Rewind [I didn't think much of it then either. I'm surprisingly consistent - at least so far.]

I have completed the NHS Couch to 5k challenge in 11 weeks. I can run for 30 minutes non-stop which I estimate to be just about 3 miles so I think that I only have a few more runs to go before I can run 5km in the 30 minutes.

This is what I saw at the halfway mark yesterday.

I am proud of myself.

#savethenhs

I have major problems with a possibly literal deus ex machina get out for guilty old Angel at the end of the programme and Buffy and Angel's emoting does nothing for me. The First worked well when it was Jenny but it was hard to feel the unbearableness of Angel's despair when it is being presented through the lens of characters we don't know.

I'll forgive Liam's accent (it's not really worse than Spike's English one) but I can't forgive the awful wigs, though the moustache wasn't that bad...

I'm surprised to say that I'm finding Willow a bit annoying in recent episodes and I always thought Oz's wisdom was a little much for a boy of his age. Not that he was wrong here and in "Innocence" but his relationship with Willow is nearly always on his terms and I don't find that appealing.

Xander's role was reduced to popping in the room a couple of times and saying "Let's do it!" or some such thing. And poor Cordelia Chase and Charisma Carpenter, reduced to dull bitchiness. I can't wait for Angel to get his own show, and for Cordy to join him but for completely different reasons: I liked her on Angel and he needs to leave Sunnydale.

Faith and Buffy are so much more interesting a couple than Buffy and Angel and she was lovely when she came over for dinner.

Not only was the continuity all over the place regarding Buffy's hair but the fact that her fringe was too short was most distracting.

Willow wore a really butch pair of trousers. That foreshadowing was everywhere.

Rewind [I was less forgiving of Angel's accent, I clearly still loved Willow, my position hasn't changed on Cordelia and on Oz's "maturity".]

Hud (1963)

The photography! The acting! The themes! The key scenes! All faultless. This was a big Oscar winner in its time (but, bizarrely, not for Paul Newman) but I still thought it was great. You could see the Oscar bait in the form of Mervyn Douglas but since he gave a deeply moving performance, I don't care.

However, it is Patricia Neal who is brilliant. She is tough, smart, vulnerable and sensible, and knows when to leave.

And Brandon De Wilde was so lovable.

The Hours (2002)

Usually I detest films like this: worthy films that win Oscars. The Academy voters haven't got a clue about subtlety and think films like Crash and Brokeback Mountain are profound and groundbreaking but I reckon if this was in Swedish, it would be on many people's best film ever lists.

It is an intelligent film and the cinematic equivalent of a literary novel which, in fact, it literally is and there is quite a lot in this film that I find weak:

• Clarissa is unnecessarily unhappy and it is annoying that she can't appreciate what she has - after all her partner is CJ, I mean Allison Janney, so what is the matter with Clarissa?
• Virgina's nose is distracting. Actually the nose is okay, it's really the makeup hiding the prosthetic on Nicole Kidman's face that is distracting. The ageing makeup is pretty ropey too.
• The kiss between Virginia and Vanessa freaks me out. They're sisters!

But what makes The Hours brilliant is Laura Brown's story and the stunning performance by Julianne Moore (honestly, this woman is wonderful - in part because of the range of roles that she takes - I hate the word brave when applied to actors but I think she is often just that). With the scene with Toni Collette (another amazing actor) factored in, Laura's story is the most compelling, moving and heartbreaking in 21st century cinema. The Oscars are nonsense - long gone are the days when I thought they were a sign of quality - but when you think that Catherine Zeta-Jones (who I like) won an Oscar over Julianne then that proves the Oscars are UTTER nonsense. And...ha ha...Chicago was voted best picture over this as well - oh dear, oh dear.

The score is also wonderful.

The First Born (1928)

Good things:

• Madeleine Carroll throwing and catching a ball of paper a couple of times
• the use of superimposed subtitles in the crowd scene
• the plunge down the lift shaft
• somebody naked in a bath
• the handheld camera
• the editing

All wasted in a film that was boring with unlikeable characters and a plot that I did not care about at all.

Underground (1929)

I loved this. It became one of my favourite films straight away. I think it's fabulous that I can get to my forties and still find previously unknown films to love.

I'm a fool for London locations (which explains why the first few minutes of The Bourne Ultimatum set in Waterloo Station are riveting and the less of film less so, so much less that I turned it off) and London locations that include the Underground are like catnip to me. However, as the Bourne film demonstrated, interesting locations aren't enough if you aren't engaged by other aspects of the film and this was full of fascinating stuff such as a love quadrangle, a hungry boy in a park, and the best shot in cinema ever: the most amazing crane shot that moves up from a woman running alongside a power station and swings out to the front. I can't find it on YouTube so you'll have to make do with this chase:

More thoughts: I loved the performances; the humour; the thrills (see the above chase); more amazing camerawork; the good use of borrowings from German cinema; the social commentary; recognisable people (as in flawed, funny, sly, shy, assertive) and rounded characters e.g. the villain isn't just deceitful, manipulative and arrogant, he is also amusing, thoughtful and hard-working; the clever editing; the use of mirrors, etc, etc. Maybe the live score intoxicated me but I immediately adored this film and can't wait for its release on DVD.

"The Wish", however, is excellent. I was excited to see Emma Caulfield's name because I appreciated the consistent high standards she gave to the role of Anya over the next four seasons.

The alternate universe is dark and disturbing though I doubt just how satisfactory vampires would find factory farming their food supply. Whatever, the whole episode pays off with a gut-wrenching scene where all our heroes get killed or kill the one they love in the "real" universe. Buffy getting her broken neck is just awful, horrible. And earlier, Cordelia's demise is equally shocking, and something unexpected because it is her wish we are seeing.

Rewind

Spike (and James Marsters) are fantastic - his moments with Joyce are a series highlight - but throughout he is funny, scary and not a little perceptive.

Willow sets a pattern (why, it's a Willow Pattern) - she turns to magic to help herself out of a problem. I love the way she says "there, there" to Spike - it is almost sincere. The episode is full of nice little moments like this: Buffy checking her make up in one of Giles' gadgets; the Mayor musing on mixed metaphors; Spike getting set alight; Cordelia's fake death - no, scratch that one, it's a bit of a cliche...

I have to agree with Cordy, Oz being able to smell Willow is disturbing, though I am surprised it wasn't just fear he could smell.

Rewind

It is a peculiar feeling when Xander is right but I don't mind because he is still pompous and obnoxious at the same time as not being wrong. There is so much lying going on at the moment, a real Scooby Gang weakness. Poor Giles.

I love Buffy, Faith and their stunt double fights so much. They look awesome together.

Rewind [I wrote a lot about this episode and I clearly cared more back then about the shenanigans going on. Now, I think I just want the soppy, soapy stuff to stop so I can enjoy great episodes like "The Wish" and "Doppelgangland".]