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Movie Advent Calendar #01 – Inception

“So… how did we end up at this restaurant?”

In 2011 I did a musical advent calendar that I posted to Google+ (remember that) and a final summary on this blog.

In 2012 I did a cinematic advent calendar of twenty four films. These were films that I really liked and have enjoyed at the cinema.

In 2019 I did a televisual advent calendar of twenty four television programmes. These were television programmes that I really liked and have enjoyed watching.

This year on a similar theme I will be posting a movie advent calendar of twenty four movies. It is in no particular order and I make no apologies for the movies that I am blogging about. These movies have either made me think, I have enjoyed or have had some impact on me. I should point out that these do not replace those in the cinematic advent calendar, these are additions to that list.

Inception came out in 2010 and is a science fiction film directed by Christopher Nolan. I didn’t go and see Inception at the cinema, it was a film I got on Blu-Ray. It was a film that I had read about, and received the disk as a present. I think though upon reflection this would have been an impressive cinematic experience to see the film on the big screen.

This was a multi-layered film both figuratively and literally. I loved the concept of shared dreaming and infiltrating those dreams, and adding layers of dreams.

I liked the visual effects, which were visually stunning, but also very clever. I also liked how much of the film was set in Paris, and that dream sequence in Paris was highly effective.

The effects across the film are excellent and are done really well.

From an acting perspective I think it is one of Leonardo DiCaprio’s best films and Tom Hardy plays his part well too. The ensemble cast is excellent as well.

It is one of those films I have watched a few times and have enjoyed each viewing. I actually think you need to watch it a second time just to work out exactly what is going on (a bit like Tenet in that respect).

Will we ever have the shared dreaming technology we see in the film? Who knows!

Get Inception at Amazon.

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Paddington has changed

Well, Paddington has changed on the tube map with the changes to the Elizabeth Line services now going straight through, not stopping at Paddington which they did until this month.

Before the Paddington name was on the Bakerloo line.

With the changes to the tube network over time, the map is getting constantly updated and changed.

 

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Then and Now Take Two – Cabot Circus Christmas Changes

This is a regular series of blogs about photographs of the same place taken years apart. The first of the posts in this series was of a council building in Manchester. I always thought I should give then and now photographs a go. However what I have started to notice is that I have been doing Then and Now photographs unintentionally over the years and have been taking photographs of the same thing or place from the same view or perspective years apart. Now this has come to my attention I have started to intentionally take photographs of the same place.

This photograph was taken on the 26th November 2022.

I remembered I had taken a photograph in the same location, back on December 8th 2019. I was on my way to do a pick up from the Vue Cinema, so I took a photograph of the festive Cabot Circus.

I also wrote about it back then as well and in that post I used an image I found  searching Flickr from December 2012. It would seem I am not alone in taking photographs from that vantage point outside House of Fraser.

Cabots Circus by David X Mitchell via Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Back then I wrote about the changes between the two images.

Its interesting to see the differences. Cafe Rouge has gone and has been replaced by Five Guys. I noticed recently that Giraffe had closed and the unit was now a Slim Chickens. On the ground floor was was SoHo (which has moved around the corner) is now a Tortilla and a Typo. In 2012 Patisserie Valerie was still open, today it’s closed and boarded up.

Since 2019, Krispy Kreme have taken over the Patisserie Valerie location.