Film Review: Spiderman: Homecoming

Another great action movie from a comic book studio. Tom Holland plays a near perfect, immature Spiderman who is trying to find a role in life. Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) sees potential in him but doesn't trust him and thinks he still has a lot of learning to have. Of course, there's a baddie who allows Spiderman to show what he can do. Tom Holland, Michael Keaton, Robert Downey Jr. Dir: Jon Watts "Homework can wait. The city can't." Genre: Action

Film Review: Dunkirk

Beautiful, and often graphic, protrayal of the Dunkirk evacuations. The film does little to provide characterisation, and there's little meat on the story's bone, but instead focuses on retelling the true-life facts from many viewpoints. Although a few characters are given some script, their role is to represent the hundreds of thousands of men taking part, and not to play a single person. THis differs greatly from many war story's which focus on following single lifes. Fionn Whitehead, Damien Bonnard, Aneurin Barnard Dir: Christopher Nolan "When 400,000 men couldn't get home, home came for them." Genre: Action

Film Review: The Beguilded

Well crafted film about trust and betrayal during the American civil war. Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, Elle Fanning Dir: Sofia Coppola "Innocent, until betrayed." Genre: Drama

Film Review: Wukong

The story of Monkey, a mortal who fought the gods to prove how good he was. Okay in parts but generally over-long, and not a film I could generally recommend. Eddie Peng, Shawn Yue, Ni Ni Dir: Chi-kin Kwok "TAGLINE" Genre: Action, fantasy

Recipe: Chicken Breast and Coconut Milk

Tasty recipe with multiple complaints being the lack of sauce i.e. make sure you don't skimp on this element.

The recipe can be found here.

Volunteer: I Love You Because

Excellent amature musical in the Met by Theatre One. Every player hit their notes and could perform the acting well. A real shame that we only had 33 guests since this performance deserved much wider distribution.

Film Review: War for the Planet of the Apes

Great movie with make-up and ape animations which define a new level in film making. Story, acting and action are all top notch. Andy Serkis, Woody Harrelson, Steve Zahn Dir: Matt Reeves "For freedom. For family. For the planet." Genre: Action

Film Review: It Comes At Night

Horror, whose choppy storyline means unconnected events fail to provide consistency. An attempt to generate some level of mystery is never concluded and ultimately leaves the audience unsatisfied. Tension in some scenes however works quite well. Joel Edgerton, Christopher Abbott, Carmen Ejogo Dir: Trey Edward Shults Genre: Horror

Recipe: Cheese and Bacon Swirls

A fairly simple recipe which tasted great albeit a little greasy.

Next time I would be tempted to pre-fry the onions since some of the bits were still a bit raw after cooking.

The recipe can be found here.

Volunteer: Tempest Final Night

Final night of the play, and about 650 people are treated to a warm evening. They appear to have sorted out some of the sound problems, and the cast have polished some of their acting parts e.g. joke timings are much better. Shame they have to close just a all the rough corners are sorted.

Recipe: Lemony Chicken and Spinach Curry

Quite a mild curry which even Sue enjoyed. There was quite a depth to the flavour due to the spinach and spice blend.

Volunteer: Tempest

Dry and warm sticky night with about 340 people in. Pretty uneventful.

Film Review: All Eyez On Me

Despite his obvious success and fame, I didn't know Tupac Shakur so was watching all of this fresh. The acting and characterisation are all reasonable with script and editing being a bit choppy, but its the music that should carry it. While I appreciate the musical skill, its not really my genre so this film was always going to struggle with me. Demetrius Shipp Jr., Danai Gurira, Kat Graham Dir: Benny Boom "Legends never die" Genre: Drama

Film Review: In This Corner Of The World

Animation following the events leading up to, and following the bombing of Hiroshima. IMDB reviews like this however I found it overly drawn out and lacked any sense of pace. While I didn't feel any sense of loss, elements of the story are interesting and tell the events from a new angle. I can't however recommend anyone else sits through the 2 hours to find these elements. Non, Megumi Han, Yoshimasa Hosoya Dir: Sunao Katabuchi Genre: Animation

Film Review: My Life As A Courgette

Sweet French stop-motion animation following a boy's, Courgette, life in a foster home. Lots of nice moments as his new friends help and support each other. Gaspard Schlatter, Sixtine Murat, Paulin Jaccoud Dir: Claude Barras Genre: Animation

Recipe: Mince With Black-Eyed Beans

Based on various comments, I doubled the spices listed in the recipe. This resulting dish would be classed as mild-medium strength.

I added the yellow rice recipe I had previously reviewed, and finally served with a simple yogurt raita. Lovely.

FIlm Review: The House

Fun Friday night flick with Will Ferrell back on form. Lots of silliness as a neighbours try to raise funds by turning their house in a gambling, stripping and comedy den. Will Ferrell, Amy Poehler, Ryan Simpkins Dir: Andrew Jay Cohen "If you can't beat the house, be... The House" Genre: Comedy

Film Review: Despicable Me 3

More of the same from Gru, and friends, although execution wasn't up to the previous two. Its certainly not a bad movie but I found myself laughing less, and minions have lost some of their original appeal. I'm sure the kids will still love it. Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Trey Parker Dir: Kyle Balda, Pierre Coffin "Oh brother." Genre: Animation

Recipe: Almond Syrup Tart

The recipe resulted in a very sweet tart, which lacked any other dominant flavor. Family weren't overly impressed. Not recommended.

Film Review: Transformers - The Last Knight

Action. Action. Full on Action. Apart from that there's not much more to the film. Of particular note is the different female leads in different parts of the film. For the first hour we have a child, then the professor. All felt a bit unclear why the child got kicked out. Action however is superb and even in quiet 'chat' scenes we have autobots play-fighting in the background, with gunfire and explosions everywhere. Mark Wahlberg, Anthony Hopkins, Josh Duhamel Dir: Michael Bay "For One World To Live The Other Must Die." Genre: Action

Volunteer: George Egg - Food Anarchist

This was certainly a show with a difference. George cooks a 3 course meal using just the items you find in a hotel bedroom. His Sea Bass and pancakes were yummy :)

Volunteer: Dance Nuvo

Last minute cover since the Gatehouse only had a single person volunteer for this show. Due to a mixed, we ended up with 10 people! Lots of kids trying to do street dance ... badly ... is not my ideal show. Oh well.

Recipe: Pork and Pineapple Coconut Curry

Once you have all the ingrediants, this is a fairly easy recipe. The main problem was the Tamarind and I tried Coop, Aldi, Asda and finally found it in Tesco.

Quite a bite from the curry but the coconut and pineapple defuses it very well. One to have again.