Despite the explosion of the zombie genre in the last decade, the undead themselves have become predictable one trick ponies. They stumble around. They drool. They’re most commonly very stupid. They hunger for human brains. And eventually, they’re killed off with a bloody gunshot to the head. It’s almost impossible … Continue reading
Beautiful Creatures is a very appealing film. I was quite surprised by this entry. The trailer looked very ‘Twilight’-ish, even the posters had a Twilight feel. I’m rarely impressed when a movie ‘mimics’ another, so I assumed it was going to be a poor man’s Bella and Edward spin. But … Continue reading
“Lincoln” is an unexpected triumph. You expect it to be a talky biopic, that as a consequence is dry and dusty. It is talky, but it’s also thrilling. This is down to the precise vision of Steven Spielberg, who gives the story wonderful coherence. He doesn’t need to be loud … Continue reading
The Impossible starring Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts was a great movie. It is so rare that a movie based on an actual event, touches the heartstrings. Based on one family’s account of surviving the tsunami that struck south west Asia was so moving. A sterling cast, supported by impressive … Continue reading
How Many Theme Parks Does Florida Have? There are three words that you will see together quite often. Care to guess what those three words might be? Those three words are Florida and theme parks. You may even see these three words together more often than you will see meat … Continue reading
Wine of the Month took a de-tox break in January, but with those New Year’s Resolutions now merely a distant memory and half a drinks cabinet of various whiskies from Burns Night waiting to be finished off, it’s time to turn our thoughts to February and Valentine’s Day. Call me … Continue reading
The Sessions is an alarming film, but not for the reasons it’s plot suggests. It’s not because of graphic, steamy sex scenes, or the fact that Helen Hunt bravely bares all to the camera. It’s because it handles the sexual nature of the story with tenderness and maturity. It rights … Continue reading
Quartet has become the surprising tool of political debate in the United Kingdom over the past month. Because of recent events that are really too dull to get into, the status of the senior members of our society has been put under the political microscope, and Dustin Hoffman’s directorial debut … Continue reading
Two talented dementia scientists will benefit from a total of £380,000 in a US/UK exchange programme aimed at improving the understanding of Alzheimer’s disease. The initiative teams the world’s two leading dementia research charities, Alzheimer’s Research UK and the Alzheimer’s Association (US), for a cross-Atlantic partnership to improve collaboration among … Continue reading
If Martin McDonagh (In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths) ever wrote a horror film, it would be exactly like Grabbers. Almost like an Irish Shaun of the Dead mixed in with an invading monster of the Roger Corman tradition, Jon Wright’s second film is wonderfully silly and is very aware of it. … Continue reading
On a wet and windy Sunday in Colchester I dropped by the new Firstsite Arts Centre with the intention of drying off and snatching a hot tea, but as I began to explore I found an unexpected gem of a show. In a quiet Essex backwater in 1954, a design … Continue reading
The Life of Pi is an ambitious film. It is a different way of telling a story, however due to choices of content and actors, it doesn’t hit the big notes. The film lacked in any big names in a starring role. This is always a risk, it either works … Continue reading
Dr Helen Robertson, from Birmingham, was the lucky winner of a two-minute trolley dash in Iceland Foods’ Northfield, Birmingham store this week after entering Alzheimer’s Research UK’s annual Grand Prize Draw. Helen was one of 14 people who won a prize when her ticket was selected from 67,000 entries this … Continue reading