Author: James Ruzicka

We have some pretty well developed theories on how characters have got their names in films, based partly on our own experience, and partly on wild and unsubstantiated conjecture. Find out the ‘truth’ about R2D2 and Obi Wan, plus a brief meditation on how your name determines what career you’ll follow in medical school…

There’s a Starman waiting in the sky this episode, as we watch the new David Bowie documentary Moonage Daydream, and then leave the planet for an orbital rendezvous with the original Ziggy Stardust, 1976’s The Man Who Fell to Earth. There’s no shortage of entertainment, with ‘milk-sex’, an electrifying performance of Heroes and a waltz […]

Sexposition. Intimacy Coordinators. Lobster sex. There are no holds barred at the popcorn counter this episode, where we take the clothes off some of our previous projects and expose their most personal details. When we think back, we realise we’ve both written more sex scenes than we thought over our careers so far. But which […]

We take a double length look at enduring Hollywood legend Marilyn Monroe this episode, as new Netflix ‘fictional biopic’ Blonde stares into the make-up mirror and sees 1985’s Insignificance staring right back. There’s no shortage of controversy here: Netflix’s first NC17 rated picture doesn’t shy away from sex, nudity and graphic violence, while Insignificance has […]

Audiences just can’t seem to get enough of brutal, bloody murder. What does that say about humans as a species and moviegoers in particular? We look at some psychologists’ theories about why murder is such a popular form of entertainment, and try to square that with our own, rapidly mellowing tastes…

Do Revenge, the new Netflix original feature, is doing crime right in front of our eyes this episode. The film wears its main influence prominently on its impeccably tailored, pastel, cashmere sleeve: Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train, reputedly the master of suspense’s fourth best film (citation needed). But do the films share more in common […]

The Black Panther sequel is coming later this year, and having recently watched Nope and The Brother From Another Planet, we find ourselves talking about Afrofuturism at the popcorn counter this time, where literature, movies, games and TV all make the Mothership Connection. References this episode Octavia Butlerhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octavia_E._Butler N K Jemisinhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N._K._Jemisin Samuel Delanyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_R._Delany Mass Effecthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_Effect […]

Watch the skies! Wait, no, DON’T watch the skies, look away!! Jordan Peele’s new scifi horror film Nope dives screaming onto the screen this episode, raining blood, coins and general dread on the audience. But what’s it really about? And is it as skilful in its exploration of the lives of people of colour in […]

We’ve been let down by modern cinema’s conservative and risk averse distribution policies this week, meaning our scheduled film My Old School never turned up. So for the first time we’re recording a film podcast without actually having seen a film. Great. Instead we spend the time talking about some of our favourite school based […]

Okay, no-one’s really sure how this happened, but bear with us. Somehow, somehow, in a logical, progressive fashion, we set out to discuss the legacy of colonialism and in the end managed to segue from an examination of Victorian museum design to the movie Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Yes, yes, it could have happened to […]