One of the films I was most sorry to miss at the cinema in the past year or so was 50/50. I was intrigued to see how the film-makers would manage to make a comedy about a young man diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and how this affects his relationships, particularly with his best friend…
Archives for January 2013
Hey Robbie, what’s wrong with the #twittercritic?
18 January 2013 by Leave a Comment
The Daily Telegraph’s chief film critic Robbie Collin has written a rather snooty article today criticising an advertising agency for using reviews from Twitter users in their latest poster for The Impossible….
My Animals and Other Family
17 January 2013 by Leave a Comment
Last year will not go down in history as a triumph for the BBC which is a real shame. For all the scandals and cover-ups and disasters I still think it’s one of Britain’s greatest institutions. One of its saving graces from 2012 however was the coverage of the London Olympics and one of the stars of the Olympic presentation team was Clare Balding….
Les Miserables
16 January 2013 by 8 Comments
Some people have books, films, paintings or pieces of great classical music that are part of their soul. Works of art that have a special place in their heart that can’t be explained but ‘belong’ to them and always will. For me that place in my consciousness is occupied by the musical Les Miserables…
Cats & Dogs
16 January 2013 by Leave a Comment
I am a big kid at heart. I freely admit it and I see no shame in it in fact I embrace my inner child. I think we are all a little bit too quick to grow up and be all so serious and adult about life. I’m pretty proud of the fact that despite the fact I’m in my middish 30s I own a healthy number of films aimed at a younger audience…
Me Before You
15 January 2013 by Leave a Comment
It may surprise you to know that I can be somewhat opinionated at times. Not just about films and books but about everything around me in life – both the trivial and the serious. I tend however to struggle with the big moral questions as I can always see both sides of the argument. The ‘right to die’ issue however is one that I’m quite comfortable with my opinions of…
Gangster Squad
11 January 2013 by 6 Comments
One of my favourite websites is launchingfilms.com, the website of the Film Distributors’ Association. In a few short minutes you can see what films are released each week for months in advance. Sometimes even years in advance – for example How To Train Your Dragon 3 (3D) is scheduled for release on Friday 22 July 2016…
Quartet
10 January 2013 by Leave a Comment
One actor I always think comes across as a (relatively) normal guy is Dustin Hoffman. His performances are always very good and in interviews he is invariably charming and personable. He manages to keep his personal life as private as is possible for a Hollywood star and most of all whenever I see him in discussion he seems, for want of a better phrase, a nice man …
Jack Reacher
8 January 2013 by 4 Comments
I think it’s important I get one thing out of the way before starting this review. I like Tom Cruise. I think he’s funny, I think he’s cute and I think he’s got real charisma. He’s one of the few old-school Hollywood stars we have at the moment and despite the fact he sometimes appears to be as mad as a box of frogs I still have a lot of time for him…
Don’t Tell The Groom
3 January 2013 by Leave a Comment
I keep hearing about women who have been planning their weddings since early childhood. Disney Princess dresses have been adapted in their minds to be their wedding dresses and pillowcases have been used as veils in dressing up games. That was never me…