225: Movies are dreams you never forget

At the Flicks

Welcome to the first At The Flicks review show of 2023 – not bad considering the year is about to reach it’s midpoint! Don’t worry, our review shows are like buses, a few more are coming along very shortly. So why the delay? The truth is, thanks to you, dear listener, and your comments on our review shows, we have been working on the format. As a result, we have changed just about everything. Gone is the rather stodgy format of one person after another reviewing the same film, instead we have brought more focus to our selection. Each member of the At The Flicks review board now selects one film they want to review. It can be a cinema release, something currently streaming (both Disney deletes it), or a classic. The only rule is, every other member of the team must be able to find and watch it. This immediately ruled out many of Neil’s mid European stick figure animation features (sorry Neil). So, the new format is, after a brief synopsis of the film in question, the reviewer tells us what they thought of their choice. At any point in their review, another person can interject with their comments on the movie, leading to, we hope, a more natural discussion. You of course are the judge as to whether this fundamental change to the format has worked. All feedback welcomed. As for the review team on this occasion, there are some changes. Neil and Phil are not with us this month, both need more time to figure out the format changes. Don’t worry lads, you’ll get there! Instead, joining Darren, Graham and Jeff is our streaming king Declan. He does such a great job we have immediately promoted him to the review team. He already has one advantage over Neil, he knows how to find a cinema. So that’s the format, but what’s the content. There are four films being reviewed and, due to the delay of the show, all are now available on streaming, meaning you can watch them and then tell us if you agree with our diverse opinions on them (OK, it’s Jeff that’s diverse, the others are usually in agreement). The four films are: Plane (Darren’s choice) – Yes, I was also surprised that a film from the Gerard was not automatically selected by Graham. He did try to take the lead on this, but Darren was just too fast for him. One member of the team never got to see this in the cinema, and on the strength of what everyone else said, has now decided he needs to see it (obviously that’s not Graham, who was there opening night). Tar (Dec’s choice) – One of the most acclaimed films of 2022, with a spellbinding performance from Cate Blanchett. Some interesting views on this film and almost everyone of our team realised they would have to go watch it again to spot all they missed the first time. Even Jeff, when he has calmed down over the Jerry Goldsmith comments made in the movie. The Fabelmans (Graham’s Choice) – Steven Spielberg’s semi autobiographical feature and a love letter to the movies. Surprisingly comments were more mixed on this one than on Plane! Also, did you know how played John Ford in the film? None of us did before Jeff stumbled over it on the internet. All Quiet On The Western Front (Jeff’s Choice) – A streaming selection this month. Amazingly for Jeff he selected a foreign language film – although thankfully Netflix had the option to watch a dubbed version! Again, another highly acclaimed film, but does it cut the mustard for the At The Flicks team? Here then is the show for your listening pleasure. Our new format – what do you think? Please let us know, after all it was based on some very helpful feedback from you that led to these changes. Thank you so much, and if we see you At The Flicks we will buy you a popcorn (small, of course). Bye for now.