Well Aard(man) – Ranking the Aardman movies

Hello. Welcome back to my blog! It’s been a while.

I was trying to write a proper, thoughtful article for you all. I spent a lot of time researching for a thinkpiece on soundtracks.

Then I realised I didn’t have a point to make. So here’s a ranking of all the Aardman movies instead!

Doctor, Doctor, Give Them A Call: Top 10 Nu-Who Companions

You may or may not have noticed that there’s recently been a new season of Doctor Who. You may also have noticed, or not, that people’s reactions have either been very positive, or very not.

Well, we’re now approaching the finale of Season 11. A lot of the discussion this year has surrounded Jodie Whittaker’s (brilliant) portrayal of the Doctor, but I felt like shining a light on the companions. Much of the post-2005 era of the show (I’m afraid I’m still uninitiated in the classic era) has portrayed the companion as being the main character, rather than the Doctor.

Ergo, I present to you my personal top 10 favourite companions. There may still be one episode to go for our three current companions, but I felt I had enough to rank them on; still, depending on their future episodes, perhaps their rankings will rise (or fall)…

Oh, and there may well be spoilers…

It Me – My Top Three Most Relatable Fictional Characters

Perfect characters are boring. Flawed characters are interesting. But those flaws could potentially become unlikable or annoying, unless the writer is very careful about the flaws they choose.

My Top 3 Lord of the Rings Characters

Believe it or not, until a week ago, I had never seen a whole Lord of the Rings film. I knew bits and pieces of the story, all the famous quotes and so on. But I’d always put off actually watching them – they are almost four hours each, you know!

The Mid-Year Report

We’re now over halfway through 2018. There’s been some good films, some great films, and one or two “oh-god-I’ve-wasted-£10” films. So I thought I’d look back through the first half of the year (January-June), and rank all the new releases I saw in cinemas.

Care to join me? Wonderful!

Believing the Hype

Despite the grey clouds outside as I type this, we are now technically in summer. This should mean plenty of opportunities to head to the cinema. However, I must confess that there aren’t a lot of great-looking movies out at the moment.

Movie trailers, on the other hand? I’ve been struck by how many great ones there have been lately.

Of course, trailers are supposed to look good. The films they’re advertising could turn out to be terrible. But for now, let us bask in what seems to be a golden moment for exciting-looking films… even if they all end up far less exciting than they looked.

Avengers: Opinion-ty War – My Top 5 Superhero Films

For the past couple of weeks, the box office has been utterly dominated by one film and one film alone; Avengers: Infinity War.

(And no, I still haven’t seen it yet. Somehow.)

But this week, it’s finally been knocked off the top spot by… Deadpool 2. That’s right, another superhero movie. It’s fair to say that this genre is quite popular right now, and has been for most of the last two decades.

Those decades have given everyone ample time to rank and list their favourites of the genre online. Everyone except me. Late to the party as always, it’s my turn at last. So here, in no particular order, are the five superhero movies that I’ve loved the most… so far:

Opinions on the Oscars

[There’s some explicit language is in this article. It’s only one GIF, but if you don’t like swearing, just be aware it’s there.]

I’m not quite on the ball as much as everybody else, but the Oscars aren’t that dim a memory yet. The ceremony was only 2 days ago so I don’t feel too behind, in only now offering my commentary.

Here’s how I feel about the results – and let us remember that all the wins were, ultimately, reflective only of the voters’ opinions. Mine may differ from theirs, yours may differ from theirs and mine. That’s what makes film, and all art-forms, exciting – there isn’t always a right or wrong answer as to a piece’s quality.

Steven Universe is WEIRDLY similar to Lilo & Stitch…

I’ve been racking my brains for this new blog post, trying to come up with a topic to write about. I thought about the recent announcement of the Oscar nominations, and how ‘Best Animated Feature’ is often the only category I’ve seen more than one film for. Since childhood, animation has been a genre that I can always depend on for at least some level of entertainment and artistry. So I thought about some of my favourite animated movies, about maybe ranking them, and I knew that I would have to include my favourite of the 2-D Disney films; Lilo & Stitch.

Top 10 Films of 2017

Hi. So I’m great at abandoning this blog for ages. But I’m also great at coming back to it eventually, so well done me.

I thought I’d celebrate my triumphant return (and you know, the new year as well, I SUPPOSE) by running through my personal top 10 films that I saw in cinemas this year.