The Phoenician Scheme, The Encampments and the cinema of Palestine

On this week's show, the Edinburgh Filmhouse is back, bay-bee! Peter, Jamie and Anahit offer their thoughts and well-wishes after each visiting it on opening weekend. If you've ever wanted to hear us talk about legroom and patina, you're in luck. Film-wise, we review Pavements, Alex Ross Perry's multi-stranded doc/biopic/musical of Peter's favourite 90s slacker indie band, and 28 Years Later, Danny Boyle's return to the land of iPhone cameras, violent zombies and haunting depictions of faux-50s provincialism (they're calling it 'The UK', etc etc). Oh, and there's time for a first look at the Edinburgh Film Festival programme. Early notes: looks not bad. Interesting stuff, good venues, intriguing times ahead. TIMESTAMPS: Thoughts on the Filmhouse, ft Local Hero, The Brutalist (2:00) Pavements review (14:30) 28 Years Later review (31:30) Edinburgh International Film Festival first look (49:10) Get us on Twitter, Bluesky, Instagram and Letterboxd  @thecineskinny, email us at [email protected] Intro and interstitial music: Too Cool by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4534-too-cool) License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license  

Owing to there being a dearth of great films out in June, we've ditched our usual format and for one week only we're doing a 'call-in' show. We asked our listeners to send in questions and voice notes, and they sent in loads, quizing us on myriad subjects, from sexiness in film to our ideal directors' dinner party to which film characters would make for terrible flatmates.  TIMESTAMPS: "They’re adapting the Cineskinny into a major motion picture - who would play each of you in the flick? Jamie, you cast Anahit; Anahit, you pick Ellie; Ellie, you choose Jamie." From Peter Simpson (1:33) "When Harry Styles said that Don't Worry Darling really felt "like a movie", what do you think he meant? What other films really feel like a movie??" From Rho Chung (11:38) "Do you think it's cooler to be a director who hones in and does one thing really well (Wes Anderson (debatable lol but ygm), Tarantino etc), or one with RANGE (Danny Boyle for example)" From Phoebe Willison (19:20) "What about 'best and/or worst film you've watched with your parents?" From Carmen Paddock (34:47) "What's your dream directors' dinner party (pick 3, living or dead) and what film would you put on for everyone afterwards?" George Sully (43:18) Get us on Twitter, Bluesky, Instagram and Letterboxd  @thecineskinny, email us at [email protected] Recorded at Ground Floor, Leith – ehfm.live Music: Too Cool by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4534-too-cool) License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

John Maclean's new film Tornado is a samurai revenge western, shot in the hilly countryside around Edinburgh, starring Kôki, Jack Lowden and Tim Roth. Jamie caught up with John earlier in the year to discuss the film and how it all came about – with Tornado hitting UK cinemas this weekend, here's another chance to hear that chat.  Get us on Twitter, Bluesky, Instagram and Letterboxd  @thecineskinny, email us at [email protected] Music: Too Cool by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4534-too-cool) License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

On the latest episode of The CineSkinny, we take a wild trip with a ruthless tycoon (Benicio del Toro), his deeply moral daughter (Mia Threapleton) and his Swedish tutor-cum-secretary (Michael Cera) in Wes Anderson's breakneck espionage comedy The Phoenician Scheme.  We come back down to earth with the urgent and enraging documentary The Encampments, which takes us inside the Palestine solidarity campus encampment at Columbia University that became a focal point last spring in the fight against the ongoing genocide in Gaza. And inspired by The Encampments and the upcoming SAFAR Film Festival, each member of the team recommends a great Palestinian film. TIMESTAMPS: What We've Been Watching: Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean; Julia & Julia; Taskmaster; Feel Good (1:40) The Phoenician Scheme review (12:08) The Encampments review (32:05) Palestinian cinema: It Must Be Heaven, Gaza mon amour, 5 Broken Cameras (48:52) Get us on Twitter, Bluesky, Instagram and Letterboxd  @thecineskinny, email us at [email protected] Recorded at Ground Floor, Leith – ehfm.live Music: Too Cool by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4534-too-cool) License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license  

Greetings The Cineskinny listeners - before our next full episode drops, here's something else you might like. It's a new Scottish music podcast, it's called MUSIC NOW, and the first episode is an interview with the amazing piper and composer Malin Lewis. Here's a clip about songwriting and making a new instrument basically from scratch – links to the full episode below. Godspeed, enjoy, more film chat soon xx SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/0kvLAfixelglrrF5gofXgj?si=0f3146df83884aab APPLE: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/music-now-the-music-podcast-from-the-skinny/id1815765281 

A bumper pod this week –  we review Amalia Ulman's Magic Farm about a bunch of hipster journalists getting lost in Argentina, and India Donaldson's Good One about a v v awkward intergenerational camping trip. But that's not all! We also dig into Wes Anderson's ornate cinematic toolbox ahead of The Phoenician Scheme, so we're talking family, casting, animation, etc etc. But that's still not all! Jamie inspires some Final Destination-style catastrophising, and Anahit's been back on the Love Is Blind tip so that's in there as well. And that's all. TIMESTAMPS: What We've Been Watching: Final Destination Bloodlines, Love Is Blind UK, Earth Girls Are Easy (2:20) Magic Farm review (16:15) Good One review (29:10) Wes Anderson, cinema's fanciest lad (40:00) Get us on Twitter, Bluesky, Instagram and Letterboxd  @thecineskinny, email us at [email protected] Recorded at Ground Floor, Leith – ehfm.live Music: Too Cool by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4534-too-cool) License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

On this week's pod, two hot, hot movies. First up, Sinners, Ryan Coogler's sexy Southern Gothic vampire flick set in Jim Crow-era Mississippi. It's got two Michael B Jordans, it's got epic musical sequences, it's got exquisite period detail, it's got spit sharing, it's got a smart and thorny race analogy at its heart, it's got great actors bringing their A game, it's got wonderful post-credit scenes and, did we mention, it's got two Michael B Jordans.  Similarly sexy and sweltering is Motel Destino, a neon-lit tropical noir from Brazilian director Karim Aïnouz. And inspired by Sinners, the team choose their favourite films set during parties or big nights out where things go off the rails. TIMESTAMPS: What We’ve Been Watching: Blue Velvet, April, GFT's Derek Jarman and Chantal Akerman retrospective, Manhunter (2:20) Sinners review (13:42) Motel Destino review (31:28) Theme: Nights Out Gone Awry (Carrie, Festen, The Invitation, Coherence, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist) (41:36) Get us on Twitter, Bluesky, Instagram and Letterboxd  @thecineskinny, email us at [email protected] Music: Too Cool by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4534-too-cool) License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

In a change to our usual format, we review only one film this episode: the French coming-of-age film Holy Cow. Set in Jura, in the east of France near the Swiss border, it follows a wild 18-year-old lad who has to grow up fast and learn how to make some award-winning Comté after a family tragedy. The rest of the episode sees Peter, Anahit, and Jamie discuss what they’ve been watching on the big and small screen recently, from Black Bag and a Jacques Tati classic to Adolescence and White Lotus via a goofy-sounding show we're pretty sure Anahit has made up. TIMESTAMPS: What We’ve Been Watching: Movies (Black Bag, Uptown Girls, Playtime) (2:14) Holy Cow review (17:08) What We’ve Been Watching: TV (Adolescence, White Lotus, Paradise) (25:34) Get us on Twitter, Bluesky, Instagram and Letterboxd  @thecineskinny, email us at [email protected] Music: Too Cool by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4534-too-cool) License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

This week, we review Bong Joon-Ho's latest – Mickey 17 stars multiple Robert Pattinsons and Mark Ruffalo doing what we're assured is not an impression of any named individual. We also dive into the lovely 3D animated waters of Flow, Oscar-winning animation and, fun fact, the highest grossing Latvian film of all time.  Elsewhere, we interrogate horrid visions of surveillance, intrigue, subterfuge and suspicious gender politics, but eventually we do *stop* talking about Love Is Blind and talk about dystopias in cinema instead. The Cineskinny; we had you in the first half, not gonna lie.  TIMESTAMPS: Love Is Blind, Picture This, Good Time (2:10) Mickey 17 review (11:30) Flow review (29:45) Dystopian Cinema chat (39:40) Get us on Twitter, Bluesky, Instagram and Letterboxd  @thecineskinny, email us at [email protected] Music: Too Cool by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4534-too-cool) License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

On this edition of The CineSkinny we take a look at two of the most anticipated Scottish films of the year. First we review On Falling, the deeply impressive feature debut from Edinburgh-based director Laura Carreira.  And fresh from his second feature Tornado having its world premiere at Glasgow Film Festival, we have an interview with John Maclean who talks about westerns, samurai films, and the challenges of indie filmmaking in Scotland.  Elsewhere there are a couple of great film festivals (Glasgow Short Film Festival, HippFest) we wanted to give shout-outs to, and we take a look at some filmmakers who are attempting different distribution models that involve taking their films on intimate tours of the country. We also briefly chew over the Oscar results. TIMESTAMPS: What We've Been Watching: Walking & Talking, Disney Channel original movies, Common Side Effects and more (1:49) On Falling review (14:18) GSFF, HippFest, The People's Joker and Hundreds of Beavers (32:30) Interview: John Maclean on Tornado (50:10) Oscar chat (1:07:50) Get us on Twitter, Bluesky, Instagram and Letterboxd  @thecineskinny, email us at [email protected] Music: Too Cool by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4534-too-cool) License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license