Hrkn to .. Share Radio's Film Review

James Cameron-Wilson looks at the UK box office, where Minions: The Rise of Gru enters at #1. Disliking it intensely and querying the BBFC's "U" certificate, he calls it "cultural rat poison". With Elvis, Top Gun and Jurassic World holding well, James turned to Netflix for filmic enlightenment. But he found the Kevin Hart/Woody Harrelson comedy The Man From Toronto dreadful and was even more dispi...

James Cameron-Wilson looks at the UK box office, up 4% on the week but almost 50% on this time last year. Baz Luhrmann's Elvis, with Austin Butler and Tom Hanks, is #1 taking £4m at the weekend. James found it entertaining but long and exhausting. The Black Phone with Ethan Hawke enters at #5. James's film of the week is the Francois Ozon movie about assisted dying with Sophie Marceau, Everything...

James Cameron-Wilson looks at the UK box office, still dominated by Jurassic World Dominion and Top Gun Maverick. Pixar's Lightyear enters at #3 but with only £13.3m. James found it enjoyable but over-familiar. Emma Thompson in Good Luck To You Leo Grande arrives at #4. James also reviews the Adam Sandler basketball movie Hustle on Netflix, surprising himself by enjoying it, though he was less imp...

James Cameron-Wilson on the UK box office, up 32% with the arrival of Jurassic World Dominion at #1. James, a fan of the franchise, found it breathless entertainment. It pushed Top Gun: Maverick to #2 though that's now the highest grosser of 2022. With no other major new films, James chose Foreign Oscar nominee The Worst Person in the World as his DVD of the month, recommending it as a daring, bra...

With Top Gun: Maverick powering past £30m at the UK box office, James reviews creepy new entry Men at #3, written and directed by Alex Garland and starring Jessie Buckley. Although periodically interesting, James found it "ludicrous". He preferred Emergency, a well-written and acted take on racism in the US on Amazon Prime, which was overlong but absorbing. He also looked at the top 10 films so fa...

James Cameron-Wilson celebrates a bounce in UK box office caused by Top Gun:Maverick arriving at #1 a mere 36 years after the original. He found it spectacular and exciting. He also enjoyed the movie spinoff of Bob's Burgers once he became attuned to it, not knowing the TV show. He also recommends the Danish Netflix film Toscana about a chef going to Italy to sort out his late father's affairs. Le...

James Cameron-Wilson on the UK box office chart, falling substantially for the second week in a row ahead of the release of the new Top Gun movie. James caught up with #2 Everything Everywhere All At Once which he found relentless, with an insufferable tone, but didn't see Benedictine, in at #10. On Netflix he enjoyed youth drama Along For The Ride, with excellent performances and dialogue. He was...

James Cameron-Wilson looks at the UK box office, still dominated by the Doctor Strange film, now with £30.4m. Downtown Abbey is #2 with a £10.4m total. At #3 is Everything Everywhere All At Once with Michelle Yeoh while Steve King's Firestarter w. Zac Efron opened at #9 and, was says James, utterly unbelievable. At #16 is true story Father Stu with Mel Gibson and Mark Wahlberg, a film James found...

James Cameron-Wilson explains that all existing films saw a box office collapse in the warm weather while new #1 Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness steamrollered all before it with a £19.8m opening. The new Downton film saw a 50% collapse in box office and all other films suffered a worse fate. With only one new film, James quizzed Simon on his knowledge of the film actresses in the top 2...

James Cameron-Wilson marvels at Downton Abbey: A New Era, a British film with the second widest opening of all time in the UK. To his surprise, after the disappointment of the first film, he found it beautifully-crafted, funny, moving and even occasionally exciting and had the best time he can recall in the cinema for ages. However, it only managed £3m at the weekend, presumably as its target "gre...

UK box office is weak, says James Cameron-Wilson, with only 1 new film in the top 10 ahead of the new Downton Abbey film. At #7 is the highly meta 'The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent' with Nicolas Cage playing himself. It is, says, James, a massive waste of time. He also looks at Judd Apatow's comedy 'The Bubble' on Netflix, with Karen Gillan and David Duchnovy the funniest and at the thrille...

James Cameron-Wilson looks at the latest UK box office, with adventure-comedy 'The Lost City', starring Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum & Brad Pitt, the new #1. Highly-acclaimed 'The Northman' is #3 but, while visually impressive, James found it hard to digest and unintentionally funny at times. His film of the week is Operation Mincemeat, the WW2 true story, opening at #5, directed by John Madden...

'Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore' enters the UK b.o. chart at #1 the 3rd highest opening of the year. James Cameron-Wilson found it long, slow and lacking magic, though he enjoyed Dreamworks' 'The Bad Guys' at #3. 'The Outfit' with Mark Rylance at #7 has been well reviewed but is not extensively released. James strongly recommends F.W. Murnau's massively influential 1922 vampire classi...

James Cameron-Wilson celebrates a whopping 180% increase in UK box office. #1 is 'Sonic the Hedgehog 2' ("a rushed job") while Marvel's 'Morbius' is #2. Dreamworks animation 'The Bad Guys' is #3. Norwegian Oscar- and BAFTA-nominee 'The Worst Person in the World' is the best holdover at #7. James also looks at 'Master' on Amazon Prime, intrigued by the young age of its woman director. Learn more ab...

Hit by better weather and worries about the cost of living, cinema takings are down by 40%, says James Cameron-Wilson. New British box office entries are Catherine Tate's 'Nan' and real-life sporting drama Phantom of the Open, with Mark Rylance, which James found less than believable. Away from the sparsely-attended cinemas however, he was impressed by Fresh on Disney+, a beautifully-made genre pi...

With 'The Batman' still dominating cinema screens with a total take of £26m, James Cameron-Wilson looks at 'Red Rocket' from Sean Baker, in at #12. Pixar's animated 'Turning Red', about female puberty, has bypassed cinemas and gone straight to Disney+. James admired it, despite it going OTT at the end. He also much enjoyed the self-knowing time-travel adventure 'The Adam Project' with Ryan Reynold...

Most films are suffering the onslaught of The Batman, says James Cameron-Wilson, looking at the UK box office. This dark version of the Dark Knight, almost 3 long hours long, took £13.5m over the weekend, the 3rd highest since the pandemic. British indie comedy Ali & Ava made #9. James had reservations about Netflix's true-life survival drama Against The Ice, a Danish-Icelandic co-production. But...

James Cameron-Wilson looks at the UK box office just before 'The Batman' erupts onto cinema screens. With Uncharted still #1, the quirky true tale of 'The Duke' arrives at #3 with Jim Broadbent & Helen Mirren, the last film from Roger Michell. James gives it a thumbs up. He's less keen on musical 'Cyrano' at #7 with Peter Dinklage which never feels real. At #10 is 'The Godfather', still fresh afte...

With Uncharted still riding high, James Cameron-Wilson reviews last weekend's UK box office. The only big new film is Channing Tatum's directorial debut, Dog, at #4 in which he also stars, oddly marketed as a family film. Resorting to streamed movies, James reviews box-ticking tornado disaster movie Thirteen Minutes with Thora Birch and Anne Heche and Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the 9th in the franch...

With box office up 12%, James Cameron-Wilson highlights new #1 'Uncharted' with Tom Holland, based on a video game which he enjoyed and hopes is the first of a franchise. At #3 is Kenneth Branagh's remake of 'Death on the Nile' which James found pretty but dull. Only making the #6 spot is 'Marry Me', a romcom with Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson which, to his surprise, he found both romantic and hi...

James Cameron-Wilson looks at the first box office chart since Covid to have 5 films taking over £1m at the weekend. #2 is Jackass Forever ("sickeningly awful") while Roland Emmerich's Moonfall is #4 ("so bad it's enjoyable"). Only making #17 is Oscar-nominated Jessica Chastain in The Eyes of Tammy Faye. On Apple+ is the disappointing The Sky Is Everywhere but James loved Munich: The Edge of War o...

James Cameron-Wilson takes us through the latest UK box office figures, where Sing 2 has leapt to the top with a take of £6.9m, making it the 3rd biggest cinema opening since the pandemic began. The only other new entry is Almodovar's Parallel Mothers at #6. James enthuses about the awards hopeful CODA about a mostly-deaf family on Apple+ which he found not just moving but also funny. He was less...

James Cameron-Wilson examines the UK box office, with Spiderman still reigning supreme; its £87.4m take makes it the 7th highest-grossing UK film ever. Kenneth Branagh's memoir Belfast opens at #2, though James was less than impressed. Guillermo del Toro's Nightmare Alley (a remake) w. Bradley Cooper is at #4 but also disappointed James. He was more impressed with My Son on Amazon Prime with James...

In April 2020 Vicky Sayers was joined by film critic and broadcaster, James Cameron-Wilson, to explore the complex world of the documentary film. James shared his top ten picks of what he felt is a neglected genre, offering them up as a challenge to anyone who might think of documentaries as “boring”.   In this episode: 'Man With a Movie Camera' (1929), 'Triumph of the Will' (1935), 'Shoah' (1985)...

James Cameron-Wilson on the UK box office, where the new Spiderman film has become the 9th biggest UK grosser. James discusses Liquorice Pizza at #3 ("left me cold"), spy thriller The 355 at #7 ("complete mess") and Palme D'Or winner Titane ("extraordinary") at #14. He also recommends Amazon's The Tender Bar, directed by George Clooney and looks at the results of The Golden Globes. Learn more abou...