KNONK

Lucky Dip DVD

Ocean's 11

2001

05 Mar 2026

Ocean’s 11 was in the “hat” (it’s a tub actually) for Pigeon’s Lucky Dip DVD night, and it was actually the first time I’d seen it. I will contrast my expectations of this quite famous film with my actual experience, and then we’ll see where we get to.

So my knowledge of the Ocean’s series was actually quite limited. They’re heist films where a bunch of guys led by George Clooney and Brad Pitt rob a casino. The last film was all women, so that’s nice. That’s all I really knew. Here’s what I expect from a heist film. First, you need to set up the challenge: there are guards here, we need a code for this door, what have you. Then, there is a Cunning PlanTM to deal with these challenges. In the execution of the plan, stuff goes wrong (plan < contact with the enemy) but the heisters pull it over to their side and win in the end. That’s the formula.

Ocean’s 11 deviates from this traditional pattern in two important ways. One, we are not told the plan. We don’t even find out what they’re doing as they are doing it, we are hoodwinked along with the casino owner (Andy Garcia, easily the sexiest in this sexiest man line-up). Which is fine, the cleverness of the plan makes for a good surprise when it is revealed, but it does mean you spend much of the film without any clue as to what’s going on, and whether they are winning or losing. So, upsides and downsides to that decision.

More importantly, the film-makers just don’t play fair. Just to pick on one detail: what would you do if you found a stranger’s burner phone in your pocket? “Answer when it rings” is not top of my list, let me tell you. But the whole plot hinges on that phone call going exactly the way they want.

There’s many of these “but wait a minute” fridge-thought moments that you don’t spot at the time because you’re not clued in to what the plan is, but that leave you feeling robbed when it’s over. A little bit of plot immunity for the heroes is forgivable, but these guys get away with bloody murder. Also, the “winner gets the girl” plot is so last millennium, guys. Do better.

I guess people love Ocean’s not so much for the tight plotting as for the joy of watching a bunch of shiny movie stars swanning it up in Vegas and trading witty dialogue. It does deliver on that. Well done, gentlemen.
*polite applause*

My Life as a Courgette

2016

07 Feb 2026

A cute French claymation that looks like a kid's film and is rated PG, but holy crap is it dark.
The DVD case blithely notes that the main character goes to an orphanage after his parents die. It doesn't mention that his mother is a severe alcoholic who threatens to beat him and dies after he acidentally causes her to fall down the stairs. And he is but one of the seven-or-so severely traumatised 8-10 year olds that form the heart of this charming, colourful film.
Is it a French thing?
I'm not against challenging themes in kid's entertainment though, and it treats the kids and their strange behaviours with respect and a gentle hand. The characters are all multi-dimensional, even while made of clay. There's a bully, who turns out not to be all that bad, but also doesn't stop bullying just because they had a good talk. There's a girl with PTSD from unspecified parental abuse, whose mood can be read by how much hair covers up the scar on her face. And a girl who ended up in state care after her mother was deported to an African country, who rushes out the door with a "maman?" whenever a car approaches, but then when her mother does show up, she doesn't go with her.
And, perhaps most surprisingly, we are trusted with these subtle characterisations, trusted to connect the dots and understand what's going on with these kids. Is that a French thing?Because I like it.
Beautiful, slightly haunting.

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Calendar Girls

2003

30 Jan 2026

Pleasant but silly film about middle aged women raising money for charity with a nude calendar. The jokes are mild, the drama is forced, and the whole thing would have been a yawn-fest except for Helen Mirren. I just love her.

About Schmidt

2002

25 Jan 2026

Boomer retires, loses wife, starts to unravel. With Jack Nickolson. Honestly, I was worried I would not like this one. An old white guy, comfortably middle class, can’t take care of himself, can’t stop himself from insulting and disappointing those around him. It’s tough to make a guy like that likeable.
So why does it work?

I read some writing advice once to the effect that your characters don’t have to be good at what they’re doing, but they have to give it what they got. A businessman trying to survive a plane crash in the desert even though he has 0 wilderness experience? Compelling. A teenager who can’t get out of a tight spot because, oops, she left her phone at home? Unacceptable!
We understand the kind of man Schmidt is from the first few scenes. He works a boring corporate job, his wife has looked after him since he left home, he represses his emotions in the name of rationality. Yes, he messes everything up, but it’s because he really doesn’t have the basic life skills to keep his house tidy or feed himself, and he doesn’t have the emotional management and communication skills to navigate the conflicts he gets into. He’s never had to learn that stuff, but he is giving it the best he’s got.
And if that means loading up a supermarket trolley with frozen pizzas because that’s the only thing he knows how to cook, then he will do that with gusto. If the only way he can express his feelings about his future son-in-law is through explaining his dream about aliens, he’s going to give that his best shot.
And I think that’s why we forgive him, even when he messes things up again and again. His character would normally be the obstacle in someone else’s story. He’s a side character turned main character, and somehow it works.
The box was all about how funny it is, and it is, but the humour arises out of the absurdity, with occasional splashes of slapstick. The pace is slow. The frustration high. We both enjoyed it.

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