At the Flicks

In a few days time, the At The Flicks team will start to reveal some of their favourite Christmas movies. Before we begin that controversial voyage (very controversial with some of Neil’s choices), we thought it would be a great idea to find out what our listeners and fellow contributors consider their favourites. Did they match ours, were there any ideas we could steal, will this be useful remind...

“Ho Ho Ho, I have a machine gun”. You just have to love any show that starts like that! On today’s episode the wonderful Em from Verbal Diorama joins Graham and Jeff to talk Christmas movies. We investigate what are the elements that make a great Christmas film, before discussing Em’s favourites with her. Oh and there will be mention of one pet hate – we won’t mention it here, only saying it will...

Welcome to the latest At The Flicks review show. We are honoured this month to be joined by a special guest. The real life Neil has managed to turn up. That said, judging by our postbag it appears a lot of you were fooled by the excellent impression a fellow cast member provided, and many have asked if this could be a permanent replacement. Neil, nonplussed by all this attention, has said that he...

The best laid plans…. During March 2020, the At The Flicks team met with talented film makers Phil Haine and Tim Willrich (at the time of writing these notes, this was our last face to face interview). They had joined us to talk about their careers and in particular, their next project which was due to film in Gloucestershire during the Summer of 2020. That project is Harmony, a ghost story built...

Our Stephen King journey concludes for the time being with this episode. In this show we discuss Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 version of The Shining starring Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall, Joining us for this episode are Rich and Lewis from Cindemic Nerds Podcast. This turns out to be a much more critical look at the movie than was expected. As you stay in the Overlook (best do it in the Summer and...

Our Stephen King journey continues. For this episode we discuss the 1979 TV version of Salem’s Lot, starring David Soul and James Mason. The genre name that stand out amongst the credits however, is director Tobe Hopper. Yes, the man who directed The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is making TV horror! This was a fact we never told Neil, because if we had he would never have watched it. Joining us for thi...

Before Covid 19 (if you can remember that far back), Lucy and Jeff discussed aspects of Stephen King’s work in general terms. That resulted in much positive feedback from our listeners. It proved so popular that it lead to the At The Flicks team having a socially distanced planning session to discuss how we could take the idea further. Jeff, always fanciful with his ideas, suggested inviting Steph...

Horror franchise – You’re joking, not another one! You’re joking, not another one, is a quote made famous by Brenda from Bristol about another election. Brenda could also be talking about horror film sequels. Sequels that come so often they turn into that word “franchise”. Are they any good, or are they just a Xerox copy of the original template. To make sense of it all, Lucy, Jeff, Graham and Nei...

How could we have a series of Halloween specials without a Carry On Streaming? Unthinkable. Having agreed that, how do we make our special special? Well, we bring in our streaming expert Declan, and Jardiel from Pulp Cereal to talk about one of the more intriguing shows of recent months. We are referring to Showtime network’s Penny Dreadful : City Of Angels. Hang on, I hear you say, isn’t this jus...

Welcome to the start of At The Flicks’ spooky season. How better to start our series of shows than with a discussion which embraces classic horror movies. Not to be left out, wWe also look at modern horror films and ask the question – which is better – the old or the new. To join us for this discussion is a new voice to At The Flicks. Andy comes on board for semi regular chats about movie genres a...

A very special announcement from At The Flicks for the spooky season. Oh and also another opportunity for Jeff to torment Neil

Welcome to the latest movie review show from your At The Flicks team. The first thing you will notice is there is no Neil this month. Luckily, at great expense to the team (it’s coming out of your wages Neil), we were able to get an expert impressionist at short notice to stand in for him. For the most part all he had to say was “I agree with Graham”, so I don’t think anyone will notice the differ...

Welcome to the At The Flicks take on the Star Trek films. Over a podcast series we will be talking about the movies and what they mean to us. As this was an idea from Darren, he gets to sit in the captain’s chair guiding us through each of the adventures. Tech guy Graham becomes science officer Spock (are those ears real Graham?), making the technical decisions which each month will get an episode...

It’s time to say goodbye to Sylvester Stallone’s character 'Rambo' as we discuss the film and the politics of Rambo : Last Blood. In this movie Rambo comes home to America. A country very different to one he left when he went back to Vietnam in Rambo First Blood Part II. Ronald Reagan was President then and Donald Trump now. Which is quite fitting for a film where the Mexican border plays an impor...

The name’s Flicks – At The Flicks, and welcome to our James Bond special. In anticipation of the opening of No Time To Die in the near future (fingers crossed), the team look back at the early days of the James Bond films. Team member Elijah has a special 'Rediscovering the Classics' as he talks about two movies. From Russia With Love and Goldfinger. Which stands the test of time better and how do...

Welcome to the latest movie review show from your At The Flicks team. The first thing you will notice is that there are very few cinema reviews included in the show. No, it’s not because we are worried about going back to our local picture houses, it’s because Jeff had a theme for this show. Getting him to change his mind is like trying to get one of those old, rusty oil tankers to turnaround. It...

Our examination of the politics of Rambo continues with the fourth in the series, simply titled Rambo. Uniquely, this film steps away from American involvement in foreign conflicts to look at the struggles of the Karen people in Myanmar. In reality it is a brutal struggle and that is certainly reflected in the film. Without question. it is the most violent of the series. The team and Elijah look a...

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 be...

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 answ...

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 el...

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 loo...

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 an...

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, w...

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...

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 t...