Movies In Focus

Based on E.O. Chirovici's novel, The Book of Mirrors, Sleeping Dogs is a twisty and entertaining thriller starring the mighty Russell Crowe. Crowe plays Roy Freeman, a former cop undergoing treatment for Alzheimer's disease who starts to dig into an old case in the hopes of exonerating an innocent man. The type of film that used to be Hollywood’s bread and butter, Sleeping Dogs' impressive cast al...

Joe Stephenson's Doctor Jekyll was the first Hammer horror film released since the company was purchased by its new owner - the perfectly named John Gore. An entertaining throwback feature with a modern twist, this new imagining of Robert Louis Stephenson's iconic tale stars Eddie Izzard and Scott Chambers. Izzard is the titular Jekyll, while Chambers plays the young man hired to assist the reclus...

Writer-director Gabriel Abrantes joins this episode of the Movies In Focus podcast to discuss his new film Amelia’s Children A slow-burning and delicately paced horror with Brigette Lundy-Paine, Carlota Cotta, Anabela Moreira, Alba Baptista, Amelia’s Children sees a New York-based musician discover that he has a long-lost mother and brother in Portugal. Taking a trip with his girlfriend, he visits...

In this episode of the Movies In Focus podcast, film director Andrew Davis talks about his long and prestigious career. Best known for directing the hugely acclaimed blockbuster The Fugitive with Harrison Ford, Davis’ career has been as eclectic as it has been successful. From his excellent jazz-fused 1978 debut, Stony Island through to The Package with Gene Hackman and Under Siege with Steven Sea...

Ruthless is a bone-crunching thriller starring an against-type Dermot Mulroney as a teacher trying to rescue one of his students from a gang of human traffickers. Eschewing preaching for entertainment, Ruthless is an enjoyable, no-frills throwback revenge thriller with a good turn from Mulroney. Best known for his romantic leads, Mulroney sells the badass action and shows an interesting side to hi...

Director Phillip Noyce and Morena Baccarin join the Movies In Focus podcast to talk about their new film, Fast Charlie . Brutal when it needs to be, funny when it wants to be and heartfelt when you least expect it, Fast Charlie is first-class entertainment for grown-ups. Master-craftsman Noyce has built a well-constructed revenge thriller around star Pierce Brosnan and the script delivers plenty o...

It’s A Wonderful Knife is an entertaining slasher flick - with a difference. As the title indicates, the film is a riff on Frank Capra’s 1946 Christmas classic, It's A Wonderful Life . Starring Jane Widdop, Joel McHale and Justin Long, the film has heart and laughs wrapped up against the film's bloody kills.  A year after saving her small town from a crazed killer, Jane Widdop’s Winnie is down in...

Belfast-based director Dominic O’Neill joins the Movies In Focus podcast to discuss his new comedy horror, Haunted Ulster Live . A comedy of errors, Haunted Ulster Live uses the famed UK mockumentary  Ghostwatch as a stepping-off point. Taking place in a supposedly haunted house, the broadcast is interrupted by things that go bump in the night – as well as the myriad of errors that can take place...

Writer, film critic and visual artist Jaylan Salah joins this episode of the Movies In Focus podcast. A woman of many talents, Jaylan is a passionate film lover with a keen insight into multiple genres. Delving deep into what frightens her, Jaylan discusses a selection of thrilling films including Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead , Werner Herzog’s Nosferatu and Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook .

Douglas Schulze has been a friend of Movies In Focus since 2009, in the lead-up to the release of his David Carradine starring horror film Dark Fields  - or The Rain as it was then called. Films like Mimesis: Night Of The Living Dead, Mimesis: Nosferatu and his experimental thriller The Dark Below  show a director who wants to push the boundaries of low-budget storytelling with interesting and cre...

Belgian filmmaker Daphné Baiwir's  King On Screen is an excellent documentary that puts the focus on the many film and television adaptations that have been based on the work of Stephen King. A must-see for King fans, Baiwir looks at these adaptations from the perspective of people who made them - and the film features interviews with the likes of Frank Darabont, Mick Garris, Mike Flanagan, Tom Ho...

On this episode of the Movies In Focus podcast, director Yuval Adler talks about his latest film, Sympathy For The Devil starring Nicolas Cage and Joel Kinnaman. Carter Smith also joins the show to talk about his latest Blumhouse release, The Passenger . Sympathy For The Devil is a Las Vegas set modern noir. It features an exceptional turn from Nicolas Cage - a performances which is one of his bes...

Writer, producer, director and podcaster Joe Russo joins the Movies In Focus podcast to discuss the current strike by the Writer’s Guild of America. An up and coming genre filmmaker, Russo has written a host of well regarded screenplays with his partner Chris LaMont, as well as directing the thriller,  The Au Pair Nightmare . He also produced the horror anthology film, Nightmare Cinema , Peter Far...

Get The Gringo and Rambo: Last Blood director , Adrian Grünberg joins the Movies In Focus podcast to talk about his new film, The Black Demon . The killer shark movie stars Josh Lucas as an oil company employee struggling to protect his family from a megalodon  shark after they become stranded on a disused oil rig. An entertaining horror-thriller, The Black Demon plays around with the genre's trop...

City University of New York lecturer and film historian James Kenney once again joins the Movies In Focus podcast. The last time he was on the show he talked about discovering the original cut of Peter Bogdanovich’s Squirrels To The Nut s - and this time round he discusses Gee Malik Linton’s surrealist religious drama, Daughter Of God . Starring Keanu Reeves and Ana De Armas, Daughter Of God was r...

Running on HBO for seven seasons and 93 episodes from 1989 to 1996, Tales From The Crypt was a wonderfully ghoulish show that was based on Bill Gaines’ EC Comics imprint of the same name. Executive produced by Joel Silver, Richard Donner, Robert Zemeckis, Walter Hill and David Giler, the show was a huge success due to its dark tales and even darker humour. From the second season onwards, Tales Fro...

Japanese-American director Yoko Okumura makes a punchy feature film debut with Unseen , a new genre-bending comedy-thriller from Blumhouse Productions. Running a tight eighty minutes, Unseen stars Midori Francis as Emily, a woman escaping from a boyfriend who wants to kill her. Lost in the woods, and without her prescription glasses, she relies on the help of Jolene Purdy’s put-upon cashier, Sam t...

Corey Deshon, the talented multi-hyphenate writer-director joins the Movies In Focus podcast to talk about his new film, Daughter . Daughter is an intense psychological thriller that stars Vivien Ngô as a young woman who is abducted and then inducted into a family as their new daughter. Casper Van Dien plays the mysterious Father, the man who will stop at nothing to keep his family unit intact. A...

Released in the summer of 1991, Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves was a monster success that grossed over $165 million at the US box office and more than $390 million globally - a number which made it one of the biggest hits of the year. The success of the film, along with the massive Bryan Adams hit,  (Everything I Do) I Do It for You means that it still resonates today.  The classic Kevin Reyndolds...

Manifest West is a coming of age survival drama starring Milo Gibson, Annet Mahendru and Lexi Kolker. A film about a family ditching civilisation and seeking a new life in the American wilderness, Manifest West is an incredibly timely movie which looks at family values, the broken economy and the search for a better way of life. The film’s writer-directors Joe Dietsch and Louis Gibson joined Niall...

Sam & Kate is a heartfelt family dramedy from writer-director Darren Le Gallo. It’s a low-key piece, which features a collection of strong performances from its cast - Dustin Hoffman, Sissy Spacek, Jake Hoffman, Schuyler Fisk and Henry Thomas. They all manage to cover a wide range of emotions, delivering plenty of light-hearted moments amongst the very honest dramatic beats. Aside from the well ho...

This episode of the Movies In Focus podcast sees a pair of directors join Niall Browne to talk about their latest movies. First up is French filmmaker Romuald Boulanger who is discussing his new thriller On The Line . The film sees Mel Gibson star as a radio host whose evening show is thrown into chaos when he gets caught-up in a dangerous game of cat and mouse with a deadly caller. It’s a hugely...

Director K. Asher Levin joins the Movies In Focus podcast to talk with Niall Browne about his horror-action-comedy Slayers . A very modern take on the vampire film,  Slayers stabs its stake into the heart of everything from online influencers to QAnon conspiracy theorists. It’s an energetic and entertaining genre pic with committed performances from a cast that includes Thomas Jane, Kara Hayward,...

Gerry Maguire, the Head of Irish Film London returns to the Movies In Focus podcast to discuss the 2022 incarnation of The   Irish Film Festival London. The festival, which is now in its 11th year will take place in London from the 16 – 20 November 2022. Showcasing the best of Irish cinema, the festival opens with a gala screening of Frank Berry’s drama,  Aisha at the Vue Leicester Square on 16 No...

Steven E. de Souza, the acclaimed screenwriter and director joins Niall Browne for this episode of the Movies In Focus  podcast. Mega hits and cult classics such as 48 Hours, Commando, Die Hard, The Running Man, Die Hard 2, Hudson Hawk, Streetfighter, Judge Dredd and Tomb Raider litter his filmography. That’s taking into account television shows such as The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman...