Month: November 2024

Paddington in Peru! Is the magic still alive for the bear’s third outing?

Hello Readers,

One of Britain’s most popular literary characters turned screen star is, of course, marmalade-loving Paddington Bear. He has had tea with the Queen, defeated the likes of Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant and is loved by children and adults everywhere. The Brown family along with Paddington have returned in a new film, Paddington in Peru where we see the wee bear discover where he comes from and the meaning of family.

It has been over seven years since Paddington 2 and while most of the cast have returned, we have a new actress playing Mrs Brown, Emily Mortimer. The film did not address the change and any young children who maybe have not seen the previous films will be unlikely to notice. I thought Emily brought a certain gravitas to the role and made it her own.

Paddington gets a worrying letter about his beloved Aunt Lucy and the family decide they need a holiday to Peru to see how Aunt Lucy is getting on at the Retired Home for Bears and whatever could be troubling her. The Brown children are now settled in their identities approaching adulthood and maybe have forgotten the magic of being young. Mr and Mrs Brown feel nostalgic for the children’s childhood and wish to have one last family memory before Judy goes off to university.

Paddington in Peru (2024)

The film starts with a bemusing scene of Paddington attempting to take a photo for his British passport in a booth. Anyone who has had to do this for a baby or small child will know the difficulties but Paddington struggles more than most finally getting a unique photo. We see a brief glimpse of the London crowd with Paddington visiting Mr Gruber and the neighbours and friends gifting Paddington a special umbrella.

The film is mostly set in Peru and while filmed in London, the credits show that it was also filmed in Colombia and Peru so it’s great to see actual locations being used and not just green screens. The Browns along with Mrs Bird encounter the Reverend Mother at the Retired Home for Bears who wrote Paddington with her concerns about Aunt Lucy. She appears to be a harmless nun but as Mrs Bird comes to find out, there is more to her than meets the eye.

We also meet Hunter Cabot, handsome boat captain and his daughter, Gina who let the Browns use their riverboat to search along the Amazon for Aunt Lucy. Paddington found a treasure map and is sure that Aunt Lucy went looking for El Dorado, the famous lost city of gold. What the Browns don’t know is that Hunter is from a long line of gold hunters and this has caused many rifts for his ancestors including in his own relationship with Gina.

After a capsizing and Paddington getting separated from the Browns, he looks for the entrance to El Dorado along with Hunter. Mrs Bird sniffs around at the retirement home and finds a mysterious red wire.

I really enjoyed the film and while I think it is maybe the weakest of the three films, it is by no means poor. There is still the magic of Paddington Bear and his encounters with strangers where he always thinks the best of them. Of course, being a children’s film, the threats to Paddington are mild but he does often end up in a tricky situation.

It was also nice to see more of Paddington’s heritage and history mentioned as apart from Aunt Lucy and his childhood in Peru, we don’t know much about Paddington in his natural habitat and seeing him in his own land confirms that some of his misunderstandings in London are not due to cultural differences but rather his cumbersome nature.

The Paddington films for me have always been like a warm hug showing the best of British values and demonstrating that everyone deserves a family. I think Ben Whishaw does a great voice for Paddington that I do not recognise as his normal voice so with the magic of CGI and VFX, you almost believe Paddington to be his own person.

I don’t think that there were any negatives to the film although I will say I think if the film was a 12 that Gina and Jonathan would have gotten together and it could have added to the drama but as it is for kids, there was more focus on Paddington.

Overall, I loved the film and thought it was the perfect goodbye to the film franchise as I don’t see the need for a further film. Paddington has such a cultural footprint with all of the books and the television animation and even exhibits and stores of his own that the magic will never truly fade. I give it 5/5.

Happy Watching,

Robyn

My Culture Fix – Updated for 2024

My favourite author or book

Hard to pick just one but favourite authors are Alice Oseman, Rick Riordan and John Green. Would read anything that they write. My favourite new book is Wolfsong by TJ Klune and my favourite older book is Love Aubrey by Suzanne LaFleur.

The book I’m reading
The Pairing by Casey McQuiston.

The book I wish I had written
Solitaire by Alice Oseman.

The book I couldn’t finish
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.

The book I’m ashamed I haven’t read
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.

My favourite film
The Day After Tomorrow.


My favourite play
Prima Facie starring Jodie Comer.

The box set I’m hooked on
Last one was Manifest but currently waiting for the next one.

My favourite TV series
Heartstopper, Outnumbered or Doctor Who.

My favourite piece of music
The Chain by Fleetwood Mac.

The last film that made me cry
We Live in Time starring Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield.


The lyric I’d wish I’d written
Made it out alive, but I think I lost it
Said that I was fine, said it from the coffin
Remember how I died when you started walking?
That’s my life, that’s my life
I’ll put up a fight, taking out my earrings
Don’t you know the vibe? Don’t you know the feeling?
You should spend the night, catch me on your ceiling
That’s your prize, that’s your prize

– Gracie Abrams ‘That’s So True’

The instrument I play
Piano and previously violin.

The instrument I wish I’d learnt
Guitar.

If I could own one painting
Yellow Chair by Vincent Van Gogh.


The place I feel happiest
On holiday either sun or snow.

The movie I’m looking forward to
Avengers: Doomsday.

I wasted an evening watching…
Wolfs with George Clooney and Brad Pitt.

The film I walked out on
Never happened as an adult but there are a few horrors I haven’t enjoyed.

My guiltiest cultural pleasure
Élite – Spanish drama that could rival Riverdale.

Overrated
It Ends with Us (film and book).

Underrated
My Lady Jane on Amazon Prime. First series was amazing but it didn’t get a second.

Disclaimer: Cuarón’s foray into the TV world and why you should watch it

Hello Readers,

I first heard about the show Disclaimer when I heard that it was going to be shown at the Venice Film Festival. This is not common practice for a TV show as far as I have heard but then again not many television shows are written, produced, directed and edited by award winning director, Alfonso Cuarón.

His films in the past have covered a range of topics and genres: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – family friendly teen fantasy; Children of Men – dystopian drama; Gravity – sci-fi one-woman adventure; Great Expectations – R-rated rom-com and Roma – a love letter to his home country of Mexico.

Disclaimer adds another string to his bow as a twisty psychological thriller told over seven episodes in several periods of time. The basic story is that a woman meets a young man on holiday, something transpires between them and he dies saving her young son from the sea. 20 years on, the young man’s father is seeking revenge for the death of his son and the subsequent death of his marriage and wife. He discovers a novel that his late wife wrote about their son and his death and uses this to destroy award-winning documentarian who he believes caused his son’s death.

Disclaimer (2024)

This show has a fairly simple premise once you work out who each character is but the feelings and pain that the characters carry and act on drives the plot forward and makes it a gripping thriller. The cast selected for the roles were very fitting and played their parts well. Before I had even finished watching the show, I knew I wanted to write a review about it as I wanted to dissect just what made it so intense.

One of the main things that made Disclaimer so powerful was the camera work. Alfonso Cuarón is known for his interesting and dynamic shots and these were certainly used to full effect in Disclaimer. Getting up close and personal to the characters showed us their emotions and even changed the feelings of a scene. There were many establishing shots that were not standard or boring but just reminded you in which location or time period you were.

What really came through for me was the emotions of the characters and how their feelings at root, caused the story. Nancy (Lesley Manville) felt so strongly about her son Jonathan’s death that she was driven to write the book to make sense of his early passing. With the photographs retrieved from his film camera, she pieced together what had happened or what she thought had happened.

Catherine Ravenscroft (Cate Blanchett) is shown as a career-first family-second woman but her story goes deeper than this. She has been unable to form a strong bond with her son, Nicholas who is pushed out of the nest to find a job and some independence. His father, Robert (Sacha Baron Cohen) believes that this is not right for Nick (Kodi Smit-McPhee) but goes along with her. He believes in their special father-son bond over football but Nick really doesn’t feel very loved by either of them.

It’s apparent that Nick does not remember anything of his near-death experience in the ocean when he was four years old but something has stuck around as he carries a trauma that is not explained by anything else as he is in a privileged position. Catherine also holds this experience close to her chest but when Nancy’s book comes to light, she has to start facing her past.

Stephen Brigstocke (Kevin Kline) plays a character that you love to dislike but again may just be misunderstood. His quest of terror is done out of his anger at himself for his son’s death and the staleness that existed between himself and Nancy for the next 10 years until her death. He was a normal man with a family and a good job as a teacher at a private school but having his son ripped away from him caused his life to stand still.

I thought Louis Partridge who plays Jonathan was great in the role, especially in the last episode. We see his quiet and unassuming nature when he meets Catherine and Nick in Italy, how we would expect a 19 year old to be but again, his story has many deeper truths.

A large part of the story shows the systematic destruction of Catherine’s career and home life by Stephen who feels a need to make the world aware of how Catherine let his son drown. We see Catherine’s distress and emotions come out but we don’t see an alternative point of view for most of the show. The thrilling nature comes from not knowing what Stephen or other characters will do next to further discredit Catherine or if her retaliation will go a step too far.

This is certainly a show for older viewers with some explicit sex scenes. They were crucial to the plot but I think were also done for shock factor and as many people have said, sex sells. In my opinion, there was nothing too uncomfortable or prolonged that we haven’t seen before but I would say it’s not suitable for younger teenagers.

I don’t want to go too much into the story as a whole but I will say I was hooked until the end and watched most episodes on the day they were released. Overall, I give the show 4/5.

All episodes are now streaming on Apple TV+

Happy Watching,

Robyn

Agatha All Along – Full Series Breakdown

Hello Readers,

Witching hour has passed and with it the finale of popular Marvel show, Agatha All Along. Many fans are claiming it is one of the best MCU television shows that has been released in the last few years. It is a spin-off from the first show to debut on Disney+ in 2021, WandaVision. The character of Agatha Harkness made her first appearance as a supporting character who turns out to be a centuries-old witch rather than the friendly neighbour.

Agatha has a presence in the Marvel comics that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is based on but she has not had her own series such as Ms Marvel or others that have had the TV treatment. Even though we learned some of Agatha’s secrets in WandaVision, there is a lot more to her than we thought we knew.

Agatha All Along centres around the coven’s journey down the Witches Road. When Agatha realises that Wanda sapped her of her powers, she assembles a coven of witches and one mysterious teenager and they set off down, down the road.

Beware there will be spoilers for the full series of Agatha All Along so make sure to finish it first.

Agatha All Along (2024)

This Marvel series has been praised by many for its women-centered story arc and inclusion of LGBT+ characters which are typically rare in Marvel/Disney content. It is the perfect show for autumn with the two-episode finale airing on Halloween. There is a departure from the typical superhero theme, introducing supernatural elements but we still have the epic showdowns and complex plotlines that Marvel is known for.

With Wanda meeting her apparent demise in Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness, the continuation of the WandaVision story has pivoted to Agatha who remains under Wanda’s spell when we meet her in Westview. She believes she is a detective called Agnes but is really just trapped in the house that she took over from a resident of the town.

Teen comes along and knowing magic is able to free Agatha from the spell and cajoles her into going down the road. We don’t initially know why Teen wants to go down the Witches Road or even what his name is but Agatha is keen to get her magic back especially after a fight with Rio, her possible past paramore.

We get to meet other Witches in the area that are down on their luck and have resulted to mortal pursuits to keep their craft going. We have Lillia who reads fortunes; Jen who can make potions; Alice, a protection witch and Sharon or Mrs Hart with green fingers. All of these characters have complex back stories that gradually get revealed as the show goes on.

With the Salem Seven, a group of witches hunting Agatha on their tails, the coven summon the entrance to the road and start on their journey. The road takes the coven through a creepy wood with various trials appearing to test them. The trials were an interesting part of the journey as they broke up the story and gave the characters an opportunity to change outfits and use their abilities.

The first trial is in a house set in a ‘Big Little Lies’ universe although referred to in the show as Huge Tiny Lies. The group are in East Coast Summer outfits and the trial involves creating an antidote to some poisonous wine testing Jen’s potions’ abilities. Interesting parts of this one included the morphing of their faces done with prosthetics and we see the group start to bond. Unfortunately, it does not end well for Mrs Hart: the least qualified in the coven meets her demise.

The reappearance of Rio clearly rattles Agatha and the group gain a new Green Witch. Entering the next trial, there is a 1970s American rock theme with the coven in a recording studio. The trial focuses around Alice’s past as her mother was a famous singer in the 70s whose version of the Ballad of the Witches’ Road became an international hit. Unfortunately, Lorna Wu died in a hotel fire which is represented by a fire demon, introducing more magical elements to the show. We see the group harmonise together while singing and playing the song and also Rio manages to reveal some of Agatha’s secrets to the group.

The third trial is with an 80s slumber party theme and with Rio revealing that Teen is not Agatha’s son, Nicholas Scratch, we learn more about their relationship and it also deepens the mystery of who Teen could be. With possession and Ouija boards on the menu, the coven start telling each other more than they would plan to otherwise. Agatha loses control and absorbs Alice’s magic, leaving her an empty husk. Rio takes charge and Teen ends up in mortal peril.

After a stereotypical broomstick ride and Rio dispersing after causing chaos, we finally learn that Teen is Billy Maximoff but he was also someone else. In his past, he is a normal Jewish boy living in nearby Eastview with his parents. His name is William Kaplan. Lillia puts a sigil on him to hide his true nature from witches, possibly protecting him from Rio and Agatha. When William dies in a car crash, the soul of Billy Maximoff enters his body just as Wanda is breaking down the hex.

Billy is now in a new body and over the next three years transforms William’s room into a witches’ paradise complete with posters from the Wizard of Oz, The Craft and Houdini. Billy doesn’t remember being William Kaplan but assimilates into his life with his parents and finding a boyfriend. Having the pair kiss on screen is rare but I think was important to show that these characters have many sides to them.

Billy meets Ralph Bohner with the support of boyfriend, Eddie and learns that Wanda had two sons connecting his memory of her to the truth. Ralph has fled Westview after being trapped in Wanda’s spell and Agatha having taken over his house. In the scene where we see that Agatha was just in the house imagining she was a detective, she is wearing a Bohner Family Reunion t-shirt.

Billy then went looking for Agatha believing in the power of the road and hoping to use it to find his brother, Tommy. Rather than being in the police station, Billy was under interrogation in Agatha’s living room.

With this new information revealed about Billy and his new found powers as Wiccan, a character from the comics; the coven face a trial with a famous witches theme seeing Billy as Maleficent, Agatha as the Wicked Witch of the West, Lillia as Glinda and Jen as the witch from Snow White.

Lillia’s odd moments are revealed as her actually experiencing time in a non-linear fashion, something that happened to her as a young witch in Sicily. The trial involves reading a successful tarot or getting impaled by a sword and with Lillia travelling to other scenes in the show she finally learns her fate and sacrifices herself so the others can continue with the road, knowing it is finally her time to meet Death.

The final episodes show the last trial where Jen and Billy are released from the Road and Agatha faces up to her past. We learn of her son, Nicholas and their life in the 1700s. We also learn that the Road was never real and Agatha pretended to take witches down the road and then take their power from them, keeping herself living. Billy unconsciously created the Road and the trials with the clues being dotted around his bedroom. The final showdown goes on between Rio and Agatha, the first having revealed herself to be Death and having a past relationship with Agatha. The pair kiss which made history as the first lesbian kiss in an MCU film or show. She granted Nicholas more life than he was meant to have but claiming his life at seven sent Agatha on her path of absorbing the magic of other witches.

Agatha is defeated but later appears to Billy as a ghost and the two decide to find Tommy with Billy having granted his soul a body when a boy is drowned by bullies at the local swimming pool.

The writing, design and overall production of Agatha All Along was amazing and different to anything Marvel have done in the past. I enjoyed the female-heavy cast given the male-centric nature of the first Marvel films. The casting was great featuring some newcomers such as Joe Locke, in his second ever on-screen role and well-known actresses Kathryn Hahn, Aubrey Plaza and Patti Lupone. The practical sets of the Road and the trials were really well done, not forgetting the added CG elements and VFX.

I think this is a series that will reach a lot of different audience members who do not typically enjoy other Marvel products or want a more inclusive and diverse cast. I watched this show each week when it came out and it would be great to do a binge of WandaVision and Agatha All Along as the two run on from each other. It was not completely necessary to have seen WandaVision before this show but if you want to start following the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I would recommend watching it as well as Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness.

I rate it 5/5 and will be re-watching in the future.

Happy Watching,

Robyn