The end of the year is near and Pretensions has completed most of her work commitments and her concert (pictures forthcoming and yes, it went well), so she is finally trying to catch up with her long outstanding blog posts. Here are 2 movies she caught while on the plane from Taiwan to Singapore.

Is there anyone on the planet who hasn't heard of Mamma Mia!, the Abba musical? P saw it several years ago in London during its West End run. She went with about 10 friends and everyone had a great time dancing in the aisles to the unforgettable tunes of  "Dancing Queen", "Gimme, gimme, gimme", "Supertrouper" and other tunes which some readers may be cringing to remember. Well, earlier this year, the powers-that-be in Hollywood decided to convert it into a movie, dressing up its paper-thin plot with an A-list cast including Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and Julie Walters.

For those not familiar with the movie's excuse for a plot, it centres around Donna (Meryl Streep) an independent fiesty single mother who owns a small rickety hotel on a bucolic Greek island. Donna's daughter Sophie (the nymph-like Amanda Seyfried) is getting married to her long-term greek boyfriend Sky (Dominic Cooper). Sophie embarks on a quest to find out which of Donna's ex-boyfriends (Brosnan, Firth and Stellan Skarsgard) is actually her father. Numerous comedic shenanigans ensue plus enough song-and-dance numbers to stun a Bollywood cast, only rescued from obscurity by the nostalgia of the audience for their favourite Abba numbers.

OK, let it be said that Meryl Streep can definitely sing - she is one very talented lady and P has now added great respect for her singing voice to her awe of Streep's acting talents. Brosnan, on the other hand, should stick to the shower - he'd get booed off the stage of the local karaoke. Julie Walters also can't sing, but is so funny you enjoy her antics anyway. The whole shtick hangs together like a drunken karaoke party actually, full of embarassing older uncles and aunts who should know better, but everyone has lots of fun.

Still there is a certain charm to the whole thing, but why, oh, why, didn't they just leave this as a live production? It was so much better in the theatre and most of the A-list actors might still have their dignity. Watch this on DVD just for the kitsch factor and the chance to dance to "Dancing Queen" one more time in the anonymity of your living room.

To give you the flavour of the movie, enjoy the following 2 videos - "Mamma Mia" and "Does your mother know?". Avoid dancing in public places now!

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P's second choice The X-Files: I want to believe, whilst also harking back to a past decade but in this case the '90s. P remembers being in university while watching Mulder (David Duchovny) the true believer and Scully (Gillian Anderson) the sceptic in their weekly joust with the supernatural. She was very glad to see that the two actors didn't appear to have aged too much in the intervening decade and a half (unlike P sadly).

The movie begins several years after the two have quite the FBI. Dana Scully is now a full-time staff physician at a Catholic hospital. Fox Mulder is still a fugitive from the law, complete with hermit-like beard. FBI agent Drummy is investigating the mysterious murders of several women and persuades Scully to bring Mulder into the investigation, promising that he will be reinstated in return. Mulder, in turn, recruits Father Joe, a defrocked catholic priest who claims to have visions of the crimes. Various body parts are found, containing traces of an animal tranquilizer. The plot takes various twists and turns from there, taking our heroes through various tests of faith and eventually leading them to the appalling truth behind the murders.

To P, the movie felt like an extended episode of the original X-files, no more no less. It was great for nostalgia value but didn't really advance the X-files mythos one iota. Even Scully's son was barely referred to and the main plot strand felt somewhat hackneyed and unimportant. There were some great chilling moments during the move, but sadly they didn't really lead to a decent denouement. The chemistry between Mulder and Scully is still great, but it's not really enough to carry even fans through a (nearly) two hour movie.

Don't get P wrong, the movie wasn't bad, but it could have been much better. Here's a clip which might at least illustrate the returning Mulder/Scully relationship.