A depressing weekend

It has been stormy over the last 24 hours or so. The village of hen houses have taken the brunt of the weather as the wind gusts up the valley, and this morning the birds have congregated in the centre of the coops where they've escaped the worst of the gales.
It is interesting to note that only the heavy and plodding ghost hens seem unaffected by the inclement weather....obviously their bulk seems to shield them from the gusts of wind and rain.
Mind you the five of them,literally move as one so face the elements like a group of Roman soldiers
Last night the cottage seemed rather isolated. The wind was a blowing and it was dark as pitch outside! It didn't help me watching two mean and moody films, both with protagonists battling their own demons during bleak stormy weather! when you are home alone, the old imagination can run riot when all you can hear is the shriek of the wind in the trees.

Marin Scorsese's melodrama Shutter Island is somewhat of a heavy handed movie.Visually, its film noir -ish mise- en- scene coupled with the dark hurricane lashed psychiatric hospital mystery, makes for interesting viewing, but the very artificiality of the plot and style of the piece flagged up the main twist in the story for me only 30 minutes into the movie.
Leonardo de Caprio , is not a favourite actor of mine, but he does carry the movie with an assured and compelling performance. 7/10

Valhalla Rising is a glum, brutal and wholly depressing odyssey from Danish director Nicolas Winding. It follows the unending journey of a one eyed prisoner (Mads Mikkelsen) as he escapes some pagan oppressors to fall in with some viking warriors.....yeap not a bag of laughs.. but I must admit the movie was quite beautiful to look at in a chilling and depressive kind of way

6/10

I gave up after a hour...... and put on Mildred Pierce
......Working night shift tonight........this weekend has not been one of my best