, Missouri. I run hysteria fest, which takes place from October 18th to the 22nd. It's five days of the best horror films from around the world, including this year a retrospective of the French extremity movement. In the closing night film is going to be a 15-year anniversary screening of the film Marters. Find out more at hysteriafilmpfest.com.

Happy October. Join us on Wednesday, October 25th for the Revival House's fifth annual horror trailer challenge, in which filmmakers are given one week to script, produce, and edit a fictional horror trailer challenge in which filmmakers are given one week to script, produce and edit a fictional horror trailer. All entrance will be screened the evening of the 25th and have a chance to win a thousand dollars in cash. The contest is free to enter and for more information you can visit our website at RevivalHouseTheater.com and that is theatre, the US spelling of it. Thank you.

Hi Simon and Mark, it's Shann here from Swansea. Pontoderry Film Club have a Korean film festival next Saturday, that's the 7th of October. We're showing broker at 2pm, followed by decision to leave at 4.30. The details are on our website, that's pontoderryartcenter.com and tickets can be bought online. So if you go to our website which is pontadayee which is P-O-N-T-A-R-D-A-W-E, artcenter.com, you can find all the details there. So come along next Saturday afternoon and enjoy a couple of great Korean films with us. Thank you guys. Bye. So that was Shining Swansea before that it was Rob from the Revival

Theatre House. Paul and Missouri talking about all kinds of things. I'm not sure I like the sound of the French extremity movement. I do. No, not good for you. And Christy Matheson was on first telling us about the London Film Festival at the BFI Southbank. Your audio trailer please for something like that, anywhere in the world as I think you've got the measure of, correspondence at kermanomeo.com. That is the end of take one. This has been a Sony Music Entertainment production.

The team was Lily, Vicki, Mickey, Matiasi, Hannery and the Redactory. Mark, what was your film of the week? The Great Escaper. Oh, the Great Escaper. Excellent. Don't forget Take 2 has landed in fertile soil just next door to this one. Loads of extra stuff, more recommendations, bonus reviews. Take 3. Question, submissions will be with you on Wednesday. Thank you for listening. Questions will be with you on Wednesday. Thank you for listening.