Category: Film, TV & Radio

Peace for Our Time

Star Wars A Galactic Empire stormtrooper stands guard on the balcony of a house in Barnes overlooking the towpath. He has a festive crown this year. (George Lucas specified that there are no women in the Stormtrooper Corps.) Star Wars was released more the forty years ago – 1977 – and has shaped our lives.… Continue reading Peace for Our Time

Two Englishmen Abroad

Alistair Cooke’s radio broadcasts are beautifully modulated, finely crafted, miniature masterpieces. To stumble upon one is to find a Fabergé egg in the henhouse; although Peter Carl Fabergé made only fifty-two Imperial Easter eggs and Alistair Cooke delivered 2,869 editions of Letter from America.

The Eyes Have It

Luis Buñuel ‘s 1929 film, Un Chien Andalou, has a scene in which an eyeball is slit with a razor. Arabesque, a 1966 comedy-caper starring Gregory Peck and Sophia Loren has a scene early on in which a scientist is killed by having toxic eye drops administered by a baddie posing as an optician.

Tarantino’s 9th

Regrettably I was the only one on the oil futures desk who knew why Catholic parts of Europe had a holiday on 15th August; the Feast of the Assumption. In our increasingly secular society this year this Holy Day assumes significance for cineastes too.

Stan’s The Man

A few days ago I mentioned watching A Clockwork Orange and Full Metal Jacket. My interest was kindled by a visit to the Kubrick exhibition at the Design Museum.

The Sisters Brothers

On EOMs (Election Observation Missions) we are asked to assess the overall conditions in polling stations; very good, good, bad, very bad are the choices. We thought they were mostly very good in Ukraine but decided to mark them as ‘good’ so that when there was an especially good one we could make it stand… Continue reading The Sisters Brothers

Walk the Walk

Michael Kidson’s gait is only too imitable; drop the right shoulder, stride purposefully, swing right arm vigorously.