Coming Soon: January 2016

Welcome to the first Coming Soon post of 2016!

January is jam-packed with astonishingly good films as awards season steps up a gear. Nominations have already been released for the Golden Globes, and as the BAFTAs and Academy Awards follow suit in the next few weeks cinemas are filled with award-worthy films. It's my favourite time of the movie calendar, so I fully expect to be spending the next four weeks practically camped out in my local cinema!

Kicking off the year is Tom Hooper's beautiful - if not a little bland - tale of transgender Danish artist Lili Elbe (Eddie Redmayne), The Danish Girl. While Redmayne may be the protagonist it's clearly Alicia Vikander's film as Lili's wife, Gerda Wegener: she effortlessly steals every scene she's in, which is no mean feat when competing with Redmayne's measured and delicate performance. Also opening this weekend is the latest collaboration between director David O'Russell and Jennifer Lawrence: Joy, the true story of the woman who invented the Miracle Mop. Reviews have been mixed so far, but it definitely looks well worth a watch.

Other must-watch films released this month are The Hateful Eight, Tarantino's Western; Creed, the sequel to the Rocky films that has Sylvester Stallone circling Supporting Actor nominations; and The Revenant, celebrated director Alejandro G. Iñárritu's extraordinary 1820s quest that will undoubtedly secure Leonardo Di Caprio an elusive Oscar, and wonderful cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki a third consecutive Oscar for a film that solely uses natural light - a genius and undoubtedly stunning effect. Then there's financial crisis comedy The Big Short; Cannes darling The Assassin; and the film that finally won Michael Caine a European Film Award, Youth.

Finally, January sees Room hitting cinemas. I saw it at an Odeon preview screening before Christmas and would have made it my film of 2015 had it not officially been released the following year. It is outstanding. It affected me much more than I anticipated it would, and genuinely had to pull my car over on the way home as I couldn't stop crying. As someone who struggles to show emotion in films, my heaving sobs really took me by surprise! Furthermore, hotly tipped to win all Best Picture awards is Spotlight. The trailer gives me goosebumps so I have high hopes for this film adaptation of the Boston Globe's true investigation into sexual abuse within the Catholic Church in Boston.

Film Round-Up 2015

It's been a pretty good year for film, yet again.

As I seem to have spent the majority of 2015 in the cinema, it seemed only appropriate to pull together a list of the good, the bad, and the ugly released in the U.K. in 2015.

I think I've covered everything, from my top 10 films of the year to mini-awards for 'The Film That Made the Best Over-Dramatic Use of a Waterfall'; 'The Film That I Wish I Could Experience For The First Time All Over Again' and 'The Film That Blew My Mind (and not at all in a good way)'.

I hope that these lists will provide you with inspiration for a cinema trip over the next few days, or give you some ideas for hidden gems to look for on Netflix and Sky Movies when they arrive next year. Make yourself a cup of tea: it's a long post!

Transformation Tuesday: Week 79

Well, Christmas was fun!

Gingerbread Biscoff Cake

As it's probably clear from all of my baking posts: I'm really scared of taking risks in the kitchen. I know what I'm good at - and what I'm comfortable making - and generally stick to it. Yes, I'll branch out on the odd occasion (Technical Thursdays are definitely the exception and not the rule!), but on the whole I have a very narrow repertoire.

I don't quite know why I did it, but when my turn came to provide a cake for Cake Club at work, I decided to take a chance on a recipe I'd stumbled across on the BBC Good Food website instead of sticking to something I was confident with. It ended up being one of the best cakes I've ever made, sparked a bizarre debate on the score (Cake Club is very serious, and there was a lot of discussion as to whether it was a 9.8 or a 10, but I'd have been delighted with either!) and I knew I had to make it again the following week so my family would have the opportunity to try it.

Behold, the Gingerbread Biscoff Cake: a three layered monster of light gingerbread sponge and decadent caramel biscuit cream cheese icing. It. Is. Amazing.

Transformation Tuesday: Week 78

I love Christmas.

The Ciné File Vol. 38

It's been an awfully long time since my last set of film reviews for The Ciné File, so this is a pretty long one I'm afraid!

Instead of full reviews I've grouped films together by their defining characteristics - be them strong central performances, cinematography or set design, for example - and made a brief comment on each. I felt that'd be much better than a never-ending list of reviews!

From Brooklyn to Burnt, The Intern to The Program, Anomalisa to Bridge of Spies, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens to Sicario I've seen a wide range of films over the last few months: so much so that it's pretty helpful to have them all finally written down!

Transformation Tuesday: Week 77

Buddy the Elf, what's your favourite colour?

Coming Soon: December 2015

How on earth is it December already?!

It's a funny month for film: we may be in prime territory for awards worthy films but as everyone's excited for Christmas and probably spending the majority of the month watching Elf on repeat, frantically doing last minute shopping, and indulging in Netflix binges indoors with a mince pie rather than heading to the cinema, the recently released films are a bit of a mixed bag.

Christmas films are in abundance, from the comedy-horror Krampus, to multi-generational family caper Christmas with the Coopers, to festive lad's night out The Night Before. I haven't seen Krampus - I still refuse to watch horror films - but I can say that although the other two are wholly unremarkable and will be forgotten as soon as the season ends, they're perfect if you've not quite embraced the festive spirit yet and need a nudge towards finding your Christmas jumper, decorating your tree, and singing Christmas songs extremely loudly in the car on your way to work (surely it's not just me that does that?!).

Angelina Jolie makes her bid for a spot in the awards conversation with By The Sea, written, produced and directed by her, filmed on her honeymoon and starring her and her husband Brad Pitt as a troubled couple. Unfortunately it's been met with mixed reviews so far, just like Ron Howard's epic In the Heart of the Sea. It's not all serious dramas though: Lily Tomlin is making waves in Grandma, Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg play warring fathers in Daddy's Home and the unrivalled duo of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler retain their crowns as the Queens of Comedy with Sisters. It's a hysterically funny film, with a scene featuring a misplaced ballerina figurine that made me cry laughing.

Oh, and there's a new Star Wars film out, not that anyone's noticed at this stage...

Transformation Tuesday: Week 76

I think I like Slimming World.

Transformation Tuesday: Week 75

This week went well.

Transformation Tuesday: Week 74

As expected: I don't have too much to report this week, and that's a really good thing.

Transformation Tuesday: Week 73

In an effort to be significantly less boring than normal, I made a decision yesterday with regards to weight loss. Woop woop!

Coming Soon: November 2015

It's official: awards season is upon us. Brace yourself for the constant talk of Oscar winners, potential snubs, controversial campaigning and press tours that seem to last a decade...

Kicking off the month is the beautiful romantic drama Brooklyn. I saw it twice before it hit cinemas (thanks to the London Film Festival and a Times+ preview screening) and plan on seeing it again at the weekend: it's a truly lovely, funny and genuinely heartwarming film, and leading lady Saoirse Ronan deserves all of the praise - and future nominations - that are coming her way. Michael Fassbender shines in the electrifying Steve Jobs, and the eponymous biopic of the Apple founder boasts an astonishingly good script from Aaron Sorkin that ensures all 122 minutes race along with an enormous amount of sharp, cutting dialogue. The awards contenders don't stop there: later in the month Jonny Depp's comeback performance as notorious Boston gangster Whitey Bulger in Black Mass finally arrives, and while it's a pretty disappointing and largely messy film it's hard not to appreciate how intense Depp is as the violent crime kingpin. Steven Spielberg reunites with Tom Hanks in Cold War thriller Bridge of Spies, but from what I've read Mark Rylance is most impressive as the captured Soviet spy and could be a serious contender in the Supporting Actor categories. Finally, Carol - the achingly good 1950s romance that's been making waves at virtually every festival it's been featured at - is released. It's been met with widespread critical acclaim thus far, and while Rooney Mara won Best Actress at Cannes she'll be campaigning in the supporting category this season, leaving Lead Actress open for co-star Cate Blanchett. The trailer looks wonderful, and I think it's safe to say that this is one to mark in your calendars.

November also boasts a number of fascinating looking documentaries. Malala Yousafzai isn't given the film she deserves with He Named Me Malala, but it makes for interesting and vital viewing all the same. A Death Row inmate tells his story in The Fear of 13; the war in Afghanistan is told through the eyes of the Afghans living through it in Tell Spring Not to Come This Year; and Steve McQueen: The Man & Le Mans depicts the esteemed actor's attempts to make a movie about the 24-hour car race at Le Mans. Furthermore, What Our Fathers Did: A Nazi Legacy delves into lives of two men whose fathers were indicted as war criminals for their roles in World War II.

If documentaries and series dramas aren't really your thing then there's the Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse; horror The Hallows; disgraced rockstar chef comeback narrative in Burnt; Maggie Smith's turn as The Lady in the Van; and Pixar adventure The Good Dinosaur. Plus, concluding the ridiculously popular young adult series is The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2, with Katniss and co. going out with a bang.

Transformation Tuesday: Week 72

I am rapidly becoming the most boring person on Earth.

Transformation Tuesday: Week 71

This week's proved to be another difficult one to write about, mainly because there really isn't much to say...