The Lovely Bones at the Oxford Playhouse

Some novels make good plays and some do not. In the latter category I would put The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and Brideshead Revisited. However, the adapter of that book has made a much more thrilling theatrical experience from Alice Sebold's novel. She also adapted Brighton Rock which was equally successful.

So I found that the play was far better than the movie. I liked the way the dead Susie mingles with the living, although they cannot see her. Those passages from the book where she fails to tell them what to find work much better as a result. Susie herself is played with gusto by the excellent Charlotte Beaumont. This is a very physical and engaging performance.

The set also works well with that giant mirror at the back replicating Susie's view from heaven. Director Melly Still and designer Ana Ines Jabares-Pita are responsible for the different effects it made. Sometimes you didn't know whether to watch the action on stage or in the mirror. I guess this unsettling feeling was what they wanted.

The rest of the cast is fine. I particularly liked Leigh Lothian as Ruth and Buckley, and Nicholas Khan was just right as the creepy Harvey. The 70's soundtrack was fun with clips from Top of the World, You Make Me Feel Brand New, Everybody Wants to Rule the World and Starman. For such a tragic story, the play mirrors the book with it's premise that heaven is not such  a bad place to end up.

After the Wedding, The Aeronaughts and Farmageddon

A far more enjoyable film than many critics would have me believe. A good family drama that was well written with great performances from Michelle Williams and Julianne Moore. The ending did slightly spoil the whole thing, if only it had cut off when it had the chance.

The first twenty minutes are as good a spectacle as you would ever want from a historical movie. London looks great and the arena for the balloon launch quite wonderful. Enter Felicity Jones, a super show-woman. Less exciting when we are up in the air, but the visuals are quite something on the IMAX screen. Jones and Eddie Redmayne reprise their double act from The Theory of Everything, this time it's the man who has to rely on his partner's skill. And boy, is it put to the test as director Tom Harper treats us to some giddy moments. So entertaining (the balloon sequences are fortunately interrupted by some back story) and visually stunning.

Aardman Studios have done it again. A wordless but not silent movie with stacks of visual gags, not least the expressions on the faces of the sheep, the alien, the farmer etc. So many references to old space movies I lost count. A great soundtrack with songs I had never heard before such as the up-tempo "Lazy" by The Vaccines and Kylie. Wonderful.

This Is What Happened, When All Is Said and The Wall

This seedy thriller had an ugly plot-line. A vulnerable woman and a monster. What's not to hate. Herron's normal dark humour is sunk in what is not his normal spy story. I guessed the main plot point of the first half early on (not like me), but it was so obvious. The second half picks up a little before the pathetic conclusion. 

Eighty four year old Maurice Hannigan is sitting in a bar talking to his son Kevin, who isn't really there. That concept is only revealed towards the end, but it makes for a hugely entertaining, though sometimes dark, history of his life. Five toasts, five drinks. The writing is top drawer for a first time novelist. "For the life of me, I can't remember the chaps' first name. If you were here you'd know it. I'm sure you would. I steer my way around my memory loss as best I can. It's the faces I remember, no problem, these days but the names have me stumped".

With a light wit Maurice is not distracted from his tale by the comings and goings in the bar. "A gong sounds and true to Irish custom, the horde ignores it's request." There is some outstanding dialogue. All in his mind. There are some pretty sad stories along the way, all for Kevin's benefit as it happens. 

An interesting view of the future with hot topics about climate change, migration and Brexit. Our narrator, Kavanagh, has been brought up in a different world to his parents. And is it all their fault? This is an interesting, exhilarating but not captivating story, as cold as it is on The Wall. Their is little in the way of characterisation but it is an easy, fast read. And with a neat ending. 

Freya Ridings, Dido, Molly Tuttle, Nerina Pallot and Jenny Lewis

The last time I posted music reviews was back in August 2018. These are the latest albums in my collection.

The first album released by Freya Ridings ("Live at Omeara") was recorded at this music venue at London Bridge. Full of good songs with Freya playing keyboard and a small band. "Lost Without You" is the stand out track, as are all her ballads such as "You Mean The World To Me". The best of the up tempo songs is "Castles".

Freya's new self titled studio album contains most of the songs from her live album, so I just downloaded the four brand new tracks. The ballads, again, are great with "Still Have You" her best to date.

"Still on my Mind" is not the best of Dido's albums but still worth a listen. "Give You Up" and "Some Kind of Love" are typical Dido although most of the other tracks are a mixed bag.

As I said on my previous post about "When You're Ready",  I only came across Molly when this, her first full album was reviewed in The Sunday Times:   

Molly Tuttle is already a phenomenon: she was the first woman to be named guitar player of the year by The International Bluegrass Association then won the award for the second time. But while purists drool over her technique, this debut will introduce her to a wider audience as a singer-songwriter. Take the Journey echoes kd lang, Million Miles calls to mind Laura Viers and Make My Mind Up and Messed With My Mind are superior soft rock. Alison Krauss-style crossover success looks assured. 

The songs described in the article are some of the best on the album, but I prefer "When You're Ready" and "Don't Let Go".

Molly's first release "Rise" was a seven song album where the first song "Good Enough" showcases her guitar virtuosity. Indeed, on all the tracks, Molly's acoustic guitar is at the forefront. My favourite is "You Didn't Call My Name".

The latest in my collection of Nerina Pallot albums is "Stay Lucky". She played quite a few from this album at her live show. The best tracks are the outstanding "Juno", "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" and "All Gold". After her solo performance, it was strange listening to these with her band.

I reviewed Jenny Lewis's album  "Voyager" back in 2015. "On the Line" is her latest recording. No stand out tracks but overall marginally better than that previous album. A little too poppy in places, but a reasonable set of songs.

The Day Shall Come, Terminator - Dark Fate and Official Secrets

As a pastiche on the war on terror, it was hard to say who was more inept, the "good" guys or the "bad" guys. It must be the FBI, the police and Homeland Security as the bad guys were not bad at all, just stupid. But how much more interesting would it have been if the bad guys had been white and the FBI etc black. So in the end, this was a predictable satire with some witty dialogue from writer and director Chris Morris.

After Terminators 1 and 2, I deliberately avoided the next three. However, the latest in the series had better reviews and gained credibility and ingenuity from having three women in the leads.  Basically a re-run of T2, but fortunately there is enough story and dialogue keep us interested. The special effects are predictably monotonous, but Linda Hamilton, Mackenzie Davis and Natalia Reyes interact well and director Tim Miller's focus on their plight is just right. It was great that Arnold does not appear until well into the second half and we have to wait one hour and twenty five minutes before we hear those familiar beats.

I have no memory of the true story of Katherine Gun, the woman who worked at GCHQ  who leaked the memo from the NSA in the USA asking her and her colleagues to find damaging information on certain countries so that they would vote for a war with Iraq in the United Nations. This is therefore a drama documentary about how she was arrested for breaking the official secrets act. I found the best scenes were at The Observer Newspaper. They had originally supported the idea of war with Iraq, but after a gripping story of how they verified the memo, published the document on the front page.

The whole cast is excellent, the three stars (Keira Knightly, Matt Smith and Ralph Fiennes) are supplemented by an array of serious British acting talent: Mathew Goode, Rhys Ifans, Jeremy Northam, Tamsin Greig, Hattie Morahan, MyAnna Buring, Indira Varma, Kenneth Cranham and an outstanding Monica Dolan as Knightly's boss at GCHQ. Director Gavin Hood explains the drama well and the adaptation of the book "The Spy who tried to stop a War" is excellent. I found the tension built along the way to that dramatic finale.

Tring Book Club - A View of the Harbour by Elizabeth Taylor

My third Elizabeth Taylor novel (after "Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont" and "Angel"). This just might be the best of all. A cast of many different characters living by the harbour in the old part of Newby. We hardly ever visit the new part. Just after the end of the second world war, the old part is as run down as some of those who live here.

The author writes with a light wit, sometimes giving us a satirical view of the various personalities. She has a great insight into human behaviour and a distinctive way of expression. Bertram is a visitor who compensates for his lack of talent as an artist with insinuating himself into the lives of the inhabitants, particularly a divorcee called Tory. "Had he begun to discover, as her husband must have discovered, that warmth and wit and loveliness are not enough. Not enough to compensate for the selfishness, the cussedness of her".

The ending is quite superb, in that we are left wondering for some time about what will happen to those who leave and those who are left. 

Stuck on 242

My last parkrun was four weeks ago on 7th October. This was just before I contracted a nasty bout of plantar fasciitis, an inflammation of the fibrous tissue at the bottom of the foot that connects the heel bone to the toes. The pain is under the heel and is not unusual for runners to develop this injury.

My particular case coincided with increasing my mileage and intensity in preparation for the Great South Run on 20th October. Running that race soon became out of the question. Despite having been for two treatments by my soft tissue specialist, it looks like I shall be out of action from running for some time. So stuck on 242 parkruns.

However, it does give me the opportunity to volunteer at parkrun. A beautiful day last Saturday in a perfect spot in Wendover Woods.

Completely different today in the pouring rain and strong winds at Aylesbury. The rough with the smooth.