A gentle surprise in my inbox today, in the shape of an Odeon deal promising 2 Adult tickets for a tenner – result! But what to see, with so much showing at the moment. Jo and Janet invited us to The Theory of Everything (the life of Stephen Hawking), but we fancied something a bit …
Read More
Category:Film
Film: The Imitation Game
I thought it was a really good film, and Lee and Ann felt the same. Possibly the best film of the year for me! A truly impressive performance by Benedict Cumberbatch with a great supporting cast really carried it, and I was glued from start to finish. Before we went in, I was wondering why …
Read More
Film: Mr Turner
– for Timothy Spall– for optimism If you’re a fan of Painter, Turner’s life and work, or equally a fan of Timothy Spall, this is a good film to go and see. It’s a bit of both with us, so what’s not to like? You certainly have to give Timothy Spall credit for his …
Read More
Kitchens, Arks and Takeaways!
The Kitchen Makeover – Almost Finished We always knew today was going to be busy! It was the day we set aside for restocking the kitchen cupboards after emptying them last week in preparation for the kitchen makeover. In spite of the hard work by Anglia Interiors’s Grant, their kitchen installer, the job wasn’t quite …
Read More
Meal with the Girls
And so it was off to London today to meet up with ‘the gang’ – June, Angela and Antoinette – for our regular three-monthly evening meal/get-together. Originally, I’d also planned to catch up with Peter J earlier in the afternoon, but he had to cancel at the last minute. First stop was meeting Angela at …
Read More
Film: Non-Stop
The reinvention of Liam Neeson as an action-hero, has, in my view, been pretty much a success, with films such as Taken, Battleship and Unknown (and more) adding to his more recent acting portfolio (perhaps except Taken 2 that I felt was a bit disappointing!) Although the Sunday Mail, gave his latest: Non-Stop – directed …
Read More
Film: Cuban Fury
After the thoroughly depressing 12 years a Slave, from a month or so ago, we felt that our next visit to the cinema ought to be something a ‘little lighter’! So, we picked up Jo and Janet and headed for local Odeon to see Cuban Fury. Starring Nick Frost and (a rather wrinkled) Ian McShane, …
Read More
Film: Twelve Years a Slave
And so, as planned, it was off to the local Odeon this evening to the must-see-film-of-the-moment: 12 Years a Slave. Directed by Steve McQueen (no, not that Steve McQueen, that Steve McQueen) and starring Michael Fassbender and Brad Pitt (who was also part of the production team) – and the not-so-well-known-but-ultimately-the-main-star: Hiwetel Ejiofor. The film …
Read More
Film: The Railway Man
Ann and I took a rare trip to Kettering Odeon today to see The Railway Man. I say rare as it’s been ages since we both went together – the last time was when we saw Skyfall back in October, last year. The Railway Man was the true story of Eric Lomax, who was one …
Read More
Doctor Who – 50th Year Anniversary Episode
(But I would say that wouldn’t I?) After the mega-hype of the past few weeks, unless you’ve been on another planet (except Gallifrey), you can’t fail to have experienced the ‘buzz’ via every possible means, shouting about tonight’s episode. And yes, I got caught up in it all (and enjoyed every moment of it!) The …
Read More
Lyddington Bede House
Ralph, Karen, Ann and I took the short drive to Lyddington today to meet-up with Nick and Celina. The weather was disappointing – very grey with light rain We visited English Heritage’s Lyddington Bede House before dropping into The Old White Hart just down the road for some ‘refreshment’. Then it was all back to …
Read More
Roast Lamb – Shaken not Stirred!
“The name’s ‘Lamb’, ‘Roast Lamb’”. Nick and Celina joined us this afternoon, together with David, for a food ‘n’ film evening. Ann prepared Tagliatelle with Prawns and Romano Peppers to start, followed by Roast Lamb infused with garlic & rosemary – we finished with Red Plum Amoretti Pots – a sort of exotic trifle in …
Read More
Film: Bond 23: Skyfall
We pre-booked the tickets a few months ago to see “Skyfall”, the 23rd outing for James Bond (released on 23rd October and directed by Sam Mendes). I’m glad we did as the cinema was packed – and they were showing it every 45 minutes across a number of the screens too! It’s the first …
Read More
DVD: Avengers Assemble
I was looking forward to watching this DVD – Avengers Assemble. It’s been on my wish-list since I missed it first time around at the cinema. I’d already seen ‘Iron Man’ and ‘Thor’ and they were pretty good, so a film with both of them in, was going to be great wasn’t it? …wasn’t it? …
Read More
The Only Way is… Tooway
OK, after years of constantly below-par broadband speeds here, I finally ‘bit the bullet’ and did something about it. For as long as I can remember, it seemed like everyone else (apart from the rest of the neighbours in our immediate area) were getting faster connection speeds than us. When the houses were built 20+ …
Read More
Cinema: The Artist
We picked up Lee and dropped into the local Odeon tonight to see ‘The Artist’. This is the film that was made to look like an old black-and-white silent movie and tells the story of an artiste struggling to make the transition to the ‘talkies’. It’s not always a good sign when you hear that …
Read More
Film: War Horse
I didn’t think this was going to be my kind of film, but you can’t really go wrong with Steven Spielberg can you? – He’s a great story-teller and the cinematography in this film was just stunning! So, even if you don’t like wars…or horses, go see this – it’s fantastic!!!! Horsing Around… War Horse …
Read More
Birthday Weekend – Aborted!
SATURDAY Well, the weekend started very well – a sunny day, and we’re almost in October. David, Val, Lee, Ann and I are all ready for a bit of a celebration with David and my birthday within a day of each other. Everything was planned, and all we needed to do was to enjoy what …
Read More
Vauxhall Ampera/Jane Eyre/Colombiana/Last Night of the Proms
Ralph, Karen, Lee, Ann and I took the 9.30 out of Kettering today and headed for London. For Karen, Lee and Ann, the mission was to seek out some suitable material for THE wedding dress. For Ralph and I, we concentrated on much more important things like Vauxhall’s soon-to-be-launched Ampera – their first extended range …
Read More
DVD: Age of Heroes
I picked this up because it was cheap and with Sean Bean and Danny Dyer, I thought it was bound to be 1. Gritty, 2. Foul mouthed, 3. Full of action. Hhhhmm… a bit of a disappointment actually! Set in WWII it tells the story of an …
Read More
Film: Pirates of the Caribbean – On Stranger Tides
We all popped down to the Odeon to catch Johnny Depp’s latest caper as the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow – ‘Pirates of the Caribbean – On Stranger Tides’. <img src=”https://lh6.ggpht.com/_xEp-Etxr6ic/TdlHdDdYvbI/AAAAAAAAGwM/-bB1TssTu8M/videoca708f49c57e%5B20%5D.jpg?imgmax=800″ style=”border-style: none” galleryimg=”no” onload=”var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById(‘18669350-c834-4d6e-a186-67a1ef81d39f’); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = “ https://www.youtube.com/v/t5AqJww06bw?hl=en&hd=1“;” alt=””> Hilarious!!!! After the slightly lack-lustre third instalment, I think every fan was hoping …
Read More
DVD: The King’s Speech
Ann and I had seen The King’s Speech at the cinema back in January – but Lee hadn’t, so we had the perfect excuse to watch it again – this time on Blu-Ray DVD. Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! …
Read More
Lunch with Eric M
I drove up to my favourite town – Stamford – and The George, to catch-up with my old pal from my Sainsbury days, Eric Mival. He’s a film producer and we had a good time nattering about the state of the industry and the parallels with my profession. We haven’t seen each other since last …
Read More
Film: The King’s Speech
Lee, Ann and I dropped into the local Odeon to see: ‘The King’s Speech’ starring Mr Darcy, Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush, (amongst many other famous stars). Worth seeing, even if you don’t fancy Colin Firth? A definite ‘yes’ in my book. If he doesn’t get an Oscar for his performance, then there just isn’t …
Read More
Wot, no more Christmas?
So that’s it then! Christmas is officially over and my waistline is the only evidence of our period of indulgence. After a rather large lunch, Nicki helped us remove the cards and dismantle all the decorations and the tree. The cards are now in the recycling bin and the decorations and the tree are back …
Read More
Holiday – Day 7: Barcelona
One of the GREAT things about cruising is that you get to see lots of different countries – and only have to unpack once! The downside (and it doesn’t happen too often) is that you are at the mercy of mother-nature, and in particular, the bad weather at sea when you’re between ports – and …
Read More
Cinema: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
I’ve just learned that The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is coming to the big screen on December 9 – just in time for Christmas. That’s excellent news, as I thought the first two big-screen adaptations were simply brilliant!! Written in 1950, by C S Lewis, and published in 1952, Lucy and Edmund Pevensie together …
Read More
RIP: Norman Wisdom
Star of stage and screen, the comedy legend that is Sir Norman Wisdom, died today, aged 95. Famous for playing the underdog, and someone who made falling-over, an art-form, I remember him best for the 1953 film Trouble in Store, (which I think, earned him a BAFTA). In the film, he first uttered the line: …
Read More
RIP: Tony Curtis
Ahh, that’s sad – Tony Curtis died today, at the fine age of 85. Although the media tended to show mostly photographs and movie-clips of him with Jack Lemmon in Some Like it Hot, I mostly remember him in The Persuaders TV series, shown in the 70s, where he played millionaire playboy Danny Wilde. I …
Read More
Film: Salt
We went to our local Odeon today and saw the 6pm performance of Salt starring Angelina Jolie. With the next James Bond film on-hold because of financial difficulties, this film was marketed as having the potential to fill the action-movie gap and spawn at least one sequel, if not, a whole series of sequels! The …
Read More