Darkest Hour
Reviews
Mex5150
I have no idea why people are raving about this film, it's a bit crap, it's probably Oldman weakest performance to date, and the cinematography is terrible. Churchill with Brian Cox in the lead role is a FAR superior film on the subject.
Gimly
As with many of the biopics I've seen recently, _Darkest Hour_ is more focussed on delivering you the facts than getting you involved with the characters. It is an interesting idea to have the majority of the story revolve around the of whether or not to sue for peace. That as a core concept in so much as the question of "Do I take the guarantee of saving my country or do I take the risk of saving the world?" and beyond that "Is there even a right answer to that question? And who am I to decide something this big?" is a great philosophical centre for a movie. But I never felt like I knew why any of these people had the answers that they gave. I get that in a historical context, these aren't characters they are real life people, so they answers they had are the answers we see, but again, we are only given the _what_, not the _why_. Except you can throw all of that away because here comes Gary Oldman in his Oscar nominated transformation to make this movie 100% worth watching. _Final rating:★★★ - I liked it. Would personally recommend you give it a go._
barrymost
It's 1940, and Hitler is attempting to take over Europe. The film takes an interesting look at Winston Churchill's first five weeks as Prime Minister. The acting in this movie is quite accomplished; good actors bring insight and depth to the characters. Overall, it's a well-done, engrossing film. Gary Oldman's performance as Winston Churchill was very good indeed, and his delivery of Churchill's speeches alone make watching the movie worthwhile!
Ruggerview
I saw this film at TIFF on the big screen and loved it. There's not a weak member of the cast. I really loved the way the photography reflected the sense of gloom that would have been felt by the people facing a new war. Big thumbs up, gives a strong sense of the time and place.
Peter89Spencer
Gary Oldman was superb as Churchill.
Peter McGinn
I thought I might have seen this a couple pf years ago, but I still enjoyed it. There have been a few movies about Churchill’s rise to power at the outset of World War II. This one seems to cover the least amount of ground, focusing on his thought processes, the political climate and his personal life leading only up to the beginning of the Dunkirk evacuation. I thought there were two things the film did well with its strong writing and actor portrayal: the first was to present Churchill, a larger than life character, as just a life-size person, with the foibles and weaknesses he carried around with him. The other strength was in building depth into some of the secondary characters. His new aide typist, for example, is ready to quit after Churchill yells at her unfairly. It would have been easy to rehabilitate him for that temper tantrum by having him soften towards her and convince her to stay on. Instead she leaves the building, is handed an important communication from the king, and decides for herself to stay on and do the job. Churchill is the focal point pf the film, but again and again he shares the limelight onscreen with others like this, such as the extended scene in the subway. So within it’s narrow focus, I think the movie does a great job telling the story of this interlude from history.
CinemaSerf
A tour de force from Gary Oldman as he portrays Winston Churchill in his first few months of office at the start of WWII. Oddly enough though, aside from a few brief appearances from Kristin Scott-Thomas, the rest of the cast in this historical biopic are really quite unremarkable. The speeches are delivered magnificently; but there are too many speculative machinations going on - not least those involving King George VI - that do bring the credibility of this into question. There was plenty of accurately documented reportage from this time to enable Anthony McCarten to pen an entertaining script based more on the facts of this unsteady period of Churchill's premiership; Dunkirk; his relationship with Halifax & Roosevelt etc. rather than invent storylines. The attention to detail is superb and Oldman well deserved his second Oscar.
Movie Recommendation
The Post2017-12-22A cover-up that spanned four U.S. Presidents pushed the country's first female newspaper publisher and a hard-driving editor to join an unprecedented battle between journalist and government. Inspired by true events.More...
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri2017-12-01After seven months have passed without a culprit in her daughter's murder case, Mildred Hayes makes a bold move, painting three signs leading into her town with a controversial message directed at Bill Willoughby, the town's revered chief of police. When his second-in-command Officer Jason Dixon, an immature mother's boy with a penchant for violence, gets involved, the battle between Mildred and Ebbing's law enforcement is only exacerbated.More...
All the Money in the World2017-12-21The story of the kidnapping of 16-year-old John Paul Getty III and the desperate attempt by his devoted mother to convince his billionaire grandfather Jean Paul Getty to pay the ransom.More...
The Shape of Water2017-12-01An other-worldly story, set against the backdrop of Cold War era America circa 1962, where a mute janitor working at a lab falls in love with an amphibious man being held captive there and devises a plan to help him escape.More...
Molly's Game2017-12-07Molly Bloom, a young skier and former Olympic hopeful becomes a successful entrepreneur (and a target of an FBI investigation) when she establishes a high-stakes, international poker game.More...
Dunkirk2017-07-19The story of the miraculous evacuation of Allied soldiers from Belgium, Britain, Canada and France, who were cut off and surrounded by the German army from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk between May 26th and June 4th 1940 during World War II.More...
Churchill2017-05-25A ticking-clock thriller following Winston Churchill in the 24 hours before D-Day.More...
Phantom Thread2017-12-25In 1950s London, a renowned dressmaker's meticulous lifestyle begins drastically changing as his relationship with his young muse intensifies.More...
I, Tonya2017-12-07Competitive ice skater Tonya Harding rises amongst the ranks at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, but her future in the sport is thrown into doubt when her ex-husband intervenes.More...
The Leisure Seeker2018-01-03A runaway couple go on an unforgettable journey from Boston to Key West, recapturing their passion for life and their love for each other on a road trip that provides revelation and surprise right up to the very end.More...
Lady Bird2017-09-01Lady Bird McPherson, a strong willed, deeply opinionated, artistic 17 year old comes of age in Sacramento. Her relationship with her mother and her upbringing are questioned and tested as she plans to head off to college.More...
The Disaster Artist2017-03-12An aspiring actor in Hollywood meets an enigmatic stranger by the name of Tommy Wiseau, the meeting leads the actor down a path nobody could have predicted; creating the worst movie ever made.More...
Call Me by Your Name2017-07-28In the summer of 1983, a 17-year-old Elio spends his days in his family's villa in Italy. One day Oliver, a graduate student, arrives to assist Elio's father, a professor of Greco-Roman culture. Soon, Elio and Oliver discover a summer that will alter their lives forever.More...
Fabrizio De André: Principe libero2018-01-23A biopic on the personal and artistic life of Italian songwriter Fabrizio De André.More...
Battle of the Sexes2017-09-22The true story of the 1973 tennis match between world number one Billie Jean King and ex-champ and serial hustler Bobby Riggs.More...
The Commuter2018-01-11A businessman, on his daily commute home, gets unwittingly caught up in a criminal conspiracy that threatens not only his life but the lives of those around him.More...
Downsizing2017-12-22A kindly occupational therapist undergoes a new procedure to be shrunken to four inches tall so that he and his wife can help save the planet and afford a nice lifestyle at the same time.More...
The Greatest Showman2017-12-20The story of American showman P.T. Barnum, founder of the circus that became the famous traveling Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.More...
Wonder Wheel2017-12-01The story of four characters whose lives intertwine amid the hustle and bustle of the Coney Island amusement park in the 1950s: Ginny, an emotionally volatile former actress now working as a waitress in a clam house; Humpty, Ginny’s rough-hewn carousel operator husband; Mickey, a handsome young lifeguard who dreams of becoming a playwright; and Carolina, Humpty’s long-estranged daughter, who is now hiding out from gangsters at her father’s apartment.More...
The Florida Project2017-10-06The story of a precocious six year-old and her ragtag group of friends whose summer break is filled with childhood wonder, possibility and a sense of adventure while the adults around them struggle with hard times.More...
Similar Movies
Raging Bull
1980-11-14The life of boxer Jake LaMotta, whose violence and temper that led him to the top in the ring destroyed his life outside of it.Nowhere in Africa
2001-12-11A Jewish woman named Jettel Redlich flees Nazi Germany with her daughter Regina, to join her husband, Walter, on a farm in Kenya. At first, Jettel refuses to adjust to her new circumstances, bringing with her a set of china dishes and an evening gown. While Regina adapts readily to this new world, forming a strong bond with her father's cook, an African named Owuor.Brubaker
1980-06-20The new warden of a small prison farm in Arkansas tries to clean it up of corruption after initially posing as an inmate.Mississippi Burning
1988-12-08Two FBI agents investigating the murder of civil rights workers during the 60s seek to breach the conspiracy of silence in a small Southern town where segregation divides black and white. The younger agent trained in FBI school runs up against the small town ways of his partner, a former sheriff.Freedom Writers
2007-01-05A young teacher inspires her class of at-risk students to learn tolerance, apply themselves, and pursue education beyond high school.Ray
2004-10-29Born on a sharecropping plantation in Northern Florida, Ray Charles went blind at seven. Inspired by a fiercely independent mom who insisted he make his own way, He found his calling and his gift behind a piano keyboard. Touring across the Southern musical circuit, the soulful singer gained a reputation and then exploded with worldwide fame when he pioneered coupling gospel and country together.Mallesham
2019-06-21A sixth-standard school drop-out faces many ups and downs in life when he decides to design a weaving machine to ease the plight of his mother and many like her in his village, who take up Asu work.Papillon
2017-09-07Henri “Papillon” Charrière, a safecracker from the Parisian underworld, is wrongfully convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in the penal colony of French Guiana, where he forges a strong friendship with Louis Dega, a counterfeiter who needs his protection.City of Lies
2018-09-06Los Angeles Police Department detective Russell Poole has spent years trying to solve his biggest case -- the murders of The Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur -- but after two decades, the investigation remains open. Jack Jackson, a reporter desperate to save his reputation and career, is determined to find out why. In search of the truth, the two team up and unravel a growing web of institutional corruption and lies.The Aftermath
2019-03-01In the aftermath of World War II, a British colonel and his wife are assigned to live in Hamburg during the post-war reconstruction, but tensions arise with the German widower who lives with them.Man on the Moon
1999-12-22The story of the life and career of eccentric avant-garde comedian, Andy Kaufman.Sunflower
1970-03-14After World War II, a woman refuses to believe her husband, missing on the Russian front, is dead. Flashbacks reveal their brief courtship and marriage. Years later, she travels to Russia with his photo, determined to find him. What will she discover?Malcolm X
1992-11-18A tribute to the controversial black activist and leader of the struggle for black liberation. He hit bottom during his imprisonment in the '50s, he became a Black Muslim and then a leader in the Nation of Islam. His assassination in 1965 left a legacy of self-determination and racial pride.Memoirs of a Geisha
2005-12-06In the years before World War II, a penniless Japanese child is torn from her family to work as a maid in a geisha house.Inherit the Wind
1960-07-07Schoolteacher Bertram Cates is arrested for teaching his students Darwin's theory of evolution. The case receives national attention and one of the newspaper reporters, E.K. Hornbeck, arranges to bring in renowned defense attorney and atheist Henry Drummond to defend Cates. The prosecutor, Matthew Brady is a former presidential candidate, famous evangelist, and old adversary of Drummond.The Sea Inside
2004-09-03Ramón Sampedro is a ship mechanic and part-time poet left a quadriplegic following a diving accident. Ramón fought for 30 years for the legal right to end his own life. He develops close relationships with his long-term lawyer Julia and his friend Rosa, who tries to convince him that his life is worth living. Despite his situation, Ramón manages to inspire those around him to live life to the fullest.Laura
1944-10-11A police detective falls in love with the woman whose murder he's investigating.Exodus
1960-12-15Ari Ben Canaan, a passionate member of the Jewish paramilitary group Haganah, attempts to transport 600 Jewish refugees on a dangerous voyage from Cyprus to Palestine on a ship named the Exodus. He faces obstruction from British forces, who will not grant the ship passage to its destination.The Lamp Still Burns
1943-11-29A tribute to the important work of female nurses during World War II.Turks & Caicos
2014-03-20The second movie in David Hare's Johnny Worricker trilogy. Loose-limbed spy Johnny Worricker, last seen whistleblowing at MI5 in Page Eight, has a new life. He is hiding out in Ray-Bans on the Caribbean islands of the title, eating lobster and calling himself Tom Eliot (he’s a poet at heart). We’re drawn into his world and his predicament when Christopher Walken strolls in as a shadowy American who claims to know Johnny. The encounter forces him into the company of some ambiguous American businessmen who claim to be on the islands for a conference on the global financial crisis. When one of them falls in the sea, their financial PR seems to know more than she's letting on. Worricker soon learns the extent of their shady activities and he must act quickly to survive when links to British prime minister Alec Beasley come to light.