Smuge!

Since the dawn of time people have thought things which were actually awful were cool; take Doctor House from super-popular TV show House M.D. for example—he’s an all around awful man who has got many a patient’s (and colleague’s) goat. Every day I run into people who seem to be just like Doctor House, and I wish I hadn’t. But on this forum someone asks the dreaded question: how can I be like House?

Another person suggests being brutally Read the rest of this entry »

Roger Lloyd pack is a talented man with much more up his sleeve than most actors and a capacity to astonish in practically any role he takes on. You may, if you’re not familiar, also know him as the unfortunate ‘Trigger’ from vintage comedy series Only Fools And Horses.

In The Living And The Dead (2006) Lloyd pack plays Lord (Donald) Brocklebank, a man doing his best to cope with a truly nightmarish scenario that has been unfolding for some Read the rest of this entry »

I confess: the legendary film that is Heat sat dusty and neglected on my shelf for several years before I finally gave in and watched it; the concept didn’t impress me much, that was the first thing I ’held against it—there seemed to be nothing unique or individual about the idea of guys running around shooting guns in a cat and mouse mafia-meets-police-force kind of a way. Obviously that wasn’t the only reason I was convinced it had to be Read the rest of this entry »

Once (2007) is one of those small, spell-binding, heart-breakingly sweet films that don’t come along very often and are gone again all too soon.

What makes it different to everything else out there? For a start 1) It’s a musical and 2) It’s Irish.

Glen Hansard—of well-known Irish Rock band The Frames—plays thirty-ish ‘Guy, the kind of invisible busking musician you’ve probably walked past a thousand times on the way to work and never given a second thought. Scraping Read the rest of this entry »

Mike Leigh is one of Britain’s greatest modern filmmakers. His movies can vary from being gritty, touching, heart-warming or disturbing; but they are always incredibly realistic. Along with the likes of Alan Bleasdale and Ken Loach, Mike Leigh is very good at giving a true-to-life picture of our country. Over the years I have seen quite a lot of his work, but my favourite is still, ‘High Hopes’.

It centres on a likeable biker couple who live in a small Read the rest of this entry »

Rutger Hauer has starred in a colossal amount of films. Most of them are good, several are brilliant whilst one or two are best forgotten about. But, for me, his greatest ever roles were in ‘Blade Runner’ and ‘The Hitcher’; his ‘handsome in an evil way’ looks were perfect for these two movies.

In 1986, the film industry was desperate for a half-decent thriller and when ‘The Hitcher’ turned up it was just what the doctor had ordered. It appealed Read the rest of this entry »

Despite the fact it is a Guy Richie film, and despite the fact that it had Jude Law in it, I hate to admit it but I liked the new Sherlock Holmes film. The plot is that of any high-octane action film - not too strong on deep analysis, but lots of excuses for fight scenes, explosions and the obligatory dwarf - and follows the overdone storyline of the Freemasons using their secret society full of occult based activities to Read the rest of this entry »

So I was on the Twin Peaks forum the other day and it made me think what would modern cinema be like without the enigma that is David Lynch?

No one else out there seems to have quite the same amount of imagination, style and strangeness. The only person I can think of who is anything like him is Lars von Trier, but even his work is not on par with Mr. Lynch’s.

Since he made his directional debut Read the rest of this entry »

A while ago I watched a film called, ‘Across the Universe’. When you consider that I have never really enjoyed musicals and that I have always maintained that The Beatles are ‘the most overrated band of all time’ you could fully expect me to detest it. But actually, I thought that it was pretty amazing!

I think that the best thing about the film, for me, is the photography. It is absolutely brilliant. Some of it is so beautiful Read the rest of this entry »

I have just finished watching, ‘Edward Scissorhands’ again; it really is a tremendously good film. Tim Burton has made some brilliant movies over the years but I think that this one is still my favourite of all. It has a little bit of everything in it; comedy, drama, romance. And that is without mentioning the excellent acting and the beautiful photography.

Was it meant to be for adults or kids? I don’t suppose it even matters. ‘Edward Scissorhands’ is a Read the rest of this entry »