Hrkn to .. Share Radio's Film Review

James Cameron-Wilson revels in a box office up 185% after a Christmas lull with Whitney Houston biopic I Wanna Dance With Somebody #2. Although conventional, James loved it for the music and performances from Stanley Tucci and newcomer Naomi Ackie. Netflix never release box office figures but James finally got to see Glass Onion, which has now moved online, finding it preposterous but enormous fun...

James Cameron-Wilson looks back at the cinematic year, taking us through the top 10 films at the UK box office of 2022, with Top Gun Maverick ending up the biggest grosser with £83m. But a very different list is James's own list of his 10 favourite films, with the Netflix remake of All Quiet on the Western Front his personal #1. With Avatar 2 just out, he recaps on the most expensive movies of all...

James Cameron-Wilson gives his last box office round-up of 2022 where Avatar: The Way of Water is steamrollering everything before it with an £11.2m first weekend take. Although it looks amazing, James says it's violent, disappointingly one-dimensional and he couldn't wait for its three-hour-plus running time to end. On Netflix, there's a new Lady Chatterley's Lover with The Crown's Emma Corrin bu...

James Cameron-Wilson laments a 4th week of plunging box office, despite several old Christmas favourites reappearing. He recommends the true story of The Silent Twins (#23), finding it audacious, original and beautifully simple. Another pick is the DVD release of the exquisitely-made Emily with Emma Mackey about Emily Bronte, which he found intellectually daring and moving. And he also is keen on...

James Cameron-Wilson analyses the UK box office, down another 33%, with Matilda the Musical still #1. Seasonal horror film Violent Night enters at #3 which "puts the X into Xmas". To his surprise, James found it outrageously funny but also touching. He also praises the Blu-Ray restoration of the 1939 horror comedy The Cat and the Canary, starring Bob Hope, a view with which Simon concurs. Learn mo...

James Cameron-Wilson casts his eye over a lacklustre box office, despite 5 new films in the top 10 places. At #1 is Matilda the Musical, which James thought might be the worst musical he's ever seen, unsubtle, unengaging and with no sense of reality. He was unimpressed with Disney animation Strange World at #3. But he was full of praise for She Said (#4), about sexual harassment in Hollywood, star...

With box office off 37% and Wakanda Forever still at #1, James Cameron-Wilson strongly recommends black satire The Menu with Ralph Fiennes at #2. Confess, Fletch, a spoof detective movie with Jon Hamm only made #16. However, James does also recommend psychological thriller The Wonder, directed by Sebastián Lelio, which vanished quickly from cinemas but is now on Netflix. Starring Florence Pugh, Ja...

James Cameron-Wilson looks at the UK box office where a 119% jump is entirely down to the release of Black Panther 2: Wakanda Forever with Letitia Wright in the lead. Despite good performances, he found it OTT and overlong. Other films suffered heavily from its amazing £12.4m weekend take. On Netflix, James enjoyed the rollicking yarn that is Enola Holmes 2 with Millie Bobby Brown. He found Christ...

James Cameron-Wilson laments a box office falling another 34% (ahead of next week's Wakanda Forever). The Banshees of Inisherin is strong at #3 with over £6m while Living, with Bill Nighy, enters at #4. James (and Simon) adore the film and hope Nighy will finally get the Oscar recognition that has eluded him. On Netflix, James thinks the German remake of All Quiet On The Western Front is a masterp...

Despite the box office declining another 14%, James Cameron-Wilson finds several films worthwhile. At #8 is enjoyable & unpredictable horror Barbarian. Bros, a studio LGBT romcom at #11 has been a financial bomb but James found it witty & compassionate. Hilma, the tale of abstract artist Hilma af Klint is, he thinks, Lasse Hallström's best film and one to seek out. He also admires the intelligent...

James Cameron-Wilson looks at a UK box office that still appears in less than robust health, despite the arrival at #1 of Black Adam, starring Dwayne Johnson. This DC comic spin-off, however, James found plodding and lacking in humour. He was more enthusiastic about #2, Martin McDonagh's The Banshees of Inisherin, reuniting Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson from McDonagh's earlier film In Bruges....

James Cameron-Wilson laments a continuing weak UK box office. He welcomes a potential star in Emma Mackey from Sex Education in the film Emily (as in Bronte) but it only made #10 in the chart. He found Flux Gourmet from Peter Strickland engaging but baffling but that film barely troubled the scorers at #91 in the chart. James was happier watching Anais in Love starring Anais Demoustier on DVD, tho...

James Cameron-Wilson takes us through the film in a box office chart down 18% on the week. The Woman King with Viola Davis, a true story of an African tribe of female warriors is #2 but james found it an unreal potboiler. David O. Russell's Amsterdam with an amazing cast including Christian Bale, Margot Robbie and Robert de Niro is #5 but James thought it an incoherent mish-mash. However, he did e...

James Cameron-Wilson reviews horror film Smile at #1 in the UK box office chart, which he found overlong, clichéd and boring, despite a strong central role. He applauded Prima Facie which has now taken over £5m, the first event movie to do so. Despite its long length, he found Blonde, telling a fictionalised life of Marilyn Monroe, to be remarkabe, with Spanish-speaking actress Ana de Armas perhap...

James Cameron-Wilson celebrates a box office take which has more than doubled with the Julia Roberts, George Clooney comedy Ticket to Paradise at #1. Sadly, James found it charmless and excruciating. At #2 is Olivia Wilde's Don't Worry Darling with Florence Pugh and Harry Styles, which James found intriguing but ultimately a cop-out. He was more enthusiastic about the rerelease of Avatar which he...

James Cameron-Wilson laments a further decline in the UK box office, off another 31%. See How They Run is still #1 with Bowie doc Moonage Daydream at #10. The worthwhile but uncomfortable drama Both Sides of the Blade with Juliette Binoche only managed #48. Cleaned up for a Blu-Ray release is Antonioni's 1982 provocative arthouse film Identification of a Woman. James was pleasantly surprised by I...

James Cameron-Wilson reports that cinema box office in the UK is currently grim, down 16% on last year at this time. New #1, comedy whodunnit See How They Run, just managed to take over £1m. James found it a hoot. A re-release of Jaws from 1975 was #3 while 3000 Years of Longing with Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba only managed #18, though James wasn't enthusiastic. At #22 is Jodie Comer in Prima Fac...

James Cameron-Wilson on the UK box office where no film took over a million for the first time since December 2020. Top of the charts is André Rieu's latest concert with rogue lion thriller Beast, starring Idris Elba, only taking £600,000 at #2. Dreadful horror film The Invitation limped in at #12. On Amazon Prime, James looked at Memory, a poor thriller starring Liam Neeson, directed by the once-...

James Cameron-Wilson takes us through the UK box office chart, still led by Nope. Fisherman's Friends: One And All, James found a frequently funny and superior sequel but it only managed #6 with £660,000. For his Blu-Ray of the week he chose the 1920 silent The Saphead, a romantic tragedy with Buster Keaton's first feature appearance and a host of wonderful extras. On in cinemas and on Curzon Home...

James Cameron-Wilson reflects on the UK box office down for the 3rd week with a loss of 26%. Jordan Peele's "deliciously strange" Nope, starring Daniel Kaluuya, is at #1 with a take of £1.9m. James's DVD of the week is the Blu-Ray release of King Vidor's 1955 Western Man Without A Star, starring Kirk Douglas. And on Disney+ he found Prey a feminist action thriller which, although better than the r...

James Cameron-Wilson looks at the UK box office chart, with takings down 20% week-on-week. At #1 is tongue-in-cheek thriller Bullet Train, starring Brad Pitt, but it only took £2.9m in an extended weekend. With no other new films, James turned to streaming services. On Apple+ is Skydance Animation's Luck, with the voices of Simon Pegg and others. At times delightful, it ends up being a mixed bag,...

James Cameron-Wilson gives Simon Rose the lowdown on the latest UK box office, wilting 8% in the heat but already ahead of 2021's total take. With the widest release ever for an animated feature, DC League of Superpets takes £2.6m in the #1 spot. James found it consistently funny for young and old alike. He thought Netflix's true-life spy tale Rogue Agent with Gemma Arterton and James Norton gripp...

James Cameron-Wilson tells Simon Rose of a bump in the box office as the weather cools. Minions is the new #1 with Where The Crawdads Sing arriving at #3, taking £1.3m. Based on the best-selling novel, James found it beautiful but ultimately rather disappointing. At #6 is the one NT Live showing of Jodie Comer in her one-woman play Prima Facie. James's DVD of the month is the Japanese award-winner...

James Cameron-Wilson looks at the UK box office, wilting 52% in the heat. The Railway Children Return only managed #6 with £365,000 but James found the moving story overcame an unduly modern presentation. At #16 is Spanish Goya award triumph The Good Boss with Xavier Bardem in arthouse cinemas and on Curzon Home Video. On Netflix, Persuasion is a funny and moving modern take on Austen. Learn more...

James Cameron-Wilson looks at the UK box office, resilient in the better weather but only because of the arrival of Thor: Love and Thunder, taking £12.3m in the #1 spot. James found it the most expensive romcom of all time (costing $250m), often pantomimic and, in the end, atrocious. His faith in cinema was restored by catching up with the 2018 chilling black comedy Donbass from Ukraine, which is...