The Witterlist - 16th February 2018

It’s half term this week, which means Mark's been put back into cold storage, where he has been kept on-and-off since back when the pompadour was a fresh new style. But fear not, for super-subs Edith Bowman and Clarisse Loughrey were here to take us through a stellar week of new films.

Don’t forget if you missed the show, you can hear all of this plus so much more on our podcast: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00lvdrj/episodes/downloads

Greta Gerwig’s directorial debut Lady Bird comes to selected cinemas this weekend, with a bigger release across the UK from 24th February. Edith spoke to the film’s BAFTA and Oscar-nominated star, Saoirse Ronan about how Gerwig created such a recognisable, relatable role.

Both Clarisse and Edith loved Lady Bird, a film that feels specific to Gerwig's own experiences but at the same time is universal and totally relatable.

Clarisse was also totally enamoured with Guillermo del Toro's adult fairy tale, The Shape Of Water. The concept of a woman falling for a fish-man might seem far-fetched, but del Toro plays it with such warmth and sincerity that it's hard not to be swept up in the magic of it all. And you know you liked Splash, so you can get on board with this.

“Is it funny at all?" "No. Not to any degree.”

Less appealing was Father Figures, a new comedy starring Ed Helms and Owen Wilson as twin brothers whose lives are so tragic that it makes it hard to tell whether this is really even a comedy at all.

Following on from Mark's review last week, Clarisse also gave her thoughts on Marvel's Black Panther. In particular, Clarisse explored the ideas and themes of Afrofuturism, how they are applied in this film and why seeing them in a blockbuster of this scale is such a landmark moment.

Mark and Simon return us to normal service next week, with Margot Robbie in to talk about I, Tonya.

Our thanks to Edith and Clarisse for giving us a great show in their absence - a show that included perhaps the most egregious case of code violation we've heard about yet...