Okay, I’ll put my hands up and admit that we couldn’t even get to the twenty minute rule with this movie. There were seven minutes of credits. SEVEN. It’s only a short film as it is, and 7% of it was taken up with opening credits. If you’re doing long credits, they need to serve a purpose: being entertaining, filling in back story, or just dazzling with creativity. This was I think supposed to be a bit of backstory but it felt like an endlessly boring Powerpoint presentation.

I didn’t know anything, if I’m honest, about Van Morrison going into this - other than vaguely knowing some of the bigger hits. none of them are on this album, and boy, does VM go off-piste here. It’s like a kind of rocky jazz, where he doesn’t stick to any of the known rules of music. I didn’t really like it, although I did manage to get through it twice without too much pain.

It took a minute to adjust to the chill Lorde that is on display in this album, I was secretly hoping for another anthem like Green Light and there is none of that on here. But what is included in the album is great, on the second listen I was really into it. Great lyrics and a nice flow, you really do have to be in a relaxed mood but once you’re on board it washes over you in a glorious summer-time style.

Another audiobook that I found in my Audible library and I have no idea why. Did I buy it? Was it a freebie at some point? Nevertheless, I gave it a quick listen and rocketed through it quickly. It’s good, a nice way to encourage kids to get out from under the stresses of daily life and stretch their imaginations a bit. A magical little story, that I think I would have loved as a kid.

At first, I thought this movie might be okay, it wasn’t really making a heap of sense but it was really well shot and good to look at, and there seemed to be some proper moral debates at work. But it soon descended into nonsense and there is no better way of describing it than The Guardian’s review: ‘Batman v Superman is 153 minutes of a grown man whacking two dolls together.’

I thought this was going to be a book about the highs and lows of living on a canal boat, and of course it was partly that, but there was a lot more to it than just navigating locks and finding a spot to stop for the night. This is more about the author’s search to find herself, someone a bit lost and looking for the way forward, having survived some personal traumas. It was good not just to hear the romantic side about life on the water, there were plenty of negatives too. The book wasn’t quite what I had expected, but it was well written and detailed an interesting journey.

What I liked about this book was how natural and unassuming the writing is, it’s as if you’re sitting in the pub having a chat with the author, rather than reading the first in a series of books about his walks with his son. It’s breezy and startlingly honest in places, detailing the trip from inception to completion, and all the mis-steps along the way (getting lost, shouting at each other, coming to terms with one half being stronger than the other). A really good, relaxing book to read, and more to follow - I can’t wait to see what the pair get up to next.

After a particularly bad day, all I wanted was some trashy pictures to watch on TV and where better to look for some trashy popcorn movie than Netflix? This popped up as recommended for me and so there was no excuse but to dive right in. The first ten or fifteen minutes weren’t promising, although the friend was quite a lot of fun. Nothing about it was unpredictable or surprising (except how amazing Christina Milian looks?) and it came to a hugely expected and clichéd ending.

This was an interesting experience. First up, as a musical, it was so-so. I’m not a huge fan of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hip-hop style, it feels like words thrown together in the hopes it might work whereas I like a bit more structure to it. But that’s fine, it was way better than Hamilton, anyway.

I’ve previously watched all the James Bond movies to date, pending Time to Die, in a big journey from the opening credits of Dr. No to the closing sequence of Spectre. It was a heck of a ride full of highs and lows and good action sequences and questionable moments, and I loved it. So having completed the movies, tick, tick, tick, what next? I decided I wanted to read the books - a series of 12 novels and 2 collections of short stories published between 1953 and 1966. In my research on the books, I found that Audible had the full series of audiobooks read by an outstanding selection of authors. I mean, just get a look at these names:

I listened to this primarily because it was the key song in CODA, but of course I’m also aware of Joni Mitchell and Both Sides Now in particular for the heartbreaking Emma Thompson in Love Actually. So it’s pretty wedged into my brain culturally. I was expecting the rest of the album to be similar, wistful, in all honesty a bit depressing. There certainly was a lot of that on there, but also more upbeat numbers too - Chelsea Morning was a nice early surprise. Where I had maybe been a bit nervous of dipping a toe in the Joni Mitchell waters, now I’m curious to hear more.

The first listen through took a bit of an adjustment, I was expecting all-out bombastic Killers anthems, but this is not that. It’s a superbly introspective, self-indulgent look at the town Flowers grew up in. There are snippets of audio from inhabitants, giving their insight into what it’s like living there. They were fine the first couple of listens, I wonder if they would get annoying in the long-term.

Another fabulous Jacqueline Wilson book, I couldn’t really remember the first of this series very well, but it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t have a lot to do with it. The three friends this time are dealing with looks, appearance, modelling, food, and of course, self-esteem. It was quite obvious from the start where this story was going, but I thought it was so well done - the steps towards an eating disorder were taken so gradually that you felt the same as the protagonist all the way through. It surely wasn’t a big deal to do this, and she still had the common sense and it was all fine. Wasn’t it? Very well done.

I was totally expecting this to just be out there action sequences hung over a thin plot, but somehow it was even worse than I could have imagined. The action sequences were good but they MADE NO SENSE. The technology and science behind some of the tricks just seemed impossible and was glossed over rather than explained. A car in space, sure. A magnet that seems only to suck up what you want it to. Okay!

The title of this book absolutely spoke to me, I’m not at all maternal and keen to do my bit for the planet by having zero children, so to read of someone who thought their kid was a mistake and was honest enough to talk about? Brilliant. Of course, it’s not quite that brutal.

The terrorist attack at Manchester Arena shocked the country and had a huge impact on many lives, so it was interesting to read the memoir of one of the young victims of the attack. Freya was there with her friend and was close to the bomber when the atrocity was undertaken.

I really liked the first OMD album I listened to, unfortunately this one didn’t quite live up to my expectations but it wasn’t too bad. There was one song I didn’t like, another of those that feels a bit too much like Ross playing with his sound effect packs, but then it was made up by Joan of Arc and the Maid of Orleans. Not sure this is one I’ll revisit a lot but it was fun to listen to.

This surprised me: it’s a short, sharp burst of angry pop and I loved it! There are particularly highlights, the first song and the one where Avril Lavigne pops up stand out but the rest of it doesn’t pale in comparison, it holds its own. What’s weird is I think I only know Willow from whipping her hair back and forth, so this was a whole new sound and her voice has matured greatly. Loved it.

Given our recent strike rate with John Hughes movies, I was worried about this one, but it was okay. It was old and it was weird, it hasn’t aged particularly well, and it was such a John Hughes movie it hurt, but it was okay. The music was good, and halfway through I thought this could be something really good, but then when the robbers arrived, it took a bit of an odd turn that I wasn’t really expecting or looking for. But hey, we got to the end!

Incredible film. Great story, great acting, great singing. Coming-of-age tale with plenty of layers to unpick: family drama, surviving at school, following your dreams, working with a great teacher, falling in love. And on top of that dealing with being the only hearing person in your family. There were tears at several points, particularly at the end, where it ended on such a hopeful note. Lovely.

Apple TV+ has a great strike rate so far when it comes to their TV original releases. We’ve watched a really good percentage of them and enjoyed almost all with just a couple of near misses along the way. That means we try and give everything come up a go because the chances are more than good that it’ll be worth watching. Thus, we watched Physical, a series staring Rose Byrne as a budding home video workout star trying to break through in the 1980s, whilst also supporting a family and a husband who has his own political ambitions. It sounds like an odd premise and actually the more you dig into it, the weirder it gets.

I read fewer books about running than I used to, now that I no longer participate in the activity myself, but I can’t help but indulge every now and then. This is from the long-running sports broadcaster, most notably known for his stint alongside Chris Evans on Radio 2, and details his own foray into running - from the very tentative early steps to try and improve health, to a huge ultra-running challenge.

There are a few books that detail the author’s escape from the brutal regime in North Korea, and although it’s a similar story, the details of each story are so different. I hadn’t realised that people ended up going to North Korea voluntarily, on the false promise of a better life that ended up being so much worse than they could have imagined.

This felt like the most random of the James Bond books, like a sweeping together of previously unpublished stories following Fleming’s death. Of course it’s fine to do that, but it just makes it hang together a little oddly. As with the previous couple of books, Bond’s growing antipathy to his work shows here too - being reluctant to shoot a female assassin, and letting someone decide their own fate rather than arresting or killing them himself. The last story wasn’t really a story at all, but more of a search by Bond for good eggs in the city of New York. Odd, but still quite fun.

It’s not ideal, is it, having to host an Olympic Games during an enduring worldwide pandemic. Tokyo 2020 delayed their games by a year and still it didn’t feel like it was really the right time to go ahead with it. But when would be the right time? That’s the difficult question. Many, many precautions were put in place and still athletes were having to self-isolate after catching or being pinged about a potential exposure to Covid.

Having watched Cruella, and previously seen the movies, I figured it was worth having a look at the source material, so read through this one quite quickly. It’s a bit weird, from the dog’s point of view, but once you get into it, it flows well. I quite liked it. Going through many adventures to get there and back, I can see why this book captured a lot of imaginations. What I don’t understand is how the Cruella from the origin story movie becomes this fur-hungry monster, but hey, things evolve!

Another Amazon Original short story from Deaver, and I really liked this one. It’s compact and neat but full of the traditional twists and turns. I quite liked that it was from a different point of view than normal - not the detectives, or the protagonist, but instead from an old school reporter, steeped in the traditional ways of making the news, juxtaposed with the new generation of reporters. It was a great old vs new story, and in the end, how both worked really well together. Good stuff.

Goldie Hawn and Steve Martin are a pretty much golden couple of the 1990s comedy genre, so this held a lot of promise right from the get-go! Initially, it felt just like a remake of Planes, Trains and Automobiles rather than its original outing in 1970, but then they actually get to their New York destination so then it becomes a bit more of a destination rather than a travel comedy.

I mentioned yesterday in my post about Riviera that I wasn’t a huge art fan, and that’s true but it made me wonder if it’s because I don’t know enough about the subject matter. A solution to that quickly leapt to my attention - the DailyArt app. The title says it all really, the app presents you with a new piece of art every single day with a bit of background and a story behind the piece. Giving art context really helps to appreciate it and there’s a good mix of modern and classic pieces. Plus if you don’t like something one day, there’ll be a brand new piece along the next day!

This album was fine, which is the only word I can use to describe and I know is more of a diss than it really sounds. But that’s what it was. Good enough music, and I liked listening to it, but it was firmly background music and once it was over I wasn’t left with any impressions either way. It’s just fine!

So, overall I did like this, but it’s very different from the first album and a bit of an adjustment. Where the previous album was a very specific mood, this one was more middle of the road, and it had a real rollercoaster vibe where some of it was excellent and some of it I didn’t really care for.

It’s pretty much exactly what I was expecting - odd, occasionally funny, very dated, with Tom Hanks stealing the show as per usual. I didn’t realised Dragnet had this whole history, lots of TV shows and adaptations and remakes. It wouldn’t have affected the viewing of this but equally, watching this didn’t particularly make me want to seek any of them out, which isn’t a good sign.

I’m not a huge art lover, so it’s a bit of a wonder that the Sky show Riviera appealed to me. The show initially followed the dramatic and over-the-top adventures of an art curator in the South of France, dealing with deception, murder, and rebellious families, all with high fashion and expensive paintings draped along the way. The main draw, if I’m honest, was the lovely Julia Stiles and actually it ended up being worth watching.

Louise Redknapp’s memoir isn’t a particularly groundbreaking story but a nice, interesting journey, with an honest but respectful history of her childhood, early days with Eternal, marriage to Jamie, and everything that came after that. There were some weird bits at the end of each chapter, where it felt like it was going to be wisdom, but then it also seemed like a bit of an interview, but it wasn’t clear whether Louise was asking or answering the questions or both. I thought maybe they would be skippable, but then there were some great interesting pearls in there very occasionally, which only made it more frustrating. Overall a good read though.

I tried to read this once before, and I’m not sure why I didn’t get further than a few chapters, because on a second reading, it was pretty gripping. The initial mystery and underlying whodunit was great, and kept me interested, along with the fascinating time period and disturbing mentalities of the village at that time. The only problem with it was at times it felt a bit drawn out, perhaps too repetitive in places - torture the woman, find the children, torture the woman, find the children. But I stuck with it and was glad to get to the big reveal towards the end, and curious to see what happens in the rest of the series.

I’m not particularly creative in the kitchen - I don’t mind trying things but I need the guidance of a recipe. I don’t really have the knowledge or gut feeling to get experimental. This book is probably more for those who want some underlying knowledge to then be able to work some magic in the kitchen, so it wasn’t completely useful to me.

Another audiobook I raced through, with the lovely Susan Calman talking about her struggles with depression. It’s open and honest, candid in a way you would expect from Susan, but with the humour required to make it a light and lovable listen, despite the weighty and serious subject matter. Although Susan is clear about not giving medical advice and that everyone navigates their own mental health differently, there are some good tips on improving your outlook on life, and it’s always good to hear how someone manages to keep the crab of hate at bay.

Okay, I wasn’t expecting this to be good. So while I was watching it, I actually found it to be more entertaining than I’d thought it would be. Some of the moments between Ryan and Samuel are really quite funny. BUT. But but but. The plot is ridiculous, zipping about the globe and leaving absolute devastation, plot holes and confusion in its wake.

This book, if I’m honest, didn’t really have anything new in terms of leadership lessons, but where it shines is in having something to hang them on. There are some incredible practical examples of the common sense lessons actually working, putting them in context in a useful way. And with the additional insight into military life, it was a fascinating read.

I think I might have seen this before but so long ago that I could barely remember anything about it. I thought it was something similar to The Full Monty but with slightly more brass instruments and slighty less stripping. That’s pretty much what it was, but so moving and funny and gentle and heartbreaking. It’s such a hard situation, because life and technology moves on and situations and jobs change, but there’s no excuse for decimating a community and then just leaving them in the dust.

I wanted to listen to an older album again, and picked out Gerry and his pals for a listen. It’s one of those albums where you’re like, I recognise this song from somewhere else! This time it was Jambalaya - and I’ll be honest, it was weird hearing a song about the Bayou in a Liverpool accent. But hey, the band sing good rock songs, makes a good album, and of course has the world-famous You’ll Never Walk Alone that is now so synonymous with football.

The first time I listened through this album I thought it was some pretty good pop but nothing seemed to stand out. However, second time through, I could start picking out areas of greatness and by the end I really liked it. Anne-Marie has a great voice, obviously, and combines it well with some guest stars and duets along the way. There’s a definite theme of breakup and revenge, and coming to terms with yourself, and I think there are some good messages in there. Definitely a grower, I think.

I’ve seen a variety of reviews for this movie ranging from brilliant to brutal, but I’m glad to say I really enjoyed it. Let’s be clear, there’s very little originality in this movie - it’s got The Mummy, Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, Tomb Raider, Romancing the Stone, and probably many more. But it embraces that and works within it’s boundaries to create a fun adventure movie. Switch off and prepare to enjoy it and you probably will.

I don’t remember why I had this audiobook nestled away in my Audible library, but it made for a good, quick listen while I was doing some chores. It was so well read by Martin Jarvis that you really felt the grumpy childish nature of dear William. I like the style of these older children’s books too, similar to Paddington and some of the Enid Blyton books, where your main character goes on a variety of different adventures, so each chapter is effectively a short story. It feels like you’re just dipping along for the adventure before dipping back out again. Very nice.

I think Tony Robinson mentioned this book on one of this many TV shows following him on a walking adventure, and I was intrigued. The book is very much of two halves - the first an insight into time Orwell spent boarding in slum houses and with a variety of grisly neighbours and landlords, and the second a very political treaty into the merits and perils of socialism.

Interesting book this one, you could feel the fact that it was originally published in four parts but it still worked well as a whole. I thought it was going to be the traditional rom-com, but actually it had quite a few more layers than I was expecting and a lot more depth. The only trouble is, because of the cliffhangers, there are some moments that seem put in there for no purpose, they don’t serve the wider story really.

This is a movie from the same people that brought us John Wick and you can feel that every time there’s a fight sequence. It’s pretty derivative of its sister movie, but still, an entertaining ride. I like how it’s put together, the montage at the beginning tells you so much in such a short space of time, it’s well done.

It’s amazing to think this is Madonna’s debut album, starting her career with such great songs as Borderline and Holiday. Although it does sound of its time on the whole, there are elements of this album that are also timeless - Madonna’s signature sound being one of them. It’s a short album but packs a powerful punch and kicks off a long-lived and ever-changing career.

Really good album this one! Quirky and fun, although some serious tracks along the way, but great lyrics and good beats to bop along to. It’s unmistakeably Barenaked Ladies, they have that signature sound that you can’t miss, but that means you can just sink in and enjoy. A couple of the tracks stand out more than others, but it also works well as a whole, and is definitely one that will be worth listening to again and again to pick more out of it each time.

A fun fact from Disney’s behind the scenes of the recent Loki series is that the God of Mischief has been on the big screen for less than two hours out of the fifty or so available in The Infinity Saga. Two hours across ten years, and yet this character is so incredible popular. I saw one of those weird bracket competitions on Twitter for who was the MCU’s best villain and it came down to Thanos vs Loki. Villain is a bit harsh for the Asgardian scamp, and I don’t actually know who won out of the two of those, but it does show how popular he really is.