A Ghost Story & Fireman Sam

Since all attempts to capture proof of ghosts on film consist of grainy night-vision footage more like an amateur Pornhub channel than indisputable proof of life after death and your guaranteed never to encounter a ghost in real life unless you're completely insane, the cinema is where the idea of the spirit of a dead person or animal who refuses to depart the physical world has played out to greatest effect. From discussing masterpieces like THE SHINING or CASPER through to more lightweight entertainment like POLTERGEIST or RINGU the conversation never gets more personal than when Sidey recounts his experiences of catching THE WOMAN IN BLACK when he was far too young. Sure it makes for a funny story on a podcast but were the years of sleepless nights and trauma worth it? Of course they were, it didn't happen to you. The absolute first thing you're going to notice about David Lowery's terrific and ambitious 2017 supernatural drama A GHOST STORY is the aspect ratio, it being filmed in a nostalgia evoking 1:33:1 format with vignetted curves, not because you’re an insufferably smug film enthusiast who likes to point these things out but because film is primarily a visual medium in my opinion and that is literally the first thing your eyes will see. Examining the existential horror of death, the passage of time, love, loss, the inevitability of mortality, whether creativity gives your life purpose and meaning and providing the single most authentic portrayal of grief in film via the much-discussed pie-eating scene, this absolutely blew me away. Ignore the lukewarm reception from a couple of the dads and take it from me, this is a must-see film. The town of Pontypandy is home to one of the most prolific arsonists known to man, Norman Price. Perpetually aged 7 since his debut in the very first FIREMAN SAM episode (The Kite) way back in 1987, presumably his enforced endless youth fuels the rage behind his yearning for incendiary adventure. We watched Norman's Ghost, the twelfth episode of the seventh season which eschewed the charming hand animated puppetry of the original series for the soulless, bland CGI design that was common back in 2009 when this first aired. A lengthy and preachy monologue from the titular smoke eater rounds out the 10 minutes 32 seconds, which fails to deal with the big issues like 'where does all the funding come from?' and 'is the character Bella Lasagna a bit racist?'. Appalling. We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. Try us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad DadsYou can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out!We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at [email protected] or on our website baddadsfilm.com. Until next time, we remain... Bad Dads