Film Reviews by BW

Enjoyed this, and would like to see more from the series. Ullman is a very good impersonator, and has some great material here. Perhaps inevitably with humour, we had mixed impressions of the different skits (a few fell flat to us, esp. her Maggie Smith takeoff), but she does a particularly entertaining Angela Merkel - would like to see her tackle Mrs May! Also enjoyed her 'American tourist' and Judi Dench.

Having really enjoyed many other Studio Ghibli films, I'd hoped I'd like this one too, but no. Plot line is rambling, almost as though they were making it up as they went along. Sadly, the least appealing Ghibli film I've encountered.

I quite enjoyed this one, though not as much as my Ghibli favourites like Laputa, Nausicaa, Howl, Spirited Away, Porco Rosso. There is an interesting and nicely handled, if occasionally slightly confusing, blend of fantasy and 'reality' segments in the frequently interspersed dream sequences. I did engage with the characters, though was a bit disappointed to discover later that the biographical details were largely fictional (the main character is based on a real aeronautical engineer). However, it makes for a good, if bittersweet, movie plot; and the sense of the engineer's desire to create beauty and wonder while realizing the dream of flight is palpable.