I read this because of the upcoming film so as not to go through a repeat of the Orient Express situation - was a bit disappointed by the end and the resolution of the mystery. This time I wanted to be forewarned and thankfully it wasn’t a disappointment. It’s an interesting book because the set up takes a significantly long time to complete, and then suddenly there’s more than one dead body to deal with. I think I sort of guessed who did it but I had no idea how or how it all actually unravelled. Good story and now can’t wait to see the movie.

I love, love, love Taskmaster, and I can’t fault the dedication of Alex Horne to allow the public to get involved like this - there’s a board game, there’s a previous book, and now there’s this adventure. It’s not just a bunch more tasks to play at your leisure, there’s also an underlying game afoot. For each task, there’s a clue that apparently leads to the head of the Taskmaster.

The struggle of this book is that’s trying to be two things at once - a memoir, and then a manifesto about solving climate change. Both were interesting but I’m not 100% sure how well they fit together. However, it’s well written, full of the arrogance that helps someone get this kind of success in business, but equally humble enough to not alienate you. The climate stuff towards the end was where I really got interested - the vegan football team is absolutely fascinating.

In 2021, I managed to read and review about 150 titles in my Books section, which has to be an all-time record. I say titles, rather than books, because some of them were shorts, some reference, some audiobooks, there’s a mish-mash of stuff I’ve enjoyed all year long. But even so, that’s still a lot to have managed to get through. Partly that’s because of the ongoing efforts to Hibernate for Health, but also because I’ve become absolutely obsessed with reading and do it every minute I can - cleaning my teeth, waiting for the kettle to boil, when I’m supposed to be sleeping, you know the kind of thing.

I didn’t want to watch this movie directly after Silent Night, as I thought it would be a bit too similar - apocalypse ready to annihilate earth and all. But actually, it was surprisingly similar to Ron’s Gone Wrong. The big tech company basically making all the wrong decisions and the world just going along for the ride. Huge cast and they did a great job with this movie, it was hilarious and horrifying in equal measure. All too believable.

Over this holiday period, I’ve finally managed to listen to series nine of John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme. If you’re not aware of it, this is a fantastic radio sketch programme featuring John and friends covering everything from social awkwardness, new twists on old classics, incredible storytelling and every now and again some really moving stuff. Series nine was different, there were the logistical implications of recording during a pandemic and that gave Mr Finnemore the chance to experiment with the format - this time there was an over-arching narrative, told backwards, with a different featured character each episode going back through the generations. The man himself admitted it’s hard to explain, that if you don’t get it after a couple of episodes, you probably won’t, and he knows it won’t be for everyone.

This was SUCH a good film… right up until the moment that it wasn’t. Ron is, obviously, hugely adorable and we all want one. And the story about friendship, about social media, about looking up into the real world every now and then, it’s all good and quite moving in places. Plus Rob Delaney as some kind of evil Tim Cook/Steve Jobs is brilliant.

Keeping track of what films are coming out when has been pretty difficult over the last couple of years, partly because of delays to release dates for obvious reasons, but also because it’s never quite clear how something is going to hit our screens. With a deep desire not to go to the cinema, I’m reliant on streaming options instead, and whilst it’s getting better all the time (Disney+ early releases, Apple TV rent it whilst in cinemas, etc), knowing when this stuff will be available is hard.

Oh thank god this is over. What a terrible final book, no wonder the movie was no good either. This series started out so well and just went downhill steadily until diving off a cliff. The first half of this book is about Bella’s unexpected pregnancy, which is biologically weird and turns into a totally gross few chapters. The second half is all about lots of random vampires turning up, lots of training, and lots of soul searching about what’s right and what’s wrong… for a fight that never actually happens. What a waste!

It’s become a tradition for me to write a new year post on this site, setting out what goals I’m going to try and fail at over the coming twelve months. Last year’s post was a little bit different, as we were all worn down by a pandemic that didn’t seem to be ending any time soon. I finished that post with the optimistic thought: “So here’s to 2021, and hoping that this time next year, we can all start making proper resolutions again.”

This is the final book that Forester wrote in the Hornblower series and it was sadly cut short by the author’s death, so the actual story is left unfinished. It’s a real shame because it was building up to be a good one - Hornblower turning spy is something that would be really interesting, especially given how wretched he can get turning over what’s right and wrong and morals and that kind of thing.

I can’t believe I’ve never seen this film before, it’s brilliant! We only finally got around to watching it now because it turns out it’s a New Year’s Eve movie and we needed something to break the funk of Silent Night. It’s so good. The two stars are wonderful in their own right but also have great chemistry together, as friends and as potential romantic interests too.

Somehow another year of music has flown by, I’ve banked another 100 albums, both new and old, and now I have to decide which were the cream of the crop and which weren’t worth the download speeds. Each week, for fifty weeks, I’ve listened to one new album (usually from this year, or 2020 at a push), and one older album (any time before that), and have listened to each twice because I’ve found just one listen through isn’t always enough to full appreciate what’s going on.

Unless you’ve been deliberately avoiding it (and you might have, because it’s troublesome these days), you’ll know there’s a Harry Potter celebration on New Year’s Day. The stars of the movies are getting back together to celebrate the 20th Anniversary ready to reminisce about what must have been a huge part of their childhoods. I’m interested to see what is revealed. But I was also super interested to see a four part quiz special hosted by Helen Mirren pop up on Now TV. The show featured big Harry Potter fans gathered in the four houses of Hogwarts doing battle to win a big trophy, and probably some Diagon Alley street cred as well.

It’s fair to say, I watch a lot of movies. Since starting the Film Watch process back in 2009, as of yesterday, the total is 1273 and rising fast. Initially, the goal was to simply increase my knowledge of films, but soon it became bigger and bolder than that. The aim became to watch 100 movies a year, and then to try and beat the previous year’s total, and that was going well until 2020 - the year of lockdown, where the total rocketed to 142. Unbeatable.

This is a really lovely book. Bill Bailey, beloved comedian, musician and Strictly contestant, offers up glimpses of the things in his life that make him happy. From getting out into nature, to spending time with loved ones, to listening to music, to so much more, there is a short essay for each of the items and all of them leave you with that heartwarming feeling the author is looking for.

I finally managed to watch the latest James Bond installment last month, having already had a few spoilers before managing to get it on screen. And then I read a post that sparked an interest in me that I kept meaning to write about… but then Christmas happened and now this terrible year is almost over and everyone has moved on, but hey. I’m still thinking about 007!

So then, what is it? It’s a black comedy, for sure, and a lot of the humour lies in being at a tricky family gathering without the trouble of consequences, so there’s a big battle between British politeness and not giving a hoot about tomorrow. There are some great performances in there, particularly Keira who does frantic trying-to-keep-it-all-together host really well, and Matthew who gradually lets his frustrations show as the night wears on.

This is a reasonable Christmas movie, and a warring neighbours one - kind of the fictional version of the Fight Before Christmas. DeVito and Broderick make a good sparring duo, and it’s nice that they both have relatively good reasons for doing what they do. But ultimately, it is just two men having a competition for no good reason and the women being slightly more sensible and sorting it all out. Plus there are a couple of moments in the movie that haven’t aged so well, and it’s not even twenty years old yet! But mostly worth a festive watch.

This is a short novella that follows the third book in the Twilight quadrilogy, and it’s an interesting book - more because of its concepts than the actual story itself. It’s the first time we see events in Forks from a perspective other than Bella’s, and the first time we really see vampires behaving badly and why they do so. I did like that we went on Bree’s journey dispelling the myths of vampires, but equally, it just reminded me how annoying these vampires are that nothing really hampers them. Back to normality and the final book in the series, please.

Yea, this is two very poor Christmas movies in a row. The thing about this one is, it could be good. There are elements in there that are mildly entertaining but it has so many problems, it just doesn’t work. The most fundamental issue is this feels like at least three different films smooshed together. There’s the woodcutter learning how to be santa (that got off to a slow start, I will admit), there’s the dissatisfied elf heading down to earth (Dudley Moore is great in this, except for those GOD DAMN PUNS), and then the homeless kid learning the true meaning of Christmas.

Combine our run of Christmas films with our aim to work through Tom Hanks’ back catalogue and you get this, The Polar Express. It’s not really been a burning ambition of mine to watch, this kind of mo-cap sets my teeth on edge a bit, but worth a go, anyway. It was what I thought and somewhat worse. I’ve read that the animation style was to get around restrictions on the rights of the book (the author didn’t want this to be animation even though it would be seven thousand times better if it was), so I can see they were being pioneering in their own way, but it’s not great and it’s only getting more dated.

I always remember enjoying this book as a kid - maybe it’s where an interest in cooking came from? Although then again, hopefully not! I remember the mixing up of all the ingredients taking much longer and being a much bigger part of the process, but actually it only takes up a third of the book. The rest is all about the father’s greed and the resulting repercussions of trying to replicate just a little bit of magic. Still fun though.

It’s hard to describe this film. If you’re sick of the Christmas cheer and chirpiness then it’s the perfect antidote. I never mind someone being super grumpy about Christmas and/or being surrounded by kids but this does push the limit on occasion! Billy Bob is great though, at being a terrible human with just an inch of good left in him. The moments where you can see the boy finding chinks in the armour are great.

Last year, I wrote about the top five Christmas television specials, featuring such gems as the wonderful Vicar of Dibley, the ever-engaging Doctor Who and of course, my complete obsession with The Goes Wrong Show. Looking back at this now, I’m a bit annoyed that I called it the top five because… I don’t know how much thought I put into it actually being the BEST five. They were certainly five very good specials that were on my mind at the time, but the best? That’s a much bigger question. Like Ross, I would need to give that some thought, come up with a shortlist, make my final decisions, and laminate the results so they can’t be changed.

Yep, ticking along nicely through this Twilight books but have to admit this was the worst one by far. Very, very little happened until right at the end when a medium level battle took place - albeit far away from where we were waiting with our golden couple. Most of the book was waiting and planning and torturing each other with this love triangle… even though Jacob was an actual dickhead at several points, barely respecting Bella at all.

Aw, this was a nice film. I wasn’t completely sure what to expect really, the title makes it sound like it’s going to be a bit Wreck-It Ralph and deep diving into tech nostalgia. There’s an element of that, but it’s more of a traditional ‘what I learned at Christmas’ story, with Neil Patrick Harris very capably and engagingly narrating the story.

It’s no surprise that as this year’s Strictly Come Dancing drew towards its conclusion and more and more focus was paid on the finalists, particularly Rose Ayling-Ellis, that the number of people interested in sign language increased time and time again. There were several stories on this topic through the series, but by the end, the BBC were reporting that: The director of one firm offering BSL courses told Radio 1 Newsbeat enrolments have gone up by more than 2,000% since Rose Ayling-Ellis has been on the show.

You have to be in the right mood for a book like this, but when you are, it is a wonderful experience. I read through this in just a couple of short sittings - racing through the calm, simple, gentle life of Andreas Egger, who lived the best he could in relatively reduced circumstances. It was simple, and really not that much happened, but at the same time it was somehow unputdownable.

This is such a good documentary, a really insightful look at both sides of a neighbourhood war, with one side coming out a bit snippy but mostly fine, and the other looking like an absolute madman obsessed with Christmas and also suing people - two things you wouldn’t think go hand in hand. The film is really neatly put together, gradually peeling away layers to reveal more and more the obsession and hatred that developed.

If we rewind six months of so, and ask my former self if the upcoming Hawkeye TV show would have been my most anticipated of the new MCU TV outings, I would have laughed long and hard. But then they signed up Hailee Steinfeld, then they set it at Christmas, and then they made all the artwork and superhero uniforms purple. Tick, tick, tick. The season finale was released yesterday, bringing to a close a six-episode arc that introduced a new character to Hawkeye’s life, as well as bringing in some returning faces both friend and foe. And you know what? I loved it. Every episode was well crafted, the banter between first Clint and Kate, and then Kate and Yelena, was top notch, it had a good mystery at the heart, solved a lot but also left plenty of questions open, and it was a heartwarming journey into living with grief as well.

I read through this book in almost no time it all, it’s an absolutely capitvating read from a survivor of Auschwitz with an incredible outlook and zest for life that can only be admired. Eddie tells his story simply, with that ongoing confusion over why such atrocities happened, how people could turn on each other so badly. There are no answers, of course, but Eddie seems to have found peace and tells us, who can never imagine what it was like to live through such things, how to find it also. A lovely, if harrowing, book.

I read this because we watched the film, and it was exactly what I expected - a really good children’s book with some excellent illustrations. It reminded me very much of Roald Dahl in the best possible ways. The film stuck very closely to the book to start with, just a few tweaks here and there, but the ending was quite different. In the book, Nikolas well and truly becomes Father Christmas with the big beard and belly and laugh and older. In the film, he’s still a kid when he has his big idea. The book makes more sense on that front, but I say it’s worth enjoying both!

This is the second book in a row I’ve read where the central idea is great, and the characters are interesting, but there just seems to be a big lull in the middle. Once the big crime occurred, it was really just a book of following these characters around as they walked through a nature reserve in the dark, either acting suspiciously or thinking about their suspicions. In the end, the mystery reveal and the twist were good, it just felt like it took ages to get there.

I, like many other people, found myself crying for the full two hours of the Strictly final - for the second year in a row. But this year did feel different. The 2020 final was a celebration of joy and glitter and sparkles and fun after a dreadful year. We needed that release. This time, although we still need that in our lives, it was more about the couples taking part. If AJ had been able to participate, then all three would have been representing in their own way - powerful, talented black woman; inspirational and groundbreaking deaf woman, moving and strong same-sex couple.

Right. Where to start? The good: Michael Sheen is obviously amazing. The aesthetic of each carriage was incredible. The time travelling story pretty well stacked up, and I liked it. I wanted to know what would happen in each successive carriage.

I only know a couple of Eagles songs, with Hotel California obviously being a stand out classic. And it’s at the forefront of my brain, as well, for being featured as a distraction technique in Shang-Chi. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this album - you never really know what you’re going to get with 70s rock - but I really loved it! Soft rock from start to finish, with some great songs and a bit of variety to keep it interesting. A great way to finish the year.

Alicia Keys is legendary already, and every album she comes out with only adds to that status. This one was a bit odd as it’s a double album of originals and then remixes, so I just stuck with the first half - the originals. There are some good songs throughout, although none of them are stand out anthems. You want a bit of Girl on Fire, don’t you? But Keys’s talent shines from start to finish, and even when things get a little bit jazzy, I’m totally on board. Good times.

I’ll be honest, I was enjoying the movie okay, it seemed like a sweet story within a story and it was going places. But then Stephen Merchant piped up as a talking mouse and it really hit a new level of fun. It gathered speed, and actually became really moving and quite insightful. Maggie Smith is also brilliant, and quite under-used really, only popping up every now and then to ground the story in a certain amount of reality. But it’s all lovely and very Christmassy and now I want to zip through the book as well. Good times.

Four years ago (!) I published a Christmas playlist, having taken offence at some of the collections various streaming services had pulled together. Their festive mixes included party songs that really had no business being on a Christmas-related playlist, other than being good for the office get-together. They got you in an uplifted spirit but were they really true to the name? No. Since then, it seems like Christmas has been a growing trend for everyone, more films, more TV, and definitely more songs, as I’ve had to put together a second volume of the playlist, cleverly titled: How a Christmas playlist should be done Vol. 2.

This was a good set up for a story, people heading out of their comfort zone for a final Christmas together as a family, and I really felt the atmosphere nicely. I didn’t feel like there was a lot of plot to unravel, though - from the very beginning it was clear that the parents didn’t actually want to split, we knew straight away that there had been a miscommunication over the sexuality of our main couple, and all the other ones needed was a minute to relax. It was mostly just like spending time in the company of these characters, rather than actually getting a super-duper story. But still, very Christmassy!

I really loved this book, very well written, in depth and with some lovely characters that developed as the book wound its way towards Christmas. At first I thought we were never going to get there, we started so far out from the big day and there was so much evolving, but we made it, and everyone got a happy ending of sorts. I just want to know what happens next… how on earth is Merry going to manage all those orders in the new year!

Semi-finals!! Somehow it feels like it’s come round really quickly but at the same time, when you watch the opening credits featuring all the participants of 2021, some of them seem like such a long time ago! I really think this is one of the closest competitions we’ve had in a long time, every one of the semi finalists has topped the leaderboard, so how can we possibly predict? Anything can happen.

I’m not a huge stoner movie fan, it’s just not something I have reference to, and you know that’s exactly what you’re getting when Seth Rogan teams up with some buddies for one final night out. It was better than I thought it was going to be, although still a bit of a hot mess. The supernatural angle was only slightly there which made it more irritating than insightful, and I really feel like he could have said that Miley 90% forced him to propose which might have calmed her down a bit.

I really loved this film, it was so good in that it totally embraced the cliches but then didn’t always stick to them. I thought it was going to be another one of those ’let’s go home and pretend we’re a couple’ movies, but it didn’t do that. It threw in a blind date curveball. I loved the quirky family, although they interfere way too much, and I love that there was an underlying friendship, always, and it was just about taking that risk. Lovely. Plus, there was a dance routine to Britney. SOLD.

Mildy better than the third installment of The Princess Switch, but probably not a great film. It was entertaining and cosy, the argument at the end felt a bit over-the-top and really just there to give the conflict that needs to be resolved for a happy ending. The characters were cute though and the village adorable, and I liked that he wasn’t your traditional heroic lead. A medium level entry in the Netflix Christmas Universe.

I love the paint marbling effect in the water.

I know Martika for two reasons - Toy Soldiers, obviously, and then being discussed in the first episode of Peter Kay’s Car Share. This album is very much of its time - strongly 80s pop with a couple of covers in there. In fact, it might almost be missing the peak of the 80s, given that it was released in 88/89. Toy Soldiers stands out as a great track, it also doesn’t quite fit with the rest of the album, where it has such a deep meaning and resonance to it. But overall, a good fun album.

I always have high expectations of a Bleachers album because of how prolific their lead singer is in other circles. This was another good one, and what a great thing to have Bruce Springsteen featured on one of the tracks. I don’t know that is was hugely memorable, none of the songs specifically stood out, but it was very listenable and made good background music (in the best possible way).

This… is a weird film. It’s not particularly well made, and it does that thing where it thinks it’s a cartoon - someone pops their head up and a weird sound effect happens, or creeping through a door to creeping sound effects. Annoying. Despite the quite impressive cast, the chemistry and acting isn’t great.