The pub quiz

Nick and I presented our local pub quiz last night. My wife did not attend as she was tired from a weekend of spring cleaning. Sadly I did not present it as well as I would have liked. In general the quiz was too hard, something I will need to rectify if we get to present it again.

And doing this meant that I did not get to watch the highlights of the Arsenal game. We won, which is good, but the question of if we would have beaten better opposition comes to mind. Like us, Chelski has no striker, but we adapted to that better than they did.

It was good to score again from a set piece, this time it was a corner. That may be how we defeat Real Madrid when we face them in the European Cup. 

Captive

There are several films with this name. This film was made in 2023 and is not worth going out of your way to watch. 

When I watch a film, I am looking for several things. Is it made well? Does it tell a different story? Those are just two things I look for, there are others, but basically this film offered next to nothing new.  There are many better films out there, and while there are also worse ones, few horror films have so little scares. This review gave it two out of five and I would have to agree.  I would not go out of my way to watch it, but if there was nothing else to watch, it is an almost adequate time filler. 

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason

This film is not too bad.  In fact, if you consider that this is a silly Rom-Com, it is made quite well.  I can see that many are not going to like it, but this is not a cerebral film.  It is one where the character is lovable but annoying with the two main characters being stereotypes, but well executed ones.  If you do not like the other films in the series, you are not going to like this one.  I would not go out of my way to watch it again, but I would watch it if I found it on television while channel hopping.  

The look of love

Another interesting film. Not one I would watch again, and one where it would have been more interesting to have a female perspective when it came to making it, considering the topic relates to pornography (and related matters). 

The Guardian rated it three out of five, and I would say that is fair as is the description of it being “shallow but watchable” which is surprisingly accurate.

I am not sure that anyone who is not interested in the area of Soho, or remembers the influence that Paul Raymond had with publishing. It is amazing to see so many British stars making the film. So, yes, shallow, but watchable.

King Kong

Watching this last night brought back memories of when I had watched King Kong before.  I like this film but never got round to watching it on the big screen, probably because my daughter was only a few months old.  I do remember talking to a friend of my wife who was upset when "the monkey died" (which was my words) but I had not watched the film and did not realise just how good it was.

Yes, the film has some stereotypes which would probably not be in film now, especially as I suspect that the inhabitants of the pacific ocean do not look like the natives on Skull Island. And the CGI is dated.  But it is by far the best of the more recent King Kong films.  

Yes, even with it being so long, I would watch it again, but if I had to make a choice, I would watch it until the capture of King Kong.

Anyway, while I do not want to focus on the insanity of Trump for the next four years, this is a clip I had to share, because it made me laugh so much!  It is the best line on this tariffs that I have heard.  

Picture This

As a family (without my daughter) we watched this. I did not think that I was going to like it as I did not think that it flowed well at the beginning, but it improved.  The ending of the film was predictable, but the journey to that point was not the usual one that a RomCom takes. Needless to say, not everyone likes it, but the three of us did. I would say that the weakness was the predictable love interest, but the strength of the film is some of the other characters.

Next to Arsenal. What a game. We should have scored more than the amazing goal that Rice did score, but we were also lucky not to concede loads as well. We are not going to win the title, and I doubt that we will win in Europe, but I think that we can beat Real Madrid, if we face them in the next round.  

A Quiet Place: Day One

First of all, family. My son went to London yesterday with friends and had a great time. My wife was a bit nervous as it was his first time doing so, but as I pointed out he was with friends and would be doing his soon anyway. With my daughter in Bali, this helped her anxiety, and s being busy cleaning the house distracted her as well.

Now onto the title of this post.  This is an enjoyable film. I have yet to watch the second film in the series, and the first was much scarier, but I would recommend this to science fiction fans who liked the first film.  I love the different lead character (compared to other science fiction films), though the pet on a lead does annoy me as I am sure it would make a noise.

If you want a film to scare you, this is not it. But despite that, it is enjoyable with a decent script, characters and direction.  I would not compare it to the first film in the series, but would compare it to another science fiction “end of the world film” that film being Cloverfield.