Silver Screen Queens
334 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 4 years ago - ★★★★★ - 16 ratingsMelissa Savage and Katie Molloy met in film class, and haven’t been able to stop talking movies ever since. Each week they watch a movie and review it, stopping to make plenty of nerdy references along the way.
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Episodes
184: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
November 22, 2016 20:00 - 57 minutes - 32.3 MBWe weren’t really that excited to hear about another Harry Potter franchise. As long-term fans, we have been burnt before by the films, and this movie didn’t exactly generate a buzz. Luckily, this set us up to be pleasantly surprised by a charming Eddie Redmayne, a creepy Colin Farrell, and a ragtag band of mostly-unknowns giving it their all.
183: Westworld (1973)
November 15, 2016 20:00 - 36 minutes - 21.5 MBWith the new Westworld TV show blowing up, we decided to go back to the original film, written and directed by Michael Crichton in 1973. We were pleasantly surprised by a smart sci-fi that was way ahead of its time. It was the first film to use CGI technology, four years before STAR WARS, and it has a sensitive and thoughtful take on the rise of robots and artificial intelligence. Sure, it’s slow by today’s standards, but we’re glad we made the effort. You can rent it on YouTube for a few buc...
182: Hell or High Water
November 08, 2016 20:00 - 32 minutes - 19.1 MBWe didn’t know much about this film, other than Chris Pine Western, so obviously we had to see it. While it’s got some good points (gorgeous cinematography, interesting score, adventurous direction and good acting), the film as a whole felt a bit too languid for a movie about two bank robbers being pursued by a Texas Ranger.
181: Doctor Strange
November 01, 2016 20:00 - 43 minutes - 24.6 MBWe didn’t exactly go into Marvel’s latest effort with high expectations, but we were pleasantly surprised. Once you get past the whitewashing, the male-centric story and the bad accent, it’s well-made escapist fun with good actors and sterling special effects. Marvel sucks us in once again.
180: The Girl on the Train
October 25, 2016 20:00 - 45 minutes - 26 MBAnother blockbuster novel turned film, The Girl on the Train has quite a bit in common with 2014’s Gone Girl, although executed with less finesse. It has some strong points, namely the prioritising of womens’ viewpoints, a serious discussion of domestic abuse, and a great lead performance from Emily Blunt, but the structure is messy and there are plot holes big enough to drive a train through.
179: Deepwater Horizon
October 18, 2016 20:00 - 44 minutes - 25.7 MBSSQ favourites Dylan O’Brien and Gina Rodriguez star in this dramatisation of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster that led to the worst oil spill in US history, creating devastation in the Gulf of Mexico. We went in not expecting much, coming from the director of BATTLESHIP, but we were mistaken. The movie approaches its subject matter with compassion and humanity and largely avoids some of the more dire disaster movie clichés.
178: Luke Cage Season 1
October 11, 2016 20:00 - 2 hours - 55.3 MBAnother TV interlude as the first season of Netflix’s LUKE CAGE drops. We’re joined by our friend Jamie Butlin to talk being bulletproof, series storytelling and snake-based villains. Luke Cage’s Harlem is beautifully realised, the music is off the charts, and the acting is top notch, especially Mahershala Ali and Alfre Woodard. But while the show is extremely progressive in some aspects, it’s treatment of women isn’t great, and the pacing would have benefitted from allowing the story to brea...
177: The Magnificent Seven
October 04, 2016 20:00 - 32 minutes - 19.1 MBBereft of new ideas, Hollywood is re-making classic films, but with Antoine Fuqua helming, Denzel Washington in the lead and a Chris, we thought this one was worth a look. Unfortunately, it doesn’t stand up well against Seven Samurai or the 1960 Hollywood version, but it has some fun moments and a genuine commitment to re-examining some of the prejudices inherent in the myth of the wild west.
176: Pete’s Dragon
September 27, 2016 21:00 - 37 minutes - 22.5 MBDisney has remade its wacky 1970s adventure about a boy and his dragon with a high-profile cast and a spectacular setting. While 2010s sensibilities may be more aesthetically pleasing, the lack of wackiness made this remake quite dull. We review it, and pitch a rewrite to make it better.
175: The Little Prince
September 20, 2016 21:00 - 33 minutes - 19.4 MBFollowing a weird snafu with its distribution, this animated adaptation of the classic French children’s’ book finally found an English-speaking home on Netflix. While Mel loved it and found it both beautiful and true to the source material, Katie was not charmed and found it disturbingly infantilising.
174: The Intern
September 13, 2016 21:00 - 33 minutes - 19.8 MBAnother in our occasional ‘there’s nothing on at the movies, what can we find on Netflix by women directors’ series, The Intern is a step out of our comfort zone, and a movie we had really hoped might be good. It has a few things going for it: Anne Hathaway, a lush aesthetic and its heart in the right place, but that’s not really enough to overcome it’s throwback liberalism and cliché-ridden runtime.
173: High-Rise
September 06, 2016 21:00 - 32 minutes - 19.4 MBWhen one of our favourites does an experimental indie we must watch it, and so you have Tom Hiddleston to thank for this episode. While out of our comfort zone, High-Rise has quite a bit to offer in terms of its aesthetic and it’s metaphorical examination of the logical endpoint of neoliberal capitalism.
172: Kubo and the Two Strings
August 30, 2016 21:00 - 26 minutes - 15.7 MBLaika, the studio behind CORALINE and PARANORMAN, is back with this elegiac Japanese-inspired saga. Kubo lives a sheltered life with his troubled mother, and just wants to escape. After he attempts to do so, he realises the depth of trouble his mother is hiding, and goes on a quest to re-assemble his father’s armour.
171: Bad Moms
August 23, 2016 21:00 - 35 minutes - 20.3 MBWe’re not mums yet, but we had quite a bit of fun watching some get (kind of) bad. Kristen Bell is a comic delight, and Jada Pinkett-Smith is criminally under-used, but the six (female!!) leads give funny, fearless performances. They are not well-served by the writing that never quite goes hard enough at the comedy or the feelings, but we can’t help but be happy that this movie is out there, showing the can’t-win-no-matter-how-hard-you-try reality of the lives of mothers today.
170: Whiplash
August 16, 2016 21:00 - 39 minutes - 23.3 MBAs the end of blockbuster season looms, we catch up on this arthouse favourite from a couple of years back. It’s a good looking film, deftly edited and expertly acted by Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons (who won an Oscar for this role). While there’s plenty to love in this film, we have some issues connecting with it.
169: Suicide Squad
August 09, 2016 21:00 - 46 minutes - 26.6 MBThe most anticipated DC movie in a while, Suicide Squad is the crack team of super-villains brought together by HBIC Amanda Waller. After a great marketing campaign, the movie has received a critical battering. For good reason, it turns out. Loud, lazy and loutish, it left us feeling dirty.
168: Central Intelligence
August 02, 2016 21:00 - 38 minutes - 22.2 MBThis has been out for a while, but in the midst of summer blockbuster season, we had missed it until now. The Rock continues his string of feel-good flicks, this time showing his comedy chops alongside Kevin Hart. Despite the wink wink nudge nudge tone of the marketing, the film is kind-hearted and open-minded, celebrating the victories of ordinary folk over their bullies. The Rock remains our fave, while Kevin Hart gets a couple of new fans.
167: Star Trek Beyond
July 26, 2016 21:00 - 41 minutes - 23.6 MBThe JJ Abrams Star Trek reboot turned us both into Trekkies. So does the third film in the series, this time with Fast and Furious saviour Justin Lin at the helm, live up to the lens-flared glory?
166: Ghostbusters
July 19, 2016 21:00 - 48 minutes - 28.4 MBThe Ghostbusters reboot we have been waiting for is here! SSQ fave Melissa McCarthy joins Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones and breakout star Kate McKinnon in Paul Feig’s take on the classic franchise and it (oh thank goodness!) does not disappoint. Ghostbusters ever-so-gently resets the formula for summer blockbusters with humour, panache and fabulous outfits. In a classic case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts, charm, laughs and a cast having the time of their lives (we see you ...
165: Everybody Wants Some!!
July 12, 2016 21:00 - 38 minutes - 22.1 MBRichard Linklater’s latest has been billed as ‘the spiritual sequel to Dazed and Confused’. Starring former Glee-ster and Mr Supergirl, Blake Jenner, as a baseball-playing freshman, it’s a charming slice-of-life set over the weekend before the start of college. While this is not new territory for Linklater, and not without its downsides, it’s clear that he’s in the sweet spot of his wheelhouse, and these boys are a fun enough way to spend a couple of hours.
164: Warcraft
July 05, 2016 21:00 - 34 minutes - 20.8 MBThe popular and enduring strategy game finally gets a film. It’s at the hands of the always-interesting Duncan Jones (Moon), so we were intrigued. Reviews of this film have been universally terrible, except among hardcore gamers, but despite not being Warcraft players, we found soaring ambition and technical excellence beneath the clear problems with script and story. Non-fans will find it difficult to follow, but if you are into Warcraft, it’s probably worth your time.
163: Finding Dory
June 28, 2016 21:00 - 35 minutes - 20.5 MB13 years after the release of the classic Finding Nemo, Pixar has made a sequel focusing on the film’s most interesting character, the forgetful blue tang fish Dory. As expected, it’s beautiful, funny and has a great message. It doesn’t quite reach the heights of the original film, but it’s certainly charming and sweet.
162: Now You See Me 2
June 21, 2016 21:00 - 33 minutes - 19.6 MBThe surprise hit of 2013 is back, and the four horseman are recruited into the wacky schemes of an eccentric billionaire. A few new faces have come along for the ride, namely Daniel Radcliffe and Lizzy Caplan, and it’s pretty fun, if a little overlong and flimsy of plot.
161: Money Monster
June 14, 2016 21:00 - 33 minutes - 19.8 MBJodie Foster is back behind the camera and Julia Roberts is back in front of it, playing, er, the woman behind the camera for George Clooney’s wacky cable money show host. Production is held up when a young man burned by the show’s financial advice takes the host hostage. The film has some serious points to make about the collapse of institutions and the role of the 1%, but suffers from some confused storytelling and feels like the world’s longest 90 minute movie.
160: The Nice Guys
June 07, 2016 21:00 - 30 minutes - 18.5 MBWe’ve been big fans of Shane Black for a while, so we went to see his latest film, a wannabe 70s noir about a pair of (private) dicks played by Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe. While the plot is not dissimilar to the wonderful Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and there are a few funny one-liners, it lacks the charm and wit of the earlier film, and falls into the trap of doing the very thing it’s apparently trying to satirise.
159: Hunt for the Wilderpeople
May 31, 2016 21:00 - 36 minutes - 22.1 MBRising star New Zealand director Taika Waititi has been tapped to direct the next Thor movie, but he has a great body of work behind him, including this new gem. This story of a young boy from the city and his reluctant foster uncle, and the manhunt that ensues when they get stuck in the bush is full of all the things we love: diverse characters, solid storytelling and a great absurd sense of humour. While we have some quibbles with the realism of the premise, it’s impossible to ignore the re...
158: X-Men: Apocalypse
May 24, 2016 21:00 - 36 minutes - 21.1 MBThe latest of the new old X-Men movies has been released and like its predecessors, it’s pretty good fun. Welcome to 1983, where no-one has aged much since 1962, but the ur-mutant has awakened from a 5,00-year sleep. Charles and Eric still love one another despite Eric’s temper and this universe still contains the best Quicksilver. A new crop of young mutants starts to make a name for themselves.
157: Bastille Day
May 17, 2016 21:00 - 33 minutes - 20.1 MBIdris Elba and Richard Madden headline this tight little action movie, playing a grizzled CIA agent and an ace pickpocket caught up in a terrorist manhunt in Paris. A little bit “Die Hard in Paris” and a little bit British gangster flick, Bastille Day is well-made, gritty and has a solid story. It’s just a shame it was so hard for us to find a screening. Watch it yourself before you listen to us.
156: Allegiant
May 10, 2016 21:00 - 33 minutes - 18.9 MBIn the third movie of the Divergent series, Tris and her friends escape beyond the wall, only to find themselves trapped once more. We really want to like girl-led YA franchises, so we’re sticking with this one despite its many flaws. Its young cast is trying its best, even if the writing and production values feel derivative and sometimes downright problematic.
155: Captain America: Civil War
May 03, 2016 21:00 - 50 minutes - 28.9 MBMarvel’s latest offering has arrived, after a publicity tour of…a year or more. The Avengers (including a few new faces) hijack Captain America’s third movie, and after the triumph of The Winter Soldier, it’s a high bar to clear. Civil War is action-packed, musclebound adventure and it’s not a bad way to spend two hours, because even an average Marvel movie is ten times more fun than its nearest competitors.
154: Eddie the Eagle
April 26, 2016 21:00 - 38 minutes - 21.9 MBBased on the true story of British skier Michael ‘Eddie’ Edwards who became a sensation as the only British ski jumper at the 1988 Winter Olympics. Starring the charm offensive of Taron Egerton and Hugh Jackman, this is a classic underdog sports movie in the very best sense. Two of the happiest hours you could spend at the movies. This episode contains zero chill and several excellent puns.
153: The Jungle Book
April 19, 2016 21:00 - 40 minutes - 23.1 MBThe first of two live action (CGI-assisted) adaptations of The Jungle Book due out this year, this version is from Disney and features Neel Sethi in the lead, with vocal assistance from Idris Elba, Bill Murray and Ben Kingsley. A thoughtful adaptation featuring excellent visuals and great acting, it’s another great family film from the house of mouse.
152: Eye in the Sky
April 12, 2016 21:00 - 35 minutes - 21 MBA thoughtful film that gives us the last live action performance of the great Alan Rickman, EYE IN THE SKY takes a well-researched deep-dive into the ethics of drone warfare. Helen Mirren is the bellicose British colonel in charge, Aaron Paul pilots a drone from the Nevada desert and Rickman’s General tries to convince his political overlords of the merits of a military solution. Meanwhile, newcomer Aisha Takow humanises the people in the collateral damage radius.
151: Fruitvale Station
April 05, 2016 21:00 - 29 minutes - 17.8 MBWe go back and look at the first film of hot young director Ryan Coogler, and his first team-up with Michael B. Jordan. Fruitvale Station tells the story of the last day of Oscar Grant, who was shot and killed by police in Oakland in the first hours of 2009. The film is affecting, charming, humanising and real, and should be compulsory viewing for law enforcement and in classrooms everywhere.
150: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
March 29, 2016 20:00 - 39 minutes - 23.4 MBThe feel-bad flop of the summer has arrived. Zack Snyder’s follow-up to the also not-well-liked MAN OF STEEL tries to atone for that film’s mistakes, not altogether successfully. Some good actors struggle with mediocre material and uncharacteristic characterisation as DC makes yet another misstep in its attempts to counter-program the Marvel juggernaut.
149: Daredevil Season 2
March 22, 2016 20:00 - 1 hour - 52.7 MBA long listen for your long weekend. We had so much fun talking Jessica Jones, that we decided to do another TV episode, this time reviewing the second season of Marvel’s Daredevil on Netflix. We invited our friend Mathew Groom from the Ranger Danger podcast to join us to discuss the good and bad of the new season and why Katie is just so mad at Matt Murdock.
148: Zootopia
March 15, 2016 20:00 - 29 minutes - 17.5 MBDisney animation studios has a new film out, and it’s surprisingly progressive, telling the story of the city’s first ever bunny cop, and the lessons she learns along the way.
147: Beyond the Lights
March 08, 2016 20:00 - 33 minutes - 20.2 MBOver our summer holidays we caught up on this sweet indie starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw as a pop star trying to make her way in the difficult music world. It’s an excellent vehicle for Mbatha-Raw, if a little lacking in finesse, and it gave us something different to talk about.
146: Spotlight
March 01, 2016 20:00 - 36 minutes - 21.5 MBLess than 24 hours before it was named the year’s Best Picture by the Academy, we watched and effusively praised SPOTLIGHT, a subtle, clever, well-told look at the journalists who uncovered the story of systematic child abuse and cover-up in the Catholic Church in Boston.
145: Hail, Caesar!
February 23, 2016 20:00 - 31 minutes - 19 MBThe Coen brothers take on Hollywood with an absurdist 1950s-era tale of a guy who ‘fixes’ the messes made by his high-strung talent. When his top star is kidnapped (George Clooney, charming but not fully realised), madcap antics ensue. If you’re a Coen brothers fan, you’ll probably love it, and we sure got some good laughs out of it, but it’s a fairly flimsy effort that could have used its talent and ideas more effectively.
144: Deadpool
February 16, 2016 20:00 - 40 minutes - 23.6 MBAfter an decade-long struggle to get this character to the screen, Ryan Reynolds and crew deliver a Deadpool movie that appeals to fans and newcomers alike. Reynolds messes up his pretty, pretty face and gives us a sweary, bloody, convention-defying twist on the superhero genre.
143: Zoolander 2
February 09, 2016 20:00 - 29 minutes - 18.9 MB15 years after their first walk-off, Derek and Hansel are older, but not much wiser, as they are pulled back into the world of modelling.
142: The Revenant
February 02, 2016 20:00 - 39 minutes - 23 MBIt’s widely tipped to take out Best Picture, and win Leonardo DiCaprio his (first) Oscar, but it’s also long, bloody, and bleak. We watch it so you don’t have to.
141: Room
January 26, 2016 20:00 - 36 minutes - 21.3 MBBrie Larson was 2015’s breakthrough star, following on from a series of scene-stealing performances, and she’s up for an Oscar for her work on ROOM, a creepy family drama about a mother and son trying to escape their captor, and the single room that was both their jail and home. Jacob Tremblay is wonderful as Larson’s son, in this subtle but affecting film based on the bestselling novel.
140: Carol
January 19, 2016 20:00 - 33 minutes - 19.7 MBRooney Mara’s adorable ingenue falls in love with Cate Blanchett’s force of nature in this intense, beautiful melodrama. Todd Haynes revisits the 1950s again, creating an almost too-faithful period piece featuring wonderful performances from the ensemble cast.
139: Sisters
January 12, 2016 20:00 - 35 minutes - 20.6 MBWith their long-running TV series’ over, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler got together with their friends to make a movie. This gag-laden movie tells the story of a pair of sisters throwing one last party at their family home before it is sold, and it’s solid, fun and extremely women-friendly, albeit with a few story issues.
138: The Good Dinosaur
January 05, 2016 21:00 - 31 minutes - 19.2 MBOver the holidays, amidst the Star Wars hype, Pixar released their second film of the year. This simple tale of a dinosaur leaving his family home to find his courage and make new friends is unoriginal and bland by Pixar’s standards, although it’s not without its merits.
137: Suffragette
December 29, 2015 20:00 - 34 minutes - 18.8 MBThe story of a working-class Londoner Maud, who becomes a radicalised activist for women’s suffrage. We (well, Mel) had high hopes for this film, but in addition to its well-documented issues around race, it also suffers from some story issues.
136: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
December 22, 2015 21:00 - 35 minutes - 19.2 MBOn a Friday night a week before Christmas, we watched STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS and recorded an episode with a live audience. Warning: contains spoilers.
135: Rewatched Crossover Episode: Jessica Jones
December 22, 2015 01:03 - 1 hour - 50.8 MBIn this extra special episode, we join our friend Craig Moore from the Repacked Podcast to talk Jessica Jones. We meander through a long, rambly, occasionally shouty discussion on the Marvel Cinematic Universe, superheroes and the Marvel’s Netflix ‘Defenders’ shows.