Is nothing sacred? It seems not even 007 is immune to the new trend of releasing movies on a Monday. So too with Suffragette, but any day of the week the latter was bound to disappoint. Yes, it conveys the … Read More »
See also, Bob Dylan: one killer of a poet Oh God said to Abraham, “Kill me a son” Abe says, “Man, you must be puttin’ me on” God say, “No.” Abe say, “What?” God say, “You can do what you … Read More »
Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination … Select only things that speak to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is nonexistent. Film Director, Jim Jarmusch When Motown … Read More »
After his 1959 masterpiece, Kind of Blue, Miles Davis teamed with Gil Evans for the orchestral sound of Sketches of Spain and the Rodrigo piece, Concierto d’Aranquez. In one session Miles picked up that some of his hired classical musicians … Read More »
Listen here. Gorecki’s choral 3rd, Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, could hardly be less typical of a Polish composer outspokenly avant garde; a Stockhausen admirer whose declared mission was “not to entertain but to educate”. Symphony No 3, piercing in its … Read More »
The medium is the message, said Marshall McLuhan. Silly to judge screenplay by ‘fidelity’ to book. The latter may be as well crafted (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest), better crafted (Bridget Jones) or just ill advised (Gormenghast) but fidelity … Read More »
Carpenters use plane and saw to shape wood and not-wood to requirement. Photographers use shutter, aperture and studio kit or off-camera flash to shape light and not-light. Which is why two painters hold special significance for shutterbugs. Rembrandt was four when Caravaggio … Read More »
For those who remember the seventies period piece, When the Boat Comes In, BBC 2’s Peaky Blinders – series two starting on Thursday – will have a familiar ring. Both are set in the turbulent aftermath of WW1. Both give … Read More »
Arguably the most important film release this year, Snakes on a Plane rests on the rock solid premise that for any self respecting criminal mastermind, called upon to neutralise a threat from the witness box, the method of choice is … Read More »