Snow White and the Huntsman

Number of highly charismatic leads who were a large part of why I watched this again: Two (Kristen Stewart, who even here finds ways to bring subtle interesting twists to her role, like the hunched way she rides into battle, and the way she plays the scene when the wicked queen is dying, and Chris Hemsworth)

Number of bonus impeccable villains: One (Charlize Theron)

Number of dwarves she meets in the forest: Eight (played by an impressive array of well known British actors)

Number of dwarves left alive at the end: Seven

Number of times I was struck by how overwhelmingly white this movie is: Many

(last time)

Zadie Smith - Grand Union

Expectation is a demon, and maybe it's why so many of these stories felt to me like exercises - workings-through of concepts rather than the you-know-it-when-you-see-it red meat of the real thing. Almost without exception, they're unquestionably well crafted, but somehow mostly a bit too controlled-feeling (even when they're clearly written to unravel), their high concepts too apparent even when the stories themselves are constructed to be oblique, their ending points too close to being pat even when pleasingly abrupt. That that sense of control - combined perhaps with a close attention to the world - is the closest thing to a unifying voice is a problem.

But, you know, maybe I would've responded to these differently if I'd encountered them individually - three of them, "Just Right", "Meet the President!" and "Now More Than Ever" (the latter, about cancel culture, one of the stronger ones), I had, but also already through the frame of being 'Zadie Smith stories' - and out of context, or would I even then have felt that each was in the thrall of some other writer or style, whether that being one I specifically recognised or more broadly in its nature.

I read the whole collection, and I'm not hesitant about abandoning books - maybe particularly short story collections - so that's a recommendation in itself. And there are some good ones in here - but somehow all too few that truly came to life. The ones I liked most were "The Dialectic" (but it's like a more programmatic Lydia Davis), "For the King" (this one made me think of a more warm-blooded Rachel Cusk), and two which are primarily about character and story and maybe those are ultimately Smith's strengths - "Sentimental Education" and "Miss Adele Amidst the Corsets".

Neil Young - Homegrown

Recorded in 1974/75 and only just released, Homegrown hits the spot - Neil Young from his classic era, in fine form.

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Greatest Hits

If you'd asked me to name a Tom Petty song before I listened to this greatest hits (covering the period from the beginning of his career in the late 70s through to 1993), I couldn't have named one, but it turns out there are at least a couple that I would've recognised - in "Don't Come Around Here No More" and "I Won't Back Down", both memorably melodic and also not particularly characteristic from what I can tell - and a few others that have the sound of familiarity, though I can't be sure whether I'd actually heard them before or whether that's just the way they sound (eg "Refugee", "Here Comes My Girl", "You Got Lucky", "Free Fallin' "). And in fact that familiarity of sound is striking across this greatest hits, shedding light on why Petty gets mentioned so much as an influence on the heartland rock sound that artists today continue returning to.

Freeman

Amazing story about an amazing person, but despite those advantages and the innate drama of being structured around the lead up to the Sydney Olympics, this documentary was really only so-so in quality. The one thing that does justify its existence, apart from its subject and the timely reminder of what Freeman's victory meant - and could have meant into the future - and the context of the Reconciliation movement at the time, is the comments from Freeman herself, telling her story.

Zadie Smith - Intimations

Short meditations on the present moment, written during the early lockdown period. Predictably clear-sighted, light of touch, and profound.

The Vast of Night

I was pretty sure I was going to like this one from about five minutes in, as the camera swoops along behind and beside fast-moving teenage radio DJ Everett Sloan and his rapid-fire, slang-laden patter into and through a local basketball stadium, then back out into the night-time streets, sweeping up similarly aged switchboard operator Fay Crocker and her new tape recorder along the way - the setting, 1950s small town New Mexico. 

It basically starts in medias res, leaving the viewer to catch up as they can, and the off-kilter tone intrigues from the outset; the film continues to groove as it goes along, building its Cold War era vibes of paranoia and possible alien invasion through score, mounting mood and tension, and some spectacular scenes, especially Fay at the switchboard as the fear mounts, on a trajectory towards its ending that's neither wholly predictable nor arbitrary-feeling.

Artists

The artists I've spent the most time listening to since itunes came into my life in around 2007 or 2008:

I've done this before, in 2016. 

Rush

James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) vs Niki Lauda (Daniel Bruhl), F1 1976. Quite good and the racing scenes work surprisingly well, but never truly elevates beyond the conventional.

Wasp Network

Assayas is always interesting but Wasp Network misses the mark. The premise is intriguing enough - a network of Cuban Castro loyalists infiltrating the anti-regime movement operating from Miami in the 90s - and the cast talented and good looking (including Penelope Cruz, Gael Garcia Bernal and Ana de Armas) but the movie doesn't gel into anything in particular.

Taylor Swift - folklore

A low key super lovely contemporary pop record, built on twinkling melodies and arrangements, songs which are equally gentle whether downbeat or mildly anthemic, and that Taylor Swift feeling running through it all. On folklore, Swift moves airily between and integrates genres more than ever before (admittedly, I've missed her last couple) and the result is dreamy. I haven't fully absorbed its 16 tracks but there's a pair just after the album's mid-point - "This Is Me Trying" and "Illicit Affairs" that I think is particularly good. Also "Epiphany".