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Robert Bresson, Porco Rosso and an unexpectedly fantastic musical - Reviews #234
Plus explosions, an early talkie that everyone says is rubbish, and hoo-hah.FILMSMouchette (Robert Bresson, 1967) - Bresson's film about a neglected, abused teenage girl is difficult, gruelling and...
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Review: Sunset Blvd at the London Coliseum
'This production did something to me'Saturday 23 February 2016 (matinee) Though I didn’t unequivocally laud the ENO’s production of Sunset Blvd, I did love it – or at least bits of it – intensely. I...
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For sale: rare DVDs, Blu-rays and books
I've lured you in with a nice picture of Myrna Loy. I don't usually use the blog for this, but I'm having a bit of a clear-out of books and movies, so I thought I'd list the stuff I've got for sale. I...
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Mankiewicz, The Shadow Line and the original House of Cards - Reviews #235
FILMSSomewhere in the Night (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1946) - This was unexpectedly terrific: a very, VERY underrated movie from the great writer-director, Joseph L. Mankiewicz. It’s a brilliantly-plotted...
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Jerome Kern, The Boys from Brazil and Wilder's worst film - Reviews #236
Éric Rohmer has now made the best movie I've seen this year, as well as the worst. Also featuring this time around: Buster Keaton, D. W. Griffith and all that other stuff I won't shut up about.FILMS:...
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A few thoughts on Love & Friendship - Reviews #237
CINEMA: Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman, 2016) - Ah, Whit Stillman. It's so great to have one of America's best ever writer-directors back making movies again, and this one's a wonder. Jane Austen...
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A love letter to My Own Private Idaho (and some other bits and pieces) –...
FILMSMy Own Private Idaho (Gus Van Sant, 1991)– I’ve only had three different favourite films since I was 19: Remember the Night, before that The Searchers, and before that: this. I’ve seen My Own...
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Fred Astaire, We Bought a Zoo and bricking it with Peter Lorre – Reviews #239
PLUS: Thai kitsch, William Castle and a trendsetting crime drama, in one of those review compendiums I insist upon doing. There's a lovely pattern to the star ratings too, if you are also a weird...
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Alec Guinness, Ranown Westerns, and the best doc on iPlayer – Reviews #240
PLUS: The fall of Saigon, 1930s juvenile delinquents, and Danielle Darrieux destroyed the competition.The War Room (D. A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, 1993)– An atmospheric, extraordinarily insightful...
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Shane Black, Black Orpheus and awfully big problems – Reviews #241
Some reviews. In chronological order.This tagline has absolutely nothing to do with the story, for which I admire it.Crime of Passion (Gerd Oswald, 1957)– Tough-talking journo Barbara Stanwyck marries...
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John Grant, French Cancan, and Making America Great Again not being that good...
LIVEPic from here.John Grant at the Royal Albert Hall (15 June 2016)– Not the loud, sweaty, hyper-intensive show we got at Hammersmith Apollo in November, but no less memorable a night, with Grant in...
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Dan Duryea, Weiner and Luke Skywalker: the Kinks fan − Reviews #243
All the stuff I've been watching lately. I've also been enraptured by Karina Longworth's series on the Hollywood blacklist.Weiner (Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg, 2016)− Completely fascinating...
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Jane Wyman, A Confederacy of Dunces, and the lost review - Reviews #234
I had a week off, so I have quite a few reviews to put up. Here's the first batch:BOOKS A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole (1980) - This near-mythic helping of acrid Southern Gothic is at...
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Sam Fuller, Maggie's Plan, and Buster Keaton on the skids - Reviews #235
And nothing else.The Big Red One: The Reconstruction (Samuel Fuller 1980/2004) What doesn't this war movie have? - Big speeches- Monologues about 'back home'- Emotional death scenes- Acts of heroism-...
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REVIEW: Ragnar Kjartansson at the Barbican (14 July-4 September 2016)
The Visitors (2012) All I knew about Ragnar Kjartansson before this glorious exhibition was that he once got American indie heroes The National to play their song Sorrow over and over again for six...
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In Cold Blood: from book to film to film to film
by Rick BurinWriter Truman Capote (right) with Perry Smith, the principal subject of his 1966 book, In Cold Blood.I've always had an odd relationship with true crime. There are some books and shows I...
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Janis Joplin, Suburra and an old man called the Mississippi - Reviews #236
A mini-update, with an iffy play, some disappointing films and one hell of a TV show.Festival Express (Bob Smeaton, 2003) - Well this is highly underwhelming. In 1970, a bunch of rock and psychedelic...
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REVIEW: Exhibitionism at the Saatchi Gallery
Exhibitionism (Saatchi Gallery)– This huge Rolling Stones exhibition is invigorating and infuriating in equal measure, much like the band themselves. There were things I loved: like the ‘60s jackets...
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Rick's 100 favourite movies: Part 1
I love movies. The film bug got me when I was 13. I was nursing a knee injury and looking for something to do that didn't involve playing football. I saw Star Wars, then not long afterwards On the...
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Rick's 100 favourite movies: Part 2
Here's the second of four posts on my favourite films, from Ryan Gosling as a crack addict to Emma Thompson improving Jane Austen, via Charlie Chaplin, rainy France and the slums of Sao Paolo. You can...
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