Being educated in a three school system meant that at age eleven my gang were kings of the School. (this not actually true, bullys were kings of the School but showed a lax attitude in this reign except getting tribute from those too weak to argue). […]

I have a brand new impression. I am not what you would call a mimic, yet it struck me that along with my screwed up Old Man Steptoe face, I could also do a fair to passable caricature of Renne Zellweger in Cold Mountain. It is rather simple, blow you[…]

‘Ordinary life can be pretty complex stuff’. So runs the tagline for Sundance audience winner American Splendour. No shit. You’ll be teelling me the pope wear a silly hat next.
What is remarkable about American Splendour is not that i[…]

I saw Kiss Of Life on Saturday afternoon. There were three other people in the cinema. Which may seem an indictment of the state of the British Film industry, until you guess how many people actually liked it. I don’t think I am assuming to muc[…]

Seeing Waiting For Guffman at the NFT made me dwell upon the mockumentary form. It is clear that it is a subsection of parody, but what is often unclear is what is actually being parodied. Is it the overly referential tropes of documentary or the sub[…]

In light of Shelob in Lord Of The Ring: Return of The King, I am considering updating Six Legs Good, Eight Legs Bad. Finally a giant spider, albeit a fantasy one, that is actually unsettling and frightening. In the light of the Spider-Man 2 trailer I[…]

Lordy. Finally it is over. The last ever Only Fools And Horses. Please this time let that be true. Ending again with a birth, a couple of discarded old plots, a deus ex machina and the creekiest David Bowie joke I have heard in a long time (Ziggy Saw[…]

Since I have professed my love for the banjo before, it will come as no surprise as to how much I like Nelly Furtado’s Powerless. Despite the classic second album “poor ole me lyrics”, the other Nelly has managed to strap her tradem[…]

David Thompson, in his discussion of Carl Franklin as a director in his Autobiographical Dictionary Of Film, mentions how good he is a directing multi-racial films without drawing attention to this aspect. Out Of Time is another addition to this cano[…]

Critics have been moaning that the new live-action Peter Pan dwells far to much on the burgeoning sexuality of Wendy. What the fuck do they think Peter Pan is about if not the horror and fear of adulthood and all that this entails? Other critics have[…]