Movies In Focus

#41. Phillip Noyce & Morena Baccarin Discuss FAST CHARLIE Starring Pierce Brosnan

Director Phillip Noyce and Morena Baccarin join the Movies In Focus podcast to talk about their new film, Fast Charlie.

Brutal when it needs to be, funny when it wants to be and heartfelt when you least expect it, Fast Charlie is first-class entertainment for grown-ups. Master-craftsman Noyce has built a well-constructed revenge thriller around star Pierce Brosnan and the script delivers plenty of standout moments. Anyone looking for a good old-fashioned thriller will have to search far and wide for one that works better than Fast Charlie.

Having enjoyed the film so much, it was great to talk with its maker and star. Returning guest Phillip Noyce discussed a range of topics - such as the power of positive reviews, it’s what it’s like working with Pierce Brosnan, the intricacies of balancing drama and comedy and we even touched on directing the James Bond franchise.

Morena Baccarin talked about the complexities of building a strong character, the balance of romantic storylines, Deadpool 3 and more.

#40. Director Tyler MacIntyre & Writer Michael Kennedy Talk IT’S A WONDERFUL KNIFE

It’s A Wonderful Knife is an entertaining slasher flick - with a difference. As the title indicates, the film is a riff on Frank Capra’s 1946 Christmas classic, It's A Wonderful Life. Starring Jane Widdop, Joel McHale and Justin Long, the film has heart and laughs wrapped up against the film's bloody kills. 

A year after saving her small town from a crazed killer, Jane Widdop’s Winnie is down in the dumps by the way things have turned out. When she wishes she'd never been born, she finds herself in an alternate reality - and that’s when she sees how bad life would be without her - and things are made even worse when the killer is still on the loose.

Tyler MacIntyre, It’s A Wonderful Knife’s director and Michael Kennedy, the film’s writer joined the Movies In Focusp podcast to talk about the trials and tribulations of making this quirky Christmas slasher.

#39: Writer/Director Dominic O’Neill On HAUNTED ULSTER LIVE

Belfast-based director Dominic O’Neill joins the Movies In Focus podcast to discuss his new comedy horror, Haunted Ulster Live.

A comedy of errors, Haunted Ulster Live uses the famed UK mockumentary Ghostwatch as a stepping-off point. Taking place in a supposedly haunted house, the broadcast is interrupted by things that go bump in the night – as well as the myriad of errors that can take place during any live TV recording. Yes, there are similarities with Ghostwatch, but Haunted Ulster Live is its own thing as a piece of well-honed entertainment. The laughs are well earned and the horror delivers some heft – especially the final moments which reminded me of the John Carpenter classic, Prince Of Darkness, as well as Prano Bailey-Bond’s Censor. 

Dominic talks about the origins of his new film, the trials and tribulations of making and releasing a low-budget horror and how television in his native Ulster helped influence this well-honed genre piece.

 

#38. Writer & Visual Artist Jaylan Salah On Horror

Writer, film critic and visual artist Jaylan Salah joins this episode of the Movies In Focus podcast.

A woman of many talents, Jaylan is a passionate film lover with a keen insight into multiple genres. Delving deep into what frightens her, Jaylan discusses a selection of thrilling films including Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead, Werner Herzog’s Nosferatu and Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook.

 

#37. Douglas Schulze Talks THORNS, FightFest & Low Budget Filmmaking

Douglas Schulze has been a friend of Movies In Focus since 2009, in the lead-up to the release of his David Carradine starring horror film Dark Fields - or The Rain as it was then called.

Films like Mimesis: Night Of The Living Dead, Mimesis: Nosferatu and his experimental thriller The Dark Below show a director who wants to push the boundaries of low-budget storytelling with interesting and creative concepts.

Douglas has now brought his new horror film, Thorns to FrightFest. A 1980s inspired genre film, Thorns has hints of Alien, The Thing and Hellraiser. A throwback piece, it’s filled with practical effects and plenty of eye-watering moments of gore.

Finally, Douglas Schulze joins the Movies In Focus podcast to talk about Thorns, his career as a low budget director and the highs of lows of independent filmmaking

#36. Daphné Baiwir On The Stephen King Documentary KING ON SCREEN

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

Daphné Baiwir joins the Movies In Focus to talk about the acclaimed author and detail how her documentary came together as well as discussing how she managed to score the film's many illustrious talking heads.

#35. Yuval Adler On SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL & Carter Smith Talks THE PASSENGER

On this episode of the Movies In Focus podcast, director Yuval Adler talks about his latest film, Sympathy For The Devilstarring Nicolas Cage and Joel Kinnaman. Carter Smith also joins the show to talk about his latest Blumhouse release, The Passenger.

Sympathy For The Devil is a Las Vegas set modern noir. It features an exceptional turn from Nicolas Cage - a performances which is one of his best in years. Yuval Adler talks about casting the film, taking Cage back to Vegas - the setting for his oscar-winning performance in Leaving Las Vegas and a host of other great details about making his dark thriller.

Later in the podcast Carter Smith talks about his off-beat thriller The Passenger, starring Kyle Gallner and Johnny Berchtold. It’s a film which is reminiscent of the 1980s cult classic Heathers and Smith talks about trying to subvert genre expectations when making his off-beat film.

#34. Filmmaker Joe Russo Gives Insight Into The WGA Strike

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

Russo is a member of the WGA and a very vocal supporter of the current writer’s strike - and his insights into the reasons for it are a real eye opener. The rise of streaming and Artificial Intelligence means that the world of entertainment is changing and artists face a whole new set of challenges both commercially and artistically.

In this fascinating conversation, Joe Russo talks passionately and concisely about these challenges as well as giving surprising details on how Netflix’s mysterious algorithm impacts creative decisions every stage of film production.

#33.THE BLACK DEMON Director Adrian Grunberg

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

Films like Get The Gringo (also known as How I Spent My Summer Vacation) and Rambo: Last Blood show that Adrian Grünberg is a very earthbound director and during this episode he talks about how The Black Demon was a change of pace due to its special effects and aquatic location. He also discusses what it's like making a genre film, facing the looming shadow of Jaws during production - and burgundy shirts!

#32. Film Historian James Kenney On DAUGHTER OF GOD With Keanu Reeves & Ana De Armas

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

Starring Keanu Reeves and Ana De Armas, Daughter Of God was recut by producers - who removed almost forty minutes - and released it under the generic title of Exposed. This gutted release, diluted the performances of Reeves and De Armas and turned the film into a plodding and rudderless thriller that came and went with little fanfare. 

In this episode, James Kenney reveals how he discovered this director’s cut of Daughter Of God and how he’s attempting to bring this ‘lost’ film to audiences.