Starter for 10
Pencil-necked pushover Brian (James McAvoy) is a quiz-obsessed working class kid whose dreams come true when he gets on Bristol’s University Challenge team and meets not one but two generic […]
Tag Archives: review
The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires
As these are “unprecedented times” (by which I mean a year without Eurovision), here’s a book review: the new novel by the great horror writer Grady Hendrix, in which a […]
Curse of the Golden Flower
As the chrysanthemum festival approaches, trouble is brewing in the Chinese royal household as the Empress (Gong Li) plots revenge against her manipulative husband (Chow Yun Fat). Zhang Yimou, director […]
The Red Violin
In Paris a rare violin is up for auction – the last work of legendary violin maker Nicolò Bussotti (Carlo Cecci). This is the story of how it got there. […]
Samurai Marathon
When an American naval officer (Danny Huston) lands on the shores of Feudal Japan, a daimyo (Hiroki Hasegawa) sends his army on a 36-mile footrace to test their mettle that […]
Frankenstein at the National Theatre
Mad scientist Victor Frankenstein (Johnny Lee Miller) faces the consequences of the maddest experiment since they made that reality TV host US President, in this production from the National Theatre. […]
Extraction
Extraction is a new Netflix action movie from a story by the Russo brothers – if you can count “mercenary rescues kidnapped boy” as a story. It’s odd that the guys […]
National Theatre Live: Twelfth Night
On the twelfth night of lockdown the NT gave to me… a screening of Twelfth Night for freeee. Currently available for free on YouTube, Shakespeare’s gender-bending romcom is well-suited to […]
Circus of Books
Documentarian Rachel Mason investigates her own family to find out more about the gay porn business her heterosexual parents have run for 30 years, while hiding the true nature of […]
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
When MacMurphy (Jack Nicholson) is committed to a sleepy psychiatric hospital for evaluation he shakes up their mundane routine from under the watchful eye of Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher). Jack […]
Screen Goblin 