Darkest Hour
Went to see the new Gary Oldman film about Churchill and the start of World War 2 when he takes over as Prime Minister. It's not a war film but a film about war if you see what I mean. Gary Oldman is excellent and perfectly believable as Churchill. I also thought Kristin Scott Thomas as Clemmie was a really good cameo role. Lily James (Downton Abbey) was also very good as his secretary. I am sure there is a lot of artistic licence in some elements of the film but it is a good watch. Some of the filming is surreal which adds to the atmosphere.
David
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It's on at the local cinema here in Hamilton NZ and on our list to see. The cinema experience here is so much more pleasant than any in our locality at home 😲. Sadly this week it's being shown at 6pm, hoping it will be better after Thursday- that day a 6pm showing would suit us.
We went to see The Post last Saturday evening. We both really enjoyed it.
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I went to see it yesterday. (Our local cinema is a bit of a flea pit to be honest but Tuesday is "Seniors Club" day so at £4.50 with a free cup of coffee, what's not to like?
)I thought it was excellent and it'll take something remarkable to beat Gary Oldman for that Oscar this year.
I agree with what you say about artistic licence, David. I think the speeches were pretty authentic but Churchill came over as more good humoured than is the general perception of him and did he ever take that one stop underground ride and chat to the public before that big speech? But none of that detracts from a very enjoyable couple of hours viewing.
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Sounds good, on our list of films to see.
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Went to see on Tuesday. A good film and yes Gary Oldman is good but it didn't grip me as much as I'd thought it would. Lots of funny bits in it too and astonishing how unpopular he was. Thought it showed the poliitical differences up well though. I preferred Churchill from last year with Miranda Richardson as Clemmie.
Can't believe how many people had speech impediments at that time though!
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We went to see it Thursday evening. Really enjoyed it but felt Churchill sounded bit like Wedgy Ben rather than Churchill but once I'd got over that I enjoyed it. I don't think I'll ever consider anyone better at playing Churchill than Robert Hardy - but that said Gary Oldman was good.
I hadn't realised just how disliked Churchill was. I too wonder if he ever made the tube journey. I thought the humour was great. He certainly didn't come over as impatient and not suffering fools gladly as I believed him to be.
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The dislike of Churchill, at that time, seemed mainly to be in the ranks of the Establishment. That was portrayed very well in the film and it seemed even the King was influenced by that view. Mind you there was some basis for that view given his history prior to the war. Having said that, my father, a soldier in WW2, didn't have many good words for him so the perhaps it was wided spread. He was perhaps the leader for that time and that time only? It must have been quite a shock when he lost the election after the war.
David
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Funnily enough I was listening to Chris Evans on the morning before we went to see the film and he likened the voice to George from Rainbow which stuck in my mind!
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Went to see it today, I was riveted, Garry Oldman deserves the accolades. I saw that some of the scenes were filmed at Wentworth Woodhouse, a few of us on here have been reading Black Diamonds, based on it's history.
I've read that Churchill enjoyed going awol sometimes amongst the general public so the film picked up on this (with a bit of licence) and I think he had a team of hard pressed secretaries not just one. But I really enjoyed Darkest Hour.
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We are off to see it this afternoon
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