👆👆👆 PhET are great!

I rated Mermaids (1990) 7/10 #IMDb Cher relocates with her two daughters, Winona Ryder and Christina Ricci, to a small town and meet Bob Hoskins. It’s a great cast with a good mix of drama and comedy. It doesn’t pack a huge punch, but is an entertaining watch.

I rated Mercy (2026) 5/10 #IMDb Chris Pratt has a convenient 90 minutes to convince Rebecca Ferguson, an AI judge, that’s he’s innocent of murder before he’s executed. Interesting concept, but unfortunately it’s filmed like the recent dizzying phone-screen War of the Worlds remake.

I didn’t mind the first one

I rated Sisu: Road to Revenge (2025) 7/10 #IMDb Stephen Lang takes on the job of trying to kill a man who only wants to rebuild his house. Better than the slow first outing, this “Mad Max 2 in WW2” style movie is glorious OTT violence throughout. Good fun.

I rated Greenland 2: Migration (2026) 3/10 #IMDb Having survived the asteroid, Gerard Butler and his family must leave their bunker and head to the impact crater. This has got to be one of very few sequels to a disaster movie, and for good reason. It’s absolute nonsense throughout.

A full disc image of Earth, as seen from the Orion Crew Module. The planet is a pale blue, swirling with white clouds and glowing slightly lighter blue in place from reflected light. At lower left, a large brown landmass is Africa, with Spain and Portugal with twinkling lights where the planet curves. At top right, auroras glow in a thin green glow, just barely separated from the planet's surface. Earth is set against the black of space (pic: NASA/R.Wiseman)

More context on this #Artemis II image:

* This is the night side, lit by moonlight. You can see city lights in Spain & Portugal, & a sliver of day at lower right

* The Sun is entirely behind Earth, which makes it a kind of solar eclipse, but w/ Earth doing the eclipsing instead of the Moon:
☀️🌍🚀🌕

I rated The Long Walk (2025) 6/10 #IMDb A group of young men are forced to walk with no finish line, and if they stop they are shot. This Hunger Games rip is fairly entertaining high concept nonsense. It’s quite nasty and has some moments, but it’s too long and becomes formulaic.

I rated Eleanor the Great (2025) 7/10 #IMDb 94-year-old Eleanor moves back to New York where she befriends a young student and gets caught in a big lie. June Squibb is excellent as the lead in this. It’s quite a challenging watch. Directed by Scarlett Johansson.

I rated Rental Family (2025) 7/10 #IMDb Brendan Fraser is an out-of-work actor in Tokyo who gets a job as a stand-in for families who need a friend / husband for a few weeks. Fraser is very watchable and the film potters along very nicely. An easy afternoon watch.

Amazing! Hoping for a successful mission. #FlyMeToTheMoon

This time last year, I had a handful of year 13 #ALevelMaths students who were in the danger zone of getting a U (maybe getting E on a good day) So I started giving them daily videos to watch by @tlmaths.bsky.social to break their revision down into manageable chunks. There was a tick sheet...

When do you usually finish content? We’re finishing over the next couple of weeks, leaving a half term of revision?

Brilliant idea!

And me!

The 2nd is a mock week timetable. The lessons become 3 hours long, one in the morning, one in the afternoon. We have six ‘lines’ and each line gets a lesson across Tues-Thu (INSET Mon, marking day Fri). Classes will do the Maths mock at different times depending on which line they’re in.

We have two systems. One where everyone does the Maths mock, say, at the same time and all lessons are on as normal. Students go to their lessons unless they’re in a mock. Teachers judge how many are in front of them if they’re going to continue with new content or not.

Come and work with me! We need a Teacher of Maths for September. Barton Peveril Sixth Form College in Eastleigh, Hampshire. 1100+ A-Level Maths students! Message me if you have any questions. #ALevelMaths barton-peveril.ac.uk/careers/vaca...

Thanks Rob! Much appreciated! I’ve been too busy textbook writing for the last few months, trying to get FM Core Pure Part 2 done, but there is a YouTube project on the horizon if all my ducks get into a row

I rated Train Dreams (2025) 8/10 #IMDb Joel Edgerton is Robert, a logger working for the railway in the early 20th century. The film looks great and there’s a number of poignant moments. Will Patton’s narration is not overused, and feels Coens-esque. Edgerton’s subdued performance is excellent.

I rated The Killing of America (1981) 8/10 #IMDb Brutal documentary that investigates the violence in the US, bookended by the assassinations of JFK and John Lennon. It’s certainly not for the faint of heart. Looks at gun violence and serial killers, including an interview with Ed Kemper.

I rated Red Sparrow (2018) 7/10 #IMDb Ex-ballerina Jennifer Lawrence is trained to be a spy, tasked with uncovering a high profile mole. Jennifer Lawrence is very good in the lead role but it’s a very dark and depressing film. If you’re an espionage fan, then this ticks all the boxes.

I rated Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024) 7/10 #IMDb Clocking in at a whopping 2h 28m, it suffers from what you would expect from a prequel: you know which characters will survive, and you’re just waiting for Furiosa to lose the arm. Strong action but it doesn’t reach the heights of the previous.

I rated Alone in Berlin (2016) 7/10 #IMDb Brendan Gleeson and Emma Thompson’s son dies on the front line and they decide to leave postcards around Berlin denouncing Hitler. Based on the true story of Otto and Elise Hampel, Gleeson and Thompson are both excellent if the film is a little flat.

I rated Phantasm (1979) 5/10 #IMDb Shoe-string budget horror sees creepy goings on with the Tall Man who’s robbing graves. There’s a couple of particularly gory scenes but the acting and script are dire. The Tall Man is quite creepy. The best thing is the soundtrack.

I generally stick to films released in the current year, or just films that take my fancy at the time. I don’t have a list I’m working through

The problem is that every time I see Kyle Chandler show up on screen, I immediately mistrust him

I rated The Rip (2026) 6/10 #IMDb Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are Miami cops who come across a huge wodge of cash in a house. Lots of dark stares, shouting and shooting in a convoluted plot. There’s not enough that’s interesting though to want to revisit it.

I rated People We Meet on Vacation (2026) 6/10 #IMDb Emily Bader goes on vacation each year with Tom Blyth who is *definitely* just a friend. It’s a fairly basic romantic comedy with few twists that gets very soppy towards the end. Afternoon half term entertainment.

I rated The Wrecking Crew (2026) 5/10 #IMDb Dave Bautista and Jason Mamoa take on the Yakuza in Hawaii. Straight to Prime odd couple buddy dadsploitation actioner. There’s a not so good call out to Oldboy and a rubbish CGI helicopter car smash sequence. It’s not awful but immediately forgettable.