Rosie the Reviewer: a WW2 movies and shows podcast
Subscribed: 4Played: 19
Subscribe
© Rosie the Reviewer
Description
Two female history buffs review and comment on World War Two media, such as movies, shows, and books, and share related personal experiences.
78 Episodes
Reverse
In this episode of Rosie the Reviewer, we wrap up our three-part discussion of The Pacific (2010) with episodes 7-10. Brace yourself for the brutal fighting on Peleliu and Okinawa to John and Lena Basilone, his final chapter and the long road home for Eugene Sledge and Robert Leckie. Alongside our returning guest George, we talk about leadership, disillusionment, the role of civilians, and the way grief and memory follow these men long after the war ends.🖥️ Visit our website: www.rosiethereviewer.com📸 Follow us on Instagram: @rosiethereviewerpodcast💬 Join the conversation and leave a review! We’d love to hear your thoughts!
Joining us to discuss episodes 4-6 of The Pacific (2010) is our friend Merc. We get into the meaty middle part of the show, saying hello to some new favourites (and clinging to them before they have to leave us again) while watching others go home. It's Peleliu time, which means everyone is having a terrible time. And Pavuvu, which is apparently not much better.🖥️ Visit our website: www.rosiethereviewer.com📸 Follow us on Instagram: @rosiethereviewerpodcast💬 Join the conversation and leave a review. We’d love to hear your thoughts!
In this episode of Rosie the Reviewer, Bec returns to the pod to talk about the first three episodes of our favourite HBO War drama The Pacific (2010). Together, we discuss the show's opening, the amazing theme, the great friendships... and we can't stop gushing about Bob Leckie. Sorry. Not really. 🖥️ Visit our website: www.rosiethereviewer.com📸 Follow us on Instagram: @rosiethereviewerpodcast💬 Join the conversation and leave a review. We’d love to hear your thoughts!
In this episode of Rosie the Reviewer, we’re joined by Winnie and Gabby from the Donut Dollies podcast to discuss Their Finest (2016), Lone Scherfig’s adaptation of Lissa Evans’ novel Their Finest Hour and a Half. Together we unpack the film’s blend of romance, tragedy, and wartime propaganda, as well as how it compares to the book. Surprisingly much debate about Sam Claflin’s casting, the power of women in the Ministry of Information, and why Bill Nighy steals every scene as Ambrose Hilliard. Plus, the real history of women in Britain’s propaganda machine.🖥️ Visit our website: www.rosiethereviewer.com📸 Follow us on Instagram: @rosiethereviewerpodcast💬 Join the conversation and leave a review. We’d love to hear your thoughts!
This week on Rosie the Reviewer, we’re diving into the 2012 HBO film Hemingway & Gellhorn. It’s all about the messy relationship between WWII reporter Martha Gellhorn and Ernest Hemingway. We get into the Spanish Civil War (and yes, the movie really drags its feet before getting to WWII), and honestly, we’re not sure either of them is all that likable. Plus, we talk about Caroline Moorehead’s biography Gellhorn: A Twentieth-Century Life, Martha’s own novel Point of No Return, and her travel memoir, Travels with Myself and Another.💻 Visit our website: www.rosiethereviewer.com📸 Follow us on Instagram: @rosiethereviewerpodcast🗨️ Join the conversation and leave a review. We want to know what you think!
In this episode of Rosie the Reviewer, we tackle Valkyrie (2008), the Tom Cruise-led film about the real-life July 20 plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. We dig into the movie's balance between Hollywood drama and historical accuracy, the cast full of familiar faces, and whether Cruise managed to not be too Cruise-y.💻 Visit our website: www.rosiethereviewer.com📸 Follow us on Instagram: @rosiethereviewerpodcast💬 Join the conversation and leave a review — we’d love to hear your thoughts!
In this episode of Rosie the Reviewer, we discuss Grave of the Fireflies (1988), the harrowing Studio Ghibli animation that left us emotionally wrecked. We follow the story of Seita and Setsuko, two siblings trying to survive in Kobe, Japan during the final months of World War II. We discuss the film’s gut-wrenching portrayal of innocence lost and being forgotten, and why this is possibly the greatest movie you'll never want to watch again.🖥️ Visit our website: www.rosiethereviewer.com📸 Follow us on Instagram: @rosiethereviewerpodcast💬 Join the conversation and leave a review — we’d love to hear your thoughts!
In this episode of Rosie the Reviewer, we review Walking with the Enemy (2013), exploring its depiction of WWII Hungary, the life of Elek Cohen (loosely based on Pinchas Rosenbaum), and the country’s political shifts during the war. We discuss standout performances, the film’s narrative choices, and are joined by our friend Katie, who shares insights into Hungary during WWII.🖥️ Visit our website: www.rosiethereviewer.com📸 Follow us on Instagram: @rosiethereviewerpodcast💬 Join the conversation and leave a review — we’d love to hear your thoughts!
In this episode of Rosie the Reviewer, we're wrapping up our three-part journey through Masters of the Air with a look at episodes 7-9. We're once again joined by George! From the marches out of Stalag Luft III to Rosies' decision to fly more missions and Croz sleeping through D-Day. We get into the show's depiction of the Tuskegee Airmen and see where everybody ends up. Safe flight, Masters!🖥️ Visit our website: www.rosiethereviewer.com📸 Follow us on Instagram: @rosiethereviewerpodcast💬 Join the conversation and leave a review — we’d love to hear your thoughts!
In this episode of Rosie the Reviewer, we continue our Masters of the Air series with episodes 4 through 6. George is back again to help us cover everything from Quinn and Bailey’s escape routes to Black Week, and welcome Rosie Rosenthal. We break down new character arcs, major missions, and quiet emotional ... uh, breakdowns, including Bucky's slow downward spiral, Crosby's grief, and Rosie finding his rhythm (with some help from Artie Shaw).🖥️ Visit our website: www.rosiethereviewer.com📸 Follow us on Instagram: @rosiethereviewerpodcast💬 Join the conversation and leave a review — we’d love to hear your thoughts!
In this episode of Rosie the Reviewer, we cover the first three episodes of Masters of the Air, the latest Spielberg-Hanks WWII series following the Bloody Hundredth Bomb Group. Joined by our resident SAS Rogue Heroes correspondent George to talk about not the SAS, we unpack what works and what doesn't. From Buck and Bucky banter to B-17 flight scenes you come to a WWII show for. We talk ball turrets, bike races, bomber boys, and what we think is a missed opportunity to cast a critical look at the morality of bombing strategies.Plus: why Harry Crosby's memoir is a must-read, how the ground crew kept the B-17s flying, and straight-out-of-Blackadder Brits.💻 Visit our website: www.rosiethereviewer.com📸 Follow us on Instagram: @rosiethereviewerpodcast💬 Join the conversation and leave a review — we’d love to hear your thoughts!
In this episode of Rosie the Reviewer, we take on The Imitation Game (2014) and unpick all the ways it does Alan Turing dirty. With guest George (our usual SAS Rogue Heroes correspondent) taking on several sidequests with us this summer), we tackle the unnecessary spy plot, the myth of the lone genius, and why turning one of history’s most brilliant minds into a socially inept robot is just lazy, disrespectful writing. Sam did all the reading, Maartje Googled for one minute and George has actually been to Bletchley Park. All of us instantly agree: this movie is not it.We talk queer erasure, posthumous pardons, codebreaking accuracy (or lack thereof), and Sam explains EXACTLY how Turing's codebreaking machine works ;). This movie is Oscar bait biopic mayhem (it worked, I guess), and we have some strong thoughts. What are yours?🖥️ Visit our website: www.rosiethereviewer.com📸 Follow us on Instagram: @rosiethereviewerpodcast💬 Join the conversation and leave a review x!
In this episode of Rosie the Reviewer, we discuss the beautiful Ballad of a Soldier (1959), a Soviet-era WWII film that might just be the gentlest war movie we've ever seen. The film follows a young soldier named Alyosha as he travels across Russia to visit his mother on furlough. Along the way, he meets the love of his life. Not a very outspoken war movie, but a gentle story with sincere performances from main cast and supporting actors. 🖥️ Visit our website: www.rosiethereviewer.com📸 Follow us on Instagram: @rosiethereviewerpodcast💬 Join the conversation and leave a review — we’d love to hear your thoughts!
In this episode of Rosie the Reviewer, we take on the 1968 WWII film The Devil's Brigade, a movie full of misfit characters, Italian mountains, and a whole lot of bagpipes. Based on a real American-Canadian commando unit known as the Devil's Brigade or the Black Devils, the film mixes adventure with questionable casting choices (why does everyone look 47 or up?) and a fun hour long training session. We talk about William Holden, snake collections, the birth of the Green Berets, and good old Americans scrapping with Canadians. Also: fake red berets, what's up with that?💻 Visit our website: www.rosiethereviewer.com📸 Follow us on Instagram: @rosiethereviewerpodcast💬 Join the conversation and leave a review — we’d love to hear your thoughts!
In this episode of Rosie the Reviewer, we’re joined by award-winning historian Clare Mulley, author of The Spy Who Loved..., The Women Who Flew for Hitler, and Agent Zo. We talk about Polish paratrooper Elżbieta Zawacka (Zo), Nazi-resisting test pilot Melitta von Stauffenberg, and the razor-sharp Christine Granville. Clare shares how she builds trust with her readers, balances storytelling with historical rigour, and restores women to their rightful place in the WWII record. And, this episode is full of stories about the heroic women Clare writes about. You'll want to pick up a book or two after this!🖥️ Visit our website: www.rosiethereviewer.com📸 Follow us on Instagram: @rosiethereviewerpodcast💬 Join the conversation and leave a review — we’d love to hear your thoughts!
In this episode of Rosie the Reviewer, we break down the final season of X Company, the gripping Canadian WWII spy series set at Camp X. We discuss what worked, what felt rushed, and what made us yell "girl, no, don't kiss that Nazi!" Season 3 brings heavy losses, moral complexity, and a too early farewell to our favourite Canadian covert operatives. From Krystina's subterfuge, Faber’s redemption arc, to how the show handles antisemitism, resistance, and trauma without easy answers.Bye, X Company. Gone too soon. 🖥️ Visit our website: www.rosiethereviewer.com📸 Follow us on Instagram: @rosiethereviewerpodcast💬 Join the conversation and leave a review — we’d love to hear your thoughts!
In this episode of Rosie the Reviewer, we take on Season 2 of X Company, the tense Canadian WWII drama set at Camp X. This season brings higher stakes, deeper trauma, and a brutal reckoning with the Dieppe Raid. We talk Alfred’s Magneto cage, the complexity of Faber and Sabine’s marriage and a certain “code machine that looks like a fancy typewriter”. Yes, the Enigma makes an appearance. Plus: tortured romances (literal and metaphorical), and Aurora absolutely going off-script.We also get into the real-life inspirations behind the season, from David O’Keefe’s Dieppe theory to the heartbreaking Canadian casualties. And no one is safe, emotionally or narratively. Not even Tom.🖥️ Visit our website: www.rosiethereviewer.com📸 Follow us on Instagram: @rosiethereviewerpodcast💬 Join the conversation and leave a review — we’d love to hear your thoughts!
In this episode of Rosie the Reviewer, we dive into the explosive first season of X Company — the 2015 Canadian WWII drama about five secret agents trained at Camp X, Canada's spy training camp. From high-stakes sabotage in occupied France to moral grey zones and surprise betrayals, we explore what makes this little-known show so gripping. We talk about the character arcs we love, historical accuracy, and the surprisingly brutal tone. Expect fake dating, trauma flashbacks, Nazi hypocrisy, and that one guy from Schitt’s Creek.🖥️ Visit our website: www.rosiethereviewer.com📸 Follow us on Instagram: @rosiethereviewerpodcast💬 Join the conversation and leave a review — we’d love to hear your thoughts!
In this episode of Rosie the Reviewer, we unpack The Narrow Road to the Deep North, the harrowing new WWII series starring Jacob Elordi as Australian surgeon Dorrigo Evans. Based on Richard Flanagan’s Booker Prize-winning novel, the show follows Dorrigo’s life before, during, and after his time as a POW forced to build the Burma Railway. We talk symbolism, adaptation choices, and why every character in this show feels trapped—by war, by love, by legacy. Plus, we ask, once again, why is it so f*cking dark?🖥️ Visit our website: www.rosiethereviewer.com📸 Follow us on Instagram: @rosiethereviewerpodcast💬 Join the conversation and leave a review — we’d love to hear your thoughts!
In this episode of Rosie the Reviewer, we sit down with Matt Hartman, retired US Navy Chief Petty Officer and author of the WWII spy thriller Other Than Honorable. We talk about writing spy fiction, morally complex heroes, the feeling of Berlin on the brink of war and what it’s like to build a Jason Bourne-ish spy with zero suave and actual consequences. From the emotional roots of Ridge Frost to Hartman’s Enigma rabbit holes, this one's got historical deep cuts, an awkward leading man and a leading lady who might be more competent than the man himself. We love spy shit.🖥️ Visit our website: www.rosiethereviewer.com📸 Follow us on Instagram: @rosiethereviewerpodcast💬 Join the conversation and leave a review — we’d love to hear your thoughts!
Comments
Download from Google Play
Download from App Store
United States