Kermode & Mayo’s Take

Ordinary Angels, Boy Kills World, I.S.S., Challengers & The American Society of Magical Negroes

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Episode notes

This week there’s no guest, but lots more witterings from the good doctors to make up for it.  


Mark gives his take on a swathe of new films, including ‘Ordinary Angels’, a Hilary Swank-starring emotional drama about a hairdresser who rallies an entire community to help a widowed father get his critically ill youngest daughter a liver transplant; ‘Boy Kills World’, an action thriller about a martial arts expert who goes on a campaign of vengeance after he is rendered deaf-mute by an attack that killed his entire family; ‘I.S.S.’, a science fiction thriller, which sees tensions flare aboard the International Space Station when a worldwide conflict breaks out on earth; and ‘Challengers’, Luca Guadagnino’s latest, which sees Zendaya star as a former-tennis-prodigy-turned-coach who transforms her husband into a world-famous grand slam champion only to become embroiled in a love triangle when he competes against his former best friend – and her former lover.  


The big review of the week is ‘The American Society of Magical Negroes’, a comedy-drama, which sees a young man join a clandestine group of magical African Americans committed to enhancing the lives of white individuals, satirising the Magical Negro trope.  


Timecodes (relevant only for the Vanguard - who are also ad-free!):

09:39 – Orindary Angels

16:42 – Boy Kills World

20:45 – Box Office Top Ten

35:19 – I.S.S.

43:33 – Challengers

50:27 – American Society of Magical Negroes


You can contact the show by emailing [email protected] or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo  


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