Gleaming Gold

Deep confusion around the family love for the movie "Big Eyes". I would understand a cursory acceptance, a begrudging acknowledgement of the film's scant qualities - its workmanlike direction, plodding narrative and curious American accent from the Austrian. Otherwise there was nothing to write home about; also I believe that Andrew, in his previous review, is forgetting the magnificent failure of both "Alice in Wonderland" (the closest Disney will ever get to Titus Groan) and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" which is definitely better than the Gene Wilder version, although lacked the trip out scene in the tunnel which was a career highlight for the Assistant Director/drugs in movies.

So where are we at, well it definitely Spring season for these happy homemakers in scenic Nelson, you can sense it in the oppressive heat and the daffodils are a dead give away. Media we have watched recently....

1. Far from Men- Aragorn, otherwise known as Strider, leads the cast in this curious back story for the King of Gondor/Middle Earth as he takes an Algerian guy to some deadbeat town to get killed by the gendarme, along the way there is a sensitive trip to a whorehouse. Recommended.

2. Bojack Horseman- Season 1 and 2 have breezed by. Will Arnett is the star of this cartoon. Fills a Rick and Morty void, even though the new season is out and is good it just isn't really released fast enough.

3. Another Period- passable American comedy, ocassionally very funny.

4. The Whale. It was a book, won the Samuel Johnson prize, but I feel the follow up which I bought a while back was definitely better. Philip Hoare seems to sort of be a one horse pony and his horse in this failing mixed metaphor is the sea. And what a horse it is.

5. The Wolfpack- avoidable.

6. When Marnie Was There- when the first cracks in the Studio Ghibli facade began to emerge the office workers expressed mild concern, but cautiously continued to work. Slowly the front of the building began to crumble around them, as dark mounds of cement, plasterboard and steel bracing formed near the carpark. The workers moved slowly around the rubble, parking more carefully for work.

To watch over the bitter spring

1. The look of silence

2. When We Were Young

3. The Lobster

4. House buying in the urban slums of Nelson. Potential log burner.