At the Flicks

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 The one of him sitting there in his Marvel Pjs, watching the Marvel film cycle on repeat will now not be published.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.

On New Year's Eve we released episode 69 (Neil's favourite episode) where some of our contributors and guests revealed their top films of 2019.

Following some fantastic feedback, we now have, for you, the second half of the show. Once again, guests and contributors tell us what their favourites were.

For our guests and contributors we have an equally strong list:

Declan - Who takes a break from watching TV for Carry On Streaming to tell us his top picks from the movie world

Nick - All the way from across the pond to tell us about the movie year Stateside

Elijah - Staying in America, our classic film reviewer also reveals his best films.

Lucy - Lucy takes a break from preparing some fascinating discussions for her State Of The Movie feature to tell us what she considers great from 2019.

Zayn - A new listener to the show from sunny Cape Town who has some very interesting choices

Ashley - A sneak peak as Ashley tells us what impressed him during 2019. We have a more detailed interview coming with this incredibly talented sound engineer in a couple of months.

In the next show the At The Flicks founder members reveal their top ten of the year. Expect disagreements, the odd tantrum and tears. After which we will calm Neil down with a nice soothing cup of tea.

A very happy New Year to all our listeners. 

What would the start of a new movie going year be if you didn’t have a close look back at the one that has just passed? If you had a good New Year’s Eve, then your hangover time should be spent assessing what was good and bad in 2019. Trust us, that is what we will be doing!

We thought we would ask some of our contributors and listeners what their views on 2019 were. In the end we had so much good material that we put The Irishman’s length to shame (although the de-aging process that worked there, sadly didn’t help our Neil in any way). As a result and because of an executive decision (well, our Graham told us it would happen this way), we have split the show into two. One for New Year’s Eve and the other a few days later, when we have sobered up enough to complete the editing.

So, welcome to Part One where you will find 

Regular columnist Phil aka Phil The Bear with his extremely knowledgeable cinema assessment. That said, there is a very interesting “discussion” around his top pick of the year. Yes, our Jeff goes off on one again. You have to remember Jeff – this is NOT your list, if you behave that will come!

Dingle (from show 57 – Saturday Morning Cinema In The 1940’s) who applies his lifetime of cinema knowledge to list his favourite films of the year. This includes one title that very pleasantly caught us by surprise.

Our fellow reviewer Darren joins us to talk to us about his top films. For someone who watches as many films as Darren, it unsurprisingly includes some great titles. Listening again to Darren’s views, it is no wonder we are proud to have him as one of our monthly reviewers. 

A welcome back to Jardiel from Pulp Cereal (episode 64 Wolfman To Dr No) who gives us some fascinating choices. It is a list so intriguing that Jeff had to go out and buy one of them on blu ray to check it out for himself. He is pleased to report that it proved to be a very worthwhile purchase.

Last, but certainly not least for this half of the review, Emma is back (episode 63 "24 Films In 10 Days"). Emma sets the record for the most number of films seen in a year. Once you hear that total, you know this list is going to be good, and Emma does not disappoint. 

That takes you to half way and time to take a break and maybe grab an ice cream, or if you were in an up market cinema, a glass of wine and prepare yourself for part two which is coming very shortly. Listen out for some of your other favourite contributors. 

Enjoy and have a great movie going 2020.

Christmas is coming and like every family, the 'At The Flicks' team will be settled in 'Silent Night' fashion in front of the TV. Well, it is better than talking to one another. Anyway, by that time we would have fallen out, Jeff will no doubt be complaining about who ate the last roast potato, Neil will be hyper after his annual glass of wine and Graham will be trying to get us all to stand for the Queen’s speech!

Once all those disputes are settled, the question will then be “what shall we watch next”. Luckily this podcast has the answer. We brought in TV expert Declan for this special Carry On Christmas Streaming episode. Dec tells us about some shows we have missed over the last few weeks which may well be worth catching up with following our turkey dinner binge. This might even be the time to catch up with the Crown (we could even persuade Graham it is a documentary which has replaced the Queen’s speech this year).

If we are too lazy for a retrospective selection, then maybe it is time for some “live” TV and watching some of the very impressive output the BBC has for the festive season. There is an interesting and adult take on A Christmas Carol, a new Dracula and for Jeff, time to return to his homeland for the Gavin and Stacey Christmas Special. So much to choose from and all discussed by Dec here.

So if you have the same problem as we do in deciding what to watch, then check out Dec’s recommendations. It may be a cliché, however we believe there his selection has something for everyone.

Whatever you watch, have a great Christmas and may all your selections be wonderful.

Welcome to another podcast in our occasional series – Director on Director.

Writer / Director Phil Stubbs (Last Chancers) joins us again, to talk about another of his favourite directors, Tim Burton.

Join us on a journey that starts with Tim's early days at Disney and ends with .... Tim's recent time at Disney. This is a journey that starts with imaginative characters set in fantastical worlds and gradually, over the years devolves into corporate pleasing, sequels and soulless remakes. During our discussion we draw a line in Tim Burton's filmography where we think things started to go stale. The journey ends on a "bit of a downer" but the masterpieces of the 80's and 90's are discussed in full.

A unique talent whose many films include such classics as Beetlejuice, Batman, Ed Wood and Mars Attacks.

How do you rate Mr Burton, please let us know, as always we would love to hear from you.

Podcast regular Darren, joins the At the Flicks team to discuss our favourite foreign language films. Jeff's language skill are found lacking, as he tries to introduce each film in it's native tongue! For this Podcast we each select two films (8 in total) that are personal favourites of ours. By the end of the show, we all had at least a couple of gems that we wanted to watch.

Our selection of foreign language movies cover a broad spectrum of genres, from a couple of martial arts masterpieces to a animated classic, a much maligned vintage Swedish tour-de-force and an 80's French noire thriller.

As usual the detailed technical analysis quickly goes off the rails with Jeff insisting that a Indonesian action movie is in fact, Welsh. Darren describes the movie that brought John Woo and Chow Yun Fat to the notice of western film fans. Neil returns to his "safe space" with a beautiful Japanese animated classic and Graham describes his selection of an 80's French thriller as a "one hit wonder"!

We hope you enjoy this show as much as we did making it.

As always, we would love to hear what you think of this, or any of our shows.

Enjoy!

In this show, we chat to fellow Podcaster Em from Verbal Diorama about female superheroes. We discuss the portrayal of female heroes in movies past, present and future. Em in her signature chatty style, regales the team with her views of the TV series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She even has some positive thoughts on the much maligned 1992 movie of the same name.

We talk about the role of the incredibly powerful women in the X-Men franchise. Em confesses to watching "Arnie" movies under age and the effect Brigitte Nielsen's, Red Sonja had on her, growing up.

As this is a show featuring three movie nerds, the conversation sometime veers wildly off topic and we end up discussing Logan and drawing comparisons with Joker. Em gets side tracked by the Iron Giant and Jeff details why he needed three toilet breaks during Captain Marvel. Other topics are the theory that Em's cat might actually be a Flerken! The correct drink to have before Em discusses Buffy and the only good thing in the Fantastic Four movie?

After many twists and turns we finally get the show back on course and look forward, with optimism, to the female led movies coming out over the next few years.

Thanks Em, for being such a great guest and hope our listeners enjoy the show.

Welcome to our mid month show, which is as usual packed with a variety of goodies for you.

We chat to Jardiel the creator of the film distribution company Pulp Cereal, which deals in films and TV with pulp fiction roots. Learn – as we did – about such classic serials as Flash Gordon, The Shadow and The Tiger Woman. 

Elijah is also back as we start the first of a long running series of chats on the films of James Bond. Where better to start than at the beginning as we focus on Dr No.

Amazingly we also have time to squeeze in a little movie news. Jeff talks film music (again) and Graham reflects on an anticipated sequel coming next year which was filmed locally.

The local comment is interesting as while the show will continue weekly, or thereabouts, for the next few weeks, the At The Flicks team will be anything but local. Sorry listeners the prospect of another British election run by the cast of a Carry On movie is enough for us to jet off to the sun.

We have put some shows together for you and clever Graham has arranged for their weekly release until we return when the dust settles. Or given this lot, wiped the custard pies from their faces, that’s the politicians, not us.

In the interim, Jeff will be in South Africa interviewing people connected to the South African film industry, Graham will be in America celebrating Thanksgiving with his family and Neil is on a golfing holiday with his big orange golfing buddy (who cheats, allegedly). We will be back to bring you some year end specials as soon as this current farce ends.

In the meantime, enjoy the At The Flicks content coming your way.

We have a very special double bill for you in this episode.

First up, we speak to Emma who attended the London Film Festival for the first time this year. Emma tells us the highlights she saw there. If you are anything like us, your 'what-to-watch' list is about to explode, as you add some of these fantastic titles.

From a new person on the show, we then catch up with Declan who has a round up of what is hot or not on the various streaming services. Oh, and he also throws in some interesting titles on the BBC for good measure.

Another packed show for you.

Enjoy.

Welcome to our monthly review show. Sorry, it's a little late this month. The reason is explained in our "Next Month" segment.

This show features reviews of Joker, The Irishman and many others. New team member Darren returns to detail his favourite four films of the month for his segment, Darren's Dash!

Regular contributor Steve Wright from Cineworld details all of the films that you can catch at your local multiplex from now until Christmas.