[SA Chris]

K19-Widowmaker is also worth a watch, although I assume most people have seen it.

[Falling Down]

Chris - the dive crew and salvage team feature in the film.  It must have been incredibly frustrating to have been involved in the 'rescue' and very grim work afterwards.

Crimpy - I'll look up that YouTube and thanks for the tipoff on Le Chant le Loup.  My partner is French so she'll love that.  I can't recall watching a French submarine film before.

[mark s]

Found once upon a time in Hollywood on prime for 3 quid.

Gave it a punt. Mrs nearly creamed her pants when DiCaprio and pitt were on screen together.

It was slow but enjoyable.
The last 20 minutes are brilliant

Mrs said I can't pick anymore films

[Will Hunt]

Did I watch the same Dunkirk as everyone else? I'm not sure why they chose to make 3/400k people look like a few hundred stragglers? Acre upon acre of pristine undisturbed sand? What?

[tomtom]

Did I watch the same Dunkirk as everyone else? I'm not sure why they chose to make 3/400k people look like a few hundred stragglers? Acre upon acre of pristine undisturbed sand? What?

Your propensity for downgrading knows no bounds :D

[Yossarian]

Did I watch the same Dunkirk as everyone else? I'm not sure why they chose to make 3/400k people look like a few hundred stragglers? Acre upon acre of pristine undisturbed sand? What?

Your propensity for downgrading knows no bounds :D

I think he ought to publish an Almanack of Demotion, Downegradeings and Depreciation.

In the year of our Lord twenty thousande and nineteen, I, WILLIAM HUNT, do decry that all things that I subsequentially liste in this manual be overrated, over graded or otherwise lacking in the quality, difficulty or other such intrinsick notion afforded to them on account of their reputation.

[guypercival]

I saw Jojo Rabbit a few days ago which was excellent. Since watching Hunt for the Wilderpeople I have been a fan of Taika Waititi.
Very funny but moving as well. Good performances all round especially from Roman Davis.
The Gestapo scene with Stephen Merchant is hilarious.

[SA Chris]

Did I watch the same Dunkirk as everyone else? I'm not sure why they chose to make 3/400k people look like a few hundred stragglers? Acre upon acre of pristine undisturbed sand? What?

Your propensity for downgrading knows no bounds :D

I think he ought to publish an Almanack of Demotion, Downegradeings and Depreciation.

In the year of our Lord twenty thousande and nineteen, I, WILLIAM HUNT, do decry that all things that I subsequentially liste in this manual be overrated, over graded or otherwise lacking in the quality, difficulty or other such intrinsick notion afforded to them on account of their reputation.

Hear ye hear ye.

[tomtom]

Not Will Hunt for the Wilderpeople? Now theres a story line for you Yoss

[crzylgs]

I saw Jojo Rabbit a few days ago which was excellent. Since watching Hunt for the Wilderpeople I have been a fan of Taika Waititi.
Very funny but moving as well. Good performances all round especially from Roman Davis.
The Gestapo scene with Stephen Merchant is hilarious.

I concur re: Jojo Rabbit and am a big fan of Taika Waititi. Especially loved his show stealing voice acting performance as the big rock dude in one of the various Marvel films... Thor:Something Or Other?

Watched 'Knives Out' tonight. Nice gentle comedy. Decent ensemble cast - who I get the feeling had fun making the film and playing up their characters, but not to the point of having too much fun and the film ending up a self-congratulatory steaming pile of  Perfect film for a relaxing evening, when seeing off the ass end (hopefully) of a nasty little head cold.

[TobyD]

I saw Jojo Rabbit a few days ago which was excellent. Since watching Hunt for the Wilderpeople I have been a fan of Taika Waititi.
Very funny but moving as well. Good performances all round especially from Roman Davis.
The Gestapo scene with Stephen Merchant is hilarious.

I concur re: Jojo Rabbit and am a big fan of Taika Waititi. Especially loved his show stealing voice acting performance as the big rock dude in one of the various Marvel films... Thor:Something Or Other?

Watched 'Knives Out' tonight. Nice gentle comedy. Decent ensemble cast - who I get the feeling had fun making the film and playing up their characters, but not to the point of having too much fun and the film ending up a self-congratulatory steaming pile of  Perfect film for a relaxing evening, when seeing off the ass end (hopefully) of a nasty little head cold.

Totally agree re Knives Out, it's great to see such a good natured film. I've been totally put off Jojo Rabbit by several of the reviews which accuse it of sentimentalising the holocaust without really saying anything coherent other than "Nazis are funny"; and having no real peril in it. I can't comment as I've not seen it yet but I can't help feeling that it might annoy me intensely if these reviews are fair.

[crzylgs]

Regarding JoJo Rabbit it's a bit of a tough one to discuss. I hadn't read/listened to any reviews had just seen a very brief trailer and knew it was about a Hitler Youth who had Hitler as an imaginary friend and that was enough for me as I'm a fan of Taika and trust him to do things in good faith. I think some of those reviews you've read might be guilty of taking in a very PC/white knight/snow flake/lefty (delete/choose the most/least offensive term at your own discretion) viewpoint and then going out of their way to critique the film in a negative light.

Ultimately it's a comedy, if you have 'no go zones' for comedy then it might not be for you. Personally I'm in the camp that almost anything is fair game in comedy, if as long as it isn't mean spirited or bullying. To add to that, I'd say there was more to the satire than just 'Nazis are funny' although that did account for a decent portion of the humour. In comparison for example to The Death of Stalin (an exceptional dark, satire) it did err closer to 'Nazis are funny' where The Death of Stalin felt more like it was highlighting 'the tragedy of a communist dictatorship'.

While watching the film I at no point thought it sentimentalised the holocaust - although I had relatives involved in the war and displaced by the war I have no direct ties to the holocaust or Jewish heritage so perhaps I'm not best placed to comment here. But equally, when I'm watching a comedy about a 10yr old boy who idolises Hitler and has him as an imaginary friend, I'm not of the mindset to even consider these kind of concepts. It's not the sort of 'baggage' I bring to a film. So perhaps another example of getting out of a film what you bring to it?

Without including any spoilers there certainly was some peril and consequence (especially for a comedy which aren't renowned for their jeopardy) though - not sure how anyone could make an argument to deny that.

TL;DR. I'd like to think Taika's heart was in the right place. A comedy based around Hitler Youth, Nazis, an imaginary Hitler and with Holocaust themes is always going to stir up mixed emotions for some people. If you're in that camp perhaps avoid it. Just like I dislike musicals and wouldn't watch The Greatest Showman or Cats. I enjoyed it but probably wouldn't feel a need to re-watch, perhaps I might watch the odd scene/clip on YouTube if I wanted a laugh 

I really need to try to keep my film posts more concise. But this recap has raised the age old question of listening to reviews before watching a film and to what extent it is (im)possible to then watch the film with a clean slate? I'm wondering if I had heard the reviews you mention whether I would have enjoyed the film so much, or even at all? Or if my viewing experience would have been prejudiced by the reviewers perspective? 

[Duma]

Really enjoyed You Were Never Really Here the other eve, not at all the Taken style thing one might assume from the two line summary.

[TobyD]

Regarding JoJo Rabbit it's a bit of a tough one to discuss.  .... I'm wondering if I had heard the reviews you mention whether I would have enjoyed the film so much, or even at all? Or if my viewing experience would have been prejudiced by the reviewers perspective? 

Great post, I usually intentionally avoid reviews although if I know nothing about a film I often look at the rotten tomatoes ratings and précis.
I studied a lot of film at university, including a significant amount of holocaust cinema, and though I have no personal connection, I have been to Aushvitz, I think I'd have trouble not with the concept of holocaust comedy, but sentimentality - one of the reviewers mentioned the CGI butterfly - which Id find inappropriate in the context. The brutal horror on a literally industrial scale of the holocaust demands some degree of respect in film, literature or any culture.
The review I listened to (kermode and mayo on 5 live, but with stand ins) was actually pretty interesting, one of them really liked it, and together they did a pretty good job of telling you what the film was like, rather than what to think about it ( which Kermode is very good at in my opinion).
All this said, I'm almost tempted to go to see it now, just to spite myself!

[SA Chris]

Kind of in the same vein, if you have seen it what did you think of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Look_Who%27s_Back_(film)

I thought it was a brave film to make, and really funny in places.

[crzylgs]

Hadn't even heard of 'Look Whos Back' (ps your link is missing the final bracket). From a skim of the Wiki post it does sound like an interesting commentary. I'll add it to a very long list of films 'to watch' that I keep and hope not to end up on any MI5 neo-nazi watch lists from my recent search history etc 

[SA Chris]

FFS can't fix link..

I give up.

[moose]

Hadn't even heard of 'Look Whos Back' (ps your link is missing the final bracket). From a skim of the Wiki post it does sound like an interesting commentary. I'll add it to a very long list of films 'to watch' that I keep and hope not to end up on any MI5 neo-nazi watch lists from my recent search history etc 

I've read the book by Timur Vernes (English translation) and it was quite entertaining but not exactly biting (Hitler says something racist / antisemitic, people laugh thinking he's a joker in character [repeat]).

[Stu Littlefair]

Look who’s back was one of the standout films for me last year. Although finding out that many of the scenes are unscripted interactions with real Germans made me thoroughly depressed.

[crzylgs]

Although finding out that many of the scenes are unscripted interactions with real Germans made me thoroughly depressed.

Woah. That certainly adds a further element of wtf to it!

[TobyD]

Look who’s back was one of the standout films for me last year.

Now on my list to watch, this sounds really interesting.

[crzylgs]

To change things up a bit I watched 'Alita: Battle Angel' last night. I'd been initially put off by the big CGI Anime eyes that I'd seen the main character has and thinking it felt a bit 'teen', so had swerved it. However, it popped up on a 'Top 10 of 2019' list of someone who I generally agree with their taste so thought I'd give it a go.

The big Anime eye thing wasn't too much of a bother, but unfortunately it did all feel dumbed down, aimed at teens and all very throwaway in regards to not really getting stuck into the meat of some of the sci-fi concepts. For the length of the movie the pacing was odd, some parts were refreshingly slow paced but then other character developments felt extremely rushed and not well earned. Also, frustratingly it clearly only told a fraction of the story setting up for a potential sequel or even series of films. All in all it wasn't terrible, but felt like a missed opportunity.

[SA Chris]

Totally agree. There were bits I really liked, and bits that were piss poor, Christopher Waltz's character was beneath his abilities, and played out poorly. Kind of reminded me of that last Lost in Space movie in that it could have been a lot better without a lot of effort.

Felt like a shit version of the recent Ghost in the Shell, which wasn't great either. 

[Bradders]

Marriage Story

Basically Kramer versus Kramer but with less emotional resonance given the characters were so much less relatable (for me), and less effective emphasis placed on the effect of the breakup on the child / impact on the parental responsibilities of the couple. A good example of Hollywood eating itself as the characters are a rich (though they constantly claim not to be) actor and director flying back and forth between New York and LA, hiring expensive lawyers they claim they can't afford, etc.

I suppose it got across the central message of the whole futility of the thing very well at least, and Adam Driver is superb.

Long Shot

Now we're talking. Stuck this on thinking it'd be semi-decent to have on in the background and ended up being fully captivated, laughing all the way through. Rogan and Theron were highly likeable and fun to watch, the story clips along nicely and it offered plenty of unexpected laughs throughout. It's a bit overly PC, but not in a bad way. Well worth a watch.

[TobyD]

1917

Absolutely the most powerful,  visceral movie I've seen in a long time.  Its almost a horror film,  in the very real sense of the word.  Incredible cinematography which immerses you in the grim world of the trenches. The two lead actors are exceptional.  See it at the cinema,  it would lose a lot on a small screen,  in my opinion.