They've Turned The Wayans Against Us (ft. Nicholas Galitzine & Camila Mendes)

21:14Hurrah.

21:15Chris Hewitt:And then we can come back recharged and refreshed and have a big old sword fight. Yeah. Oh, no. See you in a sec. Okay, we are back, folks. We put our swords away. You'll be delighted to know we're not going to chop each other's heads off for this next section of the show anyway, which is movie news discussion time. Very exciting indeed. I will say, obviously we've got lots of questions this week on Instagram. We got one from NickyRR70 who asked, is the new Adam Wingard film secretly the guest to discuss and brackets and please let the answer be yes. Close brackets. And I think the answer might be yes.

22:00Chris Hewitt:Shall we discuss it? The new Adam Wingard film is called Onslaught. Who wants to talk about this movie the trailer for which came out this week? Yes, so this trailer sees Adriarjona living in a sort of trailer park in the desert with her little girl. She's got friends around. She's clearly got a background in combat. She's served in the military. And something is going on nearby like helicopters are going on overhead. Rebecca Hall is up to no good. You know, something's going on. And it turns out, wouldn't you know it, that the government is breeding or training or brainwashing or, you know, cyborging, I don't know, a generation of very scary killer people.

22:44Chris Hewitt:Super soldiers, you might say. Super soldiers, you might say, but not in a good, like, cuddly, like, you know, Stars and Stripes dance number kind of a way, who are being designed for use on the civilian population of the country. And there's going to be a bit of a clash. And I'm hoping that the lady wins. I suspect the lady will win. This is the new film, of course, from Adam Wingard who directed the last two Godzilla and Kong movies and has directed a ton of really fun films like You're Next. But the film in question here is The Guest, which came out well over a decade ago now and was a really really fun black comedy action thriller starring Dan Stevens as a super soldier turned into a psycho killing machine and was so much fun and they talked about a sequel for a long long time Adam Wingard and his writing partner Simon Barrett and I have a feeling this might be that this might be that sequel because it's playing in the same territory Dan Stevens is also in this movie but it's not in the trailer and I'm wondering if we're in a sort of M.

23:56Chris Hewitt:Night Shyamalan unbreakable split type situation here where he walks up at the end and we lead into the next film which will be properly merging these two worlds together might be completely wrong about that but Jimbo you seem pretty excited about this prospect yes I mean it looked absolutely mad doesn't it it looks wild it's exciting it looks bombastic and explosive and the thought of it being a guest crossover it just makes it even better and I look forward to the third film in this series The Guest 3 Guest House Paradiso exactly that but no it looks loads of fun it does doesn't it especially because it dropped at the same time as the new David Leitch trailer but yes we'll get on in a second what a cast in Onslaught by the way great to see Andrea Arshona getting like her props and this is a proper star vehicle for her she's absolutely terrific but we also have the aforementioned Dan Stevens we have Eric Wareheim from Tim and Eric We have Reginald Phil Johnson, who gets a big laugh line in this trailer.

24:52Chris Hewitt:Michael Biehn, Rebecca Hall, of course, who also starred in Wingard's Godzilla movies. So, yeah, I am very, very hyped. Yes, please. Thank you very much. Absolutely. Yes. Did you react similarly to How to Rob a Bank, which is the aforementioned David Leitch trailer? Yes, which is about influencers robbing banks. As we all know, that's how you get clicks. I knew they were up to no good. Yes, that's it. That's what they're doing. it's Cash for Clicks yeah this is essentially a group of people who are robbing banks and streaming it live on the internet because that genuinely is our future I fear this is obviously David Leitch's new film it's got Zoe Kravitz Nicholas Holtz Anna Sawai from Shogun's in it looks loads of fun obviously slightly satirical of internet culture as a whole but also late stage capitalism right capitalism but it just looks like a fun action film too yeah it has some really good stuff in the trailer yeah the fact that John C.

25:45Reilly is leading the police response to this guy with bank robbers is really promising. And weirdly, he ends up in a sort of odd couple partnership thing with Zoe Kravitz's hacker. So I'm kind of, I'm expecting some shenanigans there if I'm honest. And then Nicholas Holt is leading the bank robbers with the likes of Pete Davidson in there as well. Yeah. This just looked so fun. Please like and subscribe. Yeah. I will both like and subscribe. Yes, please do this.

26:12Chris Hewitt:Yeah, it looks really, really cool. Action-powered. Got a really, really love a sense of humor. both of these movies are scheduled to come out the same day in the States, September 4th of this year. I don't know whether that's going to be the case over here in the good old US of K. I'm going to find out. Both of these look absolutely made for me in some sort of lab. So, very excited. Very excited. Can you name the other two films in which Nicholas Holt and Zoe Kravitz have co-starred? Oh, oh. X-Men First Class. Very good. Oh, yeah. Very good. and another film oh come on guys was he in A Fantastic Beast?

26:50no he wasn't oh no no he's got formal sense

26:51Chris Hewitt:oh you did so well there was so much promise you were starting off so well because because she's not in Days of Future Past so it's not that no she's not yeah I don't know I don't remember give us a clue what a day oh she's one of the wives in Mad Max Fury Road what a lovely day of course she is Epic fail Epic fail Oh yeah we should have seen that one coming Yeah Definitely Driving very fast That is true At the moment on the UK release schedule September 4th is a big old day We've got Ridley Scott's The Dog Stars We have How to Rob a Bank And we have Hugh Jackman in The Death of Robin Hood But as of yet No onslaught So maybe we can lobby people to get Onslaught onto the biggest screens possible over here in the UK.

27:46We seem to be circling cinema releases and box offices. We should probably talk about some of the horror stuff that's going on. So Obsession, I believe, is tracking to become the most profitable film ever made. That's astonishing. Is that true? Apparently, it's eyeing $250 million and it was made for$750 ,000. Which is absolutely fucking wild. Meanwhile, Back Rooms is the fourth biggest opening in history for a horror film, which is insane. And they've, I believe, greenlit Batrooms too. Well, certainly they're discussing it at the moment. I mean, it's pretty baked in. It's pretty baked in. Of course, given the amount of money it's made.

28:22Yeah, yeah, yeah. But that is absolutely, well, we, it has to be said, Dan, were on this podcast a little bit underwhelmed by Batrooms. Now, you were in the same screening that we were in when we saw it. I loved it. You loved it. I loved it. It was like, it was like watching one of my own dreams. That says more about you than the film, but sure. Yeah. No, no, I thought it was wonderfully eerie, really sort of a novel approach to what makes horror. I mean, it's the Uncanny Valley. I mean, also, it kind of feels like, you know, the things that get conjured up are the kind of things that you see on Mid Journey or something like that as well.

28:56Yes, very much so. There was an AI slop element to it. Yeah, it is kind of like it's slop as horror. And, you know, that guy's, what, 20? Yes. I think he was 16 when they first started discussing making this film. He was 16 when he made his first short film. Right, the YouTube one. Backrooms, yeah, found footage. So, yeah.

29:14Chris Hewitt:Just to put these things into context a little bit, or consue text, so Backrooms is Kane Parsons' directorial debut. He is 12 years old, and he made this movie. And it has opened enormously at the U.S. box office. Obsession has gone up at the box office every weekend it's been out, which is not unprecedented. but it is very, very rare, rare as hen's teeth and it has gone from fairly decent opening to$111 million in the States, it opened up with$17 million and even now we have your darling Linda's soul but also, even now Backrooms and Obsession are packing them in outside weekends so they're Monday, as in two days ago you know Backrooms was making 7.6 million Obsession was making 5.2 million Mandalorian and Grogu 2.2 million so these movies have really broken out into the general consciousness in a way that it's unusual for horror films to do and both of them are obviously coming from YouTube I'm worried now we might get a chicken shop date movie which would be truly horrific but what about you guys what's your take on what's happening here with is this people just loving YouTube horror or is it word of mouth driving these movies?

30:39I feel like it's word of mouth and partly it's getting in that kind of Gen Z demographic maybe even somewhat a Gen Alpha demographic although they probably shouldn't be watching this but it's getting younger people into the cinema, right? In a way that they often don't. Yeah. I think it's part of that it's speaking to them. I think they're also both incredible films. They've both got really good reviews. I still would put Obsession as my second best film of the year behind my beloved Project Henry. I was going to ask whatever one was, yeah. I think it's absolutely astonishing. But I think they're both, you know, they're both offering something fresh, offering something new, offering a reason to go to the cinema.

31:14I think horror is still one of the best things to see with a crowd. Yes, without a doubt. And there's a reason to see that in the cinema rather than at your house. It's been the case now for a number of years that horror has been one of the most reliably profitable things at the box office because, again, it gets people out of the house and they will go see that collectively. And I don't actually understand why comedy has been struggling to do the same thing. And I think maybe a part of it has been a lack of such rapturously reviewed and fresh feeling comedies. Genuinely, when was the last time you saw a great comedy in the cinema?

31:49I'm going to forget something that I loved. No, there's been stuff since then. I mean, Honor Among Thieves has been since then. No, no, no. That's not a straight comedy. That's another genre which has a lot of comedy in it. I don't know. I'm talking about like an actual... See, I will push back on this for the simple reason that I, and this is a personal bug, but I don't find straight comedy funny. I think there has to be, the comedy has to come out of some form of drama. It can't be comedy for the sake of comedy, which is why I think Honor Among Thieves for me is a comedy. Yes, it's a fantasy drama underpinning it, but it's played for laughs.

32:20Don't get me wrong, I love Honor Among Thieves, and I laughed a lot, but... Wallace Island. Wallace Island. Oh, yeah. Yes. Great comedy. That's kind of like a love story.

32:31Chris Hewitt:That's a very, very low-budget movie. It's a tiny movie. I think what you're talking about, Jimbo, is we've had a dearth over the last few years of the big star-driven American comedies. We have, the big studio comedy. Yeah, your Will Ferrells and your Adam Sandlers are largely doing stuff for streaming platforms nowadays. So the days of them doing stuff like Get Hard or The House or Pixels for cinema release. Like Happy Gilmore 2 was huge last year, but was on the small screen on Netflix. So something like The Naked Gun, when it came out last year, the Liam Neeson, Akifa Shaffer reboot of The Naked Gun, really fun.

33:10Chris Hewitt:I saw that on the big screen and it was great to see it with an audience who got most of the jokes. But again, with that movie, it doesn't matter because if you don't get that joke, here's another one five seconds later. I think that's something that the studios have cultivated because they have abandoned comedy rather than comedy abandoning them. Something like The Naked Gun shows that the potential is still there, but they have trained audiences out of going to see it. And a comedy is inherently funnier when seen with a crowd. It just is. It's fundamentally funnier. But in the same way, I think a horror film is infinitely more fun when seen with a crowd, but also it's more comforting.

33:41I think if people find horrors hard to deal with, it's much easier to sit down and watch a horror film in a room full of people and you get that awkward laugh afterwards and everyone like the collective kind of exhalation. Whereas if you watch it on your own in your living room, you just shoot yourself. Wow. Real insights into your life, James. Thanks.

33:57Chris Hewitt:I'm looking at last year's box office and in terms of comedies like out and out comedies yeah there weren't that many on the big screen but my best and I said this on the Review of the Year podcast my favorite cinema going experience of last year was Final Destination Bloodlines because that was absolutely incredible it was a room full of people who were all dialed into it and that movie's a comedy you know it's being marketed as a horror but it's an out and out comedy and it was hilarious let's see if this week's comedy horror can live up to that standard office romance isn't a horror oh I see what you mean I've got a story a toy story I knew it because yes you guessed it it was announced that Taylor Swift has composed an original song for Toy Story 5 it is called James Love Me I Knew You yeah that's what it is that's the subtitle and we think it's for like a flashback of Jessie when Jessie was with her oh god you think they're going to do it again you think they're going to break our hearts again with a Jessie song another Jessie flashback yeah really yeah scored by Tayswizzle are we going with Tayswizzle I am well you've known her as long as I have oh I see I see when's her wedding let me just check the invite sorry I can't share that information you recorded the invite it would become no closer than 50 yards to this one but I mean at least she'd be able to make the wedding dress very quickly because she's a swift tailor wow dad joke that really was upsetting Zack Snyder is going to be remaking Escape from New York we have learned so the wheel the roulette wheel has finally landed on Zack Snyder of people who might direct who was it Len Weisman no Brett Ratner no Brett Eisner no Robert Rodriguez no Leigh Whannell no Radio Silence I believe at one point as well no really no no now yeah yeah I mean lots of people but now it's going to be now it's going to be Zack Snyder super awesome yeah how are we feeling about this I mean I mean I guess it's I guess it's going to be so what's the film he's doing at the moment which is the antidote to Rebel Moon like he's doing a smaller film at the moment we've been to Rebel Moon I don't know well anyway he's working on a film at the moment this is what he's planning to do after that the last photograph is that the one he's doing yes that's the one so I feel like that's going to be the palette cleanser to kind of remove the aftertaste of Rebel Moon That's a very personal movie, the last photograph he's been trying to make for donkey's years.

36:31Chris Hewitt:And I've never seen him associated with this. This is exciting. I know Zack Snyder gets a lot of shit. Sometimes rightly so, but he's also made some great movies. And lest we forget, fucking banging remakes, Dawn of the Dead. Dawn of the Dead. Dawn of the Dead. Yeah. And apparently this is going to be more in that kind of a style. Like, I've heard it's going to be like a gritty kind of lots of locations. Yeah. not the big sort of, you know, slick, slathered in CG and everything kind of approach. Hey, he would want us to talk about the fact that they planted a cornfield at this point for Rebel Moon.

37:04So, let's just mention that. I was thinking more about, you know, the kind of the Justice League things. Planted a cornfield on the LED volume. I think this is actually not, if you're going to make Escape from New York, which apparently we are, I don't think it's a terrible call to have Zack Snyder do it. Once again, in case you don't know,

37:28Chris Hewitt:Escape from New York is a 1981 John Carpenter movie in which Kurt Russell plays a badass mercenary called Snake Plissken, who is sent into New York of, I believe, 1997. Where it's essentially a walk-in, it's a prison. It's now become like a statewide penitentiary for all the scum and lowlifes and podcasters who have been thrown into this place. And the president of the United States of America, played by Donald Pleasance, is playing Crashland there. He says, get off my plane. And then Snake Plissken is sent in to rescue him. But he's a nihilist, is Snake Plissken. And it's really, really fucking cool.

38:12Chris Hewitt:And the sequel, Escape from L.A., is legitimately one of the worst movies ever made. Yeah, that is not good. But I would cast Wyatt Russell as Snake. He's very cool. And I would cast Jared Harris as the American president. What? Just feels right. You're the Duke. It just feels right. You're the Duke. A number one. I would cast Jared Harris as Snake Plissken and Wyatt Russell as the president of the United States. I would take Ving Rhames. He'd make a good Duke. It could be a very, very cool movie. He's a great visualist. He's Zack Snyder. So this could be right up his street. I mean, the first one didn't even shoot in New York for obvious reasons.

38:51Chris Hewitt:and they didn't have a lot of money and sometimes that shows. James Cameron did some of the visual effects. He did. He did some of the matte paintings and whatnot. Yeah. Yeah. The kind of the readout on the computer, the kind of the computer graphics thing that shows a map of New York. He created that using like cardboard boxes. Wow. Yeah. There you go. Trivia. Great score as well. Great score. Great score. Yeah. Is it one of Carpenter's best, is it Carpenter's best theme? I think so. Do you think? Is it just because you love it a lot? A little bit. I love that score. I love that score. Assault on Precinct 13 is pretty good.

39:28It's an assault on Precinct 13. Not Precinct 14, but Precinct 13. Oh, it's a shame they didn't include the lyrics in the film. I know, it's a real shame.

39:41Chris Hewitt:That's exciting. Maybe Zack Snyder will do the score as well. Maybe Taylor Swift can do a song for it. Oh, can you imagine? That would be so good. And it should be called I Heard You Were Dead by Taylor Swift. And it would have all the snakes from Reputation in them. All right, thanks. I've gone too far. I've opened the door once again. You have. You have opened the door. All right, anything else you want to talk about real quick? We should talk about the very sad death of Marsha Lucas. Yes. Who was, let's be honest, quite heavily responsible for Star Wars. Oh, God, yeah. And she was a film editor.

40:18chiefly she was known obviously for Star Wars and she worked up to Return of the Jedi she I think worked on well yeah she worked on the two before that as well American Graffiti and THX 1138

40:30Chris Hewitt:in case it wasn't obvious from her name she was married to George Lucas she was married to George Lucas but she also worked on like Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore and Taxi Driver in New York New York and yeah if you didn't like George Lucas' later films as much I'm just saying that may be the reason why she didn't work on them she has credited it a lot with giving Star Wars a structure and a shape, especially the attack run at the end. It would not be the film that we know and love without Marcia Lucas. Obi-Wan dying, that was a note that she had in there. Obi-Wan. Because she was like, it's the passing of the generational torch.

41:00That's going to be a theme throughout the saga. So yeah, I think she, she totally took, I mean, if you've read his original screenplays for, you know, Starkiller and whatnot, it's absolutely fucking wild. So it has come a long way and I think she was a moderating influence on some of his slightly more deranged ideas. and the reason why I think it lands so well is because of her influence.

41:21Chris Hewitt:Her influence on that cannot be overstated and very, very sadly she passed away at the age of 80. The great Marsha Lucas. Very, very quickly it is New Empire Day today. It is Thursday the 4th of June a brand new issue of Empires and Cell right now and all good evil and virtual news agents. We obviously have a show dedicated to that where I sit down with Nick the Semelian and last month Jimbo got crashed as well to talk about that. It's called The Shameless Plug. So go listen to that. We'll talk you through the magazine in excruciating depth. But right now, all we can say is Spider-Man Brand New Day is on the cover, which is very, very exciting.

41:57Chris Hewitt:Spoke to Tom Holland and Destin Daniel Cretton and all sorts of people about that movie, which is very, very cool and fresh and exciting. And I don't have a copy of the magazine with me to hand and I didn't write anything for this issue, so I don't know what else is in it. Supergirl! Thank you, Helen. I wrote it by Supergirl. You wrote it by Supergirl. Awesome. Excellent. You were on set. weren't you? I was on set, yes. You were on set of Supergirl. You were, in fact, the Supergirl. Aw, thanks. Aw, that's nice, isn't it? No, it was Millie Alcock. Yeah, yes. She's pretty super. Yeah. I did a pint of milk with Jermaine Clement.

42:30Did you? I've read that. It's very funny. Yeah, it was good. Jermaine Clement was sitting in that exact seat that you are sitting in, Dan, yesterday. Really? We have him and Nicola Walker on the Pilot TV podcast for their new show, Alice and Steve. Did you start off by going,

42:42Chris Hewitt:Ben meeting, Jermaine, present. Nicola present I didn't know that although it was a bit of an embarrassing interview because I was doing it on Zoom and I'd left a background on my Zoom which I'd recorded a message for the for I can't believe I started this story I'll finish it now I recorded a kind of a present like an intro for the Dark Knight Rises for the Toronto Film Festival okay they're doing a Nolan season and I left the Dark Knight Rises background on while I was interviewing Jermaine Clement and he was very amused that I was sitting in front of a backdrop of a big giant sort of bat and disintegrating buildings and everything.

43:21So there you go. Terrible story. Cut it.

43:23Chris Hewitt:No, no, no. Also, do you remember last week when I said we don't have good stories? How wrong you were. How wrong you were. Wow. Okay. This should prove me wrong, Simon. This is what happens when I speak before I think. Yes. What else is in the issue? Oh, Timothy Olyphant. Timothy Olyphant. Yes, that's right. I went and read that article immediately. I bet you did or Timothy Mumakil as I prefer to call him oh my god I'm desperately waiting for Timothy Oliphant to be attached to some sort of project with Andy Serkis and then to leave that project so then I can say Timothy Oliphant packed his bags and said goodbye to the circus that's the headline that I want to use one day thank you Dan we can make this happen one day we can make this happen we should make this happen I'm so impressed by that I want to make this happen yes if only it were actually factually true oh my god we need to make that happen other great headlines that should become movies Mulder on the dance floor.

44:18Yes. Saturday Night Fever, the sequel starring David Duchovny.

44:24Chris Hewitt:Oh my God. Please, please, please make that happen. But yes, there's a lot of great stuff inside the issue. We'll delve into it in the shameless plug. But go out, rush out right now. Buy the new issue of Empire Magazine is on sale right now. All good, evil and virtual news agents. Please pay our wages. you absolutely lovely people see Helen I'm learning well done thank you shall we have a guest yes shall we have two guests yes shall we have Nicholas Galitzin and Camila Mendez who are the stars of Travis Knight's Masters of the Universe hurrah hell yes yes let's do that because this is of course as we will be discussing in the review section in just a tick Travis Knight's live action adaptation of the classic 1980s cartoon, He-Man, and the Masters of the Universe.

45:15Chris Hewitt:That's what it was called, wasn't it, Dan? Yes. The cartoon was called that, yes. The cartoon was called that. The film is not. They've lost the He-Man and the... And the toys were just called Masters of the Universe. The toys were just called Masters... Yeah, it was all very, very confusing. But this is obviously set on an alien planet called Eternia and follows the fortunes of a young man called Prince Adam who, when he holds his magic sword, turns into a man who is, to quote the cartoon, controversial because it was on Chilton's TV ripped to fuck he becomes He-Man makes no sense whatsoever but was a lot of fun if you were of a certain age which obviously I am not shut up and it's now made into a film it's coming out in cinemas right now and stars Nicholas Galatine as Prince Adam aka He-Man and Camila Mendes as Tila who is his partner in fighting space crime childhood friend slash much more competent space crime fighter pal I would say in this movie I spoke to them on Zoom the other day couldn't talk to them in London when they were here last week but they ended up on Saturday speaking to them in Berlin now we'll say Nicholas Galatine is a big Arsenal fan huge Arsenal fan if you are aware of football you'll know that Arsenal were playing in the Champions League final later on that day.

46:42Chris Hewitt:And so we talk about that a little bit. And Nicholas, I hope you're okay. I hope you're okay. Here we go. Nicholas Galassian and Camila Mendes. Enjoy. How are you both? We're good. Slightly insane. Slightly in a slightly goofy mood. Yeah. Okay, good. Excellent. I love Empire Magazine and I've always read Empire Magazine since I was a kid. We were on the cover of it. Yes, we were. I forgot about that. I did forget. You forgot you were on the cover of it. That's so cool. It's like I'm enjoying it all again for the first time. I was going to ask if you had framed that cover and put it on your wall, but clearly not.

47:25Chris Hewitt:I actually do. My mom went out in the rain to get all of the last copies from the newsagent. So I have about 15 copies at home. I love your mom. Yeah, I know. She's a star. Put them together and make a massive portrait when people come in. I've heard you had an icon to myself. Okay. Like a little shrine to yourself. A shrine. A shrine. That's a lot of people. That's the one. But before we get into talking about the film, Nick, for people, this will be coming out on June 5th, this interview, but this has been recorded on the morning of Saturday, 30th of May. It is Champions League final day. you are a massive gooner what the hell are you doing talking to me why you're not in budapha i think he's in such a weird mood today yeah i'm skittish i'm skittish it's just um it is it's kind of a surreal feeling and um and it's also like this like it's it's weird for so many reasons but obviously like the fact that we even won the prem was was such an odd thing and we've kind of been like basking in the glory of that but forgetting we also have you know the chance to kind of even supersede that because we've never won a champions league we got to the final right and against barcelona we were winning we completely capitulated right remember i told you i was like crying yes it's a great word it's it's often used in football commentary so interesting but i i i i remember when i say i went to the mirror and was like crying in front of the mirror it was like that game that we lost oh wow so it's big it's really really big for us yeah um i'm predicting a a one nil win for us a jammy header from a corner um in the 87th minute um and it's gonna be beautiful and i will have been i would have predicted the future because this will come out after the fact by the way nothing lights him up more than when he gets asked about this it's just like it's i just see like it's the longest relationship i've ever had is with this It's a toxic relationship with this football club.

49:33Yeah. Look, as an Irishman, are you United or are you Liverpool?

49:38Chris Hewitt:I'm Liverpool, but my wife's a Gooner. So she's actually going to the parade tomorrow and she's hoping that there'll be two shiny cups being held aloft. Oh my God. Yeah. One can dream. There was a plan for us to all go to a beer garden to watch it, but I was like, I think I need to be alone. That's not happening anymore? I know. This is how you tell me? I just don't like who I become when I watch Arsenal, you know? I am very much the same. I've had to step away from Liverpool games quite a lot. It turns me into a raging monster. Camila, I don't want to assume, but of course, someone with a Brazilian heritage, are you into football?

50:12Listen, I'm into it when it's the World Cup, but I don't know anything about individual leagues. You don't want to talk about anyone in particular, any players? No. Cool. No, but it's funny though, because when the World Cup happens, all of a sudden I'm obsessed with soccer and I get really into it. Oh, there's your first mistake. I mean, soccer. Football. Foochie ball. Foochie ball. Foochie ball.

50:39Chris Hewitt:I will say soccer is a British term. I know, which is kind of bizarre. So who's making the mistake now? Interesting. Oh, you had to go there. You had to undercut me. I want to reclaim soccer. I think we should reclaim soccer with a British term. You're just playing both sides now. Very much so. But anyway, listen, enough about football for the time. I'm going to try to take your mind off the final that is happening in six hours and nine minutes. I do not want to remind you of that, the enormity of what might happen in six hours and nine minutes. Camilla, your dad in this movie, Man at Arms, is played by Idris Elba, also a big Arsenal fan.

51:22Also a Gooner. That's the last time. We found our way back. Wait, is Gooner an Arsenal fan? yeah that's what they call them yeah well arsenal arsenal called the gunners and then so their fans

51:35Chris Hewitt:have it's been kind of mutated into gunners over there yeah so so there you go but uh idris is your dad in this movie uh but he's a dad that you're often disappointed by yeah is it difficult to be disappointed by idris elba is that the hardest acting challenge of your life honestly a little bit because he's far from a disappointment. He's the best man ever. He's just such a light. Yeah. I'd say he's like the coolest man in the cast. Strongest. Most intelligent. Would you say he's the he-man-est man? I would say so. He's the man. He is the man, you know? He's a he and a man. Yeah, I would say. Yeah, I would say so.

52:18I don't disagree. It's not true. It's not true. if only if only he had blonde hair he would have been a shoe in why do I feel like he pulled off he would kill it kill it

52:33Chris Hewitt:of course Nick you don't have blonde hair so that was a big old I know that's actually it's kind of tricky because I was a blonde kid and I've been blonde were you? yeah I was and I've been blonde so much in my career at this point that I always forget why am I so like turned away from this I was like, yeah, so... Ever since I started talking about Idris. I think I just, like, shifted away. Yeah, I forget that I'm not a natural blonde sometimes. But yeah, I was a blonde kid. How strange. Strange. Muy estrange. What language was that? That was Spanish. Muy que? Estrange. Estrange. Sí. It almost sounded German at the second half.

53:21No. you're like in spanky when in berlin do with the berlin when in berlin speak spanish yeah yeah

53:27Chris Hewitt:absolutely berlin as they say yes and for the non-spanish speakers amongst us who obviously aren't me i'm hugely fluent what did you just say i just said very strange strange ah okay i thought you were saying i was i was blonde or something like i was very blonde as a child but no very strange i get that okay um but there's one scene i wanted to talk about in particular we i i spent And a fair amount of time with Travis the other day, we did a big Empire screening of the movie. Wow. And we talked about the moment in the movie, the first moment in the movie where Adam says the words, you know, the words, those words.

54:05Chris Hewitt:And Travis said the first time you said, I have the power as Adam made him cry. Yeah. Is that true? He dropped to his knees and he weeped. Yeah. He sobbed. and we couldn't we couldn't tear him from the floor for hours we had to shut down that day it was like a sort of like a white light and then there was doves there was loads of doves and there was fire can you just say, have you seen Mission Impossible 2? what? what's the one with that amazing Scottish actor randomly in one of the Mission Impossibles there's like Tom Cruise is like he's suddenly like knows everything's like a flying kick and he has that like bob and then there's always like doves behind him and fire and it's like it's not in keeping with any of the other Mission Impossible movies.

55:03It's Mission Impossible 2 because it's a John Woo movie and John Woo. Yes exactly. How does this lead back to you? So it was exactly like Mission Impossible 2. Got it. That's what it was like. And I said Travis this is just I'm just an actor and he said no you're not you're god you you are you are the actor yeah yeah and then he threw up when is when are you gonna drop the bit you're just gonna keep yeah doubling down no i like it

55:37Chris Hewitt:yeah i like it he cried then he threw up then he exploded uh he had to be he'd be stitched back together again yeah it's one of those things uh camilla that that moment obviously you were present for it as well if you had to compare i wasn't present for it you weren't present for it no when you said the words you were just a little tired that day so she asked to go home early i wasn't working that day you're a double who was in the background no you must have been they didn't have anything else in the background that was like a very singular moment and they didn't shoot it they didn't shoot it the day that i was there or maybe they shot it before yeah actually you might be right and i was okay i'm gonna give you a real answer i'm so sorry what do you want to know?

56:18What was it like?

56:19Chris Hewitt:Just what it was like saying those words but also the reaction Travis' reaction you must have been slightly perplexed by I guess Yeah No, I wasn't perplexed because I look it was obviously it was something I'd thought about a lot but it was not something that I'd really wanted to rehearse because for my He-Man in that moment it's much more than just an incantation to sort of transform physically you know it really is a sort of a moment of of true self-belief and kind of washing away the you could even say like self-hatred and and and lack of belonging and and um you know all of these sort of um intrusively negative emotions that he kind of felt you know both being on a tiny end on earth and so i really just wanted it come out very sort of emotionally and true um and so it was quite emotional for me and so then you know afterwards um travis yeah travis came from behind the monitor and we you know we had a hug and and um and that's when he exploded that's when he exploded i do remember now i just had a memory come back to me and i because you know we obviously had to shoot the adam days separately from the he man days because they were two different loves yeah true so we shot all the adam stuff yeah and And then the next day we started with you as He-Man.

57:42And I think we started with your transformation. And I was in hair and makeup and my makeup artist had a live feed of set. And I remember she was like, do you want to see it? Like they're shooting it now. And I remember watching it. I can't believe I forgot this, but I watched it on her iPad. And you were like, I was like, it's fine. Maybe it'll be better with music.

58:02Chris Hewitt:Camille, if you, if you had to compare that moment to any of the Mission Impossible movies, which one would you compare it to? The second one, probably. That's exactly right. That's exactly right. Flying doves, motorcycle chases, high kicks. The doves, for sure. Flying hair, the whole kit. Amazing. I've got to let you guys go in a second. No, don't tell me to use it all your time. No, no, no. This has been joyous. It's been 15 minutes? Nearly, nearly. He's been such a traitor. I'm bringing the interview to a close. Yes. I don't need those last they've just told me I have another 25 minutes but I'm saying no guys we are good you can't tell Nick that we have 15 minutes because then he thinks he can do a 5 minute long bit about Mission Impossible 2 he's like I've got a tight 10 on Mission Impossible 2 this is going to be amazing I've been workshopping this bit for late night TV let's give it a go oh my god I've literally had someone text me in the chat saying no more questions.

59:10Chris Hewitt:So I think that that I'm afraid to say is it. But it's been an absolute pleasure talking to you guys. I will say obviously because this is going out next week, I'm going to do two outros. Thanks very much for this. It's been an absolute pleasure. And Nick, congratulations on Arsenal winning the Champions League. Yay! And here's the other one. It's been an absolute pleasure. And Nick, commiserations on Arsenal losing the Champions League. that was hard to watch and on that note thanks guys for the pleasure thanks mate thanks for talking okay that was Camila Mendes and Nicholas Galitzin stars of Masters of the Universe and now it is time to talk about that movie because it is reviews time talking about the films that are out this week in the multiplexes and on your sofa plexes this will be on your sofa plexes soon Jimbo because it's an Amazon MGM film which means it will be on Prime Video soon-ish it will But right now it's in cinemas.

1:00:09Chris Hewitt:Masters of the Universe. What did we make of it? What did we make of it? I'm very, very conscious that Dan is sitting next to me and wrote the feature for the magazine. And Helen wrote the review as well. Yeah, I don't want to get a sword of power in the back. Yes, this is Travis Knight's film. It adapts the, I mean, I was going to say the toys, but it's kind of more, it does adapt the toys, but it embodies the spirit of the 80s cartoon. This is a film that is for, I would say, broadly two demographics. and one of them is six to ten-year-olds. And the other one is men in their mid-50s, essentially.

1:00:43And those are, broadly speaking, who this aims at, because a lot of the gags... Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Yes, Chris? Mid-50s? Okay, early to mid-50s. Late 40s to mid-50s. There we go. Is that okay? All right, all right. Keep going down, keep going down. Mid to late 30s, 20s, teenagers. Yes, there we are. Really, that's it. There we go. So it leans into the aesthetics of the comic. It is, as you said, the story of Nicholas Galatine's Prince Adam, who is exiled from Eternia as a boy, ends up on Earth working in HR, because of course he does, until he holds aloft a magic sword, which it takes him a couple of decades to locate, ultimately gets the power of He-Man, returns to Eternia to try and reclaim his birthright from the evil Skeletor.

1:01:25And you can tell he's evil because his face is a literal skull. He also literally says, I'm a villain. He is a villain. There's not much nuance here. He leans into it. It is apparently Jared Leto. It doesn't look like Jared Leto. It doesn't sound like Jared Leto. It could basically be Dan. It isn't Dan. It is Jared Leto. He is the villain. But it also includes such He-Man staples as, oh my god, Roboto, Fisto, Triclops, Trapjaw, Beastman, Mechaneck. Spikeaw. Spikeaw. All of these guys that you had little toys of and were deeply fucking stupid toys. And they were, let's be honest, they were stupid toys.

1:02:00And I had all of them. I loved them. Even Battle Cat. You know, all of this stuff. I loved the cartoon as a kid I had loads of the figures where they had their little waist twisty action where you can make them punch each other Genuinely genius So speaking as the late 40s to early 50s demographic one of the two things this is aimed for it hits all the notes I wanted it to hit in that it is nostalgic everything you think about when you think of the toys is in here everything you think about with the cartoon is in here it has the aesthetic of the cartoon the atmosphere of the cartoon the sensibility of the cartoon.

1:02:34And I think its main influences honestly seem to be the cartoon and recent memes based on the cartoon. A lot of meme humour kind of feeds into this film. What I think he's done that's very smart, which the Dolph Lundgren, Masters of the Universe film, did not do, is they try to kind of make it feel real, make it feel believable, make it fit into what we understand of as reality. This film makes no attempt to do that. It leans into the fact that it's deeply fucking stupid and it has a lot of fun with that. And honestly, I think that's, it might end up being divisive, but I definitely think it was the way to go with this.

1:03:06Because you just have a kind of goofy grin on your face all the way through the film, which I think works really well. The only thing I think works slightly less well is the actual narrative story here, I think, skews surprisingly young for me. I thought it would be quite teen-aimed. I think it's actually very tween-coded. And I think the gags are quite funny, but never hugely funny. We mentioned Honor Among Thieves, the Dungeons & Dragons film earlier. genuinely really funny fun for all ages I think this doesn't have that wit this film thinks it's something between Thor Ragnarok and Honor Among Thieves I think it's closer to Flash Gordon a little bit at times in terms of his demographic and his sensibility I was like this is the best this is still a recommendation no but it is and I moaned about this when I came out a little bit but all in all I genuinely did have a good time with this I thought it was fun it's like what two hours twenty it's over long it's a little bit long it could definitely lose half an hour that flew by did it but and I think the moments where it loses its sense of stupidity and playfulness and tries for emotional sincerity I don't think that necessarily works they maybe should have skipped over that but broadly speaking I had a pretty good time with it so I wrote the review of this I went three but it's a very high three it's I flirted with a four if I'm honest because I just had a really lovely time watching it I do think there are bits where it lags there are jokes that are like you say pleasant but not laugh out loud hilarious which i think you're right dungeons and dragons and thor ragnarok frequently were laugh out loud hilarious genuinely uh this is this is gently funny though through eye and i think it's the kind of thing which could become my small nephew's entire personality when he sees it you know i think it's really it could really really hit big with that sort of uh eight to twelve kind of target audience um because it is really well meant and warm-hearted and it's silly about the silly stuff and I think that's 100 % the right decision because these are ridiculous characters objectively and you cannot be too grimdark with this stuff.

1:05:10I also think we should mention the Daniel Pemberton score is off the charts, great. And Brian May plays the guitar on it. Brian May doing the guitar. Howling 80s solos. They do go a little bit far with that from my money because they literally use one of the songs that Queen did for Highlander, which was a bit like, I feel like you're, you know, that's a stolen valor. And they take the one line of lyrics that vaguely sounds like the title of this film, but crucially is not the title of the film. And they keep playing it on repeat. They sort of riff. It's a remix, you know, they play with it quite a lot.

1:05:43Anyway, I think the music is great. I think it looks pretty great. Bit of a CG sheen, but that almost makes it look cartoony to me, which I quite liked. and also like Camilla Mendes is great we have Idris Elba as Man at Arms and I loved him I thought he was fantastic he's great isn't he but Galitzin was the real breakout star for me I have seen lots of his previous stuff you know Red, White and Royal Blue he was very effective he's good in the idea of you he is good in lots of the stuff I've seen but I wasn't excited about him being He-Man

1:06:17Chris Hewitt:you've been a gallant sceptic haven't you? I have been a bit of a sceptic and I just found him very goofy and charming in this. He's a real doofus. And that's the key. That's why it works. That's why it works, yeah. Even when he's actual He-Man. Yeah, even when he is. And he does have these fight scenes where he suddenly becomes really effective as a fighter and you sort of buy that this is the kind of almost Shazam level transformation that He-Man does. But it seems like almost a completely different person from the doofus who was there just a second ago. And I kind of like that. I thought that was really pretty effective.

1:06:51I'm just saying they should have gone with the page boy haircut. Cowards. Dan? Oh, I mean, I thought it was a blast. I would have gone four, Helen. I mean, I would have committed to four. I'd have just gone for it. I thought it just, for me, I mean, obviously, I am that person of that age, so the nostalgia got me. You know, it was like my memory of playing with the toys and seeing the cartoon, but updated and treated both, well, somehow both reverently and irreverently. I mean, I think to treat it reverently, you've got to be irreverent. Yes. You've got to, it is like nobody, I mean, like, Master of the Universe only exists because Mattel turned down George Lucas for Star Wars.

1:07:38And then they saw the success that the Star Wars toys had and they went, okay, what can we do that would be like, have the success of Star Wars? hence you've got monsters and swords and axes and barbarians and robots and aliens and what have you. And they created the cartoon just to sell the toys, didn't they? Yes, they created the cartoon just to sell the toys, but the reason the cartoon always has a little moral message at the end was to kind of... There was criticism of the cartoon for Bust selling toys, and it's just like it's just violence to sell toys, so they put the little moral message, usually spoken by Orko or He-Man, to kind of give it some kind of justification.

1:08:13Chris Hewitt:Don't slice each other up with swords. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, it's like, you know, Don't take shortcuts to try and achieve success. I mean, you know, don't read books. That was one of them. You should read books. Don't do drugs and all that kind of stuff. That's very wise. He-Man really looks like a reader. I mean, he is, though. You know, he's a Renaissance He-Man. But, I mean, again, that's kind of the nice message of this movie is that he's kind of tackling what were the ideals of masculinity back when those toys first came out. You know, it does kind of deal with that in a similar but not the same way that Barbie kind of dealt with, you know, the experience of women in the world today as opposed to what it was at the time that the toy came out.

1:08:55So it sort of mirrors that. And I do think it's kind of weirdly, it is like a mirror movie to Barbie appropriately because they're both Mattel toys. So it does have that going on and I think that's explored quite interestingly. But I just like jokes about fisting goblins. Yeah, there literally is a line where it's like, give them head, ram man. Yeah, I mean, I'm a simple person. I just want fisting goblins and good. And actually, the action, the choreography, It's cool. was superb, I thought. I mean, just like, just real proper kind of smash mouth, really kind of, you feel every blow.

1:09:31Chris Hewitt:All right, three stars then. Three stars for, thanks Dan, three stars for Masters of the Universe. Next up is the return of another long lost icon from our screens Hell's Bells it is of course Anna Faris and Regina Hall in Scary Movie which sees the return to the franchise of the Wayans brothers after an absence they weren't around post Scary Movie 2 Hell's Bells yeah you've seen this movie yeah on a rainy Tuesday morning which honestly I think I should have got hazard pay of some kind. I don't think it's fair. Yeah, I went to see this, and it's bad. It's really bad. Are you a fan of anything in the Scary Movie franchise?

1:10:24Chris Hewitt:You know what? When they announced this one, and when we first talked about it on the podcast, I remember thinking, maybe I was wrong all these years ago. Maybe I was too harsh on it. You know, maybe it has something to say. People talk with affection about these films. People remember little jokes quite fondly. Maybe I was the asshole and these are good films, or at least films with nuggets of gold within them. And then I saw the trailer for this and I was like, no, no, they always sucked. I was right. And now I have seen this film and I maintain that view. They have always sucked. And I have been right about that from the first one.

1:11:01However, there are some people who are good at their job in this film. So I do want to give them credit where it's due. because yes, Faris can still act. She is good. She is playing her Cindy, of course, not to be confused with Sydney Prescott. Cindy Campbell is the heroine of all these films. She is now, wouldn't you know it, living in a heavily fortified house when her daughter comes back to town because she's been targeted by Ghostface and her younger daughter, Tuesday, has actually been stabbed by Ghostface already. And she has to swing back into action with Brenda, Regina Hall's character and try and track down and stop this new ghost face killer, not to be confused with ghost face killer, and that is a joke that they make in the movie, and that's one of the four good jokes in the movie.

1:11:48And you might think, well, four good jokes isn't a bad ratio, but it is when there are this many jokes, okay? There are a lot of what I think are meant to be jokes in this movie, and all but four of them fail. That's impressive. And I cannot stress to you just how boring it is to watch joke after joke after joke fail in front of you. I did not enjoy the experience. Apart from those two, there are a lot of weigh-ins in this movie.

1:12:14Chris Hewitt:They've turned the weigh-ins against us. There are so many of them. So you have literally like the third generation. We're not just talking like Marlon and Sean here. Damon Wayans Jr. gets roped into this out of some sense of family responsibility, I guess, because he is way better than this material. Wayans better than this. Greg Wayans, Kim Wayans, I don't understand what they're all doing. I have a question. My question is this. It feels like, and I detest these movies more than I can possibly express in words. In fact, all of these kind of spoof parody type things. That's not fair. Some spoofs are good spoofs.

1:12:50These are bad spoofs. Well, the parody ones in particular. I had an epic movie scare. All of that. Oh, those are terrible. But you're dismissing some of the greatest comedies ever. I'm not, I'm not, when I say, I'm not thinking Naked Gun, I'm not thinking Top Secret, that's not where I'm going with this airplane. But my question with this is, this has historically been lampooning the horror movies of the era whenever these come out. And it feels like we live in a time where it's incredibly fertile ground. So if you were ever going to make a scary movie and make it good, now is the time to do it.

1:13:19Correct. It would be, wouldn't it? They do, to be fair, they're very up to date with their references. They must be absolutely killing themselves that Obsession and Backrooms have just done what they've done. Yeah. But I just find the hit rate It's so, so low. And so many of the jokes were just flat. There's one of the sort of new generation, you know, obviously there's the kind of, they're doing the rebootquel. Of course, it's a rebootquel here. They're doing the rebootquel thing. Of course, Chris is laughing. This is so aimed at you. You're so basic. Why didn't you take the 10 a.m. Tuesday screen?

1:13:54Chris Hewitt:I had an interview with saying I was meant to do it. And then it got moved. And I actually had a soft spot for, they're not great movies, but if you go on YouTube and you look at individual scenes from certainly the first three scary movies, there are some really funny bits in those movies. Like I say, there's four good jokes. Sounds great. Anyway, I don't know what the Empire Review is. We've given it two. We are generous people. Two stars. Two stars then for Scary Movie. Last big review this week is of Office Romance, which pairs Brett Goldstein, who also co-writes with J-Lo. He doesn't co-write with J-Lo.

1:14:34Chris Hewitt:No, no, no. It tears him with J-Lo. Although he does co-write with someone called Joe Kelly, which is, I guess, Joe K? J-K? J-Kell? J-Kell? J-Kell. J-Kell, yes. Is Joe Kelly a pseudonym for J-Lo? Don't believe so. Possibly. Who knows? Yeah. She really is a multifaceted talent. She really is. Indeed. She's great, isn't she? I love her. Who's taking this one? Shut the fuck up, Dan. Who's taking this one? I think it's James. Okay. Oh, God. It is 2026, but you wouldn't know from this film by design, because this is an old-school rom-com of the car we don't see very often these days, let alone with J-Lo in it, queen of the old-school rom-com.

1:15:14This is, as you say, co-written by Brett Goldstein, and it stars him as a man named Daniel Blanchflower, an Englishman in New York. Do you get that reference? Do you get that reference?

1:15:25Chris Hewitt:I suspect you wouldn't. That's a footballer. It's a footballer. No. Danny Blanchflower was a footballer? Brett Goldstein's a big Spurs fan. and Danny Blancheflower is a Spurs and Northern Ireland legend from the 1960s. Brett Goldstein's having a better week than Nicolas Galitzin. Well, I don't know that he is because Arsenal still won the title. But yes, absolutely. Anyway, anyway, he plays Danny Blancheflower. He is an in-house lawyer at an airline, Cruiser's, Cruiser, is it Cruiser? Cruiser. Essentially run by CEO Jackie Cruz, played by Jennifer Lopez. They, shall we say, meet on the job. Steady.

1:15:58They have a meet cute. they have a literal meat cute yes indeed he is an in-house counsel very in-house and steady and they have we should say the crews there have a zero tolerance policy to inter-office fraternizing there is no nookie on the job you do not shit where you eat as she points out and there is a big lawsuit which kind of hinges on that it doesn't make any sense whatsoever I'm sure Helen was tearing her hair out from a legal perspective but that's neither here nor there they have chemistry he gets a massive erection in her presence and they start an illicit office romance with disastrous and hilarious consequences.

1:16:36So look, this, among other things, has an incredibly deep bench of great people in it. So Brett Goldstein and J-Lo, obviously brilliant in it. But this also has Bradley Whitford is in this, Edward James Olmos is in it, Jodie Whittaker's in it in a really small role. Betty Kilpin plays Jackie's right-hand woman at work, takes an instant dislike to Daniel. But honestly, this is very much the J-Lo and Brett Goldstein show. because the two of them are fantastic. They've got great chemistry. They look fantastic together. He's a lot of fun in this. I had a really good time with this film. I think it's very sweet, and it's got a lot of heart.

1:17:09And it kind of reminds you why rom-coms are actually a lot of fun to see, especially at the cinema. And it makes me wonder why there aren't more of them. This is obviously a streaming thing, but I actually quite enjoyed these kind of collective rom-com experiences, because there's a real feel-good vibe going on there. I don't think this is as good as it maybe could have been. I think there are some incredible Brett Goldstein flourishes in here. There is, as I said, a brilliant erection joke. There is a, let's just say there is a pregnancy scene that has to be seen to be believed. And there is a scene using the C-bomb, which I think is quite...

1:17:44Chris Hewitt:Almost more than it was used one of the times he was on the podcast. Indeed, yes. Which again, that feels pure Goldstein. It's great. But equally, there are times when it feels, I don't know, maybe a little bit too gentle, a little bit too middle of the road. and you've got to wonder whether he was kind of pushed into that place so I feel like the kind of the Goldsteininess is when this is at its absolute best and when it loses its teeth it becomes slightly more vanilla so this is a Netflix movie it is a Netflix movie maybe Netflix we're saying to him and it's directed by Old Parker it's directed by Old Parker who did like what Mamma Mia 2 and Ticket to Paradise so I think definitely there was something in here that was maybe edgier and you see hints of this throughout the film but then there are other bits where it feels a little bit more generic, I think.

1:18:29But, you know, those criticisms aside, he's fantastic in it, she's fantastic in it. And honestly, I had a really good time with it. I had a nice time. I did get that sort of unevenness of tone that sort of took me out of it a little bit. You know, you've got the sea bomb scene, which I think is quite confronting for a lot of people, especially Americans. And then on the other hand, you have this really ludicrous scene where she has an unguessed fetish for British stuff. And you're just like, well, how does that make sense with anything else that's going on here? This doesn't feel like this woman at all to me.

1:19:00So it's just stuff like that just felt bizarre. And, you know, the Jodie Whitaker's character, wildly underdeveloped, didn't really understand that situation very well at all. Amy Sedaris turns up and is underused. Roger Bart turns up and is really fun, but is underused. You know, Bradley Whitford, I would also say underused. Betty Gilpin can never be overused, but she was at least got a bit more screen time. So I had fun with it, but I think it's like more for me in the three-star camp than, you know, some of Brett Goldstein's other work, like the best scenes in Ted Lasso, the best episodes of Shrinking are like four or five star masterpieces.

1:19:30I think he's incredible. But I think this is much more, you know, good, but not great. Yeah, I think so. He is, I think, one of the great romantics working in film and TV today. I think he's a really romantic guy. I think so, yeah. And she is a genuine rom-com queen. I will defend The Wedding Planner as a great rom-com until the day I die. I think it is a fantastic rom-com and that's just one of her many. She's just, she's so great. She's so good at it. So I did have a really nice time. Yeah. Do we have an official Empire review for this one yet? I don't know if we have the copy for you. I suspect it's a three.

1:20:04I think it's a three. I wrote a review for someone else and gave it three. So that would be my...

1:20:09Chris Hewitt:Well, I'm a man of integrity so I'm going to give this 17 stars. 17 stars then for Office Romance. Hey, I had an Office Romance. I met my wife here at Empire. I thought you were looking at me when you said that. because we did watch porn together that time we did but James you'll always be for me the one that got away but anyway three stars then for Office Romance very very quickly Hells Bells Savage House yeah this is a film that looked pretty up my street so it stars Richard E. Grant and Claire Foy already off to a great start in a sort of it's early Georgian actually it looks like the favourite but it's a few years later than that they are minor nobility let's say.

1:20:51She's a lady, he married upwards, and they get the opportunity of their lives to kind of restore their fortunes, which have fallen on very hard times because they are invited to host the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, who were, of course, a big noise at the time. So they start basically spending money like water and scheming and generally bending over backwards to accommodate these people who they hope will turn their fortunes around and basically save their day because he's been dealing in, well, less than legal ways to keep them afloat so far. So this is written and directed by Peter Glanz.

1:21:27This is a really weird one because it's kind of billed as a comedy. The problem for me is that this becomes unbelievably depressing. I think this is kind of the, if you wanted the favourite to be more like Requiem for a Dream, that's basically what this becomes. I just find it unrelenting, like people just making bad decision after bad decision after bad decision. all the way through the film, you kind of know where it's going to go, or at least I felt I did, and it went where I expected it to go. And I just didn't want to go there. I didn't want to go on that journey. I think it's impeccably performed.

1:22:02I think Richard E. Grant and Claire Foy are terrific. I think it is beautiful looking. It's incredibly well shot. The costumes, all that is amazing. But it's also so deeply grotesque and like scatological and just gooey and unpleasant and horrible and just genuinely sick-making to watch. I had a horrible time, despite the great performances and the way it looks. I'm actually sounding quite interested in it now. I think it might be more you than me, Dan. Your description of it is making me think that it might be something I'm going to do. I liked it a lot more than Helen. I just wanted it to be over and it wouldn't end.

1:22:39Chris Hewitt:There were other people in the office who were like, are you going to see Savage House? And I was like, yeah. and they basically prayed for my soul. And I was like, I had a perfectly good time. I thought it was funny. I didn't, it is obviously deliberately, intentionally grotesque, but I had a good time with it. You know, these are awful characters and I want to see them be awful. So, hey, that's just me. But we gave it two stars. Two stars in for Savage House. And if you want another period drama, I would recommend Kellen Jones' Mad Fabulous, which is also out this week and stars Callum Scott Howells as a 19th century lord who was a real life figure who was incredibly flamboyant for his time and spent his inheritance like it was going out of fashion.

1:23:26Chris Hewitt:And this is anchored by a sensational performance from Callum Scott Howells who was in It's a Sin as Henry Padgett, Lord Padgett and Ruby Stokes is in it as well. Rupert Everett is there as his loyal butler. I don't think we have an Empire Review. I'd go I'd go with high three in this one so there you go it's a week for high threes or low threes apart from which sucks oh dear oh lord don't upset Helen which also sucks yes apart from those two it's a week for high threes and low threes anyway on that note that is it for this week's Empire Podcast join us next week for more film related fun we'll be joined by I think it's going to be David Koepp who is the writer of the new Steven Spielberg movie Disclosure Day and who will be coming into this studio tomorrow but until then until we meet again until a dispicious occasion it is goodbye from my three colleagues of such lethal cunning one of whom has an interview in six minutes with a mega star goodbye James goodbye Chris listen to the Pilot TV podcast for Jermaine Clement Nicola Walker and of course Javier Bardem who I am literally speaking to in six minutes for Cape Fear I had this Spanish actor in my pub the other day he was causing all kinds of ruckus have you borrowed him?

1:24:41Chris Hewitt:no I told him he was walking back anytime it's goodbye from Dan Jolin goodbye goodbye and also the new issue of Senate is out this week as well just in case anyone wants to read about board games see I don't mind when people plug their other stuff on the show that's totally fine you want to plug that I just took James' lead he plays his thing I cut all that stuff out but yours I'm going to leave in senatemagazine.com okay good stuff thanks Dan goodbye Helen toodaloo and it's goodbye from me I am off to lodge some papers with HR about my latest office romance. Uh-oh. I don't work here anymore. Oh, great.

1:25:16Chris Hewitt:Yeah. Thanks for listening. See you next time. Bye-bye.