Under the Tuscan sun (Diane Lane)

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It’s over ten years since we first saw the film ‘Under the Tuscan sun’, so it seemed like a good idea to watch it again. I had entirely forgotten what it was about. I realised, after seeing the credits and one of the extras, that it was based on a semi-autobiographical book with the same title. 

The main character is a woman called Frances, played entirely believably by Diane Lane. Frances is a writer, who learns that her husband has been unfaithful. The early scenes are short and rapid, and we see her trying to negotiate a divorce settlement, then moving into a small and rather seedy flat. 

Frances’ best friend is called Patti (Sandra Oh). She and her partner meet Frances for a celebratory dinner after the divorce is finalised… and Frances learns that her friend is pregnant. She is then given a very generous offer of an Italian tour, which she’s reluctant, at first, to take. 

Dad's Army series four

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We finished watching the third series of the classic TV series ‘Dad’s Army’ shortly before Christmas last year. On Boxing Day we started watching Series Four. Once again, we found that we didn’t recall much of this at all, although we had both seen the series as children, and some of the repeats over the years. This series was first broadcast in 1970. Each episode is around half an hour, so we usually watch two at a time. 

Episode One sees the platoon preparing for a big parade through the town. They come into conflict with the ARP warden - as ever - about who should be leading (after the town band, that is). Captain Mainwaring (Arthur Lowe) thinks it would be a good idea to have a mascot. But Private Walker (James Beck) doesn’t quite come up with what he was expecting. This is a fast-moving episode with a very amusing ending. 

Honeymoon in Vegas (Sarah Jessica Parker)

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We’ve had the DVD of the film ‘Honeymoon in Vegas’ on our shelves for a long time. It was a freebie that one of our relatives acquired, some years ago, with a Sunday newspaper. I don’t know why we never got around to seeing it, but we finally rectified the omission last night.

It feels like quite an old film, given the style of the titles, which are cartoonish, reminiscent of the 1960s. So I’m a bit surprised to find that it was made as recently as 1992. The star of the film is a very young-looking Sarah Jessica Parker, who plays a glamorous, feisty woman called Betsy. She’s the girlfriend of Jack (Nicolas Cage), and they’ve been together for quite some time. She really wants to get married and have children, but he is afraid of commitment.

The reason for his fear is that, on her deathbed, his mother made him promise that he would never love anyone as much as he loved her, and that he would not get married. He didn’t quite make the promise, but it haunts him. And in his work as a private detective, he has seen so much evidence of marriages falling apart and infidelity that he begins to think his mother is right. Except that he really loves Betsy, and doesn’t want to lose her.

The lion, the witch and the wardrobe (2005)

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When Disney adapted the first of the ‘Narnia’ books - The lion, the witch and the wardrobe - to a film, I was eager to see it. I had heard some controversy about it, but also that it was very well done. We went to see it in the cinema at the end of 2005 - just over twenty years ago - which, as far as I remember, is the last time I went to the cinema. I did enjoy the film, on the whole, but found it too loud, and too bright. And I can’t stand the smell of cinema popcorn.

We bought the DVD some years later, which various family members and friends have watched, but I had not seen it again myself until last night. I reread the book in May last year, so recalled most of the details. 

I knew that the film had a kind of prequel scene - actually several scenes, most of which I had forgotten. These showed warplanes in WWII, and the Pevensie family running for shelter as bombs started raining around them. It cleverly shows Edmund (Skandar Keynes) as a rather prickly boy, desperately missing his father, who was away fighting, and determined not to be bossed around by his older siblings. 

Chef (Jon Favreau)

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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)

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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)

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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.