End Credits - February 26, 2020 (Jojo Rabbit)

This week on End Credits, it's Nazi to see you again! That's the kind of terrible joke that you won't find anywhere near the Oscar-winning Jojo Rabbit, which is this week's review. We're also going to talk about Sonic's facelift, the return of The Hunt, new trailers, and this novel idea that filmmakers should have more creative freedom, even when working on franchise films!

This Wednesday, February 26, at 2 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Peter Salmon will discuss:

Sonic Truth. The surprising success of Sonic the Hedgehog is doubling surprising when you consider the visceral, negative reaction to Sonic himself in that original trailer. But a delay and redesign has turned Sonic into a hit, and made it one of the most successful video game movies of all time. So is this a case of fan outrage working?

Deplorable Me. The Hunt is back on! The Blumhouse production about elites hunting so-called deplorables was cancelled last fall after a series of mass shootings, and some less than stellar reviews from President Moviefone, but the controversy seems to have passed. Question: was this movie even really that controversial in the first place?

The Money Returns. At a recent round table, the Chairwoman of Universal Pictures acknowledged that their plan for a Monsters Cinematic Universe starting with The Mummy was ill-conceived, and now they're "filmmakers first" when it comes to their monster movies! But is having creative control over helping to build pre-established franchises real creativity?

Big Time, French and Green. In new trailers this week we've got another coming of age story in what might be a breakthrough role by Pete Davidson in Big Time Adolescence, Wes Anderson has another tale of whimsy with an all-star cast in The French Dispatch, and Dev Patel takes his turn going back in time in the Arthurian themed The Green Knight.

REVIEW: Jojo Rabbit (2019). It's the charming story of a German boy who wants to fight for the Third Reich and has an imaginary friend named Adolf. Taika Waititi walks a very tight rope in his World War II satire, which tries to tell us something about modern politics by looking at the last days of the Nazi regime through the eyes of 10-year-old reared in Nazi propaganda, and the gentle way his mother tries to win him back because of the secret she's hiding in the attic.

End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 2 pm.