I’m a crier. I cry at films and TV shows all the time, I’ve even been known to cry at TV commercials (and not just the annual John Lewis advert designed to tug at the heartstrings and send you to the High Street). When I sat down to watch The Fault in Our Stars, a film about teenagers with cancer…
Belle
1 June 2015 by Leave a Comment
There’s a podcast that I listen to called Stuff You Missed in History Class, it’s a 30 minute or so look at individual incidents in history which, while fascinating, don’t seem to be well-known. One of my favourite episodes was one which recounted the West Point Eggnog Riot of 1826…
Paddington
14 April 2015 by Leave a Comment
As a little girl my favourite bear was Paddington, the good-mannered bear from Darkest Peru. None of your Rupert with his weird trousers or Winnie the Pooh and his gang of freaky friends for me; it was always Paddington. When I love a book (or in this case character) the thought of a film adaptation is pretty scary…
Grace of Monaco
8 April 2015 by Leave a Comment
A couple of years back I took part in a mad attempt to visit all 50 countries in Europe in just one year. We didn’t quite manage it and I’m still tempted to try it again. One of the 25 countries I did visit in the year was principality of Monaco. It was an amazing day trip…
Sunset Boulevard
3 April 2015 by Leave a Comment
There are a number of films that I tend to just to assume that I’ve seen, mostly these are the ones that are on television so often that it’s easy to think that I must have caught them at some point. Or ones which have entered the collective consciousness and seem so familiar that I must have seen them…
I Was A Male War Bride
26 March 2015 by 2 Comments
The easiest question in the world for me to answer is “Who is your favourite actor?” From the age of about six or seven the answer has been the same – Cary Grant. There are others I admire – James Stewart runs Grant a close second, Tom Hanks is always impressive…
August: Osage County
18 March 2015 by Leave a Comment
There’s a very specific kind of acting that I can’t stand. It’s over the top, it’s shouty, it’s showy, it’s very much aimed at getting awards. I refer to it as ACTING with all capital letters, when you speak about it you slip into a loud, plummy accent. ACTING darling, ACTING…
Maleficent
13 March 2015 by Leave a Comment
A rape analogy, a depiction of insanity brought by the relentless pursuit of power and the message that familial love is more powerful than teen romance. Not exactly what I was expecting from a Disney retelling of one of its own beloved stories but that’s exactly what I got from Maleficent, the live-action version of Sleeping Beauty…
Sunshine on Leith
19 November 2014 by Leave a Comment
I think it’s somewhere in Scots’ law that if you are a Scot, especially if you no longer live in the home country, you must love The Proclaimers. You don’t have to know many of their songs or even think that they are great singers, but you must be eager at any opportunity to burst into 500 miles or Letter from America…
R.I.P.D
18 August 2014 by Leave a Comment
One of the criticisms I have to take on board as a reviewer is that I can be a little generous with my scoring. And I hold my hands up to that. I’m a relatively positive person. I like films and books, I go into the cinema or pick up a book because I want to enjoy the time that I spend with the stories being told…