Films I've seen of late (April '18)

#28 Valerian and the city of a thousand planets (2017)
Luc Besson's wildly ambitious sci-fi adaptation of the French comic is good, but doesn't quite hit the mark in my opinion. It feels like it's going to up the pace at some point but never seems to get round to it. The leads (Cara Delvigne and Dan DeHaan) are great, but unfortunatly lack a certain chemistry. Still, the CGI and world-building are amazing and you can see that all the money spent is firmly up on screen.
(7/10)

#29 Ready Player One (2018)
Ernest Cline’s pop culture love letter would be a difficult book to adapt for most people, but if you’re going to get anyone to tackle such a story, Spielberg is the man to do it. RPO is more than just about all the film, TV, comic book, music and video game references – it’s actually a film that explores themes of loneliness, reality and corruption. Some of the adult themes seem unnecessary, and its Spielbergian ending feel slightly out of place, but altogether it's a terrrific popcorn movie.
(9/10)

#30 The Godfather (1971)
A classic Oscar-winner that gave birth to a plethora of gangster tropes, it's amazing to think how old this movie is and yet how influential it's been. Marlon Brando's performance as Don Corleone is probably one of the most iconic in all of cinema – a fascinating and sympathetic portrayal of a mob boss facing a new and unfamiliar post-war America. Al Pacino's Michael Corleone is just as mesmerising as (relutantly as first) he takes the family business forward into the unknown. Unmissable, The Godfather is the Godfather of all movies (see what I did there?).
(9/10)

#31 Pulp Fiction (1994)
Comprising four tales of criminal life in LA, Pulp Fiction is Tarantino firing on all cylinders as writer, director and actor. Pul featueres a string of great acting performances from the likes of Bruce Willis, John Travolta, Uma Thurman and Samuel L Jackson – and countless memorable lines that will forever be synomonous with the early 90s.
(10/10)

#32 The Breakfast Club (1985)
A slice of pure 80s teen drama, The Breakfast Club is only dated by the fact it's over thirty years old. Sure, there's no internet, smart phones or Trump in the White House – but it's just as relevant today as it was during the heights of Reagan's presidency. Teenage angst distilled into 90 minutes, The Breakfast Club is a simple idea but is so much more that five kids stuck in detention all day.
(8/10)

#33 Robocop (1987)
Part Man. Part Machine. All Cop. What an iconic tagline! Robocop is a classic 80s sci-fi flick that's more than just a dumb action movie, with layers of satire and social commentary. It has had numerous imitators and remains an enduring cultural icon (even having a Robocop statue being built in Detroit). Great script, great performances and great action scenes. 'nuff said.
(9/10)

#34 Cars 3 (2017)
After the disappointing Cars 2, a lot of work was needed to rebuild trust in the franchise. This third (final?) instalment manages to just about do that with a story with heart and emotion about Lightning McQueen facing up to old age and taking up the role of mentor to a ‘younger model’. Even though it seems a bit odd that McQueen is already hitting retirement (it's only 10 years since the first film), I guess he's a bit like football players who are only at the top of their game for a brief spell. As usual, the CGI is gorgeous. Just don't think too hard about the logic of the 'Cars Universe'.
(7/10)

#35 Alien: Covenant (2017)
This sequel to Prometheus is both frustrating and intriguing at the same time as it recycles a lot from previous Alien films while at the same time going deeper into the questions surrounding creation and creator. Michael Fassbender steals the show as two identical androids with conflicting motives and there is plenty of gruesome gore to please the fans (a bit too much for my liking though).
(6/10) 

#36 Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)
The fourth MI film sees top IMF secret agent Ethan Hunt tracking down a terrorist intent on starting nuclear war using stolen Russian missile launch codes. Packed with high stakes action and nail-biting stunts, Ghost delivers well on all levels.
(8/10)

My latest short film

Check out another short film I have helped to make recently.

I say 'recently', it took about six months to get it made - mainly because the editing process was quite painful (in terms of CGI effects) and life/work got in the way.



Still, I'm pretty proud of it and quite a few people who've seen it have enjoyed it, so that makes me happy. ;-)

This week I have been mostly... w/b 02/04/18

Week beginning: 02/04/18

No. of evening meetings: 0 (woohoo!)
Films watched: 3
Healthy eating: Bad (it's the Easter hols)
Mental health: OK


The post-Easter period is a bit of a funny one as the kids are off school and I tend to keep working. Not only that, there are lots of chocolate and other Easter treats in the house which means I find it hard to avoid the crappy food.


Workwise, apart from the ton of editing to do I had a meeting to discuss an animation project and helped to film a wedding on the Saturday. I don't like working Saturdays, and I'm not a big fan of weddings either but was doing it as a favour. Luckily I wasn't filming all day and managed to head home about 3 o'clock.


We are in the process of preparing for fostering full-time (not for a while yet, though - it's probably still a few years away), but as part of the process we are helping out where we can to get some experience. We had out first proper tast of it this week with a little boy who is just under two years of age that came to stay for a bit. It went really well and we're hoping to continue helping out in the future.


I went to see Ready Player One this week, and entered the cinema with a bit of trepidation (mainly because I'd seen some mixed reviews accusing it of being nothing but a vacuous nostalgia-fest, but also because I really enjoyed the book and knew that a lot had been changed to fit it into a movie). Thankfully, I enjoyed it. It was really good fun, and had lots of great moments. I think I will try and write a proper review at some point.

This week I have been mostly... w/b 26/03/18

Week beginning: 26/03/18

No. of evening meetings: 0 (woohoo!)
Films watched: 3
Healthy eating: Good (ish - apart from the Easter treats)
Mental health: OK (with a bit of a dip)

Well, I managed to miss last week, so I am including that one as well.

The previous week was dominated by a couple of filming assignments - one was filming a conference in Cardiff and the other was a promotional film for an international company based in Stevenage. The latter required an overnight stay (in a Premier Inn, which was a bit *meh*). The filming itself didn't take long but travelling home took over five hours (!) and then I went to the school pub quiz (we didn't win). The following morning I had to go to a leadership training course before being official photographer at our church Easter party. Needless to say, I was pretty knackered after all of that.

This week number one son JKY was ill with tonsilitis, so I had to mostly be on hand to keep an eye on him. I was feeling a bit down at the beginning of the week, but I think it had something to do with exhaustion and am feeling better now. Other than that, it's been a fairly uneventful week although I have been reminded of the importance of tenacity and to never give up on something even when it seems hopeless.

I was helping a local charity we're involved with try and set up their YouTube channel, but they wanted to be able to link to their website to encourage people to donate. I don't know much time I spent on this trying to make it work but couldn't figure it out. I kept coming up against roadblock after roadblock. The only way you can have clickable links to your website on your videos is if you are a member of YouTube's partnership programme, but you can only join if you have over a 1,000 subscribers and something like 4,000 hours of video content. Seeing as this charity has only just set up their channel, all seemed lost.

At this point, I gave up. I said there was no way we could take this forward ... until someone pointed out that YouTube has a special programme for non-profits which didn't have such strict requirements. In fact, you only needed a basic account to join. There were a few more hurdles to jump after that, but eventually .... eventually we made it and now everything works.

I'm not usually a quitter, per se, but I know I'm not the most tenacious of people either. I will keep going at something if I feel it's got a good chance of success. If it seems impossible or very very unlikely, chances are I will give up.

I've always believed in the principle of working hard at achieving something, but equally I feel that sometimes it's important to know when to quit, especially if your family relationships are suffering, your health is falling apart, or you're digging yourself deeper and deeper into debt. Some things are just not worth pursuing if you leave a trail of pain and suffering in your wake.

But then, I'm sure there are instances where people have sacrificed everything to pursue a certain goal (in science or technology, for example) that ultimately changed the course of human history and maybe even saved millions of lives. Should I have just told them to give up and live a quiet life?

Having thought about it, I'm not sure.

I guess it's a case by case basis kind of thing. You have to weight things up and decide whether it's worth it of not. I suppose that sometimes it is and sometimes it isn't. There are no hard and fast rules (although if it means others suffer because if your actions, I don't think it can really be justified).

Coming back to my example, however, it didn't involve sacrifices or long nights or great expense. It just required some problem-solving and a refusal to give up. As with most things, there is a way – you just have to keep looking for it.