Looking for a feel good — ADULT — Christmas flick?
Dave and Lisa Adlard recommended my favourite, Love Actually. (2003 R-rated)
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
related – Billy Mack (Bill Nighy) horrible Christmas variation of The Troggs’ classic hit “Love Is All Around”. (VIDEO)
Even more R-rated is the full version. 😀
Great book. Confusing name. 😀
Quite an epic life story.
Fast paced for a story of India written in English. I recommend it to one and all.
The Sleeping Dictionary (2013) is a novel by American writer Sujata Massey.
… Set in late Raj India, The Sleeping Dictionary tells the story of a young peasant girl, who makes her way to Calcutta and is caught between the raging independence movement and the British colonial society she finds herself inhabiting. …
While the term “sleeping dictionary” was originally coined for young women who slept with Europeans and educated them in the ways of India, Kamala turns the tables on the colonial establishment, using her talents for readings languages and men to work for India’s independence. …
There’s a Hollywood film with the same name and theme — The Sleeping Dictionary — from 2003.
This popular book series rolls on with #4 being just as charming as the rest.
The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman.
Thursday Murder Club are British pensioners living in a retirement village who solve murders as a hobby.
Quite humorous. Very insightful regarding elderly life in the U.K.
Shocking news reaches them—an old friend has been killed, and a dangerous package he was protecting has gone missing.
The gang’s search leads them into the antiques business, where the tricks of the trade are as old as the objects themselves. As they encounter drug dealers, art forgers, and online fraudsters—as well as heartache close to home—Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron, and Ibrahim have no idea whom to trust. …
One important and touching side story is Elizabeth’s husband Stephen declining with dementia.
While still in full mental capacity, Stephen wrote himself a letter explaining his medical condition. Elizabeth must read it to him every day as he’s already forgotten.
On the down side, the murder mystery is absurdly simplistic.
We don’t yet know who will play whom in the upcoming film adaptation.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
I like everything Tom Hanks does. And I really liked this film, as well.
A Man Called Ove is a novel by Swedish writer Fredrik Backman, first published in English 2013.
An odd book, it launched Backman’s career as a major novelist.
That said, I’ve tried to read it twice and got fed up both times.
The premise is enticing:
Ove is a curmudgeon—the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him ‘the bitter neighbour from hell.’ However, behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. …”
Age-59, Ove’s wife recently died. And he’s not handling it well.
The Swedish film adaptation looks more entertaining than the book.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Tom Hanks plays the role in the Hollywood adaptation. To mixed reviews. I thought it was excellent.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
The Great Dictator is a 1940 American anti-war political satire black comedy film written, directed, produced, scored by, and starring British comedian Charlie Chaplin …
Chaplin’s film advanced a stirring condemnation of the German and Italian dictators Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, as well as fascism, antisemitism, and the Nazis.
At the time of its first release, the United States was still formally at peace with Nazi Germany and neutral during what were the early days of World War II.
Chaplin plays both leading roles: a ruthless fascist dictator and a persecuted Jewish barber.
It’s best remembered for this speech.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
I never would have watched this comedy horror movie unless I was trapped on a long distance international flight.
Cocaine Bear is loosely inspired by the true story of the “Cocaine Bear“, an American black bear that ingested nearly 75 lb (34 kg) of lost cocaine. …
The film opened to generally positive reviews from critics and grossed over $89 million against a production budget of $30–35 million.
I have to admit, I enjoyed this absurdism. 😀
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Like nearly everyone, I was a big fan of the Indiana Jones films:
Did we really need Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) ??
Or Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) ??
In fact, I loved the 5th and probably final instalment.
It was great to see Karen Allen again.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge is fantastic, as usual.
The technology making actors look younger was amazing.
I feel it’s a worthy addition to the franchise.
… On the other hand, it grossed $383 million worldwide; a box office bomb with an expensive overall budget resulting in a $100 million loss for Disney.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Not a bad book, actually.
Copenhagen Deputy Detective Superintendent Carl Mørck returns from vacation to discover that his tiny cold case unit, Department Q, has been reshuffled, and a citizen’s complaint has reopened a 20-year-old case on which all the relevant documents have disappeared. …
Kirkus
Six rich students are suspected of killing Lisbet Jørgeneon and her twin brother two decades ago.
But they were never seriously investigated as a young man admitted he had murdered the two. And is still in prison.
Reluctantly at first, Carl (the jerk) and his likable Syrian assistant, Hafez el-Assad, AND his new secretary, Rose Knudsen start building a case against the students, some of whom are now rich and influential.
A popular Danish film was adapted from the book.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
I don’t know why I keep reading this Department Q books.
The lead detective, Carl Mørck, is just a jerk.
I do like his sidekick, Assad.
This 3rd book in the series (2013) has an evil serial killer of children who preys on extremely religious families. They trust God more than the police.
Jussi Adler-Olsen is Denmark’s #1 crime writer. The films based on his books are popular.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Crooked House is one of Agatha Christie‘s favourites of her books.
I’d agree. This is a good one.
An unreliable narrator. It kept me guessing.
Towards the end of the Second World War, Charles Hayward is in Cairo and falls in love with Sophia Leonides, a smart, successful Englishwoman who works for the Foreign Office. They put off getting engaged until the end of the war when they will be reunited in England.
Hayward returns home and reads a death notice in The Times: Sophia’s grandfather, the wealthy entrepreneur Aristide Leonides, has died, aged 85.
Due to the war, the whole family has been living with him in a sumptuous but ill-proportioned house called “Three Gables”, the crooked house of the title.
The autopsy reveals that Leonides was poisoned with his own eserine-based eye medicine via an insulin injection.
Sophia tells Charles that she can’t marry him until the matter is cleared up. …
I haven’t seen the 2017 movie adaptation.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Rick McCharles 