Review of 2024

 

Every year I seem to start my review with some photos of the garden. It must be that all the borders are so bare this time of year, it's nice to look back to when they were full of flowers. The photo above is from the end of June. I planted dahlias too early in the bedding border, and most were eaten before they became established. They were replaced with some verbena.

My favourite flower is still the rose Blue for You.

We had two good holidays. Buxton in June.

And Chichester at the end of September. We will always remember the polo at Cowdray Park on our way down.

The circular routes that I can walk from the house that I wrote about this time last year have continued in 2024. Then in February I set out to trace the route of Wendover Brook from it's source to where it joins Bear Brook, all on my post of 18th February.

I have only been to the theatre twice this year. Redlands at Chichester and The Buddha of Suburbia at the Barbican. But there have been some plays shown live in cinemas with more next year. This year I cancelled my subscription for Cineworld in Hemel Hempstead, it's just too far to drive there and back. The Odeon in Aylesbury does not have the same choice of film, but The Rex in Berkhamsted has movies that do not have a release in the main chains. Here I saw a few marvellous films including Perfect Days, my favourite film of the year. 

In this week's Culture magazine in The Sunday Times, film critic Tom Shone picked his thirteen best films of the year. Somehow I had seen ten : The Holdovers, The Fall Guy, The Wild Robot, The Taste of Things, Twisters, Civil War, Challengers, All of Us Strangers, Drive Away Dolls and Poor Things. Inside Out was for children, The Bikeriders did not appeal and The Promised Land that I can watch on iPlayer. My film studies have included some excellent series on Sky Arts including Classic Movies, Art of Film, Powell and Pressburger and Classic Art and Cinema. 

I look forward to Sight and Sound Magazine every month, however I had only seen twelve of their top fifty films of the year, although most of these have never been on general release. Their Number one was All We Imagine As Light and if I wanted to see it, I would have to go to the Rex in Berkhamsted in January. We also made a visit to the BFI Archive for their Heritage Open Day in September. My favourite book of the year was Ann Patchett's Tom Lake.

Finally, back to the garden and particularly the lawn. Having dispensed with the services of the totally unreliable Green Thumb, the Pro Kleen products were a success. Their iron sulphate worked a treat on the moss (even the very far end looked better) and their Grass Green fertilizer was perfect.

I started this Blog in December 2006, eighteen years ago to coincide with my retirement at the age of 62. Having reached my eightieth birthday five days ago, I hope to keep posting for some time yet.

Sight and Sound Magazine - Winter 2024/2025

 

EDITORIAL

Mike Williams tells us about his job as an editor before going on to review those who had appeared on the  front cover of the magazine over the last year. 

OPENING SCENES

The films to look out for in 2025 are described by Arjun Sajip, continent by continent. America, for example will give us The History of Sound from director Oliver Hermanus with Paul Mescal on a search in New England after WW1 to record local folk music. Paul Thomas Anderson has cast Alana Haim (again) in The Battle of Bakton Cross. Bong Joon Ho follows the brilliant Parasite with Mickey 17. Then there will be Kurosawa Akira's High and Low, Steven Soderburgh's Black Bag with cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender, and Edgar Wright's The Running Man with Glen Powell going back to the Steven King novel. From the UK comes Maggie O'Farrell's Hamnet and Danny Boyle's 28 Years Later. 

EDITOR'S CHOICE

Some gift recommendations from the contributors. 

IN CONVERSTION

Jesse Eisenberg talks to Lou Thomas about his new film A Real Pain that he wrote, directed and starred in. A visit to Poland on a holocaust tour. He mentions producer Emma Stone and what she brings to the table.

Nothing interesting in FESTIVAL, MEAN SHEETS or READER'S LETTERS

THE LONG TAKE

I had not heard of Humphrey Bogart's third wife, the actress Mayo Methot. Nicole Flattery tells us she was often cast as the second female lead, often a hard bitten dame. She had worked on Broadway when younger before Hollywood called. But she and Bogie were hard drinkers and their relationship ended with depression and violence before he met Lauren Bacall. Mayo died in 1951 at the age of 47. Nicole runs through her movies and calls her "a dame to be reckoned with".

TV EYE

This is all about the 1973 BBC ghost story shown on Christmas Day. The Stone Tape looks far too scary. Andrew Male thought that it was certainly of it's time in attitude (but an "HR victimisation claim if made today). The programme is all about a team using it's brand new audio equipment to record other worldly screams. Written by Nigel Kneale whose BBC's Quartermass is just not scary when watched today.

FLICK LIT

Nicole Flattery talks about the 1970 novel Desperate Characters that is set in New York. "Their own elegant town house in a recently gentrified part of Brooklyn". And the one boarding house left with nine or ten tenants. The 1971 film starred Shirley MacLaine. Nicole compares it with the 1961 film La Notte by Michelangelo Antonioni.  

THE MAGNIFICENT '74

We are in the December of 1974, so are we coming to the end of Jessica Kiang's pieces with this title? That month there were big blockbusters: Airport '75, Earthquake and The Towering Inferno. "How a supremely dazzling year for American cinema ended in disaster". She goes on to say that before 1970, the studios were in disarray with their flimsy output. But then in 1970 came Airport, a big blockbuster with big stars, and then two years later the success of The Poseidon Adventure. All had big names and paved the way for 1974's success.

IN MEMORIAM

These are the obituaries for those who died this year. Donald Sutherland was never even nominated for an Oscar despite his appearances in Klute and Don't Look Now. Another full page for Anouk Aimee, winning a golden globe and Oscar nomination for A Man and a Woman from 1966 as well as starring in Fellini's La Dolce Vita and 8 1/2. However, there were so many people I had never heard of in all sorts of categories. Small mentions for Roger Corman, the director Norman Jewison and the cinematographer Dick Pope who worked for 35 years with Mike Leigh after filming rock concerts and pop videos. He was Oscar nominated for The Illusionist in 2006 and Mr Turner in 2014.

FILMS OF THE YEAR

Here we have a countdown from number 50. There were so many of which I ad never heard. But 16th is Perfect Days (my favourite of the year), 7th is Love Lies Bleeding equal with The Substance and Anora is at number 2. See my reviews. There were many that never reached mainstream cinemas such as Emelia Perez at number 17 and La Chimera at number 3. I might get to see the number 1 All We Imagine as Light. 

We also get long articles on The Year in War Cinema, The Year in Late Style (Megalopolis), The Year in Documentary Film, The Year in Animation and The Year in AI. 

The Year in TV: So much of what was said came from streaming channels. We get Discs of the Year, and Books of the Year.

THE BRUTALIST

Five pages about this film, but it is three and a half hours long. Too much for me at the cinema. Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones star under the direction of Brady Corbet who was also the co-writer. Mona Fast talks abut their co-operation and all the research she did. Shot in Vista vision to give the film scale. About an architect so such a shame it's too long.

NOSFERATU

A remake of the original  1922 film and the 1979 remake, director Robert Eggers (I liked his The Northman) delves into the background. But this is definitely a horror movie as a full page photo will testify. So maybe not. Eggers tells us "Synthesising all these mythologies was a challenge". I bet.

AT THE MOVIES WITH ..... AMY ADAMS

Her film Nightbitch is out soon. She talks about her favourite movies.

RUMOURS

Rumours is a film set at a G7 summit in Germany that sounds totally bonkers. "So wilfully outside the mainstream" with three directors and starring Cate Blanchett.

CHRISTMAS FILMS

A lot of those chosen are not at all Christmassy. (Stalag 17 and Godfather Part 111 ?) The only new film was Christmas Eve at Millers Point - that has no general release.

REVIEWS

These include Babygirl starring Nicole Kidman. Director Halina Reijn tells us the film was "an opportunity to bring my Dutch, more liberated ideas to the US". "A superb Nicole Kidman". Then The Brutalist (see above). Juror #2 is a legal thriller set in a courtroom and directed by Clint Eastwood. Maria is the biopic of Maria Callas starring Angelina Jolie. Written by Steven Knight and directed by Pablo Larrain that follows his Jackie and Spencer.

Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl in cinemas and on the BBC over Christmas. There were so many references to other films. The voice of Ben Whitehead stands in for Peter Sallis. I loved the last words: "I'm a happy nifty Norbot. I love to trim the hedge". Which spelt out "THE END". 

Jesse Eisenberg writes, directs and stars in his film A Real Pain, visiting Poland with a cousin. We Live In Time has Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield and dips back and forth in time - "narrative temporal hopscotching". 

DVD and BLURAY

Mainly new releases of old movies including the 1933 original of King Kong.

WIDER SCREEN

An interesting article about film collectives.

BOOKS

Silent to Sound is Geoff Brown's study of early British cinema from 1900 to the early 1930's looks interesting. Unfortunately Pedro Almodóvar's The Last Dream does not.

FROM THE ARCHIVE

From the Winter 1960/67 Edition comes Humphrey and Bogey, where Louise Brooks looked at her and his relationships with the major studios where they were under contract. One interesting comment was that in 1921/22 there were 2,044 plays produced in New York! But from all those actors, only four made the big time in films.

Hot Stew, going into a dark house and Ordinary Human Failings

 

 It all started with a lovely short history of Soho where the book is based. "Luxury flats stood on crumbling slums like shining false teeth on rotten gums". There are many interesting inhabitants whose stories alternate in short sharp chapters. We hear a lot about Precious and |Tabitha who reside in one of those older tower blocks owned by rich Agatha Howard. She wants them out. Among the down and outs are Paul Daniels and Debby McGee, not their real names. In the later chapter "Debbie McGee: Redux", Cheryl Lavery (her real name) has disappeared. We knew she found a deep opening in the ground and thought the worst. But these few pages were brilliant, on their own, worth reading this book.

There are other characters whose stories seem detached from the main narrative, only to make connections towards the end. Bastian, Rebecca, Glenda and Laura could be from another story entirely, but their twenty something relationships are well told. This is a really entertaining book, sharp and clever once you get used to the prose. I found it absolutely stunning.

Having read all of Jane Gardam's novels, I am going back to her short story collections. These are not included in her anthology "The Stories" and are much older works.
BLUE POPPIES
Lillian's mother is in her nineties and accompanies her daughter to Clere, the home of the duke and duchess. Witty and sensitive.
CHINESE FUNERAL
An Englishwoman and her husband are in Hong Kong and join a trip into China. Not what they were expecting.
ZOO ZOO
Another nonagenarian, Sister Alfege, is a German nun in a convent in Kent. All about how she left her homeland before the war and stayed. She is on her way to a place that can nurse her poor legs. But the nuns who accompany her there have a shock on the way back.
THE MEETING HOUSE
The Quakers have an old building in a deserted place, high up in the hills of the far north west, only visiting in the summer. New arrivals seem to torment them. But is this a ghost story?
THE DAMASCUS PLUM
An introduction to the gourmet food and fish of the East Kent coast. A visitor is young Klaus, very intelligent but with no imagination. Treating him to a dinner of many courses that he enjoyed but never remembered.
DEAD CHILDREN
Ancient Alison Avery is meeting Pete and Annie, her two grown up children to talk about her will. But for various reasons that doesn't happen on this particular day. They walk on the common that is still home to the old lady, her remembering when they were children. But remember the title?
BEVIS
The longest of the stories by far at nearly 40 pages. Our narrator is 13 and his ma a widow. That leaves Auntie Greta Willis and her huge daughter Jilly. The young ones are off to see their frail grandmother in a care home that becomes a surreal adventure. Jilly hopes to meet Bevis, a much older man, the object of her affections. Thwarted by a big twist at the end.
TELEGONY
Three short but connected pieces.
1: going into a dark house
Molly, who we have met before, is now 94 and the narrator's "mother's friend". Molly says she "is frightfully mean" but is the opposite. (Once buying the narrator a car). Her investments are amazing, but she she lived in a house that has no heating. Now in a little house on an estate for retired people, but still driving her own car.
11: Signor Settimo
He is that new photographer that has opened for business in Shipley of all places. Mrs Ironside persuades him to take a photo of her daughter, here is Molly as a schoolgirl.
111: The Hot Sweets of Cremona
We know this is where Settimo came from, but here is Molly's daughter Alice (now herself a grandmother) with a friend talking about Molly, her mother and all that family history. These three short stories are a kind of experiment, but for me, the least successful of all.

It's 1990 and Tom Hargreaves, a youngish reporter on the make, stumbles upon the story of a missing girl. Is this his big break? He muscles in on the residents of the Skyler Estate. Here we find the main character of the story, Carmel living with her elderly father John and brother Richie. But it's her young daughter Lucy who the police think is involved and taken to the station. As a result the family are hidden away in an old empty hotel by Tom's newspaper. Richie "could have cried with relief at the smell of whisky and spilt beer on the carpet".

Tom wants to get their story but all he gets, as we do too, is their background. Nolan brilliantly describes what is going through the minds of the three as they consider their lives. Richie's is particularly well written as we hear about his twenty one year old self and the mistakes he made. Throwing away the chance of something good. His father's story about his marriage to his first wife when both so young is equally good. But the main thread belongs to Carmel, her relationship with an older man, becoming pregnant with Lucy with whom she is almost estranged. It's her stepmother Rose who was the backbone of the family. Her loss is always there.

Standing by the Wall - A Slough House Interlude by Mick Herron

 At the end of Mick Herron's book Bad Actors is a Christmas short story. In Standing by the Wall on Christmas Eve, Roddy Ho is summonsed (loudly of course) by boss Jackson Lamb. Who is wearing reindeer socks. Now that is a little far fetched. He passes Roddy a photograph. "I want you to get rid of this guy." Not physically. "if I wanted someone dead, you'd not be the person I'd ask to make it happen. You'd be the person I'd want it to happen to." It's 4pm and he wants it now. A doctored photo, right up Roddy's street.

Upstairs the rest of the gang are congregated and River Cartwright is back. Not exactly a warm welcome from Lech, Shirley, Louisa and Ashley Khan. Even Catherine Standish puts in an appearance before they are all off to the pub. The doctored photo is returned to whence it came. Here "an archive was not intended simply to capture the past, it was there to seed future reckonings". "In the cabinets .....consorted ghosts from the past, ghosts from the present and ghosts from futures yet to come". Now that is a Christmas story.

Scattershot by Bernie Taupin

 

I enjoyed the first part of Scattershot far more than the remainder. Later on the "scattershot" technique of pulling stories from different times was confusing and mainly boring. Bernie was born in 1950 and we first hear something about his childhood in Lincolnshire. He mentions his grandfather Poppy "most notably caring for the quality of words and the stimulation of verse" ..... "the teacher I was never going to encounter in the classroom". So not a model student by any means. We hear about his early musical tastes and that it was the first album he bought in 1959 by Marty Robbins called Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs" that fired his imagination. "I knew I wanted to write stories".

At fifteen Bernie was working in a print works (but not for long) and then a poultry farm. One of his records at the time was by Brownie McGee and Sonny Terry. But their names should be the other way round. He might have been jealous of me seeing them at the Hammersmith Odeon in 1965. It was at RAF Faldingworth that he found very different American country music. Then at seventeen he arrives in London to stay with some extended family in a big house in Putney. What does he find but a very large old cabinet that had not been used for a long time. It actually housed a record player and a pile of old records. At the bottom of which was one by Lonnie Donegan. "It's immeasurable how much I owe him". Me too.

It was in the offices of his Uncle Henri's wine importing business that an old typewriter became the instrument of his early compositions. But it's at the beginning of the book that we hear of his first meeting with Elton John (or Reg Dwight at the time). Late 1967, Elton is 20 and Bernie 17. Thrown together by a record producer to see what they could do. Bernie moves in with Reg in his mother's house in Pinner. We hear about the Dick James HQ, their early terrible compositions. It was Steve Brown at the record company who was key to their success. He liked their "Skyline Pigeon", their first song to have two cover versions. Then their "Empty Sky" album that was completed in April 1969.

It's only then that the narrative gets confused. In the chapter "Turning Left at Greenland" Bernie tells us about their first trip to America. He is twenty. He extols the virtues of the first band, Dee Murray on bass and Nigel Olsson on drums. "A rhythm section of orchestral proportions". But so far we have heard nothing about his composing songs with Elton. Apart from when he wrote "Your Song" in ten minutes back in October 1969.

Then suddenly we are in France where "Elton and I made three good albums". Nothing about how they materialised. Troublesome days spill over into San Tropez and Barbados. Lots of anecdotes which I did not find at all interesting. A new band is formed with Davy Johnstone and Ray Cooper, but it's only when we get to page 200 that there is a long piece about the composition of "Candle in the Wind". I skipped a section on the descent into drugs only to suddenly hear about "Daniel", "I'm Still Standing" and "Sacrifice".

Out of the blue, a lovely story about writing "We Built This City" with Martin Page of Jefferson Starship and how the royalties have been "good to me and my family". Then "These Dreams" was a big hit for Heart. I liked the chapter "A Bad Day in Montserrat". Recording three albums in the 1980's. But I was not interested in the band Farm Dogs that he started. But his rewrite for "Candle in the Wind" for Diana's funeral sold 33 million copies. "Christies sold my original manuscript for for charity for $400,000". There is then lots of personal stuff as we head towards the end before he is writing again with Elton for "Songs from the West Coast" that did very well and often said to be a return to form. But, of course, nothing about composing the songs!

The albums that followed were all new to me, and of course they get a lot more detail. But the concluding section is about his taking up art. Who wants to know, who cares? He mentions "the stigma of celebrity art". Yeah, right! As pretentious as is much of this book.

The Garden in December

 

I'm not sure if I have ever cut the grass this late in the year. Today I was only going to blow some leaves off the lawn but found the grass was so dry in the mild wind. It had grown quite long over the last few weeks so a cut was possible together with collecting all the leaves. That will be it now until the early Spring.

And I was happy to see the first bulbs putting in an appearance in the bedding border. I wouldn't call them harbingers of Spring just yet.

Black Goo at Tring

 

On Monday we decided it would be nice to have lunch in Tring. Instead of the usual places, we headed for Black Goo, a café where we had been once before. It was very busy but there was one table left next to the window. I chose the hash browns that came with a lovely cheese topping, other bits and pieces and masses of avocado. Alison went for the poached eggs which is a house speciality. Both were excellent. I think that the name Black Goo comes from the coffins of  Egyptian Mummies that when they were found were covered in this type of material. See the British Museum website.

Movies at Home: Thirst, The Good Liar and Nightmare Alley

 

I have enjoyed all of the films of Park Chan Wook, from The Handmaiden, Stoker, Decision to Leave and Lady Vengeance. However I was somewhat disappointed with Thirst, a kind of vampire story but not always an intelligent plot. Although the script is actually brilliant, there is not enough story and what is there is quite surreal.    It stars Song Kang-ho who was great in The Host, Snowpiercer and especially Parasite. He plays a Catholic priest who becomes addicted to blood after volunteering for a failed trial. he becomes involved with a friend's wife who turns into a more revolting individual than himself. However, the cinematography is pure class, the camera always on the move, up down above below and through corridors. There is too much gore in the second half which ultimately spoils the movie.

Adapted from the book by Nicholas Searle by Jeffrey Hatcher with direction by Bill Condon comes this strange two hander. Ian McKellen and Helen Mirren do their best in a story about a conman. Mirren is the target, but is she all she seems? There are plenty of twists along the way but I found the whole thing quite seedy. None of the characters have any redeeming features. The London locations are good but not enough to elevate the film from it's nastiness.

I posted a review of this film on 3rd February 2022 when I was impressed by the writing and direction of Guillermo del Toro. Every shot is like a piece of art, especially in the first half. The sets, the colour, the light and shade of the fairground. This time round I was less impressed with Bradley Cooper in the leading role. He was put in the shade by superior performances from Toni Collette and David Strathairn. The film is less good in the second half without them. Then the look is different and the story takes on a more sinister feel. Cooper's scenes with Cate Blanchett seem a little awkward as the movie veers to something nastier. But oh, the look.

A Circular Village Walk in December

 

Today I set off on a five mile circular walk that starts from the house. Turning left down Baker's Walk and then right down Church Lane before another left down Church Walk. The flood halfway down where the road crosses Wendover Brook is not as bad as it was.

At the end of Church Walk is the church of St Mary the Virgin.

At the end of the churchyard is a wonderful view of the Chilterns.

The field is muddy but passable. At the end of this field is a style that takes you to a much larger field. 

A long muddy path arrives at the Wendover Arm of the Grand Union Canal. Following it's upgrade, the canal path is fine. It arrives at Halton and that is where I follow the road as it loops around the playing fields of RAF Halton. Today there was a major event being set up on the cricket field. No cricket hasq been played there for years.

Arriving at one of the paths that follows Wendover Brook to the reservoir, I saw that the brook was now full of growth, it having been cleared earlier in the year.

At the end of this path is Weston Turville Reservoir. The Chiltern Hills in the distance are as grey as the weather.

Onto Worlds End Lane, a walk into Weston Turville and a loop around the village gets me to the five miles. For some reason my legs were far better in the last couple of miles and I managed to get up a decent pace. Where did that come from? What I like about this walk is that as well as circular, all the sections are very different. 

Our Christmas Tree

 

Our Christmas tree is thirteen years old this month. In December 2020 (see photo below) I said how it was becoming more difficult to lug the three pieces up and down from the loft. Four years later it is not any easier. The photo above also shows how a lot of lights are now not working. So will this be it's final year?

The Films of Powell and Pressburger - I Know Where I'm Going, A Matter of Life and Death and The life and Death of Colonel Blimp

 On the 18th November 2023, I posted a review of the first in a series about The Art of Film on Sky Arts: The Unique Styles of  Powell and Pressburger. I have now watched three of the films that were mentioned that were all shown on Sky Arts over the last few months. They all have something in common. But not just Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger who share the roles of producers, writers and directors. They are The Archers.

A black and white movie from 1945. I thought I Know Where I'm Going was the least successful of the three. Wendy Hiller plays Joan Webster, on her way to an island in the Hebrides to marry a much older but wealthier man. The film is about the journey, thwarted on many occasions by the weather. Stranded on the Isle of Mull she meets Torquil MacNeil played by Roger Livesey. A relationship develops between the two. 

Far better is A Matter of Life and Death, also from 1945. A mixture of scenes in colour and black and white, depending on whether we are on earth or in heaven. David Niven plays Peter Carter, the captain and sole remaining occupant of a Lancaster bomber, badly damaged and making it's way home from a mission in WW2. He's in contact with June, a radio operator played by Kim Hunter. Somehow he survives the crash landing on the coast, or did he? He does meet June and they fall in love, much to the concern of the powers that be in heaven as he should be dead. All very surreal but always interesting. June finds Peter a doctor, and who should turn up but Roger Livesey. The scenes set in heaven are a treat which makes this an ambitious and original movie.

Is The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp their masterpiece, or just a failed jumble. I thought The Archers had bitten off more than they could chew. It's all a bit of a jumble and far too long at two and a half hours. It has a lot of history on the net. It precedes the previous two films as it was made in 1943. One of the first films in glorious technicolour. A kind of comedy that follows the life of Clive Candy played by (you've guessed it, Roger Livesey) as he makes his way through the first world war and in the peace that followed. But it's the switches of time that destroys any real coherence to the plot. 

From the start set in the second world war, it back tracks to 1902. Then Candy is off  on an unauthorised mission to Berlin where he meets Edith Hunter played by Deborah Kerr. A set piece in a large nightclub involves the German army and brings Candy into contact with an officer Kaunitz played by Anton Walbrook. It is these three main characters who form the basis for what happens next. 

However, suddenly we are in 1918 and this is where the film seemed to lose it's way. Clive marries someone who looks very like Edith. Finally we fast forward to 1939 so it's difficult to keep up. It is a light and witty movie but far too ambitious and episodic to make real sense. And why the wives of the two men should end up dead before them is silly. Deborah Kerr was far nicer than any of the men in her three roles. A failed masterpiece.

Inside Cinema Shorts Episodes 61-70

 

"Everyone loves a good cameo" says Ali Plumb in Episode 61 Cameo Overload. But she shows far too many to mention here. From David Bowie in Zoolander (2001) to Alfred Hitchcock putting himself somewhere in all his movies. But what was David Beckam doing in King Arthur (2017). However our presenter's favourite was "the late, great Stan Lee".

Of course it's Escape to Victory that starts off Carl Anka's The Beautiful Game that is episode 62. But it's not easy getting films about football right. But Kes (1969), Gregory's Girl (1981), Bend it like Beckam (2002) and Fever Pitch (1997) did OK. Although I skipped the documentaries.

Leila Latif tells us about Senegalese film maker Ousmane Sembene in Episode 63 The Father of African Cinema. A pioneer.

Here are Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan in 2003's Freaky Friday that starts off Episode 64 Body Swaps. We see the original 1976 movie later. Tara Judah takes us through so many going back to 1948 and Vice Versa. 13 Going on 30, The Change Up (2011) and even Jumanji. 

Episode 65 is Uncanny Spaces from Wendy Ide. It's about when films deviate from physics. Such as Jack Nicholson losing touch with reality in The Shining (1980), Jim Carey being set up in The Truman Show (1998) and Anthony Hopkins succumbing to dementia in 2020's The Father. Among other examples we see obvious stuff from Harry Potter and Inception (2010).

Who else but Keanu Reeves in Episode 66 The Cult of Keanu. James King looks at  these films that star this one actor, in all sorts of different genres.

It's Caitlin Quinlan who looks at Underdogs in Episode 67. They come in various forms, but are typically young, male and American. Typically Rocky (1976) and lots more. It was more interesting to see female heroines in films such as A League of their Own (1992), Fighting with my Family (2019), Whip It (2009), She's the Man (2006) and Million Dollar Baby (2004).

Episode 68 is All About Bette. Yes it's all about Bette Davis, and Anna Bogutskaya takes us through " a career spanning six decades". From Of Human Bondage (1934) when she first showed her anger and belligerence that were to become her trademarks over the years. Anna tells us "how she went through physical transformations that were such a trademark of Bette. Her greatest role may have been All About Eve (1950) but she was also famous for her totally deranged role in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane (1962) where her sparring with Joan Crawford is so well remembered. 

Christina Newland surprisingly presented Episode 69 about boxing: Heavyweight Drama. Not my favourite genre as we see films from 1926's Battling Butler (directed by Buster Keaton no less) to all those of the modern era. We also saw lots of boxing documentaries.

In the last of these ten shorts, John Cunningham looks at The MacGuffin in Episode 70. "They may seem every day objects" but are crucial to the plot. It's always something that motivates the characters, always an object like the ring in The Big Lebowski (1998) that kicks off the whole story. In Mission Impossible 3 everybody wants to know "where is the rabbit' foot". They are everywhere in the Indiana jones movies. The word Macguffin came from screen writer Angus MacPhail in his collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock. It just had to be him.