At the Flicks

Today’s pick is a Netflix animation feature. Can you guess what it is?

Today’s pick is a family gathering which turns into a comic horror. Can you guess what it is?

Today’s pick is a British black & white classic. Can you guess what it is?

Merry Christmas and welcome to the At The Flicks advent calendar. Everyday from 1st December, up to and including 24th December, we will be giving you a recommendation for a Christmas film to watch to get you in that festive mood. Some will be films you know, some you won’t. We hope there is something for everyone in our Festive Film Advent Calendar.

Merry Christmas from; Graham, Jeff, Neil and special Christmas guest presenter Emma.

Neil cannot unfortunately be with us this month, but the show must go on. The regular team shuffle in for the reviews continue.

As always we have the quiz and this time Jeff amazes the rest of the team (there is a first time for everything) with his Bond knowledge. Our Bond guests over the years have taught him something, or maybe he is the only one that listened?

For film reviews this month we have :

No Time To Die : Daniel Craig’s final outing as Bond gets the thumbs up from us

The Last Duel : Ridley Scott is back, but is he too old for this type of historical epic? Listen in to find out our verdict

The Green Knight : The film which caused dissention. Three people loved it, one hated it – can you guess who that was?

Halloween Kills : Not much in support of this one

Venom Let There Be Carnage : More superhero nonsense?

As usual there is much to say about these movies and some people who just won’t shut up. Do you agree? Please let us know what you think.

Darren’s Dash, the normally sane part of the review show, is coming shortly.

And while you are waiting, see you At The Flicks.

Belated compliments of the season to you, faithful listeners.

Our carry on streaming expert Dec returns to tell us what is worth watching in this darkest of seasons. True not all the selections are horror, however, most have unsettling notes to them. Like that glass of thick red wine even Graham won’t drink!

What is included in the show you may ask? Well, Dec gives us the details and recommends (amongst many others), the following

· The Cleaner

· The North Water

· Jeremy Clarkson’s Farm

· The Trail Of Oscar Pistorius

· Inside The President’s War Room

· Midnight Mass

And many, many more

More than enough to keep you going over the few short weeks to Christmas. Don’t worry if you run out of things to watch before that season is upon us, Dec will be back in December to give us his unmissable recommendations for the end of the year. We will be going from Happy Halloween to Merry Christmas before you know it!

Until then, stay safe and hopefully, if you are not watching TV, we will see you At The Flicks.

184: Darren's Halloween Party by At the Flicks

Welcome to Darren’s Dash, the show where Jeff reluctantly let’s go of the reins and hands control over to Darren. That is a harder act for him to do than you might imagine. It takes three weeks of the right type of pills to get him back to normal (or what is classed as normal for him) after one of these shows.

Even better, Darren has selected a film which has managed to cause a Jeff meltdown although Graham still refuses to watch that movie. See if you can work out which one it was from the list of five films reviewed

Censor : A film censor sets out to solve a mystery in this highly acclaimed movie. Also highly acclaimed by the two people in the show who watched it!

The Last Movie Star : Burt Reynolds plays an aging movie star who has to face up to his advancing years. Again, there are positive takes on this feature.

Malignant : The horror film that splits the review team. Some loved it, one didn’t, and Graham hid under the bed!

Herself : A powerful story of domestic abuse. Wise words from Darren and Phil on this one

Our Ladies : A British comedy feature that is, according to the team, well worth a watch.

Once again Darren picks an excellent and varied selection for the Dash. As always, if you have any comments on these movies, or anything talked about on the show, please let us know.

Until next time, Darren says “see you at the flicks”

In the always bustling At The Flicks news room we sometimes joke about other shows we listen to where critics are “phoning in” their reviews. Well, this month the joke is on us. Neil has gone off on holiday (again) and phoned in his reviews (or more accurately musings) along with his answers to last month’s extremely complicated quiz. Where did he go in this Covid infected world you may well be asking? It was supposed to be a secret (because of some of the company he has been keeping), but we decided to spill the beans. If you wonder why Neil never knocks disgraced public figures on the show, you are about to find out why. All we can say is, it is a good job that Jimmy Saville never enjoyed a game of golf!

So while Neil is away and drunk prank calling us with his rambling reviews (which actually make more sense than usual), the rest of the team continue to take the show seriously. Upcoming this month are reviews of such major movies as:

G I Joe : Snake Eyes: The G I Joe franchise has been revived, but was it worth the effort?

Reminiscence: Hugh Jackman stars in this dystopian future movie crossed with film noir. The film bombed in cinemas – did it deserve better?

Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings: Or as Jeff calls it, Feng Shui, much to the annoyance of everyone else. Is he just saying it to disguise a new love of marvel or just to mock as usual?

Copshop: The Frank and The Gerard in one movie. Graham was in his element, but what did everyone else think?

Candyman: A horror film – from the At The Flicks team? No surprise that some of the team avoided it, one even going off golfing so that he could miss it.

A varied bunch of movies there. And of course there is Darren’s Dash to come – it will only be a few more days, trust me!

As always, Darren’s Dash is well worth the wait.

And while you are waiting, see you At The Flicks.

WARNING : Podcast takeover alert : WARNING

For this show the old ones who usually run things have been given a rest as the young team of Emily and Kieran take over. Earlier this year Emily and Kieran were working as students on the Cheltenham International Film Festival. On this podcast they talk to various people connected with the festival. They speak to festival founder Leslie Sheldon, the team who created and shaped this year’s festival, some of the director’s whose films were in competition and people who watched the features. In short this is a beginning to end trip through how a festival is organised to how it is delivered to the public. A fascinating journey for which our two young friends are your guides.

Emily and Kieran have put together an excellent podcast – in fact if I were one of the old guys who normally appear on here talking about how much better things were in the past, I would be worried.

Finally, if you enjoy this podcast and wished that you had attended the festival, then worry not. In October the second half of this year’s Cheltenham festival takes place and you can actually sit in a cinema to watch some of the movies. Check out the Cheltenham International Film Festival website (https://2021.cheltfilm.com/) for further details.

We hope to return you to our normal team for the next podcast – unless you would rather it was run by Emily and Kieran. While you decide, see you At The Flicks.