Ordinarily, there’s something about Nicole Kidman that gets under my skin. Perhaps it’s the vocal fry, the somewhat tired vampish persona, or the fact that she’s really rather limited as an actor. She lacks a little presence, she seems vapid and a little dead behind the eyes onscreen. So perhaps this is why the onlyContinue reading “Overlooked Classic: To Die For”
Category Archives: Film
Happy Birthday , Samuel Beckett 🍌
What a visage: like a tor you’ve spent ages attempting to scale. What writing: past, present and an elusive future. Samuel Beckett would have been 120 today- imagine. His detractors thought him morbid, or impenetrable. They’re wrong on the latter. He’s touching, hilarious, tender, raw. Even his pauses have eloquence; his silences, poetry. Who elseContinue reading “Happy Birthday , Samuel Beckett 🍌”
Gallery Review: Curtain Call, McManus Gallery,Dundee
This exhibition has many beautiful costumes from stage and screen, with a particular emphasis on Scottish designers. Jane Petrie, from Newport-On-Tay has many glorious costumes included here, such as the regal gowns from the hit series The Crown starring Claire Foy, and The Essex Serpent with Tom Hiddleston and Claire Danes. A reproduction of JackieContinue reading “Gallery Review: Curtain Call, McManus Gallery,Dundee”
Margo Channing Was Badass
Has there ever been such a brutal takedown of Hollywood- and the agency and ageing process of actresses- as Joseph L Mankiewicz’ peerless 1950 classic All About Eve? Margo Channing, portrayed by the immortal Bette Davis, is usurped in her signature theatre role by her most ardent fan, Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter) a passive-aggressive andContinue reading “Margo Channing Was Badass”
Overlooked Classic: Young Adult (2011)
“She wears denim wherever she goes/Says she’s gonna get some records by The Status Quo/Oh, yeah”… You’ve got to love a film which begins with Teenage Fanclub’s ‘The Concept’ blasting out on an old car tape deck. So begins Diablo Cody’s masterful Young Adult, starring Charlize Thereon as the particularly vituperative Mavis Gray, a (barely)Continue reading “Overlooked Classic: Young Adult (2011)”
Film Review: Days Of The Bagnold Summer
If this was an American film, lessons would be learned and resentment eased, in a neat “I was never the same after that summer” trope. But it’s not: it’s British, full of warm days and familial complications. Effortlessly directed by comic actor Simon Bird, it’s a little like Mike Leigh, if lighter and more incidentalContinue reading “Film Review: Days Of The Bagnold Summer”
Overrated Crap: Moulin Rouge!
I absolutely hate this film. I saw it with some girlfriends at the cinema and seemed to be the lone naysayer. I don’t hang out with those women anymore. Baz Luhrmann’s fin de siecle “spectacular” is like Cirque De Soleil for pre-teens who’ve never seen films-or the circus- before. It’s an absolute disaster.Worse yet, itContinue reading “Overrated Crap: Moulin Rouge!”
Vintage Film Review: A Place In The Sun
George Stevens’ 1951 film eschews his usual screwball comedy genre for a melodrama focusing on an extremely toxic love triangle. Montgomery Clift is George Eastman, a social climber who dates Alice Tripp (Shelley Winters) a dowdy co-worker in a local factory. But when he discovers the beautiful Angela Vickers (Elizabeth Taylor) a society lady, heContinue reading “Vintage Film Review: A Place In The Sun”
Archive Film Review: Machine
thetempohouse GFF Review: Machine March 7, 2020 • Spoilt Victorian Child Photo: GFF Part of Glasgow Film Festival 2020. Machine, directed by Justin Krook, posits where we are in an era of AI (Artificial Intelligence) in this insightful, if flawed, documentary. Using a vast array of talking heads such as roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro, and fighter pilot, now autonomousContinue reading “Archive Film Review: Machine”
Film Review: Emma
How bad is Autumn De Wilde’s adaptation of Emma? The awful Miranda Hart has a “comic” turn in it as Mrs Bates, that’s how bad. Anya Taylor -Joy takes the lead as Emma Woodhouse, depicting her as the spoilt, unlikeable gossiping brat with a peripatetic accent, who spends all her time matchmaking and studiously tryingContinue reading “Film Review: Emma”
Hit The North 