Change Your Image
ianmet-65148
Reviews
The Great Escaper (2023)
Goof
Although Michael Caine reverts to type as a former soldier in real life (he served in Germany and Korea) when he salutes the Germans, he does salute in the correct naval fashion near the end of the film.
One continuity goof I spotted was that the black Afghanistan veteran first appears wearing a blazer with a regimental badge, then later when Bernard advises him (rather harshly) to get help for his PTSD the badge has disappeared from his blazer.
Being picky, I doubt that Bernard's girlfriend would have been allowed to run unchallenged from the armaments factory (where she appears to be packing cartridges) to watch the bombers go in over France - discipline was much stricter in those days and there would have been guards.
Foyle's War: High Castle (2015)
Unsecured load
I love Foyle's War and gave it 9 but must point out that whisky barrels would never have been left spaced apart and unsecured on a ship that was set to sail. Must be the fourth time we've watched this one.
The Mallorca Files (2019)
Good fun, nicely filmed
It's enjoyable light-hearted slightly bonkers entertainment with a good-looking female lead. Great locations. I hope there's a series 3.
Foyle's War: Bleak Midwinter (2007)
Heavy metal
The works manager places great stress on the fact that the factory workers are searched so that they cannot take any metallic objects into the production area for fear of causing sparks, yet he wanders in and out with a fob watch and chain.
Traces (2019)
Given up on it
A very disappointing show that just did not get off the ground. Lumpy dialogue. A very contrived plot. The young female lead with a new job in a bright new forensics lab seemed to have plenty of time on her hands with short, irregular working hours.
Free State of Jones (2016)
Wonderful thoughtful and unsettling film
Why is this film not better known? Did it lay bare some awkward truths in the US and was thus conveniently ignored? I spotted it by chance in the TV film listings and the title almost made me pass it by. Luckily I saw the synopsis. It's beautifully produced, acted and shot. I will spread the word. I should have given it a 10 - for the first time.
Dunkirk (2017)
Lots of noise but lack of scale. (Watched again for 45mins on 26/12/20 and it's still rubbish)
Oh dear, where to begin? I expect that this film will now become the defining 'history' of Dunkirk for young people, many of whom probably confuse it with D-Day anyway. The big problem is that it lacks scale. The director wanted to avoid using CGI but as a result the beaches look like an out-of-season Morecambe, as someone put it. To be fair, he would have needed the combined manpower of the present-day British, French and German armies to replicate the scenes of 1940. And where were the vast quantities of trucks, guns and equipment destroyed by the army and abandoned on the beaches? Instead we were given half a dozen old lorries, fewer than you'd see in a scrapyard.
Then the fabled 'armada of little ships' hove into view - with no more than about six to eight boats forming a pathetically small flotilla. At least Nolan managed to get weekend skipper Mark Rylance's dress right for the period - collar and tie.
But he got it badly wrong for the troops being rescued. In the publicity still of the men gathered on the mole (jetty) they look as though they have popped out of an Airfix kit, with freshly painted helmets and uniforms straight from the QM's store. Not a dented, scarred or missing helmet, and not a missing or bloodied battledress blouse. No helmet straps worn over the brim and no other headgear (forage caps or berets) visible. No bandages or slings, just everyone in parade-ground order.
Interestingly, Kenneth Branagh managed to stay stubble-free after seven days non-stop directing operations on the mole.
I'll end there, except to note that when the men travelled back to London by train they did so in brightly-upholstered carriages that bore no resemblance to the brown-hued trains that I remember from the '50s and '60s, let alone those of the '30s which would still have been in use in the 1940s.