The Mission
The Mission was the last screenplay by Robert Bolt, the writer responsible for such epic, historical movies as A Man for All Seasons and Lawrence of Arabia. Director Roland Joffé has made a film equally ambitious in…
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Sister Wives (2024): When Intimacy Becomes Dissent
Sister Wives understands something many films about repression miss: the most dangerous thing in a closed system isn’t rebellion, it’s tenderness. Set inside a fundamentalist polygamous marriage, the film follows Kaidence…
Alfred Hitchcock
In a single decade between 1954 and 1964 Alfred Hitchcock would Produce and Direct a dozen perfect movies, most notably Rear Window, Vertigo, North By Northwest, Psycho, The Birds and Marnie. Although only accounting…
Citizen Kane
I was inspired to write this online journal by a line from Citizen Kane, arguably the best film ever made, or is it just the best American film ever made…
Kick-Ass
Having heard the controversy surrounding Kick-Ass due to its portrayal of graphic violence involving a minor I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I sat down to watch it…
Song Sung Blue (2025): Love, Time, and the Cost of Compression
I went into Song Sung Blue already inclined to like it. I was something of a musical magpie from an early, impressionable age, discovering Neil Diamond through my father’s record collection; his…
Fantasia
When Fantasia was first released on home video tape back in November 1991 I was working in a retail Video shop and I was actively involved in its promotion, I think…
Oliver Stone
I was a teenager when I first became aware of Oliver Stone's movies but I remember taking very little notice of either Platoon or Wall Street at the time. I appreciated that they…
Some Like It Hot
I stated in my previous Jack Lemmon article that Some Like It Hot was a touchstone film for me when I first saw it as a 12 year old about…
Spike Lee
After I returned from my tour of America in 1991 I took a job working in a retail Video shop and this presented me, as an avid movie fan, with…
Grave Misconduct: 21st Anniversary Edition
In 1990 I was the resident videographer at Bowes Lyon House, a youth centre and arts venue in my home town of Stevenage that would transform once a week into Thee…
Gainsbourg
To be honest I wasn’t quite sure what the movie Gainsbourg was going to be like, surprisingly it's not the straight forward, reverential biopic that I was half expecting. In…