At sixteen, I was often late for class. Weighed down by a satchel, heavy with tomes from fantasy writer George R.R. Martin, I lumbered up each step. I brought two along just in case I read the first gargantuan book in a day. Then, I wasn’t just a reader: I was the Reader. I was […]Read More
The further that modern Western animation has strayed from traditional hand-drawn animation, the more it has honed in on one particular aesthetic. The big studios favouring 3D animation want to reflect an identical cartoonish reality. Animation has, in some regards, become monolithic. There are exceptions to this massive generalisation. The Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon, […]Read More
Is there something about the cold weather and the dark nights that make us yearn for the petticoat-wearing, ball-dancing, etiquette-minding past? The darkening months are synonymous with Poldark and Downton Abbey but a new, sexier period drama has risen to take their place. Based on Julia Quinn’s bestselling novels, Bridgerton is Netflix’s first series made […]Read More
It’s easy to split the British public into two camps: cat lovers or dog lovers; marmite loathers or likers; republicans or royalists. Wait until the day of a royal wedding – in one camp there’ll be an interview with someone who hoarded all the Charles and Diana wedding memorabilia, in the other, there’ll be tuts […]Read More
German director Christian Petzold has been working for over two decades and is an expert in taking the very essence of an emotion and distilling that into ninety minutes. His 2012 film, Barbara, perfectly constructed the sense of being watched – with the knowledge that someone is watching you. In a move away from his […]Read More
In the run-up to Halloween, many film lovers want to watch a bloodcurdling horror. For others, the scariest film they can imagine watching is either The Addams Family or The Nightmare Before Christmas. Personally, I would happily remain on a strict diet of any movie with romantic walks in autumnal parks and well-knitted sweaters. The […]Read More