This week's movie podcast examines rather different takes on the British movie, from the "bland and boring" costume drama that is Becoming Jane to the violence of vigilantism in England's streets, as depicted by Nick Love in Outlaw.
Becoming Jane, starring Anne Hathaway as Jane Austen with James McAvoy as love interest Tom Lefroy, is, according to the discriminating Jason Solomons, a return to the bad name of British costume drama with "little in the way of wit". Don't hold back there, Solomons (he rarely does).
Despite his personal distaste for the film, Solomons went to meet its star, James McAvoy, and chats about having a permanent red carpet attached to his feet these days, travelling from Uganda straight to the opulence of the Oscars, presenting a sound award there (he can talk knowledgeably about the subtle differences between sound mixing and editing) and how you can't escape the scene in LA: "Go to the chippie and all they talk about is Oscars."
Moving as far away from the glitz and froth of the Oscars as it's possible to get, gritty new British film, Outlaw sees Sean Bean play a soldier returning from the Gulf and Danny Dyer portraying England's common man.
Solomons met Nick Love and Danny Dyer and the pair talked to him about the reaction of the "liberal press" - yes, I think that's us - to the excessive violence in the film and the perception that it promotes vigilantism. Not at all, says Love. The film doesn't glamorise violence but examines questions we all ask ourselves - what would we do if someone hurt a loved one - would we simply trust the arm of the law to solve it? Whatever you think about their message, the pair articulate a genuine fear about what's happening on the UK's streets in this angry and provocative film, described by Solomons as "a classic moral fable".
We consider David Lynch's Inland Empire, his first film for five years. This takes "Lynchian" to another level, opines Solomons. Think life-sized bunny rabbits playing out a domestic scene or dwarves joining scantily-clad women to dance the locomotion. The conclusion? One for true Lynch fans.
We run through the other releases of the week and we're after your favourite movie soundtrack.
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