At the Flicks

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In podcast 78 “Is it too early for Sherry” we had so many reviews that we had to split the show into two parts. This Podcast is the second part of our End of month Review show.

This show contains reviews of Bad Boys for Life, The Rhythm Section, Emma, While you were sleeping, Slenderman, 71, The Buddy Holly Story and a review of the first six Studio Ghibli movies that aired on Netflix in February. We hope you enjoy this show.

Welcome to our end of February show. It might be the shortest month, yet paradoxically it has the biggest show. So big in fact that we have had to split it in two!

We could have edited some of the content out, but if we did that we would have to put up with another Jeff rant as to how he was being censored. This seems a good compromise, and as an added bonus, if you have to self isolate in the weeks ahead, well, you now have plenty to listen to.

In fact if you are sealed in, then the first item on the show is essential. Dec’s guide to streaming (carry on streaming) returns. There are some excellent shows on here, although Jeff cannot let his love of Gavin and Stacey go! Yes we know it was the biggest hit on TV over Christmas, now move on. Dec, like Graham and Neil, ignores Jeff and provides some series well worth streaming, especially if you unexpectedly find yourself all alone for a couple of weeks.

By the way, if you want to get tips on how to survive alone, send your questions to us and we will ask our resident expert Neil.

Back to the show. We have some in-depth reviews on this show, including The Personal History Of David Copperfield and Parasite. Check out also Darren’s Dash, as Darren clearly takes this film watching far more seriously than the rest of the team do.

After the reviews we say hello again to Emma. Emma will be with us every other months to tell us about the films she is looking forward to seeing in the cinema. This new section is called Emma’s Picks. Emma has her finger on the pulse far more than we do, and she has come up with some excellent recommendations. To find out what they are you will have to listen to the show.

That’s it for part one of the end of month show. Check back in tomorrow for the rest of the reviews show.

Enjoy.

The “it’s back” episode. It’s back to great interviews, it’s back to movie news and it’s back to Elijah who is once again re-discovering the classics.

It’s also back to Jeff’s rants, Neil’s confusion and Graham’s unnatural obsession for all things Mel.

Put that from you mind as we tell you about our big interview. Our first interview of the year and we start with a bang. Kirk Doman is a major movie art director in South Africa. It didn’t start out that way for Kirk who tells us how he got involved in the film world, firstly as a movie prop supplier and then as an art director. Jeff was fortunate enough to get some of Kirk’s very busy time when he was over in Cape Town recently. He also got to spend time wandering through Kirk’s company called prop art, which he co-owns with Barry Coetzer, where some amazing props are on display. Check out the link below to their website and also below are some of the amazing pictures Jeff’s wife took when they were there.

Jeff conducted the interview in the very busy prop house store, as you will probably guess from all the work you can hear going on around him. Seeing work being done must have been something of a shock for Jeff! As well as talking about the fascinating props, Kirk also told us about his fascinating career working on such movies and TV series as Blood Diamond, Doomsday, Mission Impossible : Ghost Protocol, Breathe, The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society and The Crown. Listen out for some wonderful and heart warming stories about Kirk’s encounters with the likes of Luke Perry, Andy Serkis and Tom Cruise.

After Kirk we have our first movie news column in months. As this is something of a reunion we gave each of the At The Flicks team to talk about something they love. Jeff spoke about films being made in Wales (much to the amusement of the other two), Neil has some astonishing Studio Ghibli news and Graham had a choice. OK he didn’t. We set up a listener poll to ask should we allow Graham to talk about a film he would like to see or the latest Mel Gibson news. 95% picked … no, not here – you will have to check out the show to find out what happened.

After that amusement, Elijah returns with a new classic. A fortuitous one – Spartacus. It was selected and recorded before the recent sad departure of Hollywood legend Kirk Douglas. Even so we think it is a fitting tribute to one of the great man’s finest movies.

Let us know what you think of the our classic selection or anything else that you hear on the show. As always we would love to hear from you.

Enjoy.

On this Podcast short special we talk to director Marc Jobst about his latest in development project Home. 

Marc will be bringing a concept performance from the film, a movie “pitch” if you like, to this year’s Stroud Film Festival. As the Festival guide explains the event “ Home is a multi generational dance musical about three young homeless people who meet on the streets of Bristol. Researched in Gloucester and Bristol, it’s being pitched in the UK and Hollywood.”

After the event Marc will be chairing an open discussion with the audience about their ideas on thoughts on Home. If you have ever wanted a chance to influence a Hollywood movie, this is your time.

To be part of this amazing opportunity, you can get tickets for the event via the Stroud Film Festival website – check out the link below. Hurry though there are only a few days to go and you do not want to miss out on getting tickets for this one. 

The At The Flicks team will see you at the event.

The 2020 Stroud Film Festival starts with a lead in event on 21st February and to discuss the programme for this year we sat down with Co. Director of the Festival, Andy Freedman.

In this podcast we talk about the films, venues, competitions, events and workshops that make this festival such a unique experience.

If you have an interest in cinema then the Stroud Film Festival, which runs until 28th March is an event you will not want to miss.

Check out the full festival programme here and get your tickets before they all go.

In the last few years film fans have complained that the movie industry was churning out nothing but Sequels, Reboots and Remakes. What exactly are these modern phenomena? In 2019 we had more Avengers, another John Wick, Godzilla back again, Pets continuing to be secret, X-Men doing the Phoenix saga again, the return of the Toy Story crowd, yet more Annabelle and a further helping of the Men in Black. Where is the originality?

In this Podcast we are joined by regular contributor Phil Foster to discuss the sequel, reboot, remake phenomena. We look at some of the best and worse in each category. Warning: this gets very messy, very quickly.

Welcome to our first end of month review show of the year. 

It has been a few months since our last reviews show, so we start with a little catch up. Star Wars fan Phil Foster aka Phil the Bear joins us to discuss Star Wars : The Rise Of Skywalker (or as Jeff has cynically named it – Star Wars : The Death Of A Saga). It is a film which has divided audiences as much as it has done for our panel. Whatever your view on the film, I am sure you will agree that proved to be an odd end for a story which started a long, long time ago.

More up to minute reviews include 1917, JoJo Rabbit and Bombshell. While discussing releases, we could not pass up the opportunity to talk about Cats. Generally reviled, however one member of the team speaks up in its defence. I wonder who would be that contrary to go against what most people are thinking? I will give you a clue, he is Welsh and annoys Neil a lot! 

Joining us for the reviews is Darren from @dazzalovesmovies. Darren puts us to shame with regard to movie watching, and his much missed section Darren’s Dash returns where he tells us about such films as Little Women and Waves. 

Away from reviews, the At The Flicks team are delighted to be talking to Bianca Garner about her website In Their Own League. This wonderful site celebrates women in all aspects of the film industry, something which is definitely required, as the lack of recent Award nominations have shown. Bianca, also known as Bee, tells us about how quickly the site has grown, her amazing team of writers and her future ambitions for the site.

After that we chat to Steve Wright, our friendly Cineworld manager who has had a very busy Christmas, and who looks like having an incredibly busy 2020. With hits like 1917, Little Women and The Personal History of David Copperfield, I think it will be some time before Steve gets a break!

That’s the show. I think you will agree that we have something for every movie palate in this episode. As always please let us know what you think.

Enjoy.

Welcome to the first of a limited series looking at the Rambo films.

While that might seem an odd series for At The Flicks to go into such detail on, it is something that has been on political Jeff's mind since watching Rambo Last Blood.  What this series will hopefully achieve, is a critique of each film and the political times in which it was made.  Each film will get its own episode.

What better place to start than at the beginning, so we begin with First Blood (1982).  Without doubt one of Sylvester Stallone's best films and one that tackles the important issue of what happens to people after combat.  Especially, as in the case of Vietnam, where the war was lost. 

As the At The Flicks team are British and John Rambo is very much an American hero, we have brought in one of our American contributors for the series.  Elijah will be joining us for each episode, to give his view on both the film and the politics.  This first episode has a particular meaning for Elijah because of a personal connection to the Vietnam war.

Something very different for us and we look forward to your feedback to know if this venture works for you or not.

Enjoy.

After the last couple of shows which have focused on listeners and contributors favourite films of 2019, it is now time for the At The Flicks team to put theirs together.

It wasn’t easy!

The period of creating and comparing the three lists ended up in Game Of Thrones style intrigue. Jeff threatened to release incriminating photos unless his picks were selected. This plan backfired when he realised Neil and Graham actually had even more incriminating photos of him. The one of him sitting there in his Marvel Pjs, watching the Marvel film cycle on repeat will now not be published. At least, not yet….

After all that, we finally agreed on a top ten – here it is. We would love to hear your opinion about this list.

But wait, that is not all. We have also included in our review of the year show the following:

Obituaries : 6 key obituaries from 2019 that had an impact on the team. 

Awards : Want to know which movie won the Mel Gibson award of the year and what won the Heaven’s Gate award for the most embarrassing failure – then check out this show.

2020 – We give our take on what is coming which cannot be missed in 2020.

Relax, enjoy the show and have a great movie going 2020.