The Lawn in March

 

Yesterday, the lawn had it's first cut of the year. The weather had been so good over the last week with lots of sunny days and a gradual increase in temperature to 14C. 

I had left it until the warmest day as I wanted to apply Pro Keen's Iron Sulphate straight after mowing. I could then water the lawn as recommended before dissolving the powder in a watering can. I cannot believe it took so many trips to spray the lawn. But the moss was the worst it has ever been and it was not long before it was already turning black.

This last picture is from the far end of the garden where there is no sun for months and the moss is the worst. Apparently, the iron sulphate not only kills the moss, but it also hardens the turf allowing better growth of the grass. It certainly seemed to work last year. Another month and it will be time for Pro Kleen's Grass Green fertilizer.

Oscars 2025

 

I looked at my post about last years Oscars and how much I was in agreement with so many of the awards. But not this year. The big winner was Anora. Best film, best actress, best director, best original screenplay and best editing. I did not agree with any of these. It's an OK movie, but nothing special. Perhaps the voters could not face watching the three hours plus of The Brutalist which, in my opinion is by far the better and more important story. I nearly didn't go because of the length and that only stopped me from seeing it again. 

I wasn't sure that Adrian Brody actually deserved the best actor award. Funnily enough I just preferred Timothee Chalamet in A Complete Unknown.  Demi Moore should have won best actress.  Brady Corbet should have won best director for The Brutalist as he did at the BAFTA's. And that film also deserved winning best cinematography. The final nail in the coffin of this years Oscars was the award for best animated feature. How did the silent, unheard of Flow beat Wallace and Gromit? Was that a huge anti-British vote? What else? I cry Fowl.

Fortunately, the Oscar for the best international feature went to I'm Still Here (see my review). Here is writer and director Walter Salles with his award.

Movies at Home - A Shot in the Dark, Passport to Pimlico and The Outfit

 

A Shot in the Dark  stars  Peter Sellers as the bumbling Inspector Clouseau, a spin off from the Pink Panther movies. All pretty silly, the pratfalls are rarely funny, but there are plenty of laughs along the way. Elke Sommer is the chambermaid accused of murder and Herbert Lom plays Clouseau's unfortunate boss and I recognised Graham Stark as his assistant. I had to look up who played Kato, Clouseau's karate partner. It was Burt Kwouk. It was all pretty stupid but good fun. They don't make films like this anymore.

Another of the Ealing comedies produced by Michael Balcombe,  Passport to Pimlico is not quite as good as some of the others. All based on the premise that finding some treasure and an ancient document shows that Pimlico is a legal part of the House of Burgundy. A very original story but the script is not as good as the premise. But what was interesting was the location. Nearly all filmed outside in the heart of Lambeth. So in 1949 we see lots of bomb sites, a cliff of sandbags and deserted buildings. (Even when I lived in London in 1952 there were still some of these). 

Stanley Holloway leads the cast, but it might have been Margaret Rutherford that audiences came to see. Did they cheer when she first arrives? We have songs from Jane Hylton as Molly with Charles Hawtry (an exile from all those Carry On films) on piano. Directed by Henry Cornelius and written by T E B Clark.  All a bit of nonsense with the odd chuckle. But a great bit of history.

A surprisingly excellent film starring Mark Rylance. I wondered why I had never seen it at the cinema, and then found it was only on very limited release in Curzon and other similar cinemas. However, in the end I found it probably worked as well, if not better on the small screen. Mark Rylance plays an English Jewish tailor in 1950's Chicago. No, "not a tailor, a cutter". Tailors only sew on buttons.  All the action takes place in his shop. He is somehow involved with the mob with all the coming and going. Things take a turn for the worse, with so many twists and turns along the way. The script is brilliant, written by the first time director Graham Moore and Jonathon McClain. The supporting actors are great, Johnny Flynn at his cruel best, Simon Russell Beale and Zoey Deuch. I'm so glad it was shown on TV.