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En-point slice of teen angst from the Inbetweeners alumni Sam Bird has you snorting into your popcorn, as you recognise the tête-à-tête between mother and son from the graphic novel and how it reflects with near-100% accuracy to the film. Supporting the brilliant Earl Cave and Monica Dolan are star turns by Earth Mother-type Tamsin Greig and the amazing Elliot Speller-Gillott as Ky, Daniel's best mate and scene stealer. Ky's lines are few, but boy, do they are delivered with precision cadence, pitch and gravitas. Cinematography must get a mention, with brilliant long shots - the ice cream van - and medium shots - the beach walk scene, in the library. Cave, playing an angry, sullen younger teen, displays the makings of a brilliant interpreter of mood, timing, and movement. I'd say up there with Brad Renfro, who also underplayed his role of Josh in Ghost World - another graphic novel adaption. A nugget of a film to cherish.

In 2016 , the Tom Michell book Penguin Lessons was warmly received, being, amongst other things, a BBC Radio 2 Book Club title. I loved the book as it reflected how we react to man's inhumanity to animals (our New Zealand town rescued 364 oiled penguins in 2011). The film takes a few liberties with the book, adding characters and some character's backstories. It also adds year's to the main character's life. Yet Coogan is still ideal as Michell, adding a certain gravitas to the proceedings. Other highlights of the film are the cinematography, Spain standing in for Argentina, and the students. The well-trained Magellan Penguin also gets most of the laughs. Going by the moniker Juan Salvador, we see the bird become a pseudo- therapist for lonely students, staff, tutors and principals of the upper class Argentinian school. Obviously you can not keep wild penguins as pets, but the real Juan Salvador unwittingly extended the sanity of many human lives, was cherished and looked after, and whilst wasn't in a zoo, perhaps lived out the rest of his life in a more valuable locale than had he been placed in a zoo. Michell also videoed footage of Juan Salvador at the school in the 70s the results can be found on YouTube.

Responsible for a vast array of ear worms over the course of the last third of last century, Dylan's music is well-known and over-played. But the soul who is Dylan is a different story - the road less traveled so to speak, at least in the film realm. We have got glimpses in documentary films of The Band, for example. One of those films stated that Dylan was not particularly comfortable on stage, according to Robbie Robertson, and this is portrayed well by Timothée Chalamet in this biopic. His standout performance about someone who still lives must have been awkward for Timothée, particularly with regard to the musicianship. Textbook Bob, even down to the diction (unclear at times). For those of you who like to listen to old school music and attend high school reunions to wallow in nostalgia, we get a lesson on why it is essential to seek out new music and forge our own musical pathways. Otherwise you are left behind, both musically and personally. Bob specifically showed that this process is essential, although he nearly lost his scalp at Newport when he turned electric at the home of folk music. If Johnny Cash ever said "trek some mud on the carpet", as stated in the film, Bob was taking it to the nth! The story of Bob would not have happened if it weren't for Joan Baez releasing his own material, giving him his main musical break. Baez was also key to this film, being ever-so-effortlessly portrayed by Monica Barbaro - also singing the material. Her likeness to Baez is also incredible. Amongst the women Dylan fractiously had relationships with, Baez is the one who had the least to lose, being the established minstrel to Dylan's emerging troubadour. He must have meant something to her, for her to write Diamonds and Rust. "Ten years ago I bought you some cuff-links, you bought me something", Baez wrote in 1975, trouncing Dylan with a burn still raw today, eclipsing Carly Simon's 'pioneering' Warren Beatty burner song You're So Vain, from three years before. Hint: Guys, if you are going to date songwriters, treat them better!

Other film highlights in dispatches were Dan Fogler as Albert Grossman, who owns his scenes; and a whimsical Wes Anderson-esque turn from Edward Norton as Pete Seeger. The musical highlight for me was probably the acoustic It's All Over Now, Baby Blue, the final song at the Newport Folk Festival - if ever the folk music /nostalgia/ high school reunion buffs ever deserved a kick to get them out of the rut, this was it. Onya, Bob. One footnote: if Dylan ever did LOOK like Chalamet does now, he would have been bigger than Elvis!

All in all, a wonderful biopic to shelve with Rocketman & Bohemian Rhapsody.