At the Flicks

The Summer is almost over. Holidays are complete and your 14 day quarantine is about to begin.

What to do with that unexpected time at home? Obvious answer is turn on the TV. Next question, what is there to watch? And that is where we come in, or that is where you listen to our sage TV expert. Declan will guide you through all the channels and tell you what’s hot and what’s not.

So, if you have been caught in Johnson’s moving lockdown game, Dec recommends the following to you to pass the time:

The Salisbury Poisoning

The Rise Of The Murdoch Dynasty

Sunderland Till I Die

Young Wallander

Mrs America

Ted Lasso

Perry Mason

and many others…

Listen out as we also discuss the upcoming shows of the next few months.

Think of us as a public service announcement. We have your best interests at heart, which is more than can be said for this Government

We are proud and honour to present to you our latest podcast.

A few weeks ago, we talked to retired school teacher and first time film maker Gary Janks (proving you are never too old). His film, Chasing Mandela’s Rainbow is an examination of the modern day South African education system. At the heart of the film is the question – were Nelson Mandela’s very high education ideals realised?

Gary answers that question through three very different students :

Phendulani – a high achiever, both in the classroom and on the sports field. A potential future leader, but will the system give him the intellectual skills he needs?

Andile – Keen to learn. Unfortunately the poor rural area where she goes to school may not have the funds or skills to develop her education.

Mahlatse – A complex boy. He has the knowledge but will his extra curricular activities hurt his schooling?

It is a deeply moving and thought provoking film. If you are interested in watching this incredible movie, a link to rent it is below. Also, below are more details on the film and the various film festivals it has appeared in.

This was a revealing interview for the At The Flicks team. Chasing Mandela’s Rainbow opened up a whole new world for us and we were all deeply moved. As the Toronto Times said about the film, “Life in Mandela’s South Africa has been an unrelenting struggle against utopian hope – and painful reality”.

If you watch the film, please let us know what you think. If you have any questions for Gary, we can forward those on for you.

Howdy partners, it’s been a while since we last met up on our Western trail. Why not saddle up again and join Jeff The Kid, Itchy Trigger Finger Graham and Snake Eyes Neil? We are going to ride along and jaw about True Grit.

The version we are discussing is the 1969 version for which John Wayne won the Best Actor Oscar. Indeed, his performance as the mean no nonsense lawman who likes to bend an elbow has been a role model for our Jeff all his life.

True Grit came out just a year after the release of Charles Portis’ original novel and became one of the top ten highest grossing films of 1969.

We look at why it was successful, what is it about the movie that appeals to your At The Flicks team and why it still retains such a high reputation today. What you may find surprising, as we did, is how troubled the production was. Some of the original casting choices walked before filming started, or asked for so much money the budget couldn’t accommodate their request. Then there were the on set arguments and the refusal of some stars to work with director Henry Hathaway ever again. All this detail and more can be found here.

As an added bonus, we talk about the real life inspiration for Rooster Cogburn and below you will find a link to an old silent movie called The Bank Robbery in which he appears. So, stop being a coffee boiler (yes Neil that means you) and ride along for this rip roaring adventure. We enjoyed making it and hope you enjoying listening to it.

Let us know and we may let you ride the trail with us for future episodes of Rustlers’ Roundup.

See you next time amigos.

And we're back!!! It has been a long month as we desperately looked around for films to review. With just the odd one on Prime and Netflix, we had to have a team meeting to come up with a review idea. Such meetings drag on when Neil says "it must be foreign language". So Jeff swore at him in Welsh. Meeting abandoned.

We tried again a few days later. That meeting started well. Graham said let's look at the film's of Christopher Nolan (as Tenet "almost" opened around that time). Then Phil threw in "I have a foreign language film idea". Jeff accused him of being brainwashed by Neil and the meeting once again descended into chaos and abandonment once again.

Third and final meeting. Graham, the peacemaker, said let's all pick a film we always meant to see but never got around to. It meant Graham could have a Nolan film, Neil and Phil could have foreign language and Jeff and Darren could make their own choices.

Time to put the flags out. Lockdown, for the moment at least, is coming to an end. Life slowly is beginning to return to normal (whatever that means).

Now the question can be asked, just how did you spend you time at home during these last few months? Well, we know exactly what our streaming expert Declan was doing – watching TV so that he could inform you what is worth your time on terrestrial and streaming TV platforms. So, when the rains come (and let’s face it, if you are in Britain, that is our Summer) you know what to check out.

There is the latest season of Killing Eve, or if you are Jeff, all three seasons of Killing Eve (and The Sopranos, The Wire etc). Then there is the amazingly violent Gangs Of London, Harley Quinn, Little Fires Everywhere and State Of Happiness. All highly recommended from our TV and boxset expert.

Also if you want to catch up on an old favourite, there is Buffy The Vampire Slayer being shown from the beginning on E4. Neil once threatened to watch the whole thing, but only made it half way through the credits of episode 1 – yes it is that scary, but then, so is Neil!

After we talk TV we have a general discussion on what is to happen in the future – can there be social distancing TV, when will cinemas actually reopen and is Tenet real or just a Christopher Nolan time puzzle? All of these tough questions and more will be answered (well attempted) in this latest edition of Carry On Streaming.

Finally we give a sneak peak into something very exciting coming soon. We are planning a Streaming special on the hit TV show Penny Dreadful : City Of Angels with some special guests. Stay tuned for more details.

Until then enjoy the show and stay safe, wherever you are.

In our latest episode Jeff and Graham are speaking to BBC Radio Gloucestershire presenter Jo Durrant.

Jo hosts a wonderful science themed show called Jo Durrant’s Beautiful Universe. It should therefore come as no surprise for the theme of this show to be all things science. We talk both fact and fiction, as Jo reveals some of her favourite films.

For fiction we talk about ET and 2001 (be aware, we speak at length about the enigmatic ending of that latter film as we try to work out exactly what it meant!). Then there are the powerful fact based dramas First Man and Apollo 13.

That leads us neatly onto talking about space travel in general, returning again to documentaries (our big love at the moment – see also show 93). Graham and Jeff bombard Jo with such questions as

What is it like to wear a space suit?

How dangerous are space missions?

How do you respond to people who say the moon landings did not take place?

And many others.

So if you, like us, are missing the Beautiful Universe show, then come along with us and catch up with the wonderful Jo Durrant.

Thanks for listening.

Lockdown may be easing for many people, but home entertainment remains extremely important (just when are those cinemas going to open?). By now you have probably exhausted all the TV box sets and “must watch” films you have been putting off for many years.

This is where At The Flicks once again performs its civic duty for you, our listeners. Why not try documentaries?

We speak to documentary film maker Sam Pope about some of the best documentaries out there. As you would expect from Sam, he has some amazing choices.

From Errol Morris’ The Thin Blue Line to Ken Burns’ The Vietnam War, he discusses some unforgettable films (and series) to watch. A top ten list put together for you. This is something the team discuss at length with Sam, although as usual when Slenderman is mentioned, Graham and Neil are nowhere to be found. Guys, despite all you have heard, it is not real.

Many of our selections are powerful and we urge you not to binge watch. For less disturbing viewing, why not check out Behind The Curve or The Cave Of Forgotten Dreams? That said, whatever you pick from the films we discuss, we are sure you will find it fascinating viewing.

As always we would love to hear from you and your thoughts on our selections. Are there others you would have included? Please let us know.

Enjoy and stay safe.

Howdy partners, and welcome back to the trail. I would move in closer if I were you, as you are standing too close to where Snake Eyes Neil let the horses roam after eating.

Be warned, this trail is a little darker than the last one. OK a lot darker. We talk about Ralph Nelson’s powerful and shocking Western Soldier Blue. For two thirds of its length this is a violent survivalist story. The last third is a recreation of the infamous Sand Creek Massacre of 1864 when the third Colorado Cavalry brutally butchered most of the inhabitants of a Native American village.

Tough stuff indeed and made even tougher by the parallels the film makers drew to the My Lai massacre which had happened in Vietnam a couple of years prior to the release of this movie. We talk at length about the climax of Soldier Blue, its initial impact, the extraordinary preview cut which almost got some of the film makers attacked and the censor cuts which have taken place since the film’s initial release.

If you have 20 minutes to spare why not listen in to hear the shocking tale of Soldier Blue,

Have you seen it? Do you think it should be classed as one of the great Westerns? Let us know and we may let you ride the trail with us for future episodes of Rustlers’ Roundup.

See you next time amigos. Until then stay safe.

Welcome to the latest At The Flicks review show.

Regular listeners will notice a few changes this month, the biggest being that, thanks to lockdown, there aren’t many new movies to review! Which is of course a problem for a review show.

However before we talk about our sneaky approach to that problem, let’s look at our new expanded team. Let’s start with the regulars

“Oracle” Jeff

“I make my film selections to annoy Jeff” Neil

“If I could edit Jeff out of the show I would” Graham

are now joined every month by the following ultra keen film goers (when cinemas are open)

“I will never side with Jeff” Phil

“Just who is this Jeff person anyway” Darren

What a team. It’s like the magnificent seven but with only five!

So just what are our team up to with a scarcity of new releases. Well luckily they found two, one thanks to Netflix. Other than that Graham came up with an excellent idea, although both Jeff and “Tory boy” Neil tried to claim credit for it. Graham’s plan was to pick movies that had been released during the month of April in previous years. Each member of the team could pick one film, and the choices were, shall we say, unique

* Darren picked a good old fashioned World War II adventure film, although with a subject like this, the Brexiteers will never watch it!

* Phil picked a Welsh actor’s finest hour

* Graham picked a true classic and has redesigned his garden following his viewing

* Jeff has picked a film with right wing police credentials. He continues to live the dream

* Neil spent his time listening to the others and picked a film designed to annoy Jeff to his very core. Something so bad that Phil almost, and I stress almost, had to side with Jeff. However decency and taste did eventually stop him from making that bold step.

Check us out and let us know what you think of our choices. Also what criteria should we be applying for film picks in the lockdown months ahead.

All ideas welcome unless they come from Jeff.

Our continuing and popular series on the politics of the Rambo films has the team journeying to Afghanistan to talk about the most expensive film of the series, Rambo III. Note that there is no more mention of First Blood in the title.

This time our own Rambo style native warrior Neil (no knife, all golf club) joins us as the battle lines of discussion are drawn.

During the course of this in depth discussion we answer these questions:

* Why was this such a troubled production?

* Who was the original director?

* What weapon, designed by the Americans during the 1980’s (and prominently shown in Rambo III) was first used in this conflict?

* Did John Rambo actually support the Taliban?

These, and many other questions you didn’t know you wanted, or cared enough to ask.

As with every other men on a mission flick, there are disagreements within the team. Nothing new there are Jeff and Neil disagree on many aspects of the film and each thinks they are right. Meanwhile Elijah and Graham talk around them, making sensible and enlightening points about the movie.

We trust that you will want to join us on our journey and learn more about the film and the politics of the time.

Enjoy and we look forward to catching up with you next month as we talk more Rambo.