Flixwatcher: A Netflix Film Review Podcast

Laura (BBC Culture, Little White Lies, Empire Magazine) Venning and Lillian (AUTISM through CINEMA podcast, Little White Lies) Crawford join Flixwatcher to review Laura’s choice The Others. The Others is a 2001 gothic horror starring Nicole Kidman and written and directed by Alejandro (Open Your Eyes) Amenábar. Kidman is Grace who lives in a remote house in Jersey in the aftermath of World War II with her two young children who suffer from an unspecified photosensitive condition. She hires three new house staff and strange things start happening at the house which leads Grace to believe there are “others” in the house with them. The Others is a beautifully designed gothic horror that manages to create and sustain a feeling of something not being quite right but not revealing its twist too early. Scores for recommendability for The Others were high but due to the twist ending repeat viewing was much lower and gives an overall rating of 3.59.   [supsystic-tables id=286 Episode #274 Crew Links Thanks to Episode

Paul Klein and Jasmine Valentine from Filmhounds Magazine join Flixwatcher to review Paul’s choice The Craft. The Craft is a 1996 teenage supernatural horror film directed by Andrew Fleming. It stars Robin Tunney as Sarah, a newcomer to the high school with unusual powers. She befriends a group of outcasts who practice witchcraft led by trailer-trash Nancy (Fairuza Balk), burns victim Bonnie (Neve Campbell) and Rochelle (Rachel True) who is racially abused by Laura (Christine Taylor). Nancy invites Sarah to join their coven and she becomes “the fourth” to complete the wind-water-earth-fire circle and give them supernatural powers. Popular school jock Chris spreads false rumours about Sarah after their date and this leads to the coven casting individual powerful spells that each have negative consequences. Scores for recommendability for The Craft reflected the mixed tone of the film - swinging wildly from teen drama to straight up horror. Lower scores for repeat viewing and engagement give an overall rating

Sean Higgins (The Sofa Cinema) and Lucy Buglass (Tea-V-Time podcast) join Flixwatcher remotely for a spooky special to review Sean’s choice Halloween. Halloween is the 1978 John Carpenter slasher classic starring Jamie Lee Curtis (in her film debut) as Laurie Strode who is terrorised on Halloween by mental patient on the loose Michael Myers. That is basically the plot! It has inexplicably spawned 12 sequels of extremely mixed quality - Carpenter very wisely had zero involvement in the sequels - but it is widely agreed that Halloween (1978) is the best. Laurie has entered into film history as an original ‘final girl’ and the Michael Myers mask has entered popular culture multiple times (see Baby Driver). Halloween is probably unlikely to shock and scare 2022 viewers like it did in 1978 but that doesn’t stop it being highly endearing and winning over even non-horror fan Kobi. Scores for Halloween were very high, especially for recommendability, slightly lower engagement give it an overall rating of 3.95.   [su

Bill and Helen from When One Thing Leads to Another podcast return to Flixwatcher remotely to review Bill’s choice Zero Dark Thirty. Zero Dark Thirty is a 2012 dramatisation of the international manhunt for Osama bin Laden post 9/11. It’s impressive cast includes Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Jennifer Ehle, Mark Strong, Kyle Chandler, James Gandolfini, Harold Perrineau, Mark Duplass, Joel Edgerton, Chris Pratt, Jeremy Strong and John Barrowman. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by The Hurt Locker collaborator Mark Boal it earned widespread critical acclaim and was a box office success. In the hunt for bin Laden, CIA analyst Maya (Chastain) Harris visits the interrogation (torture) of detainees with suspected links to al-Qaeda with CIA officer Dan (Clarke) Fuller. During this time she is given the name Abu Ahmed, which at first appears to be a dead end but a chance conversation years later reveals that Abu Ahmed may be alive and his brother is dead. With this lead confirmed surveillance points to a co

Russell Bailey (Not Just For Kids Podcast) and Will Which (Caged In: Coppola Connections) join Flixwatcher remotely to review Russell’s choice Jackie Brown. Jackie Brown is the 1997 Quentin Tarantino film based on the novel Rum Punch by Elmore Leonard. It stars Pam Grier as Jackie Brown, Samuel L. Jackson as Ordell, Robbie Robert Forster as Max Cherry, Bridget Fonda as Melanie Ralston, Michael Keaton as ATF Agent Ray Nicolette, Robert De Niro as Louis Gara and Chris Tucker as Beaumont Livingston. Air hostess Jackie Brown is busted carrying cash and drugs from Mexico into the US for gun enthusiast and aspiring crime boss Ordell. To avoid jail she agrees to help Agent Ray Nicolette in a sting to get Ordell. At the same time she negotiates a plan with Ordell for him to keep the money - unknown to either Jackie plans to keep the money for herself with the help of smitten bail bondsman Max Cherry. Unbelievably Jackie Brown received a lukewarm response from critics and film fans who were expecting Pulp Fiction part

Kevin Lehane and Will Collins from The Best Bits Podcast return to Flixwatcher to review Kevin’s choice See No Evil, Hear No Evil. See No Evil, Hear No Evil is a 1989 Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder comedy directed by Arthur (Love Story) Hiller. Pryor plays Wallace "Wally" Karew, a blind man and Wilder plays David "Dave" Lyons, a deaf man who end up on the run from the police after “witnessing” a murder. Kevin Spacey also stars in one of his earlier roles. It received a mixed response on its release - mostly negative reviews but was a relative box office success and would be Pryor and Wilder’s last financially successful film together. While See No Evil, Hear No Evil might offer a nostalgia watch for anyone who watched it as a child in the 1980s it will probably offer little - and quite possibly offend anyone watching with 2022 eyes. Scores for See No Evil, Hear No Evil were mixed from Flixwatcher and guests (there may have also been some tactical scoring going on!) but it still manages an overall rating of 3.

Danni Haughan and David Smith from Small Wardour join Flixwatcher remotely to review Danni’s choice Ponyo. Ponyo is a 2008 Studio Ghibli animation written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki (Miyazaki’s eighth film for Ghibli). In this film a magical fish called Ponyo escapes from her overprotective father Fujimoto and meets five-year-old Sōsuke. After tasting human blood she gains the ability to change into human form and eats ham. Believing her to have been kidnapped Fujimoto imprisons her. With the help of her fish sisters Ponyo escapes and inadvertently spills magic into the ocean that causes a huge tsunami to flood the town. Ponyo, as you’d expect from a Studio Ghibli film, is a mixture of everyday life and the utterly bonkers - all captured in stunning animated detail. We recommend you watch it with Japanese audio and subtitles first and second time with the English dub with Liam Neeson! Ponyo scored highly across all Flixwatcher categories to give an impressive overall rating of 4.11. Currently placing it

Hana Walker Brown (Broccoli Productions, author A Delicate Game) and Jen Offord (Standard Issue Podcast, author The Year of the Robin) join Flixwatcher remotely to review Hana's choice The Father. The Father is a 2020 drama directed by Florian Zeller and is based on the stage play of the same name. It stars Anthony Hopkins, in an Oscar-winning performance, as the father, Anthony, Olivia Coleman as his daughter Anne, Mark Gatiss, Imogen Poots, Rufus Sewell, and Olivia Williams Co star. Anthony is in his 80s and has dementia, his daughter Anne is frustrated as he has rejected several carers and it is putting a strain on her relationship with her partner. Through their interactions we move between Anthony's flat and Anne's flat. We meet Laura, a carer, who bears a likeness to his other daughter Lucy or is she his memory of Lucy? There are two different men in the flat, sometimes Paul and sometimes James. The Father is a powerful and disorientating experience of how it feels to slowly lose your memory to dementi

Graham Jones and Ian Harries from The Podcast Nobody Asked For return to Flixwatcher to review Graham’s choice His House. His House is a 2020 horror film written and directed by Remi Weeks and starring Wunmi Mosaku, Sope Dirisu and Matt Smith. Bol (Sope Dirisu) and Rial (Wunmi Mosaku) are refugees fleeing from war-torn South Sudan. After surviving the dangerous journey across the English Channel in an overcrowded boat they are granted asylum in England. They find themselves assigned a grotty house on a nondescript housing estate with a sympathetic but firm case worker (Matt Smith) keeping a close eye on them. As Bol and Rial struggle to fit in with their new environment they are visited by a “night-witch” or apeth that torments them at night. While His House was a hit for Flixwatcher and guests its tough subject made it hard to easily recommend. However, with a tight run time of 93 minutes and excellent performances from both Dirisu and Mosaku His House still scores a respectable 3.98 overall.   [supsystic-t

Fran and Babs from Over/underrated: a music podcast return to Flixwatcher remotely to review Frans choice The Edge of Seventeen. The Edge of Seventeen is a 2016 coming-of-age comedy-drama starring Hailee Steinfeld as 17 year-old Nadine who is dealing with recently losing her beloved father, falling out with her best friend, boys and other teenage dramas. Directed by Kelly Fremon Craig is also stars Woody Harrelson as her school teacher, Haley Lu Richardson as Nadine’s (ex) best friend Krista and Kyra Sedgwick as Nadine’s mum. Despite its slightly gloomy synopsis The Edge of Seventeen swings more towards the comedy elements as Nadine navigates being a teenager in a world that doesn’t understand her while realising the world is not actually as against her as she thinks. Anchored by a strong performance by Steinfeld, The Edge of Seventeen is an above average teen film. However, Edge of Seventeen the song sadly does not feature on the soundtrack. Strong recommendability but slightly repeat viewing scores gives Th

Amelie Thomas and Matthew Turner from Fatal Attractions podcast join Flixwatcher remotely to review Amelie’s choice Into the Wild. Into the Wild is a 2007 drama about the life and adventures of Chris McCandless ("Alexander Supertramp”) directed by Sean Penn. Based on the non-fiction book of the same name written by Jon Krakauer which was based on McCandless’ journal, the film stars Emile Hirsch as McCandless, Marcia Gay Harden as his mother, William Hurt as his father, Jena Malone, Catherine Keener, Brian Dierker, Vince Vaughn, Kristen Stewart, and Hal Holbrook. The film begins in April 1992 as McCandless arrives in Alaska and finds “The Magic Bus”. He is content and is very much living into the wild. The story of how he got to Alaska is told in flash back chapters and begins in May 1990 as he graduates. Disillusioned with modern life and angry that the story of how his parents met and feel in love was a lie makes the conscious decision to drop out of society. He donates his savings to Oxfam, cuts up his ID

Helen and Bill from When One Thing Leads to Another podcast join Flixwatcher remotely to review Helen’s choice The Gray Man. The Gray Man is a 2022 action thriller directed by Anthony and Joe (Avengers: Endgame) Russo based on the novel of the same name by Mark Greaney. It stars Ryan Gosling as Six, an assassin in the CIA's Sierra program, Chris Evans as Lloyd Hansen, a sociopathic ex-CIA agent, Billy Bob Thornton as Fitzroy, a senior CIA official and Ana de Armas, Jessica Henwick and Regé-Jean Page co star. After a hit goes wrong in Bangkok Six finds himself on the run with some classified info from Hanson and his gang of take no prisoners extraction teams. There is a ridiculous extended action scene involving a tram and lots of fighting. With a production budget of $200 million, it is among the most expensive films made by Netflix. It has a limited cinema release and received lukewarm reviews. The recommendability scores for The Gray Man were mixed, with Helen and Bill scoring highly and Helen and Kobi a b

Will Collins and Kevin Lehane from The Best Bits Podcast return to Flixwatcher to review Will’s choice Labyrinth. Labyrinth is a 1986 musical fantasy directed by Jim (The Muppets) Henson and written by Terry (Monty Python) Jones. It stars David Bowie (who also wrote the songs) as Jareth the Goblin King and Jennifer Connelly, in her breakout role, as Sarah. After wishing that the goblins come and take away her baby brother Toby, Sarah has to tackle the labyrinth in 13 hours to rescue him or he will turn into a goblin. Along the way she encounters its unusual inhabitants - friends Hoggle, Ludo, Sir Didymus and foes The Firey’s and the Bog of Eternal Stench. Hard to believe but Labyrinth was a box office flop and opened to mixed reviews, over the years, due it part to Bowie’s legacy, it has firmly become a cult classic and frequently sells out cinema screenings. Labyrinth scores very highly across all Flixwatcher categories, only dropping a few points on small screen to score a very respectable 4.65 overall. Enj

Midsommar is the 2019 second feature film from writer and director Ari Aster. Starring Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor William Jackson Harper and Will Poulter as a group a friends invited to visit Sweden to experience an exclusive midsummer festival. After a family tragedy, the tensions in the relationship between Dani and her boyfriend Christian are out in the open. Despite her obvious fragile mental state she agrees to come along and it is not long before strange things start happening and the lines between reality and hallucinations become blurred. Midsommar is an extremely vivid and imaginative folk horror than manages to move between the disturbing and the amusing with ease. Anchored by a phenomenal performance by Florence Pugh helps the two hour and 27 minute run time feel light. The Podcast Nobody Asked For has to date recommended Midsommar 146 times - therefore it was not a surprise that their scores for recommendabilty were the full five. Slightly lower scores for small screen - this is film best viewed w

Karen Gabay (TV producer, award-winning film maker, exhibition curator and radio presenter) and Lissi Simpson (development assistant, script writer and director) return to Flixwatcher remotely to review Karen’s choice The Black Godfather. The Black Godfather is a 2019 documentary about Clarence Avant, known as “the godfather of black music”, directed Reginald Hudlin and distributed by Netflix. Clarence is a man who knows everyone and yet no one outside of the industry knows him. He helped launch the career of Bill Withers, promoted Michael Jackson’s Bad tour and gave Sean (Puff Daddy) Combs a safe passage out of LA the weekend Biggie Smalls was killed. It has no shortage of celebrities chipping in on their memories of Clarence with Bill Clinton,Bill Withers, Jam and Lewis, Quincy Jones, Barack Obama, David Geffen, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Snoop Dogg, Kamala Harris, Jamie Foxx, Jim Brown and Lionel Richie all appearing. Heavy on guest appearances but light on digging deeper into the man himself despite the close t

Liam H Dempsey (Spocklight podcast) and Chris Johnston (Easy Riders Raging Podcast, The Spielberg pod) return to Flixwatcher remotely to review Liam’s choice Jack Reacher. Jack Reacher is the 2012 action thriller based on Lee Child’s novel One Shot starring Tom Cruise as Reacher and directed by Christopher McQuarrie. Rosamund Pike, Richard Jenkins, Jai Courtney, Robert Duvall and Werner Herzog also star. A former US Army sniper James Barr is accused of killing five seemingly random people in broad daylight. Evidence would indicate a clear cut case but under interrogation Barr writes "Get Jack Reacher" and it becomes apparent all is not what it would seem. Highlights of Jack Reacher are undoubtedly Werner Herzog’s Zek, who manages to steal every scene he is in and has the best lines “I chewed these fingers off before the frostbite could turn to gangrene.” The action is fairly solid but doesn’t quite hit the same as the Cruise - McQuarrie Mission Impossibles. Scores for Jack Reacher were firmly in the threes,

Steven Geekface (So Geeked About Movies) and Kelechi Ehenulo (Confessions From A Geek Mind, Film Stories, VultureHound Magazine) return to Flixwatcher remotely to review Steven’s choice The Mask. The Mask is a 1994 comedy starring Jim Carrey and Cameron Diaz in her debut role. Carrey plays Stanley Ipkiss, a hapless bank clerk who lives a very average and unremarkable life. Until he finds a magical mask which transforms him into a rubbery green-faced cartoonish alter ego. Acting as a sort of superhero, he begins to use his new found powers for fighting crime and general silliness. The Mask was one of three films starring Carrey that came out in 1994 (Ace Ventura and Dumber and Dumber) and was the most successful commercially and critically. It also launched the career of Diaz. It’s mixture of wacky visuals and quotable lines made it a huge hit for cinema kids of the 1990s too. Scores for The Mask from Steven, Kelechi and Kobi were strong on recommendability, less high from Helen though (not sad Jim Carrey eno

Rich and Dave from Unequal Sequel return to Flixwatcher to review Rich’s choice Point Break. Point Break is 1991 action film directed by Kathryn Bigelow starring Keanu Reeves as FBI Agent Johnny Utah and Patrick Swayze as surfer and bank robber Bodhi. In supporting roles are Gary Busey as jaded FBI agent Angelo Pappas and Lori Petty as Tyler the love interest. Rookie agent Utah is brought in to investigate with Pappas a series of bank robberies by the ‘Ex-Presidents’ - named because of the rubber masks they wear. After some sleuthing they deduce that the gang are surfers and Utah is tasked with infiltrating the local surfers by going “undercover”. It soon transpires that Utah’s new friend Bodhi and his friends are prime suspects and Utah is conflicted in his feelings towards the surfer. Point Break is undeniably one of the quintessential films of the 1990s. It positioned Bigelow as a mainstream director and is the ultimate bromance action film. Unsurprisingly Point Break scores highly on the Flixwatcher categ

Film writers Hanna Flint (Fade to Black podcast, The First Film Club) and Leila Latif (Little White Lies, Curzon, Total Film) return to Flixwatcher remotely to review Hannah’s choice Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a 2000 wuxia (the adventures of martial artists in ancient China) film. Directed by Ang Lee and starring Chow Yun-fat as Li Mu Bai, Michelle Yeoh as Yu Shu Lien and Zhang Ziyi as Jen Yu. Li Mu Bai, a warrior, asks Yu Shu Lien, the woman he loves, to pass on his sword, Green Destiny, to Sir Te. However, when the sword is stolen, Li embarks on a mission to find it. It broke records for its box office gross for a foreign-language film and was nominated for 10 Academy Awards in 2001, including Best Picture, and won Best Foreign Language Film. The highest ever for a non-English language film, until it was equaled by Roma in 2018. The film gave a boost in popularity of Chinese wuxia films and led the way for films such as House of Flying Daggers and Hero having success

Clare (W-Rated podcast) and Em (Verbal Diorama podcast) and return to Flixwatcher remotely to review Em’s choice Never Rarely Sometimes Always. Never Rarely Sometimes Always is a 2020 American drama written and directed by Eliza Hittman. It stars Sidney Flanigan (in her debut) as 17-year-own Autumn who takes a trip from her hometown of Pennsylvania with her cousin Skylar (Talia Ryder) to a New York City Planned Parenthood to carry out a legal abortion. One of the best films of 2020, it feels even more important now as the Wade vs Roe reversal threatens to remove the legal rights for women to access safe abortions across America. Never Rarely Sometimes Always is an intimate and powerful female led film about resilience, friendship and choice, without blame and judgment for the central characters choices. Never Rarely Sometimes Always scores high on recommendability but as it is a film that is a difficult watch the lower repeat viewing scores gives an overall rating of 4.11   [supsystic-tables id=266] Episode