Too much reality? The most extraordinary piece of TV I’ve seen recently was Matthew Kelly turning the tables on his host on the Frank Skinner Show. The shaven-headed giant had a sinister grin on his face as he demanded that Skinner repeat the l[…]

One potential guarantee of the overall cultural worth of any project may well be the ability of the project to have cheap jokes made about it. Using this rule of thumb 24, Stephen Hopkins finest hour, certainly stands up. But jokes about Kim vs couga[…]

It barely needs saying that the best project Stephen Hopkins has ever been involved in, and by some distance, is 24. But the others haven’t been awful either, apart from perhaps Lost in Space and The Ghost and the Darkness. Hm. Argument seem[…]

Adam Faith’s Dream Debased Two TV treats last night but which to watch? On BBC1: Brian Harvey’s reflections on being given the boot from East 17 in My Worst Week. five topped this with Shaving Ryan’s Privates. FINALLY, an investi[…]

As you can see from the website, Curtis and Grant are calling for an end to the genre that has made them rich and famous, as they release “the ULTIMATE romantic comedy”. If only it was…
(then again, it makes buying birthday/xmas pr[…]

TIME COMMANDERS again, another the-past-is-a-v.-v.-foreign-country moment: Hittites vs Egyptians, the Battle of Qadesh. “This is before the Greek idea,” says my pal Aryk blithely, “of battles having a winner and a loser.” THOS[…]

Sunday mornings are a dry time for me televisually. The behemoth that is Hollyoaks has never suckered me in, and the other channels diet of Christian God bothering and non-specific deity bothering bothers me not. And running and hiding from Sunday Ho[…]

What’s The Time Mr Wolf was one of my favourite playground games as a youth. A creeping up on the bad guy game, there was a delicious moment, when whoever was playing the wolf would shout “Dinnertime” and the dynamic changed from sn[…]

XX/XY is a fine little indie relationship drama. No great shakes in a lot of areas: it privileges its female characters over its male character to an amusing degree since he is both likeable and impressively gormless. The very premise of the film tho[…]

Last night I saw the first hour and a half of Martin Scorsese’s Il Mio Viaggio In Italia, which has convinced me that if Marty ever gives up directing he is a shoe-in for film school lecturing. It is basically a personal history of Italian cine[…]