Burn After Reading

This comedy crime drama was delivered in 2008 by the Coen Brothers and is great fun! They've gathered their usual suspects to play the lead roles and it puts me very much in mind of O Brother, Where Art Thou.

John Malkovich plays Osbourne Cox, a CIA analyst who is hauled into his boss one day and told that because they consider that he has a drink problem, he's being demoted to a less responsible position. He tells them to shove it and resigns. He starts to write his memoirs. His wife Katie, played by Tilda Swinton is having an affair with George Clooney's Harry. Harry is also married to Sandy, but between them all, they really could be sleeping (or playing sex games) with pretty much anyone they know - or indeed just met!

Linda is played by Frances McDormand and she works in a gym with Chad, who's played by Brad Pitt. She is dissatisfied with her body and wants plastic surgery, but can't afford it. At this point, by chance, a CD falls out of the gym bag of an employee of a solicitor who's handling Katie's divorce on the hush. Linda and Chad look at the contents, make some assumptions about it being CIA information, rather than the memoirs of Osbourne and look to make a quick buck. Hope you're keeping up with this!

Before you know it, Linda's off to the Russian Embassy to try to sell what's on it, having failed, with Chad, to get money out of Osbourne - who's really confused as to who they are, what the CD is and how it's blackmail worthy anyway! He's also very, very angry and anyone who gets in his way usually gets a mouth full of abuse, deserved or not!

And so the farce goes on. It's beautifully stitched together and excellently delivered by the whole cast. McDormand steals the show with her amazing facial expressions, think Fargo, and naivety around the situation. Brad Pitt plays the half-brained half-interested buffoon perfectly, Tilda Swinton is excellent in her cold and clinical role, George Clooney creates characteristics for Harry which he can have great fun with, including a half-explored hypochondria and John Malkovich, as you'd expect, plays the irate Osbourne with gusto and relish! Everyone is clearly having great fun with the material and the story holds together nicely.

It's an absolute scream from start to finish, engaging and funny. It's quite dark in places but not grizzly. There's one scene where someone's having their head axed in, which should really have been a nasty head-turner, but the way it's delivered it just becomes comic, along with most of the rest of the film. The Coen Brothers really have turned out some fabulous films and this is up there with the best of the darkly comic ones. Don't miss it like I have for a decade!

AA Car Essentials Emergency Snow Shovel

Winter is generally short-lived here in the UK, but when it comes, we should all be prepared. Fortunately, most of us have space to spare in the boot of our cars to chuck stuff in which might only be needed once in a blue moon.

This snow shovel not only relies on snow, but also that you're out in it - and get stuck - and need to dig yourself out! A trail of conditions which might not often be met, over here anyway. But when and if it does, you'll remember having thrown it in the back all that time ago!

It takes up no space at all as it has a smart folding design which closes in on itself and fits inside the handy supplied 'shovel blade' sized and shaped pouch. The blade itself is made of heavy metal and fits into the central 'tube' which, in turn, heads off towards the folding-out handle.

The 'tube' and handle are also very sturdy and solid-feeling, made of heavy and thick plastic. The handle is big enough for the biggest hand to get a grip and the 'tube' in the middle has a locking 'collar'. So you fold out the handle and blade whilst the locking collar is loose, then re-tighten the collar, it all locks into place, ready for action.

Wouldn't believe that the very day it arrived all the snow had disappeared here for me to test, but it really does look like it'll do the job and certainly not fall apart anytime soon. So for a few quid, best grabbed and lobbed into the boot!

I got this on a flash sale when it was only £6.50, but I'm afraid it's now back up to 'normal' price of £14. To be honest, now having handled it, and although I probably wouldn't have paid £14, I would now if I'd had the opportunity prior. Recommended. AmazonUK

Smilla's Sense of Snow

This English-language Danish 1997 Bille August film is a sci-fi thriller/drama, based on Peter Hoeg's bestseller about a woman trying to get to the bottom of the suspicious death of a small boy whom she'd befriended in her apartment block in Copenhagen.

The troubled Smilla Jasperson is played by Julia Ormond (Legends of the Fall, First Knight) and she does so excellently, convincingly and with style. Smilla is one of a community of people who have ended up in Copenhagen and since as a child being removed from her home in Greenland, has been a square peg in a round hole. Always in trouble, not settled and pining for a climate where snow and ice envelops her. She can't do much about it though as rich daddy keeps her from having to work and with no means of her own, has to stay put.

Other exiles live in the same apartment block, one of which is a small boy who she comes home one day to find scattered over the pavement, 5 stories down. As so the thriller starts to unfold. The links between these people start to become clearer, what happened in Greenland so that they had to leave, how a mining company with pots of cash seem to have secrets and potentially reasons for covering up this, that and the other, a love-interest who lives on the ground floor and may be a little more than he appears and treks across snowy arctic regions to get to the bottom of what's going on! Yes, it's thrills and spills all the way, with a climax which James Bond would be proud of creating! But it's far from a mindless 007 outing. It's a good story, well delivered, with interesting characters and a plot that will keep the audience on the edge of their seat for at least some of the time.

Richard Harris (A Man Called Horse, Orca, Unforgiven) plays the boss of the mining company, mostly from a distance. He only has a handful of lines, but as usual, brings presence and class to proceedings. Gabriel Byrne (The Usual Suspects, The Crying Game, Stigmata) is the love interest with a twist and plays his role well, though you get the feeling that it's not really stretching him much. It's Ormond in the lead who really commands here and has by far the most of the screen time. She holds it together and depicts well the character that nobody wants to warm to, but most would respect.

The film is shot in 4:3 which is a bit of a shame on this occasion as so much more could have been made of the sweeping arctic scenery in the second half of the film. Instead of which, the edit is tight and focused. It's a good film which I'd recommend if you can get hold of it! I had to import a DVD from the Czech Republic and it took 3 weeks to arrive! It's a cracking little film which you'll sometimes catch in the middle of the night on Channel 4 or Film4. Look out for it.

Cold War

Pawel Pawlikowski's 2018 film Cold War is a tribute in style to his parents, Wiktor and Zula, living in post WWII rural Poland under enforced Stalinism. The story, however, is not. It's a tale overlayed on their characters as he remembers them. A couple who fell madly for each other, became swept up in the entertainment industry, escaped and returned. With the interesting use of timeline here, much has been left to the viewer to work out and create whilst soaking up the expert filmmaking on display.

The story begins with Wiktor (played by Tomasz Kot) and a colleague 'talent spotting' in the poverty-stricken villages of Poland, recording singing voices and assessing dancing ability in 1949. This leads to a 'school' where the youngsters picked to train for the stage are coached, with a view to making the grade to join the planned 'ensemble' on tour.

Zula, played by Joanna Kulig (who also popped up as singer in Pawlikowski's excellent Ida), is one of the hopefuls and Wiktor falls for her at first sight. It turns out that she's knifed her father for 'mistaking her for her mother' and is on the run, pretty much. We then leap on a couple of years and the by-now created traditional folk choral/dance group is touring. At the post-performance party, there's a beautifully shot moment (with a nod to Jeremy Irons and Juliette Binoche in Damage) where the pair's eyes meet a long distance across a room and the camera lingers and 'the moment' when they both 'knew' was defined. And so begins the turbulent relationship which leads the film over another decade or more.

Amidst broken down buildings and crumbling walls, the political party then put pressure on the ensemble to introduce material promoting the ideals of Stalinism with veiled threats, but rewards of tours and expansion if they comply. As they become more famous and embark on the tour, the authorities want to check out Wiktor. When they are in Berlin, he and Zula decide to defect to the West. She changes her mind and misses the rendezvous, he goes, and we leap forward to Paris a couple of years on, where they meet up.

The leaps in timeline are often open and rely on the audience to fill in some of the gaps, Pawlikowski not spoon-feeding details that really don't need time wasting on film. Another leap, and she turns up again in Paris, married to an Italian, but their stop-start affair continues. They make a record together, but she's not happy and takes off, back to Poland. The to-and-fro continues across europe until we end up back in Poland, with much water under the bridge, in 1964.

The story here is, of course, a large part of the take-away, but much more so for me is the technically expert filmmaking, photography, music, sets and atmosphere. Like Ida before it, it's shot in black and white in 4:3 format, which closes in on composition, often leaving activity and action outside of the frame and to the viewer's imagination. Only in european cinema are we able to enjoy such delights of camerawork where directors, not under pressure to make commercially viable films, can explore freedom of experimentation, long-shots, close-focus, shallow depth of field. Lingering shots of people sitting, often turning moving pictures into still-shots and works of visual art. Shooting a scene from another room, as a voyeur, creating atmosphere by use of interesting lighting and shadow, often here near-noir. The music leaps between folk, classical, solo piano, jazz and rock'n'roll. All marking time and place. It's all so refreshing and wonderful to consume. The film is a delight and it's no wonder that it's won, and is up for, awards aplenty.

At its root, the film is a love story. A love story about two people mad for each other. Soul mates, but also, for whom, when they try to settle into a framework of ordinary relationships and living situations, it falls apart. The passion is fired by turbulence and the magic between the two leads has to have that for it to work. Ordinary is not good enough. It's therefore also a story about freedom and tethering, expectations of society and kicking against the pricks. It's also sad in places when we so want it to work for them, but it can't. It's about loss and purpose, fame and values. As with all good filmmaking, you will interpret what you see and hear and decide for yourself what your personal take-away is. Fabulous film and a delight to watch more than once.

In Bruges

I'm not sure how I've failed to see this excellent film for over a decade, but I have! This 2008 creation by writer, producer, director Martin McDonagh (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Seven Psychopaths) is an overlooked peach of a film.

Colin Farrell (The Lobster, Phone Booth, Minority Report) and Brendan Gleeson (Braveheart, Mission: Impossible II, The Treaty) play two hitmen who, at the outset of the film arrive in Bruges. They have been sent there by their boss but are not really sure why, except to lie low and let the dust settle after a recent hit went wrong! Gleeson's character Ken is the more senior of the two and is happy to trust that they will be told all in good time and until then, to sit tight.

The younger character Ray, played by Farrell, is impatient and can't abide the thought of sitting there, for what turns out to be 2 weeks, for what appears to be, no reason. Ken tries to engage Ray in enjoying the historic sights and delights of the city, but Ray is not interested, more keen to pick up the local talent and get wasted.

As more of the background opens up, it's clear that all is not what it seems, the boss does indeed have a specific purpose for the two employees, but that it might not be quite what is expected. Ralph Fiennes (Red Dragon, Schindler's List, The English Patient) plays the cockney-confident boss initially from his home in London with mad menace. He portrays the principled but uncontrolled man who tears his hair out at the expense of all around him in order to manage the situation in Bruges and eventually ends up there too, trying to sort out the mess created by the two hitmen.

As you'd expect, Fiennes excels in the role, convincing and demonic in many ways, as always playing the bad guy with expert ease. But this film is much more about the two hitmen reaching crossroads' in their lives, taking stock, working out values and what's important in the scheme of things. As Ray is haunted by the outcome of the hit that went wrong, he takes centre stage at the expense of all around him. He's falling apart bit by bit, hating himself. The two actors play off each other beautifully, with genius timing, dialogue, juxtaposition and humour. Ken is portrayed as a thinking father-figure to Ray, which changes his world view, and he really wasn't expecting that when he arrived in the city.

The supporting actors around the main leads are interesting and well developed in their short screen time, especially the French actress Clémence Poésy (The Tunnel, Harry Potter) who plays the one-night-stand with a twist! The setting is mostly out in the medieval streets of Bruges (where there is also a film crew shooting, weaved into our tale) which forms a delightful backdrop to this story which leaps between comedy and character-study to gore and thriller. There are twists and turns as we go and the director keeps us on our toes as it unfolds.

It's an excellent film which you must see, if for nothing else, the central two roles as they delightfully command the screen and keep the viewer captivated. The coarse language is not for the lily-livered. Highly recommended.

Winter in Wartime (Oorlogswinter)

This Martin Koolhoven creation is a Dutch film based on the book of the same name by Jan Terlouw and true story of a group of people in a small town in Holland at the tail end of WWII, being occupied by Germany and surrounded by the snows of winter. It depicts the dreadful suffering that the local people endured at the hands of the occupying forces and how one family and teenage boy tried to make a stand.

Michiel was 14 and lived in a (relatively) privileged family in a small town in which his dad was the mayor. He was constantly irritated by his father's attitude towards the Germans in the town, his approach being passive, keeping as much peace as he could, pretending to get along with the Germans with rank, with a view to sitting out the war with as little pain for his townsfolk as possible. Michiel wanted to stand up against them, considering his dad a collaborator, and eventually got involved in a pocket of resistance activity, taking risks but feeling like he was doing something positive.

As the story unfolds, we discover that people are not all they seem, there are many divided loyalties apparent along with different views of how best to muddle through and make the best of the situation. An RAF pilot crash lands in the local woods and Michiel, through a series of cruel events, ends up having to manage the situation, using resourcefulness, tact and diplomacy, cunning and stealth, weaving in and out of the Germans on his bicycle, using his young age as a cloak. As he manages the situation he visibly grows from a boy into adulthood as responsibility for real people's lives lays heavy on his shoulders.

Martijn Lakemeier plays the lad in the film and does it excellently, portraying the dilemma facing everyone in the town and reflecting the angst and emotions involved as he worked out his own place in the proceedings. It has been made in Dutch, German and English so subtitles all round, most of the time. It's shot in a bleak manner reflecting the winter weather which almost feels like black and white, but making for an atmosphere which depicts the harrowing situation.

The cruelty of the invading forces is on show here which can sometimes make for difficult viewing, the film trying its best to appear realistic and factual rather than hiding the stark truth of what was going on and what the people had to deal with on an hourly basis. Like many WWII films, it's sobering and allows most of us who are too young to remember, to reflect on the difficulties and horror which was faced by those born at the wrong time.

The whole cast perform admirably, some of the photography depicting the landscape in the snow is quite beautifully executed (with minimal hand-held going on), the music supporting the film is well constructed and appropriate to the scenes and there is much attention to detail in the sets reflecting the time and place. It's not an easy watch, but a rewarding one. Well made, with a serious reflection of the history of Europe, ordinary people's roles, anger, courage and character. Do see it.

Songmics Office Chair

Office chairs is a topic we keep coming back to, which probably reflects the amount of time we all spend in them! I'm a big bloke, weighty, and none of these little 'operator' or 'secretary' chairs are beefy enough for my weight. So the quest continued.

Apart from the weight factor, there's also the size. Try not to picture this in your head or you'll never get rid of it - but maybe Hattie Jacques sitting on the average office chair and how much of her would actually be 'on' the chair! Well, a bit extreme maybe, but you get the point. Some of us need a physically large pad to sit on as well as strength.

Enter the Songmics Office Chair from AmazonUK (https://goo.gl/a2ARDN) for anything from £70 to £150 depending on whether there's a 'q' in the month or not! It's a real beast of a chair, guaranteed for over 23 stones in weight, sizeable with comfy PU padding everywhere. Big 76" back with flip-up armrests with a lever for the usual 'stay in place' or 'recline'. Height can be set in a 10cm range and of course it is on wheels and swivels through 360 degrees.

Click through to the Amazon listing to see all the measurements and close-up pictures of the component parts, but it's certainly stood the test of The Salmon here! I got my first one last year and it's been great, and just bought another one for another location as it's been so good. You might be able to get a really cheap and cheerful Operator's Chair, but if it's for extended use and not for a child to use, you'll want something more comfy and stronger.

It comes in a box and you assemble it yourself of course, but armed with the supplied tools and kit (with plenty of spares - even two extra wheels!), it's much easier to do than some I've tried! You could easily pay £30-50 for a cheapo-special chair anyway, so if you wait for this one to drop to between £70-80, it's a much better option. Recommended.

Dimplex Electric Fan Heater

I never complain about the cold, or being cold. Only heat and being hot! However, even I have limits and this time of year when I'm down at my Static (out of season with water and boiler winterised) for any time checking or just hanging out for a change of scenery, it's very cold!

Enter the Dimplex DXFF20TSN Electric Flat Fan Heater scooped up from AmazonUK (https://goo.gl/hbgrbi) for £20. I chose this one over some of the other no-name brands which I could have got for about £13 based on the various reviews where people have had very poor quality control issues, including melting 3-pin plugs! I also chose this one as I realised that I had bought it before, down south, and remembered that it had been very efficient and reliable.

It's a simple thing really. A dial for on/off, half, full or cold power and another to adjust the degree of heat. It lays flat on the ground, which I think is safer than the ones which are tall and stand high. It's rated at 2000W so in round terms, I guess, on full power, drinks as much juice as a medium-sized kettle. It blows out an amazingly good flow of heat (or cold air) which warms up a medium-sized room in no time.

It's made of tough white plastic and feels very sturdy and has a carry-handle at the back. And that's about it really! Oh, and unlike some with very short cables, this one is about 2 yards long, so much better. Simple and efficient. Very efficient! Recommended.

Manchester by the Sea

Writer, Actor, Director Kenneth Lonergan (You Can Count on Me, Gangs of New York) brings us this ordinary tale of ordinary folk getting by, in the north of America. Nothing special there, but it's presented beautifully and offers us an excellent alternative to the usual crash, bang, wallop!

Our 30-something central character, Lee, lives a solitary life, getting by as a janitor in Boston, keeping himself to himself, but also kicking against the pricks and not taking what the establishment decides to dole out to him. He often gets into trouble because of attitude and all this points to something in his past that has made him depressed, as he engages with the futility of existence. Think Good Will Hunting.

One ordinary day, he's contacted by the folk in his hometown, Manchester (the one in America), to attend to his brother who appears to be on death's door. Before he gets there, his brother has died and has also left a will which lumbers Lee with the guardianship of his son. The son is a 16-year-old who's similarly-minded to Lee, remembering uncle Lee from his childhood, snatching what he can from life aggressively and engulfing whatever experiences he can grab.

The story then becomes a character study of Lee and an observational tool as the new responsibilities are either embraced or rejected by him. As the tale unfolds, we get to understand what the past was about and why he doesn't live in the town any longer. There is use of flashback, but not intrusively so and it's obvious when it's happening. No confusion from leaping around timelines willy-nilly. Audience empathy with his situation is encouraged by Lonergan by making sure that we stay with Lee most of the time and see his world from as close to inside his head as we can get.

It's a story of challenges for a simple soul who was trying to live a simple life with wife and kids, struck down by tragedy. It's often sad as we get inside the lives of those who have been subjected to the events. There's one short scene between Lee and his wife which, through harrowing emotion, demonstrates the quality and power of the acting - but never sinks into sentimentality. I think it's a shame that the relationship between the two was not written into the film more as that would have been as interesting as the central duo.

Lee is played by Casey Affleck (The Assassination of Jesse James, Gone, Baby Gone) and he does it to near perfection. He's convincing in every scene of the film and is able to bring across to the audience the emotions, plight and dilemma facing his character. The nephew is played annoyingly admirably by Lucas Hedges (Moonrise Kingdom, Lady Bird, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) and Lee's wife by Michelle Williams (Brokeback Mountain, Blue Valentine, My Week with Marilyn) who plays, as I said, a smaller, but noteworthy role. The main two leads are most enjoyable to watch and execute their talents with class. As they play off against each other, grappling for position, advantage, seeking truth, dealing with guilt, pain and desire. You can see that there's a chemistry between them and have both been chosen well.

There's some great camerawork on show here, especially in the scenes in which they head out onto the water in a boat, but also evident in ordinary scenes, interiors and round about the town. The music is sympathetic to the story, fits in nicely and the sets are mostly on location, which is atmospheric with much snow, rain and dour weather. This reflects the whole outing really - yes, a bit of a slow-burner with nods to european cinema - but this is real life. It turns out that it's a bit of a Marmite moment for many however, either love it or hate it, the film industry seemed to love it but many viewers just don't get it. That's sad for them as they are missing out on much.

Invero Cheese Grater

We spoke on Whatever Works some months ago now about cheese graters, and I don't think we ever did end up getting one, concluding it was easier, cheaper and less messy just buying grated cheese! However, we also concluded that buying grated cheese is very limiting in terms of the types of cheese available ready-grated.

Enter the Invero! This grater claims to be good for not only cheese, but also vegetables and fruit (I guess it would have to be hard fruit)! As for cheese, it works beautifully. The unit comes with 3 drums, each with a different grade of cutting holes, a bung for pressing down the cheese into the top chamber and a handle for turning the drum. The drums fit in easily and seem to be made well, of 'BPA-free food grade ABS' plastic and steel.

The whole unit is pretty well made, sturdy hard plastic, nice and big and brightly coloured. The rear of the unit has a lever which operates the vacuum sucker on the base and when on a firm, flat surface, it holds the unit down for ease of operation. It doesn't fly off the counter!

That's about it really. Simple tool, no electricity needed, washes up easily, stick the drums and plunger in a dishwasher if you're really lazy. As usual, there's a wild variation of reviews at AmazonUK but to me here, it seems here to be a very good buy at £15.