I imagine that in any number of Top Tens I could do Die Hard would feature prominently. Top Ten Action Films – check. Christmas Films – yup. Films set in tower blocks, Bruce Willis films, films with leading men wearing vests. I will make up spurious Top Tens just to find new ways to extoll the virtues of Die Hard. I really do love the original film…
Warm Bodies
14 February 2013 by Leave a Comment
After a brief period of unpopularity zombies are back to being the supernatural bad guys of the moment. Vampires are on their way out and I blame (or depending on your point of view, thank) The Walking Dead for the resurgence of the zombie. It could be worse, we could be over-run with sparkly bloody nightcrawlers for all eternity. The latest zombie flick is Warm Bodies…
Zero Dark Thirty
13 February 2013 by 4 Comments
I’m doing my best to catch up with as many of the films and performances in this year’s Oscar race before February 24th. I’ve managed Lincoln, Les Miserables (for the second time) and The Impossible in the past few days. I may have missed the boat on The Master, Argo and Amour but if it’s still on locally I’ll get to it. I was really glad to have made it to Zero Dark Thirty…
Lincoln
11 February 2013 by 2 Comments
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
10 February 2013 by Leave a Comment
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
8 February 2013 by Leave a Comment
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
28 January 2013 by Leave a Comment
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…
Les Miserables
16 January 2013 by 8 Comments
Some people have books, films, paintings or pieces of great classical music that are part of their soul. Works of art that have a special place in their heart that can’t be explained but ‘belong’ to them and always will. For me that place in my consciousness is occupied by the musical Les Miserables…
Cats & Dogs
16 January 2013 by Leave a Comment
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…
Gangster Squad
11 January 2013 by 6 Comments
One of my favourite websites is launchingfilms.com, the website of the Film Distributors’ Association. In a few short minutes you can see what films are released each week for months in advance. Sometimes even years in advance – for example How To Train Your Dragon 3 (3D) is scheduled for release on Friday 22 July 2016…