Kermode & Mayo’s Take - Mary McCartney, Till, If These Walls Could Sing, Piggy & A Man Called Otto

Episode Date: January 6, 2023

The daughter of Beatle Paul McCartney, Mary McCartney, joins Ben and Anna to give us a glimpse of what went down in the world-famous Abbey Road Studios. Anna reviews ‘Till’ - the heart-breaking film about the death of Emmett Till in 1960s America, the highly anticipated ‘A Man Called Otto’, the Disney Original documentary ‘If These Walls Could Sing’, and ‘Piggy’- a Spanish French indie thriller. Time Codes (relevant only when you are part of the Vanguard): 13:09 Till Review 24:27 Box Office Top 10 39:55 Mary McCartney Interview 51:32 If These Walls Could Sing Review 57:13 Laughter Lift 01:04:55 Piggy Review 01:09:06 What’s On 01:10:16 A Man Called Otto Review EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! You can contact the show by emailing [e-mail] or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo A Somethin’ Else & Sony Music Entertainment production.    Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts   To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Trying to escape the holiday playlist. Well, it's not gonna happen here. Jesus' season for a vacation Fa la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la With sunwing seasons of savings on now, why not ditch the cold and dive straight into sun? Visit your local travel agent or... Sunwing.ca Something that's... It says here, uh, an open show with general jollity.

That's on you Ben. That's on me is it? Yeah, I can only play the criticism and the glue. The energy up, it's January though isn't it? It's like, it's on the Monday of all months. Are you not feeling vigorated though? Well, after Christmas. Yeah. I still feel full.

I still feel full of it all, you know. How was your New Year's Eve? Did you? What did you do? Well, I've got to say, I'm not a very Christmas person. I know. I am a massive, yeah. Except this year, maybe because I was happy.

That usually changes things. I was so Christmas-y then. I haven't had a Christmas tree in about six or seven years. I got happy. That had usually changes things. I was so Christmasy then. I haven't had a Christmas dream about six or seven years. I got one. I wrapped up all of my presents. I had the lights on for a week. I was extremely cozy. I made a feast. That's incredible. That's how to create Christmas. I had a great Christmas. I know. Imagine your Christmas is to be like, so timber and esquina. I know, basically like, what's they write? Yeah, just writing on a typewriter in the dark with one candle burning. Exactly that. Exactly. That was great. No, that's beautiful. And now I feel like a little ball of buzzing energy. I'm ready to review some movies. Good. Good. We got ready to read my 700 books that I want to read this year.

My stack is getting ridiculous. And I'm such a slow reader. It takes me months to read a book. Yeah. I got, I know someone who says this thing is going to absolutely laugh because I have not stopped talking about the Goodreads challenge. Have you ever done this? So Goodreads is essentially a social media platform for book readers, for book lovers. And you can set yourself a challenge of how many books a year you wanna read for a year. And I've never met it for the couple of years that have been on Goodreads.

And I set myself it and come November. I was like, I'm halfway through. There's no way I'm doing this. And I got so obsessed, so fixated, or meeting it that I read about 20 books in two months or something like that. And I remember on the last day of the year and the 31st of December, New Year's Eve, my boyfriend was coming over where we're going to have a great kind of dinner, cozy time. And I realized that I had accidentally tagged two books twice. I visited from the Coons Club by Jennifer

Eugen. So I had to, I went to New York Panic and just picked a short book of myself that I hadn't read and read it in the next two hours because I could not meet my challenge for the year. I hate you. So you're a speed reader. Not really, I'm just a fast reader. I can't speak. And retain everything.

Yeah. Yeah. And I'm excited because I will not stop talking about it for the next 12 months I've already got a stack of books that I need to get through we have more of Anna Bogart Skaya and books later I think Yes, that's intriguing. That's a great set Yeah

Yeah, did you do resolutions? No, I do do you yeah. But I won't get into them because we'll spend the entire 75 minutes of the show going through my resolution. Do you? No, I think it's a bad time to do them. I think springs a bit of time, you know, and the days are longer, and it's a bit of you feel a bit more optimistic. I do. I said, all right, I'm going to start jogging. Yeah. And it's January, and I get up and it's like dark and freezing and wet. I'm not joking. I get that. I do them in mid-December, so that I give myself a little runway. So by the time January comes along, is the idea happening? Yeah, and if I've dropped some, then I've dropped some one.

It's no big deal. I like that. Yeah, it's like giving myself fake deadlines. I'm getting into very, you know, proactive organizational tips for the listeners here. I can tell. I can tell that you, I think your energy is like double mine. I'm gonna have to pick it up. And I made me feel I was just you know that sluggishness of the first week of January.

I guess that's why Simon and Mark are here. It just can't be bothered. I am too happy to pick up the pieces. It's a lovely look coming up on this show. Well, it's quite a very true. I must say it's a good week for basically anyone. We've got a man called Otto, which is the new Tom Hanks film. Yeah, yeah. Got Piggy, which is a slasher film. Tail, which is a historical drama. And a documentary if these walls could sing. That is quite a range, isn't it? Yeah.

And if these walls could sing, we also have an interview alongside it, because I got to talk to Mary McCartney, daughter of Paul, obviously, who has done this documentary on Abbey Road Studios. So look out for that. And more on whether or not I attended the launch party, which Mary invited me to mid interview, quite excitingly. So we've got a jam pack take two as well for our Vanguard Easter's, right? I'll be reviewing the new Netflix show, Collider Scope, as well as the upcoming show, Welcome to Chip and Dales, and I'll be doing, for better or worse, my best and worst films of 2022. Yes, excellent. Might be a bit different from Mark's lineup. But that's the beauty of having a different reviewer on. We've got one frame back as well, which is going to be focusing on films featuring prominent

recording studios suitably. And this week's take it, or leave it you decide, is Netflix's Wednesday. Are you a fan of Wednesday? I'm a fan of Wednesday Adams. Yeah, my kids are crazy. That does not mean Wednesday the show. Right. A fan of the mean Wednesday the show. Right. I found the character.

The character. Yes. You are giving a little Wednesday. Thank you. I was hoping you would say that, man. I've done a little Wednesday cosplay. I would. I would once they look like if she wanted to record the

Cermeter Mayot. Steiner Richie era. No? Absolutely. Yes. Okay, good. She's the one and only. All right. Well, as always, we have like, you amazing listeners constantly rewarding us really

with your intelligence and cinematic. And what have we got here? This is from George, who says, hello, special agent Johnson and special agent Johnson, the other one. I just capped off the Christmas break with my annual screening of die hard. I did the same thing, by the way,

listeners introducing my partner Becky to it for the first time. And we're settling back into some work, planning a lesson on Spanish pre-to-right tense, pre-to-right. Retérito. Thank you very much. It's good to have a spaniard in the room, very useful. I'm beginning to make my way through my backlog of festive takes, thank you, by the way. I'd remarked to Becky during the film that, well, it's a classic. I've always thought the title die hard to be a bit silly, and a bit of silly meaningless nonsense, but when in the discussion on podcasts and how they're always pre-recorded, Simon said to mark the old habits die hard, and the penny dropped. Of course, John McClain can't just be off duty, joining the other hostages and leaving the police work to the LAPD

outside, he has to help to stop the bad guys to save the day because old habits die hard. Am I the only one for whom it has taken this long for the meaning of the title to become clear? Also, are there any other instances of movie titles not seeming to make sense until some while later? I can't be the only one, can I? Tinkety Tonkin down with these common and exceptional happy new year from George. That's a great point from George. I mean, the pennies dropped from you right now. Because he's thinking he's an idiot.

George, if you're an idiot, we all are, because I never thought it was that, but it makes way more sense. I thought it was because it was hard to kill him. Yeah. Yeah, he dies hard, which doesn makes way more sense. I thought it was just hard to kill him. Yeah. Yeah. He dies hard, like, which doesn't really make sense. No. I die hard. That's a great. It old habits die hard. That's a great take. But then they ruin that, don't they? There's what isn't there one called die harder? Yeah. Die hard with the vengeance. Yes. That's the more important thing. Old habits die hard with the vengeance. Yeah, that doesn't make sense.

No, I think they lost the thread of it. I think George is right. But it's, you know, it's like the, you make me think of spiral from the book of Saul, the rebirth sequel to the Saul franchise that came out a few years ago. There is no book of Saul. And what does the spiral mean?

It doesn't mean anything. It's completely meaningless. Yeah, transformers dark of the moon. Yeah, that's what it's done. Feels like a mistake, a typo. A lot of movies feel like typos. That's fascinating, George. And I wonder if you guys out there get the chance to give us some other instances of movie titles, not making sense until much later, because I'm sure there must be loads

and knowing our listeners, there'll be a pile on Simon's desk next Friday. Now this is interesting. Regular listeners to the show will know that this is chiefly a show about films, but also there's a lot of etymology on this show. Simon and Mark often get into the weeds on why words and phrases or where words and phrases come from. And this recent discussion about left-hand and lieutenant is interesting because I remember them discussing it before, like years ago. So it's obviously, it's weird, it's ugly head once more.

This is from, this is from Lieutenant Commander Sam Colton in Scarborough, Maine, USA, who says, dear Lieutenant Dan and bad Lieutenant, LTL, first time emailer here, as a native born parishioner, turn colonial commoner who is tolerably fluent in both American English and British English, I'm writing in response to the recent discussion

on the take about the American pronunciation of left-tenant versus the British version. American pronunciation of lieutenant versus the British slave of nose. Lieutenant is derived from a French origin, and this is interesting, Anna. Lieutenant is derived from a French origin, and this is interesting, Anna. Lieutenant is derived from a French origin literally translating as a placeholder

and meaning the officer who is in charge of a group. When the real boss, IE the captain, is unavailable because he's dead, in-disposed, or just a wafer in extended period, watching Mr. Cameron's interminable watery blue cartoon, et cetera. Sorry to pause in the middle of this email, posed or just a way for an extended period, watching Mr Cameron's interminable watery blue cartoon, etc. Sorry to pause in the middle of this email, but that reminds me of In-Lew, right? In-Lew of. So he says, the medieval English, the letter U, was frequently written

as V, leading to confusion about accurate pronunciation. Thus, left tenant, written with a v, was pronounces left tenant or left tenant, and this became the default pronunciation. Out here in the colonies, the French military was the primary organisation or an administrative model for the nascent American army during the War of Independence. Many French military customs and curses were there by incorporated, including the French rank and French pronunciation of lieutenant. Lieutenant is simply the French word, clumsily spoken with an American accent.

All three pronunciations are equally correct. Depending on whether the officer that you are addressing is British, French, or American. Pip, pip up with the blue head feminist and down with Trillian's all the franchises about giant blue cat people who go for a swim and nobody cares. That's from lieutenants, Commander Sam Colton. That's nice that it ends in that way that they're all correct because pronunciations are funny thing, isn't it? You get it wrong and you feel like you've offended millions of people. Well, it's curious as a multiple language speaking individual. I was going to say quadrilingual, but I don't think that's a word.

Trialingual, let's say that. Trialingual. Is that what you are? You're a trialingual. Yeah, well, four. Four lines. So, is that multi? Or is that a both?

Multi-lingual? Is that a both? Do you have to get to five to be multi? I really don't know. Maybe some listeners can enlighten us. What's the threshold for being multilingual? Because how do you just go from? It's four enough.

Try my goal. Or is four just a few. She can speak a few languages. You'll link well. Stop bigging her up. She can speak a few languages. She's few lingual. She's five languages.

She's multilingual now. Learn one more. But there is your right. You're always, even if you're fluent in a language, She's five languages. She's multi-langual now. Learn one more. But there is your right. You're always, even if you're fluent in a language, you're always thinking, am I saying it right? Does this word sound like it belongs to this language? Absolutely. And I've learned language is almost instinctively, so I don't really know grammar that

well, but I know the language. Can you? I know the way everything is written. Can you argue, flirt, and or tell jokes convincingly that make people laugh in a language that isn't your first language? Yes, but I don't really have a first language. You will feel that. Yes.

You don't really have a first language. No, because I learned several languages at the same time. So they kind of are all mishmashed and they're all sort of a first language in a way. Kind of like a superhero. No, I'm just a just immigrant. A lot of immigrant experience. I'm just going to go hand in hand. Yeah.

Alright, give us our first review. What are we looking at first? So we're going to be looking at Till, the new film from writer director, Tsunoni Chukwu. And it's a biopic of sorts and a historical drama that's based on the real life of Mamie Till, Mobley, who was the mother of Emmett Till, who was a 14 year old black boy who was lynched in 1955. And it's an extraordinary story that has unbelievably never been adapted to the big screen until this year. And coincidentally, and obviously the film I guess didn't know this, this year is

also when the anti-linching law has passed in the United States, which has also not been passed until now. And it carries the name of Emmett Till in his memory. And a lot of that is because of the work and the legacy of his mother, who after his death, when he went to visit his cousins in Mississippi, white woman accused him of, he whistled at her and she accused him of something much worse

and he got killed. And his mother from that moment on did not stop advocating for his memory and for the legacy of people just knowing what had happened to him. It was obviously completely dismissed in court. People continued to lie and she made it her life's work afterwards to upholding Emma's memory, and the film is incredibly skillfully made, because it is both a character study of Mamie Tillemobli. It is both a study of grief, and probably one of the worst griefs imaginable, you know, the loss of a child. I'm not a mother, so I couldn't, I can't even thatham it, but I can empathize with something so huge. And at the

same time, it is a historical drama about one murder who had this lasting legacy and effect that is still that had not been enacted into law until 2022, which is ridiculous. What Chikri does is a director. She's also director of clemency, which also was a grand jury prize of the Sundance Film Festival a few years ago when it premiered also another character study of a woman. Here, she completely focuses on not on Emmett,

who had a short brief life, or in the violence inflicted on him, but very much and maybe till now, and she focuses on this almost transformation of her from being a private citizen to being a civil rights advocate. And all of these spaces that she inhabits that are both very private and very public. So the film switches between very private grave and a very public grave, very private anger and very public one and the way that she behaves in the way that she positions herself in all these different spaces. Now, all of that leads to one thing and it's the performance. And Daniel Deadweiler, who

plays, maybe Tillem Moby, is, I think, arguably one of the best performances of the year. She carries the entire film. She's in almost every single scene. There is a moment, and this is not a spoiler, this is history, you can Google it, but perhaps it's more known to American listeners than it is to British ones.

And there is this one particular scene, and I think it's, I interviewed Cynonian and I asked her about the scene and she said that she'd also, you know, she'd also done an inclement scene. And she spoke about the way that she works with actors, which is she doesn't really tell them. In advance that she's planning the shot, she talks to them about the emotional journey,

she doesn't talk about her directorial choices. And there's this one scene where she keeps the camera as a close-up on Danielle's face, as she's doing the deposition, where she keeps the camera as a close up on Danielle's face, as she's doing the position where she's being questioned whether her son was actually murdered or whether he had done something to essentially invite violence. And this is an all male space, this is an all white space in Mississippi, in the fifties. And instead of panning to anyone else's faces, she keeps it completely on her. And this is about a nine minute shot.

And it's all in this actress' face. Just every single muscle in her face is twitching with emotion because she has to say things, she has to say them very clearly. She knows exactly the weight and the eyes that are on her. At the same time, she has this insurmountable grief of her child being lost. And also her child becoming this sort of symbol for many people, which is also a choice that she's made for, you know, for, for very valid reasons.

But at the same time that has put so many eyes on her. So all of that is compressed in nine minutes on this really tight close up shot on her face. That shot alone is worth the price of admission for this film because you're seeing an actor work so beautifully and so subtly, while also handling the pressure of political legacy and the pressure and the pressure of cultural legacy of what the name Emmett Till kneels to people and what the figure of maybe Till Moby-Mins to people and the same time doing a very very humane portrait of a woman who has lost her son. We got a little clip from this this movie and I'm fascinated to hear slash watch. Woohoo! Oh! All right, now you're gonna miss your train.

Bo, when you get down there... Oh, all right, like... ...and mama, I've already been a Mississippi. Only one time before, and you started a fight with another little boy. He was picking on me. You're in the right to stand up for yourself, but that's not what I'm talking about. Oh. They have a different set of rules for knee-grows down there.

Are you listening? Yes. You have to be extra careful with white people. You can't risk looking at them the wrong way. I know. Oh, be small down there. Like this. It's a beautiful film and...

I've filmed it to check it out. And I had the privilege of the screening I went to see it at, had a Q&A with two of the producers, Wippie Goldberg and Barbara Broccoli, very well known for being the producer of the Bond franchise. Oh, it's here. That's quite an odd fit. And they had been working together and they had been wanting to produce this film for years.

So they've been trying for a very long time to make this film. And it So they've been trying for a very long time to make this film, and it hadn't happened until just now. And it's both a beautiful coincidence that it comes out at the same time that the law has passed. And at the same time, it's really unfortunate. And I think that is the thing when it's showed as text at the end of the film where everybody in the

audience that I was in went did a collective excuse me. Yeah. Excuse me. 2022. Yeah, but you know, you're right, how timely. And you know, we often look at these things as ancient history, especially if you're younger, it just feels like a completely different, a whole different world, a different universe, almost. But, you know, if Emmett Till wasn't murdered, he could still be alive quite easily. Yeah. And I think talking about this stuff. And one of the things, you know, the last thing I

want to say about this film is that we overuse the word visionary a lot when we talk about directors. But I think there's something so precise about the way that Jananiyukwe uses the camera in this film that really signals a director who knows exactly what she wanted to say with the film. She had a very particular point of view. She wanted to talk about the inner and the public in the private life of maybe Talmobley, she knew that the woman, the mother, was the film, not, you know, not, you know, with, not Emma himself. And that's what you focused on. And all of her camera choices, her directorial choices,

the performing choices, support that. And that's what I think makes a visionary director. Maybe we should call it a queen of specificity. Because visionary, I think, is gone now in cinema. The only time you see it is when they're really desperately trying to sell a really crap sci-fi. So they'll say, When they're trying to sell visionary director. You're like, yeah, he might have been a son stage.

Visionary means big. No, it just means this is a big, epic thing. Please, please come and watch it. What have we got still to come? Well, we've got a man called Otto, if these walls got sing and piggy. All right, then. Well, it's time for the ads, of course, unless you're in the vanguard, in which case we'll be back before you can say ripped on. Happy Nord Christmas! Protect yourself while 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 sensitive data like your personal addresses. Those websites should already have their own encryption built into their payment systems, but to be on the safe side you can use a VPN to ensure that all data coming to and from your device is encrypted. Even if you're using an unsafe Wi-Fi, you'll still be able to shop securely with a VPN. And you can access Christmas films only available overseas by using streaming services not available in the UK. huge discount of your NordVPN plan, go to NordVPN.com-take. Our link will also give you four extra months for free on the two-year plan. There's no risk with Nord's 30-day money back guarantee. The link is in the podcast episode description box.

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 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 a 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, Celine Dore, Khaled Abdallah, 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. This episode is brought to you by Mooby, a curated streaming service dedicated to elevating great cinema from around the globe. From myConnect directors to emerging oturs, there's always something new to discover, for example. Well, for example, the new Aki Karri's Mackey film Fall and Leaves, which won the jury prize at Cannes, 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 movie 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 new so for a couple of films, 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. So fancy new streamers out there.

A new wish, I suppose, because over Christmas glass onion dropped into our Netflix feeds. I'm not sure if you saw that sequel tonight. I see it twice, but I loved it. I loved it. I like good, good Christmas watch. We very I love that. I love that. I do. Good, good Christmas watch. We very much enjoyed that. It was directed, of course, by Ryan Johnson, starring Daniel Craig, a bit of correspondence on this from Mike and Gray. He says, being too mean to go to the pictures and not wishing to deal with non-code

complies. I waited for Glass onion to debut on Netflix today. It's a pretty decent watch. Twist and turns with fun. But the self-indulgence of director Ryan Johnson randomly sticking a pall of his in there as a slacker popping up in various scenes was annoying. I expected him to turn out to have some significance in the story, but no, he was just there. Also, without wishing to spoil a climactic scene, I have to ask, how the heck did she not slash her feet to ribbons in those sandals?

I hope Christmas has been kind, love Martin. Yeah, I think I don't, I think I disagree with Martin in general. I love Darrell. The nature of the film is, is, is silly fun, you know? So Darrell just sort of being there for me, it was like, um, also when this is a bit, you know, this is behind a scene stuff, but he, um, Noah Sigand, the actor who plays him, has been collaborating with Ryan Johnson since the very start of his career. So he's

been, I think, in all of his films. Ryan has a habit of his brother, or no, his cousin is, does all the music for all of his films, another Johnson, and his best friend from school is his cinematographer. We love to see it. Every film, isn't that great? And he's great. And also why just can we just say now that he's not won anymore, I am absolutely loving Daniel Craig's character comedy actor phase.

I see. He seems to have a sort of fun. You just feel like he's having more fun. Yeah. Ever since he did that, what was that heist movie? Do you remember that? Logan Lucky. Yes.

Ever since you really felt he was like the shackles are off. J.M. And it's back to Dan Craig, like having a laugh. And now he's alongside being a global movie star. He's also a TikTok star. Do you see his vodka advert where he dances? Have you seen that? No.

Oh, it's wonderful. He's having a ball. It's about three minutes of him sort of dancing and picking up a bottle of vodka. Hit. Like Louis Theroux becoming a rapper. My money, don't juggle jiggle. Yeah. Incredible. Imagine suddenly becoming a rapper like in your 50s. And I'm an honest to you. Incredible. Some people have all the luck. Okay, box office top 10. So at 10 we have Lyle Lyle Crocodile, which is just a poster that, I don't think a poster has put me off a film

that quickly, enough said about that, I'm sure. Number nine, Violent Night, which I kind of wanted to watch, but didn't. I want to watch this one, but I've unfortunately missed it, but I will come to it. This is the one with, oh my god, his name escapes me. David Harber playing a violent Santa. And I, for one, love the sub-genre of Christmas horror movies Same number eight sort of horror-infected I suppose the menu. Yeah, it says this is you know what a fancy restaurant Eat the rich kind of psychological thriller. It's quite it's what it's fun. It's fun to watch triangle of sadness double bill question mark. That's gonna be a six hour double bill. Geez No, this one was fun that long, it'll be five hours.

But you know what, this is one to pair with an overpriced fancy meal. Okay. Yeah, that's the best. Yeah, yeah, no, that makes sense. The amazing Maurice, another big poster film, Sky Cinema. Well, kids getting touched, let's know.

It's a big fat cat, that's all I know from a poster. Oh, I'm sold. I should see this one. It does look quite funny. Number six, corsage, which you have seen. I have. This one is fantastic. I saw this one in Cannes, actually.

It was one of the Buzzy Tidals. It's essentially a sort of biopic of Empress Secy. That's how people mostly know her because of the Rommesh Nida movies. It's very necronomous. It's very fun. I think even I'm not a period drama fan, but even for me, it's so much a portrait of royalty and a woman, specifically who was sort of

imprisoned by her post. And it's Vicki Creeps, who is phenomenal all the time. Same Vicki Creeps. Vicki Creeps. Vicki Creeps, yeah. C-R-E-E creeps. Yeah. It's K R I E P S. This pronounced creep. Yeah. She's a Swiss actress. She's in Phantom Thread. Oh right. Okay. I don't know the thing I cooked that name. It's actually her idea. And

I don't know this until I interviewed her. She came up with the notion for the film and sort of pitched it to producers to make. And it's a phenomenal portrait of a board empress. And number five, they can call it a bit of a flop this film. Which is crazy. Strange world. Yeah. You know, you think I've avoided all the kid films. I mean, you have seen this one, Black Panther, we're kind of forever. I have, yeah, the follow up to the chart talking back on there, but this time with our Chadwick Boseman, I thought it was wonderful.

I mean, it's also a long film, but I think we're in Cougars, such a skilled director that there's not a dull moment. Have you seen it? No, no, I got scared because I really like the original and seeing one without Chadwick, I just wasn't sure about it at all. I mean, can you imagine the challenge?

Yeah. But I think the way that he deals with it, and it's a film about grief, you know, in many ways, because you know, this is not a spoiler. Chadwick Boseman's character, the titular black panther, dies at the beginning of the film, and then his mother, his sister, the rest of Wakanda are dealing with that loss and kind of who is going to replace him and

is it even possible or necessary to replace him. Is it a tissue right in it? Yeah, she's very good in it. I watch it for that then. You know when I saw you at the Biffers, the British independent film was. Which was the first time we met. For bizarrely the first time we met very recently in IRL, she came up to me and said hello. I was like, oh my god, a tissue right? I was like, oh my god, a tissue right? I was like, oh my god, a tissue right? I was like, oh my god, a tissue right? And the whole time she was talking to me, I was just doing that thing that you gave. A tissue right?

A tissue right? A tissue right? A tissue right? A tissue right? A tissue right? A tissue right? A tissue right? A tissue right? A tissue right? A tissue right?

A tissue right? A tissue right? A tissue right? A tissue right? A tissue right? A tissue right? A tissue right? and hello, how's it going? Yeah, lovely to meet you. Well, your brain's just saying their name. Open, open, open. Yeah. So it happens to me every time I meet you, man. Yeah. Have that effect. Number three, another kids film. Road Dolls Matilda, the musical clunkyest name in the top 10. Yeah, you see, I kind of,

I've been avoiding this film, not garlic. Mainly because Matilda, the 90s film, and the story are so... Are you sure you can't? Are so important to me. I cannot see them. I've never seen a muse to stage musical, and this is an adaptation of the stage musical. Good for them, but not for me.

Yeah, sure. I'm also of the sort of enough already adaptation sort of situation with this one. And we got an email and this actually anonymous says, Hi everyone, just watch Matilda the musical and I'm sat in the toilet so the cinema's boiling my eyes out. Film was wonderful and I'm so glad kids will watch this and find a great role model in Matilda. I wanted to bring up an aspect of Matilda's story that I hadn't picked up on until

seeing this. The reason I realised it is because I've been in therapy this year and came to terms of the fact that as a child I was a victim of abuse. So watching Matilda be so strong after having so much abuse thrown away and finding a loving parental figure with Miss Honey, well it brought me to tears. I felt my inner child screaming so loud in validation and hurt and all I wanted to do was give him a big hug and tell him it was going to be okay. I feel bad for the families there to enjoy such a joyous movie, but I feel the film greatly communicates the signals of abuse that children can articulate.

I just wish I saw this movie when I was a child. The song Quiet in particular really stood out to me. I've never seen the stage show, but I heard the songs, so I always heard it without context and thought it was a great piece about autism and sensory overload, which I related to as a lot as an autistic person myself. However, when watching this and seeing Matilda have this quiet moment as Trunchbull

is verbally abusing her, it really made it more impactful. Thank you to everyone who worked on this film. It really is important work. So that's a different take on it, Anna, that I hadn't even considered. Like if you were somebody who felt, you know, or experienced abuse as a child, or you know, that level of aggression or behavior

towards you, it would have a totally different effect. I would still say the first film, maybe from more profound in that respect. Absolutely. And that's one of the reasons why I love the book and the 90s film so much. But I think they're different because the musical, music evokes something else, right? Yeah. But I'm really glad that listener found that cathartic experience in the film. And you know, I encouraged them to go and watch the 90s version as well. Absolutely.

And maybe they were just too young at the time. Anyway, number two is Whitney Houston. I want to dance with somebody. Some of it. So wait, what do you mean by that? Some of it. Well, Whitney Houston, I want to dance with somebody. It's not so much a movie as it is.

A docu drama? No. What is a docu drama? It's another way to capitalize on the the IP. It's another way to capitalize on the the musical, the licensing of Whitney Houston songs. Bit like having a film where you can sell toys. Yeah exactly exactly that except this time it's music and it's real people which makes it all a bit more complicated. But I've seen this movie and I was semi-skeptical going in only semi because of the the conceit of the film but also a really, really director and I love Naomi Aki who plays Whitney Houston. This sort of genre of films very much is a performance that piece.

So she is great at embodying Whitney, but the film is very surface. And there are numerous points in the film. It's slightly over two hours long where you just get the hits in full. So it's kind of in the same way as Bohemian Rhapsody, a greatest hits of songs you love. So if you want to see essentially a recreated glossy high budget version of your favorite Whitney Houston songs, this is great. Because you get to see them in the cinema,

you get to see a really talented young actress recreate them, and then you fast forward through her actual life, and then you get, you know, wonderful end credits. That's it. We've got a couple of short words on Whitney. I want to dance with somebody. Karen T on YouTube said the biopic was absolutely amazing, way better than Bohemian Rhapsody.

Because this one dared to touch on a lot of unspoken subjects, I think I'll watch it again. And Tyco Tate says, I love Whitney, but this is an above average TV movie at best with a clunky lack of attention to detail. The music editing was very good though. And that sort of backs up what you were saying about, you know, the music's at the forefront. Yeah. And let's get a greatest tits of Whitney out. Okay. And at number one, I mean, you must have seen it come in. I want to say controversial. It's not really controversial, but on this show it kind of is, because of Mark's incredibly strong reaction to it. It's, of course, James Cameron's avatar,

colon, the way of water. Another one of those titles, the way of water. If it's promoting hydration, then I'm all for it. Drink water, be hydrated. I have to say, I mean, maybe I'm the only film critic in the world. I have zero interest in Avatar. I did not enjoy the first one when I watched in the movies. And I have simply avoided it. And instead of watching Avatar, the way of water, I have rewatched a Godfather movies. Nice. But have you watched the better way of spending free hours? Day long, long day long. But have you not just been lucky? Because surely one of your other film film me employers would have said to you, we need a review on this.

I'm not even lying. Ben, I rejected a gig because it's like I have no interest and would rather not spend three hours of my day watching the second Avatar movie. And another three hours watching the first one. So respectfully, thank you, but no. Good for everyone who loves the first one. So respectfully, thank you but no. Good for everyone who loves it, but not for me, thank you. I'd rather just be screaming, I'm all green in the middle of the street,

like I've been doing for the past two weeks. So that's another note from another film critic on the take, another strong note. It's a very uninformed one though. No, it's uninformed, it's different. And obviously, listeners to the show will have heard marks. Was it a chomodian rant? I'm going to say it was, because a chomodian rant needs important things. It needs a bit of table-hitting.

It needs some flappy hands. It needs to be long. It needs to have possibly a bit of comedic singing. And it definitely needs some stupid voices, which Mark definitely employed the silly voice when he was talking about them. When I was listening the following week, there was a couple of listeners who said,

how dare you take the Mick out of fancy fans. I thought it was a little unfair on Mark because I don't think he was taking the Mick out of fans of fantasy. I think he was taking the Mick out of fans of fantasy I think he was taking the Mick out of the movie itself when he was using that voice It was his way of going oh come on. It's ridiculous So I wasn't too angry at that but of course me being a curmud fan It did it did not tempt me to watch the film. So I thought let's be fair and have some positivity about

Avatar from people who've actually seen it and people could be bothered to go and see it. I'm good for you. You know what I I might take on this as a critic who is lucky enough to occupy the seat occasionally It's if it's your job to review it Review it as best you can, and as fairly and empathetically as you can. If you're in a position to just say, say no, not for me. Just say no. I just I know that I would not give this film a fair review because I'm already biased against it because I'm just not interested. Did you watch the original? Yeah, I watched and sent him on with my dad.

Same. I walked out about four times because of so incredibly bored. I was so bored by that movie. This is John, who says, dear presenter, one and presenter, two, he's got our names spot on there. Haven't listened to Mark's review of Avatar yet. Oh, John, you can enjoy it. But my wife assured me, he had rather strong feelings about it.

And we know what that usually means. With that in mind, I wanted to preemptively jump to the film's defense and say that I, I fully grow, man, thought that the middle third of this film in particular was absolutely magical. I don't know. It took a while. It took a little while to remember who everyone was, dragged on a bit too long at the end, and as parents to a nine-month-old, we are more vulnerable than usual to even the most

basic narrative about family. But for large parts of this film, the quieter, watery bits, I was absolutely swept up in the experience. It may not be the finest cinema, but certainly felt like what going to the movies is all about. I probably won't think about it again for a couple of years, but... I'll almost definitely go and see Avatar 3, 4, and 5. If they do end up making them.

He's got a hope he lives longer, he's a fully grown man. He could be in a 60. He could be a positive female, he's like, I don't remember anything of it, but I had a nice time. He could be in his 60s now, it's a fit in 3, 4 and 5. Mary Christmas, hello to Jason, with blue head feminists. And blue things in general, from John. So it definitely ends on a positive note for blue things.

Anna's not having any of this, she's literally shaking her head right now, guys. John had a nice, that much of a piece. John had a nice time. Another one on Avatar Way of Water. This is kind of, this is kind of beautiful. Let's see if this brings it to you. I did Jules and Jim.

Two hours ago, I left a late night screening of James Cameron's new tree hugging, Sub-Smurf, Extravaganza Avatar. Was it three AM? I guess it must have been the way of water. I saw the first film in the cinema, like basically everyone else in my generation. I was about seven or eight years old.

I saw the film with my dad, who often occupied with work, rarely had time to take his son to the cinema. But there we were together, gazing in awe at the fantastical world James Cameron had laid in front of us. I loved my dad and the world around me a little more after seeing that film. Five years ago my dad died.

I still can't grasp it. That too changed the way I saw the world. There was no colour, no magic, no life. It's been like that for a while now, no wonder left. He feels as far away from me as that alien world we both fell in love with. Tonight I saw the way of water in IMAX while visiting friends in Noh left. He feels as far away from me as that alien world we both fell in love with. Tonight I saw the way of water in iMacs while visiting friends in Nohich. They didn't want to see it. So I went by myself secretly relieved. I sat there, 3D glasses perched on my nose, staring at the screen. I was back there. The wonder was back. The colour, the magic, the life, I was a kid again.

I loved the world again and for a moment I felt as if had I turned my head, I would have seen my dad smiling up at the screen too. I'll carry that moment with me now and forever. That's what way of water means to me. Down with the fascists and the whale blower, up as Hello to Jason from Marcus. I mean, perfect example that of, you know, getting out what you bring in. And I can

relate. I mean, all the stuff I watched with my dad, you know, seeing it without him being around, it definitely means more to me than the other people sat around me because it was something that he introduced me to. That's wonderful though. And that is so much. That is so much more about, you more about your relationship with the film that is very personal and unique to you. And not so much about the film itself. Yes. And it's completely valid. We all have those films, shows, books. I mentioned Matilda before. Like that film, I can rewatch it endlessly. It means something very concrete and very personal to me. Now, our guest on today's episode is the daughter of a beetle.

Imagine that. For her? Not like a giant human spawning insect. Like one of the actual fab four. It's Mary McCartney herself. She directed the new documentary film, if these walls could sing, which is the untold story of the Abbey Road Studios, which includes obviously all-star interviews backstage access to the

premises. And you'll hear my interview with Mary after this clip from the film. and having the trumpet blow the roof off the place, and it was great fun. There was a big scoring stage down in Denham, and we heard that that was closing down. And I think Ken approached them about maybe bringing their operation down to us. We had to buy the projectors. We had a 35 mil projector in studio one and an 80 foot screen in studio one as well. It was another means of income for

Abbey Road and we needed it to be able to survive. And that was a clip of course from if these walls could sing and I'm pretty excited to be joined by the director Mary McCartney, hello. Hi, I'm excited to be joined by the director, Mary McCartney. Hello. Hi. I'm excited to be on this. I love this show. I would be a little more excited if I was actually there with you.

But we've been snowed off, which happens. So we're here on Zoom, which is neither yours nor my favorite. But what? No, I like real life. I want to see you in real life. We'll make the most of it. We'll make the most of it. And it's gutting for me because I grew up in Kilburn around the corner. So Abbey Road was always enigmatic for me, you know, the mystery of what was going on inside and walking past it every day is never stopped

being magical and I've never left the area, but you actually grew up nearby and inside. What was that like as a kid? I'm fascinated to know. It kind of exactly as you say, I grew up in the area as well, but that feeling that you say of that magical feeling that you get just walking by, I literally still get that to this day. I'm here now doing the interviews today and like when I walk in I still get that feeling. And that's kind of why I wanted to do this documentary because when I was asked at first I was like, I actually said no when I was approached by the producers because I just thought what was going no, I was a bit, I was, because I get a bit like I need, you know,

I've made my career standing on my own two feet, and I just thought maybe for my first directorial kind of documentary, maybe not to do something so close, but then I love watching documentary and the things that are successful and when it really means something to someone. So I literally have grown up coming here and I'm still passionate about the place and the people that are here. So in a way you're not just because you grew up there and you got the personal

connection, you're a great person to take us behind the scenes because when I think back on some of your other work, a lot of it does that as well. You know, I remember that exhibition you did on the Royal Ballet, the sort of behind the scenes of the Royal Ballet. And it's a similar kind of intimacy, I think you've managed to achieve, which is really, really special. You know, you introduce us to these artists that we all know. But the way they talk about this building is like talking about an old friend. You know, it feels alive.

So it makes the title even more sort of poignant because the walls do feel alive. And there's a lot of talk about magic, obviously, because a lot of magic's happened there. But I did wonder like the more I got into it, I was like, is it magic? Does it also just have great sound, you know? I mean, technically the place knows what it's doing, right? Thank you for saying that about the projects I've done before. And with, I mean, it's important to make it feel personal personal and that's just the way that I like to do things because at the end of the day it's a documentary about building and I was like wow how do you approach that and actually the things I do I always want

like a connection with people and like you know I get a buzz from that working with people you know and you have good chemistry and it's like that feeling and I want that from the viewer as well. So it's like how do you do that? And also I'm relying so heavily on the interviews because when you're recording in a studio, you don't really take pictures or shoot film because the band or the musicians are concentrating just on the music. and you're not really allowed cameras in photo sessions. I learn a lot about the more the technical side, and you know, the great thing is that bands will be recording here, and then they'll be like, oh, how do we do this? How can we do a loop? Like, how could we like get both of us singing together without having to, you know, do it in

the usual way? And then the engineers and producers here have just like with a girl away for the night and then come back and go, oh, I've had an idea. And there's this real collaboration that I've discovered between the artists and the people working here. Now we're just called the Abbey Road, the great leveler in the film. I just wondered what your thoughts were on that as a concept. I thought that was really interesting. I love it because he, when I first did a research call, he said that, he said, because he brings people here for writing workshops and records here still. And he said, you know, artists are superstitious,

and then when they come in here, they feel like some of the Abbey Road, you know, what's been here before will kind of influence them or give them some inspiration. And going back to what you were saying before, that's partly why I think it is such a popular studio today, because it's studio one is the huge recording space that has, is there for orchestras, you can fit full orchestras in there. Studio 3 is a small studio that has been modernised over the years, it's still quite modern and fresh if you want that. And then Studio 2 is the famous one that the Beatles were in and they haven't messed with that and it's still got the wooden park a floor and the walls haven't been changed. So the acoustics and the two big studios are the same.

But there are other little more dramatic bits when Studio One, because it's such a big space orchestra, it sort of fell into times when it wasn't really being booked as much, because all sort of classical main recordings had been done. And there was a real lull, and there were like, maybe we have to, there's letters where they were like talking of making it into a car park. Yeah and is that when they were cutting it off? That was when they started selling stuff off.

Those things where they had to sell things off sort of happened throughout because it was like new technology will come in and there's only so much space for everything. Tell me a bit about working with John Batsick, one of the producers, because he has made some of my favorite documentaries. I searched him for Sugarman, after winning one day in September, one in Oscar. I mean, this guy knows his docs. So what was it like working with him? He approached me and was like, if he thought of directing documentaries and I was like, yeah, and then he sent that, I'd be ready. And I was like, oh, I'm not sure. It didn't feel like it was my first documentary because the team was so strong and I think my photography background in a way

helped, but it was down to John and Sarah making, you know, introducing me to amazing story producer, amazing researchers. And was there anyone that you really wanted to interview that you didn't or couldn't or stuff that you couldn't use that you wanted to? Thanks John, that's it before we start filming. I'm like, you know, there's no guarantee we're going to send out these requests and what of nobody says yes to being interviewed. And I'm absolutely screwed. But everyone was very enthusiastic,

because they love the space. And when you watch it, you'll see that people are genuinely want to talk about that. You can feel it in all the interviews, yeah, the excitement, it's just lovely. I would have really loved to have interviewed Frank Ocean because he recorded Blonde here. Did he? I didn't want that.

I would have liked to have done, but I couldn't include it because there's literally no, you know, like a lot of things I found out, Felicuti recorded three albums that Abbey Road and brought all his musicians over from Nigeria and I was like, we've got to include that, that's just going to be such a great... That was a big surprise for me as well, yeah. Yeah, and it's a surprise and it's just like the music is incredible and it's just going to be such a great moment. That was a big surprise for me as well, yeah. Yeah, and it's a surprise, and it's just like the music is incredible, and it's just the beat of it sort of really kind of, I think, for the audience, it's just a real moment, but, you know, it was quite late in the process, because I couldn't find anybody to interview

from the time, and I couldn't find any footage. And I just kept saying to everyone, we got to include it, we got to include it and they're like, well, what, there we have, we haven't got any interviews. We found one contact sheet from a woman who'd taken a contact sheet, but she couldn't find the negatives. We literally went to her home, my story was just like, can you just go and look and ask if you can look in her attic to try and find the contact sheet.

But so that whole section relies on a contact sheet and the interview, but I think it's, you know, just shows how hard we made it all work, but I love that scene. Absolutely. It's one of my favorite moments as well. We should make sure that you come tonight, the fact that we're not here together. Let's make sure you come down. Please, please, please, I am such a, I'm a good guest. I love any snacks that may be on offer. I'll 100% be there. Swiping the snack table. Let's make that. We can have some margaritas. Now you are talking my language. I'm excited. Merry, thank you so much. Thank you so much for your time. I just really appreciated and I'll see you tonight. Okay, big kiss. See you later.

Bye. Big kiss from Mary McCartney. What an absolute thought I am. And it's... You said a number, did you go? I did, this is, it's so annoying because everything I said there was completely true, factually correct, I love the snacks. Free cocktails is my favorite thing. You and I bonded over no groneys.

We still have never had the thing we had. We haven't actually had it, IRL, but that will happen. So I was all geared up to go, got my glad rags on. And I don't know if you ever have this like with your boyfriend, but like when there's something you really wanna do, but he's not there and you know that he loves it, whatever the thing is, maybe even more than you.

So you have to go together or you have to watch it together or whatever it is. And I had that, I was like, there's nowhere I was going without my wife. So I was trying to get hold of her, she was at work and eventually she came back from work real late and it was I was going without my wife. So I was trying to get hold of her. She was at work and eventually she came back from work real late and it was too late. Oh my God.

And she was so gutted. I'm gutted for the both of you. Yeah, we went to my cell date night, wasn't it? That would have been the party of the year. Yeah, and I saw, you know, some people that I followed on Instagram were at the party, so I saw the photos the next day. I love that.

What did you make of this film? Well, it's not a snack. Let's start there. I mean, I don't think I'm going to invite it to a McCartney party after this review, but great premise. Abbey Road Studios, legendary space, legendary kind of infuse with history and creativity, music, film scores, personalities. Helgum it for people.

Literally. Literally. It's not really about Abbey Road Studios. I don't understand what this film is because it's really not about anything. It's so unbelievably shallow. There is no story to it. I fully don't know why Mary McCartney wanted to do this outside of the fact

that she is a daughter of a Beatles, so she kind of sort of grew up in this place, which is an interesting point of view, for sure. And it's incredibly privileged inside relationship and an intimate relationship to a space that is a cultural mecca for a lot of people. None of that is in there. We just get a few photographs of her as a child

with the back door of the studios. There's no in-depth knowledge or learning made about Abbey Road Studios, its history, or even the people who work there, that was my biggest disappointment. We just get this sort of throwaway lines, like Ken Townsend who worked there for 50 years and was responsible for a lot of the survival of the renaming of Abbey Road Studios. Oh yeah, he worked there for 50 years. There's an engineer who is, you know, re-fixing a 50-year-old microphone

that someone accidentally broke. Nothing, just a little, hey, what you're doing? Nothing else. So, you know, you have all these glittery faces. You've got obviously, Paul McCartney, you've got Elton John, you know, you've got Jimmy Page, Pops Up, David Gilmer, Pops Up, and I'm like, okay, great.

Good for you. You're fantastic legendary musician, some of my favorite musicians ever, talking about the way that they recorded their seminal albums in that space and what's next. What are you telling me about the space? There's nothing there. It is, I actually found it for a scanned 90 minutes

of the film runs. I found myself consistently looking at the run time. I was like, oh, was it over yet? It's running so slow and it is so utterly vacuous and pointless that I genuinely, the creative space that is a recording studio. And you know, you're a musician, I'm not a musician. I'm in awe of musicians who are just going to a studio and able to conjure up. I think it's magical. You know,

being able to hear something in your hand and find the way to transform it into reality. And it's a beautiful combination of musical artists and producers and sound engineers. And that alchemy that happens in a recording studio as, you know, you adjust all these different things. And there's a moment in the film where they sort of are an audio engineer playing around with a Beatles song, the Sergeant Pepper from the Sergeant Pepper album. And you're like, oh my god, you know, if you change this, the song is completely different, it doesn't work as well. So how do you make magic? There's no magic in this documentary, which is a real disappointment because you would think and especially

no magic in this documentary, which is a real disappointment because you would think, and especially within the larger cultural conversations around so-called nepot Babies, if you have the access and you have this unbelievably privileged access, make good use of it, and this is not good use of it. We rewind on nepot Babies. Nepot Babies are, you know, this has been in the cultural conversation a lot over the past We're going to use of it. We're going to use of it. We're going to use of it. We're going to use of it. We're going to use of it. We're going to use of it. We're going to use of it. We're going to use of it.

We're going to use of it. We're going to use of it. We're going to use of it. We're going to use of it. We're going to use of it. We're going to use of it. We're going to use of it. We're going to use of it.

We're going to use of it. We're going to use of it. We're going to use of it. We're going to use of it. We're going to use of it. We're going to use of it. We're going to use of it. We're going to use of it.

We're going to use of it. We're going to use of it. We're going to use of it. We're going to use of it. We're going to use it. We're going to use it. We're going to use it. We're going to use it. We're going to use it. We're going to use it. We're going to use it. We're going to use it. We're going to use it. We're going to use it. We're going to use it. We're going to use it. We're going to use it. We're going to use it. We're going to use it. We're going to use it. We're going to use it. We're going to use it. We're into let alone survive or thrive in them. So I'm not saying I'm against that or not, I think there is a responsibility to the comes with any privilege. And if your privilege in particular is access is I've been given this opportunity to make a documentary about one of the most important recording studios and cultural spaces in the history of music, that's our responsibility.

And I think it denotes an unbelievable level of hoopris. If you don't take it seriously, if you don't go deep into it and respect and understand the process, if you don't know anything about it, fine. There's a question mark. Explore it. Delvent to it. Talk to people who, you know, be curious about the people who've made that space what it is. I don't actually care that much about the famous faces that pop up. I don't really care about the anecdotes. Why does the fact that Sid Barrett had a mental breakdown randomly pop up in the middle of the film that's completely irrelevant?

What's relevant is the stuff, the magical concoctions that were being created in the studio, the way that as someone in the documentary put it, the space is infused with music that has been created there, like a teapot becomes infused with the taste of teas as it's brewed in there. Yeah, what a move. There's none of that there. And I think this, it makes me sad

because we probably won't get another, I've erode documentary for a long while, and this will be the one. And it makes me sad that this opportunity has been wasted in a film that has nothing to say and has no curiosity about the space and doesn't even have the wherewithal to actually speak to people who make up the soul of the space. Well, there you have it, people. That was a bogus guy in rent. Presumably after all of that, Anna, you're

going to need a laugh. So before we go to the adverse, let's take a step into the takes laughter lift. I get so worried about this section. I am worried. You know why? Because I have spent a life, a part of my life as a comedian, 10 years doing stand-up. So I always worry that when I'm doing it, people think, why did he write that? I thought he was supposed to be funny. I do not write these.

Okay, find the red actor in chief, hunt him down and blame him. Oh, it was Hannah Talbot this week. I'm a reliably informed. So if you have any immediate complaints, I can almost reach her from here. I can throw stuff at her if they're bad. So listen, hey, anyway, Hannah, how you feeling about this?

I'm so nervous. The section makes me really nervous because I don't have a poker face. Listen, every year, I'll new year's eve. When everyone's counting down the final 10 seconds to ring in the New Year, you know what I do? I get up off the couch and stand up and I raise my left leg, and just leave it raised for a little while

till the countdown finishes and midnight strikes. What, why, why? It's just so that I always start the New Year off on the right foot. Oh no. Buh, ah, ah, ah! Oh no. Hello. Oh dear. Anyway, so far my new user's information

is going really well. I've given up chocolate. Not even thinking about it. It's not even in my vocabulary. No, Ben. Oh my, no. No. I was just thinking, at least it can't get worse

than the right foot joke, but it say it has Okay, let's see if we can end on a high my wife Anna is a great optimist she stays up until midnight see the new year and I'm always irritated when she calls me a pessimist Just because I stay up to make sure the old year leaves It's not bad. It's not bad. It's actually better. Yeah. That's like a solid seven on the dad joke meter. Yeah, 6.5. We've survived that. What the heck have we got next to save us?

I would watch a whole stand-up special for you delivering this. Grumbling at the end of the hour. What have we got next? So we've got a man called Otto and Piggy. Oh, thank God. We'll be back after this unless you're a Vanguard Easter, of course, in which case your service will not be interrupted.

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ScotiaBank conditions apply. Welcome back. We're going to get into another review in a sec. But before we do that, I wanted to fill you in on something quite exciting. This is a little bit awkward because Simon should be doing this, but Simon is away. And what he was going to do was plug, believe it or not, my new podcast. Shall I be Simon here? So we can say the awkwardness. Yeah, it's a little bit awkward because I'm here. So now I'm going to say, listen to my new podcast.

It sounds incredibly self-aggrandizing. But the thing is, it's a sister podcast to the take. And that's what makes me so excited about it. We're here with something else family. And this show is going to feature myself and a psychotherapist called Sasha Bates. The show has a good name, it's not the way of water or dark of the moon, it's called Shrink the Box. So what is it about? Well, reason being is that each week the pair of us psychoanalyze

an iconic TV character. So we'll put that character on the couch, you know, Sasha is, you know, years and years of experience as a psychotherapist and me coming from my background in television, but also as a person who receives therapy. So we talk a lot about mental health, as well as, you know, these incredible shows. It's packed full of spoilers, but it's a lot of fun. And thanks to Sasha, it's incredibly insightful.

I should say thanks to Sasha. So what kind of, you know, you've mentioned Walter, why you mentioned Chevrolet. I mean, people who definitely should go to therapy. Oh, absolutely. And I absolutely advocate for therapy for everyone, especially therapy for our favorite television psychopaths. Who else are you going to be talking about?

Well, that's why we're starting on January 31st with Tony Suprano, because it's sort of almost meta there. Well, yeah. He's a gangster who goes to therapy. So we also ask about the nature of his therapy, what would or would not happen in real life. Sasha is a genius. So I would highly recommend.

So honestly, doing the series, I've got a lot of free therapy, which is good, because normal therapy is quite expensive. The courtesy of Sasha and Cursey of the show. So it's well worth tuning into. And if you're a fan of the take, you're going to see it advertised very soon. But the January 31st is going to be the first episode. Please join me, Sasha Bates, for Shrink the Box. And you should check it out. I know. I think you'll appreciate it a lot. Oh, is that a digger?

You're telling me I should go to therapy? Well, I think we should all go to therapy. I'm already in therapy. So am I. I advocate for therapy. Well, there you go. So do I. Therapy for everyone.

So we're on the same page. Therapy for Walter White as well. There you go. So I think I think you'll love it. Definitely therapy for the entire Roy family. Oh, man. No question. I can't wait for the next season.

It's coming soon. Anyway, enough of my nonsense. Let's let, but you know, a bit of evenness, a bit of equality here. If I'm plugging, let's have, what have you, have you got anything to plug? Oh, are we moving onto my nonsense? Excellent.

I mean, have you, have you, I've got some nonsense to plug. Come on, I've got a book to plug. I've written a book. You've written a book. I've wrote a book. Holy moly. That's what I did during the pandemic. I wrote a whole book that's coming out this year finally. What's it called? It's called Unlikable Female Characters. The Women Pop Culture wants you

to hate. So it's coming out in the States on the 9th of May and in the UK on the 9th of June. And it is essentially a whiz through pop culture film TV music. Probably a lot of overlapping with your new show. Okay. Because Shiv Roy is definitely in there. Nice. Looking at essentially what makes women unlikable in pop culture, what is this word? Why we keep using it? It's still not been retired. It's still used in production houses and development meetings and articles about female characters. I've been in development meetings when people have said that. Can we make her like a messy woman? Yeah, can we make her like a woman? What does that mean? I don't know. This has been a passion project for me for many years and I kind of look from

at film and TV, from the silent era until literally the day I stopped writing. There's room in my bathroom, no question. There's that sounds like a good toilet book that I can dip in and out of, you know. Oh great, I would love for my 10 years experience and expertise to be seeing any bathroom bathroom. You think it's an insult, that's the highest accolade I could possibly give.

That means I'll constantly be picking it up. So yeah, that's, it's my first book. as the highest accolade I could possibly give. That means I'll constantly be picking it up. So yeah, that's, it's my first book. This is the most natural segue that you've given me. I'm so excited to have a segue. I don't have to overfill. You're welcome. You know, what women are supposed to be

and the likability of women and whether we, you know, what we're supposed to like or hate about them, what we're told perfectly fits with this next movie which I can't wait to see as disturbing as it sounds. Tell us all about it Anna. So we're going to be talking about Piggy which is the first feature film by director Cardo de Perilla who's a Spanish film maker and this is her own adaptation and expansion of her own short film of the same name. It's precisely translated from the Spanish.

And it's about a teenage girl, an overrate teenage girl who is horribly bullied by the other teen girls in her small, you know, Spanish village. It's kind of the sort of town where you'd go to spend the summer. It's absolutely boiling, you get this real sense of place. It's a tiny space and she is, so you want to take a dip in the pool, or in the lake, or whatever. But obviously she's a young fat girl, so she's constantly horrifically being bullied all the time. And the young actress who plays her is phenomenal because she's very quiet for a lot of the film. But what tends to happen in horror films that are set in small towns in the summer is that there is a brutal serial killer on the loose and there is one in

piggy. And now what's really smart about this film is that it's both a character portrait of Saddo, who is the titular protagonist, and at the same time, it's a very, very good, very gory slasher film, very much by the book, you know, Crace Killer kills a bunch of teenagers. But the thing is, he sort of takes a shine to Saddo, so he doesn't murder her, and she becomes this reluctant witness to all of the gory. And the thing that's really complicated for us as viewers is that we're bonding with her. You know, we don't want her to die because she's constantly being harassed.

She just wants to spend her summer in peace. She's not hurting anyone. But we also start to question the morality of the situation because now she's sort of, she's not in gahoots, but she's seeing the murders, and she's not really saying anything because they benefit her. It's a Spanish language for movies, right?

Yes. So we've got a little clip, Anna will be able to understand it. Hopefully it will have some... Live translating. It will have some subtitles on the screen for me, but this is a clip from Piggy, give you a sense of the flavor that we're not with us on YouTube, you could have been able to hear

from the sounds of water. That was the titular character having a, taking a swim in a, sort of, local river canal. But then she's attacked by the bullies with a huge fishing net that they've put on her head and they're teasing her as they do that. It's kind of thing that would make me want to see some murders happen. I know, right? Teenage girls are absolutely brutal. You know what?

And I think this film really captures that. And you know, for as a horror lover, it's a phenomenal slasher as well. It's very violent, it's very effective, it gets quite gory. Are there any daytime killings? Yeah. That's what's out there. It's some for some reason that always gets me more in horror. The previews of deeply incompetent. That's what you want in the cereal. No one can save you. Exactly. Yeah, I think I would enjoy speaking as a father of teenage

girls, two teenage girls. Oh, dear. Yeah, the revenge aspect against people who mean to teenage girls with, I think, I find it like disturbingly satisfying. I think that is a perfect way to somewhere at this film, disturbingly satisfying. Love that. I love that. Awesome.

So that was Piggy. Time for what's on now. This is where you email us a voice note about your festival or special screening from wherever you are in the world. Email yours to correspondence at curmodeamayow.com. And here we go then with this week's correspondence. Hello, this is Ellen Mimward from Campbelltown Picture House. We have our annual CANDS Film Festival on each Saturday in February. Instead of paying with money, people buy their ticket with items for the Kin Tire Food Bank.

This year, we have Top Gun Maverick, Matilda, Zog in the Flying Doctors in Superworm, and the Quiet Girl. CANDS Film Festival is supported by CalMacFarries and information can be found at CampbelltownPictureHouse.co.uk. Yeah, well great cause. Thank you, Ellen, Mainwood, Campbelltown Pitchhouse in Scotland. Send your 20 second audio trailer about your event anywhere in the world to us at Correspondence

at curmodeomeo.com a couple of weeks up front and we'll give you a shout out, or to be precise, you'll give yourself a shout out with your own amazing voice. So please do do that. Let's see, we've got, oh yeah, on the Christmas show was the Tom Hanks interview. And he was talking about this next movie, a man called Otto with...

Mariana Trevinio. There you go. Great interview. Looking forward to seeing the film. You've seen it. Tell us about a man called Otto. So a man called Otto was... It's a remake of a Swedish film.

Yeah, a man called Otto. The premise is extremely simple. And that film, I should say, was really successful. And the titular Otto here is the local grump. You know, it's an archetype. He's grumpy, my grumps, and he likes to police his neighborhood and make sure people follow the rules. And surprise really it's because he's really depressed

and he's mourning his late wife. That's all in the trailer. I mean, everything is in the trailer. I mean, it's fine. It's just fine. It's so profoundly mediocre. It doesn't even deserve to be murdered. I don't have the energy to murder this film.

The whole appeal of this film really hinges on the fact that Tom Hanks is a universally beloved movie star. He is charming. He is America's dad. He is the anti-grumpy man. So seeing him in a role where he's, you know, this, you know, he's very anal about, you know, the street size or the way that people do their lawn or lock the parking spot or whatnot, you know, he's not really used, we're not really used to seeing

him play those roles. And that's the entire gimmick, the fact is, you know, that he's grumpy and And that's the entire gimmick in the fact is that he's grumpy and Unlikable and that he sent eventually softens and we soften to him because we find out about his backstory And he becomes friendly with random nice people or as he says in the film he calls everyone idiots You know, so the biggest compliment he can give you is that you are not an idiot Which is also the biggest compliment he can give you is that you were not an idiot, which is also the biggest compliment I give to people. And, you know, there's a new family that moves in and, you know, led by, I would say, actually the best performance in the film is by Marianne Trevino, who's this, you know, like American actress who plays Marisol, who's the head of the family that moves in next

to him, and she cannot, she will not tolerate his nonsense. So she calls him out on stuff and he's welcoming to that. And that is the extent of the film. He warms up to his neighbors, he becomes friendly with his neighbors. He was always secretly a very good person who does a lot of kind favors to the people around him.

That is it. That's it. It's utterly bland, but it's harmless. Hi, we wanted to properly introduce ourselves because you know we're going to be neighbors and everything. Okay, bye. Are you always disenfranchised? I'm not unfranchised. Okay, you're not.

No, no, no. You're not unfranchised. Every word you say is like a warm cuddle. And I suppose it's hard, it's so firmly in the right place. It's kind of hard to be mean about it. I mean, I could. Oh, you could. Of course, I could be mean about it. You spent your I could. Oh, you could. Of course, you spent your spent from

if these walls could seem. I just, I, I, it's such an easy film. I found it completely bland boring. Have you seen Swedish? It's unawachable. I haven't actually. Maybe that's better. Sometimes, you know, when films are translated in that way, not just remade, but also remade in a different language, you find that there's a specific charm that's lost because of the subtleties, the nuances of these cultural differences. You will know this from being few lingual. When I watch films with my friend Sam, who fluent in French and it lives in Paris, I watch French films with him and he's laughing at bits that when I read the thing I'm like, that's not funny.

And he goes, oh yeah, but you can't translate what he said. It's like a localism. There's not really a translation for it. It's like the way he's almost like a vocal gesture, you know, anything. How would you adapt that? Well, it's an easy enough story. So I don't think that's necessarily the case. The story is, perhaps the charm, but maybe the Swedish one.

I think again, you know, Tom Hanks is endlessly charming. He's boundless amounts of charm. And like I said, the only kind of playful thing about this film is that we're seeing Tom Hanks play a grumpy man. That's it. Do you know what this is? This is the perfect boxing day movie. This is the sort of, you know,

let's pop something on that is inoffensive, not very good, not very bad. It's not gonna ruin your day. That minutes pass and you're not mad at it. Mark would say goes down well with a cup of tea and a biscuit. Exactly right. And on that note, that's the end of take one. Production management, thank you very much.

All-round good stuff was provided by Lily Hambley. Cameras by Teddy Riley. Videos were by Ryan O'Meara. Studio Engineer was Josh Gibbs. Flynn Rodham was the assistant producer. Guest researcher with Sophie Yvonne, Hannah Tell, but was the producer, and Simon Paul was the redactor in chief.

Anna, what's your film of the week? I think I can guess. It has to be till. It has to be till. It has to be till. Thank you for listening. Our extra takes with a couple of bonus reviews, a bunch of recommendations, and even more stuff

about the movies and cinema, or adjacent television will be available on Monday. Thanks for listening.