ANVIL! The Story Of Anvil: The Story Of A Metal Band Called Anvil: As Seen In The Film Anvil! is a very sweet movie about ambition, dreams and never giving up. At its core are two childhood friends who love playing heavy metal and had a brush with t[…]

A semi follow up to Martin’s Lem piece (a writer for whom the only affection I have is due to him sharing the first name with my grandfather). I went to the NFT a few weeks ago to see Stalker. OK, Roadside Picnic is not by Lem, but Tarkovsky di[…]

Apologies for the late arrival of this podcast, technical difficulties combined with having to run it past the Lord Chamberlain delayed the posting.
Tom Ewing, Anna Fielding, Mark Sinker and Pete Baran talk about eyes, lies, Google Street View, eleph[…]

I think this is the last track I made go to number one.

Sorry, I’ll clarify that before hubris catches up with me. Your Woman, by White Town (or officially the Abort, Retry, Fail?_ EP) is the last single I bought which, in the week I bought […]

Maybe it was Emily Blunt’s big stamp head on the side of all the buses in London that made me want to see The Young Victoria. Maybe it was the surprising use of the definite article in the title. Whatever I went to see the costume and facial ha[…]

The “Confessions” Movie sequence has to be one of the most schizophrenic (non-medical usage) of the movie sequences out there. As such the films have run the gamut of movie stylings from bawdy sex comedy to rom-com via spy and teen movies[…]

Last Friday was a terrific return to form for Poptimism, for the first time south of the river at the Horse Bar in Lambeth. Much dancing and interesting records played in the correct spirit of bonhomie. Well except for the bloke who dissed Scooter wh[…]

Shoot ‘Em Up was a action movie piece of fluff in the style of Crank, basically ridiculous gun porn in an over-the-top situation. Clive Owen played our grizzled anti-hero, surly and angry for no obvious reason. A man who is exceptional with gun[…]

This lacklustre ad for a festival (via Popjustice Twitter) for some reason reminds me of nothing less than how Trad Jazz bands used to advertise their niche wares in the late seventies. Much like much of the worst excesses of CAMRA, the affair seems […]

Wendy And Lucy is a tinycore mood piece about poor, struggling Wendy (Michelle Williams) trying to drive up to Alaska with her dog Lucy. Wendy is looking for work and has a plan, but to get to Alaska she has to stick to a strict budget with very litt[…]