Cinema Effect

Released 35 years after the original, Blade Runner 2049 once again immerses us in dystopian L.A., but this time through the eyes of Replicant Blade Runner K (Ryan Gosling). His investigation takes him on a journey of personal discovery which leads him to Rick Deckard. Rounded out with some dope Roger Deakins Cinematography and Hans Zimmer music, this movie is pretty incredible. Listen to us try (a...

Steve McQueen made an impactful theatrical debut with his 2008 film Hunger. Set amongst the backdrop of the Northern Ireland conflict, Bobby Sands leads a hunger strike in an attempt to gain political status for his fellow Irish nationalist inmates. Let's chat about THAT scene, Michael Fassbender's physical transformation, and whether Stan will still sponsor us after the issues we had streaming th...

For our first Tarantino review on the show, we chose to discuss The Hateful Eight. Infamously the movie's script leaked during pre-production, leading to the film almost never being made. Thankfully for us, we're able to enjoy this mystery western's colourful cast of characters, coupled with the director's signature dialogue and flair.

Fargo is a 1996 film by the Coen brothers starring William H. Macey, Frances McDormand, and Steve Buscemi. Set in the U.S. state of Minnesota, old mate Jerry is having a few financial woes. He establishes a plan to orchestrate the kidnapping of his own wife and split the ransom paid for her release. Naturally, circumstances complicate this endeavour. Plus, we have another Tenet release update to c...

1982's Blade Runner is a cult classic in cinema. Based on a Phillip K. Dick novel, Ridley Scott's film is set in a dystopian depiction of 2019 Los Angeles, which thankfully isn't reality quite yet. A bunch of robot human-lookalikes known as replicants are set on having a friendly chat with their master. It's up to the most boring protagonist in fiction, Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), to hunt them d...

Underappreciated 1971 Australian classic Wake In Fright sees school teacher, John Grant, having just a lovely vacation in the Outback. After gambling his last cash away and becoming stranded in a remote town, John endures an onslaught of horrific experiences in his struggle to escape the isolation. The film was almost lost to time over a decade ago, so we are very happy it was found and restored f...

Spike Lee has collaborated with Netflix for the first time to deliver us Da 5 Bloods, a war drama centred on a group of war veterans returning to Vietnam 50 years later, in hopes of retrieving their friend's remains and a stack of gold. As you may expect, the film explores social issues concerning black lives in the U.S. through Lee's signature visual/editing style. This is always admirable and in...

Based on a bunch of books apparently, Disney's Artemis Fowl went through a lot of production issues and fell victim to the pandemic, leading to its launch on Disney+. I guess the movie is about a genius Irish kid who is trying to save Colin Farrell by finding some acorn thing, which was already in his house the entire time. Also Josh Gad takes a dump on the camera. If only we had been able to expe...

The Matrix Revolutions (it's the third one if you're confused) marks the end of our Matrix franchise reviews. In this film, it's finally time for Neo to save the city of Zion once and for all. Listen to us chat about the conclusion to The Matrix Trilogy, try and figure out what on God's green Earth the fourth movie could be about, and reveal well-regarded films we dislike in our Question of the Sh...

With his final film before his untimely passing, legendary director Stanley Kubrick crafted a visually stunning and thematically deep movie that is frankly quite hard to describe. Eyes Wide Shut has Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman's relationship challenged by sexual fantasies and other abnormal scenarios that occur in one night.

As the "civilised" world is hell-bent on the destruction of Samurai culture in 19th century Japan, The Last Samurai has Tom Cruise experiencing great personal growth in order to put a stop to it. This 2003 war epic was certainly contentious amongst us, leading to a fun discussion. And in News Chat, we get what could be the last update in the Tenet release date saga. Hopefully.

Sporting a very specific kind of equally silly and vulgar humour, 2007's Superbad is a comedy which follows two high school students and their mishaps in trying to get to a dope ass party. One thing's for certain... if you like a plentiful quantity of dick jokes, this movie is for you. Plus, we read your submissions for best film soundtrack, and sooooooooooo much more!

Released in 2003, The Matrix Reloaded is the follow up to the iconic first Matrix film. Continuing the story of Neo, Morpheus, and Trinity, the movie sees our heroes fight to secure the survival of the last real human civilisation, Zion. Not to spoil this episode's discussion, but unfortunately Reloaded disappoints in just about every way. Perhaps it could have been good, if the Wachowskis had wan...

As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster. And that's exactly what Henry Hill became. As we get a glimpse at Henry's three decades in the mob life, we're introduced to a group of colourful gangsters prior to their collective downfall. Boasting a terrific screenplay, performances, and style, we totally understand why Goodfellas is a Martin Scorsese classic that's been adored b...

Pixar's latest movie, Onward, follows two brothers on their quest to be reunited with their father for one day, in a hybrid-fantasy world. We couldn't pass up the opportunity to chat about a brand new film for the first time. And who doesn't love a bit of Pixar. We also go totally off the rails this week, with a riveting Spy Kids discussion. Sorry not sorry.

For our first episode covering a TV show, we discuss Season 3 of HBO's Westworld. We've been fans of the series since its inception in 2016, but now this latest season has taken a major shift in setting, away from the park itself and to the real world. To no one's surprise, this season once again loves to confuse and surprise its viewership, by exploring philosophical concepts with our favourite c...

Federico Fellini's 8½ is an incredibly well regarded film which follows a film director struggling to create his next project, while dealing with other personal distractions. The movie is rather abstract in the way in which it explores Fellini's own experiences. It's safe to say that we each felt a little different about this one. Plus, we have some Tenet and Star Wars updates to discuss, complete...

To kick off our monthly franchise episodes, we'll be going through The Matrix movies. Released in 1999, the first film in the series has become a classic in cinema thanks to its iconic visual style and premise. But why would you listen to this show if it isn't real? Isn't it pointless if we are all merely existing within the confines of a computer simulation forced upon us by our A.I. overlords? W...

The Coen brothers' highly acclaimed No Country For Old Men is a film that we are essentially obliged to discuss being a film podcast. Based on Cormac McCarthy's 2005 novel, the story centres around characters who are in different ways connected to a simple drug run gone wrong. What follows is certainly memorable. So sit back, relax on the couch, and grab yourself a glass of milk, as we discuss the...

There is no better man to create the ultimate anti-western than Clint Eastwood. After being synonymous with the genre for decades, the director and star of Unforgiven was on a mission to helm a film which challenges how we look at the traditional cowboy adventure. But was old mate Clint successful back in 1992? The answer may not be black or white.

Sergio Leone's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is commonly known as one of the most iconic and influential movies ever. Thus, it seemed an obvious choice to discuss it, especially since two of us had never seen the film. So join us as we begin our journey into the realm of Westerns, and debate who amongst us are, in fact, weebs.

Paul Thomas Anderson is one of the most highly regarded directors of our time (Liam forced me to write that!) and his latest film, Phantom Thread, released in 2017. The film showcases a rather twisted romantic relationship between an obsessed dressmaker, and some random waitress. Despite featuring a naturally terrific Daniel Day-Lewis performance, perhaps we think "it's just not very good" (we jus...

Welcome to our second episode. This is usually when shows get a bit of a budget and gain some direction. That probably isn't the case for us. This week we're talking about the 2006 reboot of the James Bond franchise, Casino Royale. Daniel Craig's portrayal of the iconic character launched a new era for the 007 films, which was very much inspired by other attempts to ground franchises in realism at...

In our pilot episode, if you will, we discuss the 2004 film Collateral. Directed by Michael Mann, and starring Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx, the movie follows a cab driver who gets caught up in a contract killer's one night murder spree. But did we like it? There's only one way to find out.