Kermode & Mayo’s Take - Michael B. Jordan, Creed III, Close, Project Wolf Hunting and Electric Malady

Episode Date: March 3, 2023

Michael B. Jordan talks about his directorial debut – he discusses how he feels about Danielle Deadwyler missing out at the Oscars, and working with Jonathan Majors (who interrupted Jordan’s direc...ting playing his music). Mark reviews new MUBI release ‘Close’ which follows two teenage boys whose friendship is thrown into disarray when their schoolmates point out their intimacy. New slashes/splatter film ‘Project Wolf Hunting’ - about dangerous criminals on a cargo ship bound for Busan, South Korea; and ‘Electric Malady’ directed by Marie Liden, about a man who suffers from electro-sensitivity. Time Codes (relevant only when you are part of the Vanguard): 11:14 Close Review 19:18 Box Office Top 10 32:37 Michael B. Jordan Interview 46:24 Creed III Review 54:54 Laughter Lift 58:54 Project Wolf Hunting 01:04:52 What’s On 01:07:14 Electric Malady 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 correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com 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 podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Metrolinx and cross links are reminding everyone to be careful as Eglinton Cross-town LRT train testing is in progress. Please be alert as 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. I think I've spotted how to... This isn't an ad, by the way, I think I've spotted how to detect an AI writing a piece of journalism. Okay, go on.
Starting point is 00:00:53 Here is a headline from landscape insight, your destination for the latest news related to celebrities, entertainment, tech and travel. Right. Headline. Simon Mayo's illness. What is the absolute cause of his illness? So there you go. In the headline, you can tell instantly that that's not someone who knows anything about the English language. Then it says, which illness is it referring to? You being off off air?
Starting point is 00:01:17 I was, it was to do with something back in radio too. Anyway, Simon Mayo, he was born. Yes, okay. he grew up in Weybridge, Surrey. No, attending the state school for boys called Silesian College in Farnborough. No, no, he went on to Warwick, yes, he graduated with a degree in history. No, he began his career in journalism, BBC 1981, no, when he worked for the local radio station in South London, no, he quickly moved up the ranks and began hosting his own show up all night for Radio 1 in 1986. Again, no, do they think you are? I have absolutely no idea. Music of mixing news and chat. He returned to Radio 1 in 1998 to co-host the breakfast show with Zoe Ball. No, I didn't. After five years on Kevin grieving. Well, he's Kevin with Zoe, but you know, after five years on the breakfast show,
Starting point is 00:02:10 he moved back to radio to know. He then appeared on TV screens appearing in Have I Got News for you and Top Gear. Two shows I have never, never, never, ever appeared in. Right, okay. He then went to join Bower Radio where he began hosting his mid-morning show on greatest hits. You never did that. Again, no, here we go. Longside is broadcasting careers, as successful authors, written Blame, Mab Bloodstaring, and a series of children's books with Mark Kermode. How did we do with this? Well, have we made a lot of money out of them?
Starting point is 00:02:42 Well, they appeared to be very successful. I mean, I could go on, but I mean, in terms of how many things can you get wrong in a single piece? But anyway, apparently, we've co-written some books together. Great. And I was wanting to ask you how they went. I think they're flying off the shelves like hotcakes. Good. Excellent. My favorite, although, you know, I have this rule about never, ever, ever Good, excellent. My favorite, although, you know, I have this rule about never, ever, ever do it. I know some people, you know, edit their own Wikipedia page. Never.
Starting point is 00:03:09 That way, madness lies. Just don't, don't even. My favorite one is it, Mark Kermode. Mark James Patrick Kermode. No. Oh, okay. Yeah, no, literally no. Not my name.
Starting point is 00:03:20 Never mind. Your kids probably did that. What are you doing on the show, by the way, Lent? I'm going to be reviewing some films, Close, which is Oscar-nominated, Project Wolf Hunting, which is Splattery, Splattery, Electric Melody, which is a documentary, and Creed III, which brings us to your special guest. He's Michael B. Jordan, who not only stars, but also directs the film, it's his directorial day.
Starting point is 00:03:41 He looks fabulous in the flesh with diamond-studded earrings. Really? Yeah. He looked a million dollars. You look fabulous in the flesh with diamond-studded earrings. Really? Yeah. He looked a million dollars. At least. That needs to be, it looks a million dollars. Anyway, of course we super serve you with all our stuff in extra takes.
Starting point is 00:03:56 It was at least an extra 90 minutes of this nonsense, but that always makes me feel as I do, well people want that. Do you want another 90 minutes? I mean, I can... Yes, yes, yes, yes, absolutely. More reviews, pretend you were however doing one of your own news interviews. Do people want that? Yes, how much they want a lot? Why do people say this? Who knows? Why do they write this junk?
Starting point is 00:04:16 I don't know. Ask the AI machine that wrote it. Pretentious what? Currently, the people 11 mark eight and a half. And I'm going to stay on eight and a half in, in honor of the great filmmaker, Philemi. And this week's shrink the box is mad men's Don Draper. Ad free on Tuesdays alongside all our other extra content on the take channel. Van Gogh, this does this won't appear in the Kermit and Mayas take feed. It has its own feed. I don't even understand what I'm saying. This has been written by AI. Reading out.
Starting point is 00:04:50 Probably. On the free balls. On the free balls. On the free balls. On the free balls. On the free balls. On the free balls. On the free balls.
Starting point is 00:04:58 On the free balls. On the free balls. On the free balls. On the free balls. On the free balls. On the free balls. On the free balls. On the free balls. On the free balls. On the free balls. On the free balls. become president. Somebody famous has done it. How do you remember these sketches? Anyway, thank you for being a fan, Goddard Eastern. If you are already, then we salute you obviously,
Starting point is 00:05:10 because you've done a very noble thing. Jim Edwards. Become noble to subscribe. I think so. Noble and sacrificial. It's actually part of the fight. In the struggle. Okay, definitely. I should just tell everybody listening that the table that we're broadcasting it has been vibrating because your right leg has been bouncing up and down in agitation. It often does that though.
Starting point is 00:05:35 I know. You're like my friend Nick Cooper who I sat next to in a razorhead and the more I told you this is more frustrated, Nick got the more he shook around his right leg. The whole of the row of chairs was what theater or cinema you can rock a whole you can row of seats. You can you can you can and then someone says which used to which you stopped doing it.
Starting point is 00:05:55 Jim Edwards is a paramedic dear Evan and Norman L T L 3 T E. So third time. He may remember the Vanguard. The on so thank you. The ongoing comments regarding Brendan Fraser versus Frazier resulted in a very loud yes from me when the confusion about why anyone would pronounce it in the latter was mentioned. However, on last week's pod, a curve ball was thrown in from Simon. Right.
Starting point is 00:06:22 And his pronunciation of the word Fisci's Again, I'm sorry. Fissis. For being so low in the mix very early on. So I'm going to every occasion pronounce fissis rather than fissis. Fissis. Someone who proudly works in the NHS, I'm now questioning if I've been pronouncing the word incorrectly. No, it's pronounced fissis. I just didn't correct you because I thought you were just doing a weird thing And if I should hand back the academic certificates on my fridge Anyway Take a deep tongue down with those in authority you think once a week claps are enough to pay the bills Things we don't really know how it should be pronounced. That's the point. So cerebrus, curi brus
Starting point is 00:07:00 This is a discussion I heard this week So you know if you want to say feces, then you can. Have you always said feces? I have. I had the same response as the email, which is that when you said so assertively feces, I thought, oh, have I been saying that wrong all my life? Because as we know, I have been saying words like
Starting point is 00:07:20 erudite wrong all my life. Erudite. Well, you know, and obviously the fougies should be that and not the fougies. It's the same thing, but that's slightly different because you can actually ask them. You can't ask them. Yeah, that's true.
Starting point is 00:07:32 And you can't ask a stool sample. It was like to be pronounced. I suppose we're making entertaining sketch. Conversations with a stool sample. This is taking a very low road. Put it on the YouTube channel. We can make a fortune on that one. Daniel Lawson, a new castle on time. Dear Pinocchio review and Pinocchio review
Starting point is 00:07:56 disguised as a Pussin boots the last wish. Yeah. Van Goddester, medium term listener, but I'm still in my early 20s, so give me a chance. This is a great deal. I'm a sodium term listener, but I'm still in my early 20s, so give me a chance. This is a great deal. I frequently have to drive my kitten called Goose to the vet and to visit family. So instantly thinking, your kitten is called Goose.
Starting point is 00:08:14 Okay. Is that a top-gone thing? During these drives, I will often have your podcasts playing in the car. Over the past few weeks, I have discovered that that for whatever reason my cat, Goose, gets orderly uneasy whenever Mark is speaking. If Simon or any guest is speaking, he will sit calmly and quietly enjoying the content, but whenever Mark is speaking he becomes visibly restless and meows constantly until Mark stops talking. I have tested this theory and I have now to know this is consistent. Every time Mark's voice comes on the car speakers,
Starting point is 00:08:47 I doubt there is any logical explanation as to why my friend is so distrusting of Mark. But I'm sure, with enough listens, he will come around eventually. Hello, Jason. I'd just like to say on that subject, it's concerning, really. In 1985, probably, I came back from the
Starting point is 00:09:04 art of man to Manchester with a cat, a kitten, my cat, who was my favourite lovely cat, who no longer with us, called Spooldrick, named after Spooldrick Bay, which is just up the way from Puttehrin. And the cat had never been in a basket before and I was on the the man's ferry. I think I was on the Ben Mcree anyway. The cat was absolutely not having it, didn't like the idea of being in a basket, didn't like the idea of being in a ferry, didn't like the motion. I went up on deck which often helps, didn't help at all. The only thing that stopped Spooldrick from meowing in a lamentable form was I had to sing to him. And I sang the rhyme of the Ellen Vanon
Starting point is 00:09:47 to that cat for the entire four and a half hour crossing and it calmed his soul. So I am a cat whisperer. Well, maybe the problem is you're speaking voice. You're speaking, right? So we're singing, that's the what it is. Singing is fine. So if we were gonna do the the whole podcast for goose, I could
Starting point is 00:10:05 sing all my reviews and that would make the cat become because you do sing professionally, you know, so I mean, you're in a band, a band playing tonight. It's overstating it. So, so it might, so maybe you're not coming to that. No, I'm not. So here's the thing. So I think so. I think so do this as an experiment. So yeah, for for goose. So give us two lines of a review spoken or what you know comment about them. Why do you comment about the news? Tell us about the news. Okay. Spoken and then sing it and then we'll see if goose reacts differently. So I work up this morning, I put on the news and I was listening to a story about a series of text messages, WhatsApp messages between a government minister and another person.
Starting point is 00:10:53 Okay. That had made the headlines. And I came down to the kitchen, your kitchen, so I was staying at your house, and I said, What do you think of this story, Simon? And you said, I wouldn't trust that journalist as far as I could throw them? Okay, so there's an interesting test in which Mark is liable. Or me, maybe you liable me.
Starting point is 00:11:20 Anyway, feel free to a bird song song anything in that moment that might appear. Do you want me to do it again? Do something else? No, no, no, no, no, that'd be fine. Anyway, happy to do an on-air experiment for Goose. Daniel, let us know if Mark's singing is in any way better than Mark's speaking. Anyway, movie review, time tell us something that's out and may have been Oscar nominated. Okay, so close, which is the new film by Belgian director Lucas Dant, who's Dant, D-H-O-N-T. Okay.
Starting point is 00:11:54 So I'm thinking Dant, I'm thinking that must be right, who made Girl back in 2018, which was successful, but also controversial. So this is a tale of two young boys, just teenagers who are just about to go into secondary school. And we meet them at the beginning of the picture, and they are completely in sync in that way that only very, very close childhood friends can be. They've got a kind of imaginary fantasy world that they live in. They pretty much finish each other's sentences. They're sort of physically, emotionally, you know, intellectually, absolutely two sides of the same coin.
Starting point is 00:12:34 And they are just as close as close can be. And very, very early on, I'll play your clip now. They run through this field of flowers, which are about to be harvested. And it's joyous and vibrant and brilliant. And I'll translate this in case anybody doesn't understand the original language which we're going to play in the clip. One of those mothers said, he said, one of them says, I'm staying at his house tonight and the mother says, well, we ever see you back at Ikeby says, you know, maybe at some point in the future. That's how you say when you leave for London. Well, I'll ever see you again.
Starting point is 00:13:01 Maybe he's a clip. You're in the air, go! That's what I'm talking about. I'll be back in the evening. You're back in two days, maybe. Will you ever come home, patat? Which is possibly. That was beautiful. I'm going to be a teacher. I'm going to be a teacher. couple and Leo, the one of the voices, no, she's sure, where me, meanwhile, doesn't say anything at all. And Leo suddenly starts to think that he's being looked at in a way that he doesn't like at on. So he starts to withdraw from his friend to put distance between them. To move into different circles, he starts playing ice hockey, puts on the helmet, puts on the mask, you know, different circles. He starts playing ice hockey, puts on the helmet, puts on the mask, you know, boys will be boys, much more kind of sort of match our activities. And his friend
Starting point is 00:14:10 cannot understand what's happened, why this bond has been broken. And at first there's, you know, fear and sadness and then there's anger, integration and then something terrible. And then the rest of the film is about having to live with the consequences of your action and the kind of the anxiety of having broken a friendship that was perfect and having precipitated something that you feel guilty about and trying to wrestle without a lessons and growing up in this state of confusion. And I thought it was very, very effectively done. The thing that impressed me most about it
Starting point is 00:14:52 is that even though there are things in the story that are potentially melodramatic, the whole register of the film is very understated. Characters never say things out loud that they don't need to say out loud. I know I come back to this time and time again, but it really bothers me when people, you know, extemporize. I mean, you're a writer. You know that the most perfectly described plot development and the ones that don't involve a down-brown character explaining to you what's happened. And firstly, I thought the
Starting point is 00:15:23 performances were great. The young performances were absolutely terrific. And firstly, I thought the performances were great. The young performances were absolutely terrific. And actually, as worthy, the adult performances, Remi's mother is beautifully played by the woman who actually starred in Rosetta the Dodend Brothers film, which of course, this does have a touch of the Dodend's about it. It has a touch of Lin Ramsey's rat catcher about it. That kind of evocation of adolescence, the change between childhood and early adulthood,
Starting point is 00:15:47 all the ways in which you feel, I mean, you saw in that clip that, you know, obviously, if you're listening to the podcast, you're not seeing that, but the colors of the flowers, the vibrancy of the purple, the yellow, the way the camera was having to race to keep up with the two boys as they rush through the thing. So it's a brilliant evocation of that kind of perfect bubble of friendship, which you only really get when you're that age, when every pop song sounds better than every other pop song you. And then the extreme pain and anguish of that being broken and something terrible having, you know, resulted from it.
Starting point is 00:16:26 And I love the way the music worked. I thought that the music did a really good job of heightening the film's emotional power without ever feeling like it was telling me what I mean, sometimes you get a score that says this bit is sad and this bit is happy and this wasn't doing any of that. What it was doing was giving you that kind of sense of conflicting emotions. Do you remember the music for moonlight? The Nicholas Brutel music for moonlight. I remember the impact it had and how it fitted, but I couldn't. Okay, I wouldn't.
Starting point is 00:16:57 Well, no any melody from it. I think there is a similarity with the Nicholas Brutel School for Moonlight and this school by Valentin Hajjaj for this, in that it somehow captures that sense of your heart fluttering, your heart racing, your experience of the world being heightened, but also very conflicted and very, very sad and very kind of full of anguish and emotion. Anyway, I found it very powerful. And I think it's up for Best Foreign Language film which representing Belgium at the Oscars. And it was also a prize winner at Cannes
Starting point is 00:17:37 where it shared the Grand Prix. But I would definitely recommend it because I love films that work emotionally without having to constantly explain why they're working emotionally. I think there is something very smart about the way in which the film describes its situations without having to explicitly describe its situations or feeling that it has to unpack or solve or correct anything at all. I thought it was a very, very fine piece of filmmaking. It's called Close. Will we struggle to find it, do you think? Well, it's a movie release and I suspect that
Starting point is 00:18:09 in the on the art house circuit, it will be quite prevalent because it's, as I said, it's an Oscar-nominated movie. So I suspect that it won't be as hard to find as, you know, another sort of smaller independent release might be. Interesting figures this week about how people are quite happy to watch, I mean, I'm paraphrasing, depends on age group watch TV and movies with subtitles. Yes. And how obviously there's so much on the streaming services where you get stuff with subtitles. It's like, it's almost, it's very, very common. And as we've talked about before, people watching UK and American releases in English and
Starting point is 00:18:47 choosing to have them in subtitles. So, therefore, that kind of generations old kind of, oh, is it French? I don't know what to say. That's going to be a thing of the past. I think that is a thing of the past. I think it's definitely becoming a thing of the past. And when the director of Parasite talks about, what did he call it? The Inchhy barricade.
Starting point is 00:19:03 The Inchhy barricade. I think the Inchhy barricade. I think the inch high barricade has been successfully breached, certainly by the next generation of film and television. Still to come in this extraordinary podcast. Reviews of Electric Malady, which is a very interesting, quite disturbing documentary project, Wolf Hunting, which is Blood Splatter and Gore, and Creed III with our special guest. Michael B. Juddon on the way, time for the ads, unless you're in the vanguard in which case you can smile coccally. And we'll be back before you can say, key grip. Happy Nord Christmas. Protect yourself whilst Christmas shopping online and access all the
Starting point is 00:19:44 Christmas films from around the globe. Plus, when you shop online, you'll have to give 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 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
Starting point is 00:20:14 in the UK. To take our huge discount of your Nord VPN plan, go to NordVPN.com slash take. Our link will also give you four extra months for free on the two year plan. There's no risk with Nords 30 day money back guarantee. The link is in the podcast episode description box. Highest team podcast listeners, Simon Mayo and 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
Starting point is 00:20:49 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 Crown's Queen Elizabeth in Mel Distant.
Starting point is 00:21:06 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 Abdallah, Dominic West and Elizabeth DeBickey. 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.
Starting point is 00:21:34 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 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 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 a new Sophiapola film, which I am really looking forward to since I have an Elvis obsession.
Starting point is 00:22:08 You could try Mooby Free for 30 days at Mooby.com slash Kermit and Mayo. That's M-U-B-I.com slash Kermit and Mayo for a whole month of great cinema for free. So let's do the box of his top 10 at 15, Joyland, which is a very interesting film. It's Erdoğan Punjabi language, Pakistani drama, played very successfully at the Cannes Film Festival, won the jury prize and the queer palm for best LGBTQ, queer or feminist theme movie at the festival. And, you know, I thought it was really a really enjoyable watch because we played a clip from it. The way in which, you know, it was visually very rich. It used music, it used dance, it was quite comic. None of the characters were too dimensional. I thought it was really terrific. If you get a chance to see it, do see it, joy land. Paul says, dear fellow Tossal survivor and
Starting point is 00:23:12 main contributors, this is reference to flats at work at university, I decided to take a long walk home after watching the brilliant joy land. So I could digest what I had just seen. It is such a visually stunning film with cinematography and sound that plays a key role in conveying the messages of the film. Some of those frames made my heart sing with joy, but it is the complex characters that really make the film. Rather than follow the typical villain and victim storyline, it successfully explores the impact of patriarchy on every character, but without becoming an academic exercise. Watching Joyland brought that feeling of why I love cinema, and I'll be surprised if anything beats it as my film of 2023.
Starting point is 00:23:55 Well, there we go. I mean, that's, you know, very eloquently written. Thank you. Number 10 in the UK, women talking. I loved, loved, absolutely thought it was great, and a fantastic store by Hilda Goodenadotta. Lorian from Amsterdam. Women talking is a film I was looking forward to, both as a movie lover who adored Sarah Polly's Stories We Tell. And as a therapist who has worked with clients stuck in abusive relationships,
Starting point is 00:24:21 the movie lover was impressed by the great performances, striking imagery and the beautiful music. So a big bot coming in the side. The psychologist felt it lacking. In my personal experience, when someone faces the dilemma, the women in the film face, namely stay and fight or leave, the considerations are mostly rather practical. If you decide to stay, how do you resist and change things? If you leave, where do you go to, how do you build a new life, and what do you tell your children? The debate in women talking doesn't touch these issues and instead feels rather abstract.
Starting point is 00:24:58 Discussing the men as a homogenous faceless group, no doubt a conscious decision, the film doesn't add much to the understanding of the systems that cause and sustain abuse. So I give the film credit for dealing with a difficult subject in nuanced approach and its unquestionable sincerity, but it had the potential to be great and it doesn't quite achieve this. As ever, down with sexism, racism and fake news. Love the show, Lauren from Amsterdam. Okay, I mean, thank you for the email. I don't agree with that reading of it. And firstly, the story, as I think we mentioned, you know, is inspired by a true story
Starting point is 00:25:34 about a men and a community in Bolivia. And actually, I thought they did talk about the practicalities, where will we go? How will we go when we don't have a map? We can't read, we don't know where we are. How will we go? How will we go when we don't have a map? We can't read. We don't know where we are. How will we survive? And I bear in mind, it is a number of people who have experience of men and I communities, or indeed of any sort of cloistered or closed religious community, have talked about one of the things about women talking, and this goes right back to the Miriam Taves novel, is that it does capture the mix of metaphysics
Starting point is 00:26:08 and practicalities that people in those communities do have. If your entire life has been constructed by religion and by theological or philosophical debate, you would talk about those things in those terms. I think the way you may find it lacking is in trying to sort of map it onto a different situation of domestic abuse. I think it is true that women talking it has a very specific set of circumstances, but I have read several pieces online by people who have experience of those communities,
Starting point is 00:26:46 who have been impressed by the way that it does capture the tone, and particularly the weirdly slightly darkly comedic tone sometimes of those discussions. I think it's impossible to sort of decide line the theology of that film. Lauren, thanks for the email. Thank you. As ever when you see something send us your thoughts, correspondents at codomair.com. Knock at the cabin is number nine, number eight in the states. You know I I think it's not one of M. Night Shyam Lam's best but you know Robby Colton very much liked it. Interesting that it still seems to be drawing an audience. Broke it is at number eight. Which I found very moving. I've read
Starting point is 00:27:24 a couple of kind of very sniffy reviews about it, but I thought it was a very moving and affecting story. I mean, the subject matter sounds like it's about child abduction and, you know, the illegal trading in adopted babies. And yet, as with so much of Erika's the Courierdors films, it's really about
Starting point is 00:27:44 families forming in unexpected areas. And I found it very moving, and I loved the John J. L. score for it, which again, I thought had a really, a really important role in the film working. How are you saying the director's name? Irohka's The Courierter. Okay, fine. So, Steven in Dublin, I am just gentlemen. I'm just out of watching broker and listen to Mark's review on the walk home as a long time
Starting point is 00:28:08 Corrieder fan Corrieder Corrieder fan I found the plot in this one had a tag contrived but nonetheless it reached the sorts of emotional catharsis and charming character moments that Corrieder San excels at. Yes. A lovely Friday evening film indeed with excellent performances from Song Kangho and others. Yeah, I mean, I agree with that. It does sound contrived. And of course, it is contrived. I mean, it is a dramatic contrivance.
Starting point is 00:28:38 And yet, somehow, this kind of light took... I would relate this back to the film I was just talking about before close. If there are real, clear, emotional contrivances in it, and yet somehow they don't feel like that. So, broke as it ate number seven in the UK's epic tales. You know, number six is Avatar Way of Water. We've told you how to watch that. Number five here, both Avatar's number four in the States. Magic Mike's last dance, five here,
Starting point is 00:29:05 six in the States. I thought a crushing disappointment. And I've spoken to a few people who have seen it and felt the same way. We had a couple of emails from somebody saying, you know, basically the last third of it is just an advert for the stage show. So why don't you just go and see the stage show. The whole idea of bringing magic Mike to a London theatre and some cronky plot about, oh, the theatre, the play is not doing very well, let's put strips, it's just, no, no, no, this is not how magic Mike works. Number four, what's Love Got To Do With It? So, this is not that what's Love Got To Do, they're not the biopic, this is a story about
Starting point is 00:29:43 modern, arranged marriage or assisted marriage as it's called. The posters very much say, you know, from the producers who brought you Bridget Jones and that's rather than, you know, from Ashekka Kapoor, I think was actually the sort of beast for me. I thought it was, it's hard, it was in the right place. I thought it was kind of charming, super contrive, but it's a romcom. And having made that secret of cinema on, on romcoms, the reason people see romcoms is because they like the formula. And it's the little twists that you perform on the formula that make it work. It's got loads and loads of things
Starting point is 00:30:16 wrong with it, but I kind of enjoyed it. It's sweet and aged and good-hearted. Number three here, two in America is cocaine bear. Kevin Morris says it's much better than snakes on a plane which is Mark's quote from last week should definitely go on the poster. William Wood says, so this yesterday afternoon, it's a good film, but I mean agreement with Mark here, the trailer was far better than the movie. My partner wasn't really bothered about seeing the film after seeing the trailer though, but loved the film. Gabriel says, if only they had refrained from CGI and used practical special effects, it could have been bearable. Alas, it likes, but lacks bite because unlike early Sam
Starting point is 00:30:53 Remy films, it comes off as made for adults, Disney movie, in Jaws, even to this day, I buy the shark. Here, the bear looks like it's from a porridge TV ad, cold, anything, but just right. Cocaine bear number three. Well, I mean, I think that the thing was always, you know, can any film be as good as that title and that trailer? And the answer is no. But was it going to be as disappointing as snakes on a plane, which had a great title and a great post to an a great trailer? And the answer is no, it's not that either, it's somewhere in the middle.
Starting point is 00:31:25 The CG is chunky and I do agree with that physical special effects thing, certainly with Sam Raimi. I watched yours again just recently and the rubber shark never bothers me. You barely see it anyway, but it never bothers me. But I thought Cocaine Bear was solid three stars right in the middle of the, you know what? It's fine, it's 94 minutes long. I like Elizabeth Banks. I think she's got you know a good sense of humor. I thought the bits that I was less bothered by were the kind of the family bonding stuff because underneath it you know it's kind of it's got it's got it's in the right place. What you want with a film called Cocaine Bear is for it heart it's hard to be in the wrong place and I wanted it to be more crazy but hey
Starting point is 00:32:04 I enjoyed it. I thought it was I did exactly what it said on the tin and when you compare it to snakes on the plane, you go, that's how it can go wrong. This is how it goes right. Of course, it's not meant. It's not meant. It's not meant. The mat and I think with John, there's that brilliant Joe Dantiefilm. And it's about exploitation movies, it's kind of based on William Castle and the character played by John Goodling goes, if a man and an aunt were exposed to radiation at the same time, the result would be terrible indeed
Starting point is 00:32:36 for the result would be meant. And that's kind of what Coke is. So you're using a figure of speech which no one would have understood unless they've seen that film. It's not man. It's a cult film. Oh, it's, I just didn't understand.
Starting point is 00:32:51 Hey, let me show you, Simon Paul, did you get that? Yeah, there we go. Yeah, well, what does he know? Well, apparently more than you. Okay, well, you know. Just need to be explained for the rest of us. Number two. No, a correct role. Puss in boots, the rest of the number two. No, correct role.
Starting point is 00:33:05 Pussing boots, the last wish, number five in America. Yeah, we've got to be left apart from you. Apparently, I can't say anything about it because it'll just be tight. Yeah, here's my review of Pussing boots. I love Guillemadolta, I was Pinocchio. Number one here, number one in the States, is Ant-Man and the Wasp quantum mania?
Starting point is 00:33:21 Well, did not collapse. Well, it has fallen back somewhat. It's dropped 66% in terms of its box office, but it's still number one. Yeah, no, absolutely. So I was wrong when I said, I think this will have gone down many chart places by next week.
Starting point is 00:33:39 That is however a pretty big drop financially. It means the whole chart is down. So, no, I was wrong, it's done better than I thought it was going to. I think Marvel have been quite defensive, though, about if this is the beginning of series five or the fifth universe or something, you know, it's hardly the resounding success that one would have hoped for, although, you know, hands up, I thought by now it would be, it would be down further. Bethan in South Wales.
Starting point is 00:34:09 Firstly, I'd like to say how much I enjoyed the interview with Michael Douglas a couple of weeks back. It was thoroughly enjoyable listening to him try to figure out in real time what the film was actually about. Secondly, I'd like to say that while I didn't love the film, I didn't hate it. I would rank it as a middle slash lower tier in the entire MCU catalogue. Right, you want that on the poster?
Starting point is 00:34:29 A middle slash lower tier entry in the MCU catalogue. For me, it felt like a set-up movie. The entire thing was just a bridge between films to show people who the next big bad is going to be. Thirdly, I recognised that the majority of the film is a lot of exposition. However, upon taking the time to research, Kang the Conqueror at home, his whole being and origin story sounds so confusing and complicated. I literally have no idea how they would show it in a way that would make sense. I don't know about other people, but I definitely needed it all spelled out because I would
Starting point is 00:35:03 have been completely baffled otherwise. Also, do we think the multiverse could get an Ant-Man ants with a zed Bugs Life crossover? One could only dream. That would be an interesting. I mean, in part of the fact they were animations. I don't. It was weird, wasn't it, when ants and Bugs Life came out right next to each other? Yes.
Starting point is 00:35:24 Because both of them had been being made for years and years and years. And then they came out within like two weeks of each other who was mad. And more about Kang the Conqueror in just a moment, because we're keeping it Marvel with Eric Killmonger from Black Panther. Because this week's guest is the star of Creed III, actor and producer. This film is his directorial debut across its Michael B. Jordan, and you'll hear Michael having a chat after this clip.
Starting point is 00:35:51 Hey, my man. Can I help you? Can I get the autograph? No, I sound an autograph, but you can't have my car. Oh, holy. You don't remember me. Come along away from bummer rags for your mom. Damn.
Starting point is 00:36:14 Boy, you have, you have, you have, you have, you have. Damn you. You just got back to the hood. Stop by the old gym. Yeah, we upgraded a couple years ago. See? old Jim, but yeah we upgraded a couple years ago. See. Yeah, it's a bit of a minute. And a minute. And that's a clip from Creed III. I'm delighted to say that it's Star and Director Michael
Starting point is 00:36:39 B. Jordan. joins us in, how are you? Do I'm great? How are you doing, brother? I'm doing okay, thank you. Do you enjoy this bit of the task when you're making a movie, when you start a movie, do you like going out and telling everybody about it, or do you not? You know, I think there's a, there's a, there's a people side of me that I love talking to,
Starting point is 00:36:55 you know, interesting people, you know, and talking about the work that we've done in the journey. You know, I think, you know, my actor side is like, hey, look, I, you know, acting parts, acting parts free, the press side is, that's what we get paid for as we go out and actually promote and get this movie sold. But speaking about this project, I'm really passionate about it
Starting point is 00:37:14 and love traveling the world and getting a chance to meet new people and spreading the movie around. Well, introduces to the movie, where do we find Donnie's Creed at the start of this film? Spoilers and no spoilers. Am I, can I talk freely? As far as I'm concerned, it's your movie, you're the director, you're the star, you say
Starting point is 00:37:32 what you want to say. But this is coming out after the movies are it? It'll come out on the day it comes out. Yeah. Okay. So we pick up with the Donus Creed, but everything that he had, that everything needs everyone, you know, his world champ family, top of his game. I really wanted to show it to Donas Creed,
Starting point is 00:37:49 just to show the growth from Creed 1, 2, and 3, just how far ahead of the game that he is right now, and still feeling a little bit unsettled, still feeling like there's something missing, and then he gets hit with a blast from the past that kind of rocks his entire world as he knows it and makes him relive some memories in childhood trauma that I believe he suppressed and almost forgot about.
Starting point is 00:38:18 And is that why he's failing is that something is missing? You know, it's kind of like, you know, when you had a purpose for such a long time, you know, and you retire, you know, and that purpose is kind of gone. You know, I think it's a pro-athlete and also just, you know, a professional at something. You're looking for that buzz, you're looking for that thing that's no longer there, and you try to supplement with other things, and maybe it's just not quite the same. So I think that's a part of it, compile with a lot of other layers that comes into the picture as the movie goes on.
Starting point is 00:38:46 And it's your debut as a director. How long have you been thinking that you want to direct? For a few years now, I think the first kind of idea where it became real was when me and Ryan Cougal were talking and he basically said, Mike, you can do it too. Ryan being my first kind of example of representation in a way of seeing a young black man by age, directing a feature film.
Starting point is 00:39:11 He always seemed the world's more mature and advanced than I was. What did he say when he said that? This guy believes in me. Maybe he sees something that I'm not sure I have, but that seed started to grow and over time I started to believe it too. I remember talking to Bradley Cooper for a star is born and having that conversation with
Starting point is 00:39:35 him, who says cut? Who says no, go again? What was your experience? Those are all the things that I questioned as well. And when I spoke to him, he said the same thing. Your first AD, or sometimes I would, in the middle of a scene, I'll just do like this to my first AD, cutting the scenes.
Starting point is 00:39:56 Yeah, just just subtly off camera somewhere where it's not too distracting. And then I don't blow the shot. And then first AD, he starts to pick up on it and then knows when I need to get out of it. But given the extraordinary, extra work that comes in with being the director plus the work which comes to you as the star of the picture and the physical intensity of being fit and looking as extraordinary as you do, was there any point where you thought what have
Starting point is 00:40:24 I taken on it? 1000%. I think daily, I thought, what did I say yes to? Nobody told me it was gonna be quite like this. But then again, if they did, tell me that I don't know if that would have really prepared me for the experience day in and day out,
Starting point is 00:40:41 time management, there's only 24 hours in a day. I think when you take on the undertaking of being in front of the camera, you know, and behind, and then you add in, like you said, the physical component of it, it really takes all your time. You really have no room for anything else. I guess it's also part of the rookie and creed tradition that this happens.
Starting point is 00:41:04 Yeah, I think, I think it is. You mean the physical preparation and the... Yeah, and so does this alone just front of camera, behind the camera, everything. Yeah, I mean, he was the first example of that. So, to kind of see that, he kind of set the blueprint for it. And obviously, as the moves you know, more complicated, shooting fights in the middle of a pandemic, you know, like, throw a whole other obstacle at you to kind of figure out.
Starting point is 00:41:33 Yeah, he was the first one, but yeah, it was insane. How difficult was that to do those scenes in the middle of the COVID pandemic? Oh, it was tough, only because like, you know, we're used to having, you, 1200 extras that fills out the first 15, 20 rows before visual effects kicks in. And when you're only limited to 200 people technically, and then the people that actually show up, that number starts to do andle down to 100 to 120 maybe,
Starting point is 00:42:08 depending on the day, and then trying to get people to come back long hours sitting in, stuffy rooms, putting their health on the line. You get what you can get. And that forced us just to be more creative and problem-solve. So it's something that everything that could have got thrown at me the first time around, I did it. So I tell people, the experiences that I got on this first one,
Starting point is 00:42:28 I probably would have had to direct like three movies for all the lessons that I got in this one. So what kind of a director are you? I don't even know how to answer that question. I don't know. Well, you've studied some of the best. You know, you've worked with some of the best. I just wanted to, you know, I'm an actor director. I'm an actor's director, you know, I think understanding what an actor some of the fast, I just wanted to, you know, I'm an actor's director. I'm an actor's director, you know?
Starting point is 00:42:46 I think understanding what an actor needs and the environment where, you know, they can feel comfortable and to be vulnerable and take artistic swings is something, I always try to put myself in there and choose, you know, what would I need in that situation? A very creative one, you know? You know, I don't know, I think that's, you know, I think my, come back to you. Come back to 10 years is what you mean. Yeah, or maybe I think my, you know? I don't know, I think that's it, you know?
Starting point is 00:43:05 I think my car... Come back in 10 years is what you mean. Yeah, or maybe I think my cast and crew might be able to explain that and tell you, tell you more about that one and I can. Was it always planned to be a trilogy? Ooh. I mean, so Keenan Kugler, Ryan's brother is one of the writers.
Starting point is 00:43:20 Yep. Ryan is one of the producers and I just wondered if there was some kind of broad planning. I always planned on it. You know, you know, Ryan after I created, he went on to do Black Panther and he got, you know, whisked away into the Marvel machine, you know, in that world. Thank God for that, you know, in the sense of just, you know, what he brought to the world, with that movie, that franchise, and then I wanted a writer as things went on, somebody who knew the character from the beginning that was around,
Starting point is 00:43:50 Ken and an incredible talented writer wanted him to kind of keep that through line, that seed. I didn't want to be the only one caring, the DNA of a Donus throughout this franchise. And for me, I, as a character, I always want to revisit. So, you know, a trilogy, you know, fourth movie, you know, we, you know, we don't know.
Starting point is 00:44:13 Michael Douglas was on the show just a couple of weeks ago, and we were talking about Jonathan Majes being speaking of the conqueror. I don't know if you can hear it, but that's Jonathan right there. Oh, you hear that music? Yeah. Every day on set, it doesn't matter. He's Jonathan right there. Oh. You hear that music? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:44:26 Every day on set, it doesn't matter. He's coming in with his music. I'll be in the middle of the scene. So the music that's interrupting our interview, that's him. And same music that was interrupting my scenes. But it's one of those things. You need to do something about that. It's your picture.
Starting point is 00:44:39 You know, I told him when I first pitched him the role, I said, you're a Ferrari and I gotta let you ride. You gotta drive that car. You know, you can't're a Ferrari and I gotta let you ride. You gotta drive that car. You can't have a Ferrari and just park it up. You gotta let it ride. And that's what he is. He's an incredible talent. And I love the intensity and the dedication
Starting point is 00:44:56 that he brings to everything that he does. So it's one of those things that I love about him. But you can always hear him comments. So whenever we were on a set or whatever, I might blow a take just because I know he's coming to set, so it's interesting, but anyway, sorry. Yeah, no, no, it's just that Michael Douglas was talking about him being Kang the Conqueror.
Starting point is 00:45:16 I think he's stealing all the plaudits for that movie and the new Atman film. But I was just wondering what I was gonna ask you, just what it was about him that made you want him to be this extraordinary. I was gonna say complicated villain, but I'm not sure that adequately describes what he does to this picture.
Starting point is 00:45:32 I wouldn't even call him a villain. He's just like a very late, deep complex antagonist. I think he is a hero in his own mind. I think gaming is a hero of his own story. You think a bit like Killmunger? Yeah, in a way, for sure. I think in a way of the complexity. A little bit.
Starting point is 00:45:50 Yeah, a little bit. I think I wanted people to not know who to root for. I wanted to make it hard for people to choose and to understand both. That was the line I was walking as we shot the movie. I guess there's something uniquely terrifying about someone who sits opposite you and says, you are not entitled to everything that you have. And that scares your
Starting point is 00:46:14 character. Because he's speaking to some truth that he feels about himself deep inside that he hasn't quite, you know, addressed yet. I think, you know, the people that know you the best can hurt you the most, you know, addressed yet. I think, you know, the people that know you the best can hurt you the most, you know, and somebody who knows you very well, and had time in the vantage point of watching, you know, and not knowing he's being watched, being stalked for years, he has an advantage, you know, we want to make the Damian a tactician, you know,
Starting point is 00:46:40 a chess player, you know, a God of War, so to speak. You have, in this movie, you have a wife and you have a daughter, Tessa Thompson, and is it me, or is it actually? Yeah, yeah. Who is deaf and the three of you sign. What was the significance of that for you in the picture? It was obviously very important to have that front and center. Following the tradition of, you know, and the evolution of the story, you know,
Starting point is 00:47:01 you know, Donus meets Bianca who's hard of hearing. She's losing just progressive hearing loss. In the first movie, the second movie her hearing story, you know, you know, Donas meets Bianca who's hard of hearing, she's losing just progressive hearing loss. In the first movie, the second movie her hearing is you know, progressively getting worse. We have a daughter who, you know, we don't know whether or not she's gonna be deaf or not, and the questions and conversations around that within the family, and in the third movie,
Starting point is 00:47:18 it's completely normalized, and we're ASL family, and that's what it is. I didn't want to put any extras on it. I just wanted to establish that this is a guy who wanted to give his daughter everything that he didn't have. He wanted to do things right. He wanted to be better than Apollo. He had to generationally, he had to evolve.
Starting point is 00:47:35 And with Bianca and Amara and that family dynamic, I just wanted to show the strong black women around Adonis, the strong women in their family, especially through the matriarch all the way down, the generational women that's been around Adonis. But the ASL component was something that I love because, you know, we're moving about boxing. You know, Adonis uses his hands to hurt people and to win in the fight and violent at times. But also, he's used to communicate to the most precious people that he has around him. And something that juxtapositioned the two I just thought was really poetic.
Starting point is 00:48:09 On the subject of strong black women, as you mentioned, Daniel Deadwile was on the show just recently and talking about her movie Till and her astonishing performance. Fantastic. Amazing, overlooked at the Oscars and she said on this show that she works, and I'm quoting here, in an industry with unabashed misogyny towards black women, do you recognize that? I do. And I also feel it responsibility to tell the truth and to write that perspective, in a sense, I grew up with nothing but strong black women around me and know how pivotal it is to who I am today. And the tools that I have and the compassion and empathy and morals that I have.
Starting point is 00:48:53 And also the vulnerability that I have and how important that is as a man walking through this world. So in this story, having a black woman with her own agency, even though it is a creed story, I wanted Abianca, Namara, and Mary Ann to always feel like they're the heroes of their own story as well. And in support of Adonis, obviously to find our hero's journey, so he can complete that and be the best version of the character that we needed him to be.
Starting point is 00:49:19 He had to go through challenges through those black women, through the women in his life. And that's something that I really wanted to pay attention to. Michael B. Jordan, thank you so much for your time. No, I appreciate it. Well, I haven't interviewed Michael B. Jordan before, but he, apart from the fact, he was very late, but then he's the director of the picture, so he's entitled to his latest C. He was delightful to speak to, and he kind of wanted to, at the end of
Starting point is 00:49:45 the interview, we've done all our time, but he kind of wanted to carry on. In any way, Creed III is his new creation. What did you think? Well, a number of things to say off the back of that. The first one is, you raised the question about trilogy and I think there was a significant sort of, you know, was it a trilogy? Yeah, my reading of that was, no, it wasn't. No. And also, we know from the fact that Silvesta Stallone has fallen out with the producers, because the whole thing that his character is now said, I mean, I only know this now because I was talking to Dave Norris last night about it. And Dave said, you know, about the Silvesta slanting that he wanted his character to continue to be in it. And then
Starting point is 00:50:21 it's all getting, it all got a bit messy. So, but the, you know, the whole idea was to move the franchise away from that. And that's, you know, that's another drama story to be to be had elsewhere. But of course, you know, still owns character is no longer in it. This is now absolutely a different series. During that interview, Michael B. Jordan said that very interesting thing about ASL and boxing that on the one hand the hands of the characters are used to land punches and to land body blows for violence, but actually it's very important to see that juxtaposed against the signing. And that fascinated me as an observation because I've always felt that on screen fight sequences, and particularly boxing sequences,
Starting point is 00:51:05 you have to see them as choreographed dances, and you have to see the way in which the movement works as akin to dance. And certainly, during the big fight that the whole thing leads up to, this isn't a plot spoiler in any way, it's all there is a big, of course, it's a greed movie. The way in which it's choreographed
Starting point is 00:51:25 is very much like dance and that does relate back through the rest of the drama through the ASL. There's an interesting decision made during that fight to at a significant moment take everyone else away so that the fight almost appears to be existing simply between the two central characters. I actually thought it was quite a visually arresting way of doing it. I mean, it's always difficult
Starting point is 00:51:48 to find a new way of doing a boxing fight sequence. Everyone still looks at what Scorsese was doing with Raging Bull and the fact that they were altering camera speeds within a single shot. Nowadays, you know, technology makes that stuff much, much easier. But there was a very interesting creative decision there to do something in the middle of the fight to absolutely strip away everything else because it's in a big arena and everything is going on and then just make it about the two characters. A slightly less successful decision I think about intercutting between their present selves and their past self just that felt a little bit on the nose but it still works. I mean it still you know still does. And the other thing to pick up on your interview was you mentioned that the, you know, the subject
Starting point is 00:52:28 of misogyny, it is fascinating that the, you know, the spectacular bodies on display in this series are male. The way in which the camera looks at the, at the fighters looks, there's a lot of the film is about showing you their bodies and their physicality, and it is kind of breathtaking. I was remember that that front cover of Rolling Stone. Do you remember that when Black Panther was at Chadwick Boseman was on the front of Rolling Stone, it was just like the most astonishing kind of portrait. And the film, this is why I relate it to dance and physicality. All that stuff is important. And I thought all that stuff was delivered pretty well. And it is still
Starting point is 00:53:10 interesting that these are movies in which the bodies on display are male, not female. That said, I think the rest of it is pretty standard solid. It's not remarkable. It's definitely an absolutely by numbers rocky narrative. We know how the rocky narrative works, whether or not it actually involves rocky, you know, the thing is done, called at return. One, I know you can't, well, I must, and there is even a training montage that did feel like it ought to have that song from Team America, world police, I need a montage. So I think that the surrounding drama feels pretty pedestrian, but although pedestrian, not bad, you know, fine. The fight sequences I enjoyed,
Starting point is 00:53:50 and I thought they were the point at which the, you know, the drama sort of lifted itself up a little bit more just because I'm interested in the way in which you physically would do that stuff. Jonathan Majors is an immense screen presence in every sense of the word. And I keep referring back to the fact that if you look at Lost Batman and San Francisco in which he's completely
Starting point is 00:54:09 the opposite of that. And yet in this film and also in the Ant Man film, he brewed, he exudes this kind of sense of do not mess with me. I think the thing that's important is just to remember at this point is because he's about to be Absolute I mean his massive already. He's about to be properly massive. Profitfully massive is that isn't just what he does. He has a whole You know intricate range that is way beyond being the villain if you're gonna He always comes with his sound system
Starting point is 00:54:42 I mean, that was my speech on that. I said oh May I try to direct the film here. So yeah, it's solid and, you know, pretty work a day out of the ring with some interesting things, but it's the physicality of it. And particularly struck by the, they said by the comment that he made to you about the hands being used to sign about the hands being used to
Starting point is 00:55:05 sign and the hands being used to box because the film is concerned with its physicality. Yeah, and he called me brother. I know. So, you know, that was quite impressive. Yeah, and didn't impressive stuff. Am I right in remembering that Chadwick Boseman gave you a manly hug. There was something that happened as you were... Right at the end, it was after Chadwick had done his...
Starting point is 00:55:30 I told him about the Martin school sazy, slightly dismissive, quite well. Very, very dismissive. And he gave an incredibly brilliant thoughtful answer about... A very nice answer about the power of what they were doing. Yes. And why they did it. And then I said, we're kind of forever. And he did the W thing and bowed like a kind of a genuflick.
Starting point is 00:55:48 Yeah, that's right. Which in one of those tiny BBC studios, he sort of just overpowered the whole. But that's one of the proudest moments of your life. Well, it was just one of those, it was memorable for that, because the film was perfectly fine, because it was that adventure American kind of cop that he was in. But it was, as listeners will remember, maybe, that it was, when do I ask him about
Starting point is 00:56:15 school sayzy? Because I want to ask him about school sayzy, but if I ask him too soon, it might be the end of the interview because he'll walk out. And as it turned out, that was the bit that we played after his very untimely passing, because it was such an extraordinary passionate soliloquy about the power of Black Panther. Also worth pointing out just because you raised with Michael Bejureden the thing about, you know, the directing always being a part of Rocky. Of course, Stallone had initially wanted to write and direct the first Rocky movie and the circumstances.
Starting point is 00:56:47 No, you need a director who's directed before. He then of course did step into the directorial chair and I had a very solid career behind the camera. But the script and the starring was fine. But with the first Rocky movie, it was like, you're not ready to do this. And I do think it's interesting that by the time Michael B. Jordan is doing this, he has, as you quite rightly said, worked with and seen a bunch of directors. And in fact, Ryan Kugler is saying to him, you got this, you can do this. But imagine that it's your first movie and you are in the middle of the
Starting point is 00:57:20 pandemic and how you do those scenes. Even if you've done 10 movies, you're gonna find that challenging. Anyway, Michael B. Jordan, the guest and Creed III is the movie. I would suggest it'll be number one next week. I think it'll take Ant-Man off the top. Yeah, I think he can take Ant-Man. So is it? He can take Ant-Man.
Starting point is 00:57:40 Well, I think so, because I think Ant-Man is- So Jonathan Majors in Creed is going to take out Jonathan Majors in Ant-Man. Correct. He might be number one and number two. He's going to do a Beatles. He's going to knock himself off the top spot. But anyway, we're going to do some ads in just a moment. But first, it's very entertaining me. Time for the laughter lift. Oh dear.
Starting point is 00:58:01 Oh dear. Oh dear. I was a long time before that. It was a really awkward gap. You know I love my music. I do. Well no for it in fact. But did you know that I have it all organized by genre, back at Mayo Towers. I had a bit of a mishap this week though.
Starting point is 00:58:21 The lock to the British reggae filing cabinet got jammed. But it's okay Mark, I just sprayed a little bit of UB40ap this week though. The lock to the British reggae filing cabinet got jammed, but it's okay Mark, I just sprayed a little bit of UB40 in the padlock and all as well. Not many people have a British reggae collection mark. Only one in ten in fact. This is going to be a whole UB40 riff. Always reminds me of the time when we got burgled
Starting point is 00:58:40 and they took all my DVDs of pig films except for one. So it's okay because I got you, babe. Quick factoid, Mark, you be 40 was the attendance card. Was it a particularly slow week, Simon, but okay, go on. Quick factoid, Mark, you be 40 was of course the attendance card that you had to fill in to get unemployment benefit. That Margaret Fatcher was in charge.
Starting point is 00:59:02 Signing off. I worked in an unemployment office for a while. Do you know what the worst thing about it was? I don't. Even when you got fired, you still had to come in the next day. I had a lot of jokes about unemployed people, but sadly none of them work. Anyway, what do we got still to come?
Starting point is 00:59:19 Well, hopefully no more laughter left ever. We've got a project. Project. You read it. You read it. You'd be the electric manager. Okay, that's what we're doing. And back after this, unless you're in a van God Easter kind of state of mind, in which case those shoes are sensational and your service will not be interrupted. Every Madonna. With banking packages from Scotia Bank, you can put money back in your pocket.
Starting point is 00:59:48 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. So here's another email and we're back. Yes, at Correspondent at Kermitomeo.com. Kellen says firstly, I've been watching Mark's reviews for quite a number of years when he used to be on the film review and I've enjoyed the move to Kermitomeo's take.
Starting point is 01:00:21 Well, I was up. Anyway, you asked any dancers to comment, or explain your take that dance is magical. I am a retired dancer, 62 years old, trained at the School of American Ballet with a foray in the 80s dancing in some of the first MTV videos. As far as classical dance goes, referring to professionals, ballet is the complete mastery
Starting point is 01:00:47 of the human form. The daily grind of class two or three times a day, rehearsals, performances, etc., is equivalent to committing yourself to a monastery. You live, breathe, eat, love, the idea of dance. It is the most austere of disciplines and sacrifice. Watching these dancers accompanied with beautiful music, hopefully, is observing an unusual human experience, highly skilled, talented person moving and emoting to a score, sometimes with a narrative. You can film the performance and watch on a screen, but it is in the moment
Starting point is 01:01:25 live that this magic happens because it is ephemeral by the very nature of this art form that is the magic to me. On another note, I'm always amazed that you're incredible film knowledge. This is clearly aimed at you. And your wonderful articulate reviews. Well, that's you. I always try to catch your take before viewing as more often than not, I agree. You see, I think that's quite an equal split. Yes, I'll see it first, then here, because inevitably, you can skew an opinion, one way or the other, because some people go, if Mark likes it, I probably won't. There's a hotel in the center of London that they had the British Film Design Guild awards in,
Starting point is 01:02:06 and it's called the Londoner. And as you walk in, I don't know what this still happens, as you walk in, the guy on the door says, welcome to the best hotel in London. To which the answer is, I think I'll be the judge of that. Yes, always, a very useful phrase. So this is the movie, which I think you have said a number of times is a slasher.
Starting point is 01:02:23 Splatter. A splatter. Different. Well, one of them leads to theasher. Splatter. A splatter. Different. Well, one of the leads to that. Yes, that's right, yes. So that's interesting. What's the difference then? What is the nuance?
Starting point is 01:02:31 A slasher movie is a sort of particular type of horror movie like Friday the 13th or Halloween or something like that. Splatter. Splatter is, is, I mean, well, I would say actually, in this case, it's a choice of weapons. It's to do with you kind of slush and movies in which the machine gun is the preferred tool. I think it's a little bit distressing. Anyway, tell us about this project wolf hunting directed by Kim Hong-Soon, who is a Korean director. It came, the really said, now premier exclusively on
Starting point is 01:03:03 the icon film channel in selected UK cinemas from third of March today on Blue Ray DVD, DVD and digital from the 10th of April. It's premiered at midnight madness in Toronto and then subsequently was at Sitches, which is kind of a big deal because Sitches is like one of the big horror fantasy festival stories. Group of crimes, very bad crimes are being extradited from Philippines to South Korea on a huge cargo ship. Special agents are on board the ship to ensure that the prisoners don't have any chance of breaking out. I mean imagine what would happen if they did. Exactly. Now I'm going to play you a clip.
Starting point is 01:03:40 I was surprised when this clip was sent to me because although it's not in English, it's very sweary. Is it Korean sweary? It is. Do we have to... I have no idea what the... what the... what the protocol is. But let's... but let's play it and see and let Simon figure out which words he has to bleep. Here we go. 식사는 하루에 두 번 화장실은 하루 한 번. 모두의 안제를 위해서 칫솔 없이 취향만 제공한다. 그러니까. 그리고 어떤 고국에 돌아갈 때까지 밥이라도 제대로 참어 걸려면. 조용히 좀 가자. 누구들이 잔데 가리 굴려서 빠져라가 봤어 배 아니다. 고생 많으십니다. The story is a bit sad. The people are not going to be able to get out of the way.
Starting point is 01:04:26 There are a lot of people. The story is over. The control over radio 2 announced a new schedule. The really smart thing would be, is if the showrunner of this particular podcast could find Korean birds, birds that are particularly native Korean birds to bird song over the explicit nature of the language. Excellent. That is a parallel universe. He's taken up the challenge. Well done. So the Korean rudeness has been replaced.
Starting point is 01:04:59 Anyway, so surprisingly, they do break out. I mean, because that's what's gonna happen. But what they don't know is that on board the ship is something far more sinister than just a bunch of hardened crimes. So is it a radioactive banana? In fact, all bananas are radioactive, are they?
Starting point is 01:05:19 Is it a particularly radioactive banana? No, it's none of the above. Anyway, it's basically, you know, criminals on a boat meet to Universal Soldier or Connette, Conflute meets Dawn of the Dead. There's loads and loads of squishy death, face ripping, limb-lopping. Sounds like fun, except that by the 100th squib, it's kind of like, it's hard to have any kind of
Starting point is 01:05:44 emotional reaction. John Wick kind of way, I's hard to have any kind of emotional reaction. John Wick kind of way. I mean, no, so, okay, so here, well, here's the interesting thing. I think that in order for any of this stuff to work, it has to have, you remember the raid, right? Love the raid. The raid was like a ballet that just happened to have fighting going on this relate back to what we were saying about Creed. In the case of the evil dead, all the squishy stuff, it's actually fun because it is narratively character driven. I think the problem with this is that, well, as I was watching it, I started to think, have I become too old to just enjoy senseless violence? And I'm glad to say that I don't think that is the case. I don't think I'm ever
Starting point is 01:06:22 going to leave my kind of gleeful teenage appreciation of just absolutely senseless violence on screen. But what I have discovered is that I do need characters that I care about or that I have some interest in the jeopardy or otherwise a situation of their outcome. It isn't just enough to have an endless pileup of, you know, squib, lob, you know, stuff on limb things. Squib. You know, the squib shot when you, you know,
Starting point is 01:06:52 an impact on film, when you see that, it's a squib. It just, it all became pretty toothless for me. And when you consider the level of carnage, that's disappointing. So, okay, because I'm intrigued, but probably not that much. Yeah, I think there are better examples. The raid is an infinitely better film in terms of just the sheer, you know, increasing, because the thing with the raid is, remember, it just increases, increases, and increases, and increases, and increases. It's like that thing, what's the tone that Handsome uses in Don Kirk? The rising tone is the name for which it ludes me now. Something which just keeps building and building and building,
Starting point is 01:07:35 yet somehow actually your emotion goes with it. In the case of this, it's just like, oh, yeah, okay, all right, enough. I've lost interest now. How have we thought that you reminded me of the Sparks album, Gratuita Saxon Sensilis Violins, which is just, that's a very good one. Because they're background, because I bought tickets this week to go and see them, which L3, L3 turns out to be a big Sparks fan.
Starting point is 01:07:56 Wow. In fact, he's really tempted to go to Los Angeles where Sparks are playing with, they might be giants who are his real favorite. Wow. I just want to say, just in case any list is worried, I haven't grown out of my love of gratuitous sex and senseless violence. I don't ever want to lose that because it's something pure than I enjoy.
Starting point is 01:08:14 At time for What's On, this is where, I mean, it's a very interestingly named feature. It does, in fact, attempt to tell you what's on in some parts of the world. E-Malice a voice note about your festival or special thing that's going on from wherever you are to correspondents at curbadomeo.com. Here we go with this week's Correspondents. Hi, Mark and Simon. I'm Malena from the Kinateka Polish film festival which runs across London from the 9th of March to the 27th of April and features the best new Polish cinema Classics from Agnieszka Holland, Andrzej Wajda and Roluc Kodad and a season of films at BFI Southbank from Yeżyskoli Moski, Director of the Oscar-nominated EO. Tickets and full line up are at guinadekaw.org.uk
Starting point is 01:08:55 Hi Simon and Mark, this is Brett from Downing Hall Mall. Just a quick waltz on to say my new film Long Way Back is being released on digital platforms on the 6th of March. Some guy I've never heard of called Mark Hermaud is he? He gave us a really nice review and this piano music you can hear is from our lovely score which Mark was also a fan of and played on his Scarlett Radio show. So that's Long Way Back out on digital platforms from the 6th of March. Thank you very much. Shameless. Utterilee Shameless. So that was Malina from Kinotica Film Festival. Step back from the mic.
Starting point is 01:09:31 About two inches back, Malina, I would think, and it would stop the pee blasting on that little clip. But love it here at Yoshi's in Skollimowski, as opposed to Jersey's Skollimowski, which I had somebody else say. And Brett in Cornwall. Yes. Playing the piano as he, as he's...
Starting point is 01:09:45 No, he was playing a bit of the score. But what is sound in the back? And then he was actually playing it as he was speaking. Yes. I mean, if you could send us a voice note. Well, some like an instrument. While doing something, if you could be like playing the violin,
Starting point is 01:10:00 like gratuitous sacks, or a sentence as violin. Or a sentence as violin, that would be fantastic. And if in fact you are in sparks, feel free to... That's a very niche shout out, is there? If you're Ronald Russell and you're listening to this, or if you work with sparks, tell them what they need to do is to record a little voice note for us, singing and playing at the same time,
Starting point is 01:10:24 and then we'll mention their tour. I think that's fair. I'm going to be singing and playing at the same time tonight, all the other time this goes out. It will have been day before yesterday. Whilst people will have been eating pizza. They're having a very, very good time. So send your audio trailer about your event or if you're in sparks to correspondence at covidamau.com. What else is that?
Starting point is 01:10:42 Electric Malady, which is a documentary directed by Merillian about electromagnetic hypersensitivity. Did you watch medical Saul? I saw some of it. Okay, as much as you did. You remember that Saul as he later becomes brother, suffers from electromagnetic hypersensitivity. He basically retreats into his house, he can't go out. Do you remember all this? He's covering himself constantly in protective garments. He can't have any electricity. And it's, and during the course of Better Call Saul,
Starting point is 01:11:15 it becomes pretty clear that what's happening with his brother is actually probably a reaction to a psychological trauma, as opposed to what he believes it to be, which is that he's actually responding to electromagnetics. Well, in this documentary, we meet William, who was once an outgoing musician and student, now living in a confined bubble, created by his father, we see his father and mother interviewed. His father talks about the pain of basically having to create a cage in which his son can live free from pain, from the pain of his condition. He is covered throughout the documentary.
Starting point is 01:11:58 He wears a huge headpiece, that's kind of like a big oval oval and draped over it are fabrics, all of which are designed to protect his head and the rest of his body from being attacked by electromagnetic radiation. He looks like a jellyfish or a ghost and he himself talks about, I've looked at myself and said, look how ridiculous I look, and the tragedy of realizing that his life has come to this, that this is the situation that he has been brought to. And in one scene, which we're going to see now, I'll just give you a translation of what's happening, he talks about listening to Sandy Denny singing, I think it's about an easy rider with Fairport Convention. And he says,, I listen to this record and there is a line in it, all he wanted was to be free. And he makes the connection that somebody in a town not far from them was so plagued
Starting point is 01:12:54 by electro sensitivity and the pain that it caused him that he lost his life as a result of it. So this is the scene from Electric Malady. Det är det sen som från elektrikmärder. Vi har ett tusstals. Vi har gått där. Men det är några som har listan. Det var ganska spärrigt. Men den här är nog ett förbärkort på lönsas. Så den är den här gånger.
Starting point is 01:13:21 Det var det vi ångter så var det till fri. Jag tänkte ofta på en kille som borde in det i en stad. I'm not a fan of this song. I'm just a fan of Ali O'onpes was to the free. I think often on a kid who has been in the city for a long time, and can be quite powerful and sensitive. So you see what he's got? Absolutely, right. He does, as he's speaking Swedish there, and he does look like someone at a fancy dress,
Starting point is 01:13:41 who's gone as a ghost. As a ghost or as a kid. And it's a really haunting thing. Now, the filmmaker apparently made some of the film with the Clockwork cameras in order to alleviate any sort of potential, you know, electromagnetic suffering. The film covers the parents' distress
Starting point is 01:13:56 at what happened to their boy, you know, and their hopes, their hopes that he can overcome it and get better and recover and start to live his life again, get out of the cage that he's rather constructed. What's really important is this, the documentary doesn't pass judgment on the condition. It just registers what is evident that this is a young man suffering a terrible debilitating condition. He is one of many, and there are members of the medical
Starting point is 01:14:25 establishment who are starting to take the condition seriously. Now I'm not medical, I'm not, you know, but obviously if you think about ME or you think about post-war or fatigue or you thought you think about long-covid, you think about, you know, I have friends who were sufferers, they say who initially would dismiss, as you know, it's, oh yeah, it's all in the mind, it's all not, and then later on, no, no, it's not. What's important is that what this documentary does is it literally just shows you, this is really happening to this young man, and this is the effect that it is
Starting point is 01:15:01 happening on him and his family, and this is how he's dealing with it, and this is the effect that it is happening on him and his family. And this is how he's dealing with it. And this is his hope is to overcome it. And I was, I felt it very moving. I mean, it's very sad. It's very, and does, when he's dressed the way he is, the way you've described it, does it bring him relief? And then if he didn't have it on, it would cause him. Apparently so, yes.
Starting point is 01:15:25 Apparently, he has experimented with many fabrics and there are some that he has discovered work. And certainly the thing that's on his head, I mean, the best way of describing it is it's like a large jellyfish. It is a sort of protective shield. And he has discovered as so many people with different conditions. There are certain things at work and certain things that do. And yes, it does bring him relief from it.
Starting point is 01:15:48 But obviously, what it also does is entrapped him. And he talks very eloquently about how much he feels the tragedy of that situation. I would encourage anybody to watch this no matter what you know or don't know about the election. I mean, I know nothing at all. I am not medical. I think the first I had ever heard of the condition was in medical soil in which it is very definitely presented as, you know, probably psychological. That's all I knew.
Starting point is 01:16:16 And what this doc does is it is just impossible not to conclude that this is happening. This young man is suffering a really, really debilitating condition. He's not alone. It ends up with some statistics about the large number of other people who are in a, you know, and I thought it was very, very affecting and very strange. So by the end of it, you would you with our medical knowledge, a lack of knowledge accepted. Did you in accepting that the boy is suffering very, very much? Yes. Did you, do you come away thinking, as you've suggested, this may be a new condition, but also that maybe it's psychological or a combination of those, or it just doesn't try and tell you what the iceberg is.
Starting point is 01:17:07 Okay, my mother was a GP, my father worked in hospitals all his life. I have learned that the world does not need film critics passing medical judgment on anything. So it leaves it leaves scientists. It's basically saying, this is what we've seen over to you. Yes. And it does have in it doctors who are investigating this and saying we think that this is a, you know, an inverted commas real thing. But the point is, of course, something is real.
Starting point is 01:17:35 It's happening and it's not happening because somebody's willing it into existence. But I'm, I just want to say this again, the world does not need unqualified people passing medical judgment on things. If I learn one thing from my parents, it's that. And if anyone's learned anything from watching social media, they will also come to the same conclusion that you've had. So, Swedish language film, electric melody, which we can find. In cinemas, and also, you know, I'm sure a lot of its life will also be, you know, later on online. And Fairport Convention, not mentioned on this show for a long time.
Starting point is 01:18:09 So, hello. Who would have thought it would have appeared via that particular movie? That is the end of take one, production management and general all-round stuff by Lily Hamley, videos by Ryan Amira and Sancha Panzer, Studio Engineer, Josh Gibbs, Czech. The guest research was so iffy, Ivan, Bashak Erten was the assistant producer, Johnny Socials was on the socials, Hannah Tolbert was the producer, moved to Tottenham, you know, very happy. And Simon Paul was the redacted Mark, what is your film of the week? That would be close. Thank you for listening, Extra takes with a bonus review, bunch of recommendations, and even more stuff about the movies and cinema and adjacent television
Starting point is 01:18:51 is available right now because it's landed at the same time. Take three with your questions and your questions. Let's see. We'll be dropping in a few days time. you

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