Chatterbox - still talking nonsense

So, another year, another crop of great stuff, and another set of opinions you didn't ask for but are getting anyway.  I am having to be brutal in my selections here as there as so many great things I couldn't shoehorn in.   I have linked to my original thoughts too, where I have already published them. Best revival of a play So many great plays, many of them revivals this year, so I am working on the basis that the play needs to be properly old to fit into this category, and there needs to be something different from the original production.  There were many also rans, but the nominees are: Macbeth:  At the Donmar, with David Tennant and Cush Jumbo, this is a play I usually don't actually like very much, spoiled I think by studying it at school.  I was also suspicious about the use of headphones throughout, expecting that it would be distancing from the action.  In fact, it did the opposite; having the protaganists whisper their soliliquy direct into...

Fantasy/Sci-Fi Agatha All Along:   A spin off from Wandavision, I was interested to see this for a couple of reasons; firstly, Wandavision was genuinely original and so I was keen to see what they did next.  Secondly, with Joe Locke and Kathryn Hahn leading I thought this had a lot of potential.  I wasn't at all disappointed.  .  I really enjoyed the opening episode with Agatha as a character in a police procedural, enjoying making a bit of fun of the various detective tropes whilst also taking it pretty seriously and still moving the narrative along.  This time I was looking out for the tricks though, and spotted the bleeding through of the 'real world' and discrepancies quicker than if I had come into it cold.   I understand that this is the first properly queer Marvel project and that was also presented as an integral part of the characters and their storylines, rather than something remarkable, so much so that I hadn't even noticed until ...

Another year another season as this small and perfectly formed but big-hearted love story continued on the journey based on Alice Oseman's webcomics.  One of the great strengths of the webcomic and the TV series is that there is so much here apart from the central love story, all woven in and never feeling gratuiously squeezed in for the sake of plot.  Having said that, Oseman who writes the series too, does talk about the need for a different beat and higher stakes being required in the show, leading to the introduction of new characters and storylines.   The core stays the same though, the story of Nick and Charlie falling in love and navigating their final years in school, and true to the source material to the extent that many of the scenes in the webcomic are lifted straight onto the screen as if by magic.   I have written here and here about the earlier series and for season three there are again multiple story lines, the primary ones being Charlie's ...

These are the jottings I made for the drama films I saw in 2024 where I haven't already published my notes.  There are some other films I saw this year I have already written about  here ,  here  and  here.   And my more recent musings on romance, coming of age and family dramas are here   Back to Black:   Amy Winehouse is played to great effect by Marisa Abela, in this largely kind portrayal of the artist, her creativity and her demons.  I felt she was probably a lot more of everything than shown here, whether that be her creativity, amazing musicianship or demons, but I did go home and put on the albums again, and I was sad again at the waste of such a blazing talent. Bank of Dave:   Based on the real life story of Dave Fishwick's creation of a local bank and starring Rory Kinnear giving his best blokey-ness.  Very clunky in the delineation of villains vs good guys, and after googling afterwards, with a fair amount of fa...

This is just a big bucket of some films I have enjoyed over 2024 where I haven't already published my jottings.  I did try categorising them, and have ended up with just two big buckets but even then I had so many arguments with myself because so often they could fit in more than one group so take the categories with a pinch of salt.  This grouping is romance, relationships. coming of age and family drama.  There are some other films I saw this year I have already written about here , here and here , plus some more recent musings on films in the drama and action bucket here Rare Beasts:  strange anti-romcom directed by and starring Billie Piper.  I spent a lot of time laughing uncomfortably, never quite sure whether I was supposed to be taking it seriously or not.  But this weird little film confirms to me what an interesting artist Piper is.   Joyride: Well it has Olivia Coleman in it - do I need to say anything else?  Coleman plays a singl...

I was expecting this to be a bit camp and funny, it’s Oscar Wilde with Ncuti Gatwa after all, but this packed house had such a lot of fun squeezed into it from the very first scene.  The set is Bridgerton bright, and the costumes are spectacular, from Gatwa’s pink ballgown to Lady Bracknell’s gorgeous outfits and hats. Let's start with the stately star of the show, Sharon D Clarke as Lady Bracknell, in this iteration as a fierce Caribbean matriarchal battleaxe who will stand no nonsense.  I loved the delivery of ‘a handbag’ where it was kept fresh and funny but not at all as I’m sure we all say it in our heads.  Whenever she was on stage she was the centre that everyone revolved around - a comic delight. Cecily (Eliza Scanlen) has a touch of  Violet Elizabeth from Just William about her while Gwendoline (Ronkẹ Adékoluẹjois) is played as a similarly determined and entitled young woman.  Like everything else in this production their performances are dialled up to ...

The Almeida is running this Arnold Wesker play from 1958 about an angry young woman taking issue with the way her family has always done things, alongside a revival of Look Back in Anger about the quintessential angry young man*.   Despite the sparse set, the play stakes its claim as a kitchen sink drama from the start.  The first long scene is set in her sister's kitchen as Beatie returns home to Norfolk from London, full of opinions gleaned from her unseen boyfriend Ronnie. The play shows its age in the amount of words needed to establish the family relationships and something of  Ronnie's character too, through Beatie's parroting of his insights.  Ronnie is full of socialist ideals but is a bit disdainful of the working classes that he is so keen to lift up.   Beatie though is clearly inspired by him and is able to quote full paragraphs of his words and opinions, nicely highlighted in the play by Beatie standing on a chair to opine/preach with a ful...