Something to watch tonight: Wednesday 31 July

Catch-22 (Clooney/Heslov/Kuras, 2019)

Here’s another example of something that I look back on with fondness but re-read my actual review to find more nit-pickiness than I was expecting.

From this distance I remember a great cast, massive production values, excellent bones and what should have been a star-making performance from the lead, Christopher Abbott.

What I actually wrote was:

While the first five episodes are uneven, depending I think on which of the three directors were at the helm, we were still pretty engaged until we got to the end of episode five, wondering where the story could go from here and not being entirely sure we wanted to go where we thought it was wanting to go.

…

Through misadventure and bad luck, at every point in which Yossarian’s desperately dangerous tour of duty might come to an end, the minimum number of missions (or sorties) is raised meaning he can never go home. The famous Catch-22 comes from a conversation with the base medic (played by Heslov, Clooney’s writing, directing and producing partner) who tells Yossarian that he can’t classify him insane so that he can go home, because not wanting to fly is the very definition of sanity which means he has to continue flying, and around and around we go.

…

Here the weight falls heavily on the shoulders of Christopher Abbott and he’s very good indeed. A graduate of the Lena Dunham Girls school, even when he’s displaying dreadfully understandable cowardice, he radiates decency.

…

And were we right to put off watching that final episode? We thought it couldn’t possibly end well and it was already pretty dark. As it turns out, the makers managed to close this one off pretty sensitively and we didn’t end up quite as desolate as we were worried we would be.

Oh, and there’s some George Clooney.

Let me know what you think.

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