Coming up with an approach to fantasy storytelling that is so compellingly fresh that you spend much of a story excited about where it’s all going to lead is a very rare thing indeed, especially given the explosion in popularity of the genre over recent years. Actor (Black Sails, Never Continue Reading
Movie review: The Lovebirds
When most couples get into trouble, one of the first things they consider is possibly getting some professional help. It makes sense – bringing in someone with counselling expertise who has no subjective stake in the health of the relationship and the back and forth of who said and did Continue Reading
“I wish I knew how to quit you”: Iconic movie lines get animated in the funniest of ways
At the heart of every great movie sits a sparkling, literate, narratively-rich screenplay. It’s not the only thing that at play, of course, but a movie without inspired writing might look flashy and beautifully-produced but will always feel more than a little hollow and insubstantial. Proof of how important superbly-rendered Continue Reading
Book review: Mammoth by Chris Flynn
Humanity, you have been judged and found wanting. By a 13,000-year-old extinct mammoth fossil no less. While that revelation may be sobering, the good news is that the judgement is delivered by the extraordinarily imaginative novel, Mammoth by Chris Flynn, a book which takes the traditional anthropocentric view of the Continue Reading
Weekday pop art: If good movies were old books
In the usual scheme of things, movies and books don’t seem to have a whole lot in common. Different storytelling mediums – which for the more passionate among us usually ends up as “versus” situation rather than an “or” one – differing levels of expository or interior detail and complete Continue Reading
At home COVID-19 French Film Festival: Fool Circle (Tristesse Club)
It’s interesting watching a film that is clearly meant to be one thing but despite the best efforts, you would presume, of everyone involved, ends up being quite another thing entirely. Case in point is the Vincent Mariette written (he co-wrote with Vincent Poymiro) and directed 2014 film, Tristesse Club Continue Reading
Book review: Peta Lyre’s Rating Normal by Anna Whateley
One of the reasons many of us read is to be taken to places and realities far beyond our own and to get to know people who otherwise might never be a part of our lives. It is enormous privilege to be given the chance to dive into a world Continue Reading
Creativity in a time of COVID-19 lockdown: Sam Neill and Helena Bonham Carter in Das Fone Hell
While there has been a great deal to hate about being stuck in the midst of a seemingly neverending pandemic, one cool thing to emerge is the way it has inspired some amazing creativity from a slew of authors, actors, musicians and others. These are all people who found their Continue Reading
COVID-19 retro movie festival: What If? (The F Word) #MovieReview
It’s the eternal struggle. (Well, one of the many at least; humanity does not make things easy for itself.) At what point does a friend become something more and is that even possible when the object of your unstated but clearly obvious affection is not even in the position to Continue Reading
The Mandalorian: The LEGO is now strong with its trailer
The Mandalorian is hands (or lightsabres) down one of the best TV series of the last 12 months. “… a big budget, cinematically resplendent piece of storytelling that fits neatly, and with Rogue One edginess, into the rapidly re-expanding official Star Wars universe”, The Mandalorian took us deep into the Continue Reading