tomhiscox3 Reviews

The History Boys (2006)

If you think this film excuses paedophilia you are sadly mistaken

[10/10 · 23 September 2013]

It seems many reviews of this film accuse it of "glorifying paedophilia", featuring "random vaudeville tunes sung by half-naked students" and said students groped by a teacher they "worship".

None of those are true.

Nor is it true that this film is a "sick pervert's fantasy". This is a fine film, in which one of many broad themes (along with self-betterment; human history; morality; the importance of education; the importance of fun and the importance of acceptance) is reactions to a teacher groping students and how the victim's mind-set affects it.

Many discussions by the characters in the film run parallels to this, and in one of the more explicit mentions of it, one student asks another; "Are we victims?", clearly dismissive of the idea.

The film makes no move to excuse it, and it is not, as some suggest, only the 'villains' of the piece who are shocked.

The teacher also hits his one of his students with a book at one point, not truly hurting him, and the student laughs it off. This is also arguably a parallel to said student's molestation.

If you think this film "disgusting" or "sick" or even just "boring", please re-watch it, and try to understand it this time.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)

Well Done.

[10/10 · 19 July 2011]

Let's be honest, a certain amount of 'die hard fans' of the books were always going to come on here, knocking the film and being completely ridiculous, that's predictable enough. Ignore them, they're silly. It's a bloody wonderful movie, one I would be happy to watch again and again, and I LOVE the books. It's a different medium, there are differences! And people talking about Crabbe just 'disappearing', well, the actor was arrested for drug charges? So no Harry Potter for him. But it is brilliant. Yes, some things were rushed, yes, some things didn't quite happen as expected. But it would be boring to watch a film that's exactly the same as its book. And 'die hard fans' should love it anyway, because... Well, it's Harry Potter.

The Royle Family: Joe's Crackers (2010) Season 4, Episode 4

Beautiful.

[10/10 · 25 April 2011]

It's rare that one can watch something on TV and, days later, still be wetting one's self at it's freaking hilarity. 'The Royle Family' are working class and live in Manchester. They consist of a grumpy, lazy, needy, father Jim (Ricky Tomlinson) and his long-suffering, wife Barbara (Sue Johnston); their daughter, Denise (Caroline Aherne, who also writes) who is utterly dense, lazier than her dad and an uncaring mother to her children with her even thicker husband Dave (Craig Cash, another writer). The saving grace of the family is the son, Antony (Ralf Little) who is genuinely nice and somewhat naive. This Christmas he aims to propose to his girlfriend (Joanne Froggatt). Also over for Christmas is their recently widowed neighbour, Joe (Peter Martin) and his daughter, Cheryl (Jessica Hynes). 'Joe's Crackers' was a beautiful example of quiet, low-key British comedy, with witty banter, stupidity, light farce and wonderfully executed sight gags, and none of it too overt or predictable, but most enough to bring tears to your eyes. The last two Royle Christmas specials were good, but great. This completely recovered them, and you could tell the cast were revelling in it; Jessica Hynes, Sue Johston and Craig Cash shone particularly, each with flawless deadpan delivery. This is utterly unmissable - watch it. Now.