If you recall the climax to the classic award winning epic novel ‘The Carnival’, Santa turned up at the Bunt residence in Maida Vale begging Wilson for a hand. It turned out that the elves had been struck down with illness so that Santa, a fat man in a red and white costume, decided to …
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Superman II
It is fair to say that comic book super hero movies have taken over Hollywood in the last two decades. Much of that is because of CGI and other innovations which can do them justice. Yet, back in the late 1970’s, probably the most famous super hero of them all was placed on the silver …
Oasis – Definitely Fade Away
Laying my cards on the table, I was an Oasis fan in the summer of 1994 when my knowledge of contemporary music came via the limited influences of Top of the Pops, The Chart Show and my elder relatives. I bought their debut album Definitely Maybe on the day it was released and promptly fell …
The Spy Without the Golden Gun
Sean Connery’s departure from the role of 007 just after 1967’s You Only Live Twice put the film series into a spiral for a decade, some of which was self-inflicted by Bond producers Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman. Sure, Connery had become synonymous with the hero and a superstar in the process. Replacing him satisfactorily …
The Outlaw Josey Wales – subverting the Western genre
By 1976 Clint Eastwood had become the biggest film star in the world courtesy of a range of movies which are now considered to be classics: Play Misty For Me, High Plains Drifter, Dirty Harry, Magnum Force, The Beguiled. He played roles in films gravitating between 19th century United States and the modern day, often …
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Day of the Dead; misogyny, apocalypse, vivisection (and you thought it was just a Zombie movie)
Film maker George A Romero had made two stand-alone Zombie flicks – Night of The Living Dead and Dawn of The Dead – both genre setting and crown jewels in the contemporary horror category. Such was the caustic wit and satirical brilliance of Dawn of The Dead that Romero seemingly had the last word in …
Batman, the ’12’ rating, Jack, Prince and all that…
When it was announced that the Dark Knight was coming to the silver screen, there was a lot of excitement. Going back to the late 1980’s, fans of comic book heroes were recovering from Superman IV and the will they/won’t they? rumours about a Spiderman movie with Charlie Sheen spinning the webs. The Avengers fans …
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Batman & Robin – in a Toys R’Us near you
When Tim Burton opted not to direct the third Batman film, you felt the series was losing its identity. Then Michael Keaton departed from the lead role. Yet Warner Bros dusted themselves down and Batman Forever did well at the cinema. The toys I mean – if any middle-aged fanboys are reading – figurines…were selling …
Batman Forever (or maybe not)
The main problem with the Batman films made by Warner in the 1990’s was that they were obsessed by introducing more and more characters from the comic books into the franchise rather than developing Batman/Bruce Wayne. Similarly, they were in a constant state of flux regarding their actors and artistic direction. Following director Tim Burton …
Beneath the Planet of The Apes
It would be easy, in the early moments of the sequel, to think that Beneath the Planet of The Apes is merely a direct copy of the original. Astronauts crash land on a planet (the one the audience now know to be Earth) on a rescue mission to find those from the first film. They …
Athon 