Bob Mann (00:08)
Hello and welcome to this episode of Flickering Dreams, which is our regular kind of natter about movies, our cinema cafe segment where we kind of do a roundup of the week. We have just finished recording our reviews for three films, which are the big films out this week. One was Mother's Instinct in cinemas. The other was Godzilla X Kong.
The New Empire also in cinemas and the third film was The Beautiful Game, which is on Netflix, I want to say. Yes. So if you want to catch those reviews, please take a look for them on the Flickering Dreams channel, either the audio one or on YouTube for the video ones. Just starting this segment, just to look at some of the other films.
we have seen during the week. We're missing Emma. And I think Emma is the only one who's actually seen the number one film at the box office this week, which is Kung Fu Panda 4. Let's take a little look at that.
It's clearly working for DreamWorks because I say that's as we'll see shortly. That's at number one in the box office. I haven't actually got any notes from Emma on what she made of this, but I'm sure it will please the kids. There's very, very little else on in the cinemas for kids this Easter holidays, I have to say for younger kids anyway. So that probably fits a bill, which is why it's doing so well.
Emma did actually send me some notes on two of the other films she saw, which we've reviewed separately. One was Mother's Instinct. We declared that to be a hit. That was Andy and myself reviewed that and we gave it a flickering dream score of eight and a half. Emma also liked it and Hathaway's performance in particular was fantastic, balancing unhinged with Angelic. And...
Although she loves Jessica Chastain, she wasn't quite a soul on her performance. So she gave it seven out of 10. So that would reduce our Flickering Dreams score to eight out of 10, but still a hit. And on Godzilla X Kong, which we somewhat suspected Emma would like this. She described it as an amazing dino monkey, smashy, smashy movie. And she gave it nine out of 10.
Rev. Andy Godfrey (03:09)
Dino.
Bob Mann (03:11)
I think she would have given it 10 out of 10, but she says it needed more smashy. I think there was quite enough smashy. I think there was quite enough smashy going on. Yeah.
Rev. Andy Godfrey (03:16)
More Smashy! The pyramids go, Rome goes, what does she want? I mean, I mean, you know, let's just destroy London while we're at it, and Paris and...
Scott Forbes (03:18)
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Bob Mann (03:25)
Yeah, there's lots of monuments in the world still to go. Yes. Yes. He gave it nine out of 10, but that's not going to save it because Andy and myself gave it a four out of 10. So that's not going to make it a hit as much as she tries. Yeah. Other films that we've seen this week, or at least Scott and myself have seen one is Shirley on Netflix. This...
Scott Forbes (03:29)
Hmph.
Sorry Emma, I tried.
Bob Mann (03:56)
is, I mean, I thought this was going to be a better film than it turned out to be. It stars Regina King as the first black congresswoman in American history and her run for the president. Now, anyone with any minor knowledge of American history will know that that was an unsuccessful run at the presidency.
Uh, so the film follows a somewhat strange story arc for me and kind of finishes on a bit of a downer to be honest, even though this is an incredible woman who clearly did incredible things at a time when race relations were, were still very troubled. So, um, yeah, I don't know what score you would have given that one, Scott.
Scott Forbes (04:48)
Yeah, so I'm similar to you on that one. Very mediocre film, but with a brilliant leading performance from Regina King. I gave this one a score of six out of ten.
Bob Mann (04:54)
Cool. Yeah.
Six out of 10, I'd probably give it a seven out of 10. I just like political dramas like this, American political dramas particularly. So I'd probably give it a seven, but that gives a flickering dream score of six and a half. So it's still a marginal miss from us. Another film which I think both of you two have seen, I didn't see it, was on the Cineworld Unlimited thing last night, and that's the book of Clarence.
which we will review fully in a couple of weeks time when it's out. It's actually released on the 19th of April in the UK. Andy, I saw you described it. I saw you described this as Life of Brian without the laughs.
Scott Forbes (05:36)
I'll need that time to process.
Rev. Andy Godfrey (05:41)
It's essentially it's life of Brian without the laughs. It's we know from the Bible that the disciple called Thomas had a twin brother. So the Clarence of the title is Thomas's atheistic twin brother who decides that he is going to be a very naughty boy and actually become the Messiah, turn himself into the Messiah. So it's kind of life of Brian with a little bit of a twist to it. But he's a very naughty boy, but he proclaims himself the Messiah.
even though essentially he's an atheist and bad things end up happening to him. I just very quickly and I know we're very beautiful, I thought from my point of view as a believing evangelical Christian, I thought the portrayal of Jesus was really terrific. I was more than happy with that. Yeah.
Bob Mann (06:15)
Okay.
Okay, okay. Good. Well, we'll let you process that until we review it probably in a couple of weeks.
have a look at the box office top 10.
It did it. Share that.
And at number one, as I think I implied earlier is Kung Fu Panda, sorry, Kung Fu Panda 4, talking about long running franchises. And that's made over 5 million quid at the box office, which is pretty good going for a first week, isn't it?
Rev. Andy Godfrey (07:05)
It's amazing.
It has to be because it's the only film for young children out over Easter, apart from migration, which is amazing.
Bob Mann (07:10)
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. And at number two, we've got Godzilla X Kong, Godzilla multiplied by Kong, the new empire. Over four million people have gone and given their cinema dollars to go and watch that. We'll pray. We'll pray together, Andy, for them. At number three, Ghostbusters Frozen Empire. We did not rate that film.
Rev. Andy Godfrey (07:32)
Be well.
Bob Mann (07:40)
particularly highly and That's two weeks out over eight million pounds at the box office already June part two clocking them up is Added another one and a half million to its total five weeks out thirty four million pounds at the box office and I have to say it's still an excellent film I Really want to try and go and see that twice at the cinema if I could but I'm not sure I'm gonna be able to too much other stuff on
At number five is a film I will struggle to pronounce, Aadujeevitham which I assume is a Hindi movie. Have you heard of that one, Scott?
Rev. Andy Godfrey (08:12)
Yeah.
No. Let's go.
Scott Forbes (08:19)
I heard of it but I haven't had a chance to see that one. There's been quite a few Indian films that have come out the last week or two.
Rev. Andy Godfrey (08:24)
Yeah, there was always one. Yeah.
Bob Mann (08:25)
Yeah. Yeah. And number six is that film we were just talking about Mother's Instinct. And we rated that baby highly and Jessica Chastain and Anne Hathaway. That hasn't clocked up a big box office, but I'm sure it will be after we've recommended it that you go and see it, which you really should.
Rev. Andy Godfrey (08:46)
Although I notice it's not in cinemas next week. It's not in my Sydney world after Thursday this week No as from this coming Friday They're not actually screening it
Bob Mann (08:50)
Oh is it not? It's dropping out quickly.
Right.
Right, right. Okay. Okay. Um, at number seven is immaculate, which is, uh, two weeks in the chart. It clearly had a very high opening week because it's made nearly 1 .2 million and it's only put 0 .25 million onto that total in this last week. So it's a film that kind of opened well, but then fell off quickly. And number
Rev. Andy Godfrey (09:26)
Finally a decent horror film though.
Bob Mann (09:28)
Indeed. Yes, you certainly rated that one. I'm sorry. I again, I didn't get to see that. That was what I wanted to see when the only thing I could see was Godzilla X Kong because of the timings. I wish I'd seen Immaculate. But there you go. And number eight is a film I actually don't know anything about. It's called Crew.
Scott Forbes (09:47)
another Indian film. Comedy with three air stewardesses.
Bob Mann (09:49)
Is it another Indian film? Oh, OK, right. Oh, I see. As in aircrew. OK. At number nine, still clocking up business is Wicked Little Letters and that's made close to nine million pounds. Probably going to drop out next week, probably. And at number 10 again, I predicted that this would probably stay in the charts this week because of the Easter holidays is Migration.
Scott Forbes (09:54)
Yeah.
Rev. Andy Godfrey (10:08)
Yeah.
Bob Mann (10:18)
over 20 million pounds now made at the box office which is good total for that animation film. So that is the top 10. Let me clear that and let's just have a look through of upcoming films that are going to be released this week.
Rev. Andy Godfrey (10:21)
Incredible.
Bob Mann (10:43)
Coming out on Friday is a film which Andy and myself have already seen on a screener called The Trouble with Jessica. And this stars Shirley Henderson, Alan Tudyk, Olivia Williams and Rufus Sewell as four dinner party guests. And brought along to the party is the eponymous Jessica who's played by very glamorous Indira Varma and
she has some trouble and the trailer immediately tells you what the trouble is. And I noticed Andy, in your view, you said what the trouble is. I studiously avoided saying what the trouble was because I think it's nice to go into the film if you can without knowing what the trouble. Well, it does. I haven't actually seen the trailer showing very much in cinemas. So you might get to see this.
Rev. Andy Godfrey (11:26)
as you say the trailer gives it away but um yeah
No, I haven't seen it because I was hoping that the quote from the Sorted Film Critic that's on the poster would be on the trailer.
Bob Mann (11:39)
would be on the trailer. Who's that I wonder? I wonder, I wonder, I wonder.
Rev. Andy Godfrey (11:46)
I wonder who the Sorted Film Critic is. Yeah, I loved it, Bob. I mean, I think you enjoyed it. I mean, I really thought it was a zany, wacky British comedy, clearly inspired by Hitchcock's A Trouble with Harry, but set in an urban setting rather than a rural setting, which that film is. And I just thought, and what's the name of the nosy neighbor, the lady from One Foot in the Grave is absolutely hilarious. I thought that the whole thing.
Bob Mann (11:52)
I did. Yes.
Yes, she is. She is very good.
Rev. Andy Godfrey (12:16)
just flowed beautifully. Kind of like anybody remember that episode of Fawlty Towers where they're trying to move the dead body around the hotel? It's that kind of British wacky zany humor. Only the British would find the removal of a dead body funny, you know, that way. But it's very dark, very black, but very, very entertaining.
Bob Mann (12:22)
Yes.
It's that kind of British humour.
Yeah. Yeah.
Very good. Yeah. Also out this week on Friday, we've got the first Omen, which the poster shouts is the most terrifying movie of the year. I wonder, I wonder. Who knows? It might be. It might be. But that's one to look forward to. Another one coming out this week does look quite interesting. I think John Wick's set in India is Monkey Man.
And this is directed, I think it's a directorial debut of Dev Patel, who also stars in it as a kind of a avenging John Wick character. That had a unlimited screening, I think, previous screening last Saturday, but I didn't get to see it because of family stuff. No, I don't think any of us have seen it. But it had some good, good kind of reports back. So I think that looks like it might be quite fun.
Another film, it's a busy week for film releases, I have to say. Next week, we've got Io Capitano, which was the Italian nomination for the Oscars and was one of the shortlisted Oscar international films. It's a rather gritty tale of immigration and slavery. So that'd be worth catching. You might have to hunt for that at your kind of...
Bijou Picture House or Everyman and so on. I'm sure it's not gonna have a huge release. There's also released is Evil Does Not Exist, which is Ryosuke Hamaguchi's film. And he was the director behind the film Drive My Car, which came out a couple of years ago. And that is supposed to be pretty good as well. So a lot of stuff. And finally, Luca is also on the big screen.
which was one of Disney's lockdown films that came out and never had a theatrical release. Well, at least I don't think it did in this country. I thought it was good, a good, tender story with some undisney subtones behind it, which I thought was interesting. And yeah, it certainly be good to see that on the big screen again, see how it holds up.
Rev. Andy Godfrey (14:37)
I liked it, I thought it was quite good fun.
Mmm.
Bob Mann (14:57)
So that's all of the films coming out. Any other business from you guys? Yeah.
Scott Forbes (15:00)
Actually, Bob, just there, that's actually not all the films. There's actually a lot more. I noticed that on there's also in Cineworld a film called Seize Them, which is a British period drama comedy with like Nick Frost and people like that. There is on Netflix a film called Scoop, which has it's all about the Prince Andrew interview.
Bob Mann (15:07)
Oh, far away.
Oh, okay.
Oh yes, yes.
Scott Forbes (15:28)
which could be interesting to watch, let's say. So I think it's Gillian Anderson. I think Gillian Anderson might be in it as well. Yeah, there's quite a few names in that one too. There is an unlimited screening next Monday of a film called Ordinary Angels with Jack Reacher and what's her name? Hilary Swank. Yeah.
Rev. Andy Godfrey (15:32)
Yeah that could be fun. Roof is still yeah yeah.
Bob Mann (15:32)
That's got Rufus Sewell as playing Prince Andrew, hasn't it? He was in the trouble with Jessica. Yeah. Gillian Anderson. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah. That's what I want to look for.
Rev. Andy Godfrey (15:40)
Yeah. Yeah.
Bob Mann (15:54)
Jack Reacher.
Scott Forbes (15:56)
The boy who plays Jack Reacher in the Amazon series. What is it again? It is Alan Richson. He's Jack Reacher now to me. And lastly, I don't know if it'll be a charter, but next Wednesday I noticed that there is another Indian film called Badi Mee Yan, Chhoti Mee Yan. And I only mention it because this one stars Akshay Kapoor, who's like one of the biggest.
Bob Mann (15:59)
Oh, in the Netflix series. I thought you were going to say Tom Cruise then for a minute, but...
Okay. Okay.
Scott Forbes (16:26)
earning stars in the world every year. Whenever he has a movie out, it's worth considering. So yeah, just to add to that, I don't know how we're going to have time to see all these films, but we'll try.
Bob Mann (16:32)
Okay. Good.
I'm certainly not unless it's on Netflix. So yeah. Yeah. Okay. Right. Any other business from you Andy?
Rev. Andy Godfrey (16:38)
No.
Not particularly, no. Just that I'm awaiting the Blu -ray delivery of Shazam, which was a Japanese animated film from a while back now. It's finally come out on Blu -ray and that, I loved it. I love these sort of Japanese fantasy animated films and Shazam was a very good one. About doors appearing all over Japan leading into other realms. But kind of Monsters Inc. Japanese animated style, yeah.
Bob Mann (16:57)
Alright.
Monsters Inc.
Right cool, okay. Well, that's our Flickering Dreams cinema cafe for this week. Thank you very much for joining and As always please subscribe if you've got any views on any films you've seen that we've not featured Please drop us a line. You can reach me at Bob the movie man one at gmail .com That's Bob the movie man one at gmail
My thanks to Scott Forbes from the Forbes Film and TV review on Facebook and from Andy Godfrey from Connect Radio with a K and Sorted Magazine and I'm Bob Mann from One Mann's Movies and occasionally BBC Radio Solent. So thanks very much guys and we'll see you next week.