The name James Bulger brings a chill to many older British people. For James was the little boy abducted from a shopping centre in 1993 by two older boys, murdered and left on a railway line. But the subject of “Black Mass” is real-life hoodlum James “Whitey” Bulger (Johnny Depp) who grew to be the … Read more
In September 2001, a comedy classic opened in cinemas. Unfortunately, thanks to Al Qaeda, noone went to see it. Albeit coming in second place for box office in its opening weekend it drew in a paltry $15M and went on to do a feeble $61M worldwide. Ben Stiller must have been fuming. Fortunately, DVD sales … Read more
The Battle of the Armies ends Peter Jackson’s six-film and almost 15-year love affair with the works of Tolkein (ends, that is, unless he starts dredging up some of the dodgier parts of “The Silmarrilion”).  Having woken Smaug, the fire-breathing dragon, deliciously voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch, the beast proceeds to fry the poor residents … Read more
“Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine. “ Few injustices in the world have equalled that meted out to Alan Turing. Where would the world be today without him? He can justly be considered to be the father of modern computing, and yet … Read more
(Republishing due to wordpress seeming to have thrown away my original post). I love this time of year in the run up to the Oscars when the real power-house films come to the fore. 12 Years a Slave is a case in point: a hard film to watch, but ultimately a must see.  … Read more