Films

I’m beginning to feel christmassy

bruceonthefringe 2025, Christmas, Cinema, Edinburgh music scene, Films, Live bands Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

It’s late on a Tuesday evening, not one of those Tuesdays, last Tuesday was meant to be, but it didn’t happen as Mr Rough was unwell, the next of those Tuesdays isn’t ’til the 30th, boo; but the Scat Rats are playing Stramash at the more reasonable time of 9.30pm on Tuesday 23rd, yay. The night before, Marah and Rough will be in Glasgow with the rest of Logan’s Close at the Hug and Pint for the band’s annual Christmas bash; I’ll be there too, of course. Just one downer (apart it being in Glasgow), sadly it’s the same night as Blue Christmas 2025, a wonderful evening of blues, r’n’b and rock’n’roll festive tunes performed by Jed Potts (curator of the event) and a bunch of his friends (honestly, the amount of talent in that one room, wow, only for LC will I miss it). It’s like a warm fuzzy hug of Christmas cheer (and it’s happening at La Belle Angele off the Cowgate, Monday 22nd).

Aw sweet, the night before again (so that’s Sunday 21st), the Louis Crosland Trio are on the midnight slot at Whistlebinkies, well, that’s what the poster says. Oh, but that would be a great three night run of great music, please Binkies, don’t screw it up! At least I know they’re definitely playing Stramash on the 18th, but not as a trio, no, there’s gonna be keyboards too! I’m looking forward to it, I’m intrigued. Up until then things are a tad quieter, no bad thing, I’m recovering from a bad cold and there’s a number of films I want to see. Oh, I may wander into Binkies on Saturday afternoon for Louis Crosland solo; I wonder if there’ll be any Bob Dylan covers. Instagram says the Moanin’ Bones are playing there this Sunday midnight, go on, I’ll believe them.

There’s four films that I want to catch before they disappear from the big screen, The Running Man is a definite, being Edgar Wright’s latest, well, I’ve loved everything else he’s done. It could be good, it could be awful, but I’m willing to give Fackham Hall a shot. The cast looks fun, but will it be funny or a tad cringey? Would I go see it if I didn’t have an Unlimited card? Probably not. Another that I’ll see just because I can is Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, I enjoyed the previous films, how will this one measure up? Annoyingly, Benoit Blanc’s latest investigation, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is not on at Cineworld (I’m so not impressed), but it’s still a definite for me. There’s a second Five Nights at Freddy’s coming out on Friday, the first was okay, I thought about it but then I looked it up on Rotten Tomatoes, hmmm, don’t think I’ll bother. Fitting the four in will be interesting enough.

In other pre-christmas news, I’ve finally made jam from this year’s harvest of park brambles, my fridge freezer needed defrosting so it made sense. There’s also new batch of bramble wine just started fermenting! That made sense too. I’m a tad nervous about the jam but my previous attempts have always been well received, so hopefully this lot will be just as delicious. It’s the frozen plate test bit that never works for me, but afterwards the jam sets perfectly well anyway!?

I’m doing another Advent Calendar of music from the last year on Instagram, it’s fun going back over stuff, picking out what to include has been fine so far but I know it’s gonna get harder, too many to choose from, too few days! Haha, I just can’t help going in deep with my silly notions. They’re all still available to view in my highlights, including a clip of Carl Marah singing his new Christmas tune at the Auld Hundred last week! I’m looking forward to hearing it in all it’s full glory!

Anyhoo, it’s very late, I must away to my bed. I’ll leave you with a pic….

My box of jars is now somewhat depleted

Bad influences, good music

bruceonthefringe 2025, Films, Holyrood Park, Live bands in Edinburgh, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

I’m blaming bad influences for losing my bank card last Monday. Was I feeling rebellious after an evening of high spirits and rockabilly rock’n’roll? Could be, the band were after all The Best Bad Influence back in Stramash, always a blast. I was stood near the stage, enjoying the tunes when they struck the first notes of Johnny B Good, I think I may have yayyed out loud because a lady close by looked at me, I looked at her, and that was us, two crazy dancin’ fools until the band finished; both of us thanked the other profusely for dancing, but no, no, thank you, I never usually get to dance. There was even hugging going on, the happy joyous type, she was there with her other half but he’s not the dancing type, and he was clearly delighted to watch her dancing without having to oblige her himself. Such a shame that they were only here on holiday, I wouldn’t mind bumping into them again, so great to let loose on the floor.

Anyhoo, so Monday afternoon I was in Holyrood Park, I went up Moose Ridge, then across to the rocky top of Crow Hill. Now, officially the path down from the Nether Hill to Powderhouse Corner is still closed, officially, but recently I’ve noticed plenty of folk using it in the evenings, so as it was after five, I decided to check it out. Turns out that after the initial stepped area at the top (still with large bags of rocks to be used), the rest is pretty much done. The horrible, scary, slidy bit is now a delight, they’ve done a brilliant job on it, sweet! Annoyingly, that didn’t stop my mother’s voice sounding in my head that closed means not to use it (I had way too much parental guidance as a child), I reasoned back that all was fine, then not half an hour later the cashpoint at Tesco’s accepted my card then shut down, bugger. I know it’s daft, but it felt like retribution for being naughty! Sorry, mother. Apparently, a swallowed bank card is treated as lost, so I’ve had to cancel it and order a new one, thank heavens I have another account as well. I’m now wary what might happen to me if I use that path again before it reopens!

A heron engrossed in finding some lunch in St Margaret’s Loch, Holyrood Park

Tuesday night was a Scat Rats midnight set at Whistlebinkies, so I checked out what was on at the cinema ’til late. Oo, a film that Edgar Wright recommended on Instagram, Sinners, blues music and vampires (anyone else immediately reminded of From Dusk Til Dawn?!). A voice-over at the start of Sinners tells of musicians “with the gift of making music so true, it can conjure spirits from the past, but it also can pierce the veil between life and death,” and alas, it can attract evil that wants such power for itself. The setting is 1930s Clarksdale, Mississippi, Sammie Moore is a blues guitarist with this particular gift, Remmick is an Irish vampire who wants it for himself, Smoke and Stack are Sammie’s twin cousins who are setting up a juke joint, inadvertently providing the setting for the big showdown.

Like From Dusk Til Dawn, Sinners is a film in two halves, the first, a story of the twins returning to their home town, reconnecting with folk as they prepare a big opening night for their venture, there’s just a few hints to what lies ahead; then, there’s the expected (well, I was totally expecting something spectacular after that voice-over) awesome scene where Sammie’s music moves the assembled in euphoric, mystical ways, causing the vampire (now with two more, freshly turned) to come a-knocking, aaand that’s the second half underway, nuff said. Oh, and the coda after the first credits very neatly ties everything up in a blue bow (I knew to watch out for it thanks to Mr Wright’s Instagram).

God, there’s a lot to enjoy in this film, the performances, the music, the cinematography; I like how it starts on one morning, then goes back to twenty-four hours previous and shows how Sammie got into the state he’s in. I also like the premise that some musicians, some music can be so sublime, transcendental – you know where I’m going with this, if you’ve read much of my blog. Maybe I should start carrying a bottle of garlic water and a pointy stick when I go see certain musicians?!

It’s late. Time for bed. Sweet dreams!

Mobsters, movies and music

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Did you watch Boardwalk Empire when it was on the telly? I didn’t, hey, I’m just fifteen years late. One of the many charity shops on South Clerk Street had the first two seasons on dvd for £2 each, hell yes! Steve Buscemi was the man! The first thing I saw him in was the film Miller’s Crossing, another mobster tale, back in 1990 (well worth seeking out if it’s still available). From then on he was forever popping up in my film choices through the ’90s, we’d give a little cheer whenever he appeared, haha.

The whole cast of Boardwalk Empire are excellent (Stephen Graham pops up as Al Capone!). Oo, the whole thing, the attention to detail, mind it is a Martin Scorcese project, so yeah. Honestly, if you even vaguely enjoy gangster stories then check it out; I’ll be keeping an eye out for more of the series. I’ve also been watching the second season of My Name is Earl, I noticed the boxset at a friend’s in a pile bound for a charity shop, it will get there, just a bit later.

Earl Hickey, such a wonderful anti-hero, he’s fallible and flawed, not the brightest spark, he can be downright selfish and mean, but he tries so hard to do good and there is a kind, generous heart in there, and he loves his brother. Earl’s trying to level up his karma by doing right by everyone he’s wronged in his past; I loved this show at the time and yeah, I still love it now (especially his ex-wife Joy, pure trailer trash). And on anti-heroes, I picked up Wreck-it Ralph in a charity shop today, such a great movie, must get me some popcorn!

Meanwhile on the big screen, I went to see Death of a Unicorn last Thursday, just the title had me. A comedy horror with unicorns, Paul Rudd and the guy who played Victor Zsasz in Gotham in the cast? Yes, please (Victor Zsasz was awesome). Hmmm, I did kinda enjoy it, the unicorns were great, but the dialogue and acting felt a tad hammy and lame in parts, such a shame considering all the acting talent involved. The idea was great but the execution was lacking, this should have been so much better; maybe a European re-make could take it there?!

Thursday night this week I saw Novocaine, I’m not really sure what enticed me to go, the film poster looked really naff to me, but hey, I have my Unlimited pass. Wow! To paraphrase Bo Diddley, you can’t judge a film by looking at the poster. Novocaine is funny, well-crafted and extremely violent, I won’t lie, I was flinching and squirming a fair bit, and occasionally just shut my eyes. Hey, the main guy doesn’t feel pain, a clear indication that the violence will be ramped up!

As I just mentioned, our guy Nathan Caine is a mild-mannered assistant manager with a disorder which prevents him from feeling pain and discomfort (including having a full bladder, he has an alarm go off on his phone to remind him to go to the bathroom every three hours). He lives life very carefully and quietly, by day in the credit union office, then straight home to game; he’s also well-versed in medical first aid in case of injury. Enter a new girl at work who persuades him out to lunch and to even try a bit of her cherry pie (Nathan hasn’t eaten solid food in years for fear he might bite his tongue without realising). Our boy feels so alive! They go on a date, have sex, he’s on top of the world! The very next day the credit union gets robbed and she gets kidnapped by the gang….

…. So, a man who doesn’t feel pain, who has just had the best 24 hours in his life, has his new love snatched away by ruthless killers (they kill a lot of cops while making their escape). You just know how this is going to go!! Oh, and one of the gang has left his place booby-trapped to the max (not really sure why, but it sets up a very painful, gory scene). This is a wonderfully madcap violent film, I fully intend to see it again, without shutting my eyes!

The past two Thursdays have also seen me at Whistlebinkies for the midnight band, the same both weeks, the Louis Crosland Trio, he’s rather good, you know. Louis is another fine blues guitarist on the Edinburgh music scene. Besides his own band, Louis has also been playing with the Moanin’ Bones recently; a few of his own compositions can be found on Spotify. The crowd in Binkies last night were loving all the Jimi Hendrix covers, I also recall some Dylan, Stones, and Zeppelin (or maybe that was last week?) As yet I find his vocals a bit lacking at times, but hey, the voice will come with experience and a few more years knocking about; definitely worth seeing if you like your blues with a tinge of rock.

It’s now very late and I notice I’ve prattled on quite enough. I shall leave the other musical notes for next time, hopefully tomorrow?! ‘Til then, a pic of Louis Crosland doing his thang in Binkies. G’night!

Moose movie musings

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I notice that I haven’t mentioned seeing any films since Conclave in December, hmmm, maybe they weren’t worth mentioning? Certainly, the latest Bridget Jones film isn’t; a friend wanted to see it, how bad could it be, I wondered. Pretty bad, oh there are good moments, moments. I also saw Anora back in January, I knew nothing about it, just went on a whim, no sweat with an unlimited card.

Anora, for the first twenty minutes or so, I sat there feeling like I should be wearing a dirty old mac, ye gods, I knew it was an 18 but that was a lot of flesh (and to think I felt a bit seedy at parts of The Substance), after taking an inordinate time to set the scene and main characters, the action began. I did quite enjoy it, even as I found it a tad flawed, but yeah, it really didn’t help that I kept seeing Andy Samberg at his most slappable every time Ivan (rich Russian man-child) was on screen. And how could a streetwise girl like Ani not see what a shallow, selfish brat he was? Okay, maybe not at the start, but certainly by the time he ran off; that really irked me, it didn’t ring right; that aside, it was quite amusing, I would probably watch it again on the telly.

A few nights ago I went to see Mickey17, a film written back in 2021 and shot soon after; that it’s been released now, at this present time is wickedly funny! If you thought Mark Ruffalo was bit ott in Poor Things his character in this, hahaha. Two things though, one, at times I thought Ruffalo piled on the grotesque too heavily, maybe some subtle nuance might have been nice; two, a ridiculous villain or three (I include the wife and his assistant here) may seem comically hideous, but the power they yield is scary, know what I mean? (for those reading this sometime in the future, bear in mind I’m writing this in March 2025). Yes, Mickey17 is a wee bit clunky but worth seeing, especially on the big screen, Robert Pattinson is amazing; it’s a sci-fi action comedy on the surface with a dark, provocative and satirical undertow.

Back a few weeks for my favourite film so far this year, A Real Pain, so good I saw it three times. Okay, so two of those times I missed the beginning, part of the reason I went back again, and indeed seeing the very start did give an extra context that I’d missed, Jesse Eisenberg really makes every minute count in this movie. All the nominations and awards Eisenbreg’s won for Best Screenplay are well deserved, as are Kieran Culkin’s Best Supporting Actor awards for playing Benji, that is one complex guy.

Interestingly, Eisenberg wrote the screenplay thinking he would play Benji, thank god Emma Stone persuaded him not to! For one, he’s quite obviously more like the David character in himself, and, well, I really wonder that his Benji would just have been annoying and irritating (is that what Stone reckoned?) Then, when his sister suggested Culkin for Benji, Eisenberg took him on without meeting him, let alone auditioning him; he was vaguely “aware” of Culkin, enough to realise that Culkin had the right essence for the role (like, absolutely!). David and Benji are cousins on a trip to Poland to see to the homeland of their grandmother (recently deceased). Two guys who were really close when they were kids, now reconnecting, it’s awkward at times, caring, messy, bittersweet, exasperating. I’ve had a Benji in my life, lovely, lovely person but god, half the time I didn’t know whether to strangle or hug them!!

Whilst there is plenty of humour in A Real Pain, it does have serious and thought-provoking times, as well as a backdrop of historical trauma; Eisenberg’s excellent writing keeps the film buoyed up but also sombre and respectful. Most of the music through the film is Chopin (chosen as that’s what Eisenberg was listening to as he was worked on the screenplay), wow, it fits beautifully and sets the tone of the film so well; and then the silence during the visit to Majdanek concentration camp was stark, quite emotional. It could be some time before I see another film that will beat this as my film of the year.

Well, it’s late and my bed is hollering at me. Coming! G’night, sweet dreams.

Oh come all ye faithful?

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Last night I went to see Conclave, wow. It’s a big movie, like old-style Hollywood, there’s big names, great supports, stunning cinematography (I likened it to Gladiator II, that bigness). One little annoyance was clearly knowing who would become the next pope (well, it was obvious to me), but the etiquette, the politics and the mind games, right up to the very end, were utterly delicious. Oh, and I love me some Tucci!

What really amused me was that I’ve just finished watching an old BBC series The Barchester Chronicles from 1982, that too is a fine portrayal of similar themes within the clergy, but way back in the nineteenth century (it was an adaptation of two books in a series by Anthony Trollope). The cast are a plethora of fine British actors, many recognisable faces; Clive Swift as the new hen-pecked bishop and Geraldine McEwan as his acerbic wife, Nigel Hawthorne is magnificent as the pompous, ill-tempered archdeacon, and how lovely to see Barbara Flynn (always feisty glint in her eye, that one).

Top honours must go to Donald Pleasance as the unassuming, gentle warden and Alan Rickman in an early role that, well, typecast him?! Haha, no, but watching it now, one can thoroughly enjoy watching a young Rickman being supercilious, odious, conniving, in a part that should be up there with his best. Whilst Rickman was playing the type of role we’ve come to know him for, Donald Pleasance was a wonderful revelation to me, so very different from some of the old film roles that immediately spring to mind. It’s a beautiful understated performance that has you rooting for him against all the mean, self-serving, just plain horrible characters around him.

…. Which takes me back to Conclave played with such perfect nuances as to have us guessing just who are the humble servants of their god and who are self-serving in their desire to become pope. As truths are revealed, the hypocrisy is in turn, damning, sadly human, and to some of us, darkly humorous; to borrow a quote from The Barchester Chronicles from a conversation between the archdeacon and the deacon about their problem, the warden, “He has persistent bouts of Christianity”, likewise, darkly funny and revealing.

This Christmas you could worse than go out and see Conclave on the big screen, then snuggle up at home and watch a fine old BBC drama, it’s just seven episodes so not too big a chunk of time and it is rotten weather outside.

Toodle pip!

Quite why Donald Pleasance isn’t on the cover picture is beyond me!

There’s been a few films out

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Casting an eye back on the last few posts, I mentioned seeing Joker again at the end of September as a recap before seeing the sequel, it wasn’t until almost a month later that I got to see Joker: Folie à Deux. Blimey, Arthur Fleck, Lee Quinzel, the film itself, all had serious personality disorders; the film flips around between drama and weird musical numbers – because of Lady Gaga’s inclusion? Okay, so I should mention that I really don’t care for Lady Gaga, I don’t get her, yeah, so she is a very talented musician but she doesn’t move me at all (apart from a shrug and shake of my head). I get that her character was fixated on Joker and bringing him out of Arthur, I get that both of them have like a musical narrative in their heads, on finding each other their drums are beating the same rhythms (isn’t that what we all want, just without the psychotic edges?).

I did enjoy Joker: Folie à Deux, more than I thought I would, just a little less Gaga would have been better, and if Arthur had been more in his own right, rather than a manipulation of Lee. Will there be a third film? How would it fare?

I caught Venom: The Last Dance a couple of weeks ago, ooch, fun but I much prefer the first two films. There was plenty of action but I thought the storyline and detail were a tad weak, not enough padding. Another third instalment, Paddington In Peru was very entertaining, it did have lame moments, but over all it was wonderful. Paddington In Peru has so many nods and winks in it; it took me a while to realise the familiar nun in the background was from Nonnatus House (Call the Midwife). Olivia Colman released her inner Julie Andrews for the big musical number Let’s Prepare for Paddington, what a hoot!

Hugh Grant has a very brief cameo at the end of PiP, still in jail as the baddie in Paddington 2. He does baddies so well, you should check out Heretic where he turns his bumbling, amiable gent act into something quite creepy and devious. Our Heretic does have some interesting things to say on religion and faith, he just couldn’t leave it as a chat over tea and biscuits. Mind, see next time any Jehovah’s Witnesses knock on my door…!

Two more then bedtime, Juror #2 snuck up on me, I knew nothing about it so clicked to see the details, oo, Nicholas Hoult and Toni Collette, yes please. Oh, blimey Charlie, great film, hard watch, a good man with a serious dilemma, totally gripping; it reminded me of the 2013 film Locke, another intense dilemma. Lastly, Gladiator II is big, like, really big with an old-style Hollywood epic quality. Like a lot of the old Hollywood epics great character actors swell the production but the female parts seem rather formulaic, obvious, a tad dull. For me, Denzel Washington was the stand out, oh, and the psychotic twin emperors, a nice touch.

I’ll leave you with a few pics taken last Saturday morning – we had snow (it was all gone by Sunday morning, except for a few snowmen remains). Goodnight!

A tourist stood still too long?!
Psychotic twin snowmen?!
It was a very cold day

Best laid plans of mice and moose

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After my last post a week ago, I fully intended to knuckle down and write every other day about my European wanderings, and make a serious start on this year’s Fringe programme. Unfortunately the gods had other ideas and laid the moose matriarch low, very low, so everything went out the window. It’s been a busy, taut time; thank god for the NHS, they’ve been brilliant. I’m in Edinburgh for just a couple of days to sort some things out, a wee chill out, then back down to Yorkshireland tomorrow.

I arrived yesterday at noon, so was able to trot along to the Farmers Market to stock up on some good quality frozen meats to take back down (for some good, quality, hearty frozen dishes for mother’s freezer). Co Co Co. were at the Market with another new chocolate, Strawberries & Cream, well, I had to, and a packet of Crème Brûlée (mother’s favourites).

Later in the afternoon the R&R really began when I popped in Whistlebinkies to catch Jed Potts and Nicole Smit doing their thing, just what the doctor ordered! Washed down with some Olicana, Stewart’s latest brew. I’ve since checked out their tasting notes, Stewart’s say mango, grapefruit and passionfruit; I say peapod. Honestly, the first sniff was like opening a bag of peapods, the taste did nothing to change that thought. Oh, I did like it in some weird way, but I couldn’t drink a lot of it.

There’s a film in cinemas at the moment with Austin Butler, Jodie Comer and Tom Hardy, oh my heartses. The Bikeriders is one hell of a movie with a soundtrack to match (currently playing on my Spotify). The writer/director Jeff Nichols was inspired by a photo book by one Danny Lyon who took photographs and tape recordings of a chapter of outlaw motorcyclists between 1963 and 1967. Apparently the recordings Lyon made of Kathy, played by Comer in the film, are still around to listen to, gonna have to check them out. All three of the leads are mesmerising to watch, and another accent nailed by Comer! Hopefully I’ll get to see it again before it disappears from the big screen.

Time for my bed, still got a lot to do tomorrow before I hit the road south. Still no sign of a drought in Yorkshireland this summer….

G’night!

On screen and stage

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I stayed up on Sunday night to watch the Oscars, it was on ordinary telly for the first time in the UK and I had a good feeling. And yay, Emma Stone picked up Best Leading Actress, totally deserved! I went to Poor Things for a third time earlier in the evening (as I’ve previously mentioned I would), there was a reasonable size audience for it, good to see (apart from the person who was eating out of a very noisy packet). I’m sure Stone will have a long, successful career but I reckon Bella Baxter will be one of her top performances. Oppenheimer picked up the most Oscars but Poor Things did also get the awards for Make-up & Hair Styling, Production Design and Costume Design, again all three richly deserved.

Oo, I went to see Wicked Little Letters a few evenings ago, what fun!! Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley are both on excellent form, well, the whole cast are a delight. The film is based on a true story that happened in a little English seaside town in the 1920s, but be warned, some of the language is very fruity, okay, there’s long strings of swearing and obscenities like you’ve never heard! Best leave that person behind again, maybe the next film will be nicer and proper. Wicked Little Letters is hilariously funny but there are dark sides around the events too, I thought the balance was played really well.

On the small screen I’ve just watched the final two episodes of Our Flag Means Death, man, that was brilliant telly! Just so many great elements to it, so of course it’s been cancelled, no series three, boo. Mind, this way it remains a beautiful gem, no overstaying and sinking into the mediocrity of weaker stories (though with Taika Waititi at the helm that could have taken quite a while).

In other news, the first batch of tickets for this year’s Edinburgh fringe are on sale, not that I’ve bothered to look, all in good time. What I have had a ganders at was the line-up at the Leicester Comedy Festival in February; good to see plenty of WIPs (Work In Progress), hopefully they’ll be all polished and sparkly by August. Grubby Little Mitts have yet another new show, yay, Luke Rollason too, two for my definites pile, well I assume they’ll be coming to Edinburgh. Very exciting, I see that John Robertson was trying out a new show, I really hope that makes it up here.

I also had a peek at who’s been at the Adelaide Fringe Festival. Eric’s Tales of the Sea – A Submariner’s Yarn is still doing the rounds! I wonder if it’s still the same as when I saw it many years ago or has he tweaked it over time? Manbo and Yippee Ki Yay, two great shows paying homage to two classic 80s movies, popped over. The fabulous Aidan Sadler has been having a whale of a time out there, first time in Australia, first time in drag – I follow them on Instagram, very entertaining stories!

Starting this week and going on until the end of March is the Glasgow International Comedy Festival. I haven’t looked to see what’s on, hopefully plenty of shows being nicely honed for Edinburgh in August. Oh, I do know of one, Napoleon’s 100 Days on for two shows Monday 18th and Tuesday 19th, by the same chap who totally captivated me with the marvellous tale of Mark Twain’s The Stolen White Elephant last year. I’ll be away otherwise I may well have popped across, but hey, it’s going to be at the Edinburgh Fringe, I shall definitely see it then.

Well, my friend, its now very late, so I’ll bid you good night and sweet dreams.

Did I say tomorrow?

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I never did get round to writing more about Poor Things as I said would, oh, three plus weeks ago?! Life, huh. Since then Emma Stone has won Best Leading Actress at the BAFTAs, and quite rightly, her performance as Bella Baxter is possibly the best work she’ll ever do, I totally bought into the premise of Bella. Like I’ve said previously, Poor Things is an adult fairytale, it’s not some harrowing real-life scenario, apparently some folk were real hung up on parts, hmmm, I don’t think they got it!

Bella Baxter sees life with all the glee, curiosity, simplicity of a child; there’s also the petulance and innocent self-centeredness of a child yet to discover the wider world. She’s uninhibited and unaffected by societal norms, and so doesn’t react to situations as those around her would expect; the two villains in the tale are completely undone by Bella’s simplistic pragmatic ways. Yes, there’s lots of sex, or “furious jumping” as she calls it, but as Kenny Everett would say, it’s all done in the best possible taste!

Poor Things also won BAFTAs for Make-up & Hair, Costume Design, Production Design and Special Visual Effects, which doesn’t surprise me in the least; PT is stunning in all visual aspects. Two more things, Mark Ruffalo is tremendous as Duncan Wedderburn, cad and bounder, played to the max; and I found that occasionally Bella’s turn of phrase reminded me of Amy Farrah Fowler when she first turned up in The Big Bang Theory, anyone else get that?

If Cineworld puts on all the Best Film Oscar Nominations this year I would go back and see it again, hell yeah. Would I go see Oppenheimer again? No, I did enjoy it but once was enough. Oh, I saw American Fiction last weekend, picked from just a quick glance at the blurb; good call, I thoroughly enjoyed it! Turns out it’s up for a few Oscars and won Best Adapted Screenplay at the BAFTAs.

Tonight it’s time for something completely different – in honour of it’s 48½ anniversary Monty Python and the Holy Grail is showing on the big screen. Of course I’m going! And from the ridiculous to the sublime, tomorrow evening sees Babyface and the Beltin’ Boys back at Stramash, yay!

Promise my next post will be sooner than this was! Toodle pip!

An unlikely double bill

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January hasn’t been a month for doing much, certainly not outside anyway, lucky for me there’s been things to see in the cinema. Mind, I let a few go by, awkward times or appalling weather to battle through; just two shone through as seriously worth seeing – and how, I went and saw both a second time! Just as Barbie and Oppenheimer made an unlikely double act so too do these two, Wonka and Poor Things!

Just sticking this here, just because

Okay so Wonka is PG and Poor Things is 18 but they’re both fantastical fairy tales, just one has more adult themes (probably not for a prudish relative nevermind the children!). Both have glorious cinematography, stunningly sumptuous sets; and the hair, make-up and costumes were pretty damn fine too! The music in each is so perfect to the stories, Poor Things has been nominated for the Best Original Score Oscar, along with about ten other nominations.

The music in Wonka is so so wonderful 💛 Yes, it gets a golden heart from me. Really, I cannot believe that A World Of Your Own hasn’t been nominated for Best Song Oscar, it’s so utterly charming and joyous, with a touch of bittersweet. All the songs are deliciously sharp-witted but when you have Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy writing them, well, it’s to be expected (he’s also responsible for that Eurosong entry My Lovely Horse on Father Ted).

I have little, well, no love for Tim Burton’s film in 2005, it was all so wrong; but hearing this film was being made by Paul King (who made the Paddington films) as a prequel to the original 1971, oh yay, definitely promising news. Oh, my heartses, when the film opened with those familiar notes! A very charming bow to the original, and an orange and green Oompa-Loompa singing his Oompa-Loompa ditties too!

The whole cast are brilliant, the big musical numbers, just jaw-droppingly wow. Timothée Chalamet is perfect as a young Willie Wonka who’s sweet, quirky and a tad naive; an irrepressible optimist who’s come to town to open his dream chocolate shop….. Mean, unscrupulous baddies at every turn, but Willie’s winning smile makes friends and sells chocolates. As the story unfolds he becomes smarter and wiser but never loses his childlike sense of joy, it was like the mix of these created who he became; I fancied his eyes sparkled a little brighter (and wilder!?) and his tone had a more confident edgy smile in it by the end of the film. I reckon Gene Wilder would have approved!

Okay, I seemed to have prattled on somewhat about Wonka, oops. I’ll leave saying more about Poor Things until tomorrow. I’ll leave you with few pics from the Innocent Railway Tunnel today, the graffiti gallery has all been refreshed, so…..

Toodle pip!