Silent Runner

Watched a new one last night called She Will which has been getting good reviews from Kermode and others. It's about 'An ageing film star retreats to the Scottish countryside with her nurse to recover from surgery. While there, mysterious forces of revenge emerge from the land where witches were burned.' It's a mix of folk-horror and supernatural thriller. I thought this was good but probably not worth some of the raves it's been getting. There's loads of nice imagery but at times it feels like lots of weird stuff happening but no plot to tie it all together. The two leads are excellent and the Scottish scenery looks beautiful. It's a debut feature and I'll definitely keep an eye out for future releases from the director. 3/5

The Spectacular Now https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1714206/ A hard-partying high school senior's philosophy on life changes when he meets the not-so-typical "nice girl." This was a really nice coming-of-age film set in a small American town. A good adult cast (Bob Odenkirk, Kyle Chandler) and a great 'teenagers' cast (Miles Teller, Shailene Woodley, Bree Larson) all put in great shifts. This does nothing new and plays out exactly as you think it will (mismatched couple get together, have some good times but then some bad times and eventually split. Will they resolve their issues before high school ends???). But it looks great, the cast are excellent and it's in and out in 90 minutes. Good stuff. 4/5

Reviews are out tonight (I’m not reading them) and they’re really positive. 5/5 from Empire and similar great write-ups elsewhere. Not released here until next month though.

Yeah, it's a bit aimless or something. The podcast group in the restaurant were right, it's about time there was some plot movement.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1659337/ An introvert freshman is taken under the wings of two seniors who welcome him to the real world. Set in the early 90's a nerdy kid is taken under the wing of some much cooler, older kids in their last year of high school. They look out for each other, teach each other about books, music and films (The Smiths!, Catcher in The Rye!, The Rocky Horror Picture Show!) and all learn some life lessons. Not sure how this one passed me by back in the day but watched it this evening and thought it was pretty good. The leads are mostly excellent - Emma Watson and Erza Miller - in particular but the lead kid is a bit of a drip. There's a good support cast including cousin Greg from Succession and Paul Rudd. It plays out quite predictably apart from a slightly pointless reveal near the end. There was a plot strand in it that I found kind of funny though. The 3 main kids hear Heroes by David Bowie on the radio and none of them know what it is. I just thought it was a little far-fetched that 3 hipsters wouldn't know one of Bowies biggest songs for a plot bit. Also it's kind of sad seeing how good Miller is here and how off the rails they've gone in recent months. Good 90's American time-capsule. 3.5/5

Yes, the spycops parts were excellent. I was a bit confused as to why Finished Dark Winds tonight. A 6 part AMC procedural set in the 70's on the Navajo reservation. A native American FBI agent comes home to the reservation and teams up with a Navajo cop to solve a murder that might be linked to an armoured car heist some months earlier. This was based on one of the books in the Leaphorn and Chee series - there's loads of these books, so plenty of material for future series. This was pretty good. The mystery is fairly twisty with enough hooks to keep you interested over the 6 eps. The cast are quality - the always reliable Zahn McClarnon is the star and there's good support turns from Rainn Wilson and Noah Emmerich. There's some great scenery and landscapes and it doesn't overstay it's welcome. 4/5

Sherwood 6-part BBC detective series about a murder in a former mining town that might be linked to the strike back in the 80's. This starts out with a former NUM union man getting murdered. He was on the picket line in the 80's and still holds a lot of anger towards people who crossed the picket. The town he was living in was not an NUM town so most of the people living in it went to work and there's a lot of resentment even 35+ years later. I liked a lot of this but it just fell short of being great. The cast are top class (Lesley Manville and David Morrissey are the stars) the central mystery is solid and the plotting is efficient, just a little silly at times. But the last episode was a real mis-step and there were a few sub-plots that made no sense and just disappeared. 4/5 for the first 5 episodes. 2/5 for the last one.

Reliable people on twitter saying we're taking the chequebook back to Manchester City and taking a run at Zinchenko. Deffo going to need cover for Tierneys inevitable injuries next season.

Gonna be tricky against that Kerry team. They're some operators. Dublin were lucky to still be in it and get close to extra time.

The Bear Finished this up tonight and thought it was fine but I was pretty tired of it by the end. Lots of blokes shouting at each other then they all learn a lesson before the credits. The acting was OK but the few minutes of Jon Bernthal were miles ahead of the rest of them. I got a kick out of Joel McCabes evil chef too. Good soundtrack. 3/5

Gabes first goal.

Found the Spurs fan!

End of tweet

Best Trek since Next Gen for me.

The Summer I Turned Pretty An Amazon YA drama about a bunch of rich, pretty people having a nice Summer. The main story is a of a young girl who finds herself at the centre of a love-triangle containing herself and two brothers. There's some misunderstandings, some tears, parties, mild tragedy and it all leads up to a debutant ball. It plays like an episode of The OC with an Amazon budget. This was good for what it was. Nice characters, scenery and acting. And a really good pop soundtrack. 2/5

That was absolutely superb from start to finish. I was wheezing

Harry Styles tonight. I was up in the gods but had an absolute riot. He puts on such a great show and has a genuine raport with his fans. One of the loudest concerts I've ever been at. Played everything I wanted to hear and seemed to be in great form.

Is Evil on there?

Yeah, I think season 1 is thematically tighter,

I think it's on Paramount Plus in America (it's hopped around TV channels and streaming platforms) so we might get it when that launches here.

Phoebe Bridgers tonight and had a blast. She's a great performer with real stage presence and some amazing songs. Sound quality wasn't great but it was in a tent with all the sides open so that was probably to be expected. And I might be getting a little old to be crammed into a sweaty space with thousands of other people! Had a great night though - but took some dreadful pictures!

The best horror TV show is back, the first 2 episodes of season 3 of Evil are out. It's essentially a Catholic X-Files with some scientist and IT experts hired by the Catholic Church to look into possessions etc. There's a great cast some nice mysteries and it's pretty spooky at times. I think it's jumped around networks in America so it's probably one to pirate for now. It's great and I'm so pleased it's back.

The Robert Ludlum ones are great, probably a bit dated now but he was a proper thriller writer. The non-Ludlum ones are trash. Man, I love those 80's Ludlum covers.

Vieira vs. Vieira day one of the new season. We're gonna lose tho.

PL fixtures have leaked it seems.