Writer and Director
This was a film I saw advertised in a lot of London Underground stations in 2006, the release timed to coincide with Mads Mikkelsen’s turn as Le Chiffre in Casino Royale. As such, I dismissed it out of hand.
However, After The Wedding (Efter Brylluppet) is a beautiful piece of work and well worth seeking out.
Continue reading “AFTER THE WEDDING”
Here’s my pick of the scripts for upcoming 2009 films, courtesy of Raindance.
Continue reading “2009 SCRIPTS”
I love martial arts movies. You’re going to hear me say that on more than one occasion on this blog.
I love martial arts movies, and one of the first ones I ever saw was Bloodsport, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. He plays Frank Dux, an American man with a Belgian accent, wearing a low-cut tank top, accompanied by a hairy bear muscle mary called Ray. They take part in a kumite tournament which resembles Streetfighter II on mushrooms.
It took a lot of work to even get to see Bloodsport in the first place. First, I bought it at a car boot sale and hid it from my parents until I was able to create a fake ‘PG’ sticker for the video sleeve so they’d let me watch it. Basically, Bloodsport is frickin’ awesome.
Since then, it’s fair to say that Jean-Claude Van Damme’s career has had its ups and downs.
Continue reading “JCVD”
This one was on my list of films I should have seen by now but haven’t for one reason or another. Along with Citizen Kane, which I’ve never managed to watch through to the end.
I felt like I’d seen the film a million times before even watching it, as it crops up regularly in best 100 lists, so there was no real incentive to watch. Then on a hungover New Year’s Day film marathon, I put It’s A Wonderful Life in the DVD player, and was pleasantly surprised by what I saw.
Continue reading “IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE”
Before we start on the film itself, let’s take a moment to consider the career of Danny Boyle.
He came to everyone’s attention with a film called Shallow Grave. This film was essentially a TV movie, with a 1950s Film Noir plot, that launched the careers of Christopher Eccleston and Ewan McGregor. Nothing special, unless you count that shot of Keith Allen’s shrivelled todger.
But then, there was Trainspotting. This film had energy, imagination and daring in spades. It launched a thousand copycat posters. No other film before or since ever trod the fine line between drugs=bad and drugs=good with such aplomb.
Then what next? A Life Less Ordinary, The Beach, 28 Days Later, Sunshine. All of those films definitely had their moments, but at the same time shared one thing in common – big ideas, not quite successfully or satisfactorily executed. All solid three star films, in other words. Although Vacuuming Completely Naked in Paradise was a masterpiece in its groundbreaking use of emerging DV technology.
But now, Slumdog Millionaire.
Continue reading “SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE”
Vampire movies are the in thing right now. Twilight, for example. Teenage girls up and down the land are currently squeaking in delight as the slab-faced Robert Pattinson has a strangely chaste romance with some 14yr old girl involving lots of meaningful looks and cries of “Don’t do that! I might do a sex wee bite you in the neck!” Don’t bother watching the film, read the script instead.
Let The Right One In is cut from very different cloth. The simplest way to describe it would be a film that’s based around a more gothy/emo version of Kirsten Dunst’s Claudia from Interview With a Vampire. If Anne Rice’s novel had been adapted by a respected European director instead of Neil Jordan, Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt then the result would be something very much like Let The Right One In.
Continue reading “LET THE RIGHT ONE IN”
My favourite kind of films are the ones that no-one else has heard of.
By that, I mean films that are well written, well made, and have a unique idea behind them – but for one reason or another haven’t been seen or embraced by the wider public. Either because they haven’t been released properly, or because no distributor would take a chance on them.
That was why I grew up loving Moviedrome on BBC TWO as a child. Every Sunday night, Alex Cox would introduce another strange, weird independent film that I would never find in my local Blockbuster. Trancers, The Honeymoon Killers, The Terminator, Cry Baby, and too many others to list here.
Nacho Vigalondo’s TimeCrimes, aka Los Cronocrimenes, is a film that would be right at home on BBC TWO, with Alex Cox introducing it.
Continue reading “TIMECRIMES”
This is my first post. I’ll be adding more soon.
Basically this is a blog where I’ll write about cool stuff I’ve seen. TV shows, films, short films, anything really.
I’ll also write about cool stuff I’ve done – short films I’ve made, VTs I’ve directed, and more besides.
Most of all – this blog will educate you about all those films that you’ve seen showing at your local arthouse cinema and never really thought were for you.
A lot of these films are genuinely brilliant, and I’m going to tell you about them, and why you should watch them.