Watching - November 2024

Wreck-It Ralph (2012)

It's been a long time since I last saw this, sufficiently so for me to have forgotten much of what happens. I'm quite happy rewatching things I do remember, so it was nice to rediscover this - lots of imagination, great animation and a fun plot.

Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018)

And of course we can't not watch the sequel. Almost as good as the original, with plenty of good jokes about, well, the internet - and most of all, and the reason I rewatched both of these films,  it contains one of my favourite scenes in a Disney film: she is a princess! ♫ (this is a running family joke)

Casino Royale (2006)

Saturday night viewing with Z, who it turned out hadn't seen a James Bond film before. I had wondered about starting him at or near the very beginning with something like From Russia With Love but decided that for someone raised on modern movie-making, it would just look dull, dated and incredibly slow. Bond films have of course been instrumental in creating the action/thriller genre but I don't think Z is interested in the history! He enjoyed this and - for a change - didn't spot the twist at the end (which is straight from the book as well).

Nobody Wants This (2024)

The central relationship of this sweet romcom - a rabbi and a non-Jewish woman falling in love - is a great way to show Judaism but I also like and appreciate the way that it's never presented as odd or unusual, despite being "other" for, I guess, most of the audience - at least, I hope this isn't only being watched by Jews! The central couple, Kristen Bell and Adam Brody, are excellent, affecting and realistic (although Brody's character is perhaps a little too nice - but hey, he's a rabbi!), you really want things to work out - and, no, it's not immediately obvious it will. My enjoyment is slightly offset by the secondary Jewish characters: the controlling mother, the bitchy sister-in-law and the idiotic brother. Even though they are all types I recognise, unfortunately, I'm just not sure I want to see them on screen (this great review from Jessica Radloff articulates a Jewish ambivalence about this really well). Ultimately it didn't spoil the series for me though - the secondary characters got better and, of course, we want to see this end well!

Boybands Forever (2024)

Despite being partial to a bit of Take That (mk. 1) at the time - I sat behind them on a plane once, so me and the lads go way back - boy bands of the 90s and early 2000s weren't really my thing, and in fairness I wasn't exactly the target market either. Nevertheless, as a lover of good pop (hint: not Westlife) I was always aware of the better singles, but I couldn't have told you much about their stories. Going behind the scenes reveals nothing that isn't a surprise, sadly. In summary: the band members were all young and exploited and the managers were all pretty ruthless; and now the boys are all men in their fifties and seem sadder but wiser, whereas the managers are mostly richer and unrepentant. All of the band members come across nicely: reflective of their time in the limelight and the enormous toll it took upon them, and somewhat critical of the men and the process that exploited them. The managers fare less well: not only do they largely still not recognise or acknowledge the duty of care that they held over what were at the time mere teenagers, they're prone to saying things like "they got what they wanted, that's just part of the deal" (thank you Simon Cowell, a lost-in-showbiz tool in shades) - easy to say when you haven't got to deal with constant gross invasion of privacy. But award for arsehole of the month - decade probably - goes to one Paul McMullan, "former tabloid journalist", who in articulating his perceived entitlement to any information he wants about anyone in the public eye, clearly has no morals ("I don't see anything wrong with a honey trap") and demonstrates why tabloid journalists can be such bottom feeding parasites.

Taskmaster (season 3, 2016)

We started watching season 3 with the family but only K and me seem to like it, so now it's the thing we do once a week (ish) together, remotely now of course. This is the second season I've watched, so the initial joy at the silliness of the tasks is slightly past, but that doesn't stop it being very enjoyable all the same. A bit hit and miss, but that's part of the format. Only another fifteen seasons to go!