Alive & Twitching

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I am listing my 20 favourite films released during the 1960s. As with the pre-1960 list, I am not going to attempt to itemise them in anything other than date order and those mentioned are films I have either seen or revisited in the past few years or are otherwise deeply etched in my memory. read more »

The 3-part BBC series of Wallander came to a close last night and, like last year’s predecessor, it was outstanding television. read more »

You know what it’s like when a really good TV serial comes to an end. It leaves a small void in your life when you haven’t got the next episode to look forward to. Well, pity those of us who became hooked on The Wire after it was shown on BBC2 for several nights a week commencing on 30th March. read more »

Singin’ In The Rain  Dir. Stanley Donen (USA, 1952)
This is possibly the most joyful film ever made. It is very funny, especially the scenes with Jean Hagen, as dumb a blonde as you are likely to come across; it is romantic; it contains some good songs; but, above all, the dancing (from Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor and Cyd Charisse)  is truly  memorable. And I’m not even a fan of musicals.  read more »

Here are my twenty favourite films released before 1960. I am not going to attempt to list them in anything other than date order. Those mentioned are films I have either seen or revisited in the past few years or are otherwise deeply etched in my memory. read more »

I am proposing to write a few blogs on my favourite films but, if only to prove that I am not simply listing classics or otherwise playing safe, here are some critically-acclaimed movies with which I was really disappointed.

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Having been a Clint Eastwood fan for most of my adult life, and having read that Gran Torino was to be his swansong as an actor, I duly made a pilgrimage to the cinema last week. It is with some regret that I have to report being disappointed. This is not one of his better efforts either as actor or as director. read more »