Category: Entertainment

Rank Stupidity

Entertainment

Via the Daily Express, I see that IMDB has just ranked its Top 10 British WWII movies, and to say I disagree with some of their choices would be putting it mildly.

The definition of a “British” war movie is that it needs to involve principally Britain and Britons, in and around Britain or in a British-only environment.  This would exclude movies like The Longest Day, Where Eagles Dare (a junk movie anyway), and even A Bridge Too Far (which is not junk). Also, movies about war are not really the some as war movies (which feature soldiers, battles and killing and stuff) although there can be some killing on the Home Front, so to speak.  So I’ve divided them into two lists, and here they are:

Kim’s Top 10 Actual British War Movies:

  1. Bridge Over The River Kwai
  2. Battle of Britain
  3. 633 Squadron
  4. The Hill
  5. The Long Day’s Dying
  6. In Which We Serve
  7. The Cruel Sea
  8. The Dam Busters
  9. Ice Cold in Alex
  10. Dunkirk*

*Included because of its subject matter, and was so good a production that not even director Christopher Nolan could screw it up.  I haven’t seen the 1959 movie of the same name, but I’m going to.

Then we have the movies which were set in 1940s Britain, but contained no actual battlefield combat.

Kim’s Top 10 British Movies about WWII:

  1. Hope & Glory
  2. The Imitation Game
  3. Darkest Hour
  4. Mrs. Miniver
  5. A Matter of Life and Death
  6. Eye Of The Needle
  7. The Gentle Sex
  8. Went The Day Well? / The Eagle Has Landed*
  9. Island At War (TV series)
  10. Foyle’s War (TV series)
  11. (Honorable Mention:  Yanks )

*Essentially the same story;  German paratroopers land in an isolated English village and take it over.  But Went The Day  is the more realistic.

While I Was Away

Entertainment

…okay, sick as a dog, I took the opportunity to watch a few videos on EewwwChoob, more or less at random.  (Thank you, I am much better thanks to Zithromycin and various other modern medical miracles.)

Because I wasn’t in shape to do any deep diving as such, I just flitted from one topic to another, but luckily I managed to save a few URLs that may be of general interest.  Mostly, I concerned myself with topics of fairly recent vintage that I knew a little (or hardly anything) about, other than their titles and a simplistic overview. (Earlier histories, e.g. late 19th century, WWI, WWII and so on until say 1980:  got those covered, thankee.)

So here are some of the ones I did spend some time on.  Feel free to watch them yourself, as the interest grabs you.

Stuxnet

Destroying ISIS

Hamas

Ferrari 412 (Iain Tyrrell, of course, plus a whole bunch of his other restorations, also Jay Leno of course).  I think I watched well over two dozen of them.

10 U.S. Places Not Worth Visiting been there, and I agree with all of them*.

Bill Burr …always.

Sudan

Then came I Do Cars.  Listen, I have NO automotive technical interest whatsoever, but I got hooked on this guy’s thing, and couldn’t stop watching them.  No excuses, no reason… it just grabbed me.

And of course, the “watch again” movies** and TV shows.  Of recent interest, Barnwood Builders on Discovery+, because I love ordinary people doing skilled work, and having fun while doing something worthwhile.  (Johnny Jett is brilliant.)

I’ve omitted all the F1-geeky and Brit football videos, because I know from experience that Reader interest on this topic is slim to nonexistent.

Have fun, as I did.  At worst, save the URLs for the next time you’re as sick as a dog.

*I’ve never been to the Grand Canyon, but I imagine it’s pretty much as described.

**No unwatched movies because I had no attention span and just wanted moving wallpaper while I coughed up my lungs.  Also, several people wrote to me suggesting great movies to watch.  Didn’t get to any of them, because I was feeling that crap.  Next time, or sometime soon anyway.  Thankee, all of you.

Never Again

Entertainment

Watched the Oppenheimer  movie the other night with New Wife.  I of course was familiar with the whole Trinity/Manhattan Project/Oppenheimer story, so I was able to follow the plot reasonably well.

New Wife knew very little about the topic, and as a result she fell asleep about a third of the way through;  she couldn’t make head or tail of the thing because the dialogue was indistinct and often obscured by the ambient noise of the movie set, so boredom set in and off into dreamland she went, the lucky girl..

The fault is mine because I should have paid more attention to the opening credits.

Director:  Christopher Nolan.

FFS, when is this pretentious asshole going to be tossed onto the garbage heap of cinematic history?

I have complained — often — about the current moviemaking trend of mumbled dialogue and over-loud soundtracks.  Nolan doesn’t just fall into the trap of this trendy nonsense:  he positively revels in it, and is proud of the fact that his movies are profoundly indistinct, both in terms of his characters’ dialogue and in the lack of lighting.

Oppenheimer  was a fine example of all his nonsense.  And it was a shit movie.

I’m never going to watch another of Nolan’s movies, ever again.  Fuck him, the arrogant swine.

The Way It Used To Be

Drive Time, Entertainment

I don’t know if you had any plans for the next eight hours, but here’s one way to spend them.

Racing the way it used to be and quite honestly still should, especially when it comes to the sound of the engines.

Footnote from former bandmate Knob, who lives there and knowing my love for F1, sent me the link:

We watched from the roof terrace at Café Milano. Best place on the track. Hired by the Bentley Drivers Club UK by my buddy Mark, who is also great mates with one-time F1 Champion Jody Schecter.  Jody just sold his F1 car collection on Saturday at Sotheby’s Monaco auction. Got €6.7m for his Ferrari 312T !!

Also, went to the Eddie Jordan chat with Red Bull designer Adrian Newey on Saturday evening at the Yacht Club. Some interesting stories.

Must be nice to be one of the Idle Rich…