One of the films I’ve enjoyed most in the past few years is The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. The story of a group of old people who go to live in India was genuinely heart-warming and blessed with a fabulous cast of the best of British acting talent including Dames Judi Dench and Maggie Smith…
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…
Top Ten: Feel-Good Films
20 March 2015 by Leave a Comment
Today is the United Nations International Day of Happiness. So go on, smile. If the UN says we’ve to be happy, then we’re damn well going to be happy. Here are 10 films that are guaranteed to bring a smile to my face and make me feel happy…
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…
City Slacker
25 September 2012 by Leave a Comment
It’s probably not very professional of me to admit this, but I do judge books by their cover and films by their names and posters. If a film has a poster which is all jaunty and has someone (usually Matthew McConaughey or Gerard Butler) leaning onto something I usually feel slightly nauseous and avoid like the plague..
Four
9 November 2011 by Leave a Comment
Since attending the Raindance Film Festival I’ve started to become a lot more interested in independent, low-budget British film-making. Much as I love the Colin Firth/Hugh Grant movies that seem to make up much of the successful UK output I’m looking forward to getting to know more of the kind of smaller British output …
How To Become A Criminal Mastermind Trailer
14 October 2011 by Leave a Comment
One of the great things about the rise of social media is that it allows smaller authors and filmmakers the opportunity to promote their work without relying on big-budget publicity campaigns. I’m always keeping a look out for news of new books and films that might otherwise fall below the radar….
Victims
8 October 2011 by Leave a Comment
Imagine that all the people who believe everything they read in the Daily Mail got together and decided to sort out the injustices they see all around them. The country would descend into chaos and people would face punishment dished out by the mob rather than the courts …
Mesocafe
6 October 2011 by Leave a Comment
The war in Iraq and the search for Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) have been a source of inspiration for a number of films including In The Valley of Elah, The Hurt Locker and the hugely disappointing Green Zone. All of these come from a Western (American) perspective…