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

#9 Manchester-by-the-sea (2016)
A man with a tormented past must care for his nephew after his brother's death. This is a moving and emotional portrayal of grief and the burden of responsibility, with Casey Affleck giving a great performance. The ending is a bit disappointing ... not sure if it's the conclusion I would have liked, but still a great piece of work.
(9/10)

#10 The Post (2017)
Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep star in this period piece that explores the Washington Post's involvement in the uncovering of military secrets, proving the US Government lied to the public about the war in Vietnam over several administrations. A fascinating insight into government corruption and the struggle for the media to exercise free speech, this is a hugely relevent story to today's 'fake news' hysteria.
(8/10)

#11 The Disaster Artist (2017)
Hilarious biopoic of actors Tommy Wiseau and Greg Sestero as they set out to make Wiseau's movie off their own backs only for it to become widely regarded as the worst movie ever made. It's a fairly standard underdog story (Wiseau's initial failure takes a volte-face as his movie becomes a cult hit), but the Franco brothers' performances are brilliant (especially James as Wiseau) and it's kind of inspiring for anyone out there who wants to pursue their dreams.
(8/10)

#12 Inside Out (2015)
Pixar's attempt at exploring the psyche of a child going through a traumatic experience, which is very clever and worthy but doesn't really make sense if you think it through hard enough. This is one of my least favourite Pixar movie's mainly because I think it tries too hard to be deep and thought-provoking. Even so, a bad Pixar film is still a decent movie which says a lot about the team behind it.
(6/10)

#13 Ready Player One (2018)
This is one of those movies I can't help watching over and over. It's a solid guilty pleasure that doesn't hold up logically under close scrutiny, but the plethora of pop culture references along with Spielberg's steady hand make up for it. Whether it will hold up in ten or twenty years time is anyone's guess – but you never know...
(8/10)

#14 Oceans 8 (2018)
Enjoyable sequel to the male-dominated Ocean franchise, this time with an all-female gang (led by Danny Ocean’s sister) attempting to steal a $150m Cartier diamond necklace. Doesn’t quite have the same laughs and wit as the previous films but worth watching nonetheless.
(7/10)

#15 How to Train your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019)
I have always been a big fan of the first Dragon film. It's funny, witty, inventive and moving in equal measure. The sequel was OK ... and so was this, the third in the trilogy. The first film is just so good, it's pretty much impossible to repeat its greatness. There are some minor interesting moments in this final Dragons movie, but thankfully it ends well. It's a definite conclusion to the series and gives a satisfying sign-off for the inhabitants of Berk.
(5.5/10)

#16 Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
I’m watching these Marvel films in a pretty random order but it’s not too difficult to figure out what’s going on. Cap has to go underground when it’s revealed that Hydra has infiltrated the top levels of government. He also has to deal with his former best friend-turned-super-soldier-assassin who's out to kill him. Mindless fun.
(7/10)

#17 Alita: Battle Angel (2019)
With a bit of help from James Cameron, Robert Rodriguez brings the eponymous Manga comic book to life with some impressive CGI and several great set pieces. It's let down by the 'uncanny valley' feel of the effects (they're still not quite perfect), which I suspect suffered as a result of the 3D production process. Christoph Waltz seems half-hearted in his performance, but Rosa Salazar is great as the heroine. There's too much reliance on a follow-up sequel but this is definitely the way to do manga right on the big screen.
(7.5/10)

#18 The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawntreader (2010)
The third (and last so far from this series) Narnia tale for the silver screen, it actually stands up quite well despite the fact that the previous two films were more superior. The diffculty is that CS Lewis' book is not particularly film-friendly and there is an obvious struggle to reconcile the two formats. Even so, it's a decent attempt – no doubt well-steered by Michael Apted's directing chops. Enjoyable Narnian fun.
(7.5/10)

#19 The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019)
If there's ever a sequel that had a lot to live up to, it was this film. The Lego Movie was near-perfect (aside from the gratuitous product placement), and so doing a follow-up was never going to be easy. It does struggle at the beginning, but it finds its feet eventually with some catchy music and slew of expected cultural references – all tied up in a plot that involves going to the Sistar System and confronting an evil queen (or something). Oh, and there's some time travel involved too. When all is said and done, though, this is not the first Lego Movie. Enjoyable, but disappointing at the same time.
(6.5/10)

#20 Lady Bird (2017)
An excellent teen coming-of-age tale that manages to capture the female perspective remarkably well - with humour, sensitivity and emotion. It's 'period' setting (2002) is fascinating, as is the lives of youngsters on the cusp of the smartphone / internet revolution. Saoirse Ronan nails it as the plucky teenager grappling with her mum's controlling parenting style while pining for freedom and independence but also desperate for security and comfort in the place she grew up.
(9/10)

This week I have been mostly... wb 11/02/19

Week beginning 11/02/19

No. of evening meetings: 2
Films watched: 2
Healthy eating: Poor
Mental health: Okay

This week has been fairly uneventful with bog-standard work stuff (filming in West Wales, editing, meetings) and mundane family-life goings on.

I've become ever more cynical about the whole Valentine's day thing the more I've aged (because it's just a commercial envy guilt-trip) and fittingly me and Wifey didn't really get to celebrate it as I was working away and she was ill with a horrific cold. I'm not too bothered, seeing as we had a nice lunch date to celebrate my birthday on Monday.

The one thing that has dominated our lives this week (well, mine anyway) is our malfunctioning Smeg fridge freezer. It started going on the blink a couple of weeks ago, and when we got an engineer to come in and look at it he declared that he couldn't fix it but someone else could (and it would be very expensive). After then getting that someone else to look at it, he indeed confirmed it would be pricey and would take ages for the part since Smeg are useless.

Our fancy pale blue fridge freezer was bought on a whim after we'd received some inheritance money and I've regretted it ever since – even moreso now we have to pay a small fortune to fix the damn thing, and wait weeks in the process. Don't ask why I'm going ahead with this. Just don't.

Living without a functioning fridge freezer is not fun, such is the first world problem that it is. I am constantly worrying about food going off, having stuff that should be cold which isn't and generally paranoid about encouraging the growth of pathogenic bacteria.

Ironically, whatever amount we end up spending on repairs could have bought us a brand spanking new unit (admittedly in boring white, but at least it would be functioning). Arggghh!

Maybe we deserve Brexit?

I am opposed to Brexit.

I am distressed about the mess we seem to be finding ourselves in politically, socially and economically – all thanks to an ill-informed magical unicorn fantasy about 'taking back control'.

The UK is edging closer to the cliff edge and nobody really knows what's going to happen, but the general consensus (even from the Brexiteers) is that it could be pretty bad.

That said, I wonder if maybe we deserve it.

You see, there's this thing in the Bible called 'generational sin'. It pops up every now and again mostly in the Old Testament and my understanding is that it's this idea that when someone sins against God the consequences of their behaviour aren't necessarily limited to the duration of their lifetime but can have an impact on their descendants, sometimes for several generations.

So, here we are in the midst of the biggest UK crisis in recent history and I'm thinking about our national past.

Sadly, a lot of this Brexit insanity is based upon some misguided nostalgia about the British Empire, sort of like saying 'Make Great Britain Great Again'. The problem is, the British Empire is long gone. It was even beginning to fade before World War Two broke out. And it is not something to be proud of (see 'Five of the worst atrocities carried out by the British Empire' www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/worst-atrocities-british-empire).

As we face up to an event which could plunge our economy into recession for an entire generation, I feel like we've brought it upon ourselves. Our forebears screwed over half the world, and now their descendants (us) are paying for their sins.

I recently read a story on Twitter that kind of confirmed my theory: a British guy was chatting to his Kenyan-born taxi driver who said he voted for Brexit. When asked why, he explained that he wanted to hurt Britain. His country had been ravaged by unbridled colonialism and he saw Brexit as a way of getting back at his country's former oppressors. He wanted to see us suffer.

A bit petty perhaps? Maybe, but who can question the motives of someone who has grown up oppressed by British rule? Can anyone honestly say they'd do things differently if it was them?

I know I can't. I guess it proves there's some justice in the world ... unfortunately it's not so great when you're on the sharp end of that justice.

This week I have been mostly... wb 04/02/19

Week beginning 04/02/19

No. of evening meetings:1
Films watched: 5 (probably my personal best)
Healthy eating: Poor
Mental health: Not great

So I'm getting older. Still. Damn these mortal husks!

This week has been dominated by my birthday, which indicates I have completed forty four circuits of our solar system on this ball of rock known as 'Earth'. Yay.

My birthday celebrations have been a fairly damp squib, however, thanks partly to being forced to work on the actual day of my birthing (something I always try and avoid if at all possible, but when there's work I usually can't say no) and thanks also just to the overwhelming sense of time slipping away from me as I tread closer and closer to the time when my body eventually ceases to function.

Oh I'm a barrel of laughs aren't, I dear reader?

Seriously though, I am trying to overcome my melancholic tendencies – but things like birthdays seem to make it a lot harder. I'm sure I'll snap out of it though. I won't be dancing around gaily like some mad loon, but I will eventually return to some semblance of normality I'm sure of it.

This week I have been mostly... wb 28/01/19

Week beginning 28/01/19

No. of evening meetings: 2
Films watched:3
Healthy eating: Poor
Mental health: OK

Plague, Balls and Welsh Cakes

This week I have been mostly working from home with the odd venture out into the open. This is partly because I have had to keep an eye on number two son who has been off school with a cough. I’m not very sympathetic on these occasions sadly as I always default to suspecting the patient is not as ill as they say they are (especially if it means missing school and watching TV for most of the day). Number one son was off later in the week as well ... copycat phantom illness maybe??

One outing I had to make was the local hospital for a slightly embarrassing ultrasound on my privates. I’d had some funny pains 'down below' around Christmas time and thought I’d better get them checked out. It took a few weeks to get a scan but when I did it was a relatively quick and simple process. It was a bit embarrassing having some old dude slap some gel on my bits and rummage around with a scanner but he declared it was all clear so that was a relief.

On Saturday I ended up doing a ton of craft activities with number two son – such is his keen interest in making creative stuff – but we also spent some time making Welsh Cakes (thanks in part to seeing something on Twitter about them and being inspired to do some baking). I suspect my ardent nationalism may have been inspired by these little round treats. Yum.