An opportune shift

In this working from home period during lockdown, I have to have video-conferences on an almost daily basis. This made me realise that the poster set-up that I'd had on the wall facing my work WebCam was suboptimal:

I absolutely adore the Nick Wilde plushie in the photo though, and wouldn't trade him for the world.

I liked Wonder Woman a lot, it was my tenth favourite film of 2017 (at the time of writing), and It probably makes my top 20 of 2017. But for a film to be rewarded a special spot on my wall, it has to be a bit more special than top 20, top 10 of the year! (It was awarded a place more due to the fact that it was based on a  Stephen King novel, which my favourite film also happens to be. More on that later).

In addition to being films which weren't the best representation of Emma's cinephile tastes, they were also too small to be spotted from the Webcam. So ideally, I'd want one film poster rather than two, large enough that its title could be recognised instantly.

Thus, I turned to my current obsession, and a film I seem determined to own all the merch for, Parasite:

This amazing artwork was done by The Geeky Illustrator. I had already bought a The Shawshank Redemption poster from him and was not disappointed, so I went back for more with this gorgeous Parasite poster. It complements the lime green of my wall so well (not to mention Nick Wilde's shirt), and the use of the son's tent for the second 'A' is just inspired!

So, going forwards, I can now have Webex calls with more confidence. Thank you, The Geeky Illustrator!

Second-guessing which films got the BBFC the most complaints in 2018

Every July, comes Christmas time for film classification nerds, when the BBFC drop their annual report. We love to pore over the report, read between the lines at the BBFC’s evasions and obfuscations, and the PDF enriches our appreciation of film classification, whilst teaching us a thing or two about film overall.

As my Oscar predictions show, I’m somewhat keen on predicting film-related things. Thus, using my experiences of the 2018 UK releases I’ve watched, my observations from how people have interacted with the BBFC Twitter account, and word of mouth from others, here be the 2018 UK releases that I think got the BBFC the most feedback last year. Point of clarification: by '2018 UK releases', I refer to films that came out in UK cinemas in 2018. Something like The Favourite, which had a 2018 US release date, came out here in 2019, so wouldn’t count. You can expect to see complaints for that in 2019's BBFC annual report!

01. Red Sparrow

Jennifer Lawrence is wooden af

Second-guessing the films that the BBFC got the most complaints in 2017

This blog is rated 15 for references to child abuse and strong sex references.

The BBFC drop their Annual Reports around July every year, where they discuss all facets of their guidelines and the film classification process in the UK. I await these reports with the same eagerness I await the Oscars with, and I think it's fun to try and predict which titles cause the BBFC the most complaints every year!

Two Short Book Reviews

Cell (Stephen King)

A chillingly crafted novel channelling the dystopian world that unravels after mobile phones have the ability to send people into crazy killers, and how those who weren’t affected by “The Pulse” try to survive as the initially mindless “phone crazies” begin to get smarter. The protagonist Clay, is a likeable, resourceful guy who we can root for, and his sidekicks Tom and Alice, are good foils for him, interesting enough in their own right without detracting from Clay's voyage - to get to Maine to find his son. The story sometimes moves a little slowly, with Stephen King being particularly languid with Clay’s voyage, but there are shocks galore throughout the book, as well as dark laughs. Well-written with descriptions so vivid you could actually imagine this happening, this is a science fiction novel that even I could enjoy. Grade: A-

Hickory Dickory Dock (Agatha Christie)

Hercule Poirot gets up to another one of his adventures, this time, introduced to him by his assistant, Mrs Lemon. Mrs Lemon’s sister works at a youth housing centre, where things have inexplicably gone missing or been sabotaged. These petty thefts, however, are soon owned up to, but the perpetrator then appears to have committed suicide… or did she? As with most Agatha Christie, the joy isn’t in so much as the whodunit (though I never would have guessed, I was foiled again!), but in getting to know the characters, this time, the boarders in the hostel. Each have their idiosyncrasies and quirks, and it is to Christie’s merit that she pulled the wool over my eyes once again, and got me suspecting completely the wrong people. Grade: A-