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Simon Rose

The Business of Film: One Life, Priscilla & Good Grief

Simon Rose
Original Broadcast:

The Business Of Film

The Business of Film: One Life, Priscilla & Good Grief
James Cameron-Wilson marvels that Wonka is still #1 after 5 weeks, with total of £53m at the UK box office. Anthony Hopkins stars in One Life, the true story of stockbroker Nicholas Winton's extraordinary wartime rescue of hundreds of Jewish children. James found it beautifully realised and hugely affecting. He was less impressed with Priscilla, about the spouse of Elvis Presley. Written and directed by Sofia Coppola, which he found unimaginative. He admired the decor and scenery more than the plot in Netflix's drama about grief and friendship, Good Grief, written and directed by Dan Levy.
Guest:

James Cameron-Wilson


Published:
Simon Rose

The Business of Film: Ferrari, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, Anyone But You, Next Goal Wins & Maestro

Simon Rose
Original Broadcast:

The Business Of Film

The Business of Film: Ferrari, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, Anyone But You, Next Goal Wins & Maestro
James Cameron-Wilson explains that UK box office is up 14% YoY. Wonka is still #1 with £45m total. Michael Mann's Ferrari is #2; though interesting, it is slow and not energising. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom #3 is exhausting, all CGI and endless violence. Studio Ghibli's The Boy and the Heron is #4 while Anyone But You at #5 is an ludicrous and nonsensical romcom. Next Goal Wins about the infamous American Samoan football team is not a patch on the documentary on which it is based. However, Bradley Cooper's film about Leonard Bernstein, in which he also stars and which is now on Netflix, is beautiful and wonderful.
Guest:

James Cameron-Wilson


Published:
Simon Rose

The Business of Film: Review of 2023. What's biggest? What's best? And what might win awards?

Simon Rose
Original Broadcast:

The Business Of Film

The Business of Film: Review of 2023. What's biggest? What's best? And what might win awards?
James Cameron-Wilson looks back at the cinematic world in 2023, counting the top grossing films worldwide from 10 to 1, with Barbie coming out on top with $1.4 billion. He discusses the female directors of the year as well as the best female performances. And, with awards season almost upon us, he explains what he voted for in the London Film Critics Circle Awards and the films he thinks will be nominated, and possibly win, at the Oscars.
Guest:

James Cameron-Wilson


Published:
Simon Rose

The Business of Film: Godzilla Minus One, Rustin & Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget

Simon Rose
Original Broadcast:

The Business Of Film

The Business of Film: Godzilla Minus One, Rustin & Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget
James Cameron-Wilson reports on the UK box office. Takings have dropped 25% but Wonka still rules. Godzilla Minus One is #2, a rare foreign language subtitled movie to ride high in the charts, though taking only £817,000. James found it a decent monster movie but no more. On Netflix, he thought Rustin, the real story of the gay civil rights activist, interesting despite much overacting. He was delighted, however, by Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, which he reckoned not just the best animated movie of the year but one of the best movies of 2023 full stop.
Guest:

James Cameron-Wilson


Published:
Simon Rose

The Business of Film: Wonka & Leave The World Behind

Simon Rose
Original Broadcast:

The Business Of Film

The Business of Film: Wonka & Leave The World Behind
James Cameron-Wilson celebrates UK box office +43% WoW and +173% YoY. It's the prequel Wonka that's responsible which, while a little woke and lightening Roald Dahl's dark world, is nonetheless great fun, somewhat in the moud of Mary Poppins. While Timothy Chalamet doesn't have the requisite magic, Hugh Grant excels. The music (there should be more) and dialogue is delicious and the young audience when James saw it forgot all about toilet breaks. James also saw Leave The World Behind on Netflix. Starring Julia Roberts, against type, it's an often implausible, but hugely enjoyable, Hitchcockian thriller taking its audience on a roller-coaster ride with comic underpinning.
Guest:

James Cameron-Wilson


Published:
Simon Rose

The Business of FIlm: May December, She Came To Me & Past Lives

Simon Rose
Original Broadcast:

The Business Of Film

The Business of FIlm: May December, She Came To Me & Past Lives
James Cameron-Wilson takes Simon Rose through the box office chart, with takings down 25% WoW but up 43% YoY. With nothing new in the chart, still led by Napoleon, he sought out Todd Haynes's Oscar contender May December, starring Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore. About celebrity, James was enthralled, without ever feeling it quite ignited. He was more enthusiastic about Rebecca Miller's She Came To Me on Sky Cinema. With Peter Dinklage, Anne Hathaway and Marisa Tomei, it's about an opera composer with writer's block and is a refreshing, insightful and very funny farce. Best of all, though was Korean-American film Past Lives from Celine Song, about two childhood friends reconnecting after twenty years.
Guest:

James Cameron-Wilson


Published:
Simon Rose

The Business of Film: Napoleon, Wish & Nyad

Simon Rose
Original Broadcast:

The Business Of Film

The Business of Film: Napoleon, Wish & Nyad
James Cameron-Wilson assesses Ridley Scott's Napoleon, #1 with a take of £5.2m. Despite being 158m, he felt it cantered too rapidly through 32 years of Napoleon's life, as played by Joaquin Phoenix. However, the battle scenes are amazing, if gory, and he loved Martin Phipps's score. Shame about the longueurs. Disney's new U-certificate animation, Wish, is #3 with only £2.4m but such things are often slow starts and around for a long time. James also discussed true story Nyad, on Netflix, about a retired 60-year-old marathon swimmer who undertakes a crazy challenge. Sadly, despite Annette Bening, he found it uninspiring and unbelievable while the script was more DIRE-log than dialogue.
Guest:

James Cameron-Wilson


Published:
Simon Rose

The Business of Film: Hunger Games 5, Saltburn, Skylight & The Killer

Simon Rose
Original Broadcast:

The Business Of Film

The Business of Film: Hunger Games 5, Saltburn, Skylight & The Killer
James Cameron-Wilson found Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes confusing and poorly made, though the new #1 helped box office rise 54% with a £5.4m take. Nor was he as enthusiastic as many critics about Saltburn, Emerald Fennell's darkly comic tale of aristocratic mayhem, though he did like Rosamund Pike's and Richard E Grant's performances, as well as the score. However, he loved the new NT Live screening of David Hare's play Skylight with Carey Mulligan and Bill Nighy, which he found insightful, funny and profound. On Netflix, he recommends David Fincher's procedural The Killer with Michael Fassbinder, which is beautifully filmed and very clever.
Guest:

James Cameron-Wilson


Published:
Simon Rose

The Business of Film: The Marvels, Anatomy of a Fall & Dream Scenario

Simon Rose
Original Broadcast:

The Business Of Film

The Business of Film: The Marvels, Anatomy of a Fall & Dream Scenario
James Cameron-Wilson laments another weak week at the UK box office where The Marvels took only £3.5m, the lowest per screen average of all 33 films in the Marvel universe. He found it a total mess with annoying tonal shifts and no emotional traction. He admired the filmmaking in Cannes' Palme D'Or winner Anatomy of a Fall, which took £413,000 at #5 but, while critics love it, he felt at over two and a half hours, it was overlong for what is a fairly ordinary court case drama. He was much more enthusiastic about Dream Scenario in which Nicolas Cage is a dull man who suddenly starts cropping up in other people's dreams. It is a witty, darkly comic fantasy that is Cage's best film in some 20 years.
Guest:

James Cameron-Wilson


Published:
Simon Rose

The Business of Film: Fingernails, Quiz Lady & Pandora's Box

Simon Rose
Original Broadcast:

The Business Of Film

The Business of Film: Fingernails, Quiz Lady & Pandora's Box
James Cameron-Wilson laments a box office down 44% with no new films other than high school sex comedy Bottoms. He was unimpressed by Apple TV's Fingernails with Jesse Buckley, a sci-fi romance he found weird without being funny or moving. He was, however, a fan of Disney+'s Quiz Lady, an enjoyable farce with Awkwafina, Sandra Oh & Will Ferrell which he thought great fun. He was most taken, however, by the beautifully-restored release of the 1929 Pandora's Box, starring Louise Brooks. This masterpiece of German expressionist cinema is held by many to be one of the most influential films ever made. Despite its age, James found it very modern in outlook, with some wonderful extras on the disc.
Guest:

James Cameron-Wilson


Published: