For me, and I think for many people, James Stewart was at his most endearing when playing the everyman. The characters that come to mind are those who are slightly bumbling and naïve but certainly kind and considerate. George Bailey, Jefferson Smith and Elwood P. Dowd…
Mr Smith Goes To Washington
23 March 2013 by Leave a Comment
In the dark and distant days before I spent my days writing I used to work in the murky world of politics. I don’t have particularly fond memories of that period of my life but at the same time I still have an enduring interest in politics and political issues..
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
22 March 2013 by Leave a Comment
Earlier today I celebrated Stephen Sondheim’s 83rd birthday by watching and reviewing West Side Story. A little later in the day and it seemed appropriate to go about as dark as possible with movie musicals and have a blood-splattered evening…
West Side Story
22 March 2013 by Leave a Comment
Today is composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim’s 83rd birthday and to celebrate I’m reviewing two of his musicals brought to life on the big screen, starting with the classic Oscar-winner West Side Story. I’ve already discussed West Side Story a couple of times on the blog, it features in both the Top Ten Musicals and Top Ten Weepies categories…
Side Effects
18 March 2013 by 2 Comments
I’ve not had a great couple of weeks at the cinema. Safe Haven, Hansel and Gretel, Die Hard and Warm Bodies have been latest big screen forays and it’s fair to say that none of them will be troubling the compilers of the end of year “Best of” lists…
Safe Haven
1 March 2013 by Leave a Comment
I set myself a task at the beginning of the year to go through my DVD collection and watch all of my unwatched films. I’ll admit it – we’ve reached the beginning of March and I’ve not made much, um, any progress. In fact I’ve bought new films that I’ve not watched yet so I’m actually going backwards. But it’s a brand new month…
Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters
1 March 2013 by 2 Comments
It’s the week after the Oscars, the point in the year when the next awards season is as far away from everyone’s minds as it is possible to be. Therefore it is the perfect time for the studios to dump the films they want people to forget about as soon as they can. Given that Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters was filmed in early 2011…
The Woman In Black
28 February 2013 by Leave a Comment
I’m out of town for a few days staying in a strange hotel room. It’s a perfectly nice hotel but it’s not my home city and I’m in a room that’s not my own. There are unknown noises and strange bumps and all sorts of weird things going on. It’s what happens when you are in a place you don’t know very well. So the obvious film to watch was Hammer’s ghost story The Woman in Black…
Broken City
27 February 2013 by Leave a Comment
There are some things that come around every year – the panic to fill out the tax-return, the complaints that Easter Eggs are in the shops too early, jokes about there being a hosepipe ban every time there’s a slight rainfall during the summer. We can now add to this the annual Mark Wahlberg tough but good guy film…
This Means War
20 February 2013 by 5 Comments
Sometimes I read reviews of romantic comedies that are very scathing and make me think I’m about to watch the worst movie ever made. I’m usually pleasantly surprised by a film that is a bit mindless but normally quite fun and enjoyable…