I watched the TV show adaptation of this and it was absolutely brilliant, moving and engaging and a simple but great story. The book is all of that and more. It’s absolutely intoxicating, drawing you in right from the start. You feel like you’re maybe eavesdropping on this tell-all confessional documentary but you can’t help it because the characters are so complex and layered, the story revealing itself so gently but addictively. It’s perfect.

Mixed feelings about this film. At the end of it, a recommendation came up for Pearl Harbour and I can totally understand why. It has that same US are the heroes and did nothing wrong and that’s all you need to know feeling to it. You have to keep that in mind as you watch, this is a very one-sided point of view. On the other hand, I don’t know much about this conflict and you don’t see many films about it, so that’s a positive point - you don’t necessarily learn a lot about what’s happened or motivations or anything, but it’s always a starting point to have something portrayed on screen. Owen Wilson does a great job considering he’s more well known for comedy, and Gene Hackman is in his element here.

Jack Reacher gets drawn into another criminal enterprise, this time by happening to be in a cafe at the wrong (right?) time. It’s a kidnapping that isn’t what it seems and Reacher has to go sort of undercover, or perhaps double agent, to try and get to the bottom of what is going on. I quite enjoyed their foray into London and Norfolk for the big showdown, fun to see this described through somewhat sheltered US former military eyes. Another very solid book in the Reacher canon.

I really enjoyed this murder mystery that was slightly less cozy than some of the ones that have gone before. Centered on an amateur dramatics group, there are plenty of jealous and bitter motivating factors, and lots of twists and turns along the way. The characters are really well drawn and Marlow becomes a character in itself, you feel like you’re there. Another really good entry in this series… and a cliffhanger to ensure there will be another!

The second series of Silo finished on Apple TV recently and ooh it was a great ride. It picked up right where the last series ended, with our intrepid hero Juliette Nichols (portrayed endlessly brilliantly by Rebecca Ferguson) finding a new Silo - an abandoned Silo, or so it seems. Needless to say, spoilers follow if you haven’t watched the series yet, so head over and finish up the ten brilliant episodes before coming back.

Yes, En Vogue! Obviously, Don’t Let Go is the standout highlight here and has popped up on our Top of the Pops 90s rewatch, but the rest of the album lives up to the standard of its main single. It’s fantastic R&B pop with great harmonies and vocals, and plenty of sass. I think the last song goes on a little bit, but I can let that go for a really solid and great set of songs.

I had high hopes going into this album, the last one was really good and the Marshmello track Miles On It is very catchy. But oof, this wasn’t a great listen for me. The good was good, but the slower songs were really not a fun listen. Backseat driver is just annoying - this kid chatting on and on, it’s not cute, it’s frustrating. And the song about his lucky number being three, and counting a family of three and a family of five as the same is just not logical. Anyway, hit and miss, more miss than hit.

I seem to remember the second Ghostbusters movie so much better than the first, so it was fun to read this novelisation and be reminded of some of the intricacies of the first. It’s a fun read, interesting to get character insight and motivations, inner thoughts etc. They were missing the key quote ‘what did you do Ray’ which I still say pretty much every day, so that was disappointing. But overall a great movie that turns into a good read.

I LOVED this, it’s completely bonkers, and a unique take on the rom-com idea - hit man heads home for a reunion both of his school class but also his first proper love, all the while re-evaluating his life. If we’re being honest, this is pretty much another vehicle for John Cusack to bounce around a small town chattering ten-to-the-dozen, but I am here for it. It’s not gonna be for everyone but it was definitely for me.

There are a couple of good songs in here, and obviously Don’t Cry For Me Argentina is a belter, but I don’t know, is it just me or is the rest of it a hot mess? I found it really hard to follow the actual story, there was a lot of implied knowledge about Argentinian politics, and by the end I couldn’t figure out the point of it. Of course you can just tell the story of someone’s life without it having a big message, but what was the wider context, why did it all have such a depressing ending? Hard pass, if I’m being honest, I’ll just sing the tunes to myself.

Another Reacher book, and this time we are back to the present day (albeit a while ago as I’m so far behind on this series!), and Reacher gets drawn into another investigation. I liked that that slant on this one is that he doesn’t want to find out what really happened as he fully believes the murderer did what he did. But as his mind continues to tick on, he can’t help finding and pulling at those loose threads, and so we end up in a huge shootout, as you might come to expect. A great, standard, classic Reacher thriller.

This book does fit into the cosy mystery genre but it has a slightly odd structure. The murder happens up front and straight away, but then we go all the way back to the moment our narrator moves into the village and spends a LONG time getting settled. It’s nice, there are fun characters, but it’s weird because the character is so suspicious of everyone right from the start with no real reason for it. Then when there is a murder, there’s actually not much in the way of investigation after the event, as all the time has been spent on the build up. Odd, but interesting.

Randomly, we recently watched the Uncharted movie with Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg and it was entertaining enough for me to decide the game would be worth a look. Then surprise, surprise, at some point in the past I’d already purchased an Uncharted bundle of games. Thinking back, I remember playing one of them and thinking it had a bit too much story, bit too much talking, and abandoning it, but this time, I’m used to that now (all games are like that apparently), so let’s give it another go.

This is a weird one, there’s nothing outwardly wrong with this movie, it’s typical of it’s time - singing and dancing and finding love along the way. But it’s also really, really bad. There aren’t many songs, although the dancing is top notch, so it feels a stretch to call it a musical really. The story is awful - this guy stalking a woman he just met and really getting under her skin. Even if you count for the fact that it’s ‘of it’s time’, it’s still pretty questionable. And ultimately the story is a whole lot of nothing. There are better Astaire movies out there.

The next book in the Jack Reacher series is something of a prequel, dipping back into our protagonist’s history whilst he was still in the military. This time we have Reacher investigating a couple of murders that ends up leading into a sprawling plot and a bigger conspiracy, and he has to keep it quiet and learn who to trust and all that usual good stuff. At the same time, Reacher and his brother are dealing with the illness and death of his mother, which is an interesting personal angle that we don’t always get to see.

Well, what can I say about this film? On the one hand, it is traditional 90s rom-com territory. Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy tries to get girl back, boy founds out he’s actually been in love with the other girl the whole time. But then, things kind of go off the rails a bit. Everyone in this film is slightly unhinged, and the revenge lengths our pair go to seem very over the top considering the crime committed.

I finally got around to watching Boybands Forever, a three part documentary on the BBC that aired late last year. I had planned to watch it over Christmas but a few scenes into the first episode, I thought it might be a bit depressing - turns out these boybands haven’t all had the best of experiences. So I waited until January, when we’re all experiencing the blues anyway, so why not share the pain.

I’m one of those that is skeptical of AI, both the impact it can actually have on the future, but also from the point of view of being wary it may destroy the future (Terminator movies, anyone?). So whenever I see one of those memes doing the rounds of an AI getting a question ridiculously wrong or failing to understand basic alphabet or numerical concepts, I take great joy from it.

After watching the short documentary series Boybands Forever, it was inevitable that one of them was going to pop up on this album adventure, and when I realised that I haven’t done any East 17 yet at all, the die was cast. How is that possible? This is their debut album and it gets off to such a great start. In fact, I really enjoyed all of the main tracks, I’m just annoyed that they make the grave error of putting some remixes at the end, songs that we’ve already heard.

This is a good album, I only knew the song Austin but the first track What Happens Now very quickly sounded fun and familiar. It’s very stripped back, no huge productions, each track is just the same instruments you would find on a stage if Dasha and band were playing these songs live. There’s not a lot to complain about other than how short the album is. I’m very quick to judge a record for being too long and it’s rare that I would moan about something going the other direction but these eight tracks just absolutely fly by and definitely leave you wanting more.

This movie has been hanging around in the back of my mind for ages to watch, I wanted to see Linda Hamilton kicking some ass again, and eventually the time was right to give it a watch. It was so bad, like somehow everyone had forgotten how to make films. There were time travel questions that I couldn’t figure out, the fight between Terminators and other Terminators or enhanced humans was pretty dull and quite a few of the stunt sequences would clearly have ended in death for our dear Dani. But, you know, there were a couple of good moments so it was entertaining enough to watch all the way through. Definitely not recommended though.

A collection of short stories featuring everyone’s favourite Belgian detective, this reminded me so much of Sherlock. Written from the point of view of Captain Hastings, as a companion to the genius Poirot, he bumbles around seeing the same clues and not getting anywhere near the answers. Sounds just like Watson. But either way, this is a really good collection of mysteries, easy to read, quick to get through, very tricky to guess. Each one could almost be a book in its own right, so it’s fun to read them all in the same book.

A lot of the reviews for this book are complaints that it’s nothing like what you’d expect from a John Grisham novel - there’s no courtroom drama to be found. But if you go into it knowing that, then it’s quite a good, relatively short novel. It tracks that difficult thing of going back home after a lengthy absence when things are so different and yet, also very much the same. There’s a lot of insight into the challenges of being a hometown hero, and when things go wrong, and burying the past before moving on. Great characterisation and very readable, but have to agree that not a lot actually happens. You just have to go with it to get the most out of it.

I almost didn’t watch this full movie, the twenty minute rule was about to come into effect. It was such a slow, boring start, and there was a dream sequence for crying out loud. But just about twenty minutes in, he started practicing golf and there were a few amusing moments, so I gave it ten more minutes, and then ten more and in the end I was invested in the story. And I’m glad it worked out because it’s an incredible story, almost unbelievable. Mark Rylance does a great job as this oddball character, and Sally Hawkins’ quiet support throughout was very impressive. A lovely film.

I love that there are certain things you can recognise in a Doctor Who story - they’re not necessarily in all of them, but when they pop up, you know what you’re getting. This time we had a famous historical figure, although not really central to the main plot. We had some aliens trying to use and abuse humans for their own benefit, and we had the Doctor and this time Martha trying to figure it all out before it was too late. The idea of those hands moving around, a bit like the Addams Family, was very creepy, very Doctor Who.

I’ve gotten into a manageable habit with my Sims obsession - it used to be that I could sit down of an evening and start playing, and then suddenly the hours have gone by and I’ve got nothing else done other than topped the career path of a specific character. Nowadays, I dip in regularly but only for a short period of time, and it’s a nice way to play - a quick visit, a few directions here or there, see you again this time tomorrow.

An intriguing low-key war film, this one, featuring the true story of an escape from a prisoner-of-war camp via the means of a gymnastics vaulting horse. The first two thirds of the film are quiet plotting, planning and tunnel digging, as you marvel at the stubborn patience of these officers who have a sworn duty to try and escape however possible. It’s not quite at the same enticing level as Great Escape but it’s a similar sort of style. Then once beyond the confines of the fences, our intrepid officers have to try and find their way to neutral ground - not at all easy, even more difficult than tunnelling out in the first place. Just an interesting film telling another of those important and surprising stories. It ends a little bit abruptly, but I suppose whatever happens next probably becomes a whole other story in its own right.

I wasn’t aware of this band until Hip Hop Hooray was featured in an Only Connect question, and then it all came tumbling out and I very quickly had to listen to the album. It’s good, solid hip hop, exactly the kind of thing you’d expect from a 90s group like this. I was quite enjoying it at the start, but I think the quality tailed off a bit towards the end, and the last track was endless. Lovely to have bonus Queen Latifah though!

First album of 2025 proper and it’s not necessarily starting the year with a bang. It was fine, pleasant enough to listen to and never dull, but it was instantly forgettable the moment I switched it off. And even now, thinking back on it just a few days later, I can’t recall any of the songs. It was very Franz Ferdinand though, guitars and singing and good stuff, but more background music than gamechanging.

This was a free book of the week on Apple, so always worth a read. I had mixed feelings about it, there were some really good elements in there - the sunken village, the mystery behind Caroline’s actions, and some good characters - but it didn’t quite come together for me. It was a bit drawn out, some of the events didn’t make sense (all annual leave is cancelled, she says, instantly taking the day off), and ultimately I think Dexter did most of the work of solving the case. But still, a good effort and an interesting final sentence that does make me wonder if it’s worth reading on to book two.

I’ve loved the previous Bad Boys movies, they’re just fun buddy comedies, with banter and hijinks between Will Smith and Martin Lawrence and some cop action along the way. Great stuff. This one looked like it was going to go down the same route and it had all the ingredients to make a great movie but somewhere it just fell off the rails and never quite got back on them. There were some inventive camera/VFX trick shots, and you can see the action sequences had had a lot of thought put in to them but it was so overdone and didn’t help, almost hindered. The one where suddenly we’re in a first person shooter game made no sense and I couldn’t tell what was happening. Honestly, if it wasn’t for the banter and the fun moments (Reggie single-handedly putting down 15 bad guys and grudgingly earning some respect), this wouldn’t have been watchable.

This is such a 90s film, despite being made early in the next decade. It’s like a teenage fantasy brought to life, particularly the somewhat gratuitous nudity and unexpected blowjobs. It’s nonsense and over-the-top and entirely unplausable… but somehow still a lot of fun. The iconic scene of them rolling down a mountain for what feels like hours, only to walk away unscathed at the bottom! Really, the only complaint is that this has been on many lists of great hacking films but really there’s not a lot of hacking in it. One short montage of Hugh Jackman creating a cube and shouting at the screens, and then a snippet of what looked like actual code, but otherwise it’s more action than typing. But still, a good one to have ticked off the list!

The next book in the Reacher series and this time we switched to the first person narrative which was slightly weird and took a minute to adapt to. I sort of feel like it’s better to make your own decisions about what this hero/anti-hero is up to, rather than getting that deeper insight into his motives. But anyway, it made for a good revenge story, and we dipped back into the past a bit more to understand what drives Reacher to do what he does.

There’s a lot of noise about The Sims around at the moment, as the lifestyle management game is turning 25 this year. Have I really been playing The Sims since 1999? I can’t remember being an early adopter but I definitely remember the first game very vividly, so maybe I have. The recent announcements are some sizabale updates to the base game, and a new Behind the Sims video stream, where more goodies may be forthcoming.

I have loved the radio series After Henry for a long time, I’ve listened to it many, many times. I also enjoy the TV adaptation, so was intrigued to find there was a novelisation as well. I found it to borrow on the internet archive and read through it in super quick time. It’s basically the first few episodes of the radio show, and the dialogue is practically word for word, so it slipped by very quickly. But it’s so lovely to revisit these characters in a different format.

I can’t remember why I picked this book up, but I’m so glad I did. I’m not hugely scientific but I’m always interested in stories where humans put their mind to something and keep on trying until it all comes together. This is a popular history, not a technical manual, so it was incredibly readable. I didn’t know much about the battle to measure our way round the planet and found it fascinating. The two tribes - one lunar, one watch-based - and our hero Harrison’s hard and detailed work, such a perfectionist. This was brilliantly well written, engaging and well worth a read.

My album adventure for 2025 got off to a roaring start last week, although it’s not until week two that I’ve managed to nab an album actually released this year. The rules of the game (for those who haven’t been paying attention) are that the ’new’ album is from this year or the last, whilst the ‘old’ album has the rest of human history to be selected from. Two albums a week for 50 weeks of the year, hooray!

Sue Barker is notoriously private so it’s great to hear from the horse’s mouth. I didn’t know much of her history, even knowing she was a tennis player, I hadn’t realised she’d won a grand slam. This follows her early tennis life, her journey to become the ultimate sports broadcaster, the real truth behind being badly treated by the BBC, and some thoughts on her private life and press intrusions. A lovely read.

I have only heard good things about this game, and a friend reported that they played for hours and hours so got great value for money out of it. I love a third person exploration style game so it seemed like this was right up my street. Even though it’s a few years old now, it was still on my list to investigate, and it popped up in a festive Playstation sale which meant it was a must buy.

To set the scene, I watched the TV show of this the minute it came out and loved it, just like everyone else did. And it was sort of in the back of my mind to play the game at some point, but by then it was an older game so it wasn’t a massive priority. Then I spotted it in a sale over Christmas and immediately snapped it up and got stuck in. This version is a remake of the 2013 game, and I’m not sure of the differences between the two, but I’m glad to have an up to date pack to dive into.

I watched McFly’s 21st Birthday Party celebration on TV over Christmas and realised how much I like the band and their music - it’s so impressive they’ve been around this long, and their last album was a real banger. I realised I’ve not done any of the early ones so picked out their first album as a good place to start. It’s really good, I enjoyed the whole thing. The first ten minutes or so are songs I know that are classics at this point, but the rest of the tracks stand up to the test. I love the blend of Beatles and Busted, it sounds like it shouldn’t work but it really does!

I missed this one from last year, and with a slow start to 2025, it seemed like a great time to dip back six months or so. I really loved James Bay’s debut album, although the second wasn’t quite as good for me. This one was a return to form, the opening track really felt reminiscent of those first absolute tunes. Potentially, it drifted a little bit and probably doesn’t sustain the 5/5 score all the way through, but it’s a really good listen, and a great start to the year.

Fresh from his last batch of adventures, Paddington gets stuck in to some more weird and wonderful things, including trying his hand at waterskiing, and potentially inventing parasailing. Paddington causing chaos when they tried to make him go to school was fun, and not understanding a rugby game made me feel better about my own sporting misunderstandings. But the best bit was Aunt Lucy making an appearance, so lovely to see her and she was so much more stern and interesting than I would have expected.

Loved this. I’ve seen it before and vividly remembered the opening ten minutes or so. But then suddenly realised I couldn’t remember the rest of it, except for a few flashes as we went through (the drip in the eye - argh!). It’s so well shot, somehow quiet and eeries whilst also being full of tension and terror, and then those bursts of horror and rage. Danny Boyle knows what he’s doing and he does it well.

This started out great. A mismatched buddy comedy combined with elements of Indiana Jones and the Da Vinci Code. Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg bounced off each other well, at first prickly, gradually warming up to each other. It was fun and entertaining and then… then they found the boats. After that it was absolute insanity. You could suspend your disbelief for everything preceding it, even the Papa Johns, but once the boats started flying, it was absolute nonsense and really just annoying. I still enjoyed watching it and am interested if they are, indeed, making a sequel, but do think they could have done better.

Another novelisation of my favourite movie series, this time following Marty McFly and Doc Brown as they head to 2015 (the future for them, the past for us now!), cause lots of chaos and have to fix everything before it all ends in a giant paradox. We know the story, so am mostly interested in how the novel version compares - it was a lot closer to the film than the first book was, although it’s nice to see Marty’s motivations sometimes, and there were some extra bits that didn’t make the movie (Marty meeting his brother outside Biff’s hotel in the rogue 1985). Either way it’s just enjoyable to spend more time in this world.

After two film fails, this was just what we needed - a sports redemption story and bonus Keanu Reeves. It’s a good film, the kids are adorable, and it’s an enjoyable watch with plenty of emotions along the way. But if you take a step back, it’s not exactly original - really just a combination of Mighty Ducks and Dangerous Minds - and it’s pretty derivative from start to finish. But definitely worth a watch, either way.

I’ve read the book that this is based on and loved it, and felt like Sam Claflin and Lily Collins would make a good screen pair. That wasn’t the case though. I wasn’t at all convinced by their chemistry, and it was just a pretty dull start to a movie. Plus the side characters were all awful. The doctor. The teacher that put the chat on screen. All dick moves. So no, couldn’t be bothered to get to the end, we all know how it’s going to work out anyway.

I was probably a bit dubious about this going into it, and wasn’t surprised to find it not my cup of tea. It was just pretty grim, horrible people, not very funny at all, and ultimately a bit dull. Twenty minute rule in full effect.

One of Christie’s all time greats, this book features a doctor narrating the intertwined investigation of murders, suicides, blackmail, and missing fiancés. Our intrepid hero Hercule Poirot gets stuck in, although I did enjoy that sometimes we heard what the Belgian detective thought secondhand via the narrator’s sister. Her propensity to gossip was both fun and instructive. Of course the book has a great twist ending, and I didn’t see it coming even knowing there was a twist to behold.