She-watchables Episode 56: Pan’s Labyrinth

Better (a month) late than never, we’re celebrating the competition that made superstars of Cliff Richard, ABBA and, erm, Daz Sampson. Both the Eurovision Song Contest itself, and those month’s film ESC: The Story of Fire Saga will probably baffle our US listener but it’s a must-see for any fans of the contest.Filmed in Iceland and the UK, it’s definitely within our remit despite starring Will Ferrell as the international cast balance him out and the European Broadcasting Union itself has blurry borders, incorporating Russia and Australia along with the more traditional European countries. Settle down for a large helping of (Swiss?) cheese and join us as we award Douze points to Fire Saga!

This month we’re showcasing a British film that’s about as well-known as our podcast! Skeletons is a wonderful low-budget gem of magic realism about a company that clears metaphorical skeletons from actual closets which may or may not have inspired “Inception”(please don’t sue).Grab yourself a massive plate of carbs and join us as we say “hello to Jason Isaacs” and try to bring this underrated film to the masses (or at least both of our listeners 😄)

This month we are putting our big girl pants on and She-watching fantasy/horror classic Pan’s Labyrinth about a young girl escaping into her fairy tales from the horrors of the Spanish Civil War. Not for the faint hearted, although disarmingly the horrors come in the shape of real-world fascist Captain Vidal, and not from the creatures in Ofelia’s fantasy world.We establish that it IS rewatchable, despite being gut-wrenchingly heartbreaking. Are there any films you consider to be a masterpiece, yet struggle to rewatch?

What to say about the film Nicolas Cage described as “incredible” and about which Pedro Pascal said “it made me want to be a better man”?*Paddington 2 is that rare beast, no, not just a housetrained brown bear with a penchant for sugary orange butties, but a sequel that’s arguably better than the original movie. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and you’ll boo Hugh (Grant) in the first in his recent run of bad guy roles. Like a big bear hug in cinematic form 🐻 🧡*Well, sort of, in a script, in a movie 😄

With the Bond franchise in flux at the moment it’s the perfect time to remind ourselves of one of 007’s finest recent outings. Casino Royale reintroduced James Bond in an origin story that looks both backwards to the classic movies and forwards to the slightly more enlightened post-Bourne spy universe. Mix yourself a Vesliq (shaken or stirred) and enjoy the debut performance of blond Bond before MGM Amazon inevitably ruin everything 😆

It’s Betty’s big(ish) birthday this month so she gets to choose the film…what better than one of the better instalments in a thoroughly British franchise? The third Harry Potter film, Prisoner of Azkaban is the point at which spells get real and soup gets hungry. Let’s sit back and enjoy this concise, 142 minute movie before HBO turns it into an 8-episode epic 🪄

This year’s Christmas film has a charmingly home made feel about it, as does our podcast, especially this month’s episode which seems to have been recorded in a cave, by two ill people who have already said all this stuff once but their recording device failed. Anyhoo, Danny Boyle’s 2004 family film Millions is probably one of his least-seen but deserves a wider audience. It’s Christmas-adjacent, featuring as it does a Nativity, St Nicholas, lots of spending and a burglary. It also raises ethical questions such as, Can you really steal something that is about to be destroyed? and Will there be a smoking area in Heaven? Apologies for the sound quality, “normal” service will be resumed in the New Year 🎄😃

This month’s film might look like some Hollywood “content” but it’s actually half Irish (our podcast, our rules!). Steven Soderberg’s 2011 B-movie Haywire has an international cast including the very scary Gina Carano and Michael Fassbender doing his very best Bond audition. There’s no good food but plenty of running, fighting and double-crossing so be warned, podcast contains spoilers!

It’s spooky season again and we’re She-watching one of the all-time classics to celebrate our 50th podcast! An American Werewolf in London needs no introduction (although Alex Cox did a good job back in 1990) but it was new to Betty…tune in to find out what she thinks of this 43 year old iconic horror-comedy. Beware the moon! 🐺 e4380c745926240b682e1d70591a84c354452f72

Our second Taika Waititi film to date, Hunt for the Wilderpeople is the funny and heartwarming tale of an odd couple stuck in the New Zealand bush together for complicated reasons…think Thelma and Louise meets Leave No Trace. We invite you to join us as we ramble about arguably (I use the term advisedly 😄) Waititi’s best film to date, but I must advise you that this podcast may contain POETRY.