It’s a great story underneath - the twists and turns, the tension, the who-to-trust moments - and layer on top of that a great cast and you’ve got a fab movie. Although Cruise does a lot of the heavy lifting, I really enjoyed the women in this - Holly Hunter was amazing, and I love that the wife came through for him in the end even though she still thought he had cheated.

This is a good opening album, it shows off their interesting harmonies and unique style. It’s a little bit dated at this point… but there are some highlights on there. Another Town, Another Train somehow got stuck in my head. Whilst I didn’t like so much Nina, Pretty Ballerina. But interesting to see what comes next!

I loved this! It’s so Killers right from the start - you dive right in and Flowers’ voice grabs you and doesn’t let you go. There are plenty of tunes on there, and whilst it all sounds like Killers songs, there’s nothing boring or repetitive about it. It’s all quite surreal and weird, and I think I need to pay closer attention to unravelling the lyrics when I listen next time, but I’m looking forward to it!

Michael Palin’s second travel adventure was a direct opposite of his first - rather than going around the whole world, this time he travelled from top to bottom. It was nicer that there was no time pressure, allowing for a little bit more expanse at certain stops, and certainly less worrying about the travel arrangements (although they didn’t always go to plan). And of course it was interesting to visit different countries - particularly as this trip seems to have occurred at a very changeable time in history.

I’ve seen this a few times but not for a while and I could only remember the first hour or so. Turns out there was a good reason for that. The first hour is great - teenagers discovering their inner selves and getting some power and learning how to use it. You can see why Little Mix used this as inspiration for their Black Magic video. Suddenly, though, the movie takes a sharp turn into the horror territory - hard to watch, and really quite disturbing. It lets the rest of it down.

I think I was expecting not to get to the end of this, but I tried to enter into the spirit of it with an open mind. I’m keen to watch the new Fury Road but, as always, wanted to go back to the beginning for completeness. It’s just not my cup of tea at all: brash and boorish and somehow boring despite a big car chase. The audio mix was terrible and I just didn’t want to watch more than 20 minutes.

Ultimately, I don’t think this is a particularly good movie - the premise is ridiculous and there are plot holes so wide you could drive a car through them. It was somehow predictible as rom-coms go, and also made me want to tear my hair out watching these two lying the whole time.

It’s not a story, it’s a snapshot, and it’s wonderful. Scarlet and Bill do an incredible job, and have a great chemistry, considering how unlikely companions they are. And I love how it ends - not laying everything out for you, but giving you just enough hope that everything will work out okay… and best of all you can make that whatever you want it to be.

Picked up the audiobook to accompany me on some arduous cleaning duties, and it was great. I enjoyed this much more than the first one. Camilla’s reading was really good, her portrayal of The Doctor just the right amount of quirky. My only complaint about this story is that the Doctor and Rose spend too much time apart. The moments where they come together are so fun - particularly the scene where he’s using Eastenders clues to help Rose appear to be a genius. But a good story, with a baddie we know all too well, and lots of good space travel nonsense to be enjoyed. Roll on the next one!

As a romantic comedy, this is pretty good but nothing outlandishly special. But as a behind-the-scenes of the movie industry, it’s much more entertaining. Hollywood bitches being mean to their assistants, families sticking together even though they don’t want to, how awful and contrived press junkets are, and so on. It felt like everyone in the movie was based on someone Billy Crystal knew, and probably hated.

I actually thought the first few chapters were good - really feeling how the heart had been ripped out of the family and how the new visitor was making a difference. But the final twist sort of lost me a bit. It worked in the context of the story but I didn’t enjoy the ending as much as I’d hoped. Still, only a short read, nothing lost.

I was genuinely astounded at how much this movie managed to whip through, particularly at the beginning. Half an hour and she went from happily married to convicted prisoner, another ten minutes and she was on parole ready to get revenge. There are plenty of plot holes that don’t quite work - murder is still a crime, despite what the tagline says. And she commits so many other crimes on her way to find the scoundrel that it doesn’t quite stack up.

I’ve never read a book of speeches before and thought if I was going to start anywhere, then Greta Thunberg might be a place to kick off. Of course the messages are stark and terrifying and so important, but what I really thought was interesting was the progression of the speeches.

It’s an exceptional piece of work. It puts you right in the heart of the action, and whilst I don’t totally believe someone would be as reckless as James in real life, it’s a dramatic movie that just ups the stakes. The extended sequence of him diffusing the bomb in the car is great, and when they are on the ridge just waiting to see if anything moves… how can that be interesting viewing? And yet it is.

This is such a good idea for a book - not just a list of important inventions, although there are a few of those in here obviously, but more a list of things that changed the way we think, the way businesses transact, the way the world works. Some of these felt very familiar, I guess I must have listened to the podcast, and I felt they got a little bit broader and perhaps even a little repetitive towards the end. But hey, fifty things is a lot and I’d still rather it was fifty than forty-eight or something.

Harrison Ford really makes this one, the wise old farm dog teaching lessons and generally being marvellous. Tiffany Haddish also has some excellent lines. It didn’t totally work as a movie, and wasn’t quite as good as the first, but overall, as a short film to enjoy with a glass or two of wine, it was good times.

The problem is, it feels like it’s trying so hard to be quirky that you don’t really get any time to bond with the characters - even David himself, who we spend more time with than any of the other vast array of characters, sort of feels distant. I don’t really know what motivates him or why he chooses the things he does.

Yay for going back to the start of the great Lionel Richie’s career. Of course, here he is with his Commodore friends, and that means some great soul music, excellent vocals and a really short but sweet album.

Always believe in your soul.

Really liked this album from Katy, and I’m so impressed that she’s managed to have a baby at exactly the same time as an album comes out. I do think the album starts better than it ends. At first, we’re all about self-discovery, learning to love yourself, and dealing with the world around you.

Not so sure about this one. There were bits of it I really liked, clear Bond elements that you can almost visualise on screen - the car chase ending up in a drive through cinema, the railway escapades, etc. But other bits of it weren’t that interesting. I mean, at one point Bond himself says he’s a bit bored of doing what he’s doing - if he’s not able to be interested in it, why should we care? It did touch upon a lot of elements though - horse racing, casinos, travelling by plane and by sea, some kind of mud bath sauna place, lots of things to visualise.

Mulan is one of the Disney movies that passed me by but we were intrigued by this Premier Access thing on Disney+ so had to test it out. I know there have been some complaints that this remake doesn’t feature any of the songs from the original animated musical, but I actually quite liked that. It was a bit more serious in tone because of that.

I’ve been reading a lot recently, and trying to broaden my range of subject matters too - fiction and non-fiction, short and long books, as well as catching up on some books I’ve read before but for some reason not reviewed on here. One of the things I’ve always thought slightly cumbersome is keeping track of series that you read, where you are in them, which books you own but haven’t read yet, etc. I used to use FictFact a long time ago but have learned that has since shut down, so that’s not an option anymore. However, in the last few days, I’ve been wondering more about the fundamental decisions behind reading a book series, ie. whether you should or not and when’s the best time to start.

It’s funny because none of them are particularly nice people, except maybe the mother. But even our lovely Muriel is a bad’un, stealing money and so madly obsessed with weddings. All the friends are terrible, the father is awful, the siblings not great. But even with that, you just desperately want to watch these people get through their lives, get to where they’re going, find just a smidge of happiness.

I feel like I coped/am coping quite well with lockdown, it’s not a huge chore for me to stay tucked up inside and working from home has been an absolute winner. I’m very lucky. What I have struggled with is the never-ending bombardment of bad, frustrating, idiotic news. After a few weeks of it, I gave up with the outside world and instead threw myself into the aforementioned work, and of course, into culture. It hasn’t escaped my attention that my so-called blog has actually been nothing but a collection of film and music reviews for the past couple of months.

As an album, it’s great. That nice 60s feeling, with some songs that really stand the test of time. Monday, Monday could be written today! Great voices, lovely harmonies, good times!

Hooray for Erasure! It’s a well-known fact by now that I’m a fan of Vince Clarke’s work so was very keen to devour this new offering from the synth-pop duo. I really liked it! It’s very recognisably Erasure and has all the hallmarks of their work that I love, and is a nice escape from the real world for just over half an hour.

This was the perfect film for our mood at the time - something a little bit frothy where the stakes aren’t too high. But it certainly wasn’t a perfect film by any stretch. Firstly, the stranger you meet who turns out to be your boss is such a cliche by now, surely a concept to be avoided? It was predictable in a lot of places, although still heralded a few surprises along the way.

Ah, lovely Sarah Millican. This book is just like sitting down with someone brilliant and listening to their stories, their advice, their lists. I have so much affinity with Sarah that I didn’t realise - the love of stationery, the lack of interest in having kids, the battle with self-esteem. Much to learn and love in this book. And actually, what’s great about it is that it’s not the kind of book that just says ’everything will be fine, get on with it’, but is more like, ‘you know what, everything isn’t fine but you are and you can cope, and if you can’t, I’ll be here to help.’ Which is just lovely.

This is a great little collection of war effort leaflets relating to food, rationing, exercise and generally trying to be healthy. It was eye-opening, because you sort of think of the war and rationing as a time of being hungry and unhealthy, but actually, whilst there may have been a shortness of certain foods, everything else looked super healthy. It made me quite sad to see how we have completely lost the basic building blocks of nutrition. This needs to be hammered into kids from an early age, by parents, schools, shops, governments, whoever. Make it easy and second nature.

The final book of the Hogwarts/Pottermore trilogy, and this one had a lot more slightly smaller entries - little snippets about the Great Lake, about the Marauder’s Map, about various headmasters and about how to get to and from the castle in the best way. As with the other two books, I really liked how the way it’s put together, the different elements linked and small additions and updates from JK Rowling herself. Not a lot to add, but it’s a good read, super quick to get through, and just adds to your Wizarding World knowledge.

It’s been a while since I’ve read an 87th Precinct book, I was obsessed with them for a while and raced through loads. Then I sort of lost interest for a while, but reviewing my old digital bookshelves has brought them back to mind again. I started reading this one, and I think I must have attempted it before because it rang a lot of bells. I don’t know why I gave it up because it’s a fun read, a bit different to the usual ‘someone’s been murdered, whodunnit?’ This time, it’s a bit of a treasure hunt, combined with some murder on top.

Hmm. So I knew of Paul Young basically from Live Aid, and having recently watched a documentary about the legendary concert, it seemed about time to give him a go. I wasn’t expecting there to be quite so many covers on the album, and very surprised to see a Joy Division song on there.

I really loved it, too. It’s just that kind of good, catchy pop rock that comes out of great bands like The Killers, only with a telltale Scottish accent sneaking in here and there. A lot of fun, and I can’t wait to dip into the back catalogue now!

Another of the three Hogwarts books that were a compilation of Pottermore articles written by the author and published on the website. I really liked the list of Ministers for Magic, it seemed like they didn’t last in the job very long even in the good times! But such a long list and such interesting ways that they left their position! Also, I thought the detail about Peeves was good, whilst it wasn’t so interesting to read about Slughorn - I think we knew most of that already, so it didn’t really add too much.

Fun story, band hijinks, and lots and lots of famous faces to spot. Plus that song is really catchy and is completely stuck in my head now. The only thing I didn’t like is it felt like it didn’t really come to an end. All this build up and then it sort of just stopped. But equally, there was so much story that could still be told, it would never have fit into a two hour movie.

I was browsing through some of the shorter books on my digital bookshelf and I realised I don’t remember buying these and if I read them, I’ve forgotten what was inside. I know at the time some people were annoyed that this was writing that was also available for free on the Pottermore website, but I do think there’s a value in gathering things together in an easy package. Particularly this one, which neatly links together a few different topics.

Whipped through this in super quick time after loving the first book. It was odd reading this directly after the other one, as we went back to the start of Dr Kay’s career when he was a lowly SHO and then rose through the ranks again. Just as always, the writing is humorous but hearty and I thought it really interesting how it only takes a couple of years to become institutionalised to working every Christmas Day.

This is an exceptional piece of work and I totally understand why it dominated bookshelves and lists and charts and recommendations for so long. The writing is exquisite - both respectful and thoughtful about the roles and pressures of doctors and the variety of patients they have to see, whilst also having a wonderfully dark sense of humour that is often laugh out loud funny.

It’s a long one, this, and the mystery is sprawling. I quite liked it up until the murder halfway through, all that House of Commons and blackmail stuff was kind of interesting. Once it turned into a murder investigation, though, I started to lose the plot a bit. There are so many people, so many elements to it, it’s hard to keep track of who everyone is and what they are doing. I also think the mystery at the heart of it, once it’s all revealed, is so convoluted, I still can’t really get my head round it.

I can’t believe how brilliant Elton was right from the start. Usually people take a while to warm up to their greatness. It absolutely boggles my mind that he gets given the lyrics and the songs just pop out - such a weird way of working but such good stuff comes out of it.

Short and sweet album from Luke Bryan, who does what he does well and rarely falters. Normally I would have said this was an album stacked full of good country songs but without a standout. However, One Margarita is a great song that really sticks in the mind.

I can absolutely see how this book came about, Adam finally having enough abuse on Twitter to warrant a response longer than the however-many-characters is allowed. It does exactly what it says on the tin and whilst initially I wasn’t sure how a whole book could be sustained by the simple notion of ‘stop being an idiot’, actually, it does a really good deep dive into why we essentially don’t know anything about anything and therefore can’t be so cock-sure that one race is better than the other. Because they’re not. What is race anyway?

It really wasn’t a very well-made film. It’s got an okay story at its heart, pretty derivative and the kind of thing that romance novels are made of, but okay, a beginning, middle and end. It’s so overdone though - the moment where they’re sat at the table and she says ‘He made everything lighter’ as the literal beams of light come through the skylight that he put in. (Also, what moon actually gives off light like that? I’ve never seen it.) Hamfisted and in your face, with a lot of very dislikable characters because their dialogue is so on-the-nose. It’s bad.

Obviously, Romeo and Juliet is a ridiculously stand-out song, but the rest of it is pretty good too. It’s so clearly Dire Straits, their individual sound so good from start to finish. There are only seven tracks but it still manages to take you on a bit of a journey. I enjoyed it!

Oh wow, this is such a good album and was a surprise to me, really. I’m a fan of Alanis’ work from Jagged Little Pill, but if I’m honest I don’t know much of her album work outside that one. This is her first album for a while and it’s like plugging right back in to Alanis’ world.

It’s certainly a step change from the previous two. This time, we see inside the head of the villain and it’s not pretty viewing. There are some pretty disturbing scenes, if we’re being honest. But what everyone is here for, I assume, is the burgeoning relationship between Strike and Robin, and to unwind the mystery. Let’s talk about the latter first: it’s interesting that we have three leads to go on and for a change, they are completely separate. Rather than everyone who knew a model, or anyone who worked with a writer, these are three very separate people. That’s interesting and different.

Love, love, love. After not enjoying the last music movie we watched, it was time to crack open a well-received, critic-approved journey into the seventies. I wasn’t quite expecting the vast array of moustaches and flares, but once I got used to that, it was a triumph.

Clive James is a bit of an institution, a national treasure of both Australia and the UK, and it was with sadness that I saw he had passed away last year. This is the first of his series of memoirs, chronicling his early years in Australia, and the vast variety of scrapes he got into.

I know of this book only because it’s so very famous, and I can’t believe I never read it as a teenager, I can totally see why people love it. Frank and fresh, it’s just the inner workings of a teenage girl’s mind - the concerns and wobbles that a teenager has when navigating friends, family and school.