Delovely has a problem at its core, which scuppers the whole biographical process. Cole Porter’s songs were not autobiographical. Generally they were written for musicals, where the songs helped tell the story, a story which was quite unlike hi[…]

X marks the spot.
When Fame Academy was on, I argued that a transposition of critical and popular judgement might be under way in tele-land. (Not necessarily a good or a bad thing.) At the very least, what Pop Idol itself did was place the audience, […]

the ineffectiveness of the transparently fake debate
the times is currently pushing itself as a forum for lively debate, in particular with a series of ads featuring Harry Hill and Sanjeev Bhaskar fake-arguing about “the best film of all time&[…]

Code 46 is a futuristic law which says that due to the massive rise in in vitro births and other shenanigans, we must not have children with people who share our genetic code. Its anti-incest because that half the people on the planet may have simila[…]

New Guidelines for Kids TV: a little strict, say industry types. The thing about kids watching TV is that generally they will actually turn over or off if they see genuinely disturbing (as opposed to scary or ‘ewwww’) stuff. Also the enti[…]

FT TOP 100 FILMS
20: ELECTION
Martin Skidmore says:
I’m astonished that director Alexander Payne has attracted quite a lot of criticism from some quarters for picking on particular targets and being cruel about them – Kathy Bates’s […]

Moose writes weblog about TV ads: with a jaundiced air. Being a good middle-class child I was brought up never to watch ITV so I can’t comment on any of these ads – I suspect the tone of outraged sarcastic ire is probably right though. I […]

Real People wanted
Upcoming opportunities to get on telly in misguided belief that fame and fortune awaits? Or at least, that’s the sell, it seems to me. Do people beleive it? Do people not just go for a laugh or for a good day out (especially […]

FT TOP 100 FILMS
21: BABE
I’m back again.
So Superman: The Movie had the tagline “You’ll believe a man can fly”. Babe should have had “you’ll believe a pig can talk”, because you do. Anthropomorphic fables th[…]

Dead Man’s Shoes is made by Warp films. It shows from the soundtrack. It is quite possible that the company also imparted a touch of a minimalist attitude to this stripped down production too. Shane Meadows had vanished into an almost twee paro[…]