Schindler’s List (Hook & Jurassic Park Revisited)

[School of Movies 2020]

A long time ago, around late 2013, Sharon and I recorded a shortish piece on Hook. It was just before Robin Williams passed, and so the file sat in our archive, unreleased, along with the one on Mrs Doubtfire. We just didn't want to be scornful of something he had done during that period of shock and mourning. Eventually in 2015 we combined that section with a new one on the 2003 Peter Pan to make a comparative show, and it did not compare favourably. I put that down to us really liking the Jason Isaacs version and nobody else seemingly giving a stuff. 

Anyway, we went back to Hook for our year of Spielberg, now with the blu ray in hand and a deeper appreciation of Steven's aims. And you know what? We really liked it this time. And this was again before I read up on the weird, staggered production woes this thing had. I can recommend a video called "Yesterworld: The Troubled History of Steven Spielberg's Hook: A Classic That Should Have Been."

We also went back to Jurassic Park to see if it holds up five years on from our Main Event show on it. Turns out not only is it still one of my favourite films of all time, but I found a way to watch it that makes it even better!

And all this is two spoons of sugar to help you prepare for what we have to say about Schindler's List. A film that in 2020 disturbed us to our very core, and left me so shaken that I noticed something in my voice during the edit that I've never heard before. We kept it short so that the heaviness would not overwhelm us or you. And we understand if you would like to skip this one. Hook and Jurassic Park run up to 43 minutes in.