Alive & Twitching

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 »

Slumdog Millionaire has now won 8 Oscars, including Best Film, Best Director and best adapted screenplay, 7 Baftas, 4 Golden Globes,

So, does the film deserve all the honours it has received? read more »

The seventh and final episode of the second series of Outnumbered was shown on BBC One on Saturday, 27^th December. My wife and I only discovered this programme three weeks earlier and thereby missed the entirety of the first series, televised last year, and the first three episodes of the second. We were possibly vaguely aware of it but did not watch it owing to a general aversion to television sitcoms of the past few years. Fortunately for us my brother brought it our notice. read more »

The Beeb has come under a lot of criticism recently over the Russell Brand/Jonathan Ross debacle and this has revived the arguments for reducing or even abolishing the licence fee. Clearly the Corporation has to tighten up its editorial procedures and exercise better judgment in how it allocates its resources. If, however, it concentrates on its strengths and produces more programmes where the quality and professionalism of its contributors is apparent, support for these arguments will diminish. read more »

In its November 2008 issue, Empire magazine has published its list of “The 500 Greatest Movies Of All Time”. Like all such lists, it can keep film lovers entertained for hours. read more »

One of my pleasures in life, which I have been able to indulge more since retiring, is watching films. I prefer, generally, to watch films at the cinema rather than at home. Most films are best viewed on a large screen. My wife, however, does not always share my tastes in films (or music!) and I am sufficiently pathetic not to want to go to the cinema on my own. read more »