Film review: AN INSPECTOR CALLS (Guy Hamilton, 1954)

The Birlings, an upper-class family are celebrating the engagement of their daughter to her boyfriend. The patriarch of the Birling family owns many of the factories in their town, and the family certainly act like it. Then comes a knock at the door, with Inspector Poole interrupting their dinner party. He wishes to discuss the suicide of a local girl, Eva Smith, and the part each of the family members played in it. And their wealth isn't going to get them out of the awkward recriminations that will follow.

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

OOTD: new haircut

With the sun finally hitting the UK, I decided my long hair of previous was getting too unmanageable, and thus, in trimming it, I've gone from Alicia Vikander in The Light Between Oceans length to Jessica Chastain in Miss Sloane length! And, in keeping consistent with the Chastain look, I've duly painted my nails black, like Liz Sloane had!

Dress: Marietta dress from Hobbs

Earrings: Amazon

Glasses: Red or Dead

The Marietta dress is now  the third dress from Hobbs I own (the other two: un et deux). Their dresses are perfect for the kind of aesthetic I'm going for at work: elegant and demure.

I find clothes definitely help with the 'fake it 'til you make it' mentality, by which I mean, even if I'm in a sub-optimal mood, if I'm at least sharply dressed at work, I feel better about myself. This then helps to improve my frame of mind, and how I carry out my work.

Mark Twain absolutely nailed it when he said 'clothes make the man'.

10 Most Attractive Men in a 2018 film

As with all my eye candy lists, the only criteria for being on the list is that the guy has to have been in a 2018 release that I've actually watched! The archive of hotness here.

10. Jean Dujardin, Return of the Hero 

10 Most Attractive Women in a 2018 film

Previous years' eye candies, if you want to inspect my taste! The only constraint on the list is that it has to be someone from a film I've actually watched.

10. Alexandra Shipp, Love, Simon (new entrant)

OOTD: Okay ladies, now let's get in formation

Top: Primark

Earrings: Aldo

Glasses: Red or Dead

The larger-than-life hoops earrings are a homage to Taraji P. Henson as 'Cookie' in Empire. The next film Taraji's appearing in is the female reboot of  What Women Want, Want Men Want, and I will hopefully be seeing that soon! 

As a point of BBFC nerdiness, I find it interesting that the original Mel Gibson film was a PG-13/12A, yet the reboot is embracing the crude adult humour, and has gotten an R and 15, and even a 16 in Ireland. I'm guessing the film's producers have targeted the grown up audience following the success of Girls' Trip. If What Men Want is half as lulzy as Girls Trip, it will be a trip to the cinema well made!