Never Had It So Good review

I bought Never Had It So Good by Dominic Sandbrook as research for a writing project that was completed in April.  I didn't actually start reading it until a month ago, but I'm very glad I did, as it was extremely good.

It's a history of Britain from 1956-1963 (or "from Suez to The Beatles" as the sub-title states), and it's largely fascinating.  It covers the politics of the time (Eden and the Suez Crisis, Macmillan's years as Prime Minister, The Night Of The Long Knives, the Profumo scandal, etc), the nuclear arms race and the founding of the CND, music, fashion, the rise of the consumer society, immigration, cinema, and literature.  All of it is written in an informative style that is easy to read and keeps the reader's interest throughout.

The only slight criticism I have is that the structure was sometimes a little confusing - because the author chose one subject and charted its progress throughout the years being studied, it was on occasion difficult to follow the timeline as a whole, and he would refer back to things mentioned in the first chapter much later in the book when I couldn't remember the details any more.  However, I think a straight chronological structure would have been more confusing as he would have had to chop and change between all the different subjects all the time.

It's not a short book, or one that's easy to read very quickly - it's taken me a whole month to finish it, which is a long time for me, but it says a lot that I've stuck with it for 750 pages when I'm not usually one for history.  There's actually a second volumne, covering 1964 to 1970, which is another 750 pages long, and I'll definitely read it at some point, but I think I need something a bit shorter and lighter in between!

Wanted review

First of all, let me say - Weaselbitch, do not go to see this film - the rats do not fare well at all!

It was good, and it was interesting; a lot of it was rather clever, some moments were quite funny, and there were several excellent performances, but I'm not sure it would be correct to say I enjoyed it.  From watching the trailer and reading reviews, I thought it would be cool and exciting - and the action sequences were, for the most part, of the kind that would generally be considered cool, but for some reason they didn't engage me.  I felt quite detached from the film all the way through, and I think that had most to do with the tone.

There are action movies that are just over the top and silly, which you watch for pure enjoyment and don't think about the consequences.  And then there are action movies that have more weight to them and the violence has more impact to make you have an emotional reaction to what's going on.  Wanted was kind of a mixture of the two - it treated its action as entertainment, but then also tried to make you think about the morality and emotional impact of what happened, and that's where it lost me.  The touch of seriousness ruined my enjoyment of the action, but the silliness of the whole premise undermined the import of the questions the film asked.

There was also a moment where I referenced a classic cliche as a joke, and then it actually happened, which was a little disappointing.

Still, James MacAvoy continues to impress with his range, and it's always nice to see Morgan Freeman being wise.  Angelina Jolie doesn't do it for me at all, but I can see how other people might find her appealing, and she was right for the role she played.  It's also good, for us Westerners at least, that Timur Bekmambetov has successfully crossed the pond, and satisfying to see that he's kept a mostly Russian crew with him on the journey.