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I'm drenched. Dame Judy?

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Continuing my trip up Empire's top 20 films of 2025 #4 :     The Ballad Of Wallis Island The tide ebbs and flows around Wallis Island, but there’s a bigger force of nature making waves here: Tim Key, who, for the entirety of this absolute gem of a film, makes us cry with laughter and, well, just cry. Adapted by him and his comedy partner Tom Basden from their 2007 short The One And Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island, and again directed by James Griffiths, this follows Key’s wealthy widower Charles as he attempts to reunite his favourite folk duo, the estranged McGwyer Mortimer (Basden and Carey Mulligan). Key has always been a truly singular human, his absurdist comedy as sharp as it is silly. Here, though, as the misty-eyed Charles, desperate for company – for friendship, for love – he tugs at the heartstrings as much as he hits the funny bone, in a film that heralds harmony in all its forms. As warm as blankets get. I knew I would like this because I really like Tim Key'...
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I don't know anything about you, baby but you're everything I'm dreaming of

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Continuing my trip back through the 1981 album charts. 27/09/81 : Dead Ringer - Meat Loaf Our third visit with Mr Loaf and I don't believe I was aware this even existed, which I'm not taking to be a great sign... Hmmm. No.  The songs are most definitely not at Bat Out Of Hell levels, but it's worse than that because, whether Meat's voice just isn't as strong or the production is just ropey, on a load of them you just can't make out what he's saying (and some of the stuff I did decipher is decidedly dodgy). It's even true on the title(ish) track, which wasn't nearly as decent as I remembered - but it's still easily the best thing on the album. All in all, it feels like someone heard BAOH and thought "I can do that", but then it turns out they just can't - there's many good reasons why no-one remembers this album in the same way. We're at #3 in the charts this week on his fourth week of an impressive 45 week run, with it havin...
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Meow

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Continuing my trip up Empire's top 20 films of 2025 #5 :     Flow Already, Flow has seemed to live nine lives. The second film from Latvian animator Gilts Zilbalodis was created by a remarkably small team, on free 3D software Blender; from there, it went on to win Best Picture at the Oscars, reaching audiences all around the world along the way. And it’s clear why – the gently post-apocalyptic tale of a cat traversing a flooded landscape, encountering several other animals along the way (some dogs, a lemur, a capybara, and a secretary bird among them), is a meditative and mesmerisingly beautiful odyssey, its lucid, dialogue-free storytelling accessible to… well, everybody, of any age, of any language. Part adventure movie, part survival drama, part fable, Flow is undeniably original, a great film in its own right – and one that proves anything is possible in an age where filmmaking tools are available at the click of a button. Those nine lives are set to live on for a long, l...
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We had the right love at the wrong time

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Continuing my trip back through the 1981 album charts. 04/10/81 : If I Should Love Again - Barry Manilow Our second visit with Bazza - I'm sure this will be terrible, but bearably so. Well, terrible would be harsh but it's not something I really need in my life. I recognised "Somewhere Down The Road" - it's a typical Bazza track and most of the rest of the album is similar schmaltzy ballads, except for "Let's Hang On" which is a weird disco-ish version of the old Four Seasons number. But yeah, it's bearable - he's just giving the fans what they want. We're at #5 in the charts this week on his second week of a, wait for it, 26 week run, but this was as high as it got. The rest of the top five this week were  The Police  (a new entry on the start of a three week run at the top), Super Hits Vol 1 & 2, Genesis and  Shakin' Stevens  with the next highest new entry being  Madness  (#9). Wikipedia tells us this is his eighth album (I th...
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Grapefruit

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Continuing my trip up Empire's top 20 films of 2025 #6 :     Bring Her Back With their second feature, the Philippou brothers proved that Talk To Me was no fluke. While the party vibe of their debut is toned down in their follow-up – another bone-rattling A24 possession horror – they dug even deeper emotionally this time, delivering an invigoratingly brutal and breathtakingly dark tale of dead kids and adults driven out of their mind by grief, all propelled by the terrible things you might do out of irreplaceable love and loss. Sally Hawkins is fearsomely brilliant as Laura, the foster parent who takes in brother and sister Andy and Piper (Billy Barratt and Sora Wong, both outstanding) with nefarious intent – inflicting them with psychological warfare, lovebombing, and a sinister supernatural plot. The filmmaking here is precise and powerful, the performances gut-wrenching, the energy and tension undeniable – cementing the Philippous as new horror greats. I'm not a massive fa...
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Find your sister. And legs.

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Continuing my trip up Empire's   top 20 films of 2025 #7 :     Predator : Badlands Badlands isn’t just another great Dan Trachtenberg Predator movie – it’s the second great Dan Trachtenberg Predator movie of 2025. Arriving on the heels of blood-spattered animated anthology Predator: Killer Of Killers, Badlands sees the Prey filmmaker overhaul the hunter-and-hunted formula once again – delivering us a Yautja hero in runt-of-the-litter Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi), and dispatching him to the ‘Death Planet’ of Genna on an epic monster hunt, all aided by the top half of a Weyland-Yutani synthetic (an effervescent Elle Fanning). The result is giddily entertaining ‘80s dark fantasy, with a dash of Star Wars, a surprisingly emotional chosen-family narrative, and a constant supply of inventive action beats. It’s a Predator movie like no other, still delivering thrills, spills and brutal moments (there’s a lot of non-red blood, despite its family-friendly rating) while ta...
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Look up on the wall, there on the floor, under the pillow, behind the door

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Continuing my trip back through the 1981 album charts. 11/10/81 : Abacab - Genesis Our fourth visit with Genesis and this is one I've never heard and for some reason I thought it was much earlier than '81 - I don't think I knew they were quite this popular at this time. Hmmm - this is a peculiar album, whilst also being completely understandable when you know where they came from and here they ended up. It's got both the pop sound and rhythms of Invisible Touch and some weird prog sounds, off-kilter rhythms and far too long tracks of Selling England By The Pound . It's feels a bit "neither fish nor fowl" these days and I can't say I particularly liked it, but maybe (just maybe) it's what people were crying out for in '81. We're at #6 in the charts this week on their fourth week of a decent 22 week run, with it having peaked at a surprising (for me, at least) #1 for its first two weeks. The top five this week were  The Police , Shakin' ...
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