APRIL 2018 - FILMS + TV

A house move (at long last) in the middle of the month severely disrupted my viewing and reading in April - something which was probably to be expected. We did squeeze in a couple of cinema trips in the month, watch one DVD and enjoy about an hour and a half of television. Hopefully May proves more fruitful on both fronts.

Come Home - BBC drama (2018)

Second episode of three watched - this week focussed primarily on the wife, who walked out. Hard to sympathise with her if I'm honest. The new girlfriend's got a few issues.

From i News.....

Situated in the same Tuesday evening drama slot that has given us the likes of Shetland and Broken, Come Home tells the story of a family struggling to come to terms with a mother’s sudden departure. Eccleston plays Greg, a now-single father struggling to care for his three children after wife Marie (Paula Malcomson, who appeared opposite Sean Bean in the aforementioned Broken) leaves her family behind seemingly out of the blue.

I, Tonya (2017)

Fan-bloody-tastic. Margot Robbie is amazing. I'm old enough to remember some of the fall-out from the real-life Tonya Harding - Nancy Kerrigan rivalry and kneecapping, but time has eroded some of my memory of events. An interesting refresher. Well worth a look, funny, and not least a little bit sad, seeing Tonya's upbringing. Definitely one to watch again when it comes out on DVD 

From Wikipedia.....

I, Tonya is a 2017 American biographical film directed by Craig Gillespie and written by Steven Rogers. It follows the life of figure skater Tonya Harding and her connection to the 1994 attack on her rival Nancy Kerrigan. It features interviews with the characters in mockumentary-style set in the modern day, as well as fourth wall breaking. Margot Robbie (who also produced) stars as Harding, Sebastian Stan plays Harding's husband Jeff Gillooly, and Allison Janney plays Harding's mother LaVona Golden; Julianne Nicholson, Caitlin Carver, Paul Walter Hauser, and Bobby Cannavale also star.

The Leisure Seeker (2017)

Based on Michael Zadoorian's book of the same name - a book both my wife and I loved equally - I wasn't aware of this film until entering the cinema to see I, Tonya at my local library. The trio - myself, my wife and one of my daughters pitched up to see this one on the week of it's release. Not quite as emotionally wrenching as the book, my daughter still was in floods of tears at several points throughout. Warm, touching, sad, funny, thoughtful......Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland - a long married couple take one last road trip together. I would still take the book over the film, you just don't feel the same connection or empathy to the characters in an hour and a half, despite some enjoyable performances. Still it was a worthwhile and enjoyable family outing. I'd recommend both formats to anyone.


From Google...

Traveling in their family Leisure Seeker vintage recreational vehicle, John and Ella Spencer take one last road trip from Boston to the Hemingway House in the Florida Keys before his Alzheimer's and her cancer can catch up with them.

Santa Clarita Diet Season 2 (2018)

One episode watched in April. I love Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant. Probably the funniest comedy from across the water since Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

From Rotten Tomatoes....

Picking up right where we left off, Season 2 of Santa Clarita Diet finds the Hammonds trying to adapt to Sheila's now-advanced undead state -- even though she's desperately working to hold on to her suburban lifestyle and not be defined as just another monster. Unfortunately -- while the family has become markedly better at murder -- the number of missing people in Santa Clarita is starting to pile up and it's no longer going unnoticed. Meanwhile, the Hammonds are chasing the source of the virus so they can stop it from spreading and save humanity -- which seems important. Through it all, Sheila and Joel are grounded by their unconditional love for one another. Sure, being undead -- or loving someone who is -- isn't always easy, but don't all relationships have their challenges?

Wild at Heart (1990)

I tried this one years ago and bailed. Second attempt at watching it was more successful. Definitely a bit weird - but probably normal for David Lynch - I suppose. Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern look young, which considering this was nearly thirty years old, is a statement of the bleeding obvious. I'll have to try something else by Lynch before deciding if I'm a fan. I kind of avoided Twin Peaks for some reason. Maybe Lost Highway next.

From Wikipedia....

Wild at Heart is a 1990 American film written and directed by David Lynch, and based on Barry Gifford's 1989 novel of the same name. Both the book and the film revolve around Sailor Ripley and Lula Pace Fortune, a young couple from Cape Fear, North Carolina, who go on the run from her domineering mother and the gangsters she hires to kill Sailor.