Couldn’t even get to the twenty minute rule with this one. It was slow and boring, so wasn’t feeling that fond of it and then there was a snake in the toilet and now I can’t go to the bathroom ever again. Thanks Ben Stiller.

This year I have continued reading voraciously, and although I did make progress on the bookshelf backlog, it still seems like the count of unread books goes up rather than down. I’ve enjoyed listening to a lot of audiobooks this year and discovered the wealth of reading material available digitally from the library, which hasn’t necessarily helped things! Anyway, as is now traditional, these are ten of my favourites from the year gone, in the order that I read them.

I mostly watched this because Justin Long was in it, and they were going back to Ireland which of course means lots of brilliant accents. I enjoyed that part of it but oof, it was not good. Of course the woman didn’t want kids but had to change her mind by the end, because not having kids is not a valid choice, is it? Infuriating. The whole thing around the football was similarly rage-inducing. And our main couple were all over the place in their relationship, like they were speaking completely different languages. Annoying. Avoid this one, I reckon.

It’s taken me a while to get through this book. I was lucky enough to see the author in conversation at the Cheltenham Festival, where a copy of the book was included. But I found reading the physical copy a bit hardgoing, so I opted to switch to the audiobook. Hearing the stories and advice in Miranda’s wonderfully cozy voice was much better.

At first, I thought this was going to be a twenty minute rule. It felt very low-budget, and with a very bleak start, I couldn’t really feel where it was going. I stuck with it, and I’m not sure if it got that much better. The story sort of went nowhere, and there was a lot of artificial tension introduced. I did enjoy the growing friendship between the main two, and was surprised by the ending at least. But no, steer clear.

ITV recently aired a show called Tiktok: Top 100 2024. I probably don’t need to explain what the programme was about, the title leaves very little to the imagination. It was hosted by comedian Joel Dommett, who did a lot of the heavy listing, as he counted down the top 100 videos, alongside sharing facts and figures about what else is successful on the video sharing app, and how rich some of the content creators may actually be.

This is based on three books by Richard Curtis, so it makes sense that there are various strands that pull together to make on intertwined film. That’s the only similarity to Love Actually, though, really. Instead, we’re focused on a bunch of kids and adults from a snowy village who are separated on Christmas Day for various reasons and need to feel the festive season again to be reunited. It was good, didn’t blow me away, but it was cute. I really enjoyed Rhys Darby’s character and Jodie Whittaker should do more voice work, it felt so warm.

This appears on lots of Christmas movie lists but I don’t think there’s much to make it a festive movie - just one scene in the snow on Christmas Eve. But aside from that, I absolutely loved it. It’s such a cute, gentle story, the pair of them so adorable whether they are arguing or actually getting along. And I was surprised by so many references to mental health and psychological struggles. Way ahead of it’s time! This is definitely one to rewatch, it was funny and lovely and timeless.

I read some of this and then paused for a while, trying to decide whether it had grabbed me or not. Usually if you have to ask the question, it hasn’t, but I dipped back in and actually quite enjoyed the rest of the story. Two people who had a brief holiday romance agree to meet back up in ten years, and we follow the journey to see if they actually show up. Dipping back into what happened then, and forward to what’s happening now, inevitably it is about finding that comfortable love that was there all along.

It’s billed as a Die Hard style Christmas film and it definitely wants to be that, whilst not quite living up to the Bruce Willis legend. But I have to admit, I quite enjoyed it. The story is pretty woolly, and if you know anything about airports and planes, there are plot holes galore. But Taron does a great job as the twitchy hero, and they were really good at ramping up the tension at various points. It’s weird to see Bateman as the bad guy but it was an entertaining couple of hours!

One of my favourite things about the festive season is revisiting all the great films and TV specials that have gone before. The vast array of choice is only growing with each passing year but there are some classics that will never not be aired over Christmas. Love Actually, the Vicar of Dibley’s Christmas Lunch Incident, and these unaired bonus clips from Peter Kay’s Car Share. I’d have it every four years if it were up to me, like the Olympics… It’s just a load of stress at the end of the day. You put on two stone over two weekends, you don’t know what day it is and when your bins or gonna be emptied. There’s piss all on television, then they’ve got the cheek to repeat that twice.

There’s been a lot of build up to the big return of Wallace and Gromit, and so nice that we got it on the BBC before anywhere else. As a story, it was fine, you can’t help getting frustrated with the idiot Wallace and feeling sorry for the weary Gromit, but it was fun. The penguin is the best thing about it. Actually no, the best thing about it was the Ant & Dec joke which I am still laughing about now. Watchable with a great voice cast, but not groundbreaking.

The setup for this was really interesting - in a future where the polar ice caps are rapidly disappearing, humans gather up the remaining snow and ice and attempt to preserve it in snowglobes around the world. What a great idea for a story! The following alien attacks and Doctor figuring out what’s really going on and how to stop it as humanely as possible is pretty formulaic to the series but because of the setting and the creativity behind it, I kinda enjoyed it.

The reviews for this movie had me expecting the absolute worst, but at the same time, they really made me want to see it for myself. It wasn’t that bad, was it? I mean, it’s a great cast and they really play off the Rock being the grumpy one but having to work with someone quite different to him, a role he does with easy. Chris Evans does a pretty good job as the badun-with-a-heart, out of his depth but getting stuck in anyway.

Just wanted to share this video as it’s some really solid drone work and a nice glimpse inside the White House. Not going to get political or anything, but it might be the last sensible thing to come out of that building for the next four years! I do admire good drone controllers because you want super smooth visuals and in a video like this, the turning circle needs to be managed very carefully!

A short novella that features everyone’s favourite maid Molly organising and slightly dreading the hotel’s Christmas party, whilst also trying to figure out what is going on with her boyfriend Juan. The world is always confusing to Molly and I feel slightly sorry for her - I’m not sure that Juan did the right thing here, he knows what she’s like and that she might misconstrue these events… and the moment when he proposes in front of everyone and Molly doesn’t really know what’s going on, I just don’t think that’s fair. I like the spirit of this book but I don’t think it quite works for me.

This is your traditional Christmas rom-com, and the underlying story about writing a column and a weird dating app that just suggests advice and doesn’t hook you up with anyone, plus enemies to lovers, etc etc, it’s all nonsense. It doesn’t work and is actually quite annoying. BUT, I do think Teri Hatcher does a great job, and the guy is almost too good to be true but so lovely, it’s kind of nice just to spend time with them, even if their activities are ridiculous.

I’ve made no secret of how much I love these books and the fifth in the series is no different. This one takes a slightly different format, as there’s no active murder being investigated so Anthony the writer character is forced to look back at an old case and how it unfolded. It did mean there was a bit less of Anthony and Hawthorne interacting together which was a shame, but the story really made up for it. Great scene setting, interesting mystery, and a fascinating ending. Horowitz has said there are many more of these books planned and I can’t wait!

An interesting idea this one, a singleton takes on the festive challenge that a dating agency proposes - twelve dates with twelve different guys leading up to Christmas, in the hopes of finding The One. I really enjoyed the inventiveness of the dates, the variety of characters that it introduced and how we eventually wound round to the end result - of course the real key to our hero’s hear twas much closer to home. Cracking read!

They’ve been building up for this movie for quite a while, and what with Chris McM winning Strictly, there’s quite a lot of expectation surrounding it. It was fun, but it’s not really a great movie. The script is mediocre and it’s a huge mashup of Home Alone and Deck the Halls with not a lot original in there. But Lee and Chris do the best with what they have, and their relationship shines off the screen so it’s quite fun to spend time with them. Probably not going to seek this out again, but would be interested in more from this duo.

This was an interesting Reacher book because rather than him rocking up in a strange town and dealing with the fallout, he’s hauled in to investigate a series of murders. So it’s almost a more traditional detective story, but hanging on the unique character of Reacher, a loner who doesn’t particularly want to get involved and who is also still wrestling with being a homeowner and the responsibility of having ties to a particular location. I just loved this, it was an absolutely chilling revelation at the end, but we move on, and I can’t wait to read the next one.

In my grumpier Grinch moments over Christmas, I get annoyed at the playlists and festive collections of songs that feature ‘Christmas’ songs that I don’t think count. Those songs that are slowed down versions of absolute tunes for festive adverts, but otherwise have no connection to December. To rectify the situation, I set about creating a proper playlist, and in 2017 released the first volume.

If you tuned in to the Royal Variety Performance on ITV last week, you’ll have enjoyed a scene from the new Mischief Theatre project: A Comedy About Spies. You bet your ass I bought tickets to that show immediately that I heard about it. It’s been a while since there’s been something new like this from the group, and it should be the original Mischief members up on stage which is a double bonus.

I was expecting the worst - these movies are ten a penny, right, Christmas, royalty, romance, etc. But I quite liked it, it was cute. Danica McKellar was pretty good, considering what she had to work with, and the wooden boring-ness of the guy kinda worked in his role as stiff-upper-lip British royalty. Even though it’s not exactly an everyday occurrence, it was at least a believable plot and a happy ending.

I liked this one even more than the previous, as this time the threat was all targeted on Starlight Beacon, a huge Jedi sanctuary-style space station. It was like a disaster movie on a ship, things gradually going wrong until it was unreversable, and then having to desperately try and find a way to save as many people as you can. As before, I listened to the audiobook, so great voice work, excellent sound effects and the occasional musical theme I recognised from the films.

I really liked the concept of this. It maybe wasn’t executed perfectly and could have done with a bit of editing but it kept me reading, whipped through it very quickly. The structure of the novel meant everything happened in quite a compressed timeline so it all felt a little bit more intense than it needed to but if you suspend your disbelief for the season, then it was a good read with a happy ending.

Wham! Last Christmas Unwrapped is an unwieldy title for a one-off TV episode that was mesmerising, surprising and joyful from start to finish. The hour long show manages to pack in a brief history of Wham the band, before and after, as well as the history of the song Last Christmas, the rivalry with Band Aid, and remembering George after his death in 2016. A lot, you might think, but somehow it never felt rushed or missing a beat, it was almost perfect.

Not a bad Star Wars book this one, carrying on from the first in the High Republic with the threat from the Nihil. This time, there’s a big expo about to happen but the terror from the enemy brings chaos and carnage from start to finish. I listened to the audiobook and really enjoyed it - there were great sound effects, well used, and that classic Star Wars music underneath, and great voices considering how many characters of completely different styles and backgrounds. Also found the other storylines interesting - Jedi’s getting too close to other people, wrestling with their feelings, etc. Good stuff.

Wow this was a shockingly bad film. The story makes no sense, the acting was terrible and the scenery was so fake. That’s all there is to say!

Loved this. Went into it with very low expectations after the recent run of Christmas movies but it was so good. Very funny, great characters, and that amazing family dynamic that you only get at the holidays. It was pretty obvious how it was going to end before it started, and there weren’t major twists and turns along the way, but even with that it felt quite original and fresh. The only complaint from the whole thing is that they spent ages looking for that tin, it was so important, and then it was just there in the cupboard. Weird. But a small niggle in a fab film.

It’s an expectation at this point, to go into the Strictly Come Dancing final, and now you’re going to be in floods of tears. This one took a little while to get me, but once the emotional showdance VTs started, I was there, I was with Motsi, any notion of appearing cool was out the window. It was nice to have four finalists again, and although we all sort of knew what the outcome was going to be before we started, I was ready to enjoy the show.

I really liked this, it was very faithful to the text and had a great spooky vibe all the way through, without going too far with it. The acting was great and some of the more emotional moments were really very moving. The actors playing the ghosts were great and as noted above Nicholas Farrell really captured the essence of Scrooge and portrayed him perfectly. The only detraction for me was that, whilst I’m used to actors playing multiple parts no problem, the ghosts were so iconic that seeing them in other roles was unsettling and distracting. But otherwise, a great performance.

Dipping into the land of classic albums for my final choice of the year and this is full on 70s rock. More Than a Feeling is obviously a fantastic way to start things off and really gets you in the right mindset and sets the vibe to come. The songs that follow are great, when they are actually being songs. Unfortunately they are sometimes beset by that self-indulgent noodly nonsense where guitars get five minute solos. Blah. But it was the 70s and they didn’t know any better. Definitely worth a listen and a great way to finish off the year.

Had high hopes going into this debut solo album from Lauren off CHVRCHES. It was good, it did live up to my expectations. Interesting production, great sound, a variety of genres, and all with Lauren’s great vocals over the top. I guess my only complaint is it started out brilliantly but seemed to fizzle a little bit. The song for her mum sort of grinds things to a halt and then it struggles to get going again. Why does everyone have to write a song for their mum? But definitely worth a listen and a worthy first record.

Yes for Sarah Morgan and her Christmas releases, now an absolute staple of December reading. This was from a couple of year’s ago and follows the exploits of a family split between the adventure of a lifetime in Lapland and figuring things out at home. I loved it, great characters with lots of history to try and work through and lots of family drama… the only complaint is it felt like the big reunion was underplayed slightly, was it worth all the fuss? But everything else, all the threads unravelling and wrapping up nicely was great.

Honestly, this was such a terrible film but I quite enjoyed it. The premise is astounding and unbelievable, I’m not the most social of sorts but it seems completely bonkers how willing she was to open up to a wrong number. Any other movie that started like this would have ended up in the horror category. I did like the way the story was told over three Christmases though, and it was watchable if complete nonsense.

This film came recommended to me as absolute nonsense but a bit of fun, and that’s exactly what it was. The whole concept is obviously ridiculous, but even within that, the way it happens makes no sense and there’s no internal logic to the story. The main love story is, you know, it is what it is. But, I have to say, Craig Robinson and Joe Lo Truglio are brilliant and are probably the only reason to keep watching. Hilarious.

Semi-final time and wow, what a spectacle this was. Right from the start it felt like a final, the standard was so high, the drama was enormous and the emotions were real. This was the first time the couples had to learn two full routines in a week (if we’re not counting the sambathon madness), and you could tell that the extra pressure was starting to take it’s toll.

This was a bit of a weird book to my mind. I don’t mind reading a not-so-festive thriller set at Christmas, but this one didn’t quite work - it was a Christmas secret santa party for a company but it didn’t feel very seasonal at all. The characters weren’t particularly nice and although the plot had twists and turns it was quite anti-climactic and unrealistic. A quick read and worth logging, but not really one I’ll rave about.

There’s been a lot of furore around recently over the new version of Do They Know It’s Christmas, featuring a megamix of all the previous artists combined together. It seemed an odd idea, and it’s not really gone over very well, and barely made an impact on the music charts. So why not go back to the original and best version of the song and revisit how it all came together?

One of those cheap and cheerful Hallmark-style Christmas movies, I actually didn’t mind this one. The story is age-old - guy comes back from the big city and stirs up trouble with the locals, but ultimately falls in love with the area and with someone in particular and they all live happily ever after. It’s predictable but also done quite well. There’s at least some chemistry between the leads, and I did sort of care about the business so happy that it all worked out okay.

I love this. LOVE IT. After watching the new Steps musical recently, I had to dive into one of their albums and headed right back to the beginning for the debut record. It’s cheesy pop, there’s no denying it, but oh such classic pop tunes. Absolute singalong bangers. The non-singles were a bit of a surprise, H getting really stuck in with an older, more experienced person, but it was all brilliant.

I find Gwen Stefani to be a bit hit and miss but this new album was definitely more hit than miss for me. She’s picked a theme - flowers - and massively run with it, to the point that it could almost be a concept album, but each song is delicately handled and well done. It’s soft and easy to listen to and overall I enjoyed it. I do wonder if she didn’t want to go full on country, thanks to the influence of Mr Stefani, but just held back a little. Maybe next time.

A great, short read. I never realised this was a Stephen King story, but found the audiobook and quite quickly whipped through it. Considering there’s not a lot of time to get to know the protagonists, there’s great characterisation and of course you have to love the escape and how it ends up happening. The way it sort of winds around toward a conclusion is brilliant.

Stumbled across this during a late night YouTube music trawl and love, love, love it. I’m not sure what it’s for or why it’s happening but I’ll take more collaborations like this please!

This was a super quick read, considering there was quite a lot going on with the giving tree and the morals around that, as well as kids having their own emotional traumas and meltdowns, plus the Christmas play, and then all the normal rom-com elements thrown on top of that. No time to get bored, whizzed through it and enjoyed the ride!

I like that Lindsay Lohan is becoming the new queen of Christmas on Netflix, and I think this year’s film was just a bit better than the last one. It’s one of those contrived setups but there’s some good chemistry between the leads and Kristin Chenowith is brilliant as the dragon potential in-laws. It’s not the kind of film I’m going to seek out again or want to rewatch over and over at Christmas, but for our first festive movie for 2024, I’m happy with it.

This was another book in the Ryan series that has all the good stuff we’ve come to know from them - great characterisation, people that you care about, and a murder mystery to be solved. I do wonder if the idea of pinning each of these books to an iconic northern location was more of a hindrance here, as it’s clear the action all happened in Italy. And I loved that part of it, seeing more of Ryan’s past and the wealth, and how the down to earth characters deal with it. Still, we had a lovely ending with a surprise wedding.

There’s quite a good idea at the heart of this book, 24 hours in the lives of a handful of different characters whose lives are about to intertwine for surprising and emotional reasons. I quite enjoyed the journey but have to admit almost all the characters were pretty unlikeable. I think the best friend Todd was the only one who came out of it okay. But still, could be worth a look, it was a quick read and an interesting concept.

Apple Music has been doing annual reviews for a while now, looking at the songs you’ve listened to in the year and highlighting your most listened to albums and artists for a good summary of twelve months of music. I’m always disappointed in my Music reviews though, because I don’t listen to enough variety or repetition (outside of musicals) to make it worthwhile. A lot of my listening happens via someone else’s device and a HomePod, so they get all the credit.