Rogue One - I was Thrilled as the Plot Unfolded with the Reappearance of a Digitally Enhanced Peter Cushing.

This is the best of the Star Wars stories so far in my opinion. I liked the Battle of the Clones story best, before seeing this title for the first time. I thought it was very entertaining and enjoyed every moment of it. Splendid stuff and I would recommend it to any sci-fi fan. I got the download on Amazon prime and went for the Bonus footage. This was also enjoyable because it took me behind the scenes and how the whole movie come about.

I was thrilled as the plot unfolded with the reappearance of Peter Cushing (obviously digitally enhanced.) The story takes place just prior to the first ever Star Wars story (A New Hope) I'm not the biggest Star Wars fan, but this movie was breathtaking with lots of action and a very good plot.

    

Swallows and Amazons 2016 Movie is a Fun Film.

I was flicking through my Amazon Prime on the TV the other day looking at some of the new download movies. I always like British orientated movies. Being a Brit, I'm a little biased on that front. However, that does not mean that I don't enjoy other nation's movies. I do.

On this day, I was looking for something retro and British. Something from the good old days. Then to my delight Swallows and Amazons came up. It is a famous old retro Brit story, but I had never got around to reading or watching the older presentations of this story on TV before. So with great aplomb, I decided it was time to strike this story off of my bucket list.

It is set in 1935 when a group of four children are about to go on their summer vacation to the Lake District of England's Cumbria county. There are four children all brothers and sisters and two of each. (Boys and Girls)

Their father is a naval officer and is away at sea and that is all we know of the children's Dad. Their Mother, who is in charge of the holiday venture, is Scottish and from the Highlands. She has some understanding of what a wonderful place the Lake district can be for the children.

The story becomes exciting straight away when the children witness a daring encounter between two groups of secret agent spies. A chase and an outrageous getaway upon the moving steam train going to the Lake District.

Once established in the idyllic Lake District, the children get their boat called Swallows and head for an island in the middle of the lake. In their imagination, they are pirates with treasure and the island in the lake is their secret hideout.

However, there is another group of pirate fantasising children called Amazons. From here on the former secret agents from the train mix the real adult world up with their childish pirate world and a grand adventure begins. Splendid stuff and loved the 1930s feel of the entire movie. Very enjoyable and well worth watching.

Giving You Charming Feel Good Movie - Loved it to Bits!

Of Recent years, I feel the British movie industry has devoted disproportionate time to making cheap gangster flicks. It has become tiresome when I believe our nation has so many other subjects it could find to exploit and present to varied audiences. I sometimes think that people abroad must regard Brits as being gangster obsessed if they see the amount of movies we seem to plug on the subject.

Then I was very pleasantly surprised by a DVD I purchased in the supermarket in March, Cambridgeshire, where I now live. The fictional story was called Made in Dagenham. It was among the cheap and cheerful sales section. At first I thought “Oh no, not more nastiness - from Dagenham this time.” Then I noticed a group of young ladies in retro sixties outfits and my interest was perked. I remember my Mother wearing such things when I was a kid and I, of course, have a nostalgic liking for retro British things of the 50s, 60s and 70s, especially the 60s. I felt myself compelled to give the DVD a little more scrutiny.

I saw the late Bob Hoskins alongside a group of ladies in bee hive hairdos and bubble type cuts. These ladies were working at the Dagenham Ford Motor Company – a place I remember well as a kid because I lived in Hornchurch and knew a number of people who worked there in the engine plant. “Wow! I think. Somewhere I lived as kid with all the retro memories.” I’m not too keen on girlie type films, but this did have a colourful fun aspect to the cover and I thought my wife would like it because she always complains that I buy SciFi and basically male orientated flicks. “OK,” I thought, “for £3 I’ll give it a go.” And with reserved aplomb, I put it next to the Monty Python DVD, I had already chosen.

The wife and I settled down to watch this flick the other night and I would have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. The movie is a very charming ‘feel good about yourself’ story that is neatly crafted. Actress Sally Hawkinsplays a character called Rita O’Grady who works with a group of ladies in the Ford Motor Company, upholstery plant, where they specialise in making car seats – machine stitching them to required fittings. This is a specialised job that does not get the industrial recognition and respect it deserves because it is women doing the task. We go on a journey of industrial action from the ladies as they campaign for equal wages to the men. There are 55,000 men working at the plant and just 187 women in 1968.

The fictional story about the real 1968 Ford Motor Company strike. It is a wonderful ‘feel good’ presentation because it is done in such a wonderful light hearted way. Rita O’Grady lives in flats (apartments) close to the Ford Motor plant that I’m sure must be the Mardyke Estate in Rainham, just up the A13 less than a mile from Dagenham Motor plant. She is roped into a union meeting (more as a bystander or token rep alongside three other union officials.)

At the meeting, the head regional union rep is sweet talked over by the management committee, but our heroine (Rita O’Grady) gate crashes the talks and comes out with home truths concerning sexual discrimination and the wrongs being done to the ladies who earn less than 50% of what the men earn. From this point the movie kicks off with the girls walking out and the knock on effect they have in the British government and the U.S. Ford Motor Company. We get a panoramic and international view of the shockwaves while this small group of ladies live their humble lives with enough things at home to concern themselves with. It is as though they can’t see the more dynamic impact they have as they focus on their one righteous campaign. They come across as modest people just stating what is right.

The struggle is colourful with trials and tribulations mixed in with real and more kindly things. I don’t know how to explain the kindly things, except to say the film is not morose. It is uplifting in its womanly presentation of things – light hearted and endearing while managing to convey the seriousness of the exploitation that is going on. From Rita O’Grady and her work friends to British Employment MP Barbara Castle (Played by MirandaRichardson)  

It is a movie that manages to flick a switch and sit back modestly and say, “Well what do you think?”

ANSWER: I thought it was blooming lovely. 10 out of 10 and a big smile.

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Steve McQueen Retro Movie King

Steve McQueen always had a commanding presence in movies. He seemed like the hero that always sneakily found a way around things. What ever the problem, he would work out a way to fathom, correct or overcome it.

The movie Bullitt was an ordinary drama with not much of a script really. Yet McQueen brought the film alive, especially with the great and exciting car chase. It was a real stand out feature of the movie.

My most favourite film of Steve McQueen is The Sand Pebbles. It is set upon an American Gunboat during the Chinese Civil war during the year of 1925. The Sand Pebbles Gunboat is an old Spanish ship captured during the American/Spanish war of 1898.

In the movie, this little gunboat patrols the Yangtze river in China during a time of great civil unrest. It is a splendid film and once again Steve McQueen makes the story come alive.

Of course there are many other Steve McQueen movies, including the Great Escape, The Magnificent Seven, The Towering Inferno and Le Mans - another great car movie. McQueen was the King of Cool and had that endearing presence in all of his movies.