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Glenda Jackson, Trance, and flying daggers - Reviews #153
Of course the only thing anyone's really watching this week is Glenda Jackson's excoriating, yet deeply-moving takedown of Thatcher and her legacy. I've watched it four times already - speak for...
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Maurice Elvey, The Place Beyond the Pines, and Clint going to a girls' school...
Yo homeslice. Mo' reviews all up in yo' grill, starting with my birthday present from Mrs Rick.The Life Story of David Lloyd George (Maurice Elvey, 1918) - Intended as a morale-booster in the wake of...
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Ten things I learned from Michael Winterbottom
The excellent British filmmaker Michael Winterbottom came to give a talk at St Anne's College in Oxford yesterday. I didn't make notes, as I didn't have my journalism hat on, but I do have a memory....
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Delicacy, Donnie Yen and John Wayne's bottom - Reviews #155
This week's reviews update includes a martial arts masterpiece, a wonderful, disarming rom-com and a couple of old B-Westerns. Plus: other stuff.*SOME SPOILERS*Ip Man (Wilson Yip, 2008) - This is,...
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Michelle Yeoh, Skyfall and why philosophers love Thor - Reviews #156
A couple of these are in-depth, the rest are mostly jokes (you'll be the judge of that), as I had a busy weekend, without much time to scribble. This reviews update includes... Peter Lorre! James Bond!...
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Deanna Durbin RIP
Deanna Durbin, who has passed away aged 91, was a performer of almost supernatural talents. Not just the voice - that voice - as beautiful an instrument as the movies have ever heard, but the dramatic...
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Unforgiven, Kathleen Turner and men shouting: "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" -...
Welcome! Eight reviews for your delectation/disgust, including three from ClintFest '13, one of Dustin Hoffman's best, one of Coppola's worst, and the definitive Michelle Yeoh movie.ClintFest '13:...
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Somewhere in Time, John Candy, and my hero - Reviews #158
I've been on holiday, can you tell?Amélie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001) - What was the best movie of last decade? Well, Ghost World, obviously, silly. But how about that coveted second spot? For me it's a...
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Silent film special: City Girl, Clara Bow and cross-dressing - Reviews #159
As promised, here are some films without any audible talking.City Girl (F. W. Murnau, 1930) - Murnau's follow-up to Sunrise is a pictorially stunning comedy-cum-melodrama that reunites the leads of...
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Robert Mitchum, To Rome with Love, and Gollum moonwalking - Reviews #160
Last time I forgot to include any films where you can hear what the people are saying. Sorry! #pre1927fail. This time around I've made no such mistake.The Friends of Eddie Coyle (Robert Mitchum, 1973)...
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Arrested Development: Season 4 - Reviews #161
Some musings on everyone's favourite Happy Days spin-off, now back for a fourth season, only on your local interweb.*DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT READING THIS UNTIL YOU'VE WATCHED IT*Arrested Development...
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Clara Bow, Mighty Joe Young and the guy who made Reefer Madness - Reviews #162
I think I might be addicted to Clara Bow. She's the new Clint. When I haven't been watching Arrested Development, I've been mowing the lawn. Or watching these things: five Bow flicks (plus a...
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The King of Kong, Mads Mikkelsen, and the theatre in the '40s - Reviews #163
In this week's update: Danish drama, a "great fantastic man", and BBC2 serving up all manner of Golden Age hijinks, via a trio of rarities.The King of Kong (Seth Gordon) - Hell-raising musical genius...
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Some thoughts on Lulu in Hollywood
Lulu in Hollywood by Louise Brooks (1982) I find Louise Brooks a little over-hyped as an actress. Yes, she was a distinctive, even iconic performer, with her helmet of black hair and that aggressive,...
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RIP Esther Williams - The Million Dollar Mermaid
Esther Williams, who has passed away aged 91, was the legendary star of MGM musicals, a wartime pin-up and former swimming champion whose wet-through routines in movies like Bathing Beauty, Million...
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Peter Boyle, All the President's Men 2, and Clara Bow talks! - Reviews #164
Joe (John G. Avildsen, 1970) - A bristling, unpredictable drama from Rocky director John G. Avildsen about the relationship between an advertising executive (Dennis Patrick) who's just beaten his...
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Man of Steel, Superman Returns and Edward Everett Horton - Reviews #165
Two helpings of Supes, plus a good comedy from the '30s and a bad one from the other week.*LOTS OF SPOILERS*Man of Steel (Zack Snyder, 2013) - It'd serve us right if Man of Steel was rubbish. Bryan...
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Reese Witherspoon, Superman III and ice ballet - Reviews #166
Some shorter reviews this time, as you're busy and I don't want to be a nuisance.Well, you can't accuse them of misrepresenting the movie, anyway.*SPOILERS*Superman III (Richard Lester, 1983) - Every...
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Dumbo, Django and Despicable Me 2 - Reviews #167
Just six movies in the past 10 days, as I keep being interrupted by life and the world and stuff.I can't handle this. At all.*SOME SPOILERS*Dumbo (Ben Sharpsteen, 1941) - I didn't watch many films as a...
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A Field in England, Woody Allen, and my letter to Ndugu - Reviews #168
Plus: one of the best I've seen this year.A Field in England (Ben Wheatley, 2013) "You are confused, sir - it is I who am capturing you." A strange, misty, monochrome film, heavy with hallucinations...
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