Jojo Rabbit (2019) - Movie Review

In June of 2017, in-between being named New Zealander Of The Year and making Thor: Ragnarok, filmmaker Taika Waititi made this video in collaboration with the New Zealand Human Rights Commission.

It’s hard to imagine anyone other than Waititi making something like this. A video so bursting with ironic social cringe, made by a creative who has built an entire career out of weaponising it, that its discomfort can make it difficult to watch. Being able to sell the message that even the smallest act of racism adds to the larger picture (basically the concept of micro-aggressions in a nutshell) is what immediately won me over that this is the guy who should make a fascist satire in a “you couldn’t make a Mel Brooks movie today” cultural climate. And thankfully, the man does not disappoint.

Downfall (2004) - Movie Review (Reader Request)

Well, I certainly wasn’t expecting this. Apparently, one of my followers on Facebook cared enough about my uneducated opinion on films that he asked me to review today’s subject. Now, being outside of my usual purview (films made in 2012 or earlier), I was a bit sceptical about this. But, considering the still-prevalent Hitler meme that this film spawned and how comparisons to Hitler are still coming thick and fast from all sectors of the political spectrum, I figure this would at least be interesting enough to warrant my own brand of analysis. Strap yourselves in for some good old-fashioned depression fuel.