The trailers There seems to be a trend in Hollywood at the moment to delve behind the scenes and show exactly how other films are made. Along with Hitchcock, we now have a look at the magical world of Walt Disney, and an explanation of how Mary Poppins came to the screen. This trailer pretty much gives away the whole film but it looks really good. Apparently this is the …

It took a good few chapters for the sprawling, chattering nature of the prose here to really grab me, but once it did I was totally hooked. Xavier Ireland, reeling from a tragedy in his home country of Australia, has made his way to London to hide away from the world. He's a moderately famous late night radio DJ but otherwise has few relationships and likes it that way.

I saw this video on Kottke recently, the making of a Steinway piano. I am obsessed with pianos, always upset when one gets smashed or beaten in a film. I play a bit, and dream of owning something slightly more impressive than the keyboard that is currently gathering dust. I'd never given much thought to how a piano is actually made, and this video is quite a revelation. I love …

After the film, I think I err more on the side that the first IS better than the second. They're almost the same film, so the original has to have the edge, and the second has some even less savoury stuff in there. Anyway, there's so much to love about this. Mustafa, ill-tempered seabass, Scott's evil tendencies, and heaps more. We had quite a good time ripping Liz Hurley's performance... I'm pretty sure she thinks she's in a James Bond film, putting in her best performance. Bless her.

I loved it! I wasn't sure about the opening scene, and then it felt like it took a while to really warm up after that but as it got going, it was really good. The characters were great, if slightly crazy, and their reactions to each stage of the heist felt realistic as well as amusing. It's one of those films where you are rooting for them to pull off the plan, even though it's blatant thievery but I liked the tiny little twist at the end. Recommended.

I watched about half of the first episode of the Zen TV series and gave up because it didn't grab me. I picked up the book in a sale and thought I would try and see if it was any better. Sadly, it didn't entertain me much more than the programme did. I read all the way to the end because I was curious about the whodunit part, but none of the characters were particularly interesting.

Let’s start with the good news – Kenton and Jolene are getting married! Such a lovely couple, they are, and it was so much fun hearing David worrying that Kenton was getting itchy feet. It was the exact opposite, and over a packet of cheese and onion crisps, he asked that crucial question. Lovely stuff. Fallon was brilliantly supportive, and hopefully Meriel won’t be too bossy, although purple is a …

The people were right! This one had promise - some good concepts, a couple of fun lines of dialogue and some jaw-dropping moments. Unfortunately they were all overdone. It felt as though they really wanted to make a spy film but had to do a Die Hard instead, the father-son moments were okay but there was nowhere near enough John McLane character, and the special effects were awesome for a moment and then drawn out for too long. How much super-slo-mo helicopter exploding does a person need to see? Also, I'm no radiation expert but the idea of going to Chernobyl and splashing around in some water didn't seem all that good to me.

This was a surprisingly interesting book. I didn't know what it was going to be about, and when I saw it started with the wanderings of a young child, I thought it was going to be like Dickens. It wasn't though, instead it followed the intricate twists and turns of a love quadruple - two married couples and how they interact with each other.

Just two simple trailers this week, and both of them with the lovely Sandra Bullock. The first is Gravity, with some clips released recently that have been doing the rounds. When I first saw them, I thought it was for that Defying Gravity film and couldn't remember Sandra being in that one. She's not. This looks amazing, terrifying and a bit over-the-top all in one go. The other Sandy movie …

There's a new Lego box about to be released, August 1st I think, and I suspect I might buy it. If I only managed to get my hands on the Flux Capacitor I would be happy, but oh how much fun to build a time machine. I really do think there should be more characters though. Biff, Lorraine, George and perhaps the dog, and we could do an actual re-enactment. …

There were a few options for the S of my Alphabet Adventure, but when I thought of Snowdon, there could be no other contender. The point of the adventure is to go to new places, visit different things and get a view of the country I haven’t had before. Going up a mountain fits into all those categories and then some. I opted for the Snowdon Mountain Railway, because I …

I'd not really heard of this one before I sat down to read it, and once I was about halfway through I could see why. There are some interesting twists and turns to the story, but mostly I found it quite dull. The characters weren't particularly engaging, all of them a bit irritating in their own way. It's good to make sure your protagonists aren't overly perfect, but then again you can make them too human as well.

Another good one, although I thought this had the same sort of pacing as the last - in that it took quite a long time to get going. It wasn't helped that Pegg plays a slightly less affable character in this one, and the real bromance goodness doesn't get going until about an hour into it. It did start to feel a bit far-fetched when the big reveals came in, but there were moments of genius. Whoever came up with the final fight being in a model village... gold star!

It's been a while since I took one full week off work, but that's what I did this past week, and boy did I pack in the activities! Wednesday and Thursday last week, Mr C and I went to Silverstone to watch some F1 cars while they were testing. We shared photos along the way via Twitter, and then gathered everything up at the end of the day in a …

Just completely understand why this is declared an area of outstanding natural beauty.

Really enjoyed it, as I thought I might. The same quirky Spaced style, and a reunion between Jessica and Simon too! I thought the story took a while to get going, although it was fun seeing them in blissful ignorance whilst the world disintegrated around them. I thought it was going to be more parody, but actually this stood up very well in its own right. Plus, there was bonus Chris Martin as a zombie at the end! Genius.

I think I had higher hopes for this one than it eventually delivered. The two leads are quite good, but their relationship doesn't really get believable until towards the end. It also didn't take long until it became a direct rip-off of Planes, Trains and Automobiles - an unwanted passenger, a pair thrust together by circumstance, making their way across America by any means possible. A heartwarming ending, etc, etc. It was good, it just wasn't as great as it could have been.

I wasn't sure whether to read the book or see the film for this first, but as the book came afterwards, I wasn't worried when we watched the film before I got round to reading. It turns out that the author, intelligence officer extraordinaire, didn't really want to tell the story at all but the CIA declassified the mission as part of some anniversary celebrations. A film was made, and then this book followed, to tell how it really happened.

The Girl in the Fireplace takes us to 1700s France, for an adventure in history written by future showrunner Steven Moffat. It's one that was incredibly popular when it first aired, and has an enduring quality to it - being about the people rather than the science, as is so often Moffat's style. This time, we've got Mickey along for the ride, as Rose tries to figure out the complicated …

Since I've been catching up with my news and views on Feedly, I've been making good use of the "Save for Later" feature - particularly when I stumble across things I might want to blog about. I managed to scrawl out something on that New York swimming pool, but the rest just isn't inspiring me for a full post. With that and the fact I'm struggling with the heat, I …

Over the top and ridiculous, this was fun to watch, a good popcorn movie, but not really anything to write home about. I enjoyed seeing Phillipe and Whitherspoon's scenes together, just wondering what it must be like to have your husband act 100% better than you right at your face. It was laughably poor casting, as these 24 and 25 year olds were meant to be playing 17 year olds. It works for some people, but none of these looked like they were school kids.

I don't remember much of this one either! Just like with the first, scenes rang a bell, like speed-reading books and leaking blood/oil/fluid everywhere, but I couldn't have told you the plot or the characters or anything as it went along. It was fun, like the first, although I did think they pulled on the emotional strings a bit too much - if that countdown was such a big deal, and it did reach zero, he really shouldn't have been able to come back, right?

This is not a good film, but I did enjoy watching it quite a lot. It has potential, the underlying idea is great and the way some of the scenes unfold is unique but perhaps not pushed to their best limit. I thought it was predictable but not in a hideous cliché kind of way. Cusack was very good as the monosyllabic damaged agent who does have a heart really. Not recommended at all, but still not a complete waste of time.

This was a bit of a weird one. It's clearly got a great underlying story, the Jaws-style drama of man versus beast versus the sea. A Captain with a personal vendetta against a huge and unassailable whale gives our narrator a journey and adventure to go on, and that side of things is good.

Quentin Tarantino has such skill at drawing you in to a world, in to the characters, in to his quirky land of make believe. I can forgive this film its length, because it's a western and that's what they do. I loved the acting, I thought Christoph Waltz was brilliant. The style, oh so Tarantino, was fabulous and the story kept moving along apace.

It did exactly what it said on the tin, and had a stellar cast to push it along. I did think the beginning was drawn out, and if we hadn't been looking for a bit of peace and quiet, it might have actually been boring. You know exactly where it's heading, so it's just going through the motions until they realise Sandra is the one person who can look nice in a dress. Once they got to the actual contest, it started to get more interesting. I liked it, Michael Caine was brilliant but it was predictable in places.

Somehow, this managed to be both the best and worst film ever. It was quite long, and it was full of children screaming and a lot of adults yelling at each other, and a heck of a lot of swearing. There were several scenes I just didn't want to know about, and by the end, I had a headache and had to go outside for some fresh air.

I don't keep an eye on the Kickstarter style projects nearly as much as I should, but recently stumbled across this one - a New York-based initiative called + Pool. They essentially want to build a swimming pool in the river, filtering the natural water and making it accessible to everyone. This seems like such a good idea, although I must admit, I wouldn't want to walk along that big …

I can get a bit stressed at using public transport for getting where you need to go, but as a recreational activity planes, trains and automobiles can be a lot of fun. I decided a while back that although my Alphabet Adventure is taking me to a lot of new places, I'm not always seeing what a city or town is really like, concentrating solely on where I have to …

And so, I’m done. If you’ve been following along, you might remember that May was a bumper month for running activities, including an epic 10k. Unfortunately, that 10k was the pinnacle, and the eventual downfall of my running career. Gradually, things got worse and worse, and at the end of my May monthly update, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do about it. I completed four runs in …

Can it only have been the start of June when Lillian was desperately trying to contact Paul and not getting any response? It feels like so long ago that she was finding out just how grumpy Paul could be, and then before you know it, he is dead. It’s slightly disappointing that we didn’t get to hear a big showdown with Matt revealing he knew all about it, but having …

Up until that point, and after that point, I quite liked it. Just like in the third film, the partnership between the mismatched main two was great, I thought the daughter aspect to the story was well handled and not annoying like most of these situations can be. The ending let it down, but I didn't come away from the film with too bad a taste in my mouth, whereas I really had been expecting the worst.

The word saga in the title is always going to be a bit intimidating, but actually this book (or compilation of books) was really easy to devour, and quite interesting too! Covering the sprawling family tree of Forsytes, we travel through several generations of marriage, divorce, births, deaths and more, watching as the family adapts to the changing world around it.

Loving the look of this trailer for Inside Llewyn Davis. Just three minutes of it is gorgeous viewing, I can't imagine what the whole thing will be like. We've been catching a lot of films with bonus John Goodman in, and he always steals the show. I can't guarantee that isn't going to happen with this one, either.

I have a passing appreciation for all things narrowboat, a vague love of canals that has been passed down and slightly watered down from my parents more passionate fondness for them. I saw this book pass by on the Kindle store and thought it would be an interesting read - someone actually ditching their house and trying to set up a new life on the river. I can't say this is something I would ever do, but living vicariously through someone else is what books are made for!

Google Reader shut down today, to mixed reactions from: “Finally!” to “Now to see what this alternative is like,” to “It’s 1st July already??” Thankfully, I was one of the middle batch. When Google first announced they would be closing their feed reader, I thought it was going to be the end of the world. Then for a couple of days I didn’t read any feeds at all, and figured …

There were a range of options available to me for the R stop on my Alphabet Adventure, but when I realised it coincided with a trip I was taking to Brighton, it seemed to make sense that I visited the Royal Pavilion. To make things slightly more interesting, my parents were joining me for the visit too, so I got to enjoy the wonders of the pavilion with company. The …

I said it at the beginning, and then at least six other times throughout, I find it incomprehensible that it is Anthony Hopkins in there. So different. So good. I think there was a lot that went over our heads here, having neither of us actually seen Psycho. The whole Ed Gein thing was understandable and clear enough but was probably more significant if you knew the story behind it. Regardless, you only really need to know the shower and that iconic noise and the rest takes care of itself.

As mentioned above, a film that starts with a lengthy explanation about the political situation with many different sides to the same argument is going to confuse me. I'm stupid like that. There were a few bits and pieces that I had to ask Mr C about but overall, the film wasn't so much about that as the tense situation everyone involved was in. That bit I understood without question. The scene in the airport was like that Mission Impossible scene, you're just holding your breath the entire time. Good film, I wasn't sure I believed it all the way it was told, but there was plenty of seventies hair and glasses to distract me.

I didn't know anything about this before I started reading, but was soon caught up in the trials and tribulations of this difficult man. From the very first incident, you're in shock at what kind of person would split up his family like that, and therefore the rest of the story that follows feels as though it's the least that is deserved.

With a trip to Brighton already on the cards, a need to add another sport to my Life List endeavour, and a timely reminder from the fabulous Lou, I found myself clutching tickets to the penultimate day of the Aegon International competition in Eastbourne. I made a slight error in entering the Devonshire Park grounds round the back, rather than the main entrance, which means when I was later in …

Oh, it's just so good. Funny with a great story, and some moving sections as well. It's odd and offbeat in places, without going too far. The characters are all well-done, lovely and/or hideous depending. The best thing about it is that even though we've each seen it a dozen times, there were still bits we picked up on that we hadn't before. It just gets funnier each time.

I wasn't really expecting to enjoy this one very much - the premise is a bit worrying. Four people meet on the roof of a building they are planning on jumping from and they form an unlikely group of survivors instead. However, it's really very well done, despite the difficult subject matter.

I know for certain that I have started this book several times, but how far through it I have previously managed to get, I'm not sure. The whole thing is familiar, practically knowing the musical off by heart, and although there are differences between story and film, it's mostly the Oliver we know and love.

Really fun film in the end, although it got off to a bit of a slow start. Once the characters started engaging with each other a bit more, it was a fun little ride. There's obviously a few things that went over our heads, because so many different games are covered, you have to be a proper geek to get them all. But it was fun to spot what we could and then look up what we'd missed afterwards. The 'all your base are belong to us' graffiti might be my favourite.

Every now and again, I like to peruse the world of mugs. When I started this, I was barely drinking hot beverages and didn't need much in the way of mugs. My tea consumption has sky-rocketed of late, and this week, when I found my Piglet mug, I figured it was time for a look at what was new. As a bit of a change, I decided to look at …

Complicated feelings about this one, which seems only right because it was a complicated movie! It certainly seemed to twist and turn a lot more than the others did, and it was quite a convoluted plot. The ending was a bit weird, too. But, having said all that, I really enjoyed the relationship between McLane and Zeus, their one-liners to each other were great throughout the film. The riddles were fun to play along with, particularly the water one, and overall it was just a fun movie to spend two hours with.

This was surprisingly good, a little romp through several heists as a team of career criminals search for an emerald that keeps on eluding them. Far from being bungling, they are good at what they do (and quite funny along the way) but circumstances make their lives just a bit more difficult.

Really enjoyed this quote from a not-so-recent episode of the Frank Skinner radio show. On the subject of the Tom Cruise film Oblivion, Frank was less impressed with one of the romance scenes. There's love scenes in it. Why do they have to have love scenes in films like that? And they're really cheesy, ooh baby type. I hate love scenes. Here's the thing, if you like love scenes go …