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Review: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers at the Royal Albert Hall
Monday, June 18, 2012 Humility isn’t usually Tom Petty’s strong suit. The Floridian rock star has twinkingly commandeered members of other bands, fiercely clung onto songs written for other voices and...
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Banking on the Olympic dream
What is the official bank of the London 2012 Olympics? Oh yes, I remember, because they drove a little musical van past us repeatedly as we were waiting patiently and expectantly for the torch parade....
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Romcoms, Rohmer and Harry Langdon - Reviews #121
CINEMA: The Five-Year Engagement (Nicholas Stoller, 2012)– This romantic comedy from the Judd Apatow stable starts brilliantly and ends well, but suffers from a sour and silly middle third in which its...
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Review: The Stone Roses at Heaton Park, Manchester
Friday, June 29, 2012 As the 11pm curfew falls, fireworks explode across the Manchester sky and Bob Marley’s Redemption Song floats from the speakers around Heaton Park, it is something like a perfect...
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A Star Is Born, John Barrymore and zingers - Reviews #122
In this latest reviews round-up: Canadian dogs, Argentinean dogs, tiresomely dotty grandmothers and Jennifer Aniston's answer to Pulp Fiction.*MINOR SPOILERS*A Star Is Born (William A. Wellman, 1937) -...
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Buster, Bogart and idolising New York City out of all proportion - Festival...
The World's Smallest Film Festival took place at Rudding Park, near Harrogate, on Sunday. Myself and Harrogate International Festival programme co-ordinator Graham Chalmers picked the six...
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The Dark Knight Rises - Reviews #123
*SPOILERS*The Dark Knight Rises (Christopher Nolan, 2012) - Patrick Batman (Christian Bale) has spent eight years in hiding. Confined to the east wing of Bat Towers and reduced to resting on a walking...
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The Lorax, Spidey and sprinters on steroids - Reviews #124
Here's the first of a three-part summer reviews round-up. This one sees me living in the cinema, investigating a rare silent comedy and watching a BBC4 documentary about running.MOVIESCINEMA: The Lorax...
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Truffaut, Gazza and not re-evaluating Hitchcock - Reviews #125
In part two of the summer round-up, I spend a day in the dark with Truffaut, don't bother re-appraising Hitchcock's alleged "lost masterpiece" and go on about Joseph Gordon-Levitt again.*SPOILERS*Jules...
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Smoking, fireworks and Doug on the ceiling - Reviews #126
Douglas Fairbanks, an ant crossed with a man, and John Barrymore at his greatest, in the third and final part of my summer reviews round-up. To start with, here are the first three films I've watched...
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The greatest movies of all time - my Sight and Sound ballot
Despite this special effect, Vertigo has been named the greatest film of all time. This week, British film mag Sight and Sound published its list of the 50 greatest movies ever made, as voted for by...
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Searching for Sugarman, Jimmy Cliff, et une chat - Reviews #127
Music, music and music. And Jack Nicholson.*MAJOR SPOILERS, SO TAKE CARE*CINEMA: Searching for Sugar Man (Malik Bendjelloul, 2012) - In the early '70s, Rodriguez, a singer-songwriter from Detroit, made...
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God, Shame and anti-semitism - Reviews #128
Plus: Errol Flynn gets famous, Charlize Theron gets nasty and Michael Fassbender gets naked.Captain Blood (Michael Curtiz, 1935) - Errol Flynn became an instant star thanks to this gripping...
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John Barrymore, Buster Keaton, and the Playboy Mansion - Reviews #129
In this latest reviews update: a scintillating, sad biography of a theatrical great, the Isle of Man, and the continued adventures of the young Fairuza Balk.BOOKS:Damned in Paradise – The Life of John...
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Ben Johnson v Carl Lewis - Reviews #130
Hello there. Here's a quick review of a book about one of my favourite subjects: the 100m final of the 1988 Seoul Olympics.The Dirtiest Race in History (Richard Moore, 2012)– On September 25, 1988,...
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Rita Hayworth, This Means War and tuna - Reviews #130
An indie triumph, Loki in a low-key drama, and three absolutely rubbish movies. Plus: The Office (US), Michael Cera and Carmen Miranda.Who Loves the Sun (Matt Bissonette, 2006) is an exceptional debut...
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Looper, Brick and space paninis - Reviews #131
Plus: fire, funnies and Alice Faye, in our latest reviews round-up.*MAJOR SPOILERS*CINEMA: Looper (Rian Johnson, 2012)– 2012 has been the year of hype, with unprecedented amounts of hoopla around...
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Tabu, Simone Signoret and a letter to Elia - Reviews #132
*SPOILERS*CINEMA: Tabu (Miguel Gomes, 2012)– This intense, ambitious, sometimes whimsical fantasy – inspired by Murnau’s 1931 film of the same name– has incredible high points, but doesn’t manage to...
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Zac Efron, lesbians and how to stop a riot - Reviews #133
Plus: Tina Fey not being very funny, house painting and Spencer Tracy's early Google.17 Again (Burr Steers, 2009) - This might be the most entertaining film I've seen so far this year, an irresistible...
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Ronald Reagan, a docfest and Dan Harmon's kids film - Reviews #134
In the first update for a little while, we're also talking documentaries, Ronald Reagan yelling about his legs and a really useless romantic comedy.Reagan (Eugene Jarecki, 2011)– Simply one of the...
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