23-08-03 - Thursday I - Barbie @ The Dome Cinema, Sunday 30th August

Yeah, so I went and watched Barbie. It was an enjoyable film, very stylized, and really quite funny in places. Is it the film which will end the patriarchy? No. Some kids behind us were chuntering about how boring it was. I thought it was loud, colourful and zesty, and I liked it. Will I go again? No. But, you know, it was a good way to spend a couple of hours...

TTFN.

20-06-10 Wednesday - Covid-19 Day #86 - I - Watching Films

Last weekend we mostly watched "Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle" and "Jack Reacher: Never Go Back".

I'd been wanting to watch the new Jumanji films for a while, and then I got it free from Sky, which was a nice coincidence. I knew that it was a blockbuster from a few years ago, and I wasn't expecting subtlety, but I did like the conceit that the nerdy guy in real life became The Rock in the game, where he was very physically capable. But he also understood how to play the game, so had the physical prowess but also the nerdy game knowledge. There were a couple of nice touches; I thought Jack Black's performance was pretty good and Karen Gillan was great as well. In addition, she was a familiar face from Dr Who. I'm not familiar with Kevin Hart, the fourth big star in the film, but apparently the kids love him. I really enjoyed the film; it was entertaining in a non-challenging kind of way, but there was the occasional flourish which kept things interesting. I am debating whether to rent the next one in the series. 

The other film, Jack Reacher, was another sequel. I'd seen the first in the series, so I knew what to expect, and on that score I wasn't disappointed. I think I'd actually seen it before, but I must've been drunk because I couldn't remember the plot in advance - it was only as things happened that I began to think that I'd seen it before. And it wasn't until about halfway through the film that I became more certain. I still enjoyed it as if I hadn't seen it before, so that was good. It was reassuringly violent in the right sort of way. Tom Cruise (or his team) knows how to make a film, and I'm tempted now to watch all the Mission:Impossible films in order. I've seen a couple of them, and I'd quite like to watch them all consecutively - like we did with the Marvel films.

Anyway, that's it from me film-wise. 

TTFN. 

20-05-24 - Covid-19 Day #69 - I - Bank Holiday Weekend

I’ve started watching “How To Get Away With Murder”, which was a big hit a few years ago. Everyone seems very unlikeable though, so I’m not sure I’ll watch another series. Having said that, I’m only two thirds of the way through, and it may improve. I suppose it’ll end in a court case. I’d rather watch something like “The Good Wife” though, I think.
I watched “Jackie Brown” as well, finally. TW & I tried to watch it a number of years ago, when we had a weekend away in Tunbridge Wells, but unfortunately the DVD player in the room couldn’t play the DVD so we never saw it. TW was on the phone to friends, and I didn’t want to watch something else that we were watching together, so I started JB and quite enjoyed it. I didn’t realise how long the film was – 2 hours and 40 minutes! That’s a proper blockbuster…
Apart from that, I went to Tesco yesterday for the first time since the lockdown started, in order to do a big shop. With so few people in the store, it was quite a mellow experience. I spent quite a lot, but didn’t actually come home with much – except some houmous and Haribo. And some very nice non-alcoholic beers for me :-)
One thing I have noticed about this lockdown and working from home is that it is much easier to slip into relaxed “what day is it?” mode at the weekends and especially on long weekends. And this morning TY came down to breakfast thinking it was Monday, so it’s not just me – which is reassuring. With tomorrow being a bank holiday in the UK, I am looking forward to a completely structure-free day.
TTFN.

20-05-02 - Covid-19 Day #47 - Where Did The Week Go?

It seems only yesterday that I was sitting in the living room enjoying Teen Wolf, the 1985 comedy
starring Michael J. Fox. Actually, though, that was last Sunday. Last weekend was a time for going back to my youth, as on Saturday afternoon I watched Brewster’s Millions starring Richard Pryor, also from 1985.

I did enjoy hiding away in the gloom of the living room with the curtains drawn while the sun blazed down outside. TW spent the weekend luxuriating in the garden, which was fine, as she is always so busy during the week. If she gets an idea into her head, she’s normally busy at the weekend as well.

On Thursday night I think it was, I nearly caused an electrical fire. I knocked the glass of water which normally sits on my bedside table over, and of course there are a few chargers also sitting on that table. I dried them off and plugged them back in, but after a few minutes I noticed my phone wasn’t charging. When I felt the charging pad it was really hot, as was the USB lead plugged into it. I quickly unplugged it, and I had the feeling that if I hadn’t done so, we could have ended up with a fire, which wouldn’t have been fun. I was a bit fretful after the event and ended up not getting to sleep until 12:30, but all’s well that ends well, as they say. And it means I can indulge my habit of buying consumer electronics, as I need to replace the charger now. The USB connector looked rusty, and the female connection on the charger looks a bit melty, so I’m not planning to use it again.

TTFN.

18-08-05 Sunday - Films

Yesterday we went to see Mama Mia – Here We Go Again at the Dome Cinema in Worthing. I say “we”, I mean the kids & I, since TW was off at a beer festival in Wapping. I actually quite enjoyed it. It was nice to walk into town and then sit in a cool air-conditioned cinema for two hours. The film is pretty much the same as the first, so if you enjoyed that, you’ll probably enjoy the second one. It was completely unbelievable, of course, but then you don’t go to see Mama Mia for its cinema verité style – or if you did, you’d be disappointed... I didn’t recognise most of the songs, but then I’m not a big Abba fan, and they’d probably used most of the recognisable ones in the first film. Having said that, though, Abba probably have enough of a back catalogue to soundtrack six or seven more films.  

The film was showing at the third screen which is new. It’s quite small; it can seat about 40 people. I didn’t notice the size of the room though once the film started, which was a good thing. We walked in and out of town, and on the way home we stopped at Greggs for a snack. The girls liked that, sometimes it’s the little things that please the most.  

Last night after the girls went to bed or otherwise vacated the living room, I watched The Adjustment Bureau. This was much more my type of film. I had a couple of beers to accompany the film, and enjoyed it. Matt Damon and Emily Blunt were good in their roles, but also the guys from the “Bureau” were also well-cast, especially Anthony Mackie. Looking at the wikipedia entry, it was based on a short story by Philip K Dick, and that makes sense. It did kind of feel like there were a few bits missing, but it skipped along with some pace and was there were a few good set pieces. The film was actually included in my Amazon Prime subscription, which was nice; I think I need to start making more use of that. For instance, I know Outlander is there, and that is supposed to be quite good, and there are a number of films I could quite easily lose myself in. So you might see more of these sort of posts in the future – assuming you’re reading this now (spoiler: no-one is). 

TTFN. 

Saturday 16-12-31 I Skate Park & Star Wars

Thursday saw the girls wanting to go to the Skate Park to try out their new scooters. Unfortunately it was very wet and so the scooters kept slipping out from underneath them - TMO fell over several times and has a nice bruise on her thigh; she was certainly feeling that on the way home. It was a bit of a dreary day to be honest, weather-wise, and without their friends to play with, I don't think the skate park held the same appeal. They went over to the play park after a while, but what with the fog and the damp, the slides and swings were all wet and unusable really. We did bump into G & E who had their kids there, and it was good to see them; I think the last time I saw them was when we were camping.
We'll need to go back when it's a bit drier...

In the afternoon TW & the girls went to Chichester to see Peter Pan. I don't think it was quite a panto, but it was good, according to TW's post-match report. So I took the opportunity to go and see Rogue One, the new Star Wars film. It was brilliant, had all the elements I expected to see. And it was long... No spoilers, since it is quite new, but overall very enjoyable.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Just watched this film. Starred Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer. Absolutely excellent. I had got halfway through, but had been watching in installments and couldn't follow the plot. This is worth re-watching, it's a beautiful, knowing film noir. Well done Rob & Val.