Posted in Adaptations, Animation on Nov 14th, 2007 No Comments »
Last Friday, I was lucky enough to see Beowulf in 3D at the BFI Imax in London’s South Bank. Now, I have long been a fan of Beowulf ever since I came across a picture of Grendel in an illustrated book of monsters when I was a child.
It was, I can reveal, the scariest creature […]
Posted in Adaptations, Children's films, Reviews on Jul 17th, 2007 6 Comments »
If they ever build a statue to Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling (which is looking increasingly likely) then I hope that, when I die, they bring me back as a pigeon.
Now, Rowling may be the greatest authoress of the 21st century. I haven’t read any of the Harry Potter books, so I really wouldn’t know.
But […]
Posted in Adaptations, New releases on Jul 11th, 2007 7 Comments »
What a surprise!
Just as we were going to press with our new catalogue, a paper aeroplane wrapped round a brick sailed through the window and tapped me just south of my left ear.
I unwrapped it to find a simple message:
“Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet is coming to DVD this August!”
I was excited not because I’ve seen […]
Posted in Adaptations, Reviews, Stage on Jul 3rd, 2007 No Comments »
I recently snuck into a preview of the remake of Hairspray through the simple ploy of hiding inside John Travolta’s fat suit and peering out through his hair like a little racoon.
I’ll post my full review in due course, but I can exclusively reveal that it’s quite good, and should appeal to fans of the […]
Posted in Adaptations, Horror on Jun 19th, 2007 2 Comments »
When my colleague Julian Upton asked “Where the Devil are Ken’s Films?” he caused quite a stir. Ken Russell’s fleeting, rotund appearance on Celebrity Big Brother seems to have reminded people how few of this idiosyncratic, iconoclastic director’s films have made it to DVD.
MovieMail’s guerrilla campaign to release - or, at the very least, screen […]
Posted in Adaptations, Animation on May 16th, 2007 No Comments »
When I was growing up, my eager young mind was fertilised by two sets of books - Goscinny and Uderzo’s Asterix, and Herge’s Adventures of Tintin. My father had a habit of scouring local libraries for books that were withdrawn for being dogeared, chewed, crayoned or drooled upon, and I soon greedily amassed an near-complete […]
Posted in Adaptations, Reviews, Stage on May 1st, 2007 3 Comments »
Last night I was fortunate enough to see Patrick Barlow’s stage adaptation of The 39 Steps at the Criterion Theatre in London. Someone had inadvertently left the fire-escape ajar, and there happened to be a seat free in the stalls, so I was able to shelter from the smoke and sweat of the streets for […]