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

#60 The Bachelors (2017)
A husband grieving for his wife moves away with his son to start over, but the pain of their loss carries with them. A solid drama with a good cast of veteran and newcomer actors, The Bachelors deals with grief in a sympathetic and understanding way, albeit simplifying the process to satisfy the needs of a movie structure. A nice little find and a relief from predictable Hollywood blockbusters.
(8/10)

#61 Monsters University (2013)
Pixar sequels are often slightly painful affairs - trying really hard to be liked but not quite hitting the mark as their predecessor. Such is the case with MU. The story – of how Mike and Sully became friends – is an interesting angle, but it just doesn't have the same wow factor as the first film. There are some, but not many, memorable moments and the humor is less laugh-out-loud and more light chuckle.
(6/10)

#62 Sicario (2015)
An optimistic FBI agent is recruited to a clandestine operation to assassinate a Mexican drug lord.
Powerful and dark, this film certainly doesn't give you the warm and fussies, but it's an important comentary on the futility of the war on drugs and the human cost.
(8/10)

#63 BlackKKlansman (2018)
Spike Lee's movie of the true story of how a black man (Ron Stallworth) infiltrated the Colorado Springs branch of the KKK, by pretending to be a white supremacist. It struggles to find its way at the start, but picks up its stride by the time Ron has become fully accepted (with his white colleague taking his place when meeting face-to-face). Sadly, it draws too many parallels to present day events, but hopefully offers a sense of hope that people who peddle extremist views are, ultimately, doomed to fail.
(8/10)

#64 Green Room (2016)
Dark and violent thriller about a heavy metal band who witness a murder by white supremacists (yay! more films about nazis!), and barricade themselves in the titular green room as their captives plot to liquidate them. Bold stuff, but not for the fainthearted - and overshadowed by the tragic death of Anton Yelchin.
(8.5/10)

Oreo update

Seems Oreo have been busy lately, having brought out various new kinds of snacks based on the eponymous cookie. Here's a round up of what I've managed to sample lately...

Oreo Birthday Party Cookies
These are apparently caramel flavour and they have sprinkles in the creme. Quite how caramel constitutes the taste of a 'birthday' I'm not sure but I won't argue with the great Oreo creator in the sky. These taste good, actually. The difference in flavouring from normal Oreos is subtle, but they're pretty much just normal Oreo cookies.

Oreo Joy Fills
OK, when you look at the packaging you think: woah, these look amazing! Don't be fooled. They're not really. They are, simply put, just cereal re-packaged as treats. Admitedly, cereal that is loaded with sugar and all sorts of other bad stuff, but it's still cereal. I say cereal because they're not a million miles from Kellogg's Krave - another high-sugar breakfast cereal - which are the same shape. The outer 'pillow' is like eating chocolate flavour scrubbing pads and the interior creme, while not horrible-tasting, is clearly not actual Oreo creme (because it's too gooey - it's kind of a watered down version). There are other variations of Joy Fill out there (yes, I have seen them) but I'm not sure I'm going to try them.

Oreo Thins Coconut Flavour
I have to confess I love Oreo Thins, almost more than the original cookie (but not more than Double Stuff - oh no!). It must be hard to think up original new flavours though (Asparagus flavour! Double shot Tequila Flavour!), and I have to admit that coconut flavour sounded a bit dubious to me. However, having tried them I think they are pretty amazing. They remind me of Nice biscuits, which I happily hoover up whenever offered, but the fact that these are Oreo Thins - well, it's a match made in heaven in my opinion.