Louise

House of Cards

If you were involved in British politics in the late 80s and early 90s then you couldn’t fail to be hooked on the TV adaptation of the Michael Dobbs novel House of Cards. Every political party member and amateur debater who thought they were being clever answered any question asked of them with “You might think that, I couldn’t possibly comment.”…

Lincoln

When you look at the cast and synopses of some films they scream “Oscar fodder” at you. You just know that at the back of studio executives’ minds when the film goes through the development stage is Oscar Night and a row of shiny bald gold men lighting up their Hollywood offices…

I Give It A Year

Weddings bring out the worst in me. I don’t like them, I don’t like the enforced jollity, I don’t like big parties and I don’t really like family events. I did have a bad experience at a wedding once where I was trying to be friendly to someone who was particularly mean to me. Then there was the wedding where I was chatted up by the father of the bride’s child…

The Impossible

I’m a news junkie, whenever something even vaguely interesting happens I am hooked on BBC News online, Sky News and Twitter. I have to know what’s happening. But it took a few days for the Tsunami on Boxing Day 2004 to get into my consciousness…

50/50

One of the films I was most sorry to miss at the cinema in the past year or so was 50/50. I was intrigued to see how the film-makers would manage to make a comedy about a young man diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and how this affects his relationships, particularly with his best friend…

Hey Robbie, what’s wrong with the #twittercritic?

The Daily Telegraph’s chief film critic Robbie Collin has written a rather snooty article today criticising an advertising agency for using reviews from Twitter users in their latest poster for The Impossible….

My Animals and Other Family

Last year will not go down in history as a triumph for the BBC which is a real shame. For all the scandals and cover-ups and disasters I still think it’s one of Britain’s greatest institutions. One of its saving graces from 2012 however was the coverage of the London Olympics and one of the stars of the Olympic presentation team was Clare Balding….

Cats & Dogs

I am a big kid at heart. I freely admit it and I see no shame in it in fact I embrace my inner child. I think we are all a little bit too quick to grow up and be all so serious and adult about life. I’m pretty proud of the fact that despite the fact I’m in my middish 30s I own a healthy number of films aimed at a younger audience…