In this episode Mark does a review of the critically acclaimed South Korean survival drama Netflix television series “Squid Game”. The series centres on a contest in which 456 players, from all different walks of life but who each are deeply in debt, participate in a set of children’s games for the chance to win a ₩45.6 billion prize – however the penalty for losing in a game is death, which leads to an intense experience for every player as they fight to stay alive and make it to the end of the game so that they can be the sole winner of the prize money.
In this episode Mark talks about the 2021 American science fiction action comedy film “Free Guy” directed by Shawn Levy from a screenplay by Matt Lieberman and Zak Penn. The film stars Ryan Reynolds as a bank teller, named Guy, who discovers that he is actually a non-player character in a open-world video game and becomes the hero of the story. The film also stars Jodie Comer, Joe Keery, Lil Rel Howery, Utkarsh Ambudkar, and Taika Waititi.
In this episode Mark recites four of the most recent poems that he has written and he talks about what inspired him to write them, including his poem “Forté”, “The Best of Us”, “The Mark of New York”, and “Back to the Theatre”. You can read more of Mark’s poetry on his website @ http://MarkThePoet.Me
In this episode Mark talks about one of his favourite films: the 2005 American superhero horror film “Constantine” directed by Francis Lawrence. Based on the DC Comics’ ‘Hellblazer’ comic book, the film stars Keanu Reeves as John Constantine, a cynical exorcist with the ability to perceive and communicate with half-angels and half-demons in their true form, who finds himself being drawn into the investigation of the death of a Los Angeles Police detective’s sister and while doing so uncovers a conspiracy to unleash hell on Earth. The films also stars Rachel Weisz, Shia LaBeouf, Tilda Swinton, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Djimon Hounsou, Gavin Rossdale, and Peter Stormare.
In this episode Mark talks about one of his favourite films: the 2019 American superhero horror film “Brightburn” directed by David Yarovesky, written by Mark Gunn and Brian Gunn, and produced by Jamed Gunn and Kenneth Huang. The film stars Elizabeth Banks, David Denman, Jackson A. Dunn, Matt Jones and Meredith Hagner, and the plot follows Brandon Breyer, a young boy of extraterrestrial origin who grows up on Earth but comes to realize that he has superpowers.
In this episode Mark talks about the 2021 American crime film “The Many Saints of Newark” directed by Alan Taylor and written by David Chase and Lawrence Konner. A prequel to David Chase’s HBO crime drama TV series “The Sopranos”, the film stars Michael Gandolfini, Alessandro Nivola, Leslie Odom Jr., Jon Bernthal, Corey Stoll, Billy Magnussen, Michela De Rossi, John Magaro, Ray Liotta, and Vera Farmiga. Set in the 1960s and 1970s in Newark, New Jersey, using the 1967 riots in the city as a backdrop for tensions between the Italian-American and African-American communities, the film follows the teenage years of Tony Soprano in the midst of a violent gang war his uncle and family are involved in.
In this episode Mark does a review of the first season of the American psychological thriller television series “You” developed by Greg Berlanti and Sera Gamble. Based on the 2014 novel of the same name by Caroline Kepnes, the story follows the character of Joe Goldberg (played by Penn Badgley), a New York bookstore manager and serial killer who falls in love with a customer, Guinevere Beck (played by Elizabeth Lail), and quickly develops an extreme, toxic, and delusional obsession with them.
In this episode Mark talks about the 1931 American science fiction horror film “Frankenstein” directed by James Whale, produced by Larmmle Jr., and adapted from 1927 play by the Peggy Webling, which in turn was based on Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel ‘Frankenstien; or The Modern Prometheus’. The film stars Colin Clive, Boris Karloff, Mae Clarke, John Boles, Dwight Frye, and Edward van Sloan.
In this episode Mark talks about one of his favourite films: the 1986 teen comedy film “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” written, co-produced, and directed by John Hughes. The film stars Mathew Broderick as Ferris Bueller, a high-school slacker who skips school for a day in Chicago, with Mia Sara and Alan Ruck.
In this episode Mark talks about the 2004 American neo-noir thriller film “Collateral” directed by Michael Mann and starring Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, Jada Pinkett Smith, Mark Ruffalo, Peter Berg, Javier Bardem, and Bruce McGill. The story of the film centres around Max (played by Jamie Foxx), a cab driver in Los Angeles, and Vincent (Tom Cruise), a customer/hitman who offers Max a high fare for driving to several locations around the city as a way of carrying the contract killing of several targets indicted in a federal grand jury case.
