A boring and bored man, unhappily married and hating his job, unexpectedly encounters a beautiful woman. He’s captivated, and she leads him on an exciting adventure. It’s a familiar male fantasy, which has formed the basis for some memorable films – Edward G Robinson and Joan Bennett in Fritz Lang’s Scarlet Street (1945) and Gene … Continue reading
Category Archives: Film
Under fire – three dragon films you may have missed
Dragons are perhaps the most feared, and almost certainly the most spectacular, of mythical creatures. So it’s no surprise they’ve often featured in movies. Recent incarnations include the awe-inspiring dragons in TV’s Game of Thrones and cinema’s Hobbit films, and Starburst listed 10 of the best in this 2019 feature. Impressive as those blockbusters are, … Continue reading
‘One Paycheck Away’ – film will explore the precarious existence of ordinary Americans
It’s claimed that in 2019, 80% of Americans were living from one pay cheque to the next. A year on [I write this during the 2020 coronavirus crisis], the pandemic has caused economic devastation, with more than 40 million filing for unemployment. Many who were relying on the next pay cheque to pay the rent, … Continue reading
How Talking Pictures found the perfect nostalgic formula
The idea of a channel devoted to classic films isn’t new, but in the UK Talking Pictures TV has found what seems to be the perfect nostalgic formula. While TCM (Turner Classic Movies) has been around since the 1990s and more recently Sony Movies has launched a dedicated ‘Classic’ channel, these and others tend to … Continue reading
The Thief of Bagdad: a childhood spectacle of colour on a rainy day
Can you remember the first film you saw on colour TV? I can remember mine because, by pure luck, it was a spectacular timeless classic that had me glued to the screen – The Thief of Bagdad. It was a rainy August Bank Holiday in 1975. As a family, we were late adopters: for whatever … Continue reading
The Flock: award-winning horror is also a Midlands ‘Western’
A new British horror movie, which has already scooped a string of awards for its script, has now launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise the production budget. The Flock has won four awards for its script, most recently the 2019 Special Jury Prize at the Barcelona International Film Festival. Continue reading
West Country horror ‘Sacrilege’ premieres in London
The latest release from West Country-based horror production company Bad Blood Films will premiere in London next week. Sacrilege will screen at the Empire Cineworld, Leicester Square on Thursday 5th March (2020). The film follows four lifelong friends as they head to a remote lodge for a weekend of fun. What begins as an idyllic … Continue reading
Horror, comedy, sci-fi and more – Dawn is as busy as ever
Dawn Noel was the first performer I profiled in this blog – and three-and-half years on, it’s great to see she’s as busy as ever. We have kept in touch since that blog post in March 2016, and the Los Angeles-based actress, producer (and more) recently updated me on her latest projects. Continue reading
Hammer time: a chronology of horror
Adrian Charlton Hammer Film Productions created a wide variety of films, but the company will always be associated with its classic horrors of the 1950s-70s, which revived the great cinematic terrors in vivid colour. They were atmospheric, exciting, and (for their time) scary. But historical accuracy probably wasn’t high on the list of priorities. … Continue reading
Fighting racial tensions – in a single take
Racial tensions of the past and present are thrown into the spotlight in Red White and Black, the new single by Californian singer-songwriter Jesca Hoop and the stunning video that accompanies it. Directed by Elia Petridis, the video – better described as a short film – is an epic fight scene, shot in a single … Continue reading