Shock Corridor

Howdy. I've been thinking about doing this post for a while, but for one reason or another I shied away from it, I'm still not convinced that it isn't gruesomely self-indulgent - but it has got some film stuff in it. I'm sorry for the size of it (something I've had to say way too often in my life in various situations). Right if you're still here - I have Aspergers. I'm very low on the scale and some people oddly take great delight in telling me that I don't have it at all and some even get pissed off about it, no idea why that should be. This is by no means a "Hey every body feel sorry for me" post, or a "let me off for being a prick, I'm special" post because I'm not and nobody should. I am happy with Aspergers, or at least I'm happy knowing that I have Aspergers, as Paddy Considine said when he was diagnosed fairly recently,  'It's allowed me to make sense of so many things I didn't understand before - an...

I'm going to try and arrange letters in such a way that you'll get an idea of why I think Brief Encounter  (David Lean, 1945) is one of the greatest films I've ever seen (to give this claim some frame of reference I draw your attention to the fact that I have seen in excess of 17 films). This kinda feeds from my last post in a way, as too long ago now I visited Cranforth station in Lancashire, the main setting of Brief Encounter , it wasn't planned and when the opportunity came up I was genuinely excited. When we got there, I squealed and ran around taking poorly composed photographs, and looking at memorabilia, and strongly fighting the urge to sit and watch the film that was about to begin on a small TV in the station, and drinking tea through a big soppy grin, and pretty much everyone else didn't care. It was there though that I realised just how much I really cared about this film and when I came back I gushed at folk and foisted poorly co...

Howdy. I went on a holiday. I went camping. I went camping round some of Scotland to places where films were filmed, or places that reminded me of certain films (just put that in there before it becomes obvious). The plan was to do a blog post for each day but that was when I thought I was just going to look at a disparate collection of films in different locations around the country. That changed. So what the hell was I thinking!? I don't know really, I did it because I love film and almost five years ago to the day I spent 10 days in Nairn watching films, and that was one of the greatest experiences of my life, so I think I thought I'd try and emulate that in some way. It was never going to be the same as the last time because that was in once place, with hundreds of others and there were beanbags lying about and readily available scones, but the idea was there to just enjoy films in a different way. That's where the first night came from and the choice of  The ...

Howdy, first thing first - is that a terrible title? I think that might be a terrible title. I have to do this stuff unsupervised so things like that will happen. Anyhee, this post will have a wee look a 'strong' female roles by focusing on two recent-ish animations:   Brave (Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman ( co directed Steve Purcell ), 2012) and  Monsters vs Aliens ( Rob Letterman and Conrad Vernon, 2009). The main reason for this is twofold I've loved Monsters vs Aliens  since the first time I saw it, in Norway no less, and I think it was woefully undervalued, in particular the lead character always who stood out for me. The other reason is the (over)praising, as I see it, of  Brave; it was garnished with awards , fawning reviews, and all sorts so it must be good, right? Well, it's not only good but it is politically challenging! It's shaking cages and rattling...some...some other cages - and knocking bins over or something...I dunno - it's progressive! Bu...

On Thursday, the 4th of April, Roger Ebert died and I felt I wanted to write this as I have a great affection for him. The details of Roger's life and death can be found elsewhere on the internet, this is about what he meant to me. Roger Ebert was a film critic, more accurately, and in keeping with this piece, he was my favourite film critic. That might sound like I'm being overly film-y; "Imagine having favourite film critics! What a wanker." I'm afraid to say it is true. There are other film critics whose writing and reviews and insights I enjoy but there are very few that I make a habit of reading. So why did Roger Ebert make such an impression on me? Was he always right - of course not. Film reviews are subjective, first and for most, and simply being immersed in film doesn't give you some sort of direct link to a filmmaker's mind. There were three things that made Ebert's writing stand out for me: his wit, his honesty, and his love of film. Th...