Inside Cinema

Grab your avocado toast: Inside Cinema looks at a misunderstood generation’s life on film, exploring how this diverse group has been shaped by socio-political upheaval, economic recession, and dramatic developments in technology.

All aboard! Go trainspotting with Inside Cinema in this in-depth survey of trains on film, exploring how the train is a storytelling engine loaded with meaning beyond simple high-speed spectacle, stoking themes of class division and colonialist expansion, and providing the perfect location for social revolution, satire, and transcendent fantasy.

Bring a brolly, as Inside Cinema explores how films simply don't do light drizzle, and instead use rain as an epic intensifier, a romcom matchmaker, or a reliable way to take stories to the edge.

What is both concealed and revealed when characters in films apply make-up? And what do make-up scenes have to tell us about femininity, performance, and the masks we wear?

From Sharon Stone uncrossing her legs in THAT white dress, to Demi Moore receiving an entirely indecent proposal from Robert Redford, the naughty '90s were a high point for bold A-list casts baring all in twisted tales of glossy high-concept intrigue. These borrowed from a mash-up of horror, noir and glossy porn - and almost always seemed to feature Michael Douglas. Influenced by film noir and Alfred Hitchcock, these trashy blockbusters pulled in millions at the box-office and introduced phrases like "bunny boiler" to the lexicon. But then... they vanished. Join us as we investigate: who or what killed the erotic thriller of the early nineties? And what kind of films took its place? Where can today's audience turn for that heady mixture of A-list casts, hair-raising plots, and pulse-quickening intimacy? To find out, we'll have to closely examine the body of evidence.

Get into the groove with Inside Cinema's look at iconic dance scenes in '80s teen movies, exploring how dance on film changed radically from Fame to Dirty Dancing to The Breakfast Club. This was the era that waved to goodbye Broadway-style choreography and said hello to wild celebration and rough-around-the-edges freedom, all backed by the coolest contemporary pop.

Why is it that good things often come in pairs? And why do opposites often attract? Inside Cinema salutes cinema’s most iconic duos and explores what makes a great film friendship, from the cricket bat-wielding, undead-beating besties of Shaun of the Dead to the us-against-the world, law-defying companions of Thelma and Louise.

Meet the Family, voiced by Kathy Burke (Nil by Mouth, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), puts cinematic families on the analyst's couch for a deep dive into what makes some of the most dysfunctional dynasties in cinema tick. How do film-makers go about dramatising the one thing we all have in life - family? Maybe it's about drawing directly from your own life, like Christina Crawford's account of being raised by a nightmare mother, A-list star Joan Crawford, in the infamous Hollywood scandal magnet, Mommie Dearest. Or maybe dramatising the furthest extremes that families will go to needs to involve fantasy, as in magical Oscar-winning fairy tale, Pan's Labyrinth, where a little girl escapes from her wicked stepfather into a dreamlike but dangerous underworld. Even when film-makers have their familial inspiration sorted out, families on the big screen still pose unique challenges, even to the greatest directors in cinema. How can you possibly make every single family member in a massive cinematic ensemble like Gosford Park memorable, when even people in real life have trouble remembering who their second cousins are? How do you know where to start and finish your story about a family, when every family stretches back through infinite generations? Perhaps, like Lars von Trier, you could start with the end of the world. And what about empathy? How do we know who to root for in a film like American Beauty, which only gives us one side of the story? Through the lens of films as varied as 8 Mile, Do the Right Thing, Tokyo Story, Aliens, Bicycle Thieves, The Hangover III, Dead Ringers, Home Alone, Ratcatcher, Back to the Future and many more, we zoom in on families in film, discovering how film-makers have imagined them on the big screen - and what that tells us about our place in our own families.

They say you can’t choose family. But the Fast and Furious franchise begs to differ. Crack open a cold one with Inside Cinema as we explore how the blockbuster series is fuelled by the human body’s natural nitrous oxide: love.

Spoofs, Bond spoofs. Inside Cinema takes aim at the subgenre of spies that have parodied 007, from the shaggadelic International Men of Mystery to the sharp dressed Kingsmen. These agents of comedy know James Bond's looks, villains, gadgets and missions better than Mr Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang himself.

Often, the most romantically-charged moments in films are those before the kissing starts... Join Inside Cinema for a steamy survey of cinema's subtle, seductive language of flirting - from the opposites-attract template of classic romcom Pretty Woman, to the sumptuous, unspoken romance of Wong Kar-Wai's In The Mood For Love.

Michael Leader explores how legendary Japanese filmmakers Studio Ghibli find magic in the everyday in beloved animated classics such as Spirited Away and My Neighbour Totoro - in which everything from cooking and cleaning to trains, planes and rain is made fantastical.

One, two, three, four! Elizabeth Sankey sings the praises of cinema's best bands, from the almost-famous groups that act like dysfunctional families to the head-banging pomp-rockers who take themselves far too seriously.

How does cinema treat women's lust? Christina Newland takes a close look at films that allow female desire to come to the fore - from Mae West's saucy one-liners to the rippling muscles of Magic Mike.

From Vertigo and Jaws to Raging Bull and Goodfellas... Tim Robey zooms in on a highly effective and ubiquitous camera technique that has left heads spinning for over 60 years.

In the age of Instagram, what is the function of the feature-length pop doc? And just how revealing can it be? Simran Hans explores why global superstars like Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, MIA and Lady Gaga are handing over the camera and turning to the format of the all-access documentary.

25 years on from the release of Clueless, Rhianna Dhillon argues that the teen movie is the perfect setting for radical adaptations of classic literature, from She's All That and 10 Things I Hate About You to Cruel Intentions and She's The Man.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water... Whether your dream get-away is about falling in love in an elegant sun-drenched Tuscan villa, or getting a terrible tan on a lagered up lads' holiday in the Costa del sun, there's nothing like getting away from it all. But in the movies, a holiday can mean anything from a makeover to a murder spree. Join Inside Cinema in attempting to survive the ultimate movie vacation: relax by the pool in Call Me By Your Name, discover a new sense of self in Us, fake it til you make it with The Talented Mr Ripley - it's all about letting filmmakers show us how to really unwind, and hopefully make it back from The Beach in one piece.

From Drop Dead Gorgeous and Miss Congeniality to Little Miss Sunshine and Dumplin', Beth Webb explores how movies can subvert the patriarchal concept of the beauty pageant. Popular discourse may now believe that these beauty contests are superficial or sexist but in cinema, women can use the pageant as an opportunity to claim power and find community.

It’s the most tongue-in-cheek location in cinema: a cinema. From Scream 2 to Cape Fear and Scary Movie to Gremlins 2, when filmmakers set a scene in a cinema, they get to mess with our minds in a uniquely personal way, putting us directly in the shoes - or should that be seats - of their characters, whether that’s in order to make us laugh knowingly or freeze in terror. Just keep telling yourself: it’s only a movie...

Mike Muncer takes a peek behind the white picket fences to explore the dark, uncanny world of visionary filmmaker David Lynch and figure out what the term 'Lynchian' really means. From Blue Velvet to Twin Peaks, how is it that one director has so successfully lifted the curtain on the surreal nightmares that underpin the American Dream?

How have filmmakers used multiple points of view of the same event to challenge notions of truth in cinema? Jessica Kiang demystifies a storytelling technique that has kept viewers guessing since 1950, from Akira Kurosawa's pioneering murder-mystery to the recent whodunnit hit Knives Out.

Zing Tsjeng examines a Hollywood stereotype that has seen East and Southeast Asian actresses typecast as cold, crafty and even vicious characters, from Anna May Wong's trailblazing appearances in the 1920s, to Lucy Liu's fierce turns in Charlie's Angels, Ally McBeal and Kill Bill. But how is a new generation of Asian-American filmmakers, in films such as Crazy Rich Asians and The Farewell, subverting the trope of the Dragon Lady?

We all love an iconic baddie, but this video essay isn't about them. This episode is about the smug, suit-wearing toerags who provide the banal face of evil in scores of 80s classics, from Harry Ellis in Die Hard and Walter Peck in Ghostbusters, to Carter Burke in Aliens, and beyond. What do these insufferable jerks say about Reagan-era cinema, and what purpose do they serve in crowd-pleasing popcorn flicks?

Lou Thomas raises a glass to the big screen boozer, a familiar film fixture that exposes a contradiction at the heart of British life: a place of both community and conflict, from the neighbourhood nucleus of the films of Ken Loach, Mike Leigh and Terence Davies, to the forbidding locals of The Wicker Man, An American Werewolf in London and Withnail & I.

Elizabeth Sankey casts a critical eye over cinema's complex relationship with wickedly powerful women, from the devilish delights of The Witches of Eastwick and The Craft to the fiendishly subversive The Witch and The Love Witch.