Sliding Doors

Proof that, in Britain, destiny is controlled by public transport.

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Here's what I've been watching and playing over the last seven days...

MOVIES

Sliding Doors

Movie summary: After personal and professional setbacks, a woman experiences an alternate reality. (IMDb)

Why is this movie so difficult to find in the UK?

Seriously, are the distribution rights for Sliding Doors caught up in some nightmarish red tape?

I originally wanted to re-watch this some time ago and couldn't find it anywhere until it happened to crop up on the iTunes store and snapped it up right away - it's just taken a while to get round to watching it!

However, Sliding Doors is now no longer available on the iTunes store.

Or the Google Play store.

If you go to Amazon.co.uk and search for 'sliding doors' you get... doors that slide.

If you do specify the search term as 'sliding doors movie', you get Blu-ray, DVD and VHS(!) options appear - the Blu-Ray is the German copy, the DVD is used and how many people are still watching VHS?

It's not available anywhere in the UK to stream either.

As hard as it might be to believe in this digital age, I have what is apparently a very rare copy of Sliding Doors that is currently unavailable to buy anywhere.

As for the movie itself, I did enjoy watching it again and enjoying Gwyneth Paltrow's excellent double act as different versions of the same woman, and her English accent which might just be the best ever from an American?

It's only a small cast - helpful when you're following two different timelines at the same time - and everyone is great, even if Douglas McFerran steals his scenes thanks to how funny he is.

And while John Lynch is great as Gerry, he is a bit too slimy overall, making me wonder what Paltrow's Helen ever saw in him in the first place.

And just to further explain the IMDb summary above, which isn't great, the movie follows two different life paths based around whether she makes it onto a train or not after being fired from her job.

The varying ups-and-downs of each Helen's life are fun to watch, and you might be surprised at how things end up based on how well each version of Helen fares.

Sliding Doors does tip into some serious rom-com-drama clichés at points, and a too-convenient van helps tie up the ending a little too neatly, but it is still a very enjoyable watch and I'd fully recommend that you see it... if that's even possible now.

Sliding Doors is both better and worse than I remembered, with higher highs and lower lows, but is still a really great film with a fantastic double performance by Gwyneth Paltrow. [8/10]

Interstellar

No idea why I picked this out beyond needing more sci-fi to balance out the fantasy-centric gaming period I'm going through, but I still enjoy this lots.

I still don't think it needs to be quite as long as it is, but the visuals and score make the bloated-at-points story more than bearable.

GAMES

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Almost 12 hours into this now and still not getting the insane hype - it's a very good game and I'm very much enjoying my time with it, but I don't think I'd go much further than that when praising it.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard

I can understand the mixed reactions from players more than the general positivity from reviewers with this one though.

Not a fan of the art style and, 7 hours in, it still feels like it's not really started yet.

Also currently playing: Batman: Arkham City, Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020)

TV

Andor, Season Two

Okay, it's not a new show, but the next stop after finishing Rebels was going to be Rogue One again, so I thought I might as well watch the season of the show that leads directly into it first!

Then I can pick something new to watch.

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