I’ve seen this before and remember liking it, particularly the music. I’ve a love/hate relationship with Baz Luhrmann’s film-making but this one is on the good side. The scenery and the visual storytelling is perfect. The only real problem with it is the text. I just can’t with Shakespeare and that makes this a bit of a non-starter from that point of view. It’s probably the most accessible the bard has ever been to me but it’s still not what I’m after.

Barry White is iconic, and this album has two of the best songs on there, so a great one to listen to. White has such an incredible voice that I didn’t even mind the song that was more talking than singing (why would you do that when you have such a great talent?). It was a really smooth, engrossing listen and I overall loved it.

I was quite enjoying this album, it’s pretty much what you’d expect from Tyler Hubbard - some solid country bops. Then I got to Back Then Right Now which I thought I absolutely knew as a single, except it wasn’t the song I was expecting. I couldn’t figure if it was an album version or a cover and eventually realised it’s a completely different song to the same titled one by Tenille Arts. So a good album really but let down by that oddity.

This is so good. I listened to the audiobook because it’s read by the cast, and the way it’s structured ultimately feels like a bit of a sketch show featuring the brilliant Ghosts cast. Given that the series came to a satisfying but slightly heartbreaking ending, it’s nice to hear from them again and dig a bit more into the histories of these brilliant characters.

I’m fuming about this film. The first hour was SO GOOD. So good. Great acting, great cinematography, tense pacing and a really intriguing relationship developing between the captors and captives. And then what? Forget all that, it’s not really important. Second half, we’re fighting vampires. And sure, I’m peeved at the twist and too uncultured to appreciate the confidence and art in doing it. But what makes it worse for me is that the last forty minutes were just awful.

Weirdly, I’ve only watched one or two of Simon Reeve’s travel programmes, but I find him intriguing - the book only adds to that. Reading of how he started out with a difficult childhood and turned things around, was a terrorism expert before and after 9/11, and then started his travels around the world. It’s well written and engaging, and I know there’s a second book that I’m keen to get into now as well.

I had never heard of this film and knew nothing going into it which was great because it was a really plesant surprise! The cover made me think it was going to be a bit more of those crude slapstick comedies but it had more heart than that. There were plenty of pratfalls but they were all done well, and it was really funny. I could probably have done with fewer fat jokes because they weren’t that funny and actually didn’t add anything to the film. But the rest of it was so good!

I’m always intrigued by a novelisation of a film and this must be the ultimate, no? It’s really well written, considering it’s in a galaxy far, far away where things aren’t quite the same as here on Earth. It’s pretty close to the film, scene by scene, but it does expand occasionally to give more substance to moments. It does suffer slightly, however, from leaning too much to the now-not-correct Luke’s father content, and attraction between Luke and Leia. But ultimately, I really enjoyed reading it.

The audiobook version of this was read by Freema Agyeman and I thought it worked really well - she put some great heart into the situations, and it felt like a proper old school Doctor Who story. A civilisation being used and abused by aliens, with the Doctor and Martha helping out but not the only ones to save the day, some of the natives show real courage too. A good read.

I remember reading and loving the first two short story collections by Deaver, he has that great ability to tell an intriguing story that is then turned on its head right at the end to make you rethink everything. And this third collection is no different. With any short story collection, there are hits and misses and highs and lows, but overall I loved it. Some familiar characters show up but there are also some standalone stories with absolutely intriguing premises.

After seeing tiny Hayden Panettiere in Remember the Titans, I looked through her film credits and spotted this one that appears to be a Garry Marshall that slipped through our net. Considering the subject matter is taking care of kids which isn’t an area I’m particularly interested in, it’s a very entertaining movie, a heck of a journey and quite moving in places.

I wasn’t expecting it, but the first couple of months of this year have seen a real uptick of movie watching in this household. There’s no rhyme or reason to it but suddenly the bug to watch ALL THE FILMS is back and that means keeping an eye on what’s upcoming actually feels like it has a purpose again, rather than just adding to an overlooked list.

I do find some of the headlines on The B1M videos to be a bit extravagant - it’s the biggest this, the greatest this, the worst of this, etc. etc. But this one about the “world’s most remote infrastructure project” caught my eye because, well, of course it did. The video takes a look at a network of undersea tunnels that is connecting the disparate Faroe Islands and it’s a fascinating watch.

I didn’t know a lot about Public Enemy, but they popped up in a film we watched recently, and that inspired me to listen. It felt very much like N.W.A. and a bit of research proved they were around at the same time and doing similar things, but N.W.A. seemed to capture the public’s imagination a little more than Public Enemy did. I do think it’s a good album but is just missing the hooks that keep you coming back to Straight Outta Compton. Definitely worth a listen if you’ve got some rage to expunge.

I just wasn’t that fussed about this album. The last Vampire Weekend record I listened to was full of highs and lows - the good songs were amazing, but the ones I didn’t care for were hard to listen to twice. Unfortunately for this album, it veers more towards the second genre, less good and there are no bangers on there to claw it back. I’ll leave this one, I reckon.

There’s some interesting ideas in this novel, featuring the Doctor and Martha landing on a planet to save the inhabitants from a massive planet-devouring creature, only to find those on the ground aren’t necessarily much better! The humanised robots are really fun and fascinating, and the way they work together is inspiring, so a good read overall.

So far the record continues that Denzel Washington has never let us down (although I wasn’t that fussed about Training Day). This is a great sporting movie with plenty to say about racism - it’s a bit contrived in that sense, and a bit ‘yay football solved everything’ but there are some good characters and plenty to dig into. I have to say, I would never have expected DW to be outshone by a nine-year-old but Hayden Panettiere is so good in this! Mouthy little precocious child and absolutely hilarious throughout. A lot of fun.

This is the last of the Hornblower series that is currently available as an audiobook, which has been my chosen method of devouring it. I thought this one actually showed some more interesting elements than the previous couple of books, although I was surprised at how much romance was in there. You can tell Hornblower is getting older, being at sea isn’t everything to him now and he’s craving the end of a decades long war. Interesting end to the series, I’ll miss this pompous but self-doubting character.

I was really looking forward to this, Matthew Vaughn, spy movie, great cast, tick, tick, tick. Oh my god, it was SO bad. The pacing is all over the place. The start is so slow, if I didn’t have a crush on Sam Rockwell (who held up this film pretty single-handedly) then we wouldn’t have got past twenty minutes. It got a bit better in the middle (although that may be related to the gin & tonic I had on hand) and then a chaotic and ultimately embarrassing ending.

I never got round to watching the film of this but I’m often enticed to buy the source material that films are adapted from, which is how this ended up in my to read list for so long. It’s a pretty good read, a pretty simple, if devastating idea, and although it’s obviously a dystopian future, there’s something quite contained and therefore more tense about the whole thing. Not a bad read, maybe I’ll get round to the movie sometime soon.

I listened to the audiobook of this, read by Lorraine Kelly in her amazing Scottish accent. It’s a weird story, though, there’s something about the way it’s told that feels a bit hands off. There are long passages that are just ‘this happened, then that happened, then they did this’ like it’s an overview of things rather than the actual story. But of course, if we did dialogue and details for everything it would go on forever. Some of the characters are interesting, some a bit disappointing, but overall it’s a good, coming-back-home story.

It’s becoming clear that I’m a bit of a Kevin Williamson fan - I hadn’t realised this about myself but it’s ever more apparent. In my head, I remembered I Know What You Did Last Summer being better than it was, and I remembered this one being less good… turns out I had that absolutely the wrong way round, this was brilliant! It has big ticks on the ‘bunch of school kids talking meta to an epic soundtrack’ front, but also a solid story that isn’t too horrific and more of a thriller.

Lydia West seems to have a knack for picking incredible TV shows to appear in - Years and Years was terrifying, brutal and brilliant. It’s a Sin broke me so badly I still struggle to think about it. And now Big Mood, where she stars alongside Nicola Coughlan who is taking the world by storm since first appearing on Netflix’s Bridgerton. With two such strong actors in the lead roles, we’re off to a good start with this Channel 4 show about friends pushed to the breaking point by life, growing up, and mental health.

I really didn’t think The Completely Made Up Adventures of Dick Turpin was going to be any good. A new comedy series on Apple TV, launched at the start of March, the show features Noel Fielding as the title character and it leans in to his brand of nonsensical, kind of dream-like situations and comedy. You obviously have to like what Fielding does to get on board with this show, but even if you don’t there may be something in there for you because the guest cast is ENORMOUS.

Enya popped up on a recent Top of the Pops replay with a later song but I realised I hadn’t listened to any and it was about time to fix that problem. Of course this has Orinoco Flow on, or as we all know it, Sail Away. I only knew that song but I quite enjoyed the whole body of work - it’s a unique thing, you know you’re listening to Enya, and it’s relaxing and for a specific mood.

I liked this, it doesn’t quite live up to some of Sheryl’s previous works, and there’s no standout tracks on there, but it feels like having a catchup coffee with a friend. A friend who is sort of angry about life but also quite hopeful that there’s light at the end of the tunnel. It’s a short, good listen, not outstanding but worth every minute.

It took me a while to get into this book, the main character is such a great odd little character but it felt like nothing was happening for quite a while. But then I really liked the way it all gradually unfolded, the mystery of things becoming clear and an intriguing ending with a twist. I’m very curious to read the second book now featuring the return of Molly the Maid.

This is a fantastic film. It took a minute to get used to the quirky, off-balance cinematography, but once adjusted, it really added to the piece. I love it being a time capsule, a single block, people weaving in and out of each other’s lives over the course of a day - initially having a bit of fun, but gradually getting more and more tense, until inevitably there’s a blowout, with catastrophic consequences. It’s hard to say I loved the film, as I switched off at the end with rage at the injustice of everything, but it’s an incredible bit of filmmaking.

There are uncomfortable things in there - Downey Jr’s character, the Simple Jack movie - but actually in context, they should be uncomfortable and they are making a wider point. There are some surprising moments too, and obviously a lot to love about the meta take on the hideous aspects of Hollywood. But if I’m honest, if you take away the controversial things, it’s really not a very good film, not very funny, and I think meta has been done better elsewhere.

I’ve had this in my to-read pile for such a long time and I didn’t realise it was about travelling through time, else I would have picked it up sooner! The author seems to not want to call it time travel, which is odd to me because time travel is awesome and that is what the characters do, but hey, let’s not argue. It’s a brilliant book, jumping straight in at the start of the adventure as our hero Max joins St Mary’s, goes through training and heads out on several journeys with mixed results. There are layers of deception and romance and it’s just a really good read - and the start of a lengthy series, hooray!

This absolutely grabbed me and wouldn’t let me go until I knew what was going to happen. It was so well written, the mystery unfolding gradually, and I love the concept of the seven lies, each one building in scope and deception until the inevitable house of cards tumbling down. Well paced and very readable, I think I was just a little disappointed at the very last scene, it didn’t feel like a conclusion, even in the open-ended sort of way. But small complaint for a good read.

Another good book, this audiobook edition was read by Will Thorpe and he did a passable job at the Doctor’s quirks and Martha’s stubborn fierceness. The mystery at the heart of their adventure was good, I liked how mundane things became somewhat threatening, the autumn leaves a first hint and then the scene with the bats was terrifying. Overall a good, serviceable Doctor Who novel.

The trailer for this wasn’t exactly encouraging but it seemed only fair to give it a go, as the first movie was far better than expected. I sort of wish we hadn’t. It’s barely watchable although surprisingly fun to make fun of. It’s cartoonish throughout, the graphics are absolutely terrible, and some of the concepts ridiculous. From the very beginning it’s like they hit find & replace on the first movie’s script to change New York to L.A. and jet glider to impossible submarine. I mean genuinely, the opening is a scene by scene, beat by beat copy.

Today the UK shifted forward an hour into British Summer Time and I continue to hate the concept. Every year that passes, the time change seems to rock my foundations more and it takes longer to get back to a sense of normalcy, but never mind, I’m in a privileged enough position to have nothing to do today but get over it.

I loved this! Gin Blossoms popped up on the Top of the Pops reruns recently and it’s just such lovely guitar pop Dawson’s Creek style music that I couldn’t help but have them as this week’s album. It’s exactly that, reminiscent of that period in the 90s where it was all sunny vistas and teenage angst and really great soundtracks to go with them.

There’s nothing particularly remarkable about this Spanish-language album from Shakira but it’s very listenable, great pop beats, veering into regaton on occasion, and with her excellent vocals and the odd shout of ‘Shakira, Shakira’ to seal things off. A good album all things considered!

I was really expecting this to be a disappointing film, particularly after giving up on the Arnie comedy Twins recently. But it was far better than it had any right to be. I mean, in reality this film is predominantly Schwarzenegger hanging around with six year olds and being completely adorable. But there are other elements of comedy that prop it up, the partner is brilliant, the baddies cartoonish, and the happy ending a satisfying one.

The first actual item of clothing I knitted was of mixed success so it’s taken me a while to try again. This time I went for a cardigan, as I’m a big cardigan wearer, using this free pattern. There are SO many cardigan patterns out there but I started with this one because it said all the good key words ’easy’, ‘beginner’, ’everyday’.

Loved this. There’s something about books like these that really get under your skin - just spending time with really interesting characters and hearing about the minutae of their lives. When it’s well written like this, as we know Nina Stibbe can do so well, it’s absolutely a pleasure to read, like dipping into a bath of engaging story and being disappointed when you have to pause, or the book ends. Loved it.

This film has such potential, but it doesn’t quite hit the highs it could. It’s a great idea, rich for mining - all the way through I kept thinking what a great television spin-off could come out of this. Kurt Russell is fab, there are some great cinematic choices and it’s generally an entertaining ride. But it’s definitely not perfect: the pacing feels off, very slow to get going, hours wasted at the start and then rush, rush, everyone dies, escape achieved, credits roll. There are some glaring plot problems (what is a jet glider and how does it work?) but it’s all wonderfully eighties and a lot of fun.

Really love this post from earlier in the month that celebrates the fifty year anniversary of Dolly Parton’s I Will Always Love You. It’s an incredible song and means different things depending on the version you listen to - Dolly’s soft-spoken heart-felt love song is the original and best, but Whitney’s passionate belting out of the track is absolutely iconic.

It’s not perfect - takes a long time to get going, and if we’re being honest, there’s not a particular story of substance in there. It’s really hanging a lot on Paul Rudd’s shoulders but thankfully he carries it off. I laughed a lot and it has a good message about people being themselves and sticking up for your friends, and it finished on a happy ending. Good times!

This is obviously a super popular book and one that has seemed to kickstart a whole cottage industry of gentle village-based murder mysteries (including the Marlowe ones I slightly prefer). I’ve kind of been avoiding this for no real reason but finally dipped in to see what all the fuss is about. It’s good, very character driven with subtle comedy and plenty of twists and turns. I did find it a bit sprawling and not sure I totally buy the resulting whodidits, but a good read nevertheless.

Just a thumbs up to Flexi-Hex, a product I pulled out of a recent delivery box and was pleasantly surprised by. Rather than the usual plastic and bubble wrap that you find when opening a box of, let’s be honest about it, gin bottles, Flexi-Hex takes recycled paper and makes a kind of accordian style cardboard thing that does just as good a job of keeping deliverables protected.

I enjoyed the first two seasons of Girls5Eva, a short and sweet comedy series about a girl group who had a brief moment of fame in the past and are now back in the public consciousness (sort of), thanks to a feature in a new song. They regroup, literally, deal with the fact there are only four of them now, and start tentative steps towards a career.

I really like The Lightning Seeds and the more I listen to them, the more I realise that is the case! It’s just nice, preppy, guitar music that picks you up and makes you feel good. I love The Life of Riley, but the rest of the album stands up to the opening tracks. A lovely, very listenable album.

This is a really good album, it’s almost like sitting around a campfire with a friend - not all the songs are absolutely going to grab you but they’re all from the heart and telling a story. Kacey has strong song-writing skills and it makes you want to listen along. I’m not on board with all of it, The Architect is a bit on the nose for my tastes, but as a whole it’s a strong album.

I must have picked this up at some point after seeing the film version starring Tom Hanks but this has been on my to read list for so long I almost forgot it was there. I finally got round to it and it’s a relatively quick read formatted nicely and well written. It pulls on the emotions but also keeps a level head detailing a really terrifying situation - the lead up, the actual pirate activity, and the aftermath.

This film gets off to such a slow start that I almost didn’t get past the twenty minute rule, but I stuck with it and I’m glad I did because in the end it’s just an entertaining 90 mins of teenages hanging out at a record store - which is the dream high school job, right? The only thing that rattled me a little was the fact that, whilst they’re all a bit messed up, it’s only the female characters that look to kill themselves or have a screaming hysterical row in the store. That aside, it’s not going to break any ground, but it’s a fun watch for what it is.