Episode # 295 The Stranger with Tom Salinsky and Rob Miller

Explicit content warning

04/19/23 • 43 min

Flixwatcher: A Netflix Film Review Podcast

Rob Miller (Creative Industry Insight podcast) and Tom Salinsky (Best Pick podcast) return to Flixwatcher to review Rob’s choice The Stranger.

The Stranger is a 2022 psychological crime thriller film, written and directed by Thomas M. Wright it is based on the non-fiction book The Sting: The Undercover Operation That Caught Daniel Morcombe's Killer by Kate Kyriacou. It stars Sean Harris as Henry Teague, the lead police suspect in the disappearance and murder of a young boy. Joel Edgerton is undercover police officer ‘Mark Frame’, who under the guise of being part of the criminal underworld gains the trust of Henry that will hopefully help them secure a confession.

The Stranger is a text book example of a slow burn. It eschews a more traditional storytelling approach taken by undercover cop dramas and focusses on the internal conflict of those who go undercover and the complexities of male bonding.

It’s slightly unconventional approach and intense viewing experience meant it was tricky to score highly on recommendability, which isn’t to say it isn’t very good, just that it isn’t a casual watch. Scores across the remaining categories bring the overall rating to a very respectable 3.58.

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Episode #295 Crew Links

Thanks to Episode #295 Crew of Robert from @CIIPodcast and Tom from @BestPickPod

Find their Websites online at https://t.co/epyYr1teN8

and at https://twitter.com/CIIPodcast

Please make sure you give them some love

More about The Stranger

For more info on The Stranger, you can visit The Stranger IMDb page here or The Stranger Rotten Tomatoes page here.

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Rob Miller (Creative Industry Insight podcast) and Tom Salinsky (Best Pick podcast) return to Flixwatcher to review Rob’s choice The Stranger.

[supsystic-tables id=294

Episode #295 Crew Links

Thanks to Episode #295 Crew of Robert from @CIIPodcast and Tom from @BestPickPod

Find their Websites online at https://t.co/epyYr1teN8

and at https://twitter.com/CIIPodcast

Please make sure you give them some love

More about The Stranger

For more info on The Stranger, you can visit The Stranger IMDb page here or The Stranger Rotten Tomatoes page here.

Final Plug! Subscribe, Share and Review us on iTunes

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Previous Episode

Episode # 294 The Swimmers with Anna Smith and Savina Petkova

Anna Smith (Girls on Film podcast) and Savina Petkova (MUBI Notebook, Little White Lies) join Flixwatcher remotely to review Anna’s choice The Swimmers.

The Swimmers is a 2022 biographical film directed by Sally El Hosaini that tells the incredible true story of Syrian refugee sisters Yusra and Sarah Mardini (played by real life sisters Nathalie and Manal Issa).

The film begins in Damascus with both Yusra and Sarah as aspiring Olympic swimmers, against the backdrop of bombs their normal life is changed forever. With their cousin they leave Syria and take the perilous boat journey across the Aegean Sea in a dingy. When the boat is overloaded Yusra and Sarah swim alongside the boat to prevent it from sinking and saving the other refugees lives. Their journey to Germany continues overland and they eventually arrive Berlin where Yusra meets Sven who helps her to achieve her Olympic dream.

The Swimmers is an unusual mix of incredible real-life story (the boat crossing) and underdog sports story (Yusra’s participation in the 2016 Olympics) which makes for a slightly uneven film. The film also takes a number of creative license decisions that lean towards a more Hollywood approach. Scores for The Swimmers were very high across all categories giving a very impressive overall score of 4.09.

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Episode #294 Crew Links

Thanks to Episode #294 Crew of Anna Smith (@annasmithjourno) and Savina Petkova (@SavinaPetkova)

Find their Websites online at https://twitter.com/GirlsOnFilm_Pod

and at https://twitter.com/deadline

and at http://annasmithjourno.com/

and at https://twitter.com/kingsfilm

and at https://twitter.com/FIPRESCI

and at https://twitter.com/EuroFilmAcademy

Please make sure you give them some love

More about The Swimmers

For more info on The Swimmers, you can visit The Swimmers IMDb page here or The Swimmers Rotten Tomatoes page here.

Final Plug! Subscribe, Share and Review us on iTunes

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Next Episode

Episode # 296 Scream with David Llong and Neil Gregory from We Needed Roads podcast

David Llong and Neil Gregory from We Needed Roads podcast join Flixwatcher to review David’s choice Scream.

Scream is the first film in the Scream franchise, released in 1996 it was written by Kevin (Dawsons Creek) Williamson and directed by horror legend Wes (A Nightmare on Elm Street) Craven.

It stars Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott, a high school senior who receives threatening phone calls from Ghostface, a masked killer who taunts their victims before brutally stabbing them to death. It also stars as fellow high schoolers Matthew Lillard, Skeet Ulrich, Rose McGowan, Jamie Kennedy and Drew Barrymore, and David Arquette as local sheriff Dewey Riley with Courteney Cox as reporter Gale Weathers.

Scream completely rebooted horror back in 1996, its clever deconstruction of the genre and self reflective knowingness delighted horror kids and casual fans alike. Its longevity was given a boost in 2022 with Scream and Scream VI in 2023 but Scream (1996) still retains its freshness and shock first kill.

Scores for recommendability for Scream were very, very high, consistently strong scores across the other categories give a a very impressive overall rating of 4.29.

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