Join filmmaker Tom Oliver and ex-critic Robert Beames as they dissect the first twenty minutes of the great, good and godawful of cinema history.

At a California convenience store, a man in a bathrobe and sandals writes a 69¢ cheque for a carton of milk. In provincial France, townspeople sing about mundane concerns while one young woman gets lost in books and dreams of more. Amidst dense jungle, dozens of armed men fail to control a single dinosaur despite their advanced technology.

Beginnings set the tone, with the greatest movies establishing characters, themes, and setting up story from the opening moments. Likewise, the problems that define bad films can usually be seen within the opening minutes.

Who are our characters? What do they want? What is the movie about? Join Tom and Rob as they try to answer those questions of more as they go 20 Minutes In.