The Even More Eyes Podcast

In their latest FILM REVIEW episode, Imo and James give their verdict on Disney's recent revisionist, anti-hero romp: Cruella (2021), directed by Craig Gillespie and starring Emma Stone, Emma Thompson, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Joel Fry, Paul Walter Hauser and Mark Strong. For one of our critics the film's fashionable brilliance knocks their wig off, while for the other the infamous villainess' chara...

Everything that has a beginning...has an end - and James and Imo have reached the end of their return to the 'Matrix'. This final episode has the critics journey to the core of the movie's philosophical themes in the grisly, apocalyptic, divisive finale: 'The Matrix Revolutions' (2003). They decide, once and for all, whether the film is anticlimactic or the apex of action-thrills and thematic dept...

In this third episode of their ‘Matrix’ retrospective, Imo and James judge the expansive, propulsive, challenging 2003 sequel: ‘The Matrix Reloaded’. The critics have already made their choices about whether they like the movie or not, now they need to understand why. They drill ever deeper into the philosophical themes, world-building and Hugo Weaving’s deviously hilarious ‘copy + paste’ antagoni...

In the second episode of this retrospective on the 'Matrix' franchise, Imo and James deep dive into the disparate, bridging anthology film: 'The Animatrix' (2003). The critics wonder around the inside, outside and distant past of the Matrix's multi-realities as depicted through the nine animated shorts. But are the recording's glitches mere technical hiccups or is the System starting to listen in?...

In this new retrospective season, Imo and James prepare to go down the rabbit hole again - into the Wachowski's cyber-noir, millennium classic 'Matrix' franchise. In this first episode, the critics rewatch the 1999 original to begin a chin-stroking discussion on the film's heady, philosophical themes (as if there can be any other way to discuss this film?) Reality and illusion, predetermination an...

In this FILM REVIEW episode, Imo and James load up the remake of Mortal Kombat (2021), directed by Simon McQuoid. While one of our critics spent their childhood mashing buttons on the martial-arts-meets-gore-fest video game, the other is a total noob. Is this adaptation of the beloved franchise a knock-out hit or a messy cinematic fatality? 

In this FILM REVIEW episode of EVEN MORE EYES, James and Imo review Francis Lee's raw depiction of class, gender and queerness in 'Ammonite' (2021). Starring Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan as two 19th Century women who find love in clammy Lyme Regis, is it a sensitive excavation of emotional truths or a dreary day out at the beach? Listen to get the critics' verdict...alongside unavoidable digress...

This fourth and final episode of the season has Imo and James pondering whether the ends-justify-the-means...not just the characters' morality but the critics rewatching the entire franchise! They discover that despite the close of the story, it leaves a lot of awkward social, moral, political and emotional questions open and which trio of characters really conquer the 'Deathly Hallows' (2010-2011...

The third episode of this Harry Potter retrospective has James and Imo noticing how 'H'Angry' and 'Horny' Potter suddenly emerge at the franchise's denouement. They get a strangely familiar feeling discussing the crisis-denying, dissent-crushing government in 'The Order of the Phoenix' (2007), debate whether Hogwarts going 'Snogwarts' was the right tone in the dark-fantasy/rom-com mash 'The Half-B...

This second episode of the new season has Imo and James observing that the 'Harry Potter' franchise is maturing - demonstrably so in the rapid ageing of its adolescent cast (getting a razor soon, Potter?) They discover not only one plot/world-shattering device in 'The Prisoner of Azkaban' (2004) but two; why the 'Goblet of Fire' (2005) was a trial too tedious for one of the critics, and how Michae...

In this next season of 'Nostalgia Hits Differently', James and Imo are off to revisit the 'Wizard Boy Wonder' of the 2000s: Harry Potter. In this first episode, the critics return to the first two instalments of the saga. They discover that the 'Boy Who Lived' seems to have a death-wish in 'The Philosopher's Stone' (2001); why prejudice is okay when it's systemic in 'The Chamber of Secrets' (2002)...

In their first FILM REVIEW episode of the EVEN MORE EYES podcast, Imo and James give their opinions on the latest Disney Princess adventure: Raya and the Last Dragon (2021). Hot off their discussion of Princesses past (see Ep # 1-4), the two critics focus on how the franchise continues with Raya's representation and relationships. Do they think the movie is fire or flop? Tune in to find out. 

In this final episode on Disney Princesses, James and Imo realise how far they've gone. Entering into the Revival period (2010s), the friends finally lay down their 'critical weapons' - before picking them up next week to review Disney's latest Princess movie: Raya and the Last Dragon. This week though, the exhausted critics discover how 'Brave' (2012) barely features any problems from the 'Disney...

In this third episode, James and Imo confront that they were growing into adulthood when these films came out - but then, so was Disney. In its Late and Post-Renaissance Period, the critics find the unexpected: a positive turn in the canon. They discover how 'Mulan' (1998) reflects intelligently on gender roles; where the studio worked cultural tourism and meta-narratives into 'The Pri...

This second episode has Imo and James return to the '90s! Disney wanted a 'Whole New World' for the next era of Princesses, but it's not quite as wholesome as they remember. Focused on the next four Princess franchise films, our intrepid critics discover why King Triton's concerns for Ariel might be justified in the unknowingly genocidal 'The Little Mermaid' (1989); how...

In this debut episode, James and Imo dig up a hell-scape from their childhood: Classic Disney. Concentrating on the first three films of the Disney Princess franchise they discover how Snow White (1937) establishes a problematic model for princesses to come, when Cinderella (1950) put more agency into the rodents, and why iconic villain Maleficent reigns supreme in the snore-inducing Sleeping Beau...