This is a weird movie, really, it doesn’t feel like it’s by Hitchcock at all. The real suspicion and drama takes a while to get going, after all the contrivances of older films - people meeting and falling in love after a week and getting married after not much more, etc, etc. Once the mystery elements and various twists started, I was intrigued but then the end felt like such a cop-out - it really looked like he was trying to throw her out of that car.
I loved the previous Jenny Eclair book I read so had high expectations coming into this one. I don’t think it was quite as good but it still a really quality work. There’s something about the way Eclair writes that really sucks you into the detail, the human-ness of these characters, and really just how hideous most human beings are - both alone and to each other. The only thing that annoyed me about this book is that it felt like there was going to be a bigger connection between the two families than there was… or that is to say, that it would have more of an impact on the story. But still, a really good read.
I wasn’t as keen on this set of Hornblower adventures as I have been of the previous couple. Most importantly, it was left on a bit of a cliffhanger, as Horatio took on a battle finally too big for even him to conquer and was left to surrender to the French. But other than that, there was a lot of chasing ships and doing battle, which of course there always is, but there wasn’t much else, other than pining over the woman who isn’t his wife. It was fine, but I hope the next book is better.
This movie, wow, I have no idea how to describe it. You can’t help but be impressed by the advanced thinking for the time, and the amazing special effects, but that’s where it ends. It’s SO slow, painful, excruciatingly slow. Beyond the ’they had more time back in the 60s’ pace of other movies and into ’they’re just taking the piss now’ territory. And you could put up with the pretentiousness if it was actually going somewhere and telling a good story, but ultimately it goes nowhere and does nothing.
In this day and age of digital streaming and global access to content, it’s almost confusing when you can’t find something available. I have a short list of items that I want to watch, both film and TV, that aren’t available to me at the moment, and every now and then, I ask Siri to have a quick scout around and tell me if they’re available.
It’s a while ago I finished watching the sequel television series to the hit film The Full Monty - usually if I don’t get around to writing about something relatively quickly, then I don’t bother. But this has been living with me, at the back of my brain, thoughts that I have to get down on digital paper.
For two and a bit albums in the late 90s, early 00s, I absolutely adored Travis. This one was the second of the two and really just takes me right back there. The songs are a mixture of upbeat bops and more introspective pieces, but all of them have that telltale Travis sound with great guitars and Fran’s soul-searching voice. Love it.
The last Anne-Marie album was really good but I thought it felt more like a collection of fab pop songs rather than a coherent body of work. I think this is pretty similar, but perhaps a step more towards a body of work - and the songs are all still fab. It’s just some really great pop, perhaps a bit angrier, perhaps with a bit more emotion to work through, but ultimately, a good listen.
The murder investigation that runs through this book didn’t grab me as much as some of the other’s have recently, but I thought everything surrounded it was really interesting. Nick Dixon, who is still coming to terms with what happened to him in the last book, is considering whether his future is even in the police force, and when he gets involved in the investigation, finds that a lot of people are doubting him. Really good, roll on the next one!
I didn’t think I was going to like this, the trailer put me off rather than enticed me in. But I wanted a comedy and I do think Jennifer Larence is amazing, so it was always worth a go… and of course, it was great! The leads were great, the relationship between them believable even though it was a ridiculous situation, and pretty funny. It wasn’t a laugh out loud riot, but it was surprising and amusing, and drew itself to a satisfying conclusion. Good stuff!
I saw the stage musical of this relatively recently - reluctantly, I thought it wasn’t going to be any good, and left the theatre irritated at how brilliant it was, and in floods of tears. So, was very keen to see how the film version turned out, particularly with Aisling in the lead. It was just as good! Actually, very close to the stage version, and just as moving.
I think this must have been a free Apple book of the week, as I’m not sure it would have been my first choice otherwise. I was a bit skeptical going in, and whilst I do admit the writing style wasn’t quite my cup of tea, I sort of got swept up in the story and wanted to know what was going to happen. If you like Stratford, Shakespeare and the romance of the bard, you’ll enjoy it. The only unforgivable thing is mis-spelling Dame Judi’s name!
Another fabulous book by Matt Haig, I picked this one up after loving The Midnight Library. In this story, we follow the intriguing long life of our protagonist, who has a condition that means he ages about 1 year every 15 normal human years. It’s a fascinating way of telling a time travel story - it’s not about zippping about back and forth in time, but in living through the grind, experiencing societal changes over hundreds of years, and ultimately finding a way to live the best life possible. Loved it.
I really enjoyed this Nick Dixon pageturner, this time focusing on an attempted murder at a carnival. There are layers upon layers though, with the carnival being the first, then squabbling estate agents, spurned lovers, and at the back of it all, Dixon being arrested for previous activities! It felt like the stakes were really high, all the way through, and not just because of the active case, and that made it a really quick and fulfilling read. On to the next!
I continue to find the post-Top Gear careers of the three hosts fascinating, particularly as they diverge more and more into distinct personalities and making their hobbies their jobs. At the moment, James May is winning the battle for best-of-the-three for me, and not just because he makes very good gin.
I’ve ended up with mixed feelings about this album, although the predominant one was positive - I really loved it, there are a lot of classic tunes on there, and Kelis holds your attention well. What I didn’t like so much was some of the explicit stuff - I always try and listen to the Explicit albums to get the full experience, but this one was next level. Some of the lyrics were almost gynaecological! That aside, though, a good listen.
This was released a little earlier in the year and I overlooked it, but I felt like a nice bit of country music and that’s exactly what this is. Ward Thomas are British, and I liked that they didn’t try to be from Nashville in the same way the Shires do on occasion. It was just nice vocals, good harmonies, and strong country songs - an enjoyable listen.
Hooray for another Michael J. Fox movie and not only that, it was so good! I can’t believe it’s taken me this long in my movie-watching career to see it! This film was super funny, and although it had to tread that fine line of poking fun at but not bullying small town America, it did a pretty good job. Fox was great, naturally, but the supporting cast rallied around to really make this film what it was.
I listened to the audiobook of this and it was a bit of a slog to start with, I’m not going to lie. Sarah meets a guy, he disappears, and she pines about it for a significantly long time. I can understand the sentiment but oof, it dragged. However, once things do actually get moving, the mystery starts unravelling and THAT twist I didn’t see coming at all, well then it got good and has actually stuck with me ever since. Perserverence was the key to this one, but it was worth it.
This was a super quick read, following the adventures of Angie as she leaves her small town in Australia (really loved reading about Coober Pedy and googling it later), and heads to Italy to find long-lost family. There’s a love story along the way, too, naturally, and it’s well told, I’m just not sure I was that bothered about the pair of them - some of the actions felt a bit excessive to me, as well. But some very interesting layers to the story carried me through to the end.
The last few Eddie Flynn books have seen our protagonist in significant amounts of danger, or being forced to practice law because of danger to his friends and family. This time, it was a bit of a relief to find him (mostly) out of harm’s way, and the court case going ahead as normal… well, as normal as it can with a compromised jury. An interesting story, a terrifying villain, and a pageturning style - another successful read.
I’ve been amazed by the imagination and creativity of HG Wells across the few books that I have read and/or listened to. This one is another that has a great deal of imagination in it - but I have to admit I didn’t like it very much. Obviously, the experimentation on living creatures is distasteful but I also felt like the main character wasn’t particularly engaging so I wasn’t drawn in. Still, a good structure to the story and it’s well told.
I always sort of remember this movie as ’the other long one that’s not as good as Titanic’ but actually rewatching it after a long while, it was better than I remembered it. It is too long, really, it doesn’t need to be that drawn out, and you can easily see why it’s called one of the most inaccurate military history movies ever. And I’m not convinced of the chemistry between any of the three leads, really.
I hadn’t listened or thought about Duffy for a long time, but when I started this album, it was like pulling on a big soul-sound comfort blanket. Duffy has such a good voice and sound, and okay, it maybe doesn’t have the gravitas of someone like Amy Winehouse, but it certainly holds its own over the course of the album. And oh my word, Warwick Avenue has stuck in my head like nothing else!
I didn’t really know what to expect from this, I like Scissor Sisters well enough but not so much that following their solo careers would be a huge priority for me. This was great though. Proper dance tunes, and some great guest stars. I think the album starts and ends really well, with perhaps a dip in the middle, but ultimately a really listenable and bopping album.
I was looking forward to this book as I’ve been a fan of Davina’s for a long time - she’s bubbly and brilliant but real and down to earth at the same time. The book itself was good, some great wisdom and touching moments, although I did find it a bit scatty how it darted around between subjects and sometimes repeated itself. The only real letdown though was that I listened to the audiobook and there were a couple of errors and retakes left in by accident which took me out of the moment.
We’re working our way through the Bring It On series, now that the first film in the franchise finally became available on streaming. I really didn’t think this one was going to be any good, it has no one even recognisable in it, let alone famous, and the front cover leaves a lot to be desired. But actually, it was watchable. Not outstanding but certainly a lot better than I thought it would be. It does stretch the believability quite a long way towards the end - as if they could get that good that quickly… and where did they get the costumes from? But still, a good message that the ‘freaks’ and the ’losers’ should not be counted out.
There are a few different Timelines books, focusing on specific topics, but this one covers, as the title suggests, everything. It’s such a fascinating book, and each timeline is really well laid out to keep you interested - just enough pictures and text, and just enough detail to whet the appetite but not overwhelm. It’s too much information to take in if you’re just reading it, but to dip in and out of, it’s the perfect book.
This is an interesting book, HG Wells is such a legendary writer with such a great imagination for his time. I loved the description of how this adventure came to be - a chance meeting with a grumpy scientist, an explosion, a decision to fly to the moon and the instant regrets that come with it. The creatures on the moon are pretty far-fetched but still a fun adventure. I wasn’t so keen on all the post-script type stuff. Once home, then we hear lots of details about what we missed. But still, a great read.
Obviously, I picked this up because of my obsession with long distance paths, and the Thames Path being one particularly high up the list. This was a really good read, but it did have me wondering in places - what is it trying to be? There’s a lot of discussion about pub prices and hotel hospitality, alongside slightly bizarre meanderings around the fallout from Brexit. But then there are great river anecdotes, meeting random people and setting up interviews and tours along the way. It’s well written, atmospheric and enticing, but then sometimes frustrating and (as admitted by the author) purposeless. Worth the read, though, for sure.
This volume had a lot of the content from the second series of the TV show - specifically the Paris trip, and the angst around coming out as a couple to their friends. As Nick and Charlie as a couple grow and find out more about each other, so we get more and more invested and in deep with this relationship - along with highlighting mental health issues such as self-harm and eating disorders. It’s all done in a supportive and loving way, and I think there’s a lot more we can get into as this relationship continues (hopefully!) to grow and develop.
Once again, watching the TV show made me think about reading the comics, even though I picked up the second and third volume in the intervening period. Volume 2 is just as good as the first, still in that lovely scrappy fun style and following Nick as he comes to terms with his sexuality and comes out to his mum, and Charlie as he tries to deal with integrating Nick with his friends, and worse, himself with Nick’s friends. A lovely update and now on to volume three!
A really useful guide to having less of an impact on the earth. Rather than coming at this from a shouty zero-waste position, this book is a really supportive look at areas all around the house and your life that you can make small tweaks to have a bigger impact. Of course tiny changes are tiny, but every little helps and as everyone starts doing them, that’s when we’ll see the difference. Some of these things are obvious but some are less so. Great reference book to dip into.
We’re sort of randomly working our way through Jason Statham’s back catalogue - mostly because you always know what you’re going to get. This one was a bit too far for me - it was like an energy drink advertising fever dream. Made me dizzy just to watch the twenty minutes that we did.
There’s nothing smart or clever about this movie but it is such a nice, gentle watch. The stakes are pretty low, even when there is an emergency deep in the forest, and that lets you relax into it and watch the love story unfold. It’s not a great script, either, really, but there are some good messages and moments in there. The group in a circle learning how to come up with three things to be grateful for was fun. Not groundbreaking, but worth a watch if you need a bit of soothing.
This may be a tricky review to write because it’s hard to talk too much about the Apple TV series Hijack without giving away any spoilers. I’m not usually worried about spoilers one way or the other, but actually this series is really helped when you don’t know what’s going to happen next, or who you can trust.
I got to grips with circular knitting needles in the last project, and thought perhaps it was about time I dipped my toe in the waters of double pointed knitting needles - which means I could try my very first socks! I used this pattern for Relax at Home socks which seemed relatively easy and the kind of footwear I would enjoy wearing.
This is an interesting album, the way it’s set up - two halves with the first being penned by Brian May and the second by Freddie Mercury. You can absolutely tell the difference! The first half feels like more standalone songs, more upbeat and poppy. The second half is definitely darker, more elaborate, more Freddy. And yet somehow they do work together, finishing off with the iconic Seven Seas of Rhye.
I’ve not listened to a Rita Ora album before, although I do like some of her singles. This is a pretty good pop album, a nice collection of songs to listen to, whilst not being overwhelming or too deep. It’s kinda weird to think that some of the references in the song are about Taika Waititi but once you can get your head around that, it’s a creative and shiny pop album.
I wasn’t expecting much from this movie, if I’m honest, but it was surprisingly good! It’s pretty predictable what will happen after the initial setup but it doesn’t get there in the most obvious ways, and I really enjoyed the ongoing hate relationship between the two best friends. I’m not totally sure I buy Cameron and Ashton as a couple, but I guess that leans into the premise of drunk strangers in Vegas. Occasionally, the jokes didn’t land well with me, the script seems to think periods are hilarious and some of the name-calling hasn’t aged well. But otherwise, a really fun movie.
This is objectively not a good movie - the premise is weak and there are plot holes you can drive an elephant through - but it was absolutely perfect for entertainment on a super tired evening. Really it was held together by Anne and Kate, who do the best they can with the script they’re given, and actually make it pretty moving by the end. Entertaining but absolutely not one to be recommended.
After a couple of disappointing DNF movies, this was an absolute treat. Goldie Hawn and Steve Martin are of course legends in their own right but together make a dream couple, and the situations in here are so funny, so well done, scripted tightly and completely believable whilst also being pretty outlandish. I loved it, and fell even more in love with Goldie Hawn with every passing moment.
I’ve seen this before, I think, but couldn’t remember much about it. Couldn’t get much further than the twenty minute rule, though, because a) he’s just being Chandler, and I’ve seen that role already, and b) they really don’t have any chemistry or make sense as a couple. So, blah, probably could have got through it but life’s too short, right?
The star power in this movie was the real draw, a huge cast of familiar names and faces. But boy, it was really boring with unrealistic dialogue and a bizarre directing style. Switched off very quickly.
This is the second Hornblower book in a row that I’ve really enjoyed - this time our hero is sent on a difficult mission that requires a lot of decisions and a heck of a lot of bravery. The scenes where they are chasing down the enemy whilst under fire… oof, so hard. And along the way, Horatio finds time for a little bit of romance as well, giving a nice mix of moods to the book.
Members of the Camel Club have actually made a cameo appearance in a previous Baldacci book I’ve read, but this is their introduction and first outing. I found it to be a surprisingly slow book, it took such a long time to get to where it was going, laying lots of foundations and really repeating a lot of things over and again. When it did get going, the more familiar page-turning action was great, and I’m glad to have read this to be able to continue with another series, but I don’t think this will be a favourite.
I picked this up because I had enjoyed Rachel’s three books celebrating the stories of women across different disciplines through history. This is a similar idea, gorgeous illustrations to highlight a topic - but this time the topic is how life on earth works, how everything is interconnected, and of course, how a lot of human activity is threatening the balance of life on Planet Earth. It’s a gorgeous read, but worrying in places, which means its doing exactly the right thing.
