Top 10 Films of 2025 - Now With Explanations

I saw 14 films in the cinema in 2025. 

It was an odd year, because none of the 14 are actively bad. I would say 9-14 suffered from not doing anything interesting with their premises. I would actively recommend films 1-3 to everyone, 4-5 to some people and 6-8 if you're feeling in the mood for that particular genre of film. 

As usual, I am also naming a film I saw for the first time last year but that was not released in the last year. In May I was in Brussels for work and was lucky enough to meet up with nwhyte who blogs at From The Heart of Europe.  He recommended the Comic Art Museum (https://www.comicscenter.net/en/home), which was completely worth it. 

There I saw 'Gertie the Dinosaur'. I am linking to the Wikipedia page because there is a full-length version of it on there - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gertie_the_Dinosaur 

She's just so charmingly silly. 

For films released this year, I am applying my usual 4 criteria: 

a – did the film do what it set out to do? 

b – did it use its resources to its best ability? A £250,000 film is not going to have as good explosions as a £25,000,000 film, or it shouldn’t, and if it does, there’s something wrong with the £25,000,000 film. Basically, it's a technical merit score relative to budget. 

c – Intellectual satisfaction – does the film’s plot pull some really stupid move at the last moment? Does the plot rely on characters being more stupid than they are? 

d – Does this work as a whole? Did it work for me? I am aware that this is the most subjective of subjective criteria! 

(As a note, film 13 is that low down because I could see the leading actress's wig tape. You are a Hollywood film, you can afford someone to check that.) 

1 - Flow 

It's another one of Zilbalodis's nightmare Edens. And it's so good. It's horrific and beautiful and wonderful, and I nearly shouted "Capybara, get out of there" twice in the cinema. 

2 - Mickey 17 

I want to put a content warning on this - it is disgusting and horrid in parts. It needs to be for the story to work. 

It is a satire on modern consumerism and politics and rather obvious - we are in a time that requires obvious. On the other hand, it has the Creepers, Nasha and young Pattinson once again showing that he can act. 

3 - Superman 

You want to know when I fell for this version of Superman? Because I can tell you. "He's not even a good dog, but he's out there alone and he's probably scared." 

That's my vision of Superman too. 

I was always going to enjoy it because James Gunn writes stories that work for me but I didn't expect to enjoy it so much. I enjoyed liking Superman and Lois, and Perry. I did not expect to love Mr. Terrific as much as I did. 

4 - F1 

I am the target audience for this. And I loved it. I suspect that if you were not the target audience, you would find this was insipid. 

On the other hand, being an F1 nerd means I spotted all the things they got wrong. Like every single one of the stunts Sonny Hayes pulls is already against the rules, and in at least two cases, I watched the race where the rule was created. 

5 - Roofman 

I saw Roofman with D. It is not the heavy-on-the-comedy comedy drama the adverts promised. It is much better. It's about a weak man, trying to do his best, in a less than ideal world. Channing Tatum is very good in it. Kirsten Dunst is even better. 

6 - Nosferatu 

Not even kidding when I said this was the most frustrating film in 2025. 

The music, scenery, cinematography and Aaron Taylor Johnson are all outstanding. 

The script, the leads, and the use of both sinister Gypsies and fridged women in the year of our Lord 2025 are not. 

The direction seems to think there are five different films. They do not interlock well. 

7 - Predator: Badlands 

Not quite sure what to feel about Predator being an action comedy rather than a horror. But it was enjoyable fighting and explosions nonsense when I needed it. 

There's a lot to be said about how it explicitly positions the androids as robots not their own beings despite Thia and Tessa. Then again, I was worried about Bud so I think the film did what it intended to. Plus, you know, the universal truth - mothers are worse! 

8 - The Phoenician Scheme 

Arguments can be made that this ought to be a couple of positions higher, but I don't think a series of really nicely mounted set pieces can count as a good film, and it does coast on Mia Threapleton, Michael Cera and Benicio Del Toro's charisma and talent. 

9 - Thunderbolts/New Avengers 

Am I being a bit mean, given I liked it? Possibly. Am I marking it down because I was once again Kurylenko-blocked by a Marvel film? Yes. 

On the other hand, this was very much like rice cakes. I like rice cakes. They fill a gap. But they're not the basis of a solid diet. 

10 - Mission Impossible: Final Reckoning 

Not its fault that it didn't live up to Dead Reckoning. But it really didn't. And one glorious returning character does not make up for that.

Formula 1 2025 - Turnip or Triumph

2025 was a mixed year for F1. 

The drivers title was close, the constructors was not. There was some racing, even between the title contenders, but most races weren't close. There were some excellent results (podiums for Hulkenberg, Sainz, Antonelli and Hadjar) and some appalling ones (Ferrari, repeatedly Ferrari). 

In my 2025 F1 round up, I thought I'd highlight three triumphs and three utter disasters from the year. 

I will begin with the triumphs. 

   

Max Verstappen - His driving this season will gain him more kudos than the driving in at least two of his World Title winning seasons. 

Whoever designed that McLaren - Zak Brown has been curiously reluctant to mention Rob Marshall and Neil Houldey when talking about the car so I felt they deserved some praise now that I've found their names. The car won the Constructors title with 6 races (and 3 sprint races) to go. That's good work. And they did it without any flagrant, 'all-our-competitors-have-complained', engineering widgets. 

Isack Hadjar - After a deeply unpromising start at the Australian Grand Prix (Did Not Start due to accident on formation lap), he ended up being second best of the rookies, despite being in Red Bull Scuderia B. Red Bull main had better not mess him up next year. 

I am also going to give a bonus triumph here, please imagine a laurel wreath with a little heart on it, to Anthony Hamilton for supporting Hadjar when his own team didn't. While maybe basic human decency should be the minimum expected, in a world sadly short of it sometimes, it should be celebrated. 

Now to the turnips - the actively bad things about this season:

   

That Ferrari: I do actually like the noble turnip as a vegetable but I have no better way of describing that car. It is appalling. It is beneath Ferrari as a team and has broken the spirit of two drivers who deserve better. 

Helmut Marko: For providing zero meaningful support for drivers for either team whose surname was not Verstappen. Your comments, particularly about Hadjar, were unhelpful. 

Alpine in general: The car was horrid, but that isn't why they're here. Gasly mostly learnt to manage the car by the end of the season. Colapinto didn't. 

Given that poor Jack Doohan got replaced after 6 races for getting nowhere with the car, I remain confused why Colapinto didn't, unless it was the money from his sponsors and the patronage of Flavio Briatore. 

Briatore himself earns the poison turnip - dear F1, I love you. I love you because of your engineers who have never found a rule they didn't try to find a loophole in, your drivers and your unceasing nonsense. Why have you let Briatore back in? He doesn't deserve it. 

(All pictures come from OpenClipart-Vectors at Pixabay. The turnip is from here OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay and the laurel wreath is from here OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay)

Saints Ahoy - Game 30, 2024 season round up and an overall summary of the whole project

Game 30 itself: 

Saints, despite having a pretty pants season overall, still reached the 2024 playoffs. 

And somehow only lost by one point, in golden point extra time, to a Warrington team who'd had a pretty solid season overall. A Warrington team we'd lost to twice, 10-24 and 16-2 (or a combined score of 12-40) 

Full match report here: https://www.saintsrlfc.com/2024/09/28/spirited-saints-beaten-in-golden-point/ 

Going through the data visualisation for this game, the 30th and last game of the season. 

There were 7 point scoring moments for Saints. 

Who scored for Saints in Game 30?  

There is something very apt about there being a Tommy Makinson special in his last game for Saints. 

How many point-scoring moments the players were present for?  

Which Saints players are together when Saints score? Only 10 players are on the network graph.  

The 10 players are the ones in the dark purple patch in the matrix graph. 

Looking at which players were present when Saints conceded: 

There were 8 point-conceding moments.  

The who is present when Saints concede matrix does the same thing that the scoring matrix does, where it doesn't put all the players in the same colour together. There are only 9 players on the concession network graph. Rounding up the whole season 

There were 210 point-scoring moments scored and 148 point-scoring moments conceded 

When do Saints score: Unsurprisingly, Percival is way in the lead, because as well as scoring tries, he's also Saints's kicker. That's also, I think, why Bennison is that high, because he also kicks when Percival can't. 

Who is present when Saints score?  

It is clear that there's the very often present, then a chunk of often present, followed by the injured and their replacements. 

An interesting visualisation I haven't shared before, because I wasn't quite sure what it added, but I'm sharing now because as an end of season piece is when players are present at point-scoring moments.  

I'm not quite sure how to interpret it, but it's interesting that the graph shapes can almost be grouped into clusters. The clusters aren't based on position, or anything obvious like that. 

Looking at the which players are together when Saints score matrix at the end of the year. 

Following game 30, the shape has changed significantly. Where previously it had gone (radiating up from the bottom right) darkest, most often together area, then paler and paler as you move up or to the left, now there's a medium dark border at the upper left as well. This cluster has to be players who play together often when Saints score, but not as often with the darkest bottom right cluster.  

I know that Knowles, Bennison and Batchelor all had either injuries, suspensions or are first reserve, which means it makes some sort of sense, but it's interesting that the pattern has only come out right at the end of the season. 

The equivalent network graph looks like this: Looking at points conceded, this is when Saints concede.  

There is no obvious pattern. 

Who is present when Saints concede?  

Here is the shape of when the players were present when Saints conceded.  

There is less of a pattern than in the equivalent figure for when players were present when Saints scored. 

This is what the matrix for who is present when Saints concede.  

The edges between the different areas of "played together" have got a lot fuzzier in this one over time. It still looks very much like the top left quarter of a mosaic of the sun. Interestingly, the "dark top and left border" that the "point-scoring moments" equivalent developed is not present here. 

The equivalent network graph looks like this: Comparing players's position on the "present when Saints score" vs their position on the "present when Saints concede" graphs - in a purely ranking based analysis not the number they were present for, there's some interesting numbers. 

The players with the greatest difference between present when Saints score vs when they concede are: Hurrell and Percival were present for relatively fewer concession moments than scoring moments. Whitley and Delaney were present for relatively fewer scoring moments than concession moments. 

I am sure that's skewed slightly but interesting none the less. 

2024 Summary: 

I think, taking 2024 and 2025 into consideration, as a Saints fan I have to accept that this is one of the rough (ish) parts we take with the smooth. For whatever reason, Saints have not been playing like themselves (except in fits and starts like *that* try against Leeds in the playoffs in 2025 - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/articles/cn95qgeyn3lo). 

Lack of results for Saints always worries me. Now with the IMG rankings nonsense (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMG_Grading_for_the_British_Rugby_Football_League), it worries me more, because Saints's supporter base is never going to be huge because of the size of the town. There's us, and Wigan, Leigh, Warrington and Widnes within a 40 minute driver and Oldham and Salford not much further out, so limited chance for expansion. So our "fandom" (yuck!) score will always have a ceiling, as will our ability to diversify our income streams, while the thing Saints the club do well (community work) counts for the least. We need to do well to maintain our ranking. 

As always, I am pleased to see Saints bring on young players, for instance Harry Robertson who got his debut in the 2024 away match against Wigan has gone on to be the Super League Young Player of the year in 2025. 

I am very sad about some of the players who left at the end of 2024, even if it made sense for people at their various stages of life - https://www.seriousaboutrl.com/st-helens-confirm-seven-player-exits-with-one-major-name-omitted-from-list-97627/ 

What did I get from the season-long data visualisation project? 

Not what I expected, which is a good reason to have done the project. 

I was expecting a clearer separation between the players who were played often and those who weren't, because if you asked me as an external viewer I know who I would have put in each of those groups.  The data tells me I was wrong on my placement. 

In terms of point-scoring, it highlighted the people I expected, and how high Bennison is really highlights the importance of conversion kicking. 

I was hoping to see a pattern in when players played e.g. these two are our props for minutes 0-20, 21-40, 41-60 and 61-80, but that didn't happen, even before the injury disasters. 

I did see how important the non-first team players are to covering for those injuries because you could see players moving in and out of the network graphs over the course of the season. 

Experiment definitely worth doing. 

If you have enjoyed reading these, the following charities are definitely worth contributing to: 

The Steve Prescott Foundation - https://www.steveprescottfoundation.co.uk/ 

Motor Neurone Disease Foundation - https://www.mndassociation.org/get-involved/donations/rob-burrow

Top 10 Films of 2025

 My usual end of the year list of the top 10 films. Explanations coming in a week.

1 - Flow

2 - Mickey 17

3 - Superman

4 - F1

5 - Roofman

6 - Nosferatu - I don't normally put any explanations in this version of the post but this was the most frustrating film of the year. It has literally been every position on this list from 2 to 8 depending on how I feel on the day. It may move before next week. It may move before the next hour.

7 - Predator: Badlands

8 - The Phoenician Scheme

9 - Thunderbolts/New Avengers

10 - Mission Impossible: Final Reckoning

Formula 1 2025 - Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

 Part of everyone's suspicion of how neatly everything came together for a finale at Abu Dhabi is they have paid for the final race, presumably in the hope of getting excitement.

And this year they still didn't get it.

They did get tension.

A horrible building tension, with a lot of "are the McLaren strategy team going to screw this up?"

Spoiler - they didn't.

Which makes me, if not happy, relieved.

Obviously, I wanted Ferrari to win, but that went out of the window early on.

After that, I don't really mind. None of the drivers I actively cheer for had any chance so I was neutral for the finale, which is a very odd sort of feeling.

If we're talking about which of the final three I think is the best driver - that's Verstappen. This title does not change that.

At the same time, I was relieved, because I feel there would have been actual and lasting psychic damage to the McLaren team if one of them hadn't won. As to which driver, I'm papaya-neutral.

L is very happy because Norris was his favourites of the wave of rookies Norris was in (mine is Russell. It remains the right choice.).

A Data Visualiser's Lament - World Cup 2026 version

While there are many good reasons to be happy about the expansion to 48 teams (say hello to Curacao, Jordan, Cape Verde and Uzbekistan) and reasons to be unhappy about it (they have blatantly made it easier for the big teams to qualify, only Italian [hand gestures] has prevented all the big teams already being in), I fear I may have the most pathetic reason for objecting.

Bother, I have to put 48 x 26 players into my Gephi chart by hand.

I suspect my diagrams will be late.

There must be a way to do it automatically, but I have not found it yet. 

James Ashford wrote a really nice post on how to do all of this with Python - https://james.ashford.phd/2023/08/25/analysing-the-2023-fifa-womens-world-cup-with-graph-theory/ and I swear I will learn Python at some point.

Formula 1 2025 - Qatar Grand Prix

 I'm going to start with a complaint about the Lusail circuit. It's a perfectly fine, and indeed occasionally excellent, MotoGP track. Because the bikes are narrower so you can race. The F1 cars are broad, and the track is so narrow they can't overtake each other even with the DRS button. A piece of technology whose only purpose is to allow overtaking does not work at this track - for goodness sakes, even Monaco, king of the moving traffic jam races, is wide enough for DRS to do its joy-ruining thing.

So there's a race with no overtaking, even with the magic over-taking button, and then they've removed some of the strategy wiggle room and deviousness by mandating two pit stops and twenty-five lap maximum tyre strategies.

I cut Pirelli some slack because they have to make the tyres to the FIA's specifications, but given those specs, why are they racing somewhere that they know kills the tyres?

The start was the last time the race was interesting, and Norris not fighting Verstappen was the sensible thing to do.

I'm not going to say McLaren made the wrong strategy call because, if it had worked out, they would have been geniuses, and it could have worked. The F1 coverage always gives the percentage change of there being a safety car, but not the chance of their being multiple safety cars. However, choosing not to pit was always a bit of an odd choice on a track where track position is king.

There were a few cars that broke at the end, but none of them broke in a way that required a safety car. I did feel most sorry for Gasly, who performed heroics in the qualifying, only for the car to break out from under him at the beginning of the race and then he had to nurse the car round for the rest of it.

Sainz jnr's car deciding to try to break right at the end gave me coniptions. So glad he made it to the end in one piece. I am enjoying telling people "I told you he was good".

Another note - is it me or are more teams screwing up their drivers's 5 second penalties? I swear this was the second time that's happened to Ocon this season!

End note: I am aware I am supposed to be a Ferrari-focussed blogger, but my team depress me (I recognise, with my soul, the noise the "Cleveland Browns" fan makes from 2.26-2.32 in this video - https://youtu.be/SFCPNT7FafI?si=0dVDR_Y6_CAP_xsF).

Formula 1 2025 - Las Vegas Grand Prix

I mean, it's the Las Vegas Grand Prix, was anyone expecting any decent racing? It's a race where the interest is always the externalities, and often the manhole covers (again). (And separately, the US circuits as a whole, but Vegas in particular, really need to improve their procedures for letting marshals on the race track and bits of bodywork on track.) 

Other than Antonelli doing an excellent defensive job to protect Russell who was nursing a sickly car, all the interesting stuff happened after the race. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, and I just accepted it when this happened to Ferrari earlier in the season, but it's awfully convenient that the disqualification of both McLarens almost makes a last race decider inevitable.

Formula 1 2025 - Sao Paulo Grand Prix

I wrote this last week, I thought I'd posted it. Obviously not. Apologies for the delay.

Poor Bortoleto, done over by the home driver curse. Twice!!!

Sometimes, I hate being a Ferrari fan - why are my drivers being caught up in other people's chaos?!!! This has done terrible things to our Constructor's championship standing.

I am not blaming Antonelli for the crash, much though commentary wants me to.

McLaren did some weird things with the tyre strategy - I understand Piastri's doubts, and I still don't understand their plan for Norris. I know he won by miles but I just don't understand it. On the other hand, given Red Bull had a much shorter stint on the medium tyres than expected - did that medium tyre just not hold up as well as expected?

Red Bull's performance as a whole was odd. Verstappen seems to be doing well despite the car and the team, certainly his performances this year are more impressive than some of his all-conquering races.

But they really stuffed up Tsunoda's race. Screwing up a 10 second stop go penalty is not something I'd expect Red Bull to do.

Oli, Oli, Oli, oi oi oi. Dear Ferrari, when you call Bearman up, do not ruin this child!

I'm also very impressed with Gasly. Who is definitely doing things despite the team.

Budapest at Night

Some pre-COVID years ago, I was lucky enough to travel to Budapest with work. 

It started off well because there was a very pretty train on the other platform at Birmingham International.

   

Sorry, I'm a 3rd gen train weirdo. Like all airports, there's different flight paths into Budapest and we were lucky enough to be on the one that takes you along the Danube. Absolutely amazing. The people I was working with were kind enough to give us a very quick tour of central Budapest. Here are some highlights.

   

This is where I hit a small problem. If I am not thinking straight it's the Kettenbrücke, I am aware in English it's the Chain Bridge and I need to copy and paste from Wikipedia to get the accent right on Lánchíd. The names will be used interchangeably. 

We walked past the Parliament building.

    

 

 

Hopefully the photos get across just how big the parliament is. 

Then we walked through the park to St. Stephen's Basilica.

  When we were there, there was an memorial to the 1956 Uprising - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungarian_Revolution_of_1956 

View of Budapest Castle from the other side of the river.  

We were taken to Pater Marcus - https://www.patermarcus.hu/ - which has delicious food. And drink. But especially the food. 

 

And then, back over the bridge to the hotel.

Formula 1 2025 - Mexico City Grand Prix

Most important thing first - there was actual racing! At the Mexican Grand Prix! For the last couple of years, I've said it was really unfair that the marvellously loud fans in Mexico didn't get a decent race. But this year they did. 

Okay if we ignore that the leader finished almost a pitstop ahead of everyone else. 

But there was racing everywhere else, even if that was partly due to tyre life offsets. 

It was a proper, "I can't tell if God is a Ferrari fan, or if he hates us," race, because on the one hand, a driver getting a 10 second penalty for doing what three other drivers did when none of the others got penalised, on the other, the only thing that stopped Verstappen overtaken Leclerc was a virtual safety car. 

It was most definitely not Carlos Sainz jnr's race. There has to be a way for a team to say "listen, our pit limiter is doing stupid things." Then again, they'd all use it to cheat ... 

Not quite sure why the crowd were booing Norris. It's strikes as pointless. He is too inoffensive to hate properly. He's not Lorenzo. (Sorry, but Jorge Lorenzo enjoyed being booed and that made it fun. [Also, because I enjoy pain, I was a Pedrosa fan.]) 

If they'd chosen to boo Russell after all that radio whinging, I could live with it. Normally I like you, George, but that was unnecessary. But at least he gave the place back to Antonelli without complaint. 

BBC commentary have reverted to Sam Bird from Damon Hill. This is most definitely not a good thing. Bird is so risk averse, it may explain why he hasn't won anything!!! 

The second most important thing was, of course, Ferrari junior driver Oli Bearman getting 4th in a Haas. Or am I fixating on the wrong part of that ;) 

Understandably, everyone is focussing on the OMG! there's only one point in the Driver's championship, but the Constructor's championship is also squeakily close in points.  

Okay, not the top, because McLaren have already won it, but there's 1 point between second and third, 10 points between second and fourth, and further down, there's 9 points separating seventh, eighth and ninth. How many millions per point down there!!!

Formula 1 2025 - United States Grand Prix

The racing at the Grand Prix supports my belief that the US Grand Prix is the best of the US races.

Is it also the only one on a purpose-built track? Yes.

Do I think there's a correlation there? Yes!

The DRS button still kills joy, but hey at least Ferrari came up with a strategy that got one of the cars into the mix to be overtaken by DRS rather than skill.

(Yes, I am bitter)

Leclerc did some excellent defensive driving, and totally deserved driver of the day.

While I understand why the press are focussing on the remarkable gains Verstappen has made in the last couple of races, I'm not sure it's as bad for Piastri as they are painting it. At a circuit that he just did not gel with, he still got 10 points. It's vanishingly unlikely that the rest of the races are going to be that bad for him.

Book Review - The Periodic Table: A Field Guide to the Elements by Gail Dixon and Paul Parsons

 The only reason this isn't 5 stars is entirely a me-problem, and I'm trying to be reasonable.

I wanted more science to go along with the pictures.  A couple of elements had two pages of text and I think I would have liked more elements to have got that.

The pictures are amazing and I really like the inclusion of the crystal structure space for each of the solid elements.

LibraryThing Suggestions

1 - Periodic Tales: A Cultural History of the Elements, from Arsenic to Zinc by Hugh Aldersey-Williams

2 - Science in Seconds: 200 Key Concepts Explained in an Instant (Knowledge in a Flash) by Hazel Muir

3 - Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood by Oliver Sacks

4 - The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe by Theodore W. Gray

5 - Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe by Simon Singh

6 - The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements by Sam Kean

7 - The Planets by Brian Cox

8 - Seven Elements that Changed the World: An Adventure of Ingenuity and Discovery by John Browne

9 - Stars and Planets by Jay M. Pasachoff

10 - The Secret Life of the Periodic Table by Ben Still

Not read any of them, but I want to.

Film review - Gemini Man

A mid-level spy film, an interesting sci-fi film and a mediocre action film had a baby.

As did Superman and Lex Luthor.

No, really.

It's a frustrating film because it comes so close to being better but it's also solid for what it is.

You have the conflicted agent working against a conspiracy - and Will Smith can do that easily (and does).

You've got the international espionage angle - it works.

You've got the everyday setting film that turns out to be sci fi and I like that style of sci fi.

I'm going to go through the three films that don't quite mesh together in increasing order of goodness.

Let's begin with the action film part, which is the bit that doesn't really work. I can understand a director choosing this film to try new technology, and unlike say, Cats, where you're there going 'why are you using tech that isn't quite there yet for an adaptation of this beloved piece from another medium?', this at least uses the tech that isn't quite there yet for an original story so the high frame rate not quite working doesn't ruin anything.

Why am I putting the technical detail in the action film section? Because it was in the action scenes where I noticed it. If I notice you are doing something technically different, my escape into the film is damaged.

I understand that, for the film to work (and probably to get the budget to make it), it needed action scenes. But they don't work and there's too much time spent on them, which means that some of the quieter character scenes that the film needs either aren't there, or are too short.

The middling spy film - it does what a lot of Hollywood films do. Get a bunch of British actors to play morally grey. They're cheap and they can do American accents. I'm fine with this, it gives Benedict Wong and Ralph Brown money. All good.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead is stuck with the most obvious "oh hell, we haven't got a single woman in this film, stick one in" role I have seen for some time. She does very well in a horribly under-written role. I am not exaggerating about how obviously Zakarewski was added in to give the film a female character. There's one scene where she's being searched for bugs, and the way it is shot is totally just an excuse to get Mary Elizabeth Winstead in her underwear. It would have been filmed completely differently if the character had been male and it's so frustrating. I had hoped we'd moved beyond that.

There's travel and subterfuge in Budapest and you know what, it's middling.

The science fiction bit is the bit that works the best. I think it is, at least in part, because they don't try and explain the how, and just go with the why. Clive Owen is very good in his short screen time, because you can understand a younger Verris meeting Henry Brogan for the first time and seeing his belief that you can bend someone to being a superman by how you bring them up supported by evidence, and how he moved from that to cloning and every idea he's had since. (It's very Lex Luthor and Superman and Superboy/Kon-El)

And of course it ends up in child soldiers, because children are more malleable and aren't as aware of right and wrong, and isn't interesting the Verris starts to turn against Junior when he becomes old enough to develop his own set of ideals.

Junior is why the film has to use the fancy special effects and Will Smith is an excellent choice because the animators have lots of footage of a younger him to help mould how Junior looks. Will Smith is an excellent choice anyway because he sells Junior as well as Henry Brogan - he plays them differently enough that you could probably pick them apart even without the special effects. And the scene where he talks about his father!!! (Plus, as I said, the way it's obviously that story that made Verris choose him as the DNA donor for Junior.)

When the film does slow down for the emotional scenes, it works well. I almost want Ang Lee to have the chance to re-do it and pace it more like the original Day of the Jackal. Or make it a mini-series. There's so much potential in this that they can't get into because of time constraints.

It's not a good film, don't get me wrong, the bits don't fit together and its under-written, but there's potential there.

Formula 1 2025 - Singapore Grand Prix

 I actually managed to watch about half of this live. Right to the point where someone said, "this race is boring, let's go walk the dog." In fairness, the dog walk was more interesting than the race.

I then saw the end on Sky but also listened to the whole thing afterwards on BBC Sounds. It's really interesting that Sky F1 didn't fall for "pit to beat Verstappen" gambit but Sam Bird on BBC did (Harry Benjamin didn't).

Alonso has previous in the "whinging because he can't get past people" stakes - see Petrov. I am so very much team Hadjar anyway, and always team "anything that annoys Alonso" so I am on Hadjar's side in this.

Someone tell Sam Bird that I go off people quickly, particularly when you are mean to Tsunoda.

I do not blame Leclerc going off on one. Please can we get him a car that works. And Hamilton a car that actually, you know, brakes when he presses the brake.

McLaren section:
Crashing into a teammate is never good, nor is losing an end plate, but given the lack of overtaking opportunities at Singapore, it's not a bad place to do it.

Hey! for once McLaren's pit gremlins happened to Piastri

I'm not surprised that it's getting tasty down in McLaren-land because fighting for the title made Rubens Barrichello, the nicest man in motorsport (TM), angry, of course there will be McLaren on McLaren violence.

Saints Ahoy - Game 29 and the 2024 Season to Date

Yes, I am writing this post to try and distract myself from their match against Hull KR in the 2025 play-offs. (No, I have no idea how we got past Leeds.) 

This game, the last of the 2024 regular season, was a narrow loss to Leigh (https://www.saintsrlfc.com/2024/09/20/saints-suffer-narrow-defeat-to-leigh/), 18-12. Now we had a try chalked off, but Leigh were the better team for the whole game and all of Saints actual points were scored in the 10 minutes that Leigh were down to 12 men because of yellow card to Leutele for attempted Welsby murder. 

Because it was all in that 10 minutes, the "who played together when Saints scored" matrix chart is ... uninformative.  

So, instead, let's look at the season up to the end of game 29. 

When do Saints score?  

Who scores for Saints?  

Who is present when Saints score?  

Saints reached the 200 point scoring moments in this game (vs 160 point-conceding moments), so it's a good time to see if there's any players present for more point-scoring moments than point-conceding moments (or vice versa). Percival is one of the players with the greatest differences, he is present for a lot fewer point-conceding moments, but that is because he got substituted at around minute 50. Hurrell and Dodd are also present for relatively fewer point-conceding moments. 

Delaney is the player present for relatively more point-conceding moments, as does Whitley. That I can't explain. There's two clear teams, the most often together (a full match day 17 - Welsby, Blake, Whitley, Bennison, Batchelor, Dodd, Percival, Bell, Hurrell, Mata'utia, Sironen, Lomax, Mbye, Clark, Makinson, Delaney and Lees) and the less often together (12 - Royle, Whitby, Vaughan, Wingfield, Walmsley, Robertson, Burns, Paasi, Knowles, Davies, Stephens and Ritson). 

Oddly, only 10 players are not in the central blob, when you look at the network graph. Looking the point-conceding moments 

This was the third time Saints and Leigh played this season. Leigh 3 are about mid-way up the chart.  

When do the point-conceding moments occur?  

That these aren't in a normal curve makes me happier that the point-scoring moments truly are normally distributed rather than it being some artefact. 

Who is present when Saints concede?  

The who is present together when Saints concede matrix now looks like this:  

The equivalent network graph looks like this Again, the matrix and the network graph don't quite match.

Formula 1 2025 - Azerbaijan Grand Prix

 Sadly I missed the live Baku Chaos Bonanza because I was hitting people with swords.

As the BBC radio commentators said, it's an odd race where there's either chaos in qualifying or the race, never both and this was a year where it was all in the qualifying - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/articles/c5yv3y3q8dvo

The race itself was dull, and the only good news was the Sainz jnr podium. But that was very good news.

It's interesting that there was another poor (re)start from Norris. At some point, they're going to have to do something about that. Matters were not helped by him yet again being the victim of a McLaren pitstop going wrong.

The only comment I have about Ferrari is that someone needs to tell them that 3rd in Constructors is not good enough.

Then, of course, there's that titillating possibility that this is the second race in a Verstappen come back. If Verstappen wins the title this year ...

Film Review - Big Trouble in Little China

 Spoilers below

Another Mockingbird Cinema (https://mockingbirdcinema.com/MockingbirdCinema.dll/Home) special.

I went with D. When we go to the cinema, we aim for silly films. Big Trouble in Little China definitely brings that.

It's dashed hard to write about because it's such a delightful confection. You don't want to press too hard in case it breaks the spell. While I understand people who go "you can't want films to make sense and love Big Trouble in Little China" but within itself, it's consistent and makes sense. That's all I ask for.

'Big Trouble in Little China' also does something clever, with a lead character who is so totally not the hero. It's not that Jack Burton doesn't try, or isn't brave, but that man is not the hero. (By the by, Wang Chi is a most excellent fiancé and were I to be kidnapped by ancient incorporeal wizards, I would like to be rescued by him)

A lot of films would tweak that start to make Jack Burton be the big damn hero at the end, but this doesn't. One knife throw aside, he spends the end fight unable to help.

He's also an excellent character to explain the plot to because he's an outsider so there's very little "as you know, Bob" going on, because Jack knows Jack.

It's a little gem of a film and I recommend seeing it if you get the chance.

Formula 1 2025 - Italian Grand Prix

Power units and other disasters 

We're starting to reach the power unit grid penalty part of the season, with various drivers sent to the back of the grid. I am wondering if whatever happened to Hulkenberg's car was also a part reaching its limit. 

There was actual racing 

But it was noticeable that most of the racing occurred before the DRS buttons were turned on. Maybe they'll get rid of them. (The DRS button continues to kill joy.) 

Red Bull 

Verstappen's performance in front adds evidence to the theory that this car was designed with the assumption it would be at the front, and it can't handle not being there. 

Aston Martin 

That muttering sound really is Alonso saying "next year I will have a Newey car so I will put up with this nonsense". 

Ferrari 

Every single race there's a mid-race disagreement between the drivers and the pit wall. Do they not have pre-race meetings?! Do the drivers not listen?! Do the team lie to them?! 

McLaren 

Loving Jenny Gow's simile - "the McLaren mechanics are walking around like expectant fathers." 

Other than Norris apparently being cursed (seriously, why do the pit stop problems always happen to him), I am not sure what else McLaren could have done. It was a problem the team created. Sure, racing is racing, but an unholy mechanical error isn't racing, and a swap seems only fair. 

Verstappen trolling does not help anything or anyone. Ever!

Formula 1 2025 - Dutch Grand Prix - A delayed accidental live blog experiment

For reasons, I couldn't watch the Grand Prix live, and some how remained unspoiled other than something happened to Norris, something happened to both Ferraris and good things happened for Hadjar. (Same reason is likely to prevent me watching the Italian Grand Prix live.) 

Therefore, you will be getting my delayed thoughts as I finally get to listen to it. Before the start: of course Red Bull are trying something tricksy with tyres. 

Lap 1 - Norris's starts have happened again 

Lap 9 - We have racing and overtaking!!!! Although I am intrigued by BBC radio saying Norris has more racing ability than Piastri. I want to know what evidence they are basing this on. I know they're the British Broadcasting Corporation but still .... 

Lap 12 - I like how Abi Pulling explains why the tyres are affected by the corners 

Lap 13 - Happy 19th Kimi (the younger) 

Lap 17 - ah, high tech F1, where the team principals still stick their arms out to check how heavy the rain is. 

Lap 19 - rain starting, cold temperature, of course Alonso goes onto hards. (I know, that's what he's got to switch to but ...) Why are they all switching to hards in these conditions?!!!! 

Lap 22 - Ah, the great Ferrari driver vs his own strategy team mid-race argument occurs. Truly, my favourite part of the race. (Level of sarcasm, high) 

Lap 23 - oh, how I hate being a Ferrari fan! (The double stack was what I expected McLaren to do from when they asked Norris to get closer. Given the effect of dirty air is that much worse at Zandvoort, it's the only reason you'd want them to get closer). Once again, the pitstop gremlins have hit Norris. How are the safety cars always just at the wrong point for Leclerc? Do Ferrari need to perform some sort of arcane ritual to stop this happening?! 

Lap 25ish - Norris, you're a whinge-pot. Stop whining at your race engineer.

Lap 31 - George, stop being a snitch! 

Lap 33 - Because I knew something terrible will happen to Leclerc (but not what and when) I spent most of him vs Russell racing on lap 33 wincing. 

Lap 34 - obvs. watching via radio, but if that incident was anything like how the radio described it, why did Sainz jnr get the penalty? 

Lap 38 - Again, thanks to Abi Pulling for the explanation of the Alonso outburst. I believe the sound we're not quite hearing is Alonso muttering "next year I have a Newey car" under his breath. 

Roughly lap 47, definitely in the mid-race doldrums - interview with Hamilton where he says that he had no problem with Ferrari's strategy. I mean, bless him for trying to hide that. 

Lap 54 - What do you mean it wasn't even Leclerc's own accident?!!! What is it with this race's Mercedes on Ferrari violence?!! Separately, Norris's rear left exchange goes wrong at the pitstop. And further Ferrari tyre/strategy complaints from the drivers. Which given that he's already out ... what is that supposed to achieve Charles? 

Lap 55 - Unexpected potential points for Sauber! 

Lap 56 - Further evidence for my theory that that second Red Bull is cursed. 

Lap 60 - It never rains but it pours for Antonelli. On the other hand, if you hire rookies, you have to expect and tolerate a certain amount of mistakes. (Looking at you Alpine, looking at you so hard) 

Lap 66 - Engine failure. An engine failure got Norris!!!! When was the last time a McLaren had an engine go boom?! (Updated - oil leak, my apologies to the engine) 

Lap 67 - Interesting stat, Hadjar would be the first French driver to get a podium since Grosjean! 

Lap 72 - Bearman! In the points!! In sixth!!! And Ocon! Double points for Haas!! 

Post race comments: 

Ferrari: Given I was expecting it to have been Ferrari happening to themselves, I was actually alright with there being two accidents. Leclerc was being either really nice about the incident, or Ferrari have finally broken him. 

Hadjar: Is the reason I like Hadjar at least 3/4 because he has equations on his helmet.  

Given how terribly badly parts of Red Bull main treated him after the Australian Grand Prix, they can keep their hands off him now. Definitely until that second car is exorcised.