tobydale

Forced myself to watch to the end of this film. Very disappointing indeed.

"The Swimming Pool Gang" (Die Freibadclique), starts in quite a promising way. Boys in a school class in the summer of 1944 are forcibly conscripted into the German war machine. They don't really know what to make of that and don't want to be there. It's common knowledge that the war is going badly for Germany, and they know that they will just end up as cannon fodder. So, there's tension there.

This movie looks quite good, with good costumes and cinematography, expressive faces and camera work. But it never gets out of first gear. We want to become invested in the characters and their journey - but the film doesn't let us because the story just isn't strong enough. The relationships don't work.

There is a lot of sexual innuendo here - far too much, for boys who, in fact, are only 16-17. There are bedroom scenes that really don't add anything at all.

The story meanders horribly, and before we have even realised it, the thing has changed entirely to something quite different. It's unfollowable.

The conclusion bears no resemblance to the beginning. We are left just wanting it all to end.

This is the frustration with Die Freibadclique. There is the propect of quite a good "rite of passage" film, that looks good and is filmed well. But it just goes off into nowhere, and at the end we wonder - "what was the point of that?"

Season 1. My rating 9/10. Stranger Things is every bit as good as the hype. Wish I'd watched it sooner. It's engaging, fun, kinda scary but above all it's an absolutely spot on '80s homage. The storylines and the way this whole thing looks and works are so reminiscent of the early 1980s. There is a verging-on-cheesy naivety about it, but that's part of the charm!

There's also something very David Lynch and voyeuristic about the way the lid is lifted on small-town America and all its horrors... I love it and will be continuing to binge!

Not sure why I am getting thumbs down for the 9/10 rating I'm giving Stanger Things season 1!?

Season 2. My rating 9/10. This moves on brilliantly from S1. There is character and relationship development which works well. We become attached and invested. This is about the kids, the adults are secondary to them and their worlds.

Although it looks like it, Stranger Things is not "horror". The cleverness is in the fact that it can be any fear or anxiety we want it to be: fear of the unknown, anxiety about the opposite sex, anxiety about growing up. Each of the characters exhibits these, and manifests their reactions as they search for meaning and place in the world.

Great stuff! The binge continues!

The Thursday Murder Club (TMG) is proof that you can pack a film with loads of luvies - but that doesn't make it any good.

The Thursday Murder Club is terrible. It's not a serious film, not a serious story. I found it dull, trite and unengaging.

Everyone is having a laugh here, starting with the writer, Osman. Brosnan, Kingsley, Imrie, even Helen Mirren are not able to bring anything to this. They don't even try.

It's all very well to advertise this as "fun", but TMG isn't fun and it's not a spoof. There are four murders in this, three in cold blood. The material is serious, but the film and story are not. It's not even light-hearted. TMG isn't anything.

It could have done without the "token black" as well - a character that didn't go anywhere because the writing is so poor.

TMG deserves a low rating, because it's annoying. Some of it looks quite good - very English buildings, scenes and outlook. Nice cars. In the end, good cameos by David Tennant & Richard E Grant save it from a much lower rating.

But Thursday Murder Club is shallow. It's rubbish.