Newly released by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment is Hotel Mumbai, a full length feature inspired by the stories of survivors of the real life November 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks, and we've been sent a copy for review.

This is a powerful film which has adult themes, horrific violence, peril and loss of life, and it is rated suitable for a mature audience only. Not one for the kids, but older teenagers can learn from the mistakes of the past.


Hotel Mumbai has a great cast who will be familiar to movie fans, including Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire, Lion), Armie Hammer (Call Me By Your Name, The Social Network), Jason Isaacs (The Death Of Stalin, Harry Potter), Nazanin Boniadi (Counterpart, Homeland) and Anupam Kher (Silver Linings Playbook, The Big Sick).

It may not seem possible, but I honestly have NEVER seen a single episode of Downton Abbey, so when Universal Pictures sent us a copy of Downton Abbey The Movie, we were reviewing just the same as we would any standalone film.

Written by series creator Julian Fellowes and starring the original cast, this is a full length movie version of the very popular TV series about life upstairs and below stairs in Downton Abbey, a large house and estate owned by the Crawley family in the early 20th century.


All of the characters are introduced really clearly, and we immediately see the differences between the wealthy Crawley's and their massive staff. This is a somewhat idealised view and everyone is surprisingly polite and respectful, except when the plotline demands.

Toy Story is a long-standing favourite here. My oldest son was a huge fan when the first movie was new, and it made it's return perfectly in time for my younger boys to be able to appreciate the antics of Woody, Buzz, Bo and all of the other animated toys.

Toy Story 4 is now available on Digital Download & Keep, DVD, Blu-ray and other formats for you to watch at home, and I have a DVD copy to give away to one of my readers. We were sent a copy for review and it's a great return to form...


The story features a cast of long-standing Toy Story characters, as well as a few new additions, and starts with a 10 minute segment looking back over what has happened to our animated friends over the past 23 years. It brought a definite lump to my throat...


The toys are now in the care of Bonnie, who has just started kindergarten. She makes herself a toy using junk modelling, and Forky (who is really a spork) comes to life. Forky is excited to be here, but obviously very immature, and Woody takes him under his wing.

StikBots are great fun and we've reviewed them several times now. They are little poseable figures with sticky pad hands and feet, which are designed to be perfect for creating animated movies. There are lots of different themed sets available for amateur film-makers aged 4+ and I'm delighted that Brainstorm Toys (StikBot UK Distributor) have kindly offered 3 StikBot Movie Sets as Christmas presents for my readers.


Inside each box is not only the StikBot, but press out thick glossy card pieces to create scenery, backdrop, props and small plastic accessories to complete your scene. They're attractive, clever and don't need any glue or tape.

We are big fans of StikBots. These little jointed characters have suckers on their hands and feet, and are perfect for your amateur film makers to practise with. We've been sent the Movie Castle Set to review, and it's a fantastic backdrop and accessories for our next StikBot movie...


Inside the box are lots of pre-cut sheets of construction material, accessories, 1 x StikBot, a sheet with loads of stickers and instructions. You don't need anything else, this is glue-free and slot-together.

When we visited Waterside in Sale to watch their Winter show The Bear, we also took time to visit their exhibition space, where they have a Cosgrove Hall Film Exhibition running until February 17th. The exhibit is free to visit and well worth popping in if you are visiting or nearby and have half an hour to spare.


I'm a big fan of Cosgrove Hall and have been lucky enough to work with them a few times over the last couple of years. Based in Greater Manchester, they are the people behind loads of children's TV and movies, and are masters of both illustration and stop-motion animation.


Cosgrove Hall created several of my own childhood favourites, including Chorlton And The Wheelies, Dangermouse, Count Duckula and Jamie & The Magic Torch. Still in the business 40 years on, they have more recently brought us Pip Ahoy!, Bill And Ben, Fetch The Vet, Noddy and Roary The Racing Car among many, many others.

Brookside was filmed on a housing estate in Liverpool, I visited as a 14 year old. You could get as far as the end of the road without being on a pre-booked tour and as he left I managed a close sighting of Barry Grant (or Paul Usher as his Mum calls him). That was enough to please my teenage self. A real-live TV person in the flesh. Brookside and Neighbours were really the only things I really watched regularly and I was unlikely to spot anyone from Neighbours any time soon.


I'm contacted to work on some unusual collaborations sometimes and aside from my encounter with Brookside Close, being asked to write about locations for TV and Films in the NW for a #SeenOnTheScreen post had me stumped at first. I don't really watch a lot of TV nowadays and although I watch a ton of movies, I've never paid much attention to where they're actually filmed.

Before Christmas I reviewed the R/C Inflatable Star Wars Toys from Bladez Toyz and they were awesome. This week they released new inflatables to tie in with the cinema release of Despicable Me 3. We've been sent Mel, Tom and Fluffy!


Inside the box you have the inflatable itself - and you will need to blow it up but it's very quick! There is also a drive unit which is attached to the base of the inflatable, a handset, instruction manual and repair patch.

On Easter Sunday we were invited to see a private screening of The Boss Baby at the Hilton Hotel in Manchester. I've never watched a movie in a hotel before and it was such a lovely event and so well organised that I thought I owed it to them to write about it.


The Hilton Hotel are rightly proud of their association with animated family movie The Boss Baby. They want to promote their family friendly side, so that families know they can come and stay and be fully catered for - in fact, children stay and eat for free.

When I visited Waterside Arts Centre in Sale, Manchester before Christmas, we were lucky enough to catch the Puppet Masters Return with Aardman Studios exhibit. The even better news is that it's there until 1st April 2017, and it's FREE.


Part of the Manchester Animation Festival, Puppet Masters Return with Aardman Studios lets members of the public get up close and personal with the characters from some of those well-known family favourites including Wallace and Gromit, Timmy Time and The Pirates, An Adventure With Scientists!

Monday 6th Feb saw the release on DVD of the thriller from Entertainment One - The Girl On The Train. With a fantastic cast and more than enough passion, intrigue and action to satisfy everyone, this is a movie that is perfect to watch on Valentine's Day.


Starring Emily Blunt as the eponymous and very troubled main character, supported by Haley Bennett and Rebecca Ferguson, as well as Justin Theroux and Luke Evans, The Girl On The Train is rated 15 and is not a gentle romance at all. The suspense is held throughout, and your allegiances change as you find out more backstory, and follow the twisting plotline.

Last Saturday we got up ridiculously early to catch the train down to London, for a special screening of the LEGO Batman movie courtesy of Warner Brothers. It was something we were incredibly excited about, and it really didn't disappoint...


We were tempted to take lots of LEGO Batmen with us, but remembering what happened to the rear end of our LEGO Scooby Doo Mystery Machine, we decided it better to choose one, and it was Tartan Batman who got a day out. I've already posted about the whole LEGO Batman trip to London, this is our review of the movie itself.

Warner Brothers have asked me if I want to write about some of their Christmas Family Movies, and I'm more than happy to oblige. Christmas is truly the most wonderful time of year for films. Everyone has some actual time off to relax, the weather outside is frightful and the whole family are home for Christmas. Get the popcorn and some hot chocolate, grab a blanket and snuggle up to spend some special time together getting into the festive spirit...


Animation is a festive winner and The Polar Express is a gorgeous Christmas movie which has a lovely tale of honesty and friendship behind it. Adults watch this one for the nostalgia and the quite tricky storyline, children at first watch it as a magical train to Santa, before they get a bit older and begin to understand the deeper meanings. The animation style does fall deep into uncanny valley, so it's not to everyone's taste.

Asterix: The Mansions Of The Gods will be coming to a cinema near you in 2D and 3D from 19th August, and we've been lucky enough to have a sneak preview screening. A computer animated adventure movie with a voice cast that includes an amazing array of popular UK comedians from different genres, it promised big things and hasn't disappointed.


My partner and I grew up reading Asterix books, but in recent years they haven't seemed so popular, and my young boys didn't know the stories at all. They do now! The cast really bring all of the characters to life and this is one of the funniest films we've watched this year.

The deadpan Jim Broadbent as Julius Caesar and Greg Davis and The Centurion work really well against Jack Whitehall as Asterix and Nick Frost as Obelix. There is slapstick humour throughout, and this is an innocent movie, no-one dies or suffers horrific injuries, they're more likely to be attacked by a fish for singing too loud.

I've spent 22 years raising children and I've always particularly loved movie night. Movies tell a whole story. They draw you into a fantasy world and your children can experience events and emotions in a secure and limited way, where you know it'll mostly all turn out okay in the end.


A NOW TV Movie Pass gives you access to 1000 movies at any time you choose. You can even take a look and have a 14 day free trial at the moment. There is something for everyone, including some of the latest blockbusters, and one of the newest films to hit their list is the Oscar-winning Disney Pixar animated tale, Inside Out.

Inside Out is different to the majority of children's films. It does turn out okay in the end, but the journey you travel through the story shows children how the different emotions affect the inner person, and what happens outwardly when our emotions take over. It's actually a very mature theme, and not one you'd usually find in a children's film.

Monday 25th January sees the release of Paper Planes on DVD and Digital Download. A bright and funny family movie, Paper Planes is a heartwarming story of friendship and perseverance centering around 12 year old Dylan (played by Ed Oxenbould), a boy obsessed with flying who discovers he has an innate talent for making paper planes.


We were sent a preview copy of Paper Planes to watch and my 5 and 7 year olds absolutely loved it. Full of comedy moments and with a very likeable cast, my young boys laughed out loud regularly at the humour and really related to the characters.

We have just got home from taking our 5 and 7 year olds to see Star Wars The Force Awakens. Before I went I was party to a lot of discussion about whether it would be suitable. Our opinion is now a 'Yes', and this is why....

"I don't want a photo! I want to go and see the movie!"

If your child likes action movies then they've probably already seen at least one Star Wars movie. If they like Star Wars then they've probably seen more than one Star Wars movie. They're actually not going to see much that they haven't seen before.

Last Thursday we were invited to a Magical Christmas Party at the Disney Store in Manchester Arndale Centre, to find out about their new charity initiative, which is taking place right up until Christmas this year.

"Take a festive photo in one of our stores, or dig out a classic from the family album and share it through Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #DisneyStoreFamily."

For every treasured moment shared, Disney Store will donate a soft toy to children's charities. This year their chosen charities for the UK are Great Ormond Street Hospital and In Kind Direct. If you don't have Twitter or Instagram, you can also share via The Disney Store's page on Facebook.

That's not all though, each family that submits a photo will be entered into a competition to win a family trip to New York, including a private shopping spree at the Disney Store in Times Square. It's a huge prize for someone, and so we gave it our best efforts to win while we were there!

This morning we were one of the lucky families at the Odeon Cinema in Manchester for a preview screening of Hotel Transylvania 2 arranged by Mumsnet. I really liked Hotel Transylvania, as did my 2 young boys, and so we were hopeful the sequel would be good. There are no spoilers in my review.


The story focuses on a vampire, Count Dracula, and his daughter Mavis, her partner Johnny and their families and friends. They run the Hotel Transylvania, a hotel originally a haven for monsters which now also accepts human guests.

If you haven't heard of Google's Chromecast then you could be missing a trick. It's a handy little gadget that allows you to watch what you can watch on your phone or tablet - on the big telly! I'm being given one myself, and I've got one to give away thanks to the lovely people at the Manchester based JNB Aerials.
The Chromecast is a really small USB style device that plugs directly into the TV in a HDMI port. The Chromecast then talks to your phone or tablet when you tell it to, and it will stream your movie, music videos, TV shows etc directly to the TV.