Yay, another Tom Hanks film, right? Hmm, well, I'm not totally convinced. The first half was great, Tom Hanks out of place in Saudi Arabia, the brilliantly funny driver taking him to and from a new city. I love new builds, particularly when they come in the shape of potential entire cities! The characters were great, the doctor, the annoying receptionist, the frustrated crew.

The BBC recently published a short video that explained why some people respond better to having music playing when they're studying and others work better in silence. This is a topic that has been on my radar for a long time, because Mr C and I differ radically on our approaches to concentration. He can listen to music as he works and learns, whereas I don't favour silence but certainly …

I really wasn't expecting a huge amount from this film, it seems to have flown very much below the radar. But the trailer was fascinating and I really like both Stewart and Hoult, so was keen to see how it all unfolded.

I've been paying a bit more attention to my Apple Watch exercise rings again recently, and although I usually work on a week by week basis, I was perusing the history in the accompanying iPhone app. There, you can see how you've done each month and it's also a good way of comparing days, ie. seeing if you often take Fridays off. I was surprised, however, going back a couple …

I started watching 11.22.63 a long while ago, and have just, finally, after such a long time, gotten to the end of it. I was so looking forward to watching this series, James Franco goes travelling through time in an adaptation of a Stephen King book? It couldn’t really sound more perfect if it tried. The first episode was massively intriguing, and I forgave its slow pace as it was …

Ah, I really enjoyed this album. These are one of those bands where I think I don’t know any of their songs but I knew at least three of them and they’re all good ones. It’s beautifully eighties, with those keyboards and drum kicks, but at the same time it hasn’t aged horribly, there are some proper classics on there. Also like how the songs lead into each other nicely, proper album work.

Brilliant album. After embarrassing myself watching Passenger on AMF10, I figured I should listen to the new album, and I’m glad I did! Distinctive voice, great guitar riffs and lovely tunes – ranging from easy listening, to the more slow and depressing sort, it’s a relaxed album perfect for chilling out to.

I’m not an American citizen, so am interested in their election only so far as what happens over there seems to affect us anyway. I’m not usually one to talk about politics either, because it always seems to be to be a topic that causes arguments and resolves little. Even so, I think it’s worth highlighting a presidential candidate who has set up her own podcast, called With Her, to …

I was superbly excited going into this year’s Apple Music Festival, even more so than usual. Previous years have seen me bouncing around in glee at the concept of a fortnight’s worth of free live music, streamed around the globe to be soaked up in the comfort of my own living room. This year, given my focus on musical education, I was looking forward to it even more! Plus, the …

This video is so gorgeous. Watch it full screen if you can. What's incredible is that we could very well be living through the moments that will be detailed in future history textbooks, when that billionaire changed the face of space travel as we know it. Incredible. There's a live stream with more info starting soon.

It’s exactly what you expect from late 80s George, the songs sound mostly similar except for a couple of slightly out of place ballads – at one point he goes very Sinatra swing. However, very entertaining, if a bit “I’m so sexy” in places.

Saw Christine appear on the Elton John Apple Music Festival evening and was instantly obsessed. Watched her on her support act evening too, and then quickly downloaded the album. Amazing, love it all. Quirky, dancey, French, and Tilted gets right inside my head.

I've always been interested in the standing desk revolution but never really had the opportunity to investigate any of the options until recently. In my day job, getting a standing desk wasn't really an option, whilst at home, adding a motorised desk to the office would involve a significant reshuffle of furniture. However, a friend bought themselves a Varidesk and very kindly lent it to me for a weekend. The …

This film sort of doesn't fit in anywhere. It's not an all-out comedy. It's not a dramatically moving piece. It's not an indie effort, and it doesn't look so incredible that it can rely on beauty rather than story. Somehow, it inhabits an uncomfortable area that doesn't really have a genre, and yet it was still really interesting.

After a little bit of delivery drama, my new Apple Watch Series 2 arrived just in time for the weekend, and so naturally, I headed out to test out the one thing I've been looking forward to since it was announced - swim tracking! I had previously spotted a handful of people talking about swimming with their original watches, so I followed suit, but it was merely a matter of …

This is a bizarre film, really. Firstly, I didn't realise that Jodie Foster was a director so that was a pleasant surprise. Then it has the wonderful reunion of Julia and George, except they are barely ever on screen at the same time.

Amazon's continuing efforts to deliver consumables to your door before you've even realised you need them has seen a rapid expansion in the UK recently. Their Pantry service launched a few moons ago, their Fresh option has been gradually creeping across London presumably with desires to go further, and just a few week's ago, the Amazon Dash buttons were launched. If you've not heard of them, the idea is simply …

Passenger, playing at the Apple Music Festival this evening, perks up my attention. Me: "Who does he sound like?" Mr C: "Not sure." Me: "Is it Mumford & Sons, maybe?" Mr C: "Could be, the guitars and stuff." Me: "No, it's his voice, it's familiar." Mr C shrugs. We listen on. Two songs later, Passenger starts playing Let Her Go. "OHHHH, this is who he sounds like! This is the …

I only knew one song going into this album and it was a bit of a surprise, as the songs were all far more dancey than I had anticipated. I loved it though, really great songs, sort of quirky like Gwen Stefani, with some odd but brilliant lyrics.

I was sort of dreading this one because I’m still conscious of disliking Drake’s album. However, this was a really solid R&B/hip-hop outing, very relaxing and brilliant to drive home to of an early autumn evening.

There are lots of productivity apps and habit trackers available on the iOS store, but I have become partial to Streaks. It’s such a simple app that can really make a difference – although admittedly my streaks have not been so fruitful lately. The app is really easy to use. If you have a goal in mind, something you want to do on a regular basis (most likely daily, but …

It took a while to work up the courage to watch this one, as its reputation as a bit of an odd-ball film preceded it. It certainly did take a minute or two to adjust to the style but once you know it's slightly surreal, definitely all over the place, and wonderfully humourous when you're least expecting it, then it's really, really good.

I know the three main singles from this album but I’ve never really indulged in any extra-curricular Belinda tracks, and I thought it was a really solid album. It’s intensely eighties, obviously, but she has a great voice and it’s got some really catchy stuff in there.

Listened to an older Bastille album just two weeks ago, and it’s interesting to hear the differences. Still a good album, still full of the drums and drama, but with more of an edge to it. Found the radio inserts a bit odd, but enjoyed the album from start to finish.

Loved this. I didn't actually know the full story of Eddie the Eagle, only that he was an Olympic hero for NOT being very good. Post-film trivia suggests this film takes big liberties with the story, but the fundamentals are there.

Highs and lows in my feelings for this one. The singing scenes were really, really atrocious, so hard to get through. I get that's the whole point of the story, and it was slightly better when she was attempting an actual song, but that first sequence where she was getting lessons was dire. Almost 'turn it off I can't bear it' dire.

I've read this one before but could remember very little about it so figured it was about time I reminded myself what it was about. I really enjoyed it just as much second time round as I did the first, following the story of an attempted robbery at a high tech bio-facility, where deadly viruses are stored.

Brilliant album, how could it not be with the remarkable Ryan Tedder? Pop royalty, catchy, sing along, impossible not to move to but equally emotional in places. Loved it.

Totally what you would expect, slightly poppy country music. I so wanted the Backstreet Boys track to be amazing but I didn’t think it was, sadly. There are a good selection of guests on there, but there are no real stand out songs.

Interesting story this one. It's very much in the same genre as The Hunger Games, as in a dystopian future sees children subjected to horrible manipulated gameshows that could end up in their death, with the reward being a marginally better lifestyle than what they have at the moment.

Here's the amusing and slightly ironic thing about our viewing of Dirty Dancing. It was a film that was firmly on my side of the camp, I love it and always have done, but it's very much a girly sort of watch. Mr C had always proclaimed he'd need a little alcohol to get properly into this one.

Really enjoyed the first film in this series, so was interested to see how the sequel would hold up. It follows similar lines to the first - group of slightly obnoxious teens moves in next to a couple who really just want to get on with their own slightly bonkers existence.

I was very intrigued to read this story, which was initially published in a serialised form in a Scottish periodical, but is now bundled together to read straight through as a book. McCall Smith's usual style of fascinating characters winding in and out of each other's lives is on full display, and this time centres around a flat share in Scotland Street.

My feelings about this film are mostly not that positive, but here's a breakdown of some of the main points - the good ones first: I love the concept - repercussions from superhero destruction have been a bugbear of mine for a while so it's good to see that addressed, and that it causes its own problems as well.

Really enjoyed this book, a different sort of story to those that Nicci French usually produces. The murders at first almost seem incidental, you know that they are connected but it doesn't seem clear how. Gradually, you can start guessing at who might have committed it, but it's hard to pin the blame in the right direction.

I've not enjoyed the Sherlock Holmes stories that barely feature the man himself, so I was trepidatious about reading this one. However, thankfully, it is still a fascinating book, particularly as Mr Jones was essentially training himself up to be as astute as Holmes, so we still got some of those baffling deductions to enjoy.

Interesting book this, telling the story of three very different women who are targeted by a psychopath killer. I quite liked that it differed from other Nicci French books in that the police were quite significantly involved in the stories, they didn't just dismiss the problem as they quite often do in these books. Having said that, they still didn't do a very good job!

I was worried about listening to this because Pompeii is such a storming tune, how can you expand on the brilliance of it? I needn’t have worried, the rest of the album is great too. Whilst it doesn’t quite match up to the opener, it’s still full of drums and drama, intriguing lyrics and the intensity to carry you through to the end.

Great to hear Britney again, although this is a very mixed album – some of it is great but some is quite awful. Private Show, whilst catchy, is probably everything wrong with music at the moment! But still, there are some good songs and taken as a whole it shows how adaptable Britney is, and how she can move with the times.

The film has an intriguing concept and it's got some great ideas in there, but I didn't really enjoy it as much as I wanted to. The first half, in particular, was incredibly hard to watch - so much violence with so little provocation, and not a lot of story progression.

Criminal is part of the Radiotopia network, a selection of well-produced shows from hosts that all have wonderfully smooth and captivating voices. I have listened to a few of them over the weeks and months, and Criminal is one of the few that has stuck. They describe themselves as a podcast with a different take on crime. This, from the about page: Criminal is a podcast about crime. Not so …

Dev Patel does a great job with the impatience and frustration of someone who just wants to get his work out there, and I really enjoyed Jeremy Irons awkward but not bumbling characterisation. I can't believe I've never heard of either of these guys, they seem so crucial.

I think Harry Potter & the Cursed Child was the first book that I pre-ordered, waited for midnight for the download to begin, and started reading that very same night. I didn’t finish it in one go, but was done by lunchtime the next day, and my feelings on it veer from one direction to the next depending what mood I’m in. I did love the story, because seeing how …

Mr C has been wanting me to watch this for a while but my background in music wasn't good enough to make it worth while. With my album adventure upping my musical knowledge, we figured now was as good a time as any. I was nervous about the film, as I am with any that I know people have expectations about, but as soon as I realised it was set in Dublin, I was keen.

It's lovely to read the source material for the film adaptation of this book, but I wonder if it didn't taint my experience somewhat. I love the film enormously, and the characters are so vivid and wonderful that it was hard to see them split amongst several other characters in the book. There was a more sprawling cast in the book, which left me veering about a little bit.

An interesting one this. I picked it up in a 'start a new series' sale and was interested to see how it would differentiate itself from other action and adventure books. It certainly did that! It stands up well in terms of the writing, the characters and the way the action unfolds, but it didn't quite hold together for me.

I knew nothing about this book when I picked it up to read, I suspect even it might have been the cover that tempted me to buy it. I'm so glad I did, though, because it's an intriguing little mystery of a book full of bizarre but fascinating characters.

Good album, I love Jay-Z’s style and he’s surrounded himself with a good variety of guests here. The Justin Timberlake track is a stand out one for me, but otherwise I’m not sure this is a total classic. Quite a lot of Beyoncé squeezed in, too. Good listen overall.

You have to love Dolly Parton, she has a voice that is both powerful but also stacked with emotion and oftentimes seeming quite vulnerable. There’s just something about her voice and her songs that draws you in. The album also features her full set from Glastonbury, as sort of a second half, so that’s an absolute bonus!

We haven't seen the original Cloverfield film, and having seen trailers of it, the found footage nature of it doesn't really appeal to me anyway. This one, however, seemed much more interesting so we were keen to give it a go. John Goodman doing a turn as the creepy guy in a bunker was brilliant and terrifying at the same time. And I absolutely loved how kick-ass Mary Winstead's character was, resourceful and clever, brave without being irritating.