Tag: cinema
Top Ten Films: A Mission Impossible
Many film blogs and websites are keen on ‘Top Lists’. They will ask readers to name their ten best, twenty best, even fifty best. This, of course, provokes a lot of debate and discussion, and hopefully increases traffic to their site. On rare occasions, these lists will reveal a Pandora’s Box of diversity. They will…
20 Great Action Movie Heroes: Defending the Indefensible (Part Two)
Well here it is, part two of my list of the greatest actors and actresses ever to lend their talents to the action movie genre, following on from the list I wrote two weeks ago. Once again, I’ve attempted to provide an interesting and diverse cross-section of individuals. There are a range of actresses and…
Strangers When We Meet: Getting to know Richard Quine
Fifty years from now, when they update the film history textbooks, which current directors will merit a section? Some of the older vets are obvious. Scorsese and Spielberg. Almodovar and Von Trier. Zhang Yimou. Household names to film connoisseurs. What about Francis Lawrence, Shane Black, Chris Buck, Pierre Coffin, and Zack Snyder? They directed (or…
Robin Hood versus Batman: Vigilantes and Villains
Robin Hood and Batman have always had a lot in common; aside from their penchant for dressing up, their main point of commonality is that they share a particular brand of stylish vigilante justice. Both the caped and capped crusaders are driven by isolation and personal tragedy, each working outside the accepted laws of the…
The best of films: Charles Dickens, the cinema, and the trials of adaptation
Could the film of a live performance be the definitive screen version of a Charles Dickens novel? I asked myself this recently after contemplating The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, a masterful, 8-hour-long play adapted from the titular Dickens novel, which I saw on Broadway more than 30 years ago and now periodically rewatch…