Film Reviews of Wicked Little Letters, Madame Web, The Taste of Things, Mea Culpa & Memory (Ep. 52, 29th February 2024)

Bob Mann (00:10.407)
 Okay. Welcome to today's Flickering Dreams or this week's Flickering Dreams. I wasn't here last week. So thanks to Emma for

holding the fort last week with Scott. I was off to a jolly little trip to Egypt to do old stuff, which was absolutely wonderful and fascinating. It was Pharaoh to middling. The old ones are the best. We are... I'm in the Nile. Yes, yes, I was in the Nile. We actually played Death on the Nile.

Emma Sewell (00:42.85)
Oh no.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (00:44.269)
Ahah

Rev. Andy Godfrey (00:51.15)
Are you in denial?

Emma Sewell (00:53.868)
Oh no, oh god.

Bob Mann (00:58.359)
as a tour group, there are 20 of us and the tour guide, and we played Death on the Nile where you each randomly had to pick out a name of somebody you were going to murder, a murder weapon and a location on the cruise ship, on the Nile boat or elsewhere on the tour. And so you basically had to give the victim the object in the right place. It was, it was enormous fun. I would recommend it to the audience.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (00:58.874)
Hahaha

Emma Sewell (01:11.905)
No.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (01:23.374)
Sounds good. I'm sure we can keep the Egyptian jokes going all evening.

Emma Sewell (01:23.82)
Ha ha!

Bob Mann (01:28.931)
Yes, yes, kept the little grey cells going. We are going to start today with a new British comedy out in cinemas at the moment called Wicked Little Letters. And this is based on a true story, or a story which is more true than you would think, as the caption says at the beginning, based in Littlehampton in 1920.

And this has God-fearing spinster Edith Swan played by Olivia Colman receiving a storm of poison pen letters. And all of the evidence points to the foul-mouthed single mother, Rose Gooding, who lives next door, played by Jessie Buckley. But will justice be served? Here's a clip.

Bob Mann (02:52.81)
Ah dear.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (02:52.858)
How did you manage to find a clip and not play a swear word?

Bob Mann (02:56.651)
Yeah, that's quite good, isn't it? Yeah, that was impressive. I have to give the makers of that trailer credit for putting both that version, which is the sweary version and the PG version together and choosing to use Baccara's "Yes, sir, I can boogie" from 1977, which I think is just perfect piece of music that kind of fits the mood of the film. Who are we going to start with? Emma, let's start with you. Ladies first.

Emma Sewell (02:58.044)
That was impressive.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (02:59.47)
Faber-

Bob Mann (03:25.387)
What did you reckon to this?

Emma Sewell (03:25.954)
Thank you. So I saw this yesterday. In fact, I unfortunately didn't get to see the preview. I was like champing at the bit to see it because the trailer did look fun. When I saw it on the big screen, looked like it was going to be amazing and great cast in it. I enjoyed myself. But I also felt like nothing really happened in the film.

Bob Mann (03:48.991)
Ooh, there's a but, there's a but!

Emma Sewell (03:55.422)
So it starts off very different to how the trailer portrays it because it is very much that Edith is the only one getting letters and it just starts to escalate to what we see in that trailer. So it was a bit off-putting because I was like, well, wait, am I like, had I completely misunderstood it? So it was like trying to get my head around that.

Emma Sewell (04:23.154)
There were lots of nice little touches, but I feel like it's one of those British comedies where like, oh I'm trying to think of any of the names of them now, like Walk Like a Panther and things like that where I'm like that was hilarious, lovely, absolutely wonderful, never thought about it again. And yeah, I mean I thought, I love the little women's investigation club.

that sort of got together and yeah.

Bob Mann (04:53.147)
The Thursday Murder Club, yes. Yeah, only after we boiled an egg. Joanna Scanlon was fantastic in that role, wasn't she?

Rev. Andy Godfrey (04:55.512)
But only after we boiled an egg.

Emma Sewell (05:00.382)
Absolutely hilarious.

Emma Sewell (05:04.89)
yeah I just and the bit we saw where she's got her little telescope sort of thing to spy on her better I just I like the dynamics in that group really fun and I did love it but at the same time nothing really happens and

Bob Mann (05:25.811)
You didn't think there was enough of a story arc for you.

Emma Sewell (05:29.302)
No, I don't think so. And there are so many things like Bill, who is Rose's boyfriend, he sort of pops in and out occasionally, could possibly have had more of a role in it, especially considering I'm sure one of the trailers shows most of his part in the film at one point. But yeah, I mean on the

obviously the amount of swearing that was in it was beyond a joke and I feel like that amount of, I mean not even Samuel L Jackson has sworn that much in a movie. I mean it just brushed over me after a while, I wasn't really noticing it. So it didn't detract from the movie for me but it didn't really give any benefits.

as well.

Bob Mann (06:28.715)
Oh, right. Okay. All right. Andy, what's your view?

Rev. Andy Godfrey (06:30.734)
Okay.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (06:34.85)
Yeah, I was at an event a few weeks ago where Mark Kermode had interviewed Jessie Buckley, Olivia Colman, one of the other actresses and the director. The thing about the swearing Emma, they were actually reading the actual letters that were sent. Okay, so in terms of there being too much swearing, I didn't have a problem with that because I knew that they were reading the actual letters that were actually sent because this is a true story. So for me that was fine.

Emma Sewell (06:48.802)
Mm.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (07:02.206)
I expected it to be more sweary than it was, but in actual fact it's about as sweary as the trailer with the swearing in it. I really enjoyed it. I thought there was a lot going on. I thought the stuff in the prison was interesting. But what I came out with was that this is not only a comedy, this is actually a real social commentary on the early 1920s and in particular the role of women. And I sat there half of the time laughing and half of the time appalled.

at the way the women were actually being treated, at the misogyny, at the way they were being kept in their place, Timothy Spall's character, the Chief Police's character, Hugh Skinner's character. I came out actually thinking about it a great deal because I was thinking, thank the Lord that society has changed so much, that we no longer live in the 1920s where women are treated and downtrodden in this way. And women police officers are just...

Emma Sewell (07:38.616)
Hmm.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (07:59.03)
you know, the same as men police officers today. So I came out of it having had a really good laugh, but also thinking, well, that was a really insightful commentary on the time. And it's only the twenties in one sense, it's not that long ago. You know, it's less than a hundred years ago, or a hundred years ago that women were being treated like this in society. So I thought it was a really interesting historical document about the time.

Bob Mann (08:22.687)
Hmm.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (08:26.966)
We know that questions were asked in Parliament about those letters. I wasn't offended by the swearing because I knew that they were actually reading the letters, the genuine letters that were said. In fact, it was interesting, the director told Mark Kermode that she was really upset the film got a 15 certificate. She was hoping it was going to get a 12 based on the fact that it's reality. And she was saying in America, it's an R certificate, which is 17 and under.

Emma Sewell (08:46.434)
Stay away.

Bob Mann (08:47.809)
That was never going to happen. Yeah.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (08:54.363)
So I came out having had a really good time, but also I felt I was educated a little bit into what society was like in the 1920s for women. And thank God it's changed. So that was my view and I enjoyed it.

Bob Mann (09:05.419)
Yeah, we were saying the same thing. We were saying the same thing about a film focused on the gay rights thing, weren't we, a few weeks ago, I can't remember which it was now. But it was. Oh, yes, that's right. All Of Us Strangers, that's right, the parent's attitude. And we talked about Pride as well, set in that time. But this is almost the equivalent, isn't it, of the of the female

Rev. Andy Godfrey (09:14.066)
Right, yeah. Yeah. Was that All Of Us Strangers? Where the parents' attitude?

Yeah.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (09:26.266)
Pride, yeah, obviously, yeah.

Yeah, I think so.

Bob Mann (09:32.715)
position. Yeah, I mean, I really enjoyed this as well. I have to say helped along by the fact that I walked into screen four at Everyman in Salisbury and it was absolutely packed for a matinee showing on Monday afternoon, there was not a seat to be had. So I think this is going to do very well through word of mouth. And particularly the silver dollar community are going to go and see this in droves.

I certainly hope so. I think it's going to stay in the charts for quite a few weeks, we'll have to see. But I thought it was an acting masterclass from the cast. I mean, Olivia Colman. I mean, if anything, Olivia Colman was actually overshadowed, I think, by Jessie Buckley, who I think did an absolutely tremendous job playing Rose.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (10:21.09)
I'm a huge Jessie. I met Jessie Buckley at a Mark Kermode event when she was plugging Beast, which I think was her first ever film. I've been a huge fan since. Wild Rose is one of my favourite films of recent years. I just think whatever she does, she's brilliant.

Bob Mann (10:28.607)
Yes. With Johnny Flynn, wasn't it?

Bob Mann (10:34.271)
Yep. Yeah, she said.

She's a real talent and in here every little nuance of her face and so on as she was doing it was great as Indeed Olivia Colman was great as well. That scene we saw in the trailer where Rose punches out or headbutts the guy and you've got that Olivia gives that shocked look that suddenly turns to a little smirk of delight and then back to shocked again with just a flicker of her facial muscles muscles. It's absolutely brilliant

And Anjana Vasan playing the WPC, I think that was a good role as well, a difficult role for her to play. Joanna Scanlon, we talked about. Gemma Jones was just terrific. But top of the acting stakes for me has to be Timothy Spall as the father. I mean, he was a literally a real menacing, quiet figure there, controlling the situation. And you just wanted...

Emma Sewell (11:12.354)
Yeah.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (11:13.698)
Yeah.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (11:22.554)
Yeah, he's great.

Bob Mann (11:35.995)
Edith to just pick up a frying pan at one point and whack him around the head with it. You really did.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (11:37.434)
Ha ha ha.

Emma Sewell (11:40.222)
Well, I did kind of wonder because there was a way where the ending could have changed and I did wonder if that was going to happen.

Bob Mann (11:49.025)
Yes.

Bob Mann (11:53.091)
that. Well, so, because it was based on fact, yeah.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (11:55.114)
I don't think the ending could have changed too much because this is fact. The director said she was dead keen to keep it as factual as possible. And they spoke to the people involved. And what we see on screen is basically exactly what happened. So, you know.

Bob Mann (12:09.759)
Yeah. I mean, I mean, I think we should also give a shout out to young Alicia Weir, who played her daughter. She, of course, was the lead in Matilda, the musical. But here's another really cracking little performance from her to add to her CV, which I thought was really good. Yeah, I thought it was very funny. I thought the language because the language because the course language was wrapped up in all the "foxy arsed" other stuff. It was I thought it was just hysterical.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (12:15.414)
Yeah, very good.

Bob Mann (12:40.287)
reading out these letters in court and everything. It smashed the six laugh test for me. But again, perhaps that was because I saw it with a packed audience as well. It did so well. In terms of any slight negative, I would have liked a little bit more description at the end about what actually happened to the characters portrayed in the film. We get a little snippet, but I had to go away and do some research afterwards. And there's some good stuff online.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (12:50.614)
Oh, it did for me too.

Bob Mann (13:08.003)
about the actual case and what happened to all the individuals involved. Um, I also questioned it with, it felt a little bit woke to me as well. And the fact that the judge at the end in a court case was a black judge in 1920 in such a high profile case, I would have liked that to be fact, I would have liked that to be fact checked because that just didn't, didn't ring true to me for the time.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (13:28.563)
Yeah, right.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (13:32.33)
Yeah.

Bob Mann (13:35.627)
But I thought it was great. I gave this one an eight out of ten. Emma?

Emma Sewell (13:41.099)
It's a 6 out of 10 for me.

Bob Mann (13:42.955)
Six for you, Andy.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (13:45.65)
I gave it an 8 Bob. I gave it an 8.

Bob Mann (13:48.143)
8 as well so that's 22 divided by 3 is a 7.33 isn't it yes making Wicked Little Letters a hit yeah good stuff right let's go from the sublime to the ridiculous shall we and look at Marvel's latest offering.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (13:50.466)
Yeah.

Emma Sewell (13:56.014)
Mm?

Rev. Andy Godfrey (13:56.482)
Just a hit.

Emma Sewell (14:10.119)
Yes, let's.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (14:13.773)
If we must.

Emma Sewell (14:18.782)
Yeah, sure. I mean, where to start? I've... A paramedic...

Bob Mann (14:19.885)
Ha ha!

Emma Sewell (14:30.21)
who is an orphan, doesn't know anything about her mother's past, discovers... oh that... I don't even know. Like what was the part of this film? She becomes psychic kind of and meets some young girls who are connected to her in a...

Bob Mann (14:38.915)
Ha ha!

Emma Sewell (14:59.07)
very stupid way. Here's a clip.

Emma Sewell (15:35.178)
You know what? I even forgot that that's how she started seeing the future. Like, that she went off the side in a car.

Bob Mann (15:41.756)
What? The fact that paramedics attend a car and don't think about tying the car to the ambulance or something. Yeah. Yeah, I thought that as well. Go on then. Both barrels, Emma.

Emma Sewell (15:48.318)
Yeah. Mm. Mm-hmm.

Emma Sewell (15:53.914)
Oh God. Oh, you know, I wanted it to be good. Oh, yeah. I always like a superhero movie, although, you know, they are getting a bit tiresome. But I only heard about this two weeks before it came out. Pretty much. I saw a trailer and unlimited screening and I was like, wait, that's coming out on Valentine's Day. What?

I was like, oh, okay, you know, get excited for that. And the more I heard about it, the less and less I was looking forward to it. Dakota Johnson, quite a good actress. I have only ever seen her in dramatic roles though. And I just don't think this sort of film is her cup of tea. Like she didn't seem comfortable.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (16:42.778)
Okay.

Emma Sewell (16:50.558)
in that role at all and I know you know partly the character is that way and awkward and but just there was no chemistry literally anywhere and yeah, oh God. There's just so much wrong with it um it didn't help that she also had been doing interviews and stuff in the promo of this film basically

Emma Sewell (17:19.762)
saying it's terrible. I mean she might as well have gone just send me send me your ticket stub and I will send you the money back.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (17:22.019)
Yeah.

Bob Mann (17:23.689)
Yep.

Emma Sewell (17:32.39)
it's the trouble is it's like setting up it's trying to set up another universe with more characters to expand and i just don't think that helps anything at all

Bob Mann (17:44.867)
I mean, I think everybody knew how bad this was before it ever came out. Because it's telling that there aren't any monkeys at the end of the film. Sorry, end credit scenes. There isn't a mid credit scene. There's not an end credit scene, which if this is, I mean, when's the last time you had a Marvel which didn't have an end credit scene? Well, it's got Marvel's, it's got Marvel's tags on the front.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (17:57.586)
Yeah.

Emma Sewell (18:06.906)
it's not really a Marvel is it it's not really a Marvel it's a Sony but it's not Marvel yeah it's

Rev. Andy Godfrey (18:10.07)
You know it is a Marvel. Sony Marvel.

Bob Mann (18:13.579)
Well, it's Sony Marvel. But but yeah, it's in the Venom. It's in the Venom side, isn't it? But but Venom had post credits scene, right? The setup, set up for a future one. And there is a Venom 3 coming, isn't there? But this just felt half hearted to me that the fact there was no end credits scene was symptomatic of the fact that let's just push this out and let it die quietly. Yeah. And

Rev. Andy Godfrey (18:14.946)
Yeah, but you get the Marvel logo at the beginning and all the...

Emma Sewell (18:18.974)
Yeah, but it's... Yeah.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (18:21.702)
Yeah.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (18:25.468)
And the sequel.

Emma Sewell (18:42.538)
Well, and I think as well, something that this struggles with is that the whole superhero comic universe is so, like, just copycat. It's like everything is like something else. Like, there's literally no differentiation half the time. It's just a different character name and costume.

Bob Mann (18:55.863)
Bloated. Yeah, bloated copycats.

Bob Mann (19:08.803)
Yeah.

Emma Sewell (19:10.086)
and the end of this film I was like just give it to the X-Men like suddenly Dakota Johnson has a lobotomy and becomes Professor X. I just was so irritated by the way they treated the characters.

Bob Mann (19:22.835)
Yes.

Bob Mann (19:29.655)
And the three teens I thought we were we were back in Kick-Ass territory again with Chloe Moretz I Just thought their costumes and masks and everything. We're back. We're back with Kick-Ass again. Yeah Andy you had a rat good rant about this on Konnect Radio last week. So rant again

Emma Sewell (19:39.111)
Yeah.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (19:51.398)
Look, look, Madame Web is senseless, pointless, useless. It's a complete waste of time. Apparently it cost $80 billion to make. It looks like it was made for about 25 quid, given the look of the special effects. One thing I took away from this is that Peru must be the size of a postage stamp. Because Dakota Johnson's mother, as you do when you're heavily pregnant and about to give birth,

Emma Sewell (19:52.586)
Hahaha

Bob Mann (20:11.319)
Hehehe

Rev. Andy Godfrey (20:16.77)
goes on an expedition into the Peruvian jungle looking for a magic spider and she finds it. Whoopee! Surprise, surprise! That's not a...

Bob Mann (20:26.842)
She did have a map.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (20:29.11)
Yes sir, but the point is that when Dakota Johnson goes back 27 odd years later, she finds the exact same spot. Everything's exactly the same. No trees have grown, no weeds have grown, nothing's changed. It's identical. It's like "The Land That Time Forgot". I half expected Doug McClure coming around the corner being chased by a dinosaur any minute, because it was just like "The Land That Time Forgot". It was... Sorry, Effin. It would have made the film infinitely better.

Emma Sewell (20:29.791)
Hehehehe

Bob Mann (20:39.982)
No, I did spot that.

Bob Mann (20:48.075)
Hehehehe

Emma Sewell (20:52.942)
I mean, that would have made the film better.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (20:57.338)
because they might have had to spend some money on it. It's rubbish. It is absolute rubbish. I think it was the third time that I checked my watch about 15 minutes in that I yawned for the first time. I mean, it's just a boring, pointless sense. I didn't understand the story. These three young teenagers apparently are going to kill somebody in the future. This guy knows he's going to kill them in the future. They don't. What? I mean, how does it all fit together? Give me, give me some...

Bob Mann (20:59.43)
Godzilla!

Emma Sewell (21:14.87)
Ha ha!

Rev. Andy Godfrey (21:26.666)
something to hang this on please it's senseless they don't even do that it's pointless I didn't get it honestly and I came out I thought you know what I didn't get that I don't care I just don't care because I'm never you know I don't I don't know I'm bothered by the fact that I don't understand just saying because

Bob Mann (21:29.694)
And then they don't even do that. So what's the timeline? Timey wimey. How does... Yeah.

Bob Mann (21:43.152)
Eh.

Bob Mann (21:48.343)
Thanks for watching!

Emma Sewell (21:49.934)
I mean, I genuinely think it would have helped if they had given the three girls, they'd got their powers or something like...

Bob Mann (22:00.895)
Yeah, how did these girls get their powers?

Rev. Andy Godfrey (22:03.418)
get their powers because there's only

Emma Sewell (22:05.426)
well exactly if they'd have actually if they'd actually like had a scene where it showed them properly like and you understood how they got their powers but like have that like halfway through the film and then that at least then you get a lot of action in the second half

Bob Mann (22:06.852)
They're just ordinary teenagers.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (22:14.158)
Being bitten by a spider!

Rev. Andy Godfrey (22:21.246)
It was... No!

Bob Mann (22:26.211)
Mm.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (22:26.706)
It's absolute... pardon my language crap. I mean it really is rubbish. I... it's a long... I mean... oh... it's a long time since I've sat there thinking... what a waste of my time being here. It's not even so bad it's good. It's so bad it's bad. Well no, that's true. But I mean that was before Christmas. Don't ask me what happened... what I had for breakfast today, let alone what happened at Christmas. I mean the point of the matter is I just sat there...

Emma Sewell (22:29.954)
Hehehehe

Bob Mann (22:31.897)
I like it when you dance.

That's.

Bob Mann (22:40.175)
Hehehehe.

Emma Sewell (22:43.998)
Aquaman 2 wasn't that long ago.

Bob Mann (22:46.448)
This

Bob Mann (22:51.779)
Thank you.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (22:56.238)
thinking this does not make any sense whatsoever. I'm not following a thing that's going on. The action's telegraphed, the score's non-existent. The whole thing was just a pathetic, expensive waste of time. And it should, if we still had DVD stores, it would be in the 99p bin within a month. It really would.

Bob Mann (23:18.467)
I feel you're true. Unfortunately, this is the second film this year that Andy has hated, starring with Sydney Sweeney in it. So, I mean, Anyone But You and now Madame Web. So it's...

Emma Sewell (23:20.022)
I'm expecting a really high score from Andy.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (23:25.25)
Are you listening, Emma? Is my mike working?

Rev. Andy Godfrey (23:35.895)
Well, there you go.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (23:40.522)
If Anyone But You is still in the top ten this week, I'm really...

Bob Mann (23:43.287)
Hmm?

Bob Mann (23:46.807)
see. Anyway, yeah, I mean, I ... to add a little bit of balance. I thought this film had some nice ideas in it. Well, I just I just thought that the setup I thought I thought the setup and the fact that she could see the future and so on, and have superpowers. I thought that was vaguely interesting, because she didn't have many superpowers. That was kind of her superpower.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (23:58.298)
See you.

Emma Sewell (24:00.374)
Heheheheh

Rev. Andy Godfrey (24:15.898)
30 seconds into the future. That other guy, apparently bitten by the same spider, could see 30 years into the future. What? That's not fair. I mean, get the suffaragettes out on that one.

Bob Mann (24:15.937)
Um, yeah, that's fine.

Bob Mann (24:24.105)
Yes, that's true. That's true as well.

Emma Sewell (24:28.939)
I mean, to be fair, he has been bitten a long time ago, so he's been able to grow into his powers. Yeah.

Bob Mann (24:35.507)
Maybe it's cumulative. Yeah. I mean, I didn't.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (24:38.898)
I came home and I watched Spider-Man into the multiverse and purged my cinematic soul, I really did.

Bob Mann (24:41.883)
Yeah. I mean, I mean, I, yeah, I couldn't understand what the relationship was between Spider-Man and Madame Web in the universe. And I understand having read it now that these are effectively different multiverses and they don't overlap. Even though the film gave credit at the end to the creators of Madame Web and the creators of Spider-Man, which confused me.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (25:07.234)
I noticed that.

Bob Mann (25:10.591)
I mean, there's a line in here which is not with great power comes great responsibility. It was with additional responsibility, you'll find your extra power or something like that. I thought what? Maybe that was why they had to credit Spider-Man.

Emma Sewell (25:15.814)
Yeah. It really annoyed me. Yeah.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (25:20.054)
He comes, yeah.

Emma Sewell (25:27.018)
I mean the thing that I didn't realise, and it was who the characters were, it didn't occur to me that her partner, a paramedic, was named Ben, and that, and like who the baby was and what they were going to name the baby, and I was like, well, didn't see that coming at all. And it didn't even...

Bob Mann (25:44.131)
Oh, I didn't notice that.

Bob Mann (25:54.453)
Was it called Martha? Was it?

Emma Sewell (25:57.197)
They didn't name the baby because it would have been spoilers.

Ha!

Rev. Andy Godfrey (26:05.634)
I don't care. I literally was beyond caring. I was just... I mean... I'm Uncle Ben. So the baby could have been Peter.

Bob Mann (26:05.723)
you've got you've got me confused now you got me confused

Emma Sewell (26:09.086)
What? Ben was Uncle Ben, wasn't he?

Bob Mann (26:13.855)
Oh, he was Uncle Ben. Peter. But.

Emma Sewell (26:14.734)
Thank you.

Emma Sewell (26:18.67)
we didn't see his other half who I suspect would have been a de-aged Marisa Tomei.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (26:20.022)
What a strange coincidence that baby grew up to get... Isn't that a remarkable coincidence that baby grew up to get bitten by a radioactive spider? Wow! Who would have thought it? What are the odds? What are the odds?

Emma Sewell (26:29.642)
Hahaha!

Bob Mann (26:30.907)
Well, who would have thought it? Who would have thought it? What are the odds? Okay, scores on the doors for Madame Web. Brace for impact. Andy? Zero.

Emma Sewell (26:33.26)
Hehehehehehehehe

Rev. Andy Godfrey (26:40.938)
Nothing. Zero. Big fat zero. It doesn't deserve it. Normally over the case like this, I might give something because I like the score. The score was non-existent. Nothing. Zero. Big fat zero.

Bob Mann (26:49.095)
Yeah. Emma.

Bob Mann (26:59.808)
Oh god, I've been very generous with this because I've given this a 4 out of 10. So that gives us a Flickering Dreams score of 2.0 which I think is the lowest score this year making Madame Web a big web-slinging miss. Okay. Right.

Emma Sewell (26:59.833)
Two...

Rev. Andy Godfrey (27:01.58)
YOS

Well, it's still a miss.

Emma Sewell (27:06.782)
No!

Rev. Andy Godfrey (27:21.754)
Goodness.

Emma Sewell (27:23.466)
swat it with a rolled up paper that's what you need to do

Bob Mann (27:28.338)
Time now for a bit of this.

Bob Mann (27:36.587)
So it's our movie quiz and we've only got a couple of weeks to go in this game because we said we'd finish when we got to the Oscars and with this game - we might start another one after that. And there will be a special edition of Flickering Dreams for the Oscars and you won't be invited Andy!

Rev. Andy Godfrey (27:37.495)
Uhhh, scared, huh?

Emma Sewell (27:39.7)
Yeah.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (27:51.566)
Suddenly I'm looking forward to the Oscars. Wow! That's a first!

Rev. Andy Godfrey (28:01.87)
No, I'm not coming, no.

Emma Sewell (28:02.903)
Ha ha ha!

Bob Mann (28:05.031)
Okay, so as per normal, I've got five frames from a particular motion picture, and you have to name what the film is before the fifth one. Now both Scott and Dan have done this quiz before the show. So just looking at the scores, Emma, you are 60 points behind.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (28:14.763)
in showing ignorance time.

Emma Sewell (28:16.654)
I'm not feeling confident.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (28:18.07)
No, me neither Emma.

Bob Mann (28:33.331)
Scott at the moment. I'm not going to reveal what Scott got because that would be cheating. So yeah, let's see what picture number one is.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (28:35.086)
Did Scott get it on the first picture then?

Oh, hmm.

Emma Sewell (28:57.075)
I already know I'm not gonna know it.

Bob Mann (28:59.523)
Ho ho ho.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (29:00.974)
I've got a thought.

Bob Mann (29:02.699)
You've got to thought, are you going to be brave?

Rev. Andy Godfrey (29:06.338)
I'm gonna wait for the next one I think.

Bob Mann (29:08.291)
Okay, here comes picture number two.

Bob Mann (29:24.639)
Ooh, no, shaking of heads. Here comes picture number three.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (29:27.086)
Cowboys and Indians are not my special.

Bob Mann (29:43.863)
Ooh, is Emma writing something?

Emma Sewell (29:44.394)
I mean it doesn't really hurt if I guess, like at this point, if I guess once and it's wrong.

Bob Mann (29:49.243)
Okay. Yeah, that's a good point.

Okay.

Emma Sewell (29:54.83)
And that's absolutely not right, what I've written.

Bob Mann (29:57.684)
We're going for picture number four.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (29:58.042)
How many?

Emma Sewell (30:01.602)
Oh!

Rev. Andy Godfrey (30:14.687)
Okay.

Bob Mann (30:15.807)
Not a clue. I think you'll get it from picture number five. But we'll see. Picture number five.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (30:36.149)
You got Emma?

Bob Mann (30:36.163)
I'm sorry.

Emma Sewell (30:38.698)
Well, I've written something down and I literally took a guess. I've got no clue what it is.

Bob Mann (30:46.248)
Oh dear, let's see what you got.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (30:51.666)
I wrote down Glory on the fifth one.

Bob Mann (30:54.647)
Glory.

Emma Sewell (30:55.219)
I wrote down Dances With Wolves because literally it was... because I thought that looks kind of like what I expect Dances With Wolves would be.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (30:57.563)
I was going to write down Dances With Wolves.

Bob Mann (31:00.396)
And.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (31:05.882)
Don't tell me it's time to remove.

Bob Mann (31:06.775)
I'm afraid Andy that Glory is incorrect, but I'm horribly afraid that... Yes it is, Dances with Wolves.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (31:10.46)
It is Dances With Wolves isn't it?

Rev. Andy Godfrey (31:17.506)
Do you know, I nearly wrote that down after picture number four.

Emma Sewell (31:18.978)
What?

Emma Sewell (31:25.408)
I've never watched it. You're not surprised.

Bob Mann (31:27.002)
That is no, I'm not. It's a Best Picture winner. So yeah, there you go. So for Emma, that is you got it on the third go. So that's the score of 30 points. Well, it's number 317 in the top 1000 films. It's minus 10 I'm afraid for Andy.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (31:28.532)
I have seen it.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (31:33.315)
Yeah.

Emma Sewell (31:38.574)
Woo!

Rev. Andy Godfrey (31:40.002)
I thought it was too obvious to be Dances With Wolves. That's my mistake.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (31:46.456)
Yeah.

Bob Mann (31:50.903)
I can reveal now that Scott failed to get it. Failed to get it. So Scott scored zero. And Dan actually got it on the last go. So he got 10 points. So.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (31:55.95)
first time. Oh, oh interesting.

Emma Sewell (31:57.762)
Oh!

Rev. Andy Godfrey (32:02.178)
Don't feel so bad now!

Emma Sewell (32:10.766)
Oh my god!

Rev. Andy Godfrey (32:12.212)
I'm a Rev and on my Rev's honour I nearly wrote down Dances With Wolves on the fourth picture and I wish I had.

Bob Mann (32:18.604)
There you go. Nearly. So, Emma, Scott is still in the lead with 340 points. Emma is in second place with 290 points. So you're 50 points behind. We've got maybe two weeks, two more things to go. So chance to catch Scott potentially. Andy, you're on 200 points. And Dan is on 200 points as well. So you are.

Emma Sewell (32:20.426)
Well, I'm feeling much better about that now.

Hmm.

Bob Mann (32:47.115)
both bringing up the rear there. Okay. Go with your instincts. Yeah. We're going back to the films now and a film, which I think maybe only you've seen Andy, which is The Taste of Things. Is that right? Emma, you've, oh, you've seen it as well. Great. Okay. That's good. Uh, so Andy, can you introduce the clip for us?

Rev. Andy Godfrey (32:51.322)
Go with your instinct, go with your gut.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (33:01.379)
Okay.

Emma Sewell (33:04.262)
Oh, I've seen that. Mm-hmm.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (33:06.062)
How are you seeing this?

Rev. Andy Godfrey (33:12.572)
18th century French cooking in a French manor with a French lord and his mistress who's his chief cook.

Bob Mann (33:22.523)
Here's a clip to test your French O level.

Bob Mann (33:51.975)
Okay, Andy, do you want to carry on?

Rev. Andy Godfrey (33:54.07)
Yeah, I absolutely love this terrific performances by Juliette Binoche and if I own Benoit Magimel. Basically the first 20 minutes of this film we're watching a cook and her team preparing a meal. That's it. We watch the vegetables being washed, we watch the meat being prepared, we watch the plates being warmed. It basically is the first 20 minutes of the film and you kind of think what is going on here? I mean it's a sumptuous meal, it makes your mouth water. Sorry Bob, are you gonna...

Bob Mann (34:16.948)
Oh, given.

Bob Mann (34:23.007)
I said, given Scott's view on The Zone of Interest, this doesn't sound like it's going to be his sort of film.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (34:28.374)
And then the meal, we suddenly realise we're in a big Lord's house, the meal is being prepared by a cook and a team, as I say, for the Lord who is a gourmet and his gourmet friends. And then the next 10 minutes is them eating the meal and commenting on it. We slowly come to realise as the film develops that the Lord is in love with the chef, with the cook, they're having a relationship. And basically that's it. That's it. There's some tragedy along the way.

It's about their life, it's about their relationship, and it's about cooking in the 18th century. I absolutely loved it. This is one of the best lit films I have seen in a very long time. There's a scene where two of them are talking in the garden, and the lighting, which is kind of bluey shade of dark, black, is exquisite. It is absolutely glorious. And like the food, I just made a note that this film is sumptuous to look at. I mean, it's a treat for the eyes.

even if you don't necessarily like the story, even if you say, you know, this is old romantic nonsense. The fact of the matter is this film is beautiful to look at. It's sumptuous for the eyes and I really, really enjoyed it. I thought following the story of the Lord and his romantic relationship with his with his chief cook in his house and how they fall in love and he keeps proposing and she keeps saying no. Really just a lovely gentle love story. An incredible change of pace from

from things we've seen recently. And, you know, after some frantic, nonsensical action that we were just talking about, to have a beautiful love story. It's a love story about, it's two people in love, but it's a love story about food as well. And, you know, there's so much about, what spice do we put in? What herb do we put in? How long do we let this bit of vegetable cook? How long does the meat cook for? How do we prepare? There's one scene where they've got a young girl in the kitchen and he's training her.

to be the Lord is training this young girl to be a cook. And he just, he has her blindfolded and he's feeding her spices and sauces. And she has to tell him what she's eating. Just one after the other. Again, an elongated scene that you think, this is going to be so blooming boring, let me out of here. Actually, it's engrossing. It pulls you in. And because of the fact that it's such a beautifully made film. And anything Juliette Binoche is in is going to be good anyway. She's a great actress.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (36:54.282)
I just loved it. I thought it was a sumptuous feast for the eyes. I thought it was a lovely, lovely romantic love story and it drew me in and I could quite happily go and watch people preparing meals all over again because I thought it was really, really good. Loved it.

Bob Mann (37:09.015)
Okay. Emma, were you equally engrossed?

Emma Sewell (37:15.258)
Yeah, I mean, I echo the majority of what Andy said there. I couldn't believe how long we were just watching someone cook at the beginning of that film. And the film itself is two hours and 15 minutes, and it did not feel that long at all. Just the way it pays attention to all those details.

was just amazing like in that every time we were in that kitchen I was just engrossed in what was going on and like you say the girl who's being trained she seemed like first of all she seems very reserved and just not like a normal child would be you know hyperactive in a kitchen trying everything but you can see the concentration on her face and she's watching everything and taking it all in and she

understands so much about it. The other thing that amazed me, and my friend had to tell me this because I don't know celebrity gossip, but Juliette Binoche and Benoit, whatever his name is, were married before and had a really contentious divorce and hadn't spoken, and this came up, this came up and they wanted to do it so much that they just said yes.

Bob Mann (38:23.575)
Hehehe

Bob Mann (38:30.134)
Really?

Rev. Andy Godfrey (38:30.643)
I did not know that. Wow.

Bob Mann (38:38.219)
Wow.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (38:38.774)
Wow, because there's a real loving tenderness between the two of them on screen. It's incredible.

Emma Sewell (38:43.422)
I like genuinely so she told me this beforehand and I was watching I was like I can't believe that they would like had an angry divorce because they've managed to put it aside and have such a great pairing on screen and I mean some of those scenes to be doing that with your ex I was just like how I genuinely don't know I mean genuinely

Bob Mann (39:07.223)
It's called acting darling, it's called acting!

Rev. Andy Godfrey (39:09.444)
Yes.

Emma Sewell (39:12.646)
amazing that they managed to give this performance under those sorts of circumstances.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (39:16.766)
Yeah. And I think too, yeah. And when that, when the central moment comes where there is a moment of something happens you'd rather not happen, I was sat in my seat crying. Which just shows how invested I was in the film. I mean, I cried in this. I, my second favorite film of the year after The Holdovers. Yeah, definitely. Yeah.

Bob Mann (39:36.039)
Oh, wow. That's saying something.

Emma Sewell (39:38.606)
I mean, what I would say is that as much as I like, you know, if you love watching Nigella just making food porn on the television, you're gonna love this. But if you, I think it's, if you've got misophonia, you can hear people eating so much. And it really, there is, there is, there's,

Bob Mann (39:47.863)
Ha ha

Bob Mann (39:56.183)
What is misophonia? Oh, okay.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (39:57.882)
It's at Fira Madame Web.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (40:02.027)
Alright, yeah.

Emma Sewell (40:06.478)
There's one scene where all the men are together and they're like completely engrossed in the meal and they've like got their heads under cloths over the bowl so they're getting the whole experience and the noise just made me physically want to curl up and die. It's hideous. So if you have a problem...

Bob Mann (40:24.873)
Okay.

Bob Mann (40:28.296)
Another equivalent to The Zone of Interest.

Emma Sewell (40:32.403)
If you have a problem listening to the sound of people eating, this is going to be a problem.

Bob Mann (40:38.883)
Okay, okay. Score out of 10, Emma.

Emma Sewell (40:43.674)
I gave it a 9 but literally it's only the eating.

Bob Mann (40:44.979)
A nine. A nine. Right. That's good. It's OK. So that's a Flickering Dreams score of nine point zero, making it a tasty hit. Right. It doesn't seem to be on have much of a cinema release because I was having a.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (40:46.763)
I gave it a nine as well. Yeah, I gave it a nine as well Bob. Yeah.

Emma Sewell (41:05.642)
I mean it's a French foreign, do I mean French? Was it French? Yeah, French foreign language film. So, I mean, yeah.

Bob Mann (41:08.983)
French. Yeah. I was having a look for it this week when I was trying to catch up on my film watching and I couldn't immediately see it. Yeah. I will. We seem to be on a roller coaster here between hit and miss because we went from Wicked Little Letters a big hit to Madame Web a big miss to The Taste

Rev. Andy Godfrey (41:10.606)
Yes, sometimes French foreign language, yeah.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (41:22.106)
Do try and catch it though Bob, it's excellent, it really is lovely.

Bob Mann (41:38.051)
What's it called? The Taste of Things, yes. A big hit. And now we're going to do Mia Culpa, which I think only you've seen, Emma.

Emma Sewell (41:39.6)
Taste of Things.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (41:39.962)
Taste of Things.

Emma Sewell (41:42.926)
Hmm

Oh.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (41:49.266)
I've seen three quarters of it. Can I just say?

Emma Sewell (41:49.31)
Yeah, I don't think that'll change afterwards. Oh, you still...

Bob Mann (41:51.587)
Oh, oh, and you've seen three quarters of it. Okay.

Emma Sewell (41:55.618)
That is more than you need to see.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (41:56.718)
Literally I was watching it earlier and I had to stop.

Bob Mann (42:00.911)
Okay, Emma, do you want to introduce the clip?

Emma Sewell (42:04.614)
Sure. So we are seeing the world through the criminal defence attorney's eyes. She is taking on a high profile case and is having to deal with corruption and temptation. Here's a clip.

Bob Mann (42:44.855)
So from the trailer this felt a little bit Basic Instinct slash Fatal Attraction type thing. Are we in that sort of territory? It wishes.

Emma Sewell (42:50.802)
it's wishes it's wishes um i thought i don't even know what made me watch it i think it was probably just that Kelly Roland's in it and you know she brings back nostalgia um to me and oh i can't even remember what i said to you guys but i needed bleach like i would have poured bleach in my ear swirled it

Rev. Andy Godfrey (42:54.158)
As I miss the name which is here.

Bob Mann (43:19.651)
Hehehe

Emma Sewell (43:21.018)
erotic thriller, no thrill, attempts to be erotic. I mean literally the only thing I really want to say about this film is that as someone who enjoys to paint and do crafts I find this a horrendous waste of paint which will make sense if you've seen a certain scene in it. It is a very it's a fun idea but

it's been done elsewhere it's another one where it's like it's trying to sound like it's original but actually it's corruption it's you know just political backhanded deals and uh it's just shit but uh yeah

Bob Mann (44:15.677)
Hehehehe.

Oh dear. Hmm, okay. Andy, from your three quarters that you watch, would you agree?

Emma Sewell (44:21.163)
Mm. Ha ha

Rev. Andy Godfrey (44:24.974)
I'll just back up everything Emma said. I think that there's a scene where the family are having a meal and there's this irritating mother-in-law gag going on and that's really painful to watch. It's also telegraphed and also obvious. There's a scene, as Emma said, there are various scenes where paint gets misused for different purposes. I thought that it was just terrible and as you say Bob...

Emma Sewell (44:27.234)
the

Rev. Andy Godfrey (44:52.234)
It wishes it was Fatal Attraction. It wishes it was Basic Instinct. It's neither of those. I mean both of those are 20 out of 10 compared to this, which is nothing out of 10. I just thought, well I've seen so far. I probably will watch the end because I've started so I'll finish. And I normally, you know, I've never walked out of a movie yet in my life. So I wish I had and I wish I could and I probably will regret staying on to see the end of this. Because I gather there's a...

Emma Sewell (45:15.575)
Hehehehe

Rev. Andy Godfrey (45:21.25)
some kind of twist still to come. But frankly, I'll be making a cup of coffee and doing some cooking and have it on and keeping one eye on it and I won't miss anything. I mean, it may be number one on Netflix, but don't bother folks.

Emma Sewell (45:24.494)
and it's two hours long.

Bob Mann (45:32.547)
Right, right.

Emma Sewell (45:36.943)
this yeah i mean this is a sort of film if you look at it you go oh that's one hour 45 if i've ever seen it and it's two hours of absolute shit

Rev. Andy Godfrey (45:44.094)
Yeah, two hours, yeah. I mean, you say about Fatal Attraction, there's even a lift scene. I mean, they basically are robbing Peter to pay Paul. It's, yeah, ripping it off all down the way.

Bob Mann (45:50.02)
By the way.

Bob Mann (45:55.387)
out. Ripping it off. Yeah.

By the way, if you want to dissolve your brain, Emma, you don't use bleach. You use what the Pharaohs used equivalent to turpentine in the mummification process. They put it, no, they used turpentine. They dissolve everything. Yeah. They were.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (46:07.79)
Hahaha

Emma Sewell (46:09.602)
Good to know. Do I wanna get one of those hooks up? Yeah, yeah, okay. Scramble it a bit, okay. Good to know. Don't try this at home, folks.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (46:11.15)
Back to Egypt.

Ha ha ha!

Rev. Andy Godfrey (46:19.321)
I felt mummified watching this. I mean, I felt mummified watching this film.

Bob Mann (46:22.091)
Don't try this at home. Not even, not even Donald Trump recommends turpentine up the nose. No. Uh, right. So scores are 10 for Mia Culpa. This is different, I have to say, from the Spanish teen porno movie that I reviewed last year called Culpa Mia. Uh, which I got very, I got very confused about that. Um, which, which is still one of my highest hit film reviews on my website.

Emma Sewell (46:29.856)
But, yeah.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (46:41.902)
Hahaha!

Bob Mann (46:51.147)
probably because it mentions porn and teen in the title of the film review. That's how, that's how, that's how sad the internet search engines are. Um, scores out of 10, Emma.

Emma Sewell (46:54.927)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (46:55.788)
Yes, well that would do it.

Emma Sewell (47:05.102)
Purely because I actually really love the paintings that were in it, it's getting a one.

Bob Mann (47:09.939)
Okay. Andy.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (47:13.066)
Yeah, I mean, it's getting a zero for me what I've seen so far that might go up that might go up to one by the end of the day, but it won't.

Bob Mann (47:17.136)
Oh no!

Bob Mann (47:24.596)
Well, having said that Madame Web with a 2 out of 10 is the lowest score, we've just exceeded that with a 0.5 out of 10 for Mia Culpa. Wow.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (47:37.256)
What's the betting Scott loves it?

Bob Mann (47:41.407)
Yeah.

Emma Sewell (47:41.994)
I genuinely don't think there's any rede- I mean what I would say is it's got a higher it's got a higher rating on IMDB than Madame Web does. Only just.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (47:43.422)
I don't think so. There's nothing to love.

Bob Mann (47:44.663)
I don't-

Bob Mann (47:51.191)
Oh, right. God. Well, that's saying something. Right. Let's take a look at the box office top 10 for this week. Let me just find the box office top 10. That one. Oh, share. There we go. So this week, this is back to tomorrow and

Rev. Andy Godfrey (48:17.283)
Yes.

Bob Mann (48:18.267)
Yes, Andy will be pleased to see that Anyone But You has finally dropped out. It's about at number 12. Oops, we've come back. Yeah, there you go. So number one in the chart is Bob Marley, One Love. It's been two weeks in chart. Made a really decent amount of revenue, hasn't it? 11 million quid. I have still to go and see One Love. I actually went to see.

Emma Sewell (48:18.738)
Mwah

Rev. Andy Godfrey (48:25.754)
It's about time.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (48:37.088)
Yeah.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (48:41.266)
I miss, remind me what you gave Emma last week? Did you and Scott talk about One Love? Was it a six? Yeah, okay. I would have given it a seven if I'd been on. I would have given it a seven, but just for the music mainly, yeah.

Bob Mann (48:46.643)
I think you gave it a six. I think you both gave it a six.

Emma Sewell (48:48.218)
Okay, some points. Uh, yeah, I can't, I can't remember. It's just.

Bob Mann (48:54.855)
Right. Okay. Yeah. So it's made over 11 million pounds and seems to be, seems to be doing very well. I must admit, I still haven't seen that. I had a choice of films to catch up on this afternoon. I went to see Madame Web just based on the fact it's going to disappear like a stone after this week, I think. Whereas One Love might be around another week or two. At number two is that "Wicked Little Letters"

Bob Mann (49:24.235)
first week out, it's made 1.6 million. Migration, of course the half term, it's kind of been a staggered half term holiday in the UK over the last couple of weeks, so there'll be lots of kids out watching films. And Migration, four weeks in the chart, made over 16 million quid. At number four is a film which Cineworld actually had a matinee for this afternoon, I noticed.

might actually try and get to see this one. It's called Demon Slayer Kimetsu no Yaiba to the Hashira Training. I have no idea what it's about but it's clearly a Hindi film and that's its first week out. Oh is it anime film? Oh right. Oh I didn't. Okay.

Emma Sewell (50:04.131)
It's anime. It's anime. Yeah.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (50:06.87)
Oh is it anime? Oh yes of course it is, yes of course it is.

Emma Sewell (50:11.03)
So you can do the decent thing and see it subtitled, not dubbed. That's all I'm gonna say.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (50:15.534)
Quite long isn't it from what I saw? Can't remember this.

Emma Sewell (50:19.687)
I don't know actually.

Bob Mann (50:20.6)
I don't know. At number five, we've got Madame Web, second week in the chart. Incredibly, it's made nearly three and a half million pounds. So that's three.

Emma Sewell (50:31.306)
I do just love the fact it came out on the same day as Bob Marley One Love and that is the comparison.

Bob Mann (50:36.203)
Yep. Yeah, 11 million to 3 million, but I'm still surprised. I think there's probably about 343,000 people who would like their money back from that experience. And number six is something which I was sorry I missed last week, actually. Andrew Scott's performance as Uncle Vanya and one of the National Theatre Live shows.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (50:44.994)
Oh noes.

Emma Sewell (51:00.962)
Cineworld are doing it again. It's in this week's listing, so you might wanna check that.

Bob Mann (51:03.601)
Oh, are they?

Oh, right. Oh yeah, I will. Thank you very much. Yeah. Um, they often do encores afterwards, don't they? Uh, and number seven, fourth week in the chart is Argylle. It's made, um, over five and a half million pounds. Yeah. Good fun film. Good fun film. Enjoyed it. And here's Wonka still in the chart for its 12th week. It's made, uh, just creeping up its revenue just very slowly. So surely it must drop out I think next week.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (51:19.733)
Good, good fun.

Bob Mann (51:35.387)
£62.7 million at the UK box office. And number nine, another film I still have to see is The Iron Claw. Third week in the chart, £2.1 million. And at number 10, the film that got Scott particularly hot and bothered at all its BAFTA wins last week was The Zone of Interest. Fourth week in the chart.

Emma Sewell (51:59.962)
I mean, we had a good bitch about that one without you two there. It was trash.

Bob Mann (52:03.635)
Yeah, you were going for it, which was great. Yeah, I'm kind of in the middle of that. I'm kind of in the middle there. I will hold your coats, okay?

Rev. Andy Godfrey (52:10.375)
It was wonderful, it was brilliant.

Emma Sewell (52:12.915)
is awful.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (52:15.002)
Ha ha.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (52:19.102)
If Typist Artist Pirate King wasn't going to win Best British Picture at the Oscars, that did and that's okay for me.

Bob Mann (52:27.221)
Yeah. Okay. Moving on and let's just stop sharing that.

Bob Mann (52:37.491)
Oh, hello. How do we get back? How do we get back again? There we go. There we go. No, I couldn't see you at all. So there we go. Moving on, we're another new film out this week, which I think I'm the only one who's seen it is Memory. Yeah. Okay. I actually saw this at London Film Festival last year and this has Saul played by Peter Sarsgaard following Sylvia played by Jessica Chastain.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (52:41.434)
You're back.

Emma Sewell (52:45.134)
Hehehe

Bob Mann (53:06.711)
home in a very creepy fashion after a school reunion and he goes to sleep in the rain outside her flat. What's going on? What's the story? And what memories does Sylvia have about him? Here's a clip.

Bob Mann (53:53.495)
So this is a film about memory. It's a film about Saul who's in the early stages of dementia and has problems with his memory. It's also a film about the memories that Sylvia may or may not have and the accuracy of memory.

It, I really enjoyed the setup to this film. It is genuinely creepy the way that Saul kind of follows her home from this school reunion and you wonder what on earth is going on. And Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard are excellent actors and they work very well together in a lot of their scenes. There's a bath scene between the two of them, for example, which is very touching indeed, and also very great in this is Brooke Timber.

the young lady in her movie debut as the daughter and the peacemaker in between the two.

Bob Mann (54:57.859)
It's all a little bit all over the place though, after that. After a good set up and an interesting premise, it kind of goes off in directions I wish it wouldn't have. There was a story developing there which I thought was really interesting and then that story gets the rug unceremoniously pulled from under it, which I thought was a shame. So it was a whole smash of different ideas.

that never really quite came together for me as a whole. Um, there's an acute family melodrama bubbling under the surface that comes to a head at one point in a histrionic family meeting, which I didn't think rang true, um, at all for me and what Jessica Chastain said in that clip at the end saying your memory is kind of selective, isn't it? I had that problem as well.

maybe this is a very special type of dementia, but he seemed to remember some things, forget other things, and it seemed to be extremely selective about what he did and didn't remember. Um, and, and that might be absolutely correct, but it wasn't my experience with my, uh, father who suffered, uh, that sort of disease later in his life. Um,

There's also an entry here in the Bob Mann book, which I'm going to publish in a few years time of unrealistic sex scenes that Jessica Chastain, Saul gets completely naked and makes love to Sylvia. And she's still got her top on. She's still got her bra on. Right. I'm afraid.

Bob Mann (56:49.919)
When does that happen? Like, when does that happen? I mean, honestly. Um, so I thought it was interesting. I thought there was lots of acting, good acting in it. Um,

Rev. Andy Godfrey (57:02.147)
You've just asked a Rev that question.

Bob Mann (57:05.812)
Yeah, well.

Emma Sewell (57:07.678)
I can't have this discussion with you, Bob. We're not having this discussion.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (57:09.974)
No, we're not having this discussion. But I look forward to reading the book.

Bob Mann (57:10.603)
We're not, we're not, I mean, turn off.

Bob Mann (57:17.807)
Yeah, it'll be a bestseller, I tell you. Yes, yes. It's going to be called "Release the Chastain Puppies"! Yes. Yeah, beg forgiveness, beg forgiveness. OK. Hail Mayos. Right. I gave in the end, I gave this one a six out of ten.

Emma Sewell (57:20.579)
Ugh.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (57:37.69)
you need to say six hail mayos.

Emma Sewell (57:40.983)
Ha ha

Bob Mann (57:46.467)
because it had a lot of potential. The bra was still on. It might've been a seven, might've been a seven. But no.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (57:47.898)
because the bra was still on.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (57:54.234)
Glad you keep... I'm just glad you're keeping abreast of things, Bob.

Bob Mann (57:57.563)
Yes, thank you. Oh, stop it. You're making me feel like a right tit. Uh, that's a six out of 10. That's a six out of 10 for Memory, which makes it a borderline miss, I'm afraid.

Emma Sewell (57:59.403)
Oh no, not more jokes! Oh my word. Ugh.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (58:06.102)
I got news for you mate!

Emma Sewell (58:16.402)
If you know what, my brain heard that as mammary. It's just... we need to get on to the next thing. Oh, god. Oh.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (58:20.566)
You're running it now, you're running it now. You're running it now.

Bob Mann (58:22.592)
Yes, yes, there we are. There we are. Okay. Any other business this week? While we're recording this, in fact, at Selected Cinemas, we're recording this on Tuesday night this week, which is a bit unusual. There is a showing, a one night only showing of Ian McKellen's Hamlet

Bob Mann (58:49.887)
And I thought it was absolutely wonderful. Here's a little clip from it.

Bob Mann (59:15.091)
A very age-blind version, obviously, with Ian McKellen playing Hamlet and Jenny Seagrove, who's many, many years younger as his mother. But it's just a superb production set in and around and on top of, in fact, at one point, the Royal Windsor Theatre, where the play was actually set and stuck during lockdown and obviously wasn't shown during lockdown. So they made this film instead.

Directed by Sean Mathias. One of the standout performances you just saw very briefly in that clip is Alis Wyn Davies as Ophelia, superbly rocky chick Ophelia in the thing. It's nicely compacted Shakespeare which will irritate some people. It's only two hours long and I think Kenneth Branagh's version was four hours long so it shows how much they cut out. So that might annoy Shakespeare purists.

but I thought it was absolutely terrific. I say it's one night only in cinemas tonight, but it is coming out on DVD in early April. And it's got my quote on the cover of the box saying how much I enjoyed it. So I was very happy with that.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (01:00:30.015)
Fantastic, well done Bob.

Emma Sewell (01:00:30.744)
I believe you said it was "Stunning", didn't you, Bob?

Bob Mann (01:00:33.143)
I did say it was stunning. Yes, yes. My cheeky brother-in-law said, sorry, son-in-law, my cheeky son-in-law commented that stunning is something you say about bridesmaids in father-of-the-bride speeches, not about a film, but there you go. That's just him. Yeah, good, thank you. Yeah, I gave that one a 10 out of 10. So if you can get to see a version of that, I mean, who knows if it...

Rev. Andy Godfrey (01:00:33.514)
Yes. Many congratulations, seriously.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (01:00:52.654)
No, of course you don't. Well done.

Bob Mann (01:01:01.771)
packs the cinemas out, they might do a reprise showing in coming weeks, but try and catch a version of Hamlet with Ian McKellen. It's a cracker. Given the success of last week's show and the rant that Emma and Scott had, I thought I'd introduce the new section of the show at this point called Rant Corner, where we can get very exercised about something which...

Rev. Andy Godfrey (01:01:26.156)
Hahaha!

Emma Sewell (01:01:28.747)
Oh.

Bob Mann (01:01:30.843)
Cinematic needs to be cinematic can't be about your boss or anything That particularly you Andy you can't rant about your boss About talking about the man talking about the man upstairs. Yeah, okay. Um So I'm gonna I'm gonna have one this week. I'm gonna have one this week. It's about Scala Radio has gone and ended

Emma Sewell (01:01:35.597)
Ha ha!

Rev. Andy Godfrey (01:01:42.326)
Many do. I know, many do.

Emma Sewell (01:01:45.495)
Hehehe

Emma Sewell (01:01:50.182)
Oh good. What were you answering about today, Bob?

Rev. Andy Godfrey (01:01:57.456)
Oh yeah.

Bob Mann (01:01:59.319)
the Mark Kermode show on Saturday lunchtimes, which is a terrible decision. I mean, it's not as if, and they do it in the interest of more diversity, I think was the quote, or something similar, when there is no radio program, to my knowledge, there may be some sort of on Classic FM, I may have to move my listenership from Scala Radio to Classic FM to find out, because there's just...

Rev. Andy Godfrey (01:02:03.374)
soundtrack show it's abysmal it's appalling yep absolutely

Bob Mann (01:02:28.663)
very little in the way of soundtrack shows, either on TV or on the radio, and this was one of them, and it's had Mark Kermode doing it. It was just brilliant every week. So that's my rant at Scala Radio!

Rev. Andy Godfrey (01:02:45.914)
Can I have a rant? Another one? Why are they changing the rating of Mary Poppins?

Bob Mann (01:02:47.231)
Yes, you go.

Bob Mann (01:02:52.25)
Oh, yes.

Emma Sewell (01:02:52.482)
What?

Rev. Andy Godfrey (01:02:53.626)
They're moving Mary Poppins up from a U to a PG because of outdated language. Get real, get with it!

Bob Mann (01:02:59.05)
I

Emma Sewell (01:03:02.398)
Well, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious isn't for everyone.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (01:03:03.058)
disgusting is appalling seriously why is that all about honestly it's not as if I mean I went through that article about the word no just leave it alone it's fine it's Mary Poppins! Kermode will have a rant about that as well because he rates Mary Poppins as about the second greatest film ever after the Exorcist so he'll have a rant about two things but

Bob Mann (01:03:07.362)
Yeah, yeah. What is the outdated language?

Emma Sewell (01:03:20.462)
Hehehehe

Bob Mann (01:03:22.391)
Really? Okay.

Bob Mann (01:03:27.275)
Yes, he does. That'd be a good double bill, Mary Poppins and the Exorcist.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (01:03:31.446)
I really got upset about that. Mary Poppins is a PG for Pete's sake, is a U certificate for Pete's sake.

Bob Mann (01:03:37.203)
I know, I know, that's ridiculous isn't it? There we are. It's Woke Gone Mad, that's what it is. Woke Gone Mad. Yeah.

Emma Sewell (01:03:40.447)
Heheheheheheh

Rev. Andy Godfrey (01:03:42.674)
Exactly it is absolutely crazy. Can I just mention one other thing Bob? Just very quickly there is a film coming out on digital platforms don't ask me which one but this weekend called Tropic. It's a French science fiction film it's set in the year 2044. Two twin brothers training to be astronauts. One of them gets some radioactive waste from space dumped on him and it begins to change him.

Emma Sewell (01:03:45.378)
Ha!

Bob Mann (01:03:49.024)
Yes you may.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (01:04:10.578)
think it's a science fiction monster movie it's actually a really good compelling family drama as the changes occur in this guy. It's more family drama than sci-fi to be honest. But I saw it on the screen the other day just to mention it. If you come across Tropic on digital platforms it is worth your time. It's about an hour and three quarters but it's very it's very good family drama combined with sci-fi. Tropic. Very good.

Bob Mann (01:04:26.954)
Okay.

Bob Mann (01:04:32.193)
Good.

Bob Mann (01:04:36.075)
As long as he doesn't start getting spider properties because otherwise I'm going right back to rant corner again. Okay No boobs no more spiders no more boobs Right that's our lot for this week my thanks to Emma Sewell from Emma at the movies on Twitter and various other platforms Andy Godfrey from Konnect Radio connect with a K

Rev. Andy Godfrey (01:04:39.09)
No, no, no.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (01:04:44.366)
We don't want any more boobs, do we?

Rev. Andy Godfrey (01:04:52.04)
Sorry about that.

Bob Mann (01:05:05.247)
not like the way my transcription normally works on this podcast. And Sorted, indeed, and Sorted magazine. And I'm Bob Mann from One Mann's Movies. And that's been Flickering Dreams. Many thanks. See you next time.

Rev. Andy Godfrey (01:05:09.914)
It's radio for dyslexics.

Bob Mann (01:05:23.437)
Good.

Emma Sewell (01:05:23.82)
Ugh...

Rev. Andy Godfrey (01:05:24.75)
That was great. That was good fun guys.