Whoever would have guessed that Banbridge had a decent Italian restaurant? But there is one – called “Simply Italian” and part of the Iveagh cinema complex. That was handy, as Anne and I decided to break out of our hermit-like existence last night to go see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Jolly decent food, with the inevitable Ulster twist of very small cubed deep-fried potatoes, whcih I don’t think I’ve ever encountered in Italy, and served speedily enough for us to get to the film on time.

Well, at last I’ve caught up with one film that most of my f-list appears to have seen (see here, here, here and here here, here, and here) and I really liked it. The special effects are mind-blowing, especially the chocolate river scene. The child actors are totally convincing for a change. And Deep Roy, who I remember as the sinister homicidal midget android from The Talons of Weng-Chiang 25 years ago, is fantastic, over and over again. Not wildly convinced by the Wonka back-story, but it is a Tim Burton film after all, and one almost feels that Edward Scissorhands was an apprentice piece for this.