Hrkn to .. Share Radio's Film Review

James Cameron-Wilson comments on the dire state of the UK box office, where Cineworld is filing for administration. With Spider-Man returning to #1, the implausible and predictable No Hard Feelings, with Jennifer Lawrence, enters at #3. Wes Anderson's Asteroid City is #4. Despite liking some of his films and despite a stellar cast, James found this too deliberately quirky and self-indulgent. He wa...

James Cameron-Wilson takes Simon Rose though the latest box office figures, hit by the hot weather. The new #1 is The Flash with Ezra Miller, which James enjoyed enormously. Take That jukebox musical Greatest Days with Aisling Bea is #6 while the NTLive one-day presentation of Pheobe Waller-Bridge's Fleabag was #11. James found it tragic, unpredictable & very funny and it will be on again. Indy fi...

James Cameron-Wilson takes Simon Rose through the UK box office chart, down 35%, thanks to the hot weather. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is #2 but the 7th in the series didn't impress James, apart from its intriguing 1990s locations. He was more taken by War Pony, a cinema verité look at growing up as Native Americans though it concentrated more on atmosphere than story. On Disney+, Eva Longor...

James Cameron-Wilson takes Simon Rose through the UK box office figures, up 68%, with Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse taking a whopping £9.1m over its opening weekend. Despite the success of this, the longest animated movie ever, James hated it, praying for it to end within 10 minutes of its 140 minute running time. At #5 is The boogeyman, a clichéd and unscary haunted house horror. To his sur...

James Cameron-Wilson discusses the state of the UK box office where the live-action version of The Little Mermaid is in pole position. With some of the CGI making it feel animated, James thought it a mixed bag. He was no more impressed with the Ben Affleck thriller Hypnotic at #5, which he found silly and unworthwhile. He was, though, keen on the French drama Full Time, with Laure Calamy as a harr...

An ebullulient James Cameron-Wilson guides Simon Rose through the UK box office chart, welcoming FastX, the 10th in the franchise, to the #1 spot. He found it has plenty of laughs, shocks, surprises & thrills, though its opening of £5.9m is well down on previous iterations. He also recommends Are You There, God? It's Margaret, which opened at #4. Based on the Judy Plume novel, he thought it a touc...

James Cameron-Wilson takes Simon Rose through the latest box office charts, with Guardians of the Galaxy 3 still ruling the roost, though down 56%. Book Club 2: The Next Chapter is #4 with Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen. James found it awful and surprisingy smutty, treating the elderly as alcoholic bubblebrains. He found Brainwashed: Sex - Camera - Power fascinating,...

With UK box office up 80%, James Cameron-Wilson waxes lyrical about Guardians of the Galaxy 3 which he found great fun throughout and impressively inventive. He also recommended two films using non-professional actors. Rodeo (#32) is an impressive insight into the lives of dirt bikers, almost their version of Fast & Furious and is on Curzon screens and at home. Oscar-nominated Lunana: A Yak in the...

With box office down another 12% and Super Mario Bros. still #1, James Cameron-Wilson gives thanks for The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry at #3. Adapted by the author, it stars Jim Broadbent as a man who goes to post a letter – and keeps walking, and James found it deeply moving. On Apple+ he watched Chris Evans in action thriller Ghosted, which he found disappointingly overfamiliar. But worse...

James Cameron-Wilson takes Simon Rose through the UK box office numbers, down 25% week on week. Super Mario Bros still dominates with Evil Dead Rises (5th in the series) debuting at #2. James found it stupidly predictable and cliched. He was much more impressed by Missing at #6. Another slim-budgeted screenlife movie, he found it gripping and emotionally involving, as well as being an amazing educ...

James Cameron-Wilson points out that while weekly box office is down 41%, it's still much healthier than this time last year. Super Mario Bros is still #1 with the highest new film being Renfield at #5. Another Dracula adaptation with Nicolas Cage and Nicholas Hoult, James found it a ridiculous mess, "more ham than Hammer" and one of the bloodiest films he had ever seen, despite its 15 certificate...

The UK box office shot up by 130%, says James Cameron-Wilson, thanks to the record-breaking opening worldwide of The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Frenetic and aimed at the Tik Tok generation, James was alarmed at the violence and brutality. He found Ben Affleck's Air, with Matt Damon, about Nike and Michael Jordan to be entertaining but unengaging. And although Boston Strangler, on Disney+ with Keira...

James Cameron-Wilson tells Simon Rose how surprised he was by Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves (the 29th Hasbro movie spinoff), finding it very funny and bursting with imagination. Still recommending Allelujah he also liked gritty drama The Wife And Her Househusband (a very limited release) and YouTube short film Two Strangers Who Meet Five Times. His home video release of the month is the...

James Cameron-Wilson takes Simon Rose through the UK box office chart, which has picked up thanks to the arrival of John Wick: Chapter Four at #1. Almost 3 hours long, James though it assassin porn, repetitive and exhausting. He found 80 for Brady (#8) a major embarrassment for Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Rita Moreno & Sally Field. He adored Zach Braff's A Good Person with Florence Pugh and Morgan Fr...

James Cameron-Wilson takes Simon Rose through the box office charts, dismissing new #1 Shazam! Fury of the Gods as lacking suspense or laughs. However, he waxed lyrical about the Alan Bennett adaptation Allelujah at #4 ("the feel-sad movie of the year"), with Judi Dench & Derek Jacobi in a story about old age and the NHS. He was even more taken with love story Rye Lane at #7 which he found funny &...

James Cameron-Wilson discusses the UK box office numbers with Simon Rose, with total take down 5% despite two big new films. Scream VI takes the #1 slot but James found it boring, unpleasant and full of unbelievable characters. Sci-fi thriller 65, starring Adam Driver, slips in at #3 ("irritating and dull"). James made a plea for discerning cinemagoers to go to charming romcom What's Love Got To D...

James Cameron-Wilson takes Simon Rose through the latest UK box office numbers, up 22%, largely thanks to the arrival at #1 of Creed III. Taking £5m at the weekend and starring and directed by Michael B Jordan, James found it a polished, well-directed, crowd-pleasing movie. On Amazon Prime, he found Somebody I Used To Know, starring Alison Brie and written by her and her directing husband Dave Fra...

James Cameron-Wilson examines the UK box offie, down 40% on the week. With Ant-Man 3 still #1, the much-anticipated Cocaine Bear enters at #3. Stomach-churningly violent and unsubtle, James's verdict is, "Great trailer, shame about the movie". Romcom What's Love Got To Do With It, written by Jemima Khan and starring Lily James and Shazad Latif, is #4 and James and Simon both recommend it. It's rom...

James Cameron-Wilson marvels at a box office take up by 71%, with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania taking £8.8m over the weekend. Sarah Polley's double-Oscar-nominated Women Talking, with a stellar cast, only debuted at #8, although James was utterly transported, saying, "It's not often I forget that I'm in a cinema". He also reviews Italian film Nostalgia, at #29 which disappointed him, finding...

James Cameron-Wilson on the latest box office (-24%) and the movies worth seeing (and worth avoiding). At #2 is Magic Mike's Last Dance, the 3rd in the series, with Channing Tatum and Salma Hayek, which James enjoyed. He was less enamoured of the Jennifer Lopez film Shotgun Wedding, now on Amazon Prime. It is, he said, a comic thriller with no laughs and few thrills. However, he adored the Oscar-n...

James Cameron-Wilson takes Simon Rose through the UK box office numbers, up 14% on the previous week. #1 is Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, the belated sequel pushing Avatar 2 into second place. James found it migraine-inducing. M Night Shyamalan's Knock At The Cabin is #3 but James found it mad and daft in equal measure. However, he thought Darren Aronofsky's The Whale at #5 one of the best films o...

James Cameron-Wilson on the UK box office, up 18% week-on-week. With Avatar 2 still #1, Hindi film Pathaan is #2 while #3 is Gerard Butler thriller Plane, which James found gripping and great fun. Steven Spielberg's semi-autobiographical film The Fabelmans is #4, which James thought playful and funny, with a dark undertone. Chinese film The Wandering Earth 2 makes #9 while James also enjoyed Netfl...

James Cameron-Wilson canters through a b.o. down 33%. #2 is comic thriller M3GAN about a robotic doll which James thought funny and thought-provoking. Babylon, fun but way too long is doing poorly at #3 while Empire of Light, with Sam Mendes directing his own script is #7, depsite Olivia Coleman, Colin Firth and Toby Jones. James loved it, being in seventh heaven, as he was with Tár at #8 with Cat...

In a replay from November 2019, Vicky Sayers is joined by film critic and broadcaster, James Cameron-Wilson, to discuss some of the most influential musicals of all time. They explore the recent return to popularity of the “musical movie”, and whether some stage musicals adapted to film have ended up becoming lost in translation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

James Cameron-Wilson takes Simon Rose through the latest box office figures, down 21% on last week. A Man Called Otto with Tom Hanks enters at #4 with £1.1m; James found himself captivated by the film. The true-life lynching drama Till is at #6. While the story needs telling, James did find it somewhat overlong. Streaming on Apple TV+ is Raymond & Ray with Ewan McGregor and Ethan Hawke playing est...