Flixwatcher: A Netflix Film Review Podcast

James King from Radio 2 and Ben Travis from Empire Magazine join Flixwatcher remotely to review James’s choice Twilight.   Twilight (2008) is the first film in the Twilight Saga series based on the romantic fantasy novels of the same name starring Robert Pattison and Kristen Stewart, directed by Catherine Hardwick. Twilight focuses on the romantic relationship between Bella Swan (Stewart) and the mysterious Edward Cullen (Pattison) who as well as being incredibly handsome with great hair also a 104-year-old vampire. This first installment also sets the scene for the following films and introduces the history and rivalry between vampires and werewolves. When it was released in 2008 it was, to quote James King “The must-see movie of the year”, it also launched Pattison and Stewart into superstardom. Slated on its release by critics - many of them middle-aged men - not teenage girls who for many of them the story of a teenage girl falling in love with a sexy vampire was just the film they wanted to see. With a

Esther Lisk-Carew and Jass Thethi from Well Spoken Tokens join Flixwatcher remotely to review Jass’s choice BlacKkKlansman.   BlacKkKlansman is a 2018 Oscar-Winning (Best Adapted Screenplay) Spike Lee joint starring John David Washington and Adam Driver.   BlacKkKlansman is based on the 2014 memoir by Ron Stallworth. Set in 1970s Colorado Springs it tells the story of the first African-American detective in the police department who manages to infiltrate the local Ku Klux Klan chapter with the help of Flip (Driver) Zimmerman. Even though BlacKkKlansman is set in the 1970s a lot of the themes running through it are still very prevalent in today’s America. Lee using artistic license adds dry humour and moments of light relief whilst tackling the unpleasant and disturbing KKK.   Scores  [supsystic-tables id=180] Up there with Do The Right Thing, BlacKkKlansman is contemporary and Lee at his best. Unsurprisingly BlacKkKlansman scores very highly across all the categories - particularly in the reco

Matt Houlihan and Thea Gilien from The Podcast Review Show join Flixwatcher remotely to review Matt’s choice Being John Malkovich.   Being John Malkovich is a 1999 surreal comedy-drama from the weird and wonderful mind of Charlie Kaufman and visionary director Spike Jonze - both making their debuts with this. John Cusack, Catherine Keener, Cameron Diaz star alongside John Malkovich playing himself in a career-best performance. Cusack plays Craig Schwartz, an unemployed puppeteer and fair to say control freak sex pest, who discovers a portal into John Malkovich’s head behind a filing cabinet in a room of the 7 1/2 floor of LesterCorp. Diaz plays his injured animal obsessed dowdy wife Lottie. Schwartz falls instantly in love with Keener’s Maxine, a sexy, hardheaded, and manipulative bitch who ends up in a sex farce love triangle with Malkovich but only when he is being controlled by Lottie or Schwartz.   Scores  [supsystic-tables id=179] It is fair to say Being John Malkovich is not your average r

George and Charlie from the Retro Ramble Podcast return to Flixwatcher remotely to review The Martian.   The Martian is a 2015 science fiction comedy-drama starring Matt Damon and directed by Ridley Scott, based on the Andy Weir novel of the same name. Matt Damon is Mark Watney - astronaut and botanist - left for dead by his crew when they are forced to make an emergency departure from their colony on Mars, who uses remarkable resources and knowledge to grow potatoes to keep himself alive while waiting for rescue. Supporting cast includes Jessica Chastain, Jeff Daniels, Kristen Wiig, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sean Bean, Michael Peña, Kate Mara, Sebastian Stan, Aksel Hennie, Mackenzie Davis, Donald Glover, and Benedict Wong - but it’s Damon’s film, winning a Golden Globe for his efforts. The Martian is a believable space movie in that it explains the science in a way that is easy to understand and in the hands of Ridley Scott the landscapes and technology are equally as believable. Ignore the science and it’s a human

Chris and Matt from the Movie Bunker Podcast return to Flixwatcher to review Chris’ choice Boyhood.   Boyhood is Richard Linklater’s 2014 coming of age drama spanning 2001-2013 in real-time of the life of Mason as he grows up in Texas. Starring Ethan Hawke (Mason Snr), Ellar Coltrane (Mason), Lorelei Linklater (Samantha), and in an Oscar-winning role Patricia Arquette (Olivia). And that’s it. Mason Snr and Olivia split up and Mason and Samantha grow up - over three hours. If that’s not your bag then you’ll probably struggle to get over the initial gimmick of being recorded over real-time. If affecting drama played out with amazing performances with warmth and passion Boyhood is for you.   Scores [supsystic-tables id=177] Scores for Boyhood were mixed - recommendability is high from Chris, Helen, and Kobi less so for Matt. It’s near three hour run time lets the score down for repeat viewing but Boyhood scores 4.03 overall. What do you guys think? Have you seen  Boyhood? What did you think? Please let us kno

  Steve Cross and Greg Akerman (Chaotic Adequate) return to Flixwatcher to review Steve’s choice Road House.     Road House is a 1989 action film starring Patrick Swayze as Dalton a ‘cooler’ (specialist bouncer) hired to protect a newly refurbished roadside bar from violence by using violence. Sam Elliot co-stars as Dalton’s mentor and Kelly Lynch as sexy female doctor. If you like your films with lots of tits and punching in the balls look no further. The dialogue in Road House is as fascinating as it is ridiculous. There is a Monster Truck for no other reason that it’s cool to have a Monster Truck and Swayze rips a man's throat out with his bare hands.   Scores [supsystic-tables id=176] If you were a teenage boy in the 80s this could well be your guilty pleasure glove. To get the most out of Road House get really, really drunk. With a run time of two hours Road House drops some point on repeat viewing and engagement but manages to score a very respectable 3.93 overall. What do you guys think? Have you se

  Cressida Ward and Daniel Levine from Food Tryb Table podcast join Flixwatcher to review Cressida’s choice Reservoir Dogs.     Reservoir Dogs is the debut feature-length film from Quentin Tarantino. Released in 1992 it stars Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi, Lawrence Tierney, Michael Madsen, Quentin Tarantino, and Edward Bunker as diamond thieves caught up in a heist gone wrong when one of the gang is discovered to be an undercover cop. It features what we now know and recognize at Tarantino traits - violent crime, pop culture references, profanity, and nonlinear storytelling - possibly marking the arrival of modern cinema as we know it. Uncharacteristically though for a Tarantino film though the runtime is a punchy 99 minutes.   Scores [supsystic-tables id=175] Iconic, violent, endless quotable, the answer to your hipster Halloween costumes, Tarantino might have made much better films since but Reservoir Dogs paved the way for independent filmmaking and is essential Tarantino viewing. R

  Dan LeFebvre (Based on a True Story) and Brian from New Zealand join Flixwatcher remotely to review Dan’s choice Inglourious Basterds.     Inglourious Basterds (2009) is the seventh film from Quentin Tarantino and stars Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Michael Fassbender, Eli Roth, Diane Kruger, Daniel Brühl and Mélanie Laurent. Set during World War 2 it tells an alternate history story of two plots to assassinate Nazi leaders - one by a French Jewish cinema owner (Laurent) whose family were murdered by Hans Landa (Waltz) and the second by a group American Jewish soldiers led by Aldo Raine (Pitt) who instill fear into Nazis for their reputation of scalping Nazi officers that cross their paths. Inglourious Basterds has everything you’d expect from a Tarantino film - violence (often and bloody), chapters, borrowing from popular culture, pop soundtrack, meticulous dialogue, and black humour Scores [supsystic-tables id=174] Inglourious Basterds scores strongly across recommendability and engagement - dropping poi

Amon Warmann (Empire Magazine) and Scott Davis (Hey You Guys) return to Flixwatcher to review Amon’s choice Inside Man.     Inside Man is a 2006 heist thriller from Spike Lee starring Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster, and Christopher Plummer. Inside Man begins with Dalton (Owen) sat in an unidentified cell explaining how he has committed the perfect robbery. Cut to masked robbers calling each other “Steve” taking down a Manhattan bank dressed as decorators. The police and Det. Frazier (Washington) arrive and begin their negotiations. It quickly becomes apparent that it is the robbers have the upper hand and there are multiple misdirections and false executions. The plot thickens when the bank's wealthy but dubious founder is involved and seeks the help of “fixer” Madeline (Foster). Inside Man has everything you’d expect from a Spike Lee joint including his trademark dolly shot, Denzel being cool as f**k, and a score that includes “Chaiyya, Chaiyya Bollywood Joint”.     Scores [supsystic-tables i

Charlie and George from the Retro Ramble Podcast join Flixwatcher remotely to review Charlie’s choice The Lincoln Lawyer.   The Lincoln Lawyer is a 2011 drama/thriller film based on the 2005 novel of the same name by Michael Connelly and directed by Brad Furman. It stars Matthew McConaughey as The Lincoln Lawyer Mick Haller (so-called because his Lincoln car is his office) and has strong support from Marisa Tomei, Ryan Phillippe, Josh Lucas, John Leguizamo, Michael Peña, Bryan Cranston and William H. Macy. Haller is hired to defend the son (Phillippe) of a wealthy Los Angeles businesswoman in an assault case, but the high profile case quickly turns after similarities with a previous case Haller worked arise. Part courtroom drama part whodunit, The Lincoln Lawyer is a fairly enjoyable film. Carried by McConaughey who (according to Helen’s chart) is the beginning of the McConaissance with The Lincoln Lawyer.       Scores [supsystic-tables id=172] The Lincoln Lawyer scores pretty well in the Flixwatcher categ

Chris Hewitt (Empire Magazine) and James Dyer (Empire Magazine and Pilot TV Magazine) return to Flixwatcher (remotely) to review Chris’ choice The Fugitive.       The Fugitive is a 1993 action-thriller starring Harrison Ford as Richard Kimble on the hunt for the one-armed man who may or may not have killed his wife and Tommy Lee Jones as U.S Marshal Samuel Gerard hot on his heels. Famous at the time for two specific special effects moments - the train crash and the dam dive - are only minor moments in the whole film. For a film with a run time of over two hours, the film (just about) manages to sustain a high level of tension. Strangely nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars (it didn’t win) the real star of the film is Tommy Lee (also nominated and won Best Supporting Actor). He gets all the best lines and is clearly having a lot of fun. Ford is the most un-Ford, acting mostly with his crinkly face and moving around largely unnoticed. The Fugitive isn’t perfect - the flashback scenes are a bit clumsy and i

Mike Muncer (The Evolution of Horror) and Anna Bogutskaya (The Final Girls and The Next Supremes) return to Flixwatcher remotely to review Mike’s choice The Invitation.   The Invitation is a 2015 horror film directed by Karyn Kusama starring Logan (discount Tom Hardy) Marshall-Green as Will and Tammy Blanchard as Eden playing ex-husband and wife. The less you know about The Invitation if you haven’t seen it before the better. This sinister slow burn revolves around a dinner party hosted by Eden in a swanky Hollywood Hills home with unusual home security features. The guests include Will, his new girlfriend, freaky hippy Sadie, old friends, and guests who may or may not be members of a strange cult. Will’s evening starts badly when his car hits a coyote and everything goes downhill from there. Through flashbacks, the viewer pieces together that Will and Eden had a son who died and Eden attempted suicide. Grief and sadness battle with creepiness throughout the film creating an uneasy tension. Full of Manson vi

Matt and Chris from the Movie Bunker Podcast join Flixwatcher to review Matt’s choice Jaws!   If you’ve never heard of Jaws who are you even?!? Jaws is the 1975 blockbuster from Steven Spielberg starring Bruce the Shark. Essentially, Jaws is a monster in the house film set in the open sea and utterly terrifying. What else is there to say? A great white shark attacks beachgoers and sea swimmers at Amity Island. Police Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) tries to close the beaches but when he is overruled by the Mayor he sets out to sea with oceanographer Matt (Richard Dreyfuss) Hooper and gnarly, alcoholic professional shark hunter Quint (Robert Shaw) to kill the shark. There are so many stories and trivia about Jaws that is definitely worth reading and getting into - even if you’ve seen Jaws hundreds of times it will add to your viewing pleasure. Scores [supsystic-tables id=169] Jaws scores very highly on the recommendedability but with a runtime of over two hours it scores less well on repeat viewing and small scr

Tom Crowley (Wooden Overcoats and Crowley Time) and Felix Trench (Wooden Overcoats and Quid Pro Euro) return to Flixwatcher to review Tom’s choice Christine.   Christine is a 1983 supernatural horror film directed by John Carpenter based on the Stephen King novel of the same name. A study of toxic masculinity of 1970s men seen through their love of their cars. The car in this film happens to be a living evil car - and the car is a woman. In the hands of Carpenter (a trashy companion to Stanley Kubrick) Christine mixes high school tropes with amazing special effects and car animatronics with a killer (sorry) soundtrack. The self-repair scene in particular is worth the one hour 50 minutes run time alone.   Scores [supsystic-tables id=168] For a horror fan, you get two car-based deaths in the opening scenes - even if the rest of the film is quite low on gore and shocks. With a run time of nearly two hours, Christine could either be pacier or have more character development. Christine scores generally well ac

Honey Ross (The Body Protest) and Becky Young (Anti Diet Riot Club) return to Flixwatcher to review Honey’s choice The Two Popes.   The Two Popes is a 2019 biographical drama starring Anthony Hopkins as Pope Benedict XVI and Jonathan Pryce as Pope Francis. It follows the period after 2005 and the Vatican scandals - with Argentinean football. The Two Popes is the ultimate film for the pope fan but offers very much little else. Hopkins and Pryce do a good job with their impersonations and you can genuinely imagine them hanging out together. Where this semi-biographical and part fictionalisation meet is when the film fails to tackle the controversies and child abuse scandals that have plagued the news as you’d expect. Worse it ignores the issue rather than beginning to offer an apology. Scores [supsystic-tables id=167] The Two Popes unsurprisingly scores quite low score apart from the small screen score - it feels quite TV like in its approach but lacks in a real story. The Two Popes scores overall 3.08 - bu

Gareth (The Raid, Gangs of London) Evans and Sope (Gangs of London) Dirisu join Flixwatcher to review Gareth’s choice Enter the Dragon. Enter the Dragon is the 1973 Bruce Lee martial film directed by Robert Clouse. Famous for many things but mainly for being the last film Lee completed before his untimely death at the age of 32. Even if you’ve never seen Enter the Dragon you seen the poster and the iconic image of Lee shirtless with the bloody claw marks across his body. You’ll probably also know the final battle in the room mirrors too, most recently John Wick 2 played homage to the scene. In Enter of the Dragon Lee plays erm Lee, who is hired James Bond style to attend a high profile martial arts competition being held on the private island belonging to suspected crime lord Han. He is also given the opportunity for revenge when he finds out Han’s bodyguard was responsible for the death of his sister. Sadly Enter the Dragon also suffers from very outdated James Bond 70s writing and inappropriate references

This is a special episode crossover with our Stripped Media pals SONG BY SONG Podcast! In case you don't know them Song by Song is documenting each song by Tom Waits in podcast form. How do we do a crossover episode with them? Find a Tom Waits film on Netlix. That Brings us to... Seven Psychopaths! Sam and Martin from Song By Song join us for this special episode. If you like the "cut of their jib" please search for Song By Song podcast at the same place that you listen to Flixwatcher!   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

        Daniel Levine and Cressida Ward from Food Tryb Table podcast join Flixwatcher to review Daniel’s choice Fyre.         Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened is a 2019 documentary about Billy McFarland and the failed Fyre Festival that took place in 2017. It was directed by Chris Smith and co-produced by Jerry Media, the social media agency responsible for promoting Fyre Festival. Fyre Festival was billed as a luxury, exclusive, influencer festival - the reality was something quite different. Fyre was organized by McFarland and Ja Rule (neither particularly experienced in event management) to initially promote the Fyre music booking app. Trouble begins very early on when, after the promo video is shot on Norman’s Cay island - on the agreement not to mention the connection with Pablo Escobar - is advertised as being once owned by Pablo Escobar. From there things escalate in a series of excruciating misguided and unbelievably arrogant style-car crash viewing at its best. Scores [supsystic-table

      Faye and Rachael from Her Dark Materials join Flixwatcher remotely to review Faye’s choice Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.       Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is a 2010 film adaption of the graphic novel series Scott Pilgrim directed by Edgar Wright starring Michael Cera as Scott Pilgrim. In this film Scott must defeat the seven evil ex’s of his new girlfriend Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) - while playing in a local battle of the bands (which happens to be sponsored by one of the evil ex’s Gideon (Jason Schwartzman) with his band Sex Bob-Omb. It’s pretty clear that bringing to life Scott Pilgrim from the page to film was done with love and attention - visually it is dazzling and sounds like nothing else (thanks to Nigel (Radiohead) Godrich. It also features an unbelievably good supporting cast - Kieran Culkin, Chris (Captain America) Evans, Anna Kendrick, Brie Larson, Brandon Routh, Mae Whitman - to name a few. 2020 is a very different time to 2010 - there are a few moments in Scott P

    Anna Bogutskaya (The Final Girls and The Next Supremes) and Mike Muncer (The Evolution of Horror) join Flixwatcher remotely to review Anna’s choice Under the Shadow.   Under the Shadow is a 2016 Persian-language psychological horror film written and directed by Iranian British Babak Anvari. Set in 1980s Tehran during the War of the Cities, mother and former medical student Shideh and her daughter Dorsa are haunted by a spirit or djinn. Under the Shadow draws easy comparisons with both The Babadook (Shideh’s maternal shortcomings are visualised by the spirit) and The Devils Backbone (a political war as seen by a child) and this is no detriment. Supported by strong performances from its two leads Under the Shadow is a powerful (while not strictly a horror in the traditional sense) film that deserves a wider audience.   Scores [supsystic-tables id=163] With a runtime of 84 minutes Under the Shadow is definitely worth a watch and scores a very high 4.20 overall. You can also watch Babak Anvari’s latest fi