[Film] A film you have re watched in lockdown that you forgot how good it was

[Norman Potting]

I just have a bloke’s general knowledge of the BoB (as well as other stuff such as the Hawker Typhoon) from my Dad, reading and (pre having my own kids) I used to enjoy the History & Discovery Channels documentaries on cable TV. I don’t have a military or mechanical background. Just a patriot, who finds the world and history interesting.

The BoB was a great achievement. The Nazis had since January 1933 secretly built a colossal war and technological machine including warplanes, very belatedly we were building as many Spitfires and Hurricanes as we could, with a shortage of trained pilots too. Heavily outnumbered, yet they ended up with almost twice as many losses and a de facto defeat, their first of any sorts.

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Please pm a link to your piece if and when completed.

Recommend reading "The most dangerous enemy" by Stephen Pile" - A history of the Battle of Britain. Title is a 1939 quote by the head of Luftwaffe Intelligence about Britain. 60th Anniversary of the battle this September?

 

[Norman Potting]

I'm guessing it is the Spitfire which crashes on the beach towards the end of this clip...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ofSBKbYERo

Hard to tell 50+ years later For the plane "anoraks" you can tell them that the ME109 in the film were Spanish built under licence and had an air intake at the front which spoiled their looks.

Favourite bit of dialogue is where the the German Officer, when asked by Goering if there is anything he could give him to make the battle go better, replies "a squadron of Spitfires..".

 

[piersa]

Last night we watched 'Local Hero', with our 23 year old daughter. We saw it at the cinema when it came out and I had the CD. Have to say, it's aged terribly. It was pretty awful last night.

This is pretty much what I thought. Not how you remember it. It looks awful now imo.

 

[Barham's tash]

Re watched Close encounters of the third kind last night and whilst the special effects don’t stack up - how could they? - the narrative and direction are excellent.

It makes me think that’s how it would play out if it happened.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

Re watched Close encounters of the third kind last night and whilst the special effects don’t stack up - how could they? - the narrative and direction are excellent.

It makes me think that’s how it would play out if it happened.

The special effects were decades ahead of their time. They still look very impressive now

 

[Acker79]

Last night we watched 'Local Hero', with our 23 year old daughter. We saw it at the cinema when it came out and I had the CD. Have to say, it's aged terribly. It was pretty awful last night.

I had never seen it, but recorded to watch it because it's one that Mark Kermode has always raved about. I finally got around to watching it yesterday.

When you say it has aged terribly it reads like you think it is now a bad film? I probably wouldn't go that far, but I can't really see why it was held in such high regard. It didn't really follow the path such films usually do (i.e. while Mac did grow to like the place, he was still trying to push the deal through, and usually his character would fall in love with a local and the locale, and settle down in the area, quitting his job after sabotaging the big deal etc), but it didn't play with the format enough to be an interesting take on a 'classic' story. The weirdness of Happer and his therapist felt like it should have been funny, but it felt like it was part of a different movie to me.

 

[Barrow Boy]

Recommend reading "The most dangerous enemy" by Stephen Pile" - A history of the Battle of Britain. Title is a 1939 quote by the head of Luftwaffe Intelligence about Britain. 60th Anniversary of the battle this September?

A small point, the Author was Stephen Bungay, the book was so good I read it twice, and I think it is generally accepted that it is the definitive reference book for The Battle of Britain.

 

[banjo]

Trainspotting. The first one.

 

[Barham's tash]

The special effects were decades ahead of their time. They still look very impressive now

Some do - the craft for example in the main as they barrel across the sky look good - the precursor storms that appear out of nowhere less so.

Don’t get me wrong I know they were good from a 70’s perspective but we’re too spoilt today and so perhaps my comparison was a tad harsh but just felt a few bits looked a bit ropey - the ‘base’ besides the devils tower on the long range shots for one.

 

[Swansman]

The special effects were decades ahead of their time. They still look very impressive now

Slightly OT but one movie where the special effects really have stood the test of time is Jurassic Park (the first one, the others look shit). Quite incredible. All that CGI and all those very expensive super-tech mega expensive investments in special effect and still nothing comes close to this old dino movie.

 

[maltaseagull]

Also off topic.

We tried watching:
JoJo Rabbit, thought it was awful. Gave up after 15 minutes
Once upon a time in Hollywood- thought it was very slow. Gave up after 60 minutes
LaLa land - gave up after 5 minutes.
1917. Watched it all but thought it was OK but completely unreal. Are there really rivers like that in Northern France? How many times was the "hero" nearly killed? Almost like a Bruce Willis movie.

I clearly have unusual tastes and would never make an Oscar judge

 

[jakarta]

Hard to tell 50+ years later For the plane "anoraks" you can tell them that the ME109 in the film were Spanish built under licence and had an air intake at the front which spoiled their looks.

Favourite bit of dialogue is where the the German Officer, when asked by Goering if there is anything he could give him to make the battle go better, replies "a squadron of Spitfires..".

Being a plane anorak I can tell you that they were actually Buchons (built in Spain with, gasp, Merlin engines!) The original Daimler Benz 601 engine was inverted so yes they don't look correct but I guess there are probably about 3 or genuine Bf 109E's left in the world...

 

[jakarta]

Will be watching The Man That Never Was shortly which Mrs Jakarta recorded for me (think it was BBC2 Saturday). True story from WWII which recently came out as a Book 'Operation Mincemeat'.

Basically floating a corpse with false papers on him towards the Portugese Coast hoping that the Germans would 'acquire' the disinformation and act upon it and shift their forces to Sardinia rather than Sicily where the real invasion was about to take place.

Got the book and it is fascinating, haven't seen the film in years. SPOILER ALERT. It actually worked!

 

[SK1NT]

Unbreakable (much better than i remember)
Pulp Fiction (Not see this for 20 odd years)
Matrix

 

[Sorrel]

A Matter of Life and Death

 

[Acker79]

Will be watching The Man That Never Was shortly which Mrs Jakarta recorded for me (think it was BBC2 Saturday). True story from WWII which recently came out as a Book 'Operation Mincemeat'.

Basically floating a corpse with false papers on him towards the Portugese Coast hoping that the Germans would 'acquire' the disinformation and act upon it and shift their forces to Sardinia rather than Sicily where the real invasion was about to take place.

Got the book and it is fascinating, haven't seen the film in years. SPOILER ALERT. It actually worked!

And an utterly fantastic stage show.

https://southwarkplayhouse.co.uk/archive2020/operation-mincemeat/##details

 

[dazzer6666]

Watched Darkest Hour last night........as good as I remembered (probably because last time I saw it was on a Tv screen in a plane) but more of a worry was recognising lockdown is turning me into a version of Winston, but without the inspirational speeches.

 

[Stat Brother]

I had to watch Crimson Tide.
Fortunately throughout I was confusing it with Hunt For ..., a Jack Ryan (I think) and something else, so it ended up being like watching afresh.


But the best news of the weekend is Jnr has finally completed his mission to watch all of The Fast & The Tedious series.

 

[Jesus Gul]

Do The Right Thing - great film. Donald Trump even got a mention

 

[Acker79]

Will be watching The Man That Never Was shortly which Mrs Jakarta recorded for me (think it was BBC2 Saturday). True story from WWII which recently came out as a Book 'Operation Mincemeat'.

Basically floating a corpse with false papers on him towards the Portugese Coast hoping that the Germans would 'acquire' the disinformation and act upon it and shift their forces to Sardinia rather than Sicily where the real invasion was about to take place.

Got the book and it is fascinating, haven't seen the film in years. SPOILER ALERT. It actually worked!

A 2010 documentary from Ben Macintyre (author of a book on Operation Mincemeat) is re-airing on BBC4 at 9pm tonight. Probably will be on iplayer?