The Laboratory

Welcome to our 12th annual Advent Calendar! We're celebrating anniversaries this year, with 40th, 50th, 100th and 150th all making an appearance. If it's a special anniversary Christmas for you this year, why not let us know ? Maybe you've been getting things ready this weekend, like we have. No tree yet, but we certainly have bought a lot of party food! Our greatest find was at Carluccio's , which has just opened in Woking. We missed them last year, but we have this year's cream of the almond crop, it's the delicious Ricciarelli : What have you done to get ready for Christmas? Let us know in the comments. And of course, tell your friends about this Advent Calendar. The quick link is: bit.ly/adcal2014

With visits to the cinema becoming few and far between (ironic given the Year of Film in 2003-4 where winning an unlimited cinema pass meant over 50 visits) I wanted to mark the latest blockbuster I've seen on the big screen. It's all about spectacle not subtlety, and is the third in what I call the Space Trilogy: Prometheus Gravity Interstellar Where the first of these was fatally marred by unscientific behaviour, and Scott not leaving his earlier greatness well alone, the second was like a road movie in the same way that Hanna was, with less emphasis on the science and more on the journey (physically and emotionally). Now Nolan (and Nolan) have their own space epic to promote, and they take a third route, that of explaining the metaphysical power of love. Spoilers abound, as there's no way I can write a review without talking about the plot. HATHAWAY I thought it was a particularly neat trick to give McConaughey a daughter who looked like a young Anne Hathawa...