by Martin | Apr 7, 2021 | movies, reviews
DOWNTON ABBEY For many years the TV series Downton Abbey, created by Julian Fellowes, mined the Sunday night craving for reassurance about the past, presenting it as a world in which everyone knew their place. The past, at least the past we never knew personally, is a...
by Martin | Jan 24, 2021 | movies, reviews
At some point in the run-up towards Christmas I found myself watching a documentary on BBC4 by Catherine Bray that encouraged us not to feel ‘guilty’ about watching ‘bad’ films. It seemed to be right up my alley and for a good twenty minutes...
by Martin | Jan 5, 2021 | movies, reviews
EMPIRE OF THE ANTS (1977) Bert I Gordon, director of such vintage extravaganzas as 1958’s Attack Of The 50ft Woman briefly returned to cinema screens in the 1970’s with a couple of films which were, nominally, adaptations of H G Wells stories, though...
by Martin | Nov 14, 2020 | movies, reviews
Ah yes, the London Film Festival. I remember that. Well it did happen this year, it was just ‘different’ – they even tried to suggest that the festival we had (mostly online) represented some kind of exciting innovation rather than an attempt to pretend...
by Martin | Oct 3, 2020 | movies, reviews
IL MOSTRO DELLA OPERA (1964) In the days before the cities became tombs and the cinemas morgues I went to a showing of this obscure Italian film at the Barbican on a Saturday morning, only to discover that I was encroaching upon a Phantom Of The Opera symposium. Who...
by Martin | Aug 21, 2020 | movies, reviews
Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the cinema… it IS safe. Oppressively so. I don’t know about you but walking into a room full of people in surgical masks doesn’t ‘make me feel safe’ – it makes me feel uneasy. And so I...
Recent Comments