Movie review - "Gremlins 2: The New Batch" (1990) ****

 Fun, anarchic, great gags, plenty of imagination. Doesn't quite build pace wise like the first. Maybe lacks a true villain - John Glover is kind of a goodie. Phoebe Cates sweet. Christopher Lee fun.

Play review - "Broken Glass" by Arthur Miller (1994)

 Probably the best known of Miller's later plays, about a Jewish couple in 1938 New York where the wife is paralysed due to psychosamatic reasons, which is a little unlikely but dramatically works. Sex is big - he says they do it a lot she says never, a shrink loves her, the husband dies as the wife walks, there is talk of Hitler. It works on its own terms and is entertaining.

Movie review - "Valley Girl" (1983) ***

 I think I was too young when I first saw this - there wasn't enough broad humour and gags. Time having passed the movie has aged well and I appreciate it more: the chemistry of the leads, the charm of Deborah Foreman (was bothering me who she reminded me of... Zoe Deutsch!), the solid support of Frederic Forrest and Colleen Camp, the way the script emphasises the importance of friends as a form of pressure.

Book review - "Sitcom: a Memoir" by Chuck Lorre (2026)

 Highly entertaining. Short. Full of gossip. Charlie Sheen was good for seven years then went heywire. Brett Butler was mad from the get-go. Cybill Shepherd went mad after one season. Casey-Werner backed the stars. Ana Faris was... unspecified problems. Les Moonves comes out of the book bad but also good. Lorre's career was amazing. It's a type of TV that doesn't exist anymore. Entertaining. Wobbly written in a few places, his inexperience with prose shows. The scripts at the end was so tight and good - that's his real strength.

Play review - "Whom do I have the honor of addressing?" by Peter Shaffer (1989)

 Radio play which is a suicide note of an uptight woman who went to work for a Hollywood star. Beautifully acted by Judi Dench. Maybe a little slight at the end.

Movie review - "Blue Moon" (2025) ***

 Better than the sccript because it has such good actors - Ethan Hawke, Andrew Scott, Margaret Qualley. It's still a stage play at heart which hits the same beats - he's got a crush on a hot woman who he doesn't desire, life is moving on, he stuffed it with Hammerstein. No progression. A grace note. I like that it exists, mind.

Play review - "The Apple Cart" by George Bernard Shaw (1928)

 Lots of zingers but it's annoying. In the future the king is appointed to rule the country. The king is based on Shaw himself so he is wise and witty. There's a female role for a Katherine Hepburn type as there is in most Shaws.