What happened to trailers? Or, have they always been as bad as they are now? This is a jumbled mess of thoughts that came into my head after seeing the trailers before Iron Man 2 last weekend. Did I mention that I have seen Iron Man 2 before it came…
Lucy Porter is a comedian who has been on the comedy scene for quite a while now, but I hadn't seen one of her full shows, even though she has been making appearances on television in the likes of Annually Retentive and Mock The Week. I enjoy comedians who put…
When talking about podcasts recently, I didn't really talk about the radio shows that I listened to as podcasts, perhaps because they're cheating a little, what with their professional recording apparatus and editing facilities. The Now Show, becoming something of an institution on Radio 4 after broadcasting for over 10…
Growing up in London, I never considered Croydon part of London – it was a suburb that marked the boundary between the sprawling metropolis and the boring countryside. This was misguided ignorance on my part, as I had never been there, didn't know anybody who lived there or even looked…
Another topical detour from catching up on films I saw in the cinema in January and comic books I have bought, to talk about something that converges on two of my obvious loves: films and comics. And nothing to do with the fact that it hasn't come out in America…
One of the series of posts I have written is about comic book shops – I'm very lucky, living in London, to have a lot of comic book shops in relatively close proximity, even though I mention other comic book shops that a particular resonance in my development as a…
I had a moment this week of writing notes on films I'd seen in the cinema when I realised that my film rating system was slightly out of date, and that I had to do something about it. My incredibly vain film rating system is based on my name –…
This was a good film in all aspects: the script, adapted from a novel, was sharp and warm and resonant, but without being preachy; Jason Reitman directs with a sure touch, light when needed, visually interesting when necessary (this now makes three really good films he's made in a row,…
There is something so innately British to Sherlock Holmes, it always surprises me that the character is one of a handful of fictional creations known the world over. I love the well-written stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, but I am not someone who thinks that there is only one…
Ever since Dead Presidents, I’ve looked out for Hughes Brothers’ films. It’s a shame they haven’t done that many – they have a strong visual approach and a focus on what stories they want to tell. I enjoyed From Hell on its own merits – it’s a period cop-on-the-edge movie…