Chef (Jon Favreau)

(Amazon UK link)

I’m not sure why I put the DVD of the 2014 film ‘Chef’ on my wishlist. Possibly Amazon recommended it to me because Dustin Hoffman is one of the cast, and I have previously liked films in which he featured. I was given it for Christmas, and we decided to watch it last night. We didn’t really know anything about it, but the image on the front and bylines on the back suggested an amusing ‘feel-good’ film. 

In the first fifteen minutes or so, I wasn’t sure that I was going to like it at all. The scene is a large kitchen at a restaurant, with the head chef Carl (Jon Favreau) frantically preparing food. There’s a huge whole pig carcass that they deal with; I closed my eyes during that segment, and hoped there wouldn’t be much more like that. I was also rather disturbed that there was an excessive amount of ‘strong’ language. It was perhaps a good way to denote stress, but rather spoiled the dialogue in my opinion.

Monster-in-law (Jennifer Lopez)

(Amazon UK link)

Someone recommended the 2005 film ‘Monster-in-law’ to my husband some time last year. So he put it on his wishlist, and was given it for Christmas. It claims to be a romantic comedy, and features a rather young-looking Jennifer Lopez. It also stars Jane Fonda, in what turns out to be her return to acting after a break of fifteen years.

Charlie (Charlotte) is the main character, portrayed extremely well by Jennifer Lopez. She has a series of different jobs, some of them temporary, all of them part-time. We see her walking dogs, working as a waitress, and working in a doctor’s office. She hasn’t had much success with romantic relationships but she has two very close friends who are convinced she needs a man in her life.

Her majesty, Mrs Brown (Judi Dench)

(Amazon UK link)

It’s nearly thirteen years since we watched the 1997 drama ‘Her majesty, Mrs Brown’. I wasn’t sure, when we first saw it, if we would be interested in seeing it again, but decided that we would. We recalled that it was about Queen Victoria, brilliantly portrayed by Judi Dench, and that it involved Billy Connolly. But we had forgotten most of the storyline.

Some of the film is based on true events, some is speculation, but it’s all extremely well done. It opens - after a couple of brief foreshadowing scenes that don’t come into play until almost the end - with the Queen in deep mourning after the loss of her beloved Albert. She has refused to make any public appearances, and won’t allow her son, the prince consort, to do so either. 

New Year's Eve (2011 film)

(Amazon UK link)

We had not heard of the 2011 film ‘New Year’s Eve’; but when I spotted it on special offer (two DVDs for a pound) in a UK charity shop earlier in the year, it wasn’t a difficult decision to buy it. There are some faces and names which even I recognised on the front, and it was directed by Garry Marshall. I don’t usually have any clue who directed a film, but his name has come up on several we have seen in the past few years, often in conjunction with ‘extras’. 

We decided we would watch the film around New Year, to make it somewhat seasonal - and since we had a free evening on December 30th, that’s when we saw it. I had seen some reviews suggesting that it was considered rambling with not much plot. I also saw that it had was considered the worst film of the year by some critics… so we weren’t expecting a whole lot. But a light ‘rom-com’, even if not particularly well-made or amusing, was what we were looking for. 

There’s no ‘main’ character (or characters) in this film, and it’s true that there’s no real plot. It has a large cast and several concurrent storylines, all taking place on New Year’s Eve at the end of 2011. It’s set in New York, and sees a lot of people converging on Times Square. I had heard of the ‘ball drop’ ceremony but had never been sure what it involves. I’m still not sure why it’s such a big deal in New York, but evidently it’s traditional. I also learned that midnight is considered a time for first kisses. 

Doctor Who series five (Matt Smith)

(Amazon UK link)

We finished watching the 2009 Doctor Who specials in the middle of October. They were the last ones showing David Tennant as the tenth doctor. In the final episode, he regenerates into Matt Smith - as we knew would happen.

So it was then time to embark on Series Five, which was first broadcast in 2010. We watched the series (on DVD) in 2013. The only thing I could remember from the first episode, ‘The eleventh hour’, was that the newly regenerated 11th Doctor had some strange food requirements. 

I had quite forgotten that the episode begins with a crashed tardis, on fire, followed by the Doctor climbing out looking dirty and tattered, and meeting the young Amelia Pond. Caitlin Blackwood is excellent in this part, though Amelia is evidently not au fait with ‘stranger danger’. She invites the Doctor in to investigate a crack in her wall, from which she has been hearing some strange voices…

It’s an exciting episode, cleverly done, and shows that Matt Smith is well suited to the role of Doctor. Amy Pond (Karen Gillen) is somehow persuaded to travel with him at the end.

The Bishop's Wife (Cary Grant, Loretta Young)

(Amazon UK link)

It’s six years since we saw the classic 1940s black-and-white Christmas film ‘The Bishop’s wife’. We had recalled the basic outline - that an angel in human form is sent to help a bishop and his wife - but had forgotten all the details. So we decided to watch it again. 

I did remember the opening scenes: a smiling man (Cary Grant) is wandering through a busy town, where lots of people are busy Christmas shopping, or admiring displays in shop windows. Three or four potentially dangerous or tragic incidents are averted at the last moment by this character’s quick reactions - and possibly by what seems to be a little magic. Or maybe a miracle. 

Then he discovers that Julia (Loretta Young), the wife of the local bishop, is feeling sad. She has all she could want materially, and a lovely young daughter. But she feels as if her husband has grown away from her, and that his work is more important than she is. And her daughter is usually looked after by her nanny. 

Dad's Army series 3

(Amazon UK link)

In the early part of 2024, we spent a couple of months watching the first two series of the classic ‘Dad’s Army’ TV series that we recalled from childhood. I was surprised at how enjoyable the show was, despite seeming very dated in some of the production style. So I ordered a few more of the series, sent to relatives in the UK, to collect in the summer.

In the meantime we started watching other light TV series. It took until towards the end of October 2025 to decide to watch Dad’s Army series 3. Unlike the first two series, it’s in colour, although it doesn’t feel all that different from the earlier, black-and-white episodes. Series 3 was broadcast in 1969, when - as far as I remember - we only had a black-and-white television anyway. My father loved this show, and I used to watch it with him. 

However, although I must have seen at least some of these, I didn’t remember any of them. I evidently didn’t see them on one of the many reruns. I was surprised, since the episodes from the first series felt quite familiar. Evidently it had become popular enough to run for longer by 1969, since Series three has 143 episodes, enough for a full quarter’s season.