One of my all-time favourites. Watched with Tabitha; I don't think she likes it as much as I do. I love that about the age she's at now; developing her own taste. I did think she'd like it though.

I'm torn between ⭐ and 🤩 on this one. Allow me to tell you why:

American actors playing ancient Greeks - no matter how good they are - are just goofy. It's just weird. And yes I would've had Greek actors speaking Ancient Greek. That's how much I think this film deserved it.

This shouldn't count against it so I'm not going to, but here's a mini-review of IMAX at Crawley: do not sit in the front 75% of the seats. I sat in row F, right in the middle, which looked on the map like it'd be just right, but it was not. I couldn't see the whole screen at once. I could see pixels, and not just in the ads and trailers. I could also see pan-judder, which is a bit disappointing. Not sure whose fault that is but at that distance it's a pretty unpleasant experience.

In spite of those things - both pretty fundamental, I'd say; the sort of thing that would normally cause me to stew for three hours instead of enjoying the film (and I really felt like I was going to) - it won me over. I loved it. I've seen The Simpsons take on it, and O' Brother Where Art Thou, and I was surprised by how little I know of the story. I should probably remedy that.

People say Nolan took a few liberties with the story, but I think given how this story has passed down, I think liberties are probably allowed, within reason.

The very last scene is so cheesy though. I could've lived without that.

I love these films. Whoever's making them just gets it. It's a bit long, but what isn't these days? Structurally reminded me of the Marvel's Spider-Man video game. Went in totally blind, as I always like to, and really enjoyed all the crossover story elements.

This is so long. It's so long. And I don't know who it's for. Maybe I'm alone in this but I don't care if James Bond finds love. Why have we become obsessed with James Bond being motivated by love? He's a goddamn bullet-proof spy!

It's a shame because Rami Malek is obviously amazing; Léa Seydoux is brilliant. Even Ana De Armas, under-used as she is, is excellent-as-always. But this is just a 2.5 hour movie that could have been a 1.5 hour movie if they didn't feel the need to shoehorn a love story into it.

Every now and again I'm in the mood to watch James Bond, but these recent ones are always such a disappointment. Maybe Daniel Craig is the best James Bond but he is unfortunate to appear in the worst James Bond films.

I wish I could say that this took me four months because it's the fourth book in a trilogy, and that I wanted to savour it. But no, that's not the case. It took me four months because I'll easily go weeks without picking a book up, then a week doing nothing else.

This was a slow book, though. The Children of Time trilogy invites you to a familiar universe, only to create something absolutely brand new. Every book I've picked up after the first has made me wonder how there was more story to tell; more ideas about far-future terraforming mishaps. But he's always got something.

If you're interested at all in science fiction, existentialism, religion, ego, progress, society or empathy, you could do a lot worse than this series. I love it, and am now quietly hopeful that there might be a fifth book in the trilogy.

Watched with Tabitha. I love this movie. Don't even care if it's a 5.6; I like what I like.

I could still live without Andy Dick though.

I loved this. I put it on just for something to watch, so I wasn't 100% focussed on it at the start, but that changed very quickly. Fantastic story. You can see elements of Inception, as each magician's deceit grows deeper and you begin to question who really has the upper hand. I'm surprised this isn't more talked about when people talk about Nolan. I suppose it speaks to the quality of his output that something like this doesn't even get mentioned!

The first ¾ of this is A Knight's Tale, but the end is very different and I enjoyed it a lot. Likeable characters, links well to the main show (though a little hand-holding with some of the references!), and good pacing. Weird watching shows like this with thirty minute episodes though.

This was unexpectedly fantastic. Dialogue, story, casting are so great. It plays like an actual noir, too. Watched in black and white and it looks incredible. Definitely going to watch again in colour, too.

I am a bit sick of the whole "German experiments in WWI" trope but it is, at least, era appropriate and never done with a scary German figurehead to hate.

Another with Tabitha. This is my favourite one but I love Japanese cars. I love some of the songs on this soundtrack too. Need to watch something with some substance soon. These comfort films can get too comfortable.

Tabitha's first watch. I love the first three films in this series and she enjoyed it too. Good brain-off stuff.

A rewatch exacerbated my previous issues with pacing, but I still enjoyed it. I think a rewatch in a year or two maybe.

The cinema was so full. Couldn't believe it - it was almost as full as when we saw it opening night.

This was one of my comfort films but I haven't seen it for quite a while now. Still holds up. Probably more now that I've actually seen some baseball and understand the game a bit better.

It's definitely going back into rotation; I've watched The Big Short and Wolf of Wall Street too much.

A perfect film. A singular, and absolutely wonderful gem. I haven't watched this in such a long time and it continues to speak to me in new and different ways.

I'm genuinely glad and grateful that this exists.

Not fussed about this one. Can't quite put my finger on it but I think there's a fine line between stories having a good quick pace, and being rushed. This felt rushed to me. Especially the last quarter. It was entertaining enough, but nowhere near the standard of Project Hail Mary, for me.

I loved the book, and the film was very faithful to it. I said before that it would make a good film, and I was not wrong.

They only really missed out one bit that I can think of, and that would've been quite unpleasant to depict, so I'm glad in a way. There's a few pacing issues in the final act - felt like it dragged quite a lot compared to the first ¾, but not enough to detract from how I felt leaving the theatre.

Glad it got made, and they did a great job.

I like to read Blake Crouch after reading something I struggled with. He is the sci-fi Dan Brown; great stories, and some of the most awful prose I've ever read.

Reading the acknowledgements, I learned that this book was apparently proofread. I noticed typos, clumsy turns of phrase, tautologies, parenthetical dumbings-down, and clunky exposition. But the story is so good. His stories are always so good. I hope they all get made into films. I loved watching Dark Matter. You don't really need elegant prose if the story is good.

As with The Peripheral, I felt very along-for-the-ride with this book. For most of it I wasn't really sure specifically what was going on or who was who, but I felt like I was always able to visualise something that made sense, and I enjoyed that. I don't get that with other authors. I think it probably means I'm not smart enough for these books, but I enjoy them on some level.

Cyberpunk2077 owes everything to this book, I'll say that. Not only the name "Night City"; the whole setting, the aesthetic, augments. It all feels very similar to what CDPR did with 2077. It can't just be a coincidence.

The editing in this is absolutely masterful; it plays like a film in many ways. You think about Senna as such a senseless death, and it does feel avoidable by today's safety standards, but when you see his attitude to racing - the only things that mattered to him were racing and God - dying in a Formula 1 car felt like the only way his story would end. Seeing the footage of his crash is horrible, and I hadn't really put 2 and 2 together that it was the same weekend that Ratzenberger died too.

Honestly, even if you don't care about F1 in the slightest, if you have even a passing interest in filmmaking, this is worth watching. I found this so emotional. I hated Prost for running to the stewards in Japan, and I extra-hated him for defending himself in the interviews. The fact that it took two years to finally get some closure on that whole thing demonstrates absolutely preposterous arrogance on Balestre's part. It was so satisfying to watch him eat it when they voted about the run-off for that chicane.

I don't understand the Best Picture nomination. This drags, and I was frequently bored and distracted. The costumes are amazing - feels like we're in a golden age of cinematic costume design right now - but everything else is just...why?

Wonderful, and very funny.

I love this. A part of Formula 1 history I really know very little about. There's decent amount of poetic licence and embellishment, but it's so well made and entertaining.

This has aged so well. I shouldn't have started it at 11pm but I couldn't turn it off. Good to have another sci-fi film to watch occasionally - feels like there's been a bit of a lack lately.

I haven't finished a game in so long. Last time I started this I actually got halfway through. I do that a lot with games: I like to get to a point where I've learned all the mechanics and committed them to muscle memory, then I stop and I can never return to the game because I lack the ability to play at the level the game is now at. So I need to start over, but then I just don't.

I did that with Control, but I love the vibe of this game and it's irritated me that I left it, so I started again and blasted through the first five chapters and carried on from where I left off.

The aesthetic is so good. I'm a sucker for retro-futurism, and this has it in spades. I played on Steam Deck and I prioritise framerate so the graphical quality was pretty poor, but when you have such a strong aesthetic it's a lot less noticeable. I would like to play a few hours on some ridiculous hardware though; I bet it looks amazing.

Some of the navigational puzzles, however, were super tedious. They are just too vague for me, and I consulted a guide a couple of times when I was just totally lost and sick of not getting it (and, confirmed, I was heckin' lost).

I love the combat. Some of the enemy-types made me swear (anything that dodges projectiles can get in the bin), but I found it so much fun. There's so few games that are difficult enough to not feel trivial, easy enough to not feel futile, and satisfying enough to make you feel like you're kicking ass, but this goes on the list (the new Spider-Man games, and InFAMOUS are also there).

Big recommend on this, and I think I'll probably end up playing it again, just because it's short and fun. Will probably continue on some of the end-game as well, which I never do!

The last time I watched these two films so close together, I was impressed by the scale and spectacle of this - it wasn't really possible to be objective. Part Two is visually an absolute achievement, but I think the story feels rushed and I just don't really care about it. I think it's too exposition-heavy; some people say some things are going to happen, and then they happen. There isn't really any conflict at all.

One thing I did enjoy was how much more insidious Jessica's character feels, with the context of Dune Prophecy. I also didn't really appreciate the relevance, and underlying story of the Atreides being so tightly bound to the Harkonnen, but it makes a lot of sense and is yet more flavour that was added by Prophecy. It'd really like to read the books but I'll probably have to wait a while otherwise I'll just be imagining the movie characters, and I find that irritating.

Imagine having the confidence to pop the line "this is only the beginning" and the end of a two-and-a-half hour film, then rolling credits on the first part of a trilogy. And that confidence is well-founded; I absolutely love these films.

Every time I watch any Wes Anderson film, I leave it thinking "this is the most Wes Anderson Wes Anderson film". Imagine having such a singular style, throughout all cinema, that someone could say that about your work.

I watched this because I'm feeling completely down about photography, and I look to films and filmmakers like this for, inspiration, I guess is the closest word I can find for it. But not inspiration to make work like this; inspiration that there is work like this that motivates a bit of a mental reset.

It's a good job this has such a strong cast because I found the story pretty tedious. I watched the Next Season On and it looks even worse. I wonder how many more seasons Gary Oldman can carry this.

Every time I watch this I end up saying it's my favourite Miyazaki film. The characters are all so real and heartbreaking; it's easy to forget that you're not watching real people on the screen.

I watched Paul Rudd on Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend, and he talked about the Sex Panther scene and it made me want to watch this again. This is one of the better Will Ferrell films, in my opinion. I don't like it as much as Blades of Glory but there's still a lot of laughs in this film. It's also the only film in which I find Jack Black tolerable.

Such a solid sequel. Equally as stupid as the first one in all the right ways. Very easy for lapsed sequels like this to completely lose the essence of the original but I feel like this carries it well. It's not going to change your mind if you didn't like the first one, of course!

New Year's Eve rewatch with Tabitha. Hard to go wrong with this one.

I sorta feel like Will Ferrell films need a 🤷-point-five on this scale, or like a ⭐-minus-point-five. They're fine, they're just all the same. Same jokes wrapped up in different costumes and settings. Shout loud and say random things dressed as a 70s newsreader, a racecar driver, a figure skater. Sometimes it's what you want and not much else will do.

I loved this film in my teens; it has aged surprisingly well. I liked how they challenge Mike on his borderline homophobia, in particular. But actually it's just a sweet film, and I still find his stupid shouting joke very funny. I don't think I've seen this since Tabitha was born. Interesting from this perspective.

This got upgraded from a 🤷 in the final scene. I'd forgotten almost all of this film, including some of the absolutely godawful dialogue. So much of it feels like stupid shock-value nonsense.

But the way John Doe twists things around to conclude works really well for me. A very satisfying way to tie things together and make it mean something. Even if it's not a lot. And even if the hilariously-poorly-delivered "what's in the box?!" line doesn't just completely ruin any gravitas the scene might have had.

I don't think I'll be rushing to rewatch this.

According to the credits, this film had a director and a writer. I didn't see any evidence of that.

Kinda funny in places but just so, so stupid.

I haven't seen this film since before I started recording the films I've watched. Not sure why; it's very rewatchable. Tonnes of people in it that I hadn't noticed before so it must have been a while: Dr Dre, Macy Gray, Terry Crews. Obviously Snoop Dogg but I'd have recognised him back then too.

I'm not really sure how I'd describe it. It's a satisfyingly linear plot - feels like a road trip. Denzel is brilliant: Alonzo is so arrogant but you can't help but like him. Jake is irritatingly virtuous: he's who good people would be if they had the fortitude. A simple, linear story about good versus bad. I think if you like Guy Ritchie films, and you somehow haven't seen this, you'd like it. And vice versa.

The reason I keep coming back to Coen Brothers films, I think, is the dialogue. The stories are satisfying enough, the characters and acting and sound are all excellent, but the thing that shines for me is the dialogue. They don't waste any spoken line in any film from any cast member, and it makes every moment essential.

This has aged surprisingly well. Genuinely funny in places. And it has a good dog, which is a big plus.

Perhaps my favourite part was when Tabitha said "what on earth is this film?!".

I love this movie. Had a catch-up with Eli and Izze the other day and we were talking about it so I had to watch it.

People really rate this, huh? I like the premise but I expect a little more nuance from Mike Judge. It's just an hour and a half of dick jokes and inability to pronounce polysyllabic words. HAHA

I haven't seen this film since before Andy moved away from Southampton, which must be over 10 years now. Hits very different in your 40s. It's pure midlife-crisis fantasy.

The only bit I could live without is the bit with Andy Dick, but I could say that about any film he's in.

Looking forward to watching this again in my 50s.

Pointlessly contrived story, absolutely no catchy songs at all. But still, the sets and costumes are incredible. If you want to watch Ariana Grande cry for 2 hours, boy do I have a movie for you.

This is exactly the kind of spec fiction I like to read. Extremely well-considered premise, and excellent pacing.

I don't know if this is a common thing, but I find rug-pull moments in books just don't hit with the impact they do in cinema. Because you have no idea they're coming, it's very difficult to develop or detect the build-up and it just drops fairly unceremoniously. Maybe I'm reading the wrong kinds of books that don't do it very well, but I don't think I am. I just think it's so much easier to telegraph it in cinema.

I wasn't going to get this because I haven't been gaming much recently, but I enjoyed the demo so much a few months ago, I decided to give it a go and I'm glad I did. It's the perfect fusion of Roguelike, Streets of Rage, and magic, and it's so satisfying to play.

I accidentally made a completely busted boss-melter thorn build and absolutely steamrolled a run, so now the way I play this game is to try and make totally broken runs. It's quite easy to do. I did a lightning one this morning where I put everything into lightning on Y, got Brome's Y-dash and just spammed Y-dash until the credits rolled. I didn't lose a single death defiance, and had almost full health by the end.

If you enjoyed Streets of Rage 4 at all, this is definitely worth a look. Dotemu are on a winning streak right now.

I remember when I hated Wes Anderson. I don't remember why, but I did. People can be so stupid.

Where on earth did this come from?! Loved every moment of this, so much so that I watched it twice. Would love to see a theatrical release of it.

Why did JLaw make this film, I do not know. I read that she did this whole nude scene because she thought it was funny and I can't tell you how hilarious that is to me. She is a huge star, going nude because she thinks it's funny.

She weirdly demonstrates some brilliant emotive acting here. I know she's a good actor but I always find it funny when people actually act in films like this. You don't need to. No-one's expecting it. But it's so nice when you get this scene that carries real gravitas in the middle of a film like this. She is genuinely funny though. I would watch more comedies with her.

I watched this with my mum and we both said it was pretty funny. Charlotte left like 45 minutes before the end. So if you're Team Charlotte you might not like this. But if you're Team Jasper it's a pretty OK time. It's like a 6 or 7/10. If you want to watch Jackass or American Pie but you've already watched them a load (why?), maybe you could watch this instead.

Watched with mum. I need to rewatch all the Coens' films; I love them all so much.

I didn't enjoy this as much as the first season, just because I find it annoying when some characters knew everything all along and you don't realise until right at the end. I don't like being the only one out of the loop - it feels a bit lazy, in terms of the writing. But it was still enjoyable and I really like how they weave all the story threads together. Looking forward to the next season.