Here's a list of films that are screening with Flicks in the Sticks.
Lloyd Vogel is an investigative journalist who receives an assignment to profile Fred Rogers, aka Mr. Rogers. He approaches the interview with skepticism, as he finds it hard to believe that anyone can have such a good nature. But Roger's empathy, kindness and decency soon chips away at Vogel's jaded outlook on life, forcing the reporter to reconcile with his own painful past.
When Queen Elizabeth the Second was crowned on 2nd June 1953, many of Britain's leading cinematic artists were commissioned to create this wonderful record of the event. Narrated by Sir Laurence Olivier, it conveys the sights and sounds, the pomp and pageantry, the very spirit of that unforgettable day. Oscar-nominee and BAFTA-winner, A Queen is Crowned is one of the greatest films of an historical event ever made.
Julian Jarrold directs this British comedy drama following the future Queen of England and her sister as they go out on the town to celebrate the end of the Second World War. On VE Day, 8th May 1945, Princess Elizabeth (Sarah Gadon) and her younger sister Princess Margaret (Bel Powley) beg their parents King George VI (Rupert Everett) and Queen Elizabeth (Emily Watson) to let them leave Buckingham Palace for the night so they can join in the celebrations. The King and Queen give their consent and Elizabeth and Margaret head out incognito but their night takes some unexpected turns…
Married young and converted to Islam, Mary Hussain lives quietly in Dover with her husband Ahmed. Following his unexpected death, she suddenly finds herself a widow. After the burial, she discovers that Ahmed had a secret life just 21 miles away, across the Channel in Calais. The shocking discovery compels her to go there to find out more, and as she grapples with her shattered sense of identity, her search for understanding has surprising consequenses. "Scanlan offers a masterclass in drama" Mark Kermode
BELFAST is a movie straight from Branagh's own experience. A nine-year-old boy must chart a path towards adulthood through a world that has suddenly turned upside down. His stable and loving community and everything he thought he understood about life is changed forever but joy, laughter, music and the formative magic of the movies remain.
Deadwood, Dakota Territory, is largley the abode of men, where Indian scout Calamity Jane is as hard-riding, boastful, and handy with a gun as any; quite an overpowering personality. But the army lieutenant she favours doesn't really appreciate her finer qualities. One of Jane's boasts brings her to Chicago to recruit an actress for the Golden Garter stage. Arrived, the lady in question appears (at first) to be a more feminine rival for the favours of Jane's male friends… including her friendly enemy Wild Bill Hickock.
Academy Award-winning director Andrea Arnold returns with COW, a compelling portrait of the life of a dairy cow called Luma that marks her first foray into feature-length documentary filmmaking. This intimate and observational work chronicles its subject's daily life, from grazing in green fields to giving birth, making milk and everything in between. A profoundly empathetic and unexpectedly moving contemplation of life and our relationship with animals, this is pure cinema shot through with Arnold's typically vivacious energy.
Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot's vacation aboard a glamorous river steamer turns into a terrifying search for a murderer when a picture-perfect couple's idyllic honeymoon is tragically cut short. Set against an epic landscape of sweeping Egyptian desert vistas and the majestic Giza pyramids, this tale of unbridled passion and incapacitating jealousy features a cosmopolitan group of impeccably dressed travelers, and enough wicked twists and turns to leave audiences guessing until the final, shocking denouement.
DOWNTON ABBEY, becomes a grand motion picture event, as the beloved Crawleys and their intrepid staff prepare for the most important moment of their lives. A royal visit from the King and Queen of England will unleash scandal, romance and intrigue that will leave the future of Downton hanging in the balance.
Jane Austen's beloved comedy about finding your equal and earning your happy ending, is reimagined in this. Handsome, clever, and rich, Emma Woodhouse is a restless queen bee without rivals in her sleepy little town. In this glittering satire of social class and the pain of growing up, Emma must adventure through misguided matches and romantic missteps to find the love that has been there all along.
Meryl Streep stars in this affectionate biopic of the world’s worst opera singer. Most of the time, famous people become famous for doing things well. Sometimes though, people become famous for doing things BADLY. Florence Foster Jenkins was one such person. Philomena director Stephen Frears brings Jenkins’ moving and hilarious story to the big screen for the first time with Meryl Streep as the woman whom audiences would pay to hear because of her lack of rhythm, pitch, and tone.
Henri Danglard, proprietor of the fashionable (but bankrupt) cafe 'Le Paravent Chinois' featuring his mistress, belly dancer Lola, goes slumming in Montmarte where the then-old-fashioned cancan is still danced. There, he conceives the idea of reviving the cancan as the feature of a new, more popular establishment...and meets Nini, a laundress and natural dancer, whom he hopes to star in his new show. But a tangled maze of jealousies intervenes…
maginative cobbler Hans Christian Andersen (Danny Kaye) is asked to leave his hometown because his frequent stories are distracting the children from school. From there he moves to Copenhagen, Denmark, where he sees and falls in love with Doro (Jeanmaire), a ballerina. He writes "The Little Mermaid" for her, and it becomes the ballet's latest work. However, Doro is already married to Niels (Farley Granger), meaning Hans must content himself with producing popular children's stories.
House of Gucci is inspired by the shocking true story of the family behind the Italian fashion empire. When Patrizia Reggiani (Lady Gaga), an outsider from humble beginnings, marries into the Gucci family, her unbridled ambition begins to unravel the family legacy and triggers a reckless spiral of betrayal, decadence, revenge, and ultimately... murder.
Jersey Boys is a musical biography of the Four Seasons-the rise, the tough times and personal clashes, and the ultimate triumph of a group of friends whose music became symbolic of a generation. Far from a mere tribute concert (though it does include numbers from the popular Four Seasons songbook), Jersey Boys gets to the heart of the relationships at the centre of the group-with a special focus on frontman Frankie Valli, the small kid with the big falsetto. In addition to following the quartet's coming of age as performers, the core of the film is how an allegiance to a code of honor learned in the streets of their native New Jersey got them through a multitude of challenges: gambling debts, Mafia threats and family disasters. Jersey Boys is a glimpse at the people behind a sound that has managed to endure for over four decades in the hearts of the public.
Writer-director Taika Waititi brings his signature irreverence and pathos to this smart World War II-era satire. A lonely young boy, Jojo is living in Germany in the final days of the war, with the crumbling Nazi regime vicious to the last. With his father gone, Jojo is a game if somewhat inept member of the Hitler Youth, his imaginary friend none other than Adolf Hitler. But when he discovers his mother has been hiding a young Jewish girl in their house, he is forced to confront his own convictions. Tackling the ludicrousness of racism and nationalism head on, Waititi has crafted an audacious, cartoon-like black comedy that also boasts emotional depth and tenderness.
Armed with a clear vision and a brazen, 78-page plan, Richard Williams is determined to write his two daughters, Venus and Serena, into history. Training on tennis courts in Compton, Calif., Richard shapes the girls' unyielding commitment and keen intuition. Together, the Williams family defies seemingly insurmountable odds and the prevailing expectations laid before them.
A Syrian refugee deposited on a remote Scottish isle seeks meaning in his isolated surroundings, with wryly funny results. LIMBO centers on Omar, a young musician who is burdened by his grandfather's oud, which he has carried all the way from his homeland. Reflecting the complexity of the movement of people across borders has been a long-held passion for director and writer Ben Sharrock, who spent time working for an NGO in refugee camps in southern Algeria and living in Damascus in 2009 shortly before the outbreak of the Syrian civil war. There, he formed a network of friends whose personal stories inspired the film.
A young woman wishes to fulfill her mother's dream of opening her own bakery in Notting Hill, London. To do this, she enlists the help of an old friend and her grandma.
Josh O’Connor (The Crown, God’s Own Country) stars with Odessa Young in Eva Husson’s beguiling, sensual love story. Adapted from Graham Swift’s novel by screenwriter Alice Birch it features a terrific extended cast including Olivia Colman, Colin Firth and Glenda Jackson. Henley, 1920s: young maid Jane (Young) works for the Nivens, a family devastated by their losses in the First World War. Jane is passionately and secretly in love with Paul (O’Connor), the sole surviving son from a neighbouring manor house – but Paul is engaged to be married to someone else. Years later, Jane, now an author, is living with another man (Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù) in London and struggles as she begins a new novel that urges her to look to the past.
A tender love story, a taut psychological drama, an inspiring tale of physical and spiritual transformation. "Now, Voyager" is all three, as well as a Bette Davis career milestone, resulting in her sixth Best Actress Oscar nomination. She magically plays Charlotte Vale, a spinster who defies her domineering mother (fellow Oscar nominee Gladys Cooper) to discover love, heartbreak and eventual contentment. More magic is generated by a top-notch ensemble, Max Steiner's Academy Award-winning score, and an improvised moment by Paul Henreid that became an instant classic.
Now in their 50's, four friends recreate an inter-rail journey across Europe, but this time 18-year-old Maddie is taking her mother's place, fulfilling her dying wish. With lost passports, train strikes and romantic entanglements thrown in their way, they must put old feuds aside to complete the journey within five days and remind themselves that they are still at their peak.
The gripping true story of Katharine Gun, whose job at GCHQ involves routine handling of classified information. Until one day on the eve of the Iraq war she receives a memo that reveals a dubious intelligence operation. A woman of principles she feels she can’t stand by and watch the world be rushed into an illegal war. She leaks the memo to the press, exposing a vast political conspiracy, and putting herself and her family directly in harm's way. Anchored by a fiery central performance from Kiera Knightley, this pacy, powerful, engaging thriller is a pertinent reminder that our world needs everyone to act according to their principles.
The true story of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, her struggles for equal rights, and the early cases of a historic career that lead to her nomination and confirmation as U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice.
Join Peppa Pig and friends for this fun and exciting, interactive experience! Featuring nine brand new, never before seen episodes and exclusive interactive content for one whole hour of fun! In between episodes there are lots of games, songs and dances for pre-schoolers (and parents!) to join in with the antics on screen, led by live action Peppa and George characters and their friend Daisy.
When his 65th birthday approaches, Desmond Gentle, an eccentric piano tuner from London, decides to undertake the most difficult and perilous piano delivery of his career. The challenge entails traveling to the heart of the Indian Himalayas with a 100-year old upright piano, carried across high mountain passes using only yaks and ponies. Destination: a primary school in Lingshed, one of the most isolated settlements in the world, situated 14,000 feet above sea. If Desmond is successful, this will be the highest piano delivery in history, and the crowning achievement of his 40-year long career.
The life of Mary Quant, the renowned designer often credited with the invention of the mini skirt, chronicling her rise from a fashion-conscious tomboy growing up in the Welsh countryside to a daring avant-garde designer.
Professional photographer L.B. "Jeff" Jeffries breaks his leg while getting an action shot at an auto race. Confined to his New York apartment, he spends his time looking out of the rear window observing the neighbors. He begins to suspect that a man across the courtyard may have murdered his wife. Jeff enlists the help of his high society fashion-consultant girlfriend Lisa Freemont and his visiting nurse Stella to investigate.
Overwhelmed by her suffocating schedule, touring European princess Ann (Audrey Hepburn) takes off for a night while in Rome. When a sedative she took from her doctor kicks in, however, she falls asleep on a park bench and is found by an American reporter, Joe Bradley (Gregory Peck),who takes her back to his apartment for safety. At work the next morning, Joe finds out Ann's regal identity and bets his editor he can get exclusive interview with her, but romance soon gets in the way.
Barney is a socially awkward schoolboy who receives a robot named Ron -- a walking, talking, digitally connected device that's supposed to be his best friend. Barney is excited to finally have his own robot -- until his new toy starts to hilariously malfunction, drawing the attention of a shady executive who wants to protect his company's stock price at all costs.
Trevethen knew life would get tough after her husband's suicide...but she had no idea just how tough. Left with a manor on the Cornish coast, a mountain of debt and dozens of creditors on her heels, she is about to lose everything. But with Matthew, the manor's caretaker, Grace hatches an outrageous idea: Why not use her renowned green thumb to plant a cash crop and pay off her debts? Soon her greenhouse becomes a hot bed of illegal activity - and business starts blooming. But if the buzz gets too big, these budding entrepreneurs just might have to watch their dreams go up in smoke. Starring Brenda Blethyn and Martin Clunes.
Can-do koala Buster Moon and his all-star cast of animal performers prepare to launch a dazzling stage extravaganza in the glittering entertainment capital of the world. There's just one hitch -- he has to find and persuade the world's most reclusive rock star to join them. What begins as Buster's dream of big-time success soon becomes an emotional reminder of the power of music to heal even the most broken heart.
Kristen Stewart gives an intoxicating performance as Diana, Princess of Wales in Pablo Larraín’s (Jackie, No) critically lauded Spencer. Set over three days as Diana attends Christmas at Sandringham with the Royal Family, it is more a snapshot than a biopic. She comes across as a naturally sparky young woman, suffocating under the oppressive weight of public scrutiny (and Royal disapproval) while her husband is very publicly in love with someone else. It’s a familiar story, liberatingly told, with a fresh eye on the melodramatic absurdities of the situation. Brilliantly performed by a cast including Timothy Spall and Sally Hawkins, gorgeously shot in alternately muted and colourful 4:3 ratio and hauntingly scored by Jonny Greenwood, Spencer is a heart-breaking and illuminating study of a woman struggling to find her way out.
A truck driver stops at a small family-run noodle shop and decides to help its fledgling business. The story is intertwined with various vignettes about the relationship of love and food.
In 1961, Kempton Bunton, a 60 year old taxi driver, stole Goya's portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in London. He sent ransom notes saying that he would return the painting on condition that the government invested more in care for the elderly. What happened next became the stuff of legend. An uplifting true story about a good man who set out to change the world and managed to save his marriage.
Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Coleman excel in Florian Zeller's screen adaptation of his 2012 award-winning stage play. Curmudgeonly 81-year-old Anthony lives ostensibly alone in his London flat, visited by his daughter Anne, and fighting off the carers she tries to impose upon him. But all is not as it seems as we enter the fragmented consiousness of a man in the grip of dementia in which familiar people and places shape-shift and merge into one another. With a screenplay co-written by Christopher Hampton, and a magnificent Oscar-winning performance by Hopkins that veers between righteous outrage and extreme vulnerability, this is a moving but unflinching take on ageing.
Set during WWI, THE KING’S MAN tells the exhilarating origin story of Kingsman, the world’s very first independent intelligence agency. As a collection of history’s worst tyrants and criminal masterminds gathers to plot a war to wipe out millions across the globe, one man must race against time to stop them.
“The King’s Speech” is the tale of Elizabeth II's father and his remarkable friendship with maverick speech therapist Lionel Logue. Fascinating, moving and often humourous it charts the personal relationship that developed between England's reluctant King George VI, plagued by a nervous stammer, and his irreverent Australian speech therapist.
A heart-warming tale of Tom, a pensioner whose wife, Mary, has just passed away, who travels from Britain's most Northerly point, John O'Groats, to his original home town at its most Southerly point, Land's End, using his free bus pass. He carries with him his wife's ashes in a small suitcase, travelling the length of the country to take her back home. Along the way, his adventures are recorded by the people he meets and helps, and by the end of his trip he has unwittingly become a social media celebrity.
Jean de Carrouges is a respected knight known for his bravery and skill on the battlefield. Jacques Le Gris is a squire whose intelligence and eloquence makes him one of the most admired nobles in court. When Le Gris viciously assaults Carrouges' wife, she steps forward to accuse her attacker, an act of bravery and defiance that puts her life in jeopardy. The ensuing trial by combat, a grueling duel to the death, places the fate of all three in God's hands.
Based on the novel by JoJo Moyes. A pair of interwoven stories set in the present and past, THE LAST LETTER FROM YOUR LOVER follows Ellie Haworth, an ambitious journalist who discovers a trove of secret love letters from 1965 and becomes determined to solve the mystery of the forbidden affair at their center. As she uncovers the story behind Jennifer Stirling, the wife of a wealthy industrialist, and Anthony O'Hare the financial journalist assigned to cover him, a love story of Ellie's own begins to unfold with the assistance of an earnest and endearing archivist who helps her track down more letters.
When a landlady and her husband take in a new lodger, they're overjoyed: He's quiet, humble and pays a month's rent in advance. But his mysterious and suspicious behavior soon has them wondering if he's the killer terrorizing local blond girls. Their daughter, Daisy, a cocky model, is far less concerned, her attraction obvious. Her police-detective boyfriend, in a pique of jealousy, seeks to uncover the lodger's true identity.
Young Anthony Soprano is growing up in one of the most tumultuous eras in Newark, N.J., history, becoming a man just as rival gangsters start to rise up and challenge the all-powerful DiMeo crime family. Caught up in the changing times is the uncle he idolizes, Dickie Moltisanti, whose influence over his nephew will help shape the impressionable teenager into the all-powerful mob boss, Tony Soprano.
From the director of Wadjda, here is another inspiring story, this time of a young woman rather than a girl, that throws a rare spotlight on the role of women in Saudi society. Again, the pleasure lies in the intimate detail of human interactions. Maryam is the oldest of three sisters, a capable doctor who nevertheless encounters daily prejudice at the local hospital where she works. The bane of her life is the poor state of the road leading to the clinic. Her quick fix solution is to run for office in the local council elections but her intent grows wider and more serious as she sweeps up her family and community as they struggle to accept their town’s first female candidate.
Helen Mirren delivers an Oscar-worthy performance as our own good queen during the monarchical crisis which followed the death of Diana. Together with an impressive Michael Sheen as Tony Blair, they completely convince as the major players reacting to an emotional sea change by the public towards the palace as royal protocol is perceived as callous indifference. A crowning cinematic glory.
A film about long-term imprisonment that takes its time to convey what the slow crawl of a lifer's existence might feel like. Thoroughly gripping, and pretty refreshing.
A Steven Spielberg adaptation of the 1957 musical. In the midst of a tense gang rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks, Tony finds himself falling in love with his rival’s sister, Maria. As the turf war between the two gangs grows more violent by the day, their love blossoms and threatens to rip apart the neighbourhood.