Weekly Roundup #16, 2026

Hello! And welcome to a very bluebell heavy week of Joel's film blog! This week has seen me hunting all over the capital in search of bluebells, which are in the flush of their season. I saw one (above) which had a spider on it, which I thought was very good luck... and then when I landed at Leighton House I saw another! Such good vibes that I even forgave them for having Sp*nish bluebells 🤢

Four-Film Challenge

Monday 6ᵗʰ April - Project Hail Mary (2026)

Yes, once again I started my week off by not seeing this film! I had just come in from a night of clubbing with the très charmante Dalida, and then followed it up with a walk around my local bluebell wood where I came across bucolic scenes such as these:

If you're interested in going, message me or leave a comment on this blogpost! Or let's be real you probably have my number 😜

Tuesday 7ᵗʰ April - Project Hail Mary (2026, ★★★)

And then I saw it, and then it was... fine. Honestly the best part was the VFX on Rocky. I'm really getting sick of how useless modern protagonists are, though: Gosling's character (Nick? Mike? Something of that nature) just spends the entire film tripping up over himself, which I did not find endearing.

Wednesday 9ᵗʰ April - The Love That Remains (2025, ★★★★★)

This was a lovely little surprise: I went into this expecting to see another mediocre European family drama, but what I got was a really profound meditation on what we leave to the next generation, and the hurts we inflict on them and ourselves. Gorgeously shot – the cinematographer directed that other Icelandic classic Godland, which I now need to hunt down because I'm in love with his visual language. Seek this out if you can find it!

Sunday 12ᵗʰ April - Reprise (2006, ★★★★★) and Taste Of Cherry (1997, ★★★)

This was a really fun double bill. Reprise deepened that feeling of being half-out of a relationship that's doomed; the whole audience was choking as they re-lived their trip to Paris (meanwhile, I was thinking "damn, I should have thought of that"!). Taste of Cherry was a lot of fun; interestingly, I thought it was a pro-suicide film while Vince thought it was quite the opposite. Led to a really good debate!

Social Diary

In addition to two jaunts to historic houses (Leighton House and Hampton Court Palace, above), I also got out to three gigs (Shabaka {too many white people}, Baths {perfect, though he should have played Phaedra} and Godspeed You! Black Emperor {a transcendent experience}). Great to see Ryan and Eric at the last two, who gave me the track of the week...

Track of the Week

...a Chinese prog-rock band. These guys have the funk. Have only listened to the sophomore album once, but it was so good I had to put it in front of you!

Okay, that’s all for this week! Have a good one and don't let the gate hit you on your way out!