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The magnificence of the Ambersons
*SOME SPOILERS. ALSO, IF YOU AREN'T INTERESTED IN ORSON WELLES, YOU WILL FIND THIS BORING. EVEN IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN ORSON WELLES, YOU MAY FIND THIS BORING* The Magnificent Ambersons (Orson Welles,...
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Greta Garbo, Sherlock, and down-and-out like Flynn - Reviews #180
Here's some stuff I watched and read over the past couple of weeks. Let me know if I'm overselling it.FILMSOne, Two, Three (Billy Wilder, 1961) - Wilder's second-to-last masterpiece - and Jimmy...
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Crime, Clara and Cagney running wild - Reviews #181
Plus: Peter Lorre, Chuck Palahniuk and Kate Hepburn's first Oscar win, in this latest reviews update. Ratings are out of four, because that's how I and also old men rate things.Classe tous risques...
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WoodFest '14 - Reviews #182
Last year was, for anyone who's been living under a rock, the year of ClintFest '13, the mammoth cultural event in which I watched some Clint Eastwood films. This year it's Woody Allen's turn, as I...
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Tom Hiddleston, The Wolf of Wall Street and the first of Fonda - Reviews #183
Here are the things I've been watching lately. Wow as I get a bit bored of Scorsese's latest. Thrill as I watch a Janet Gaynor film. Coo appreciatively as you read a potted biography of John...
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Ten things I learned about Woody Allen
Woody Allen - A Documentary (Robert B. Wiebe, 2012) First things first, as it's all over the papers. I don't know the truth about Dylan Farrow's allegations against Woody Allen. I'm a huge fan of Allen...
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The complete Woody Allen (continued) - Reviews #184
That's frankly a deeply misleading title. I've no idea what possessed me to use it. There's no way I'm revisiting most of his noughties films, because they're rubbish. Still, I was more than happy to...
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Me and Shirley Temple
Stop all the clocks. Turn off the projectors. Dismantle the Hollywood sign. Old movies are dead. That's how I feel about the passing of Shirley Temple, the curly-topped little moppet who had an...
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Laughton, the Lanes, and Woody does Lang - Reviews #185
The latest reviews update, in which I watch a couple of good things and then nearly drown in dreck.The Hunchback of Notre Dame (William Dieterle, 1939) - "Everybody thought he was a genius," Rex...
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The fiendishly difficult Advice to the Lovelorn movie quiz - ANSWERS
#50 Thanks to all those who entered the inaugural Advice to the Lovelorn movie quiz, and congratulations to kirbyapplegate for top-scoring with a staggering 49 out of 52 points. The full leaderboard is...
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Hitchcock, The Grand Budapest Hotel, and Jim Jarmusch losing the plot -...
Advice to the Lovelorn - stay awhile amidst its ancient charms. This reviews update features not only the above, but also: four Woody Allen films, a rather lovely romantic comedy from the soft focus...
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Veronica Mars: The Movie - Reviews #187
Veronica Mars (Rob Thomas, 2014)*NO REAL SPOILERS, BUT IF YOU'RE A FAN, BEST TO GO IN BLIND* She's back! The ballsy, whipsmart heroine of this iconic '00s teen noir series finally returns, thanks to...
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Tom Hiddleston, Unbreakable and that movie about LEGO - Reviews #188
Plus: mixed fortunes at the cinema, nice music and Lindsay Lohan. Some of these reviews have been knocking around for a little while, for which I profoundly apologise.CINEMA: Only Lovers Left Alive...
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The fiendishly difficult Advice to the Lovelorn movie quiz - ANSWERS
#50 Thanks to all those who entered the inaugural Advice to the Lovelorn movie quiz, and congratulations to kirbyapplegate for top-scoring with a staggering 49 out of 52 points. The full leaderboard is...
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Clueless, Sam Rockwell, and Steinbeck done right - Reviews #176
I've been busy trying to finish the first draft of my kids' book (around 7,000 words to go, thanks for asking) and even pitched it to a grown-up (that's me in the tie), so movies have taken a long...
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Review: Bob Dylan at the Royal Albert Hall
Thursday, November 28, 2013 Every Dylan gig seems to bring something new: a reggae version of A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall (Manchester, 2005), a bit where Bob does a little dance to Highway 61 Revisited...
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Review: Napoleon at the Royal Festival Hall
Saturday, November 30, 2013 Yesterday saw a rare screening of Kevin Brownlow's near-mythic five-and-a-half-hour reconstruction of Abel Gance's silent film Napoleon, a labour of love that has dominated...
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John Ford, Romeo and Juliet, and a bawdy grandad - Reviews #177
Plus: Ben Hecht, Maggie Smith and a damp squib of a kung fu film.Romeo and Juliet (George Cukor, 1936) - This is an astonishingly good translation of the Shakespeare play, devised and demanded by the...
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Forbidden Hollywood: Vol. 3, and Bergman getting sexy - Reviews #189
The Forbidden Hollywood series is a very interesting project curated by Turner Classic Movies, which spotlights mainstream American movies made prior to the big censorship clampdown of 1934. Before...
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Westival, Andrew Scott, and a genius limbering up - Reviews #190
Sorry I went AWOL for a while - I've been busy. Now without additional ado, please let me welcome you to Westival, in which I rewatch all of Wes Anderson's feature films in order. Except Fantastic Mr...
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