Winter's Bone Has Real Oscar Potential

Our late night trip to the cinema did not disappoint and Winter's Bone proved well worth staying up late for.

Whether the sparse attendance at Vue was vindication of the multiplex chain's decision to give the film just one showing or the result of that showing being scheduled at 10.30pm, there's no denying that those who contributed about thirty quid in total to the cinema's coffers certainly got their money's worth.


A cast of unknowns is led by Jennifer Lawrence (surely an Oscar nominee) as teenage daughter Ree, abandoned by a neer do well father and left to look after two young siblings and her dementia suffering mother. The errant dad has used the family shack and adjoining land as surety for bail and when he goes missing the family is faced with eviction and homelessness. The film charts Ree's attempts to trace her waster father and save her home in the bleak cold of the Ozark mountain region. There's another fine performance from John Hawkes as her drug addicted uncle "Teardrop".Hawkes puts such malice into an off screen warning "I've told you once"...."with my mouth" that you know pretty well that you wouldn't be pushing the point any further.


The cast are, without exception, totally convincing and any viewer would be forgiven for thinking this was somehow for real. The Ozarks' hillbilly inhabitants live in such squalor that trailer park trash would consider themselves royalty and stay at home mums on the higher tax band might think twice about moaning about the potential loss of their child benefits. The film moves with pace and has an excellent country soundtrack (shades of Deliverance) and I can heartily recommend it to anyone who gets the (slim) chance to go and see it. Five stars for me.





Before Winter's Bone we went to see "Buried". This is a highly unusual film set entirely within the confines of a coffin. Paul, an American truck driver working in Iraq (Ryan Reynolds), is the only actor on screen with the rest of the cast appearing in voice only. Paul wakes from concussion to find that his assailants have buried him alive leaving him with just a cigarette lighter for light and a mobile phone through which to channel their ransom demands and instructions. It's not a film for the claustrophobic but it manages to hold your attention throughout the entire ninety or so minutes. I could see this drama working well as a stage play as the audience gets drawn into the shocking reality of the situation. Reynolds plays the character well although he has too much rage for my liking but as a study in cynical corporate personnel relations it will make anyone thinking of a spell working in one of the world's hotspots such as Iraq or Afghanistan think more than twice before signing on the dotted line. Whoever pitched this "It's one man in a coffin for ninety minutes" and managed to sell it, is a genius but his or her genius is rewarded with a very watchable and thought provoking drama.

After weeks when things seemed to be constantly going wrong I finally had a bit of luck yesterday when this fine porcelain bowl purchased on eBay for £9.99 plus p&p turned up. Trawling through eBay for wrongly identified pieces is a little like searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack and for every gem there's a thousand or more items that are either correctly catalogued or over priced. It's a bit like traipsing around a muddy field at a car boot sale where week after week turns up zilch but once a year there's something good. Anyway, this super bowl looks brand new and consequently was not listed as the 250 year old antique that it is. I would feel uncomfortable if the seller were an amateur but as it came from a ceramics specialist I have no such qualms. Ten years ago this might have fetched a four figure sum but collectors of antique porcelain are a dying breed today and its value is now probably less than half of that. None the less a nice find for a change.


I'll finish today with a mention of the new series of son Paul's show "A League Of Their Own". Starring James Corden, Freddie Flintoff, John Bishop, Jamie Redknapp and Georgie Thompson plus guests it airs at 10pm tonight on Sky1. Sky have a great line up this evening with "The Simpsons", "Modern Family" and "An Idiot Abroad" leading into "League". The show has a later slot this time around as some of the humour is pretty adult. We went to two recordings and it's guaranteed to raise a smile. Here's a clip from the last series.

Unashamedly Name Dropping Today

We had a great weekend with a visit to Pinewood Studios to watch the recording of two episodes of Sky 1 HD's new panel show "A League Of Their Own". Son Paul devised this show and kindly got us onto the guest list for the recordings which meant that we found ourselves in the green room afterwards with a host of stars including James Corden, Jamie Redknapp (and Louise), John Bishop, Freddie Flintoff, Georgie Thompson (with Dec), Neil Morrisey and Abbey Clancey. I'm sure that none of them will be blogging today about meeting me and Marion but it was a fascinating experience. The show itself was extremely funny. James Corden is an outstanding host and the only problem I can see is what they choose to edit out to reduce the show to its half hour format as there was a good ninety minutes of genuinely funny material in each recording.

I got chatting to Malcolm Corden (James' dad). He is a genuine and devoted father who was proud of James and equally proud of his two daughters (who were also at the recording). As we discussed our kids, I realised what a close and loving family the Cordens are and I can see them as part of the inspiration behind Gavin and Stacey which , after all, has a great deal of family values in it. Malcolm knew Southport from his job which involves travelling to bookshops around the country.

I did my best to keep Marion under control but she was determined to have at least one photo as a souvenir of the evening and James Corden, the star of the night, very kindly agreed to have his photo taken with her. (Apologies for the blurred image). Tune in to watch the show when it airs on Thursday evenings in March. I'm sure that you will find it a lot of fun.

As someone "who appreciates the finer things in life" I got an invite to an exclusive showroom event being held at the local Mercedes dealership next week.As Mercedes Benz Finance have my account in the hands of a debt collector at the moment I was a bit surprised to get the invite. Maybe I should turn up with a placard " Mercedes Benz Finance 0% interest in their customers". Meanwhile my dispute with them continues. They insist that I owe about £500 for returning the car with a couple of scratches despite it having almost £1,000 worth of optional extras fitted and thousands of miles less than the contract mileage on the clock. Show me a three year old car without a couple of blemishes.



We've been running low on stock recently as we wanted to clear out all our old models before launching our new range next week at Hotelympia. Unfortunately we have sold more of the old units than we envisaged and poor Tony in the factory has been carrying out a juggling act to try and keep the customers satisfied whilst at the same time not building too many of the current range. Our electronics supplier John Walkinshaw from KLH Electronics PLC is coming round tomorrow to demonstrate the new programmes for us so that we will know what we are talking about when we stand on the exhibition next week.

I'll finish today with John Bishop. A really nice bloke. I think you will be seeing a lot of him in the near future.