Film Review: Toy Story 4

I'm not afraid to admit when I'm wrong. Back in 2014 when Pixar announced that they were making a film to follow Toy Story 3, a movie I absolutely loved, I thought it was a mistake. The first three Toy Story movies existed as one of those rare trilogies without any missteps. There was no …

Film Review: How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

If sequels generally produce mixed results, then animated sequels have an even less impressive track record. Shrek is a great movie, but the sequels all deliver diminishing returns. Similarly, the Despicable Me, Madagascar and Ice Age series have all fallen off too. Even Pixar and Disney have had stumbles, and even their successes like Monsters …

Theatre Review: Disney on Ice

I've always been impressed by figure skaters, the athleticism and skill on show is something I've watched since the first Winter Olympics I can remember (Lillehammer '94, maybe?). I appreciated it even more following the '90s roller blading fad where I struggled on wheels and realised I'd be in serious trouble if I ever tried …

My Favourite Films #28, 29 and 30: The Toy Story trilogy

There are very few truly excellent trilogies, all too often there’s one part that lets it down, or in The Matrix’s case two, and sometimes they just stick on a fourth part which stops it being a trilogy. In my mind there are just five trilogies that pull it off properly, these being- Sergio Leone’s …

Put your toys away, Pixar!

I’m not a sequel snob. Sure, I’ve been burned a few times by terrible follow ups (The Matrix Reloaded, A Good Day to Die Hard, Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls, Jaws 2) but there are tons of sequels out there that have succeeded, either by building on the original and its characters (Lethal Weapon 2, …

Movie Review: Brave

Success and acclaim can be as much of a curse as they can be a blessing in the world of art. Last week I wrote about how JK Rowling's immense success with the Harry Potter books might be a problem for her new novel The Casual Vacancy, and here the issue comes up again, regarding …

Crying, Headbanging and Maths: Blue Monday Thoughts

Every year a bunch of mathematics boffins get together and work out when the most depressing day of the year is, usually its a Monday a few weeks into January, and so its called "Blue Monday". Its a colossal waste of time, because there's no chance that everyone is going to be in the same …