Cinema in Context

Obsessive game competition documentaries. Sarah Watt, Jeremy Downing and William Chen discuss the Netflix+ distributed The Speed Cubers and The King of Kong (2007). We begin by discussing the despicable qualities of the people featured in The King of Kong, particularly Billy Mitchell, and the under-dog qualities of Steve Wiebe. We then talk about the filmmaking and crafting of The King of Kong, pa...

Musical political figures. Sarah Watt, Jeremy Downing and William Chen discuss the Disney+ distributed, live-filmed presentation of Hamilton and Evita (1996). We begin by discussing Madonna, her cultural influence and her performance in Evita. We criticise the adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber shows to film, including Cats and Jesus Christ Superstar, but also highlight the ways that Evita fix aspe...

Treasure hunts in war. Billy Revell-Siō, William Chen and Jeremy Downing discuss the Netflix film Da 5 Bloods and 1999 film Three Kings. We begin by unpacking Da 5 Bloods, and how it doesn't work on a whole, but highlighting the areas that it does do well. We then talk about Three Kings and the commentary it is trying to achieve, the experimentation with film techniques and how well those elements...

Chase action films. Sarah Watt, William Chen and Jeremy Downing discuss the Netflix film Extraction and 2002 film The Bourne Identity. We begin by pulling Extraction apart, highlight many of its floors. We highlight the brilliant photography, production design and direction of the film, and spent time celebrating the action and stunt choreography. We compare the long shot in Extraction to Children...

Our fourth anniversary, celebrating by discussing the greatest Number 4 films. Sarah Watt, William Chen and Jeremy Downing discuss Toy Story 4 (2019), Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (2011), Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), and Star Wars (1977), which was retrospectively assigned the subtitle Episode 4: A New Hope. Each are great examples of the fourth film being a great work of cinema, despite other...

Streaming options during our Covid-19 crisis. Sarah Watt, William Chen and Jeremy Downing discuss films that you can watch while stuck at home, during the Covid-19 lockdowns occurring around the world. We have split our discussion into five categories: Film for the family: William: How to Train Your Dragon (2010, Netflix) Sarah: The Adventures of TinTin: The Secret of the Unicorn (2011, Netflix) J...

Post Oscars discussion. Sarah Watt, William Chen and Jeremy Downing discuss the 2020 Academy Awards. We begin by discussing our expectations going into the ceremony, our general apathy towards the ceremony in general and our collective surprise as to how things rolled out. The biggest and best surprise was Parasite, the Cinema in Context film of 2019, winning Best Picture. We discuss the Netflix r...

Continuous shot films. Sarah Watt, William Chen and Jeremy Downing discuss two films that use a continuous shot throughout most of their films: 1917 (2019) and Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014). We begin by discussing the way each film utilises the continuous shot affect. We compare the two films to other films that explore long takes, including Gravity (2013), Dunkirk (2017),...

Best films of 2019. Sarah Watt, William Chen and Jeremy Downing discuss their top films of the year, in the following categories: Biggest surprise, biggest disappointment, most anticipated film yet to come out (this episode was recorded in mid-November), wildcard, runner up films and each of our film of the year. Biggest Surprise: William: Midsommar Sarah: The Cameraman (1928) Jeremy: Doctor Sleep...

Comedic World War Two. Sarah Watt, William Chen and Jeremy Downing discuss two films that focus on Nazi-occupied Europe during World War Two that have a comedic or satirical edge: Jojo Rabbit (2019) and Inglourious Basterds (2009). We begin by discussing the situations and ways we first watched Inglourious Basterds, highlighting key reactions we had to the film the first time and upon rewatching i...

Dark comedian stories. Sarah Watt, William Chen and Jeremy Downing discuss two films that centre around wannabe comedians, with a story that follows a dark trajectory: Joker (2019) and The King of Comedy (1982). We begin by discussing the clear connections between the two films, particularly how clearly Joker is riffing on The King of Comedy. The discussion moves onto the mythology of Joker and ho...

Bong Joon-ho directed films. Sarah Watt, William Chen and Jeremy Downing discuss Bong Joon-ho's films Parasite and Snowpiercer. We begin by discussing Parasite, particularly its status as the winner of the 2019 Palm d'Or and the way an audience should come into the watching of the film, mainly with no spoilers. We compare Parasite to the work of Tarantino, particularly Once Upon A Time... In Holly...

Cinema experiences, the world over. Sarah Watt, William Chen and Jeremy Downing discuss the various films and cinema experiences from their trips around the world. Sarah opens the discussion by outlining her trip around Europe. She mentions La Dolce Vita, Drive and Avengers: Endgame. She talked about multiple masterclasses, including with steadicam inventor Garrett Brown, one with Rutger Hauer, an...

Toy Story 4. Jeremy Downing and William Chen have separate conversations in different parts of the world. The first is with Georgie Swan and the second is with Jon Portinga. The first conversation is lead by Jeremy, talking with Georgie Swan, during a conference focused on Indigenous Education, hosted in Auckland, New Zealand. The discussion begins about the first three Toy Story films and what th...

The X-Men universe. Special guests Sinead Fitzgerald and Adam Spedding join Jeremy Downing and William Chen to discuss X-Men, Dark Phoenix and all the X-Men films in between. Discussion starts with ripping into Dark Phoenix and discussing how the original X-Men film established the world. We then work our way through the other X-Men films, starting with X-Men: Days of Future Past and the moving th...

A Song of Ice and Fire. Special guests Sarah Cullen, Jeremy Foster, Katy Roose, Phoebe Shum and Rewa Worley join Jeremy Downing and William Chen to discuss the HBO television series Game of Thrones. We start by focusing on whether people were satisfied or dissatisfied by the series finale and unpacking why. We then move into discussing specific character arcs, starting with a general discussion of...

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller films. Special Guest Katy Roose joins Jeremy Downing and William Chen to discuss two films produced by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller: The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Discussion starts with looking into Lord and Miller's work being focused on what things aren't, and subverting expectations. We jump into a chat about Cloudy...

Post Oscars discussion. Special Guest Phoebe Shum joins Jeremy Downing and William Chen to discuss the 2019 Academy Awards. Our discussion touches on the selected films this year in contrast to previous years. We mention The Shape of Water, Moonlight and La La Land. We talk about the lead up to the ceremony, with the suggestions around the "Popular Oscar" category and shifting certain awards to th...

James Cameron Science Fiction. Special Guest Sinead Fitzgerald joins Jeremy Downing and William Chen to discuss two films written by James Cameron: his 2009 Box Office breaking Avatar and his most recent script Alita: Battle Angel. Discussion starts with looking into Cameron's career, including his multiple cinematic hits and even his work in theme park rides. We then get into talking about Avatar...

M. Night Shyamalan films. Sarah Watt, Jeremy Downing, Doug Dillaman and William Chen discuss two M. Night Shyamalan films: his 2008 clunker The Happening and his most recent film Glass. Discussion starts with a discussion about Glass and looking at its connections to Unbreakable and Split. The chat then moves onto The Happening and covers some of the many pitfalls of the film. The conversation the...

Sarah Watt, Jeremy Downing and William Chen discuss their top films of the year. This year, they have split their top films into five categories: Biggest Surprise, Biggest Disappointment, Most Anticipated (still come to come out, at the time of recording), Wildcard, and Film of the Year. Biggest Surprise: William: Annihilation Sarah: Filmworker Jeremy: Avengers: Infinity War Biggest Disappointment...

Wizarding World sequels. Sarah Watt, Jeremy Downing and William Chen discuss the second Fantastic Beasts film, The Crimes of Grindelwald, and the third Harry Potter film, subtitles The Prisoner of Azkaban. Our discussion begins by discussing the Wizarding World logo and the franchise quality of these films, and then quickly develops into how the two stories are structured. We compare the casts in...

Diegetic musicals. Sarah Watt, Jeremy Downing and William Chen discuss A Star Is Born and Cabaret. We begin by discussing the prowess of both Lady Gaga and Liza Minelli in the opening of each film. We unpack the narrative structure of A Star Is Born, looking at the first and second half, and stylistic throw-backs to other directors, which include Richard Linklater and David O. Russell. We talk abo...

Culture clash wedding films. Sarah Watt, Jeremy Downing and William Chen discuss Crazy Rich Asians and My Big Fat Greek Wedding, two romantic comedies that have broken Box Office records. Our discussion begins with acknowledging that My Big Fat Greek Wedding has not aged very well, so we try and find redeemable qualities in the film. We burst out in outrage at the poor Health and Safety protocols...

Tom Cruise action films. Sarah Watt, Jeremy Downing and William Chen discuss Mission: Impossible - Fallout and Top Gun. We jump straight into a discussion about the Mission: Impossible films, highlighting the strength of the director talent for each of the films, comparing it to the James Bond and Harry Potter films. Our chat then moves to Top Gun and how out of date the film feels in retrospect....