Right Words

Glad to report on some more choice works spanning the last 25 years. Enjoy!

Band of Brothers (2001). I’ve been meaning to watch this HBO miniseries for quite some time, and I’m glad that I finally did. It compares well to Saving Private Ryan in scope and intensity, though it’s hard to sort out the numerous characters. IMO it’s gorier than SPR, and there’s more profanity, but the positives of war shine through as well: heroism, sacrifice, loyalty, etc. The executive producers, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, also produced series on the Pacific theater and the aviation war. I may provide reviews on those as well in future posts.

An Inspector Calls (2015). I started watching this yesterday and realized that I’d seen it a while back. It was certainly worth watching again; the plot is so absorbing. Based on a play by J.B. Priestley, it’s part mystery and part tragedy, though I don’t want to spoil it. The acting from Ken Stott, Miranda Richardson, Chloe Pirrie, et al. was superb. Pretty clean overall, too.

The Courier (2021). Based on a true story, this Cold War spy thriller was a pleasure to watch. Benedict Cumberbatch portrays Greville Wynne, a British businessman who gets involved in espionage associated with the Cuban Missile Crisis. The plot line and acting were superb, and watch it all the way through to see a special clip just before the credits.

The Zone of Interest (2024). Without exaggeration, this is one of the eeriest, most disturbing films I’ve ever seen, though you couldn’t call it a horror film. The setting is Auschwitz, so need I say much more? And the central characters are Rudolf Hoss, the commandant of Auschwitz, and his wife, Hedwig, so you get the picture. Well, if you can deal with the chilling sounds in the background (screams, gunshots, fires), it’s a fascinating study of how the Hoss family was functioning immediately adjacent to the death camp. One thing, I suppose, that will always puzzle me is how the Nazis could be fairly normal in their domestic lives but so unspeakably cruel in their official “duties,” which many were executed for following the war, including Hoss himself (not a spoiler if you know history).