Tag: film
Interviewing Beverly Ross and Ferris Butler: Skits, films and rock ’n’ roll
To me, they’ve always been Uncle Ferris and Aunt Beverly, yet Ferris Butler and Beverly Ross have much more to them than merely a personal relationship. Ferris, a former film-school student of Martin Scorsese’s at New York University who went on to create the cult cable show Waste Meat News before writing for Saturday Night…
Reviewing “Inside Llewyn Davis”
Enter The Gaslight Poetry Café 1961, smoky and atmospheric lighting highlights a dim stage and a singer under spotlight. The surrounding audience is still except for some bar staff in the background and a few draughts of smoke barely taken in. The onstage performer is giving it his all, completely heartfelt and eerily resonate. The…
Blood and Bandages: Paramedics on film
For most of my life, I have only ever seen ambulance crews and paramedics portrayed in two ways on film. They were either the much respected platoon medic, featured in so many war films, particularly American ones, or the laughable buffoons of English comedies, in particular, the ‘Carry On’ series. In the latter, ambulancemen were…
Elvis Presley and the movies: Watching ‘The King’ at work
I never gave Elvis Presley much thought until the Christmas of 1961, when my older sister broke down in tears after opening the Blue Hawaii soundtrack album. I got a pair of bongos that same morning, and played along on them to the record. I had seen Elvis the previous year in the western Flaming…
Remembering Robocop: The smouldering dystopian wreck of 80s avarice
There has never been, so far as I can recall, a period in my life during which I have not been obsessed by the cinematic form in some way or other. And while my tastes have continued to evolve or change over time, there have been a handful of films that have travelled with me…