Betty & Rita's She-Watchables Podcast

We’re following up last October’s Japanese zombies with some from Korea, specifically a biotech plant just outside Seoul. On the 10th anniversary of the release of Train to Busan we rewatch this modern horror classic and establish that Korean public transport is much superior to our own, from properly uniformed staff to a rail replacement service above and beyond the call of duty. Join us on our terrifying journey from Seoul to Busan, as we discover the fate of people who eat boiled eggs aboard public transport.

We’re taking a break from our usual deep dive into one film to natter about 5 films we’ve enjoyed. We’ve each picked a “guilty pleasure”, a musical, a film with a twist, a Tim Curry film and one guaranteed to make us (and hopefully you!) laugh. Tune in to hear us make the case for our chosen movies, and let us know which films you would have picked!

This month we wanted to celebrate music festival season (AKA rainy season) by rewatching the 1991 Alan Parker Dublin soul musical The Commitments. (Also, because Rita wanted to commemorate the sad and untimely death of Commitments guitarist and Oscar winner Glen Hansard and this, according to Betty, is his best film 😉). The film tells the story of a group of largely unemployed musicians trying to reclaim soul music for the working classes, and made a star of young singer Andrew Strong. Pop quiz…can you guess which cast member had never played an instrument before appearing in this film? Download the podcast and listen to find out!

Never usually ones to miss the boat (or trawler), we’re just over a week late to the football party with this month’s film 😄Looking for Eric (2009) is in a category of its own - a feel good Ken Loach movie! Yes, there’s kitchen sink grittiness (in fact the kitchen sink features quite a lot in this film, come to think of it) and a lot of “language of the terraces” but with the collection of Mancunian comics in the cast it easily passes the six-laugh test. Add in Eric Cantona playing a very thinly disguised version of himself and you’ve got a timely and uplifting British movie, whichever side of the red/blue divide you sit on.

You might not automatically think that this month’s movie falls within the She-watchables criteria of “British and International films” but it’s our podcasts, and we play by our rules! The 1995 film Babe, based on the children’s book “The Sheep Pig” was genuinely groundbreaking in terms of its visual effects, and was a worldwide smash. We chose it this month because we felt we (and you) deserved a feel-good film in these “difficult times” but be warned, it contains “unfortunate events” of the type you might expect on a farm, and may also spoil your next sausage butty.