Moments can lift or sink a film.  Ten seconds can make ninety minutes seem like time well spent or kill everything that went before.  Last night I watched Bone Tomahawk (2015) and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) and for better or worse the moments were in full swing.

Bone Tomahawk is a rather slight western tale of kidnapping and the posse that goes to rescue the girl.  It’s standard stuff with square jaws, old timers and Kurt Russell’s moustache and then there is a moment, a moment that harks back to the glory days of pre-cert ‘did you see that film where..?’ VHS.  You know what I’m talking about if you’ve seen the film, you probably won’t forget it, if you haven’t it’s worth watching and it lifts the film and carries it, perhaps throws it, over the finish line.

Then there was Rogue One, the first in a planned series of Star Wars side stories and fingertips away from being perfect.  Visually it’s stunning, with great practical and CG effects.  It also has the characters, in particular the central pairing of Jyn Erso and Cassien Andor and their team, the actors, the director, the story, the themes and ideas and Forest Whitaker, my word Forest Whitaker!  It’s brilliant and fun and then there’s the fan service, moments of redundant film buried in the uncanny valley and a fancy dress approximation of a classic character (or did he always look stupid and I’ve only just noticed?).

I’m going to go back for a rewatch because the good stuff is wonderful, it’s just such a shame that the current cinematic obsession with the miscellany of fan culture gets in the way of a perfect object.  As for Bone Tomahawk, I’ll never watch it again but absolutely, heartily recommend that you spend some time with it.