Da'ud Bob's Movie Review
for
  November 2025


Here's an early review that was published way back in November 1987. Just a little something to lift your spirits and brighten your day.



Fall was fell, and so were my spirits.  Down in the mouth, down in the dumps.  Down, down, down.  I needed something to lift me up.  Wait!  Lift?  Isn't there, right in the first scene...? Right!  Ah, that's better.  So, this month, Da'ud Bob does Jabberwocky.

It might just as well be termed "one man's futile search for true love".  The monster is just the background for the love story. A movie with the right "atmosphere" of medievalism, with all sorts of grunge, grime, dirt, dust, and assorted muds.  Filthy people, filthy streets, filthy castles.  Maybe a little too filthy.  Filthy minds, even (well, one, anyway).  Put together by some of the Monty Python crew, it takes you into the Middle Ages even better than Holy Grail does.  Starring Michael Palin as Dennis Cooper, Annette Badland as the light of his life, Griselda, Max Wall as King Bruno the Questionable, Harry Corbett as the Squire, John Bird as the Herald, and Dave "Darth Vader" Prowse as both the Fish Knight and the Black Knight.

There are only a few anachronisms that may interrupt the steady flow of enjoyment of this movie.  The potato.  Costuming that ranges over about three centuries all in one town at one time.  Check out the size of the horns on the Black Knight.

On the other hand, it's got some great bits.  The travels of said potato.  The "rats on a stick" vendor.  Watt Dabney's cutting off his own foot in order to beg (well, a fellow's got to make a living somehow, and he's such an amiable person).  The Chancellor's line to a peasant, "Get up, man.  You'll get your rags all dirty."  The Squire's novel method of playing up to the tavern-keeper's wife.  Knights in full tournament armor playing Hide 'n' Seek.  The knight who gets nailed by a morning star.  The song being whistled in the opening scene is a period tune.  (Congratulations are in order if you recognize the tune.  Shame on you if you know the words!) The blacksmith's shop scene.  The "doorbell".  The Jabberwock itself.

Zero breasts.  Five gallons blood (much of it on the King, Princess and Chancellor at the tournament).  11 dead bodies.  One decapitation.  6 cow skeletons.  Two human skeletons with attached body parts.  Body parts without attached anything.  Giant gloppy Jabberwock doo-doo.  Heads roll.  Turnips roll.  The bishop rolls.  Garbage fu.  Lance fu.  Fish fu.  Exploding eyeball.  Gratuitous grunge.  Gratuitous penitents and flagellants.  Gratuitous sound effects as the knights clash in the tournament.  Gratuitous bloodsplattering.  Academy Award nominations to Max Wall as King Bruno for doing what we each have wanted to do at one time or another to a herald (must be seen to be savored), and to Annette Badland for making such a realistic Griselda (must be seen to be believed).  A 92 on the Vomit Meter.  Three and a half stars.  Da'ud Bob says check it out.



Upcoming movies and miniseries to watch for!


Hamnet
December 12, 2025		 The story of Agnes - the wife of William Shakespeare, although the historical record names her as Anne Hathaway - as she struggles to come to terms with the loss of her only son, Hamnet. A human and heart-stopping story as the backdrop to the creation of Shakespeare's most famous play, Hamlet. Starring Paul Mescal, Jessie Buckley, and Emily Watson.
The King, the Swordsman, and the Sorceress
December 30, 2025		 Starring Donna Hamblin, Deborah Dutch, Jeffrey Schneider, and Nick Dent, still no plot synopsis has been released. But given the title, surely it must be a Da'ud Bob kind of movie, yes? Well, maybe. AI seems to think it is a remake of 1982's The Sword and the Sorcerer, a movie which featured, as I said in my review of it, "the amazing new Ronco [three-bladed] Rocket Sword.  'It slices!  It dices!  It makes mincemeat of your enemies in minutes!')". If AI is right, we are all in serious trouble.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight
Was to be released in 2025; now to premiere in 2026		 Set a century before the events of Game of Thrones, two unlikely heroes wandered Westeros ... a young, naïve but courageous knight, Ser Duncan the Tall, and his diminutive squire, Egg. Set in an age when the Targaryen line still holds the Iron Throne, and the memory of the last dragon has not yet passed from living memory, great destinies, powerful foes, and dangerous exploits all await these improbable and incomparable friends. A(nother) Game of Thrones prequel. Streaming on Max.
Highlander
2026		 Starring Henry Cavill. This is a remake of the 1986 original starring Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery that no one I know of is asking for. "An immortal Scottish swordsman faces off with other immortal warriors in order to obtain a coveted ability." Director Chad Stahelski confirmed the movie will be using Queen's soundtrack from the original, but "Probably in a different way than you think, but hardcore yes." [Da'ud Bob says, "How about 'hardcore no'?"]
The Odyssey
July 17, 2026		 A new film version of the epic poem by Homer. Directed by Christopher Nolan, and starring Matt Damon as Odysseus, with Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Charlize Theron, John Leguizamo, and more. Quite the impressive cast! I hope the script will let their talents shine forth.


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