April 19, 2025

Capturing Truth: The Art of Storytelling in Warfare and The Correspondent

Capturing Truth: The Art of Storytelling in Warfare and The Correspondent

In this gripping episode of First on Film & Entertainment, host Alex First is joined by critics Sandy Kaye, Peter Chris, and Greg King as they dive into two thought-provoking films: *Warfare* and *Drop*. The discussion begins with *Warfare*, a...

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Season 1

In this gripping episode of First on Film & Entertainment, host Alex First is joined by critics Sandy Kaye, Peter Chris, and Greg King as they dive into two thought-provoking films: *Warfare* and *Drop*. The discussion begins with *Warfare*, a harrowing portrayal of a Navy SEAL mission gone awry in Iraq. The panel praises Alex Garland's direction, highlighting the film's intense realism and emotional depth, which keeps viewers on the edge of their seats. Sandy shares her surprise at how much she enjoyed the film, despite her aversion to war movies, while Greg and Peter offer their insights on its immersive sound design and character development. As the conversation shifts to *Drop*, the critics explore its psychological thriller elements, focusing on a mother's desperate struggle against a mysterious texter threatening her son. With a captivating setting and engaging performances, the film's tension builds throughout, leaving the panel debating its twists and overall impact. Listeners can expect a compelling mix of critiques and engaging dialogue, showcasing the power of storytelling in cinema.
**Highlights:**
- **Warfare:** A visceral depiction of combat that immerses audiences in the realities of war, praised for its authenticity and intense performances.
- **Drop:** A thrilling psychological ride that keeps viewers guessing, with standout performances and a gripping narrative.
- **Cinematic Insights:** The critics discuss the importance of storytelling in film and the impact of real-life events on cinematic narratives.
00:00:00 - Alex Claydon discusses new technology used on World of Claydon programme
00:01:41 - People mistakenly believe that Alex Garland is Australian, Peter says
00:06:07 - The film is about three Navy SEALs in combat in Afghanistan
00:08:19 - I loved this film and I really don't like war movies
00:12:35 - Greg King: This is another example of what I call combat porn
00:14:03 - Peter says he found the film very compelling as a docudrama
00:16:05 - Peter and Sandy give Warfare an 8 out of 10 rating
00:16:57 - Drop is an entertaining psychological thriller and it involves some seriously bad trolling
00:22:02 - Greg Green: The film is a wild, playful nerve wracking thriller
00:26:09 - Have you seen the Pluto movie? Yes, there is a Pluto movie
00:26:57 - Greg says he was impressed by the clever construction of the screenplay
00:28:26 - All right, let's get some scores for this movie which is rated 95 minutes
00:30:33 - Sandy says Funny Games loses something in the German translation
00:32:01 - Can we talk about the Correspondent? Because that's one I did see
00:33:56 - Peter Gresta was arrested by Egyptian authorities in Cairo on 29 December 2013
00:36:28 - Richard Roxburgh stars as journalist Peter Gresta in The Correspondent
00:40:53 - Tank M Correspondent gave the film an eight out of 10
00:43:37 - Peter: I was very impressed by the film. 9 out of 10
00:46:15 - Creed is the fifth collaboration between Ryan Coogler and Michael B Jordan
00:46:46 - Smoke and Stack return to Mississippi in 1932 after seven years away
00:50:01 - Sinners is a horror with a uniquely Southern Gothic lens
00:53:04 - Peter Krause says this is an unusual African American vampire filmJoin the First on Film & Entertainment team for this dynamic episode, and stay tuned for more insightful film reviews and discussions in the weeks to come!
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WEBVTT

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First on film and entertainment, and we have got a

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cavalcade of champions with us, Sandy Kay, Peter Krause, Gregory King. Fabulous.

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It has taken us forever. I've got to say that

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technology and people who collectively, I reckon we must be

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getting to two hundred and fifty years. It's kind of

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like an old tree. It needs a lot of watering.

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Is it me or is it the technology? Gregory King?

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What do you reckon?

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I think it's a combination of both.

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Yeah, fair enough, And Peter Krause, I tell you what

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I have. I've pleaded with you and things have never

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gone right over the last four weeks when we've used

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this new technology. What is it? Is it you or

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is it I? Yes? Good and Sandy you're a spring

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chicken compared to the rest of us, of course, and

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you've got it straight away. I had no idea why.

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I'm technology savvy, Alex.

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That's what it is. Well, you've got your own highly

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successful World of Clayton program. So did you have did

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you have a problem when you had to sort of

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set all of that up or was that just sort

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of straightforward or did somebody else do it for you?

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That's what I had scuse. Somebody else has to teach you.

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You always need a bit of a guru in your life,

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don't you.

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I reckon you need more than the guru. I think

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that that's that's the case. I have no idea why

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this is the way it is, but it is so.

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Now the difficulty is my computer is also frozen. Can

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you believe that? But that's just that's just typical. I

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can't actually access any of my folders. Now, that is

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just magnificent. It just keeps on getting better, just when,

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just when you think it couldn't get possibly get any worse.

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I wanted to start, by the way, talking about a

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great movie, a movie that really surprised me. And by

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the way, I think there's a misnomer Alex Garland Pleader.

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You'd know this. People mistakenly believe that he's Australian. He's English,

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isn't he? Yes, he is English, that's right. So why

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do we get the impression? Because if you look up

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google Alex garlandy it starts by saying he's not Australian.

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So why did people think he was? Do you have

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any understanding of that?

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It might have lived in Australia or been making a

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few films in Australia for a few years.

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I don't know, Well, I'm not getting confused with that

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documentary Australian Alex Gibney.

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It's perhaps yeah, maybe they got him, Maybe they got

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him confused with that well known Australian Alex.

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First, thank you very much. Indeed, now there is going

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to be another twenty eight days later, isn't there? There's

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sort of it's a Alex Garland follow up as well.

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Let's been here, come out twenty eight yay later, Thank

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you very much, x mcina. He did Civil War, which

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was a terrific movie anyway. Warfare firstly, huge plaudits because

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it's ninety five minutes Sandy. Now that that's got to

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immediately get a green tick correct and absolutely then we've

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got to say that I've been I'm traumatized having seen

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this movie. It is intense, it's authentic. It's an MA

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rated movie with good reason, and it continues the co

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writer and co director Garland's positive trajectory. I mean, he's

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just making some excellent movies. Now. It's based upon memories

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of an incident that occurred, and it occurred in two

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thousand and six on the nineteenth of November, and that's

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when a platoon of American Navy Seals was on a

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surveillance mission in insurgent territory. It was controlled by al Qaeda,

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and it was in Ramadi in Iraq. The goal of

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the seals. A couple of Iraqi scouts was with them,

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and or were with them, and then a couple of

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Marines as well. Their goal was to slip into and

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to keep a close eye on an urban residential area,

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and they were to do so under the covert of darkness.

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They were sent there to ensure the safe passage of

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ground forces in the area, which was going to happen

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the following day. So this team of seals was divided

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into three groups. The first operation was embedded on the

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second floor of an apartment building and amongst their number

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there was a medic and a sniper. Elliott Miller was

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his name, played by Cosmo Jarvis, who we saw recently

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in another movie, and leading petty officer Joe Hildebrand who

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I don't understand why, but he was renamed Sam in

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the movie, played by Joseph Quinn. Perhaps there was a

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Perhaps he's still an active soldier or something. I'm not sure,

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but the communications officer is called Ray Mendoza played by

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de Pharaoh woun Ai Tie and the officer in charge

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of the op is an excellent actor who keeps on

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keeping on. His name's Will Poulter, and he plays a

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guy called Eric. So what was meant to be a

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dangerous but straightforward operation for the Navy seals became anything

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but so. Almost two decades after this incident in Ramadi, right,

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I said two thousand and six, Mendoza, who was one

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of the characters I spoke about. The communications officer, by

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then retired from the Navy, was working as a Hollywood

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stunt man. He was specializing in choreographing gunfight sequences through

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a stunt coordinator. He met Alex Garland and he became

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a consultant on Civil War. He specifically designed battle scenes

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and that included the assault at the end of the

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movie on the White House. These two collaborators, and I'm

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talking about Garland and Mendoza became friends. Halfway through filming

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Civil War, Mendoza shared the Remadi story with Garland. Subsequently,

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Mendoza became the co writer and co director of this

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movie Warfare so the pair set rules for themselves not

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to embellish or dramatize events just for effect, to basically

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keep it as real as they possibly could. So it

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was anything but to glorify war. So incredibly tense is

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warfare from the get go. We are embedded with the soldiers,

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we being the audience. We're watching. We're waiting for something

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to happen, and the minutes really do tick by, and

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from the sites of a long necked machine gun positioned

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behind a hole in an outside wall, we see the

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comings and goings in the building opposite. Now in an

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adjacent room where members of the platoon have set up,

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there's a video surveillance happening and communication via walkie talkies.

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So they're talking to the other I said. It's divided

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into three groups of Navy seals. They're talking to the others.

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So the American troops are in full battle dress. I

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should also add also in the house where they are embedded,

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they've chosen as their base. Obviously this home they didn't know,

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but there's a family they surprised while they are asleep

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in the middle of the night, and this family's now

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huddled together under guard. They're told to keep quiet, keep

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their hands where they can be seen. So what a

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realistic approach to this subject matter doesn't pull any punches.

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It's in your face for its entirety. So there's this

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sort of boots on the ground story. It's visceral, takes

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you the heart of combat in a way that I

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can't say I've seen before, and I've seen a lot

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of war movies. It's shocking, it's terrifying. It's about young

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men doing a job, caught in the crosshairs, and as difficult,

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as painful, as disturbing as it is to watch, I

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really admire its conceit. It's like we're they're alongside the

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soldiers in the heat of battle. The filmmakers, they're intent

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on showing us what it was like to be surrounded

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and trapped under fire. So the sights and sounds that

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we see, the discipline, the frustration, the fear, the screams,

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they are long going to remain with me. Remarkable picture.

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It really is brilliantly conceived and executed, featuring a litany

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of outstanding performances. You do need a strong constitution to

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sit through it. I actually felt like crying out for

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a few times. Enough already because my discomfort was so palpable.

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But it's got a ring of truth in its DNA,

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and that adds enormous gravitas, does it not, Sandy?

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I loved this film, and I really don't like war movies.

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When the invitation came to us and it was like,

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you know, get in the battle with all of these guys,

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I thought, nah, I'm bother going to see that. I'm

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not one for war action type stuff. And I dare

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say there are a lot of people of my gender

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who would probably feel the same. I can't tell you

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how pleased I was that I went. I absolutely loved it.

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You sit on the edge of your seat from the

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minute that it starts, and it builds really quietly. It's

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about thirty minutes before you get any action. Yes, And

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the opening scene where this group of well I didn't

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even know they were Navy seals at the time. The

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GI's are mucking around and leering at women's bodies on

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a screen. It just paints this picture of the camaraderie

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between this platoon and they and that's exactly what they were.

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They were really all great friends. And it goes for

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about thirty minutes before any action happens, and I kind

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of sat there and thought to myself, well, what's going

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on here? Where's the war? But my goodness, once it starts,

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it just doesn't let up. There's absolutely no respite. One

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sequence on the street is so immersive that I found

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myself ducking to avoid a bullet spray.

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I mean, it's quite insane.

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It's like one of those three D movies where you

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just impregnated into the.

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Action and it's it's like virtual reality, the equivalent of

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I agree, it's interesting that you talk about the thirty minutes.

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I was really conscious. I snuck a look at my

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watch or my phone as it was, and it was

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twenty nine and it's in sandy, and like you were

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gripping your seat because you knew something was going to happen,

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but you did you know when. And yet that's part

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of the beauty of the filmmaking here. I mean, I

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don't know, have you seen many action war films or not?

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Well, I mean I have you know, like in the

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old days, you saw some those sort of classic ones.

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I remember seeing, none of which I could actually name. Now,

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did you see Saving Private Ryan?

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Yeah, that's exactly the one I was thinking oh, thank

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you for that.

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Yeah, but I mean that didn't I.

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Mean that was eminently forgettable.

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I mean, yeah, it was a good film and well

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done and you know, well acted and all of that.

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Warfare is something that I am never going to forget.

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And I've got a really bad memory. I see that

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many films you could ask me about one I saw

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a week.

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Ago and I wouldn't remember about it anymore.

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Warfare will stick with me always. It really is an

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incredible portrait of pain and horror. You know, you see

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close ups of the dry, cracked lips, the faces caked

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in dust and debris, the sheer terror in these guys eyes.

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But what was most amazing I think about it is

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because it's so loud. That sound, as you mentioned, Alex,

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is such a key here. You know, there's pounding gunshots

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and ground shaking explosions, the ear splitting roar of the

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fighter jets, and of course those agonizing screams of the soldiers.

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And there's also no there's no massive script here.

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It's really lean mean storytelling everybody. You know, there's no score,

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and there's no dialogue that really carries it forward. It's

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just the action, the looks on their faces that shows

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you everything. I think that this is a film that's

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not going to convince anybody to sign up to the

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military in a hurry, but it really is a tribute.

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To those who do. As I said, totally.

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Unforgettable and whether you're of my gender, persuasion or not,

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and you know most men would go so yeah, I mean,

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I really want to see this, and you're right you

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do have to have a bit of fortitude to sit

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through it all because at times it's quite uncomfortable. But

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you know, ladies, go with your partners. It's an experience

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you're not likely to have again.

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Less is more is the way that this is played,

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because there is a lot of waiting for something to happen,

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and that is what makes this movie so special. I

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must admit that I thought like Saving Private Ryan was

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a remarkable movie, so I still do remember that, but

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this is at a different level. So what about you,

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Greg King? Did you get as much out of this

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movie as Sandy and I did?

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Well, this is another example and what I call combat

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porn that chakes you Rynnie at the heart of battles.

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You mentioned you o being seen of Private Ryan. There's

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been a lot of other films like that one in

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Benghazi that chakes from the heat of the combat as well,

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but this one is apparently unfold in real time, so

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you know, Chase places all that action Chase Place. I've able,

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of course, for about forty minutes there. But you mentioned

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the sound design. The soundscape and sound design is particularly

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effective here. You know, the sound of the guns, the

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screen that the soldiers wounded, the bombs, the plane flying

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over that scene there is tremendous. And also most of

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the fact that most of the casts are not really

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well that known, allows you to go into it without

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those sort of heroics you get from having big name

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actors in the lead roles. There as claustrophobic, as intense,

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as fisceral, but it also shows what it's like under

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fire and immerses us in the heat of battle here,

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and you sort of can't get away from it as

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unvarnished and realized. You said, the pain is almost palpable there.

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We're immersing this situation and yeah, it's hard to look away.

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So yeah, it's an interest intriguing little film.

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I reckon if this was in the Oscars for this year,

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it would have received Oscar nominations. It's that worthy.

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Old with you, probably worth while as the way it

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goes in a lot of handheld camera work. Obviously there

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has follow the soldiers and changes inside.

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What's happening?

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Well, Peter, we've got three for three. Surely this is

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going to be up there for you as well.

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Oh look, I very much founded a very strong film

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and it's certainly classified as a docu drama, so it

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recreates a particular event and does it very well, indeed

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in a very visceral.

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Sort of way.

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However, I have seen a number of other films from

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other countries Korea, China, et cetera, which go immerse the

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viewer into a wartime situation. I remember the hurt Locker,

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which was very strong, I mean Three Kings, which also

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dealt with somewhat similar So I've seen similar sorts of films,

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so it didn't hold out for me anything special or unique.

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But it was very good, very well made, and is

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a good visceral experience as a docu drama.

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I must admit that whilst I'd seen those as well,

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and they were most impactful, I didn't get the same

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jolt from the others as I did from this. Peter.

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You obviously did. I didn't get the same fold.

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No.

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I thought it was okay. It was well made, it

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was convincing, but I didn't find it especially impactful.

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Wow, I agree.

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I was flashing back to some of those other films

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which seen it have been really intense combat scenes Loan

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survivor that one about the soldiers in ment Ghazi fighting

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for sixteen hours, and all those other films as well.

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Remind me I saw a lot of those elements in

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this film as well, and especially the open DJ landing

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secret in saving Private Ryan, which was unforgetable in and

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It's gooky and this all approach.

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To war it was certainly that. So all right, well, Sandy,

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you and I are going to have high marks on this.

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I'm not convinced now about the others. So let's start

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with you, Peter, as the I think you'll be a

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lower mark. What are you going to give warfare which

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is rated M and runs for ninety five minutes.

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Oh look, I was still very impressed by the film,

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and Alex Garland is such a good filmmaker, so I

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still gave it eight out of ten.

292
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Okay, which is a very good mark. And let's go

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for you Greg seven to seven and a half, right,

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so you're the low one, all right, Sandy.

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Oh, I'm going a nine.

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I'm going a nine too, So there you go, folks,

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it's really up there. It's since the Oscars this has

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more had more impact than any other movie I've seen.

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You probably would agree with that, Sandy. Yeah. Absolutely, Now

300
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because my computer's not working, Sandy, what was the second

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movie that you want to talk about today? We could

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talk about Drop if you like. That's I reckon, Well,

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now I reckon. We should definitely talk about Drop because

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this is MA rated. It runs also for ninety five minutes,

305
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so exactly the same as we've just spoken about, but

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it is totally different. It's an entertaining psychological thriller and

307
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it involves some seriously bad I'm talking life threatening trolling

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in the most unlikely of circumstances. So you've got a

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widow who's also a psychologist, whose name is Violet played

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by Megan Faye. And that's Megan spelt Megha double n.

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I've never seen Megan spelt with a double n. But

312
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there you go. So Violet is a mother, she's got

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a five year old son called Toby played by Jacob Robinson.

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She is still traumatized by the domestic violence that she experienced,

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and Toby was younger obviously, but was privy to this

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domestic violence. Now, since her husband died, she has not

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been on a date, but over the past three months

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she's been speaking to this guy, a photographer, and now

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they've agreed to meet. She is clearly nervous, as you

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would be, so violet sister Jen played by Violet Bean

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comes over to babysid Toby. So it is that Violet

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heads off to this They're in Chicago, to a Swiss

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high rise fine dining establishment which has killer views. That's

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where she meets this photographer that she's been talking with.

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He's thirty two years of age. His name's Henry played

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by Brandon Skealner, and he has actually been the mayor's

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photographer for the past five years and he does seem

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like a pretty good guy. Henry he arrives a few

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minutes late, so while waiting at the bar, Violet receives

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a rather mysterious and creepy text message from someone she

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doesn't know. So once Henry arrives, they sit down at

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their table, which is by the window, and she gets

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bombarded by more messages, and these messages are known as drops,

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hence the title of the movie Drop. They include one

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threatening the life of her son if she does not

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adhere to the Texter's demands. At first, Violet shows her

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date that she's receiving unwanted online attention. He dismiss it,

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dismisses it as a prank. But once the Texter tells

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her to keep her mouth shut or else, she tries

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to navigate this date while doing what the Texter wants

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her to do. He appears to be tracking her every move,

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listening to everything that she's saying. It's quickly established that

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the drops she's receiving are coming from within the confines

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of this high class, high up restaurant, and she can't

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put a finger on who the perpetrator is. The Texter

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doesn't just have an extra grind with Violet, but with

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Henry too. That's why he doesn't want her to leave

348
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the restaurant. So there's desperation, there's tension. The situation goes

349
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from bad to worse. So who's the Texter? What's he?

350
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She theay after? Why? That becomes clear as the plot develops.

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So it's a high stakes game. It's a cat and

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mouse game, really, with all those in that restaurant, the

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patrons and the staff under suspicion, and among them is

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an older man on a blind date named Richard played

355
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by Reed Diamond, who Violet meets at the bar. There's

356
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also a charming bar worker called Kara Gabrielle. Ryan Matt

357
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Jeffrey Selth is an awkward oversharing waiter on his first

358
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day on the job. Lindy Sarah McCormack is his boss.

359
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The host at the restaurant, Phil ed Weeks is not

360
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backward in coming forward. He's the piano player. And Connor

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played by Travis Nelson, is a fellow diner that Violet

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reportedly or rather repeatedly keeps bumping into. These texts accompanying

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the drops help ratchet up the intrigue, and they're writ large,

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literally writ large on the screen. The contention for the

365
00:21:26.599 --> 00:21:29.440
movie inspired by real life. If you can believe that

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one of the producers and his friend fell victim to

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a series of drops while they were holidaying with family overseas,

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and their experience translated into a script from Jillian Jacobs

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and Christopher Roach. I like the high stakes guessing game

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they created due to the inherent danger. It's kind of

371
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edge of is said stuff. But like with many films

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of this ILK, it does push the envelope, and to

373
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fully enjoy it, you'd be well served to suspend belief

374
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a speed as drop reaches its conclusion. And talking of

375
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that in terms of the action, that final scene in

376
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the restaurant, it's not the final scene in the movie,

377
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but the final restaurant scene certainly memorable. The director's Christopher Landon,

378
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does a good job working with the incendury material at

379
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his disposal. He's the one ultimately responsible course for tightening

380
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the strings. The whole idea is that Violet seems destined

381
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to run into a dead end every time she tries

382
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to find a way out of her invidious predicament. I

383
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really thought the gorgeous restaurant setting with a sparkling nighttime

384
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views that at was the perfect backdrop to it all.

385
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It added something. And then we've got the acting talent

386
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Megan Faywell. Really like what she has to offer. She

387
00:22:42.599 --> 00:22:48.200
plays vulnerable and on edge well. Brandon Skelner calm voice

388
00:22:48.200 --> 00:22:50.480
of reason as Henry taken on a bit of a

389
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roller coaster ride by a woman that he likes but

390
00:22:53.960 --> 00:22:58.200
becomes unsure about Violet Bean Will gives a spirited performance

391
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as the sister Chen, and there's warmth about Gabrielle Ryan

392
00:23:02.839 --> 00:23:05.720
as the bar worker. Jeffrey selves deliberately over the top

393
00:23:05.759 --> 00:23:10.039
showing as the gay waiter impossible to ignore, and each

394
00:23:10.039 --> 00:23:12.759
of the other actors also make their mark. I actually

395
00:23:12.799 --> 00:23:16.279
thought over all the casting choices were strong and drops

396
00:23:16.279 --> 00:23:21.119
a wild, playful, nerve racking and a deadly ride. Is

397
00:23:21.160 --> 00:23:23.359
it not, Sandy, Yeah, it really is.

398
00:23:23.440 --> 00:23:25.839
You said the words yourself that I'd describe it as,

399
00:23:25.839 --> 00:23:28.640
and that's it's a rollercoaster ride. It's really good fun

400
00:23:29.000 --> 00:23:31.599
that Megan Fay we saw her in White LOADUS. I

401
00:23:31.599 --> 00:23:34.680
don't know if you ever saw her as the TV. Yeah,

402
00:23:34.880 --> 00:23:39.319
she lights up the screen. She is just absolutely beautiful.

403
00:23:39.599 --> 00:23:44.160
And this whole concept of digi drops, I was questioning,

404
00:23:44.240 --> 00:23:47.119
is it a real theme? Can you actually or is

405
00:23:47.119 --> 00:23:51.079
it just a fake construct that as you can you know,

406
00:23:53.400 --> 00:23:57.319
what's it called when you send messages to one another

407
00:23:58.960 --> 00:24:03.039
on very sharing plod there Yeah, no, on the phone

408
00:24:03.079 --> 00:24:06.880
when you can bluetooth it messages anyway, I don't I

409
00:24:06.920 --> 00:24:09.359
still don't know if a digit drop is a real thing.

410
00:24:09.640 --> 00:24:11.440
And I guess if it isn't, it soon will be.

411
00:24:11.920 --> 00:24:12.839
But it was.

412
00:24:13.079 --> 00:24:15.920
It was really, it was really fun. There is a

413
00:24:15.960 --> 00:24:21.079
lot of holes in the script, as you know, but

414
00:24:22.359 --> 00:24:25.640
it's playful and it gets dark really quickly and you

415
00:24:25.680 --> 00:24:27.400
can't take your eyes off her.

416
00:24:27.480 --> 00:24:29.039
I thought she was just fabulous.

417
00:24:29.079 --> 00:24:30.559
It's a bit like a game of Cluto.

418
00:24:30.680 --> 00:24:33.279
It draws the audience right in and going who was it?

419
00:24:33.319 --> 00:24:33.839
Who is this?

420
00:24:33.920 --> 00:24:36.720
Sending the messages? What's this all about? So you're hanging

421
00:24:36.759 --> 00:24:38.079
off who done it?

422
00:24:38.160 --> 00:24:41.079
For a long long time. I liked it. It's fun, Well,

423
00:24:41.079 --> 00:24:45.079
it's fun. It's interesting. When I googled digit drops while

424
00:24:45.079 --> 00:24:47.200
I was listening to what you just said, said, there's

425
00:24:47.200 --> 00:24:50.519
an Instagram provider called DIGGI drop, but it's not exactly

426
00:24:50.519 --> 00:24:53.519
what you were talking about. What about you, Greg, did

427
00:24:53.559 --> 00:24:55.640
you enjoy it or not? Yeah?

428
00:24:55.839 --> 00:24:57.400
This was an entertaining shriller.

429
00:24:57.799 --> 00:25:00.519
I made a good use of the claustrophobic sitting there

430
00:25:00.680 --> 00:25:02.200
and that restaurant books fantastic.

431
00:25:02.279 --> 00:25:04.200
Yes, a great production design there.

432
00:25:04.720 --> 00:25:08.359
This is a start off like a romantic movie, a

433
00:25:08.480 --> 00:25:12.640
first date between these people. But because the film's produced

434
00:25:12.640 --> 00:25:14.839
by Blumhouse are a bit known for their horror films,

435
00:25:15.039 --> 00:25:17.440
we know that this is gonna be something different than

436
00:25:17.839 --> 00:25:20.079
a MIXU rom com, and it certainly.

437
00:25:19.880 --> 00:25:20.799
Turns out that way.

438
00:25:21.200 --> 00:25:24.440
I thought director Christoph Landen, who's better known for some

439
00:25:24.519 --> 00:25:26.960
of the paranormal Activity movies, she did a good job

440
00:25:26.960 --> 00:25:29.440
of ractioning up the suspense there. You've had a number

441
00:25:29.480 --> 00:25:33.000
of possible suspects, including all those characters who've identified who

442
00:25:33.039 --> 00:25:35.160
could be the guilty one there. And I like the

443
00:25:35.200 --> 00:25:38.480
way that the phone messages were actually portrayed on the

444
00:25:38.480 --> 00:25:43.079
screen there. It worked out well, it holds your attention,

445
00:25:43.480 --> 00:25:44.920
as you said, ed you deceit stuff.

446
00:25:45.119 --> 00:25:47.200
I thought it lost a bit in the final atgo.

447
00:25:47.079 --> 00:25:50.200
Which is saided in the cliche. But apart from that,

448
00:25:50.359 --> 00:25:51.680
I quite enjoyed this one.

449
00:25:51.759 --> 00:25:54.599
Yes, what's that board game? Is it? Cludo?

450
00:25:54.960 --> 00:25:55.119
Is it?

451
00:25:56.720 --> 00:25:58.240
There's a lot of poor teams.

452
00:25:58.440 --> 00:26:02.519
Yeah, and then sorry, yeah there are greg thank you,

453
00:26:02.880 --> 00:26:06.000
some a bit more boring and others well, well, well

454
00:26:06.119 --> 00:26:10.160
mister Green in the whatever whatever, well Pludo with Professor

455
00:26:10.160 --> 00:26:13.359
Plumber in the study with a pipe wrinch or whatever

456
00:26:13.359 --> 00:26:13.559
it was.

457
00:26:13.640 --> 00:26:15.799
Yeah, exactly. So it's kind of it's kind of a

458
00:26:15.839 --> 00:26:16.799
bit like that, isn't it.

459
00:26:17.119 --> 00:26:18.960
You actually turned Pludo into a film, you know.

460
00:26:19.880 --> 00:26:23.039
Did they Yes, I don't. I don't saw that.

461
00:26:23.240 --> 00:26:26.519
Okay, you would know, you would have seen it, Peter.

462
00:26:26.720 --> 00:26:28.319
Have you have you seen the Gluto movie?

463
00:26:28.720 --> 00:26:33.240
Yes, there is a Cludo movie, yep, and you've seen it? Yes,

464
00:26:33.359 --> 00:26:34.079
oh years ago?

465
00:26:34.240 --> 00:26:36.759
Yes, of course you must have seen one of the

466
00:26:36.839 --> 00:26:37.279
cast in it.

467
00:26:37.920 --> 00:26:41.759
You must have seen something in it was Bekistan that

468
00:26:41.839 --> 00:26:43.519
was made in the nineteen thirties as well.

469
00:26:43.559 --> 00:26:46.680
Beto, Well, I was playing Cludo when they were still

470
00:26:46.720 --> 00:26:47.799
inventing electricity.

471
00:26:47.880 --> 00:26:51.039
So you're read well, well, you know when when you're

472
00:26:51.079 --> 00:26:52.640
a relic, you're a relic. Let's be honest.

473
00:26:52.920 --> 00:26:56.759
Is the handleholder? Oh yeah?

474
00:26:56.799 --> 00:27:00.319
Okay, So did you drop to your knees having seen

475
00:27:00.319 --> 00:27:00.799
this one?

476
00:27:01.279 --> 00:27:03.279
I didn't drop to my knees, but I must admit

477
00:27:03.359 --> 00:27:07.799
I was quite impressed by the clever construction of the screenplay.

478
00:27:07.839 --> 00:27:11.400
Who done it quality? That's already been mentioned, the twists

479
00:27:11.400 --> 00:27:15.640
and turns in the storyline. I didn't mind the way concluded,

480
00:27:15.720 --> 00:27:18.559
but I won't say any more about that. Look, it

481
00:27:18.720 --> 00:27:24.799
was a good example of a mystery type thriller where

482
00:27:24.799 --> 00:27:28.039
you have to guess over a period of time about

483
00:27:28.079 --> 00:27:33.480
who is responsible for this situation, about whether any romance

484
00:27:33.559 --> 00:27:38.680
can come out of this situation and also just understanding.

485
00:27:39.759 --> 00:27:42.839
I suppose what can happen in a short period of

486
00:27:42.880 --> 00:27:46.680
time when you have to think fast to make decisions.

487
00:27:46.920 --> 00:27:50.720
And I thought that was very cleverly done. Yes, Greg,

488
00:27:50.720 --> 00:27:53.960
I agree with you about the set. They built a

489
00:27:54.160 --> 00:27:57.599
very clever set for the restaurant, which is where the

490
00:27:57.640 --> 00:28:00.559
film is largely set, although we do get to see

491
00:28:00.640 --> 00:28:02.640
another venue.

492
00:28:02.880 --> 00:28:04.240
And I was for.

493
00:28:05.880 --> 00:28:07.839
Please the latest film. I didn't think I was going

494
00:28:07.880 --> 00:28:09.079
to like it.

495
00:28:09.079 --> 00:28:11.759
Just remind a little bit of those other films in result,

496
00:28:12.240 --> 00:28:15.759
like phone Booths and Origins. What you know, one person

497
00:28:15.839 --> 00:28:18.359
being through it minutes in a confined location.

498
00:28:18.960 --> 00:28:22.599
Yeah, it's greatly I really love that claustrophobia. I think

499
00:28:22.640 --> 00:28:25.599
it works extremely well. I don't know as personally, but yeah,

500
00:28:25.759 --> 00:28:27.960
it does. All right, So look, let's get let's get

501
00:28:27.960 --> 00:28:30.559
some scores for this movie, which is m I rated

502
00:28:30.680 --> 00:28:34.240
ninety five minutes. It's called Drop. So in terms of

503
00:28:34.440 --> 00:28:36.240
I'm just going to try and who's going to give

504
00:28:36.279 --> 00:28:41.240
the lowest mark here, let's go with you, Greg.

505
00:28:41.519 --> 00:28:43.720
Well, first of them, Okay, I'll give it seven.

506
00:28:44.880 --> 00:28:49.400
Sandy, Yeah, seven, Peter?

507
00:28:50.319 --> 00:28:51.920
What how what a coincidence?

508
00:28:51.960 --> 00:28:54.279
I also gave it seven and I gave it eight,

509
00:28:54.599 --> 00:28:56.759
so there you go. I agree. I think you know

510
00:28:57.039 --> 00:29:00.960
at the very end, once you leave the restaurant that

511
00:29:01.119 --> 00:29:03.680
it loses a bit. And yeah, I suppose I didn't

512
00:29:03.720 --> 00:29:06.160
really when giving it an eight, I didn't give it.

513
00:29:06.680 --> 00:29:09.039
Perhaps it would would have come down by half a peg.

514
00:29:09.079 --> 00:29:12.400
But it's around that mark. So that's a good fun film. Absolutely.

515
00:29:12.480 --> 00:29:13.680
There was a problem with those other films.

516
00:29:13.720 --> 00:29:16.680
I mentioned Phone Booth and Locked when they moved away

517
00:29:16.680 --> 00:29:20.599
from that initial construction setting and tended to lose something.

518
00:29:21.920 --> 00:29:25.160
What was the There was another one that didn't. I

519
00:29:25.200 --> 00:29:28.400
think it won an Oscar for a female actor and

520
00:29:29.880 --> 00:29:33.920
Room Room well done, Greg, I thought Room was extraordinary.

521
00:29:34.039 --> 00:29:39.440
Did you see Room, Sandy, Sandy, you're with us, she's

522
00:29:39.440 --> 00:29:44.599
disappeared still here. I loved Room absolutely. I think Room

523
00:29:44.720 --> 00:29:48.400
was a complete package. Peter, Yes, Room was very good.

524
00:29:48.480 --> 00:29:49.599
Buried is another one.

525
00:29:49.680 --> 00:29:53.920
But Buried was scary as it. Did you see Buried, Sandy?

526
00:29:53.960 --> 00:29:55.640
I don't know about that. I don't think I did.

527
00:29:55.799 --> 00:30:00.920
Oh my golly, right, turn the lights out and see Buried.

528
00:30:05.559 --> 00:30:10.079
Oh it's an amazing film and extraordinary. The Yeah, the

529
00:30:10.119 --> 00:30:14.000
other one, what was that? This wasn't well, it was callustrophobic.

530
00:30:14.319 --> 00:30:18.079
Of sorts. That German movie Peter or Greg that was

531
00:30:18.160 --> 00:30:24.000
made into an American movie where people come and attack

532
00:30:24.119 --> 00:30:27.519
people in their own home in games of funny games,

533
00:30:27.720 --> 00:30:31.440
funny games. Oh my golly, oh, the Michael Henneker film,

534
00:30:31.599 --> 00:30:34.759
Michael Hanneker film. You saying he no for that, you

535
00:30:34.799 --> 00:30:35.279
haven't seen it?

536
00:30:35.319 --> 00:30:37.640
No, no, I'm writing these down.

537
00:30:37.680 --> 00:30:44.519
Those you've got? Really these two? Yeah, you really see

538
00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:47.720
it with your partner, both of them. I mean, they

539
00:30:47.720 --> 00:30:52.559
are amazing. Those two films are phenomenal. So you know,

540
00:30:52.799 --> 00:30:56.119
great funny games. But see the German version. I reckon,

541
00:30:56.599 --> 00:30:58.559
what do you think even.

542
00:30:58.440 --> 00:31:01.680
Though the same director get the American version, it loses

543
00:31:01.720 --> 00:31:03.720
something in the cultural translation.

544
00:31:04.200 --> 00:31:06.839
The dilemma is I've got no idea. Okay, Like in

545
00:31:06.839 --> 00:31:09.079
a situation like this, if somebody says I want to

546
00:31:09.119 --> 00:31:11.039
see a movie, and I know you can get all

547
00:31:11.039 --> 00:31:14.400
these streaming services, but is there any sort of I

548
00:31:14.440 --> 00:31:17.319
don't know, comprehensive something on the internet that you can

549
00:31:17.359 --> 00:31:19.839
put in a movie and sort of see where where

550
00:31:19.839 --> 00:31:22.160
you can see it. I don't know that I've never

551
00:31:22.240 --> 00:31:24.640
tried it or any of you aware of it, because

552
00:31:24.759 --> 00:31:27.079
you know how certain things are out of print. I

553
00:31:27.119 --> 00:31:30.319
mean if you don't if you put in Funny Games

554
00:31:30.400 --> 00:31:34.400
German version, do you? Maybe AI these days will tell

555
00:31:34.440 --> 00:31:36.559
you where you can get it, because otherwise.

556
00:31:36.160 --> 00:31:39.240
Well I can tell you that that film and others

557
00:31:39.240 --> 00:31:41.519
are screening in Melbourne as part of a season of

558
00:31:41.559 --> 00:31:44.119
Michael Hanneker films.

559
00:31:43.799 --> 00:31:48.720
Right as we speak. Yes, wow, Sandy, there you go.

560
00:31:49.359 --> 00:31:54.839
You got the Now I worried, but thank you looked.

561
00:31:55.039 --> 00:31:59.519
You've looked it up already, you've looked it up. Yeah, no, I'll.

562
00:31:59.279 --> 00:32:01.440
Wait for another opportunity.

563
00:32:01.480 --> 00:32:04.079
Can we talk about the Correspondent, because that's what I

564
00:32:04.160 --> 00:32:06.960
did see and I think everyone should go.

565
00:32:06.920 --> 00:32:10.440
To Yeah, okay, well to it? Well, I mean most people,

566
00:32:10.519 --> 00:32:15.480
I reckon I would remember the story about Peter Grestor

567
00:32:15.599 --> 00:32:20.160
the the ex ABC Journal and actually is he still working?

568
00:32:20.680 --> 00:32:22.799
I don't know where he's working? Now, do you know? Gap?

569
00:32:22.839 --> 00:32:26.319
Does anybody happen to know where where he's working? Peter Grestor?

570
00:32:26.440 --> 00:32:27.119
No?

571
00:32:27.319 --> 00:32:30.240
Did you? Did you know how to find out? Yeah?

572
00:32:30.400 --> 00:32:34.319
Did you? Did you know about the Peter Grestor story

573
00:32:34.359 --> 00:32:38.400
Peter before you saw the movie? Yes? I did? And Greg?

574
00:32:38.839 --> 00:32:39.000
Yes?

575
00:32:39.839 --> 00:32:43.039
Okay, so all de child behind you? Well, that's the

576
00:32:43.200 --> 00:32:47.559
that's the thing to story. Well, I wonder about that, Greg,

577
00:32:48.319 --> 00:32:53.559
when you see a movie made really I mean within

578
00:32:54.240 --> 00:32:56.519
earshot of I mean it happened a long time ago,

579
00:32:56.599 --> 00:33:00.359
but you think you know it. Do you believe there

580
00:33:00.400 --> 00:33:04.000
needs to be more distance before making a movie or

581
00:33:04.039 --> 00:33:08.200
do you think that making a movie even sooner than

582
00:33:08.599 --> 00:33:12.119
than when this one was made is a good idea

583
00:33:12.160 --> 00:33:14.839
because it's got people's sort of you don't have to

584
00:33:14.880 --> 00:33:17.000
spark too much memory in people's Well, you're.

585
00:33:16.839 --> 00:33:18.960
Asking how soon or too soon for a film?

586
00:33:19.160 --> 00:33:21.799
Yeah, I am, I am. It's a bad way of

587
00:33:21.839 --> 00:33:24.960
saying it, but yes, what do you think? What's the answers?

588
00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:27.839
No answer, But Peter wanted the film to be made.

589
00:33:27.880 --> 00:33:32.160
He wrote the book of his story, yes, and then

590
00:33:32.359 --> 00:33:35.160
was heavily involved in making sure there was a film

591
00:33:35.359 --> 00:33:38.720
made of it. And I suppose the other aspect is

592
00:33:38.880 --> 00:33:43.160
the prescient nature of people being detained in other countries,

593
00:33:43.720 --> 00:33:47.400
which needs to be highlighted in a story like this,

594
00:33:47.680 --> 00:33:47.920
and the.

595
00:33:48.000 --> 00:33:52.400
Day it's facing journalists now just for doing their job.

596
00:33:52.799 --> 00:33:56.599
That's right, and unfortunately it's happening a lot. So this

597
00:33:56.640 --> 00:33:58.440
is a two hour movie, one hundred and nineteen minutes

598
00:33:58.440 --> 00:34:03.079
to be exact, m raised and it concerns the journo.

599
00:34:03.160 --> 00:34:07.559
The Aussie journo arrested by Egyptian authorities in Cairo on

600
00:34:07.640 --> 00:34:11.880
the twenty ninth of December two thousand and thirteen. In fact,

601
00:34:11.920 --> 00:34:14.400
I found it hard to believe it's been that long.

602
00:34:14.440 --> 00:34:17.239
You know, we're talking more than eleven years now. He

603
00:34:17.400 --> 00:34:21.079
was working for Al Jazeera at the time, and he

604
00:34:21.280 --> 00:34:24.400
was on a two to three week cover over Christmas

605
00:34:24.599 --> 00:34:27.679
for another journo who was presumably on leave. So it

606
00:34:27.760 --> 00:34:32.920
was taken into custody alongside two other Al Jazeera reporters,

607
00:34:33.119 --> 00:34:37.599
one called Muhammad Fami and the other Bahir Muhammad. This

608
00:34:37.679 --> 00:34:40.800
has been written by Peter Duncan and it's based on,

609
00:34:41.079 --> 00:34:45.760
as Peter said, the twenty seventeen memoir, which was named

610
00:34:45.760 --> 00:34:49.000
the First Casualty, and it's an account of what happened.

611
00:34:49.480 --> 00:34:54.039
So Gresta was detained on trumped up charges including fabricating

612
00:34:54.079 --> 00:34:58.280
the truth and smearing the name of Egypt. He was

613
00:34:58.320 --> 00:35:02.639
sentenced to seven years jail. His colleagues that I have referenced,

614
00:35:02.679 --> 00:35:08.440
Mohammed Fami and Bahir Muhammad received seven and ten years respectively.

615
00:35:09.000 --> 00:35:11.840
So it shows them being moved around the Egyptian prison system,

616
00:35:12.079 --> 00:35:16.559
reveals how on occasions they turned on one another. It

617
00:35:16.719 --> 00:35:21.079
champions the family support that Gresta received. Peter's brother Andrew

618
00:35:21.400 --> 00:35:24.480
was a great source of comfort in Egypt. His parents

619
00:35:24.559 --> 00:35:28.360
also flew over there. The film captures what Resta was

620
00:35:28.400 --> 00:35:31.400
subjected to, how he coped, and what he thought about

621
00:35:31.440 --> 00:35:35.760
while in captivity. Notable throughout is the fate of a

622
00:35:35.880 --> 00:35:40.519
fellow war correspondent, a brit called Kate Peyton. The pair

623
00:35:40.679 --> 00:35:44.280
was working for the BBC in Mogadishu in two thousand

624
00:35:44.360 --> 00:35:50.039
and five, eight years before Peter Grestor was arrested in Egypt.

625
00:35:50.920 --> 00:35:54.159
That's in two thousand and five when a bullet struck Peyton,

626
00:35:54.880 --> 00:35:59.760
and those memories loom large for grest Without doubt, there's

627
00:36:00.079 --> 00:36:04.119
extra clout associated with a real life story, and we

628
00:36:04.239 --> 00:36:09.400
talked about that earlier on the film Warfare. So it

629
00:36:09.480 --> 00:36:12.920
is with the correspondent, and what the film does go

630
00:36:13.000 --> 00:36:19.199
into detail about is the fine attention to detail here

631
00:36:19.480 --> 00:36:22.400
that you may not have known about, as Greg referenced earlier.

632
00:36:22.880 --> 00:36:25.440
We become invested in what happens in the injustice of

633
00:36:25.440 --> 00:36:29.360
what's been perpetrated and continues to unfold. One of the

634
00:36:29.360 --> 00:36:31.800
benefits of this movie is you've got an excellent actor

635
00:36:32.000 --> 00:36:35.000
in Richard Roxborough really well cast as this sort of

636
00:36:35.039 --> 00:36:38.840
cool operator that grest was, and he comes across as

637
00:36:39.079 --> 00:36:43.679
intelligent and disciplined and basically showing to keep his wits

638
00:36:43.719 --> 00:36:47.559
about him throughout his ordeal. The tension in the relationship

639
00:36:47.559 --> 00:36:51.679
between he and Muhammad Fami is a really important subplot,

640
00:36:51.880 --> 00:36:54.840
and Julian Maroon wears his heart on his sleeve as

641
00:36:54.880 --> 00:36:59.760
the highly opinionated Fami more sympatico between grest and Baha

642
00:37:00.239 --> 00:37:04.960
behind Muhammad. The pair gels over backgammon, which they play

643
00:37:05.039 --> 00:37:09.239
regularly just to pass the time. Rahel rom Mahan is

644
00:37:09.519 --> 00:37:16.519
measured as Bahir Muhammad while initially sorry rather when initially imprisoned.

645
00:37:16.840 --> 00:37:19.920
Gresta forms a relationship with a young activist called Allah

646
00:37:20.320 --> 00:37:26.320
Abd al Fattah. His advice is Sage Mageean Aria presents

647
00:37:26.719 --> 00:37:31.159
Allah Abd al al Futa al Fattah as decent and

648
00:37:31.320 --> 00:37:35.679
wise beyond his years, despite the invidious situation in which

649
00:37:35.679 --> 00:37:39.119
he finds himself. Kate Potent, by the way, shows himself

650
00:37:39.119 --> 00:37:42.119
as being in the same mold as Gresta, dedicated to

651
00:37:42.199 --> 00:37:47.239
uncovering the harsh truth of war torn regions, and as

652
00:37:47.360 --> 00:37:51.599
Peyton your al Stone comes across as a valued confidante

653
00:37:51.719 --> 00:37:56.559
and friend. Peter Grest's path hardly straightforward, and the director

654
00:37:56.639 --> 00:38:00.559
kriv Stenders pays attention to the twists and turns. We

655
00:38:00.599 --> 00:38:04.199
witnessed the mental toll, and I left admiring just how

656
00:38:04.239 --> 00:38:06.679
Gresta worked his way through what turned out to be

657
00:38:06.960 --> 00:38:10.119
four hundred days of captivity to come out the other

658
00:38:10.280 --> 00:38:14.719
end intact and still sane. So it's a film worth

659
00:38:14.760 --> 00:38:17.280
scene The Correspondent. Do you agree with that, Sandy?

660
00:38:18.360 --> 00:38:20.119
Yeah, I really liked the Correspondent.

661
00:38:20.159 --> 00:38:22.880
I mean, I think partly because we lived through it,

662
00:38:23.000 --> 00:38:28.280
and also because being a working journalist during that time,

663
00:38:28.679 --> 00:38:35.760
it was so important and so heavy what was happening

664
00:38:35.800 --> 00:38:38.239
to him, and nobody could do anything.

665
00:38:38.360 --> 00:38:40.920
I think the acting here, Richard Roxbury was really good

666
00:38:40.960 --> 00:38:46.639
at it. And then I was shocked when the credits

667
00:38:46.719 --> 00:38:49.119
roll at the end to find out how many journalists

668
00:38:49.159 --> 00:38:52.079
are still incarcerated in today's world.

669
00:38:52.079 --> 00:38:53.760
It just blew me away completely.

670
00:38:54.920 --> 00:38:56.559
Yeah, it's a good story.

671
00:38:56.599 --> 00:39:01.519
It's told well with a lot of fine acting right throughout,

672
00:39:02.440 --> 00:39:05.280
and I think it's a story that's important that everybody

673
00:39:05.559 --> 00:39:09.239
knows really that these things keep happening.

674
00:39:09.400 --> 00:39:11.639
But you know, moral of the story is, don't take

675
00:39:11.679 --> 00:39:13.599
anybody's Christmas shift, do.

676
00:39:13.639 --> 00:39:16.360
Your own thing, Do your own thing. But I mean,

677
00:39:16.519 --> 00:39:19.119
beyond that, I think what you spoke about just before

678
00:39:19.280 --> 00:39:22.440
is important. I was aware of how many journals had

679
00:39:22.480 --> 00:39:26.119
been in prison for doing their jobs, detained and so forth.

680
00:39:26.320 --> 00:39:30.400
I mean it's a dangerous profession, it is there, and

681
00:39:31.519 --> 00:39:36.199
especially dangerous when you're covering civil war and when you're

682
00:39:36.199 --> 00:39:41.480
covering dissent and speaking out. I mean, you can be

683
00:39:41.639 --> 00:39:44.760
in so many places in the world and they don't

684
00:39:44.800 --> 00:39:48.199
want anybody to have an opinion that's other than the

685
00:39:48.239 --> 00:39:51.559
party line. And that's again very much about this movie.

686
00:39:51.599 --> 00:39:55.320
And yet, to be a journalist, I mean you need whistleblowers,

687
00:39:55.360 --> 00:40:00.199
you need, you want, you do want nicely manufactured pr releases.

688
00:40:01.360 --> 00:40:03.800
You get down and you get dirty, and you get

689
00:40:03.840 --> 00:40:08.000
people revealing the truth, and that's what gets journos into trouble.

690
00:40:08.199 --> 00:40:10.800
So well, Urno may be a thing of the past,

691
00:40:11.199 --> 00:40:12.599
the way America is going.

692
00:40:12.440 --> 00:40:16.639
Right, Well, yeah, I mean it's also interesting. And again

693
00:40:16.679 --> 00:40:18.760
I'm not trying to have a go specifically at one

694
00:40:18.840 --> 00:40:23.239
side or another, but you know, when you've got certain

695
00:40:23.280 --> 00:40:27.119
people invited to news conferences not others, right, Traditionally, the

696
00:40:27.159 --> 00:40:30.199
idea of a news conference was that jurno's that are

697
00:40:30.280 --> 00:40:33.559
legitimate journos are invited to a news conference. But now

698
00:40:33.599 --> 00:40:36.239
they seem to pick and choose exactly who can and

699
00:40:36.239 --> 00:40:40.559
who can't go, which which is you know, it's not

700
00:40:40.639 --> 00:40:42.880
the way that it should work in terms of giving

701
00:40:43.440 --> 00:40:48.119
people freedom of the media. Greg, well, sorry, Peter, we

702
00:40:48.360 --> 00:40:49.519
haven't had you long.

703
00:40:49.559 --> 00:40:51.239
You go to Peter Alex and I'm going to love

704
00:40:51.360 --> 00:40:52.039
you and leave you.

705
00:40:52.639 --> 00:40:54.800
And give me a said, won't give me a score

706
00:40:55.320 --> 00:40:57.880
out of Tank corresponded, great at end, I'll give you

707
00:40:57.920 --> 00:41:00.679
correspond an eight, and I'm going to give it an

708
00:41:00.679 --> 00:41:04.840
eight as well. So what about you, Peter. I was very.

709
00:41:04.719 --> 00:41:06.119
Impressed by this film.

710
00:41:06.159 --> 00:41:10.119
We told a story so well about Peter Grest and

711
00:41:10.199 --> 00:41:14.719
about his incarceration and about his accusations that he was

712
00:41:14.719 --> 00:41:19.039
a terrorist because he was working for a news organization

713
00:41:19.239 --> 00:41:22.400
that was getting the other side of the conflict that

714
00:41:22.480 --> 00:41:26.519
was going on in Egypt at the time. So there

715
00:41:26.519 --> 00:41:29.159
are a lot of aspects to the story. There's the

716
00:41:29.199 --> 00:41:33.119
issue of the journalists who journalists who are treated quite

717
00:41:33.159 --> 00:41:37.800
badly because no matter what their involvement is, they'll be

718
00:41:37.880 --> 00:41:40.960
accused of being one sided one way or the other.

719
00:41:42.000 --> 00:41:45.679
I also was impressed by the handheld camera and the

720
00:41:45.760 --> 00:41:51.039
way that crib Senders directed the film, especially because he

721
00:41:51.079 --> 00:41:53.280
also did such a good job with the recent film

722
00:41:53.280 --> 00:41:58.079
on the Vietnam War Danger Close, another excellent film by Kriv.

723
00:41:58.639 --> 00:42:01.760
The screenplay by Peter D. Duncan, who wrote Children of

724
00:42:01.800 --> 00:42:05.559
the Revolution et C. Was a very close collaboration with

725
00:42:05.639 --> 00:42:09.239
Peter Greste and Peter was on set most of the

726
00:42:09.320 --> 00:42:13.920
time to be part of the filmmaking process to make

727
00:42:13.960 --> 00:42:19.079
sure that everything was done exactly as it happened, and

728
00:42:19.239 --> 00:42:25.239
Richard Roxburgh was a terrific choice as Peter to play

729
00:42:25.280 --> 00:42:28.280
that role. I was very impressed by this film. It

730
00:42:28.360 --> 00:42:31.639
is a powerful Australian film and we should be making

731
00:42:31.679 --> 00:42:33.760
more of it and not dismissing it.

732
00:42:33.920 --> 00:42:34.519
Oh, it's just.

733
00:42:34.519 --> 00:42:39.679
Another Australian film, and people tend to dismiss Australian films somewhat,

734
00:42:39.840 --> 00:42:42.440
which is a great shame because this is an excellent

735
00:42:42.480 --> 00:42:44.800
film and deserves much more recognition.

736
00:42:45.360 --> 00:42:49.320
We spent a lot of money on more esoteric material, Peter,

737
00:42:49.440 --> 00:42:51.400
and I think that's one of the problems that not

738
00:42:52.079 --> 00:42:55.440
us as film reviewers have, but that the public has

739
00:42:55.599 --> 00:43:00.960
getting access to movies that This feels much more mainstream

740
00:43:01.039 --> 00:43:04.599
to me, and I think it deserves to do well

741
00:43:04.960 --> 00:43:06.920
as a result. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with

742
00:43:07.000 --> 00:43:11.480
doing off center films. I don't know. Have you seen

743
00:43:11.519 --> 00:43:14.400
The Surfer yet, which we'll talk about in weeks to come. No,

744
00:43:15.400 --> 00:43:16.079
and don't forget.

745
00:43:16.119 --> 00:43:20.039
Canada makes lots of off center films and they are

746
00:43:20.159 --> 00:43:20.960
very successful.

747
00:43:21.800 --> 00:43:23.880
It's realin Yes.

748
00:43:23.639 --> 00:43:26.760
That's true, they do. We don't seem to tolerate as much.

749
00:43:26.760 --> 00:43:30.119
Have you seen The Surfer yet? Greek? Okay, this is

750
00:43:30.599 --> 00:43:31.880
the new Nick Cage movie.

751
00:43:32.199 --> 00:43:34.400
Yes, I know what it is on waving to see it?

752
00:43:35.119 --> 00:43:40.519
Yeah, thank you very much. Yes, so, Peter, because we've

753
00:43:40.519 --> 00:43:43.119
already got Sandy score and my score as eight out

754
00:43:43.159 --> 00:43:45.559
of ten. What are you going to give this one?

755
00:43:46.079 --> 00:43:48.480
I was very impressed by the film. It deserves a

756
00:43:48.519 --> 00:43:52.079
lot more recognition. Nine out of ten. Oh my golly, wow.

757
00:43:52.719 --> 00:43:56.360
I didn't. I thought it was good, but I wouldn't

758
00:43:56.440 --> 00:43:58.800
go that far obviously. What about you, Greg?

759
00:43:59.440 --> 00:44:01.159
Well, that's all I just want to say.

760
00:44:01.199 --> 00:44:04.599
How time that is at the moment as a reminder

761
00:44:04.639 --> 00:44:07.119
of the constant threats to freedom of the press that

762
00:44:07.159 --> 00:44:10.000
we're seeing at the moment and journalistic intevity which is

763
00:44:10.079 --> 00:44:13.239
under threat at the moment too, and there's scenes seem

764
00:44:13.280 --> 00:44:16.400
even more urgent and relevant today. It's a fairly grim

765
00:44:16.400 --> 00:44:19.400
film at time, so not quite as grim as Midnight Express,

766
00:44:19.760 --> 00:44:22.719
but it takes your inside the prison routine and there.

767
00:44:23.119 --> 00:44:25.639
I thought Richard Roxby did a good job.

768
00:44:25.480 --> 00:44:31.360
There of conveying both his attitude. He's despair in the

769
00:44:31.360 --> 00:44:35.039
prison there. It remains me it was shot in Sydney. Actually,

770
00:44:35.280 --> 00:44:38.039
it looked so real that he thought it was stunning.

771
00:44:38.280 --> 00:44:42.960
Must be us in Cairo, and the injugation of archive

772
00:44:43.000 --> 00:44:45.000
will foot you through the riots on the seat, which

773
00:44:45.000 --> 00:44:47.199
is quite seemless. He's done, so I was surprised when

774
00:44:47.199 --> 00:44:49.559
I read there was actually shot on location a couple

775
00:44:49.559 --> 00:44:54.199
of disused prison outside Sydney there. But yeah, it's a really.

776
00:44:53.920 --> 00:44:55.119
Impressive story there.

777
00:44:55.320 --> 00:44:58.679
The trial sequences had a bit of tension to the film,

778
00:44:58.719 --> 00:45:02.039
even though it's a sort of kafkaesque nightmare what he

779
00:45:02.079 --> 00:45:06.400
went through there looking at the corrupt in just system

780
00:45:06.440 --> 00:45:08.840
of Egypt there.

781
00:45:09.840 --> 00:45:11.360
Yeah, the performance is really good.

782
00:45:11.400 --> 00:45:16.039
I like the Julian Maroon as Muhammad and Rahel romnand

783
00:45:16.039 --> 00:45:19.519
there as Bahir. These two colleagues who are also arrested

784
00:45:19.559 --> 00:45:21.079
in charge alongside him.

785
00:45:21.760 --> 00:45:23.519
The film caught this sort.

786
00:45:23.280 --> 00:45:27.320
Of daily routine, the grind, the routine, the tedium of

787
00:45:27.400 --> 00:45:30.000
prison life quite effectively. I thought, so, yeah, it's a

788
00:45:30.039 --> 00:45:36.000
good film, and no flashback sequences to his timing.

789
00:45:36.079 --> 00:45:39.079
Mog issue with Kate Bayton, had a bit of contexture

790
00:45:39.280 --> 00:45:41.559
the guilt and frustration he feels there.

791
00:45:41.800 --> 00:45:43.559
And I thought, Jeffrey haul did a good job at

792
00:45:43.559 --> 00:45:46.280
the cinema job with you there, handel camera is working

793
00:45:46.280 --> 00:45:48.079
in close up, all that kind of thing.

794
00:45:48.719 --> 00:45:50.519
And yeah, so good film.

795
00:45:51.400 --> 00:45:55.159
Out of ten, seven to seven and a half. Okay,

796
00:45:55.320 --> 00:45:57.679
so we're all recommending it, which is terrific. Now you're

797
00:45:57.719 --> 00:46:01.400
on j eighty eight FM. Please join up by all means.

798
00:46:01.400 --> 00:46:03.880
Fifty four bucks gets you membership for the year, and

799
00:46:04.559 --> 00:46:07.800
it helps sustain the radio station, which is obviously our

800
00:46:07.840 --> 00:46:11.039
desire to entertain you for twenty four hours a day

801
00:46:11.159 --> 00:46:15.960
with lots of interesting news views and also music. Let's

802
00:46:16.039 --> 00:46:21.920
talk about a program, a movie called Sinners So Evil Pervades.

803
00:46:22.000 --> 00:46:25.159
It's the fifth collaboration between the writer and director Ryan

804
00:46:25.239 --> 00:46:29.119
Coogler and Michael B. Jordan Black Panther, fruit Vale Station,

805
00:46:29.800 --> 00:46:33.039
Creed and there's a sequel to Black Panther as well,

806
00:46:33.239 --> 00:46:34.280
So this one's.

807
00:46:34.119 --> 00:46:37.440
Quite long that you, Jordan, you're even Creed too.

808
00:46:37.840 --> 00:46:40.639
I'm thinking Creed to there you go, very good, so

809
00:46:41.400 --> 00:46:44.400
thank you for the correction. This is M rated Sinners

810
00:46:44.880 --> 00:46:47.119
and it's one hundred and thirty seven minutes. So we're

811
00:46:47.119 --> 00:46:50.960
in Mississippi in nineteen thirty two, which is where identical

812
00:46:51.199 --> 00:46:54.639
twin brothers. They said they're cousins, but they're twins, aren't they.

813
00:46:54.800 --> 00:46:58.440
They're known as Smokestack, Smoke and Stack like the names,

814
00:46:58.800 --> 00:47:02.840
both played by Jordan return after seven years away, and

815
00:47:02.880 --> 00:47:06.519
they were part of the Chicago gangland scene. I think

816
00:47:06.559 --> 00:47:10.440
they work for our component at one point, helping in

817
00:47:10.480 --> 00:47:10.800
the water.

818
00:47:10.800 --> 00:47:12.800
At the moment in Hollywood act just playing.

819
00:47:12.599 --> 00:47:15.320
Model roles you Robert Yeah in.

820
00:47:15.320 --> 00:47:19.199
Midey seventeen and Robert de Nuo in The Alto Nights.

821
00:47:19.440 --> 00:47:21.519
I don't think there's ever been a period where three

822
00:47:21.960 --> 00:47:24.920
do it in such close succession. I agree, three films,

823
00:47:25.119 --> 00:47:29.239
but they were also in the trenches in Germany in

824
00:47:29.320 --> 00:47:32.519
World War One, so they're very very close to these

825
00:47:32.559 --> 00:47:37.039
brothers and now wearing fancy threads, pockets full of cash,

826
00:47:37.079 --> 00:47:40.679
and they've got a truckloaded liquor. They buy a disused

827
00:47:40.760 --> 00:47:43.280
mill that they want to turn into a duke joint,

828
00:47:43.960 --> 00:47:47.920
and they renew acquaintances with former love interests and folks

829
00:47:47.920 --> 00:47:51.639
they knew that with the right incentive will help them

830
00:47:52.039 --> 00:47:55.639
out in terms of setting up the duke joint for

831
00:47:55.719 --> 00:47:58.239
a bit of fun and fun and games and people

832
00:47:58.320 --> 00:48:01.199
dancing and so on and so forth. See in terms

833
00:48:01.199 --> 00:48:05.480
of the love interest. For Smoke, the love interest is

834
00:48:05.519 --> 00:48:08.920
a hoodoo conjurer and a healer called Annie played by

835
00:48:09.239 --> 00:48:12.960
Wooden Meet Masaku, And for Stack it's the now married

836
00:48:13.719 --> 00:48:18.199
Mary Hailey Steinfeld, whom he left high and right. So

837
00:48:18.800 --> 00:48:22.360
with them is their cousin, the young sharecropper called Sammy

838
00:48:22.360 --> 00:48:25.159
Moore played by Miles Kayton, who is the son of

839
00:48:25.159 --> 00:48:29.159
a preacher and he's known as well logically Preacher Boy.

840
00:48:30.000 --> 00:48:34.400
He is a gifted blues musician and he's also a singer,

841
00:48:35.000 --> 00:48:37.719
so Smoke and Stack are going to headline him alongside

842
00:48:37.719 --> 00:48:41.960
a local blues legend called Delta Slim. Delta Slim played

843
00:48:41.960 --> 00:48:46.079
by Delroy Lindo, who can't say no to a drink,

844
00:48:46.480 --> 00:48:50.719
that being his choice of poison. To help out with

845
00:48:50.760 --> 00:48:54.599
the hospitality is Grace Lejiun Lee and her husband Bao

846
00:48:54.760 --> 00:48:57.880
Cho played by Yoo, and they run a couple of

847
00:48:57.880 --> 00:49:01.039
local grocery stores, and also in the picture a hefty

848
00:49:01.079 --> 00:49:04.880
sharecropper called corn Bread Lad by Omar Miller who's been

849
00:49:04.920 --> 00:49:08.920
engaged to serve as dorman at this dute joint. For

850
00:49:09.039 --> 00:49:14.679
his part, Sammy, this is the cousin the young sharecropper.

851
00:49:14.960 --> 00:49:17.480
His head is turned by a good looking young lady

852
00:49:17.519 --> 00:49:21.559
called Perline played by Jamie Lawson, a woman in a

853
00:49:21.599 --> 00:49:25.199
repressed marriage with a taste for the blues, so obviously

854
00:49:25.239 --> 00:49:27.679
the fact that he can sing and he can play

855
00:49:28.719 --> 00:49:31.840
is attractive to her. The Duke Joint is up and

856
00:49:31.880 --> 00:49:35.400
happening very very quickly, and a good time's being had

857
00:49:35.400 --> 00:49:39.960
by all until the appearance of a very charismatic white

858
00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:45.440
missionary Remick played by Jack O'Connell and is too offside

859
00:49:45.480 --> 00:49:48.440
as a preaching and singing about peace and love. And

860
00:49:48.440 --> 00:49:51.400
they're looking for entry to the Duke, but Smoke and

861
00:49:51.440 --> 00:49:55.320
Stack are wary. They block them, and as it turns out,

862
00:49:55.360 --> 00:49:58.880
with good reason, because their true purpose is far more sinister.

863
00:50:00.000 --> 00:50:03.119
This is a blood sport. Sinners is a movie with

864
00:50:03.199 --> 00:50:06.480
two distinct parts, and perhaps we'll call them before and

865
00:50:06.719 --> 00:50:11.840
after it swings wildly, and the before is the lead

866
00:50:11.920 --> 00:50:14.000
up to the opening of the joint and it's immediate

867
00:50:14.280 --> 00:50:17.679
acceptance by the patrons crying out to let their hair down.

868
00:50:17.920 --> 00:50:21.039
The latter it's the mayhem created by the arrival of

869
00:50:21.360 --> 00:50:25.719
Remick and others. This is a horror with a uniquely

870
00:50:26.000 --> 00:50:30.280
Southern Gothic lens. I was intrigued. I was involved. Had

871
00:50:30.280 --> 00:50:31.559
a lot to do with the look and feel of

872
00:50:31.599 --> 00:50:35.280
the movie quite atmospheric, like the attention to period detail,

873
00:50:35.599 --> 00:50:39.760
the sets, the costuming, the prosthetics created for the soul

874
00:50:39.880 --> 00:50:44.320
possessed characters, and also the music. I like Michael B. Jordan,

875
00:50:44.360 --> 00:50:46.639
I really do like him most of the time. Excels

876
00:50:46.639 --> 00:50:49.480
in the dual lead roles, brim full of confidence of

877
00:50:49.559 --> 00:50:52.159
smoke and snake, each keeping the other in check. The

878
00:50:52.239 --> 00:50:55.320
pair is stronger together. They know which ways up. They

879
00:50:55.360 --> 00:50:58.960
balance each other out. Miles Caton brings youthful exuberance to

880
00:50:59.000 --> 00:51:02.199
Sammy Moore. His eyes wide open, He's looking to absorb

881
00:51:02.239 --> 00:51:04.639
as much as he can as he begins living his

882
00:51:04.760 --> 00:51:08.519
dream being a musician. There's a world weariness to Delroy

883
00:51:08.679 --> 00:51:12.079
Lindo's representation of Delta Slim get the impression that it

884
00:51:12.079 --> 00:51:15.039
has lived through a great deal. Hailey Steinfeld brings a

885
00:51:15.119 --> 00:51:20.159
yearning to Mary would me Wusaku as spiritual as Annie

886
00:51:20.440 --> 00:51:23.159
lind ju Lynn will lead you. Linn is nothing if

887
00:51:23.159 --> 00:51:26.519
not pragmatic as Grace and Jack O'Connell's Remick is a

888
00:51:26.519 --> 00:51:30.559
wolf in sheep's clothing. So smoke and stack, live on,

889
00:51:30.719 --> 00:51:32.800
Live out the adage, which is also a line that's

890
00:51:32.840 --> 00:51:35.480
dropped in the film, if you can't keep dancing, If

891
00:51:35.480 --> 00:51:37.639
you keep dancing with the evil, one day, he's going

892
00:51:37.679 --> 00:51:41.880
to follow you home. I like Ryan Kugler's direction. He's

893
00:51:41.920 --> 00:51:45.880
at his creative best. Lots of surprises and shocks, and

894
00:51:45.960 --> 00:51:49.320
among the many highlights is Sammy singing an original lumber.

895
00:51:49.599 --> 00:51:53.880
I lied to you to the receptive crowd at the

896
00:51:53.960 --> 00:51:57.280
juke choint. And lest you walk out when the final

897
00:51:57.320 --> 00:51:59.679
credits start rolling, you stand and miss part of the

898
00:51:59.760 --> 00:52:02.440
narrow thread. You've got to stay at the end. When

899
00:52:02.480 --> 00:52:06.480
we saw the media screening, it was quite extraordinary that

900
00:52:06.920 --> 00:52:10.079
ninety six is ninety seven percent of the audience had

901
00:52:10.159 --> 00:52:12.960
left and there were still things happening on the screen.

902
00:52:13.239 --> 00:52:20.719
So please do not do that. Peter, What did you think, Peter,

903
00:52:23.000 --> 00:52:26.000
he's fallen asleep. I experienced it.

904
00:52:26.079 --> 00:52:27.599
Yes, I'm still here.

905
00:52:28.039 --> 00:52:29.960
Well we can't. We couldn't hear you, So now we

906
00:52:30.000 --> 00:52:30.440
can go.

907
00:52:30.639 --> 00:52:33.440
Now you can, oh, okay. I was very impressed by

908
00:52:33.480 --> 00:52:36.760
this very distinctive film. This is such a multi layered

909
00:52:36.800 --> 00:52:41.639
story set in nineteen thirty two and then it flashes forward,

910
00:52:41.719 --> 00:52:45.159
but we won't explain a bit more about that. It

911
00:52:45.280 --> 00:52:49.320
deals with so many issues related to the Black experience,

912
00:52:49.800 --> 00:52:53.079
to the Ku Klux Klan, and I have to mention

913
00:52:53.199 --> 00:52:56.039
it because it's a significant part of the film. The

914
00:52:56.119 --> 00:53:02.039
way encroaching evil in terms of vampires, part of the narrative.

915
00:53:02.679 --> 00:53:05.199
It's amazing, it's amazing. It's amazing. Now we've only got

916
00:53:05.280 --> 00:53:07.320
very little time, Peter, so I'll ask you to sum

917
00:53:07.320 --> 00:53:09.920
it up very quickly with a score out of ten.

918
00:53:10.119 --> 00:53:13.320
And all right, very quickly. But it's really well directed.

919
00:53:14.519 --> 00:53:17.880
The two post credit sequences. Yes, when I saw it

920
00:53:17.960 --> 00:53:21.039
last night, people had walked out. Everyone missed it. But

921
00:53:21.199 --> 00:53:27.599
it was a terrific, unique, distinctive film which was very impressive.

922
00:53:28.400 --> 00:53:29.679
And you Greg.

923
00:53:29.760 --> 00:53:32.400
Yeah, I like the way that the two model the

924
00:53:32.599 --> 00:53:35.800
Jordan characters interacted here. They were so similessly. Don't you'd

925
00:53:35.800 --> 00:53:39.559
almost were there given actors there. I also thought Miles

926
00:53:39.639 --> 00:53:43.079
Caton was defined there as the young, pretty siable.

927
00:53:43.239 --> 00:53:47.719
It doesn't, yeah it was, I agree, but and in

928
00:53:48.000 --> 00:53:49.119
fact that this.

929
00:53:49.280 --> 00:53:53.320
Is African American vampire film as a far cry from

930
00:53:53.400 --> 00:53:56.480
those black piltation films like Blackular and that from the

931
00:53:56.559 --> 00:53:57.440
seventies Cruise.

932
00:53:57.480 --> 00:54:00.039
This one does as predio missions.

933
00:53:59.320 --> 00:54:02.559
Going into all that sort of generational trauma of African

934
00:54:02.599 --> 00:54:05.199
Americans with the slavery, the ku klutz kan and all

935
00:54:05.199 --> 00:54:07.280
that sort of stuff as well. That touches on that

936
00:54:07.880 --> 00:54:10.559
when the violence does come, the vampires getting into the picture,

937
00:54:10.760 --> 00:54:14.440
it does turn bloody and nasty quite quickly, but a

938
00:54:14.480 --> 00:54:16.679
little bit of a slow build up there, but that's

939
00:54:16.880 --> 00:54:19.119
part of the character building and the setting of the scene.

940
00:54:19.559 --> 00:54:22.000
Quite good, Quite a good little film and a bit

941
00:54:22.039 --> 00:54:23.320
of an unusual take on the.

942
00:54:23.360 --> 00:54:27.880
Vampire or excellent and score out of ten Greg again

943
00:54:27.920 --> 00:54:31.719
another seven only is only seven and a half, okay, Peter,

944
00:54:33.280 --> 00:54:35.639
I gave it nine out of ten. Greeg oh my golly,

945
00:54:35.760 --> 00:54:37.960
and I gave it an eight out of ten. Folks.

946
00:54:38.039 --> 00:54:40.920
We are out of time again and I wish you

947
00:54:41.039 --> 00:54:44.760
well in your cinema going, Greg King, thank you so much,

948
00:54:45.119 --> 00:54:48.880
and Peter Kraus likewise and Sandy, who had to leave

949
00:54:48.960 --> 00:54:53.000
unfortunately early, appreciate her contribution. Till next time. Over and out.

950
00:54:53.199 --> 00:54:55.400
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