At The Flicks

Loyal listeners, we have been through much together. Our rambleshackle early days, Neil's musings and COVID. For sticking with us, we have a treat in store for you. This show is an extract from our security recording from the Vault room under At the Flicks Manor as we review our plans for 2021 and beyond. Our gift to you. Enjoy and as always, stay safe.

Welcome to the continuing adventures of the At The Flicks team as they talk Star Trek movies. After the success of Star Trek II : The Wrath Of Khan (At The Flicks episode 146), it was inevitable that there would be another movie. But how could there be a search for a character who (spoiler alert) didn’t make it to the end of the previous film. Indeed, it was rumoured that Leonard Nimoy didn’t want anything more to do with Star Trek. As we will discover in our show, that statement was not true. Leonard Nimoy enthusiastically came back as both actor and first time movie director. Guiding us through this production story and many others is our captain – Darren (after all it was his idea), backed up by his science officer Graham who will be looking at some of the more technical aspects. There is no Neil this time around. Jeff was let loose on the transporter controls. Don’t worry I am sure we will find Neil one day!!! In fact Jeff more than makes up for Neil with his views on Star Trek III. Shall we say they

Today your At The Flicks team are honoured to be talking to writer / director Randy Gordon-Gatica about his festival winning feature The Magic Bomb. The Magic Bomb is about an innocent caught up in a plot to detonate a nuclear device in New York City. Randy has taken a high concept idea and dipped it in the paranoia one would have found in many of the classic thrillers of the 1970’s. It is both exciting and tense, full of intelligent ideas about our conspiracy fueled current society. One of the fascinating features of The Magic Bomb is, as Randy says, it was made for “zero dollars”. You heard right, what could easily be the plot line for a franchise Hollywood movie is made at New York street level at zero cost. Which gives the film a real passion – not only from Randy, but also his cast and crew. In the interview Randy talks about his passion for his film, and his influences – both life and cinematic. It is a fascinating insight into the film making process. You will notice we have only given the broadest

Welcome to our push-me, pull-you show. The one where we have our final push back at 2020, as it disappears in the rear view mirror, and our pull forward to what is coming in 2021. We start off with something new and something you, our fantastic listeners can get involved with. A quiz, but no ordinary quiz. Here you pit your wits against the might of the At The Flicks team (my money is on you listeners). After that we have some sadness and fun with 2020 (yes we know there isn’t much fun to be found there, however thankfully we did manage to uncover some buried near Neil’s almost forgotten sense of humour). The sadness is our obituary section, where each of the five contributors to the show, Darren, Graham, Jeff, Neil and Phil talk about someone whose passing had an effect on them. After that we give out our annual movie awards. As with last year, Graham pushes to the head of the class to give out his award for the Best Mel Gibson film of the year. By doing this he still hopes to get a part in The Mel’s n

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 The Outlaw Josey Wales. Clint Eastwood has made some great Westerns, with The Outlaw Josey Wales arguably being his greatest (and trust us, Graham does try to argue the case for another Eastwood Western). For those that don’t know it, the film is set mainly in the immediate years after the end of the American Civil War. It is a story which starts with revenge, however ultimately is about reconciliation and redemption. We look at three aspects of that – within the film itself, the time period the film was made and now. Which is fascinating when you consider the source material came from a member of the Ku Klux Klan! As well as looking at the themes of the movie, we talk about its production. This includes explaining why the original director was fired and the far reaching implications of that move

One of the highlights of our 2020 Halloween season was our chat with American contributor Andy about his love of horror films (episode 107). We are pleased to say Andy now returns to talk another film genre – Westerns. As you know from our series Rustler’s Roundup, the At The Flicks Team love Westerns. Pure American history, yet those tales of heroes and villains set in breathtaking vistas, resonate around the world. Graham and Jeff totally understand this with their Celtic backgrounds, although it was more difficult for our version of English Bob (Neil) to grasp. Clint Eastwood, John Wayne and Kevin Costner, some of the big names associated with these movies are discussed at length. Classics such as Unforgiven, Shane and The Outlaw Josey Wales (soon to be the subject of the next in our Rustler’s Roundup series), are also put under the microscope. An interesting aspect we uncover is how flexible the genre is – possibly more than most. It has been successfully cross bred with musicals, horror and science fi

Welcome to the world of Christopher Nolan. Or it could be goodbye, depending on how the great man has decided to play with time and space this time. Yes, to tie in with another great retrospective from Phil The Bear aka Phil Foster, we have brought together the team to discuss The Films Of Christopher Nolan. Joining us for this discussion is our very own Carry On Streaming expert, Declan. You will not be surprised to hear that we are in full agreement on the greatness of many of his films. Sadly, not everyone had seen Tenet when we recorded this show, so a major disagreement between Jeff (who else?), and the rest of the panel is avoided. We saved you from a rant there listeners – never say we don’t have your best interests at heart. In its place we have a minor disturbance in the space / time continuum when we talk about Interstellar. Jeff, (who else?), disagrees with everyone on this feature as well. Many of Mr Nolan’s films have enigmatic endings and we will be discussing our interpretations of these at

We return to the Star Trek universe for the second film in the big screen franchise.

What is the future of cinema in the post Covid world? This is a question the At The Flicks team are going to be asking throughout 2021. In fact we think it is so important a topic we have made it the subject of our first show of the year. Graham and Jeff from the At The Flicks team bring in two special guests to address this issue. We have Declan (our streaming expert) who talks about the role of the streaming companies during these changing times. Dec also talks about his love of both cinema and theatre and what is needed for their survival. Our other guest is Paul who has analysed the changes and raises the financial concerns about the survival of the cinema industry – both in terms of production and distribution. Make no mistake, we are at a pivotal moment. Yet, as you will hear, there is hope for the future. Things may change, however, there will always be a love for films and that unique communal way of watching them. After listening to the show, do you think the conclusions we come to are fair? Pl

That’s the end of 2020. Thankfully. Join the At The Flicks review team as we look back at the wreckage of the year to see if anything movie wise was worth salvaging. Before we do that, we have the cinematic equivalent of the last of the mince pies as we give Graham a late present. Rather than the excitement we expected, Graham’s reaction to reviewing the latest from The Mel is a tad disappointing for the rest of the team. Baffling even. Until Jeff reveals all and how close Graham got to meeting the great Mel himself, before being badly let down by Mel’s agent. With that cracker well and truly pulled, we move on to the team’s personal reminiscences of the cinema year that almost wasn’t. Don’t expect any top tens – this is more of a heartfelt journey through troubled times. For some there were highlights to be found as we bounced between cinema and streaming. For others, the loss of cinema had a profound effect. Given those statements, you will not find it surprising to learn that each of the five review

Today’s pick has a very limited human cast. Can you guess what it is?

Today’s pick explains how all the presents are delivered in one night. Can you guess what it is?

Today’s pick could only have come from Emma At The Movies!! Can you guess what it is?

Today’s pick became a Christmas favourite because of a copyright error. Can you guess what it is?

Christmas is almost upon us and like every family, the ‘At The Flicks’ team will be in our bubble in front of the TV. There will of course be the usual arguments - Jeff will no doubt be demanding the TV remote, Neil will refuse to hand it over and Graham will be quietly getting drunk and wondering why he put’s himself through this year after year! 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 latest series of 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 outp

Today’s pick is acclaimed by many as the ultimate Christmas film. Can you guess what it is?

Today’s pick is shown on Italian TV every Christmas Eve. Can you guess what it is?

Today’s pick includes clips from Angels With Filthy Souls. Can you guess what it is?

Today’s pick is our Neil’s most hated Christmas film. Can you guess what it is?

Today’s pick is a modern day version of a Christmas classic. Can you guess what it is?