Early spring town and cinema visits.

We had a nice break before Easter, in a week of wonderful sunny weather here in England - much different to recently as it has been cold, wet and breezy out (current the wettest 'drought' ever!) We did a couple of day trips, to the towns of Malvern and Rugby, to have a look around both places and a snoop around some of the small independent shops and the odd charity shop. In Malvern, we also spent some time walking in the picturesque wooded hills that border the town to the west - lovely views of the countryside from up there, even though the horizon was a little hazy.

A path on the Malvern Hills

Overlooking Malven

I've been lucky enough to go to the cinema a lot recently, as Hollyweird seems to be releasing their big 'event' films early this year (probably to avoid the London Olympics and European football championship.) For the weekend of our 8th wedding anniversary in early April, we saw "The Cabin in the Woods" and "Battleship", both great fun. Cabin was a bizarre film: enjoyable horror hokum that turns the teen 'stalk and slash' film on its head with a new twist. Action packed, gory, and featuring the usual Joss "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" Whedon playful script with loads of film references littered in there for good measure. As for Battleship (yes, based on the MB boardgame - spot the subtle references!) we both loved it! A great popcorn film that didn't take itself to seriously and had some cracking action set pieces. At last, no lizard aliens for a change. Thankfully we remembered to stay for the end scene post credits - those Scottish sheep will fend of any future alien attack!

Last Saturday, I went with my pal Sarah to my local Odeon to see "Marvel Avengers Assemble" - the 3D version. A very entertaining entry to Marvel's superhero film series from Joss Whedon (yes, him again.) All the superheroes had their moment of glory in front of the camera, and the complex 'New York battle against the aliens' finale was very well done with some top SPFX. I guess the only criticism with ensemble films such as this, is that the plot can't concentrate as there are too many main characters, so there is a danger of losing focus as the story moves from one A-lister to the next. Thankfully, Robert Downey Jnr. as 'Iron Man', together with the excellent Chris Evans as 'Captain America' seem to keep it all together. Good to see Mark Ruffalo as 'The Hulk/David Banner', who brought a lighter, slightly more comedic touch to the character. One reservation I had was that it was a little light on plot.

One of the many on-line reviews can be found here.


We've watched a few enjoyable films and tv shows recently; the highlight being a gem shown on the Horror Channel late the other week - a 1959 feature called "Horrors of the Black Museum", starring the brilliant Michael "Batman" Gough. A very good British horror film from a period where crime/horror cross-overs were in vogue, so similar in tone to the infamous "Peeping Tom" (1960). It will probably be a Halloween favourite of mine from now on! I'm also happy to see "Game of Thrones" back in its second series, the characters as scheming as ever!

As for interesting documentaries, a mention to "Bloody Tales from the Tower" - a three-part series about the death and tragedy at the Tower of London. Presented by the lovely Suzannah Lipscombe.