rich_jacko

It's been nearly 7 months since I last did one of these. With Cineworld closing again and other cinemas probably not far behind (the Bond film delayed again being the final straw after every other major release was also put back), it could well be another 7 months or more before I do another. But I have enjoyed going back to the cinema, however briefly it lasted.

Proxima - Sarah (Eva Green) is an ESA astronaut preparing for a lengthy space mission. We follow her training, but the emphasis is on her personal relationships with her young daughter and ex-husband as she prepares to leave them behind. A film about enforced separation and quarantine is perhaps a little too close to the bone for 2020, and it tugs at the heartstrings. The training and Sarah's bonding with her fellow astronauts is all handled very realistically, and the multinational characters mean the film switches between English, French, German and Russian constantly, but it's seemless and natural. One selfish act by Sarah near the end is a tad annoying and undermines the realism, but overall this was an absorbing story.

Tenet - Much-hyped as the saviour of this year's cinema, Tenet was... well, it was okay. I say that as a big Christopher Nolan fan, but this was sub-par for him. Don't get me wrong, it was a blast. The timey-wimey weirdness, conspiracy-laden plot and pretty much non-stop action were all blockbuster entertainment as it should be, and so much fun to see on the biggest screen (IMAX) again. But it's lacking in character - we know nothing about our hero (John David Washington), who is credited only as "The Protagonist", and very little about anyone he meets. We care that he's trying to save the world from a mysterious future threat, but not about the characters. Despite the convoluted plot, in some ways it's too predictable. Several times I'd watch a scene and thing, "We're going to see this again later, aren't we? And that thing is going to be done by that person." There's some satisfaction in watching these replays unfold, but I'd like not to have guessed so much. 2020 hat-tip: as a visual aid to tell when a character's travelling back through time, they wear a face mask. Apparently it's dangerous to breathe oxygen travelling the other way through time to you. Of course it is.

Away - This was a rather lovely piece of animation. A teenage boy and a little bird journey across a strange island. He has been planewrecked there, and a giant shadowy figure is slowly pursuing him as he tries to get home. That's it. There's no dialogue, hardly any characters and very little story. Just simple, but eye-catching visuals and watching the journey unfold. It's a short 75 minutes, but an utterly absorbing escape from the world for that time. It was a limited release, but worth tracking down if you can find it.

The New Mutants - Much delayed, the latest X-Men film goes full teen horror movie. Danielle Moonstar (Blu Hunt) is a young mutant only just discovering her powers. After a tornado, she wakes in a hospital run by Dr Reyes (Alice Braga) and populated by other mutants her age - a troubled and sometimes spiky ensemble cast consisting of Maisie Williams, Anna Taylor-Joy, Charlie Heaton and Henry Zaga. Are they in an asylum? A prison? A research facility? Or all three? Before long, things are going bump in the night and all the teens' various unresolved traumas are coming to life around them. Is this a manifestation of their powers, or something worse? If you want an idea of the vibe the filmmakers are going for here, there are moments where our heroes are watching Buffy on telly. It is all very Buffy, but with the horror dialled up several notches. Not a classic, but much better than I expected it to be.

Bill & Ted Face the Music - Dudes! The Wyld Stallyons are back, for more time-travelling chaos, saving the world, saving the princesses, and trying to find the song that wil unite the world. Bill S. Preston, Esq. (Alex Winter) and Ted "Theodore" Logan (Keanu Reeves) are now middle-aged rockers, failing to recreate their brief glory days, but worshipped by their teen daughters, Thea (Samara Weaving) and Billie (Brigette Lundy-Paine), aka "Little Ted" and "Little Bill". The dads haven't grown up at all and the kids are chips off the old blocks. All the survivign cast are back, and there's even a touching tribute to Rufus (George Carlin). It's nostalgic fun. Like its heroes, the film is riffing mainly on past glories, but with just enough new stuff in the mix to keep it fresh and entertaining. It's not going to blow you away, and anyone unfamiliar with the first two installments will probably wonder what the hell they're watching. But it doesn't matter, because it's so upbeat, so full of optimism and joy and people coming together, that you can't help but smile. A most triumphant and much needed antidote to 2020.

David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet + Q&A with Michael Palin – Sir David Attenborough, national treasure and aged 94, describes this as his "witness statement and vision for the future". It's a more personal and sobering film than most of his work, charting how, over the course of his lifetime, he has seen how humanity has "not just ruined the wilderness; we've destroyed it". Through archive footage counting through the years of his life, on-screen statistics count the rising human population and carbon levels in the atmosphere, and falling proportion of wilderness. Most of this we already know, but nothing brings it home to you quite as much as a documentary like this can. But, as always with Attenborough, there is a glimpse of hope, as he sets out examples of rewilding, intensive sustainable farming, changes in attitudes and more which could yet save us all. For, as the bookending Chenobyl sequence shows, "nature" will survive and thrive in the long term, with or without us. After all the solemnity, the interview with Michael Palin at the end provides a welcome bit of light relief. Everyone should see this film.

It's Saturday and so it's Parkrun day!

It's turned cooler and cloudier, but that made it 100% perfect running weather this morning. I achieved a 20:32 time, which I think is my fastest ever 5K when running solo :o)

I ran the normal course this morning, for the first time in a while. There has been a method in my running madness over the past week or so. I've been figuring out an alternative 5K route around the park, trying to avoid repeated paths as far as possible and make it a single giant lap. I've shared it on the Hillsborough Parkrun facebook page, and here it is:



Yeah, looks a bit complicated. ( Let's break it down, kilometre by kilometre. )

A (mostly) very good selection this time around:

Knives Out - Old mansion: check. Mysterious death: check. Lots of deliciously unpleasant characters, all of whom have a motive but none of whom seem to have had the means: check. Yes, it's a murder mystery in the best Agatha Christie tradition. It's also a brilliantly black comedy. I don't want to say too much, as it unfolds in unexpected ways and it's best to watch it unspoiled. At first it feels like too much is being revealed too soon, but the plot keeps on twisting and turning and keeps you guessing almost to the end. So much fun, and the stellar cast (including Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Christopher Plummer, Toni Collette and a weirdly-accented Daniel Craig) are clearly having a blast. Recommended.

Jojo Rabbit - Taika Waititi's films aren't for everyone. I've seen reviews ranging from 1 star to 5 stars for Jojo Rabbit, an anti-Nazi satire in which Waititi writes, directs and stars (as the title character's imaginary friend, one Adolf Hitler). Personally, I thought it was brilliant. Yes, it's unsubtle and silly, but that's deliberate. It's a child's-eye view of the war. Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis) desperately wants to be a good little Nazi, until events start to help him see through the propoganda and think for himself. As one character tells him, "You're not a Nazi; you're a 10-year-old kid who likes dressing up in a funny uniform and wants to be part of a club." There's a serious message and character drama underlying the humour, and no shying away from the life-or-death reality of the time. This is Waititi's genius. Somehow he manages to make the Nazis both comically ridiculous and terrifyingly dangerous, often in the same scene. Scarlett Johansson, Sam Rockwell and Thomasin McKenzie also turn in memorable performances.

1917 - Two WW1 soldiers - Lance Corporals Schofield (George MacKay) and Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman) - must deliver an urgent message across several miles of enemy territory. In real time. I'm a sucker for long, tracking shots, and the whole film is designed to appear as just two continuous shots. It's a bit of a gimmick and you can often see the joins, but it works. It brings a sense of immediacy and documentary-style filmmaking that wouldn't be there with the usual cutting between cameras. You feel really close to the action like almost no other film, and there's a constant sense of danger. The story may be largely fictitious, Sam Mendes has given us a haunting exploration of what life must have been like on the front line. Lives up to the hype.

The Personal History of David Copperfield - Armando Iannucci gives us his take on the Dickens novel, and it's actually much closer to the source material than you might believe. Dev Patel is as likeable as always in the title role, and Tilda Swinton, Hugh Laurie and Paul Whitehouse are among the star names fleshing out an impressive cast. Much has been said about the "race blind" casting, and it's generally (a) a good thing and (b) works fine. My only gripe about it is that, when casting blood relatives, you ought to cast actors who look at least vaguely similar to one another. That wasn't half as incongruous as Peter Capaldi's cockney accent though. At times the film isn't sure whether it wants to be a drama or a comedy, so it's a bit uneven, but a more-or-less successful adaptation.

Parasite - Two families, not alike in dignity. The wealthy Park family live in a luxurious modernist mansion; the Kim family live in a run-down basement and struggle to make ends meet. Then one of them gets a job with the Parks, and step-by-step the Kims start to wheedle their way into the Park family's lives. You can't help but root for the underdog anti-heroes here, even as they build lies upon lies and show a callous disregard for the lives of others. Things don't all go their way however, and events take some unexpected (and occasionally violent) turns. As Best Picture winner at this year's Oscars, Bong Joon-ho's film is inevitably over-hyped, but it is nevertheless very, very good. It's said to defy description, but it's essentially part black comedy, part thriller, and does both of those things very well indeed.

Sonic the Hedgehog - Surprisingly, this isn't that bad, though your milage may vary depending on your appreciation for Jim Carrey. His Dr Robotnik is pretty full-on Jim Carrey here. That worked for me, and he has the most wonderful toys. The (strangely furry) blue one, voiced by Ben Schwartz, has been re-CGI'd since the original trailer to make him cuter rather than creepy - a big improvement. This Sonic is a lonely teenager, stranded far from his homeworld. His buddy team-up with local cop, Tom (James Marsden) has just enough screen chemistry to work, though the constant emotional blackmailing bugged me a little. The action sequences are a fun ride, the gags are broad, there are plenty of videogame in-jokes, and it all works about as well as you could realistically hope for. I was amused that both the goblin child and I were counting how many hits the final boss machine took ;o)

Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) - I don't usually watch DC Universe movies, but this one looked fun. And it is fun, gleefully violent and anarchic fun. Harley (Margot Robbie) has broken up with "Mr J". This means she no longer has his protection, and everyone with a grudge against her is out for payback. Chief amongst them is gangster, Black Mask (Ewan McGregor). Cue a rambling, madcap plot involving an assassin (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), a singer (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), a cop (Renee Montoya), a runaway kid (Ella Jay Basco) and a missing diamond. All of which is just an excuse for lots of witty banter and technicolour set-pieces. The script is very funny, the action is inventive and well-shot/choreographed, and the whole film is just a blast. A certain Ruby Jay of my acquaintance would love it (perhaps a bit too much!).

Onward - I knew about the weird concept - psuedo-fantasy world, two elf brothers (voiced by Spider-man Tom Holland and Star-Lord Chris Pratt) cast a spell to reanimate their dead dad for 24 hours, but only succeed in bringing him back from the waist down). I wasn't expecting Pixar's take on D&D. But that's what this turns into as the film goes on. Early on, it's a bit of a mess, a strange mix of high school comedy meets Zootropolis meets high fantasy. But once it settles down into the two brothers on a quest, we're into familiar Pixar buddy comedy/road trip territory. The gags mostly hit the mark and the messy set-up settles down as the film goes on. You can see the groundwork being laid for the superb last act, yet it still manages to be surprising and (as is compulsory for Pixar these days) a tear-jerker. Overall, it's not a classic perhaps, but still well worth a watch. Oh, and as a sign that Disney now own everything, Simpsons shorts before Pixar movies are now a thing. I'd rather have had a Pixar short. PSA - There's no credit cookie at the end (apart from the lamp).

Life got in the way of my reading time quite a bit this year. I haven't read nearly so many books as I have in previous years, but I still managed to fit in the following:

• Norse Mythology (Neil Gaiman) - I want to sit around a campfire, listening to Neil Gaiman tell stories. This is as close as I'm likely to get.
• The Accidental Further Adventures of the Hundred-Year-Old Man (Jonas Jonasson) - Still crazy, still brilliant.
• Transformers comics (IDW) - A slightly messy end to a series that's been running since 2006 (and which I've recently introduced the Goblin Child to)
• Buffy comics (Dark Horse) - A neater end to another long-running comics series, this one running since 2007 (What comics am I going to read now?)
• Betty Boothroyd - the autobiography - Given to me a while ago by Gillian. Bercow's retirement seemed like the ideal moment to read it.
• Border (John Ajvide Lindqvist) - I re-read this short story in anticipation of the film. Didn't get around to watching the film, but still enjoyed the story.
• Star Wars: Ahsoka (E.K. Kohnston) - Picking up the story of Anakin's former padawan post-Clone Wars. Okay, but not exactly revelatory.
• The Gospel of Loki (Joanne M. Harris) - Another take on Norse mythology, and interesting to read from a different perspective. Everyone likes Loki ;o)
• The View from the Cheap Seats (Neil Gaiman) - More Neil Gaiman. A collection of speeches and non-fiction.
• The Atrocity Archives (Charles Stross) - First of the Laundry Files. I didn't get on with it, so won't be reading the rest.
• Bizarre Romance (Audrey Niffenegger & Eddie Campbell) - Short stories by her, illustrated by him, signed by them both (at the lecture of hers I went to back in May)
• Mythos (Stephen Fry) - Books on Norse and Greek mythology? Gosh, wasn't I cultured? Stephen Fry brings to life all the petty rivalry and debauchery of the Olympic soap opera in his own unique style.
• The Watchmaker of Filigree Street (Natasha Pulley) - Victorian London, sinister plots, time-bending weirdness and a clockwork octopus. Gloriously bonkers.
• Gnomon (Nick Harkaway) - As weird and wondeful as I'd expect from Harkaway. Mind-blowing, in a good way. I need to read this again to make more sense of it.
• Record of a Spaceborn Few (Becky Chambers) - More stories of everyday people in a distant future. Every bit as humbling and full of the breadth of humanity as the first two.
• Lies Sleeping (Ben Aaronovitch) - Latest in the "Rivers of London" series. This was a very significant chapter, and makes me want to re-read them all.
• Brief Cases (Jim Butcher) - It's been too long, but this short story collection helps fill the gap. I loved the stories from other character's perspectives (especially Zoo Day!).
• Idol Scribblings (Hannah Hudson-Lee) - My very talented friend, Hannah's first published book. Nice to have the pantheon on my bookshelf as well as her ongoing blog.
• Malamander (Thomas Taylor) - Two kids solve a mystery in a spooky seaside town. Cthulu for juniors. No, really (only better written).
• The Book of Dust, Volume Two: The Secret Commonwealth (Philip Pullman) - I'm currently about halfway through this. Curse you, Philip Pullman, for making me sad (for Lyra and Pan) on Christmas Day!

My "to read" shelf is almost empty. Other than "Peace Talks", I don't know whether any of my favourite authors have anything new coming up. Who knows what I'll end up reading in 2020?

I've never gone into a Star Wars film with lower expectations. You may have noticed from my reviews of The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi that I'm not a great fan of the sequel trilogy.

The Rise of Skywalker isn't going to change anyone's mind. If you like VII and VIII for their characters, action and simple sense of nostalgia, then you'll be happy here. If you're disappointed by their lack of imagination or originality, and the many ways they undermine the original trilogy, then you won't be impressed with this one either.

For me, it was... better than I expected. (There'll be a lot of damning with faint praise coming up in this review!) The opening ten minutes or so is jumbled and completely ridiculous, but bear with it and it does settle down into something more watchable. On the originality scale, it doesn't take the occasional bold risks that VIII did, but is at least more inventive than VII. At its core, it's still a remake of Return of the Jedi, but there were (just about) enough novel ideas to keep my interest.

The biggest strength of this trilogy has been its characters, and the same is true here. Until now, we've never really seen the lead trio of Rey, Finn and Poe on a mission together, certainly not on board the Falcon and with Chewie and droids in tow as well. This film sets that to rights and gets that Original Trilogy vibe across a lot better than any amount of shameless re-hashing of plot points. C-3PO gets a lot of story and screen time, which is nice for fans of ol' Goldenrod (like me).

There are new characters in the mix. Richard E Grant has appeared to chew the scenery as this episode's evil ImperialFirst Order commanding officer. We meet an old flame from Poe's past. There's another cute new droid with not enough to do. Lando Calrissian is, of course, back this time too (About time!). On top of an already expansive cast, this means the story struggles with too many characters. Several don't get anywhere near the screen time they deserve. Finn and Poe don't get as much attention as in their last two films, although they still get a reasonable amount of screen time and development. Luke, Leia, R2-D2, Rose and Maz are mostly sidelined. In Leia's case (as we all know), sadly there were real world reasons for this. The editing of cut footage of Carrie Fisher back in isn't entirely successful. Her snippets of dialogue are so brief and lacking in context that the script has to desperately throw tortuous lines out to other characters to try to work them into the story. It shows. None of those scenes are terribly successful. There are a handful of more satisfying Leia moments though, even when she isn't on screen. We get some more of her back-story and some pleasing answers about our favourite princess.

Speaking of answers, we get plenty more about "Reylo". The Rey/Kylo Ren dynamic is (rightly, in my view) the main focus of the film, and comes with its fair share of twists and revelations. Some are more predictable than others; some are shocking; sometimes you feel for them both; sometimes you want to slap the pair of them. Whether you care about these two is a good barometer for whether you'll connect with this film. I did, and I found it to be an emotionally and narratively satisfying conclusion to their story. Sure, it's overblown and melodramatic, but that's Star Wars for you.

Palpatine's back. If you didn't already know, that's hardly a spoiler since it's revealed in the opening crawl. He's more a plot point than a character though, there to embody the evil of the Sith. Ian McDiarmid gives us his best cackling Evil Overlord, but there's sadly little sign of the scheming mastermind we know and love (?) from earlier films. What we do have are a surprising amount of nods back to the themes of Episode III. With Palpatine's return and the end to the Skywalker story, JJ Abrams is trying to tie the whole nine-episode saga together, somewhat over-ambitiously. This is no Star Wars equivalent of Avengers: Endgame. Still, it is at least a decent end to what has felt throughout like a fan-fiction trilogy. Definitely the best of the three in this reviewer's opinion.

That will be a controversial opinion. It has been critically mauled by reviewers who admire some of the bolder choices in The Last Jedi. As I described in my review of that film, some of those choices weren't as bold as they have been made out to be, and some do the rest of the saga a disservice. There is no way JJ Abrams could win here. Keep going in that direction and many fans will hate you for it. Retcon the last film out of existence and you undermine this trilogy and alienate Rian Johnson's admirers. It's clear that this is a disjointed trilogy, lacking an overall planned arc. Abrams does the best he can with what he has to follow on from. He acknowledges certain points from Johnson's experiment and runs with them back to his own playground, developing them in ways that are perhaps safer and more fan-pleasing, while still recognising they happened. So how much you like The Rise of Skywalker is likely to depend a great deal on what you thought of certain elements of The Last Jedi. For me, Luke is Luke again, which makes me happy.

Most of the flaws of VII and VIII are still there in IX. The never-ending failure to hold the f###ing camera still during the action scenes is very un-Star Warsy and continually irritating. There is far too much re-hashing parts of the Original Trilogy (mostly Episodes IV and VI this time). I had to fight hard not to shout, "Oh come on!" as ( mild spoiler ) was revealed. The lack of originality extends to the score, with John Williams seemingly putting his Greatest Hits on shuffle. Palpatine coming back further undermines what was achieved in episodes past. The power levels continue to ramp up for no obvious in-universe reason. Some parts of the plot make no sense if you think about them for more than a few seconds.

Overall, The Rise of Skywalker is undemanding entertainment, an enjoyable ride full of derring-do, character journeys, lightsabers, spaceships, colourful alien worlds and battles against impossible odds. It ties up the Sequel Trilogy decently enough. That's not bad, and about the best I could reasonably have hoped for. It is good fun. Switch your brain off and enjoy it.

...or, "Five Sequels and a Balloon":

Shaun the Sheep: Farmageddon - It's Aardman, it's Shaun the Sheep, what's not to love? This time it's a take on ET as a lost alien finds itself stranded on Shaun's farm. Only with the sheep's help can he phone home and get back. Meanwhile some MIB-type agents are snooping around and Farmer John spies an opportunity to cash in from all the UFO mania. There's no discernable dialogue; the gags are mostly visual. But it's full of character and the jokes are funny and creative. It's all quite small scale and feels more like an extended short than an event movie. It doesn't need to be anything more. In some ways Farmageddon feels like a good pair of slippers - cosy, old-fashioned and reassuring.

Zombieland: Double Tap - More a series of sketches than a coherent film. I still haven't made up my mind whether this matters or not. It's certainly very funny. The survivors of the first film are now holed up in the abandoned White House, living the post-apocalyptic high life. At least until Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) dares to run off with a hippy, and Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) and Wichita (Emma Stone) decide to "rescue" her. Cue a road trip full of zombie mayhem, Elvis memorabilia, monster trucks and lots and lots of snarking. It's neither scary nor gripping, but it is a good laugh. Make sure you keep watching through the end credits, for a surprisingly long bonus scene.

Terminator: Dark Fate - Definitely "best of the rest" after the first two Terminator films. It turns out what this series has been missing for so long is Linda Hamilton as Sarah Conner, kicking ass and taking no prisoners. There's a lot of girl power all round, with Mackenzie Davis's Grace as the warrior sent back from the future and Natalia Reyes's Dani Ramos as the target of Gabriel Luna's T-1000esque Terminator. Arnie shows up towards the end to give us a very different take on what a Terminator can be. Other than that, Dark Fate won't win any prizes for originality. It's almost completely a retread of T2 (without the Miles Dyson subplot), even down to many of the action sequences. But that's okay - if you're going to copy, copy the best. The character dynamics all work well, it's a lot of fun, and a million times better than Genisys.

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil - Maleficent was one of the best Disney live action remakes, giving us a completely new take on the Sleeping Beauty myth. This is a totally unnecessary sequel notable only for giving Michelle Pfeiffer the opportunity to chew the scenery as the dastardly villain. Other than that, it's a complete mess. It's mistitled too - Angelina Jolie's titular faerie isn't evil in this. For the most part, she's sidelined with not a lot to do except be miserable and lose bits of her costume. For all the supernatural stuff going on, this is a film totally lacking in any sense of magic. Don't bother.

The Aeronauts - Amelia Wren (Felicity Jones) and James Glaisher (Eddie Redmayne) go up in a balloon, she a showboating pilot, he a stuffy scientist. Together they're seeking to break the record for the highest balloon flight and make new breakthroughs in weather forecasting at the same time. As you'd expect, there's a clash of personality and learning to work together. That may not sound like the most promising synopsis, but I really enjoyed this. Not just from the strength of the lead performers, but also because the story is very well told. We begin with the balloon launch, but through flashbacks we gradually learn more about the two characters and the events that brought them together. The filmmakers have done a terrific job of recreating the - if you'll pardon the pun - atmosphere in the ballon itself. The sense of isolation, exposure, vertigo and natural wonder all come together. It stretches credibility in a couple of sequences but that's a very minor complaint.

Frozen II - Nails pretty much everything a sequel needs to. It expands on the world and themes, and shows us new sides to familiar characters. There's great joy in seeing Elsa (Idina Menzel) and Anna (Kristen Bell) together as sisters, whether it's in quiet domestic scenes or working in tandem to change the fate of their world. It's a funnier film than the original. So much love for Olaf (Josh Gad). The plot unfolds more predictably this time, but still turns fairy tale stereotypes on their heads as much as the first film. It also goes to some surprisingly dark places (We had a distraught small person while watching the third act!). The songs are still a very important part and will stay with you for days. For the most part, they are more operatic and less playful, so perhaps won't win as much affection as the original's. "Lost In The Woods" - a tribute to '80s power ballads - is one of the more notable exceptions. Overall, it's not as fresh as the original Frozen, but how could it be?

Proper update to follow, when I've had time to write one (I want to document this properly - you have been warned!). But for now:

I DID IT!

3 hours, 51 minutes, 35 seconds on the clock as I crossed that finish line.

Many thanks to all those who, collectively, supported me by donating a stonking £673.60 to Cancer Research. More photos and links from the day are up on my update to my sponsorship page.

Thanks also to everyone who sent me encouraging messages on the day, and especially to Neil, Krissy, E & T for coming all the way to York to cheer me on at the finish. :o)

I've got a very long way behind with my film reviews lately. The last time I reviewed any was the end of April, so this is quite a big catch-up:

Detective Pikachu - I saw this against my better judgment, and enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. It may be dressed up as a film noir mystery, but this is shamelessly a live-action Pokémon cartoon. Tim Goodman (Justice Smith) teams up with a Pikachu (Ryan Reynolds, giving us a PG version of Deadpool) belonging to his estranged father, who has mysteriously gone missing. Journeying across a thinly-disguised London - sorry, Ryme City - they form an unlikely team-up with aspiring reporter, Lucy Stevens (Kathryn Newton) and encounter all the well-known Pokémon you could hope for, and a very hammy Bill Nighy. It's not a challenging mystery - once the film gives you enough information, it's pretty easy to see the twists coming, but it doesn't matter. The technicolour action works, the gags work, even Pikachu's fur works. Special mention for the inspired dark comedy of the Mr Mime scene.

Rocketman - What's that? Dexter Fletcher directing a biopic of a decadent 1970s/80s British rock legend? This is even better than "Boh Rap", though, being less of a straightforward biopic and more of an out-and-out musical. Songs match scenes, people dance in the street, there are flights of fantasy, and it jumps back and forth in time. Obviously made with a lot of warmth and devotion for its subject, it nevertheless tackles Elton's drug-addiction and depression side head-on. The whole film is framed by scenes of him talking to an addiction group. The ever-versatile Taron Egerton and the equally versatile Jamie Bell shine as Elton John and Bernie Taupin respectively.

Ma - Two reasons I saw this: Blumhouse's track record with pschological horror ("Get Out") and the brilliant Octavia Spencer playing wholly against type. Sadly, it doesn't live up to expectations. Spencer plays Sue Ann (or "Ma"), a lonely woman who befriends a bunch of teens by giving them a place to drink and party at her house. Of course, it all gets more sinister. And violent. The problem is that this is a film which relies almost entirely on the performance of its lead actress. And while this is as strong as you'd expect, treading a perfect balance between sympathetic, disturbing and darkly comic, little things like the plot, script and other characters needed to be better. They're not particularly bad, and it's not a bad film, just so-so and forgettable.

X-Men: Dark Phoenix - The fourth, and supposedly final, installment with the current X-Men cast, before they're rebooted into the MCU in a few years' time. I have a soft spot for the X-men. They are archetypal outsiders, flawed heroes and sympathetic villains, and I've enjoyed most of the films to date. Dark Phoenix is a big let-down though. Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) absorbs a celestial entity that drives her doolally, leaving Xavier (James McAvoy), Magneto (Michael Fassbender) and the rest to try to bring her round, all while nasty alien Vuk (Jessica Chastain) is egging her on. It's not as bad as X3's attempt at the Dark Phoenix storyline, and the cast all gamely put in their best efforts, but the material is badly lacking in both substance and entertainment value. I'm not keen on just how far this alternate timeline has diverged from the original films either.

Booksmart - This is billed as a nerds' version of a gross-out teen comedy, but it isn't particularly gross and is actually kind of sweet. It is funny though. On the eve of their high school graduation, nerdy best friends Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) and Molly (Beanie Feldstein) realise that partying hard hasn't stopped their classmates getting into good universities and decide they have one night to make up for lost party time. Cue a wild night of drink, drugs, love, arguments, disastrous sexual encounters, a yacht, a swimming pool, a serial killer, and a surreal Barbie doll scene. Will their friendship survive, and what will their classmates make of them by the end? It's light, undemanding entertainment - sometimes that's all you want from a movie, and this does it well.

Brightburn - An alien child (Jackson A. Dunn) crash-lands on Earth. He is adopted by a couple (Elizabeth Banks and David Denman) in a small town in Kansas, who give him an alliterative name. As he grows up, he develops super-strength, the ability to fly, is able to shoot laser beams from his eyes and has a really big gun (Actually, his dad confiscates the gun). But wait, this isn't what you think. Despite being produced by James Gunn (of Guardians Of The Galaxy fame), Brightburn is less Superman and more a "creepy kid" horror movie in the vein of The Omen. Brandon gets increasingly out of control, with increasingly gruesome consequences. Elizabeth Banks lifts this to a solid three-star rating with her performance as a mother wrestling with her love for her son and the dawning realisation of his true nature. One feature it does take from superhero movies is the end credits sequences - and they are astounding.

Toy Story 4 - I feel conflicted about this film. Yes, the animation is gorgeous, the characters are charming, the gags are inventive and funny and it's Toy Story as we know and love it, but... Did we really need this film? Toy Story 3 had such a perfect ending that I can't help but feel they should have left it there. Tonally, there's nothing particularly new and Woody (Tom Hanks)'s neuroses are getting quite grating now. This is also very much the Woody show. Although Bo Peep (Annie Potts) kicks some serious ass and there's a few amusing new characters (such as Keanu Reeves' Duke Caboom), the rest of the familiar cast have little more than cameo roles. Even Buzz (Tim Allen) only gets a sub-plot based around a single recurring joke. There's no short cartoon beforehand but there are some brilliant credit cookie moments at the end to make up for it. The ending that precedes them is... well, it kind of wraps things up, in a very different way to Toy Story 3, but I wasn't convinced by it and I fear we might still get inflicted with a Toy Story 5.

Yesterday - Something unexplained happens, and now struggling musician Jack Malik (Himish Patel) is the only person in the world who can remember the Beatles. Feeling the world needs to know their music, he claims their songs as his own. That's the concept behind this feel-good film by Danny Boyle and Richard Curtis - and those two names on the credits should give you a good idea of what to expect. It's a stylish, well-written and slightly soppy comedy drama, with lots of character development and a built-in excuse for singing lots of Beatles tracks. Yep, that works for me. Lily James co-stats as Jack's definitely-not-a-girlfriend Ellie, Kate McKinnon as psychotic US music producer Debra, and Ed Sheeran as... er, Ed Sheeran. Try not to let that last one put you off though. This is great fun and has a lot of affection for its source material.

Spider-Man: Far From Home - The events of Endgame cast a long shadow over MCU film #23 (For spoilers' sake, don't watch this if you haven't seen Endgame yet!), but don't stop it being a bit of much-needed light relief. Peter (Tom Holland) is on a school trip around Europe, where he hopes to summon up the courage to finally ask MJ (Zendaya) out. Which would be great if Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhall) didn't keep risking his secret identity and forcing him into helping save the world. It's not one of the stronger Marvel films - some of the humour is cringe-worthy and some of the twists and turns are a bit mind-bending, but it's still a lot of fun and gets by on charm.

Apollo 11 - Not a prequel to Apollo 13, obviously, or really a movie. This is 90 minutes of NASA archive footage, much of it captured by the astronauts themselves, released to mark the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing. And it's a must-see. There's nothing dry about it. It's fly-on-the-wall stuff, without any voice-over commentary or interviews. You get to know Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins very well and see their journey as they saw it. It's well-edited and scored to give it a real sense of story. There's also plenty of techincal detail to appeal to the nerd angle. You will learn things and be wowed at the same time - what more could you want? A must-see for any space fans.

Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw - I don't normally watch this series, but Hobbs & Shaw (Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham respectively) looked like big, dumb fun. And it is big, dumb fun. Though it really should be called Hobbes & Shaw & Shaw, since Vanessa Kirby kicks as much (if not more) ass as the two male leads. Maybe they figured three ampersands in the title was one too many. Idris Elba is the cybernetically enhanced bad guy and Helen Mirren has a memorable cameo. I don't know how much of the backstory comes from previous films, but it hardly matters. This is two hours of mayhem that very much carries on in the same vein as the trailer throughout, culminating in a helicopter chase scene that is so completely ludicrous that the entire cinema was laughing hysterically. In a good way.

Horrible Histories: The Movie - Rotten Romans - I have a lot of affection for this series. It doesn't work quite so well as a 90-minute movie than as a series of quickfire sketches, and there's a soppy teenage romance plot that doesn't do it any favours, but the jokes still come thick and fast. The comedy, as always, comes mainly from juxtaposing the ancient with the modern, but there's no shortage of toilet humour either. The songs are well done, even if they're not all new. Nick Frost, Lee Mack and Rupert Graves steal the show, but all the cast (who are mostly different from the TV show) do a good job. Stay for the credit gags.

Once Upon A Time In... Hollywood - Quentin Tarantino needs to find a more ruthless editor. "The Ninth Film" has all his trademark qualities, and there were a lot of individual scenes I really enjoyed, but it clocks in at well over 2½ hours and the overall story is rather aimless. Rick Dalton (Leo DiCaprio) is a cowboy star looking to revive his flagging career; Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) is his former stunt double, now drifting through middle age, causing trouble. Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) is on her way up in the industry. Meanwhile the Manson family are out for blood. It all (sort-of) comes together at the end, but by then it's a bit late. It's getting rave reviews, but overall I found this a slight let-down compared with Tarantino's other films.

It: Chapter 2 - Chapter 1 was brilliant, more as a coming-of-age film than a horror. Fast-forward 27 years, and the Losers have all grown up into Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustafa, Jay Ryan, James Ransone and Andy Bean. But Pannywise (Bill Skarsgård) is back, and they must return to their childhood home town to finish him off or all die. Not only do they have to face not the killer clown, but other demons from their past (cue lots of flashback scenes with the Chapter 1 cast, fleshing out the backstory). Chapter 2 is pretty good, but it all feels a bit over-elaborate and 3 hours for a horror film really is stretching it. There are some very tense and inventive set-pieces, though the final showdown with Pennywise riffs on what they did in Chapter 1, without being anywhere near as terrifying or as strong on character. It's a decent enough conclusion, but the first part was better.

The Farewell - A strange one, this. Billi (Awkwafina) is a young Chinese woman living in New York, who returns to China to say goodbye to her grandmother, Nai Nai (Zhao Shuzhen), who is dying of cancer. The problem is, no one has actually told Nai Nai she is dying as they feel she is better off not knowing, so they have concocted a family wedding as an excuse to all get together. It's billed as a comedy, but while there are comic moments in it, it feels more true-to-life than that. The family are warm, caring, funny, stubborn, infuriating, and all those other things that families are. It's very relatable and a real hidden gem - watch it if you can. Just one warning, there are an awful lot of mealtime scenes and it will make you hungry!

Joker - Two killer clown films in quick succession? Joker, though, is less a comic fantasy and more a gritty, serious character study. I don't believe the controversy around this film is really about the violence (While there are some very violent moments, they are few and far-between), but because it cuts too close to the bone for comfort. Arthur Fleck (Joaquim Phoenix) is shaped into an all-too-believable monster by an uncaring society in which strangers rarely have a kind word for each other, figures you rely on for support are more likely to make fun of you or punch you in the face, welfare and mental health support are cut, and the wealthy preach to the poor that they have only themselves to blame for their troubles. Is it any wonder (to quote another Joker film) some men just want to watch the world burn? The film offers no easy answer as to how much Arthur is a victim of circumstances and how much he is really a monster; the audience is made to sympathise with him and revile him at the same time. It's an uncomfortable watch, but brilliant, especially Phoenix's performance. Robert de Niro also stars.

Just under two months to go until Yorkshire Marathon day, and my training programme is in full flow.

But it's not just a personal running challenge; I'm also hoping to raise lots of cash for a good cause, to help my Mum and other cancer sufferers. So this is my plea for sponsorship! Please help me to raise money for Cancer Research:

Rich's Yorkshire Marathon challenge

"Thanks for taking the time to visit my fundraising page.

I'll be running the Yorkshire Marathon (https://www.runforall.com/events/marathon/yorkshire-marathon/) on 20th October to raise money for Cancer Research.

My Mum has been battling cancer all this year and I want to raise as much money as possible for Cancer Research UK. Her determination not to be beaten by this horrible illness has been incredible and I'm determined to raise money to help beat cancer more generally. Please donate to my page today and help bring forward the day when all cancers are cured.

People say to me, "Oh, you do running all the time. This'll be easy for you." But a marathon is a big, big challenge - twice as far as I've ever run before in any previous event. I'll be trying to cross the finish line in around 4 hours and, I'll be honest, I find the prospect of running 26.2 miles in one go, in that time, pretty daunting. I'm having to put serious effort into my training and I'd like every penny of your support to help motivate me to the end!

...and if you fancy a day in York, I'd love to see you in person at the finish line too! :o)"

This weekend, I took my Mum and Dad to Tramlines. It was back in Hillsborough Park for the second year running, so I took advantage of my two free tickets and bought a third one for myself. The crowds were bigger this year, the weather not so clear and I'd heard of fewer of the acts but, despite all that, the music and the atmosphere was still just as amazing. We all enjoyed ourselves (even though it's not normally Dad's sort of thing!) :o)


Friday:

The weather was grim and we had classic festival mud (My poor park!), but we mostly managed to stay dry. We got there in time for the Seamonsters, who I'd enjoyed last year and were (bizarrely) sampling Theresa May's resignation speech this year. Then we had a look round before settling in front of the main stage for Circa Waves, the Manic Street Preachers and Two Door Cinema Club. Mum and I both really wanted to see the Manics, and they didn't disappoint. They got one of the biggest cheers when they covered Sweet Child O' Mine. We didn't think too much of 2DCC, so went and got food (giant Yorkshire pud!) then watched Red Rum Club on the Library Stage to finish off the night.

Saturday:

I was chuffed to introduce my folks to the most Sheffield band they will ever see - the good ol' Everly Pregnant Brothers (more confident on the big stage this year and really working the crowd well). I had to explain the Leeds thing to my Dad and they were both a bit put out by the Worcester Sauce gibes in "Hendo's", but they definitely enjoyed it. We came home for a late lunch (handy being so close!) then back out again to a massively crowded park for a triple bill of Reverend and the Makers, Johnny Marr and Courteeners in the evening. Johnny Marr was the best of the three, but they all rocked the crowd pretty well while the sun went down. Before that line-up, there was an unscheduled tribute song to Sarah Nulty, led by her brother. Despite the crowds, we still managed to find a decent spot for the evening (where, importantly, we could sit down between acts!) and it didn't take long to queue for essential food and beer (overpriced but, hey, it's a concert). A good second day.

Sunday:

Mum and Dad needed a gentler day, and I had Bethany's nowhere-near-a-birthday lunch to go to, so we only returned to Tramlines late afternoon on Sunday. Lewis Capaldi was first up on the main stage and, while his music was good, most of the crowd couldn't make out what he was saying during his long talking bits between songs. Rag 'N' Bone Man followed and was much better. After that, we had a clash - Doves and Nile Rodgers & Chic were on at the same time, and we wanted to see both. Inevitably we were going to get split up, so we arranged to meet up at the end. I listened to Doves' first four songs, then wandered around for a bit (and danced along with Yonaka at the Library Stage for a while) before ending up at the main stage for Nile Rodgers & Chic. Their Let's Dance / Le Freak / Good Times finale proved why they've been a success for so many years and really worked the crowd up into a bouncing, clapping, party frenzy, proving to be the perfect end to the festival.