People often misunderstand Frank Capra’s classic Christmas film It’s A Wonderful Life. Released in 1946, it didn’t do very well initially in the United States. People found it too dark. Nowadays, many people find it too sentimental. I think both of these appraisals are a little wide of the mark. It’s both dark and sentimental,Continue reading “The Gentle Subversion of ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’”
Tag Archives: Cinema
Vintage Films: Cabaret
If Sally Bowles was around today, she’d most likely be chronically online, binging on TikTok make-up tutorials and dance crazes.She’d be oblivious to the outside world, unaware of the conflicts in Ukraine and Israel, or the orange menace that is Trump. Bob Fosse’s film has endured, because the theme of “divine decadence” amid the encroachingContinue reading “Vintage Films: Cabaret”
Je Deteste Amelie
I’ve a confession to share: I really hate Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s 2001 film, Amelie. The rom-com, with its insufferably childlike lead character, portrayed by the beautiful Audrey Tautou, is often cited by cineastes as revitalising French cinema in the millennium, but I find it nauseating. It seems I’m not alone in this. Savages ‘ lead singerContinue reading “Je Deteste Amelie”
Lucifer Over Lanarkshire: Rocky Horror Sucks
Every year at the Samhain, or Halloween, season, musical theatre lovers break out their basques, fishnets and eyeliner and strut to theatres to see ‘The Rocky Horror Show’. Created by Richard O’Brien in the seventies, it fused glam rock with kitsch horror and has become a staple of repeated stage and screen experiences worldwide. ButContinue reading “Lucifer Over Lanarkshire: Rocky Horror Sucks”
Harry’s Last Hurrah: Lucky
When Harry Dean Stanton, cinema’s perennial drifter, finally drifted off this earth in 2017, aged ninety one, there were few eulogies, no mariachi bands lamenting his passing, and not many column inches. In death it seemed he was still Hollywood’s outsider, tagged with the reductive label “character actor” . With his craggy, lean face andContinue reading “Harry’s Last Hurrah: Lucky”
No More Mr Nice Guy: How Hitch Turned Jimmy Stewart Nasty
In the forties and fifties , James Stewart, also known as Jimmy, was the epitome of “the salt of the earth,” a figure of decency and goodness in American culture. His film roles centred around standing up for the little guy, whether It’s A Wonderful Life, Harvey or Mr Smith Goes to Washington.He embodied theContinue reading “No More Mr Nice Guy: How Hitch Turned Jimmy Stewart Nasty”
TRAINSPOTTING AND GLASGOW
We all know Irvine Welsh’s classic novel, play and film Trainspotting was set in Leith in Edinburgh, but for Danny Boyle’s film adaptation of the mid- nineties, a couple of pivotal scenes were shot in the Maryhill area of Glasgow. One infamous shot of the pub where wee ned psychopath Begbie (Robert Carlyle) casually tossesContinue reading “TRAINSPOTTING AND GLASGOW”
Hit The North 