Hrkn to .. Share Radio's Film Review

James Cameron-Wilson celebrates a healthy box office, up 42% YoY. New #1 Nosferatu is Robert Eggers' take on the 1922 Murnau classic with Bill Skarsgard, Lily-Rose Depp and Nicholas Hoult. The design and photography is brilliant but the ripe dialogue caused giggles in the audience. At #3 is We Live In Time from the director of the brilliant Brooklyn. A non-linear telling of a relationship, James f...

James Cameron-Wilson celebrates box office soaring 113%, though he can't be dragged to #1 Sonic the Hedgehog 3. He finds the animation in the photo-realistic #2 Mufasa: The Lion King astonishing. A prequel and sequel modelled on Butch Cassidy it is wonderful, being both moving and very powerful. Better Man is a musical memoir of Robbie Williams with him narrating, though on screen he is represente...

With box office takings down once more, James Cameron-Wilson says that #5 Kraven the Hunter is the worst ever Marvel opening. It's a mixed bag but is often entertainingly ludicrous with Russell Crowe having fun as a Russian villain. He found the anime Lords of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim often utterly baffling but it got better as it went on, even if he never wants to see anything Lords of...

James Cameron-Wilson celebrates UK box office being up 38% YoY with 5 films taking £1m. With no new films to review, he turns to the 1954 Edward G. Robinson gangster film noir Black Tuesday. Banned in the UK for its violence, it has been restored on Blu-Ray. Packed with superb extras, it is a forgotten masterpiece. He found Beatles '64, a documentary about the Fab Four on Disney+, slick and engagi...

James Cameron-Wilson reports that UK box office is up for an amazing 7th week in the row with Disney's Moana 2's £12m opening at #1 being four times that of the original. While the animation is sublime and the music great, it lacks a cohesive storyline. At #5 is Conclave with Ralph Fiennes excellent in a surprisingly thrilling and insightful adaptation of Robert Harris’s novel about the election o...

James Cameron-Wilson says that not only has the box office climbed for the 6th time in a row, but that #1 Wicked has had the biggest opening of the year, £13.7m. Although just the first part of the adaptation of the stage musical, James found it hugely entertaining with great comedy timing. Although down to #16 in the charts, James is rooting for Steve McQueen's Blitz in awards season, which he fo...

James Cameron-Wilson celebrates UK box office climbing for the 5th week running. #1 is Ridley Scott's Gladiator II which, if anything, is even better than the first film, with smart storytelling and visual spectacle to take the breath away. It is incredibly violent, though, despite its 15 certificate. On Netflix, James adored French-made, Mexico-set musical Emilia Pérez which, like Gladiator, has...

James Cameron-Wilson looks at the UK box office chart, with takings up 53% thanks to 2 films. #1 is Paddington in Peru but the third in the series suffers from inane dialogue, an obvious plot and little basis in reality. James was no more impressed by #2 Red One with Dwayne Johnson in a movie about Father Christmas being kidnapped. It's nonsensical, silly and cynical. Simon caught Steve McQueen's...

James Cameron-Wilson says box office is up 12%, with Heretic at #3 a horror film starring Hugh Grant. While the first half is a blast in the vein of Sleuth, it then descends into full-out nasty horror. Although #6 Anora, starring Mike Madison, won the Palme D'Or, and has a great central performance, James was disappointed, perhaps because expectations were so high. He found #10 Clint Eastwood's 40...

James Cameron-Wilson says that box office is up a mere 3% with new #1 Venom: The Last Dance, the third in the franchise with Tom Hardy. Full of British actors, it is dark and violent. The antithesis is #2 The Wild Robot, a delightful animated feature about a robot learning from the animals on an uninhabited island. It's a genuine original and looks terrific. James was moved and entertained. On Sky...

James Cameron-Wilson reports that box office takings are up 23%. #1 is the animated The Wild Robot from the creator of How To Train Your Dragon. #3 is The Apprentice, about the property-developing years of Donald Trump. Despite two excellent central performances, it's a dreary and underwhelming affair, which isn't particularly entertaining. The Crime is Mine from the versatile and prolific film di...

James Cameron-Wilson explains that box office is down 17%, with a big dropoff for the new Joker movie. He couldn't get excited by new #1 Transformers One. Being animated, it negates the wow factor and he was bored rigid. For the first time in his career, he thinks a film should not have gone on general release. #3 Terrifier 3 is a Christmas horror movie so strong some patrons have been made ill. J...

James Cameron-Wilson says the box office is up 44% thanks to #1 Joker: Folie à Deux, with Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga. Essentially a jukebox musical contemplating the human condition, it sadly lacks a narrative drive and is often downright boring. At #10, A Different Man is an accomplished and original drama which is moving, challenging and entertaining. Never sure where it's going, it's remarka...

James Cameron-Wilson reorts on box office down 9%, the third downturn in a row. He thought #3 The Outrun, a searing drama based on a memoir starring Saoirse Ronan, a terrific film. A work of arthouse cinema, it's a beautiful and emotional expedition with great acting. Francis Ford Coppola's long-cherished dream project Megalopolis reaches the screen at #7 but it is preposterous, self-indulgent and...

Box office is down 27%, says James Cameron-Wilson with new entry The Substance, a feminist body horror starring Demi Moore, entering only at #3. Although #12, Jodie Comer's Prima Facie has now taken £7.6m, the highest ever for an event movie and it is still screening. James waxed lyrical about the extras-laden Blu-Ray Michael Powell: Early Works, giving umpteen insights into the development of one...

James Cameron-Wilson tells Simon Rose that box office is down 21%, with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice still #1. #2 is the James McAvoy thriller of manners Speak No Evil which James praised highly while advising cinemagoers to avoid the trailer. Kate Winslet stars in passion project Lee (#3) about WW2 photojournalist Lee Miller. While she is brilliant and the film looks amazing, the story is so slow pace...

Box office is up 47%, says James Cameron-Wilson, helped by the 36-years-on Tim Burton sequel to Beetlejuice called Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Still with Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder, James found it laugh-out-loud funny and wildly imaginative with amazing production design. At #10 is the oddly-titled Firebrand, the story of Catherine Parr (Alicia Vikander) and Henry VIII (Jude Law), which is fasci...

James Cameron-Wilson laments box office declining 30% despite National Cinema Day. The only new film is AI horror AfrAId at #10 with a family at the mercy of a digital assistant. Although slammed by critics, James found it nuanced and horrifically believable. He also watched faith-based horror The Deliverance on Netflix which features Glenn Close. Although not a great film, it still delivers a fri...

James Cameron-Wilson reports on a bumper week of films, despite the box office take falling 17%. Kneecap, a mashup of A Hard Day's Night and Trainspotting is #5. Psychological thriller Blink Twice is #6. Written and directed by Zoe Kravitz and starring Channing Tatum, James felt that, though unsettling, he'd seen it all before. The supposed remake of The Crow at #8 was brilliantly made and disturb...

With box office buoyant, James Cameron-Wilson was blown away by Alien:Romulus, the 9th in the series and the new #1. It feels fresh and smart, has a great retro look and, above all, is how horror films should work. He was glad to have caught #22 Hollywoodgate, a documentary made with the Taliban's cooperation after the United States pulled out of Afghanistan, leaving behind £7bn of military equipm...

James Cameron-Wilson is joined by guest interrogator Chad Kennerk to discuss the UK box-office, which has dipped 3% from the previous weekend. Sadly, he was not a fan of any of the three new releases in the marketplace: he found 'It Ends With Us' implausible and ridiculous, M. Night Shyamalan’s psycho-thriller 'Trap' contrived and inexplicable and the video game adaptation 'Borderlands' (with Cate...

James Cameron-Wilson celebrates box office up 82%, helped by Deadpool & Wolverine at #1 for a 2nd week. He enjoyed the sweet-natured, amusing family film Harold & The Purple Crayon at #5 which is full of joi de vivre, innocence and wonder. He also loves Thelma at #20. June Squibb's first starring role at the age of 94, it's an action thriller like you've never before which is also extemely funny....

James Cameron-Wilson reports on a healthy UK box office despite the hot weather. New #1 is Deadpool & Wolverine, the first Marvel film James has enjoyed in a long time. Its 15 certificate is well-deserved as it has lots of blood, beheadings and bad language and there's too much CGI combat but Ryan Reynolds' meta-banter is undeniably funny and the film is full of "Easter Eggs" for fans. The 1959 Sy...

While box office is down 12%, James Cameron-Wilson is excited by Twisters, taking £3.1m at #2, thinking the disaster movie is ripe for revival. A standalone sequel, he found this big slice of popcorn escapism with Daisy Edgar-Jones intense and totally engrossing. He wished he'd been able to see Kevin Costner's gargantuan Western project Horizon: An American Saga Part One on the big screen but had...

James Cameron-Wilson revels in UK box office up 64% thanks to the bad weather and a raft of new films. #1 is Despicable Me 4 which he likes no more than the other 5 in the franchise, finding a U certificate for such a violent film surprising. At #3 is horror film Longlegs from Oz Perkins (Anthony Perkins' son) with Nic Cage, which James found well made and unnerving. He was less charitable about s...