Cinema Effect

Mr. Daniel Ocean's gang of thieves is back. And this time they have to repay old mate Terry from the first film. Imagine pulling off the greatest heist of all-time, and then a couple years later being asked by the guy you robbed to pay it all back! With interest!! But luckily it turns out they do, in fact, have a plan. Prepare for quite a ride with this movie's often unclear plot, but still very e...

Clint Eastwood returns to his iconic role of The Man with No Name. Except this time he must navigate 1970s San Francisco. And... he actually has a name. Detective Harry Callahan investigates the increasingly violent threat of a psychopath on the loose who goes by the Scorpio Killer, and put a stop to him by any means necessary (even if it means ignoring all rights of the accused). So, is the film...

This week we are reviewing Pride & Prejudice. Not to be confused with the BBC mini series from the 90s starring Colin Firth. Or the 2003 version set in... modern day Utah?! No, this is the 2005 adaptation of Jane Austen's classic novel directed by Joe Wright. Sparks fly when Keira Knightley meets super rich Mr. Darcy. But Keira doesn't just like the man him for his bags of cash, while Mr. Darc...

Matt Reeves is now a double friend of the show (huge congrats to him) as this week we tackle his 2010 horror remake, Let Me In. In 1980's New Mexico, mysterious murders are committed. And Owen gets a new neighbour in the form of a kinda weird young girl with a secret. That's a pretty poor synopsis, apologies. But I refuse to spoil the movie as IMDB does! Anyway, it's pretty good... at least on the...

Steven Soderbergh makes his Cinema Effect debut as we begin to tackle his iconic series of heist films, starting with Ocean's Eleven. George Clooney plays Danny Ocean, a career criminal who plans to lead some of Hollywood's most recognisable names on a cunning mission to steal over $150 million from Las Vegas's top casinos. The film is certainly a modern classic of the genre, featuring a lot of fu...

Scarface is a Brian De Palma film from 1983 that a lot of people like. Al Pacino is in it. He plays Tony Montana aka Scarface (which he's never called in the movie). The character is an immigrant who dreams of becoming a drug lord. He succeeds. But surprise, surprise it's not all it's cracked up to be. There is also a video game based on Scarface. Which is why we chat about your submissions for th...

One of our favourite filmmakers working today returns to the show! Denis Villeneuve helms an incredible cast and crew in his 2015 outing, Sicario. Emily Blunts joins a mysterious U.S. task force, with Benicio del Toro and lead by Josh Brolin, aimed at deescalating the war on drugs along the Mexican border. But as the film progresses it becomes clear there is some shady stuff going on, as motivatio...

Martin McDonagh's In Bruges is a delightful film which integrates humour into its dark tone masterfully. The movie takes place in, you guessed it, Bruges. But where the hell is Bruges? It's in Belgium, duh. Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson predictably deliver expert performances as two hitmen hiding out in the city after a job goes awry. And shout-out to Ralph Fiennes for being an absolute treasu...

We're not a real movie podcast until we've talked in-depth about Bong Joon-ho's best picture winner, Parasite. So why not go all out, and get a couple of guests in to get a mix of perspectives. I shouldn't need to give a synopsis. If you listen to this show, you've probably seen it. It's the highest rated film on Letterboxd for God's sake! In this very episode, the film's exploration of class is a...

The time has come to finish off the Alien franchise with its sixth and final main entry (AvP be damned), Covenant. Why is it called Covenant, I hear you ask? Because the narrative centres on yet another new star ship and its crew. While there's your pretty standard Xenomorph threat (actually it's a PRAETOmorph, sorry Jayden) and subsequent action sequences, the film does hold some surprising conne...

Stephen Chow directs, pens, and stars in his beloved martial arts comedy, Kung Fu Hustle. A man who dreams of becoming a Kung Fu Master really badly wants to join the notorious Axe Gang in 1940's Shanghai. But those people are pretty evil, and another destiny awaits him. With action, choreography and stunts which would make Tarantino envious, and the film's whacky sense of humour, it certainly sta...

Two weeks in a row of comedies! What is going on?! We need a bit of levity in the films we review on the show from time to time. And that is something we can always get from John Hughes' movies. Especially Planes, Trains and Automobiles. In this 80s classic, John Candy and Steve Martin are two strangers who are trying to get home in time for Thanksgiving (which proves to be way harder than it soun...

Who asked for a reboot of Chip 'n Dale? Certainly not us. But Disney+ needs original content, and here we are. But thankfully, this brand new film starring the Rescue Rangers is pretty delightful. Chockful of fun gags, pretty amazing cameos, and memorable performances, the movie really works. And it flies by with its 90 minute runtime. Not to mention its clash of styles is something to behold, fea...

The Alien franchise returns in the modern era with its 2012 prequel, Prometheus. But not only is the series back, it's original visionary Ridley Scott returns to the helm for the first time since the late 1970s. The film follows yet another star ship crew. But this time they're on a mission to discover the origins of mankind. The movie partially divides us, as there are a lot of interesting ideas...

Classic 1974 film Chinatown stars Jack Nicolson as a Los Angeles private detective. After being dragged into some shady events, he takes it upon himself to expose the truth and solve the mystery behind the city's water supply woes. Spoiler alert: the villain is greed and corruption! The movie's screenplay is regarded by many as one of the greatest ever, and is taught in film schools everywhere. Bu...

As preparation for the long-anticipated sequel, we thought we'd go back 36 years (!) to the original Top Gun. Tom Cruise stars as Maverick, an arrogant but charming fighter pilot who wants to prove himself to be the best in the world. But to do that he must win the Top Gun school's trophy by defeating his classmates with equally dope callsigns, including Val Kilmer's Iceman. Despite being a very s...

The newly released and Best Picture nominated Nightmare Alley is the latest film from the mind of Mr. Del Toro. An insane cast plays a bunch of quirky characters who all come to meet Bradley Cooper's Stan over a two year period. Stan has a dark past, and is more than willing to work his way to the top in the mentalism profession through whatever deception necessary. Featuring some top notch cinema...

Alien Resurrection is the fourth film in the franchise, and arguably the last in the era of Fox wanting to just keep developing sequels as Box Office bait. 200 years after Ellen Ripley's death in Alien 3 (spoilers!), our hero is revived, or more accurately cloned, as part of a corporation experiment. But shockingly, there's also a bunch of Xenomorphs on the ship which all inevitably break free. Ri...

Wes Anderson's remarkably impressive 2018 stop motion feature, Isle Of Dogs, marks the famed director's debut on our show. In a fictional Japan, an evil mayor with a grudge against doggies plots to eliminate the species once and for all. All while his nephew travels to dog island to find his best friend Spots. We meet a colourful cast of dog and human characters along the way, played by an absolut...

Windfall is Netflix's latest "shot during COVID and only has a couple of characters" film. It should be an officially listed genre on there at this point. The movie is a surprising watch filled with mystery and a notable style. But in essence, Jason Segel does a really dodgy job of breaking into Jesse Plemons' holiday house. And Lilly Collins is there too. Then the boys jump into all of the weekly...

It's the dawn of a new era for Cinema Effect. And there's no better way to get it started than by reviewing the incredible, The Incredible Hulk. Sarcasm aside, this film sits awkwardly amongst its MCU counterparts. Edward Norton delivers his one and only (and uninteresting) performance as Bruce Banner. Needless to say, we're glad this bloke magically turned into Mark Ruffalo. Then... I think the U...

We live in a twilight world... because somehow we've made it to our hundredth episode of Cinema Effect. That's 100 films reviewed over 100 Monday nights, and way too many hours of our conversations now archived on the internet until the end of time. So to celebrate, we thought why not get together in-person for the very first time and discuss one of our favourite films of the last few years, Chris...

We're now half-way through the rocky road that is the Alien franchise, as we sit down to review the third film. Once again following directly from the events of its predecessor, the story begins with Ripley crash landing on a prison planet, with her mates from Aliens being killed in the process. After being rescued, she and the other prisoners have to take on a Xenomorph running loose on a murder...

It is officially the two year anniversary of this here Cinema Effect podcast. Can you believe it?! For the occasion, we thought it would be fitting to go back to where it all began. And that is with a filmmaker (and friend of the show) by the name of Michael Mann. This time around, we review what many believe to be one of the great films released in the last 30 years and Mann's magnum opus, the 19...

Released in the very special year of 2001, Donnie Darko (which initially bombed) has found new life as a cult-classic and gained many new fans in the past twenty years. So what is the story actually about? Jake Gyllenhaal and Seth Rogen had no idea. But I guess you follow Donnie, a troubled, awkward, and mysteriously powerful teenager, in the lead up to what the film presents as the end of the wor...