Movies In Focus

This time around Irish filmmaker Andrew Baird joins Niall Browne to talk about his new film One Way .  A character based thriller which stars Colson Baker (aka Machine Gun Kelly), Kevin Bacon and Travis Fimmel, One Way is a piece which mainly takes place in one location - onboard a bus. Considering its limited scope, One Way is a film which is directed with a tremendous amount of flair and energy...

Actors, writers, directors and producers all have key roles in production - but one of the most important aspects in a film is the musical score - a score can literally make or break a film. Composer Lorne Balfe joins the Movies In Focus podcast about his work on the hugely acclaimed and massively successful Tom Cruise blockbuster, Top Gun: Maverick . Balfe worked on the film’s music alongside the...

At the tail end of 2021 Movies In Focus watched and reviewed Sonny Mallhi’s excellent horror,  Hurt . On The surface it appeared that Hurt was just another film in the slasher genre - but it turned out to be much more than that, Yes, it was a horror film but it had rich characterisation and dealt with a lot of interesting themes such as fear, death, violence, loss, love, family, isolation and yes,...

Premiering at the Venice Festival in 2014, She’s Funny That Way was the final narrative feature from the late Peter Bogdanovich. Starring Owen Wilson, Imogen Poots, Kathryn Hahn, Will Forte, Rhys Ifans and Jennifer Aniston, the film was a screwball comedy which, while enjoyable, never truly felt like a cohesive vision from the master writer-director. And that’s because it wasn’t. Originally filmed...

Since 1998, Bill Ramey’s Batman On Film  has been the go-to website for the best news for Batman on the big screen.  It was founded in the wake of Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin as a way of ‘lobbying for the long-term continuation of the Batman film franchise and the production of quality Bat-Movies’. Batman-On-Film was there for the first rumblings of new Batman movie and the lead-up to what wo...

Over the last five decades, Australian director Phillip Noyce has shown that he really knows how to handle the thriller genre. Noyce first captured international attention with the acclaimed 1989 film Dead Calm . Starring Sam Neill, Nicole Kidman and Billy Zane, the film is a close quarters thriller which still works incredibly well more than 30 years after it was first released. The success of De...

Founded in 2010, the main aim of Irish Film London and the Irish Film Festival London is to champion Irish film and animation around the UK community. With patrons including Saoirse Ronan, Colin Farrell and Fiona Shaw, the organisation is not just a major force for Irish film in the UK, but it now has a strong global reach. In this episode of the Movies In Focus podcast, Niall Browne talks with Ge...

Adam Nelson has had an interesting career as a filmmaker. A life long film fan, Adam did a degree in film before moving into teaching the subject. His first short film as writer and director was The House Near Apple Park and he then went on to make first feature length film  Little Pieces . Critically acclaimed, Little Pieces won the Best Independent Feature Film award at the Dorking Film Festival...

Filip Jan Rymsza is a Polish filmmaker who has had a varied career in the business. In 2018 he helped spearhead the completion of  The Other Side Of The Wind , the final film from Orson Welles, as well as producing Morgan Neville’s They'll Love Me When I'm Dead , a documentary which detailed the making of Welles’ film. Filip’s latest release is Mosquito State , a thriller which he produced, direct...

Phillip Escott, the founder of Fractured Visions joins this episode of the Movies In Focus podcast. Fractured Visions is a UK distribution company and film festival which has a keen focus on genre cinema.  Phil discussed his boutique DVD and blu-ray label and talked about his film selection process as well as how he goes about sourcing elements like negatives and the work that goes into creating a...

Writer and journalist Abbie Bernstein is the author behind many great film and television books such as The Art of Mad Max: Fury Road, Godzilla King of the Monsters, and The Cabin in the Woods: Official Visual Companion . A Los Angeles resident, she writes for such titles as Assignment X, Fangoria, and Buzzy Mag . Her latest work is Master Of Horror: The Official Biography of Mick Garris , a book...

Filmmaker Mick Garris has ticked nearly every creative box that there is in the industry. From his career beginnings working in the Star Wars production office through to his work on Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories to his many Stephen King adaptations including the smash television mini-series The Stand and The Shining . He’s also the creator of the ground-breaking Masters of Horror television...

Film producer Gemma Bradley joins this episode of the Movies In Focus Podcast. Gemma is an independent filmmaker who has produced the urban thriller Brother’s Day and the recent science fiction film Black Box . I’ve known Gemma for well over 20 years. She’s the younger sister of my best friend Robert who was sadly killed by a drunk driver in the year 2000.  Funded largely through a Kickstarter cam...

Graham Greene is an actor who has an illustrious career. The Canadian performer first broke into the public consciousness with his Academy Award nominated turn in Kevin Costner’s masterpiece, Dances With Wolves .  He went on to have key roles in such diverse films as Michael Apted’s Thunderheart , John Mc Tiernan’s Die Hard With A Vengeance , Richard Donner’s Maverick and a host of others.  It was...

Director Damian Mc Carthy has made a plethora of short films over the last decade and now the Irish filmmaker makes a wonderful feature length debut with Caveat. Caveat is a creepy and captivating horror film, one which has scares as well as a few well-placed chuckles. This low budget independent Irish film delivers the goods, making it a fantastic calling card for the director and ensuring a grea...

Spanish filmmaker Chino Moya is a veteran director of short films, music videos and commercials. He made his feature length debut with Undergods , a dystopian science fiction film which had its premiere at the 2020 Fantasia Film Festival. Set in an unnamed futuristic city, the film tells three stories which make The Tales Of The Unexpected seem like  Looney Tunes.  With nods to directors such as T...

Lisa Downs’ is a filmmaker with a unique take on how to look back on classic films. Her 2017 documentary, Life After Flash was a brilliant insight into the film Flash Gordon and its lead actor Sam J. Jones, while 2020’s Life After The Navigator looked at another beloved ’80s sci-fi film,  Flight of the Navigator and the rollercoaster life of its young star Joey Cramer.  Far from being mere nostalg...

Irish director Chris Baugh made his big screen debut with the 2017 revenge thriller Bad Day For The Cut . His latest film is the excellent horror-comedy, Boys From County Hell . The vampire film is something of a change of pace for the director, merging gore and laughs into a film with a lot of heart. It’s an excellently constructed and hugely entertaining slice of genre cinema.  Chris Baugh talks...

Ruben Pla is an actor with over 65 credits on IMDB. A character actor who has been working for a long time, Pla has had a wide variety of roles in television and film, appearing in everything from shows like  CSI: Miami to iconic genre movies like Insidious . He has also moved into directing, making the short films The Kill (2014) and Head (2015). In 2020 Pla released his documentary The Horror Cr...

Director Vaughn Stein ( Terminal, Inheritance ) talks about his new psychological thriller, Every Breath You Take starring Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan and Sam Claflin.  Stein discusses working in the independent film arena and what it’s like to make a thriller in the classic style.

Writer and director Nicholas Jarecki ( Arbitrage ) talks to Niall Browne about his opioid thriller Crisis , starring Gary Oldman, Armie Hammer & Evangeline Lilly. Jarecki talks about how the film came together and what it's like releasing a film in the post-COVID-19 world.