It's been a funny old Christmas to say the least. There is no perfect recipe for handling grief - even in the case of someone like my Dad whom dementia had been slowly stealing from us for several years. The finality of his passing leaves me a little numb.
But there is some solace in even the silliest of cinematic offerings and today we have selections from across the filmic spectrum.
First a good new offering even if it falls inevitably short of the joyous exuberance of its half-century old source material.
Mary Poppins Returns lacks the attention-grabbing tunes that inhabit
Mary Poppins but it stands up as a worthy family film on its own terms. 7/10.
Our next entry is a shortish (which can be a good thing) and action-packed piece of utter nonsense.
Olympus Has Fallen was daft but its sequel
London Has Fallen is way sillier. The plot lays waste to vast tracts of our capital city (good effects) and makes alarming assumptions about the corruptibility of our police and security services. It is all done with such speed that it holds your attention in spite of what your brain is telling you. Quite possibly the most preposterous film I have seen - and that is quite some statement given what I think of
2001. 4/10.
It has become culturally compulsory to watch it at Christmas but I still harbour real doubts about the morality of
Love Actually. I am wary of my emotions being manipulated so blatantly. In many ways it is one of the most exploitative films I have seen. That however cannot mask the craftsmanship at play and the fine acting of Emma Thompson, Bill Nighy and Alan Rickman. It would be a faux worthy statement to deny that I enjoy it but I feel a little more violated at each sitting. 6/10.
Let us take things onto an altogether higher plane for our two final films. I sat down to watch
Some Like It Hot in the company of my Mum. If you want to get picky about these things I suppose you can harbour doubts about the sexual politics of this film but you have to admire the sheer acuity of script, direction and, above all playing that is on show. Jack Lemon. Tony Curtis, never better and Marilyn Monroe completely captivating. As the final words of the film remind us 'Nobody's perfect', but some movies get pleasantly close. 9/10.
And that brings us to a conclusion with, marginally, the best of the bunch. As I get older and soppier (honest guv) the more the end of
The Railway Children has the power to move me close to tears. That this was Lionel Jeffries's directorial debut borders the miraculous because every frame of this piece is working its socks off. Less is more. 9/10.
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